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Post by Belle Starr on Aug 16, 2015 16:44:14 GMT
In Red Deer, Belle Starr smiled warmly at Volodja's reassuring words, saying, "Yeppers, I guess as I get older I'm finally realizing that there are shades of gray in our gray post-apocalyptic world, but it sure was easier deciding right and wrong when everything appeared to be black and white! I guess ignorance is indeed bliss!"
Alfred told Belle she still needed to recover from the internal injuries caused by her unexpected space walk without a space suit, so he tweeked her chemistry to produce more natural sedatives as she said sleepily to Volodaja, "Hey, do you think Darwin would see the arrival of the Votans on Earth as the death knell of the human race, or that the human race would spell the end of the Votans since humanity naturally evolved to be the top dog species on this planet? I think Darwin would put his money on humanity, but I... I..."
With that, Belle fell into a deep and dreamless sleep in her hospital bed, still holding Volodja's hand as Alfred worked within to heal her, pleased with her recovery but also pleased that she has posed that particular question.
*****
Lady Chrisitianna woke up in her hospital bed at Fortress K'shaa, her mid-section aching although not in excrutiating pain because of the post operation sedatives Dr. Orion had administered. Lady frowned seeing Atticus in the bed next to her, then asked the attending nurse how Atticus was, but the nurse only replied that he was as stable as could be expected, although his unusal physiology made it hard to be sure with any certainty. The nurse smiled and asked Lady if she wanted to see the twins, but was taken aback when Lady answered with a strong "NO"; a look of revulsion of her pretty chalk white face and anger flaring in her wide pink eyes. The shocked nurse made a hurried excuse to leave the room, thinking it best to inform Dr. Orion of this turn of events for her patient, as well as perhaps Dr. Von Eschler.
When the nurse left the room, Lady got out of her bed with some difficulty and pain. She then crawled into bed with Atticus, snuggling closel and staring at his sleeping face as she used one alabaster forefinger to trace the numerous scars on it while her other hand clutched tightly the glowing blue pendant around her throat. Pink tears flowed from her eyes as she whimpered slightly at the post birth pain while MOM, her EGO psyche, worked hard to heal the injuries within Lady's frail body, but more worried about the possible injuries to Lady's equally frail mind.
*****
Sandy Bell was the first out of the air craft, her Pulser SMG a the ready as she took cover in a gully running at the side of Canadian Highway 95. Although her EGO radar confimed that there were neither friends or foes other than her team mates in the immediate area, she still scanned the peaceful forest next to the highway with intense blue eyes. Since her EGO was calibrated to scan for animal threats, it didn't register the plant vines of a nearby tree behind her as they began to crawl ever closer to where she lay in the ditch.
*****
Erika Widowmaker waited patiently as she sat in the command chair in the War Room of Fortress Kshaa. Neither her Amazonian bearing or her jade green eyes revealed just how worried she was. Although all of the communication resources at her command were dedicated to contacting Team A or Team B, she had not heard from either team for some time. Logically, she knew that the weather in the Canadian wasteland made communications from there "iffy" at best; still she worried as to the lack of contact.
"As the human say, patience is a virtue and those who wait also serve," Thought Erika to herself, "But it doesn't make it any less drekking frustrating!"
*****
Lena Marr too was tired of waiting. The playtime in the holo-rooms were fun, but not as exhilerating as real life action. Lena would be the first to admit she was a bit of an adrenaline junkie, and proud of it. Although she enjoyed laying in comfort in the arms of her lover, Marcel Lestrange, she also was ready for some action of a non-sexual kind, and one that would hopefully get them more scrip.
Hope, one of the voices in her mind and one that had not been engrossed in the sexual escapades of Marcel and Lena moments before as the rest of Lena's peacefully sleeping voices had, slipped into the control booth of Lena's EGO device, then smiled demurely as she said to Lena, "Why not ask him? He might be ready too!"
Lena showered Marcel's face with tiny kisses until he awoke, then smiled wickedly as she asked, "You ready to go find some real action Lover? Our criminal empire won't grow on it's own! You ready to return home to our shack on the bay and make nefarious plans and then go execute them on an unexpecting Paradise?"
