Heroes: Endings and Beginnings

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#476

Post by Dark Silver »

The briefing was finished, orders given, and Legion nodded. Five minutes was plenty of time, beneath the standard three piece suit he had on, his Contact Suit was already in place. It would provide him with the a near undetectable body armor - he never went anywheres unless it was a true hot zone, looking suited for combat.

He stopped by his office, grabbed his set of pistols, and strapped them under the suit-jacket, thankful he had it tailored to hide the appearance of his guns when they were on.

Two minutes later, he was at the ammo cage, requisitioned several magizines of non-lethal ammo (from tazer bullets to a expanding gel bullet that would help in restraint and deterants.) and a few mags of very lethal ammunition - just in case.

He was the one of the first at the motorpool, and waited for the others to arrive near the req-cage.
Last edited by Dark Silver on Fri Apr 17, 2009 2:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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"Then again, Detective....how often have you dreamed of hearing your father's voice once more? Of feeling your mother's touch?" - Ra's Al Ghul
"According to the Bible, IHVH created the Universe in six days....he obviously didn't know what he was doing." - Darek Steele bani Order of Hermes.
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#477

Post by General Havoc »

"Understood," was the only word XC-001 Alpha broadcast through his tinny speaker before the hologram melted away. Deep within the bowels of the Ultima garage, the technicians were finishing with the enormous robot, and the AI commanding it slowly re-energized active control, though it did not move, for fear of accidentally crushing a tech.

"We all set?" asked one of the technicians.

"Paint job's finished," said the other, standing on an extendible lift up at "head" level for the enormous robot. "We've re-conditioned the identifiers to Ultima standard. Still gonna be pretty obvious who he is though."

"He ain't the most subtle thing ever built, no," said the tech on the ground. "Spin him back up if you can."

The tech checked his diagnostics. "'cording to this, he's active right now."

"What?!" shouted the tech from below. "Jesus Christ, clear the goddamn dock!"

"Relax, will ya? He's not hurtin' anybody."

"Regs state you're supposed to shut down these damned things before you get this close. What happens if - "

"You go find whoever wrote those regs and tell him to come down here and figure out how to shut this thing down himself. This ain't a goddamn windup toy, okay? There's no button for it."

"So send a charge up its main capacitor and trip the breakers, you idiot!"

"Oh great, that's a wonderful idea," shouted the tech from up above. "You want me to attack a three ton war machine with electrodes. Let me get right on that. And while you're at it, be sure to talk some more about how you're going to attack the Omnicorp slaughterbot while it's standing in front of you. I mean it's not like the thing has the firepower to kill everyone in this room if you piss it off, now is it?"

"You left it armed?!"

"I didn't leave it anything. It's got internal magazines with locked pannels."

"So force them open!"

"And what, it's gonna sit there and let me burn through the panels with a welding torch? You're so eager to get yourself killed, you do it."

"That is not advised."

Both techs stopped shouting at the same time as a deep, cavernous voice filled the room. The robot had not moved so much as an inch, but it was clearly the one that had spoken, its speakers easily drowning out all other sound.

The tech on the crane turned slowly towards the robot, blinking in surprise.

"Wh... what's not advised?"

"This unit's internal ammunition magazines are protected by fireproof shutters and are proof against external tampering via magnetically-sealed access panels," explained the robot, its voice as patient as a Sunday school teacher. "The ammunition magazines contain, among other munitions, 7.62 x 51mm NATO standard rifle rounds, 30mm caseless rounds, and high explosive momentum-propelled grenades. Application of open flames within the temperature bounds on record for acetylene torches or other oxy-fuel cutting tools stand a greater than 35% chance of inducing a catastrophic ammunition combustion event, which itself would likely exceed the structural capacities of this unit to contain at minimal risk to collateral life. Use of diamond-ablators or other physical cutting tools is likely to produce sparking in sufficient quantity to represent a 12% chance of a similar ammunition combustion event. This unit cannot vouch with authority for the continued safety of all humans within intermediate distance in the event of such an occurrence, particularly given the structural and architectural bounds of this maintenance facility. Preliminary mid-range case estimates indicate an average of thirteen casualties, of which five are expected to be fatal."

The robot explained to the techs the fatal consequences of them attempting to force their way into its ammo bunkers as though it were discussing the weather, its voice as calm as Hal 9000 itself. It did not move as it spoke, not so much as a tremor, nor did it slide its gunports open or give any indication that it was experiencing any sort of difficulties with the fact that the two techs were discussing forcing it to shut down or hacking their way into its ammo bunkers. Nevertheless, both techs took small steps back, the one on the elevator lowering himself back to ground level.

"... is it certified yet?" asked the first tech.

