Non-HPU: Beacon of Hope

Buster · Post by **Buster** » Mon Aug 28, 2017 7:43 pm

"Anything living down here is either hiding from the dead ones or helping them. I'm going to find it and find out which." She stated sounding more than a little grumpy. leaving out the and send them to join their friends, if they're helping the dead ones. as she assumed that was a given in this situation.

Welsh Halfwit · Post by **Welsh Halfwit** » Mon Aug 28, 2017 8:03 pm

"We probably should go together, Kol," Jenny advised, "we might need someone to hold the enemy back whilst we clear out any innocents, eh?" She gave the giant a slight smile.

Post by **CyberDragon** » Mon Aug 28, 2017 8:08 pm

"Agreed, Jenny. We don't know what could be left down here. I've got one thing in mind I really don't want to see as an undead... We stick together on this." He said. He turned around and started following the path again. Then he stopped and turned to the group once more. "That reminds me. The no-kill order was lifted for the undead as they were puppets who we needed to put back to sleep. The no-kill rule is still in effect for the living person behind this. We take him or her alive." He could smell the aggression and anger on Kol and was worried that Hivemind might have been in too much of a rush to explain the rules to her.

Neon Icy Wings · Post by **Neon Icy Wings** » Mon Aug 28, 2017 8:29 pm

Tatiana didn't increase her pace or stop moving as Kol almost ran ahead, wanting to stop the supposed Necromancer as soon as possible when Lycan stopped them, "Figured it was a given, though first mission and all... reminder ain't bad." She didn't like being stopped, being surrounded by the pounding of the dead did nothing for her nerves, "What's all this mayhem even for?"

Buster · Post by **Buster** » Mon Aug 28, 2017 8:58 pm

"The what?" Kol asked, confused, no idea what Lycan was talking about.

Post by **CyberDragon** » Mon Aug 28, 2017 9:08 pm

"The No-Kill rule. We are always under orders to take any sentient perpetrator into custody alive. We are not allowed to kill them. Killing an opponent generally results in mission failure, no payment, and serious consequences sometimes including time in prison or a reformation facility." He explained. "We bring in the person responsible alive."

Buster · Post by **Buster** » Mon Aug 28, 2017 9:21 pm

"...Why would The little metalskinned one pick me for this then? I don't even know how to fight that way. The Arena was win by any means or die." Kol growled glaring, feeling entirely useless now.

Post by **CyberDragon** » Mon Aug 28, 2017 9:38 pm

The Lycan shrugged. "I don't know and Hivemind doesn't have a good way of telling us now. Maybe he knew you needed work and he needed a job done. Maybe he knew the rest of us would keep you from fighting lethally or that we would explain things. Maybe he just felt that you would be good against the undead. Maybe he just didn't think. His mind is literally occupied with billions of thoughts and concerns at any given moment. It's no surprise if something slips his mind, especially in a chaotic situation that requires his immediate attention like this." He said. "We'll teach you how to fight without killing. For now, keep calm. Don't jump into a fight without thinking. Look at the rest of us and study what we are doing, and focus on the undead. There will likely be plenty of things for you to fight once we find the guy." After that, he continued to walk forward.

Deske · Post by **Deske** » Mon Aug 28, 2017 9:47 pm

Ulrich spoke up once Kol made it known that she didn't know how to fight anything less than lethally, "If you are willing to learn, I could teach you some basics. I was a martial arts instructor back on Earth for some time and I was hoping to continue that here." He gave her a shrug, "It is your choice. But, I think it would come in handy in the future."

~\Rook/~ · Post by **~\Rook/~** » Tue Aug 29, 2017 5:20 am

"I might take you up on that offer too, Ulrich." Rika said from almost nowhere. "I know some basic self-defence, but I've never really used it. Not that I want to.. But anyway, let's just catch the culprit of all this then get out of here.." She added. This place is starting to get to her..

Welsh Halfwit · Post by **Welsh Halfwit** » Tue Aug 29, 2017 9:51 am

"There's always time for a different path, Kol," Jenny advised, hoping the endangered cit in here would be helpful and keep down. Or up. Or away from the zombies in any direction that wasn't in her direct line of fire.

