The Furry Forums
Creative Arts and Media => Roleplay => Serious RP => Topic started by: Hunter568 on December 06, 2018, 05:32:21 PM
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The fading, golden light of evening has begun to cover the city of Enbex, ushering those citizens still on the street to scurry home. Mandatory curfew is enforced especially strictly here in Andrat's capital. No fur wants to be taken in by a patrolling Peacekeeper, or worse, be spotted by the glaring red eye of an Overseer drone doing its rounds. Many do not return from such an encounter, and those that do very rarely break curfew again.
Most businesses and government offices are closing up for the night as well, of course. Even Goldfur high-society heeds such rules. Social status does not save anyone from being disappeared.
As shadows lengthen and cast the city in darkness, the time can be noted plainly on the large, digital clockface glowing in the city's main square (though most furs just use their personal holocron). It is now 9pm. Curfew begins in one hour at 10pm.
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Of course, just after curfew is when the pickings are good. Echo strolls down the street with purpose, looking for a shop that sells nicer, copper fur type clothes than the current cloak she is wearing, fingering a security deactivation chip in her paw. Once she arrives at such a shop, she finds somewhere nearby to hide when no one is looking. Enbex has lots of hidey holes for the small of stature and quick of wit.
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The rhythmic thumping of combat boots echoed through the alleyways of the housing complex. Heavily armed and armored Battlefurs of all shapes and sizes swept shadowed doorways and side streets to corral those who broke curfew, or find the Freeborn.
Ray grimaced as his combat armor bit into his shoulders as he swept his sectors with the standard issue automatic laser rifle. The weapon had a clunky laser module fitted on the barrel. A relic of a bygone era, the thing emitted a bright red dot that deterred any that it rested on, at the cost of weighing down the rifle. But, better to scare them off than shooting them on the street. Ray sighed as a shadow scurried away into the night.
“Count one, departing,” Ray spoke into his collar-mounted radio. If this was the only action they’d see, the patrol’d be pretty quiet.
-
As the clock struck nine, Ellen straightened a bundle of paperwork and carefully laid them on the now slightly decorated desk.
She had exchanged the ceremonial uniform for a stylish black suit with a white blouse underneath in. It was something that she felt as being a little more appropriate for a woman like her.
In the meanwhile, the entire office room had been cleaned up from the assorted junk spread around it, as the empty room had eventually turned into something more of a storage closet. Even her predecessor's body had been handily disposed of by the pretense of Ellen desperately wanting a diffirent carpet.
She did, however, have a dreadfully frightening few minutes as the others in the compound perplexedly stared at her attempting to move the carpet out of the room, before one of the bystanders snarled at a janitor unfortunate enough to be on the scene to "Pull his worthless hands out from under his ass and help the young lady out!".
But luckily for her, the janitor was either too dim to realise that the carpet in question was a little too heavy, or was clever enough to understand that it was a healthy habit for him to have as little of the silverfur's business as possible.
Eitherway, it didn't matter. It was done. And now that the business hours had past and the clock was nearing curfew, it was time to go... "home..."
She grabbed her coat and headed for the buildings exit.
Once there, standing in the draft of the glass sliding doors she took a somewhat anxious breath. It was getting dark outside and this was her first time in the big city. She had no idea what to expect. For all she knew she, a "wealthy silverfur", might be robbed by lower castes, or worse...
But a gentle press on her stomach made her feel the shape of the small pistol tucked in her coat. She had removed the supressor to make it easily fit in the coat's pockets, so actually firing it could get her into more trouble than a mere mugging. But it was there as a last resort and it's presence comforted her.
Time to go...
-
“Ya es hora.” He muttered.
The insurgent was kneeling before his flag, the symbol of destruction. The papers had gone through. He was indeed registered under a different name now, and could wander during the day; with caution of course.
However, it was starting to near curfew. Now was the perfect time to make a statement. It was time to remind the republic what it stood against.
His vest was on over his usual grey apparel, and his weapon sat idly in his left paw. Strapped to his chest was a different set of tools for the night: various cans of spray paint, several well-secured bottles of alcohol, and of course, a lighter. With a resentful glare, he finally turned his head and looked outside the cracked window of his run-down building. Already the patrols had begun, and those damned drones threatened his goal. Thankfully, his target was a simple one. Deciding that the time to speak to whatever higher powers there may be was over, he stood and slipped the beret off his head. He needed to be concealed tonight, so he opted for another type of headgear. With delicate movements, he produced a white and red checkered cloth, allowing himself a minute to firmly secure it around his entire head. With only his eyes visible, he snuffed the candle within his room and began to make his way towards the building exit. Bearing his rifle at the ready, he crept out of the structure and slipped into the alley.
Through evasion and speed, the feline soon reached his target. His route wasn’t too discreet however, and the well adapted may have been able to identify and trace him if they pleased. A set of well stocked shops and higher end buildings deep within the city now stood before him. First, he leaned his rifle against the wall of one of the offices and withdrew a spraypaint can. Being as silent as he was allowed, the Tabaxi tagged the side of the building with a vibrant image of his flag. It took time, but not enough to excessively risk his objective. Well, he thought at least. Admiring his handiwork, the feline dropped the can with a rattle and turned to survey his surroundings. Still silent, and the drones were unaware. Ready to kick off the night, he darted out from the alley and onto the sidewalk. With shaky but determined movements he slipped a bottle of alcohol loose and began the process of stuffing the rag, lighting, and identifying the first shop to fall victim to his terror.
Unfortunately, right as he was rearing back, he heard a click from one of the office doors; which was right next to his still unguarded rifle. Halting his movements, he slowly turned his head and widened his eyes, staring at the door while frozen nearly in the middle of the street. Only the light of the bottle and a lone streetlight revealed his presence. One simple phrase escaped his maw from underneath his face wrap.
“Who in the blue fu-.”
-
--Echo--
The lights in the clothing store had all been shut off for the night, but by the glow of the small LED's on the door's locking mechanism the interior was still somewhat visible. The traditional dress of the copperfur class were plain to see, hung up on racks throughout the shop. The designs were utilitarian and made to be durable and easy to move around in, however they made some room for style. The shirts and vests on display all carried the copper-colored trim that is the hallmark of the artisan class. Collars and sleeve-ends all gleamed with the metallic shade.
The shopkeeper was gone, however Overseer drones had begun sweeping the streets now that it was so late. Their harsh red beams of light swept along the sidewalks, probing for any citizens that were out defying curfew. In the distance, the heavy clomping of the Peacekeeper's armored boots could be heard as they began their nighttime patrols. Making it in and out of this shop undetected would not be easy.
--Ray--
"Copy that. Do you require reinforcement?" the radio responded, accompanied by a grainy wave of static. The shadowy figure ahead of Ray darted briefly through the light spilling down from a street lamp, exposing a flash of brown fur before it hurried away down an alley between two dwellings. Whoever it was, it didn't appear to have noticed Ray himself.
The other Peacekeepers sweeping this housing district had moved on to more promising areas, apparently not seeing the figure Ray had picked up on. He might have to wait awhile if he wanted backup.
--Ellen--
Ahead of Ellen, a Peacekeeper in full, heavy armor stood resolutely on a street corner, keeping watch over the area. His helmet and full-muzzle visor made it difficult to tell what he looked like, or even his species. As Ellen drew closer, his head turned to face her.
"Halt, citizen," he said with icy calm, holding up one armored paw. "Are you aware that curfew begins shortly?" he asked in a stern voice.
--Victor (Arevalo)--
The wiry, young fox who had stepped out of the office building froze suddenly as he caught sight of Victor. His eyes darted down to the bottle cocked in the tabaxi's paw, then over to the rifle he had left abandoned on the ground.
With one swift movement, the fox slammed the door closed behind him and leaped onto the street, taking off at top speed. "Help! HELP! Somebody, there's an insurgent!" he screamed fearfully, likely hoping to get the attention of a Peacekeeper. And he probably would soon enough, the city was crawling with officers at this time.
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Echo pulls out a small terminal and starts typing quickly, pressing enter as her feet hit the street. She’s not worried about getting out, only in, and she carefully timed her approach before flesh based patrols start mucking about. As she presses enter, the cameras on the drones loop momentarily, barely enough to hide her scampering to the door, barely enough not to trigger any alarms. A hacker chip quickly deals with the door’s lock and she slides in, closing and relocking the door behind her. She slips deep into the store, out of sight of its windows and starts to browse, keeping alert for any threats.
-
Ray brought his rifle up and activated the lights mounted on the side of his helmet. "Negative, I'm moving to intercept." He moved carefully into the alleyway, his laser-dot sweeping from hiding place to hiding place. Ray shouted into the unknown, hoping for compliance.
"Citizen! It is near curfew! Violating curfew is an executable offense! Come out now, and you will be given time to return home!"
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Oh, a policeman. That's nice to see. -Ellen thought to herself, as she slowed down her pace to prevent provoking the officer.