"Um... yeah... yeah it's... good to go. Right now in fact."

"Then call up dispatch and tell them to get this thing out of here before it gets mad."
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#478

Post by Charon »

Inferno left the conference room and made his way to the armory. He grabbed two pistols, loading simple rubber bullets and taking a few extra clips. His uniform was on, with the exception of his mask. Heading to the desk, he got a copy of the warrant and read it over as he walked down to the garage.
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#479

Post by B4UTRUST »

Once the Omnicorp 'bot was lifted from the depths of Meta-tech it was loaded into the back of a modified semi that had been modified to accomodate the larger power armor systems that Ultima and some PDs were using to handle metas.

The others loaded into a pair of vehicles, and another pair of unmarked cargo vans were assigned to wait nearby for evidence collection.

The small convoy pulled out of Ultima and made their way towards Apex. As they pulled into the entrance to the compound they had to approach a closed gate and a small security booth where a guard sat looking bored, watching a small portable TV.
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#480

Post by Charon »

Inferno opened a comm. "NExT, Alpha. The minute this warrant goes into effect I want you downloading everything on their computers. I don't want anything important getting deleted on us before we can get to it."

The big semi was at the head of the line, and came to a stop infront of the security booth. Inferno looked at his watch. Twenty seconds until the warrant went into effect. He simply waited until the twenty seconds were up as the guard began to ask questions. Then he turned to the guard.

"We're Ultima." Inferno held up the warrant. "We have a warrant. Let us in now."
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#481

Post by SirNitram »

"Standing by to do unpleasant things to their firewalls and initiate a full system download." NeXT whispered in the air, drawing back to put his attention on this. He'd have to outrun the technicians on this, once the warrant pinged his senses..
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#482

Post by Agent Fisher »

Mike sat in the passenger seat of the second vehicle, his face set with determination, waiting for the warrant to go into effect and for them to start the search. He passed the time, listening to his music to get pumped up, and fiddled with the holster of his pistol, practicing his draw in the seat of the car.

"Come on, get us inside." He mumbled, looking out the window at the semi idling infront of the gate.
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#483

Post by General Havoc »

"XC-001 Alpha online," said the massive war machine from inside the Ultima trailer. It did not use its loudspeaker, which would have produced a deafening cacaphony from within his present location, but instead employed the radio, speaking over the closed frequency Ultima had provided, and modulating its volume to avoid obliterating the ears of the other agents. Loading the files for collaborative police exercises took time, they formed the bulk of his initialized behavioral algorithms, particularly given the very... strange... instructions he'd been given regarding actions to be taken and not taken at this time. Still, the robot had to admit, it was good to finally be working within the bounds of the law.

"Initiating passive threat assessment protocols," said the robot. "Integrating exterior sense data into assessment processors. All systems active. No priority protocol directive implimentation parameters detected. Unit is prepared to execute orders on command."
Last edited by General Havoc on Thu Apr 23, 2009 4:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Gaze upon my works, ye mighty, and despair...

Havoc: "So basically if you side against him, he summons Cthulu."
Hotfoot: "Yes, which is reasonable."
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#484

Post by Dark Silver »

The time came, the warrant went into effect.

Legion wasn't in the semi with Inferno, instead, he had taken drivers position in the second vehicle in the line, a standard Ultima-black Lincoln Towncar. Ultima standard, that was, considering it was triple reinforced body, bullet proof glass and three inches of Kevlar/Titanium weave armor. It was more built like a tank. And had enough horsepower in the engine to match.

Inferno wasn't alone, he had several other "minor" agents in the vehicle with him, including the driver, there was just no room for the entire team in the vehicle though.

"Warrant is in effect," Legion announced in a standard voice when the time came, and he let Inferno's informing the of the guard roll through the radios.

"Unit Alpha, if your able, initiate Communication Tap Protocol Seven-Tango-Zulu. IF possible, scramble any new outgoings."

Legion checked his peice with a quick glance, before leaving Ultima, he had loaded a non-lethal magazine of "expanding" gel bullets into the gun, made sure the sound modulator and flash suppressors were working, and put the safety on. The gun rested in a chest holster beneath his black Brooks Brothers suit coat, only noticable by the weight it put on the chest strap. To the observer, he was unarmed.

"Remember, we're not suppossed to be going in hot, but be prepared just incase," he said it more as a warning to those with him, not as a order.
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"Then again, Detective....how often have you dreamed of hearing your father's voice once more? Of feeling your mother's touch?" - Ra's Al Ghul
"According to the Bible, IHVH created the Universe in six days....he obviously didn't know what he was doing." - Darek Steele bani Order of Hermes.
DS's Golden Rule: I am not a bigot, I hate everyone equally. | corollary: Some are more equal than others.
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#485

Post by SirNitram »

Before the words had fully come out of Legion's mouth, the hammer fell. The few open ports on the firewall meant to guard the companies system allowed NeXT's infiltration programs to slip in, and they had one purpose: Throw open the gates.

