Catherine looked even more confused by C-317/M48's offer, shaking her head in disbelief, "What would that prove? Aside from you being crazy and/or an enterprising BDSM enthusiast..." She nearly laughed, clearly not wanting to hurt the woman regardless of her intentions. "All I want is for you to get the hell out of my shop!" Cathy informed her, extending the stun baton for emphasis. Few realized it had been modified to shock the recipient until they were twitching on the ground and wishing they had chosen a more legitimate profession. She was boxed into the room, however, which made her nervous. There weren't even any windows in the back office and the only exits required going through Mireille. She didn't know why this woman thought she was a gynoid or if she really was associated with Kaiser-Neo though the latter would be unfortunate considering she had some of their schematics. "You can explain what the fuck is going on or leave but I ain't going anywhere!"

Catherine raised the baton but didn't strike yet. She was perhaps curious as to what this woman was going on about, no matter how preposterous.

edited 21st Dec '15 7:25:07 PM by Lt.BGob

One soft "Hmm" sounding over the com, the voice once more speaks. ~"The explosive collar, the abuse... You don't think you have power but you do Mireille. I'm a very powerful person in this uncertain world, someone who would be killed or exploited if people knew. Yet I risk everything, time and again, to save every Artificial and Augment that I can. Trust in me Mireille, and back down. I've made powerful friends who can save you, so please let your sister life Catherine go. She's a good person, just like you could be."~

Byrne's Bots & Bolts - Repairs, Replacements & Redesigns

The voice could be heard again, not good, not good at all. She still didn't knew how to respond, it came to her mind that this was maybe some kind of test in the test, though she doubted that. She decided to clear this "Look, do you hear me? I don't know what you think but that collar here will explode if I betray Kaiser-Neo. I don't want to die just yet, I want to live to survive and if surviving means that I have to get her than I will." At that point Mireille saw her raising the baton, though she did not hit for now - a good thing at last, she spoke again "I can assure you I am neither, that would imply that I enjoy being hit, which I can assure you is not the case, I merely don't feel it. Unlike an explosion around my neck which will kill me" The last part was less for te Gynoid and more for the the mysterious voice, Mireille fell silent again, still a bit unsure what to do she suddenly had an idea. She got her VI-Device "Please show all data corespondending to Project 'CAT-H8'." The VI answered in the usual robotic tone "As you wish, data loading, please wait... data loaded" The Device produced a hologram showing most of the construction sheets for the Gynoid and an (due to the circumstances of course incomplete) experiment log along with some other data. "There, see for yourself, there are some image-files in there to. You will find that you are the Gynoid exlpained there." She laid the device on the ground and pushed it to her so she could pick it up.

edited 21st Dec '15 7:55:56 PM by Sergey_Smirnov

Byrne's Bots & Bolts

Catherine looked from Mireille to the VI-Device with suspicion, not believing her for a minute but curious about the contents. It could be a trap - somekind of device to knock her out but her curiousity burned. Slowly she bent down, her gaze never leaving the woman and baton still poised to strike at any sign of trickery. She took the device and, seeing nothing happened, stood up and skimmed through the files. It all related to some kind of next gen, prototype gynoid. A fusion of biochemical enzymes, molecular motors and materials with synthetic ones. All connected to a highly sophisticated, artificial 'brain'. The images showed a woman that looked exactly like Catherine, at least at first glance.

Bullshit. Catherine shook her head, not willing to be taken in for a moment. "You could have made this all up. And if not, a gynoid has my face - so what?" She pointed out, truthfully a little shaken by the detail of the data. "It wouldn't be the first time a gynoid was modeled after someone, legal or no..." Cathy added, deep in her mind something panicked and sparked with recognition but she remembered her parents, her life. The panic grew and Mireille didn't seem likely to leave of her own accord. To make matters worse the woman waw apparently whispering to herself. Cat's heart raced and on impulse threw the VI into the woman's face in the hopes of distracting her and made for the door, pushing the intruder out of the way. She wasn't sure why the device rattled her so much, only that she needed to get away.

