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Post by ColArana on Jun 25, 2019 22:01:27 GMT -5
Ryan smiled appreciatively at Will. "We got Max in here under false pretenses Will. Besides. In my case..." His face fell a little. "Any pain I'll feel is artificial. Any damage... can be fixed." Afterall... Ryan thought for a moment. You're not really human anymore... are you?
As far as Lydia doing it... "Then I guess we better get moving, cause we're on borrowed time. Who knows. Maybe this place has some parts that are compatible with me. Maybe I can get some kinda upgrade or something that can work the re-enlargement they've got here, or maybe help me fly back so Lydia doesn't use up more power than normal..... Or... something. You know." He suggested. He looked over Will's shoulder as the man swore as he picked away. "Problems with the lock?" Ryan wasn't a worldly lockpicker, so he didn't exactly know what sounds were good sounds.
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Post by ParamountKeymaster on Jun 26, 2019 20:37:22 GMT -5
"Well, if we have to work a few machines around here, then I guess I can play along. Not like I haven't taken risks before," Max stated as she watched Will start picking at the door lock. "But for the sake of the lives on the line, as long as time permits, it might be better not to risk it and just let Dr. Pendleton handle the technical stuff. But that bridge will come later. Right now, we just need to get out of-"
All of a sudden, a buzzer went off and the white walls of their cell turned red, earning a frankly appropriate curse from Will. Max was none too pleased by the event either. The combination of alarms and red lights was almost never a good thing. "Ah sheesh, now what?"
It felt like the room was shaking. It wasn't a full-blown tremor by any means. More like the subtle vibrations of a massage chair. The gentle movement in the floor threw off Max's balance slightly, and leaning against the wall offered no solace as they too emitted constant pulses. In no time at all, whether it was a product of the vibrations or some other unseen device, Max started to feel drowsy, slipping to the floor and sitting up against the wall as she fought to keep her eyes open. "Ugh... Okay... That might not've been the best idea... Can someone make the room stop spinning please?"
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Post by Pink Moon Wolf on Jun 27, 2019 11:27:45 GMT -5
"Agreed," Lydia sighed regarding the matter of Percy. Maybe he would show up to perform a bestia ex machina, but it was best that they focus on fixing the problem themselves in case he didn't and be pleasantly/apprehensively surprised if he did. "Let's just make this quick. I'm really starting to hate watching you guys go through the ringer for my sake."
First things first: opening this door...
After a few seconds of watching Will pick at the lock, a low alarm resounded in Lydia's headset, swiftly accompanied by Will swearing. A red glow simultaneously filled her monitor. "Oh, son of a dick..."
Steadily, the new stimuli were replaced by static. A crackling noise filled Lydia's ear. Lines rippled across the screen, the picture freezing and cutting in and out at sporadic intervals. Soon enough, Proteus II's cabin lights and instruments started growing dim, prompting her to initiate an anxious troubleshooting session, if only to determine what was still working at any decent capacity. "Uh... Will?"
If the audio quality in her headset was already this bad, she could only imagine what it sounded like on the other side...
"̸W̧i̸.͢͝͞..͝?̢̢?҉̀ ́͢͝.͡.̕.͢͡r̶͢e y̨.̶̧.͘͠. ́͠f.͢.̷.̶̕ ́͞ka̧y҉, ̕b̶u̧.͜͝.̸͠͡.? ҉͝W̧ḩ͡͞a̷̢.̴̕.͟͟.̨͝͏̡ ͘͠͠ ̶͝͡͡ ̢̛͢ ҉̨͘͡ ͏̕͝ ̸̨ ̵́͞ ҉́͠͝ ̷͝ ̴̶̛"̸̷̡̨
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Post by DanteMGalileo on Jun 27, 2019 12:33:58 GMT -5
Will did not like loud noises or red lights, much less both of them together. He stopped his lockpicking at this, trying to figure out just what the fuck-
The room was shaking. Repeat, the room was shaking! Sure, he was used to earthquakes, his homeland had them regularly, and this was minuscule potatoes compared to what he was used to, but still. Rooms don't just start shaking for no reason! Did he set it off? It had to have been him! He was the one picking the door!