He plunged into the data, locking out keyboards and mice, dumping data off site. It didn't matter where; it needed to be harddrives only he could recover from, but those were alot. If cyberspace had noise, a massive sound of suction would be roaring around the breach, growing to the cacophony of a hurricane. Only when each computer in the sequence was emptied did the words come up: Warrant being executed, Ultima Tech Services. Do not attempt to interfere.

They would. But it would be amusing that they were late.
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Tev: You're happy. You're Plotting. You're Evil.
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Tev: You're turning me on.

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#486

Post by B4UTRUST »

The guard at the front looked up in surprise at the convoy of Ultima agents arriving and demanding entrance.
"I-I'm going to have to call my superior to get clearance for this," he stated dumbly, not really sure what to do in this situation. He reached for a phone to call his boss.

Inside the Apex network systems began seizing up from the data dump being executed by NeXT. Inside the buildings came a near collective sound of anger, outrage and disbelief as work vital work covering everything from manufacturing to account to payroll, billing, shipments and some research was locked out, creating untold losses as time-sensitive data was lost, locked out and unable to be sent, processed or updated, ruining weeks of experiments in some cases, delaying processing of hours for pay dispersement to employees and locking one poor executive inside the executive washroom.

However not everything succumbed to his digital onslaught. For all his blustering and blowing there was a section that failed to yield. He could intelligently discern that there had to be something there, however, what systems may lie within were untouchable as it now stood. Some other method would have to be used as it seemed the systems were not networked and thus secured.
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#487

Post by Charon »

"Look. I don't want trouble and neither do you so I'm gonna tell you how this goes down." Inferno looked at the man very carefully. "You can open this gate, or I can smash it down and then when I come back down here from my investigations I can arrest you for detaining an Ultima investigation. Your choice."
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#488

Post by B4UTRUST »

The man gulped, his eyes wide as he took in the size of the convoy of Ultima agents that were undoubtedly going to cause problems for everyone. Suddenly, violently, and all over the place. His hand shook as it moved slowly towards the button that opened the gate.

A electric buzzer sounded as the gate began to roll back. As soon as the convoy started moving he grabbed the phone and start calling his supervisor.
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#489

Post by Charon »

Inferno smiled. "Thank you for your cooperation." And then the convoy was on it's way again. Inferno got back on the comm. "NeXT, status report."

The semi came a stop in front of the front door to the building and Inferno hopped out. "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Apex Pharmecuticals. Now lets go find our missing agent." Inferno moved towards the doors.
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#490

Post by SirNitram »

"Inception complete. Primary and secondary security down. Data transfer going ahead, all users locked out. No access to standalone systems. I can attempt the AI In A Box solution to this to gain access, depending on the level of skill of their social engineering security. I estimate only one chance, so the standard success rate of one hundred percent is signifigantly degraded."
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Tev: You're happy. You're Plotting. You're Evil.
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#491

Post by General Havoc »

"External sensor scope is limited due to present operating conditions," said Alpha, who was using robot-speak for 'I can't see outside because I'm stuck in a truck', "but this unit can discern no immediate threats. Analysis of warrant-enforcement case scenarios would indicate a less than 5% likelyhood of direct opposition at entrance points, given the circumstances of the enforcement procedure. Unit requests authorization to disembark once vehicular transport is complete."
Gaze upon my works, ye mighty, and despair...

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Hotfoot: "Yes, which is reasonable."
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#492

Post by LadyTevar »

The vehicles pulled to a stop, and Heidi followed Inferno out and towards the doors. For the moment her weapon was still in the holster, but she had a hand close enough to pull it at the first possible sign of trouble from Apex's people.

"Knock knock, Avon calling..." she muttered with a grin as she opened the door for Inferno to walk in.
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#493

Post by B4UTRUST »

The lobby of Lab 1 was a fairly open space once past the doors. Three security scanners sat on either side of a large square security desk. In front of the scanners were RFID readers that picked up the encoded keys from access badges distributed to authorized personel. Dull beige walls lined the light blue tile floors. Beyond the security desk and scanners was a bank of elevators and off to the right was the stairs. Off to the left was an office, probably security. The floor had several large standing pools of water. A brief examination upwards revealed that the sprinklers had been activated recently.

