THE NINTH GATE - [modplot]

[letsgolegion]

Who| Anyone who signed up
What| "The Ninth Gate" plot
Where| It starts on Rimbor, moves to Earth
When| The same time as "Gone-Away World" and "Total Eclipso the Heart"
Warnings/Notes| Lots of really fucked up suicide cult stuff.

It's not that difficult to get a lead on where the Catastrophists are recruiting, but so far the survival rate of undercover Scicops is...bad. As in, none of the undercover cops that have been sent in have come back. So with the rise in Catastrophist activity and losing several of their top undercover officers, the Science Police has actually asked for the Legion's help for once. A few tips from their contacts have made it clear that something big is coming, a terrorist attack of sometime, and time is running out. They need to get someone on the inside that actually survives, and they're hoping the Legion can do what they couldn't.

Fortunately, there's an easy in to at least start the undercover op.

The Science Police has long since determined that the Universal Brotherhood is just a front for the Catastrophists, largely due to the references to Apokolips and Darkseid they keep dropping. Science Police specialists and Legion intelligence officers handle the initial contacts, creating fake personas that they chat out as getting duped into embracing the Catastrophists' cause. They even donate enough credits to make it seem like the personas are emptying out their modest bank accounts to support the cause.

The next step is a very thorough briefing given to the Legionnaires going undercover on this mission, so they know every possible detail about their fake personas, and have access to all the chats they need to pretend to remember having.

Then, they're armed with very advanced technology to use to infiltrate the group. Super advanced subdermal hard-light hologram generators, sensor emulators that give off biosigns that fit their personas, advanced psi-blockers that even allow them to project surface thoughts that fit their cover. They have all the knowledge they need to infiltrate the group - now they just have to survive initiation.

They're sent in three pairs to sign up for recruitment in a shady bar on Rimbor, at separate times so them showing up together doesn't seem suspicious. Rimbor is an urban world that's just layers and layers of city on top of older cities. They're all led underground, to abandoned under-levels that used to be on the top levels of the cities only a few hundred years before, but are now that are deemed uninhabitable even by the lowest dregs of Rimborian society.

Once they're in, there are only two ways out: through surviving initiation or in body bags dropped in Rimbor's massive trash incinerators.

Comments

npcs come to us!

[araignee_du_soir]

For one of us, she telepathically quipped back, not specifying which one of them. It was meant to be humorous, but the cold, emptiness of her thoughts obscured that.

Widowmaker glanced at the door the empath had gone through, wondering how long they were going to keep them waiting. She turned over the section of the map through that doorway in her head, just to occupy herself.

Oh, I have an extraction route already planned if needed, she thought to Garrus. It was probably appreciated information.

Re: npcs come to us!

[legionnpcs]

The guide and Brother Maynard return.

"Come," says the guide. "You're ready to move onto the next phase."

He gestures for them to follow and leads them into a room that has two hooded cultists.

"The next step is an offering of pain. To serve us and to serve the one true way of the universe you must be willing to give up everything, and that may mean giving up your lives. It may entail untold suffering. But this price is one that will bring us all closer to the oblivion we rightly deserve."

He gestures to each cultist. Both of them are wearing alarming black masks.

"Sister Ellora is a Rezmutan. She has the ability to call forth your most painful memories and bring you to the absolute heights of emotional pain and despair. Brother Rellick is a Triilk, capable of using his powers to tap into the pain centers of the brain of most sentients."

Each of the cultists nod in greeting.

"You may each choose the nature of the pain you're willing to endure, physical or mental, but you still must choose. Those who can't endure aren't fit to join our ranks."

Re: npcs come to us!

[calibrates_big_guns]

++Good to know. Hopefully it doesn't come to that, but a back-up never hurts.++

He was about to ask for specifics when the door creaks open and Maynard re-enters and ushers them into the next room. As Brother Maynard explains the next step, he does his best to appear raptly attentive.

If they'd placed a bet, he'd owe Widowmaker a few credits.

After a moment's deliberation, he takes a step towards Sister Ellora.

"I'm ready. To prove myself."

And, for whatever it's worth, he believes that. All of his most painful memories - every failure and loss - stuck with him. They came to him in quiet moments and made him doubt himself. But, he'd had time to reflect on them. To make his peace. Some of the pain might still be fresh thanks to the Legacy dredging all of it back up, but some of his teammates had helped put things in perspective and help him be just a little less hard on himself.

And if that didn't work, whatever Ellora pulled to the front of his mind would be something he'd lived through over and over again. Nothing he could say to himself would be new.

[araignee_du_soir]

No one should ever bet with Widowmaker. She wasn't the risk taker of Talon, being fine tuned into a weapon, and her cold logic allowed her to properly assess situations without the rush of emotion making her think she can do something she couldn't. Of course, she was an arrogant woman with a very high level of confidence.

It influenced her in this next trial as the cultists gave them a choice as to how to suffer. Widowmaker wasn't above cheating and, really, was it cheating if she used her own powers to her advantage? It was impossible to feel emotional pain when one was immune to emotional manipulation. She may as well ride that as long as she could.

She, too, nodded to Sister Ellora. "The body is but a shell. The true test is with you, Sister."

[legionnpcs]

"You will go one at a time," says the guide. "You may comfort one another during the ritual, if you choose. Our paths to the end of days are not something we'll all face alone. We'll all walk together hand in hand to the peace of oblivion. "

He gestures for one of them to lay down on a soft mat in front of Sister Ellora.

