Madoka fights the Illuminati (PMMM) [DEAD]

Having exited back into the fairgrounds of the conference, you make it your intention to go and scurry for whatever left that is interesting.

But first, you have to check on how to get that hand to Kamijou-san. You open the box to find a note that was stashed there by Longwei. The instructions were such:

"There is an envelope further in the box. Go to the back alley doctor." An address is given. "Put it on the box, there's some false ID for him to get into the hospital and graft it onto violin boy."

Quite casual in tone it all seemed. You shrugged and stuffed it into Von Schoenkopf.

---

After a while wandering around the fairground, you find yourself in front of the hardware stall. The sales assistants seems to be sleeping on top of a high-end graphics card sales box, with a price tag attached to it, at 360000 yen. You've happen to got 400000 yen on you right now. Other assorted goods including keyboards, a monitor a case, a power supply, lie around him.

[] Wake him up and buy it.
[] Steal it.

---

20000000 yen (400000 on person)

April Saturday the 2nd, 6:35 pm

Anime timeline comparison:

• 26th March Mami vs Gertrud
• 4th April Mami vs Charlotte

29 days remaining until ???

 

Wellllll... I don't actually think we need that high end graphics card.

[X] Check with Stahl to see if any of the stuff is worth the price he's asking for. (By texting, of course)
-[X] If yes, make a list of stuff within our price range and see what's more critical.
-[X] If no, let's get rid of that hand according to the paper

 

Graphics card, for all the computer games we play.

[X] Check with Stahl to see if any of the stuff is worth the price he's asking for. (By texting, of course)
-[X] If yes, make a list of stuff within our price range and see what's more critical.
-[X] If no, let's get rid of that hand according to the paper

Kind of want more voters.

 

You pull out Stahl out of your pocket to ask if the purchase may be worth it, taking care to query it via a text feature to keep silent:

Slightly grimy, your delicate fingers almost slip on Stahl's screen, although ultimately you manage to type out the fashionably named merchandise in front of you:
"DTX 2560 at 360000 yen: Is it worth it?" You type in the other unwieldy model numbers of the other products.

Almost immediately, as if Stahl was gratified to have acquired knowledge that there was such a card at such a price, the following appeared on Stahl's screen:
"IT IS SIGNIFICANTLY DISCOUNTED, BY 75% FROM THE RRP IF SUCH AN OFFER EXISTS. IT IS OF EXTREMELY HIGH UTILITY GIVEN THE VALUE, YES. WE MAY CREATE A SUPERCOMPUTER FROM THE COMPONENTS GIVEN, YES. GRAPHICS CARDS HAVE A LARGE VARIETY OF APPLICATIONS BEYOND VIDEO GAMING, YES. WE MAY PROGRAM AN ULTRA-COMPACT SUPERCOMPUTER USING GPGPU PROGRAMMING, GENERAL-PURPOSE GRAPHICS PROCESSING UNIT PROGRAMMING, YES. A COMBINATION OF THE QUANTUM CPU AND THIS GPU VERY EASILY ALLOW US TO BREAK INTO CONVENTIONAL WI-FI ENCRYPTION, ALLOWING US TO CREATE UNTRACEABLE BOTNETS, IN EFFECT, CREATING AN EVEN MORE POWERFUL CLUSTER SUPERCOMPUTER SYSTEM, YES. THE COMPONENTS MATCH THE POWER OF THE COMBINATION, YES."

If artificial intelligences could express enthusiasm on screen, then Stahl's constant ending of sentences with "YES" was telling.

[] Wake the salesman up and buy them.

---

20000000 yen (400000 on person)

April Saturday the 2nd, 6:50 pm

Anime timeline comparison:

• 26th March Mami vs Gertrud
• 4th April Mami vs Charlotte

29 days remaining until ???

 

It's not as if we were looking for anything in particular to spend our money on.
[] Wake the salesman up and buy them.
Holding off voting for the moment.

 

Well, the alternative is to look for more drugs, so...

[X] Wake the salesman up and buy them.

 

[X] Steal it.

 

What's up with your rolls? (6,8,7,8,4,2,1.) Did you desecrate an Indian burial ground or something?

