Brotherhood of the Machine (IC) [PG/14]

[bill]

Well, that guy was a bit rude.
Griffith silently watched the mysterious intruder stroll down an alley, out of sight. He looked at the paper that he was given.
South Telegraph Drive... Where the hell is that?
Griffith saw a parked taxi on the corner of the block. He approached it, hailed the driver, and entered.
"664 South Telegraph. Oh, and make a stop at 530 North Corridor. I need to pick up something."

[Azlan]

OOC: I suppose the warehouse bit is about my sneaking about...

Morgan grinned a bit sheepishly and scratched the back of his head as he entered the warehouse, "spotted me a mile away huh?  Well no one said software engineers were very good at sneaking." 

Morgan chose to play it safe keeping to his current persona of Morgan Kell a Zenithsoft software engineer.  Perhaps the rebellion just needed a convenient and decent hacker and shadownet troubleshooter like his sometimes handle of Huxian.  He was still not sure of their motives, or necessarily who was right, but the rebels made an effort to contact him and that spoke for a lot in his book.

As he walked, talked and played his selected role, Morgan observed the number of men.  He watched their subtle queues as they subconsciously reacted to the presence of any concealed guards.  He also took note of his observations of them, using his tactical computer and enhanced optics to analyze body mass, shape, posture and countless other factors to measure armor, concealed weaponry and estimate cyber potential. 

Morgan made note of the exits from this room and his relative position to them, in case this went sour or was a trap, he had a few ways out.

 

[Boog]

As the blast went off, Mister heaved both zealots ahead of him and threw himself to the ground, not far away. Close enough to both ensure the criminals were in a state acceptable to be given to the authorities and recapture them when bits of world stopped flying past.

[Kryptic]

Baiye hesitated at the waving man - seemed others were filing in alongside her.

This was getting more strange by the minute.

Warily, she peeled the scaredy-cat corgi off her legs, hauling him up into her arms, and followed the rest into the warehouse, crossing her fingers.

((Sorry for being late. ^^))

[Ryudo Lee]

The man looked at Dorcan and shook his head.
"Wow, you really are from another world.  Come on inside." He said, leading the group of people inside the warehouse.
There were armed and uniformed rebellion members all over the place, some of them were various furs, the rest were human.

[OOC - FYI, in this world both furs and humans make up the population of the world.]

The group was ushered over to an open area with plenty of chairs.  Several new faces were already there, some weren't in rebellion uniforms.  Soon the warehouse fell silent as a man moved into view in front of the small crowd of people.  It was none other than Jackson Phoenix himself.
"Welcome to the rebellion, friends.  We'll go ahead and get started now.  We're still waiting on a straggeler or two, but we can brief them when they arrive.  My name is Jackson Phoenix.  I started the rebellion movement, and am their leader.  Now, I suppose you're wondering why you're here.  You're here because we've noticed you.  Each of you has a particular something that the rebellion needs.  There's something about you that makes you unique, and individual and worthwhile to our cause.  I won't ask you to work for free.  You will be well compensated for your time." He says.
His voice carries all the way across the warehouse.  He pauses for a moment to let that sink in.
"As you all know, we oppose the Brotherhood of the Machine.  I'm sure you've seen the atrocities they've committed.  Just today they destroyed the home of an innocent family.  And even now they must be out there, somewhere, taking lives, tearing families apart, and making life generally miserable for countless people.  This is where you can make a difference.  This is where you can put an end to the suffering.  Just sitting here before me today means you have taken the first step towards opposing the Brotherhood.  You all know what they do.  You may have even had personal experience with them in the past." He says aloud.
He pauses for another moment.
"But perhaps, this may not be for you.  If you feel that you cannot do this, you are free to leave.  We won't stop you.  But if you want to make a difference, if you want to save lives, if you wanna stick it to those son's of bitches, then stay with us!  Fight with us!  Help us free ourselves from these oppressors!" He says.
His speech is responded to by cheers and clapping from other rebellion members.  The applause soon quiets down.
"Are there any questions?" He asks.

