p id="isPasted" dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"Elle hated sleeping. She hated closing her eyes and opening them to find she was helpless and unable to react the next day. She had tried staying awake but eventually had been found out and given sleeping medication. She knew why she needed sleep. She knew it was unhealthy to go without it. But when the morning brought nothing good could she be blamed for trying to stave it off for as long as she could?/p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"Still she slept. She woke up to be moved to another room in the middle of the night, then slept again and woke again when she had to get up. She felt useless. A nuisance to others. Unaware of the most mundane most days and incapable of doing jack. Her body was a doll inhabited by a stranger./p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"Her day started like most bad days. Unaware when she had woken up, her clothes being put on her and being treated like an invalid because she was, and being dragged to sit by a pyromaniac who ranted and raved about whatever problem she had at the moment. Elle might have been somewhat sympathetic but she found it hard to care that the staff got Mimi the wrong pudding cup when Elle was unable to even move and needed to be fed like she was brain dead./p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"All while a pair of corpses muttered to one another and stared at everything behind those black goggles. Still if she had to choose between sitting quietly while not being bothered vs Mimi, she'd happily pick the pair of sisters. The smaller one was cute and the older one didn't bother her so they were tolerable. /p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"The way they talked of their old…home? She wasn't sure, they always whispered about it and never when they thought someone was listening. It reminded her of her dreams. Of her worlds she saw and explored while her body was dead to the world. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1" /p
p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"So it was when she was left in a room on a particularly bad day and left to hear screaming alarms for hours that she chose not to sleep and instead explored a world underwater. One where capillaries of glass and steel supplied oxygen to a dying city. A world described through her from the mouths of two walking corpses. And slowly as her mind abandoned the world of her flesh for this strange dream of two conflicting truths, one a story from a watery heaven as from a story book, and the other a cold declining hell, the world she abandoned changed./p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"oOo/p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"Colin glanced at Battery as she was checking her uniform and tightening a strap. Her lips were a thin line of white pressed together. The dark poor lights of the sub did little to help illuminate either of them or the three troopers who had stuffed themselves in the back as if they were sardines. To say it was cramped was an understatement. Room was a premium in this thing and Armsmaster doubted he'd be able to fit another person in. /p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1""How long till the target?" Battery said, raising her head and shifting her body to let the meager light catch her visor and to avoid hitting Colin and Colin noticed one of the lights set on her costume had gone out. /p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"Dragon gave a reply on the comms, "Five minutes. Once you are out of the bay Colin can activate the teleporter and I and the Kentucky can follow behind." Outside of the small copper submarine a modified dragonflight swam alongside it. Shaped more like a fat serpent than the traditional styles Dragon normally chose, it was a modified version of the style of suit she used for areas devastated by Leviathan. Well suited to deep waters or possible high caliber fire. /p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"On it's sides a spiraling pattern marked where force fields could deploy along with confoam. When used the suit would shift and spin in a way not dissimilar to a water sprinkler. The mouth was left for a massive jaw of steel, tarnished blue by evidence of the heavy jet white flames it could spew. Colin had no desire to be in an underwater bunker with a raging fire but if the biotinker's creations were contagious or had a chance of infecting and affecting the Atlantic, better to burn it to ash before a crisis./p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"Pressing his hands on his halberd he nodded in response and let his fingers run over the texture of his weapon of choice, smooth and cold with hidden buttons along it. He had added several new features for containment or destruction but he had not had as much time as he wanted. He never got enough time to tinker even with the limited sleep./p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"One of the troopers gave a quiet cough breaking the momentary silence. Each trooper was in heavy armor and fitted with gas masks and armed with containment foam sprayers. The lead one, Officer Carmen, was the only one armed with a lethal weapon, a .308 rifle. Their job wasn't to kill but to reinforce the pair of heroes. /p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"Colin had interviewed Ms. Hebert to try and learn as much as he could about where she had been held for a decade. While his lie detector was still a work in progress it hadn't been needed. Ms. Hebert was not a hard person to read with how exaggerated her movements were. She had also made mention of not being allowed to lie due to "The Rules."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1" /p
