Chronicles of PAGAN: Arc 1

[Makomin]

Esmeralda Baylin

​

Esmeralda did not have time to completely process everything that had happened since after they entered the Sky Rail. All she knew was that she was here for an assignment and it was probably dangerous. Either that or PAGAN decided it was a good idea to have actual practical experiments with a few TAINTED. It was probably the former. Although, she wouldn't be surprised if it was the latter either. Just as she entered the R&D, she felt a few pairs of eyes on her and Stella. Remember, Esmeralda, it could be worse. Just at that moment, she caught the last of her name being associated with Team Alpha.

She was about to ask Stella who the individuals that were in their team when the female tugged at her sleeve and gestured to Jakob, the head of the R&D Department. Hot? He looked like he was in his mid-forties or at the very least, late thirties. But then again, everyone had their own preferences. It just so happened that Esmeralda's wasn't Jakob. As for answering Stella, her cheeks tinted a slight pink before walking with the other female to their group leader and other group mate, "No one at the moment, I guess?". Although, the male, who she assumed was another TAINTED, with the mask that covered the lower half of his face looked interesting.

The man she assumes their team leader is, Falkyn, then begin to ask the other three, or rather two of them, herself and the other male TAINTED, to explain their abilities. Basically, what they were useful for. "Twin rifles and Hapkido. As for abilities, I can see your future- whether your death or simply whether you will succeed in a mission. I can also manipulate your dreams. Make you have a very sound sleep or wish that you can never sleep ever again.", she casually says as she looked him in the eye.

@Shizuochan @ShatteredSkies @Greywing44​

 

[Greywing44]

Simon worked his jaw, flexing his now sore arm from when he was given that shot mercilessly. The bitch enjoyed it, he was sure. He noticed that others were talking now, and it was getting easier to focus now that he was coming down from his meds. The anger was still there but at a low simmer until he needed it. "I'm Simon Jackal, teleporter. In lay man's terms, I'll be the one pulling your sorry asses out of the fire if you do somethin stupid. I've got a sawed off shotgun and a switch blade...That's about it besides usually being drugged off my ass." He said as he looked the three over, moving over Falkyn and lingering on Stella and Esmerelda who had walked in.

He didn't really have much more to say...Stella was hot but she was way too fucking peppy. He didn't even know anybody could physically be that happy! He wondered if she was on dope...Esmerelda didn't seem bad, though he made a mental note not to piss her off if he actually wanted to sleep normally. Though he didn't need her help to have nightmares, he had those every night...She was pretty hot too. Ass was great, proportioned just right for him to drool silently over. Nice.

 

[Ramboing]

Jericho
​

Jericho listened to Emily as she introduced herself. She had this serious air around her, as if she was commanding a group of soldiers. When she mentioned her rank Jericho stood straight up into attention. He didn't realize that Emily was indeed an officer, he just assumed she was one of those military facepunchers as Falkyn called them. He paused for a moment when she asked for an introduction. Technically he already gave one, but nothing really in-depth and serious, but he decided it was best to give it another go.

"Ma'am," he addressed Emily with proper military courtesy, "My name is Jericho Raines, former Army special forces but currently working low-level security here at PAGAN. I specialize in CQC and guerrilla tactics." His description was succinct and to the point. There was no need for any flair or dramatics, she just wanted to know who he was nothing more. Once he finished, he looked over at his own partner, Mishka who still had her headphones on and was not paying attention. Tapping her on her shoulders, he attempted to get her attention and asked "So what about you Mishka, what's your specialty?" As he was speaking, Jericho realized that this was the second time in such a short period of time where he had to ask something. He hoped that this trend would not continue as they moved on as a team and that she would take off those stupid headphones.

@Solunae @Camleen
​

 

[Aero Blue]

"Aw," Stella grinned as Esmeralda noted the masked boy, "Maybe I'll pull him aside and get you two acquainted when we have the time. I -do- oh so love playing matchmaker. I wonder what's behind the mask..."

Falkyn Delacy - Archangel - Stella was aware of by reputation. He had formerly been partnered with that technopath; what was the name again? Nonetheless, it seemed they were all on a merry round of PAGAN-issued blind dating. Exciting. The man had a reputation for launching himself into only the deadliest of missions, which boded well for Esme and her. That, at least, Stella could realise as the insatiable optimism speaking.

