The Last Bastion: Bunker Chicago

[Jorick]

Omar was rather unphased by the new developments. Sure, they weren't what he'd been expecting, but he had by this point made peace with the fact that this mission was a clusterfuck of confusion and bullshit. Hell, he probably wouldn't even react if that Washington guy popped out of the next room and said that U-ARM was actually working with the mutants and that this was all just a trap to lure the Bunker Chicago military forces out to be destroyed. Omar had only a very small pool of wonder and awe that could be used up before his natural cynicism and expectation of the worst outcomes took over again, and that had tried up at just the moment when that dribbling idiot of a girl skipped past him and opened the door before he could get there. He'd expected Georgia to end up with a bullet or three in her for that stupid move, but lo and behold nothing went wrong for her. The mystery bitch, the woman in blue now courtesy of Morai's tentative naming, wasn't saying a damn thing. Omar was confused and a bit worried by the look the woman—though she wasn't really a woman in the traditional sense—gave him, the curiosity there, but he wasn't given much time to consider it before things went belly up yet again.

He'd been sort of expecting the roar, ever since hearing that there was some kind of beast afoot, but no amount of expectation or cynical acceptance of bad outcomes could prevent the bowel-quivering shiver of fear that it caused on a primal, instinctual level. Omar could sense that the sound was meant to cause a less natural and instinctual kind of fear, some kind of psychic bullshit effect, but he managed to resist that side of things. As he shook off the little shock, he recalled that the woman in blue had said something about the beast being able to hear the telepathic communication; not only did that explain her silence somewhat, with his luck it probably also meant the damned thing would have an interest in those with psychic shenanigans abilities. Combine that with a predator's natural instinct to go after the weak and wounded members of a herd, and that meant Omar was likely to be the prime delicacy on the menu... assuming that the thing operated on such logic, of course. Omar could feel that it was strange, not really alive, more like madness and rage given form without the trappings of life. That probably wouldn't be a comforting thought for the others, seeing as how he wasn't very happy about it himself and he was the cynical cunt of the group, so he decided not to mention it.

As Morai took off down the hall, Omar flashed the woman in blue something that might have been a smile or perhaps a grimace. It was hard to tell, given his current state of mind. His lips curled upward at least, that much he was sure of, and then he turned to follow Morai down the hall. If mystery bitch wasn't in a chatty mood, Omar saw no reason to stick around. They needed to get the shit they came for and then get the fuck out of dodge before the beast caught them. He walked as quickly as he could manage with his bum leg and his cane, taking care to place it softly so as not to make a noise for the creature to hear, and he worked hard to quiet his breathing. He said nothing, because he sure as fuck wasn't gonna be the dipshit who made a noise and brought bloody murder down on them. It was only polite to leave Georgia something constructive to do, after all. With that warmly insulting thought in mind, he struggled his way down the hall after Morai, trying to keep a mental eye of sorts on the beast in the hopes of being able to sense when the thing came for them. He wasn't sure what in the fuck he could do about it if he sensed it, but hey, trying to keep watch was infinitely better than just waiting.

 

[Heyitsjiwon]

Each and every step was a challenge. James was far from being a real soldier. Yes, he had some training in personal defense and guns, but he never participated in a full military operation... much less within clearly hostile territory. He could barely feel his feet, and his hands were as warm as a corpse. Meaning he was nervous. Sure, he didn't let that show, but that was something he was actually properly trained to do and had years of experience. So, he had so far just stayed silent and followed everyone else. They seemed like they knew what they were doing, especially Morai. Thus, when Morai left the room to go to the server room, James followed along with Omar.

To be quite honest, James wasn't comfortable with staying alone in a room with two mutants even though he knew Georgia a little bit. Call it an inbred fear, but James could never feel at ease in the presence of someone who is obviously a mutant. Perhaps his fear was a remnant of a societal racism against those bear the semblance of man, but is physically different in some way. How unfortunate the situation was; however, in a time like this James had to stick to what he knew and be very weary of the unknown. He wanted to get out of this mess alive.

Thus, James just followed Morai without a word. After all, he was the only one that James could trust to be competent at this messy soldiering business. Then there was that roar, which unnerved James even more. Whatever made that noise was further from being human than anyone in the squad. Walking with a new found haste, James had his gun raised and ready. He was careful now and took the time to stop before each corner and stick his rifle over the corner to get vision without exposing his body.

 

[Tempest]

Georgia's heart does a mad little dance as the howl resonates throughout the building and captures her attention. Even as it fades, she finds her mind focused upon it until a weird idea pops into her mind that it was supposed to scare her. Yes, obviously it was meant to be scary as all monsters were meant to be, but more-so than that. There was just something with the way it had rattled within her very being that keyed her in.

Still, as they moved, she entrusted the others to have their big guns up and pointed towards anything that might come their way. She, on the other hand, begins to rifle through the papers the mysterious woman had tossed to her and, after scanning bits and pieces comes to the conclusion that they were user permissions to some database. Perhaps even to the server room, which they were now coming up upon.

As they come up, she sees the shot off lock and she frowns, looking back at the mysterious woman. She furrows her brow and moves forward, stepping over one of the corpses littering the body, ignoring the chill down her spine. "I know, Thomas, it gives me the chills too," she mutters. She pauses as she makes her way to the terminal, and for once, she was happy for her rubber gloves.

Yet, as she goes to start typing, she stops as if to listen before looking at the unusual woman, "You did all this, didn't you?" She offers a strained smile as she starts to input clearances in order to gain access to the servers. "I'm sure you had a good reason…"

 

[GourmetItalia]

[BCOLOR=#ffffff]= Peter =[/BCOLOR]

The brief penetration through the tenth floor passed without incident. His senses had remained highly vigilant even as Alpha Squad silently swept through the tenth floor without incident. A moment later, a brief radio exchange ensued between Bravo and Alpha Squad's leaders, provoking several questions lingering within the specialist's mind, however, before he could ponder any further, a rumbling howl quickly echoed through what felt like the entire building.


Squinting, Peter nodded as his hardened stare quickly swept across squad mates faces. Some gluttonous, mutant-beast fark face wanted another human happy meal and if anything, the howl made its intentions ever more evident. When did any mission outside Bunker walls ever follow through without severe complications? This was food for thought in the simplest regards.

"I wonder what that beasty would be like on the barbie," he heard Brucey quietly voice.

"Well! How about we run a pool here? Five hundred dollars and a dozen tobasco bottles goes to the first to bag that farker," Peter answered, smirking?

Why the hell not, Peter thought? Even if everything went to shit, with that much money on the line, maybe the payoff incentives would give Alpha Squaddies another reason to shank the mutant fark face into a mushie, lead-ridden blob. After all, the only good mutant was a non-existent mush puddle with an extra paycheck attached to its primary exterminator.

