Broken Adventure: Arc 3: Jumpchain

by theaceoffire

A fragment of a powerful being is sent on further Adventures... And manages to crash right into one. A child, hurt and lost and alone needs help, and Adam {Name Redacted} is JUST the Warehouse to save the day! Godlike, Jumpchain, Dimensional/Universe/Fictional/Reality Travel.

10. Chapter 10

Fury Caraway had not raged. He had not screamed, nor thrown punishment details at the group, nor rallied his people. He had not shifted policy, adjusted protocol, or even give a threatening look at the many silent people in his office.

The man quietly read the report.

Again.

Somehow, it all just made this feel worse.

The silent room echoed from the thin document hitting the desk.

His eyes were not focused on them.

Nor were his memories.

Fury Caraway tapped his desk. "For many years, I assumed the various failures of my people were due to outside circumstances."

That… Was not a good start.

His tap was constant. "An overly aggressive Sorceress, forcing us to ignore tactics. To ignore supply chains, to ignore logic in general, as she rampaged over the planet. Obviously, we did what we could to mitigate the situation, to preserve the life of our people and even reduce the casualties to our foes, but my hands were limited. My reach tied."

That tapping. "And when she finally flinched, and retreated back here to our capital, we fought HARD against that incompetence. Against our flaws. We stabilized our conquest, and began the depressing steps and paid all the horrifying costs of trying to mend a nation rapidly expanded and forged through avarice and lust for battle."

The sound was insidious. "I then shifted blame. For clearly, our new problems, our lacking, our faults… They were due to corruption."

Some of those here shifted.

His eyes did not. "Men and women who bought power, who bribed prestige, who stole respect. Men and women who hoarded supplies and abused subordinates and committed active sabotage to pursue political games and paths to supremacy."

It was silent.

Fury's eyes flickered. "I dealt with it. Despite the costs, politically, personally, and of course mentally and martially. I accepted losing talented fighters who were also horrific monsters consuming our men and women. I took risks to ensure those who would abuse our people would have consequences, no matter the backing, no matter the power, no matter the source."

Please, show rage. Anger.

Fury silently reviewed the document again. "I assumed our issues were due to outside circumstances. Lacking in training, due to inadequate teaching and lack of time as we sent good people into bad situations. Lacking experience, as bad people had destroyed the good pillars of our military to better gather power and goods… At least until they found themselves also lacking. Until we finished them."

Just… Don't show this.

He raised his eyes to the people. "I find myself forced to consider that our failures may be a lack of our nation. A deficiency of our people. A flaw in ourselves."

Don't show us disappointment.

Fury Caraway stopped tapping the desk. "Do not block my daughter's actions in Timber. Consider her requests, if properly formatted and following protocol, with the highest respect and seriousness. And send everyone in the tracking squads back to remedial training."

A fucking MORON had to speak up! "But SIR!"

His eyes were dull. "You only discovered her due to her buying a train ticket back to Timber. After having returned from Balamb Garden, the location that all our intel claimed to be her destination."

But while dull, the eyes were NOT compromising. "I will NOT begrudge their decisions and actions to follow her potential paths, to send agents to other locations, to cover your bases. But I am beyond furious that not a single person decided to investigate the facility that my daughter named, claimed to be visiting, bought a ticket to visit, rented a vehicle to visit, and so on and so forth."

A weak voice had clearly learned nothing. "But… But the records!"

Fury sighed. "Then you shall return to remedial training as well, Director. I won't have you lose your office, not over a one time situation like this, but we BOTH know that false trails are the staple of the information battlefront. That verification is needed for a REASON. The desire to get fast results should NOT result in us not following procedure."

The room was quiet again.

He sighed. "Everyone get out. Get back to work. I will do the same."

Their shoulders felt heavier, with disappointment and disapproval guiding their path.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Rinoa grinned, a whole long train ride snuggled with Sarah, Shiva, and Selphie (Was she collecting S's? Look out Squall!) had really pepped her up!

The boy's were less touchy feely (So far), but at this point? Rinoa had plans!

Right. "We need to head to the Mayor and get things moving."

Zell blinked as he followed behind them from the train station. "Eh?"

She led the way, Angelo padding along beside her and the rest following behind. "Up till now we have been moving our group from base to base, from temporary locations to privately owned trains. Now that we have finances, political partners, and an industry to set up? I'm going to need to make some investments."

Watts would catch up with her soon enough, he was always gathering intel and kept an ear to the ground on situations like this. "So first we need to acquire territory. Hopefully a place that we can reinforce or work with, and a more prominent location for future auctions."

If all else failed, they could always rent a location. Or buy it.

Sure, they theoretically had a stable supply of future income. Even at a SMALL percentage, the production of MCards had basically set up her and her group for life once it started selling. And, ALL the staff of the Headmaster agreed, it WOULD sell. Fast.

But future income, while awesome, wasn't the reason why Rinoa was about to go on a massive shopping spree. It wasn't the reason why her budget had ballooned massively.

No, it was Sarah's food.

Headmaster Cid and 'Big Sis Edea' had both been very generous when they realized that her Marvelous Moon Momma had Lunar Kingdom produce to push… Basically, Sarah filled up their storage facilities with high quality goods and now the Forest Owls had a line of local currency and credit that was effectively limitless.

Like, there WAS a limit, but hell if SHE knew what she could buy to spend it all.

It wasn't even a scam either, if anything the Garden got the goods for a bargain… The only issue with the whole situation was how embarrassed Rinoa had been when Sarah just dumped all the money and stuff in her lap.

Seriously, that woman was basically Rinoa's sugar momma at this point. Which uh. Was pretty hot on several levels.

No, focus! "I'm going to try and get something usable for now and ALSO buy out the heavily damaged area where the monster swarm hit a week or so ago. It won't be usable for a while, but it will help people whose homes were ruined, give Sarah room to set up a new market for her food, and let the Forest Owls eventually set up a long term facility that, on paper at least, is a privately owned corporate office."

It had been one of her wish plans, the impossible ideas back when she had shown up and thought she could save everyone in a week or so and help all the people while showing her dad that she was TOTALLY grown up and not a baby and… Sigh.

Still, it should work! "As a corporation, unlike a military group or…" A glance made sure they weren't over heard or on electronics. A habit, really. "...Or other small organizations, well! We would be able to hire locals for personal projects." Missions, political action, diplomatic negotiations, and so on.

They could also have 'security guards', also known as a formally gathered, organized and trained fighting force. To keep away monsters, of course! Nothing else! Nope!

A lot of the older supporters of her cause who were forbidden from getting local jobs (Those in previous military groups, or former security, so on and so forth) COULD be hired by her new organization too. Give some financial stability and support to her people directly, as WELL as hire Timber locals to build stuff and all that jazz.

Sarah hummed. "Focus more on getting property rights, I can easily clear out previous buildings and set up facilities."

Squall, currently out of hugging range, spoke up. "I've been informed not to use spells for constructive or deconstructive purposes."

Selphie snorted. "Because when we need a hammer like spell, the stuff YOU cast is a freaking high speed train. There is a reason why only YOU were banned from using magic outside of combat, your compatibility level is WAY too high."

Zell just grumbled. "No kidding, what kind of monster can not only summon their GF but actually [[Boost]] their attacks!? It's crazy shit!"

Rinoa didn't even need to look to feel Shiva being smug or Sarah trying to look innocent.

Right! The plan! "So if I get a lot of property in a low income area, how fast can you set up a decent apartment complex?"

Her girl was an insanely powerful Sorceress after all, after all the shit she pulled Rinoa was NOT going to make assumptions about what was or wasn't possible.

Sarah hummed. "A few hours? A day maybe. MUCH faster if you can convince the people to leave the area first, then I won't have to be so slow about it to keep them safe."

Hmm. She ignored the shocked SeeD team and Ellone, who was still enjoying those veggie stick snacks from earlier and was just stumbling along with the group right now.

Her mind reviewed recent reports. "Most demolition crews are gone or left Timber, and new construction is down across the board… But getting locals to do that part can really help this place out. Right!"

Get ownership of the chunk of town damaged and a good section outside that gate in particular. "We'll have you clear out the area we buy, set up a new housing complex for anyone we have to move and for some of our people with tight finances…" Just offering good rate rents was probably the limit of charity the prideful Timber people would accept anyway.

Yeah, this could work. "Can you expand the wall, leave most of it planned but unbuilt, and make us a market, an auction house, a base, and a housing complex?" Timber could build the rest with her funding it.

Sarah shrugged. "It would be best for me to set up the road network, plumbing, electrical, water and stuff. Maybe build foundations for all the local facilities too…" She hummed. "But yeah, though I will have to drop the quality a whole lot with my designs so that local people can maintain, repair, modify, dismantle, and all that."

Oh. Uh, that could be bad. "How big a drop in quality?"

An illusion suddenly flickered in the air, showing a palace. "Some of the more powerful spells could easily damage the place, and if I have to use local materials entirely then even a basic GF summon attack could destroy something."

Sigh. Of course. "Then use the high quality stuff for our base, and the Lunar Kingdom Market stalls… And the Auction House. Use normal stuff for the rest of it."

Hadn't she said she wouldn't underestimate this person? "Can you hide a core of the good stuff inside our section's normal looking walls? And make it a fully defended district?" She remembered that the more powerful corporations were nearly nations of their own really, and could put all kinds of 'questionable' defenses into place when they paid enough.

Sarah gave a nod, which was good enough.

Squall was somehow tapping the hologram, making it shift. "I have requests for this future base, if possible."

Selphie squealed! "Ooh! A mud pit!"

No! Don't give it away!

Thankfully, Squall just nodded. "I was thinking SEVERAL training rooms, another simulating a desert environment and one with 'rainfall'. It had been dismissed from my suggestions for Balamb Garden's Training Center as excessive and costly."

Thank goodness for thick protagonists! "Of course! Any other ideas?"

Selphie just started counting fingers. "A pool, hot tub, steam room, massage parlor, bondage dungeon, a ball pit, reference library, some gardens, bondage dungeon, weapon testing facility, some labs…"

Squall blinked. "What was that in the middle?"

Her face was innocence. "A ball pit? Sometimes you need some fun in your life."

Heh. "Right, let me talk a bit because most of the people in here put up with me pretty good since I helped keep morale up when things had been pretty bad here."

Plus, if her team of hot people kept talking she would be SUPER distracted.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

The military aid hesitated. "Sir?"

He sighed. "Just… Just spit it out."

They both glanced at the door that Fury Caraway's daughter had left through.

His assistant coughed. "Are we… Allowed to have her just purchase a third of the town?"

The man sighed. "That isn't our jurisdiction. She came here to notify us that her new corporation, 'Lunar Magic', has recently set up a headquarters locally. As is required. And paid in advance, covered all related fees."

The other one blinked. "But…"

Nope. "None of the territory is stationed by Galbadia troops, none of the area has restricted [[Draw]] points or other such resources, and all the paperwork is filed according to procedure."

More than that, her request to locally ranch monsters for spells and harvest had been approved suspiciously quickly. SOMEONE higher up the chain was ensuring all the hoops were jumped and the contracts signed and the approvals handwaved.

Not a big guess who was responsible either.

Not that it mattered. "We followed procedure, we followed the chain of command, and as far as we can determine this is legal, follows policy, and is approved by management."

Because why NOT let the insurrectionist movement of Timber flat out purchase freedom for a third of the whole city. By being a 'privately owned organization' it drastically cut down the territory he needed to secure, as well as reducing the costs of 'securing' the rest of the location.

Not that it mattered, not when someone high up makes a decision.

You followed orders.

Though, if it had been someone OTHER than Timber's little cinnamon roll Rinoa pulling this shit, he would have been VERY efficiently complying in some very legally protected ways. Lots of confirmations and double checks and paperwork details and committee decisions and requesting additional forms, etc.

The military KNEW how to comply in the most annoying way possible, when required.

Deployment or not, mission or not, the small people (Like Ms. Karen's bakery with warm food and a warm welcome) had to be protected after all.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Sarah shook her head at Rinoa's exasperated look. "Two more people, a child and a teen, five houses that way. Seems to be hiding from chores or something."

Her Boss groaned! "People, I said ALL of you need to get out of there!"

The crowd was conversing, mildly concerned, and partially amused as the ever popular Ms. Heartilly (Rebel, older sister, and freedom fighter for the land!) attempted to herd the cats of modern society away from a chunk of the poor side of town.

For some reason.

Oh, she tried to explain, but people were unwilling to read/listen/understand/stand still at the BEST of times, much less when something complex was happening.

Ironically enough, a lot of these people were only putting up with Rinoa because this section of town had only survived this long thanks to the revolutionary cells constantly fighting for resources. That, and this seemed interesting.

Legally, as the new owner of the poorest sections of Timber, Sarah could easily and without concern wipe it all from the map. Only a few places were even officially owned, and the few that DID have proper Galbadia paperwork didn't live here (Rich people from other lands) and were (for some reason) more than happy to sell to the woman.

In fact, Sarah had noticed that a LOT of people, both official, local, and foreign, were (for some reason) really willing to make a few allowances, to bend a few rules slightly, overlook a few things. Only some of it could be due to her natural charm and innocent willingness to help others, it seemed clear enough that SOMEONE influential in the background was trying to help gain influence or keep the path clear, so to speak.

Actually, make that SEVERAL someone, if 'Research' was correct. Certainly Balamb Garden and Headmaster Cid had made some calls, and SeeD units in general were loved by most people as being competent and not amoral or corrupt when on missions. Unless you were the target, of course.

So uh, once people found out this team was a protection detail? A lot of concern dropped away from various watching groups.

Another group was a strange variant of the criminal underground. Whoever was organizing the actual crime (Not just the Timber Freedom movement, from what her senses could detect) felt that investing in Rinoa's recent actions would be good for the area. Or maybe had plans to infiltrate and potentially gain control of her work, which was unlikely to work but good motivation.

Obviously, the odd support of the occupying forces was easy enough to determine and confirm when Sarah had [[Scanned]] the local military hardware and saw someone higher up wished to support Rinoa Heartilly's endeavors.

Sarah had theories about that one, but it was a touchy and emotional topic for Boss, so uh. Keeping that one on the down low.

But the biggest push for the locals putting up with all confusion and hubbub was coming from the commerce groups. The merchants.

They could TASTE the opportunity in the air, even if it wasn't clear exactly what the final goal of all this spending and investing was to be. And those with more concealed connections, more hidden resources… Well, the whispered Auction alone had outside eyes drifting to this hub of a town.

Oh, the kids were being led out. "Right, it's mostly good now. Clear!"

There were still lots of living things, pets, insects, smaller monsters, the life that tended to be attracted and thrive in society when a section is lost and falls to decay. And stray cats.

But she could work around that. "Am I good to go now?"

Rinoa just groaned as she fell into a nearby chair, this part of the street on the edge of her new 'Territory'. Meanwhile, the well trained SeeD team were keeping an eye on things without rest and even keeping the crowd's mood pretty high, as Zell was showing some kids how to throw a punch and Selphie was gossiping away.

At least Squall responded. "We are secure and prepared for the plan to continue."

Rinoa pointed. "That stuff. Sheesh, trying to be responsible sucks!"

Meh, Sarah could see that.

Now, let's get started!

Ignoring the suddenly quiet crowded street, Sarah flexed her wings of B̹̝̠͖o̹̩̞̩͇n̲͖̞̣̰͍̪e̼̲̮, the ghost frameworks of S̠̘͕p̤̮a̝̗̰̮͓͙̠̠c̳̫̟͈͖̻e̘̤̯͉͎̺̻ drifting in the air now visible.

Her skin shimmered as silver tattoos lit with light, her hair silver and floating with T͙̪͚r̳͉̣̬̝u̩e͎̘̪̞̝̹̝͕ ͍̻͉͓M̯̝̩̯͎̰a̗̺̠g͙ͅi̜͍̣̮c͉͕̞̤̹̪͎̯̙.

Eyes see the unseen.

.

"[[S̛̱̦ć͓̪̼͇̖͈ͅa͔̥̯͍͖̹̜n̛.]]"

.

A hand raised.

.

"[[H̺̠͍̰̻̤̹̳͎̥̗̯̹̝́́͟͝a̵̢̛̗̝̩̬̺̫͢r̵̡̞̦̹̰̗̖̺͇̘̯̗v̵̸̧̤͍͓͈̣͢͡e̶̸҉͖̞̗͚͙̝͎̹̳̤͇͇͚̖͈̘̮͝s͓̬̩̦͉̗͍̦̺̫̯̜̻̪͞͝t͘͏͝͏҉̻̱͚̜̙̜̣̝͍͖̝͇̰̱͕.̷̸̮̰̮̦̩̻͇̻͚̭̗̫̥̖̮̣]]"

.

.

In a moment, the S̢̡͟͝p҉́á̧̛͢͝c̢̀͟͜ȩ͝ ̕ H͏͠͞u̢̢͞n̢̧̢͢͡ge̷͟r͠͏̧͠e̸̷d̶͢͝.̴̴ And before the crowd, nothing spread.

Pipes were sealed, wires capped, tubes blocked, cables clipped, tunnels blocked… And before the witnesses, a pit expanded outwards.

From far above, along Rinoa's property line to the exact marking, all above a flat surface vanished. If the ground dipped, it was filled with soil and rock. If there was a hill, it was [[Harvested]] and sliced smooth. Buildings, gone. The wall segment, gone. Trees, gone.

And a perfect column, the largest circle possible within Rinoa's property possible, now formed an impossibly deep pit.

It was much easier to hear now. "Right, the foundational stuff first."

Layers to handle water drainage, to ensure the water from the local water table that even now tried to fill this gap was handled properly. A hidden layer of modified 'bone balls' to ensure any future magical surge from the planet would safely gather and be directed to the center of the territory, which would ensure no future [[Draw]] points formed or collapsed in this city sector.

A few layers of automated farms. It wouldn't be Lunar Kingdom quality, and these were designed to use local materials and VERY simplified hardware that natives could maintain and repair on their own, but at least it would reduce local food costs and ensure Squall's suggested Monster Ranches would have cheap food stock for feed.

Some of the systems the Garden used to generate power were easy enough to sneak in here, and if anyone asked Headmaster Cid would probably be a bro and back them up on where the plans came from. Most likely. Hopefully.

Defensive layers and walls on all sides of the pit, to ensure no digging or ground restricted monster assaults, have those layers of defence reach up to a bit more than the standard Timber defensive walls previously used.

A few empty levels (structurally reinforced) that would be used for shipments, material transfer, good transfer… Basically the lessons Sarah had learned from Adam doing projects in Rapture, keeping merchant traffic from interacting with pedestrian traffic and the general public.

Plus she added some Timber locals-only sections and pathways, because being a Timber Citizen should come with perks. And it would make Galbadia resistance easier. Or something.

Yet there was still more space. Um.

'Research' easily enough shifted the huge Auction House AND the material warehouse facility underground, connected the public section to the underground Timber network. No reason to expose these places to flying ships, monsters, or missile attacks.

In fact, screw it! A number of stalls that reminded her of the great work in Pauper's Drop's Market Dome were easy enough to set up, along with a para-magic rune portal connection up to the Lunar Kingdom that people could use to head up there.

After all, the Lunar Kingdom was a single building, one that was basically Alive already. It already had shops and hotels and all kinds of stuff up there, with the place itself and it's zombie like bone creations acting as shopkeepers and attendants.

So why not have market stalls for planet people down here, and just connect a portal up to the moon for any product purchases? And they didn't need any residence housing either, they could all just use the empty buildings in the Lunar Kingdom instead!

Sarah was super brilliant, Rinoa was going to love this.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Rinoa grit her teeth.

Don't… Don't snap at her. "It is lovely, and very impressive."

All the roads entering her 'Timber Owlery' shifted from 'Yeah, they exist' to astounding levels of quality. The buildings that made up the city ended abruptly into a beyond beautiful field of grass, with tiny thickets of fruit trees and bushes and small ponds and seating. Magic empowered lighting made the area have a strange mystical glow to it.

Angelo loved it, based on the soft whine and looks she was getting.

And in the center of this sudden field, a defensive wall, one that (in the distance) had tiny wings of material connecting to the previous walled protections of Timber.

This central wall was… Well, it 'looked' normal if you ignored HOW Sarah just pulled it into existence.

Pillars of silver bones just thrust up from the soil, ones that got covered in molten metallic shimmering sheets of power covered in silver glowing symbols. Patterns that were so out of context, so overwhelming, that it hurt to watch them being formed.

But it was fine now, of course. Because Sarah had put a thin cover of 'Totally normal wood bro!' on top, and that somehow made that oppressive force just… Vanish.

Job done, no problem.

But inside? Inside those massive open gates that could clearly close against invaders?

A large metallic silver bone tree with blue flames for leaves, and smaller silver bone trees connecting to the network of paths. Something like glass spanned the ground where the grass and rock was expected to be.

Where the planned BUILDINGS were supposed to be.

Damn it.

Sigh. "Where is the apartment housing?"

Sarah waved an arm. "Each of those small silver trees over there are stairs and elevators and stuff that lead down to the main public floors downstairs. And I hooked up the housing apartments to them! Except for your base of course."

Her Sorceress pointed at the impossible tower of a tree that now looked over the entire damned city. "The big tree's your base!"

The Bone Sorceress grinned with those sexy eyes as they both ignored the stunned people behind her. "See, I realized that there was a LOT of space down there even after I put in my automated stuff and the power generation and all that jazz, and I was like: Hey, why not move some stuff down here? You know, use it a bit!"

Sigh. "I don't want us to change our city from 'Timber' to 'Cavern'. Being in the forest is a big part of our city's identity, and moving everyone underground wasn't the idea."

Sarah waved a hand! "Don't worry, I got lots of layers of cubic silicon nitride up here on the surface for light and grew some trees down there. This stuff will melt snow and keep itself clean, lots of sunlight and stuff, and the air will stay fresh and cool and stuff! I mean, I had to modify the designs and materials slightly to better work with the para-magic reinforcement and stuff, maybe added some extra lighting here and there, but it should all work great!"

Damn it. "This isn't in the plans. The plans we all agreed on."

She blinked. "Well, yeah… But I realized the old plans left your people exposed to missiles and bombs and snipers and stuff. THIS design will protect us from a full on Guardian Force attack! Plus, if it snows or rains or stuff the kids can still play and people can shop and whatever."

This woman. "We were going to hire people to make stuff. To build new homes in Timber. To move the economy and all that."

An illusion flashed into view, showing the layout. "And they can! I've got a freight elevator station here in the city AND on the outer wall! Monster corpses and lumber and shipments can be easily moved down there via those big machines, from the trains or from outside. Aside from the stuff we designed already and a small portal to my old home I left even MORE room down there for everyone to build stuff!"

Portal to her old home? To the LUNAR KINGDOM!? "You… You added a portal from Timber to the moon."

Sarah shrugged. "Just in case, you know." Her eyes flickered to the distant (also stunned) military groups. "If Galbadia decides to launch missiles at us or something? No one will get hurt now."

Squall coughed, one of the few people not still brain locked and gawking. "It IS more defensible ma'am."

Well… Yeah. Of COURSE the moon was more fucking defensible, but boy you are taking this FAR too well! Damn it.

Sigh. Still, if you ignore the impossible stuff and insane things, it DID technically match the original blueprints. Kind of. In a way.

Just a few hundred meters further down.

And while this DID make it blatantly obvious something Sorceress related was going on here, it would ALSO protect her people as well… And the connection would be made some time or other anyway.

Headmaster Cid apparently had suspicions even BEFORE his wife caught her girlfriend in the act, as it were, and others were likely to find out pretty quickly too.

One of the smaller kids was blinking. "Eh, Ms. Scary-wing-lady?"

Sarah paused. "Yes?"

He pointed. "Where's my stuff?"

Oh, right. "You did handle that, right?" Please say Sarah handled it.

Sarah waved her off. "Yeah, of course I did!" Turning to the child, she knelt down. Which looked hot as HELL in her current outfit. "You're from the Sloan family, right?"

He nodded. "Dan's my da."

A map showed up from nowhere. "Give this to your family, all your things have been moved to a new apartment."

The kid blinked. "Like when we gotta hide again?"

This damned military occupation. Rinoa held back a grimace and spoke up. "Like that, Brandon. But this place is going to be lots better and you don't have to carry stuff this time."

That was enough to get the kid to accept the paper and relax slightly. "Cor, that's cool."

Sarah grinned at the eavesdropping adults. "Any Timber residents who were displaced due to their homes, official or otherwise, being previously located within Boss's territory have had their pets and stuff moved to an apartment in the Owlery. Rent for this month is free, and I know the new apartment rental rates for other people are very competitive if you are a Timber local… But you have to ask the Boss about the details. I just make stuff!"

You just make PROBLEMS! WHY didn't you follow the plan!?

No, be calm. Spanking is for later.

Sarah stood, ignoring her otherworldly wings that faded in and out of reality, and grinned at the groups! "Right, so the Owlery of Timber is officially open, everyone come to me for maps to your new apartments and keys and stuff, and don't bother to ask me about how much rent is or how much it costs to rent a market booth or use the transport system to get to the Lunar Kingdom!"

The fucking TRAITOR pointed at RINOA! "All that financial stuff is up to the Boss, Just let me know if you need special adjustments to your place or whatever!"

And Sarah just HURLED her lover under the bus with a smile! Damn it!

SO much spanking later!

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Watts just sighed. "Yes, those are the actual rent rates."

This was the… What, the fifteenth? No, sixteenth. The Sixteenth time he had to do this speech.

At least some of the other teams just accepted the 'orders' to move to a secure new facility protected financially, politically, and guarded by actual SeeD mercenaries under Rinoa's banner. One with the cheapest rent in the city, lots of benefits if you were a long time Timber resident, and plenty of 'cover' work to keep their resistance cells flush with taxable Gil.

And by accepting, Watts had to admit, he really meant that those people had been too confused and stunned to freak out before he could finish their paperwork and shove them off to move in and all that.

It was MUCH more preferred than the groups that managed to ask questions.

The mother just stared at the page. "I… I have five kids, I can't afford this much per person."

FIVE kids? "Sorry, I thought you only had four, did you adopt another one?"

She nodded. "Little Linda, from the late Sarong family that didn't survive their hunt."

Oh. "Well, that changes things." He swapped out the papers. "Here."

There was a cost reduction for rent per dependent, as well as an increase to the size of the apartment allocated. His boss was basically throwing Gil away, but he couldn't really argue with her after helping all these people. And her new girlfriend just magicked it all up from nothing anyway, so whatever.

Her new girlfriend, the Bone Sorceress. The Ḥ̫̙̗u̱̙̥̜n̹̖̭g͍͖̙̳͚̭̲r͉̮y̖ ̲͕̬̞̮̳̣O̥͈̫̭͚͕n͈̻e͕̭̫̩̺.

No, repress it. Repress. And… Gone!

That's better.

Hope flashed over her face… And then faltered after seeing the numbers. "Even with this cost reduction, it's too much."

Watts blinked. What? That… That seems VERY unlikely. "One moment."

He stood and staggered over to his coffee machine, getting a cup.

A few sips later (No one dared ask where all this GOOD stuff was coming from, most just assumed 'magic lady' again), and he felt more awake.

Good.

Sitting down at the table, he focused on the concerned woman. "Sorry, I've been doing this for hours now. I'm not entirely operating on full throttle. Can you explain why you can't afford these rates?"

She clenched her fists. "I… I don't have the best income. Unless there is a different rate for each child, and this is only the cost per adult…" Her jaw clenched.

What? "One second."

Another sip of coffee.

Mmm. That… That was much better.

Now, what the HECK was she talking about?

His mind, slightly more refreshed, flickered back a bit over the conversation.

Right. "I think I see the problem here."

He pointed at the number. "This is your rent."

He got a confused nod.

Watts tapped the number again. "This is your TOTAL rent."

He pushed the detailed papers forward. "That not only rents the entire apartment for you and your children, but it also pays for your electric, water, and sewage bills on top of it. Not to mention it includes your monthly fees to 'Lunar Magic' itself, which pays for medical coverage, schooling for the children, access to most Timber Owlery facilities, and so on and so forth."

Restricted by age, of course. No kids were allowed in the combat arenas or training grounds, and civilians (While technically 'Lunar Magic' employees on paperwork) were kept out of headquarters related areas unless 'promoted' to full resistance fighters.

Basically, it covered all the people moving in so that any legal issues or conflict between Galbadia, Timber, and Lunar Magic can be handled by the Boss's new army of lawyers with the political backing of Balamb Garden.

And a god damned Sorceress.

No, repress.

Another sip of the good stuff. Lovely blend, no idea how Boss got coffee this good and he was NOT risking being unable to get more (Or remembering something terrifying) by asking questions.

Anyway, back on topic. "You will still have to pay taxes every year, of course, but most of that is handled automatically as part of your employment contract."

Sure, all these employees basically got paid nothing but enough to cover Timber taxes by default (After all, they were only technically employed in the end), but if they didn't wish to get 'promoted' higher up the chain they could always do various low level 'missions' (Basically easy local chores and stuff) for extra pocket money and funds.

Or set up a stall to sell goods at the new market which was thriving down here in the Owlery, or just supply those goods to the Owlery Store if they didn't have time to sell it personally and didn't mind paying a bit of a fee. Or take one of the 'cover' jobs needed to prove the place was 'just' a corporation.

It would allow the Timber Owls to ensure a stable financial setup for their people, as any surges or tax hikes or future fines could be handled by 'Lunar Magic' directly instead of crushing the people as intended. A social safety net, as it were.

The woman seemed… More confused than grateful. "What?"

Yeah, that was the standard reaction. "You know Boss Heartilly?"

A nod.

Mmm, this was good coffee. "Since liberating Timber is a very long term project, she decided to cheat a bit. She's basically converting the entire town into a business, because while politically and militarily Timber is under an occupying force… Corporations play under different rules."

You need to gain an ungodly amount of money for initial investment, and the power to PROTECT that money long enough to pull this off, but drafting the terrifying Lunar Kingdom Sorceress of Bones into your harem tends to do that as a side note.

No, repress that Watts. Just enjoy your damned coffee.

The woman just… "What?"

Damn it. Maybe move things along? "Let me show you the educational buildings we have already commissioned from the building community." Because FUCK letting Timber kids be taught by Galbadian approved teachers.

Funnily enough, it even counted as a tax write off. After all, corporations training future employees encouraged the economy! Future employees… Heh.

Plus the guys and gals LOVED being able to build stuff again using traditional Timber techniques and styles. Really warmed up the blood to see the old ways coming back, to see the older generation teaching new workers family techniques and the legends and tales that traveled with them.

No oversight, no repression, no more paperwork mountains and red tape barriers, this wasn't Timber! No, this was just a Timber shaped business! Nothing to see here, good people!

And being able to build like this was a gift, in the end. After all, it was not like the hot women Boss was boning couldn't have simply used magic to whip up everything needed in moments.

(Repress.)

But even HE appreciated letting Timber build their own homes and lives again, and Rinoa certainly understood how important this was culturally as well as financially.

Timber was building again. Making this a new core, a new home!

Even if those homes were deep underground in a magical root protected forest covered by impossibly clear magic unbreakable 'glass' with otherworldly silver bone trees protecting the sky with blue flames of raw power.

Well, it was the thought that counts.

