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Screw walking through the dark, Gunrod goes back to the room were the cookies were to look at whatever provided the light there. Cut it loose with a knife, if that fails, drive a bullet through where it seems to be attached and see what happens, see what is behind it, and see if I can somehow apply my mechanical skills to attach it to my gun so I have some portable source of light.
And keep on singing.
Trespassers? Shepard thought. Frankly his group had already been treated more like prisoners than anything, including actually regaining consciousness inside a holding cell. And by this synthetics general tone he wasn't going to be much better or worse off regardless of how much he and the rest assisted them. With a quick sideways glance at Maxine he turned to address Avarice again.
"Usually I would only consider people that willingly arrive someplace to be trespassers and since to the best of my knowledge none of us came here under our own free will, I think you're making the wrong assumptions here. Unless this person you're drafting us in to helping you track down knows how we got here, I think you better off putting your resources into figuring out who would have wanted to deposit the lot of us rather unceremoniously in your dungeons."
"If you'd like to know, the last thing I remember before waking up there was being aboard my ship. Many of the crew on board are close, personal friends of mine and right now I have no idea if they are safe, or even alive."
Hiss, went the doors, sealing the Illuxion in this room on their own. Granted, their situation wasn't the best it could have been. They currently were being held by the two beams of light, unable to escape, or even move, and their captors were certainly being rather cryptic about what they were doing with them. They'd never been very good with robots, and this wasn't exactly doing their preconceptions about them any favours.
In fairness to the mechanicals, they were allowing them to recharge, which they had sorely needed at this point. Taking a moment for themselves, they allowed the light to soak up into them, giving them the unique lifeblood they thrived on. Still, they couldn't move, and with not much else to keep them occupied, they decided to take a look around the room they found themselves effectively prisoner - again - in. Maybe there was something that would help explain where the group were and why they had arrived.
GUNROD
Upon breaking the light panel, Gunrod discovers a cross-shaped LED tube. He ponders what is powering it for a second... something is familiar about it. With a jolt he realizes it is the same energy that Mira was providing. Illuxion energy.
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MIRA
Mira finds that it can move up and down the beads of light, but not anywhere else in the room.
This was curious, being able to travel along the beams of light at will. Maybe this would give her the chance to escape. Mira, using her massless nature, began traversing back and forth from one side of the beam to the other, as rapidly as the laws of physics would allow. Unless the laws of physics did not apply wherever she found herself, in which case......best not to think about it.
Gunrod tries to remove the lamp from whatever it is attached to VERY CAREFULLY, only move it a few centimeters out of its current position at first, and as soon as it seems it stops working PUT IT BACK THE WAY IT WAS
(major update; will be two posts long due to FRA's character limit :P)
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GUNROD
Gunrod grasps the LED tubes firmly, and yanks. What happens next is startling. As Gunrod removes the cross-tube, beams of light criss-cross from the outlets and maintain the cross-shaped light, without any real tubing to encase them... and the beams in his hands are still glowing! Gunrod whistles; now here was some engineering he could be proud of, although he wasn't too fond of finding the energy of the species of one whom he'd met recently.
Suddenly, there is a voice.
"Hey! You! You, the dwarf guy holding onto me! Do you think you could let me out?"
Gunrod gapes. The voice is coming from the LED tubes that he is holding onto!!
"Who are you?" questions the dwarf.
"I'm one of those beings known as Illuxions. You can call me Albireo."
Gunrod grows suspicious. "Do you know of someone named Mira?"
There is a silence. "Can't say that I have. Is that one of our people?"
"I know someone of that name, but I can't say for sure that it's one of you."
"Well then, can you let me out? I've been trapped here for what seems like eons..."
Gunrod grumbles.
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UNAROSHI
Unaroshi's blatant rebuttal makes Viluy sigh, and gives the creature no doubt of his intentions towards it. The metallic being laughs loudly.
"Impudent fool. You shall be put in your rightful place... at our feet!"
The taunt angers the young warrior and he switches to his Dark form. As he lunges at the creature, the hybrid machine emits a brilliant burst of light from its gaping maw. This one blast severely weakens Unaroshi, as the light tears away at his transformed state, and leaves him vulnerable.
"Mosaic Buster!"
It was Viluy that actually landed a wounding blow. Nanobots are fired from her cuff and swarm around the creature, eating away at its face. It roars and claws at its face. However, its roaring alerts it comrades, and Viluy can hear several footsteps getting closer. Unaroshi recovers slightly and transforms back to his normal state as an entire squadron of robots enter the room, all seemingly T-900 clones.
"Well done, you idiot," snaps Viluy. "I had hoped your sense of caution wouldn't be overridden by your hot head, but I see it is otherwise." She whirls around and faces the robots.
"Byruit, surrender or be terminated!" says one of the T-900s. None of them even give two shits about the creature being devoured by Viluy's nanobots.
Viluy smiles tauntingly.
"I propose an alternative; you all go to the rust pile, and never return."
Before the T-900s can even react to that, with a wave of Viluy's hand, a bone-chilling cold sweeps through the room; Unaroshi has to curl up to avoid freezing to death as the Terminators are freeze-dried instantly, unable to move. Viluy then performs utterly brilliant martial arts techniques to shatter the robots into millions of pieces. Unaroshi stares at her. Viluy seems completely calm, her mood and movements unhindered by the freezing cold she just cast about them.
