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Post by Kaj Oenfer on Jul 18, 2016 9:26:08 GMT
On the Bridge of the Vigilant Kaj was watching the Protector's strike team as they dealt with the purple Teletubby giant and the commotion of helping Lu and her Mech afterwards. Then suddenly, the yellow Teletubby synth, La-La, rose from behind a snow bank, flying and still waving it's white flag, as the television screen in it's stomach also flickered on so that Sandy and all the Protectors around her could see and hear.
However due to the Vigilant's distance from the Strike team they couldn't see or hear what the team saw on that yellow creature's view screen. Then after a couple of minutes they witnessed Atticus charge off in his Mech, presumably heading towards Synth City. Shortly afterwards, as the last of the Protectors' task forced moved by the hovering yellow Teletubby synth, Laa-Laa looked down and slowly shook it's head as if in regret for what it was about to do, muttering gibberish in a sad tone. Suddenly, it looked back at the backs of the Protectors, opening it's tiny mouth in a wide silent scream, uttering a highly localized but extremely intense EMP pulse that stopped the advancing Mechs and ATV's to a grinding halt. Laa-Laa too fell to the ground into the snow, caught in her own attack.
Just then the Vigilant's external sensors went out and Kaj said, "Lexy what happened? Bring the externals back on!
Lexy, The Vigilant's AI, said apologetically, "Sorries Kaj! Was an elec...electrow....um EMP thingy! I is shielded so the Vigilant is fine. All that was fected was tha extra...external sensors."
Kaj contacted engineering and was informed that the were already working on it and that the sensors would be back up momentarily. Seconds later the Vigilant picked up an SOS with an attached GPS, however due to the minerals in the mountain the Vigilant was near they couldn't tell who it was from and didn't get the whole co-ords. So all Kaj could do was order comms and tactical to work on clearing it up and trying to retrieve the garbled or missing parts, while Engineering worked on the external sensors. Kaj sounded a yellow alert to warn the ship that there was a potential issue and that they knew to get to their stations. As the crew scrambled to their stations to prepare for whatever was happening, Atika indeed broke radio silence and requested an emergency evac from the Vigilant, "Vigilant, this is Twin Sister! We need an immediate evac at Lu and Sandy's co-ordinates! We are under heavy fire, vehicles are disabled and we have severely wounded!"
"Kaj responded with, "This is Sky Giant. We read you loud and clear Twin Sister. Hold tight! We will be there immediately!"
Kaj then ordered Navigational to get the Vigilant into the air as he notified Medical of an incoming medical emergency and Tasha Yar ordered security to get the Commando teamed into the Cargo bay and prepare for an emergency evac of the Strike team in hostile territory and Kaj switched the threat level to red alert.
Minutes later, as the Vigilant rose over the mountain, the external sensors came back on . So as they covered the airspace directly over the strike team's location, Kaj ordered a offensive strike, thus raining down laser fire on the hostile Synths and robots approaching the team below. Then he ordered the Vigilant to starting to descend, as it continued it's rain of fire. As it lowered into a hovering position near the strike team, the ramp lowered and a team of Security commandos quickly exited and started firing on the enemy. While some medically trained security officers disembarked and immediately went Lu's position. So they could get Sandy onto a stretcher and back into the protective embrace of the Vigilant as Soon as Possible. Sandy's team mates continued to stay put and help the commandos fight off the enemy troops, refusing to go anywhere until Sandy was taken onboard first. So the commando team took a wide defensive position around Sandy and Lu to help the strike team defend their injured team mate while the medics were doing everything to get her safely into the Vigilant under these extreme battle conditions.
As the medical team got Sandy onboard, Kaj stepped out with his mini-gun in hand and joined in the defensive. Just then the synthetic soldiers that had been fighting them lowered their weapons and surrendered as they also de-activated the robotic units that they could. Kaj ordered the commando team to ensure the robots were indeed deactivated and to secure the Synths that were surrendering, as he kept and the strike team kept their guns trained on the synths just incase it was some sort of ruse.
As that was happening, one of the Synths said, "I am Commander Grezzer Erzoid. You can call me Grez, as most do anyway. We have been informed of a nuclear bomb in our city and that you are here to help and that as the others evacuate our home, you will take them in and offer your protection. So as a show of good will, I have ordered my men to surrender to you and to deactivate all of the robots that we have direct control of here. In return I request that you see to my wounded officers as well. Do not worry. We will come peacefully."
Kaj lowered his mini-gun and responded with, "Greetings Grez. I am Lieutenant Kaj Oenfer. Commander of the PSS. Vigilant. You can call me Kaj. How ever I do not know of such a message and have no reason to believe you."
Grez said a little anxiously, "I would NOT believe it either if it was the other way around, but it is true! Please understand my loved ones, friends, family and men come before any orders! Even if it leads to my termination. Surely you as a soldier must understand that!"
Kaj nodded and said calmly, "I do but I would still prefer to know just exactly what this message you are referring to says and who it is from. I am sure you can understand where I am coming from as well."
Grez nodded back and said, "Oh I do. You are just looking out for your ship and crew like any good commander should. So here's my hailer. Please listen for yourself. The message is playing and keeps looping."
