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  • Locked thread
Ronwayne
Nov 20, 2007

That warm and fuzzy feeling.
Dave
2/5xp
For a moment, Dave is silent, and just drools a bit. And then he slaps away Jamie's hands and runs full tilt down the hallway. "ANNE, ANNE, OVER HERE. Don't TOUCH her you loving creep!" Dave charges after the huge color shifting dude and is right behind him. He points the shotgun at the guy holding her kid. "Anne, I'm here, stay calm, me and this big guy here are gonna get you out."

Dave glances to her boot, where he taught her to keep her extra knife. "Remember your A.B.C's, Anny; Arteries, Balls, Chest."

Ronwayne fucked around with this message at 11:31 on Jun 15, 2014

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Comrade Gorbash
Jul 12, 2011

My paper soldiers form a wall, five paces thick and twice as tall.
Valkyrie

Valkyrie stares at the Meld thing for a moment. "The gently caress do you want?" Not really expecting a response, she turns and walks away from it, her pistol in hand as she seeks out the control center.

Davin Valkri
Apr 8, 2011

Maybe you're weighing the moral pros and cons but let me assure you that OH MY GOD
SHOOT ME IN THE GODDAMNED FACE
WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!
Jonathan Jackson
Harm 3:00 (1/6), xp 2/5

Tammy...it's nice to see her again, even if I know it isn't really her. But as I look at her, and shudder a bit when she mentions the first time meld, I realize that, wait a minute, she never...my appearance hasn't changed from the time I was in the tube, but has she--

Okay, no time to think about that, the hostiles are here and--wait, what?! "Dad?!" I exclaim in shock. "I've been running from your dad this whole ti--" I catch the last word in my throat as at least two guns point directly at me; by some meld-granted reflex, my own pistol is out, but pointed at the wall. Crap. "Anne, tell them not to shoot me," I whisper, before placing my back against the first aid cabinet and sliding my hand up the wall. She can't use the meld, but if this goes south, I might need it...

"I...I think there's been a massive misunderstanding here," I tell them in between big deep breaths. "A massive, massive misunderstanding. I'm not a loving creep, I've had no intention of harming her, and I can tell you right now, if you harm me, this bunker will turn you inside out. Now, your kid needs medical attention or she's going to need an amputation. I think I can maybe help you leave without getting shot, but I can't do that if you put another bullet in me, so why don't we all just put away our guns and...?"

Okay, so papa wolf and his buddies are here! Time to beg for life! Don't shoot me! (Manipulate, +Hot): 2d6+1 9 Uh...take an XP if you don't harm me?

Ronwayne
Nov 20, 2007

That warm and fuzzy feeling.
Dave
3/5 xp

He lowers the shotgun so its only pointing at Jonathan's feet instead of center mass. "Okay, start talking and let my kid go. Anne, come over to me, watch your arm sweetie."

Ronwayne fucked around with this message at 18:39 on Jun 16, 2014

K Prime
Nov 4, 2009

Jaime

I think you meant Jonathan

As Dave's gun lowers, Jaime's does not. "One of those who thought himself on high, but is high no longer. He cannot be- AGH!"

With permission from Davin, I think this would be a situation where the two would unintentionally mind connect. While this isn't an explicit move, I think it's fair if we exchanged some questions. Your call, False Valkri.

Davin Valkri
Apr 8, 2011

Maybe you're weighing the moral pros and cons but let me assure you that OH MY GOD
SHOOT ME IN THE GODDAMNED FACE
WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!
Jonathan Jackson
Harm 3:00 (1/6), xp 2/5

"Well, go on then," I motion to Anne. "Your father wants to see you."

I watch her walk with a bit of regret. Lucky her, to have a father that cares for her in this mess. Even when everything wasn't blown up by aliens, that wasn't exactly common. I'd know...wait, there's one other person pointing a gun at me. I try to focus on her, but the pressure building in my head isn't helping--

"Jamie--GAH!"

Alright, let's do it! Should I start asking questions or should you? Or should the MC?

Shogeton
Apr 26, 2007

"Little by little the old world crumbled, and not once did the king imagine that some of the pieces might fall on him"

Ammar

I don't put my gun away completely, but following the other man's lead, I aim it away from him. Even with that gun, he doesn't look too threatening. With that suit and... wait... he's the guy from the vision. The vision that penetrated my mind, despite the dampeners. I move to make sure he can't keep an eye on all of us at the same time. So, if we harm him, the bunker will attack us. That seems to make it pretty clear he's tied pretty closely to this. And that means I have a fair amount of questions for him that have nothing to do with the girl.

The young woman enters, and as she seems to give a warning not to trust him, the both of them suddenly stop.

And I think two words. Psionics attack.

And that's all that's needed for action. I rush the suited kid, left hand reaching to grasp the wrist of the hand holding the gun, moving to press it against his chest and ram him against the wall, the other putting my own gun in his face. "Whatever you're doing, stop it now!" I look behind me. "Keep an eye on her. He may be controlling her."

