How fitting that my nearly two month hiatus should be broken on April Fool's Day. I feel as if I should make some sort of joke, but I fear any joke would fall flat on its face.
In the intervening months, Ultor has made leaps and bounds in further establishing its presence in Chicago. Nox Team has neutralized several potent threats to Chicago's safety, while Selene Team has not only brought down corrupt executives and recovered some of their ill-gotten goods, they have also provided a somewhat steady source of income for the company. Which will stand us quite well in the coming conflict.
Mr. Tesla has done wonders in revitalizing our Research and Development. He has spearheaded several new projects, all of them ambitious (i.e. power armor). I hope they are finished in time.
Quite recently, Ultor was attacked by both Titan spawn and a Titan itself. We temporarily lost two members of our fireteam (brought back by supernatural means, even beyond me) to take down an invading force of those hoplites and a rather large Titan, the latter of whom we could barely hit.
The Titan retreated, leaving us to recover, and me to ponder what the hell to do next.
The answer came in the form of a former Elytech employee. This particular employee had been head of Lab E, where Cortana had been created. He told me that he had rescued a particular project before the fireteams could dismantle it and had decided to go ahead and offer it to me now. Codenamed Project Valkyrie, this should give us some small edge in our fight.
The biggest danger, however, is not the Titans, nor their spawn. It is what comes after. No matter who lives after the Titans are defeated, that will be, I believe, the end of the Masquerade, and of the Veil. The explanation for the simultaneous attacks on all supernatural and hunter organizations was thin enough. We are not going to be able to explain away the sort of climactic battle toward which we seem to be hurtling.
Our best chance, then, is to continue being the defenders of humanity we set out to be. We need offer no lies nor cover ups in the wake of this battle.
Perhaps I think too far ahead by automatically discounting this battle as won. I will leave most of it to others, while I plan for what comes next. Naturally, Ultor will need to open field offices, even if they are just points of contact to start. I also plan to utilize Seraphina's specialties to their fullest extent and offer either technologically based protection from the mind influencing effects of supernaturals, or the natural training to resist them. This may make even my existence harder, but if there is ever to be any peace after the Veil breaks, humanity will need to be able to tell vampires, mages, and other supernaturals "no".
This planning and project-focus is useful, and helpful, for distracting me from other facets of my life. Not long ago, I lost a bit of control on one of Selene Team's marks. I removed him from prison, "entertained" him for a few days, drained him, and then fed him to my dogs - all because of the sins of the father.
I do not necessarily regret my actions. I regret the recklessness with which I enacted them. Taking that sort of risk was foolish, and ill-befitting of a Ventrue and Viviana's childe. I maintain that I am not half as clever as I think I am, and that is going to get me in trouble some night soon.
I have acquired a new revolver, the same model as Thunder, if you can believe it. It will not replace Lightning (nor should it), but it may serve me well in the future when dealing with ghosts and possessions.
I know there are more topics I can cover, however, I am not clear-headed enough to even touch on them.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
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