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Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2011 12:20 pm
Persephone gave him a hard stare when he began talking about the Empire standing for peace-- he was reciting a textbook response to her, and she knew it. Another stab of hatred hit her as she thought about how Empire soldiers all behaved like mindless drones, but she forced it aside before it even had time to fully form. The Empire had never stood for peace-- any fool could see that. She should pity Guy for being completely brainwashed, not be angry with him for the sins of his commanding officers...
"I know one of the people from your parents' house personally. He was my commander a few months after that incident," Guy told her, and Persephone shook her head, giving him a smile that could have been either friendly or malicious-- it was hard to tell which.
"I'm afraid that's impossible," she countered, her tone never swaying from its usual, almost unnerving calm. "You see, I've seen your file as well, and it clearly lists your age as thirty-five. My parents died when I was eight-- you would have been ten years old. Surely they don't training Empire soldiers that young-- it wouldn't make any practical sense."
She leaned towards him, her smile now decidedly sardonic. "I don't know what you may or may not have been able to find in that file about me, but if there's one thing you definitely need to know, it's this-- if you lie to me, you will get caught. Leave the silly little games of deception to the professional liar-- I play them best."
She leaned back in her chair again, crossing one leg casually over the other. "I'm no fool," she said levelly. "Go ahead and be angry about it if you want, but I won't be treated like a child."
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Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2011 1:30 pm
Guy shrugged again, leaning back against the bulkhead.
"I will admit I lied, but I do know one of the men that was there. He was my commander after I joined the Flame Corps. His name was Captain Beatty, And I have no idea where he is now, but he was the one that destroyed all the evidence. The house,the bodies, everything."
He stubbed out his cigar and replaced his helm, using the system links it had to look over maps of the facility while they talked. It always helped to be prepared...and this place was a maze of labs and research centers.
One thing stuck out in the sealed section of the facility they had to reach. An experimental teleporter station was there, with the main teleportation labs across the facility. If they could use the teleporters safely...
"I think I have something. The only link left to the area of the labs we have to reach is the teleporter. Its experimental, and highly dangerous, but I think we have no other choice."
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Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2011 1:37 pm
Persephone shrugged, an oddly nonchalant gesture, considering the circumstances. "You act as though a teleporter is the first dangerous thing I've seen this week," she joked, pulling a knife seemingly from out of nowhere and spinning it a bit distractedly on the table. "After dealing with mutated cultists and Corrupters, I scarcely consider this a threat."
She was silent for a moment before she spoke next, and what she asked was the preface to a discussion she had been mulling over almost since she had first met Guy. "So... How much did Saul tell you about himself, exactly?"
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Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2011 1:54 pm
Guy had known this question was coming. It didn't surprise him...the girl seemed to have an attachment of sorts for the man that ran more then just professional.
"I know quite a bit about Saul. Most likely more then you do. But we are wasting time sitting here, we need to get moving. The teleporter labs alone take an hour and a half bullet train ride to reach. We can talk more there."
He heaved himself up, and started down the boarding ramp, unlocking the flamethrower from his armor as he did so. Something seemed off here...
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Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2011 2:57 pm
Persephone followed him down the boarding ramp without speaking. Guy was right, she admitted-- she really was wasting time, and she was realizing quickly that for some reason, she was getting awfully attached to Saul... She definitely wasn't okay with that. There was no room in her life for... Whatever this was. She didn't even know what it was, actually, and that made it even worse. She couldn't let other people affect her like this-- she was supposed to work alone, live alone...
Wait, when had being alone come into play? She wasn't sure what was going on exactly, but she didn't like it one bit.
She drew a pair of laser pistols as they stepped off the ship, and Persephone turned to Guy once again. "You're the one with the helmet computer full of maps," she said calmly. "Lead the way."
As the two of them continued walking, she listened closely to the noises around them, trying to pick up on the sounds of anything that might be nearby... For the moment, the place seemed abandoned, though, and that was what worried her.
With a soft whir, the mechanisms in her eyes zoomed in on a distant section of the hallway, where she thought she saw movement, and the flung out an arm to stop Guy in his tracks.
"Don't move," she whispered. "I thought I saw something down there..." She adjusted her focus slightly and pulled up the hood of her coat, moving several feet forward before holding up a hand to Guy in the universal sign for "wait."
With that, she seemed to disappear completely into the darkness.
From her point of view, however, she had simply activated the stealth features of her armor, and was creeping down the hallway, moving silently and smoothly from shadow to shadow...
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Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2011 3:07 pm
Guy heard a groan from nearby, and turned. Several hanger techs were staggering towards him, groaning and reaching for him. Their faces showed emotion, eyes pleading, their mouths sometimes calling for help or mercy....
He knew what this was...a hive virus. They were rare in the Empire, unless someone went to an unexplored world and contracted one. The virus infected its hosts rapidly, slaving them to some desire, mainly violence. It drove them into what amounted to a virus controlled mob, that smashed and killed anything in its path, until the virus burned out their bodies, leaving them shriveled, wasted husks wherever they fell at. It didn't take long either, because the virus sped them up and boosted their strength immensely, wearing away muscles and organs at a ferocious rate.
Most of these viruses had a cure, though, and if administered quickly, could kill the virus and allow the host to survive after a few days of bedridden, flu-like misery. He would have to be non-lethal if he could...
He let them come closer, hearing the pleas and cries for help, as he used his massive fists to knock them out. He opened a line into the security system and triggered the response for a hive virus alarm, which would summon medics and security troops in full bio-hazard gear to save as many as possible. Fortunately, the virus didn't help motor functions much, so the infected couldn't use guns, just clubs and fists.
