Log:The Fall of the Cartesian, Scene 6

The Fall of the Cartesian 2018/04/03 Radical Raven|Amelia Null 6

Steinberg Tower is a skyscraper in Old Town. It's been constructed in a style and with materials to match and blend in with the surrounding structures although it does tower over most of the buildings in the district. The building has 30 floors above ground level and two levels of underground parking. Much of the building is unoccupied at this time although that space is likely to be expanded into in the future. Occupancy of the building is organized by Floors.

The entirety of the Ground floor is given over to a spacious lobby which is often the site of various exhibitions and small stalls selling bizarre, and often other-dimensional, wares. Steinberg Tower contains the Steinberg Medical Facility free clinic, the Ashcroft Foundation, and an Arcane Studies Centre. A Mystical Portal on the 28th floor provides travel to a number of other-dimensional destinations.

The top floor contains a spacious and luxuriously furnished Penthouse Suite as well as four equally well furnished and equipped self-contained apartments. There's a helipad on the roof. However, non-emergency use of it is discouraged.

Radical appears outside in the lobby, out of nowhere. He knocks on the door.

Null is seated on a couch across from Amelia, foot resting on his knee and hands steepled. His expression is unreadable due to the black, glassy helm he wears to conceal his features. "Is that really enough? You're a mage. Can't you seal aware her powers and make her normal? Or find another mage who can?"

Amelia stands, "Excuse me a moment please," she says to Null and goes to answer the door. "Hi. Radical. Excellent timing. I've been discussing the Rira case with Null. Come in and join us."

Radical looks both ways out in the hallway and then steps inside. He nods, "Thank you. Any insights I should know about?" He walk into the room, looking around, taking in his surroundings. Finally he offers a hand to Null, "I suppose we didn't get formally introduced. I'm Radical."

Amelia returns to the living room. "No, Null. She's too powerful. Any such block I impose wouldn't last. Normally I'd consider moving her to another dimension. But both Lazare and Cartesian are as adept at dimensional hopping as I am."

Null unfolds his legs and rises to his feet to shake Radical's hand. "Null. Amelia was just telling me about you and the situation."

Radical shakes Null's hand. He then raises a brow and looks to Amelia briefly before turning back, "I see. Hopefully nothing bad about me." He chuckles quietly, but then adds with a more serious tone, "Things have been quiet for Miss Gonzalez the last few days. Hopefully that will continue while I try to help her with her powers."

Amelia looks at Radical's facemask and gives up any idea of asking if he would like a drink. "I mentioned we had discussed options for dealing with the situation, Radical. But that's as much as you featured in the discussion. Mostly I was trying to give Null and clearly picture of what was going on since, for some reason, be it pure chance or something else, Null has been present during some of the incidents."

Amelia heads out to the kitchen to top up her wine.

Null regards Radical with that dark helm that reflects Radical's own back at him. "And the general consensus is this is outside of my pay grade. But I take it you're the expert on chaotic magic, since you're training Ms. Gonzales?"

Radical nods to Amelia as she heads out to the kitchen, "Ah, that makes sense." He pauses a long moment as he considers his options, "I suppose I might as well give you one more piece of information, Null. I'm the former Cartesian." He shrugs, "If you happen to know what my real name is after knowing that, so be it. So, I'm not a practitioner of Chaos magic, but I have had the magic of one of the cosmic forces flow through me in the past. And that experience has so far been helpful in a couple of ways. I'm able to give her some insight into what she's dealing with."

Null's head tips up once in a nod. "Ah, the one who lost his powers for refusing to kill the girl. Amelia explained that part. Just not who you were. As a professional courtesy, I'll be sure to forget your real name." He sounds amiable enough, perhaps even amused at the courtesy he's extended. "Is this girl like you? Or the other person Amelia mentioned. Lazare?"

Amelia returns with her glass refreshed. "I heard that, Null. If it helps any I'm out of my league too. I'm a good witch, in both senses of the word. But cosmic forces are not my thing."

