Timemaster

Not a Step Back - a World War II Inspired NRP

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Through the Gateways: Humanity [Closed] [Soon to be Concluded]

6 Months Later

To say that the One changed wouldn’t cover what exactly happened. The WFD kept their end of the bargain and with that, life was breath in the Circle Of One.

Cattle, vegetables and fruits were brought in and cloned. Millions of each were consumed daily to feed the One population at first which only kept growing as Williams weren’t needed anymore for food. Soon, over 5 billion Ones existed and throughout the unity of the One, a single thought reigned supreme. Reduce the population. At least a billion Williams and Jamess, took the road towards the frozen side of the planet and walked to their deaths. Their bodies littering the frozen tundra, all to be hidden by the falling snow in hours.

The overall population went down but the One kept growing with the help of the WFD and the URC. Long gone were the signs of battles long past, fallen buildings and debris. All replaced with actual buildings, walls and towers.

While the occupied parts of the city were mostly cleared out, a huge part of the city was still left unexplored. Parts where the Immortalis’s engines of destruction were running amok, automated turrets, towering robots and the nano-machines that ripped the flesh off the bone were all real dangers to those that wandered in those areas and nothing was known of what was below the city itself.

More Vaults were discovered throughout the reclaimed parts of the city by the One but most proved to be filled with the same black pyramids they’ve seen before or empty, whatever would’ve been in them was long gone. The main discovery of the One was another, sister-Vault of the cloning vats one. It was different from the original in the sense it was smaller with only 2 cloning vats inside but those looked different.

The language barrier seemed to be the main issue with these two different looking cloning vats but after a few weeks of non-stop trial and error, they’ve managed to figure them out. The cloning parts were the same but the implants were different, made to communicate with each other instead of being dependent on the cloning machines to transfer information.

The first few months after the new discovery was made, all but a few of the One were replaced with new-improved versions of themselves which proved to feel “weird” for the One. No longer fully separate entities synchronising their movements with perfection, they were always in talk with each other. The downside was that after a few hundred kilometers they’d become unable to talk with each other and that solitude hurt the One, like never before.

The Old One

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the only downside of the new upgrades. The Old One, the lone survivor, older than any other clone currently alive, grew in power. Before, he was alone in his misery; now, things have changed. Thousands of the One joined his group and took control of a district of the city.

He was an aberration to the overall One. A clone which didn’t update his memories since creation, he is madness turned human. A madness which infected roughly seven thousand clones. They no longer referred to themselves as One but as the Many. Each trying to be different from each other, a changed haircut, tattoos, scars or anything else that would set them apart from the One. This madness was unseen before in the One but was left alone, like a benign tumor. Left alone until it is required to be cut.

The Behemoth

On other fronts, the One, using the materials received, scap from the Sol battle and training received from different people of New Beijing, have managed to cannibalize parts of the destroyed ships of the different nations which fought against the megacorporation invaders to build their own line of ships.

While having almost no defences of their own, they were all filled with the black pyramids of the Immortalis which were to be used as EMPs. A way to disable a ship before troop carriers, hundreds of small pods were thrown at high speed would make their way into the potential attacker’s ship. Releasing the Jamess within to wreak havoc on the enemy from inside.

The Behemoth was no longer the lone ship of the One but still the biggest spaceship of the One and the only one equipped with a fully functioning cloning vats. The Behemoth itself wasn’t seen flying after the White Flower revolution due to that fact but was kept behind the line of junk ships, only to be used in case of emergency.

The Meeting Place / The WFD

The One kept the good relationship they had with the WFD, while most of them were still wary of the One...with good reason, they weren’t causing issues for them. Mostly due to Kayla’s influence in vouching for them.

In New Beijing, a force of a few hundred Jamess and Grants were kept behind, housed near the spaceport which once acted as their HQ. They’ve mostly integrated with the locals, helping out where they could and occasionally policing the area against the occasional petty crime. Gone was their kill first, ask questions later way of thinking. Thieves caught were brought to the authorities that were and sometimes, left alone.

