They Call Us Mad. (Closed. Started)

[Sporky111]

"I think the anesthetic has worn off." Beck said, rolling his shoulder experimentally. The mods that now sat comfortably in his back weren't impeding his arm movement at all. He was sitting up on the table by now, Matt was busy cleaning up instruments on the other side of the room.

"Good, are the stitches causing you any trouble?" Matt said over his shoulder.

"No, just a little bit stiff." he pulled on his pants and walked over to the tall mirror and twisted around to see his back. There was a line of stitches on each side of his back, starting under the shoulder blade and moving in next to his spine, then back out just under his ribs forming a pair of outward-facing "C" shaped lines.

Matt turned around and walked over with cleaned scalpel, needle, and pliers in hand. "You should wait a day before turning on the elec-" Matt started, before being cut off by Beck raising a hand.

Make your way to the warehouse district on Imperial Street. The Mayor has declared martial law and called in the national guard, so be careful. - Caster out.

"Did you hear that?" Beck asked, in light of the fact that they had both gotten the large broadcast earlier while in the middle of the surgery.

"Nope, what was it?"

"It was that Caster guy again. I have to go."

"Seriously? You can't leave now." Beck ignored him and pulled his shirt over his head, groaning at the stretching in his back. "Just take it easy then, I don't need you splitting open."

Leaving their house, Beck finally saw the results of the rioting. Their area was mostly untouched, but in the distance he could see huge pillars of smoke and flickering flames. He considered the situation for a moment, then ran back into the basement and grabbed his handgun from a the locker. "It looks bad." he said simply, catching Matt's glance.

Finally, he made it out to his car. He started it up, then fished a wire out of the glove box and plugged it into the charger port, then hooked the other end to his new plug inside of his elbow. That should give some power for any issues I find.

* * *​

After a short drive, he made it into the warehouse district. He parked the car in an open parkade and then unplugged and climbed out. He locked it behind him, but he knew that it would be pretty much useless at keeping thieves out. He didn't have to walk very far before finding a group of people gathering in an alley.

The red aberration stood out immediately, and Beck could help but mumble a quick "nice work" as he approached.

 

[SeanTheSheep]

Sarah was closest to the alley, but she saw three people approaching, one getting out of a car, and two more walking at her from opposite sides, and started to panic
'Shit, I've been set up. I'm either being robbed, or arrested' she thought, starting to panic.
Just keep walking' She told herself "Let them make the first move." She muttered under her breath, less than a whisper.
She looked at the ground, and tried to see if she could find anything out about the approaching masses.
They were all modders, she could tell that much without checking.
The three of them were closing her in, shepherding her towards the alley, and she managed to find their names and a couple of details without them noticing.
"Mads Jacobs", approaching from behind, was a murderer and apparently still in prison, which didn't bode well for Sarah.
She couldn't find the last names on the other two, "Beck" who had just gotten out of the car in front of her, seemed like he was a nice person if you got to know him, but looks can be decieving, and his scarred face from all of his mods made him look terrifying.
The last one, "Chris" was an aberration, he was directly in front of her with ivory skin, jet black, messy hair, and some menacing red glow-mods in his eyes, which combined with the look on his face like he was enjoying the approach to his prey made Sarah's blood run cold.
'Who knows, maybe they're not an ambush, just people to make sure I don't turn down Caster's offer' She mused, not believing herself in the slightest.

When Sarah reached the alley's mouth, she took a deep breath, and stepped into the darkness.

Spoiler: OOC UPDATED- 26/5/10

I've taken some liberties with dramatic irony here, but it makes for interesting writing.
Just in case: For those of you who don't know what dramatic irony is [http://contemporarylit.about.com/cs/literaryterms/g/dramaticIrony.htm]
The second sentence of the definition is most prominent here.

Update: I completely forgot to say, but I'm going to be gone from Saturday morning until very early Thursday morning (GMT) Because I'm one of the staff for a school trip.

 

[SimpleChimp]

Spoiler: Those that haven't posted

I'm giving them another 24 hours before we move on and forget about them.

