Fortuna Verto

22-Mirrored Partnership

Rosa and Kori completed their shift back to the relay successfully, the mist of frost signaling their arrival being rapidly replaced by a thick green smoke. Not even a second later, the two of them collapsed to the floor, the drug having taken full effect.

Velvet eventually arrived to inspect her catch, still wearing her gas mask. She really should have just started with this, it was far more potent. It was just rough as Hypertech had found one of these gas canisters posted earlier, raising concerns within aerospace command about the implications of their usage. That was all good and fine, but the stuff worked remarkably well, that mattered much more. Sure, there happened to be no way to actually vent any of this gas, making for even more dramatic cleanup measures. At the very least, she had finally taken the two girls into her custody. What remained incredibly concerning though was that this was on the return trip, it was almost certain that the book was then gone. What she needed to do then was to secure both girls for an appropriate delivery back to their other handlers. Fortunately, there was already a plan for that as well, a plan Velvet began upon right away.

Kori awoke first, looking around at her unfamiliar environment. Trying to stand up, the first thing she noticed was that her right arm had gone limp, completely offline. The plasma cell had been completely removed. Trying to call up a holo for more information, the second thing she discovered was that her holos weren't working at all. Looking around, she noticed that everything actually looked a bit low-tech, the lead bars where holos would have usually sufficed. She surmised that implied that, more than not using holo bars to cage her in, it just wouldn't have been possible. Something here was interfering with OSIDF usage at all, it was quite the impressive cage. Scanning her surroundings, she quickly noticed that she wasn't alone. More than just Rosa, who was still asleep in the next cage, there was another woman who had been waiting in the shadows, a woman who took the opportunity to finally approach her.

"Good morning Kori, I trust you slept well enough. It was quite poor manners for you to have walked away from our call last night, something which may have landed you in comforts much more suitable than this." "Velvet, in person too. I trust I'm to feel honored before such an esteemed human?" "Oh please, don't even bother trying to belittle yourself behind the whole conduit thing, it doesn't suit you." "Well, what do you expect of me anyway?" "Easy, I simply expect your cooperation. As you can see, you will not find an escape here, so there is no point in bothering." "Ha! Little do you know that escape wouldn't be hard at all." "Your equipment is all offline, you have no way to reach out to your little friends, no way to call for help. Your fancy arm might have been capable of breaking such bars, even if they would have certainly become seriously damaged in the process, but such arms just don't have the strength they should right now. I suspect you could try calling forth that singularity of your's, the frozen bars obviously shattering easily with a simple kick at that point.. but then what? This place is not getting any special heat, if you froze it, you would just find yourself in an icy cage instead, one with very limited oxygen. Besides, such rash actions aren't like you, are they, it brings far too much danger for so little gain. It would be more like you to simply use such a singularity to garnish yourself more time to get something done, but is there anything you could accomplish with more time? Quite certainly, if you want more time, you don't even need to ask, you can stay there for as long as you might like. Certainly there isn't anything else you could do to escape, is there?" Velvet seemed almost snide in her review of Kori's circumstances. It was quite a comprehensive review of everything Kori might have done, though Velvet was missing one thing.

Contemplating how a shift could benefit them, she took a moment to consider Rosa's state. Maybe it would be best to wait for the girl to wake up first, there really wasn't any hurry, after all. Velvet scoffed at Kori's lack of answer, heading back to her seat to wait as a result. Kori just didn't want to make any rash actions, knowing it would be better if Rosa was instead awake. Eventually, Rosa too began to stir and take in the terms of their circumstances. Once done, Rosa turned to Kori, looking for advice. Kori returned a nod silently, this still wouldn't hold them. Without warning, the two of them began to shift while Velvet let slip a slight grin. On the other side, the two discovered instantly that they were still in cages, a spherical instrument activating nearby. Rosa took deep breaths as she tried to resolve her state of panic, having instantly brought them back over again. That was a Warden prison, and the woman from before had been waiting there. Velvet's grin quickly shifted to a frown, realizing her feint had failed.