She'd sniff the air, before speaking more casually. "I... couldn't smell any blood on them. And given how fast they moved past us, I doubt they were injured." Perhaps they were running from something nearby, which did unnerve Aden somewhat. He'd signal Toyotama to follow, putting on his torch again. "Maybe we should go after them. See what it is they're doing. Because I got a feeling that... there's something strange going on here." Toyotama nodded, spreading her wings and following Aden closely. They'd try and speed up, it not taking long before they found the office space they wanted to get to. "Do you smell any blood around here?" Aden asked Toyotama, who seemed quite unsure. "I do smell a faint hint in the distance, but that could be coming from anywhere, I'm afraid." Seeing as they had no clue what was going on, Aden decided it was for the best to return to their original plan for the time being. "Lets just... find us some food, and then see if we can see where those guardsmen went off to. It can't be far from here, I'm sure of it.

The two would start looking for any places with food, checking any vending machines or kitchen area for something to eat. Though as the hours went on and they explored more places, they'd eventually notice a section which went downwards. Out of curiosity, they headed downwards, only to hear the noise of rocks being moved. And in the distance, they saw several lights moving about. Toyotama and Aden kept their distance, watching quietly before Aden gasped. "Those are the guards from before." Toyotama froze up, the two hiding behind some rubble and peaking from their hiding spot to catch the occasional glimpse. "W-What are they doing here?" Toyotama mumbled quietly, Aden squinting his eyes before tilting his head.

"They're... trying to get rid of the rubble that's blocking the path forward." He'd keep staring for some time, noticing how dedicated and efficient the guardsmen were at their job. Though it looked like it was a rather heavy job, one which could take a long time. Aden kept staring in awe, before looking at Toyotama. "Is there... something down here you know of?" Toyotama shook her head, trying to think of anything which could be of interest down here. "I really don't know. Those guardsmen are dressed weird. They behave weird. I... I'm not sure what to even make of this."

Aden nodded understandingly, before looking over at the guardsmen. "Well. Maybe we should watch a bit longer and see if they do anything... hell, if they manage to get through all the rubble, maybe we should follow them and see what is going on down here?" Toyotama didn't seem too certain about the idea, but also wasn't entirely opposed. She'd also keep looking, remaining silent as they watched the guardsmen take away rock after rock. They worked together extremely efficiently, lifting heavy items together and dividing their work quite well.

"I wonder if any of the death squads have found guardsmen like these..."

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This quest is mostly story focused, with no really deep mechanics aside from basic dice-rolling. The story is rather freeform in terms of what choices you can make and what direction you want to follow. What your goal is in this place and who you choose to trust is mostly up to you. Do you want to explore the place and figure out its mysteries? Or do you just want to shoot shit and cleanse this place of monster girls? No matter what you opt to do down here, I will always try to give options for what you can do. You can also always send in your own choices and suggestions on what to do. Either way, I hope to provide a fun and enjoyable experience for everyone. My writing ain't perfect, so I always do appreciate it when feedback is provided so I can improve further.

Shared docs:
You, your men and your allies:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_NoldE7zglICEuon-YZNhxjXcqvjszveOsz4u8jz-is/edit?usp=sharing
List of scientists and subjects, along with some minor details:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/15Z64W31Eszz9CNi-ZWe-t38yqg6riZ9oUvinfd2-F9A/edit?usp=sharing
The monster girls sheets as provided by the government tablet:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sIrSAkYFN57njvPYKcWzpjnme2nMD6Bzgkl-j4wU3LE/edit?usp=sharing
Sheets of monster girls you've befriended:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CPSZp0MxftcNaUFSfBxzkRh7MfEiPnA7G6Wzfm9dkSQ/edit?usp=sharing
Previous threads:
https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?searchall=Monster+Girl+Facility
Based artwork from anons:
https://catbox. moe/c/1ajcpw

Artist I commissioned for this thread's thumbnail: Avsmomedina

>Recap from the previous thread.
After awakening from your deep slumber, you would find that your men were taking you back to the main base. Given that you were fine though, you insisted on heading back to where you came from. At first you attempted to dig through the rubble, but found it to be a treacherous path to take. Eventually, you opted to look for another path, attempting to take some ventilation shafts or sewers to get places. However, you’d find yourself being questioned by Nikita, a rather inquisitive Blackstar soldier. After he tried to blackmail you because they presumably saw the girls, you would decide to head further up to finally bring the girls somewhere safe. You found a pleasant spot close to the surface, albeit it was also occupied by a loner technician called Ingmar Parson. Still, it was the best spot to keep the girls, you leaving them there as you intended to head deeper into the vents. And after blowing up the path through the tight rubble, you’d reach the deeper floors without the girls. You were right away met with a body covered in acid, followed by a disgusting chamber filled to the brim with flies. It was there that you met Vinisha, who you managed to befriend and send upwards to the other girls. Finally, you’d encounter a strange praying guardsman who you shot from range, as well as some guardsmen forced to work in a small green chamber.

After tricking them into believing you were also members of the Queen’s forces, you headed into the nearby foundry. You were getting closer and closer to the queen, avoiding more guardsmen before finding the hallway you had seen in your dreams. Though before being able to head any further, you were confronted by a massive group of guardsmen. They didn’t attack you though, which gave you the opportunity to act and perhaps pass through without a fight...

Continuing from the previous thread...

>Pretend you were under the Queen's control and that there was a misunderstanding. If those folks in the previous botanical garden could be fooled, than surely you could fool these guys?
Despite the fact that the guardsmen were running towards you with their weaponry, you told your men to stay put. “Are you mad, Mik?!” Mike immediately hissed at you, whilst you told your men what to do. You were going to act like foolish queen forces who were lost whilst looking for back-up. “Mik, are you really sure that this is a good idea?” Zaria asked right away, Anon stepping back and backing away from the main entrance. “Guys, they’re here!” You told your men to keep the act going, you aware that some of your men were far more keen to run away than to stay and act. Still, you’d casually approach the approaching guardsmen, who immediately crouched and aimed their weaponry at you. “Put your hands up!” One of the guardsmen yelled at you, as they seemed far more aggressive and less oblivious than the previous forces you saw. You’d keep your calm though, asking the guardsmen to lower their weapons. You’d explain that you had spotted intruders near the front of the foundry, and that you were looking for forces for support. The guardsmen kept their guns pointed at you though, you insisting that they head forward whilst they report to the queen. There was a short silence, before one of the guardsmen spoke up in a more calm voice.

“Alright, drop the act. We know you aren’t part of the Queen’s forces.” Your men all froze up, as it seemed that the act had faltered before it had even started. Despite that, Thaddeus would step forward with a more reasoning tone. “What are ya talkin’ about? Lady Feng has given us her gift, a greater purpose in life to serve her an-“ He was cut off by the guardsman again, this time speaking more amusedly. “Your shitty little spiel may have worked on some of our Lady’s automatons, but we’ve done a decent job and not been lobotomized just yet.” Seeing that the plan was failing, some of your men would already slowly reach for their weapons. Though this only agitated the guardsmen further. “I’d suggest you don’t even think about grabbing your weaponry. The moment you shoot any of us, the Queen will know one of us is hurt and send ALL of her men over.” It was safe to say that the situation had gone from bad to horrific.

Instead of fooling these guys, you had been caught red-handed and without any sort of way to defend yourself. However, given that they hadn’t shot you yet, there was maybe some hope left. Your men didn’t show any fear, keeping quiet as they waited to hear what you’d say. Of course, the main guardsman still had some things to say, which he’d quickly make known. “You guys are lucky that the Queen wants you alive. Had it not been for that, I wouldn’t have minded executing all of you right now. For the time being, I suggest coming along with us and not trying anything funny.” This comment made your men somewhat curious, looking over at you to see what you’d do now. You were outnumbered, but not necessarily outgunned. These guys were also reasonable, and weren’t mindlessly following the queen. Perhaps their potentially questionable obedience could be abused…

>What do you do next?

>Just quietly accept your surrender. It didn’t look like they would restrain you, and they could lead you straight over to the Queen. Or as close as possible to her whilst being safe.
>Use a smoke grenade whilst they weren’t looking and use it to blind them. You could use it to get out of this place, manoeuvre around them or even kill them all. (Write in what you’ll do after using the smoke grenade.)
>Try and reason with them. They weren’t mindless like the previous guardsmen, so why the hell were they servicing the Queen? (Write in how you’ll reason with them.)
>Tell them you’re here to kill the queen, and that you could free them from her control if they just let you go. Maybe they would let you pass and not inform the Queen, meaning you could sneak further ahead.
>Ask them for information about the Queen. Maybe they’d be willing to tell all about their glorious leader, or would be willing to explain about their relationship to her. (Write in what you’ll ask them.)
>Try and run away back into the foundry. You might get shot several times, but they had mostly small arms and you had decent armour. Perhaps you could get away without too much damage. (Write in if there’s any specific direction you’ll run to.)
>Something else…

(Aaaaand we're back, ladies and gentlemen. And unfortunately, we are off to a rough start because these guys aren't mindless morons. But hey, at least you aren't dead yet, and got plenty of opportunities to maybe get out of this situation. Either way, if there are any questions regarding your situations, or errors I made, do let me know!)

>>6122276
always interesting to see our handiwork from another perspective
aw shucks, guess we might be about to take our first casualties or quest end if we really fumble it
>Try and reason with them. They weren’t mindless like the previous guardsmen, so why the hell were they servicing the Queen?
Stall and prod. Why should we come along only to be lobotomised or "creatively" executed? Who'd look after our girls? Are we really making that much of a name for ourselves? What's your beef, and what does Queen Bitch want specifically? What's even in it for you - we continue with Feng none the wiser, remove her, you're free and everyone goes home happy.

If they continue to stick to their guns (literally) and aren't receptive to anything, pop a flashbang (or smoke if we haven't got one) while they're still in the middle of talking, open fire, run like hell and don't stop running because there's going to be scary things behind us.

>>6122276
>Tell them you’re here to kill the queen, and that you could free them from her control if they just let you go. Maybe they would let you pass and not inform the Queen, meaning you could sneak further ahead.
Tell them right away what we're planning, we're gonna kill the queen, they don't look as stupid and/or brainwashed as the others, we know about what the queen can do so we can help each other around, they let us go perhamps with some info on subjects helping her and we kill the queen while keeping casualities on the minimum, failing that go to...

>Use a smoke grenade whilst they weren’t looking and use it to blind them. You could use it to get out of this place, manoeuvre around them or even kill them all.
This mission is a bust, let's retreat and prepare our reigicide strategy.

>>6122276
Yeah makes sense the guards closer to her throne room wouldn't be lobotomized zombies. That's unfortunate.
>Tell them you’re here to kill the queen, and that you could free them from her control if they just let you go. Maybe they would let you pass and not inform the Queen, meaning you could sneak further ahead.

Even while we're in our stickiest situation yet, I'll still have Random Thoughts. When/if we get out of here and back to base, we should ask Morgan to make us a sword. Not a full size sword mind you, a much more manageable shortsword like a gladius or a Model 1832 and for some basic instruction in using it. I don't think we actually have a melee weapon - and we ought to - so we may as well push the boat out for it. She'd probably be delighted to make it, it'd be fuckin' awesome to rock a sword and there's nobody I'd trust more to make us a fine weapon. Or if not a sword, c'mon, at least a sweet dagger.

>>6122472
Why do we need a melee weapon? We presumably already have a combat knife anyways.

>>6122502
I just don't feel entirely safe not having a backup hand-to-hand weapon. It also allows us to quietly stab people, functions as a prying tool and can open bottle tops. Yeah sure, we might have a knife, but why have just a knife when you could do better?

>>6122506
How would we explain having a nanite sword to other death squads and the government?

>>6122510
Er, good point. Don't bring it upstairs.
Still want a knife though.

>>6122353
Supporting this. While these people aren't lobotomized they still follow the Queen. Either willingly because they are desperate, simps or fucked up in the head. Or because they are only mildly under her influence. Both mean that they likely are just going to shoot us with intent to maim for capture if we tell them we plan to kill the Queen, or worse just radio the Queen to tell them we wait for her head on a silver plate allowing her to bolster up her defenses even further even if we do manage to get out of this and still be in fighting shape.

Also, doubt this will quest end us. If everyone dies we probably start playing as Laura or maybe even Aden

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>>6122272

Any requests guys? I'm out of ideas.

>>6122276
I'll change my vote >>6122445 to
>Just quietly accept your surrender. It didn’t look like they would restrain you, and they could lead you straight over to the Queen. Or as close as possible to her whilst being safe.
Why not just let them lead us to Feng? We can drop them when we think we're close enough. Unless they take our shit, I guess.

>>6122876
Quite good. And I have an idea for you. Art of the Feng fuhrerbunker, because you guys with actual talent have made art of characters we only vaguely know the description of before.

>>6122876
I like that Piet doesn't seem shocked or anything. He just sees it, states his amazement and accepts that there are giant mosquitos who enjoy his work. Very Dutch reaction to say the least.

Anyway, since you're low on ideas, I think I can help out in a fun way. Since it's almost the 1 year anniversary, I'll let you and the other anons pick a subject for the reference image to be revealed of. Obviously, there are some subjects where I will keep their appearance a secret for undisclosed reasons, but if there is any subject you're interested in, I'll be nice and reveal them. That way, you can hopefully draw something fun with them.

>>6122957
I'd be shocked if Annie isn't one of the ones that you want kept secret, sadly. So not sure who else we'd really want since Vinella's art is already available and we are bound to see the queen very soon. Maybe Vinisha's sister or Juno?

>>6122957
Thanks, but, I'm gonna have to decline your offer, Anderson. I'm more of a "getting jumpscared by the reference image on an update when we cross paths with a subject" fan.
But I'm interested in DS-14, I like mermaids and her being described as sick and weak makes my inner saviourfag act up, sadly setting foot in the flooded section is suicide lol.

>>6122917
>Art of the Feng fuhrerbunker
Suptg is down and I forgot to write down that short description of Feng that was revealed in the dream sequence. Once I get my hands on it, I'll get to work.

>>6122876
Anastasia (Dragon type womanlet) comparing sizes with Chrys (bug type womanlet)

>>6123004
The thing with Annie is that I could showcase her pic. But the issue is, I am gonna commission a better picture of Annie in a more fitting outfit. It may take a while to get that comm finished, so I just have the current pic in use for her now.

>>6123050
Ah, if you need the description of Feng, I got you my guy.

A giant, female figure with great white and black horns which converged together as they moved up. She was muscular, bloody and had a somewhat muddled face with a cruel and truly monstrous grin.

Anyway, I guess it makes sense if you'd rather keep some appearances a secret. If the other Anons want something, I can definitely try and provide it.

>>6122276
>>Use a smoke grenade whilst they weren’t looking and use it to blind them. You could use it to get out of this place, manoeuvre around them or even kill them all. (Write in what you’ll do after using the smoke grenade.)

They likely still have the loyalty virus in them like the others.
Anyway,
GUNS GUNS GUNS and RUSH TOWARDS QUEEN.
Right after tossing smoke grenades, we toss flashbangs. Disorient the enemy, fire on them, and run towards queen.
We don't need to kill them. We just need to railgun queen, even if we don't succeed, we can railgun the wall and make an exfil.
Have derek check to see where the nearest wall might be.
There is a massive benefit to the hallways that is to our advantage.
Chokepoints. in order for them to cross, they have to pass through the singular hallways.
There is only one main issue, the other subject that we are unaware of. We need to keep eyes open for her. Thermal/ultraviolet?
The moment we make eye contact with queen, our first action should be to aim railgun and fire.
She's very aristocratic, so if we can queue her dialog for us to aim at her. We'll be set.


Our options are two fold.
Either we leave here and try to extract now.
or we go for the throat and try to kill.

no point in talking with people who are more likely to be slaves to her, (just with higher cognition). "If they can think they can be reasoned wiith" why would she leave her guard in front of her throne room capable of being compromised?

on another note should've placed those explosives and camera when we had the chance earlier, they would've been vary useful for having intel and causing distractions now or later.

>Try and reason with them. They weren’t mindless like the previous guardsmen, so why the hell were they servicing the Queen?
You'd drop the act right away, but wouldn't give in to the guardsmen right away. You were not going to ruin this one chance at getting to the queen. Thus, you decided to confront them and asked them why you had to follow them. The main guardsman scoffed, before raising his gun. "At least you dropped the idiotic act. Regardless, I don't think you're in a position to question us right now." You didn't accept the answer, asking the guy why you'd let them bring you to the Queen to get lobotomized or executed in some 'creative' way. "I already told you that the Queen wants you alive. If she wanted you executed, she would've just told us to fire. She may be a sadist, but she'd know not to let people near her who took down that monstrous rabbit subject." Considering that Caera was made by the same scientist as her, it made sense that Feng would be a bit more apprehensive with letting you guys come over to her area. Still, you'd ask them why the Queen wanted you, and why they were going along with it.

This last comment actually made one of the guardsmen speak up, doing so reluctantly. "S-She'll kill us... i-if we fail her." The guardsman would say as he lowered his gun, which made the head guardsman speak up in annoyance. "Which is why we won't fail her, Kiran. We'll bring these folk to her and she'll let us live another day." Given that one guardsman wasn't entirely on board with what was going on, it was only natural that your men would start prying information from him. "So, you guys are doing this out of fear, huh?" Anon asked without hesitation, to which some of the guardsmen actually nodded. "She can sense our internals, track us down and... break our fucking minds if she feels like it. If we so much as make a move in the wrong direction, it can mean a swift death."

Before you could get more juicy intel, the main guardsman spoke up again. "Which is why you morons should stop telling these guys everything about the Queen, and keep your bloody guns pointed at them!" You'd once again ask why the Queen wanted you to come over, before also asking why he didn't just move past you. You didn't reveal that you were gonna go after the Queen just yet, so you'd keep it vague for the time being. "Simple. She can sense where we are. She knows where you guys have gone to. And given how many other scouts are heading here, she'll know if we let you pass through. And given that I don't wanna risk getting my free will deleted, I'll opt to just take you bastards over to her." Some of the other guardsmen looked down, clearly not having any kind of retort to what was said. It seemed they really were stuck in a rock and a hard place, having to either take you down, or suffer a fate likely worse than death. Still, you weren't going to get captured and let them win. You were going to kill the Queen with or without their help.

>Use a smoke grenade whilst they weren’t looking and use it to blind them. You could use it to get out of this place, manoeuvre around them or even kill them all.
With the mission being a bust, you'd whisper to Thaddeus to prepare a smoke grenade. You wanted him to sneakily throw it right at them. Thaddeus gave a quick nod which the guardsmen thankfully didn't pick on. "Did you say something?" The main guardsman asked you, having heard your soft murmuring. You stated that you weren't going to just let them take you to their Queen. Even if it was unfortunate they'd be punished, you were going to pass through here. "Oh no, you're not passing through here." You told Thaddeus to throw the smoke grenade, the guardsman continuing to talk. "Unless if you follow us. And if you still resist... well, you'll have to pass through here with bullet holes in your legs. After all, the Queen wanted you alive, not uninjured. Now, come along then, or we'll have to open fi-" They noticed the smoke, all of them looking at it during which you quietly told your men to run and fire at them.

Your men dashed back and got their guns, trying to win the draw and land in the first shots. Unfortunately, even with the smoke starting to spread, the guardsmen were already aiming at you. And you’d quickly start hearing gunfire aimed right at you. You and your men panicked, as you heard yells over the comms devices. “Armour is holding! Their guns can’t take us do-“ “FUCK! NO, IT’S NOT!” Zaria yelled, interrupting Thaddeus’ comment. You’d soon also feel a sharp pain, followed by intense searing as something started leaking from your left arm. You felt more bullets flying by you, some hitting you but your armour protecting you. Unfortunately, even if the armour blocked most bullets, the sheer number meant you and your men were taking some hits. “I’M HIT!” Derek yelled, after which you felt another shot landing in your thigh. Fortunately, the aiming became less and less accurate, as the smoke set in and blocked the guardsmen’s vision. Not to mention, you did hear some yells from them, meaning some of your men had managed to land in shots of their own.

Soon after, Thaddeus would run over to you and helped you walk. “We gotta get outta here!” He’d say, you nodding before Anon used his grenade launcher to further disorient the enemy. There was a blast behind you, as you and your men would rush towards the complex machinery to find a hiding spot. “You and your men would keep running, as the gunfire of the guardsmen died down. The adrenaline kept you going, as you and your men ran for minutes on end through the maze that was the foundry. Until finally, you and your men stopped in a small control chamber beside some massive furnaces. The adrenaline faded, as you felt the searing pain in your thigh and arm. Looking down, you had bled a decent amount. Not enough to die just yet, but these two wounds were definitely serious.

Worse, you weren’t the only one to have taken quite the battering. Looking around you, you saw that Zaria had been shot in her arm, her trying to power through the pain. Derek had also been struck in his lower left leg, meaning he’d probably struggle to stand, let alone walk or run. “Who’s injured?!” Lars immediately asked, as you, Zaria and Derek were the only ones to raise your hand. Still, three major injuries in a party of 8 was devastating to say the least. “Shit, shit, shit. Okay, I’m going to need some help here.” Lars said as he would grab some bandages and disinfectant. Meanwhile, you would find Mike walking up to you. You were expecting a lot of critique from his side, but were pleased to hear a more cautious and concerned tone. “Mik, what do we do? We’re… god knows where, potentially surrounded by the Queen’s forces. I-Is there any sort of plan?” Zaria would speak in a more agitated and pained tone. “Hngh, we’re… we’re dead down here! There is no other plan! We’ve walked into a goddamn kill zone and are gonna die down here! I-I’m so… Grrrr, fuck! My blood is boiling right now!” Mike groaned, before speaking more calmly. “Zaria, I’m also pissed, but we have to stay calm here, alright? We can be pissed off AFTER we figure out a way to get the hell out of here!”

At least Mike was being helpful now. He could sense the danger you and your men were in and wasn’t going to use the opportunity to complain. Instead, he trusted you to think of a plan which you could hopefully use to get the hell out of here.

>What do you do next?

>Focus on being patched up first. You could think more clearly once you were patched up and would at least know your limits, now that you were injured again.
>Keep moving and think of a plan whilst you wandered around the place. Staying here for too long was just courting death at this point. (Write in where you’ll try and move to.)
>Try and secure an area by setting up some traps and fortifications. You still had some explosives, a grenade launcher, and plenty of weapons to defend yourself with. All of which could be used for a trap.
>Head for one of the exits and try to find a way past. Maybe you could take the north-eastern path out, or could sneak your way back to where you came from. (Write in which path you’ll take, and how you’ll try and sneak past.)
>Try and contact anyone for help. It was a desperate move, given the reach you had down in these parts. Hell, the Queen could even intercept your message. But, what other options did you have? (Write in who you’ll send an SOS message to and what you’ll try and convey.)
>Discuss with your men…
>Something else…

>>6123201
Okay, that could have gone better, but also so much worse and honestly, given the grip Feng has over her subjects, I'm not sure it would have gone any other way. We're so going back to base after this for an extended stay after this.

I've got an idea. A potentially crazy idea. The furnaces will all have these huge flue ducts for cooling and waste gas disposal, and we're right next to one. I propose we patch up a little bit - just enough to stem the bleeding and take some painkillers - break some things in the control room to disable the furnace (important!) and use the railgun to blast our way into the furnace flue and make our escape in the vents, which presumably run more or less straight to surface, or we break out again part-way (and we may wish to blow them behind us to stop any pursuit). We've dealt with vent zappers enough times to make our way through them with some work.

We don't know this in-character right now, but the sloping tunnel being full of Queenguard does mean we'd have to go through the upper tunnels to the accommodation block to get back to our girls without picking a fight.

>>6123201
>>Something else…
I'm using something to write our plan. Split up the work, Lars and one more focus on helping patch us up till we can walk again, the other three fortify our positions and prepare a few traps and get ready to shot anything which comes near, once we're in walking position it's time to leave, contact the girls and tell them we need help, ask to send Morgan, Kamara, Oreas and Anophelis for support use her code names just for safety in case the Feng and her troops are not aware of who they are, Mon-Gal squad's jobs are rye follow: Morgan distract her soldiers and clean a path, Kamara and Oreas infiltrate this place and try to sabotage her forces and fry her eletronic traps and Anophelis because we have some wounded and we need help.

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>>6122957
>Ref pic
Guess pick one from the terminated piles.
-19-SF

By the way, while we wait for Lord Liquorice to pull his website back together, previous threads can be found here (if you can fend off the popups):
https://archived.moe/_/search/boards/qst/subject/%22monster%20girl%20facility%22/

>>6123201
>>Keep moving and think of a plan whilst you wandered around the place. Staying here for too long was just courting death at this point. (Write in where you’ll try and move to.)
In the direction of the guards who were behind us, or in front of us towards the exit (where guards may be assembling).
Fire a railgun round. That shit penetrates and we know damn well they are trailing us.
Place explosives in the furnace fuel line (or just the furnaces in general if we can't find em) are real quick
>>6123210
like this anon said
before making our making our way towards the
I don't think we will find the control room fast enough, but to be honest we don't need to. The fuel is there regardless, so we can just set it aflame when we detonate the explosives.
The hardest part of this is the exfil.
If we try to go out we are likely to eat shit.
So my idea is we go behind some of the furnaces or the railing above and make our way close to exit we came in from. See if anyone exists, if they don't we detonate the explosive and see if that lures them.
VERY IMPORTANT THAT WE RECHARGE RAILGUN
will be needed as soon as we can reuse it.

>>6123212
There is no shot they get here within a meaninful time frame.
They are multiple floors above us, as well as being well aways away from making it to our location on this floor.

>>6123285
I think you chopped off a part of your post there and it's quite disjointed. Can you condense that down into a coherent tldr of what you plan to do?

We are already in the control room, at least for this facility (though whether it works is another thing). This whole place is a nightmare of chokepoints and ambush locations and will soon all be turning out to look for us, including whatever nasties Feng has up her sleeve that are worse than the Dark One. I just don't see any merit to dashing through the whole place for the door when we can make our own back door and skip out in a way they won't expect and have limited ability to contest.

>>6123212
>>6123285
Supporting. Realistically only way we are going to kill the queen is if we have subject support. And after we jobbed it so bad we need to fall back and recover. Just hope our entrance isn't heavily guarded after this when we go for round 2. I am worried however that the girls won't get here in time to help us.

>>6123295
We are in a location that has entrances in the form of hallways, these are chokepoints. we can fire the railgun through them to kill multiple guards.
We can choose to:
A. Fire towards our rear to the guards who were just chasing us
B. Fire in front of us in case there many be guards amassing at the exit we came in through.
Regardless of which we go with- we should place explosives at the furnaces/by their fuel as the other anon said, so that we may detonate it (either right away or once we see guards entering from the direction opposite to where we fire our railgun.
It is important to also prepare the railgun for re-firing as soon as possible.
the most difficult part of this plan is the exfil, we can either take the highground using the railings, or stay hidden in the machinery and work our way towards the exit while staying behind them, in order to get the drop/see when guards are entering so we know to detonate the explosives to distract them.


The response to the another anon was me stating that given both the vertical and horizontal distance, there is no reasonable method in which the monster girls who are allied with us will be able to make it to our location and render us aid. By the time they get down the shaft and make the trek here. We will have either escaped, killed the opposition, or fell to them ourselves.

>>6123201
>Focus on being patched up first. You could think more clearly once you were patched up and would at least know your limits, now that you were injured again.

Jesus guys, I miss one (1) vote over a holiday weekend and find out you chose to engage in hostilities with a group twice our size that also had us dead to rights, guns drawn and aimed while ours were still holstered. We should be dead. If this quest wasn’t run on super ultra easy mode there’d be multiple casualties at the very least.

>>6123253
Dawwww, precious lil bombardier beetle girl. I wish to pet her.

>>6123599
Ironically enough, it were the dice which saved your ass. You had two rolls which basically saved your men from being shot in the vitals. I was however more generous with the damage you guys did to the enemy squads.

In any case, if a similar situation does occur, don't be surprised if shit does hit the fan if the dice decide so.

>>6123362
We've already gotten in one fight, the whole base knows we're here, we have three wounded and fuck knows how many more soldiers and other nasties there are. The railgun is not a get out of jail free card and trying to blast out guns blazing seems like the very last thing we should or need to be doing when we could have a way out right here.

>>6123599
T'was the least worst option once once they didn't let us go as far as I'm concerned. Either we picked a fight then and there to escape, or we picked a fight later when we were still with them, way deeper in the lion's den and they had reinforcements or Feng herself to contend with on top of that. I'm very much aware of how much we placed our fate in the dice there.

>>6123723
Its not, but when you have fish in a barrel, its very useful.
using it is better than not using it. I am not saying its the end all be all, but it sure as hell can improve our chances.

>>6123751
True about fish in a barrel in confined spaces, but these corridors seem pretty big.
Chances we also sure as hell don't need to be taking like this.

I hope QM can bodge together a single course of action here since the thoughts on this seem kinda divergent.

>>6123796
Yeah, I think I'll give you guys one more day to think this through. For one, because there's a lot of diverse ideas on your next course of action. And secondly, because I have found myself exhausted after a busy day of work, and need to get some proper sleep in.

So yeah, hope to see if there is one general consensus when I wake up. If not, I'll see what I can write down based on everyone's wishes.

>>6123798
I've got an idea. You could do a sort of half-update where we patch up (since there seems to be a consensus on that) and discuss our options with our team to get their evaluations on the sitch and our possible actions. Bouncing these plans off our team could help to hash out a consensus on our actions.

