Into the Black

StarfallRaptor · **Reply #220 on:** September 24, 2013, 09:25:52 AM

Adrian smirked, dodging back as his visor flew off, clattering to the floor a few feet away from him.
"You think this is because of my implants? Heh.....Hahahaha! Then you're sadly mistaken. Think about that one in hell!"
He said, parrying another of Marcus's attacks before slamming the pommel of his sword into the Doberman's shoulder...

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #221 on:** September 24, 2013, 03:28:20 PM

Lily was struging with a piece of concrete herself. "At least it didn't spread to the rest of--"

Suddenly she dropped the concrete, her eyes went blank, and she reeled.

She wasn't in the workshop any more. At least, that wasn't what she was seeing. She was on a doorstep, and after a few seconds she recognized Soren's. Her gloved hands were sliding a thin laser through the door creak, and with a hiss the lock physically melted. Her gloved hands checked a HUD on her gleaming silver watch, where the words "SECURITY SYSTEM DEACTIVATED" were blinking in red. She pushed the door open...

And then she was back in her own body, collapsed on the floor in shock.

"Somebody's here!" She squealed. "Somebody's outside!"

Serris · **Reply #222 on:** September 24, 2013, 03:45:06 PM

"Are you okay? What are you talking about?" Soren asked. He hauled away an augment that was battered beyond repair.

His HMD suddenly flashed a warning: UNKNOWN BEING HAS BREACHED PERIMETER.

"You two can keep clearing the rubble. I'll see what set off my security system." He headed towards the area where the alert was coming from...the front door of his house!

(OOC - I'm not sure what Lily is seeing but I'll have a looter get too curious.)

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #223 on:** September 24, 2013, 05:18:40 PM

(Ooc: It's whatever this world's equivalent of a CIA agent is. As for HOW Lily saw that, it is currently a mystery.)

Emilena found herself in a tightly sealed room. Several computers with cryptic messages and locked file cabinets sat in the corner.

The untrained eye would instantly begin searching these for clues, but Emilena was more interested in the ink pad on the desk. It was actually a police-grade thumb scan. She realized it would be unlikely for the secret group to leave anything important in the first room; everything in here was no doubt a decoy.

Returning to the previous room, she dragged the security guard down the stairs and pressed his thumb against the ink pad. There was a click behing a large file cabinet, and she pushed it aside to find a hallway.

Heart beating faster, she marched deeper into the unknown.

bushwacked · **Reply #224 on:** September 24, 2013, 05:31:41 PM

Axel watched with alarm as Soren headed back inside his house, then hurried around the rubble piles to Lily's side. "Are you okay?!" He said, helping her to her feet. "What the hell's going on? How do you know someone's outside?!"

----------------------------

Marcus felt a jolt run down his arm as Soren struck it, and his knife fell from his fingers, landing with a thunk point down on the floor. He roared with blind rage and seized Adrian's wrist, yanking him up to eye level with him. "Dodge this you freak," he snarled, as he drew back and slammed his forehead as hard as he could into Adrian's face.

He spun around and threw Adrian across the room, sending him crashing against the bar, smashing through alcohol bottles and dropping out of his sight. Marcus looked at the alcohol dripping down where he'd thrown Adrian. "That suit fireproof?" he called out, as he aimed his revolver and fired at the flammable liquid, igniting it.

StarfallRaptor · **Reply #225 on:** September 24, 2013, 06:18:45 PM

Adrian chuckled, kicking out from behind the bar, flames clinging to his coat as he landed.
"Actually, yes. After you 'killed' me last time, I made sure to be as fire-resistant as I can possibly be."
He taunted, rolling a bottle of alcohol at Marcus's legs, then striking his sword on the ground to ignite it.
"And after this, once I get out of here, you and your terrorist friends are going down. Hard."
He taunted...

Serris · **Reply #226 on:** September 26, 2013, 02:43:26 AM

Soren entered his house to grab his shotgun. Thanks to magnets on his gun and suit, it stuck to his back.

A verbal command to his exoskeleton dialed down the power so he didn't need to worry about accidentally mangling someone.

He scowled as he noticed that someone had melted the lock on his door. The hair on the back of his neck stood up as he ordered the house AI to kill all the lights in his house and switched his HMD to show infrared. Another command switched his two worklights on his helmet to infrared.

Something crashing to the ground in his kitchen got his attention. Charging into his kitchen, Soren saw the intruder. A massive Rhino with a mechanical eye and arms was currently going through all his belongings.

The crook peeled back one of the walls, looking for something.

