This is an text-based ask blog for the Toppats, starting off on the space station.
The main characters are Hattie (Hat girl), Earrings, Burt Curtis and Sven Svensson, so any questions to other characters have to wait until they show up.
I was inspired by @ask-crashed-copperright, @run-away-toppats and a few other blogs so go check them out, they’re great.
This story does and will contain blood, death and a lot of headcanons.
Rules for this blog:
1. No being mean or unnecessarily rude to other askers / anons
2. Magic anons are allowed but will be stopped if they are too… impactful? Idk. I stop them if they would mess with the story too much. Don’t try bringing people back to live or teleport characters. Anything else should be fine.
3. Being mean to the characters is allowed as well, again, I’ll stop you if you go too far
4. Please make sure it is clear which character you’re talking to when you’re asking questions or just interact with them
5. If something bothers you about my tags or anything else on this blog, tell me. It’s my first blog and I want it to be enjoyable for everyone.
You can collect bios (I guess in this case it’s rightclicking on their names or… physically poking the characters?) It’ll just take a moment for me to draw them.
Start by looking for the post tagged #intro and then follow the #story posts.
Posts where it’s just me talking are tagged #mod
I think that’s everything for now…
Thank you for reading
- Mod Ai
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The posts are now all in a book on wattpad. For everyone that doesn’t want to scroll all the way down to get to the beginning.
For everyone who doesn't like using Wattpad, there's now also an AO3 version.
Someone has been murdered in the orbital station. And everyone else on the station is a member of the Toppat-Clan.
...
The story continues down on earth.
I highly recommend reading Act one before start reading this one. Nothing will make...
Real life, health and school always takes priority over a silly story online. Hope it gets better.
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“I am also going to say sorry for being socially inept.” Gabe says from the floor. “… especially after the other part of you already warned me…”
Terrence looks from him to Quinn and back. His anger isn’t completely gone, but like back on the boat, the thought of another version of him seems to be very unsettling. “… what did… whatever that is, warn you about?”
“Your bad temper, for one.”
“Maybe a little bit-” He gets interrupted briefly by the cake appearing out of nowhere, but by now he’s not very fazed by it anymore. “Either that or a little sister. I think most people in the clan think of her like a kid or maybe a niece, as part of a family… Thanks for the cake…”
The last food he had access to was snacks from a vending machine in the CCC’s desert facility, so the cake is very welcome.
Earrings seems to either have trouble imagining to get married or a future where all of this blows over. “… I don’t know. I don’t really think about stuff like marriage…”
Sven will find the ticket after he wakes up.
Materializing cupcakes is only possible in or close to locations where a possible instance of you was or is currently active. An inactive instance would be right next to Bill, who is not exactly happy about a cupcake appearing out of thin air. He may feel like the askers are mocking him.
Every other current and Ex-CCC employee is quite delighted by your gift; those being Corporal Jenkins, Gabe, Waylon and Marcel.
Most of the toppats are still asleep and will discover them when they wake up. The people who are awake in the dormitories are a little bit surprised, but won’t complain about free dessert. From the ones in the medbay only Nicholas is awake; he’s going to decide how to feel about it after his migraine dies down. Burt already has a piece of cake; he still looks happy about more sweets.
Sadly, Terrence is on too much of an emotional rollercoaster to even think about eating anything.
And lastly, Henry can hold your cupcake now, but cannot eat it. Neither can the other part of Terrence right next to him. Everyone else is either too far away or can’t be located by your anon magic.
“Thanks… I don’t know what you mean with ‘Burt giving in’, but anyone’s engagement is pretty irrelevant right now.” Waylon looks into the vague direction where he left Burt when they came in here. “And who knows what’ll be when everything is over. Or who will even still be here.”
Earrings is still up and probably will stay up for the foreseeable future; the information she got is something to process. At your question she snorts and looks fondly back at her boyfriend. “He tends to be… Most people I was with were. Maybe that’s just something I’m into.”
“Don’t worry. I’m sure he didn’t wander off too far. And beneath us is the base- gah!” Apparently Gabe’s social skills are lacking, as it seems like he expected Terrence to give up after a single punch. Instead, the ex-chief yanks the other man’s leg from the ground, leaving no chance of regaining balance.
It doesn’t take Terrence long to get up and to put his foot on Gabe’s shoulder to keep him from doing the same.
There were some anger-issues and tendency-to-destroy-objects related reasons why no one suspected him to be possessed by a demon back when he was leader. And some that lead Bill Bullet to lock him in a room and disable his arm too.
To Gabriel: Is (our) camera allowed to be used to people in the mirror? Since the rules says "Do not talk to them"...
