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[Locked to Cybermask]
The mansion is haunting from the outside. Dilapidated, windows, doors, any possible entrances boarded up or unaccessible in one way or another. Impossible to get in in a traditional way, and he's not exactly keen to blast his way inside. He may be pissed off at Drake for having part in that operation, but he's not going to mess with his cognition needlessly. That's not to say anything of the words that appear with each step he takes not on the grass -Who can blame his parents?- appears this time, and he's quick to get back on the grass. The less he has to bear witness to... these messages, the better. Clearly they're things that Drake overheard, or were said to him, and, despite it all, it's almost...
... Nevermind. He'd rather not think too much about it.
Falcon's scanners can pick up the power level of the Shadows inside; higher level than even the ones that haunted Shido's Palace, or at least the version of Shido's Palace that appears here. Nothing he wouldn't be able to handle if needs be, but also not something to rush into alone. Loathe as he is to admit, it's probably a good thing that there's a group he can team up with. As soon as Drake gives his consent, and knows what they're doing, that is.
That's part of why Falcon is here, anyway; while a few people on the team (including Drake's own Goro) aren't powerful enough to take this Palace on any time soon, he can't trust others not to try and do something stupid. Good intentions they may have, but they also had good intentions while hacking him. Good intentions aren't everything, and like hell is going to let someone fuck Drake up just because they had 'good intentions'.
... Which, he clearly isn't the only one with that idea.
As he finishes his lap around the mansion, the only non-Shadow, non-cognition presence enters his field of view again. Futaba Akechi, codename Glitch, is holding her own vigil at the entrance of the mansion, and despite himself...
... A surge of anxiety goes through him, the file she put in his system feeling uncomfortably present. He tries to drown it out with anger, with focus on his own, self-appointed mission, but... he doesn't meet her eye. Despite dedicating a good chunk of his sensors to making sure she doesn't... try anything, to put it lightly, he cannot look her in the eye. And it seems she won't either, despite certainly knowing that he's here, so here they are. In this stalemate of mutually protecting Drake's Palace, but not interacting.
Still, as he passes by from the foliage, he shoots her a glance, and this time- their eyes meet uncomfortably. He grits his teeth.
He continues, and completes another lap. Rinse. Repeat. He's got nothing to say to her. Okay, that isn't true, he's got plenty to say, but it's nothing she doesn't know already, nor is it relevant.
He'll deal with his discomfort. He'll deal with teaming up with the others when they're ready and Drake is in the know.
But for now, he continues to ignore Glitch, and makes another lap.
... Nevermind. He'd rather not think too much about it.
Falcon's scanners can pick up the power level of the Shadows inside; higher level than even the ones that haunted Shido's Palace, or at least the version of Shido's Palace that appears here. Nothing he wouldn't be able to handle if needs be, but also not something to rush into alone. Loathe as he is to admit, it's probably a good thing that there's a group he can team up with. As soon as Drake gives his consent, and knows what they're doing, that is.
That's part of why Falcon is here, anyway; while a few people on the team (including Drake's own Goro) aren't powerful enough to take this Palace on any time soon, he can't trust others not to try and do something stupid. Good intentions they may have, but they also had good intentions while hacking him. Good intentions aren't everything, and like hell is going to let someone fuck Drake up just because they had 'good intentions'.
... Which, he clearly isn't the only one with that idea.
As he finishes his lap around the mansion, the only non-Shadow, non-cognition presence enters his field of view again. Futaba Akechi, codename Glitch, is holding her own vigil at the entrance of the mansion, and despite himself...
... A surge of anxiety goes through him, the file she put in his system feeling uncomfortably present. He tries to drown it out with anger, with focus on his own, self-appointed mission, but... he doesn't meet her eye. Despite dedicating a good chunk of his sensors to making sure she doesn't... try anything, to put it lightly, he cannot look her in the eye. And it seems she won't either, despite certainly knowing that he's here, so here they are. In this stalemate of mutually protecting Drake's Palace, but not interacting.
Still, as he passes by from the foliage, he shoots her a glance, and this time- their eyes meet uncomfortably. He grits his teeth.
He continues, and completes another lap. Rinse. Repeat. He's got nothing to say to her. Okay, that isn't true, he's got plenty to say, but it's nothing she doesn't know already, nor is it relevant.
He'll deal with his discomfort. He'll deal with teaming up with the others when they're ready and Drake is in the know.
But for now, he continues to ignore Glitch, and makes another lap.
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Did she have other things she could say? Yes, but she didn't want to. She didn't have the energy.
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"I'm not yelling at you. I'm simply stating facts."
He is.
With another round complete, he pauses briefly to look at her again.
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"I don't fucking know! Couldn't you assholes have figured it the fuck out before you hacked me?"
That's not fair of him and he knows it, but just thinking about it, just feeling the files stuck in his head, foreign and not meant to be there and untrustworthy and wrong, the phantom sensastion of something worming its way inside his head against his will-
He can see the scene before him again in vivid detail, memory files forcing their way to the front unprompted, causing him to freeze in place as he tries to force them back out, but it's not working, it's not fucking working. When did his fans start spinning so loudly? His balance feels off, and his foot ends up on stone- 'At least if you pulled out a gun and shot me, I would have seen that coming' -the words appear as he hisses, trying to back off but feeling so, so off-kilter all of a sudden.
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" What do you want now? Do you want it gone?"
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He says them out loud instead of texting, a snarl on his face. Futaba's Persona hovers ominously on the edge of his vision, and he can just see the tentacles coming out for him.
No- no, it's not real fucking- get it together- he's on a mission here.