On the Meeting Place, the One had a minor presence. While not being able to build their own section, the WFD was kind enough to allow them to use their own. A few Grants were left behind with a ship making the hard flight to-and-from the Circle of One every few weeks in order to keep the information flow going.

The URC

The One remembered those who fought with them during the WFR from the URC. Many of their soldiers died and fought side-by-side with the One.

As they have promised, the One remembered all their names and how they looked. Soon after the WFR, the URC received a gift at their embassy at the Meeting Place. Small statues shaped in the form of the faces of the lost soldiers.
Those that lived only received kind words with one exception. Sergeant Kaskin, who fought with the One, at an important battle in Beijing received a true gift. The One long tried to break the black pyramids in order to use them as building materials due to their durability but only managed to scratch their surface. One small pebble sized part of a pyramid was able to be chipped away using the newly gained tools and a hole was put in it, to be worn as an amulet.

The pebble was brought to the URC in a small gift box which the WFD was happy to provide.

The Hybrid

Secretly, the One took one prisoner from the Khan which was initially reported as MIA. The super-Monke Bloodburn was kept in the cloning vats for the past 6 months, in a deep sleep mode. Unaware of what’s happening outside.

The One has long realized that the Khan proved to be either great allies or great enemies but in case of the latter, they had to be ready which prompted them to start the Super-Monke programme. B-B-M-02 was a failure and so were the B-B-M-56341 specimens. All Bloodburn Monkes but with the One mind, all killing either each other or themselves. All going crazy as soon as the first sign of violence was spotted.

The Super-One programme was soon closed, only to be replaced by a new programme. The Hybrid. The DNA of the One combined with the Bloodburn specimen. Half-One, Half-Monke. The strength of the One mind, the regenerative abilities and strength of the BBM.

While the experiments seemed to work initially, something was missing. Something that the One didn’t manage to understand. The human part worked as intended but the Monke part wasn’t. They needed help, they needed specialists.

Soon the Grants from the Meeting Place made contact with the Khan. Only one message was sent to them.

“ Greetings. We have fought against each other on New Hollywood. We have one of your own. You have something we need. Let’s talk. ”

Through the Gateways: Humanity [Closed] [Soon to be Concluded]

The One was still battling over New Beijing and other areas on the ECU homeworld, news would come from New London with the fights there. Thousands dead, even more to die.

All the death and destruction made them think about all the dark thoughts that they believed to be gone. We don't deserve life, sentience. Humans only fight and fight and fight...until there's no one left to fight, then and only then, they start surviving. How many million Ones have died to keep themselves alive? How many more will?

When will all this death end?

It was a thought that plagued the One. Always lingering in the back of their mind, now even more pronounced after Kayla's integration. Her thoughts were strange and her memories showed a lot of the dark sides of the ECU but still, she kept her hope and her compassion. She believed that things will be better. Things wil--

" Sirs, sorry to disturb. May we ask you for a story? It's dark without all the lights and we're afraid. A story might just help the others focus on something else " said a young rebel, no older than 17, interrupting the Grant's line of thought. The signs of war clear on the teen's face.

The Grant smiled, took a sip of the whiskey they were holding and nodded.

" A story? What do you wish to know? About Old Earth? Its green pastures and blue sea? " asked the Grant.

" We've heard about Earth our whole lives. Tell us about yourselves." answered back the young rebel, a small gathering of children, women and other non-combatants slowly forming around the Grant.

" We remember Earth. The Fall was not theoritized for a long time but we never truly saw it coming but to understand us, let's go back in time, before the Fall. On the streets of London, the original city.

A boy was born there called James and he was left in an orphanage when he was 5, barely any memories of his parents. He grew up there, no one wanted him. He was always fighting, always hated the world for abandoning him.

As it is the case with these stories, things didn't go well. When he was older, a gang recruited him for small time jobs. Pickpocketing, B&E, beating up a person or two who didn't pay on time...small things but eventually he was caught.