Moments later and following the Captain's orders, the Washington Native found himself stacked along the corner with Viper in preparation to dispatch the two guards stationed nearby. As was commonly accepted throughout Bunker Security training, the Operative kept his shoulder stock adjusted to a shortened length whilst placing the stock along his upper breast for greater recoil and aim control. Compounding instinctual, Bunker assault rifle training, he kept his left hand firmly clenched along the upper regions along the rifle's rubber grip before the muzzle tip in an effort to maximize strict target control. As Aiden prepared the flashbang, Peter silently kept his rifle at the low – ready position in anticipation for the ensuing engagement.

 

[Brovo]

"If that's what you believe, then I envy your naivety." -Morai Lee, Page 1.

As Viper and Peter take position, Carolyn moves up behind Peter and reaches around his shoulders, grabbing the stock of his rifle and placing it into his shoulder, instead of his chest. "Remember your training, don't break your collarbone." She whispers as she pulls back to give him space. It was at this point that Aiden turned his head around the corner to throw the flashbang. Unfortunate for him, then, that a rain of bullets followed as soon as he peeked to throw his grenade, and though he threw it with all the force he could muster in such a time, the grenade petered out halfway to its target and rolled across the floor. This, however, likely wasn't what had his attention. The bullet which ripped its way through his right shoulder as he instinctively attempted to get out of harms way, was a far more pressing issue as he fell to the ground, though he managed to remain out of sight of the guards in his fall.

"GRENADE!" One of the guards shouts as the flashbang goes off. Viper and Peter then turn the corner and fire, taking the free opportunity for what it was. Both hit their targets in the chest and head, putting both guards down in near perfect synchronization, despite such precision being unnecessary. Nodding in approval, Carolyn then turns her attention to Aiden and helps him to his feet. "Throwing the grenade around the corner physically would have been a lot more practical." Carolyn chastised as her eyes quickly examined his wound. It wasn't immediately life threatening, and could be ignored for a time before blood loss would start to affect him. "Lucky." Carolyn says with a smile as she pats his left, uninjured shoulder. "I have a nanobot kit in my mech that can tend to that wound later. For now, avoid panicking or your heart will pump you to death." Carolyn then takes the lead for the squad once more, moving down the hallway with her rifle raised.

Stepping over the bodies at the end of the hall, she enters the small conference room turned laboratory. Though the room was only about forty square feet, it was filled with test tubes, a conference table, several advanced pieces of biological and mechanical monitoring equipment, and a cage. The cage was at the end of the rectangular room, and had been constructed recently and rapidly. The carpeted floor had been ripped out around the cage to allow for welding. Standing in this cage was a man in a green jumpsuit, akin to that of a pilot's jumpsuit, though custom made specifically for his fit. His black gloved hands were crossed behind his back, and he smiled at the group as they entered: He had a most peculiar set of orange eyes, that immediately gave away mutations of some kind. Yet his short, messy, dandruff filled brown hair did at least imply that he had been kept prisoner for at least a few days, so the need for a rescue was at least apparent. He bowed politely, though as he did it was hard to ignore that there was a burned, badly damaged badge on his left shoulder. Much unlike the rest of his jumpsuit, which aside from a couple of suspicious looking reddish-brown stains, was in good condition.

Carolyn lowered her rifle and looked back to her group. "This is the prisoner we are looking for." The prisoner cracks his fingers as he looks at the bars, then taps on the door to his cage as he clears his throat. "My name is Adam. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Please, do be sure to pass along my thanks for this liberation to Carolyn's father and that lapdog of a Councillor you have running your bunker." Carolyn looks twice at him before tightening her grip on her rifle, though she kept it at a lowered position. "How do you know who I am? We've never met." Adam chuckles, then speaks in a strangely monotone voice, "why do you think they want me so badly... From one cage to another. I can only hope they will heed my words, before it's too late." Carolyn shakes her head and grabs her technical kit. Pulling out an advanced multi-tool, she tosses it to Brucey. "Use the cutter tool and break open the cage's lock, it'll only take a few seconds." She looks over at Adam again, though his attention had turned towards Aiden. A sympathetic, almost fatherly smile had reached his lips as he spotted the wound. "Poor child..."

Carolyn pulls out her radio, taking a deep breath and steadying her nerves as her tensed shoulders relax a little. It was visibly apparent that Adam gave her the creeps. "Bravo squad, this is Carolyn. Please report your status: Have you found the server room, any files of interest?"

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Meanwhile, during all of this, Georgia would be rifling through the file folder looking for the appropriate username and password. The woman in blue hadn't smiled in return to Georgia and Omar's friendliness, though both would feel a sense of appreciation and warmth from her, in a way that neither could completely understand. After a few moments of silence, she would look up suddenly at the sound of distant gunfire on the other side of the building. Though, after a few moments, she calms. Morai on the other hand was relaxed the whole time, though still wary enough to keep both hands on his shotgun. Just in case. As Georgia manages to stumble upon and input the correct username and password, several hundred file folders pop up. The woman in blue then interferes, scrolling through most of the file folders until she reached one in particular: "Regenesis." Pulling out a USB Key, she plugs it into the terminal and copies the folder over. Morai watches with suspicion, before hearing heavy footsteps outside in the halls of the skyscraper and moving to investigate.

As the file transfer completes and the woman in blue retrieves her USB key, she points to another file folder that listed the command structure of U-ARM: Something that Bunker Chicago's Security Forces would definitely want to know, though as she handed Georgia another USB key to keep the files Bunker Chicago would want, Morai returned suddenly and with a wide eyed expression. He quietly shuts the metal door of the server room closed, and reached for the lock only to have a pale look of realization when he remembered that the lock has been busted. He runs over to a nearby table, motioning for James to help him move it to block the door as the woman in blue seems to almost stare at something through the door. Both Omar and Georgia would feel it: An impending doom, a violent force, something wishing malevolent intent on them. Though whether they felt it themselves or simply felt the same way as a result of the woman in blue's presence was indiscernible.

Morai puts his ear to the door and takes slow, silent breathes. After a few moments of holding his breath, he exhales in relief as he gives everyone the sign to remain quiet. It was, at that most inopportune moment, that all of their radios crackled to life with Carolyn asking about their current status. "FUCK!" Morai slammed his body against the table which was holding the door shut. Once again something howled with rage as it hit the door with enough force to nearly send Morai sprawling. The woman in blue looks between the door and one of the walls for a moment before moving over to the wall. She starts moving her hands over the wall, in a manner that left Morai greatly aggravated. "You're looking for a weak point NOW?! Bèn nǚrén! (Stupid woman!)" His ethnic, Chinese background seeped into the tone of his voice under the strain of attempting to hold the door: It was plain he couldn't hold it alone for long.