>Focus on being patched up first. You could think more clearly once you were patched up and would at least know your limits, now that you were injured again.
>Something else…
Mike and the rest of your men looked at you to hear what the plan would be. You had to improvise quite a bit, as there were very few lifelines you had right now. The first thing you'd suggest was for Lars and Mike to stay here to patch you, Zaria and Derek up. They would nod, as Mike already got to work grabbing some of Lars' bandages. In the meantime, you'd turn to Thaddeus, Anon and Lydia. You told the three of them to grab some of the explosives and traps, and to head in the direction the guardsmen were. They would take a huge risk which could hopefully save you. "Aye, understood." Thaddeus responded, Anon and Lydia also accepting their mission. You'd even tell Thaddeus to light fire to some of the place, especially the places which had coal which could burn quite nicely. In the chaos, you could either escape or opt to take your guns and actually fight back. As your men headed outside again though, you told them to be careful and not to get into any fights. The last thing you wanted was for three of your able-bodied men to be unable to return to assist. "We got you, Mik." Anon responded, after which you were left with Mike and Lars.

As Mike and Lars tried to patch you and Derek up first, you'd ask Derek if he could maybe try and contact the girls. "I can try... but this place is pretty deep down. I'm not entirely sure I can reach them." As you felt the sting of disinfectant near your wounds, you'd tell Derek to give it a try. You even already had some ideas for the girls. Derek would carefully try and grab the tablet, thankfully not being injured in his upper region. He'd try his best to get into contact, calling the girls but letting out a sigh. "The connection is too weak. I'll send them a message instead. That can maybe reach them if we find a spot with a strong enough connection."

Derek would soon ask if there were any notes which needed to be added to the message. Directions were an obvious one, as Derek just used the coordinates of your current location as well as some previous spots. Finally, you'd tell him what each of the girls should have to do. Morgan would be your shield and would clean the way. Kamara and Oreas would infiltrate enemy territory and try to sabotage them. Anofelis would help with carrying the wounded as well as other equipment you had on you. "Got it noted down... ugh, if Ano comes over, I DEFINITELY need to be carried by her." Zaria would groan in pain as her wounds were also cleaned. "I'd prefer just getting the hell out of here and not waiting." You told the both of them that being patched up was most important right now, and that the others could hopefully help you around the place. "Thaddeus is gonna have to help me walk for sure." Thankfully, the painkillers did help slightly, as you were slowly but surely patched up.

>Keep moving and think of a plan whilst you wandered around the place. Staying here for too long was just courting death at this point.
After you were fully patched up, you'd tell your men that you wanted to keep moving. You even tried standing up, finding that you did struggle with standing as well. Mike would quickly come over to help out. "Here, let me help." At least Zaria was fully able to stand on her own. Though she did hold her arm close to her chest as it was presumably rather painful. Derek was the most unfortunate, as he'd clearly struggle getting up at all. "Easy, Derek. Easy." Lars said as he helped him slowly stand, after which Mike would over to Zaria. "You also need some help?" Zaria shook her head and looked over at you. "Just focus on him. I can hopefully manage on my own." With that, Mike would support you and ask: "So, where should we head to first?" Derek would also speak up softly as well. "We gotta find the others as well." Obviously, you intended for all of you to head to the exit where you came from. Whilst it was likely teeming with guardsmen, it was the only real direction you felt comfortable going.

Thus, you said you'd first go back to where you fled from, since it was where Lydia, Thaddeus and Anon would be. Hopefully, you'd find them quickly. "I don't like this, but... alright." Zaria softly commented, after which Mike would help you get out of the control room. The five of you would slowly but steadily head back to where you came from, it thankfully not taking long before you were able to hear the three of them. And after telling them to come over, you'd see them rushing over to you. "We set fire to one large coal storage section we passed by." Lydia remarked, which you hoped would cause some problems for the Queen's forces. Though it did also force you to perhaps head out quickly, given that the fire and smoke could cause you problems. With that, you mentioned your plan to use the explosives to hold back the folk behind you, whilst you would head back to where you came from and use the railgun to break your way through any defensive positions.

Other than that, you also mentioned that the vents could help lead you out of the place. Though this was quickly shot down by Thaddeus. "I checked some of those vents. Most are filled with rubble, and the ones which aren't are impossible to even begin scalin' with our equipment. Without a drone or Anofelis to help set up a rope, we won't be gettin' far." This made Derek speak up as well. "We can... try and head northwards and east. There's a third path which the Queen's forces may not see us using, especially since they might just know we came from the West." It was going to be a far longer walk over, and it would lead you to more unknown areas. However, it could very well be a far safer route for you and your men to take.

"Honestly, I think our best option is maybe tricking those guards into attacking this place, whilst we sneak past them. Maybe create a decoy with some of our helmets or other things." Anon would say, which was going to be difficult. How could you make any decoys? It would take time to set up, and you really just wanted to head out of here. You had to make a choice quickly though, as you had already spent way too much time down here. Especially considering the fact that you were actively being hunted.

>What do you do next?

>Head to the north-east to risk taking that route out of here. It wouldn't be a pretty path to take, but it was certainly safer than going back to where you came from.
>Head over to where you came from and break through the presumably heavily guarded positions. Maybe you could use some explosions or other tools to sneak your way by? Or just use some other method to get through it? (Write in how you'll try to sneak past.)
>Find a hiding location and stay there. Maybe you could find a safe zone which wouldn't be checked, where you could camp out until you had recovered a bit. (Write in where/how you'll try to hide.)
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

(Given the huge divergence of opinions and plans, I've decided to simplify things a tiny bit. I suppose it's sorta like what >>6124251 suggested whilt I was writing. In any case, you got two potential paths to take, and hopefully you guys can decide on some decent plans depending on which path you opt to take.)

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>>6124277
Coal bunker fires are awful. Even normally they'd be very difficult to put out and without professional firefighting gear or even running water, it's going to burn for days or even weeks if slow burning and cause huge problems with smoke and heat damage.

>Head over to where you came from and break through the presumably heavily guarded positions.
We head this way, pick one fight and win that fight. Doesn't matter if we kill them or just force a retreat. Then, we double back by a slightly roundabout alternate route and:
>Head to the north-east to risk taking that route out of here. It wouldn't be a pretty path to take, but it was certainly safer than going back to where you came from.
The idea here is that once they think we're heading to the entrance we came from, they'll think we're trying to break out that way.....which is why we'll abuse that to give them the slip and go the other way instead while they try and continue to follow where they think we're going and hopefully pull some forces from the other exit.

>>6124332
Supporting. This seems like a solid plan and the best shot we got. Though, it can easily go bad if we end up being pursued and suffer more injuries to our legs.

>>6124277
>Head to the north-east to risk taking that route out of here. It wouldn't be a pretty path to take, but it was certainly safer than going back to where you came from.

Just head this way
Pick a fight in this condition? Give them more time to converge on our location? No thanks

>Head over to where you came from and break through the presumably heavily guarded positions.
The decoy idea was quite good, though was too difficult to set up for the time being. Instead, you felt that a good idea would be to create a different feint attack. You told your men to head back in the direction you came from. "Good plan. Let's get the hell out of here." Mike commented, after which you stated your plan. It did surprise your men a bit, with Thaddeus calmly asking. "Mik, I know we'll likely have to fight. But maybe we should avoid the chance and just try and sneak through." You obviously would elaborate on your plan, suggesting that you'd try and go for a sneak attack to get attention from some of the men. Afterwards, you'd try and lead the guardsmen away, which you could then use to make your escape through the north-eastern parts. "The North-eastern path? But, what if we get trapped there? We don't know any directions down there." Lars said somewhat anxiously, after which you said it was unfortunately the safest bet you had right now. You weren't going to push your way through dozens of enemies, and it was better to just misdirect them and then retreat elsewhere.

Your men were visibly reluctant about the plan. But given the lack of options, they'd soon concede. Thaddeus and Anon led the way forward, as Mike and Las kept supporting you and Derek. Zaria thankfully was able to at least use her gun with one hand, even if she did appear a little apprehensive about what was going on right now. Still, you'd keep heading back west, taking notice of any side-routes and making sure to remain hidden. Until eventually, you spotted the main path you walked before. And as to be expected, it was now teeming with guardsmen. Many of the mindless and ornately dressed guardsmen walked around the place, looking around and scanning for you and your men. You'd also see some presumably non-mind controlled guardsmen walking by, all of them ready to fight.

You'd wait for the right moment to strike. You didn't want to face dozens of guardsmen, but you also couldn't wait too long. And after peaking at the path for long enough, you decided now was the right timing to strike. There were six guardsmen on the path ahead of you, and they also weren't too paranoid looking. Lydia, Anon, Thaddeus, Zaria, Mike and Lars would all get their weaponry, before Anon used the grenade launcher to cause a bit of havoc. The grenade would land right next to three guardsmen, blasting them and presumably instantly dealing with them. Right after, the rest of your men would shoot at the three nearby guardsmen, as they took cover. One of the soldiers would actually try to shoot back at you. But given his position compared to yours, he wasn't able to hit any shots. You did however hear the one thing you wanted to hear. "WE NEED BACK-UP NEAR FURNACES 12 TO 14! THE INTRUDERS ARE HERE!" With that, you would tell your men it was time to retreat.

>Head to the north-east to risk taking that route out of here. It wouldn't be a pretty path to take, but it was certainly safer than going back to where you came from.
You'd quickly try to pull back, you telling Thaddeus to use a smoke grenade to hopefully disorient the enemy. You'd also tell your men to avoid shooting too much, since you didn't want the guardsmen to figure out that you had retreated, and instead keep them stationed here with the idea that you would slip past. You'd thankfully manage to escape the chaos, hearing the gunfire slowly fade away. "Okay, I think we... may have succeeded in losing them!" Anon said as you kept going as quickly as possible. Though it was definitely starting to hurt again, as the adrenaline from your previous encounter wore off and you had to deal with the injuries you had. Zaria and Derek were also not doing too well, as they needed more and more help to be carried around.

Still, you'd keep hurrying up, soon hearing some blasts in the distance. "Those were the traps we set up..." Thaddeus commented. "Let's hope they did a good job..." Derek mumbled, as it seemed your plan was going smoothly so far. You kept on walking at a decent pace for twenty minutes straight until reaching the western borders to this sector. You'd keep heading north, thankfully not finding any signs of guardsmen. That was until you reached the very north-west, as you'd be met with some clear guard posts and a couple of guards. It seemed to be 5 automaton guards and 4 regular guardsmen who were presumably not under the Queen's control. They didn't notice you yet, though did appear to be on high alert given the fact they had their weapons at the ready. You and your men would immediately take cover in a small side chamber, as Derek spoke up. "Ugh, okay... So, this has to be the route to head east. We just have to find a way past those guards and... we'll be fine, I think. I just hope that the eastern parts here won't be worse than what we just ran from."

Your men did seem somewhat optimistic. "Those lads didn't appear to be extremely well armed. Just the usual pistols and government provided rifles. Our armour clearly is better than whatever the guards have, so I think we could maybe outgun them." Thaddeus responded, which your men didn't seem too opposed to. Well, all except for Mike, Derek and Zaria. "Just because we can maybe survive a few hits, doesn't mean we should bank on it." Mike calmly commented, after which Derek also spoke up. "Given that Zaria, Mik and I have all suffered some pretty nasty injury, I think it's safe to say that we really should not try something like that." Afterwards, Anon would speak up again as well, this time in a more hurried tone. "Well, we're going to have to hurry the hell up. I bet the guardsmen will have already figured out we aren't near the western entrance, meaning they could very well be heading our way as we speak."

Obviously, you had to hurry up and think of a plan. You did have a few more toys to play with right now. The anti material rifle, the plasma rifle, grenade launcher, smoke grenades and your own weaponry all were solid picks. But, given that you still had the element of surprise with you, you could plan out a lot of things.

>What will you do next?

>Create a small noise nearby and lure the guards out from their fortified location. You could either force them into the maze that was the foundry sector, or you could just execute them from a safe position. (Write in how you'll lure them out and what you'll do.)
>Go for overwhelming force and a quick kill from range. You could easily use the Anti-material rifle on the most protected guardsmen, whilst using regular arms to take down the rest.
>Create a panic with the grenade launcher, plasma rail gun or smoke grenades. Use it to disorient the enemy or to simply break through their fortifications with ease. (Write in how you'll use the distraction.)
>Watch and observe the guardsmen for a few minutes. Maybe you could notice something else about their fortifications or how they behaved. The other guardsmen were probably not THAT close to catching up to you just yet. (Write in what you'll try and look for specifically.)
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

>>6124834
>>Create a small noise nearby and lure the guards out from their fortified location. You could either force them into the maze that was the foundry sector, or you could just execute them from a safe position. (Write in how you'll lure them out and what you'll do.)
How about this, lock one of the drones with a few grenades then use it to make a explosion in the foundry, we gonna lose the drone but we can make the guards go far away from us, alternatively we could see if our radio is working and.... beg for Anne for a safe route, last resort of course.

>>6124834
>Create a panic with the grenade launcher, plasma rail gun or smoke grenades. Use it to disorient the enemy or to simply break through their fortifications with ease. (Write in how you'll use the distraction.)
Grenade launcher a smoker in the middle of their group, fire into the cloud, then after infrared confirmation that they’re down or gone charge through

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>>6123053
I swear to god If the dragon judge/executioner ends up being shorter than 5' feet I'm gonna wife her instantly I don't care for my safety.

>>6124860
Supporting. A drone is worth far less than our soldiers lives. Especially given any replacements will need to be either on a need to know basis or inducted into the whole 'protect the monster girls' gig we got going on.

>>6124973
Absolutely outstanding work. This has to be one of the best things posted by artists here so far. In fact, the only thing better than it is the Annie laughing gif and I fully admit that I say that purely because I waifu the smol hacker fox.

>>6124867
I would support this, but does the drone even have any means to pull the pin on the thing? Or do you pull it, hook it on and fly away as fast as possible?

>>6124973
Chrys just can't get no respect. I want to tousle her hair and twang her antennae.
You didn't even need to say that you were thinking about your dragonfu, I could tell by the amount of effort you put into this extra-quality drawing

More Random Thoughts time. How are the girls on clothing? I don't think Ano really does clothing and Kam only wears a minimum (though how does she make that invisible as well as just her body? Magic?), but what about the others? Do they only have one outfit their wardrobes and are they still wearing the same set of clothes they were at the time of the Big Bang? If so, fuckin' eww.
While Ana will probably try and execute us if she sees us, I wonder what her reaction would be to any of the girls, especially Vinisha. She might even be willing to have a chat, though maybe less so if she learned they were our accomplices.
Suppose for a minute we did do what QM feared we would want to do and try to build an unironic harem. How would we even have gone about doing that? A lot of the subjects are either too murderous to dare with or too innocent or.....damaged to seduce while using force would have likely ended poorly and got the quest banished to akun. And who of the girls we have met would even be receptive or attractive to that kind of dynamic? Caera was emotionless and psychotic, Morgan has all the libido of a compost bag, Vinisha is literally rotting meat, Ano is absolutely not for lewd and would feel like statutory rape, Kamara would have a breakdown at the thought, Chrys and Oreas are both way too sensible for that (and Oreas is much too close to loli for comfort), Viridian is far too familiar with Elbrus and Laura is.....kinda uncharacterised. As for within our team, I bet we're all in the friend zone and you don't shit where you eat. Sometimes I wonder if the QM deliberately lewd-proofed the cast to discourage that kind of adventure.

>>6125020
>I would support this, but does the drone even have any means to pull the pin on the thing? Or do you pull it, hook it on and fly away as fast as possible?
Depends of the type, my plan is on the assumption the ones we're using are the impact type rather than time-delayed ones, so basically we pull the pin, give it to a drone and then either make it drop or drop it together with the drone.
https://science.howstuffworks.com/grenade1.htm

>Suppose for a minute we did do what QM feared we would want to do and try to build an unironic harem. How would we even have gone about doing that?
I think it would be a little awkward, I mean he did though it was a possibility and that's why, I think one of the reason QM, might have created the more perverted ones is exactly because on the chance we go waifu hunting, I believe most if not all gave up on that back when Laura told us they aren't the MGE type of girls but rather either degenerates perverts made it so by the the house degenerate perverts or victims of mistreatment and abandonment hell even some of the more reasonable like Anderson been too busy simping for his spider wife and left his other girls in the dust, that was a huge boner killer and locked us on a lore focused path, no regrets though, the girls are nice and I want us to find a way to get them on Lodger at quests end.

>>6124973
>Drawanon took my request =D
I would post a picture with my fell, but I restrain myself for more possible Kino draws.

>>6125120
I was thinking of a hand-thrown grenade, a launcher-fired grenade might be more like that if we got smokers.

It's just something I had a think about because I like having a think about things. If we really wanted a MG waifu, Chrys and Oreas are the most normal and well-adjusted of the bunch that we have around right now that might be receptive eventually, but our relationship dynamics haven't evolved in that direction (particularly with Oreas the imouto). Or Laura but, like I said, we haven't seen that much of her. That and I'll always simp for the Morgan.

>>6124973
So, I am gonna have to disappoint you and let you in on the fact that Anastasia isn't THAT small. She's actually taller than most humans, being about 6 and a half feet tall. It's just that her nanite level would put her in a similar category to someone like Viridian or any of the other heavy hitters.

Anyway, bad news aside, this art is adorable. It's not what Anastasia looks like, BUT it's so adorable that I think I'll make this draconic gremlin an actual character. I just wanna ask if you're okay with me then using the pic and making a sheet for her.

>>6125020
So, on the topic of clothing and how they work for the subjects, they're... actually grown by the subjects. In essence, the subjects are born with the outfit which is made out of nanites. Obviously, their clothes don't feel things and they can still take them off, but it's sorta like your hair or nails. Subjects can also prevent nanites from reforming clothes, but it's not something they often have to do. Unless if their clothes were destroyed.

Since Kamara's outfit is also made of nanites, she can easily change their shape and colour as well. Morgan's outfit can easily be manipulated since its also nanites. It's also how she stores her shield and sword and what not.

>>6125120
Honestly, I was fine with you guys going waifu hunting. I just don't advise it given the types of girls which are down here, and the fact you'll get murdered for your acts. As for lewd-proofing the story, I guess that was done for Lydia, Zaria and Laura to a certain extent. I mostly just kept it focused on them being professionals and friends, rather than adding sexualized details to them to get you interested in them. I am more prepared to note the sexual details of some of the subjects, especially those who were clearly designed for such purposes. With some restaints related to the board we're posting on.

Honestly, I am more than prepared to have depravity in the story, though I will obviously censor it before it gets graphic. E.G. What Hapi did to that poor Blackstar soldier and how it was implied. If you guys ever do somehow find a waifu and decide to make love to her, I'll probably just fade to black and write some wholesome smut in a seperate file for you pervs to gawk at. Then again, the subjects you guys seem to love the most are an autistic mosquito, Zuko lizard gal and a roasted rabbit, so I am not entirely sure if we'll ever get to anything really depraved.

>>6125233
>So, I am gonna have to disappoint you and let you in on the fact that Anastasia isn't THAT small. She's actually taller than most humans, being about 6 and a half feet tall. It's just that her nanite level would put her in a similar category to someone like Viridian or any of the other heavy hitters.
>Anyway, bad news aside, this art is adorable. It's not what Anastasia looks like, BUT it's so adorable that I think I'll make this draconic gremlin an actual character. I just wanna ask if you're okay with me then using the pic and making a sheet for her.
I thought she was a shorty because Vinisha said:
>"She has a somewhat funny quirk that renders it difficult for her to grow, but I kinda think Andrei intended that as to not allow her to grow massive."
So I thought Andrei made her a womanlet for safety measures, anyway at least we canonized a dragon gremlin, so hey a 'small' victory.

>Then again, the subjects you guys seem to love the most are an autistic mosquito, Zuko lizard gal and a roasted rabbit, so I am not entirely sure if we'll ever get to anything really depraved.
What can we say, Ano is a dummy but she's very cute and she's only like that thanks to you mister Anderson" spider's sex to the max" Thorell, should taught her better rather than playing spider-man with Haina

>>6125233
>I just wanna ask if you're okay with me then using the pic and making a sheet for her.
Yes yes yes go ahead. You don't have to ask for permission to use my art I would be honored if you did, Anderson.

>>6125233
I'm really not sure whether to feel fascinated or severely uncomfortable with their clothes being extensions of them. I guess it makes them immune to inconvenient clothing damage if they can just regrow them and also could make them living clothes printers. Can Morgan just grow a spare cape and loan it to us? And is their hair also made of nanites and thus manipulable like that?

Whether we'll get murdered for it depends on how we go about doing it. Knifes and pistol-whippings? Yeah, probably as soon as our back's turned. Hugs and kisses? Probably not, so long as nobody tells GalGov. You don't necessarily need to describe their legs and boobs to have them treated as waifu candidates, but yeah you have fairly conspicuously focused on their roles rather than appearance or charm points. Not having any reference images does do that as well.

Much of the time so far, we've established relationships with our girls more akin to a mentor, guardian or even something approaching a parent which, while we're certainly attached to each other by now, don't really lend themselves to the kind of casual and equitable bonds that develop into romance. Of our six girls, only two or three actually have their heads on straight (depending on just how much emotional baggage Vinisha has, I actually think she'd be very vulnerable to positive attention and attach herself like a limpet very fast if given it so she cold still be in the waifu running if we can find a nose peg) If my fate is to never actually get through the anime-protagonist-grade skull of my waifu, perhaps we may in the future find someone we can meet on an equal footing and without a checklist of psych issues. There's a few we could meet who might fill that box and likely more that aren't documented (read: the QM hasn't come up with them yet), but we shall see. I hope so so we can give QM the excuse to write the smut they must crave.

>>6125233
>Obviously, their clothes don't feel things and they can still take them off, but it's sorta like your hair or nails. Subjects can also prevent nanites from reforming clothes, but it's not something they often have to do. Unless if their clothes were destroyed
Neat new subject lore. This does beg a question. If they are like nails or hair, where do they physically attach to a subject, if at all?

>As for lewd-proofing the story, I guess that was done for Lydia, Zaria and Laura to a certain extent. I mostly just kept it focused on them being professionals and friends, rather than adding sexualized details to them to get you interested in them.
You say that they were kept professional and as friends without sexual details to them, but still put down their cup size when asked. Curious.

>Honestly, I am more than prepared to have depravity in the story
I don't like where this is go-

>If you guys ever do somehow find a waifu and decide to make love to her, I'll probably just fade to black and write some wholesome smut in a seperate file for you pervs to gawk at
Annie, earrape this man.

>>6125453
Hmmm.
Lewdbin.....
Annie......
Imagine.....

Basically nil chance but it does amuse me. Probably stays in caustic radio commentator mode the whole time.

>Create a small noise nearby and lure the guards out from their fortified location. You could either force them into the maze that was the foundry sector, or you could just execute them from a safe position.
Given that you didn't want any of your men getting into the line of fire, you asked Lydia if she still had some drones. "We do, but they are not in the best of states, remember? We won't be able to use the crawlers, and one of the flying drones can still go but will be practically impossible to control." It wasn't the best news to hear right now. You asked if there was any way to attach a grenade, smoke grenade or other form of explosive onto them and to make them work. "We can try, but I can guarantee you that it won't go far." Whilst the drone was worth less than the lives of your men, it was clear that getting one of the drones out there was just not going to work right now. Whilst it could be attempted, you quickly decided to go for plan B.

>Create a panic with the grenade launcher, plasma rail gun or smoke grenades. Use it to disorient the enemy or to simply break through their fortifications with ease.
You told Anon to use the grenade launcher alongside a smoke grenade, after which you could all fire into the crowd. "That can work." Anon said, already raising his shotgun and fiddling with the grenade launcher part. He'd grab a smoke grenade and attach it, after which you told your men that they would have to kill or down all the men there. It wasn't too much and the smoke would disorient them, which would hopefully mean there would be no resistance. And more importantly, you could give the confirmation if all of them were down. Once the enemy was down, you could hopefully escape this place and head somewhere which was safe. Your men got their guns at the ready, before searching for a secure position to fire from. And after finding a decent space not too far away from the fortifications, you'd wait for Anon to fire.

Things went rather quiet, you waiting behind cover and watching Anon carefully aim the gun whilst he lied on his stomach. You heard a thud, watching down from your cover at the fortified positions. And thankfully, you'd quickly see smoke filling the place as you heard a lot of yelling and screaming. "We're under attack!" "Someone contact HQ!" Of course, you immediately gave the signal to fire, as a volley of gunshots filled the abandoned foundry once more. You'd look through the smoke, noticing that most of the guardsmen were getting behind cover. Two did get shot and fell down, but you weren't sure if they were properly killed or if they were just heavily injured. Worse, the 7 other soldiers appeared to be safe. In fact, a few even started shooting back. It seemed fate wasn't on your side. That was until you saw Thaddeus line up the plasma rail gun. "Guys, protect yer ears!" Thaddeus said, as he pulled the trigger to the plasma rail gun and fired it at the fortified position.

There was a blinding flash, static once again filling the comms device. The sound was nothing to the deafening zap and the noise of concrete and steel cracking close-by. You'd hear the loud bang, as a large chunk of the fortifications was turned to dust. You saw that plenty of the guardsmen had been injured, a few lying on the floor behind where the railgun had made contact with the base. "Well, if the other folks didn't know where we were before, they'll know where we are now for sure." Zaria would say with a somewhat pained voice, her having presumably hurt her arm whilst firing her rifle. Regardless, the yells had subsided, as it appeared like you had succeeded in breaking through the fortifications. At the cost of an expensive round of ammunition, and the fact everyone probably knew your location now. Still, it was better than getting stuck in another firefight where you couldn't do much.

With that, Mike was quick to get up from his firing position. "Come on guys, lets go!" Mike would already head over to you, trying to lift you up from the ground so you could get going. The rest would also get up, though some with a bit less optimism than others. "Are we sure that took them all out?" Lydia asked right away, Thaddeus lifting up the heavy rail gun. "I dunno, but we better get goin' now instead of waiting and figuring out!" Your men were in quite a hurry, it being clear that the loud rail gun had put them on edge. Though being put on edge now was certainly not a good idea, given that you couldn't tell for sure how many of the guardsmen had actually been defeated with the railgun.

>What do you do next?

>Just join your men in running forward. Chances were that most of the guardsmen had been downed. And if a few survived, you could easily overwhelm them or just run past them.
>Wait for a minute to see if there was anyone there. If any fool dared to stand up, you could shoot them from range, or just get Anon to shoot them with his anti-material rifle.
>Threaten the position from range with another shot. If there were any survivors, they'd be smart enough to give in and let you pass. If there were none, you'd be able to figure it out now.
>Try to contact Annie for further help. Maybe you could ask her for a safe route so you at least knew what to expect once you head forwards.
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

>>6125367
>Can Morgan just grow a spare cape and loan it to us?
I suggest asking her the next time you meet her. It may take some nanites from her, but it would certainly look stylish for your group. Just wonder how the government will respond to the sight of you and your men walking back to base with a bunch of capes.

>And is their hair also made of nanites and thus manipulable like that?
I imagine it isn't really manipulable. It's more like normal organic hair. It doesn't have nanites inside of them. The clothes keep some nanites in them for repair purposes and for when they are worn by their respective subject.

>>6125453
If they are like nails or hair, where do they physically attach to a subject, if at all?
They don't necessarily attach to a subject. If the subject takes off their clothes, the nanites will deactivate. If the subject puts their clothes back on, the nanites will sense it and reactivate, meaning it'll repair the clothing and take some nanites.

>You say that they were kept professional and as friends without sexual details to them, but still put down their cup size when asked. Curious.
Very fair point. Counterpoint:
1. It's funny
2. It's a monster girl story. You gotta expect at least some levels of perversion from the guy running it, right? Just... some small treats. I'd never write anything truly perverse, no siree!

>Annie, earrape this man.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA FUUUUUUUUCK!

>>6125467
Annie has had enough experience with Elbrus and Elbrus-like figures that she knows how to save herself from such depraved situations. She is also more than happy to catfish you in such a way that you end up crushed by Vinella.

>Just join your men in running forward. Chances were that most of the guardsmen had been downed. And if a few survived, you could easily overwhelm them or just run past them.
Go, go, go! Get our guns ready if anyone try anything fill em with lead but don't stop moving.

>Try to contact Annie for further help. Maybe you could ask her for a safe route so you at least knew what to expect once you head forwards.
While we run try contact Anne, assuming she ain't busy enough to help us give a quick report, basically: "Feng found us early than expected and is gonna brainwash us into slavery, we have wounded, any safe road outta here?"

>>6125481
>Just join your men in running forward. Chances were that most of the guardsmen had been downed. And if a few survived, you could easily overwhelm them or just run past them.
We gotta go, no time for caution. Our plan from here depends on us hauling asses.
The railgun rounds are technically free so long as we save the spent ones for recharging topside. I wonder if Oreas could help recharge them for us?

>>6125486
Concerns discarded, cape is cool. Surely we can just take it off when heading back to base. Or we just found it in someone's room and thought it looked snazzy with a suitably aesthetic pre-FTL flag on it for good measure.

That's why the touching of the fluffy tail comes AFTER we've earned her trust, met her for reals, brought her some wine and applied a hug. Surely she wouldn't send one of her key ground assets straight into a trap. Right? Just remember, the mic is always hot.....

