We Are Legion

We Are Legion
Date of Scene:	24 December 2012
Location:	Traverse Town - Hotel
Synopsis:	Mercade and Will meet an unusual girl. What mysteries does she hold?
Cast of Characters:	Will Sherman, Mercade Alexander, Legion

---

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Some things never change.

Even with the loss of the Twilight Detective Agency, Mercade still works in their communal hotel room. A temporary sign (the name and insignia) has been taped to the door. Inside, Mercade sits on the floor, working on his various paperwork needs.

He looks up, sighing. They don't even have any proper jazz here. Sure, there's like a million things that are more important, but you know what? Sometimes the little things matter.

Legion has posed:
For the purposes of the experiment, some experience outside is acceptable. And naturally, some had been had already, but time is ticking. The next time will come shortly. And there is only so much life to be had in the meanwhile.

A node sees a sign outside of a hotel room that she recalls wasn't present before. She stops, looks at it, and examines it. She reaches for the sign and pulls on it lightly, threatening to peel it off the door, but she doesn't peel it all the way off. She lets go and presses her hands against the door to keep it stuck.

She then opens the door.
And she looks down at Mercade.
And she stares at him. He isn't wearing a hat.

She rubs his chin lightly and taps her cheek with an index finger, and then leans forward, peering at him.

Eventually she says, "Are you looking for a detective too?, The Network inquires."

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade looks up as someone enters. He blinks. Well, he's so off-genre right now that he can't really expect anything different. This is hardly your typical troublesome dame.

She walks in, looks around, stares at him. He feels the lack of his hat keenly at the moment, and sighs to himself. What he wasn't expecting was the poking and the prodding.

He blinks again in surprise. "Actually... I am a detective. I'm Mercade Alexander, detective with, well, the Twilight Detective Agency. And what do you mean, Network?"

Legion has posed:
Legion pulls her hands back and examines Mercade at a safer distance. "He is not a squatter," She says, as if to herself in a bit of a mumble. She doesn't refer herself to the Network that time, however, and then walks around Mercade, leaving him be for a few moments. She examines the surroundings of the hotel in sordid detail, taking way too much time, and eventually says, "This is a hotel, not a detective agency." She is about to refer to herself as the Network again but calmly reaches up and holds her mouth still so it all comes out as a garbled mess, before letting her arms drop again. Her eyes narrow suspiciously even though, all things told, she's the one acting suspicious. She doesn't even answer the question about The Network?! Then again, she's not entirely convinced this is a Detective Agency. Perhaps it's one of those mystery hotels that entertain guests.

Will Sherman has posed:
Will walks in, carrying a box.

"MAN! CAN YOU BELIVE THE NERVE OF THAT RAT!?" he shouts, opening up the box and throwing it on the ground! WILL'S AN ADULLLLLLLLLLLLLLT!

"I have to ware these alterboy looking pieces of crap to get help from the rat! Seriously! He called me dirty!" he sounds offended. "GOD and these things itch too!" he looks at Mercade, and then Legion. Focusing on Legion for a loooooong time.

"Mercade...what will Avira think about this development?"

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"You're... acting very oddly." Mercade says, standing up. He frowns at the observations being made aloud... But not in disapproval, but in curiosity. HE IS TOTALLY THINKING, DAMMIT.

And then Will totally blows that away. He turns, looking at Will, and his mouth hangs open for a minute. "... Well, it's not that unusual to want people to be clean. Seriously, Will, you don't /have/ to..."

And then Will mentions Avira. "DAMMIT WILL!" Mercade fistshakes. FISTSHAKES! "It's not like that!" He looks back to the strange girl. "So uh... yeah. Can I help you, miss...?"

Legion has posed:
Legion's head jerks towards Will so suddenly it looks like it might fly off. Surprisingly, she is able to keep her cool though there is alarm in her eyes. She doesn't comprehend most of what's going on here--sure there's talking mice around but she doesn't know if 'rat' is metaphorical or literal or anything of the sort. But she returns Will's stare and staaaares. And only stops when Will implies certain things between Legion and Mercade.

She slinks about half a step closer to Mercade, huffing up her shoulders as if she were all ablush, but she's not blushing.

