Skora leaned forward towards Cassidy. "Whatever you're going to do, best get to it," she said.
The long moments seemed to have stretched out for days and even weeks, as the group hovered around the corner from the two guards. With all the chaos of the invasion swirling around them, Skora was getting impatient to get this mission over and done with. She was understanding very little of the what and whys concerning these Abstergo types, and being in an environment she did not understand was upsetting her more than she would have thought. Her life up until her escape had been horrible, but at least she had understood it. Now...
Skora just gripped her gun handle tightly and waited for something, anything to happen.
"It is simple captain. Betraying them may result in your immediate termination. Betraying us might give you the oportunity to survive," Kardas explained bluntly. She didn't entirely agree with the decision that she was not the one to provide fire support should the situation go south, but at the same time, shifting around who was guarding their hostage was too problematic, giving at least a decent reason for it.
"Yeah, yeah, just hurry it up already. I may be a heartless bastard, but even I've got certain protocols." Archibald says, stepping his left foot forward as he waited for the doors to open, his left face starting to form into a scowl as the doors to the north opened, his boots beginning to thump quickly as he moved forward, rushing as quickly as he could to the Marine's bedside, trying to rouse her from her sleep, though careful not to touch her. "Hey, Marine! Get up! Nap time's over!" he says, then turns to the rest of the squad. "Alright, let's try and find out what they were doing to her, and if it's something we should be worried about." he says, his grip tightening on his assault rifle. Something in the back of his mind was bugging him, and it wasn't Jethro trying to gain back control.
The Commander watched Xerberus silently, almost suspicious, even after the woman had finished speaking. It took a few moments, but she finally nodded, uncrossing her arms.
“We don't know where the enemies are from, or really what they're capable of,” The rabbit woman started, much to the surprise of Kiera.
“Commander, I don't think we should be sharing this-”
“We need her help,” Cassie cut off the AI without looking at her, continuing as if nothing had happened.
“They mostly use nonlethal ammo, darts of sorts, which I've seen punch through 3 centimeter thick metal. The darts have various effects, the most sinister of which appearing to be some sort of aphrodisiac. They appear to some green ammunition that melts through clothing and armor, but doesn't burn to the touch – even on bare skin. The smaller pellets can't damage vehicles or walls too much, but they seem to have launchers which can easily eat through a vehicle's armor, and sometimes even Screaming Ceramic.
“So far, we don't know what they want. They seem to be more intent on capturing and subduing any species they come across, rather than killing them. In fact,” Cassie paused for a second, tapping her lip, “...When rescuing a group of civilians with a fire team, I've even seen one of their officers threaten a lower-ranking creature for using lethal ammunition.
“Oh yes,” The Commander was finally coming to a close, “We've been calling them orcs.”
"So they're trying to be as nonlethal as possible?" Xerberus replied, raising an eyebrow again. "Sounds like they're in the slave trade buisness, but if that was true, why have we not found these creatures before? A force such as this is really hard to hide after all.
"Either way, if we are to halt any more of thier advance, it'll noto do me any good with just standing her," she notes. "What are to be my orders? I doubht they will care much for a creature of my, well, status," the construct replied, one of her antennai twitching in a matter that she found easier to vent unease. Outward assaults weren't her forte', but she'd take what she could get to stop having to stand still and handle the unease of the AI's gaze.
Ashley glanced over the pile of materials. It was a whole lot more than they'd had before they came here, at any rate, so she figured that it would make do. She spotted the 'jumpsuits' Maria had found, which weren't a whole lot more than short shorts and a sports bra by the look of them. Still, it was better than nothing, so she walked over and took one out of the closet, and donned it, once more bending over and giving the room an eyeful of her voluptuous ass before she thought to do otherwise. Blushing slightly again, she put the top of the suit on and then turns around, petting her wolf absent-mindedly on the head. "So, are we ready to head upstairs, or do we want to look around some more first?" As she speaks, Ashley reloads her weapons and then looks about for some kind of holster for them.