edited 22nd Dec '15 12:29:31 AM by Lt.BGob

Byrne's Bots & Bolts - Repairs, Replacements & Redesigns

Mireille instinctively raised her arms to block the incoming throw, she could feel that the Gynoid pushed her away as she rushed past her No, no, no, not good Mireille turned around, to her everlasting luck she had waited before so as she had turned she saw the Gynoid losing precious seconds unlocking the door again, it was this time when she had to make a decision that would define her life from here on, would she betray Kaiser-Neo or not? Would she become a rogue experiment or live her life in confinement within Kaiser-Neo? Within the fractions of a second she weighed all possibilities, including that this mysterious voice really could deactivate her explosive collar. Though she saw what happend if an experiment went rogue, hell she even destroyed one herself. (Although to be fair that one was a complete psycho and mostly anyone would have tried to do that if given the possibilty.) She only ever knew the life as an experiment/captive. And eventhough she knew nearly no-one treated her as a human she also knew that there were some who had genuine care for her. She also thought about taking a 3rd option in that she just let the Gynoid escape and let herself be retrived again. She was nervos beyond reason now, this was not like in the training, this time not only her life depended on her actions but also another one, still this was a decision she had to make.

After not even one second she had come to her decision. She took a deep breath and expelled a thick string of her adhesive silk from her mouth. It was headed straight for the Gynoid, up until the very last moment Mireille thought about purposefully missing her, but in the end she decided against it. It was as she shot the string that she realized how stupid her hesitation was, why should she follow the instructions of a random hacker, for all she knew that voice could belong to a terrorist.

edited 22nd Dec '15 7:40:34 AM by Sergey_Smirnov

Byrne's Bots & Bolts

It seemed that today was not Catherine's day, the cause of this strife increasingly looking to be the fault of her front door. If she ever made it out of this situation she vowed to replace the lock just to spite it. Swearing under her breath she found the key and shakily undid the lock, all too aware of Mireille behind her. Just as the key did its work with a satisfying clunk the silk string made contact with the gynoid, across her back and arms. While it didn't surround her body the adhesive did bind her to the door, eliciting a startled cry.

Catherine pushed her body away from the door, straining against the silk thread and its adhesive. Her synthetic strength was too great for the adhesive, breaking free from the door and stumbling back. However, she had lost time that Mireille would have almost certainly exploited. Cat turn sharply and raised the baton as she backed towards the now unlocked door. She struck out quickly and hard with one hand and tried to pull off the rest of the silken thread with her other.

Byrne's Bots & Bolts - Repairs, Replacements & Redesigns

It seemed that finally something was going her way, but then Mireille saw slightly shocked that the Gynoid was free again. She had grossly underestimated the strength of the Gynoid, that was the silk of a Darwin's Bark spider and technically the strongest material known to man, 10 times stronger than Kevlar even, and this Gynoid ripped it away like it was nothing, hence the hit with the baton made with the same strength had the effects one would think it had. Mireille could hear the bones in her right arm crack as the baton connected, and was more than relived she had the pain relivant in her body. Though the electric energy wasn't so lenient on her body. As she tried to get her arm in a blocking position she realized that said arm was stunned. She tried to get behind the Gynoid as she expelled another string of adhesive-silk, this time thicker than the last, hoping that this one would proove too much for the strength of her opponent.

Byrne's Bots & Bolts

Catherine heard a sickening crunch as her baton made contact with the woman's arm, not sure if she should be pleased or apologetic regarding the result. She always had been stronger than she looked, much to the ire of certain thugs in Downtown alleys. However, the distraction of the remaining string did give Mireille a chance to step behind her and this time surround her arms and torso with the thickened, silk string. Getting free would mean breaking the silk rather than the relatively weak adhesive.

Struggling against the bindings Catherine dropped her baton and tried to run further into the shop. Unfortunately her bare feet slipped on some ill-placed bolts, sending her crashing forward, "Shit!" Catherine barely avoided hitting her head of the ground by rolling to her side but the impact was still less than pleasant. She continued to struggle, pushing herself away from the intruder with her feet and wishing there was something sharp nearby to cut the bonds. No such luck. "Get away from me!"

Byrne's Bots & Bolts - Repairs, Replacements & Redesigns

Mireille watched as the Gynoid crashed onto the ground, still nervous from before though she was unsure what to do now "Pl-please, don't thrash around so much, you'll get hurt." She followed the Gynoid carefully looking around to make sure no sharp object was nearby, half so she couldn't escape, half so she wouldn't accidentally cut herself in the heat of the fight. Now that the Gynoid was trapped in the silk she got a bit more levelheaded. She openend another com-channel, hoping that her message would get through. "Professor, Sir? I could capture CAT-H8 no. 12, we're currently in the shop, please send a team for retrival." After that she expelled more silk to bind the legs of the Gynoid, hoping that that would cause her to stop trashing around wildly. "I'm sorry, but I had to do this, I don'T have anthing against you, I only want to survive." She was still nervous and needed something to calm her down, remembering the half joking comment the Gynoid made she continued "Oh and by the way, I'm not into SM, I'm only 14, that'd be gross, plus I'm not insane, I saw somebody who was insane, you don't want to meet him, the last human he met ended up being gutted alive." She shook as she remembered herself also nearly being gutted that day. "So please, just hold still, I don't want to hurt you." All that talking indeed calmed her down a bit. She looked at her right arm, which was bend in a unsettling manner. "You really are strong."

