Into the Black

Nick22 · **Reply #1540 on:** April 17, 2014, 11:02:10 PM

or there might be a car parked somewhere' Marita said as she ran after Soren. rose and marie were right behind her at this time of night there was not many cars on the road.. marie sighed as she looked up and down the road- there were no cars in sight ' marita looked at her phone ' they had 4 minutes left.

Serris · **Reply #1541 on:** April 17, 2014, 11:22:25 PM

Soren never thought he'd hope there was traffic but sure enough, he found himself wanting.

Even the steady drone of repulsorcars and flying frames had vanished. All that he saw was the pallid glow of street lights.

"Okay, there's no traffic. And we've got four minutes left." Soren sighed and put the safety on his rifle back.

"Well, I guess we're boned." Anne got out a packet of pills from her dress. "Well, I'm dying on my own terms, not theirs!"

"Anne! Don't do that! We'll think of something!"

Soren looked around. "Any ideas?"

Anne looked at the pills and shrugged. She put them back in her dress. She then noticed a "No Tresspassing" sign on the battered fence. "Guys, I have an idea. It's seriously illegal and wrong but I don't think we have a choice."

Soren snorted. "I already carjacked someone and committed murder. Albeit, murder of a bag of shit."

Anne looked at her watch. "Look, we get the police to respond, kill the cop, dump the body and swipe the car."

Soren looked askance. "Are you fucking serious!?"

"Got any better ideas?"

Nick22 · **Reply #1542 on:** April 17, 2014, 11:33:04 PM

marita suddenly noticed a car lying in a ditch further down the road; guys look..' an abandoned car! she said pointing to it.. ' soren, you know how to to hot rig a a car right..' she shouted as she ran towards it. upon reaching it she noticed the windows were dusty:the car had been there awhile.. ' someone must have abaindoned this here..' she said..

Serris · **Reply #1543 on:** April 18, 2014, 12:29:25 AM

"Modern cars can't be hot-wired. They need a radio signal from the key to start," Anne cut in. She then smiled and tapped her horn. "And I got a universal key!"

She led the group over to the car and climbed into the driver's seat. She closed her eyes and focused as the microprocessor in her skull tried to spoof the reciever in the car.

The electric motor suddenly started up with a whine. "Okay, I managed to use my horn to trick the domputer into thinking there's a key." She looked at her watch. "We've got like two and a half minutes left."

Soren bundled into the passenger's seat. He decided against buckling up as he may need to use his rifle.

Nick22 · **Reply #1544 on:** April 18, 2014, 12:36:48 AM

marita jumped into the back seat, and Marie and rose joined her. just drive anne!' rose cried. ' we need to find a safe place..' marita sighed with relief as the car pulled onto the road.' we just need to drive towards the outskirts of the city..

bushwacked · **Reply #1545 on:** April 18, 2014, 05:46:15 AM

Axel popped his head out of cover, aiming the shotgun at the rogue officers taking cover on the other side. Yellow flashes of light illuminated the room as they exchanged gunfire, the darkness making it hard to see if he was hitting anyone. Finally, his gun clicked. He dropped back down and let the gun fall to the floor in frustration. "Crap! I'm out!" As long as Emilena doesn't run out of bullets, we should be okay... He couldn't see how much time they had left, but it couldn't be much longer.

Axel shook his head. He couldn't just sit here and do nothing. He looked at Lily. "I'm gonna try and grab a gun from one of the bodies..." he started to say. Then a metallic clink stopped him as something landed in between them. Axel squinted down at it, and felt himself go cold when he realised that it was a grenade. He stared at it blank faced for a second then dived for it, a strange whistling noise escaping him. "Ohfuckohfuckohfuck!" Fumbling for it, Axel grasped the grenade, stood up and blindly lobbed it back across the lab in the direction of the rogue officers, then knelt back down and squinted his eyes shut.

