See Their Scars [Open/Plot]

[Mara Ackart]

Mara emerged from the barracks into a world of clinical sterility. There was no privacy in these labs. Glass shot up from concrete wherever you looked. As Mara looked to her left she saw a sight that sickened her. Cells. They had obviously been in use until very recently. There were still ugly reddish stains on the concrete that told of the fate of the occupants. Everywhere else around the group was an array of test tubes and machines.

Mara moved to a wall and slumped against it. Her energy was nearly exhausted after that and the writhing reddened gloves had spread up to her biceps. By Shakespeare she was exhausted. At the moment she felt that she would be lucky to be able to get up and move another step. For some reason which she didn't want to contemplate her mind darted to Sulley. Mara had probably infected him. It was up to her to make up for that by getting the cure. Whatever it was that prompted the thought helped her stand up and look at her companions.

Mara hadn't really noticed what had been going on with the Servitor as he disabled the door. She'd been too busy dodging, punching, and kicking the rest of the guards that the other woman hadn't picked up. Whatever it had done it had done it well. They were through the door. Which brought Mara to the other woman. If that blinding flash was any indication her powers had to do with light. That sent Mara's mind on several tangents as to the extent of her abilities. If she could travel the speed of light it would make sense for her to disdain Mara's mere 200 mph. Regardless Mara had gotten quite a bit of vicious pleasure from the way she'd handled the guards and the blinding of them. A grin to match spread across her face.

"Good work. I'm Mara Ackart by the way. That's about all the pleasantry we have time for right now but we should talk later."

[Lucian Verdus]

"This is the correct location." The servitor observed, stepping through the door, "It is here that vital information is kept. It is important that we retrieve it." One of the guards, though mostly blinded by the light that was emanated by one of the servitor's companions, had managed to make it through the door after him. The servitor took prompt notice of this, reacting in a single, fluid motion. Before the servitor's allies, two of the spider-legs had pierced the guard in the solar plexus and stomach. The struggling, bleeding, and frantic guard flailed his limbs violently; the servitor had not pierced anything that would result in instantaneous death.

Then, the guard was raised up, turned horizontally, and held aloft for a moment, blood running slowly down the cold metallic appendages. The servitor's electric field was turned off, as it did not want to unnecessarily waste power on it, though the alternative, as it was clear, was far less visually appealing. Had the servitor been in combat, it was likely that it would've had it on. Large numbers called for large amounts of suppression, and to be able to at least stun a few opponents as one comes in contact with them was a useful asset. The guard was held up over the servitor's head as, making sure that everyone was through the door beforehand, tapped the same code into the keypad, causing it to shut swiftly. Fortunately, the keypad on the other side had been destroyed by the servitor's work, and all the guards would be left with was some wires.

At last, the servitor returned its attention to the guard, now on the brink of death from blood loss and having one of their lungs pierced. "You have been chosen to test the 'intimidate' tactical program. If your peers pass through the door, it is logical that they will be deterred if they find you in significantly poor physical condition. This test will commence... now." And, with the final word, the guard was torn in two, blood showering the servitor and the area around him. "As an added advantage, they will know that this unit was the violent killer of their peer, by the blood that now adorns my chassis. This will likely result in a morale advantage on the part of myself, as I was not wired with the emotion 'fear' in my behavior core, though an understanding of it was necessary to fulfill my function."

The two halves of the extensively unfortunate guard were shaken off of the servitor's 'legs', left on the floor for the other guards to find, if they were ever to make it through the door. The servitor turned away from the door, the spider appendages retracting back into it, starting to move toward some computers it saw.

[Kita]

"Good work. I'm Mara Ackart by the way. That's about all the pleasantry we have time for right now but we should talk later."

As an eyebrow raised, Kita said nothing in response to the one that had introduced herself as Mara Ackart. No reply was deemed necessary when such a grotesque scene was being played out between a hapless guard and Servitor. Emotions were not to be seen on her face as Machine ripped Man a new one. Blood covered the floor in droplets where it had sprayed, and it pooled around the two mounds of flesh and bone where the halves of the corpse had landed. She felt no remorse for the guard's fate. It was partially his fault she was stuck here until further notice.

