Darwin's Soldiers: Disruptive Selection

[MrDrake]

(Washington DC base)

Trinity nodded to O'Neil as she reached into her coat, grabbing one of her pistols and handing it to him "I do expect it to be returned to meat a later date, but for now, you may borrow it" she glanced back down the hallway again "Come, we need to find out what had happened here"

She stepped off over the dead severed body as she continued to make her way towards the end of the hallway as it split off in two directions.  However, the left side was unpassable, proven by tables and chairs barricading the doorway.

The way to the right was no different.  It was passable, proven by the fact that the door had been knocked off its hinges along with more blood smeared along the floors and walls with a few body parts scattered along the floof for good measure.

Trinity stepped into the hallway, ignoring the smell that was present still as she glanced along the ground.  One severed arm in particular seemed to be holding something else in particular, a tape recorder.  She knelt down and pulled it free, rewinding the tape and playing what message was on it.

"This is Professor Jones, we seemed to have run into a little problem with the experiment, it has gotten loose and has already started to kill many of the personal around.  Dietrik has barricaded himself in his office for safety and -"

"Oh god, it's here! No! No!" another voice was heard on the recording followed by nothing but screams until it was just the end of the recording.

Trinity stopped the recorder as she contemplated what she had heard for a moment "Seems like they had an experiment that had just broken free and slaughtered everyone in sight" she glanced over to O'Neil "We should find the computer's mainframe of the base, find out more on this experiment of theirs.  I have a feeling that we're going to see a lot more deaths around if this exxperiment has indeed, killed everyone, question is why though"

***

(Deadwood Youth Correctional Facility)

Kiara grabbed herself a simple bulletproof vest and threw iton over her top before she grabbed a simple pistol along with enough ammo to use as well.  Well, whatever it is she was able to carry anyway before she leaned forward on her walking stick "Well, I'm ready as I'll ever be"

[Serris]

(Washington DC base)

O'Neill nodded. "I know where the mainframe is. It's deep underground for security reasons," he said. He then cautiously headed down the dimly lit hallway.

As he continued along the hallway, he noticed several bullet holes in the wall along with spent casings on the floor. And of course, blood and body parts were pretty much everywhere.

"It looks like it went down this way," he said. He then noticed that the blood was dry. "But not recently."

He then spotted a shotgun lying next to a armless body. He gulped and picked it up. He grimaced as he disentangled the arms holding the gun's slide and trigger. He checked the magazine - only one round used. In hindsight he should have checked the body for additional ammunition but disentangling a pair of severed arms from a gun was already gross enough.

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

(Deadwood Youth Correctional Facility)

Dr. Zanasiu nodded as he slid the aforementioned pistol into his a holster on his ballistic vest. He then turned his head at Aisha's question. "That's what Shelton suggested and remember, since we can't do radio communications, you're on your own."

Dr. Bailey holstered a pistol and slid some spare magazines into his ballistic vest. He then adjusted the straps on his helmet. "I'll head to the security room with Shelton," he said.

"Actually," Sharon spoke up. "It's best that we have a hacker on each team. We'll need some fighters to go with Shelton."

"I'll go," the Mongoose Cobalt soldier said.

"As will I," Sgt. Masters added.

Spc. Crota glared spitefully at Shelton. "I opt out."

"Okay, fine, you'll go with Sharon, Dr. Bailey and myself," Cobalt Leader said.

"Guys, we better hurry up, the guards are getting suspicious," Alfred said, gesturing to the two guards outside the motor pool. The guards in question had been watching them ever since they drove in.

[Nick22]

Alright Roux Landon and I will go with Alfred' Aisha said ' Lets get moving guys.. we don't want to linger.. We'll take the south area..."

[aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato)]

Shelton glanced at the team. "So, I've got the snake and the Mongoose? Anyone else? I guess my team's goal is to shut down the radio-intercepting field. I'll message all chipped teammates once I've got the field down." He finally noticed Hans and Stern weren't among the assembled. "Wait, we've only got two other chips on the team?"