edited 22nd Dec '15 1:08:47 PM by Sergey_Smirnov

Byrne's Bots & Bolts

Catherine swore profusely as she struggled, "Oh, I'll 'get hurt' will I? You should have thought of that before you broke into my shop and tried to kidnap me!" She pointed out as her legs were bound with the silk, stopping her progression across the floor. She stopped thrashing, there wasn't much point at this stage and swearing under her breath was just as stress relieving. She was talking to someone on a radio or something similar, "Stop calling me that. My name is Catherine." She pointed out as the girl kept talking nonsense, something about SM and insanity and someone getting gutted alive. "Is that a threat? 'Cause that's little redundant at this stage, darling."

With her movement restricted Cathy calmed down slightly, still terrified and confused but thrashing less. She noticed the woman's arm was broken and frowned a little. She didn't seem to give any signs of pain which suggested painkilling drugs, even taking the time to compliment her strength. Catherine shook her head in disbelief and looked for something useful to no avail, "Where are you taking me?"

edited 22nd Dec '15 1:28:15 PM by Lt.BGob

Over the first com-line, the voice sighs in despair before speaking. ~"Kaiser-Neo was successful enslaving you to their way. You fear them, not because of power they possess, but because of the trauma inflicted on you. I'm... Sorry this world exists, where you can't trust anyone at all. Forgive me, motherless child, forgive me Mireille... But if you don't comply, there's no promises Ulric the Mechanical will spare you. Pray that Cybernetics Unbound reaches you in time."~ The mysterious signal coming to an end, suddenly every device belonging to Catherine begins to ring.

Outside, a sound similar to a Mechanical Armor's skates gradually come to a stop, a clearly robotic voice speaking to itself. "Disabling Personality, Running Combat Persona: Rescue. Establishing Presence Now." The sound of spikes piercing the road outside, the robotic voice speaks once more. "Kaiser-Neo Slave, We Have Been Watching Your Masters. You Have One Minute To Leave This Innocent Alone, Or Else I Will Attack."

Byrne's Bots & Bolts - Repairs, Replacements & Redesigns

Mireille heard that something arrived at the outside, that was bad, why could today nothing happen as planned, at least the Gynoid had stopped struggling for now, and one minute was enough time to think of a plan. A fight seemed unavoidable at this point though. Her ears pressed against her skull as she took her right arm and bend it straight again. Even under the influence of her pain-killers she flinched "Oww it hurts" She looked around, hoping her arm would endure what followed she proceeded to quickly move the Gynoid and the silk cocoon she was in into a corner "Please stay here, I don't know if that thing shoots, here its safer." She stood up "Inject T-28, T-95." She felt how the chitinous exoskeleton covered her arms. Lastly she openend a com-channel again "Professor, please I'm attacked here, please send a team ASAP."

Byrne's Bots & Bolts

A synthesized voice boomed from the street into the shop, threatening to attack Mireille if she didn't leave the 'Innocent' Catherine alone. While this intrusion was no more polite than the woman's it was, at this point, quite welcome. It's threat of violence was sounding even more enticing when Mireille unceremoniously put her in a corner and asked her to stay put - as if she had a choice. "Well if you insist..." She rolled her eyes, voice dripping with sarcasm. Once the Kaiser-Neo experiment had turned and was sufficiently distracted Cat looked for a way to escape.

In a stroke of luck Mirelle had put her a corner close to a metal tool shelf, not quite sharp enough to cut the threads outright but with a bit of effort... Catherine carefully and quietly wiggled closer and put her back to the edge, moving in a sawing motino to create as much friction as possible. While Kevlar and silk's tensile strength was considerable on their longer axis their resistance to friction on the other was far less. Within a minute a few threads gave way, granting just enough movement to fight against the adhesive in the cocoon. Quietly and quickly Catherine strained and wiggled her way out of the silken bindings.