Post by **CyberDragon** » Tue Aug 29, 2017 12:06 pm

The Lycan walked to a sealed door that Hivemind was pointing to. "I don't know what's on the other side of this door. It could be a civilian, it could be the dead, it could be our necromancer. Are you ready?" He asked the group.

Buster · Post by **Buster** » Tue Aug 29, 2017 7:32 pm

Deske wrote:"If you are willing to learn, I could teach you some basics. I was a martial arts instructor back on Earth for some time and I was hoping to continue that here."

"I'll prpbably need it." Kol grumbled, trying to sound atleast somewhat apreciuative, despite her annoyed state.

when they got to the final door, she just nodded. more than ready to get this over with.

Post by **CyberDragon** » Wed Aug 30, 2017 1:27 pm

The Lycan nodded. "Alright then. Hivemind, open the door." The door slid open and he ran through. There was a small group of civilians in the corner. A few of the bigger ones including a tiger-like extra terrestrial and what looked almost like a Minotaur fended off a rather halfhearted attack from the group of undead in the room. In fact, most of the dead were completely ignoring the civilians entirely while one or two more aggressive ones were doing little more than swatting at the bigger civilians. This didn't stop the citizens from being afraid however, as the smaller civilians cowered behind the two brawlers. Once they saw the Champions however, the undead grew angry and attacked the new arrivals. "Check your targets, civilians in the area!"

Buster · Post by **Buster** » Wed Aug 30, 2017 1:56 pm

the whole 'don't kill' thing was messing with kol, leaving her unsure what to do. or, it did until she spotted the Dead ones in the room. Dead ones, Kol could handle. Letting out a roar and charging forward, she grabbed the nearest two of them and put all of her strength and weight into slamming them into the opposite wall, plowing a path and pulping the two she had grabbed in the process; the massive paw grabbing the torso of each flattening it while both heads were compressed between her staff and the wall.

Deske · Post by **Deske** » Wed Aug 30, 2017 2:03 pm

Ulrich stepped forward and launched a fist at one of the undead, crumpling it's head inwards and sending it to the ground. He took another step to give himself a bit of a spin before slamming an elbow into another of the undead. He grabbed it as it fell and stepped back, flinging it into another portion of the horde.

Welsh Halfwit · Post by **Welsh Halfwit** » Wed Aug 30, 2017 2:53 pm

"Pull them away from the citizens if you can," Jenny advised, shooting an undead in the face, "and, if you're not fighting, keep your flamin' heads down!"

Post by **CyberDragon** » Wed Aug 30, 2017 3:19 pm

The undead didn't need to be pulled away from the citizens. They were leaving them on their own, completely ignoring them now that the Champions had arrived. Instead, they began to swarm around Kol, who had decided that charging into the middle of a group of angry enemies and getting oneself surrounded on all sides was a good idea. The Lycan searched through his utility belt and found a grappling hook cable. He fired it into the swarm and hoped Kol would catch it so he could pull her out.

Neon Icy Wings · Post by **Neon Icy Wings** » Wed Aug 30, 2017 3:27 pm

Tatiana started to fire at the crowd of zombies prioritizing the ones nearing the group of champions, taking a few out with quick blasts. Seeing as the zombies were leaving the civvies alone she decided to focus down on the zombies surrounding Kol, hopefully helping Kol from being swarmed and fired some kinetic blasts to knock them away.

Welsh Halfwit · Post by **Welsh Halfwit** » Wed Aug 30, 2017 4:07 pm

Careful shots were called for here. Jenny changed to close range sniping. Kol looked like she could take a higher setting but there was no way Jenny was risking that without a bio analysis first so it was head shots of the ones on the periphery of the pile She had a more powerful weapon for hand to hand but she really wasn't wanting to use it. Perhaps she'd just get away with the electro-knux. If they weren't in her main case. Oh, well.

