Ah! Assume direct control once more and try to stealthily remove the mesh from the wall and slink inside the facility. If somebody sees me, lob a tear gas grenade at them.
You take a quick peek through the window. Looks clear. If you stay low the catwalk should keep you out of sight from the people below.
You very very slowly begin pulling the mesh from the window's frame, making sure to try and do it as quietly as possible. It's not that easy. The wires are stuck inside small shards of glass still embedded in the frame, so you have to slowly wiggle and pull out the entire shard and ensure none of the pieces of glass make any noise, all the while trying to keep your balance on the ledge. It takes you quite some time.
With the wire removed, you slowly take the mesh and deposit it in the catwalk.
The room beyond is a very large yet simple thing made of concrete and metal, what one would expect to find in a warehouse. It's lit by the orangeyellow light of unseen fires.
On the level you're on, there's only the metal platform you're standing on, going around the room. You're standing on it, on the catwalk hanging from the north wall, somewhere in the middle between the east and west walls. On the north-west corner you can see the controls for the bridge bridge crane that is hanging from the ceiling, probably what they used to move whatever's blocking the door. The stairs for descending down to the ground floor are on the south-west corner.
You don't take a look down towards the ground floor, out of fear that you'll get spotted. You can't hear anyone right now, but you're certain you heard voices before.
On the east wall, near the windows you used your RPG on (as you can tell by the two half burnt bodies lying next to them), there's a man with an assault rifle. He's looking out the windows right now, has his back turned on you.
Bryan
Come on, I didn't spend months training my concentration for this. Focus! Bryan thought this to himself as he musters his mental strength.
Try to sense other minds again
Faron
Try to stick to the shadows as i approach the building. When I get to the building try to get to the roof, failing that try for a window, let's say window closest to the left side. Leave the police alone if they don't bother me.
Your host gets out of his car
"Sir! Sir stop! You can't go there, it's dangerous! There's-..."
One of the police officers tries to warn your host to stay away but he simply ignores them and keeps walking.
"Ah, sod it, I'm not getting payed enough to risk my life for this lo-"He starts taking a roundabout way towards the building, trying to approach without being seen.
You take this time to cast out your mind at random positions inside the building, trying to locate the thoughts of anyone in it. It feels hard, like there's something that's trying to stop you from psychically approaching it. Nevertheless, you succeed, managing to spot quite a few people in during your search.
Most of them are gathered deep inside the building, arrayed in a rough circle around some central location. At least 6 of them are facing your way, maybe more if there's someone you missed. One of the people in that group feels strange. Like there are two minds inside a single body.
But the strangest thing in the centre of that circle. It's a bit hard to define. It's like someone is psychically screaming things with many voices. Orders, pleading, threats, all of them given so quickly and so loudly that they are completely incomprehensible. They are merely felt as they are registered by your subconscious. And then there are voices belonging to others, many others, most of them human but some of them... not, saying more things you can't understand. At the source of all this commotion seem to be three minds, each sharing three enormous ever-expanding yet fragmented bodies, bodies that couldn't possibly fit inside this warehouse, each bigger than the last, dwarfing and drowning out the mind of any human beside them as they become larger and larger. It feels like their sheer size, their gravity is dragging you in them. Where you were pushed, now you are pulled.
With some effort, you manage to extricate yourself from their influence before they can manage to do anything to your mind. Not that you gathered they were trying to do something, but you'd not like to risk finding that out. You take stock of your surroundings to ensure that the warehouse is not, in fact, exploding from the size of the things inside it.
Your host has moved right up next to the door of the building. He's standing with his back against the front wall of the warehouse, looking up. There's the barrel of a gun sticking out from the windows there. Looks like there's a guard up there, one you missed with your scan. Judging by his movements and the lack of shooting, he probably hasn't spotted you, although he is alert and looking for something.
Your host could probably jump up there if he wanted and then make his way to the roof.
Zechariah ignored Scion. Actually, in reality, he was using her words to fuel his anger. The more emotion he feels, the better for his willpower, and the more he can keep his host alive. It works out perfectly.
Mmhh... not out yet. Keep going... we can stop soon, but you just need to get out of the way and out of sight. Come on, the Shadow is flowing. Use it, let it cover the truth from the eyes of the unknowing.
Keep going and crawl to a dark place that will make it easier for me to conserve my energy and use the Shadow to completely shield me from prying eyes. After there is no danger, get to a building and find a place to shelter within.
You go past your second wind and manage to find enough strength to get back up and make your way to a dark alley between two buildings. You collapse behind a dumpster.
Your attempt to use your ability goes less well. The darkness you are gathering is erratic and unstable, some of it coming in streams and hitting you in the abdomen while others smash against the walls. Thankfully, the fact that it is not fully substantial makes this small mistake less deadly.
<What do you think your struggling will accomplish?>
Irine
...
I hate this, but I don't have a better option.
Zoe
Calm down. I decided to trust him earlier for good reasons. I need to stick with that choice. Also, I'm getting way too close to this guy. I have a gun and he clearly has unarmed training. I shouldn't let myself be in his arm's reach.
Irine
I hate doing that. I really, really hate it.
remain on standby to control/contain any energies released and protect Amelia and Zoe. idly boost the fires outside if I don't have anything else to do
"What- what is that?"Zoe is more afraid than angry now.