However, the larger creature, the freak-ish centaur Xenomorph, manages to send out a distress call before the nanobots finish it off.
"Damn it," grumbles Viluy. "More will come now that he's alerted them to our presence."
She glares at Unaroshi. "What were you thinking, blindly challenging your foe like that? Know your limitations and practice caution, before letting your head roam free."
Unaroshi glares back at her, not liking being humiliated like that. But it would be prudent to follow her... as Viluy exits the room without a second glance. Unaroshi speeds after her, and they're both silent for a moment.
Finally Viluy breaks the silence.
"I determine that this base should be weakened before we engage in any more combat," she says. "My body is already fatigued after that little scuffle, and in any case it would be the logical thing to do."
"Yeah, and how do we do that?" snaps Unaroshi, not liking this secrecy.
Viluy frowns. "Well first, let us find an area in the vicinity where we can actually think of something and not be found immediately."
"Fine." They travel back to the stairs.
Viluy turns to him. "Up, or down?"
Unaroshi raises an eyebrow. "You're giving me the choice again?"
"It is good to give chances to those who deserve it."
"Deserve it? Huh?"
"You made the right choice last time. If we had gone left, we would have been found immediately by all the machines at once, which I see now." Viluy smiles. "Go on."
Unaroshi takes a few seconds to think...
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SAKER
The spirit-bonded human is quick to make her decision. She wanders back outside and manages to find some things to prepare the room as a small base of operations. There are some broken desks, tables, chairs... all which seem rather old-fashioned (for this time, anyway). She still doesn't like the fact that anyone could enter the room via those other doorways, however, and is just about to barricade them when she hears a most unusual voice.
"Wait! Don't close it just yet!"
Saker tenses, her spectral energy forming talons on her hands. But the approaching figure out of the darkness has its hand up, in token of parley.
Saker isn't moved. "Who goes there?" she demands.
The stumbling figure suddenly collapses. Abandoning caution, Saker's talons disappear and she runs forward. Saker grabs the figure and helps them into the room. When she does, Saker lays her down and gazes at the figure.
She wears a high-ranking angel outfit; a tight, sleeveless white top with a small white skirt, full arm-length sleeves with pink ends, and on her left arm she has a small designed cloth and on her right arm she has a white glove with pink ends, and on her legs she has white thigh-highs and steel plate knee-high boots. She has short pink hair with bangs, and is braided tightly on the back of her head, near the bottom. She has two large wings that faintly give off pink sparkles, but they have been beaten to the point where she cannot use them. Her body is also very shrunken and there are bruises all over her, and scars of previous battles.
The angel twitches and then smiles faintly as Saker gazes at her.
"Y-you came..." The smile then fades and the angel looks panicked. "Help us..."
"Help you? What do you mean? Who are you, and how did you get like this?" Saker demands.
The angel blinks steadily at Saker, and then continues. "My..." She coughs. "My name is Hachiel... I... I have lost my way..."
"Your way?"
"Yes... I am one of the Cosmic Collective..."
Saker's mouth is thin-lipped. She remembers the machines' mission statement: To eradicate the entire human race, and the Cosmic Collective and their home planet of Olandaar, and eventually conquer every corner of existence...
Saker gently picks up Hachiel and then sits her on of the broken chairs in the room. Saker returns to the map for a moment, trying to find Shepard, Mira, Gunrod, or any of the others. She finally realizes that Gunrod is nearby, three levels down, on Vector A1. She also notes two others are near the top, on Vector N. Two she hasn't seen before...
Saker turns back to Hachiel. "Who are the Cosmic Collective?"
Hachiel blinks again, as though merely talking is taking the life out of her, and then goes on. "We... we are a congregation of sorts... of many races dedicated to protecting the universe... we were granted our own planet by The First... there were thousands of us at one point..."
"I see," replies Saker. "And I take it you are not friendly with these filthy machines, yes?"
"N-no..." comes the slow reply. "We sought... to protect the humans... me and another of the Collective... protect them against what they themselves had created. But the rest of the Collective didn't think as we did..."
"Themselves had created? Are you saying they caused this whole mess?" Saker growls.
"They created Artificial Intelligence," Hachiel whispers, "and it overthrew them... even the most powerful... "
Saker's face hardens. In her mind's eye she can tell what might have happened.
"There are hardly any humans left..." drones the angel.
"Who is this other Collective person?" Saker demands. "The one who went with you?"
"He goes by the name of Nexios," gasps Hachiel. "He is far more powerful than I... he is responsible for the Arrivals."
This stuns Saker. "What did you just say???" she snarls. "This being is responsible for me being sucked into this mess???"
Hachiel's mouth falls open. "Y-you... y-you are an Arrival?!"
Saker's eye glints. "If you mean that he's the one who caused me to appear in this world without warning, then yes I am. And it's happened with a few others I've met here."
Hachiel draws away, looking afraid. She is in no condition to even think about defending herself, let alone actually doing it. She shrinks from Saker's apparent wrath, but the spirit woman is in no mood to fight Hachiel.