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Post by Volodja Uljanov on Aug 16, 2015 16:59:18 GMT
"Charles Robert Darwin didn't met our little family," grinned Volodja by himself. "If he would then he probably reconsidered his idea about survival of the fittest. And I am not sure what Alfred Russel Wallace who is known for independently conceiving the theory of evolution through natural selection simultaneously with Darwin and perhaps even slightly earlier than him, would said about us either. Besides - when we speak about humans and Votans, we speak about clash of the cultures as well. But life has shown that survival depends on flexibility indeed. Stiff pricks won't survive for a long time in extreme conditions, neither as individuals or species." Then he whispered to Belle: "Sleep well, Belle, and get better soon. I will try to recover too, and seems that my best medicine is put right into my palm even without doctor's prescription." And Volodja kept holding her pale hand like a treasure. He was awake and watched her sleeping. While he was on his guard duty, Sophie, his EGO psyche and close friend, was busy with stimulating regrowth of the tissues of his injured leg, so he could get back to his feet as soon as possible. Belle and him were both survivors against the odds, because instead of avoiding dangers, both of them stormed into them and their main reason was save others, not themselves. At least for awhile they can enjoy their well earned and really needed rest in the company of each other, holding hands.  |
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Post by Marcel Lestrange on Aug 16, 2015 17:40:08 GMT
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Post by Chase Lonehart on Aug 17, 2015 1:45:53 GMT
The crash had been rough on Chase, him bumping his head against the bulkhead and sent his sight into a haze. After a few moments, he began to silently and internally panic briefly. He thought that for a moment he had sustained another serious head injury, this one worse than the one that made him lost his memory. But he snapped out of it and told himself that he didn't. He recovered his weapons bag from under his seat, throwing the strap over his head.
"Is everyone okay?" Chase asked.
Chase had seen Sandy jump out, disappearing from view.
Where the hell is she going? he thought to himself.
He began to move to the exit, pulling out his Legendary Thunder from his bag. Chase popped his head out to see if it was clear, and didn't find Sandy in view.
"Okay, people," Chase said as he got himself ready to get out of the craft. "I'll cover until everyone can get out."
Just as he stepped out, he could spot Sandy taking cover in a gully near by. Chase knelt down and brought his rifle up, keeping his eyes open for any incoming.
Just when things were going so well, another problem pops up, he thought to himself.
Story of our life, I suppose, McCoy chimed in.
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Post by Wolfram von Eschen on Aug 17, 2015 5:33:11 GMT
Wolfram von Eschen and Broderick Smythe sat comfortably in canteen and tasted their roulade when short plumpy figure of Dr. Orion appeared and ordered himself a double whiskey.
"Hard day at work," he explained to the rest after he swooshed it down from his throat with a single move and ordered another one. "Hard, hard, hard. Really complicated childbirth, although you saw it yourself, Wolfram. By the way - your CPR skills are excellent. No, no. Don't be that modest. I am not sure how we could forget to bring defibrillator just in case as a starter but one can't foresee everything. Won't be here for a long. Just came for a quick drink and them I am back. I just needed something to get my mind off the problems for a minute, because baby boy worries me. I am not sure how temporary lack of oxygen affected him. I am really not sure."
Wolfram noticed how nervous his little Liberata Doctor friend was and thought about helping him. First they needed to cool him down and prevent him from consummating more alcohol. Dr. Orion was at his best when he was calm and sober. But how to achieve that? They must distract him somehow so he gets time to rearrange his thoughts. How Do You Solve a Problem like Dr. Orion? Maybe a little song helps?
"Time for some singing practice," Wolfram declared. "No arguing, Orion! I am the psychiatrists here. Repeat after me....No! Not that Do-Re-Mi! Something more advanced and in German. No need to know what you are singing as long as you sing it well. Call it a new experience. We try the classics. "Ich bin der Prodekan" (I am the prodecan) from Carl Zeller's operetta "Der Vogelhändler" (The Bird Seller) is suitable for both of us because we are the damn scientists and a bit comic ones! And we have exact voices we need - the tenor and the baritone, although we could use the bass. Brody! You will find and download me a copy of it right away, while we are doing some voice rehearsal. La la la la laaa..."