>>6125486
>Just... some small treats. I'd never write anything truly perverse, no siree!
You've secretly wrote about Hapi, haven't you?

>>6125497
Supporting

>>6125508
I see the fellow Chad Annie Enjoyer is probably going to get earraped or shocked.

>>6125481
>Just join your men in running forward. Chances were that most of the guardsmen had been downed. And if a few survived, you could easily overwhelm them or just run past them.

Go time

>>6125486
>Annie has had enough experience with Elbrus and Elbrus-like figures that she knows how to save herself from such depraved situations. She is also more than happy to catfish you in such a way that you end up crushed by Vinella.
Let me throw >>6125467 a bone here and ask what is Annie's type?

>Just join your men in running forward. Chances were that most of the guardsmen had been downed. And if a few survived, you could easily overwhelm them or just run past them.
With the support from Mike, you would join your men. You didn't care about taking caution, you didn't wanna stay back here and risk getting executed. You did warn your men to keep their guns at the ready in case anyone did survive the blast. As you were taken forward, you'd thankfully not encounter any resistance. There were no enemy gun shots, you didn't see any movement with your thermal vision. The entire fortified position had been blasted open and become accessible to you and your men. Though as you did pass, you saw a tiny bit of movement from behind some cover, albeit movement which was going away from you. Still, you'd just rush forward, walking past more barricades and soon finding the main set of doors which led out of the foundry. You'd push through, before finding yourself in a rather spacious chamber. There were more transport craft and a few fortifications littered around the place, though you didn't stop to pay attention to any of those.

You'd keep going for some time, as you walked the dark and surprisingly clean hallway. "Okay, I think we can slow down now." Lars would say as you and your men also all calmed down. "We may still wanna hurry. I cannot imagine Feng's forces being close behind us." Mike would comment, which was definitely another concern worth taking into account. "So, where are we exactly, Derek?" Lydia soon asked, as Lars would help Derek get seated against the wall. Derek pulled out the tablet, and started checking. "Well, we're currently to the south and below the green section. If we head forward, we... will find what I imagine is some sort of large office. But I'm not entirely sure of the exact details, I'm afraid." It looked like you were stuck down here in the dark unknown, with no known way back to the surface.

>Try to contact Annie for further help. Maybe you could ask her for a safe route so you at least knew what to expect once you head forwards.
You'd soon ask for the radio, as you hoped to take the time to contact Annie right now. She could hopefully get you directions towards the next safest location. There was a bit of static at the start, though you did soon hear music from Annie's station once more. Right away, you'd speak into the thing in the hopes that Annie could save you from your current predicament. You told her how Feng found you earlier than you had hoped, and that she was close to brainwashing you. Therefore, you needed a safe route out of here. The music kept playing for a moment, before you heard Annie's voice come in. "I will give directions on one condition. Logan is to the east of here. Find him and either give him one of your radios, or bring him somewhere safe. Somewhere I can find him and then take him in." There was an awkward silence, as your men all looked at each other.

Annie's request sounded rather direct and somewhat demanding. It seemed that you would have to really do as told, or risk not getting the incredible help she could provide. Though your men all seemed more than willing to work with Annie. Logan was seen as a somewhat reasonable man, so there presumably was little opposition to the idea of helping him out. Besides, you had already helped out plenty of folk, so just saving one person would surely not be too difficult. In fact, Thaddeus would calmly speak up as well. "How far away is he from our location, and what sorta trouble can we expect on the way over?" Annie was quick to respond, giving some rather worrisome details. "You will likely have to go through some flooded parts of the facility. You will also have to go through high level containment zones, which is where some of the dangerous subjects escaped from when the disaster happened. I imagine it will take a day, maybe two for you to reach his last known location."

To say that this would be a huge diversion was an understatement. It sounded like you would basically have to walk through some of the most dangerous areas and head all the way to the eastern edges of the facility. "And once we find him and do what you want us to do, how easy will it be for us to return back to base?" Lydia asked calmly, Annie pausing for a moment before giving a rather confident response. "I've followed enough Death squad troop movements to know an easy and quick way out for you and your men once you've done as told." It sounded somewhat threatening, but it was clear that Annie would only help if you decided to do as told. Even though Annie had been quite pleasant before when it came to Viridian, it seemed that she took this particular mission far more seriously.

"The song is almost over. I will give some announcements, after which you can let me know what choice you've made. I trust that you will make the right choice and do things correctly." Annie said, as the music returned and your men went quiet. Your men waited to hear what you had to say, if anything. Though one thing was rather clear from Annie's tone.

If you fucked this mission up, Annie could very well go from ally to enemy within a heartbeat.

>What do you do next?

>Accept her offer and ask her for some specific directions towards Logan. She had helped you before, it was only fair you helped her right now. (Write in what details you'll ask for.)
>Tell Annie you'll first explore this place on your own. There were still several directions you could take, such as heading north underneath the green section. Or maybe heading south instead. (Write in which direction you'll aim t go.)
>Calmly decline Annie's offer. You couldn't head all the way east now when you, Zaria and Derek needed to return to base ASAP. Maybe once you had recovered, you could help.
>Tell Annie you'll do it for some extra juicy intel about this place. (Write in what you'll ask.)
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

>>6125508
>Surely she wouldn't send one of her key ground assets straight into a trap. Right?
Suppose it's time to test that theory out now, huh?

>>6125529
>You've secretly wrote about Hapi, haven't you?
I am not too into futa, I'll just leave it at that.

>>6125562
>what is Annie's type?
Someone who is smart, treats her like a fellow person, isn't constantly gushing about her vulpine features and can take some teasing from time to time.

>>6125609
Is the blonde girl supposed to be Laura? Because if so, you absolutely nailed her appearance. Do tell me about Nomi and who she is. She looks like an interesting character.

>>6125684
>Accept her offer and ask her for some specific directions towards Logan. She had helped you before, it was only fair you helped her right now.
I'm going to choose to trust her on this, and this is an opportunity we can't pass up to find a VIP. While I can't imagine she'd be happy about how many people we'd just shot, if she had just turned on us, she'd be offering us a way out with "no strings attached" straight into a trap and not offering us a mission and straight-up telling us it'd be dangerous. I don't think she's threatening us but has some strong emotions regarding her creator and emphasizing that it's imperative that we do as instructed to not get ourselves killed.

Some extra questions though
>We have several injured. Is there anywhere en route we could find a medical facility to properly address gunshot wounds better than a field dressing?
>Can you drop our girls a line to let them know we'll be gone for an extended time before they start to worry?
>If we're going to be walking into another lion's den, can we request some information on who we might encounter and how best to avoid, defeat or pacify them?
>Is there anything you'd like us to tell or do with Logan if we find him?

>>6125685
Yes
>Nomi Onnayu
Kitsune subject that recently died. That Annie mention last thread ago. Also, how many tail of fluff she have?

>>6125717
Supporting this one. At least we can say the scouting mission was somewhat of a success, we now know a few things:
1- Feng has a shitload of troops.
2- The path of the vision is correct
3- We gonna need as many cards on our hands as we can get to take her down, our full squad, the subjects and perhamps even the rebel guards as well.

>>6125743
QM can't remember his own characters lmao
We're already one fox down, we must protecc the other fluffy tails

>>6125752
Or there's a way to do this without a frontal assault, like a back passageway or some other creative solution like having Ano dig a tunnel into her throne room or turning one of the heavy cargo transporters into a true battlewagon and smashing through everything at speed.

>>6125717
Support. Annie deserves help. If Logan is a friend of hers he's a friend of ours. Let's hope we can do this quickly. It'd a detour sure, but given how we almost died just trying to get past the Queens Guards, I don't think fighting the Queen herself will go much better without the girls aiding us and maybe Annie too.

>>6125752
This. It makes sense Feng has a shit ton though, she probably got to a bunker before anyone else and was able to trick, overpower or otherwise gain control over the survivors in it. She tried infiltrating that other bunker we ran into, so I'd not be surprised if she succeeded with the same trick in another bunker. Plus with how desperate the staff are, it wouldn't be hard to believe some thought she was their best chance once the government showed they were not here to help.

>>6125684
>Accept her offer and ask her for some specific directions towards Logan. She had helped you before, it was only fair you helped her right now. (Write in what details you'll ask for.)
The best route that avoids combat, we've taken some heavy injuries and aren't in top shape.

>Accept her offer and ask her for some specific directions towards Logan. She had helped you before, it was only fair you helped her right now.
You looked at your men, before confidently stating that you were fine helping her out. Not only was Annie deserving of your help, but finding Logan would also benefit you a ton. He'd be a huge source of intel, as well as a great ally for any further missions. The only issue was that this would have to be done quickly, and that it may be difficult to really ally him. Your kill count was getting up there, after all. Your men looked at each other, before most seemed to accept the offer. "We don't have too many options, huh?" Derek said, after which Mike also voiced his opinion. "I do worry that we'll end up going further and further away from safety if we do take this mission." You reassured Mike that Annie would help you out, and that you intended to ask some questions regarding the mission. "She did sound very impatient about the offer." Lars soon mentioned, to which you explained it was probably due to her emotions towards her creator.

Regardless, you'd calmly wait for Annie's next announcement. It wouldn't take long, as the music faded away and you heard that familiar voice. "You're listening to VRCMG Radio with Annie Marconi, bringing you the latest news about the heroic and successful death squads!" She'd give a rather quick news update, providing a few more statistics regarding deaths. She'd mention that there were lots of battles in the south, and that death squads had to head in that direction. Perhaps it was her attempt to get the death squads to go the other direction you were taking. Eventually though, she'd start playing a particularly long song, stating it was a fan-request. And shortly after the song started, you heard Annie respond again. "So, what will it be?" She'd ask calmly, you telling her that you'd help to find Logan and bring him somewhere safe.

"Thank you. I am glad you are willing to help out." She'd say, after which you immediately asked a few questions to help you out. For one, you wished to know if there were any medical facilities nearby which you and your men could use. "The high threat level containment chambers have several advanced medical facilities. They were designed to help people recover from severe subject-induced injuries. Those facilities will most certainly be able to help out with your injuries." Zaria let out a sigh and a soft "Thank fuck.", Derek seeming equally relieved by the news. You'd also ask what sort of threats may be awaiting ahead of you, given that you really didn't want to end up in another conflict. "If you're unlucky, some of the areas you cross may be flooded. So, avoid those for obvious reasons. Aside from that, I know there are plenty of reports of Reika being around there. Her containment chamber was in one of the two high threat level containment sectors, so she probably isn't far from there."

Hearing that Reika, or FE-09 as she was called by facility staff, roamed this place was definitely not something you hoped to hear. You'd ask Annie how you could deal with Reika, Annie immediately responding. "Her intelligence is incredibly low. You can very easily distract her or hide from her in a side-chamber. Just don't make a noise if you see her and don't panic." Of course, you knew FE-09 couldn't be the only one down here, so you'd ask for any other subjects you had to watch out for. "Honestly, any subject which is noted down on your tablet and has a high threat rating is a risk down there. I don't think too many are near where you are, but I am sure some of the more aggressive subjects can certainly be hiding down there. Unfortunately, I wouldn't know, since most of them don't exactly carry radios I could easily track them with." It was definitely not reassuring to hear that some of the more dangerous subjects could be lurking around down here. Fortunately, Annie knew this and would offer some assistance.

"I will try and keep you up to date based on what other death squads report. That way, I can let you know what places to avoid and where you can safely stay." Given that not too many squads were down here, Annie's assistance might just end up being somewhat futile. Still, it was better than nothing, and Annie was definitely trustworthy with the job of providing you with intel. With that in mind though, you'd ask her if there was anything you had to do if you did manage to find Logan. "Tell him 'VRCMG radio wishes to interview its greatest contributor'." Annie didn't say anything else aside from that coded message. Perhaps it was a sentence which only Annie and Logan knew, so it was a sign of trustworthiness. Regardless, you still had one question left for Annie. You asked her to contact your girls to let them know it would take a while before you'd return. "I will let them know as soon as possible." Annie commented, after which you thanked her and told her you'd head out now.

"If you need to contact me, just let me know. Just know it may take a while, since I am also busy monitoring other things." Annie said, before the music returned and you were free to head forward. You'd ask Mike for help again, as he'd help you get up. And after Derek got some help as well, you and the rest of your men would be heading forward again. "I really hope that high threat level sector is not too far from here." Derek mumbled, after which Zaria also grumbled. "I hope it's not filled to the brim with psychotic subjects." As you walked forward, you could tell the mood was a bit dour. Your defeat against the Queen's forces had decreased some of the spirit you and your men had. And it wasn't helped by the injuries you had suffered. It was also not helped by the fact that you could see some signs of the Queen's forces having been here before. Fortifications, some markers and even a single banner of hers near a small forward base of hers.

You tried to just ignore those things, as you kept wandering the dark tunnel. At least it wasn't filled to the brim with rubble or dust. Though the place was far darker than any of the previous locations you had been to, the night-vision really helping out in this place. "Derek, how far away is it to our next location?" Thaddeus soon asked, Derek checking the tablet as Lars helped him walk. "I think if we keep moving for twenty minutes, we'll reach this large... I don't know what kind of space. Either way, we can then keep heading eastwards, which probably will get us in contact with the flooded section. We can also head north if we feel like it. I doubt Annie would want us to, but maybe it is worth checking out if it means finding a way out of here." Considering that Viridian had come from somewhere around there, it could be worth exploring. Hell, maybe you could even head towards Andrei's office from the opposite direction you came from before.

Then again, just sticking to the path was for the best right now. More importantly though, your men were clearly getting rather low on energy. It had been a rather long day of exploring, avoiding conflicts and getting into conflicts, so the tiredness was somewhat understandable. Perhaps setting up a base somewhere in the next space would be a good idea.

>What do you do next?

>Just keep heading eastwards for as long as possible. The further away you got from Feng and her forces, the better things would get. Besides, you'd also get closer to the sections which could have medical equipment.
>Set up a base somewhere well-hidden in the large area you were heading to. It was probably just some storage, office or containment section, which would make it perfect for staying in.
>Head northwards once the chance arose. You could contact Annie and let her know of your diversion. She'd probably understand it if you took a short alternative route. (Write in why you'll head north.)
>Contact Annie again with some questions. Maybe you could ask for some other important intel you'd need for the mission? (Write in your question)
>Plan ahead in some other way...
>Discuss with your men...
>Something else...

>>6126028
>Just keep heading eastwards for as long as possible. The further away you got from Feng and her forces, the better things would get. Besides, you'd also get closer to the sections which could have medical equipment.
Put another couple of miles between us and Queenbase I think. The further we get, the more exponentially difficult we get to find if they do look for us considering they probably don't expect us to head this way - I don't think they have any means to actively track us since we have no nanites with us and I don't think we left our own blood trail.

Briefly stop to check out the big room if there's anything interesting and look for a suitably secluded and boring looking room to set up shop in like a cleaning cupboard, electrical room or even an (empty!) subject chamber.

So, if we encounter Reika, just throw a bottle the other way and hide like we're in a survival horror game. Do NOT open fire to avoid triggering her bloodlust. I wonder if we'll meet Viridian again as well - I hope we do, she was fun.

>>6126028
Wow, two updates today. What a treat. Thought I'd never see the day again.

>Just keep heading eastwards for as long as possible. The further away you got from Feng and her forces, the better things would get. Besides, you'd also get closer to the sections which could have medical equipment.
I know the mood is dour right now but the faster we get to the high threat level sector the better as then we can actually patch our guys up. We are injured fairly badly too, so we can sympathize with how painful this forced march is. Plus given what we know about the Queen I doubt Feng will be too pleased that we got away and will likely be sending people after us, so camping nearby is asking for a firefight and our rest being interrupted, potentially with us abandoning some supplies. So, better to go as far as possible to avoid retaliation.

There is two bright sides with this at least. The first is none of us are dead when we really ought to be. The second is Annie will be paying a lot more attention to us so her help will be a lot more reliable compared to before. She cares about her creator and if we are her best hope at ensuring his safety our own will be prioritized. On that note, maybe we can set up some camera system for her in the future? Could be useful for protecting our girls.

>>6126028
>Just keep heading eastwards for as long as possible. The further away you got from Feng and her forces, the better things would get. Besides, you'd also get closer to the sections which could have medical equipment.

>Just keep heading eastwards for as long as possible. The further away you got from Feng and her forces, the better things would get. Besides, you'd also get closer to the sections which could have medical equipment.
Despite Derek suggesting that you could head northwards, you decided against doing such. You told your men that you wanted to head as far east as possible. After all, the Queen's forces could easily still reach you now, and the further you got away from them the safer you and your men could feel. They would struggle tracking you if you got further. "Let's try and hurry up then. I am getting rather tired." Derek commented, to which some of the rest of your men nodded along to. You were really going to have to make a tough choice between finding a place to rest and going far away enough from the Queen as you headed forward. For now, you would quietly continue on your way, your men mostly keeping quiet as they walked. You would try and lift the mood by reminding your men that you'd get the chance to recover soon enough. Once you got to the high threat level sector, you could all take the time to recover. "Unless if that place lacks the type of medical equipment we need." Derek then mumbled, to which you immediately gave a stern retort. You were also injured, so you understood that this entire walk wasn't the most pleasant thing.

However, you had survived this incredibly dangerous encounter, and you had learnt far more about Feng and her forces. You knew what to expect and what you had to do for the next time you'd go after her. More importantly, you now had the chance to get some extra help from Annie, who could look after you and ensure you weren't being hunted down. You even mentioned that Annie now had even more of an incentive to protect you, given you were her best shot at saving Logan. Your men did understand where you were coming from, but the dour mood unfortunately remained strong.

For the time being, you just focused on heading forward once more, as you'd try and get to the office as fast as possible. Though as you got closer and closer, you'd soon notice something worrisome. The air was getting a lot more moist, and you'd start hearing dripping coming from the ceiling. And a few minutes later, you'd hear soft splashes with each step you took. "Great. So we're basically going into flooded facility territory as well." Zaria remarked, after which Derek at least made a joke. "Look at the bright side. At least we'll be able to hear any threat coming our way now." Of course, this also came at the cost of your footsteps making noise now. Not to mention, the risk of infection if the water level went any higher. Fortunately, the hallway didn't get any more flooded than it already was, it just being a small two inches of water you had to step through. Hopefully, it wouldn't get much worse once you reached the next large space, or anything else to the east of here.

You kept walking for another twenty minutes, until you finally found the entrance to the office space ahead of you. Entering it, you'd find yourself in a rather unique place, as it appeared to be some sort of large archive space alongside just being a regular office. You'd immediately wonder if maybe you could set up base here, as you'd wonder where you could head to next here. This place was presumably quite large, so there probably was some safe-ish area you could head over to. Whilst you pondered that, Thaddeus walked towards the aisle in front of you to check out some of the drawers and their content. He'd look around a bit, before walking to one of the drawers. "It requires a key?" He said in mild confusion, as Lydia spoke up in similar bewilderment. "You mean a keycard or an actual regular key?" Thaddeus turned around, before heading towards one of the reception areas. "A regular key, aye." He'd check the reception, looking to see if there was anything else. There didn't seem to be much, aside from a small security guard room in the back.

Given that some of your men remained tired, they would quickly put their foot down. Specifically Mike, who walked towards Thaddeus and spoke calmly. "Thaddeus, I can tell you wanna look for the keys to these cupboards. But I suggest we do that once we've gotten some rest in." You'd agree, stating that you could just keep going forward and look for a nice secluded space to set up shop in. Cleaning cupboards, electrical rooms or anything else a bit further away from here seemed right to you. "Hmmm, alright." Thaddeus said in turn, as you and your men would start heading forward once more. You'd walk past dozens of cabinets containing god knows what. This probably was the bureaucratic centre of the facility, which did at least mean you could get some unique paperwork from here. So long as it wasn't soaking wet from the water spilling through.

After walking for some time, you'd decide to take a nearby set of stairs leading upwards. It'd help you divert away from the main path, which would make it less likely for the Queen's forces to actually find you. And after carefully making your way up a couple of floors and walking a bit further, you'd find a rather pleasant office space which looked to have been relatively untouched by anyone. It also didn't have any water leaking in, which also helped in making your choice. Thus, at long last, you told your men it was time to set up camp. Immediately, Derek and Zaria would get seated and relax. Shortly after, Thaddeus would turn to you and say: "Go take a seat, Mik. We'll set up camp for ya lads." Thus, Lydia, Thaddeus, and Mike would get to work setting up some tents and beds. Anon would be the one doing the cooking, as Lars would once again focus on you, Derek and Zaria. He'd give you more painkillers, as well as checking your bandages to make sure they were still on right.

"I suggest not moving too much right now." Lars soon said, as you'd lie back and listen to what your men were talking about. "You know, I was going to say that I really hope we won't have to deal with any more subjects or guardsmen now. But considering how we faced off against tens of Feng's guardsmen and somehow didn't die, I feel like encountering some non-controlled guardsmen would actually go rather well." Zaria would soon mumble, after which Lydia spoke in a more concerned tone. "I'm not really concerned about the guardsmen as much anymore. We can deal with those quite easily. I'm just worried about the subjects down here. Annie already mentioned Reika, but given that this place is also partially flooded, I wonder if some of the subjects from the flooded section would also go through this place from time to time." Ironically, you weren't too worried about Reika, stating that you'd just throw a bottle or something else to distract her whilst you hid. Unless if Annie was wrong about Reika's intelligence, it probably quite a safe plan of action. This did get you reminiscing about Viridian again, mentioning how it'd help if you found her down here.

Unfortunately, Derek would quickly give his own more pessimistic thoughts as he grabbed his tablet. "We might get lucky and find her. But, given that she was heading south, she probably already passed through or past this place. We could ask Annie for help in contacting her, but god knows what that giant snake is up to." It would also probably be quite risky to have a giant snake woman coming along with you. Especially since you currently wanted to remain hidden and stealthy. A giant green snake lady would probably compromise said stealth. Regardless, you could still hope right now, especially since your situation was definitely at its toughest since you got here.

>What do you do next?

>Just get some food before falling asleep. The longer you slept, the quicker you'd be able to maybe recover from your injuries and get back to actually fighting.
>Listen to Annie on the radio for any news. Maybe you could even contact her and try to have a little chat with her. (Write in if you'll chat with her, and what you'll discuss with her if you do choose to chat.)
>Chat with your men about things. Maybe they had something on their mind which was worth discussing, or you share a plan of action with them. (Write in what you'll discuss with them and if you'll do so with anyone specific.)
>Take a look at your inventory to see what you were lacking and what you had enough of. That way, you could plan ahead for the next few days you'd presumably be stuck down here.
>Something else...

(Hope you guys don't mind a shorter, less intense update. On the plus side, Mik will soon get a bit more rest, which makes it the perfect opportunity for a side-story. And since the 1 year anniversary is only a week away from now, I'd love to hear what sort of side-story you guys wanna see next. If you even want that. I'm also fine with just continuing with Mik and his men in your search for medical equipment and Logan.)

(On a somewhat related note, I will be somewhat busy this week sadly. However, in about a week from now, I'll have almost the entire week off. I intend to use that week to get 2 or so posts out a day instead of the usual one, which will hopefully move the plot along nicely and give us a lot to do for whatever special thing you guys wanna do for the 1 year anniversary.)

>>6126532
>Chat with your men about things. Maybe they had something on their mind which was worth discussing, or you share a plan of action with them.
Let's change topics a bit while we wait for food, let's think about the future, what are guys gonna do with your part of the share? When we take down the queen and possible anyone else she might throw at us, our paychecks might double or hell triple that without mention any allies we can get once we they are out of her control making hunting the more dangerous subjects/VIP easier, what you guys looking forward to?

>Just get some food before falling asleep. The longer you slept, the quicker you'd be able to maybe recover from your injuries and get back to actually fighting.
After that let's eat and sleep, like we agreed back there we take turns and in doubles, We're fucked up but we're willing to take first turn.

>>6126534
>I'd love to hear what sort of side-story you guys wanna see next.
How about some Lore like a few days/hours before the disaster from the point of view of one the girls? Or perhaps how other death-squads are doing, like there so many options like: how our trapper buddy's are doing on their fairy hunt, the scary monster's team in action, how did the black star guys we sent to Anastasia fare against her or how the other black star guys who almost got the cattle prod are doing and if they are on a quest for revenge. Anyone else has any ideas?

>>6126534
What do you even need a key for, Thaddeus? I bet you could easily pry it open with a flat bit of metal. We should see to obtain a proper crowbar next time we're topside unless Morgan can whip one up for us. Also, stealth is irrelevant when you have a giant snake who could bodyslam most of the threats down here and has done quite well for herself thus far.
>Chat with your men about things. Maybe they had something on their mind which was worth discussing, or you share a plan of action with them.
In particular, what they're going to do with us walking wounded tomorrow. We're clearly going to be a burden until we can get to a health point - we could split into two groups with us plus one other lagging a short distance back and the other four able bodied members taking point. Should we do that, or all stick together?
>Take a look at your inventory to see what you were lacking and what you had enough of. That way, you could plan ahead for the next few days you'd presumably be stuck down here.
In particular, how we're doing on ammo and food. Do we need to ration or scrounge for anything?

>>6126534
What about a flashback to a time when the Facility was operating? Staff responding to or surviving a containment breach, an intelligence agent attempting to steal scientific secrets, a scientist concocting a design for a subject (who might show up in the main story later), Orientation Day for some of the new hires etc.

>>6126560
Supporting

>>6126561
Don't we have a thief with us who has a lockpick kit? Sure she's been shot but that can't be too problematic, at least depending on what arm was hit.

>>6126534
Maybe from the POV of one of the newest subjects just before the disaster? How one of the weaker subjects could survive the disaster and what life was like for a fresh subject could be interesting to look into.

>>6126532
>Chat with your men about things. Maybe they had something on their mind which was worth discussing, or you share a plan of action with them. (Write in what you'll discuss with them and if you'll do so with anyone specific.)
Sorry I blew that call against those guards guys, don’t know what I was thinking

>>6126561
These are good side story ideas

>Chat with your men about things. Maybe they had something on their mind which was worth discussing, or you share a plan of action with them.
To try and combat some of the pessimism within your group, you decided to have a little chat with your men. The first thing you did was apologise for the screw-up when you walked into the guardsmen. You admitted that you had made a really terrible choice, to which your men nodded understandingly. They didn't seem all too upset still, with Derek even saying: "Well, like you said, we're all still alive. It may hurt like shit for you, Zaria and me, but we've suffered worse." Zaria would also join in, giving a more smug remark. "At least it isn't Kamara's claws. Ironically enough, that hurt way more than this." The rest of your men also seemed to enjoy the chat, with Anon saying: "That's the spirit! And hey, once we get out of this place and have dealt with the Queen and whatever other insane subjects we encounter, we can enjoy retiring with plenty of cash on us. It'll make it all worth it." This did make Mike scoff before he mumbled calmly. "Unless if the government executes us. But let's not think about that."

On that note, you decided to task what your men would spend their share of the cash on. You asked them what they'd do with it, and what they'd be looking forward to. "Oh, I'm sending that money to my family for sure. We're gonna find ourselves a nice remote planet away from the government, and live in solitary bliss. And if the government decide to try and tax us, we'll pay for bigger guns to get them to piss off!" Mike said proudly, much to the amusement of the rest of your men. "I'll probably invest it back into Lodger, and use it to expand our engineering capabilities. Make it so we can really start making some fancy weaponry for ourselves." Lydia would say more excitedly, which did get your men amused. "Ya might wanna invest in a pocket version of this gal over here!" Thaddeus even said as he patted his railgun.

After this, Anon would calmly bring up something rather interesting. "Given my age, I may just retire and invest the money elsewhere. I was thinking philanthropy, but that could be tough given the government regulations and control. It'd be nice to help out some of the planets we have been stationed on previously though, so I'd certainly not mind it." It was rather surprising to hear that Anon would go for philanthropy, with Lars even saying: "I did not expect that of you. I was thinking you'd use it for some... I dunno, maybe a logistics consultancy agency or something?" Anon scoffed a little, before sitting back whilst he cooked. "I might just do that as well! I may even do that first, and then go into philanthropy! If I wanna keep doing the right thing, I do need a steady cash flow, after all." Thaddeus nodded along, before saying: "I'll do the same for my planet with my share. Make sure its history and culture can continue thrivin'."

"Honestly, I'm gonna be a bit more selfish with my share. I'll probably just start an industry where I hunt big game from my planet. Maybe even start my own little restaurant." Given Lars' affinity for cooking and his history of game hunting, it did make sense he'd go for something like that. "I'll probably stick with Lydia. I could maybe invest the money back into my home, but I also wouldn't mind just continuing to do R&D for Lodger until the day I die. Hey, maybe if we do a good enough job, we can start providing weaponry to the government instead?" Your men, aside from Mike, found the idea rather amusing. Given that the government had trusted you and paid you, there was indeed a non-zero chance that the government would trust you as arms dealers in the future as well. After Derek made his suggestion, all eyes went to Zaria. "What about you, Zaria? Take it ya are gonna use it for yer family, or to get revenge on the bastards who burnt yer home?" Thaddeus said, which made Zaria let out an awkward chuckle.

"Heh, yeah, about that... I have been thinking about what I'll use my money for, and I do think there's one thing I wanna spend it on. Though, it's... maybe not the securest of investments." Zaria mumbled, which got your men quite intrigued. "Are you gonna invest it into the government?" Mike asked, after which Anon made a more jokey remark: "You gonna start a political campaign or something?" Your men all seemed amused, whilst Zaria remained somewhat unsure. She'd look away and pause, before finally speaking up again. "So, this may sound a little silly, but... I wanna put my money into longevity research." This actually got your men a bit confused, as this was not something any of them expected from Zaria. "Longevity? You mean like, those fancy expensive companies who can stretch the human age to hundreds, if not thousands of years?" It was something exclusively done by rich politicians who had the money for such long procedures. Not exactly something you'd associate with Zaria.

