Darwin's Soldiers

f-22 "raptor" ace · **Reply #540 on:** January 30, 2009, 11:41:08 PM

"Do you think we can re establish communication with the others in the cafeteria,' werner asked shelton.

Serris · **Reply #541 on:** January 31, 2009, 01:09:08 AM

Siberys nodded at Shelton and used his telekinetic powers to jam the hatch shut. "Okay Shelton, how far are we to the destination?"

-------

James, Zachary and the Dhole finally reached the reactor control room.

"Now how to restart this thing?" The Dhole asked.

"I'm a biologist not a fusion reactor operator." James replied.

"Call Shelton." Zachary suggested.

"Good idea." James then pulled out his portable radio. "Shelton, this is James. I have reached the fusion reactor and I am at a loss at how to restart it."

-------

The Iguana guard looked at Warner. "Communication with these radios is not dependent on the power so we should be able to reach them."

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #542 on:** January 31, 2009, 08:40:50 PM

Shelton nodded. "Right. However, whoever shut the blast doors must be in the control room. That means they can intercept our messages and possibly block them from reaching the others, depending on their level of expertise. But that'll change once we've got auxiliary control, which isn't far from here. Follow me." And he began leading the way down the hall.

Mirumoto_Kenjiro · **Reply #543 on:** February 01, 2009, 05:37:44 PM

Vic again takes the rear of the group as they started again towards the auxiliary room.

----------

Dr. Joe takes the lead of the party away from the cafeteria towards the ruins of her laboratory. Although "untouched" since the intitial explosion that killed everyone in the room but Dr. Joe and Snow, the darkened room gave a new aura of dread in the survivers' spines as they entered...

StarfallRaptor · **Reply #544 on:** February 01, 2009, 07:10:11 PM

Hawkeye flicked his mounted flashlight on, scanning the room warily.
"Can you now tell us what we're searching for?"
He asked, though there was no impatience in his voice, but rather a quietly affectionate tone...

Neku flickered an electrical orb into his hand, scanning the rubble with a small shiver of unease...
_________________________________________________________________________

Next to Shelton, Cale faded out of view, following in close formation to the team...

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #545 on:** February 05, 2009, 09:09:52 PM

"Kerzach," asked Shelton. "You getting any readings on life signs? Or maybe directions? I don't want to get turned around in the dark."

He switched to James. "There are several ways to juice the fusion reactor. You'll need to generate an electric pulse, which is usually done with--"

He broke off when a loud creaking sound came from either side. Everyone froze.

Suddenly the floor collapsed underneath Shelton. He let out a cry as he fell to somewhere below their level.

"Shelton!" cried Siberys, peering down.

"Do you see his flashlight beam?" asked the Iguana.

"No," replied Siberys. "But at the same time I don't think he fell that far."

There were other noises coming from inside the trapdoor,

"Guys, do you hear--" Siberys started, before his feet were knocked out from under him. Dark figures started crawling out of the trapdoor.

"We're under attack!"

Serris · **Reply #546 on:** February 06, 2009, 12:08:33 AM

The Iguana flicked on his flashlight and readied his pistol.

Dr. Kerzach pulled out his switchblade.

Siberys telekinetically hurled his unseen attacker away and got back onto his feet. "We'll have to find Shelton but these things could be dangerous."

"My laptop has no power." Dr. Kerzach said.

--------

"Shelton! We need those directions!" James said.

"Is there an instruction manual somewhere?" Zachary suggested.

"A fusion reactor is a complex piece of machinery it takes several hundred hours of training to operate properly. And we don't have time for that."

StarfallRaptor · **Reply #547 on:** February 06, 2009, 12:23:02 AM

Cale swore, creating an electrical orb to strike the nearest attacker, and grabbed a radio.
"Shelton! You're right about us not..."
He paused to create a glass sword to strike at another group of the attackers, then resumed.
"About us not having time! Should I just give the reactor a kick-start?"
He asked, fending off another attacker as he charged an electrical aura around himself...

From the shadows, the halved wolf and the straitjacket-bound figure watched silently, contemplating their next move...

Serris · **Reply #548 on:** February 06, 2009, 12:29:57 AM

"Who are you!?" James demanded.

