Event #14: THE GIFT OF BLESSED SILENCE

[vivalamods]

Event #14: THE GIFT OF BLESSED SILENCE

Though the vote was contentious, the Corsairs have decided to capture the facility. This will require an enormous mobilization of forces, but it is fortunate that the Corsairs are on they fight, unbeknownst to the Empire, on their own domain. In a real sense, the Vault has been preparing for this moment for decades.

The forges burn bright as rail and cannon are brought to bear. This ambitious plan will see Skysplitters placed across the continent as a crack strike force tears through the facility and kills or captures its personnel without putting the site itself to the sword. An operation both forceful and delicate, difficult, but hardly impossible for the Corsairs’ finest.

Missions:

Build the Rail, Ignite the Powder: The Corsairs, working under the cover of night, will need to establish a perimeter around the research facility.
Description: The continent of Bavrecht is usually where the Adamant Curtain, a major airship Legion, makes its base, testing munitions on the continent with constant carpet bombings. Their schedule is a bit irregular, but there are times where their bombing isn’t active. The Corsairs will need to take this opportunity to encircle the research facility and quickly erect temporary rail lines and set up Skysplitters to keep the airspace clear.

Rip Down the Curtain: The Corsairs will need to drive away the Adamant Curtain when it returns.
Description: The Adamant Curtain airship legion is a minor legion primarily concerned with munition testing. Their airships shuttle back and forth to gather new test munitions from the mainland and rest before returning to bombard the continent, and even then often in staggered groups. The Corsairs seek to employ one of these gaps to set up their perimeter, but once they return they will need to then destroy the legion so they can’t provide aid to the research facility or, in desperation, destroy it.

Laboratory Conquest: The Corsairs will need to enter the research facility and sweep it of hostiles, one way or another.
Description: Log Leader required. The Corsairs will be pitted against the 13th Legion Legatus Dr. Emric Folken and his legion of scientists. While not frontline combatants, they have any number of horrific abominations and weaponry available to bring to bear against the Corsair forces. Defeating them in their home turf will be a herculean effort indeed.

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[singlemilletgrain]

A bit surprised that Renne is looking to her for instruction, Shu nods her approval. Her instinct, of course, had been to rush to help, but the much more pragmatic observation had stalled her steps.

If Renne attempts to use healing magic on the bodies, she will find that… absolutely nothing interesting happens.

On the other hand, something much more interesting happens behind them as the door they hacked to enter swings shut and locks.

A crackle precedes an announcement from a loudspeaker.

”Tch. Vexing. I was certain you do-gooders would walk right in. Ruined my surprise. Eheh. Ah well. When life gives you lemons, et cetera…”

The bodies, as Renne had expected, slowly rise in a twitching of limbs and unnatural contortions - like marionettes on strings.

”Some of you are Otherworlders, yes? In researching your worlds, I have found - yes, the most exciting phenomena. Do any of you know of vodou? Yes, a wonderful thing. A poison that enslaves mind and soul. But I have perfected it - yes, perfected it with Ether, eheh. Much more effective… much quicker. So inefficient in its raw form…”

The prisoners advance with jerking movements and dead eyes.

“Oh, they are still… erm. Hm. Themselves? What I mean - you will be killing them. They are in perfect health, you know. So… do enjoy. I have … more surprises to come. But your fellows - I will attend to them as well. Back very soon, yes, very soon…”

[straykitty]

"How vexing."

Renne charges her ENC and unleashes another Refreshing Veil, this one directly at the prisoners to see if she can start to nullify the toxins. Whether or not this succeeds, she then targets the speaker, trying to see if there is any way she can crack it and figure out where the broadcast is coming from. Should it be necessary, she can of course join the fight but her methods tend to be very lethal so she is loathe to do so.

[theriflespiral]

Natalia blinks. "Wetware, eh?"

She reaches to close the cell door. This might. Cause some issues, granted, but better a smashed finger on their part than many dead bodies. "Feh. They don't even have chrome or lotus."

"Donnie, please use your etherscope, if you've brought it-- if there's a better way to let the poison run its course, tell me."

[purplexing]

Donnie swallows as Renne points out the possibilities. Oh, that's a lot worse than what he'd even thought to consider, and he's sort of glad he'd refrained from going in at all.