Although in retrospect she hadn't been in the city for long enough to know wether he was there to protect her, or whomever had decided that curfew was a good idea. Eitherway, she quickly figured that it would be best to appeal to his human side.
"Yes, I know. Sorry! First day on the job, I should've left earlier." -She said in a sweet and enthousiastic tone.
"My appartement is just around the corner, though, so I'll make it intime!"
-
Well, so much for being silent. Very well, he could do this loud.
“¡Correr no te salvará!“ The Tabaxi nearly screamed out at him, refocusing on the window to the shop before launching the bottle. With a loud crash, the echoing of alarms, and a vibrant blaze of liquid fire, chaos erupted. Of course, it didn’t stop there. Revealing another bottle, he repeated the process of lighting it before sprinting for his rifle. Deftly, the feline grabbed the weapon by the grip and continued to run, deciding that his assault was best carried out while moving.
As the sounds of fire and alarms filled the air behind him, the feline panted lightly as his footsteps echoed throughout the alley. Within seconds, he found himself on a Main Street once again. This time, however he spotted a lone peacekeeper who was entering an adjacent hallway; his weapon at the ready. Unwilling to risk direct confrontation, he instead tossed the lit bottle he held at the peacekeeper. It didn’t appear as though it would be a problem for him, however, as the throw was poorly timed and aimed. Instead, the bottle harmlessly struck the pavement and ignited the ground behind his target. Before the red glare of his laser could be turned on the feline, he quickly turned and dashed back into the alley. With the peacekeeper at his back and drones possibly approaching from all directions, he elected to take a more direct and covered route through another locked store. His hideout wasn’t far, and another alarm wouldn’t hurt him at this point.
Positioning himself against the building windows, he slammed the stock of his rifle against the glass before shattering his way into the store. With less than graceful movements, he climbed in and threw himself to the ground, staggering his way up to his feet and flipping a nearby table. With his rifle aimed at the window he entered through, Victor quickly backpedaled his way towards the next window that would serve as his point of exit.
The insurgent had neglected to notice however, that there was already someone in the store who had snuck in earlier. Granted, their method was much more subtle than his was.
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--Echo--
The ruse with the drones' cameras seemed to have worked, as no alarms were triggered. Outside the shop, they continued on their pre-determined routes through the city, their motors humming quietly as they glided through the night air.
The interior of the shop was dark and unoccupied. There didn't seem to be any security measures in place other than the locking mechanism that was on the door. The copper-trim clothes were all stacked and hung throughout the shop without much to protect them from thieving paws.
Suddenly, a loud crash echoed through the store. The nighttime silence was broken as a tabaxi carrying a rifle slid into the room at full speed, skidding along the floor and quickly turning to look for another window to use as an exit. Outside, the sounds of blaring alarms cut through the night.
Almost as soon as the tabaxi had gathered himself from his destructive entrance into the shop, a fully armored Peacekeeper crashed in after him. She raised her heavy laser rifle so that the red dot of her gun's sights rested squarely on the tabaxi's forehead. "Halt, criminal, and drop the weapon! I will use deadly force to put you down!" she warned in a commanding tone. Her armor seemed to have protected her from the broken glass of the window, and she stood in the dark store with nary a scratch on her.
Neither the officer nor the tabaxi seemed to have noticed Echo, crouched in the darkness.
--Ray--
The weapon's thin laser sight hardly penetrated the darkness of the alleyway much. It was difficult to see very far down the narrow corridor, and whatever creature had run down here refused to show itself. Ray's threat seemed to be getting no response.
Then, a cracked voice snaked through the air, a chuckle behind its words. "Oh, is that right? I suppose you'll just have to execute me, then," it said in a defiant tone. A quick flash of movement crossed the alley, and the gleam of something metallic could be caught in the faint light.
--Ellen--
The officer stared down at Ellen, his expression hidden by his visor. Then, he reached up and tapped the side of his helmet, causing the visor to retract back inside of it. The officer was a black-furred wolf with dark green eyes. His mouth was curled into a stern frown.
"Well, see that you do not forget again. Violating curfew is a serious offense, citizen," he replied. "I will escort you to your residence and take a sample of your DNA signature for our records." With that, he withdrew a metallic cylinder from his belt. It looked rather like a flashlight in structure, only one end was an electronic display and the other had a dark hole in it. "Hold your paw out, pad facing up," he commanded.
--Victor--
Before Victor could properly react, the Peacekeeper who was pursuing him crashed into the store the same way he had. She was shockingly fast despite her full armor, and had caught up with him before he would have expected.
The officer trained her rifle on Victor's forehead. "Halt, criminal, and drop the weapon! I will use deadly force to put you down!" she commanded him. Her face was covered with a full visor, and her armored suit held very few vulnerabilities. Facing a fully equipped Peacekeeper like this one was never an easy task.
-
Echo's breath catches for a moment. She retreats into a rack of clothes with her backpack full of what little shopping she's done. This was not in the plan. This was NOT in the plan. She panics for a moment before pulling out her terminal and typing frantically. No matter how great an engineer you are, having to prepare a solution on the spot is no good. There's a reason she always comes equipped with hacking chips for exactly what she needs. What to do, what to do? While she pontificates on her solution she absently grabs a nice scarf off of a rack on the opposite side of her from the conflict. Running her hands along the fabric, she has an idea, wrapping it around her muzzle as she logs back into the drone system and triggers the crowd control system. It's sloppy, and will definitely set off alarms that there was someone in the system, but hey, she doesn't have a ton of time, and her system is protected well enough that they would have a hell of a time tracking her. The drones sound the alarm and drop canisters of gas that starts circulating through the area. Immediately after she throws an EMP chip down, hopefully rendering the nearby peacekeepers' optic systems unusable.
She runs for it, using the confusion. She only pauses a moment to make eye contact with the idiot tabaxi that got them in that mess. He's definitely going to die here if she leaves him, she thinks. After an infinite second of internal arguing, she extends her arm the few feet towards him and grabs him arm, trying to pull him with her as she scampers to her planned escape route home that is, at least on normal nights, scarcely patrolled. Even though the gas renders anyone without an optical system blind, she has the route memorized.
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"So be it!" Ray opened fire on the figure with automatic laser fire, bathing the alleyway in a bright red hue. After a single burst, the Peacekeeper spoke into the radio.
"Peacekeeper 1212, I need Overseer drone support at my location. Dispatch one as soon as possible."
Ray then began moving towards his target, unsure if he had struck his mark or not. The raccoon was completely prepare to execute this dissident on the street.
-
"I understand. I promise it won't happen again." -She said
She calmly reached out her hand, as the peacekeeper instructed, but feigned a slight moment of doubt.
"Will it hurt?" -She said softly, followed by a nervous chuckle, as she still tried to maintain her innocence.
-
This was going to be a situation he may not be able to wiggle out of, regardless, the feline didn’t back down. With his weapon already pointed back at the peacekeeper the moment she rolled in after him, the Tabaxi taunted her. Laughing in a careless manner, he jutted his weapon forward and said;
“I hope for your sake you know how to use that, tin girl.” The Tabaxis weapon was a ballistic weapon, however he knew that all it would take is a few lucky hits out of several to do real damage beneath the armor. Unsure of his next move, he held his breath and was nearing the trigger when plans changed yet again.
Taking his gaze off the peacekeeper, the insurgent glared up at the drones that seemed to be making various noises. After a moment of waiting, they dropped canisters of an unknown gas. The feline was startled for a brief moment, but after hearing the peacekeepers electronics go dead, he stared back at her and blinked in confusion. Shaking off his trance, he took aim with his weapon and smirked beneath his face wrap. His triumph was short lived however, as he soon felt his eyes sting and his maw give way to a fit of coughing.
“What... What is...” He managed to cough out, lowering his weapon and staggering back. Suddenly, he felt his arm seized by someone he had yet to encounter. Barely glancing at them, he saw that it was another person wearing something over their face. He assumed they were up to no good, and any enemy of peacekeepers was a temporary ally of his. With little choice other than to trust them, he allowed the newcomer to guide him to freedom. Unable to see the peacekeeper, he ignored their presence and saved his rounds, instead focusing on following his guide.
-
--Echo--
Behind Echo and the Tabaxi, the Peacekeeper shouted in rage. "Dammit, what is this?! Support needed on Oliveri Street immediately! My systems are shutting down and the drones have gone haywire!" she yelled into her radio. Meanwhile, the drones continued to spin in place and drop canister after canister of gas to cloud the area. Their crowd-control program was designed to have them loop this same protocol until they either ran out of gas or the program was terminated by a government official, so this was bound to continue until someone caught on to what Echo had done. Her improvised hack would set off some alerts, but the confusion was likely to last for a while longer.
Although the street was so fogged that no normal citizen would be able to see, a fully-equipped Peacekeeper's visor would allow them to penetrate the gas. As Echo ran, she could hear the stomping of troops closing in on the area. It seemed like the officer back in the store had managed to rally some support. She would need to get off the main road quickly if she didn't want to be surrounded.
