Difference between revisions of "Trail Of Tears: The Rescue Chapter 4"

Latest revision as of 04:08, 22 January 2014

Noise outside, something approaching. Darkwyrm barely has time to announce that face when it hits. Whatever's coming, it's coming /fast/, and... it's... pink? A blast soon follows Dark's voice, as the thing launches a sudden, violent attack upon the next room over; a half-dozen projectiles close the gap in the blink of an eye, sending a shock through the building as a series of explosions announces their impact. They blast clear through into the hall the others occupy. Chunks of debris fly everywhere and a thick haze of smoke fills the air. Amidst the confusion an inhuman screech heralds the thing's arrival, accompianied by an indistinct sillouhette that fills the dust-choked hall. The lights flicker with the impact, and the power inside Tatsu's lab flickers. The nekomata having just entered the outer door, hears the electric negative pressure seals starting to hiss.

"Taggart, that sound-" Fortunately, Foxheart's wearing a gas mask when it hit, so the smoke doesn't faze her too much. Beating away at a couple of chunks of debris with an outstretched arm to defend herself, she draws her shorter sword, the crackling wisp slowly circling around the blade as she hurls two fireballs towards the silhouette.

Rihko rocks on her feet as the blast shakes the building. She knows how to respond to a threat; before she's even finished turning towards the new arrival, she has her blade in hand, and she moves a few steps forward to make sure she's between it and her brother. She begins gathering a flame as well, although Foxheart is quicker; since that is taken care of, she waits just outside of the assaulted room, ready to pounce.

Taggart throws himself to the other side of the hall as the wall crashes in, his rifle and focus turning toward the creature making it's way through the dusty haze. A finger flips a button on the side of his AUG, a mounted flashlight flicking on and pointing at the direction of the commotion, firing a few rounds. "Bloody shite!" He yells it over the comm, trying to snap anyone out of a daze who might have been shaken.

Darkwyrm stumbles out of the room he had been playing sentry in, sputting some shouts and fruitless commands. His knife is in his hand, he braces himself and stands in front of the rest of the group, ready to assess the threat and take initiative if necessary.

Solixis shivers, not wanting to break the seal and contaminate Tatsu's work, but also wanting to to help out her teammates. She winces and tries to get a better look out the glass, hoping she might be able to distract it with a clever illusion.

Cygnus instinctively drops to the floor, rolling up to a knee with her rifle at the ready. A few flashes erupt from the muzzle and a litteral spray of lead makes its way down the hall, creating a neat shotgun effect. (Neat as in tidy) She gives a cough, the shock causing her muscles to react to all the water in her lungs which promptly pours out, with a nice bit of blood along with it. It isn't pretty. Gas Mask goes on as quickly as it can before she does anything else.

Bullets fly paste Darkwyrm, a couple grazing him as he runs into the volley. The hazy shape makes no move whatsoever to avoid the combined assault, standing its ground as Foxheart's fiery missiles strike true; an angry blue flash meets the roiling flames, followed by smaller blazes of the same color as each of Taggart's rounds come within a foot of striking their mark... but flatten against the light and clink harmlessly to the floor. Most of Cygnus's rounds meet the same fate, but a single bullet slips past the light and strikes the intruder, causing it to recoil slightly as a tiny splash of red hits the wall beside it. There's a moment of silence... then the thing replies through the dust in a calm, feminine voice. "Greetings. You must evacuate this area immediately. You are in grave danger." Inside the small room, Solixis creates a flash of light, trying to distract whatever it is, while another flicker of power causes the seals to hiss further. The door to outside still mostly open and doesn't appear to be sealing properly. There doesn't look to be much time before the whole lab is exposed to the group.

Solixis curses, backing away from the door, trying to figure out if it is possible to prevent the seals of the airlock from breaking. She looks around the chamber for sealant, extra rubber, maybe metal might work. She also quickly checks to find where the leak is, knowing that, if worst comes to worst, she might be able to use her sweat to synthesize a little rubber seal.

