"I'm not too sure, but the attack drone with the gun raised, don't exactly look like it wants to play nice."
Twilit walked back to a more shadowed part of the room where he could get a broader view. He wanted to be able to see the attack drones with armed lasers.
[ QUOTE ]
"I'm not too sure, but the attack drone with the gun raised, don't exactly look like it wants to play nice."
Twilit walked back to a more shadowed part of the room where he could get a broader view. He wanted to be able to see the attack drones with armed lasers.
[/ QUOTE ]
"If it didn't want to play nice... we would be dead now."
She watched him curiously, wondering if he realized precisely what this being was capable of.
Michael watched the interaction between the inmates and the droid and wanted no part of it. There were sides. To soldiers, there were always sides. Talking to the droid is what it wants you to do. They dont engage you unless they want contact. They only want contact when it furthers their goals. He watched Penny speak the droids language. She wasnt a prisoner, she was an asset. He moved up next to her quietly and put his hand on her shoulder slowly, and out of the corner of her eye so she would see it coming and not be startled.
He smiled at her, with his boyish smile. He was well aware of the effect of his looks on girls and played it down a notch, so as not to be distracting. He only wanted to reassure her. Then his hand went to his waist and he stared, disinterested toward the new prisoner through the open door. His two new friends hovered close by, creating a tiny buffer zone between Penny and the other inmates.
OOC: Lol, Averick just made his 1337est post.
BIC: The prototype returned its head to its proper upright position and scanned the prisoners again as it answered.
"Incorrect," it stated. "At this point in time all newly aquired prisoners muct refer to myself as Mastermind Droid Control Prototype Mark 2. Any uses of more familiar names shall be punished. Any queries projected without my proper name but also without a more familiar name shall be ignored."
There was a sudden clicking noise and multiple panels opened up all over the prototype's body. Its hands became a blur as its pulse rifle was disassembled into numerous black chunks of plastic and placed inside each of these compartments, which snapped back into place when the prototype was finished.
"Scans indicate a disturbance in Block 3 that I must attend too. Additional lines of query also reveal that cell assignment shall be completed within the next ten minutes. I suggest you say your goodbyes."
Then the prototype spun neatly around on one heel and started to walk out of the room. Curiously, its four drones stayed behind and readied their weapons, aiming into the cage. About halfway to the door, the prototype looked over its shoulder.
"My apoligies, but protocal states I must remind you that no one is your friend here."
At that statement, each drone fired a high powered stunning blast, the equivilent of a taser and a half, at Penny, Dr. Greene, Twilight Pistol, and Michael. In order to affect her, the drone aiming at Penny specifically aimed for her head, avoiding the armor as much as possible.
These stun blasts would knock out less hardy prisoners for a few minutes while providing extreme discomfort to tougher ones. After logging the reaction of each person to the stun blasts, the prototype called its drones too it and left the room.
OOC: Oh right. You can find a picture of Grey, or the prototype, or Toy, in the link below. Just imagine all his colors as grey and ignore the cape.
Statesman said let there be heroes, and there were heroes.
Lord Recluse said let there be villains, and there were villains.
NCsoft said let there be nothing, and there was nothing.
((hope it isn't too late to get in on this.)
The woman near the back of the cell was silent as the interrogator robot fired on several of the other prisoners. She had been silent throughout her processing into the Zig, though not by choice. Someone had been kind enough to present her with a slip of paper, listing her name and number, which she had given to the guards to avoid unnecessary violence. The name on the paper was hers, but it meant nothing to her. For months now, she had thought of herself only as the title she had chosen- Ms. Marrow. This would be her second stay in the Zig, and the guards had obviously learned from the fiasco that ended her first visit- she had been pumped full of telepathy suppression drugs the second she stepped foot into the prison. Her hand went to her neck, feeling the weblike scar that radiated outward from her throat. It glowed a dim blue for a moment, but nothing else happened. Marrow cursed to herself- how dare those fools try to silence her.They would pay for that...
Her thoughts turned from anger to more practical things, like escape- she had big plans, and they didn't include spending the rest of her life in prison. She scanned the cell, her eyes passing over the skull faced man who had given his name as Smith. The scent of death was about him; she knew that he was a kindred spirit, a fellow Necromancer- though his methods of manipulating the dead were undoubtedly not as elegant as hers. She marked him as a potential ally; all who were skilled in her art were of interest. She looked out at the rest of the cell, silently mouthing the words to a song. Her real voice had been silenced the day she had driven an enchanted crystal into her throat, but she had gained the ability to call out to those who were no longer among the living. To the dead, her voice was a siren's call, both comforting and tempting. Only the dead and dying could hear her song, but she hoped that the skull faced Necromancer had practiced enough of his craft to hear it, as well. She would need allies if she was going to escape... she could feel the drugs taking effect, causing the song to waver. She concentrated, letting the melody echo out from the cell. Even if the Necromancer could not hear her, perhaps there were other inmates close enough to death that would.
