Codec and Dracos turn to leave the room.  Jade's body disappears just as they turn to leave.  One moment it's there, the next it's gone.

They scoot off toward the elevators to go to the 10th level.

Just as they are about to push the button for the service elevator, the normal operating elevators (10 feet to their left) ding.  Someone has arrived.  The doors are about to open with Codec and Dracos standing there...and a room full of bodies down the hall.

Screed is fiddling with the remote control while Shadow begins dragging Da Vinci toward door 3.  Shadow gets Da Vinci to the door and is ready to open it.

It is 8:07:31.

Screed is done fiddling with the electronic device, he calls out once again, "Do you copy?  We're going through door 3!  make it to the 11th floor through that door we found before."
This message was last edited by the player at 18:40, Mon 10 Apr 2006.

OOC:  When Shadow opened the blue door, it was just the emergency exit door you looked in earlier that goes out to the point directly across from the service elevator.  Nothing actually "happened."

I crouch down in a corner outside of the elevator door (on whichever side I'm on) and ready my M-16/shield.

PM

Dracos shakes his head, and continues to hold his needlers. He crouches on the opposite corner from Codec.

Screed turns to Shadow and says, "I'm not sure my radio is getting through.  Are you picking me up?"  Thinking of one last thing to try, he heads to the blue door and opens it.  Calling once more into the radio, he says, "Hey, people if you're still alive, come back to the 11th floor where we found that door.  We've only got seconds and we're leaving."

Turning he leaves the door open and heads towards Shadow while he reloads his weapons.  He now has the laser in his right hand and the blaster in his left.  He nods to Shadow and says, "Okay, let's see if we can empty the lab now."

OOC: I'm assuming they pushed the elevator button.

Opening the door, Shadow drags DaVinci throguh and awaits Screed on the other side.

"Hurry up!"  Glancing down at his watch, Shadow looks a bit nervous.

Shadow finds himself looking in on a room full of computers and servers.

Screed immediately goes to a likely terminal and begins to figure out what is going on.  "Keep an eye out, unless you know something about these," he asks Shadow.  Looking at them display with a critical eye, he begins punching keys to try and download information.

edit pm
This message was last edited by the player at 05:31, Tue 11 Apr 2006.

"That's why I got the gun."

Keeping an eye on the door, Shadow readies his pistol and stands with one foot on DaVinci's back.

"So make with the typing already."

Screed smiles at the jest and returns in kind, "Yeah, you bullies don't wanna make fun of me for taking typing in summer school after the 7th grade now, huh?"  He chuckles, never taking his eyes from the screen.  The pistols lay to either side of the keyboard as he punches keys.

As Screed goes to the computer to begin typing in his info, he notices that the servers are lined up like a warehouse.  Each server has a label with a name and number on it.  The nearest one to the main terminal says: "Tokyo, Akasaka, 2-31576."

Screed looks at the label rather confused.  Into the radio and out loud, he asks, "Tokyo Akasaka, what's that?"  He starts scanning the labels trying to make sense of them.

The labels all seem to indicate a place, followed by the numbers 1 through 5 or A through E.  In the rear of the room, the labels no longer have numbers or letters.  However, you do find an aisle labelled "Da Vinci."

Speaking of which, Da Vinci is now awake and looking up at you.  He is very quiet.


The bell dings next to Dracos and Codec.  Just as the door opens for them, they see across the hall in the normal elevators that two well-dressed men in suits and sunglasses step off of the other elevator.  Each is holding a pistol.

"Watch him.  No name.  Kill him if he moves."  Screed moves down Da Vinci's row.  He sighs, "It's too bad.  It would have been interesting getting some of this stuff."  Raising his blaster, he starts firing into the delicate pieces of the servers, the important ones.  Moving back and forth, he will continue until he is satisfied that he is done.

Da Vinci yells before Screed can start shooting, "NO!  Don't do that.  You'll destroy everything.  Thousands of people will die.  The Code will shut off parts of the city, portals will leave people trapped!  You must not do this."

Screed stops and nods, "Okay, which one has the genetics research?  If I don't find out which one, I blow them all.  Hell, I might as well blow all of them in the room."  He starts pondering that very thought.

I run into the the elevator and duck low into the upper corner of it near the panel and I will hit whichever button that leads to the garage. Once Dracos is in the elevator I will hit the close door button.

Codec hisses, "Dracos move!"

"We're going up, not down, kid," he mentiosn to Codec as he enters. Almost literaly pushing the kid away, he presses "call cancel" and then the nearest floor below the hall of doors he can get to.

All the while he raises his gun towards the door of the elevator, just in case.