Not sure how long the moment takes, but I figured in the tense situation, Ammar might draw reasonable but entirely wrong conclusions.

Shogeton fucked around with this message at 18:07 on Jun 16, 2014

Ronwayne
Nov 20, 2007

That warm and fuzzy feeling.
Dave
3/5xp

Dave looks at his kid running toward him, looks at the bizarre eye-gently caress dance the other two start, and then the big guy rush both of them. He picks Anne up over his shoulder and hauls rear end out of the room. <VALKYRIE WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU>

He puts his kid down and tells her. "Aunt Valerie is somewhere around here, radio her and meet up with her. I've got this weird situation to take care of and I'll be right back. Do you understand, Anne?" Dave presses his comm unit into her uninjured hand and takes cover in the door way, shotgun pointed in a direction where it can fire at anyone in the room if needed.

Ronwayne fucked around with this message at 18:51 on Jun 16, 2014

Yalborap
Oct 13, 2012
I'll give you guys a proper post in a bit, but first, some administration stuff.

Jonathan, Jaime, barring further events I'm gonna say you two got hooked into eachother's heads long enough to ask eachother one question each. Answer truthfully.

Jonathan, you cool with Ammar being able to just rush you like that, since you were hooked into Jaime's head at the time? If you've got a problem with that, let me know and we'll sort it out.

Once that's settled and the question lightning-round is over, I'll do a full proper post.

Davin Valkri
Apr 8, 2011

Maybe you're weighing the moral pros and cons but let me assure you that OH MY GOD
SHOOT ME IN THE GODDAMNED FACE
WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!
Works for me. I'm going to say Jonathan is too dazed to even react properly to getting bumrushed into the wall.

As to the question...hey, while we're on the subject, what do you remember of your own family, Jamie? Do you think they're still alive?

Davin Valkri fucked around with this message at 03:08 on Jun 17, 2014

K Prime
Nov 4, 2009

Jaime

Family. The word is nothing but pain.

The impact of flesh on flesh. Hunger.

A scream. The sound of tires screeching. Weeping. Enough weeping for a lifetime.

Jaime hopes they're dead.

What do you want out of your new lease on life, Inheritor?

Davin Valkri
Apr 8, 2011

Maybe you're weighing the moral pros and cons but let me assure you that OH MY GOD
SHOOT ME IN THE GODDAMNED FACE
WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!
Jonathan Jackson
Harm 3:00 (1/6), xp 2/5

Don't call me Inheritor. I want nothing to do with this legacy. I never did.

I just want to find my sister, get everybody else out of the tubes, and then...

...and then...

Gods, I don't know. Find someplace where I can lock this gun up and never have to pull it out. Not likely, but a kid can dream, can't he?

K Prime
Nov 4, 2009

Jaime

Snapback. Reality resumes.

Jaime lowers her weapon. "Leave the Inheritor alone, Eyeless- it wasn't his fault." She sits down for a moment, dizzy and weary. "He seeks to win himself free of fate, but it came for him nonetheless."

Davin Valkri
Apr 8, 2011

Maybe you're weighing the moral pros and cons but let me assure you that OH MY GOD
SHOOT ME IN THE GODDAMNED FACE
WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!
Jonathan Jackson
Harm 3:00 (1/6), xp 2/5

And just like that, it's over. I feel myself come back--it's like waking up from the meld tubes again--and find myself pinned to the wall by a semi-invisible man with a gun?!

"Aaaagh! Let go! Get off!"

Ronwayne
Nov 20, 2007

That warm and fuzzy feeling.
Dave
3/5

"Okay...now that this looks like its being sorted out, can we please get some first aid on my daughter's arm? Where's the medical supplies?"

Yalborap
Oct 13, 2012
From the top...

Ammar, after you slam Jonathan into the wall and he starts coming out of the psionic trance, well, he's pretty much at your mercy unless he's got some trick I don't know about. But I like the both of you, so I'm gonna throw you a freebie.

You've seen the look in Jonathan's eyes before. Thing is, you saw it in victims, people waking up from mind control or psionically-induced panic and trying to piece together what they'd done while someone else was in their goddamned head.

Of course, that said, there's still a whole hell of a lot going on here that's beyond what you knew. So, what do you do?

--

Dave, so that all got kind of crazy. You snatched up your daughter, though of course, Anne was kind of freaking out the whole time. Doing the whole "wait, listen to me!" thing that kids do when they think they know more about the situation than you do.

Friggin' kids, right? So anyways, when you give her the radio and the instructions, she nods, and almost tries to salute. Anne's a pain in your rear end sometimes, but she's a good soldier. She'll grow up to be worthy of succession, assuming she comes out of this still able to work a rifle.

"But dad, you've got to understand! He was trying to help me," aaand you're already turning around to address the others, aren't you? Yeah, that'd be about when you turned your attention to them. With a frustrated grumble, Anne uses the radio, and calls Valkyrie.

