FEI: The Enhanced - Roleplay Thread

Cass, Meeting Room

"Oh wow, a supervillain is praising me," Cass said, voice dripping sarcasm. "Really, I think this is the high point of my life. Really, I should just give up now, it's all downhill from here."

   That impudent whelp just called me a demon.   

And?

   Confusing me with a demon is simply insulting. I am nothing like those—   

I'm going to cut you off right there. I have better things to do than listen to you rant.

Cass lent her ear back to the discussion at hand. The lower levels of the facility, hmm? Maybe she'd take a look at some point. "You seem to think we'd care," she replied to Harbinger. "FEI made me a deal, and I don't particularly care what skeletons are in the basement while they keep their end." She looked at Jacques."You're annoying," she said. "Shut up."

And then Andrew did his thing. Cass moved, flickering into a shadow and reappearing in Andrew's. "I don't care what you hope to achieve, because it won't happen, but I'm kinda relying on you to patch me up if I ever actually get hurt, so no," she said, attempting to grab his sword and then kick him across the room with a deceptive amount of force while speaking.

If either of those failed, well, Cass would just know when to fold them and disappear again.

Harbinger roared in pain suddenly as Andrew touched him, a flash of light erupting from his hand. The dragon ripped Alex from his grasp and hurled him into the air- thankfully not that high- before staring at Andrew with murder in his eyes.    "That,    he rasped,    "hurt. I do not do well with pain."   

And then Cass kicked his former hostage as he came down, sending him flying into a wall.    "That hurt,"    the dragon growled again at Andrew.    "And I see you, Demon-child"    He swung a claw at her head, but the Enhanced had already vanished, with Andrew's sowrd in tow. Snarling, the shapeshifter jumped into the air, beating his skeletal wings in a semblance of flight as he rose.

   "I was going to take your advice,    he growled, morphing and swelling back to draconic form,    "I don't want to kill you. I never had. The man with the tablet sounded so reasonable. I thought that you might have wanted to listen.   

Eyes glowing with orange flame, licks of fire started to drip from his maw as something gathered in his jaws.    If you are going to attack me again, leave. I will turn everyone in this room to a husk if I have too. I am not a monster, not compared to the man you call a hero. And if I have to tear this facility apart to expose what he's done to people like you, what he did to me, I will. If that means devouring the demon-child, so be it. But so help me, you will listen to what I have to say! The media wouldn't believe me, and maybe you won't... but by god, I will make you see the truth."   

It was at that moment that Salvage burst through the other wall, the eight-foot tall robotic juggernaut looking around. "Alex," it rasped, before charging over to the human and helping him up.

Apparently the robot thing wasn't phased by the giant dragon.

edited 6th Nov '17 8:47:35 AM by Cwest5538

FEI Tower - Meeting Room

Saviour had been completely silent, head bowed as if accepting his fate.

Kaylee rushed over to Alex, completely uncaring of the possible attack of the robot. It was clear from it's message that it didn't want him harmed any more than she did.

"Alex, are you alright?" she asked in a worried tone.

"I-I'm fine, just shaken up... oh..." he trailed off.

He gulped nervously at the looming robot.

"S-Salvage. Been a w-while, huh?"

Ryan, who had been completely silent and surprisingly apathetic to all the latest events, finally made himself known.

"Perhaps instead of verbally attacking the large dragon via insults and casual death threats, we should listen to it like decent people. Is that not our job?" he stated in a calm tone, his piercing gaze unblinking.

After a brief moment of thought, Daniel spoke up.

"Was... was that sarcasm in there I heard?"

Ryan promptly ignored him.

Andrew had fully expected to get the shit kicked out of him. When Harbinger had instead roared in pain and sent Alex flying into a kick aimed at Andrew instead, his heart felt like it stopped. He fell to the ground, only marginally aware that his longsword was missing. His eyes widened and he struggled not to hyperventilate.

Oh God, I'm alive. I'm alive. Praise God, I'm alive. I fucking hurt Harbinger and I'm still alive. Oh sweet Jesus I'm still alive I'm oh God I need to get away from him! Forcing his breathing to slow, he crawled backwards, then rolled over onto his hands and knees and stood, turning back to face Harbinger as he was backing away. His heart still pounded and he was still pale, and he just noticed that the doorway, as well as the door, were wrecked, and a large robot was now in the room.

