“Ok, so first thing none of this stuff is original to me, I was taught by my dad who’s a massive martial arts nerd.” Molly said while we took our shoes off to go on the padded mats. “He decided to show me what he thought was best, so I know a mishmash of stuff that mostly works well in real-world fights instead of some formal thing. The other thing is while I totally can throw you normally, I am gonna get my gravity stuff involved so I can show you what most people experience.”
“So, you already knew this stuff before coming to the CRD?” I ask curiously.
“Yep, helped a ton with onboarding.” She confirmed while doing a few stretches. “It’s pretty random what people Summers likes picking up, he is big on mindset rather than necessarily skills. It’s a big part of why we nabbed you after all, well that and you kicking ass to help people.”
“My plan is a mixture of a bunch of drills of the motions along with just doing stuff to you followed by explaining the what and why after.” She continued. “Once I feel comfortable, I will then have you run through replicating it on me or a dummy.”
“Er, do you need to limber up or anything?” She asked while pausing to look at me.
“Uh, not really?” I answered still kinda awkwardly standing waiting for her to be ready. “I have like different levels of performance and fuel consumption, but I switch in response to need rather than really warming up.”
“Alright, may as well get going then,” She responded with a nod before finishing up with her stretches and moving into some stance I didn’t recognize. “Let me start by getting you to stand like I am…”
----------------------------------------
I don’t really get physically tired anymore so long as I have fuel, but I definitely get mentally worn out. The last few hours were occupied by knee jerks between calm careful drills, before being thrown, grappled, locked in various positions, and even an awkward demo of chokehold which was a bit odd given the unyielding nature of my neck. I could remember some of the moves but when I admitted to Molly that I didn’t know if I could repeat any of it, she laughed it off saying I was doing fine.
“The fact we don’t have to worry about getting you in shape is already going to save us time, and you are pretty good at knowing where attacks are coming from.” She said with a grin. “I guess that’s another your body thing?”
“Yeah probably,” I confirmed. “Doesn’t stop you kicking my ass though.”
She laughed.
“How did the gravity stuff feel like?” She asked. “You didn’t seem too fussed about it at the time.”
I considered back to it, while she would warn me that she was going to do something but otherwise the first warning I had was feeling oddly light when moving or being thrown like a ragdoll. Her ability didn’t have any flashy visuals nor ramp up telegraphing that she was doing something, if anything it seemed almost unconscious as she never needed to interrupt a move to unleash it.
“It was neat,” I said to her. “I’m so used to being physically heavy now that going to something around what I used to weigh is weird. I remember moving differently recently enough that it’s not something I have difficulty with right now though
“I’ve noticed you seem to take a light touch with everything, was that something you needed to get used to?” She asked while collecting her backpack from the side of the room.
“Nope, I seem to have gotten some of the unconscious muscle memory this body had so I mostly don’t have to think about it,” I admitted. “I think from what Summers said that’s pretty common though.”
“Yeah, that’s kind of what my gravity powers are like then, it’s almost cheating how obvious it is. Honestly, my change was pretty quick to get used to.“ She admitted with a sheepish grin. “The only external change for me was my hair turning blonde from brown, I do have an extra organ though. It’s a little thing to do with my gravity powers in amongst my guts, can’t say I notice it beyond what it lets me do.”
“Huh, was it something you knew of from the get-go?” I asked my own organs being a bit of a grab bag of whether I was aware of them or not.
“Yeah, it’s got a feel depending on how much manipulation I can do. I noticed it pretty much immediately, which was a little bit scary as I was driving at the time and the clash arrived before the window.”
Then she hit a hand into the other.
“Oh right! I mentioned I have an artifact that helps stabilize the output of the organ.” She said before going to pull the neck of her hoodie down a bit to reveal what appeared to be a chunky necklace of blue-green metal tabs. “It’s one of a handful of safe booster artifacts we have, its downside is that it applies a pretty harsh cap on what I can do compared to my best case. Although having the floor be something usable makes it well worth it, honestly I don’t go anywhere without it anymore.”
“How did the department figure out that it worked and was safe?” I asked curiously as she realigned her hoodie.
“A hell of a lot of experiments after having a gut feeling that it was fine.” She grimaced while waggling a hand. “Unfortunately, that’s artifacts in general, they are so unpredictable that fucking around and finding out is a core part of the process. At this point, we have enough experience that we know how to avoid the worst consequences.“
“Now, let me get a quick shower in then let’s head to my, no, our office!” She said flashing me a grin and then walking towards the change room.
“By the way the fact you don’t sweat is bullshit.” She said over her shoulder as I grabbed my backpack.