Never before had she seen a person snapped literally in two as she just had. Seeing a man pinned to a cement wall by a car that accidentally skidded from an icy road, yes. A man broken like a snapped twig, no. If ever Kita would be able to say she had seen it all this could now be crossed off the list. With her arms crossed beneath her chest she walked to take a look around the area. Cells formed a line along one wall with old, cold stains scattered about the floor.

The meandering path taken brought her past the messiest desk in the place, as far as the eye could see. A glance at a few of the papers revealed notes about the disease, but nothing they didn't already know. Everything of importance had already been taken when whoever had worked at this station fled. Eyes turned to take in everything that the others were doing. Basically they were taking stock of the area, as well, with Servitor playing around with a couple of the computers and their parts.

"There's nothing of use here."

[Mara Ackart]

If it hadn't been a guard Mara would have been sick. As it was she couldn't bring herself to look away from the grim display of gore perpetrated by the Servitor. Some part of her was repulsed by it. The rest of her thoroughly enjoyed it. Mara dragged herself to her feet. She felt rested enough now. It would take some time for her to feel truly better but this was all she had time for. Resting was well and good but they needed to finish up and get gone. First things first though, she'd have a look through the laboratory.

The first thing she looked over was the line of cells. If ever she needed a reminder of why she hated these people then this was it. Her imagination supplied her with plenty of ideas as to what had happened in these cells. Heck these cells had probably held the very first victims of the affliction she was now cursed with. That gave her a fresh burst of energy with which to survey the rest of the area. She came to the same conclusion that the other woman did. There was nothing here of value. Mara began looking around for an exit. After a few minutes she found one.

"I believe I've located the entrance to the next area."

She stated the sentence as loudly as she could but being ill she wasn't sure how far it carried. Looking at the door she almost swore. Another blasted keypad. It wouldn't be a problem for the Servitor but it was considerably annoying.

"It has a keypad lock as well. If you would Servitor?"

[Lucian Verdus]

As the servitor neared the row of computers, one thing in particular, easy to miss to the casual observer, stood out to the servitor. The other signal it had been receiving since it entered the labs was growing stronger, signifying to it that its goal was at hand. As it neared the computers, frantically sending the data to Lucian, it began to delicately sift through them. Lucian monitored carefully, prepared to ensure that the servitor had searched every inch of that row of computers if it was necessary. He was not about to lose what was rightfully his. After a few moments of dedicated searching, it was found tucked behind one of the CPU towers; a small, gray cube that looked to be made of several different sorts of metal. A collage of gray shades, industrial symbols, and flashing lights.

One button in particular stood out, blinking red. The servitor tapped it when a tentative claw, and a USB attachment emerged from the other side. The servitor's primary goal was achieved. Hitting the button again to retract the USB interface, the servitor pocketed the cube. "Archive located. Now focusing processes on secondary goal." The servitor stated shortly before he heard of the other keypad. It walked over to the door, examining the keypad before tearing it out of the wall and plugging the wires in, as before. Lucian took over once more, working to crack the code.

"The Progenitor informs me that this keypad is significantly more complicated to properly infiltrate than the other. It is evident to him that they do not want the unauthorized getting in. However, it is not impossible, simply tedious to work through. It is the request of the Progenitor that you are patient. This will take only a few minutes. Please ensure that no harm comes to this unit in that time."

[Kita]

Complicated technology seemed to be little challenge for Servitor, or the Progenitor, whoever he or she was. It was obvious that the machine was under the control of some other personality other than its own. The personality that normally controlled the mechanized body wasn't as controlled or efficient with its movements. If the servitor was under the influence of its creator at the times it was decoding the keypads, then that only hinted to the progenitor being more...alive, than his creations.