Instead, she addresses her. "I am going to fight the machines."
"What?!"
"So that I can return to my own time, if that is possible." Saker gazes back at the map. "If this Nexios one is responsible for calling us here, then he called us here to help defeat the machines. That much is plain. If we do that, he will be satisfied, no?
"So where is he?" Saker demands.
"I-I do not know..." Hachiel whines. "I have been lost for a long time! You are the first one I have seen in decades!"
"Tell me your history with the machines," demands the spirit woman.
Hachiel informs Saker of her plight. She was attacking a machine general named Avarice countless years back, and his mindless cyber drones. However, laser fire damaged her wings and she fell. As Avarice was about to finish her off, the surface they were combating on gave away and they fell. Avarice tethered himself to the cliff, while Hachiel could not fly back up as her wings were damaged, and she was lost.
"Avarice..." Saker mutters. Promote Avarice to 1st-degree.
"So that machine still exists, does he? Hmph..."
Hachiel pales, but Saker decides that enough is enough. "So most of your Collective don't care about the human race, as they did this to themselves?"
"That is correct..."
"And you and this Nexios are the only ones compassionate enough to save us, hm?"
Hachiel reddens, but nods.
"So let me see if I've hit the mark here," Saker summarizes. "You and Nexios are part of a conglomerate called the Cosmic Collective that protects the universe, and meanwhile humanity is under the brink thanks to something they created; you two are the only ones that wish to save humanity and this Nexios is calling different beings from other universes to help fight the machines, while you've been lost this entire time."
"Yes," Hachiel says.
"Where are all the remaining humans, anyway?" Saker asks.
"That... I do not know," says the angel worriedly.
Saker sighs. She has to do something. But are there more questions to ask Hachiel, or would it be better to find Gunrod and the others?
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MIRA
Mira starts to move like lightning between the two ports. It is vibrating rapidly. All of a sudden an intense heat is given off, and Mira feeds off of it. With a sudden SHOOP, Mira disappears entirely, directly into the bottom port.
During its travel, Mira can hear an alarm go off, but very suddenly Mira ends up in another lighted room, with the same type of ports. It's also empty except for those, but the door is open this time. Mira goes to the door and looks out. There are some stairs on either side, and there are also three hallways leading away from the room. Five ways to pick... what a choice. Mira decides.
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SHEPARD AND MAXINE
Avarice growls. "I do not need you how to tell us our duties, Arrival," he hisses. "As for your backstory, I feel it is acceptable. But I would exercise more caution and less belligerence around me if you wish to live, mortal. It may not be your fault that you were here, but your ways are not ours. This is our world, and our words are law. After you have done the favour we requested of you, then you may leave. But know this; for the moment, we own you."
The machine was losing its patience; this was all too clear for Shepard and Maxine. But before anyone could make a move, there was a massive alarm.
"General! The Illuxion that we just sent to the regeneration chamber on Vector C has escaped!" shouts one of the machines.
"Hmm. It looks like our friend didn't take the chamber to its liking," says Shepard. "I apologize."
The machine general seethes, and that sound is horrible to hear; it sounds like thousands of drills are all going at once. He turns to some of the other robots. "Go! Find out where that fool went! NOW!"
A battalion of androids that look like Storm Troopers descend down on another panel. Avarice turns back to Shepard and Maxine.
"So... this is the attitude that your comrades show towards us, is it?" hisses the General. "That's three now. I quite hope your behaviors are better suited to our purposes than theirs."
Shepard begins to despair. There were only two of them against what looked like thousands upon thousands of robots, and not the least of them in front of them, towering over them like some great beast taunting its prey.
"Hello lamp, I shall free you, and then I want you to tell me everything you know about this place! I have only just arrived here and you are only the second Illuxion I meet! I was imprisoned in a cell above us, but then I jumped through a hole in the floor and fell through more floors and then ended up here were I found cookies and you! After you tell me everything you know about our situation, I suggest you and I explore the darkness that is ahead of us!"
"Let's go down i guess, as for what happened with that machine, i did underestimated them, but i think something else is going on, that spirit inside my sword is growing stronger and stronger, i fear that it may escape my control in the future, oh whatever, let's keep going"
With a flash, Mira suddenly appeared in what looked to be a second chamber, identical to the one she had been trapped in just seconds before. She could hear an alarm in the distance, doubtless alerting their captors to her escape, but she definitely felt rejuvenated after the trip, and with her brightness having been restored, she looked decidedly more feminine than she had in the cell.
She had to move, though, and there were five different directions in which she could travel. She'd fallen through a trapdoor to get where she was, so she decided to take the stairs to her left. Maybe then she'd be able to figure out where this place went.
More and more Shepard was regretting hanging around in this chamber. Alarmingly everyone seemed to be splitting off for themselves at the earliest opportunity. And speaking of alarms... This latest breakaway had made Avarice the most aggressive he had been yet.Putting up his hands (because if something bad was going to go down he wanted to be able to fire off a quick Overload and maybe create enough confusion to escape himself) in a nonthreatening gesture made one last attempt to ease things for the moment."Look I've played by your rules so far. I didn't want them all to scatter to the four winds any more than you do, but I don't have any way to force them to listen to me if they want to go off on their own. So by all means, let's proceed with your task."