“Hey, at least you have active cooling I’m going to be over temp until it radiates off!” I countered starting to follow her.
She stopped and turned back. “Wait, you’re overheating?”
I nodded before clarifying. “Not substantially but I haven’t really been moving around so I’m getting to heat saturation without any air across my radiators.”
"You didn’t feel hot just now.”
“Yeah, my surface temperature is maintained up to internal saturation after which it rises rapidly.” I grimaced. “I really don’t want that as I think my skin could melt or catch fire if it gets bad enough.”
“OK, that’s a yikes. Warn me before we get that far.” She said looking horrified.
“It’s fine, go and take your shower,” I said while doing a shoo-ing motion ass I caught up.
I may not sweat but this seeped lubrication oil in my joints feels weird, I’m glad I thought to bring some rags. I wasn’t really used to the idea of being in the women’s change room, it’s just the two of us so I could just nab an opposite corner to give her privacy, but it still felt odd.
I was still scrubbing at an annoying to reach part of my hip when Molly popped a damp-haired head around the central row of lockers.
“Hey, Sam you ready yet?” She paused for just a second looking at me frozen staring back. “Whatcha doing?”
“Uh, hygiene?” I answered uncertainly while being more than a little embarrassed, I was not exactly fully dressed. She wasn’t particularly fussed seeing me partially naked nor did she closely examine what I was doing.
“Mmm’k, let me know when you’re ready.” She responded before vanishing back around the corner.
Uh, is that what the usual reaction should be? I’m pretty sure Anna’s brain would break, but that’s probably an indicator of her preferences.
After finishing up and pulling back on the pants and sleeveless shirt I had worn before training, I caught up to her just outside the locker room.
“Ready to go?” She asked.
“Yeah, sorry for the delay.” I responded a little sheepish at how long cleaning could take.
“No worries, now onward to the office!” She declared while heading into the maze of corridors. She was quite confident when navigating, so I assumed you can get used to getting sound here, but I was not in the least.
Eventually, we reached an unlabeled door with a column of nameplates holders beside it, the only occupied one was filled with ‘Molly Scott, Field Agent’. She paused for a second with a grin.
“Behold my glorious domain.” She declared while swinging the door open.
It was a room that kinda had a vibe of one from a cheesy buddy cop film, just without any of the buddies. There was a large table in the middle of the room divided into five sections by short not quite cubicle walls. Four equally sized ones at the front that were empty and then a wide one at the end with a laptop and presumably Molly’s stuff. She seemed to have a small collection of anime character figures, stationery, and a few textbooks.
Along one wall there was a large solid looking locker with a chunky keypad on it, then a couple of open front alcoves with spaces for coats. The other had a narrow table against it only occupied by a cheap coffee maker and some coffee tins, with a mini-fridge sat in the corner beside it.
The room felt lonely, to be honest.
“Come on in and take your pick of seat!” she said cheerfully while hanging her bag in an alcove.
I grabbed the seat closest to her with my back to the coffee machine, as I did, she threw herself into her chair sending it spinning for a moment before pulling herself back to the desk and flipping the laptop open.
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
“So, Sam, any questions from the day so far?” She asked while it booted.
“Er, I know it’s just you as a field agent right now but is it just you doing everything alone?” I asked.
“Mary normally goes with me so I’m not alone and sometimes I ask for help from changee friends who have specific skillsets, but otherwise yeah, it’s just me and you.”
I nodded, then commented a little sheepishly. “Gonna be a bit for me if I am waiting on parts still, not to mention I have no idea what I am doing in a fight.”
“I bet they will have spares faster than you would think, and honestly you pick this stuff up way better than most people.” She countered. “If nothing else It’s nice to have someone to talk to without wandering out into the facility!”
Ah shit.
“Have you been lonely rattling around alone in this office?” I asked awkwardly, and her smile turned a bit wooden.
“Honestly, yes. I try not to spend too much time stewing in my own juices though, there’s usually something going on around the base I can help with. plus, I’m only coming in a few days a week right now.”
“Er does it make sense to bring me on then?” I then hastily clarified. “If there isn’t work that is.”
“Summers and I have been looking for someone so I don’t have to rely on Mary, who is technically attached to us as opposed to an agent under the CRD.” She answered before changing the subject with only the barest pause making it a bit jarring. “How do you feel about urban ex?”
“As in exploring abandoned places? I’ve never done it before, but I’ve seen videos that looked neat.”
“Cool well, I might drag you to some safe-ish ones I know before our next session to introduce you to entering sketchy places. An awful lot of changees in problems try to hide in those sorts of abandoned buildings, you will need to know how to follow them to help.”
