Cath

The Cradle

“I think the operations rooms are on the upper levels.” Freyr mused, thinking back to when she last visited. Admittedly, it had been a long time ago, and she’d only been cleared to access the ground floor.

“I was going to try and steal a copy of the floorplan, but I can't interface with the system anymore. In fact, I'm losing power now. We need to be quick.” 595 added, feeling a pressure in the back of her head which wasn’t there before. Was that something rifling through her mind as if it were a folder, looking at articles of interest? She looked around quickly, trying to spot signs for the infirmary or even a pharmacy locker.

Both of the Humans watched as Vreta vaulted up onto the level above. “I...can’t get up there.” Freyr said, nervous. “Stand over there.” 595 commanded, pointing to a spot directly under Vreta’s dangling arms. After a moment’s hesitation, she complied. 595 followed her, and crouched down, grasping Freyr’s thighs in a vice-like grip. The Agent’s suit whirred and clicked, with the pitch gradually increasing until she exploded upwards.

Freyr found herself flying up into the air, and her extended hands being gripped by the Rothian above her.

“I need to find an infirmary - I'm not doing so good.” The Agent coughed, looking up to make sure Freyr made it onto the gantry. “We’ll have a better chance of spotting it if we cover both floors.”

Song Reference time

You love the way
i look at you

The Cradle

Freyr stood motionless as Vreta disappeared, gazing up at the massive biped as it crept quietly towards them through the mist. It wasn’t giving off any predatory cues, apart from a fixing stare like the big cats she’d studied. Part of her was tired of running, and wanted to see what the creature would do if she tried to communicate.

But when 595 glanced back and saw Freyr wasn’t moving, she made it clear that wasn’t an option. “Move!” The Agent shouted, motioning to the hole with her gun. This made Freyr jump, and she jolted into action. Her shield flared against the hot residue around the hole as she scrambled through. 595 backed up with her weapon up as the creature loomed over the pond with the MRAP in it.

The Agent’s suit detected Human shouting in the distance, and tried to clean it up before Freyr called back “I’m through! Your turn!” 595 hesitated for a moment, then pursed her lips and turned to slither through the hole as well.

An oppressive atmosphere cloaked them in the lobby. Muffled creaks and a soft breeze wafted through the maze of walls and spikes around the trio. Freyr cleared her throat softly, then tried comms again. “GCHQ, we’re inside the...West entrance. What is the building’s status?”

“My readings are all over the place again, like inside the Object.” 595 rasped, then coughed chestily. “I don’t like this.” She finished, once she was able.

Freyr took no notice, she was looking around. It seemed that two broad, tall ‘streets’ branched off from this lobby on either side of the entryway. They must have been part of the ring-like superstructure - Freyr could see open gantries with a hint of the floors above. There was a set of doors directly in front of them too. “Which way?”

Halo: Aegis Team

After some consideration, Tar didn’t take any of the Forerunner toys. This didn’t feel like the right mission to be experimenting with body-vaporising armaments; any traitors deserved the point of her sword. She equipped an active camo battery but declined the other possible armour addons. Soldiers in her Keep fought hard but slow, weighed down by heavy, traditional armour. It was one of the things she had failed to modernise before she left. She needed to be light and quick on her feet to survive, as she wouldn’t be able to match their strength.

Tar headed to the staging hangar with others from Aegis Team. She walked slowly, calmly, with head bowed. She recognised the need to control her emotions, but didn’t understand all these last-minute additions. Not only was an ‘exploitation specialist’ now on the roster, whatever that was, but she also noticed a female Infiltrator tagging along too. They hadn’t spoken yet, and she wasn’t sure there would be time now. Tar growled, and shook her head slightly. No matter - there was a job to do. She’d do it alone if she had to. She patted her gear again, to make sure everything was exactly as she liked it. Excellent. The only thing left now was to get started. She looked at Commander 'Virisusai expectantly.

How about a roleplay that's blank?

Cool idea!

The Cradle

“I’d rather not piss this thing off. Let's just get inside - how are we looking?” 595 replied, glancing back from down the sights. The CSF virus had taken Freyr’s suggestion as a challenge; the gouges and hole reappeared alongside several new rends.

A light thump brought the Agent’s gaze back to the parkland. A mist was falling, but she could see the outline of a large humanoid shape stepping quietly out from behind the skyscraper. It began stalking closer to them, with the ground shaking slightly under each step.

“You can get in there if you cut away some of the jagged edges.” Freyr pointed to the hole in the barrier. “Hurry!” She looked back at the slowly advancing figure.

The Cradle

595 got up, then encouraged Freyr to her feet. “C’mon, we’ve gotta go.” A sound like whispering long grass wafted across the parks.

Turning her head, the Agent saw an MRAP burst out into the open from the forest of skyscrapers ringing the park and GCHQ. The truck careered off the main road as the turret fired bright bolts of energy at something chasing it. It churned up a few footpaths when it crossed the park, demolished a lamp post before flying off a raised bank into a public swimming pool a couple of hundred metres away. The plasma turret ceased firing.

“Keep your head down - let's move.” 595 urged, pushing the scientist in front of her while she covered the rear, assault weapon in one hand.

They crossed the road in a tight group. Silence resumed, after the short interruption. Freyr watched the turrets above - they twitched, but didn’t turn back around. “GCHQ, do you read me? We’re coming up to the side entrance. Can you see us?”

The hole in the alloy barriers sewed together slightly as they approached. Freyr watched keenly as the deep rents along the surface began to smooth over. “It’s self-repairing. See if you can get the virus to redo the damage maybe? Might be easier than getting the whole barrier to deconstruct.” She offered.