(sorry Aaron, but since you've been inactive for so long and not posted when I requested you to via FB... well, guess :P )
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GUNROD
There is a silence. "Another Illuxion?" the voice says, perplexed. "I didn't think there was another of my kind here. I've been trapped in this abominable contraption for who knows how long..."
Gunrod grunts and shatters the tube; a figure almost identical to Mira seeps forth from the broken pieces. Gunrod stares, but the Illuxion looks around.
"Well, I say, this does not look like any area I'm familiar with..." says the light being. He turns to Gunrod. "Thank you most graciously, although I cannot answer your question about what this place is, as I've not the foggiest idea myself. I was merely visiting a planet, and I was suddenly sucked into some sort of light-sucking system! An awful conundrum, but you appear to have solved it. Now, may I ask who you are?"
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UNAROSHI
"Down we go, then..." states Viluy, and they trek down through the catacombs.
"Why do you talk like one of them, anyway?" inquires the hot-headed one.
"I was created thus," snaps Viluy.
"I still don't trust you, you know," shoots back the youth.
Viluy's lip curls dangerously. "I'm an agent. I've been commissioned to help you and those like you out. I will say no more than that. You can't trust me, but I'm all you've got."
Unaroshi grumbles. "Fine. But turn on me and I'll make you wish you were never born."
Viluy shakes her head exasperatedly as they keep moving down. It is then that they catch some movement. The stairs have only one wall, so they can see all the way down into darkness, a giant pit that leads into... what, they don't know. Up above, there is no light as the ceiling is not too far above them, but is lined with circuit-like lines, and only Viluy can see them. But when they look down, they find some figures moving quickly on the lower levels.
Viluy stops Unaroshi with an outstretched arm. "Hold on. Make no sound," she says quietly.
Viluy gazes at the levels below. Indeed, there are shapes moving below, opposite of the stairs they are in. Viluy cannot see exactly what they are, but they are by no means machines...
"What is it?"
"I have no reckoning of these creatures before..." is the reply from Viluy. "They are no machines, or my eyes are deceiving me. Yet something about them seems... inhuman."
"Well? Are they allies or enemies?" says Unaroshi impatiently.
Viluy glares at him. "If I knew, I would have told you already."
"I tire of all this secrecy."
"Then throw yourself at threats like you just did, and see where that gets you," Viluy snarls, sounding much less robotic than before. Unaroshi grumbles again but otherwise keeps silent.
They eye the figures for some time before they start to move off.
"We should likely follow them," sniffs Viluy.
"I don't know, it could be a trap."
"Well then, fine. Make your third decision. And keep that spirit of yours in check, it didn't do you that well previously."
Unaroshi makes another hard choice.
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SAKER
Saker attended to Hachiel as best she could.
"What year is this?" asks the angel.
Saker tries to remember what it said on the map. "...year 2542, I think."
Hachiel's face pales. "But that's... that's over three hundred years since we started this conflict!!" she squeals.
"Are you serious?" says Saker, staring incredulously at the angel.
"It was the year 2230 when the Cosmic Collective attacked the machines... according to the humans' time," trembles the angel. She suddenly feels very faint. "Has... has it really been... that long..."
"How are you alive, then?"
Hachiel is a trembling ball of fright by now as she curls up. "I-I don't know. Sheer willpower, I suppose..."
"I guess angelic beings do not require sustenance, at least as much as humanity," snorts Saker. "Still, I will treat you as best as I can."
"Th-thank you," squeaks Hachiel.
"In return, however..." Saker's face grows hard. "I want you to tell me how to best go about defeating the machines, as I do not wish to remain here."
Hachiel looks at the spirit woman with a doleful expression. "I do not know. You do not have to worry much about the drones... I was told there would be weak points within the stronger machines, but... I could not find any. I do not know if any of the others in the Collective found any."
A grimace crosses Saker's face. She begins to barricade the exit Hachiel came from, and the ones beside it. It wouldn't do to ask Hachiel how to go three levels lower, since Hachiel had been lost in this place for over three hundred years... but Saker needed to warn Gunrod, at least, of this threat. She goes to the map again. For the first time, Hachiel shows interest in it.
"Is that a diagram of the facility?" she asks timidly.
"Yes," replies Saker shortly. She manages to find out where she is again, and traces a way from Vector 9E to Vector A1, where Gunrod is. She finds two ways; both of them lead back to where Saker fell from the party. One of the ways would be down a set of stairs near there, and then a short linear distance to where Gunrod would be... except there is a wall in the way. Saker disregards this path and studies the other. The other way is through an elevator near where the hole is, and that would take Saker a short distance to Gunrod. But Saker has no idea if there is power to the elevator, given the lack of power in these areas...
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MIRA
Taking the stairs to the left, Mira travels down them very fast indeed, having great speed. Before she knows it, she is several, several levels below where she came out of. She chooses a level at random and gets out. Helpfully, a sign nearby designates it "Vector 77". Mira has no idea what it means, but hears shuffling around.
Able to discern that it is not a machine, Mira calls out, "Is someone there?"