“Is it really that common to run away?” I asked then expanded on my question a bit. “I remember people talking about hiding for a while last week, but while I can’t say I am entirely used to other people yet, I didn’t think of running off into the woods or something.”
“Sure, but like you’re weirdly resilient about your change. There’s a lot of people that they are suddenly very different and surrounded by people that don’t recognize them nor are they in an environment made to support their needs.” She explained. “They just want to get away, but then they’re lost and don’t know what to do when all they’ve ever known was living in buildings around people. So, they find a building without the other people bit.”
“Ah yeah makes sense.” I hesitated a second then continued. “I should probably say I was lucky with how supportive my family and roommates have been.”
“Having a support network is huge, yeah.” She nodded. “The two roommates I met seemed nice.”
“Yeah, they are. I also have my question chains helping with my gender and identity stuff, although I am really reluctant to start anymore.”
“Not gonna lie, I’m surprised you’re as cool with those as you are.” She said a touch leerily.
“They kinda aren’t as dramatic as they sound in retrospect, so you know the idea of internally debating a problem or reviewing your actions repeatedly and coming to the same conclusions?” She nodded then I continued. “It’s essentially just that the moment I start that loop it shortcuts to the end since I have an answer precompiled. it’s not that bit I don’t like about them.”
“What do you not like then?” She asked curiously.
“It’s that I don’t control or have much warning entering them and my roommates accidentally triggered a debug process that listed them out at one point.” I answered with a grimace. “It’s like I’m just gonna start asking myself about, something like ‘is it OK for me to use force to protect other people’ and then ba-“
Beginning question chain three
I wasn’t intending to start this chain right now.
Error statement received, expected question
OK fine, I will play along brain.
Error statement received, expected question
Is reducing casualties enough of a reason?
No, there might other ways to reduce casualties before force is needed.
What if there are no other ways to reduce casualties?
Then the minimum force required must be used.
What is the minimum force required?
Enough to prevent harm to threatened individuals, there’s no reason to shoot someone when holding them by the shoulder is sufficient for an example.
Are these definitions too vague?
Yes, I do not know well enough to define better ones, I just don’t want to commit unneeded harm
Would I use force to protect people?
Yes, and I have already, but only if all other options are exhausted.
OK, I was talking to Molly about chains, I remember that much.
“Bam, they interrupt me.” I finished my sentence from before.
“You’re back!” Molly said, she was on her phone and had a worried expression. “Hey Summers, she’s responsive again… I’ll talk to her and let you know… yeah bye.”
She hung up before dropping the phone onto the table.
“Are you OK Sam?” She asked with concern. “You just kinda stopped for a while, and I didn’t want to leave you alone…”
“Uh, yeah, I’m fine,” I responded with a guilty smile. “I was talking about how I get caught in question chains sometimes, and uh it happened.”
“Fucking hell that is sketchy.”
“I’m pretty sure I only can get stuck in them if I’m safe and with someone I trust, for what that’s worth.” I had thought about stuff on the bus that probably could have kicked them off enough times that I was pretty sure there were safety checks in play.
“It’s still not great to have you freeze up in front of me mid-conversation.” She countered with a sigh.
“Sorry Molly.” I answered
“Well, your question was something about using force, right? What was your conclusion.” She looked at me warily.
“I know I am willing to use force to protect people because I have before and that I want to minimize the harm I cause.” I sighed while flopping onto the desk. “Essentially just what I have already said so I scared you for no good reason.”
The tension ebbed from her.
“That’s honestly reassuring.” She said.
“Oh?” I asked.
“It means that your opinion hasn’t changed because of them, I kinda thought they did given how extreme some of the others were.”
“Mmm, well remember they are just my opinions and knowledge codified so I have to believe them before they get to go in a chain.” I pointed out. “Like my ‘am I a girl’ chain spent a few days as unsure.”
She laughed incredulously. “Wait so it only took you a few days to go from dude to being fine with being a girl?”
“Yep, I am pretty sure I haven’t ever put too much stock into it like I was fine with being a guy and I am not yet used to being a girl, but I am fine with that too.” I hesitated for a second. “Fuck if I know what that means about me mentally though, I ain’t smurt nough fur Dat.”
Evidently, my crappy 40k ork impression combined with the subject matter was enough to get her rolling while I gave her a grin from the table.
“Let me just text Summers to let him know you’re OK.” She said once she recovered and put action to words, then she looked up with a guilty smile.
“OK, so technically I should be giving you an operations manual or something like that as a field agent but… I haven’t got one of those.” She admitted, and I assumed she meant something like what Mary had given me for the P226. “I got one when I started, but it was out of date then and I think I tossed it at some point.”
“I am going to get you into the intranet and your email setup though.” She said with a gesture at her laptop.
