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 Posted: Sat Apr 01, 2006 12:18 pm
There was a twtich in her eye when Las Noches hit her ears. It was small enough though that Sniper might not have noticed it. "Yes, I know where it is located. Las Noches - a bar run by the Elder Rogue, frequented by vampires. A good place to start destroying vampires."
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Posted: Sat Apr 01, 2006 12:23 pm
"It will be a good place to start, after we capture the hunter leader."
*He ushered his hand to the door, not noticing her slight twitch.*
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Posted: Sat Apr 01, 2006 12:25 pm
"Yes sir." X13 replied. "The vampires there will soon fall prey to our power." She moved to the door as he had ordered, her eye twitching slightly again, though this time it was completely out of his sight.
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Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 12:58 pm
Will came to with a start. 'Where the hell am I?'
Trying to rise, Will felt tight, metal clamps over his wrists, forearms, ankles, feet, and lower legs. He was held in a spread eagle position, utterly and totally restrained beyond any hope of escape. His eyes snapped open, and he found himself in a small, plain room. There were no windows no furniture, not even air vents. There was just a heavy steel door lying locked across from him, a narow vent in it his only source of air. Will didn't recongize this place, but he knew what it was: a cell.
He felt his blood grow cold. When he'd assumed leadership of the New York Hunters, he'd made a list of things he feared so that he'd know how to counteract those fears. It was a short list, as even death hadn't made the list since he truly did not fear it, but there were still nearly a dozen things listed. Number one was the death of those he cared for, specifically his Hunters. The second was being turned, as he didn't know how he'd handle becoming one of the things he'd hunted. And number three was capture, being imprisoned and likely interrogated for information on the Hunters. Obviously, his fear had been realized.
But as he'd stated to himself, he'd listed his fears in order to devise counters to them. To counter his first fear he did his best to keep his people out of overly dangerous fights, while the second fear had been taken care of with their invention of the lycan and vampire vaccines developed during the Lunite War. As for the third fear... Shifting his mouth about, Will bit down hard on the spot where his far right molar would have been if he hadn't had it removed and replaced with a fake. Said fake tooth contained a radio transmitter which would send an SOS at a range of up to two hundred yards on Hunter frequencies once every twenty minutes until the internal battery wore out after close to three days. He might not have been a Boy Scout, but he still believed in being prepared. With luck a Hunter team would get close enough within the next few days to pick up the signal. Now he had nothing to do but try and remember how he got there.
Frowning in concentration, Will dredged up hazy memories of the events leading up to his obvious capture. 'I'd just finished talking to that lycan, giving her access to my office before leaving Hunter's. I wanted to stock up on more weapons, enough to survive another siege if it came down to it. So I went to that new resturant to meet with my black market contact. Sergei had just gotten a shipment of the latest heavy machine guns, and was trying to sell them to me. We were out in the back alleyway of the place, haggling over the price tag, when somebody opened fire. Within seconds, half of Sergei's men were down. The other half were holding their heads and screaming, as if something was attacking their minds. They never even had a chance to get a shot off, couldn't even see who was attacking them. Then an explosion... I was thrown to the ground, hit my head. Somebody came up to me, grabbed me, jabbed me with a needle... I felt myself losing conciousness... I opened my eyes and...'
Will jerked as the memory hit him, eyes widened in disbelief even as tears began trickling from them. 'I opened my eyes, and I saw Lydia. It was Lydia. Lydia attacked me. Lydia captured me. Lydia is working for the enemy. But at the same time it wasn't her, her eyes were blank, glassy, like she wasn't in control. But... it was still Lydia.'
Hanging his head, Will sobbed quietly as a single name whispered past his lips, a whisper that carried the tones of hurt and betrayal. "Lydia..."
((Just let me know if there's any changes I need to make Lydia.))
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Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 4:00 pm
((There are changes, but I PMed them to you, so that is taken care of.))
Walking in, the psychic brushed off the dried blood that had caked onto her. All of it was her own; while killing the immortals, her powers had protected her from being splattered with their dirty, unclean blood. The injuries she had taken fighting Rogue and Alexz, however, were inside the shield she had to catch the blood of others.
X13 was at a crossroads at the moment, however. She should go to Archangel Mauser and tell him of her work at Las Noches...but Lydia wished to go see the prisoner, William. Fighting for a moment, X13 started off towards the cells, trying to fight the human whose body this rightfully was. It seemed that whatever Lydia felt for William was too strong for the AI to overcome, even with Lydia bundled up nicely in the back of her own mind.
Before long, she was standing outside of William's cell, and she was pushing the door open. Sliding in quickly, it closed without a sound. The psychic brought her head up to study the captured hunter leader. Striding over to him, it was obvious to anyone who knew Lydia well that this was not Lydia; William would know even better than that that this was not her.
She moved too rigidly, her joints choppy and and her steps heavy. When she finally stopped next to his head and met his gaze, her once bright and curious eyes were instead blank and dull, and were now tearing slightly. To Lydia, even trapped as she was, it was too much to see her leader and lover like this, retrained just as solidly as she was.