From behind a steel beam creeps a cloaked, hooded figure...
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SHEPARD AND MAXINE
Avarice contemplates Shepard for a moment. "You are curious, Arrival. Very well. However, we must eliminate some... burdens."
And with a horrible abruptness, Avarice lunges at Maxine and bites her head off in a gruesome display. Shepard yells and jumps backwards, as the body of Maxine drops to the floor. Shepard's sense of calm is eliminated on the death of Maxine.
"Why did you do that?!" demands Shepard furiously. "She did nothing to warrant anything like that!"
"Perhaps not... but I see further than you, human." Avarice rears up, its teeth stained. "I have studied your companion ever since I encountered you all. Her aggressiveness quotient was a detriment to our task."
"But..."
Avarice just stares condescendingly down at Shepard, who is now quite alone.
"Now then... you will accompany me to Vector R, where that filth, Byruit, has travelled," huffs Avarice.
"Sir, I don't think we can trust the human!" warns one of the androids. "Please send some of your loyal troops with you!"
"Do NOT question my orders!!!" roars Avarice. "Time alone for that when we have caught the scum!!! Now get back to your places!!!"
The android backs away fearfully, and then resumes its duties.
Avarice turns to Shepard. "You see, human, you are not the only one I am harsh with. Even my own kind I must set straight now and then." The machine grins. "My apologies. Now, let us go."
"I, am Gunrod! And, now that you are here to light my life, I suggest we explore the darkness ahead! Lets see what we can find out there!"
It was some time before Shepard could turn his gaze away from the headless corpse of Maxine. The alarming abruptness that Avarice had chosen executed was easily the most disconcerting event yet. By this point Avarice rated little better than a slave trader in Shepard's mind and he found himself wishing he wasn't in such a defenseless position. It also made the prospect of being on his own with this monster more unnerving than before. For now, however, there was little else he could do but to continue playing along. "Lead the way."
Saker will try to tap in morse code on the route with the stairs and the wall blocking the way - she is not in any mood to trust technology right now.
"i don't trust these robots, especially considering how it went last time i fought one, well, that was thanks to me and my hot head, but still, if they are all as powerful as the last one, we're not gonna stand a chance if they turn against us, better take another path"
Unaroshi marks a pause, then speaks again to Viluy: "i should take example on you, really, you're staying calm and cool like the ice when i burst in anger at the smallest of taunts, i just realised that my lack of analysis and reflexion is gonna lead us to our doom, as for the spirit,i'll try, and hopefully it won't end like last time..."
Vector 77...meaningless. She had hoped to be heading back upwards, towards where the group had been before, but the stairs only seemed to lead downwards for now. The Illuxion was about to head back up and try her luck with one of the other routes, when she heard footsteps. Not walking, mind you, but there was definitely someone there, emerging from behind a pillar. Tentatively, Mira brightened herself up a little, hoping to see who was behind the cloak and hood. "Who are you?" she asked simply.
"lets do this!
http://s10.zetaboards.com/Drowning_C...opic/807371/1/
it will be great!"
Gunrod says
(foolishness)
(A/N: Pretty much been in a bit of a lull for a while. Let's get rid of that, shall we? Here are some short but sweet updates.)
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SAKER
After she is convinced that Hachiel will make a full recovery, Saker heads out of the new base towards the route with the stairs. She gets there after a while and starts tapping the wall in morse code... after a while she can hear, faintly, the sound of a cutting laser...
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GUNROD
To his weird declaration the Illuxion blinks. "I know about no games, but if you wish to explore the darkness ahead, then perhaps there is something to be gained in it," it says. "Lead the way."
And so they go on. Eventually they come back to that dead end, but thanks to Albireo's presence, Gunrod can see things much, much clearer. It appears to still be a dead end, but looking closer there is a hinge at the top of the wall, and Albireo notices it first.
"Well, I daresay, that looks rather unfamiliar," he remarks. He tries a cutting laser but that does nothing to it. Albireo is persistent however, and keeps at it. Gunrod glares at the hinge... until there is a slight tapping sound... and it's coming from the other side of the wall...
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UNAROSHI
Viluy smirks. "You are learning. Fortunate. Well, if you wish to not follow them, then we will not."
They go around the level and try to find anything of significance. Through another room, they manage to find two Phaser Rifles on the floor. Nearby there are two bodies... Viluy examines them. One of them is another human seemingly like Unaroshi. The other is a cyborg; half of his face is mechanical.
"What do you think happened here?" says Unaroshi.
"A fight, probably," replies the woman. "But why they would leave the bodies here is beyond me. Perhaps they were too busy to acknowledge their protocol."
They examine the Phaser Rifles. These weapons look and feel different to the environment they've experienced; further investigation by Viluy reveals they have sixteen power settings, fully-autonomous recharge capability, multiple-target acquisition, and gyro-stabilization. Rare weapons indeed...
Viluy passes both guns to him. "I have no need for them," she says, before Unaroshi can object.
"Uh, okay..." Why was Viluy so god damned care-free?
They hid the bodies, and then traced their way back to where they were before. This time, they could not see any movement below. "This time, I propose we head further down."
"I don't know. I still think those things down there can overpower us as we are now..."