Twenty minutes later and it was just about set up, despite the somewhat haphazard nature of the department, they did have a standard package for setting up the software needed for security and access from outside the facility.
“Ok, did you get my email?” Molly asked.
“Yep.” I confirmed.
“Cool, well I think that’s everything. I can show you the secret media server later.”
“What?” I asked confused.
“Loooots of anime and shit.”
“Ha!” The idea of a kinda not really secret underground base having a pirated media server was quite amusing.
“Well, I don’t really have anything else for you today, so I can drop you off or we can shoot the shit for a bit.” She admitted before stretching and flopping back in her chair.
“Well, I’m not in a rush right now. I had an assignment due last night, but not much else this week.” A thought crossed my mind, and I checked the time. “It’s early enough you could join my roommates and me for dinner if I warn them in time to do another serving if you want to hang out, I think there was basically gonna be a mini fighting game tournament.”
“I’ve never been any good at those, but I won’t turn down free food.” She answered with a grin.
“Awesome, one sec.”
IndustrialCat (Sam): Yo, mind if I bring Molly by for dinner + tournament?
supJim (Mike): sure i have like 8 million wings marinating anyway
supJim (Mike): i also got stuff for those cauliflower ones if they not meat person
supJim (Mike): they cool with jason and leah being here
IndustrialCat (Sam): I’ll check but I don’t see why not
TheOneMoose (Jake): Who is Molly?
BellingMouse (River): One of the changees, she’s nice.
TheOneMoose (Jake): Ah
TheOneMoose (Jake): Nice
“Well there’s gonna be a couple of other people there, and either meat or cauliflower wings so if you’re cool with that.” I relayed.
“Sounds good to me, I could destroy some wings.”
“Mike does good ones,” I said then paused realizing I was having difficulty remembering anything but the positive experience of eating them. “I think anyway, food memories are a bit weird.”
“Shit really?” She asked.
“Yeah, I don’t have the same taste buds nor sense of smell, so some memories aren’t complete because they don’t line up.” I shrugged. “I remember enjoying them though.”
“Huh, well let me get packed up and we can head over.”
----------------------------------------
“Ah shit.” I declared while eating a massive combo that wiped out the last of my health bar.
”I thought you said you weren’t good at these.” I said giving a grinning Molly the side-eye.
“Well, it looks like I’m better than you at least.” She responded chuckling.
I surrendered the controller to Jason and went to get some more ‘battered’ charcoal, turns out covering it with Papier-mâché and then warming it up gets a pretty good vegan wings-like experience.
My phone buzzed.
Dr. Martin Summers: Check department email
Dr. Martin Summers: Roommates permitted to know
Huh.
I pulled my laptop out of the backpack where it had been sitting in the hall, then grabbed one of the dining chairs and pulled into the corner where I would have some privacy.
“What’s up Sam?” Mike asked while dumping another batch of wings out. “Not like you to disappear into your laptop like that.”
“Uh, Bond stuff probably.” I said quietly.
“No shit?” I shrugged before opening the only other email in my inbox.
“Hey, Molly, when you finish that round get over here.” I said loudly in her direction, barely a sentence in getting a vague sound of distracted acknowledgment back.
Confidential.
We just got a report believed to be associated with ‘Screamgate’ portals, another death matching the pattern. Particularly relevant to the attempted usage of Roger Law and Samantha Woodward in the captured portal.
Report key lines as follows:
At 5:23PM CDT, an Austin resident reported sighting a dead body to police.
At 5:46PM CDT, Officer Holland confirmed the body of a man in their early forties, with an unusual prosthetic.
At 6:15PM CDT, EMT Cabrera reports the belief that the man died of dehydration.
Further investigation is ongoing.
- Wilson
Attached: Austin Portal Death 6.docx
“Yeah?” Molly asked curiously after arriving, I scooted the chair to the side a bit so she could look over my shoulder.
“Oh fuck,” She said, probably a bit too loud. “Aw fuck, he must have the second choice after you.”
“Molly!”
“What?” I looked up and then gestured at the rest of the room, sure enough, there had been a… pause in activities.
“Did someone else die to the scre… thing?” Jake asked.
“Yes.” I answered, not beating around the bush.
“Shit.”
“Uh, I’m not going to ask about this one.” Jason said with his hands up having returned to leaning against the wall.
“Does he know you were…” Molly asked me.
“Kidnapped and rescued? Yes, I accidentally let it slip. Leah knows too.” I hoped she got the implication of what they knew.
“Well, the people who were going for Sam just killed their backup target,” Molly said. “I won’t explain more than that, but it is not good needless to say.”
“Fuck.” Jason answered simply.