Then the situation mellows some, I mean, as much as it can mellow when you've got a kid who'd probably still have to get his older friend to buy him a pack of smokes in the old-world pinned against the wall by the bounty hunter, a pistol in the boy's face. So, what do you do?

--

Valkyrie, things got a little crazy over elsewhere, so let's wind the clock back a bit to before all that. So you turned your back on the meld thing when it didn't answer, yeah.

And as you walk down the hall, I would like to point out that it's following you. Like, like, a pet. Or in that jacket of yours, it kind of looks like some absurd X-COM mascot. Meldy the Meld Blob, they'd have called it.

Well, the point is, this thing's following you. But before you can deal with that, your radio bursts to life, with...A bunch of static. You can vaguely kind of make out President Dave's voice, but actual content? Yeah not happening.

Then, Meldy the Meld Blob suddenly reaches out, and engulfs your radio. You start to get that cliche 'tuning a radio' sound, complete with snippets of music that hasn't been broadcast in over 20 years, until the whole thing settles and Meldy lets go. Right in time for you to hear young Anne over the radio. "This is Outrider 2-1, calling for...owowowowow why'd I have to move it...Calling for medical support and extraction! Is anybody listening?"

So, on the one hand, this freaky-rear end meld blob just hosed with your radio, which means it's goddamned sentient on some level. On the other hand, you've now got the kid you came here looking for on the radio. On the gripping hand, you're at least a full floor down and making good progress towards the control room...So, what do you do?

--

Witness, keep on keeping on.

--

Jamie, Jonathan, so...Yeah. Some guns being pointed, the Eyeless one has the Inheritor pinned to the wall, not a good situation.

And then when you're all pinned and stuff, Jonathan, the girl's father oh good lord you've been running from the rescue party this whole time and now they might kill you jesus loving christ this world is so hosed up, is trying to get attention and get some medical aid for the very girl you've been trying to help. So, what do you do?

Dareon
Apr 6, 2009

by vyelkin
Witness

Grumbling and breathing heavily, Witness begins putting their van back in order. After plugging a couple of things back in, they start transmitting again, broadcasting a steady stream of patter as they re-stack toppled components and organize food stocks again.

"Children, I tell you. Man and Martian may have massacred our Mother, but the meek of Matthew? You know, the ones supposed to inherit this pitiful mudball spinning in the black? Sometimes I don't think we're it, brothers and sisters." They step on the bent fish the raccoon had been waving about, stopping for a moment. "I mean, look at the world, my friends. People are scrabbling to eke out an existence, but nature? Nature just goes on." Snagging a banged-up hubcap, they dump the screws out of it into a handle-less coffee mug, then plop the fish in. "Thousands of species, still working mostly as they did 20, 30, one hundred, a thousand years ago. Just slap a mosquito, see what I mean." Hopping out of the van, Witness sets the fish-laden hubcap (Unfortunately Witness hadn't seen any parsley for a good fifteen years, so presentation was lacking) over near the rocks in the direction the raccoon headed, then hops back in and shuts the door. "At any rate, for those of you following the prodigal child news, President Dave has gone into the bunker we're all pretty drat sure Anne is in, with a few of the region's certifiable badasses for backup, and yours truly, the ear that hears, parked outside and keeping an eye on things." A quick twiddle of the controls turns Thalia's sensor package to focus on the hubcap. "So those of you saddling up with guns and shovels can probably turn around. And those of you saddling up to make a ride on Sandy Flats, You've got to ask yourself: Are you gonna be facing down Dave's shotgun when he's happy? Or angry? Do you feel lucky?"

Some more twiddling as Witness tries to get a signal into- or out of- the bunker. Whoever designed the thing was paranoid as poo poo, there's probably tinfoil in the walls along with the other, more effective, dampening technologies. If Anne hadn't tripped the turrets, the place might have gone undiscovered for years, possibly decades more. Once that raccoon decides what to do with the fish (If it's even still hanging around), it might be worth scavenging those turrets, see if there's any encryption circuits left intact.

Dareon fucked around with this message at 02:25 on Jun 19, 2014

Ronwayne
Nov 20, 2007

That warm and fuzzy feeling.
Dave

"Yah, I dunno, seems like it'd be a waste to waste him, but whatever. C'mon Anny, lets take a look at that." Dave tries to de-escalate the situation but well, that isn't the most important thing right now.


Failure to Manipulate

Shogeton
Apr 26, 2007

"Little by little the old world crumbled, and not once did the king imagine that some of the pieces might fall on him"

Ammar

The girl says she's not being mind controlled. Funny thing, that doesn't mean much. I was there when a good amount of X-Com personnel suddenly turned against us. Some of that sabotage wasn't the kind you did in a few moments. She might be mind controlled still.

If she is, then the solution would likely be to blow the boy's brains out. The only way to be really, really sure.

But if I do that well, I'd lose all the information on what happened. And my curiosity was very much piqued. And his eyes, well, it was hard to say. Sometimes you need to follow your gut feeling, no?

