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Post by Scott Reese on Sept 28, 2003 1:13:31 GMT -5
I'm ready; lets go.
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Post by John Roberts on Sept 28, 2003 4:58:08 GMT -5
Just gimme a day or so, fellas. I'm about half way through writing up my next post then Reese can do his. Heh, I planned on making this one only brief but as usual, I've gotten myself carried away with it and now it's gonna turn out as long as my others have. Sorry for the delay blokes.
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Post by John Roberts on Sept 28, 2003 16:36:41 GMT -5
OOC: Okay here it is, a little earlier than I thought The first couple of event's in this post are just recaps of Kaotix's and Wildfire's previous posts through Carmen's POV. But after that the story continues. I've tried to keep my babbling to a minumum for this one. IC: It was like being awakened abruptly from a deep sleep when the rich, powerful aroma reached Carmen’s senses. A reflex response in her body caused her to cough at the distasteful smell invading her nose. When it passed she became more aware of herself. She felt that she was lying on her back. Pain was spread throughout her body; her chest seemed to be aching more than ever now and her face felt as if it was bruised by a hard blow. She remembered the Black Swat-bot’s large arm belting her in the mouth. She remembered the blood, the pain, the blue light. She remembered trying to call out to Ed to warn him and she remembered the sound of the blue light erupting over her towards him. And that’s it. She recalled nothing more. Her mind was a buzz. Carmen slowly opened her eyes. The darkness that was covering her vision soon faded like a shadow passing over her. She instantly recognized the two figures standing over her. “Kaige! Wildfire!” she yelped, overcame with joy. She sat up ignoring the anguish in her chest, the relief that washed over her at seeing her two friends alive was more than enough to cancel out the pain. “I was so worried!” Kaige’s large bulk stood over her like a menacing tower, the strength that made up his body was an intimating sight to behold. It was because of this that the smile that he was now wearing on his face seemed comical to Carmen. He was indeed a mighty being and twice as vicious on the battlefield but it was the softer side to him that Carmen knew well, the side that was shining through him now. "We thought you were dead... By the Walkers, Carmen, I am so glad to see you." His gruff voice boomed. Carmen was about to respond when out of the corner of her eyes she saw someone else next to her. She slowly turned her head to one side, and who she saw sitting beside her rubbing his eye was the one person who she had wished to see alive again. "Ed! You're ok!" She gasped as she grabbed at him, enveloping her arms around him. She started to cry at the feeling of Ed squeezing her back in a loving embrace. She nestled her head onto his shoulder as more tears sailed freely down her face. This was it, this was the moment that she had wished for. There was so much she wanted to tell him but she could think of no words to say it in. She was speechless. It didn’t matter to her though, the feelings in her heart at this moment were clear, more clearly than they had ever been. She brushed her quivering lips across his check and up to his ear, she started to whisper, “Ed....I...I luh....” "As much as I hate to break up this reunion," Kaige softly spoke up, interrupting Carmen, "we need to get moving. We have to go save Ryan's butt now." After a few short moments, Carmen’s arms released themselves from around Ed, his arms doing the same. She looked at him, the words that she wanted to express were on the tip of her tongue. As she stared into his loving eyes, a look of guilt passed over her. She couldn’t believe what she was about to say. The same doubts about her feelings came flooding back to her. How could she betray Tamara like this? Ed’s longing eyes gazed back at her, his smile faded as if he could read her mind. She looked away from him, unable to watch his hurtful expression any longer. Carmen felt strong arms firmly holding her and very gently helped lift her to her feet, she scowled in pain as pressure was put on her chest for her to stand up. The agony quickly passed but the small amount of aching from it continued to hurt her. “You’re hurt.” A voice said to her. She smiled at Wildfire, noticing it was he that spoke, “I’ll be fine.” She lied, “Don't worry about me. We have a mission to finish." She quickly turned her attention away from the three. Carmen didn’t want them to see through her words. She wasn’t fine. She was exhausted, emotionally drained, there was a heavy feeling carrying around in her heart. Her legs felt as if they would fail from under her at any moment, barleys able to stand. The bandaged wound on her chest picked up its pain threshold. It just didn’t seem to go away. Her face was sore, the headache that had passed hours ago was back, no where near as bad as it was but it was enough to add to Carmen’s discomfort. Her entire body just felt bruised. She was a mess but Carmen refused to give in, she forced herself to stand up straight and ignore the distress. “I think this belongs to you.” She heard Kaige say. She turned to face them again and noticed Ed was now holding open a backpack, he was peering inside of it, grinning. “Thanks, Kaige.” Ed replied. Wildfire was standing away from the group, he was looking at something on the ground that Carmen couldn’t see. She craned her neck to one side, trying to see past him. When she realised it was the remains of that Black Swat-bot, she shuddered. "Maybe we can get some info out of this waste of technology? Do ya think we ought to take a look?" Wildfire asked to no one in particular. Ed sprang in his steps as he walked over to him, Carmen saw a keen interest in his eyes when he walked past her, he was almost smiling. Carmen shuddered again when she looked at the trashed carcasses of the dreadful machine. She stayed standing with Kaige wanting nothing to do with the Swat-bot while the other two leaned over it, tinkering away. “You’re not okay, are you, Carmen?” Kaige softly spoke to her. She looked up at him ready to say she was fine but she when saw the concern in his face, she knew she couldn’t lie to him. “I’m...”Carmen started, “I’m not, no. Kaige, I don’t know how I’m even still standing, I feel so weak. And I know what you’re going to say but we both know I’m not giving up, I will not go back home until this mission is over. The same as you Kaige, we’re teammates, we have to stick together. Besides,” she smiled, “who else is going to look after you if you get a nasty bump on the head.” Kaige laughed, he looked at her with a rekindled respect. “I can see why he loves you.” Carmen went silent, her face darkened. “I’ve seen it for a long time.” He continued to speak. Carmen remained wordless. “But this is no place to worry about things such as that. You need to stay focussed Carmen. You cannot allow yourself to be distracted. Not even for a second” Carmen nodded, her expression unchanged. “. . .If it wasn't for you Big Red, we'd be in a whole lot of trouble." Ed called out, cutting Kaige’s attention from Carmen. Kaige replied something back to Ed but Carmen paid no more attention to the conversation. She instead mused over what Kaige had said to her. ‘He’s right,’ she thought, ‘this is definitely not the place for this. . .’ ". . . we have Nack to deal with.” Wildfire’s words broke her from her thoughts. “He knows our frequency, and our purpose, they can trace us anywhere in the city as long as he can supply the enemy with information. We hafta do something about the leak in our works." ‘What? Why is he talking about Nack as if he is a traitor?’ "What exactly are you suggesting?" Carmen asked sternly "We'd better move first. Then I'll lay out my intentions." Wildfire simply replied. ‘He saved my life for crying out loud, why would he want to betray us?’ Carmen wanted to scream at him but thought twice about it. She simply didn’t understand his statement but as she realised for the first time that Nack wasn’t among them, she couldn’t help but wonder if there was some truth in what he said. Kaige spoke over them all, his voice commanding and in charge, “Now let's get going. We have to save the slacker's tail and get back on this mission before something else happens." Kaige turned from where he was standing and preceded to walk through the alleyway, towards the open street. Wildfire looked at Carmen for second longer and then he too turned and followed the dragon. Carmen glanced over at the smashed up Black Swat-bot, she shuddered again. “Carmen. . .” Ed gently spoke, his voice was nervous. She looked at him. Ed tried to say something else to her but he seemed unsure of himself and instead turned his eyes away from her and simply said, “Nothing, don’t worry about it. W-we better get going.” Carmen noticed the sadness in his eyes and understood exactly was he was feeling. Or though she couldn’t bring herself to saying anything to him, she reached her hand to his and squeezed it warmly. “Let’s go.” She said smiling, And with that, the four companions walked from the alley and carefully made their way on to the street, Kaige led the way.
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Post by John Roberts on Sept 28, 2003 16:44:21 GMT -5
The cracked head visor from the destroyed Black Swat-bot flashed red, it’s bulk began to shift. Slowly it began to lift itself from the ground, eventually standing tall. It’s right arm hanged uselessly to it’s side. The laser weapon apart of that arm was also a mess. It was no longer functional. It’s entire structure was made up of cracks and dents in it’s armour plate. Loose wires hanged freely from it’s mid section. The overall appearance made it look powerless, ineffective. However, unseen to the naked eye, it’s CPU worked vigorously inside itself. Commands were giving out over frequencies no Mobian has ever heard of or could ever detect. The sparks suddenly erupted from it’s right shoulder plate and spread down the metallic arm like a wave of water splashing across a beach changing everything in it’s path. Where it was cracked and dented was now smooth and repaired. As the sparks past through the laser weapon, a massive brightness of blue light vented from the cracks surrounding it until it was once again smooth, black metal. When the sparks flickered to an end at it’s robotic hand, the arm snapped to life, immediately clenching it’s hand into a tight fist. More sparks suddenly surged from it’s mid section and spread throughout it’s entire body, replacing all that was damaged to what it once was. After the light show had passed there stood not a powerless and ineffective robot but instead stood a dark monstrosity machine of science. It’s head visor once again flashed red and it then stepped into the shadows of the alleyway, hidden by the darkness. And there it waited.
Kaige stopped dead in his tracks. As he remained standing still in the extensive wide-open street, his head tilted to one side. With his eyes closed, he listened intently. Several seconds passed when he snapped his eyes open again, a glint of rage in his eyes.
“Swat-bots...” Kaige growled, “...a lot of Swat-bots. They’re coming towards us.”
Wildfire stood beside him, his expression was of disbelieving. “What? I cannot hear anything, are you sure of this?”
“Yes,” Kaige muttered. He inhaled deeply through his nose, “I can smell ‘em. We cannot go this way.”
“Well we have to go that way. Ryan is in that direction. Are you telling me that because you can smell the enemy, we have to turn around and run?! Even if there is any Swat-bots coming, since when have you been afraid of a few ‘bots? We can handle them!” Wildfire exclaimed.
“A few? Yes. A few hundred? I don’t think so. If you could see what I can hear...” Kaige started but suddenly fell silent as he closed his eyes once again, listening. “Behind us,” he murmured, “more of them come.”
“Wait,” Carmen spoke up, an urgency in her voice, “are w-we in sector three?”
“Yes. Why?” Kaige asked.
Carmen’s response was a look of a horror, “Than...than we are in a lot of trouble. Before you guys rescued us, before I was attacked, I overheard that...that strange Swat-bot giving orders to other normal Swat-bots. They were ordered to sector three, they knew that you were here. I-I tried to warn you all, but...but I didn’t get any response. I thought I was too late...thought you were all already....dead.” Carmen started to lose her composure, her voice was a mixture of shrilled excitement, “There were so many of them, Kaige....I never saw that many before. I tried to warn you all. I really did. I forgot all about them, Kaige, after you rescued me, I-I should’ve said something earlier. Kaige I forgot....I’m so sorry!”
“Wait, wait a minute. If there really is hundreds of Swat-bots approaching us right now, don’t you think we’d all be able to hear them by now? I can’t hear any...” Wildfire’s words cut off as a familiar sound echoed from all around them. The sound of heavy metal pounding to the ground grew upon them all like thunder roaring in the sky. The ground itself sounded like it had a heart beating inside of it, growing louder with every passing second.
“Damn!” Wildfire grumbled as he unsheathed his sword.
“We have to get out of here, Kaige, we have to get out of here now!” Carmen cried.
“No,” the dragon boomed, looking towards Ed and Carmen, “I want you two to fall back into the alley and I want you to...”
“No!” Carmen cried again, cutting Kaige off from finishing. “There are too many of them, Kaige. You said it yourself, you can’t take on hundreds of Swat-bots, there’s just no way.”
“Do as I say, woman!” he roared, “Your medical skills are of no use here.”
“No kaige, we go together or we don’t go at all, we can’t separate again.”
“Listen to me Carmen, what chances do you think we have if we all try to outrun them together,” Kaige said, his voice softer, “look, the best thing we can do is try and lead them away from here while you two hide back in the alley. And then, when we have lost them, we will circle back here and pick you up.”
