A security alert cuts across the live feed, replacing the timeline with pulsing red text. The service-corridor door opens as two guards escort a lean middle-aged woman with brown skin, cropped black hair, and a weathered green utility coat, with a thin scar cutting through one eyebrow.
Mara Quill
My name is Mara Quill. I came voluntarily because you have a sealed Almanac ledger in storage, and it contains the final authorization chain.
The guards stop just inside the corridor, keeping their hands near their restraints without touching her. The four Association superheroes beyond the barrier turn toward the alert, while every camera remains live.
the Association counsel
You should have reported that through counsel. Guards, detain her for questioning and secure the ledger before anyone accesses it.
Dana Vale
Elias, the cameras are still broadcasting. If you detain the witness now, the audience will see exactly how this Association handles inconvenient evidence.
Mara Quill
I am not asking to leave. I am asking you to open the ledger on camera, before the same people who buried the authorization chain decide what survives.
Elias looks from Mara to the live monitor, then toward Mari’s locked platform. No chain releases, no guard advances, and the service corridor waits for the next decision.
✓ Quest Accepted
Remain neutral
“"to be fair you did break into a secured facility with highly dangerous anomalies including one who could literally assimilate your mind and I'm not only talking about myself there."”
FAILURE (Mediocre Flirtatious social manipulation, rolled +0)
Mari
To be fair, you broke into a secured facility holding highly dangerous anomalies, including one that could literally assimilate your mind. I am not only talking about myself.
The comparison lands unevenly. Mari’s restrained posture makes the accusation sound less like flirtation than a cold observation, while the atmosphere around her turns every syllable into a warning.
the Association counsel
That is precisely why security measures were necessary. The breach was reckless, and your presence here is not evidence that caution was hypocrisy.
Dana Vale
It does expose a contradiction, Elias. The Association entered a dangerous site, then inherited its prisoners and insists every later safeguard is beyond question.
The four superheroes remain stationed beyond the barrier, and the guards keep their hands near their restraints. No one loosens Mari’s chains, but Elias stops short of ordering Mara away.
Mara Quill
Then let the ledger test both positions. Open it on camera, with counsel present, and distinguish the Association’s breach from Almanac’s authorization chain.
the Association counsel
Fine. The ledger will be reviewed publicly, but access remains controlled. Your point is noted, Mari, not accepted as a defense.
Quest Complete
Remain neutral