 

[SimpleChimp]

Spoiler: ThreeWords Post

She finally felt ready; she was still shaky, but now at least she was getting used to seeing from several angles at once, and her brain was learning to assimilate them into a single, three dimensional picture. It was weird having blind spots in her 3D sight, but she was getting used to that too. According to the doctor she would have a access-range of a hundred meters, and could see out of any kind of electronic image recording system. In her fingers were hard-wire ports; if she could connect up to a system physically, she would be able to enter it, her mind becoming a free-roaming ghost program. It would cost her bodily awareness, but she could wreak havoc in any computer network

Over the last few days, she had a few other mods done too. Now she was fast; bones replaced with honeycomb metal structures to reduce further her already low weight, muscles strengthened with artificial fibres for an extra boost and reflexes hyped up.

With a bandage over her eyes and a camera in her hand, the last part of her kit was a blind-mans stick, to tap away as if she were truly sightless. Dressed now in the pale clothes of a street waif, she looked every inch the crippled orphan wandering the streets.

Sitting in her room, she saw the secretary move quickly to the doctor and pass him a note. He spoke, and she read his lips: Caster wants her. My project!

She saw the anger in his eyes, and knew what he would do before he moved. Picking up a gun, he went quickly to her room. Ming racing; she hid herself next to the door, and waited. When it swung open, she lunged, grabbing the gun she twisted and wrenched, feeling the new muscles flex and exert their power; the doctor cried out as the gun was torn from his hands.

She didn't look at him, instead merely spoke, her back still turned. "Caster has called for me, and you'll not stop me going. I'm sad that you'd try this, though." She turned, shot him twice in the foot, then left the clinic, leaving the gun on his desk and swapping it for the note. On it was written 'Caster wants her in the warehouse district, Imperial street'. She nodded, and set off

 

[Lost In The Void]

The first needle went into his skin and Josh felt the cold liquid rush through his veins and soon, he felt the sluggish feeling of it taking effect. He felt the knife slice into the back of his head, though there was no pain and soon the doctor was fast at work adding the newest mod to his body. This was only the third time he had found himself on a doctor?s table. He felt as if mods were like a drug, they were good, they felt good, but you could get out of control with them and destroy yourself. This was going to be the last upgrade for some time, just so that he could convince himself that these weren?t necessary for his feelings of safety. He needed to prove that he could start and stop whenever he wanted. His fluorescent blue eyes, narrowed as he felt the doctor pry open the back of his skull. This is where the tinkering got difficult and he hoped he has up to the task. HE felt strange at times during the procedure, but soon, he was being sealed up again and felt the life flowing back into his head.

It happened almost immediately. He felt the presensence of another in his system and soon if was as if words appeared before his eyes, ?

 Make your way to the warehouse district on Imperial Street. The Mayor has declared martial law and called in the national guard, so be careful. - Caster out."

I
t was very interesting, he thought, throwing his coat over his shoulders. A new source of info was always a good thing.

 

[TheSentinel]

Fires burned bright all over the city, blanketing the horizon in an orange haze, which seemingly blocked the rest of the city off from the rest of the world. Sid sat on the balcony of the old abandoned apartment complex, condemned by the city, as it was a remnant from a time past. Old furniture, crumbling and moldy, paint on the walls, stained and faded. Carpets, filthy and matted. It would never stand up to codes now a days, but it served as a decent hideout. Jeremiah, an old friend of Sids, stepped out on to the balcony from the dark interior.

"Beautiful, ain't it?"

'What, the riot?'

Sids gaze remained fixed over the cityscape, which seemed to be in the process of being disintegrated by the smoke and haze.

"The anarchy."

'Jesus, your such a stereotype.'

Sid looked up at Jeremiah and chuckled.

"Sorry, sometimes I just get a little lost in it. So, what's up?"

'Just came to see how the mod went.'

"Eh, good. Arms' a little numb, but that should wear off sometime in the next week or so."

Just then, a powerful transmission overrode the signal from Sids audial radio implant.

"Make your way to the warehouse district on Imperial Street. The Mayor has declared martial law and called in the national guard, so be careful. - Caster out."

"Sorry buddy, but it looks like I'm gonna be out for a little while. Look after the place while I'm gone, 'kay?"

 

[SimpleChimp]

Spoiler: Make your way to the warehouse

I need the individuals to actually coalesce in the warehouse district before we can continue.