 

Vote Tally : The Rose Knight Madoka (PMMM) | Page 24 | Questionable Questing
##### NetTally 1.5.9

[X] Wake the salesman up and buy them.
No. of Votes: 1
Adyen

[X] Steal it.
No. of Votes: 1
Snake/Eater

Total No. of Voters: 2

 

[X] Wake the salesman up and buy them.

 

Opting not to follow your newfound kleptomanic urges, your hands moves to lightly tap the shoulder of the salesman. With a quite tortured yawn, the stubbled man pulls open his eyelids and straightens himself up in an impressive amount of mere seconds.

"What would you like?"

"May I please have the DTX 2560, the computer case, the keyboard, the portable monitor..."

"Yeah, yeah, the Conference Bundle, as it's known. There you go."

Faster than your eye could see, the sales assistant stuffs the products into a bag takes your 400000 yen and gives you a receipt.

"Thanks."

"Now please let me sleep."

You oblige him, ignoring the utter lack of customer service. Stuffing it all inside of Von Schoenkopf, who managed to somehow store it, you pull the backpack onto yourself, groaning at the sheer weight that it pull you down with.

With nothing left to do, you start thinking of of heading to the back alley doctor's office. Unfortunately, your train of thought is derailed, not by the noise and chatter of the conference, but by a bellow of an explosion.

Like a hive of agitated wasps, the crowds around you rush into a confused panic.

Stahl speaks up.

"TACTICAL OPTIONS: HEAD TO HIGHER GROUND OR CREATE MAKESHIFT CARNIVAL TENT FORTIFICATIONS, THEN DEPLOY US."

[] Head to higher ground by making your way up to the rooftop of the auditorium.
[] Make makeshift fortifications.

---

19600000 yen

April Saturday the 2nd, 7:00 pm

Anime timeline comparison:

• 26th March Mami vs Gertrud
• 4th April Mami vs Charlotte

---

OOC: Starting from here, the conflict escalates.

 

Both have positives and negatives:
[X] Head to higher ground by making your way up to the rooftop of the auditorium.
[] Make makeshift fortifications.

Can I/we have a reminder on who we are fighting currently?

 

A new enemy.

That, and I just happened to have finished Sailor Moon R and S recently and am currently watching Sailor Moon SuperS.

 

[X] Head to higher ground by making your way up to the rooftop of the auditorium.

I can agree to this only because we have full gear and thus could just jump off from the second or third floor.

 

"We're going to head to higher ground so we can see what is going on." You reply to Stahl.

"ACKNOWLEDGED MADAM. REQUEST: TEMPORARILY REMOVE ITEMS FROM VON SCHOENKOPF."

"I went to a lot of trouble to get them."

"CLARIFICATION: TEMPORARY. PLACE NEAR BINS."

"Alright." You reckon that if you place them near some bins, nobody will think of snatching them, especially the panicking horde around you that seems to be stampeding every bit of concrete and cement below them in fear and terror.

Pulling off Von Schoenkopf, you place the graphics card, various computer components and the mechanical arm under a raised one-legged bin.

The chaos around you continues to escalate and intensify. Like a horde of wildebeest under a lion attack, they rush around together, their fear their shepherd and sheepdog. A rush of nervousness zips its way into your head as you find yourself confused as to how you should navigate your way to the auditorium,

Thankfully, the horde of the panicked masses have decided to go and rush away somewhere else. Taking this opportunity to move, you rush out, through the shadows, zipping your way into the auditorium. Your invasion of the auditorium, as your rush into it can only be called, practically goes unnoticed amidst all of the chaos.

Puffing for want of breath, you've made it to the top of the auditorium roof, a secluded place with a couple of seats.

"Stahl, deploy!"

"YES, MADAM."

Your arms and legs stretched out, readied for Von Schoenkopf to enclose you, the sentient backpack whirs as it expands its armour around you, finishing it off with by covering itself with your pink longcoat and topping your head with its complementary peaked hat. Matters of fashion however, are of little relevance now. You make your way to to the chain fence, surveying the surroundings from below.

A figure dressed in red catches your eye. Pulling out Stahl, you zoom into the figure.

On Stahl's screen, you see that the figure is wearing a hood, obscuring their head. Not only that, but they also seem to be wearing a gas mask that sends chills up your spine. The entrance gate to the conference grounds are chained shut.