"Well, it's more than that. I... okay, I need to get something off my chest. I'm afraid of death." Zaria would say without hesitation. Your men looked at each other, before Thaddeus spoke up. "I mean, we're all afraid of death, I imagine." "Could you elaborate on what you mean, Zaria?" Lydia would say softly, after which Zaria sighed. "Okay, so... I've experienced two near death experiences in this place. And I'd rather not die prematurely before I can settle down and actually live a relatively peaceful life. So, I'd really not mind investing into my own lifespan with the money I make." This did seem to make sense a little bit, though Mike did bring up something about this strange wish from Zaria. "Didn't you get plenty of near death experiences before? I mean, we're a death squad. We've all gotten shot and injured plenty of times before we got to this place."

Zaria nodded in turn, before continuing with her story. "True. True. But, there's something different now. The current longevity sphere is really focused on decreasing diseases and the rate at which we age. It doesn't really focus on surviving freak accidents or horrific injuries. However, remember the rabbit and how much she survived? Yeah, THAT is what I wanna invest in." It all seemed to make sense now. Given how subjects could seemingly survive incredible damage and injury, Zaria probably wanted to invest into getting some nanite tech applied to humans. To not just make them unable to age, but unable to even be hurt. "So, you wanna become invincible? That's... definitely interesting. But I get you. It'd help so much in life if we could just not be damaged by anything, or have to suffer from being injured." Lydia said, after which Lars spoke more curiously. "So wait, you're afraid of death? I am shocked you became a death squad soldier, if that is really the case!"

This made Zaria let out a soft sigh. "Look, when I first met Lodger, it was either continuing to do criminal shit without a safety net, or doing criminal shit with a lot of protection from you guys. Lodger treats their people right. Hell, if I was in a similar situation to the one we are in right now, but with some bandit group instead of you guys, I would've probably been left to die rather than being cared for. And I'll gladly pay back for that respect Lodger has shown me. I may be scared by death, but I will fight till the death if it means protecting you guys." It was nice to hear that Zaria felt this positively about Lodger. It was still a curious wish she had though, which did make you wonder how she felt about the nanite investigations you were doing. Hell, maybe Zaria would be interested in further research on the nanites done by Lodger or the government itself.

After the conversation about death seemed to be over, you would mention the obvious fact that you were still injured now. It’d mean that walking around the place would be a pain tomorrow, even mentioning that you, Zaria and Derek could be a burden on the others. “Don’t say that, Mik. Ya helped us out whenever we were injured. We’ll do the same thing to ya.” Thaddeus said reassuringly, you still making the suggestion that the able bodied could head forward whilst you followed from a distance. “I’d rather not. If we get jumped by anything, it will leave us at a huge disadvantage.” Derek would say, after which Lars spoke up more confidently. “We’re not leaving anyone behind. We’re gonna go through this together until you guys can walk more easily. Besides, so long as we find some proper medical equipment near the high level containment zones, it will only be a short two days where you guys will be unable to do anything.” The rest of your men seemed to agree, as it looked like you would be doing this together no matter the costs.

>Take a look at your inventory to see what you were lacking and what you had enough of. That way, you could plan ahead for the next few days you'd presumably be stuck down here.
After you had the chat about the cash and your injuries, you decided that it would also help to figure out how many supplies you had. You’d ask your men to check through everything so you could get a good idea on what you had and what you were lacking. Your men would do as told, as you’d quickly figure out what materials were necessary, and which wouldn’t be too much of an issue. “We still got enough ammo to get into a few fights, so long as we’re conservative and don’t waste too much ammo. And if we find some sort of way to generate electricity, I can make sure some of our non-bullet consuming weaponry can keep running for as long as possible.” Lydia would comment about the ammo, after which she’d look at some of the other bags she had. “Our drones are still busted though, and we’ve only got one more camera trap left.” Up next, you’d turn to Anon and Lars to get an idea of the rations. Fortunately, there was good news there.

“Well, given how few mouths we have to feed, we can easily ration it and stay here for two weeks at the very least. And given our mission, I think we’ll probably be fine.” Anon said, Lars right after adding: “I’ve checked, and I will still be able to cook some nice meals as well from time to time. We might need to be a bit more careful though.” Afterwards, Lars would finish giving you, Derek and Zaria medications, which brought him to the next item of interest. “As for medical equipment, we got plenty of that as well. We got two bottles of painkillers, two whole rolls of gauze and bandages, as well as plenty of disinfectant to work with.” It seemed that you had plenty of survival equipment to work with. Though in terms of some of your weaponry, things were looking a little less pleasant. “So, unfortunately, we are starting to run out of flashbangs and smoke grenades. We only got two more flashbangs, and three smoke grenades. We still got a couple of grenades for Anon, so that is at least good.” Thaddeus mumbled as he checked the weaponry you got. It seemed you’d have to be conservative with what fights you picked, unless if you wanted to risk being unable to use some of your strongest tools.

On the topic of food though, you’d soon get a chance to actually smell the food, as you realised that you were actually quite hungry. And with it finishing, you’d tell your men that you would try and eat quickly, since you did hope to get plenty of rest. “Understandable.” Mike would say, after which Anon said: “I’ll make sure to give you food first then. That way, you can get some rest in quickly.” However, you then mentioned that you would obviously also need to watch guard over your men whilst they slept, which your men seemed shocked by.

“Mik, I’d really advise against that. You shouldn’t stay up to protect us when you’re injured.” Lars said, after which you mentioned you’d have someone else join you to ensure you wouldn’t get screwed over by that sleep subject again. Besides, it had to be done still, and you could sit back and fend for yourself if necessary. Especially if someone else joined you. Your men looked at each other, after which Zaria spoke up. “I can also watch over you guys. Remember, I don’t need to sleep.” Lars did seem a little iffy about the suggestion, though he wouldn’t speak up against it, and would instead look over at you to hear what you had to say about this. At least you could tell that Derek wasn’t all that excited to stand guard, given his injuries.

>What do you do next?

>Sit out guard duties for tonight and let your men handle it. Zaria could stay up all night, meaning your men wouldn’t have to switch out as often if Zaria were to also switch out from time to time.
>Insist on doing guard duty. Just because you got shot in the thigh and upper arm, that didn’t mean you couldn’t keep your eyes open for a short hour. (write in who you’ll stand guard with first.)
>Tell Zaria to not strain herself. Just because her brain didn’t need to sleep, that didn’t mean her body couldn’t use some rest to recover.
>Discuss with your men…
>Something else…

>>6127034
Ya know Zaria, if you're that into the whole immortal transhuman thing, you remember where we are, right? I'm sure we could find some of the right intact equipment, expertise and a stock of nanites somewhere once we have a means of escape.....
I wonder what we'll use our own pay for. Support our family, help get the girls set up after we smuggle them out, retire to a quiet planet and build a small workshop to fulfil our dream of making a living weaving Mongolian baskets.
>Insist on doing guard duty. Just because you got shot in the thigh and upper arm, that didn’t mean you couldn’t keep your eyes open for a short hour.
We can stagger the guard duties so we change out one person every half hour instead of both every hour, which should also help make sure there's at least one properly awake person and no gaps in the watch. We'll just take the first half-slot as a compromise if we're meant to be resting. Derek can skip out if he really doesn't want to do it, everyone else draw some straws for the guard rota!

>>6127034
>Insist on doing guard duty. Just because you got shot in the thigh and upper arm, that didn’t mean you couldn’t keep your eyes open for a short hour with Zaria.
>Ask Zaria why she never seems to need sleep or ever get tired. Is it some sort of implant?
>Ask Zaria why she thought her only options was crime or Lodger if she is so afraid of death, and why she's afraid. Most importantly, ask why she kept this fear hidden from everyone until now.
An actual nice big character building moment, and for our fellow death squad soldiers instead of the girls. I want to dive a bit deeper into this before we head to sleep, because I feel we don't really know the deeper motivations of most of our guys and I'll take any chance to have more interactions with them outside their occasional quips on what we are doing. Since she didn't really share this with anyone until now, maybe she'll be more open to talk about it with just us.

>>6127047
Well, if I recall correctly she did ask if humans could be turned subject in the first thread. Speaking of, there is a scientist experienced with nanite integration with human tissue. One we asked about also in the first thread. Issue is unless the government was lying to us about her temperament I have a feeling she's probably not the best person to put our trust into. Could be an interesting side quest to help her with that goal in the future though.

>>6127034
>>Discuss with your men…
>Insist on doing guard duty. Just because you got shot in the thigh and upper arm, that didn’t mean you couldn’t keep your eyes open for a short hour. (write in who you’ll stand guard with first.)
pairs of two for guard duty, remember last time one of us did guard duty alone, we got ambushed.

>>6127034
>Insist on doing guard duty. Just because you got shot in the thigh and upper arm, that didn’t mean you couldn’t keep your eyes open for a short hour. (Thaddeus)
Zaria can take the second shift with someone who isn't injured.

>>6127034
>Sit out guard duties for tonight and let your men handle it. Zaria could stay up all night, meaning your men wouldn’t have to switch out as often if Zaria were to also switch out from time to time.
Job for those without injuries

Wonder if we find those rabbit blueprints and a working vat if Zaria would go for it

>>6127088
I also recall QM made some meta comments also in the first thread that implied it might be possible to subjectify ourselves and by extension someone else if we really were committed to it.

In other news, I've been considering creating a tvtropes page for the quest. Would make it easier to keep track of plot points and characters.

>>6127477
You may have good intentions anon but please don't. The last thing I want is some tourists from that awful place shitting up our quest.

>>6127512
And it's isolationism that's causing /qst/ to slowly die. I hear endless paranoia about tourists from some place or other but the notion seems more like boogeymen rather than something that actually exists.

>>6127520
I rather a nice death than a shambling nasty zombie anon, tv troopes is choke full of whackjobs than can make even reddit echo chambers resonable. Things are slow here but it's a good kind of slow, like /vrpg/. If you must organize your thoughts about stuff make something like a masterbin. Anyway...

>Insist on doing guard duty. Just because you got shot in the thigh and upper arm, that didn’t mean you couldn’t keep your eyes open for a short hour.
We're a wreck but we can keep awake for an hour or two, the important thing is not being on watch alone, especially after what happened to us last time.

>>6127527
Considering 4chan users seem to think that about just about every other website while this website's userbase is pretty rotten themselves on average, it doesn't hold much water with me. I want to document the quest for the Internet out there because I think it (and /qst/) deserves to be more known.
If you're that afraid of a different bunch of autistic nerds and the QM would rather it not be done, I'll do it after the quest concludes however long in the future.

>Insist on doing guard duty. Just because you got shot in the thigh and upper arm, that didn’t mean you couldn’t keep your eyes open for a short hour.
After Zaria insisted that she'd also join on guard duty, you decided that you couldn't let your men do all the work. You'd thus let them know of your intentions to join in guard duty, even bringing up how people wouldn't need to change on an hourly basis if you'd have two people guard at once. After all, one person could switch after half an hour, and repeat the cycle that way. "If you insist, Mik." Lars commented, after which Thaddeus spoke up in a confident and reassuring tone. "I'll join ya in the first shift then. Keep ya company and ensure ya got some muscle to help ya out, in case that dream lady shows up again." You'd also tell Zaria she could follow after you, to which she readily agreed. "Sounds good to me. I'll just need to figure out who comes next." Shortly after, you'd discuss the order of who would be on guard duties and who wouldn't. The only person who really skipped out was Derek, who clearly wanted to get a good rest in. At least Zaria was happy to go even with her injuries.

>Ask Zaria why she never seems to need sleep or ever get tired. Is it some sort of implant?
After guard duties had been discussed, you'd soon turn to Zaria to ask her about why she didn't need to sleep again. It was something she had said in passing before, but the reasoning always seemed a little vague. "I mean, I told you before that I am not entirely sure myself. It just was this way ever since I was a teenager. Hell, I think I did get a medical check-up at Lodger's HQ for it some time ago, and even there they said they didn't have much of a clue as to what the reason for it is." Obviously, it was still a little silly. And even though it would require a lot of theorizing, you still asked Zaria if she could think of a potential cause or reason as to why she hardly needed sleep.

Zaria thought about it for a short while, before giving her own little theory. "My theory is that, maybe I just got some sort of unknown disorder which means I need to sleep less? That, or my childhood forced me to always be awake and without sleep, which I then got used to... like I said, I don't have a clue about what causes it. I've been like this for god knows long, and I don't mind it too much." Of course, Zaria did need SOME sleep, but the fact she could go days without it was still a miracle to say the least. If only you could figure out what caused it, so that all of your men could abuse not needing sleep. "I do wonder if it's maybe trauma-associated. Something about your criminal past and the constant backstabbing you did with those criminal gangs." Anon would comment, which made Zaria scoff. "Maybe that could be the case? Also, I wouldn't call it backstabbing. Those idiots treated me like trash, so I simply reciprocated in a lucrative manner! Kind of like what we're doing now with the government!"

Zaria chuckled a little, as Anon finished preparing the rations for you and the others. He would immediately share it, as you were finally able to get something to eat. As Zaria also got her food, she'd keep on chatting a little bit. "Mmmm, maybe something really is wrong with me, which is causing this lack of sleep. Maybe this is a random mutation caused by toxic waste from my home planet or something. Hell, maybe the stress of my rough early years made my brain work overtime. Whatever the cause is though, not needing to sleep is really goddamn useful so I hardly mind it!" There were some soft chuckles from your men, clearly finding Zaria's remarks to be somewhat amusing. At least she had a point with that last remark. Her ability was pretty goddamn useful.

>Ask Zaria why she thought her only options was crime or Lodger if she is so afraid of death, and why she's afraid. Most importantly, ask why she kept this fear hidden from everyone until now.
Of course, the mention of her childhood actually got you a bit curious about her sudden fear of death. You'd ask her why she only ever really focused on committing crimes or working for your death squads, especially considering this apparent fear she had. "I mean, the crime thing came from the fact I didn't have much to my name when I was young. No formal education, no chance to work in a trade, no family wealth. I was good at running though, and great at sneaking around, so it was only really natural I'd start doing criminal shit. I only was able to make a change after I fled my planet and got the chance to join Lodger." It made sense. Plenty of your men joined Lodger because there weren't too many work opportunities. And considering how strict the government could be with hiring folk, it made sense someone like Zaria would end up doing illegal things to get by.

Still, you wanted to know more about her fear of death as well, asking her why she was so afraid. "I think I mentioned this before, but it mostly comes out of fear of what happens after I die. For all I know, there really is just... nothing. A black, eternal nothingness I won't notice nor will realise because I am dead. Worst case scenario, I die and find out that some ancient religions are true and I end up burning in hell for eternity. Either way, I'd rather just try and avoid figuring out by staying alive as long as possible." It seemed that Zaria did not like the existential crisis evoked by the concept of death. It made sense to a certain degree, but you did wonder why she kept it hidden. "Two reasons. One, because I know there will be assholes within Lodger who will mock me for it and view me as a coward. And two, because it wouldn't have really done anything for me to share it. It's better to just fight against it and forget about it. I have to be brave and hold out against that fear, and not let it show too much."

Considering the situations you and your men got in, it was good she kept a levelheadedness to herself and didn't let the fear overwhelm her. Given that she never really showed it, it was clear she was good at hiding it. Still, you empathized with her desires, and soon mumbled that this location did have the materials to make her immortal transhumanistic wishes come true. "That's... part of the reason I decided to reveal it now. This place is the first time I've really been able to consider fighting against that fear. Obviously, it'll be tough given that we're not scientists, but... I can hold out hope for once." You'd tell her that you could certainly look for some equipment, expertise and nanites to maybe try something. Of course, you wouldn't try it down here, but rather once you had escaped. That way, you wouldn't risk being caught by the government and getting punished. Considering how significant the research between human and subject biology was down here, Zaria would probably be seen on the same level as the subjects if she were to get nanites working in her blood stream.

"Hey, think about it this way though. If you were to become immortal, Zaria, you wouldn't need to worry about the consequences of being caught anymore. I mean, what could the government do if you were able to take anything they throw at you? You could just escape without issue and not fear being shot at or blown apart by government forces." Mike soon said, which did amuse Zaria somewhat. "I mean, that is true! But, I can see them restraining me in some form and making it impossible for me to do anything. I mean, they were able to restrain the Queen and plenty of other powerful subjects. They could very well find a way to imprison me for a really long time, and I'd rather not deal with that." It seemed like there was a lot to speculate about regarding this topic. It did seem like something worthwhile to investigate, at least for future projects. Perhaps you could even contact Laura or Annie about this topic to see what they had to say about it?

Or perhaps even look for scientists who could help in this mission?

>Continue chatting with your men whilst you ate your dinner. Perhaps you could discuss this topic further, or have a quick little chat with the rest of your men whilst you finished eating.
>Just quickly eat and then get to guard duty. You could talk more once you woke up and continued heading eastwards.
>Set out a plan for tomorrow. Maybe you could make a list of important tasks which you could focus on whilst you headed on your way east.
>Something else...

(bit of a shorter update. Just to give you a chance for a bit more casual banter between your squad members. And if that isn't what you want, I'll gladly wrap up this day in the story and start with a sidestory. I had a particularly fun idea for a guardsman who got his first day caring for a... unique subject before the whole disaster happened. If that idea seems good to you guys, do tell me. If not, feel free to keep coming with other suggestions. I did like the other suggestions you guys made, such as the pre-disaster subject POV, or orientation day.)

(Also, in response to >>6127535, I myself wouldn't mind a TVtropes page too much. However, I have heard from multiple folk now that it is somewhat of a risky thing to do given the other site cultures. Maybe that is indeed just 4chan paranoia, or based on silly preconceptions towards TVtropes. I suppose a good and safe middle ground option could be making a Wiki for the quest. I've seen another quest do something similar, specifically Chaos Quest. If you wanna do something like that, it'd be really cool. Just don't feel feel obligated to do so, because I imagine it taking a loooot of work. Either way, I'll support it!)

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>>6127592
Well, Z, there's some obvious issues with that we'd need to sort out first (like, for example, how not to get orbitally bombarded on stepping outside) and there's likely to be a lot of serendipity involved with getting what we need so we can't pinky promise it, but we'll see if we can't make it happen. Keep the eyes peeled if you see anything relevant.
Gifrel when I realise the girls are going to outlive everyone around them and those they care about apart from each other while they don't age a day and it might take a heavy psychological toll on them over the decades? Centuries? Anofelis I think would be hit especially hard as all her friends die off one by one of (hopefully) old age and there's nothing she can do to save them.
>Continue chatting with your men whilst you ate your dinner. Perhaps you could discuss this topic further, or have a quick little chat with the rest of your men whilst you finished eating.
While we don't have any of them here, what are you guys' takes on the little gang we've got upstairs and the subjects in general? There seems to be a lot of individuality among the subjects, but many of them have pretty sad stories in common. It's hard not to feel a little bit sorry even for the nasty ones, given many of them were literally made to be or abused into being that way.

>>6127592
Some and some I think, the fear is grossly overblown but there's a difference in userbase culture that might not always gel with each other. I think I'll wait until after the ending to do it anyway, since it would be difficult to constantly update a page and it could easily become a chore.

>>6127631
Well, if it's any consolation for them, they'll still have each other, and maybe Zaria if she gets her way unless we decide to join her in trying to become a subject. It is indeed quite the sad inevitability unless life extension tech advances... Supporting. Might be good to talk about some of the subjects we only briefly met/know like Annie or Viridian

>>6127590
>Continue chatting with your men whilst you ate your dinner. Perhaps you could discuss this topic further, or have a quick little chat with the rest of your men whilst you finished eating.
You guys think we could make like, nanites that kill other nanites? Seems like an easy way to deal with the more dangerous subjects.

>Continue chatting with your men whilst you ate your dinner. Perhaps you could discuss this topic further, or have a quick little chat with the rest of your men whilst you finished eating.
As you were able to enjoy your dinner after a long and intense day, you started thinking about the girls. They were hopefully doing fine without you, and also had Vinisha actually joining them. This got you thinking, until you finally asked your men what they were thinking of the girls who were now upstairs. You felt that their treatment wasn't exactly stellar, and that even felt a bit sad about some of the more aggressive ones. "I've really bonded with the girls over the past few days, I must admit." Lydia would calmly remark, as she'd pause with eating to talk. "They are so eager to help out and prove themselves. It's rather endearing, if I say so myself. Though, it does also make me feel a bit sad for them. Like you said, they were not treated right at all, so I imagine that they really are desperate for positive interactions and attention." This made Derek also speak up, which wasn't surprising because he and Lydia had spent a lot of time with the girls. "I mean, I wouldn't exactly call them desperate for interactions. They seemed more curious to me than anything. Given how secluded this place is from the rest of the galaxy, they probably are very eager to hear more about it from us."

This last remark made Anon speak up in a more sympathetic tone. "I don't blame them. They mentioned just being stuck underground all their life, which would drive anyone insane to figure out more. And given how secrecy is sort of the norm down here, I can see the girls not exactly getting a lot of education to learn more about the rest of the galaxy." Afterwards, Lars spoke up a bit more optimistically. "I mean, Oreas does have Laura, who probably taught her a couple of things about the outside world." Lars paused to eat some food, first swallowing before continuing.

"Hell, I am sure that the girls do learn some things. It's just that their teachings probably just focused on the details they needed to know, and nothing else besides that." It was a somewhat obvious suggestion, but it still didn't change the fact that the girls were not taught or treated very well by the facility staff. "I do wonder how the girls will feel once they are off-planet and get a taste of the world outside of this place. It'll probably be a lot to take in and get used to. Hell, maybe a bit too much." Derek mumbled calmly, after which Mike spoke more uneasily. "I must admit, as sweet as the girls are, I do worry about how we'll get them out of here. The government will not just easily let us go through with them." Thaddeus took a more amused tone. "Well, aren't ya the one who hates the government the most out of us? Wouldn't ya wanna give the government the middle finger and get livin' evidence of their actions outta here?"

There were some soft chuckles among your men, Mike taking a more defensive stance. "Well, yeah? But, I'd rather give them the middle finger and survive to tell the tale. If they find out that we took subjects with us, they will probably kill us and cover it all up. If we're talking survival, then the best option is unfortunately to leave the girls here." There was a bit of an awkward silence, as Mike was definitely correct with his assessment. But given how the girls were viewed, it probably wasn't entirely the best thing to be negative and sceptical. Especially since you and your men were already in a rather dour situation. In turn, Lydia spoke up with a more hopeful tone. "I wouldn't worry about survival based on being found out by the government. For one, we've already broken the rules more than enough times to probably get executed. More importantly though, I imagine that we'll find a way to get the girls off-planet somehow. Maybe Lodger will help us out in some way, maybe we'll find a safe way to sneak them out of here."

Perhaps it was too early to be optimistic about the situation with the girls. Regardless, you were more interested in hearing how your men felt about the girls. You'd ask how they all felt about the girls, which made Anon speak up first. "Well, I think we can all agree that they deserve a lot better than whatever the facility provided them with. Chrys is kind and gentle, Oreas is wonderfully optimistic and positive, Kamara is adorably shy, Anofelis is sweet in how eager she is to help out, and Morgan is a wonderful addition to the team, even with her staunch hatred for any weapon that isn't from ancient times." It seemed like your men really agreed with Anon had to say. Though it was also clear that some of the men had some favourites. "I personally think that Kamara could become an extremely valuable asset to our team with her stealth. She just needs to practice a bit with her confidence. Then again, I do find her shyness rather cute as well." Derek would say, after which Zaria scoffed. "Don't forget those claws either. She could kill someone with those."

"Given her eagerness to help me out with engineering, I have quite the soft spot for Oreas. She's just such a bright girl!" Lydia would also say right away, after which Mike spoke up. "You know who I like the most? Annie. Just because she has on more than one occasion showcased to everyone who can and cannot be trusted. Obviously, I still am sceptical towards her, and do not know if working with her is a good idea, but... anyone who pisses off government officials like she does, is a good person in my book." This actually made you wanna hear more from your men about Annie, also bringing up Viridian and Vinisha who you only had a few interactions with. "Viridian made me curious about Elbrus' subjects, and how depraved some of them actually are. For all we know, they were forced into perverse acts and are actually somewhat decent." Lars would comment.

Lars' comment left your men a little unsure what to say. "Well, we know that that Nicola girl is completely unhinged, so... I would say that Elbrus has definitely influenced SOME of his subjects. Hell, you did see how Viridian was dressed, right? It'd not surprise me if she did some, 'ahem', 'special preparations' with the folks she views as her food." Zaria commented shortly after, which was not something you could really confirm or deny just yet. Viridian had appeared somewhat reasonable, so she was probably in a similar camp as Morgan. "Laura told us that Elbrus really was a creep, and that most of his subjects were unhinged as hell. I'd rather not take the chance with any of them just yet, until we know they are actually peaceful." Anon would comment, which Lars had no real retort to. Still, you did wanna know the rest of your men thought about Viridian. "If you're thinking of saving her as well, Mik, I'm gonna have to put my foot down." Mike immediately commented, which wasn't exactly the opinion you wanted to hear. But hey, at least Mike was honest.

"Yeah, uhhhh, I don't think we're gonna be doing that. Aside from that though, she sounded rather... uhhh, verbose for a lack of a better term. Which is rather strange given how she literally eats people, but maybe that's just a strange subject quirk like how Morgan constantly acts like a knight." Lydia commented, after which Thaddeus spoke up. "I was thinking of maybe findin' her again and gettin' her to help with the Queen. She'd get a lotta snacks for her job, and we get easy acces to such a major threat." It seemed like a decent suggestion, though Derek was quick to point out the obvious. "Viridian might be massive, but I doubt that it'll be easy to find her down here. Unless if she passed through here whilst she was down here." Thaddeus didn't have a response, as you would ask if anyone else had anything to say about Annie, Viridian or Vinisha.

Most of your men seemed to agree that Annie was probably trustworthy, but that you still needed to be careful around her, just in case she got dirt on you and your men. Your men also seemed to agree on Viridian and her rather unique nature. This left your men with one subject they could discuss easily, and Thaddeus was the first to do so. "I am glad we found Vinisha of all subjects down here. Not only can she tell us a bunch about Andrei and the facility, but... well, she's also clearly another troubled soul down here. Maybe she can help us out as well, with her powerful regeneration and what not." This last comment made Lydia speak up rather eagerly. "About that regeneration, maybe it could be the thing you really want, Zaria? Just imagine it! You taking a bunch of bullets and just rapidly regenerating your wounds!" Zaria shook her head and looked rather conflicted. "Given how she's literally a walking rotting corpse, I'd... rather find some other alternative, if I do end up going the nanite route."

As the topic shifted towards nanites and their usage on humans, it made you realise something. You'd bring up how nanites could maybe be used to kill other nanites. Or at the very least, cause serious harm to subjects. It left your men silent, as they didn't seem too sure about what to even say to the suggestion. The only one who seemed ready to provide an answer was Lydia, who did so hesitantly. "We could discuss it with the girls and Laura. Maybe they'd know if something like that could be possible? If it's an easy way to safely dispatch subjects though, I do wonder if maybe weaponry using nanites already exist down here. Hell, maybe some of the guardsmen forces have it to protect themselves from the likes of Feng, Reika or Vinella." The rest of your men seemed unsure what to even say about the idea. At least this was something worth really looking into, especially if you would look for ways to have nanites help humans out.

>What do you do next?

>Continue your chat as you finished dinner. You were almost done with your meal, so you could maybe ask your men a few more questions before you finished.
>Finish your food and get to guard duty. The quicker you finished, the quicker you'd manage to get some rest in and also get the chance to head further east.
>Something else...

>>6128161
>>Continue your chat as you finished dinner. You were almost done with your meal, so you could maybe ask your men a few more questions before you finished.
Scary Monsters just came out recently, that means the gov is probably getting impatient with this purge job, think they get some of the more "dangerous" squads down here?

>Finish your food and get to guard duty. The quicker you finished, the quicker you'd manage to get some rest in and also get the chance to head further east.
After that let's eat and sleep.

>>6128172
Supporting. Seems like a good way to cap everything off. Hopefully we can do something like this again when we next make camp.

>>6128172
and support too, let's wrap it up and move on to the omake

>>6128172
+1

So, I'll skip out on an update today. Mostly because I have a big uni project I wanna work on for today. Aside from that, I also just wanna reaffirm the side-story we'll do with the next update: A guardsman being assigned to watch over a subject back when the facility still operated.

I would like to hear if anyone wants anything to be specifically focused on with the side-story as well. That'll help me focus the writing a bit more.

>>6128578
How about some of the scientists and their relationship with the subjects? We keep hearing about both good and bad things about the top brass, but just how were they on a daily basis?

>>6128161
>Finish your food and get to guard duty. The quicker you finished, the quicker you'd manage to get some rest in and also get the chance to head further east.

I can understand nanites to protect from Feng’s control, but Vinella? How would nanites help against her without making the recipients into subjects?

>>6128578
I'm down for that. Is this a new subject and are they going to show up in the main story if we get lucky?

>>6128712
Yes, it will be a subject you don't know. Spoiler alert: It'll be an Anderson subject. But not a spider. . You can also definitely encounter them if the chance arises. You just have to be a bit lucky.