But nothing happens when Renne does her thing, which...Donnie isn't sure what they were supposed to expect in the first place. The sound behind them has him spin around. Not entirely a problem since he can locally key into the lock's signal again, but the voice that comes up on the speaker makes him freeze.

There's something familiar about it. He's heard it a long time ago, he thinks. That's not nearly as concerning to him as what the voice goes to detail on with then. He's not entirely sure what the other prattles on about. 'Vodou'? But he doesn't need to be familiar with it when it's effects are being described right there and then.

His eyes widen as he turns to look back at the pile of bodies, now suddenly picking themselves up like they don't know how to properly use their limbs, or that nothing's told them which ways they should and shouldn't physically be capable of bending. The turtlekin shudders, stepping back.

"S-so they're not dead..?" And not quite like whatever was used for those soldiers in that lab, but no less terrifying. These were people they were trying to free, and the realization that they've failed these people so badly makes him feel like some bottomless pit's opened up beneath him.

Donnie jolts to attention when Natalia speaks directly to him. He tries to get his thoughts together, back into focus as he pulls his goggles down. He's prepped a lot since their last trip here, and all the more glad for it as he flips open the cover of his own ENC, tapping at it as he looks towards the twitching prisoners.

"If it's some internal exposure, I don't know how long they've been exposed to it, if it's recent or part of whatever experimental process they've been going through the entire time they've been imprisoned here," he says as he activates his goggles' overlay, attuned to getting readings on Ether presences. It's nothing too complex, but at best he can get live readings of levels and sources.

[singlemilletgrain]

As Natalia tries to activate the cell doors, the mechanism, alas, does absolutely nothing at all. Having observed the attempts to override his security systems, the good doctor appears to have taken complete control over anything electronic in his facility. Similarly, if anyone attempts to hack the locked door, they will find that it does not respond.

...Although they can certainly still blow it up, of course, if need be.

Shu has gone rigid with her version of rage, which mostly seems to manifest as a muscle working on the side of her cheek and clipped, precise tones when she speaks.

"Damnable."

Also, some minor SAT vocabulary. As Renne attempts to heal and Donnie begins to scan, they will find that the poison cannot be removed so easily. It is a sort of neurotoxin that additionally infects the ether streams latent within all living things. It may be possible to purge it slowly through careful work, but certainly not en masse in a combat situation. In other words, if they can work on an individual singly for a few minutes, they can be recovered. Additionally, the poison is likely to run its course by itself within about 24 hours with some individual variability, but that hardly seems useful.

Renne will find that hacking the speaker gets her machinery and tools filled with long droning diatribes about the contemptibility of man and how restrained genius cannot come to fruition in a society that is so barren of true intelligence and mental acuity, thus shall it be that in the new world of the empire, the unfit shall merely be mindless labor for those who are destined for greater things, which perhaps causes her some mental damage from having to listen to this.

In the meantime, as they perform these activities, the zombified prisoners begin to swarm. They do not move with the speed of the ghouls, but neither do they shuffle like the walking corpses of earth media. They have much the same strength and speed of... a normal human, which means they are not too difficult to combat. The problem, of course, is in whether or not they wish to engage in combat at all. The swarm has no compunctions about using basic weaponry such as knives and blunt instruments, biting with their teeth, gouging at eyes with fingernails, etc.

"Oh, yes. Erm, I believe a few of you enjoyed our ventilation systems earlier, mm? May I introduce you to our new vent inspectors? Very cheap labor, very cheap... But very hungry."

Overhead, there are rumblings of something skittering in the ceiling.

"They, er, do not care too much what they eat, mind... So perhaps, ah, your difficult choice may be decided for you. I am a generous man..."

[purplexing]

"...it doesn't look like there's going to be any quick solutions- it's completely saturating their systems by way of our natural Ether integration," Donnie reports grimly. "Maybe with time- but that's not something we have. Can we knock them out or somethi-"

Donnie yelps, bringing up his staff, a dull clang ringing off the titanium as the prisoners close in.

He makes a face at the voice's taunting. "You're just upset that you overlooked something in your excessive security!" he scoffs, but he throws a wary glance towards the nearest grating. How big would these things be? He could weld the thing shut but it wouldn't do much good if they're small enough to fit through the openings.

[theriflespiral]

"Spare me, you paperback Mengele." She gestures with one finger as she pulls out the meteor hammers. "Group the prisoners together, I can make sure they don't go anywhere. In the meantime..."