That's not all there was however. On Stahl's screen, Stahl indicated spots in a red highlight around the figure in red "APPROXIMATE LOCATIONS OF CLASS-F ENTITIES."

You pull Stahl out of your sight of vision and stare back using yours naked eyes at the entrance and indeed, you see those macabre clumps of smoke you saw earlier when you crawled into the dirtier sections of the city, getting that Grief Seed-

Wait-a-second

The clumps of smoke you just saw were the same ones as you encountered earlier.

Yet those surreal clumps of exhaust smoke weren't randomly rushing around. They weren't rushing around and attacking everything in sight like when you were in that rabbit hole of a place. You brought Stahl before you again and you see the masked figure in red raising and lowering their arm as if commanding the clumps of exhaust smoke. The clawed clumps of smoke were organized and they were being commanded. Normally, they were aggressive against human beings, but now they were being commanded.

The figure in red gets out a grenade launcher and fires it into the crowd rushing towards her, like a bunch of stupid animals trying to charge the gate. Green smoke seeps out and the crowd starts to fall down. They got knocked out. Her mask was necessary because of her weapon, a sleeping-gas grenade apparently.

The figure in red makes a command to the surreal balls of smoke around her, lowering her in the direction of the sleeping crowd. She basically seems to be setting loose a pack of normally aggressive creature on sleeping people. You feel like your heart just skipped a beat, indignant at that act of cruelty.

[] Pull out Gunther and start sniping the clouds of smoke.
[] Shoot the masked Little Red Riding Hood.

---

19600000 yen

April Saturday the 2nd, 7:30 pm

Anime timeline comparison:

• 26th March Mami vs Gertrud
• 4th April Mami vs Charlotte

---

 

[X] Shoot the masked Little Red Riding Hood.
-[X] But non-lethally, because who knows what those clouds of smoke would do without a leader. Maybe aiming at a leg or two.
-[X] And get ready to run if the girl decides to sic those things on us so we can lure them somewhere without targets!

 

[] Pull out Gunther and start sniping the clouds of smoke.
Has the advantage of reducing our enemies numbers without potentially killing someone we might want to talk to.
[] Shoot the masked Little Red Riding Hood.
Has the advantage of dealing with her quickly, followed up with the first option.

 

Vote Tally : The Rose Knight Madoka (PMMM) | Page 24 | Questionable Questing
##### NetTally 1.5.9

[X] Shoot the masked Little Red Riding Hood.
-[X] But non-lethally, because who knows what those clouds of smoke would do without a leader. Maybe aiming at a leg or two.
-[X] And get ready to run if the girl decides to sic those things on us so we can lure them somewhere without targets!
No. of Votes: 1
Adyen

Total No. of Voters: 1

 

Does anyone want to try talking to her at some point?
EDIT:
Screw it, we still have little knowledge of what is actually going on so:
[X] Pull out Gunther and start sniping the clouds of smoke.
If we shoot to injure it is possible they will turn on her, giving the worst of both votes.

 

[X] Pull out Gunther and start sniping the clouds of smoke.

 

Vote Tally : Madoka fights the Illuminati (PMMM) | Page 24 | Questionable Questing
##### NetTally 1.5.9

[X] Pull out Gunther and start sniping the clouds of smoke.
No. of Votes: 2
Slith10
Snake/Eater

[X] Shoot the masked Little Red Riding Hood.
-[X] But non-lethally, because who knows what those clouds of smoke would do without a leader. Maybe aiming at a leg or two.
-[X] And get ready to run if the girl decides to sic those things on us so we can lure them somewhere without targets!
No. of Votes: 1
Adyen

Total No. of Voters: 3

Voting is locked.
Unfortunately, I have a lot of study to do, so there will be some delays.

 

Judging by the sight before you, the figure dressed like a Little Red Riding Hood has the capability to control those clawed clouds of smoke. That they are looming over knocked-conference attendees like predators makes them look like hungry dogs ready to tear their teeth into the flesh of bystanders. Little Red Riding Hood is trying to get away from the wolf trying to eat her here. Rather, she is somehow managing to egg on her pack of wolves to prey on otherwise innocent people.

Little Red Riding Hood here to trying to sic those Class-Fs on innocent civilians, there is no doubt about that. This is despite the fact that this city is under your royal protection.