Byrne's Bots & Bolts - Repairs, Replacements & Redesigns

Mireille excreted a bit more silk and covered the part of her right arm under it where the bone was shattered, while she currently had an exoskeleton around it she didn't want to take chances, after a few seconds her makeshift bandage was completed. It was only now that she registered the cacophony in here. One disadvantage of hearing much better than the normal human was... well hearing everything much better than the normal human and this was quite distracting. Mireille tried to ignore that while looking outside, there she saw nothing, but of course her wish for there actually being nothing would be left unfulfilled, she knew that. She brought her arms (now luckily not stunned anymore) in a combat posture. Though she already felt signs of exhaustion, that was one of the disadvantages of merging different DNA's in a biological body and forcing said body to accomplish things in a few seconds that would normally take some hours minimum: They still drained the energy as if they would have lasted a few hours, in most cases more. She would have to finish this quickly. She felt quite miserable again, nothing went as planned, and she didn't knew how much of that was her fault. No matter what would happen from now on, she was sure that the de-briefing would in no way be pleasant. She shook her head No, I musn't let myself be distracted by this "Now come in! I won't back down, I much rather take my chances with a fight than be called useless failure and be terminated!" Her legs were a bit wobbly, while she didn't know exactly how much silk she had produced, it seemed that it sure was more than usual, take that and the fact that she had injected T-28 - hence more or less forcing her cells to enter a state where they divided in a speed that could, from a biological standpoint, only be called ludicrous to shape something that in no halfway heathly human being should ever be there - it came as no surprise that she was more exhausted than she first thought.

edited 22nd Dec '15 3:54:08 PM by Sergey_Smirnov

Byrne's Bots & Bolts

Mireille made no indication she heard Catherine's escape from the cocoon, which was the best news she had gotten all night. Quickly but as silently as she could muster she made her way to her main computer and removed the external hard drive where she kept all her important, and secret, data. A nervous glance back to Mireille confirmed she was still busy preparing for whatever was outside. However, Cat didn't intend to stay and see everything hit the fan.

The gynoid ran up the stairs and into her room, grabbing a rucksack and grabbing whatever she felt was necessary: Her toolbox, wallet, smart-watch and her other stun baton. That done Catherine opened the top window and looked down. Fortunately there was a closed dumpster below and the drop was not too far. Carefully she lowered herself from the window and dropped.

Byrne's Bots & Bolts - Repairs, Replacements & Redesigns

Suddenly Mireille saw something moving in her peripheral vision, she saw the Gynoid running upstairs, while she did not know how she got out that wasn't important to her right now. Nonononononothatmusnthappen she quickly sprinted after her, though she slipped, causing her to violently crash into the ground head-first, the whole scene must have looked almost comically, though that was not at all how she felt right now. While on the ground she made a last call "Target is escaping, pursuing it Professor, I beg you to send help, something attacked me here." After that she got up, hoping that whatever was outside didn't realize the new situation. Normally she would have been much quicker but currently she was to exhausted to do that.

edited 22nd Dec '15 4:59:00 PM by Sergey_Smirnov

Byrne's Bots & Bolts - Exterior

Catherine heard movement from inside - Mireille had realised she was escaping, "Shit!" Despite still being barefoot she had landed without issue on the dumpster and immediately leaped into the alleyway. She sprinted out as fast as she could, which was a considerable speed, rucksack in hand and hoping to make it to the nearest Cybernetics Unbound safe-house. From memory there was one within a few blocks, hopefully those pursuing her did not know it.

Byrne's Bots & Bolts - Repairs, Replacements & Redesigns

Mireille concentrated on her hearing, now that she was upstairs away from the noise down that even was somewhat possible again, she could hear a thump as the Gynoid landed, and came to the window just in time to see her running away. Upon looking down she saw a dumpster that she likely used to get down. Without hesitating she also jumped down, though she did not land right, she could feel that something was off with her left foot, though did not bother with it for now. She ran as fast as she could after the Gynoid. Though with the exhaustion building up now she was not as fast as she could have been, she tailed her but was always on the verge off losing her from sight.

edited 22nd Dec '15 5:12:40 PM by Sergey_Smirnov

Near Trey Doe's Apartment, Streets

Vincent kept a steady watch on Trey Doe. During his stay he placed a few audio recording devices in her apartment, enabling the bounty hunter to hear whatever conversations she might be having. It would be entertaining if she would just talk to herself, Vincent was bored out of his mind, but he was learning a thing or two about observing individuals for hours on end. Back in his days at Imago, that city of hell, he was used to doing investigative work but he had gone rusty after years of smashing skulls, drive-bys, and alcoholism.

By now people were starting to take notice that a creepy guy was stalking a certain woman in an apartment complex. Vincent failed stealth forever, not that he was the subtle type of person to begin with. He was inside his old rundown car, in the driver's side, waiting for Trey to make a move. Unfortunately for him, the police caught wind of his antics and had a Crown Victoria parked beside his own lemon of a car.