After few minutes and lot of more or less different voices, they were ready to begin. Several fruitless attempts concluded with something more fertile at last when both elderly gentlemen started to sing along with a video and later without it:
Results of his little experiment were successful in many ways:
- Orion's mind was successfully led off from his worries and he had a different problem to solve and he managed to do that. It gave him time to relax and yet concentrate his mind.
- Their duet was quite good after some rehearsing and made people to smile, thus producing some extra positive emotions for everybody. Plus the unique musical experience.
- Orion discovered his comic potential because they were excellent Süffle (probably comes from the word "süffeln" (to sip something) and Würmchen (should mean a "little worm" in English).
Conclusion: Job well done! Orion can return to work, loaded with new energy. Sometimes doing something totally new is the best form of vacation.
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Post by Atticus Batman on Aug 17, 2015 10:04:04 GMT
After a hunch Doctor Orion had; that my freely sacrificing most of my electrical/life energies to Lady to save her, probably depleted my body completely of needed electrolytes, he talked to Haele about it, for she may have had some interesting insight on it, as both an energy being and quantum physicist. they agreed that; as a being that feeds off electrical currents and has electrical manipulation as both a conscious ability and an instinctual survival tool, I must need a much higher concentration of electrolytes than other organic beings. So he had a nurse go to Lady's room to hook me to the most concentrated strong electrolyte IV that he could get, which was at least one of the reasons the nurse was in there, when Lady woke up.
Still in my healing coma, I had been hooked to a medical monitoring device, and unknown to everyone I was slowly feeding off of it and it was boosting my power and life energy returns further, as was the concentrated strong electrolyte IV, that Doctor Orion had the nurse hook into my arm. When Lady snuggled closely to me and started tracing my facial scars, I had the sense that somebody was present and touching me. As she snuggled close and clutched the pendant I gave her, I could feel it's energy, as well as Lady's love for me. The built up energies in the pendant feeding and boosting my healing coma's regenerative affects even more, and Lady's living presence and love for me strengthening my will to live further.
With the added stimuli, I even had the strength to reflexively put an arm, lovingly and protectively, around Lady's shoulder while she was snuggled into me. As the newly added strong electrolyte IV flooded into my body, I also managed to get enough strength to mumble in my unconscious state, "Love and need you, MY Snow Angel." Then my survival instincts once again rendered me inert, with my arm still around Lady's shoulder, so I could continue healing without consciously doing something to interrupt the healing process.
After they touched down, Sandy quickly left the ship. Kaj looked around and noticed Chase had bumped his head, so he helped the guy back onto a seat, then checked Vo, who was fine. As Kaj headed to the cockpit, Chase stepped out of the ship as well. In the cockpit Taffer and Lu both appeared to be fine as well. So Kaj handed Lu her rocket Launcher, then he double-checked his rocket launcher and LMG. He readied them, then stood ready to help his friends off the ship if needed, as he watched them closely to make sure that they really were alright.
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Post by Wolfram von Eschen on Aug 17, 2015 11:58:25 GMT
Seeing that singing in German was a nut to crack for Dr. Orion, Wolfram had to improvise. On his own time he actually organised motivational workshops and as long as he remembered he participated in them as well. Wolfram remembered role plays and table games and everything else which was used to drag people out from their routine and singing wasn't the worst part. Orion could end up with making balloon animals or balloon furniture.
"Strike while the iron is hot," was said and now it was done as well, because Wolfram made Brody to download another musical piece and this time it was in English. His choice was from the pre war musical from "My Fair Lady", based on George Bernard Shaw's play "Pygmalion". Wolfram watched the musical at Theatre Royal Drury Lane, London, when he got his degree in UK. And somehow Alfred P. Doolittle's "With a Little Bit of Luck" became his favourite. Not because it reflected a desire to take the easy way out as "With a Little Bit of Luck" one's fate might change. Wolfram didn't avoided responsibility at all. He just liked the song because it was also about easy going.
