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Post by Turn 360 and walk away on Jul 31, 2008 2:09:18 GMT -5
The girls, Carmen and Michelle, had a heart-to-heart, but Molly just felt a little bad. Poor Carmen, her face flushed so red when she woke up, and it looked like Michelle's elbow might stretch the tank top's collar a little... low. She gazed out the window with Carmen's things in hand, waiting for her to take them back. "medic., .." someone called in the back of the room. Molly perked up and made her way towards the voice, putting Carmen's things down by her feet. Far behind every group of loitering people, David, the ADHD kid, was sitting in the corner hugging his knees. "Medic..... medic.... medic...." he continued to wheeze. He sounded like he hadn't had water in a week. "What's the matter?" David looked down at his leg. "Feels like I broke it, or something. I can't move it. My chest, too." Molly looked in awe, "How'd you manage that?" She started to feel around David's knee, then worked down to the ankle, then back up to his hip. Afterwards, she counted ribs. "Nothing's wrong, kid. I don't know what your problem is, but you aren't even kind of injured." David looked in awe. "But, I can't even- I mean- I-" "Let's stand up." "I told you, I can't." She tried to pull him to his feet, but the moment he put weight on that leg, his entire body contorted, then straightened back out. "I swear, i, I couldn't move-" "Yep. Uh-huh." She dug around in her medical bag. "It's stress. Kids like you always feel like this. Pop a couple of these pills; they'll even you out. You know... make you're brain," She rapped on the side of David's helmet, "Work right again." "Uh-huh." "No choice, dry-swallow." "Uh-huh." David sat back down, and hugged his leg again, maybe in hopes of brining the pain back, so she'll believe him. "Hey! You okay?" A man from echo tapped on his knee. Just as he was about to answer, he jumped backwards. "Back away!" David just looked at the ground. And Molly says he's broken? What's that shit? he was sweating, profusely, even, and looking wild-eyed. Just then, he came out of it, like a trance, or something. He walked back towards the team. -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-
"I-I....I need h-help, getting this all back on...." "Sure thing... I- I'm sorry, too... I guess-- guess, well, I took it too seriously. I...I mean, I l-l-lost my hand. It's a big sur.... surprise." She blushed in remorse a little as she pulled her elbow out of Carmen's diaphragm, and straightened her tank top. One by one, she found most everything belonging to the other woman. Michelle let Carmen to an adjacent room, and using it as a makeshift changing room, helped suit up Carmen, as well as fixing things on herself. She couldn't bring herself to say anything, though she was still a little teary. She couldn't come up with anything to say, really.
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Jacob put the Impailer down on a table and joined a small group of guys from Echo. Really, he just nodded and said "yah", but he managed to ask about the big game a couple nights ago. Michelle stood up from the floor, and noticing her, Jacob broke away to join her. "Whu'up, Mollay?" "Just doing my job. Listen, about that thing, in the hallway, when I... yeah--" "Doos thut hahpen ev'rehtyme You git interrup'd?" "This is serious... I-- I saw..." "It fyne, Mollay. Noh matteh whu' it be, Li-tel Jaycobe whul sahve ya'!" "I only wish you could." "Whu' Yah mean?" "It's nothing." "Ay noh when someone be lyin'." "really. You know, we never got finished talking. So, how'd you get that nickname. Little Jacob?" Jacob looked past her at the British man, who was freaking out. "Loo'! Wut yah mahk of dat?"
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Post by V on Aug 2, 2008 4:31:08 GMT -5
James put rubbed his eyes. He didn't know what just happened. It was like he was daydreaming...but he hasn't done that since high school. He pulled his kevlar mask over his mouth again, and examined the group again. When Carmen and Michelle came out, he decided it was time to move. "Come on, guys. That rappel rope is still attached to the side of the window. I think now is a good time to move. It didn't seem like anyone disagreed...although, they all likely wanted to. James himself would have rather stayed, but the faster this was done, the better. He lead the group back through the maze that were halls and offices, eventually arriving at the door with the fire exit. "Fred, watch that entrance, everyone else, down the rope. Last person, tell the guard when you go down." He pulled the rop to him, and attached it to the device on his belt, and then mounted the rope, holding to that device and dropped from the window, sliding down smoothly with the help of the little clip device. Something in the air caught his attention. A news chopper. "Son of a bitch..." he mumbled seeing it. He also noticed that at the police barricades, new crews were all on the other side, some had cameras pointed at the building, others seemed to be in his direction. "Story of the year..." he said quietly, his feet finally reaching the ground. He looked up, watching the rest of the soldiers come down on that single rope. Then he looked around. They were in what looked like some kind of courtyard, shielded by concrete walls. "Alright...where is our window..." Suddenly, A shout "Man down!" He looked up. Carmen had made the call, she'd only just started going down, she could still look into the room. "Damn it...not Fred, too..." he mumbled.
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Carmen gratefully accepted Michelle's help, although she didn't speak much. One more hug was sufficient enough for Carmen, that this friendship was still there. She strapped her helmet on tight, and pulled the kevlar mask over her nose, and walked out with Michelle. A moment later, she heard James give the order to move out. That's the first time she's ever seen him take charge ever, during her time in SFOD. Moments later, they were on the move back. She stuck close to Michelle...kind of like a buddy system. She'd felt most comfortable with her. When they had reached the room they had started from, James told Fred to stand guard, while they went down. "I'll go last then." Carmen volunteered, and stood beside the window with the rope, while Fred stood in front of the fire exit. Nothing really appeared out of the ordinary, as the teams started down. When it came Michelle's turn, Carmen helped her get the rope attached to her rappel device, since it would be hard with one hand. "Got it?" Carmen asked "Yeah, It'll hold." Was her answer. Then Michelle started down. "Get ready Fred." She said to the man, getting herself hooked up. When she faced back him though...the pale little girl she'd encountered in the office had seemed to appear out of nowhere...right behind Fred. Carmen wasn't sure how it happened...but when the little girl Carmen contact with the man, he clutched his chest, grunted in pain a couple times...then collapsed. The girl then just...disintegrated. "Man down!" Carmen shouted from her rappel. She wasn't sure how she would explain how he died. -What are these damn things?!- she asked herself mentally.
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Post by Turn 360 and walk away on Aug 2, 2008 5:56:51 GMT -5
"...I think now is a good time to move..." Alexei looked towards the voice, and found that it was the Tan's. Eventually, he'd get to learn Echo's names, but for now, he used the classic American "point-and-say-'you'". Alexei shrugged it off and continued even with the other man. he'll confront his equal later. For now, he was a follower. Once they arrived at the still-open window, Alexei was slightly worried, and maybe a little taken aback when the news chopper flew above his head. How they managed to learn of this, he didn't know. Flask said this was all "below the radar". It warmed up considerably, and the cold kiss the air gave him three hours ago was already a lukewarm, stagnate, air bubble. He reached down to his belt and fumbled for the latch. To his side, the woman from Echo, Carmen was her name, maybe, was helping Michelle onto the rope. "Ladies, in Spetsnaz, we did this without ropes! and the guys with no hands just learned to land in a roll! Come now, we have no time to lose." Carmen volunteered to go last, so Alexei made sure he went right before Michelle. Despite it all, she was down an arm, and even if it was numb and forgotten, her leg was still injured. He cursed at the aircraft that were hovering. Luckily, being dressed in all black, the spotlights hadn't seen them climbing down the face of the spire. As he waited for everyone else to descend, he listened to the men surrounding the building. "Hi folks, Ernie here, with LVPR, in front of the OmniGen main building. no one is positive what happened, yet, however, all the streets are blocked off, and armed guards patrol all mass transit routes that pass this area. Wait! I'm just getting word that... SFOD, Delta force, if you watch more movies than news, trucks and choppers were seen in this area earlier today. Jennie, and word on the situation?" "People are frantic to access these streets, Ernie. the business district of this side of town has effectively been shut down." came from across the block. More on this in a moment, but for now? Ever wish you could have a cup of Joe with a guy named Joe? Well, I did, and you can listen in, after this break." Alexei shook his head and pressed on his eyes until swirls of color appeared. Jacob smacked his shoulder, and alexei looked back up. his team was down, as were most of Echo. Just as suddenly, The same woman that was helping Michelle called "man down!" A few men scrambled back up the door. Schuur was last, but the heavy pack made it all but impossible to defy gravity.