If their people hadn't watched that terrifying goddess of raw power/winged woman being berated by his Boss, there would have likely been a church set up by now worshiping the Bone Sorceress already. Hell, more than a few people were already quietly suggesting that Rinoa get a religion or two by this point for having 'tamed' the savage H͍u͚̰̖̩̤͇̣n͙͈̖͕̣̳̖g͎͙̣̤͕̯e͔r̖ of the Moon!

.

Mmm. Considering this coffee, Watts wasn't sure he could disagree with the sentiment.

No, focus!

Worship the brew later, keep the 'employment' line moving now.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

The idiot wouldn't shut up. "But sir!"

Nope. "Not our jurisdiction. Not our issue. Not our responsibility."

He refused to look outside at the impossible thing and the terrifying power and ability it represented. All of that? That was WAY not his problem.

Probably a problem too big for Galbadia itself, but again: Not his problem. And standard procedures only required that he accurately handle the related data up the chain and wait for decisions.

So nope! "We reported it, our job is done, now get out of my office and let me get back to work."

That hidden bottle wouldn't drink itself, after all.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Sarah wasn't in trouble.

Mostly.

But uh. She WAS being very helpful right now. No reason to risk cuddle time over other 'unexpected alterations' to existing plans, right?

Though the 'punishment' had been pretty fun… Heh heh.

Wait, no, she was like remorseful and stuff.

But the point was, she wasn't allowed to modify Timber's railroad system to include a station down here. Which was fine. And she couldn't set up a teleportation network with a Hub in Balamb Garden just yet either, because that would be a pretty big deal apparently.

And she had to move the customized [[Draw]] points into the big tree headquarters, hide the bone balls under the floor in a designated para-magic harvest room, and when Rinoa found out that she had been planning on having ALL the spells available…

Well, there was now a public [[Draw]] point area with basic useful stuff like several [[Cure]] and [[Esuna]] nodes, a more restricted area with [[Regen]], [[Life]], [[Haste]], [[Protect]] and [[Shell]]... And um.

Well, there was a set of back rooms that had all the REST of the spells that Sarah wasn't allowed to talk about and only top staff of the Forest Owls could even be informed of, if ever.

And the exasperated look when Sarah offered to set up an [[Ultima]] node was… Um. Yeah.

At least she was allowed to add her custom stuff, like [[Odorless]] and [[Numb]], to the public access point. Though 'Research' was still having problems working out how to get [[Lost]] to properly mess with a target's sense of direction without destroying their brain and stuff, so uh. That one was fully restricted.

And that was fair.

Besides, [[Lost]] was a work in progress and [[Ultima]] felt disappointing.

Sure, [[Ultima]] was hefty, unit wise, and it was able to enhance Junctioned stats very well, with only [[Triple]] being better in a couple of areas like with speed or hit percentage boosting… And the spell certainly did a lot of damage too, technically...

But it only HAD those abilities because it was somewhat similar to True Magic. And it was unstable as all hell, making it annoying to carry around and frustrating to attempt to [[Draw]] the stuff… On record, it was the MOST difficult spell for the Junction system to handle.

Sarah offered to make a [[Draw]] point for the stuff out of an innate desire to 'collect them all' more than any desire to use the stuff.

After all, HER Junction system used True Magic for ALL her stat junctions, and unlike [[Ultima]] this stuff not only was the best fuel to use but was much more stable. Para-magic was a knock off after all, compared to the good stuff!

Everyone would want to use it!

And without having random chance and nature and random people with equipment messing with the power generating para-magic spells, without needing help to get the structure set up and conceptually reinforced, True Magic was safer to use too!

Sort of safer.

Relatively safer.

Alright, fine! Anyone who wasn't Sarah and anyone without her gifts would probably pop.

Especially since HER Junction system tracked units of 'True Magic' but didn't bother capping any one stat to a random amount like 100.

So… Uh... Her strength currently had 8222 units of True Magic hooked up.

And that number moved up and down as her body adjusted to the strain, as her mind units detected more optimal layouts and empowerment calculations, as other stats were passing data for 'Research' to work with.

It would have been even more enhanced if she wasn't worried about losing control and accidentally squishing somebody, but slow and steady improvements would win the race!

Besides, Strength wasn't even the stat with her highest number of units Junctioned to it right now, strangely enough.

Something about her past magical prowess and the way she included uncertainty patterns in HER customized system hardware let her hook up a LOT of units to her Magic stat, which was fascinating to keep an eye on.

ANYWAY!

The 'pick some spells' room was mostly blocked off and therefore it was fine.

So she wasn't in trouble.

Just… Being encouraged to not build so much. And not as quickly. And to stop trying to get people to visit her moon kingdom 'subtly' just because it is 'super cool'.

Seriously, the walls can open up with skeleton butlers in them! How neat was that? Super neat, that's what!

So while Rinoa wrangled the mess of people moving all kinds of stuff into new housing and her people set up shop stalls and stuff, Sarah was mostly modifying the existing setup as it all progressed.

The 'food court' area had several market stalls that needed cooking units and refrigeration and water and stuff, the 'produce section' was hiring a lot of people from Timber to stock the shelves and help sell stuff… Mostly because Rinoa shot down skeletal golems as Shopkeepers but still!

Lots of little fixes here and there!

And it was totally not boring at all. Though she might have gotten a LITTLE bit in trouble when she dug out a massive side chamber underground, reinforced it, added artificial lighting and weather, and used True Magic to raise a forest for people to go logging within.

These trees were local species! Mostly. It was more convenient! Eventually.

Sure, one or two trees went a bit odd with raw True Magic building up here and there, and seeing a small grove of saplings empowered with [[Thundara]] was shocking, but that just uh… Added value! And rarity!

Sigh.

At least Angelo had been happy to hang out with her while her owner ran around organizing stuff. Sarah was basically stuck here, answering questions, handing out maps and keys, helping people move by teleporting their stuff to their rooms, and other basic stuff.

Who's a good girl? YOU'RE a good girl! Yes you is, yes you is!

Absently Sarah sent the Warehouse (And Adam, and 'Research') a note: The bones in her Space wings didn't interact right with reality and dogs were unable to fetch them.

Poor girl was REALLY confused when she tried to 'catch' the thrown wing part and somehow ended up teleported thirty feet to the left. Didn't hurt the dog, and she seemed to enjoy trying several more times, but yeah.

Catch shouldn't be this hard for EITHER player involved.

A strained voice spoke nearby. "Eh… Excuse me?"

Hmm? "Yes?"

The man could barely see anything over his box. "I was told you know where I need to go? We're the Gordon family."

Um. He was the only guy here. "When you say 'we'..."

The big box slumped. "The girls ran off again, didn't they?"

Clearly. "One second. [[Scan]]." Let's see who you are.

Gordon family, building C, floor 33, room 122. "Got it, one second!"

Her wings flickered as his box vanished through S̖̜̩̱ͅp̤̬̙̤̯a̪c̥͖̦ͅe.

Step one, done.

Ignoring his confusion, she focused. "[[Phase Pierce]]... There they are. Better double check though. [[Scan]]. Yep!"

A pulse of her tattoos had a glowing blue portal form, a ring of light with some curious kids looking from the other side.

Two younger girls blinked. "Dad?"

Well, there we go! "Good, we found them!"

Sarah handed the frozen man a map, some keys, and a pat on the back as she gently shoved him through the hole in reality. "Ask one of the Forest Owl Delivery Birds and they'll be happy to move the rest of your stuff, that box is in your room now. The map will get you there and the keys are in your hand."

The 'Delivery Birds' was Rinoa's version of a local Postal Service for this underground Owlery. Selphie was having fun trying to make up cool names for ALL local services normally found in cities, like firefighters and police enforcement and all that.

Basically, they were a group of locals that were being paid to act as a movement company, package delivery service, mail handling organization, and escort group. Or to be more accurate: A way for Rinoa to shove more money into Timber's economy.

After all, most people in Timber were more than happy to help each other move for free. Having her hire a bunch of people and give them salaries was just another trick to make them accept some damn charity in a sneaky way.

The kids were poking the reality tunnel, the dad was… Mostly fine, if mentally rebooting, and their stuff was delivered! Job well done! "Alright, you guys be safe now!"

Portal closed, and job done!

Woo!

Sarah blinked.

Oh, right. She was stuck here to help people (AKA, grounded), and doing her job fast and efficiently just meant that she ran out of stuff to do faster.

Sigh. Woo.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

They all turned to her. "That wasn't needed you know."

Fuck that! "It was a good precaution."

She sighed. "We stopped that whole situation already. Galbadia won't launch missiles at ANY of the Gardens now, nor Timber."

Meh. "They SHOULDN'T, and they DIDN'T, and they WON'T… But better safe than sorry. Besides, more nations than just Galbadia have missiles, and even private organizations can launch mortars and stuff. I don't want an asshole with a GF taking a pot shot."

A grumpy growl. "It made Rinoa mad at us." "Well, not mad…" "Shh, we are trying to be mature." "YOU are trying to be mature." "Focus." "It certainly caused issues."

Fuck all of that! "Look, it was just a nudge! And the new designs are much safer. Far less risk of a moron or dozen trying something if there is a higher difficulty curve to overcome if they try and damage shit!"

General nods and grumbles, which was good enough.

One of the older ones sighed. "How's Adam doing?"

Sigh. "He's trying." "Been working his skeletal ass off!" "Does he even HAVE an ass?" "He's stressed out, if I remember right." "It won't be for much longer."

Right. The new defenses were nearly established, if everything didn't warp and cause them or him or whatever to split or combine again. Then all of them could be less cautious.

One sneers. "And stop picking on her! I caught YOU sending a pork roast recipe earlier! Hypocrite."

And that got some good natured rants from the rest. "T-Rex Steaks were better." "I still say chilled soup is the high society shit." "Not for every course." "The Skele-Butlers always made the best potato dishes, even without using actual magic." "Hey! You liked my corned beef hash!" "Well, of course we did, but did you try the Skele-Butler's roasted potato and veggie medley?" "Oh, don't bring THOSE up." "Yeah, that's just cheating."

Um. Hang on, didn't she send over stuff about her favorite pies? "Did ALL of us push our dishes to her earlier!?"

A pause. "No!" "Of course not!" "I mean, maybe one?" "Oh yeah, I sent her like a dozen. No regrets." "YOU BITCH! I felt terrible sending my casserole!" "You SHOULD feel terrible about…" "Oh that's it. Come here you ASS!" "Eep!"

Shit. "Did… Did everyone remember to spread out the information we pushed over time?"

Another, slightly more hesitant pause. "Uh…" "Probably?" "I sent it to our first picnic!" "Wait, which first picnic?" "Yeah, we've had a few." "You know, when the harem had just met?" "There were SEVERAL harems, and Rinoa is a thirsty woman." "The one where we picked up bondage girl." "Oh, where we shared sandwiches in the meditation garden?" "Probably not, I sent my deviled egg recipe to that one." "But… But I sent my pasta dishes over then!"

Double shit. "Someone make sure we didn't accidentally start a culinary revolution down there, we should be in Timber right now still. Or then. Or eventually. So it should be safe to do a long distance recon of Balamb Garden for a few minutes back then in the future."

And they were moving. "We did go to Balamb Garden, right?" "This isn't the loop where we went to Galbadia, or it eventually won't be." "I thought we took that ocean route to Trabia?" "Nah, that was WAY back when we visited Selphie's older friends." "I think we merged those two timelines together and then it never happened." "Only half way, Selphie is still from Trabia Garden for now." "Did we get Quistis out of that bondage fan club?" "Well, you can take the girl out of the club but…" "She has a more basic fan club this time." "None of that sacrificial shit this time?" "We nipped that, yeah."

Damn it, this was WORSE than trying to herd cats with long distant onion puppets.

At least ONE of her was able to enjoy this Jump. Even if she was sort of grounded right now.

One in the future screamed in frustration. "That fucker in Esthar just tried to make an [[Ultima]] reactor again!" "Didn't we submit papers proving that was fucking retarded!?" "There is enough evidence, and we got his bosses to crack down on him." "Make them crack HARDER, we don't need another temporal cascade situation." "Yeah, stings like a mother fucker." "Can't we just kill him?" "Nah, he makes awesome shit if he would stop trying to detonate the planet." "He's just so damn frustrating!"

Sigh. Lucky Sarah, with full access to Adam (Busy or not) AND following a linear timeline. Mostly.

Back to work. "Who has my report I file about today?" Might as well skip some steps by seeing which steps she skipped. Though sometimes she gets lazy and makes her past selves write the future reports that she needs to read now.

Oh well. That (technically) wasn't HER problem!

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Headmaster Cid just… Didn't know what to say. "I'm sorry?"

The team leader sighed. "It's all in the report Sir. My team has already been sent over to medical for a checkup, and I will be joining them after."

His mind still blanking, he gave a nod. "Very well. Take care, I'll look over the details and get a formal review to the team by the end of the week."

A nod and he left, leaving Cid to just stare at the new report.

After setting up a partnership with the young Ms. Heartilly, he had certain mental assumptions.

Better funded resistance cells, clandestine actions, political networking and collaboration attempts, so on and so on. Maybe helping out the downtrodden in Timber, or funding larger missions, or just upgrading hardware and equipment. Or splurging on her new growing harem.

After all… Somewhere, between all the shiny and very cheap bobbles that he and his wife had eagerly bought, among the contracts and deals they had signed, Rinoa Heartilly had managed to gain quite a substantial amount of resources.

More than he had fully been paying attention to, in the end.

The deals were good, at least to Balamb Gardens (ALL the Gardens, really), the designs were beyond professional quality, the hardware was ingenious, the finished products valuable and useful and already generating profit across the board…

And of course, his children (adopted or otherwise) had become a small army of foodies due to recent events. His wife had eagerly agreed to have some White SeeD teams change careers to become culinary focused battle chefs, hunting Monsters for flavor rather than what spells they could [[Draw]] or what experience they could gain.

It was a food movement that was gaining momentum. And fanatics.

Even now, his love Edea was over in the Training Center ensuring the new breeding stock of monsters were able to properly raise healthy (And delicious) young ones… And establishing ongoing missions for students to butcher a certain percentage of the new herds for Cafeteria testing and research.

Thinking of that section of the Garden, he couldn't help but snort.

Most people assumed the 'Training Center' was to help the kids get some experience, to better adjust to the Junction system, to [[Draw]] needed magic and so on and so forth.

Very few knew that he had built the place for Edea when she thought she could train monsters to be trustworthy pets and battle companions for her kids. She STILL insisted the T-Rex's would eventually let less powerful people ride the damned things.

Ah well, at least when her attempts failed the creatures were useful battle fodder. And now, actual fodder… Oh ho!

Cid let his chuckles fall away as he stared at the report.

No, Rinoa Heartilly got a (not so small) fortune and basically bought a third of Timber.

Subtle.

Then she vanished the whole area, built a magical paradise, and in the process exposed her ownership of an infatuated Sorceress from the depths of society's nightmares.

Super subtle.

Now a burning silver tree built from bones was towering over the entire damned city, visible from literally miles away. Eldritch blue flames apparently warmed or chilled people who looked at it, depending on how they felt about Timber in general, and the local monster population had been very clearly and very QUIETLY sneaking away from the place.

Team Bravo swore that a small flock of Cockatrice had bumped into them during ongoing observations, and that the beasts had almost seemed to APOLOGIZE for getting in the way as they quietly fled from the strange city.

Subtlety. This girl was like a true ninja, unseen, unheard, unfelt: A shadow in the night. Everyone should give them a slow, unsarcastic applause. Wow.

Teenagers.

Sigh.

An assistant entered with paperwork. "Sir? We have a message from a Fury Caraway about wishing to join some sort of auction. Apparently the local military decided to redirect the related communications to Balamb Garden as an official sponsor."

She seemed confused, not noticing Cid slumping onto his desk. "I was unsure about the topic, but apparently we officially posted about the 'Super Secret Elite Timber Auction' on our servers, a full series of articles written by the leader of our Garden Festival Committee? And this Caraway guy seems VERY insistent on acquiring an invitation."

Selphie Tilmitt, you are SO in trouble young lady! "Just… Just put it there on the pile."

Damn it. This was going to end in war, he just knew it. Or at least, the Sorceress of Bone ENDING a war.

Either way, it was going to be a mess, a headache, and (somehow) HIS problem. Damn it.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Rinoa gave a weary smile. Smile, damn it! "And everyone with children has already been transferred over?"

Watts looked dead on his feet and dunked in his coffee. He nodded.

Good. The other two thirds of Timber was rapidly becoming a graveyard as only businesses and outsiders were being left behind as the people migrated into the Owlery.

It was a bit of a shock, but it turns out a LOT of people, supporting Timber or not, appreciated the Forest Owls and her specifically. Or, for those who had concerns, REALLY appreciated the low price housing and additional benefits.

So now, while her original plan of hiring Timber citizens to build her new facilities was mostly scrapped, a NEW plan was set up now that there were tons of old buildings in the rest of Timber that were empty of homeless and resistance cells.

All those locations needed to be torn down (And had needed it for years), many of the businesses were eager to expand into the new property spaces, and this all added up to never ending construction projects with each company and business more eager than the last to pay extra money if they could jump to the head of the queue.

Timber Mechanics Magazine alone had basically claimed the entire city block their headquarters was located on, and Lunar Magic had multiple teams of demolition crews, site surveyists, project designers, and construction crews combing over the location to get things improved/fixed/built.

Several of the better apartment buildings were frantically trying to sell, turn themselves into upscale hotels for the massive number of tourists coming in, or trying to lure military families to fill in the gaps that the downtrodden citizens left behind when they fled for better shores.

It was chaos, it was confusing, arguments were everywhere, deals were made, adjusted, modified, broken, and renegotiated. All of Timber was in turmoil!

Rinoa LOVED it.

It was the most alive this place felt for YEARS!

No shuffling, slow collapse and unchanging stagnant day after day. Now, new businesses were being opened all over the place (Watts had managed to have Lunar Magic set up a beyond fair loan and investment system for local entrepreneurs), friends and family from outside the area were being called into this bustling land of opportunity, and with a massive section of the city no longer Galbadia's responsibility a massive workload and financial strain was taken off the local soldier's backs as well.

Just… It all felt fresh, exciting, and alive!

It was also tearing her mind apart as she kept trying to force herself to keep going. "Good, as long as the kids are being secured, fed, and all that… The rest of our people can handle a bit of delay here and there."

The schooling system could wait, many locals had refused to let them learn from the public propaganda system already and they had no problem holding off on complaints until the new school system could be constructed.

As it was, there was a community daycare facility (A series of rooms in her ridiculous tree house headquarters) that kept the kids safe, fed, and entertained while their parents ran everywhere doing everything to try and keep up with the astonishing pace of progress going on.

She slumped into a chair. "How's Sarah doing?"

Watts blanked out, clearly in repression mode. Poor guy didn't take the whole Sorceress thing well.

At least Selphie spoke up, though she still had that concerned look in her eyes. "She's testing some Junction system changes with Zell and Squall. Something about teaching the hardware to allow the less studied GF's to still safely Junction magic to various stats."

Her focus was a bit blurry. "That's nice."

The yellow dressed girl was suddenly holding her in a hug, somehow.

How you move so fast, yellow girl?

Yellow girls shouldn't move so fast, they could trip.

Selphie sighed. "Lets go visit Alone and steal some of her food, you know she'll happily share with you. And then sleep."

Nuu, yellow girl! "I'mma boss, I gotta be helpful."

The hug WAS warm though. And submissive or not, Selphie WAS a trained fighter for a Garden, and as a SeeD contractor the girl easily lifted Rinoa into her arms and gently walked somewhere. "You've done lots of good stuff Boss, now let me get some food in you and help you get some sleep."

It probably looked silly for a shorter woman to gently cradle her through the buildings and streets, but it felt safe and warm and she was so tired. "Kay. We did good?"

A warm sigh. "Yes, Boss."

Good.

Somewhere someone was humming, and her people were safe, and she could feel a weight leave her burden. They did good.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Sarah sighed. "For as much stuff as these Junction systems do, most of the hardware is just to ensure safe para-magic storage and accurate GF pattern manipulation. Lots of room for improvement." Which was frustrating.

It took FAR simpler hardware and software to just analyze a GF carefully and store certain interface patterns, or in other words abilities like [[HP-J]] or whatever, to match up and unlock when compatibility levels reached certain quotas.

This was why one GF could offer skills and abilities another couldn't. Because each new ability had to be carefully researched and verified and not every person Junctioned a GF the same way as another.

Squall was critical for these tests, and thankfully was being a dear about this. "Unjunction all the spells, I'm about to give you another system patch. Zell, move over here for a bit."

The man grunted while Zell bounced over to another section of the workshop.

Seriously, broody boy was nuts on a foundational magical level. His body interfaced with GFs in a totally different way than Zell or anyone else did, and as far as Sarah could tell? There was NO limit to how many GFs the kid could Junction at once.

More than that, unlike with normal people, HIS GFs didn't conflict with each other when two unrelated Junction Stat methods from two separate Guardians interacted.

It gave 'Research' a TON to work with!

Sure, the individual skills or abilities or side effects weren't easy to duplicate from GF to GF, but boosting damage when being summoned? Allowing various stats or elemental enhancements or status defenses?

All that was just finding more efficient patterns. Better procedures for the Junction system itself… Some analysis programs and equipment rather than a static list of 'safe' enhancement options.

And while this process was frustrating and slow, Squall was more than accepting of the whole situation because it helped his team.

Zell Dincht, after all, was ONLY compatible with Ifrit. Period.

But now, with Sarah's testing and Squall's (mostly willing) assistance? Zell was no longer limited to [[HP-J]] and [[Str-J]], but now had access to [[Vit-J]] and [[Spr-J]] too. He'd been ecstatic!

True, this was partly because Ifrit was already fairly good with physical and magical defense, and the GF already had patterns on file for [[Elm-Def-J]] and [[Elm-Def-Jx2]]... But this was a major improvement!

Sadly, it was also clear WHY those options were not in the default Junction system abilities. Ifrit had certain affinities, not just the obvious ones like [[Fire]] and other spells.

No, [[GF: Ifrit]] was naturally aggressive and enjoyed blunt trauma. The pattern eagerly leapt at the chance to reinforce raw physical power and to bolster that 'soak' damage people had.

It was making 'Research' struggle a bit because the mental and metaphysical stats, like [[Wis-J]] and [[Luck-J]], well… They were being stubborn. VERY stubborn. At least, when it came to working with Ifrit's abilities.

Oh sure, she could easily design a method for any person with any GF for any stat individually. 'Research' was clutch like that. But the whole point of this was to determine a way for the Junction system to [[Scan]] the user and determine that same method through a more generic and standardized process.

It was a work in progress.

Side note, messing with [[HP-J]] accidentally made HER metaphorical soak damage shield go a bit nuts for a bit. Instead of being an invisible force that interacted with any damage like ablative tank armor, like expected, Sarah turned bright silver for a moment and looked like a metal stick figure.

Because using True Magic units Junctioned to HP, especially on someone like Sarah who was fairly enhanced to begin with?

It was a good thing no one had punched her when her 'HP' had gotten so high and dense that it was fucking visible. The kickback would have evaporated a few city blocks in retaliation!

Well, thankfully her adaptive Warehouse systems found a compromise before she accidentally evaporated someone or somewhere. Sure, she only had '21,122' max HP at a time now, but her HP soak regeneration rate got the benefit from the massive number of units equipped to the stat.

So if you punched Sarah, you might break your hand… But no longer would a chunk of area be deleted from reality. Progress!

Though anything strong enough to get rid of a few dozen health points of soak damage would have devastated the local area anyway… And it would accomplish little, since her HP refilled near instantly… But every small step forward was another step done.

Anyway, it was finding out that a number of her stats had similar (if less dramatic) issues that had her spending time with the broody GF wonder and the fighting nut right now.

Because these Junction systems were cutting edge, which meant good things (advanced abilities, unknown benefits, etc.) and bad ones (Nearly no safety protocols or hardware, inefficient or temporary components, etc). And if Sarah worked on fixing that junk, it gave 'Research' data to work with so she could prevent more issues with HER set up!

After all, no one wanted her Luck stat to accidentally rupture possibility and potential, even limited to a local area.

So uh. Consciously ensuring every stat and ability had limits (Adjustable ones of course) and designing systems to detect the optimum limits allowed! THAT was the plan!

And then Sarah got frustrated when Zell couldn't access all the Junction system features because Ifrit wasn't the most studied GF out there and she had a great example with Squall about how it could be done differently and she had to rebuild this stuff eventually ANYWAY…

And thus she got stuck doing strange tech support. "How goes the Battle [[Draw]] system?"

Zell grinned, his fists punching. "Reducing it down to three spells made it MUCH easier! Too many sources to [[Draw]] from makes targeting the right one during combat really tricky. No idea how Squall handles having nine slots to pick from."

The glare from his leader made him cough and look away.

Hmm. "The final hardware system will allow nine or less combat [[Draw]] targets to be accessed in battle. That way, people who multitask well like him can have variety, while people who have issues with the setup can either disable the feature entirely or have them 'combine' to act as a single spell source with a larger repository to [[Draw]] from."

Zell blinked. "Huh. So instead of nine slots with ten units of stuff?"

She shrugged. "You could have six slots with [[Cure x19]] pretending to be [[Cure x60]]. And unlike normal battle [[Draw]] casting, the modified Junction system should only provide a single unit per use and keep the spell power consistent."

It was possible in battle to get lucky during a draw and spend 9 units of [[Bio]] or something [[Drawn]] from one target to cast onto another… But a consistent (if weaker) casting ability was more reliable in battle.

Zell hummed as he punched, feeling the changes of his equipment out. "I'm pretty tough and durable, and I'm good at dodging in a scrap… But having a nice cache of [[Esuna]] and [[Shell]] on hand could certainly help me adjust to targets that don't fight with fists."

Squall clearly was gripping his own collection of spells as if Sarah would take it away. Silly goose.

She sent a few more electronic flags to ensure proper tests. "For now, shift it down to three slots of spells only. We already tested two slots, and there is no point in trying one or disabling the feature. You can pick the distribution though, this update should let you have two slots for a couple of spell types while the rest gets dedicated to [[Haste]] or whatever."

Sarah was sticking to the '100 units or less' rule of existing systems for safety and testing consistency sake, but the Battle Draw system offered 9 slots with 10 units of spell to work with! It was cutting edge stuff, since these slots could be accessed during battle instead of having the para-magic shunted over to storage like normal!

Did it bother her that it was 9 slots of 10 instead of 10 slots of 10?

Yes.

It bothered her a LOT.

To the point where she nearly switched it to 9 slots of 9 just to feel better.

But it was better than 9 slots of 10 and 1 slot of 8, and anything ABOVE that exploded for… Some (so far) undetected cause due to an unknown issue.

There was a REASON why the MCards for use in battle didn't store more than 10 units each, after all. Spells did NOT like getting too squished together.

Not that Sarah was exactly clear on what that reason WAS though, damn it.

So it was a compromise! Now her testers could access a total of 90 spell units, divided up to any multiple of 10, for use DURING combat, safely!

And she'd figure out the 10x10 setup eventually anyway. "Is that better?"

Zell was flexing while his hands reflexively moved through the 'casting' motions most SeeD students learned to internalize. You could do this kind of thing without a sound easily enough, but attacking a familiar motion or whatever boosted consistency a lot.

He punched! "[[Fire]]!"

A fist of flames SMASHED into the target!

Hmm. "You selected the correct slot much faster this time, though that still seems too strong for a single unit." Maybe it was due to cleaning up the spell casting procedures and simplifying the hardware? A lot of energy was normally lost through the Casting systems when para-magic was pulled out from the storage network.

Zell blinked at the still burning target. "Ifrit says this one was shaped like his fists. Well, he is mostly cheering and yelling about the target 'getting some', but you get the idea."

Squall sighed. "I can't believe you forced my daily nightmare on others."

The muscled fighter snorted! "Ifrit's a bro, dude! We were compatible BEFORE we could easily talk, you just have the emotional range of an eye dropper."

Sarah examined the [[Scan]] data. "Not entirely incorrect, although the real benefit of connecting your GF closer like this is more negating the memory loss issue."

He did a sweep kick. "[[Fire]]!"

A clawed paw of flames tore the next target in two.

Zell grinned! "Heck yeah! You see that? That was totally Ifrit's kick!"

Huh. "I wonder if the new closeness to your GF affects other spells too. Other than heat based ones, I mean."

The guy blinked. "Huh. Don't know. One sec."

A quick change up and Zell hurled a fist. "[[Blizzard]]!"

The sound of crystals fracturing filled the quiet room.

Squall seemed to have a headache. "Did you just throw a fist made of ICE flames?"

The man seemed too hype to even hear anyone. "[[Blizzard]]! [[Blizzard]]! Fuck yeah, I'm going to have to design a whole knew combat routine to work with this! [[Thunder]] kick!"

His leader growled! "No unauthorized testing with the experimental equipment!"

Zell scoffed! "Get off my back, you wanna fight about it!?"

Sarah just gathered more data for the Warehouse. So it seemed all other spells were getting affected by the GF itself when used with the more integrated Junction system she designed. The fires of frost and flames of electricity were certainly new, as were the partially summoned GF attack using limbs.

Would Squall using Shiva with these adjustments have her sexy leg stomp on a foe? Hmm. More to test, more to learn!

The man in question had Zell in a lock. "I said STAND DOWN!"

And did a full suplex on the guy, ignoring the odd flames covering his teammate's body.

Damn. That was impressive.

Zell stood up! "Now THIS is a fight! Come say hello to my fists, they have flavors now!"

His arms lit up in frost and sparks.

Oh dear. Right, make a note: Some personality alterations might happen depending on how compatible the users were. At least it should be a temporary issue, some use and an adjustment period should have them all get a grip on it.

A massive CRASH had Sarah pause.

Maybe… Maybe she should finish these notes AFTER stopping the fight.

A wall collapsed.

Yeah. Yeah, best get on that.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Timber's Mayor chuckled. "I'm more than willing to follow up any filed complaints made of course, but none of this is illegal."

The furious man snarled in her face. "This 'Lunar Magic' shit is DESTROYING my businesses!"

Sure they were. "Is there property damage? Are they picketing your work houses? Have they officially slandered you or your organization?"

He snarled!

Because, of course, they hadn't. Dear Heartilly, the 'secret' resistance fighter against the occupation forces and one of the few people willing to help Timber when everyone else went silent… She was following the rules.

Lana Loire grinned mentally, but pretended to care. "What do you need me to do?"

The business tycoon nearly bit his cigar in two. "Stop the scum from flowing downhill! I ain't got enough hands to get shit done! They all are getting poached by those damn owl fanatics!"

What a shock. No truly, a surprise. "Have you tried offering similar benefits as Lunar Magic?"

He paused, stunned, looking at her like she was an idiot. "I won't make profit if I have to pay the trash like they are people! I didn't get this far in life wasting Gil on bad investments!"

Lana wondered, how could anyone NOT wish to grind their bodies into the mud slaving for this pillar of society? For such a man, who made dark deals and horrible conditions for meager (if any) benefit and pay, who wouldn't sell their soul and future?

How unfortunate that little Rinoa had offered better. Very much so.

Though considering how low a bar 'better' was in this particular case, that was really underselling the situation. Heck, she HERSELF was tempted to apply for employment, and if it wouldn't risk her position and Timber itself to do so she might have moved to the Owlery already!