He had to change traditions, of course, because it was usually sang in deep Cockney accent, but since Wolfram wasn't a Cockney but Liechtensteinian aristocrat, he spoke more literary English and he made Dr. Orion and poor Broderick Smythe to join to inject some more positivity into both of them. And there they went:
Dr. Orion felt that silly singing melted some icy crust around his heart and loosened his strings a bit so they became more elastic again. Wolfram was correct. Doing something different helped Orion to forget his worries for a moment and yet keep concentrated. After few more minutes of therapy, Dr. Orion felt that he is ready to return with the clear head and the hum on his mouth. With a little bit of luck, he can handle his medical cases now.
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Post by Lady Christianna on Aug 17, 2015 12:49:17 GMT
While Dr. Orion was singing with Wolfram and Brody, Lady Christianna awakened next to Atticus and inquired of the attending nurse as to his health. Lady was told of his electrolyte treatment and that Atticus was recovering, albeit slowly and that he was in a healing coma. Lady had the nurse help her back into her bed, but when the nurse offered to bring her the newborn bables, Lady again said "No" vehemently, so the nurse left Lady alone with her thoughts.
"MOM," Lady asked her EGO psyche through the telepathic link they shared, "How long before I'm ambulatory?"
"You should be able to in another hour at best," Replied MOM, "But I don't recommend it. My monitors indicate that ther is a high likelihood that you are severely suffering from portpartum depression, which can affect you thinking dramatically."
"I give the orders here MOM," Thought Lady with a frown, a look of determination in her pink eyes, "You will do as I say or I will put the standard EGO psyche in charge who will! No tattle-telling on me! When I start my move, You will make me invisible for real! I want no eletronic or EGO device to either see me of be able to follow me! I know you can do it so no arguments!"
MOM thought about countermanding Lady's order for her own good, for she was worried about Lady's health in more ways than one. However, it goes against the nature of an EGO psyche to go directly against the will of an EGO host. Furthermore, MOM also knew that no factory standard EGO psyche could look out for Lady as well as she could, so MOM followed Lady's orders so as not to be turned off by her.
As MOM pondered her choices, Lady picked up her hailer on her nightstand and called Broderick Smythe, saying, "Hella Brody, Lady.... In infirmary... Come see me now. Secret. Tell no one... Hurry, let you know then."
Brody excused himself from the others, merely saying, "Sorry guys! Something important just came up. See you later."
Brody hurried to Lady's room in the infirmary, as he had been infatuated with her from the first time he met her. She was pretty, his age, exotic being Castithan and all, spoke with him about things he was interested in, like video gaming, and she always treated him both nice and normal, not like the nerdy underling everyone else often seemed to treat him. Brody would be the first to admit that he was a nerd, but sometimes he yearned to just to be treated as a normal person, and Lady always did, so even though she was a married woman now, to the scariest man Brody ever met, Brody still would do what ever Lady wanted whenever she wanted. He was over his infatuation with her, but she was the closest thing he had to a best friend, and he had very few real friends.
When Brody entered her bedroom in the base infirmary, he was shocked at how frail she looked. Lady had huge dark circles around her big pink eyes and her thin body looked even thinner. If it was possible for a Castithan to be even paler, Brody was sure that she was, or in the least a shade of white that was more pasty and sickly. She beckoned him to come closer weakly with one delicate alabaster hand, as if she was so weak that she needed him closer to speak with. As he moved right next to her bedside, Lady's other hand darted out from under the covers on her bed thrusting the Omec control rod she had secreted there into Brody's neck.
"Owww! Why'd you do that Lady?" Exclaimed Brody as he rubbed his neck where the rod went in.
"Under my control now. Do what I want now!" Answered Lady with an enigmatic smile, then gestured towards the computer console in the infirmary, then said in a regal tone, "Command you to get the information Iri found in the base computer archives! Command you to get the Indogene Control formula! Now!"
Brody went to the computer console and began to work at hacking his way through the firewalls and security locks Iri had put in place around the formula, muttering, "You could have just asked! That hurt!"
Lady's smile broadened as she said with confidence, not so much to him, but to the world, "Not so invisible now, am I? Bwa HA ha!"
