[IC] Guildfall: The Darkness

[Kalas]

//: 09:55AM, 13/02/2014
//: High-Casual Section Square, RPG City
//: Monthly Crisis Meeting

Kalas Alseif

"Ladies & Gentleman!" A voice rang out, quietening the anxious crowd. Kalas looked up toward the stage where the heads of every division now stood, just behind a man to whom the voice belonged. He was impeccably well dressed, despite the tragic events that had led them to this meeting. A monthly occurrence to assess the city's current situation. The man was a representative from the Advanced Section Leadership, the effective Councilmen of the city during this state of emergency. Obviously it would be unwise for them to leave the safety of the Advanced Section, which is why they sent him. There were many, however, who disagreed with the way that the leadership had hidden themselves away while the rest of the surviving population had to face the atrocities that had overthrown their beloved city.

Kalas was one of those. Being a Battle Squad Commander, he found himself in a catch 22 between the security of the leadership and his loyalty to those who followed him. This came before his supposed hero status, something he had never quite accepted to be a thing. The man on stage waited for complete silence before continuing. "Our most recent reports show a definitive reduction in the amount of casualties to our people. Your efforts to prevent further loss of life after these terrible tragedies have been duly noted and applauded by our Leadership." His voice echoed out across the central square of the High-Casual Section. Amongst everyone who had attended, the representative's face was the only one to cast a smile. An eerie silence held over the gathered crowd of commanders and middlemen. In the distance, however, the sounds of those affected by the N-008 virus carried on the soft wind. The well-dressed man took a deep breath before pressing on.

"The Leadership have decided that more focus needs to be aimed toward the Free Section. They believe that the sooner we can liberate that area from the monsters that reside there, the sooner we can provide more comfortable living conditions for the rest of you." Whispers soon began to spread after that last statement. Kalas could see looks of disgust in the faces of some of his peers. The Leadership had long foregone any hope of trying to save those who were badly mutated by the N-008 Virus. Now it was merely a matter of survival. Kalas could understand it in a certain way, but it still hurt to have some of his former friends disregarded to callously. Other felt the same way but no one spoke up. They all knew what had to be done, whether they liked it or not.

_______________

//: 10:57AM, 13/02/2014
//: High-Casual Section Checkpoint, RPG City

The meeting had dragged on for an entire hour, talking about various points of interest. The main problem seemed to be the lack of space and food supplies within the Casual Section. Although there was ample farmland within that area, it had previously only had to provide for people from one section. Now they had to cater for thousands of people from all other sections too. Not to mention the fact that the earthquakes had torn up the land quite considerably. It was no wonder the Leadership were pushing for the N-008 threat to be eradicated. The sooner the Free Section was clear and cleansed, the quicker they'd be able to provide more space and food for the survivors. Kalas strolled toward the checkpoint that lead back to the Casual Section, there were a queue of people waiting to be let through but having Level 3 High-Casual access had its' perks. He was motioned towards a fast track lane by one of the Q-Guards stationed there who nodded as he walked passed. "Commander." He spoke softly.

Kalas had grown used to this special treatment by now. After his actions on the Day of Emergence, or E-Day as it was often shortened to, that saved the lived of nearly a thousand people, the Advanced Section Leadership had saw it fit to bestow upon him the the highest level of Hi-Cas Clearance they could, without granting him access to the Advanced Section. Some had taken that as a slight against him, but Kalas was grateful for their generosity. He had just been doing his job after all but now the surviving population saw him as somewhat of a hero. From the checkpoint it was only a short walk to his quaint apartment. As he traveled there, he was constantly greeted with smiles and nods of respect, he made sure to return each one. It would do to let a little bit of fame go to his head.

After climbing a flight of stairs to the fifth floor and reaching the door of his apartment, he noticed that it was slightly open. Someone had broken in. His reactions forced his right hand to his staff, which remained strapped to his back. Then, pushing himself against the wall next to his door, his slowly pushed it open. There was nothing. Not even a light had been turned on. He peeked around the corner before stepping a cautious foot inside the flat.

"I'm in the living room!" Came a sudden voice. The voice of a woman, a familiar voice. He dropped his guard and straightened his shoulders before closing the door behind him and walking in to the room at the end of the hall. Sat there, on a small couch, was the woman who had called out to him. Raven hair, green eyes and seductively red lips. She remained relaxed as he entered the room.

"What have I told you about breaking into my apartment, Isabelle?" He said, a slight annoyance in his tone.

