The Adbot's Revenge!

[SiphonTalvesh]

Re: The Adbot's Revenge!

Siphon continued slogging his way back towards the area, unaware he was being watched.


From a small hidden alcove, a single person waited, looking for the right target to inject with a special virus. It was similar to the virus that had created the Nemesis that witch and those pesky Lurkers had just killed, destroying MONTHS worth of it's work. No matter though, this new virus would turn anyone it infected into an unstoppable killing machine .... or so it was believed. No one could resist becoming a monster ... or so they believed. Finally, he spotted a target, and loaded his weapon with the injection dart.

The round, when fired from the weapon, would pierce the skin, and most forms of armor, though his target wore no armor. This would be an absolute cakewalk he thought. Inject the test subject, watch it write in agony, then when it had passed out to allow the mutations to occur, contain and transport it back for 'conditioning.' He had no idea that the target he was about to shoot wouldn't be cooperative in the least bit, and it would be his only mission he would undertake in his young life.


Siphon stopped for a moment, thinking he'd heard a noise. After a few moments, he decided it was nothing and turned away to leave. It was then something struck him in the lower back, piercing into the skin, some kind of liquid entering his bloodstream. The pain that ripped through him was unlike anything he'd ever felt, and truthfully, the first time in a long time he could recall actually feeling physical pain.

After several moments, he had to take a knee from the pain. It was then he noticed the young man moving in, likely trying to capture him. In a fit of blind, pain driven rage, he stood and lashed out with his arm, striking the young man at the base of the neck, snapping it but not immediately killing him.


Albert had planned everything properly, had injected his target, and now ... everything suddenly went to hell. Instead of passing out or being paralyzed with pain, his subject somehow was still very much in control of his body. Worse still, he hadn't seen the blow coming until it was too late to react, and down he went, pain flaring through his body as his neck broke. Only now did he see the defining features of his target, realizing his mistake had been to label his target as a wraith. He could now see, this person was a hybrid wraith, and one clearly superior to a pure blood. He also knew that the virus wouldn't mutate him into a creature like Nemesis, but would rather give him all of it's strength and power, but with added benefits. The kicker was that he failed to realize in the time he had left that it also was beginning to change the hybrid to appear more human. His skin was already beginning to change tint, his body structure altering to accomodate the changes the virus was working. He realized he had failed, and then blissfully knew no more, dying there on the spot.


Siphon knew something was wrong the second the pain began to subside. A quick look at his hands confirmed this. Where there had once been a feeder, there was now only solid flesh. What the hell? What's ... happening to me?

The changes to the more prominent features of his body had happened quickly, but the less defining features, such as internal organ structure and genetic coding would take much longer to finish. On the outside, one could still tell who he was, but only because the virus hadn't completely altered him yet. Soon it would, and he'd appear differently, and the part that scared him the most right now was the simple fact, he didn't know what was happening, and knew there likely wasn't a cure. Then the pain hit him again, and he roared.

Elsewhere, anyone who had previously brushed minds with him before would catch the faintest hint of the pain, his subconcious mind projecting it out in waves, not all at once. They would also be able to tell where he was at currently, if they wanted to investigate.

 

[Host]

Re: The Adbot's Revenge!

When Pale first calls out, Host looks back over his shoulder. When she asks about the insignias, Host turns to the front again, mouth widening as he does. An, aura, for lack of a better word, disappears from around Host, its existence only noticed through its loss. It was as if Host had done something to make himself less friendly, and more… scary. Then he began laughing, though not in any manner a human would recognize as laughter. It is a reptilian clicking, deep and loud, the best onomatopoeia for which would likely be “aKaKaKaKaKaKaKaKakhhh…”. Something about the atmosphere makes Pale very glad Host’s face is turned away from her. This is only reinforced when the Lurker next to him turns too look – and visibly jumps back, then chooses to stand behind the demon. Twenty meters behind.

Host speaks, and the cause of these changes becomes apparent. Host didn’t start to be meaner… he’d stoped pretending to be human. Gone from his voice are the warmth and humility, the kindness and care. Regardless of how much he had before, the total loss of his humanity was strikingly chilling. “Tell Aika about me. He’ll give you your answer.” Host said with cruel humour, apparently expecting a reaction from Aika that he would find amusing. Host and the Lurkers move away, Host clicking in a manner that you suspect is a chuckle. Even as he does so, the aura that had fled returns, and Pale relaxes muscles she hadn’t realised she’d tensed. “I’m a… friend of his, too.” Host adds while walking away, the whole Lurker group fading out as, Pale realises, whoever those damn illusionists were just cast another one of their spells. Any attempt to detect the spell causes her to realise that they may have actually made the thing specifically to evade her detection, difficult though such a feat would be.