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Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2011 4:58 pm
The noise behind her distracted her for a moment, and she whipped her head around to see what was going on, catching sight of the hive virus victims... She gasped in spite of herself, and her hands flew up to her mouth as she realized that she made the sound. s**t... Blow your cover, genius. Way to go...
She had heard about hive viruses before, but never actually seen the victims of one before-- she hadn't expected it to be so disturbing. She could see the pain on their faces, even from this far away, thanks to her enhanced vision, and she knew it would stick with her for quite some time, if not the rest of her life.
She tapped into her comm unit to get ahold of Guy. "If you have everything under control over there, I'm going to go on ahead... Now that I can see better, I can tell that they're what I was seeing at the end of the hall... I'll take care of them; just catch up as soon as you can."
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Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2011 5:23 pm
Guy put down several more before the medics and techs started arriving. Fortunately, it seemed, few had been afflicted by the virus, and the medics and soldiers were already taking care of it.
He received a comm from the girl, and opened the link.
"Alright. They have things wrapped up here, I'm moving in to join you. We have to reach the bullet train station, and get over there. Seems like the danger has passed for now. And remember not to kill anyone."
He started moving quicker now, at a brisk walk, while keeping the flamethrower at the ready. The station wasn't too far from here...
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Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2011 6:42 pm
"Don't kill anyone?" She almost laughed out loud. "Sure. Don't kill the people that could turn on me at any second. Brilliant plan." She checked both her pistols, then began moving ahead at a light jog.
"Are you going to be able to keep up, or is the armor going to weigh you down," she asked, her tone somewhere between a joke and a serious question, and then she spun around to see exactly how far behind her he was, still moving as she did so.
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Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2011 9:27 am
Guy started running, slower then most, but still, his stride ate up the distance quickly. He closed in on the girl quick enough.
"I can manage just fine. As for killing civilians, I will not have it, they are all citizens of the Empire, and the medics have the virus under control. It won't be spreading any time soon."
They came closer to the station, and things seemed almost normal. The people around here must have heard nothing of the alarm in the hanger....it figured, scientists were different from normal people, off in their own little world...
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Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2011 9:54 am
Persephone decided not to argue the point any further, picking up her pace again instead to a flat-out run.
Things seemed to calm down once they hit the station, and she frowned. "This doesn't seem right," she said to Guy, pushing back her hood and taking a look around cautiously. "Shouldn't they have heard the alarm?"
She could still hear it, of course, thanks to her genetically sharpened hearing... She didn't know about "normal" people, though...
She walked over to the train platform and glanced at Guy. "You ready?"
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Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2011 10:00 am
When Guy stopped, it was usually with damaging results. This time was no different, his bulk kept propelling him forward, and he slid into several waste bins, flattening them under his weight as he hit them. Finally, he stopped and got turned around towards the single train car.
"Yes. I am ready to go."
He knew she'd be wondering why the scientists here hadn't heard the alarm. She obviously didn't know much about Imperial research bases...
"These research facilities are built for sound dampening. No sound carries from one room to the other, better for keeping things secret longer. It also hinders real emergencies, but they have an override for that, its just an extremely loud alarm system."
He locked the flamethrower to his chest again, and stepped aboard the empty car. The thing groaned under his weight, but he paid it no mind, and took up a standing position.
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Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2011 12:00 pm
Persephone laughed as Guy made a royal mess of his attempt to stop running-- the sound was strange to her, she realized suddenly-- it had been a long time since she had really laughed at anything.
"Nice halt," she teased, then listened to his explanation about the unnerving calm.
"Oh. That makes sense, I suppose... I just found it a bit strange, since I could still hear the alarms..." She trailed off for a moment, following him inside the train car.
"I don't make a habit of wandering around Imperial labs... It's a bit of a death wish, when you're in my line of work. I'm still trying to figure out why I even got sent on this job to begin with, when I could have been... Nevermind." She stopped herself from saying a little too much at the last second, then seated herself on one of the benches.
"We could use a few more commanders like you, you know," she said to Guy after a minute, immediately holding her hands up in a placating gesture, as she had a decent guess what his reaction to the statement would be. "Just thinking out loud, I promise... I'm not trying to convert anyone. But if you know anyone who might be interested, I'd love to have their names."
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Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2011 1:41 pm
Guy listened to her, but didn't say anything. Switching off his comm unit, he muttered some highly uncomplimentary things about the Rebels within the confines of his helmet. Then he unsealed it and removed it, and lit another cigar.
He grumbled a bit at her last comment.
"I'll keep it in mind," he said gruffly.
He settled in for a quick nap. This ride was going to take a while...
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Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2011 1:57 pm
Persephone leaned back in her seat, sighing and staring up at the ceiling as she heard Guy start snoring beside her. The train ride would give her a chance to be alone with her thoughts, if nothing else, and she had some things she needed to sort through.
Answers, however, weren't exactly coming quite as quickly as she wanted them to. As the train began to slow to a halt, she reached over and shook Guy's shoulder to wake him, feeling altogether rather frustrated with herself and unable to figure out why.
"We're stopping," she said matter-of-factly as the Imperial officer stirred sleepily. "Hope you enjoyed your nap, but it's time to get back to work."
She stood up and stretched her back-- she was a bit stiff from sitting for the whole ride-- then walked over to the car doors and waited for them to slide open.
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