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Molly stood, shaking her head, at Michelle's injuries. "There's no way in hell she'll ever be fine in the head after this." She muttered to herself. "Cahm, Mohlay! We be leavin'! Wahk op!" She shot up and looked around. half the group was gone, the other half were in line to leave. "I--" Molly was cut off my Carmen, who volunteered to stay with Fred. "Hmm." she shrugged and tried to find where the climbing latch was. Bright, polished titanium. If a nuke hit, this would outlive the roaches, she decided and hopped out the window. Doing her best to land softly on the wall that the ambush was in, she hit the grass with a muffled thud. "saves time", she said. her feet were on the ground for a solid thirty seconds. "Man down!" She screwed the latch and just started climbing. The man, fred, was lying face-up on the carpeted ground. She ran over to him, and tried to detect a pulse, first on the wrist, then the neck, then simply felt above his chest. He wasn't breathing. She pulled his shirt off and started pushing on his chest. "You," she failed to designate anyone, "check for breathing. You," she again simply expected someone to comply, "look for Aspirin in the bag." She rolled the large balck backpack off her body. "Fuck, come on, come on! Breath, you little fucker!" she switched to beating on his chest with a closed fist. "Come on! Uhh.... breathing, yeah, fuck." She pinched his nose shut and started trying to perform CPR. "I can't find any. There's nothing in here!" "No pulse." "No, no, no, no, no, NO!" She was punching his chest now, not doing anything. "Why did you have to fucking die? Mother fucker!" And with that, she kicked the corpse's ribs and pulled his dogtags away. No tears, but her face was twisted in rage and shame. "He's dead, sir." she dropped the chain out the window. "From what?" "No outward symptoms, but I'm more than sure his heart stopped." "A man like that? early thirties? he could run a marathon and wake up for work the next day!" "I don't know sir, but it happened." She noticed something, then, looking down, through the open window. There was a line of deep impressions in the grass, all in one line, all easily twice as deep as anyone else's. They stop at the wall. And continued where she stood, it seemed. that couldn't be, though, right? There were lots of people outside, and there used to be as many in here. It's all just a coincidence.
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Post by V on Aug 3, 2008 6:32:21 GMT -5
After the incident with Fred...the team was all finally on the ground. The first person James wanted to see, was Carmen. "Carmen!" he called her. "What happened to him? Was it an enemy?" "What? No?!" "Then what?! I saw Fred's report, he was healthier than a vegetable platter. Something had to have killed him." "I swear! He just clutched his chest and collapsed." He rubbed his eyes, and shook his head. "I don't see how that is possible though." "I am not lying...I've never reported anything falsely..." James groaned, being short another gun is never good. But priority now was getting back into the building. The radio went off again. "Flask here. Hey, sorry about those news crews. Apparently, media is attracted to police barricades." He said sarcastically. "And maybe some civilian sang to the media about our transports. Anyway...I'm sorry to hear about Fred, but finding Valerio is the main objective now. There is a window that will put you in a room that avoids the ambush, and is adjacent. So you can get a jump on them. See the cooling unit? The window above it, count two over to the left. That is you---" Flask was suddenly cut off. "Ahhh....so you manage to have seen my ambush? Heh! Well do not worry. I won't tell them. They'll learn from their mistake the hard way!" It was Valerio, broadcasting this to all of SFOD's radios. He didn't sound so dark anymore...more like he was joking with them. "Just know...I'm always watching you. And...eheha...there will be nothing you can do if I manage to catch you." He cut out. "Hello? What happened? come in!" Flask's voice was back. James answered. "Yeah...sorry, Valerio jacked the line for a moment." "Valerio jacked the line?" "It seemed like it." "I didn't hear myself having a blank signal though." "What?" "Nevermind that. That's the window, break it open, and get inside. We need those files." "Understood." James put his radio away, and beckoned the rest to come to the window. Using the butt of his rifle, he broke the glass with ease, and climbed over, making sure the clear the ledge of broken glass that you could cut yourself on. Looks like this room was a meeting place. A long pine table, surrounded by chairs, with an LCD machine pointing to a wall. It was dark inside however. Turning on a flashlight might alert the enemy to this position. "Damn it Flask...could have given us a more strategic entry point." He mumbled. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Carmen sighed when her boots hit the ground. She didn't know Fred to well, but losing anyone was devastating at this point. "Carmen!" She heard James call her name. She faced him. He started asking her about Fred. "What happened to him? Was it an enemy?" "What? No?!" "Then what?! I saw Fred's report, he was healthier than a vegetable platter. Something had to have killed him." "I swear! He just clutched his chest and collapsed." "I don't see how that is possible." "I'm not lying! I've ever reported anything falsely..." She heard the British man groan before walking off. Carmen sighed, and looked to Michelle. "I'm not lying." She told her friend, although she never asked anything about. "Atleast not entirely." She looked around to make sure no one was in earshot. Then faced Michelle again. "Listen...it is true...Fred did just die like I said...but, before he did. I saw like...a little girl. She was really pale looking and had a cute little red dress...but she didn't seem real. She always disintegrates after while...everytime I see her." She couldn't help but wonder what Michelle thought of her...probably insane at this point. "Please, believe me, I'm not insane..." Suddenly Suddenly, her radio went off. It was Valerio...ranting on about something. She was kind of off put by the fact he said that he was always watching them...but he cut out soon. A moment later, there was a shattering of glass. James had broken a window and beckoned them over. When she entered, she nearly stumbled on something. It was so dark in here. "Can we not light a match or something?" She jokingly asked. "The ambush is waiting next room...we can't give nay hints that we are here..." someone said. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Suddenly, there screams in the other room. "Contact!" A synthesized voice said. "Six enemies! All Omigen security!" Other voices...they sounded human. "Enemies! Looks like they were waiting for someone! Alright, let's show them the same!" Gunshots could be heard from the room SFOD was in, as well as shouting. The clinking of a metallic object on the ground...then a deafening explosion. The cyborgs were losing... "Damn it! They got the jump on us! Our exit points are sealed, and already we've lost six men." "Forget! I'm not going to die running!" More gunshots. The group turned to Alexei, who was still their legitimate leader. "What now sir?"
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Post by Turn 360 and walk away on Aug 4, 2008 1:07:20 GMT -5
"When you dream, what do you dream about? Do you dream about music or mathematics or planets too far for the eye? Do you dream about Jesus or quantum mechanics or angels who sing lullabies?" ~ "When You Dream", Steven Page and Ed Robertson, 1998
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"What now, sir?" Alexei held his hand up, signaling for everyone to stop, "We will get shot from both sides if we enter now." The shelling was still going on, though, by now, it had slowed, almost to a halt. Alexei took one step forward, then another. He put his ear against the light-colored wood of the door. "Echo, have fiber optics?" He held his arm back, palm up, and someone handed him a small reel of clear cord. He ran a length under the doorframe, and inserted the other end into a port on a small, grey device. It whined to life, and showed what was hidden on the other side of the door, in light-sensitive blacks and whites. It seemed though whoever sprung the trap lost, though they did a number on the hostiles. Alexei turned the cord left, right, left again, and put the entire thing back. She stood up from the prone position he slipped into and put his hand on the door's brass knob. He signaled 3 visible targets, all to the left. Slowly, the knob turned, and once it was fully open, he counted down from 3, using his free hand, and pushed the door open with all his weight thrust upon it. Once that happened, the hostile that was standing in front of it got his "face" crushed in by a door,and got caught between it and a pillar. People streamed in after him, and with small bursts of fire, eliminated the visible threats. "Clear left!" "Clear right!" "all clear front." "DOWN!" a stream of bullets traced a line across the wall behind the group. "Contact! Left hall!" The hostile stepped forward to better see his quarry, but then raised both his hands. he was wearing a security vest, and a matching baseball cap.
