Hit Them First {Open} [PLOT]

[Mara Ackart]

Mara stared down the slope that lead into the facility below. She'd managed to gather enough energy earlier to run down and see what was in the initial area. It was all guard facilities. She could have gone on but she felt it would be better to wait until she had a few more companions. By herself and as weak as she was right now she had very little offensive capability. The woman knew that others would arrive to challenge this trial set before them. All she had to do was wait and rest until some of them arrived.

She'd hidden herself at the very entrance to the place. Sure there were places below she could hide but it wouldn't be as easy to escape from them should she be discovered. The key to a good hiding place was both secrecy and having an escape route should you be discovered. None of the guards had seen her during her run and the lot of them were down there with gas masks and full armor on. Thus she should be safe from surprise by anyone but another mutant. If it was another mutant then they were probably here for the same reason and Mara would welcome the help.

Her energy levels were dangerously low and a strange rash could be seen crawling up her arms like a pair of living gloves. Mara had been feeling insanely hot and cold for hours now. She assumed this meant that the disease was progressing but she didn't care. If it meant she could kill some of those damn guards then she'd be happy to put herself on the line. What kept Mara going right now wasn't hope, happiness, love, or any other soppy emotion. It was hate. Hate for the humans that had done this to her. It burned brightly in her eyes and gave her the strength to move her leaden limbs. Now if only she could get some support to get this thing started.

[Lucian Verdus]

The beast approached with a combination of whirring, clanking, crackling, and thumping, perched upon four of its eight elongated metallic spider-legs. The servitor, bald, pallid, and brown-robed, stared with artificial eyesight down into the facility, its frightening metallic claws shifting slightly as jolts of electricity traveled across the tips. Whispers and rumors had come to Lucian's attention, but he was not about to risk himself for the sake of them. If nothing else, he would assist by way of his creations, whom he suspected a massive benefit to such an effort. Even now, he was close enough (though safely hidden away) as to give it orders, and receive audiovisual data from the servitor.

He didn't know what was down there, but it was within his best interests to find out. The deep, imposing metallic voice of the close-combat caste servitor emanated from its mouthplate, "The Progenitor, Lucian, has sent the Close Combat and Human Suppression Caste Servitor Unit to assist in your exploration of this facility. This unit is fully equipped with advanced audiovisual matrices and electrically-enhanced limbs and attachments to ensure full combat efficiency. The Progenitor believes that this unit will be of use to you and any other humans who decide to join in this exploration. If you have any requests or orders, please refer them to this unit, and this unit shall be prompt about an acceptance or denial. Please note that this unit is under extremely specific and encrypted orders, and will not act hostile towards the prisoner-caste of this facility unless it is met with deliberate hostility. The Progenitor thanks you in advance for the opportunity to test out his latest in human-improvement technologies."

The servitor lowered itself slightly, giving off a soft whir as it received some additional instructions, and turned again to Mara to speak, "Please be aware that all audiovisual data is immediately sent to the Progenitor for analysis and archiving. Nothing that is experienced by this unit will be unknown to the Progenitor. Please also be aware that further Close Combat and Suppression Caste Servitor Units will be in production prior to this investigation, regardless of outcome." There was a pause, another whir, and then a final statement, "This unit is now receptive to inquiry and suggestion."

[Mara Ackart]

Mara looked up at the flesh and metal abomination from her restive position on the ground. It was truly a horrible sight to behold. If there had been anything within her stomach she was sure that she would have lost it. As it was she had to swallow a dry heave. She'd heard of the person that created these things. If nothing else the woman was glad he was not present. Still, she wanted her vengeance. If she had to work with such a thing to live long enough to see it then so be it.

The statements the thing made would tell Mara much about the man that had created it when she had time to study them further. At the moment she had the unique position of being able to wait and yet running out of time all at once. On one hand she should wait for further back up than an untried experimental cyborg drone. Yet on the other the disease was progressing quickly and if she waited too long she'd be dead. She made a quick decision and dragged herself into a standing position.

"Alright Servitor, that's what I'll be referring to you as from now on. Here's what we're going to do. I've already made a quick sweep of the area down there. It is swarming with guards. I'm in no condition for a fight and while I'm sure you are well equipped for your task I'd rather not take my chances. I can get us through before they notice us so you will not engage the enemy unless absolutely necessary."

Mara stared at the thing before her and waited for it to agree or disagree with her plan. Beyond this Mara truly hoped another real being would arrive on the scene and agree to aid them. It didn't sit well with her to trust her well being to this thing.

