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

[Paladin Sheppard]

Having not heard or seen the kid Victor started. 'Where the bloody hells he come from' He though as he had not seen or heard the kitten aproch.

Recovering He turned and looked at the kid not knowing if he was under Brotherhood control or not.

"Just sightseeing kid. Why are you talking to me didn't you parents tell you its not safe to talk to strangers?"

[Tapewolf]

"Good," said Dorcan, sounding somewhat relieved that the AIs should consider him protected too.
"I didn't really want to believe that someone would build something that could endanger themselves in that manner, but you never can tell..."

He shuddered, remembering Jakob's account of the 'Glorious Day' of 2067.  The President had been shot for treason... the Vice-President was looking at a life sentence and the Presidential jet had assumed control of the country until an election could be organised.
Although the coup had ultimately turned out for the best, it had persuaded Jakob to build safety interlocks into all of his robots, with the possible exception of Azrael.

[Ryudo Lee]

The kitten just giggled, in a bubbly manner.
"You're funny!  Bye bye mister!" He said, and then ran off.
Creepy... to say the least.

[Paladin Sheppard]

"Now thats just wrong somehow." Victor muttered to himself.

Making sure that no one was watching this time he pulled his shotgun from his bag as well as a large cylinder. Screwing it to the barrel of the shotgun, Victor loaded two 'stickycam' shells into the tube mag and racked the slide.

Again checking the coast was clear and no on from the tower was watching he calmly and silently placed the two 'stickycam' shots over the wall and against the tower.

Quickly retuning the shotgun to his duffel bag, Vic tested the signal. Finding it accetable he opened a comlink and sent a signal back to Exo as a test. "How read Exo?"

[Arcalane]

Exo makes a humming sound as it punches in the login and password, pulling up information on incoming and outgoing connections as well as disabled or otherwise offlined connections. It also checks recent connections and runs a check for any hidden Brotherhood toys. Finding nothing suspicious, it nods and offers the laptop back to Gerald.

"Make it quick."

With the other hand, it reaches for it's radio and replies to Victor;

"Response: Status: Somewhat shaky. Estimation: Some kind of interference on your end."

[Catffeinated]

"Thanks, just need to fix something..." Gerald said as the computer went to a blue "uploading" screen.
"Uggh, thank god we're out of that small head..." Said Mars on the laptop, being portrayed as a dragon.
"Quiet! You!" Omega scolded, also on the laptop. She was portrayed as a cat girl.
"Thank you, Omega. Try to find a wireless link here, do an anonymous hacking session."
"Will do! Searching for nearby links, randomizing IP address." Omega smiled on the screen, then dissapeared to work.

[Tapewolf]

"What the heck are you doing?" squeaked Dorcan when he realised what Gerald was up to.
"Are you trying to bring the Brotherhood down on us, or are you simply attacking us yourself?"

He looked around wildly, unable to decide what to do.  One one hand the feline had to be stopped, and fast... on the other, Jexx' idea of stopping him would probably involve making a large hole through his head, something Dorcan was desperate to avoid seeing.

He reached for the laptop himself, attempting to shut it down.

[Catffeinated]

"Woah, man, calm down, that computer has no IP address, no GPS chip, nothing that makes it tracable." Gerald explained, "Still, I only hack for challenges, I can get into a system, but I don't have a clue what to do afterwards!" He smiled

"Unauthorized activity." Mars announced as Dorcan was trying to shut down the laptop, "Defending." Mars smiled as a power feedback struck the keyboard, sending a small amount of electricity into Dorcen.

"Agghh! Mars!"
"What? It was only on 'Stun'."

[techmaster-glitch]

   Jexx simply gave Gerald a very, very hard, intent stare. Jexx didn't raise them, but the whine of two fully-charged handcannons was very audible. And the red glow was so intense the very ground was lit up red.

[Tapewolf]

"Oh shut up," snapped Dorcan as the laptop admonished him.  His hands and fur were synthetic and non-conductive.  Unaware that it had attempted to stun him, he continued to fiddle, trying to figure out how to shut down the unfamiliar operating system.
This is taking too long.  Remove the batteries?

"You," he said to Gerald.  "Shut it down now, or I'll destroy it."