Kita crossed her arms and waited while the keypad code was being cracked. In the mean time she took the chance to take another look around the area. The place was lifeless, besides themselves. Glass and metal was the theme for the decor. The effect was that the entire place looked like a see-through maze. You could see where you wanted to go, but getting there took knowledge of the right path. Glass wasn't exactly an original decoration scheme but it did give the laboratories a more open feel, as if one were in the middle of a large room. It would also make more use of any light that happened to be on and allow it to travel far. The glass would allow the light to bounce around from surface to surface and increase the area of its effect.

Speaking of...

A tingling sensation made a shiver run up and down her spine. Something wasn't right. The air in the area felt charged, as if a power source was getting ready to unleash its energy. Almost like when she was gathering her own power in preparation to let out a large burst that could cause serious damage. Almost...exactly. There wasn't much time before whatever gearing up to strike would be finished. Kita launched herself toward Mara and made an attempt to grab her wrist, to pull the woman toward Servitor. All in order to make a smaller area to protect, if she was to deflect whatever was going to come.

[Mara Ackart]

Mara watched the Servitor do whatever it had to in order to get the door open for a minute or two and then turned away to look back at the lab. It was insanely quiet in here. Compared to the hustle and bustle of the barracks this place was eerie. The glass walls made it possible to see everything. It was, unsettling to say the least. And now Mara felt motion. It was ephemeral, the sort of kinetic energy she associated with light or wind. The sort of things she couldn't affect. Without mass she couldn't do anything to it but she felt it never the less.

That was when the other woman's hand snaked out and latched onto Mara. She was yanked back just in time. A small crater in the floor marked where Mara had been standing. Looking up from the crater what Mara saw was impressive to say the least. A beautiful, and obviously potentially deadly, web of purple light was bouncing everywhere in the lab. It seemed to pass through the glass without being diminished or harming the glass. Any other material met the same fate as the portion of floor Mara had occupied. Indeed, where ever one single beam passed through a portion of glass it seemed to come out the other side in three beams.

Mara frowned, now she owed the woman. She didn't like that. Still, she was grateful. Mara wasn't about to show it but she was grateful. Mara huddled back against the door so as to hopefully be out of range of the damned light show. She glanced at the other woman. The woman had manipulated light before, perhaps she could do something about the blasted lasers? Mara turned her full gaze on the woman.

"Think you could hold off the lasers for a bit?"

[Lucian Verdus]

The servitor's sensory functions shut down and Lucian utterly ignoring them, the danger outside was utterly lost on the master of machines. Instead, he was fighting his own battle. His attempts to disable the door security was, effectively, a war by attrition. The security was airtight, but clumsy. Essentially a lumbering, mighty giant. All he needed to do was pester it enough that it would fall. While a precise, calculated attack may eventually topple it, Lucian was well aware that they were behind enemy lines, and he didn't have time to calibrate an assault on a system as sophisticated as this. So, instead, he would trip it up.

It all boiled down to overloading the mechanism with requests for entry. With each request, the device would have to check the signature and access the mainframe to see if the request had the proper authorization. This was only a lengthy process by computer standards. Fortunately, that is what Lucian was working off of. Thus, it was request after request, bombarding the mechanism as it struggled to process every request it received. As expected, it eventually overloaded, and shut down. Lucian had won, and he was wondering if he had managed to do the same to the security mainframe.

Back when the facility was fully operational, it seemed likely that the mainframe was designed to handle large amounts of simultaneous security requests. While this had given Lucian an advantage in the mainframe sending back simultaneous denial responses to the pad, that probably also meant that it hadn't broken. But, it did mean that he could use this method to sandwich any security system connected to the mainframe between requests and denials in the same fashion. Before returning control to the servitor, Lucian wrote up a secondary goal. If the servitor were to find the security mainframe or a way into it, he would connect to it and allow Lucian to do his work.

"Security breach complete." The door hissed open, revealing their final destination, and the probable source of the disease. And, perhaps, the cure.

[Kita]

"Think you could hold off the lasers for a bit?"

