Tarran Smith and James Evan Go back to the elevators we used to get to this floor and examine the area around them.
James found himself not quite knowing what to say, until the doors closed. "But... ... ...why? Just... Right. The... the people. Uh... Maybe we should check around... uh... I really don't know this facility, at all. I guess I'll just follow you?" James follows Tarran and adds confused commentary.
James and Tarran react similarly to Dom's withdrawal, staring at the elevator and making confused attempts to reason with the closed doors. Tarran gets a grip on himself first, turning with an attempt at unfelt decisiveness. James follows slowly in his wake, still mumbling in confusion. Dom made her choice, a seemingly pointless and stupid choice, but still hers. Tarran had been made the leader back with the unchained, but that hardly made him accountable for her every action. Hell, with a woman like Dominique it would be irrational to think that he had any guilt from not trying to talk her out of that suicide run, no matter what his rank was. Tarran could almost convince himself of that.
Finding the way back to the elevators they arrived in was a simple matter of looking at the arrow laden wallscreens and going in the direction opposite their indicator. [Observation 4] [Observation 3] Tarran immediately starts inspecting the area around the elevators on arrival, and James, for lack of anything else, helps. Holographic signage is enough to tell them that Scanner offices are on the right immediately after the elevators and that clerks offices are on the first left. A few more holographic tags on turn-offs and doors start to paint a picture of the level. Every office, whether for prelates or for shift managers, is largely a paper pushing position with little power beyond the civilian or light security hierarchy. You would guess that the pattern will remain the same across the level.
---
Dominique Wakeman"We have to get to Floor 22. Hoke, I don't want to die either, but I can't just abandon him. I'm sorry. Maybe I'll see you again. If I'm lucky." Dom stepped into the elevator and pressed the 'door close' button. As soon as she did, she leveled her Abassy at Tarran's face so the laser sight was centered on his forehead. "Sorry, Boss. I gotta do this on my own. It's a suicide mission, and I'm the one who should have been keeping an eye on Taric. I can't risk you two dying because of my mistake. Boss, take James and you get the hell out of here. Find those guys Hoke was talking about and get to him. If I... No, I'll make it back, with Sizier. Hoke said he can track us and when you meet up with him, you can ask him about me." When the doors slid closed, Dom pressed the Floor 22 button.
Coincidental... I get marked as a Deviation 22 as do the rest of the guys, and they're keeping him on Floor 22. It feels almost like destiny. Jeffrey... Dom looked at the Abassy in her hand. Were you a 22, as well? Were you taken here? Dear God... what if you were one of those poor bastards locked in a suit? It's been so long since you were taken from our bed... She slumped into a corner of the elevator and covered her eyes with her free hand. What do I do, Jeff? Do I just go in shooting and hope to get to Taric before they off him, if he's even still alive? Or do I wait and hope that when I need to, I can take them out? She released a shuddering breath and turned her gaze up to watch the floor display until it reached her destination.
An oddly lonely feeling enfolds you as the elevator doors click shut, cutting you off from the only people in the world you could be sure want to help you. Still, it's what had to be done. What had to be done. Tarran's a good guy when he's not on his high horse, and he'll help get Hoke and the people he mentioned out. He'll be alive to do that because of what you're doing. You slump in the corner of the elevator and finger your Abassy, brooding as the elevator descends. The screaming radio gets progressively quieter as the elevator descends, cutting out abruptly around floor fourteen. Without the option to listen to its wordless invective there's nothing left to do but watch the elevator's display tick away the floors.
Your hands tighten on the Abassy's grip as the elevator slows five floors short of twenty-two. The Father arranged for the empty elevator to meet you, and he's already arranged for where it's going to be sent. Now he's going to make you fight your way down five floors while trying to break you or put you into a suit. You could almost laugh if it wasn't so senseless.
You aim the Abassy straight out as the elevator doors begin to open, preparing to punch holes in the first ugly bastard to get in your way. The list of candidates nearly takes your breath away. The laser of the Abassy plays over a double file of Immortals, deadheads, and security robots. They face one another, an honor guard as still as stone. You stop counting at ten on a side and prepare to die.
"There's been a change of plans." You almost jump as the cold clear voice spikes through the radio. You stand frozen as the doors slide shut again and the elevator starts carrying you downwards again. He had you dead to rights, and now he's taking you where you want to go. [Int 2] No explanation comes to mind, but you're admittedly a little jarred from having just escaped certain death.