“You can try. You don’t need a real mirror, just any reflective surface will do.” Gabe looks back at the sign. “Don’t worry too much about those. Most are pretty irrelevant now. Adam has stabbed himself with a pen a few years ago already. Just as an example.”
While you’re continue to question Gabe, Terrence’s brain seems to have shut down from the sheer audacity this redhead possesses. He probably needs a moment while you’re talking.
There is a lot to process. Randy was indeed murdered years ago, way before Terrence even became leader. He would’ve been fifty in 2020.
“You are correct. Time doesn’t work like it does up above, but that’s not the only reason.” He stomps his foot on the metal ground to showcase that it either isn’t metal or it is very thin and something hollow is beneath it. “As you’ll see later, or probably already see with your pendant there, this place is brimming with chaos energy. It didn’t used to be like that, but bad ideas have consequences…” Gabe looks mildly annoyed now.
“I’m not!” It is unclear if Terrence’s face is red from anger or embarrassment. Both reasons could proof you right. “I’m married!”
“Since when does that prevent people from developing crushes?” Gabe does a side-step backwards right in time to not get punched in the face and Terrence falls to the ground. Once again not able to let his anger out by assaulting a CCC-employee.
You snap the bio and return to Waylon before someone else can have much of a reaction to what you said.
“They work. As I said, they always glow a little bit, no matter who it touches. We all have a little bit of chaos energy inside.” Waylon hands you one of the necklaces and as it gets closer to you it glows brighter. Not nearly as bright as with the thing back on the station, but it’s definitely noticeable.
- Quinn equipped a Chaos pendant –
All current instances of you are instantly updated and down level 1 the pendant glows so brightly that everyone has to shield their eyes for a moment. The pendant stays like this. You’ll have a hell of a hard time hiding in the dark without covering that thing.
Terrence just looks even more confused and shocked before Gabriel walks up to your group. “Actually, it might be 2025 for you. For us it is still 2020”
For a moment you can get a better view of the important looking sign behind him.
Author doesn’t respond to your question.
It seems like the surge from the teleporter and you all clipping down to level 1 may have temporarily severed your connection to the void.
But the rules have stayed the same since the very beginning.
No being mean or unnecessarily rude to other askers / anons
Magic anons are allowed but will be stopped if they are too… impactful? Idk. I stop them if they would mess with the story too much. Don’t try bringing people back to live or teleport characters. Anything else should be fine.
Being mean to the characters is allowed as well, again, I’ll stop you if you go too far
Please make sure it is clear which character you’re talking to when you’re asking questions or just interact with them
If something bothers you about my tags or anything else on this blog, tell me. It’s my first blog and I want it to be enjoyable for everyone.
“Well, I guess that camera already told you my full name, but you can call me ‘Gabe’ for short.” He picks the teleporter up from the floor “And you’re here because I correctly programmed the teleporter. 1 in about a million chance of getting it right, by the way.” Gabe seems to be very proud about risking your existence.
Looking around now, you realized that Henry isn’t with you anymore.
He was definitely here when you all landed, but now it looks like he wandered off through a wall, like he did back in the desert facility.
“I guess you could call it ‘The Backrooms’. We’re underneath pretty much every other layer but one, so maybe ‘The cellar’ would be more accurate.” He scratches his chin thoughtfully. “And why you should trust me? You’ve trusted weirder and more dangerous people than me; I’m pretty sure of that. Everything else we should probably discuss inside.”
Before he can lead you anywhere, Terrence loses his patience, from which there wasn’t that much left to begin with after the day he’s already had. “Who are you?! Stop dodging the question! And why do you look like Randy?!”
Gabe looks like him for a moment before grinning. “Were you actually crushing on my little brother?”
Usually the teleporter only brings the user to another place on the same plane of existence.
This time, the teleporter does a bit more.
Causing the massive surge in chaos energy, the teleporter rips a hole in the layers of reality and Terrence, Henry and the askers clip down to an entirely different plane of their universe.
Accompanied by a lot of water, the midsection of their motorboat and a giant headache, everyone crashes onto metal floor after materializing a few feet above the ground.
The teleporter even brought the surrounding night air, causing a significant movement of air in their surroundings.
“See? It works perfectly as long as you put in the right coordinates.”
Looking up you can see a man standing in the only exit out of the room.
“Welcome to level 1.”
For a moment, Terrence just stares at him wide-eyed before “Randy?”
The man does not look confused about being asked if he is a long dead toppat, but a little bit offended. “Do I look like I’m fifty?”
“Randy would be fifty?!”
Nobody really ever bothered to check what year Terrence thinks it is.
We’ve met many characters over the years. Here are their bios and where they are or rather what you know about them.