He turned around, and saw Max trying to stay up, and Ryan... the tall blonde cringed slightly at the cyborg's reaction. "Max?! Ryan?! Are you two- augh...!!" He hadn't even taken two steps forward when he found himself down on one knee. Lydia said something to him, but he couldn't make it out for the life of him. "L-Lydia...?" Why was the voice suddenly so low-quality? This didn't bode well...
On the subject of low-quality... Will placed a hand on the ground to keep him from falling completely. He suddenly felt drained.
---
"You. Give me that bag." While the guard gave him an odd look, the human complied, and Liderc found himself fishing around Max's tote bag. Notebook... primitive equipment... Okay, let's be a bit more careful with that!
Liderc stood before the vibrating room. Soon, the doctor would take the blonde buffoon off to do whatever she had in store for him. He'd be left watching these apes. Might as well have fun with it, right?
"Oh, Max? Are you familiar with the human classic Fahrenheit 451?" He taunted. "It's one of the few things I actually like about your kind, even if you have the hero and villain parts all wrong."
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Post by ColArana on Jun 27, 2019 17:12:30 GMT -5
As the alarms started blaring and the red light went off, Ryan felt his nonexistent stomach drop. "Ah, great. What n--"
Du-dum Ryan felt his heart skip a beat, as static briefly filled the left side of his vision, and his body shuddered as if suffering a seizure. "Oh.... Nnnn...." Ryan staggered back and his back slammed into a door. "Something's...." He was experiencing far worse pain than during Lydia's little scramble job earlier. Ryan clutched his forehead with a trembling arm, groaning in pain. "Will!.... Sh.... Shit...." Ryan slumped against the wall, groaning in agony.
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Post by ParamountKeymaster on Jun 27, 2019 18:04:45 GMT -5
Max wearily looked up at Will and Ryan as they too lost their balance from the electrical pulses in the room. "Oh... Great..." She wanted so desperately to stand up. To fight the exhaustion and retain her focus. But like getting out of bed before dawn and after only four hours of sleep, it was easier said than done.
She could only barely make out a muffled voice on the other side of the door. The exact words were a little harder to parse out. For a moment, she couldn't even recognize who was speaking to her. "W-Wha...?"
The vibrations ceased. The room turned white again.
The door opened...
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Post by Pink Moon Wolf on Jun 27, 2019 18:28:29 GMT -5
Lydia could only barely make out a hum in the static that matched Will's tone and vaguely sounded like Max, Ryan, and her own name. Then her audio cut out altogether, earning a sharp cringe from the ear-splitting pop. She had little time to wonder if it was a two-way ordeal before her visual feed went dark, immediately followed by both the pod's interior and exterior lights. Now she could only hope this was instrumentation failure on her part and that Will was still conscious. "Ssssshhhhh*t..."
"AUXILIARY POWER ACTIVATED."
The cabin light up again, albeit with a significantly dimmer red glow. Lydia hastily resumed checking the other instruments as they steadily switched back on, running on low-power mode. Her oxygen levels hadn't changed and nothing was irreversibly damaged, but she found herself unable to take comfort in these facts. What was that? An EMP? How could it have affected Will and Max too?
All of a sudden, Proteus II's power kicked back in at full swing. Seemed like whatever had caused the short had stopped. Lydia jumped again as her radio reactivated with yet another loud series of crackles, and once she got over that heart-stopper, she promptly switched her monitor back on.
She couldn't see or hear clearly yet, but she could already sense something was wrong...
---------------------------
"Dr. Michaels? The subjects triggered the pulse."
"Hmm. Convenient timing, actually," Dr. Michaels hummed through the guard's communicator. "Mr. Stone just arrived and the chamber is fully operational. Go ahead and switch it off. Get Mr. Lowe out of there and down to Room 1 while he's still disoriented."
