Part 101: Day 45 - Supplemental

Day 45: Supplemental

Day 45: Hokma Suppression Attempt, Post-Repository

Alright, it's all taken care of. Thought you guys didn't want the Rhinos in here, though...

Circumstances changed. We needed that bird gone ASAP, them knocking a few holes in the walls or kicking around some corpses didn't matter at all.

Just make sure we get the bonus stipulated in the contract, and it's all good.

No need to worry about that. I've got a lot of work to do anyways.

Music: Third Trumpet


It's a mess here, after all...



Clerks are restocked-can't believe those don't cost any LOB-bird's gone, those things are dead, and the Abnormality's strangely quiet.

…

Mm. I guess it sent its consciousness after the Manager. So this is just the Abnormality at its most basic, huh… and they want me to figure out what not to do with it, I guess..? Heh. Takes me back.

How did that go again…? Something like…


Music: trailer
X-394 is a big facility, full of creatures known as Abnormalities. Basically any Abnormality can murder you if they're handled improperly, and it's vitally important that the manager knows just what happens when they screw up. What to do?




Music: Third Trumpet
… Yeah, that's just not me.

He was a pretty good manager, though... even if I had to keep trying to delete rumors from that wiki. The amount of crap Switch would come up with, I swear…

Well, whatever. Looks like Hokma clearing out put the video systems back online. Let's spin up a couple of new agents while I check what the hell stopped it.



So this is what he was saying when we were speeding up or slowing down time, and when we paused… Good to know, I guess? It's a start. What about when the Manager was trying to reset?



Uh-huh… Whatever you say, flying bean. Let's fast forward a bit.



Here we go. Sephiroth's praying to One Sin. Let's call up Control's cameras and see what happened when that prayer was done.



Holy hell..! So it called that light down to take care of the thing in short order. Guess that means every ZAYIN can do something ridiculously horrible if it feels up for it.

...eh. I still like you better than the haunted drink machine.

*DING*



Ah, the agents are done. Guess I've got two to play with now… _{Of course they wouldn't leave me any spare E.G.O to use…} They already know how it works. Let's send the level 4 agent in.



Aha… an instant panic, eh? But there's no way to know if that's level-related, or something else… I guess that's what I'll use the other one for.

WRYYYYYYY!!!

Jeez, I heard that scream all the way down here… Let's see what happened.



The color of that aura changed… I guess on a bad result, it may lower the Qliphoth Counter? Which means the color is a warning about its mood. Yeah, that seems the most likely. What about the agent?



Yeesh… Chesed's e-tank deployed. If not for that, they'd have gone nuts from the scream alone.

...well we're all dead anyways. Let's see what happens with them.



Reverence..? Huh. Never seen that one before. Upside, that means it's probably keying off of level and not some other random thing. _{Gotta say, it's a bit suspicious how whoever designed this system put in niche things like that for situations they couldn't have dreamed of...}

Well, let's just make sure Bishop never finds out about it.



So now the aura's red. If I had to place a guess, it's nice and riled up. Guess I'll let it sit there and stew while I think of the next plan.

…

Heh. I can't even remember the last time I had to learn how an Abnormality worked on the fly. What was it, Melting Love? No, it was… god, screw that thing. Big Bird and Mountain don't need another friend.

Huh. Wonder if this is why the Manager always seems like he's got one foot into insanity. Being alone like this, messing with this screen… it's easy to forget people are attached to it. Wonder if anyone's left.

Attention facility. If the speakers are working, this is Talow. Due to some strange circumstances, I'm the new manager for the rest of the day. If you'd all be so kind as to report to the Records Team floor, I'll be happy to explain how every one of you is going to die in the immediate future. If you don't want to, go ahead and borrow a Clerk's pistol. It'll be faster anyways.



...huh. That's more than I expected.

Luckily for you, I sensed something was off.

Yeah! We were just minding our business, when Bishop ran through saying we should be ready to book it. So some of us decided to stay out just in case things got bad.

And some of us were in the break room at the right time.

Not dying to something this small.

So, what's happened?

The manager and the Sephirot have abandoned us. The facility's going to collapse as soon as I'm done with one last piece of research, so that that… thing doesn't get out into the City.

...well that sucks.

Yeah. Hate to say it, but you're all going to die. Me, too.

You sound way too okay with that.

Talow remembers alternate timelines. He's probably seen us all die a few thousand times by now. I'd explain, but there's not time.

...Do it later, then.

If we remember.

You won't. Anyways, any minute now I'm going to try and send someone to that new thing to try and trigger it. See if there's anything we can learn from-

*GONG*



What the hell?! But I wasn't doing anything! Unless… No.

This thing's Qliphoth Counter just goes down on its own over time?!



Attention everybody, the uh-freakshows.

Apostles! Since it's a god we should call them that.

Sure, whatever. The Apostles are back up.



And the scythe ones can just end people. Look out!