~~

The driver nodded to Griffith and drove, rather recklessly, to the address he had been given.  He stopped right at 530 North Corridor.
"Here we are buddy.  Take your time." He said, patting his meter.

~~

When the explosion went off, and Mister tackled the zealots, a black vehicle skidded to a stop in front of the gates.
"Reinforcements!" One of the zealots cried out.
The doors to the vehicle opened and three more zealots came out, two of them brandishing flame throwers, and one holding a plasma rifle.

[Tapewolf]

"The Brotherhood of the Machine?" repeated Dorcan.  "I assumed they were some kind of anti-furre group.  Or anti-Creature," he added dolefully.  It was in just such a purge that he had died himself.

"By the way, how did you know I was an off-worlder?" he added.  "No, scratch that...  I guess the wings on my head were a bit of a giveaway, weren't they?"
He paused, trying to conceal them.  They faded slightly and then returned... the patch didn't seem to be working properly any more.

"Well, whoever this Brotherhood are, they seem to want me dead.  I can't imagine why, but it seems that my best interests lie with yours, at least until the others can re-establish the gateway back home."   IF they can re-establish the gateway... No... Don't think like that...

"But before I commit myself, may I ask exactly what the Brotherhood want?"

[Arcalane]

Exo almost silently slid forth from the shadows, out from behind a pile of crates over near Dorcan.

"Reponse: The Brotherhood believe that magic is a sin against their machine `god`, 'Mother'. Thus all those who practice it, and those who would protect those who practice it, are to be eliminated. Unit would term this something along the lines of a 'Holy Crusade', albeit not quite so holy in the eyes of anyone outside the Brotherhood."

The `mech paused for a minute, eyes blinking on and off as it processed.

"Unit apologises for sudden appearance. Unit is designated 'Exo' by companions, you may address Unit as such if you desire so. Full designation E.X.O-2000 M.F.A.U - Multi-Functional Assault Unit. Unit is Brotherhood prototype, reprogrammed by Rebellion technicians and installed with learning artificial intelligence. Unit was exposed to propoganda of both factions as well as truths, in order that it best choose it's own path. Unit decided to aid Rebellion, due to the Brotherhood's unconventional and forceful tactics that have little logical reasoning behind them."

The voice remains fairly monotone throughout, until...

"Query: And you are?"

It perks up, sounding curious.

[Tapewolf]

"Me?" said Dorcan, faintly alarmed.  "Dorcan of Ja'Fell clan," he replied, before remembering that they probably didn't even have 'Cubi here, let alone clans.
"We were testing a transdimensional gate.  I came through to recover our probe," he said, gesturing at the ridiculous plastic toy.  "I guess they must had a major systems crash back home."

"I still don't understand why they wanted to kill me.  I can't even cast magic anymore...."  His headwings drooped.  "D-do you think they detected my concealment and mindshield charms or something?" he sounded worried.  If they can, that's going to be a problem.  I'd have to be opened up to remove them and I don't want these guys to know I'm a synthetic yet.

[Ryudo Lee]

"We got word of your arrival by way of our spy in the Brotherhood.  I believe you met him, the calico that got you out of there.  I believe they considered your sudden appearance in our world to be of magical design.  As Exo said, they're on some kind of holy... or rather, unholy crusade to eliminate all magic from our world.  You see, a long time ago, magic used to be quite prevalent in our world, until the great war happened which nearly wiped out the world.  Everything was rebuilt though, using technology.  And now these fanatics have sprung up, worshipping technology like a god, and have dedicated themselves to wiping out magic.  They're lead by what we can only assume is a computer they call Mother." Jackson said. "We've learned a lot from Exo here, but still, it's not enough.  We have to learn more about them.  What do they do to the people who join them?  What do they do with the magic users they take away?  Who, or rather, what is Mother?  There are a lot of unanswered questions here."