The Teleporter was interesting. Stella inwardly hoped that Esme was not weak of stomach; the mode of travel sometimes induced fits of vomiting.

"Master of urban warfare reporting for duty. Quick on the draw, quicker on my feet. Archangel? It's an absolute honour, mister."

 

[CalibansEnthusiast]

And ways to counteract or at least know if the dreamwalker's abilities have affected me, he quickly amended to his request. Anyone that could mess with his mind was somebody he automatically distrusted. Further, her partner Stella, something seemed off about her too. He too, had heard of her by reputation. Her disposition was... differant, but she did her job, and that was what mattered.

Falkyn shrugged at the "honor" comment. "I'm just a guy who does my job, I just happen to do it very well," he explained. Leaning on the table as he awaited a response on further orders from Scala, he glanced at the team. "Okay, so, what I'm seeing here is we're all people who like to get all up close and personal like," he surmised.

"Which isn't bad, but doesn't give us a lot of flexibility because that makes me the only one able to take a shot from any other range," he said. "Okay, one other thing," Falkyn added, "I may be team leader, but I'm not a dictator. If you've got an idea on how to run things, tell me. If I fuck up, tell me, because I'll do the same if one of you messes up. Accountability's a wonderful thing," he mused.

@Makomin @Greywing44 @Shizuochan

 

[Solunae]

As the last two of their merry little group entered Mishka's eyes trailed over Stella for a moment - she was a chipper one and Mishka figured it would possibly be a good idea to latch onto that emotional state to help with these proceedings. She however didn't want to remove her headphones to do so; she would remain in the static zone where their emotions were muffled. To removed them would cause her to feel things more clearly. She returned focus to Emily, or Shadowveil as she addressed them in the manner of a military officer. Mishka felt a brow arch slightly and glanced at the other member Evza who'd not exactly gotten any closer since they'd been set to teams.

She wondered for a moment on her own little tangent about just how good of an idea all of this was. Her thoughts were interrupted when suddenly Jericho felt it necessary to get her attention. It was a good thing his hand didn't touch her flesh, but still the moment he touched her shoulder a nearly paralyzing amount of irritation rippled through her from his own mind. Blue eyes sealed as if in pain and she stepped away from his touch. She was shivering almost as if having been energized. She didn't remove her headphones, she did however turn them down. She realized just how much Jericho was unhappy about ... well unhappy about something.

She knew what Emily had asked she stared at Jericho but replied to Emily "Most people call me Shka - please do not call me Mika. I am a PK Empath with dual wielding close range hand guns. However - I do not often have to rely on my weaponry" She said finally letting the emotional charge that Jericho had given her slowly slip from her mind meditating on it in fact.​

 

[Solunae]

[bg=#616060]

OK now he was just being a dick. He ignored Falkyn completely at first, his eyes moving up to a large holo screen that projected before him before announcing over the R&D intercoms "All workers in sector F should remove their personal effects, game room is going up you have two minutes." He continued his work and finally noticed Falkyn and remembered his question. "There will be no designated area of deployment mister deLacy. Also we never know what we're up against. Other teams are designated to sectors and sections of New Indie - however, Team Alpha and Bravo are more strike and tactical teams that will be on call 24 hours of the day. Which is why we have two groups - you can see your teams as advanced assignments. Now if this plan fumbles and fucks up as you so bluntly put it a moment ago. Then we will have no choice but to break the teams down into their partnered set and send you all to various sectors as our normal agents do." He quirked a brow looking back at the two groups.

"Now if you do all succeed - which I highly doubt will happen - then you will all be living on corp funds and will be our top two prestige teams. Which means you will have the means to do all the Shade fighting you see fit." He smirked and switched to announcing over the intercoms again. "Nikos and Demetri please report to sector F of R&D" He looked back at the groups as he continued his work. With a few button pushes he had a large section of the floor starting to rise to the ceiling and within only a few moments there was assembled an enormous room with large observation deck on the side and it's own set of monitors. "This way if you all will please."