--Ray--
As the wave of laser fire lit up the alley, a sharp *ping!* noise rang out. Some of Ray's fired bolts of light seemed to hit the figure and bounce off, as if they were wearing some kind of body armor. The unruly citizen stepped fully into the light, his feet set in a defensive posture.
It was an elderly brown tomcat with gray streaking through his ragged fur, his body covered in soiled rags. Obviously a Coalfur with that kind of attire. More notable, however, was the fact that his right arm seemed to be made entirely out of a dark, metallic alloy of some sort. It looked suspiciously similar to the body armor that officers like Ray wore. In addition, the arm ended in a large cruel-looking blade rather than a hand.
"You'll find I don't go down quite so easily," the tomcat snarled, holding his cybernetic arm up in front of him like a shield. "I don't intend to just lay down for you like a good citizen."
The radio on Ray's collar crackled a response to his earlier request. "Drone response may be delayed 1212, all resources in the area are needed at Oliveri Street. We have an urgent situation with a couple of dissidents down there," it said. The tomcat grinned wickedly, hearing what the radio said from where he stood. "Looks like it's just you and me, officer," he chuckled.
--Ellen--
The Peacekeeper sighed, his expression softening a little. "No, it's just a routine collection. The device only takes a bit of the top layer of skin," he assured Ellen. He took her paw and lowered the cylinder onto the top of her pawpad. She felt a slight scratching sensation as a small blade extended from the hole in the cylinder's bottom and cut a thin swathe of skin, then retracted back inside with the sample. The display at the cylinder's other end lit up.
The officer looked at the display, apparently not finding it very remarkable. "I see from your record here that you're working in the Civil Safety department. Better get used to these things," he said, waving the device in the air. "Government officials have to make a lot of reports, and the higher-ups always want a catalog of DNA signatures for everyone you interview," he explained.
"Alright, I'll take you to your domicile. Just give me a minute to-" he began, but was interrupted by an urgent voice issuing from the radio mounted on his collar. "Captain, we need all officers in the area to head to Oliveri Street immediately! There's been an attack by two unknown dissidents on the commercial district!" it said. The black wolf sighed yet again. "Well, it seems I'm needed. Make sure you go straight home, take no detours. If you have reason to contact me again, my designation number as an officer is 3492. Or you can ask for Captain Grimwauld." With a curt nod to Ellen, the Peacekeeper jogged off into the night to answer the call.
--Victor--
Dragged along, Victor would have no way of knowing what direction he and the other fur were heading. The streets were completely obscured by the massive wave of tear gas now spreading around from every drone in the area. Behind him, the Peacekeeper who had pursued him spat with rage and roared into her radio, seemingly unable to chase them.
However, they were not safe. The tromping steps of other officers echoed worryingly close to them, and as they ran every street and turn-off seemed to be filling up with Peacekeepers who were hunting them. And as any citizen knows, the armor of the Peacekeepers allows them to see through dense fog much more effectively than the unaided eye. Victor and the mysterious masked fur clutching his arm were sitting ducks if they did not find a place to hide soon.
-
Echo keeps on, knowing a less prepared fur, like her new friend, would have no chance. She goes straight to an open manhole she left for her escape. She had chosen her base of operations specifically to be accessible by sewer from most of the city, and it would take them a little bit to clear the main streets well enough to send a subterranean search team. As she jumped down, she didn’t bother to inform the Tabaxi that they were going down, and to him, blind in the fog, it would feel like the ground simply drops out from under him. She lets him go as he drops into the sewage to hang by the edge and pull the cover back over them, leaving no evidence of their escape. Having saved the the Tabaxi to her satisfaction, and he should be able to see now, she starts heading home, using her strange, long arms to swing on the ceiling instead of wading through the gross liquid.
-
Ray smirked, shouldered his rifle and drew a collapsing, electrified baton from his utility belt. "You do know that attacking an officer is a life sentence. Your family, however, will be executed for your transgression. Give up now, and I'll drop the charges." Rolling his wrist, the baton extended to about a foot and a half, sparking briefly as the stun-pack came to life.
-
"Okay, good luck!" -Ellen innocently called back at the peacekeeper as he jogged off to fight the bad guys...
Nice bloke... She thought to herself as she strode off towards her appartement, happy that, in the fear of the moment, she managed to resist the urge to exploit his weakness of having opened his helmet visor.
Perhaps the city itself wasn't so bad after all...
But oh well. Time to get out of here...
The entrance of the appartement building would be around the corner. Knowing Foster's wealth he would've arranged a well sufficient stay for his darling. But, she hoped that her predecessor didn't make too much of a mess for her.
Despite the clear amount of work she would have ahead of her, she looked forward to it. To finally getting settled down after what happened back in the colony. Getting some stability back in her life. And maybe even a strong foothold to grow and climb up to however high this stupid genetic caste thing would let her.
But after the brief moment of fantasizing about the things that could be, she convinced herself to snap out of it and focus. She was still in unknown and dangerous territory, and there was plenty to do in the now.
She opened the entrance to the apartement building and searched for a mailbox labelled "E. Foster".
-
“Dios mío, esto apesta-“ The Tabaxi began to say through various coughs as he was dragged along, however he was cut short when he felt the ground give out beneath him. Within a few moments, he felt himself fall and plop into various sewage. Re-emerging from the liquid, he opened his eyes and glanced around with a startled yelp. The last few minutes of his life had been pretty exhilarating, compared to his normal day. Which, in all honesty, may not be saying much.
Now, this wasn’t the worst experience he had dealt with. It was still bad, but not the worst. New clothes and some gear maintenance and he’d be fine. As for where he was? The feline was more than a little confused.
Wiping some of the sewage from off his head, he lowered the checkered fabric he had and panted lightly, looking up towards the figure who dragged him into the situation he was in.
“Wait, who are you, where am I? Why...” His questions trailed off as they moved away into the darkness. Seeing as he was in this situation alone again, he made no attempt to follow them; the sewage would impede his movements too much for him to follow his rescuer.
Instead, the Tabaxi lifted his rifle and held it at the low ready, deciding to progress in the same direction the figure had swung off to. Perhaps there would be an exit, or another manhole he could climb back up that is near his base of operations. Overall, if he can survive this encounter, his mission would have been a pretty decent success. Going against the power of the peacekeepers was nothing to be trifled with, and living to tell the tale was always something the feline found glory in.
Proceeding down the sewer with few lights to show him the way, he did his best to maintain high morale and keep on the lookout for anything that would do him harm.
-
--Echo--
The dark liquid below Echo swirled and bubbled, filled with who knew what kind of foul substances. Through her extendable, metallic limbs, she could feel the vibrations caused by the pandemonium on the streets above. The thudding of boots and the grinding of treads from emergency vehicles traveled through the asphalt and cement, down the rafters that lined the sewer's ceiling. It seemed like the tabaxi she had left behind caused quite the stir.
Fortunately, the coalfur sewer workers wouldn't be here until curfew ended at 6am. Until the Peacekeepers overhead caught on to the fact that Echo had given them the slip, nobody would enter the subterranean tunnels.
At least, that should have been the case. However, further down the tunnel there was a gradual turn, and the yellow light of some kind of lamp spilled around the corner. Somebody else was down there. A distorted shadow was cast on the tunnel walls. Whoever it was jerked suddenly and turned around, as if they had heard a suspicious noise.
--Ray--
"Ha! Family. As if that word has any meaning nowadays. Your precious Republic has eroded the term to dust," the tomcat sneered. "I have no family. I would not be fool enough to marry and form connections that would only be used to break my spirit. You and the dictator you serve have taken our most basic of biological rights anyway. We can have no children! What would be the point?!"
He pointed the cruel blade on the end of his arm toward Ray. "I hope you know how to use that glorified cattle prod. Now...DIE!" he shouted, suddenly lunging forward and slashing at a weakpoint in Ray's armor just under his armpit.
--Ellen--
The name "E. Foster" was displayed under the number 22. It seemed she had been assigned to apartment 22, then. That would be on the second floor of the complex.
To the right of where Ellen stood in the lobby was an office door with a stained glass window. The sign on the window read, "Building Manager's Office". Straight ahead was an elevator with a set of stainless steel doors and a staircase covered in dark green carpeting. The whole place was utilitarian and sparse, but well cleaned. A digital clockface on the wall read, "9:45 pm" in blue text.
--Victor--
As the masked fur who had saved Victor swung away, her arms extended to unnatural lengths to allow her to grab onto the metallic beams that crisscrossed the roof of the sewers. Whoever she was, she possessed some strange abilities.
The service lights that lined the roof of the sewers did not illuminate very much. A dark river of sludge flowed steadily by on his left, while ahead the concrete tunnel seemed to stretch away into darkness. Nobody followed him down the manhole he had climbed through, however. There was no telling how long it would take them to begin searching underground.
Eventually, he came to a rusted metal door on the side of the tunnel. There was some lettering painted onto it, but it was too difficult to read. There seemed to be no other openings in the sewer walls for a while.