“Better make that quick. We have company.” 595 announced gravely, facing the parklands. Freyr turned from the wall, and followed the Agent’s outstretched finger. She gasped when she realised that the thing 595 was pointing at wasn’t part of the skyscraper next to it.

It was a large, pale yellow eye, sunken into a dark fleshy eye socket and faintly illuminating the otherwise black surroundings. It looked to be staring at the foundering MRAP, or something nearby. Freyr made out half of a jagged, gaping maw below the eye - that was faintly lit too. Under that, she noticed a clawed hand gripping the side of the building that it peeked out from behind. It was scarred with the same pale yellow phosphorescence as the face.

“Fuck me, It must be five stories tall.” 595 shook her head incredulously, an edge of fear creeping in her voice. Freyr couldn’t help her fascination. “Wow...I have never seen so much matter...organised into an amalgam like that.”

The eye moved slightly, to gaze right at them. “Uh oh.” Freyr breathed.

The Cradle

“A fine plan. Let's see what we can do.” 595 purred, then clicked with her tongue as though sicking an attack dog.

The Agent’s companion virus had gained control of the office where the ambush took place in a matter of seconds. But the nature of that building meant there wasn’t much it could do to help. GCHQ by contrast, presented concentric closed-off layers of security, guarded by machine-learning antivirus and Human controllers. If their ragtag band had tried this maneuver yesterday, they’d have been mobbed by soldiers two minutes into the hack attempt, nevermind shut out of the system.

Yet no soldiers appeared as the virus latched onto the door control system. 595 made sure both Vreta and herself had a ‘hand up its ass’, as she liked to call it. From there, they could give the virus instructions and gain real-time information about the environment they would soon be entering.

The virus sniffed the exterior of the system from its toehold in the door control panel, and excitedly identified a slender gap in GCHQ’s defences surrounding the entrance. “That shouldn’t be there...Doesn’t look like we’re the first to try this.” 595 murmured, studying the graphs her virus was painting for them. “Looks like we’ll be able to control the turrets for a short period. Do you want to do the honours?”

“GCHQ, can you respond please? We need to get inside.” Freyr asked over comms. Just static again.

The Cradle

Normally, 595 would’ve chuckled. But her throat was starting to hurt, so she tried to restrain her amusement. “Are you asking me to penetrate the headquarters of the most advanced intelligence and cybersecurity agency in the Diaspora? A building channelling so much processing power from the Cradle that it makes its real-world equivalent look like one giant cipher wheel for children?” The Agent did chuckle, and it ended in a throaty cough. “Ok, no problem. I do have a trick or two up my sleeve.”

A memory flashed into 595’s head. She was pushing 127 ahead of her, pistol in hand. He was wearing that distinctive black bag with gold thread over his head, and his hands were cuffed together behind his back. Two distracted embassy soldiers turned and confronted them in the hallway - who was that, where were they taking the him, they asked. They needed to see some identification. Connie and Gene, the Novices walking on either side of the new Agent, raised their weapons and opened fire on full-auto.

595 gently bounced her head off the grassy ridge in front of her, blinking and clearing her throat. “Ok. Let's go.” The G5 CSF virus had been clinging harmlessly to her suit and neighbouring systems since she unleashed it back in the tower block. At the Agent’s instruction, it skittered across the road towards the entrance. Sniffing every available access point to determine a viable entrance strategy as it went. “I may have just planted a virus. You should be able to see it - we can guide it together.” 595 coughed.

The Cradle

GCHQ

Freyr didn’t know how to react to things anymore. She’d been scared out of her mind so much in the last 24 hours that she felt her consciousness receding into a mental stronghold. The voice that emerged from her lips was merely a servant, a useful shade to deploy in critical moments.

She felt bad for the two people with her, as she was in essence dragging them on what could be a suicide mission. But Freyr knew enough about the Cradle to suspect that this power surge may never end. The horrors unleashed from the depths of the simulation may be here to stay, which meant New Antioch may continue on this road to ruin for a long time. Perhaps forever, if the Object figured out some way to eject them completely...

This could be her last chance to talk to the entities in charge, on her own terms. She had to get answers. At any rate, she allowed Vreta to pull her along by the hand.

595 brought up the rear, switching weapons to cross the park. She hobbled over the grass with her new assault rifle swivelling from side to side. The lights dimly illuminating the pathways flickered as they approached. Her breath rattled in her chest. In…Out...In...Out.

“Foreign contaminants in your bloodstream are resisting standard antibiotics. Strongly recommend visiting GCHQ infirmary for resupply.” Her suit informed her. “Copy that.” The Agent rasped.

The bushes around them rustled in the breeze as they crossed the patchily lit parks. Apart from that, the Cradle was deafeningly quiet. Freyr could smell freshly cut grass through her suit. She’d had smells disabled for the entire trip through the subway, for obvious reasons.

After a tense couple of minutes, the team reached a grassy bank that bordered the roads ringing GCHQ’s side entrance. 595 encouraged everyone to lie down with her, so they could survey the area without drawing attention. She could see that the glass swing doors had been reinforced with thick metal barriers.

“Look.” 595 whispered, marking a small hole that had been prised open near the edge of the entrance. The barriers had sustained heavy damage, with deep rents from massive claws along the entire face.

The Agent then marked two hidden auto-turrets high above the entrance. They were models adapted from Navy ships; designed to repel boarding craft. They still appeared operational, turning slowly this way and that. She then noticed that the road outside the entrance was a mess of blood and gunge.

“GCHQ, this is...um...Tangier One. Can you hear me?” Freyr asked over open comms. A low synthetic burbling responded, but nothing else.