Brotherhood of the Machine (IC Thread) [PG/14] {02}

[Lisky]

"go back as far as you want, i'm kinda on your timetable now anyways.  Though i am a little interested as to why you joined this unit, and would like to know a little bit more about them" replied Darkshine

[Tapewolf]

Dorcan sighed, mentally weighing up where to begin.  His recent history went back about eight hundred years to his Grandfather's falling out with the Red Queen... but that could wait.

"I'm not native to this continuum," Dorcan said, deciding to put it briefly.  "I arrived here by mistake and got stranded.  The Brothers took me prisoner, the Rebels helped me escape, and since I have no home or job here, teaming up with them seemed like a sensible approach.
"The Rebels have done questionable things - heck, we've come here to do some more - but when I have to choose between the Brothers - who were going to kill me - and the Rebels - who were actively recruiting - it was a pretty clear choice."

He glanced at the leopard critically.  "Once we're sure you're safe, I don't see anything stopping you from joining up if you want," he added.

[techmaster-glitch]

   There was a sudden burst of multiple energy weapon blasts, and then a muted thunk on the other side of the office where Darkshine and Dorcan still were. Then it repeated, a blackened computer monitor coming to a rest on the ground near Dorcan and Darkshine. It seemed that Jexx had finally gotten completely bored pacing around with the others chatting away, and now was picking up random office implements, tossing them around the room, and using the flying projectiles as target practice.

[Lisky]

a little startled the sudden change in attitude of his captor, as well as the sudden appearance of charred computer monitor, he stopped to think for a little bit "well, if i'm gonna be joining the rebellion, and beleive me, if you people are at all typical of the people i'd be working with, then i'm all for it.  For one thing, with someone like him" he gestured over towards Jexx "you'd never be bored."
Darkshine took a deep breath, got relaxed again, and started thinking aloud "I'll just need a day or two to take care of a few things, collect my paycheck from this mission, clean out my safe house, and hopefully get back in touch with wolf..."

[Tapewolf]

"Jexx, please stop that," Dorcan snapped.  "You could damage the building, knock the lights out or heck, trigger some kind of emergency alarm at Brotherhood HQ."

Turning back to Darkshine he smiled slightly.  "I don't approve of your profession.  Aside from that, all this - the fact that you're a captive - is nothing personal.  Mostly precaution, really."  Unless you go and do something stupid, of course... he added mentally.

"This wolf... is he really a wolf?  Or is it just a codename?"

[Lisky]

"She, and actually she's a german shepherd, though looks very wolfish, clever as hell, probably a little too sharp for her own good... actually, come to think of it, she was probably one of the most talented tech people i've ever worked with, and on top of that, she was a damn fine shot in medium and close range."  Darkshine paused, thinking back a little bit, then gave a devious smile "ya know, i probably shouldn't be saying this, but after i broke up the team, and she left, i realized i kinda had a thing for her"

[techmaster-glitch]

   At Dorcan's admonishment, Jexx returned him with quite a mean look, though seemingly more long the lines that it appeared that Jexx thought Dorcan crazy. Then deliberately, he walked around a few desks, picking up clipboards, keyboards, paperweights, and the like, standing with them in his arms. Abruptly, he threw them all up in their air. Jexx then became almost a blur of action, twisting, spinning, and throwing his arms out, sending a single plasma ball shot into each object before it hit the ground. In three seconds, it was over; Jexx looked around to survey his handiwork. He noticed the ceiling had acquired a fresh scorch mark.
   He brutally kicked a desk with his metal foot in frustration. "Crud!! I'm startin' to miss now!" He swore to himself. "I'm gettin' out of practice already! Stupid rebellion...Can't kill Brotherhood mooks 's much as I want anymore..." He continued grumbling to himself, saying things along the lines of questioning the benefits of tagging along with the rebellion as he picked up more objects, viciously chucking them and and blasting them in their flight.

