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ULMF the Third (RP Thread)


Host

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The Story So Far (I think this has shown up at least eight times in the subforum so far, you should be good to skip it by this point) :
(If you've read the Expanded Details thread, you already know everything in the first three paragraphs. If you've read the Ingame History of ULMF and the Internet as well, you'll already know everything in the first six paragraphs.)
Defend ULMF takes place on the Internet. The Internet contains basically anything that can be imagined, effectively like the internet is in real life. Less porn though. It is infinite in size and contains innumerous and varied creatures, which can generally be grouped into one of three categories – Fantasy, Modern, and Sci-Fi.

Modern cities – forums – rule a decent deal of the Internet, while Sci-Fi rules the vastness of space above it. Fantasy cultures take up the remaining portion of the habitable parts of the Internet, though they are distrusted due to generally being warlike and, well, backwards.

It’s important to note that the internet doesn’t follow the rules of reality; while most things are usually the same, sometimes you’ll find that, say, in one place it might be impossible to jump or knock over a knee-high fence, forcing you to find ways around all of them. In general, the Internet tends to act like similar to the world inside various forms of entertainment media; videogames, action movies, things like that.

On the internet, no faction rules – except the addbots. A long time ago they spread from the centre of the Internet, and haven’t stopped spreading since. The largest armies and most powerful weapons that could be brought against them failed to stop them, so most people have given up trying. Instead, they just migrate away – the addbots are slow after all, and there will always be more Internet to retreat to.

ULMF is one of many forums with a significant history. It’s an accepting and generally nice place; initially it was dedicated to one by the name of LineMarvel. However, he vanished when the forum was attacked by lurkers, led by one ‘Supermeme’. In the end, neither group won; the forum was blown up, and the ULMFers and lurkers remaining moved to a second forum at the edge of the addbots expansion. Their continued fighting was cut short by the bots, and they briefly worked together to create a portal and escape before they got slaughtered. The ULMFers made it out, but almost everyone thought the lurkers hadn’t been able to and died there.

The ULMFers in their third forum, also named ULMF in memory of what had been, had peace for a while. There were small fights with the neighbouring Toonpimp’s forum, but nothing big till bots started to appear and attack ULMF. For a little while there was panic… and then it was realised that they weren’t the addbots, just the servants of an alien race called the Wraith that had recently come out of slumber. The Lurkers also resurfaced, and aided ULMF in their battles against the Wraith, though it cannot be truly told if the Lurkers are friends or enemies. The aliens were exterminated basically to a man, but they weren’t the main problem; Toonpimp had engineered their reawakening so that they would serve as a distraction, while he created a virus that would turn all it infected into loyal, mutant servants. His first test subject was Supermeme, the lurker leader that had attacked ULMF initially. He planned to seed it all over the Internet, which caused a group called the Brotherhood of Nod to pre-emptively attack him. The ULMFers, also wanting Toonpimp dead, took their best squad to attack his palace, aided by the Brotherhood of Nod and one of the Lurkers.

The group traveling to Toonpimp’s palace was attacked by Supermeme, scattering them somewhat before Toonpimp’s right hand man was forced to retreat. Undeterred, they continued on, entering the palace with the Brotherhood’s help. Inside the palace, they lost two members, finally confronting Toonpimp and Supermeme with their dwindling force. The ULMFers almost lost, but were saved at the last moment by the timely intervention of their Lurker ally. Supermeme died, but Toonpimp managed to survive, though incredibly badly wounded; he promised to be back and to put them through pain like they had never seen.

The group - the few that were left of it - returned to ULMF, while the leaders of the forum did all in their power to try and find where Toonpimp had disappeared to.

Two weeks passed before, finally, they got a lead… and the game begins.

The last two weeks at ULMF had been busy ones. V-Bulletin’s aid workers can be seen in almost every sector of the city, fixing up the last of the damage from the aliens Toonpimp had tricked into attacking the forum. With the mastermind of the attacks still on the loose, many members of ULMF were becoming increasingly nervous. The military was in a state of ever-readiness, waiting while the forum hunted for any clue towards the man’s whereabouts. To add to the fear, the forum’s natural enemy, the Lurkers, had returned… supposedly to help. While the ULMF grudge towards the Lurkers was never quite as great as the reverse, fearful whispers about them still permeated the city.

ULMF’s military contacted you a few days ago, asking for your attendance at an important meeting related to the ongoing search for Toonpimp. Today, that meeting is upon you. You head out to the LineMarvel District, and into Command, ULMF’s military headquarters, heading for the room of your appointment.

The far half of the large, windowless room is shrouded in total darkness, the contents supernaturally hidden to even Grave’s view, while the closer half is inexplicably well lit. In the band of shadows between the light divide, a person sits on a chair, their only easily notable feature being a pair of square, reflective glasses. A few chairs take up some of the visible side of the room, and a bench or two are placed sporadically along the wall. Standing up from one of those seats as you enter is Aika, an honest smile on his meek features. Someone stumbles over something in the dark side of the room and curses to themself, quickly wiping Aika’s smile away and replacing it with a look of discomfort. It doesn’t last long, though.