“Kaige, it’s too risky. We stay together. It’s the best way.” She appealed.
“We haven’t the time for this! I cannot see them but I can surely as hell can hear them. They’ll be upon us any second now. What are we doing?” Wildfire shouted over the sounds of the forthcoming Swat-bots.
“Carmen, you have to go, it’s the only way.” Kaige told her, his voice full of concern.
Before any more could be said, a tremendous barrage of blue laser fire exploded from the end of the street landing only inches away from where they were all standing. Dozens upon dozens of Swat-bots could now be seen far in the distance. Their marching was at a much faster pace.
“C’mon, Carmen, you heard him, we have to hide.” Ed said, grabbing onto Carmen’s arm and pulling her towards the alleyway.
Carmen didn’t argue, she just looked over her shoulder at Kaige and Wildfire standing there while Ed led her away. Another burst of laser fire erupted through the air, ripping into the wall just behind Carmen. She heard a deafening roar from Kaige and immediately felt a great warmth behind her. She risked another quick glance over her shoulder to see a great line of a fire flare across the ground and slamming into the wall behind her giving them a safe passage to the alley. The flames burned high into the air blocking her view of both Kaige and Wildfire, she could only hear them and could only guess what was happening.
‘It’s happening again, everything’s falling apart.’ Her thoughts cried out as Ed pulled her into the darkness of the alley and kept on moving deeper into it.
Another mighty roar exploded into the air as more flames spread across the entrance of the alley, helping to hide Carmen and Ed even more. They didn’t stop to look back, they kept on moving, running as fast as they could, and for Carmen, that wasn’t very fast at all. Exhaustion was still trying to consume Carmen’s body, a battle she found herself losing as time went by. She couldn’t go any further.
“Ed,” she puffed, “stop. I can’t. . .I can’t do this any more.”
Ed stopped at once upon hearing Carmen’s gasps. He turned around to face her just in time to see her stumble over and fall. He outstretched his arms to catch her as she fell into him. Ed emitted an “Oof” sound, and then they were both on the ground, Ed was on his back with his arms around her, Carmen on top of him, her head pressed to his chest. She was breathing erratically. Her entire body was trembling.
“I’m sorry, Eddie, I. . .I just can’t go any further.” Carmen panted. She rested her arms around his body. He was warm. Just being in his arms was comforting to her. She felt so safe, so at ease that she almost forgot her troubles for an instant. She was so content in being held, but the sounds of the battling Swat-bots caused her worries to come flooding back into her mind again. She lifted her tired head to look up at Ed. His worried eyes looked back at her, scanning over her. He looked scared for her.
“Oh, Carmen. You’ve been through so much, I’m the one who should be sorry. You tried to protect me all those hours ago, well now. It’s my turn. I won’t let anything else happen to you, I promise.” Ed expressed, the affection in his eyes melted Carmen’s heart.
‘He really does love me,’
She didn’t say anything back to him, she just rested her head back onto his chest and held her arms tighter around him. Even through all the pain and fatigue and weariness that rocked her body, she was still able to wear a smile.
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Post by John Roberts on Sept 28, 2003 16:45:01 GMT -5
It stepped away from the shadows and moved closer towards them, it’s footstep impossibly light for such a large machine. It crept closer and closer. Neither one of them looked up nor even heard it. If it was possible for it to gloat, it would have. Closer it came, it’s shadow was already casting over the two but still they did not notice. The female wasn’t even looking up, the male had his eyes closed, he was talking, not even aware of their imminent doom ready to befall them. Pathetic. It’s AI studied them. It took notice of the way their body language spoke to one another. It was a clear sign of loyalty, of devotion. A strong bond between the two. A weakness. An advantage. It launched it’s arm at the female, grabbing her suddenly from behind the neck and lifting her into the air. Immediately, it brought it’s other arm around and pressed it’s metal fist to her head. It’s laser weapon glowing blue, warming up. She yelped, tried to kick free but it made no difference to it. Pathetic freedom fighters, they were weak. The male jumped to his feet but was quickly stopped by it’s voice. “You will do that? She will die. Her blood will be on your hands if you do not obey. Follow me, and she lives!” He didn’t move. It’s senses could read his heart beating faster than normal, his eyes diluted. Coward. “You follow me! You yell for help. She will die. If you try to escape, she will die! If you fall from five metres of my position, she, will, DIE!” His eyes swelled. Water fell from them. Tears. She is whimpering, crying for his name. Crying! Tears! They were both weak. Insignificant. Why capture? Why not destroy? It turned from it’s position and marched heavily through the alley. It’s CPU sent signals to a nearby hovercraft. It could detect the male’s motion from behind it, struggling to keep up. Weak. Carmen couldn’t control the emotions flowing through her, her crying had become unmanageable So much fear and despair were in her heart. Because of her, they were in this mess. Ed couldn’t run to safety, wouldn’t run. He was being forced into her same fate because of her. Because of the fatigue and great hopelessness swarming through her, she started to drift to unconsciousness. The last bit of memory she had was of a loud humming sound and the feeling of being lifted high into the air. Her eyes did open again for a second. Some time later, only to see Ed’s face looking down at her, she noticed the thick black bars behind him, the locked door. She then once again drifted into a deep sleep. OOC: Done and done. There you go Reese, your turn.
