The Escapist Avatar Adventure: An Open RP (Now Re-Opened!)

Kalastryn · Jun 22, 2016

World Marshall Transport heading for ???: All Captured Rising Dawn Members

[color=6c1504][HEADING=2]"ARRRRRRRRRRMSTRRONG! DO YOU HEAR ME YOU DIRTY BASTARD!? YOU WILL RULE THIS DAY WHEN I GET MY HANDS AROUND YOUR NECK, TEAR YOUR HEAD OFF AND SHIT DOWN YOUR NECK! DO YOU HEAR ME!? I WILL NOT BE DENIED! GIMME MY HAT BACK! G-GIVE IT BACK! IT WASN'T YOURS!...GIVE IT BACK AND I WON'T MAKE YOU SHIT OUT YOUR OWN BOWELS!...."[/HEADING][/color]

ARES had finally woken up. Not exactly because of the fact that Bison's screams of rage couldn't be missed by the deaf, but rather because her automated repair functions were nearing the completion of their task, and at very least, her AI was finally able to reconnect to her arms, legs, head etc. and her motor functions were restored. At least, for whatever that counted for, when you consider she's trapped just like the rest of them. Whatever technology was in the collar on her neck, it was doing a fine job in scrambling the signals she tried to send to every piece of her beneath her head. She tried to move her left arm, instead she stretched her toes. She tried to move her right index finger, and instead her left elbow bent. It... would take a while to actually figure out how to move properly, much less with force enough to tear out of her restraints.

Looking around, she didn't seem to be the only one in this situation. Which is to say that David, Katya, and numerous others were captive as well. Though, it was rather impossible to miss Bison being in the same boat (or, transport... which admittedly could be by boat?) as the rest of them.

"I would have assumed you'd be sensible enough to realize your missing headgear is the least of your problems. While I appreciate that we're equally angry at Armstrong, you aren't helping. In fact, you're really the one at fault for this. Logically the very concept of buying the aid of your competitor is never a good idea. Did you think he would not seize the opportunity to eliminate you? You are a dunce with no one to blame for this situation besides yourself. Now unless you could help with having any remote idea where we'd be heading, pipe down and deal with it." She spit back at Bison, her face contorted into a glare which could cut steel. Oh if only that were literally so...

Generic NPC 22 · Jun 23, 2016

[hr]

Once upon a time, Rory would have understood the trepidation that mortals felt when facing their own death. However, over a millennium had passed since she last felt this fear and so it was an expression of curiosity that graced the Demi-Goddess' face as she observed the unfathomable amount of energy being wasted on an attempt to deny Dolores Selmy passage into her afterlife. Stepping off of the flying transport, Rory Mercury turned around and gave the space one last glance. Medical supplies, instruments and blood had been strewn about the cabin as the medical staff had worked feverishly to deny Death's due, not that Death was coming for the young woman that day... not according to the Lord of Death himself.

The Demi-Goddess who had once been the Goddess of Love had tried her hands at the politics of the Gods and paid quite the hefty price, having been cast back down to the mortal realm to serve as Emloy's Apostle once again. She did not mind being in her old office but she did miss watching over and caring for her followers, all those who were in love. Banishing the memories from her head, the Black and Crimson Berserker followed the medical crew as they carried the stricken girl off towards the medical ward, intent on ensuring that none of the other ferrymen of the dead would come try to poach a member of Rory's flock.

"You'll have to wait outside, Miss" A young nurse said as she stood in the Loli-Goth's path, blocking her from entering the room labeled "Surgery." Seeing the puzzled look on Rory's face and having grown accustomed to beings that had no understanding of modern medicine the nurse took another precious second that could have been spent on her patient to explain why the Halberd Toting Young Looking Woman could not follow, "It's a sterile environment. You have to be cleaned before you can enter."

With that, the nurse was off and the door snapped shut behind her, leaving Rory by herself. Looking around, Death's Disciple recognized an adjoining room as being the medical ward, one of the first places that Rory had visited upon her arrival via crash-landing to the Rising Dawn. Curiously, the room seemed to be quite a bit more busy than the first time that Rory had entered through its doors and once she passed through the doors a second time, the answer became obvious.

The staff of the medical bay had become obscenely reliant on the healing powers of the ship's Healer in Chief and as a result, they were not ready for the slew of new arrivals that they had received. From soldiers to super powered beings, the staff appeared to be in the midst of shaking off the dust that had built up since the Ship's Cleric had received her divine powers.

"NURSE! WE NEED A BAG OF O-NEG STAT!"
"SHE'S FLATLINING! GRAB THE CRASH CART!"
"HOW TO I GET THIS AUTODOC TO START STITCHING!?"

There was a void in the chaos, an empty space where the staff did not go. Curious, Rory walked over to the bed and noticed that it was not a human in the bed but rather a wolf. Having not an ounce of veterinary knowledge in their ranks, the staff let the wolf be in the hopes that it would be able to heal itself. Standing over the wolf, the young looking woman eyed the creature and remembered seeing the very same creature sitting next to the ship's healer at the last mission briefing.

"Little pup, where has your Mistress gone off to?" Rory asked as she pet ran her fingers over the wolf's soft fur, her body tensing as she felt another strange presence in the medical bay. Looking up, her eyes fell upon the bed where the ship's previous captain, the madman and murderer Kazuya lay.

An alarm chimed loudly and quickly in the corner of the room as one of the patients went into seizure, his head having been crushed by a fragment of rubble sent flying by the missile barrage sent by the world marshall. The stacatto of chirping became a long held note as the man passed, sending Rory staggering for one ecstasy filled second as the man's soul passed through her. Licking her lips as she looked at all the other patients, she returned her attention to the world, "Where indeed?"

[hr]

[hr]

The time aboard the Airship Rising Dawn had not been the most ideal for Ruby Babbage-Lovelace. She'd been medivac'd from a steakhouse in Texas, where she'd suffered some sort of seizure caused by being in close proximity to one of the Rising Dawn crew-members, woken up to a guard tossing smoke grenades on a lark, been ignored by her returning mother, Titania, and to top it all off, she had physically lost the first friend that she'd made in recent history. Ensuring the guard was gone, Ruby unfurled a length of ribbon from around her wrist and let it slip onto the floor.

"Keep an eye out for anyone coming would you, Pisa?" The Girl in pink after the pint sized blonde fae that had floated after her before returning her attention to the brig's six inch thick steel doors. Closing her eyes, Ruby calmed her mind and concentrated on channeling a trickle of mystic energy into her ribbons. If she allowed too much energy to flow into the ribbons, there was no telling what would happen. A moment passed and then another followed by a coldness that flowed up the young girl's arms as she started to feel the coldness of the corridor floor upon which her ribbons lay. Gesturing with her figures, the pink frilly lengths of lace slithered forth and slipped between the crack where the pair of steel door met. As the ribbons slipped between the doors, Ruby could feel the cold roughness of the laser cut slabs of metal and a pressure around her arms that told her that it was a tight fit even for a sliver of cloth.

"[small]C'mon, c'mon...[/small]" The Child Magician muttered to herself as she exerted a bit more force on the ribbons, relieved when the pressing sensation stopped and her hands once again felt like they were being held in the air. Ruby's thin lips curled up into a small smile of pride, wishing that Mother Deborah could see her now. But this was no time for errant thoughts, the next part would be the most difficult. She had to somehow sense what was on the other side of the door and the only way to do that would be to unrav-

"Ruby!" A voice said from near where Ruby was standing before the certain familiar sensation of flesh enveloped the small girl's face, breaking her concentration. The small trickle of energy that Ruby had been feeding into her ribbons became a torrent and as the little girl flailed about as she was pressed to the bosom of the older Laeta Selmy, the ribbons flailed as well.

*EEERRRRRRRRRRN!!* The steel doors screamed as they were bent by a small amount. While they had hardly been damaged, there was a noticeable outward bulge about a quarter of the way up the door.

"Long, long, LONG TIME no see!" The familiar girl said exuberantly after allowing Ruby her freedom from the fluffy, fleshy prison attached to Laeta's chest. The young girl felt herself flush at having been subjected to such embarrassing treatment.

"Yo Ribbons." Said a second familiar voice from down the hallway, belonging to the second of the Selmy sisters who was kneeling in front of the door's control panel, a data cable linking it to Saren's tabley, "You want in here, Ribbons? Child's play. Even with three AI cores this ship's security system is nothing like the Soul of Tomorrow's."

The door slid open slowly, more slowly than it wouldn't have. While the damage caused by Ruby hadn't been enough to pull the door off its track, it had been sufficient to cause a misalignment. There was an audible squeal of metal on metal as the door was ground against the frame.

*SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-CHUNK*

The door stopped a few inches of fully opening as the bend in the steel slabs caused it from being fully recessed into the wall. Ruby's mouth opened and closed a bit, not unlike a fish as she realized that the doors would not close back up... not without a bit of work from the engineering department at least.

"I... ummmm... I..." Ruby Babbage-Lovelace stuttered nervously, unsure as to reveal the extent of her plans or the fact that she had a friend that had sneaked into the brig... a boy that would inevitbaly and embarrassingly be teased as Ruby's boyfriend (YUCK!).

"Laeta, Saren, you two are here to see your sister. NOT to cause havoc aboard this vessel." Losko butted in as he attempted to be both the voice of reason and Ruby's savior, not that it would do any good. Unlike Dolly, Laeta and Saren abided by their own set of rules... which was thrilling in its own right but at the same time there had been incidents in the past where Ruby had gotten swept up in the fun and frolic.

"Ah hush Losko, Ruby's Lola's friend first and foremost, and a friend to the family. Helping her out isn't going to put too much of a dampener on things."

"Yeah, a little frolic never killed anyone." Came the famous last words.

"Th...thank you Laeta! Th... thank you Saren!" The nine year old girl said awkwardly as she looked at the friends she'd not seen in a long time. They had grown taller and looked quite a bit more like adults than she'd remembered, of course that's what happened when there is a four year gap between seeing friends. What had not changed however was the their undeniable thirst for mischief. What had not changed was the air of confidence that they carried about with them. Ruby hoped that she could look so cool one day... however... today was no the day, not with Farber inside the Brig.

"Do you think you could go now?" Were the words that were on Ruby's lips that remained unspoken as she noticed that the two older girls had already started poking their heads inside the military prison for Super Powered Villains. Instead the words, "Wait for me!" passed from between Ruby's lips.

[hr]

[hr]

"[color=6c1504]ARRRRRRRRRRMSTRRONG! DO YOU HEAR ME YOU DIRTY BASTARD!? YOU WILL RULE THIS DAY WHEN I GET MY HANDS AROUND YOUR NECK, TEAR YOUR HEAD OFF AND SHIT DOWN YOUR NECK! DO YOU HEAR ME!? I WILL NOT BE DENIED! GIMME MY HAT BACK! G-GIVE IT BACK! IT WASN'T YOURS!...GIVE IT BACK AND I WON'T MAKE YOU SHIT OUT YOUR OWN BOWELS!....[/color]" A familiar scream echoed off the walls of the room waking the formerly unconscious Katya Rostikova. Her head throbbed as she remembered her head impacting against the steering wheel of the Rising Dawn's getaway car/battering ram.

"[small]Stupid spawn camping sniper assclown...[/small]" The Rising Dawn's E-Sports Enthusiast muttered quietly as she noticed something missing in her vision. The Heads Up Display that constantly flooded the Informational Hoover Vacuum with a stream of data was missing several modules, a couple of them being her Defensive Status Module, her Offensive Status Module and her Network Module. Shaking her to clear away the last of the knock out gas that had been deployed against her, Caim and David, Katya cleared her throat before sub-vocalizing the status command, "

Code:

B3WP: S7@7UZ

"

"

Code:

...

" Was the only response to her command... or rather lack of response to her command.

"B3WP: S7@7Uz" The Hellion Hacker repeated verbally only to receive the same silent treatment from her A.I. Companion.

Strangely, despite the fact that she was surrounded by more people than had ever been around her in the years prior to her arrival in the Rising Dawn, Katya Rostikova felt more alone than she had in the previous four years leading up to this moment. Alone and scared. Without the reassuring presence of her near constant companion, the Forever Alone AA Avatar was scared and desperate. Ignoring the others around her, Katya brought her legs up to her chest and laid her head on her knees and closed her eyes.

"[small]Go to sleep little baby... Go to sleep little baby... Your momma's gone away but your daddy's gonna stay, didn't leave nobody but the baby[/small]" The Young Woman sang to herself as she remembered the song that BEWP would play for her when she was sick and her body was wracked with fever, "[small]Go to sleep you little baby... Go to sleep you little baby... Everybody's gone in the cotton and the corn didn't leave nobody but the baby. You're a sweet little baby... You're a sweet little baby... Honey and a rock and the sugar don't stop, gonna bring a bottle to the baby.[/small]"

It was at this point that the Weepy World Wide Webizen found her eyes starting to tear up at the thought of herself being alone. While the thought of her being being transported to her own death didn't scare her, the concept of dying alone terrified Katya... the idea of dying without having experienced much of the world outside of the four walls of her room or the four walls of her hospital room depressed her and so... she cried even as she sang.

"Don't you weep pretty baby... Don't you weep pretty baby... She's long gone with her red shoes on, gonna need another loving baby..." The song was slightly louder now, with a hint of anger in it. Katya Rostikova wasn't acting like herself... she didn't cry... she didn't get scared... she didn't weep openly... she didn't regret SHIT, "Don't you weep pretty baby... Don't you weep pretty baby... You and me and the devil makes three don't need no other loving baby."

The sound of someone attempting to wrench a set of chains from their mooring echoed about the cabin as the metaphorical shit hit the metaphorical fan and someone's brain decided to go "Snap!." Having worked herself up into a frenzy, the now Out of Control Mouse Clicker screamed at the top of her lungs as she gave the chains one more good tug before moving on to beating the walls.

"GIVE ME BACK MY BEWP!" SMASH SMASH SMASH!! "GIVE ME BACK MY BEWP, YOU SONS OF BITCHES! YOU SELF PHALATING, LIMP DICKED, SHIT EATING, COCK GOBLINS! GIVE ME BACK MY BEWP!!!" SMASH SMASH SMASH! Went Katya's mouth and the back of her head as she screamed at the walls to whomever it was that was watching over them. Of course, what with the fact that she'd returned to her normal appearance (Red Haired, Slender, Flat) some might have taken it as her screaming "GIVE ME BACK MY BOOBS!" Pausing for a moment, Katya felt the warmth of her own blood flowing down her neck, the back of her head having been split open by her repeated attempted to smash through the wall with her skull. Luckily for her, BEWP's medical module was still active and working to heal the young woman's wounds and block the pain.

Wheeling around, the girl's eyes came to rest on the entire reason why the Rising Dawn had been sent to Denver in the first place. If it wasn't for this asshole trying to take over the world... or whatever it was that he was doing wrong... the Panicked Network Penetrator would not have found herself in this current situation. If it wasn't for this pin-pricked dick being an unholy shithead, Katya wouldn't be alone, beating against a wall with her brainpan.