Burt is in Jenkin’s CCC facility. Instead of resting he is rummaging through files concerning A-2009 and his father.
Earrings is currently talking to Nanuk and the only person in the clan that knows that Terrence is alive and with the askers.
Hattie is with Sven and the rest of the toppats. Currently also asleep.
Henry had been cuddling with Earrings before Nanuk showed up and woke her. He’s fine and sleeping.
Sven is sleeping. For how long? Who knows. He hasn’t had a good nights sleep in weeks.
Ahnoldt was last seen on the station. According to Sheriff, he was asked to be third in command, but currently he is still MIA.
Carol hasn’t been seen since she argued with Sheriff at the launch site. According to Matilda she hasn’t been of any help. She is most likely still alive.
Fredrick was last seen on the station when he ran down to comms with Sheriff. Author since tried to find his file, but it doesn’t seem to exist anymore.
Gene was last seen handling the lower ranks on the station. Judging by Sheriff’s remark that there are no elites beside him and Carol left, Gene is presumably dead.
Macbeth was last seen taking care of Carol after Earrings broke her nose. Just like with Fredrick, his file doesn’t seem to exist anymore.
Sheriff was last seen fighting with Carol and Matilda, before the launch site was attacked. Nobody mentioned him dying, which would probably be something worth mentioning.
Nicholas is presumably in the CCC’s medbay after getting injured during the crash. According to Waylon, he’ll be fine.
Waylon is in the same room as Burt, talking to the askers. There are no stones on his hatband anymore since he turned them all into pendants.
Witch is with Matilda, Ellie and Dr. V. Not knowing where Fredrick is has not done her any good and she has joined the ranks of people who refuse to go to sleep despite definitely needing rest.
Since every higher up is either asleep or busy, Matilda is in charge of keeping an eye on everyone. For now, everyone is relatively safe so she’s talking to the Witch, Ellie, Dr. V and the askers. She knows that the askers are also with a ‘controversial toppat’, as the askers described Terrence.
Thomas pretty much filled in for Sven and Burt while they were gone. By now he’s gone to sleep too.
Katie was last seen when Sven and his group were teleported into Jenkin’s facility. She’s probably sleeping too.
Ai was also last seen on the station and no one has mentioned her since the crash. You don’t know if she’s still alive.
HazMatt was last seen on the launchsite before the CCC attacked. Nobody has mentioned him since.
Nobody has mentioned Louie since he left Sven’s office. He might be missing or with the others.
Like many others, Wallace was last seen on the station, way before it exploded. There hasn’t been a single clue about what might have happened to him.
You have no clue where the Deity is. The only thing you know is that they’re still walking around in Henry’s body.
A-2013, or part of Terrence’s soul, hasn’t been seen since you escaped the desert facility. It hasn’t made any attempt at contacting you or Terrence and instead send Henry.
Bill still has to deal with the yacht and explosions that damaged his facility. And the big surge of chaos energy on top of everything. He doesn’t know that it’s ‘a breach of Level 1’. He’s also still on the path to destroy this timeline and you didn’t leave a good impression.
Clyde was sleeping in his office. Now he’s required to deal with the breach of level 1. He doesn’t seem like it is a reason to panic immediately.
Terrence and Henry were teleported with the askers. So… You’ll still have to find out where you all are.
Dr. V is having a conversation with the askers, Ellie, Matilda and the Witch. You don’t know how she got here, but she seems to be fine.
Ellie was rescued from the Wall by the CCC and is currently with Matilda, the Witch, Dr. V and the askers. Despite all that happened, she seems fine as well.
There are several tools that are either in possession of the askers or can potentially be claimed at this time.
Remember that you can always use anon magic to get items. Your request can be declined, but it might be worth the time.
Here is an inventory check
The camera
The tool to gather bios. It was brought in by Laclale and is stored in the void. Everyone has access to it.
The tickets
One ticket is given to every asker, no matter when they join. It’s used to keep people from turning into a thing. It doesn’t safe their life, it simply cleanses bodies from the acidic substance.
Currently only Laclale has used a ticket.
The jewel
It’s the jewel that was found on the orbital station. There are white and golden swirls inside it. It’s currently not known what that means and as long as Ezol doesn’t give it to someone else, nobody but Ezol has access to it.
The teleporter
The rules of the blog prohibit the teleportation of characters via anon-magic.
The teleporter doesn’t count as anon magic.
Overclocking the Void
More a mechanic than an item for the askers.
Since Mod Ai was deleted, Author has been pretty much tearing the Void apart. So far it didn’t have any negative repercussion for the askers. Overclocking the void has led to the askers being able to be in several places at once and throw a yacht.