[Lucian Verdus]

The words were processed, understood, relayed to Lucian, and considered. Stealth was not the strong point of the Human Suppression Caste, this much he knew, but it was doable. The guards themselves likely had guns, which made stealth all the more viable an option until Lucian could develop an appropriate ranged caste. The plan was understandably sound, for the time, but the servitor was subject to Lucian's will alone, and Lucian was not about to take orders, either. The plan was accepted due to its present practicality, this was relayed back to the servitor, who then began the limited stealth and diplomacy modification that it knew.

The spider legs all disappeared into holes in the servitor's back, and much of the ever-present whirring and crackling died down to a faint noise only somewhat distinguishable to the humming of a laptop. It was louder and slightly different, but the casual listener was not likely to be fully aware. The servitor then turned to Mara, "Your plan has been accepted. While transport and combat appendages have been retracted, there are six hundred volts that will be delivered with severe force if another being engages in hostile, unexpected, or unwanted physical contact. Please note that six hundred volts can be applied to stun, burn, or kill, depending on the severity of the contact."

The servitor curtly turned towards the entrance, claws retracting into their respective hands to about half length. "I am prepared when you are. If there is any physical contact required for infiltration, a warning beforehand will result in temporary disabling of my external electrical current. Please note, also, that in severe situations that it is my directive to overcharge my power couplings and detonate, in order to ensure escape by allied humans or ensure crippling of opposing forces. If the situation appears severe or you are otherwise warned by myself, please stand away."

[Kita]

Not too long ago she had been at the infirmary, having escorted a man in need of help to receive treatment there. Kita didn't dwell on what her reasoning for doing such a thing was, all because she wasn't one to second guess her own actions. If the situation were delved into then that would cause doubt in her mind, which was always unnecessary. Doubting one's own actions tended to turn bad situations worse and good situations less satisfying.

She was on her way now to the open fields. There were rumors quietly spreading that some sort of resistance measures were being put into action. Kita was all for that. Why not strike back at those that had harmed dozens of inhabitants? When she made it to the fields, she realized there were a couple of people standing in a particular area. They didn't sport the usually drab black armor or weapons of the guards, which put them into the mutant category. Or...at least one of them could be put into the category. As she advanced closer to the two, Kita noted that one seemed to be some sort of robot. Or a mechanized something. She wondered if it could make toast.

Whatever the contraption was, Kita let nothing of her disdain for the thing show on her face. Even if he/it was quite abhorrent, that was no reason to be rude to its face. Opting for a neutral expression would be for the best. To give a machine some sort of acknowledgment went against all she was used to when dealing with technology, so her attention went straight to the woman that stood with it. Kita gave the woman a curt nod in greeting, but said nothing. Her arms crossed under her chest as she waited for something to happen. She saw no reason to start idle chatter.

[Mara Ackart]

So the thing was rigged to shock and to explode? Wonderful. Absolutely great. That should make things interesting. It was very apparent that the person responsible for this thing had no respect for the person it had once been. Whether they'd used a corpse or a live being she wasn't sure but it was rather disgusting. She left these thoughts locked squarely within her mind though. She nodded to Servitor to show her understanding of it's statements.

As Mara was readying herself to get moving someone else arrived. Mara really didn't have the time or energy to talk much so she just nodded back at the other woman. If the woman hadn't wanted to come down into the facility she'd have stayed away from the gaping hole that was it's maw. All of Mara's attention was focused on the three of them so that as soon as they started moving she could speed them up.

"On my mark we run in there. You won't immediately be going at my full clip so don't be alarmed when it hits and whatever you do don't panic and flail. If you do I'll drop you like a lead weight."

Mara reacquired her focus and spoke one word.

"Mark!"

The woman waited a moment or two for the others to begin running and then slammed her power outward to them and herself and dashed forward into the facility and whatever might await.

[Lucian Verdus]

The words were, again, relayed to Lucian, but the servitor received no reply. Interpreting this as one not necessary, the servitor fell back upon a rigidly deduced response. "This unit is not wired with alarm or panic. Human emotion is saved for citizen and higher caste entities. These, however, are not produced from cadavers." Lucian moved in closer. The important part would begin. He would enter the facility himself, if it meant keeping in range of the servitor. With swiftly calculated timing, Lucian transmitted the new objective to the servitor not a second before he had started to rush into the facility.