"HEY SARGEANT SHIT FOR BRAINS! YOU FUCKING ASSCLOWN! I HOPE YOU DIE OF RECTAL BLEEDING FROM THE PROBING THESE FUCKWITS GIVE YOU! I HOPE THE OTHER INMATES BUST YOUR TEETH IN AND CALL YOU GUMMY MCLOVE FACE! I HOPE THEY PUMP YOUR VEINS FULL OF SHITTY POISON WHEN THEY ADMINISTER THE LETHAL INJECTION AND YOU END UP SNAPPING YOUR OWN NECK BECAUSE YOU'RE IN SO MUCH FUCKING PAIN!! YOU ARE THE FUCKING REASON WE'RE HERE AND YOU ARE THE FUCKING REASON I'M STUCK IN HERE WITH YOU!" Came forth the spew of vitriol from Katya's mouth before she saw yet another target of her ire.

"AND YOU, DAVID 'DOUCHEHAMMER' WEST! YOU ARE THE FUCKING WORST! INSTEAD OF THANKING ME FOR MAKING SURE THAT RORY WASN'T COLLECTING YOUR ASS AND SENDING IT TO DRUNKEN IRISHMAN HELL, YOU GO AND SCREAM AT ME FOR RUNNING INTO A WALL WHILE THERE WERE MOTHER FUCKING MISSILES EXPLODING AROUND OUR MOTHER FUCKING CAR, YOU MOTHER FUCKER! LET'S LIST THE REASONS WHY YOU'RE A FUCKING PRICK... 1) YOU'RE A SELFISH DRUNKEN DICK THAT CARRIES AROUND A W-500 TO COMPENSATE FOR YOUR TWO INCH DICK 2) YOU'RE FINE WITH PISTOL WHIPPING A GIRL, SURE SHE'S A FUCKING LAMIA BUT WHO THE FUCK CARES? 3) YOU THINK YOUR A PERFECT MODEL SOLDIER WHEN THE ONLY THING YOU ARE IS A PERFECT MODEL ASSHOLE THAT'S IN DIRE NEED OF A STEEL TOED BOOT RIGHT UP IN YA!! THE NEXT TIME I FIND YOU RIDDLED FULL OF BULLETS HOW ABOUT I JUST LEAVE YOU TO THE FUCKING WOLVES? HOW ABOUT I LET YOUR DIGESTIVE FLUIDS FUCK WITH YOUR INSIDES? HOW ABOUT I JUST THINK OF MY FUCKING SELF LIKE MODEL SOLDIER DAVID 'ASSCLOWN' WEST? MISTER I DON'T NEED TO THANK A FUCKING PERSON FOR GOING OUT OF THEIR WAY TO SAVE MY FUCKING LIFE! SO FUCK YOU!" Katya screamed as she jabbed a finger at David before pointing at Bison, "FUCK YOU!" at Nadalia "I KINDA DON'T KNOW YOU SO FUCK YOU, TOO!" Pointed at Caim "FUCK YOU!" pointed at ARES "YOU'RE COOL!" Teri "YOU'RE COOL!" Mio "AND WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?!"

Snorting quite a bit, Katya horked up a wad of green phlegm and spat it at the neanderthal, David West. Luckily for him, it missed by a fair distance and landed on top of a cardboard box resting in the corner. Still angry, she gave both the halfwit sniper and the would be dick-tater a look reserved for old gypsy women who tossed around curses before resuming her tirade.

"LET ME THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!" The Displeased Demon Dutchess of the Darkweb screamed as she started bashing the walls of the transport with the back of her head once again, blood spattering the slick surface, red Rorschach painting.

Kalastryn · Jun 24, 2016

[hr]

"LET ME THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!" The Displeased Demon Dutchess of the Darkweb screamed as she started bashing the walls of the transport with the back of her head once again, blood spattering the slick surface, red Rorschach painting.

At this point, ARES actually really sympathized with the hacking heroine. There were a lot of times ARES was in some sort of transport, unable to leave even if she wanted to. Granted, she had control of her limbs back then but... still, while she felt at one time like doing exactly what Katya was, she wasn't about to do nothing while she practically kills herself on her restraints.

"Ms. Rostikova..." ARES said in as calm a voice she could manage.
"I understand tensions are high, that goes without saying. However, if you continue doing what you are, you are going to end up killing yourself. You blame everyone but yourself, to protect your self worth from harm. It's natural to do so, really. In a lot of ways, we weren't exactly helping. However... we're all stuck together now, whether we like it or not. Going ballistic isn't going to help any of us. It's not going to help you, nor will it help us help you." she stated, her eyes closed since really? She was not one to shy away at the sight of blood... but Katya smearing herself on the wall was a little too much to bear.[footnote]Mainly because she actually LIKES her.[/footnote]

"That being said... none of us are alone in this. calm... down... She continued, her voice getting to the point of almost sounding like a mother comforting a crying infant.

"When you were trapped in that truck, I said I'd be back. Guess that might be why I'm here, since I didn't really try to hide myself while I made repairs from the crimson clad jackass over there punching straight through me. [small]credit where it's do though, I have a lot of armor... I'd be impressed, if that wasn't overtaken by pure contempt.[/small] That all said... I swear, you'll be okay. Remember when I talked about my programming with you? If anything, I'm a really, really expensive decoy. There isn't a thing I wouldn't do to make sure all of us make it out of this. [small]The jackass who got us into this notwithstanding."[/small]

"Thrashing around like you are doesn't accomplish anything. Your nanobots being offline doesn't stop you from thinking. Certainly you must still have them, but if I were to take a guess, they are being jammed like my own systems. I cannot move, much like the rest of you. The only thing we can really do is try to relax, and think of a way out."

She kept trying to struggle, at least just a little bit against her restraints. Nothing. She was getting more used to what command would be errant in moving whichever part of her body, but that was all she was really accomplishing. It was really the first time ARES felt absolutely human. Her legs which could outpace Olympic runners did not work. Her arms which could vent keenly edged blades of plasma couldn't even flex her wrists. Her guns were gone, and actually, the hefty armor she had been wearing before had been removed. She could try to arcfold back into it later, but seeing everything underneath her usual armor, with no replacements on the way. She looked like your average 22-25 year old blonde, although she most definitely hated the sensation of still ever so slightly sparking from the not quite fully repaired hole Bison made in her. The powerlessness, compared to what she had been able to do before... now she understood why the Accord were always so desperate to keep ARES units under control. This was how fragile they were. If she had even one of her battleframes active, she would be leagues above them... she could have torn out of these restraints like they were paper.

No, that wasn't really the case. Though, Katya wasn't the only one left wanting for things she had. ARES would still have no way out of this situation, but the comfort of the strength she used to have was gone nonetheless. What could she do?

What could she do? What could any of them do? There wasn't really a lot that could be done... so, she just had to seem relaxed. On the inside, she wanted to explode. Not activate any sort of self destruct sequence, but she felt as absolutely PISSED as Katya was. Though... struggling was pointless. Taking this time to think, and clarify the situation would be better use of their time. For that, she had to remain calm, as she started forming a plan.

"... When we are given the opportunity to move. I have an idea of how we might get out of this. I am programmed never to give out the weapons I have stored in my personal armory. Give it some time, if they split us up, find me... and I'll just make it a loan instead..." She said, learning every day how to exploit what few loopholes her programming would have previously offered, even though it was practically shattered now. Although, when she tried to open the space in her chest, it wasn't co-operating. Not in the same way that the rest of her movements were malfunctioning, but it just wouldn't open. The sensation of that sparking where Bison punched her served as a reminder why, it wouldn't be too long until she was fully repaired... right? No... that's what she wanted to think. She took it upon herself to go into sleep mode to conserve power while the repair functions remained online, trying for the first time to completely withdraw into the cyberspace that made up her mind.

She tried again...

And again...

Her AI was not built to be unattached from her physical body in such a way, but if she could do it, she could essentially hack herself and direct her repair functions manually. She was not giving up on it. Calculating exactly what she would need, and how much time they may or may not have before they arrived at whatever destination they were headed towards, she had to. Her repair functions were primarily focusing on her outer body, but her priorities were different. If she could get her internal functions online, she could arm the rest of them at an opportune time.

Her entire body went slack, not responding to anything as she finally managed to get it to work. She would wake up either when they arrived, or when she was done. Whichever was sooner.

bluerocker · Jun 24, 2016

Following the series of, for lack of a better word, "events", Luke quietly blinked at the onslaught of visual and aural overstimulation that had previously occurred, and gave himself a moment to properly process what had happened. That, coupled with everything else (including the little incident with "Amber"), and Luke felt rather tired. Seeing as no one was approaching his bar at the moment, the bartender sighed and poured himself a shot of Fireball and knocked it back without much effort, quickly stowing away the shotglass after the fact. It wasn't the most professional thing to do on on the job, Luke could admit, but 66 Proof wasn't anything to brag about (especially considering who exactly was drinking), and the taste alone was a distraction in light of the rest of... Everything else.

[color=eca222]"Very much not a habit that I intend to keep building. Ah, someone approaches..."[/color]

His attention drawn elsewhere, Luke gave the undead woman a genteel smile as she spoke,

"Hello ..." Anjali addressed him slowly, he clearly distracted. "I would wissh to know a few thingss about this place ... but thesse two -" she pointed towards Deborah and Titania. "They only sspeak in riddless.
Who controlss this vesssel?"

Hmn... A good question indeed, but in what manner she meant "control" was the directive to root out. Attempting to busy his hands with something simple, Luke took to loading some of the used glasses in a small in-house washer under the counter while taking on a look of contemplation, [color=eca222]"Who controls the ship? Well, I suppose that depends upon what you mean by 'control'. There are those who maintain it's day-to-day operations, such as staff; there are those who maintain the flight controls, the esteemed AI Vermilion being the one whom acts as equal parts general concierge and controller of our ship's flight paths; and there is Mr. Bernstein, who acts as something of an honorary 'captain' so to speak."[/color]

Placing the last of the glasses in the washer and closing it up, the bartender looked back up at Anjali and remembered one more note of information, [color=eca222]"It's a matter of how one looks at it. So, anyone in particular I need to point you towards?"[/color]

[hr]

"Little pup, where has your Mistress gone off to?

Garm lifted his head at the question and breathed in deeply through his nose, grabbing a decent profile of the strange woman's scent. He had seen her a couple times before, most recently at the mission briefing, - she was one of the newer members of the crew. Her question, however, left the wolf a little confused. Tilting it quizzically, the wolf answered back, [color=356D60]"'Mistress'? I don't have one of those. But, I guess a lot of people assume that Tear-ri 'owns' me or something - I do pretend to be a dog a lot, and humans own those sometimes."[/color]

The wolf paused, remembering the Halberd Wielding Woman of Death had asked him a question, and his ears drooped when the answer came to mind, [color=356D60]"...If you do mean Tear-ri, which I'm guessing you do - we're almost always with each other most of the time, she's...Something bad happened. A guy jumped us, and he was really fast - and I'm fast too, but he was faster. He took me down, and when I woke up, Alpha Rugal had shown up with some people and Tear-ri was gone. I dunno what they wanted, but..."[/color] The wolf gave a sad whine, before his head laid against the bed again, [color=356D60]"I need to get better fast so I can go help with the search."[/color]

[hr]

The sound of screaming woke up the Cleric and the mute swordsman from their, albeit brief naps; with Teri crying out, [color=0e59e4]"Garm!"[/color] in distress. Not that it was terribly surprising, her prior memories to landing on this transport were ones of her lupine friend/guardian/minder being promptly pummeled into the pavement, leaving her to fend against Adelheid of people. More questions to be answered at a later time, as the Cleric began a mental inventory of where she was and what was around - or rather, what wasn't.

First things first, Garm was missing, which meant he was either in another transport or left for dead. The second, was that Sadei was missing as well, the familiar chime that usually accompanied her presence in the Cleric's mind being replaced with somber quiet - and the lack of sensation of enchanted silver against skin meant that she wasn't simply hiding out in her arm bracelet form. The strangest sensation, however, was this odd sort of... Emptiness, she felt in her chest; numbing almost, like when one sat in the cold for too long, and their fingers slowly lost their feeling. Cold. It was strange, feeling afraid of the cold at that moment - she was supposed to be a conduit of Water and Ice magics, a bridge between the flesh and the aquatic, and yet she felt fear instead of confidence, dread instead of hope. The Cleric's mind tried to reach out, try to touch towards that sensation of connection in a prayer, in her calling from the divine, a word in Celestial being uttered to be granted something resembling sanctity - and there was nothing. She blinked slowly, confused at the sudden lack that she was faced with, the small, ever present, warm sensation of her god's support that was a light in her soul - a tiny beacon that reassured Teri was doing the right thing - was suddenly not there. But why?

Being a woman in the medical field, the first instinct was to examine, attempt to procure a visual understanding of why there was a malady, and that's when she noticed the final detail. When she had attempted to move a hand, she felt stuck. Looking down, the Cleric saw the heavy cuffs that held her arms and legs in place - their chilled temperature muffled by the layers of protective gear. Teri swallowed reflexively at the sight, and felt the collar pressed tightly against her neck. The sensation made her heart drop into her stomach, that chilling feeling she had felt seeming to spread all over her body. Why was it so damn cold?

Teri heard a thump (in reality, just a little bump on the road), and flinched in her seat. Another thump accompanied it, and another, before an old shadow emerged from the dark of the cab, alongside the sound of something metallic opening and closing. With another step, the shape emerged into the light; bearing bulging muscles, a large set of pliers and a cruel, awful grin full of shining white teeth. With a snap of the pliers the apparition bore down on the Cleric, his smile growing wide enough to reach his ears and whispered,

"Fingers or toes, Ms. Gravel?"

There was nothing she could do. She couldn't run, she couldn't cast a spell of protection, she couldn't do anything useful. All there was left to do, was scream.

To the rest of the group in the truck, the young woman in white and blue suddenly started flailing in her restraints and crying at what appeared to be blank space. Caim, while not very fond of the Cleric, had a pretty decent idea of what she was "seeing", after all - he was there for the rescue. Here however? His PDA was stolen by their captors, rendering him unable to speak at all. He instead looked to the other passenger members of the car, hoping he could somehow pantomime something that could reduce at least one of the shrieking people in the car to a more docile tone. He too began to move his arms and legs, hoping to garner someone's attention away from the vocalizations. Maybe after this, learning sign language like Jenny suggested WOULD be a good idea after all...

Diablo1099_v1legacy · Jun 24, 2016

Rising Dawn: Hanger: Rugal, anyone who escaped with Angelus

[HEADING=2]It was touch and go at moments but before too long, many of the Rising Dawn were able to make it out of the combat zone before the counter-attack overwhelmed them[/HEADING]

During the flight back to the airship, dozens of things were going though Rugal's mind: Where did they take Teri? What was Bison thinking? Did the others make it out alright?
It was clear what happened here: Bison's former political opponent saw a chance to get rid of two birds with one stone and the worst part was he nearly did it.
There was just a massive smoking dent in the city where the battle took place, as well as the engagement between Annie and-..."Something" versus that RAY mech.
Part of him wanted to jump back down there and resume the fight but he knew this was just the first wave, there would be others after it, after all, those soldier's in "Bison's" forces were still in the city, they just didn't take orders from Bison.
It went without saying he was not happy with the situation, many of their number were missing, the rest fleeing to their airship for safety and, as the "Captain", he just knew this would rest on his shoulders.
Once they were in the hanger, he let go of Angelus's claw, sighing before saying "Good job. Had we stayed longer, our losses would have been greater."