The hall of doors was on the 11th floor, you are on the 10th now.

Hits door close button.
"Fine...What do your people have up there anyways? A chopper? Parachutes? Wingsuits? If we went down we could have snagged a car."



OOC: Just for those who may not kno. Wingsuits are specially designed sky diving suits. They have tail flaps that cover the entire area between your legs and some between your armpits. This allows for more control and longer airtime. They do NOT allow you to fly.

"Well since we are going up, how about this...we pull the fire alarm in the elevator as soon as we reach the top and the doors open. That way we can stall any pursuers we have and cause some panic that will give us a better chance at getting away."

"We're not leaving, and we aren't drawing any more attention to ourselves from the fire alarm."

He presses the elevator's button for elevator's button for Eleven, planning on going from the top instead of the bottom, since they are already one floor below it.

Shadow glares down at DaVinci,  "Tell the man what he wants to know!!" and grinds his boot into his chest.

The two Agents spot Dracos and Codec as they step into the elevator.  You hear shots that hit the wall where you were just standing...and footsteps.  The elevator doors start to close...

...but the Agents arrive and one sticks out his arm to stop it...

...and that's when Dracos fires into the closing doorway, sending the Agent reeling back to avoid the shot.

The doors close and the elevator opens on the 11th Level, where there is an empty hallway and the emergency exit door straight ahead.  The normal elevators are to your right, and a hall of offices crosses the elevator hallway like on the 10th floor.


Da Vinci says to Screed, "You would destroy such valuable research?  Why not use it instead of destroying it?  The power contained within is immeasurable, and nothing will be gained by destroying it."

Shadow presses a boot into Da Vinci's chest, and he squirms in pain.  Hands still bound, Da Vinci points to a black server in the corner.  "Over there," he say.  "If you must do this, be sure to--"


It is 8:08.

The lights in the building suddenly go dark around all of you, although the servers remain on some sort of backup power.

You hear a door open, possibly door G, and footsteps like jackboots striking the hallway floor begin to approach.  There is more than one person approaching.

No time to talk... be sure to what?  be sure to what?  Blast what was he going to say?  Screed wracks his brain trying to figure out what he was going to say as he moves to the indicated server.  Pull the hard drive?

He points at Shadow and then at Da Vinci indicated kpicking up.  He then does the little 'fingers-do-the-walking' sign to move around the servers and the intruders in order to escape before moving on to the servers.

Screed goes to the black computer to look at it.  There is nothing remarkable about it.  It is marked "DVGEN."

"Be sure to..." Da Vinci continues.

Shadow tries to drag Da Vinci to hide.

But it is too late.  Three figures step into the doorway.  They are clad in militaristic uniforms -- futuristic looking and ominous. Each carries a rifle the likes of which you have never seen.  They raise their rifles with military efficiency.  You cannot see their faces, which are hidden behind masks.

"...to close the door," Da Vinci finishes, defeated.

"Leave him to us," the man in front commands you, his rifle pointing at Da Vinci.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:27, Tue 25 Apr 2006.

Screed finishes his move behind the servers and speaks out loud and into the radio, "How did you get into here in door number 3.  We know you won't shoot, there's too many servers in here with too much stuff that can be destroyed.  Take one more step and I start blowing things up."  He punctuates this with a blast of the blaster into an operating terminal.

Turns to Dracos, "Emergency Exit or the other elevators?"

OOC: Can we get to the rooftop somehow?

Codec and Dracos hear the commotion behind the emergency exit doors.

OOC:  You are many floors below the rooftop from here.  The building has 34 floors.

"We aren't escaping. We've got a job to do."

Dracos crouches and begins to move towards the emergency exit, wanting to peak into it.

"Cover the stairs."

He keeps his guns ready and pointed at the emergency exit, just in case.

Shadow drags DaVinci towards Screed behind the servers.

"Who the hell are these guys?"
"Gotta start taking notes during briefings."

Leaning in to Screed, shadow whispers,
"Think you can get that device to work in here?  I can handle one or two of them but three might be a little tough, even for me."

Codec rushes to the stairway. His gun is drawn as well as his shield. If a door is in front of it he will listen for any commotion/conversation etc. If he sees what appears to be hostiles he will fire a burst shot if only 1 is present. He will fire a sweeping shot of cover fire if multiple hostiles are evident.

Dracos bats Codec's gun down and whispers harshly, "Cover, not fire. Only shoot if they come this way."</b>

Screed replies, "I dunno.  I thought they were friends of his," indicating Da Vinci.  "I thought they were shadow.  I might be able to morph out a wall, though I have no idea where we will end up since we are tecnically between programs.  Since his hide is on the line, why don't we let him open a doorway.  Again, strange to be able to open a doorway in here.  I would imagine we'd just pop up in the hallway outside though."  He is still waiting for a reaction from the strangers.