A group of four individuals geared up in hazmat suits, their head covers set on the ground by their feet were by the staircase door. They were crowded close together and noticibly pale. One of them was smoking a cigarette, hands shaking as he took another drag off of it. There were no security personel at the desk.
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#494

Post by Charon »

Inferno paused. "Oh this has bad written all over it." He turned to the others. "Secure the perimeter and give things a once over. Prep Alpha in case we need him. I'm gonna go see what has those guys in such a bad mood."

Inferno walked with a calm assurance towards the group in Hazmat suits. As he got closer he spoke up. "What seems to be the problem here?" There was an at ease but still business-like tone to his voice, not openly hostile but still meaning business.
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#495

Post by B4UTRUST »

The quartet stopped their low whispered speech as they looked up at the approaching agent. The one with the still smoldering cigarette spoke slowly, shaking his head side to side, eyes cast down.
"Bad shit, man. Bad shit everywhere... Walls, floors, ceilings... It's everywhere..."

He was visably shaken and refused to look into the agent's eyes.
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#496

Post by Charon »

Inferno lifted up his badge. "And what exactly is everywhere and does this building need to be sealed off?" Inferno opened his comm to NeXT. "Looks like there might be some trouble in here. Can you confirm and give me a second opinion on what we are dealing with here?"
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#497

Post by Dark Silver »

Legion had not entered the building yet, having opted to remain near Alpha, just incase something was required.

When Inferno spoke, he looked up at the cargo hauler, patted the side, and called out "Unit Alpha, up and at'em. Alert condition yellow. Keep a sensor out."

With that, Legion pressed the controls which opened the cargo hauler's rear, the sides peeling back and down like roll away doors, revealing the mech inside.
Allen Thibodaux | Archmagus | Supervillain | Transfan | Trekker | Warsie |
"Then again, Detective....how often have you dreamed of hearing your father's voice once more? Of feeling your mother's touch?" - Ra's Al Ghul
"According to the Bible, IHVH created the Universe in six days....he obviously didn't know what he was doing." - Darek Steele bani Order of Hermes.
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#498

Post by SirNitram »

Even as he was accessing the systems he could to work out what had happened, he was speaking. "I'm pulling alerts now.. Either way, you're looking at a lab that just tried to sterilize itself. Bio-containment has failed. Get those civvies out, I'm calling Hazmat and alerting Ultima. I don't know what shit spilled yet, but horrified looks on Hazmat guys are a bad sign."
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Tev: You're happy. You're Plotting. You're Evil.
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#499

Post by B4UTRUST »

The pale one who spoke looked at the badge blankly, as if it didn't quite register to him what exactly it was. A closer inspection of individual revealed a rather young looking male. Glancing downward revealed tell-tale buldges around the waist area of the suit, indicating some sort of equipment belt that hadn't been taken off. It was beginning to appear that these individuals were possibly the 'missing' security guards. And he was probably the poor sucker rookie who got stuck going into whatever was upstairs. The poor kid was probably in some sort of shock and his mind had shut down mostly to protect itself from whatever it had seen.

One of the others looked up and studied the badge for a second before glancing upwards to Inferno's face.
"I'm Dr. Wilks, one of the researchers here in lab one. We're not sure what happened upstairs, yet..."

He trailed off for a second, head cast down as he shook it back and forth as if trying to shake out whatever bad things he had seen.
"We haven't made it past the first few rooms. It's...it's a mess. Looks like a God damned slaughter house. And we don't have a clue what the hell happened. That's why we've got the suits on. There's enough biological and chemical agents up there to make it a potential deathtrap, not to mention the structural and water damage.

"Damned sprinkler system wouldn't cut off, had to be killed from the outside. Heh," he began. "Hate to see what the water bill for this place looks like next month..."

He sighed and blinked a few times before looking at Inferno again.
"Honestly, not sure what to tell you. I can't tell if there's been containment breaches because none of us could stomach getting far enough to find out. I figure, though, that realistically speaking, if there was a containment breach, sealing this place at this point would be a waste of time. If something got out, it's already out of our control to stop it with a simple quarentine."

The other two individuals looked grim and afraid. They were probably security as well and it defiantely wasn't in their contract to see the things they had seen. They were definately more veteran than the rookie, but they were still pleanty scared and had no desire to go anywhere near that upstairs again.
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#500

Post by Charon »

Inferno's face was a tad bit paler as well at the prospect of some of the nastier things here getting out. He shook his head to clear it. "So the Hazmat suits at this point in time are practically useless if you don't already have one on?" Inferno was listening for the response as he opened his comm. again "Copy that NeXT. Thank you for informing the proper authorities. Legion, I'm gonna need you and Alpha to be alert, try moving people away from the building. We have a potential pharmaceutical leak. Might be nothing to worry about, might be everything. Gemini, I might need your brawn and your sister's brain over here." Inferno looked back at the men to see if they had anything else to say.
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