He started to head in the direction of the newly assembled room. "Now you may all be wanting to put your skills up against actual SHADE test subjects - and how I wish I could oblige I simply cannot let my valuable test subjects out of their containment wards simply for you all to slaughter. So I have asked for two of our ... more interesting agents to come and assist on your training. Nikos will be assisting Team Alpha in training while Dimitri will be assisting Team Bravo. So first into containment - Ah and here they area - Nikos go on in and get set up" He said as a motley pair strolled up along the side of the newly structured walls. Jakob came back to what he was saying while the beautiful young woman entered the room.

The man - clearly Dimitri leaned against the rails of the observation deck. "So in essence your two teams will be going against one of them. You will need to use whatever means necessary to stop these two TAINTEDs - of course we do not want you to kill them and in many of our cases teams will sometimes be sent after TAINTEDs who are on the run. PAGAN agents first and foremost priority is to stop these Runners and get them under lock down before to much damage or chaos can ensue. So now I ask ... questions?" With everything he said he was cold and calculating. He was now watching them all waiting. "If no Team Alpha can go on in" He said and then made his way up to Observation deck where he would still answer questions if any were had. ​

[/bg]

 

[Greywing44]

It was then Simon grinned, but it wasn't a normal grin. It was one you'd likely see on an animal that smelled fresh blood, if he had fangs, it would fit too well. "Well well, a leader I'm allowed to insult if he fucks up, and a fight. It must be my birthday." If it was training or killing, hunting...he didn't have to think. Just do, just act. Let instinct move him and feel nothing. It was the best thing ever in his opinion. "I only got one question...when do we start?"

 

[Makomin]

Esmeralda Baylin

​

Matchmaking? No, thank you. Esmeralda blushed slightly before looking away from her partner. She knew that Stella didn't mean any harm whatsoever, in fact, if asked, the platinum blonde was sure that the other female simply wanted to a 'normal' life for her, a TAINTED. However, she didn't think that romance or to be more exact, a fling of a sort was appropriate for the given time. In any case, she had to concentrate on the given task at hand if she wanted to survive here. Surviving meaning not being at the bottom of the food chain. Despite the misunderstand TAINTEDs are held upon, not all of them were kind to their own 'kind'. She didn't want to possibly fail this or perform badly, regardless of anything.

"Don't worry, most of us here, or at least I, like to speak my mind out," she said to Falkyn. Esmeralda wasn't trying to show off or anything but she knew that it would be best to interact with their now group leader, as well as let everyone else in the team know that she could be outspoken or blunt at times. Her concentration then fell upon the head of the R&D department as he begins to explain the fundamentals of what the team had to get accomplished and their current task at hand. "Lucid dreaming might be a bit more difficult..." she said to no one in particular, albeit loudly.

@Shizuochan @ShatteredSkies @Greywing44​

 

[eegast]

---

EVZA CESTMIR
25 / TAINTED / MALE[/hr]

---

​

Evza happily continued to be ignored and unquestioned. If things were to continue on in this way, maybe he could actually stand to be here. He did think that he should speak at some point, but there was no point now if no one asked him anything. He listened to the others speak, trying to at least memorize their first names. It would be unwise to ignore them, even though his brain wanted to. He could feel eyes upon him though; nothing he wasn't use to, considering his appearance wasn't exactly normal. Not that there was a shortage of weird around here.

His head slightly turned as that Mr. Scala began speaking again. Evza almost sighed out loud hearing that they would have to do some kind of training before actually getting the hell out there. Hadn't he done enough? He did follow however, since he was not one to argue, though the tension in his face did increase, an irritated look crossing his features. He wondered what would be in store for them, considering they were going to be fighting other TAINTEDs.

 

[CalibansEnthusiast]

Falkyn glanced away as a voice crackled in his ear, touching his finger to his earpiece as he listened. "Okay, thanks Seri. Could you kindly also pick something from my playlist and have it ready please?" he asked sweetly, before looking back to his team amd returning to normal. "First thing, if you have a communications device hand it over. I'll put you on my super secure network," he told them. "If you don't, you're a sad individual and I no longer like you. But, we'll get you one after training."

As the members of his team complied, he explained, "the only thing that will take down this communications net is either a nuclear grade EMP, or a god-tier technopath. Probably not even the latter, because a god-tier technopath set it up," he mused.

"Also, those of you not carrying a weapon will find your impliment of choice in the next room. Loadout and gear choices will be something we'll discuss later too," he added. Walking to the door, he leaned on the side next to it and unslung his assault rifle. "Ready to go whenever you guys are," he told them.