[Arcalane]

"Transdimensional? Unit finds this... one possibility for your arrival here that would incite surprise attack by Brotherhood operatives..."

Exo shrugs slightly, perhaps one of the most expressive things it's done in a while.

"The Brotherhood fears that which it does not truly understand. A fairly cliché scenario in which the party that cannot understand or comprehend a thing fear it and attempt to destroy the thing that may well be there to help them or protect them from an even greater, truly incomprehensible evil."

"Our information regarding the Brotherhood is as Mr. Jackson says rather sketchy as it is hard to infiltrate the Brotherhood without spies becoming neutralized rapidly or often losing contact upon entering the Towers. Obviously the Brotherhood do not want outsiders to learn what 'Mother' is without first becoming part of the brainwashed masses and thusly unable to reveal the truth. Unit's own information is somewhat limited, due to incomplete database at Unit's Facility of Assembly, prior to Unit's 'Liberation' by Rebellion and the reprogramming after."

"Unit knows little of what happens, save few notes regarding implanting process. This correlates with data... all attempts at interrogation of captured Brotherhood operatives have failed, due to the operative commiting suicide, often via verbal keyphrase detonation of a cortex bomb. Unit calculates other implanting and perhaps even grafting or replacement of limbs and internal organs takes place as an operative rises through the ranks, perhaps granting an operative superior capabilities 'bestowed' upon them by 'Mother' as gifts."

[Tapewolf]

"I guess any sufficiently advanced technology can be regarded as magic," said Dorcan with a thin smile.

"But yeah... what happened to your agent?" Dorcan asked nervously.  "Did he manage to get out?"

[Kryptic]

Individual and Worthwhile, hrm? Baiye doubted it. She herself was nothing more than good with her hands, somone who produced budget robotics and electronics. Nothing special.

Baiye glimpsed around the room as the floor was opened for questions - and her ears (as well as the large robotic ears of Gidget - who had seemed to quiet down a little) perked up at Dorcan's query. She herself had tried to avoid conflict like that as much as possible, so even she didn't know much about it - Gid probably knew about the subject though, seeing as he took it upon himself to update his database everyday.

Before she could do much else, the dog hopped off of her lap, obviously curious. He trotted over towards the hooded figure who had asked the question, and the large figure talking with him. He pulled up next to them, head tilted as he worked though his electronic mind how to react. Nothing. He hadn't planned this far. Crap.

"...Woof?" Gid's ears flipped back, a queasy smile on his muzzle.

Baiye's eyes widened as she suddenly realized that dumb AI was doing something stupid. Flying off her folding chair, she rushed over and scooped up the corgi, a blush rushing over her pale face.

"I am soooo sorry. Gid's somewhat of a headache. Probably my fault for buying an AI program on discount..." She smiled wearily, and bopped the cainoid on the head. "I swear Gid, you are such a failure." She sighed, exasparated.

Suddenly, she realized she was still next to the other two. Yeesh, they probably thought she was insane.

"I.. I'm Baiye Whytehawk. I'm just a robotics tech... I really don't know why I'm here. Gidget here's a Cainoid - er, canine android - I built, but he's obviously flawed..." She grinned, trying to mask her embarassment. Gid was in for it. Scrap metal.

"I'm not that bad now, am I? But as you said, it's your fault. I didn't ask to be this way." Gidget grumbled as he hung sprawled in Baiye's grasp, rolling his eyes.

[Ryudo Lee]

Jackson looked to Dorcan.
"Oh, don't worry about him.  He's been in tighter spots than that.  He got out shortly after you made it here, and he's moved on to another tower.  Perhaps you'll run into him again.  He's very good at what he does." Jackson said.
He laughed when he saw the exchange between the corgi and Baiye.
"That little guy is very much impressive, quite a bit more than most of us can accomplish.  Why, I bet with proper funding and better tools, I'd wager you could make an army of androids." He said.  "Look around you, all of us have various mechanical things that need an experienced hand.  You may find yourself doing more than you imagine.  Even the smallest thing helps the movement."

