Diablo1099 said:
the silence said:
Avatar Adventures | Undisclosed Location | Secure Cell Block: Designation A-Class [http://marcelgonzales.de/prison01.jpg]
1 Peter 3:9 - "Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. But on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing."
ARES | Bison| Caim | David | Katya | Mio | Nadalia | Teri | Antoinette | Benedict | Sundowner | Armstrong | Bruiser
[hr]
" ... Oh. I am Mio, by the way."she stated, giving a small bow,
"Mio Kaizuko, dragon of the east, pirate extraordinaire. Choose me as your captain, and booze, bounty and booty will be plentiful! But now, fair lady," the glance Mio gave Teri was very obviously checking her out, "This is a dire situation. Do not worry, it will not take forever to rescue you - and me - from this place. But, and this should be known, ... what the fuck is going on? I was apparently under some kind of spell, then met a beautiful lady with some spiders from a 'Rising Dawn' - good name for a ship, by the way - she joined some kind of fight, I lost her out of vision but could observe dragons fighting.
I wanted to find the spider lady again, as I had promised her to help her in the quest to rescue a fair maiden, a daughter of some 'Rugal', but then people apparently just ... didn't care about environmental damage at all! Why would you waste this many cannonballs on a grassfield!
In any case, I, to my dismay, had to find cover, but was not quick enough and fell unconscious. I woke up in the truck. And now I do not know what this place is, and where to find the fair maiden - unless it is you, of course - and I do not know why I am being imprisoned, which is different from all the times before. So ... if you could explain the situation, I promise to you, I will get us out of here, and find this 'Garm'."
Teri's face flushed a light pink when Mio gave her grandiose declaration of protection, cemented with a kiss to her hand like some knight errant. When the pirate got up to start examining the cell, the young cleric mulled over what Mio had to say and perked up when it hit her, [color=0E59E4]"Hold on... 'Rugal'? Mio, that's the best thing I've heard all day!"[/color]
Springing up from her spot, Teri went over to Mio's side, now filled with a new sense of hope, if Rugal was looking for her and wasn't in the cells with them, then that could mean that the other Dawn members may not be too far behind. Maybe Garm had made it out alive too, [color=0E59E4]"Did you see a really big wolf, about the size of a horse. He has pitch black fur, and can talk? Erm... Well, as for your other questions... I think you got wrapped up in something a little bigger than just yourself."[/color]
Teri looked around, before gently dragging Mio back away from the bars of the cells, and began speaking in hushed tones, [color=0E59E4]"Okay, so here's what's going on, the man you spoke of, Rugal, he's my dad, [small]well adoptive dad, but it doesn't matter too much[/small] - anyways, a lot of people really don't like him, so the less we mention him, the better. If he's out and about, then that means we might have a chance. The rest of us who were brought here, at least the ones I saw, we're members of a group called the Rising Dawn. Why these bad guys grabbed us, I don't really know, but if I know my Dad and I know Bison, they've all been out enemies for a while. Anyways, if you met my Dad, the 'spider lady', and some dragons, then that probably means that they're looking for us now. We might have a chance out of here!"[/color]
"...[small]Teri?[/small]..."
Teri stopped her festivities with Mio the moment the Machoke choked out her name, her gaze turning to face him.
That voice. She knew that voice. She dreamed of that voice many times, heard the laughter that accompanied it, woke screaming and clawing at the covers. It was
him, Bruiser, the one who hurt her so long ago - the one who left her like
this; a wreck, a frightened child in the body of a 20 year old woman. It was him who locked her away, and left her to starve. The one who brought the pliers so awfully close that she felt the ghosts of them on her fingertips. The one who stopped at nothing for his pursuit.
Her hands fell to her sides, her eyes growing wide, her expression falling slack. There he was. Not a hallucination, proud and invincible, but a creature of the flesh - the sounds of strained breath blending with the noise of blood pumping in her ear, faster and faster with the panic that gripped in her heart. She couldn't escape this place. There was no way out that wasn't guarded, she could not access her magics, and there no way to make this
beast leave her cell.... Well, there was
one way.
She felt the seductive pull of an urge, a hunger, gnawing in her gut, the dying embers of an anger that began to swell. The Cleric felt the flames fanning within her stomach, out from her gut and into her chest, the heat coloring her face, and causing her shape to shake, the hunger whispering in her ears, [small][color=0e59e4]
"He needs to die for all he has done. For all he wishes to do. Don't let him get away."[/color][/small]
She had done it before, with a Ki powered flame, but this time.. hands would have to do. She was taught by the best, after all. She could almost imagine a hand on her shoulder, and another pointing towards the creature in front of her, it's voice firm and commanding as it explained her lesson,
"What you see before you, is your enemy. Whenever you enter a fight, you must always assume your enemy wants you dead, never underestimate them, especially when downed or in a corner. When you enter a fight, your goal is to incapacitate them, and prevent them from killing you. There is no such thing as 'fair'. Your enemy will exploit anything they see as 'weakness'. They are privileged, for you care enough to spare their lives, but do not show them anything such as 'honor' or 'chivalry'. They will kill you if you do."
