Breaking the Barrier 1x1

[Valtyr]

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.

[GallifreyanOddy]

"Remind me again why we volunteered for this?"

"Because you said it would be fun to go out there and find the Ark."

The two voices belonged to one of the oddest duos that inhabited the bunker. A young woman sat in the corner with an orange and black cat in her lap. She was stroking the cat's fur along its back which was, in turn, making him purr loudly. "And why did you let me volunteer us?" The cat asked in perfect English. He had a slight British accent. The woman looked down at him, her brown eyes meeting the cat's yellow ones. She gave the cat a knowing look and he sighed heavily. "Yeah yeah. You wanna get out of this place before everyone goes crazy. No one is going to go crazy Hannibal." The cat told Hannibal as she began to scratch behind his ear. This made the cat purr louder than before.

Hannibal and Zeke had found the group about three months ago. Since then, Zeke had made it so they were part of this suicide mission and put them on most people's "bad" list because of his attitude. The cat just didn't know when to shut his mouth at times. Hannibal just shook her head as she picked Zeke up. The two were off to meet with Nikolas, Jax, Alice and whoever else was coming along with them. Neither cat nor female would know if anyone else had volunteered. As soon as Zeke had signed them up, Hannibal had taken the time to beat him up before she refused to talk to him for a full day. Needless to say, he learned his lesson with that one. Hannibal was the only friend he had after all.

The duo soon found themselves in a small group of others who were all heading to the conference room. Hannibal hugged Zeke closer to her chest and the cat snuggled into her more. A few people broke off from the group and by the time they arrived at the conference room, there was six of them left including the girl and the cat. As soon as the entered the conference room, Zeke jumped from Hannibal's arms and he made his way over to Jax. Zeke rubbed against Jax's legs before he padded away to find a place to sit. The robotic cat leaped up onto a table and sat where he would be out of the way but in the loop at the same time. He glanced over at Hannibal to see her standing with her arms crossed over her chest. His head tilted to the side as he took in her appearance. Her clothes were tattered and faded. It was too bad she couldn't make more. A fur belt encircled her hips and the right side held a pouch where a lightsaber was held. Across her back was a sling that housed her bow. Her hair was short except for her bangs, which were long and covered one of her eyes. She was a pretty human to Zeke but he wasn't sure how others felt about her.

"So why did you call us here Nikolas?" The cat asked from his perch. Hannibal looked over at Zeke and rolled her eyes. He was always so straightforward. She wondered who he picked that up from. The wall she leaned against was crumbling but the cool of the concrete on what skin was exposed through the rips and tears of her shirt felt good. Han wasn't usually this quiet but today she felt like observing instead. Something felt off. This wasn't like other meetings the group had before. Something was about to go down.