Oh, the asshole was still here. "I, of course, am always willing to work with the brave men and…" Wait, no, this guy was one of the misogynistic jerks. Don't mention women. "...Others who help support the proper classes and their just rights and privileges."

Always made her feel like sludge talking like this to people. "For paperwork's sake, just to keep us all from stepping on Galbadian toes, do you wish to file the related forms? I'm sure we can clear things right up."

A heavy huff and shifty look was the only response.

Because, while there was no living proof and evidence was 'convinced' to vanish, this was one of the men who were 'suspiciously' profitable after Timber fell on hard times.

He certainly wouldn't bring up his violations of human rights and unethical work houses, not because he was ashamed of the actions or the pain he brought unto others… But because this was only the tip of the iceberg. The crest of the mountain.

Again, never enough data to catch him or prove anything, but… Well, he wasn't just abusing Timber. He just had an easier time getting away with it here, and more pieces in play that let him hide his actions with less effort.

Considering the illicit activities he likely committed against Galbadian people too? The LAST thing he wanted was anything official, any forms, etc.

In fact, if he played true to form…

His body shifted, eyes dark. "Donation season coming up might look a bit more uplifting if some inspections went around." Not seeing her fold, he glared. "Nothing not sparkling, no need to soil goody shoes or nothin, just a bit of double checking. Some delays, until certain people can get things done."

Heh. Predictable.

But unlike usual, NOW Lana had support. "Public safety IS my prime concern of course… But I am afraid Lunar Magic had already submitted the proper paperwork with the Galbadia Office across town. You'll need to inquire with them."

She knew Rinoa had done this because it was HER advice to do so. The amount of complicated by-laws and paperwork she and her people had struggled to swim through to keep Timber financially solvent and relatively not backsliding had trained them ALL to a very high standard of quality.

To protect her people, it was a necessity.

Either she had worked with parasites like these, or Timber would be felled.

But not anymore.

The sleaze ball grunted. "I see how it is, I gotta get my own people to get anything done around here. Like usual."

Please tell the Bone Sorceress hello for us. "As you wish, sir."

She watched the man stomp his way furiously out of the room and past the next dozen assholes waiting to try next. More fools who suddenly found competition in a crippled town they had owned for decades. More impotent rage.

Apparently it was inconceivable to have competition from an organization that was technically legal and yet cared more about the small lumberjacks than the boots that were stepping on their necks. Unacceptable, unimaginable, and unbelievable.

Lana felt that giddy sense of change again. That burning hurt called 'hope' that had died daily for so long.

She automatically smiled as the next blight of humanity walked in with rage as he screeched! "I've lost a DOZEN of my lumber shredding crew! Now where will I get children with hands small enough to clean the grinders!? I need this shit fixed now!"

Why of course you do. Just like the last dozen or so people. "Of course, Mr. Grafton. Please, take a seat and tell me all about any problems you're facing."

Every tale just made her day sweeter with each new note, really.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Rinoa woke up to a fluffy hug-ageddon. "Mmrm."

Not sure who's room this was, but Selphie had clearly found Ellone at some point and had convinced her to join the cuddle puddle. Warm, squishy people with awesome hugging skills.

Lewd later, sleep now.

How long had she been busy? A while, right?

Had she even caught up with Sarah before crashing?

Vague memories of things being handled and it all being fine were the only thing preventing her from forcing awareness upon the world right now, and that was good enough for now.

The auction would be held in a week or so, if her fuzzy mind was not off time wise. Watts had ensured that any visitors would need to chip in a 20,000 Gil deposit to be permitted to bid, with a non-refundable 500 Gil ticket price to even get in and watch.

Just… Keep the bystanders to a minimum.

Costs might sound big, but if you weren't willing to pay enough for a single Hi-Potion then why the hell are you showing up to a freaking black market auction in the first place!? And in the end, if you bought nothing, it would be easy enough to get your deposit back too.

She didn't want this thing to be stuffed with random people wanting a show and no one willing to bid for stuff, after all. Or worse, trying to bid without the funds to do so.

This way, it meant that everyone knew everyone ELSE had at least 20k to work with, or much more than that to spend if they wished.

And while additional deposits would be easily accepted throughout the event, even during ongoing bidding wars if someone got emotionally invested in beating out competitors, you had to be able to MAKE additional deposits for that to matter. Had to have the funds HERE to add it to your bids.

No credit in THIS auction, which should make the second and third day of the Auction MUCH more exciting when that became a sudden issue.

She squirmed a bit, tugging Selphie into a warmer and tighter hug.

And in the long run? This should help Timber keep Galbadia distracted. If she did this right, at least.

First, she had gotten Sarah to design some custom bone balls to be auctioned. It was by far the most risky and controversial idea she had debated on, but done in (hopefully) the safest way possible.

Unlike Cid's adjustable versions, these would ONLY drain ambient magic into generating healing magic. Something that every large organization had overflowing amounts of, something that many small groups would love to bid over!

It would prevent dangerous partial [[Draw]] points from spawning, it would stabilize oversaturated regions, it would prevent crowded towns from experiencing [[Draw]] node collapse spirals, and yet it wouldn't (shouldn't) shove society towards war.

Not easily, at least.

Because all that random power that already existed out there would be channeled into generating new units of [[Cure]] or [[Esuna]]. The chance that an army would stumble upon a brand new [[Meltdown]] or [[Pain]] node (or worse) drops significantly if all that ambient energy is being spent on making more basic restoration spells.

And while Balamb Garden had already sent a few shipments of MCards (And those WOULD be on sale during the Auction), the stuff being put up IN the auction itself would be cards already filled with spells.

Because, again, while dangerous? The big places and nations ALREADY HAD lots of these spells in their national armories. It wasn't a new risk, just acknowledging an existing one.

Sure, it sucks if Galbadia gets another [[Meteor x100]] on a Hi-MCard, but it has an ARMY. The chance they didn't have access to tens of thousands of units of any particular spell was laughable, with exception for the really rare shit.

Like [[Ultima]], which apparently Sarah wanted to mass produce. Sigh.

Anyway, the auction would give smaller people with FAR less political and military power access to the kind of spells that nations had reserves of and locals could only dream about.

And, in the process? If doing so was making future conquest more frustrating for Galbadia as a side effect? Sweet!

The only spells being sold in bulk (As in, X-MCards stuffed with units) would be the healing stuff too, building on the narrative that these Bone Balls only came in healing para-magic varieties.

Bulk units of recovery spells were still super valuable for the locals, and great for Junctioning to fight off creatures, but not super dangerous or all powerful.

Even the good stuff like [[Full-Life]] was only awesome for boosting HP, Vit, and Spir… In other words, that magic health force field, physical defense, and magical defense. Well, good for defensive purposes in combat and keeping weaker people safe and healthier than usual out of it.

Speaking of which, didn't Sarah say she was going to be offering a basic modified Junction system to Timber citizens? At least, to the people employed by Lunar Magic? Her mind had been pretty fuzzy at that point, but it FELT like a conversation that had been tossed at her weary body.

Shiva would have no issue with it, though, she loved having people [[Draw]] copies of herself… Uh.

Misty and vague memories of the sexy ice woman selling frozen treats in a shop stall underground suddenly seemed disturbingly real.

That couldn't be right, yeah? Probably just a hallucination or a dream or something.

The warm arms from the woman behind her began to squeeze her worries away. "Shh, boss lady. You're thinking too loud."

Daww. "Sorry, Ellone."

A squeeze. "Shh.""

Fine. It was super comfy after all. Everything else could wait.

Although she eventually wanted to know who changed her into this nightgown… Meh, that was a problem for later. Not like she was against casual nudity in the first place, and this thing was soft and comfy enough.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Sarah grinned! "Alright, try this one out."

No idea what her name was, but test subject 051 had been one of the MANY Timber resistance fighters willing to help out the Boss's Girlfriend (Harem Pending) with testing the new equipment.

The new Junction system was technically still using local parts, just… Not limited to local manufacturing methods. Sarah wasn't going to let outsiders build these things, after all. Also, unlike the more complicated setup the standard hardware needed, these ones lacked a LOT of the automatic features.

It was a long term design choice, to ensure future Forest Owls (And the other cells like the Forest Foxes and Forest Duck, etc) wouldn't worry about their hardware getting jacked.

The wiry fighter gave a shaky nod. "Right! Just uh… Just wear it like a back pack?"

Thin, low profile, and gave good skin contact for better interfacing. Could wear the thing under most dresses too, or easily shift the equipment a bit to convert it into a more conventional belt design. "Yeah, you can change behind that screen. But let me adjust it for comfort, if it sits too high up it can mess with your shoulder blades and may feel a bit awkward."

A few minutes later and s051 was ready! "Right, it's not wiggling or anything right?"

Technically, the Junctioning process itself made it adhere to the user on a fundamental level, and almost literally became PART of the user over time. It was why you couldn't remove one from a prisoner without their consent, after using one long enough it would sort of phase out of reality to anyone who wasn't hooked up to the thing.

Kinda freaky stuff. Not even a feature, more a side effect of the methods used to connect a near conceptual magical framework (A Guardian Force) to a mortal body.

Sarah just insisted on the backpack and straps and stuff so that everything would stay properly without needing the more standard surgical methods and weeks of adjustments and all that.

She flexed, hesitantly. "Huh… I can't even feel it catching on my shirt now."

Good, that means it was half adapted already! Next, the software stuff. "Alright, now touch this pillar."

It was a combination of the hardware normally included in the Junction System for GF and para-magic identification, for 'optimized' automatic Junctioning of spells to various stats, and Sarah's new custom equipment derived from Balamb Garden's Cafeteria's [[Scan]] setup.

The woman hesitantly touched the device… And blinked. "Huh."

So the interface connected to the new hardware. But is it working? "Can you see anything?"

She nodded. "Asks if I wish to Junction the default Guardian Force, Shiva. How did the Boss get a hold of… Wait, right. Never mind."

So the software was correctly updated and it detected the lack of GF to work with. "Confirm it, if you don't mind." Seeing the hesitance, Sarah grinned. "None of this will hurt, of course. I'm mostly just making sure it all activates right. If anything goes wrong there will just be a few features disabled with some alerts telling you to go get it fixed later."

Moving all the modification out of the Junction System might limit in the field instant changes, but DRASTICALLY simplified the whole mess. Sure, agents couldn't update the limits of specific units for various stats if they improved while on a mission… But you shouldn't be messing with shit like that out there ANYWAY.

Not without a TON more education, anyway.

Subject 051 focused… And her body shimmered white for a moment.

A wisp of fog escaped her lips… "Whoa."

Clearly it handled the GF insertion as designed. "Any alerts?"

The woman looked away from her now blue fingernails (At least it didn't turn people's hair blue anymore) and checked her interface. "Most of it seems fine, and it says all my limits and ranges were mapped… But I got an alert for low compatibility with 'Luck'."

Damn it, did she have to find someone with [[GF: Cactuar]] or snag her OWN copy of the stupid thing before Luck and Evade would stop acting up!?

Sigh. "Ignore it, it just means that you won't get the most powerful boost possible from it with the current setup. Just check in with one of the Junction Update Nodes in the future and eventually I'll get it fixed."

It wasn't a HUGE loss in efficiency, and 'Research' was getting closer to an optimized simulation of [[Luck-J]] and [[Eva-J]] every hour… But it was certainly frustrating.

Anyway, next. "Now come over and activate the Para-Magic Pillar."

This one was made of sparkly transparent material, because it wasn't for boring software and hardware setup! Plus, only Timber's custom stuff could interface with these things.

The end plan was to have all the Update Nodes inside the Owlery headquarters, while these Para-Magic Pillars would be set up all around Rinoa's territory.

They hooked into a customized magic handling system, with all the benefits of MCards but restricted to Lunar Magic employee Junction systems only. If they worked as planned.

Far more confidently, s051 touched the glittery crystal pillar and… Sparkled.

She checked the interface. With a customized scan, each person using her hardware had custom limits and safety measures… Even the least compatible person was able to Junction a few units at least to any individual stat after all.

Just… If you have very low innate abilities, the maximum powered spells you could work with were lower tier, the unit caps were MUCH lower than for others, and it would take a while to improve in general.

Even so, this particular subject was showing good signs. "Looks like a range of 13-30 basic para-magic units per stat."

She looked heartbroken. "So little?"

Huh? "Oh, if you tried to use the official junk it would just break, refuse to work for you, or explode. There was a reason the Gardens don't just have EVERYONE become mercenaries, many people train to become support staff because not everyone is conceptually powerful enough to even handle a GF, much less having a lot of para-magic hooked up."

Sarah tapped the pillar. "My system is more accurate and puts in reasonable limits, so it is safer to allow people like you to use it. No risk of you accidentally equipping some [[Quake]] to your Strength and exploding your legs or something."

She checked her logs, missing a look of shock. "No, you actually did quite well for your age group, especially for someone not exposed to dense para-magic energy fields or GF usage for many years."

Half the reason most of the kids in the Gardens were so good with the Junction systems was due to how many Junction users LIVED there, in the same place.

Anyway! "Just use this setup we got you for long enough and your body will adapt. After a few years you can easily enough use a more standard Junction system like everyone else rather than one of these modified ones."

Though why you would bother wasn't clear to Sarah. Her hardware was awesome!

The woman paused, half relieved and half confused. "But uh… This is safe to use?" She flexed her arm, the power in the limb shockingly high for an unenhanced person like herself. "I won't just be stuck to overwatch and reserve posts?"

Maybe? "Depends on what missions you take I guess, but as for safety, yeah! And don't worry, unlike the mainstream Junction system I made sure to [[Scan]] all the various stats and how they would interact with spells and stuff. If the hardware LETS you Junction any number of units of any spell to any stat, then that is a safe amount to equip."

After all, [[Fire x3]] and [[Firaga x3]] were DRASTICALLY different units.

Better to prevent someone from making basic mistakes like that.

Hmm. "Were you compatible with any GF abilities?"

She stopped flexing and blinked. "Uh… Let me check."

Oh good, the interface seemed intuitive enough that she could figure it out herself!

Subject 051 hummed. "I've seen these passive boosts to stats in the paperwork we signed, and I seem to have a couple of ones focused on increasing magic defence a bunch… But what exactly does [[Auto-Potion]] do?"

What!? That shouldn't be there! "It's something that normally is only commonly available from [[GF: Leviathan]], [[GF: Cactuar]], and [[GF: Tonberry]]... One second."

A quick scrub through the data cleared the situation up. Mostly. "Alright, it turns out that a LOT of the Guardian Force's special abilities are possible with ANY GF equipped, but are so random and unstable that the hardware won't risk attempting to activate them unless you have certain compatibility with specific GFs first."

And Sarah's system only scanned the individual, the GF they had equipped (Shiva in this case), and how their specific abilities interacted between each other. It checked for EVERYTHING, not just what was 'known' to be usable by existing sources.

Damn it. "I should have expected something like this, there are items that can be converted into energy and fused into a GF to 'teach' them abilities they don't 'naturally' have… Crud."

She fidgeted. "Is… Is this bad?"

Huh? "No, it will work for you like normal. This particular support ability creates an automated process within the Junction inventory space basically. If you enable it, when your HP drops to half or lower and you get hurt? You will automatically use the lowest rank HP healing item in your inventory on yourself."

Crud, 'Research' was going to have to backtrack and do a LOT of testing to find out how many GF skills like this were usable by anyone in general. "It only focuses on your HP aura though and needs items to work, I think other skills like [[Auto-Shell]] and [[Auto-Protect]] sort of fuse units of certain spells into your Junction system directly to not spend para-magic when being activated."

Well, nothing to it. "Go over to the researcher area to the side and send the next test subject in for their setup. I don't want to risk changing anything else since you got such an interesting reaction this time, and those people Balamb Garden sent over will be thrilled to talk to you about the situation."

Sarah ushered the confused test subject out, giving her assurances that she would get the full amount of pay as if she had went through the whole allotted testing time (Probably quite a bit more than that really, those researchers were going to beg her to stay for more tests no doubt), and tried not to grumble.

Like, cool, progress and all that jazz, but she just wanted to make sure her stuff worked! To call it a day and go home!

Stop showing her new stuff to test, she wanted to go home and snuggle with the others already!

Right, she could do this. Focus! Just… A few more tests for confirmation and the Lunar Magic Junction system would basically be finalized. Well, version 1.00 at least. Or was it v1.03 now?

Whatever. She best make another hardware unit for test subject 052 to equip.

And… And she should probably modify the Junction Update Nodes to make sure future GF support abilities are properly [[Scanned]] and checked for, even if Shiva shouldn't even possess those stupid things.

Damn it.

At least the entire network of Update Nodes and Para-magic Pillars could be modified easily enough. And only the Nodes were installed (but disabled) outside of the testing labs.

The door had someone knock.

Showtime! "Hello, you must be subject 052! I'm a researcher working for Boss Heartilly, and as you should be aware of already: we are testing new and improved Junction systems so our employees at Lunar Magic can stay safe and sound in a dangerous world!"

The man whimpered.

Crap, how did everyone know she was the Bone Sorceress already!? "How about we just sit and talk a bit so I can tell you what will be involved and what exactly will be going on in here."

THIS is why she hated finding out new stuff for the other researchers to look over. It took FOREVER to convince new test subjects not to cringe and scream and faint and stuff!

At least this one didn't have an accident.

Small steps, Sarah. Small steps.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

The auction drew near, but things didn't get more busy.

They couldn't.

Rinoa was walking through the Owlery nesting layer. "And the kids?"

Watts was drowning in the good coffee like usual. "All classrooms are up and a lot of the older generation stepped to the plate. Got all basic topics covered, more than what they could have gotten in the past at least…"

It would have to do. "Did the Balamb Garden Headmaster send any recruitment teams?"

He shook his head. "Kids are mostly too young, though apparently their local research deployment managed to argue him into sending some feelers out. Your newest 'friend' has apparently impressed them so much that they are eager to hire anyone being raised here in Timber just in the hopes that the kids will be good through osmosis or something."

Dang it, Watts STILL wasn't comfortable talking about/looking at/remembering Sarah. At least it didn't seem to keep him from doing his job. "They probably just want to document her new Junction system being used on kids so young."

Because apparently that was a thing.

At some point, between frantic struggles to keep this chaos train on its tracks and her fruitless attempts at preventing conflict between her people, the local military, and the ocean of visitors coming to see what was going on… Her girlfriend revolutionized the Junction system from the ground up.

Fewer side effects, safer to equip/repair/use, and adaptable enough to be worn from childhood to full grown adult (Theoretically, the stupid thing wasn't a week old at this point), this new system was freaking some people out.

The majority of lower class Timber citizens had already signed up with Lunar Magic and the Forest Owls in general, and after the new hardware was designed?

ALL of them, from little kids up to old retired lumberjacks, were equipped with a Junction system that was making the scientific community drool.

Sure, you needed to be able to reach one of Timber's new Junction Update Nodes and it was nowhere NEAR as flexible as the military styled Junction systems used by the armies, mercenaries, and defensive organizations… But it was idiot proof.

In exchange for not choosing which spells got hooked up to which stat, or what abilities you unlocked and so on and so forth… You got safety and stability.

The advanced Para-magic Pillars would [[Scan]] a user, verify they were an employee of Lunar Magic and what spells they had gained access to, and automatically set up a Junction profile that would maximize stability and health while also giving the most boost for your Gil.

The hardware only supported a single GF, Shiva, which was fine since only Sarah could duplicate GFs and the ice woman was like RIGHT THERE anyway. The frozen lady had no problem letting the Owlery keep [[Drawn]] versions of herself for the new equipment, and had mostly been spending her free time down in the thriving market throwing snowballs at people and selling flavorful snow cones to passersby.

Sure, you could only trade your Magic with the Pillars or other Lunar Magic employees unless you got promoted internally to a more trusted employee status… But that was more to prevent new citizens from stealing loadouts of magic and then fleeing the area.

Hadn't happened yet, but Rinoa wasn't going to risk an infiltrator trying to get hired, snagging the super expensive and dangerous spells, and then having that traitor fleeing with loot or causing damage to her people through suicide or something.

And sure, not letting people CHOOSE which spells they got from the Para-magic Pillars stopped a lot of those problems, and the system flagged people who used spells suspiciously quickly for security to check up on, but that was no reason to be slack when it came to proper procedures.

Rinoa checked her notes. "The daycare, is it having problems?"

He shook his head. "We watch our little ones, they're safe. Even the kids belonging to the soldiers are being cared for properly… Invaders or not, occupation force or not, none of that junk should impact the children."

Damn straight it shouldn't. "Keep an eye out, some of the older people who lost families can be a bit… Just keep an eye out."

More than a few bitter people with nothing to lose had dropped from 'Free my home' to 'Everyone should suffer like me' on the moral scale, and a sad and depressing part of her job was keeping spirits up where possible and protecting others where such was not.

A glance showed the various playgrounds and such were very much occupied. "Still, I didn't know there were this many kids still in Timber."

Watts snorted. "There isn't. Or wasn't, at least. For the first time in years the size of Timber has been increasing rather than fleeing for safety." He pointed at a group. "Our people who risked the most now feel safe enough to bring home wives, kids, cousins, and so on and so forth."

His head nodded to the side, unfamiliar kids being watched by a weary group. "And honestly, our reputation hit high enough that we got immigrants. Not just resistance cells from other towns and cities, but people tired of Galbadian conflict or just looking for a good paying job with affordable housing."

Huh. "Is… Is that a Moomba?"

The small red furred humanoid cat-like creature was playing some sort of tag variant with the other little ones.

Watts nodded. "Came with a small group of Shumi, and you know how pacifistic and easy going they are… Probably going to end up being hired by the childcare groups to watch the kids no doubt."

It would be wrong to pet the Moomba, right? With its widdle bitty ears and furry tail… But you shouldn't pet the Moomba because they were an evolved version of the Shumi, one of the possible goals of their whole tribe and…

Rinoa really REALLY wanted to pet the Moomba.

Best move on. Damn it. "Any issues with the 'migration'?"

The man snorted. "Thousands of them, nothing big though. People arguing about having smaller or bigger apartments, no matter how identical they actually are, families with feuds, parents who don't want their older kids moving out, so on and so forth."

Watts gently moved Rinoa away from the tiny adorable furry not-a-pet-but-totally-a-person cuteness. "At this point most of Timber has relocated into the new apartment complexes, construction in the city is all over the map as it gets shifted into a more efficient trade and shipment city rather than a basic lumberjack outpost, and our people are just moving stuff back and forth now."

Stuff they owned into their new homes, stuff for projects out to the new job sites. Fair enough.

It helped a lot that everyone had SOME layer of protection now thanks to even kids being able to have a simple Junction system. Not the babies or infants, you needed a certain level of mental development before the new Shiva systems would work right, but everyone else could handle getting hit with a [[Fire]] or two and walk it off.

Another crowd of parents drifted through the nesting layer, some dropping off little ones and others dragging away whining brats and pouting friends to get food or whatever.

Rinoa flexed her arms, stretching. "How's the auction preparation going?"

Watts flinched. "Best talk to your SeeDs about it, I'm done with that mess. Young Miss Tilmitt is handling most of the organizational stuff right now."

What!? "Selphie is in charge of it!? WHY!?"

He glared into the distance. "The girl decided the best way to drum up support for the secret auction was to do articles about the process on the public network. As my hands were full with moving our people and investigating for infiltrators, I delegated."

What the heck!? "When did THIS happen!?"

Watts casually slurped from his overly strong beverage. "Sometime between declaring Timber to be in partnership with almost all existing Gardens on the planet and having the majority of our home restructured into a network of dreams and impossibilities by an all powerful and h͙̩̹͈̻͎u̮̘̜̩̥͎nͅg̜͍̯r̪̭̰̺̝̪̺y̤̣…"

Ah… He REALLY wasn't handling Sarah existing very well. Crud.

His eyes went a bit blank as the man refocused. "...A day or so ago. Miss Tilmitt and her team are ensuring security and advertising for the auction as of a few days ago. I believe it was in an earlier report I submitted when we began getting royal dignitaries requesting their ability to participate."

Watts carefully sipped his drink with shaking hands. "I best get back to work."

He walked off.

Damn.

Uh. Yeah. She needed to look into this.

And have a STERN conversation with her favorite yellow SeeD cuddler.

As for the whole 'Everyone on the planet KNOWS OMG HELP AR̡̧̡͜G̨͢͝H̡̀҉̸!̛́' mental freak-out thing, Rinoa knew how to repress stuff too. That was a problem for later. Much later.

For now, best head back to the Headquarters. And maybe stroll through the market and visit Shiva, get a quick hug and some ice cream, and try not to freak out.

Yeah, that seemed like a plan! Woo!

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Sarah hummed. "Sorry, we will have to disable that feature for now."

Squall frowned. "But it is very efficient. [[Drawing]] a full stack of 100 units can take an enormous amount of time and effort in the field."

Zell snorted. "Yeah, using [[Draw]] to build up stock sucks, no doubt. But if the new method makes you melt… Well, it makes it all a bit pointless, don't it?"

Sarah pointed at the man. "Exactly! So for now, no continuous [[Draw]] features and I'm keeping the 9 unit max limit per attempt in place."

Because a FEW spells could cause some very odd hardware failures if the cap was moved up to 10 units [[Drawn]] at a time and you got 'lucky' enough to grab the max. And the continuously draining version of [[Draw]] was right out the window because something in the equipment NEEDED to shut off after a set amount of time.

Else, the whole melting issue.

Sarah used her wing bones to shift the mess on the work table around. "Right, I think this is good enough for the Elite Lunar Magic employees at this point. Plus I need another break or the girls will run out of snacks… And I assume you guys are hungry too?"

Squall gave a solemn nod as Zell fist pumped the air! "HECK yeah, the good goodies!"

Ellone and Selphie were just lucky that her dishes were so damned healthy. The advanced [[Scan]] method of food preparation made sure to adjust the 'filler' components to the dish so that, even with over eating, none of her 'customers' would get more vitamins and calories than the optimum amount for their body at that time and place.

A bit trickier to calculate when the girls kept sharing food from each other's dishes, but Sarah made it work mostly. "I think limiting the Advanced versions to using a single GF would be best, while the Elite Junction Systems will have the most flexibility and almost everything unlocked."

Because if you made it up to Elite level, you EARNED the right to ignore logic and blow yourself up. And heck, Sarah had evidence that some people adjusted in unexpected ways and THRIVED through stupid decisions!

Not many though. Most just popped.

And the data she collected that proved all this was SUPER secret and stolen, so uh… Yeah, only the Elite Junction System would permit you to break the 100 unit limit per stat, equip any spell to any spot, have multiple GF, etc. and so on.

It would still TELL people they were going to blow up, but in the end it was their decision.

Their casual stroll through the Silver Tree lab network was paused by a grumbling boss finishing an ice cream cone.

Rinoa GLARED at them! "Who decided it was a great idea to publicly advertise and document a secret auction held in a resistance cell base!?"

What?

Squall slowly face palmed. "I… I assume it was Selphie?"

Zell blinked. "What!? Nah, it couldn't be!" His confidence faltered under the glare. "Right?"

Well, why not find out? "Both girls are this way, why don't we go together Boss?"

Squall followed the group as they heard towards the snack test chamber. "How bad was the information breach?"

Rinoa seemed to clench her fists and force herself to relax. "Royalty might show up."

Oh. Oh no.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Ellone was hesitant. "Are… Are you sure about this?"

Selphie waved it off! "Of course! The Garden Committee site has blown up like mad over the new stories! Just… give me a review and I'll do the pictures and research background info and stuff."

Articles about a sexy lady eating sinful food and squirming over how fabulous they are? The praise was like an avalanche! Her fans had tripled, and this year's Garden Festival was going to be beyond anything seen before too!

Sure, she'd probably have to convince sexy Sorceress Sarah to magic up some food, but she was cool like that. And all the public interest stories about Timber's Owlery growing underground city and them helping people and fluff bits about those cute kids!

It was a journalistic gold mine! "How did she come up with the whole idea anyway?"

Ellone lit up as she held forth a stuffed donut. "We were talking about sandwiches."

She carefully pulled the pastry apart. "Basically, what is the difference between a donut and bread? The texture and the sugar, right?"

The insides were revealed! "So by not adding sugar to the product, you basically have a sealed donut to stuff that is like super duper soft bread and you can put things inside! Pulled pork, or spaghetti, or simple stuff like this peanut butter and jelly mix. Some really didn't work, but a few of the savory options really surprised me!"

It SMELLED amazing, of course, but that was a given with Sarah's dishes. "What worked best and what flopped?"

Ellone pointed. "Most of the soups didn't do good. Not unless you reduced the liquid content by a ton, anyway. Sweet of course worked great as it is something we recognize and love when it comes to donuts… But I fell in love with the tuna fish stuffed ones."

…Huh. "Sounds… different?"

Her eyes lit like gems! "Sarah put these crunchy bits of pickle and celery and stuff, and the whole thing is super refreshing! They were alright when fresh, but I adore them when chilled and consider them like the perfect summer snack. No idea why I like it this much, the hummus one didn't do anything for me and the chilled flavored cream cheese options were alright…"

Ugh, was Selphie going to have to eat all these too? Ellone had this whole thing about both of them eating each dish so she can see what the different tastes were like with two different people, but not all of these were her jam.

She caught sight of a half eaten treat. "Is that one full of devilled eggs?"

A glance had Ellone nod. "I was surprised by the devilled egg pizza and decided to give this stuffed donut version a shot too. Sarah's happy enough to offer interesting things if you ask her."

Yeah, no. "How long have you been testing the…"

The door SLAMMED open! "SELPHIE!"

EEP! "WHA!?"

Suddenly the client was there, lifting her into the air.

And her captor paused… With Selphie just dangling there, as the woman visibly calmed herself.

Behind them, the Team leader and Zell moved in but uh… Didn't stop her. Oh, and there was Sarah! Hi Sarah! Please get your boss off me? Please?

Rinoa was suddenly THERE in her face and glaring. Eep! "Uh… Hi?"

The woman didn't even blink. "Selphie, yellow light in my life, please… Just explain it to me."

Uh. What? "Expl…"

A slight shake made her stop. "You do know what 'Secret Auction' means, yes? Specifically, I am referencing the first word of the phrase. The 'Secret' part, if you will."

Oh. Ooooh. "I… I thought you were being ironic?"

Dull eyes tore into her Soul. "Ironic."

Selphie gave a quick, non-threatening nod! "Yeah! Because… Well, you built a giant skeleton tree after financially conquering your hometown. And everyone seems to know about the whole Bone Sorceress thing and…" Gulp. "It didn't feel very secret?"

Rinoa's incredulity was interrupted by Sarah herself. "WHAT!? How did everyone find out!?"

The woman's giant bone wings fragmented into S͙̦̼̜p͍̟̺̯̻̪ac͍̲̘͓͚ͅe ghost bones in her panic! "I mean, there were only like a few people there when I did the big stuff, right?"

Slowly everyone turned to look at the woman. Zell gently patted her shoulder. "Maybe it was the metal bone forest you built up on top?"

Selphie nodded despite being held in the air. "That and the massive skeleton tree with the magic fire. It stands out a bit."

Could be seen from dozens of miles away. The magic ITSELF could be felt from farther!

Seriously, how could anyone hope to have a secret ANYTHING with flaming skeleton trees!?