>>6128603
Maybe with Logan and Laura we can make grey goo bombs? Program the nanites to consume anything they touch and replicate themselves until a timer finishes counting down and a kill switch automatically activates to make the nanite swarm inert.

>>6129051
That’s way too dangerous
I was thinking more along the lines of hunting and destroying rival nanites in an organic system

>>6129135
It's only dangerous if you get caught in the blast like with most bombs and ideally the nanites would only be active for a few seconds before shutting down, not enough to start a nanite apocalypse unless something goes very wrong but hopefully it could be enough to kill or maim most subjects. To deliver them to their target, we just load the nanites into grenade shells and use the grenade launcher. Actually getting them to activate and deactivate could be a bit trickier but I'm thinking maybe we could link them to one of those NARI bands?

>>6129288
You'd think if the government with it's near infinite resources could do that or had some other way of easily killing subjects, they would've utilized it already.

>>6129298
If all they wanted was to simply make this problem go away then they would've just glassed the facility from orbit instead of hiring mercenaries. They probably want to salvage as many relatively intact subject remains, documents and equipment as possible so they can restart the program at a later date and I think swarms of nanites devouring everything they touch would be counterproductive to that plan.

>>6129302
Yeah, so why exactly do we want to do that when it is likely that if it's even possible doing so can cause us to not get paid for a kill, cause plenty of collateral damage, likely require us to break our contract with the government in order to even make the thing as using/stealing shit from this place would break it, and lastly and least importantly has a slim chance of the killswitch failing and causing a minor case of death to everyone on the planet.

>>6129288
I don't think they'd make a noticeable impact in only a few seconds unless we lean hard into sci fi rules for them.

Also the possibility of something going very wrong and potentially dooming the entire planet does fall under way too dangerous for me, along with the near impossibility of avoiding collateral.

>>6129328
WE don't need the subjects to be intact after we kill them. So long as we have some kind of evidence, we'll get paid even if the government would prefer an intact cadaver over a puddle of melted flesh and slag or a shred of skin. It's not like the plasma rail cannon will leave much of Feng behind if we get a direct hit either. Besides that, we're collaborating with multiple staff and subjects, have already stolen shit from the facility, we've intentionally sent other death squads to die at the hands of dangerous subjects and are about to rescue one of the head scientists that the government wants dead as a favor to a subject that they really hate. I don't think honoring the terms of our contract with the feds is something we ever cared about.

With all that said yeah maybe the possibility of the killswitch failing is too much of a risk.

>>6129338
Considering what subjects are capable of, the nanites are basically just space magic anyways.

>>6129361
And how exactly will the government figure out that sludge belonged to Feng, Vinella or any other dangerous subject? And yes, we are already breaking our contract but at least we aren't handing the proof of that to the government, because they certainly will be asking "Hey, how'd you do this with your current equipment?" Reminder that they got Al Capone on tax evasion. They'd likely get us on this.

>Continue your chat as you finished dinner. You were almost done with your meal, so you could maybe ask your men a few more questions before you finished.
The idea of weapons which utilized nanites was certainly intriguing to you. Though, you decided to drop it since it wasn't exactly something you could really put your focus on. One thing you did want to discuss with your men was the appearance of Scary Monsters joining the various death squads. You pointed out that the government was probably getting impatient with how slowly things were going, which your men seemed to agree to. "Considering how we're one of the few to have actually managed to kill a subject, I can imagine such. It's also probably why they paid us such an incredible amount." Lars said rather casually, after which Anon also spoke up to voice his opinion. "It could also be that the number of personnel is becoming too small for all the space which they need to cover. This place is massive, and I doubt that they could effectively patrol and search every single part of it." Of course, hiring a smaller death squad known for heavy machinery was maybe not the best idea in that regard. And Derek was quick to point that out, giving his own theory.

"I feel like Scary Monsters were invited for two really important reasons. For one, they can help traverse through some of the tougher parts of the facility. They got special mechs for traversing the flooded sector, as well as being able to wade through tons of rubble with little issue. More importantly, I think they are employed to help against some of the bigger subjects. Vinella may be tough, but I doubt she could defeat a Mech twice her size." He'd argue, which was definitely a possibility. Though how Scary Monsters would manage to reach some of the more cramped spaces was something of a mystery. Regardless of what equipment they had, it wouldn't help them get through some of the cramped and dangerous hallways of the facility.

Whatever the case was with Scary Monsters, you did wonder if there'd be other dangerous death squads heading to the planet. After you brought it up, Zaria spoke up a bit confusedly. "I mean, who else could they be hiring for this? The only other major squad I can imagine them contacting is Metrobolist, but they probably aren't built for this since they're more focused on partisan efforts, sabotage and urban warfare." Of course, there was another group which Lydia brought up. "You think they'd bring 'Earthling' into the mix?" This made Zaria scoff. "Ah yes. Let's bring another chemical warfare group into the mix. Because hiring Diamond Dogs already was a brilliant idea!" Considering Earthling's affinity for using chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear material, the government probably wasn't eager to get them on board just yet. Though if they got Diamond Dogs down here, the chance did exist they could also eventually come into the picture. Even if the chances currently were rather low...

"I think the government will just keep it to what they got now. Way safer than involin' even more squads who can work together to resist the government." Thaddeus would soon mention, which was something your men weren't entirely sure on. Either way, it seemed that the only really dangerous squads would be Diamond Dogs and maybe Heroes. As well as some of the more sketchy parts of the other squads, such as Nikita and his men.

>Finish your food and get to guard duty. The quicker you finished, the quicker you'd manage to get some rest in and also get the chance to head further east.
After the short discussion about the possible death squads which could get here, you'd just quickly finish your dinner. All the while, you listened to your men arguing which death squad would be the first to get purged by the government. It seemed Diamond Dogs was rather divisive in that regard, given that some of your men felt they were surprisingly eager to be controlled by the government. Though there was also some fear that Blackstar would get purged at some point, due to them finding some intel which they weren't supposed to find. Still, it seemed unlikely that the government would completely purge any of the groups. At least not anytime soon anyway.

Once you had finished eating, you'd wait for the rest of your men to finish, before starting your guard duty for the night. At least you had company now, as you told Thaddeus to help you out. "Aye, of course, Mik." He'd say, as the rest of your men would enter the tents which had been set up. For the next hour, you and Thaddeus would quietly stand guard. Thaddeus would make sure to look after you and provide you with any help you requested. Though you didn't need that much help, aside from maybe helping you move around the place. As it stood however, nothing seemed to be happening, and the hour would soon end. You'd tell Thaddeus you'd get some rest in, Zaria being the next to do guard duties. "Aye, take it easy, Mik." Thaddeus said, before you entered your tent and lied down. And after taking some more painkillers, you'd get to enjoy a far more comfortable and peaceful slumber than last night. You were woken up a few times, mostly to return to guard duty, but your men also let you and Derek sleep a lot more. Your men needed you healed up ASAP, and weren't going to keep waking you up when you needed to recover.

And hey, you also didn't need to worry about creepy dreams telling you directions to nightmarish subjects, unlike the night before...

>A little change of perspective... Zeke Burton, a new guardsman.
You couldn't believe you had managed to land this job. It had taken months of paperwork, dozens of government interviews, several physical and mental health tests and days of space travel. You hadn't been allowed to tell any of your family about where you were going, let alone what job you actually had gotten from the government. Still, it would be worth it. Having previously worked at an important weapons facility on a planet near the galactic capital, this seemed like it'd be a nice change of pace. Not only would this give you a ton of benefits and high payment, but it'd also give your family a ton of government support which it desperately needed. Besides, this was a job unlike anything else you had ever imagined getting.

The government seemingly trusted you enough to work with these 'subjects'. They had told you about their existence only as you arrived on the planet. Apparently, this extremely fancy biotech was one of the more expensive projects which the government funded. Their purpose seemed extremely varied, although somewhat kept a secret from you. Though from the sound of things, it seemed like a revolutionary project which the government put a lot of faith in. It was implied their purpose was focused on a variety of tasks, such as combat, health, entertainment and many other functions. Though it was admittedly rather surprising to hear that these subjects were all... females with strange bestial traits. Still, you'd have to see how 'monstrous' they really were, or whether or not they were just mildly modified humans.

After landing on the tropical and pleasant looking island, you would be checked numerous times, before finally arriving at a decently sized building which glistened in the tropical sun. You'd quickly be brought into the building, where you would catch your first glimpse of these subjects, as you were greeted by a video of this green girl with strange lizard-like traits.

The girl was called Agami, and she'd give a pleasant enough introduction to what subjects were, what they entailed and the job you'd be doing. You'd be guarding one of these subjects, which mostly meant standing watch and ensuring the subject didn't try anything funny. It honestly seemed rather easy, especially since the subjects were described as 'highly intelligent' and 'understanding' towards humans. After a few more courses to introduce you to the place, you'd finally be given some gear by facility staff and told you'd start in the morning. The rest of the day was mostly spent in the staff area, where you would be given your own little space to call your own. And after meeting some of the other folk there, getting some rest and getting some food, you would be told you'd be brought over to the scientist who's subject you'd be watching, a guy called Anderson. You wouldn't be the only one, as you were joined by plenty of other new recruits.

You'd quickly be approached by one of these other new recruits, a guy who seemed rather relaxed. "So, excited?" The stranger said to you as you and some other new recruits would follow a guardsmen towards the main elevators. "I'm definitely curious about this Anderson guy. I've heard from some folk that he's fascinated by insects and has made dozens of 'insect subjects'. I just hope they keep the girlish parts to them, and aren't giant locusts or some nasty shit like that." The guy chuckled softly, before reaching out for a handshake. "Name's Sylvio Ivaldi by the way. It's a pleasure to meet you." Sylvio reached out for a handshake, as you kept following the guardsman. Given what you had seen on maps of this place, it was rather massive. At least the staff area you were in, was right above one of these large 'containment areas' for the subjects.

>What do you do?

>Focus on your surroundings. Maybe there were some things you were actively searching for, either for emergencies or just out of curiosity. (Write in what you'll look around for whilst walking forwards.)
>Introduce yourself to Sylvio and tell a bit about yourself. Maybe let him know what you were hoping to do with this job, and what you were looking most forward to. (Write in a bit about yourself!)
>Ask Sylvio or the main guardsmen a couple of question. Nothing wrong with a newbie asking for some help in their new workplace, right? (Write in your question.)
>Something else...

(Alright, since I don't wanna flood this intro with details, I'll let you guys flex your creative writing a bit. I'll also let you guys decide what you really wanna pay attention to when it comes to the still functioning facility, in case there are some things of interest. Also, I'm posting from my family home, so hope that explains the new ID.)

>>6129379
>Vinella may be tough, but I doubt she could defeat a Mech twice her size
Oh shit I didn't know they were that big
Yeah how do they fit anywhere
Is every ceiling in this place 30 feet high

>Introduce yourself to Sylvio and tell a bit about yourself. Maybe let him know what you were hoping to do with this job, and what you were looking most forward to. (Write in a bit about yourself!)
Say you hope you can graduate from being a guard for a starter scientist like Anderson quickly. You want to work with the true visionaries here, such as Elbrus.

>>6129375
I didn't mean that the nanites would turn subjects to sludge, that's something I thought the plasma cannon might do to a person if they're unfortunate enough to catch a direct hit. That or the cannon would just vaporize them. If the nanites are tearing a subject apart and recycling her into more of themselves then I imagine the only thing left of the subject would be whatever the nanites couldn't consume before the killswitch activated or whatever couldn't be used for self-replication.

>Reminder that they got Al Capone on tax evasion
Thankfully we're not dealing with the IRS. I doubt Mik and his crew pay taxes. Mike DEFINITELY doesn't pay taxes.

>>6129383
Damn, SM's mechs get pretty big. I was expecting something similar to Armored Cores or Battletech mechs but these guys have massive titans stomping around down here.
>Ask Sylvio or the main guardsmen a couple of question. Nothing wrong with a newbie asking for some help in their new workplace, right? (Write in your question.)
>How often do subjects try to escape or get violent?

>>6129383
>Introduce yourself to Sylvio and tell a bit about yourself. Maybe let him know what you were hoping to do with this job, and what you were looking most forward to.
Talk a bit about our family and our previous work (provided OPSEC allows it).

>Ask Sylvio or the main guardsmen a couple of question. Nothing wrong with a newbie asking for some help in their new workplace, right?
Ask him about if he knows anyone else who's new here, guard or otherwise, along with who's the Head of Security.

>>6129394
I always thought Vinella just busts through anything she cant fit through. Also...

>You want to work with the true visionaries here, such as Elbrus.
Listen here you little shit. Do you want us on Hapi duity?!

>>6129414
In that case, good news. Instead of getting executed if we showed Galgov our kill, we can't because nothing would be left of them. Still, at least we don't have to deal with space IRS if we did it, as space IRC sounds worse than normal IRS.

>>6129459
Anon if SM's mechs are twice Vinella's size, then they are still the size of Battletech mechs, even if you presume Vinella is 20 feet tall. It is bigger than most AC's though.

>>6129510
Yeah for some reason I got it into my head that "twice the size of Vinella" meant around 30 meters instead of feet. Just a moment of mild mental retardation.

>>6129510
If we kill something in a suspicious way that we can't hide, we could always just find somewhere to dump the body and not tell anyone.

>space IRC
I know it's a typo, but it makes me wonder how /x/ on spacechan is taking this whole affair. There must be much furious typing and the whole board is surely glowing.

>>6129510
>Listen here you little shit. Do you want us on Hapi duity?!
This is the past anon
Elbrus is still in his wholesome relations arc
He has yet to fall to /d/egeneracy

>Introduce yourself to Sylvio and tell a bit about yourself. Maybe let him know what you were hoping to do with this job, and what you were looking most forward to.
Knowing how secrecy wasn't entirely necessary in the workplace, you would obviously just be honest about your life and position. You'd give Sylvio your name, and told him of your previous job guarding a weapons facility. "Oh, so I guess you're already familiar with the good ol' military industrial complex, huh? Well, I hope this place won't scare you away too much. It's nothing like other military organisations from the government, at least based on what I've heard about down here." Given his lack of questioning, he probably was a bit more focused on the thoughts of working with subjects and what not. Not that you could blame him. This was a vastly different job from anything you or any of the men around you had ever done. Of course, you did have a few hopes, mentioning your hopes of maybe being assigned to a different scientist in the future. "Yeah, I must admit I am a little apprehensive about working with this Anderson guy. Like I said, I'm not all that into bugs. I was more interested in maybe working for that Cerro guy, given the lizard subjects he made. Anyway, who do you wanna work for?"

You'd admit to your desire to work for Elbrus, which made Sylvio speak casually. "Ahhh, take it that the way he and his subjects were described in the introductions really appealed to you? I can't blame you. I imagine most of the other new folk wouldn't mind working with some of his subjects, haha." You had mostly heard that Elbrus made 'passionate' and 'intimate' subjects, which did sound rather interesting. It also did sound a little dirty, especially since most of these subjects were presumably going to be fulfilling government jobs in public. Still, maybe his subjects would be for more elite families to enjoy, rather than just being out in public for the galactic population to see out in the open.

>Ask Sylvio or the main guardsmen a couple of question. Nothing wrong with a newbie asking for some help in their new workplace, right?
Of course, given that Sylvio had heard and seen a bit more of this place than you had, you'd ask him some simple questions. For one, you wanted to know if subjects got violent or ever tried escaping, which made him scoff. "I mean, I've been here for only two days now, so I really can't say. Though given that I heard a lot of folks talking about subjects escaping, I think it isn't gonna be too uncommon an occurrence. Though Sylvio didn't mention anything about subjects being violent, which was maybe a good sign. Surely, the government would ensure their fancy genetically modified projects would all be taught well to ensure they didn't cause trouble! You soon asked for some other details, wanting to know if he knew other folk. "Well, I've met a couple of folk, but not too many. I'm also pretty new here, y'know."

Even if he was new, he seemed more knowledgeable than you were. Which got you asking who else was new here, wondering if it was just you and the other guardsmen around you. "I think it's just you and maybe a few scientists. Ooh, I actually heard there was this new lady called Sarah who was gonna do some work with the nanites subjects use to survive. Aside from her though, I haven't heard any names. I presume it's just other folk who will do other important stuff down here. Engineers, chemists and people who can help in managing this place well." This actually got you a bit curious about some of the higher ups, as you asked who the head of Security was. "Uhhhh, not a clue. Might be a good idea to ask some of the higher ups later as well." He said approvingly, giving you a pat on the shoulder. "You know, in case we do end up losing a limb from some of these subjects, haha." Shortly after, the group you were in would be led to the elevator, which would quickly move down. You'd pass tens of floors, until the door opened and you were met with a large reception area.

Once there, you'd be given the chance to walk forward and look around a bit. You'd see plenty of hallways, more screens showing Agami and plenty of news and announcements. You'd also see plenty of vehicles travelling about, as well as some guardsmen patrolling the place. Shortly after though, the person who led you here would speak up. "Attention everyone, I would like to introduce you to the scientist most of you will be working for, Anderson Thorell." The guardsman moved out of the way, as a rather young man stepped forward. He had short brown hair, round glasses, and a well trimmed beard. He looked quite pleased and friendly, smiling confidently as he stepped forward. He'd look around, before speaking with a deep and pleasant sounding voice. "Greetings. It's a pleasure to see so many new faces here. As was just said, my name is Anderson Thorell. I am one of the head scientists here at Valulori Research Centre. My works have mostly focused on insect and arachnid subjects, some of which you have been assigned to guard for the time being."

Immediately, some of the other new guardsmen would start asking questions. Anderson would move his hands to signal everyone to calm down. "I will answer all of your questions in a moment. I first wish to lead you all to the chamber containing my nearest subject. Whilst we walk, I would like to tell a bit about myself and also get to know some of you." Anderson signalled you and the others to follow, as he'd speak up whilst he led the way. "I imagine many of you are excited to see the subjects for the first time. So if you see one which catches your interest, feel free to pause and ask questions. I may not be familiar with all the subjects here, but I can certainly try and tell a bit about them." He let out a soft chuckle, at which point plenty of the guardsman would swarm him with questions, Sylvio staying back and just watching in quiet amusement.

Meanwhile, you'd find yourself passing dozens of chambers. Many of these were rather empty looking, consisting of metal floors and walls. Some were dimly lit, whilst others appeared long abandoned. However, you did soon pass a chamber which looked rather bare and was incredibly dark. There, you saw the outline of two large butterfly wings, which faced away from you. It seemed to be some sort of butterfly subject which was standing eerily still.

>What do you do next?

>Go over to Anderson to ask him some questions of your own once you got the chance to talk. Maybe there were some things you were dying to learn about this place? (Write in your question.)
>Listen to some of the questions thrown at Anderson. Maybe the other men would ask some solid questions which could tell you more about this place, or would help you figure out what to expect down here?
>Talk a bit more with Sylvio. Maybe he still had some fun things to share about his life, or could tell a bit more about the place whilst Anderson was busy with the other guardsmen.
>Pause to look at the large butterfly subject in the dark. Maybe try and look at anything of note with her or the strangely barren chamber she was in. Maybe you could even try and communicate with her? (Write in what you'll do with the butterfly.)
>Something else...

(>>6129944 Goddamn, that's a good Dhabus pic, Anon. I really ought to start using her in the near future. Either for this little sidestory, or for the main story.)

>>6129947
>Go over to Anderson to ask him some questions of your own once you got the chance to talk. Maybe there were some things you were dying to learn about this place? (Write in your question.)
Why are they all girls bro

>>6129947
>Pause to look at the large butterfly subject in the dark. Maybe try and look at anything of note with her or the strangely barren chamber she was in. Maybe you could even try and communicate with her?
If we have a flashlight or something else to grab her attention, maybe we could use that? Otherwise tapping on the glass might work.

>>6130021
Support. Do this after checking on the butterfly.

>>6129947
>Go over to Anderson to ask him some questions of your own once you got the chance to talk. Maybe there were some things you were dying to learn about this place? (Write in your question.)
>Who's the head of security?
We probably should ask who our boss is.
I'll also support >>6130021 and >>6130071

>Pause to look at the large butterfly subject in the dark. Maybe try and look at anything of note with her or the strangely barren chamber she was in. Maybe you could even try and communicate with her?
Given that this was the first subject you had ever seen, you were most interested to actually interact and communicate with it. You wished you had a pocket torch to get a better look of her. Though you did remember the Comms device you were given, which did have some kind of light function built into it. You tried to grab it and turn it on, but found the thing to not really do what you wanted it to do. The light only turned on dimly, before turning off completely as the device started freezing up slightly. "Trying to see more of her?" Sylvio asked curiously, at which point you decided to tap the window to try and get her attention. After doing so, the guardsmen who were nearby would approach and speak up calmly. "Hey, can you please not do that? Claire wants to be left alone right now, since she had a pretty rough day behind her." The guardsmen sounded pretty calm and respectful, clearly not harbouring any ill will towards you. Sylvio was still somewhat curious, as he asked: "Apologies. We're just interested in meeting this subject. She's the first we've ever seen."

The guardsman nodded understandingly, before looking around. "That's understandable. It's a rather strange sight to see something like her." One of the other guardsmen scoffed in a calm tone, before responding in amusement. "Having Claire as your first subject is also fun. She screws with electronics, which you probably noticed with your Comms devic." It was a shame you couldn't interact with such a strange creature, though one guardsman was quick to say: "Unfortunately, like we said, she wants to be left alone right now. The good news is that you will get the chance to encounter plenty of other subjects ahead of you."

Shortly after, Anderson would look back and notice you and some of the other guardsman having a chat. "Guys, I would prefer it if you came along now. You can chat with those guys at a later time." Claire's guardsman would wish you good luck, after which you, Sylvio and a few other guardsmen would catch up with the rest of the group. All the while, you passed more empty chambers and some smaller storage spaces. Anderson was slowly being harassed with less and less questions, which gave you the opportunity to ask some of your own.

>Go over to Anderson to ask him some questions of your own once you got the chance to talk. Maybe there were some things you were dying to learn about this place?
Once you felt the moment was right, you'd ask Anderson why all the subjects were girls and why not guys, which seemed to amuse him. "Very observant question, uhhhh what is your name again?" You'd repeat your name, after which Anderson happily continued. "Well, Zeke, there are a few reasons as to why subjects are only female. Some more simple than others."

The rest of the new guardsmen wet quiet, as Anderson spoke in an eager tone. "For one, there is the genetic reason. Whilst designing subjects, we found that having XX chromosomes generally worked better for stability. It seems the Y chromosome clashes with a lot of the nanite based mutations we set up. So, it's easier to just have XX chromosomes for stability. Another reason comes from the fact that female subjects are presumably a lot less aggressive and far more gentle. Especially when you look at some of the creatures which we take genetic samples from. Some of those benefit from having female genes over male ones. Some of my creations would be far slower to grow, smaller and less effective if they were male." This raised a couple of eyebrows, but it seemed to make some sense. Though, Anderson did soon bring up some... interesting details regarding the samples used for subjects.

"Given the large amount of animal samples we base the nanites on, there will be some occasional quirks. Sometimes, the animal samples we use happen to be male, which results in some male characteristics still manifesting into the subject. Maybe they're a bit more muscular, or their bone structure is more fitting for a male. Their hormone levels may make them act more like males than females. Or hell, the subject manifests both male and female reproductive organs!" This last suggestion really seemed to puzzle some of the new guardsmen. All that work to make solely female subjects, only for males to still pop in from time to time? Though from the sound of things, it only seemed like there were hermaphrodite subjects, which was still a little strange. The other guardsmen had plenty of questions surrounding this, especially given the fact that this could affect their behaviour substantially. Some of the men wanted to know what subject they'd be working with and if they had any behavioural quirks.

Though you were more interested in who assigned you to which subject and who would essentially be your boss. And after Anderson explained a bit about how male samples sometimes got mixed into the female sample mixes, you'd ask who your boss would be. "Your boss? Well, technically, that would be me. Though my superior is Tengri, so you can also consider him the boss. Aside from that, the head of the guardsmen and security is Hector Voss. If you want, I could contact Logan or Roraima to get you in contact with Hector, since those three tend to work together often." Sounded like this Hector would be the one who handled your employment, whilst Anderson would handle the subjects you'd be guarding. At least now you knew who to contact for help if the burly monster hermaphrodite you were assigned to injured you. Aside from that, you would keep following Anderson, as he kept talking to the other guardsmen.

Sylvio would give you a soft bump before saying: "I am curious as to why you wanna know who our boss is. I hope you don't already want a raise, now that we know the monster girls don't necessarily have to be girls, haha." He said in a dry tone. Afterwards, you'd just keep watching your surroundings, passing a few more chambers. One was a jungle which seemed quite densely covered. You tried looking for movement, but would quickly be told that the subject in there was busy with their training. You'd also pass by a far darker chamber, which caught a lot of your men's attention. Unlike the previous chamber with Claire, it was pitch black despite all the lights clearly being turned on near it. It was almost like a black cloud filled the chamber, which blocked all the light. All you could see were some dim white sparkles, which made the whole chamber look like the sky of a starry night. "Hey Anderson, what subject lives here?" One of the guardsmen would ask.

The entourage would slow down a little, as Anderson quickly spoke up. "That would be Cortina, a fungal type subject made by Jabal. She is rather sweet, but can be a little reluctant with strangers. Especially guardsmen she isn't familiar with." Either Anderson was just trying to get you and the others to move along, or talking with subjects was a lot harder than it seemed. Regardless, you'd soon reach a crossroad where Anderson led you to the right. You'd keep going for some time, passing by vehicles, guardsmen and a few more empty chambers. You'd also pass some larger chambers, which seemed to be reserved for the particularly large subjects. And eventually, you would find yourself stopping at one of these chambers. "So, this is where the first few guardsmen will be stationed. Erika, Daniel, Ignacio and Zeng, would you please step forward?" Four of the guardsmen would step forward, some appearing a little disappointed that they were being separated from their friends.

"You four will have the honour of looking after Arika. She is currently busy testing, but will return here rather soon along with the other guardsmen who looked after her. I suppose you can make yourself familiar with her chamber, your surroundings and some of your duties." The chamber looked like a bit of a desert, with plenty of rock formations there as well which looked to have been neatly carved into. "Arika is a bit of a digger and sculptor, so I made sure her chamber has lots of room for her to play in. It is also massive because, well she herself is quite massive. Aside from that, do you have any questions?" Obviously, the four guardsmen had questions at the ready. They weren't the only ones, as some of the others were equally curious about this subject, the chamber or the job implications of what was shown. It wasn't helped by the fact that Anderson was just doing this quite casually, and wasn't really doing much to introduce you to the job..

>What do you do next?

>Ask Anderson a question about the job. Now would be perfect, as he didn't mention much regarding pay, work hours, necessities or... anything like that. (Write in what you'll ask.)
>Ask Anderson about the subject here and what she is like. 'sculptor' and 'loves to dig' weren't going to tell you a lot about this subject. (Write in what you'll ask.)
>Just quietly listen to the other men as they asked questions to Anderson. Maybe they'd bring up the same questions you had. That, or you didn't really care for the hard details regarding your job.
>Chat a bit with Sylvio, if he wasn't going to ask Anderson questions. Maybe you could discuss that Claire or Cortina subject you passed by, or something else based on what you saw. (Write in what you'll discuss.)
>Just keep quiet and wait for this silly tour to be over. You wanted to do your job, damnit. Not get a tour of all of Anderson's bug subjects.
>Something else...


(How exciting. Tomorrow, will be the one year anniversary. How fitting that the one year anniversary will have you guys listening to Anderson of all folk. In any case, hope this current update is fine. It's mostly just chatting and listening, but that will change soon enough.)

Less aggressive and more gentle my arse. Though it does have interesting implications for if we would theoretically undergo the monsterification process, we'd be turned into a woman as well. Howzat for some body dysphoria? I wonder how many of the subjects we know of started life as a bloke. Hapi obviously, but I wonder if Morgan, Kiyo, Dhabus and others like them started life as an XY.

I wonder how long this is before the Big Bang and if we're going to get to see pre-disaster Chrys and Ano.

>>6129944
I half hope Dhabus is one we can talk down and isn't actually murderous after all the work you've put in to draw her.

>>6130460
>Ask Anderson a question about the job. Now would be perfect, as he didn't mention much regarding pay, work hours, necessities or... anything like that.
Wait, after all that paperwork and legal hoops, we haven't actually been sent a proper employment contract yet? Are we going to get one at some point now we're here?
>Chat a bit with Sylvio, if he wasn't going to ask Anderson questions. Maybe you could discuss that Claire or Cortina subject you passed by, or something else based on what you saw.
What's his thoughts on the subjects he's seen so far? Any he's hoping to get assigned to?

>>6130460
First of all, seeing it is now technically the 28th.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5yKfmjwIbg

Second of all.
>>6130517
It's interesting. Though, outside of some male material being used for Hapi, I kind of doubt that any of them were originally male. As for how long this is before the disaster, probably not too long. Sarah was mentioned as being a new hire and as far as we know she has no known subjects, so maybe it's a month before?

Anyway, supporting these choices.

>>6130563
There's definitely at least a few given the way he speaks of them in the plural and it's often subtle but just some male physiological or mental traits of which having a cock is only one of a few possibilities. They're just some guesses based on who might fit the bill as described, but I suppose for most of them it's not readily apparent.

"New hire" could be anywhere from days to months ago depending on where their bar is of staff turnover. Though it would be a waste to set a story not long before the disaster and then not feature it.