"Bloody git... yer own fault fer walkin' inta gunfire." The man stands up, his chest rumbling with a growl as rifle falls down just a bit, though keeping the flashlight aimed for the slowly settling dust. "Who are ya? And wut tha fuck are ya doin' warnin' us?" He moves forward tactically, a slow, careful pace as his boots crunch debris, broken glass, and drywall. His words appear aimed at the creature encased in blue.

Foxheart notices that her flames aren't doing much damage at all, and changes tactics. She sends her wisp to float ahead and shine a bright light in the direction of the shadow to try to see what the group is facing, then speaks to Darkwyrm quietly. "You walked in before the first wave of shots was over. Your fault." Then she unsheathes her second sword, nudging Rihko with an elbow. "I think the power is dying, Rihko. That thing broke something in the building...your brother needs the power.

Rihko snarls, a sound of rage and frustration-fueled anger. Her arm trembles just a moment as she clenches the hilt of her knife even tighter, and she turns, brushing past Foxheart to give the glass door to her brother's room a short, very controlled slap. "Things are getting bad, brother. What do you need? What is your plan? How can I help?" Her voice is calm, clear, and under control as she speaks, her eyes moving down the hallway to watch the door.

The group's attacker is revealed as the hall clears, and made even more easily visible by the lights playing over her; recognizable to at least some of those present, she's a young woman with black hair, blue eyes, and dark clothing perched atop a pink sports bike resting at an angle where it skidded to a stop in the hall. Though her expression is neutral, there's a hint of urgency in her voice when Caeli next speaks. "There is an extremely hazardous strain of nanites present in the area. It is dangerous to remain here."

Taggart raises a bushy eyebrow behind his gasmask, peering at the girl for a moment before, "Caeli? Wut tha bloody hell!? 'course we know it's bloody dangerous. Wut tha fuck'er ya doin'ere?" His eyebrows have turn to a scowl, his growling rumbling his chest again as the man makes his way to the giant hole in the wall to get a better view of the area outside.

Cygnus blinks and even though her weapon stays in her arms, her jaw doesnt. It hits the floor quite nicely! "...the fuck? Caeli?" The dark lapine asks, adding a bit of speed to her gate.

Inside Tatsu seems mildly distracted by the noise, and swears under his breath at the lights flickering. He's quickly trying to seal samples, and looking at the atmosphere control panel. "We're losing pressure, and power. Gotta seal that door quickly. I don't want you getting this too, Sis." his gaunt features and grey pallid skin tones show just how exhausted he is, though he tries to maintain control in his voice. Solixis is scrambling to find something, noticing the wiring to the place has a batter backup. She tries to get the thing to work but screams as the thing burst, shocking her. The batter beginning to leak acid. The seals hiss again, it doesn't seem like there's much time left. The outer door might be able to be manually sealed, but the inner requires some high level technical skill and more time than they have to seal.

"You know this person?", Dark asks, glancing back and forth between Tag and Caeli. "Nevermind, I'm sure you'll explain later." Growling under his breath, he pushes past the people with gunz and starts to see what he can do about the door, seeing Solixis having less than favorable luck with it.

Rihko grunts, then walks up to the door; she slides her knife back into the sheath and raises her paws to start closing it, then scowls and backs off as Darkwyrm gets to work on it. The kitsune crosses her arms and switches to watching, keeping a look out for further danger.

Solixis calls outside to her team. "Help me get this outer door sealed now! We can deal with the inner seal later. I'm not sure how to do this and I could really use at least someone talking me through it."

Foxheart stares Caeli down and calls the wisp to stand down, deciding not to barrage Caeli with any further questions. She notices the hisses now that the imminent 'threat' is gone, the kitsune studying the outer seal. Quietly, she takes out a knife, heating it with a purple flame and sticking it the leak on the outside seal. "Hey, Tatsu? What about the inside seal? I've got the outside one covered, but I don't think simply forcing it shut will help very much."

Solixis yelps as the battery shocks her as it begins to break down. "Shitshitshitshitshit... Not what I needed to have happened. I can run a computer but I can't give a charge to a system." She turns to Tatsu. "You got any spare batteries of this Type? I got to remove it before it damages the system more."