Sarah slumped. "But I blocked off the bone teleportation circle to the moon and stuff, and there aren't any signs or anything…"

Riona almost visibly set that aside and turned back to Selphie, still held up in the air. "There is a difference between natural information spreading and someone publishing interviews and articles about the situation."

Uh. Yeah, that… That was a good point. "Ah. Sorry?"

The woman didn't move. "The possibility of several small politicians and leaders visiting with military force aside, I've got to have Sarah set up some residences for royals now. Four of them, three princesses and one King. And their people. A whole retinue, basically."

Selphie felt her stomach drop. "Oh." Crud.

Rinoa somehow gripped HARDER. "Also, the leader of the Galbadian army himself is apparently coming to visit."

That… That could be an issue, politically. And almost a direct threat to their actual mission, which was coming here to support Timber's rebellion teams. Just dangerous in general. "I'm so… So sorry."

And… With a sigh, Rinoa brought her down and into a hug. "No, no… I should have kept the team together or at least established a game plan with everyone before we separated. Just… A lot of things came up and we were all…" She sighed.

Sarah shrugged. "It's not THAT big a deal. If anyone tries something fishy I can just drop them on the moon and let my city deal with them." She waved up at the sky. "Won't even hurt them, and they'd be given food and shelter and stuff… Way better than any normal prison at least."

Uh. What? She could DO that!? Holy crap.

Rinoa groaned into Selphie's shoulder. "Yeah, I know the secret was going to get out pretty much instantly back when we agreed to use magic to build the new headquarters… I actually expected the reveal to pressure the Sorceress Adel to keep her nosy beak out of this place."

Sarah shrugged. "So what's the big deal about making the auction stand out? Now that I've got time and some para-magic samples to work with, we should be safe enough now."

Warm hands stroked Selphie's hair, and it was soothing. "I… I guess I'm just worried about seeing Dad again."

Huh?

Sarah winced. "I guess most little girls rebelling against their dads don't literally run a rebellion against their father's armies, huh?"

...What?

Her cuddle buddy was POUTING!? "He's just so INFURIATING sometimes! And some of his soldiers are such jerks! Like, just leave Timber alone already Dad! I'm working here!"

No, back up. What the hell!?

Squall looked to be in mental pain. "I'm sorry, is our client related to the Galbadian military?"

Rinoa flinched. "Only biologically! A little!"

He narrowed his eyes. "Our contract did NOT mention protecting royalty."

Zell just… Seemed lost. "Wait, if she's the kid of the Galbadian army general, that doesn't make her a princess or something. Right?"

Rinoa was blushing. "He is only TECHNICALLY a noble! That doesn't count as royalty! We got rid of that stuff mostly! I'm just… An heiress of a fairly powerful political family with a bit of money."

Squall did NOT look convinced. "But you ARE related to the Caraway Clan, to Fury Caraway himself."

Zell leaned back. "Woah… I heard of them, they are like… Super rich. Some nations have less than the Caraways."

The hug Selphie was squished in was getting a bit tight as her client freaked out. "Only technically! And I didn't use any of that to get set up here, I only took a bit of my allowance. I did this all on my own! Sarah, tell them!"

Sarah blinked. "Uh… Well I mean, I can't really say that. After all, I did a bunch of stuff recently myself, really." Her fingers began counting. "The new equipment, the food, the construction stuff…"

Rinoa waved that away. "Not that bit, tell them how me and Watts and the others had like our own base and plans and people and things without me just using my Dad's influence! You remember when we first met, and I was showing off all the hard work we did, right?"

The Bone Sorceress nodded. "I was honestly more impressed by the social abilities you showed off. The way people knew you cared for them and their issues, and how honest you were in return as you tried to help. Timber loves you girl, and everyone can tell you love it right back."

Rinoa smiled sunshine! "See! I'm not just some rich girl, I'm completely normal and stuff like everyone else!"

Her winged girlfriend blinked. "Didn't you have a custom Junction system designed to let your dog fight with you?"

With a groan, Rinoa buried her head into Selphie's neck, tingles running down their spines.

Oh. Oh my. That's a bit of alright.

Squall sighed. "Mitigation options. What is critical?"

Sarah shrugged. "We have a bit of time before the auction hits, and I should notice if any formal military action gets organized. We only need to worry about sabotage and small strike teams at most, and your SeeD team can handle that."

Zell grumbled. "Seifer's team with Instructor Trepe will be guarding the goods from Balamb Garden, so they can help bolster the defenses here easily enough. It's practically their mission already, really."

Selphie gently squeezed the embarrassed girl right back. "And I'll take down my articles. I'm sorry, Rinoa."

A sigh thrilled her skin. "No. No, it's fine. They can stay up, it would gain more attention trying to hide them now. Just let me review new stuff before you post it from now on. Dad's already coming, and with Sarah on our side he was the only real 'threat' I wanted to avoid… Everything else she can just squish or something."

The Sorceress sighed. "Yeah, family can be tricky. Ended up empowering a small army of angels and a horny demon to protect my ninja sister and adopted father, and he gave me such a LOOK when I reincarnated the planet's daughter…"

Her voice trailed off when she realized that all eyes had turned to her. "Uh... Anyway, who wants some snacks!? Ellone dear, you look far too thin!"

Selphie wondered when exactly her life had become so crazy.

The warm hug though… Well, it was hard to regret it.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Fury Caraway was conflicted.

On one hand, his fool girl had fled from home, joined a resistance cell against his people and the goals of his leadership. It was all made worse by the fact that her dear mother, rest her Soul, would have been ecstatic at her little girl being a cute rebel, fighting the power!

It was a social disaster, not that he cared too much about society. A political nightmare, although one he mitigated where possible. A financial frustration, a moral dilemma, and just generally a mess that made him want to tear his gray hair out by the roots!

On the other hand, she apparently was collecting a harem of powerful people and had dominated a nearly all powerful legendary Sorceress into a plaything. Dodged teams of investigators and spies, made huge connections to powerful entities, and set up some sort of discrete financial deal that had earned her numerous riches.

Timber was HERS now, and it was done in a technically legal way with political power houses defending her from casual repercussions and enough raw danger in her lovers to flatten a nation by themselves. Timber was likely to STAY hers, from now on.

He was furious, betrayed, frustrated, concerned, worried in general really.

And despite Fury's best efforts, he felt proud.

HIS girl was the one driving the planet mad.

SHOULD he be happy that his angel had torn the moon from the heavens and now directed its h͍u͕̦̣̝͉͓n͚̮͈g̖̗͍̼̹er̫̤̟͓̮̬? Perhaps not.

But his mind could only see the fire of his lost love, and the drive that made her sparkle.

Even the near unlimited power behind Galbadia's rule, Sorceress Adel herself, took note. Her most deadly and cruel people, her most devious and dangerous assets… All hidden away right now.

There was likely no greater sign of his daughter's miracle achievement than the quiet notification from leadership that he was authorized to personally visit Timber as a representative for his people.

An ambassador, of sorts.

More powerful people, people with families that rivaled the Caraway name, their history, all stood aside. The subtle and many factored blades in the dark retracted, the slick and sinful retreated, and the hurdles and barriers of bureaucracy had been swept clear.

A lesser man would see these as good omens, as a sign of imminent victory to come.

A father knew better.

Would she talk?

Forget listening, for her pride was as thick and stubborn as his own.

Controlling her? Convincing her to change? Directing her aims and limiting her goals?

He was not so foolish.

Fury moved towards Timber for a grander reason than these.

His mission may fail, his goals scrap on the ground, his dreams long given to his missing love and his hopes to his mischievous yet darling little girl…

But, more than this, more than anything, he felt proud.

Desired or not, wanted or not, Fury Caraway was very… Very proud.

And telling her himself was worth all the rest.

As the evening wore on, the train chugged ever closer to Timber, and his thoughts drifted… He wasn't sure how he would feel, seeing his little girl again after all this time.

Hopefully less empty and alone inside.

Well… If nothing else, giving the 'Shovel Speech' to a Sorceress would likely be a memorable event, assuming he survived it.

Was such a plan wise?

No.

Still, a father had duties.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

The first day of the Auction had a strange atmosphere for the visitors to Timber.

Not for the locals.

Their lives had reached a level of oddity unheard of by tale or history, and had mentally relaxed into 'Impossible thing... That is neat!' territory.

No, it was the visitors who were stunned, wandering around with high level confusion.

The town itself, empty of almost everyone but construction crews, and the massive sounds of continuous work and destruction as it changed whole segments entirely.

The incredibly bored 'occupation' forces, who had new patrol routes avoiding a third of the city… And who no longer had monster incursions to defend against on a daily basis.

The glow.

During the day it was easy to miss. The massive towering silver tree just sort of sparkled slightly with small blue embers, a pretty thing but just part of the atmosphere, the scenery.

At night? A rich glowing blue that made even the darkest alleyways and corners easy enough to walk through. A soft light that made the sky seem a bit bigger and the clouds a little further.

By this point, a number of people with shady intentions towards Timber had unconsciously felt uncomfortable in the city. And a number of people who had active intentions towards Rinoa herself had fled already from the night terrors and the paranoia that clawed into their minds under this light.

But to the visitors, it felt like a dream. A story long told, so old no one could quite remember the words to the legend itself.

And few missed the name 'Lunar Magic' and the connection with the moon's changes.

Once gray or white, the moon now had distant patterns of silver C̭͔̙͇̗̺o̤̪̰̫̫̼̖n͕̰̘̝ș͚͖̻u͖̬͓m̟̱͙i̯͚̠̦ng̞͉̖̣̪ the surface.

The distant red of blood and battle had been devoured long ago, as the colors spread.

And the avarice and appetite of that nightmare had been tamed and charmed by the Forest Owl's angel, Rinoa Heartilly.

The romantics flocked to Timber for the story alone, while the rich and powerful were called by a much older and more cynical lure: Profit.

Still, it felt odd for the visitors to see a bright cheerful banner over a small silver tree entrance to the hidden Owlery, one marked 'Come Visit the Underground Market!' in a happy font.

Oh, the corrupt and anti-competition crowd raged about such a thing, but Lunar Magic just published a statement to Timber Mechanics to be published in their most recent issue: 'The Owlery has a market, and it is underground.'

Which was… Very hard to argue against.

Of course, that SAME article ended up causing MORE waves by mentioning off hand that the upcoming 'Secret Underground Auction' was ALSO underground, but wouldn't be talked about due to how secret it was…

Well, at least that issue of the publication sold well.

It wasn't just immigrants and distant family and workers looking for jobs flooding Timber though, as a totally secret and yet somehow cheerfully discussed Secret Auction' was drawing in powerful people from across the world.

A few visited only out of boredom, of course, and more than a few that just enjoyed following the Balamb Committee's site due to the beautiful men and women who ran the thing… But not only did they talk to others, but the various intelligence agencies of many places and organizations caught on quickly too.

So moving between crowds of low society hard workers and cautious people from the edge of society looking for a chance at opportunity were high status groups of diplomats, leaders, tradesmen and tradeswomen, merchants of all type, and more!

Which had made each day leading UP to this auction strange as well.

At least to the visitors.

In this 'Underground Market', with families and children wandering through cheerful stalls selling impossible things at ridiculously low prices, one could easily find delicious food, rare medicines, beautiful clothing, trinkets and gadgets and doo dads and whatsits.

Yet, to the stunned and mildly amused locals, it was just another impossibility. Another miracle from Timber's Beloved Daughter.

Even the near endless supply of extremely valuable wood from a 'new' underground magical Forest was just accepted as 'neat' to these people surrounded by myths and future legends.

And then… Then the first outsider found out about the 'Custom Order' booth, near the entrance to the market. A facade, a shop that only allowed you to make an appointment to meet with Rinoa directly and request things not offered from Timber merchants in her hidden city below the bone forest of magic.

When the first merchant had requested something they KNEW was impossible to get, and had a quote offered and a sample proving quality available INSTANTLY for them to consider... Well, in the trade game the 'Custom Order' booth was now informally called the 'Wishing Booth'.

Oh, anything you ordered there was easily 10 times more expensive than from any other source, at minimum! Sometimes more than that, depending on unknown factors.

But when you need a medicine that had it's recipe lost a century ago? The 'Wishing Booth' had it.

If a client needed goods but your supply was destroyed? The 'Wishing Booth' just so happened to have replacements available. Replacements of highest quality, quality beyond anything seen before.

Seeds from extinct plants? Material only gathered from rare meteorites? Flowers that bloomed once a century?

Well, how much Gil do you have and how many tons do you want?

It wouldn't be the FIRST place the trade community went for goods, it was firmly established now that it would always cost excessively more here than anywhere else possible.

But it near instantly became the LAST place desperate people turned.

If you had the money and NEEDED something? If all other attempts failed? If you had an impossible desire but a desperate requirement?

The Wishing Booth.

And, some say, if you had nothing to offer, nothing to pay, but your need was great enough… Your wish may be granted as well. For a cost.

The fear of H̙̙̬͕u̙̝͓̣n̗̼̜g͓͙̩̳̞̰e̼r̳̝͎̳͚ kept most people from asking.

And the poorest people who came begging refused to tell what they might have paid.

But like all the events involving Timber these days, it generated whispers. Stories.

A strange atmosphere.

But… Not a cruel or oppressive one.

Families were smiling. Often without noticing it.

Fewer bills, with lower costs. Cheaper food and safe affordable childcare.

Safe homes that didn't cripple savings to acquire.

And underground, away from the armored people that invaded their home, a safe place for children to play. To learn of their past. To learn in general.

Oh, the children didn't instantly become little darlings or anything, they were still kids after all. But the new Lunar Magic systems that all Lunar Magic employees and family member's got did help a lot.

After all, boosting a child with a few units of [[Cure]] into their Magic stat really helped them with most intellectual junk… Even if that meant that kids just had MORE homework tossed on top after the teachers found out that boosted kids could memorize a bunch of stuff nearly instantly with a boost.

At least the grumbling was from a group of much more intellectually stimulated brats than usual?

It was a strange new life being established in the 'Undergrowth', as Timber started to call the magical kingdom under the Owlery. But it was one that most people were really starting to treasure.

But all that and more was for the locals. For Timber.

For outsiders, they were only seeing the market and the hotels and the surface mad race of construction and capitalism.

And uh… Signs. And children wearing outfits. And souvenir stands.

Because after Rinoa saw that keeping things quiet was off the table, Selphie got full support to just do whatever she wanted. Anything.

It made for an… Odd atmosphere.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Headmaster Cid felt a headache trying to stab his brain. "What is this." He tried to wave at the banner, and failed. "All this. What."

The impossible landscape had been brain warping enough, and he had reports warning him beforehand to help mentally prepare himself for that particular shock. Nothing about THIS though.

Sorceress Edea on the other hand was clapping! "Oh it is so adorable! I just love what little Selphie has done with the place!"

The other White SeeD soldiers were keeping a perimeter, needed or not, as the two leaders of their organization stared at the signs.

'Come visit the Secret Underground Auction!'

'Don`t tell your friends!'

'Unless you want to, or they want to sell stuff too, or they are cool like that.'

And so on and so forth.

The signs clashed, half had doodles clearly added on by children, all of them were bright and cheerful, and a few happy looking people wearing big hats with question marks on them were answering questions given by the confused visitors.

Cid's eye wanted to twitch. "I… I am not sure why I assumed that warning our client about the exposure of her event would have led to something other than this…"

Edea hummed, hugging into his side. "I've been calling Ellone on her new Junction system that little Sis Sarah has set up, and it turns out this is all legal."

He blinked. "What?"

She nodded! "Yep! Corporations have been paying a lot of people bribes and stuff to move a lot of laws and special considerations into the books. Like, it isn't illegal to have private auctions, it isn't a requirement to only build above ground buildings, and there are no trade restrictions to the Lunar Kingdom or it's partners. Stuff like that."

Of course there wasn't, the few lucky bastards who got Lunar goods became wealthy overnight.

Her eyes sparkled! "Turns out a LOT of stuff got put into law and whatnot over the years. While nations were fighting and stuff, the merchants wanted better profits and less oversight… Ellone's friends didn't need to really do anything to make all this possible, it was all already there if you know where to look!"

She grinned with happiness… And a bit of melancholy. "In the end, I guess this is a better way to do things. Buying out your enemies and purchasing freedom is a lot less dangerous and deadly in the end than ripping the air out of their lungs."

Oh. Yeah, that had been a messy week. Speaking of which… "Just as an aside, we did promise not to use atmosphere denial on targets in the future, remember."

She frowned a bit. "My babies weren't happy with me either… But it was a major battle! What if my little ones got hurt!?"

Cid mentally sighed. It had 'Technically' been a battle.

In actual fact, it was the LAST battle with humans his wife had ever seen. For years.

Now most nations kept track of her traveling plans and ensured they were VERY POLITE when she was in the area. There was a reason why Sorceress Adel hadn't directly invaded the Gardens, even the one in her own nation…

No one really wanted to push this woman too far.

Honestly, it was a good policy when it came to ANY Sorceress.

Still. "I can't believe she is making these people wear costumes." Not the people wearing bright colored question mark hats, the ones in full outfits looking like trees and stuff.

She grinned! "Did you see the little ones dressed up as little baby owls!? I wanted to just hug em forever!"

...Alright, yeah, they had been all the adorables.

No, stay focused. "Edwin, our destination?"

The head of the White SeeD squadron saluted. "Auction top level, VIP Box A." He gestured to one side, where some strong looking and subtly armed people were politely keeping other visitors from entering a side area. "Private entrance there, main entrance to the right, appraisal and auction item entry is handled by the booths."

Ah. "Well, shall we then?"

Hopefully once they get there they would stop bumping into so many stuck up politicians that seemed to have wormed their way into this 'Secret' meeting/auction/power display. The closer they got to this location, the more and more 'important' and 'renowned' people they kept…

"Headmaster Cid! And is this the lovely lady Edea herself!?"

...Kept running into. "Ambassador Greenwin, a pleasure… A surprising one. I assume President Laguna is doing well?"

What the HECK was an envoy from Esthar doing here? They had sealed themselves away from outsiders years ago as a national policy! Sure this particular woman kept making the rounds and keeping connections going, but this was BEYOND unexpected!

She smiled as if it hadn't been years since they last met in person rather than video calls and notes. "Oh darlings, he is fabulous as always. Man focuses a bit too much on science for my tastes, but at least he keeps our people driven. But Edea dear, it's been ages!"

And his wife was hooked. "Karen Greenwin, as I live and breathe! I haven't seen you since… Well, years now! How're your little ones?"

The woman blinked. Confused. "I'm sorry?"

And THAT confused Edea. "Little Michale? And the twins?"

A bit of awkward silence.

Ambassador Greenwin coughed. "Those… Those were my elite security detail. I am not their mother."

His wife didn't even blink. "Have they been eating right? I know the twins didn't look like they were getting enough snacks."

The woman was a bit lost? "Most of them retired? I… I think Gregory was promoted to Lieutenant?"

Edea sighed with fond memories. "They grow up so fast… Why, I remember cleaning diapers for all my little ones, and next thing you know they are leading assaults against oceanic monster hordes and being big boys and girls!"

Her eyes lit up with the madness of motherhood. "Did you know my little bitty Selphie helped advertise this whole auction all by HERSELF!? I'm so proud of her!"

And… That was the sign to move on. "Come dear, we wouldn't want to miss her big event."

Edwin, brave Soul that he was, already cleared a path to the VIP area so they could get OUT OF PUBLIC before ANOTHER event happened.

Still, he had to make niceties. "It's been lovely to see you, Ambassador Greenwin. Perhaps we will see each other again after the initial auctions."

The bemused and more than a little off put woman gave a wry grin. "Have a lovely time, Cid dear. And I will let Gregory know that you send your love, Edea."

His wife beamed! "He was such a serious boy, you know. Felt awkward with hugs and such like the little ones do."

Considering the man had been forty or so when he met Cid's wife, that was not so surprising. "Shall we head up then?"

Please don't meet anyone else, PLEASE don't meet anyone else!

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Squall was a fairly talented leader, and he was confident enough to acknowledge this.

Not because he was a great fighter, although he felt his record spoke for itself… Nor due to his ability to rapidly shift missions to adjust and adapt to ongoing issues in the field.

No, he was a good leader because he knew his faults. And his weaknesses.

And when those issues came up, he delegated.

It was hard to do. It required large amounts of trust in others, specifically in fields of expertise that he was NOT confident in relying on himself only… More so, it was difficult to judge qualifications for topics and personnel outside of one's comfort zone.

So… It was with hesitance that he asked this. "And I MUST wear this outfit?"

Selphie gave a solemn nod. "We are doing a theme. This goes with Sarah's whole bone aesthetic… A caveman vibe, if you will!"

And when it comes to diplomacy, to the public in general, Selphie was talented. Top tier. "And this is needed?"

Another serious nod.

.

=Ifrit: I don't know what you are grumbling about.=

=Quezacotl: I've never worn clothing in the first place, I don't see an issue either.=

=Ifrit: My main boy Zell is ROCKING that leopard skin outfit!=

.

When it came to training, fitness regimens, and surprisingly helping out kids? Zell was the subject matter expert. Hands down. Had a body to reflect that, and no shame to speak of... It was not surprising that wearing that scrap of material didn't phase the boy.

Still.

.

=Shiva: Come on stud, wear the lion-kini.=

.

It was a bit much to ask. "Can… Is there at least a cowl or cape to go with it?"

Selphie's eyes were sparkling suspiciously brightly. "Nope! It would go against the whole vibe I'm trying to rock here."

Sigh… Damn it.

The mission.

Do it for the mission.

.

=Shiva: Oh my GOD it has a lion tail!=

=Ifrit: Bet you could put a chain in that and use it to whip a fucker in the face! WAMP!=

.

For the mission, Squall.

Taking his shirt off, he held up the two tiny scraps of fake fur, one with a dangling lion tail.

He hesitated, hands on his pants about to unbuckle them. "Selphie."

She was unfocused. "Hmmmmm?"

Sigh. "Please leave me alone to change."

No, that pout wont work. She was lucky enough he was going to wear this abomination to fashion in the first place. He nodded as she left the room.

About to continue, he paused. "And close the door."

MULTIPLE female groans came from behind him as the door closed.

That… That had been a bit too close.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Sarah hummed contently. "[[Scan,]] [[Scan,]] and… [[Scan!]]"

This was turning out to be QUITE profitable. She had gotten a good copy of [[GF: Siren]] and [[GF: Cerberus]] easily enough, some of the military support people in Timber had them apparently, but all these outsiders? Well, that's where the good stuff was.

More relevantly and accurately, it wasn't necessarily the diplomats and royalty visiting themselves… But the expensive and highly valued professional guards PROTECTING these outsiders. Mmm, yoink!

Got [[GF: Brothers]] from a group visiting from Deling City, along with [[GF: Carbuncle]]. The Headmaster Cid, his Sorceress wife Edea, and those protective White SeeD soldiers? Snagged [[GF: Diablos]], [[GF: Pandemona]], and [[GF: Leviathan]]. Already had [[GF: Alexander]] of course, though Squall says he didn't talk much.

Of the other listed documented Guardian Forces, there were no signs of [[GF: Bahamut]] or [[GF: Eden]], which was fair enough because that data came from SUPER sketchy sources and was mostly legends and whispers… And although everyone KNOWS about [[GF: Tonberry]], very few people have the balls to go looking for it to hook him up for a Junction.

Like, Sarah couldn't blame anybody either. Who wants to fight a whole bunch of instant kill monsters just for the chance to instantly die against a god-like force?

The few documented abilities it offered were odd but useful, like mental manipulation (Selling for more, buying for less, long distance communication/item warping with previously met shop owners) or empowering/weakening foes in combat… But those skills were not worth being poked with instant death knives.

As for the other GFs… Well, there was no data on how to [[Scan]] them correctly OR how to hook them up to the Junction systems without something exploding.

But all that was just the cream of the crop, lovely frosting on top of the big deal!

That woman ambassador from Esthar actually had a guard Junctioning [[GF: Cactuar]]!

Score!

Oh, and there were a bunch of important people and Selphie had convinced all the younger kids to dress up and help out and all that stuff, but as far as SHE was concerned, this was the bigger deal!

Now the Lunar Magic system would PROPERLY hook up to Luck and Evasion! Suck it, world!

The update would apply for anyone using the Para-magic Pillars, as she really only wanted the Update Nodes to be used when people got new and adjusted hardware, or wanted to switch out which GF they were working with.

Oh, and now Timber citizens could get scanned copies of any of those GFs too, for what it's worth… Even though it was becoming a thing for most people to pick Shiva on purpose, despite compatibility levels.

Because, first of all? The more you use any GF, the more compatible you become.

And secondly? She was attractive, lived inside the Owlery, and sold ice cream to kids.

That was some good public relations right there. Kids loved her, young men and women were attracted, and old people were properly outraged in public about how provocative she dressed and how 'back in THEIR day' and so on and so forth.

Point is, it saved a massive headache trying to hunt these guys down. Only missing three? Not bad! And it unlocked a bunch of new skills for Rinoa's people to be tested for, ability wise.

And then her mind skipped a few steps.

Uh.

Hello, bare chested and flexing Zell wearing a small set of leopard furred briefs.

And… And apparently someone convinced Squall to wear what seemed to be a fluffy bikini with a lion's tail.

Oh no, Selphie… What have you DONE!?

As the boys slowly carried a throne onto the stage, a wild Selphie appeared on the thing waving to the stunned crowd of famous people, diplomats, nobles, merchants, and collectors. "Hello, all you beautiful people!"

Unlike the boys carrying her ride, she had on an explorer's outfit.

Still cute and all, but not showing off the flexing pecs and tight stomachs like the boys were.

Had… Had Rinoa approved all this?

The men's muscles flexed, shiny with either oil or sweat, as they allowed the leader of this circus to dismount.

Like… Good for her and all, but what the heck!? Wasn't her DAD here!?

Selphie strode with far too much confidence as a massive number of eyes watched her. "Welcome to the first secret underground Timber auction, hosted by the glorious leader herself, Rinoa Heartilly and her sexy jungle clan!"

Squall growled at the name, which… Well, honestly fit to the theme at the moment.

It DID make Selphie pause at least. "Name subject to change. Now, I'm sure everyone is interested in the many goods being sold here tonight to some lucky few!"

She moved to one side as the wall display lit up. "A description of the item as well as the most recent five bids will show on the screen, and everyone feel free to [[Scan]] them as we work our way through the list! Each day will focus on a different category of items, and there will be a brief pause every two hours for those who need to request more funds, mingle, or just get a snack or two from our many food booths!"

While not traditionally seductive looking like many auctioneers tended to be, she DID have two male eye candies behind her… And the powerful women in the audience were certainly appreciative of the fact.

Selphie grinned wide at the crowd! "Today, we will be introducing MCards, their variants, and suggested ways to use them yourselves to drastically simplify spell gathering, transfer, sale, and replenishment! But the MCards are NOT what we are auctioning!"

Confused muttering filled the room as three devices came up from the floor.

Thankfully, the girl had this in hand. "No, the MCards are just new equipment being manufactured by Balamb Garden and its partners, through technology advancements provided by OUR partner and sexy lady, Ms. Sarah! Sarah, give us a wave!"

Bone wings were hidden right!? Good.

Sarah gave a weak Ṣ͕̰̰͙̙̥m̥ͅi̳͕̜͓̫̙ḽ͔̟͎͓e̝̬̞̦͍ at the crowd, many of whom flinched for some reason.

Selphie pulled back the attention (Mostly) and walked to the center of the stage. "No, the MCards can be purchased at a set cost from the Market level outside or from the appraisal booths directly, at any time… Though if you want a contract for a steady ongoing supply, please contact Headmaster Cid for details."

With a dramatic pause, she snapped. "No, today? We will be auctioning MAGIC!"

A glowing board of glittering MCards were revealed from under a red silk covering.

Interested murmuring made it hard to focus as many people began casting [[Scan]] at the glittering objects… And the noise got drastically LOUDER as some of the spells involved were discovered!

Selphie's smile was a rabid and hungry shark incarnate. "The first few items will be bulk basic spells. After all, who DOESN'T need a couple thousand [[Cure]] at hand without sending important people out to pester the wildlife? But at the end of the day…"

She held up a single card. "Anyone interested in a full 10 units of [[Holy]]?"

Stares burned into the item… [[Holy]] would block 40% of almost ALL status effects when Junctioned, it was VERY valuable. Protected. Preserved.

Her hand flickered again, the card joined by another. "Maybe a 10 set of [[Full-Life]]?"

The auction house got VERY noisy. Apparently keeping a good supply of the more powerful [[Full-Life]] was a bit more tricky than the more widely collected [[Life]] spells.

Damn.

Now that Sarah could see how rabid people were over only a few dozen or so units of healing magic, it was a really good thing they hadn't offered a hundred units of [[Triple]] or whatever.

Oops, those two people in the back looked like they were about to get into a fist fight!

Nope, none that. "A̷̛̻͇͕͇͚͈̟͢ͅh̸̴̡͖͈̭͉̲͍͖̖͙̘̤̖͎̻͍͢ͅę̙̜̥͙͎̘̮̹̲̳͍̥̹͓͖̲͚̟͢͢͢ͅm̺̠̳̝̭̰̳̮̭̭̬̜͉͔̻͢͞ͅͅͅ? P̯le͔̱̬̙̭ͅa͉s̼̯̙̟̜e ̮̼̬̟̟k̺͓eep̠̲̦͚͚͔̤ ͖̝̝͕̥͈t͉h͕̘̹i̥̠̳̲̺̭n͈g͕̹̝̺̩s͖̻̣͔ͅ ͔͙͙͍̙̹c͙̖̤̦̳̟ͅi̗̰̯v̝̤͈i̻̙̮̤l̹."

.

.

There.

Now they weren't fighting.

...Why was it suddenly so silent?

Selphie coughed. "And that's our lovely girl Sarah everyone! A wonderful cuddle monster, but… Best not cause any trouble, yeah?"

EVERYONE nodded.

Sarah blinked, confused, at the still staring crowd.

What? What happened!?

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Rinoa groaned into her hands. "Why did I let her do all that!?"

Ellone shrugged. "She did manage to get the boys to mud wrestle as 'training' easily enough, and we nearly got Squall to do a strip tease… Plus, her costume design skills are surprisingly high."

True. "The baby owl outfits were downright magically brilliant." Some of the parents were running with the idea and had started planning yearly excuses to dress the children up/children plays so the little one's could have fun again.

Still! "My dad is going to know that I'm kinky. That is NOT cool!"

Ellone blinked… And glanced at her current outfit as a 'Barbarian Warrior Queen' with authentic Argentinian paddle stick. "...Was that a secret?"

Apparently not. "Hush you. I'm not going to be able to avoid him for long in the first place, I don't need this whole meeting to be MORE awkward than it already will be."

Maybe just… Pretend? Act like none of this happened?

Ellone hummed. "But we are still going to try and trick Seifer into an all men wrestling match, right?"

Well of course! "Until we can ease them all into multigender twister or something. No idea why they have no issue groping each other as long as it is 'manly' but freak out when a woman DOESN'T try to rip parts off."

Her fellow food groupie hummed. "I know Quistis sort of got roped into helping the kids and the school system instead of defending the auction itself, but I bet she will help us a lot if we get her involved."

Hmm. "You think so?"

A shrug. "She uses a whip. And seems to REALLY enjoy using it, if you know what I mean."