As he backed up, he wound up right beside Cass, who was holding his longsword. Upon seeing it, he took it back. It was just about useless up against either one of these entities, but he felt more comfortable with a weapon in his hand than without one. He did not sheath it, keeping it in his left hand and at the ready, in case circumstance forced him to use it.

"Thank you, Cass. You kept my sword undamaged, and you wanted me out of harms way, selfish reasons or no," he said to the shadow-manipulating girl.

Addressing his unexpected victim, he said, "I am the Paladin. It was not my intention to harm, only to get Alex out of harms way. Now that he is not a hostage, I am comfortable hearing you out."

The wind was loud on the forty-second floor of a skyscraper, particularly now with the permanently open skylight. He'd practically had to shout up to him, and had to work to keep his voice even. He was still very rattled inside.

edited 6th Nov '17 8:31:19 PM by Enduring_Knight

Mason yawned, loudly and intrusively, despite apparently not breathing before. "Mr. Harbinger, surely you saw that coming? Taking enhanced hostage in a room full of them where you have to turn your back to something rarely works out to be a good thing. You should've stayed huge, but then turning into a snake never helps. See the manual."

Mason spared a glance at the robot/cyborg/thing that had smashed through the wall, when the paranoiac had already unhinged the door. "Hey," he waved without much effort or interest. The robot was a tad disappointing, but if the name fit. Sigh, this little room is not long for this world. That's two major support structures gone, and depending on what the rest of the building is made of...

"Anyway," Mason returned to the dragon-zombie, "Mr. Harbinger, I acknowledge your 'friendly visit', but this is going even slower than what I expected form that meeting, and right now my mind is wandering to places like 'what vital systems can an rather dim dragon-zombie have shredded and still stand without.' So, if you would, please cease screaming about how you're going to tell your story, and, let's say, tell your story. And yes, you may scream it if you wish."

edited 7th Nov '17 3:29:05 PM by CenturyEye

Cass, Meeting Room

Cass shrugged. "Hey, it was nothing against you," she replied casually. "But he's" she pointed to Andrew, "no good to me dead, and I get injured a lot." She sat down and passed Andrew his sword. "Don't go getting yourself killed again, 'kay?" She looked at Harbinger, and something in her changed, becoming menacing and evil.

It was like a miasma, a feeling of utter malevolence.

   "I am not a demon, you two-bit weakling. You couldn't devour me or my host if you tried, and I'd love to see you try. Know your place."    Tendrils of shadow traced their way across Cass' face, eyes black, before they quickly retreated and Cass smiled. "Sorry about that, but he wouldn't stop ranting. I'm happy to hear you out. It's not like I have anything else to do."

"Dumbass motherfucker!" Jacques almost whipped the chair at Andrew in the second before the problem was dealt with on its own. Goddammit if some overaggressive junior cop wanted to play games he wasn't going to let it ruin his chance at finding some truth. Maybe thankfully, the Salvage guy had gotten up here and now stood guard. Which was weird. "God, between you and uh..."

"Weren't you on the bottom floor a minute ago?" He asked. "I mean, by all means keep going," Jacques nodded to Harbinger, "but we're 42 floors up. Just saying."

He nodded over at the Shoggoth. Unfortunate connotations given modern interpretations of Lovecraft, but he wasn't gonna hold that against her. "Good to see I got someone else willing to let him finish."

FEI Tower - Meeting Room

"Excellent analogy, Shoggoth." Dexter smiled and put his hand around her in turn. Better to look strong together, even if Harbinger could probably kill them both without much effort (well, he didn't actually know how durable Karen was, but better not to take chances. He cleared his throat and projected his voice as loudly as he could.

"I apologize for Paladin's actions. He was only concerned for your hostage, but as many of my compatriots have shown, we are willing to listen to you, Harbinger." He turned to look at Salvage for a moment, but the mechanical man (person?) seemed to only be interested in Alex. He faced the skeletal villain again. "So let's all agree to not antagonize each other until we get a better grasp of the situation. Alright? Alright. Please, continue."

FEI Tower - Meeting Room

Rebecca was going to die here. She was an untrained civilian, she wasn’t ready to be put in a situation like this! Things were spiraling out of control more rapidly than she could process!

First the teeth girl turned into something from her worst nightmares, then Harbinger suddenly screamed in pain and threatened to murder everyone, then the hostage got kicked across the room, and now there was a giant robot for some reason! Nothing made sense anymore!