*Kali felt like doing a little dance inside when she got the ID number of the vehicle she was afterand smiling she bent down to give Ing a kiss on the top of his head*
"well thank you ever so much you just made a ladies day with that! now how about if your done here we get back upstairs with the commander! Cause i think after this whole ordeal i need me a shower."
*moving to head back to the area where the other girls were she spoke up to address them a bit more*
"alright we heading out or you girls got something else to do?"
With assent, if grudging, finally given from the rest of their ragtag little team, Cassidy nods firmly.
"So. Remember - don't just leave me out there. As soon as they're distracted, come round the corner and.. I don't care, smack them over the head with something heavy. Or just point your guns at them and demand a surrender, that works as well. Just -don't- leave me out there. I've had my fill of soldiers for a dozen lifetimes.. and Commander? Giving us the names of your soldiers allows us the chance to get them out of the way.. without killing them. Your cooperation is appreciated."
With that, the Asari lifts her hand to her mouth, and, very purposefully, bites down hard on the skin between her thumb and forefinger, until tears spring to her eyes. A tactical smudging later, she grins through bleary eyes at the group.
"..Wish me luck."
And then she's gone, staggering around the corner, weeping as she does. The sight that greets the soldiers is a near-hysterical Cassidy, words rushing out between sobs.. as she practically -throws- herself into the chest of the nearest.
"G-Goddess be thanked I f-found you..! The C-captain.. Jenkins..! They're dead.. all dead! Something att--t-t-tt-acked us.. came through the floor..! They're in the walls..! They're in the Goddess-damned walls..! You've got to help me... PLEASE! We n-need to get out of here... everyone does! They're coming..!"
Emily looks around carefully, and keeps jumping as she thinks she sees something out of the corner of her eye. "There's something else here..." she mumbles as she resembles a jumpy mouse, trying to be brave. "Let's get outta here. Now." she says louder as Jethro attempts to wake up the marine.
Circe retained a passive expression as she returned to the camp and entered Tereani's tent. Upon seeing the display of the three woman, Circe's only reaction was to raise her eyebrows before Tereani led her and Marcus out. "I'm not Viola." She repeated as they walked, but didn't offer any other reason for her choice of 'slave'.
Nodding to Tereani as they arrived at the small shed, she turned to Marcus. "Wait here." She said before following the orc leader into the building.
When Tereani mentioned the woman's name Circe sarted to look at the woman more closely. "Nao LeSang, former leader of the Sanguinarian race. Vampires." She said, turning back to Tereani. "I'd heard they'd developed a way to live off their homeworld, never thought I'd meet their former leader. What did you want me to do?"
Somewhere East of Firelight Base: Carmine Forest (Unknown Sector), Orc Encampment; Circe and Marcus
“I want you to deliver her to the humans,” Tereani said, rather simply, “Without being seen, of course. I'd rather not lose my new slave to greedy humans wishing to take their heroine back. No, I'd rather have her by my side when we conquer this galaxy.
“I've made sure that this... Nao... has a Controller on her. She'll be our spy inside the remaining human bases,” Tereani smiles sadistically, “And, I must say, making sure the controller was on properly was quite fun...” The orcess seemed like she was about to drift into memories, but snapped out of it, smiling down at Circe still, “Ah, but, dear Circe, I have yet another mission for you. While delivering this human, we know the human rats are still scurrying around.. and we'd like to show them why being part of our Horde is such a better option than struggling against us in futility. To help you with this...” Tereani turns, opening one of the red metal supply boxes via biometrics, taking out several collars, and a pair of full-body-bindings. Circe was somewhat surprised by the simplicity – three of the collars were leather, while the fourth was made from the red metal. The bindings were also made from leather – but one of the thin, red wires was attached to each of the binds. She held them up for Circe to see as she explained them, before showing the woman how to attach them to her suit of armor.
“These are regular collars – more demeaning to our prey than anything else. After a while though, you'll see they become more of a mark of pride than shame. If you need to, just twist the little loop here -” She demonstrates, twisting a small metallic loop, “-to keep them locked. These bindings here work in much the same way, but should only be used on a dangerous slave. They lock the same way... Also, don't worry about the wire breaking,” Tereani grins, showing that it could easily stretch, much like elastic.