James was 15 at that time and he got lucky with the judge. They gave him 4 years, which weren't the nicest years in his life but that doesn't matter. Once he got out, he had no clue what to do with his life. No family, no friends, no money, no education and with his rack sheet, no one respectable business wanted to hire him. No one but the military and somehow that's where he found a purpose.

James worked hard there, always believing that life will get better. Joined the SAS after a while and that’s when he knew that was his destiny. He did in the SAS what he knew best and they praised him for it. James was all over Earth, putting down terrorists and the sorts thinking that’s going to make Earth better. Of course, that never happened.

One mission he participated in didn’t end well. They were ordered to storm a village where terrorists were supposed to be occupying and they did. Shots were fired, the village was basically riddled with bullet holes and then they checked the buildings, one by one. Children, women, animals.

No terrorists and no weapons were found that day. They were fed wrong intel and civilians paid the price, James didn’t take it well. He felt guilty of killing all those people, and couldn't stay with the SAS for any longer.

Years later, he left the UK and moved to America. Lived there for a while, doing odd jobs and watching Earth going downhill. Protests, environmental damage...you name it and it probably happened.

The Gateway initiative was launched soon after, James didn’t know the details of it but it was everywhere. Humanity’s last chance, bright lights, propaganda and all that stuff. James knew he had to apply for a spot on the colony ship, he had to believe that this “New Earth” they’re going to be going to will be better than the previous one. How wrong he was…

They left Earth a week before all communications were lost to it and passed through the Gateway. Everyone was happy and melancholic at the same time. New beginnings, new hope. That plan went to shit as well.

They got through the Gateway, saw the planet and then everything went black. Next thing James knew was that the ship crashed on the planet, a city. Sprawling in every direction he would look. Half of the colony was dead on impact, others were injured and most of the equipment they brought was burning.

A perimeter was quickly set around the crash site, food and supplies were salvaged first and whatever was left. The colony realised later that there was nothing to eat on the planet. No flora, no fauna, nothing. Only dead remains of a long dead civilisation, soon to be followed by another civilisation...humanity.

As days turned to weeks and weeks to months, food became a major issue. With no way of replenishing their suppliers, they started to run out. A group of guards took control of the storage space by force and fought hard to keep everyone out. James and others fought back, only to realize later that it would’ve been better not to.

Most of the food was gone by the time they got to it and then the madness began. Rapes, murders, cannibalism. People being hunted for whatever scraps they had, others eating each other, drinking their blood and picking their bones clean.

In only 4 months, there was almost nothing left. James and 3 three others managed to somehow survive. Going days without food, clean water until they would find a small cache of food a colonist managed to hide and so on, until even those became harder and harder to find. The others turned on each other and on James, eventually there was only one left. James.

What happened after it’s hard to describe, from cache to salvaging the ship for anything that resembled food even if it went bad. Almost a year after they arrived, James found something. Deep in the city, he wandered aimlessly. Whatever food or water he once had was gone a few days prior. Half hallucinating, half awake he discovered what is today the One.

Inside a bunker, lights were still on. After centuries there was still light. He was drawn to it like moths to a flame...stumbling inside, he found hundreds of containers. Empty. He didn’t know what they were or how they’re used but he didn’t have anything to lose, got into one and...he became we.

What followed it doesn’t matter anymore. You can call it genocide, you can call it survival. We did what we had to in order to survive. ” the Grant told the story with a melancholic voice all the time, occasionally taking puffs from a cigarette and swings from the whiskey bottle.

At last their story finished, most of the gathered rebels left at different points of the story, turning in for the night or going on to their duties. In the end, only the young rebel that first asked him stayed. Asleep.

“Maybe it would have been better if we all died. ” said the Grant, taking one last swing of the whiskey and shaking their head.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On another side of the spaceport, the One brought the prisoners they’ve caught over to a staging area where the prisoners would await trial. One in particular caught their interest and an idea was formed in their minds.