My hand releases his wrist, my gun is raised a bit, and the boy is no longer a muscle twitch away from death. I release him. I take the medkit that was dropped in the fracas, seeing the slightly golden glow of the substance within. "You know what this is? You know how to use it?"

Davin Valkri
Apr 8, 2011

Maybe you're weighing the moral pros and cons but let me assure you that OH MY GOD
SHOOT ME IN THE GODDAMNED FACE
WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!
Jonathan Jackson
Harm 3:00 (1/6), xp 2/5

Combined with...whatever just happened with Jamie, the sudden chokehold is almost too much. I think the only reason I'm still breathing is because of the meld--the gunman would have crushed my throat otherwise. I slide to the floor, gasping for air.

"Of course I *gasp* I know what it is," I answer him in between breaths. "It's meld. *gasp* I've only been living in the stuff for a couple decades or so..." I finally stand up, leaning against the wall. "And you, uhm...well, some of those things have needles on them. I was looking for something to help your friend's daughter over there," I motion towards Anne and the shotgun guy. "but the only things in there that aren't meld are some bandages. So, uh..." I shrug. "Don't suppose any of you have some burn bandages or antiseptic, do you?"

K Prime
Nov 4, 2009

Jaime

Jaime has yet to rise from her slump. Her limp form could be mistaken for dead, or dead drunk, as the tension flees her. "Fear not, Fisher King. It is not yet your day to lose."

Ronwayne
Nov 20, 2007

That warm and fuzzy feeling.
Dave
3/5xp

"What the hell is meld?"

Comrade Gorbash
Jul 12, 2011

My paper soldiers form a wall, five paces thick and twice as tall.
Valkyrie

Valkyrie stares at the radio, and at the meld thing, and considers shooting it again - but decides it probably wouldn't do anything. She speaks into the radio without taking her eyes off the blob. "Outrider 2-1, this is Valkyrie. Help is on the way. Sit tight." She turns and continues to search for that damned command center, now giving up any pretense of stealth as she moves at speed.

Davin Valkri
Apr 8, 2011

Maybe you're weighing the moral pros and cons but let me assure you that OH MY GOD
SHOOT ME IN THE GODDAMNED FACE
WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!
Jonathan Jackson
Harm 3:00 (1/6), xp 2/5

"It's old xeno stuff. I think it's...nano-something or other. I don't know everything about it."

Shogeton
Apr 26, 2007

"Little by little the old world crumbled, and not once did the king imagine that some of the pieces might fall on him"

Ammar

"It can do a lot of things. It's the reason for my... peculiar looks." I look at the suited boy. "He is right to ask for alternatives though. Meld would certainly be capable of healing her arm, if it works properly, but it might do a lot more." My gaze goes towards the father. "There's no telling what age has done to this stuff. It might kill her."

"What the hell is meld?" I had asked as well, sitting in Dr. Vaheln's office and scratching my beard in irritation.

"It is the orange stuff you take with you on missions. On occasion." She had answered, irritated as she went over my medical files. We never liked each other. I always had difficulty accepting women in positions of authority over men. Valkyrie managed to get my grudging respect despite it, if not my outright approval. Vahlen never got it.

"I know that, woman, I'm not stupid. But you're going to inject this thing into me, along with alien bits. I'd like to know a bit more."

The 'woman' irritated her. The woman was proud of her credentials, and being talked to with another title than Doctor, let alone 'woman' was enough to make sure I had her full attention. "You have been given a briefing, have you not? Read it."

I had scoffed, looking at the tablet I had learned to use. "Look, I gave it a look, and I'm not sure if your Arab translator is bad at his job, but this thing might as well be written in Chinese."

She had looked up, an eyebrow raised. "Oh, yes. I'm sure it's the translator that's the problem. Very well, I'll give you the high school explanation." And that irritated me of course. Rural Iraq is not the place with the best schools to prepare you for briefings in xeno-technology briefings. The janitors in this place had more education than me. "The substance is a solution of partly organic, partly inorganic nanomachines." She had given me a look. "Very little robots, smaller than the eye can see that are partly made of metal and partly of flesh. With them, we can fuse flesh and metal together, or flesh of different sources, and the body will accept it as its own. Because of this, Dr. Shen and I have called it 'Meld'. We will use this to infuse your bodies with several cultures of alien flesh designed to vastly improve your combat capabilities. If you have the courage to undergo the procedure of course."


I'd gone through with it, needless to say. But there was something of that memory that was important. Dr. Shen and I have called it 'Meld'. Why would someone who's part of a base who seems to welcome aliens use the same name for it that X-Com gave it. Oh no, that is not the right question. There is a really obvious answer laying in front of me. An answer that might also answer other questions like why the aliens haven't finished off the United States, why X-Com allowed the US to leave but stayed here anyway, perhaps even why the aliens held back in fighting. They weren't fighting for real, because perhaps, neither were we. Anger rises, flirting with my neural dampeners, but I keep a straight face. This isn't solid proof. These are just suspicions now. There are alternative explanations.