The man who'd thrown it yelled as he felt something bonk against his head. He caught the object as it fell, and his face paled as he and the other officers saw what it was. "Motherfu-" In the closed confines of the lab, the explosion was deafening. Shrapnel, and parts of the computer array system were thrown across the room. With a wet splat, a foot landed next to Axel.

He waited, then slowly stood up when he didn't hear anything else, his ears ringing. Nothing but bits were left of the rogue officers. "I... I think it's over," Axel said, helping Lily up then nodding across to Emilena. Feeling his phone vibrate, he took it out, trying to control his shaking fingers, and read the text from Tony. Taking cover in lab, safe from bomb. Hide, regroup when it's over, he sent back, then started when he saw the time.

"1 minute! We've got to seal the room!" Axel shouted. He turned to the door and heaved it shut... then froze when he heard a huge crash behind him. Turning slowly, he saw that a large section of the lab's wall, weakened by the grenade's blast, had collapsed outwards, flooding the room with light and exposing it to the outside. Axel blinked. "Well, shit."

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #1546 on:** April 18, 2014, 02:52:21 PM

Emilena blinked. "We're...uh...we're fucked," she finally admitted, looking at the plastered remains of their protection against the pulse. "I mean, really you are, Axel. Lily and I will survive, the only augmented parts of me are my hands."

Twenty seconds left.

Lily balled her fists. "No..." she whispered, and it wasn't a whisper of desperation or disbelief; her tone was commanding and defiant. I've been fighting to control a psion in my mind for the past week; I psionically powered this very bomb, I am not about to let it let it tell me what that pulse will do to my loved one.

As the remaining seconds ticked off the clock, she wrapped her arms around Axel and touched their foreheads together. Emilena just stood off to the side, seeing if she could spot any way to save her hands from the coming EMP pulse. Sadly there was nothing in the way of a shielded box or anything.

bushwacked · **Reply #1547 on:** April 18, 2014, 06:10:10 PM

20 seconds... Rhaegson sniffed and pulled out a radio. 10 seconds... The man sitting next to him licked his lips and drew back the safety on his assault rifle. The timer kept ticking down. 5...4...3...2...1... Rhaegson smiled. 0. Inside the van, the bomb beeped, and started humming. Slowly, the noise built up, growing louder and louder. Citizens walking past the vehicle started to pause, looking at it curiously. They started to back away nervously when the windows in the van started to rattle. The bomb started to shake, its vibrations growing violent...

And then, with a sudden roar that resonated through the body of everyone nearby, a huge blue wave erupted from the van. The windows exploded as it shot up in the air, then spread out in a growing dome formation, the blue light washing over buildings and shooting down the streets as the dome traveled outwards, spreading over the city of Lanthae.

From inside the car, Rhaegson could hear screaming, cars crashing. One of the people who'd taken an interest in the van, a dalmatian, fell to the floor and started convulsing. Raising the radio to his mouth, he pressed the button on the side. "We're a go. Have fun, boys." The man next to him grinned, and got out of the car, making his way towards the shaking dalmatian.

Throughout Lanthae, the Purifiers began their slaughter.

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

Marcus shot down another approaching member of the mob, then ducked back down behind cover to reload. The Purifier next to him shouted for more ammo, and Marcus tossed him a spare clip. "Keep fighting!" he shouted, his voice hoarse. "It's almost time! Just..." The doberman stopped when his ears picked up a faint buzz.

Turning, he looked in the direction it was coming from. Far in the distance, a blue glow was getting brighter... and then Marcus saw the pulse itself, rushing towards the base, the buzz turning into a roar that grew louder with every passing moment. As the Purifiers around him started cheering, Marcus smiled.

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

Axel swallowed numbly, Emilena's words drowned out by the panic rushing through him. Looking dazed, he stepped towards Lily. As she put her arms around him, Axel felt his frame start trembling. He gritted his teeth and let out a breath as he heard a rumbling from outside get louder and louder. Axel hugged her tightly.

"I love you. I love you," he choked as their foreheads touched. He squeezed his eyes shut as a blue light rushed through the hole in the wall and flooded the lab.