"I have a chip as well, and so does Dr. Bailey," added Sharon. She fitted a bullet-proof vest. "James? I'm going with you, right?"

[MrDrake]

(Washington DC base)

Trinity gave a nod back to O'Neil "Good, so long as you know where the mainframe is.  All we have to do is get there and hopefully, not run into the experiment along the way, as I doubt our bullets will have any effect against it" she then motioned for him to follow her "This way"

As they continued to head deeper into the base, it was apparant that sofar, there were no survivors.  The lights were flickering on and off.  Blood was still smeared along the walls.  Body parts were still everywhere, save for one body that was....mostly intact.

All the body was missing was an arm and that was it as Trinity knelt down to check for ID "Dr. W. Smith" was all she said as she grabbed his ID card off the body and swiped it in the closest door that had yet to be breached while it opened up.

She stepped inside and glanced around.  The room itself was clean, no blood was present, the lights were on, not flickering.  Well, almost unbreached as she continued to move around the room slowly until she stopped.  There was a body hanging from out of the airvents, stipped of his skin and a pool of blood forming underneath from said blood dripping off the body.

"It must be nimble if it can do this without forcing its way in through the front door" Trinity spoke, sounding even more concerned now.  Followed by a roar of sorts that echoed from deeper inside the base.

***

(Deadwood Youth Correctional Facility)

"Are you sure you'll be able to handle yourself with just them two? Kiara questioned Shelton with a raised eyebrow as well "As you should know, I have no objections with what it is that I need to do either, whiever it may be"

She paused for a moment "What exactly is the plan anyway?"

[StarfallRaptor]

Roux smiled a little as she strapped on a set of protective gear.
"I'll act as support for both teams.  Far as I can tell, the entire complex isn't protected against my teleporting.  Just the vital rooms.  So I'll flit back and forth, helping both teams out.  Oh, and I heard a signal from a few of our friends.  Most of them are on their way, save for a pair of love-struck boys."
She said with a grin...

[Serris]

"Well, that's good to hear," Alfred said as he finished strapping on his vest and helmet.

Dr. Zanasiu nodded. "Yep, you're coming with me, Bailey, Cobalt Leader and Spc. Crota," he said, making some final adjustments to his gear.

"Kiara, we could use some help," Sgt. Masters said.

"Shouldn't we have someone super strong on each team?" Alfred asked.

"We only have two, you and Gustave," Zachary added, as he loaded his rifle.

"I'll go with whoever's not taking Roux," Gustave replied as he adjusted his bandolier of shells.

"All right, move out!" Dr. Zanasiu said.

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

Alfred nodded and led his team to the south area, which overlooked the rec yard of the prison. Rows of concertina wire and high fences separated the group from the convicts inside.

"Remember, act like you're supposed to be here," Alfred replied in a whisper.

He then put on his best "guard face" and strode confidently towards the Human toting a shotgun who watched over the locked entrance.

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

(Washington DC Base)

O'Neill frowned. "We'd better move," he said. He tried his hardest to ignore the flayed body dangling from the air vent.

He then stepped over what appeared to be a Vulpine's tail - minus the rest of the Vulpine.

"There's an emergency stairwell nearby. We'll head down that way," he said.

[aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato)]

"You could come with us," Shelton mentioned to Gustave.

Gustave nodded. "Sounds good to me. What's your name again?"

"Rudy Shelton. Yours?"

"Gustave."

All the color drained from Shelton's face. "Oh god. Gustave Chiumbo?"

Gustave glanced at him. "Yeah, what's it to you?"

"N-nothing..." Shelton stuttered. "I...I read about your family. a Dragonstorm memo."

"Don't ever mention that again," Gustave warned. He cracked his knuckles.

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

Zenarchis walked over to Kerzach. The two were in the Texas hangar, about to board Zenarchis' private jet. "We're going to be taking off a little early so that we can help search for the missing prisoner from the skies. How skilled are you at firing a turret from a plane?"

