FOUND 'EM!

NEW YORK! THEY'RE IN NEW YORK!

Okay, let me clarify what HELLFIRE's trying to say. We checked Daniel's blog, and it turns out he had a nasty encounter with Bill Dawson and Silvermist in New York. Hopefully, they haven't gotten far.

AND THAT IS WHY WE ARE GOING THERE!

Yes. We'll go there, and check out every distortion til we find them.

LET'S GO!

STILL SEARCHING

THIS IS GETTING TIRESOME. WE'VE GONE THROUGH AT LEAST TWO DOZEN DISTORTIONS, AND WE STILL HAVEN'T FOUND THE FUTURE GUY OR BILL DAWSON.

Be patient.

UGH, THIS IS RIDICULOUS!

We'll find them. I think we should try New York.

WHY?

There's a large number of distortions there. There's a lot of Fear activity in the area. It's possible that one or both of them are involved.

I GUESS IT'S WORTH A SHOT. BUT FIRST, WE HAVE A STOP TO MAKE.

Where?

I'LL EXPLAIN ONCE WE'RE THERE.

You're being cryptic. You know I hate it when you're cryptic.

DEAL WITH IT. TRUST ME, THE DETOUR WILL BE WORTH IT.

Awake

Al woke up a little while ago.

“Where are we?” he asked.

“Where in my hideout,” Cleopatra said.

“You!” he said. “Why-?”

“You were cursed by the Game Master when you turned on him,” she said. “I'm the only one other than Abdalin who knows how to remove that kind of curse.”

“Why would you help me after I betrayed your master?” he demanded.

“My master?” she asked. “He's no master of mine. He's gone, and I say good riddance  I would have turned on him a long time ago, but you see what happened to you when you did that.”

Where's the mask?” he demanded.

“Right here,” she said, handing him the mask he took from the Seven Of Spades.

He put in on and sat there for a while.

“Estren's mask has been recalibrated,” he said. “Is this your doing?”

“No, “ she said.

“The only people who can remotely recalibrate a mask are the Game Master and the Jokers,” he said. “The Game Master's dead, so if it wasn't you, it was Abdalin.”

“That's probable,” she said.

“Why?” he asked. “What would he gain from doing that?”

“No clue,” she said, getting up. “You're better now, so I suggest you both leave as soon as you can. It's only a matter of time before they find out that I'm hiding out here.”

“Who's 'they'?” I asked.

“None of your business,” she said, leaving the room.

So, we're gonna be leaving in just a bit. We're gonna see if we can catch up with Estren. Til next time, good bye.

DAMN!

OKAY, WE'RE IN A CAVE. GARROT IS HERE, FROZEN IN A BLOCK OF ICE. WE ALSO HAVE HIDEAKI WITH US. WE'RE ABOUT TO TRY MELTING HIM.

HF; (ALRIGHT, ESTREN. READY?)

ES; (Yeah. Let's get started.)

WE ARE NOW MELTING THE ICE. OKAY, IT'S MELTED.

HF; (HE'S UNCONSCIOUS.)

ES; (Obviously.)

HK; Wake him up.

ES; I'm trying to. Wait, I think he's coming to.

HF; (LET ME SPEAK.)

ES; (Fine.)

GARROT IS NOW AWAKE.

GK; Who's there? Where am I?

HF; IT'S BEEN A WHILE, GARROT.

GK; Who are you?

HF; I AM THE FIRE THAT BURNS IN THE DEPTHS OF HELL.

GARROT HAS BACKED AWAY, TERRIFIED.

GK; The Dying Man! What are you doing here!?

HF; I AM JUST A PIECE OF WHAT USED TO BE THE DYING. AND I THINK YOU KNOW WHY I'M HERE.

GK; You're after IT, aren't you?

HF; TELL ME, GARROT. WHERE IS THE GODSLAYER?

GK; I don't know! I hid it away, then I forgot the location.

HF; LIAR!

GK; I'm telling the truth!

HF; WE'LL SEE ABOUT THAT!

DAMNATION! I ENTERED HIS MIND AND SEARCHED IT. HE HAS NO MEMORY OF THE GODSLAYER'S LOCATION. IT'S NOT JUST REPRESSED. IF THAT WERE THE CASE, I WOULD HAVE BEEN ABLE TO UNCOVER IT. NO, THE MEMORIES HAVE BEEN ENTIRELY REMOVED. I SENSE THE WORK OF A CERTAIN OLD CROW INVOLVED HERE.

HF; ALRIGHT, HIDEAKI, DO WHAT YOU WILL.

GK; Hideaki!? My son is here!?

HK; Yes, father. I am here. And we need to discuss some things.