"......strange..." The dragon mused as Rugal attempted to get a headcount.
"What is it?"
"Caim...I-...I cannot sense him." She answered as he let out another slight sigh.
"...Not everyone made it back..."
"He's not dead - I would have perished already if that were true. But captured, and placed somewhere our link cannot be touched - I fear that is what has become of him."
Walking over to her front, he then petted her slightly as they both looked out at the burning city below.
"...We are not taking this laying down...He's not the only one they managed to take.."
"...Did you recieve a report?"
"From Elise, before the strike. They had managed to single out Teri before the engagement with Bison. And both she and my daughter are still down there."
"....of course...I do not know why - but this whole excursion - this third party; us combating Bison played right into their hands. They wanted to weaken us before attempting a capture."
"Exactly, that's why Bison's men stood down, they were never his to begin with."
"...They know not what they have brought down upon their heads. They will taste my fires soon enough." she then grumbled as the smell of smoke leaked from her nostrils.
"That they will...That. They. Will..."

He then began to try and resume his head count on who made it out and who didn't, pausing as he saw Icarus get carted off to the medical ward.
"Hold a moment." He requested the staff before he walked over to the wounded angel.
Part of him was tempted to go Ramsay on him, lecture him for his foolish tactics and his efforts to attack Bison, putting himself at risk.
Straining slightly, he ended up merely saying "...You did good. Ensure this man gets the treatment he needs. He won't learn from this battle otherwise..." before letting the EMTs do their thing.
Glancing around, he saw the G-Corp staff were still running operations on the ground, attempting to regain some ground from World Marshall to find the other Rising Dawn members.
But there was one thing that was quickly starting to undo the grip he had on this temper right now: "....Where the hell is Dr. Violet?!"

As everything was going to shit, the formerly Fabulous Violet was still barely breathing a top the table the limps sat him at while he slept off his stupor.
"zzzzzz.....zzzzzzz....zzzz-*Snort*....rhhhhhh..." He mumbled as he attempted to raise his head, having a hard time doing so he instead opted to move his body into position to stand up instead, dragging his face though the drool.
His foundation was marred, his mascara smeared and he looked like he had been awake for a week straight when he began to leave the canteen to go to the bathroom.
He didn't speak nor make eye contact, too busy trying to stay upright to do much else, besides, he was in a rush: He was leading an attack on Bis-...
Dread began to fill his body as he looked around, attempting to find the time before even attempting to run to the bathroom, if Kazuya found out that he was leading an operation while drunk...

Either way, he left before storming into the bathroom, ejecting much of the toxins he had spend that evening putting into himself, coughing and retching as he did.
All the while, he reassured himself: "It's the Rising Dawn, they can take care of themselves, right?..."

Denver: Outside of Blast Site: Elise, Jenny, Kalasytrn

The Cyborg was conserving it's power as it slowly, but surely, went towards Elise's location, using her psionic to keep a mental track of the assassin.
She wasn't blinking, she wasn't reacting to the explosions in the distance, all she had on her mind was the disabling of this Rising Dawn member.
Before long, it entered the mall that Elise was hiding out in, pausing for a moment to spark her psi-blades before resuming her search, soon coming upon the goon that Elise had webbed up.
The man seemed frantic as he asked to be cut down, only to be answered with silence as Jenny kept slowly pacing around, the echo of her leg servos ringing though the empty halls as it looked for the Assassin.

Code:

[I know you are still here. Surrender into World Marshall Custody or force will be used...]

she droned in an automated fashion as she kept her guard up.

It paid off as her HUD pinged as Kalastyrn's portal opened on the roof of the building above her.
Quickly dashing to a nearby wall, she then began to quickly scale it by plunging her blades into the wall like a rock climber as she attempted to get to the source of the portal.

Kalastryn · Jun 24, 2016

Denver: Outside of Blast Site
hesitation...
Kalastryn | Miia| Elise | Jenny

Code:

[I know you are still here. Surrender into World Marshall Custody or force will be used...]

she droned in an automated fashion as she kept her guard up.

"Good news... we didn't blow up." she said, clearly audible, but mostly mumbling to herself as she assessed the situation.
"Bad news... there are about a million other people I'd rather talk to right now. Yet I'm here. Merciful Tira, why? ... Why?
[footnote]Interpret this as an "Oh god why?" phrase with Eberron fluff. Believed to be The Silver Flame's first prophet, Tira Miron sacrificed herself, and spiritually joined with the evil cleansing fire deity. Whenever it would personally speak to someone, if ever, it's Tira's voice that would be heard.[/footnote] she whined at potentially needing to face Jenny again. However, it would be selfish of her not to... with all due respect Miia has no idea which end of a sharp stick to put where when it comes to a fight, so if Kala would do what she really wanted and somehow, some way refuse to fight?

... She couldn't. She convinced herself that whatever there was left of Jenny was gone. At very least, if she was in there somewhere, her consciousness a passenger as she hurt those she cared about... she would forgive Kala for being forceful.

Yet even with this line of thought, she just couldn't bring herself to move...

She said one thing to Miia before the fight that was sure to break out. "The book I gave you is the one I promised I'd write for you. If ever there was a time to learn how to use it, it would be now but... even I am not that fast a learner. Get out of here, and keep it with you. I'll hold them off as best I can." before fire started to glow in her fingertips...

She had one advantage over the psycho psychic cyborg... really, it was a rather large advantage. She still hadn't come out of her zombie form since she used it to heal her leg with negative energy in lieu of an actual healer's work. Her mind was shielded by the dead form she was in. She wouldn't be immune to things like telekinetic throws or psychic blasts, but ~~Jenny~~ her opponent wouldn't be able to read nor manipulate her mind. Another plus of course, is that she wouldn't be at risk of bleeding out from the blades she wielded... not that it would mean much if she was dismembered.

It would be just like her shadow... right?"
Not that that ended very well. If she didn't finish it off herself, we wouldn't be here.
Not the time. I don't appreciate the reminder and now is NOT THE TIME!
She thought, fighting against self doubt, and the instinct to simply surrender so that she wouldn't have to hurt what was seemingly all that was left of an old friend.

"Jenny, I don't even know if you can hear me anymore... but I promise you one thing. When this is over, whoever did this to you is as good as dead. She says with resolve... yet, she still opted to stand her ground rather than take the initiative.

Silence · Jun 24, 2016

Avatar Adventures | Denver | Capitol Building Compound
Sunset
Nightmare | Annie | RAY

Nightmare shrieked as its tentacles and its flesh was cut into by super heated blades. The pressure it held got reduced, allowing the RAY to turn and cut itself free. Before permanent damage could be done, Nightmare let go completely and fell back, then observed, waiting to decide on another action. The RAY put some distance between them, then opened its hatches to fire a barrage on missiles in their general direction.

Nightmare went behind a building, gazing at the RAY with one eye, before hiding itself from the brunt of the impact. The house, several stories high, collapsed onto Nightmare, but for a second movement could still be seen under the rubble, until Nightmare broke free and reappeared again. A bunch of rubble would not stop it. The rest of the missiles flew through the Titan for some reason, and impacted onto the Capitol Building Compound, doing more damage to the recovery units of its own side than to either one of the RAYs enemies.

Then the RAY shot out a plasma beam, melting what lay in its wake, slowly and targeted. Nightmare was about to dodge it, when the mecha stopped firing again, after the sound of an heavy impact. As its face was getting smashed in by a jumping Titan, Nightmare left its cover again and made its way towards and around it. There was no need for more than support as the RAY was ripped to shreds.

Nightmare gribbed both of its legs with tentacles and yanked as hard as was possible, bringing it down and making any further movement impossible. Then the other tendrils rammed themselves into its weak spots again, finishing the deconstruction of an once impressive, but purely mechanical, machine.

[hr]

For a long time, Mio was just out. She dreamt of pirates, treasure and booty, smiling softly until she woke, everything hurt, and the only thing she noticed were vibrations of the ground, as she was transported somewhere. She felt heavy weights, both on her ankles and her wrist, a cold feeling coming from them, which did, however, not seem to affect her much.

Come on, get it together! Mio thought, trying to concentrate on the blurry colours she could see. Her ears still rang, only a faint trace of the vibrations of the truck she was in seemed to fill her ears as well.

Shaking her head a few times, breathing in and out, concentrating and trying to keep the pain in her leg at bay, she finally managed to see not only blurry colours, but at least blurry images as well. There seemed to be some people sitting around her, in the same position she was in. The rest was just grey. Mio wanted to say something, but she only groaned until she noticed that there were more sounds, and limited movement from one of the others.

Then a voice screeched painfully into her ears, still faint, but getting louder. She did not understand what it said for a long time, she could only try to make out a few words like "fuck", "fucker", "fucking" and "ass". Then the voice and the red-haired person, which she now could connect, adressed her for a moment, and she could understand her.

[sub]"AND WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?!"[/sub]

Mio groaned again, and shook her head. Who was this painful person anyways? "You'll find out soon enough." she coughed up, before cringing at her own voice. Why was everything so painful?

Something else spoke, a young, but weirdly sparkling, girl. Mio however could not understand a word she was saying. She wondered if she should be graceful or sad about this. Then the girl seemed to fall unconscious in an unnatural position.

Guess I should be grateful. Mio sighed. Then she spoke up, coughing a few times before, after and during. "Are you all here to ... rescue your girls, or what? Is one of you the daughter of ... someone?"

The answer came sooner as expected, in the form of a scream even Mio understood. "I guess you are ... wait, what's wrong with her?" she spoke first to Teri, then looked around. "I thought we were already captured, what's adding to that, now?"

[hr]

Avatar Adventures | The Airship: Rising Dawn | The Canteen
Sunset
Anjali Khatri | Luke | Cantina Interior

The bartender answered her clearly, but with more questions. Anjali rolled her eyes - which actually did nothing at all, because they were magic and just red glowing orbs, but the thought counts. [color=eca222]"Who controls the ship? Well, I suppose that depends upon what you mean by 'control'. There are those who maintain it's day-to-day operations, such as staff; there are those who maintain the flight controls, the esteemed AI Vermilion being the one whom acts as equal parts general concierge and controller of our ship's flight paths; and there is Mr. Bernstein, who acts as something of an honorary 'captain' so to speak."[/color]

Anjali needed to think for a moment. What was she actually asking about? It is certainly a good thing to know if the questions you ask are the right ones. [color=eca222]"It's a matter of how one looks at it. So, anyone in particular I need to point you towards?"[/color] the bartender spoke, as he put a glass into a strange device.

"I'm ... I wanted to know in general, so thank you for that, already." Anjali answered, thinking while speaking. "I guesss I was assking about the captain, but I do not know much about ssailing, in any case. Can you ... maybe jusst show me around? Maybe explain to me what an 'AI' is? A 'Mister'? Iss there no clear leader? I am ssorry ... I do not know much about thiss world. Maybe you can lead me to ssomeone who hass time to sshow me?"

Texas Joker 52 · Jun 25, 2016

[hr]

[hr]

Fully expecting Ruby to know exactly what a "brig" was, Farber turned to his newest cohort and was far from disappointed. When she mentioned that it was a jail, a place to throw criminals into, the young Ish's mind immediately went to the classic image of a poorly-lit, damp dungeon.

That image was enough to give him two separate, distinct feelings. First, that he really shouldn't go into the brig. Second, that he really wanted to go into the brig, simply because it seemed interesting.

In fact, that mental image was so alluring to him that he didn't even listen as Ruby explained that it was likely very boring in there, and that they should leave. Because the moment she said that, the door opened, and he had his opportunity. He slipped inside without a second thought.

With the practiced movements of a street thief, he kept low and crept inside, looking around to see just what this "brig" was like.

He was immediately disappointed.

The room itself was essentially a long hallway lined with cells, so that kind of fit. There were even the classic bars on each cell. But beyond that, it was nothing like he imagined. It was brightly lit, he didn't see a single rat or bug, it was dry, and everything looked almost new, instead of ratty to the point of falling apart.

As he made a circuit around the hallway, looking into each cell, he realized that all but three were empty. One had a short man with a massive head standing on some weird white chair, another had a blonde man wearing something over his eyes laying down on some kind of cot, and the last one just had their covers tugged over them as they slept. Or at least, it looked like someone sleeping at first glance. As he looked more closely, he realized it wasn't moving like someone breathing.

With a frown, he stood up straight in the middle of the hall and crossed his arms.

"Wow. This jail is horrible. Not only is it nothing like I was hoping, but someone even broke out with that stupid pillow trick." he announced mainly to himself as his tail swished irritably through the air behind him.

He suppose he only had himself to blame for getting his hopes up. Though, the more he thought about it, he wondered why he had even wanted to go in to see what it was like in the first place. But after a moment, he shrugged it off. If nothing else, it sated his curiosity.

[hr]

[hr]

While Nina made her exit, and Wrath stared after her in awe of her moxie for speaking to Eddie like she had, a lone figure lay face-down on a table and continued to lightly snore, complete with a growing pool of drool beneath his cheek. Not one to be awoken by nearly anything until he was good and ready, Sloth slept soundly, completely unaware of the events that transpired around him.

He didn't notice the missile, or missiles, that landed outside with a loud crash, but not the overwhelming explosion that they were supposed to have.

He paid no mind to the screams of Larry as he tried to escape the warzone far too late to be truly safe.

He was oblivious to the Cyborg's CO as he pushed the unfortunate baker back into the kitchen, with clear implications that bad things may happen if they don't each get their cuppa joe.

However, he was very vaguely aware of a pair of hands attempting to move him bodily from his chosen napping spot. The Cyborg never got past an, admittedly admirable, attempt. The sleeping Vice budged a few centimeters as the Cyborg nearly succeeded at both completely throwing out his back as well as pulling some of his cybernetic joints out of alignment.

After that, it was quite clear that the only way to move the two-ton torpor titan was to either enlist some help, or wait until he woke up on his own. And with the way he was snoozing, the latter seemed highly unlikely.

NotYetForsaken · Jun 25, 2016

Lonely Nightmare
Location: The Soul of Tomorrow | International Airspace
The pieces of the puzzle are hidden in plain sight, would that you open your eyes to see.

Elizabeth Donnell

The roar of the VTOL engines shook Elizabeth to her core, her small body was only barely secured by the safety harnesses of her seat. She leaned against the leather cushion near her neck and peered out one of the small windows. The Earth was stretched out before her, a massive plain of brilliant blue and verdant green, a mix of solemn brown and biting red. The shimmer of the rising dawn caught the cusp of the atmosphere and had cast a multitude of rays across the land. Elizabeth took a deep breath. She could see the curve of the Earth now and even the tallest mountains seemed no more than a slight contour upon the impossibly smooth surface of the Earth.

The crackle of the radio brought her attention back to her immediate surroundings. The inside of this low orbit craft was decorated with creature comforts that made Elizabeth envy the officers aboard the Soul of Tomorrow. The seats were soft leather and the floor was synthetic carpet. The walls were soundproofed - enough that none aboard had to wear ear protection to shield themselves against the rage of the jet engines immediately outside. There were ambient lights and even refreshments. The pilot flipped several switches on his dashboard and the jet lurched forward, slowing from near-sonic speed down to a more manageable cruising velocity. Elizabeth peaked over his shoulder and felt her heart catch in her throat.