At the bottom of floor twenty-one the elevator shifts oddly, seeming to move sideways as much as down. You stand ready once more as the doors open, but this time there are no immortals with guns, no security bots waiting to stun you into insensibility, no deadheads ready to assist your head to the floor like a troupe of evil boyscouts. The elevator, and there is only one elevator now, opens out into a plain concrete room. It's a bit of a let down compared to the massive multi-tiered restaurant. A single door makes up the far well, blackened and discolored from attempts to burn or drill through, but without the scars or pits of real damage. The only other feature is a security booth; a box of clear polymer sheets enclosing a desk, terminal, and elevator facing firing port. You can see two humanoids through the walls of the booth, one wearing a plain security jacket and seated in front of the terminal, the other standing rigidly in place, its silhouette made bulky by carapace armor. The incongruously cheery sound of the elevator doors opening makes the jacked man turn to look at you, a faint smile playing across features that are half covered in barely congealed blood. He stands and saunters out of the security booth with the Immortal heeling him.
"Hello, Dominique," Taric says, leaning against the exterior of the security booth with a smug smile. The fan of blood from his missing eye makes the expression somehow... predatory.
---
Aaron White"Is this an Technocrat Hack-safe door or merely hard to break down one?
And please tell me there are compressed gas units somewhere in there?"
"As hack safe as the last door I tried to work," Paula says grimly, still eyeing the blinking red arrow.
"But I believe you remember how that turned out for us. As to the compressed gas, definitely. Assuming we can get into one of the engineering storerooms." You nod thoughtfully, but Harry and Cale shift uncertainly when Paula mentions that last failed bypass.
---
Relevant ItemsMemory Stick (Dom)
Security Card November (Dom)
Ident Badge -Kira Masse- (Tarran)
Ident Badge -Naomi Weiss- (Tarran)
Unpowered Pad (Tarran)
L1RF Key (Tarran)
Jake's Engraved Plate (Dom)
Radio (Dom) [On]
Health: 70/85
Stamina: 85/85
Carried weight: 92/180
Attire:Red Maintenance Jumpsuit, Heavily Modified Red Maintenance Suit (30/115, 45 lbs).
Inv:
Phoenix pistol (1/3) (9 lbs)
CFG bars x2 (3)
Crowbar (8lbs)
Simple Knife (2lbs)
Bone Spike (1lbs)
Fenrir pistol 5/7 (6lbs)
Fifty feet of rope (10 lbs)
Homemade grappling hook (2 lbs)
D-Grade rations x4 (4 lbs)
First-Aid Kit 5/5 (5 lbs)
Energy cells x3
Status: Floor 10 stairwell
Paula Ria
Health: 39/55
Stamina: 46/55
Description: Short, brown haired. The years she spent as a researcher at Delphi added lines to her face, the year she spent as a prisoner here added a decade and stole what weight she had from her frail body.
Personality Complication: Soft. Despite her recent hellish ordeals, Ria was a born and raised Technocrat. She's gotten conditioned to hardship, but the pain and the cold decisions that need to be made in her new life still stun her.
Skills: Mechanical 3, Intuition 1, Dodging 1
Attributes,
Strength (Str): 1
Dexterity (Dex): 3
Endurance (End): 1
Charisma (Char): 4
Intelligence (Int): 9
Willpower: (Will): 3
Equipment: Light Body Armor 36/50, Stained Labcoat, Military grade night-vision goggles. Manticore Pistol (9/10, 6lbs), .30 cal clips (10) x2, Chimera Pistol 15/15, Diagnostic pad, energy cell x2, Light Plasma Torch (60/100), Basic Medical Kit (2/5), Fifty feet of rope, Homemade grappling hook, D-Grade rations x4, ORS pack (3/3).
Henry Myers
Health: 43/75
Stamina: 37/75
Description: An emaciated man of average height. He's mostly bald now, thanks both due to a receding hairline and to a chemical spill that permanently injured his scalp.
Personality Complication: Maudlin. Henry has a dark streak a mile wide, and he usually shares it at every available person. He's a good man, but the tendency to vent every depressing thought that runs through his head makes him a little irritating.