Serris · **Reply #1548 on:** April 19, 2014, 01:37:06 AM

Anne screamed as the pulse washed over her. She was far enough that the pulse didn't fry her augments but it still caused massive amounts of pain. The car was now at the outer rim of Lanthae where they were now actually at ground level. Sprawling fields of algae and assorted farms as well as a few factories provided a huge contrast to the towering black neon lit monoliths of the Lanthae city core.

She gritted her teeth and clutched her hands to her forehead. The car swerved wildly as she took her hands off the steering wheel.

"Anne! Get a fucking hold of yourself!" Soren screamed as he reached over and wrestled with the steering wheel to keep them from ending up inside an algae farmer's tank. The mare was still screaming in agony as the remaining pulses continued to wash over them.

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

(Dr. Jiang's Clinic)

The clinic was shielded so all the Augments inside were unharmed.

Unfortunately, the same could not be said of the security systems. Thanks to the pulse, they had been fried ó and anyone seeking to do harm could just walk in.

"We need to move," a Krait nurse exclaimed.

Doctor Jiang turned on the TV. Live images of Purifiers running amok and slaughtering Augments and allies" alike ó in horrifyingly sadistic and innovative ways; the screen showed a group of Purifiers throwing a young Augment, not much older than ten years old, off an elevated sidewalk and onto the train tracks below.

Chants of "Death to Gleamers!" and "Burn in hell, orgo-traitors!" filled the night air.

The Chinese doctor then turned the TV off. "We can't move now. It looks like the whole city's affected. If we leave now, we'll all be killed. We need to stay here until the furor dies down ó and then we move."

He reached into desk and swapped out his left hand for one that contained a two foot vibroblade. It was intended to laborers to use in cutting concrete and other hard materials but like many class 2 augments, it has been often been misued as a weapon.

(OOC - Orgo-traitor is a term that refers to a Baseline who has a relationship with an Augment. It doesn't matter if the relationship is sexual, friendly or even just professional. Needless to say, this is a highly offensive term.)

Nick22 · **Reply #1549 on:** April 19, 2014, 02:26:21 AM

pull over soren! Marita said loudly, as rose and marie held onto the dseats in front of them. ' get her back here so we can calm her down! pull over to the side of the road; ' marita looked at her phone,the pulse was far enough away that her phone wasnt fried.'obvious;y the bomb has gone off and those loons have begun attacking anyone they can get theor filthy hands on..'

Serris · **Reply #1550 on:** April 19, 2014, 02:34:09 AM

Soren straddled the center console and wrestled with the wheel as he pulled the car over to the side of the road. On the other side of the fence was an algae farm.

Anne staggered out of the car. "My head," she moaned. She collapsed onto the hard tarmac.

Soren sighed and got out of the car. He placed both arms under the mare's armpits and tried to drag her into the backseat.

After a few minutes of backbreaking labor, she was safely in the backseat. Soren wiped some sweat off his forehead.

He turned to Marita. "We need to get in contact with Tony and the others!"

Soren looked off into the distance. "If they successfully do a pogrom in Lanthae, what's to stop them from doing a nationwide one?" He shuddered at the implications. What he had once thought was a small-time group of thugs had now turned out to be a group of genocidal anti-Augment fanatics.

Nick22 · **Reply #1551 on:** April 19, 2014, 02:48:38 AM

i'll send Tony a text message' Marita agreed sghe began texting 'Outside of city, pulse too far away to fry phones but did gave Anne massive painful jolts. will need to regroup. what is best place to meet up?' marita sent the text then sighed.'those poor people ' Marie said, the full knowledge of what was going on, sinking in, and the golden retriever began to weep. rose was cradling annes head and trying to keep her stable.

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #1552 on:** April 19, 2014, 10:38:40 AM

As the pulse washed over the lab, Emilena cried out and fell to the ground as her hands sparked and sent her to her knees. Her hands literally would not function anymore, and blood started to trickle out from her cuticles as the inner wires frayed and short circuited.