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Post by Scott Reese on Sept 30, 2003 13:23:32 GMT -5
EDIT...AGIAN: Hey guess what? I completely forgot that I had a post finished for this part of the RPG. I must have forgoten to post it or something; if I recall, you guys had to skip me and I went to my next turn. Anyway, I'll just put it in now, though its a little late. (Might also have a continuity glitch or two ) Also, a couple lines down, a word in the text keeps changing to read the words 'a monkey'. I'm not sure what's going on there, but I've already edited it three times. IC: Ed dashed into the alley, gripping Carmen's hand tightly. Another hail of blaster fire rained down, narrowly missing the two as they made a desperate bid for escape. Smoke and dust filled the passage behind them, obscuring all view. "C'mon Carmen, just a little farther," Ed panted. She was beginning to slow, her breathing eratic; he knew her wounds wouldn't allow her to stay on her feet for long. Hopefully, they could find a safe hiding spot to regroup their senses. The mission was going so terribly wrong; Ed's mind raced, trying to find a reason why. There was the answer the knight had given, that Nack was a traitor. The SWATbots seemed to know every move they made; it could very well have been that the bounty hunter had sold out. But if that was the case, why had he saved Carmen's life? That didn't seem like the act of a turncoat. And where the hell were these new and improved SWATbots coming from? His frantic ponderings were cut short as he heard Carmen gasp. "Ed", she panted, "Stop. I can’t- I can’t do this any more." He turned, intending to help her along. But as he faced her, she collapsed, her exhaustion and pain taking its toll. He caught her in his arms, but her momentum pulled him to the ground beneath her. His head clipped the pavement, sending a momentary flash arcing across his vision. When his mind cleared, he was aware that her body was pressed against his. "I’m sorry, Eddie," she wheezed "I-I just can’t go any further." Her head fell to his chest, her breath coming out in short irregular rasps. As she pulled her arms around him, he could sense her trembling subside. He looked down at her, his concern for her well-being overshadowing even the sounds of battle raging only a few blocks away. He held her close, wishing there were some way he could alleviate her pain. "Oh, Carmen. You’ve been through so much, I’m the one who should be sorry. You tried to protect me all those hours ago, well now, it’s my turn. I won’t let anything else happen to you, I promise," he said as he gently stroked her head fur. For a while, he forgot everything else. The battle, the doomed mission, none of that seemed to matter. He knew only that he hadn't felt like this for a long time. He didn't fantasize of making love to Carmen, or wish her for himself alone; he just wanted to be with her and care for her, whether she felt the same way about him or not. To protect her. But the bots had other plans. Both of the mobians were unaware of the dark shadow looming over them, or the outstretched metallic gauntlet. Unaware until the black SWATbot ended their embrace, jerking Carmen off the ground. Ed snapped back to reality as he saw the towering monstrocity take her from him. No, not this time. He would fight the bot hand to hand to get her away. It would be futile and he would die, he knew, but it might give her a chance to escape. Ed scrambled to his feet, fists raised. But before he could make a move, the SWATbot made its intentions clear. Its blaster fist was pressed against the side of her head. "YOU WILL ATTACK? THEN SHE WILL DIE AND HER BLOOD WILL BE ON YOUR HANDS," the machine rumbled, its voice filling the dark alley. Ed stopped, painfully aware that the bot was charging its blaster, ready to send a bolt of energy through her brain if he didn't stand down. He froze as he realized that it was not an idle threat. Fear again coursed through him, though not for himself. For her. And the robot knew that. "YOU WILL FOLLOW ME. IF YOU YELL FOR HELP, SHE WILL DIE. IF YOU ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE, SHE WILL DIE. IF YOU FALL MORE THAN FIVE METERS FROM MY POSITION, SHE WILL DIE!" Hot tears stung his eyes as the bot spoke, but the thought of leaving Carmen never entered his mind. He nodded slowly as Carmen screamed. "No Eddie, run! Don't worry-" The bot cut her off, its grip tightening around her neck. It marched out of the passageway toward the waiting hovercraft. Ed struggled to maintain the pace, but the large machine was quick. Carmen was sobbing; his heart ached for her. "GET IN," the bot ordered, and he obeyed. Several regular SWATs strapped him to a seat, rendering him immobile. The black SWATbot handed Carmen over to them, and they secured her to the seat beside him. She had blacked out, but was otherwise breathing normally. She would be okay for now. Ed felt the hovercraft's manuveuring jets fire, then they were airborn. Deeper into Sector Three, probably. He noted with grim amusement that the bots were taking no chances with stasis pods. They dropped Carmen onto on of the bunks and shoved Ed in after. He stared hopelessly as the SWATbots closed the door and activated the lock. They then turned and marched away from the cell; one of the bots took position at the end of the cell block. He turned and knelt by Carmen's bunk. Her eyelids fluttered, then opened. "Are you alright, Carmen?" Ed asked. "I feel like I've just lost a boxing match with a Swatbot," she groaned. "But I think I'll live." She started to sit up, but Ed took her shoulders and gently pushed her back to the bunk. "You need to rest," he cautioned. "That wound isn't going to take too much stress, you know." "I'll be okay, Ed," she assured him. Seeing his uncertain expression, she smiled and patted his hand. "Hey, who's the doctor here anyway?" But she stayed on the bunk as Ed suggested, laying her head back to stare at the ceiling. "Where are we?" she inquired. "Not sure. My guess is that we're somewhere in Sector 2." Ed ran his hand through his head fur and gave a resigned sigh. "Maybe even in Sector 1. This is the Central Detention Facility, if I remember the city schematics correctly." "So... we're pretty well guarded?" "And monitored. This building is in the main control complex; security is at maximum." The wolf shivered. "There are mic pickups, cameras, and infared sensors all over the place." Carmen turned her head to look at him, frowning. "But why would we be so deep in the city...?" She had known the answer before the words were even off her lips, but he vocalized her fears anyway. "Interrogation, most likely. Or we may be the test subjects in some grisly new experiment Robotnik is cooking up." Ed muttered. "But I honestly don't know for sure." He fell silent and slumped against the wall. Carmen slid closer to him, each providing the other with an unspoken comfort. After a few minutes, Carmen's eyes closed, exhaustion finally taking its toll. Ed laid down on his bunk and gazed at her, sighing gently. Several minutes later, he too was fitfully sleeping.
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Post by Jim Doe on Oct 11, 2003 16:09:53 GMT -5
OOC: Er, Sorry, Reese, but a few of us are getting a bit impatient. I realize you may not have much time on your hands, but we've gotta get this thing moving. So, here's what we're gonna do . . . I'm gonna go ahead and post now, and then we're going to skip over to Wildfire and head on down the line from there. Whenever Reese shows back up, he can take his turn then automatically, then we go ahead with the regular posting order from there. Sound good? Mmkay.