-
Leaving her arms at exactly the length they are currently lest the whir of her servos moving give her away in the quiet. She swings her legs up to hang on the bars, leaving her flat against the roof of the sewer. She breathes evenly, although her instinct is to hold her breath, the quiet, even breaths would not betray her like a large exhale would. Hopefully whoever is down here will keep walking. She’s so close to safety...
-
Ray grit his teeth and drew his arm down quickly, catching the blade just before it really dug into his flesh. He felt the hot rush of blood from the wound, and figured it would need stitches. He gave a great roar as he brought the stun-stick down on his opponent. The Peacekeeper wondered how the electrical discharge would effect the cybernetic enhancements.
-
Eventually, the feline reached a large metal door. Looking over it, he prodded the rust with his rifle and glanced back the way he came. Seeing as there would be little to no other possible exits without doubling back, this would have to do.
Shaking his head, he wondered if his day could truthfully get any worse. Slinging his rifle over his shoulder quietly, he absentmindedly reached down into a pouch behind his back on the vest he was wearing. Tapping the fabric carefully, he was about to withdraw an item he referred to as ‘Plan E.’ Luckily it occurred to him that it may help to see if he could just open the door rather than blast his way through it. Not everything had to be solved by explosives!
Clearing his throat, the insurgent tried to read the darkened writing as his paws fumbled for the handle. Repositioning himself, he pulled on the rusted metal and hoped for the best.
-
--Echo--
The figure's shadow bent double and lowered itself, as if its owner had sat down. From around the tunnel's corner, a voice rang out as a second shadow joined the first on the wall.
"What is it Lou? Ya see something?" it inquired.
"Nah, thought I heard something. Must have been nothing....C'mon, sit back down will ya?" a second, deeper voice answered. In response, the second shadow distorted and bent like the first. It seemed the two had both decided to stay seated where they were. There was a clanking noise as the second stranger sat down, as if he had set something metallic down on the concrete floor of the tunnel.
--Ray--
The stun-stick whacked against the tomcat's cybernetic arm with a deafening crack, as Ray brought it down with the tremendous force that a Battlefur's enhanced musculature could create. Electricity sparked and dispersed up and down the black arm, issuing a series of staticy pops and crackles. The tomcat jumped back from Ray in alarm as his enhanced arm went completely limp, the motorized joints seemingly short-circuited by Ray's electrical attack.
The tomcat hissed furiously, his brown-and-gray fur standing on end as he scrabbled away from Ray to avoid another retaliatory blow. However, he seemed to be otherwise uninjured by the blow to his cybernetic limb. "So that's how you're gonna play it, huh?" he snapped angrily. He reached down quickly with his normal paw and depressed a small latch on the end of his arm. The blade he'd been wielding detached from the arm with a sharp click. He held the curved metal up defiantly with his still-functioning arm. "I'm not finished yet, you overgrown hunk of aluminum!" he shouted, boldly diving forward and trying to stick the blade up under the edge of Ray's helmet, to catch him in the throat.
--Victor--
The handle came off the door when Victor pulled on it, a loud *kerchunk!* echoing across the tunnel as the rusted metal snapped. The door did not appear to be locked, however the frame was incredibly warped and had rusted shut over the course of many years. It did not budge.
The writing on the door was so faded that Victor could not even make out one letter of what had once been. It was obviously archaic, as the lettering seemed to have been done in some kind of lead-based paint that had chipped and worn away due to the moisture, rather than with a more modern substance or with an electronic display. Whatever lay beyond this door had not been in use for some time now.
-
She silently curses her luck. Now we’re going to have to do this the hard way. She pulls an electronic mouse out of her bag quietly and tosses it down past her, hoping they’ll run right under her to investigate. The mouse makes a loud clang when it hits the wall and starts skittering loudly down the tunnel, broadcasting running footsteps. She prepares to run when the furs take the bait.
-
Ray quickly drew his rifle, used the helmet’s plexiglass visor to catch the blade. Unable to withstand the pinpoint pressure, the visor cracked and gave way. Ray quickly turned his head, the blade now caught between the rest of the visor and helmet. However, Ray’s rifle rested in the paw opposite of his opponent. Instead of emptying the rifle’s capacitor into his opponent, the Battlefur instead drove his armored paw into his assailant’s blade-arm. His genetic muscular superiority allowed him to not only disarm the Coalfur, but also shatter his elbow in the process. With the blade stuck in his helmet, Ray simply stepped back into the street, and removed his helmet. Blood wicked down the raccoon’s muzzle and the right side of his face. Rage filled the Battlefur, who quickly leveled his rifle at the Coalfur, and emptied the capacitor. Red light bathed the area, washing out security feeds until the firing stopped.
-
The feline looked at the detached door handle and frowned, holding it close to his face in a somewhat dramatic fashion. Of course, what did he expect? Well, only one thing to do know. Actually, he had several other options, but blowing any obstacle in his path to dozens of pieces was much more interesting.
Swiftly withdrawing the small tan and black box from the pouch behind his back, the insurgent ensured that all the wires were still connected and the timer on the device was still functional. It was a simple creation, featuring some nearly ancient mining explosives wrapped together and wired to a sparking mechanism. He may not be good with computers or electronics, but given enough practice, he could repeat the creation of something he desired over and over again; the explosive was a testament to that.
With this, along with his rifle and a single left over Molotov being the final weapons he possessed, he weighed his options in his mind. After a few seconds of debating the use of the explosive, he reluctantly crouched down and pulled the tape from the back of it, exposing a sticky substance underneath. Firmly planting the device near the remnants of the handle he pulled off, Victor dialed a few numbers into it and locked in the timer. With the small digital screen showing a yellow triangle, the Tabaxi swiftly retreated around the corner and unslung his rifle. Awaiting the blast, he offered a small prayer to whatever higher powers there may be, checked the chamber of his rifle, and gritted his teeth.
“...Dos...Uno... Y... Boom-“
-
--Echo--
After the clanging of the mouse and the fake sounds of footsteps rang out, the two shadows on the wall distorted again as the strangers around the corner stood up in surprise.
"There's definitely someone down here, Lou! Let's book it, who knows what they saw?!" the higher-pitched voice shouted in a panicked tone.
"Alright, yeah, let's go. Snuff the lamp," the lower voice commanded. The light spilling from around the tunnel's corner went off, and the sound of hurried footsteps echoed throughout the sewer as the two unknown furs sprinted off into the darkness. Echo was alone again, and the tunnel went silent as the footsteps faded away.
That is, the tunnel was silent until a deafening explosion rocked the entire sewer, waves of sonic force rippling across Echo's back. Some kind of detonation went off in the direction she had just come from, briefly lighting the tunnel up again in a brilliant flash of flame.
--Ray--
The tomcat collapsed, howling in pain at his shattered elbow. He rolled over on the asphalt in agony, trying to shelter himself under his malfunctioning cybernetic arm in some way. It was no use.
As Ray emptied the capacitor of his gun into the alley, every blast struck home with deadly accuracy. The tomcat's brown fur was soon singed black as he was consumed by a deadly wave of laser fire. When Ray's rifle finally clicked and could fire no more, the cat no longer even moved or squealed in protest. There was no rise and fall to his chest, no twitching of limbs, no attempt to rise off of the ground and fight again. It was clear he had been thoroughly defeated.
Just as Ray finished, a lone Overseer drone hovered onto the scene. Its red searchlight lit up the mangled cat's corpse and the haphazard scorch marks left on the surfaces of the alleyway. "RESPONDING TO CALL FOR SUPPORT. WHAT ARE YOUR ORDERS, 1212?" it asked in its detached, metallic tone.
--Victor--
The explosive went off violently, temporarily blinding Victor with a flash of bright light and knocking him over with a wave of force that shook the sewer around him to its foundations. Some of the cement surrounding the door was destroyed, and a great cloud of dust and rocks blew through the air around him. When the dust cloud finally settled, it seemed the metal door had been broken into three pieces and blown completely off of its hinges.
Beyond the door was a long, narrow passage. It was completely unlit, not even a single service light along the wall. The floor was damp and worn, and continued on into complete darkness. Strangely enough, the walls seemed to be old brickwork rather than the smooth cement of the rest of the tunnels. Clearly, it had been built before the more modern system and never updated.
-
Echo loses her grip on the ceiling with a start, splashing into the sewage. She stands up quickly, but the damage is done. She’s filthy, as are all of her new clothes. She curses, knowing that she doesn’t have any way to do laundry or shower in her humble shack. She growls and decides she’s very interested in whoever made that explosion, and seeing if she can extort then for access to their shower. She grabs back onto the ceiling and starts swinging full speed towards the explosion, knowing she’ll have to catch up fast if she’s to avoid the peacekeeper presence this will definitely attract. She wipes off her tablet and pulls up a map of the sewers, clipping it to her forearm to keep her hands free.
-
Ray glanced at his now-ruined helmet and sighed. He looked up to the Overseer and spoke, wiping the blood from his face.
“Body retrieval, medics and rearm. The civilian did not comply with orders. Track his genetic line and bring his batchmates to detainment camp Virgo.”