Lady's humorless laugh sent a chill up Brody's spine, but it didn't make him hesitate for a moment as he continued working efficiently and effectively as Lady had commanded.
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Post by Erika Widowmaker on Aug 17, 2015 14:16:39 GMT
Erika Widowmaker had a lot on her mind as she sat in the command chair in Fortress Kshaa's War Room. Both her brother and sister-in-law were in the base infirmary, with their new born twins in intensive care. Her grand daughter Marla was also recovering from injuries, but more of a mental kind since her rape at the hands of her father. Her daughter Kara was still under the care of the base psychiatrist, Wolfram Von Eschen, and Erika still had to speak to him about reuniting Kara with her children. Of Erika's family, only Frond, Kara's baby son and Erika's grandson, seemd to be well and happy in his crib watched by a nurse in the infirmary.
"Commander Widowmaker, m'am, there be an anomaly in the infirmary," Exclaimed Security Officer LeBeau from his computer console.
"What kind of anomaly and from where in the infirmary?" Asked Erika with growing alarm.
"Not sure for sure, but wierd electrical surges make us both blind and deaf in one of them there hopital rooms, and the records, they do say it be the one occupied by Commander Batman and his Lady. Mon Dieu, there also be access from a computer there into the base archives, but the clearance code it be high enough to do it, so no worries there I think!"
Erika thought for a moment for a rational answer, and came up with one. It could be that Atticus Batman's odd grid energies were running havok on the security sensors in the room, especially considering that his control over his Grid powers may be weak if he was just coming out of a coma. Dr. Orion had told her earlier that her brother was in a healing coma, but didn't know how long he would remain in it because a Grid hybrid was truly unique and unknown to science. Attticus could have awakened, and was using the computer in his hospital room to access the archives for some unknown reason.
Even with a rational answer in mind, the purple hairs on the back of Erika's red clay colored neck were up at attention, as her instincts screamed that something was wrong, so she ordered calmly, "Security Officer LeBeau, you have command of the War Room. I'm going to the infirmary to check it out."
Erika walked stiffly out of the War Room and down many base halls, hailing Dr. Orion as she went, "This is Erika. Dr. Orion, are you in the infirmary?... No... On break... I see, well you certainly deserve one. There was a security anomaly in Atticus and Lady's room, so I'm going down to check it. No reason for you to interrupt your R&R, as I'm sure it's just an instrument glitch. Take care Doctor. Commander Widowmaker out."
Erika hoped it was just an instrument failure and nothing else as she headed through the infirmary doors and to Atticus and Lady's hospital room, finding them both apparently asleep in their beds but surprised to find Broderick Smythe working hard at the computer console in the room, so she asked, "What are you doing there Mr. Smythe?"
"Just what Lady commanded me to," Replied Brody without looking up from his computer console, as he plugged a thumb drive into it. "And I think I just about have it - Bingo!"
"Excuse me Mother," Interrupted Amber, Erika's EGO psyche, throught the telepathic connection they shared, "I've checked their vitals, and Atticus is indeed asleep but Lady's show that she is fully awake."
"She's faking!" Thought Erika, uneasy at the thought, "Why would she be faking?"
Erika went over to Lady's bed, bending over her and gazing at her intently with wide jade green eyes, when suddenly Lady's large pink eyes popped open and one of Ladies small chalk white hands darted from under the covers holding a sharp rod about half the size of a knitting needle, clearly aimed at Erika's neck. Erika raised one purple eyebrow as she caught Lady's wrist before the needle found it's target, but then Lady's other hand whipped forward thrusting a similar rod into Erika's neck. Erika fell to her knees in intense but soon ending pain.
"Now I'm the Commander," Said Lady in a self satisfied tone.