“ Mark that one. We’re going to take it home with us. Subject B-B-M-1. ” said a Grant to the others.

Through the Gateways: Humanity [Closed] [Soon to be Concluded]

AMBUSH:BLOODBURN

---

Collab between @Sigma, @Timemaster and @SgtEasy

---

The One was split between multiple theaters of war in New Beijing. While the city was initially fully under White Flower control, at least on the surface, new enemies appearing meant that the frontline would have to move back. In a place where the One prevailed more than anywhere else.

Urban combat was their bread and butter. Spending a few centuries in a city does that to people. The new enemies were weird but not unexpected by the One. They’ve seen the info-alerts sent by the White Flower sympathizers from the Meeting Place. Monkeys. Stronger than a man and smart as one. A tough enemy to fight in hand to hand combat which meant that the One had to resort to what they did best, guerrilla warfare.

Ambushes, artisanal explosives, traps and whatnot littered the streets of New Beijing. Only the most trusted of White Flower leaders were given maps to where the traps were laid or ambushes placed. Not that the One was too keen to rely on the White Flower revolutionaries to fight the war.

The streets were watched closely, a William stood on the roof top of a building and suddenly made a hand signal to the others in hiding. A convoy will pass through the intersection, most certainly trying to push the frontline a bit more towards HQ.

As the monkey APCs approached the weapons were prepared and the moment the first APC entered the intersection, the One made their move. Spears were thrown from the windows of buildings surrounding it, some with bombs attached others not, left as decoys. One hit the first APC and exploded, putting the others to a full stop.

James’ came out of the buildings, closing down the intersection with molotovs. The monkeys will surrender or burn.

“Sarge…am I fucking going crazy?” A private George Lang asked, still coping with the sheer insanity New Hollywood has developed into. “Clones? Talking monkeys? What the fuck’s been going on at Earth?!?”

“Stow it lang.” Sergeant Kaskin ordered. “All that matters now is who’s friendly and who’s in our way-“ He paused as the William gave the signal. “That’s our que boys!” Kaskin ordered as he and the rest of his squad moved into position in the top floor of a bombed out building, ready to provide suppressing fire once the apes begin storming out of their APCs. “When the monkeys come out, start firing.”

The One which was in contact with the Columbian force radioed into them as soon as the spears were thrown towards the APC.

“ COL1, come in. This is the One. Don’t shoot to kill. We want prisoners. Over. ” came in the voice of a Grant.

“Copy that.” Kaskin replied, turning to his men. “Non-lethal shots if you can, we’re taking prisoners.”

The two recent allies surrounded the convoy at the intersection, the first Warhead APC a seemingly burning shell on the outside. Unbeknownst to the ambushers, the occupants within were uncomfortably hot and possibly concussed, yes, but protected by the thick walls which the apes favoured. It took INFOWAR mere moments to reboot into a functioning system, completing a full scan of the situation. The apes, even with the addition of the recon drones and the coming overwatch teams, were outnumbered. While the One progressively surrounded the lead Warhead with fire, there was a lack of response from the convoy at first.

Two spears had gotten lucky, jamming themselves into the tires of the lead Warhead and the explosive had disabled the .50 calibre gun. It was too bad for the ambushers that the apes would not go down without a fight. No simian left behind.

Four .50 calibre guns barked out in retaliation, laying down heavy suppressing fire to prevent any more explosives from being dished out. The two side doors and the rear ramp on each of the working APCs opened with a thunderous clang, depositing the six to eight apes within. A few suppressing shots from the Columbians proved deadly, downing a couple of chimpanzees clambouring out of the third Warhead.

The rest stuck close to the walls or the APCs themselves, barking out with their rifles or coming into CQC with the One on the ground. James’ and apes tore at each other amidst the ongoing fire and in burnt out buildings, sensors going crazy as greater numbers of hostiles were detected. The heavy weapons advantage of the apes was mitigated by the ambusher’s high ground, the situation started becoming untenable.