Axel, on the other hand, was unharmed by the pulse. As it washed over them, Lily squinted her eyes and clenched his hands in her fists. The pain he would have have felt was absorbed into her body and the harmful effects of the pulse could not enter her domain.

Some of the surviving wounded on the floor cried out as the pulse didn't spare them from its effects. A few seconds later, the pulse had passed.

Emilena, half preoccupied with her bleeding hands, still spared Lily a surprised look. "How did you...?"

Lily smiled softly. "Psionics are a mental strength, and I've had training from hell these past few days..."

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

Inside the car, Nairda's broken body convulsed as it finally succumbed to the pulse it had sustained over the past few milliseconds. As he flatlined, he managed the strength to grab one of his teammates ignoring him and pull the girl close to him.
"T-tell...Emilena...tell her I...love her..."
He choked out, then, as his hand went limp, he managed the ghost of a smile as a single tear rolled down his face. He would later be buried in an unmarked grave, without ceremony or mourners, just another casualty of the city that he had fought for.

Pterano · **Reply #1553 on:** April 19, 2014, 12:06:35 PM

Tony managed to jump down into the tunnels just in time, killing his cell service and sealing the cover shut. Panting, he waited, though was unable to tell the effects of the devastation up top. The pulse served to fry everything, knocking out the city's defenses and cooking hundreds of thousands of augments at once.

"Wait!" Tony held up his paw, wondering if the others had made it to the lab and survived. "Just wait... give it..." he checked his phone, "ten minutes."

As the defenses dropped citywide, agents of Kalis observed the spectacle, having taken proper precautions to avoid the pulse by moving to just outside the city's limits. There was no point to being in the city anyway, after what was about to be unleashed.

Broadcasting the news out to the fleet, the message was received without problems. Kalis's fleet admiral once again approached him. The dark warlord was standing calmly on the bridge of his flagship, still staring out into the dark. "Lord Kalis..." the admiral began.

"I know... I sensed it..." Kalis responded in his wheezing, raspy voice. "So much death... it's wonderful! It courses through my veins... enlivens me with a certain kind of vigor! Open the gate, Admiral Carrack."

"Yes, my lord." Carrack bowed at the waist, and turned. "Open the gate! Prepare to jump!"

Soon, a blue spark exploded in front of the gathered fleet, growing larger and larger until a portal took form, appearing like a miniature blue-black hole that rotated clockwise in on itself. It grew in size until it was several miles across, easily large enough for the fleet to pass through. Gate-jumping was a process that bent the fabric of space-time and allowed faster than light travel across vast distances provided there were relays existing at points A and B. Most major cities had relays for the delivery of goods long distances, and Kalis's fleet had an array of relays equipped on its carriers that were normally reserved for experimental space travel but could be used to traverse the planet just as easily. With Lanthae's government now in total chaos, there was no way to prevent Kalis's fleet from making an unauthorized jump into the city.

The ships' engines rumbled to life, and began moving towards the gate, which quickly sucked them through like a vacuum, and they streaked across the sky like meteorites before suddenly appearing over Lanthae's morning sky.

Massive ships began blotting out the sun, and the attack was swift and merciless. Explosions and sheets of flame blossomed around the city as the aerial bombardment commenced.

Inside the Purifier base, Tony was just emerging back into the dusty reactor room after ten minutes when he could feel the ground shaking all around him. "What the hell?" he demanded, struggling to keep his balance. "Is this part of the Purifiers' attack?" he wondered aloud, looking around.

"No!" Vergil exclaimed, pointing upward out the windows now. "Look!" Tony craned his neck and gazed out the windows, gasping as he saw a titanic aerial battleship looming overhead, resembling a giant hammerhead shark as it opened a heavy caliber fire on the Purifier base. The shots ripped gaping holes in the complex and started to leave craters on the grounds large enough to drive multiple big rigs through rather comfortably.