Did the other teammates hear what I am saying on the radio?  I'm keeping it turned on just in case someone else is still alive, ie Codec and Dracos.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:18, Wed 26 Apr 2006.

As Screed is talking, the masked men are infiltrating the server room military style, with one covering the others.  The last one in moves with less militaristic smoothness.  He aims a rifle in Screed's direction while the others have their rifles aimed at Da Vinci.

Dracos and Codec peek into the hallway, seeing the strange figures enter the room from the hall.

OOC:  Your headsets are still turned on, so you can all hear each other.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:56, Wed 26 Apr 2006.

Whispers to Dracos, "I do believe that that is the room where are teammates are.

PM

"Now we shoot...Shadow, Screed, we're coming. Once we start shooting they should face us, which will give you time to shoot at them from the side as well."

Dracos moves to lean against one side of the door frame, motioning for Codec to do the same. When Codec's set, Dracos will push in the door and turn in and start shooting.

The figures have just entered the door so are no longer visible from the entry where Codec and Dracos stand.  You'd have to move up closer into the hallway itself for that.

Screed is greatly relieved to hear others on the radio.  He says quickly into the radio, "Go now, Now, NOW!"  He ducks further back behind the servers, "Didn't you hear me, man in black, I'm going to start blasting!"

Dracos jogs towards the entrance and holds his place right before the door, rolling across the doorway and shooting the closest humanoid figure to the door.

The man in black shoots, but he is not aiming at Screed.  Instead, he is aiming at the black server next to Screed.  The server is hit with a bluish almost invisible burst, and then it melts and explodes.

The man in black reaches up and takes off his mask.

Dracos is right at the entrance.

Behind the mask is Jaguar.  "It's me," he says.  "You did it!  Now we can take Da Vinci into custody."  He smiles, not looking quite so dorky without the jaguar costume this time.

The other men rush forward to take Da Vinci from Shadow's custody.

Screed lifts both pistols pointing them at the head of Jaguar and says into the radio, "Hold" and then to Jaguar, "No offense, but prove it."  His mind is whirling but the actions have been strange all the way around.  He just wants to be sure.  Da Vinci was obviously expecting someone else.

First round of aiming.
The black server was the one we wanted to destroy, right?
This message was last edited by the player at 20:14, Thu 27 Apr 2006.

Yes, the black server was the one Da Vinci indicated as having the genetics research.

Jaguar scowls.  "Prove it?  How?"  He notices Dracos behind him now.

The masked man next to Jaguar quickly lifts a small device that is beeping.  "Two Agents," he says quickly.  "Approaching due south."



Codec is still at the end of the hallway at the emergency exit entrance.  To his right, the regular elevators beep and begin to open.

Screed says back to him, "Simple, we've delivered Da Vinci.  Now give us what you promised in return."

Continues aiming.

[runs into room w/ servers, gun is drawn and shield is up]
"Alright then, how do we know you are Jag? I mean, if he can shapeshift, who knows who else can? And whats w/ all the camo garbage. Cuz if we know you than why do you fear hiding your face?"

"Heres a test then. What was the pass word required to enter this building? What room were we supposed to spy on? And what were the 2 creatures names that we were supposed to kill?"
This message was last edited by the player at 21:24, Thu 27 Apr 2006.

Codec successfully makes it into the room.

Jaguar tosses a diskette to Screed.  "This is the data and the uploads for Zion.  You can upload them to your ship using that green server over there.  Use the keyword 'Archimedes' and link to 'Nautilus2000.'  You successfully destroyed Vlad and Jack.  I need you to give me the sound recording you got of their meeting."

"And the remote control," one of the masked men says.  "Give it to us now unless you want Agents to show you the true meaning of pain."  He extends a hand.

"The word was 'omniscient eye,'" Jaguar continues, "and you were to spy on room 1020."

"Now," the masked man demands with an anxious look over his shoulder towards the hallway door.

Another masked man says to Dracos, "Get in if you want to live."

As he says this, the two agents appear at the far end of the hallway.  One lifts a hand to his ear, listening to his earset.  The other is lifting his pistol and beginning to run towards the door.

OOC: Get in what???

Screed drops the guns immediately with a smile.  He hands the device to Shadow, "Handle that with them so we can get out of here."  He moves to the green server and starts performing as told to upload the information.  He waits to hand over the recording until this is taken care of.

OOC: Get in the room

"So how do we expect to get out of here? I mean, mission accomplished woot, yay, etc, but now what?"