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Post by Lena Marr on Aug 17, 2015 15:37:33 GMT
Lena Marr had the car packed and ready to leave Fortress Kshaa, making sure she had appropriated many of the gourmet foodstuffs from the cargo bay, then she turned and said with a wicked smile to Marcel Lestrange in the driver's seat as she slid into the passenger seat, "Lets go be drug lords! Supply and demand in the Bay Area couldn't be better! The good citizens of Paradise will be 'baying' to get our product and we'll make them 'bay' through the nose! Get it! Baying as meaning a deep, prolonged howl, as of a hound on the scent! Oh, never mind, let's get this show on the road!" Marcel smiled at Lena, then started the car, heading the Black Challenger out of Fortress Kshaa and into the San Francisco wasteland towards their home in Marin.  |
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Post by Marcel Lestrange on Aug 17, 2015 15:56:50 GMT
"We are but humble servants of society who are willing to provide people with the merchandise they desperately need," said Marcel. "From that point of view we are just like Mademoiselle Belle and Volodja le Fou. Belle and Volodja provide people with hope. We are offering them some candy so they can forget everyday's worries and become someone. For a reasonable prize, because we are not philanthropists."
Saying that, Marcel pressed gas pedal to the floor and their black Dodge Challenger rushed through the wasteland towards their head quarters. Those good doers were on their own again. As for Marcel, they could stay that way, unless they were willing to pay huge amount of scrip to Lena and him for their services. Until that they had a business of their own. Lena and him were the fittest and that meant one - they will survive and succeed. The world will be theirs.
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Post by Lady Christianna on Aug 17, 2015 16:53:36 GMT
Lady Christianna had Erika Widowmaker and Brody Smythe help her out of her hospital bed, but even so her pink eyes winced with pain as she did so. Lady was pushing it and she knew it, not even waiting the hour MOM had recomended to wait, but she felt that time was now of the essence if her plan was to succeed. Sooner or later, someone would notice Erika or Brody missing, or the glitches in the surveilance cameras, and come looking to find out the reason for it. Lady walked over to Atticus, briefly thinking of putting one of her remaining four Omec control rods in his neck, but quickly dismissing the thought with a frown. She might do that to any of the others, but not Atticus. "Never Atticus," She thought to herself, for no matter what her present mind set, she still truly loved him. With sad pink eyes, Lady watched Atticus sleeping for a full minute, before bending over and kissing him tenderly on the lips, then whispering into his ear, "Love you. Forever. Bye. Forever." Lady stood up, then turned on her heel to leave the infirmary, motioning with a wave of her small chalk white hand for Erika and Brody to follow her as she ordered, "Come minions!" Lady used her EGO radar to avoid others in the hallways as she moved her small party from the infirmary to her quarters, and since it was during a working shift, she didn't have to often. In her quarters, she changed from the hopital gown to her red and black polymer armor, pleased that she could fit into it although it had never been her favorite outfit before. Lady chose it both for it's practicality and the fact that it looked more regal to her. She stopped in the bathroom to reapply her war paint and to rub the black dye into her hair for what she felt was a needed symbolic change in her looks. She walked through the rooms she shared with Atticus, pausing only to feed their pet and linger by the bed they happily shared. She spotted on the nightstand Atticus' electronic notepad whose screen saver was a photo of the card she made him, then opened it to jot down a quick message to him. The note read, "Atticus - Love you forever. Never doubt it. Must find me. Who am I? Don't know. Always invisible. Always in other's shadow. Even yours. Especially yours. Now childrens too. No more. Have manifest destiny. Not sure what that means. Have to find out. Love you. Take care of the twins. Stupid me, of course you will. Bye. Forever. Probably. - Mistress of Judgment. No. That's a shadow too. Mistress of Sorrow! Sounds cooler." Lady carefully placed the notepad on Atticus' pillow, then put on her hellbug Stetson, picking up her favorite shield and crimefighter shotgun before grabbing the fireworks spike Micor Newlo had given her out from under the bed where she had hidden it. With Erika leading the way and using her security clearance to get past the base defenses, Lady and her party made their way to the highest point of Fortress Kshaa. Lady triggered the spike, and purple fireworks graced the skies above the fortress. Soon after the fireworks subsided, a black helicopter decloaked above them and a rope ladder fell from it. At Lady's direction, Brody climbed up the latter, followed by Lady, then Erika who helped Lady make it into the safety of the inside of the copter, where Micor Newlo met them. "Greetings Little Mistress! We should leave quickly in case your former comrades view this craft as hostile!" Warned the Master of Stealth dramatically but with a toothy smile. "Not little. Just Mistress of Sorrow now. No worry. Defenses and radar disabled for ten minutes," Replied Lady with an enigmatic smile. With that, the helicopter quickly cloaked hiding it's destination and headed towards the north coast of the San Franciso wasteland, northwest of Coit Tower, to the old Presidio bunker where the Inquisition had made their Bay Area headquarters.  |
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Post by Sandy Bell on Aug 17, 2015 18:29:47 GMT
"Movement behind you,Captain!" Warned Sarge, Sandy Bell's EGO psyche throught the telepathic link they shared.