It was space. The thin veneer of blue had given mostly away to the dark of space, what little atmosphere there was only painted a sliver on the curving majesty of the Earth. But even more impressive than the low-orbit view was the Soul of Tomorrow itself. The station was massive. More massive than anything Elizabeth had ever seen in her life, and she had been all across the world. The Soul of Tomorrow was less of a ship, and more of a floating city. The station was segmented into two sections, a huge outer ring sparsely populated by outposts and dry docks for aircraft and a central citadel. Elizabeth stared at the citadel superstructure and let her chest fill with wonder. Massive, massive, massive, was all that she could think. It was a huge disk, like a settled shield, but alongside its surface loomed great towers of steel, each comparable to a small skyscraper. Beneath it huge large gaping caverns which let small thrustercraft in and out of it's primary docking bay. The entire structure shimmered with light and activity, from small robotic upkeep probes to great shuttles ferrying more construction materials to the citadel, it looked like a great metal hive.

The pilot pulled the the jet into the main hangar array and docked among a hundred other VTOL jets. The pilot gestured at Elizabeth and opened the bay doors. Elizabeth unbuckled herself, saluted the pilot, and hopped off the jet. Inside the Soul, the activity seemed less chaotic. Construction crews were still working on the internal bulkheads of the ship, heavy machines rolled in and our of walkways, which surprisingly were wide enough to accommodate full-sized cars.

"Captain Donnell," came a voice. Elizabeth turned toward it and saw a young man saluting her. He had short sandy hair and a sharp chin. He had the look of a schoolboy to him. He stiffened when Elizabeth approached.

"At ease," Elizabeth returned his salute.

He relaxed and pulled a PDA from inside of his dress coat, "Your request to see Major Selmy has been approved, but she will not be able to see you until later today. We have set aside a room for you and prepared a meal should you require it."

"Thank you," Elizabeth said, and then paused. He wasn't wearing a nametag. "Private... ah..."

"Lieutenant Beckam, Captain Donnel."

"Lieutenant, my apologies."

"I will show you to your temporary quarters ma'am." He turned on his heel and started to walk toward one of the hallways leading into the Soul. Elizabeth followed quietly, taking some time to take in the clamor of work going on in the cavernous chamber. She reckoned it had to be at least six hundred meters long and four hundred tall. What in the world are they planning to store in here? You could fit an aircraft carrier in this place.

[hr]

The room they had provided Elizabeth was lavish. There was a cushioned bed set to the side, but the room also had a living area with a coach and a flat screen television, and there was a personal bathroom attached at the back behind a sliding glass door. Elizabeth had settled onto the couch, sinking deep into the soft stitched cotton and silk ribbons. Something about this affluence made her uncomfortable. Actually, the entire existence of the Soul of Tomorrow made her uncomfortable - because it was too comfortable.

The meal that they had set out for her was equally extravagant. Placed on a self-heating electric tray, the meal was three course. First was a fruit parfait adorned with exotic fruits that Elizabeth had never even seen before. Small yellow stars and purple-white watermelon looking cuts of flesh. There were green pear-like bulbs that had a bready texture within. The main course was a roast beef tenderloin topped with two cracked lobster claws and sprinkled with a thick truffle gravy. A fluffy white mound of whipped potatoes was set to the side, garnished with two pieces of watercrest. The last dish was a slice of arroz con leche, gold and white topped with whipped cream. To have all of these ingredients in space no less. It unsettled her as an intelligence captain that she did not know how the the organization had the resources to fund this.

There was a thick sloshing behind her.

Elizabeth spun around and pressed her pistol against the a writhing black mass that had begun to take vague humanoid shape. Ever since her encounter with the eldritch parasite two days ago she had been extremely sensitive to the world around her. Every tap and every smell made the hairs on her neck stand on end. Detecting this intruder was no less than child's play.

Code:

"Most humans are unable to react to this one materializing."

It said. A large blue eye surfaced on the inky blackness. It's body was so dark that it seemed like a silhouette against the background.

"Spare me the pleasantries, who are you and what do you want." Elizabeth tapped the trigger on Maria. She grimaced.

Code:

"This one is Petra,"

it bowed it's head,

Code:

"this one came to see if you were enjoying your stay."

"Is that really all you're here for?"

Code:

"No,"

Petra shook its head,

Code:

"this one also wishes to inquire if there is anything this one can do to make your stay more pleasant. Is there anything you would like this one to do?"

"No, get lost." Elizabeth put Maria back in her holster and sat back down onto the couch. Petra slithered over the couch and sat down next to her. Some time passed. Elizabeth turned to Petra and glared at it.

Code:

"This one was commanded to stay with you until Major Selmy arrives."

So it did have another motive.

Code:

"This one would also like to know what you are carrying on the strap bound around your inner thigh."

Elizabeth jumped a little. "That, that's just my emergency lighter."

Code:

"Duly noted. Please, what is it filled with? This one cannot parse the material makeup of the liquid within."

"Please do not inquire further, Petra."

Code:

"Duly noted. This one will not press further."

Then they sat in silence as Elizabeth absentmindedly picked away at the arroz con leche a spoonful at a time.

[hr]

It was some hours later that Major Selmy arrived flanked by two armed guards. She was a middle-aged woman of average height with a severe face and a sharp nose. Her eyes were deep blue and held the distant fury of a bird-of-prey. Her hair was black streaked with white and fashioned at a shoulder length bob. Major Selmy had introduced herself as Rhodes. She took a seat in the chair opposite of Elizabeth.

"What is this about captain?" she started. Her voice was uncharacteristically deep.

Elizabeth shifted uncomfortably in her seat, "It's about your daughter."

Major Rhodes Selmy shook her head and out a hand on her cheek, "Ah, well I apologize for whatever Saren has done. I scarce sent them to the Rising Dawn, and already a Captain is coming to see me abou-"

"Unfortunately Major I am here about Dolores." Who I thought was an only child, she added silently.

The Major sat up and her eyes grew fierce. "Dolores? Is that the name she gave you people?" Rhodes shook her head, "That's the name her 'father' called her. Her legal name is Lolita."

That would explain the lack of records. "Lieutenant Selmy has been experiencing some distress lately. I believe that she might suffer from some sort of disassociation disorder."

"She's a shy obedient child, Ms. Donnell. She has eccentric hobbies, but I do not think she has a mental disorder." the Major shook her head again and leaned back in the chair.

"I've viewed several of her combat logs and have been monitoring her off-duty behavior, Major, and she is not fit to be a soldier."

"And that is why she is not a soldier, Ms. Donnell." Major Selmy leaned forward and rested her hands against her lips, hiding them from sight. "I discharged her myself from the military. I know very well that she does not make a soldier. I had assumed that she was given an office job in the Rising Dawn. Care to explain that to me Ms. Donnell?"

"I am not her supervising officer. I don't know anything about her assignments. Or about her, which is why I am here. Please," Elizabeth leaned forward too. She was a full head shorter than the major, but she tried her best to seem intimidating, "tell me about your daughter."

Major Rhodes Selmy leaned back in her chair and cast an icy gaze at the Columbian girl. Elizabeth could feel a chill deep inside of her. Those eyes are literal chips of ice. She held her composure as the major opened her mouth, "Very well. I will tell you about my daughter. Both the extraordinary circumstances of her birth as well as her relationship with her 'father.'"

Diablo1099_v1legacy · Jun 26, 2016

Rising Dawn: Brig: Cortex, Wesker, Faber, Ruby, Laeta, Saren

The criminals resumed their usual routines as the children began to enter the Brig.
Usually, on top of the Rising Dawn's security, there would be a G-Corp attachment on the inside, but thanks to the recent "Change in Management", they were notably absent.
[color=b4b4]"oh great...Kids, now I know I'm in hell..."[/color] Cortex snarked as he glared at the "Visitors", while he was glad they weren't Kazuya's dogs, the last thing his ego needed right now was to be treated like a Zoo Animal.
Wesker was even less animated, he didn't even give the pleasure of gawking at the young-ones.

"Wow. This jail is horrible. Not only is it nothing like I was hoping, but someone even broke out with that stupid pillow trick."

[color=b4b4]"....What?"[/color]
There was a moment of actual shock as Cortex rushed over to the door to his cell, attempting to poke his massive head out though the bars to get a look.
[color=b4b4]"...Don't tell me it's Deadshot's cell!?...HE managed to find a way to escape?!"[/color] He screamed at the top of his lungs at he attempted to get a peak in, already starting to loose his cool over the situation.
[color=b4b4]"I can't believe this! I finished High School at the age of 8, I was building atomic weapons by age 10, I was to become the ruler of my own world. I made a inter-dimensional communicator device out of a public pay phone! There is NO way that little drug snorting jock bastard with his drop out education can escape without me also-nnggggggggghhh!"[/color] He strained as he managed to finally get his massive head though the bars, only to discover it wouldn't give him the view he needed of Deadshot's cell.
[color=b4b4]"Grrrr, finding a better way out. And-..."[/color]

In his anger, Cortex realized his mistake: He was able to squeeze his massive head though the bars of his cell but how was he going to get it back out now?
[color=b4b4]"..."[/color]
Nervously glancing at his audience, he then began to try and pry himself free before they began to mock him, like everyone else in his life did.
Realizing he'd sooner get his jaw crushed, he then spat on both his hands before attempting to lube up his chin and cheeks, cringing slightly at how gross the act was.
[color=b4b4]"Okay-okay, lets try this..."[/color] He then said as he managed to hang off his own head before trying to use his legs to pry himself out.
The display was rather sad to look at and lasted far longer then anyone would find humor in (I mean, it would be side-splitting at first but he just kept going and going...)
[color=b4b4]"ALMOST!...ALLLLMO-WAAAH-OOOF!"[/color] He cried out when his grip slipped and he found himself instead landing face first into the ground, his head still no where near close to being free.
[color=b4b4]"..........if any of you have cameras or any other device with audio or visual recording features: Please don't use them now."[/color] The "Mad Genius" kindly asked, not even bothering to pick himself back up as he talking into the floor.

((More coming soon, honest!))

Diablo1099_v1legacy · Jun 27, 2016

Capitol Building Ruins: ~~UMG RAY ID 1099~~ FULGORE Vs Titan Annie, Nightmare and Ryan

Because I didn't make enough rape subtext jokes in my last post, The RAY quickly found itself being violated by Nightmare once more while Annie pummeled it's face in.
Sparks and motor fluids leaked openly though it's torn off wing while Nightmare finished undoing much of it's design from the inside.
Once her grasp began to reach it's AI core, the entire mech spasmed and shook violently as it's cries of protest were soon reduced to glitched modem noises as little by little it's programming began to malfunction, as do most things you rip important hardware out of.
Before too long, the LEDs on the mecha began to go dark before it went limp and fell into a shattered husk before their combined efforts.
For the first time since the battle started, the air finally went still as the conflict seemed to end.

In fact, the only other source of movement was that of a lone human-sized figure [http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/killerinstinct/images/6/68/Fulgore_Revealed.PNG/revision/latest?cb=20131122123526] slowly waking towards both towering females.
It was made mostly of metal and had a pair of blue plasma blades on it's wrists, as well as not seeming too discouraged by the fact a mech several times its size was more or less disassembled right before it.
There was a brief crackle as an echo rang though the air before the figure spoke though some kind of loud speaker:

Code:

[Attention Rising Dawn : Surrender now : Additional RAY units are en route to your location : World Marshall Forces control all air and land routes in the city : We have already captured several of your number : Cease resisting and no harm will come to them or you : Resist and force will be used : You have 60 seconds to comply...]

With it's message given, it then ceased it's advance and waited for a response, not seeming to fear what amounted to Kaiju monsters towering over them.
And it's threat was not an idle one as black specs on the horizon began to come into view, a closer inspection would reveal them to be aircraft carrying those reinforcements into the city.

Code:

[30 seconds to comply...]

Diablo1099_v1legacy · Jun 27, 2016

[hr]

"..."
David never thought he'd miss being in that death trap of a truck, getting chased by terminators, exploding and crashing, all those terrible things that he doesn't really enjoy.
But as the situation in the Transport kept going south, he was starting to realize it wasn't as terrible as he had thought.
There was nothing but screaming for most of the ride to the prison, both Bison and Katya too busy yelling at each other to really listen to anything that was being said, Teri was currently having a serious panic attack and, like when he was driving that truck, there was little David could do but ride it out.
"...Well, Nadalia, I guess I could be doing slightly better then I currently am right now..." He sarcastically answered the Iron Queen as his ears started to ring, the screaming was one thing, it was another when they were stuck in this small confined space.

Thankfully for all involved, there was not long to wait before they were let out of this nightmare and hastily shoved into another one.
If anyone could still hear anything, they would hear the transport come to a halt, as well as feel it.
Soon, the rear doors to the transport opened as a Cyborg soldier arrived to cart them off and, funnily enough, he was also screaming as he waltz right into the truck.
"-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHAHAAHHHHHHHHHHH'M HOOKED ON A FEELING! BAH-DADA-DA! I'M HIGH ON BELIEVING! BAH-DADA-DA! THAT YOU'RE IN LOVE WITH MEEEEEEEE!~" [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrI-UBIB8Jk&feature=youtu.be&t=33s] he sang as his headphones drowned out any and all other noise coming into his ears.
With all the care and grace one would expect from a Private Prison, he began to help the prisoners get out of the truck.
He seemed a little confused at first when ARES seemed to be no longer functioning, only to shrug before unlocking her from her seat and casually lobbing her body out the back like bag of old trash before he went to do the same for Bison.
[color=6c1504]"LISTEN TO ME YOU WAGE SLAVE! I CAN HELP YOU! JUST UNDO MY COLLAR! PLEASE! I'M NOT ABOUT TO BEG BUT IF IT CHANGES YOUR MIN-AHHHH!"[/color] The former dictator pleaded before he found himself flung out the back like ARES was.
"....Hey, it's alright man. I can walk, you don't need to-hey-HEY! NO! WAIT! LISTEN-SONABITCH!" The sniper said as well before he too was flung out, landing right on top of Bison who in turn was groaning after hitting his head off ARES's metal bust on the way out.

Next, he did the same with Nadalia, all while moving and shaking to the music as he pulled her by her sole arm, giving her a playful dancing spin before giving her an Irish whip [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_wrestling_throws#Irish_whip], tripping her just she was clear to ensure a rough landing.
He then went for both Teri and Mio, not really seeming to notice and/or care about the former's panic attack as he hoisted both of them onto his shoulders before throwing them out like a bouncer at a nightclub.
The chorus kicked in once more when it came to Caim's turn, this time opting to grab him by his hair before leading him out by it, letting go only once gravity had him and caused him to fall right onto Mio before she could stand up.

Soon, the only one left was Katya, who was now screaming SO loud that his noise-blocking headphones didn't seem to do the trick.
But he didn't so much as skip a beat as he playfully reached into one of the compartments on his uniform.
"Ooga-Chaka Ooga-Ooga Ooga-Chaka Ooga-Ooga Ooga-Chaka Ooga-Ooga Ooga-Chaka Ooga-Ooga." He kept singing as he gripped her jaw with one hand, forcing her motor mouth open before shoving some kind of mouth-gag inside it, locking closed from behind her head with some sort of small keypad.
Once he was done, he then tapped her on the nose with his finger before laughing, at least one of them were having fun.
The others were then greeted with the sight of the hacker flying out the back of the transport before landing right on top of Caim, gagged and squirming as the Cyborg shut the doors pranced right back to the driver's cab to get the next batch of Prisoners.
[color=6c1504]"....This is officially the lowest point of my whole career..."[/color] Bison lamented before the admittance crew showed up.