“Gunther, please load. We’re going to shoot those Class-Fs.”

The synthetic voice of your carbine responds: “YES, MADAM.”

Most conveniently, there is an open window just to your right. Peering through, aiming and pulling the trigger, your marksmanship shines when Gunther’s muzzle lights up, filling the air with flashing and powder smoke. At the instant the bullets shred into the otherworldly abominations, the clouds of smoke disperse surreally as they had done when you were stuck in that anomalous space, their existence seeming to weave in and out as they somehow both rip and fade from existence.

The objects of Little Red Riding Hood’s control disappear, leaving her standing in confusion, looking around for whatever it was that shot her thralls of smoke to pieces.

Of course, your objectives here aren’t too ambitious. You’re trying to find out, in your capacities as King of Mitakihara, why the Little Red Riding Hood came in, knocked out everyone and tried to feed them to otherworldly monsters. As ridiculous as it may sound, however, you’re not out there to kill her.

Peering through the open window, you see that the young woman has pulled out a smartphone. Your interest in the mere thing would’ve have end and shifted onto the fact that she had changed her armament to something quite bulky looking, if it weren’t for the fact that Stahl was vibrating quite strongly in the top pocket of your pink greatcoat.

Seating yourself back down into cover, you pull out Stahl to see what all the fuss is about.

Printed in bold on Stahl’s screen was something that caught quite a lot of weight in your attention:
“WE HAVE DETECTED HEAVY SIMILARITY BETWEEN OURSELVES AND THE DEVICE THE FIGURE BELOW WAS HOLDING.”

In a whispered response, you ask: “Meaning?”

“IN THE CURRENT TACTICAL SITUATION THAT THE FIGURE BELOW MOST LIKELY POSSESS SIMILAR TACTICAL ABILITY TO OUR COMBAT SYSTEM. IN THE GREATER PICTURE OF OUR MISSION, THAT WE POSSESS SIMILAR ORIGINS.”

In short, you were facing a potential foe who was as strong as you armed with Stahl, Gunther and von Schoenkopf. However, leads to the three’s origins were also to be found through the Little Red Riding Hood and you were very short on leads on the great mystery behind Mitakihara.

Peering outside yet again, you saw that the Little Red Riding Hood was advancing towards the building you were in. In response to this, Stahl gave a suggestion:
“FIX VIBROBAYONET TO GUNTHER, JUST IN CASE.”

“Right.” Following Stahl’s suggestion, you reached into Von Schoenkopf’s side pocket, pulling out the vibrobayonet, heavy with its battery back. Gunther adjusts itself, allowing you to fix the vibrobayonet on without much trouble.

Needless to say, Stahl probably had a point. Little Red Riding Hood, with her gas mask, is right at the end of the corridor. However, her huge weapon seems to be holstered on her back. Across from here, you can only hear grunting. Her fingers however, tell a different tale as they beckon you to approach her.

If she had judge you for a foe, she would struck you down by now. In the name of extracting more leads for the great mystery that surrounds you, you decide you play along.

“Gunther, please stand down.”

“YES, MADAM.”

You meekly raise both of your two arms to show to her that you have no hostile intentions, despite her actions and return them to your side to show that you are not yielding to her. A nod from down the corridor makes you see her acceptance.

After a couple of metres of uneasiness you are in speaking distance from her.

“I see that you got issued that Rosenritter armour as well, mmph.” The gas mask muffles her speech, yet you can still decode what she’s saying.

You nod silently, playing the impression of a silent secret agent.

“I kind of understand you wanting to test the equipment and weaponry that got handed out to us, but surely you also understand that increasing the pressure and stress on Puella Magi is far more important, mmph? That we must feed the Familiars and have them turn into Witches, mmph, for accelerationism?”

Puella Magi? You’ve never heard that fancy Latin term before. You note it down in your head and continue to nod, pretending to be on her side. That and the second sentence sounded patently horrific.

“Good. Nobiscum Deus, mmph.” She extends her hand to you.

You hope Stahl was recording it.

Disrupting this otherwise good chain of events, a message without volume jolts into your head. It is the familiar voice of Mr Kyubey, disembodied yet still there.