The servitor understood, and as it moved inward it began to scan every possible nearby piece of technology for what its master was looking for. A secondary objective was transmitted, and archived for when the servitor had begun to leave. It was harmless enough; collect a computer or two from the facility to be used in a few new servitors. There was also an advisory to detonate, if need be, in as enclosed a space as possible as, depending on the success of the mission, Lucian planned to test out his equally experimental probe. Depending on how the assault went as a whole, the probe may be sent to pick up the pieces, and perhaps get what Lucian wanted if the servitor couldn't find it.

As easily as Lucian could have remade what it was the guards possessed, he did not want the information in their hands. By now, they already knew too much as it was, he couldn't have them publicizing it. Fortunately, the information was cryptic, as Lucian had designed it, and important files were heavily encrypted enough that Lucian was confident he would be able to recover it before they could put all of the pieces together. Failure was not an option. He could not expose these men, not yet. They would still be of use to him, and to anyone who would follow him, if they ever left this facility.

[Kita]

Things progressed faster than Kita had originally thought they would. Having just arrived to the area, at least there wasn't a lot of waiting around. Perfect. She severely disliked waiting for something interesting to happen. Entertainment, especially good entertainment, was a hard thing to find. The woman seemed to be the one leading this little expedition into the jaws of the earth.

"On my mark we run in there. You won't immediately be going at my full clip so don't be alarmed when it hits and whatever you do don't panic and flail. If you do I'll drop you like a lead weight."

Kita looked on as the female mutant dashed down the ramp leading underground. She followed closely behind, not wanting to get lost in what was sure to be a heavily guarded entrance area. From the way the other woman had talked, she planned on using her power on the remaining two. Kita kept some distance between herself and the servitor. An injury could happen all too easily if she were accidentally struck or bumped into it, and that would likely mean their cover would be blown.

Suddenly it felt like she was moving faster. The scenery around her passed by in a huge blur. This wasn't anything new to Kita at all. With her ability to change her body into pure energy she was able to move at the speed of light in that form. Compared to that, whatever power was being exacted on her now was like child's play. In fact, Kita felt they were going downright slower than they should be. Meh. There was no way to get around the fact that it was now too late to have a change of plan. She would go with whatever the woman had in mind and play nice by tagging along on this little jog.

[Mara Ackart]

Mara felt the moment when her powers took hold of the other two. She was too tired really to look at them and check though. It was all she could do to keep this up until they got to the interior door. The way to the labs was barred by a hefty door locked by a keypad. Attempting to spy on a guard headed through it to get the code had been too risky for her liking so while she moved them she was thinking of ways past it. At the moment all that came to mind was seeing if Servitor could disable the lock for them. It probably wouldn't be that hard for it.

Both of her passengers seemed to be taking the ride well. Servitor had stated it was incapable of panic. After which it had confirmed her suspicion that the person responsible for it had been toying with the dead. How utterly disgusting. Mara barely managed to muster enough energy to glance at the other woman. She'd been an impromptu addition and Mara wanted to see how she was holding up to the speed. She looked...completely unphased. In fact she seemed a bit smug, as though this was nothing. That irked Mara a bit but there was little time for indulging such petty annoyance.

They'd arrived at the keypad locked door with thankfully little interference from the guards. Unfortunately a glance about told Mara that they must have tripped a sensor or something because there were several guards approaching from every direction. A frown adorned Mara's face. She was sick, tired, and pissed off. Guards were something she really wasn't in the mood for right now.

"Servitor, if you could get that door open." Mara glanced at the other woman, "If you can fight get ready, we'll need to keep those guards off of Servitor long enough to get the blasted door open."

[Lucian Verdus]

The servitor glanced at Mara for a moment, and then looked over at the door. It was locked, and ot was not one for slicing computers like this. Fortunately, however, Lucian was making sure that he remained in range, and was likely more than capable of such a task. He was contacted, as a result, and the servitor momentarily went limp. Lucian was transferring full control of the servitor's motor and processor functions to himself, a simple task overall, but not one he had ever attempted to perform before.

It returned with a composure it did not have before, walking in a swifter and less wooden manner than before to the door. The claws of the servitor were unwieldy, indeed, but it's what he had to work with. Worse comes to worse, he would need only analyze the door and pierce a few key points with the servitor's large spider-legs, but that was so horribly unsubtle, and it was his wish to avoid acting like certain of the more foolish (in his mind) in the facility; bashing their way into things without any consideration to the consequences, and making desperate, heavy-handed attempts to bash the same way out.