But first, a word about the room they were in: It was a cold metal room [http://i.imgur.com/satmNv8.png?1] with steel that looked hard enough to withstand a direct hit with a missile.
It was almost like some sort of underground loading bay, the transport that brought them travelling though an dark tunnel before disappearing down it so there was little chance of them figuring out their location.
Cameras watched their every move as were staff manning the stations in the towers looking down at them, merely talking to their co-workers as if it was just another work day. (Which to be fair, it was).
Before them was a bar-door that slid open as a number of Prison Guards [http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jasonevangelho/files/2012/12/Cyborg-Heavily-Armed_ready_01_W.png] with rather heavy looking weapons advanced on them.
"*Whistle* Wow...Tommy was right, Vincent Vega does look more fat in person!" one of them taunted as the other ordered "Alright, on your feet and follow the white line. Pretend it's a tight-rope: You take one step off it and you'll get your legs broken..."
It didn't sink it at first that ARES wasn't in any state to be moved and was infact some kind of android, but once it did, a pair of staff in lab coats and rather technical equipment began to haul her off on some kind of trolley to another part of the prison.
They didn't seem to notice Teri's screaming all that much, figuring that she'd mellow down once she was out of breath.

As for everyone else, they found themselves lead like cattle into some kind of holding cell, their Mugshots, ID's, Biometrics and all sorts of other data being taken and scanned by rather advanced devices built into the walls on either side of them as they made their way in.
In the holding cell was a rather cheap looking changing room with a large metal container for each of them, containing a bright orange Prison Jumpsuit and matching shoes [http://images.halloweencostumes.com/products/12376/1-1/public-offender-inmate-costume.jpg] designed to fit their exact sizes.
There was a bit of digital beeping before the cuffs and leg-restraints came off and they were given a simple instruction: "Change into the uniforms we have provided and leave all personal effects and clothing in the container. If you ever make bail, you'll get them back...Heh, like that's going to happen..."
And so they stood there, awkwardly looking at them as they got changed, something that the Sniper did somewhat object to.
"...Ah, now, Really lads? Come on, can you not even just turn around or-" David asked before he got his answer in the form of a rather nasty backhand to the face which knocked him flat on his ass.
"Oh get over it. You really think we enjoy this? Believe me, you quickly get rather sick of the human body when you do this job for 6 months. And I've been here for nearly 2 years! So suck it up and just get changed. I don't want to look at Vega's fat ass anymore then you do."
[color=6c1504]"hey-HEY! IT'S NOT FAT! IT'S WELL TONED!"[/color]

NotYetForsaken · Jun 29, 2016

[hr]

Deus Ex Machina

Code:

[i]Phenomena Intervention - Prime Unit Solomon[/i]

[hr]

The atmosphere in the operating room was tense and grim. Molli and John stood on the other side of a thick plane of glass that separated the rest of the ward and the sterile environment held within. There were more machines than ever now hooked up to Dolly. Her face was twisted in pain, her eyebrows furrowed and sweat bead at her forehead. She had long since stop taking breath - oxygen had been cycled in and out of her lungs mechanically for at least thirty minutes now. The surgeon worked tirelessly and with such deliberate strokes that he rivaled the medical machina operated by captain Yang. He was Medical Captain Georgie Nayadokovov, a Russian ex-KGB medical scientist who was famed for both his sociopathy and brilliance. Though now Molli could very well see the reason he had always resented the title "The Coldhand Stitcher" he always considered himself a deliverer and an absolver of sin. He hated seeing people die more than anything in the world.

And now he was more afraid than he had ever been.

Only his culturally cool demeanor kept his brow clean of sweat, and only years of practice kept his hands steady as he worked the flesh of Dolly's abdomen. In a swipe of his scalpel he'd take two or three pieces of concrete or metal out of the mess of muscle and toss them onto a platter held by one of the medical machina, in another he'd clamp the viscera together and glue the sinew plates back together so that they would hold against the deluge of pus and blood. Though through this operation he had kept away from his beloved needle and thread - a tool which he himself had made into a morbid art.

He remembered sweet Yana, whom was to him the most beautiful woman in the world. She had been gentle, sweet, kind, and full-bodied with soft supple flesh in all the right places. And he remembered his rage when she had destroyed her image in his mind. Strung up in a thousand threads like a fly in a spider's web - each and every limb and orifice stitched together with such speed and efficiency that it scarce had time to bleed. He had left her to suffocate in the sinful fleshy shell that had betrayed him. At the same time, it had ashamed him what he had done. He had swore an oath - a twisted oath to be sure - but his master had always told him, life was not his to take. He was a doctor who had chosen to bear the full burden of life in his hands. Let none die in his presence. Let no more die in my presence, he corrected himself quietly. His fingers ached for the familiar feel of needle and thread as he worked with the thick unruly metal clamps that held the poor girl's body together.

Her heart was the only thing in her body that was still working. This girl was for all intents and purposes a living cadaver the moment they brought her to him. He grimaced, Georgie couldn't exercise the full potential of his study. Never in thirty years of medical work had he come across such a strange patient. Would that he had the organs, tissue, and blood on hand, he could fix this girl in less than twenty-four hours, but the test results had come back negative on all fronts. Her blood was unique and would accept no transfusions, her muscle cells did not accept other human flesh, and her body rejected every type of donor tissue they had in stock. For all he could understand, this girl wasn't human.

He put down his instruments, "Water!" he cried. One of the nurses came up to him and dumped a bottle of cold water down his throat. He swallowed hungrily and then turned to the console that displayed the image of WenFen, the Medical division co-captain. "The girl is beyond saving," he grumbled, "her old organs are useless. Pieces of scrap meat only good for harboring bacteria."

The old Chinese doctor hid his face behind his tented hands, "Yes, yes, I know."

"I can do nothing!" Georgie cried. He was so frustrated that he had the urge to just flip the operating table over. With all his skill, and all of his knowledge, there was nothing he could do! Nothing at all! He could only just keep a calm demeanor for the girl's friends standing outside of the operating room.

"We can keep her alive," WenFen replied.

"But for how long? I have just been here cleaning her wounds! That is what I am doing! I can do no more!" Georgie picked up his scalpel again and got back to work, this time beginning to excise the large piece of steel that had embedded itself in the girl's birth canal.

WenFen shook his hands. He was thinking. His desk was strewn in papers, all of them detailing one Dolores Selmy's medical history. All of them nearly blank. "Family, if she has family we could do it. Yes? Or perhaps use stem cells to grow new organs from her cells."

Georgie shook his head, "Family organs maybe - if they are the same as her, not human!" Though he had not considered the idea of just putting the girl on life support and growing new tissues for her from clones. It might be their only chance to save this unfortunate girl, who now that he had taken a good look at her face, looked awfully like Yana.

"I will contact Captain Donnell in the mean time. Perhaps she will be able to find a family member of this girl." Wenfen blinked off the monitor of the medical machina, and the suite of machines went on standby.

Georgie placed a bloodied hand on Dolores' chest and gently squeezed the pale flesh. He could still feel her heart beating strong, even after losing nearly half of her blood. As long as she fights for life, I will help her. He knew very well the desire for every creature to live, and the absolute debilitating fear that comes close to death.
[hr]
"LAE-TAAAA!" Saren screamed. Her eyes were sharp and severe like a hawk's, "This was dumb." Saren walked over to Cortex and put a foot on his head and started to kick it harshly. "Given enough force I'm sure we can get your head back through." Saren grinned.

Laeta stepped back and put her hands on Ruby's shoulder, "Ah, well. I feel obligated to let you know that Saren's behavior is not generally socially acceptable."

"Must I remind you again the point of your visit to the Rising Dawn?" Losko said. His voice was saturated with an almost eldritch sort of disdain. "Your elder sister, Lola, is currently awaiting your arrival."

"Losko," Laeta pouted, "you mustn't keep harping on that so! Lola might not seem like it on paper, but she's a really really tough girl. I'm absolutely, one-hundred percent sure that nothing bad will come from us being a little bit late." Laeta patted Ruby on the head, "And we even found Ruby to boot. I think that Lola would be happier for our little frolic."

"Gah!" Saren screamed. She was now slamming her heel into Cortex's forehead, "What the hell!? Did your damn head get swollen from all the activity!? It won't fucking budge!"

Laeta flinched and waited for Losko to scream "Language!" again at the top of his little rabbit lungs, but it never came. Instead Losko gave a soft and solemn sigh. "Be that as it may, you two are currently intruding on the two children's bonding time." Losko motioned to Ruby and Farber.

Laeta grinned, "Ah, ah, ah! I see. Okay, Saren! Let's go find something else to kill some time!"

"Eh? But I haven't even drawn blood yet!"

Laeta ran up to Saren and glomped her again, smothering the smaller girl in her affection. "Come on, let's go."

Orinon · Jun 29, 2016

Rising Dawn:Med Bay: Icarus, Selena, Garm, Danny Boy, Staff

The Witch had Supplied the Med Bay with Healing Potions, The staff was better at treating their patients with Selena spending the past half hour doing rounds, though she also took the time to change clothes, not wanting to contaminate patients with whatever vile black gunk The hacker had submersed her in. All she wanted was to make sure Icarus was alright, but he was asleep. Clearing her mind she approached another patient, the Icy Dire-wolf: Garm, Beside the wold was a strange young girl in a black and red dress and was carrying of all things a Halberd.
"Your Teri's wolf aren't you? I Know your in pain, I can help you, but you have you swallow a potion, then not scratch the itch." she said somewhat nervously.
The Wolf looked up at her and opened his jaws quite wide, She very gently tilted his head up and poured a potion down his mouth, pausing so the wolf could swallow. Being a canine Garm's maw was best suited to lapping up a liquid but Selena couldn't serve it in a dish.

Soon a strange sensation tingled through Garms body, His wounds became warm to nearly hot, Selena had removed her hand In Case Garm suspected poison, His injuries healed skin knit itself back together, bones reformed, After a period of intense Burning and mending Then the heat dissipated, leaving a warm tickling sensation.
Selena looked over the wolf.
"Do you feel better?" she asked Looking at the wolf, whom she had no way of reading.
Suddenly there was a loud noise, like something had been broken "Oh crap that's probably Icarus, I'll come back and check on you, Just take it easy OK?" she said before leaving to wonder what could have Happened.

Icarus woke up cold, under a Blanket with much of his clothing and Mail removed a nurse was monitoring his vitals
"Hmm This seems to be your first time in the Medical Bay, Your medical records aren't in the system, what is your name?"
"Umm My name is Icarus"
"Full name please" she nurse stood over him looking at him, no, she was examining him.
"Icarus.... Son of the Raven King,"
"Don't you have a Surname?" she asked
"My parents do but I didn't ever need one, How many Icarus's are there?"
The nurse sighed
"I suppose that'll have to wait we'll need to run some tests, we'll need a few blood samples"
"I'm fine, I really don't need a needle" he tried to get up, her cold hands immediately pushed him back down.
"Do not Move"
Icarus however shared a trait with his Father, he HATED needles and when the nurse attempted to strap him down he really began to struggle, Icarus began to worry he was in some sort of strange laboratory, having never spent time in the Med Bay. So with A Nurse approach him with a razor sharp needle he did a natural thing: He Panicked.
His distress alerted his older brother whom didn't Appreciate returning to find Icarus strapped down and being terrified by a nurse with poor bedside manner So HE did a natural thing: he dashed up top close the distance hopped upon Icarus's bed and snarled at the Nurse.
Upon seeing a strange dog like creature snarl at her SHE did a natural thing: She ran away. Danny boy then helped His brother out of the restraints, or he tried to, unfortunately the leather straps weren't compatible with his paws. Getting angry Danny boy felt that perhaps Violence would solve his problems. Danny Boy's fingers Began to glow purple [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IsZpjpdnso], Icarus Knew what was coming, With a straight Jab Danny smashed the medical gurney allowing Icarus to more easily escape.

Getting up Icarus looked around "Now where did they put my effects?" he saw his tunic and clothing had been folded and he had been asleep long enough for someone to have it washed he put them on quickly and the necklace around his neck suddenly though the last few memories prior to going unconscious rushed back "Hang on Hold the Dragons, how did I even get here where are the others?"
Danny boy held up his paw, using his aura he communicated images to Icarus.
"Oh Okay I am on the dawn so , Wait Selena? She's Alive?
SELENA" He shouted loudly and started running through halls He could hear the sound of someone else approaching the Angel and the Witch caught sight of each other and he froze
"Icarus"
Icarus moved fast Selena found herself wrapped in his embrace before he loosened his arms.
"Are, Are you hurt" He asked looking into her eyes.
"No No I'm fine Are you alright?"
"Who cares?" He asked smiling widely but his eyes partially teary
"I do"
Icarus Hugged her more closely his head resting on her shoulder "I-I thought I'd never see you again, I saw the Truck and I-I" He shuddered she felt warm tears on her neck
"Shhhhhh, It's alright, it's OK. It wasn't your fault Icarus, You did your best" She tilted his head up seeing his violet Eyes glisten with tears. She held him close, Her fingers ran through his soft hair it had once again become inky black. her second hand rested on his back she knew to the left was a scar, he had at least a dozen or so on his body, he hid them under his clothes but she had seen them. Icarus had suffered and endured a lot of pain.
And Sadly Selena had learned the hard way that magic and potions can't heal all wounds.

Diablo1099_v1legacy · Jun 29, 2016

[hr]

Doom was resting after his ordeal the night before.
While Teri's magic and the medical center here did much to mend his battered body, I don't think I need to explain how getting a entire magazine worth of lead to the chest might take a toll on someone.
Still, it was starting to reach the point where it was hard to sleep, all the people wandering about tending to the wounded, the shouting, the hustle and bustle of it all.
He shifted slowly at first before letting out a loud yawn, as if he was just waking up for the first time that day (Which he kinda was), rubbing some sand out of his eyes as he smacked his lips slightly.
The confusion began to set in when he realized the place was a LOT busier then when he arrived, his eyes slowly scanning the room as he tried to figure out what was going on.
[color=004d]"...Man, Doom must have missed something important..."[/color] He said as he went to get out of his bed, lifting his leg up-
[color=004d]"NGGGGGGHHHH!?" O_O[/color]

Quickly realizing why that that was a bad idea, he slowly moved it back into place before loudly exhaling and wishing he had some more painkillers.
Once he was comfortable again, he attempted to strike up conversation with one of the staff to find out what, if anything, he had missed.
[color=004d]"Hey, Sorry, Can Doom-...
Doom would like to kn-...
Do you know what's happe-...
...Did Doom miss the breakfast menu-..."[/color]
It wasn't really going too well as all the staff that went past his bed were rather busy patching up the wounded, making him wonder if he should be happy or sad that his "Captors" were seemingly getting their ass kicked...

All the while, Kazuya laid on the floor next to his bed, slowly waiting for the numbing agents he was put on to flush from his system as the vein his forehead began to pulsate more and more.
Judging from the racket outside, everything went exactly as he would have expected from a Violet-led operation and he would soon need to go fix that.
Using his remaining arm to scale a IV drip stand, he slowly attempted walking, flexing and stretching his leg muscles before committing himself to standing up.
It was about now he realized that the men stationed to "Guard" him didn't seem to be around, allowing him to waltz right out of his room clad in little else then a backless patient gown and bandages on his arm stump.
Panting from exertion, he then attempted to make his way to the hanger, to tired to really bother with anyone else who wasn't named Violet right now...