Null folds his arms behind his back, returning to an "at ease" pose. "Is there anyone other than you who that sort of experience, Radical? I'm not a magic user. But even I could sense the danger Rira and the new Cartesian posed. Will training even be enough?"

Radical shakes his head, "She's not like Lazare or the new Cartesian. Both of them could have their powers taken away from them at a moment's notice. Just like I had happen to me. When I refused Lord Antherion's command, I was immediately stripped of my powers. Rira...Miss Gonzalez...is another type of person altogether. She seems to be able to tap into the power of Entropy directly, without having it channeled through her by some kind of higher power. It's akin to what...an otherworldly chaos demon or order construct might be able to do. Only she's human, not from another dimension."

Amelia sits and listens. She's done a lot of talking. Time to listen.

"Really? So she's just naturally able to tap into that type of cosmic power?" Null taps his foot a few times in thought. "Is there any other proactive steps we can take? Even if she controls her powers, they won't stop coming after her. She's still green. Not hero or villain. Not yet, anyway. Put a cosmic gun to her head and give her orders, what will she do?"

Radical shrugs, "Based on what I was able to sense when I first saw her, I believe she would be powerful enough to protect herself if she gets enough training. More than a match for either the Anarch or the Cartesian." He paces back and forth a couple of times in thought, "But...she'd still be a wild card at that point. It doesn't mean she'd be a hero. Or a villain. Just...a person able to determine her own destiny. And that's my main goal. She needs to make her own choices, not have those choices taken away from her."

Null nods slowly in agreement. But he's always thinking of contingencies. "So until that time, Amelia and you keep an eye on her, and make sure the Cartesian, Lazare, or others don't interfere. It's a waiting game."

Radical takes a deep breath. "Yeah. That's the initial plan. I don't like having to reactive, but I'm not sure there's a choice. There's one other thought that I had, which is that the next time she's attacked by either side, they need to be defeated soundly enough that whoever the attacker is...they think twice about it in the near future. I realize that's difficult, given that both the Anarch and Cartesian are very adept at dimensional travel. It's a natural reflex for them, if they have the skill level I did with it while I held my title." He rubs his chin, "Perhaps can come up with some kind of dimensional 'locking mechanism' to trap them here? It would severely hamper my gear that I'm carrying now, but it might be worth trying."

Null pauses to think on that. "If they're captured, would one of these Lords just take their power and find another?"

Amelia waves. "That happens sometimes. Phone call disconnects the net.

Radical shakes his head, "Not likely, from my personal experience. It does take a fair amount of effort to train someone new. I suppose that's possible, but if one of them has been a good servant, the Lords are unlikely to just cast them off to find another."

"We'd have to take them down fast enough to prevent them from escaping if you can't find a way to trap them," Null ponders aloud.

Radical nods. "To that end, I think a physical assault is the most likely to be effective. Both will likely have reasonably strong willpower. Or even esoteric defenses. Each individual is just that: an individual, as the power affects them in a different manner. My abilities were focused pretty heavily on healing, fixing things, and senses. This new Cartesian has more of a facility with attack powers. That crystal entrapment spell was nothing like anything I personally learned." He raises a finger, "But...I suspect the focus of their studies hasn't involved much in the way of direct physical protection. They are both more resilient than a normal human, but not like a tough metahuman."

Null chuckles softly. "Well, physical harm is something I can do."

Amelia looks at Null and Radical, "You're talking of going after Lazare and the new Cartesian?"

Radical nods slowly, "I was thinking we might be able to rig some kind of 'dimensional block'. Something to solidify the dimensional barriers so it wouldn't be so easy to escape after their attack goes awry. That way, they can be soundly defeated, and hopefully they'll think twice about trying again. Basically, trap them here."

"Hopefully if we can get one at a time, it'd be more manageable. But I don't know that we'll be that lucky," Null comments.

Amelia nods, "I actually have been thinking of that possibility. I think it might be done. I might be able to do it. But it will need my full effort if it even works. I won't be able to do anything else."

Radical nods. "It might make more sense for me to repurpose my harness to do the work. I think I can do so, but likewise it would probably take me out of action."

