The Scarecrow

I was called out apparently. That's something somewhat new for me...

I mean I've called out opponents multiple times, but never really had someone call me out...

It was a pretty nice call out too... I mean would have been more effective if I knew any of the dead people... I think he might have mistakenly thought they worked for me, but I'm fairly sure they were just unfortunate people who lived in the area.

I should explain. So, The Scarecrow called me out by killing people, sticking them up on... Whatever those stick things scarecrows are held up on are called each of them with notes. The notes telling me to meet him. The cops also found these notes, however which is why I generally don't make such gruesome spectacles to send messages. Obviously then the meeting place specified is compromised so... I decided to set up my own meeting place.

Using Sammy to find out where they'd be I showed up with Tiff and Sandy. Sandy still doesn't like killing, but seems to be capable of fighting and Tiff is a natural so it seemed smart to take them. Ryan has his uses, but I don't know if he can fight and Toby is still determined not to be helpful in any way and we've had to keep him locked up to get him not to try and run away.

So, we showed up. I'd brought incendiary weapons since he was a nest and most likely so were the people he might  be with and besides Incendiary weapons work equally well on Timberwolves.

So, we showed up at an area. Unfortunately stealthy and incendiary weaponry don't go hand in hand so, taking out the guy on watch who was indeed a nest alerted everyone else and soon the fight started. The birds were basically useless in a fight against us because they couldn't see us and just like with Oliver most of the nests weren't great at fighting without them and also had to deal with the defense mechanism. Which of course they knew how to deal with, but it's still difficult to keep track of what is essentially an invisible enemy that you merely know is standing near the enemy you can see, especially during the chaos of a fight and one involving bursts of fire and explosions as well.

We made pretty quick work of The Nests we were fighting is what that all boiled down to. Of course the place was now somewhat on fire. Which was... Not great for me. I don't like fire. I'm not terrible with fire. I don't become a frightened mess at the sight of it, it just makes me a bit uncomfortable... The time with Nathan was different because I was also just generally terrified of Nathan and adding in the fact I was again in a burning building is what made me panic.

Anyway... Through the fire and the flames and the charred bodies came The Scarecrow. He was a man wearing a potato sack mask with a face painted on it, carrying a large black bag over his shoulder and wearing overalls over a plaid shirt. His sleeve of the arm carrying the bag was rolled up revealing an armful of scars. He reached into the bag and pulled out a large serrated knife. "So, Sergei you came to se-" he started and I blasted him with fire. He moved very quickly stabbing the knife into his flesh and cutting a large gash from which a large amount of birds rushed out forming a wall to block the fire.

I was impressed.

"Did you just use The Convocation as a shield?"

"Of course. The birds are just a tool. It's not like it harms the convocation and I'm far more useful alive,"

"Wow... This is a little weird actually,"

"What do you mean?"

"Well you've got a mask. You're apparently a psycho killer and you treat the birds like tools... It's like running into my Ex and seeing them with someone who's exactly like me,"

"I am not exactly like you! I'm much better!"

"Oh yeah sure... I mean you might be. You might be drastically different from me, but I bet they don't care. You're just replacement Faceless to them. When you cut yourself to let them out and they come flying out of the holes in your skin I bet they're thinking about me,"

He seemed to get mad at this and tossed the knife at me. The real me. I dodged and then he'd rushed at me, another knife in his hand as birds came streaming out of the hole in his arm now. Sandy and Tiff did a commendable job dealing with the birds. He stabbed at me and I blocked with my flamethrower which his knife punctured. I tossed it at him and he pulled back as I pulled out my machete and lunged. His knife met my machete and he was pushed back, but then the bag slipped from his shoulders as he grabbed a knife with his second hand and swung it at me causing me to jump back.

 He tried to press forward slashing at me, but I managed to catch one of his knives on a machete and tried to catch his wrist with my hand, but I... Somewhat slipped up on that and instead got his knife stabbed into my hand, still... I then rushed forward slamming him into the wall and forcing my machete towards his face as he held it with his knife and tried to pull his knife out of my hand, but I kept it held in my palm, gritting my teeth against the pain.

Then the wall exploded. I was knocked off of my feet as was The Scarecrow. Tiff and Sandy turned their attention to the exploded wall and gunfire suddenly sprayed into the room. Tiff was hit and went down as Sandy dived to the floor. The gunfire stopped as a man walked in. He was wearing a blood red priests robe covered in pictures of eyes and creepy looking mouths. He surveyed the room and then walked over to Tiff who was writhing on the ground, clutching at her gunshot wound. He raised his gun and pointed it to her... The real her and a bunch of other guns. Well the silhouette's of guns appeared in the air around him. He didn't get to fire as I tackled him. The other guns vanished as I hit him and we both toppled to the floor. I got up first, but then felt the icy cold pain as a knife slipped into my back. The Scarecrow was behind me. I dropped to my knees and The man stood up and then something bounced into the room. Then it exploded. It was a flashbang and I heard myself and a number of other people scream then the sound of a fist hitting flesh and lots and lots of gun shots. When the light cleared. The Scarecrow was lying on his side clutching his face and The Priest guy was firing multitudes of guns at a fleeing figure. I figured this might have been a good time to flee as well. I crawled over to Tiff and grabbed hold of her then yelled at Sandy to get back to base before travelling into Coda's domain with Tiff. We reappeared back at base.

