[attr="class","frame144"]

[attr="class","lowe14reescroll"]
[break][break]
No conclusions thus far, other than accepting the possibility that Gilda 1 and Gilda A were distinct entities. Watching Dahlia, Ume got the impression that something had caught her eye. Umeko had gleaned certain details herself; bracelet placement, lack of a wedding band. She had trust in Dahlia's keen, well-trained eye to pick up on other such details. Together, they may be able put their heads together to form something cohesive. They couldn't stare at pictures all day though, and collectively they had decided to head out.
[break][break]

Most of Dahlia’s fears were planted firmly in reason, as far as Motor City was concerned. After being perturbed and exhausted by going down far too many slippery stairs, the two were greeted by the narrow and mostly unwalkable ground level streets. Usually patient, Ume pressed one fist into her waist at the numerous intersections the two had crossed to even get out of the hotel’s parking lot. Her free arm was extended slowly, as to project to Dahlia from an impulse she assuredly would not have.
[break][break]


Catching a taxi had proven to be a nightmare. Rogue Gilda A had caused such a “disturbance” in the back of one, leaving most drivers absolutely reluctant to take on new passengers. Ume, forced the issue by transforming part of the street into a lovely day out at the frozen lake as soon as she saw a flash of yellow further up the street. A gleam in her eye, her scheme was set in motion. While a few cars had slipped their way through, they were mostly able to correct. It wasn’t truly a problem until a vehicle attempted to stop. So with the taxi full speed ahead, she fired a bolt of ice into the surface. A geyser erupted, disturbing the cab, bringing it a hard break that forced it to drift in a series of swirls, “Wait here. Do not cross over until I give you the signal. These drivers do not care who they reduce to paste.”
[break][break]


Finally, having come to a full stop, it summoned a stream of honks and swears from the passing racers and other assorted drivers. Finding a brief gap, she strode over to the cab, and knocked on the window, trying to get the attention of the shaken, terrified driver. They said nothing, only unlocked the backseat. Ume waited, holding onto the roof tightly while a blast of drivers briefly shot past the street, honking and miraculously swearing all the way through. In the respite between that group and the closing of the lap that would follow, Ume waved Dahlia her way, showing no sign of urgency, "It's safe for a moment. Do hurry, and try not to slip." She curtly suggested, the roar of engines starting faint, swiftly loudening.

[attr="class","frame14"]

[attr="class","frame144"]

[attr="class","lowe14reescroll"]
[break][break]
Filing in after Dahlia, Ume secured the door after her. Going through the dossier she had squirreled away in her inventory, she gawked at the list of crimes Gilda A had managed to rack up. She wasn’t so much disturbed but confused. These crimes were, without a doubt, vandalism, but to what end? Somehow, the once fast moving streets had slowed to a crawl. Taking a pen, she struck out a few of the businesses, “I don’t think we should investigate those, her actions were a bit too disturbing.”
[break][break]

They had made their first stop, and as the door closed behind them, their ride was gone. Mateo's Macédoine looked to be some fresh hell long before it was visited by Gilda A. Umeko wasn’t sure where her chaos began, and where this bodega’s disorder ended. Ume said nothing to the proprietor as she sauntered her way into the shop. Donning a set of rubber gloves, her eyes went dead set on the comprehensive and well stocked beer aisle. The entirety of the front of the refrigerator was left sticky, glassy, and stinking of stale only partially dried up beer. Getting to the ground as she could stomach, examining the bottom of the adjacent isle, she noticed that there was still plenty of beer pooled under it. Opening an already smashed cooler door, pulling a water filled bottle with its just barely pressed back on top.
[break][break]

Handing the disturbed bottle to Dahlia, she finally strode towards the clerk, who was fading in and out. Slamming her hands on the desk, she ensured that they had attention, “Look he–” She had begun, only to be promptly shut down. Raising their hand the clerk explained briefly and rather straightforwardly, the same story that the next six businesses had to offer, only their problems seemed to become all the more unhinged. Nobody was sure where Gilda A had gone after she assailed common decency, but one thing remained ever certain, she was gone. Their path was wildly inconsistent, and following it with the given time stamps required the two to weave back and forth between streets in different parts of town. Their last stop was just across the street from Mateo’s, when dejected, Ume lit an especially glowy cigarette.
[break][break]