Amelia looks at Radical. If it's to work it might need both of us." she comments

Null looks between the two. "If you can test it to be sure, I can do my part with the fighting."

Radical nods. "Sounds like we have a general plan, then. Any other thoughts on what we could do, as an alternative?"

Amelia nods, "We'll probably need to rope in either Grimm or Harlequin for the testing. And although I really don't hold out much hope I can try talking to Lazare. We've had dealings in the past. Can it hurt to try?"

Null hunches his shoulders slightly. "If his masters want this girl to win their war, would he really be in any position to make a deal?"

Radical shrugs a little as well, "I think I suggested that last time we talked, Amelia. I believe your first inclination was right: He's unlikely to back off entirely. But talking to him might slow him down a little. And he might be willing to try to trap his counterpart. So in that sense, playing them off against it other might be useful. But it would pay to be careful."

Null drops his shoulders. "So we work with chaos to trap Order, then double cross in the end? If you think he'd believe your plans, that might work."

Amelia rubs the back of her neck with a hand and takes a serious swig of wine. "Honestly, Null, I don't expect success. But I'd like to try. And yes, Radical, Lazare might agree to help against Cartesian but he is a agent of Chaos. I wouldn't put a lot of trust in him not trying something."

Radical nods. "I wouldn't trust him. Well, I wouldn't trust the new Cartesian either, if you wanted to try to go that route, too. I suppose I could try talking to her, but I suspect my chances there would be really poor.

Null sighs in thought at the chances. "We might have better luck ambushing them while you pretend to negotiate, if you think there's no chance of getting them to cooperate."

Radical nods in agreement. "It's very unlikely they'll be willing to stop entirely. They are human, though. Any indication to them that their target is a person and not a pawn will help, to a varying degree. If your target is just a number or statistic, there's no human element. If we can cause a hint of empathy, they'll be slower. Less sure of themselves.

Radical considers that thought further, "At least...the Cartesian might react like that. I'm not sure if Lazare would. He doesn't plan on killing her. He just wants to recruit her to his cause. That means he wouldn't be swayed as much by that tactic."

Null taps the chin of his helm. "But he'd believe heroes wouldn't want her death, either. A common foe might be sellable with that angle."

Radical nods. "That's true. An alive person might be convinced to join him down the road. A dead one, not so much. Lazare is willing to look at the long game."

Null nods at that. "Is there anything you can tell me about the new Cartesian's powers? I could try surprising her in a fight. But if she has mystic senses, sneaking up on her won't really be possible."

Radical takes a deep breath. "Well...as I said, every Cartesian is slightly different. If she was like I was, you might have trouble surprising her. My senses were very strong. I could sense magic. Look through the dimensions. I could even sense patterns that others wouldn't be able to notice. I could even see the past and future, to a limited extent, by looking at the threads of fate. I also had spells to heal people's body and mind. I managed to restore someone's mental faculties after his brain had been fried by a cybernetic virus, for example. I merely returned his mind to the order it once had." He paces again as he thinks. It seems to be a common habit of his. "She's been trained in a short time, though. She might not be as adept at those kinds of things, if she's been directly trained to kill Miss Gonzalez. I'd expect a more offensive-heavy arsenal of spells. Based on her prior casting, perhaps crystal-focused?"

Null cocks his head as his eyes follow Radical's pacing. "So, more combat to start with. Let's hope she can't see the past or future yet, or else all this planning won't help."

Radical shakes his head, "The future is always unclear. I was only able to look at it in a vague sense. Often, it's kind of like...an impression or symbolic. It requires interpretation. Even if she could see the future, I don't think she'd understand what she was seeing. The past is easier to understand. It's more or less set in stone, but the future is always a possibility. The path can change. Threads that weren't linked before can become intertwined. And that alters the entire tapestry in ways that are difficult to predict."

Radical chuckles. "All of that to say...I wouldn't worry if she can see the future yet."

Null finally lets out a sigh of relief. "Good. Because I'm not sure how to overcome someone who knows what's going to happen."