[MrDrake]

(Washington DC Base)

Trinity nodded back to O'Neil "Sounds like a plan, and once we get to the mainframe, I'll get you to search the mainframe, chances are, if we are attacked down there, I'll be the best to hold out against the attackers, if there are any attackers that is"

She did lead the way towards the stairwell and started to descend it, her eyes pealed for anything that might be out of order.  But so far, all was fine as they continued to descend the stairwell.  Yet, she did pause for a moment as she heard that same roar again "We should hurry, it sounds like that thing isn't that far from our position"

And she was right too as she reached the bottom of the stairwell, going to open the door as a mechanical-like beast, around the same height as herself, appeared on the other side of the door, its face looking at her from the other side of the door, through the glass panel.  It punched the glass once, then again, both times the glass cracked as Trinity stepped back "O'Neil, get back" she spoke, reaching into her coat to pull out her pistol just as the experiment shattered the glass.  Trinity opened fire upon the creature calmly from where she stood as it justroared at her before turning and taking off.

"We need to be careful, seems like my bullets didn't even phase it" Trinity spoke as she reloaded her pistol "Get to the mainframe and find out information on this experiment, we need to disable it"

***

(Deadwood Facility)

Kiara nodded to Sgt. Masters "But of course, you can count on me" was all she said as she went over to join him "Which area will we be striking?" she question as well.

***

"It seems as though we have company" a voice spoke, sitting in another area of the facility.  It was Famine, he was present within the facility, and he was going to use his powers to his own advantage.

His eyes glanced over to the rest of the guards in the area "Make sure that these....intruders do not get into this area, if they come close enough to wish to, as you fleshlings say, snooping around, you may kill them"

"I'm sorry, but we don't have to take orders from a freak like you" one guard sneered back at Famine.

Famine looked at the backstabbing guard rather simply before his eyes flashed.  The guard in question walked over to one of the female guards present, grabbed her and practically gave her a smooch, right on the lips.

"The hell?" another guard questioned a bit confused.

"Follow my orders that I give you and I wont resort to having to use my powers upon the rest of you" Famine answered back plainly as the rest of the guards nodded back easily and headed off to begin their patrol of the area.

***

(Las Vegas)

Once Aimee has taken care of Xanthus and left his dead body behind, she left the police station in question, rather quickly for that matter, not wanting to hang around in case she was caught by the any other cops that decide to go and investigate the area.

She headed back to The Strip again and waited outside one of the casinos, wondering on where to head next as she pulled out the mechanical eye from her pants and examined again "I've got to get connected to that damn Dragonstorm satellite, find out how the hell one is suppose to stop Death...."

She paused for a moment "Perhaps it might even give me some more information on Trinity...."

[Serris]

(Washington DC Base)

O'Neill wisely took Trinity's advice and remained behind her as she started firing. When the commotion was done, he stepped forward. "The mainframe's somewhere on this level," he said.

He then carefully peered through the broken window at the bottom of the stairwell. The hallway was dark except for the faint glow of emergency lighting. The smell of death permeated the dark hallway.

"The power's out," he said. "There's an emergency cabinet nearby. It's got tools, gas mask, haz mat spill kit, fire extinguisher, and some glow sticks for cases like this.

O'Neill then pushed open the door, being careful not to cut himself on the broken glass. The emergency cabinet's letters glowed rather brightly in the dark room thanks to the phosphorescent paint that they had been marked with.

He then grabbed the set of six glowsticks, pocketed three of them and offered the rest to Trinity.

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

(Deadwood Facility)

"We'll take the north end," Sgt. Masters said, doing some last minute checks on his equipment.

"All right, let's move out!" the Mongoose Cobalt soldier said.  

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

(???)

Dr. Kerzach shrugged his shoulders. "Dunno, I never trained for it," he replied as he followed Dr. Zenarchis.

Several of the mechanics working on Dragonstorm's fleet were scurrying around the hangar but they paid no heed to the two.

[aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato)]

Shelton nodded, surveying his team. Two Cobalt members, a giant crocodile whose family's death he's responsible for, and an FBI agent (what she's doing here he'll never know, but he thought better than to ask.)

I never thought I'd be most relaxed about the Cobalt members on my team,, he thought to himself.

<My God!> ROSS exclaimed. <Is it really that difficult? Keep your thoughts to yourself!>

<Wait, you can still hear me?> Shelton asked. <The relay is still up.>

<I know,> replied ROSS, <but since I'm communicating with you through your radio-flashlight, which is a grounded source, they couldn't shut it down until one of us said something to the other. It should become blessedly silent on my end in a few seconds.>

<Could have warned me,> Shelton said, annoyed. <I would have appreciated having one free question to ask you.>

ROSS didn't answer. Grumbling slightly, Shelton led his team out of the west exit. "Let's go. Security room is two floors up from here."

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

Zenarchis sighed. "I suppose it doesn't matter," he said. "I can't think of anything that would threaten us in the air. Though it is odd having a bodyguard who isn't proficient in all forms of combat."

[StarfallRaptor]

Roux smiled softly as a strange breeze blew around the group, and Kagetora seemed to step out of nowhere.
"I hope I'm not too late to help."
He said calmly...

[MrDrake]

(Washingon DC Base)

Trinity took the three glowsticks that were offered to her and pocked them for the time being "Alright, we should get going again, find the mainframe and access the database for this base" she did pause for a moment "Dietrik's office should be along the way as well, we should check in there as well, see if Dietrik is still held up inside or not"

The roar from the experiment was heard again followed by, what sounded like fingernails scraping on a chalkboard.  A very uncomfortable noise to hear as Trinity looked in the direction of the roar and the scraping noise "It sounds agitated"

Trinity then looked to O'Neil and nodded to him "Let's go" was all she told him as she started to make her way down the hallway, pistol at the ready, just in case.

***

(Deadwood Facility)

Kiara nodded to the rest of the team that she was teamed up with "Well, just lead the way then, I'll follow suit after you lot" she spoke as she stepped forward "And relax, just because my hips a bit screwed up and all, doesn't mean I can't hold my own weight against my enemies"

[aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato)]

Shelton nodded. "Cool. We need every person to carry their weight on this team. We won't be recieving backup."

They headed for the nearest staircase. Before climbing up it, Shelton stopped.

"What?" asked Sgt. Masters.

"Actually, we should head for auxiliary control," Shelton decided. "They've probably got extra protection following the last break-in. It's a little farther, just down instead of up."

"Whatever you say, doc," grunted Gustave. " You're the directions guy."

[Serris]

(Deadwood Facility)

Gustave smirked. "I can carry more than my weight."

The stairwell obviously led into the lower parts of the prison - the parts where they located the laboratories.

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

"Just in time!" Zachary said brightly as he spotted Kagetora. He, Dr. Wayne, Dr. Williams were the last on the team.

"So exactly what are we responsible for?" Dr. Wayne asked.

"We'll divide ourselves up among the three teams," Zachary replied

Zachary spotted Dr. Zanasiu's team trying to talk their way past a guard. He quickly jogged over to them, his steel horseshoes ringing as they struck the hard-packed dirt.

"Move it already!" Cobalt Leader shouted. He, Dr. Bailey and Sharon looked quite upset.

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

(Washington DC Base)

O'Neill nodded as he dashed down the hallway, the clatter of his steel shod hooves echoing loudly in the empty hallway.

Suddenly, he stopped and his ears swiveled around, then he looked around. "I hear someone, it sounds like a voice."

(OOC - MrDrake, your call on what that voice is.)

[Nick22]

Aisha and dR Landon made an eddort to looik disinyetrested as they approached the guard.."We're here to relieve you ' Landon said to the guard. " just give us the key to the door there and you can go take a break in the mess hall..'he said, looking intently at theguard.

[MrDrake]

(Washington DC Base)

Trinity too heard the voice as she turned to face where the voice was coming from and aimed her pistol.