“Grave, Shrike, Rapture, Sinful – it’s good to see you all. Suri, though we haven’t met before, I’ve heard good things about you. I-“ the person in the darkness trips over something again, apparently bringing a tower of several things down with him; going by sound, there were some boxes, a few planks of wood, some china or possibly glass, and finally something round and metal, if the apparent sound of it slowly rolling and hitting a wall was any indication.A male voice with a mild underlying rumble came from the direction of the crash shortly afterwards.

“…Nunu… did you set that up just so that I would fall over it?”
A rectangular sign, glowing slightly in the dark, appears facing the entrance.You can read the words written on it, though part of the sign is partially obscured by the silhouette of what is presumably the arm of the person who knocked everything over. On the sign is a simple message. ‘maybe i did’. The sign is then flipped, revealing a second fluorescent side, with the opposite message upon it: ‘maybe i didn’t’.

The glow from the sign reveals part of the person’s arm being thrown up to grip what is presumably the side of their head, followed by a cry of despair. “For the love of all evil! Nunu, at least capitalise your I’s!” He runs toward the sign, which promptly disappears, leaving you in the dark as to what is happening while repeated sounds of different wooden and metal things hitting a person occur in very short order. Finally, a humanoid figure is bodily thrown out of the darkness, sliding to a stop on his face and stomach in about equal measures.

The creature is humanoid in shape only. Rather than skin, he has scales as black as something can naturally get. His head forms a reptilian triangle rather than the flat dewdrop that is the human norm. Red pupils hide between currently closed eyes, large claws and talons currently inactive at the ends of his limbs. Despite not actually wearing anything, he has no visible characteristics that would confirm his gender, him being male a guess based on the sound of his voice, and the fact that his muscle-structure is upper-body heavy. To those sensitive to such things, his body is inherently demonic, permeated with the energy of creatures from hell-planes.

“For fuck’s sake…!” He whines unhappily. “Can’t someone stop Nunu from intentionally goading me? This is cruel and unusual!” He picks himself up. “Honestly, can’t you control your dictator?”
A sign appears behind him, out of his notice; it reads ‘but i always talk like this…’

“Nunu…” Aika begins uneasily, and with a mite of repressed annoyance, “Perhaps it would be good if you could limit yourself to only important things while Host is here.”
Another luminescent sign conveys Nunu’s response as three dots. Then it flips to show the back, with a simple ‘ok’ on it.

(I've halved what this post was going to be, to give people the chance to respond here. Don't be too worried if you can't think of anything worthwhile for your character to do - I'm sure Rapture or Grave will appreciate the opportunity to chew out Host, at least.)
 
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cross_grave

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Re: ULMF the Third (RP Thread)

Grave was, to put it simply, very unhappy. The past few weeks were not too bad for him - he even managed to secure a dangerous, but comfortable position in the ULMF military. However, this entire time his mind kept wandering back to the battle with Toonpimp and the bittersweet response he recieved after returning. Burrito and Siphon, both gone. Other squadmates were injuried. He was the only one standing after the battle, and it had been a close call anyway. Even though they won, it was merely the beginning. He was itching to set out and go hunt for Toonpimp by himself, but several things stopped him. He had to take care of a couple of issues and he had good reasons to suspect that more trouble for him was brewing. His old friends were looking into the issues, but Lady Luck never favored the darkling. He knew things would go bad, sooner or later.

On top of that, he now had certain obligations to ULMF forums he had to fulfill. As a soldier, he had no choice but to obey orders, something he really didn't like. At least he could get some good action - being a member of a special squad had it's perks. And from the looks of it, his services would be required quite often. The war was still on, even if the enemy gave no signs of life. That's what he hated most about wars. Waiting. It grated on his nerves. What pissed him off more, though, was the fact that no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't get his hands on Host. Grave was very good at holding grudges against people. More than once, it turned into a source of strenght for him. Host, however, was a sneaky bastard, and Aika probably wouldn't be happy about having him maimed. So Grave waited for his chance to come.

Walking into the room, the darkling quickly noticed the unusual setup. His eyes narrowed as he unsuccessfully tried to see through the darkness. Whoever or whatever created it was probably more powerful than him... Interesting. He'd have to ask about it later. Aika's presence wasn't a suprise - Grave had seen him before. Taking orders straight from the boss was something he was getting used to. However... He still needed to get used to his new teammates. He knew Shrike, but Rapture and Suri were a different case. Hopefully things would work out. He couldn't help but wonder who'd be the new team leader, though. Personally, he wasn't sure whether he wanted the job. It meant responsibility. Grave had more of a "let's wing it" approach. Aika could use it to calm him down, though... Or assign the position to someone who could keep him calm.