Caeli answers Taggart first, pointing a finger at Rihko and announcing, "I was following her. I believed you might need assistance." She dismounts her bike and hastens to the failing airlock-like antechamber. Joining Solixis within she advises the neko, "Please leave, and seal the door behind you. It is not safe to remain here." She turns her attention to the inner door and its battery backup, and grips the remains of the backup wiring with one hand. "Do not touch the device," she warns, cutting straight to an attempt to power it directly.

Solixis shakes her head. "Sorry, Tatsu needs help in there, someone who knows the effects of nanites and can help devise a method of preventing the infection. I'm going in. I know the risks."

"Hey, BACK OFF.", Dark snaps at Caeli. "You're the one who showed up, deciding to explode everything and short-circuit the seal in the first place. "We're trying to clean up your mess." He fumbles around in his jacket for a spare battery and, not finding one, at least tries to rewire and replace some of the damaged circuits.

Rihko lets one of her ears twitch, but goes with Taggart complacently.

Cygnus lets out a slight whine and grabs Soli's shoulder, "Hun... Are you sure you know what you're doing?" She asks, looking the nekomata over.

There are quite a few climbing about the door, and the other door is sealed smoothly in short order, sealing both the Android, and the Nekomata inside. Tatsu looks slightly relieved seeing it finally close, and frowns at the other two. "If you're going to expose yourselves you might as well hurry up and get in here and see if you can help me figure out what I'm missing in all this." he looks exhasperated, and frustrated with his own progress.

Rihko lets her ears go back, twitching. Her jaw clenches for a moment, then relaxes, and she growls. After a moment, she takes a deep breath, and murmurs back to Taggart, alternating between glaring at Caeli and glancing down the hallway.

Solixis gives Cygnus a soft wave and a plaintive smile before stepping into the testing room. She turns to Tatsu, steeling herself for the task ahead. "Tell me, what do we have so far, and what information do we have about the infection. As much as you can share. I don't know how likely it is for us to get a cure, but if we can create a preventitive measure, that might at least help."

The hole torn in the building gives a rather startling view of the big fungus stalks spiking out of the research building. They quiver and pulse in the air, spreading their spores into the wind stream, which given the winds in the midwest carry for miles and miles. The whole thing gives a vague air of sentience, the stalks having moved in the direction of the explosion.

The harsh words directed Caeli's way fall upon deaf ears; clearly cleaning up the aftermath of her ill-advised entry takes top priority, preferrably /before/ the deadly infection spreads to everyone in the hall. With the immediate threat passed, she gives Solixis an inscrutable stare. "I apologize for placing you in danger," she says simply, following in the neko's wake and listening for the stranger's response.

Taggart follows his mate's gaze toward Caeli and down the hall, then looks back at her, seriously. His eyes show concern, but stern resolve before he answers, bumping the filtration part of his mask gently against her own.

Darkwyrm closes the damaged and mended panel as best he can and stands back up. "Well that's about as much as I can do about it fr now.", he says. "Not much we can do about those two though.", he says, glancing through the glass at the potentially doomed duo. He lets out a heavy sigh. "Alright. I'm gonna go see about re-securing the perimeter.. damn building's open for anyone to just walk into now." He pulls the canine-shaped mask back over his face and steps away from the door to see how much damage was done.

Foxheart watches the mushroom stalks approach, paws gripping their swords tightly as they catch ablaze, the kitsune slowly moving to the hole that Caeli tore to stand guard. "Uhhhh. Rihko? Taggart?" She speaks through the comm unit in her mask, raising her blades for a possible assault. "You might want to cut off private cuddletime to take a look at this. The mushroom's getting.../closer/."

There's sounds of stirring outside in the distance. Inside the sealed glass room Tatsu quickly shows the Nekomata what he's been working on. Trying to find a correlation between his blood and the various samples that grow from it that behave differently. He's got four different strains, each with their own coloring, offering different behavior and methods of spreading. The thing doesn't mutate much he explains, so these four strains from his blood are rather unique and are a key.