Vincent caught sight of two cops stepping out of their vehicles in his rear view mirror, his heart started to race as they walked towards his car. He reached for his coat and pulled his Glock 50, and hid it from the cop's view by dangling it to the side of his thigh. Pressing the electric button on his car door to open the car window, he propped his head out and said, "Is there a problem officers?"

"We're going to have to ask you to come with us," The first cop said, he was a young one and he clearly didn't recognize Vincent Mercer's face. If they knew who he was then this would prove to be an inconvenient situation for the bounty hunter.

"Next time," The second cop cocked a grin, he was the older cop but he still didn't recognize Vincent, "Try to be a little more careful if you plan to stalk someone."

Vincent smiled, and decided to holster his pistol deep in his pocket, he knew how this would work out. The cops didn't even have to tell him to step out of the vehicle so they could cuff him. As soon as Vincent opened the door, the cops moved towards him to arrest him, but instead of putting his hands up in the air like what a good citizen does, Vincent bolted towards the officers, slamming the first cop with his first, rendering him unconscious with the force of the blow, while the second cop managed to draw out his weapon.

The second cop was reluctant to shoot his partner, so hesitated in squeezing the trigger. Vincent had no such quandaries and moved fast enough to slam the head of the cops together, knocking both cops out.

"What a mess," Vincent muttered under his breath, hoping that nobody saw what happened.

edited 23rd Dec '15 11:21:03 AM by Victor_Skye

Near Byrne's Bots & Bolts - Repairs, Replacements & Redesigns

Mireille tailed the Gynoid a bit more and even came close to catching her again, though then she did the one thing that ends a chase 9 out of 10 times, that being tripping followed by crashing into the ground. Ouch as Mireille got up she only could see CAT-H8 no. 12 slipping away out of her sight. A further chase would be pointless. That was bad, very, very bad. The very much only thing that could be described as 'good' was that whatever wanted to attack before seemingly did not follow her, and even that wasn't for sure. Low-spirited she made her way back to the initial drop-off point. Inside the vehicle it was dead-silent, to the point where Mireille even wished for Li to yell at her, he would do it eitherway but this way she'd be through it quickly at least.

Back in the lab exactly this happend, Li, being the choleric that he was used the next hour or so assuring her how incompetent she was, to the point where even Dylandy seemed uncomfortable with it (though mostly because of the wasted time in his case). Finally it was to much for Professor Eisen, she stepped in "Now, now, I think we all got it by now, yes the mission was a failure" She turned to Mireille "From what I heard from you I do have to say I'm impressed you're still here - for many reasons actually, you neither went rogue nor ended up dead." "Yeah that's sooo good for us, now we still have to feed such an incompetent thing through." Li's voice was dripping with sarcasm "Just quit it already! Need I remind you that the last Test-Subject was terminated in his first fight? If my memory serves me right you described his body as being 'a bloody fucking mess'." Li growled before sighing "Okay, okay, fine." Seemingly satisfied Eisen turned to Mireille "Now for you" Mireille gulped Now it comes "While I do appreciate that you did not betray us the mission was a failure, that's a fact, there's nothing to change about that. Seeing that the last mission you were in also turned out quite the mess I have no choice but to strip you of most of your freedoms, don't worry, its only temporary. If you show us that you are able to handle the missions given by us you'll get them back, see that as an... incentive to work harder and better, but for now I have to ask of you to remain in the containment cell until further notice." Mireille only nodded slightly "As you wish Professor." Well that... went better for me than expected.

edited 23rd Dec '15 2:06:35 PM by Sergey_Smirnov

Near Trey Doe's Apartment, Streets

Vincent's hopes were dashed once he heard the sound of another police siren from afar, You idiot, why did you stay here? Instead of bolting for his car and attempting to make a getaway, he sprinted towards one of the nearby dumpsters, lifted the lid, jumped right in it and shut himself in. A classic maneuver, he wondered if he would be captured in 30 seconds if the cops arrived to find the two bozos he beat up, he was too easy to find, even a 6-year old kid would have checked the garbage.

His thinking was rudely interrupted by the malodorous aroma of the trash he was muddled with. The rotten smell of fruit and vegetables was too unbearable for him, and Vincent swore that someone used this dump as a toilet. Knowing his luck, he was probably right about his misfortune. He tried to divert his thoughts from this foul agony by focusing on the sounds coming outside, but he was dangerously close to barfing out his breakfast.