Grave's musings were interrupted by the strange noise. He didn't say anything, raising his eyebrows as he once again stared at the dark veil. Sounded like whoever was inside it couldn't see through the darkness as well. The darkling's expression turned grim when he heard the voice, however. So that's why Aika looked uncomfortable. Grave began to follow the semi-silent conversation with interest, almost snorting when he saw the response. Whoever this Nunu was, he/she certainly had a sense of humor. However, the spelling... The young man couldn't help but shake his head. He liked when people spoke proper english in his presence. Sometimes, he'd go out of his way to correct others, though not necessarily fight them.

Eventually, a figure was thrown out of the darkness... And Grave smirked when he saw it. Bastard got what he deserves... Part of what he deserves, anyway. Ignoring the conversation, Grave raised his hands and slowly cracked his knuckles, savoring the moment. His stance turned to a less formal one as he prepared to lunge in case the reptile tried to bolt. And without a doubt, he would try. "Why hello there, Host." The darkling spoke in a cheerful tone of voice, his smirk turning into a grin. A really nasty grin. "It's been a while. I was kinda hoping I'd catch you one of these days, there's this one thing I'd like to discuss with you... Surely, you don't mind?" Grave had to restain himself from chuckling. Oh, he was so going to enjoy this.
 
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Re: ULMF the Third (RP Thread)

Host's expression as he picked himself off the floor changed significantly as he took stock of an all-too-happy Grave sizing him up, mild annoyance satisfyingly changing into an apprehensive grimace. The demon stayed a little bent over from his full height for a moment, not entirely willing to make any sudden moves. Oddly, Host’s presence here could only have been a willing thing between the forum and the Lurkers – so surely, he would have known that Grave would be present. Either Aika had pulled the wool over his eyes, Host had some kind of plan, or he was willing to risk the darkling’s wrath for the sake of attending the meeting.

"…Oh, come on, now. You're still upset that I was a bit of a… discourteous Host when the Lurkers went to greet you?"
He stands with more self assurance. "We are on the same side, here. …In a sense... I, in fact, happen to be the diplomatic representative of my faction. I’m sure that your present superiors wouldn’t want to see you attack a diplomat…?" (The man in the shadows looks toward Grave and mimes a strike toward the direction of Host, potentially dispelling that theory.) Moving into a pose of display, his arms wide at his sides, he then grins. "Besides, really... how could you stay mad at this?" he asks, wearing a punchable expression of self-admiration.
 

cross_grave

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Re: ULMF the Third (RP Thread)

Grave calmly closed his right fist, making lazy motions with his arm. It was relatively new, and even though he got used to it rather quickly, he still had a habit of testing it before doing some... Extensive workout. He didn't stop smiling - in fact, his grin got a little bit wider when he saw the expression on Host's face. He briefly wondered what kind of punishment would be suitable, and how far could he go. Considering that the Lurker probably came here willingly, he was, without a doubt, prepared for this. Good. Deciding on a course of action, Grave tensed - and paused for a moment as Host began to speak. It seemed that the lizard was going to try to defend himself. There was probably nothing wrong with that.

However, opening with a pun probably wasn't the best idea. The twitch in Grave's left eye agreed with that opinion. So did the owner of said eye, who quickly discarded the first two arguments. He regularly picked fights with people on his side - in fact, infighting was still a popular way to kill time among his old circle. As for the second argument, the darkling couldn't care less. That gesturing guy certainly wasn't helping Host's cause - in fact, Grave's mile got a wee bit too wide when he saw the cues. However, when the Lurker finished his speech, posing, the young man suddenly froze. His twitch disappeared for a second before returning, this time with friends. They went for the right eye.

"You..." Grave choked out before sighing and continuing, calmly and with a smile. "Are correct. Staying mad at you will not help my health at all." Black flames appeared around his right hand as he prepared a magic-charged strike. "So. Allow me to FORGIVE YOU!" Lunging forward, Grave closed the distance before his arm shot out in a quick uppercut aimed at Host's face, a darkness-enhanced punch that would shatter the jaw of a human and send him flying.
 
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Pale

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Re: ULMF the Third (RP Thread)

Even as Grave comes flying towards Host with murder in his eyes, there rises a sigh from one of the newer faces in the room. A dark-haired, dark-eyed woman with a vaguely familiar face and black fatigues clears her throat.

"Gentlemen..."

One black-gloved hand settled on Host's shoulder... and tugging backwards, over an outstretched leg. Humiliating, painful, but certainly more pleasant than taking Grave's punch on the jaw. On the swing of the same motion, Rapture replaces Host with herself, slipping neatly into the spot he'd occupied.. and folding her hands behind her ramrod-straight back. Confident that substituting herself herself for Host would stop Grave's punch, she continues..