>>6130458
>the subject manifests both male and female reproductive organs
Wait, it's not just Elbrus, it's a natural occurrence?
no
NOOOOOOO
GalGov should have glassed this site from orbit

>>6130459
>Sylvio would give you a soft bump before saying: "I am curious as to why you wanna know who our boss is
Yeah why would I want to know who I report to

>Ask Anderson a question about the job. Now would be perfect, as he didn't mention much regarding pay, work hours, necessities or... anything like that. (Write in what you'll ask.)
Are we responsible for inspecting the containment chamber to ensure there is no damage/defect that would allow the subject to escape?
In the event of a subject escape, what is the protocol? Are we expected to recapture the subject? If so, can we get numbers on how massive Arika is? Also what kind of equipment will we be supplied with? What level of force are we authorized to use?
What are the rules on interaction with the subjects?

>>6130517
You'd just have to be careful with selecting the DNA samples you base the nanites on before augmentation. Subjects are vat grown with the nanites too, so maybe it wouldn't effect a fully grown human like that anyways.

>>6130574
>Wait, it's not just Elbrus, it's a natural occurrence?
It seems more like it's caused by human error during the creation process. Unless it's an Elbrus subject, then it's an intentional design choice.

>Ask Anderson a question about the job. Now would be perfect, as he didn't mention much regarding pay, work hours, necessities or... anything like that.
Seeing how casual Anderson was taking this whole introduction, you were a bit puzzled. You'd loudly ask him abou the employment contract, which seemed to make him raise an eyebrow as well. "Didn't you see and write your information on there a decent while before you came here?" It had clearly sunk in the back of your mind somewhat. You had agreed to that contract and filled it in a loooong time ago, which then was sort of just forgotten about. As the rest of the men continued mumbling about it, Anderson would hush everyone and explain things. "If you wanna see the contract again, it's stored in the archives somewhere. You can request it or a copy later." It really showed how long it had taken and how little you had been told about this job, that you were still having issues with your contract now and what the hell your role was here. At least it made a modicum of sense, since this was clearly a secretive job the government entrusted upon you.

Still, you had plenty more questions on your mind about the job at hand. Fortunately, you weren't the only one, as one co-worker would ask something you had on your mind as well. "So, what kind of force are we expected to use on subjects? Do we have any mandates for specific weapons we have to use?" The guardswoman asked, to which Anderson spoke casually. "Excellent question, Erika! So, in pretty much every case, you have to go for non-lethal methods. You will be armed with rifles for some of the tougher subjects, as well as stun batons for less armoured subjects. Given how expensive each subject is, terminating them is seen as extraordinarily wasteful, so we heavily advise against such. Fortunately, most subjects are pretty tough, so they won't die if you shoot them a couple of times. Still, go for the baton first, if the subject doesn't feed on electricity."

This made one guardsman say: "There are subjects who feed on electricity?!" To which Anderson nodded. "Correct! I even have one subject who feeds on electricity. Sadly, I won't be assigning any of you to her, but I am sure you'll get the chance to meet her in the future!" Some of the guardsmen were clearly intrigued by this unorthodox feeding method. Though, you would take the opportunity to ask a bit more about Arika. Given that subject escapes seemed to happen on occasion, you wanted to know about how to recapture subjects. Especially large ones like Arika. "Well, Zeke, that is a good question. So, for all of you, if a subject escapes, it's generally seen as the responsibility of the guardsmen who were supposed to stay by her, as well as the guardsmen assigned to the area she's in. So, let's say you're in the training section with Arika. If you work in that section, it is your responsibility. If you are Arika's guardsmen, it's your responsibility as well. Pretty simple, I hope.

It probably wasn't that easy considering that you were working with gigantic genetically modified humanoids who could take bullets and potentially eat electricity. "As for what you have to do if such a situation arises, you just have to coax her back to her containment or testing chamber. If she runs, you chase after her and only hurt her if all else fails. Thankfully, most of my subjects are not quick to run, especially Arika. so I wouldn't worry too much about it. Just relax, enjoy the job and comradery!" This made one guardsman speak up rather eagerly, wanting to know more about Arika. "What is Arika like? Is she friendly?" Anderson nodded happily as he looked over at the containment chamber. "She is something of a massive child. Curious, eager to show off her work, but can also be pouty and stubborn. She also loves creatures who are smaller than her, so that also means people, given that she is well over 12 feet tall." You therefore wanted to know what the rules were regarding subject interactions. "So, it really depends on who created the subject. I feel that social interactions help subjects feel at ease with their life and makes them more eager to perform. Though I know some scientists like Logan and Roraima are a bit more strict when it comes to subject interactions. I suppose it just comes down to asking what each scientist feels is okay. As for what I find okay? Well, just don't force the girls into conversation and respect their boundaries. Some are a lot shyer than others, or may be focused on other things in their chamber."

The way you had to treat subject seemed reasonable enough. Though you also wanted to know if you were responsible for inspecting the containment chamber. After all, you had to stop subjects from escaping. That also sounded like it would involve checking up on the subject chambers to make sure there were no defects which would allow the subject to escape. "So, if you do happen to see something wrong with the chamber, you should contact some engineers to come over. They will be able to fix it for you in a quick manner. The only thing you would need to maybe do is get the subject to leave the chamber and stay somewhere else." Once again, it seemed pretty safe and simple. Hopefully, this place didn't deal with too many of these errors or escapees. For the time being though, Anderson would answer a few more minor questions which didn't really matter that much. And finally, he'd look at his tablet. "Okay, I'll pause the questions here. Arika and her caretaker will come over now, so you can ask her some further questions. To the rest of the guardsmen, would you please follow me so I can bring you to the subjects you will be looking after?" The four men who would stay there seemed quite pleased, as you and the other guardsmen continued forward behind Anderson. "Quite a shame. I wouldn't mind looking after Arika." Sylvio said in an mildly intrigued tone.

>Chat a bit with Sylvio, if he wasn't going to ask Anderson questions. Maybe you could discuss that Claire or Cortina subject you passed by, or something else based on what you saw.
Given his disappointment, it made you wonder how he felt about the subjects who were he had seen so far. "Well, I am very interested what the deal is with that moth we passed by. Though I don't know if I'd wanna get assigned to her. Honestly, I think I'm fine with any subject. So long as they aren't too creepy, or confrontative." Honestly, Sylvio's wishes for a subject seemed pretty reasonable. Though the two of you had probably not encountered enough subjects to really get the best of idea of what the average subject was like. Though you were cautiously optimistic that they wouldn't be too troublesome. And after leaving a few more guardsmen by a few different chambers, you'd finally reach the chamber of the subject you would be assigned to. "Zeke, Sylvio, Lara and Kiros. You four will be assigned to Lono Attacus, codename AM-24. She was made by Roraima as well, which means she may be a little feisty. I should also warn you not to touch her too much, since her hairs can be quite irritating."

Of all the subjects, you had to guard the one who was venomous to the touch. Lara seemed somewhat bothered by the idea, whilst Kiros and Sylvio looked rather interested to see more of her. Obviously, she wasn't here yet and was probably running tests. At least you were able to see a bit of her chamber. It was a jungle with massive flora and lots of rocky formations. It also seemed to be quite the damp chamber, with water vapour staining some of the glass looking into the chamber. "I hope you guys do not mind that all the subjects are busy testing right now. In my mind, planning it out so that you guys arrive before they do seemed like a solid idea." Anderson mumbled awkwardly, as you and the others looked at the chamber and Anderson.

"Lono will return here in a short while. I promise! Just... make yourself comfortable. Oh, you can get some drinks nearby, if you want to!" Anderson would say right after. It seemed like you had a bit of time to kill right now.

>What do you do next?

>Ask Anderson some things about Lono, the facility or anything else that was on your mind. He wasn't exactly the best at explaining at what was going on down here and left a lot of details behind. (Write in what you'll ask.)
>Fraternize with your co-workers. Start a little chat with Lara, Kiros or Sylvio about whatever is on your mind. Maybe you could chat over a cup of coffee? (Write in who you'll chat with and what it'll be about.)
>Just wait patiently for Lono and those accompanying her to return. It'd hopefully not take too long, and you could maybe introduce yourself to Lono right away.
>Check your surroundings to see if there were any other subjects nearby, or anything else of interest you had to keep in mind. (Write in if you'll try to look for anything in particular.)
>Something else...

>>6130870
>Ask Anderson some things about Lono, the facility or anything else that was on your mind. He wasn't exactly the best at explaining at what was going on down here and left a lot of details behind. (Write in what you'll ask.)
What are her abilities?
What is her temperament? Is she violent? Excitable? Cheerful? Resentful? Single? Morose?
Is there anything else we should know about her?

>>6130870
>Check your surroundings to see if there were any other subjects nearby, or anything else of interest you had to keep in mind.

>>6130903
Supporting

>>6130903
also support

So, "Attacus". She must be a möth of some kind, though I'm not sure what her first name is a nod to. Now I wonder why she's absent from the MGE.

>>6131050
Probably because she was missing from records the government recovered and hasn't been spotted yet by any deathsquads. That, or she died in the disaster.

>Ask Anderson some things about Lono, the facility or anything else that was on your mind. He wasn't exactly the best at explaining at what was going on down here and left a lot of details behind.
Whilst you waited for Lono to return, you obviously wanted to learn more about her and what she was like. This started with you asking what her main abilities were, of which Anderson was extremely excited to share. "Well, aside from the venomous hairs, she can fly and is also very strong and agile. She is one of my greatest combat subjects. With some help from Roraima, of course." This did make Lara speak up in a more cautious tone, clearly wanting to get some clearer details. "How strong and fast are we talking? Any sort of measurements you guys made?" Anderson would take a short moment to think about it, before finally coming with a response. "We don't have exact measurements for her strength. She is certainly in the upper echelon, being capable of lifting boulders, denting steel with her punches, stopping vehicles with her bare hands. Stuff like that. Her agility, we have measured! She can easily sprint at about 20 meters per second, and may be able to go even faster in the right circumstances."

20 meters per second was nothing to scoff at. She could outrun you and anyone you knew with ease. Chasing after her was going to prove difficult. That is, if she tried to run away to begin with. If she was content with everything, she'd probably not try to escape. Though this also made you wonder what her temperament was like. You'd immediately ask Anderson, wanting to know if she would be easy or difficult to manage. "She may be a little shy at first. It can take a while for her to get out of her shell and interact with those around her. Though, when annoyed, she can certainly stand her ground and be a lot more vicious. But, so long as you respect her boundaries and don't treat her terribly, she will be a wonderful girl to look after!"

It seemed a little odd that a combat subject would be shy and reluctant to interact with folk. You'd expect a subject like that to be far more outgoing, confident and unbothered by other people. Though considering that she could get annoyed and 'vicious', it did sound like she had a more dangerous side to her as well. "Define vicious, Anderson." Kiros soon said in a deep voice, after which Anderson would look around a bit. "So, she is quite aware of the dangers of her abilities. And if she feels people around her are causing trouble, she is not opposed to using her abilities to resolve things. This doesn't happen often, but I do remember a previous caretaker stating her venom wouldn't be too bad. Lono was more than happy to prove him wrong though, and he ended up switching subject after he discovered just how much pain Lono can deliver." It was becoming more and more difficult to say for sure if Lono was just a gentle bug girl, or someone a bit more serious and potentially dangerous.

Still, you felt it was good to ask if there was anything else you had to keep in mind with Lono. Just in case there were any other behaviours you really shouldn't show to her. "Hmmmm, maybe don't ask her about her relation with Roraima. She sees that as private matters, and prefers not to bring it up with folk she doesn't know well." This actually got you and the others rather curious as to what this relationship entailed. Though before you or any of the others could ask for those details, Anderson would check his tablet again. "So, I'm afraid I am going to need to leave the four of you here for the time being. Just gotta bring these last four to Haina!" He sounded particularly excited about this 'Haina', to which Sylvio asked: "I presume this Haina is another subject of yours?" Anderson nodded, before responding. "My pride and joy, you could call her. In any case, I will check up on you later today. For now, just wait here and Lono will be brought over soon enough!"

>Check your surroundings to see if there were any other subjects nearby, or anything else of interest you had to keep in mind.
As Anderson left you, Sylvio, Lara and Kiros in front of the overgrown chamber, you would look around to see if there was anything else of note nearby. There was break room not too far from here, as well as some smaller rooms which presumably had fancy equipment to monitor stuff, or to use for all kinds of research. More importantly, you noticed plenty of empty chambers beside you. The next closest chamber which seemed to have any life in it was a bit of a distance away from you. Though from the distance you were at, you couldn't tell if it was just a chamber with some plants in it, or if it was a chamber with a subject in it. You didn't see any guards near it, so maybe the subject which inhabited was away as well.

After Anderson left you be, Kiros would keep looking at the chamber in mild awe. Lara seemed a little anxious, yet also clearly tried to appear disinterested. Maybe she just didn't want to show fear at the fact that you'd soon meet a potentially dangerous subject. Meanwhile, Sylvio would've quickly gone over to the kitchen to get all of you something to drink. Once he returned, he'd offer you a cup and some tea and coffee. "Think this ought to help us during our wait." Sylvio would say, Kiros happily accepting some coffee. "Thank you, Sylvio, right? Just wanna make sure I remember all of your names properly, haha." Sylvio nodded understandingly, before speaking more amusedly. "Well, we'll be spending a lot of time together, so I wouldn't worry too much about forgetting them too much." Kiros let out a hearty chuckle, as Sylvio soon also offered Lara a coffee which she accepted. After taking some sips, she'd speak up casually. "Ugh, all the stuff we’ve done today has left me pretty goddamn tired. I hope we don't have to work an entire day now before we can return to our sleeping chambers."

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This made Kiros chuckle again. “Tired already? We have just walked around and looked at subject chambers so far! And given how fast Lono is gonna be, it sounds to me like this job could be waaaay more tiresome.” Sylvio nodded along, whilst Lara let out a sigh. “It has been a long couple of days for me, alright? Travelling over to this place, all the security checks, checking everything out and the whole introductory course. I knew it was gonna be intense, but that doesn’t mean I’m not gonna complain about it!” Sylvio didn’t seem to pay too much attention, whilst Kiros just shrugged and shifted the chat in a different direction. “Say, do we also share dorms in the staff areas? I imagine they might do that, just for convenience sake. But, I am curious what the facility does with this.” With that, you’d mention the sleeping chambers you were assigned to. You were shown the place you’d sleep at earlier today, so you’d share the room number and other details. And it didn’t look like you’d spend your sleeping space with these guys.

After a bit of chatting about the job, your expectations, your concerns and your interests, you’d notice a small group of guardsmen approaching from the distance. And with them, they had what looked to be a rather strangely cladded human. She had bushy and wild white-ish hair, two red antennae coming from the crown of her head, and these cloth-like appendages which almost looked like a strange cape. As they got closer and closer, you realised that it was Lono and the other guardsmen. You also noticed a rather relaxed and carefree guy walking a bit beside her. He wore a labcoat, had short black hair and mildly pale skin. The group got closer and closer, you noticing two important things. One, Lono was taller than all of you. She wasn’t humongous, but she was easily 6 and a half foot in height. More importantly though, you’d saw her glancing over at you before moving behind the guy in the labcoat. “I assume that’s Lono.” Sylvio said mildly excitedly.

“Huh, she looks a lot nicer than what I imagined.” Lara would mumble, which made Kiros glare at her. You and the others would get ready to greet Lono, the guardsman and the other scientist. And once they were close-by, the scientist spoke up with a mildly smug and overconfident inflection in his voice. “Ah, finally, some new faces. Take it Anderson brought you here, huh?” He’d already reach out for a handshake. “I’m Francis Avinoff. Hope we didn’t keep you waiting too long. I was just running some tests on Lono. Isn’t that right, Lono?” Lono gave a quiet and calm nod, not looking right at you as you couldn’t get an exact read on how she felt about you guys. Either she was afraid, shy or disinterested. Regardless, Francis would introduce some of the guardsmen, before speaking somewhat casually. “So, suppose Lono should get into her chamber, and then you guys can maybe… discuss whatever is on your mind with us.”

It didn’t seem like Francis really had plans which involved Lono. He seemed eager to bring her into her chamber, and then to just have a chat with you. Kind of odd, considering you came to this place because of subjects like Lono…

>What do you do next?

>Ask Francis some questions and have a little chat with him. Maybe he’d have some important things to tell you about your job, Lono, his role in this place or the facility itself. (Write in if you’ll ask him anything.)
>Try and start a chat with Lono. You would be spending a lot of time with her in the near future, so it was better to just get familiar with her now. (Write in what you’ll tell or ask her.)
>Observe Lono in her natural habitat. See if she did anything which seemed particularly strange or intriguing. Just make sure you don’t look at her in a weird way.
>Just let Sylvio and the others handle it. You were done asking questions and would just accept whatever Francis would tell you about your job at this point.
>Something else…

(Happy one year anniversary, everyone. Just wanna thank you all for continuing to participate in the quest, and that I hope we can keep it going for a whole lot longer. Hope this moth will make a great start to the 2nd year of this Quest.)

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>>6131169
Fuckin' Anderson, off to bang his spiderfu. We're on a dungeon crawl while dude's playing MGQ.
The fact that our first bona fide mothgirl apparently has urticating (because they 'urt) hairs all over her arms and neck means she will be very difficult to hug properly. This is an unspeakable tragedy and I demand this be immediately rectified with a retcon or a shaver.
>Try and start a chat with Lono. You would be spending a lot of time with her in the near future, so it was better to just get familiar with her now.
While I don't think we'll get much back right now, I just want to state that we're Zeke, Sylvio, Lara and Kiros, new members of her staff, and we'll see her around.

>Ask Francis some questions and have a little chat with him. Maybe he’d have some important things to tell you about your job, Lono, his role in this place or the facility itself.
What's actually our role here? Do we just stand outside the door and glare at passersby or do we take a more active role in her care?
How do you actually approach her? We'd rather not spook or provoke her and would like to be able to establish a positive rapport with her if she's to be our ward going forward. Also, dos and don'ts?
What's the emergency protocol round here if, say, a dangerous subject escapes or the science gets a bit too mad and blows up or something?
What're the highlights on the canteen menu? I heard something about a lasagna night?

Here's to another great year in the Facility. Fun fact, the in-quest time dilation factor is approx. 0.022x.

>>6131244
Supporting. Also, surely giving a hug will be fine with the uniform and armour we have... We have armour and a thick uniform, right?

>>6131169
>>6131244
Backing these votes, but talk to Francis first since he’s leaving soon but Lono will still be around

Also
>We're on a dungeon crawl while dude's playing MGQ.
Uhhh have you played MGQ? There are plenty of horrifying bad ends, it pretty much is a dungeon crawl itself

>>6131350
that seems to fit this facility pretty well rn ngl.

>Ask Francis some questions and have a little chat with him. Maybe he’d have some important things to tell you about your job, Lono, his role in this place or the facility itself.
Before Francis could Lono into her chamber, you wanted to ask some questions to the two of them. Though you decided to first as Francis, since you had a hunch that he'd just leave you be once he had put Lono in her room. So, you'd ask what your role was in this place. You didn't think that just standing outside the door and glaring at people who passed you was going to be all there was to it. You'd ask if there was a more active role to it all, which made one of the guardsmen speak up. "It really depends. Lono, we chat quite often, don't we?" The guardsman looked over at Lono, who nodded calmly without saying a word. "Of course, you can also just stand by and make sure everything goes well. It's a simple and sweet job. Just make sure she is content with her stay, and that nothing out of the ordinary happens." From the looks of things, you had been assigned to a rather easy job.

It was so easy, that Kiros quickly would start questioning it. "So, we don't assist with feeding, or cleaning the place, oooor her training or any of those things?" Francis shook his head and spoke quite smugly. "Training is my duty. Cleaning her chamber isn't necessary. Feeding is also handled by me. You're here to hold up your guns, but... hell, from what I've experienced, you could easily just keep your guns in your lockers and not worry about anything." It seemed a little negligent to suggest something like this. But from the sound of it, this place hardly had any conflict. It wasn't like people could easily break in and wreak havoc. And Lono hardly seemed like a troublemaker so far. Given the fact she came here without bonds or some sort of restraints showed that she wasn't likely to cause trouble. However, since she hadn't really said much, you decided to ask the most important question of all.

You'd ask if there was a specific way she preferred chatting with folk, or if she would have to approach you to chat rather than the other way around. You saw that Lono did actually glance at you for a moment, rather than looking away. Though she didn't say anything, as the guardsman who was presumably her closest friend spoke up instead. "Just... treat her like you'd treat other people. If she doesn't feel like talking, she'll let you know. She may be a subject, but she's still human!" This made one of the other guardsmen speak up more teasingly. "To be fair, Juniper, that's easy for you to say. You've spent the most time out of all of us with Lono." Juniper didn't seem to mind the remark, whilst Lono herself clearly was bothered by it but didn't speak up about it. "Yeah? That just means I am the best at giving advice for these questions!" Juniper responded confidently to the other guardsman, before turning back to you.

"Anyway, the point still stands. Just be nice to her, treat her as an equal and know she can be a little bit shy. Respect those boundaries, and I'm sure she'll open up to you soon enough! Right, Lono?" Juniper said calmly, Lono giving a quiet nod. You did hear one of the guardsmen grumble a little bit. "Not that that advise helped us out too much." Juniper opted to just ignore it, whilst Lono clearly did not enjoy the remarks. Then again, you didn't know how much time these guardsmen had spent with her here. For all you knew, Lono had only ever opened up to Juniper, leaving the other guardsmen with little to do in terms of conversing with Lono. Perhaps you could break that streak and learn to befriend the sweet moth girl?

Not wanting to focus too much on this topic, you'd ask about the emergency protocol. You imagined that there were dangerous subjects which could escape, or scientists causing some issues with their wild experiments. The guardsmen and Francis all laughed softly when the scientists point was brought up, with one of them casually saying: "I wouldn't worry about that latter part. Most of the explosions which are caused by scientists happen in other sectors. You know, the R&D sectors or the training sectors." One other guardsmen stepped in, doing so with an amused tone. "Though, you do have to watch out for escaped subjects, yes. If it happens, it tends to be announced over the intercom and comms devices. Their codename, appearance, general location as well as some recommendations are given. Just follow those, try and shoot them if they are dangerous and try to keep calm, and you'll be good." It seemed that dealing with escaped subjects sort of just happens on the fly down here. At least you'd be informed of the locations and how dangerous they are. Though this did make Sylvio bring up a pretty anxiety-inducing question. "Aaaand, how often are people injured during the job?"

The guardsmen looked at each other, unsure what to say. Though Francis was able to give some proper statistics. "Well, it depends on the subjects. Some subjects, like FE-09 or PR-1001, can be pretty nasty when it comes to the injuries they cause. Fortunately, they're in a different sector, so I wouldn't worry about them injuring. As for Lono over here? Well, she has on occasion injured folk and sent them to the hospital with her venom. But, she's not exactly malicious with it. Isn't that right, Lono?" That last question seemed to upset Lono quite a bit, as you saw her freeze up and not respond. Juniper was quick to step in, doing so with a more stern tone. "Francis, don't say that. You know she doesn't like being reminded of that." Francis didn't seem to care, even responding in a perplexed tone. "What? It's something to be proud of! It just goes to show what a fantastic combat subject she is! Isn't that right everyone?" The other guardsmen all nodded, whilst you saw Lono looking more and more dour.

Having heard enough about the dangers of this job and the protocol, you would ask about the canteen menu. You had heard some things about the food which was served here, which made some of the guardsmen quickly speak up. "Ironically, I'd suggest going for vegetarian and maybe even vegan options only. The cultured meats are disgusting." "Nah man, the beef can be real good. Just avoid anything with eggs in them." "I would also recommend vegetarian options. Not because the meats are bad or anything, but because the fruits and vegetables are surprisingly good!" "Oh yeah, don't try any of the milk either. I don't know where they get it from, but it tastes extremely off." You'd bring up the lasagna night, which made Francis scoff. "Oh yeah, Lasagna is pretty good. Mostly because they get it from off-world." "There's also a special day for off-planet foods. Maybe you can find some of your own planet's delicacies on there?"

The only person who wasn't really saying anything was Juniper, who mostly just stayed beside Lono. Though you saw Lono soon whisper something to Juniper, after which Juniper would turn around and head to the entrance of the containment chamber. "Hey, where are you two going?" One of the guardsmen asked, Juniper quickly responding: "Lono wants to go back to her chamber. I'll let her in, if that's okay with you guys."

>Try and start a chat with Lono. You would be spending a lot of time with her in the near future, so it was better to just get familiar with her now.
You hadn't really had much of a chance to talk to Lono, so you would tell her and Juniper to wait for a moment. Lono did thankfully wait for you, turning around and watching you approach. You'd quickly introduce yourselves, as well as the rest of the folk who were going to be working with her. You also calmly told her that you'd see her around, which made her nod silently. "Hope we can take good care of you in the future, Lono. I'd love to hear all about you." Sylvio would say as he got beside you. He'd even reach out for a handshake to Lono, who immediately took a step back. "Ah, sorry." Sylvio said awkwardly, Lono thankfully seeming to understand that it was a small mistake.

With that, Lono would return to her chamber, you able to see Juniper bring out a small card with which she could open up the main door. Lono didn’t hesitate to enter, first entering a smaller space before a second set of doors let her into the jungle chamber. You saw her spreading her wings, before flying upwards and disappearing into the foliage. “Well, I’m gonna go do my own research nearby, since today’s tests have been wrapped up. Tengri said I could help out with coding some subject genes for one of his future subjects, so I’ll go do that now.” Francis said proudly, as the other guardsmen didn’t seem to care too much. “Alright. Good luck with that.” One of the guardsmen would casually remark, Francis not hesitating to just abandon you and the other guardsmen.

The guardsmen hardly seemed to care though, as they would immediately go back to discussing the important matters you had brought up. “So, the place will close up in thirty minutes. Andrew, you and Janos were gonna be on night duty tonight, right?” One of the guardsmen said, to which presumably Janos and Andrew responded tiredly. “Ah shit, you’re right.” “Hey, maybe we should let some of the new four take over those duties? Get them nicely acquainted with the night duty?” You saw Lara looking real irritated by the suggestion, Kiros and Sylvio appearing more intrigued. However, one of the guardsmen would shake his head and say: “Nah man, don’t force them into the worst part of the job right away. Let them get used to the place first!” Whilst the guardsmen discussed amongst each other, you’d see Juniper looking into Lono’s chamber. Kiros, Sylvio and Lara seemed unsure what to do, just listening to what the other guardsmen were saying. You could tell that the three of them didn’t think they would be closing up shop this early.

>What do you do next?

>Ask if you can get a taste of that real guardsmen job by staying here a while longer and seeing what usually was done whilst the subject was in her chamber. Could give you an idea on what was expected of you and how ‘intense’ the job could be.
>Tell Janos and Andrew that you wouldn’t mind taking over guard duty from them. The quicker you found out what your job entailed, the better it would be for you. Besides, you had plenty of energy left to do a bit of work now.
>Ask the other guardsmen if they could lead you over to the cafeteria so you could get there early for some good food. Didn’t wanna end up stuck with the gross cultured meats, or whatever other gross things might be in store for you.
>Ask the guardsmen for some other important details. Maybe something related to Lono, the job or what the general schedule was. (Write in your questions.)
>Go over to Juniper to chat with her. Given she was close to Lono, maybe she could tell you more about her? (Write in what you’ll ask her.)
>Something else…

(Aight, hoping to get some quick responses here, so I can make another 2nd update early-ish in the night. Either way, in 6 to 7 hours, I'll write something if I got at least 2-3 votes in.)

>>6131531
>Tell Janos and Andrew that you wouldn’t mind taking over guard duty from them. The quicker you found out what your job entailed, the better it would be for you. Besides, you had plenty of energy left to do a bit of work now.
HOWBADCANITBE

>>6131350
At least he got a waifu out of it. All we got was a gang of unique and wonderful friends. Lame!

>>6131688
You my good sir, are trying to jinx us. However, I shall support you on this endeavor.

>>6131531
>Tell Janos and Andrew that you wouldn’t mind taking over guard duty from them. The quicker you found out what your job entailed, the better it would be for you. Besides, you had plenty of energy left to do a bit of work now.
How bad can it be indeed

>Tell Janos and Andrew that you wouldn’t mind taking over guard duty from them. The quicker you found out what your job entailed, the better it would be for you. Besides, you had plenty of energy left to do a bit of work now.
Seeing that the guardsmen were busy arguing about night duty, you would chip in and tell Janos and Andrew that you'd gladly take over for them. "Oh wow, look at the new guy taking initiative!" One of the guardsmen said in a genuinely appreciative and impressed tone. "Ah, thanks dude. I'd be more than happy for you to take over." Andrew would say, after which Janos looked at the rest of the guards. "Anyone wanna take over for me?" Seeing the opportunity arise, Sylvio was quick to capitalize on it. "I'd not mind it. Might as well get some first-hand experience right away." You saw that Kiros was also eager to join in, whilst Lara was a bit more reluctant. "Is it limited to just two soldiers? Or could me and Lara also join in?" Kiros said, after which Lara scoffed. "I'd rather not join in today. I am absolutely knackered and need some rest."