“The last collar is a very special one,” She says, holding out the somewhat flexible collar made from the red metal, “This is what we call a Controller – much like what... N.. Nao... has hidden on her. If you place it on a slave, it seals itself completely, and can only be removed by another person – but only one who knows the command to remove it. If you give anyone who wears this a command, it's very hard for them to resist- to the point where every time they fail to resist, it breaks their will, just a bit further,” Tereani says, adding on the last part rather sternly, “...Put it only on slaves that you cannot control, or are too stubborn to follow you. Too much resistance can turn them into a mindless husk of what they once were.”
She hands the collar to Circe, before turning around to look at Nao, the woman watching Circe rather closely. The orcess seemed to be distracted with the vampire...
Circe's Goals:
1: Return Nao to the nearest human encampment to act as a spy.
2: Find a slave before nightfall.
Abstergo East Campus: 'Greeting' Center (Group 2); Jethro, Emily, Ruri, Ninaski and Jenkins.
The group moves into the room, the lights above barely enough to illuminate the long, sturdy metallic tables. Archibald moves around to the table, until he reaches the cover the marine was underneath, pulled just above her head, like every other figure on the table, each as motionless as the last. After a few moments, the marine looks over to Jenkins, “They aren't breathing. Robotics?”
With a sigh, Jenkins only offers a shrug, “I told you, I have no idea what the experiments are... All I know is that they're dead.”
Looking back over to the marine, Archibald pulls the sheet off her body, revealing the woman in full. Whatever odd experiments had been going on changed her face completely – her eyes had been replaced with some sort of sensor network, crossing the bridge of her nose to connect the 'eyes', now fly-like in appearance. Her chest had been opened up through surgery, revealing accessory organs that the robot's database couldn't even identify. Her could see some sort of wiring running from her lungs through the rest of her body, trailing to her limbs. Finally, the marine's left arm, which looks like it had been lost in battle, was completely replaced with sleek robotics, including synthetic muscles. Whoever had been operating on her had very obviously stopped in a hurry, leaving their tools next to her body.
“It's enough to put Abstergo under review, maybe even dismantle them though, right?” Jenkins asks after a few seconds. Archibald/Jethro didn't quite have time to answer, as Emily let out a shrill screech, followed by a “Holy shit, what's that?!” from Ninaski. Looking up, on the most Northwest table, were two creatures, with sleek, black skin, two tendrils sticking out of their backs. Their eyes glow yellow, and their teeth drip with saliva. As they hiss at the group of humans, four the bodies slowly sit up, one close to Jethro letting out a death rattle.
“Can I have a weapon now?!” Jenkins calls from somewhere behind Archibald, the marine's weapon already trained on the closest... well, Zombie's head...
When one of the unidentified creature's stops growling, it's stubby ears perking as it looks towards the glass window. It suddenly leaps from the last table, hoping to the second and third, leaving claw marks as it moves, before slamming through the glass, landing in the other room.
((Player group has initiative for 2 rounds. Since everyone has full... well, everything, I just put the stats of enemies in and their locations.))
Abstergo East Campus: 'Greeting' Center (Group 1); Cassidy, Kardas, Captain, Skora and Nanako*
The entire team could hear Cassidy through the radios in their HUDs. At the mention of both the Captain and Jenkins, however, Nanako quite literally face-palmed, drawing the attention of the Captain.
“She doesn't think an Arms Dealer worth over 900 Trillion dollars wouldn't have the same technology that we do?” She glares back at Kardas now, “I thought she was going to use her biotics to rip their spines out.”
After Cassidy finished her plea, she felt a very cool, keen point press beneath her chin – right where her throat and the underside of her jaw connected. She had felt the same sensation many times before, and usually having a knife blade kicked her into overdrive... but, then again, with no weapons, and no biotics, she was pretty much screwed in this situation.