Kita's hands were stretched out in front of her before the question was even finished. If they hadn't been, the two laser beams that came careening toward them would likely have decimated them all. 'Well, at least us humans,' she mused. Servitor would likely be able to survive one blast. She doubted whether he'd be able to take two. They packed quite a punch, these solid state lasers. Last having looked into them, they were still in the experimental stage with the government trying to add an operational system to the armament of their fighter planes. It seemed whoever funded the research in Freakopolis was ahead of the game and had perfected the technology, along with creating at least this one new application for it.

While she was mildly impressed with the lasers, Kita still had little trouble controlling them. They were light, after all, and no frequency was safe from her manipulations. Solid state lasers required different handling than did those of gas or liquid. The differences in the handling were not likely to be picked up by the untrained eye; but they made the difference between seeing another day and being mistaken for a really bad, really red, Jackson Pollock on the wall...or the floor. Wherever you happened to be standing at the time would do.

It wasn't likely either of the other two could see what she was actually doing to fend off the deadly beams that bounded around them. Kita was weaving her own version of a web that wouldn't be visible to the human eye. All that had to be done in order to make the beams harmless would be to cancel out the frequency. And that was exactly what she was doing. The invisible web she wove around the group was made of its own light waves that interacted with those of the laser beams. Light waves are able to cancel each other out when the high point of one meets the low point of another. Quite a simple concept, really, but effective if one knew the mechanics of it.

The door moved open with a hiss, slowly tilting open on its hinges. Finally, it was time to move on.

[Lucian Verdus]

The secondary goal of collecting the computers the servitor had bypassed before had been long forgotten and erased. What mattered now was escape. Accessing the servitor's transmitted memory, Lucian knew for a fact that the door to the barracks had been shut, in order to keep the guards out while they explored. Unless they were deaf or more unintelligent than some of the mutants they kept prisoner, it was evident the guards would not be waiting for them at the door. Not while there was an impending flood.

If Lucian was lucky, the guards presumed the mutants doomed. It wasn't unlikely, and Lucian wouldn't have been surprised if the other humans hadn't the speed to make it out. Irksomely, it seemed more likely that they would find a way. Five minutes was a generous period, at a brisk pace, and he was opening the locked door for them, wasn't he? A small price to pay for the recovery of the archive. The servitor, speeding towards the door, readied a claw. It crackled gleefully with electricity, and the servitor came to a full stop as the claws penetrated the keypad. One of the legs had loathsomely pierced half of the body of the very unfortunate guard from earlier. Even that was paid no mind as, after a moment of hissing and buzzing, the keypad shut down and the door gave way.

The servitor pulled its claws out, swiftly going on its way.

[Mara Ackart]

As she was carried through the door and into the lab Mara reflected on the mission. Up to now it had gone well. They'd gotten what they came for, presumably, and five minutes was actually a decent amount of time to get out of the base. The downside of course being that she'd used up what little energy she'd had to begin with. That had facilitated this ridiculous position. It would take some time before Mara could ever tender an apology to the woman. Mara would have to come to terms with her own failure first, something she was not good at.

Mara briefly wondered how her transport was fairing. Not to mention her name. So far Mara hadn't exactly liked the woman but neither did she dislike her. She was mostly neutral on the issue, though she did irk Mara at times. As they headed for the door to the barracks Mara managed to heave a sigh, soon this travesty would be over and she could be back on her feet again.

[Kita]

The way through the lab was short as Kita swiftly dodged worktables, lab equipment, a couple desk chairs and stools. The women were lucky on two accounts: not only did Kita exercise on a regular basis, but Mara was relatively light. The case bounced against her thigh as it hung from her belt. She kept pace with the beat, giving her something to focus on besides the image of a wall of water coming at them from behind.

A large part of her just wanted to dump Mara and be done with this whole affair. Why she'd gotten involved in this whole affair in the first place she didn't know. Call it a case of temporary insanity. Yeah, that was it. No other reason fit with her actions the past twelve hours. First that Sulley person, now this Mara woman. As the way into the barracks came into view, Kita wondered, what kind of deep hole was she digging for herself now?