IC: Down deep in the ancient subway system underneath the city of Centropolis, Chief kicked the bucket.
The bucket skittered along the dusty floor of the subway tunnel, throwing up small clouds of dirt and rust. When he felt enough time had gone between object lessons, Chief walked over to the bucket and kicked it again.
Though only about ten minutes had passed since he'd sent his last message through the old radio in the busted subway train, he was already well and bored out of his mind. He'd tried to climb back up the slope he had come down here on, but it was too slippery. He thought about walking down the tunnel, but that would take him away from the radio . . . if the others were coming to get him, they would be tracking the signal he had sent.
So now here he was, a man of action without anything to do except wait. Wait for his teammates to come get him, or wait for the stranger in the shadows to make his move.
He had sensed the presence of another in the tunnel with him several minutes before, but hadn't made any move towards it. It seemed to be content to watch him pace back and forth, so he figured it may well just be some citizen of Centropolis who had been hiding in the subway system since Robotnik took over. He admired their guts if that was the case, but didn't see any point in talking to them. People who lived like that turned out pretty odd over time, and Chief wasn't really in the mood for talking anyway. No point in dragging them into his troubles.
As he continued to pace, he suddenly noticed the other person shift in the darkness. It was barely a whisper of movement, but enough for his keen ears to detect. The stranger, it seemed, was ready to talk to him.
"Surely you ain't just gonna let me sit around all day," a distinctly familiar voice called out. "Seems rather rude, don'tcha think?"
"Nack?!" Chief exclaimed. "What the hell are you doing here?"
Nack The Weasel stepped from the shadowy alcove he had been crouched in and dusted himself off. "Just watchin' ya," he said. "Wanted to know how my old buddy was doin'." He looked up at Chief. "So, how ya doin', old buddy?"
"Not so sure I am your ol' buddy anymore," Chief said carefully. "The way it seems, most everyone else thinks you sold us out."
"What do you think?" Nack asked.
The mercenary paused for a moment and scratched his chin. "Not so sure," he finally said. The conviction he'd held onto when talking with Wildfire about the subject seemed to dissolve when actually looking Nack himself. "Seems to me that you wouldn'ta done it without a good reason. You got a good reason?"
Nack shrugged. "Mebbe," he said. "Mebbe I'm just tired of trying to fight the guys who run this planet nowadays. Mebbe I'm tired of gettin' table scraps from Fanny Fighters when I could be gettin' steak from the Big Round Guy. Mebbe not." He shrugged again. "All I know is I've been hired to bring you in, Chief . . . and I always get my man."
The bounty hunter launched himself forward in an attack, but Chief had been well prepared for it. Nack's fist was deflected by the mercenary's forearm in one smooth motion, but it was followed by another attack, and another, and another.
As they fought, Chief tried to wrap his mind around what Nack was trying to do. Why hadn't he attacked earlier? Why had he waited in the shadows? For that matter, why had he allowed Chief to notice him? The weasel was much better at stealthing his presence than that. Hell, why wasn't he using anything from his bag of tricks to take Chief out? He knew that Nack was well aware that the mercenary would easily best him in a straight fistfight.
And why was Nack doing this in the first place? Chief had known the weasel for many years before Robotnik's takeover, and while the bounty hunter was many things, he was not a traitor . . .
-----
Nack sighed inwardly in relief when he saw understanding flash momentarily across Chief's face. About damn time, he thought as he carefully aimed a punch at the mercenary's forehead.
Chief rolled with the punch just enough that he wouldn't take any serious damage from the blow, but not enough that he wouldn't be knocked unconscious. He hit the ground, sending up a cloud of dirt from the impact, leaving Nack to catch his breath before locking a small anti-grav unit to his body.
"Sorry it had ta be like this, buddy," he said as he activated the unit and began to pull the floating body along, "but we all gotta do what we gotta do . . . "
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The artificial intelligence known as the Lieutenant chuckled quietly to itself. Its extension was once again on its way with the doctor and the engineer, and Nack had just called in with his capture of the mercenary. Shortly they would all be in the detention cells underneath the command center, and they would be joined by the knight and the dragon soon enough.
And once these irritants had been dealth with, it would turn its attention back to the production of more extentions. It took a moment to feel the Lt. Series factory . . . and the thousands of robotic minds inside, just waiting to be put into their physical casings so they could swarm across the world of Mobius and destroy the organic infestation . . .
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wildfire
Socially Acceptable
I'm spastic with a handgun
Posts: 206
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Post by wildfire on Oct 11, 2003 17:49:53 GMT -5
Wildfire scowled at the platoons of SWATbots the surrounded them on all sides. "Shit." his sword rasped out of its aged scabbard and he held it in front of him at the ready. "May Destiny protect us all." He looked over his shoulder at the massive red dragon that was at his side. His presence was somehow reassuring. "Step back." Kaige growled. Wildfire did as he was told, and watched with a great reverence as the mighty dragon's chest expanded like a great living bellows. The SWATbots in front of them had begun to close in, and Wildfire's grip tightened on the leather handle of his father's blade. Kaige threw himself foreward and expelled a great cloud of flame that destroyed the first bots before it even touched them, the massive fireball slammed into the next row of bots causing them to explode almost immeaditely. Kaige rolled his head to eather side of him and caused a stream of living flame to ring them into the tiny square. Kaige looked at the young knight with a dangerous gleam in his eye. "If we are to die today, we will not do it without a fight." He roared as he flew into the enclosing bots. Wildfire snapped into action as he realized what exactly Kaige had done. The wall of flame the giant had created would serve to slow the SWATbots, not stop them. He tore through bot after bot with his sword, his eyes flashed in the firelight. The SWATbots were beginning to see that he was a force to be reckoned with and had begun to attack him two and three at a time. Through spurts of fighting, he saw Kaige crushing SWATbots in his monstrous grip. He felt a new respect for the dragon well in him. He then went back to work destroying his assailants. Despite their efforts, the massive wave of steel could not be contained forever, and they eventually succumbed to the assault. Max stood horrified as Kaige was bound and pulled to the ground by fifty or more SWATbots, and then there was a massive pain in the back of his head. And the world went black...