@Greywing44 @Shizuochan @Makomin

 

[Camleen]

Jericho was the first to speak, to give his mini resume. She could tell he has some military training.. since he obviously recognized Emily did also and changed his demeanor accordingly. A little detail Emily appreciated, even if it was just professional courtesy. Ah, Army special forces. Yeah, she can totally see that. He seems the type. "CQC…" she motions to herself "One of my specialties too. Seems we might be the up close and personal team." She nods to Jericho then as she speaks once more. "Soldier." More than an expression of professional courtesy, a show of genuine resect towards Jericho.

Mishka is next, Emily's eyes drifting towards the young woman. And Emily nods in acknowledgement to what she says of her name. "Shka, then." Empath.. so.. she can manipulate the emotional states of those around her.. but also absorbs emotions from others. Judging by how she is reacting to Jericho.. to Simon before.. to this situation as a whole. And perhaps it's her music (if she's actually listening to music) that allows her to stay focused. Emily imagines it's like being in a room full of chatty people and trying to hear just one person's words. You have to sort out what's around you and focus yourself. "That's pretty amazing, Shka. I think you're going to be one of our biggest assets." Emily says with a nod, her eyes watching Mishka's. And the girl would be able to tell Emily is genuine in her words, she isn't just saying them to be polite or make her feel better about herself or her situation.

Expectantly she then looks to Evza, expecting him to take his turn. But.. he doesn't. Emily's eyes narrow a little as she watches the young man. No she isn't cross with him or anything, but curious as to why he hasn't volunteered a word about himself. Emily only knows his name through process of elimination, after all. And he's supposed to be her partner? Yikes. But.. he isn't the first she's had to deal with like this.

Jakob addresses them once more, and she turns to face the cranky man, her hands folding behind her back. So they're to be a strike force.. almost sort of kind of like a Seal team. As Jakob continues, Emily looks out of the corner of her eyes to her team. She and Jericho are trained military.. Evza and Mishka are TAINTED, but clearly not just out of the box. So to speak. Well Mishka isn't.. again Evza hasn't really offered anything yet. Her eyes drift back to Jakob as he finishes his prep speech.. so they have to catch and lockdown these TAINTED. First in her mind is the thought of where Mishka and Evza's loyalties lie. She hopes their actions won't be influenced by the fact they are fainted people inflicted as they are. That's something she's going to have to watch for. "No questions from me, sir. Beta Team is on deck." She's going to have to get her team to come up with a callsign for their squad. Because.. well that would be cool.

Alpha prepares themselves.. and she looks towards the others as she speaks. "My suit has built in comms.. I'll make sure you all have a comm unit before we get into this. We're going to need to be in contact the whole time. When we get in there, if anyone has any suggestions for tactics" she glances to Jericho specifically when she says that "please speak up. Given that.. I would still appreciate if you respected the fact I've been named command of this team. So once I make a decision, please stick with it." So that little shpeel is a shpeel she's done with various groups.. but never worded quite like that. In the past, it was more her demanding compliance. Since they were soldiers, since they were Marines. But then, Marines knew to follow command. She hopes the same can be said here.

So that little shpeel done, she turns to face Evza now, speaking in a softer tone. "Evza.. if you've no want to be here, I completely understand. Your arrangements are made between you and PAGAN, if you want to leave you take it up with them. But until them.. you're part of this team, and we need you in it whole heartedly. We're going to have to trust one another.. that's the only way we're going to make it through this. More than that.." she almost reaches out to him, but she doesn't. Who knows how he would react to physical contact "I'm your partner. I want to help you in whatever I can, professionally and personally. You're amongst friends here, more than that you're amongst your new squad. So come on.. share. Tell us what you bring to your team." She says with a soft smile, her tone remaining gentle and even the whole time. And Mishka (if she's paying attention) would be able to tell Emily is genuine in all of this, in her want to help Evza. Moreso, in her want to help them all..