“That's cute, your little story and all, but I can tell my Captain's right around the corner,” He soldier leans in, his helmet close to Cassidy's face – and, thankfully, he happened to speaking loud enough for the entire group to hear over their radios, “And I can tell that Jenkins is... Holy shit,” He murmurs. Without taking his eyes off the Asari, the guard – apparently Saunders – barks out a quick order, “Nikami! Jenkins' is in one of the off-limits areas. Go see what the fuck he's up to – AFTER detaining this Asari.”
The second man walks around behind Cassidy, taking out what appeared to be two metal bracelets – The Asari knew better, however. She grimaces for the briefest of moments as he makes sure they're just a little too tight – before her wrists slam together, the two bands of metal magnetically attracted to the other. For once, Cassidy could say that this was the first time she had ever been put in a pair of handcuffs like these. Saunders roughly grabs onto the collar of her jumpsuit, and with little ceremony, throws the Asari down onto her rear against the far wall, moving to stand next to her. Her radio kicked on for a second.
“Cassidy and team, are you all okay? Kiera just told me what happened. What's your current status?” Cassie said, the transmission only going through to the Asari.
“AGO Guard to AGO Actual, I'll need a transport for a prisoner. Come back with ETA,” He says, most likely into his radio. Nikami stands there, seeming reluctant.
“So, should I...”
“Yeah, just go check on him,” Saunders growls, “I'll be fine here with the Asari,” And then, much quieter than before, “Not like I can get this suit off anyways...”
Kardas heard footsteps down the corridor. She grabs onto the Captain and quickly moves against a wall, Nanako and Skora doing the same – after they realized that Kardas was trying to hide, so they might be able to ambush Ninaski.
((Go ahead and post your actions. If you're planning on attacking, post your EP; or if you're going to try and reason or take Nikami hostage, let me know that too.))
“Well, if we want to stand even a chance against them, we'll need to get Firelight base fully operation,” The Commander says, “That's defensive systems, manufacturing systems – and, of course, restoring power to most of the base. We have several VIPs who can help us with this task, and so far it sounds like we've only found one-”
“Two, Commander,” Kiera butts in, “I've been keeping track of the team moving in the Abstergo Base. They've found Medical Officer Nanako... Oh, and it seems that a Firefight has broken out.”
“What?!” The Commander's eyes go wide, the woman bounding over to her command center, immediately pulling up her transmission screen – not realizing she was broadcasting to just Cassidy.
“Cassidy and team, are you all okay? Kiera just told me what happened. What's your status?”
“Yeah...” The AI looked to Xerberus, “Just... stay put. We have a team coming up from the Garage Level of the base. We'll decide what to do when they arrive.”
Thankfully, after a small time skip, the elevator doors opened, revealing 6 women - two completely naked, but one of them a yellow orc. The seventh figure was no taller than any of their abdomens, a little gremlin-like creature. Her HUD immediately identified each of them, especially the little gremlin, as a VIP: Ing'Tin Tolkin.
Marie smiles and nods, then puts on the skimpy mechanic's outfit. ((Blame Tassy! He made me post!))
Ing'Tin grins widely as Kalica kisses the top of his head. As she turns around, he makes sure to give her a rather rough slap on the ass, leaving a greasy hand print.
“Alright then! Let's get goin',” He shouts, starting towards the exit of the garage. Anne immediately takes the point, with Laina close behind, as they happened to be the only two with some real armor. The others followed behind, with Ing'Tin oogling at the naked flesh that Kalica was flaunting.
The trip back was much shorter without wolves or orcs in the way, and the elevator ride seemed shorter too. Moving into the personnel elevator, the group soon was on the second floor with a newcomer: A Phys-Gene hybrid, that looked much like a bug.
Kardas grimaced at the obvious flaw in the plan, for a brief moment she was tempted to pull the trigger on the captain to give them something to pay attention to. But there were safeguards against such ruthless ideas, while it may logically speaking, be the best idea, it also constituted a warcrime. He also may prove to be sueful further down the track. Still, something had to be done before they had finished binding the Asari.
Kardas gives a look to Nanako, and then a glare, before finally giving a slight grunt and shoving the captain at her, stepping around the corner herself. Within a split second she has assessed the situation and opens fire, targetting the guard with the knife to her ally's throat first.