A significant boost for anon-magic in dire moments. Or just at any time; Author is not a very responsible person.
Chaos detecting pendants
The necklaces Waylon has made from the rocks that glow brighter the higher the chaos levels in their proximity are. Every toppat has one and every asker could have one.
The broken jewel
While the jewel from the orbital station seems to come from an alternate timeline, this one is the jewel that Terrence stole and that was destroyed years ago. Currently it’s in Waylon’s possession.
The toppat’s weapons
Most toppats had to surrender their weapons when the CCC took them in.
Earrings still has a knife and gun and both Burt and Hattie are armed with small explosives. And so is Terrence.
While in the abandoned CCC facility the following files are discovered:
DtaAno2009.doc “Anomaly-2009 – “The Alteration””
Presumably found in Egypt by a team of archeologists lead by Dr. Arthur Reynolds.
Highest detected Chaos Level: 10.6
Appearance:
Material is similar to that of a cut black diamond.
When propped up vertically the object is four inches high, two inches wide and one inch thick.
Known effects:
When in contact:
Feelings of distress; fainting; seizures
When in close proximity:
Feelings of anger; unprovoked, violent behavior
Not all people exposed to the object were affected.
Current location:
Displayed in a museum in San Stose.
Sept. 27th 2009
Operation to obtain and contain the object are in motion.
Museum staff unwilling to cooperate; preparing documents for a purchase offer, generating more appealing background.
Oct. 14th 2009
Operation to obtain and contain A-2009 has failed.
Object was lost in a museum-heist performed by the Toppat Clan.
Further investigation revealed an altercation between the Toppat Clan and the Tobleros, an opposing criminal organization.
Traces of high chaos levels detected at scene of the altercation.
Assumed outcome:
Object is still in possession of the Toppat Clan, has sustained damage during the altercation and caused a surge in chaos energy, possibly altering the timeline
Proven outcome:
Object has shattered and released A-2009-1, presumably possessing Toppat T’S’C in the process.
Attempts to capture T’S’C or any member of the Toppat Clan alive were not successful so far
Refer to TptCl-dta.doc for more information.
Jan. 12th 2011
10.6 Chaos level detected.
Source found at Split Island
Individual identified as Toppat T’S’C. Taken into custody for further investigation and necessary medical procedures.
Traces of A-2009 energy found.
Traces of A-2013 energy found and categorized. Refer to DtaAno2013.doc for more information.
Jul. 8th 2017
10.6 Chaos level detected.
Source located in museum in Red Mesa
Attempt to take individual into custody not made.
Traces of A-2009 and A-2013 found.
Unidentified individual put on watch list
Nov. 12th 2020
10.6 Chaos level detected.
Source located near complex The Wall
Source determined and individual identified as Henry Stickmin by field agent.
Individuals presumed death not confirmed.
Traces of A-2016 energy found and categorized. Refer to DtaAno2016.doc for more information.
Dec. 11th 2020
A-2009-1 suspected as source for multiple incidents relating to deaths, disappearances and assimilations.
Recorded Chaos levels between 6.2 and 8.7.
Dec. 12th 2020
10.6 Chaos level detected.
First sighting of A-2009-3. Location undetermined.
No response from reporting field agent.
Field agent presumed dead after 48 h.
TptCl-dta.doc “The Toppat Clan”
Criminal Organization – Founded around 1800
Most active in North- and South America – Expanded through launch of orbital station in 2020
Threat Level: Medium
Active CCC-Liasons:
None
EAgents:
R’R’O – Confirmed dead in 2009
WAS – Joined early 2020
Chaos incidents
The clan has unknowingly stolen and handled numerous items with various levels of Chaos energy over the years. Several artifacts were bought off the clan and successfully contained. Refer to Rlc-TptCl.doc for more information.
No major incidents occurred.
Connection to A-2009 - Refer to DtaAno2009.doc for more information
A-2009 was obtained by the Toppat Clan during a museum heist on Oct. 13th 2009.
Artifact deemed too dangerous to leave it with the Clan, field agents sent out to retrieve it through all means necessary. Operation unsuccessful.
Attempts to make contact with EAgent R’R’O unsuccessful.
Jan. 26th 2010
10.6 Chaos level detected.
Timeline corruption detected.
A-2009 energy detected.
Source identified as Toppat T’S’C – Categorized as A-2009-2.
Attempts to capture A-2009-2 or any other member of the Toppat Clan alive unsuccessful.
Attempts of containment put on hold due to rapidly occurring timeline corruptions.
A-2009-2 and Toppat Clan put on watch list.