"I see. Then what would you do?" Viluy asks.
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MIRA
"So you have come back... why have you neglected to report for so long?"
"Huh?" This didn't make any sense at all.
"Wait a moment..." The figure casts back its hood. Mira stared. It belonged to something human-like enough... though rather aged in its appearance, but a huge chunk was removed from the top of its head, and replaced but a metal done of some sort, patched and bloody. The face is rather grubby and hair sprouts from his ears, too.
The figure stares back at Mira through bloodshot eyes. "No... no you are not him. Who are you?!"
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SHEPARD
Avarice stomps over to another place on the floor, and motions for Shepard to accompany him. With no real choice, Shepard reluctantly follows. As he does, the floor around them starts to descend. Then he catches a horrifying sight. What appear to be mechanical rodent-like things have now swarmed the body of Maxine and were now reducing her to nothing... and then Shepard was underground. He couldn't believe what he had just seen... but then the floor descended quicker and quicker, and the next thing he knew, the two were on a floor many levels below where he had been previously.
"Vector R," utters Avarice. "Your Illuxion friend descended very far down indeed, so we will worry about her later. But Byruit must be apprehended. I can read her filthy energy levels even from here."
Shepard was quiet. He did not like being so far down with the mechanical beast, and alone as well. Perhaps he could ally himself with this Byruit... whoever she was.
Suddenly Avarice tensed himself. "Strange..." he hisses. "There is another energy reading on this floor." Avarice turns to Shepard. "What say you to that, human?"
Shepard glances up at the behemoth, unsure what to say at first...
Saker will try to use her claws to pierce some holes in the wall, weakening it a bit so it can be got through more easily.
"Hello?! Who is tapping?"
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GUNROD
"Hello? Who is tapping?" He replies as he continues to hear that strange tapping sound.
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SAKER
Saker's strength is somewhat formidable so she eventually manages to get something done. Then after a while she hears someone calling through the other side. She pulls back one of her talons and with all her strength slams it through the wall, bursting it open.
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GUNROD
Pieces of wall go flying and Gunrod and Albireo retreat backwards as Saker emerges from the wall.
Saker dusts herself off quickly.
"Ah good, one of you lot. I'm creating and fortifying a base further back if you want to help. Any information you have now would be welcome. I like to know who or what I'm up against"
"Him?" Mira asked the rather ragged-looking figure. It sounded like he had been expecting someone else. "I'm Mira," the Illuxion told him, before explaining what she recalled about her situation so far - the unexplained arrival, the rest of the group, the robots, the chambers she'd been taken to, then her escape. "I'm trying to get back to the others, would you be able to-" she began, before something clicked in her head. "Wait...are there other Illuxion here?"
Shepard considered this for a moment. Most likely it was another of member of the group, but who could say for certain? If that was the case, it wouldn't do much good to provoke Avarice into another violent response.
"Unfortunately I couldn't really say. You'd know better than I would. I've barely passed more than a few words with any of the people I've arrived with and I couldn't even say for sure how many of us there were. For all I know this new reading may have nothing to do with any of us and may not be important at all. Personally, I'd suggest dealing with the known issue first. Finding this Illuxion might just provide more information as to what is going on elsewhere."
And having Avarice demand even more unknowable answers from made Shepard want to ask some questions of his own.
"And while have a few moments at least I wouldn't mind at some basic information about where I am, at least as a gesture of good faith for cooperating with you. You are clearly not Geth, so I've never seen any synthetics like you before, and I'm willing to bet no one else in Council Space has either."
We could either try to pick them off one at a time, which may be difficult, and very risky, or we could try to bypass them by taking another route, but considering i really don't want things to go horribly wrong and have a legion of bots charging at us, we'll do the latter option
(hurray for lotsa posts :v)
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SAKER, GUNROD
Explanations are given. Saker blinks. "Uh, cookies?"
"They were delicious, and coming from me that's saying something."
"And who was this voice?" Albireo inquires, rather interested.
"I don't know," grunts Gunrod. "First test, my ass! I want to know what his game is about!"
"Hmm... well, come back with me," says Saker. "I have an accomplice as well."
They make their way back to the base. Hachiel seems somewhat better, but her wings are still unable to function.
Albireo gazes at the angel. "Aren't you one of those Collective people?" he asks.
The angel blinks confusedly. "Y-yes? Who are you two?"
"That's Gunrod, one of the 'Arrivals' I came here with, as you put it," says Saker. "And that's an Illuxion, just like one of our friends who got stuck in this mess with us."
Albireo turns to Saker. "What do you know of this friend?"
"Nothing I can't already say about you. You seem to have the same appearance and powers. The only real differences are your voices and names. The other one's name was Mira."
"Interesting..."
Gunrod turns to Hachiel. "What are these Collective people you're talking about?"
"The Cosmic Collectve. "We are a group of many races dedicated to protecting the universe. When we were more plentiful, we had a planet granted to us by a being known as The First... there we watched over the universe. Now I fear only I am the only one left, if Nexios has indeed perished."
"That's quite the tale, but I'm afraid I don't have the foggiest idea what to do," inquires Albireo.