Grez handed his hailer to Kaj and as Kaj continued to watch the Synth Commander, he began to listen to the message in question. What he heard was: BJ Starr's calming voice saying convincingly, "Most of y'all know of me, some of you maybe don't! I'm The Creator's one and only sixth generation synth, and therefore her rightful - well, I guess, first among equals! Y'all have your orders, leave Synth City, if but for awhile! For your own safety, don't stop to get nothing but your loved ones, and leave going as far and as fast as you can, as there is a nuclear bomb ticking away under Synth City! There will be a huge airship - The Vigilant - that will take care of your needs and protect you from the giant critters! If possible, when everything is safe, we'll all return home, but for now, please do what I and your Creator say - and go!"
Kaj quickly sent the frequency to Lexy and ask her to listen to the message and confirm that it was indeed from BJ Starr. Within seconds she informed him that it was indeed real. So Kaj told Lexy to play the message for Tasha. Then he said to Grez, "Your story appears to check out. So do not worry. We will do what we can for your wounded and any from your City that come to us, provided they do not attack us. Now please have your men accompany my security officers onboard."
As a security team took Grez and all his 'men' onboard, the Commandoes ensured that all the battle-bots were offline. Just then Tasha contacted him and said, "Kaj! Lexy has reported a LOT of Synths leaving the compound and heading our way, but sensors show that all appear to be unarmed."
Kaj replied with, "Stand down to yellow alert and switch to defensive measures. Only fire on those that fire on us first and Miss Yar if you need me I will be down here personally seeing that the refugees are welcomed on board as our guests."
Tasha said, "Yes sir."
Then after Kaj was done with his exchanges with Grez, Tasha, and Lexy, he turned to the remaining five members of the strike team and said, "I hope you are ready to get back out there, as we still have friends out there. Lu you have shown that you are more than capable. So as your Commander is not here and your second is now in the infirmary I am putting you in charge of the Strike Team. Do not worry about Sandy. Doctor Orion may not be on board. How ever he personally requested that I assign Doctor Quinn to the Vigilant. So as she comes highly recommended by Doctor Orion, that means Sandy is in good hands. So please take your team on board long enough to get working vehicles and more ammo. Then go bring our family home."
After Lu responded, Kaj told the Commandos, "The incoming Synth refugees are to be treated as any other refugee seeking asylum. So they are to get them onboard quickly but to be friendly about it as they are merely innocents seeking safety from a dangerous threat."
Despite how calm Kaj always seemed to be, such as now, deep down he was worried sick. Not only for his little sister, who was in critical condition and now in the infirmary according to Lexy, but also his friends still somewhere in Synth City including his friend and Commander, Atticus Batman.
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Post by Atticus Batman on Jul 18, 2016 10:17:12 GMT
Meanwhile back in Synth City, The security officers that survived Atticus' assault, turned and left the battle quickly heading for their homes. As Atticus watched them just abandon their duties, he mentally said, "What the dak just happened?!"
His EGO Dinara said, "It appears they got a message on the City's communication channels and then just left."
Atticus snapped, "Hack the City's comms and play back the message for me."
She immediately did so and what they heard was: BJ Starr's calming voice saying convincingly, "Most of y'all know of me, some of you maybe don't! I'm The Creator's one and only sixth generation synth, and therefore her rightful - well, I guess, first among equals! Y'all have your orders, leave Synth City, if but for awhile! For your own safety, don't stop to get nothing but your loved ones, and leave going as far and as fast as you can, as there is a nuclear bomb ticking away under Synth City! There will be a huge airship - The Vigilant - that will take care of your needs and protect you from the giant critters! If possible, when everything is safe, we'll all return home, but for now, please do what I and your Creator say - and go!"
I mentally said, "Well I guess that lowers my opposition some. Doesn't it, Pest?!"
Dinara replied with, "Yes Atty but I sense that all fully automated security is still online and all of the stress that you are putting your body and mind through is starting to cause another stress migraine! Atty, you need to calm down and find your focus!"
I snapped back, "I will calm down AFTER I have found Lady and ALL of the others, killed Faru, and gotten ALL of our friends and family back to the Vigilant safely!"
Dinara said, "Understood Atty, and you know I will always help as much as I can!............OH! Like right now for instance! I have detected Taffer's signal! So let's go meet our family!"
I sheathed my blade and drew my pistol, as it was the only gun I brought with me that could be used one-handed. Then as I started to run in the direction Dinara was leading me, I shot or avoided any automatic security that got in my path, as NOTHING was going to stop me from making sure my family was alright. So as I continued running and fighting to get to Lady and the others, my rage was replaced with my unwavering need to protect my family which caused my aura to fade slightly as it changed from white to green to reflect that I had unconsciously found my inner-focus, my center, again.
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Post by Lady Christianna on Jul 18, 2016 13:51:31 GMT
Lady Christianna awoke to the rocking motion of Taffer walking with her over his shoulder, but her pendant began to glow and she could sense that her husband, Atticus Batman, was drawing near. Still drunk from the power inhibiting drugs in her system that her EGO was fighting to purge, she suddenly began kicking her tiny chalk white feet and pounding Taffer's back with her small alabaster fists.