“Faux Gilda is far too chaotic, after all that we end up at a dead end.” Which wasn’t true, because things were going somewhere: Directly south. Between advertisements a new bulletin flashed alongside the building, one with a far more familiar face: Dahlia, extruding a malicious confidence entirely unseen in the young woman. One detail was absolutely certain to her; this CCTV captured Dahlia’s hair was parted on the wrong side, “Ah… such a bother.” She too had been involved with wanton vandalism and chaos. Immediately taking off her jacket, she threw the oversized article on Dahlia’s shoulders, “Come on, let’s get moving before those machine gun drones show up.”

[attr="class","frame14"]

[attr="class","frame144"]

[attr="class","lowe14reescroll"]
[break][break]
Slinging herself over what was to her, a chest high wall, she kept glancing back, “I don’t think you will; they get a better payout if they take you into custody alive.” She attempted to reassure by offering a less terrible bad scenario. Dahlia’s fate was only a small part of their conversation, for even she could get her priorities thrown out of whack.
[break][break]

Continuing the vital investigation aspect of their investigation, she mused alongside her imperiled companion, “Singular shapeshifter fits.” She contributed, winding down narrow trash filled alleys. Ruminating on her own thoughts, she ran numbers in head, taking their own travel times into consideration. Stopping for a moment at an intersection, she put her calculated thoughts into far more tactile words, “I don't believe it is a full network; the times of the incident reports are consistent with travel and hypothesized execution times.” Her mind twisted, however, attempting to make sense of where the gap had laid. Eyes widening, it struck her, the one inconsistency across all the places of business they had gone to during this terrible night in an awful place, “Wait.” She abruptly and confoundingly uttered as she began crossing the stop-light assisted intersection, “There was an employee cleaning the tables in the Waffle restaurant! It must have been him!”
[break][break]

This leg of the journey was far less calm and collected. It didn’t take long for the gun drones to fall upon them, and they were exactly what they were purported to be. Shooting first and sirens second, they opened fire on the duo, showing no concern for any other bystanders or places of business that may or may not be destroyed in the process. Putting the Superimposer to her eye, and slotted in a proper scene for this particular array of mishaps. Lighting got a bit cooler from the warm summers of Motor City; rain slowly dripped, easing its way into a torrential problem. Slowed and weapons damped, their shots found it increasingly difficult to catch their mark.
[break][break]

Ume, attempting to lead the way, was off, her stride not really offering much more speed than Dahlia’s shorter gait. Confused by their newfound ease of movement in the screeching, metallic wind, the two drones made the simple mistake of bumping into one another, moving in front of each other’s range of fire, and fumbling turns. Taking to the air herself, she took aim, firing a bolt of the Superimposer at one of the drones. Letting loose a distress screech of implied robotic sapiency, they erupted into a sparking rondo of zips and crackles. In its deathrattles it fired much of its remaining payload into its neighbor, removing both from the picture. Feeling a tinge of guilt, Ume attempted to change the subject while the carnage settled, and more living drones appeared further up the street, “Up here, and quickly, before we get cornered.” Suggesting the two head up the stairs to an overstreet walkway that led into a building.
[break][break]

“Oh…” Ume groaned. Her natural vantage allowed her to get a preview of what awaited at the top of the steps. It was her, fully dressed, standing well behind a pair of bulky cybernetic bounty hunters of dubious humanity. A smug, self-satisfied smirk crept across her double’s face. Openly expressing her earth shattering disappointment, she buried her face into her palm, “Please no.” She continued, showing shades of embarrassment.
[break][break]