"Yes, ma'am." The lead guard promptly ended the call, opened a panel next to the isolation room's door and deactivated the security pulse that had incapacitated the inmates. He visibly rolled his eyes as the angel took Miss Niles's confiscated tote from one of his men, but he let it slide with no further issue and focused instead on unlocking the door.
The quartet of guards stepped into the room, eyeing the downed trio. While two kept their attention on Max and Ryan, guns at the ready to ensure they stayed down, the other two picked Will up and prepared to carry him off. "Dr. Michaels is ready for you now."
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Post by DanteMGalileo on Jun 27, 2019 18:42:25 GMT -5
"B... Blargh..." Will was met by a mass of greyish-blonde, quickly realizing it was his own hair. Brushing the messy locks out of his face, he looked around. Max and Ryan were still down for all intents and purposes, and Lydia... Well, he hadn't been cut open. "C-C'mon guys... just... just a little... a little more..."
Footsteps. There were footsteps, and a voice he didn't recognize. He felt somebody grab him, pulling his lanky frame up. "Dr... Dr Michaels...?" Wait a tic... this... didn't sound good...
"Don't cut me open! I'm broke and can't afford insurance! P-Please don't charge me and put me in crippling debt for the rest of my life!!" The tall blonde began to flail, anything, hands balling into fists, anything to get out of this!!
The flailing was swiftly terminated as Will let out a shriek of pain as oh god agony burned in his fists. Bad idea. Bad idea!! He couldn't even get himself out of this. "L-Lydia..." He managed to choke out. "I... I'm sorry..."
As these human guards began to drag Will out, Liderc entered, holding Max's tote for both of the captive humans to see. "Has it sunk in yet?" The angel sounded smug, full of himself. "Consider this the confirmation of your failure. I must commend your attempts, vain as they were..." A small ball of green fire burned on one hand, quickly extinguishing itself as he brought out Max's notebook. "Shall we see how long this takes to burn?"
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Post by ColArana on Jun 28, 2019 8:20:38 GMT -5
The alarms had finally stopped and Ryan's head, although still pounding, at least wasn't getting worse. Nng.... He looked around at the group and saw they were also all still in pretty poor shape themselves. He tried to get some motion in his body. It was better than the electrical surge before, he could move a little bit, but he was still disoriented and struggling to make a committed movement.
Then men came in and started taking Will away. "NO!" Ryan tried to struggle forward, but saw the guns click up at him. He shot the individuals holding them a death glare, as his body shook from rage. "You..... Fucking MURDERERS." He snarled out at them, breaking his at least somewhat polite composure that he had been maintaining up until this point. What was the point.... He wondered depressedly. I lost my humanity. And for what? I thought I could be useful, but I'm as useless as if I were still flesh and blood!
As Liderc came in to taunt the group, Ryan continued to seethe, continued to try and stand up, with a body that was still coming back online. Like restarting a computer it took a little. "Why are you doing this?" He hissed at Liderc.
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Post by ParamountKeymaster on Jun 28, 2019 14:55:39 GMT -5
"Ugh..." Max grabbed her head as the disorienting sensation in the room came to a stop. She still felt weak and dizzy, but focus was steadily returning to her with each passing second.
The commotion ringing in her ear made her heart skip a beat. When she looked up, Max saw Will getting dragged out of the room by guards, two of them hanging behind to watch her and Ryan. Max's reaction to the scene was somewhat delayed on account of her episode of exhaustion, but when it hit her, it hit hard. "Will...? W-Will! LYDIA!"
She scrambled onto her hands and knees but didn't move another inch to avoid the guards' wrath. The stragglers eventually backed out of the room along with their coworkers and Will, leaving the remaining two prisoners alone with the green angel. Max watched them depart with devastated eyes, then turned and looked up at Liderc, bewildered and downtrodden at first, then quickly matching Ryan's anger. And then out came the notebook, and everything inside of Max heated above their boiling point.