 

[Lost In The Void]

Josh found himself in the darkness of the Warehouse district. The national guard had been out in great force. For the most part he had been able to dodge most of the patrols, but now he saw two guards coming his way. He was a touch worried because he had no weapons on him. He wasn't that strong only weighing about 170 pounds and not quite hitting 6'. He ran over his plan again and again as they got closer. His identifying tools ran through their specs...

Mike Sepercuff
Age: 34
Occupation: Office work
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 185 lbs

Nathan Higgens
Age: 25
Occupation: Pipe Fitter
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 165lbs

The two got closer. He went for the smallest man first, shoving his hand into the nose bridge of the guard, dropping him immediately. The other rose his rifle and Josh grabbed the barrel of the gun, coursing it full of electricity until the gunpowder ignited inside the bullets. They exploded loudly ripping through the gun's magazine, making a louder noise than Josh wanted to hear. He hadn't thought that one through. The ringing and vibrations of the gun's discharge caused Josh to drop the rifle in pain as the guard laid on the ground stunned from the noise. Josh was the first to recover. He stood up and loomed over the guard. Josh rose his foot and crashed it onto the head of the guard.

He then moved the bodies to the nearest alley and moved to another area of the district. He lit a cigarette. He wanted to act like part of the scenery, the last thing he wanted to do was to attract attention.

Spoiler: My Absence

My apologies for my absenteeism. I'm in the process of moving. By the end of Saturday I should be back to normal posting speeds though I'll continue to update when I can

 

[Sporky111]

"So who are you lot?" Beck asked after standing in silence for a minute or two. The demon and the green-clad man seemed to be the ones in charge, but he didn't know about the others who had entered the alley around the same time as he did.

Of course, he could see the names of some of them but that didn't mean a thing. He knew they could easily be fakes. He preferred to ask people their names for just this reason, making assumptions is a sign of stupidity.

 

[SimpleChimp]

Spoiler: Sorry

But im not waiting for your characters to actually arrive any more. And Spork. He is in black ^_^

"We" Began Specter, " Are representatives of Caster. We are his . . . hands if you will." He slapped his Demonic partners chest, "This abomination of the human form is my good friend Chuck, but if thats to hard for him you can call him 'Animal'. You can call me Specter, Me and Animal here, are going to be your handlers. We are going to relay Caster's needs to you and make sure that you get them done. He is a great man, and he is fighting a great war for our city, for our freedom. Soon Chuck will be able to walk the streets with out the worry of being arrested and stripped of his many fine and expensive mods."

A boom was heard in the distance, every one flinched except for Caster's two agents, "The city is alive around us seething with hatred, and you all are going to be the hands that stir the pot." He reached out and grabbed the closest individual, a female who looked fresh out of surgery, cupping his right hand behind her neck. "Don't be scared . . . Sarah. I'm just accustoming myself to your chip, you see i have this neat little hack. His hand moved to Mads next, "It allows me to read your chip through any sort of blockers, and i use it as a jumping point. It maps out your mods for me, and adds you to my Heads up Display" he said tapping his black glasses with his free hand "So i can see you even through pesky black dot shields. It basically marks you as friendlies, it also lets me scramble your chips. If i wanted to i could give Sarah any name i wanted. . . say Sam for instance." He moved around the group of gathered mods and hackers accessing their chips, "Hmmmm. We are two short so i guess we will start when they finally arrive."

Chuck, who until this point remained silent, flicked his tail out to brush against Sarah's collar bone, "Hello little girl " he said in a chilly voice. " Your not going to try and rat us out are you? " His mouth widened into his predators smile, teeth tinted blue from his oral mod. His tail danced over her shoulder to flick her hair, " You know, I'm not as trusting as Specter, and i'd hate to have to harm such a pretty face "

 

[Code Monkey]

Chris didn't resist when the hand was placed on his neck, but he sure as hell didn't welcome it. Being brain probed was not a fun experience. He gritted his teeth until it was over, then gasped and started coughing. His voice box had a way of reacting to foreign mods that he was going to have to get fixed next time he was under the knife. After a few moments of dry, hacking coughing Chris recovered and cleared his throat. Wait. You work for Caster? The Caster? The one who hacked not only the Com channels for the entire city, but the individual mods as well? Chris grinned. This was perfect. I'm in. Any job you'll have me do is worth it to meet this guy.