"Something about not doing it, I'm sure. And please, it's Izzy." She replied nonchalantly, raising a leg to lay it upon the rest of the couch. "Besides, I thought you would have been glad to see me?" She pouted.

Kalas sighed. "Not right now, Iz. I'm not in the mood." He breathed before moving to sit on the couch beside her and pressing the palms of his hands into his eyes. An act that helped him to relax. Kalas had been under tremendous stress recently to put together a Special Ops team. It was a task that required shed-loads of paperwork and countless hours of searching through files of the currently enlisted men and women.

Isabelle moved behind him, placing each leg around his waist as she now sat on her feet that she folded beneath her. "Well, unfortunately for you, I have some information that you might be interested in." She began, slowly massaging both of his shoulders as she spoke. "And I'm afraid you can't have it until you give me something first." She whispered into his ear then giggled softly.

Kalas raised his head slightly at that. "What kind of information?" He inquired.

"Nu-uh." Izzy quickly interjected, "You first." Kalas sighed again and began dropping his head but Isabelle spoke out before he could fully ignore her advances.

"There might be a cure." She stated, a coy smirk on her face.

[Amelian Draco]

Dirt blood and sweat covered Amelian. Before him noobs where swarming from the Free Section. Their numbers seemingly endless. Around him where others who also fought for their lifes, and the lifes of those who need protection. Behind them was the entrance to the Casual Section. No matter how many times he cut one down another came to take its place. Slowly the defenders numbers dwindled. The swarm pushing them back one step at a time, then an explosion...and then nothing

---

Amelian sat up in his bed covered in sweat and breathing hard. The sounds of the his comrades dying ringing in his ears. It took him a moment to realize that he was in his apartment, and not reliving the events of E-day. That nightmare had troubled him since the. He had thought about therapy, but he suspected many people shared similar dreams.

He lived in an apartment in high-causal close to the checkpoint. It was small, but it was all he needed. Getting out of bed to get dressed, Amelian thought over his agenda for the day. He need to inspect the area around the Casual Section Checkpoint into Free Section. After that he was needed in a small recon for posible supplies. then he planned on going to the bar in mid-causal.

Amelian had decided to skip out on the "Monthly Crisis Meeting". He didn't enjoy hearing the Leadership's words of encouragement. He preferred to find his own ways of encouragement through a strong drink at the end of the night. Though as he walked towards the checkpoint he gave a respectful nod to Commander Kalas as he passed by.

[DJAtomika]

"One o' clock. High. Wind from nine to six. Adjust for elevation, fire when ready."

9:55 AM

_BANG

"Another. Twelve o' clock. Straight ahead. Winds are the same."

Grid Pos DG 5-9-A
Somewhere within Free

                          _BANG

"Two more. Ten o' clock. Low. Winds nominal. Fire when ready."

13th February, 2014

                                    _{BANG BANG}

"You got 'em. Let's pack up and head for the next pos."

The sniper perched atop the water tower nodded, seemingly to himself, and stood from his prone position, folding the attached bipod of his rifle as he gave the area a once over. The bloated infected he'd shot lay dead, bleeding thick, black blood from where they laid, sprawled on the rooftops and streets. The big ones were vessels for infection, he'd learned, and now he knew to take them out quickly whenever he had the chance. What little people remained here depended on it.

The bloats spreaded their disease by puking the contents of their digestive system into water supplies, buildings, sewer systems, wherever they knew survivors were camped in. The infection grew airborne after the disgusting liquid contents evaporated, and it spread through the air soon after. Once a building was contaminated by a Bloat, it had to be written off as 100% infected. No one could be saved, not even those suffering only from the initial stages.

Sighing to himself in mild relief, he stowed his rifle on his back and climbed down the ladder that led to solid ground. As he did so, a voice piped up from his leg.

"What's up boss? You've been out of it for ages."

The man sighed.

"It's...just all of this, Barr. I'm stuck here doing jack shit while the rest of the team's missing. I don't even know where they are. I want to go find them but they won't let me."

"No one's stopping you from goin' lookin', boss."

As the man opened the roof access door of the apartment building and walked downstairs, he shrugged.

"Yeah except I don't know where to look. Our comms don't work in this damn place and I can't sense them anywhere in this part of the city."

"But at least you're trying, aye boss?"

"Yeah, I guess."