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[Aiden] would recognize the Masculine entity as the prisoner in the cage, as well as feeling unusually comfortable and warm in his presence.

[Georgia] would be able to copy the files necessary quickly, though noticed nothing else of interest. Still, strange to have hundreds of file folders on a single server in what was likely nothing more than an outpost.

[Omar & Georgia] Would feel that the woman in blue is attempting to help them, at the very least, that's the aura she appears to be feeding them. Whether she is lying or not is impossible to discern.

[Brucey] would recognize that the badge was not attached to the jump suit when it was burned, either implying that it came from another suit as a memento, or as a trophy...

[James] would notice that the metal door was being dented with each major blow by the beast, implying that even if they held the door, eventually it would rip the door off its hinges regardless.

[Peter] Notices that, from what little he can discern of the badge, it looks familiar to old, high ranking insignia with the Council of ADAM. What position or rank however, he is unable to discern.

[Viper] Nothing of special interest.

 

[Tempest]

Georgia eyes the woman in blue as she is passed the USB drive as she is pushed aside. Over her shoulder, she scans what she is reading about Regenesis and purses her lips but the rate she was reading, it was hard to keep up and she could not get a clear view. Eventually, as she draws back, Georgia sets to copying over data files, starting with this mysterious Regenesis logs and proceeding with other things of importance to Bunker Chicago as a whole, her eyes darting between names tags with an alarming rate and picking and choosing as delicately as possible. It was a tough decision to decide what all was making the cut, but time was liable to be limited, as was storage space. If only there was not so vast a data collection, she would copy it all over and let the straight coats of BCSEC and the Council sort through what was relevant to them.

She withdraws the data chit and tucks it away in an interior coat pocket, zipping it closed to ensure its safety as the radio crackles to life and events set into motion. Georgia's hand darts to the receiver as she keys back in to Carolyn, shaking in the sudden electric excitement that was filling the air, "Sorry, Cara, but we've got a Bandersnatch problem to deal with now. We've got a new friend, though, she's real nice and helped us secure some data from U-ARM. We'll keep you posted, though, as to the situation. Or not." She pauses before tacking onto the end, "By the way, this thing tracks psychic signals, so our friend should keep the channels clear! Toodles.~"

Georgia follows over after to Eve's position, confused by what she is doing before she clues in by the hollow tapping sound. The wall was hollow and was structurally weaker. They could blast the door as an exit route. "Hey, I've got us a way out over here! Just stand clear as I get out the sparkly plugs!" She beams as she hefts her bag to get out and set up a small explosive rig upon the wall to blast a hole for them to exit through.

 

[Kadaeux]

Brucey and Viper:

Brucey took the small multitool with a smile as he engaged the tiny cutting torch, it wasn't much but it was fire. "So friend, where'd you get the patch? Certainly wasn't part of the uniform before it got cooked. So, trophy? momento? Burn it up yourself to remove identifying marks?" Brucey asked as he began cutting the lock with professional hands, when it came to fire he knew very well what he was doing.

That he was a mutant didn't particularly bother Brucey, all burned in the end... except for that mutant near Katoomba, damned rock-skinned thing had to be shot to death with his guns.. "So, whats the warning you're trying to get out?" He asked as the torch cut through the lock, but keeping his flamer close to hand. No need to take chances.

"Autocrats do not like inconvenient truthes... Like the mysterious appearance of an enemy that does not sleep, does not breath, and does not eat, that believe itself a God's messenger." Adam looks at Brucey with a cold look in his eyes. "And if they do not listen, God's messenger will bring to bear weapons that even I struggle to comprehend in sheer maddening power."

Kadaeux: Brucey cocks his head. "No, they don't. Does this... messenger... burn?," Brucey asked his curiosity peaked, "And how does one identify such a creature, or hunt it." It would be clear that Brucey was no longer asking out of idle bored curiosity, but from the sense of someone who's hunted dangerous things and is ill inclined to go unprepared into a confrontation without some knowledge of what they might face.


...


Meanwhile Viper stood over the corpses of the happy-meal she'd put down looking at it with some regret. Her professionalism was unquestioned, the kill clean and perfect. But she didn't have the time to butcher the body for the choice meats and her new community tended to frown on long-pig as a food source, instead she leaned down and with one hand began carefully searching the body for anything of value or use, instead she found some ammunition, as one would expect on a guard, as well as a photo of a woman with a less than pleasing appearance called 'Madeline', "Wow... you were low on the political and social rungs it seems. Don't worry friend. If I see her i'll send her to join you." She winks at the body.

 

[Jorick]

As the woman in blue shifted Georgia aside to take some files for her own use, Omar felt things were finally making sense. Of course the mystery bitch had some ulterior motive for helping them out. When Morai came back in with fear etched on his face, and shortly afterward Omar felt the ominous presence outside the door, that slipped another piece into place. The woman in blue could've gotten the files herself without any need to help them, but perhaps she wasn't confident of her ability to elude or kill the beast by herself. There were probably other wheels turning in her mutant head, other plans afoot and other purposes being served by letting Bunker Chicago get this information and acquire the prisoner that Carolyn's squad was after, but figuring out all that was beyond Omar at the moment. He wished she'd quit with the appreciative warmth and helpfulness vibes though. Those combined with the earlier telepathic messages were giving him a weird motherly vibe, and he didn't need any of that creepy shit in his life.

Omar stood and watched rather helplessly as the radio crackled to life and sent the beast on other other side of the door into a frenzy, and the woman in blue started groping the wall. It seemed quiet time was over, especially after Georgia's painfully useless reply, so Omar did what he could to mend the damage and send Carolyn's squad some actually pertinent information over the radio. "Or if you prefer your updates in sane English, we're in the server room and Georgia got some interesting files on some kind of storage doodad our mysterious mutant lady friend provided. We've got a beast at the door, holding for now, mutant senses say it wants to tear us all in half and play with the remains." Omar looked round and saw the women at the wall and made a guess as to what Georgia had meant by "sparkly plugs." "We're working on an exit route, though seeing who's handling the explosives I can't say I'm confident in our chances. If it fails and you lot make it out, I'd appreciate it if one of you could go search around Bunker Chicago, find a big cunt who goes by the name of The Ripper, and send him to hell for me. I hate leaving debts unpaid."