As Taffer put Lady down and gave her a questioning look as she steadied herself by holding on to the hallway wall, she beckoned him with one tiny forefinger then when he bent down putting his ear close to her thin lips, her wispy and slurred girlish voice whispered in his ear, "Atticus coming! You find Teach, I wait for Atticus here. Be okay," Lady pointed her chalk white finger to herself then giggled drunkenly as her large pink eyes rolled, "Don't worry Taf, won't tell him you touched my butt!"
Taffer smiled slightly with the corners of his lips and nodded in assent, then he and Marcel Lestrange moved on forward in the direction they last saw Volodja go as Lady stayed waiting for her man, only slightly teetering as she held on to the hallway wall. Her EGO radar told her when Atticus was just around the corner and warned his that she was waiting as she physically smoothed her snow white hair with one hand hoping she looked presentable even though she knew in her heart that didn't matter to him.
As Lady saw him round the corner, her enigmatic smile grew into a loving grin as she launched herself into his arms - and through them as she inadvertently went insubstantial, landing flat on her face behind his back!
"OWWWWW!" Lady exclaimed as she rolled on to her back, holding her small injured nose in both her tiny alabaster hands, then urged him forward in a muffled but wispy and drunken voice, "Be okay! Go after the others! Find Teach! Save Belle!"
*****
Not far from there in a storage room, BJ Starr listened to her message to her fellow Synths loop repeating itself over and over, then asked Vo Kshaa, the Irathiant man that had captured her synthetic heart but didn't want it because his belonged to another, "Y'all think that did the trick? Did I do okay Vo? Maybe I should be more authoritative, but I didn't want to come off all high and mighty - I mean, I am REALLY just one among a bunch of other synthetic persons, nothing to write home about! Just one more splinter of wood in a tornado! I don't know why they should listen to me anyway... but I can do it again but differently if y'all want?"
The robotic first generation janitor that shared the large abandoned storage room with BJ and Vo gave her a thumbs up, but it was obvious from the way BJ stared at Vo with big blue diamond eyes that the janitor's approval was not the one she sought, as she waited with bated breath for Vo Kshaa to give the slightest sign of approbation, hoping in vain that appreciation might lead to something more between them, but asking in the meantime, "What now?"
*****
Far below both Lady and BJ, a captive Lena Marr watched a distraught Dr. Maru hammering a computer console with a wrench as she screamed stridently, emphasizing every word with a corresponding metallic bang, "Damn-drekking-obsolete-human-technology!"
"I gather that we aren't going out with a bang but with a whimper? Rhetorical question, don't bother answering," Commented Lena dryly from her manacled perch thirty feet up.
Dr. Maru quit hitting the machine with the wrench as she looked at Lena above contemplatively with her one good eye, then answered in a sad voice, "Honestly, I never thought I'd have to use it! I thought you would see the logic of my actions, just take the improved Belle Starr, and leave the original to Justice and my brother's tender embrace." She walked slowly towards the Omec sleep pod, still holding the wrench in one chalk white unblemished hand and placing her other scarred hand palm downwards against the small viewing window as she continued, "Who knew you Protectors would go so crazy, pushing me to such measures?"
Dr. Maru grimaced, which looked more like rigor mortis on her chalk white skeletal face, then threw the wrench as hard as she could towards the nuclear missile pointed in the hole centered in the middle of the room. It bounced off the missile surface and into the bottomless abyss, seeming harmlessly until the smoke emanating from it increased tenfold and a countdown in a strangely calm voice began. Dr. Maru looked shocked, placing her back against the sleep pod and facing the missile as if her body could shield the pod from a nuclear explosion.
Lena, suspended above, merely let her jaw drop, her unblinking sky blue eyes wide in disbelief as she yelled in exasperation, "Shatko!"
*****
Meanwhile on the Vigilant, Sandy Bell fought a battle different from the ones she usually fought as she gasped for air on the operating table as the medical staff and her EGO struggled to keep her alive. One of her broken ribs had punctured a lung, and somewhere in her body the floodgates suddenly broke and her body began filling with black blood, some of which she spit up between gasps. All the alarms of the life monitoring equipment surrounding her went off at once in a loud clamor until one sound dominated them all, the steady din warning that her heart had stopped beating.