She hurls Peak and Valley towards the vents, covering the vents with thick, black ice. A temporary solution, but one that will last long enough for them to deal with the prisoners in a way that isn't simply, you know, the Russian way. "Let me tell you something, you hack. You're a janitor with a clipboard who has delusions of grandeur. I don't need a magic weapon to kick your ass, just more sense than God gave a shit-beetle!"

[straykitty]

Renne disconnects her ENC and snaps it shut. She's vibrating a bit, incensed at the audacity of this man to counter-hack HER. Kitty. One of the most talented Aether-net operators! At least so far as her knowledge is concerned.

The other atrocities are bad too, yeah. But this is personal.

Still, she should probably avoid casualties. After a brief incantation, she waves her hand and creates a localized gravity well intended to draw all of the hapless prisoners into a central location.

[singlemilletgrain]

Look, he got a doctorate for a reason. Probably. Maybe he just forces everyone to call him doctor, who knows. Either way, he is silent after the range of insults slung in the general direction of the speaker slash the ceiling, which one might take to mean that he has been sufficiently subdued by the verbal onslaught.

(In truth, he is taking a moment to search through his databases for the word 'mangolay' and whether or not it has any relevancy to anything he's discovered in Otherworlder artifacts.)

In the meantime, Natalia's frost comes just in time as something thuds against the vent cover and pops it out, on the verge of descending when -- a thick layer of frosts forms. They get a nice view of a hideous female-presenting face pressed up against the ice in a rictus grin. Naturally, they cannot expect this to hold for long as several other faces proceed to appear and begin to slam against the ice, which subsequently begins to crack.

Renne's gravity well excellently corrals the prisoners into one area, though they are undeterred from throwing knives and other pointy objects at the combatants. Shu does not find it too difficult to duck out of the way. At least - for ten seconds - they have a bit of a moment to think.

"Donnie. Can your gas - or some other device you have - knock them out without impacting us?" Glancing up at the vents, Shu furrows her brow in thought. "Let us presume those things will escape momentarily. Our priority must be to protect the civilians. Renne -- " She judges, possibly with good justification, that murder is best requested of Renne. "As whatever those things are will be entering through a bottleneck, they are best engaged directly at that opening. Is there anything you can do to cull them as they try to enter?"

Having a bunch of flying or ceiling crawling monsters in the room itself sounds like a nightmare. Regrettably, Shu has difficulty controlling the movement of things that are aerial, though she will scatter her seeds at the base of the vent entrance, nonetheless, in case it is helpful.

"Natalia, do you think you can engage with the door?"

Standing around in here also stands like a nightmare. Her suggestions are just that - suggestions. She does not intend anyone to follow orders, but these are the thoughts that come to mind as she attempts to clear her emotions and stay calm.

[purplexing]

Donnie almost misses Shu's inquiry as he stares at the things that are trying to get through the ice. Ohhhh he is not going to sleep for days- not that that's anything new, but usually that is not induced by nightmares!

"Iiii do not want to know what the rest of them looks like," he decides, turning his attention back towards the prisoners, trying to shove them back. "Give us enough space and I'll see if I can keep it funneled around them. Get them back into the cell!"

Even as he shouts this, he begins to tap into his own Ether, conjuring up bright violet lines of light that form a giant pair of fans between them and the prisoners, not a new trick, but certainly previously proven effective. They begin spinning as soon as the last lines meet, winds picking up as they start churning them forth, full-force. He cuts the speed just a bit once there's enough breathing space between them and the team.

The turtlekin grabs a couple of canisters from his belt pouch, hurling them in front of the fans so the wind will do the rest.

[theriflespiral]

"One moment--" She extends a hand, and the meteor hammers wrap about the prisoners, securing them with the spider-silk rope and knotting about each other. Hopefully, that with the fans will be enough.

As for the door, she clicks her tongue at the door, hums. She definitely can't pick the lock that fast. So! A more brutish solution is required. She supposes it's fine that her naval breaching charge hasn't been used yet. She places the satchel charge. "Stand as far back as you can, the pressure wave's going to be nasty."

Honestly, she's mostly just glad she's going to use the thing instead of setting up and picking it up several times.

In about five seconds, or when everyone's next to her, she will press her detonator, and the satchel charge will blow a hole through the wall where the door is ostensibly secured.