Jan. 12th 2011
10.6 Chaos level detected.
Source found at Split Island.
Individual identified as Toppat T’S’C. Taken into custody for further investigation and necessary medical procedures.
Traces of A-2009 energy found.
Traces of A-2013 energy found and categorized. Refer to DtaAno2013.doc for more information.
A-2009-2 taken off watch list.
Dec. 10th 2020
7.1 Chaos level detected.
Source found in Toppat orbital station.
Unable to further determine source remotely.
Dec. 16th 2020
3.8 Chaos level detected.
Source found in Toppat orbital station.
Source remotely determined as a case of A-1259. Several other cases determined in following hours.
Dec. 17th 2020
Surge of chaos energy detected on orbital station.
It’s the beginning of act three; at the moment the last act.
We started this thing back in February 2021 and it’s now 2025.
Nanuk brought up that we have accumulated a big amount of lore and introduced a lot of characters in these more than four years, which is absolutely true. The word documents with all posts are in summary almost 30,000 KB.
So, before we discover some more lore, have a comprehensive summary of Traitor on board and the part of the Alteration AU that it’s based on. From the relevant beginning, before the askers even showed up, to now.
If you don’t want to read those you can just jump to the intro.
The basics:
ToB, and the Alteration AU as a whole, are based on these three players and their various forms.
Alteration
An ancient deity, referred to by the CCC as A-2009 (2009-1 if you want to be very specific; the jewel they were trapped in is A-2009) and referred to by me and my friend as ‘Alt’.
Its chaos level is 10.6
Comparing the AU with the game, Alteration is the voice / text after every fail.
Terrence “Suave” Curtis
Terrence, in this AU, is in the situation of being in two parts.
One is a part of his soul that was literally chained to Alteration. The CCC refers to this part of him as A-2013.
The only clue you have about his chaos level is that it’s above 5. It could possibly be at 10.6 as well.
The other part of Terrence is still alive, has no memory of the last, approximately, 10 years, has a prosthetic arm and was with the CCC against his will since he was presumed dead by the Toppats.
CCC files refer to Terrence as “Toppat T’S’C”, “A-2009-2” and “P-005”.
Henry Stickmin
In this AU, Henry has been somewhat possessed by both Alteration and Terrence, granting him his time-powers and choices. The only power he has without them is earth bending.
Up to his death in Traitor on Board, the CCC only managed to get a clear picture of Henry right before he died.
In this specific timeline he is unfortunately also in two parts.
One is his whole soul, a ghost if you will. The CCC refers to him as A-2016. The chance to get more information from the CCC about his situation has passed and his file was destroyed.
His chaos level is beneath 5.
The other part of Henry is now completely possessed by Alteration; the CCC’s designation is A-2009-3.
It hasn’t been seen in person yet, but according to all files and accounts, it should be avoided at all cost.
The story begins with Terrence stealing the jewel Alteration was trapped in.
Shortly after the group, including Sir Wilford IV, gets attacked.
Presumably, everyone dies. The jewel shatters and Alteration possesses Terrence, controlling his actions from then to when he ‘dies’ by falling off the airship. The human part of Terrence is saved and taken in by the CCC while Alteration and the rest of him end up with Henry.
Because they are chained to Terrence, Alteration can’t control Henry. It can only offer him suggestions and reverse time when he fails.
On the route to the Valiant Hero-Ending, Henry dies in the airbag fail and in this doomed timeline, all souls and entities were released. While Henry himself and Terrence were pushed out of his body, Alteration kept it and proceeded to wreak havoc on the world, using ‘things’ that kill and assimilate people into their army.
The timeline proceeded with major events:
The Toppats launched the rocket.
The Wall was destroyed by Alteration and the ‘things’.
The CCC split in two factions. One lead by Corporal Jenkins, who still wants to safe the timeline, and the other by Corporal Bullet, who aims to destroy it, like the CCC handles most issues like this.
Two more important characters, that are not directly involved with any of the other characters are Mod Ai, the original moderator of the blog with a connection to the toppats, and Author, the creator of the AU with a connection to the CCC.
They both reside in the void and provide the askers with information and shelter, if necessary.
Act one:
Weeks after the rocket was launched, the body of Talinn Circus was found on the orbital station. Due to many technical difficulties plaguing the station, there is no camera footage of the culprit and not enough footage to give every toppat an alibi.
The askers and anons arrive just in time to be present when a second body is found and take major part in the investigation. On the way they meet these characters (in order of appearance) and witness the following events:
Earrings – Burt’s sister
Hattie (Hat Girl) – Sven’s adoptive daughter
Henry Stickman – Part of the communications department; almost Head of it
Wallace Pemberton – The Toppat’s spy in the Wall, currently on vacation and stuck on the station because nobody is allowed to get on or off
These four were not aware that any murders had taken place, like most of the rest of the clan.