Cho entered into a hallway, decorated with the corpses of the infected. Bullet holes peppered the walls, and dark pools of shadowy sludge covered the floor and ceiling. He stepped gingerly through the corpses and one groaned to life as it swiped weakly for his ankle, an action he ended by filling the offending infected with more lead from his submachine gun. He sighed and kept walking, making his way to the stairwell to head down to street level. Wherever he went, corpses were present, scattered about the floor, some splattered against the walls, others drawn into pools of darkness all about the place. He ignored the mess and gore as he moved downward, eventually reaching the ground floor where more corpses were strewn about, but also where two more soldiers were waiting for him.

The generic SWORD soldiers, armed with shotguns and clear ballistic shields, greeted him with nods as he rejoined them. The two were part of his recon squad; he'd originally insisted he work alone, but Kalas has also insisted, with a grand fervour, that he have some men with him in case something happened. So far, nothing. The men were weary, he knew; as much as the action was okay and all, he knew they wanted to be back behind the containment wall where it was safe, which suited him just fine. He'd rather operate alone, which he had mostly been doing for the past few days.

Kalas had given him free reign to operate within the Free section, with the obvious mission of "kill everything you see", and so far it was going well, barring the fact that the soldiers with him had to endure not sleeping in a proper bunk bed for the three or so days they'd been out. Granted they had been sleeping in bedrooms they'd found, but the thought of sleeping in a possible dead person's bed didn't sit well with the other guys. Cho didn't mind; he was already dead to begin with. This was day four, their last day, and they'd started out by clearing a whole apartment block, which was where they were departing from. They were to head for their next and final pos, after which they were scheduled to head back into Casual to debrief and rearm.

He greeted the soldiers in kind as he met them and they fell in step next to him.

"Boss, we got instructions from on high: finish up here, then head home."

Cho nodded.

"According to the plan. Good. Take point. I need to check ammo."

The two soldiers moved on ahead as he hung back to check his gear. As they did so, the two pairs of eyes on his submachine gun opened again and looked around before it stared up at him.

"Are they gone?"

Cho sighed and nodded to the gun that laid on his chest, eliciting a happy growl as it bounced gently against his tactical vest.

"Good! I hate strangers. I don't trust them at all!"

"Your mistrust of strangers isn't going to help us here, Kris."

"But they're creepy!"

"Oh Kris, everything's creepy to you except us."

The voice that emanated from Cho's back sighed, and he knew that Tac, if he had a head, was shaking it in mild exasperation.

His weapons were daemons, of course they could talk and think and such, but did they have to be so...quirky?

---

Some time later...
11:32 AM
Low-Casual

The Asian man sat atop a lawn chair, spread out on the roof of an apartment complex. Next to him laid his weapons and gear, spread out on several boxes and crates that he'd found lying around. Nearby, an empty cardboard pizza box lay discarded next to a glass bottle, drained of its contents.

The meagre lunch did little to quell his spirits. After returning to Casual an hour after his mission was complete, he'd gone straight home. "Home", appropriately enough, was the rooftop and access stairwell of a rather unassuming apartment complex. Exposed to the open elements, it also provided a very clear sightline to the only checkpoint in and out of Casual; the very one that led to Free. Being dead, food and drink didn't affect him the same way it did regular people, and as such he never needed a toilet. A shower? That was what he really needed. He stunk of cordite and death, and the fact that he was already dead didn't help matters much.

Cho sighed and sat up, hefting another bottle of beer in his hands as he took a swig. His teammates being missing still worried him immensely, a fact that Tac picked up on immediately as the plague demon sidled close.

Out of his normal form as Cho's sniper rifle, Tac the plague demon was about half the size of the man. Tac himself was also not humanoid; sickly mottled patches of flesh adorned his body where he wasn't covered in pale blue scales, and his whole form was that of a six-legged canid-like creature, with three pairs of black eyes, a serrated blade-like tail and a long, barbed snout that ended in a mouth not unlike an anteater. He drew up next to Cho's chair and laid on the floor, noticing his boss' displeasure.

"Still worried about 'em, boss?"

Cho gave the demon an aside glance and sighed.

"Yeah. It's been a week, Tac. Surely Nataliya or Luis would have made contact by now."

Tac gave a soft noise of worry as he looked up at the undead man.

"You couldn't have done anything, boss. No one saw it coming."

"But we...I could've done something. Given them a tracker each, maybe. Now we're separated and not being able to confirm that they're alright just...ugh."

"Don't worry so much, boss. They'll be fine. We'll find 'em, promise."

Cho gave the demon a glance and a pat on the head.

"Yeah, I guess so, Tac. I guess so."

---

One week earlier...
4:25 PM
The skies above RPG City

"Alright! Last call. Ammo check!"