"*SSHOLE!!!" A sudden burst of adrenaline launched Max across the room, charging at Liderc, fist balled and reeled back, furious and desperate to reclaim her hard work.
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Post by Pink Moon Wolf on Jun 28, 2019 19:17:51 GMT -5
"Will? Will, can you hear me??" Once the crackling had stopped, Lydia's headset went silent again, save for a faint whine that told her it was at least on. She was fumbling to reestablish a signal, almost entirely certain that nothing on her end was going through either. Insult to injury, her monitor was still giving her nothing but static snow, rendering her effectively cut off from the outside world until she could figure out what exactly had been scrambled or shorted.
In the meantime, now seemed like the prime opportunity to assume the worst.
"Okay... Okay okay okay you can do this..." Lydia anxiously mumbled to herself as she continued experimenting with the radio. "You can do this. Every instrumentation failure happens for a reason. You've flown blind before. Will can... take care of himself, oh sweet Jesus..."
---------------------------
The guards had no reaction to Will's desperate protests, keeping a surprisingly firm grip on him as they dragged him out of the cell. At one point, Will did manage to slip a hand free and punch one guard in the arm, finding out the hard way that these men were less human than meets the eye. A titanium skeleton was not a pleasant thing to clash with.
"Quit yer fussing," the lead guard grunted, regaining his hold on Will's arm and twisting it painfully behind his back. "You're just prolonging this tedium."
After ensuring that Max and Ryan weren't going anywhere, the two remaining guards nodded to Liderc and left him to look after the runts. And with that, the LunArc foursome disappeared down the hall with Will in tow, making an orderly beeline for the lab.
The walk itself took less than five minutes. The guards did not lose their grip on Will again along the way, nor did any of them say a word or even acknowledge Will's emotional state. They only stopped the moment they reached a large set of white double doors with a prominent number one on the wall next to them. One badge read later, the doors were unlocked, two of the men staying to stand watch outside while the other two dragged Will inside...
The room was rather small, no bigger than the average garage, but the floors and walls were a sleek white that made it feel more like a pristine, futuristic hospital. Like the holding cell, there didn't seem to be a single lighting fixture built into the ceiling; the shiny white surfaces just seemed to naturally glow. To the right of the doors, an elaborate control panel jutted out from the wall, currently manned by a pair of technicians. Several feet adjacent the door was an adjustable hospital bed, equipped with an overhanging lamp and numerous conspicuous restraints. And in the far corner, the floor opened up into a large, square pit, the grate that kept it sealed currently raised against the wall.
Something was propped up in front of this open pit. It looked to be an oddly-shaped mechanized suit, built with a slender metallic frame, a slightly more bulbous head comprised of triangular glass plates (of which several were hanging open), four clawed arms, and six spindly legs with apparent boosters on each end and in the middle of the bunch. Standing nearby was the familiar form of Mr. Stone, currently suiting up in what vaguely resembled a black astronaut uniform with help from another technician.
Several more techs surrounded the bed, accompanied by Dr. Michaels herself. The good doctor looked up shortly after the doors were opened, offering the young man in the guards' grip a coy, satisfied smile. "Mr. Lowe. So nice of you to join us. No need to be so skittish. We know what we're doing." She then gave the guards a curt nod. "Get him on the bed."
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Post by DanteMGalileo on Jun 28, 2019 19:47:59 GMT -5
Oh gods, oh gods, he'd failed. He's failed. He's failed Max, he's failed Ryan, he's failed the eggheads back on the ground, and he's especially failed Lydia. Then again, what was he expecting?! Will wasn't a hero. He's not the let's-do-this-awesome-thing-and-save-the-girl type. Hell, he'd argue that he was a villain at times. Not like he had a squeaky-clean past...
"L-Lydia... if you can hear me... I... I..."