Carol Cross – The clan’s third in command. Through tumblr-blog magic, it is revealed that Carol is Burt’s mother. Which causes a lot of tension between her and Earrings
Sven Svensson – The leader of the clan. Who has spent many days without sleep and with watching camera footage to find alibis for as many toppats as possible. This responsibility was not only put on him by himself, but by the entire elite, of which only Burt has done more than nothing to help him.
Burt Curtis – The clan’s second in command, Head of communications and security and most concerned about Sven (because he’s a massive simp). He is responsible for almost all tech on the station.
Ai Kira and HazMatt – Two new hires who discover the second body down in storage.
On their way down to storage, Sven, Burt and the askers meet up with Carol, Hattie and Earrings. The latter trying to tell Burt about Carol, but she gets dismissed for now and Sven, Burt and Carol, with the askers continue down to storage. Earrings and Hattie following unnoticed.
Nicholas Gordon – The clan’s new doctor, who is not very faced by the body he has to examine. Through the course of the story the askers learn that he used to be with the CCC and has murdered someone in the past in an act of vigilantism. He’s also on meds for ‘clinical insanity’ and has bad relations to both Gene Fredrickson and Sheriff.
At this point, Hattie and Earrings are let in on the fact that two murders have taken place on the station now. The current body is just a pile of acidic mush in a wooden crate. With the help of the asker’s magical camera (brought in by @laclale-farron) the quite corrupted bio of Marty O. is collected. Sven, Burt and Carol return to Sven’s office to confirm that it is in fact Marty. Earrings and Hattie leave the group. Nicholas, Ai and HazMatt bring most of what is left of the body to med bay for examination.
The Witch – Head of the medical department, and also the only other medical personnel on the station. She and Nicholas proceed to further analyzed the remains of Marty, but she stays in medbay and doesn’t contribute much more in person, like a few other heads of departments do.
Waylon – Nicholas’s fiancée and a former CCC-Agent. In CCC files he is referred to as E-Agent WAS. He is in possession of several rocks that can detect chaos energy. The more energy, the brighter the rocks are glowing. Nobody in this investigation, including the askers, has taken advantage of that and checked if there is anything chaos-related going on.
Louie G. – Marty O.’s brother. He is called to Sven’s office after nobody can get a hold of Marty and Marty’s phone is found in storage. All information he can give is that his brother hasn’t talked to him for days.
Through the cameras it is found that Marty has stayed in his room for days and an educated guess on how long he would’ve needed to be dead for his body to be in such a state does not match up with when he was last seen on camera, which was minutes before his body was found.
Not being able to make much more progress at this time, it’s decided that there should be a meeting with the members of the elite that had alibis for the first murder. Carol was not one of them.
Mr. Macbeth – Head of the railway division and trapped on the station for a similar reason as Wallace. He will be helping out more with the investigation in the background.
Gene Fredrickson – Not mayor anymore and just an elite with money. He hasn’t done and won’t do anything to help the investigation, but with keeping the clan in order.
Fredrick Muenster – The youngest elite aside from Sven and a major financial contributor to the rocket. He’ll help the askers out in future investigations.
Ahnoldt Schwarz – An elite and skilled commander. A major help with keeping the lower ranks in check later on.
During the meeting the few things Nicholas and the Witch have found out so far are reviewed. The acid only reacts with organic material. On its own, it’s translucent, highly flammable and there is no known way to wash it off. Finally informing the entire clan and how to keep everyone as safe as possible, staying in groups and in their rooms at night, is discussed. Just a little while later the clan is informed and protective measures are put into place. After the meeting, Mr. Macbeth, Fredrick, Burt and Sven go back to the chief’s office and use the station’s motion detectors to scan for someone moving in areas where nobody should be. Some motion is detected near storage, but nothing is visible on the cameras.
The asker’s first investigation begins with @Ezol13, @NanukTheFirst and @SilverEdgyStories heading down to storage to discover the jewel (A-2009) that has somehow made its way onto the station, despite having been destroyed years ago. To this day it remains in the possession of Ezol13 and can only be moved by them or, in a dire situation, with anon magic. Aside from the jewel they also find the thing that pretended to be Marty. The asker’s presence alone makes the thing melt into the ground. Having finished the investigation, the askers, along with Earrings, head back up to the office. There, Earrings breaks Carol’s nose, after finding out that Carol told Burt she was his mother and that Burt didn’t take it very well.