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"Please, believe me, I'm not insane..." "I-- I want to..." Michelle stammered. "But, I don't know." Someone broke a window, and she turned around mid-thought. After everyone was in the dark room, Carmen mused "Can we not light a match or something?" Molly lightly clapped her hands, and to her dismay, the lamp did not turn on. Michelle almost giggled, but choked the sound down, and stayed quiet for the sake of the team. Outside, she could still here the beating of the helicopter's rotors. When Svensky started counting down, Michelle got on the ground. She'd just die if she were part of the sting. As the last one through the door, she kneeled down wherever she could and took her sidearm's safety off. Slowly, she slid inch by inch to Carmen's side. She separated her lips, and took a sharp breath in, but before she could speak, someone shot at them, and she immediately went to work. "Contact! Left hall! Right side!" he came out, and surrendered, seemingly. turns out, he was security, and he was not happy about the trap. Svensky waved him away with the muzzle of his rifle and relaxed. Again, Michelle tried to speak. "Carmen... Carmen, please, listen to me. I want to believe. But I... I guess I can't... I'm sorry." She embraced her friend and whispered, barely audible even to herself, "Please..."
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Molly looked, aghast, as the commander smashed the enemy's face in, but followed close behind and checked right. Once the security guy walked away, from the direction he came, Molly looked down at the pulverized soldier. "Flask, we have a live captive. You want him?" "I don't see how he'll be of any use. There's too much work left to be dragging him around. I'd love it, but I don't think it could happen." "Alright." Molly took out a small gun-shaped instrument and loaded a syringe from the medic's sack into it. She pulled the downed man's collar down, and injected some tranquilizers into his neck. Maybe they'll circle back around later. She looked up, and standing above her was Michelle, who looked about ready to say something. "Hey, we need to change those bandages as soon as we can." She took the bloodied gauze of herself and replaced it, slightly wincing. "Umm, okay. we can do that later, i guess. right now, i need to ask you for something. Like, the stuff to gave to David?" "you mean, the meds for severe stress?" "yeah." "For you? You seem fine." "No, for... Just in case. I kinda have panic attacks every once in a while." "Okay. seems fine enough." Molly handed the other woman a packet of two pills. "Gotta take 'em dry. no other real options." "That's no problem." "Okay. Be safe!" Michele walked away, towards the other end of the team, and bent over. Molly could see legs, but not who they were attached too. She was wagging her hand, with something in it. It looked like she was pleading, but Molly and her were pretty far away. She distracted herself by looking at the unconscious body. "Hope we get back before that sedative stops your heat from working. That won't be fun."
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David was sitting against the wall, and miraculously, not tapping his fingers on the barrel. "Molly, is it?" "yes, why?" She answered, breaking her gaze from the lifeless body. "Why were you screaming, up there, with the guy who was or watch?" "Well, he died." "Yeah, but, You're not in the right job if you want everyone to live." "Well, I guess..." "We don't think any less of you. I just want you to know that." "What the hell are you talking about?" "I think you're afraid we don't like you, because you didn't do your job right. I just want to say that you did what you could." "Who the hell are you to tell me what i think?" "I majored in Phycology and Physiology for a few years, back there." "Who the hell does that make you?" "I was just thinking. If you wanted to say something, my old professor was a good guy. Oh, and that drug you gave me worked wonders, by the way. They said the ADHD would make it hard to do phycology or armed forces. Turns out, they were right." "What the fuck do you know about me?" "If you don't wanna admit anything, it's fine. Just, don't carry around that kind of baggage." Molly fumed off and was muttering and waving in his direction. To his dismay, david felt his heart rate pick up, little by little.
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Post by V on Aug 5, 2008 3:05:08 GMT -5
In mere seconds it was over. The ambush that was meant to wipe them out had failed...thanks to an unfortunate group of security guards. One of the heroes from that group emerged from behind a wall. He didn't look happy at all. Svensky waved him away, and took his rifle, and headed in another direction, disappearing behind the wall. James went to follow...but heard the guard's radio cackle. He flattened himself against the wall and listened in. "This is Garrison 4." "Garrison 4? The captain?" A female voice came from the other end. It sounded aged...maybe in the forties. "No...I'm just a rookie." "Where is the captain?" "Dead. Dead with everyone else. Killed in the ambush." "What? SFOD was to joint attack with you." "Apparently they didn't get the memo." "Hmm...very well. Looks like Omnigen will need to solve it's own problems...again. The government is not helping, they're jsut a burden. Make it known to everyone else that all unauthorized personnel are to be shot on sight. That includes SFOD detachment." "Understood." James gasped...and say Hammond was in the guard's view. He opened his mouth to shout him to move...but it was too late. The Guard fired, and killed him with a shot to the head. James shouted loudly. "YOU BASTARD!" and spun around from the wall, and began firing at the guard. The guard took a hit in the hand, dropping his rifle. another shot in the leg crippled him as he made a run for it. James's clip hit empty before anymore shots hit...and the guard escaped. "Fuck! That fucking bastard got away." Jame's bent down, and took Hammond's dogtags. Flask then came on the radio. "Damn it. I just got word from Genevieve Burnstien , a top reseacher in Omnigen, that we are no longer authorized and will be shot on sight..." "Too late for that warning. That bastard killed Hammond..." "Shit..." "What do you suggest we do?" "Continue. We need to these files. To hell with Omnigen. Their security guards can't hold a fork your training. Treat all Omnigen security personnel as hostile. Shoot on sight, do not give them a warning. I'll tell Genevieve it was all an accident." "With pleasure, sir." "Aleight, The research lab we want is a few halls over. See the double doors at the end of the west wall? That's the direction you head." "Roger, Flask." "Good luck." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Carmen looked Michelle in the eyes. A look a betrayal crossed her face. "You think I AM insane, don't you? Well I am not! I saw what I saw!" She struck Michelle's hand, knocking the pills out. "I will not take those! I do not need them!" Carmen's face was now showing nothing but rage, as she stormed out into the other room. She took a seat behind one of the pillars and pulled her legs in. She looked around to make sure no one was within three feet of her, and that she was somewhat hidden. Then, she just buried her face in her knees...and started to cry. She couldn't believe the only person she chose to open up to did not believe her. It hurt inside...left a deep gash. And then she has the audacity to offer her medication. She though she truly was insane. -Of course she won't believe you, you moron!- her mind began bashing her. -You're the only one seeing these things! YOU'RE the only one who decided to seperate yourself! She is perfectly normal! And stress is not a factor! You're crazy! Get over it!- Suddenly, her logic caught up. -What IF she I'm not the only one seeing things. What if she is just afraid to admit. Maybe I am just stressed...I was separated and almost killed." A sigh escaped her lips, and she walked back to Michelle. Sniffling, and wiping her eyes, she bent down to the pills. Then she faced Michelle again. "If I take these...you must tell me something." She simply said, and dry swallowed them both with some difficulty. Afterwards, she faced Michelle. "Tell me...how crazy do you think I am?" Suddenly, there were gunshots in the other room. Nothing else mattered right now, and she ran to check it out. James was swearing, and Hammond was dead beside him. Carmen bowed her head...another one lost. Flask then gave the order of new targets and which way to go. After which Carmen resumed her wait for Michelle's response.
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Post by Turn 360 and walk away on Aug 5, 2008 4:22:08 GMT -5
"If I take these...you must tell me something. Tell me...how crazy do you think I am?" Carmen put the pills in her mouth, and cringing, swallowed them. "...Treat all Omnigen security personnel as hostile. Shoot on sight, do not give them a warning. I'll tell Genevieve it was all an accident." "I do--" "Come on, now, Michelle. You can chat later. Right now, we need to redress your wounds while there's no crap in the air." She rolled up what was left of the combat suit's sleeve, and pant leg. "You weren't staying off your leg as much as i would have liked you to, but I can't say I blame you." Michelle looked back towards Carmen, standing and still as a corpse, with teary eyes. She tried to mouth "Be right there," but Molly stopped her, by twisting her entire body away from her friend, so that most of Michelle was basically on Molly's lap. "It's easier to work this way. Oh, look at that. Used your leg so much you nearly bled through." She tore the bloodied gauze away from the other woman's skin, without warning, causing the Blonde to yelp, if only a little. "Just wait until we get to your arm." "Uh-huh..." "Turn around? So that your arm is about at my chest?" "Uh-huh." "I saw this show, one of those 'in the E.R.' things, once. This guy had burns like yours over 80% of his body. And the doctors did this every six hours for a month." "Oh yeah?" Michelle feigned interest, albeit poorly. She was focussed on Carmen again. "Just thought you'd like to think about how lucky you are, while I'm peeling the gauze away." Molly took out a pair of small scissors and found a loose spot in the cloth.