"No horseplay in my briefing room, if you please. I presume you're the one they call Grave..? A pleasure to make your acquaintance. I'm Rapture. Your new commanding officer. And that scaled pain in the collective behind is my responsibility. So if you want to hit him... do it on your own time."
 

cross_grave

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Re: ULMF the Third (RP Thread)

Grave's fist flew straight at Rapture's face... And stopped a short distance away from it, magic dissipating in an instant. The darkling gave her a long stare before relaxing, stepping back into the line. "Nice to meet you, boss." He replied dryly. At least he got to see Host getting knocked on his ass. But as far as Grave was concerned, it only meant that he'd have to plant the scaly bastard in the ceiling on a different occasion. Shooting the demon one last 'I'll get you later' look, he focused on his new CO. She seemed a wee bit familiar, but the darkling blamed this on his unreliable memory. He had to admit that he rather liked her style. Calm, quick, and had an iron will. He was willing to bet that few people would stand in his path once he got rolling. Grave barely managed to contain a smile. It was always a pleasure to work with a professional.
 

Shrike7

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Re: ULMF the Third (RP Thread)

Shrike had spent the first week or so after the assault on the forum healing from her wounds. After that, she spent most of her time wandering the streets watching the reconstruction, doing repairs to her inherited ship, and occasionally leaving the forum for a day or two at a time. When the call eventually came, Shrike was on her way out of the forum for another trip, returning just hours before the meeting with a package of components for her ship. She left it at her small apartment in the Role Play Section and headed for Command.

Shrike thought the meeting room was... Interesting. She was tempted to reach out into the darkness to try and sense who all was there, but decided it was best to go without. It was obviously a very high-level meeting, if the people in the darkness didn't want to be known, so be it. Of course, when one stumbles right out of it, it's difficult not to take notice. "Host." She says simply, accompanied with a slight nod. then Grave and Rapture had their fun, so she stepped back and observed. "New CO eh? Good to meet you." She says, giving the other woman a quick up-and-down before turning her gaze to Suri. "And we haven't met. I'm Shrike, pleasure to meet you both." She says with a smile, extending a hand if either wants to shake.
 
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Re: ULMF the Third (RP Thread)

I might have slightly miscalculated my response, Host’s expression says, as the darkling comes running at him, arm a(…blaze? Darked?) …‘magiced up’.

The Lurker flinched away, not nearly enough to protect him from Grave – but the new ULMF soldier wasn’t the one who ended up assaulting him. With a shout of alarm, all 6’ 6.6’’ of the reptile was unbalanced by a clever foot, and sent toppling onto his back.

After his eyes dart around, taking a quick appraisal of the situation, the demon found reason to pale… Rapture’s action had seemingly taken him totally by surprise. (There was also the fact that he had come quite close to being peeled off the ceiling.) For a few moments, his expression was oddly unreadable... but surprisingly enough, he soon after broke into a grin and laughed – or, at least, made a few harsh clicking noises that could probably be considered a laugh.

“Why is it that, so often lately, I find myself thanking distant and mysterious ULMF women for acts of casual violence against me? …That means thanks, by the way.” He picked himself up, slowing for a moment as he caught Grave’s parting look, and while still clearly concerned about the presumably-upcoming thrashing, it didn’t wipe the smile from his face. “This makes two times in as about as many weeks, and from as many people.”

The demon paused, fixedly looking Rapture over before adding, “…Or perhaps not.”



Their glorious leader attempts to return to the actual reason for their meeting.
“Uh… so…. Yeah…” he fumbles briefly, before managing it.
“I set this meeting up because, as you may already suspect, we have a lead on Toonpimp.” He gets the unmistakable look of a person who is about to tell people things they already know. “Most of you know what is going on first hand, but Suri, and Shade, who I haven’t had the chance to introduce, only volunteered themselves recently, and we haven’t had the chance to brief them yet, so you’ll have to bear with Rule's explanation for a moment.”

The man with the glasses in the shadows is the one to begin the explanation, his voice strong, permanently sounding serious regardless of what was actually being said… and, to an astute listener, still slightly accented with German.
“You know the basics of it from what you’ve seen around the forum – a little over three weeks ago, ULMF was attacked by a significant group of bots. These bots proved to be the servants of an alien species who, until recently had been lying dormant not too far from ULMF. What isn’t common knowledge is that Toonpimp, the ruler of a forum nearby and rival to ULMF, woke them up to serve as a distraction, or possibly a first wave. We know now that he had intentionally attempted to aim them at ULMF. The aliens fed on humans – and Toonpimp had released deadly viruses in all major population centres near the alien hives, leaving them with only ULMF to head for. Of course, being close to ours, this put Toonpimp’s own forum in the line of fire, and it was annihilated.”
The man adjusts his glasses.
“The aliens attacked us next, as you’re already quite aware.”

“And would have obliterated you as well, if Siphon hadn’t had a spaceship to toss into the fray. Although it ended up getting inevitably destroyed.
…Remind me again why the Lurkers consider your lot a rival?” Host chips in, grinning.

“Shut up, reptile.” Rule says blithely, wiping the smile off Host’s features, and replacing it with a grumpy one.