"Hey ass----! Get out of my house or I shoot!" Soren shouted.

"No need to worry citizen, I am just here toó"

Soren scowled. "Get out. If you're really a cop, go get a warrant and come back."

"Not until I find this person." The Rhino handed Soren a picture of Lily.

Soren's hair curled. "She's not here." It was then he realized that was the wrong thing to say.

The Rhino smiled. "I see. Now I have a few questions to ask you."

"No."

"Perhaps I did not make myself clear. That wasn't a request."

Soren crossed his metal clad arms. "Like I said, come back with a legit warrant and I'll talk."

The Rhino sighed. "Very well." In a lightning fast motion, he picked up Soren and tossed him through the back door and into his yard.His gun, remarkably, was not damaged.

"Axel, hold this please." Soren handed his shotgun to the Rat as he set his exoskeleton to the highest setting.

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #227 on:** September 26, 2013, 03:40:29 AM

(OOC: I'd...mentioned before that it was supposed to be a CIA Agent. I was setting something up. I can't really work with this psychotic rhino. Is he going to further the plot somehow?)

bushwacked · **Reply #228 on:** September 26, 2013, 07:32:46 AM

(OOC: Maybe the Rhino could be the CIA agent, and he was crashing around the house looking for Lily (I'm guessing) and Soren mistook him for a looter? Just an idea to get back to your idea if you were planning something)

Axel gaped at Soren. He looked at the shotgun and took it hesitantly. "Sure, but what-" His eyes widened when he saw the huge wall of muscle charging through after Soren.

"Who the hell is that?!" Axel cried, instinctively firing the shotgun at the rhino, the bullets pinging off the rhino's tough exterior. The gun's kickback was stronger than Axel had anticipated, and it sent him flying back to land on his rump in a daze.

---------------------------------------------

Marcus wrenched his knife from the floor and jumped back from the ball of fire that Adrian had sent at him. "You think I haven't heard that before? We won't stop until every one of you... things is wiped off the planet," he spat, the heat in the room making him breath heavily.

The years of accumulated spills of alcohol and other liquids had taken their toll on the fire safety of the club. The flames easily spread along the wooden floor, climbing up the walls coated with stained fabric and reaching the ceiling.

A wall of flames burst up between them, separating Marcus from Adrian. The smoke made it difficult to breath, and his eyes stung as he glared across at his enemy, ignoring the screams of patrons who'd found themselves trapped by the fire.

StarfallRaptor · **Reply #229 on:** September 26, 2013, 09:37:47 AM

Adrian coughed a couple of times, then swore.
"Where's Emilena? Damnit, this isn't good..."
He thought, eyes flicking through the fire until...there! A door that was hanging ajar, probably the one that Emilena had gone through. He reached into his coat, pulling out a flash grenade and arming it as he looked back towards Marcus.
"Keep telling yourself that. You're the ones who will end up gone."
He taunted, throwing the Grenade down and shielding his eyes as it detonated in a blinding flash, then rushing towards the open door, though not before grabbing as many patrons out of the fire as he could...

Serris · **Reply #230 on:** September 26, 2013, 10:03:42 AM

(OOC - Yeah, we can have that. The Rhino's the agent and Soren thinks he's a common street thug.)

The Rhino finished rooting through the house and set his sights in the backyard. His night vision goggles showed three figures ó and one was a Human woman.

He ignored Soren and Axel as he approached Lily. "Lily. I recall you escaping our tracking drones a while back. Quite a feat. But I'm here for business. The Agency wishes to speak with you."

"Agency?" Soren asked. "If you think posing as a goverment spook's gonna fool me. You're wrong!" Soren charged forward, throwing a punch at his opponent's face. His metal fist, driven with artificial muscles powerful enough to shatter concrete, actually knocked the Rhino back a few feet.

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #231 on:** September 26, 2013, 03:22:22 PM

(OOC: My CIA Agent was going to be a suave MIB who lets his words show his authority...the sort of character you'd expect to be a CIA Agent. I guess I can work with a druggie thug, but he's depressingly one-sided.

Also I thought the workshop and the front room were two different places. Why are Lily and Axel present?)

Lily shrieked and ran as far as she could away from the thug. Finding a charred workbench, she hid underneath it and started shaking uncontrollably.

--------------------------------------

Her anger having given her focus again, Emilena found herself facing a long empty hallway. A locked door was at the end, but her memory of the strip club layout told her that she'd reached the end of the building. This was no doubt a dead end.

She heard footsteps coming her way, two pair coming down the hallway after her. With no hiding places of note, she decided to collapse and play dead, hiding her sword underneath her.