[Azlan]

Morgan stood up and raised his hand, "Hi, my name is Morgan Kell and I'm a simple software engineer for Zenithsoft.  From what I know of this Brotherhood, they are seemingly single-minded in the field.  They use the 'terror trooper' approach to their agenda.  Their actions would have been construed as little more then terrorist acts a few years ago, but as you have noticed from the news and media, most of what they do goes unpersecuted by the law.  This would mean they can manipulate the government, so their is the potential for innocent lives to be placed at risk during any confrontation.  Speaking of which, what exactly will we be fighting?  Will you be confronting operatives in the street?  Assaulting Brotherhood compounds?  Assassinating government pawns or high ranking Brotherhood leaders?  Waging a virtual war against their digital constructs?"

Morgan paused and then continued, "I'm just concerned, sometimes the solution becomes the problem.  One sometimes believes they must make some morally questionable acts when fighting a technocracy like the Brotherhood.  I have noted your people are uniformed, well armed and carry themselves like soldiers for the most part.  How well are they trained and equipped?"

 

[Ryudo Lee]

"I'm glad you asked that question.  What we try to do is more like guerrila tactics.  We try to keep our confrontations away from areas where there would be innocent casualties.  They, on the other hand, seem to have no problem with killing innocents.  Try as we might, the government seems to turn a bind eye to this problem.  Their official stance is that the Brotherhood's intents outweigh the 'incidents'.  So, going through official channels is useless.  The Brotherhood has too much sway in the government and so we are left to fight them on our own terms.  We pick our battles.  We go for stealth, infiltration, hacking, and if there's a need to fight in the open, we try our hardest to keep the fight away from the public.  Most of the time we succeed, sometimes people get hurt.  It is the nature of this particular beast." Jackson said.  "We have been succeeding in our infiltrations in the towers, as Exo said.  We want to do more of that.  We want to fight them on their turf as much as possible, to hit them where it hurts: inside the towers.  This is where you all come in.  You're experienced in technology, in fighting, and intelligence.  I'd like for you all to work together as a group, and as such, perhaps it would be the best idea for you all to get to know each other."

[Tapewolf]

"I do have some experience with android technology," said Dorcan.  "Probably not quite enough to build my own, but with what you already know it should be feasible.  I know about actuator design, sensors, subcontroller design and a bit about the power systems.  I don't know much about the AI side, but it looks like your civilization has that cracked," he said, looking at Exo and Gidget.

[bill]

Griffith came out of his apartment block holding a large black suitcase, holding his Gardner Mk3.

He got into the cab, and gave the slip to the driver.


"This address, please."

[Boog]

Mister was shocked, to say the least. Reinforcements? That indicated a planned assault. The manor was under siege!
The construct slowly rose to its feet, keeping its hands visible as it assessed the situation. Its enemies were armed with weapons it didn't recognise, save for the plasma weapons the first two had arrived with. However, it could guess what they were for by the small, wicked looking pilot lights at the front of the yet more maelevolent looking implaments. Flames. How does one properly deal with... Flames...
They would burn the gardens, and from there the entire grounds would catch alight. Next would be the gas pipelines in the manor itself.
Mister fell to his knees and slammed his palms to the ground, wheels skidding on the paved path already. The machine surged forward, pipes shrieking as they built up pressure for a blast of steam.

[techmaster-glitch]

   Jexx was beginning to run out of breath for so long, trying to keep up with this stranger...

   At the warehouse, a backdoor bursts open, interrupting the "meeting".
   "Phoenix, sir," The man that come though the door says, "Another one is about to arrive." Then the man runs off.