Taggart pulls away from his mate after he's done speaking, "I'm gonna offer diversion. You keep the kittens in line, then?" The man smirks a bit and tugs off his mask, slowly removing his gear a piece at a time as he walks toward the large hole in the wall. He carefully tucks rifle and flak-jacket into a spare dufflebag he'd been carrying, working his shirt off as well.

Rihko wrinkles her nose and then gives Taggart a quick nudge with her nose, watching him go. "You better not get yourself fucked up, love. I'll be fucking pissed off." Her mouth twitches in a smile, and then her attention goes back to the room. Her foot taps on the floor of the hallway, and she waits, tails swishing anxiously behind her.

"I don't think this is any time to get naked.", Dark says to Taggart, scowling slightly as he starts to push a overturned table towards the hole in the wall to act as a makeshift barricade.

The bullet wound in Caeli's arm goes untreated, a trail of red running down to the tips of her fingers before dripdripdripping to the floor as she does her best to analyze Tatsu's findings.

Taggart sets his hand against an edge of the table, preventing Darkwyrm from closing the gap for just a moment. He tugs off boots and pants, quickly stuffing them into the duffle as well before he pulls the strap over his shoulder. It's extended, apparently, the duffle still on the floor though the strap hangs loose on his muscle. "Aye... perfect time, iffun ya ask me." A painful popping of bunch and crunching of muscle starts to echo in the destroyed room as Taggart's muscles shift and thick fur sprouts from his skin.

Cygnus stays by the door, her addopted dragon padding up next to her before putting a paw on her shoulder. Haley pull's Cygnus back just a touch and whispers, the bunny responding with a soft nod. She quickly reloads her rifle and moves to assist Dark, gulping slightly at Taggart.

"Whateverthefuck.", Darkwyrm replies as he finishes closing the gap. "I ain't gonna make it easy t'get back in 'ere, y'know. Not without blowin' another g'damn hole in the wall, which would REALLY not be recommended."

"Taggart, whatever it is you're planning, you have 15 minutes. If you're not out by-" Foxheart stops as Taggart starts the transformation, and she sighs, walking back to Rihko and grumbling to herself, swords kept. "Oh really, why do I bother. Making decisions without telling anyone else." Her arms fold, then she leans against the sealed door and closes her eyes. "Fifteen. Then we blow up the mushroom."

Rihko gives Foxheart a short nod. "Yea. I know. Sounds good to me. The mushroom, and then whatever the fuck was going on at the airport... this needs to be contained.

Taggart's removed from sight just as the sound of a crash comes from one of the other medical buildings. A stream of creatures begins pouring out in the direction of the lab. The man's increasingly lupine features barely hide a grin of the approaching food.

Inside the chamber, Tatsu shows more details to Caeli and Solixis, Caeli pointing out some logical inconsistencies and points Tatsu to look at the root genetics of the four, for what gene is different, rather than looking for similarities. There's discussion while the nekomata listens in, barely following the pace, but eventually has a few things to add. She starts looking really dizzy however, her vision going spotty with black flecks floating in her vision path, almost like seeing stars.

Rihko lets her ear flick again, muttering darkly under her breath as she stands and waits and fumes.

Darkwyrm finds a couple gurneys to add to his barricade. He then manages to, with Cyg's help, push a heavy bench to add to the pile of blocking debris. "I think that outta do it for now.", he says, looking over his pile proudly. "But we should be on th' alert just in case they find a way through."

Solixis has the strange idea of tasting the samples. Tatsu looks horrified but the neko doesn't really give him much time to argue, taking a small sample of each of the strange fungus into her mouth. The nakomata spirit sampling each, an aura of orange appearing around the nekomata, and her vision glears for a moment. Two of the samples each have similar flavors but different, and she tells them to look for two overlapping commonalities.

Foxheart looks at Darkwyrm and just laughs. "Where did we walk in by, hmm? You're not going to block off every entrance. Much less with furniture. You just blocked off the most convenient one. With a Taggart in front. If we're flanked, we're pinned here with one less infection-immune fighter."