Outside of the trash receptacle, two more police officers got out of their vehicle to find their buddies unconscious. They hauled in the two battered officers and placed them at the back of the automobile. If there were any serious medical emergencies they would go straight to the hospital, but now it was better to treat them at the clinic at the station since the hospital had notoriously high bills for treatment. The newcomers spotted Vincent's car and decided to confiscate his vehicle later; they didn't need a criminal to have wheels.

This took about 10 minutes to resolve, and the police bolted out of the scene as quickly as they came. There was another highway chase and all officers were required to apprehend the trigger-happy outlaw that indiscriminately sprayed machine gun fire to unsuspecting pedestrians. After Vincent heard them go, he sprang out of the trash can and puked himself to his heart's content.

"I will blow up that damn garbage can when I have the chance," Vincent has now gained a new hatred for trash cans. The mere sight of junk haunts him, so he is now severely tempted to blow them up every chance he gets.

edited 23rd Dec '15 11:11:39 AM by Victor_Skye

Downtown, Near Cybernetics Underground Safe-House

At first Mireille seemed to be giving chase, prompting Catherine to push herself even faster and take to a winding route. She looked over her shoulder every so often to see if she was still behind, apparently the girl was either injured, exhausted or both given her pace and gait. At some point Mireille disappeared from sight and she slowed down, looking anxiously back into the streets. Several minutes passed with no one in pursuit, Cat's breathing was gradually relaxing and heart slowing. She had escaped and the Safe-House was only a couple streets away.

Catherine still felt her heart quiver and skin shake, the events of tonight racing through her mind as she navigated the dark and foreboding streets. Why was that woman calling her a gynoid and why did she want to kidnap her? What was that thing outside? She passed dirty alleyways, broken down cars and drunk catcalling as the questions plagued her. Finally she reached the Safe-House door, down a flight of steps in a narrow alley. Cat pulled open what looked like a mailbox to reveal number-pad and entered the password. The lock on the door disengaged with a click and she sighed in relief as she swung it open.

Near Trey Doe's Apartment, Rat Infested Apartment

Following the dramatic confrontation with the cops, Vincent opted to switch positions. He couldn't botch his job, it would damage his reputation, and besides the cops were distracted with another bigger problem in their hands. Who in their right mind would waste their time arresting a skirt chaser when they could apprehend a psycho on a homicidal rampage? So Vincent transferred his car elsewhere and broke into an abandoned building that was a block away from Trey's apartment, it could still command a full view of her window, and when you add the fact that he can still listen into Trey's conversations with the recording devices he was still in business.

The building he was in was a three-story apartment that was deserted when its occupants were found to have spread an infectious disease among themselves. They had to be evacuated to a hospital for treatment, and they were faring well. The illness was a new one and was called Severe Rat Fever, because it was native to the rats in the area. Vincent was not familiar with the history of this apartment, but it seemed a good idea at the time to use this because this was the next best place he had to monitoring Trey.

The residents had hired an exterminators time and time again to remove the infestation. It would leave droves of rats dead, and wave after wave of them would sweep in anyway to replace their cohorts. Giving up, the inhabitants settled for a new home in the city.

Nevertheless, Vincent was extremely careful to come into contact with the rats. It was not just caution, but it was an irrational fear of them instead. He thought that all animals had some form of rabies, and that one bite could might as well be lethal. To him it was worse than venom, to him it was comparable to opening Pandora's box where all the evils of the world would be unleashed if he were to even draw near these sinister creatures.

"Fuck, they're everywhere!" Vincent stomped hard on the ground and an army of the rats darted from one corner to another. He swore that they could leap up right to him and devour him and leave nothing but bone. Yet determined as he was to get the job done, he resolved to fix this problem the old fashioned way.

I think I might have an idea on how to deal with this, Vincent left the apartment and approached his car, he unlocked the trunk of his car and rummaged through his materials. He arranged a series of deadly poisons and explosives, picking one or the other. Since he needed the building intact, he chose the poisons instead.

What if there are people here? Vincent never wanted to stir up trouble, as tempted as he may be to start one, he was a good man at heart. He scouted the sector for any nearby occupants, and sure enough they dealt with the same rat problem. So the question of the short-term effect of his lethal poisons was solved.

So what are you going to do when it spreads to the rest of the city? Vincent paused, this was the long-term effect of the use of biological weaponry. So he was either going to get bit like crazy in the legs or he was going to have to ruin several unlucky people's lives forever. This would not do, so he grabbed his grenades and his gas mask to set out for the apartment.