She heard the pair stop. "Hostile spotted. She appears to have passed out."

A radio cackled. "Tapes show she was hit with a neurocotic thirty minutes ago. Apprehend but use extreme caution."

Emilena waited until the pair was close before twirling her sword and bifurcating the closer one. The other opened fire but Emilena used the deceased as a shield as she unholstered his sidearm and finished off his teammate with a shot through the mouth.

Now armed with a gun and sword, Emilena located a small activator on the guard's person and pressed it. It opened a door further down the hallway.

Closing the door behind herself, she progressed further. She was close to her goal. She could sense it.

Nick22 · **Reply #232 on:** September 26, 2013, 03:48:30 PM

Meanwhile Rose was telling marita about what had happened to her since the breakup. it had not been a pretty picture by any means. ' she had been busted with possession of biproxytol, before it had been upgraded to a level 1 controlled substance which carried a 25 year minimum prison sentence. she had gotten 6 months, but had gotten out early for good behavior. she didnt get her possessions back, which included the home movie of her and marita having sex. she had lost her apartment, and been forced to live at the strip club. thanks to her spiraling drug habit she was getting less and less customers, and had to drop her prices to attract anyone.
- so there you have it.. she said, befiore the facade of the club suddenly collaspsed. ' ok, time to get out' marita said opening the dopor thgat was on the streetside. rose grabbed her things and climbed out. it was just in time too, as debris from the collapse landed on the car , crushing it. ' well so much for a ride ' rose muttered. ' dowbn this way' Marita said pointing to the alley.

Serris · **Reply #233 on:** September 26, 2013, 05:20:06 PM

(OOC - Soren found the guy in the kitchen. And ended up getting thrown through the backdoor into his backyard where the workshop is. And if need be, I can rework the whole thing.)

The Rhino shook off the powerful blow and retaliated with one to Soren's chest, which his exoskeleton absorbed. "Stop making this harder than it needs to be. Tell me where Lily went, I'll get her and leave!"

"Why should I?" Soren snapped as he dodged another punch.

"Because if you don't, once I find her, I could have you hauled in for assault on a federal agent and for obstruction of official government proceedings. And trust me, you do not want to be convicted of those charges."

"Tell me what should I cooperate after you busted into my house and trashed the place?"

The Rhino sat on a piece of concrete and sighed as he spoke.

bushwacked · **Reply #234 on:** September 26, 2013, 05:46:06 PM

(OOC: You could say the CIA man sent in the rhino as someone working under him to test out the water, send a message, something like that, and have him appear soon after? Maybe after we've dealt with the rhino problem? He sounds like an interesting character. And Axel / Lily are still out in the yard, Soren got thrown back outside.)

Axel winced as the two traded blows, then stumbled to his feet, tucking the shotgun under one arm. "Keep him away from her!" he shouted, sprinting across the yard to Lily. He bent down breathlessly. "Come on, he's after you! We need to to hide you somewhere!"

---------------------------------------------

Marcus tried aiming his revolver through the fire, but it was no good - the fire prevented him from getting a clear shot on Adrian. Through the haze, he saw the fleeing figure toss something towards him. At the last second, he recognised it at a flash grenade and threw an arm over his face. Even through the shielding, his vision flashed white.

When he lowered his arm, Adrian had vanished. "Don't run! Get back here!" he roared. A loud groaning drew his attention upwards, and with a crash part of the ceiling collapsed in front of him. Marcus swore loudly.

He had to escape the club, but Adrian hadn't seen the last of him.

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #235 on:** September 27, 2013, 03:32:56 AM

Before the rhino could speak, his eyes rolled into his head and he fell over. A smoking hole had appeared on his temples, and blood leaked out of his nose.

"So sorry about that," spoke a newcomer, a tall wolf in a crisp black suit. He put a long thin lethal-looking instrument back in his breast pocket. "Mr. Extasis is what we call a 'loose cannon' at the Bureau. We don't appreciate loose cannons. They don't tend to get results. Luckily, it seems Greg was...shall we say?...one day away from retirement," he smirked.

He bent over and snapped something onto the rhino's collar, and the body was promptly vaporized. "I am very sorry for the distraction. You will be reimbursed in full. Would twelve thousand dollars cover the damages to your apartment?"

-----------------------------------

The next populated room contained two individuals in grey unisuits, who both leapt to their feet when they saw her. She dispatched with both before they could trip a silent alarm.

Emilena was sure she was in the right place this time. The words on the computers were still encrypted, but it was a cypher she recognized from her research on the latest cryptographical advancements. With her rudimentary understanding of the cypher, she accessed their databases.