p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"Said rules were as best Colin could tell, a rambling mess of a list designed to limit a person to so few things they might as well be an automation. /p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"It didn't help however as what she described was not only impossible for any tinker to do without alerting hundreds of various organizations, it would have required hundreds of millions of dollars. After consulting with her doctors, Colin had come to the conclusion that while she believed she was telling the truth, her mind had been compromised and was suffering from a decade of experimentation and cult-like brainwashing. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1" /p
p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"Hopefully in time she'd be able to see through what she was brainwashed into seeing and saw what actually happened. /p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"The submarine jerked suddenly. Glancing out the small viewport in front Armsmaster saw the cable line the USS Kentucky had been using to pull the smaller submarine had gone slack. The cables were attached at several hardpoints on the smaller sub to tug it out into deeper waters. Once at a certain point the Kentucky would slow itself and alter its course slightly to push the smaller sub in front./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1" /p
p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"There it would be time for the start. /p
p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"He put his hand on the thick wooden handle and shifted it forward. The miniature sub began to lazily swim past the monolith of steel beside it. Like a remora fish with a shark, the submarine hung tightly to the larger sub. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1" /p
p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"Once past the dull monolith Armsmaster confirmed Dragon was behind the smaller. "Going in three, two, one." His hand slid down the handle to a small haphazard button that he had crudely jammed onto the sub. Depressing it the bathysphere hummed and shook as the net like workings of the teleporter began to open the portal. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1" /p
p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"The rip opened smoothly and silently. The only sign of it's existence a black and white image in a circular pattern. The light from beyond the breach was deeply limited. Only a few of what Armsmaster assumed were markers of the area./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1" /p
p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"The bathysphere pulled itself toward the rip in reality as the rip slowly stretched and yawned. The limited modifications done to the machine having let him expand it. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1" /p
p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"oOo/p
p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"A signal reached a dying machine. Weathered by years of a lack of maintenance it rose slowly, the gold arteries of it slowly warming to life. Much of it was damaged and missing. A signal had reached it and it reacted./p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"Friend or foe. Friend or foe. Friend or foe. That's all it could think because that's all it was made for. Was the signal friend or foe. It read the signal. It was damaged, lobotomized by the ocean and debris. It could no longer recognize friend./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1" /p
p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"So it saw the small submarine as foe. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1" /p
p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"A decision was made. A door opened on the seafloor. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1" /p
p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"And a missile rushed out to greet the foe./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1" /p
p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"OoO/p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1""Dragon, can you confirm tracker is working? Mine is just getting static." Colin asked as the air chilled from the new pressure. The serpent like Dragonsuit swam behind the bathysphere and gently rocked it. The bunker, based on the lights seen, was over the small reef he was now in front of. Once he directed the sub over it he'd have a full view./p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1""Looking for it. I'm getting limited connection, once the Kentucky is through I'll go to the surface to confirm our position and then we can go to the site." Dragon replied. He checked his own again, the tracker being a small pill shaped item with a blinking red light. It was designed to work in the ocean depths. He hadn't gotten a chance to test it but it still should have worked. Had his rush to get here lead him to being sloppy? "Scans show something large, give a moment so I can get a full picture."/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1" /p
p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"Battery leaned forward, "Should I be worried or is everything alright?"/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1" /p