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Post by Kaotix on Oct 12, 2003 19:38:14 GMT -5
Kaige fought on as the horde of SWATbots continued to grow. He could hear Wildfire fighting behind him but he could not chance looking to see if the fox was alright.
Kaige breathed fireball after fireball until he was out of breathe. For every SWATbot he destroyed, it seemed like 3 more took it place. The big dragon was wearing down. His bright red scales were turning black in the spots he was being hit. These SWATbots were now attacking him with their stun lasers set high enough as so his thick scaly hide would no longer protect him from the blasters' effects.
He fought the darkness as he rampaged on, but the stun blasts were making him dizzy and nauseous with every shot. He took three shots to the chest, two to the back, and a few to his legs. His tail swung madly around decapitating SWATbot after SWATbot, but they still came, still kept on striking him with their stun blasts.
His mind shot back to a time years ago when his own clan was destroyed by Robotnik's mechanizations. The blue stun blasts wearing them down until they could be bound. Those that continued to resist were caught in electric netting that would take the fight out of the greatest of all dragons quickly.
Now his new clan was being destroyed by the same mechanizations. And there wasn't a blasted thing he could do to stop it.
Just like back then... Even complete with the betrayal of a Bounty Hunter... Kaige thought bitterly. History had repeated itself as Kaige feared it would.
Lassoes wrapped themselves around his arms and around his neck as the SWATbots fought to bring the dragon under control. Kaige resisted and swung widely but could not free himself.
Kaige tried to command Wildfire to escape but no words would come out. The lasso around his jaw made sure of that. Even though he could not be certain, he felt that Ed and Carmen were in the same trouble that he and Wildfire were in.
Then what the dragon feared most happened. A SWATbot raised a net cannon at him and released the dreaded electro-net. The web of rope and wire engulfed him quickly. The SWATbots that were attacking him backed away to avoid the net's effects. Kaige's eyes opened wide in fear and panic as he, like his old clanmates, would now taste the bite of the net.
Kaige would not have to wait long. The thousands upon thousands of volts electrified the net racking the red dragon's body with unbearable pain. He could feel his mind shutting down, his nerves misfiring because of the overload of electrical impulses. Kaige roared loudly in pain. The sound reverberated off the buildings and off the street filling the night sky with the sound of anguish.
He collapsed to his knees and fell forward. The blackness was coming. He could not prevent it now. If I can just hold on a little longer..., he thought as he forced his arm to move to his belt. His arm twitched in protest but it reached one of the pouches on his belt and pulled out a small device with a red button on it.
With his vision leaving him, he managed to push the button before slamming the device on the ground and destroying it.
At least I could warn Patches...
And after that, the only thing the dragon knew was darkness.
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In Centerpoint Village, Tamara deClawz was sitting by the communication equipment waiting for a communique telling her that the group was on it's way home. In her lap was little Barren. Like her the young cub could not sleep when Kaige and the others were on a mission. While he could not sleep from excitement, she couldn't sleep because of worry.
The panel lit up telling her that a signal was coming in. A smile came to her lips as she waited for Kaige's words telling her that the mission was a success.
Barren's laughter filled the air. "I told you Big Red would pull it off!" He practically squealed in excitement of soon hearing his idol's words. Tamara almost joined him in his laughter but she would need to hear her Second-in-command's words.
However the only sound that came from the equipment was that of a high pitched alarming squeal that lasted a few moments before ending. The equipment then became silient once more.
Tamara's eyes filled with tears. Kaige would have only sent that alarm if they had been captured. It was a warning telling her that she needed to evacuate the village as quickly as possible.
Barren looked from the panel to Tamara. His eyes had grown wide in fear. He may have not fully understood what that signal meant, but he knew that something was dreadfully wrong if Kaige would not or could not speak. "Why... why didn't Big Red say anything? What's wrong, Miss Tamara?!"
Tamara looked at the frightened child. She wished that she could somehow comfort him but what could she say?
"I don't know, Barren..."
She hugged the scared, whimpering cub closely to herself as she stood to ring the emergency bell for the village to evacuate. She feared the worst for her friends. Would she ever see Kaige, Ed, or Carmen ever again? And if she did see them, would they be flesh and blood or steel and oil?
She wept as she reached the bell and began to ring it. The citizens awoke and immediately began to break down the village for moving. All feared the worst.
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Post by chief on Oct 15, 2003 14:55:58 GMT -5
It was a dark sell with a metal door and metal walls.. The dampness of the room caused some rust to form on the edges of the door. There were no windows exept for the small slit in the door for food trays to slide through. The small light bairly lit up the room and was constantly flickering.
"Oh jeeze I need a painkiller" Ryan slowly said to himself as he got off the damp bed "Where the hell is this shit hole" Ryan stood up and looked around "Oh this is just..." Suddnly he got a cold shudder "Oh even better, he took my overcoat.. an..and.. MY CIGIRETS" RYan kicked the metal door which made a loud clang "Great I'm trapped in a dirty smelly damn cell without anything.. Damnit NACK!!"
"Yes..." A familiar voice sounded from the other side of the door"
"Nack?" Ryan said as he got closser to the door and looked through the small slit. Yes it was him alright, standing there grinning, and holding a tray of... something.