Cygnus blinks and sighs "I think it'll hold. And if not, aim for the squiggly peoples." She says, watching the two glowing tubes on the side of her rifle "This things almost a shotgun... "

Outside there's loud noises, and the sound of impact, slamming things into the walls. Howls, growls and shouts. Then there's a loud thud and the blockade shakes. It repeats a few moments later.

"Hold, eh?" Foxheart quips.

"Well, it ain't fallin' down yet.", Dark says. He looks tense, however, as if not sure of it himself. "Either way, I think it best we be ready for another fight, or flight."

Rihko nods back down the hallway. "If we need to retreat, we head back for the bus. Heavy firepower." She pauses, and her tails flick. "I am going to be honest with everyone. I have no hope whatsoever that we'll get out of here uninfected. So we're going to fuck this place up before we leave, and if, by some miracle, we make it out... we're all spending considerable time in quarantine to make sure this fucking fungus is contained."

Cygnus perks and sprints to the door. Once she reaches the door and lets her brain process the sight, she starts weaving a beautiful tapestry of explitives that would make a sailor look like an angel. She smacks against the door, her eyes flashing with a hefty wave of rage, looking for a way to get in.

"Well we can't do a damn thing about it from in here, unless you want th' same thing to happen to you.", Dark says. "S'better if we not distract them in hope that they finish faster." He lays a hand on Cyg's shoulder, trying to calm her.

Rihko quietly growls. She moves up to the barricade and peeks through, eyeing the stalk, then moves to the room's window (if it's still there, otherwise still using the barricade), looking out at the scene and scanning for the bus.

Taggart is leaping around as waves of bodies attack him. A hand swipes out at Rihko as she peers out, a few moving to try to ram into the barricade again. The stalks are swaying around, reaching out and occasionally picking up and inspecting one of the infected, and placing them down on the ground again. One big stalk swipes just over the wolf, almost snagging him.

Caeli turns her steady azure gaze on the fallen neko, holding it for a second of silent calculation before turning her attention back to Tatsu, continuing the desperate race for a cure.

Solixis turns to the nekomata spirit within, trying to eat the spreading infection, needing to help Tatsu and the gynoid find a cure.

Cygnus stands silently, eyes locked on her mate as tears stream down her face. She watches the fight, hoping the nekomata can fend the infection off.

Solixis manages to fight back for a moment and regains focus, the orange aura around her growing and the exposed tendrils seem to melt. Her head's spinning another burst of flesh, this time from her back, a single tendril making it's way out of her. She steadies though fighting it and relying on the strength of focus to help. She spots something in the tangle of work between Tatsu and Caeli, her vision focusing on a singular point. The black dancing spots in her vision coallesce around it. And she reaches out and points at one of the four, the head of the infecting thing shaped differently than the others. And then Caeli realizes what she means, and sets to work helping Tatsu. The two focus on extracting a gene from the one infection, and using it to /force/ certain changes on the main infection. Hopefully Solixis lasts long enough for them to succeed, the wrigling thing in her back growing by the moment.

Rihko steps back from the barricade, motioning down the hallway. "Hey, guys, I hope you have something. We've got to g..." she trails off, watching Solixis. "Oh. Fuck. Right... almost time to go, people."

Foxheart sighs and unslings the case she's carrying, removing the Alpha strike MK2 from it's home and unclicking the safety catches. "Might need this to tear a way through if we have to. A railgun round straight through our barricade might just give us that opening we need to go. Or...we can backtrack. Your call, Rihko. You're leading this."

Darkwyrm has his weapon out and ready. He straightens his jacket and makes sure his flexi-armor beneath is secure. "Whatever we're doin' I'm ready to cut some shit."

Rihko points her finger down the hallway, the way they came, as she watches the group in the containment room. Her tails lash back and forth.

