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[Tsuchigumo550]

You disdainfully look at the computer- not only is the whole thing locked down while everything is erased, it's taking a really damn long time. You could have at least played Solitare for a while and calmed down.

Still, your adrenaline rush helps you think. You manage to check the time, based on the light from outside, your guess was correct: it is 5:54 AM 10/16/25. You continue to search the room, using the stock of your rifle to smash through some locked cabinets. There was some relatively common lab equipment out here like bunsen burners and the like, along with enough isopropyl alcohol to bathe in. You drink a little from one water bottle and set it to the side, replacing it with the rubbing alcohol. You knew you were carrying a lot, but at the same time, you felt unburdened.

Looking around further you find a well hidden WASP personal defense weapon- it could work as a backup gun given it's small size, but you know you'd burn through ammunition way too quickly. WASPs had high-cap mags (30 rounds) for such a small weapon (about normal SMG size), but it had an estimated fire rate of 1000+ RPM. Still, you think you could fit it in with the rest of your stuff...

You go back to the dead soldier one last time, seeing he was in much better condition than the freaks behind the airlock. Dabbing some alcohol on your hands, you yanked his dog tags free. You read his information, feeling yourself come off the adrenaline high...

SAMUEL
 HAMILTON
621-10-0823 USN
B NEGATIVE
METHODIST

You recognized this tag, and a few more memories came flooding to your head. Adding to the sudden crash, you slumped to the ground...

This is Wolf Team- GET US OUT OF HERE! We have what we came for- enemies hot on our tail! We need an LZ and fast!"

You, still a fresh recruit, huddled in the back of a Humvee and listened to gunfire and missiles flying overhead. The sudden shock of combat was a tough one, even with the rigorous special training you received as a member of Volk. You remember coming into the LZ and everyone around you firing whatever they could- slowly the battle dwindled down and the choppers found a place to land.

You were a part of a high level spec ops unit- you wouldn't leave for a while yet. You thought all was clear... but that was a rookie mistake.

The first thing you remember is a large hand gripping your helmet and another around your throat, pulling you back away from your patrol. Unable to scream, you grasped for your combat knife and stabbed into the man's arm. He returned with a pistol in the opposite hand...

You feigned giving up just to bring the knife across his face and kick the pistol away. A wrestling match over the knife ensued- he was much more powerful but your agility and training prevailed, and you slipped out of his grasp again and took the pistol from the ground.

He didn't get a chance to surrender. Pulling his dog tags free and paying a quick respect as you were taught, you read them- leaving one of them behind in case and taking the other.

"Yeah, that's a US Navy tag. I don't know what he was doing so far inland, but at least you got free."

A US Navy tag. What was a US research base doing all the way here in Russia, during a war?

Glancing over at the zombie despite your fear of it seemed to prove rewarding- it was not moving, looked to be dead for sure. Inspecting the glass showed there was not so much as a crack. Still, the thought that the escaped Cordyceps could already be free scared you beyond any experience you've felt in combat. Still panicky, you fished around in your pocket- there it was. A picture of your fiancee- you were going to get married after the war. After what you'd seen here, your mind played with possibilities, and your fear grew worse and worse as tears welled up in your eyes. Trembling, you tried to stifle the tears and bear through it- but the inhumanity of your situation prevailed and you opened up like a floodgate.

Shivering on the ground, you came back to your senses. Fear still gripped you tightly, but you felt you could manage a bit longer. After all, there was no evidence that Cordyceps made it out yet. Plus, the airlock should have some form of anti-everything juice to spray. As long as it wasn't hooked to the computer, maybe you could find it?

You aren't hungry.
You aren't thirsty.
You are very panicked.
You are slightly weary.



((I... don't even know what the "bad idea" was for. No one's done anything wrong, I mean, you've only seen one of the many, many horrors I have in the wings. In fact, I'd say you're doing pretty good- still, Bay 12. I expected no less.))

((Oh. I was Bad Idea-ing the dude who decided "PAH I DON'T NEED AUTO LOG OUT." He was on a secure terminal- keyword was.

[xtank5]

((I guess they figured if anything got out, the Russians would have to deal with it, possibly helping with the war effort.))

Look around for a button to activate a sterilization system.  It's bound to be near the airlock.  Make sure that activating the sterilization system won't trap us inside this facility, or kill us along with everything else.  If it is safe to activate the system then we should do so.  Hopefully this will prevent an outbreak in the future.  Modern medical science provides many anti-fungal medications that will hopefully prove effective in defeating any current outbreaks.

Take the WASP.  Try to mark the airlock with a warning so future passers-by won't attempt to venture inside without proper precautions.  If we can find a pen and some blank paper that would be great.  Write a note, clear the area around the airlock and leave the note in the clear space, elevated above the floor, weighted down so an errant breeze won't blow it away.  If we have more paper try writing out what we remember, our story so far, and stash it in one of the cabinets.  Maybe this will help us recall more details from our mission.