Rebecca was relieved when the room’s opinion seemed to be to to hear out Harbinger instead of attacking him, even if his statements were nothing more than slander. She’d rather listen to slander than die, anyway.

“Y-yeah, it can’t hurt to hear him out. It doesn’t mean we have to believe him.”

With that said, Rebecca’s aura reached out to the sewer pipes in the walls. Things could go bad at any moment, so she had to be prepared to defend herself.

Karen, :T

The blonde pouted, idly reaching for Jacques to wrap her other arm around him as well. "If he threatens us us again, we're leaving." She declared with a slightest tinge of disappointment in her voice. "And I want to hear Savior Savior talk later too." Slowly, Karen's head turned over to look at the greatest of heroes. "Is that okay?~"

FEI Tower - Meeting Room

Saviour took his head out of his hands to respond to Karen's question.

"I... yes. I will... show you what I've been hiding. All of you. But I warn you now, there are things in there that make even my stomach clench. And some of them..."

He took a shuddering breath.

"Some of them are of my doing."

Jackson, meanwhile, had noticeably flinched at Class's sudden malevolent output, stumbling and clutching his head. A separate aura began to emanate from him in response.

"Er... Jackie-boy? You good, man?" asked a concerned Daniel.

"Peachy," he snarked, deactivating his Enhancement to supress the aura. "And don't call me that, Dan. We've been through this."

Cracking his neck, he glared up at the skeletal invader.

"So. Are we gonna sit around some more or actually hear this story of yours?!

Before he did anything else, Jacques immediately pulled out his phone and started filming. This could be important; history had been made or broken on phones so many times, and he was about to be another one. This wasn't just bringing down a cop, this was bringing down cops. As an idea.

"We don't have all day, man. Do it, before I run out of battery or something."

The Lobby Attack - Takami, Taro and the Artificial Human

Takami approached the front door to the lobby, noting as he melted down the door with his Drastic Construction that it looked like something had already ripped the place up pretty well before he had even got there. The lobby had a number of huge craters smashed into the place, as if something powerful had left crushing blows on everything between it and its goal.

Which, going by one of the passages torn through, was higher up in the building. And Takami was none too eager to head up there right now. It was time to deal with the remaining presence downstairs.

First and foremost, Taro took a step forward, the serious and restrained looking brother's countenance contrasting against the huge water jug carried on his back for the purposes of his powers. "Lets just get this over with, little brother. Don't want to get your hands too dirty, do you?"

Takami simply shrugged and looked over at the Artificial Human, which ambled in a very simple manner. One of the guardians down there ran over at it, and Takami simply said, "Hm...Artie...teach him a lesson."

The hero barely made it to begin his attack.

Artie promptly swung a monstrously powerful but still completely dismissive backhand that sent the armored hero - one of those still down there - flying out through the side of the building. He now laid in a broken heap in a new crater.

Takami smiled a little, "Begin the operation on FEI Tower, everyone. Let Harbinger have the upper levels. We have everything we need down here." Takami then gingerly touched the floor, as if not willing - indeed - to get his hands too dirty. This was followed by a whistling sound and a blast of electric force across the floor moving away from the Yakuza intruders.

Spikes started erupting outward from the floor, a starting move and cover as the water from Taro's jug started emptying itself and swirling, moving forward.

edited 9th Nov '17 12:47:13 AM by NickTheSwing

Jeffrey tilted his head, surprised not so much at Harbinger's accusations as that Savior seems to be admitting to them. "Not many idols admit to their feet of clay" he said aloud.

edited 12th Nov '17 8:12:49 AM by tricksterson

Mason looked sideways at the paranoiac. "You have a working phone and you're not calling for backup?" Ugh! Not my problem anyway.

"Anyway...great hero? Tactically deficient dragon-zombie, which of you speaks first?"

FEI Tower - Meeting Room

Saviour’s words were like a punch in the gut. It couldn’t be true, could it? He was just lying to appease Harbinger, right?

No. No, the regret in that voice wasn’t a lie. That’s what hit Rebecca hardest of all. That’s what broke down the barrier keeping her thoughts from flowing out of her mouth.

“What the hell!? Are you saying he’s right!? You experimented on people or some shit?! I can’t believe this! I idolized you! I’ve idolized you since I was a little girl! That’s literally why I’m even here! I wanted to be a hero like you! I wanted... I wanted... You...”