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"Who the hell does he think he is?" Molly stomped off, and stopped next to Jacob. "He beh rayt, yah noh." "Oh, so you like to piss me off to?" "Nah, Leetle Jahcob ohways nohs tuh trayt lahdays rayt. Momma bayt it uhto mah." "Well, then, What do mean 'He's right?'" "Yah cahn't expahct pepple tah leeve een thuhs job. Eet's uhn thah pahst." "Fine. If you think I have a problem too, so be it." Molly walked off to find Michelle. She'll show everyone that she can be something other than a burden! After pulling her into a comfortable position for the both of them, Molly looked at her leg, first, and then at her arm. "...Used your leg so much you nearly bled through." After Molly said this, with a tone of playful scolding, she looked p, and found Jacob looking at her, from the corner of his eye. He was shaking his head, only slightly. In a fit of rage she accidentally tore away the gauze, adhered well to the skin and wound by dried blood, too violently, causing the injured blonde to squeak. Her eyes looked teary, too. Looking down at the leg, Moly saw she opened the puncture back up, and as quickly as she could, wrapped it back up. She looked up in time to catch Michelle looking back at Carmen, and asked her to turn a little. "why so glum? Cat got your tongue? Or is it Carmen?" She pulled a little gauze away, causing the blonde to flinch and withdraw her arm. "She's the only person I ever see you with--here, lemme cut a little more--and, like, the thing, back at the room where we found her? Don't get me wrong..." Michelle looked back at her when she mentioned the room. "Why shouldn't I 'get you wrong'?" "Nothing--- okay, three, two, one, " Molly pulled away a goo portion of the upper layers of gauze. "I mean... I don't mind, really. Where I'm from-- okay, one last piece, and pull-- we're very open-minded." Molly looked down at the now mostly exposed arm. "What are you implying?" "Nothing. Okay, here's some stuff to help the pain-- I'm just saying you two make a cute couple." Michelle yanked her arm away from the darker-haired girl and finished wrapping it herself. "What? i can't have friends?" "No! that's not what I--" "Yes it is. Oh well... who cares what a monster like me has to say?" Michelle sighed, barely audible, before throwing a ball of unused bandage back at Molly. Michelle sat down in a secluded corner and thought that again, and again. She looked up at Carmen, but then back at the floor.
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Jacob was talking to a man from echo, and they decided to throw a couple jokes between each other during the downtime. The man from Echo was in the middle of telling his, when jacob turned around, and confronted Molly. Maybe she'll take it better from a friend? Instead, he got denied even finishing his thought to her, and turned back to the joke of the hour. he was able to catch the punchline. "The seagull says 'That's a sun burn!'" Jacob gave a few gutteral laughs and shook his head. It was a bad joke, but somehow worth remembering. Suddenly, from behind him, he heard someone yelping and turned around to see why. "Sheh's beein' a leetuhl ruff, in't sheh?" "Yeah." Jacob continued to make small-talk with the man, until guns fired and he prepared himself for a wave of the cyborg guys. Instead, over the radio, he heard the rules of engagement changed, and that lethal force is advised. An evil smile crossed his face. "thuhs ees lahk dem Videeoh Gahms dah kids be plahin' now." "Got that right." "Seemuhr fey!" "That is the marines." Svensky stated. "Whah duh weh shout?" "How about, uh, I don't know! Remember that nail gun thing, We are moving out now." "Cuhm on, nah!" He patted Carmen on the shoulder. "No been sloh. Yah be aight?" He questioned in his cryptic accent.
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Post by V on Aug 6, 2008 2:22:28 GMT -5
Carmen's eyes started to tear up. Michelle only said. "I do." -See! She thinks you are crazy!- her mind began bashing. Then her logic spoke up again. -No! What if she didn't finish...what if she just didn't finish.- -NO! She could have to called to you if she didn't finish!- -She might have had the chance!- Carmen decided, to quell this internal fighting, that she take her mind off it. She was able to catch Michelle looking at her one more time, before she herself turned away. Looks like the group itself was about to move out. James was already moving to the directed entryway. "Carmen was going to follow..but the large dark skinned man stopped her. She barely understood his accent, but she did her best to pretend she did very well. "I'm fine...don't worry about me. Just something I need to have sorted out." She told him. While they moved forward, she tried to spot Michelle in the crowd...but was unable to. She began to wonder if the others saw their relationship as a sign of weakness, and were trying to keep them apart. -But wait...it isn't that important.- she began to have thoughts again. -Yes it is! If you are distracted, you won't perform as efficiently!- Her head began to ache. The pills didn't seem to be helping. She didn't like having so many conflicting thoughts. She moved off to the side, and held her temples. "You okay, Carmen?" she ehard some people say. But never answered. "Don't worry about her, let the medic deal with it." James intervened. "Right now we need to keep forward." Suddenly, gunshots could be heard again. Everyone inched up against a wall, guns raised. The entrance to the corridor at the end of the hall, bullets could be seen flashing back and forth. Flask cut in. "Looks like Omnigen and Valerio's men are at a stalemate here. There is a vent approximately four feet in front of you and to the right. Two or three soldiers can crawl through, and get into a position behind Valerio's men, and take them out. Depending on the reaction of omnigen, we can think of a plan to deal with them, too. I believe they would try to come forward a little to secure some ground, and try to see who helped them on the other side. I want the people waiting in the corridor, guns raised in case they wander a bit far forward. Alexei, you choose who goes."
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James was more than happy to advance. "Let's go people!" he shouted to the group. Victory, it seemed, was almost in reach. This hall was dimly illuminated. Alot of the lights were shot out, and some were flickering. These kinds of rooms were not liked...but all around, were bodies of Omnigen and Valerio's men. There were still fairly warm...so a battle took place here not too long ago. "Flask..we got bodies. Anymore enemies in this hall?" "Bodies? I'm sure there are tons." He tried to be humorous. "Any living targets?" "That's a negative." The Wisconsinite responded. "How far until we have contact?" "Uhh...I'll scan, and get back to you on that. Until then, keep forward." "Roger." They continued forward...until someone sounded concerned about Carmen. He looked back to find her. She was off to the side, hunched over, rubbing her temples. Must have just been a headache. "Let the medic deal with her. She'll be fine." Inside, he sighed. -Wonder what happened to her. She was raring to go at the beginning of this operation. Now she seems like an entirely different person.- He began to muse. Suddenly, flashes ahead...and then Flask cut in. He had announced the situation...and a plan to resolve it. The decision was Alexei's though. James did like the plan...but there was no way of knowing how many were per side...not without Flask anyway. James bean to listen to the voices of the two enemy forces. "Die, motherfucker!" one of Valerio's men said, firing his automatic. "Get down!" Came the voices of Omnigen. "This will take care of them!" James heard a "ping!" sound, and watched a metallic object fly across the hall. "Grenade! Move it!" The explosion shook the floor. Flask finally had the info. "Alright...looks like Valerio's men have five on their side. I only counted moving heat signatures. Idle ones I counted dead. But...if they aren't, they have nine. Omnigen is four moving, and six idle. That's all the help I can give at this time. Alexei! Have you made your choice?"