"Well, I am set on making this a base of operations for us," growls Saker, "and if it's not too much for us, I'd like to find the other members who Arrived with me and bring them here as well. Then we'll see what we can do against the machines."
Albireo looks at the digital map. "That energy source is fading. It must have been on its last legs when you arrived."
"Indeed."
"Well if anyone has any further questions before we do anything, now would be the time. I would quite like to get out and see the world, and the countless galaxies as well," says Albireo.
"You wouldn't want to," frets Hachiel. "Not the world, at any rate."
"Well if so, I could help you in any possible way," says Albireo. "I am quite interested in this Mira."
"I will help as well, it is my duty... although I am not sure what use I could be," says Hachiel.
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UNAROSHI
"Play safely? Very well," says Viluy. "And quickly. I feel something is watching us."
Viluy and Unaroshi keep descending nonetheless, careful to avoid detection. Unfortunately, when they get out at Vector X (which is helpfully designated nearby as they reach the floor), there is an eerie light some ways ahead. Viluy can detect two guard droids.
"This does not look good," mutters Viluy. She turns to Unaroshi. "What do you say now? My curiosity calls out to this. I have to know what that is..."
Unaroshi remembers Viluy pretty much slaughtering a score of robots with her Mosaic Buster earlier...
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SHEPARD
Avarice's mechanical eyelights flashed dangerously. "This Illuxion is no concern of yours any further. As for myself, we'll - "
The monster machine stops suddenly. "They are descending again. They have stopped at Vector X!" Suddenly Avarice seems panicked; Shepard notes this by a sudden cry of rage from Avarice. They descend on the makeshift elevator again and stop at Vector X...
"I will divulge no further information to you until you earn it," says Avarice. "Now go on in front."
Shepard seems interested in Avarice's sudden panic moment previously...
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MIRA
The figure peers at Mira. "You seem like Spica, though. Are you sure?"
Mira seems surprised. "Spica?" She repeats herself. "Are there other Illuxion here?"
"Well, one that we knew of..." the figure looks away wistfully. "But Spica was taken away some time ago by our enemies..."
"Enemies?!"
"We heard the name in secret... project A.E.O.N., it was called."
"Are your enemies machines?"
"You could say that, yes..."
Mira looks around. This wasn't the best neighbourhood for discussion...
"only two this time huh ?, i suggest each of us pick one"
Unaroshi carefully approaches one of the droids, preparing itself to fight as he comes closer to the droid, waiting on him to make the first move, with the hope he can dodge it and land a counter-attack
That seemed to have struck a nerve, and it seemed the situation was deteriorating quickly. And now it seemed that Shepard was going to have to be regulated to being a meat-shield. Just what was Avarice expecting anyway? "They? I thought we were looking for one person. I'll go first, but you'll have to tell me where we need to go. I don't know anything about the layout here after all."
"Hachiel, what do you think I should do?!"
Well that had certainly turned Mira's situation on its head. There was at least one more of her species around here, and it didn't sound like the mechanicals were on the Illuxion's side at all, even if they had offered her a recharge. Perhaps it wasn't the best idea to hang around, in that case, especially if the alarm she'd heard earlier was still going.
"I think we should move," she suggested, beginning to head off back towards the stairs, before turning back towards the cloaked figure. "Sorry, I don't think I caught your name," she added.
Gunrod starts singing for Hachiel and Saker
(two updates for Mystic here... read both of them please)
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GUNROD
Hachiel blinks at Gunrod singing. Evidently she is not taken by the dwarf's voice, but at the same time it's not horrible. She waits until he is done. And after he is...
"Hachiel, what do you think I should do?"
"I do not know." The poor angel shrinks away, looking to her left. "I have said that I have been lost here for hundreds of years..."
"Okay then, what do you know of these cookies?" Gunrod tells Hachiel of them.
"That is strange..." Hachiel wonders. "Food randomly appearing in this place?"
"I like cookies!"
"I have no doubt, my good dwarf!" says Albireo.
"But, see, whenever I see cookies, I don't investigate them! I eat them!"
"Obviously. But what happened after you ate them?" inquires Albireo.
Gunrod tells the pair about what happened.
"The first... test?" murmurs Hachiel.
"I see! So you would have been trapped in there, if only for a short time, if not for that explosion!" remarks Albireo. "I wonder who that could have been?"
"...maybe... maybe it's Nexios! Maybe he's still alive!" cries Hachiel. She explains to the group again who he is, and that it was he who likely brought them to this universe... by accident.
"By accident?" says Gunrod.
"Yes..." The angel trembles. "He was looking for adventurers to combat the machines... I did not know he was still out there!!"
"Well we don't know for sure if it's him," pipes up Saker. "So... ideas?"
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UNAROSHI
Viluy and Unaroshi can't avoid it; the door the two droids are guarding is straight ahead and there's no way to sneak around.
"Stay here," warns Viluy. She casts the Mosaic Buster again, and the nanobots emerge, lighting up the area. The droids can obviously detect the light.
"Who goes there..." beeps one of the droids...