The hunger stirred, calling between the the words of the command,
[color=0E59E4]
[small]"Kill."[/small][/color]
"Make them fear you."
[color=0E59E4]
[small]"Kill."[/small][/color]
"Show them the error of underestimating a woman."
[color=0E59E4]
[small]"Kill."[/small][/color]
"Show me what you've learned."
[small][color=0E59e4]"Destroy him."[/color][/small]
The Cleric shifted unconsciously into her fierce stance, the hours of rote and sweat in the training rooms making the transition natural before an encounter. In one moment she was standing still, and the next she was upon him with a punch to the creatures face. What followed was a nasty flurry of blows upon Bruiser; the awful sound of fist meeting flesh filling the air. The Cleric's face burned red from exertion and rage as Bruiser's skull bounced off the hard metal floor and against the onslaught. However, as quickly as it started, the violence stopped. The Cleric stood over her victim, one of her hands cautiously raised in case the downed Machoke tried to pull a fast one in his current state. Not that she she looked any better; hair disheveled, eyes wild and bloodshot, her form shaking with each and every panting breath. She stood there, expecting one more move from the subject of her nightmares, and instead heard, in a rasping and tiny voice,
[small]"...go on...do it...."[/small]
Plip. Plip.
Something was dripping.
It was at that moment Teri looked down, and noticed it - blood; caked on her hands, under her nails, on the shoes - was there even some on her face? Horror crossed the young woman's expression, a terrified gasp escaping her throat. It was everywhere, the source of it now begging for her to do him in. In the recesses of her mind she heard that
urge whisper again, silk-soft and alluring,
[color=0E59E4]
[small]"Finish him."[/small]
"I can't."
[small]"Destroy him."[/small]
"I won't."
[small]"Why? He's asking you too. You want this. We want this."[/small]
"I made a vow."
[small]"We'll be forgiven. Just this once."[/small]
"No."
"[small]You can make it painless. Just break his neck.[/small]"
"No."
"What are you waiting for? KILL HIM ALREADY!"[/color]
[color=0E59E4][HEADING=2]"NO!"[/HEADING][/color]
Teri practically jumped away from Bruiser, her eyes fixed on her her hands. She did this. Even if he was the one she loathed, she had attacked a man who wasn't fighting back. She almost killed him. As she backed away, the young Cleric found herself bumping into Mio, the brunette yelping in surprise like she had been burned. However, when her eyes met the pirate's, she didn't quite know what to say, aside from a tiny little, [color=0E59E4]"I - I'm so sorry..."[/color] as she slumped against her companion; her back beginning to shake with sobs.
[hr]
World Marshall Secure Location: Anomalous Materials [http://img00.deviantart.net/f187/i/2012/052/e/0/science_by_mikrob-d4qgzfi.jpg]
Arthur C. Clarke's third law - Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
ARES | Viscus | Dimitri
[hr]
The Blue Butler paced anxiously in the interior his home, watching quietly as he and Viscus were unceremoniously placed on a table while other items were examined. However, as ARES lashed out, and was subsequentially placed under the subjugation of the EM field, Dimitri's interest was piqued. He had seen the combat android several times before on the Dawn and in combat - she must have been one of theirs. Furthermore, with that dratted field turned away, that would be the perfect time to strike, if somewhat at the expense of ARES. Turning to his comrade/shaky ally/friendly enemy, Dimitri gave a solemn nod, [color=3897E0]
Code:
"Well, I believe this is as good of a time as any. I'm going out there. Should we become separated... Give them hell."
[/color]
Viscus didn't look up from his diagnostics, and bluntly answered,
Code:
[color=grey]""If we get separated, follow the trail of screams and despair. You should find me easily enough. For now, I shall merely ask you a simple request: Don't mess this up."[/color]
Dimitri was inclined to protest, as was the nature of the relationship between himself and the brutal AI, but instead deigned to borrow from the Users once more - he rolled his eyes, double checked his loadout, and jumped ship to the nearest terminal. Transference was a little difficult, the AI had noted, something akin to static or "turbulence" making his transition between devices a little slower than was the norm. However, in a short time, he had found himself in the enviorns of the enemy's terminal. The first thing Dimitri unzipped from his little selection of programs was his SCOUTER, and began to scan the area.