“Now where were we… Ah, yes. We repelled the attack, and our Specialist Squad investigated the attack on Toonpimp’s forum. The aliens proved to have an interest in finding the person who woke them, and had become enough of a threat that Toonpimp sent his viral creations to stop them. If he hadn’t, we might not have realised who the true enemy was in time…”
He pauses.
“But, luckily for us, Toonpimp came in person to deal the finishing blow to the hive investigating him, giving us the information we needed to figure out what was going on. All ULMF knows what happened next; our specialist squad-“

“And one Lurker.”Host butts in again.

“…and one Lurker, with unwarranted help from Nod, infiltrated Toonpimp’s palace and stopped his plan to cover the Net with a mutative virus that would turn the infected into his devout, and incredibly ugly, followers. Unfortunately, the palace was completely destroyed in the explosion, and what rubble remains will take months to sift through for any hints toward where he fled to – if anything useful even survived.”

He nods to the woman who had identified herself as the squad's new CO. “Thanks to Rapture, however, we have stumbled onto an important lead.”

Aika takes over the briefing. “Rapture can give you the specifics in a moment, but basically we’ve discovered a base of Toonpimp’s, worryingly close to ULMF. While this presents an obvious threat that must be dealt with, it also gives us a unique opportunity to try and determine the whereabouts of their leader. There might be nothing to find there, but we have to try – and if you can manage to cripple their operations while you’re at it, all the better.”

Host steals the baton of exposition. “The Lurkers are refusing to help on this one. They’re targeting ULMF, after all, not the whole Net. …At the moment.”

Rule brings more bad news. “v-Bulletin isn’t going to be sending any help either. This squad’s previous leader calling a known group of criminals like the Brotherhood to attack Toonpimp, before we had shown them any solid proof that he was behind the attacks…”you can hear him becoming angrier as he talks, but calms down soon enough. “Well, we’re lucky to still be getting their help repairing the forum.”

Host looks the assembled group of ULMFers over. “This is probably going to be a tough mission for a bunch of greenhorns with at most two weeks experience, me, and one actual trained ULMF agent…” He grins.“Think you can handle it, kiddies?”
 

cross_grave

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Re: ULMF the Third (RP Thread)

"Handle it? You better worry about keeping up with us." Grave shot back at Host. However, this time he was serious. From the moment Aika mentioned Toonpimp, the darkling seemingly changed. The nonchalant disrespect for everything in general disappeared entirely. He listened carefully, even though he knew most of the story. Though he rarely showed it, the darkling was not inexperienced, even if he lacked military training. He could make up for it with magic, to a degree, and he did really well as a heavy combat specialist. And even before joining ULMF, he went on a few operations before, with different people... Grave banished those memories before nostalgia raised it's head. He had to focus on the upcoming operation. This could be an opportunity to get some well-deserved revenge.

As he listened, Grave noted several details. There seemed to be some hostility between Rule and Host - not suprising. During the last couple of weeks, the darkling decided to look for an abridged story of the Lurker/ULMF conflict, so he could understand why both sides disliked each other. Rule's anger at the problems with V-Bulletin was slightly more suprising, but understandable. The Brotherhood was very helpful, but it didn't change the fact that they were terrorists. Burrito disregarded the political consequences of his actions - something Grave would have done as well. However, he had to agree with the pen-pushers as well, at least a little. NOD were a menace, fanatics who endangered a lot of people and did some very questionable things. No wonder Rule was pissed, especially since ULMF really lacked evidence back then.

Finishing his musings, Grave turned his head towards Rapture. Apparently she scouted that base by herself, which meant that she had first-hand experience. Good. This meant that the info was reliable. He wondered how Toonpimp managed to establish a base close to the forum, though. He probably took advantage of the chaos during the war, building it while everyone was distracted. Still, what kind of base it was? A research facility? Weapon stockpile? Communication center? Hopefully Rapture could tell. If not... Well, they'd find out soon enough. And probably crack some skulls in the process. Toonpimp probably left some of his mutants to guard it. He certainly wouldn't keep all of them in his HQ if he had a secondary plan.
 

Pale

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Re: ULMF the Third (RP Thread)

Without so much as a flinch, Rapture watches the fist come flying for her... drop.

"Good. I should also note to you that while he's here.." Tilt of the head to the lizard finding his feet once more behind her.

"He's my responsibility. So please. Go easy. I have a nagging suspicion the Lurkers sent him to aggravate us -just so we'd kill him-, and give them an excuse to start a war. While I'm confident that we'd win it.."

That's a lie.

"...I don't want to get distracted from more important things. On that note.. Shrike. Pleasure to meet you, I'm Rapture. You probably haven't heard of me, I've been working with some of VBulletin's goons for quite some time. Look forward to having you under me."

From anyone else, that last line could have been suggestive. But with the ice-cold delivery, and absence of even an attempt at a smile, it couldn't be anything further from it. The offered hand, though, is taken, gripped.. and shaken, firmly, before the CO turns away to deal with Host.

"Trust me, reptile.. I haven't the faintest idea what you're talking about. We've never met, and there's no such thing as a casual act of violence. Now get up."