 

[eegast]

---

EVZA CESTMIR
25 / TAINTED / MALE[/hr]

---

​

Evza, taken aback by his sudden acknowledgment, raised an eyebrow at Emily. He had been listening to the important information he needed to know before getting into this training, and almost didn't hear his name being said. He knew her attempt to encourage or subdue him away from silence was probably genuine, but he wasn't necessarily reached emotionally. He wasn't sure why, as she was being quite convincing. Maybe he was just as socially stunted as he presumed he was. He knew he had to say something, and Emily seemed like the type who wouldn't let things go. He didn't want to be annoyed by her since she was his partner, so he decided to give in. He wasn't going to reveal everything, however, as he wasn't sure how the others would react to his deformity. Maybe after this whole introduction period. Besides, they needed to know at some point.

He sighed audibly, barely a whisper. He looked to Emily then to the rest of his team for a minute before finally speaking. His voice was quiet, yet audible. It sounded slightly muffled from the mask and a bit hoarse from disuse. His accent had come through, as he found himself being slightly nervous. "My given name is Evza Cestmir. They tell me I am a technopath, but my insects are useful for other things. I mainly use my ability, but I can use a pistol and carry a knife. I am usually long range." He looked away slightly after speaking.

 

[Aero Blue]

How exciting!

It was hard to tell where joy ended and ecstasy began where Stella Artemis was concerned, but this was undeniably the latter. It had been quite some time since Stella was privy to the game-room, and some time as well since she had an exciting quarry - this time without the threat of death no less. She whistled as he tossed her communications unit towards her designated leader, deftly catching it when Falkyn was done.

"Hapkido?" Stella beamed at Esme, "No idea what that is, but it sounds neat. We'll have to spar someday. Although, I wonder, this future-telling ability of yours; how does it work? Contact, line of sight?"

If Esme had proficiency in combat, then it was safe to say this might not have been her first rodeo. How very intriguing.

Nodding at Falkyn, she unholstered her pistol, confidently striding forward.

@Makomin

 

[Makomin]

Esmeralda Baylin

​

"I don't need to come into contact with whatever it is. I just need to see them." was all Esmeralda responded as she observed Stella thread, or more like walk, confidently towards Nikos.

Quite a bad idea, she thought to herself before taking a few steps forward cautiously. She was not an expert like Falkyn or some of the PAGAN agents in combat despite having had a Hapkido background and having TAINTED abilities but she knew she was right on one matter- never underestimate your opponent or overestimate your own power. The platinum blonde remembered that a key to actually learning every martial art form properly and thoroughly, especially if one wanted to master it, was humility. Or at least that's what Esmeralda thought. Maybe her partner knew what she was doing. She didn't know but she was certain that PAGAN wouldn't just set them up with easy training subjects. If that was the case then every TAINTED would be filling up the R&D department.

"....what's your secret?" she mumbled to herself as she looked Nikos in the eye. She could try reading her worst nightmares or even making the opponent unconscious or asleep but she wondered whether that counted. I guess I could do that.

​

 

[Solunae]

[bg=#616060]

Green eyes turned back from his holo screen and he smirked - the first true smirk since he'd been introduced to this motley crew. In fact this smirk seemed a little devious. He gestured toward a table where their weaponry could be found and the door into the room slid open with a metallic zip as it moved along the tracks. He then turned his attention to his holoscreen as suddenly Grigorie's face appeared looking overly bored. "Sir...?" He asked.

"Don't sir me - are the initial tests ready to begin yet?" He folded his hands before his mouth with a grim expression.

"Yes sir Team Alpha is going in just now, I'm sure Seri can set you up with vantage points for the trail by fire you've asked for me to set up." He turned his eyes back to the group as the entered the room.

When they first entered the testing room team Alpha would see nothing but white paneling and blank surfaces. Across from the room stood Nikos in her normal gear. She smiled and bowed her head to the group as they entered "Well then looks like you and I will be going against each other. To make things more interesting - not only will you have to take me down - but also my Shade - Replicates" She she gave a cocky grin "Good luck to you all." Then without so much as a warning she lifted her hands and pulled fire out of thin air. Twin orbs of combustion like fire formed over her palms and suddenly exploded out into twin forms made of fire.

What was strange - was that these fire forms looked almost identical to a SHADE they moved and hissed in trails of fire criss crossed before Nikos before coming in on either side of the group. Nikos herself went to work to. She dragged out a few more orbs of fire and hurled them rapid fire towards the group sending roughly 8 smaller orbs each, and each member of team alpha was targeted by two. ​

[/bg]

 

[CalibansEnthusiast]

As the door slid open, Falkyn took the first steps inside with his rifle high and tracking. He cleared the room before settling in on the only target in the room. He waited for his new teammates to arm themselves and array around him.