 

[RockyH]

Johnson Grey sighed as he checked sales of his products. Coffee? Down 67%. No-one needed caffeine anyone, they could just use mods. Torches and lights? Down 85%. When you can make your hand light up like a candle, who needs a light? Johnson already knew that most ordinary business's had collapsed. And it looked like GreyGoods was next. His business had grown over the decades, had started as a family job and grown into much, much more. Johnson knew there was only one way to save his company. Start a modding business, get into all of that. Some Aspects of it must be illegal, but if he wanted to keep his job...
Two months later, and GreyGoods was still going strong. But Johnson Grey was messed up. He was addicted to modding. He was constantly searching for perfection, changing, trying to become better. Today was his biggest mod job yet. The Doctors said he was unlikely to survive. But Grey believed he would. As the needle went in, Johnson closed his eyes, and hoped...

 

[SeanTheSheep]

?Sam no longer exists, Specter; she was shot down as she ran from the scene of a crime.? She said, before she turned her head a little and smiled ?Or at least, that?s what their records think.?
"And I'm sure you would hate it" Started Sarah, before she paused, and blinked. "Charles" She said, trying to make Animal uncomfortable, and using people's real names usually worked. It had definitely worked against Sarah when Specter said hers.
"But if you knew the first thing about my past, you'd know I'm the last person who'd rat you out to the government" She said, grimacing as she said government, like it was acid in her mouth.
"Just a question though" Sarah started "Why pick me?" She asked "I got my mods a little over a day ago, and I have next to no experience in any of this."

 

[metalfetus]

Mads eyed Specter as he moved to investigate the mods in which he had. The moment Specter touched Mads he felt a chilling voice invade his mind. This was not the same as before...it was different. Mads assumed that is was Specter toying with him as he "got to know" him. The voice told him "run...and you die...you need to stay put this time." As confusing as the statement was, Mads decided to obey the voice. Immediately after Specter finished interfacing with Mads, Specter moved to shake hands with Mads. Feeling slightly threatened Mads swiftly grabbed at Specter's forearm. Seconds later he let go of him regaining hold himself.
"Sorry...I'm still used to prison..."
-"No problem Mads...moving on"
Mads leaned up against the wall and took his sunglasses off. His amber eyes almost glowed in the darkness of the alley. His hair was lit up like the tip of a cigar which drew the attention of Sarah.
-"Something wrong there big guy?"
"Huh? No, nothing at all...just a bit tense" breathed Mads.
-"Well, chill out."
"Yeah..."
Mads thought about the past he had spent with the government. He wondered if this was the reason why he was chosen...because of his vast knowledge of the government's inner-workings. Mads looked down at his penny-loafers and noticed a scuff on the toe. He pulled out a small case of black polish from his inside jacket pocket. He knelt down and quietly began to work on his shoes.

 

[Sporky111]

Spoiler: Rory Hosty

Who are you and when were you accepted?

Beck leaned his head to one side as Specter checked his mods. "Like what you see?" he asked sarcastically. He didn't really like giving this much free reign over his chip to someone he just met, but something about Caster's 'invitation' told him he didn't have any choice.

It didn't stop him from being curious about the purpose of this meeting. The city is tearing itself apart, and we're working for seemingly the best hacker in all of it. What could he want?

 

[SimpleChimp]

"Don't ask me" Charles said in his regular voice, "He didn't tell us why he wanted you, just that he wanted us to guide you. But if i had to guess, it definitely would not be for your personality." He said with the eery cheshire smile again, When last two friends arrive we will get your missions started. Until then feel free to talk to each other, or you can stand around mute like you cyber nerds generally tend to do." With a little twitch of his face Animal started his most ingenious mod. It was a chip in his brain that controlled the chemical levels, at any time he could flood his brain with endorphins, adrenaline, or dopamine. His brain began to exude the wonderful substance and the world seemed to come a more friendly place. On the outside nothing changed, nothing except a slight dilation of his pupils. He wrapped his tail over his shoulder like a sash and leaned up against the wall.

" Waiting is goooooood ."

"Fuckin Eh," Said specter as he knowingly eyed the six foot three demon junkie.