Message delivered, Omar went over to help Morai as much as he could without becoming a liability, which was just slightly more than he could do by not helping at all. He couldn't add his weight to the table holding the door closed without getting down on his knees, because he'd be absolutely useless when trying to run if he did that and tweaked his bad leg. Instead he wedged his cane as well as he could against the table and leaned his upper body weight on the handle, grimacing at the pain that shot up his spine as he did so. It probably wouldn't do much to stop the beast, but it was something to do and it got him a decent distance away from the nutjob with the explosives. Omar could only wait and hope that things went right, that the table and door held, that the explosives could knock a usable hole in the wall without collapsing the roof or killing them all by some other means, and that they could could somehow get away from the beast and through the escape route and find some way to shake off the pursuit and get out. Unfortunately, Omar and hope didn't really get along, so he was stuck with just waiting and seeing how shit inevitably went wrong.

 

[Ozferatu]

Pain. Pain was a feeling Aiden was quite familiar with. In his years under observation some of the things he was put through were rather unpleasant and the headaches that the whispers had caused him earlier in life had been bad ones. This however, was on an entirely separate level. The one trick he had learned over the years to ease the pain still worked though. Rage had gotten him through everything before and it would get him through this. It didn't matter where his rage was directed all he needed to do was focus on it. He kicked both guards corpses and noticed Viper was staring at the bodies a little too intently. He probed her mind and almost immediately regretted it. Viper was not only fucking crazy but a cannibal to boot. Delightful.

He shook his head and stepped into the room where the captive they were after was and felt a sense of ease and warmth wash over him, both the pain and his rage faded into almost nothing It didn't take him long to figure out the guy in front of him was both the source of the warmth and the male voice he had heard all this time. He reached out just before Brucey started talking. "Who exactly are you, and why do I feel so warm and fuzzy?"

Adam looks nervously towards the direction of the other squad through the walls as he replies. "As I told you: I am Adam." He seemed to deliberately avoid answering the other question. Aiden rolled his eyes and relaxed against a wall. "We both know that's not what I'm asking and you completely avoided the second question."

"Funny, I'm not entirely sure of the answer there myself. You'd have to ask Evelynn..." A little smile reaches his lips as he mentions her name mentally.

"The female entity, I take it? Also holding both a verbal and mental conversation at the same time, impressive."

"Why thank you." He replies simply

He shrugged before wincing in pain the warmth had made him momentarily forget his wound. "Alright, let's just get the hell out of here. I suppose playing twenty questions in this situation is a bad idea." he said as his eyes drifted in the direction he had heard the roar before.

"Astute observation. I'm sure the child of the general will lead us out of here, soon enough."

 

[Heyitsjiwon]

James' felt his stomach drop as whatever had been following this group was right behind the door, and threatening to rip the door right off its hinges. For a few seconds, he was frozen in place. Not sure of what to do, much less what he should do. "The fuck am I doing here?" James couldn't help but think to himself. This was far from what he expected to be doing at Bunker Chicago. In fact, this whole mess made the political backroom dealing and private negotiations seem like a trivial matter, a blessing. James really was not very prepared to fight against a mutant, but his life depended on it.

So, seeing how Morai was struggling with the door, it was obvious that there was only one thing to do. Try to buy enough time for Georgia to make an exit for the group. Until then, they would have to hold the beast at bay. Thus, James jogged over to Morai and threw in his own weight to keep the door shut. However, he kept one hand on his rifle. If the beast began to break the door and holes started to form, then James planned to open fire. Really anything to try to stall the mutant beast that wanted to rip everyone in half. If push came to shove, he would also be willing to launch an airburst grenade at the thing in close quarters, but that was a last, desperate measure. Thus, as James added his weight and pushed the table, he shouted "Fuck this god damned city!" and pushed with all his might.

 

[GourmetItalia]

Peter Táo

Blinking, the F.A.S.T. Operative instinctually returned his rifle stock back along his shoulder pit to maximize recoil control. The Captain's instruction, though appreciated, proved slightly irritating, given that her trade involved mech pilotry as opposed to his seasoned infantry background, however, it was not his place to jeopardize the operation and as such, the specialist pushed all thoughts aside as he prepared to engage the guards. The next several moments happened in an eye blink as Aiden's slightly botched flashbang effort allowed the Washington Native to perfectly coordinate his objectives alongside Viper to issue clean and quick shots as only leading assault elements could acomplish. His shots felled the guard as if second nature and before long, Peter immediately set about securing the perimeter to allow for Alpha Squad's entry.

As the rest of the squaddies filtered around the corner, his eyes momentary glanced towards his wounded companion. There was little he could do to prevent Aiden's shoulder wound and even with medical training, he was without the proper means to address his companion's wounds. Instead, Peter stood quietly as the others, including the Captain, exchanged dialogue with their person of interest. Whatever this so called Adam voiced, wasn't within his immediate concerns given that his objectives were explicity to secure PoWs and persons of interest back within Bunker confines. Afterwards, the so called person of interest transferred into the Council of Adam's jurisdictions, it was his guess what the higher ups did with intel.

One of several notable concerns that dictated their predicament involved the harsh reality that the longer they lingered, the more complicated their mission became. As such, Peter kept his mouth shut and his eyes focused as his attention focused upon the doorway lest mutant fark-face got the jump on their asses. It was his job to transfer this son of bitch back to secured Bunker facilities for interrogation and he wasn't about to let this farker bring his guard down. In captivity, it was the sole intent of said persons of interest to mouth all sorts of shit to piss off their unconventional abductors in the hopes of exploiting the tension to book an escape attempt. His attentions lay towards Beta Squad's last known relay and the radio responses had left him suspicious as to their predicaments. There was also the fact that after acknowledging Brucey's remarks regarding the man's patch that Adam's badge piqued his curiosity. With his finger wrapped around the trigger and weapon settings at full auto, Peter cleared his throat as he kept his rifle at the low-ready position.

"Captain," Peter whispered as his eyes swept across the room's entrance, "Brucey's got a point. That badge looks pretty old and up the military food chain, in fact, I'm pretty sure that it's so old to the point where I ... can't even pinpoint the rank. Your call what you want to do."

 

[Brovo]

"You know, you're a regular bucket of sunshine. I think we're gonna be good pals if we make it out of here alive." -Omar, Page 1.

The situation was looking somewhat contained with bravo squad: The combination of Morai, James, and Omar, was sufficient to hold the door. It would hold for a couple more minutes, and Morai nods with appreciation, despite wincing at what was likely a large bruise developing across his arm as he kept himself pressed up against the table holding the door closed. As Georgia set the explosives, she would see the woman in blue's head perk up. "Oh no." She whispers, though it was only barely audible to Georgia. Yet, she and Omar would both feel the presence of the Masculine entity once more. It was at that point that the beast managed to shove one of its bony claws through the doorway, ripping through the steel and cutting Morai's forearm, causing him to flinch in surprise and pain. The beast suddenly hesitates however, and howls loud enough to shake the door as it pulls its claw back out of the damaged metal. The entire group could hear it moving quickly away...

