Thunderclap and Flash (Calliope, Thunderbolt, and Volume 0) (06/06/2022)

== Roundtable Office, Arthur's Bay, Camelot, Grail [06/06/2022 A.D.] ==
Calliope plays music at his office seat. As the 808s mellow out his brain, he thinks about the footage of the fight between the Roundtable and Precocious Squadron vs the Archmage of Power. He wondered if he could’ve done more than recon and taking point. That’s when he feels a light tap on his shoulder. He turns around and sees a woman in a hoodie looking at him. Her eyes have a swirling pattern and she’s wearing all black. She smiles at him and touches her ears. He gets the gesture and takes off his headphones. “Hi, you need sumn?” Calliope says to her. She asks with her soothing voice, “You are Calliope correct? Subject-003?”
“Yeah. Who are you?”
“My name is Volume 0. But you can call me Cassandra. I’m a Throne to the Seraphim.”
“Oh, the Seraphim. You on here on some business with Arch?”
“No actually. I’m here to talk to you and...Thunderbolt?”
“Oh. I can grab him real quick.”
Calliope takes out his phone and texts Thunderbolt. Within a few minutes, he arrives. He sees Volume 0 and waves and asks, “Hello Ms. Iridesca. You wanted me?” Volume 0 smiles at Thunderbolt and sits next to Calliope. She asks, “How do you two feel about working at the CACG?” Calliope and Thunderbolt look at each other and then answer one at a time. Thunderbolt says “It’s cool. I mean I have no real complaints. Though I would like to do external missions like the others.” Calliope nods in agreement, “It gets kinda boring sitting here. Though I guess it’s better than what Wizard and Void went through.” Volume 0 looks at both of them and nods. She then looks at Calliope’s speaker and holds it. “Is this the tool you use for your abilities?” He nods and adjusts it while explaining, “It affects other people based on my mood. If I’m happy, people will vibe and dance. If I’m upset, people will riot. If I want to kill, well…”
“I see. So you have a form of psychokinesis. But through the speaker.”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
“I’ve heard it can be very loud.”
“Yeah. 120 decibels.”
“That’s impressive. And for you Thunderbolt? I heard you generate high amounts of electricity.”
Thunderbolt sits near the two and confirms, “Yeah, 300 volts. I also recharge the generators when they’re low, which is every few months.”
“That is quite a lot of power. It’s a shame it isn’t used on the field. If I remember correctly, Archangel also has electric abilities. The High One also has electricity powers.”
“Yeah, though Archie’s is more for offensive purposes.”
“I’m sure yours can be as well. 300 volts is nothing to ignore. You could even put out an electromagnetic pulse to wipe out power grids if you wanted to."
"Yeah, but there hasn't been a reason to do that."
"What about the Syndicate? They're making bases on the Surface of Grail now. Eden had found out they're planning on occupying the Unified Frontier."
"Eden? Like the Vault?"
Volume 0 chuckles and holds up her watch. The watch projects a digital avatar and they introduce themselves, "Hello, I'm Eden. I'm the digital assistant to the Seraphim and I travel Cyberspace to help people in any way I can. Also I'm not exactly an AI. I was organic. But now I'm not. It's hard to explain. Anyways, hi Calliope. Thunderbolt. I read up on your Syndicate files as well as CACG files. Don't even ask how I got into them. Just know that I can." Calliope and Thunderbolt look at Eden and they smile back at the two. "I would say you can call me anytime, but you already have someone for that. You should introduce me to them one day. I feel like we'll be besties. Anyways. I'll leave you guys alone. Gotta research this new disease. Bye bye!" The digital avatar disappears into Volume 0's watch. 
"I wouldn't even know where to start," Thunderbolt says while looking down. Volume 0 touches his shoulder and answers, "You can start by suggesting what you can do when you guys finally fight the Archfiend. You two are more valuable than you think. Then after all that, talk to me. We can collaborate on annoying the Syndicate." 
Calliope gets curious and asks, "I never asked, what do you do?" Volume 0's face brightens up and responds, "My screams can reach 170 decibels and silence anything of my choosing." Calliope looks amazed and asked, “How do you get so loud? I’ve tried myself but it seems I can only do 120.” Volume 0 looks at the speaker and holds her hand out. Calliope gives the speaker to her and she examines it. She reads the back of it and explains, “The wattage is maxed out. 250 watts seem to be its limit. We can increase that though.” Calliope looks up at her and inquires, “How would you do that?”