Shortly thereafter, Copper unfreezes and looses her footing on the outside terrain, her last memory being what she believes to be one second ago, when pounding on one of the suited guys… who was definitely no longer under her, unless he had somehow turned to grass.

(I’m pretty sure the only person who actually heard Host’s name is Shrike, so Pale will have to relate Host to Aika through his appearance. Or wake Shrike up, of course - with some forum meds, or an awakening spell, or something. Grave and Shrike will wake up naturally after two hours if you don’t. Regardless of what happens, after two hours this next part begins.)

Host returns to base and quickly locates Burrito and his guides. “Sorry, you two, I have to take the good Captain for a trip to the forum.” The two with the ULMF member were silent for a moment.
“So the mission failed, then.” Said the male of the pair. “We’re going with plan B?”
“You’ll know which plan we’re going with when the mission has been completed. You’re not part of the squad going out, so it doesn’t concern you. Come on, Burrito, the squad’s already ready. We’re taking you back to base so you can testify to our hospitality.” Host said with a grin. “I take it we were hospitable?” he added, turning his grin towards the two guards and subtly making it more threatening.
“Yes, sir!” both reply whole-heartedly.
“Good.” Host heads off, Burrito having little choice but to follow…

Burrito wakes from unconsciousness to find himself amidst several armed and armoured Lurkers, with something familiar looming not too far ahead. Civilisation… no, not just that, ULMF. The forum. “Sorry ‘bout draining you to shutdown, Burrito.” Host says honestly. “If we didn’t have to keep the base’s location secret we wouldn’t have bothered with it, but we do, so…” Burrito notices that the Lurkers around him are paying a great deal of attention to looking around. As much as this must be returning to home for him, for the Lurkers, he realised, it was walking straight into enemy territory. With no cover and no illusions (as far as Burrito could tell). If the Lurkers had been truthful and this was a peace mission, one slip-up could mean the difference between peace and war… a very important task for the eight Lurkers to carry.

That’s when space tore and every well-laid plan Host had spent days coming up with was ruined in a moment, by something no amount of foresight could have discovered. Something sped through the tear at incredible velocities and landed close to the Lurkers... something very human-shaped. Five of the Lurkers took the aggressive entrance as an attack, and riddled the figure with bullets… but to no avail. The bullets definitely hit, the guy just didn’t seem to care. The man still got up, allowing a better look at his features – he’s wearing a trenchcoat and fedora, both in distinctly rough condition (though that could just be from all the bullets). There’s a sword – more specifically a katana – held in one hand… but the most notable feature is the black mist rising from his feet. Everything about the figure – well, mainly the mist – spoke of a creature of darkness. Hell, Host reckoned it even smelt like darkness, and he was pretty sure he didn’t know what darkness smelt like.

The man took being shot at in poor humour, despite taking no damage. He sped towards the firing Lurkers and before they could react, took out each one with a single slice of his sword. The remaining two Lurkers who had been willing to wait and see what the new arrival did, were not willing to sit by and watch him kill the rest of their squad. Both were about to charge the man, but Host stopped one with an arm.
“You’ve got to assess the situation, boy. Don’t act till it’ll help.”
The ‘boy’ decided Host was correct and waited. The guy in the trench coat charged the charging Lurker right back, but before he could connect his swing, the Lurker Host had stopped decided that this would be a good time to act. He cast invincibility on the charging Lurker, and the man’s blow was cut short as it impacted the indestructible shield… or was it…

(Going to cut off here for the moment at least, have to go. Oni can continue the scene or I'll finish it in an hour or three.)

 

[Pale]

Re: The Adbot's Revenge!

Pale closes her eyes as the Lurkers leave, reaching out with her senses to find... anything. Something. She pays little heed to Copper's sudden unfreezing, simply standing, eyes closed, watching where the group had been. Faint echoes of some sort of illusion.. maybe. Or imagination. They'd seen her coming that time..

Finally, she sighs, and muses aloud.

"Jeez... he does love the melodrama, doesn't he.. Shame I'll have to kill him now. Can't have him giving people like us a bad rep after all..."

Wings brush the air as the mage turns on her heel, pacing over to the two unconscious forum members. She nudges Shrike gently with her boot, hoping for a reaction. Or.. not. That was fine too.

 

[SiphonTalvesh]

Re: The Adbot's Revenge!

Siphon had slowly made it to his feet, something very wrong with him. It had taken him a few minutes, but he finally had made it back to the building, only to hear Pale mention something about killing someone. He hadn't even realized his voice had changed until he spoke, his eyes widening after he finished.


"What? Who .... are we ... killing?"


If Pale or any of them looked, they'd note that the ridges were fading on his face, his skin was changing to a human like color, and his eyes were no longer yellow, but had turned crimson red.

 

[Pale]

Re: The Adbot's Revenge!

Pale glances over at Siphon casually, lips curling in the hint of a smirk.