p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"Colin flashed a smile. "Every mission has at least some fuckup. I'd much rather it be the gps not working as opposed to something major." The words were more to relieve Battery and the troopers. But it felt good to say it. Like saying it would make reality more likely to agree with him./p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"He opened his mouth to radio to the Kentucky to check to see their progress when Dragon replied first her tone concerned. Colin could picture how her video projection's face would look. Her mouth downturned and her brows furrowed. "Something's not right. This is way to large- shit, Missile inbound." The sound of the dragon suit spinning through the water was like a screw. The suit moved past the sub to block whatever was coming. In a normal scenario the Dragonsuit would be able to deploy its force fields and block any hit. /p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"The shields erupted slowly from the serpent, the design like heavy scales, and Colin knew they'd be too slow. He opened his mouth to say something, anything, as his bones turned to stone and left his muscles locked to them as his mind begged and pleaded with them to react. He had to do something. He hadn't come this far to die in a can under the sea. His hand grasped the wooden handle and he yanked for all he was worth to force the sub to move. A harsh crack from the force of his arm and the handle shattered into two, locking the bathysphere into motion./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1" /p
p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"The missile rocketed past the rising forcefield, the target having been picked before its launch. With a horrible sound of a thumb and a crack Armsmaster heard the explosion as his body was made into a pinball. The shields had blocked the majority of the hit but the blast had still hit the sub hard. The crew of the bathysphere were slammed into one another with no regard. Shoving himself to his feet, Armsmaster blinked stars from his eyes to see the sub had survived somehow. He had pulled them just slightly out of the target./p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1""Kentucky be advised, the bunker has a defense network." Static. He turned his eyes to the porthole where the Dragonsuit was going dark. "Dragon, was your suit damaged?" Static. "Dragon? Do you copy?" Static./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1" /p
p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"Six more times he tried and failed to rise either. All while the sub, locked into motion and aimed upwards by a missile moved toward the surface. Behind them, the breach had sealed./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1" /p
p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"oOo/p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"Taylor sat on the floor with Rosie in her lap as the movie played. The alarms were loud and annoying and she wished they would stop. But until then she would endure them. There had been nights in the orphanage where loud sounds would blare, followed by games so this wasn't anything new. Her mother kept looking at the door which had locked with a quiet click earlier. /p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1""You're going to miss the good parts." Taylor complained to her as Rosie watched enraptured at the movie on the divine splicer. A contradiction that seemed somewhat funny to Taylor. Taylor wasn't sure when the good parts would be but she had heard it be said in some of the cartoons she and Rosie watched. So, uncertain of what else to say she defaulted to phrases she had heard there hoping they would be helpful./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1" /p
p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"Her mother didn't look up for a moment before putting on a smile. "Sure sweetie. Just give me a minute to make some calls." She continued to ignore the movie for the people she spoke to in muttered whispers. Taylor felt she was being cheated. Why did tonight have to start so well but end with alarms making it hard to hear and her mama not watching the movie with her?/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1" /p
p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"Sliding closer so Rosie could see better, Taylor closed her eyes and let the lights of the movie stain her eyelids. The movie was fun but she found herself… jealous that her mother wasn't able to focus just on her and Rosie./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1" /p
p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"There was a knock at the door. Taylor turned her head slowly enough that she could hear the seal of her helmet rubbing on the metal. The lock began to twist and turn until it crumbled. With that a person in a heavy black outfit was left standing in the door./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1" /p
p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1""Hello. Sorry for the interruption but I had a few questions I was hoping could be answered. Do you mind if I come in?" Her words didn't reach Taylor though. For as the door opened a smell followed. A smell that went through her partially sealed helmet and to her nose. The smell of decay and water and smoke. Of blood and bones and decadence. The smell of Rapture./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1" /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1" /p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"Her eyes went past the woman who stood by the door. The halls weren't right. Glass, glass had replaced the plain green. Drapes hung haphazardly and the hall varied between blinding and dark. Taylor rose in a single movement, graceful and creaking as her limbs righted themselves. The sounds of a circus clown made themselves heard, barely legible over the sound of the alarms./p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"Rosie was placed in the cage, her face still as she saw what laid outside as well. Taylor's eyes hurt and she stared past the woman. She took a step back trying to think, to breathe. Her hands clenched and unclenched. She pressed her fingers to her palm so tightly that she could feel her hand bruising. Her breath was like a faulty valve, haphazard and out of control./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1" /p