Brusquely given.. but eased by the offer of a gloved hand, to assist the Lurker to his feet. That hand, whether taken or not, comes to rest on the tall reptile's shoulder, squeezing almost uncomfortably hard whenever he speaks, though Rapture faces forward, her features blank, at all times.

She nods briefly for her own mention, but awaits her own turn to speak, turning a small remote control over and over within her clasped hands.. though, tucked behind her back. She meets the Supreme Leader's question with a small, tight smile.

"We'll be just fine, Sir. This lot may be undisciplined, but they should know how to fight. And if they don't, well. This one.."

A pat to Host's shoulder.

"Has a knack, I'm told, of both drawing and avoiding gunfire. The perfect distraction. So we'll just send him in in a bot costume.."

In other words, a big neon sign selling penis enlargement pills on one side, and vaginal tightening balls on the other.

"And sneak in the back while they're distracted. With your permission, Sir, I'll brief them on what I can..?"
 

Sinfulwolf

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Re: ULMF the Third (RP Thread)

Sitting in one of the centre rows of seats, a woman dressed in a gray t-shirt, and black combat pants, her scuffed black combat boots resting on a chair she had turned around before her, silently watched the exchange between Grave and Host, a single eyebrow raised. She let her finger run over the latch nestled at the top of a long thin tube that looked like it would hold paintings, or blueprints. She gave a nod of respect towards Rapture, the woman who had just identified herself as the new CO.

Good, Sin always liked knowing who would be sending her off to get shot. All the more respect if those who sent her off followed along.

When the briefing resumed after the brief distraction, Sin turned her gaze to Rule, brushing a single bang of raven black hair from her face, thumb still toying absently with the latch on the tube she held lightly. She took in most of the information, for while she knew most of what had happened, she had been gone for quite awhile and most of the little details were news to her.

Then Host spoke again; a grin and comment about 'kiddies'. Sin frowned, turning her expression towards him, her thumb popping the latch before closing it once more.

"Worry about yourself Lizard, even self-proclaimed veterans can buy the farm just as easily as the greenhorn," Sin said, the first words she had spoken within the room, and her cool green eyes stared at the lurker amongst them. There seemed to be only the faintest flicker of excitement within them.
 

Shrike7

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Re: ULMF the Third (RP Thread)

Shrike shrugs at Host's mention of greenhorns, but chooses not to say something. She learned pretty quickly that there wasn't much point arguing with people, no matter how wrong they were. Instead, she took a seat and stretched out.

"Alright, where do we start? This definitely bears looking into." She says simply, casting a glance over to Rule and the rest of the shadowed half. "What do we know so far?"
 
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Host

Host

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Re: ULMF the Third (RP Thread)

"Trust me, reptile.. I haven't the faintest idea what you're talking about. We've never met, and there's no such thing as a casual act of violence. Now get up."

Brusquely given.. but eased by the offer of a gloved hand, to assist the Lurker to his feet. That hand, whether taken or not, comes to rest on the tall reptile's shoulder, squeezing almost uncomfortably hard whenever he speaks, though Rapture faces forward, her features blank, at all times.
The hand Rapture offered was taken without hesitation, and her warnings seemed to do little to stop Host’s comments, though she at least gets a disparaging look the first time she does so.

"We'll be just fine, Sir. This lot may be undisciplined, but they should know how to fight. And if they don't, well. This one.."

A pat to Host's shoulder.

"Has a knack, I'm told, of both drawing and avoiding gunfire. The perfect distraction. So we'll just send him in in a bot costume.."

In other words, a big neon sign selling penis enlargement pills on one side, and vaginal tightening balls on the other.

"And sneak in the back while they're distracted. With your permission, Sir, I'll brief them on what I can..?"
The reptile gives at grunt of amusement. “Heh... We’ll call that plan F. For… ‘fairly plausible’.” Lies the demon, yet with undisputedly non-sarcastic speech.

Aika’s response to her query is simple and civil. “Please, by all means.”
"Worry about yourself Lizard, even self-proclaimed veterans can buy the farm just as easily as the greenhorn,"
“Oh, I won’t have any trouble worrying about myself, trust me. I have a lot of practice in the art. …Your concern is duly appreciated, though…” Host replies, smiling slyly as he waited for Rapture to begin briefing the assembled group.
 

Pale

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Re: ULMF the Third (RP Thread)

With a nod from Aika, it's time for Rapture to take over the show. Abandoning the Lurker's emissary, the stiff woman pads to the front of the room, glancing over her various volunteers to ensure everyone is awake. When she reaches the front, the Operative takes a moment to usher the Supreme Leader out of the way, then drag the speaker's podium from in front of the assembled chairs.

With all that accomplished, she lifts a remote in one hand.. and plunges the room into darkness with a push of a button.

"Ladies and gentlemen."

Another button push brings a projector to life, images filling the wall before the assembled ULMF'ers eyes. The first is a satellite scan, with an origin tag whited out in the bottom right hand corner. It shows what is fairly obviously a large area of forest, with nothing out of place.