Afterwards we should, as stealthily as possible, head to the LZ.

[Tsuchigumo550]

That's all good, bit there is no LZ. That was a memory.

[xtank5]

((Do we at least remember where the LZ was?  My hope was to get more intel and figure out the lay of the land.  Maybe even find other members of Wolf Team))

[Tsuchigumo550]

It was an old memory, and the LZ is more than halfway across Russia.

You look around the airlock door, finding two buttons and a valve. A meter to the side of the valve is about 1/4ths full, and the buttons are labeled "PURGE" and "UNLOCK". Simple enough choice, you tap Purge, and watch as a bluish mist comes down from the airlock's top and the meter goes down. The dead in the chamber fizzle and erode very quickly, when the misters were empty there was only a clean floor left.

You think ahead and grab the WASP, finding an empty spot for it. It's got three magazines, two of which fit into the stock for easy reloading.

You turn to the door and see that the other side of the airlock leads to a hallway. The only sign you can see is "SECTOR B CLEARANCE NEEDED."

You don't feel like opening the door, so you search around for a way to leave a marking to make sure no one tries in the future. You find what looks like a jar of red paint and a notepad, but the "paint" was just a can with a few metal beads. You find some duct tape and affix a note to the door stating that opening this door could start an epidemic of massive proportion, and turn to leave.

You hear cackling laughter. Turning around sharply... did you see some kind of figure in the doorway? No, must be your imagination...
You heard laughter again, and tried to turn, but felt a cold hand with spindly fingers grasp your shoulder and push you to the ground. Turning, there... was no one there. You know you didn't just imagine that. Getting up and dusting yourself off, you felt something grasp around your neck despite nothing being in front of you. Struggling against the invisible foe, you rip yourself free and in a panic fire a burst of rounds from your WASP. A few act like they hit something, their trajectory bending slightly but going through whatever it was, and hit the wall opposite the airlock. A pipe burst, causing a pink gas to flood out into the room. You covered your mouth and left the airlock room, managing not to breathe any in. But... was that mist following you? Wisps of it looked like they were being pushed away as if something was coming your way. Was it the invisible thing, or your imagination?

You aren't hungry.
You aren't thirsty.
You're very uneasy.
It's unnaturally cold where you are.

[xtank5]

Get outside.  Focus and try to recall if either side has or was rumored to have cloaking technologies for personnel.  Otherwise we probably just need some fresh air to calm our nerves.  Try to find out (or remember) what happened to our comrades.

[weenog]

Acquire a small, lightweight ignition source -- pocket lighter or whatever.  No telling when we might need to sterilize something with fire, or prevent ourselves freezing to death.

Also, burn the pic of our fiance. We've probably seen enough scary movies to know the soldier who flashes pictures of their loved ones doesn't ever make it back to see them.  A little superstitious precaution probably isn't out of line right now.

[Tsuchigumo550]

You continue to dash away from the pink gas- until you're out of the facility. Whatever it was that was following you didn't seem to come along- maybe something involving the gas? You remember that active camo wasn't exactly a huge deal now days, just a pricey one- but if that was what just happened to you then that camouflage was years ahead of anything you'd ever seen. Maybe it was just your mind playing tricks on you.

You take another look around, scanning the other building in earnest this time. You don't see anything of interest except a nearby entrance. Figuring there wasn't anything of use out in the snow, you make your way to it and enter.

"Huh... Maybe they were right. Ever since I started carrying this picture, death seems to be drawing closer... Maybe it's coincidence, but I'd better just leave it somewhere."

Setting it on a table, you look around in what seems to be some form of entrance hall- a simple desk with two doors on either side and a couple long chairs. Searching a bit more thoroughly, you find a pack of cigarettes and a nearly new lighter. You aren't really a smoker but you've done it before and are capable of smoking one or two without feeling sick. You shove them in your pocket less to keep them and more to use them- they can be useful in other ways.

You also find a half empty bag of relatively fresh sour candies. Whoever ran the desk must have been pretty indulgent, but you aren't complaining. You rather like the selection.

Even further ransacking reveals a small notebook and wooden box. In the book is a key which opens the box, containing a small necklace.
The notebook has a lot of unintelligible symbols and diagrams, the key page reading "The wood box contains the final product of my research. It should keep the unseen ones at bay."

Strange... "Unseen ones"? Was that what you ran into? There wasn't any way this could be right... but still...

You put on the necklace. Something really does feel different, but you can't peg exactly what. You thought you saw a shadow when you turned around... You'd swear it was your imagination but you were trained against this kind of thing and you aren't tired. Something has to be here, and it's hiding it's presence. You ready the first weapon in hand- your WASP. For some reason, you don't feel panicked at all- you feel strangely calm. Your former squad used to call this a "battle trance", and it's gotten them out of tight spots before. You feel something else instead of the normal fear. Something powerful, in your hands, in your control.