In addition to their swings, scythe Apostles can also just instantly delete Agents.

Alright, I'll just have Sephiroth go back and work with One…



Ahh, hell.

When -46 breaches a second time in a day, all its Apostles come back to life except the 12th. In theory, a new 12th is supposed to be chosen each time. One of my mods or an errant coding bug or something has made this feature glitch out on me, and as a result we don't have a 12th Apostle. I assume this is related to whatever caused all the names to randomly change as well, the data is perfectly intact and reads like it should in my save file. , I guess!



No Sephiroth, no Confession options. No Confession… and that thing isn't going anywhere.

So you need someone to do this 'Confession' work with One Sin?



Medea? No, you can't-Sephiroth died from it.

And? There's no type of work I shouldn't be able to do. And we're all dead anyways, aren't we?

That… but…



After some testing, it turned out it wasn't a softlock. By highlighting agents and right-clicking on One Sin, I was able to assign work that way. I'm… pretty sure this isn't how this normally works, but it's a case of all the weird coding running into each other and finding a way to work.

I'm going to give it a try. If I'm going to die anyways, we might as well get something out of it. Knowledge is just pain plus observation, after all.

...How do you just... say that?

Because it's obvious! Odds are I'm about to be hurting like hell, so you'd better be there watching it!



Ghhh--! The ring hits a little less hard than Knight's swords do! I'd say about 40 Pale!

...got it.



At least let me heal you back up.

You always do this. I'm not a kid.

I know that, I just really don't like watching you die.

Managers shouldn't be playing favorites, Talow. Incoming spear Apostle.



Did you get it?

Yeah. Just a dash attack. Are you okay?

I'm way too fast for it.



Staff user. I'll draw its attack out it on the way.

Would you be careful?!



Didn't even touch me.

...Not for lack of trying. That thing is a beam it's firing right towards you. It's just not able to go through the floor.



Sucks for it, then. I'm at the door. Here goes nothing.



GAH..! Okay-wasn't expecting that. This thing's Pale attack can hurt us even inside the containment cells! Make a note of it!

Got it. What are you even confessing in there?

That's my secret! Don't worry about it!



Did it work?!

The reaction's proceeding properly. Sephiroth died once -46 was suppressed. Any last words?

Yeah. Protect the others, okay?

...I'll try.






Hey… Talow?

Yeah?



...was it supposed to kill me when it exploded?

Uh… yes.

Huh. Guess I'm even tougher than I thought. I'm going to go check on things. You have a building to collapse, right?

Er… right.

As it turns out, the Confession work isn't what kills the 12th Apostle-it's -46's suppression that does it. One Sin remains a friend in all circumstances.



They're not moving, but I don't think they're dead exactly. That must be how they got back up before. They just lose all will to live when their master is gone. I think I get it. Hey, Talow, are you listening?

Attention. Attention to all employees. We offer you our congratulations for the start of your honorable retirement. This broadcast is pre-recorded.

Ah… guess it's that time already.

Yeah. I had to finish entering the passcode. I guess I'll see you around, then?

I'm going to be dead in a minute. You won't be seeing me any more at all.

...Yeah. Yeah you're right. Hahah… Sorry. This never gets easier.

Yes it does. I've seen the training videos more times than I can count. Watched people get torn apart on the other side of a screen. I can watch someone die without even losing my smile, now. Even when little Elle got changed into an Apostle, all I could do was quirk an eyebrow and wonder what it could do to threaten the others. This entire place is designed to kill our fear of death-ours and others'.

...Yeah. You're right.

We thank you for your hard and earnest work, and have great, respectful gratitude for your efforts and loyalty… We understand that you have been through difficult times, and that it hasn't always been easy to put the company's needs first.

They're so polite… if you hadn't told me, I wouldn't know this message was a prelude to the end.

Hiding atrocities behind a nice face. That's this company to a T.

...Hey, Talow?

Yeah?

I'd rather not get crushed to death… so I'm going to test the strength of these scythes properly. Be sure to count, okay?

…Yeah.

Over the next few minutes, the company will be undergoing a brief restructuring process. Please know that there's nothing to fear-you've done an amazing job, and your work is something to be proud of. If you have any complaints or inquiries, please refer to the Lobotomy Corp. employment contract.



…DAMMIT!

*CRASH!*



I couldn't say anything about… anything… and I get to go back after killing them all myself this time. Great job, Talow. All this time, and you're still the worst.

At this time, the facility is undergoing restructuring. Lobotomy Corporation wishes to remind you that any tremors are temporary and will not get in the way of your imminent retirement. Please continue looking forward to your imminent retirement.

…

Restructuring currently 87% complete… 95% complete… 99% complete…

There wasn't any choice. We couldn't just let that out. We were all dead no matter what I did.

Restructuring complete. Lobotomy Corporation wishes you all a pleasant retirement.

...It's all that goddamned clockwork bastard's fault, anyways.



*RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRUMBLE*