Breaking the Barrier - IC

The bunker was oddly quiet this evening. The ones to weak to help sat in worry as they knew a small group would venture out within the next few days to battle the odds; a seemingly futile attempt at saving their world. Injured and elderly sat along the walls of the tremendously large bunker, dim lights flickering as they were on their last leg of life. A constant whirring sound could be heard at all times as several makeshift generators puttered to create energy. Down a few narrow corridors and past a heavy steel door stood Nikolas hunched over a steel table looking over a tattered map. Off in the corner stood Jax, the appointed weapons expert and mechanic; next to him was Alice, a half broken female data android strapped into a rickety wheel chair. Nikolas was rather distraught, his brow furrowed as he scanned for any route that might be the safest to the Ark. They hadn't ventured out further than a few miles from the bunker and the Ark was easily a hundred miles. Above all else the threat of losing this fight churned his gut uncomfortably. This was the last chance to save the now withering planet. A radio sat in the corner set to a local frequency still inside the barrier, hoping to catch any glimpse of survivors elsewhere. The radio had been on for a year now, and only static came through its speakers.

With a swift turn Niko spun around to face the wall behind him, throwing a frustrated punch into the wall; a loud crash echoed in the small room as a large chunk of concrete broke into rubble from the enhanced strength his suit provided. Taking a deep breath he let his fist fall from the cracked wall. The days were counting down and soon they had to make a move and Niko wasn't happy with the uncertainty of the plan. But it was the only plan that offered better success rate than less than fifty percent. Jax with his seeming ever present grin walked over to Nikolas and slapped him on the shoulder. "Take it easy, Niko. This suit I built you could take on a small army. This should be a cake walk." Jax exaggerated as he always did with his creations. The suit was good, but only comparable to the available scraps that could be found in this waste.

"Don't exaggerate, Jax. You've seen those beasts that outnumber us thirty to one, not only do they outnumber us but they are incredibly dangerous." Nikolas retorted, his Irish accent thick as it is when he was irritated; though he only displayed any negative attitude with Jax, seeming to put on a flawless facade with the others. "The terrain changed to drastically since the incident for these maps to even be entirely reliable."

"Don't be silly, Niko. If anyone could do it, you can!" Alice chimed sweetly followed with an innocent giggle. The sound of her voice still confused Niko, he understood she was only programmed that way and it couldn't be helped but during these times how could something sound so sweet when the world was so dark.

Nikolas let out another simple sigh, he knew he couldn't figure this out by himself. He needed the rest of the group. Walking to the opposite side of the room where a small ancient phone hung, chips and dungs covering the plastic casing. He pulled the phone off its base, bringing the end to his mouth. A loud shriek ripped and echoed in the concrete bunker as the speakers came to life. "Attention; I need the team to meet in the conference room." Nikolas instructed simply over the intercom, his voice coming out in static and cracking sounds though clear enough to be understood. Niko set the phone down and cut the connection to the intercom. He went to the back of the room and took a seat away from Jax and Alice, a trained and charming smile reaching his lips to greet those who came.

Daian walked out his his hiding spot/makeshift lab when he heard the announcement, the bright lights of the bunker getting to the man as he normally worked by moonlight. We really need to install some better lighting in here... Too bad we could barely scavenge these... he thought bitterly, This light hurts my already poor eyes...

"Is it morning yet?" he asked, looking tired. His usual clean and pristine suit was in tatters and was only halfway on. He looked around and saw all the faces staring at him. "What are you all staring at? Just because I never leave doesn't mean I'm a side-show freak! Move along!" he yelled at them. He knew they probably wouldn't listen to him, but, he didn't care, he just needed to get some of this excess anger out. His latest experiment was frustrating him. The Zinc and the Silver just wouldn't do what he wanted. And it's all I could find from that abandoned jewelry store too! he thought angrily.

Daian walked into the little bathroom at the end of the bunker room, and stood in front of the mirror. "I look like a mess..." he commented, "I guess running on less than four hours of sleep per day and then crashing while in your only suit can do that to a man, I guess...." He began to straighten his suit out, trying to get all the wrinkles and creases out as best as he could. He had to look presentable, he was going to a meeting, after all. The human popped his necked and back, fixed his hair into a messy ponytail and put on his glasses, observing himself. He was decent, much better than he was a few minutes ago. "This is as good as I'm going to get," he said to himself quietly, before exiting the room.

After he go out, Daian began to walk down the the Conference Room, observing the survivors within the bunker. There were many, but, he didn't care, he didn't even intend to even be in Canada for this long! He brushed that off, and walked into the Conference Room, and took a seat.