"Come on out, whoever you are."

A shadow darted out of cover, and you tried your gun on it. It moved to fast to fire- when another shadow burst from the same cover again. Firing your WASP until the half-magazine emptied, you realized you hit something. The shadow fell to the ground. Returning to your normal senses, you dropped the WASP and ran over to the "shadow".

There was a very thin-looking man wearing a body suit and a strange piece of headgear. Blood poured from his mouth momentarily, before he stopped struggling for good. He seemed to be unarmed, but what was with the strange head thing? It looked busted now... Too many questions, not enough solutions. You knew this feeling quite well, but still didn't like it. Returning and picking up the WASP, you reload it as you try to think of anything you can that could tie this in to anyone, anything. Mind tricks? Everyone was doing that. It didn't make sense.

The building you're in is about 4-5 floors tall, you are on the first floor. There are no obvious ways up or down, and two doors that in all likelihood go to the same place, whatever's behind reception.

You aren't hungry.
You aren't thirsty.
You're fairly calm.
You're fairly happy.


((Sometimes, you'll go into a combat trance when certain factors mix right. You'll be able to fight better and you won't go crazy as quickly in the process. This one was simply to show it's there.))

[xtank5]

Examine the headgear.  Explore the areas past reception.  Be careful not to get lost.

[Strife26]

Make sure our opponent's completely dead, search the body and all that good stuff.

[Tsuchigumo550]

You check the strange person for a pulse and return nothing. After that, you look at the headgear- it looks like it has some kind of medical use? Nodes normally used for... something, those pads with the cords- they line the inside of the "helmet." It seems to be very intricate mechanically and technologically but this one was fractured from the wearer falling. It seems to have an antenna as well- but there's no speaker to catch signals. Could it be to transmit something? Maybe some kind of system to check if soldiers are alive or not and send the data to a base or something? Your mind was reeling from the possibilities, so you just give up trying to figure it out.

You open one of the doors past reception and find a small room connecting stairs and an elevator. The elevator seems to be powered, but it's not responding. Moving to the stairs, you see they go both up and down...

and then you feel a dull pain in the back of your head as your vision begins to go dark. Spinning around, you move to smash whatever's behind you with the stock of the WASP, but see nothing. Still afflicted with tunnel vision, you assume a ready stance and wait for it to clear.

Again, you feel a tightness in your throat as if someone was strangling you, but something's different. You can breathe if you focus hard enough on it, and after a moment the phantom hand stops it's assault, only to begin anew. You feel as if someone just punched you in the stomach, and nearly fall into the stairwell. Retaliating again, you jump forward away from the stairs and roll forward into the second hall- There! You fire the WASP at another of the people like outside in reception, using about 1/4th of a clip and seeing one or two rounds hit. One hit center mass, and you customarily walked over to him- he was alive, but not ready to fight any time soon. You plant your foot firmly against his gut and point the WASP right at his head.

"What are you?"

"A nightmare."
With that, you felt a push up just like the wind- except much more powerful. You were thrown off of the man and landed hard on your left shoulder in time to see the man somehow explode into gore. Somewhat sickened by seeing that, you get up again. Your shoulder is probably going to hurt, but luckily it's not your dominant arm and it dosen't seem to be much worse than a bruise. Walking back to the man you see another helmet like the other guy, but this one is intact. You contemplate taking it with you or putting it on, but temporarily decide against it. Maybe in a minute, first, you need a break.

You drink some of the water you brought and munch on another of the sour candies. Still repulsed by what happened to the guy, you don't feel like eating anything more sustaining. Trying to put two and two together is giving you a headache. You wonder where the "ninjas" even came from- you sure as hell didn't see any on your way in. You rub the necklace you found between your fingers without really realizing what you're doing- letting your mind relax did feel good, though. Sadly, you still have mysteries to solve.

You are slightly nauseated.
You aren't thirsty.
You aren't tired.
You feel calm.

[xtank5]

Smash the helmet, go to the top floor and explore.

[Tsuchigumo550]

You stomp on the helmet, wanting nothing to do with it. It shatters and sparks accordingly.

You begin climbing the stairwell, uneventfully reaching Floor 5. You could go up to the roof, but you figure there wouldn't be anything there, or nothing useful for now.

There's a hallway here with three doors total, one on each side of an L shaped hallway. Each door leads to a different section of the floor, for a total of four rooms (including hallway). The lights flicker sometimes in the hall, probably just because they're old. You check the first room and find a mostly empty storage room- there's some nonperishables but they're all canned and you see no need of them yet. Backing out of the room, you head to the second door and look around. Seems like you hit jackpot- a small armory lies before you and it's mostly stocked.

