The Heist

[crypddyd]

They had been investigating for weeks, planning and setting up for what seemed like forever. But now was the time for everything to go into action. One team dressed up and settled into various undercover positions in the casino- including Lion himself over at the slots, in case he needed to call Greta and let her know someone was calling her out. Though hopefully, word of mouth would find her first.

Another at the bank, Mona using her Executor weapon to prove they could break-in at any time. It was all or nothing now- either way Greta was about to learn there were way more Executors than she previously assumed.

That is, if the Executors were right in their assumptions. But after last time who knows what might happen...

Comments

[mementomoritz]

Oh, they're a religious group in my world! Not a very common one, these days, but they're still around here and there- and I think they were a pretty big deal, pre-Cascade.

Anyway, the whole "seven deadly sins" idea was something they had. Each layer of Purgatory seems to match up to one of them: envy, greed, pride, gluttony, lust, sloth, and wrath.

[swordofajerk]

...and why haven't you shared that information before? If that's the case, then knowing that might help us prepare for the next Layer.

[mementomoritz]

[FURTHER CONFUSION.]

I have, though? Chiron and I had a whole conversation about it. It got very philosophical. [Eh, that's just Chiron.] And I'm pretty sure Rei already knows...

[swordofajerk]

To the rest of us, Medic. Chiron and Rei are two people out of how many?

[mementomoritz]

Twenty-seven, total.

[Her expression is... suddenly, uncharacteristically solemn.]

I hope it still is.

[swordofajerk]

Hope what still is?

[mementomoritz]

[Medic looks him very calmly, very flatly in the eye. She pulls out one of her notebooks, and flips to one of the earliest pages.]

This is every Executor appointed by Rei or otherwise currently operating, to my knowledge, since we woke up. [It's a list of names.]

[Rei, Seal, Wolfsbane, Pariah Autumn, Relic, Beast Achilles, Magnum Opus Mona, Ariel, Medic, White Eagle, Espresso, Lion, Royal Veil, Brainiac, Hope, La Luna, Your Majesty Chiron, Kingslayer, Phoenix, Iris, Jock Isabel, Clocks, Fury, Ruin, Frost, Sword, Second.]

And... [She flips to another page. This one is much closer to the end.] ...this is every Executor that I've seen, spoken to, heard from, heard about, or seen any proof of life for within the last three weeks.

[The list is fifteen names long.]

[swordofajerk]

[Sword scans both lists.]

Stop. You're just hurting yourself.

[mementomoritz]

No. [She shakes her head slowly.] I'm not hurt. Maybe no one is, and everything's completely fine.

But we don't know.

Unless we find out what happened to them, we might never know at all.

[swordofajerk]

And is wasting all your time wondering actually helping anyone?

[mementomoritz]

I'm worried we might have wasted too much time already.

[She sighs quietly, snaps the notebook shut and tucks it under her arm, and opens her eyes to meet Sword's gaze again.]

I haven't found any of them. But I've found a lot of places where they could have been- should have been, in more than one case- and weren't. I've never found any sign of a struggle in their last known locations, or anything out of the ordinary about their behavior in retrospect. They just... aren't around anymore.

I don't know what's happening to us, but my current working theory is that it isn't good.

I would really like to be proven wrong.

[swordofajerk]

So maybe they rejoined the mindless horde. They're not here anymore, so why dwell on it?

[mementomoritz]

[YEAH, THAT'S THEORY NUMBER ONE.]

[They only get less pleasant from there.]

Because if we don't know why it happens, we don't know how to make it stop. Or whether it can happen to us. [Plainly, and with no self-consciousness whatsoever:] And because they were my friends, and I miss them.

[swordofajerk]

Why does it matter? Who knows, maybe it's just part of this afterlife.

[....he doesn't have a response to that last bit, though.]

[mementomoritz]

[...Yeah she's just looking at him like he's going around wearing his underwear on his head now.]

Death is just a natural part of life, but you still tried to survive, didn't you? [Admittedly, it would explain some things if he didn't.] It's important to me on both a personal and a practical level to know what happened to my friends and whether or not it can happen to me. And to you, whether you care or not.

Because I'm your doctor, and that's my job.

[swordofajerk]

I don't remember lying down and waiting for death to take me, no.

[...but even as he says that, something feels Weird about it. He's in his twenties, he thinks, so obviously he lived for a good while there, but...]

Just...whatever, just don't put that over what we're supposed to be doing.