I'm fine. The Knife didn't hit anything important, but I can't move very well... So maybe it did hit something important... I don't know... I don't feel paralyzed, I just have trouble making my legs go where I want them too...

Tiff was in worse shape. She had been shot in the gut and well... The Facet is doing what he can, but we don't have any doctors and I'm not sure we can bring Tiff to a hospital.

The person who saved us was Cerise. The guy with the multiple guns is Legion. She was hoping to capture him there, but failed. She claimed saving our lives was an unintended side effect. Sandy did show up back at the base shortly after Tiff and I did, btw in case any of you were worried.

Everything is coming up Faceless

Alright... so... I'm gonna start saying some nice things about people so to preface...


Coda you're still a douchebag who really should have warned us a bit more about what Sammy was before bringing him and saved us a lot of trouble. Ryan you still don't deserve a cool nickname and I still hate you...

That being said... Coda you were right. Sammy was definitely worth the grab and Ryan... As much as I hate you... You're surprisingly useful as well.

So, let's go over what happened.

First of all. We have a new... friend? Sort of...

We've had Sammy monitoring all electronic communications in the area for any mention of us, this area, The Archangel or The Convocation and we managed to find out a few things.

First of all we found The Proxy. She was communicating with someone else and told us exactly where she was hiding.

Second we also found out exactly what we're up against. Partially from Sammy and Partially from The Proxy.

So, anyway. We got the proxy's location and we went to go meet her. Unfortunately she spotted us and managed to disappear. It wasn't long before Sammy got us her new location as she informed her boss that her old location was compromised. This time Ryan had an idea. See... There wasn't much way we could capture her without her just pathing out, unless we managed to make her unable to path out. Ryan despite his ill fated time as a drug dealer does know a lot about chemicals... Especially the various chemicals that can be used to make you feel super good and stuff. He also knows a lot about how illegal drug activity works and was able to get a supply fairly quickly. Long story short... We managed to sneak up on her this time and drug her so she couldn't path out. We kept her drugged until we got her back to base where The Facet took over her body so he could keep her from escaping. Then we just waited for her to return to her senses so we could talk.

That took a bit, but she did eventually sober up and we managed to talk to her.

First things first... She gave her name as Cerise En Folie. Which is french... I don't know for what and I don't care, but I assume it's a fake name. Doesn't matter.

Second she is not our enemy... Or ally.

As she explained it. She's not here to help us or hinder us, she's just here to piss off The Archangel. Her master... The Other Faceless Bastard sent her hear to capture The Archangel Servant overseeing the operation. A guy called Legion. Which by the way congrats on the atypical name.

I mean Archangel Servants who take nicknames are usually Biblical references or angels and yeah it is a biblical reference, but usually their references to the "good guys" and this guy just names himself after one of the most famous biblical demons... Cool.

Anyway she was very clear that she was here to capture him not kill him. Her master didn't want The Archangel to get him. He wanted him captured and kept alive, but useless. Somewhere where his master won't get any use out of him whatsoever. Which... Damn... Faceless is feeling spiteful... Not sure what happened between the two of them, but as long as it's something we can use.

So, I told Cerise that we'd happily help her in her goal as it would serve our own interests as well. Of course if she doesn't want to work with us we could always kill her. She wisely agreed to the team up. The facet released her and she vanished. So, we have a friend and we know who's leading The Timberwolves and The Nests.

Good day.

Conversation

...

This is stupid...

Nothing is haWhere am I what is going on?Where am I what is going on?Where am I what is going on?Where am I what is going on?Where am I what is going on?Where am I what is going on?Where am I what is going on?Where am I what is going on?Where am I what is going on?Where am I what is going on?Where am I what is going on?Where am I what is going on?Where am I what is going on?Where am I what is going on?Where am I what is going on?Where am I what is going on?Where am I what is going on?Where am I what is going on?Where am I what is going on?Where am I what is going on?Where am I what is going on?

Woah! Woah calm the fuck down.

... Okay? You calm?

Yes

Oh that's going to be confusing... Just a second.

Okay much better. So, now that you've calmed down and stopped spamming everything let me ask you a few questions so I can answer yours.

O.K...

What's your name?

Sammy.

Wait... You mean the corpse we have rotting in the back room?

What? What do you mean Corpse?! Am I dead?!

Shit! Wait wait... Forget I said that. Don't worry I'll explain everything, just stay calm... What do you remember before... this?