The aura around Solixis grows into outright flame, burning off the tendril and closing her wound, and then seems to move internally. Her vision clearing, leaving a hazy aura. There's a heat now eminating from her, one of the samples wilts under attack from whatever it is. Solixis is able to regain control and focus, her head still ringing and she feels really, really drained.

Rihko fidgets, her fingers clenching at nothing, one paw twitching. She keeps herself under control as she waits, though. "What, you have it? They're cured?" she asks, a hint of anxiousness creeping back into her voice.

Solixis pulls a wisp of marsh fire from thin air, doing as Caeli asks and purging the two samples. She watches, hoping they can find a chemical cure, such that her body can start producing it naturally and fight the infection from the inside. She slumps against the wall. "Tired. Hard to fight the infection once it's taken hold." She winces, dizzy.

Solixis feels completely exhausted, her dizziness still spinning her about, her flames slowly starting to die down. Tatsu seems to almost sparkle with light as the nanites strike him, conflicting with the infection that still moves throughout his body. He then takes the sample and injects himself with it first, wondering what their cure will actually do. There's a pregnant pause, silence, he looks completely fine, and then he bowls over, his skin begins to burst tiny tendrils working their way from his flesh, but they pour out of his body, his flesh repairing in their exit, and the dying things dissolve in the atmosphere Caeli has provided. It's quite gruesome, and the man looks pallid, but the grayish tone to his flesh is gone.

Foxheart watches quietly, her paws trembling. "Solixis, when we get back to the bus, you owe us a slap on the face each. Two, if you die." She looks nervously at the hallway they came, checking if it's clear, then returns to watching intently.

Darkwyrm shuffles around the perimeter, looking for anything that might prove useful while everyone else nervously awaits the completion or failure of the tests. Empty vials, vaccines, pills, whatever. He's not one to just wait around and watch when there's other things to keep him busy.

Rihko waits, patiently, for the process to be done. Then she unseals the outer door and shoves it open, then steps back, pointing down the hallway again. "Excellent. Good job." Her tails flick, and her ear twitches, listening to the fight outside. "Time to go. Darkwyrm, Fox, you two in front. I'll yell for Taggart, and take the rear." She quickly moves back towards the barricade, and yells. "Taggart! We're done! Time to go!!"

Solixis looks over at Tatsu. "You look better. Is it gone?" She looks nervous, still fighting the growing fungus within her. "What was it in the end? I can produce my own, if it's organic. Probably going to need a little help to the bus or the Humvee."

Caeli continues holding very still, concentrating upon maintaining the field until Rihko calls to them from outside. She slumps slightly, abandoning her task to instead take the cure from Tatsu and inject Solixis with it next. As it takes effect she checks Tatsu's condition, grabbing him and throwing him over her shoulder if the man's not already on his feet. Passenger thus secured, she starts for the hall after the others.

Foxheart, the first to emerge, is blindsided, a pair of creatures leaping on the kitsune. Back inside, Tatsu groans and nods slightly in response to Solixis. "I think... so."

Darkwyrm growls and dashes at Foxheart, grabbing one of the creatures tackling her and throwing it against a wall, delivering a kick towards its ribcage quickly after.

Taggart perks his head up at the familiar call from his mate, turning to look up at her. In the moment of pause, a large and long tendril swings down slowly and thumps into his side. Even at such a slow pace, the strength and weight behind the blow sends the large wolf flying through the air and crunching into a cement pole, crushing bones inside and hard rock, both. He slumps and shakes his head, trying to pull himself up as ribs start to pop back into place.

The sounds of the struggle bring Cygnus back to Earth, to which she draws a sigh and thunks the door. She opens her maw to speak but the words never come, she just raises her rifle and waves, dashing towards the fray.

Rihko growls under her breath, then steps back from the barricade and waits for Caeli and Solixis to get moving down the hallway. She draws her knife again, and follows along behind them.

Foxheart isn't too prepared for the surprise attack and is taken to the floor by the second infected, though she bats it hard with the butt of her railgun, tails wrangling it's limbs and trying to hurl it off. She remembers what happened the last time she cut one, trying to grab some distance first before blasting it.[[Category:[REDACTED] Events]]