... That is, until Georgia's explosive went off and a mild ringing rang through all of their ears. Though the room was filled with dust, the newly made hole was still clearly discernible, as was the empty elevator shaft beyond it. The cables remained in place, allowing them to conveniently slide down the shaft if necessary. All except Omar, though he had a most distinct feeling from the way that the woman in blue looked at him softly that she would help him down if necessary. Still, the beast was likely moving to the other group, and Morai clued in quickly. He pulled out his radio without even bothering to check his mild wound first to try and give alpha squad additional warning, atop Omar's own warning. "Incoming thing heading your way! Bigger than angry bear! Don't let it reach you! Looks bulletproof!" He puts the radio away and looks at them, then at the woman in blue. "I swear I heard you talk just now..." He slings his rifle on his back as he motions to the elevator shaft. "We should take the data and get to the ground floor. We can do nothing to the beast but hope that the other team also has a second way out. If they do, we leave together. If they don't..." He looks at Omar, then at James. "...Then you two will head back while Georgia and I look and hope for survivors against that thing."

With that said, he still seemed uncertain with the prospect of leaving alpha squad to its own devices. He heads out into the elevator shaft and tests the cabling: It was solid. He then looks back towards the woman in blue. "I suppose you're free to do what you want. I doubt you're the sort of woman that I either need or want to tango with." The woman in blue nods, her orange eyes seemed to express gratitude, as she steps out onto the edges of the elevator shaft. Her intentions were clear: She was staying with them, at least for now. Though, she motions to Omar and Georgia to go first, with a soft smile, as she was ready to help Omar down the cabling.

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As Carolyn received the messages one after another from bravo squad over her radio, Adam looks between Brucey and Peter. The way that Peter held his weapon caused Adam to narrow his eyes: He noticed the increased tension, and he didn't appear to appreciate the gesture. Still, he had been asked a question, and his orange eyes seemed to flicker with momentary nostalgia as he glanced down to his burned patch. "Yes, this old thing..." He gently touches the patch: It held great sentimental value to him. "Different times, different people, same dreams... If I told you any details however, I would expect that those radios you have on you, recording every sound for the autocrats, would put you both six feet under the dirt. So... I think I should spare your lives by not telling you state secrets." He glances to the conference table at the center of the room. Though it was covered in a myriad of scientific equipment, it had a notepad and pen which he picked up and promptly scribbled words on. His hand writing was messy, but legible: "Ask about Regenesis later. Carefully."

Before any further inquiries could be drawn, a howl could be heard throughout the entire floor. Aiden nearly freezes in fear, though, after a few moments of hesitation, he snaps out of it. "Evelynn told you. You should have listened." Adam smiled as he crossed his hands behind his back and glanced to the doorway. Morai's radio message breaks through at that point, as the sounds of something charging through the hallways grew closer, rapidly. Carolyn puts her radio away and slams the metallic door shut: Thank God that U-ARM's engineering team decided to create a makeshift prison cell. She then looks for a lock on the door, and finds it just in time as something large and heavy bangs into the door from the other side. Looking around the room, she grimaced: They had no large explosives to try and blow a hole in one of the walls, if there even was another connecting room nearby to reach. They were at a dead end.

Carolyn motions to Peter and Brucey to tip the conference table onto its side and to move it to the door as she pulls out her radio and takes a deep, unsteady breath. "This is Carolyn. The beast has us trapped with the prisoner in a small room without an escape. If you have the data files, then my orders are to depart immediately for the bunker. Don't let them forget us." She switches the radio off and exhales slowly, muttering quietly to herself. "I'm sorry, Georgia." She looks at everyone in the room and lowers her eyes to the floor. "I'm sorry everyone. I'm not sure why the beast has come after us, but I don't think we're properly equipped to handle it. We will probably all die. As cheerful as that sounds, let's at least make it hurt when it gets through that door." She raises her rifle towards the door, keeping a few feet back from it just in case the door flew off its hinges when the creature would break through.

Adam, on the other hand, merely stared at the door, the smile having since faded from his face. "At least I will die in good company." He remarked with a hint of sarcasm, yet the way he stood subtly implied he would at least fight until the end.

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As Carolyn's message comes through to Morai and the others of bravo squad, the mystery woman in blue finally breaks her silence with a soft, almost ethereal quality to her voice. "I can save them." As her eyes trained on Georgia, Morai turns and looks at her. "How?" She smiles sweetly. "I can call the beast to us. If I do so, however, it will not stop pursuing us until it catches us. Thankfully it cannot fit in this elevator shaft, so we will be safe here. The moment we step out however..." Her look showed concern for Georgia, and as she looked to Omar, that same look of concern remained. "...It will only truly want to slaughter myself and these two. You, and the other non-mutant, would be safe so long as you weren't in its way." Morai hesitates, then looks to the group: He was deferring the choice to them. If they chose not to take the woman up on her offer, they would easily slide their way to safety, but the beast would surely kill at least a couple members of alpha squad. If they took her up on their offer, their odds of survival would drop, but alpha squad would be saved.

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[Aiden] would feel some measure of scorn and care from Adam, as well as an impending sense of doom from the creature.

[Georgia] would have been locked up in terror by the howl had the creature not left to pursue other prey. (Failed fear check.)

[Omar] would be able to recognize that the ethereal quality in the woman's voice is the result of a mutation of some kind, deliberately playing on their senses to give them a feeling of warmth and comfort.

[Brucey] would recognize the hunting pattern of the creature as similar to something from his homeland in Australia: It would likely go for one or two of them at a time, giving the rest a chance to bolt past it and down the hallway to possible safety

[James] has no particularly new information to use at the moment.

[Peter] would be able to recognize because of his military background that putting the table in front of the door might slow the creature down for a second when it breaks through. He can also confirm that their radio conversations--and anything the radios can pick up on passively--were likely being recorded, thanks to knowledge passed down from his wife some time ago.

[Viper] has no particularly new information to use at the moment.

 

[Ozferatu]

Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath Aiden prepared for the end. Adam's last whisper had made things perfectly clear but he probably should have figured it out earlier. The beast was after Adam and himself and his best chance for the group's survival was to let them know that. He would still probably die but at least he had a slightly higher chance of living and a much higher chance of bringing Adam with him. He looked around the room at the others and sighed, "The beast is after mutants, specifically psychics, it seems. I didn't figure it out until Adam just told me I should have listened more carefully. We held a brief mental conversation and he knew it would attract the beast and hes going to use it to try to escape." he said, slightly angry as he quickly put down his rifle as he was in no condition to use it anywhere near effectively and everyone knew it, before he started to pull off his combat jacket, wincing as he moved it off his right shoulder. He would either be dead soon or be running for his life and every pound he shed helped, either way, blood loss was the least of his problems.