Sandy looked over her shoulder and frowned, seeing the creeping vines from the hungry tree nearby trying to sneak up and ensnare her. She briefly wondered why all the planet's new mutant wildlife always thought her the most tasty of her team. Sandy then thought about strafing the vines with her SMG that was equipped with fire nano's, but she neither wanted to warn those hostiles outside her EGO's radar of her party's presence nor wanted to start a local forest fire, so she refrained from shooting them. Instead, she merely moved up the trench along the highway, signaling Chase Lonehart who had taken up guard duty near their aircraft's door that she was moving up, while also outdistancing the predator plant's grasp.
When Sandy had moved up, she noticed that there was a stationary friendly dot on her EGO's radar, so she looked that way through the scope on her Pulser SMG. She saw the redheaded Chloe Mac Gyver laying under the wing of the crashed VBI airplane, the cockpit crashed into a huge tree as it must have skidded off the highway, but the rest of the plane intact and sitting on the highway. Chloe looked realtively unhurt, with a makeshift splint on her leg and holding a VBI automatic pistol in her hand, watching out for predators but not looking particularly afraid.
Sandy reported to Taffer and the others through her EGO, "Sir, I think I've found our lost lamb up the road about a football field away. She appears to be the only survivor, and may have a broken leg. Your orders sir?"
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Post by Taffer on Aug 17, 2015 19:34:37 GMT
Sandy reported to Taffer and the others through her EGO, "Sir, I think I've found our lost lamb up the road about a football field away. She appears to be the only survivor, and may have a broken leg. Your orders sir?"
"Good find Sandy", Taffer replied.
"Okay team. I, Sandy and Kaj are going to check up on Chloe and bring her here or call you there depending on circumstances. Kaj happens to be the only one from the original rescue team here, so she should recognize him faster than anyone else. Sandy saw here first so she deserves to meet her first as well, and I'm just an asshole who likes to be the leader of the pack."
Taffer smiled with corners of his mouth thinking how easily all the team promoted him to be the leader once he had reunited with them without any discussion at all.
"Now, rest of the team who stay here", he continued, assessing his team member's weapons and thinking on which role might fit better to each of them. "Wait… FOUR-chambered Mass Cannon? I had trouble finding a good use for the two-chambered one", he asked with surprise, seeing Lu's favorite weapon.
"There's a neat trick", she answered with a smile, "shall I show you?"
"Later", Taffer replied, "You seem to know your weapon and it has a scope so it's what matters the most now. Lu, watch us through your scope in case something happens on our way. But be careful with your trigger. Chloe does not have an EGO so any explosion close to her might be fatal. Vo, you watch the mountains in case those guys with rocket launchers show up. Do it through the Monolith's sensors. Keep the Monolith sitting here for a while, we don't want to scare Chloe with its sudden appearance. Chase watch their back and watch the forest. You know, in case hellbugs or something like that show up. Report if you see anything suspicious. Now we're going, it shouldn't take too long."
Taffer started moving down the road, watching the surroundings carefully and trying not to get away from the rest of the squad he designated to move to Chloe's location.
"Vo, let me access the Monolith's transceiver", He sent through his EGO, "I'll try to contact someone from the Empire and describe the situation so that they wouldn't get too nervous."
When Vo gave him the access, he tried to find any station of the Empire to connect to. "They are using noise-shaped signals", Em Dash informed him, "The Monolith's receiver might not detect them. By the way, I've just got a signal from Calgary and there's a message for you. The piezo sensor at Presidio bunker had sent a signal about the door opening. No other sensors from there had sent anything."