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Post by Volodja Uljanov on Jul 18, 2016 18:43:55 GMT
"Voices. Not hostile ones. Neutral voices. Further away," told Volodja's brain. "Let us listen." "What are you going to do after that Sixth generation asked us to evacuate?" asked first voice. "About every conscious being is doing right now - leave this place," replied velvety baritone. "I am tired of Faru. She dragged me away from my oven to sing in some weird wedding ceremony. Against MY intentions." "Are you going to head to the Vigilant once we are out of here? Just like that BJ girl asked us to do." "I don't have a slightest intention to do it. I return to my kitchen and then I will make some juicy POW burgers. Because I want to. I might be a greatest singer in the world but I am even better at making burgers. I LIKE burger making. And bun baking. And milk-shaking. Oh yeah. When I am back in my kitchen, I can finally say that I did it my way." "I think I will accompany you. Let's go. Security robots may stay. We won't. We are about to leave a the building." "Good," stated Volodja's brain. "Synths are gone. Makes our mission a bit easier." "Not much easier, since robots will stay behind, but our mission will be less guilt ridden because we have to deal with programmed robots. Programmed to destroy us, so we have to defend ourselves if they attack. If we won't make it, I will be cleat at least," specified Volodja's consciousness before Volodja went onwards to face dangers, Faru had sown to his path. __________ Marcel Lestrange followed Volodja's trail. At first it was clear and clean but then he started to see signs that Volodja's path was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down... For example there was a Protectron, laying on the floor, pierced with several bullets from a turret gun. A hacked compute console nearby, surrounded by bullet holes told Marcel that Volodja used it to reprogram the turret's targeting characteristics and deactivated turret after that. Another disabled Protectron a bit further... Nothing but empty corridor for awhile. Then a huge unmoving Sentry bot was blocking the way. Walls were hammered with heavy blasts of it's missile launcher. Sentry bot seemed to be intact until Marcel went past it and noticed goo seeping out from the loose lid of bot's backside and realized that Volodja had dodged to avoid fire and let Sentry bot pass until he was able to stick a bio grenade into Sentry bot's lubrication system and jam it's moving parts... An empty Stimpak was thrown into garbage tray, showing that Volodja was still absurdly decent when it became to his personal littering and despite all the damage, caused by Sentry bot's missile fire, Volodja subconsciously threw his used Stimpak to rightful place. But the fact that Volodja had to use Stimpak also revealed that his duel with the Senbtry bot was not an easy one... Couple of blown up Protectrons were scattered around the floor. Amongst them were also remains of an Assaultron. Closer examination allowed Marcel to restore the course of this small battle. Assaultron's legs were disabled by several gun shots, so Marcel could imagine Volodja shooting it's legs off and when Assaultron will continued to pursue it's target by crawling on the ground, he lued it to the embrace of attacking Protectrons, blowing all three with an deadly self destructing explosion, Assaultron uses as a last desperate attempt to eliminate the target...  Another empty Stimpak. This time in an ashtray. And dark drops of blood nearby. Volodja's blood. Another victory over robots which came with penalty. Another turret gun. This one was simply blown off because there was not any computer consoles nearby. Lot of bullet marks on walls and floor. And more blood...Not just few drops any more. A whole bloody hand print on the door...  Another bloody print on the floor under some laser marks on the wall. It looked like that Volodja saved himself by hurling and slammed his bloody hand to the floor during that manoeuvre. Remains of a damage spike. And remains of...another robot, probably an Assaultron, deciding from the pile of bent and burnt metal...Bloody fingerprints on the computer console, Volodja used to open another door. Looks like that despite of the hard battle and his wounds he was getting closer to Dr. Faru's last resort... _________ The door swooshed open. Catithan woman in half mask moved her glance towards the noise. Tall slightly staggering man in torn and burnt clothes stood on the doorway, pressing one hand against his side, while blood pressed out from his wound, finding a way between his long fingers and dripping to the floor. Another hand was holding smoking pistol. Man's handsome face was pale, clean and unemotional. He looked Faru with his brown eyes for a brief moment and said in emotionless voice: "Sorry about the floor Dr. Faru. Let me introduce myself. My name is Volodja Uljanov and I am here to stop you. Don't know how yet, but I am convinced that we can figure something out." |
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Post by Taffer on Jul 18, 2016 22:20:29 GMT
"I hope he doesn't run out of blood," Taffer muttered as he waited watching Atticus's and Lady's dots reunite on the edge of his radar. As a leader of the group, he could not leave a member of it unattended, especially when she's not in a perfect condition to stand her ground. Once he made sure she's safe, he continued on the path Marcel was following and the path that Volodja apparently cleaned up for them.
"What you just said and all this following the trail of blood just gave me a strong sense of déjà vu," Em Dash suddenly said in his head.
"Dash, we're following the cable, not the blood," Taffer retorted, "Remember it and focus on it. We're still trying to reach the bunker, remember? The way Volodya follows this path too just means either he got our idea too or he follows his instincts or he has just caught a laser-guided karma by its tail. Either way it's beneficial for us if we find him before we reach the bunker entrance."
He caught up with Marcel just as another friendly dot appeared on their radars. As they hastened their steps and made their way around the corner, they saw the door to the bunker was already open and the familiar silhouette was standing in the doorway visible in the light that was coming through the bunker.
"Cloak and go in," Taffer whispered quickly to Marcel as his own cloak was covering him already. He didn't like the thought of using his friend as a distraction, but the way Volodja came through that path and that he was probably seen alone many times on the camera made him a perfect device to divert Faru's attention. To his credit, he got his protection spike ready so that he could set it immediately next to Volodja at the very moment he could see any danger directed at him.
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Post by Vo Kshaa on Jul 18, 2016 23:19:05 GMT
Vo could not help but applaud to BJ as Shirra reported him the results of BJ's speech.
"Perfect! Just perfect!" He exclaimed as he helped Jeb with the lock on the door to finally release him from his jail. He ordered Shirra to add the hallway Jeb was using to exit to the map of the compound, and once she showed him the results, he shook his head.
"This passage will bring us back to the park," he said to BJ, "It's not where we want to go as my gut feeling tells me there's more to see in this room. Besides, I've noticed Jeb eyeing this part of the wall each time he was passing it. It was clearly forbidden for him to tell anyone and I didn't ask as I didn't like him to feel guilty even more than he feels now, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't investigate by ourselves. See, the mortar on the wall is different from any other part of it. Let's see if there's something behind it."