Now, though?

Demolitions officer is running.

Do try to keep up.

[straykitty]

Renne quickly moves to the choke point, ether gathering around her as she weaves elements together in a burst of silver and black.

"Nebulous Cannon!"

An enormous burst of energy erupts where the enemy is to emerge, creating a distorted vortex of mirage and perception that cloud the senses of all within it.

cw for gory imagery again

[singlemilletgrain]

Donnie and Renne's efforts combined seem to be effective. As the prisoners are unable to escape from the gravity trap, the gas is blown their direction. They have no natural compulsion to defend themselves - no instinct to hold their breath or otherwise try to get low. They simply watch it wash over them and one by one, slump to the ground.

Crk. Tccchrk. Kssshkkk!

The ice cracks and shatters as predicted. The first creature rushes out of the vents just as Renne releases a burst of ether, but in the span of those few seconds, its full visage is visible. ...Because, well, there's not very much of it. It is a head that looks feminine with... lots and lots of bloody tubing and viscera dangling from the neck down. And nothing else..

Shu forgets to pay attention to anything else for a moment and allows her brain a tiny little moment of vulgarity. What the fuck.

Alas for Renne she cannot send heads toppling today. But perhaps severing their entrails will still be effective? Who knows. It's hard to say how effective the Nebulous Cannon is, given how inhuman these bizarre abominations are, but as they emerge, they do sort of... wobble around the room. Perhaps that's their normal method of locomotion? Perhaps not?

MEANWHILE far away from the disembodied heads, Natalia's successful demolition of the door is a fresh breeze of relief. Literally, Donnie's gas was getting a little close for comfort. Natalia may try to flee, but she is perhaps forestalled by the appearance of a dozen guards in uniform in a line, blocking any escape.

"Oh, no. You mustn't leave now."

The loudspeaker crackles once more. Although... the voice seems less tinny this time.

"Aggravating, yes, aggravating! What kind of people go around with enough knockout gas to disable a dozen and a half prisoners? You are quite disturbed, really quite disturbed. But as the old adage goes... why, if one wants something done..." And Natalia will watch as someone steps around the line of guards into view. "One must do it oneself." The doctor, a man with receding hair and a plump and pleasant demeanor, smiles benignly at the demolitions expert and raises a strange-looking gun. But... instead of pointing at Natalia, he turns it back towards his own arm.

[purplexing]

At least it's easier to hold a couple of mystic fans, and Donnie does so without having to think too hard once they've been constructed. He pulls his filtration mask on, trying to gauge the windspeed to make sure it's not too strong to render the gas ineffective, but not too light either lest it start leaking over in their direction.

But it seems to be working, and the turtlekin's glad that whatever poison's controlling them, isn't enough to force them through being knocked unconscious. One less thing to worry about, which is good because the sound above isn't a good one at all.

Donnie turns his head, eyes widening at the sight. His own brain seems to falter in its processing as he sees the disgusting monstrosity, a head still moving impossibly with its...guts? He would have thought he'd be ready to see anything after watching Nephenee nearly cleave a person in half right in front of him, after being in battles with Renne, and seeing undead things still rush after them despite being in pieces. Something about this still just doesn't connect, like blindly trying to join cables and finding yourself stuck with two of the same endpieces.

He's only vaguely aware that the voice over the speaker has changed somehow. He can't pry his eyes away from the horrible head. Disturbed, really quite disturbed, the phrase echoes in his head and he feels like maybe he might laugh. Maybe the voice is right.

[theriflespiral]

Natalia does not, in fact, miss a beat, shouldering her rifle. She shoots once for the gun because, for all her virtues, she is still a bit of a showoff.

It pulled a little to the left and its recoil, while more manageable than the bolt-action, still felt a bit like someone wanted to put as much powder downrange as possible.

Her second shot is a much more reasonable attack on the Doctor's center mass. "Tch."

But unlike her shuddering, shuffling, grinding action when she was moving at top speed while shooting with the bolt-action, her motion in the moment after adjusting was fluid, consistent, of a speed with the fastest people who could fan a revolver.

Ten shots.

"... Feh. Middling quality at best."

[straykitty]

"How distasteful."