As blind suppressing fire, along with the occasional accurate spear thrown by the One, continued to be traded, a pair of massive gorillas exited the second APC. White fur, pink skin, bulging with muscle and savage teeth. Genetically modified albino twins, each carrying a large, thick metal wall as a shield, so hefty that they required both of their massive arms to heave it. They roared, slamming their shields twice into the ground before raising them above their heads, shielding themselves as they charged towards the lead burning APC.

It was clear they were trying to take their comrades out as the fighting from the ape’s side just became fiercer.

As the .50cal rained hell, the One scattered in the buildings. Some were cut down by the bullets, others killed by falling debris. It wasn’t enough to stop the One. If they die, more are ready to take their place and keep the fight going.

As the two massive gorillas came out of the second APC, the One realized their gambit worked. The apes were still animals at heart even if their brains were more advanced and as any animal, they will try to protect the leader. If the big apes, which were terrifying to look at for the One, charged towards the first APC it meant one thing. The One managed to disable their leader for the moment and he/she was still alive.

“ COL1, we’ve got the apes surrounded. Focus fire on APCs that shoot at us and keep safe. We don’t die, you do. ” called out via radio the James in charge of communication to their Columbian allies.

Soon afterwards, a group of sacrificial Williams came out from the buildings rushing towards the lead-APC. They were all armed with explosives and their customary bone armor. In the middle of them, a Grant hunkered down moving at the same pace as the others.

“ We. Are. The. One. We. Are. Willing. To. Negotiate. Purchase. Services. Stop firing. Or. We. All. Die. Here. ” it came as a chant from all the One. All at once, word by word. Never stopping, even as they’d fall to the enemy.

“Copy that.” Kaskin said, now relaying his command to his men. “Remain in cover and focus fire on the APCs! Keep ‘em pinned boys!” The marines kept up their attack as they let out a resounding “Oorah!!”

At that, the One surged towards the beleaguered apes in burnt Warhead. Amidst the One’s declarations, there was no response. The apes could not fold now and were only spurred on by the increased suppressing fire on their positions.

With gritted teeth, the albino twins continued despite being surrounded and being fired at, their comrades keeping the One away from them as much as they could. At this moment, the overwatch teams and drones arrived at opposing rooftops to the Columbians. Through INFOWAR, they were updated on the situation and acted accordingly.

Distract the Columbians to extract the downed apes. No simian was going to these inferior humans.

They used their grappling hooks to charge into the fray among the Columbians, wielding wicked swords or metal clubs with pistols. Hollering and screeching, they paid for the distraction with their lives as they harassed the greater number of Columbian soldiers. Drones flew to and from, striking with electrical shocks or physically ramming into bodies.

The chaos above meant reprieve for below as the other apes came to support the albinos. The One fell in rapid numbers with the concentrated firepower but with each clone falling, two others took its place. One William threw an incendiary explosive into the now shattered glass of the lead APC driver’s seat. Fire roasted the front of the APC, bursting the two tires and slamming the front into the pavement.

The jolt awoke many of the concussed apes within, some stumbling into the safety of the albino twins, others swarmed by the One.

Kingston awoke to fire, screaming in agony as the fire scalded his skin and took away his fur. He burst out of APC door, genetically enhancements the only thing keeping him alive as he burned before the eyes of the One.The sergeant threw himself into the masses, ripping one James apart in half down the middle in a shower of gore. Blood extinguished fire wherever it touched, boiling on the pained sergeant’s skin.

The Kingston-turned-abomination turned on the other James’, jumping from each one so fast it was hard to track with the naked eye, ripping limbs and tearing off heads.

“SHUT UP! SHUT UP SHUT UPSHUTSHUUUUTUUUUP!” He roared, after slamming one blood boiling arm down the throat of a poor James, ripping his oesophagus out.

The disgusting devolution of their comrade to bloodlust inspired the other apes, making them scramble back to the APC. Fearing for their lives, they crammed into the other APCs as the other. The still-burning head, the boiling blood, the consumption of pure rage. It puts fear into their animal instincts greater than the worst battles. Burnt out vocal chords let out a stream of expletives and roars, sharpened talons covered in blood.