He found himself in a advanced, if somewhat uninteresting, workstation used by one of the lab techs.
While World Marshall had some of the most advanced technology in the United States, the station was funtionally the same as ones made by the lowest bidder.
As he unzipped himself, the AI saw a IM chat prompt was still open, most likely from before ARES's escape attempt.
Code:
>Hey, you get anything from that weird mask we got off that weirdo in C-Block?
>Got a supervisor breathing down my neck, could use an answer ASAP
He paused, looking it over and got an idea - why force his way through when he could simply "ask"? Hands on the digital interface, he replied,
Code:
[color=3897E0]>I keep forgetting the key, so I get locked out of my work. Do you remember it?[/color]
>Urg, Christ man, you're useless. V_V
>Key to the lab's Network database or Key to the internal files?
Dimitri paused again, and looked over his interface - would it be too much to ask for both? And if so, what would be a good excuse? ...What exactly was it that was used in dramas again? Something about stress and exhaustion, homelife, that sort of thing. After thinking for a moment longer, Dimitri felt himself wincing as he went for a shot in the dark,
Code:
[color=3897E0]> .......Yes. I'm sorry, I've had a lot piled on my workload, not to mention my partner's been driving me crazy at home.[/color]
>Yeah, Marriage is a lot less fun after the first few years.
>Told you that you would regret it.
>Key to the Network database: rst34w65y
>I'll get IT to reset the key to your internal files
>Now, can you tell me what the damn gimp mask does?
[color=3897E0]>Ah, thanks! How long will the reset take for key to reset for the files? I Can give you the info I got then.[/color]
>Hang on...
>Password should be cleared
>Can you access the inventory files now?
[color=3897E0]>One sec....[/color]
The Butler smiled, a quick glance at the terminal's file access allowed him to take an inventory of all of the artifacts (as well as the stolen equipment of the Rising Dawn) and zip it away for his own use later. That, and with the network key, his entrance into the rest of the base a lot easier in the long run. But first thing's first...
Code:
-User 389730 has sent Mask.txt-
[color=3897E0]>Here's the file we have on it. Happy?[/color]
>Finally.
>Thanks man.
>Sorry your husband is a *****
-User 001099 has left the channel-
Once Dimtiri had the key, he was able to access the Network Layer for this Lab. He could see every device connected to it, from Workstations to smartphones to the USB Coffee warmers. Up ahead was a blazing hot firewall with a dangerous looking AI Construct [http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/saintsrow/images/e/e0/ASP_-_player3_variant_in_the_garage.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20120904091556] in the form of a Tank parked right in front of it, rotating it's barrel slightly as it kept a look out for rogue packets.
Dimitri stopped his advance and examined the tank with a curious expression. He needed to get through the firewall to access other parts of the lab and help User: ARES, but the tank... The Blue Butler considered reaching for one of his zipped allies, but stopped himself - he couldn't risk drawing his best cards this soon. He'd have to mock up something on the fly, which should be easy, except, [color=3897E0]
Code:
"....I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing."
[/color]
The Blue Butler started to think - he messed with programming already set in a place before; it was something of a second nature to him - he was made that way after all. Perhaps creation was another step in that process, he simply had to start with something familiar, like the books in his home tablet... Books. Maybe that was it! The books weren't really "books" in the proper sense of being paper, cardboard or leather bound together with glue and strings - they were just representations of files, the shelves they sat on were folders, and the pages were the data. If data and files were books, then maybe, just maybe...
Dimitri held out one of his hands as if he were reading any other volume, and began to visualize a book in front of him, it's pages filling with strings of code detailing processes, functions, and other assorted details. As he began this process, the front and back covers of a book appearing, with pages slowly filling up the space between the covers. After another moment passed, the book closed itself, the front bearing "Program 1.exe". Not particularly creative, but it'd have to do. Dimitri looked over the book carefully and muttered, [color=3897E0]
Code:
"Now how to execute it..."
[/color]
Right after Dimitri said "execute", the book flared to life, spinning in the "air" before turning into what appeared to be a simply glowing ball of light. Not technically impressive, but for the job the Butler wanted, it would have to do. Pointing at the tank, Dimitri made a sort of swiping motion before commanding his new program, [color=3897E0]
Code:
"Get it away from the firewall!"
[/color] To his surprise, the glowing ball of light didn't seem too nonplussed by the suicide charge, and shot after the Tank, taking a sharp turn just before hitting the turret. The tank turret turned to face the lightball, and as it's treads began to move in the other direction, Dimitri bolted to the Firewall.