Maul was busy moving massive chunks of concrete that had recently been broken off of the bunker's inner most walls."This task is a meaningless waste of precious time and oil." Maul proclaimed, dropping yet another large piece of concrete from the wall into his ever growing pile in a small, dark corner of the bunker. He thought about using the plasma thrower attached to his right arm to turn the concrete pile into a puddle of burning liquids."Yet another waste of resources would be ill logical." He says to himself after finally deciding against it.

Maul turned to hear the old speakers ring out and call forth 'the team.' He began to take his massive strides through the room, the sound of metal stomping on concrete was audible throughout the entire bunker. He ducked under a doorway as he made his way towards the conference room, slouching a little. These halls obviously weren't meant for ten foot tall androids. As he entired the room he bumped into the doorway."Owmph!" Part of the arch fell with a crash."I apologize." Maul stated, moving to a corner.

- - - Updated - - -

Maul was busy moving massive chunks of concrete that had recently been broken off of the bunker's inner most walls."This task is a meaningless waste of precious time and oil." Maul proclaimed, dropping yet another large piece of concrete from the wall into his ever growing pile in a small, dark corner of the bunker. He thought about using the plasma thrower attached to his right arm to turn the concrete pile into a puddle of burning liquids."Yet another waste of resources would be ill logical." He says to himself after finally deciding against it.

Maul turned to hear the old speakers ring out and call forth 'the team.' He began to take his massive strides through the room, the sound of metal stomping on concrete was audible throughout the entire bunker. He ducked under a doorway as he made his way towards the conference room, slouching a little. These halls obviously weren't meant for ten foot tall androids. As he entired the room he bumped into the doorway."Owmph!" Part of the arch fell with a crash."I apologize." Maul stated, moving to a corner.

Sean sits at a work bench in a make shift tech shop, one of his own eyes in pieces on the table as he cleans and polishes the individual pieces. He scrubs off the dried blood and flecks of skin before oiling the piece and putting it back together with practiced ease. He grits his teeth as he pops the piece back into his skull, his eye humming softly as it reconnects to the uplink to his brain. He prepares himself to remove his other eye, but the sound of metal hitting the concrete wall of the bunker sets his teeth on edge. He draws up the head of his chameleon suit and puts his visor in it's place, setting it to infrared to see more clearly in the darkness. He turns on his suit, and after a minute of technicolor tomfoolery, he gets control of the camo index again.

Sneaking along the side of the bunker towards his cot, Sean retrieves his sniper rifle, as well as a small metal rose and heads towards what he suspected was an intruder. With the crackling of the intercom, Sean relaxes and nods to himself in understanding of what the noise was. "Niko's had enough again, hasn't he?" Sean chuckles and shakes his head before deciding to give Niko a little surprise. He sneaks towards the conference room with a giddy grin on his face, his foot steps light with practiced precision as he sneaks around the edge of the room to get behind Nikolas. Sean quietly sets down the rifle, placing the rose alongside it before getting right beside Niko, holding his breath until his lips were right beside Nikolas' ear. He speaks using his best ghost impression, "Niiiiko.... Niko Valentiiiine..... I am the ghost of christmas paaaast!" Sean falls back laughing, his visor falling off as he hits the hard concrete. He quickly recollects himself, dabbing a drop of blood away from his eye as he stands back up and places his visor back on his forehead, his eyes whirring as they readjust. "What's the buzz, mate?" Sean jokingly slugs Nikolas' armored shoulder before retrieving his rose and rifle, placing the rifle on the back of the chair and the rose on the table as he takes a seat and kicks his feet up onto the table.

Delta received the summons while she was entertaining a few of the younger survivors
As soon as she pulled on her tactical combat helmet which was equipped with visual and auditory enhancements her movements become more threatening
Her weapons are gas assist full auto rail gun and Mono wire Chain sword
(Gas Assist rail gun - in an effort to enhance an already lethal rail weapon the R-n-D boys add acceleration using an explosive gas which adds another 50%for a 22% weight increase
Mono Chain weapon- this bladed weapon uses a rotating wire that is only one condensed carbon atom thick and able to cut through any armor and it's wearer beneath)
Her armor is modified from armor used by an elite military squad that is no more
Once rigged Delta's personality shifts she becomes more controlled by Athena and war like.
When she enters the meeting area she greets Alice in tones out of human speech and hearing
Taking her place off to the side Delta as she continues communicating and now is seeking a head start on analyzing any tactical data

Sitting in a cold metal chair, staring into a small glass mirror, the cracked remnant of a compact, Orion was drawing and blending a smoky eye look using spent coal and a bit of a cloth, stained and torn, useful for little more than spills and apparently makeup. With a sigh, he lowered the mirror, shaking his head, he didn't think the end of the world would be so annoyingly tough. He thought abut his home... his boyfriend... his closet full of clothes, and bathroom full of cosmetics... But most of all he missed standing under the stream of hot water in his own,private shower. He sighed again, and snapped the compact closed, grimacing at the drab, gray surroundings of the tiny, steel, sterile bathroom.