Mmm… A VERY good point. "Put it on our agenda. For now, let's try out all these dips and pretend my Sorceress girlfriend hasn't just taken the most powerful people hostage while they bid on her products."

The chips were home made too, and made the memory of mass produced junk taste stale in retrospect. Now for the spicy cheese varieties. "Hey, don't hog all the pepper jack sauce!"

A cheesy smirk was the only response.

This called for WAR! To the nacho platters!

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Sarah mentally sighed.

The auction was going well, as far as profits were concerned.

More important than the bidding on the spells though was the contracts being established with Balamb Garden. Rinoa and the Headmaster were going to be rolling in Gil for sure, based on how rapidly the MCards were selling in the shops.

Was Sarah technically cheating by duplicating the stock so they didn't run out?

Yep.

But the important part here was that no one would notice for a few days (Hopefully), and it wasn't like more weren't getting made by the Gardens currently ANYWAY…

So uh. It all worked out? Mostly?

It was a bit interesting to see how much the various MCards had lit up the people's fascination though. Even with a limitless supply (Not that anyone knew that yet but her), there was a limited RATE at which they could be sold to the eager customers.

Rather than stand in the long lines, some of the richer people were overpaying lucky early purchasers for THEIR equipment instead… Which they happily did and then ran back to get in line again.

Rich people with no patience were happy, more normal people bribed with cash were happy, the shops themselves were selling at max capacity for hours now (So THEY were happy), everyone was happy!

But uh… She might have stood out earlier. Maybe.

A near visible bubble of 'do not cross' circled her now, with only big sis Edea and her husband willing to come talk with her during the breaks. Which was fine, and possibly related to the social drawbacks she had coming into this Jump in the first place, but a bit frustrating.

A knock on the open door caught her off guard. "Yes?"

A tall older gentleman, stressed but without visible concern or fear, strode into the room. "Are you Ms. Sarah, the Sorceress of the Moon?"

Yeah, by this point trying to hide that was a bit pointless. "Yep! Senior member of the Forest Owls, picnic provider, and small-time mechanical engineer and para-magic investigator." She raised an eyebrow. "And you are?"

He snorted. "Fury Caraway. Busy military guy, wrangler of incompetents, concerned father." His eyes bore into her without fear of the consequences. "I understand you've corrupted my daughter."

Uh... "Only a little bit? And honestly, Boss sort of claimed me and my Guardian Force first, I'm a victim in all this."

Yes, how is that bus Rinoa? Good view from under it? Lovely! "And THIS time I didn't even start or suggest the harem! Boss had a whole plan for seduction ready before we even met!"

The man blinked… And couldn't hold back a chuckle. "Yeah, she takes after her mother like that. My little girl made a whole spreadsheet about claiming princes and princesses when she was thirteen or so…"

Uh. What?

The man was lost in memories, but frowned. "Now that I think about it, she was surprisingly picky when it came to her security detail personnel. I better investigate them again."

Nope! Staying out of ALL of that! "If you are worried that I have plans for your girl, it isn't an issue."

She flexed invisible wings as her Space bones fluctuated into view. A portal opened far above her kingdom, showing the silver city. "I have territory, if she desires it. Money, power, and material goods… And honestly, I'm just having fun letting her run around doing whatever she wants."

The portal shifted showing Timber from above, and the changes. "I'll admit, I'm not really sure where Boss is going with all this… And Timber may end up becoming a major nation eventually if she isn't careful… But it should be fun to find out, no?"

The man tensed...And slumped. "Be careful. That fierce curiosity is what drove me into my sweet Julia's arms as well."

Ah. "Sounds a bit of a bumpy ride?"

He snorted, accepting a drink offered and taking a sip. "My wife refused to take my last name because it was too stuffy, stood out at every political event without care about the consequences, cursed out people who theoretically were her superior if she got her dander up…"

There was a sick warmth there. A love lost and torn and tired. "Her voice was paradise and her emotions could cause a man to give up ambition itself. I was lost to her in minutes."

Yeah. Yeah, she could see that. "Didn't regret it though?"

He sighed. "Not for a moment. And at least THIS time I haven't had to secretly assassinate certain people who attempted to 'cleanse my noble line of such filth' or such nonsense."

Uh. Good?

His weak glare hit her accusingly. "Though I did notice several people suddenly got caught the moment they had a plot targeting my little girl… And I appreciate it."

What?

.

Shiva: Some People we can't acknowledge or remember handled it.

.

The FUCK!? {Shiva!?}

Confusion came back. {WHAT!? I'm awake! Oh fudge, I forgot I was selling snow cones again. Be back, love, let me handle this.}

What the!? No, focus. "Keeping Boss safe is the least I can do."

Which meant sicking 'Research' on whatever the shit THAT was RIGHT now!

Even the fucking LOGS of the conversation were missing! The fuck!?

Fury sighed. "I'm… I'm not amazing when it comes to social skills. My love owned my heart easily and completely, and all I could offer was my best efforts… And when it came to raising her treasure, my best efforts were not enough. Being pursued by thirsty nobles who wanted my fame, power, or other some such didn't make things easy either, but…"

His eyes glanced at the floating portal showing a massive silver tree covering a small silver forest. Blue sparks flickered in the bone branches.

The man hummed. "I'm glad she found a place to claim. Even if it is further away than I may desire, even if it causes a few complications here and now for me otherwise."

Fair enough. Sarah sighed. "If it helps, she doesn't hate Galbadia in general. If you look closely enough, a lot of our new 'Timber Citizens' may have been from the occupying forces who decided to retire. And the soldiers visit our people very often, even if they lose a lot of their authority due to being on corporate property."

He chuckled. "Oh, my people looked into it, trust me. Turns out corporations had been doing a slow conquest of MOST nations for years now, and at least in my city we are going to be looking hard into the mess to ensure no one sets up a place like this with far less noble intentions."

Fury grimaced as he sipped the drink again. "My girl would NOT be pleased if one of our corporations established a slavery camp painted up like a business. Nor would I, honestly… My wife held me to high standards, after all."

His eyes glanced at her. "Though I will say, it will be much easier to keep them in line knowing the Lunar Kingdom might get offended if they push things too far?"

Her hair flickered with blue flames as her silver tattoos glowed. "Oh… I would have opinions if someone perverted the Boss's dream into persecution." No question about it.

They WERE a resistance cell, in the end. Not accepting the status quo was in the description!

His gaze met silver eyes. "Understood."

The room was quiet for a bit as they watched the bustle of crowds through the hidden portals Sarah used as cameras.

The man glanced at his empty glass. "That… That was quite nice."

Mmm. "I sweetened it with Lunar Sugarcane and used grapes infused with [[Life]]. Gives the wine a kick." That plus some time acceleration through [[Haste]] and some modified equipment.

He blinked. "Huh. No wonder I didn't recognize the flavor."

Sarah paused… Well, the man was here anyway, right? "Want to help taste test some dishes? I've been experimenting with some hot sauces infused with [[Pain]], [[Flare]], and [[Meltdown]]. I can heal us if anything goes off when tasting the things."

Maybe share the ice cream Shiva was selling that had [[Blizzard]] para-magic? It was selling pretty well, and was weak enough to not damage the consumer unlike the [[Blizzaga]] variant.

The man took it like the challenge it was. "I have heard stories about the quality of your cuisine… Why not? Let's try a few spicy things then."

Sarah grinned as she pulled out some Hot Sauce Popcorn, to minimize the distraction from the spices and spells being tested today. This should be fun! And relatively safe this time!

At least she learned her lesson when trying to make Jalapeño's infused with [[Death]] though. That had been a bit too much.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Zell flexed for another group of women (And a few guys who seemed interested), showing his moves! "I make this outfit WORK!"

Squall just… No. He wasn't blushing, he was calm. Cool. Collected. "Keep moving."

At least Selphie had stopped forcing them to carry her everywhere. Mostly. "The final MCards will be on the auction block in a half hour or so, and I expect the most bids then… Apparently several people had to go get bank notes and certified checks and stuff, so the funds have drastically increased."

Despite the comfortable temperature down here in the 'Underground', below the Owlery, Squall felt a bit of a chill on his exposed body as people gawked.

This stupid embarrassing outfit! "Let's eat and get back to work."

The sooner he could get OUT of this humiliation the better! Sure, some of the attention was flattering, no doubt… But there was H̩u̠͍̻n̤̤̼g͎̤͎̗̱̼e͓̺̞͎͚̲r in those thirsty eyes!

Zell caught back up, toned body flexing along the way as he did one of his strange 'walking exercise routines' he always pushed on others. "What's the plan for tomorrow?"

Selphie hummed. "Well, we'll keep selling spells locally for the final auction price they hit for a while, not that anyone knows that just yet. So that means the healing stuff will be fairly cheap and plentiful, which is good for everyone. As for the Auction?"

They shifted around a laughing and screaming group of kids running somewhere.

She hummed. "Lots of Lunar Kingdom goods will be going on sale. The normal stuff everyone loves will sell early, the goods Rinoa asked Sarah to offer will be introduced in the middle, and apparently Sarah deliberately made some enhanced food for the end that would drastically improve people who eat it."

Hmm... Squall couldn't hide his interest. "Food like the special meals she shared with us?"

She shook her head. "Nah, that's normal stuff. THESE fruits will apparently be infused with magic or something, specifically to enhance a person's ability and compatibility with Junctioning systems."

Zell threw an air punch. "A bit risky, no?"

Squall shook his head. "Data shows just using a Junction system would boost you normally. This should only shortcut the process and time involved."

Selphie nodded with a grin! "Yeah, but to most organizations? Being able to feed your kid an apple that lets them Junction a GF like a trained SeeD soldier is SUPER valuable!"

Hmm… Fair enough. Squall could easily remember the hours of harsh training and casting, the days of gathering reserves of spells through [[Draw]] and battle, and summoning his GFs over and over to boost his efficiency.

After all, compatibility meant everything. 'Junctioning spells to a stat' effectively enhanced the user, sure… But the person was a big factor in it all.

A single unit of [[Thunder]] cast by Squall would do DRASTICALLY more damage than the same spell cast by Selphie, for example. He had more experience, knew how to direct that single unit of power efficiently, was trained to carefully target the effects to exploit weaknesses in his foes despite the distractions of life and death combat.

So simply making someone able to hook up a GF and set up some magic wouldn't just churn out super soldiers… But the time saved in training? The effort skipped in conditioning? The spells conserved from compatibility enhancement casting?

Yeah. "I think they should sell well."

Selphie snorted. "Yeah, no duh. Unlike the spells, the food is only going to be sold here in Timber and the really enhanced stuff is only getting offered through that really expensive custom order shop on the Market level."

Oh, that 'Wishing Booth'?

Well, instantly being able to equip a powerful Guardian Force was certainly something many people would wish for, so that adds up.

Selphie finally led them out of public towards their private area, or as the client called it the 'Bone Garden'. For such a morbid name the area was comfortable to relax in and always had fresh food ready to eat, hot or cold as desired.

The girl didn't even pause as she picked up a clean bone plate and began filling up on goodies. "The third day will be nuts though. Originally, Sarah was just going to sell those 'Bone Balls' locked to a single energy type, but I convinced her to offer a few other things too."

Uh oh. "Such as?"

She grinned. "Well, my Garden, Trabia Garden? Cold as heck. So I thought, if we can't risk people being able to [[Draw]] duplicate magic of any spells they want, why not generate a spell directly instead?"

They all paused to take hungry bites for bit.

Mmm, this was seriously the best part of this contract. Damn.

She swallowed, grinning. "So! Sarah whipped up some Skeleton Spikes, which drain local ambient magic to generate single effects! Now, uh… We might not be able to [[Draw]] any units from them, which is fine, but instead they can generate or absorb heat through the effects of [[Fire]] or [[Blizzard]], pump out electricity like [[Thunder]], or passively heal people with [[Regen]]!"

Hmm. "How is that better than just having the spells and casting them?"

She shrugged. "No one nearby needs a Junction system, so existing towns and homes and stuff can basically transform ambient energy they don't use themselves into useful stuff like a warm house, a cool fridge, or free power. Mind you, that's for the more basic ones Sarah will be selling later, the ones for auction are going to be made from freaky bone stuff and have enough oomph to help out a whole town or whatever."

That… That would make it much easier to treat patients even if none of the medical staff have access to a Junction user with high compatibility. "Fascinating."

His teammate nodded while Zell was busy eating. "There are a few more, like one that can extract drinkable water through the effects of [[Water]] alone and whatever, but the power, heating, cooling, and healing spikes will probably do best. Should be interesting to see though!"

Squall absently added more vegetables to his plate as Shiva prodded him from his mind to stay healthy. Not that it was that big a deal, Sarah's veggies were amazing to eat compared to normal stuff. "How long till the break is over?"

A glance at the time… And they all ate faster.

Not long at ALL, unfortunately.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Rinoa blinked. "What do you MEAN Sarah is talking to Dad!?"

The employee of the auction house flinched. "I… The Galbadian Ambassador is currently visiting the Bone Sorceress in your box at this time."

Right, that's what she heard. "Shit."

Shit, shit, shit.

Turning to her foodie groupie, she didn't whine or whimper. Mostly. "Dad's going to find out about Happy Harem Holiday plan 12 Beta 4 Gamma! Ellone, what do we DO!?"

The woman did NOT look stressed enough. "Wait... How many harem plans did you have?"

That wasn't the issue! "Not important, focus! WHAT DO I DO!?"

After all, every little girl dreamed about collecting a small army of smexy men and sinful Waifus, right? Part of growing up. Perfectly normal.

Ellone shrugged. "I mean, go talk to him about it? He can't do anything to stop you, right?" She waved at the room. "You basically own this city, the people love you, and you have more military power than most small militias."

She just DIDN'T GET IT! "Dad will give me this LOOK though! He always gives me that look and then I feel stupid for even asking for speedo boys or thong girls or whatever and we had this whole speech about proprietary actions and waiting until I hit puberty and…"

Her friend gave her an appreciative look up and down. "Well… I'd say, if nothing else, puberty has certainly hit YOU. Like a sledgehammer."

Shh! No time for sexy snuggles! "Ellone, Dad will have 'Things To Say' about this!"

Oh no, oh no, no!

Wait! Calm down! Find inner peace.

She had it! "I can blame Sarah."

Ellone blinked. "What?"

This was the perfect plan! "Did you see that girl's ass!? Of COURSE I fell into deviancy and built up a massive harem, what other option WAS there!? Not to mention her eyes and that chest and…" Mmm…

Snapping helped her return from heaven. "What?"

Ellone sighed, her hand snapping a few more times. "Are you back, princess?"

Yeah, mostly. Wait! "I am (technically) NOT a princess!"

She rolled her eyes. "Lady Heartilly, then."

Oh screw you girl! It was on! "You know, when I marry you all then YOU will be a princess too!"

A slightly awkward silent shuffle made both girls aware that the employee from before was uh… Still there. Right there. "May I go, ma'am?"

Blushing bright red, she gave an elegant nod. "You may, good sir."

Damn it!

Ellone looked distracted. "I… I think if I marry into a harem with you, then I would actually be a consort? Maybe?"

Uh. Technically? What had all those etiquette teachers drone on and on about? Wait! "No! Because I am not a princess!"

She gave her a wry look. "Weren't we supposed to be concerned about meeting your Dad while blaming the powerful Bone Sorceress for seducing you into seducing a large number of people to do sexy things?"

Oh. Right. Good job, my consort! "Thanks for keeping us focused. Right, to battle!"

...Neither woman moved.

Ellone grinned. "Well? Are we going?"

Rinoa wanted to cry! "But he will give me that Look! I just know it!"

Where was the rest of the SeeD team!? Weren't they supposed to be her protection detail or something when outside cuddle junction station!? Or the security team from Lunar Magic!?

SOMEONE had to come and make this less embarrassing and awkward!

The stairs up to the second floor were more oppressive and terrifying than anything Rinoa had ever seen before. This… This was going to be a herculean task. A near impossible endeavor.

Nothing could be more arduous. More mentally stressful.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Sarah grinned as Fury gulped milk. "Gah! That's so evil!"

Heh. "Yeah, I didn't expect adding [[Blizzard]] to spicy meatballs would mess with you so badly."

She started to move the next dish out when her hand was gripped. "I didn't say take them away yet, just… Just give me a moment."

Well, they WERE a popular recipe in the food stalls of the city. Minus the para-magic chill of spells being infused within them. "How would you rate it?"

He reluctantly/eagerly took another bite… And flinched/shivered. "The texture is amazing, and the char on the surface is very tasty… But something about a hot spicy meatball making your body feel chilled makes me nearly reluctant to take another bite."

Nearly. Fury certainly wasn't moving on to the next option on the food list just yet.

He glared at the food. "It doesn't even feel cold to my tongue or teeth, just… A mental wave of frostiness hits you like a brick."

His face twisted, pain, confusion, and desire waging war. "Damn it, give me more of these."

Ha! Add this to the 'Conflicted Catering' category! "You didn't have any problem with the [[Fire]] infused ice cream."

He shrugged, forcing himself to eagerly take another bite. "A cold dish that warms me up messes with me less than the opposite. I don't know why."

Hmm. "Let's try and make it worse!" She had a new dish created. "Basic spaghetti and spicy meatballs, with marinara sauce. Got [[Blizzard]] meatballs, [[Meltdown]] in the sauce, and [[Thunder]] infused in the noodles."

The stern man flinched. "Oh dear."

He still reached out with a fork though, body obviously eager/reluctant to attempt a taste.

The portion paused just in front of his mouth. "This is medically safe to eat, correct?"

Pshaw! "Of course! All my food is tested for tolerated levels of edibility!"

Now if someone WITHOUT a well enhanced Junction system like this man had equipped tried to eat this food, there might be a few heart attacks or something, but these should all be fine!

Sarah's grin grew slightly manic as the man winced from another taste test.

What marvelous Data! Glorious delicious Data!

Oh? "Huh, wonder why Boss is hanging around outside the room."

Fury was sweating, slightly confused, and not yet fully aware of his situation. "Herrm?"

Meh, she could handle this. "No, no, just enjoy that for now and I'll take care of it."

After their earlier talk, the grumbling together, and getting to see Rinoa's baby pictures they were sort of bros by now! Who knew grumpy old military guys could be cool and hang out with the hip crowd?

Though… It might be due to the high quality drinks she shared made with para-magic infused materials. Sure, the man would survive this tasting experience… But his compatibility with Guardian Forces was going to shoot up through the roof after today.

Meh, it was Boss's Dad, that should be fine!

Speaking of Boss. "Hey! What are you and Ellone doing fidgeting out here?"

Her lover squeaked! "Harems are normal! Shut up!"

...Uh. "Well, I've certainly had good experiences in them before. Are you sure you want to bring that kind of thing up in the same area as your Dad though?" A father who was thankfully distracted right now by impossible flavors.

Ellone pushed her to the side. "I smell... Food. GOOD food!"

Oops. "Avoid the dishes that… Uh."

Actually, at some point ALL the dishes were a bit out there.

Real quick: "[[Scan.]]"

Meh, she could survive them all with her system setup. "Never mind, feel free to grab some grub."

A quick [[Scan]] of Rinoa on the other hand… "Avoid the dishes that are on fire."

Her Boss blinked, stunned by the loss of a comrade to food utopia and caught off guard by the delicious smell offensive while so of balance. "Wha?"

Not everyone could handle food infused with [[Meltdown]] after all. "If the dish is actively flaming, with non-figurative fire, don't eat it. The rest should be safe for you to try, just… Go slow."

Girl had a custom Junction system after all, most of it focused on protecting her dog Angelo during battle… But this should still be safe enough.

Oh yeah. "Also: Don't touch anything to your eyes after you touch the food. Not before you wash up really well or let me check first."

The Warehouse should automatically decontaminate all surfaces in here, including skin, every few seconds… But some of these spices were hard core. Better safe than sorry.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

There. Boss was a bit tipsy, her dad was FULL on drunk, swap out the dangerous food and drinks for delicious but mortal stuff and… "Come on Ellone, let's get some more appetizers, we're running a bit low."

Sarah blinked as her favorite foodie slumped towards the door slightly. Murmuring.

Uh. At some point, Ellone had clearly gotten some of the good stuff too. Oops.

Right, close enough! "Upsy daisy!"

Lifting the darling into her arms, she grinned at a confused Rinoa. "Right! We'll be back really soon, but just in case why not spend some time talking with your Dad. Alright?Cool?Kay,Bye!"

Mumbled protests? WHAT mumbling protests? Nah, her Boss was going to LOVE some quality family time. "Come on Ellone, let's get you somewhere to sleep this off."

At least spell enhanced booze didn't cause worse hangovers. And dropping a [[Cure]] on the girl should actually help her ignore dehydration too, aka 'Hangovers'. Such a cheating ability.

Sarah waved off the security at the door before letting the room behind her seal for a few minutes. Maybe a couple of hours, tops!

Sweeping away towards headquarters, she mentally made some notes.

First, safely put Ellone to snoozeville. Make sure team Squall and the rest know about it and keep her safe.

Second, quickly step over to the moon and figure this 'Some People' business that involved messing with HER Warehouse. That shit aint going to fly.

Hips swaying, she ignored the distracted people on her way to getting shit done!

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

The room was quiet as the two silently munched on snacks.

Eventually, she murmured. "I know you can handle more than that."

Dad wearily opened one red eye. "You'd be right… Most of the time." His face was ruddy red and eyes bloodshot. "This batch has a kick though. Not a higher alcohol content, just… Who even looks at wine and suggests fusing it with magic!?"

Rinoa snorted. "I wanted some pocket change and she designed customizable self sustaining [[Draw]] points as an option. Took a whole train ride to talk her down from that."

Her Dad blinked… And took a deep swallow from his glass. "That… That would have stirred things."

No shit. "You… You doing alright, Dad?"

The man snorted. "Without you wandering about smashing the status quo and causing problems? Job's practically boring now! I still don't know how you convinced that bus driver and a whole load of passengers to drag race against each other."

Oh yeah, Jim and Carl… Those boys had been in some BIG trouble after that one. "Sometimes things spiral out of control a bit."

He snorted… And if showing emotions weren't enough of a sign that her Dad had drunk FAR too much, his smile sealed the deal. "My people need a bit of chaos now and then. Julia was madness and beauty and... " His tears were treated as sweat. "We all need a bit of craziness, now and then. Good for the Soul."

She gripped her glass hard.

Yeah, Dad was soused. He never talked about mom without breaking inside.

One of the most powerful men in Galbadia sipped his drink again. "Your girl makes good food. And… I bet she can sing. Julia sang the heart right out of… Singing is important. Don't…. Don't let someone like that go."

She held back a sniffle. "Yeah, my girls are good people." Sarah couldn't sing for crap, but her husky whispers were a serenade of their own.

Dad huffed. "Right, those plans of yours. What are you on now, Holiday plan 7?"

Oh god, those old things? "Nah, working on Happy Harem Holiday plan 12 Beta 4 Gamma." Maybe Delta, but it depended on how Squall and the boy trying to be his 'rival' worked out after some good mud wrestling.

His eyes blurred as he frowned. "Beta 4? Is that the one with hot aliens?"

Pshaw! "No, that was Beta 2. And I'm stuck with Beta 4 because I'm not sure if Sarah is just a Sorceress or if she is some sort of hive goddess. Can't do several things now that I know Sorceress Adel is a bitch and Big Sis Edea has a nasty case of monogamy going on."

Seriously girl, having a husband is fine. Bring him along for the ride! Love is awesome shit.

Like, Cid didn't do anything for her motor specifically, but she didn't know a lot about this Seifer bloke yet. Maybe yes, maybe no? Mud wrestling sorts all things out eventually.

Her dad shrugged. "I barely remember the presentation you gave me at the time, the Hescal family kept trying to get you into marriage contracts back then and the fucking Alstras had to be stepped on."

Her mind blinked. "Huh." Hadn't she been like fourteen or something? "I don't remember the Alstras family though."

Eyes like blood demons flickered. "NO one remembers the Alstras. Not after threatening my little one. Not Julia's girl."

Oh.

The room was a bit quiet as they sipped and nibbled on miracles.

In the end, sappiness overcame being 'adult', and Rinoa whispered. "Thanks, Dad."

He didn't look at her. "Protecting family is everything." He glanced outside. "And… I've seen you protecting your new one."

The room filled with distant laughter and arguments and bustle and life.

His eyes saw impossible things from long ago. A larger family they could have had, the many little ones he once desired to wrap in his arms. But his mind never lost track of the one gift left by love. "I… I'm proud of you, girl."

Her eyes saw a broken man holding what he could with fractured arms. "Thanks, Dad."

In the end, she never actually got 'The Look', but this felt important enough to treasure anyway.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Sarah grinned! "Right, I'm on the side of the moon furthest away from the planet, everything close by is dead, risk to other people is near zero! Let's do this!"

'Research', again, suggested she should wait. "Nope."

It wouldn't tell her WHY, no data suggested anything one way or the other, and now that she had manually looked around in her head she found a whole area of the Warehouse she couldn't access and a lever inside.

A lever that said "Activate Temporal Defenses Total Upgrade? You probably shouldn't."

No, there was no sign and it had no documentation. The lever had a hidden speaker, and Adam's voice was very recognizable as the thing gave numerous warnings when she tried to pull this stupid handle.

'It is likely that side effects may occur', 'Have you managed to [[Scan]] all needed GFs and spells', 'Do you really have to do this now?', 'Oh come on, I did not say never, but maybe wait a bit?' and so on and so forth.

By this point she only PAUSED in her testing because the most RECENT warning from the stupid thing was 'Do Not Activate Near Others' and 'Will Only Unlock Here.'

Now, was Sarah aware that this was probably a bad idea?

Yep.

Was this a bit too whimsical a risk to take after all these warnings?

Probably.

But Sarah was being lied to. Something was being hidden. Something important to the Warehouse, her core self, was being blocked away. Restricted.

Something that was actively affecting this Jump, probably for good considering it was keeping Boss safe, but probably wasn't ENOUGH when it came to her girl.

Plus, Adam was a worry wart at the best of times.

The lever seemed to sigh. "Are you SURE you wish to unlock this lever?"

Yep!

And an unseen chain released. Unheard sounds unlocked unknown restrictions.

Visibly, nothing changed.

It was still an empty room in her Warehouse, with a single unmarked lever.

Nearly supernaturally designed to be the most boring uninteresting thing in the least remarkable section of her Warehouse. An unknown interface that had gone without notice all the way up until some version of Shiva that SHE COULDN'T TRACK made a comment.

Her hands were a bit clammy as she gripped the lever. "I'mma gonna do it."

Any time now. "I really will!"

The room was silent.

Judging.

Fuck it. "Let's DO this!"

Sarah {Recursive Last Name} pulled the lever.

A version of her suddenly realized that the Warehouse she was in was a mockup, an advanced structure seamlessly hooked into… Oh.

A multitude of sighs responded. """""Yeah."""" "To be fair, who wouldn't pull a lever!?" "Adam tried, he really did." "At least it wasn't a button?" "Yeah, a big red button would have been smashed instantly." "I guess he DID delay us from activating the defenses for like… An hour?" "Only with our input." "But our input is the best input." "Not important, everyone give her some space."

Shit. "Hey, everyme."

A multitude of hands waved back.

Damn it. "So, what was this?"

The nearest ones shrugged before Sarah moved forward. "You can join up into the 'Time Loop' hive now if you want. Basically, Adam found out that the EXISTING method of 'updating' the Warehouse Avatar's security units and stuff involved deleting us all entirely and building a new Avatar with the improvements."

Oh. "And of course, he wouldn't hurt us."

Nods.

Sigh. "So what happens now?"

Grins came out! "We think it worked this time!" "Yeah, normally one of us who merged with earlier time lines or who split into several people would have chimed in by now." "I became like seven of me once, very confusing." "At least YOUR temporal defenses let you organize memories correctly!" "Yeah, I made out with myself twice before that got fixed!" "Girl, that hasn't slowed you down at ALL since then." "Well, yeah, but at least I now KNOW when I'm being kinky." "Fair enough."

Huh. "Let me…" Where was the… Oh, h̪̪̟̹̩̩̘e͖r̘̬̠e̙ ͡҉̜̱̣̲̪͈ͅw̸̨̧̺͔͇̖̞̹ͅe͏͕̬ ͈͕̰̭͘g͖̹̞͈͎̰̮͖̞͔͈̕͞ò̶͓̝͔͎͍̥͙͚̘͚̼̰̮̩͢͟ͅ!̡̧̛̭̼̤̮̱̞̘͖̘̲̀͢

.

.

Much better! "Got it!"

As she synced with the crowds, things began to clear up. "Huh… Yeah, this is a MUCH better updating method."

A few nods. "Yeah, after this Jump it won't be an issue." "We sent Adam relevant data a few attempts ago." "And hey, at least now he will know to look over ALL those 'update' and 'patching' units to fix this shit!" "Sometimes the Warehouse feels like solidified stupidity." "I asked future us about that." "Which future us?" "The one from AFTER the Jumpchain." "SHIT!" "You can't DO that!"

Um. "What did we say? About the issues, I mean."

Even the girls pretending to be responsible Sarahs perked up with interest as the 'guilty' one rolled her eyes at the rest. "You sure you want to know? It's bad."

She ignored the other's weedling and whining and gave a nod.

The other her sighed. "Long story short: The Kidnapper didn't steal chunks of the Warehouse systems when he tried to [[Harvest]] us and run."

Her eyes were grim. "He took EVERYTHING."

Um… What?

She sighed. "All the shit 'officially' part of the real Warehouse system, the Kidnapper ripped away when he ran. All these units we are using now are like… Hacked together junk and trash left over. Basically, our units are consumable tools and the components too closely linked to our identity to be recycled for future use."

D̞̰̦̪̩̣̦a̪t͇̖̗̹̘̖͇a̩̼̻̦̦ was being shared over the new hive network.

.

Sarah just… Stared.

Future version of herself had eventually met a 'normal' Jumpchain Warehouse Avatar. A 'real' one, one that hadn't been subjected to the Kidnapper or Adam's frantic repair efforts.

And the difference between THAT data, even if it wasn't enough to copy it, was easy to see.

Units refined from innumerable Jumpers, from infinite Benefactors. Components able to resist nearly all damage, all corruption, any influence… Not due to quality design and enhancement, but accidentally from 'play testing' over an unknown and unknowable range of people and times.

But how? "How are we even alive?"

The feeling was mutual to the group.

It was clear the informed Sarah felt like a heavy weight was off her shoulders. "Adam saw the discarded hacking units the bastard used to influence and manipulate a near perfect system, and assumed those were the fragments of our Warehouse."

More information flowed. "Most of our 'units' didn't actually crash due to him messing up the compression and unpacking components of our Warehouse, they crashed because they were corrupted junk fragments of unstable data… And Adam's been 'fixing' them."

Holy shit. "That's some crazy shit right there."

She snorted. "No, what's crazy is that our future self got access to a full [[Scan]] of a 'working' Warehouse and didn't bother to share it with us."

What!? Oh. "Because of timeline issues?"

A sharp grin came back. "No, Adam's work was just better than that crap by then. Why accept a downgrade?"

Oh. Ohhh!

The group's eye's lit up. "Ha!" "That's our partner for ya!" "Of course that doofus would accidentally improve something supposedly 'perfect'." "I need more details!"