"Oh.. no one, no one.. Might want to be thinking about laying off the cosmetics there, friend. You look a little off colour.. Well. A normal colour for everyone else. I'm guessing the eyes aren't good though. Do you even -own- a mirror? Maybe a hairbrush?"

She gives up on the unconscious Shrike, and mutters something under her breath. Her outstretched palm gently illuminates the woman.. and after a moment's hesitation, Grave as well..

"Right. Now, they should be up and about in no time at all. Wakey Wakey...."

 

[SiphonTalvesh]

Re: The Adbot's Revenge!

Siphon debated telling her for a moment, then finally shook his head. "Yeah, something's wrong. Someone attacked me after my dart crashed, tried to inject me with something, and now this. Strange part is, other than feeling a bit stronger and all, I don't feel any differently. And what do you mean my eyes?"


He pulled out a small blade, reflecting the light to look at himself. "What the hell?"

There was a low growl as another wave of pain slammed into him, staggering him slightly. "That and the pain. What the hell happened here anyway? Better still, in your spell arsenal, do you have one that can scan a humanoid body and project it's results?"

 

[Pale]

Re: The Adbot's Revenge!

Pale returns a flat look to Siphon.

"Do I look like a techhead to you? Of course not. As for the attack.. maybe you got lucky? Doesn't kill you, makes you stronger, and all that.."

The Mage is more interested in the lizardman who just left.. and that requires waking Shrike and Grave up. She bends down to try and shake the warrior woman by the shoulders, gently.

 

[SiphonTalvesh]

Re: The Adbot's Revenge!

"What doesn't kill us makes us stronger huh? Right. Let's just pray this is all it's going to do then."

He takes note of Shrike and Grave, then a thought hits him. With a dangerous dark tone to his voice he asks, "where is Copper? WHAT happened here?""


Nevertheless, he also bends down in an attempt to wake Grave up as well.

 

[Shrike7]

Re: The Adbot's Revenge!

((Yeah yeah, I'm working on it, ))

Shrike groans and shifts some, eyes opening after a moment to view the scene around her. "Huh, somewhat better than I had expected." She comments dryly as she stands. "What happened?"

 

[Pale]

Re: The Adbot's Revenge!

"Um. In a word. Trap. I'll sum things up for you later, but.. do you remember anything useful? I'm going to have to make a report on this, I just know it.."

And I hate reports. Maybe I'll get to take that fucker's hand this time.

The Mage eyes up Siphon, then paces away.. and back.. then away.. then back, talking as she does.

 

[SiphonTalvesh]

Re: The Adbot's Revenge!

Siphon had just given up on waking Grave up, and had stood to ask what Pale was doing when another wave of pain hit him. This time it was so intense the two women could see the anguish, and without thinking Siphon lashed out and smashed a small boulder next to him with a closed fist. To put it mildly, the stone shattered, literally just pulverized by his hit. He let out a growl of pain, then slowly managed to get to his feet.

"What ... the fuck ... is happening ... to me?"

Then, just as suddenly, the pain was gone and he was clear minded. "Gah! Wait, a trap? Who set it. Pale ... your not telling me something, what is it? Don't worry, my anger isn't directed at you, I just hate seeing friends and comrades .... hurt, and it makes me want to tear apart whoever did this all the more, especially since I have a feeling that whoever injected me had something to do with what happened here."

 

[Shrike7]

Re: The Adbot's Revenge!

"Not much." Shrike admitted, slowly standing up. "I think they were Lurkers, the one that seemed to be the leader was called Host, and none of the others seemed to like him. They also had some powerful mages, and maybe another psychic around, I'm not sure."

She watches with concern as Siphon seems to be having a fit, but says nothing.

 

[SiphonTalvesh]

Re: The Adbot's Revenge!

"Lurkers? There was rumor that they hadn't all been killed but .... I never believed them. So they've resumed hostilities then? Just what we don't need at this point."

He catches her looking and grins slightly. "I'll ... be alright. I think. So um... just how different do I actually look as compared to ... normal? Oh, and do you happen to have a pair of black sunglasses with you?"

It's now Shrike would spot the seemingly glowing red eyes, only they were a solid color, hardly flickering, but yet ... they were.

 

[Shrike7]

Re: The Adbot's Revenge!

"Well, if I couldn't feel it was you, I don't think I would know." Shrike admitted. "You look, pretty much human, except for the eyes. They're pretty much solid red." She explains, stretching a bit. She had spent the last while as a heap on the floor, not the best way to nap, and there were sore spots all over.

 

[SiphonTalvesh]

Re: The Adbot's Revenge!

There was an audible sigh. "Great, just what I didn't need. It was hard enough to get in and not be hunted every day when I first came across these places for what I was, and now that everyone's used to that, poof, I no longer even look like the same person. Just perfect."