Ray held the side of his head and groaned. “Gah...and hurry with the sawbones.”
Ray started towards the body as a thought played across his brain. A Coalfur with a prosthetic like that was uncommon. Dispersion material like that wasn’t available to their caste. He knelt by the cat and began searching him over.
“Where’d you get the toy, coal-boy?”
-
That was a blast. Literally.
Laughing in a somewhat somber way, the feline grunted and forced himself back up onto his feet. Picking up his weapon in the process, the Tabaxi surveyed the damage.
Well, the way was clear. Unfortunately, the hall he peaked into was pitch black, and the insurgent had no source of light. Despite this, the area he revealed did interest him. What could be down there, so far tucked away from public view? Adjusting the wrapping that was no longer covering his face, Victor rubbed his chin and looked around, as if searching for an answer. Suddenly, he spotted something swinging along the top of the sewer.
Unnerved by the shadowy presence and it’s fast approach, he almost let out a barrage of bullets to meet the approaching figure. Thankfully, he had a brief moment of recollection, and he realized it may be his temporary savior from earlier. Keeping his weapon at the low ready, he stood by the passage of the door and squinted, calling out to the person above him.
“Ah, hello again! So, I was trying to leave right? Then I found this. I have no clue how it happened.” The feline nodded his head in the direction of the now destroyed door, widening his eyes and shrugging to add dramatic effect. Hiding his blatant lie and sarcasm proved to be difficult.
After a few painful moments of silence, he shuffled legs a bit and flicked his tail, still looking at the newcomer in an effort to size them up.
“...So, amigo, er, amiga? Would you be willing to come down and discuss, uh...” The insurgent pointed the barrel of his weapon into the exposed passageway, clearing his throat. “A way out of this god-forsaken place you’ve dropped me into?”
-
--Echo--
The dark hallway that stretched away to Echo's left did not show up anywhere on her map of the sewer system. It was completely unmarked. Also, it appeared that the door was blown away and shattered by some sort of explosive, which left burn marks on the brickwork inside and cracked some of the surrounding cement.
The tabaxi she led through the streets earlier stood below her, asking her to come down and join him.
--Ray--
The drone dispensed a medikit and a fresh rifle onto the ground from its supplies. "FOR FULL MEDICAL EVALUATION, REPORT TO HEADQUARTERS," it stated with a cautionary beep. Then, it hovered over to the tomcat and extended a limb ending in a small syringe from its side. The syringe took a quick blood sample from the cat and retracted back into the drone's body. "ORDERING GENETIC SCAN AND BODY RETRIEVAL CREW. DO YOU WISH TO VIEW GENETIC RESULTS?" it inquired.
On the tomcat's body was little of note. He was burned to a crisp by the wave of laser fire Ray had hit him with, but it was still possible to tell that his clothing had been of very poor quality. He had worn only a tattered vest and slacks. However, inside the vest was an inner pocket that somehow survived Ray's blasting.
The pocket held a few copper coins and a scrap of paper with a drawing on it. It was an insignia of some sort; a pawprint with two screws crossing it. The paper held nothing else.
--Victor--
The figure hanging in the rafters above Victor had something glowing on their wrist that hadn't been there before. It looked like some kind of wrist-mounted display, and the mysterious fur seemed to be guiding themself by it.
Further down the tunnel Victor had discovered, there were no noises except the dripping of water from the ceiling. It seemed like nothing living had entered that place in many years.
-
Echo stares at him for a good while more, her empty eye socket dark and foreboding. Then she drops and gets in really close to him. “... do you have a... shower? I can get you out of here... if you have clean water. Or else you will definitely die. Lost down here, peacekeepers, lots of dangers, not least of which being that I should kill you for ruining my night.” She tilts her head inquisitively. While waiting for his answer she sends a sonar blip down the sewer tunnels to see if there is anyone else down here. It should act somewhat as a radar for her map, getting a general idea of the layout of this new tunnel and picking up anything sticking out in the new tunnel or the old ones.
-
Scooping up the medkit and shouldering the rifle, Ray began treating his facial wound as he stared at the insignia balanced on his knee. He pondered over its value as he spoke.
“Go ahead, Overseer. Who’s our stiff?”
-
The Tabaxi has diverted his attention away from the mysterious figure for only a moment, surveying the area around him before turning to face them again. With a startled jolt, the insurgent pressed his back against the wall and stared back at the person whom he could now somewhat identify. He had not heard her drop down, and her disposition was foreboding to Victor.
Restraining himself from pointing his weapon at her, he elected to remain calm and try to find a solution to this situation. Clearing his throat, he shifted a bit anxiously and turned his head, unwilling to look the feline in the eye while he replied.
“Uh, yes...? I mean, it’s not warm. The place is abandoned, but some of the rooms are useable.” Abruptly, Victor remembered the series of explosives he had accidentally set off a while back. They were minor, but they still may have caused slight problems to the pipes.
“I hope I do at least. We can see when we get there maybe?” He added on to his previous statement with a quiet chuckle, making a mental note to address the issue. If he returns, that is.
Reluctantly glancing back at her, the Tabaxi noticed that she was utilizing some sort of technology. Of course, Victor didn’t quite understand it, but he figured he could inquire about it to see what it’s use was. And so he could distract the newcomer long enough to wiggle out of the space that was between her and the wall discreetly. Shuffling along the concrete slightly in an attempt to make distance, he nodded his head down at the device and asked;
“That’s pretty neat. Did you make that by yourself?” It was a weak question, he knew, but maybe he could prevent the situation from escalating by conversing a bit.
-
A stoat closed the door behind her. She sighed, her eyes closed. Somewhere, this all seemed familiar. Somewhere, it did not. She just couldn't quite get used to it. She opened her eyes again, looking around. The house she was in seemed to be abandoned, who knows for how long. There wasn't much here. An old sofa. Lights that weren't working. Empty walls. At least it was better than outside. Curfew was such a hassle to deal with, and this was a lucky find. For now, this was home. Feeling a little relieved now she was inside, the stoat made her way over to the stairs, softly moving her body to a rather peculiar rythm as she took her steps.
-
As Nova started to get home, he heard a clanging noise outside his office, before someone could even blink, he had his laser pistol out and pushed the door open. "What are you doing here Ms. Vulcr:" he hissed. "You should be at the hotel." Nova stared at the woman and sensed something was wrong. The woman appeared to be shaking. He spotted a metal chip on the back of her neck, and it seemed to be shocking her. "Ms. Vulcr, what is wr-" She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a pure-energy blade. "Stop me Nova. Stop me." she said shakily. As she lunged at Nova, he set his pistol to stun and shot her, knocking her out cold. When he was certain she was out, he dialed the number for the local battlefurs.
-
--Echo--
The sonar blip coursed through the sewers all the way to where the tunnels curved and turned away, as well as through the tunnel that the tabaxi had opened up. The reading was mostly completely blank, which was a good sign. No Peacekeepers had yet come underground. The tunnel leading through the sewer wall ended abruptly a mere 20 feet after the entrance, and no living creatures appeared to be inside. There was one oddity, however. The back wall further into the tunnel was composed of some material which had a very different density than the cement and brickwork of the rest of the tunnel. There were also some crates and barrels stacked against that wall, as if to obscure it.
As Echo watched the device, the tabaxi slowly inched away from her and towards the tunnel.
--Ray--
The drone hovered closer to Ray so that it could be heard better. It read off the tomcat's genetic results, and holographically projected his sheet so Ray could look it over.
"NAME: JAMES DAVENPORT
SEX: MALE
AGE: 65
SPECIES: AMERICAN SHORTHAIR TABBY
GENETIC CASTE: GOLDFUR
NOTICE: PERSON OF INTEREST, DETAIN ON SIGHT"
The contents of the chart flashed and then disappeared as the drone finished. "SUSPECT DECEASED, I WILL UPDATE OUR RECORDS. RETRIEVAL CREW IS INBOUND. 1212, HEADQUARTERS REQUESTS THAT YOU REPORT BACK IMMEDIATELY. I AM TO ESCORT YOU," it intoned. The drone's single red searchlight washed over Ray, scrutinizing him for any sign of defiance.
--Victor--
The mysterious fur from earlier still had their face covered, but was now close enough that Victor could make out the fact that she was a female black panther. Her clothes were soiled and she smelled like raw sewage, not that it made much difference from the ambient smell all around him. Also, now that she had swung so close to him, it was obvious that her arms were somehow able to elongate themselves to an unnatural size.
She tapped her device and an audible *ping!* echoed out across the tunnels. The device did not provide much light, so the darkness of the tunnels was still impenetrable for Victor.
--Lanaret--
The house's old boards creaked as Lanaret danced over them. Inside the house, all was quiet except for the stoat's movements. Shadows streamed across the floor, moving as if in some ethereal dance themselves, mirroring Lanaret's rythm. At least, one could imagine they were.
The peaceful silence of the old house was interrupted by heavy thudding outside. A patrol of three Peacekeepers thundered by a broken window, moving towards the heart of the city. All three were running rather wildly and seemed in a hurry to respond to something. They did not stop at the house, and did not seem to notice Lanaret inside.