The guards had escorted him to this other room, this other room that was setting off every last shit-is-going-down-in-the-hood sense in his body. If he had the use of both arms, then maybe he'd be able to at least knock out a few guards, maybe escape in the resulting chaos. And yet, the only thing he was good at... he was outclassed. Strong as he was, he was only a little human, and these guards were beyond human...
So, why was he suddenly feeling so defiant when he was escorted into this room? Maybe it was the mockingly-coy tone of this Dr. Michaels. Yeah, that's probably why. "You..." Will managed to get out. "Why? What's in this for you? Do you have good intentions? Is this some petty rivalry? Or is it a more bullshit reason?"
Before he could process what a terrible idea spitting in her face probably was, Will did it anyway. "I'm sure it's some bullshit reason, and quite frankly, as far as I can tell, you're willing to sacrifice an innocent person for it..."
Will paid for that moment of sass, as the guards began restraining him with perhaps a bit more force than needed, causing the blonde to yelp.
---
"Does... does that ever work?" Once the moment of surprise wore off, Liderc quickly caught Max's fist with his free hand, sliding her tote onto his arm. "You've got spunk..." The green angel made a purring sound, even as he began to twist Max's arm.
"I'm looking forward to extinguishing that spark of hope in your eyes." The green angel gave Max a grin that only exposed sharp teeth and twisted her arm further. Oh, how she'd be feeling that later. Once he deemed the human's arm twisted enough, he let her go, letting her drop to the floor.
"Has it sunk in already? You've failed! And I'm closer to getting off this worthless lump of dirt!"
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Post by ColArana on Jun 28, 2019 19:57:47 GMT -5
Ryan's eyes opened in horror as he saw Max charge Liderc. Oh, no, no, no, no....[/font] He'd already fought Liderc! ...Well. Punched him, tackled him and then got set on fire by him. ....CLOSE ENOUGH. Wait, wasn't that? Didn't that at least constitute a fight? Anyways--
Ryan strained with all of his might to get his body back in gear. Planting a foot under him he regathered his balance, and tried to take a breath. "MAX!" He exclaimed as Liderc twisted her arm behind her back. When the angel tossed her aside, Ryan lunged forward to try and catch her, glaring daggers at Liderc. "Is that all this is about? Getting away from here? There must be other ways to do that!" He tried to appeal to Liderc, trying to steady Max despite being pretty unsteady himself. He glared at Liderc, one hand balled into a fist. The guards were gone. Could he pull it off? Could he take on Liderc like this? Just one on one? He looked past Liderc's shoulder. Liderc had to be able to get out of here too right. This could be their way out.
But if he was wrong...[/i]
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Post by ParamountKeymaster on Jun 28, 2019 20:26:39 GMT -5
Mr. Stone paid no mind to the new arrivals. His focus was on suiting up and preparing for the extraction mission. Only when his helmet was firmly secured did he turn around, not just to allow the technician assisting him to strap one last bit of equipment onto his back, but to finally acknowledge his target.
William Lowe was currently being tied down onto the bed. Regardless of whether he looked back, Mr. Stone shot the young man a cold, calculated stare. His face was devoid of his usual sunglasses, allowing his dark, emotionless eyes to directly pierce through Will, tiny pinpricks of red light just barely visible in the centers of his pupils.
Fully immersed in his excursion suit, Mr. Stone allowed the technicians to hook him onto a harness hanging from the tracks on the ceiling. The duo working the control panel slowly, delicately lifted the cyborg off the floor and towards the PathEngine suit, which he promptly, carefully stepped inside. While he got to work wiring himself into the mech, the men surrounding him detached him from the hook and closed the suit's glass dome over Mr. Stone's head, sealing him inside. Glowing shapes started flashing across the transparent plates.
A deep hum filled the room as the PathEngine started to lean back, slowly lowering itself into the chamber behind it. Once inside the pit, the grate sealed shut over top of it and Mr. Stone.