"You're looking at sat scans of an area about a week's march from here towards VBulletin's capital. As the more geographically aware of you have probably already realised, it this particular grid reference would form the second point of a triangle, with the now-defunct ToonPimp forum and ourselves as the other two points. Nothing out of the ordinary at first.."

A click, and the image shifts into thermal. There's still nothing apparently out of the ordinary, no large heat sources glaring out of the image.

"However. Thanks to an anonymous tip, and some... borrowed scanning technology, we were able to get our sats to look for a very specific frequency of EM radiation. And hey presto.."

The next click lights up the forest light a Christmas tree, as the image shifts into a negative image, almost like the thermal imaging used before.. but with very different results. This time, a large facility comes into view, hidden beneath the trees.. with what appears to be an even larger underground signature directly beneath it. There's a pause, before a red dot appears on the image. A laser pointer, in the Operative's hand.

"If you direct your attention away from their base of operations for a moment.. observe."

The dot drags across the picture, before circling several, smaller signatures interspersed evenly between the facility and the edge of the image.

"These are supply trucks, carrying God only knows what. We managed to get a look at one or two, but they're sealed units. I can confirm, though.."

The next image couldn't be more different. A picture taken from apparently, directly in front of one of these trucks, trees and canopy visible in the background. Neatly framed in the center of the viewfinder, is the truck's windscreen.. and an addbot, sitting behind it.

"This is one of those trucks.. and yes, that is a bot. In addition.. he might look like he's driving the truck.. he's not. He's there as a guard, the trucks are autonomous. As we found out by taking him out. The truck kept moving."

Rapture clicks again.. then again, and again, scrolling through a series of pictures, taken from a distance of approximately fifty yards from a walled complex, apparently the one in question, buried in trees without a clearing around it as would be more normal. It's both walled and guarded, with a single gate for the trucks to enter through. Security seems rather lax, with only six figures on the entire perimeter.

"As you're thinking, yep, looks like a cakewalk. But you'd be fooled. Watch this."

Another click shifts to a video, which begins playing without warning, footage from a helmet-mounted camera from the look of things, shot in the ghostly green of night vision. The view is low to the ground, peering through bracken, and watching something that after a few moments, becomes clear as one of the trucks, rumbling through the forest.

As the camera watches, a dark figure marked with a flashing VB infared strobe peels out of the undergrowth, silently attaching himself to the underside of the truck. The view zoomes in, watching the truck and cargo get closer and closer to the facility. Rapture's voice can be heard over the recording.

"Come on, Four.. Come -on-. Get out of there, you've confirmed your objective.."

A radio crackles in response.

"Negative, Lead. I'm going to try and get us some -real- intel on this place. Oldest trick in the book, but come on. -Bots-? They couldn't set up a security sy.."

And then the camera flares out, abruptly, as something incredibly bright destroys the night vision, combined with a burst of static from the radio.. and a quiet..

"..Fuck."

From the recorded Rapture.

She freezes the image, then rewinds, without the night vision this time. The screen is dar, blurry, watching the truck get closer and closer.. then at about fifty feet from the facility, the air shimmers in front of it.. and the truck explodes into flames. That isn't to say the gas tank goes up, or a missile strikes it - the whole thing is simply annihilated.

"That happens.. every time we bug a truck, or try and send someone in, at precisely forty-four feet from the compound walls. There's some sort of energy field that scans everything coming in, and if it doesn't match the truck requirements exactly.. boom. We're working on a way round it as we speak."

Another click, and the lights come back on.

"We're going into the facility, quietly as possible, to work out what the hell is going on. Transport, armament, and the like are all arranged, and will be dealt with in a few moments. Any questions so far..?"
 

cross_grave

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Re: ULMF the Third (RP Thread)

Grave rolled his eyes at Rapture's warning. He wasn't planning to KILL Host, just to maim him a bit. Granted, there was a time when he was prone to slaughtering others for less, but that was over. However, he smirked slightly when she suggested using the reptile as a walking distraction. As far as he was concerned, it was a good plan. The demon certainly didn't look strong - or at least acted as if he was weak - so he probably had to be good at sneaking around in order to survive. The darkling briefly wondered whether he ought to introduce him to some of his old allies. If he remembered their personalities correctly, they'd hunt him down without mercy... Better leave it for really nasty occassions. There was a limit to cruelty.

Once Rapture began her briefing, Grave quickly focused on the slideshow. He didn't react when she turned off the lights - something like this wasn't even an inconvenience for him. He frowned when Rapture mentioned the anonymous tip. It sounded too convenient. Was this a set-up of some kind? The darkling had a bad feeling about this. Still, considering the size of the complex and activity around it, it was too good of an opportunity to pass up. The only problem was that enigmatic defence system. It'd be their biggest problem - if they entered or left the facility carelessly, they'd die. Aside of that, it seemed that the security was indeed lax... But even if the bots were too stupid to install a secondary system, Toonpimp wasn't.