--Nova--
The holocron let out a series of beeps as someone on the other end of the line responded. "You've reached the Enbex Peacekeeper Headquarters. What is your emergency?" a cold, female voice inquired.
Below Nova, on the floor, the chip in Vulcr's neck continued to buzz and hum with electricity. However, she did not move any more.
-
She ignores his question, instead addressing his inching away. “I would not try to run if I were you. I would find you, and catch you, there is nowhere you can hide down here that I cannot find you.” She taps at the screen. The light of the device casts menacing shadows over a hole where an eye should have been. “Tell me the address of your hideout. We will explore this tunnel and then I will guide you to your hideout.” She speaks very matter-of-factly. Her threats, while most likely intimidating given the circumstance, seem less like she is threatening him and more like she is stating unchangable facts.
-
Ray nodded. “Of course. I’ll comply. No reason not to.” He looked to the charred corpse with cold disinterest. “A Goldfur, eh? And wanted at that. Ah well.” The officer pocketed the scrap and stood. He slid his helmet back on and started towards the district HQ, reporting on the radio.
“HQ, this is officer 1212, I am en route.”
-
Seeing the number on the mailbox, Ellen went up to the second floor and found the door to her apartment.
All the doors in the hallway looked boringly uniform. Hers was no exception And the interior probably wouldn't be either.
Oh well. At least it was clean...
However, upon turning the key and entering the space she was proven otherwise.
The interior seemed... Extraordinary...
The main furniture in the living room seemed to be covered with quality leather and were designed with sleek looks. A stylish wooden table was placed in the middle of the two couches. Adjacent to the window a smaller couch, garnished from soft fabric and seemingly designed more for comfort, stood facing a large television set suspended on the wall.
The majority of the room was coloured with dark grey and white tones with an occasional lightbrown colour of high quality wood while a few indoor plants and white canvasses with splashes of warm colours thrown over them.
Around the corner a glimpse of the kitchen could be seen, wich seemed to have the same amount of attention put into it.
Ellen was astounded by the amount of artistic thought put into the room and stood there for a moment, taking in the shape and look of the room, before taking off her jacket and straightening her suit that lovingly matched the design of the room.
She wasn't sure why, having grown up in the wilderness outside of the cities in a raw wooden home with hard beds and unheated rooms, but the luxuriousness of the room spoke to her.
She liked it...
Recollecting after a moment, she decided that it would be best to sweep trough the rest of the apartment. So she went back towards her jacket and fished the pistol out of the inner pocket.
The serrated patches on the grip mildly cut into her paws, but she didn't mind. She was used to it.
She lifted the back of the suit and slipped the front pistol into her pants for a makeshift holster, and jolted a bit as the cold in the steel bit into her rear.
Just to be sure. She thought...
-
The feline sighed in exasperation and lowered his rifle completely, holding it idly with one paw by his side as he turned back and forth for a moment in frustration. Finally glaring back at the newcomer, he stopped trying to gain distance from her. Instead, he just leaned against the wall and gestured to her with his free paw.
“If It were up to me I’d light this tunnel on fire and be done with it. Same with the rest of the sewer, all the peacekeepers, and probably yo-“ The feline was cut off when she began her next sentence.
Seeing as how there was no way out of this, and how he had to accept the fact that he bit off more than he could chew, the Tabaxi slung his weapon over his right shoulder before cautiously approaching the woman. Reluctantly, he provided exact coordinates to her before focusing back on the tunnel before them.
“Are you even armed? Well, I mean, heh...” He chuckled a bit as he nodded his head towards her strange arms, “Do you have a weapon I mean. I can tell you are, highly ‘armed.’” Attempting to stifle a laugh again, he turned away from her and pretended to be inspecting the tunnel. While the worries of the potential peacekeepers and other dangers down here stressed him out, the little joke he made did ease his mind a bit.
-
Lanaret froze as the soldiers passed by. Usually the soldiers didn't quite come this close to the building. She figured something probably was going on somewhere. There nearly always was. She didn't even consider what it possibly could be this time. She had grown used to that quickly, at least. As long as nobody bothered to check inside this building whilst she was inside she didn't care all that much. Once the sound died off and it was silent once more, the stoat made her way to the stairs and headed up. The woodwork of the stairs felt cool on her bare feet as she slowly took her steps. She had long wondered if the mechanic-like people felt anything quite like this. Softly humming a lullaby she had learned on on her trip, she made her way to the first floor as quietly and quickly as she could.
-
"I have an emergency with a silverfur. Name, Mrs Vulcr. I just accepted her today. She had a neural plate, her actions were not her own." He stared down at the woman, wondering who was controlling her. Then he walked over to his mini-fridge and took out some meat, raw, and started eating it.
(If you guys want, I can put a little backstory in thbe ooc of Nova)
-
--Echo--
The light from Echo's wrist-mounted device illuminated the entrance of the newly exposed tunnel somewhat. The floor was damp, and the corners of the tunnel had become overgrown with patches of moss and mold. Clearly, no maintenance crews had cleaned the place out for a long while. A few crates and barrels, rotted from years of the damp seeping into their wood, stood against the walls.
As she and the tabaxi were speaking, a loud grinding noise filled the tunnel behind them. Someone had lifted up a manhole cover a few hundred feet down the tunnel. A voice echoed down from the exposed hole. "There's nothing on street level and we have the area cordoned off! I don't see any other place to check, sir," it said in a clipped, military tone.
--Ray--
The collar-mounted radio crackled back at Ray. "Good to hear, officer. I'll notify the captain. He's asking that you report directly to him," the dispatcher responded.
The Overseer drone led Ray away from the body as several more drones moved onto the scene, blocking off the alleyway so that civilians could not enter the area. The drone moved quickly and efficiently, wasting no time in carrying out its role as an escort. Finally they reached the imposing headquarters building, standing at such a height that it overshadowed all nearby structures with its sleek steel frame. The drone stopped outside the front doors.
"HEADQUARTERS REQUESTS YOU REPORT TO CAPTAIN GRIMWAULD'S OFFICE. DO NOT LEAVE UNTIL HE RECORDS YOUR REPORT," it beeped at him.
--Ellen--
Just as Ellen finished stowing her firearm away in the waistband of her pants, an airy ringing filled the luxurious apartment. The light tone seemed almost to match the elaborate decor, somehow. Following the sound to its source revealed a wall-mounted holocron in the kitchen, stylishly colored in creamy whites and dark greys like the rest of the room.
The screen glowed with a bluish hue. Someone was calling. The ID on the holocron read, "Dalia Talbert", and displayed a still image of a well-to-do vixen with neatly groomed red fur.
--Victor--
While he only pretended to study the tunnel, Victor would still be able to observe the decrepit nature of the place up close. The brickwork on the tunnel's walls was covered with overgrown mosses and molds that had sprung up over the years, and some of the bricks were chipped and worn down. The whole place had a musty, damp smell to it.
Behind Victor, the distinct grinding of metal on metal that could only be the sliding of a manhole cover echoed down into the tunnel. Several voices mixed together could be heard through the opening as a shaft of light beamed down into the previously pitch-dark tunnel.
--Lanaret--
Peace and silence descended over the old house again as the Peacekeepers' stamping faded into the distance. All seemed to be calm and quiet as Lanaret moved to the upper floor.
As she rounded a corner at the top of the stairs, she passed by a row of abandoned rooms. All were darkened, and a few had doors that had partially fallen off their hinges. Lanaret's simple lullaby tune filled up the desolate, empty spaces.
Just as Lanaret drew near to the first room, a shadow of movement was barely visible out of the corner of her eye. Something hid in the corner of the room. As she looked, it became clear that somebody was hunched down on the floor fearfully. "P-please...don't call the officers back...." it whimpered as it realized it had been spotted.
--Nova--
"Alright, sending an officer to your location. Have you been injured in any way?" the dispatcher inquired in the same cold, detached tone.
The electric light from the mini-fridge spilled onto the floor, illuminating Vulcr's features. Her eyes were shut and her mouth hung open limply. Her fur seemed ragged and disheveled, covered with dust as if she had not been grooming properly.
-
Echo makes a small growling noise, almost silently. She pulls a holo-projector she has programmed (just in case) out and places it in the gaping hole in the wall. It projects a wall identical to the rest of the sewer over the blast area, obscuring the area from prying eyes. She inputs the Tabaxi's coordinates. She marks the spot on her map so she can find it again later. She inputs the Tabaxi's coordinator into her path calculator. If the path takes her away from the voices, she beckons for Victor to follow and starts heading to his hideout. If not, she retreats deeper into the blast towards the strange wall.
-
Ray removed his damaged helmet and walked into Headquarters. Always imposing and impressive, it was theoretically able to withstand a missile barrage with little struggle. Ray reported his designation to the security desk, turned in his rifle and headed for Grimwauld’s office. He reached the door in a matter of minutes and knocked sharply. He then kept his paws near his sides, clearly visible. “Captain Grimwauld?” The officer called. “Officer 1212. Blackburn, Ray. Reporting as ordered.”