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Post by Turn 360 and walk away on Aug 6, 2008 4:08:47 GMT -5
"Alexei! Have you made your choice?" "Uhh.." he stammered. The rest of the team turned their head in his direction. He walked past the group of people, and fingered who he wanted to go, calling the names of who he could. "Michelle," he said, and stuck his finger out, "You, uhh... James, is it?" he walked on without waiting for a full answer, "And you.." he pointed towards Carmen, but moved his finger over to the person at her side, noticing she wasn't feeling too well. The job went to another man from Echo, with a slim enough build to comfortably slide though the vents. "Jeremy...?" "Sir, I don't believe I should be assigned this." "I do, and besides, who else would do it? Jacob? he couldn't fit in there if we tried." Jacob looked up and knowingly nodded his head. "yah beh righ', mon. Ahd rahtheh wuhk uhntuh thet huhll wahrin' ah Bool's Aye." "If you insist, sir." "All you need to do is put a bullet right through here," he turned around and pointed to his topknot, "it'll put them down before they can feel it. Severs the brain stem. In Spetznaz, we learned that before our first push-up. Do Americans not know that?" "No, sir. I didn't know." "Well, then, climb in that vent!" Molly approached Alexei as he was reinforcing the rest on the idea of the "if it moves, shoot it, and if it keeps moving, shoot it again" tactic. "It wasn't a good idea to make Michelle go." "how do you mean?" "her injuries are terrible." "She needs the confidence boost." "She needs to keep living." "She won't unless she gets some self respect. I trust you entirely to cover my ass if any of them are seen, anyway." "Hopeless..." Molly walked away and took up position with her rifle at the ready.
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Michelle was crawling through the dark vent, and waiting for something to go horribly wrong. This was, however, the first time she's truly done her job in a while. She could feel her heartrate rise as they neared the grate behind Valerio's men. Down her leg, a warm jelly ran, from her mid-calf to her ankle. She silently tried to shake it away, or at least get it to pool in the loose fabric of her pants below her knee. It didn't hurt, but a seeping wound is the worst possible thing to have at a time like this. The putrid stench of bloodied and dying tissue filled the air around her. Luckily, she was in the rear, so no one complained. Once at the vent, the lead (it was too dark to tell who was up ahead) held his hand up in the light and counted to three. He pushed the grate open, the bronzed piece of sheet metal clanging across the floor as the men rolled over it. Each of the three, in turn, stopped on a knee and blew the hostiles away, before retreating to cover from the security.
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Alexei trained his sighs at approximately level with his quarry's heads and waited. Through the rubble you could here shuffling and shells being kicked around. Jacob was the first to see part of the security team, and backed up, to bide more time until he was seen. "What'd you make of this?" one security guard said. "I don't know. Was it the special forces maybe?" "No, remember? we were told they were, sided with those cyborgs, or something, right?" "Yeah. if they became targets, it's for a good reason. HEY! OGS OVER HERE! HELLO?" "You sure it was more of us?" "You have any better ideas?" "Well--" And before he could finish, a steel spike went trough his mouth and pinned him to the wall, screaming in agony, as best he could. from around him, other weapons fired, most were fully automatic, though some reserved ammo and used their sidearms. Alexei went around, and re-killed the corpses, just to make sure. "Give me a map, Flask. We're almost out of here."
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"Hopeless... something's going to go wrong. I just know it." Molly mouthed as she took up her position, and found herself next to that woman Michelle was always with. She was clutching her head. Once the shelling stopped, inn a matter of seconds, and the commander asked for some more directions, She questioned the woman, "How're you feeling? you don't look too hot, you know? You're kinda pale. Here, lemme see what I can do. Why don't you talk to me a little. Might make the both of us feel a little better."
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Michelle ducked behind a filing cabinet while the security got dispatched. She studied the carpet intently, waiting for it to be safe to get up. When she looked back up though, She wasn't in the same hallway, it didn't look like. It seemed like where she was was a little less decorated. Not the same creme color, either. Her team was still right where she left them, though, so she couldn't have moved. maybe her eyes just weren't adjusted to the light, from coming out of the dark vent, and now they are. Svensky called "all clear!" and the splinter group stood up. "James is fine, Jeremy is fine, and Michelle..." The russian studied her. "She's not fine, but then again, when will she ever be?" Michelle tried to protest this, but no matter what she did, scream, plead, crush people's toes under her boot, they wouldn't recognize her. The entire group walked through a set of double doors, after a quick "thanks" to Flask, leaving Michelle out of the loop. She got on the radio, but an automated voice said that he was on a private line. the rest of the team was talking with him, though. She tried to follow behind, but the doors closed before she could jog across the hallway. Michelle pulled, and banged, and yelled, but despite her best efforts, the doors wouldn't budge. on the other side was a bright, blue-white light. She could barely make out the silhouettes of her former companions. "Next time, I'm making sure only people make it on my team." A voice, accented with heavy Russian, mused. "Michelle? What a fucking mistake that was." A light latin accent. "The only thing I wish God didn't make." Michelle, shocked and hurt, turned around. The end of the hallway was replaced with a big square room. a sign, old, and ready to fall off the wall, read "waiting room". She walked towards it, hoping to find some answers. Stunned as she was, she couldn't fight when a man in a red-splotched white jacket took her by the arm. "Oh! good! I was about to call you in! Now, here's this, sign this, lay down here." Michelle did as she was instructed, though it helped that the man in the white coat's arm was pushing and pulling her to do whatever he said anyways. Above where she was laying was a disc of intense light, the same kind that was through the double doors. Okay. I'll just make the incision here..." He pulled out a scalpel and with a stabbing motion, broke the skin above her burnt arm. The blonde arched her back and wailed in agony, and the instrument defiled flesh and bone, until it finally met the original cut, around the arm. "Okay, now, just, a little twist, and..." The man in the white coat put a root across her shoulder for leverage, and turned her entire arm around, to the point where it was tearing tendons. Again, the blonde writhed in pain, tears streaming down her face. She couldn't move away from the torturer. Invisible restraints held her flat against the cold table. "... Pull away!" with that, he yanked at the limb and with a sound not unlike tearing through cardboard and snapping thee limbs, The arm came away. Michelle's vision blurred away, and she lost all feeling in her body. She torqued her head as far as she could and vomited, but still writhed in pain. "Why the drama? You signed up for this, you remember?" Michelle blacked out.
She awoke to The man with the scalpel talking amongst other people dressed the same as him. "Oh, good! you're awake!" Michelle felt bile rise in her throat as the pain surged through her again, but was able to spit it away before it rested in her mouth. The room felt colder, now."I was just talking to my friends. We were all... admiring you. We all agree, you'd be, like, playboy bunny material, if it weren't for a few small things. To her side, a hospital gown was thrown, and just beside it was black combat gear. "Okay now. Well, that could go." he began to detach Michelle's injured leg, with the same method as he did her arm, Michelle cried out. "Charles, can you fix that?" "Right away, sir." Another man approached with a large, archaic needle and metallic cadaver thread. "Miss, please." "NO! NO!" She cried in pain and defiance again. Charles caught her head in his free hand and began to crush it. she instinctively stopped moving, long enough for the man to begin to sew her jaw shut." "Oh, before the leg, this can go." The doctor peeled flesh away from one of her cheeks. "And this." the scraped away at the skin under her good arm. The sheer agony shut her down, again. What she dreamt of, she wasn't sure, but when she awoke, she felt no pain, only dizziness. After a long time, her senses recovered. She was in the waiting room, in a couple chairs, facing each other as a makeshift "bed". With shaky knees, she stood up. A pool of red, a foot deep, was in the entire room. Dazedly, she waded through the pool. A woman behind a desk said "Good News! Insurance covered it all. All I need you to do is initial here." Michelle tried to reach out with her right hand to pull the paper towards her, but nothing happened. She looked at her shoulder and found nothing! Someone tudded on her hospital gown from her left side. "Excuse me..." A little girl in a red dress asked if Michelle knew where her mom went. "Okay, let's move!" Alexei called. Michelle looked around. Drenched in cold sweat, she stood up. Molly took hold of her and put her back on the ground. "Don't move. take these." Michelle recognized the small blue things as the stress relievers. "You nearly died, you know that? What were you doing? your heart was beating three times the speed it should have been. I don't know how you're alive, to be honest. When you said panic attacks, you weren't kidding." "Where's Carmen?"