Michael tried to interpose his body between the droids as soon as he heard the Mastermind Droid Control Prototype Mark 2 start his apology. He took two blasts, one in the chest and one in the head and went down, not moving. One of his men immediately moved between the droids and the girl, the other froze, waiting to see if they were to be left alone instead of charging to Michael's aid. If he were shot down, there would be no one left to assist him and there would be two down.
Michael's breathing was shallow as he laid on the floor, his left leg twitching slightly and then falling still.
"And nightynight time, no bonus round tonight," Shadowshock grumbled as he heard the automated security droids taze the new prisoners.
He struggled to stand.
"Good ol' Grey... About the only guard you can trust in this... Oh..."
He saw a security droid in the cell with him.
"Now what the [censored] is the point of tha-"
*KZZZZZRT!*
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
[ QUOTE ]
Michael tried to interpose his body between the droids as soon as he heard the Mastermind Droid Control Prototype Mark 2 start his apology. He took two blasts, one in the chest and one in the head and went down, not moving. One of his men immediately moved between the droids and the girl, the other froze, waiting to see if they were to be left alone instead of charging to Michael's aid. If he were shot down, there would be no one left to assist him and there would be two down.
Michael's breathing was shallow as he laid on the floor, his left leg twitching slightly and then falling still.
[/ QUOTE ]
Penny heard the tell-tale hum of the tasers powering up for a second round, and thought fast. She hastily dropped on top of Michael, interposing her body between him and the other guns. She wrapped her arms around him tightly. She didn't know it, but Michael's actions, and her own, had deprived the Droid of the head shot it had wanted.
The force of the next bolts slammed into her hard, but she was already prone, and Michael's body acted almost like a sandbag, helping to absorb the kinetic force of the blast. The energy of it splashed harmlessly off of her shoulder. Two more struck her side and back, but had no more effect than the others had. Even so, the simple force of the blows had made her head spin: she was far more vulnerable to being thrown around, or stunned, than her suit was.
She held very still, closing her eyes - which wasn't very hard, considering how her ears were ringing. There was no telling whether or not the Drones had bio scanners, and if they did, they would know she was not unconscious. But there was a chance that they might be satisfied, and leave...
Hotaka still hadn't moved, and though a wall stood between his eyes and the new arrivals (the viewport in his cell door was too low for him to look through without bending down), the unnerving feeling that he was watching with crystal clarity pervaded the being of anyone who looked in his direction.
Well, isn't this interesting...and here I'd thought there weren't any humans left who could speak to the spirits...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
Blind Messenger grinned at Penny's act of heroism... And halted his thoughts.
He was beginning to dislike this 'Penny' character more and more... Not so much dislike, no, more like distrust. Would that be a real word?
It would have to do.
However, he then glanced down at the girl, hand raised. He stilled for a moment, his skull contorting slightly, and he lowered it.
I don't get any sense yet... That power lock-down still affects me, no matter HOW much I come in here... It is beginning to bore me.
Well it would seem Twilit missed one droid while looking.
As 2 pulse rifle blasts slammed into his back he fell unconscious.
"Twilit!" All three of his thugs yelled at once and tried to grab him, too bad they were just as vulnerable as he.
Ms. Marrow sighed. Her summons had gone unanswered, which either meant that there were none nearby that could hear it, or that the security measures the Zig employed, along with the drugs, were affecting her more than she thought. Either way, she would have to accept being alone for the time being. Marrow crossed her arms and waited for something else to happen. The crowded cell was beginning to bore her...
Michael came to moments later, he was surprised to see Penny kneeling next to him. One of his men was watching over him as well. He sat up and held his head, shaking it a bit to try to shake off the effects of the energy beam. Not what I was hoping for, but it seems youre alright. He slowly made his way to his feet, and looked around the room. Not much had changed, it appeared he was the last to recover.
Then the guards came again. Everyone was lined up to leave and taken down to the main cell block in D section. As they passed by cells, they simply opened the doors and pushed people in when they found one that wasnt too overcrowded. Michaels turn came and went a few times, when people behind him were pushed into a cell.