"Yes," She says suddenly, turning her attention to Mercade. Is Will a detective too? He doesn't smell like a detective and indeed, Mercade will probably notice that whatever horrible smell Will is emitting doesn't seem to bother her. She doesn't smell like a homeless person herself and is well-kempt enough that if she's on the street, she couldn't have been there for that long, so this probably means she's smelled rank things not just before, but enough times that she's used to it. Her inching closer to Mercade is either a reaction to the smell, indicating that while she isn't troubled by it she doesn't want to be close to it either, or she's just playing along with the 'joke' of them being together. Or she has decided to 'be together' but that's ridiculous. She doesn't act like a Reize Harem Girl.

"It was just a thought that occured to me when I saw the sign. There isn't anything out of the ordinary, but the Network is curious--about being a detective." She looks towards him. "What is that like?"

Will Sherman has posed:
Will holds Legion's stare for a long long time. He is just as unflinching...

There is age behind those eyes, that stare at Legion, memories half remembered and suppressed all in moments as he seems to look at not just here...but something coming from her. Lines...

"...What are you?" He asks finally, "You are human, but your fate...that is not...strictly hu-wait Network?" he thinks for a moment...

He squints at her for a long time. "Seriously, what the *GOOSEHONK* Xanatos!"

Mercade Alexander has posed:
She sure doesn't.

"Well..." Mercade says. "Basically, what happens is you are hired by clients to get information or look for things. You have to talk to people and use your knowledge about locations and how people work in order to help them. People come to you because they can't get help anywhere else."

Mercade pauses. "I would offer a few books about the detective lifestyle, but they kind of all vanished when Manhattan got eaten."

This girl seems safe enough. He's /pretty/ sure he can survive if she suddenly decides to shank him. One can never be too careful after Leida. He looks to Will. "What do you mean, what is she? And Xanatos? You really think he's involved?"

Will Sherman has posed:
"Take a look at Avira and answer that one. I mean, seriously, the Mutates!" Will says, and looks back at Legion, "This shouldn't be too off from his style." Will grumps, "And...I dunno exactly. But it's like...her fate is...many different threads all tied into one...and the way she says 'The Network'. And I don't see any signiture marks of being a Program...so..."

Legion has posed:
Legion says, "We have a Fate?" She raises an eyebrow. She doesn't seem troubled by the concept of Fate, just surprised she warrants one. "Traverse Town has more people in it lately, The Network noticed this and elected to investigate." She doesn't comment on Xanatos or the Mutates at first. She is about to explain, but realizes that they are doing ... detective stuff! A small smile flickers across her face for about 1.5 seconds before it's gone again. She elects to not help them too much so she can see more what detectiving is like.

Legion is a bit strange.

But talking is some of it, Mercade just told her that. She is not making any aggressive moves to assault anyone--aside from that earlier poking and prodding.

"Can't get help from anywhere else..."
...
...
No she better not. "Manhattan. Xanatos is from Manhattan, then. I am sorry for your books. Would you like one of ours? You have to keep track of your tomes," She frowns, realizing that a lot of their knowledge is lost--but perhaps they have it stored in their heads. Reasonable.

"We are not mutates, however. The Network is the Network, patiently explained. Do you have electronically stored knowledge?"

It occurs to her she doesn't know why Will knows about this 'Fate' stuff. And why he can do that and not find a bath.

Will Sherman has posed:
Will looks at Mercade after a long moment...

"Okay so Xanatos ain't responsible for this one? Or she's lying." despite knowing what he knows, Will still refers to her as a her....

"Well, we did have...Electronically stored Knowledge? I am guessing your...stuff is like that?" he asks?

Legion has posed:
"The Network never lies, The Network lies blatantly." Legion says.

Will Sherman has posed:
"The network is a smartass, Will observes," Sarcastically, really really sarcastically.

Legion has posed:
Legion turns her head faintly, twiddling her fingers together. "...Yes."

Will Sherman has posed:
"I'm Will Sherman, by the way. King of the Hobos. What is /your/ name?" Will asks, directly. To the person, not the network.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"We had a computer. But it was lost with the books." Mercade winces. "We're a little on our heels right now with the whole loss of our world thing. I don't mind reading new books, but I do have a lot of my knowledge in my head, I can write it all back down over time."

"Traverse Town has a lot more people in it because they were evacuated from Manhattan before it fell, or they survived the Fall in some manner. I don't know how it works."

He shrugs. "Anyway, what's your story?" he asks the strange woman. "Are you just here to learn things?"