He glanced at the door, wondering just how long it would hold as he dropped his second jacket, the knives it contained landing with a few clangs, leaving his chest to be covered only by his black undershirt and scooped up his remaining grenade. "The way I see it, we have four options. First: We take our chances and fight that angry sonuvabitch out there with all of us likely dying and Adam escaping, making our part of the mission a complete failure. Second: you shoot me in the leg and attempt to escape with Adam and the audio recordings while I get eaten, though still running the risk of his escape and further pursuit from the beast. Third: we cripple Adam, the guy who tricked me into helping him lure that thing out there to us and also the last person to use telepathy in the room, run like like hell and escape with the audio recordings while he gets eaten. This, in my opinion, is less risky because I figure Adam will take longer to kill and I don't think I'm as appealing to the beast as he is. Fourth: You cripple both Adam and I and run like hell while he and I get eaten and run almost no risk of further pursuit from the beast." He moved away from the door and behind the table, holding the grenade in his good hand, wondering if the table could be used to slow the beast down. "In three out of those four plans, I hold this to my head once the beast starts to eat me and pull the pin, saving me a lot of pain before the end." he said, looking at Carolyn. "In my favored plan, however, I'm forty-five pounds lighter and ready to haul ass out of here. Ultimately, I leave it up to Carolyn, as she seems to have a better tactical mind than any of us." he finished, his eyes making contact with each other member of the group's, save Adam. He was still probably going to die but at least he had a better shot now. Plus he was more comfortable with all that weight off him, so he wouldn't die too horribly.

 

[Kadaeux]

Brucey and Viper​

Brucey rolled his eyes at this twist in fate. He could sense the beasts hunting patterns, familiar to him as the West Australian Megadingosaur, it'd go after one, maybe two of them at a time, gods above but he wished he was in his mech, it sounded like a real bruiser and he couldn't use his flamer in such constrained quarters. However he nodded at Adam and picked up the note memorising it before touching it, almost absent-mindedly to the igniter on his flamer incinerating the note in moments.

Viper meanwhile was less than comforted by this turn of events. Here she was with her back almost literally to the wall. She turned to Carolyn. "None of that forsaken defeated shit," She snapped, "Survival isn't earned with acceptance, it's earned with blood, hatred and hunger, literal or metaphorical i'll let you come to your own conclusion." She ignored Carolyn and ensured the 40mm grenade launcher was loaded, flicked the fire selector to full auto and considered their situation.

Brucey couldn't help but agree with the cannibal as he debated their survival odds. Their options were limited. But by all the gods of fire he'd be damned if an Australian would die coweing in a goddamned room because of some oversized beastie with almost sword-like claws. But if Aiden was right it had a taste for mutants, specifically psychics.

The dead men in the stairwell were proof enough that either they were mutants, or that it had no problem settling for other foods. But beasts rarely reacted well when the initiative was taken from them. "If its as animal-like as it seems I doubt it'll react well to us taking the initiative from it. Predators tend to be thrown off-kilter when its perceived prey takes the offensive. Even if the bastard is bullet-proof it's not going to react as quickly if we're smacking it with a hail of bullets and fire." Brucey said plainly, assuming that American beasts would react similarly to Australian ones.

 

[Tempest]

With the bay of the beast, Georgia shakes and feels herself grow weak in the knees. The world begins to slip before her and spin as sweat beads upon her brow and her mind races frantically in her fear for a way to escape. She begins to race towards the blown exit-way and fumble for the metal cords in the shafts but her hands were slick with sweat and she could not get a good grasp. She was shaking too much anyways, it would do no good to descend in such a state. She would probably fall and break her neck.

She shudders and moves back, pressing her back against the wall and draws her arms around the bear Thomas hanging with his teddy head cast downward at her chest. She buries her face against him and hugs tighter, taking a shuddering breath as she sobs to herself, listening to the retreating howls as the beast retreated away from them. Words were going on throughout the room but it was having trouble reaching her conscious mind.

The panic begins pass and calm starts to reach her as Evelynn speaks up and looks upon her. Georgia looks up, eyes puffy from tears and streaks down her cheeks. Her mind was having trouble trying to connect why they would want to draw the Bandersnatch back towards them and she starts to puzzle together the pieces. She murmurs childish incoherent swears underneath her breath as it dawns on her that the beast could only have been drawn by one thing when it must have been smelling mutants right in this room. The other bunker mutant must have seized its attention.

Georgia raises her hands to her head, lifting her hat and smooths her hair back before replacing the ratty old BC labs hat and makes to wipe away her tears. She sniffs and pushes herself back up from the floor and sets her jaw, grinding her jaw as her fingers rap against her belt in quick fidgets, "We can't just leave them. You know they wouldn't just leave us if the situations were reversed. We have to help them..." She turns and looks at the woman in blue, "We have to help them, ma'am. I'll figure something out, I always do. If the others have to get out first and I'm left trailing a little behind, I can accept that, but I'm not leaving them... Not leaving Cara, behind." She swipes her sleeve over her snotty nose and sniffs, fighting back more tears as her other hand settles upon her grenades.

She freezes and grasps the grenades before holding them up, "I've got it... Call the Bandersnatch this way... And we'll lay a trap to blow it sky high or bury it under rubble." She smirks and removes the webbing of grenades from her person before moving to the door. She decides to rig the grenades in place with a wire release to detonate them when the door would come open.

 

[Jorick]

As per usual, hope quickly shriveled into dust after a few seconds of trying to survive in the harsh terrain of cynicism that was Omar's mind. Georgia's little escape plan had a glaring flaw: the monster outside wouldn't stand back and let them all run to safety. The only thing keeping it out was the combined effort of two more or less strong men and a cripple. What would happen when they stepped away to go through the hole in the wall? The answer was pretty damned obvious. Omar was just getting around to feeling sorry for the other men at the door, because of course women and cripples always got priority in escapes, when he felt the masculine entity's presence again. The beast got a claw through the door and hurt Morai, but then it backed off. Remembering the hints and warnings from the telepathic chatter earlier, it was pretty easy to put two and two together.

Math got a little hard for a moment as the escape explosion went off and gave the place a solid shake, almost enough to knock Omar on his ass thanks to his less than steady position at the door, but he managed to keep his feet with some quick movement that came at the expense of a stabbing pain in his hip. Morai chattered away into the radio to warn the other group of their incoming pal, ignoring the gash in his arm, and Georgia had apparently been slapped all the way back to infancy by the creature's roar, but otherwise they were fine. His mind turned back to math for a moment: one beast plus one distraction equals a lucky fucking break. The elevator shaft through the exploded hole in the wall wasn't exactly Omar's idea of a good escape route, but, judging from the rather creepily compassionate look the woman in blue was giving him, he had a feeling that a solution would be forthcoming. Now they could get the hell out of there without any worry of the beast biting their asses on the way out, back to the safety of the heavily armed convoy, mission accomplished with no losses in their squad.