The Dhole was listening to the conversation over the radio. "The electromagnets that compress the plasma need a strong electric current to start and the backup generators are dead."

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #549 on:** February 06, 2009, 01:18:13 AM

Meanwhile, below them, Shelton had been bound and gagged. He tried to struggle or shout, but to no avail, as he was dragged down a dark tunnel, away from the scuffling above.

StarfallRaptor · **Reply #550 on:** February 06, 2009, 01:18:25 AM

Cale smirked.
"It's me, James. Cale. Yes, the same one who attacked you before. But now, I'm working on your side. I'll clarify later. If we have a later."
He said, clasping the radio to his armband, then turning to face the generator.
"Right. Strong electrical current. Shouldn't be a problem."
He said quietly, forcing all his power to his hands, firing a massive surge of energy into the generator...

As he did so, a pair of the shadowed creatures lunged for him, but were batted aside by the two other rogue experiments...

f-22 "raptor" ace · **Reply #551 on:** February 06, 2009, 01:23:18 AM

Werner felt something smack across the back of his head before blacking out.

Serris · **Reply #552 on:** February 06, 2009, 01:38:17 AM

The Dhole was monitoring the console. "The electromagnets are online." She then pushed a button labeled: "fuel injection". A loud hiss was heard as the hydrogen isotopes were injected into the reactor.

"The computer should take it from here. It will take a bit for the generator to warm up." the Dhole said.

The lights in the area flickered and gradually brightened.

James then radioed Shelton."Shelton, we've got the power back on."

"'Several hundred hours of training' huh?" Zachary said, somewhat mockingly.

"I trained as a fusion reactor technician before. It is complex but this console is mostly automated." the Dhole countered.

------

Dr. Kerzach stabbed one of his attackers before he was choked out by another one. He managed to retract and pocket his switchblade just before losing consciousness.

Siberys was hit by a tranquilizer dart and collapsed.

StarfallRaptor · **Reply #553 on:** February 06, 2009, 11:12:25 AM

Cale started as a sting from a tranquilizer dart struck him in the neck. He staggered, firing a few more shocks into his attackers before succumbing to the drug and falling to the floor. The wolf and the straitjacket-bound figure were struck, too, each lashing out with a few more attacks before they too fell into darkness...

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #554 on:** February 06, 2009, 05:41:06 PM

As Shelton was dragged down the hallway, he realized the ground had been sloping upward for the past few minutes. That means he's probably being taken back onto the main floor.

Light was coming from the end of the hallway. At the same time, he started hearing voices.

" 'Home'! Try Home!"

"I did, you idiot! It wasn't right!"

"Are you sure you typed in correctly?"

"CafÈ!" suggested a third voice. "Do CafÈ!"

"We only have one more try before it locks us out, I'm not wasting it on--" the second voice broke off as Shelton was dragged into the room by his two assailants.

Shelton recognized this room as the entrance to auxiliary control. But the door was sealed shut, and one of the three men was standing at a control panel.

"Will this guy know the right answer?" He demanded.

"Probably. He was the one that wouldn't shut up the whole time his group was hiking here," responded the man holding Shelton's left arm.

One of the other men pulled Shelton forward, and slapped him across the face.

"Ow! Pleased to meet you too," Shelton muttered, feeling his lip. It was cut.

The man glared. "What's the password to get into the control room?" he demanded.

"How the hell should I know?"

The man pulled him over to the control panel. It had a keypad and a single question blinking on the monitor. Two of the three answer boxes were filled in, reading 'home' and 'work'.

"A four-letter word for where someone left the cake?" Shelton read, laughing. "I don't even listen to that kind of stuff and I know it's rain. Are you all musically deficient or--" he broke off, realizing what he'd just done. "Uh oh."

The man typed in 'rain'. The door unlocked, and the five men, with Shelton still a prisoner, piled into auxiliary control.

Serris · **Reply #555 on:** February 06, 2009, 09:10:10 PM

"Shelton!? Are you all right?" James radioed.

"We need to get out of here." the Dhole added.

The group then headed back to the surface.

----------

"Hey, the power's back!" Hicks said.

"Excellent, let's see if we can slow Zanasiu down a bit." Montgomery said. He then activated a defensive turret near the basement entrance.