"Will..." she whispered, her voice too mechanical, but there was emotion behind it nonetheless. Putting her palm to his forehead, X13 smoothed back his hair in a caring gesture, before Lydia finally dredged up enough control to lean towards him and brush his lips with hers in a tender kiss.
X13 pulled away suddenly, and took her hand from his hair now that the AI was back in control. Her other hand went to her pistol and pulled it out, another order from Mauser coming up in her mind.
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Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2006 2:06 am
Will could only stare as Lydia slipped into the cell, caked in blood. She had betrayed them. Betrayed HIM. She had thrown him in here. Lydia had been turned into his enemy. By all rights, he should feel enraged by her presence. But seeing her, his only thought was the ferverent hope that she was alright.
Watching her dull eyes and choppy movements tore him up inside. No, this wasn't Lydia. He knew Lydia in every sense, even the biblical one. It was Lydia's body, but not her. She wasn't in control, a prisoner in her own mind and body. She stood before him, and Will was only barely able to force a sad, rueful little smile, more like a grimace really. "So... You're even more of a prisoner than I am, aren't you Lydia. Are you even still in there? Can you hear me?"
She spoke his name, and though it was nearly emotionless it set a spark of hope within him. That wasn't a totally mindless automaton whispering his name, it was laced with the faintest hint of feeling, of a soul. He leaned intoher caress and when she kissed him he responded in kind, taking comfort in the knowledge that even if she too was a prisoner, a prisoner within herself, that she was still here with him right now at this moment.
When she jerked back, Will knew the moment of freedom was over for Lydia. Her warden had tightened her bonds again, and she was once again helpless. Will nearly screamed in terror when she reached for her pistol. Not in fear for his life, but fear of what it would do to the piece of Lydia's personality still hanging on inside of that shell if she were forced to execute him. Anger filled him as he saw her like this, a beautiful and engaging young woman turned into a twisted puppet. He swore that he'd torture the monsters that did this to her to death, even if he had to come back from the other side again to do it. Reigning in his fear and anger, Will forced himself into a passionless and serene state of being. If it came down to it, he'd pull out his hidden trump card and try using his powers. But not yet. Instead, he spoke in an emotionless tone, showing absolutely no fear. "What are you going to do, Lydia?"
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Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2006 3:23 pm
"Designation does not comply. My designation is X13. My function is to carry out all orders assigned to me by Archangel Mauser. Our mission is to eliminate all night walkers from this Earth, so that humans can rule it alone, just as they were meant to. Your mission of coexistance is a nusiance and an abomination to our cause. You are useless and weak-minded, and we have no use for petty, emotional worms like yourself." she said, bringing the pistol up to point right at his forehead.
"I was ordered before to kill you if the chance ever arose. But now..." She lowered the weapon and resheathed it. "Now, Archangel Mauser wishes to speak with you. However, once he no longer has a use for you, I will kill you the first chance I get."
Inside her mind, tied in her bonds, Lydia was screaming in vain to Will, trying to tell him that the AI was lying. If the AI killed Will...Lydia knew that she would die too, and that was why it wished to kill the hunter leader. With Lydia out of the way, the AI would always be in control of her body, and would always serve Mauser, one of the Labcoats, without ever having to fear that she would break free.
Her eye twitched again, but X13 did not seem to notice. She stared at Will with those horridly blank eyes as if she could somehow see through him to his very soul.
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Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 1:44 am
Will snarled at this... this.. PRETENDER! He was just barely able to keep his eyes from blazing with the power of his anger. As it was, some of his power leaked into his voice, leanding it the air of stern command, as if heaven itself were speaking. "LISTEN TO ME, YOU MINDBITCH. Mark my words well, 'X-13'. I am going to drive you the hell out of Lydia's ******** mind, cage you in a little mental prison, and inflict so many horrible tortures upon your essence that you will become totally and utterly erased. I don't care if I have to come back from the dead a second time to do it, you will PAY for imprisoning Lydia within her own damn body like this."
A wicked, half insane grin covered Will's face. This was the side of him he didn't let anyone see. The part of him that he tried so hard to repress. His darkside, full of his rage, anger, hatred, and pain. And now, he was letting his inner madness out in order to give him an edge in an impossible situation. Will cackled madly before spitting at "X-13's" feet, the half insane grin turning into a crazed sneer. "Repent, ye sinner, repent and beg for mercy, for thy day of reckoning shall come soon."
Again, he laughed. Will was a masterful actor when he had to be, and knew that the "insanity mask" would freak almost anybody out. Visibly, he reigned himself in, regarding the woman in front of him with that paerticular grin of his. "Well then, the bossman wants to see me eh? Get the b*****d down here then, I'm in the mood for a chat."
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Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 1:54 pm
X13 was unfazed by William's outburst; as a machine, the AI only had to focus on the next order it recieved. As a machine, it did not fear, did not hate, did not love, and did not feel anything at all. It was an emotionless piece of hardwire and programming, meant only to simmulate a person's thought patterns in order to be able to control a human body.
"You do not understand. But he will soon explain to you and make it clear what you do not know." she replied. Inside her mind, Lydia was...frightened. She had never seen Will so insane, and was afraid of that side of him. She only hoped that she could gain some control back to get both her and Will out of here.