As the servitor, with Lucian pulling the strings, got to work on the door, the claws of the machine began to move with the confidence and speed of a touch-typist. Lucian had a couple of routes, and they both started with him extracting the keypad out of the console. Eventually, he decided on removing they keypad from the wires and then inserting them into the interface module that Lucian put in every servitor, for a variety of purposes. From there, he would input every possible number sequence with speed that only a computer could possess, until one of them hit a match. Understandably, this took a few minutes; hooking up the wires was somewhat of a problem, but he managed to get them in the end, and from there it was simple. Given the amount of possible combinations, however, that was not a short affair, either.

At last, however, the door was open, and Lucian departed from his servant, who promptly turned around to see what it had missed.

[Kita]

A large door kept the trio from progressing any further, there were guards starting to surround them, and it was unknown how long the servitor would take to decipher the code for the keypad she had seen after they'd come to a stop. The woman made a few comments about getting ready to fight the guards to defend the servitor. Kita gave a face that plainly said her opinion on the matter, but still made ready to comply. She had some training in martial arts, mostly in self-defense, but there were offensive moves in her repertoire, as well.

Kita kept her eyes on the guards as they began to form a semi-circle around the group and pen them in. At last! Some action. It had been a while since she had last had a good work out. The guards would be perfect for the job. It was some of their fellows that had put her in this place. Now was the time to exact some revenge. For the first time since arriving in Freakopolis, Kita knew unadulterated joy as she felt her fist break the nose of one of her captors. The guard slumped to the floor in a heap and a spray of blood.

The rest of the guards that were unfortunate enough to be within her reach met similar results. Some sported broken noses and ribs from where she hadn't cared enough to hold back. Others would only suffer from bad bruises...after they woke up. The majority of the horde that formed the semi-circle kept their distance, only the braver and more foolish souls kept coming forward. She grabbed the wrist of a woman that tried to throw a punch and tossed her into a male guard that was coming from another direction.

A quick glance was spared to check the progress of the servitor. It worked fast and efficiently, which brought her estimation of the thing up a little. The servitor was still an abomination, but at least it was a useful abomination. While focused on Servitor, she was grabbed from behind, held firmly about her waist. A male guard laughed ruggedly into her ear... She gave him a nice gift in the form of a swift kick to his kneecap. The guard fell away with a scream of pain as the door Servitor had worked on opened. Kita yelled to the woman that had led them down here and to Servitor.

"Get through the door and cover your eyes!"

Kita waited until both were on the other side of the door. She followed until she got just past the doorway, then called on her power and unleashed a large flash of light in the direction of the guards. It would keep them blinded for several minutes and allow them time to escape. A smirk curved a corner of her lips as confused shouts came from the other room. The chaos would keep them busy for quite awhile, too. Hurriedly, Kita went to regroup with her two allies in this venture.

[Lucian Verdus]

Freedom.

With the sound of metal slamming against metal and servomotors being pushed to their maximum, the servitor was through the barracks like a shot. Lucian was pleased. The mission was a complete success, no matter the fate of their temporary compatriots. As an added bonus, he had a new body to convert. As though the flood was still an imminent threat, the servitor did not break its stride once as it darted towards Lucian's cellblock; body, serum, and archive in tow.

[Mara Ackart]

The first thing Mara noted when they crossed into the barracks was the absolute emptiness of the place. Compared to how bustling it had been earlier the change was a bit odd. Completely understandable since the guards probably didn't want to try and swim in that armor but still. Now that they were here the trip up and out of the facility was a piece of cake. Once they were outside the other woman set her down. That was fine by Mara. She'd just take a little nap here before heading to the infirmary to get patched up. As Mara drifted off into an exhausted sleep she distantly heard the sound of water rushing. Apparently they'd gotten out just in time.

[Kita]

At least fortune was with them as they went through the barracks. No guards were in sight, not even the ones that had been knocked out during the fight earlier. Either they had woken up or their comrades in arms had moved them. And here she had hoped at least one of them might have drowned once the water came rushing through the area.

The sound of water cascading through the pathways. Kita ran faster for the entrance to the underground and rose above the surface. A few seconds later the water came flowing out of the entrance and effectively flooded the compound. Yeah... A really bad, anti-climactic action movie really classified this day. Mara had been set down not too long after they had reached a safe place. Kita looked toward her now and saw she had effectively passed out due to exhaustion.

Kita removed the case from her belt and opened it to examine the contents. One vial was missing, which probably meant Servitor had gotten to it before Mara. She took a second vial out of the case and studied it curiously. All the trouble for this? A sigh would have been heard if anyone had been around to hear it. Instead of putting the vial back into the case, she dropped it next to Mara's head and went off in the direction of the infirmary to deliver the rest.