Skills: Soak 2, Marksman 2, Stamina 1
Attributes,
Strength (Str): 6
Dexterity (Dex): 6
Endurance (End): 3
Charisma (Char): 1
Intelligence (Int): 3
Willpower: (Will): 4
Equipment: Maintenance Jumpsuit, Heavily Modified Maintenance Suit (23/90). Kapre Light Rifle 9/15, .30 caliber clips (15) x2, Pack of Flares, Fifty feet of rope, Homemade grappling hook, D-Grade rations x4, ORS pack (2/3)
Cale Levi
Health: 105/105
Stamina: 105/105
Description: A tall young man, blond and brown eyed. He's in fairly decent shape, considering his recent lifestyle.
Personality Complication: Young, and kinda Stupid. Cale is a young man, and though time has aged him quickly, he still occasionally acts on wild impulse.
Skills: Mechanical 1, Melee 2, Dodge 1
Attributes,
Strength (Str): 3
Dexterity (Dex): 6
Endurance (End): 6
Charisma (Char): 4
Intelligence (Int): 3
Willpower: (Will): 1
Equipment: Maintenance Jumpsuit, Heavily Modified Maintenance Suit (78/90). Sleipnir SMG (5/30 | 35/60), .223 clips (30) x2, Energy cell x2, Crude Combat Blade, Neuroflash grenade x2, Fifty feet of rope, Homemade grappling hook, D-Grade rations x4, ORS pack (3/3).
Health: 61/75
Stamina: 75/75
Carried Weight: 146/150
Attire: High-prelate Uniform [8lbs] Standard Body Armor 19/100. [35lbs]
Inv:
Tarran's Ichneumon Anti-Armor Rifle -Scope- (1/1, 20lbs, 1 rounds in speed loader)
1' sabot packs x1 (2)
Combat Knife (1lb)
Sleipnir SMG (A0, E25 9lbs,)
Sleipnir SMG (A0, E25 9lbs,)
Energy cells x3
8 .220 gauss clips (35)
Basic First Aid Kit 3/5 (5lbs)
Jormungandr Assault Rifle (A16, E26), 16lbs. In hand,
Artemis Railgun (E 1/3, A 2/3, 18lbs)
.50 Rail Clip (3)
Credit Chit (Unknown)
Status: Floor 9.
Health: 106/135
Stamina: 66/135
Carried Weight: 135/210
Attire: Arbiter dress Uniform, pristine [10lbs] Standard Body Armor, 29/100. [35lbs]
Inv:
Dominique's Abassy Heavy pistol -laser sight- [5, 8lbs]
Stun club (50/50 11lbs)
Fuath Riot suppression carbine [5, 13lbs, Caustic load]
.50 caliber pistol clips x7 (7, 2lbs)
Full Bottle of Wine x1 (1lb, sealed)
Jormungandr Assault Rifle (A35, E70, 16lbs.)
LR Jormungandr Battle Rifle (13/35 A, 8/15 E, Damaged, 17lbs)
Artemis Railgun (E 3/3, A 3/3, 18lbs)
.220 gauss slugs x1 (35)
.220 gauss slugs x1 (30)
Smoke Grenades x1 (neg)
Energy cells x3
Energy cell (90%) x1
.50 Rail Clip (3) x1
Field rations x1
Phoenix Pistol [2, 9lbs]
Basic medical kit (1/5) (5lbs)
Data storage drive [Romance novels]
Unknown Chemical Hypo x3 (Neg)
Partially sorted (1/3) stack of Technocrat stamped papers (Bad novel)
Status: Floor 22
Health: 38/75
Stamina: 70/75
Carried weight: 111/240
Attire: Exarch Dress uniform [8lbs] James' Light Body armor 35/50 (50/50) [25lbs]
Inv:
Renfield SMG (10, 10lbs)
Riot shield (10lbs 1/30, in hand)
Piru Gauss Rifle (E5/5 A5/5 16lbs)
.45 Gauss slug clip (5)
Simone's Song (6lbs 3/7 -Frangible Rounds-)
.50 caliber Frangible pistol clips (7) x1
Irin Combat Shotgun 3/6 (15lbs)
Dybbuk Flechette Canister Rifle (1/2 35 lbs)
20 mm flechette canisters (x2, 1 lb)
Status: Floor 9. Incredibly Smelly.
Author
Topic: Deviation-22. The End of All Things. (Read 537604 times)