Jaguar says quickly, "Now we get you back to your ship."  He looks anxiously out at the approaching Agents.  "If we can."

Screed pretty much ignores what is going on for the moment until what he is doing is taken care of.

Shadow holds the device in his hand and looks up at Jaguar,

"I thought you said not to use our names here..."

Shadow eyes Jaguar closely looking for any meaning in his face.

"We were told to retrieve the device, and we have.  Why should we give it to you?"

Shadow's hand grips both his pistol and the device.

"And how did you even get in here?"
This message was last edited by the player at 01:27, Fri 28 Apr 2006.

"Dracos, please get in here and shut the door before the agents BLOW US TO PIECES. Thanx."

Screed whispers into the radio, "It wasn't Jaguar that changed shape.  It wasn't Jaguar who told us to not use our names.  That was our original contact.  We have two choices, trust our original plan, contacts, home, or not."  He keeps working at uploading the information as he continues.  "Someone needs to work the device, so it's either Jaguar or Da Vinci because I don't know how to do it."  He extends his sixth sense as he searches those in the room and the approaching people.  "Hold the device while he punches the buttons.  Let's get out of here."

how long until the download?

Dracos slowly walks into the room, not trusting the man who calsl himself Jaguar, but not wanting to fight these "Agents." God knows wwhat they could do in the Matrix.

"So, why aren't we shooting holes in the rest of the servers?"

"Hmm, guess you're right boss, I really should start taking notes."

Shadow tosses the device to Jaguar.

"Now lets go before things get messy."

OOC:  As Screed notes, it was Jinx, your fellow Zion contact, who changed shapes and told you not to use your names.  Jaguar was the nervous Awakened subject that you were to help so that he could join their exile group.  Apparently, they let him in...although they are not revealing their faces to you.

Shuts door to hallway and locks it.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:54, Fri 28 Apr 2006.

PM

PM

PM

PM

PM

Screed begins tapping in on the computer.

Everyone gets in the room.  Dracos stands a bit back from the new visitors.

One of the masked men immediately slams the door as the Agents approach.

The one holding the reprogramming device given to him by Screed begins punching buttons.

Something slams against the door.  Jaguar and one of the masked men are trying to hold it shut.  "The Agents are too strong!" Jaguar yells.  "Hurry!"

The masked man pushes one last button and suddenly the pounding on the door stops.

Jaguar looks over at the device.  "They're now on Easter Island," he says with a laugh.


Screed is finishing with the upload.  The marker reaches 100%, and all is uploaded.

Jaguar steps forward.  "Your help here has been immeasurable."  He points to the masked men around him.  "These are the faceless ones.  They have mouths but no other facial features.  A freak accident of the Code.  Thanks to your help, they tracked me down and brought me here.  They are experts at combat and use some sort of bat-like radar when they fight.  The Awakened have allowed me to join them."

He looks down at Da Vinci.  "You successfully brought him here.  You destroyed the two prototypes, made a recording of their meeting, brought us the remote, and allowed us to destroy the genetic research.  Now, we can use the remaining research in these servers to free our comrades."  He pauses a moment.  "And help you free some of yours."

You understand that he is referring to freeing the AI's like him and helping you free other biological humans.  "We could not have asked more from you," he says, and the masked men nod in unison.

He finishes punching buttons on the remote.  "Now, step through door number two, and you will be right next to a hardline to take you home.  Good luck.  We will be contacting Zion further."

He opens the door, and the hallway is empty again.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:31, Fri 05 May 2006.

Dracos, not trusting them slips through the door first, gun still drawn, ready to shoot at any threat on the other side.

"'Kay, lets get going then...."
w/draws M-16 and equips shield. Removes ammo from another clip and puts it in the clip currently in the M-16.

Screed, a little unsure, ejects the disc and takes it with him.  Everything seemed to have gone smooth, in fact, he had not even gotten hurt.  Worry filled him now as he started to move to the exit as directed.  "You, guys, uh, take care.  I guess we'll be seeing you."

Shadow waits until the others have passed through then speaks,

"Despite all the cloak and dagger, it's been fun working with you.  We should do it again sometime."

Shadow gives a two finger wave and steps through the door.

Screed heads out planning his next move.  He mutters half out loud, "Now where can we get a land line?"

"A pay phone would be best probably..."

Jaguar says, "You will find the landline directly outside the door."

As you start to leave, one of the masked figures beats his chest twice and points to you.