“She’s the enemy! Run!” You could feel that the thought came from behind you, so turning back, you see Mr Kyubey peering from behind a door, your eyes piercing his intense red ones.
Unfortunately, Little Red Riding Hood does not fail to catch note of this. Her conciliatory tone dies in an instant.

“There were two new sets. Both were meant for testing. One arrived and was accounted for testing within the month, the other was stolen. You’re not a tester.”

Her fingers reach for her side holster, pulling out a yellow-black device. She points at you, her fingers tightening.

"DEUS VULT!"

What feels like an electric shock jerks you out of harm’s way as you find yourself thrown to left of the corridor. The spot where you once where was vaporized, plaster and all, black, singed char marks the only sign they were there. Although you were jolted, the first thought on your mind still remains “survive”.

Red Riding Hood throws the device onto the floor. Was it disposable?

Your heart is pumped up. Your armour and weapon whirs. You’re ready to fight or to flee. Your height advantage seems to have been lost. However, even then, the corridor is long and the there are plenty of rooms to weave in and out.

Your next course of action is:
[] Defend, defend, defend!
[] A fighting retreat.
[] Flee.

---

19600000 yen

April Saturday the 2nd, 8:00 pm

Anime timeline comparison:

• 26th March Mami vs Gertrud
• 4th April Mami vs Charlotte

---

 

[X] A fighting retreat.
-[X] Just be a bit greedy - retreat till you're out of her sight then double back for your items and then leave.


I'm reading the update and I'm still confused over how the fight degenerated to this.

Next time, aim for the head.

 

[X] A fighting retreat.
-[X] Just be a bit greedy - retreat till you're out of her sight then double back for your items and then leave.

 

[X] Defend, defend, defend!
-[X] Just be a bit greedy - retreat till you're out of her sight then double back for your items and then leave.

 

The first consideration is survival.

With that in mind, thanks to Mr Kyubey appearing and provoking Little Red Riding Hood, you don't think it's going to be easy to accomplish that should you remain here. That bulky armament that she is carrying on her back gives you goosebumps. You only barely manage to temper your fear with reason. Thankfully, barely managing means managing it nonetheless.

A whole corridor is behind you, for you to run away in the twists and turns of, and you intend to make full use of it.

Having evaded Riding Hood's shot of her vaporising weapon, you make a run for it.

"You're not going anywhere, species-traitor reactionary, mmph!"

Whatever a reactionary was, you weren't interested in fighting a gas-mask wearing-maniac who flipped so suddenly from trying to befriend you to wanting to kill you.

Eye contact between the two you breaks as you swiftly turn around, sprinting your way to the end of the corridor. Von Schoenkopf speaks:

"ACTIVATING UT-10 THRUSTERS."

Your sprint to the end of the corridor is supplemented by the jetback attachment's rocket thrust. Whether or not she's managing to chase you, you don't know and you don't care.

Wait...

You intended a fighting retreat.

Recovering from the fear, you pull out Gunther, peering from around the corner. With a swift pull of the trigger, you manage you shoot at the floor in front of Riding Hood, who has made massive games in distance despite your speed.

Presumably stunning her for a few seconds, you really don't look back to check and continue your shoot-and-run routine, steadily gaining distance from the gas-mask-wearing maniac.

---

With enough shooting and running, you're finally out of her sight. You find yourself back at where you stashed your goods. Looking on under the cover of the table, you see that the little masked red riding hood is looking around the conference grounds, presumably searching for you.

At this point, it should've been time for you to easily make another decision. However, complications seem to have arisen. Namely, from the corner of your right eye, another female figure dressed in red has entered your field of vision. Armed with a spear that you think is longer than a small car, she stands on top of a stall tent, her gaze seemingly directed at the figure in the gas mask. It appears that their lines of sight do not meet each other's, for whether it is due to smoke or height, the girl armed with the spears is able to see the girl that attacked you, but not the other way around.

[] Stay put on look and reconnoiter the conference grounds from under the table.

---

19600000 yen

April Saturday the 2nd, 8:15 pm

Anime timeline comparison:

• 26th March Mami vs Gertrud
• 4th April Mami vs Charlotte

---

 

[X] Stay put on look and reconnoiter the conference grounds from under the table.
-[X] See if the white furball is around or not.