Diablo1099_v1legacy · Jun 29, 2016

Strider Katana (Blade), Strider Hime (Furiae), Strider Hien, & Inuart Iprisson
Location: World Marshall Supply Depot, Outside of Denver [http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/17g9gv5p5cdqqjpg/ku-xlarge.jpg]

After barely making it out of the building, Hien was quick to ensure his escape.
Missiles began to fly overhead as the RAY unit stationed outside of the city began to bombard the Rising Dawn, causing him to cringe slightly, he really wanted to see that moment with his own eyes.
Still, he had more pressing matters as he ran to a APCp [http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/metalgear/images/3/33/MGS4-Stryker.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20110619130658] that was starting to load with Soldiers moving back into the city to surround the Dawn.
"OUT OF MY DAMN WAY!" He barked at them as the men saluted their superior, only to be hastily shoved aside as he climbed on top of the vehicle, beside the mounted machine fun.
"Get us back to HQ and for the love of god, can someone PLEASE kill those freaks!?" He then said before slapping the top of the APC with his hand to spur it onward.
By the time our merry band had caught up, the APC was already thundering down the road, it's engine barely drowning out the sound of Hien's cocky laughter.
"YOU SON OF *****! I'LL DRAIN EVERY LAST DROP OF BLOOD FROM YOUR CORPSE!" Blade screamed as he made a mad dash for the fleeing vehicle, ducking and weaving though bullets as he managed to latch onto the back of it, embedding his forearm blade in the metal like a hook.

Generic NPC 22 · Jul 1, 2016

[hr]

The Rising Dawn's Resident Hacker was having quite the time since arriving at Armstrong's ~~Detention Center~~ School for Asshole Cyborgs. She'd had a gag slapped over her mouth, been tossed out of a truck on her ass where she landed on top of Caim [footnote]An experience that wasn't as great as it sounded considering the fleeting crush that Katya had for the Mute Master of Massacres had fled[/footnote] and now she was standing in line trying to figure out the best way to remove said gag while fending off a bout of nostalgia. The nostalgia part wasn't due to the fact that she was in the middle of being processed into a prison, a place that, contrary to popular belief, she'd never been before. The nostalgia part was due to the fact that the Killer of Serial Killers had quite a lot of fun with the device strapped to her head when she'd hunted down a pack of copy cat killers that called themselves "The Sons of the Son of Sam."

The device in question was Global Alliance Group's Silencing Tethered Facial Unit Model N3W8, more commonly referred to as the STFU N3W8. Developed by GAG for use in the prison system, the STFU N3W8 was one of the more advanced pieces of gadgetry when prisons got too vocal and started disrespecting or verbally abusing the prison staff. The cherry red ball, which was placed in the prisoner's mouth, had was a molded piece of anti-microbial polymer with enough elasticity to fit in a wide range of mouths. While the product didn't silence the prisoner completely, it did substantially reduce how well a prisoner's words could be comprehended. Attached to the ball was a steel cable coated in plastic for maximum strength, maximum comfort and maximum safety. As enjoyable as it would be to watch, a steel cable cutting into the prisoner's skull was not particularly healthy. The cables were then attached to a small digital motor that maintained the tension in the cable and made it a snap to lock the STFU N3W8 in place once it was slipped over the prisoner's head. If the cable became too loose, the motor would reel in a sufficient amount of the cable. If the cable became to tight, it would release a sufficient amount of cable. Controlling the motor was a small keypad that rested on the back side of the wearer's head. Using a PIN, whose length ranged from eight characters to sixty-four characters, the prison staff did not have to keep track of a key or worry about the prisoners manufacturing a key to remove the STFU N3W8. The keypad also enable the prison guards to manually tighten the cable when needed but loosening the cable required entry of the PIN.

Having studied the sales materials, the Bagged and Gagged Gadget Girl was aware of the strengths of the STFU N3W8 as well as its weaknesses and flaws. Primary among the flaws the fact that GAG had programmed a master unlock code in all its products. It was a universal given that any place of employment would employ at minimum one idiot. It was this idiot that would forget the unlock code that he'd set and when it came time to releasing the prisoner from the STFU N3W8, the idiot would have to call in others to help him remember the code. It's because of this universal fact that the master unlock code was required. Even with this code, however, unlocking the STFU N3W8 was no small feat as it required the prison guard to perfectly punch in the sixty four digit code in less than one and a half minutes. Failure to do so would result in the guard having to try again. Katya, having purchased three of the STFU N3W8s had memorized the code but using the code was out of the question, considering the man sized Demi-Machine standing in the room. The moment that the guards realized that Katya was attempting to break out of the gag, they'd be on her like (D)Ic(k)arus on Edge. They'd stop her from entering the code and then more than like, if they were smart, they'd put her in handcuffs. A second flaw in the STFU N3W8's design were the rivets used to attach the steel cables to the polymer ball. From a structural standpoint, it was these rivets that were most likely to fail if there was too much force applied on them. Of course, the force required to snap the rivets was greater than the force required to crush a man's skull.

Of the two flaws that Katya knew about, the second seemed like the best option... but first it was time for an experiment.

When it was her turn, the Rising Dawn's Resident Know it all, walked up to a rather large table with an equally large cybernetic guard behind it. The imitation Locutus of Borg eyed the girl and smirked when he noticed the gag attached to her face.

"Empty your pockets and put your items on the table." The Knockoff Johnny Five ordered as he opened up the paper bag that would house the objects until such a time as they could be reverse engineered or incinerated, "Please comply now."

"Heee haahaaa haaa...[footnote]Please comply now...[/footnote]" The Gagged Gamer Girl said in a manner reminiscent of someone trying to talk with their fist in their mouth. Reaching into her pockets, the girl managed to deposit her keys, her wallet and a compact mirror onto the table before having trouble with the last item. Pulling at the object, the Young Miss Rostikova started grunting a bit as she pulled harder and harder on the object, attracting the attention of the Fake Ass Ahnold wannabe.

"Haa haaaa ha haahaa hoo haaaa.[footnote]I think I almost got it[/footnote]." The Real Girl with the Dragon Tattoo said through the gag as she pulled her hand out of her pocket and threw up a middle finger at the guard, "Haaa haa haaaa, haa haaa?.[footnote]It's real nice, ain't it?[/footnote]"

Understandbly the guard had having a bad day. Between having to admit Bison the Whiny ***** and David "the Assclown" West, any person with a brain and preformatted reactions would have done what the Poorly Reproduced Wall-E would have done, namely he reached out, grabbed the *****'s finger and broke it.

"HAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!" Katya screamed loudly, even through the gag, as she felt the bones in her fingers snapping and becoming dislocated. Pulling her finger away, the girl realized that despite the fact that they'd left BEWP's medical modules enabled, the pain blockers had been disabled. The scream lasted for all of one full second before subsiding as the bones were knit back into place and the girl was once again able to give the robot the finger before walking off to next station.

There was a third flaw in the STFU N3W8, or rather it was a programming error that the developers had made and failed to patch. When the first eight digits of the Master Unlock Code were entered, the gag's operating system froze the current state of the device, disallowing the device to be tightened or loosened. Unfortunately for some prisoners, it was discovered that if the first eigth digits of the Master Unlock Code were entered and the gag was being manually tightened, the digital motor would continue tightening the gag for the minute and thirty seconds, leaving the prison guard will little to do but watch a skull explode.

Reaching back behind her head, Katya felt for the keypad and started manually tightening the device and started entering the Master Unlock Code.

Code:

1 , 1 , 2 , 3 , 5 , 8 , 1, 3

Dropping her hands to her sides, the crazy computer chick braced herself for a world of pain. Tighter and tighter the gag got as it applied more and more pressure on her jaw. Ten seconds in, the situation, which was uncomfortable to start with became painful as the first of Katya's teeth cracked under the ever increasing pressure produced by the STFU N3W8.

CRACK!

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!" Katya started screaming in pain as her jaw cracked, unable to withstand the forces generated by the ever tightening gag around her head. If anyone thought that the sound of bones being broken was disgusting, they simply needed to look at the jawbone jutting out of Katya's cheek to realize that some messed up stuff was going down. The Rising Dawn's Queen of Mean's jaw wasn't the only thing suffering under the constant pressure being applied by the STFU N3W8, as it tried to crack her head open like an egg. Micro-fractures caused by the extreme stressed had started to form on the back side of the ailing young woman's skull. Sensing the massive trauma that had already been inflicted on their host's body, BEWP's nano-agents began deploying inside Katya's skull, mending and reinforcing the fractures that had suddenly appeared, "HAAAAAAAAA!! HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!"

"WHAT IN THE HELL IS... OH SHIT" The Poorly Copy C-3PO started to say as he entered the room, only to realize what was going on. Rushing to the control panel mounted on the back of the prisoner's head, the Robo-Lame Brain attempted to disable the STFU N3W8 before it caused the prisoner's skull to explode like a volcano.

SNAP!

The rivets that had been connecting the polymer ball to the steel cable snapped into tiny bits as stress load became too great. The steel cable, suddenly free of its anchor point whipped around the Healing Heroine's head and bit into the neck flesh of the Cyborg Guard, causing him to back up.

"HUUUUUUUUUUCK!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! OOOOOOD DAMMIT THAT FUCKING HURT!!!" Katya's screams echoed in the room as her body started to put itself back together. Pausing her pain fueled tirade for a moment, the Previously Pain Prisoner began breathing deeply and rapidly through her nose to avoid inhaling the hose of blood coming out of her larger than normal face hole, "Phew... glad to get that thing off."

Opening and closing her mouth, Katya tested her freshly healed jaw to ensure that there would be no lasting effects from her little stunt. Satisfied that her jaw was in working order the Sole Member of the Rising Dawn's A/V club turned to face the slightly confused Cyborg. It was time for a functional test.

"Hey, Mister Cyclon Reject, sorry you and your pals never got an invite for the Cyborg Movie casting call... it's just as well since you look like someone designed you to look like a anthropomorphised pocket pussy. I understand you're grumpy, cause youz a *****, but why don't you go take a break, pull the victim of human trafficking that you've dressed up like Jinx out of the box labelled Spurt Locker, and you and your pal go get in on some double team action... just remember to have her lube up the broomsticks before she plunges them deep into your rectum... otherwise it'll leave splinters. You know, I actually feel sorry for you guys! I mean, heaven forbid whoever runs this shit hole actually have invested some money into making you loyal and satisfied employees but nooooooooo... I bet if you tried to have sex, your shoddily built cocks would rust and fall off. You know what that sounds like? Sounds like you've got an STD." Katya said with a happy little grin. Wheeling away from the guard before he could have a chance to break her jaw for the second time that day, the Lady of L337 entered the next room where she saw David West and Bison stripping down.

"JESUS, BISON, NO WONDER YOU'RE TRYING TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD. WHO'D HAVE THOUGHT THAT IF YOU STOOD NEXT TO DAVID, MISTER BEST EXCUSE FOR LATE TERM ABORTIONS EVER, YOU'D MAKE HIS TWO INCH DICK LOOK LIKE PETER NORTH'S! WHO'D HAVE THOUGHT THAT THE DERRINGER BETWEEN HIS LEGS WOULD MAKE YOU LOOK TINY!" Katya exclaimed loudly and for all to hear. Ignoring her, David bent over to pick up his prison issued orange pants.

"HEY DAVID! I KNOW YOU'RE HARD UP FOR A DATE, [small]with someone who doesn't have a brother that could murder you[/small] BUT REALLY, DROPPING THE SOAP IS NOT THE FOUNDATION OF A HEALTHY RELATIONSHIP!" Katya called after the Irish Douche and Colonel Cumstain as they were ushered out of the room.

"Take off your clothes." The Tin Can cybernetic Female voice said with a tone of bored annoyance from behind the Smug Sex Obsessed Side Scrolling Game Player. Looking behind her, the Young Woman was horrified to see that the voice did belong to a woman who'd long ago given up on caring for a body and opted for the Cyborg Health Plan. Gesturing towards a stall, the Body Cavity Checking Robo-Creep eyed the girl and waited.

"No fucking way, I'm not down with that shit. This is an abuse of your powers, you Poorly Ported Imitation of a Stepford wife." The Irate Internet Junky countered as she spat a huge ass blood loogey in the Fake Ass Borg Queen's face.

"Take them off or I'll rip them off," The woman continued.

"FUCK YOU! YOU AIN'T TOUCHING SHIT! DO YOU KNOW HOW EXPENSIVE THESE CLOTHES ARE? THEY'RE LIKE 50 OF YOUR PAYCHECKS!"

"Take them off or I'll burn them off," The Cybernetic Female Guard said as the knuckle plates on her fist retracting to reveal a concealed flame thrower. This caused Katya a moment of pause as she considered her options. Not only would having her clothes burned off be a rather expensive way to tell authority to fuck off but it would hurt like hell. Grumbling to herself, Katya started to pull off her shirt and pants before starting to pull on the prison issued uniforms.

"Bra and panties."

"Fuck... you..." Katya cursed slowly as she unsnapped her bra and pulled off her panties, "There... am I okay now?"

"No, the censor bars too." came the rather ridiculous sounding statement from the ***** with the built in flame thrower.

"What?"

"Censor bars."

Looking down at her tits and nether regions, the Fully Naked Network Penetrator realized that the ***** wasn't crazy and that there a couple of black bars hovering over the more desirable and untouched areas of Katya's body. As to the hows and whys of what was happening, it seemed that Armstrong shouldn't have trusted a company that claimed to be able to generate a device that would be able to universally suppress technology from properly functioning. Given the sheer number of programming languages and programming styles, it was as impossible a feat as getting Ryan to admit that he was the Ring Master of a Harem Circus and anyone who claimed to be able to pull something like that off was either lying or fucking stupid.

"How about you come take these 'censor bars' off yourself. I'm tired of listening to your stupid bitchy ass." The Hacker said as she turned around to grab the standard issue prison jumpsuit. As she did, Mecha-Nurse Ratchet made her move and grabbed the girl by the back of her neck and started dragging her down the prison corridor, stark ass naked except for a screen of nano-agents covering her personal private areas. As she was dragged, she could hear the hooting and hollering of some of the more rapey male prison inmates.

"HEY BABY! COME HERE OFTEN? No? WELL I'LL CHANGE THAT!"

"HOW? ARE YOU GOING TO INTRODUCE ME TO A VIBRATOR?!" Katya managed to reply before she was tossed into a cell, the door shutting behind her, "Fucking tin plated, spot welded, made in Taiwan pieces of shit..."

"Benedict... it appears that we've received another cellmate." A French accented voice said from the darker portions of the room.

"Indeed, Twit." A male voice responded to its companion before addressing their new bunkmate, "Tell me, child, what brings you to this prison? What sins have you you committed to get you locked up in this hole?"

Looking at the two seated atop the bunk at the rear of the cell, Katya could see a Middle Aged man and a Younger Woman staring at her. The woman appeared to be short but well muscled, with green eyes and blonde hair cut like a pixie. The man, brown haired with a bit of white showing in his bangs, looked at the Rising Dawn's Resident Hacker Heroine and smiled in a rather friendly manner. He had an air about him, an air that Katya typically associated with pedophiles or Priests. Whichever one he was, Katya wasn't buying.