p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"Taylor stood like a spider mid pounce, her limbs hunched and her legs bent. She hissed, the sound coming out like steam. Something was wrong. She had to be asleep, to be style="box-sizing: border-box;" /br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /oOo/p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"Vista wished she could have gone to the asylum with anyone but Shadow Stalker. But orders were orders so here she was on Saturday, with Shadow Stalker, on an hour drive to an asylum for a pair of creepy capes, while being driven by the world's least talkative driver. Cere was a semi local cape but the heavily robed hero was primarily assigned to the asylum to ensure it's defenses as a number of villains had looked at it in the past and seen a place for easy recruits. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1" /p
p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"Which on paper sounded like an exciting job but had about as much action as a tomb. The last attempted attack had been in 2000. So Cere got the lovely job of sitting on his ass all day while not doing anything particularly useful. He also sighed way too much. It was a sigh that belonged on a stage due to how fake it sounded. A high huh, followed by wistful looks at the road. Well at least in Vista's opinion it pounded fake. She suspected he wanted them to ask what was wrong but as they were more interested in literally anything else not much came of it./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1" /p
p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"She and Gallant had made some conversation with him on their drive over, until Cere just started complaining about the weather, his model trains, and his career. At which they rode in silence. /p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1" /p
p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"Bored Vita pulled her phone out, a newer model but cracked at the edges from one to many rough falls and misplacing's. Texting at least let the time pass some as there was nothing but trees and snow to look at./p
p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"[right]em style="box-sizing: border-box;"Ugh./em[/right]/p
p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"[center]em style="box-sizing: border-box;"What's up?/em[/center]/p
p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"[right]em style="box-sizing: border-box;"Stuck with Shadow Stalker./em[/right]/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1" /p
p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"[center]em style="box-sizing: border-box;"That sucks. Want me to come patrol with you,/emem style="box-sizing: border-box;"br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /emem style="box-sizing: border-box;" little V so you aren't stuck with her?/em[/center]/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1" /p
p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"[right]em style="box-sizing: border-box;"Not patrolling, stuck on an assignment from Piggot. Thx for the offer though/em[/right]/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1" /p
p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"[center]em style="box-sizing: border-box;"RIP. Can't help you then. What's the assignment? /em[/center]/p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"[right]em style="box-sizing: border-box;"Have to meet with two capes in the parahuman asylum. /em[/right]/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1" /p
p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"[center]em style="box-sizing: border-box;"Really? What kind of powers? /em[/center]/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1" /p
p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"[right]em style="box-sizing: border-box;"Grabbag for one, not sure for the other. /emem style="box-sizing: border-box;"br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /emem style="box-sizing: border-box;"We got stuck hanging out with them /emem style="box-sizing: border-box;"br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /emem style="box-sizing: border-box;"To get them used to the wards./em[/right]/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1" /p
p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"[center]em style="box-sizing: border-box;"Nothing wrong with spending time with someone /emem style="box-sizing: border-box;"br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /emem style="box-sizing: border-box;"who has mental issues. Is this a daily thing?/em[/center]/p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1" /p
p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"[right]em style="box-sizing: border-box;"Nah weekly. Hey think we could patrol some next week?/em[/right]/p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"As Vista waited for the reply from Glory Girl she heard the sound of Cere cursing. Looking up she saw a plume of thick black smoke rising up in the pale blue sky. Exactly where the asylum was. Cere rammed his foot down onto the pedal. /p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"OoO/p