“I wouldn’t know. But Belly would.”
“Belly?”
“Ah, Bellona Timothy. Our technician. She made our Starfleet and the tech that transports us to other universes. I’m sure she can work on this. Would you mind being away from this for a while?”
“I mean sure, I’m not really using it anyways.”
“Understood, I will return this as soon as possible.”
Volume 0 smiles and enters things into her watch. A wormhole opens in front of her and she waves as she walks into it. Calliope and Thunderbolt look at each other. "They're an interesting bunch," Thunderbolt comments. Calliope adds, "Casual too. It's like they've done stuff like this before."
"Looking at their files they have. Multiple planetary threats and even some universal ones."
"Really? That's...wow. How come they don't help as much?"
"Testing us most likely. Also probably explains why they come to us to train or help us with certain things."
"Testing us for what?"
"Remember that Project Medieval Carnival thing?"
"Oh right. Something about a operation to finally bring things to peace."
"Yep yep. Archie seems for it. What about you?"
"Don't know yet. Maybe I'll have an opinion later."
== Arthur's Bay, Camelot, Grail [06/07/2022 A.D.] ==
Calliope and Thunderbolt talk with each other about the necklace around Archangel's neck. Calliope asks, "So, the necklace increases Archie's defense by how much?" Thunderbolt checks the files and answers, "99.93 percent."
"Why .93? Why not the whole 100?"
"Beats me."
"Such a weird number."
A wormhole opens in the wall and out comes Volume 0. She's smiling and holding the speaker that Calliope lent to her. "Hello you two. Bellona was successful." She gives Calliope a close look. It's slightly larger, with a new grill in front of the speakers and it seems that there's an added subwoofer inside. The back of it has a new port. Instead of a miniUSB port, it has been replaced with a USB-C connection port. On the left side of it, the logo of Ark Ventures is prominent. Underneath it has a message saying "Be sure not to blow your friends' heads off now-Bellona" with a artistic representation of her with her thumb up. Calliope takes the speaker and turns it on. There's less feedback than usual and it powers up in less than a second. Calliope looks at Volume 0 and asks, "What else was added?" Volume 0 checks her watch and states, "The total board power for the speaker was increased from 250 watts to 330 watts. The battery was increased from 50 watt hours to 500 watt hours using a Dark Matter infused rechargeable battery. A subwoofer was added for increased vibrations and the grill has been replaced to increase acoustics. Maximum loudness should be 165 decibels."
"Woah, that's huge."
"Indeed. I did say Belly could do it."
"Tell her I said thanks. You guys are alright."
"We try to help as much as we can. And for you Thunderbolt. I give you this."
Volume 0 pulls out from her bag a harness and a gauntlet. Thunderbolt looks at it and puts it on. It covers his upper torso with strange metal bearings and seemingly electric components the chest piece has a faint glow and has the logo of Ark Ventures on it. The gauntlet is sharp at the finger tips, with rod like protrusions littering the forearm of it. "What does this do for me?" Thunderbolt asks as he adjusts the harness. Volume 0 answers using her watch again, "The harness will store electricity when your body discharges excess amounts of it passively. This energy will flow through the harness and create an electromagnetic barrier around you, protecting you from projectiles like bullets and other missile-like objects. It will redirect these objects away from you. The barrier however does not protect from lower metallic objects. Electric-based attacks will be absorbed into the barrier. The gauntlet also works in tandem with the harness. It will also collect passive electric discharge and can be used offensively. By aiming the gauntlet at a target, you will be able to direct a blast of electricity at a voltage of your choosing. This can be used to better charge a device or generator, or kill your opponents." Thunderbolt looks at the gear again and his face beams. "Thank you so much Cassandra. I don't know how to repay you." Volume 0 smiles and warmly says, "Pay me back by winning. We're all rooting for you." She gives a bow and walks towards the door. Before she leaves, she stops and says, "The world is counting on you". The door slides shut and the two look at each other. They both smile and get ready to show the others the new toys they got.
Category:Parables
Category:Archfiend Arc Parable