"That there is power."You manage to convince Zoe to take a few steps back and lower her weapon.
"That is what is going to kill her if I don't intervene."Her feelings of defeat and helplessness are amplified now that there's nowhere to channel them, now that she can understand even less than before. There's nothing she can do. It's hopeless.
"That is what I seek to control."It's better to just wait here. There's nothing she can do but trust this man. Hope that after he gets whatever he wants, he'll give her what she needs.
Zoe looks down and closes her eyes.
<Thank you.>After taking a few seconds to compose herself and fight back the tears, she raises her head and opens her eyes, even though her thoughts are still a jumble of emotions. She hates being unable to do anything.
Meanwhile, you remain at the ready to contain whatever might happen here, even though you're unsure about what exactly you could do about it. The difference around Amelia seems to be colour. It's very subtle and hard to see in her mostly already black and white surroundings, but it looks like some of the colours around her are slightly brighter and duller, like someone messed with the Colour temperature setting of a monitor to make all colours appear slightly "colder".
The fires outside seem to be good, so unless you want to start gathering orbs of fire, you probably don't want to boost them any more, seeing as that would exhaust them of fuel and energy quicker.
<If there was knowledge I could give you, knowledge that could lead to harder decisions with uncertain outcomes, knowledge that could end up causing more harm than good, would you still want me to share it with you?> Stellar asks you reluctantly.
One of the machines near Boris emits a beep of a different pitch. He presses a few buttons on it to stop the beeping and looks at the lines moving inside one of its green screens for a few seconds.
<Hmmm... Looks like someone is trying to use telepathy around here. Better watch it.>
Theri
<Irene, what's going on there? What happened? I'm over here with Awena and Boris' men--armed and alright. Who attacked us?>
Awena, I can lend you much knowledge in the field of physical arts and probably even human anatomy, physiology (and to that extent, treatment of wounds) but I'm no fighter. Err, by that I mean...despite my claims of prowess in unarmed combat, I'm a pacifist at heart. Sorry if-...
*sigh* I should not confuse you any longer. We've a knife at our disposal and are in the company of armed men. Boris' men. Friendly men. We're all here for Amelia though (and in that case, Zoe).
My suggestion is we do as Max says. Hide. If you're ever in doubt or in trouble, my knowledge is at your disposal (and I am reluctant to take control--but...I do realize [ok, starting to realize] that it may be needed at times--I also like how you control me though!). I think we're more useful on patrol. Whoever attacked us has the intent of either demolishing us or...
...
Probably best to assume they're after Amelia. If you--ok, we--see anyone, let's not jump to quickly alerting people ok? Relay information quietly and-...
I...I should learn to stop being authoritative. Erm.
Suggest to keep hidden, yet patrol the area. Check the insides of the buildings or any area entrance could be...made. Like doors, windows...any skylights?
Also ask River stuff!
River, why does my interface beep at certain points? Wait, blink. I meant blink. What does it mean?
Also I can do this! I'm just nervous.
<Great! That's the spirit! I'll try to help as much as I can from here, although a voice in the head of a voice in a head really doesn't have much it can do.>
<Anyway, the "face" of your Interface (the part that looks bluish) lights up to indicate something and the interface beeps to draw your attention to it. Green usually means something good. Orange means information. Red usually means something not good.
Sometimes it will speak to announce additional information. You can try asking it something yourself, although it usually won't know much more than you. But you can ask it to remind you something you might have forgotten.
In our current situation, orange indicates that time is running out. Which is a good thing. We want time to run out. When time runs out, we will be victorious and we can leave this mission knowing we have done what we could to help whoever needed our help.
In our current situation, red means that the connection with your host is wavering. Your host is more receptive to outside influences due to the nature of her condition, so loosing your connection with her is less of a danger, but the interface warns you of it nevertheless.>Do not worry kind spirit. replies your host.
I thank you for all your help tonight. I would not be here were it not for you and your help.Awena looks around but there aren't many places she could hide in in this room. There are the containers the men are using as cover. There is a small door on her left, probably leading to some kind of storage room or small office. There's the stairs on her right that lead up to a catwalk that encircles the room. And then there's the door behind her, the one that leads back to Zoe.
As for what you can see, there's nothing alarming around here yet. The entrance is still blocked by that container. There's nothing on the windows that you can see from here (the ones above the locked entrance) besides the lookout, standing there with his rifle. And the skylights are still clear. You can see the stars through them.
Still, Awena keeps watch, watching out for anything that could be a danger.
Awena suddenly feels like she was hit by a cold draft, like cold air is engulfing her and gets goosebumps. Yet there is no draft in here and her clothes should had been able to keep her warm.
It seems like one of the armed men beside her also felt it, because he shivers and emits a grumble of displeasure.
"What is it?" one of the others asks him.
"Felt strange."
"Strange? Like what?"
"Like I don't know what." He sighs. "I remember the days battles used to be fought with weapons and honour, not all those magic nonsense."
"Alien, not magic." the other corrects him.
"Whatever. Looks like magic to me."
"Don't worry. If we succeed here, everything will be better. The world will be free again."
"We'll see."
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Topic: Special People: Mechanical Syndrome (Read 1141229 times)