Reroll

I'm perfectly fine, but that was the ‘limited time’ I referenced earlier.  And as per the plan… it's time to go.  I walk calmly through the chaos and meet up with Ed and Betty, greeting them at the designated spot (they can't easily see me without a host).

I look around while I do, “About what I expected. I lost count of how many we healed.”

Ed shakes his head, “You're the infinity gauntlet. We're just backup.”

I shake my head, “Don't undervalue backup… also, of course, you were in a better spot to observe. Did we learn anything today?”

Ed crinkles his forehead, “I don't see how we could have; what's to learn?”

Betty, howeverhas something, “All of their forces in this region are at the college, and they DON'T have teleporters.”

I raise an eyebrow, not that anyone can see right now.  

Ed mirrors me though, “Oh? And how do you get to that conclusion?”

Betty's turn to feel smart, I guess, “Timing. Also, I was checking UsTube, Chatter, and BookFace on my phone.  Well, up until Chatter and BookFace broke under the load.  Basically, social media platforms exploded with the news about ten minutes after you started - in a ‘no way anyone on the platforms could miss it’ kind of way.”

“And it took much more than ten minutes for the calvary to arrive to stop me,” I'm nodding… I should probably fetch a body so people can see. “Hold a moment while I get into a body…” I possess my Animal Companion, “Done; please continue.”

“It did!” Betty beams, “In fact, it took about five minutes more than it takes to drive from the college to here.”

Ed nods, “Well deduced.”

Meanwhile, I finally spot the van I've been looking for: Plain white, with too many antennas.  I let Betty have her moment to shine, rather than stepping on her reveal with the obvious conclusions.

She continues, “So while they have a lot of agents… they only have so many, and most of them are tied up at the college. They caught wind of us on social media, quickly threw together a bad plan because they needed one immediately, and sent someone out to do it.”

“Well reasoned, Betty.” I pause a moment, “Also… we now know something else, too.”

“Oh?” Ed looks at me.

“There's a range limit on their control of those meat puppets called Guardians,” I point at the van, “Why else would that be here?”

Ed considers, “Fair. Anyone have mind control today?”

Betty beats me to the answer, “Indirectly, yes. I can make a minion with it.”

I had the same answer, mind, but she IS better at those for now, “Great! Please build a few casters… you know the tricks?”

“Biggest one is the Mage archetype,” she confirms, “trade out the natural attack on an Orb for Implement Bearer to get the caster level up.  We want the Mind sphere with Expanded Charm, Powerful Charm, and Enthrall…which will put my minion at the limit of talents known for now.”

“We could squeeze out another with the Unwilling archetype…” I start to suggest.

“No point,” Betty counters, “Those talents are enough to get the job done, so it's not worth the risk of it turning on us in battle that comes with the Unwilling archetype.”

Ed considers, “The save DC is going to suck… make three, please.”

Betty cringes, “That puts me close to my limit on Shadow Points, I’d like to keep at least some in reserve.  Two, maybe? They can cast their Charm a few times.”

I consider, “That makes sense to me.  I have the same trick, so I can play backup, but yours are better at it.”

Betty nods, and creates two shadow minions.

Ed blinks, “Ah…we're out in the open….”

Betty chuckles, “Selective Illusions.  They only exist for the people I choose, and I can change that list freely.”  Yeah, Spheres has some really fun stuff.

“Great… I'll go get him: Possess him, walk her out, release her, and let your minions cast.” I pause, “Sound like a plan?”

Ed raises an eyebrow.

I explain, “The ‘no brothers’ clause affects any form I take; I can't change shape into a man at all.  I found recently it affects other routes of being male as well… I possessed a controller previously, and he turned into a woman.  I expect the same thing again.”

Betty considers, “So he'll get to learn the joys of the other side of the fence, assuming a male controller. Acceptable to give him that gift, I suppose.”

Ed raises an eyebrow, “Ah…” then changes his mind, “Works for me, too.  We can let him be on the receiving end.”

I nod, “I'll go get him, then…” and release my control of my animal companion, activating my Mythic ring for the X-Ray Vision, and heading over.

I take a moment to look inside before I take over… two Guardians in the van with him, weapons drawn.  Huh… well, I'll need to slide in from underneath in case they can see me. Easy enough.

I duck into the ground enough to get under the van, and looking up, get directly underneath my intended victim, and step up into him to possess him… and get kicked back into the ground. What? Ah, right, Malevolence offers a will save. Anyone will make one of those at least 5% of the time… and I can't try again on him for a full day.  Hmm.

I can't retry on HIM for a full day. There are, conveniently, two other targets.

As the controller looks around with some confusion on his face (a successful will save results in a hostile tingle in the subject), I try the same drill on one of the Guardians… and slide right in.  I quickly point the gun, my new body still morphing, and blast the head off the other guardian.  Wow these hand cannons have some kick… but these arms can totally take it.  Huh.

“You're coming…” I don't get to finish the sentence.  The controller hits a button, and my head explodes as my body collapses to the ground.

Well, my meat puppet’s head and body, anyway.  I'm fine, that just kicks me out.  I guess the Guardians are very disposable.

I conjure a Shadow grenade into my hand, focusing on letting it remain visible, pulling the first pin but keeping a grip and turning it into a deadman switch, “That's just a mild headache for ME.  Did you really think that woman was working alone?  How many people do you think will die because you murdered the person that was only trying to help?  You WILL come with me, MURDERER, because I have no problems reducing you to paste.  I'm sure you've heard of what happened to your coworker, yes?  They needed a mop and bucket to clean up what was left of him.  But you might, maybe, be able to convince me to spare your pathetic existence if you cooperate…” I go on like that for a while.  I'm rolling Intimidate here, and it takes a bit.  It's nowhere near as good as Diplomacy, but it fits the situation much better.

And after a minute, his pants are wet, he's sobbing, and begging me to spare him… yeah, I think that worked.

“It did,” my Sense Motive ‘Al’ informs me, “But he'll hate you later once he's had some time to think.”

Yeah, I know. Intimidate is very temporary, and makes things worse in the long run.

I nod, not that anyone can see, noting that all four of the screens are showing static now… interesting, the kill switch hits them all, huh?  Good to know… and I march the blubbering wreck of a man to my companions.

“Betty looks at me, “So… no mind control, then?”

“Nah,” I let her know, “But you might want to stay out of the blast radius,” I'm still holding a live grenade, after all.

“I thought the plan was to NOT be the bad guys…” Ed seems confused.

I shrug, “Plan A didn't work, so I had to improvise.  This is Plan C.”

“What happened to plan B?” Betty wonders aloud.

“Turns out they have bombs in the Guardians,” I shake my head, “presumably against just such shenanigans as I tried.”

I bring the grenade right next to the controller’s neck, “Now, you're going to be a good little meatsack and answer all of our questions… and if you don't lie, we might even let you continue being a live meatsack when we're done with you… that's fair, right?  Oh yes, and we WILL know if you try to deceive us.”

“Yes… life is good… anything you want to know… you're the boss… bosses… what do you want to know?  Anything at all…” it's a cool day, but the man is visibly sweating.  I don't feel great about this.  I can pull it off, but… eugh.  Still: We need info.

Ed rubs his chin for a bit and switches to Shae, “You realize we're probably going to need to kill him regardless, right?”

“Yeah, I know,” I shrug, not that anyone can see, and replying in Shae as well, “Still, this guy did puppet that Guardian into ‘killing me’ when I was giving out healing to the dying with no strings attached, so I'm not going to lose much sleep over it.”

Betty nods and continues in the fantasy language, “I'm cool with it.  Let's get to asking questions.   Who's first?”