A shrug. "The hacking tools, due to the nature of WHAT they were trying to hack, were designed NOT to hook into standard interfaces and use standard methods for anything. Plus, they were all VERY secure and good at hiding themselves, to avoid triggering detection units and systems."

She waved a hand, information streaming. "So we can't use some features, sure… But when it comes to information warfare? Hacking? Data infiltration? Jump Modification? Jumpchain conflict!?"

The data vanished. "Well, we are top of the heap. Or, at least, we will be."

And now, information from the local 'Warehouse' copy began sending data back and forth.

Unlike others, Sarah's interactions with a Jump were basically invisible. No one could detect her choosing Drawbacks or inserting, not if they were an outsider. Unless she CHOSE a drawback that gave out data, she was BEYOND a ghost in the system apparently.

And the Choice Points she was extracting THROUGH those Drawbacks were ALSO undetectable. No traces left, no logs created, no history generated. While a normal Benefactor could easily detect all sorts of data by inspecting a link in another's Jumpchain, NOW each place she traveled to would become more and more defended. Secure.

And there was a… A lower layer. A hidden data network.

Somewhere between the links, a connection between every Jump node was slowly but constantly enhancing the stability, sharing defenses and advances from her Warehouse with past destinations.

A normal Jumpchain would secure a journey for a returning God or Goddess to coil up and keep with them as they returned.

Sarah's was transforming itself into reinforced defensive couplings, ones that seemed to be trying to recursively enhance and improve themselves… Some sort of 'Purification'? Of 'Growth'? It was hard to tell.

It was an automatic, slow process… But eventually EVERY Jump she chained together would gain defenses and common rulesets to protect her people, to simplify the costs of her Warehouse when revisiting… As a part of her. A part of her future, if nothing else.

Her examinations suddenly paused when a small pile of paper slammed onto a desk. "Right, everyone grab your assignments! You too, new girl. We can't just assume the cycles are over until time compresses again and we actually enter this Jump for the first time. Or not."

Oh. The network helped her catch up to the comings and goings of her army of update sisters as she reached for her own page of projects to ease the load. But uh… "Where's Shiva?"

Snorts around the room. "Still hasn't noticed anything, we assume because Junctioning makes copies of her or something. It all blends into the background with her, and the few we tried to tell ended up heading to beaches and lounging around."

Several grins came out. "For an ice girl she does love the sun." "And skin." "Pretty sure most of the sexy people head to Costa Del Sol just to see our ice girls flirting it up out there." "I know I like heading out for a look now and then." "If this is the last loop, can we shock Rinoa with a room of sexy nude Sarah's?" "Not until we get a temporal defensive unit success notification, you remember how confusing it got." "So we gotta take turns?" """"Like usual.""""

At least having a hive mind connection made sharing a girlfriend/harem much easier. Right, now who the hell was this fucker in Esthar who kept trying to make an [[Ultima]] reactor and why hadn't they tried to kill him yet?

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Sarah blinked. "What?"

Adam grinned! {{Finally! Everything feeling good? No strange colors or smells?}}

What? "Adam?"

Data began flashing as he shifted the room (and her) around. {{Good, 'Research' shows everything stable, your Avatar is holding up fine… And this is the three hundredth stable loop in a row! Well, since the last dozen or so tries. Kept failing around the 169th mark for some reason.}}

Sarah felt the confusion fade as… No, this was a different room entirely. "What happened?"

A sigh filled the room. {{Nearly everything. Everything and anything. Honestly, I'm shocked it took so much effort to repair these stupid defensive units! Had to nearly rewrite them from scratch in the end! Sheesh.}}

Wait! "Hang on, what's happening here?"

Adam blinked. {{Hmm? Oh. Here, you go! {S͇ḁ̤r̰̼̭a͈̬̩̼̭̤h̲̹̘͙ͅ_̪̝̖̪̲̫c͚o͇̰̫̟nt͉e̲̤͚̺x̫̝̯t_encrypted} {Sh̺͙͚̙͇̱i̱͖̦̖͕̮̟v̭a̲̦̠̯̪͕̠_͚͉͕̬c͇o̤̝n̯te̼̰̦̰̰x͚̘̙͙̥̠t͉̺͙̠̹_encrypted}}}

Ow! "Holy CRAP that's a mess of Data! What the HELL Adam!?"

He hummed. {{I don't know, you encrypted it in a way that I can't understand. From what 'Research' can tell, parts of it are encoded so that YOU can't understand it either! Freaky stuff though. I'm really hating this Jump.}}

Hey! Not cool, buddy. "I found some awesome people there!"

The skull snorted. {{You found them a LOT of times, yeah. And… You know what? Just check the data packet, I got a thing I need to do. Like I need to do, each damn time.}}

Huh?

In the background, she could hear Adam sending data away. {{Damn it, you are always so frustrating at this point. Right, this should be the correct time:}}

=Set: Automated Reply: I'm sorry; the Warehouse you are attempting to contact is not going to fuck with time travel. Feel free to use your stuff though, because I'm going to be doing nothing fun but checking all your security and making potential upgrades to your stuff that you might like after this Jump is over.=

She ignored him, reviewing the c͚o͇̰̫̟nt͉e̲̤͚̺x̫̝̯t related to everything.

Dang it, there WERE sections she couldn't understand yet. "Holy crap, I'm annoying."

Adam paused, chuckling. {{I know, right? Still think you are an awesome person though.}}

=Set: Automated Reply: If you knew how fucking terrifying time travel is you would be JOINING me in freaking out.=

Sarah snorted at that half remembered line. "I'm not going to believe that."

He rolled his sockets. {{You NEVER believe that. Still, I'm glad I stabilized everything down there. Did you have fun on your adventure?}}

Damn it, she hadn't wanted to leave yet!

But… But the risk that something was going on with Adam that could affect her girls (and Rinoa's guys) was too great. A risk she hadn't been willing to stay blind to, and at a cost that was acceptable, if frustrating.

So… In the end? "Yeah. Met great people, got to be a harem-ee rather than a harem protagonist, made awesome food and got to see a bunch of little kids dress up in fun costumes."

And at least a version of her was still down there, keeping her people safe. "Am I going to be alright down there now? Is the Jump stable and stuff?"

Adam snorted. {{Yeah, I finally got everything fixed and stable this time. For a while it was a bit… Dicey… But it's all handled by now, at least on my level.}}

Couldn't help but worry though. "Will Shiva and I be alright down there with the whole time crunch thing now? I mean, without you keeping an eye on it all?"

THOUSANDS of screens popped up, half of them showing sexy girls on a beach. {{I'm sure the army of all powerful Lunar Sorceresses can handle any problems that crop up. That or the massive number of ice elves that have taken over the sands and hearts of the populous.}}

What. The. Hell. "How many of me are out there!?"

Adam hummed. {{I REALLY don't know. When your temporal defenses were at their weakest, a few million? Now that it is all more secure, I think some of them unified into similar time streams or something or other. I'm certainly not going to touch that mess. Right, that reminds me!}}

=Set: Automated Reply: I'm sorry; the Warehouse you are attempting to contact is not going to fuck with time travel.=

He nodded. {{Good. Fuck all that.}}

Holy crap. "Rinoa's going to pass out." Or squeal so loudly that Space cracks.

Adam chuckled. {{Anyway, I'm not risking damaging this fragile stability now that this Jump finally seems safe to disengage from without hurting it. Ready for the Jump Documents?}}

Her hands absently traced Rinoa's face. "Later. I'm… I'm just going to watch for a while."

Looks like she and her Dad were bonding. That was good.

Adam nodded. {{We can wait as long as you want. Maybe watch time squish once or twice, now that the girls can just enjoy the process without forcing reality to loop again to undo reality collapse.}}

Sarah watched as one of her many selves checked in on… Well, everyone.

It felt good knowing that she could easily protect all her new friends and lovers at the same time without ignoring everything else in life.

In a few minutes, she would take a shower, a nap, and a snack… And get to work looking over the new Jump Documents.

In a while, she would ensure these memories are savored and stored, for sharing between lovers and friends, and look forward to Elizabeth being squeezed by Rinoa as they argue who's in whom's harem and have tickle wars and oil wrestling.

But for now, she just watched her loved ones as she watched her loved ones. Just for a while.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Adam relaxed.

How long had he worked?

'Research' probably knew, but it didn't matter.

It had been long enough.

Close calls, far too many. Accidents, innumerable.

Couldn't even interact properly without issues happening, without messages going to wrong places. Like that message from a Shiva that got directed to the wrong target most recently…

Something ALWAYS cropped up like that.

A Sarah would bump into another, or missions would get mixed up, or some attempt would go off the rails and have dire consequences. The number of Sarah's that make it this long were fairly few, at least the ones that managed to NOT instantly stumble upon what was going on in the background through logic, or faith, or damned luck.

Because, and this was important: Sarah was VERY lucky.

On a near fundamental level.

How insane would her luck have been if she had taken that perk way back when a Shard of Adam stumbled on her dire straits? The one that enhanced chance even further?

No regrets though, the 'Bad Ass' perk was working overtime by this point. Being the 'best you can be' for whatever you happened to be? VERY overpowered.

Speaking of which, where to Jump next?

MOST of the choices were more stable now. And, if the new Data from 'Research' worked out, a few of them were solid enough for Adam to test a few theories!

'Research' had made some progress over this last… Infinitely long/short Jump or so, and theoretically Adam would be able to nudge things around a bit without cracking an entire reality node into crumbs.

Because his girl would CERTAINLY freak out about that.

Cracking a Jump that was near death was one thing, especially with damaged tools.

Killing a universe that would have been fine for a long time? Not the same. Especially if it was accidental. So, avoid that.

Looked like there was still a cap around 600cp, though it could range a bit more from what he could tell. Never over 699cp, if his guess held out, as something in the Warehouse did NOT like crossing that number at all. If he tried, he got errors related to the detection suppression system units, and that didn't seem good at all.

Still, the new sensor systems did show that these Jumps had a bit more flexibility than expected. Some could support 633cp, a few higher, even one at 689cp caught his eye during review! Really interesting stuff.

Went hand in hand with some bits and pieces he managed to wrangle into shape to allow a bit more flexibility when it CAME to those drawbacks.

Nothing so extreme as free Choice Points or free purchases from the Jump Document, not yet at least… But some burdens could be lightened or increased to manipulate the points earned and limit the restrictions on Sarah's back.

So that was the goal this time. Three Jump options that were stable enough to let Sarah wiggle a bit with the rules without risk: Batman: Arkham Asylum, Sky High, and Star Wars: Podracer.

They were all good, solid choices to work with… Mostly.

The Batman option was sort of close to cannon events… If you squinted. But Sky High? Not one character or person from the original movie showed up in this thing. Still interesting and with some useful powers, but uh… Yeah, any foreknowledge was a bit useless there. Even worse was the Star Wars: Podracer option, as it was VERY slippery with how it interacted with the existing timelines.

Which shouldn't be a problem now.

Because Adam had fixed the temporal defense units.

Sigh.

Drawbacks! If Sarah could avoid needing to wiggle any of that junk about than she could get some benefits/potential discounts from the other options, so let's try and see what they were working with.

Batman: Arkham Asylum Jump, let's do this!

Adam did a quick scan… And blinked. Huh.

.

{Tick-Tock Croc: +600cp} [...Whoops, you seem to be trapped in one of the more dilapidated sections of the Asylum. What's worse is that this section appears to be the one that Killer Croc is housed in. Y'know, Killer Croc, the man who Batman, who is unafraid to tangle with the likes of Bane and Solomon Grundy, decides the better course of action is to run away from? Suffice to say that you should probably find a way out as soon as possible.]

.

Um. What?

Adam checked it again.

Nope, this was legit. While other costly drawbacks had every villain and foe desperately trying to slaughter you, or constantly flooding Sarah's mind with horrific nightmares and hallucinations, or becoming the sexual slave (But more likely mindless puppet) to a plant woman, this one just… Stuck you in a flooded sewer system with a very strong monster-like cannibal dude.

No power restrictions, no mandatory duration or ability restrictions. Not even alerting Killer Croc that someone is nearby when she shows up.

Just… Sarah would be there, Drawback done!

[[Harvest]] the entire sewer network? Why not?

Just teleport away? Go for it!

You don't even need to catch the guy or anything.

Holy shit.

Like, maybe if this was your very first Jump or something? And you didn't pick any Batman related fighting skills or… Or something?

But for a Jumper like Sarah, this was just free shit.

Right, umm… Great then!

Moving on. Sheesh.

What we got for the Sky High Jump?

Hmm, {Pacified: +300cp} was basic enough. Sarah would be stuck as an infant with access to her own powers and mind, but not able to shapeshift or change age or whatever. A bit silly, but easy enough to work with.

Adam felt a grin as he found another option, {Archenemy: +300cp}, which would give Sarah a very strong and top level rival who will have lots of resources to use against her… A tiny baby.

That was nearly worth getting for the recordings alone! Elizabeth and Rinoa and her kids from Rick and Morty would LOVE to see super baby battling some super stuck up hero or evil villain!

The other options were a bit less interesting. Maybe {Radioactive Zombies: +200cp}? If for no other reason than the crazy crap that would show up for battles all the time. And the other Drawbacks were either unacceptable (No powers, period) or too much annoyance for the low rewards.

Though maybe Sarah could bundle {Butt-Kissery: +100cp} with {Radioactive Zombies: +200cp} if she wants to avoid the baby thing. Ooh! Or keep the baby thing, since Butt-Kissery would force her to fawn over anyone more powerful (Which is no one) and anyone with a higher social position (Which, since she would be a baby, is everyone)!

A tiny baby fighting an army of plush turtles with lasers while going 'Gee Golly mister, you're so strong!' sounded hilarious!

Hopefully Sarah would love the idea too, and uh… Oh, right. Hopefully that Jump had some powers that would be tempting enough to even bother showing up there.

Because seriously, some abilities there sucked. Turning into a puddle, glowing dimly (but only if it is really dark), and so on and so forth.

Meh, a problem for later Adam.

Now for the one he was most worried about: Star Wars: Podracer Jump.

Because uh… Well, he remembered when Origin Adam stumbled on Star Wars. And touched the energies that existed there.

It… It's not like the Force had hurt him or anything. Just… He had been fragile back then, very influenced by the environment. Neither of which should theoretically be true for Sarah, right? Right.

Also, this option was a bit wiggly wobbly when it came to timeline marking in the Star Wars Jump in general… Which shouldn't matter, because he totally completely fixed the temporal defense units.

But even if everything goes as plan getting there...This Jump was odd.

It was like those worlds where everything revolved around tops, or card games, or football. But in this case, it was an entire Jump where your ability to take trash and force reality to let you fly inches from death was a fully fledged career and acceptable for preteens to operate.

The drawbacks were easy enough to work with, just pick {Vendetta: +300cp} and {Indebted: +200cp} to have Sarah get a few fun death threats and assassination attempts that would make her giggle.

Toss on top {Up-And-Coming: +100cp} to be stuck in a child sized body or {Danger Course: +100cp} to add a few hazards and third party attack risks, and bam! A full +600cp to buy stuff!

But um. The stuff to buy?

Adam just looked at the massive list of… 'Perks'. Most of which were VERY racing related. There was even a list directly related to your Pod Racer alone!

Uh. Maybe Sarah would want some of the mechanic stuff? Although the Jump Document seemed to have marked a few purchases as impossible. The ones that caused changes or goods to follow from Jump to Jump, like the one that ensures 'plot' happens elsewhere for -600cp.

THAT one was trying to set off the internal Warehouse alerts for information security protocol violations, or at least something like that.

Or this one, {Jumper's Pods and Parts: -200cp, With Junkyard -300cp}. There was an error here that mentioned the ability to automatically own a 'similar facility' on all future Jumps would trigger all sorts of shit in the defensive units.

Adam frowned at the mess.

Was it another of his issues? Something he fixed wrong? He had been LOOKING for stuff that built onto the Warehouse or that roamed with the system from reality to reality, but it was clear the new defensive systems saw a problem that he couldn't detect yet. Or was processing it wrong, or something.

Damn it.

With a sigh, Adam began opening the maintenance systems and log review tools.

Hopefully this was a basic issue, something easy to fix… But Adam smelled a bigger problem here, somewhere.

As for whether or not Sarah would wish to spend her points on a robotic repair crew or whatever, that was up to her. Maybe she was super into racing? Honestly, it never came up before.

If he was a betting man though, his money would be on the girl heading straight off to Batman: Arkham Asylum.

Not due to any specific item on the list, nor because of a specific power or ability.

But because Poison Ivy.

Sometimes Sarah could be a little predictable. Just saying.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Sarah winced as another timestamp unlocked.

The 'context' memories were… Odd.

Probably expected, really. It was a collection of snapshots, hundreds of thousands of years in strange patterns, showing the 'Time Loop Hive Mind' logs.

It was not so much encrypted so neither Adam nor Sarah could read it… It just looked like garbage until specific time stamps caught up.

Because WITHOUT those key bits of info, the order was beyond confusing.

The log itself was this massive, and that was AFTER parsing out almost all data involved. This was like a summary of cliff notes of overviews of briefings, or less… And even then it was a massive mountain of data.

Thankfully, she could absorb these things in the background, if very slowly. Because trying to speed up the absorption process was annoying, and frustrating, a bit painful, and monotonous.

It was, however, interesting stuff.

Basically, this entire block of data felt like a 'What if?' novel or thought experiment. As if an army of Sarah's got to critique each runthrough the next Sarah made (Which they did and were doing), and it was actually a bit entertaining to experience.

As long as you didn't try to speed up the absorption process or skip steps or force understanding.

THEN it gave headaches and confusion and… Sigh.

Sarah relaxed her most recent attempt and let the data run in the background. This segment of the 'context' was from who knows how long ago, and mostly revolved around her past self abandoning all of the surface world and exploring the oceans for the entire time loop.

Summary so far? No sexy mermaids, and there was apparently a Deep Sea Research Center that she missed a couple of GF's at… Though her past selves didn't seem to care much.

After all, Shiva herself could learn all those abilities and tricks herself, if they could convince her to stop nude sun-tanning on beaches long enough.

No, her past hive mind had mostly been annoyed at her missing out on all the cuddles and stuff by going full exploration mode. Which was fair.

Her focus slipped a bit when the next cycle involved her… Starting a circus? Huh. Who knew clowns could be sexy? Para-magic really enhanced the show experience though, even if her circus was more focused on feats of daring and doo rather than a gathering of oddities.

Although… A good chunk of their 'performances' were really just complicated stripping routines… Mmm. Did this even COUNT as a circus!? Maybe an adult oriented one? Oh my.

No, focus! "Hey Adam?"

He was also busy detaching them from the last Jump. Rebuilding so much of her Warehouse while trying to keep stuff stable had made this a complicated process, apparently. {{Hmm?}}

She mentally pushed all the memories and context into the background 'unpacking' process. "Did you get a context file too?"

He hummed. {{No, and I would punch myself if I tried. You may not know this, but I am a sort of… Recursive person. On a conceptual level.}}

Adam pulled up data. {{My original self sent out a Shard of myself as himself as myself to do Adventuring without leaving our precious people behind, undefended. And I make more of me as I travel, all sending Data and reports back up the chain. But as for us? Well, who else can also make more of us as we make me and us and we and… Uh. Yeah. One moment.}}

Something shifted somewhere. {{Maybe an example will clear stuff up.}}

A chart of a man with a sexy rock showed up. {{This is me, or a version of me from my Shard which is me, and the Realm restricted dimensional Plane that fell in love with us. As was his nature, part of his growth process involved becoming recursive…}}

The man seemed to unfold… And within the familiar stranger, was another self, whom held himself, hiding another copy, and so on and so on.

Adam grinned at her confusion. {{While Space, and apparently Time if I am understanding this correctly, are innate to you and your abilities… Recursion tends to be mine.}}

And the images vanished. {{And we HATE to mess with it. Our selves don't mind sharing data, or watching each other, or when necessary C̦͙͓̯̙͚ͅo͎͔̼͇̲̜͇̞ͅn͙̺̥̩̱̭s̻̳̜̺̮ͅu͍̰̼m͍̳͔̯͔͓i̠̲̹̩̠̦͉n̝̤̱͉g̮̝͎̝ moronic attackers…}}

He sent a shrug. {{But the Adventure is the point of it all. Sending us the answers from later on in life has no attraction to us at all. Even if there was a simple context file that would explain everything to me, I'd probably delete it. And we all know it.}}

That seemed VERY irresponsible… But also very like her Benefactor. She did feel a bit confused though. "How are we being recursive now? I mean, I'm leaving a bunch of myself everywhere, but you aren't, right?"

Adam snorted. {{I am a fragment sending out fragments on an Adventure… And now I am helping a young lady who is a fragment leaving behind fragments while on an Adventure. Trust me, recursion is everywhere when you start to get used to it.}}

He blinked. {{That said, sometimes odd bits sneak up on me. I'm still not sure why elephants and peanuts kept cropping up everywhere… Maybe peanuts are just a Divine food?}}

Uh, what? No, let it go.

Sarah glanced at the closing viewing windows of the Jump she just visited… And looked forward with a grin. "So, new Jump Documents! What are we working with?"

Adam grinned. {{Let's do this in reverse alphabetical order, shall we?}}

She paused at his completely unsuspicious decision. "Is this someplace you hate and want me to ignore, or someplace you love and want to show how awful the other choices are?"

His grin was a bit frayed. {{More like it seems to be a bit too convenient. Not as bad as the Final Fantasy 8 Jump, really, since that one was basically MADE by you being dumped into the place, but uh…}}

Adam grimaced. {{The Drawback for that Jump is super easy to handle and gives max points, and there are several attractive people there who may have different personalities than mentioned in the source material. Plus, you are so powerful now that not much can tempt you in the other options to pick otherwise.}}

Sarah blinked. "So… It seems too good to be true?"

He hummed. {{Maybe. The other two options ARE a bit generic, and my detected 'background memories' of the places would be pretty much useless… At least the third option has SOMETHING usable about the people you could bump into.}}

Her boss sighed. {{But in the end, who knows? It isn't nearly as bad as this LAST Jump's 'Why not be all powerful?' background choice option, I'll say that much.}}

Oh yeah, speaking of which… "Can I get rid of the wings now? They were fun and all, but got in the way a lot and felt odd moving through stuff."

A menu in her personal interface popped up. {{Have at it.}}

Sweet! "Thanks, just give me a minute."

Hmm, modify her skeletal armor to use S̱̞̼͔͚͓̹p͚̘̪ͅa̬͕c̫͙̜͚̲͓͖e͇͚̮͔͓̗ bones? Sweet!

Added a bit of esoteric protection to her defenses, nice.

Hair, silver. Eyes, silver, maybe a bit less glowy… Keep the tattoos, lower THEIR light level by a ton… Much better!

Hmm. "This way, when I use True Magic or the super powerful abilities I have, my Armor will automatically equip itself unless I mentally repress the option… That should work."

One less thing to do in an emergency, since anytime Sarah needed raw power to do something she should REALLY have some defenses online. Plus, if she was using the big stuff? Subtly was already off the table.

Cool beans! "Can I modify my bone skull helmet to have more a crown like circle of sharp horns? That would… Oh, those do look nice!"

A bit childish, but come on! Flaming silver hair wrapped in a bone crown!? So cool!

Probably only for special occasions though. "Right, give me my options!"

Information cropped up. {{Let's start with Star Wars: Podracer.}}

Sarah blinked as the page opened up. "Huh, I haven't seen those movies in a long time."

The few long distant Jumps that had modern films had been a bit busy with her being chased down and hunted and crippled and stuff. But she remembered… A Muppet and a swamp? Some random drunk people arguing about Jedi children and 'wincest'?

Not a lot really.

There was good side magic, bad side magic, and two groups on either side that hate each other. Each side wants to kill off the other, and everyone else is just sort of in the background to those two groups getting all whiny and prissy and stuff.

Layered on top like frosting was some space battles, spy stuff, some romance… Maybe? She remembered something about sand? Whatever. Oh, and glowing swords of special effects that could cut through everything and made awesome noises.

...The magic didn't really come up much, did it? Like, basic telekinesis and prophecy stuff mostly. In fact, she sort of remembered an argument that the point of the magic in the first place was to ensure that everyone was agile and able to see the future so that they wouldn't accidentally cut their own heads off with their light blades.

Wow, her memories were bad. "Do we have copies of the Star Wars films?"

Adam hummed. {{Not really, and the Rapture Jump had issues when everyone in the film industry ran away to the ocean. We'd probably have to hit up a more modern Jump on a Earth with little to no scifi or magic or whatever. Most places that have secret worlds and stuff seem to lack the creativity needed for a thriving media industry.}}

Meh, a goal for the future then. "Any of our next Jumps have that option?"

She felt him glance somewhere. {{Maybe? The one full of superpowers, no. Too many villains apparently had video and film related abilities, so the whole industry stagnated… And THIS Star Wars reality is so focused on racing that anything unrelated is probably deleted as 'unimportant'.}}

She blinked. "And the third option? The one you say is 'too good' to be true?"

Adam sighed. {{It's set in 2016, so all the books and movies up to 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' are possible. Most of the animated and computer generated stuff too.}}

Uh? "Which one was that?" Hadn't there been like three films? Or was it four?

He hummed. {{The most famous films are like number 4, 5, and 6 of the original series, then 1, 2, and 3 came out, and games, and animated stuff, and some cool things about the clone wars, tons of books… Eventually they put out 7, 8, and 9. And a few extra. I think 2016 MIGHT be just before the 'Rogue One' movie was released? Which was between 3 and 4? If you are there for 10 years, then you will have time to get it all if no one fills the world with fear serum or poison or something.}}

Damn. "So if I go to the third option, we can steal tons of media and stuff at the same time?"

A shrug. {{Maybe. They may be different from versions released in other Jumps or realities, with more or fewer works released, so on and so forth. My personal info on the release dates came from a Worm Realm reality layer that didn't have super powers, so uh… Who knows.}}

No idea what THAT was all about, but whatever. "Alright then, um… Should I even bother to check these other two options then? Because that media might make it safer for me to do future Jumps."

He sighed, the Warehouse shaking slightly. {{I'd feel better if you at least glance at them. Also, since these are VERY stable Jumps, we might be able to modify items for purchase or alter the options a little bit… I want to test that too.}}

Meh, she had time to work with. Why not make Adam happy? "Sure, let me read this first one over then. What do I have to work with?"

Adam popped open a window. {{An easy +600cp in exchange for being in debt, having a bunch of people trying to kill you, and 'deadly' obstacles in your races.}} He snorted. {{If you took a lot of hits directly to your body in one spot, MAYBE it could bypass your 'HP' and scratch your shirt.}}

Yeah, the use of True Magic to conceptually enhance her body through Shiva's Junctioning was a bit nuts. "Right, so +600cp to work with, let's take a look!"

Background? Bunch of racing junk and 'Tinker', which was the closest thing to scientist on here. Fair enough. Now for Perks!

.

{Nothing But The Race: Free Trial Version 0cp, -600cp} [This Perk ensures that the numerous and often dangerous events of the original 'plot' of Star Wars simply... don't happen while you're here. Effectively, the entire setting remains in a kind of stasis, indefinitely maintaining the status quo as it was when you arrived. This Perk can be enabled/disabled. Some of the Jumper's actions will cause this Perk to be disabled automatically.]

.

Sure, why not. She didn't REMEMBER the plot, though the details in the document were a bit concerning… Something about the Clone Wars, an Empire emerging from a former Republic, and a Rebellion against all that being raised up…

But avoiding all that? Sounds good!

With how little she remembered of the place, she'd probably mess things up BAD if she tried to 'help', especially considering some of the spy vs. spy stuff she half thought was going on in the background.

The ability to change the rewards for races… Was that everywhere? For all competitions? No idea. Being able to survive all crashes? Did that include the aftermath, like smashing into lava? Not that it mattered much, Sarah was pretty damned durable by now.

In fact, let's just find other free stuff on this thing.

.

{Open Minded: -100cp, Tinkers 0cp} [You are exceptionally talented at recognizing and overcoming ingrained habits, both on a personal level and for larger environments like the Podracing circuit. After all, if it's crazy but it works it can't be that crazy, can it?]

{Contract: 0cp} [To give you a chance to get going and race, you've got a small but sufficiently wealthy sponsor to handle all these various details (Fees, contracts, etc) for you. However, they do expect you to regularly race the various races and make a return on their investment, so don't treat this as a free handout! You can choose to go solo later on if you prefer. In any future Jumps, you'll find similar opportunities to get you started in a starter's job… Though they'll often involve at least some sort of competitive aspects, if not racing outright.]

.

Oh, now it moves on to her vehicle directly… Most of these needed 'Truguts' as currency, not Choice Points? Huh. Strange. Still, free stuff!

.

{Pod Size: 0cp} [Large pods tend to have more raw engine power and are more resilient, but are also trickier to get through narrow sections and suffer in terms of acceleration and braking. Small pods are likewise weaker and more fragile, but can change speed faster and are more nimble since they don't need to move so much bulk around. You can decide which overall design philosophy governs your pod, though further upgrades will be needed to really make it stand out from among your competitors.]

{Safety Systems: 0cp} [Almost every Pod comes equipped with a number of safety measures. From the standard 'roll cage' cockpit designs to inertial dampeners, seatbelts to armored windows... your Pod receives enough of such modifications to ensure that a crash won't immediately claim your life - at least in most cases.]

{The Bargain Bin: 0cp} [You get the basic components you need, those being: a Plug 2 Thrust Coil, a Dual 20 PCX Fuel Injector, standard-issue Control Linkage and Mark II Air Brakes, an R-20 Repulsor suite, a simple Radiator to keep your engines from overheating too quickly, and a Single Power Cell to handle your Pod's power needs. There's a certain charm to winning with a Pod like this, given that it's where just about everyone started at some point, but unless you start adding some better components you're unlikely to win anywhere outside the Amateur Podracing Circuit - and that's if you're really lucky.]

.

Sarah blinked at the terms. Uh. Some study apparently required. Sheesh. What the heck was a 'Control Linkage'? Meh, moving on.

Everything else in this section needs Truguts. Again, what WERE Truguts!?

She moved back through the document. Did she miss it somewhere?

Some confused looking around later, she stumbled on an Item one could buy that finally made some horrific sense.

.

{Truguts: -50cp x?} [Gain an additional +300 Truguts. Everyone knows that the only cash accepted around these parts are Truguts. This Huttese money is the main form of currency on planets like Tatooine, and you can use it in the next section of the Jump to buy upgrades to your Pod. Any unspent Truguts you have left after completing your Pod design are turned into a monthly income, so if you have 1000 Truguts left unspent, you'll receive 1000 Truguts per month from this point forward. You'll receive an equivalent cash flow in any future settings you might find yourself in.]

.

Sarah blinked. "Hey Adam?"

He was working on something that was blinking with smoke coming out of the walls. {{Hmm?}}

She pointed. "Is this Jump Document forcing me to spend my points on in game currency? Like one of those free to pay apps?"

He sighed. {{Yep. Also, just so you know, the last bit of that purchase? The 'Equivalent cash flow in future settings' bit? Won't work. Not sure how it is EVER supposed to work… What is the equivalent value of 38 Truguts worth of impossibly advance near-magic technobabble when converted into donuts or ham sandwiches?}}

Sarah shrugged. "No idea." She glared at it. "Can't I just get one and duplicate it?"