Rebecca’s screams trailed off as she shook with palpable fury, her anger completely redirected from Harbinger to Saviour. Seeming to respond to her rage, a pipe ripped out of the wall and started spraying sewage in Saviour’s direction.

FEI Tower - Meeting Room

The sewage never even hit him.

Instead, a sudden gust of wind cleaved the pipe in two, before splattering the waste liquid onto the wall.

Saviour's hands clenched into fists, as the air in the room started to swirl faster and faster.

The two lenses in his mask were now glowing unnaturally as he slowly levitated upwards, cape whipping like a mad thing behind him.

"You think this is what I wanted?! I was dragged into this as much as the rest of them! They used me! They..."

The storm stopped, as he gradually lowered back down.

He looked at the faces of the faculty, shocked, terrified, mildly disturbed...

And then he looked at Rebecca.

His self proclaimed fan.

Complete betrayal. Utter distrust.

"...I'm so, so sorry..."

Karen, Meeting Room

It's always funny watching someone become completely disillusioned with their proclaimed biggest hero. It was also insightful however, if Savior's remark was anything to go by.

"Now... don't omit anything-thing." She smiled thinly at the false Saviour, leaning on both of her boys (that is, Jacques and Dexter). "Tell us more about those those Them."

FEI Tower, Meeting Room -> FEI Tower, Lobby

As the alt metal beats of Rokkinpo Goroshi transitioned into something less loud, Darian stepped out of her musically-induced daze to re-assess the situation around her. The roof was gone now, as was a good chunk of the wall. Two new people had arrived, and if she had to guess, they hadn't come through the now missing door.

Also, the room stunk. Like, 'chow down on a dozen garlic bulbs before hitting the can' bad.

While this all seemed very exciting, she couldn't help but note that nothing was happening. Everyone seemed to be doing that thing where they had a reasonable discussion instead of speaking with their fists. She ground her cigarette stub into the ground, took a fresh one out of her pocket, and then headed for the door.

"So, uh, I'm sure something important is happening right now." She yanked the earbuds out and looped the wire around her neck. "But I haven't been paying attention at all, soooo I'll just be heading out. See how shit's faring outside. Y'all have fun." She gave a half-cocked wave and then slipped past the trio of new recruits at the door.

Muzac was a poor substitute for her playlist, but Darian didn't care enough to fit her buds back in. The elevator jolted here and there, struggling against the damage done to the building (she half-remembered some health & safety lecture about not riding elevators in an emergency), but eventually it managed to deposit her on the ground floor.

"Oy, Stevie! I've come back to your loving- woah, shit, hello." She stepped into the lobby and immediately halted upon seeing the trio that awaited her, all three clearly about to start something. She puffed out a stream of smoke, looking from them to the entrance, to the destroyed lobby, and then back to them. "What do you guys have against doors?"

Harbinger nodded at Dexter, shifting into a human-ish form once more, breathing heavily.    "You are right. I promise that I won't hurt any of you unless you attack me again-" he shot a glare at Andrew- "and neither shall my... associates. Correct, Salvage?"   

The robot shrugged. Now that some of the attention had shifted off of the giant dragon skeleton thing, it was much easier to observe the mechanical man next to Alex. He was... odd. Half of him seemed to have been made out of shiny new titanium and steel- indeed, his foundation seemed like it had been made by a master- but the rest of him seemed to have been pieced together with scrap-metal and... well, salvage. "I shall not harm them unless they attempt to hurt us or Alex. That is my only promise.

Perhaps the dragon would have continued, but he was seemingly stunned into silence as Saviour actually admitted to his wrongdoing.    Dragged into this? I was forced into this,''    he growled.    "You made me this. Turned me into this thing. Do you know how hard it is, not to tear everything I can see to pieces? Not to mention what you did to Salvage,"    he spat.    "I've done bad things, yes, but you are the real monster here. Are you going to turn your admirer into a monster as well?"   

Harbinger slammed a fist onto the table, red eyes glaring at the Paragon.    "After all, Salvage always did love you like a brother. And look what happened to him."   

Salvage didn't appear to react to that, instead looking Alex and Kaylee over. "I take it that you didn't tell anyone about me? He asked, tone completely deadpan.

edited 15th Nov '17 8:54:50 AM by Cwest5538

FEI Tower - Meeting Room

Alex slowly shook his head.

"I-It was too risky. I couldn't tell anyone. They could have t-tracked us down or something."

Kaylee, who was standing behind him, shook her head in disbelief.