Legion has posed:
Legion's eyes widen upon this new information. She suddenly kneels before Will, bowing her head to him. "Oh great King of the Hobos, This Network apologizes for our impertinence to royalty." She is having fun. "We are the Network, but in Endgame we are called Legion. After the pigs."

She keeps her head lowered. Mercade explains more about his own circumstances. Perhaps this is also detectiving, talk about yourself and allow the other to open up more. Of course, she can't threaten the experiment. Indeed, these people go around helping people who can't be helped.

She wonders if she has to keep kneeling though, but it's a good cover as any to take her time thinking about her answer to Mercade's question. What is her story? She hadn't been asked that before, she's not sure how to answer.

"I'd like to be a detective," She says after some thought. "But my story is that I will never become one. Instead, today, my job is to do cleaning."

She looks to Will, asking for permission to raise with her eyes.

Will Sherman has posed:
Will blinks a few times, he nods to her to rise. "It's okay." he says, shaking his head, "No need to bow to me, I am nice royalty, all you need to do is feed me and we're cool." he says, with a grin.

He looks at Mercade, "Your show mang. I told you all I am going to get."

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"Do get up. The Hobo King thing is just a joke." Mercade says. "You're called... Legion? Like the biblical one?" He says, slightly confused.

Mercade shakes his head. This is kind of surreal. "So you want to be a detective. Why is that? I mean, sure, there's nothing wrong with it, but what's preventing you from doing that? I don't quite understand why you have to do cleaning instead of what you want to be."

Will Sherman has posed:
"Because she's fated to die." Will says, frowning, "It's hard to see it, but I can." Will points out... "Why are you fated to die, and why do you know?" he asks her, frowning. The mirth stolen from his tone as he looks back at Mercade.

"I have you know fate isn't exactly something that is set in stone...fate can be averted...or sometimes the actions you take ensure your 'fate' happens."

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"Way to be consoling, Hobo Lad." Mercade comments dryly from the sidelines.

Will Sherman has posed:
"You wanted to know!" Will shouts at Mercade, "I mean, shit, look at Tom. That man is a walking array of breaking fate. He gives me a headache sometimes."

Legion has posed:
Legion gets up, disappointed.

"Detectives are dangerous." She says after some thought. Then Will just points out she's 'fated' to die. The most shocking thing about her reaction is that she doesn't react in a shocked manner. As if she knew. She doesn't get most of the rest of the interplay between the two though she does laugh a little at it, it's funny!

She hesitates, looking behind her, then back to the detectives. She opens her mouth and--

Something in her pocket buzzes. She looks down at her pocket and then--

She points a finger behind Mercade and Will--and then turns and runs out the door.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
"And Tom does a great job of leaving us a lot of messes to clean up in his wake, too. He's a metaphorical bulldozer, with all the subtlety that comes with it." Mercade replies.

He folds his arms. "But look, everyone dies. Now if you mean she's supposed to die /early/, that's a problem..." He pauses as Legion points.

He doesn't fall for that. He does that all the time. "Hey, wait!" Mercade says, giving chase! "No, seriouslty, we don't mean you any harm!"

Will Sherman has posed:
Will turns, but only because he's supposed to.

"Oh huh. So that's what it supposed to mean.."

Will says, as he turns back to see Mercade give chase. "Well, looks like he has this handled...I am going to go bug the Gargoyle now." he narrates. "It's a hard life, for the King of Hobos, but he is glad to make sure things are on track." he nods...

And also drops Mercade's wallet on the desk. Minus twenty dollars.

Legion has posed:
RACE TIME

Legion runs. "The Network knows, but that is why..." She mutters to herself, but rather keeps running. Mercade is fast, yes! So is Legion for that matter and Legion knows these streets well. But it's not just that. It's late, but not so late that nobody is out. Legion manages to supernaturally avoid natural obstacles along with any other detours she might take. She increases the distance and for a moment, for a moment it seems as if Mercade may have lost her.

UNTIL!!

He passes by a dark alleyway--this is one of the less populated areas of Traverse Town, and it's getting dark--almost time for the Heartless to start poking around. Inside the alleyway, there's some sort of--spraying--going on--with water? Yes. Water. There's a faint ionized smell wafting from out there, not much conversation--but he can take a peek if he desires, or move on. It's a bit much to be coincidence, right?

Mercade Alexander has posed:
OOOOOH, THE CHASE! WHOOOOWOWOWOWOOOOOO, THE CHAAAAAAASE!