Indeed, the monster here is not something that can be so easily decapitated, but that is hardly a deterrent to Renne. Whirling her scythe to build momentum, Renne unleashes wide sweeps at the emerging heads, aiming to cleave them either vertically down the center or horizontally at the nose and making use of hardening and sharpening enhancements on her scythe to deal maximum damage.

[singlemilletgrain]

"Tch. No manners!"

The doctor's hand jolts back as the retort of the rifle rings concussively through the hallway, a pained expression on his face, though regrettably, his hand has not exploded into a grisly mess. Both shots seem to have... deflected, somehow, well before they reached the doctor. Briefly, Natalia can glimpse the appearance of a sort of circular bubble around his body. A sort of shield? Deflector technology? Repulsive EM waves? Something to be investigated.

"I am speaking, thank you! The problem with people like you - no understanding of what is appropriate for this society. We shall be well rid of such -- such bottom feeders, yes! Now what was I saying?"

A faint pause.

"Oh yes. Ahahahahaha!"

The gun goes off - though quite silently, for it shoots not a cartridge, but several needles attached to syringes.

"Behold! My magnum opus! The next evolution of man! Once I finished tinkering with those waste products, why, they had no use for their natural ether capabilities. I am the first to combine genetic engineering in service of ether channeling! Yes, you are lucky - so lucky to see this power unfold before you! I have isolated - really perfected the exact genetic mutations that allow for specific control over subclasses of ether! By modifying the ion channels regulating ether flow, I have broken my own limitations! Reality is mine to bend at my whims!

"...And without any of those ridiculous mutations that always seem to accompany these sorts of things in popular media; I don't see why one must be horribly disfigured to be all powerful. So idiotic, yes, idiotic indeed.

"Erm. Yes. ...Anyway."

And he raises a hand and shoots a pillar of flame at Natalia.

It is really very rude of Renne to bisect heads without even giving them time to latch on to her scalp and start sucking out her life force, though they make a strong effort. Hopefully Renne moves quickly, because there is a quite substantial horde that pours out of the vents now, even as their numbers are culled. A few wobble out of the way and have the presence of mind to avoid the cleaving bits and well...

There's a small number that start biting on her toes.

A few more escape down to the delicious pile of unconscious prisoners fresh for the harvesting.

"Natalia needs backup quickly. Let us deal with... this as soon as we can." Shu, abandoning any attempt to try to handle this in a reasonable manner, simply walks forward and starts swinging her baton like a golf club, sending the heads bouncing off the walls.

"I would like to say, for the record, that I am not enjoying this mission."

[purplexing]

"Pull it together, Donatello," Donnie murmurs to himself, mostly ignoring the doctor's explanation as the things pouring out of the ventilation system seem to be more important a matter at the moment. Probably for the best- he'd be making all the faces at the guy's blathering otherwise.

"No-!" he shouts, seeing some of the slithery things move towards the prisoners. He doubts gas will have as much of an effect on something that's just head and viscera, but he dismisses his ether fans, reforming the brilliant purple energy blade of his glaive, the sharp edge glowing white hot. The turtlekin dashes for the ones going towards the cell, swinging down with a shout, which somewhat helps dissipate some of the nausea. He'd hate to throw up in his mask.

But having another focus helps keep his mind off what's disgusting. He won't allow anything to happen to the prisoners they've been trying so hard to save, that drive making it easier to thrust and slash with his glaive towards humanoid faces and squirming guts.

[theriflespiral]

"Ho! A challenge." She listens to his little game and sighs. "Ah, yes. What empires always do."

The bayonet sways in her hand, and as she leaps aside the flames catch at the circuitry and casings.

Now, now she's testing the limits of the Doctor's shield with her bayonet. One wild tip slash skitters off, and she brings the rifle back around for a straight push, a near-perfect translation of every muscle she can bring to bear at the point of the knife. "Of course, your tactics leave much to be desired."

What strikes work best to push the shield's limits?

What angles most test its capabilities?

She watches with eyes honed by power.

[straykitty]

OK, yeah, we're not about this. As the monsters begin to go for her toes, Renne leaps backwards, clicking her tongue in annoyance as her eyes flash dangerously. An enormous stream of blue and silver ether form up around her glove, and moments later she invokes an enormous mirage-born whale to drop on the swarm of creatures.