Yeah, Its me Ryan old pal... I just came to give you something to eat" Nack pushed the tray through the slit "Now I got to go, got a meeting with the boss"
"You call this junk food? Come on Nack it looks like its going to jump up and run away.." Ryan pocked the food with the dirty fork that came with it "Nack don't you have anything better?..... Nack"
"I'll be back latter" Nack said
"Nack?..." Ryan heard the footsteps going farther and farther away "Oh great... Well.. I'll figure out what the hells going on soon... Hopefully"
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Post by Jim Doe on Oct 15, 2003 17:06:56 GMT -5
OOC: Hope you guys appreciate this . . . I'm going to be late for work now because of this! IC: "You have done very well, bounty hunter," said the Lieutenant, its voice filling the room. "It would seem that our trust in you was well-founded after all." "Yah, yah," Nack said, waving his hand in the air. "High praise is great an' all, but I'd really rather just get paid and get the hell outta here, neh?" "What's wrong, Nack? Don't you enjoy our company?" Nack curled his lip. "To be perfectly frank," he said, "no, not really. And the whole 'our-us-we' thing you've got goin' ain't helping things much." The Lieutenant laughed, an unpleasant, grating, electronic noise that was echoed by the five Lieutenant Series Robots that stood before the mainframe. "You don't like us?" it asked. "But we like you . . . and we wish, in fact, to employ you further. Though we have begun expansion of our units now that the rebel crisis has been averted, we are still rather shorthanded. We want you to transfer our prisoners to Robotropolis and deliver them to Master Robotnik personally." "That wasn't part of the deal," Nack said. "New job means new price-" "-and Master Robotnik will be well able to fulfill your needs however you deem necessary," the Lieutenant interrupted. "We trust that he will be most accomodating when you hand him a live dragon, let alone the majority of the local rebel cell's prime movers and shakers. With any luck, you may even be able to talk him into roboticizing you and letting you keep your own will. Imagine what you could do with a-" "I'd rather not," Nack said sternly. "But . . . the rest sounds interestin' enough. Have you contacted Doc Bolts yet to make sure he'll go through with the payment?" The Lieutenant sat silently for the briefest of moments. "No," it said, "we have not. Due to the unusual amount of disturbance in the city, communications to the outside had been temporarily disabled. We did not want the rebels to try and contact any of their friends, at least not through our own channels. It will be a short while before we have the system online." "In that case, you won't mind if I just stick around for a while until you get it all hashed out, neh?" Nack snugged his hat down and turned to leave. "Now if you'll excuse me," he said, "I'm gonna go make sure the jailbirds are all sealed up tight. Don't want 'em slippin' away again, do we?" The five LSbots silently turned their heads to watch the weasel exit, each one exuding unatural intelligence that burned into the back of Nack's head . . .
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Post by Jim Doe on Oct 15, 2003 17:09:32 GMT -5
There had been so much to learn and so many close calls while learning it, and now Nack felt all the tension of the past few hours flood out of his system as he finally got his chance to put it all to good use.
It was fairly well known that Nack had pretty much been raised and trained by a group of computer hackers that lived among the fringe element in Mobotropolis. It was also a generally accepted fact that he had never taken too well to the hacking disciplines, opting instead to work for the gang as a bodyguard. What most people didn't know - and Nack was careful to keep this particular fact quiet - was that even though he didn't like it, he was still quite the computer wizard.
The Lieutenant, having only the knowledge that Nack himself had been spreading around for years, was completely unaware of the bounty hunter's true talents, and had therefore taken few precautions to mask its systems from him. Its IC had been ridiculously easy for him to slice through, and after long hours of work, he had managed to get control of all the surveillance systems in the prison wing of the command center, as well as all the door key codes, alarms, and data stores.
As far as the Lieutenant and its extensions were concerned, they would all think that he was just having a nice little chat with his former teammates about how glad he was that they were going to their doom, followed by his dramatic exit from the prison wing and stormy return to his quarters to await the Lieutenant's call.
He was, in fact, going to have a nice little chat . . . he just hoped that it had a much happier ending to it than the mock-up did.
After a short walk, Nack found himself at the door to the prison. With a deft flurry of movement, he punched in a key code he had created just minutes before his meeting with the Lieutenant and stepped back as the door opened. He smiled in satisfaction as the code ran through the entire system, shutting off each security camera's external feed and ensuring that no matter what he did, no alarms would sound for several hours yet.
He stepped into the wing and began to long jaunt to the prisoners' cells. This part of the command center had originally been the Centerpoint prison, an extremely small building and a therefore a testament to the almost non-existant crime rate within the Mobian city. When Robotnik had taken over, however, there had been a sudden influx of captive citizenry, so ConstructionBots had been assigned to expand the prison to accomodate them.
Nack reflected, as he walked down the main corridor, that there must have been some sort of glitch in the 'bots' programming. He could point out just in the short space of a few cells nearly five different types of doors and wall tiles. Some cells had bars, some had steel doors, some were automated while others were not . . . it seemed as if Dr. Robotnik had merely programmed the 'bots to build new rooms but didn't specify exactly what style to use, so they just used whatever was in their memory buffer at the time.
It was a horrible mish-mash and very unpleasant to look at, an effect which had probably tickled the not-so-good doctor's evil-bone to no end.
Finally, Nack reached the end of his journey . . . two small out-of-the-way cells sitting across the corridor from one oversized compartment with a giant titanium-reinforced door. He glanced up quickly to ensure that the cameras were offline, then opened the small metal door to his right.
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Post by Jim Doe on Oct 15, 2003 17:10:57 GMT -5
"Hell almighty, shithead!" Chief yelled as he strode towards the doorway from the other side of the cell. "Are you back to get us out already, or do you just wanna poison me with more of that glop?"
"Blah blah blah, Chief," Nack said. "You gonna stand there flappin' yer jaws or what?"
Chief laughed and mock-punched the weasel on the arm before stepping out into the hallway. Nack grinned at him and stepped to the next cell over. This one had bars on it, having either been made by a ConstructionBot with sense, or one of the few original sections of the prison left standing.
Inside he could see Chatterbox and the Doc laying on short cots. They wore the groggy expressions of people who had just woken up, but nothing else. Like Chief - and the rest of the Centerpoint FF, Nack was sure he would find - they had been completely stripped of all their equipment. He had been just convincing enough to talk the Lieutenant into allowing the Doc to keep the bandages strapped around her midsection, but everything else had been carted off to another cell.
There was no time to worry about that now, though, Nack thought to himself as he rapped on the bars. "Wake up, palsies," he said. "Big happenin's goin' on!"
The two Freedom Fighters stood up as quickly as they could at the sound of his voice. Chatterbox's reflexes allowed him one short burst of speed as he jumped forward to stand between the bounty hunter as the Doc. Nack gave him a smirk for his troubles, then opened the cell door and stepped back.