   Jexx turned yet anther corner, and ran right through an open door. Which then promtly closed behind him.
   God fricken' damn... Jexx thinks to himself. He found himself in a warehouse, and there were quite a few people at the other end. Some of them were in unforms, some weren't. The one in the center, however, Jexx recognized, as everyone else would: Jackson Phoenix.
   "Ok," Jexx says, " What the hell is going on here?"

[Azlan]

The door burst open at the back, which caused a reflex action in Morgan that he barely stifled.  His hands were quick, so it was doubtful anyone noticed, but the new comer distracted his questions.

"Congratulations, you have come just in time!  We have hereby elected you to go and get pizza!"

[Paladin Sheppard]

Victor put his hand up. "Whats the terms of any contracts?"

[Ryudo Lee]

The cab driver eyed the suitcase for a moment and then turned to face forward as he was handed the address.  It was cab policy not to ask about stuff like this.  They could get in trouble with the Brotherhood.
"Yes sir." He said.
The cab took off, and soon stopped at the address given.

~~

"Destroy it!" One of the zealots shouted.
The enforcer with the plasma rifle opened fire.  The two with the flame throwers aimed right at Mister and let loose the fireballs.

~~

Jackson looked over as the rebellion member announced the arrival of another.  When the doors went shut behind Jexx, Jackson smiled.
"Ah welcome to you.  No need to be alarmed." Jackson said.
He made a motion with an arm towards everyone in the warehouse.
"Welcome to the rebellion.  We've been watching you for quite some time.  You're a most interesting subject, to say the least.  We'd like to offer you employment." He said.
He turned to face Victor when he heard his contract.
"Payment rendered upon successful completion of mission objectives.  We give you a mission to accomplish, and you go out and do it.  We don't care how you do it, so long as your objectives are met.  It's completely up to you.  We're not going to micro-manage you." He said.

[techmaster-glitch]

   "Alarmed? Alarmed? I think I'm just a little bit past alarmed at the moment. I was just in a place where I thought I would go unnoticed, except I was noticed by some guy, whom I clearly pointed one of my cannons at to dissuade him from moving, yet he still just walked away anyway after gesturing for me to follow, and I couldn't justify to myself blasting him on the spot becuase he hadn't made any sudden movements, then led me on a high-speed foot chase throughout gods knows how many backstreets of this blasted city, then leads me right into some warehouse where he disappears, and instead I find some Rebellion gathering!" As Jexx was saying all this, several of the people looking at him blinked their eyes. Was it just a trick of the light, or were Jexx's red markings glowing slightly?
   Jexx took a moment to catch his breath from his heated rant, and opened his mouth to presumably continue, but then stopped. If Jexx's makings were glowing, they weren't anymore. Jexx's red-pupiled eyes narrowed behind his low-sitting blacked-out glasses.
   "You've been watching me? How?

[Arcalane]

Exo glances over at Jexx, it's optics glowing a soft red for a moment before switching back to their usual faint blue.

"Response: Your heat signature is unique and moves in unnatural patterns, and visits places normal people would not visit. Your climbing skill is, if Unit may say so itself, quite admirable."

It sounds particularly smug as it starts the next line.

"However, you seem to be inexperienced at stealth and lacking in tact. I suggest you evaluate your situation before making any potentially foolish demands."

[Azlan]

Morgan raised an eyebrow, "You do not care how we accomplish an objective?  Really?  So say we were given a mission to prevent sensitive Rebellion information obtained by an unaffiliated hacker from falling into Brotherhood hands and we decide to destroy the apartment building the hacker resides in, eliminating all traces of data, but causing excessive death and mayhem in the process.  The objective was met, though the cost is high.  I would never operate like this, but your stance would allow such an operational posture."


Analysis complete on all assembled individuals.


Morgan manipulated the internal interface, each file was individual and accompanied by a picture.  He amended each entry with a name if he had it, otherwise he made a note to do so whenever he obtained it.  He thought to himself, I hate this part, so much to go through.