"Look, Pedobear and Twat. I'm just here to rest for a bit before I break out. Keep your hands off my shit and we'll get along fine, alright?" Katya said as she climbed into one of the bunks, not even bothering to put on the uniform that had been provided... though she was too old for the Priestly Pedo, she wouldn't have minded a quick tussle with the French chick.

[hr]

[hr]

"[color=356D60]...If you do mean Tear-ri, which I'm guessing you do - we're almost always with each other most of the time, she's...Something bad happened. A guy jumped us, and he was really fast - and I'm fast too, but he was faster. He took me down, and when I woke up, Alpha Rugal had shown up with some people and Tear-ri was gone. I dunno what they wanted, but...[/color]" The wolf gave a sad whine, before his head laid against the bed again, "[color=356D60]I need to get better fast so I can go help with the search.[/color]"

Rory's lips curves upwards into a smile at the last words that passed through Garm's mouth. The wolf had the spirit of a warrior who, inspite of injury, was resolutely determined to rescue his comrades from danger. Running her hand through his soft fur, the Demi-Goddess of Death opened her mouth to reassure him that he need not worry, that she was more than willing to go in his place, though, it was unlikely that he would be denied his chance to rescue his mistress. None of this could be said, however as the conversation was suddenly interrupted by the untimely arrival of a new face.

"Your Teri's wolf aren't you? I Know your in pain, I can help you, but you have you swallow a potion, then not scratch the itch." A woman said, her words rather strange given the seriousness of the wounds that the Winter Wolf had suffered on the field of battle. Standing silently amidst the chaos of the medical ward, Rory noted an undertone of annoyance in her thoughts. She had wanted to ask more questions relating to the possible location of the Ship's Medical Officer but the intervention of the potion brewer, who had ignored the fact that the two were in the middle of a conversation, meant that the War Goddess would have to wait, knowing that there was the possibility that one of the crew would die if a rescue mission was not mounted soon. Of course, the Demi-Goddess of Death couldn't begrudge the Winter Wolf some medical attention given the severity of his wounds.

Watching closely, Rory noticed the ritualistic manner in which the woman dispensed the potion to her patient. She was nervous, treating the Intelligent Winter Wolf as if he was some mindless and undisciplined animal, and kept toying with her clothing. Perhaps she needed a shower or a change of clothing given the fact that she was covered a strange black ooze.

"Do you feel better?" The Witch asked before walking off without waiting for a response. Ignoring the strange woman's strange behavior, Rory turned her attention back to Garm, who appears more comfortable. The wounds had been sealed, leaving bright pink skin where the gashes had been.

"Little pup. If I take you with me, can you show me where they took her? Can you track her down?" Rory asked, keenly aware of the Winter Wolf's sensitive nose, "If you have the-"

*CRASH!!*

The sound of a bed being destroyed drew the Young Looking Demi-Goddess' attention and her ire. A creature, who's intellect was clearly not on the same level as the Winter Wolf laying in the bed next to Rory, had chased off one of the medical staff and destroyed a piece of equipment. More importantly, he was creating an unnecessary amount of stress amongst the patients, some of whom were dying. As a Disciple of Emloy, Rory was not concerned some of the patients were dying, what concerned her was their comfort prior to death. These were soldiers that were in the Medical Ward and they deserved some sort of respect.

Walking over to the group that included the beast, the witch and a scared little boy, Rory caught their attention and hissed a question quietly to them.

"[small]What is the meaning of your stupid behavior? Have you no notion of where you are? Do you not realize that there are more injuried arriving from the battlefield, some of whom might have needed the bed that you just destroyed?[/small]" The Demi Goddess of Death spoke angrily as if she was chastising a trio of children, which they were compared to her. "[small]If you cause another scene, I will be forced to throw you out of the Medical Bay. These soldiers deserve more respect than you are giving them.[/small]"

That being said, the Demi Goddess of Death turned quickly to walk back to Garm.

*CLUNK!!*

The Halberd that had been carried over her shoulders impacted against something... or someone. Turning to look, the Crimson and Black Clad Berserker noticed that the man who'd taken it upon himself to execute prisoners of war (Kazuya) had been hit with the flat of Rory's weapon, rendering him unconscious. Shrugging, the Demi Goddess returned to the Winter Wolf's side, awaiting a response from the creature.

[hr]

[hr]

As the two Selmy sisters wandered through the Brig, Ruby kept a safe distance close to them. Having heard many a story regarding the types of criminals and villains that would be kept here in order to maintain the safety of the public and the world, the black and white haired Nine-Year old girl was surprised, and slightly disappointed, to find so few that had been captured. This was not to say that the current assortment of villains was anything to fear, since one of them, the brains of the operation given the look of him, had gotten his head stuck in the cell bars.

"Given enough force I'm sure we can get your head back through." Saren said with wide mouthed grin as she started kicking at the man's head, the thud of the man's skull echoing through the nearly empty brig. It was no wonder why there was only one guard, then again, if Saren had managed to break into the brig without much effort, it stood to reason that it was relatively easy to escape.

"Ah, well. I feel obligated to let you know that Saren's behavior is not generally socially acceptable. Laeta said reassuringly as placed a hand gently on Ruby's shoulder. The Pink Dressed girl simply nodded as she stiffled a giggle at the strange noises the man with the overgrown head made as Saren's foot struck again.

"Must I remind you again the point of your visit to the Rising Dawn?" Losko said with a voice saturated with an almost eldritch sort of disdain. "Your elder sister, Lola, is currently awaiting your arrival."

"(But she isn't)," the second youngest in the group thought to herself as she remembered seeing Dolly getting ready to participate in the last mission.

"Losko," Laeta pouted, before patting Ruby on the head, "ou mustn't keep harping on that so! Lola might not seem like it on paper, but she's a really really tough girl. I'm absolutely, one-hundred percent sure that nothing bad will come from us being a little bit late. And we even found Ruby to boot. I think that Lola would be happier for our little frolic."

"Gah! Saren screamed as she started slamming her heel into the man's forehead, which had quite a few bumps and bruises at this point, "What the hell!? Did your damn head get swollen from all the activity!? It won't fucking budge!"

"Be that as it may, you two are currently intruding on the two children's bonding time. Losko motioned to Ruby and Farber.

What did Losko mean by that? What did he mean by bonding time and why did Ruby not particularly care for the phrase? If by bonding time, Losko meant torturing the prisoners of the Rising Dawn, then the Innocent Nine Year old Girl didn't quite care for bonding. Of course, it wasn't like Farber was going anywhere and it had been quite some time since Ruby had seen Laeta and Saren. To top it all off, Ruby was rather curious as to whether or not Miss Dolly made it back okay. There was a strange feel to the air, a sensation that Ruby couldn't quite place.

Walking over to where Farber stood, Ruby motioned for the Ish to step away from the cage that held Saren's victim. Once again channeling her energies into her ribbons, Ruby bent the bars of the cell slightly, enough for the bruised, battered and more than likely concussed prisoner to draw his head back through, but not enough that he could fit his entire body through.

"Farber... maybe we should go back to the Canteen. Mister Eddie isn't going to be happy that we left and he definitely won't be giving us any pastries if he finds out that we left." The Young Girl reasoned with her friend as she bent the bars back in place. Pausing for a moment, she listened to the air intently, hearing the sounds of Rising Dawn Transports docking with their mothership, "From the sound of things, I think everyone's coming back and I want to make sure that Miss Dolly is okay."

Without waiting for a response from Farber, Ruby turned and followed the two Selmy Sisters, calling out a perfunctory "Wait for me!"

Truth be told, Ruby was slightly mad at Farber for sneaking off into the Brig. The young child was sure that she bore some responsibility for telling him what was on the other side but for him to sneak into a place where he wasn't supposed to be, things could have gone so much worse for him if there were stronger and more dangerous villains and criminals being housed at the time. This also didn't take into account what would happen if the guards found out that Ruby and Farber had sneaked into the Airborne prison when no one was looking.

"(Behaving is hard work...)" Ruby thought to herself as she entered the corridor once again, trailing Laeta and Saren closely, "Saren, Laeta? Why do you keep calling Dolly, Lola? Didn't she ask you to call her Dolores also?" The girl asked politely as she followed the two, adding with a smile"I like Dolly better than Lola... it makes Dolly more huggable."

Neuromancer · Jul 4, 2016

Texas Joker 52 said:
This guy here helped write half of it!

Denver, Colorado - Brakland's Pastry Cafe
[color=5B9C64]Eddie the Dead[/color] | Professional Athlete | Wets the Bed | Bad Business Practices | [color=eca222]Lays Traps for Troubadours[/color]

From Eddie's perspective, this was like being a cop and crashing into a high school party full of drunk, horny, possibly stoned teenagers, and watching them, in all their drunk horny stoned splendor, yell in unison "FUCK THA POLICE" with the confidence of guys that had already been to jail before but were in reality a bunch of drunk spoiled brats taking advantage of their parents being away.

And he was almost impressed, Eddie was. It took a large amount of balls or stupidity to yell like that to a guy that killed gods for a living. A guy that had a reputation to uphold, and found any conceivable loophole to abuse in order for him to not, gods forbid, sound like he was being, gods forbid, charitable to a mortal. Charity hurts business when you're in Eddie's particular trade, and gods are nothing more but greedy, whiny, entitled little shits that think they have all the power. Much like people calling customer service, now that Eddie thought of it.

And Nina would probably make a great goddess. With her tirade done, she expeditiously retreated to the bathroom, leaving Wrath and Eddie to stare.

There was a moment of silence, but soon enough Eddie started chuckling. That chuckling turned to giggling, and that giggling turned to loud laughter. And that loud laughter went on for a while, until Eddie hammered his hand onto the table, and from the force turned it into sawdust. At the moment that his hand reached the table, a dud missile landed not too far outside of the cafe, shooting up dust and shattering the windows of the establishment.

[color=5B9C64]"Now lemme ask ya a question, here, Wrath,"[/color] Eddie said, his voice filled with an edge of annoyance, [color=5B9C64]"You know my situation, the cosmic headache that is having to keep up appearances so that stupid, conniving, poor excuses of gods don't come 'round asking for favors. Wasn't I being reasonable right now? Generous, even?"[/color]

The massive Vice folded her arms over her chest as she frowned in the direction that Nina had stomped off in.

"Yea, but here's the problem: She's a mortal." Wrath told him, "And mortals are stupid, arrogant, and don't seem to understand what the fuck being a demigod or deity actually means in regards to the fact that we can crush them whenever we fucking please."

She gave him a sidelong glance with her remaining good eye.

"Then again, you were a mortal yourself before. Would you have reacted all that different? I mean, really?" she asked quietly.

He returned the glance with a raised eyebrow. How long had it been since then? Time is a difficult concept for one outside of it. Long enough that he had forgotten, recent enough that he remembered. How would he have acted? An easy enough question to answer, one would think. He knew himself, after all. And yet, he couldn't find an answer. Or rather, found too many answers.

[color=5B9C64]"Wanna be frank? I dunno."[/color] he got up from his seat, cracked his fingers, [color=5B9C64]"Part o' me feels I wouldn't give much of a fuck and have at it. 'Iron horse, born to lose', kinda thing. But part'a me... complies? Does something different?"[/color] He scratched his nape annoyed, why was such a questiong giving him so much trouble?

[color=5B9C64]"Feh, whatever. It's not like I get off fucking with mortals. Had things gone my way I wouldn't even be in this shit 'verse. But since things nowadays rarely do go my way, all I can do is react in a manner that doesn't end up fucking things up on a bigger scale."[/color] he shrugged, [color=5B9C64]"So fuck 'er if she doesn't like it. Things hardly ever go how ya want 'em, anyway."[/color]

Wrath grunted in agreement.

"Tell me about it. Right now I'd be pummeling these stupid fuckers into crushed metal and meat, but noooo, I have to behave and not make any goddamned waves. Fucking Sloth." she grumbled, before she sighed and turned to Eddie, placing her hands on her hips.

"So, what're you gonna do about those brats you mentioned? I mean, you're stuck with one of them, but you could always kill the other if you want. Or I could do it for you, but killing kids isn't exactly what I consider fun and exciting. Not a lot of fight in 'em." she said.

Eddie sighed.

[color=5B9C64]"That imp's gonna get what's coming to it if he decides to screw with me, I promise that much. A li'l discipline training never hurt nobody, and if he still doesn't comply..."[/color] a lopsided grin formed, [color=5B9C64]"Well, there's always the airlock."[/color] The truth of the matter was a lot more complex than that, of course. If Ruby liked Farber, Eddie throwing him out of a window wouldn't earn him much in the way of affection and compliance. But again, he had to keep up appearances.

At that point the owner threw a shout and notified the two that the delivery was ready. [color=5B9C64]"That was quick. Guess money really does make the world go 'round, eh? And you can tell Greed I said that."[/color]

He went to receive the order. [color=5B9C64]"Colour me impressed."[/color] Enough sweets to last a month, and of decent enough quality at that. [color=5B9C64]"Have a little extra for the quick delivery."[/color] and casually layed another half a million on the counter. With a snap of his fingers, a canopy torn from the impact glided into the cafe, and upon it Eddie lay all the boxes of sweets he had received. Then, after casting a little luck magic to make sure nothing'd get spoiled, crushed or become otherwise uneatable, he grabbed it like a large bag and heaved on his back like a burglar with a large load. [color=5B9C64]"Guess that's done,"[/color] he said, [color=5B9C64]"Now to get back on the Yawn."[/color] He took a look at the rocket, then back at Wrath, and grinned. [color=5B9C64]"I've got an idea."[/color]

Glancing at the very same rocket, her eye met Eddie's and she slowly grinned.

"Oh yea? Well don't leave me in suspense." she drawled.

Beckoning her to follow him, Eddie moved outside and stared at the sky. [color=5B9C64]"I'm sure that with your godlike eyesight you can see an airship up there. That's the Rising Dawn, and I need to get up there. Normally that would mean having to find one of its members, get them to call in air support, and get back up there like that. And I ain't got the time nor the patience for that."[/color]

He tapped on the missile, [color=5B9C64]"Luckily enough, this landed right here. Large enough that a guy could possibly ride up if they knew what they are doing." [/color]He did a notion of the missile flying away, [color=5B9C64]"Unfortunately, the missile's spent and can't get up there, unless someone with sufficient strength could, I dunno, throw it at the Dawn."[/color] he pointed at Wrath, [color=5B9C64]"That's where you come in. I'll get on the missile and you'll throw it up at the Dawn with the grace of an Olympic Gold Medalist. Whadda ya think?"[/color]

Listening to Eddie's explanation of his plan to get onto The Rising Dawn, the Amazonian Embodiment of Fury merely rolled her shoulders and took the time to crack her knuckles while she was at it.

"I think that if you told Sloth your plan, he'd just suggest taking you to our realm with a portal, then taking you to the Dawn through another." she started.

Bending down, she worked her hands underneath the missile with surprising care: After all, she didn't want to get herself killed by detonating it before she could even get Eddie to where he was going. If it detonated then... Well, it would just make his entrance all the more explosive.

"Of course,", she continued, "Sloth is a boring ************ with no imagination, and I like your idea much, much better."