[Catffeinated]

"Results are back!" Omega chimed coming back on the monitor, "I... Oh, my, what I miss."
"Nothing other than my potental death..."
"Oh, that's good then!" She smiled, which quickly turned into a frown, "Uunfortunantly, nothing intresting popped up, nothing you haven't hack into yet..."
"Hmm... well onto practicing my coding!" Gerald shrugged, getting the laptop from Dorcan, "Strange that you didn't have a reaction..." he said to himself, "And Mars, classify these people as allies, they're rebellion." He smiled.
"Understood"

[techmaster-glitch]

   Jexx folded his arms, still giving a murderous glare. He did not release the charge from his handcannons. The deep glow from their barrels remained hell-red.

[Arcalane]

Exo, on the other hand, remains calm, slowly and menacingly drawing it's oversized pistol (though it's more the size of a submachinegun) and aiming it at the laptop.

"Ultimatum: Do as the nice man says, or Unit will be reducing your laptop to slag and a rapidly expanding cloud of shrapnel. It goes off, or we turn it off the hard, irreversible way."

[Catffeinated]

"Ah, poo... Oh well, come on guys!." Gerald shrugged as the computer went to a "downloading..." screen, shortly followed by a "Shutting down" screen.
<There we go! Back where we belong.>
<You, not me...>

[Tapewolf]

"Do you think they will have detected us?" Dorcan asked Exo worriedly.  "It would probably be wise to scout for an alternate location in any case."

He turned to Gerald and placed a hand upon his shoulder.  "Listen," he said, in a quiet voice.  "You barged into our camp out of nowhere, claiming that the Brotherhood were chasing you.  Not content with possibly leading them to us, you then broke into our equipment and tried to send a signal to the Brotherhood.  I don't know what your game is, but everything is stacked against you so far.

"The last time I killed someone I realised that I hated seeing people die.  But if you ever try anything like that again, the others are liable to execute you.  And I will not try to stop them."

He turned away, the fact that he was a machine was the only thing preventing him from crying.  Now I know how Johan Cross felt.

[Catffeinated]

"Ok, I'm sorry... never ment any harm..." Gerald said, depressed, "Any way I could make it up to you all?"

[techmaster-glitch]

   Jexx got a very evil, phsychotic grin on his face. "You can start by finding us a place we can re-locate to in a hurry if you did bring the Brotherhood down on us."
   Jexx walked over, keeping one handcannon charged, but morphing the other to a hand, and roughly grabbing Gerald by the arm. "And I'm going with you. Unless you have any...objections..." Jexx said, still smiling evily and waving his still-charged handcannon in Gerald's face. To make a point, and put it bluntly.

[Catffeinated]

Gerald just stared into the cannon, "Hm... pretty. Sure, no objections here." He shrugged.

[techmaster-glitch]

   Well, that's good, Jexx though as he led Gerald toward the trees. As they passed by the nearest van, Jexx put Gerald up against it, jumped inside for just a moment, coming back out with map of the area, that was folded up and put in Jexx's pocket, a small black circular device, which was also slipped into a pocket, and a Rebellion laptop with a strap and a detachable wireless communicator. I still don't trust his two AIs... Jexx thought.
   Pointing to the laptop, he said, "Both of your AIs in here, now."

[OOC: the small black device is a mingram, or a miniature hologram. It can remotely interface with the microcomms, and alter their settings, (as in, change the channel/frequency slightly to communicate with other specific microcomms, instead of all other active ones at once), as well as, of course, relay and recieve visual data. In this case it will be mainly GPS and guidence from the rest of the group.]

[Catffeinated]

"Sure, you heard him." Gerald asid after a short pause.
<Wait, can I at least get a picture of the map?>
I'm assuming no, Omega.
<Awwww...> She said as the laptop suddenly turned on and went to an "uploading..." screen.

[techmaster-glitch]

   Jexx watched the laptop, until he was sure both AIs were secure in it. He then disconnected the wireless transponder, effectively trapping them there, (so they can't try to sneak back out), folded the laptop, and swung it over his back with the strap. It rubbed at his bare fur a bit, but he didn't mind.
   Deactivating his microcomms, Jexx looked over his back to the group, "I'll call you guys when we've found a suitable sport. Or if something," Jexx glances at Gerald, "happens..."
   Taking Gerald by the arm again, Jexx led them both into the woods, where they eventually disappeared from sight of the camp.

EDIT: OOC:
This should be my last post for a time, to give everyone else a chance to respond accordingly, talk over the events, bring Morgan and Victor up-to-speed, maybe even advance the plotlines slightly. Caff, you and I should pick up our walk through the woods 'searching for a new hiding place', at least tomorrow, maybe after that.