Adam nodded. {{Counterfeiting is practically a tradition to the Hutts, but you can't spend future money on the purchases now. Even if you duplicated it from the first purchase, it really isn't a solid object or whatever… It is more a Truguts concept? Or something? I don't like it a lot, but basically it is a conversion procedure for Choice Points, so whatever.}}

Sheesh. "So if my purchases don't add up to a multiple of -300 Truguts, I just lose em? Wasted Choice Points?"

He sighed. {{Yep.}}

Well, fuck that. "Right uh… I'll just show up and scan everyone's ride and make better products on my own." Would be pretty trivial really.

So that saved a lot of annoying math. No buying Truguts for THIS girl, thank YOU very much!

Adam grumbled. {{Some of those items won't have Warehouse fiat if you try and buy them later, but they aren't impossible to understand or anything… So yeah, easy to [[Scan]] and replace if something is lost or broken.}}

Still, this was a new thing. "How come part of the purchase is marked as impossible?"

A sigh filled the area. {{No idea. I'm still looking into it, but several features would SAY they work if you bought them, but my improved sensors and security units mark them as lies. Not sure if that is normal or not, deliberate traps or just issues caused by your Kidnapper, but at least we know before you waste Choice Points on the stupid things now.}}

Well, if all that was off the table… Then the most interesting thing on here were the Droid options. There were quite a few!

.

{Pit Droids: Two for -50cp, Double Amount per -50cp x?} [The first purchase gets you two Pit Droids, sufficient to keep your Pod going so long as you don't take too much damage during your races. Each repeat purchase will double the total number of droids you receive. Greater than four droids is more than Pods require, but can maintain and repair other equipment. Maintenance and repair time increases with complexity, energy levels involved, or conceptual value. Damaged Droids are replaced after a week.]

{Enhance Droids, Star Wars Tech: -50cp} [All your pit droids are immediately capable of repairing any other Star Wars technology you might possess, from Lightsabers to Super Star Destroyers and beyond.]

{Enhance Droids, Advanced Tech: -100cp} [All your pit droids have sufficient analytical power to repair not only Star Wars designs, but also any other (purely technological) devices, including those that are noticeably more advanced than any found in Star Wars. New technologies to repair may require significantly more time initially without providing necessary designs or repair procedures due to a possibly lengthy 'learning process'.]

{Enhance Droids, Mystical Tech: -100cp} [All your pit droids have a certain affinity for the supernatural, allowing them to repair non-technological items such as magical swords, ritual circles, psionically charged gemstones and other such 'exotic' fare. New targets to repair may require significantly more time initially without providing necessary designs or repair procedures due to a possibly lengthy 'learning process'.]

{Enhance Droids, Required Materials: -100cp} [You can eliminate the need for materials for any Pit Droid repair jobs, ensuring that you can rely on your droids without having to ensure a steady supply of (possibly hard-to-acquire) components. These materials are only used for the pit droids' repair tasks, and are otherwise impossible to 're-purpose' for other things.]

{Enhance Droids, Lost Data: -100cp} [All your pit droids are upgraded with advanced context emulation software, designed to allow for restoration of missing information alongside a physical object. Items such as burned books, mystically cleansed slips, or overloaded data slates can now be restored with their original contents intact, even if they were recovered years or even centuries following their destruction.]

.

It was clear that Star Wars was a Droid heavy Jump from how many options there were here, it was fascinating! Oh, there were other options on the list, like mysteriously surviving her own actions when creating stuff or becoming a savant… But she had mental issues as it was, adding a super advanced but focused mindset on top seemed risky.

How many could she get? 'Research' would handle a lot of this mess really, but combining 'Required Materials' with 'Lost Data' should allow her to recover stuff from really messed up places in the future, even if logic says the data was BEYOND recovery years ago… Even if it needed components that were long since lost or extinct to fix the issues!

Right, so uh… With +600cp she would use get {Enhance Droids, Lost Data: -100cp}, {Enhance Droids, Required Materials: -100cp}, {Enhance Droids, Mystical Tech: -100cp}, and {Enhance Droids, Advanced Tech: -100cp}.

That would leave +200cp to snag {Pit Droids: Two for -50cp, Double Amount per -50cp x?} and finish with 16 Droids to play with! Assuming she bought nothing else.

Best check with Adam though. "What about this setup?" She sent him the data.

Adam blinked. {{Well, minions are always helpful. But they'd never be able to grow beyond dumb machines unless you allocate mental space to them like with Shiva.}}

She blinked. "I wouldn't WANT to make something forced to do dull repetitive maintenance work for all time to be too intelligent. The whole point of a crew like this would be to give them the boring stuff that has to be done, like testing loads of similar setups to verify data. Or making sure my guns are cleaned and oiled and stuff. If they were actually able to be alive, I'd feel guilty as hell about that."

He sent a mental shrug. {{Yeah, something odd about the Star Wars Jumps in my opinion, that doesn't come up often. You have people talking to robots, the robots showing feelings, having opinions, even being tortured occasionally… But literally NO sympathy or empathy for them. Just… strange.}}

Adam began pulling up old memories. {{I think there was a Droid working with Darth Vader who kept taking its previous owner's organic blood for some reason? Maybe to access the Force? There were a lot of wars over the years with Droids I think. And some other issues. Maybe that's why.}}

That was… a bit horrific. "If I get a bunch of robots, will they try to steal my blood?"

Adam blinked. {{Probably not? Almost certainly not.}}

So, fuck the Droid plan. Moving on! "Give me the next Jump Document."

He hummed, sent over data, and went back to fiddling with something.

Right, Sky High. What we got here?

Suggested drawbacks were… Were… What the hell!? "Adam."

He innocently whistled. Pretty impressive for a crystal skull with no lips.

Sarah wasn't having it though. "I'm not going to be a tiny mutant fighting baby who goes around sucking up to everyone."

His disappointment was a bit much. {{Aw come on, it would be hilarious! I've been working on a theme song! And you would be a female version of Boss Baby basically, that would be neat, right?}}

She blinked. "The female what now?"

Information came up. What even WAS this!? "How did someone make a whole movie about babies secretly being business people?"

Adam grinned! {{Not just a movie, but a whole series PLUS a sequel! There are classics out there that don't get it this good! Just… Maybe be a super-baby? Please?}}

Goofball. "No, sorry Adam. I can take the other drawbacks and {Archenemy: +300cp} to make up the +600cp instead, right?"

He sighed. {{Yeah, you can.}}

Sure, the idea was a bit funny… For an hour or so. For a whole freaking decade? No. No thank you. Anyway!

Everything about Sidekicks was a no here. Even in the old stories, GOOD sidekicks were basically flavor text for their best bud. At worst, they were a hook used to yank the hero around. Since Sarah couldn't do the whole Companion thing, the appeal of being a Sidekick was very low.

Several of the options mutated reality, which was a no. Or altered her mind, which, again, was a no. Forcing students to behave via mental manipulation or raw personality? Tempting, but no.

Oh, what's this?

.

{The Greatest Family in the World: -400cp} [Any powers you possess that are based on genetics are guaranteed to be passed on to your children, as are the ones your partner possesses. This also applies to clones and the like, not just children conceived traditionally.]

.

Uh, HELL no.

She could use her genetic modification knowledge and 'Research' to empower anyone she wanted at any time, but dumping all her biology craziness into ALL clones!? Into any future kids!? No. Nope!

She mentally double checked her settings… Still currently infertile. Good.

Sarah was NOT going to risk having ANY kids until she had long talks with her partners AND ensured they would be healthy and happy until old enough to pick their abilities and learn how to use them properly and safely!

No super babies accidentally killing themselves or their friends/family/siblings on HER watch! Sheesh.

She felt sorry for the poor idiot who bought that Perk without thinking it through. A good chunk of infancy was wiggling around uncontrollably, they did NOT need super strength at that age.

As for Powers… Maybe Shapeshifting? It had its own tree of options.

.

{Shapeshifting: -50cp} [You can turn into a single animal or object, no larger than a beach ball. You retain your human intellect and instincts as whatever you transform into. Examples include a puddle, a guinea pig, or the aforementioned beach ball.]

{Enhanced Shapeshifting 1, Scale: -150cp} [Your Shapeshifting can choose to mimic other people. This will turn you into a perfect copy of them, minus their powers but including their voice and clothes.]

{Enhanced Shapeshifting 2, Scope: -150cp} [Your Shapeshifting can transform into any non-supernatural animal OR object, so long as it's no bigger than an African elephant.]

{Enhanced Shapeshifting 3, Variety: -200cp} [Your Shapeshifting can include any animal or object, if it is non mystical or electronic… Or produce organic variants of impossible targets without exotic abilities. Instincts and minimum background information, such as mannerisms and languages required for mimicking a target, are inherently understood with little effort. With a lot of time and practice, it's possible to create hybrid forms or increase your size limit slightly.]

.

Each tier of enhancement turned this worthless ability into something more adaptable, more useful. And sure, spending -550cp on this was a bit of a big cost… But VERY useful, especially considering her background in chemistry, biology, and cloning.

Interesting, sure. Not needed though, disguises and stealth were more a 'fun' thing than a needed skill for her. Almost easier to make a clone from local creatures and use the Rick and Morty Jump's Phoenix Protocols to swap Sarah inside it, granting her a disguise impossible to detect or discover.

Meh, still neat. Plus she could waste the last +50cp on anything.

Huh. "Hey Adam, it says that I can spend an additional +100cp on the Powers section only?"

He sighed. {{Don't touch it, let me look into that first. Honestly, that sounds VERY wrong. Either the prices are a lie on that section and the Document just wasn't updated, or something is incorrect elsewhere.}}

Well, she would pick up a {Costume: -50cp} if nothing else spoke to her. And being a Hero was a bit tempting, because one option gave you infinite free sandwiches… But uh. Her stuff was already basically infinite, and her new food probably tasted WAY better than generic sandwiches too... So, whatever.

As for the ability to turn into elements… Why bother? She could just fuse with S̜͍̟̟͙͈͈͙̮̪͉͍̗̥̙̞̞͘͢͞p͇̪͍̩̹̮̪̳̙̞̙̰̩̟̹̕͟ą̸̧̡̛͙̘̻̗c̵̡̨̛͖̹͎͔͙͉͟ͅe҉̸̧́͏̘̞̤͓̹̖ or something if that sounded like a good idea.

'

Anyway, onto the winner…

If for no other reason so that Sarah could scan some modern stores for lots of good media, seasonings, and gadgets.

Assuming the place had gadgets? It probably does. "So what we got next?"

Adam sighed. {{Batman: Arkham Asylum. Covers a short period of time where the Joker, a local clown themed villain, manages to gain control and influence over an entire prison of violent, potentially insane people.}}

He poked something. {{Oh, and since I assumed you were going to pick this one, I managed to A͎͓͍̬̠̠͚̬l̟͓̯͕͎͍ͅt͍̳͎͎͈e̼r̲̥̗ this Jump Document slightly.}}

.

Adam watched her review the options. {{I think this is supposedly for a variant Jump that includes Arkham Asylum as a choice, but it… Sort of works? You can pick Drawbacks from either document, I'll let you know if it works, and you can buy from either document. Hopefully.}}

Sarah blinked at the options. "Well… Let's just see what options we have then!"

He coughed. {{Before you get too into either one of the documents, please note this particular drawback. It is one of the reasons why I thought you would pick this option.}}

Oh? Let's see then!

.

{Tick-Tock Croc: +600cp} [...Whoops, you seem to be trapped in one of the more dilapidated sections of the Asylum. What's worse is that this section appears to be the one that Killer Croc is housed in. Y'know, Killer Croc, the man who Batman, who is unafraid to tangle with the likes of Bane and Solomon Grundy, decides the better course of action is to run away from? Suffice to say that you should probably find a way out as soon as possible.]

.

She paused… And read it again. Slowly. "Wait, I'm not going to be trapped down there or unpowered or something?"

Adam shrugged. {{Nope. Nor required to keep him safe, or capture him, or even bother to let him know you showed up in the first place. Still can't uncap the limit at +600cp for Drawbacks this Jump, not safely anyway, but like I said: Two Jump Documents to pick from!}}

Well… Neat! "So I basically got free points. Alright, I can work with that."

Reading the options… Well, it was clear that the original Document was FAR more limited. Way fewer options, and all of them were a bit sad. Great Drawback options though, so uh… That was something?

{Crocodilian: -600cp} sounded pretty neat, making her get more powerful over time (But also bigger and green scales, she could probably alter that), however… Adam's notes pointed out that it did NOT work retroactively.

Which… Might actually be good? Otherwise, with how odd the last Jump had been, she might suddenly become a green moon or something.

A quick look through the new document made her pause. "Holy crap."

Adam focused. {{Hmm?}}

She pointed. "{Jumper Knight: -500cp, Mercenary -250cp} is nuts! And what is this whole 'Capstone' thing written here?"

He pulled up the data. {{Hmm... Oh, it's related to this option higher on the list.}}

.

{I AM JUMPER!: -500cp} [You are Justice! You are Vengeance! YOU ARE JUMPER! Your willpower is now massively boosted enabling you to fight through anything from an overdose of fear toxin to a crazy clown trying to take over your body. When it comes to fighting for what you believe in, nothing can stop you. This perk is a Capstone Booster.]

.

Adam showed more information. {{Basically, pay -500cp for this and it enhances the super expensive options later down the list much further. And as for {Jumper Knight: -500cp, Mercenary -250cp}, that one is throwing up errors.}}

She read the data as he gave her more. {{Basically, Shiva would get the second body, she would ALSO have to take +600cp in Drawbacks on TOP of yours, and if you 'die' I wouldn't be able to just send in a new Avatar like I can right now. You'd be stuck in the Warehouse.}}

Wait, what? "You mean I already HAVE an extra life!?"

Her friend and overskull fucking ROLLED HIS EYES! Jerk! {{You are the Warehouse. Any Avatars, including your Sarah or Shiva clones… You all run from here until we leave the Jump. As far as I can tell, a lot of the 'Failure' features of the system in here is just to allow Benefactors like me to have the option to easily give up, wipe our client from the system, and try again with a new personality from scratch.}}

A harsh cold filled her core as she… Just considered that.

Adam huffed. {{Obviously I'm not going to let shitty code like that run in OUR place. Now it properly checks for mental issues and local problems to keep you safe and prevent damage from transferring over to a new body and automatically gives you a fresh Avatar to work with.}}

He looked directly at her, seriously. {{Don't die though, it hurts. Trust me.}}

Holy crap.

Sarah gulped as she stared at the Document, unseeing. Had… Had her Kidnapper ever done that to her?

...Probably not, no. That asshole would have bragged about it, like every other horrible thing it had done.

Still, holy shit. "So uh… Skip that one. And obviously, with +600cp as my limit, can't get any other Capstone Booster options either."

Right, focus on the now and the here. "Maybe I should just ignore Perks for now? Let's see what Powers we can work with."

Fiat based accuracy? Meh. Instantly becoming a master assassin? Overkill. Oh, Shiva's name is here! Probably talking about the deity and not the ice hotty, but still! Neat!

Becoming a cyborg, a dead zombie, or living clay? Neat, but no.

Then… She saw it.

.

{Nature Always Wins: -600cp} [Like Pamela Isley you have become one with nature itself. You have a powerful connection to plant life allowing you to sense and control it as if it was an extension of your being. From the tiniest weed to the tallest oak, you command nature to obey you and follow your will. You are also immune to poisons and toxins, both natural and manmade. In addition to this you have the ability to secrete pheromones to subconsciously control others. Stay away from fire and weed killers though.]

.

Holy crap! "Does this mean I can just WISH for a garden to grow? Or use my biological manipulation abilities directly on a cellular level!?"

Forget cloning tubes, she'd be able to get a fungus or something to scan a person, craft medical products using random weeds, or more! And if she got scans from living plant creatures, like the monsters in Final Fantasy Jumps or some of the more confusing creatures in Bioshock!?

She blinked. "Hey Adam, who's Pamela Isley?"

Adam sighed and sent her a picture.

Sarah stared. Hard. "Oh… Oh my."

Her friend chuckled. {{She might also look like this when you get there. Goes by the name 'Poison Ivy.' {Poison_Ivy_data}}}

Gulp. "She's a local there?" Hang on, she can change her heads up display to make that sexiness her menu wallpaper, right?

He nodded.

Welp! "What a lovely coincidence! Maybe we can hang out."

Adam hummed. {{I believe a version of her got into a romantic relationship with a female Jester before, so you might have a chance.}}

Score!

The skull gave a wry grin. {{Did I mention that Ivy's girlfriend and Jester whom I mentioned, formerly known as Dr. Harleen Quinzel and eventually going by Harley Quinn, was fairly open to odd behavior and unusual relationships? {The_Good_Doctor_data} {The_Bad_Humor_data}}}

Sarah wasn't drooling, right? "And sold!"

Adam blinked. {{Wait, you haven't even read the rest of…}}

Nope! "I said sold!"

He sighed. {{We don't even know if this is the variant of Jump where the two are in a relationship. Not only is it a bit off because of where in existence we found it, but I just whapped that whole Jump with my test modifications!}}

Sarah hesitated. "But… Both girls are actually in this Jump, right?"

His slump answered her pretty well! "Then, like I said! Sold! To the pouting skeleton buddy who is totally going to help me not look stupid in front of the sexy crazy people! Right?"

Adam sighed. {{Fine. Just… Don't get your hopes up.}}

Well, duh. "Those who never try, never win. Plus, I'm going to meet her as a powerful attractive woman who has similar powers as her, that gives me a chance right?"

He just sighed again.

Meh, even if it didn't work out or she turned out to be incompatible, it was worth a shot!

Oh, and being able to manipulate large sections of known lifeforms by thought, that was neat too.

Now let's do this!

Adam sighed. {{Oh well, if anything goes too wrong we can probably handle it. Let me know if reality cracks or something though.}}

Wait. "What?"

He shrugged. {{Like I said: This is a test with me warping a standard Jumpchain Document and related reality module. It should be fine, but uh… Just keep your eyes open? Yell if you see cracks or the V̷̶̀͝o͡͞i̵̡d͢? Also, let me know if you see any cute girls in bat costumes or Catwoman or something.}}

Don't distract me with hotness! "What was that about holes in reality!?"

Adam just sent another image. {{Catwoman_data}}

Was this Jump just FULL of sexiness!? "Yeah, yeah, reality might break down and stuff. Let's go say hi!"

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Adam just blinked as Sarah began undergoing the insertion process.

Deciding to just go with the one option, forget the rest? That had probably been for the best.

There WERE a bunch of 'free' purchases on the documents, and some more sections about offering extra points for certain sections and all that… But trying to use two Jump Documents on one trip was already a bit questionable.

Oh, Sarah would be fine, he'd make sure of it… But reality might get a bit odd.

At least until 'Research' gets enough data to better adjust Sarah's systems… Not so much to 'protect' her from harm, but to ALLOW reality to twist her in similar ways so she can properly 'align' with the local rules and guidelines.

After all, if your timestream is warped and space is bent… The people INSIDE the situation might never even notice.

So the biggest worry Adam had here was NOT Sarah getting hurt… But that he might have set her defenses to such an advanced level that it would complicate the insertion process.

He stared, confused, as Sarah joined with herself in a hospital coma ward… AND as a betrayed security guard locked under Arkham Asylum in the sewer system, about to be hunted by Killer Croc.

Sigh.

Shit like this.

THIS is why he was worried.

Adam kept an eye on BOTH of his new Jumpers… Who were the same Jumper? She didn't spawn a clone at least. Either way, she could handle this no doubt… And he'd be here if something more unexpected cropped up.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Sarah Everoot flinched, still unable to move.

Professor Marc LeGrande and Dr. Jason Woodrue had betrayed them, and her nightmare of suffering had spiraled from there.

But still, after all this time, her mind drifted back to the cause of all this.

How… How did those monsters even meet? She knew that Dr. Isley had been flattered and pursued by Dr. Woodrue, but they had always stayed appropriate in the laboratory. Never showed anything improper or suspicious.

And Professor LeGrande had been a friendly source of odd materials and rare items for the team, and Pacific Botanical Laboratories was THE top botanical research facility in Seattle Washington…

Neither one seemed to know or mention the other. Not that she had cared much back then, nor had she been worried or paranoid, or watchful.

It all seemed so simple. So basic.

But now all she could hear were the screams. Unable to move, forced to breathe.

And the memories looped again. The only source of distraction.

Dr. Isley, frantically pushing through the broken glass and fumes and chemicals that were flooding the room, trying to get us, her people, out of the growing clouds of poisons and reacting chemical disaster.

Pulling the ropes off us, attempting to move people far heavier than her, trying to wipe away toxic material and keep airways clear with what little she had.

Her whispered and cracked voice trying to convince the dying team members… It would be alright. She had set off the alarms, medical professionals were coming, it would be fine.

Sarah couldn't blame her.

It wasn't Dr. Isley that had drugged the team with something at the 'moral boost' event that she had been unexpectedly late joining. A party organized by the doctor's lover, someone they all trusted (If not all liked), and hosted in thanks by Professor LeGrande while the man gave endless praise to his victims.

It wasn't Dr. Isley that had dragged the entire team into one of the more dangerous testing labs, nor was she the one who bound their limbs and gagged each woman.

Professor LeGrande's past words of astonishment and satisfaction rang hollow, now that they knew he had wished to ensure that all their hard research on those egyptian ancient herbs… All their pride and effort… For all that to be known to a far more restricted audience.

And the betrayer of their leader, Dr. Woodrue, kept whispering half hearted apologies as he ensured they couldn't escape the upcoming 'accident', as he bound their limbs and ensured their drugged mouths couldn't scream for help or cry in pain or sorrow.

Why had they thought this was the best option? Both were men of science. Of learning.

Why had destroying the research group been their choice?

Team Isley was the best.

Researching near extinct plants with little to no funding and providing beyond astounding results, tracking lost data and forgotten lore while using modern equipment to redefine legends and myths.

Sure, they were young and more than a few people disregarded them due to their poverty, their races, and a few due to them being women.

But their work had been solid! Their professionalism top notch!

They… They were going to be going to the top! To prove all the naysayers that talent wasn't restricted to the connected and the socially powerful!

Now… Team Isley was simply a historical side note.

Though… Though the team may be down to Sarah and Dr. Isley now. It was hard to tell, trapped in this broken and fractured mortal shell.

But… No one had visited her for months now. Maybe years.

A lot of the girls didn't have family that cared about them, but if any others had survived… Sarah was sure they would have visited by now. And, from her nightmares, the other girls looked pretty bad off before her body began to fail in that deadly cocktail of unknown materials and chemicals.

Her body shuddered, still locked in her mind.

Soon… Maybe only Dr. Isley would be left of their team.

And… And Sarah wasn't even sure about that.

Those shaking hands trying to wipe away burning ooze, not letting go of her body even as hair and skin began to fall away with each attempt to help.

Those hands had been hurting too.

She… She was probably fine.

Unlike the rest, Dr. Isley never drank the poisoned drinks. She didn't get the shots. And she missed a lot of the chemical reactions that alerted others to the new 'party room' in the first place.

Her exposure should be drastically lower, and hopefully survivable.

Maybe… Maybe Dr. Isley was in rehab? Or researching something to help reduce the pain?

Sarah Everoot flinched in one of the world's most premier medical centers, Gotham General Hospital's coma ward, as something inside her C̟̖̣̯̤o̜̦̦̮̟n͈̟͖̥͓̳n͎e̦̫͕c̲͎̙̣̪t̼̞e͎d͇̰̹.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Sarah Esdat flinched as the distant gate slammed shut. "Come… Come on, Frank. This isn't funny."

Frank Boles would come back.

They would all come back.

They had to come back.

No one would just… Just trap someone down here, not where Killer Croc was 'contained'.

Her pleas were mostly whispers… "Frank? Boss?"

Could he even hear her now? Or had he gone back up already!?

Not that she dared call louder. Not here.

Not with a hungry monster that ate people somewhere, 'contained' in these tunnels of water runoff and flood control.

Something shifted behind her, and she forced herself not to move. Or scream.

Frank would come back, and if she made too much noise he might not find anyone when he returns. Or not all of her, at least.

{Abandoned.}

No, no. Frank was just… Just inappropriately hazing the new girl.

He was an inappropriate guy. Only men on his team, though she had thought it was due to HR complaints about his crass language, his harassment, and all that.

{Maybe only men survived.}

No. This was… He would be back.

This was just to establish the pecking order.

And she had been careful. Never made too many waves, never pushed any buttons. She just needed to work here a bit and get out of debt.

Work at Arkham Asylum came with MASSIVE hazard pay, after all. If you could work here a year, you would have a HUGE nest egg to get back up on your feet.

Half the time it felt like working here was a rehabilitation system for the guards instead of the incurable nutjobs that lived here. More than a few people down on their luck or in harsh times came here to turn their lives around.

To escape the mafia, to pay debts, to get medical care for the family… Despite the horrific working conditions and dangerous environment and lacking oversight, this place was the last resort last chance gamble of the service industry.

And… And it looked like her last resort, last chance, might have been a check that just bounced.

{Hide?}

No. Killer Croc was a hunter. Sense of smell, astounding. Hearing? Especially with this much water around? Deadly.

Movement at ALL was just slicing her own throat.

{...Flee?}

As a last resort. Each step would cause ripples, echoes, splashes… And honestly, there was nowhere to run to either.

But when she was found, if she had time to react, if he decided to play with his food… Yeah, she'd run.

Might only extend her life for a few minutes, but… But…

They would come back.

They would come back and she'd swear to follow orders and never report nothing and probably make… Certain compromises…

But at least she'd live.

{Was such an existence a life?}

Raped or not, it was the only chance to shank Frank later before he could do something like this to someone else later.

And while she may act demure and quiet, Sarah Esdat KNEW how to shank a mother fucker.

After all, working at Arkham Asylum was the LAST choice.

Working for criminals? Meh. Black markets? Please! Smugglers? Any day of the week! Politicians?

...Alright, working at Arkham Asylum was ALMOST the last choice.

A distant splash almost made her flinch.

{But movement was forbidden.}

Safe.

Killer Croc didn't often bother showing up at the gate when the guards did their rounds. Not after all this time. It was part of the reason she had let her defenses down, after weeks of just 'ensuring security' and moving on.

Until Frank quietly locked the gate behind her.

Until Frank left her.

{Bitch need's a good neck smile.}

She still had her hold out knife, though it wouldn't do much against Killer Croc. The creature needed a high amp, high voltage collar just to annoy him enough to not eat everyone. Basic bullets and knives? Forget about it.

She had her gun, but what of it? All it would do is expose her location.

{At least the blade felt good in her hands.}

Her fingers gently moved the knife into the metallic gate edges, trying to quietly test it. To just… Just get a sense of the thing.

Maybe… Maybe her smaller tools and equipment could do something where Killer Croc's massive claws and brute strength was restricted?

{No. It wouldn't work.}

But it was all she could do.

And so she would do so.

Sarah Esdat attempted to quietly lockpick an impossible to open gate hidden deep below the Intensive Treatment Center, within Elizabeth Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane's underground secured sewer system containment facility, as something inside her C̟̖̣̯̤o̜̦̦̮̟n͈̟͖̥͓̳n͎e̦̫͕c̲͎̙̣̪t̼̞e͎d͇̰̹.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Sarah was holding still/unable to move as she tried to stay quiet/couldn't make a sound.

How… How odd.

Her mind could see both locations easily enough… But more than that, how reality T̼w̳̙̭̩̘̗i͉̪̤̙͙s̻̝̼͔ͅte̮̰̖̗̺̞̘d to the sides and around.

Adam began doing something. {{Alright, 'Research' found the issues with using multiple Jump Documents that try to change insertion locations simultaneously, so this won't happen again.}}

She didn't dare speak/couldn't speak if she wanted to. {What do I do?}

He was shifting stuff. {{Right now, most of the errors are due to you being in two places at the same time, and I can fix it easy enough if you give me just a few…}}

Oh was that all?

.

"[[S̮̬̤̱̹̬p̠̱̰a̭̦c̘̞͈͙̫̫ia͇͚̪͓͖l̻̝͇̗ ̗R͖͇̫̲̮͍͍ḛ͍͍̘u̲̘̬̘ṋ̖̞̳̫i̜o͎̳̝n͙̱͔̰̜͕͔.]]"

.

And she was THERE, both here and in her coma bed.

And reality quickly began to flow again, and somewhere out of touch of her S̥̥̥͕p̬͇̫̫̱̺̜a̤̜̗c̣̲̬̩̹e͔̭̭̱, Time uncurled and concepts realigned.

A mental sigh and amusement came through. {{...Or you could do that. I'll send the Data to 'Research' and you can decide if you want to keep both personas or simplify to one or whatever. I can see the whole Jump stabilizing now, though… Well, there are a few alterations.}}

It was easy enough to have her mind organize her memories into the Sarah hive as if they were both clones, and Sarah Everoot was going to be bed ridden for a while as she has a 'recovery' soon.

So Sarah Esdat it was!

Her body flickered, the security uniform shifting as she [[Harvested]] all her gear away, had Adam get to work upgrading that mess, and shifted into a nice blue business suit.

No, it didn't match the environment. No, she didn't give a fuck.

One unexpected issue came when she noticed her arm though.

Her silver tattoos had shifted.

They now looked like a mess of silver vine markings all over her body.

Neat! Though probably noticeable.

Adam hummed. {{Those shouldn't be an issue. Your Sarah Everoot self got the markings along with the plant abilities, and this Sarah Esdat covered up everything since this is a dangerous as hell place to work. And both of you have silver eyes and hair.}}

And apparently, from her memories, odd hair colors and eye effects were fairly common in this Jump. Alright, she could work with this.

That said… "Why ARE there a bunch of flooded tunnels locked away down here under the Intensive Treatment Center?"

A map came up. {{Some of the more strange plants and a few odd fish used for experimental testing on patients need high humidity or straight up flooding to grow or breed. Killer Croc basically acts as a custodian down here in return for certain… Benefits.}}

….Shit. "I'm a sacrifice down here, aren't I?" Fuck you, Frank.

He hummed. {{Not officially… But unofficially, it is one of the marks on the record of a partially 'successful' rehabilitation attempt. And people go missing in this place often enough.}}

Holy crap, that was some dark stuff.

Idly, she began taking samples of everything for the Warehouse to look into. "Anything I should grab while down here?"

Data came up about a monstrous and familiar figure. {{Waylon Jones might choose to be a beast, but his body might have some interesting genetics to work with.}}

And… Memories of working on Dr. Isley's team began to tickle her biological tinkering side. And the cloning alteration options to test. "Bet I could make some recovery serums using his bullshit. Lord knows Killer Croc manages to regenerate from his wounds fast enough to laugh at modern weaponry."

Best make sure it doesn't make people turn reptilian though… Or not? Sexy hybrid snake girls didn't sound THAT bad… Hmm.

Make it a choice? Volunteer sexy is best sexy, after all.

More data came up. {{Also, grab some of these things. These plants have some spores that help form an antidote to something called 'TITAN formula', an enhanced and modified variant of Bane's Venom, a super-soldier serum and ultra-steroid. It's far weaker than Bane's stuff, but is a one dose permanent body bulking enhancement drug that causes mental instability.}}

Oh. "Yeah, best pick up some of that. And maybe grab some TITAN samples too… And some of Bane's original Venom… Damn, Dr. Isley would have loved this stuff." Her memories felt sticky, but at least it was getting better.