It was a beautiful concert of violence, artworks of crimson strewn around the streets. One James had an explosive shoved up the wrong hole, kicked into another just as the explosive was to go boom. Another clone had its head crushed into its spine, one more with its spine ripped from the top of the head! It was enough to make grown men vomit and Tarantino cry.

Eventually, one James survived long enough to trigger a close proximity explosion, sending Kingston careening into a wall to finally knock him out. Burning but inconsequently, still breathing, blood boiling into a red vapour around him.

The forces retreated, the overwatch teams battered and the OP: Blitz was sent back. A few apes were taken prisoner, along with the still-breathing walking corpse of Sergeant Kingston Marley, former Legionnaire.

The One moved in fast. Williams died, Jamess bled and Grant were falling by the dozen to Kingston but that didn’t stop the One. They continued, on and on and on. One would fall only for two to their place. Their sacrifice meant nothing to the larger picture.

One James stood on the rooftops, watching the battle unfold. Memorising attack patterns, moves and everything that was going on. Even as they watched themselves fall one by one, they kept watching, learning. Their eyes scanned the battlefield for anything that could be used in further battles and as soon as the battle finished, they ran. Fast as they could, back to HQ. Back to upload. The One needed to know.

Prisoners were taken and brought back to the HQ, the remaining APC was stripped to its core. Weapons, bodies and everything that could be carried was taken.

“ COL1, congrats on the win. We’re retreating back to base with the captured prisoners. Thank you for giving us a hand. How are the losses on your side? ” called one of the Grants on the radio.

“Happy to help.” Kaskin said as he and his men stood up with the rest of his squad, a few sadly laying limp on the floor. “Lost a few of my men…but we made sure to take out some of theirs before it ended.”

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[+]

><BLOODBURN> captured, exfiltration impossible.

>Confirm, <BLOODBURN> KIA or MIA?

>MIA, sensors indicated live capture, experimental ‘failure’ not as much of a ‘failure’ as we thought.

>Update the One and URC in catalogs: security threat to the Khan. Heads will roll over this.

>Understood.

Beyond The Wall, Zombie Post Apoc RP

Throwing an eye on this as well :)

N/A

Throwing a bit of interest. What are you thinking in terms of abilities? Any limits to what we'd be able to choose?

Villages to choose from? This I ask as you've said the Hokage (Kakashi?) gave us the mission.

The Borehole - A Supervillain Prison Break

Still accepting? If so, count me in. I'll get to working a CS today.

|~Ominous~|

@ZxyxZemon It's similar to the gamma radiation one but instead of one person mutating into something...the character is being possesed by a demon, giving said character a double personality. While in a human form, they're just faster and stronger than the average Joe but while being in demon form, the demon takes full control becoming a killing machine. Faster, stronger, can hide in shadows and idk, need to think more about abilities in the demon form.

The demon and the human would have a good relationship and could communicate between each other at will. My answer to the question : "What if instead of a guardian angel, you had a guardian demon?"

|~Ominous~|

@ZxyxZemon@Sanity43217 I've had something similar in mind, gamma mutant OR someone who has a demon placed in their body.

Gamma idea - So, basically - A person that tried to subject themselves to the same thing that Dr. Banner did but it didn't work out properly, at all. Said person grew in size and strength but their intelligence got lowered by a lot. Multiple mouths appeared on their body and a insatiable craving for meat appeared.

At first, in their origin, they were no smarter than a crazed animal. Hunt, kill, eat. As he devoured more and more humans and what not, their intelligence grew. Up to the point of an average human (from where we'll start the story) but still with the craving for flesh.

Just a rough idea I had atm.

|~Ominous~|

@ZxyxZemon I'm still here, didn't lose interest. Just waited for one or two people (besides you) to put in CSs, to get an idea on what you're aiming for.