Finally, they stopped at a cell with just one person, a huge black man. This here is DJ Jammer, and hes your new cell mate. He doesnt much believe in white supremacy, so you two can stay up long nights discussing the subject. Who knows, maybe youll change his mind. With that the guard pushed Michael into his cell. Feeding time, Jammer. Now were going to be right back here in a few hours to make sure youre playing nice.
With that, they moved on, leaving Michael without restraints in a cell with Jammer, the door slammed shut behind him. Jammer smiled and moved closer. You wanna be the wife, or the husband?
After a couple hours the two guards returned to check on Michaels progress. Oh [censored]! Open four twenty one! Open four twenty one! Get me a medic!
They trussed up Michael real good, hands feet, knees, elbows and a mask. Then they took him to solitary. They didnt even stop to wash the blood off of him. On his way, there were jeers and shouts of approval. There were insults and congratulations. See you when you get out, had two very different meanings, based on who was yelling it. He didnt care. Hed been hurt so badly that he was certain he wouldnt make it out of solitary. He was just happy that he was so bound up that he didnt have to walk or even look at anyone and people would simply assume he couldnt because of the restraints.
When the door slammed shut, the light disappeared and he was once again in a familiar place. A room, far too small, with a hard floor and the smell of fresh blood and sweat. He closed his eyes and slept, dreaming of home.
Blind Messenger was lead to one of his old cells, now filled with a single occupant. A troll, by the looks of it, but his horns and green skin were fading from lack of Superadine.
Apparently, he wasn't smart enough to get his hands on any in this place.
"Welcome home, Blindy." the guard leading him muttered coldly, shoving him in.
"Don't call me--"
The door slammed shut, and the necromancer flowed easily into his corner. The half-troll turned to look at him, grinning. "Well, how iz ya doon'? Ya gotz sum supez?"
"No..." the dark figure uttered, placing his hands on his hood. He had enough strength for this, he was sure. "But I do have your worst FEAR!"
His hood fell back, and his eyes, filled with a dark, alien-like substance flashed, and the troll's eyes filled with fear and grief.
A few minutes later, according to Blind's memory, the crying would begin. An hour later, the screaming, then the unconsciousness.
How he LOVED the fear he induced in people.
The guard led Twilit to a cell about halfway through the corridor.
"I'm fairly certain you two know each other...."
He was shoved violently into the cell and hit the ground with a *thud!*. The door locked and he was in. When he got up he felt sick at the sight.
"Not you..." Twilit groaned.
"Oh this is gonna be fun." Said an equally large man with distinguishing scars down both his eyes.
This was none other than Crossbones a member of the Skulls "blessed" with the manipulation of darkness, along with a small knowledge of necromancy.
"Funny how you thought you were so much better than the rest of us and yet you still ended up in here. Well let me say something, seeing as how we're forced to be here together, I won't get overtly violent. Though I can't say the same about the other Skulls in here."
Seeing as how he was alone now with suppression of his powers, he could only agree and curse quietly.
Dr. Greene was dragged along by a pair of guards. As they went along the twisting hallways of the Zig, one of the guards whispered in his ear, "We're about to take you to a nice little place. A cozy cell with a new friend for you to talk to. But first, there's someone you need to see."
The escorts took him up a flight of stairs and into a dingy, spare office. A man sat at the desk that filled up most of the small space. "Greene, Julius. Former resident of England, arrested 3 days ago in Boston, Massachusetts." He looks up from the portfolio and stares at Dr. Greene. "We are aware, that under the British/American extradition treaty, we are to return you to British custody as soon as possible. We are also aware that under no circumstances are we to interrogate you, as described in Article 7 of the National Privacy Act." The officer leans back, and massages his temples before continuing, "We also don't give a damn. You can't prove anything. You claim you were questioned, we deny it. We can claim that your incarceration drove you mad, and you screamed out all you know in blind terror. There are precedents. So, before you go shooting your mouth off about your "rights," just remember: you have no rights here."
With a wave of his hand, the officer dismisses Dr. Greene and his two guards. One of them smirks as they return to the cells. "Maybe you can complain to your cellmate. I'm sure he'll understand."
The metal door opens to reveal a brooding hulk of a figure, covered in circuitry and gears that crackle and spark with energy. A hiss of exhaust shoots out of the grillwork that covers his lower face.
Penny was led down various winding corridors. She still had a pretty good idea of where she was in the facility.
When the door opened, she saw she was facing an extensive laboratory. In it was a heavily-scarred man, whose hands had been replaced by mechanized ones. "Now Penny," said one of the guards, as they picked her up and strapped her onto a table, "This is Doctor Steele. Around the Yard, he's known as Blade. He'll be removing that armor."
