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WHO: Open to all Dualizens
WHAT: When Roboclones Attack
WHERE: Anywhere in the city!
WHEN: The night of Oct. 19
WARNINGS: Please use these if applicable! And if you happen to end up dead by roboclone, please fill out the death form!

It’s an ordinary night in Dualis, until it suddenly becomes a very dark and stormy night in Dualis. There hasn’t been a single day of unpleasant weather since any of you arrived, but soon after the sun begins to sink behind the city’s skyscrapers and the neon lights intensify for the night, storm clouds begin to gather overhead and unleash a cacophony of thunder, a deluge of rain, and brilliant spikes of lightning arcing across the sky.

It’s a violent storm, to be sure, but surely severe weather is no challenge in such a technologically advanced city as Dualis, right? As long as you stay indoors, you can keep safe and dry until the storm passes.

Except … less than an hour after the storm begins, the power all across the city goes completely out. All buildings are dark except for the illumination cast by lightning across brick and steel and glass. All electronics - including phones - are dead, all biometric locks are disabled, and no attempts to call, text, or reach the internet or the network succeed. Eerily, the streets are silent and empty.

Under normal circumstances, such a widespread blackout would merely be odd and inconvenient, but tonight, circumstances are anything but normal. About half an hour after the blackout begins, something approaches you, wherever you are. In the dark, you’ll be able to make out that its shape is humanoid, but maybe its motions are jerky and mechanical. As it draws closer and you get a better look, by candlelight or flashlight or flash of lightning, you recognize the face staring back at you.

That face is your own.

The face, like the rest of the body, is likely some degree of incomplete, an incongruous jigsaw of metal and flesh, but it’s definitely yours. And this machine doppelganger’s mission is soon made apparent as it launches a targeted attack on you:

It’s here to kill you.

After nearly four hours, the storm subsides and the power is restored and the city falls back into its normal rhythm. Will you survive until then?

May the odds be ever in your favor, friends.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

He nodded off-handedly at her, not stopping until they were safely in the stairwell and the door was shut behind them. He was sure she could help, somehow, but without knowing what was coming.

"I don't know. There is a lot of movement on the ground, but it's difficult to see in the rain." He stops, though, looking down at her. "You mentioned...looking before."

"Yes. I can look at a lot of things. So can you." She lightly bops his nose and looks into his eyes. "But probably not like me. I can leave my body and look at places from above. Or go to other places." And sometimes she could see the future. That required her to really look though and really try. Neither of which she had done here yet. She also hadn't tried astral projecting nearly as much as she should have been here.

"I was going to try up there but then..." The power went out and she was interrupted.

"Not the way you do," he nodded, mirroring her words. He'd never heard of astral projection or anything quite like what she was describing, but if it could give them an advantage on whatever was coming...he felt a pang of guilt at the idea of using her.

He nodded. "Can you try from inside?"

"Maybe. I can try! But..." she looked down and then up at him. "I won't be here anymore. I leave myself." Which meant he'd have to watch her. Usually that was why she chose to do it when nobody else was around. That way nobody could hurt her while she's out.

He didn't really understand the mechanics of what she meant to do, but he didn't need to to watch her. He nodded.

"I'll protect you."

"Okay. I trust you." After all he never seemed to have a problem with her reading his mind. That was a good indication that he didn't feel like he had too much to hide.

"Don't be startled." She gave him a hint of a smile and then took a seat. Her eyes turned bright white and she fell back against the wall, going slightly limp. It was a few minutes before she jerked back.

"I still can't see right." And maybe she couldn't here. "I should have been trying more. I'm sorry." There was a huge frown on her face and frustration in her voice. Maybe the next attempt would go better. "There are things out there. I couldn't tell much. But I think they're attacking people?"

He wasn't. He'd never seen anything quite like what Arkady did when she...did whatever it was she was doing, but he was also attentive, able to put aside his lack of understanding and keep an eye on her. He kept his hand near the grip of his gun, waiting tensely until she came back to him.

"Things? Which direction did they come from?"

"Everywhere that I could see." Or maybe it was more accurate to say that they were just spreading out everywhere. "Maybe they're looking for people?" She wasn't entirely sure and that just caused her expression to contort in frustration more. "I can usually see a lot more in a city. I can't see past it but we caused that. I don't know why I can't see here. I'm sorry."

If the darkness was meant to serve as a cover, it made sense they had specific targets, even if the directive was 'cause as much devastation as possible. He nodded. "Don't apologize. What are they?"

Knowing that was the first step to dealing with them, after all.

"Oh...I'm...not sure? I was only looking from above. They look like people. I couldn't tell too much though. But something feels.." she shrugs and contorts her face contorts in frustration. "I could try to look for thoughts but that's harder. I can try. That's what I do."

"You can sense others' thoughts?" That was interesting to note, but would need to be explored more in depth some other time. For now, there were more important things to focus on.

"Try. It might help us better understand what's going on here."

"Yes. Like I how I hear what you think sometimes. But instead of hearing I just can feel where you are. Just that there's thoughts there." That probably didn't make too much sense. Had she ever really even explained how she heard him in his own head? Did she ever explain anything? She couldn't remember again.

He told her to try though and so she will. Her eyes start glowing again and she stops blinking completely.

"I can feel other people running around. People seem scared." There's sympathy in her voice. She's a tiny bit scared herself. "I don't sense anything else though. It's empty...? And" her face twisted up and she winces. "It stings kinda." She blinks and her eyes go back to normal. There's a look of frustration and pain on her face. "I'm sorry. I don't know what's happening."

He nods, uncertain whether or not he completely follows what she's doing, but writing it off for the moment as something he need not understand. Instead, he looks toward the interior of the building, downstairs. He could help, but he didn't want to leave her, either.

"You should return to the room. It should be safer there." He didn't mean to belittle her abilities, of course.

"But what about you? What are you going to do?" Her expression shifts to one of concern. He clearly can take care of himself. That much is obvious to her but there's still a hint of worry in her tone. If she can't figure out what's going on then it could be something very bad. Or at least something surprising. Being unprepared can be dangerous and unprepared is exactly what everyone is right now.

"Everyone always does this." She can help but nobody ever wants her to. They meant well but it's tiresome. Annoying. Arguing with it never worked though, so she simply looks away. "Don't get hurt. I'll be mad."

He had a response prepared at first, that he was going to help if he could, to fight whatever was coming, to help alleviate that fear she was sensing from the populous, but her expression and her tone stopped him from leaving. He frowned. There were others here who could fight. It would wait a moment.

"Does what?"

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