"Talking is a free action my ass," he muttered, right before he opened fire before she wished them luck. "Seri, hit it!" He called into his microphone.

His team may fail, their missions may not be glamerous, they may all die horribly, but they'd do it in style.

Falkyn fired a burst straight at the TAINTED as she summoned the flaming SHADE-like constructs. The music began blaring loudly through the speakers in the room, and Falkyn grinned like a madman.

"The SHADE-constructs should be pretty weak, make sure they don't get close," he directed the team. "Stella, Esme, deal with them. Put fire on her when you're clear," he ordered the other pair. "Any others are your responsibility," he added.

When the incoming fire, pun intended, came, he took a few steps to test something quickly. "Incoming is tracking us, get them to collide or dodge them," he advised. He estimated they still had a few seconds before impact, and in that time, he emptied his rifle magazine at Nikos.

"Esme, cross positions with me, right now," he ordered, running towards her as he tossed the empty magazine into a dump pouch and reloaded on the run. As long as the seer ran at the right angle, the pair chasing both of them would collide and neutralize.

 

[Greywing44]

"Guess it's just you and me then peppy." Simon said to Stella as they watched the balls of fire head towards them. "Hold your lunch." Was all the warning he gave before he grabbed her. They both being pulled though at high speeds with everything blurring before they appeared behind Nikos. "OK...making them collide eh?" How in the hell do they do that? He supposed it he touched one he could teleport it into another but he figured that would hurt a lot. "Ah screw it." He snorted before pulling out his shotgun and shooting the ball of fire before it got too close. He was just gonna use the kick of his shotgun to send the damn thing flying.

 

[Makomin]

Esmeralda Baylin

​

Everything happened so fast.

Esmeralda was more of a team player when it came to the choice of either doing what everyone else is supposed to do or do what she wants to do. As such, when Falkyn instructed for her to change positions with him, she was about to do it rather that just decide for herself. She grabbed her own twin rifles out, glad that she was to make use of it now. Although, since it was practice, she'd thought that they have to be careful with firing it, considering if Nikos was careless, she doubted the other female would be, but just in case, it could all go wrong.

"On it," was all she mumbled as she aimed and fired at one of the fireballs, causing it to have a mini explosion as she ran towards Falkyn's initial positioning, careful as to note where the fireball was aiming towards. She almost got too close but within a second, she dodged it, making the two collide.
​

 

[Ramboing]

Jericho
​

Things began to take a strange turn after Jericho touched Mishka's shoulder. As soon as he placed his hand on her, she immediately flinched and moved away, her body shivering as if she was touched something cold. He didn't think much of it at the time; he just assumed she had a personal space bubble and so, mentally he moved on. Then she described herself, calling herself a PK empath(?). Jericho had no idea what that meant; however it seemed that Emily was not fazed. Before he could ask what that meant, Jakob had moved on, bringing the group to the training room and explaining their tasks.

Since their main mission was to take down SHADES, they were to take on other agents as practice. The term he used to call these agents confused him. What the heck are TAINTED? he thought to himself, adding another item to the list of things he didn't know. And as the list of questions grew, the more frustrated he became with everything. Alpha team moved in to fight the lone woman, Ezva finally introduced himself with another fancy term that Jericho didn't know. He claimed to be a technopath and to have the ability control insects. At this point, words could not describe his confusion, though he didn't show on his face keeping his calm demeanor. What the hell did I get myself into? That seemed to be the common theme of the day as more and more new things happened.

Then the match between Alpha Team and the woman Nikos began as her hands exploded in balls of fire, releasing SHADE-like constructs that charged at the team. Jericho's jaw dropped, the façade of composure and seriousness completely gone and replaced by a look of utter confusion. "What the fuck is that!?" he blurted aloud, his face showing a mix of terror and disbelief. Glancing around, it seemed that nobody was caught off guard by her strange abilities and were used to it. Upon seeing this, he quickly recovered his composure, and turned to his team leader. "Ma'am, it looks like I was not filled in on a lot of details. Could you possibly explain what is going on and why that woman is on fire?" he asked calmly, hiding any of his earlier confusion with a serious tone.

@Camleen @Solunae​