ESTREN AND I HAVE LEFT. I DON'T KNOW WHAT'S HAPPENING BETWEEN GARROT AND HIDEAKI, AND I DON'T CARE. ALL I CARE ABOUT RIGHT NOW IS THE FACT THAT MY FINAL LEAD IS GONE. I MAY NEVER DISCOVER THE LOCATION OF THE GODSLAYER. UNLESS... OF COURSE! THE PALE ONE! HE COMES FROM THE FUTURE! HE MAY HAVE KNOLEDGE OF ITS LOCATION!

ES; It's not that simple. I can't pick him up. His body contains too much eldritch energy. He'll just show up as another distortion on my mask.

HF; THEN LET'S START GOING THROUGH THESE DISTORTION. EVENTUALLY, WE SHOULD FIND EITHER HIM OR DAWSON. EITHER WAY, WE'LL BE ABLE TO GROW CLOSER TO ONE OF OUR GOALS.

ES; Let's hope so...

The Pharoah

Alphonse and I were walking earlier. He was still weak. Still sick. I kept telling him to stop and rest, but he wouldn't listen. He just kept walking, until someone stood in his way. It was the Seven Of Spades.

“What are you doing here?” Al asked.

“I'm here to take you down,” Seven said.

“Is that so?” Al asked. “You think you can finally kill me now that I'm weak?”

“Die!” Seven yelled, charging.

I didn't even see what went down. It all happened so fast. In just a couple seconds, the Seven Of Spades was lying on the ground with no head. Al rached down and removed his mask, placing it on his own face.

“There's a reason I'm an Ace and you're a Seven,” Al said, before passing out.

I ran over to him and tried to wake him up. His sickness was getting worse. As I was trying to get him to regain consciousness, I noticed that there was a trail of star shaped symbols on the ground, leading down an alleyway. I remembered Pharoah's comment on the blog, and decided it was best that I take a chance and follow them. I dragged Al's body down the alley and found a doorway. I entered it to find someone waiting for me. A woman wearing loose fitting clothing, with tan skin and dark hair. There was a table in the middle of the room.

“Bring him in and set him down,” she said.

“Are you the Pharoah?” I asked.

“Yes,” she said. “Nnow hurry up. I need to treat him.”

I got him up on the table.

“Are you sure you can cure him?” I asked.

“It's not a disease,” she said. “It's a curse placed on him by the Game Master.”

“What!?” I said.

“It's true,” she replied. “I can remove the curse, but it'll take time. Make yourself at home for now.”

I had a look around, and ended up coming across a mask. A black one with a reversed red question mark on it.

“You're the Red Joker!” I said, just realizing it.

“My name is Cleopatra,” she said. “I've left that life behind. I'm not a servant of that monster any more.”

“You were just as much of a monster as he was!” I said.

“I acted that way because of him!” She snapped. “I never liked serving him! He was a horrible, sexist pig! I'm glad he's dead!”

“If you felt that way about him, why did you serve him for so long?” I asked.

“Do you think I had a choice?” she asked. “I was in his debt. He revived me. He freed me from the Archangel's grasp. I had no choice but to serve him. I wanted to go free for so long, but he wouldn't let me. But now that he's dead, I don't have to work for him any more.”

“So you're on our side now?” I asked.

“For now,” she said. “Once I've repayed my debt to Estren, I plan to go on with my life and leave all this crap behind me.”

“You're in debted to Estren?” I asked.

“Of course I am,” she said. “Look, I'd rather not talk about it write now.”

So, that was the end of that conversation. She's still treating Al. Hopefully, he'll be better after this.

Mask upgrades

Estren; This is new.

HELLFIRE; WHAT'S GOING ON?

ES; Apparently, I can type things on my mask now.

HF; HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?

ES; I don't... Wait, there's a post on my blog.

HF; LOOKS LIKE THE MASK WAS HACKED.

Es; Yeah.

HF; WHAT DO ALL THESE FUNCTION THINGIES DO?

ES; I have no idea, HELLFIRE.

HF; WELL, CLEARLY ONE OF THEM ALLOWS US TO WRITE OUR THOUGHTS DOWN USING THE MASK.

ES; I guess so... Let me try a few things. HOLY CRAP!!!

HF; WHAT'S WRONG?

ES; That glitch that's been preventing me from tracking people down is gone, plus the radius of that function has been increased.

HF; INCREASED BY HOW MUCH?

ES; Jupiter. All the way to Jupiter.

HF; YOU'RE JOKING, RIGHT?

ES; No, I'm not. I can actually scan all the way to Jupiter. Holy crap, there's life there!

HF; DUH, EVERYONE KNOWS THERE'S ALIENS UP THERE.