"What the... hell?" the ferret whispered, and noticed Vergil seemed shocked to see this particular ship.

"No... it can't be!" the white gecko gasped.

"What? What?" Tony proclaimed, trying to press Vergil for answers.

"It's Kalis's fleet! I... I recognize it!" he replied, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Kalis? What's he doing here?" Tony asked.

"Wish I knew!" Vergil responded, still looking at the ship as more shots tore into the base.

"We... we gotta get out of here!" Tony stammered. It was clear the base would be flattened in a matter of minutes if this kept up. Tearing his phone out of his pocket, he silently prayed it was still working, and much to his relief, could see that it was. The tunnels had protected it, and he sighed in relief as he fumbled with the screen, noticing he had a message from Marita, and quickly read it. outside the city! he replied, and began writing a message to Axel. You guys make it? We gotta get to the car! Still at the tunnel he wrote. The one small glimmer of hope was that the labs were located close to the old reactors, so it shouldn't take very long for Axel and the others to make their way back here if they could. He also noticed a message from one of his father's capos, indicating they were pulling back in the face of the aerial attack.

As the attack over Lanthae commenced, the government was sending out what distress messages it could, pleading for help. The nearest aerial fleet was some distance away, but did respond to the message, and began making for Lanthae. As they lacked gate-jumping capabilities, they would have to travel at sub-light speeds to the city, but even despite this, Admiral Bryce McCormick vowed to do his damnedest to reach the city in a timely fashion with the 9th Fleet, as Kalis was a wily and dangerous warlord they'd been hunting for some time now, and had finally appeared over one of the world's largest cities.

Nick22 · **Reply #1554 on:** April 19, 2014, 01:02:00 PM

broadstree was defending the police department from assault by purifiers, their bodies lay blocking the doorway as one by one they fell to broadstreets bullets.. the city was in ruins, and the death toll was likely near 1 million. broadstreet cursed the purifiers as the last attacker fell dead.' we need to gget out of the city and regroup..'take whatever vehicles you can get, and bring along any survivors you can pick up..' he ordered. the surviving officers saluted him and hjeaded out.broadstreet then went to the armory, picked out a bulletproof vest and.put it on. he then grabbed a pair of guns and as much ammo as he could, then headed out the back of the police station to his car. like many police issued car the windows were bulletproof. broadstreet headed out of the police parking garage and headed towards the city outskirts.
_ tonys alive! ' marita said upon receiving the text message ' nairda isnt' rose said indicating his limp body..'we'll have to bury him somewhere'' marie replied as marita sighed upon seeing nairda's body.' that'll have to wait until we get reunited with the others. I'm driving for now' marita said.

Serris · **Reply #1555 on:** April 19, 2014, 03:29:41 PM

"Forget burying him!" Soren shouted. "We'll just have to ditch his body by the side of the road!"

Anne fished in the pockets of her dress. "Any of you got some headache pills?"

Nick22 · **Reply #1556 on:** April 19, 2014, 03:43:17 PM

i have some' marie said ' i have them for when i get dizzy from climbing stairs' she said digging into her purse and coming out whuiith a white asparin bottle ' here take a couple' she said giving the bottle to anne.' marita started driving the car' we'll dump him off once anne is better' she said. she sent tony a text' nairda is dead. everyone else ok.reply once you are out of city.'

Serris · **Reply #1557 on:** April 19, 2014, 04:11:49 PM

Anne took about five of the pills and gulped them down without water.

Soren looked around the farms that surrounded them. "What are we going to do now? We can't fight against all these nuts!"

Nick22 · **Reply #1558 on:** April 19, 2014, 04:55:41 PM

we are going to have to start over somehow' marita said.' we'll need to stop these guys, however, in order to do that..how we are going to do that.. well i dont knowe..

bushwacked · **Reply #1559 on:** April 19, 2014, 08:25:28 PM

As the pulse entered the room and Lily's grip tightened, Axel shuddered at the tingling sensation that ran through his body... then it was over. Hesitantly, he opened his eyes and was surprised to see that his vision still seemed to work. Glancing down, he flexed his fingers and gave a small laugh, disbelievingly, when they actually moved. "Holy crap, I'm... okay!" He looked at Lily and smiled. "I... I've got no idea how you did that, but... thank you..." He hugged her and kissed the tip of her nose.