"You know this... guy? How long have you been keeping this from us, Alex? Why have you?"

He grimaced, giving a wary look between her and Salvage.

"As for how long? Years. Why?"

He looked up at the robot, a small smile across his face.

"Well, he was surprisingly friendly. I fixed him up, and he owed me one. I haven't seen him much since."

She chuckled.

"Not the weirdest thing you kept from me."

"Oi."

Meanwhile, Saviour was visibly shrinking down at Harbinger's words, in a manner that would almost be conical if not for the circumstances.

"Harbinger. Nothing I could say could forgive me from what I did. But I at least owe them the truth. Help me to uncover the lower bunkers, and they'll see the truth of all... this."

edited 15th Nov '17 9:00:45 AM by Enirboreh

Jacques's hands were shaking, and also god damn it stank like garbage in here, but he wasn't about to back down so close to everything he knew was real in the world. Furthermore, he absolutely could read what was happening here: Saviour was stalling.

"There's an elevator!" Jacques yelled out at Saviour; he suddenly knew that yeah, he could talk shit, he could do this. "It's been like two minutes and you haven't actually said anything and this is another play to buy time. Explain what Harbinger's talking about while we go there like normal human beings or your stalling's gonna be just as good an admission of guilt."

edited 15th Nov '17 9:09:59 AM by Taco

Cass, Meeting Room

"See," she casually, "unlike you guys, I could find out what was down there any time I wanted, but I don't actually care, soo...." Getting up, she went to follow Darian out, before stopping when Jacques said his piece. 'If you're so desperate to know, whatever your name is, I can show you," she offered. "You might go insane in the process, but you'd know."

Mason didn't bother trying to stop himself from laughing. "Young miss, that's no threat. I doubt he'd even notice."

He spared a passing glance toward Savior and Harbinger. Neither a hero nor a monster, neither of them, for they break too easily... "You could have spared us this boredom, and said 'lower bunkers' from the start. Apologies, but I can't say we have any concern for your feelings, beyond what's necessary for keeping work of course."

Mason all too cautiously took off his hat and coat, hanging them on a nearby rack as if they weren't cheap clothing. Anyone who failed to avert their eyes would've been treated to an emaciated, hairy 'man?' with crawling skin and a very prominent belly, clad only in a mawashi.

"By the way," Mason wrapped his fingers around his face and pulled it off like a mask. "Your antics are rather close to bringing this building down on them." The face came off and an opaque torrent of foam/goo something of both macro and microscopic "harvestmen" poured out of the body, leaving the "skin" to float to the ground like paper.

The bugs/goo quickly disappeared into every crack and crevice in the room. Mason had given himself/themselves a simple task: burrow to the lowest layer of the building. Even if not quite right, he'd see something along the way, and there were always space for bugs to get in...

edited 15th Nov '17 3:50:40 PM by CenturyEye

FEI Tower - Meeting Room

After apparently finishing his internal battle, and Mason's sudden actions to investigate the lower levels himself, Saviour determinedly stood up, slamming his hands into the table.

"Very well. Enough putting it off, then. All faculty members please follow me."

The armoured 'hero' walked over to the elevator, taking a deep breath, and reached into the collar of his suit, between the plating. His hand came out with what appeared to be a small security stick.

"This is the only key that can unlock the elevator's encription to access the lower levels. Thanks to Alex's help, it may be able to delay even Dexter for quite a time."

He gave a kind nod to Alex, who gulped nervously at the betrayed look Kaylee was giving him.

"Alex... What have you been doing?"

He didn't answer.

Saviour walked in first, inserting the key into the elevator panel. After about three seconds, the back wall of the elevator slid up and away, revealing a larger, more industrial service elevator.

On the back of the grimy wall was a tattered poster, in a faded orange and black. It showed a biohazard symbol with the words E.R.F below.

Not looking anyone else in the eye, the hero stepped into the back section. He turned his head to look over his shoulder.

"If any of you want to back out, do it now. It's... not going to pretty down there. And that's just based on what I saw leaving. I honestly don't know what is down there, but I can certainly guess."

Meanwhile, Mason succeeded in his little escapade, burrowing through the layers of heavy plating that protected the bunker.

Inside was a dark corridor, lived with metal. There were also strangely coloured stains on the floor.

A high singing could be faintly heard in the distance, along with an unknown dripping sound and other strange noises.

edited 15th Nov '17 4:52:18 PM by Enirboreh