Penny was too new to the prison system to be familiar with the name Blade, with his reputation among the other prisoners, or with the impressive death-toll which had accumulated in this room.
He commented to the Doctor, "We've got to pick her up at 5AM sharp, Steele - be sure you're done."
"Oh, I don't imagine this will take too long," Blade answered calmly, and lit the arc welder.
"You ready to play nice?"
Shadowshock glared at the doorway.
"Has it been a day?"
"No, but your old cellmate confessed to jsut about anything to keep from being thrown in with his new roomies..."
"Great..."
"I hope you don't have any trouble with this next one..."
The guard led Shock down the all-too-familiar cells. He noted his old cellmate, Chuck, lying kind of pale-faced in his bunk. If their roles had been reversed, Shock figured he wouldn't have turned out much different.
Of course, then he'd have to be a racist male-cheauvenist. All-in-all, he felt good about the situation.
Until they made it to the Tsoo cells.
"Who're you taking me to see?"
"Oh, something of a celebrity in these cells..."
"Oh no..."
When they arrived, Shadowshock grunted a curse to himself. Being with the Tsoo was bad enough, they didn't like Family guys. Being with this Tsoo in particular? Probably death.
A slow one, too.
"Ryuu Hotaka. Meet your new cellmate."
"Bollox," Shock grunted, "Absolute horse-[censored]!"
"Yeah?" the guard chuckled, "Too bad."
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
The guards came back, at five AM, just as promised.
They had expected that Blade would have been successful in removing the armor, and so he had been. They had expected that he would have had his fun with his subject once the armor was off, and so he had.
Penny was dead.
But only temporarily: Blade's table was very efficient at reviving its victims, which accounted for a large part of the terror attached to this place. Even now Penny's nude body convulsed as the electrical arcs shot through her unconscious form, restarting her heart, and bringing back a thin, threading heartbeat. None of this was unexpected or unusual.
What was unexpected was the sight of Blade himself.
He knelt in a corner of the room, on his knees, gurgling slightly. The garrotte had sliced deeply into his throat; blood was everywhere. But even this sight, as grotesque as it was, was not unusual in the Zig.
What was unusual was Blade's killer.
One end of each wire was wrapped around Blade's robotic arms. Blade was quite dead, of course: no one could lose so much blood and live. But his robotic arms continued to move slowly, inexorably outwards, continuing to pull the wire tighter. It must have taken Blade some considerable time to strangle. He had probably been dead for an hour or more, but the arms still moved outwards.
As the guards stared open-mouthed, Blade's head popped right off, rolling across the room to lodge itself in a corner. The wire, no longer constrained by his spine, twanged to instant, guitar-string tautness.
Then, and only then, did Blade's body fall, an island in an ocean of blood.
Shortly after this, there was considerable excitement. Penny, unconscious, was removed from the room. Her armor - which had been the point of the entire exercise to begin with - was not missed, which was just as well.
As it was nowhere to be found.
Hotaka moved away from the door, smirking slightly.
"I welcome the companionship." he nodded with a gentle reply...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
"Yeah, yeah..." Shadowshock replied glumly as he stepped into the cell, "Look, hoss, I don't mess with you, you don't mess with me, capiche? I ain't got Family ties in here... Unlike you with the Tsoo..."
He sighed.
"So... First thing's first, I guess... Which bunk's mine?"
My Stories
Look at that. A full-grown woman pulling off pigtails. Her crazy is off the charts.
Penny woke up in Solitary.
She shook for a while, her knees up to her chin. It was some time before she could think clearly under the weight of panicked and muddled emotions.
But she remembered something, something she had seen after Blade's ministrations had proved briefly fatal: a light. Something better and purer than this place - than any place. It was only a vague memory: but the recollection had a calming effect. After some time, she felt better, more in command of her thoughts, and looked around to see where she was.
The solitary cell was bleakly dreary. It was dirty and contained only a sink, toilet, and mattress. But there were worse places to be, and so she turned the mattress on its cleanest side (which wasn't saying much) and sat on it.
She knew that Blade was dead. She was glad of that. She knew that they had removed the armor and couldn't help but smile when she considered the likely consequences. She wondered what would happen to her now - she had no idea how long she had been "down" after Blade's assault. Perhaps they would keep her in this cell for years and years...
But as it happens, they didn't even keep her in the cell for minutes. It seemed hardly a moment before the door opened with a CLANG, revealing several red-and-white clad members of Longbow. They looked nervous when they pointed their guns at her, and she did not resist as they shooed her into the corridor.