The generator had enough power for only one of the machines to be brought alive, but that was exactly what Vo was planning to do. A big heavy arm rose from its sleep, extended as far as it could, then quickly turned around and hit the wall, sending chunks of bricks and mortar flying around. It hit the wall repeatedly until it was clear there was a tunnel behind it and the hole in the wall became wide enough for Vo to squeeze himself through. This was exactly what Vo did after powering the machine down and pulling the rope from the nearest winch so that they could find their way back in case the tunnel happened to be long and sprawling. In fact it didn't, and Vo soon found out that it was a short passage which ended with a metal wall.
"See the welding?" Vo said as he ran his fingers along the wall and lit it with his flashlight. "Someone cut through the wall but then welded this part back. Let's make this passage accessible again." He let BJ cut through the welding with her charge blade and when the big chunk of metal detached, he pulled it into the passage he was in and carefully looked ahead, he saw nothing but smoke coming from a big vertical shaft.
"I'm reading Lena Marr's signal from… below," Shirra reported to Vo which he immediately ordered her to relay to BJ.
"I think we're on the right track. Or on the final straight I hope," Vo said as he took the rope in both hands. "I don't know what we'll find there, but I'm going to find out right now." With that said, he turned on Blur and started a quick descend down the shaft.
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Post by Lena Marr on Jul 18, 2016 23:52:42 GMT
Said a bleeding Volodja Uljanov, "Sorry about the floor Dr. Faru. Let me introduce myself. My name is Volodja Uljanov and I am here to stop you. Don't know how yet, but I am convinced that we can figure something out." "Shatko, I had bet myself that Marcel would be the first one here - but then since I bet myself, I'm not out any scrip, so it's all good," Muttered Lena Marr as she hung spread eagle nude thirty feel off the vault's floor, then greeted cheerily with a wicked smile and a perky wave, albeit only from her energy manacled wrist, "Hi Volo! That calm voice in the background is NOT counting down to the best song on somebody's top ten list, but is a count down to nuclear holocaust! Dr. Dementia here doesn't have a clue how to stop it any more than she knows how she started it, so how's about you get me down from here and we run like mad? I really like having it all hang out, but this is a really bad hangout to hang around, so don't leave me hanging, although if you have a pencil and paper we could play hangman! I STILL got it! my sense of humor that is... even if nobody gets my jokes!" A disheveled Dr. Faru frantically looked around the room with her one good blue eye from her spot in front of the Omec Sleep pod where she was shielding it with her own body, then spotted a nearby foot long piece of pipe, quickly grabbing it from the ground and reasserting her defensive posture in front of the pod but pointing the pipe like a magic wand with her scarred hand at Volodja, warning him in a shaky voice as she tore at the long white hair on her head with the other, "Stay back! I have here a-a-a cosmic powered discombobulating widget and I'm not afraid to use it! Just go away, and I won't!" "It's a pipe," Said Lena dryly with an impassive chalk white face, her pretty sky blue eyes watching unblinking, but then her wicked grin returned in a flash as she added in a fraudulent fearful tone, "Oh no! Will Dr. Plumb Crazy kill Mr. Scarlet in the parlor with a lead pipe before we are all blown to kingdom come by the big bad nuclear bomb?" Then her grin disappeared as her face grew serious again and she rolled her sky blue eyes heavenward, '"Seriously guys, unless one of you has a nuclear missile disarming doohickey, we need to get the drek out of here!" Meanwhile, the six Assaultron guards in the room had engaged their own concealing cloaks and were slowly circling towards and around Volodja Uljanov.  |
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Post by Volodja Uljanov on Jul 19, 2016 7:38:44 GMT
"The world already ended for me after my beloved one is gone," stated Volodja Uljanov blankly. "And world has ended also for you, Faru. And for you everything was over even earlier than for me. You created your own world, populated with sentinel Synths and tried to subjugate them all to your personal cause of getting even with us instead of asking from your creations what they really want to do with their lives you gave them. Maybe you would realized that some of them actually want to make burgers instead doing other things. Pitiful, I might say. Such a humongous waste of variety of talents, including your own, Faru. And on what? A personal vendetta. You had such busy times to live for your brother that you completely forgot to live your own life. And you forbid others to have theirs. That's a shame. I could say the same about me, but I managed to be alive for awhile and even make some friends, so...I just can't believe that such a brilliant scientific mind as yours couldn't find something better to do with your life! "Incroyable!" as Marcel Lestrange who is somewhere in vicinity, would say. Incredible! I am going to add that boiling in your own frustration was incredibly...pointless! But enough of that. As I said, the world is over for both of us. But not the rest of people, so let's see what we can do to maintain this ball for them. But first I kindly ask to put down your cosmic powered discombobulating widget to avoid causing a fundamental destabilization of this particular cognitive singularity by yourself. You have Assaultrons to stop me. Six of them. Let them handle the situation while you hopefully ponder about my words, stop this madness and give the rest of the world a chance to live. If you decide otherwise, then hopefully I have a chance to stop you before taking my last breath." After saying that, Volodja holstered his pistol, pulled out his sapper shovel instead and swung it through the air. Then he put his shovel away as well and said: "I just got an alternate plan. They say that an old dog can't learn new tricks. But nobody has told that he can't develop his old ones to give them a new quality. I will call this manoeuvre a Tasmanian Devil. Allow me to demonstrate. Blur."  