Aster Magnum pointed straight and true, she fires four shots at a mystifying speed, a quick doubletap at the first guard, then shifting her aim at the second and also firing a quick pair of shot. As she fires, she shouts out to the Asari "Down!" in a firm, yet emotionless voice.
The moment she finishes firing, she slips the Magnum into her belt, drawing her old DX10 pistol. Then, she assesses the situation; if either of the guards were still standing, either because she missed or failed to drop them, she fires, slow, aimed shots; a combine effort at both supression and execution. "Go! To me!"If, after all but one shot however, there was still an active threat, she ducks behind the corner, taking cover from retaliation fire; she had hopefully done enough to give the Asari a chance to bolt around the corner behind her.
((Step out, Doubletap twice, one at each guard. Swap weapons. Fire off up to 3 shots then take cover))
Ashley traveled in the back of the line and held her hand on the back of the wolfs head reassuringly as they rode up to the elevator, shooting occasional glances at the one they'd come to rescue as they rode up. The jumpsuit left much to be desired, in that they barely covered anything, particularly given her comparatively large rounded assets, but it was better than nothing. She shot glances at Ing'Tin as they rode up, but didn't say anything to any of them. When they reached the top, she was last to step out, leading her new pet, and a look of confusion crossed her face as she beheld the insect-like woman. Still, she'd seen a lot more non-humans of late, and so the look passed quickly. She turned to commander Winters and said; "Mission accomplished.... Errr, ma'am. We've also partially secured that part of the complex, and he scavenged some supplies. Oh! And we have a prisoner!" Ashley pointedly didn't mention the wolf that was by her side, and whos ears she was scratching even as she spoke to the commander.
Ing'Tin's grin just gets wider as Ashley begins to vent, almost cackling near the end of the exhange.
“She's a fiery one. Where'd we find her?” Ing'Tin asks, looking up at the ceiling. Kiera remains silent on the topic however, instead speaking to Marie now.
“Pilot Marie, if there is enough power running to the room, I can shut and seal the bay doors, thus keeping us relatively safe. There is more than 4.5 miles of tunneling around Firelight Base that leads to the surface, and without a proper GPS system or someone who knows the tunnels well-”
“Tha's me,” Ing'Tin rose his hand, moving back behind the Portia buggy. Kalica took her chance and followed after him.
“- you'll essentially be lost. I assume, the only reason as to why the Orc was able to get in this way, was her wolves. While they may not be like any terrestrial species we know of, based on their long snouts and the flares of their nostrils, they have excellent olfactory organs. Ah, Pilot, there's a few jumpsuits in the locker to your left. They're what Ing'Tin's staff had to wear around him though, so, expect them to be... skimpy...”
Marie pulls out the jumpsuit and immediately realizes what Kiera had been talking about. She lets out a disheartened sigh, staring at the lowest pair of short-shorts she had ever seen. The actual shirt accompanied with it was a low v-cut, exposing a good bit of breasts, and only had three buttons near the bottom of the shirt to cover her abdomen. It looked like putting it on would expose most of her navel, too. There were about ten in the locker – a few had names on them, and some very suspicious white stains, but five were completely clean and name free.
Marie grumbles back at Kiera, "And just how am I supposed to find out whether there's enough power for the bay doors or not? I'm a pilot, not a mechanic." She sighs. "If there's enough power, seal 'em, if not, then I'll turn on the sensors in front of the opening and you'll just have to keep a watch out for intruders. And hit 'em with your turret."
Frowning at the 'uniforms', Marie sighs and picks out one of the clean ones. It'll do, at least until she can get some better clothing. Then she passes out the remainder to whoever'll take them, taking the spares along with her.
((Check me... Marie and Ashley donned the skimpy outfits, leaving three spare sets, right?))
Marie smiles and nods, then puts on the skimpy mechanic's outfit. ((Blame Tassy! He made me post!))
Ing'Tin grins widely as Kalica kisses the top of his head. As she turns around, he makes sure to give her a rather rough slap on the ass, leaving a greasy hand print.
