Part IV: First Date Report

General Summary

The Black Horizon

After a solo all-night training session and a quick spat over noise-making and cutting the main power system, the Black Dawn made their way into the secret annex located behind a false wall of a bedroom in the Black Horizon. Jinx was granted access to the annex's supercomputer and overrode the AI with the Ghost in the Machine, finding a few things of interest within the system files. Firstly, the Ghost revealed 6 sealed black jumpsuits with Misfit branding, which boiled down to a large navy blue M on the back of the torso. One for each of the original 4 members of the Black Dawn and 2 for the Valed Deceit. Secondly, and more interestingly, Jinx discovered physical backups of important files, one labeled "ECHO", and one labeled "5/12/75", the date of the Great Blackout.. ECHO contained mostly corrupted research notes and logs on Project Echo, written by Castellan himself.   PROJECT ECHO MEMORANDUM FOR THE RECORD     DESCRIPTION Project ECHO is an advanced cybernetic enhancement designed to grant the user the ability of perfect mimicry; to witness an ability of their enemy and perfectly replicate it. While partial reconstruction of witnessed effects is possible with only a cerebral implant, amputation of both arms at 3 inches above the elbow and both legs at 7 inches above the knee for replacement with advanced computerized prosthetics is necessary for a complete reconstruction of any ability the user witnesses.     PROJECT LOG: 08-22-564 Test Subject Omega’s vitals have responded positively to cerebral implant, even despite pain. Due to the nature of the implant, the nerves could not be numbed or incapacitated in any way before the procedure. Also, as the only thing promised, the subject’s dementia (albeit in the early stages) has successfully been cured by the implant, and all forgotten memories seem to have been restored.     PROJECT LOG: 08-26-564 Cerebral Implant has successfully displayed the desired effect; Test Subject Omega has developed an innate ability to produce elemental flame after exposure to classified Protectors mission footage. The final model for installation on Subject Prime has begun production.     PROJECT LOG: 09-02-564 Test Subject Omega displays a reluctance to explore the capabilities of the implant; however, the subject has displayed an uncanny culinary ability after voluntary exposure to culinary television programs. Orchestration of an attack on project headquarters will begin.     PROJECT LOG: 09-04-564 A criminal trio known as Riot, consisting of a male tiefling pyromancer, a male halfling cat burglar, and a male aarakocra archer, were assigned to stage a kidnapping of Test Subject Omega at project headquarters. Having disabled security measures beforehand to feign a successful break-in, the criminals entered and attempted to apprehend Test Subject Omega. Security footage shows that Test Subject Omega was successfully able to replicate the pyromancer’s magical ability to its fullest extent, able to inflict considerable damage to the kidnapper. Test Subject Omega defended the break-in with her ability, without any injuries sustained to herself. Further testing will commence, as Subject Prime’s model has finished its design phase.     PROJECT LOG 11-21-564 Test Subject Omega’s condition continues to worsen. Despite ongoing attempts to locate and neutralize the cause of this sickness, tests have yielded no results. Neurons surrounding the subject’s implant have darkened to black, and continue to expand across the body from their point of origin. The subject continues to lose control over her motor functions, also activating the capabilities of the implant against her volition. The subject’s memory likewise continues to decline, while usable memory becomes shorter and shorter term. As the sickness grows worse, the subject is gradually only replicating thoughts, feelings, and emotions from the most recent days. Despite these conditions, Subject Omega’s thoughts refuse to leave Subject Prime.     COMPENDIUM SUBJECT OMEGA Age: 43 Sex: [CORRUPTED] Species: [CORRUPTED] Status: DECEASED Cause of Death: SEIZURE / NEUROLOGICAL EXPOSURE TO PROJECT CLEANSLATE     SUBJECT PRIME Age: 10 Sex: FEMALE Species: CHANGELING Status: MISSING   The actual schematics of Project Echo are corrupted, revealing only one thing: Project Echo emits a specific radio frequency so that data taken in by the user is instantly transmitted back to a selected hard drive to be replicated at a later date. The drive labeled "5/12/75" was a corrupted piece of security camera footage taken from the Black Horizon.   The security footage hits the screen, showing extremely corrupted still, colorless images of the front entrance of the building focused on the door, the entrance hallway to the underground base, and the workshop. The only difference in the appearance of these locations is the workshop; instead of the main holographic workshop table, there sits a surgical table in the same spot. The video is awaiting play.   In the outside footage, there are several flashes and changes in brightness coming from the street. A female figure shrouded in shadow steps into frame and moves to the door in fear, facing the door and therefore covering her face. She opens the foor, as the arcane locks are no longer engaged. Before she steps in, she looks back, revealing her face: Virus. Moving inside, you lose visual as the footage of the rest of the building has been corrupted.   The footage breaks for