"Check."
"Check!"
"Check."

"Gear!"

"All accounted for."
"Fully loaded!"
"Stocked and ready."

"Weapons!"

The chorus of roars, snarls, screeches and howls rose high above the noise of the plane. The four people within did one final rundown of their kit while they waited for their plane to make its descent. As they did so, their pilot came up over the intercom.

"Reapers! Your mission is simple: this dimension requires an influx of the light! In lieu of the Angels being elsewhere, you four will suffice! Assist the city's inhabitants before they are consumed by the virulent darkness, and the multiverse will return to stability once more!"

"No problemo, boss!"
"Of course, sir."
"Hai! Wakarimashita!"
"Da."

"Good! We will touch down on the main airstrip in five minutes. Strap in and -"

The voice was interrupted by a large, winged...something tearing through the fuselage of the plane. The tearing of metal screeched way above the sounds of the out-rushing air, even as the monster that was prying their plane apart was shot to pieces by the man sitting at the front. As his machine gun hissed and spat fire, more of the beasts latched onto the plane and began tearing it to shreds. The four soldiers within turned their weapons onto the horde but it was too late, the plane spiraled downward as it fell apart in the air and the four Reapers and their pilot were ejected into the bitter, grim air.

It was much later that Cho awoke on a street in High-Casual, having landed there after being unceremoniously hurled from his ride in. His teammates? Unknown. Their pilot? Unknown. Comms? Not functioning. Spirit sense? Too far away to tell.

He was alone. But not helpless.

Cho vowed, at that moment, to find his team and to reunite the Four Horsemen.

And then, they'd rescue this world from its time of peril.

[Hekazu]

Guster

Checkpoint FC-2, currently under supervision of Q-guard unit 87

It was 9:55 on the morning. Guster cared for little else when it came to time. He would be here for just as many days as the military lead wanted his unit to stay, counting the days would make no difference. When it came to the logbook, he could just refer to the earlier entry and forget. The unit had gathered into the comm-officer's dwelling, with the exception of the few people standing guard at the gate or the "shooting range", the excuse of a vantage point that allowed firing against any N-008's that approached. Personally Guster wouldn't have cared coming here this early, but apparently they were supposed to hold the MCM today and that could hold some interesting news, or so the command claimed. Like they had done the previous 3 or 4 times. Soon enough, the ordinary radio within the room abruptly stopped the Ride of the Valkyrie midway through as the 24-hour music channel was once more reserved for "better" use by the folk at advanced. The good ol' spokesman was on the air.

It was nothing too drastic at first. The usual praise to the S.W.O.R.D. and I.D.R.I.S. that had bothered to gather 'round, not even a word for Q-guard. Maybe some higher ups of F.E.A.R. would be praised too. Well, it was common knowledge that Q-guard was not the most liked bunch out there, so they were prob' just avoiding rising hate from the common folk that could get their hands on radios. Probably none to be honest. They were taken to military use rather effectively.

This boring repeat of the past went on for quite a moment, around 37 minutes if the clock on the wall was worth of his trust, but then began a part Guster would rather not have heard. More focus onto Free-section? Dammit. If this unit were to stay here, they inevitably would end up doing the S.W.O.R.D.'s job, rushing into the territory like those 'heroes' the people so admired. They were tough and doing a necessary job for sure... but that did not make them any less crazy. And Guster had never signed up for that level of shenanigans.

---

As the clock approached 10.30, Guster got the opportunity to overtake the least stressful spot in the entire checkpoint: He was the gatekeeper now. He had taken the logbook with him and scribbled within what had been said in the meeting. Foxtrot Charlie Two would see quite an increase in traffic if what the radio had told would actually happen. Wouldn't be the first time the higher-ups talked and proceeded to actually do nothing with their troops. Like back when they boasted they could find a way to Nation. Hadn't happened.

Possibly at 11.10 an odd bunch of S.W.O.R.D. people had wandered around and wanted back onto Casual. They were a lucky bunch to Guster, even if they had just come back from that hell. At least they could leave it behind them. Among them was someone of clearly different calibre, a man who just had this sense of might around them. And of course the living shadows told their own tale. Guster would have liked to think of them being similar to him, but they were still on some level a human. He was but an imposter. None of the group had lost their ID plates, which was a godsend. No need to be calling the High-Casual facilities and asking questions.