“Alright then! Let's get goin',” He shouts, starting towards the exit of the garage. Anne immediately takes the point, with Laina close behind, as they happened to be the only two with some real armor. The others followed behind, with Ing'Tin oogling at the naked flesh that Kalica was flaunting.
The trip back was much shorter without wolves or orcs in the way, and the elevator ride seemed shorter too. Moving into the personnel elevator, the group soon was on the second floor with a newcomer: A Phys-Gene hybrid, that looked much like a bug.
((DeMatt blames Tassy, as per Silthy's comment. ))
Marie glances around the room, eyes blinking at the bug hybrid with military insignia, then focuses on Commander Winters, giving her a salute and letting Ashley report.
Jethro's senses suddenly come rushing back as his brain casing and eye shift from red to blue, his tactical mind taking over as he opens fire with his weapon, firing a burst from it at the nearest zombie, before releasing his weapon, throwing his left hand forward in a straight towards the creature, dropping his weapon to it's strap, grabbing his spare combat rifle and tossing it to Jenkins "Shoot this damn thing!" he yells, quickly dropping into a combat stance as he draws his combat knife, slicing downward towards the thing's exposed lungs, then flipping the blade expertly around and bracing the base of the handle against his left hand, jabbing it towards the exposed lungs.
((Yeah, spend 1 EP on shooting at the nearest zombie, then 3 EP on a 3-hit melee combo, and throw Jenkins my spare rifle.))
Well. So much for Plan A. Still. That's what the alphabet is for!
At the very instant the knife comes up, Cassidy drops the act. A tattooed, smiling face lifts to Saunders' visor, unperturbed in the slightest by him being onto her... or, perhaps more worryingly, by Nikami's preparation to cuff her.
"Well, it was worth a try. I was hoping to avoid bloodshed. But I'm warning you now, you have about four seconds to drop all weapons and adopt the appropriate position for surrender, because.."
And then she's rudely interrupted by gunfire. Rather than follow direction and get down, though, the Asari steps -around- Saunders, putting him between her and the incoming bullets. Both long-fingered hands come up, wrapping around his armoured wrist to keep him from plunging the knife through her jaw. Rather than trying to disarm the man, though, knowing all too well that pitting her strength against his was a suicide in the making, the Asari brings her knee up, aiming for his armoured crotch.
Somewhat unsurprisingly, the radio chatter goes ignored.
((Turn Saunders to use him as cover, then knee to groin. I'm currently going with Inky's mid-GM post interruption - if this is a problem for you Silthy, reach me in the usual way and I'll edit.))
As the elevator moved, Xer spun to face it, claws flexed a bit to make sure it wasn't a foe incoming. When the door opened to the small army, she relaxed a little, but the entire time they unloaded she kept a eye on them, shifting to a wall and leaning against it, the entire time her eyes focusing on the nonhuman prisoners. She needed to know the enemy she was facing, and fast. These prisosners would at least give her a visual aprazial. Either way, she'd stay silent until spoken to.
"Fuck!" Emily screams as she is surprised by the sudden zombie infestation. Backing up to get some sort of cover, she starts shooting "that green shit" at the closest enemy.
((Fire at closest enemy until 1 EP remains, or armor is neutralized. If armor is removed with EP to spare, switch targets to next closest armored enemy. Use last EP to take cover.))
((It may be just me, but I am having trouble reading these new style of maps.))
*packed into an elevator and finally somewhere she figured was guaranteed to be safe as they filed out of the elevator she would excuse herself to start heading towards her room she had been given*
"umm i'll be back in a few minutes gonna go get decent. Oh yeah kiera when ya get a chance i need to ask ya a favor"
(heads to her quarters to look for a fresh set of clothes)
Skora winced at the immediate disillusionment of Cassidy's plan, and the moment Kardas sprung from cover, Skora ran in behind her and opened fire, targeting the closest threat, before ducking back round the corner to avoid any return fire.
(Round the corner, fire three times against the nearest target, then take cover, spending 4 EP .)
