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She gets the note just before lunch. She's in the PHQ in less than twenty minutes, then she knocks on Piggot's door politely.
Sadde and Bell in Worm
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Armsmaster—or rather, Colin, in civilian gear—and Piggot are waiting there, sitting at the head of the long table.
"We looked over your strategic considerations, and both deemed it acceptable."
"We looked over your strategic considerations, and both deemed it acceptable."
thinkering
"Thank you. I'll rearrange our schedules so all the requisite Wards are fresh then."
"Not all," Colin says. "There are some slight changes I wish to make. Namely, if enough Wards and heroes suddenly stop patrolling right before the appropriate time, that might tip Lung and the gang off. We will need to adjust their patrolling schedules and routes together in order to seem to not have been notified."
He shakes his head. "I'm already here, we can do it now and get this over with in time for everyone to know what they'll do and be rested before the operation tonight."
thinkering
"Okay..." A bot projects onto the table the current schedule and she starts suggesting swaps.
thinkering
And eventually they should have something worked out that doesn't look weird.
mxglam
That evening, close to the appropriate time, the heroes are inconspicuously patrolling or in hidden positions far enough away from the meeting point that the thugs-failing-to-pretend-to-be-civilians keeping a lookout don't notice them.
Glam conjures a Rewind-copy inside her armor, connected to the bot network.
thinkering
And the bot shows Rewind, hanging back safely, a projection inside her helmet of what she'd be seeing if she were in the copy suit; and bounces her body language to the copy suit.
mxglam
And Glam does their part in expecting that the copy will act like Rewind does, because of course it will. They also have access to several screens, most of them blanks, that are meant to become occupied by appropriate feeds when need be.
back_again
Rewind arrives at the arranged meeting place (well, her copy does) in her suit. There are thugs waiting for her, all of them with covered faces and pretty well-armed.
"Get rid of the suit," one of them calls.
"But wh—" she offers some token resistance, and the thug points a gun at her and she says, "Alright, alright." The suit is gone, pretend-booped ten minutes into the past.
"Now we wait."
"For what?" Rewind asks.
"Ten minutes."
"Get rid of the suit," one of them calls.
"But wh—" she offers some token resistance, and the thug points a gun at her and she says, "Alright, alright." The suit is gone, pretend-booped ten minutes into the past.
"Now we wait."
"For what?" Rewind asks.
"Ten minutes."
mxglam
But Glam of course fully expects them to still be able to do a whole lot with that copy that's still networked to them, and also fully expects it to act exactly like Rewind wants it to.
thinkering
And the copy "is" "an android", so the bots can at least still send Rewind visual data.
mxglam
No, it "isn't" "an android," it just is an android. Clearly. There's no doubt about it. Yup. Totally.
back_again
"Where are my parents?" she asks.
"Alive."
"I asked where."
"You see them after we know you don't escape," another thug spits back, in a very heavy accent.
"How do I know they're alive?"
"You wait."
"Alive."
"I asked where."
"You see them after we know you don't escape," another thug spits back, in a very heavy accent.
"How do I know they're alive?"
"You wait."
back_again
"What am I supposed to do, then?"
"Wait," the thug repeats, sounding very pleased with himself.
"Wait," the thug repeats, sounding very pleased with himself.
thinkering
"Timing out your power's definitely not suggesting they were planning on this being a friendly exchange," mutters Lorica.
mxglam
"You can talk now, your copy won't repeat what you say," Glam says, guessing from their view of Rewind's face inside the helmet.