For now, there's a girl that might lose her arm. I look at the father. "Either we try to use the Meld and take the risk, or we take her back as soon as possible and hope her arm can be saved. I think only you can make that choice."

Ronwayne
Nov 20, 2007

That warm and fuzzy feeling.
Dave
4/5xp

"You're right, and I need to make it soon, goddamn alien loving psionic horseshi-" Dave's eyes glaze over as the brain haze comes over him again. Its like opening your eyes while immersed in a sewage pond, impossible to see in, grotesque, and every atom of your body screaming to get out. How the hell do these ex-Xcom goons live with this all the drat time?

"Gurrgh, gently caress it, its kept this kid alive all this time, it must be doing something right" Dave washes his hands and forearms off with whatever antiseptic there is, and opens a container of the bizarre alien material. "There is no way I'm using this on my daughter without seeing what it does first." And with that, Dave wads up his dust mask, bites down on it, pulls a flare from his emergency kit, lights it, and jams onto the top of the forearm. After a few seconds of sizzling and muted screaming he tosses it into a sink and extinguishes it.

"Heh. Hah. gently caress. Okay, Now lets see what this poo poo does." Dave stares at the ooze as he applies it to the cauterized hole in his arm.


(Attempt to open brain for insight, but failed. http://orokos.com/roll/201907 Lets do this. :black101: :science:)

Ronwayne fucked around with this message at 01:40 on Jun 20, 2014

Yalborap
Oct 13, 2012
....Holy poo poo, Dave. :stare:

So. From the top...

Witness, out goes the fish, and then out goes the signal. I'm sure you're keeping an eye on it, but something must have pulled your attention. Just a second was all, I'm sure, but one moment that fish was there, the next you scarcely see a bit of motion before the thing's gone.

You did good, Witness. But that raccoon knows your van and your face...Only time will tell if it will become pet, mascot, friend, or foe. Or something altogether stranger... And that'd about be when you start hearing screaming over your radio. President Dave's screaming, raw and loud and pained. What do you do?

--

Valkyrie, with Meldy the Meld Blob following your rear end around, still wearing your X-COM jacket, seriously this looks like something out of those absurd propaganda cartoons they put on for kids during the war....

Sorry, I lost my train of thought. So you're going around, and down here, everything's neatly labeled with directions. It's almost as if the "help" actually had some idea of function over form. Crazy loving idea, right?

Within minutes, you're standing in front of the central computer, Meldy the Meld Blob at your side. Some small explosives, some gun shots in the right place, or just tearing some poo poo up in the right places, and this thing will come down...

It's about that point that you hear President Dave loving scream over the radio. Worse than a wounded animal. It's....It's horrible. What do you do?

--

Jonathan, Ammar, Jaime, Dave, this is going to be a little tricky.

So up to when Dave gets that wild in his eye, everything's as you all said. Nothing extra happened, you interacted, moved things forward, golden.

About when he gets that look, all of you can feel it, feel something pressing in on him. Anne stumbles on in, holding her good arm's hand to her forehead to try and make the pounding stop. "Wha....What's happening...?"

So then Dave washes his arm, gets the flare, all that fun stuff. "Dad, what are you," she starts, still feeling a little woozy, until she sees him crack the flare. Her eyes open wide, and Anne tries to rush for him to stop Dave from doing something stupid. "Dad WAI--"

Then the screaming starts. Dave's screaming into his dust mask, but that's not the one you're hearing. It's the screams from in his head, the raw loving animal hindbrain freaking out at PAIN and SUFFERING and he's doing it for HER and everything in his way can just loving DIE and on and on and on.

It squeals out of your radios. It roars in your heads.

Jonathan, you feel Tammy's hands around you, and then you're yanked out of the room. Your radio's still freaking out, but the hardwood paneling over lead paneling that is this place's walls seem to drown some of the sound out of your skull, once it's between you and Dave. Of course, Tammy isn't there when you're back on your feet, which begs a lot of questions of what the gently caress just happened.

Ammar, your dampeners pounce on the screams like a hunter cat on prey. But this prey fights back, and you can feel the war in your head as the screams try to get in, try to gently caress with you, but the dampeners push it back. It's like a wall in your head, a wall getting bigger and bigger to hold it all away....Then you feel it crack. It's not broken, it's not even leaking....But its days are numbered. The time when there's too much, and it all just comes pouring out(or pouring in) is now on your schedule.

Jamie, you hear the roars, but is it anything you haven't heard before from your own self? Is it anything the eyes haven't seen? The Fisher King's bestial rage pours over you, as close and welcomed in as a cancer cell. And just as foul, diseased, and doomed to spread if it isn't cut off at the pass. One life's rage has dragged you this far, another's could easily send you into the abyss to never return.

And Anne...Well, Anne just passes out. She's got no experience with this sort of thing, no mechanisms to process it, and the screams are like a sucker punch straight to the frontal cortex. Her eyes roll into her head, and she just drops like a stone. She's breathing, but then, that doesn't count for much, now does it?