[Lisky]

Both amazed and confused by Jexx's actions, Darkshine looked back at Dorcan and said in a slightly hushed voice "is he always that angry? is it something i did? or is this a 'just ignore it' kinda thing?  because in all seriousness, i've now become pretty much convinced the word subtlety is not in that mans vocabulary" while nodding towards Jexx

[Arcalane]

[If you don't calm down I can make your life even worse. Entertain the concept of walking back and being confined to your quarters for insubordination and behaviour that jeopardizes the safety of our personnel. Or I could put you at the mercy of the medical staff, I'm sure they'd enjoy finding out what makes you tick...] Exo shakes it's head to itself as it continues inspecting the generator, looking for a way to power it down and/or unplug the cables/cut off whatever's coming through the pipes.

[On more important matters, the generator is firmly bolted down, though that's no real surprise. I don't suppose our relief team bought some heavy-duty bolt cutters or a cutting torch?]

[Tapewolf]

"Who objected when I said we'd need an engineer?" Dorcan chided over the comms.  "This should be right up Izzie's street.  Where is he?"

"As for Jexx," he said, turning off the comm and speaking low so that only Darkshine would hear, "He's a bit of an odd one.  Apparently the Brotherhood erased his mind about four years ago, so yeah, he's got a few screws loose.  A good fighter, though."

[Lisky]

Darkshine took a moment to soak everything and started chuckling, he turned back to Dorcan and said "i just had a rather amusing thought, either you people are way more trusting than i'd ever be, or you've got one of the most effective recruiting systems i've ever seen or heard of...either way, tell whoever needs to know, that when we get back to base or wherever the hell you plan on going, i'm in..."

[techmaster-glitch]

(OOC: apology in advance for the swear)

   Jexx stopped his impromptu target practice as Exo's reprimanding voice came over his comm. As he listened, something strange started to happen. Dorcan, who had seen Jexx's strong, uniform glow on occasions before, would realize that something is wrong this time. Jexx's markings were not picking up a steady glow. Rather, the glow was strengthening and dimming irregularly as Jexx's breathing audibly did something similar. Almost shaking, he brought his hand up to his ear, and began speaking in a very harsh, poorly-controled voice.
   "Listen to me, you stupid pile of metal. Remember that I never actually "joined" your little rebellion, I'm just tagging around with you, but if things keep pissing me off, I'll just fucking leave!"
   Jexx then pulled the microcomm out of his ear, flinging it across the room (though he didn't shoot it). With a shout of rage, he kicked a desk again--only this time he actually kicked it with enough force to dump it on it's side. Jexx then stood there, sort of facing away from Dorcan and Darkshine, his breathing still heavy and his markings still fluctuating. His hand/handcannons were even on the fritz, jerking around and partially morphing from one form to another.
   After a minute or two, Jexx's body began to calm down, his glowing and breathing subsiding. He staggered over to a chair, collapsing in it. He actually felt a little sick, and his face reflected that. After another minute, he spoke up again. "That's two years, by the way, not four..." he said offhand to Dorcan, though with his face still staring straight ahead. He looked physically drained.

[Lisky]

Darkshine paused, keeping his face as void of emotion as possible, then turned over to Dorcan and said "i'm just gonna go sit over there if it's ok with you" while nodding towards a chair on the other side of a cubicle from Jexx "as i said, i try to keep things a little impersonal, and i'm not so good when it comes to dealing with emotions.... I'd take a novacane free route canal any day..." he added in a low voice to Dorcan

[Tapewolf]

Dorcan nodded and covered his eyes - his long muzzle preventing him from burying his face in despair the way a human would.  A fine group of professional soldiers we make... this is more like a rock band, and the drummer's about to quit.

[Lisky]

Feeling the weight of the tension in the room  Darkshine was considering his options, he thought  if i'm going to get out of the building alive, i'm gonna have to play along and jump through whatever hoops these people make me. so far so good... This seems real, but how do i know it's not some test... i could probably get my rifle back if i time everything right, but really, that'd get me killed by that angsty little guy over there, if i sit here, i'll probably say something that either A: sets of that angsty little guy, and he frags me, or B: brings up a topic that they consider taboo, and i get fragged because they don't trust me with whats been said... and leaving this room, well, if i'm getting out of here, it's under guard, so i might as well try that  he looked up at Dorcan and asked "any chance you could hand me that vial and we could get my samples, it'd mean a lot to me, and it's also give us all a chance to relax a bit, and catch our breaths, both literally and figuratively, i'll lead the way, i swear i won't cause any problems, i'll walk at whatever pace you like, 3 steps ahead.  But seriously, would you mind just leaving this area, even for a minute or two?"  he kept his tone level and calm, and tried to keep as much of his nerves out of his appearance as possible

[Tapewolf]

"That's up to Morgan," Dorcan said, and then spoke into his communicator.
"Izzie?  I don't know if you heard Exo, but if you're in range, he's in need of your skills.  I take it you brought cutting equipment?"