MErcade knows Traverse Town well, but perhaps not so well as Legion. He tries to run her down, but she seems to get away...

Or did she? He smells something odd. Fresh? Like ozone? He turns, pondering as he lurks at the entrance to the alleyway, taking a few tenative steps in.

He couldn't possibly be walking into a clever water-lightning trap. Not at all.

Legion has posed:
THE CHASE WOO WOO WOO THE CHASE!

Unfortunately, Mercade isn't so lucky as to step into a clever water-lightning trap. Instead as he steps inside, his boots make a thick squelching noise but a few steps in is when the smell hits him. Soap, disinfectant...blood. Ihe stench is definitely worse than Will Sherman. As his eyes adjust, first he's likely to see the corpse of Legion or--as he might expect from Will's explanation--one part of the 'Network'. Her lifeless eyes stare at Mercade, her head numbly flopping to the side. The skin along her arms and chest seem to have exploded outward as if the blood decided to erupt out of her body like geysers. The lower body seems partially stuffed in a body bag which is being maintained by--

--another Legion. And there is another Legion yet with a tank and hose that is spraying the area clean of blood as another ducks down and wordlessly scrubs with a thick soapy sponge. Most seem to go about their work methodically, but the one with the sponge is moving quickly and seems to have worked up a sweat, her breathing rapid.

Detective Vision suggests, therefore, that that one is the one who he had been chasing. They don't seem to have noticed Mercade yet.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade squelches.

He winces. He knows that feeling. He really doesn't want to look down.

He looks down, and makes a low groaning noise. That's basically the worst thing. Have you ever stepped in blood before? It /sucks/. Not just because it gets everywhere and is all sticky, but also because IT'S BLOOD. IT WAS IN SOMEONE. WHY IS THIS BLOOD NOT INSIDE SOMEONE.

And then he looks up at the morbid tableau before him, and he sort of stares.

"What. The. *GOOSEHONK*."

Legion has posed:
It seems like because it decided to get all Parasite Evey and leap out of its own accord. Self destruction? Murder?

The node that Mercade knows looks up. There is a brief hesitation between the others but a look from the one that talked with Mercade encourages them to move about their business. Thankfully(?) the Legion is shortly hidden up in the bag.

"You shouldn't have followed, The Network requests you forget what you have seen." She pauses for a moment and admits, "The Network says this despite knowing of its futility."

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade looks over the gruesomeness again, suppressing revulsion at the gory mess. "So there's a large number of you, you all look alike, you are all connected in a network, and it appears that parts of you... randomly die horribly?" He says, and folds his arms. "The only thing futile here is expecting me to ignore this."

He breaks his 'awesome grim determination' stance to sort of gingerly move out of the blood and step in the water a bit to try to clean off his shoes.

"Alright, so let's start from the top. What's with the horrible death thing? What do you guys know about it?"

Legion has posed:
"Not anymore. Now there are five." It's hard to know just when this one in particular died as it was hastily put away, and the blood is getting poured away. The Legion with the hose helpfully goes over Mercade's boots with the hose to make it easier on him but nobody shines his shoes just yet. 'Horrible death thing' isn't a very classy detective line but 'let's start from the top seems reasonable enough and at this point, the Network seems to have given up on keeping Mercade in the dark.

Maybe if they tell the whole story he'll back off and not die horribly!

"Our world has magic. To use the magic, you have to understand science, The Network explains that typically this is held within books or other storage devices and, of course, natural learning and understanding. We are a network, designed to share such data." She lowers her head to get a scrubbing.

The one holding the bodybag pipes in at this point to let the other work. "However, shortly after our creation, we received a mission. We were to become 'food' for another experiment, named Cronus, The Network suggests the name is pertinent due to his abilities with time manipulation. The Network notes our current job is to gather data and attempt to destroy him. Of course, it is determined our chances of defeating Cronus are negligible. The purpose of this Network is to further enhance his abilities and his understanding of them."

"I am the next." The first Legion Mercade met says. "Schedule will be received after cleanup."
"There was a disruption," The Legion holding the hose says. "When the world fell. The Network is not responsible but does not know what was. We were taken to Traverse Town. Our home city, Vespertine, was lost--The Network explains patiently."
"Thank you for informing us about detectives, The Network will use that to their advantage next time as per the experiment's allowances." Soap Legion adds.