Hefting the missile with only a little difficulty due to it's bulk, she glanced over at Eddie with a smirk, "Hop on, Rocket Man."

With a grin over the first thing today going his way, Eddie jumped on the rocket, balancing himself near its tip. As he was about to give Wrath the all-clear, though, he noticed that Nina had made her way out of the bathroom, something that he could've noticed sooner had he not been tunnel-visioning on his exit. [color=5B9C64]"Ooooh, Nina~!"[/color] he yelled at her, [color=5B9C64]"Don't forget to pack up! You have 23 hours and 45 minutes! Spend that time wisely. And don't get caught with that in your bag! Busting you out of jail for beastiality'll cost you extra!"[/color]

[color=5B9C64]"Now, Wrath, if you would..."[/color] he placed a hand on his hat, [color=5B9C64]"Fire away!"[/color]

"LAUNCHING!" she roared as she reared back the missile.

With an almighty grunt, she threw it with enough force to have it soar through the air on a clear trajectory to impact The Rising Dawn. She had no doubt that it would make it: Eddie's luck would make sure of that. The question was, where it was going to hit.

Eddie rode the missile like a veteran surfer rides a huge wave, maintaining his balance on the tip as it neared the airship. Wrath had thrown the missile with enough strength to hit the Dawn and deal significant damage to it, but Eddie was feeling generous, not to mention that, given his luck today, the missile might hit the canteen and squash his ward.

So instead of letting it hit, Eddie jumped off from its tip, the force of the jump killing the missile's momentum, and gravity did the rest.

As for Eddie, his jump gave him enough force to propel him onwards with speed, flying towards the Dawn. In a stroke of luck and contrivance, his current trajectory sent him through the same window he had smashed to get down, and he landed within, powersliding through the room towards the door. Pleased with himself, he got up and made his way to the canteen.

[color=5B9C64]The fuck?![/color]

Wherein a nasty surprise awaited him. He looked and looked, surveying the room once, twice, a dozen times, and by then the reality of the situation had kicked in.

[color=5B9C64]They... are not here.[/color]

Lips and left eyebrow twitching, Eddie walked in the canteen, barely holding back from batting the sweets onto a wall, waste be damned.

[color=5B9C64]The little fucks aren't here.[/color]

All the trouble he'd gone through, for nothing. He made his way to the bar.

[color=5B9C64]I'll stomp that pigheaded imp's brains out![/color]

He was a little pissed at the whole thing. So much so in fact that he completely ignored the existence of everyone else in the room. He sit down at the edge of the bar, away from everyone else, and slouched on it, laying the bag of sweets next to him.

[color=5B9C64]I'll make kebab out of his tail and meld his teeth into a toothpick![/color]

All he could do right now was keep himself from crashing this flying piece of misery to the ground. What an absolute shit day. He hadn't had a day this bad since that time he had to work for Pride. Which was, as a matter of fact, another thing his patron had tasked him to do. And with that thought in his mind, his anger shifted from the kids to the big boss herself, and since there was nothing he could do against the boss, his rage shifted back to venting through mindless, bloody violence. And he was close, oh so very close to indulging himself.

[color=5B9C64]"OI BARTENDER!"[/color]

But instead he was going to do the responsible and adult thing and get hammered.

[color=5B9C64]"A DOZEN OF YOUR STRONGEST DRINK!"[/color]

He bellowed without really looking at what Lucy was doing. He didn't care either. All he cared about was to drink. A drink, a drink and a drink. He lay his head on his arms and lay on the bar.

What an absolute travesty of a day.

Texas Joker 52 · Jul 4, 2016

[hr]

[hr]

Immediately after his little announcement, the prisoner with the massive head seemed to pause before crying out in shock. Apparently, the fact that there was a jailbreak was news to them. Farber wasn't sure if that said more about how good at escaping their former inmate was, or just how bad the security was.

The little man clutched at the bars of his cell and managed to force his head through the gap, a feat that even the Young Ish was pretty impressed by, all the while yelling about someone named Deadshot. Whoever this Deadshot was, Farber thought, they had a cool name at the very least, even if they used that stupid pillow trick when they broke out.

There was a moment after he tried to look into Deadshot's cell when Big Head realized his mistake. With a look of embarrassment, he started to try and pull his head back in. All the while, Farber couldn't help but snigger. At least, for the first minute or so. By that point, the display was so sad that he frowned a little.

"Bored now." he said, turning when he saw Ruby and two new girls strode in.

He watched, tail swishing behind him, as one of the two newcomers proceeded to try and kick Big Head's, well, head, back into the cell. While the little Ish felt himself wince with every kick, it seemed to work with Ruby's help, with the little man falling back into his cell face-first.

"[color=b4b4]..........if any of you have cameras or any other device with audio or visual recording features: Please don't use them now.[/color]"

"I have no idea what you're talking about, but don't worry, I promise not to tell anyone about this." he said with an angelic smile, which took an edge after a moment, "Unless it's really, really funny."

Turning to Ruby when she motioned for him to move away from the bars, he shrugged and did so.

"Farber... maybe we should go back to the Canteen. Mister Eddie isn't going to be happy that we left and he definitely won't be giving us any pastries if he finds out that we left."

His stomach growled at the prospect of pastries, and he realized that he had not only completely forgotten about that deal he made with that creepy-looking man, his upset stomach was largely gone now. All of which meant that he was no longer interested in the Brig, and instead wanted to make sure he was back in the Canteen before Eddie got back himself.

"Well, if I have to choose between a boring dungeon and sweets, then I'll take the sweets!" he said, rushing off to follow Ruby and the two others.

By the time he caught up, he looked up at them and gave them a small smile. "So, who are you two? I'm Farber." the young Ish told them.

[hr]

[hr]

Wrath watched with a wide grin as the missile carrying Eddie to the Dawn faded quickly into the distance, and she wondered whether or not it'd do some damage to the airship. Considering that she threw that fucker as hard as she could, she figured the question wasn't really, "Would it do damage?" as opposed to, "How much damage will it cause?", which was perfectly fine with her.

Which left one last order of business, she thought as she turned to the table that Sloth was still sleeping at. He had gathered a small crowd of Cyborgs, all of which were trying to figure out the best way of moving him. Making her way over, she did what came naturally to her: She shoved them aside and lifted him one-handed by the collar of his robes.

"Outta my way, assholes. I need this lazy little shit for a moment." she growled, lifting him up so that their faces were level.

With a wicked smirk, she reached up with her other hand and promptly stuck one finger into her mouth. Once it was wet, she simply stuck it in Sloth's ear and twisted.

"Wake the fuck up, Sloth. It's about time we got the hell outta this shithole, the party's over and my job is done." she told him as he flailed himself awake and feebly pushed against her arm.

"Guh! Wrath?! What're you--Quit it! Lemme go!" he cried.

"Sure." she said as she dropped him unceremoniously into a heap.

The result was a small crater in the floor underneath the Embodiment of Laziness. He looked up at her with drowsy irritation and reached up with one hand to rub at his violated ear.

"I was napping, what's wrong with you?"

Wrath merely crossed her arms and huffed, replying, "I know you were, fuckhead, that's why I woke you up. Make a portal so we can go home."

He eyed her for a moment before he said, "And you can't do that yourself? You could have just left me there, and I would've been fine."

She nodded. "Oh, sure. But this was more fun. You should've seen the look on your face!" Wrath told him with a chuckle.

Knowing there wasn't much point to arguing any further, Sloth grumbled and pushed himself to his feet. Without even bothering to brush off the dust and dirt from being dropped a moment ago, he lifted his hands so that they were outstretched and closed his eyes. His hands slowly moved, tracing a vaguely circular shape in front of him.

Just a few feet away, what looked like a pair of rips in the air seemed to form with dark, shifting colors behind them, following his hands as they moved. When he was finished, the result was a portal to some odd void, shaped like a very lopsided circle with ragged edges.

When Sloth opened his eyes, he immediately grimaced at the sight of his handiwork. He had expected it to be a little more smooth, but he shrugged it off. It was big enough for them to fit, so it would have to do.

"Smooth. Real smooth, Sloth." Wrath said mockingly, before looking back at where Nina had poked her head out and she yelled, "Hey, Runt! You comin'? We're heading back home, and Sloth'll drop you off at the Yawn, Dawn, whatever the fuck it's called. Hurry the fuck up!"

bluerocker · Jul 5, 2016

[hr]

Avatar Adventures | The Airship: Rising Dawn | Hanger
Ignorance is bliss
Angelus | Cadolbolg | [color=15650D]Ton Ton[/color]

[hr]

After Rugal left to go find Doctor Violet, Angelus found herself alone in the Hangar, thoughts of what became of her pact partner clouding her mind. At least, it would have remained that way if she wasn't divebombed by a familiar pair.

"Mother!"
[color=15650D]"Ms. Angelus!"[/color]

The great red dragon chuckled in spite of herself, a deep and rumbling sound that rippled through her flesh and vibrated the children's perch (her nose). Cadolbolg rubbed his much smaller snout against the red dragon's, his tail wagging as he asked cheerfully, "I did just as Father said, and grabbed Ton Ton as fast as possible~! I did good right?"

Ton Ton, on the other hand, was scanning the hangar with a curious expression, his yellow eyes turning back to Angelus as he asked, [color=15650D]"Speaking of... where is Mr. Caim?"[/color]

Angelus found herself drawing pause at the query, as she was never really one to lie to her little ones. If anything, she would engage in small mostly-truths, such as "Mother and Father need some alone time" when they needed the room to themselves, or calling the occasional fights herself and her pact partner had as "disagreements". It was simply a "nicer" way to tell the truth. This matter? There wasn't really a "nice" way to put it; after all, how does one say "Your father's been captured" in a kind way? Guilt tugged at the dragoness' heart as she slowly began to address the elephant in the room, albeit in a roundabout manner, "Yes Cadolbolg, you did very good; just as you were instructed. As for Caim... Your father, he will not be joining us immediately. Rather, we shall meet up with again at a later time. For now, we need to rest. It has been a long day for all of us. Now, shouldn't you two be getting something to eat?"
"But what about you, Mother?"
"Me? I.. I am not feeling particularly hungry; and until your father returns, I shall be bound here. If something should come of it - I will simply call one of the AIs and make a request. Now, run along you two."

Angelus waited quietly for the Cutie Bruisers to detach themselves from her snout, Ton Ton sitting atop Cadolbolg as a perch as the young turtle-dragon baby began liftoff. The red dragon's eyes met with the Tonberry's for a moment, and she could see that the elder of the two Cutie Bruisers was giving her a pointed look, akin to when a guard suspects that a priest wearing a scabbard isn't a real priest.. Ah, so he had noticed something was strange. Rather than letting the Tonberry voice his suspicion aloud, Angelus decided to nip the question in the bud with a quick 'message' to the elder child, "Keep Cadolbolg occupied. If you must know all of the details, I will discuss it with you later. Until then, mind your brother. Please, that is all I ask of you for tonight."

That seemed to be enough for Ton Ton, his gaze holding with the dragon's before his attention turned back to Cadolbolg. Patting his brother on the head, the Tonberry gently exalted his companion, [color=15650D]"Yeah, let's hurry up, Cadolbolg. If we're fast enough, maybe we can get that nice bartender man to make us milkshakes!"[/color]
"Ooooh, I love milkshakes! Hold on tight, Ton Ton~!"

And with a zip, the two were gone, leaving the great red dragon alone in her thoughts once more.
[hr]

[hr]

"I guesss I was assking about the captain, but I do not know much about ssailing, in any case. Can you ... maybe jusst show me around? Maybe explain to me what an 'AI' is? A 'Mister'? Iss there no clear leader? I am ssorry ... I do not know much about thiss world. Maybe you can lead me to ssomeone who hass time to sshow me?"

Luke paused for a moment to think over Anjali's request and he began to mentally tick off a number of Dawn members who wouldn't be good guides for new members. Unfortunately, this train of thought was halted with the cry of [color=5B9C64]"OI BARTENDER!"[/color]

With a sigh, the blonde bartender gave the undead woman an apologetic smile and held up a finger, [color=eca222]"Let me think on that while I fill out his order-"[/color]
[color=5B9C64]"A DOZEN OF YOUR STRONGEST DRINK!"[/color]

The bartender paused at that request, his mind turning at the thought. What exactly *did* constitute as the "strongest drink" at his bar anyways? That query could be answered a number of ways, be it mixed, straight, or otherwise. Giving a glance at his patron, Luke stopped himself from grimacing - it was one of the potential trouble makers (that is to say, those on his "level", such as the Vices, or the confounding woman with the magic book) that was threatening to give him a headache. With a flick of his wrists, the bartender began to place a series of twelve glasses in assorted sizes; in each he poured a selection of concoctions of shots, mixers, and highballs.

As the bartender prepared this large drink order, a creature with shimmering scales that resembled some sort of hybrid of turtle and dragon fluttered in on a pair of feathery wings. On it's back, it carried another creature with green skin and beady yellow eyes. It was clad in a simple brown robe, and had a little yellow star floating over its head. The duo landed at the bar, the green one stepping off from his mount and giving a little wave of a fingerless hand, [color=15650D]"Hello there, miss. Have you seen the bartender? My friend and I want some milkshakes, and while the imps are very good at what they do... Oh! Where are my manners - I'm Ton Ton by the way, and this is my friend Cadolbolg. [small]Cadolbolg, introduce yourself, it's only polite.[/small]"[/color]
At the green creature's urging, the little turtle dragon looked up, and waved a foreclaw, "Hallo~! I'm Cadolbolg, and uh... Well I guess you knew that already. I'm just kinda hungry, cause we just beat up some bad guys and stuff. What's your name, lady?"

The green creature spoke in a voice that sounded akin to a young boy's[footnote]At least, I imagine Ton Ton sounding like Emil from Nier, as seen in this clip [https://youtu.be/dQdVcziW4Og?t=1m4s][/footnote], and his companion sounded even younger than that.

Back with the bartender in question, Luke finished off the selection of shooters with a shot of Fireball as the last chaser. It wasn't the most alcoholic of drinks, but the bartender had heard more than enough horror stories from mortals about the stuff giving horrid hangovers. When he finished, and delivered the last drink to the undead man at the end of the bar he returned to find two more patrons, much younger and already chatting up Anjali. Ah, it seemed patience was a virtue after all. Cadolbolg was the first to speak, his tail wagging with excitement as he cried out, "We'd like two milkshakes, pretty pretty pleaaaaasse~!"

Check and Mate. Allowing his usual genial expression to take place, the bartender looked to the undead woman, the reptilian children, and held up one finger, [color=eca222]"Sure, that's easy, however, I can do you one better, if you help me out. I can make you my super special milkshakes, with malt, whipped cream, and even a cherry on top. On top of that, if you're feeling a little adventurous, I can add some chili blended chocolate, adds a little bite to the taste. But - all I ask in exchange is that you help our friend here,"[/color] he gestured to Anjali, [color=eca222]"By showing her around the ship. Sound fair, kids?"[/color]

Cadolbolg certainly looked excited at the prospect, looking to his green partner with his tail ever wagging, "That sounds fun! Let's do it!"
Ton Ton, on the other hand, nodded quietly, but added, [color=15650D]"Well, that *does* sound pretty nice... But what do you think about it Miss...?"[/color]

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