Bioshock 6.2
January 28, 2011, Instant Dimension, 5:47 PM
YOU DIED
Aaaand then you got better.
Respawn Protocols Created.
Skill: NikuBunshinSwap Primary was auto-activated by AI.
Respawn now enabled as long as spare Avatar body exists.
YOU'VE RESPAWNED!
You lose 1 level in each action skill.
You lose 1 point from each stat.
Level down: you're now level 21 again.
You've lost the skill: Telekinesis.
I blinked, standing in the ID in my backup body. Thank you AI, Fuck you Rob. Meh, the losses weren't much. I'd live. At least the MP topped up, that's what I needed the most right then.
But what the fuck was happening outside? I checked the time, only 3 seconds from when the shell exploded, okay, good. I opened a hole and created another Maker Avatar clone outside (in only the bodysuit, construct armor would take too much time), then swapped primary again.
Finally I looked at the mess around me, the walls and the floor were speckled with embedded diamond shards. Noelle's core at the corner was growing like a tumour timelapse, a Noelle-esque head already formed, screaming, "KROUSE! HELP ME!"
"Noelle!"
I snapped my head around to look at the source of that voice, Trickster, the Ziz'd buffoon, was running limply towards the core, ignoring the mass of bugs around him. The real Noelle (or maybe not? at least the sane one) and Sundancer were standing at the door, watching with their mouth agape.
"I've tranqed him, it'll take at least another 30 seconds to kick in. Any more would be a dangerously high dose." Not fast enough.
"Fuck!" I shot a taser bolt at Trickster, he looked at me, eyes wide, then the bolt hit my corpse, still wearing my glowing construct armor. I knew of his power. I turned back to look at where the corpse originally was, it was even closer to the Noelle-core. Trickster started approaching the core again. His limp getting more pronounced, the tranqs must have started working.
"Krouse! That's not me you imbecile!" Noelle screamed from the door, thankfully she was smart enough not to get closer. As Trickster looked back at Noelle, the Noelle-core screamed again, "KROOUUSE!"
I'd had enough of this, I went full boost, my reflexes sharpened, as Krouse was whipping his head back to look at the core, I took aim and hit him with a 50mp blast of white light right in his eyes as they swept past me.
"Aagh!" He clutched his eyes and dropped, a tentacle was growing towards him. No, just no.
I ran up to him and severed the tentacle with a force slice just as soon as it grabbed his bare ankle. Then I stunned him using one of Amy's unconsciousness tricks, picked him up and threw him at the door towards Noelle, "I'll heal him later! Sundancer! What are you waiting for?"
The Noelle-core was already as big as a phone booth now, the Noelle head was forming a Noelle Body, which was still screaming, "MARRISSAAA!" Aw fuck. Sundancer was radiating fear, disgust and confusion, looking alternatively at Noelle and the core. I aimed a force slice at the forming torso, it lopped off again. I was prepared for its next move, I constructed a tungsten broadsword and waved it, slicing the oncoming tentacle, "Not again you fucking squid!" I'd gotten my fill of tentacle slaps for the day, thank you very much.
The fallen Noelle body began to decompose and disintegrate, while the chimera started growing another head, "SUNDANCER! FUCKING BURN IT!" I yelled.
A slit opened up in the body, it was already minivan sized now, something spat out of the slit with a lot of blood and goop. Ew, a trickster clone. It started getting up, it's each movement was a teleport flicker about 6 inches apart, it looked liked all the Aleph Japanese horror movies I ever saw combined. Sundancer screamed and formed a tiny sun between her palms. Noelle began dragging Trickster away from her, shouting, "Do it you bimbo!" Sundancer glared at her, the sun started growing.
The Trickster clone's movements were growing faster, it was beginning to flicker-shamble towards us. I jumped at it and sliced its head off, I missed, it flickered ahead, I timed it's next flicker and sliced ahead. The head dropped, so did the body, no more Flickster. I fended off another tentacle-slap with the sword.
Sundancer's glare at Noelle turned into a smirk, "Only you would call me that." She turned and started walking towards the Noelle-core, which had already formed another head, it screamed, "HELLP MARRIS..." I force-sliced it off.
The sun in her hand was now tennis-ball sized. Sundancer looked at me, "Move away Maker."
I nodded and jumped aside. I could feel the heat, My HP was dropping very slowly as I gained two levels in Thermal Resistance. The core aimed another tentacle at us, but it vaporized as it came near. It created two more heads which started screaming, I sliced them both off, no point traumatising Sundancer any more.
The sun was the size of a small melon now. My HP was dropping faster as I gained another level of resistance. I got behind her to shield myself from the radiation, my HP stopped dropping, parts of the core-flesh had started to catch fire.
Sundancer was looking like she was straining hard, so I put my hand on her shoulder, scan, heal, refresh, boost. She stood straighter, her steps got steadier. Glowing blue, she turned her head slightly and nodded in acknowledgement. I patted her shoulder softly, "Aim for the centre of mass."
She nodded again and moved her hands outwards, the sun began to move towards the Noelle-core, it's extremities already sizzling and burning, it tried to move away from the corner by extending a few tentacles but I kept severing them with mana-heavy but precise force-slices. It tried to create a multitude of screaming heads but they burned away as soon as they formed. The sun went in faster, vaporizing parts of her on proximity, I saw the core exposed, sizzling, smoking and trying to sink deeper into the flesh.
There was a keening noise as the sun touched the core, it seemed to unravel, then exploded with a loud pop. A mild shockwave made us stumble, it would possibly have made us fall over had we not both been boosted.
The rest of the burning flesh scattered and vaporized too, the sun finally blinked out. Sundancer let out a sigh, and sat down. I patted her shoulder again as I released the boost.
I walked up to my corpse, dissolved and absorbed it, the construct armor on it had dissipated by now. I created a fresh one on me.
Noelle walked back in through the door, giving me a nod as she passed me by, then went and sat down by Sundancer, the girls hugged each other and started sobbing.
Eh, this was awkward, I looked around for something to do, all the extra biomass had been burned up, there was a layer of ash and scorch marks all over the wall in the corner. Some exposed steel beams were still glowing red hot. Should I try cooling that down?
Swarm formed in front of the girls, "Ladies, job well done. I've opened up a mercs' dorm room a few floors above, it's got beds, a table and a coffee machine. Genesis has already moved herself and Ballistic there, her projection is coming down to take Trickster. Maker, you might want to heal his eyes. Otherwise just let him sleep the tranqs off. It'll be good for him."
"Taylor, you're a lifesaver", I let her know as I walked off to comply. She replied [Amusement] "I try, but that title goes tentatively to you for now. Now let's finish with these guys so that you can earn it and bring Lisa back."
"You figured it out too?"
"As soon as I got the code. I'd heard you mention that ego message to Lisa."
Of course, omniscient little terror that she was. Come to think of it, I may not get the kill XP, but I should have gotten a ton of XP for the assist at least, and for Coil too... I checked my message logs, then scrolled up to the quest I'd gotten a few days back when I resolved to take Coil down.
There it was, hmm, the goals were to Neutralize Coil and his failsafes, and add Lisa to the party. Fair enough. That sounded like a good quest to finish...