It may be the most surreal thing of all--that while they aren't exactly eager to die, they also seem to more or less accept it as reality and aren't especially troubled by it.

Then again, who knows how long this 'experiment' has been going on? They see themselves as a shared entity, which means perhaps to them they haven't precisely died at all, or more chillingly--they have died plenty of times already. Which would explain Will's odd Fate Reading.

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade has already nearly died horribly several times. He's willing to risk it a few more times for the sake of a bunch of slightly creepy duplicate hive-mind experiment girls. At least these ones aren't trying to eat his soul.

He thinks about what he's being told, tapping the side of his head. "All right. So you need to beat this Cronus guy who is killing you all, but you don't have the power to do so. However, since this Vespertine place vanished, you have more options. He shows up every so often to murder one of you."

He considers. "But he gives you a schedule. This means that we can try to interdict and delay. The Twilight Detective Agency is experienced with dealing with supernatural problems." Or, at least they are since a few months ago. "I'm not going to just abandon all of you to die like this. Work with us, and we'll help you."

Legion has posed:
"He doesn't give the schedule, The Network explains that the project managers do that. The Network reminds that Cronus is also an experiment." They don't seem to mind helping Mercade at this point. He seems determined ot get involved, though she suspects he won't. After all, treating someone as people when it's easy is easy. And indeed, many of the scientists are quite kind in that way to them. And then they cheerfully sent htem off to die. But she does have to admit, logically, that the city being gone does open up more options. They had, in fact, for a time thought they were free. That's the troubling thing. It sounds good, but what will reality go? She supposes they have little to lose. Except for Mercade. And Will. And all the people they COULD be helping.

She considers this for a while. Hmm.

"Why not?" She asks. "You do not know us. The Network won't promise to understand, but she can tell you the next time. She still suggests you not get involved, however. The Network does not want anything unfortunate to happen to you or your friends. You are detectives. You are needed."

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade shakes his head. "Everyone is needed in their own way. This..." He points at the body bag. "This is not needed. People shouldn't be killing each other. People should..." He looks away. "We should all be living in peace." He clenches a fist for a moment, looking down at it with an intense expression for a moment.

And then he looks back up to the Legions. "Tell us when and where to be. I and the others will do my best to help protect you. All of you." Especially since Isaac is around. Time manipulating bastard? This is going to take serious asswhooping to deal with.

"Do you have anything we can investigate in order to get more information on Cronus and the experiment that created you and it?"

Legion has posed:
They haven't really explained his abilities, but they might not know beyond much of that or the full extent of his capabilities. Apparently he can do things like whatever happened to their body, and they mentioned a 'touch of death' so ideally getting 'touched' should be avoided.

Legion considers Mercade's second request for information.
"...From the birthday party..." Legion says, small arcs of electricity rippling along her face. She stands herself up and dusts herself off. The area is mostly cleaned up now.

"Thank you." She says. "We will do as you ask...and consider your other request." In part because the player may need to figure out some stuff with Isaac out of character?! But she seems to be okay with the general idea. "You are a good detective, The Network suspects."

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade doesn't smile at the compliment. It's gauche to be all smily when someone just died. "Thank you for your confidence. I'm just trying to do what I can. If you want us to come help you, just let us know when we'll be needed, all right?" He nods. "We'll be at the hotel. Is there anything else you'll need for now? Do you have food? A place to stay?"

Legion has posed:
The LEgion Mercade met nodded, indeed she has been handling a lot of the conversation. Her attitude ahas been level so far. She didn't react very much with the death and didn't react very much with the knowledge she might survive. Of course, she might not entirely think Mercade is going to beat this fellow--which is a reasonable reaction for someone like her to have--but she is being polite enough and is grateful, if not exultant.

She thinks it over and says, "We can stay for one night but if we stay any longer, it would be suspicious." Actually, staying there for one night alone might be plenty suspicious, but--really--this might be one of the few days she has left. In fact, that is likely the case.

So she's going to spend it with people she likes :D!

Mercade Alexander has posed:
Mercade nods and turns. "Then let's head back to the hotel. I'll arrange a place for you ladies to stay."

Hopefully, they'll be alive in the morning!

Legion has posed:
Don't worry! It takes time to analyze Murder Game results! There will be plenty of time (or whenever folks are ready to punch a time god wannabe).