After that Volodja changed colour. And his moving speed. And his movement style. He begun to circle around the Assaultron circle, avoiding their fist blows thanks to the speed Blur power gave him. His circling served another purpose along with avoiding hits. With every turn he tightened the circle a bit until Assaultrons were backed enough to have a close contact with each other. In that moment Volodja tossed another bio grenade among them and let the sticky goo do it's job by glueing Assaultrons together, regained his unmovable composure again and watched how Assaultrons got more and more entangled - those were only results of their vain attempts of freeing themselves from the the grip of the bio goo. But the physical effort had it's consequences. Volodja staggered more than before, His forehead was sweaty and blood dripped more intensively. But he was still standing. Bare handed. His weapons were holstered this time. Despite of his physical weakness he was still able to talk, so he said: "How you spent your time, Faru? Hopefully you thought about my words. And even when you didn't, even if my planted speed of doubt didn't germinated in your mind, I still served my purpose on stopping you. I know that I lost some precious time with my stunt, but I believe that I also gained something from it. I gained more time to my friends and cleared their path here. If I can't stop this madness then they will. As a result I would say that it was time well spent. Even if they are my last moments on Earth." |
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Post by Atticus Batman on Jul 19, 2016 11:19:10 GMT
As Lady saw me round the corner, her enigmatic smile grew into a loving grin as she launched herself into my arms - and through them as she inadvertently went insubstantial, landing flat on her face behind my back!
"OWWWWW!" Lady exclaimed as she rolled on to her back, holding her small injured nose in both her tiny alabaster hands, then urged him forward in a muffled but wispy and drunken voice, "Be okay! Go after the others! Find Teach! Save Belle!"
I quickly turned to make sure she was alright and said with strong love and conviction in my tone, "I am NOT going anywhere without you! No Lady left behind ever!" Then I knelt down near her and turned my back to her saying, "Hop on and don't let go unless I tell you to."
As soon as Lady climbed onto my back and wrapped her arms and legs securely around me, she said, "Hela! Let's go then!"
I stood up carefully and then after a little weight redistribution to make up for the fact that I still had minimal use of my left arm, I once again started running. I kept my pistol in my right hand ready to fire if needed, as I ran towards Taffer's and Marcel's EGO signatures, glad to be with Lady again no matter what happens.
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Post by Lena Marr on Jul 19, 2016 16:18:29 GMT
"Oh Sir Volo the Flatulent," Yelled Lena from her imprisoned perch thirty feet up, "I already told you! The wicked witch of Synth City and the high caste Castithan lady that put mad in mad scientist doesn't have a clue how to stop our personal nuclear Armageddon that will occur when the countdown stops! SOOOOO why don't you be a good little knight error, come get me loose and then BOTH of us can get the drek out of here before everything goes BOOM! We can tell the Vigilant to stop whatever it is doing along the way, it can pick us up, and WHOOSH, we're out of here! SO hows about it, give a dame in distress a hand, will you?"
A half frown crossed the unmasked side of Dr. Faru's face as she dropped the pipe with a loud clamor, leaning her thin back against the Omec sleep pod as she crossed her skinny chalk white arms remarking sadly, "You both are right... but for the wrong reasons! It the Castithan gods' wrath you see! In unholy blasphemy, I worshiped the false god of science, and now they have their retribution! All my creations, all my world, will be cleansed in nuclear fire and I and my science cannot stop it... However, there is one thing I can do! I set you free noisy little bird!"
Dr. Faru strode decisively to a computer console, flicking a switch thereon with one skeletal chalk white forefinger, just as Lena was remarking rhetorically, "I wonder since I'm the one suspended thirty feet up, am I NOW the high caste Castithan? Wait, what did you say?"
Then the energy manacles flickered off and Lena's sky blue eyes grew wide as she found herself in a naked free fall towards the floor thirty feet below - and found herself unexpectedly without any last words other than a loud, "EEEEKKKK!!!!"
As Lena began to fall, Dr. Faru flicked a second switch, and an ancient human song "Born Free," popular at the time in elevators everywhere, was heard throughout the vault via its antiquated intercom system, as the calm voice continued it's countdown to doom.
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Post by Volodja Uljanov on Jul 19, 2016 18:33:44 GMT
"Overcharge!" ordered Volodja and reached his hands to catch Lena. She spotted him and with her quick wit had no trouble to guess what Volodja tried to do. Since she Lena was also slender as a cat, she could not resist temptation to make a somersault in air, just like an acrobat, before landing on Volodja's hands. Impact was heavy and world blackened in front of Volodja's eyes when Lena's shapely foot accidentally his his good side, kicking air out of him. His orangey glowing hands were strong enough, thanks to EGO powers, and guaranteed safe landing to Lena, but unfortunately Volodja could not say the same about his feet any more.
"This knight error didn't just lent you a hand but both of them," Volodja stated after his feet gave up and he landed to the floor on his butt just like Marcel when he fought himself free from Dipsy's sticky trap.
