Deja Vu (Unknown)

## Warning Bells - GEO-7 Halls, Camelot [07/08/2022]

"I'm telling you Arch, I think we can develop something that'd make nukes look like child's play if we want more funding," Void said idly, walking alongside Archangel through the halls of the facility. "I'm starting to wonder why we bailed you two out again," Archie responded in jest. Void polished his rifle, trying to wipe the chars off of it left from the Archfiend Incident. And while Void was maintaining his gun, Archangel was working diligently as ever on his tablet, sharing figures and helping refine the CSEA Yggdrasil Team's parts of the mission plan.

Eventually they made it to the glass corridors of the aerodock, a series of busy walkways with AVs and helicopters flying about overhead. The sector was also particularly active on the ground as well, with operations and logistics department employees coming and going with crates of cargo, weapons, and equipment for their respective assignments. The duo's attention was drawn overhead however, with a Seraphim craft inbound to a cleared off landing pad. Concern crept across Void's ever-obscured face, while Archie kept calm as always.

"That wasn't scheduled, was it?" Void asked with a furrowed brow.

"It's probably fine," Archie replied nonchalantly, leading the way to the landing pad the landing Seraphim ship had chosen. Void slung his rifle over his shoulder, following beside the Director. They passed by through the bulkheads on the way to the landing pad, the soft hiss of the armored doors opening and closing coming and going as they went through. As the large Seraphim craft stood before them, finally shutting off its thrusters and sitting still on the pad, its personnel ramp gently popped open with a pressurized hiss.

A familiar face emerged from the craft, a tall figure adorned with snow white ivory antlers and a earthen brown blouse, as well as a peculiar serpent coiled around her neck. Archie recognized her immediately, it was Here Lies Fate accompanied by 1st and 2nd Kings. "Hakim, it's a pleasure to see you back in action," she spoke with a smile. Archie returned her smile, extending a hand for a handshake before getting pulled right into a hug.

Meanwhile, Void was looking on at the snake looped over her shoulders before asking, "Can I pet it?"

Fate giggled before releasing Archie and gesturing towards the pale serpent, "I'm sure Kismet won't mind."

Void approached and extended a hand, gently patting the snake on the head with two fingers as his eyes came upon the two people who accompanied Fate. She looks over and introduces, "Dr. Void, this is 1st and 2nd Kings. They are our criminal justice officers in the Seraphim. 1st Kings is the one with gold and 2nd Kings is the one with obsidian." They both look up at Void. 1st Kings smiles and greets, "It's nice to meet you, Dr. Void. You are good in heart." 2nd Kings compliments back-handedly, "Indeed, it heavily outweighs your disgusting act of immobilizing an innocent person's vehicle because they intercepted you whilst driving. They were rushing to an emergency." Archie looks at Void with a questioning glare, while Void's cheeks flushed in embarrassment.

"Well.. huh, that's peculiar," Void said, trying not to let his guilt bleed through his voice.

"For Arthur's sake Void, you told me Nikita started driving you around because you almost crashed!"

"In my defense, I *did* almost crash, Specter was annoying me, ...and I had a bad day."

Archangel buried his face in his palm, sighing for a second, "We're talking about that later."

Fate's smile slowly fades as she begins to explain why she's here, "There is an issue that serves as an issue for both the Seraphim and the CACG. There is someone who is looping Time itself and could potentially destroy the timeline. I specialize in directly affecting the Absolute Fate, but it is now being affected by this time loop." 1st Kings adds, "The person doing has good intentions." 2nd Kings finishes his sentence, "However, he's a dangerous criminal. They have murdered many in Grail." Fate continues, "If nothing is done, this timeline could cease to exist. A Revelation Event."

"A timeloop? Archie isn't that like that game we played?" Void said offhandedly.

"It's an EOW Event, doc, that should've caught your ear first," a voice spoke behind them. Nearly the entire group was startled, including the all-seeing Fate, as a figure strode up to meet with them. As Archie and Void got a good look at them though, they chuckled in relief. "I guess now is as good a time as any for you two to meet. Ms. Paladinia, this is our ace in the hole for timeline shifters, Captain-"

"Captain Hesso Abadi at your service!" the figure said, extending a hand to Fate for a handshake. "I serve as the captain of Task Force Timekeepers, the CACG's special tactics unit for temporal anomalies, something I believe you mentioned? I wasn't aware we had another precog on base!" Fate shakes his hand and explains, "It's nice to meet you, Captain. I'm actually not a Group Agent. I'm the Domination of the Seraphim. Their military lead. I was not aware you were also able to manipulate time. This is good news. It will make the mission much easier."

"Well color me flattered, I can't exactly manipulate it, but it's a story for another day. About the threat though, I'm happy to report we have somewhere to start," Captain Abadi said, holding out a stack of dossiers. "I'm already assuming the wonder twins and Miss Paladinia have proper clearance, so we can all go ahead down to the briefing room and get started on this, no time to lose."

## The Briefing - GEO-7 Roundtable Ready Room, Camelot [07/08/2022]

Abadi lead the way into the room, his all-weather poncho waving in the wind and his sleek hardsuit clicking as he speed-walked around. Void followed after him, with Archangel hanging back and quickly pointing out a few facilities to Here Lies Fate and the Kings in halfhearted tour. As they all took their seats, Abadi slid a dossier to each of them around the round table. "So as you all already know, we have a looper in our timeline, so I'll cut to the chase. In my years of working here I've never seen anything like this before. The loops are... well... *uncharacteristically* powerful in terms of timeline shifters. We've even found that most TAS-sufferers didn't even notice when they began... hell, not even I remember when they began. But the looper has gotten sloppy, the loops have gotten more and more egregious, and we have a lock on some metrics."

The captain clicked the planning board's remote, bringing up a picture of the timeline's integrity and divergence over time, with the current loop counter reading 'Loop #[ERROR].' Archie and Void's eyes widened as they saw the figure. "Abadi... how many times have we looped?" Void questioned, a tinge of anxiety in his voice. The look of concern in Archangel's eyes seconded the question clearly. "I'm afraid we're not sure. Like I said before, this looper is nothing like what we've encountered before. Even our equipment isn't sure what's going on. We suspect this loop has been going on for a while, and as you can see on the stability graph, our timeline is getting increasingly unstable as a result," Abadi responded, bringing a few videos on screen. Among them was a video with a CACG digital forensics seal of authenticity. It was clearly filmed on a mobile phone, with a youth behind the camera throwing a rubber ball up in the air. As the ball arced through the air however, it seemed to 'pause' at the peak. It remained frozen in the air for at least 5 seconds before coming back down, completing its arc.

Void was in disbelief, "That's just one video though, right? It can't be that ba-"

Abadi cut him off, another click showed a live media intelligence feed, videos upon videos were being uploaded to the internet in a frenzy showcasing new temporal 'glitches' in the Grail around Yepren and the Straille. "Yeah, that is pretty bad," Archangel concludes. Here Lies Fate adds, "There's a certain threshold before the loops cause permanent damage to the timeline. It is best if we act as soon as possible before things become irreversible. And to do that, we need to stop the person looping things. But we also need to find him." 1st Kings comments, "He is hurting, he doesn't know the impact of his abilities." 2nd Kings said in a gentle scowl, "What we do know is that he is a serial killer. A filthy act among humanity."

"He is dangerous, but he might be understanding."

"Either that or he takes more lives with him."

Here Lies Fate opens her eye and looks at the Arch and Void. "Are you still willing to assist?"

Archangel didn't think twice, he gave her a cordial nod and turned his head to Void.

He stood silent for a moment, before finally saying "Fuck it, let's save this timeline."