Episode description[edit | edit source]
At the heart of many capital ships, there is a great flow of heat and energy. Yet the core of of the Restitution of All Things is the coolest place on the vessel: the Center Centra Diplomatic Retreat, a snow covered nature preserve, with lake and lodge and firepit. And right now, inside of the old wooden building aside the icy water, Our Profit, Final Hegemon of Earth, is making her case: the Twilight Mirage itself is more than celestial cloud cover, more than a mist that bends time and hides space: it is fuel and it is medium, and if used in just such a way, it could open the door to a new way of living for everyone in the galaxy.
But one pair of ears that was scheduled to hear it--those of Fourteen Fifteen, her recently assigned bodyguard--is absent entirely. Instead, they and their would-be rescuer, Grand Magnificent, have knocked on the door to a warehouse. And whether they go inside or not, they will soon face two truths: Dormancy is action and all that is joined will one day break.
This time on Twilight Mirage: The Restitution of All Things Pt. 2
I'm not brave
I'd rather live outside
Contents[edit | edit source]
Plot[edit | edit source]
Fourteen Fifteen punches Kentucky's Corona, hard. Corona shuts the door behind Fourteen, trapping them in the warehouse, then shoots them three times when Fourteen uses Carcanet's Ironclad's super-heated breath to melt his mask. Meanwhile, Grand Magnificent waits unfazed in the golf buggy outside.
Kitcha Kanna rushes Fourteen. Fourteen tries to intimidate him using their heated breath, but he tackles them to the ground and begins tearing open their armour. Grand, finally getting out of the buggy, wrenches open the locked door and interrupts the fight.
Grand is unwilling to make a direct move and Kitcha Kanna tells him that if he designs mechs for Advent, he'll let Fourteen go. Fourteen is unwilling to surrender and makes one more desperate lunge at Kitcha Kanna. They're shot by Corona, permanently damaging their armor and rendering them helpless. At this crossroad, Grand gives Kitcha Kanna the plans for Independence in exchange for Fourteen.
Grand takes Fourteen to the extraction point and they wait in silence for the automated ship to leave. Just as they launch, they hear sirens go off throughout the Restitution. Their cameras shows a new axiom, Schism, rising out of the Kajj Umbra. It starts to petrify and shatter its surroundings, causing chaos in nearby space. Declan's Corrective contacts them, asking for a ride out. Grand pilots around the Schism-touched debris, and leave with Corrective on board. Despite his best efforts, a vessel hits their ship and creates a fuel leak, forcing them to land on the Quarantine Task Force station orbiting Volition.
Corrective explains what's happened to him in traumatized verse. Grand and Fourteen decipher that Our Profit brought together leaders from all major factions to negotiate. There were some key agreements, including a ceasefire for the Siege of the Lineage Brighton and a pause on the NEH's extraction of the Mirage. However, the limited self projector that Grand delivered contained a bomb that almost killed everyone in the room. It went off just after Schism appeared, once everyone was already ushered out of the room.
Schism tries to claw it's way out of the Mirage, but can't break through now that the Mirage is no longer being weakened. Iota Pretense takes charge of the situation and directs the Restitution's beacon at the Kajj Umbra. It's revealed that the shadow is actually a mass of Iconoclasts hiding in plain sight. They scatter and Iota turns her attention to Schism itself. She's able to use a device that controls the dead drones of Curiosity beneath Moonlock and fly them into Schism. Over the course of a million blows, they fully break the axiom down
Grand, Fourteen, and Corrective arrive at the Quarantine station, and are greeted by Split Spool. She's overworked but lets them in. Advent sends Grand a ship, fulfilling their end of the bargain. Fourteen and Grand don't say a word to each other as he leaves for the Advent Catapult. In a few days, he can see World Without End docking on The Brink nearby.