After comforting Burt for a little bit, the askers begin their second investigation and head with Fredrick to Marty’s room. On the way they arm themselves with weapons from the Toppat’s armory. In the room, they find a horrible smell from stains on his bedsheets.
Sheriff – An elite without an alibi for Talinn’s murder. He always finds something to criticize or complain about when it comes to Sven’s leadership. He accompanies Fredrick and the askers to their next destination.
Not getting much more information from Marty’s room with the current means, Fredrick leads them to Buckethat’s room to get some tools. Sadly, they find the room empty, with stained bedsheets and the same smell as in Marty’s room. Communication to the office is down so everyone heads back up. On the way they encounter Earrings and another thing in the hall of fame. They watch the thing, that looks like Jacked Hughmann, get shot in the head and then jump over the banister into the darkness below. Fredrick and Sheriff head to comms and the askers with Earrings back to the office, where they find that Burt has some of the acid on his arm, but refuses to let anyone look at it until the Jacked-thing is dealt with. Before anything can be done the station explodes, with the askers, Sven, Burt and Earrings using the office as an escape pod.
Many Toppats haven’t been seen since then.
Act two:
Act two starts off with a glimpse of the surviving toppats gathered at the launch site. Carol and Sheriff are fighting for leadership, but none of the others join either of them and everyone seems to listen to Thomas Chestershire and Matilda Ivy. Then the group is attacked by the CCC and the askers start their interactions back in the void with the Author and the Mod.
Each asker receives a ticket that can keep someone from turning into a thing; not revive them if they’re dead, just keep them from turning.
Returning to Sven, Earrings and Burt they have to deal with the situation of Burt being on the brink of death and turning, but with Nanuk’s and Laclale’s help he survives. After checking on the statuses of the other pods, Sven finds that Henry and Hattie are not too far from them. The group starts their march through the desert to the other pod and towards a building promising shelter from the sun in the day.
Briefly the askers get pulled back into the void due to Author and Mod being noticed by Bill Bullet while he was talking to Terrence, who was trapped in a room at that point. It doesn’t take very long for the askers to return to the toppats. Everyone has now reached the building, which turns out to be an abandoned CCC-facility. CCC-Files about the Toppat-Clan and A-2009 are found there. Unfortunately, the facility was overrun by things and to save him and his friends and family, Burt initiates a chaos purge that should’ve eradicated the askers along with all things. Instead they end up back in the void with Alteration who has deleted Mod while the askers and toppats were dealing with the things. With more luck than actual skill, Author chases them out after the askers activate the void’s backup system. Author becomes the new mod and sends the askers back to the facility.
There they encounter the soul of Henry Stickmin for the first time. He reveals that he was the one who brought the jewel to the orbital station, but nobody asks how and why he did it. He vanishes and the askers join their toppat-friends again. Right in time for someone from another CCC-facility to reactivate the teleporters to evacuate the site. After teleporting, Sven, Burt, Earrings, Hattie and Henry are greeted by Thomas, Matilda, Waylon and Cool Katie. Thomas brings them up to speed regarding how many toppats are missing and how there’s no contact with the ground division.
Sven and Burt have a talk with Corporal Jenkins about the current situation and Terrence’s connection to everything.
Quite far away, Terrence blows a hole into Bill Bullet’s facility and escapes with the ghost of Henry. Due to Author overclocking the void, the askers are now able to be at multiple places at once. They introduce themselves to Bill and end up trapping him inside his facility by dropping a yacht in his way, keeping him from chasing after Terrence.
The askers also make contact with Waylon, who turns out to have the shards of the original jewel, that broke back when Terrence stole it. He’s also presenting the askers with necklaces that have the rocks that can detect chaos energy as pendants. None of these things have been claimed by the askers yet, but can be.
Burt is contacted while going through CCC files concerning his father Terrence. Earrings is woken up by Nanuk and told that Terrence is still alive and asked if it would be a good idea to bring him to the rest of the clan. According to her, it wouldn’t be a good idea.
Matilda, the Witch, Dr. Vinschpinsilstien and Ellie Rose are just a few feet away.
Meanwhile with Terrence and Henry, they and the askers escape on a boat. While they are on their way though, Author discovers by tearing into the void that she can’t find the files of Fredrick and Mr. Macbeth. Shortly after a mysterious voice contacts her and the askers through the void, which should not be possible. The stranger sends an already calibrated teleporter to the askers.
Henry seems to have accepted that his life really can’t get any worse at this point and moves over a bit to be in the teleporter’s sphere of influence.
“’Hoping for the best’ is pretty much all we can do at this point, isn’t it…?” Terrence pulls the post-it note off of the button and throws it aside “And besides that; I’ve done worse on my own free will before.”