---------------------------
"GAAAAAHHH...!!! F*CK!!!" The effectiveness of Liderc's arm-twisting was painfully obvious in Max's face. She screamed, she writhed, but she couldn't reach Liderc with her other hand or move a great deal without making it worse. Once it started to become too much, the angel pushed her away and she found herself dropping into Ryan's arms.
Max let out a low whine, but she stubbornly refused to let herself cry. Not just to avoid giving this brat the satisfaction, but because she was sick and tired of being the victim. With Ryan's help, she got back onto her feet, but it seemed like another frontal assault like that was out of the question. All she could think to do was snarl at Liderc. "You sick freak! Lydia hasn't done anything to you! Why would you drag someone you don't even know into this mess?!"
For a split second, Max's eyes flicked to the open door Liderc was blocking off. Her gaze then landed on her tote bag in his arm. Her notebook was still in his hand, a potential victim of the angel's flames. A myriad of emotions raced through her head, but somewhere in the middle of it all, a spark...
"Just get your filthy paws off my stuff, you hear me?!" Max continued to bark at Liderc. "You know how much half that stuff cost me?! I swear to Christ, if you lay a finger on my digital recorder, I'll...!"
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Post by Pink Moon Wolf on Jun 28, 2019 21:12:56 GMT -5
Dr. Michaels cringed once, frowned, and promptly wiped her cheek off with her sleeve, but otherwise had no reaction to Will's show of defiance. "Charming. This is my good jacket too, so thank you for that."
She calmly watched as the guards forcibly slammed Will down on the operating table, securing the restraints over the squirming young man's arms, legs and torso until they were uncomfortably tight. All the while, Dr. Michaels responded, "Intentions? Rivalry? Mr. Lowe, please, those are the kinds of empty reasons I would expect from David Pendleton. Why am I doing this? You can chalk it up to an... insatiable curiosity." ......... "Also money, but mostly curiosity."
Once Will was tied down, Dr. Michaels grabbed what looked like a neck brace with a one-inch metallic cylinder jutting out of the side, appropriately wrapping the restrictive collar around Will's neck. Whatever was on the interior end of the cylinder was jabbing deeply and uncomfortably into Will's skin. "Now just relax. It'll all be over soon, like it never happened at all."
Dr. Michaels then walked over to the control panel, overlooking the closed-off pit in the floor with an approving smile. Mr. Stone was locked into the mech suit and sealed inside the chamber, ready to take the plunge. After a quick, muted exchange with her technicians, Dr. Michaels reached into a shelf underneath the panel, pulled out a small case, lifted the lid and set it down on the table. Inside the open case was a small, red, dime-sized computer chip...
A robotic arm reached out from the wall and gently plucked the chip out of its case. It leaned its pincers towards the glass panel in the wall where a large motherboard was kept, reaching through an open slit and plugging the chip into the hardware before retreating back into its place.
With the machine primed and ready, Dr. Michaels flipped a few switches, then pressed a single button...
A loud whir filled the room. An intense white flash shone through the metal grate in the floor. Both of these events faded barely two seconds after they began, and shortly thereafter, the grate slid back up the wall, revealing an empty chamber.
Dr. Michaels looked to a small glass vial attached to the control panel, currently being filled with a blue liquid, itself containing the now microscopic PathEngine. From out of the same shelf where the microchip had been stored, she grabbed a small gun-like device, which she then loaded the vial into once it was full. "Ready to inject the subject."
"Doctor?" one of the technicians spoke up. They had all been briefed on the plan already, but it seemed he had a question regardless. "Once Mr. Stone goes in and takes command of the pod, how do we get the other chip out?"
As she approached Will's bedside, Dr. Michaels calmly responded, "Once he's disposed of the pilot, Mr. Stone will pilot the pod out through a tear duct or sweat gland."
"Why wait? Once he gets the chip, why don't we just reenlarge then and there?"
To that, Dr. Michaels raised an eyebrow, visibly appalled by the suggestion. "While it's still inside Mr. Lowe? ...Do you have any idea what sort of mess that would make?"
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