[singlemilletgrain]

[so sorry for the delay the last few nights! been at parties etc for the holiday, tag quality is a little mid today also apologies as I’m still out]

Natalia will find that any strike produces a similar effect, a sort of ‘activation’ of the shield around the Doctor. As she continues to strike, she may notice that regardless of where she attacks from, the shield seems to radiate outwards from the same place: the coat pocket of his outerwear. He, perhaps rightfully, smirks as she attacks fruitlessly.

”One does not need martial technique when one has power beyond the gods.”

And so it is that in the next instance, he flicks his hand and attempts to freeze the very air particles around Natalia so that she might be stopped in her tracks, unable to move.

In the meantime, over in disembodied head corner, the collective efforts of the three are bearing fruit. At this point, they might go to assist Natalia if they wish, though there are still a few remaining stragglers that might pose a danger. The ones biting at Renne’s toes are deeply disappointed to gain no traction from their efforts (why can one never suck on some toes when one needs to?)

“Renne, we - or I - can take care of the rest here. Your combat strength far exceeds my own.”

Natalia facing the doctor alone makes her feel ill at ease.

[purplexing]

Please don't suck on Donnie's toes- he's probably the only one not wearing proper shoes.

With the abominations being thinned out, Donnie finally allows himself to spare a better look at the Doctor.

He...doesn't recognize him, but then he'd been afraid to look a lot of Imperials in the eye, back when he'd been made to tag along for weapons-based consultations. With a jerk of his head, he lowers his goggles again, to try getting a read on any Ether patterns or specific concentrations. He can see the localized pulse whenever Natalia's strikes make contact with the Doctor's shield.

"Power beyond the gods," the turtlekin snorts. He taps at his bracer, sending his readouts to Renne. "See it?" he calls to her before turning to sweep his glaive at another writhing bit of entrails before he turns, focusing on something simple as he conjures up a simple flash-bang, right in front of the Doctor's face.

[straykitty]

There's a flash of motion as Renne twirls gracefully through the air, a flash of black and red ether momentarily coating her as she quickly boosts her own abilities before coming down hard on the Doctor, using the force and momentum of her spinning leap to bring the point of her scythe down as hard as possible, aiming right at his chest and putting everything she has into punching through his shield and his soft, fragile flesh underneath.

[theriflespiral]

Natalia's first temptation is to attempt to wrest control of the ice spell targeting her-- to prove her control is more than his--

But she thinks back to Gaurus, and Terra, and rather than attempt this, uses the nature of the shield against him, sliding around it and letting his own spell form another point of stress on a shield that's now dealing with three attacks-- her one handed bayonet strike, Renne's decapitating blow, and protecting him and Natalia from his ice spell.

Her empty hand charges a spell. Frozen blood wasn't the only thing she got from Gaurus-- there was also how to use positive energy to make someone's blood boil. And if there's anything Natalia has plenty of, it's raw vitality.

Of course, she has to touch the Doctor to do it, but such is the cost of victory.

[singlemilletgrain]

"Pshaw!"

He enunciates aloud in rather dramatic fashion as the flashbang explodes in his eyes. In the afterlife, he will claim that the rest of what proceeds was only allowed to happen because he was temporarily disoriented, and it was a complete affront to fair hand-to-hand combat to resort to such parlor tricks. As it is, as the others begin to dash forward with their various strikes and blows, the Doctor cries out in great exasperation.

"Enough!"

And just as Renne lunges, he thrusts out a hand and vibrates the very molecules of the air around him such that they rapidly expand to create a devastating shockwave outwards. In short, an explosion. The scythe strikes, the bayonet stabs, and the concussive burst of air sends the Doctor - and anyone near him - flying backwards at great speed.

The Doctor lands among his men, several of whom are bowled to the ground.

And in the aftermath, a single sound can be heard.

Shlurp. (It is the sound of one last penanggalan sucking on Donnie's toes.)

...Oh. And the sound of faint crackling. Perhaps like something has broken? The Doctor -- annoyingly unharmed -- struggles to his feet with the aid of the soldiers whose spines he hasn't cracked, heedless of such things that are beneath him as crackling sounds.

"Hah.... hahahahaha! You fools! Do you see what you are against now?! This genius, yes, genius cannot be stoppered by such... simpering cretins! My shield is impenetrable! I alone am fit to direct this new age. I alone am worthy! I shall be the one -- "

Donnie, if he is not too distracted by the toe-eater, may notice that his readouts now indicate that the shield has broken. Natalia may touch him all she wishes.