Fortunately for Lara, Andrew would quickly confirm what she wanted to hear. "Well, good thing is that you just need two people here. Though, I do think having one of us around to help out would be useful. You know, help you figure out what to do and what to expect of the job." Suddenly, Juniper would bud into the conversation to offer herself up. "I'd not mind doing it. Can maybe help them get acquainted with Lono as well, whilst we're at it." It didn't seem to surprise the other guardsmen. They did seem rather pleased though, nodding approvingly as it looked like everything was settled. "Well, that's good to hear! So, you three can be on night duty today. Guess tomorrow, we can have someone else assist the two of you, huh?" The guardsman would say to Kiros and Lara, as they would seemingly accept the offer.

For the time being, the guardsmen would mostly just chat with each other, introducing each other to you and the others. You'd quickly find out all the names of the people there. You already knew Andrew, Janos and Juniper, but there were also Carl and Salvador. They seemed to all be quite used to working with subject, some mentioning having worked with a couple before this as well. Most had worked with other Anderson subjects. Carl had worked with LMP-160, some kind of electric fly or butterfly subject. Andrew had worked with IB-79, him not sounding too excited about his previous subject. Janos had worked with someone entirely different though, having worked with a thunderbird subject called 196-TB. Salvador had worked with this RM-1720-c subject, though he was reassigned after she was taken somewhere secretive by her creator Roraima. Asking Salvador for further details didn't really explain what had happened. As for Juniper, she hadn't worked with anyone else before this, having spent all her time looking after Lono.

"So yeah, what about you guys? What were you doing before this? I presume security or military work?" Andrew would ask, after which Kiros spoke up confidently. "I was a bodyguard for quite some time. I protected important politicians and made sure nobody got a chance to hurt them." It seemed pretty surprising, with Janos curiously asking: "Huh, what made you switch jobs to this place? I imagine that being a bodyguard is pretty profitable, even compared to this job." Kiros crossed his arms and spoke a bit more disgustedly. "Lets just say that I saw a lot of shit. Corruption, bribes and people screwing over normal folk like you and me. It made me sick to my core. But given how much I knew, I feared switching jobs away from government institutions, so I decided to do this instead. I suspected that it'd be a lot less sketchy and nasty than my previous job, and I feel like my suspicions are pretty correct so far, haha."

Afterwards, all eyes went over to you, as you explained that you had worked at the headquarters for an important weapons manufacturer. You had done all sorts of weapon tests and had also served as a member of security there, both of which impressed the others. Afterwards, the attention went to Sylvio. "Oh, I was part of the police corps on the capital system. I was given this job opportunity after some government official suggested it to me. I mostly took the job because of the increased pay rate, but also because I hope it can help me get even more future job opportunities, you know? If I can work well at a super secret government facility, they'll hire me anywhere in the future! Hell, maybe I'll learn some things down here which will help with other job opportunities." The guardsmen seemed to somewhat understand where Sylvio came from. Though whether there'd be government organisations more lucrative and secretive than this one existed, was something you'd really have to think about. Lastly, there was Lara, who would quickly and straight up say: "I used to work for the armed forces for some time. I was lucky enough to be picked for this job when the offer was given, since I was pretty much done being a soldier for the government."

It seemed all of you had come from actual positions under the government. Apparently, illegal death squads and non-government individuals weren't allowed down here. Not surprising, but at least meant you could safely talk about the varying anti-government forces as you saw fit. Not that you'd be inclined to do that just yet, but at least it was one thing to discuss whilst you stood guard. Regardless, the next half an hour of chatting would mostly just be about your previous jobs, family life and other small details to get to know each other. It wasn't anything too exciting, but at least it helped pass the time. Though at one point, Kiros would ask: "Say, do you guys chat like this with Lono as well? Or do you not really hit her up for a chat too often?"

It was already established by Juniper that Lono wasn't the type to really enjoy people approaching her for a chat. And sure enough, Salvador would essentially repeat that point. "Naaah, we only approach her if she makes herself visible and clearly wants to chat with us. Right now, she's just in her little hiding spot to do whatever it is she does." It was a little sad that the first subject you'd work with wasn't the talkative type. But you had all the time in the world to learn to befriend her! Especially considering you'd spend the night looking after her.

Eventually though, you'd hear the intercom go over, hearing the voice of the green lizard gal you had seen during some of the introduction courses. "To all staff members. It is currently 6 o' clock. Please wrap up all testing and return the subjects to their chambers. Testing chambers will close within half an hour." With that, Salvador, Janos, Andrew and Carl would start heading out. "You guys coming? It's time for dinner!" This made Lara speak up in confusion. "Wait, don't we need someone to stay with Lono to watch over her? What if something goes wrong?" Kiros also brought up something quite important. "Will Lono also get fed? Do we need to help with her feeding?" To this, Carl shook his head. "Naaah, she'll get food from other staff members who will be here in a bit. Most guardsmen just head out now to get to the cafeteria early. Subjects usually don't cause much trouble around dinner time." Perhaps food was a strong incentive for the subjects to not misbehave. Then again, it did seem a little sad that Lono would be left alone like this. Juniper actually stayed back a tiny bit, looking over at Lono's chamber.

"I mean, if you guys wanna forfeit dinner, you're allowed to. Just know that you'll miss out on... Andrew, what day was today again?" Salvador said smugly, to which Andrew said: "Think today there'll be tacos. Or was it pizza?" Afterwards, Carl confidently said. "After dinner, you guys can return for the night shift, if you really wanna spend more time with Lono or something. For now, just come along! You won't miss much here anyway!"

>What will you do next?

>Stay here a bit longer, just to see how dinner service would go for Lono, or to maybe even try and converse with her a bit. Afterwards, you could get some food with the other guardsmen.
>Ask Sylvio if he could try to take some food with him for when he returned for night duty. That way, you could get something to eat whilst staying here.
>Join the guardsmen for a chat over dinner. You could get to learn them a bit better and maybe figure out more about this place as well. (Write in what you'll chat about with the guardsmen.)
>Just join the guardsmen for a quick dinner. You could just quickly eat whatever the cafeteria served, then return here right away to do your job.
>Something else...

>>6131817
Tough choice. I'm fine with going for a quick dinner to maybe eavesdrop and learn more about other subjects or just ask for some food to be brought over when they return. I'll support either or if anyone else votes on it.

>>6131817
>Stay here a bit longer, just to see how dinner service would go for Lono, or to maybe even try and converse with her a bit. Afterwards, you could get some food with the other guardsmen.
We could also ask the staff who handle feeding subjects what the most bizarre thing they've ever served was.

>>6131817
Disregard that vote >>6131963 I meant to vote for
>Ask Sylvio if he could try to take some food with him for when he returned for night duty. That way, you could get something to eat whilst staying here.
It seems a little rude to stick around just to watch her eat like some circus animal before moving on.

>>6131817
>Ask Sylvio if he could try to take some food with him for when he returned for night duty. That way, you could get something to eat whilst staying here.
can you guys get a takeaway for us kthnx

Oh God. Does the pizza have that rank local "cheese" on it? Because I ain't seen no cows round here. Except one. And I don't really wanna drink her "milk".....

>>6131817
>Join them for a quick dinner
What could go wrong

>>6131817
>>Ask Sylvio if he could try to take some food with him for when he returned for night duty. That way, you could get something to eat whilst staying here

>Ask Sylvio if he could try to take some food with him for when he returned for night duty. That way, you could get something to eat whilst staying here.
You wanted to stay with Lono a little while longer, but also didn't want to miss dinner. So, you'd turn to Sylvio and ask him if he could take some food along once he returned. He thankfully didn't seem to mind it, as he gave a quick nod. "Take it you wanna stay here just a bit longer? Well, I'll try and see what I can do. Just don't complain if I come back without food, because there was none left or I wasn't allowed to take it along." He said in a rather straight voice, wanting a little disclaimer in case he did not manage to get food for you. Fortunately, Andrew would quickly confirm that it was in fact possible to get takeout. "Just say it's for someone working overtime. Usually, the people working at the cafeteria will understand, and give you some takeout." It was nice to hear that the facility wasn't extremely strict with its food policies. Though after you were told about this, Juniper would step forward and quickly ask: "Can you also get me some? I'll stay here with Zeke, if that's alright." The others quickly nodded, accepting the offer before they started heading forward. "I'll see you two in a bit!" Sylvio said happily, whilst the others would all wish you good luck with the night duty.

Thus, this left you with Juniper, who quickly turned to you and spoke up calmly. "I hope you don't mind me staying with you here a bit longer. I just want to make sure Lono is okay with you staying here and that everything goes well." You told her that you weren't just going to watch her eat like a circus animal, and that you were more interested in having a chat with some of the folk who brought food. "Guess you wanna get familiar with the other personnel you'll be working with, huh? Or do you wanna hear some of their horror stories about this place?" She said a little teasingly, her not being entirely wrong.

Still, Juniper would walk back a bit to the containment chamber, speaking up softly. "Lono, we won't head out for dinner and will be staying here for a while, just so you know." She'd comment, before looking over at you. "Just wanna make sure she's aware of our presence. Glad that you're treating her with respect and kindness. I was worried that you and the other new folk would all just... see her as a novelty or an animal, instead of an actual person." You obviously weren't going to treat the subjects like that anytime soon. Still, hearing that subjects were being treated such a way was rather saddening. It begged the question if other subjects were treated similarly by the guardsmen who watched over them. Hopefully, such negative treatment wasn't commonplace with other subjects. Regardless, you'd sit back and wait for a while, Lono remaining hidden as Juniper just got her comms device. "It'll take a few minutes for food to arrive. Hope you don't mind the wait."

It thankfully didn't take too long, you just watching until a large transport vehicle would come over. They large vehicle levitated as it came closer, before stopping right in front of the chamber entrance. From it stepped three facility members, one with a tablet and the other heading to the side of the vehicle. "Ah, guardsmen. Is something going on?" The one with the tablet would say right away, Juniper shaking her head and saying: "Nope. We just decided to stay here because of having to guard her through the night." The staff nodded understandingly, before one of them near the back of the vehicle spoke up. "You guys have kept in mind that you also need to get food now, right? Just asking, since we do have some food available if you guys are hungry." You and Juniper nodded and told them that you would essentially get takeout. With that out of the way, the staff would get to work with the food. "Okay, so this is subject AM-24, right?" The guy with the tablet said, Juniper nodding quickly.

After doing some stuff on the tablet, the staff member would look over to the two near the vehicle. "Alright, so she needs organics." The two at the transport vehicle nodded, opening up a section of it and getting a food tray. They'd start filling the tray with various foods. It didn't look half bad, containing vegetables, meats, a metal bottle containing water, as well as some bread. Once the food tray had been filled up, one of the men would head over to the main door, tapping on a small touchpad to the side of it. And after a short moment, the door would open up again. The staff member entered the chamber at the entrance and placed the food down, speaking up as he did so. "Dinner is here, AM-24." After putting the food down, the staff member would retreat and close the main door, opening up the second as to let Lono get to her food. Though in the meantime, you would decide to ask some questions to the staff members, asking them what sort of stuff they usually served subjects. "Huh, why do you wanna know?" One of them asked casually.

You mentioned how you had heard that some subjects fed on unique things which weren't exactly easy to provide. Not to mention, the fact subjects were based on existing animals, which may eat 'unique' items. So, you wanted to know what sort of niche food items there were. The staff looked at each other, before one signalled you to come over to the transport vehicle. "Here, you can take a look." As you approached the transport vehicle, you saw that it had quite a large number of trays containing food. It was basically a transportable all-you-could-eat buffet. Most of it looked like regular food. Though, there were also some... unique items in there. For one, you'd see that one section was excluded from the others, it containing carcasses of animals and raw flesh. "Plenty of subjects feed on raw meats and carcasses." The guy who showed it to you would say.

He then pivoted to an even stranger section, which contained a bunch of scrap metal. "There are at least a couple of subjects who eat literal metal. It's usually not too much, but we still need to deliver it on occasion." Things got even weirder, as you saw them showcase a tray containing literal tree bark, leaves and other items you'd more associate with compost. There was one tray containing literal batteries and other electrical equipment. More insane was the large container of blood. The amount of blood meant that there were at least a dozen of subjects who'd feed on that. More amusing was the large container which clearly contained some kind of alcohol. "There's an oni subject who requires a lot of beer."

One particularly nasty container had a bunch of water with decaying organic material. "There's two subjects who feed on this. Don't open it up, because it bloody reeks." There were also a few containers which had aquatic plants in them, which seemed oddly specific but at least wasn't gross. There was another tray which had a bunch of rocks in them, which seemed somewhat amusing. You could already imagine some subject grabbing the fine looking stones and just chewing on it as if it were candies. "Aside from these things, there are a few things we can't really provide to subjects. There's a lot of subjects which require... uhhh, pleasure to grow. They're mostly Elbrus subjects, which means we thankfully don't need to interact with those sick fucks. Aside from that, plenty of subjects require light, heat and a few even only feed on the cold itself. How subjects can survive on those things and how those things are provided, I don't know. But hey, it means less work for us." He'd let out a smug chuckle afterwards, before the one with the tablet stepped forward as well. "Don't forget that one subject who feeds on literal chemical waste. Am I glad they didn't ask us to bring those things to the subjects."

This was all very interesting to learn about, though also implied quite a few things which you could ask about. Might as well ask, now that they were here and willing to share info with you.

>What do you do next?

>Ask them about the feeding process, the subjects they've brought food to, or other things related to their job. These guys probably knew a ton of subjects, so they could most definitely tell you about all sorts of encounters. (Write in what you'll ask.)
>Ask Juniper some questions. Maybe she could tell you a bit about feeding, or some other things which were on your mind. (Write in your questions.)
>Thank them for showing how things worked, and let them continue their job. You didn't want to leave other subjects waiting for food after all.
>Something else...

>>6132179
>>Thank them for showing how things worked, and let them continue their job. You didn't want to leave other subjects waiting for food after all.

>>6132257
Support. We aren't exactly here to talk about feeding methods. Lono is more interesting anyway.

>>6132179
>There are at least a couple of subjects who eat literal metal. It's usually not too much, but we still need to deliver it on occasion." Things got even weirder, as you saw them showcase a tray containing literal tree bark, leaves and other items you'd more associate with compost. There was one tray containing literal batteries and other electrical equipment. More insane was the large container of blood
Was it a literal container of blood?

>Ask them about the feeding process, the subjects they've brought food to, or other things related to their job. These guys probably knew a ton of subjects, so they could most definitely tell you about all sorts of encounters. (Write in what you'll ask.)
Ask why they’re badmouthing a visionary like Elbrus, who’s revolutionizing the biotech industry

>>6132280
Thats him officer, this man right here. Send him to Elbrus' office and have him on permanent Vinella duty.

>>6132280
>Was it a literal container of blood?
Nah, it was more like... a trough worth of blood. Not a giant container, but enough to feed plenty of subjects.

>>6132318
Welp, guess that anon is gonna get a taste of the freshest milk in the facility, whether he likes it or not.

>>6132179
>Thank them for showing how things worked, and let them continue their job. You didn't want to leave other subjects waiting for food after all.

>Ask them about the feeding process, the subjects they've brought food to, or other things related to their job. These guys probably knew a ton of subjects, so they could most definitely tell you about all sorts of encounters.
After hearing about the various feeding methods the subjects employed, you grew curious about the Elbrus subjects they mentioned. How they grew from pleasure was still a mystery, but you were more interested in finding out why they were badmouthing him. Surely, someone creating life in such a revolutionary industry would be treated with more respect? You'd bring it up, which made the one with the tablet raise an eyebrow before speaking sternly. "I guess you have yet to meet Elbrus or any of his subjects, huh? Well, consider yourself lucky. The guy is a bastard who I wouldn't wanna spend even a single minute with in my life." Obviously, you wanted to know more about Elbrus and what he and his subjects were like. What sort of screwed up things had he done to cause so much derision to be levelled towards him? "Well, he basically views subjects as tools to help him indulge in his fetishes. Now, finding subjects cute or attractive is one thing, but the bastard basically codes all his subjects to be just as perverse and depraved as he is."

Already, this sounded quite bad. But it got even worse as the staff member who had dropped off the food would give another account. "It isn't helped by the fact that several of Elbrus' subjects have abilities to fit his kinks. Most are just... powerful and domineering to a rather disturbing degree. However, there are also several some subjects of his which can release pheromones, aphrodisiacs and other chemicals to fuck with your brain. He made this scorpion girl with Anderson, who has escaped on several occasions. And each time, she envenomated several innocent folk and raped them." The conversation quickly went from 1 to 11, as you could tell that the staff were genuinely pissed off.

"I can't name a single subject of his that isn't screwed up in some way. And worse, for some reason he hasn't been reprimanded by any staff. The bastard is just allowed to get away with it and indulge in his filth!" The staff member continued, after which the one with the tablet sighed. "The good thing is that most of his more depraved subjects don't need ordinary food to survive. They need pleasure, and that job is thankfully left to the insane folks who are willing to accept the chance of having their brains turned to mush." Well, you could be thankful that you weren't assigned to any of Elbrus' subjects. Though given how he still was a person here, perhaps there was more going on with him? Maybe not all of his subjects were horrific degenerates who needed to be executed? That, or he had a lot of dirt on this place and wasn't gonna go down without revealing it to the world. Either way, you at least knew who to avoid for the time being.

>Thank them for showing how things worked, and let them continue their job. You didn't want to leave other subjects waiting for food after all.
You'd thank the three of them for showcasing how things worked here, and that you also appreciated their little chat. "No worries. Always nice when folk show interest in what we do. It's not an intense or respected job down here, but someone has to do it." One of them said, another afterwards adding: "The three of us or another group of staff will be back in an hour from now to come pick up the tray and such." Juniper and you nodded, after which the transport vehicle would start levitating again, before disappearing down the hallway. "Well, suppose that just leaves us with Lono, huh?" Juniper said happily, looking at the chamber. The food had thankfully been picked up already, Lono having gotten the tray and sitting on a large tree branch. She'd eat cleanly, not focusing on you or Juniper at all.

Juniper would however approach the glass and wave at her. "Enjoying your dinner, Lono?" Juniper said happily, Lono nodding before responding a bit quietly. "It's okay, I guess." She was still not the talkative type, though that would hopefully change once she had had something to eat. "She usually becomes a whole lot more talkative after she finished eating." Juniper said calmly, you nodding before looking away a bit. You didn’t want to keep looking at Lono as she ate, still not wanting to look at her as if she was some sort of zoo exhibit. Not that there was much if anything to see anyway. She just ate the food with some small cutlery she was given along with the tray. And after a bit more time, she'd be finished and flew down to put the food tray back in the small chamber leading into the room. Afterwards, she'd look over at you and Juniper, before looking away awkwardly after seeing you. "Um, Zeke, right?" She'd ask carefully, you simply confirming that it was indeed you.

After some more silence from her, she'd give a nod before flying up again and disappearing in the tree foliage. "Lono?" Juniper asked in confusion, before looking over at you. "Eh, she's... she's a little shy. Just let me handle this." She'd look up at where Lono flew off to. "Lono, Zeke her would love to learn more about you! Maybe you can teach him all about your amazing combat skills?" You could tell that there was a bit more going on than Lono just being 'a little shy'. Whatever was wrong with her, it was going to take a bit more effort to get her down from her perch to talk with you.

>What do you do next?

>Let Juniper sort this out. You didn't know Lono yet, and you didn't wanna put pressure on her. And if that didn't work, there would always be tomorrow.
>Try and tell Lono what you wanna chat about to maybe get her down from her hiding spot. Maybe she'd be a bit more motivated if you asked the right questions? (Write in your questions)
>Ask Juniper if you could enter the chamber. It might be a bit intrusive and risky, but it could also be seen as a gesture of respect, as you'd no longer be talking to her from an entirely different space. Obviously, you’d also have to ask Lono, but maybe she’d prefer it that way?
>Just leave Lono be for now and wait for Sylvio to return with dinner. Maybe you could get some more tea, or chat with Juniper about other matters. (Write in what you’ll discuss with Juniper)
>Something else...

>>6132443
>Try and tell Lono what you wanna chat about to maybe get her down from her hiding spot. Maybe she'd be a bit more motivated if you asked the right questions? (Write in your questions)
Forget questions. Tell her you're a big fan of professional wrestling, and you could teach her a few moves to improve her combat capabilities.

>>6132443
>Just leave Lono be for now and wait for Sylvio to return with dinner. Maybe you could get some more tea, or chat with Juniper about other matters. (Write in what you’ll discuss with Juniper)
I don't really have a good handle on Lono right now to have any ideas about what would catch her interest. If she wants to talk, she'll come to us in her own time. This is, after all, our first and maybe last, if it's the Dawn of The Final Day for the Facility day.
What's up with Lono? Is the usually like this? How'd you break the ice with her anyway?
So, less about who is Elbrus and more about why is Elbrus? What possible use could making crazed murderous rapists be to GalGov to even tolerate it, much less fund it? Just how much dirt do you think he has on his bosses?
How are subjects treated in general? I can't imagine the hostile ones have many friends, but by the sounds of it even the nice ones aren't given much affection. Lono seems all right and I hope she lets us reverse that trend a little bit.
So, how long you been down here? Place seems like it's on the up and up pretty fast and hasn't been operating for a really long time, though they didn't tell us the specifics.
What are the entertainment options like round here? Any good places to go hang out, shoot the shit or get plastered when we get off duty?

>>6132468
Our new boy Zeke needs some character. I propose he's a huge fan of lucha and competed in some minor league lightweight matches when he was younger under the name El Mosco and he still has the mask somewhere. The notion that he can spin 360 degrees and turn into a bombastic masked wrestler really tickles me something.

>>6132468
This sounds like a disaster begging to happen. Support.

>>6132468
Considering her venomous arm fluff, that seems unwise.

>>6132506
Supporting. I blame Tengri for apparently being a spineless coward and refusing to reprimand the greasy little freak.

>Try and tell Lono what you wanna chat about to maybe get her down from her hiding spot. Maybe she'd be a bit more motivated if you asked the right questions?
After Lono disappeared and Juniper tried to get her to talk, you decided to use one of your own interests. The ancient Earthen art of Lucha Libre from the American continent. You were quite fond of wrestling, having fought in plenty of competitions when you were young. Juniper seemed surprised and a little put off by what you said, giving you a soft bump in the shoulder as she mumbled to you. "I'm not entirely sure that talking about combat moves is something she really wants right now. Besides, isn't professional wrestling like that... some old form of theatre?" Whether it was theatre or not didn't matter. It meant you had fought plenty of folk in hand to hand combat. And you were more than eager to teach her some moves to improve her combat abilities. Unfortunately, this really did not seem to land with Lono, as she remained hidden within the foliage. Afterwards, Juniper would put a hand on your shoulder and spoke a bit more sternly. "Listen, Zeke, I appreciate your efforts to talk with her. But she really doesn't like the idea of hurting folk like you, especially given..." She'd look around before whispering softly. "She has had some bad experiences with her venom and hand to hand combat." As much as you adored the art of Lucha Libre, it seemed that you weren't gonna be able to use it to impress or intrigue Lono. At least, not yet anyway.

>Just leave Lono be for now and wait for Sylvio to return with dinner. Maybe you could get some more tea, or chat with Juniper about other matters.
Having failed to talk to her, you decided that leaving Lono be was probably the better option. You would apologise and tell Lono that if she wanted to talk, she could always come downstairs to talk to you. Juniper seemed to approve a lot more of that comment, giving a gentle smile before nodding approvingly.

With that in mind, you decided to ask some important questions. First, you'd softly ask if Lono was always like this, also asking for some proper ice breakers you could use. "It's a long story. But, I'll try and explain. Lono was made by both Roraima and Anderson. Now, whilst Anderson is very caring and gentle towards his creations, Roraima is extremely stringent with his and goes for more of a tough love approach. He can be terribly ruthless towards his creations if they don't perform well enough. And unfortunately for Lono, she did not really manage the pressure and stress he put her under. It wasn't helped by the fact that Roraima essentially disowned her after she didn't do well enough during an important combat test. Thankfully, Anderson has helped out a ton since then, and helped her feel a lot more comfortable. However, you can still see that she isn't fond of people because... well, she worries she'll be seen as a failure or that they'll punish her for making mistakes."

Juniper's explanation explained a lot about Lono, though also showcased that there were other fucked up scientists besides Elbrus. Still, at least you now knew how you could help Lono feel more at ease. You just had to avoid bringing up her insecurities or whatever it was which made her doubt herself. It seemed simple enough. Still, you did want to know how else you could break the ice with her. Combat was not an option, nor was asking her about her performance down here. So, what could you bring up to get her to cheer up? "Well, there's a couple of things. She loves learning about the outside world, especially insects. Maybe discuss the type of wildlife from your home-planet with her? That will certainly catch her interest! Aside from that, maybe you can discuss your planet's culture with her? So long as it isn't related to combat, since... yeah, not her thing." It was ironic that a subject dedicated to combat was this reluctant to speak about it. Then again, maybe that was the reason Roraima abandoned her?

With that out of the way, you wanted to know what subjects were treated like in general. This made Juniper cross her arms and let out a deep breath through her nose. "Well, I'm not the best person to ask that to, because I've only ever cared for Lono. But, from what I've seen in passing, it can vary a lot. Some scientists are well aware that subjects are pretty much people like us, whilst others view them as animals who can help humanity out. It's pretty bleak and... I hope things will improve as more folk like you start working here." You mentioned that you wanted to reverse the apparent trend of subjects being treated poorly, which made Juniper smile brightly and pat you on the back. "That's what I'd love to hear! Hopefully, the other new folk can do the same and make this place a whole lot nicer for everyone!" You still were curious about the aggressive ones, wanting to know how some of them were treated.

"Well, from what I've seen, it depends on why they're aggressive. Some are quite literally created with the sole purpose of being aggressive. They are usually less intelligent and are treated particularly poorly, being viewed as animals and getting abused in a variety of ways. The ones who are more intelligent can be treated a whole lot better, but I have heard there is a lot of mocking behind their back with them. I've heard that one slime gal who kept escaping was particularly hated by her caretakers, which just sounds sad to me." Things really seemed bleak here, you wanting to know how long Juniper had even been here to experience all of this. "Well, I've been here for about a year and a half. The place was pretty small at first, but has heavily expanded for the last two years as more and more scientists are invited over, and more subjects are made. Though I must admit, I fear that this rapid growth and lack of security is going to cause troubles sooner rather than later."

On the topic of problems, you wanted to know a bit more about Elbrus. From what you had heard from the various staff, he seemed to be the biggest cause of trouble of them all. You wanted to know why he was like this, and how on earth someone like him was allowed to work in this place. You even suggested the guy had to have a lot of dirt on the government to let him work here. This last remark made Juniper scoff and let out a soft chuckle. "You know, you might be right with that last part. I've not heard a single good thing from Elbrus, aside from some of the creepier guardsmen who are into the same sick shit he's into. My personal theory is that he was here early enough and has made enough 'tolerable' subjects that terminating him now would just be counterproductive. He had his hand in the creation of at least a dozen subjects now, so he clearly has a talent."

It still sounded extremely risky to have a crazy degenerate filling such an important position in this place. Though after bringing that up, Juniper sighed. "It'd be a lot easier to replace him if it weren't for how secretive this entire place is. Not to mention, how few people can effectively create subjects and are allowed to even do such a thing." She'd look around before speaking a bit more softly. "Then again, it could also just be your usual government incompetence, nepotism or corruption." It was reassuring to know that even in the most remote, well guarded and secretive government locations, government incompetence was still a regular occurrence. Regardless, you'd ask about entertainment options, wanting to know if there was anything to do when you get off duty. You'd even ask about alcohol, which made her shake her head. "The only person here who's allowed to drink alcohol, are the subjects who feed on it. Aside from that, alcohol is not something you'll be able to get here, I'm afraid."

Whilst it was understandable that alcohol was prohibited in such a risky workplace, it was still extremely disappointing. At least the other things which Juniper would say were a lot less disappointing. "As for entertainment, well, there's a whole section in the west dedicated to entertainment and leisure. It's designed for humans and subjects to enjoy, and you can certainly go there if you ever get a day off. I've only been there a couple of times, since it's not something you can just go to every day, but it's still a lot of fun there! It has shooting ranges, large cinemas, arcades, pools, exercise space and a whole bunch more." Maybe you could request the higher-ups to also add a bar there. A ban on alcohol near the containment sectors was understandable, but surely they could add a small place for beer in a place designed to help you unwind? Still, it was interesting to hear that subjects also used it, making you wonder what sort of crazy stuff happened down there. Maybe you and Lono could go to the gym there to do some lifting?

After she finished talking, Juniper would let out a soft sigh. "For the time being though, I would try and forget about leisure and breaks and remember that you'll be doing a whole lot of work here. And unfortunately, it will often times be just standing here, patrolling or doing other mindless stuff. Hell, I'd say more people quit the job as a result of boredom than they do of subject-induced injury." This did beg the question how many people quit this job, and if such a thing was even possible. Your contract stated that this would be a highly secretive job and that you could only really quit if there was a serious reason for it. Boredom would likely not be part of said reasons.

Then again, how quickly would you get bored down here, given all the chaos which was surely going to unfold?

>What will you do next?

>Just quietly watch Juniper's chamber and wait for Sylvio to return. You would have plenty of time to ask Juniper questions later anyway.
>Continue your chat with Juniper about the facility. Everything she had told you only made you wanna ask more questions about this place, after all. Besides, she hadn't told you about this combat 'incident' Lono experienced. (Write in your question.)
>Try and break the ice with Lono based on what Juniper suggested. It'd probably not work all too well, but there was no harm in trying, right? (Write in what you'll try and tell her.)
>Something else...