Without wasting time, she filled a hard drive with everything she could collect. Then, curiosity got the better of her, and she spent far longer than she should have locating the files on her orphanage. With trembling fingers, she began to read about her past.

"Hey. Turn around slowly, and we may ask you who you are before we kill you."

A lithe androgynous figure in a catsuit had two large-barreled revolvers pointed right at her chest. The emotionless expression and use of the royal 'we' identified it as a Strain, a shadowy race of mercenaries who sacrifice everything for cybernetic upgrades, and have dedicated their lives to killing for pay and spending it on improving their cybernetics.

"I would rather die than submit to an abortion of nature like you!" she hissed, and he replied by blasting both of her hands. She cried out and her weapons went spinning onto the floor.

Without further ado he re-cocked his safeties and prepared to fire again.

--------------------------------------

Lily wasted no time racing away with Axel, leaving Soren alone with the wolf.

Serris · **Reply #236 on:** September 27, 2013, 12:36:41 PM

Soren crossed his arms. "Okay first off, I want some answers. Why did this man break into my house and tear apart my kitchen? And who are you people?"

His HMD warned that his exoskeleton's batteries were running low but he ignored it for now.

-----------

Sanjay leapt from the rooftop he was on and onto a repulsorcart. He quickly magnetized the gripping soles on his clothing as the vehicle sped through the skies. Once the vehicle landed, he'd head to the "suburbs", hitch a ride and disappear.

StarfallRaptor · **Reply #237 on:** September 27, 2013, 04:31:23 PM

Adrian dodged around another another chunk of debris falling from the ceiling, rounding a corner to see the Strain menacing Emilena. In a heartbeat, he darted between them, drawing his sword and facing the mercenary.
"You. You're a Strain... How the hell could you choose to do that to yourself. To sacrifice your humanity for power...you're a monster."
He said coldly, then turned to Emilena.
"Emilena. Listen. This place is coming down around us, and we're gonna have to get our of here."
He said, smiling softly at her.
"Also, that outfit looks good on you."
He chuckled...

bushwacked · **Reply #238 on:** September 27, 2013, 05:16:03 PM

"Hey, there's another guy down there!" Axel said, pulling Lily over to the window, his nose pressed up against the glass. "Looks like some kind of spy or something..."

After running from the rhino, he'd helped her back into Soren's house through an open window, then lead her upstairs to hide in the bathroom. When he heard talking outside, Axel had crept forward to look down cautiously.

He craned his neck. "I don't see the big guy anymore, but he was looking for you." He swallowed. "We really need to find out who you are. And fast."

----------------------------------------------

Marcus coughed raggedly, his lungs filling up with smoke. The cave-in from the roof had blocked his route to the door and he darted his head around, looking for another exit. The windows were small, but Marcus thought his large frame should just be able to squeeze through.

He skirted past a flaming table and made his way over. "Help me.. please..." A small voice said behind him. Marcus turned around and saw the drunk he'd been talking to earlier lying on the floor, a chunk torn from his leg. "I can't move, I think I've been shot..."

Marcus sighed and took a step towards him. Grabbing the man by the scruff of the neck, he started dragging him towards the window, ignoring his cries of pain as his leg bumped against overturned furniture. Stooping to pick up a chair, he threw it as hard as he could against the glass, shattering it. He heaved the drunk through, then followed, squeezing himself out.

He landed in a grungy alley, next to the injured drunk who lay amongst the jagged shards of glass. "You should call an ambulance. You're losing blood," he said, looking down at him.

The drunk writhed in pain on the floor, clutching his leg. "I don't have a phone... please..."

Marcus grunted. "Not my problem," he muttered, as he turned around and made his way down the alley.

Nick22 · **Reply #239 on:** September 27, 2013, 09:55:01 PM

Marita and roase soon came upon the drunk, whose rose recognized as a regular at the strip club. his leg was missing a chunk and blood was pooling out of it. ' Hold still' Marita said as she pulled out some gauze and a bandage. marita usually carried a small first aid kit with her, fortunately fr the drunk, she had brought it woth her. she wrapped the area of the wound tight with the gauze then pulled out a small vial of rubbing alcohol, which would be used to sterilize the wound. the gauze soon was crimson red as it absorbed the blood, but at least the drunk was no longer bleeding out. ' mr gittsun?' Rose asked the Drunk. " we'rre heare to help you. ' just put your arms around mine and mariotas shoulders and we'll help carry you out of there, until we can call an ambulance.' She said.