[shadowterm]

"Always, never know when you have to stop asking questions, and start cutting off limbs, should make quick work of the bolts." Izzie started running in the direction of the generator. "I can be there in a few minutes"

[Azlan]

Morgan, who had left the room shortly after Exo and before Jexx had begun to act up again, took note of the situation.  He had left with The two demolitions people and the two soldiers that had accompanied both teams.  Morgan had planned on getting the demolitions charges set and doing a final sweep of the area, but he considered the situation.

Exo, I expect something is going to be done about him?  Unless you want me to do it my way.  Anyways, I am going to get moving on the demolitions part.  Dorcan, escort our new... friend... to get his sample.  I'm sending two of our soldiers to assist you.

Morgan gestured to the two rebellion troopers, "you two meet up with Dorcan, escort the prisoner to take care of his business.  If the prisoner does anything you do not like, feel free to stun him or take him out completely at your discretion.  If it is in regards to the prisoner, you may take whatever action you deem necessary even if Dorcan issues you commands to the contrary, otherwise you are to follow his orders within reason."

[Arcalane]

Exo just shakes it's head again and grumbles. [I'm glad we have some professionals around here. I suggest you handle Jexx, Morgan.. my.. people skills leave things to be desired, it seems. As for the charges... Mack and I marked the main spots with white crosses - they should all be fairly easy to spot. Just be careful when setting those things, once they're primed there's pretty much no going back.]

[Azlan]

Morgan frowned, Exo, I was being sarcastic, my method involves tranqing him and calling for a medical pickup or putting a laser blast between his eyes.  His actions are endangering all of our lives, if one of his shots went stray and into the hall, there is a charge placed on that support beam where Mack had marked.  That could have killed everybody down here... which is both teams minus you.  Just make a suitable report to the Rebellion command and handle this however gross insubordination and reckless endangerment is regulated among the Rebel soldiery.  Oh, and do not worry about the charges, we are not arming detonation until you give the command.  We have remote arming gear.

Morgan and the two demolitions experts begin placing the charges in the required areas.

[Lisky]

Darkshine looked around the office, then back at Dorcan while listening to the activity going on outside... he heard muffled voices from somewhere in the tower.  With fur standing slightly on end, he knew he was failing to keep his nerves under control.  He quickly asked "so, whats the word on getting my samples?" while getting out of the chair.

[shadowterm]

Izzie ran through the door to the generator and slid to a halt beside Exo and started to inspect the bolts. "Jeez, this was not put in for the short term." He was still panting lightly from the run.

[Tapewolf]

"Looks like you're in luck," Dorcan said to Darkshine, gesturing at the two soldiers.  "We're going to escort you to the bodies.  Don't do anything stupid though...  He's given them authority to stun or kill you if they deem it necessary - even if I say otherwise.  Just so you know.  Now, excuse me a second..."

"Izzie?  That thing didn't look like it was going to be trivial to remove, I'll agree.  It's too much to hope that we can remove it intact, though if you can think of a way, go for it.  Either way, if we can extract enough of it to figure out what it's supposed to do, that will be a huge help.  Start with the computers and control equipment - those are probably more portable, and we might be able to deduce it's purpose by reverse-engineering the software or heck, extracting the text strings from it.  Actually, if it were me, I'd do that first - worry about the generator core itself afterwards."

"Now, Mr. Darkshine, wasn't it?  Let's get your, uh, victims sorted out.  Lead the way."  He took the leopard's backpack and followed behind the soldiers.

[Lisky]

Darkshine got up and walked out the door, retracing the steps he'd taken earlier before getting hit.  Keeping to a slow steady pace, after a few minutes, he found the room he was looking for.  He paused at the closed door and said over his shoulder "It's gonna be pretty messy, i'm sure you can handle it, but i'm giving you the warning now that if you've got a weak stomach, you should try and focus on something else in the room"  as he finished his little pep speech, darkshine eased the door open into the blood spattered room, the bodies were more or less exactly as he remembered them.