"Hopefully others arrive soon enough to save the world," he slowly continued. "I am too....tired for that. Too...tired. But we can't...give...up." Lena left his lap, giving him a chance to get back to his stuttering feet. Volodja stumbled towards the computer console and placed his bloody fingers to the keyboard, saying: "I don't know how to completely stop the countdown, but I have an idea how to keep the computer busy and buy us more time...Watching cult TV series pays off sometimes...The answer is π (Pi)."
"A pie?" asked Lena mockingly and grinned wickedly. "No time to eat. Or you want to smack it to somebody's face?"
"Wish, I could laugh...but too painful," replied Volodja and coughed. "Better watch this."
"Can you...convince the computer to follow that...example...and calculate the last digit?" asked Volodja after he showed the clip to Lena. "It takes lot of resources and...stalls it's other actions. Or should I try myself...although you are way better at hacking yourself into other's computers?"
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Post by Vo Kshaa on Jul 19, 2016 22:51:47 GMT
"I can do it," Taffer said, emerging from his cloak next to Volodja, his eyes still focused on assaultrons who seemed to calm down after Faru set Lena free. "But I prefer Euler's Number for it. A formula is easier to enter into the machine, especially if you want it to run on low level, taking as much of resources as possible. And Ms. Faru, if I understand something in the concept of gods, you never know if something that just hit your butt hard is their retribution or just another trial to overcome. So if we can't do anything in case of the former but can do something in a latter case, I'd rather prefer to meet our gods by doing something rather than sitting and complaining. So if I'm going to save your world and at least some of your creations, I'd like to see you cooperate or at least to not interfere." The last words he said while he was already entering a simple formula which nevertheless mad the synthetic voice stutter and drawl when announcing the next number.  Just as the voice went quiet for a long pause, they could hear a loud thump sound and could see Vo who landed right on top of the missile. Although it would be more correct to say he landed on the bottom of it as the missile was hanging nose-down. "I see you're having fun here," Vo shouted with a smile as he looked around the room with his Breacher at the ready, but his voice lacked mirth. "May I join?" "Of course Vo you can," Taffer replied, "Especially if you can stop this nice piece of pre-war weaponry from making a big hole in Earth's core." "Well, I think I can do at least one thing," Vo said as Shirra scanned the missile's body for him. He tied the rope he just used to descend to his leg and set himself hanging upside-down at the side of the missile where its rocket engine was located. He carefully cut its outer shielding with his charge blade and poured some light from his flashlight he held with his teeth into the hole he had just made. Then he put his hand shielded with armored glove into it and turned several valves inside. "Here," he said as he untied his leg and landed on the ground, "This way the oxidizer will never meet the fuel so the missile will not start to the Earth's Core. This won't prevent the bomb itself from exploding though, so what I'm going to do now is to pull our Belle out of this pod and try to get her to the Vigilant before it explodes. I hope no one will try to stop me or I can assure you this will end badly." He gave Faru a baleful look and then rushed to the pod where Belle was sleeping. He didn't have time admire her beauty before opening the pod as his only thought now was to pull Belle out and then rush in Blur boosted by a power stim back to the Vigilant or any other transport he might be able to find. |
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Post by Lena Marr on Jul 20, 2016 4:27:04 GMT
"Looks like Vo's got it," Lena Marr answered Volodja with a wicked grin, "Which is a good thing, since I don't even know what the word hacking means anymore! Now, to important things, where is Marcel?"
BJ Starr arrived just in time to see Vo Kshaa rush to the upright Omec sleep pod, not even bothering to look in before opening it, but Lena was in a proximity of both BJ and the pod to see what was inside. Lena saw the profound look of disappointment on BJ's beautiful freckled face as Vo rushed to open the pod, making it obvious that BJ still had unrequited love for him, which didn't surprise Lena a bit. In fact, Lena saw it as an opportunity to further turn BJ away from the Protectors and make her more amiable for future recruitment into her and Marcel's crime cartel. However, Lena was surprised when BJ's face turned from one of sadness to one of horror as she saw what was revealed in the sleep pod. Lena followed the stare of BJ's wide blue diamond eyes with her own sky blue unblinking ones, and her chalk white jaw fell at what she saw revealed within, leaving her speechless, which was rare for her.
In the upright pod was indeed Belle Starr, dressed in a blue with gold edging jumpsuit and black boots like Lena had worn when she was in a similar sleep pod, but with her eyes closed and looking paler than normal. That was not shocking, as that was to be expected from someone in cryogenic sleep for a time. What was shocking was the corpse crammed in next to Belle in the pod - still recognizable as that of Governor Skarr, Dr. Faru's brother, desiccated and with his skin a tawny yellow instead of the normal chalk white of living Castithans. He stood next to Bell in the pod, similarly dressed as she, with one arm draped over her shoulders and his bony fingers lightly touching her right breast.