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Post by V on Aug 9, 2008 2:52:53 GMT -5
James was a little less than thrilled that he needed to go through that vent, thinking Alexei was just trying to get rid of echo. There were only three of them now anyway. Jeremy had been chosen as well, and it seemed like he was going to pick Carmen...but quickly changed his mind. Instead, he chose that crippled woman. "Well..as long as she can pull a trigger..." James went in first, doing his best not to make so much noise as he went in. Omnigen and Valerio's men were still going at it, so maybe they wouldn't hear them. When James went in, Jeremy followed behind, climbing quickly, and quietly. The two of them figured Michelle could keep up, and it seemed implied that Alexei that Delta were much more enduring than Echo. "God damn that guy..if I was in charge, I'd show him a thing or two..." The englishman mumbled to himself, going closer to the light at the end of the shaft. He could hear the set of metallic thumping behind him...so atleast his partners weren't dead from claustrophobia or something. The light at the end became blindly close. James wait for the other two to catch up...and when they did, he flipped his body around as fast as he could in that tight space, and kicked the vent off the bolts. It landed with a crash, and the three of them assembled out as quickly as they could. Valerio's men hadn't taken notice yet, which mean they still had the upper hand. James told the other two to get into a good position, while he found his. When comfortable, he ordered the other two to open fire. The automatic rifles began to flash, and Valerio's men started to drop in numbers, until they were none left. All three of them remained unharmed. "Nice job guys." He told them, and waited for the others, taking position below some furniture. Suddenly, there was calling from down the hall. Omnigen was trying to figure out who did it. Maybe their intel wasn't as good as Flask. "Keep quiet." James told the other two. He slowly moved toward the wall that would turn in to that hall. Watching the vent, inched more alongside the wall. His plan was to see how many Omnigen targets there were. They called again, and James was about to turn. But the sound of one of them screaming and gurgling blood made him hold his spot behind the wall. Looks like the others were going to deal with them. He heard thudding coming from the vent. It belonged to Alexei. He finally came through. "Psh. Can't fit through the vent. That's right, come on in when every things gone, right? Well, here is my---" He was interrupted by Michelle...who wanted to know the same thing. "Where's Carmen?" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The asian woman wasn't sure what was going on. -A plan. Yes, they are planning. Won't send me in though. They think I'm insane.- -Oh...but you are insane!- -No...I'm not...I'm just...unsure...- -Unsure of what? That you're not capeable of doing this? That the thing you saw is not real?- -Yes...that is exactly it...- Her argument with herself continued, as she watched James disappear into the vent. -He will make it back alive. The enemy can't beat him...- -No...the enemy can't...but there are five enemies in there..- -Jeremy will help...- -That's only two men...- -Then Mic...- Carmen soon realized Michelle to was going. -Michelle!- -She is going, too...she won't make it. You need to help...speak up!- Carmen wanted to...and was about to, but that brown haired lady stopped her. She wouldn't stop talking. Kept saying things about how she looked, or if she needed something. "I-I'm fine." Carmen tried to answer all the medics with one sentence. "Where is Michelle going?" When she got her answer, she nodded...knowing there was nothing she could do. Finally...from the other side of the hall, more gunshots, and this time bodies hitting the floor. She began to count the bodies she could hear. They all sounded heavy. -One...two...three...- She bit her lip, waiting for a fourth. When it came...it was relief, knowing at least one of her allies were alive. More joy from the fifth body dropping, and there being no more...no more gunfire, no more synthetic shouting. -Did they win?- -Maybe...maybe not. Five bodies dying...who's to say it was all three of them an two enemies. or maybe two of them and three enemies. Or maybe all three, and they just felt shooting their buddies.- -No! That is not it!- Carmen was snapped out of it, being told she needed to go through the vent shaft. Not hesitating, she quickly climbed in, and scurried to the other side. She dropped down, to see James, Michelle, and Jeremy still breathing. -Ha! They did win, see?- Her mind did not respond. Carmen had won this bout. "There you are, Carmen!" The englishman cheered, patting her on the back. "Thank you, James..." she said half-heartily, looking at Michelle. She didn't look so well at all. Carmen approached her, and knelt down beside her. "Are you okay?"
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Post by Turn 360 and walk away on Aug 9, 2008 15:32:47 GMT -5
"Thank you, James... Are you okay?" Arms shaking violently, Michelle pushed her frail self up, and stood equal with the other woman."Yeah, I-I'm fi--" She sunk back to the ground, winded and exhausted. "Molly, the, uhh, medic, said that my, heart, it was, uh, beating three times faster than, uh, normal." Michelle panted, amazed at her own inability to string together a sentence. Again, she tried to stand up, this time propping herself up against the wall, clutching her mutilated arm in relieved happiness. "Listen, back there... I mean... I don't think you're crazy... No, no, I don't. Are you, uh, all right, Carmen?" Michelle looked at the other woman indecisively. "I, uhh... I saw the little girl.... the one in the red dress."
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Molly stood by Michelle as she spoke, fearing for her all the while. When she stood up the first time, she almost immediately fell back to the ground, but by the second time, Michelle seemed to be able to stand. After she had said something about a girl in a dress, Molly intervened and got under the blonde's arm, half keeping her on her feet and half carrying her. "After an episode like that, I'm amazed you can do what you can. Don't test your limits. You may find that the edge of the cliff is closer than it looks from the beginning." "I can... just tired..." "No, you can't. Stop fighting it before your stop your heart. I don't think anyone would like that, not me, you, not your girl-- not Carmen." Michelle looked at Molly with an expression of aggression and annoyance. "What? Don't tell me nothing's going on between you two. I think we all see it." "She's married! She has kids!" "Stop working yourself up like that or I'm going to shoot you up with tranquilizers!" "Fine." "Thank you." Molly hobbled forward, burdened by the off-balance weight of Michelle hanging off her side.
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"Psh. Can't fit through the vent. That's right, come on in when every things gone, right? Well, here is my--" "Where's Carmen?" Alexei payed no heed to Michelle, when he saw that her question had been answered. "You have a problem with surviving, Tan? If you did, I'd have gladly gone with you, and alerted every enemy in a mile! If you have a problem with that, take it up with Flask. I'm sure he'd gladly tell you the same thing. Now, is everyone here?" After asking the rhetorical question and performing a quick head count, and listening as Jacob's massive thuds as he thundered his way towards the group, he asked Flask for a readout of anything behind the door. "Nothing I can see. Keep sharp, though. I don't think they'd have anything like that unguarded." He tried the door; it was unlocked, and even resting slightly ajar. Walking through the heavy door, putting his gun far ahead of the rest of him, Alexei made his way towards some cover, an upturned computer desk. "If you haven't, come on in, the water's fine." he breathed into his headset.
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Post by V on Aug 11, 2008 16:58:31 GMT -5
Carmen just watched as Molly took Michelle away. It seemed she was smiling...and looked much happier. -Ha! I'm not crazy!- she taunted her own thoughts. A report came in on the status of the advance. Seems like it would be easy...but Carmen had something to say. "Flask, are you most certain?" "I am. I don't see anything." "When I had control of the cameras...I'm sure I saw several hostiles." "I am looking at it right now with infrared. It's more empty than my wallet was after my first divorce." "They must have moved then?" "Must have...maybe to engage Omnigen. Either way, this looks like a chance." It seemed the rest of the team agreed, and were moving to the target area. The door was closed...and no sounds were coming from behind it. James slowly opened it. No one was inside. "Flask, scan for any explosives or traps." "On it." They waited a few moments...and then. "Nope...Got nothing. The room looks clean." That message, however, didn't seem to comfort anyone. "This feels like a trap, Flask..." Carmen said. "I know...I'm not too confident about it either...but I swear, I see nothing...we need to go on in anyway." James sighed. "I'll go in first." He pushed the door open fully, and took a step in...then another...then another. Nothing happened. As he approached the middle of the room, nothing of cyborg or security appeared. This room looked like a laboratory, with a glass shield over looking a closed off area. In front of the windows on this room's side was a long desk, with several computers on them. There was one computer, in the center, that looked distinct, not like the others. This must have been the main module. In the middle of the room was a small desk with a laptop computer. "Clear...." He half heartidly said. "Good." Flask said. "Alexei, find the printed files. They will likely be near the main module. Check the drawers and what not around it. Carmen, I want you to search the laptop for the computer file. When you do, store it on a MO disk, and destroy the computer. Overload the hard drive, fry it, whatever. Just make sure it can never be accessed by that computer again. Everyone else, stand guard.