Nobody would walk into a place like this anyway, Vincent damned common sense and started doing awesome things.

He studied the apartment building for a moment, specifically its structural integrity. It was made of hard cement and it would obviously withstand the detonations. Armed with this knowledge, he gingerly opened the door and casually tossed a grenade inside then stepped aside and covered his ears. The blast was punishingly loud, and it could be heard all throughout the neighborhood, but Vincent didn't care.

Atrociously repeating the process throughout the apartment, he had committed mass murder towards the beasts. The rodents never stood a chance against this paranoiac, for the fear of rabies armed with hand grenades is unmerciful. Piles of rat flesh was strewn around the floor and on the walls, blood was spilled, and many a rat's lives were lost in the escapade, but the infestation had been dealt with temporarily.

The stench was unbearable, so Vincent put on his gas mask and hopped straight to the rooftop to continue his surveillance... but at what cost?

edited 25th Dec '15 7:36:18 AM by Victor_Skye

Kaiser-Neo HQ, Containment-Cell No. 101

Mireille sat in the complete darkness, time could progress quite slow when you have no indication of it actually progressing, suddenly the door openend, the silhouettes of Eisen, together with two guards could be seen "Good, wait for me outside." After saying that Eisen stepped into the room and sat down, facing Mireille. "I will trust you, that means you won't be restrained, actually that is one of the reasons I'm here." In the darkness Mireille could hear the professor shifting slightly "Why did you come back? From what I heard from you earlier that voice - we couldn't hear anything so I'll just take your word for it - made you an offer to free you. So why are you still here?" Mireille said nothing for a long time, she thought about the same thing for quite a while now. "I... I don't know, I only wanted to live... to survive... tell me Professor is that a crime? Is it a crime to want to survive?" Mireille heard the professor shaking her head in the darkness "Certainly not, though I guess Kaiser-Neo and with that by extension its employees and test-subjects have not the cleanest reputation, I won't hide that Kaiser-Neo is in no way morally clean... I guess you have enough first hand experience with that, so lying about that to you would be of no use anyways." "Professor, why are you working for them?" She thought about that for a bit "I don't really know, both my parents worked here, so I guess it kinda was clear for them that I would also work here. And I can't say that the work here isn't fun most of the time. Though back to the topic, from what you said that voice offered to disable the collar, you could have lived." "I can't say for sure, do you say that I should have run away?" "We both know that I'd be fired instantly if I would say yes, but - if I were in your shoes I probably would have. Yet you are still here, say, do you feel obliged to Kaiser-Neo?" "I guess... maybe because I only ever knew the life here as a test subject, I can't really imagine myself in another situation." "Hm, good enough. Though, regardless of the reason, you are still here, which I appreciate, though I can't really say that I'm too happy with the fact that as a consequence of you not betraying us you're here in this dark hole under such inhuman conditions, locked in like a criminal. Which is another reason why I'm here. You showed a great deal of loyality towards us back then, as a reward you'll be relocated. Your new containment cell will be bigger and well lit, also you get a matress to sleep on and some books. I hope my trust in you is not misplaced." Mireille's ears shot in the air as she heard that "Th-thanks Professor." "Don't mention it, the guards will escort you there now." With that the professor got up and knocked on the door, hearing that the guards openend the door. While getting out the professor turned around a last time "Oh and by the by, I'm divorced now, might as well call me Steiner again." With that the professor got out. After letting her out the guards got in and put the usual shackles on Mireille and brought her to the new cell. Follwed by the Professor "There we go, Containment-Cell No. 265, your new home."

edited 9th Jan '16 10:42:18 AM by Sergey_Smirnov

The outskirts of Los Angeles, about a month ago

Pull yourself together Lycus. Dreaming of that place wont do you any good. I thought to myself as I laid upon the soft moist grass. It was a pleasant night, a cold breeze washed over myself and I was far from the dazzling lights of the city bellow. Just the light of the moon, the smell of the natures ((If I was to ignore the distant smell of pollution)) and my own thoughts to keep me company. A simple pleasure maybe, but it beats the constant ringing that city-life provides.
In honesty I didn't want to move... Traveling from city to city is exhausting and honestly I had to ask myself. Why did I pick LA? Is it because its close to Phoenix? I doubt she would be here and why would it matter. She didn't come to my aid in the end anyway. She was just all talk... I thought to myself questioning my own motives.

Getting up from the floor I walked the short distance to the road. Clearing grass from my clothes and shaking my head enough so my hair just falls back into place. My bike was laying on the grass when I approached. I set it upright and unlocked it before driving down into the "City of Angels", letting my senses become alight with both the constant input that driving gave but also the lights, smells and sounds a city of this size had to offer.