That hope withered as well, but this time not because Omar got time to think on it. Morai started on with some stupid crap about him and Georgia trying to help the other team, but that idea was okay since it wouldn't involve trying to pit the cripple against the beast. Carolyn gave some sound orders over the radio: get the fuck out of there with the data. After that things started to get stupid. The woman in blue could call the beast back, but that would give it some more or less permanent bloodthirst for the mutants in this room, which sounded like a really fucking lovely idea. Omar could tell that the strangeness of the woman's voice was caused by a mutation that fucked with their minds to make them feel good, and recognizing that manipulation was at play just pissed him off. Rather than recognizing the idea of putting a "come and get me" sign on the back of the fucking cripple to be the death sentence that it was, Morai seemed at a loss, as if he hadn't just gotten a fucking direct command from his superior officer telling him to get the fuck out of the building. And then, of course, Georgia had to step in with her notion of a brilliant plan: lure the monster back to them and hope that a few pissant grenades would stop the creature that seemed to be bulletproof, of at least bury it in rubble in the hope that it would actually stay buried and that such rubble creation wouldn't bring the roof down on their heads as well. Omar recognized the name she called the creature as something from a book about a girl living in a fantasy land, and that seemed real damned appropriate at the moment.

"Fuck that." Omar looked around the group, unable to keep a sneer from his face. "Fucking wannabe heroes. If you lot are gonna try some stupid shit instead of following orders," he paused and directed a look at Morai to drive the point home, "then I'll have to opt out of the team nonsense and be on my way. Give me the info and let me get the fuck out of here like Carolyn ordered before you crazy bastards call the beast back over to play. That way at least one of us can get out alive with something to show for this mess, no need for the Council to send in real soldiers to retrieve the goods when you guys fail and die." Omar snorted a laugh; he didn't give a shit about following orders, they just happened to align with his sense of self preservation. "Look at me, I'm fucking officer material, clear thinking under pressure and putting the mission first. My talents have clearly been wasted all these years. Give me a damned chance to make good use of them rather than feeding me to a monster." It was a fairly desperate plea despite the gruff bravado of the delivery, but Omar wasn't too proud to beg. He just hoped they'd listen to reason and give him a pass on the crazy plan, but hope hadn't been fairing too well these days. If the pattern held and he was still there when they called the monster, he'd take his damned chances with the elevator cable and the almost certain plummet to his death rather than waiting to get mauled to death, because at least the elevator route was only almost certain death.

 

[Brovo]

"Yes. It's advancing throughout the Children of Sodom. It's as inevitable as the Earth's rotation... Now... Stay calm. I'm coming for you." -Evelynn, Page 1.

Morai looks between Omar and Georgia, and sighs as he mutters under his breath. "Lìng rén kùnhuò de nǚrén. (Confusing woman.)" He reaches over to Georgia and takes the USB Key from her, handing it to Omar. "If you feel you can make it alone, you go then. Be sure this gets back to the Bunker. Use your radio to contact the General for a pick-up when you hit ground floor, won't take long, guaranteed. James, you go with him. We need to be sure that data gets to the Bunker." He then looks at the woman in blue and nods. She smiles sweetly and looks to Omar, and that motherly feeling seemed to concentrate on him momentarily as a result. "Stay safe, and I will see you again."

Glancing down the elevator shaft, it was highly likely that Omar could slide down the cable alone without assistance, despite his cane. The ground floor would then be open to him, after he struggled with the elevator doors anyway, and the main floor was still clear from all indications. Just a typical, long since decrepit reception area, really. There were no real guarantees of that however, and even if it was peaceful now, it wouldn't be for much longer.

Meanwhile, the woman in blue closed her eyes, her smile fading as she takes a deep breath. All the mutants in the building would be able to hear, loud and clear, the soothing sound of a woman humming sweetly in their minds. The radios on the tenth floor would also crackle to life, though it was an incoherent, static-ridden noise high in pitch that seemed unearthly and unsettling. The creature clawing at the door where Carolyn and the others were stops, and then starts walking away, its steps were heavy and slow, as though it was uncertain or dazed momentarily. The woman in blue exhales slowly as she looks to Georgia. "It will be calm for sixty seconds. Then it will come here in a savage, bestial rage, and will not cease its attempts until either we escape it, or it slaughters us without mercy or hesitation." Morai hands Georgia his grenades, quickly, uncertainty in his eyes. He was willing to trust them, if only to buy Omar time to escape and give the rest of the squad a possible chance at survival. He then pulls out his shotgun and pats it gently, running a finger over a few lines etched on the side of the barrel: Kill marks. Twenty six in all. "Wǒ bìxū shēngcún. (I must survive.)" The woman in blue looks at him curiously for a moment, but makes no indication of whether she understood his foreign tongue or not.

Morai grabs his radio and speaks to Carolyn and the others. "The creature will head for us now. Get to the stairs, as fast as you can. We have plans. Omar is on his way down with the data." Carolyn looks at her radio and sighs, then looks to the rest of her squad. Particularly, she looks between Adam and Viper. "I never said to roll over and die, Viper. That isn't in my nature. Just that I made a serious tactical error leading us into a corner like this, and apologized if that meant all of us would die. Speaking of..." She starts approaching the door as the creature's footsteps grew quieter, signifying that it was possibly walking away. Adam shakes his head and rubs his temples. "Oh yes, Aiden. Of course. A giant creature attracted to telepathic signals, and I, being a powerful telepath, would draw it straight to me where it would then attack me at a dead end. Great escape plan... This is even assuming I want to sacrifice any of you. Keep your conspiracy theories to yourself." He looks at Aiden sharply, though there was still a fatherly warmth which Aiden could feel from his presence despite his scorn. "The moment you initiated the conversation, it was attracted here. There was no salvaging that, but I felt that your ignorance should not be known to your compatriots... I'm aware of how paranoid the Children of Sodom can be. Trust me, if I wanted you dead, you would be already. Now, Evelynn risks her life to draw it away from us... You're free to speak as naturally as you wish." He smiles reassuringly, attempting to convey through telepathy and physical gestures his more well meaning nature to Aiden.