She had expected the hoots and catcalls she had heard earlier. But instead there was silence. The other inmates stared at her, and there was whispering, "Is that her?" "Did you hear what happened to Blade?" "Is it true?"
This was a new development, and she considered it as she walked down the hallway, under careful scrutiny from the guards. It seemed that she had something that could be the beginnings of a reputation. Interesting.
"In here," one of the guards said, indicating a rather ominous looking black portal of a door.
She looked nervous. "What's in there?"
The guard smirked in spite of himself. "Your first arena match." He shoved her so hard that she fell into the doorway, flat on her nose, and by the time she had picked herself up and looked around, he was gone.
A pair of guards escorted Ms. Marrow to an unremarkable cell on one of the upper floors. The first threw open the door, while the other prodded her forward with his night stick. The cell was empty.
"Congratulations, you get the place to yourself for a couple hours, until your new cell mate arrives." The one with the night stick sneered. "We don't want you getting bored, so maybe I could keep you company for awhile... what do you say?"
Marrow moved into the cell, putting some distance between herself and the guards, giving them a hateful glare. The guard laughed.
"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?" He strode forward, poking her painfully in the ribs with the stick. Marrow stood her ground, glaring. She bared her teeth in a noiseless snarl. The guard grinned, before bringing his free hand up to her face, squeezing her lips together.
"That's right, you can't talk, can you?" The guard squeezed harder, receiving only a glare in response. "Well, those pretty lips should be good for one thing, at least...." The guard moved his hand down from her face, heading for the top of her jumpsuit. A finger accidentally brushed against the scar on her neck, and the guard suddenly pulled back, cursing.
"What the ****?! Feels like I just touched a block of ice! I can't feel my hand! W-what did you do to me?!" The guard lashed out with the night stick, catching Marrow in the shoulder. She cried out silently, going to her knees. The guard raised the stick for another blow, when the second guard, watching from the cell door, spoke up.
"Your hand! Its turning black, man!" the first guard looked down, noticing the dark spots now appearing on his palm and fingers.
"****! I'd better get this looked at... I'll be back for you later, girl! Believe me, you're gonna be sorry..." He withdrew quickly, cursing as his hand continued to blacken. The second guard slammed the cell door shut before following his friend.
Alone now, Marrow climbed to her feet, massaging her shoulder. It didn't feel broken, at least... She made her way into the bottom bunk bed, wincing. It was lucky the guard had touched her scar... his hand would lose feeling for a few hours, but it would recover. Marrow closed her eyes, concentrating. It had been too close- without her spirits, she was no different from any other human, and not very good at defending herself. Marrow began to sing again, louder this time. She needed allies if she was going to survive much longer in this accursed place
"Oh, I'm not with the Tsoo." Hotaka smiled good-naturedly, "Though they may say they follow the path of the Dragon, I can assure you the converse is most certainly not..."
Theclacking of latches and locks intrupted the tall robed man. The guards were opening the cell door.
Hotaka smirked as he beheld a few Longbow agents along with the regular guard entourage, but the men and women clad in red-and-white uniforms remained quite silent, as if them speaking could upset something.
"Ryuu Hotaka." one of the guards simply stated, motioning a request to come out, "We've got someone who needs a lesson."
"Oh now?" Hotaka smiled at this, stepping into motion, "Do lead the way then, gentlemen. I'd be happy to teach."
The guard nodded without a word, and the squad took Ryuu in their middle, sealing the door behind them again.
It didn't take long for them to reach their destination.
The arena...
"If I had Force powers, vacuum or not my cape/clothes/hair would always be blowing in the Dramatic Wind." - Tenzhi
Characters
[ QUOTE ]
Twilit looked at Penny when she asked the question to the Big-Robot-In-Charge with a raised eyebrow. He walked closer to her and asked in a whisper "Why you bein' so nice to that heap of metal anyways?"
"I really hope it didn't hear that..." He thought to himself after.
[/ QUOTE ]
Penny looked surprised at the question - genuinely surprised, as if the idea of acting any other way hadn't occured to her. "I wanted to know more about how it had been programmed," she mused thoughtfully. "It could have killed us by now, but hasn't, so it seems likely that it is just here to do its job - whatever that is. I think things will probably get ugly later - " She frowned at the nearest attack drone, "but I thought... why rush something like that?"
Then she stopped, as if a terrible thought had only just now occured to her. "Oh dear - if I talk to it, am I 'siding with the enemy?'"