Brandishing an outdated accent, the fake Ume finally spoke, "She’s tricky ain’t she?” She sneered, setting a predatory gaze onto Dahlia. Her attached cyborg minions trained their guns on the sheepish lady, allowing the tension in the air to boil all the more. The real (Maybe) Ume uttered, “No, I object.” Sternly under her breath.
[break][break]


Getting closer to the two, she placed a hand on the elevated shoulder cannon of her minion, “Ya’ll are fixin’ for’a heap trouble.” She barked, different hues of amusement marking her perceived victory. Up close, Ume noticed a few serious inconsistencies: Flipped button placements, her watch went counterclockwise, and her singular anime bang was off to the wrong side. Her disguise was an amateurish mess, could nobody else notice the watch? This train of thought gave the fake Ume plenty of time to keep on yapping, “An’ what’s this, she’s got herself this shoddy dupe’a me!” She explained, her voice cracking, “Ya thought ya could hide, draggin’ that lil troublemaker ‘round? Ya think this is…uh… Lone Wolf’n Cub or sumthin’?” She kept on closing and closing the gap, “Well, ya got yerself ‘nother thing comin’. Boys, get’em!”

[attr="class","frame14"]

[attr="class","frame144"]

[attr="class","lowe14reescroll"]
[break][break]
Taking all the tension from the open air room was the deafening thud of a cyborg being knocked off of his feet by some long discarded burner phone. Hatching a perfect escape, the fugitive-in-question was removed from danger from one dangerous angle. Astonished by the stunt in question, Ume, alongside her double, and the one standing of cyborg goons all raced to the edge of the above-road bridge. In unison the three peered down in curiosity. It was quite a jump, and a jump down onto the street no less–shockingly bold, triply so for Dahlia.
[break][break]

Looking over to the double next to her, Ume realized a hole in the fake Ume's defense. Clawing at her Superimposer, a plan came to a head. It was pretty heavy now that it was supposed to be a sort of magical implement. Made of sturdier metal, an enhanced system of optics, and pretty bits and. Holding it with two hands, she mused on consequences, and the conflict of honorable conduct and the practical necessity of actual combat. Feeling as if she resolved that tension rather quickly, her eyes wandered onto the false Ume, hands on the railing watching in amazement as Dahlia snatched the slip from right under their noses.
[break][break]

With not so much as a one-liner, she coldly attempted her best swing, directly into the distracted face of the false Ume. A satisfying thunk echoed through the streets, followed by the singing rattling of glass. Falling backwards, consciousness had been knocked right out of her, never to be seen or heard from again. Bemused, the two cyborgs looked down (and simply straight at) at the Ume in a dubious state of life, and back at the Ume, who appeared to be slotting in a new disc into her Superimposer. Looking up through the viewfinder's lens, the ground around the four froze over. Now they were atop a charming wooden overlook bridge, covered in now frozen damp moss.
[break][break]

Cursing her own weight, she aikido slung Ume-dupe across her shoulders. She may not have been particularly strong, but she made up for it by her newfound ability to exert herself well past what she was previously capable of. In a first ditch attempt to escape she took one look down the way Dahlia jumped, and immediately dismissed it out of pocket; the weight of a whole ‘nother Ume made the jump impossible, seeing she still valued her ankle health. Running to the stairs, the two cyborgs opened fire. One of their bolt guns aimed true, grazing Ume across her thigh. Sliding down the stairs, she entered the street, carrying a blur and shrinking Ume.
[break][break]

“Kill the amazon, catch the pipsqueak!” One of the cyborgs commanded, slipping their way down the stairs in a more slapstick pile-up. They would remain hot on Ume’s trail as she slid her way towards Dahlia in her frosty nook, still without her now discarded jacket. Soon the two sharpshooters hot on her trail, freeing her hand she fired a bolt of ice their way, though their shots were returned by blasts from below the ice's surface, "Dahlia, remember our date! Spicy Honey? I was Director of Photography! At the time it was the film with the highest budget that I had the honor to work on, it hurt to see it get insulted like that... even if it was true."
[break][break]

Used core to summon Frozen Lake

[attr="class","frame14"]