As the shift at the gate was nearing its end, Guster could feel someone approaching the door between the little hut and the main building.
"It is still 20 or so minutes early", he greeted the person.
"No, you do not understand sergeant!" Corporal Brown partially shouted at him. "We got the avocado!"
Guster would have rolled his eyes if he had been capable of doing so. "Really? The HQ is letting us outta here?! Count me in boy, even if means we go to a different spot it is at least somewhere probably not Foxtrot Charlie somethingsomething!"

Avocado, as in the radio comms word for changing stations to another. It would be time to start packing.

---

Dr. Daxter Sness

S.T.R. lower management offices

Sness had been preparing for this ever since his Warlike frame suffered at the... pseudopods of the sentient ooze. It did not make it any easier for him however. F.I.E.L.D. had had it's pro's, like him actually having a laboratory adequate for his needs and letting him go out and do stuff, not caring too much about what he had done with his body. Well, each community had their rotten apples, but the transfer to S.T.R. had shown him just how much worse things could be. People here tended to dislike him for two reasons: project Fenrir and him being ex F.I.E.L.D.. They thought they were better than him.

What he now had to do though was look for a way to gain access to a laboratory he could comfortably use lab frame in and house Lev's aquarium comfortably. It was nothing new having these needs neglected... even before Guildfall his employers hardly ever remembered his special needs. Sness ran a quick test on his speech system. "Do re mi fa so la ti doooooo.... do ti la so fa mi re doooooo..." Yes, that would do.

Two knocks on the door was all it took, a secretary opened the door and led Sness to her boss.
"Hello mr. Wesson", Sness greeted the man behind the table.

"Good day Dr. Sness. Please do take a seat."

"I'll just move this chair aside so I can do that if it is okay."

"Oh yes, you are one special fellow. Go ahead."

Here it was again. It was but a little problem... he needed no chair as his legs would be perfectly fine sitting still and keeping his upper body at a height fitting for the usual table, but it took some space, and now it was a big number already. Well, maybe it would go to his advantage now, showing that what he was requesting was truly needed. He settled down where the chair had been and waited for Wesson to go on.

"So let me get this straight. You are requesting a vastly enlarged laboratory with server access, mostly waterproofed and equipped with a drain and potentially an emergency shower with electronic equipment fulfilling the necessary waterproofing requirements as well?"

"That is exactly what I am requesting. Me, Lev and Virus..."

"Not everything can revolve around a single member of our staff mister. I'll see what can be done and I'll see that what gets done goes as far as possible, but I cannot make any promises."

"I... understand", Sness replied to this, offended by the fact he had been cut off earlier.

"Good. Go now, and you'll hear of us soon."

As Sness moved out he couldn't help but wonder why on earth had this person even asked him to be there personally. It had seemed that mailing the papers would've had the same effect. Maybe he just wanted to see the new facility curiosity. He was but a human like most others. What was so hard in understanding that?

[RomanAria]

Aralii Astaline

_{02:14 13/02/2014}
It had been a terrible week. A week of exhaustion, pain, and just generally not knowing if he was going to die or not.
The tiny girl laid on the dirty asphalt, too exhausted to move; having given literally every drop of energy of her body into trying to beat the virus that was trying to kill her brother.
She thought he wasn’t going to make it. The fever had been too high at the beginning; he’d been having fits and convulsing.
Which is why it was such a surprise to her when he opened his eyes and sat up, seemingly lucid.
“Aesandr. Oh my god. Oh my god.” Aralii scrambled on the asphalt, trying to sit up and crawl to him.
He just stared at her, his eyes… empty. Pure white and empty.
“Aesandr?”
Still staring. And then… He lunged for her, pointed teeth snapping at her neck.
In her mind she could hear his thoughts, almost foreign. All Deminutians have telepathy within their species; but Aesandr’s thoughts… they were like those of an animal. Thoughts of lust, of hunger and thirst, but no more.
With a cry she flung up her arms, trying to keep his snapping teeth away from her neck. Around them some of the other Deminutians started standing up, growling at each other, snapping and snarling. Like dogs, like… feral dogs.
Still the two struggled on the ground, Aralii barely avoiding getting her head bitten off. With tears in her eyes she begged Aesandr to stop, to stop and be normal.
He didn’t hear her.
She was still crying as she let him fall on her, as she did the only thing she could think of: she bit him in the throat and tore his jugular. The black blood sprayed her, choking her, filling her throat and splattering all over her, burning her like acid.
She cried and cried even as he stopped twitching, even as the blood stopped flowing.
Even as she lunged to her feet and ran, the black blood and her own tears still dripped off of her.
_04:04
Aralii awoke with a start, jamming her hand into her mouth to avoid crying out, her sharp canines piercing the skin of her palm.