"Attention; I need the team to meet in the conference room."

"Ugh" he stood and dusted coal flakes off his clothes... today they consisted of a baggy shirt, a long jacket and a short pair of shorts. As well as some signature heels, off brand, no use wearing Jimmy Choo or Louis Vuitton in a fucking bunker. As he wandered out of the bathroom, and down a hall, he encountered a few familiar faces... I guess it's true, familiarity breeds contempt... and I know this plae and people like the back of my hand His cabin fever was growing daily, and he was itching for an excuse to get out and about; even if it was into danger.

As Orion walked to the conference room, he took his time, pulling his hair to the side, revealing the side of his head, shaved to form the thick mohawk that fell loosely to his waist. He played with it, wishing he had his professional hair care products, or at least his hot oil treatment. With a sigh he entered the conference room, "Hey people... and robots... Konichiwa.." he butchered the word, directed at Daian, one of the few people that stood out.

Dave was in the middle of an autopsy, studying the creature that had arrived from the outside. Rarely did he get a chance to learn of the creatures that had come from the pod. Most of the time they could not retrieve the bodies and any chance he did get was often a mutilated arm or some other limb. But now before him lied a full body, more or less intact. there where several blaster marks to to the head, but everything else was pristine. a whirring noise could be heard coming fourth from his head as he worked, a sign that he was happy, at least as happy as a robot could be. he began to list the interesting features as he worked. The creature was black, with two sets of arms and a pair of legs. it's skin was a smooth exoskeleton, making the cuts hard to make go through, but he had time. he finished splitting the specimen's chest cavity open and began to carefully remove organs from within, setting them on trays to be examined later. Though one had caught his eye, it was a rather large green sac. It ran down the middle of the creature and was rather large and filled with some sort of fluid. He set it down and carefully began to cut it open. He was rewarded with the sac rupturing open and spraying the contents everywhere on the specimen and scalpel, although "Dave" was wise enough to back away from the sac as it did so. He noticed that whatever the liquid was, it was corrosive as it was hissing and eating away at the specimen on the makeshift exam table. " a shame." was all Dave said as he Began to wipe his scalpel on the cloth nearby. he organized every thing he learned into a file and stored it in a memory bank then listened as the intercom system spread the word of Niko. Dave began to leave the silent makeshift morgue as he walked down the empty barren halls to the conference room. Upon arrival he looked around at the other people gathered. "I was called?" he said in his monotonous synthesized voice.

Daian rolled his eyes as Orion greeted him. "I can speak English you know. I haven't been in my hometown for over twenty years," he deadpanned. Daian was significantly less tired and grouchy now, and, after doing a bit of thinking in his head, figured out that, to make the Zinc and the Silver react, he might need some Hydrogen Chloride. He shook his head, Now is not the time Mayudzuki, think about something else.

Unfortunately, Orion's presence in the room only made him think of very bad thoughts. Thoughts so bad that they should never be released to the public. "Damn it!" he yelled, "This is what I get for thinking...." Seriously! Where has thinking got me? Oh right, here! In this hellhole! he thought bitterly. He just wanted to go back to his life of teaching, selling stuff, and going to class hungover and, every once-in-a-while, have a quickie somewhere, whether it be the school bathroom, or on the dance floor in the club. He sighed, "I miss the club scene... And the teaching and screwing around with the students heads..."

Sean gives a casual wave to the arriving members of the team, setting his visor on the table as he draws back the hood of his suit. Running a hand over his hair, now spotted blonde and black with the lack of hair dye in the apocalypse. He raises an eyebrow at Daian's outburst and stands back up, twirling the thin stem of the false rose through his fingers as he walks over to the disheveled teacher. "Easy there, killer. No need to fly off the handle at the kid, he's just having some fun." Sean places the stem of the rose behind Daian's ear and smirks as he walks back to his seat. "That was for Anne, but i think you need to smile more than anyone else right now." Sean thinks better of himself for a moment and continues around the table to where Orion sits and crouches down to whisper in his ear "Ease up on the teach though, kid. He's got it just as bad as you, you know."

Jikrist Uarik jumped when a radio spike was received by her antenna; a sign of other people!
She immediately collected her meagre possessions and leapt onto her custom jet-assisted Motorcycle. As the backrest of the motorcycle extended, interfacing with her CNS augmentations, she launched a signal on the same radio frequency that the radio spike was on. She revved her motorcycle up for quick departure, red pulses visibly flowing through the metal parts under the white plastic casing, as she hoped for a quick reply

Back in the bunker, the old radio set that had, for a year received only static, suddenly burst into life; "If any humans are on this line, and are receiving me, please submit your co-ordinates, over."