-
Oh **censor**... -Ellen cursed quietly, as she was not expecting any visitors.
The gun...
Her suit was barely long enough to cover her waist and the gun's shape would poke trough the trousers. It would be a dead giveaway that she was armed, if she were to turn her back on the visitor.
A significant feeling panick arose in her as she didn't recognise the Vixen caller. She didn't know if she should, what she wanted, or if she would recognise that she wasn't the real Ellen.
That would be bad... -She thought to herself.
She quickly thought of hiding the weapon. But, maybe she'd need it.
Come on, pull yourself together... -She thought as she breathed in and out deeply to calm down.
It's just a visitor, coworker or neighbour, I've just moved in here, it'll be fine...
She drew the weapon and carefully laid it down in one of the drawers. It made a soft, metallic, clunk as it hit the wood inside it. The guest would have no reason to look in there, but it'd be easily reachable.
She quickly went over to the music player to put up a relaxing song, thereafter heading for the door to answer.
She opened the door with a curious look on her face, wondering what was going to happen.
-
“Oh good, they’re back.” Was Victors initial reaction upon hearing the voices, turning his head back towards the feline as she typed away on her electronic device. Taking a moment to tap the magazine in his rifle and rack the slide once or twice, he ensured that he was ready to defend himself should things start to pop off.
“Alrighty, time to roll?” He asked as he was waved over, holding his rifle before him as he stuck close to the feline. Whatever light she provided was all he had to work with, so he was careful to observe the area around them as they progressed towards his hideout. He didn’t quite know what to think of the woman who saved him earlier. Well, the word ‘dangerous’ was a reoccurring description that seemed to fit, but maybe she was one of those tough on the outside kinda people.
Then Victor remembered when he was threatened by this very same person, and realized that she was most likely just nuts. Especially living down here. Glancing at the waste they trudged through, he rolled his eyes and sighed anxiously. He had most certainly endured worse, but that didn’t make this any nicer. Thankfully, his home wasn’t too far away.
-
Lanaret simply walked into the room the creature was hidden, not seeming to be nervous at the newcomer. If anything the other was terrified of her. "Hey there, how long have you been here? Where are you from?" She showed her hands to show she was not a threat in the slightest as she said that. The stoat's voice was fairly high-pitched and soft. She intended no harm, only curiosity. The darkness in the room, however, did not do much to aid a conversation.
-
"No. I'm not injured right now, but Mrs. Vulcr had a neural connect. When I stunned her, the device started sparking" he glanced at her. Then he did a double take " um, scratch that. She's gettin up. And the dev ice is smoking, and her eyes are now black." [Android?] Mrs. Vulcr started walking toward Nova jerkily. "Mrs. Vulcr. If you do not cease, I will use lethal force." Mrs. Vulcr stared at Nova. And then advanced. Nova started to feel himself getting more aggresive, his genetic implants he got to live in the city were becoming active. Putting him in a kill or be killed state. His eyes turned to slits and he roared at his enemy. No longer Mrs. Vulcr, but a enemy that he was to kill. "Help." was the last word he was able to say to the holocron before his primal instincts took over and he started in on a attack on his enemy.
-
--Echo--
The pathfinder on Echo's device lead her to run further into the sewer system, and highlighted several different possible exit points along the route. The closest was another manhole around the bend in the tunnel that Echo went to earlier, where she had seen the two mysterious individuals and scared them off with a toy mouse.
Behind Echo and the tabaxi, the first Peacekeeper lowered himself down from the manhole and swiftly descended the service ladder into the tunnel. He hadn't noticed the two of them yet, however if he reached the bottom and turned around he would surely see them. The tunnel was dark, but not dark enough to obscure them at that range.
--Ray--
From behind Grimwauld's door came the groaning and shifting noise of somebody rising from a chair. Slow, deliberate footsteps preceded the door's opening.
A black wolf, still dressed partially in his heavy outdoor gear, stood in the entranceway. He looked exhausted, yet still carried himself with authority. "Ah, 1212. It's good that you've come so quickly. Please, take a seat," he said, stepping back from the doorway and indicating a chair with his paw. It sat in front of his utilitarian pinewood desk.
The office contained few decorations or pieces of furniture, save for some filing cabinets and a map of the city of Enbex hung up on one wall. Some colored pins and small, handwritten notes were tacked up on it at various positions. Grimwauld's office window overlooked the street below, and they were high up enough that the digital clock tower in the city's main square was visible.
--Ellen--
In the doorway stood the same vixen that had been pictured on the holocron. However, unlike the formal and serious expression she wore in her digital portrait, the real-life fox broke out into a wide grin as soon as the door opened. She jumped forward and embraced Ellen in a hug without so much as a warning.
"Oh, Ellen! I'm sorry for coming over so late, it being past curfew and all! I just couldn't wait to come congratulate you on the new job!" she said excitedly as she broke away from the embrace. "And you weren't answering your personal number, so I just figured I should come over. Can you believe we're gonna be working in the same office tomorrow? It'll be like old times all over again!" As the vixen finished speaking, she seemed to notice something was wrong. "Ellen? What's wrong? You don't look very happy to see me..." she said nervously.
--Victor--
Despite Victor's reservations about the strange panther, she took the lead yet again and steered the two of them away from the officers entering the sewers. She sped away quickly down the sewer tunnel, following some sort of directions on her wrist-mounted device. A projection device of some sort blinked a holographic wall into existence, covering the hole that Victor had blown with his explosives. It flickered slightly as holograms do, but was convincing enough in the dim light of the tunnel.
Up ahead, Victor could tell by the small amount of light offered by the panther's holocron that the sewer tunnel made a turn to the right.
--Lanaret--
Hearing Lanaret's soothing words, the figure in the shadows cautiously stood and moved forward into the light from a nearby broken window. It was a child, a young german shepherd pup judging by the brown and black patterns on his fur. His skin showed a strange pattern of scars surrounding his limbs and scalp. He also bore numerous bruises and other smaller scratches. The poor thing also looked severely malnourished and had a ragged, unkempt pelt.
He looked up at Lanaret fearfully. "I-I don't really know..." he whimpered. "Please! Just don't call the Peacekeepers. I won't bother you, I swear!"
--Nova--
The voice on the other end of the line continued speaking in a questioning tone, but it faded into meaningless chatter as Nova dropped it from his face and felt his senses shift their focus squarely on to the intruder in front of him. As he lunged forward in an attack, the strange creature that looked like Vulcr dodged out of the way with almost supernatural speed. Nova was sent crashing into a nearby table, the force of his attack carrying him on past the target he had missed.
While he was on the ground, his strange attacker dove on top of him and wrapped her hands around his neck. She squeezed with a strength that it seemed impossible for her to possess, her darkened eyes glaring down at him uncaringly. Nova felt himself unable to draw breath.
-
Echo motions to Victor to stay low and quiet. The way he keeps eying that gun makes her nervous, because a shoot-off will most definitely get them both killed. And then she takes off as fast as she can while still keeping the noise under acceptable levels to the manhole, extending her arms up when she arrives and pulling herself up to the top rung of the ladder. She opens the manhole just a crack, not even enough for them to see out of, and does a scan of the area outside. She doesn't have a good pathfinder for the city itself due to the changing landscape of people and peacekeepers, but a scan can tell her what it looks like outside.
-
Ray did as he was instructed, sitting straight-backed in the chair. “Yessir,” he said. “You say jump, I say how high, sir.” He kept glancing out the window, obviously nervous about it. He had, both through command channels and personally, made his concern known about the plate glass window, and instead offered the notion of having it switched to a high-gain camera and borderless display. Accomplished the same look without sacrificing defensive capabilities.
-
Dear god.... -Ellen thought as the Vixen embraced her...
"Ohh, hey... Dalia... Yes, you have come at a bit of an inconvenient timing, to be perfectly honest! There's been lots of things going on here..." -She awkwardly replied.
"It's okay though, I can make some time free for you." -She said, understanding that, right now, her best bet was to hope that the "old times" were very long ago.
Ellen released herself from the embrace and tried her best to give the stranger a warm smile as she fully opened the door to invite her in.
"So, how long ago must it have been since we've last spoke?" -She asked, perhaps trying her luck a bit.
-
Victor was well aware of the situation they were in, and felt as though the best option would be to, indeed, start shooting at everything he saw. However, the feline leading him had motioned for him to remain low and quiet. At the same time, Victor figured out that blasting his way through everything may not allow him to go very far.
Following the feline, albeit with louder footsteps and the various noises of shuffling gear, the Tabaxi turned his back to the ladder as she ascended and crouched down, aiming back away from them as he covered the area. He wanted to ask her what was the hold up, but the sounds of moving grates and ladders creaking told him that problems were about to arise. Squinting his eyes, he attempted to glance up at the feline to see what she was up to.