Carolyn, on the other hand, motions to Viper, Brucey, and Peter to keep their weapons trained on the door. She unlocks it slowly, then opens the prison door in one swift motion, stepping back and leveling her rifle in a single, organic motion. The creature had left, as stated by Morai. Sighing in relief, Carolyn motions for everyone to follow her. Moving ahead, she glances at the dead bodies of the guards: As badly mutilated as the ones on the stairs. Grimacing, she reaches the corner a few feet away and peeks around it, seeing no sign of the creature once more. The stairs were open: They had an escape. "We leave, right now. Viper, Peter, lead the way down the stairs. Brucey, watch our backs and make sure Adam doesn't attempt to run. Aiden, keep your eyes open and don't fall down, we're only a couple minutes away from the nanobot kit in my mech for you, alright?" She motions for everyone to move forward, she would stay in the middle of alpha squad. Nobody had to die this day. There was a way around this, she knew it, yet it was still plain on the expression on her face that she was worried for Georgia and the others.

Omar would get down there before any of them, but he wouldn't be alone for long. Hopefully. A lot can happen in the mere span of a couple minutes.

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​

[Aiden] has no additional information.

[Georgia] would realize that she could create her 'Bandersnatch trap' within the time frame specified. The likelihood of it killing the creature outright however is very slim.

[Omar] has no additional information.

[Brucey] would realize that if bravo squad survived, they might not even be able to reach their mechs before the creature would start descending the stairs.

[James] failed to respond last round.

[Peter] failed to respond last round.

[Viper] would realize that the creature was somehow able to attack the door and the bodies at the same time, implying either some kind of ambidextrous nature or additional limbs beyond those which it uses to move. In either case, that would largely negate their advantage of numbers unless they got heavy firepower against it, like within mechs.

 

[Jorick]

Omar slipped the USB drive in his pocket and gave a curt nod to Morai, then the woman in blue, then Georgia even though she busy fiddling with explosives and probably wouldn't notice. "Good luck, try not to die." It wasn't the most inspiring of departure speeches, but it would have to do. He limped over to the elevator shaft and shoved his cane down into his pants and into the leg on his bad side, just to get it out of his hands without tossing it down ten floors at the risk of breaking the damn thing. There was nothing for it but to go, no use waiting, so Omar grabbed the elevator cable, held tight, and hopped off to edge to quickly get his good leg around the cable as well. The position wrenched at his back and hurt a bit, but it wasn't anything special as far as he was concerned so he did his best to ignore it. It took him a couple seconds to get a good feel for how loosely he could hold on to the cable to slide down but not plummet, and he stuck to that despite the aching protest from his spine.

He reached the bottom of the shaft without any real trouble, though he remained rather tense as he awaited hearing the explosion and possible sound of part of the upper floors collapsing at any moment. As soon as he was on his feet and had his cane out and serving its normal function, Omar fiddled with his radio to get it to broadcast to the General and the battalion of soldiers waiting outside. He wasn't very good with technology, but they'd shown him how to work the stupid thing a few times so he felt reasonably sure that he'd done it right. Then again, he recalled the masculine telepathy voice saying that U-ARM was on its way, and those crazy bastards had radios too, so it wouldn't hurt to be extra cautious and not give away any sensitive information just in case the message reached unfriendly ears who might want to keep their data out of enemy hands. Lying wasn't anything new to him, so he was able to think up a good fabrication on the fly. "This is Omar Lindquist, calling for extraction. I'm on the first floor, should be heading out of the elevator shaft momentarily, will make for the front entrance unless otherwise directed. We received an informed tip that someone named Washington, likely of U-ARM, was on his way to ruin your day. I completed one of our objectives, but I got hurt in the process, need some cover and a helping hand if at all possible. I didn't learn anything useful and couldn't locate the target, but I found something funny the General might get a kick out of." It wasn't an extraordinarily clever cover, but hopefully the bunker boys would be able to realize something important was going on and any unfriendly listeners would dismiss him as an important target.

Message delivered, Omar made for the elevator doors and worked at prying the things open enough to get through, silently cursing at his worthless left leg and twisted back for what seemed the dozenth time that day.

 

[Kadaeux]

Brucey and Viper​

Brucey pulled up the rear. "If the other's survive, we might not be able to reach our Mechs before that beasty starts coming down the stairs after us." He said plainly with his flamer in hand. "So unless we plan on bolting down the stairs by riding the bannisters like a Radroo or abseiling from the windows with gear we don't have, we need a bloody backup plan." Bruce remarked. He didn't know how well the flamer would keep the beast off, but it was a sure bet not to hesitate.

Viper up at point cocked her head at the Australian's instructions. "Well that thing was able to maul the bodies and the door simultaneously, so either it's got some extra limbs to rip and tear our not-very huge guts with, it's ambidextrous, or a female with great multi-tasking ability." She remarked, the last was a joke, but still, "In any case, our number advantage is worth dick without some much greater firepower. We need to get the pilots back in their mechs before it catches us, mauls us and lays eggs in our ass or something equally creepy."

Viper began a rapid descent of the stairwell, cutting corners with her parkour skills and checking each doorway guarding it while waiting for the others to catch up where she'd begin a descent again.

She couldn't help but wonder if her joke about a female might not have been accurate and they'd all stumbled upon it's nest..

 

[Tempest]

Her jaw sets as the thumbdrive is taken from her and passed along. Part of her was upset to have the objective material leaving her grasps and being passed along to the man who could barely hobble along and had been nothing but dour in appearance and attitude. If anyone was bound to perish, it was liable to be him if he ran across anything at all. Still, in the back of her mind, she acknowledges the soundness in giving the one who was slipping away now from the clutches of the Bandersnatch rather than facing off against it and soon to be running for their life.

She fiddles with her wires and the cutter in her hand before twisting it with a needlenose, before fixing the rigging to the door. She sits back on her haunches and surveys the work so far, fingers twitching nervously on her tools as she takes a slow breath. As it was, she would be finishing up mere moments before the Bandersnatch arrived. Worse, she was taking note now that what she was making was liable to only wound the creature, not actually kill it outright. They had said it looked bulletproof, had they not? She clenches her jaw, a bit distraught she had no more explosive material on her to juice this up. When she arrived back at BC, she would have to check into changing up her loadout to stuff more versatile. As it was, she may as well be working with chewing gum and paperclips.

Georgia wipes her brow of sweat and adjust her hat before she looks back, "This won't kill it... And I'll just be finishing up before the Bandersnatch shows back up." She nods towards the hole in the wall, "All of you should take the backdoor while I set this trap. I'll follow right behind... Or well, you know..." She shakes her head and shuffles closer to her trapwork, busying herself with it. "If it still lives, I think we're going to need everyone together. Even if it doesn't... We're still in enemy stomping grounds. Mr. Grumpybutt isn't going to make it far on his own."