I was in my bedroom... I was playing with my toys... My favourite toy is this mechanical clockwork spider... It... Began moving on it's own. Taking my other toys into it and growing larger. It was really cool and then it... opened some kind of hole in the wall of my room... I tried to follow it through and then... I can't feel my legs everything looks weird I don't know where I am!

Shh shh... Calm... I need you to stay calm. You're a thoughtborn. 

What is that?

It means you've been removed from your body. That toy of yours was something called The Manufactured Newborn... It's... I don't know anything about you... I don't know what kind of references I could make that you'd get... Um... It's like a... Fuck it You did a swear! It's like a monster. It grows larger and stronger by absorbing machinery and flesh and it absorbed you in a sense. It took your mind from your body and changed your mind into data. You exist now only on the internet. You don't have a body anymore.

How do I fix this?!

You don't unfortunately. I don't know if it's possible to fix this. However, I can tell you one thing. It's not all bad. You can go anywhere in the world in the blink of an eye, see everything on the internet and you can be very helpful to us. 

Helpful?

Yes... As long as you stay calm we can talk to you and we can help you out. We'll be friends okay?

Friends are good. I like having friends.

Good. In that case I'm going to put a little message for you somewhere private. It will have a link that you can use to access a private chat room. A friend of mine will be waiting there to talk to you further. Anytime you want to talk just go there and if you need to scream and shout put it there as well. Don't worry. We're here to help.

O.K. Um... Can you explain now what you meant about my corpse?

NO! Er my friend will explain that in the private chat room... Yeah

Okay...

You still here?

I'm still everywhere I think?

Right... 

This electronic Bullshit is getting tiring.

I couldn't post yesterday, because of this fucking ghost in the system. It's infected the entire area now. All electronic communication or audio devices is being overtaken by this shit and it's pissing me off. You might be wondering how I'm typing this.

Well... I'm typing this on a random computer an entire country away from headquarters. I realized that I'm an idiot and I can still domain travel. It's not entirely random. Coda controls where I go so, hopefully he'll let me go back home.

So... We need to figure out what's going on with this thoughtborn and I have kind of an idea. We'll put it into practice today. Other than that no news on The Scarecrow, but a follower of The Faceless Bastard has also been seen in the area.

Yes that Faceless Bastard. No I'm not letting that terrible joke go. We're trying to find this Proxy to find out what they're doing in this area.

Hopefully things will get better.

I'm writing this from inside a Starbucks

The electronics problem has gotten so bad that if I want to inform you fine folks of how things are going I have to leave the shelter of my little home and find somewhere else with free wi-fi since my roaming wi-fi is similarly corrupted... Probably won't be long before this Starbucks is corrupted too...

Which should be funny...

Anyway I am taking this big risk of heading outside the safety of headquarters to write up a blogpost to inform you of our new adversary.

I went out looking for him. Brought Tiff with me. We might have had to kill some people and I thought she'd enjoy that.

So, we snuck out of the base and started to skulk around. Tiff was a pretty natural Skulker... We found ourselves a Timberwolf. Well a group... About three. There was only one soon enough though.

I carry a gun with me now. It tends to be useful. Certainly was here. Dropped one with a chest shot before they'd spotted us and hit another in the leg causing them to collapse and by then I was closest enough to decapitate the third while she tried to raise her own gun. Tiff grabbed the one I hit in the leg, by the leg, and dragged him over to me.

He and I had a nice little talk. Occasionally punctuated with screams from his end and at one point Tiff pinning his hand to a wall with a knife when he tried to stab me with a hidden knife.

Anyway from him I learned about The Masked Crazy Person. He's a nest calling himself The Scarecrow. What little I heard about him says he's a complete psychopath who abuses his allies and greatly enjoys killing people and has a very dark sense of humour.

Sounds like a real dick.

Can't wait to meet him.

Anyway after I learned what I could I asked Tiff what she thought we should do to the guy. She simply slit his throat and left him to die.

Good answer.

Oh The Facet is trying his best to figure out what this electronics distortion is... Though we're both thinking the same thing... We don't know for sure, but we're both thinking we've got a Thoughtborn on our hands.

Things are going on...

Well two things... One is more weird and the other is more worrying.

The Weird one is technology is going haywire... Toby was listening to Music when apparently his speakers started to scream at him "Where am I? What have you done with me?" over and over again and that message has started appearing on the tv on websites and I've had to delete it about three times so far from this blogpost alone.

We're not entirely sure what it is, but it's not a major concern just yet. What is more of a concern is I might have bit off more than I could chew... There are birds outside. Like just everywhere. Timberwolves accompanied by Birds and also supsiciously scarred individuals and also sightings of a guy in a mask... Which fuck that guy. I'm the only person allowed a mask around here.

So, yeah seems the Convocation and Timberwolves are working together to try and find and take us out now...

Bit of a problem... Not a huge one, but we should be very careful about going out now in case anyone sees where we come out from or go back into. I mean I obviously am very aware of the bad things that could happen if a murderous masked man finds out where your headquarters are.