-
The stoat kneeled down, trying to get on eye-level with the dog in front of her. "Hey, I don't want to hurt you. I promise." The stoat still had decent clothing and was relavely well-groomed. She kept it up to the best of her abilities, at least. She kept looking at the pup, spotting some past injuries as her eyes adjusted to the low level of light. Even though their situation was more alike than what the pup would have guessed when they saw her entering the room, it seemed as though the dog had been gone through things far worse than she had. "I promise..." she repeated, hoping it would help somehow. Yet, she couldn't help but feeling a sense of helplessness towards the other person in the room.
-
(I will be pulling from Andrat. I'm sorry, but I can't keep up with it anymore. I'm sorry to everyone that had to wait due to me. I'll still follow along when I can, but I won't be able to post.)
Nova hit the wall hard, reeling in pain he was brought back to himself, but because he was brought back to himself, he lost his fight or flight attributes, and was instantly barreled over by the android. In a confused state, he saw the android extend two energetic blades, and slash them through his neck.
"Simulation Ended. Please exit the nerve-pod." Nova fell out of the nerve pod, dazed, and heard the voice of his leader, "I'm sorry Nova. You would never survive in Andrat. I am suspending you from taking the test. You may go."
-
--Echo--
Echo's quick scan of the area above ground revealed that, luckily, there was nobody surrounding this manhole. They had run far enough to be outside the Peacekeeper's perimeter. However, just as her scan completed, the officer behind them reached the bottom of his ladder and jumped down onto the floor of the sewer tunnel. He was now much farther away from them, but as he turned around it became clear that he had noticed their movement.
"Halt! Whoever that is, show yourself!" he called down the sewer, his booming voice reverberating around them as he pointed his rifle down the tunnel, the red dot of its sight landing squarely on Victor's chest. It appeared he had not yet noticed Echo, concealed in the rafters above. "What are you doing down here, citizen?" the cold voice demanded.
--Ray--
"Very good, officer," Grimwauld replied. He noticed the other officer's nervous glances, and the edge of his mouth quirked up in a slight smile. He'd heard the complaints that 1212 had filed in the past, his alternative solutions for making the room more secure. "Ah, I see your opinions on my little view here have not changed," he said with a wry chuckle. "I confess, I don't have any functional reason for keeping an old style plate glass window. I've never been too amenable to the suggestion of replacing it with a camera display, however. There's something about having an actual opening to the real world that gives the office a little more space..." he said, his voice trailing off wistfully, as if he were lost in some pleasant memory.
Then he shook his head, businesslike again. "In any case, I suppose that's a privilege I'm allowed to have, as a captain," he said as he gave a Ray a stern look. A gentle way of letting him know that he wouldn't appreciate anymore discussion on that matter. "And we have far more important things to talk about."
The sable-furred captain drew up his seat behind the desk, folding his hands on top of its smooth, polished surface. "I understand you neutralized a citizen who was outside past curfew hours tonight. A high priority person of interest, one James Davenport?" he inquired.
--Ellen--
Dalia jauntily stepped into the apartment, the warm smile back on her face. "Oh, you always were too nice to me, Ellen! I promise I won't come so late in the future."
In response to Ellen's question, her face scrunched up in thought as the vixen seemingly wracked her brain for information. "Oh, well....I think it must have been at least 5 years now since we met up in person, hasn't it? That visit to Crucenberg must have been the last time. Far too long, anyway!" she declared, reaching her hands out to grasp one of Ellen's. "I do apologize for not making more visits out with you! It's just been hard getting time off to leave the city in recent years. But that won't be a problem anymore!"
With that, her warm smile broadened even further, and she moved further into the apartment to take a seat in the living room.
--Victor--
Above Victor, his mysterious feline guide had somehow pulled herself up to a manhole that accessed street level without using its service ladder. It seemed physically impossible, but somehow her arms had just...stretched? She'd been able to overcome the great height in a matter of seconds, anyhow, and now fiddled with her wrist-mounted device again, seemingly performing some kind of reading on the area above the manhole.
As Victor watched her, the sound of heavy boots impacting cement echoed down the tunnel from behind him. The Peacekeeper following them had finally finished his descent and turned down the tunnel, the light on his helmet piercing the sewer's misted darkness. "Halt! Whoever that is, show yourself!" the officer's voice commanded, as he drew his rifle and aimed it squarely at Victor. "What are you doing down here, citizen?"
It seemed this little escapade had led Victor right back to where he'd been in the clothing store: staring down the barrel of a deadly firearm with scant chance of defending himself.
--Lanaret--
The pup regarded Lanaret with a suspicious gleam in his eyes. He seemed to think some kind of trick was being played on him. "You mean you...don't want to call the officers?" he asked, almost incredulous at the idea that the stoat wasn't going to report him.
He stayed where he was, backed against the wall just under the room's sole, broken window. The pale moonlight from outside illuminated his matted, fragmented fur, revealing just how mangy he was. It seemed like the little dog had been on his own for a while, living on the streets perhaps. "Do you live in this house? I came here cuz I thought it was abandoned," he asked tentatively. "I'll get lost if you want..."
-
Echo freezes for a moment, her mind whirring like a machine. She’s going to give the Tabaxi exactly one chance to not die. If he resisted in any way, she would leave him just as fast. It’s not worth her life. But the calculations work out if she’s fast enough, and he cooperates. She popped the manhole off near silently with practiced ease and reached down to grab the Tabaxi and pull him up. “If you have any more explosives, drop them now!” She hissed quickly. Then she used her arm still held onto the edge of the manhole to sling them both out of the sewer, taking off in the direction of the coordinates the Tabaxi gave her. All the engineering in the world can’t overcome the simple drive to run, to live!
-
“Yes sir,” Ray confirmed. “Though there were odd circumstances. This James Davenport; wasn’t he a Goldfur? The man I executed, a tomcat, was dressed as a Coalfur. Which is even more strange, this Davenport had a cybernetic limb made of a metal that deflected lasers. Unless Mr. Davenport had a strange idea of fun, I believe that there’s a larger problem, sir.”
-
Excellent. No more corpses... -Ellen thought to herself as she let out a contempt sigh.
"It's allright, Dalia, I understand that you must've been busy."
"So, how's the work here then? I wonder what they're gonna let me do!" -She asked with genuine interest.
"Would you like anything to drink, by the way?
-
The feline held his breath while he looked for the descending figure, slowly starting to stand as he got a better view of them. Within seconds, her heard the voice of the peacekeeper and widened his eyes. Making no attempt to raise his rifle, the Tabaxi cleared his throat and replied.
“Oh, hello. I’m a plumber recently hired to look into a blockage down here. No worries though, I seemed to have found the issue; I’m looking at a steaming pile of garbage right now.”
As if to further agitate the peacekeeper, he raised his middle finger and smiled beneath his face wrap. At this point, the feline had faith that his comrade was thinking about a plan, or had left him. His thoughts were answered as soon as he felt a sudden pull on his vest, and saw the ground vanish beneath him. Without asking any questions, the Tabaxi swiftly lit and dropped his last Molotov, as well as his final shaped charge down into the hole beach him. Laughing as the chaos began to ensue, his joy turned to pain for a brief moment upon smacking into the concrete. Groaning slightly, he clumsily staggered to his feet and held tight to his weapon, sprinting after the feline as fast as his legs could take him.
-
"You're a freeborn too, aren't you?" She paused for a while, concerned about the pup. "You can stay as long as you like. You look like you need the company." Right now, that was the one thing she could think to do. She had seen other freeborn more than once before. She wished she could give them the same chance to others, but so far... She just couldn't. The stoat has ever only been so lucky to have the means to help herself...
-
Echo makes no delay in running directly towards the coordinates that the Tabaxi gave her. She keeps an eye out for peacekeepers as she runs, hoping that her new companion would follow her. It’s dangerous to be out at this time of night.
-
"Och, ya wee basterd!!!" -A heavy, womanly voice yelled after the Tabaxi as the fiery blaze erupted on the sewers floor. She hastily stumbled backwards to avoid being enveloped by the rapidly expanding blaze but tripped and fell, barely being saved by her partner-in-law helping her up by the means of a forcefull yank to a handle near the neck of her armor.
"Run!" The other peacekeaper called out, still tugging her along, before shortly after an explosion threw the duo back on the floor, instinctively shielding themselves from the shrapnell flying around.
"God-dammit..." The male peacekeeper said calmly as he reached for his radio.
"Dispatch, Enfield, they've left the sewers and are topside near Curies' lane!"
The almost jaw-droppingly tall female peacekeeper in full riot gear growled angrily as she heaved herself upwards and picked up her shield.
"Oh, great, I forgot. We've got no reception in this shithole." The male concluded after getting no response from dispatch.
"Well!? Waer ya waitin' faer fluffy? Les geh the heckles uut ae here!!!" -The monstrous woman yelled, full of energy, as she yanked her partner along by the arm.
"Goddammit Rhino!" -The male called out in a hobbly voice, being forced to run along.
As the duo reached the closest exit out of the sewers, they immediatly headed for the shop they were just under.