Dave, when you come out of all that, and you've got the meld in your arm, it works. It leaches in deep, and spins up new flesh where you loving burnt out the old you madman. You end up with this metal...Spigot, for lack of a better word in your frame of reference, where the hole was. Objectively speaking, it's an injection port, straight line to your veins to skip piercing the skin repeatedly. But I'm guessing you don't know what those look like.

Glowing orange veins spread out from around it, and down your arm, pulsing with your heartbeat. You feel power in the arm. You could break bones with this arm, you could get into a fistfight with concrete and win with this arm.

But what the gently caress did it actually do to get you there? And are you gonna use this on Anne, who's laying there on the floor oh god Anne!

So. Everyone. What do you do?

And lemme know if any of these seemed out of character, or didn't mesh right with you guys, or anything like that. If there's a problem with this, I wanna clear it up. If not, cool.

Dareon
Apr 6, 2009

by vyelkin
Witness

Witness jumps about a foot when Dave starts screaming. A quick dial twist- he's screaming there too? What about- god, how many bands is he- Even Euterpe's half-heard background song starts to roughen as the radio operator leaps out of the van (Kicking the door closed behind them, don't need an encore of the Wildlife Wrestling Federation) and dashes into the bunker. Left, right, a kicked-in door, a busted turret, a dusty footprint on a fallen wall panel...

Read a sitch, +Sharp: 2d6 5

Wait, was that door kicked in, or did it just come off its hinges from neglect? That footprint looks more like a dress shoe than a combat boot.

"...Crap."

Ronwayne
Nov 20, 2007

That warm and fuzzy feeling.
Dave
4/5xp

Despite having your formal education abruptly terminated in the 11th grade, life never stops throwing you chances to learn. Staring at the grey blotch in his arm, Dave thinks that, all things considered, this was a reasonable facsimile of the scientific method. "So...hypothesis confirmed?" He looks up, everyone else reeling in various states of shock. "Aw c'mon, don't tell me that hurt you more than it hur-ANNE"

He picks up his daughter, places her on the table and checks for a pulse. "What the hell-ANNE, ANNIE, can you hear me? gently caress-gently caress-gently caress. Okay, decision time. She'll probably freak more if we wait for her to come to." Dave pokes the blob of meld in his own arm experimentally. He removes what clothing and armor is left on his kid's arm. Taking advantage of her unconscious state, he cleans her burn, breathes deeply, and applies a new container of the stuff to the injured flesh and the immediate area around.

"I just hope this gives her the chance to never forgive me for this."

Ronwayne fucked around with this message at 02:43 on Jun 21, 2014

Davin Valkri
Apr 8, 2011

Maybe you're weighing the moral pros and cons but let me assure you that OH MY GOD
SHOOT ME IN THE GODDAMNED FACE
WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!
Jonathan Jackson
Harm 3:00 (1/6), xp 2/5

I can see what the girl's dad is doing, and my blood chills as I reach out to try to intervene. "No, wait! Stop--!"

Too late! The moment meld hits meat, I feel some vary familiar hands over my mouth...and my chest...and my legs...and my eyes!...and then my body moves in ways that I certainly can't! When the darkness lifts, there's no more first aid room, no more girl or girl's dad or half-invisible man or Jaime. Just me and the bunker servicing ductwork...

...and a moving blob of meld? Wearing a jacket?!

"What the hell?!" I find myself saying aloud, immediately attracting the attention of the blob...and whoever the blob was following. poo poo!

Comrade Gorbash
Jul 12, 2011

My paper soldiers form a wall, five paces thick and twice as tall.
Valkyrie

As much as she feels like breaking everything in sight would be very therapeutic right now, Valkyrie decides it'd be better to try and power things down the right way, and starts checking for a master off switch.

Read a Sitch: 2d6+1 9
What should I be on the lookout for?

K Prime
Nov 4, 2009

Jaime

"AAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH"

The flood of emotion overwhelms Jaime. She closes her mind's eye in panic and is plunged back into senselessness.

Which only makes it worse. Alone. In her own head.

Screaming quickly turns to sobbing. Sobbing into an empty void with no response.

Again.

Until there's no choice but to open her eyes again.

The rage... is it gone?

Act Under Fire: 2d6+3 12

Shogeton
Apr 26, 2007

"Little by little the old world crumbled, and not once did the king imagine that some of the pieces might fall on him"

Ammar

I don't even try to stop Dave. In fact, I respect the man for his choice. To be honest, my eyes and my mind are elsewhere. On the suited boy. And the answers I want from him. Soon, soon.

And then there is a scream. I am aware of the push that there is, I can see the pain on the man's face. But I do not feel it. you should not feel this neural dampener is something that suppresses the raging emotions that somehow yet still boil deep within, yet kept hidden away. It tones them down before they can fully form into too intense a feeling. I cannot imagine what that father feels now. Literally, I can't, even if I know I once felt much the same. Even trying to recollect them, once I get too close, activates the neural dampeners. I am aware that he's in pain, and that he wants to protect his daughter. And that that feeling seems to try and overwhelm me. I remain calm and collected.