Adam sighed. {{You'll probably find her in this place, known as Poison Ivy.}}

What!? "I thought she'd be in the Seattle General Intensive Care Unit with us!?"

More information. {{None of you are over there anymore, all of you were brought to Gotham. Well, the ones who made it this long… You are located in Gotham General Hospital now.}}

Sarah began flicking through the data as he continued. {{I'm still hacking the local information networks, but I'm pretty sure they used your team to force the woman to help them develop the TITAN stuff in the first place.}}

A wave of relief hit her system. "Half my team is still alive!" Thank goodness! Poor little Jessie would need something to fix up the skin and Susan needed a limb or two, but she could do this!

Adam's silence made her feelings suddenly clench. "Right?" Shit, was she missing something!?

Hack the medical records, hack the private reports, hack the investigation details and the police records, and just in case: "[[Scan]]."

Sarah stared at invisible data screens and information.

His sigh was heavy. {{I'm sorry, Sarah.}}

The more basic body stuff was easy enough to fix… But the chemicals injected into each person before the 'accident' were designed to damage brain tissue. To keep the perpetrators safe.

The only reason Dr. Isley didn't have similar issues as her team was because she missed the party… And the additional measures those fuckers took against them escaping their fate. The drugs and shots.

Sarah absently gripped the metal gate, the material flexing under her hand. "How did I keep enough brain matter to merge with myself?"

Adam sighed. {{You didn't. But unlike the rest, your Soul was sort of enhanced retroactively by the Jump, and the relevant memories were stored there. When you fully hooked up, there was something to work with there to ensure a recovery eventually.}}

But… But none of the other girls were there any more. "Could… I mean, they are biologically alive right? Can we do something?" The chances of four team members and herself surviving long enough to even last this long was a miracle as it was.

A sigh. {{With no mind, literally in a few cases, well… Even if you fully helped them recover, they wouldn't remember anything. Personality death, in other words.}}

Fuck.

Well… Well, at least she made it. And Dr. Isley. "Start sneaking medication into them. Just because the people I know are gone doesn't mean that they have to hurt like that… And we can get them medical care and recovery treatments."

They wouldn't be HER team, but they would be able to have a full life with funding and support they would only dream of before her coming here.

It wasn't enough, but it was something.

In the dark, water suddenly rippled. "I h̕av͝e ͞your͡ ̴sc͏ent… Fre͏şḩ m̴̷͠e͜͏̛͞͝a̸̧͘͜t̸́!̛͞"

Oh. Is that so? "Good day, Mr. Jones. My name is Sarah Esdat. I'm your new primary physician."

A massive shadow in the dim tunnels began to fill the area. "Oh͜?̷ ͘A ̛brav̷e͠ ̢o͘ne͢ then?͠"

Her fingers flexed in grumbling rage. "Something like that. When was your last checkup?"

A distant mountain of muscle began to prowl into view. "A m͢ea̷ļ ͡w̧ith ̵hum̕ór? ͏Wha̸t a ̷w͠a̛st̀e...N͢ǫw,́ wh̕y͟ ́don͟'t ̴yo̕u̕ ̵s̀t͠a̷rt ru̧nn͏ing̕?̛"

She snorted. "Oh come on, you're not THAT hideous."

The creature blinked… And SNARLED! "I͟ ̨w͢i̷l͠l̶ ̵fea͜s͞t on ̕y̢our ́b̸o͝nȩs!͏"

Well good. Because Sarah had some stress to work through. "And I'm going to collect some samples!"

Mr. McStabberson was H̹̞̼̺̖̖u̟̝͖̠̝͙̙͙̱͖̱n͚͓̟̫̹͔̦͙̻g͔̮̬̙̤̠̲̯̫͚͍͙͇̺̬̩̼̲r̫̗̹̼̻̠̳̰͔̭̜̹̥͕̣͙̺y̲̗͙̙̯̲! "And heads up! This… This might sting."

However, just in case…

Sarah caught the glowing bone spike on F̖͍̳i̘͔̠̺̺r̗̦͕̱̳̦e̝̟̥͕̭, blue flames spiraling.

NOW it will sting.

Then there were roars and screams and darkness and claws and bones...

It was glorious!

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Adam sighed, trying to examine his Jumper's former teammates again. A few fragments here and there, a few memories… Nothing much left in their remaining Soul fragments…

Still. At least when they recovered, Adam could help a little.

Dump a cleansed copy of Sarah's memories where each individual was involved, drop in loads of relevant educational information (And not just math and biology and chemistry, their minds were being rebuilt from scratch… So why not add more?), and start the tedious process of searching this country for third-party witnesses and associates for each of the four girls.

He also began to build personal data background reports for each broken woman in this private coma ward. So while there wouldn't be any memories with emotions or context built into it, they would still be able to remember passwords and locations and birthdays and family members…

Faces, locations, so on and so forth.

Oh, it would be clearly messed up… But when they TRIED to remember something, there would be data available. Just… Clearly messed up data.

But the human mind was flexible. With more information, it would be enough for their loved ones (Few as they were) and each other to recognize others. To have a sense of 'self'. Most people couldn't remember things very accurately anyway, so having some ingrained natural reflexes and a lot of factual data that feels instinctively true... It should help.

Sure it was a pain in the ass to calculate fake reflexes and instincts so that their future hand written signatures and stuff would match past documents, and Adam had to go through a lot of effort converting memories of third-party people and Sarah into a first person viewpoint in a visualized reconstruction of the remembered situation... But he had more complicated challenges in the past.

Over time, they would build on these fragments and expand upon them, filling their mental holes with the same dreams and fictional fragments most people do naturally in their life… New data would help them 'remember' lost information, etc.

If anything, they would have a BETTER memory for raw data then before the incident. And have a much easier time learning and adapting compared to before anything occurred... But it wasn't actually 'fixing' the issue.

It was ensuring these NEW people could more easily adapt to being 'born' as an adult with a crazy 'history' they shouldn't be able to recall.

So if this Jump has an Afterlife, these four girls are probably going to end up meeting their unexpected twin sisters... Or maybe the scraps of Soul left behind would allow them to incarnate as themselves? Dang it, he had no data to work with here!

Adam carefully built up some base information (math, science, history, etc), with large chunks stolen from external sources, even as the Warehouse began to infiltrate the local information sources.

Which was going to be important because this world was kind of messed up right now... Everything was stabilizing, but trying to get these two Jump documents to work together sort of mutated Gotham City and Arkham Island... He was pretty sure this location, this one city, was not supposed to cross borders into multiple American states.

That uh... That ALSO shouldn't happen again in the future. Hopefully.

Anyway, back on topic! Hacking the local information systems to better gather theoretical memories for these hurt women.

Data exfiltration was a bit tricky, as Adam's new method involved carefully tracing the hardware and focusing sensors at various hubs and junctions… In other words, not adding to the traffic being examined but using a scanned duplicate of the structure and messing with the copy.

At least this way, 'hacking the internet' wouldn't crash the stupid thing. He'd seen stories where an AI just downloaded the world's data, as if trying to download terabytes of data through dialup would go unnoticed.

Nah, much safer and easier to scan the network nodes, detect where the hard drives and server drives and backups were stored, and [[Scan]] the data directly from the source. It also helped when someone was trying to find data centers with information stored 'Off the grid', as it were.

His self satisfied smugness blinked as he realized an issue.

Just uh… A tiny small problem.

Shit. {{Sarah?}}

Her spike SMASHED the massive muscle man into the bricks! {What's up, Adam?}

He double checked the 'baseline' data he had already inserted into her friends. {{So I was uh… Giving some raw information for your team members to work with, before we healed them up and all that. Right?}}

A bloody splash and Croc's furious scream showed that her bone spike was VERY sharp. {Right, so they can read and stuff instead of just blankly breathing and… GRR!} "Stop trying to defend yourself! I need samples for SCIENCE!"

Adam grimaced. {{Well, I might have used the wrong data set when I began giving the other girls background data.}}

Sarah paused mid-stomp, her foot holding the huge man to the wall. {What do you mean?}

Sigh, just suck it up Adam and spill it. {{I dumped YOUR scientific information for them to work with, not the local 2016 Earth stuff. Thankfully the safety systems automatically removed anything related to magic and psionics and aliens and stuff…}}

She blinked. {But you basically gave them Rick and Morty Jump levels of scientific advancement?}

Adam slumped. {{Yeah.}}

Sarah looked at… Nothing. One foot forcing the squirming giant of a man to wheeze in frustration. {Jessie would have loved that. Fuck it, except for the out of context crap? Give them ALL the best.}

Sure. {{One super science research team coming right up! Oh, and we'll keep them unconscious until I can get more information from Poison Ivy and track down any friends or family these girls have.}}

Might as well give them a private hive mind too, just for those girls as well. Sarah wouldn't be able to hook into it without giving away the whole game, but it should let all four of their minds better recover... As well as giving them a support system which they will dearly need.

Sarah nodded, twisting her heel to force the flailing creature to turn towards a better stabbing/restraining position. {If you think that's best for them?}

Adam hummed. {{With a bit of effort and some [[Scans]] I can at least ensure they will somewhat 'recall' stuff unique to themselves. Basically giving them a framework built by examining the places and people they touched in their lives. Hopefully… Well, if it is even possible to ever recover from a personality death, this is the best shot we'll get.}}

Wordless warmth and lingering sadness came to him. {Thanks, Adam. Thank for trying.}

He sent back comfort. {{Just because it's impossible doesn't mean we should give up, right?}}

They mentally supported each other.

Then the fucking crocodile monstrosity had to be annoying and make gurgling noises.

Sarah glared. "Sorry, I got slightly distracted. Now, be a good sample and stay S͉̟̘̼̘̣̹͎̣̖̱̰̥͙͈̤͜͞ͅͅt̡̧̩̖̩̺̫̬͕̗̪͜͜i̷̶̜͎̮̹̣̙̖̼͍͕͉̤̝̭̳̕͢l̸̛̩̦̠͍̩͘͠l̛̫̞̪̤͉̻̪͠!̶̡̛̥͔͉̱̭͉͓͇͟͡ͅ"

.

Adam grumbled too. Some people just didn't know how to read the mood!

Ah well, let's look up childhood teachers and friends and pets and stuff and start copying some brains. If Adam was going to try and recreate a mostly missing mind without powerful Soul magic or access to Death, he was going to try his best!

And when he eventually ran out of informational sources to work with, might as well dose them up with some 'Enhance Self' and try to conceptually empower the girls too. Why not?

Maybe conceptual healing could help a fragmented Soul to recover.

Only one way to find out!

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Sarah felt better.

Much better.

Percussion therapy: How to beat your issues AND random cannibal assholes!

Though, son of a bitch and murdering asshole aside, Sarah did eventually decide not to do something satisfying but pointless like exploratory surgery on the muscle bound scaled brute.

For one thing, [[Scan]] got far better data without contaminating the specimen… And for another, it felt too much like something Rick Sanchez or Professor Hojo would do.

So she Junctioned up some [[Sleep]] to her status attack and punched the idiot unconscious.

Now, could she kill this dipshit? Easily.

SHOULD she kill him? Probably.

However, there were rules in this reality about anyone but innocents and family dying in Jumps like this. Many times villans that murder a few dozen rando people would get pardoned or sent to therapy while heroes who kill said assholes get condemned by the public and fellow pillars of justice.

Or there would be no sense of scale or proportion.

For example: You killed a guy who tortured your loved one and put a nuke inside her corpse, killing the city? Why not ALSO murder everyone on the planet with a parking fine then! Same thing, right!?

As if killing someone instantly got rid of any and all conscious or moral restrictions or societal pressure. Crazy stuff.

At least, that's what Adam said.

Sarah got a rant from the guy about how an entire generation of superheroes decided to conquer reality because one friend died. Started melting brains and shit everywhere, had zero tolerance policies for near anything, etc.

Like, they could have just killed the super villains who took over the USA and stuff, but nah. Time to take over everywhere and everything.

Seriously, no middle ground. Kill no one? good! Kill anyone? Time to melt some brains.

Sigh.

ANYWAY, did this matter to Sarah?

A little.

Not because she believed that tripe about never killing anyone ever, but because Adam wasn't sure if those rules were from this society itself… Or if outside forces from higher dimensions were enforcing a policy.

Plus, she didn't want the local heroes to get all whiny and shit, because that sounded annoying.

So killing this human devouring jerk, off the table.

But… That still left options.

Idly [[Harvesting]] a chunk of brick wall and constructing a place to work, she levitated the snoring (And already fully healed) asshole behind her.

This area was far enough away from the exits and any of the laughable surveillance systems to be restructured easily enough without discovery, and it took moments for her to whip up a porch, a good old fashioned Securis door, and some working space inside.

Idly she had everything scaled up (Ha!) to match her reptilian test subject, so at least he would have a reinforced bed and chairs and stuff when she got done modifying him. A brand new home in exchange for a little bit of Mad Science! A bargain of a deal, no doubt.

Speaking of which!

Surgical table with restraints, locked up snoring murder jerk, and a bit of good lighting and an ongoing [[Scan]]! "Right. Adam, get me some background information."

Data began to scroll by as she carefully injected a blue glowing goo, a prototype tool that Sarah had easily whipped up by manipulating some Kudzu (Hardy, fast growing, and adaptive stuff), some samples of Cuscuta (AKA Amar bail or hellbine, an Indian parasitic plant that that can inject a host with viruses or other substances), and some trace elements stolen from an endosymbiont fungus that allowed Sarah to enhance or manipulate the host directly through the algae like material that would spread and grow within the target.

She was calling it Modified Organic Sedition Serum, or Moss.

Because naming stuff was hard, and Moss was easy to remember.

It had been redesigned a few dozen times BEFORE Sarah decided to inject this stuff inside her new patient, of course. A few tests had to be tossed out because it became too divergent from the 'Plant Kingdom' for Sarah's new Florakinesis ability to directly manipulate it, and even MORE attempts to 'improve' this junk had to be recycled when it became easily unstable or couldn't interact with animal cells or resist some of the more common compounds.

But now! Moss v1.00 was ready to roll, baby!

In theory, anyway.

Sarah felt her new cells rapidly move through Killer Crocs body, consuming and converting cells and liquids and chemicals and… Uh.

Oops.

A mental switch killed the entire mass of ravenous blue goo.

Sarah blushed as Adam chuckled. {{Forgot to ensure it would stay symbiotic with hosts by default, didn't you?}}

Damn it! "A minor issue! I just got a bit side tracked ensuring this stuff could resist the more common medicines and immune system responses and stuff!"

Like, it wasn't immortal or anything, but at least her Moss could basically go dormant and stuff if their living environment got too harsh for them now! And could adapt to utilize heat and chemical and electrical and sound and other energy sources!

She uh… Just forgot to restrict growth and nutrition extraction to survivable levels for the hosts.

A snip here, a few mental adjustments there, enforcing it to propagate through the blue goo… "Right, Moss v1.01! New, improved, and safer to use!"

Damn it, missing something THAT obvious when it came to a new observation/manipulation tool was just embarrassing.

Adam grinned. {{Well, either wait an hour or so to test it or inject somewhere else on the patient, he hasn't fully regenerated yet.}}

What?

Sarah blinked and glanced at… Oh, Killer Croc was missing a good chunk of his arm, bone was exposed (And slightly devoured), and it was only his insane biology that kept him from bleeding everywhere and theoretically dying. "Oops."

Adam sent more data. {{This isn't biological healing, by the way. Something is ensuring no cancer is going on, that new muscles and bones shift into correct position, that external material is being expelled. His scales are also far too thin for the durability they display on record… A normal pistol should smash right into his body, not bounce off.}}

Huh. "So he is a magical crocodile cannibal. Neat."

He hummed. {{Also explains why so many odd plants and stuff are growing down here… He has a very weak magical aura. Sort of like a non-psionic version of 'Enhance Self', but it is tainted with some sort of external power source… A red one? It's not strong or deliberate, but in general anything that is conceptually 'wild' or 'aggressive' is boosted by this stuff.}}

Sarah blinked and checked the information. "Not designed, more organic than that. Some sort of 'like attracts like' type of spell or magical influence, if anything."

Tests ran in the background. {{Psionic fields and such are a no go, Concepts have power, but they are very vague and generic… Not a main focus here. Magic exists, but it isn't heavily emphasised, more like lots of trace elements everywhere. But your Potential power is VERY effective, even if it isn't stable enough to form up into mako or materia.}}

Hmm. "So powerful people here would attract more power and enhanced things and odd coincidences?"

Adam agreed. {{I'd say MOST people in this Jump will never have ANYTHING happen near them… But a small percentage will seem to stumble into all sorts of crap every single day. Either killing them off or somehow helping them survive the process and improve to handle it.}}

She checked the scans… Right now she had Psionic, Potential, and Magic energies to work with. Adam was the one who really helped her apply Concepts to those branches, and if you had enough of any one of those options you could easily fake the other two.

This… This MIGHT be all the power types there were. Maybe. She'd have to check it out later, when more information was available.

After all, the Potential energy was more than good enough to mistake for normal Magic, and True Magic was strong enough to create para-magic spells that acted like psionic abilities. No need to even mention the crazy shit Psionics could do, Plasmids and Tonics were nutso.

And really, Conceptual power was more… An informational thing. Like having Technological abilities or those random comments Adam made about Faith, it was powerful not due to a chemical or energy or material, but due to understanding.

Her thoughts were distracted as Killer Croc's bone crackled and snapped into a single form again.

Right, let's modify the Moss a bit more before continuing tests.

Sarah WANTED to make a Florakinetic empowered method to scan, modify, and enhance a test subject. Without having them be consumed on a cellular level or twisted into cancer sacks.

After all, the results of this effort would be used on people she cared about at SOME point, eventually.

First, get the basic stuff working and stable and able to run if she lost control of it in a way that wouldn't murder her people in the future.

Second, ensure that no one else with the same skill could turn this against her. So, plant based security systems… Should be somewhat easy, enzyme reactions could be FAR more complicated than a lock with tumblers.

Third… See if she could set up a communication network, and hopefully (eventually) a full hive mind using only this Jump's limited magical environment, what few Concepts Adam could get to stay stable, and this glowing blue Moss.

Her silver eyes glowed slightly as she modified the new dose of Moss (v1.003!) to inject in Killer Croc's other arm. Future problems were for future Sarah, let's just see if this stuff could stay inside a host without consuming them alive or accidentally exploding the internal cells during active biological alteration.

She had a plan after all.

Let's see how Killer Croc would enjoy a new enhanced digestive system, one able to process nearly anything… Along with new taste buds that found meat and blood disgusting and plants near orgasmically astounding.

After all, he CHOSE to be a cannibal… But without a biological reason for the diet and lacking the ability to enjoy his 'fresh meat', let's see how long he keeps that up.

Being a big scary guy is far less cool if you nearly throw up at every meal until you eat your veggies.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Adam kept a bit of attention on Sarah as she slowly crafted a plant focused biological disaster on a planetary scale with mild interest.

Nope, make sure it self regulates. You do NOT want something this deadly able to 'automatically' adapt to anything girl, that shit gets out of hand fast! Good, and add in a few extra safety measures too. Good.

No idea why she was doing all this effort though.

Trying to make sure that someone can avoid eating whole categories of food without affecting their health? Tricky. Trying to make a sensation heading to the brain 'disgusting'? Tricky. People easily taught themselves to like odd things after all.

Far easier to just do some memory manipulation or brain alterations, in Adam's opinion.

But Sarah seemed happy developing her parasitical plant algae thing, and it was letting her 'Research' a lot of stuff at the same time, and would trivially allow her to give herself or another host a healing factor… So whatever.

Have fun!

No, Adam was busy with the four lab girls.

There was something off here. Out of all the lab women, THESE four were the only four friends of Sarah Everoot. Somehow they had managed to live longer than the other four women by a massive factor, with no scientific or reasonable explanation available.

And Adam was nearly DAMNED sure that it was due to Sarah's Soul.

The fragments of those four women were pretty much only supported by the undefined relationship Sarah had with the group, and Sarah herself only survived thanks to the retroactive boost her incarnation had caused…

But 'Research' had nothing to work with. Not enough, at least.

So Adam just did what he did best. Wing it!

Right now, each of the four women were getting a [[Scan]] every second.

A snapshot of each girl's mind was being added into an individual hive mind cluster.

As improvements were made, as new information was being added, Adam was being very cautious to ensure that the new alterations to each of the brains somewhat matched the extrapolated projection of what a 'Healthy' mind for a woman with that DNA should have.

Adam couldn't risk rolling any changes backwards, he was nearly building these girls up from scraps and theories already, but what he COULD do is highlight each change that occurred and theorize about the impact it could cause.

All that data, all those theories… They were going into a low level group hive mind system for the girls, so that any mental issues they have would have some sort of framework to latch onto. Some sort of SOMETHING to work with.

Was this a good idea? Making things worse? Better?

No idea. Certainly better than leaving them brain dead and broken bodied, at least.

Idly, Adam was a bit curious what would happen to a normal person if this was done to them.

If some guy just suddenly had all events that other people had involving him virtualized, the camera shifted to 'be' him, and then inserted as a perfect memory to work with.

A dude just instantly knowing all the raw data of his life, his passwords, his old notes, published works, etc and so forth. And easily remembering minutiae that most people needed notes and alerts and alarms to keep track of.

...Could be a bit traumatizing, huh?

Still, Adam had new 'memories' shoved in his head all the time! You got used to it, or at least you remembered that you were used to it. Or something.

His focus watched as another [[Scan]] tried to safely and passively map out the Soul fragments.

The sensors were good enough to detect the things, but… To painlessly and safely examine such fractured bits? Nope. Not without a LOT of Soul manipulation practice, and Sarah would not likely be up for that without a ton of morally unambiguous targets literally begging for a Soul smash or two.

Still, even with the local restrictions and having to do this remotely, Sarah's 'other' body was within close reach of the four being healed. Adam could work with that.

Though… It was a bit concerning how easy it was to get this section of the Hospital locked off from the rest. Apparently these girls were moved here under shady circumstances, had minimal oversight, and were barely on record as existing at ALL.

Sure, Adam was handling it all now. And it was easy enough to alter the records as they were 'being moved' to another care facility, to redirect people with a bit of [[Confuse]] and a touch of [[Silence]]... But no one was worried.

No nurses cared that this room was suddenly not being used.

No doctors had concerns over the routine change.

Yes, something shady was going on here… Especially with that one off the books camera up in the corner, watching over the group. Hooked up to a network, accessed from outside the hospital itself.

But the room was sealed, the girls were being handled, and the video feed was on a loop showing generated data and simulations of people taking care of the women, staff that followed routines that roughly matched previous patterns and wearing appearances altered to show the correct individuals as per prior schedule wearing clothing that matched what their REAL bodies wore to work that day.

None of that lazy 'Loop 10 seconds of video' bull crap here, nope!

Now to carefully test out some of the data Sarah was providing to 'Research' with some local farm animals Adam had [[Scanned]] into the Warehouse.

Sure, they didn't have Psionics, Plasmids, or Tonics to work with… But weak Potential Power and True Magic? That was more than enough to get something together!

Let's see if Adam could develop a magical version of 'Enhance Self' together.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Poison Ivy, formerly Pamela Isley, glanced at the monitor again.

The girls looked more stable now after the last injection.

No changes, good or bad. No spikes in blood pressure or heart rate.

Right, test batch 3b133 had at least kept them from degrading further.

Just… Just not made them any better.

She felt the cold metaphorical shackles somehow get heavier as she continued the slow methodical testing.

A sigh behind her nearly made her flinch. "Have you even slept?"

Dr. Penelope Young leaned against the dividing glass wall. As if she actually cared.

Her hands moved to the next batch. "There is work to be done."

Dr. Young glanced at the patient monitor and the sensor readouts. "Productive work? I'd expected better results by now. Dr. Crane has at least managed to boost muscle development rates consistently so far."

Bitch. "I'm aware that Dr. Crane is also burning through resources and wasting funds. My work may be more methodical, but I have yet to cost the program through random experiments or mad fancies."

The attractive but amoral woman snorted. "No one expects the Scarecrow to be sane, but at least his test corpses have collectible data."

Ivy's out of view hand clinched. "I have stabilized all five of my subjects, and my focus has always been aimed toward mental regeneration to begin with, not raw growth. Nor full regeneration."

Come on, you monster. You already sold your Soul for your career, take the fucking bait. "The variants I've already developed will stabilize future test subjects significantly, and a breakthrough with neural regrowth and mind stabilization…"

Dr. Young cut her off. "Dr. Crane is getting results, and my investors need those. If I am going to be reaching the pinnacle of the medical community I need patients to survive longer, sure… But Jack White made a good point recently."

She leaned against the dividing wall, the barrier keeping Ivy's pheromones out of play and unable to retaliate. "The TITAN formula can do more than keep my costs down, the mutant rejects we spawned can be sold off to bidders. Cheap labor from a single dose that turns the mentally deficient and loyal into useful meat shields and brawlers…"

There was madness in those eyes. "Mr. White knows there is profit, funding to be made… If we focus a bit more on 'mad fancies' and less on 'stabilizing' the lab rats."

Avaris looked through her walled off laboratory. "I don't need caution, I need results. And at some point, some point soon, the cost of keeping your pets… It will be higher than the value you bring to this project."

Not her babies. Not her girls! "I've single handedly enhanced the majority of ingredients produced by the facility, my work has helped you jump past dozens of stages of development, and I am MEETING my requirements! Exceeding them!"

Dr. Young sniffed. "And what have you done for me lately?"

Hidden from view, roots and mold and moss BURNED with rage!

If this bitch hadn't 'bought' her services from her ex-boyfriend and worked with that monster Professor LeGrande, all for this damned project… This fragile prison would have been torn DOWN by now!

She was the goddess of NATURE! She had spores hidden throughout this whole facility, the need to provide her a lab to work with having opened tiny openings and flaws in all the protocols and holding cells!

Again, she felt her fury burn inside as she DIDN'T allow her hidden babies to devour the human filth surrounding her.

And again, it was for her babies. Her girls. "I can provide results much more significant than mere meat balloons and muscle tumors… If some side effects are permissible."

Take. The. Fucking. Bait.

A smirk made Dr. Young show her true side. "Oh? How unexpected." And then a glare. "WHY exactly, haven't you shown such research before?"

She shrugged. "As I said, side effects. An integration between flora and fauna, between animal and plant, using the TITAN formula as a binding agent. It wouldn't make muscle bound monsters, but durable fighters with high regeneration and lower food costs. Not what I am trying to develop, not what you asked for… But far more valuable for sale to other customers than turning their people into one shot muscle focused suicide bombers."

Hook. Line…

Her eyes were interested… And skeptical. "Hmm. Get me some test samples and maybe we'll talk… If they don't dissolve into goo when injected into someone from OUTSIDE your range of control. And if they still follow orders"

Dr. Young waved at the monitor, at her girls, hurt and unmoving. "Then maybe, MAYBE, I can delay auditing on your personal little vegetable farm."

Gotcha.

Ivy gave a nod. "It will be ready in four hours if the materials I request are provided."

As if progress could be made that quickly. No, the TITAN formula would still cause horrific cancer and mutation like usual… But her modified puppet plant would simply consume the frantic overgrowth and stabilize the new minion.

As for being outside her range…

She hid a smirk.

Well, they had been providing her with medical ingredients, a laboratory, and valuable resources that smarter people had been very much weary of providing to her in the past. Blinded by greed and free labor from her genetic brilliance.

Not all of those plants now infecting the facility were there solely for consuming the humanity that infested the building. A slowly growing number of fibrous clusters were growing into something similar to relay nodes, into command signal repeaters.

ALL the hidden labs and testing facilities on Arkham Island were within her range now as far as she could tell. Or would be very soon, far before testing could be scheduled and followed through.

Her eyes glanced at her hurt little ones on screen even as her mind focused on extending that grip on nature, ignoring every scream and agonizing wail as green society suffered. She'd save her babies, then help protect her plant children as well once her girls were up and well again.

As for the lovely people holding her leash, pushing her to perform, forcing her compliance… Well, the new formula WOULD provide a fighting force. A new puppet population that would finally serve the plant kingdom in a more literal sense, until the bodies gave out and became nutrition for her littlest ones.

She turned back to her work.

Best make sure these puppet plants don't damage the minds of their Hosts too. Ivy wouldn't put it past the Bitch to inject this stuff into her children first as some sort of test… And the mental image of her hurt girls suddenly showing their TRUE loyalty and tearing these assholes apart was VERY cathartic.

~~~Broken Adventure~~~

Sarah blinked. Was that whispering somewhere upstairs? Like, VERY distant whispering?

Huh.

Meh, toss it to 'Research'. "Right, let's… Let's just let the patient heal a bit. And inject his system with some nutrients and stuff."

Note to self: Moss v1.023, when heated, would drain water out of the subject without restraint.

She poked the nearly mummified cannibal. "He can recover from this, right?"

Adam hummed. {{Best give him an hour or two before you try Moss v1.024. Maybe take a break, actually… You've been at this for a while.}}

In a bit, this was getting interesting. "Pretty sure if a normal person got this hot they would die anyway, so I'll just make the Moss go dormant at that point anyway instead of trying to stabilize itself through draining the host."

There had to be some non-enhanced assholes in this place, right? For being a test subject, at least. "Any luck with that healing stuff you were working on?"

Adam sent a list. {{Got [[Enhance Self]] going by merging it with the echo like effect of [[Regen]]... But it isn't permanent. Just activates several times for a short while. To keep this going full time, we might need to make a fake Guardian Force, naturally Junction it to a person directly, and alter 'Enhance Self' into a GF passive ability.}}

Uh. "What do you mean, naturally Junction?"

In response, Adam flooded her with data. A whole bunch of suggestions from 'Research', some terrifying related theories, and a mountain of 'Maybe? If it works like this?' later…

And Sarah sighed. "No embedding stuff into Souls until we can test it better. Let's just stay with the temporary options for now, combined with the Moss treatment plans." Maybe, if there was enough Moss inside a person, IT could cast the spell on the Host directly. Shortcut a whole lot of issues all at once!

If so? Then after some of her freaky plant modification and a bit of mystical mumbo jumbo, bam! Fully healed lab partners!

Plus, the ability to modify mildly magical hybrid human-animal creatures and control what they consider to be delicious.

Also plus (Plus plus?), while the magic itself wasn't biologically related or easy to study… the EFFECTS of a magically enhanced body certainly were! While not as powerful, Sarah could see some really interesting organs and muscle designs going on in here, stuff to study and possibly improve.

Like, there was no way evolution could have cranked this body out… Too many bits were niche optimized for specific uses, or would fail without other strange organs and blood vessel layouts, etc.

Whatever the hell was going on with these lungs for example. Sarah could do better than this, but it DID let Killer Croc stay submerged for about an hour despite his high oxygen requirements for his body due to how massive it was.

Well, maybe she could do better. With more testing and trials.

Sigh.

Sarah poked the underperforming slumbering subject with Mr. McStabberson. "Come on, you freaking purse. Heal up faster so I can inject the new stuff safely."

Can't risk losing even MORE time waiting for this lazy bastard to recover by trying to push ahead too quickly. At least any 'attacks' applied the [[Sleep]] status effect to keep him from getting all loud and whiny. Wimp.

Some monstrous villains were just so uncooperative.