[Paladin Sheppard]

In Town

With the other hand, it reaches for it's radio and replies to Victor;

"Response: Status: Somewhat shaky. Estimation: Some kind of interference on your end."

"Copy that I'll set up a repeater, I've just set up some cams to watch the towers surrounds on the North and East, repositioning to do the same to the South and West. And this place is starting to creep me out.

Spotting a nearby fire escape Victor used it to reach the building's roof. Pulling from his bag of tricks he pulled out a small directional receiver/transmitter and set it on the roof.  Switching it on he set it to a narrow beam and aimed it in the camp's direction.

"Exo: Signal strength?"

[Kryptic]

Dizzy. That was how Baiye described it in her mind. The rush of activity and the hubbub had nearly given her a migraine, trying to understand it all. The new kid nearly hacked himself dead, AI's popping in and out. It almost went over her head.

Almost.

She steadied herself, watching the curious look on Gid's muzzle as he watched the two AI's control the laptop. He was nearly smiling... and not necessarily in a good way. Let him do what he felt like... she had more important things than teasing A.I.

"You know... I would have just gone the easy way and knocked him out. You can always ask questions later... Assuming he doesn't fall into a coma." Gidget smirked and cast a glance to Jexx - his eyes a bit on the sinister side. Still with that evil smile - he turned back to the computer, staring at the computer avatars for the two AI. That could be fun... He always wanted to... er... play with other AI.

Baiye yanked on Gidget's ear gently, with an annoyed scowl on her face. It wasn't enough to hurt (of course overlooking the fact that the cainoid couldn't be physically hurt - only his emotions.), just enough to get attention. She shot a warning glance to him - though he'd probably overlook it anyways, and turned back to face the rest of the group.

"So. What do I need to do? Wipe that computer down? My fingers are getting itchy already, to tell the truth."

[Tapewolf]

"No," said Dorcan.  "Don't erase it.  If the cat is an ally - which I'd like to believe despite his actions - we could be destroying a valuable asset."  He stared into the distance, pondering.

"Lock him out of it," he decided.  "Change the password or whatever, so that he can only get access to it under our supervision."

[Boog]

Mister continued stirring what would eventually be the dessert that Joywaves had requested. "Is it entirely wise to leave those two alone? No dishonor upon our dear comrade Jexx, but he does not seem like the best choice to quietly guard someone."

[lucas marcone]

"Won't the AIs be able to beam back to G over here and tell him the pass word? i say remove the battery and keep it under lock down." Josh was always listening and learning. it wasn't new to him...that's how he learned to read write and solve algebraeic equations. "I still don't feel comfortable letting him have his "gun" with the cloak he has on we still don't know what it could do!"

[Kryptic]

Baiye smiled.

"There are more than just passwords to keep something supervised."

She flicked open her vest pocket, and pulled out a thumb-sized drive with a flourish. It was just black and simple, with Baiye's name etched on the back of the plastic. 

"It's basically a literal key. Not a password to hack. You gotta love gadgets." She grinned as she swiftly inserted the drive and set up her protection system. Actually, should the kitty-boy turn out positive, it would be a very nice security back-up feature. Take the key away, and the brotherhood (or anyone else for that matter) couldn't even hack it - much less get to the content.

Baiye worked happily - getting the ticklish feeling out of her fingertips that happened when she was bored. Ahh. So nice.

[Prof B Hunnydew]

"Okay Mr Mister Where is that Dessert?  I need a sugar Boost right now." says a very tried Doc.  "Can we get a comfirmation on any one coming to surround the camp.  I am too tried to pack up now."  The otter sits down by the cook area and fire.  "It maybe bad to have a open fire this close to the city with night coming, do you think?"

PBH

[Arcalane]

Exo shakes it's head. "Unit specifically chose this clearing due to forest coverage. Extinguishing the fire would be advisable as a precautionary tactic, as setting the entire forest on fire would be most detrimental to the Rebellion's image."

It wanders back over to the van and adjusts the reciever.

"Victor: Status: Still somewhat shakey. Theory: Light foliage coverage may be interfering."

[lucas marcone]

Josh walks over to the van that Exo is in. "Tell me more about the brother hood please. All I've ever known about them is that they are arfaid of us magic users and that they want to 'kill us'." Josh was hopeing Exo could offer more information than what he could pull off the net.