But I do look at him for a moment. I see what forms there. And I am happy. It does seem to work, and that means the girl's arm can likely be saved. And the man will live.

But then I return my look towards the source of my answers, and he is gone. Anger flashes, even as the neural dampeners keep rage in check. He's gone. How? He must have some trick to escape. I start to move, looking back. There is a mentally unstable girl with a shotgun, a younger girl with a burned arm and a man who just burned himself laying on the ground. There's a moment of doubt.

No, I force myself to turn away. I need these answers, I cannot let him slip away. Providence led me to him and now...

As I march out of the first-aid room into the hallway, my experience suddenly lurches. The whole world seems to be overlaid with a green film. My footsteps and breath seem to suddenly grow louder, and I see colours explode from each footstep at the center of my vision. My thoughts suddenly appears in letters, half arabic and half western in my mind's eye. I stop briefly, feeling the fear rising, getting quite far before the neural dampeners could readjust for the sudden emotional shift. And then the sensation fades.

I cannot panic, but I can despair. Because this is not a mystery. This is something I was warned of. Sudden bouts of what she called synesthesia and comparable sensations. Dr. Vahlen was deadly serious that I should immediately report them. She honestly admitted we didn't know how Meld would work long term. If it might lose its effect with age. Tests suggested it would not, but it was hard to make sure with a substance we could barely use, let alone truly understand. But if I had these sensations, that might suggest the Meld was starting to break down, or at least change. Brain surgery might then be needed to prevent any possible symptoms, ranging from insanity, to epilepsy, to me becoming a drooling vegetable, to, most likely eventually, outright death.

There is no Dr. Vahlen. There is no possibility for brain surgery. This is my brain telling me it might be running out of time.

I pray. All mighty one, all merciful one, granter of peace, creator, please, please not now. A month, a week, a day ago I would not have despaired. I would have said myself I had a long life and was ready to die. Perhaps I would have even found peace in knowing my time was soon at an end. But not now, not when I need to find out the truth. Please Magnificent one, All Wise, Forgiver. Not yet.

I clutch my gun. I see or hear no sign of the suited boy. But I dc not panic. The same operation that might very well soon kill me lets me keep thinking even in the prospect of death. The computer. It's a possibility. Speaking loudly I force myself to sound commanding. "Computer, you will tell me where I can find the boy in the suit. I have questions for him, and I worry he might be under influences hostile to our cause."

Manipulate: 2d6-1 8 I am offering the computer my assistance in keeping Jonathan 'on the plan' and safe. Of course, I entirely accept if the computer isn't really considering that if he saw I just about pressed a gun in Jonathan's nose. But I have no lead where he is, so I'm making Hail Mary Passes.

Yalborap
Oct 13, 2012
Witness, your path leads you astray...Or perhaps not. The path you end up with takes you elsewhere entirely, and you find a door forced open, an iron rod lodged into the mechanism to keep it from sliding shut.

Within, you find tanks. So many tanks, full of that elixir from the stars, Meld. And distinctly human shapes float within...What do you do?

--

Dave, on goes the Meld. It sinks into your daughter's arm, and right before your eyes, you watch the scorched flesh knit back together.

What you don't see, is what it does inside her arm. She clenches her teeth through the unconsciousness, which is probably a blessing, as her bones are twisted and changed. The shape stays the same, but the bones themselves turn to something akin to carbon fiber, while the skin of the arm takes on a dull tone, like it's been doused in thin dust.

That arm won't be getting burnt or broken anytime soon...But it's clearly been changed. You put something altogether different on your daughter, and you gave her a piece of utter inhumanity.

And then, when it's all over, she stirs. What do you do?

--

Jonathan, you do appear to be in the ductwork over the control room. And yes, that is a moving blob of meld in an X-COM jacket, and a woman in the rest of a set of X-COM fatigues.

And then the blob of meld turns, and I swear it looks at you, and points, making a sound like a bottle of soda being opened. Except louder, more directed, and trying to get the woman's attention. What do you do?

--

Valkyrie, there are two key important things.

-First, there's no full master off switch on the hardware, you'd have to shut her down from in software...Or there is a thick, thick power cord in the back that you could force free. Of course, pull the plug, and who knows what sorts of things could happen from equipment not getting deactivated properly. But then, do you have any other choice?

-Second, Meldy the Meld Blob turns, and points to the vents, burbling away like he's carbonated. And if you happen to look...There's someone in the loving vents.

What do you do?

--

Jaime, you're through the other side. You're still whole, you're still you. There are fragments of the Fisher King's rage and pain still there, like echoes in the grand canyon, but the worst is past.

Now there's the issue of the girl. She carries something foreign now, the very soul of another world grafted onto her. The others can't see it, but your eyes can, the way it's latched onto her arm. And the Fisher King's, too. If they can't careful, it could consume them, like it did so many others.

Like the Eyeless one, so consumed by that thing from another world. But for the first time since meeting him, you see his eyes open, just a crack. What do you see in those eyes...And what do you do?