However, what was truly horrific was his face! The upper half of the left side was gone, with only the dangling cybernetic monocle left as evidence that it had ever been there. On the right side was a small blackened hole in his temple, about the size of a scrip coin, laying evidence that there was where he must have placed the muzzle of his suicide blaster. His lips were curled back in a rigor mortis grin, and his remaining eye was glazed like that of a corpse, which Lena presumed he was. She was proven wrong when his left arm suddenly jerked upwards, his yellowed skeletal hand taking a surprised Vo by the throat. As Vo began choking for breath, BJ leaped onto action, blurring to his side and with her charge blade drawn, cutting off the undead Skarr's left hand with a quick downward motion of her energy blade.
Still the claw-like hand kept its hold on Vo's throat with inhuman strength, despite the fact that the gasping Irathiant was grabbing at it with both his red clay colored hands. With incredible power, the undead Skarr hit the startled synthetic girl with it's hand stump, which oozed a pinkish grey liquid that was clearly not blood; hitting BJ so hard that she flew across the room and over the edge into the pit, giving Lena just enough time to dive to the floor and grab BJ's hand before she disappeared into the abyss, although it was clear that the weight of the armored BJ was slowly pulling the nude Lena over the edge as well. The undead Skarr lumbered forward, leaving the dreaming Belle inside as he picked up BJ's dropped charge blade with his remaining right hand and with a gurgled snarl, began swinging it expertly in the general direction of the Protectors.
"Ohhh..." Exclaimed Dr Faru standing to the side of the pod with a stunned look on her skeletal alabaster face as she tugged at what remained of her long flowing white hair, "The resurrection nanos must have worked... " Then she grinned on the un-ruined half of her face as she laughed maniacally before yelling, "He's alive! ALIVE!"
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Post by Volodja Uljanov on Jul 20, 2016 5:34:24 GMT
"Not for a long," stated Volodja calmly. "The world is about to end."
"OOPS!" yelled Lena. "You didn't thought about that, Wicked Witch of the Synth City, did you? And they consider ME the impulsive one while it was YOU who PUSHED the red button. Speaking of ME, I need some serious PULLING! Now!"
"Your wish is my command, Honey Pot," was said with French accent and Marcel Lestrange reached out his strong tanned arms, slipped them under Lena's armpits and started to pull her backwards. "Do not lose your hold!" he said next, dragging Lena and BJ to the safe ground.
Governor Skarr used that opportunity to attack Marcel from behind. Dead or alive, his mind was fully awake and when he saw a chance to kill one of the stronger opponents without a problem, he took it. Skarr approached to the human-Votan-almost human chain. His one and only hand rose the charge blade, ready to give a devastating coup and kill three birds with one enormous blow.
"Not fair," muttered Volodja, and pulling out his sapper shovel, rushed between Marcel and Skarr and blocked his sword with the sapper shovel. Due to his wounds he was feebler than the late Governor, so he only misdirected the blow and managed to weaken it, so the blade cut into Volodja's flesh instead of Marcel's. Blow was still strong enough to send Volodja to the small flight which resulted with smashing Volodja against some electronic equipment, smearing it with blood from his side and shoulder wounds when Volodja's body slid to the floor. His last words before the world completely blackened were: "How does it feel to dance with tears in your eyes, Faru?"
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Post by Marcel Lestrange on Jul 20, 2016 8:20:09 GMT
Marcel Lestrange used that time, Volodja bought him with his foolish act, productively, by pulling both girls away from abyss. Then he sort of complimented Volodja by saying: "Good girl, Lassie!" After that Marcel focused his attention to approaching Skarr who swung his charge blade, showing every intention to chop Marcel into pieces after obstacle, called Volodja Uljanov, was carelessly pushed aside. "You know what that still breathing concentration of human misery once told me?" asked Marcel, pointing to Volodja's body. Instead of replying, Skarr just gnarled and moved another step forward. "Not interested, eh," stated Marcel. "Perfectly understandable when Volodja Uljanov is involved but I will tell you anyway. This fool said that pen is mightier than a sword. I did not believed that until I visited certain workshop in Red Deer and discovered something among other...widgets? gadgets? You probably do not want to know what it is, do you?" Skarr responded with another disapproving gnarl. "I still have to show it to you." And Marcel pulled a golden pen out from his chest pocket, reached it towards Skarr and suddenly another hole appeared to Skarr's head. This time his forehead. "This is a pengun," Marcel kindly explained.  "In experienced hands it can be really useful in stopping a swordsman, so sometimes a pen is mightier than a sword indeed. Point proven! As long as it can shoot bullets and as long as you can act first. I think that another hole in your head will not change your physiognomy too much. And if that is not enough, then I can use real gun this time," he added, pulling out his pistol and pointing it to Skarr. "I am a busy man who just found the most important thing to do. To celebrate a reunion with his precious girl. So pick a fight with someone else, because next thing I am going to aim are your kneecaps. Or your groin and not definitely in that order." Another gnarl, but this time Skarr turned himself away from Marcel, Lena and BJ. He looked at laying Volodja now... "I think that you will have to leave this unmovable man alone as well. Killing him right now will not offer any kind of entertainment. Besides...I guess I owe Lassie a favour for helping me. And do not dare to attack our Sneak Thief. He is busy with trying to save the world. That leaves you Monsieur Vo'Kshaa or...Monsieur Batman to play with. I think that latter deserves a piece of action too. And that fight can be really interesting sight," said Marcel and added one of his devilish grins to his remark. "Lena can observe the fight from my lap, if she wants." |
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