[calibrates_big_guns]

Garrus nods and, in the interest of maintaining their cover, reaches out and brushes his fingers over the back of Widowmaker's hand. Then, he steps forward and eases down onto the mat. He draws in a breath, lets his eyes drift shut, and nods.

[araignee_du_soir]

Widowmaker made herself soften her eyes a bit at that touch, a conscious effort when with someone she didn't have any attachment to, even,if she generally liked Garrus. As he laid down, she moved to kneel beside him, lightly laying a cool hand upon what was appeared to be an ankle. Turians had such odd legs, so she couldn't really equivocatr what part of his leg she was actually touching, but it worked to convey the comfort her persona was meant to give.

[legionnpcs]

Sister Ellora starts and her power doesn't just draw the memories to the surface of his mind. She makes him experience them all over again, and the feelings he felt while they happened - and any negative feelings he felt after, in reflection - all pile up on each other, heightened, worse even than what he originally felt at the time.

Her powers allow her to make people experience their worst memories but also to feel their pain and life's regrets that came later, the pain of the past and present all rolled up into one.

[calibrates_big_guns]

Sister Ellora begins and Garrus shudders.

He sees Dr. Saleon's ship escaping, captive employees in tow. He's angry, furious at the fact that this monster gets to walk away free. Saleon could change his name, work the fringes of the galaxy, and it would take years to find him again - provided anyone even cared enough to look. He felt powerless, weighed down by the badge he carried to the point that he was utterly useless. People would die because his hands were tied.

He sees the Normandy burning, and again, he feels powerless. The Normandy's weapons had been knocked out in the opening salvo - no chance to even squeeze off a single shot in retaliation. Maybe if he had been faster, he could have made a difference. Probably not - he knew that - 'what if' are the two most dangerous words in any language. What if he'd gotten that shot off? What if he'd gone with Shepard? Would she have made it out?

He sees his squadmates lying on the ground in his safehouse on Omega, their blood pooling on the ground. They were dead because of him. He knew that. If it weren't for him and his stupid crusade, they'd still be alive. He could get even. He could make the mercenaries who did it bleed. But he could never fix it. Their blood was on his hands, and he'd never be able to make things right.

He saw Sidonis down the scope of his rifle - head hung, dead inside. He'd wanted to kill this broken, pathetic man. He'd wanted it more than almost anything, but seeing him there ...? Garrus saw the truth and he knew how blinded he'd been with his own anger. Sidonis wasn't innocent, but he wasn't the traitor that Garrus had built in his mind. He didn't deserve to die, but Garrus had almost put him to death.

What was wrong with him?

[araignee_du_soir]

Widowmaker kept her hand on Garrus when he shuddered and the play of emotions moved over the face his disguise gave him. She remained silent for a long moment before she squeezed his leg a little.

"Just let it roll off you; it is in the past and matters not. You can bear anything once you let go and stare into the void of what is to come." Her voice was quiet, perhaps not even heard in the midst of his emotional torment, but it didn't matter; she was doing her job.

[calibrates_big_guns]

She was. And he may not have heard her voice, but he felt the touch. It gave him something to focus on, and step-by-step he was able to clear his mind, finding calm in the pain. The agitated twitching stops.

[legionnpcs]

"There now. There are some who would break under the weight of their past hardships. But it isn't yet time for that. We must carry on at least long enough to bring about a proper ending," says Sister Ellora. "After facing the past, are you ready, recruit, to face the end that lies in your future?"

[calibrates_big_guns]

"I'm ready." Garrus says, sounding steadier than he probably feels as he sits up.

[araignee_du_soir]

Widowmaker rose to her feet and offered a hand to help Garrus up. She watched the cult members out of the corner of her eye to assess their reaction as her companion recovered. It would help her calculate how much they liked the reaction Garrus gave. She was going to need to present something similar, as the emotional pain wouldn't affect her when it was her turn.

[legionnpcs]

"Yes, you understand," says the guide. "Your suffering helped you see the truth, that there is only one way to end all suffering. What we ask of you is to take conviction from that truth as you join the fight beside us."

They clearly have heard and seen what they wanted to see and hear with Garrus. Their expectations from this ritual are both that their conscripts can survive hardship and that their suffering makes them further believe in the cause.

Sister Ellora gestures for Widowmaker to lay down next.

[calibrates_big_guns]

There's a part of Garrus that wants to make something resembling a witty remark - some pithy quip about how there's only one way this ends that would come off as agreement rather than the veiled threat it was ... but Sister Ellora poking around in his memories had drained him. It was an almost physical exhaustion that left him just a little slow to get to his feet and shift out of the way.

Not far though. He was sticking close to Widowmaker, playing his part and offering moral support that Amélie probably didn't need.

But then again, maybe she did. He'd never really thought that she was as completely devoid of feeling as she tried to project. The empath's read of her had put a dent in that theory, but if anything was going to get under her skin, it'd be Ellora.

[araignee_du_soir]

Widowmaker was of the opinion she didn't need any support, but their cover was important. She held Garrus' eyes a brief moment - to check that he was mentally present - before she settled down to receive the 'pain' from Sister Ellora. She curled her hands in and then relaxed them, making herself look just the slightest bit nervous.

She wasn't. "I am ready, Sister."