That surely is one of few things Henry and Terrence have in common.
Finally pressing the button causes reality to bend around most of the little boat and as the group disappears in a bright flash of light, visible from all the way back in the CCC-facility, parts of the stern and the bow remain and slowly sink beneath the waves.
Laclale wasn’t completely wrong about the teleporter sinking the boat.
Back on land, Bill has to rip the glasses off his face as the flashing alert from the integrated screen almost blinds him. There’s a new wave of alarms going off; the scanners not able to determine what happened, just that it is a big surge in chaos energy far too close to the facility.
Bill grits his teeth, looking in the vague direction of the sudden activity. “How in god’s name?”
Much farther away, Jenkins finally gets an audible alert, as do most of the other high ranked employees in the building.
Their scanners know exactly what just occurred, and after adjusting his glasses and looking at the still flashing message Jenkins looks more astonished than worried or angry. “… O’Reilly?”
The surge is so strong that even Waylon’s pendants glow a bit brighter for a few seconds and in an undetermined location a dark figure pauses and looks up at the sky. Their red eyes glow in moonlight before they flash a devious smile and melt into the darkness.
End of Act two
It’s been pretty much 3 and a half years since the intro for the second act was posted on tumblr.
More than three times the time Act one lasted.
End of Act two seems a good time to compare and celebrate some stats, isn’t it?
Bios found:
27 Bios in Act one – With seven of them being ‘special’ or ‘rare’ bios (Like Marty’s and the Thing’s)
17 Bios in Act two – With six of them being ‘special’ or ‘rare’ bios (Like Alteration’s and the teleporter)
There were no achievements to get in Act two, but you got two back in Act one.
We’ve had more than 258 asks in Act one and more than 372 in Act two.
And speaking of asks… all of my askers are special to me so thank you:
To the tumblr askers / anons:
- @laclale-farron
- Anon - ◇
- @littleangelinheart
- cuckoo-fan
To the Wattpad askers:
- Ezol13
- SilverEdgyStories
- NanukTheFirst
- Heartgirl2020
- QueerLovingMenace
To the AO3 askers:
- The Lurker
- Jtheartnerd
Putting the entirety of the blog on AO3 back in March did really put into perspective how much has piled up over the years. I will try to put a comprehensible summary in the beginning of Act three. All bios in one chapter as well (idk if tumblr is gonna let me but we’ll see).
If someone wants to go back and reread the whole story, as of now I would recommend AO3 (Without ads and not having to scroll down into oblivion)
I will keep crossposting to tumblr, Wattpad and AO3, so everyone can comment and ask where they want.
Terrence looks a little bit relieved by that. Prison is most times better than dead and Burt and Carol being with the other toppats at least sounds like they’re safe.
And just because you don’t know where Ahnoldt is, doesn’t mean he’s been wiped out of existence.
“How did they catch Reginald? And who? He was always so meticulous about… pretty much everything.”
On the other end of the boat, Henry is suddenly very interested in the wood the vessel is made out of.
To Henry, the teleporter is dangerous, but it’s not like he hasn’t pressed that button again and again despite dying because of it. He signs a ‘Fine’ before staring down at the floor.
Terrence is still the person who is holding and fidgeting with it; continuously tapping the sides, but not paying much attention to it or the discussion you are having with Henry.
Henry does not seem to be happy about your opinion. He doesn’t know who sent this teleporter, but so far the only entity that gave it to him is the same one who is walking around in his body and trying to kill everyone.
The fact that you don’t know who send it doesn’t make this any better.
His signing seems annoyed, if not angry now. ‘Why don’t you press it then?’
“Life on the airship was less than two months ago in my memory… If you want to know about the time I was leader; I have no idea what of all the things I remember actually happened for everyone here. And before that…” His taps against the teleporter’s sides grow a bit more forceful. The giant memory gap and the years prior to that are stressing him out a lot more than he would ever admit. “Last time I saw Sven; he was a child. And now he’s chief, launched a space station and exploded with it? I don’t know where Reginald, Wright and Carol are. Or Ahnoldt. Or… Burt…”
It would probably take a few hours to tell him everything he wants to know.
In the meantime, or rather as the teleporter appeared on your boat, Bill Bullet is still struggling with the yacht you threw at him as he gets notified about this new surge in chaos energy.
And far away, in the facility with more functioning scanners that can do a little bit more than what was told to a group of toppats and askers prior, detect the same. A blinking red dot on the world map is not enough to wake Jenkins up however. This one is actually labeled. Or rather causes a code to flash across the entire map.
For once in the history of ToB all the major art pieces (Cover, character introduction, new PFP and Header for tumblr) are all done before they're needed.