--

Ammar, there's a burst of static from the speakers, and then the computer speaks. Or at least, plays a recording with bad synthesized speech put in as needed. It's kind of like speaking. "Are you referring to specialist JACKSON, JONATHAN A.?" A brief spot of static, as it goes to the next recording. Like badly skipping a track in an MP3 player. "What could you want with a failed experiment like that, oh great one? That specialist is due for extermination in MINUS SEVEN HUNDRED FIFTY THREE WEEKS, THREE DAYS, TWO HOURS, FIFTEEN MINUTES AND FOURTEEN SECONDS. FIFTEEN SECONDS. SIXTEEN SECON-- They're not worth your time."

The computer's going to need some leverage to listen to you over its plan, Ammar. What kind of reason can you offer to make Jonathan worthwhile, and what do you do?

Yalborap fucked around with this message at 22:57 on Jun 22, 2014

Shogeton
Apr 26, 2007

"Little by little the old world crumbled, and not once did the king imagine that some of the pieces might fall on him"

Ammar

I continue walking as I listen and converse, hoping to find a trace of the boy, whose name I now know is Jonathan Jackson. I maintain a stoic facade. a failed experiment. Disappointing in many ways. That made the chance a lot smaller that he could give me answers. Not that I won't try. But this AI might be a better bet. It seemed to run things, even if it was clearly not running very well. A quick calculation means that he was supposed to be terminated fourteen years ago.

So it was important to continue the show. I kept my face level. Whatever alien thing in my head that might be killing me, better to make it earn its keep now. "Failures are a source of information, AI." I say curtly. "We intend to find the exact source of his shortcomings, so that we can prevent the waste of resources on future unfit specimens. It is important that he is not allowed to leave the facility except under my guard. And alive."

All right, I need to get this AI on my side. It can tell me things, and with it, I should be able to handle... whatever path this information leads me to. I am suddenly very glad I didn't go along with Valkyrie.

"We are pleased with the progress here. Many of the intruders are voluntarily adapting themselves. Including the promising blue haired specimen 65." I make the name up on the spot. "Our new future will be easier to bring about if humans voluntarily embrace a new form. We believe this base can be a nexus point for further operations. For that we will need to bring in additional resources. You are clearly not operating at full efficiency, and damages will require repairs. For that, I need a full status report, including the state of your current chain of command."

Come on, you bunch of electronics. Tell me your secrets. I might actually see about repairing things if I can make sure you are controlled. But for now, all that matters is getting out the information.

Ronwayne
Nov 20, 2007

That warm and fuzzy feeling.
Dave
4/5xp

"...oh thank gently caress." He carefully picks her up in both hands. "Anne, Annie? Its me, you're going to be okay, we're going to go home now, just rest and we'll be back soon." He looks around at everyone else, suddenly absorbed in their own little dramas. "Hey uh, I need to get back." Dave radios out a message as he goes to leave the bunker. <Outrider Actual to all units. Anne's been found. Thank Christ. I'm heading back now. Main team head to the following location and set up a perimeter, we got ourselves a bunker to deal with, outside defenses disabled for now. Witness, will be back at your van shortly, out.>

Headed back to the van.

Comrade Gorbash
Jul 12, 2011

My paper soldiers form a wall, five paces thick and twice as tall.
Valkyrie

Valkyrie points her pistol at the person in the vent. "You! Get down here, now. And if you know how to shut off these systems, do it. Or I'll just shoot you, then them, and be loving down with it."

Davin Valkri
Apr 8, 2011

Maybe you're weighing the moral pros and cons but let me assure you that OH MY GOD
SHOOT ME IN THE GODDAMNED FACE
WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!
Jonathan Jackson
Harm 3:00 (1/6), xp 2/5

Why does everybody want to shoot me today?! Like a trained goddamn hunting dog the meld blob points me out, and for the second time in twenty minutes someone points a gun in my direction.

"If you shoot me," I scream from inside the tube, "the automated defenses will kill you! Put your gun away and I'll come out!"

Comrade Gorbash
Jul 12, 2011

My paper soldiers form a wall, five paces thick and twice as tall.
Valkyrie

Valkyrie looks at the blob, and at the kid in the vents, and is suddenly a thousand percent done. She doesn't holster her pistol, but she lets it drop. "Just get out of there for gently caress's sake."

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Davin Valkri
Apr 8, 2011

Maybe you're weighing the moral pros and cons but let me assure you that OH MY GOD
SHOOT ME IN THE GODDAMNED FACE
WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!
Jonathan Jackson
Harm 3:00 (1/6), xp 2/5

"Okay, okay, I'm coming out, just let me..." I slide my way out of the vent...and promptly hit my head on the lip of the opening. "GAH! Agh..." As I shake my head, I look at the woman. X-COM.

X-COM?! They're still around?! Crap, crap, crap, how much does she know about EXALT?!

"So, uh...nice pet?" I say, trying to be nonchalant as I motion towards the fricking moving Meld!

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