Scanners stretched thin, he forces himself to continue his round, stomping through the grass.
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She didn't react. She just waited for a while. That's all she had been doing for... however long it's been.
" Someone else can remove it. Doesn't have to be metaverse. "
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By the time he completes his next round, his head has cleared somewhat, though he still feels the unease, the frustration.
"I don't want anyone rooting around in my head anymore. I can't stand the thought. I don't want anyone doing that to Drake, either."
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She watched him. No, it wasn't watching, it was blank staring. It was her eyes caught movement but there wasn't anything there to support not following her instincts.
She moved for the first time in what had to have been hours. There was stretching from her muscles and a pained sound from her.
It wasn't a large move. In fact, it wasn't even one that was to her advantage. It made her smaller. It made her easier to attack and would be harder to retaliate from.
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"I'm not trusting any foreign code blindly, thank you very much."
... But as he sends the text, his audio receptors pick up a pained noise, his head snapping towards Futaba. Fuck, he didn't sense any Shadows coming out of the mansion, and sure, he doesn't like her, but if she's in trouble he has to-
... Oh. There are no Shadows. What is she...? He narrows his eyes. Is she deliberately sabotaging herself? Frustration mounts on top of frustration, and he lets out an annoyed growl.
"I could shoot you right now and you wouldn't have time to dodge while sitting like that. There's no enemies right now, but that can change at any time. At least try to act like you care."
"If you can't keep up, get out, or get your act together. Isn't he your brother?"
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What was he trying to imply? Was he trying to get a rise of of her? She didn't understand. Did she want to? Was it her... job? Her place? She didn't think so.
"Why are you here?"
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Not to mention, there's a reason he's been keeping such a close eye on her. In her place, he wouldn't be nearly as complacent around the one whose brain he rearranged. She's goddamn lucky he doesn't want her dead, and that he's, in his own opinion, being so understanding about the whole thing.
Fuck knows none of these assholes deserve his understanding, but he can't be mad about being free from Shido, fragile as his freedom may feel.
"I'm simply making sure no other morons show up to do to Drake what you did to me. Regardless of my personal feelings towards him, I refuse to allow it."
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She glances over at him. Then speaks, not texts for the first time. Her voice was dead, broken, unused, "I've already told you that you can kill me."
She looked away, back out into the distance, out into nowhere, keeping herself still.
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And then she speaks out loud, and despite his words moments earlier, something inside him snaps, and he turns towards her, fury in his eyes as he meets hers intentionally for the first time since he's arrived.
"For the love of- if you want me to kill you that badly-"
There's a distinct clicking sound as he raises his arms at her, protective caps unlatching from his finger tips.
"-maybe I fucking will!"
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She moves again, a little challenging, but nothing that says she'll put up a fight.
"You have someone who you know is controlled by Shido, who you know you can help, but if you tell him, he'll kill you with a second thought, you also can't determine how strong he is so you don't know if you can handle him on your own or if you need others to help you. You still can't tip him off or he'll try to kill you. You know you have to give him the freedom he needs so you spend days, staying up writing codes not knowing exactly what code you will be getting into in the heat of battle, but praying it works, praying you don't break him, praying everything goes right, then knowing he's going to hate you." She huffed.
"So yeah, I'd like to know what exactly your step by step plan would have been."
oh boy Falcon is certainly implicating things about BMtaba (cw: suicide)
"I don't fucking know!" he yells, voice glitching out a little near the end from pure, unadulterated fury. His arm trembles, but stays firmly aimed at Futaba. "I don't fucking know- I just-"
He lets out a shout of frustration, throwing his arm up in the air as a volley of bullets follows- missing Futaba by a landslide, harmlessly flying up into nothing, away from the mansion. Fuck, he hates her. He hates her. He hates her.
(Not as much as Shido, not enough to want her dead, but fuck.)
"Stop acting like you're the victim here, and get yourself together instead of- whatever the fuck it is you're doing," he growls, slowly lowering his arm, breaking eye contact. "I won't be an accessory to your suicide."
suicide continued
She ran a hand down her face. "I'm not trying to commit suicide." At least maybe he'll stop trying to force all of his anger on her. That's the best outcome she can think of.
Re: suicide continued
"But you're also not making a great case for yourself," he growls, "could've fucking fooled me."
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"I never said you weren't. However, if you're going to let it wreck your body before anything has even happened, then you're as good as worthless to not only the mission, but also your brother."
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"Of course I do. If I didn't, I couldn't summon Personas," he huffs, "I'm just not sugarcoating the truth."
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"So I've gathered," he huffs, crossing his arms. He doesn't take his eye off her. "You're certainly rebelling against common sense right now. Are you really intent on staying here until- what, the end of time, if needs be? Ignoring your own needs? Your own body?"
Hypocritical. So is he. But he's a machine. He can afford to do so.
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"Your body may be able to be remade here, but if it's already in poor condition prior, I doubt that'll just get fixed."
Not that he'd know. He's never seen anyone die here, but from the sounds of it, people just... respawn as they were before.
"It's pretty hypocritical of you to force me to become 'better', but won't even do the same for yourself."
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He briefly stares her down. "Don't become a liability."
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The connection between him and his phone pings, and he pulls up the message. It's Frog.
"... Or not. Ren has indicated he doesn't want us doing this." Irritating. How is he supposed to keep track of who tries to mess with the Palace like this?
Still, it's his Palace. His mind. Even if Falcon doesn't particularly like the guy, and won't lose any sleep over his situation, it feels wrong to just leave it as is.
Whatever.
"You better leave, too," he says, before he activates his internal Nav-
-and disappears from the Palace with a ripple, leaving Futaba by herself.