Jaguar says, "They want to bring you in their trust.  If you meet an Awakened AI, then to prove yourself, you must say, 'There is nothing but the Matrix.'  This is their password.  Also, there is a way to defeat Zero-One.  You must receive a key from each of the Icons and then face Zero-One at its center of power.  There is more information in the data we uploaded for you."

You leave through the door with more questions than answers.  You find the landline and call in, being whisked away back to reality...and that's when your horrors start.

Jade is standing above you.  "Wake up!" she is yelling.  Before you can ask her why she is alive, she says, "They revived me back to my preinsertion point like in the briefing.  Several of us fought.  We lost Tumbler and Mitchell and Methuselah.  We don't know what happened to Cala, since she was just a machine.  The Sentinels found us!  Only Jinx and I are alive here.  We have to get back to the Hyperion now!"

Even as she is saying this, there are explosions all around you.  She is holding an EM rifle, as is Jinx, who stands next to her.  "We must leave!" he yells at you.  "More will be on the way.  This was only the first wave!"

You look around and see the bodies of your dead companions.  Mangled wires and steel are all that are left of the Nautilus.  Holes in its hull show you the darkness of the Underground outside.  There is a distant buzzing sound.

"Calamari!" Jinx screams, pointing.  "They're coming."  He starts toward the exit of the Nautilus, leaving you to shake your heads from exiting the Matrix.

He yells back to you, "I managed to download this."  He holds out a disk.  "This was a part of the information the Awakened sent us.  Unfortunately, only a part.  There was so much there that we lost!  But we have a lot to work with here.  We must get it back to the Hyperion."  He slips it into his pocket and waves you forward.

There is only one exit.  The others are smashed and riddled with bodies, both of your friends, of the Nautilus crew, and of Sentinel robotic bodies in their tangles of tentacles.

Screed barely has time to collect his thoughts.  He moans, "All that information... lost.  Nooo.."  He collects himself as he pushes his glasses back onto his nose more snugly as he takes off after Jinx.  Looking for a weapon, or a place to duck and hide, he takes off running as fast as he can.

Screed pulls an EM rifle off one of the bodies and heads toward the exit where Jinx is waiting.

He says to Jinx in a voice that is unsure of itself.  He quavers a bit, "I'm not so good on this side, but I'll do what I can.  How far do we have to go?"  There is fear in his eyes as he looks out at the world outside the matrix.

Jade slings her rifle over her shoulder and says, "I, for one, am nearly as good with rifles on this side.  I'll watch your back."  Then she adds, "Good to see you guys again.  I was starting to worry."

OOC:  Yes, as many may recall, Jade opted for "LIMBO," while others signed the do not resuscitate.  She was one of the 95% lucky ones to survive and be brought back safely despite death in the Matrix.  If you have forgotten about this procedure, go back to the "Strategy Center" thread and read the first post in that thread.

Grabs a rifle and readys it.
[what a waste, wonder what we got on disk]
"Where are the squid? I say we make a sweep of the decks. If it moves, blast it. We gotta keep the pilots safe or we're squid bait."

"The Sentinel first wave has been destroyed, but there may be some hiding around here somewhere.  It's the second wave that I'm concerned about."  Jinx looks through the hole.  "We've got to get to the Hyperion from here and then get your crew to get us out of here before the Calamari arrive in a swarm to finish us off."

Screed looks at Jinx and asks, "Okay, so why are we talking and why aren't we running?  By the way, I'll pretend to be a pilot if you pretend to keep me safe."  He chuckles nervously as he puts his face to a hole trying to spot some hidden calamari.  His skinny arms wrap around the rifle trying to keep it steady.

Jinx says, "My question exactly!  Let's get a move on."

"Hey, wait for me!"  Shadow staggers forward with a rifle in his hands as well.  "How did they find us?" Shadow wonders out loud as he moves more steadily now.

Jinx waits as everyone clears their heads and gets their things together.  He glances nervously up at the sky.

Then he answers Shadow's question.  "That's the million dollar question, my friend.  The Nautilus has been stationed here undetected for the better part of a year.  It cannot be coincidence that the Sentinels found us just after the Hyperion docked with us."  He lets that sink in and nods.  "That's right.  Sabotage.  Someone on your ship is a traitor."

Then he turns and leads you through the exit.

Dracos listens to all of this quietly, trying to get his bearings back from switching from the Matrix to his flesh and blood body. He too searches for an EM Rifle.

"Too be honest, I pretty much suck with weapons on this side of the fence, I'm better at thinking and strategizing and just getting the hell out of dodge..."

He follows the others when its time to leave. As they talk about a possible spy, he shakes his head, "God Damn it..."

"Though what if it is from when Jade revived. Its new, we don't know what it could do to the squidies... hmmm..." Adam muses to himself