p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"Mimi yelled at the stupid door. She had been stuck in her room for what felt like forever. The stupid alarms had been going off and her head hurt. She pounded on the door once, twice, thrice to see if anything changed./p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"She bit her lip wondering if something was wrong, was there fire? One of the patients cracking and killing someone? Her eyes went to the door again as she forced herself away from it to pace and move around her small room. /p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"Her mind went from herself to her friends. Was Elle ok? Had she been locked in a room alone? Was this a good day where she could move around or was it a bad one where the world was dead to her? Mimi hadn't seen her that day due to her having to go to a shrink to talk about why using her powers was bad and other stupid shit that was as obvious as the sun. /p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"Her fingers itched and scratched at her arms. What about Taylor and Rosie? The way they acted she hoped they were together, but what if one was hurt? They hardly looked like a picture of health. She felt a stab of jealousy that they got to stay together but a sense of shame followed it. They were sisters, had to be on how much they looked alike, so why shouldn't they stay together./p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"Her mind twisted over different ideas. If she stayed in her room she'd be a fish in a barrel. But leaving the room would get her in a mess of trouble. The thought felt stupid even as she had it. Her friends were in danger. Did it matter if she got in trouble?/p
p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"She bit her lip thinking. The door was heavy, metal and deadbolted. She glanced around her room. The window was too small and had 'subtle' bars on it to ensure she couldn't smash it and cut herself on it again. Finally her eyes went to the small shelf of graphic novels she had. Each one had been earned for good behavior and as gifts. She adored them, they were an escape from her life. To see a place where things weren't regulated down to every fucking second. /p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"She set one on fire. Not the entire thing, just a few pages. It felt good to do. Like a deep breath after swimming for days. She closed her eyes, forcing herself to remain focused on her goal. No fire other than this. Just a few flames. Just a few to get out to find her friends./p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"She slid the burning pages under her door relishing the heat and closed her eyes. She forced the flames to grow wide on the other side of the door. Large and wide enough to become the flames and be on the other side./p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"OoO/p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"The bathysphere ripped its way onto the surface of the ocean. What was once a work of art in brass was now a half crumbled ball. For a moment it was free of the water and airborne before crashing back onto the earth's ocean. Landing, it's dented door was slashed into two by a medieval weapon. From there the five occupants forced their way out of the highly damaged pod and forced their way through the waters to the small island. Armsmaster reached the island first and spat onto the rocky ground. Grabbing the arm of one of the troopers he hoisted the man onto the rocks before checking to ensure they had all made it./p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1""Does anyone have any injuries? Doesn't matter how minor it seems." He asked, inspecting himself and not finding anything other than minor bruises. /p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"He checked the tracker relieved to see the red light still blinking. "Dragon can you copy?" He asked, looking up at the blue sky and at the lighthouse. Where had they ended up? While he waited for Dragon's response he checked his own GPS to see where they were, hoping it wasn't on foreign soil as that could make things more complicated. No response. He checked the gps for damage and found none. /p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"While he did this, Battery marched to the lighthouse. He raised a hand. "Wait," He said, turning to join her. He felt a sense of unease as they and the troopers drew closer, as the lack of a response from Dragon worrying. The lack of his GPS is worse. /p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1""Stay behind us and fan to the sides." He ordered the troopers as he readied his halberd. Technically they weren't under his command. Technically he didn't give a damn. If he was going onto what could be a biotinker lair he'd take any potential trap first, not the troopers. /p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"Checking the door for traps took a minute. A minute his fear was growing and his teeth ground together. He gestured to Battery who began to charge up. After a short moment of seconds she punched the door sending it into splinters. At the same moment he raised his halberd and moved in, his feet clacking on the smooth tile, his eyes going to any corner. He spread his body as much as he could to take any potential hit. Nothing came./p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"Instead it was an empty room. What was there was an oversized statue and a banner./p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1""No Gods. No kings. Only Man."/p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"The room was decorated in a visually pleasing style but it gave him no relief. "Interesting choice for decoration." Carmen said moving in behind him, with his rifle drawn off its sling. His troopers held their containment foam sprayers ready as they scanned the room as well. /p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"The room was quickly swept and no person or danger was found. Only another bathysphere hidden behind the giant statue. This lacked the net like webbing that had covered the first and refused to answer their attempts to use it. Armsmaster was forced to slice open the handle and begin to use the same technique he had used on the first bathysphere to trick the DNA scanner. /p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"Battery approached him as he worked. "Any word from Dragon?" She asked, leaning on the smooth marble wall. /p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1""None. And none of my trackers or GPS are working." He said quietly as his fingers worked and twisted the cabling and wires hidden within the lever./p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1""Any theories as to why?" She asked and he looked up at her. Concern was written on her face. They were stranded with no way to call for backup or aid./p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1""EMP. Or a jammer. This person hid for at least a decade, you can't do that without skill and talent. Given the lighthouse I'm assuming it somehow hides itself from satellites. If I had to guess, once we entered, a defense network went online and began to jam comms. Our tracker should still be working so it's only a matter of time until we get aid. 32 hours at the most."