"Great, just in time", Thought Taffer, "Bye-bye Silver Challenger, the fastest roller in the Bay Area."
"Well, if anyone got into the bunker does not automatically mean you lost it", Em Dash replied in his head, "You hid it well, didn't you?"
"Oh come on", Taffer thought back to her, "Of course I hid it behind the blast door that looks not operational, it looks like a pile of metal inside a collapsed tunnel if someone scans through the door, and the only way there is to Decoy through. But you know, if someone found and bypassed and disabled all the sensors I've installed except that piezo one because it has no power source and works only at the moment the entrance door kicks it, that means they have enough tech and skills to find it there. Anyway, we have more important things to care about now."
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Post by Chase Lonehart on Aug 18, 2015 3:10:39 GMT
"Chase watch their back and watch the forest. You know, in case hellbugs or something like that show up. Report if you see anything suspicious. Now we're going, it shouldn't take too long."
"You don't have to tell me twice," Chase replied. "McCoy, eyes up."
"Scanning," McCoy acknowledged.
Chase hunkered down, keeping his Thunder at ready, checking the perimeter, keeping his eyes open on the woods. He spotted Sandy, who gave an indication that she was moving from her position. He nodded in response.
For some odd reason, he began to think about Iri. He couldn't help but kick himself for admiring another woman when Iri had been nothing but kind, caring and faithful to him. Even if they hadn't made love in a little bit over a month, she didn't let the lack of such an action be a sign of the relationship falling apart. She stuck with him. And here he was, ogling over another woman's breasts, mentally cheating on her.
Iri should drop kick your ass to the curb, he told himself. How she manages to put up with you and your actions, and lack thereof, is beyond me. If Indogenes were religious, maybe one could make the argument she was trying for sainthood.
More importantly, he was hoping she was doing okay and that her day was going better than his at the moment.
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Iri had completed looking through the notes, not finding any indication on if any of the drug had been made or if it had not. She hoped that the blueprint was as far as the drug got and not a single drop of it had been produced. She sat in her room, weighing in on the options. Since the notes didn't indicate of it any was made or not, she could only assume that the blueprint was the only link in the chain left. She had told herself she couldn't delete it because she worried that it would make her look guilty of something. But Iri knew that she had to erase it, as it was her duty to protect people, especially her own kind. She exited out of her room and began to head back to the lab. As she walked she wondered if any of the other files had any information that could be useful in fixing Chase. She had become so side-tracked with the drug that she had forgotten the reason she was there was to find a solution to the problem that Chase had.
Once I do it, it'll be over with, she told herself. Then I can try to help Chase in this last ditch effort. I'm not to believe in a higher power, but it there is one, I pray that it is merciful and help me.
She entered the lab and went over to the holographic terminal. Iri called up the file and was set on deleting it when she saw it. It was unlocked. Somehow, someone managed to crack the timelock and gained access to the film. The realization sunk in that she was too late to do anything. Iri realized she had unleashed a Hell her people had tried to forget, it raising back once more. With some quick gestures, she realized it was Broady who accessed the file.
How the three-hells did that human know how to do that?" she asked herself. Not even Doc Yewll could have cracked that encoding!
Iri quickly located where the file had been accessed from, find that it was a terminal in the infirmary. But before she left, she proceeded to delete the blueprint from the system, so that there was no other copies that could be made from there. She hurried as quick as she could to the infirmary, finding no one else but an out cold Atticus. She raced over to the terminal to find the access and download had been done from there. Iri couldn't think of what else to do. She needed to think quickly if they were still there. With a few keystrokes, she initiated a lockdown of the compound using the biohazard containment protocol with a blaring alarm. She hoped that they were still in the Fort to keep them from going farther.
Attention everyone, Iri spoke, her voice echoing through the PA system. The human called Brody has stolen the blueprints for a very hazardous chemical compound. If anyone encounters him, detain him and keep him from any computer terminals or communication systems! I say again, detain him and keep him from any computer terminals or communication systems! He is a threat!
Iri hoped that she got them in time, but she had the feeling she may have been too late.
What have I done? she asked herself. What the hell have I done?
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