----------

"Siberys? Neku, Dr. Joe, Vic, anyone?" Zachary radioed each in turn.

"I have a bad feeling." the Dhole said.

Suddenly an autoturret popped from the ceiling and aimed at the group.

"Scatter!" Zachary shouted.

The group dove for cover as the turret started shooting. Zachary took cover in small alcove between two heavy concrete pillars. The Dhole and James took cover in a nearby hallway.

James fired a shotgun blast at the turret, only to see that it had no effect.

"These turrets are designed to withstand small arms fire. We need something like a RPG to destroy it." Zachary shouted over the gunfire.

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #556 on:** February 08, 2009, 03:34:07 AM

"Pietrson, you've established the connection?" the first man to enter auxiliary control demanded.

"No, sir, we seem to be blocked from an outside source," reported the first guard.

The first man turned to Shelton. "Where's the block coming from? How do we get around it?"

"Beats me. Your buddy Pete's the one at the controls."

The first man made a hand gesture. Pietrson stepped back, and two other men pushed Shelton forward.

Shelton grudgingly took the center seat. "You're experiencing feedback from the primary control room. The system is giving it precedence."

"Can you fix it?"

"There's nothing to fix, the program's working correctly. What you're asking me to do is exactly what the program was designed to prevent, there's no way around it."

The first man looked at the fifth man. "Sean?"

"He's lying," Sean said.

Pietrson slapped Shelton across the face. "You're a pretty bad liar, science-boy!" he hissed.

Shelton glared. "All right, because the people in the control room are logged in under my account, all I have to do is convince the computer that I'm actually down here via a security question, and it'll lock them out."

"How long will it take?"

"Five to ten minutes."

"Lying," interrupted Sean.

Pietrson raised his hand to slap him again. Shelton started typing. "Okay, one minute! Done."

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

Above them, Montgomery entered the command to flood the cafeteria with carbon dioxide.

ERROR. INSUFFICIENT SECURITY CLEARANCE the computer read.

"What the hell..." he muttered.

"Monty!" Hicks cried. "The autoturret shooting Zanasiu just shut down! What'd you do?"

"Not me," Montgomery said, brow furrowed. "It's what someone else did..."

Serris · **Reply #557 on:** February 08, 2009, 11:51:10 PM

The gunfire from the autoturret stopped.

"That's odd." James said.

"Who cares. We need to get to the aux control room, since we can't seem to contact Shelton." Zachary replied.

The group then headed towards the back where the aux control room was located only to be cut off by a heavy blast door.

"There's no way around this." the Dhole said.

"If we can get to the hanger, there may be a cutting torch there that we can use but we don't have time. We'll head to the control room and see if we can retract the blast doors." James said.

James and his group then headed to the control room only to find Montgomery and Hicks at the controls.

"What did you do to the base's security systems!?" James demanded. He had his shotgun at the ready.

f-22 "raptor" ace · **Reply #558 on:** February 09, 2009, 12:33:58 AM

"Anyone want me to get them anything while I'm in the kitchen,' Hans asked everyone in the caferteira.

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #559 on:** February 09, 2009, 01:35:00 AM

"Are we in control?" demanded the first man.

Pietrson yanked Shelton out of the chair and threw him back to the two other men. "Yeah," he said.

"Good. Contact the hangar bay."

"Hey, wait," Shelton protested. "Not sure if you know this but the hangar bay's loaded with--" One of the guards clapped their hands over his mouth.

The terrorist commander's voice came over the intercom. "Identify yourself."

The first man spoke. "This is Colonel Carstairs, with some loyal members of the former Sublevel Guard. We are currently in command of the base and all its facilities."

"Congratulations. Why are you telling me this?"

"We'd like to offer an alliance."

Shelton broke free. "What!?!" Both of the guards tackled him.

Carstairs continued. "We'll give up control over this base, and in return, you ingratiate us into your ranks. We'd also each like a unit of troops to command."

The commander was silent for a long time. The only noise came from Shelton struggling behind Carstairs and Pietrson. Finally, the commander said, "Of course. We are in alliance."

"Good. We're in auxiliary control. Once you've reached the blast doors, we'll open them for you, and you can claim your prize."