/p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"Battery nodded. "Do you still want us to use the bathysphere to go down to the bunker?" She paused and glanced where the troopers were taking turns watching the door. "Colin, be straight with me,-"/p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1""Have I ever not been?" He asked, raising an eyebrow before remembering she couldn't see it./p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1""No you have. But are you sure this is the best move?"/p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1""We are stuck on a lighthouse with limited defenses and no current reinforcements. We're sitting ducks here. Hitting the tinker now is our best chance. Plus, we need to disable that defense network so our allies can get here."/p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"oOo/p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"Todd Sallow was a gentleman, thank you very much no matter what those filthy liars said. A member of the elite and a proud follower of the beliefs of Ryan. He had arrived in Rapture and found that his own station in life was one of parties and decadence. Gone were the days of living in a tiny apartment begging the landlord for another week. He wore only the best now. His daughters got the best schooling and he and his wife went to the best parties. ADAM had just made things better. No drug could match it and he found it was appropriate in how it gave powers. A drug for the elite, to grant them godhood over the common man. No gods or kings but why not a few demigods here and there?/p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"The civil war had been hard on him. Forced to eat common meals, and prepare his own baths like some peasant. His own wife had dared ask if he could help with the children when they acted like this wasn't just a bumpy step in the road. He loved his daughters, far more than his shrew of a wife did that was for sure. But he saw the writing on the wall. Rapture was at a tipping point. And he needed to ensure he was on the right side when it tipped. He had to be strong you see. Strong like a pillar. He couldn't bend now. So he put on a stiff upper lip and did right by his children./p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"She had the nerve to say he was a monster for ensuring his girl's future, for ensuring they'd be productive and safe. As if he was doing it for selfish reasons. He hit her for that. He hated himself for doing it. His father had struck his mother when he was a boy and he had sworn never to do the same. /p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"He did everything he could to explain, to tell her his reasoning and why they had to side with Ryan. He gave her gifts and begged her forgiveness. The shrew had repaid him by robbing him and trying to undo all he had done by trying to steal their daughters away from the orphanage. He had struck her again for that. /p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"But he had been too hard and she hadn't been balanced properly. If she hadn't messed things up by rising at the same moment, then she wouldn't have hit the side of the table. /p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"So now as he danced the silent halls, moving instantly across space he looked for his daughters. To find them. He had made a deposit and it was time to get them back. Once he had them he could use their ADAM and make things as they should be./p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"The halls didn't quite look right through. As he had shifted through one to another he felt like the world turned upside down. Things felt dryer, the blood was less potent. Exploring these dry halls he saw a number of splicers locked away. Had he found the madhouse? Poor fools, no helping them. Clearly too far gone. Not like him who regulated his ADAM use./p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"It was down these halls, hiding from what appeared to be a suitless Big daddy that he caught sight of heaven. A quick pop here and there as he moved down them let him see. And what he saw was a little sister. Her protector was hunched and tall and hiding the child as an armor clad woman spoke to her. Todd watched his eyes wide as he waited. He was unseen. Hiding at a corner and waiting for the right moment./p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"And then he took the moment. One second he was at the corner. The next he was beside the protector happily picking up the child. And then he was gone again. Gone to feast./p
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p dir="ltr" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"The scream that hunted after him shattered glass and blew out lights. It heralded death and destruction and Todd had the feeling he needed to run. Using a free hand he launched flames behind him, laughing all as he did so. /p
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p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" data-xf-p="1"I've come to realize I suck at sticking to dates lol. Anyway hope you all enjoy. CC welcome! I'd like to thank BigBadBen once again for all his help!/p
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