It took her a second to remember where she was. Right. In the SWORD barracks. Waiting for an assignment.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and rolled, blinking. It was Eliira. The only other Deminutian from her traveling party who had escaped the N008s.

“Mercy, sorry to wake you, but...” Eliira spoke. Codenames. That meant business.
Ari sighed. “No, it’s fine, Flutter. What is it?”
The other Deminutian girl sighed. “They want you at the treatment area.”
Ari groaned internally. “Alright. Thank you.” She motioned for the green-eyed girl to leave, and as soon as she did, got up and put on a tunic and leggings, then set out at a jog for the rather-haphazardly-set-up medical area.
She swiped her access card to the one semi-secure area, where they kept N008s for attempted treatment. Usually locked down with wrist and ankle cuffs on a table, for the treatments to be tested on.
The nurse on call was waiting for her. “Mercy, good, you got here fast. Zero-Zero-Eight-dash-One-Five is… not doing well. Could you…?”
The girl sighed internally. She’d been exhausted for weeks and now… “Of course.” She walked past the nurse, swiping her way into the biohaz dressing room, then into the holding area.

Her nose was assaulted by the scent of decay and filth; well of course, the N008 patients were hardly docile enough to be cleaned. She made her way to the 15th holding chamber.
She’d spent hours and a huge amount of energy on this one. Trying to help his body fight off the virus, to minimal good effect. Nonetheless…

She jumped up onto the table, to which the patient was strapped. His skin was a patchwork of black, decaying flesh, red, raw muscle where he’d worn the skin away, and his normal skin tone. The once-human looked at her with solid gray eyes, not seeming to see her, and let out a cry that sounded like an animal being tortured; she could see the muscles in his arms tensing, his hands jerking against the solid steel cuffs that bound him to the table. Even from where she was, a few inches away from him, she could feel the heat radiating from the feverish patient.

Gritting her teeth, she touched his arm, wincing as the creature screamed. She tried to force the thoughts out of her mind and burn the infection out of him; starting with his blood. That would be how the infection was spreading; if he was to have any hope his blood had to be clear.

She tried to burn the infection out of his brain, next, but she had minimal strength left to do this before she found herself back in her own body, pain shooting through her. Of course. This virus… it took it out of her like nothing else she’d ever treated.
_05:12
The girl half-jumped, half-fell to the floor. The pain in her head and the rest of her body made it hard to concentrate, but she got out of the room, going and getting her suit sterilized, and then stripping out of it and half-stumbling back to the barracks. She barely had the strength to haul herself up onto her bunk before she fell asleep. Or unconscious, she wasn’t really sure. She knew that she had to soak up as much sleep as she could before she had to start the day. She couldn’t imagine what it would be like trying to fight the virus if she herself had it, not when just trying to cure other people took so much out of her.
_05:30
Aralii’s alarm went off with a buzz, and she groaned as she sat up and watched the world spin around her. The girl smacked at the alarm, needing a few tries to hit the button, because her depth perception was so off. God, she was even more groggy than usual… and still feeling feverish.
She prayed that it was just exhaustion affecting her and not something more.

Despite feeling like total crap, she dragged herself to her feet and to the bathrooms, to try and clean and freshen up before the meeting.
_09:50
Ari found herself in the city square, standing on Eliira’s shoulder; given her short height she would be trampled in a minute if she was left on the ground. She listened with as much attention as she could; the bit of news about the Free section was both wonderful and horrible. Because some of her people…

There had been a group of about two hundred that had been brought to the city by some anonymous patron. Ari had confirmed the death—had caused the death—of thirty-two of them. As far as she knew, she and Eliira were the only two who had made it out of the Free section… there might have been some in Advanced, or in the Nation section; she wasn’t sure. But in all probability there were still at least fifty of her former friends and relatives roaming the Free section as feral beasts.

She shook her head slightly, clearing the thoughts; she had to focus. The meeting was already drawing to a close… had she really zoned out that badly?
_10:00
Ari waited for most of the people to leave, scanning the departing crowd for a certain face. There.
Eliira saw where she was looking and laughed. “Could have just mentioned it and I’d have brought you over, Ari.”
“Yeah, but it’s more fun this way.” She jumped down from Ellie’s shoulders and grabbed her other “friend” by the leg: Edoric Thatch.
“What did you think of the speech, Echoes?” she asked. She let go of Edoric’s leg with one hand to wave to Eliira, who vanished into the crowd that was heading back to the residence areas, probably headed to get suited up for a mission. "You think we'll be sent out there?"