(Just wanna take a moment to ask if this little side-story has been enjoyable so far. I'll have a bit of a timeskip to later in a few updates, so that you guys can have a bit more conflict. Then again, if you guys are enjoying the little chat between Zeke and Juniper, and learning about the facility before the disaster, do let me know as well.)

>>6132819
>Try and break the ice with Lono based on what Juniper suggested. It'd probably not work all too well, but there was no harm in trying, right? (Write in what you'll try and tell her.)
Loudly tell Juniper that any subjects unable to hold a conversation are failures, and as soon as you have the authority you’ll start punishing subjects who don’t talk

>Continue your chat with Juniper about the facility. Everything she had told you only made you wanna ask more questions about this place, after all. Besides, she hadn't told you about this combat 'incident' Lono experienced.
Obviously, we should ask about the incident, along with what other subjects Juniper knows about, if much given they only really have been with Attacus. Also ask about the other scientists if they know much about them.

>>6132878
Since someone's already been sentenced to Vinella duty, I guess Hapi duty will have to do as punishment. Specifically for feeding her.

>>6132914
Since someone's already been sentenced to Vinella duty, I guess Hapi duty will have to do as punishment. Specifically for feeding her.
That someone is me
Dynamic IP
No worries, I can handle both
A quick surgical correction and I’ll have my eight foot tall U cup cowgirl waifu

I'm gonna go sleep now, since I need to get up relatively early tomorrow. I also wanna make sure that more people give their input, considering the interesting proposition made by the first anon. Either way, that means it'll just be this update for today.

Will try and get 2 updates out again tomorrow, but can't promise anything unfortunately.

File: why.png (56 KB, 500x500)

56 KB PNG

>>6132819
It's a nice change of pace from the main story and helps frame a few things

>>6132914
This plus also if we might be able to get some interaction with other friendly subjects (it sounds like they need frens and could even help with coaxing Lono out), if there's anywhere to hide a hooch still around here, if we can get clearance to get outside if we get a free day (I bet the surf's up) and also just talk about everything and nothing - swap some stories of our homeworlds and younger years, discuss the new Final Fantasy LVIII, air conspiracies about the recent death of the UHGP President, recent travels and previous careers and so on.

>>6132878
I cannot countenance this abominable bullying of the cute moth

Hm, I wonder if we could lure the möth down with a låmp?

>>6132914
I'll support this.

>>6132878
Trying to use a person's insecurities and fears to manipulate them into doing what you want isn't very nice, anon. And probably wouldn't work.

>>6133136
>isn't very nice
You misspelled based and hilarious

>>6133312
I hope you're being sarcastic since it's unironically a jackass thing to do, could seriously damage our first impressions and is out of line with the sentiment thus far. It's not even very funny.

>>6133536
> it's unironically a jackass thing to do,
True
> could seriously damage our first impressions
Could also cement us as a natural subject handler
> out of line with the sentiment thus far
Yeah the half dozen updates have really completely locked in our one off side story character
> It's not even very funny.
False

>Continue your chat with Juniper about the facility. Everything she had told you only made you wanna ask more questions about this place, after all. Besides, she hadn't told you about this combat 'incident' Lono experienced.
You still had plenty of questions for Juniper about the facility. Lono could hopefully come down on her own whilst you discussed these things. Though what you'd ask about next would probably not be the most fun thing to have Lono listen to, as you asked Juniper what this incident was she had mentioned. Juniper did say Lono had bad experiences with her own powers. Juniper let out a soft sigh, before speaking with a hushed voice. "Okay, don't bring this up with Lono, because she hates having made this mistake. Understood? Basically, one of the previous guardsmen who looked after her whilst Roraima still ran tests with her... wanted to give her a hug to support her after she messed up a bunch of tests and got yelled at. He was somewhat new and forgot that it was against procedure and... well, he got stung by A LOT of her needles. It was so bad, the guy practically ended up in a coma because of it."

Well, that was definitely a reasonable explanation as to why she was so reluctant to be with new folk like you. And since this was during the time she was still under Roraima's care, you could only imagine what sort of repercussions there were for this thing she wasn't even responsible about. At least you now knew that hugging her was not the smartest idea. You'd even ask if you could use some special gear to hug her, to which Juniper shook her head. "Maybe you can find some sting proof clothes. But even then, it will dislodge a ton of those hairs and make them fly in the wind, causing harm to others who may touch them in passing." How she didn't accidentally dislodge her needles whilst scraping against plants was definitely a mystery. Then again, maybe they only really got loose when a bunch of pressure was put on them?

Whatever the case was, you'd try and shift away as to not accidentally be heard by poor Lono. Thus, you'd ask about what other subjects Juniper knew about. She had spent a lot of time here, so surely she knew a few. "I know a couple of Anderson's subjects, as well as some from Roraima, since those were the ones I got most chances to interact with. I've met LMP-160, with whom Lono can have a lot of fun with. Lono also enjoyed spending time with MM-3. Probably because MM-3's skin is metallic and hard to really be irritated by the hairs. I've also heard a bit about BC-887 and EM-33 from random chats, but I don't know too much about them. From Roraima's side, I am somewhat acquainted with TS-55-76. She's a lot of fun to be around, knowing a shocking amount about guns and other weapons. She also loves training with guardsmen like us, so we could maybe at some point train a bit with her! Aside from those, I've heard of and seen plenty of subjects in passing."

It was more than you'd expect from someone who had literally spent the past while with just Lono. Still, she did bring up Roraima, about who you wanted to know more. "Alright, just don't tell anyone I told you this, okay? I personally really do not like Roraima! He's arrogant, rude, sadistic, cruel and... a whole lot of other things and none of them are positive! He believes that being ruthless and cruel is necessary for subjects for some godforsaken reason. It's like subjects are a tool to him who can only do wrong whilst he can only do right. He looooves talking about his success stories and how he makes the greatest subjects, yet side-lines such sweet and gentle subjects like Lono for no valid reason except 'oh, they're not worth it'. I really hope that one day, he ends up getting his due from the very subjects he created. Now that would be some delicious irony." Juniper clearly sounded extremely agitated and upset. Hopefully, this wasn't a commonality amongst the facility staff.

Of course, you wanted to know about the other scientists, her speaking calmly. "Well, aside from Roraima, I know Anderson pretty good. He's a normal guy, but a little bit neglectful at times. I've heard on several occasions now that he just... abandons some of his subjects for whatever reason. I think it's because he has a bias towards his favourite, who I am eager to meet to see what makes them get all that attention. Aside from those two, I've met Cerro on a few occasions. He is rather friendly and nice to be around. Maybe a bit too fascinated by lizards, but at least he speaks passionately of all his subjects. I've also seen Tengri on a few occasions and he seems like a decent guy as well. Maybe a bit confusing as to why he hasn't fired folk like Roraima, but he must have a good reason to keep them around. At least I hope. Aaaand, that's all of them I've met. I have heard some things about Jabal, Catherine, Elbrus and some of the others, but I can't say a whole lot about them I'm afraid."

Considering her familiarity with some other scientists as well as subjects, you wanted to know if it was possible to interact with other friendly subjects. "It is allowed sometimes, but it's sadly not too common. Sometimes, you may get lucky and find some scientist or caretaker requiring your help. But, the only real way you can really interact with other subjects is if you pass by their chamber, or Lono is invited to meet another subject... which sadly doesn't happen all that often." It seemed that the only way you'd interact with other subjects, was the same way you tried to interact with Claire when you first got here. Perhaps you could try and do something in the future for Lono's sake, but it seemed like things were going to be rather tough regarding socialization. "Of course, maybe on your days off, you can walk through the facility and maybe meet some new faces. That's what I've done a couple of times myself." Juniper would softly add onto that.

It seemed like a decent suggestion, but you weren't going to spend what few days off you had just looking at subjects. You wanted to relax on your days off, even mentioning that you wanted to get outside on said days. And after asking if it was possible to get clearance, Juniper spoke a bit more optimistically. "There is a designated staff section at one of the beaches, yes. Though you may wanna ask far in advance if it's possible, since there are tests in and around the island from time to time." What sort of tests those involved was hard to really decide. Perhaps training and combat practice was done on the island as well. Regardless, you'd soon after quietly ask if it was possible to hide beer anywhere, which made Juniper wheeze a little. "Damn, are you really that desperate?" She let out a little chuckle, before sighing. "I'll leave that to you to figure out. I am not really the type to enjoy that sorta stuff, so I wouldn't have a clue."

With that, you'd decide to just talk about how the job at the weapons facility was ironically less strict about alcohol consumption. This got Juniper to talk about how her job working with military logistics was also rather strict in terms of alcohol. You'd ask her all about said job, her explaining it mostly just entailed ascribing materials to certain planets where there were conflicts. This made you wonder what her home planet was, her stating it was rather close to the edge of the government's reach. She even mentioned that planet actually was somewhat of an important FOB for government forces dealing with insurgency groups further away from the core. You'd also tell about your home planet and your own past, eager to discuss it in detail. The conversations kept going all over the place, eventually shifting towards president Fictamor. Juniper didn't have too many strong feelings towards the guy, though did admit that his predecessor's death was extremely suspicious. And after you mentioned how you felt it was a conspiracy, she let out a deep breath. "The sad thing is that I can't really confirm or deny what you think. Either way, I doubt the guy will find any success in his somewhat jingoistic diplomacy with rebelling planets."

As you kept talking about these random things, you'd soon see Sylvio return with a plastic container. He'd happily approach, speaking the moment he got close enough. "Turns out they had tacos today. And they are real good! I got you some Birria, Al Pastor and Tinga which I think you'll enjoy." Opening up the box, you were pleased to find plenty of the good stuff. "So, what did I miss?" Sylvio said, after which you'd start discussing things together. The conspiracy theories, things you'd hope to do in the facility, and your own personal lives all came up. All the while, you got to enjoy some actually decent food. Yes, the meat did taste a tad bit fake at times, but at least it was prepared well enough that you could enjoy it.

After some time, Sylvio did look at Lono's chamber and spoke up softly. "So, uhhhh, should we maybe try and involve Lono as well? Or do you two just intend to leave her be for the time being?" Juniper tilted her head from side to side, seeming rather hesitant. "I'd love to chat with her, but I also know she's probably not too into the mood to chat right now. But hey, you two will spend a lot of time with her tonight, so I'm sure you'll get plenty of opportunities to chat with her!" Sylvio did seem curious, soon looking over at you and expecting you to say something.

>What do you do next?

>Just continue your chats about whatever it was you were talking about. You could turn your brain off and just chat about whatever until it was time to start guard duties properly.
>Discuss something in particular with Sylvio and Juniper. Maybe there was something else which jumped to mind which you'd love to talk about. (Write in what you'll discuss.)
>Try and hit up Lono one more time. Perhaps you could tease her that you'd be really disappointed in her if she didn't come down to chat with you? Just... don't suggest it in a way where she could view it as a serious remark.
>Something else...

>>6133567
>Could also cement us as a natural subject handler
More than one way to skin a cat, and I'd much rather be willingly followed rather than have to drag someone like most people around here seem to do. Making enemies right from the start just ain't necessary, and it's premature to be getting out the stick before we've managed to find the carrot. It's an unhappy job, having to be around someone who resents you.
>Yeah the half dozen updates have really completely locked in our one off side story character
True, but it's heading in a particular direction that's not this.
>False
False^2.

>>6133312
>>6133567
Ten thousand years Vinella and Hapi duty.

>>6133578
So Juniper knows Ano. Nice. Also seems to know the jagwar and Ano's friend. I think this is the first time we have heard of 3-MM, she isn't on the list. Same goes for LMP-160 but she was mentioned earlier. Given Juniper seems to know about these two, maybe we can ask about them?

>Discuss more about Lono's subject friends with Juniper.
>Fill in Sylvio on what we've been talking about.

>>6133582
support, and then we can move onto the brainrot once we've finished the serious talk.

I've had an idea. If guard duty is really boring, how about we take up a hobby we can do on duty? Learning to draw could be fun, and sketching Lono and her environment could be a really great way to ease her into interaction with us. Or else we can annoy everyone else by learning to play the guitar.

Oh fuck, forgot to ask something important.

I plan on making a new MG every day this month. Just as a challenge and because I thought it'd be fun to add a few more unique subjects. So, my question is: are there any types of Monster Girls you folk would love to see in the story? I've already created a new bird subject who will make a rather sweet encounter. But I'm sure there are some exotic choices you guys may wanna see made into characters.

>>6133605
Tough question. More lamia could be good. Maybe a lamia eel girl of some kind? A shark is fine too. Annie is still best girl. For personality, a tomboy or a kamidere could be fun. Body type...Don't think we've seen any somewhat muscular girls yet. A more athletic physique on a few would be good.

>>6133605
A year in and we've still only met a fraction of the known cast in the main story (curiously, all but one of which has been friendly though that might be about to change), much less the constantly lengthening list of unknown ones you already have in your back pocket (we've had interactions with 11 subjects in total versus 45 documented in the MGE, 9 from Andrei and one unknown for a total of just 20%). In light of that, proposing even more ideas like shouting into the void somewhat since the odds of meeting any of them are slim but may as well.
We haven't seen much in the way of representatives from outside the animal kingdom. I think a radiotroph with fungal features would be really cool, as would a plantgirl able to utilise and weaponise pollen, spores and pheromones. Or maybe a ninja catgirl for the classics.

>>6133629
Don't forget Kiyo. I'm pretty sure Morgan is a brick under that armour too.

>>6133578
>Just continue your chats about whatever it was you were talking about. You could turn your brain off and just chat about whatever until it was time to start guard duties properly.

>>6133605
Scylla
Shapeshifter

>Fill in Sylvio on what we've been talking about.
After Juniper told the two of you that you'd spend a lot of time with Lono, you would tell Sylvio a bit about what he had missed. You mentioned that Lono was rather shy, and that it mostly came due to Roraima's influence and a certain accident. Juniper did elaborate on the accident, to which Sylvio did look genuinely disheartened. "Poor thing. Has she ever received a hug?" To this, Juniper nodded a bit more thankfully. "Fortunately, she has had a couple of hugs from a few subjects who weren't harmed by her hairs. Though even then, it's something which needs to be done gently for the others who are nearby. Don't want them accidentally ending up fluttering in the air and into the eyes and lips of some poor bystander." Afterwards, Sylvio also wanted to know more about Roraima, you telling him all about the scientists who Juniper knew. Sylvio did seem intrigued in Roraima, wondering what the logic was behind his cruelty and if there was more to it than just 'being strict'.

You also caught him up with the free days you could get, the possibility of heading up to the beach and the chance to work with other subjects. It all seemed to really interest Sylvio, with him even responding: "I honestly wondered if it was possible to go to those dazzling beaches, when I saw them whilst travelling to this place. They look like the type of beach you could find on a resort planet." To that Juniper would smugly add: "That, or the type of beach you'd find on a military planet for training purposes." Sylvio didn't really care much about the military aspect of the beaches, just wanting to enjoy a free day there just like you. He also was clearly interested in helping out other subjects, though he made it known that he first wanted to get familiar with the other subjects which piqued his interest.

>Discuss more about Lono's subject friends with Juniper.
Speaking of which, you wanted to know a bit more about the subjects Juniper mentioned being friends with Lono. "You mean as in, what they're like with Lono, or what they're like in general?" You'd tell her to just say whatever came to mind, beginning with LMP-160 who she mentioned being decent friends. "So, LMP-160 is called lucy Lampyre. She's this moth girl who can generate electromagnetic charges through the flapping of her wings. With these charges, she can essentially create miniature EMPs, which she has used to brick all sorts of electronics. She's contained in this specialized chamber with thick walls and light created from non-electric sources." Sylvio already looked most fascinated by Lucy, speaking up in a somewhat amazed tone. "So a living EMP. Is she nuclear in some form, or is it something else which causes it?" Juniper shrugged and seemed a little unsure what to say. "I doubt her powers come from radioactive sources. But whatever causes it, you shouldn't ask me. Just ask Anderson or Logan, since they both created her."

You still wanted to know a bit more about Lucy, what she was like and her appearance. "So, she's a bit smaller than I am, sooooo 5 and a half feet, I think? She got these glowing pink wings, red-ish skin, yellow eyes and black hair. She's dressed in strange armour, which I guess might have something to do with her powers? As for her personality, she seemed rather relaxed and friendly. Though I do recall her being rather snarky and sarcastic towards those who slighted her. Hell, at one point, she bricked the tablet of her caretaker. And not even like, at a time where it didn't matter. Lucy specifically bricked it after a long day of testing, right after her caretaker complained to her about how long it took to get tests done. So yeah, don't irritate her or show impatience around her, or she'll delete all your work with little to no effort, hehe." Given your lack of electronics aside from your comms device, Lucy would hopefully not be too much of a problem for you. Though perhaps she had some other electricity related powers to worry about.

For now, you wanted to move on to the next subject: MM-3. "Well, MM-3, who's first name is Sibilia, is this mosquito subject made by Elbrus and Anderson. She is pretty small compared to most subjects, being about half my height. However, she is EXTREMELY durable due to her skin literally being metallic. She can also rapidly regenerate from drinking blood, which isn't exactly an ability I imagine getting much mileage, unless if Elbrus and Anderson had something special in mind for her. As for her personality, she can be a little brash, self-centred and eager to get into arguments. Hell, I saw her literally mock her caretaker and not do her tests out of pure spite. However, I can tell she isn't a bad person. She's a little bit attention seeking and egotistical, but the fact she comforted Lono tells me enough about what she's like deep down." It sounded like MM-3 an interesting subject. Especially considering it was made by Elbrus, who had so far been described as mostly a cause for trouble.

You also wanted to knore more about BC-887 and EM-33, even if Juniper didn't know much about them. "Well, BC-887 is a large centipede called... Erika or something? I've heard she's really sweet and loves to dig, but I don't know much else about her. As for EM-33, I know she's a giant mosquito girl who people find rather boring to be around. Apparently, she isn't the brightest and doesn't do much, so... I can understand why people don't find her that riveting." There was one more subject which Juniper mentioned about whom you wanted to know more, and that was TS-55-76. And Juniper seemed to know a whole lot more about her. "Oh, Dhabus! Well, she is this... big cat monster girl, who is basically a super soldier. When she picks up a weapon, she instantly knows how to use it. She also is resilient to all kinds of explosives, and even manages to jump using grenades and rockets."

The idea of a cat monster girl explosive jumping seemed awfully difficult to make real, but it also sounded like a rather fun thing to see. Still, you wanted to know more, asking about her personality and how one could do tests with her. "Well, during combat practice, she often times joins in with random cadres of guardsmen. Mostly so she can get an idea of what it's like fighting at the side of other soldiers. She joined us several times, which worked out very well. As for her personality, imagine a drill sergeant but with a lot of heart and respect for their soldiers. She's honestly a ton of fun to be around, and I think most guardsmen agree that she is pretty fun to be around. The only flaw with her is that she can sometimes take things a bit... too seriously? Like, she often times creates rivalries with other good guardsmen, trying to one-up them and prove superior to them. It is amusing to watch, but also can be a little bit overbearing at times."

Whatever the case was, Sylvio already was sold on the idea of working together with her. It was definitely something you could also see yourself joining in with.

>Just continue your chats about whatever it was you were talking about. You could turn your brain off and just chat about whatever until it was time to start guard duties properly.
For the next ten or so minutes, you'd just listen to some of the random chats between Sylvio and Juniper. You'd also join in on occasion, but it was mostly just casual chats between the three of you. Stuff like what weaponry they found fun to use, what sort of combat experience they had, their hobbies outside of the facility and other unrelated things. Eventually though, Lono would show herself again, flying down with the empty tray of food and placing it in the small entrance chamber. She'd glance over at the three of you, before flying up again into the foliage. "I really hope we can chat a bit more with Lono soon. I'd love to get to know her a bit better." Sylvio said, to which Juniper patted him on the shoulder. "Give it some time. It took a while for her to get used to me as well. And hey, you guys got a head start already, since I vouched for you two, hehe!"

A short while later, the food transport vehicle returned and three different members of staff would grab the empty tray. And a few minutes later, Juniper looked at the time and would speak optimistically. "Well, I think I'll go ahead and leave you two to your duties." To this, Sylvio would ask the obvious and most important question of all. "Uhhh, don't you need to tell us a bit about what we're supposed to do now?" To this, Juniper scoffed and spoke reassuringly. "Well, if Lono for some reason breaks out of her confines, there's an emergency lever nearby to alert everyone. If you see something else funny, you can grab the nearby emergency communication line and contact other staff for help. Nothing really happens during the night duty, so I really wouldn't worry too much about it."

With that, Juniper would wish you two good luck, as she headed for the sleeping halls. Thus, you were once more left with Sylvio, who looked at you and spoke in an amused tone. "Well, guess we just sit here and keep our eyes open for anything bad." The next ten minutes or so would be quiet and not too interesting. You'd eventually start chatting again to pass the time, the silence throughout the place being somewhat deafening. You wondered if Lono was asleep or not, which was answered rather soon as you heard rustling in the leaves. You'd look into the chamber, and saw Juniper looking at you from behind some leaves. She was trying to hide herself a little, looking at you rather anxiously.

"Um, you... why do you two wanna... guard me?" She'd ask quietly, Sylvio looking surprised before calmly responding: "Excuse me?" Lono looked away again, before raising her voice just a tiny bit. "I wanna know why... ummm, you two wanna guard me... you... you don't know me... right?" Sylvio was surprised by the question, not saying anything as he looked to you to hear what you'd have to say.

>How do you respond?

>>6133629
>More Lamia
I'll note em down.
>Sharks
There are a few shark subjects, ironically. Some of which are quite athletic and muscular. Still, I'll keep it in mind as well!
>>6133635

>A year in and we've still only met a fraction of the known cast in the main story
>In light of that, proposing even more ideas like shouting into the void somewhat since the odds of meeting any of them are slim but may as well.
I can get that, tbf. I do wanna intensify the usage of MG's more and have you encounter more to fight or escape from, but I don't wanna just drop all the subjects onto you at once. Especially since there are other groups of death squads hunting 'em down as well.

>A radiotroph with fungal features
I am shocked by the fact I am yet to create any subject who is a radiotroph. Hell, I haven't even made any subjects with nuclear-based powers! Definitely gonna get on with that. There are thankfully already two fungal subjects, one of which you saw in this very sidestory.
>A plantgirl able to utilise and weaponise pollen, spores and pheromones.
Elbrus beat you to the punch with this particular idea. Definitely gotta add more plant girls though.
>Ninja catgirl for the classics.
Ironically, there is something very akin to that already.

>>6133639
>Scylla
There is one in the aquatic sector. Still, I'll def try and add more.
>Shapeshifter
... Oh, I'm already very much ahead of you with that idea. Given that admitting this already tells you enough, I won't spoil much more aside from this.

>>6133952
>How do you respond?
Tell her the government is paying us fat fucking stacks of cash to be guards here, so even though we don’t know her we’re still willing to guard her.

>>6133952
I'm going to assume you meant to say Lono and Juniper has not snuck back in through a back door and hidden in the shrubbery to prank us
>How do you respond?
Well, it is our job that we're employed to do, you know? But you seem like a good girl and we'd hate for anything to happen to you.
As for why we took night duty? Because we wanted the opportunity to learn some more about you, get accustomed to each other early and hopefully start off on the right foot.

>>6134011
Yeah, my friend pointed that error out to me as well. Just pretend that it says Lono instead of Juniper for now. Just like how I pretend I am okay, but this mistake will haunt me for the rest of the day.

>>6134014
>pretends that this wont haunt him for the rest of his life

>>6133952
>How do you respond?
She seemed like a pushover we could slack off on guarding

>>6133952
>you seem nice

>>6134011
>>6134166

Supporting. It's our job, but you seem nice and we kinda wanted to learn more about you and get to know you.

>How do you respond?
There was a bit of silence between the three of you, Lono and Sylvio waiting to hear what you'd say. Eventually, you'd calmly tell her that the current reason mostly came from it being your job. You were assigned to be a guardsman here, so you were going to do your job and act like a proper guardsman. Lono seemed to understand, but also looked a little concerned and disappointed. However, you'd also quickly say that she seemed like a rather sweet and nice girl. You wanted to get to know her more, so doing night duty now would help out in learning more about her and getting to know her. You also added that you didn't want anything bad to happen to her, which made her look away and speak softly. "Well, n-not much happens around here, so... you don't HAVE to protect me." Obviously, she would likely be able to defend herself, and probably wouldn't be a cause of trouble for herself. Still, there were plenty more subjects which could escape and cause trouble.

Lono looked away again, before giving an understanding nod. "Still, thank you for... wanting to get to know me and being so nice. Aside from Juniper, I... don't talk with too many of the guardsmen." Sylvio would speak up a bit more reassuringly. "Well, hopefully we can change that! I guess you're our duty right now, so we ought to make sure we can guard you without a hitch!" Lono nodded again, before rubbing the back of her head and smiling timidly. "I should... also apologise for not talking too much. I'm not really too good at conversations, but I'll... try and chat more with you two." Sylvio would then make a decent suggestion, as he looked over at you as well. "Suppose you could just do what you usually do with Juniper? Pretend we're just like her to make things a little easier." It was obviously not the strongest of suggestions, but it'd help decently enough with getting her more comfortable. And after that, Sylvio would simply ask: "So, would you like to tell us more about you?"

The suggestion was maybe made a tiny bit too early, Lono looking rather anxiously before shaking her head. Clearly she needed a bit more time before she could really get comfortable with you two. Still, she did listen as you and Sylvio would tell a bit about yourselves to her. She didn't ask too many questions just yet, simply listening to everything you had to say. Though as you brought up your previous jobs and your home planets, she did start asking some smaller questions. "What is it like? The outside world?" It seemed that Lono's training hadn't really gotten her into contact with the outside world. It made some sense, but it was also saddening to hear that she really knew of nothing else outside of the chamber she was in. Hopefully, that could be changed by you two, going outside of the facility to maybe train with her or just relax. This actually got Sylvio to ask another pretty important question, as he calmly asked: "So, what do you do outside of training and testing?"

Lono would ponder to think, before shaking her head a little. "Not much else." She mumbled softly, Sylvio raising an eyebrow and looking over at you before looking back at her. "So, you don't have fun activities, or have days off where you're able to relax and follow your own hobbies?" This made Lono think again, before shaking her head and revealing something quite sad. "I don't... have any hobbies. I just do tests, then go back here and wait for the next tests. I don't think there's much else for... me to do aside from that." Unless if she spent the entire day training, there was no way that she could stay in her chamber for this long a period of time without a hobby. Didn't she have any games to play, or subjects to talk to, or other activities she could follow? "So, what do you do inside your chamber most of the time? Do you just sit and wait?" Lono nodded softly, before taking a bit of an embarrassed stance. "Well, I sometimes... practice my punching and fighting on rocks. Ummm, some staff are nice enough to... put new rocks in the chamber whilst I'm away, uhhhh, training." At least there was some folk out there trying to help her bide her time.

Whatever the case was, it was dreadful to hear her she had nothing else to do. Surely, you and Sylvio could help her find something to do whenever you guarded her? Hell, how did nobody else help her find something to do to kill the time in her chamber?!

>What do you do next?

>Ask for a demonstration of her power. She didn't seem all that strong physically, so you were curious to see just how powerful she could be.
>Suggest something fun she could do right now. Her chamber was filled to the brim with plantlife and other materials with which she could maybe do something to pass the time! (Write in what you'll do with her.)
>Contact some staff to see if they could bring you some supplies to maybe do some fun things with Lono. Alternatively, look around some of the nearby storage rooms to see if they had any supplies. (Write in what you'll ask staff for or look for yourself.)
>Ask her questions regarding her current situation. Was it facility policy to leave subjects bored to death, or was there some other reason as to why she had no particular interests?
>Something else...

(So, just curious how people are feeling about this little side-story so far. I imagine that in a nearby update, I'll do a little timeskip to some of the more... fun happenings around the facility, perhaps even related to the disaster that started this whole shitshow.)

>>6134690

>Ask for a demonstration of her power. She didn't seem all that strong physically, so you were curious to see just how powerful she could be.

>Ask her questions regarding her current situation. Was it facility policy to leave subjects bored to death, or was there some other reason as to why she had no particular interests?
Has she tried asking for recreational activities

>>6133635
I hope so. The art Kiyo had didn't seem muscular but that's probably just because it was among the first of the QM's drawings. As for Morgan, I'd like confirmation. Her distaste of guns matches the lack of meat on her arms, at least from the look of things.

>>6133957
Don't forget the Kamidere. Looking forward to seeing those subjects.

>>6134690
Regarding the pace of this side story, it's a bit slower paced and had Lono remained quiet a few more posts it'd probably be a bit too slow, but as it stands it's a peaceful pace that works with the circumstances. Especially with a timeskip not too far off from now.

>>6134842
Supporting.

>>6134690
>Contact some staff to see if they could bring you some supplies to maybe do some fun things with Lono. Alternatively, look around some of the nearby storage rooms to see if they had any supplies.
A deck of cards, a folding table and some chairs. We are teaching this moth how to play poker right the hell now. Should be safe enough.
Also if we can scrounge up a cheap e-reader from somewhere and load it up with books (she seems like the sort of type that's be a bookworm if given a few to read). Imagine all the copyright-expired literature that's on Project Gutenberg by now.

>>6134880
If the oni doesn't look like she could thrash everyone at caber toss, something's gone catastrophically wrong.

QM can you confirm whether Kiyo and Morgan are sufficiently jacked