"So how much will we be payed and what kind of missions?  I have a day job, a well payed one and it is handy to maintain appearances.  If the operations could be long term, do we have any alternative options for legal, on-the-book employment?  Do you have any affiliated corporate fronts, that are legal in the eyes of the government?  Dummy corporations or even real companies to funnel operations through?"

[techmaster-glitch]

   Jexx stiffened at Exo's response, then glared at Exo's comment. Then Jexx's shoulders relaxed as Jexx looked down slightly and let out a held breath.
   "I never imagined that it would be the Rebellion, not the Brotherhood, who would find me first." Jexx said. "The Brotherhood have no idea who I am; all they know, or think, is that there is some lone vigilante being a thorn in their side, because every single Brotherhood member who has ever gotten a clear look at me has not lived to tell anyone about it. I think the Brotherhood has occationally tried to follow me to find out who I am, but I've taken out any who tailed me." Jexx gave a slight chuckle. "I never thought I'd have to watch my back for Rebellion observers, too."
   Jexx was silent for a moment, thinking to himself. "If I might inquire," He said, "How long have you had me under surveillence, and how much do you know about me?"

[Boog]

Mister continued barreling forward, releasing the steam before it was pressurized enough to do much other than burn a little in order to stop the oncoming flames. The blast left him with little pressure ready for powering himself, leaving him unable to swerve as his momentum carried him into the zealots and their van.

[Arcalane]

"Query: Why else do you think the Rebellion has been monitoring your actions?"

Exo glances at Jackson, then looks back at Jexx.

"Statement: You visited the Doc Umgah's "Restaurant" on North Corridor, two nights ago, at roughly 11:55pm. You spent 10 minutes inside, then left and exited into a nearby alleyway, from there you made your way to the rooftops and off into the city. Unit followed for another five minutes before withdrawing to deal with another assignment."

It sounded rather smug at this, then switched back to it's usual deadpan tone.

"Summary: Whilst your freelance efforts are for a worthy cause, a lone vigilante stands no chance of gaining access to one of the Towers and causing serious damage. You would be sorely outmanned and outgunned. You can continue your minor harassment of Brotherhood operations in this area, or you can join the Rebellion and assist in a much greater way to a much greater end. Currently, the Brotherhood's supply of recruits is practically limitless - no matter how many you manage to kill, more will keep coming. The only answer is to destroy the Towers and damage their reputation, to free the innocent from their reign of terror."

It paused, and did it's best to sound motivational.

"Query: Are you with us?"

[Ryudo Lee]

Jackson seemed smug during Jexx's entire rant.  And shook his head.  He looked over at Morgan.
"I would expect you to figure out what is prudent and what is excessive in the handling of your missions.  We would like to avoid any unneccesary deaths, but the job must get done." He said. "As for all that other stuff, that's details that will be handled at a later time.  I'm sure you understand."
He looked back over to Jexx.
"How long have we been watching you and how much do we know about you?  The answer is simple, really: long enough, and more than enough to think that you would be a worthy ally.  Don't take it as an affront to you personally.  You are a unique individual, and you possess abilities that can be used for the good of the world.  You already don't care for the Brotherhood, why not have an entire organization watching your back?" He said.

~~

The zealots with the flamethrowers scattered.  The enforcer opened fire, but got steamrolled (pun intended) by the oncoming Mister.
"Damn, what is this guy?!" One of the flamethrower zealots shouted.
"Just kill it!" The other shouted.
They opened fire again on Mister.

About this time another vehicle screeched to a halt behind the Brotherhood vehicle, only this time, rebellion members poured out of it.
"They're attacking the mansion!" One of them shouted.
They took aim at the Brotherhood zealots with the flamethrowers and opened fire.

[bill]

"Thanks, man. Keep the change."
Griffith flipped the driver $20, grabbed his suitcase, and left the cab. He stopped to look around.