[DJAtomika]

"Put out the call."

"W-what sir?"

"Put out the call to our operators. Go grab Doctor Weiss and tell him to bring up his experiment. And also place a general recruitment call. We're taking the fight to the noobs."

"Right away sir. Anything else?"

"Get me my private phone. I have a call to make."

---

Cho
Low Casual
12:03 PM

"Hmm."

Cho contemplated the sudoku puzzle in the book in his hands. These things weren't his strong suit but he'd try anything to pass the time. There wasn't much else to do besides worry about his teammates.

Tac padded over from the stairwell and dropped his phone on his lap, which was vibrating furiously. Surprised and slightly startled, Cho put the phone to his ear as the demon settled down next to his chair.

"Hello?"

"Mr Sun-Jin."

Cho sat up in his chair.

"Sir."

"I require your aid in a particular endeavour."

"Name it, sir."

"In Sword's possession there is device developed by one of our weapon technicians. A bomb, high yield, large blast radius, but only deadly to organic tissue. Our technicians have programmed it to only recognise infected tissue, so you will be in no danger. You are to take this device, bring it into the Free section, deploy it where you find the largest concentration of infected, and detonate it from a safe distance. Reduce their numbers and it'll make our fight all the easier."

"Got it sir. I'll be there shortly -"

"One more thing: you will not be alone on this mission. I have sent out a general call to arms for any independent contractors who wish to assist in this endeavour. You will be with them."

At that he frowned. More troublesome "newbies" to babysit. Truth be told he didn't trust any of the other soldiers in this place except himself; most of the faces he'd seen were those of people comfortable with their big guns in the safety of the walled city. Faces that had seen the infection but never fought it, who never understood how ruthless and bloodthirsty the infected were. Those who would defend their city to their last breath bravely but were always the ones who died first. Would he go through the trouble again?

Well he had to. He had no other choice. As much as he wanted to get out there and look for his friends, their objectives were still the same. He sighed inwardly as he responded to the voice on the phone.

"Understood. Anything else sir?"

"Nothing else, Mr Sun-Jin. I have placed the rendezvous location as the checkpoint into the Free section. You have half an hour. Expect your new team within that time frame."

"Yes sir."

With a weary sigh he hung up and stood, stretching as Tac stood at his side.

"Work, boss?"

"Yup. Get the rest. We're on the clock."

[Hekazu]

Guster

Checkpoint FC-2, currently under much less strict supervision of Q-guard unit 87

It had been mere 20 minutes since the message had been received, and the unit was already mostly prepared to move out. Guster kept his eye out on the gate as much as he could, but he also had other duties to perform. For example what he was doing now: Performing the leaving preparations for the men.

"All right men, you know the drill. We've done this at least a dozen times before, and boy are we not glad to be doing it again. As I said, you know your stuff. Three of your four mags to me, each filled to the brim, ya got it? Any cases of missing ammo can and will be investigated and that does not mean anything good for the good crew eighty-seven", Guster shared the same information he had shared with the men before, but just in case they needed a reminder. A few weeks at Foxtrot Charlie two could do that, as possibly explained by the euphoric rush caused by the knowledge of getting out from there.

The men all placed the required amount of gun magazines on the table, and Guster swiped them all into the secure transport cases as he had checked the boxes on the station changing form on each soldier. He himself was not a part of this conduct, using quite the unusual weaponry did things like that to a rigid system. "Okay, now I'd like to remind you how to behave with that last magazine of yours. First, you keep it OFF your gun. You do NOT attach it unless a need arises and by a need I mean a noob charging you or a street mob ganging up on you. A civilian looking at you funny does not count. WE CLEAR?!" he broke off from his rather monotone recitation of facts and shouted the last words at the crew. Last time they had had trouble understanding this and had been too near causing another scandal with Q-guard and the rumoured power abuse. "And even once you attach it if it is not a noob you do not immediately load the gun, instead you point the barrel at the aggressors feet and give them a moment to think if this is a smart idea. And by no means are you EVER going to attach the mag AND load the gun FOR NO BLOODY REASON and then we end up with a hole on the roof of our transport. WE CLEAR THIS TIME PRIVATE FROST?!" This was another case entirely... he'd rather forget it, but just in case the fool would even think of doing it again he had to remind them. "ARE WE CLEAR?" he yelled one more time before giving them the chance to reply.