Shaking his head, Grave decided to take advantage of the opportunity to speak. "I'll be honest with ya... I don't like this. The part about anonymous tip, at least. I can understand taking someone's tech, but I'd prefer to know who's giving me info. This sounds too convenient. Aside of that... No questions so far, except for two. Is that shield based on tech, or magic? And do we have any plans in case things go south?" Well, at least they'd be supplied with anything they might need... The darkling briefly wondered whether he should take a weapon. He had no experience with firearms and ranged weaponry, though, except for spears. His last sword shattered during the battle against Toonpimp, and even though he could easily project a blade, perhaps having a mundane replacement would help.
 

Sinfulwolf

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Re: ULMF the Third (RP Thread)

"It's not concern... it's a warning," Sin said cooly, before turning her attention to the briefing itself, crossing her arms as she listened carefully, brow creasing in a deep frown as the energy shield was mentioned.

When the time came for questions, she let Grave ask his first before piping up.

"We going to have any CAS or Arty, or will we be on our own?" she said, eyes settling on her new commander as she spoke.
 

Pale

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Re: ULMF the Third (RP Thread)

Grave gets the first bit of attention as he speaks up, the dark-haired Commander nodding, agreeing with some of his concerns.

"I don't like this either. Not in the slightest. The anonymous tip, the radiation visible in one spectrum, one frequency..? It's got to be a trap, which is why, as you've already happened upon.. we're going in with a multi-layer plan. First up, another one of my little holiday snaps. This should answer your question as well, Sinful."

A click, and another video plays. This time Rapture has clearly been playing with the shield. With a slow-moving truck as cover, the Operative is throwing things into the 44-feet line. A rock, a grenade.. then an odd-looking object, set just outside the line. It detonates with a bleep.. then another rock gets incinerated.

"EMP, by the way. Did nothing."

Another click turns the video off.

"So. CAS and arty aren't an option. At least, at first. As for getting through that shield.. we'll be using mass-simulators. Or some such. Apparently you'll get about ten seconds during which your mass will exactly mimic the truck on any scanners. So as long as the shield is less than about ten feet thick, you'll make it to the walls. One-way trip, though. I have a backpack EMP for anyone brave.. so once inside, if it all goes south, detonate and we'll send cavalry in in spades. The backup plan.."

A glance over her shoulder at Rule 34. He wasn't going to like this.

"...The backup plan is we detonate a nuke in high orbit. The resulting EMP should take down all electrical systems in that place, shield or no shield. Bad news means a helicopter entry will be out, so no fast exit or entry if we have to use that."

Another long pause.

"So. Running in exactitudes. By the time we're suited and booted here it'll be evening, then a chopper ride to the objective. You'll be inserted about a klick out, then you're going in on foot. These.."

A small, square, boxy device held up.

"Will get you in. Tested it myself. I'm coming in with you.."

A cough from Aika, and some scrawling from the shadows of Nunu, but before either Dictator can get a word in edgeways, the CO continues..

"And that's non-negotiable. Once we're in, we've got the backpack, and the high-altitude if it all goes wrong.. but I really don't want to use them. Second round of questions..?"
 

Sinfulwolf

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Re: ULMF the Third (RP Thread)

Sin leaned back, and began to play with the latch again, her eyes furrowed in thought, before slowly shaking her head.

"None. Let's just get in there,"
 

cross_grave

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Re: ULMF the Third (RP Thread)

Grave frowned. Well, at least everybody here was savvy enough to see a trap. "Backpack EMP? I'll take it." The darkling scratched his chin with his right hand, nearly leaving a mark on his skin with those short claws of his. Wincing, he mentally kicked himself for forgetting about them. "By the way, how do you plan on maintaining contact with us? I mean, those are bots we're dealing with, but I'm willing to bet that they'd pick up a communication from their own base... Do we save it for a critical situation?" Like one that'd require nukes. Grave liked nukes, just not when they exploded close enough to him to affect the area he was in. He could deal with having no quick methods of retreat. Granted, things would get messy without quick evac, but he was used to this kind of thing.
 

Shrike7

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Re: ULMF the Third (RP Thread)

"I have a few. Have these mass simulators been tested? Re we sure we know the mass of the trucks, in order to mimic them properly?" Shrike asked in quick sucession. "As for another way in or out, have we tried undeground? Some systems like these end at ground level, or at least close to it. If there's anyone watching this field, it should probably be noted that they know we're coming as well. I don't see any way someone more intelligent than an adbot wouldn't have noticed those experiments on the field. I also assume they have something set up to prevent teleportation? I don't think anyone here has that kind of expertise, but something like that isn't hard to find on the internet, we could hire an outside specialist if need be."

She stops for a second to collect her thoughts, holding up a finger to indicate she wasn't finished. "Yes, this seems rather conveinient. Anonymous tip, granted probably from the lurkers, no real defenses shown other than this field and some token adbots, this screams of a trap. Have we managed to actually stop a truck and see it's contents yet?"
 
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