...and suddenly the nanobots come flying around the corner and attack that droid, who begins to screech as they eat away at its frame. The other droid has no such compunctions about mercy and without question shoots its partner with a bright orange beam from one of its shoulder guns, evidently hoping that the nanobots were destroyed. But the nanobots are unaffected, and rise up. The other droid continues firing, but Unaroshi has rushed in from behind, and he swings his sword at the machine's neck. There is a dent, but otherwise it does nothing. (remember your strength score, Mystic :P) It does however distract the droid long enough for the nanobots to fly at the droid without delay, and a minute later the enemies are disposed of.
"Excellent," says Viluy.
"Man, what a drag," pants Unaroshi. "I got a direct hit on one of them and it did almost nothing."
"Their physical prowess makes them quite formidable to force," answers Viluy. "Now, let us see what they were guarding."
"Right."
Viluy recalls the nanobots and they enter the room, which is rather large. It seems to be an experimental chamber, with man-sized test tubes, many levers and valves, laboratory tables, and (strangely enough) safety hazard warnings.
"Craaaaazy..."
"Quiet," says Viluy. "We don't want to attract unwanted attention. Especially not here."
"Oh all right."
"What the..." Viluy strides over to the tables, slightly disconcerted. She takes out a pair of small spectacles and rifles through some of the papers on the tables. "Odd..." she mutters. "Machines have no use for paper. They use holograms and instant messaging to convey things... some natural life form was in here."
She continues to rifle through them. Her eyes then go very wide. "What... ?!" She turns to Unaroshi, taking off the glasses. "This is a plan to integrate a human's neurons and glial cells into an artificial being!"
"Glial... ?"
"Neurons and glial cells are both part of which make up the human brain," says Viluy shortly. "But..." she growls, turning back to the papers. "Why would anyone want to merge themselves, or even their cells, with something like this?!"
Unaroshi peers over Viluy's shoulder, and sees complicated diagrams and pictures. One of the pictures is a human skull with an internal picture of a brain inside. A second picture is of a cell featuring its internal components. A third picture reveals an almost child-like figure, a sort of small cyborg mutant. There are words at the bottom... Project A.E.O.N...
"But those droids... why would they guard this place?" Unaroshi asks.
"You know, that's a very good question," growls Viluy.
Unaroshi then notices an electronic door adjacent to the one they entered.
"I wonder what's in there," he says.
Viluy turns to stare at the door. "Grr... this is getting bizarre, even for me." She casts another look at the papers. "Why would the machines help whoever did this... does it benefit them... ?"
Unaroshi continues to look at the door...
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MIRA
"Call me... Rowan," mutters the man. "And you are correct, it is not safe here. Especially with so many eyes... so many..."
The man puts his hood back over his head and shuffles away. Mira feels a little uncomfortable as she follows the hooded man.
They went a few floors down, and at Vector 8D they stopped descending.
"This is one of the deepest parts of this facility," says the man named Rowan, in somewhat guttural tones. "These lower parts are least guarded by the machines... they guard more of the upper parts, and especially the middle around Vectors 40 to 70."
"How do you know all this stuff?"
"I know how to avoid detection."
"So, you appeared before me because you wished me to find you," says Mira.
"Yes."
Interesting... Mira thinks.
Down this passage it seems far less high-tech; the walls are a mosaic of red rectangular bricks, square brown bricks, and dirty white tile. The man takes many turns, and it seems he knows where they're going because he does not pause at a fork. Eventually they come to a large door. It is made of polished wood and iron alloy.
The man turns. "If you have any further questions, now is the time to ask. Beyond this door is the path to the last remaining hope of the war against the machines."
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SHEPARD
"Stay in front. I'll tell you what to do. Now, get moving." Man, Shepard really didn't like this robot at all. But he had no choice... at least, for the moment. Out he went, with the great behemoth behind, monitoring everything around it.
Avarice mentions a specific room they're supposed to go to, and though Shepard tries to infer about it, his efforts merely earn him nothing short of a death threat.
Then suddenly Shepard can indeed sense something. Someone else is indeed here...
They come into a corridor, and find the remains of two droids at the end... the door is open.
Avarice's roar is deafening. Without waiting for Shepard to move he rampages ahead of Shepard towards the open door...
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UNAROSHI
A roar and pounding footsteps alerts the duo to the presence of another enemy.
"What's that?!" shouts Unaroshi. But Viluy can feel the power from this... thing.
"Whoever it is, we're not going to live long if we stay here," Viluy seethes. What to do...
With his ears still ringing from the sheer volume of Avarice's outburst, Shepard took a moment to quickly examine the destroyed droids. Somebody (or multiple somebodies) sure did a number on them. What was that old saying again? "The enemy of my enemy is my friend". He could only hope so anyway. Of course there was the fact that Avarice was pretty quick to rip people in half so unless they had more tricks up their sleeves like they used on these drones here, they might not last that long against this lunatic synthetic. As a precaution Shepard activated his Tech Armor and then followed cautiously in the direction Avarice went.
"So, Hachiel, you are saying your buddy Nexios operates by opening doors to people who eat cookies, right? Lets get baking then!"
"on a more serious note, what makes you suspect that what happened to me was the work of Nexios?"
"simple answer: get the * out of here one way of another" *Unaroshi quickly examines the room in hope of finding any way out of this mess*
(mr kaaaaaaaaaaane, we are not chatting :V)