There was a longer pause while he seemed to consider something else. "When you head back to the forum, tell Aika and the others the hive has moved. Worse, there are two of them. I .... won't be joining you. I won't even be able to get in now."

 

[Shrike7]

Re: The Adbot's Revenge!

"Bull. Shit." Shrike said forcefully. "I walked right in the first time, and I had never even been there before. And you have the word of pretty much all of us that you are who you say you are, so I don't see a problem with you coming back with us." She explains, crossing her arms in front of her and raising an eyebrow.

 

[SiphonTalvesh]

Re: The Adbot's Revenge!

"Assuming they listen to you once you explain you were in enemy hands. Standard op is to hold the works until it can be known for sure you weren't altered somehow by the enemy when you've been in enemy hands. I rarely will ever say this but ... DON'T say anything about having been captured. Tell them it was a band of Lurkers in here, they attempted to ambush you but everyone escaped. Say nothing about it being a trap. Either way .... This is going to be a bunch of explaining, and I don't even know what's happening to me. All I know is I'm changing, and I feel .... stronger, faster .... more .... I don't know, it's hard to explain it."

 

[Shrike7]

Re: The Adbot's Revenge!

"Well, following that logic, we should be more than acceptable to vouch for you. Face it Siphon, you don't need to run away, we got your back." She says, her tone softening somewhat. "Now come on, just as soon as Copper's done venting, and Grave wakes fully, we're going back, and I'm not taking no for an answer."

((Also, aren't we still in the forum, being just outside the house all this happened in?))

 

[SiphonTalvesh]

Re: The Adbot's Revenge!

((Hell if I know. If so I'm sure someone (Burrito) will likely send a patrol over to see wtf happened. Course then again, how'd Wraith get inside it?))


For a long moment he's silent, seeming to think. "Well .... I suppose on the brighter side of things this means I don't have to be worried about being the strange alien looking dude anymore, assuming this is a permanent thing. Though these clothes are fucked all to hell. Hmm, that was a house .... I'll be back in a minute, maybe I can find something .... better to wear."


He ducked into the house, then about five minutes later came back out. Gone was the ragged clothing. Instead, he looked like some kind of undertaker now. He was sporting a pair of black shades, covering the glowing eyes perfectly. A Black shirt of some kind was visible under some kind of black jacket that appeared to be made of a polyester and kevlar mixture, and the pants he wore were black, but of an unknown material. To top it all off, he had predictably, black boots of some kind and a pair of black tactical gloves.

"Well, this was all I could find. Better than having next to nothing I suppose. So um... how do I .... oh never mind."


((OOC Note: Since you forgot to Host, and since your group HAS to be far enough away, I'm going to free up Copper to post here by saying the spell is lifted. Anything that wasn't done that would have needed to be done before the ensuing events of her freedom can be considered as having occurred before this.))


Siphon stood in front of the immobile Copper. "So um.... You awake Copper?"

 

[Copper]

Re: The Adbot's Revenge!

((Actually, I think I can fix the snafu and use Siphon's line with it. We'll just keep me around the corner from the others, to explain the late posting.))

Copper's hand slammed into something hard, though it was distinctly not metal and it was also not the guy that she'd been pounding on several seconds ago. Snarling, she wheeled around, looking for the targets that had been there only moments ago. They'd hurt her, they'd hurt her friends and for that, she was going to give them a whole new ventilation system.

She pulled her claws out of the ground, ripping up a sizable divot in the process. The motion caused her arm to jerk back, which in turn, pulled at the muscles of her chest, and that in turn sent the feeling of about a good half-dozen gunshot wounds coursing through her body all at once. Clutching at her chest, she doubled over where she knelt, rocking back and forth as she fought to think clear through the pain, to not let it overwhelm her and over-ride the fragile hold she had on her Beast right now.

Forcing her thoughts on other matters, she knew she was going to have to heal before she could do anything, but allowing that to happen completely would leave her in another dangerously drained state and she wasn't about to risk that. Pushing off the ground with her other hand, she rolled herself to a sitting position, still rocking a little, forcing her thoughts, and her blood, to do what she wanted it to. Some of the more superficial shots pushed their way out first, though she could feel the others slowly worming their way out of her skin.

When Siphon comes around the corner, he finds her simply sitting there, not moving, not even reacting to his presence, at least until he speaks. Even then, it's just her eyes that move, slowly trailing up the wall of black that's currently in front of her. It's hard to tell she's even seeing him until her eyes have turned all the way up.

"Fuck happened to you?" she growls out, no menace in her tone, more a combination of her near-frenzy and exhaustion.

If Siphon is here and she was now outside, then things must have happened, her brain not exactly feeling up to formulating any theories at the moment. It did make one set of connections, though: Siphon. Squad. The others.

Without waiting for his answer, she started to push herself up to her feet, not looking very steady, but she was determined to find out what happened to Grave and Shrike.