 

[SeanTheSheep]

"Fucking A." Agreed Sarah, as she leaned against the wall and surveyed the three other recruits and Specter, trying to figure out what Caster might want them for.

Beck was standing closest to her, and seemed friendly enough, but he was facing away, towards the mouth of the alley, so she decided not to talk to him, and the other two made Sarah extremely uncomfortable, especially Mads, the murderer, so she stayed silent and remained stoic as she leaned, and watched the other end of the alley.

Spoiler: OOC

Well, goodbye until early Thursday morning, I'll near definitely be here around midday thursday depending on jet lag.
Have fun while I'm gone, and i'm sorry for having to abandon ship for a while so early on, but juss incorporate Sarah into things if you want, let her do her own thing (Read: ignore her completely) if you want, either is fine, just try not to get too far gone if you do include her, and try not to get her into any compromising situations for when I get back.

 

[SimpleChimp]

Spoiler: Alright fuck them

I'm sorry but this is ridiculous

"Fuck waiting, They can catch up when they get back." Specter slapped Animal in the face, then gave him a threatening look, "Game face time." and as soon as the thought registered the giant red behemoth switched his brain chemistry back to normal and struck up an intimidating pose.

" The other two aren't here, but we can't wait any more. Caster We are all ears. "

Good came the disembodied voice, it seemed to come from every where and no where at all. Now that you have arrived we can begin. Brothers, Sisters, we are on the eve of change. It is time to strike while the iron is hot! No more are we going to wait in the shadows and cower like mice before cats, now the game has changed. The great philosopher Plato once said "We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light", and so we gather here today. We will force these men into the light, we will make them see the beauty of our evolution. They shun from the knowledge and hunt us, even now the city is alive with a pulsing mass ready to tear us modders apart."Do not train a child to learn by force or harshness; but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each." And what amuses the mob is chaos, we must show them the great strength and wonder, we must let them come to us. It is why you were chosen, you are average people who have accepted the life of being a mod, and now you shall guide the world to the glory of its practice. We will convert through the chaos, we will let the world see the prudes martial law as a prison for the city and teach them that they can not imprison our minds, our souls, they can't stop our mods.

An image flashed through the vision mods, while simultaneously being projected by a hidden wall mounted system. Our revolution will first need funding, the money to carry on and change society. I need you to take this bank and liberate its money supply by any means necessary. Specter will accompany you to test your steel and resolve, Charles will be staying behind as not to cause too big a scene. Go nuts, show the world what your jail broken bodies can accomplish.

 

[Code Monkey]

Chris laughed out loud at the end of the presentation. I was expecting something challenging, and C, you never fail to dissapoint. He climbed off the garbage can and cracked his knuckles. I suggest we describe our strengths, so we can make a plan. He mentally switched to his regular voice, to spare the ears of his new allies. "As you heard, I have a modded voice box. When I first got it, all it did was create that deep, guttural voice you all had the pleasure of experiencing." He reached a hand up and grasped his neck, rubbing the scar on the front of his throat. "Of course, since then, It's been 'upgraded'". He said. He closed his eyes for a moment, then nodded.
"Now, it can analyze vocal patterns, then stretch my own vocal cords to fit those patterns. As long as I know what they sound like, I can say virtually anything in their voice. He said, sounding exactly like Caster himself. As you can imagine, it's pretty useful for screwing with people. Me, with my unsettling appearance, saying something in your voice... He paused, then switched to Sarah. "It can be pretty unsettling," He said, looking directly at her and grinning.

 

[Sporky111]

No way I'm telling them all my mods. Specter might be able to see, but he won't even know what they all do... Beck thought as he listened to Chris' vocal display.

"Well, I've got interference tech. I can hack security systems, for example, and take control from a short distance. And there's the retinal display, and the wireless internet connection. And these..." he stopped and squeezed his hands into a fist, then with a small turn of his wrist a double-edged razor blade popped out of each of his knuckles. The blades extended a half-inch out from his skin, which miraculously wasn't bleeding despite having been split open.

He held them out for a second longer before unclenching his fists. The blades retracted and the "skin", a self-knitting compound he replaced the skin of his knuckles with, quickly covered the holes back up.