ES; Actually, I don't think very many people know that.

HF; YOU'RE AN IDIOT.

ES; Shut up.

HF; CAN YOU TRACK DOWN DAWSON?

ES; Well, not exactly. This function can only locate humans, and as Dawson is possessed by a Dying Man shard, I can't pin him don. However...

HF; YES?

ES; I can pick up distortions caused by the Fears, all over the world. One of those distortions has to be Silvermist.

HE; GREAT! SO, HOW MANY OF THESE DISTORTIONS DO WE HAVE TO GO THROUGH?

ES; Um... a couple hundreds. There's God knows how many Dying Man shards, plus I'm pretty sure some of the things I'm picking up are Demi Gods... But I think we can narrow their location down to somewhere in the US... Still a lot to pick through...

HF; WELL, THIS COULD TAKE A WHILE...

ES; Yeah. Wait a minute... HELLFIRE, you'll never guess who I just found!

HF; IS IT GARROT KELTERRY?

ES; …Okay, you can guess, apparently... And get this, he's still alive!

HF; WELL, LET'S FIND HIM! SILVERMIST CAN WAIT JUST A BIT, RIGHT?

ES; Yeah. Think we should contact Hideaki first? It looks like he's somewhere in Tiajuana.

HF; WHAT'S HE DOING THERE?

ES; Beats me.

HF; WELL, I SUPPOSE WE MIGHT AS WELL.

ES; Where are we, anyway?

HF; PROXY HIDEOUT. I THINK I SAW MYRIR EARLIER.

ES; I see. Should we ditch this place without speaking to anyone here?

HF; I'D KIND OF LIKE TO KNOW WHY THEY BOTHERED SAVING US FROM THAT RED CREEP, BUT I THINK WE SHOULD AVOID CONTACT WITH THEM.

?; I see you're up.

HF; WHOA, WHO'S THAT!?

ES; Jerome Welric. Sound. He must have pathed in.

JW; You've recovered.

ES; (to Sound) Yes. And I'm afraid I have to leave now.

JW; Rather inconsiderate of you, considering how much we've done to you.

ES; I can't stick around. I have several things to take care of.

JW; I am aware of that. But before you leave, I have a request.

ES; What?

JW; I need information on the whereabouts of Valerie Thien.

HF; WHO?

ES; (mentally) An emissary. Code named Wildfire. Her emissary power makes her capable of Dragonic physiology.

HF; THE HELL DOES THAT MEAN?

ES; (mentally) It means she has dragon-like powers.

HF; Oh...

ES; What do you want from her?

JW; That's none of your concern.

ES; Give me an explanation.

JW; I'm not allowed to disclose information regarding our reasons for seeking her out.

ES; Then I'm out of here.

ESTREN JUST TELEPORTED OUT OF THE HIDEOUT.

HF; YOU SURE YOU SHOULD HAVE JUST BAILED LIKE THAT?

ES; Why do you care?

HF; I DON'T. JUST WONDERING.

ES; Let's go find Hideaki.

HF; ALRIGHT. LET'S GO.

Outside source intercepting mask

mask controls overridden

beginning mask re-calibrations

entering phase 1 of re-calibration

adding function 00104

adding function 00105

adding function 00106

removing restriction 00047

removing restriction 00048

adding function 01892

adding function 01893

adding function 01894

adding function 01895

removing function 03761

adding function 04401

adding function 04402

adding function 05662

removing restriction 00108

removing restriction 00109

removing restriction 00110

removing restriction 00198

adding restriction 00365

adding restriction 00366

adding function 06038

adding function 06039

adding function 06040

adding function 06041

adding function 06042

removing restriction 00398

adding function 06043

adding function 08992

adding function 08993

removing restriction 00548

removing restriction 00549

removing function 09004

adding function 10000

removing restriction 00785

removing restriction 00786

removing restriction 00787

removing restriction 00788

removing restriction 00789

removing restriction 00790

removing restriction 00891

phase 1 complete

entering phase 2 of re-calibration

repairing glitch 028

repairing glitch 029

repairing glitch 030

repairing glitch 059

repairing glitch 060

repairing glitch 061

repairing glitch 062

repairing glitch 063

repairing glitch 064

repairing glitch 144

repairing glitch 145

repairing glitch 146

repairing glitch 147

repairing glitch 149

repairing glitch 150

repairing glitch 229

repairing glitch 230

repairing glitch 231

repairing glitch 232

phase 2 complete

entering phase 3 of re-calibration

modifying task 445

modifying task 446

modifying task 508

modifying task 509

modifying task 542

phase 3 complete

mask re-calibration complete

returning complete control to user

ending process in 3

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