When Axel pulled back, he saw the state Emilena was in and his eyes widened. "Oh jesus... We've got to get out of here..." He started to make his way over to her when a dull boom from somewhere in the distance made the ground tremble. Axel paused for a second. "What's..." There was the sound of another explosion, this one much, much closer and the floor jolted beneath him, hard enough to send him stumbling into one of the metal cabinets. "What the hell's going on?!" he gasped. Feeling his phone vibrate again, he snatched it out and saw Tony's message. "Ah crap..." On our way! he sent back, then looked quickly between Lily and Emilena.

"Tony's waiting for us in the tunnels, it's our only way out of here!" Axel rushed over to the Emilena and helped pull her to her feet. "Come on, we've gotta go!"

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

Marcus shoved a Purifier out of the way of the ship's gunfire, then rolled back to avoid it himself. His mouth twisted into a snarl as, sliding to his feet, he looked up to take in the flying ship that had opened fire on them. What the fuck is going on?! Gunships?! Where the hell had they come from?!

A tower started to collapse behind him. It smashed onto the ground just behind him with a deafening crash, crushing several unfortunate people, dust and debris flying outwards. Marcus leaped into one of the craters to avoid the parts flying lethally through the air, then scrabbled back up the other side, spitting out dust and looping the strap of his assault rifle over his shoulder. Glancing at the base as it crumbled before the ship's gunfire, he could see staying here was pointless. "We're retreating!" Marcus shouted across to the Purifiers who'd managed to take cover and avoid being torn apart. "Get moving! Now!" Charging through the alleyways of the base, sprinting to avoid the bullets that tore through its structure, Marcus led the remaining Purifiers across the compound to the exit on the western side.

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

Rhaegson blinked sweat out of his eyes as he took cover from the aerial bombardment, looking up into the sky. His men had been given orders for different strategies to adopt in the event of various problems arising... but warping spaceships? Didn't see that coming... Now that's just fuckin' rude...

He spat to the side and looked around at the men who'd gathered with him. Staying up on ground level obviously wasn't an option. Across the street, he could see an entrance leading to the subway system - if they could make it down there, they'd be able to take cover, regroup and come up with a new plan in response to this, he regretted to admit, unforeseen set-back. Rhaegson just had to hope the other Purifiers would realise the same thing.

He pointed across. "Get into the subway! Go!" Rhaegson waited for them to look at where he was gesturing, then sprint across. Gritting his teeth, he tore after them, ducking his head as he ran through the flaming debris that rained down on them. Raising his eyes, Rhaegson saw they'd all managed to make it down - he was the last Purifier left up top. A few more steps brought him closer to the stairs. He was almost there...

Then a massive explosion next to him threw him to the side. He landed with a crack, his left arm snapping as it twisted under his body. When Rhaegson regained consciousness 10 seconds later, he coughed and rolled over onto his back. Looking up, he could see the ship hovering way up overhead, continuing to fire down at Lanthae. He couldn't hear as building parts crashed to the floor near him, couldn't hear anything, and it occurred to him, almost absent-mindedly, that he might be deaf. Gotta get moving...

Rhaegson tried to get to his feet... but he couldn't move. Frowning, he raised his head, looking down at his body... or at least, what was left of his body, which now ended at his waist. Below was just a red smear, with the start of an intestinal coil poking out. Looking around, he squinted and could just make out one of his legs, torn and bloody, lying a couple of meters away. The strength in his neck suddenly gave and he let his head fall back to the ground, his vision starting to darken, the colours fading. Well, that puts a crimp in my day, Rhaegson thought. Then he died.