-----
Your current loadout:
KR-14 Assault Rifle (Known to be somewhat weak compared to other rifles, but stable and accurate. 3 full magazines.)
WASP PDW (Fires very quickly but is also very versatile and easy to use. 1 full magazine, 1 magazine (3/4ths, loaded), 1 magazine (empty)
You have two flashbang grenades.
You have two fragmentation grenades.

You are wearing standard medium combat armor.
-----
You have a selection of armors. They are:

Torso-
Medium Winter Combat Suit (Close to your own, but has extra padding and a jacket for warmth.
Heavy EOD Suit (An older EOD-rated suit. Very heavy but also very useful for deflecting damage- not really bulletproof either. Less space to carry stuff.)
Light Scout Armor (Fairly advanced armor allows for protection with lighter materials. You can carry more when using this suit. It's not as protective as what you have on.)
Light Stalker Armor (Same as above but with active camouflage. It's battery seems to be fully charged.)
Medium Assault Armor (Lets you carry more stuff with you and offers the same protection.)
Amplifier Suit (Requires a neural link, amplifies the wearer's physical abilities.

Legs-
Medium Winter Combat Pants (Same as yours, but with extra padding for warmth.)
Heavy EOD "Hoof" leg armor (For all the bulk, you remain somewhat mobile. Still, it's hardly bulletproof.)
Light Scout Pants (Not as protective as what you're wearing, but you can carry more and move faster.)
Light Stalker Pants (Active Camouflage light armor. Full battery.)
Medium Assault Pants (Extra inventory without the loss of armor.)
Amplifier Suite (Comes with boots along with the skin tight pants. The boots allow you to fall long distances and not injure yourself.)

Headgear-
Warm Hood- Comes with the Medium Winter suit, keeps your head warm.
Riot Helmet- Looks like this replaced the EOD helmet. At least this one's bullet proof.
Amplifier Helm- Hooks up to your head. Eerily similar to that helmet you just smashed but not the same.

---
As far as weapons go:
Assault Rifles:
KR-14 (Three Magazines, Full)  (leaves you with 6 mags)
XAD-Q4 (Five Magazines, Full) (A lightweight rifle with a high fire rate and accuracy at the expense of low caliber ammunition. Very customizeable.
Hoplite-P6 (Five Magazines, Full) (A somewhat heavier rifle with good power and fire rate. Kicks fairly powerfully.)
ACP-AR22 (Four Magazines, Full) (A somewhat heavy rifle with large magazines and power. Lower kick, but not very accurate.)

There's also a launcher here too.
Sol Dios (Two Missiles) (A heavy launcher with a lock-on system built to lock on to aircraft.)

---
PDWs
WASP w/ three magazines, box of ammunition (leaves you with 6 full magazines)
GR8000 (six magazines, a low-fire-rate PDW with large magazines)

Pistols
MARX (Three magazines.) (You can't remember what it actually stood for, but the makers of the pistol sure had a sense of humor. It was supposedly meant to be an assassinator's weapon of choice- it's even integrally silenced.)
---


You should go ahead and get everything you want- anything labeled "more than you can carry" can take up to 4 units (rifles/launchers/shotguns/etc) count as 2, others are 1.

Lighter, you can carry only 2 units.

Now, you have 3.

[xtank5]

Swap out our armor with the Medium Winter Combat Suit and Pants.  Also take the Riot Helmet.  Swap out our KR-14 with the XAD-Q4.  If we have room we should also take the MARX.  Reload our WASP's magazines.  See if we can hide the battery for the Light Stalker Armor.

Check the third door.

[Tsuchigumo550]

You grab the XAD-Q4 and the MARX, affixing it to your new winter armor. Taking the WASP in hand again, you grab the extra magazines and reload the ones you have. You detach the two batteries on the Stalker armor- meant to fit together- and take them just in case you need them. After that's done, you head on to the third room.

Opening the door quickly and checking with the WASP, you see a figure and waste no time firing. It dodges behind a pillar as you ready a flashbang grenade. Just as you're about to throw, you feel a sharp pain stab through your wrist and drop the flashbang. Jumping back out the door, it flashes loudly. Bursting back through, you fire again at where the figure should be, dropping to a half-magazine of bullets. You charge ahead, but another sharp pain hits your ankle and you trip, losing the WASP on the ground and having the XAD-Q4 tear free of your armor's latch. As you get back up, you see the figure armed with a knife rush you- taking the MARX, you fire and miss. Struggling against him to keep the knife off while they push the pistol away, you become locked together, neither side willing to give up.

You need to end this quickly- you're running out of stamina and fast. Your legs are free and capable of attacking freely, but your arms are occupied. How do you attack?