"Yes sir..." Frost muttered under his breath. Guster could barely make it out with his hearing, and he could bloody well read the waves in the air. More than likely the other people had not even noticed him speaking. That was no way to answer to your superior when their voice could almost drive people deaf, so Guster chose to repeat himself.

"I could not hear a bloody thing private! ARE WE CLEAR OR DO WE HAVE TO GO OVER THE ENTIRE BLOODY CASE RIGHT HERE AND NOW?!"

"SIR, WE ARE CLEAR SIR! I will not do the thing again!" private Frost replied, now actually using their voice. Guster was happy with this answer and simply nodded.

"Now to check the chambers. Muzzle control, you may remove the safety. Moving parts back, I'll check", now that the lesson had been gone through, he was back to his usual brief and to the point self. Taking his own magimusket to the front, he reached for a small key in a front pocket, opened a lock on the side of the gun with it and opened the side of the guns barrel. A small cloud of sparkles flew from both the new exit and from the tip of the barrel and then he closed it. His gun was now unloaded. As he locked the hatch, he went over each of the squad members weapons, finding nothing out of the ordinary. "Great. Muzzle control, fire the blank, safeties on." The new group would arrive any moment now...

---

Dr. Daxter Sness

High-Casual, a temporary apartment S.T.R. got for Sness for his transfer period

As Sness opened his front door with the keys he was still thoroughly annoyed by Wesson's lack of manners towards his slight difference from the usual human. As he walked in though, he could hear Virus greeting him from the doorbell system and a smile climbed on his face. "So you got in, huh? Some good news for a change. Is it any better than the portable transfer system?"

First, there was a period of silence that took at least ten seconds. Then a voice rumbled from the low quality speaker:"I will have to admit this system is only better in the sense that as I reside here I have a functioning loudspeaker and some processing power." Virus seemed to be just as annoyed by the temporary solutions as him. Hopefully S.T.R. could arrange the laboratory quickly... If all else went south, he could at the very least call F.I.E.L.D. who had promised to look after him. His stay had been brief, but the people there had shown him respect. Something S.T.R. had seemed to lack thus far.

He had to see Lev though and share the news with her. For now the fact that his daughter could live comfortably was the most important thing... Judging by the lack of sound of flowing water she must've come out from the shower by now. She was amphibious, sure, but water was her preferred element. That is how he had had to build her... He couldn't take such shortcuts with project Harpy though. At least it was leaps and bounds better than what he had done to himself.

Knocking on the door of her bedroom yielded quick results as Lev opened the door in mere seconds. She must've heard him come in or something and waited. She tilted her head to the side as much as her collar allowed and a curious expression formed on her face. How much she managed to tilt her head surprised him, but the system would not allow leaks so it should all be okay. "Well Lev... they said they'd see what they can do. I do not know when I can promise you a new tank... but I'll try my best", he explained the situation and placed his hand on her shoulder. While she did look disappointed, she reached around Daxter and gave him a hug. The mechanical doctor returned the gesture and muttered "I know... I know..."

[ClocktowerEchos]

Edoric

The rustling of chairs and footsteps awoke Edoric from his nap. He had passed out somewhere in the middle of the meeting from his spot towards the back of the room, carefully chosen so no one would notice him. The meeting was the same as usual to him, shit was going down somewhere, shit was bad, shit need to be killed, the tl;dr version of the meeting could be summed up as "shit's happening".

As the first numbers of people trickled out of the room, the solider made his way out, concealing his presence with the dozens of tramping feet next to him. Slipping past the crowd, his mind and feet begin to wonder, unsure of what he was thinking of or where he was going.

Edoric had been deep in his own thoughts until he feel aa tugging on his leg. It was Aria, pulling on his pants, looking up at her from her short stature. It always made him laugh a little, seeing someone the size of a small adorable child running around in the middle of a warzone even if they were "adults" in their own race.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah. It was very interesting. Totally paid attention in the whole thing", Edoric unconvincingly bluffed, half the meeting he was daydreaming and the other half he was asleep. Didn't seem like anyone noticed his snoozing though so it was all good, "Yup, got all of that stuff in."

Dammit man, hamsters can make a more convincing argument than that! Edoric berated himself for his bluff which he could tell was failing in fantastic fashion. He wondered if he ought to have slept more, but then he realized the entire purpose of staying up was since he was doing more damn paperwork and had to catch up on Magical Moe-Chan.

"I hope we get sent out soon." Edoric quickly and adeptly (in his mind at least) changed the subject, "Kinda want to kill something or blow it up. Namely that one store who refused to give me my money back after I tried returning a musical wombat to them."

@RomanAria