"Understood, Flask." Carmen obeyed. While everyone else took up position, she flipped open the laptop, seeing immediately that it was locked. From her belt, she took out a device used by the marines, to decode security locks. This would be no different. She engaged the USB port, and plugged it into the laptop's On the screen, came a grey pop-up, and in bold letters, the word "Decoding". The 7 slots that made the laptop's password began rapidly flashing numbers. Slot one locked a number 3, slot two a number 5. As Carmen watched this...she started to blink rapidly...until there was a flash of white. The laptop she was starting at...became an ordinateur, a smaller and older computer used in France when she was much younger. She began to scope the room...it looked like a high school computer lab...and she was alone. "H-Hello?" she called, and stood from her spot. No one. "Allo?!" she called again. This time, she was slowly moving towards the door. She placed her hand upon the knob, and twisted. It was a hall, with many windows along the left side. It appeared empty. Carmen began down it. Staring at the outside. "Looks like...I don't know." She stepped closer to the window to stare out. ut her eyes went wide, when she saw something slowly rising from the window. It came slowly ascending...black hair, then a pale forehead...dead black eyes. She identified this easily as that pale little girl. Carmen could help but stare at her, even while backing away. Giggling could heard in the halls...but the pale girl's mouth did not move. "Who are you?" She asked the phantom. No response. "Tell me!" The pale girl then looked away...and began to dissolve...until she was nothing more. Carmen snapped back to consciousness. Breathing deeply, and covered in cold sweat. The computer had decoded the password. And all the files were presented to her. She swallowed, trying to act as if nothing just happened. When she found the file, she took the MO disk, and inserted it into the port, and hit "download to disk". While it start the download, she wanted to see if anyone noticed her condition. Alexei was still leafing through papers, the guards were still guarding, and Molly was doing something with Michelle. "Download complete." The computer's female voice said. It startled Carmen..but she quickly ejected the disk. "F-flask, I got it..." she said with a stutter. "Good..now destroy the computer." "Y-yes sir..." From her belt, she took a very small explosive charge, shaped like a MO disk, and removed the decoder. In the MO drive. she inserted the explosive, and closed it. She then stood back a couple feet, and pressed the detonator. The laptop bounced on the desk once, with a loud bang! sound. The monitors was shattered, the port drive was opening...and smoke emitted from every opening. "Taken care of, Flask..."
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Post by Turn 360 and walk away on Aug 11, 2008 18:21:12 GMT -5
"Would you calm down?" Michelle said, mockingly, as she eased herself into a laying position on top of a low table. "All I'm trying to do is save your life, kid." Molly shook her head and dug around in her sack for a stethoscope, graciously left there by their late medic. Molly pulled Michelle's combat gear down to expose her upper chest and placed the cold metal against her chest. "Just this last time, kid," She said, hearing Michelle's small gasp as the cold device touched her skin. "One minute." Michelle reported, looking at a small timepiece on her wrist. "You're back into a normal rate." "So you can leave me alone now? Thank God!" "What did I ever do to get you to act like this?" Michelle slid off the table and walked towards an open spot in front of a door, behind a table, and drew her weapon. "Mohlay! Weh nehd sohmohune ovah heeah! Cahn yah tahk ah minaht?" " Yeah. I'll be right there. So, Jacob. You know Michelle, right?" "Thaht beh thah littel blohnd oveh dehr, rohght?" "That's the one. And that girl over there? Carmen's her name?" "Ah yah, thaht beh thah guhrl that Mohshehl beh weht lot. Whah d'yah ahsk?" "It's nothing. So, why do they call you "Little Jacob"? You don't look too small to me." "Ah wuhs nehvah ahbel tuh teell." -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- Alexei took to rooting around every filing cabinet in the area, after Carmen took the laptop. Every stout gray cabinet was stuffed with papers, books, and models, but none were what he was looking for. He turned around, and looked at the room enclosed in glass. On the desk, a red light quickly pulsed on and off. "Flask. I'm moving. Keep an eye on everyone else. the files weren't at the computer desk." Alexei moved towards the observation area with a jog, and stopped at the door, just barely cracked open. Moving slowly, and checking the corners numerous times, he entered the darkened room, and flipped a light switch. the room was deserted, and he breathed a sigh of relief as the blinked turned out being from a little alert monitor on the office computer. Alexei hit the spacebar and the monitor hummed to life. in the bottom corner, a pop-up claimed to have 2 new e-mails. He clicked and read. "Hey, what's up? Did you hear? You and me are transferring to Houston? You gonna do it? T.J." Alexei opened the second. "I've been hearing some strange noises from downstairs. You have any idea what's going on? Because everyone up here is little frightened. You've been acting really different since you got that promotion. What's up? T.J." Neither of the messages had a reply sent. Alexei walked away from the computer, and began to look around in there. Lying face-up, with the cover showing was a packet of paper paperclipped in a manilla folder. PEGASUS conscripted by the United Stated Department of Defense Biomechanical soldiers to be mass-produced and maintained as armed forces personnel. HIGH-PRIORITY TOP SECRET "Flask. I have the files." "Good work! Carmen's just gotten the electronic components." Alexei looked up and saw that the ceiling was made up of those foam blocks, like every cafeteria and high school in the country. The one directly above him started cracking, and broke into itself, falling to the ground, and bringing with it most of the top half of a woman in a lab coat. Alexei drew his weapon and quickly backed out of the room, with his weapon aimed at the ceiling. "Flask, we may have company." "I don't see anything." "I just had a corpse dropped on me. It wasn't there before We entered, or we'd have smelled it." "I don't know, Alexei. I don't see anything." Alexei relaxed and looked towards the laptop, which was smoking from the inside. Approaching it, he broke away the faceplate, revealing it's innards. Some of the chips were smoldering. He took out a heavy magnet an affixed it to the face of the hard drive with a huge "THUD!", before pulling it away. "Spetnaz always made me carry one of these around for disabling computers. They said it had 400 pound of pulling force. I don't believe them, but I would rather be safe than sorry." He put the bronze-colored egg back in a pocket. Another ceiling tile fell, and two others. David started hyperventilating and firing at the open holes in the ceiling.
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Post by V on Aug 13, 2008 1:50:43 GMT -5
"Right. I knew to do that, but just did not have a magnet." Carmen said to Alexei, when he did his thing with the magnet. She slipped the MO disk with the Pegasus file into her belt compartment that held her small case of them. "Never know when I am going to need one." She said to herself, making a little giggle. Suddenly, one of the ceiling tiles crashed beside her, causing her to shriek in surprise, and she strafed to the right. Another fell...and then another. The entire team went to weapons ready. Then David began to fire his weapon. There was a loud "ping" and a small shower of blue sparks. "Wait! I saw something..." Flask said through the radio. "Carmen...turn to your right, and fire continuously to left about five feet." He instructed, trying to keep calm. "Right..." Carmen didn't see anything to her right but she trusted Flask. Directly to her right, she started firing her rifle, and facing it left slowly. The bullets put holes in the glass of the testing area, destroyed the monitors....and finally...it seemed they hit something. Four bullets had hit what seemed to be air...but there was a shower of sparks coming from where the bullets hit. A moment later, a distortion became visible...then the actual target. In in the few seconds they saw it...they could see it looked fully robotic. Two glowing blue lights for eyes, a metal humanoid body, with three sharp knife like fingers It didn't even bleed..but it was certainly taking damage. "Haha...I see you know you bastards." Flask said. "I could see them because I had thermal scanners. These guys don't generate much heat, and they have a stealth device. But we can match it. Good thing Carmen is with you guys. Now Carmen...turn on that Sound emitter on your belt. It's used to find hidden explosives...but it can find these suckers, too." Carmen quickly flipped something on her belt, and began to look around. "I can see four of them. Two are by the door, waiting for you guys to get close. And two more are behind you against the wall." Telling his plan out loud, was something Flask found necessary. He wanted to know if these things were capable of understanding. Seems like they couldn't as they held position. "Flask...we cannot see them." Carmen replied. "Hmm...I got it. Throw a smoke grenade by the door and back wall. Their figures can be revealed I bet." "Yes sir..." Carmen detached one from her belt, pulled the pin, and tossed it at the door. The smoke emitted..and the figures became visible. The entire team fired at one, the bullets tore at the metallic being, blue sparks and power surges could be seen all about it. Moments later, it lost the ability to cloak...and then the ability to function. "Looks like one down." Said Flask. When he looked back to his screen, he swore. "Shit. The other ones are moving. Looks like they abandoned their ambush plan! Keep sharp. He saw one was going for Alexei. "Alexei! To your right!" The robotic being had lunged at him wih those sharp knife like fingers, but missed and retreated. During the attack, Flask noticed something. "They lose their stealth ability while they attack..." He said. "Keep your eyes sharp, and everyone watches each other!"