He pointed to body missing a large portion of it's head and said "and there he is, i'll need the vial and..." he stopped mid-sentence as he noticed the grips of the small weapons, still holstered on the bodies of the dead bodyguards.  "better idea, one of you two should probably get the samples for me, not that i'm incapable, but those 2 are still armed" nodding towards the corpses lying facedown in pools of blood, while talking to the solider escorts

[Tapewolf]

"Ugh," Dorcan said, and looked away.  "Did it have to be quite so... messy?  Those may have been bad people, but they were still people..."

"Better do as he says," he added to the escort.  "I'll keep watch."

[Lisky]

"i can't help the mess, i blame the ammunition... the .45 ACP is a rather nasty round, i use it because people don't have a tendency to get back up when it hits them... it's subsonic, making it easy to silence...  The biggest downside is capacity, i've got 10 rounds per magazine... well that and the mess... big holes, big mess, i guess " darkshine replied with a shrug and a grin

(edit add) still having the grin on his face he began rubbing his chin while contemplating aloud "ya know, i'd say stripping those guards of weapons, hell... stripping them of everything, could be useful, the one with the holes not so much, but the officer's uniform, along with the one bodyguard's could be used to at least get some infiltrators past the front gate of another target"  he paused, weighing the options, the devious nature of his thoughts slipping through to his face. "i've got some really lightweight armor back at my safe house, nothing too fancy just some ultra hardened fibers , but it'll stop a lightweight hit from most pistols, and it'll definitely hide under those uniforms... if you could find some volunteers, a brotherhood truck, and get the rest of the plan rolling within a week, we could probably pull off a really nasty raid."

[Tapewolf]

"Oh nonono," the Doberman snapped.  "I told you what Morgan said.  If you touch those weapons, there could very well be one more Being in here with a hole through his head, so don't tempt fate.  The photos, the blood sample... that's what you came here for, right?  Take them and go.  Please."

[shadowterm]

"That would be an affirmative on it not going anywhere, looks like the terminals will be easy to strip though." Izzie moved over to the console next to the generator and opened the case. "Pretty standard stuff, I'll pull the drives, check to see if anything from the generator can be dismantled, and call you back when I'm done." Izzie got out a set of screw drivers. "Oh, and if things turn south, feel free to let me know" He added as an after thought. Never hurts to ask he thought to himself.

[Lisky]

darkshine paused, taken a little aback by the hostility, he replied indignantly "i was actually thinking aloud thank you very much, and i never said i'd be the one taking the weapons... " he paused, then the devious grin was back as quickly as it had disappeared "though a rather devious plot crossed my mind.... assuming we can get those blood stains out... Here's what i'm thinking, we get some people who fit in those uniforms, and look the part.  If you don't have it available, i can provide some lightweight body armor that'll fit under the uniforms, it's just at the safehouse.  As for the next mission, why bother assaulting a brotherhood compound, when, if we do this right, they simply let us in... now all we'll need is an in tact brotherhood truck" 

[Tapewolf]

"Will do, Izzie," Dorcan said and muted his communicator.  Then he turned back to the leopard with a somewhat apologetic look.

"I'm sorry," he said.  "That came out harsher than I'd intended.  Look... I don't really trust you, and I'm not likely to until and unless we've had a chance to check you out back at base.
But just because I'm suspicious doesn't mean I want to see the inside of your skull spread across these walls.  And that could easily happen if you do something to alarm those two, or Morgan.  I'm not sure you realise how precarious your situation is, and... I guess I want to give you the benefit of the doubt.  So please... just tread carefully, right?"

Sermon over, he un-muted the communicator.

"As for the uniforms, we might be able to snatch a few.  They won't be able to check how many are missing by the time we're done here, after all.  But we are on a tight schedule, and messing around with someone's corpse isn't something I'm eager to do right now."

Maybe the Rebellion isn't quite as different from the Brotherhood as I'd like to think, he mused, remembering his own capture.  But at least I want this guy to have the chance to explain himself, which is more than I ever got.