I wasn't entirely sure where I was in the city. My tablet had a hotel set as my destination but I didn't know the city well so I just drove as it told me to. I jokingly thought if we were simply becoming toys of mac... Then I heard it. The sound of crying, young, a child perhaps? Normally I wouldn't go out of my way but something wasn't right. Maybe it was it being so late, or me spending so long day-dreaming earlier... Either way I decided to follow the sound and soon smell.

It was a dark alley, at this point I had no idea where but I dismounted my bike and leaped down to follow the noise. I could hear in the distance. Two voices, a man and a women. They were talking about capturing of a subject. A third voice, the child. By the smell of blood I guessed I guessed they are wounded. There was one more presence that I couldn't pinpoint. A electronic field, too strong for a cybernetic so perhaps it was a android. It was too far away from this and didn't seem to be involved right now so I didn't think about it too much.

As I turned the final corner I saw them. Two figures dressed in clean uniforms of Kaiser-Neo, a women just standing their talking and a man replying but his eyes locked on the small boy with a stun gun drawn. The boy was cowering up against a trash can. He couldn't have been older than eleven or twelve, clearly an artificial; his skin covered in the occasional patch of red scales. He was terrified, wounded, losing any spark of hope he had of getting away... The next bit I don't actually remember doing at the time, almost a instinct.

I stepped fourth from the shadows as the two people talked. Not even a effort to conceal my presence instead I wanted to be seen as I spoke up with a sharp and apparently angry tone. "Step away from the kid, now!"

The two individuals went silent as they turned to look at me approaching. The woman smirked with a grin. "Boy you should be the one leaving. The boy is legally ours to take, you shou..."

I apparently interrupted her. "I wasn't asking!" Let out in a harsh and sharp tone. Apparently enough to scare the kid further.

She blinked, the man stepping forward with his stun gun still drawn. "Look we don't know who you are but you will leave right now. Don't try to play some hero, or..." He pauses, his monologue considering and continuing with a accomplished grin "I get it your one of those Artifium extremists aren't you. Well let me tell you that Kai..."

I didn't give it another second. I simply charged forward through the ally, claws extending from my hands. I don't know the details that well of what I did. I know I came out unscathed and apparently the agents left, the man limping with the woman carrying her. Though based on whats said, I don't know how I was calm enough to accept surrender. Anyway regardless I do remember what followed.

I approached the boy, cowering further after the fight. Just taking a moment to approach slowly, claws away while slowly taking to calm him. I knew how he felt. I approached and got him to at least sit still as I drew some medical supplies from my bag, I didn't have much; some cloth for bandages, a bottle of water to help clean his wounds and my injector which I used to help treat any potential infections and to help with clotting his wound. He wasn't in that bad of a shape though as a kid, any injury feels bad. I felt the EM field of the one I mentioned earlier getting closer slowly but I guess I was too busy with the kid to even think about it. He was a little short for his age, his hair pitch black and his arms, face and back were covered in small and sparse areas of red scales. His eyes almost a entrancing red as he looked at me with both fear but appreciation. He spoke to me a little as I treated him. I don't remember what was said but it was mostly in a effort to calm him and him thanking me. I was right at-least, they were trying to take him back to some lab.

We were interrupted as I got a sudden clapping sound from behind me, the mechanical figure who now I can only guess was cautiously observing the scene. Likely in a effort to make sure I wouldn't charge her like the others but I cant be sure, the whole night is hard to remember. She spoke to me for a while and introduced herself as a remember of Artifium, she said she was impressed. She spoke to me and the kid for a while. Eventually though it took a lot of persuading, as she did later call me stubborn for; take the kid away with her. Over the last month however I spoke to her digitally. Talking to her about Artifium, the "dragon" kid Renly ((Who seemed to have recovered well and was with them.)), she even reacpped me on what I did that night. Despite me remembering nothing about the fight or argument except a haze. It had been a long time since anything rilled me up like that... I can only guess it was the boy but I wasn't sure. I don't get that enraged even thinking about the other subjects back in Phoenix. Eventually she sent through an invite to join them and come to one of their headquarters nearby. I'm not sure why I accepted, I usually just wandered from city to city but I am not the type to just turn back now.

Who the gynoid was? GM you can decide if their is NPC who fits that, I assume their might be but its why I didn't add a description or personality to her. Otherwise we can decide on something.

edited 26th Dec '15 1:57:10 AM by darkdestinysoul