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The group had conglomerated into the center of the room, mostly paired off, trying to be watching themselves and the person standing beside them. Carmen had her spot beside the jumpy kid, David. who was twitching often. "Keep calm..." she tried to tell him. It was more for herself. She was worried he would freak out..and shoot anything that moved. "Please...just shoot if you see the enemy..." "I'll keep you updated as best I can..but it is up to you guys to defend yourself." Flask had broadcasted. "Roger..." Carmen was more vigilant than she has ever been right now. Her senses were as sharp as knives. A distortion to her left, right beside David. "Left!" She shouted to him, and began to fire at the figure. Sparks flew from the bullets colliding, and the hostile retreated. "Flask..this is getting us nowhere..." Carmen could here the others shouting directions and guns going off from the others. "I got an idea...just hold tight..." Carmen nodded. They'd need to trust Flask on this. Distortion in front of her and David. "Forward!" She began to fire, and her bullets seemed to have hit the leg. There was a good sized surge of blue energy. The ability to move the leg was lost it seemed, as it was forced on the knee. The hostile was now flashing between cloaked and uncloaked, crippled. "David, finish it." Carmen said, while she reloaded her rifle. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"What are these things? Ninjas?" James didn't like fighting things he could see....but then again, no one really did. The group was huddling in the center a bit..and were pairing off. He stood beside the person closest to him...which was Michelle. James felt he was at a disadvantage..but her two eyes could very well save his life. "You keep a good eye, alright." He simply told her, having his rifle ready. He scanned his field of view. Nothing yet. There was gunfire from the rest of the group. Turns out they had found enemies. Suddenly, there was distortion to his left. "Shit! there!" He told his momentary partner. He raised his gun to fire..but the hostile had tackled him to the ground. It raise it's right arms to tear him to shred, but grabbed the arm to stop it. He was only slowing the plunge..not stopping it. Luckily, the mechanism that drove the arm wasn't very strong. He could hear bullets hitting the back of this hostile, probably coming form Michelle's gun. Then, there was a big explosion of energy from the back. The hostile did not like that, and immediately evacuated...but did not cloak. Sparks were continuously falling from a bullet hole in the back. "I think it's lost stealth ability..." He told Michelle. He picked his gun up from the ground, and began to shoot at the target. Without a cloak, they were no more than just metal targets. Enough bullets penetrated the target, and it to lost function. "Flask...that is another down." "Good...I am almost done finding out what I need. You just need to hang in there a little longer. Sound radar indicates only one cloaked target left."
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Post by Turn 360 and walk away on Aug 13, 2008 3:47:03 GMT -5
"David, finish it." David looked towards the voice to register who it was, then raised his rifle. Carmen was struggling with a new clip. David fired from the hip at the downed figure, and held the trigger until the recoil climbed half way up the opposite wall. The deed being done, David went back to bouncing n the balls of his feet and darting his eyes from wall to wall. As the wait extended he took to clicking his fingernails on his gun, in between the times he tried to take aim at called targets. "Left!" "Right!" "Left!" David turned his head in every direction. Left! Right! Up! EVERYWHERE! bad guys! shelling! OH FUCK! He began to fire at the walls. Fire!! flashing! SO loud! Oh God! david tore out his earpiece. No more noise! david skittered to Molly, and after little warning, dug in the pack for the blue pills. "Need them!" "Not without--" "YES!" david took the pills and swallowed them. So hard... throat so parched. He sighed. Everything was so quiet. "Damn it, David!" Molly hissed. "Contact!" Alexei said. David looked in the direction of the call, but he didn't see anyone. Michelle fell to her hand and knees, and vomited yellow fluid. David had his rifle ready this time! A guy called his right, and David turned and fired. "Haha! Last one down!" David said, now calm and clear-headed. He remembered his headset, and put the little device back in his ear. "Okay. Files secure. Move to extraction zone." With a slight smile on his face, David stepped forward.
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Michelle nodded in resigned obedience when James told her that all she needed to do was watch. "Of course that's all I need to do! I can't do anything else," Michelle thought. "Shit! there!" Michelle screamed in fright when the black-suited thing jumped at James, and nearly won. she fired at the thing, bullet after bullet after bullet trying to penetrate it's metallic shell. She flipped a small switch and held down the trigger, after seeing the blades of the target nearing her partner, sending the entire clip, or what was left, towards her cross-hair. A huge crash as something big stopped working. She smirked in her small victory as it ran away, taking bullets by the duo all the while. After the think finally fell, Michelle approached him, still watching every angle. "We haven't met before, I don't think. Hi, I'm Michelle. CARMEN! RIGHT!" she said between ragged inhales. The final cloaked enemy sprinted between upturned tables, barely flinching as a shot hit his shoulder, causing the attached arm to fall limp to the floor. Jacob, who abandoned the Impailer for this fight, landed the finishing blow, out of a lucky shot. Alexei said something about the importance about not relying on spray-and-pray. Michelle payed no attention, knowing full well that she just did the same thing, and went with Molly, albeit far separated from each other, to assess the damage. Eventually, Molly approached the other woman. "Heh. guess all out efforts to destroy that laptop was a little pointless." Molly weakly said, holding some bits of the laptop they got Pegasus from. "Okay, fine. I realize we got off on the wrong foot. Could you please just tell me how to make it up to you? Teamwork means survival, here." Michelle made her way over to Carmen. "Finally done, huh? Can you believe it?" she almost came to tears, but choked them back and looked at the other woman giddily.
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A dark SUV pulled up, and stopped at the curb, in front of a small, though homey, light blue house. The lawn was browning, though it still looked fairly nice, and a great elm tree stood, shading the lawn and street. Out of it stepped an older man and woman, in their late 60's, walking towards the house. They had a youthful spring in their step, though the man was balding and the woman's silver hair shone vividly. As they approached their door, two men dressed in off-settingly dark uniforms rose from seats on the house's patio, obscured in shade. "Mr. and Mrs. Vanderwell?" "Yes. What seems to be in the problem?" the balding man said, perplexed. One of the dark-dressed men held out a silver length of chain. The other clapped the man on the back as he was handed the chain. "Oh, no... our baby!" the woman wailed, "Oh David! OH David!"
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Alexei watched as David was struck down two of his men in one fell swoop. Vasquez's moaning was still echoing throughout the room when David found himself in the way of the fleeing Hostile. It's claws tore through his abdomen. "Fucker!" Alexei screamed and fired. "Thah hee es!"Jacob fired. "Damn it, David! The momentum of the hit kept David spinning towards his attacker. Michelle couldn't look towards the headless latin and David, and began heaving up bile. Somehow, he was on his feet still. When Jeremy saw the hostile again, David turned and fired where Jeremy pointed. "he... las.... uhn.... d-dun." He stammered. His foot slid forward, a testament to devotion. Molly approached him was a small rosary. Alexei sighed, and asked the heavens why they decided to enact this. David looked puzzled. He put his hand to his side, and took on a look of utter shock when he felt the warm liquid running over his hand. When he looked down, he fell to the floor. barely being held in by just the shreds of a combat suit, was a long, bloody ribbon of tissue spilling out from his belly. Molly did what she could. David laid in the pain for no more than two minutes. The stress meds numbed his body.
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