"C'mon out," he said, "we ain't got all day." When neither of them moved, he sighed, shook his head, and turned to the giant door across the way. He tapped away at the codepad next to it for a few moments, then stepped away as the massive door began to slide up into the ceiling.
A massive roar of pain, confusion, and anger filled the entire wing, causing Nack's ears to start ringing. Before the door was even halfway up, a huge clawed hand grabbed onto the bottom and hastened its departure. Electronics fizzled and mechanical systems crunched as Scaley barged his way into the corridor, still screaming as only a two ton dragon could possibly do.
It was only when the dragon's eyes turned downward and tried their damndest to both look at Nack at the same time without spinning in Scaley's skull that the weasel realized he was still trying to fight off the effects of the dragon-net. Dizzy or not, though, he still represented a grave threat to Nack's continued well being if he ever managed to get all of his feet moving in a single direction.
"Kaige!" a small voice called out, then louder, "KAIGE!!!" Nack had almost given himself up as dragon food as Scaley had taken one step towards him, but sighed in relief as the Doc's voice finally got through. The dragon turned his massive head slowly towards the cell she and Chatterbox had just stepped out of and seemed to go through a few moments of painful thought.
"Car-men?" he said slowly. "What-?"
"Just . . . just wait a minute!" the Doc yelled up at him. "Let's figure out what's going on before you tear Nack's head off, all right?"
"No, it is damn well not all right!" a new voice growled into the sudden silence. Sir Dimwit stepped out from around the dragon's massive body and pointed at Nack. "He is the cause of all this, and if Kaige wishes to split him in half to get to his chewy center, I say we let him!" Even though he was bare like the rest of the group, the knight seemed to wear even his fur like a suit of armor, his finger a blade to pierce Nack's heart with.
"Look, I don't really know what's going on here," Chatterbox said, "but . . . " He trailed off with a sudden distant look in his eyes. He looked at the Doc and cleared his throat. "But, maybe Carmen's right," he finally finished.
"Oh, please," Chief said roughly. "What's there to talk about? Nack's doin' us right, just like I said he would! Now are we gonna go get our stuff and get the hell outta here, or are we gonna flap gums 'til the 'bots show up?"
Scaley growled deep in his throat and looked warily at Nack, but said nothing. Everyone seemed right on the brink of a shouting match, so Nack decided to make the decision for them before they began their useless bickering.
"OI!" he yelled as he drew his ion pistol and shot it at the ceiling above them. Pieces of blasted dust and metal showered them for a second, then they all turned to look at him. Sir Dimwit seemed just on the brink of charging him, but was well enough put off by the gun's prescense.
"Okay," he said, "here's how it goes. I've got the gun, you mates don't. So, as the Doc says, we're gonna talk this out, right? Right. Now, we don't have a lot of time, so I gotta make this short. Remember how tough that Lieutenant 'bot you guys fought ealier was? Well, right now we've got a factory on the north end of town that's warming up to make about a thousand of those bastards, all of them with copies of this genuinely evil and very scary artificial intelligence implanted directly into their brains. They're gonna not only march through every part of the Great Forest they can manage and stomp every organic life form they come in contact with, they're supposed to be geared up to take control of these Doomsday Pod thingamajiggers when Doc Bolts has 'em up and running. This is a very bad thing and I'm gonna need you guys to help me if we're gonna take 'em down. Are you with me or what?"
All of the Freedom Fighters looked back and forth at each other, uncertain. Only Chief seemed to already be in full accordance with Nack . . . he was impatiently tapping his foot as they silently traded glances.
"Why all this then, you vermin?" Sir Dimwit haughtily asked. "Why get us captured when you could have much more easily helped us just sneak in like rational people? Feh . . . this is all just some sort of mind game that this AI of yours or Robotnik himself has put you up to. Why are we even listening to this individual?!"
"You never would have made it to the front door, Sir Dimwit," Nack said with an unpleasant grin. "The Lieutenant's defenses there would have cut you in half before you even knew what was going on. And trust me, if I hadn't convinced it that you were all better off captured than dead . . . well, we wouldn't even be talking now, except maybe in the spirit world."
"I don't trust him," Scaley rumbled suddenly.
"Neither do I," Sir Dimwit seconded.
"Gimmie a break!" Chief exclaimed. "C'mon, Nack, let's just get out of here and do this thing our own way, huh? These assholes can clean up whatever's left."
Chatterbox looked uncertainly between Scaley and the Doc, but didn't say anything. The Doc, in the meantime, had kept her eyes almost soley on Nack himself. Noticing this, Nack bowed his head slightly towards her and gave her a warm smile.
"This is it, Doc," he said. "I gotta call in that favor now."
"What is he talking about?" Scaley interjected. "Carmen?"
The koala jumped slightly, then looked up at the dragon. She was speechless for a moment, but then finally found her voice.
"He . . . he saved my life," she said softly as she touched the bandages around her ribcage.
"I'm not askin' much, Doc," Nack continued as if the dragon had never spoken. "All I need is for ya to trust me. I can't do this without everyone's help, and if you follow me, maybe they will, too."
The Doc looked at him with big, watery eyes. He could see the internal struggle apparent in those eyes, and it seemed as if, for the moment, the two of them were the only ones in that long corridor. Slowly, tears began to flow down her face as she grappled with a decision that was almost to big for her to bear . . . if she trusted Nack, she may lose the trust of her fellow Freedom Fighters for going against their wishes . . . but if she didn't, the entire mission could go completely sour and the entire world might suffer for it. Perhaps they could do it without Nack's help . . . but could she take that chance?
Finally, strength and conviction flooded her as she made her decision, for better or worse. She stood as straight and as tall as she could, and looked Nack square in the eyes.
"I-"
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Post by Scott Reese on Oct 20, 2003 3:06:20 GMT -5
Damn my slow ass. I suppose I'll just wait for John to post, what I've got written out won't really make sense now.
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wildfire
Socially Acceptable
I'm spastic with a handgun
Posts: 206
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Post by wildfire on Nov 1, 2003 20:23:54 GMT -5
*chokes* RPG... nearing death... been waiting for weeks to post... *chokes* Somebody do something... quick... *gurgle*
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