It was someone Trinity had run into once before and fought for that matter.  Zara.  She was stil hanging around the facility after having been captured a while ago along with Viper.

She stepped out into view, glancing at Trinity, then at O'Neil before she spoke up "Can you put your gun down? I'm not here to try and kill you" her eyes did remain upon Trinity, almost in a glare.

"Heh, and here I thought you would be smart enough to try and escape" Trinity replied back simply as she lowered her pistol slightly.

"Escape? Nah, I have no need to escape just yet.  You've seen that thing that's running around loose haven't you?  It's gone around and killed everyone in the facility....Viper included, she tried to escape, but that....thing, it caught her before she could teleport to safety, copied her powers and riped her to shreds.  I engaged that...thing in hand to hand combat, but it just ended up copying my powers too, so now it's running around with both Viper's powers and mine" Zara answered back to Trinity "And what's more, it's just that much more difficult to destroy"

***

(Deadwood Facility)

Kiara just nodded back as she too followed suit, unsure on what was going to be down within the laboratories, all the while, just remaining silent.

***

Guards were patrolling the laboratories, with Famine remaining within one of the laboratories in question, but which one, it was rather difficult to say.  All that was known was that he had asked for laboratories to be on lockdown, no one, not even personel with passess were allowed within the laboratories anymore, and the guards were going to make sure of that.

[aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato)]

Shelton's team reached the bottom of the stairwell.

"Why don't the stairs go down any farther?"

"Only maintenance below this floor," said Shelton. "This is the scientist staircase. They'd never need to go lower."

"Well, how do we get lower?" asked the Mongoose soldier.

"Elevator on the other side of this floor," said Shelton. "About fifteen minutes away."

"We could cut through some labs," suggested Masters.

Shelton shook his head. "We'd encounter too many personnel, and we don't have any excuses for being here. None of you have staff IDs or anything."

He tried to walk through the hallway when a guard stopped him. "No one can enter the laboratories."

"We're not, were just passing through," Shelton tried to explain.

The guard raised an eyebrow. "What are you even doing on this floor then?" He reached suspiciously for his radio.

Gustave saved him the effort by punching his head so hard that it ripped right off.

"Jesus, Gustave!" exclaimed Masters, taking a step back. "There's blood everywhere! We'll never be able to clean this up!"

Gustave knelt down and wiped his fist on the guard's shirt. "What's your plan now?" he asked Shelton calmly.

Shelton's face was completely white. "Get to the elevator. As fast as we possibly can." He opened the door to the first laboratory. It was empty.

"God, we are so f***ed," the Mongoose soldier muttered to himself, taking one final look at the carcass. "So absolutely f***ed."

[MrDrake]

"That...that was just....insane...." Kiara spoke as she looked at the dead body "If another guard finds this body, they'll be on high alert in this area and hell, you guys heard the guard before Gustave lobed his head off, we aren't even suppose to be down here as it is"

She poked the bosy slightly with her walking stick, a bit concerned still as he gazed shifted to Shelton "And how are we to get to the elevator? As I doubt the guards would leave it unguarded as it is"

[aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato)]

In the main security room, Montgomery came in to check on DeSancho's progress in getting the security system back online. "How's it going?" he asked.

DeSancho stopped his typing to look over. "I've temporarily set the system down to a by-level basis, so that I can reset all the passwords and strengthen the inter-base response systems. They were kinda of outdated."

"How long until security is completely re-enabled?" asked Montgomery.

"About fifteen to thirty minutes," DeSancho said. "Shorter, if necessary."

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

"I don't know," Shelton said. He looked nervously as Gustave. "If he flies off the handle that quickly, I don't know what he'll do in the future. I can't predict how easily this will go."

"He's probably gotten us all killed," Masters added under his breath. "Including everyone else on Dr. Zanasiu' team."

Shelton led the way into the third laboratory.

(OOC: the DeSancho bit was added to isolate the security system and prevent one group from ingiting the whole base. Right now, if a team alerts any guards, they cause a security alert to signal throughout the floor they're on, and that's it.)