Buster · Post by **Buster** » Wed Aug 30, 2017 4:29 pm

Kol spun, the wall she'd splattered the first two across to her back, and swept her makeshift 3m staff in a 180* arc at chest level all four arms gripping one end of it and putting everything she had behind it. Grinning and making a repeating sound some might think that belongs in a Jurassic park movie (that's what her laughing actually sounds like. the 'laugh' from before was more of a hyena laugh; a stress response), throughly enjoying herself as the adrenaline did it's job.

Post by **CyberDragon** » Wed Aug 30, 2017 4:56 pm

The Lycan pulled his grappling hook back and put it away. The undead had thinned considerably. He pulled out some spherical pellets from his belt and tossed them on the floor. They rolled around for a second. Once they stopped, they exploded into a cloud of mist. The thick, heavy fog enveloped the room. The Lycan growled, got on all fours, and charged in. There was only the sounds of Kol's wild laughing and the moaning of the undead. Then there was silence. The fog cleared, and The Lycan was standing atop the remaining zombies, imperceptible wounds dug into the backs of their heads by the Lycan's claws.

The fight over, The Lycan walked over to the civilians. "Is everyone alright?"

"Yeah, no thanks to this guy." The tiger creature pointed at the minotaur, who looked down in embarrassment. "Freaking things would have let us be if he hadn't attacked them. They didn't seem to like you all though."

Buster · Post by **Buster** » Wed Aug 30, 2017 5:04 pm

"Sounds like they only attack things they know are threats." Kol commented with a grin, wiping away some of the mess she had made of her coat and weapon. "They ignored me at first too. A good roar fixed that. Although, they never ignored... what did you call him? Hivemind?"

Welsh Halfwit · Post by **Welsh Halfwit** » Thu Aug 31, 2017 3:13 pm

"Great," Jenny said drily, checking her guns over, "they're the Zombie Borg."

Buster · Post by **Buster** » Thu Aug 31, 2017 3:22 pm

"The what?" Kol asked, confused, tilting her head to the side.

Welsh Halfwit · Post by **Welsh Halfwit** » Thu Aug 31, 2017 3:25 pm

"Villains in... plays," Jenny translated, wondering if Kol knew of television. "Often ignore you unless you're a treat. Or have something they want."

Buster · Post by **Buster** » Thu Aug 31, 2017 3:36 pm

"Oh! Sorry, I'm not familiar with much theater. The only part of Vorika Ridall big enough for luxuries like that is the [Capitol?]." Kol answered, shrugging.

Post by **CyberDragon** » Thu Aug 31, 2017 3:52 pm

Buster wrote:"Sounds like they only attack things they know are threats." Kol commented with a grin, wiping away some of the mess she had made of her coat and weapon. "They ignored me at first too. A good roar fixed that. Although, they never ignored... what did you call him? Hivemind?"

"It's possible... I have a few ideas, but nothing solid yet." The Lycan said. "If they attack threats, then it would make sense they would target Hivemind first. Knocking out his eyes and ears in the Necropolis. Solomon Cohen, also known as Hivemind, is what we call a Hyper-Level superhuman. You saw what he is capable of back in the Necropolis. That was nothing. This entire ship is just one more metal body he controls. So yes, someone wanting to do something like this would not want any of him to see it." He explained. "And don't worry, we'll get you caught up on various aspects of culture so things will make a bit more sense."

Welsh Halfwit · Post by **Welsh Halfwit** » Thu Aug 31, 2017 3:59 pm

"On the other hand they couldn't actually hide this from him for long, either," Jenny added, giving her analysis. "It's becoming clear that it's designed to test US. Our actions, skills and response times. Chances are this is only a test run and those monitors aren't off, just rerouted so they can follow us." She glanced up to where she'd have a camera if she were surveying this room.

Post by **CyberDragon** » Thu Aug 31, 2017 4:09 pm

"I don't think so. If it was to test us, then why did the undead before try to break into the barricaded buildings?" He thought aloud. "And a test wouldn't have called... him... to the scene..." He said. he was referring to Odium, but he didn't want to say the name out loud in front of civilians.

Neon Icy Wings · Post by **Neon Icy Wings** » Thu Aug 31, 2017 4:16 pm

Tatiana gave a modulated sigh, "Luckily they don't seem that useful overall. It appears the backbone of this operation was to stay as low as long as possible and build up an army, with only a select few standout corpses. I'd wager this necromancer kept a few heavy hitters by their side, though I'm most interested in their end game." She pulled out a plasma cartridge from her rifle and disposed of it, placing a new one it its place, "Though, cannon fodder do run through our resources fairly quickly. A bit of attrition." She gave a slight twitch at the mention of Odium, "Forgot about him."

Welsh Halfwit · Post by **Welsh Halfwit** » Thu Aug 31, 2017 4:37 pm

"Because how we react to a rescue situation is different to how we would react to a direct threat against us,
sir. After all, keep a few trapped here and we run in. Threaten us and we might not even enter the test zone. And I have no idea if that thing was real or a sophisticated effect. Either way, I suggest we find the person who has the answers." She turned to the civilians. "Did anything happen shortly before the attack? Possibly someone you'd not seen before? Or anything over the PA?"

Post by **CyberDragon** » Thu Aug 31, 2017 5:00 pm

"A...actually... I did s...see something." a younger man said in the group. The two large alien creatures stepped aside. The man was trying to hold back tears. "I... It was just before everything went... you know... I saw somebody... he looked really freaked out. He ran to those big doors that have all of those warning signs telling people not to enter... I tried to say something... but he didn't hear me. I... I just figured later that he was running from the dead. They appeared right after he passed..."

The Lycan rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Oy... that's not good..."

Buster · Post by **Buster** » Thu Aug 31, 2017 5:15 pm

"You have got to stop using expressions that don't make any sense. you're starting to remind me of my granddaughter..."Kol grumbled after the bit about canon fodder and attrition, huffing and sitting down nearby.

~\Rook/~ · Post by **~\Rook/~** » Thu Aug 31, 2017 5:22 pm

Rika had stayed out of the fight, directing the survivors into a group. After the fight, she treated any wounded with green capsule pills. None were seriously injured, so she finished up idly chatting to one survivor before stepping back over to her fellow champions and asking if they were alright.

Neon Icy Wings · Post by **Neon Icy Wings** » Thu Aug 31, 2017 5:25 pm

Tatiana turned her eternal grin towards Kol, preferring not to interact with the civvies, fearing her smile might put them off after the zombies, "Sorry. Cannon fodder, as in warriors so useless they are more annoyances and obstacles than threats. Attrition, as in instead of beating us in strength or outwitting us they would prefer to wear us down, waste our strength and resources to easily defeat us. Sort of like letting time defeat us for them in a way."

Post by **CyberDragon** » Thu Aug 31, 2017 5:38 pm

The Lycan started to usher the civilians to the path the Champions came from while Hivemind lit up some arrows to guide them out. Once they were gone, he turned to Rika. "Physically, I think we are all fine. Though from the sounds of it our necromancer is headed to literally dig up some very painful memories." He turned around to the rest of the group. "We should get moving. If he found his way into that area, our job just got a lot harder. Hopefully we can reach him before he figures out how to get past the security locks."

Deske · Post by **Deske** » Thu Aug 31, 2017 7:14 pm

Ulrich watched as the civilians made their way to the exit of the catacombs, "I think it is almost assured that we will find whoever our necromancer is at the end of our little quest. What do you think they'll use to drag us further into this place? More hostages?"

Buster · Post by **Buster** » Thu Aug 31, 2017 9:12 pm

"I think I put a new nick in one of my claws; the walls in here must have a lot of metal in them. Other than that I'm fine." Kol answers Rika, before turning back to Tatiana "So, like the squishier Dead Ones. That other word is... odd though. We can talk about that later."

Post by **CyberDragon** » Fri Sep 01, 2017 2:57 am

"Oh, definitely." He said to Ulrich. "Seeing as our assignment ends as soon as we catch him. Speaking of which, I'd like to inform you all that there are some coffins behind those large doors he was headed to that are the size of an office building and some even contain people or things that Justus himself was forced to put down. I really suggest we try to beat him there before he raises one of them." He gestured onward. He knew the way from there.