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Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 2:16 pm
Footsteps echoed down the hall, crisp and clean, marking the passage of the man who was now what all immortals feared. The door creaked as he opened it, revealing Mauser in the doorframe. Walking up to X13, he ruthlesly backhanded her across the face.
"You were supposed to report to me first before doing anything else." He said coldly to the black-haired psychic. Turning to Will, he smiled charismatically, as if he was speaking to a friend instead of a prisoner. "Wonderful little tool, isn't she? So well behaved and so well trained, if I do say so myself. I was one of the ones who headed that little project. It is such a shame that only five survived, with her being the only female. We had hoped to try and breed more of them, but alas, it seems that shall not come to pass."
He walked over to X13 and smoothed back her hair, almost as if he was petting a dog or cat. "Normally X13 is a bit of a troublemaker. Defying orders and letting morals and her heart get in the way of the mission. All of them were like that, except for X02. I had planned on finding him first, but X13 does just as well, now that we've activated her control chip, that is." He pushed back the hair behind her ear to show Will the chip that was there. Mauser smiled proudly.
"A small masterpiece, that bit of technology is. The whole thing is wired into her brain, and can't be removed without killing her. Not only that, but once it's activated, it starts up an AI program that runs her body for her, while locking up the real mind inside a very strong telepathic cage. Another reason why I would have prefered X02. He doesn't need this kind of control to work for me. However, the AI is rather crude, as you can tell, and it isn't quite as capable as the real X13, but it does get the job done."
Mauser let her hair fall back into place and smoothed down her hair in a petting motion again. "Now, for the reason I came here. I would like for your hunters to join with my organization, the Alignment of Archangels. Combined with us, your hunters would get better equipment, better armor, better weapons..." He gestured towards X13, meaning that she was one of those "better weapons." "You would get more members, be able to take on bigger prey, maybe even be able to take down an elder or two. Also, as an added bonus, if you join your hunters with my Archangels, I'll give you X13 for you to do with her as you wish when either you or her aren't hunting. I know you've had a taste of her charms already, and now that the AI is in control, you can do whatever you wish to her without her retaliating. So, what do you say?"
Mauser smiled widly at Will, almost smirking.
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Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 3:13 pm
Will just looked at Mauser coldly before a smile came to his lips. "An... intriguing offer. It sounds like you're offering to fix all of my problems at once. I wouldn't have to worry about where my funds were coming from. My people would have only the best of equipment. We wouldn't have to live and fight in fear of the other races wiping us out if we become too much of a nuisance. It's tempting, very tempting. And I'll admit, X-13 is quite charming and shall we say... energetic. It really is an excellent offer. However..."
The captive leader whispered the next words under his breath, forcing Mauser to lean in to hear them. "I think I've got a better one."
With a cry and a sudden jerk, Will forcefully and painfully dislocated his shoulders, giving himself a few extra inches of reach with his upper torso. It was just enough. Plunging forward, Will slammed his forehead into Mauser's face... HARD. The Archangel leader reeled back, a trickle of blood coming from his obviously broken nose, and Will snarled and spit at him like a wild animal.
"YOU b*****d!!! I WILL NEVER WORK WITH YOU! YOU'RE A WORSE ******** MONSTER THAN THE GODDAMN THINGS I HUNT! You'd have me betray all the non-humans who've sworn their loyalty to me for a few damn trinkets, you capture me, you undermine my people and our mission, you take my best Hunters from me, and most unforgivable of all...!"
Will quieted down, glaring at Mauser with a look that practically bled hatred. "You DARED to touch Lydia. You turned her into a prisoner. And you offered her to me like she was a common WHORE, offering me what is NOT your's to give. For harming her, I can assure you that I'll take my time with you. You'll last for WEEKS. Tied to the ground naked out in the desert by a fire ant mound, honey smeared over your eyes and genitals. Hot, liquid metal poured slowly into your mouth, melting and fusing your tongue to your molten teeth. Small cuts, no larger than a paper cut on every inch of your body before you're dunked into a vat full of saltwater. Sawing off your feet with a rusty steak knife, one inch at a time, taking hours to finally reach your previously shattered kneecaps. These are just a FEW of the things I'm going to do to you for hurting Lydia, Mauser. When you get to hell all the devils and demons will know who sent you, and when I get done with you they'll be asking me for tips. I promise you that, Mauser, I WILL MURDER YOU FOR THIS."
Pulling back, Will grunted in pure agony as he slammed his shoulders into the wall, popping the joints painfully back into their proper place. The pain was starting to get to him, he could see the darkness clouding around the edges of his vision. But before he fainted, he gave Mauser one last warning. "You want my advice Mauser? If you're smart, you'll ghost me right now. I'll never break, and if you let me live I can assure you that I'll get out of here and gut you with my bare hands. My solemn promise before God and before Lydia."
With a last longing glance at Lydia, Will felt the darkness take him and he slumped into unconciousness.
((Going to be away for the wekend due to a family emergency. I'll try to get on, but no garuntees.))
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Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 4:31 pm
His nose certainly hurt a bit, but as Will fell unconcious, Mauser couldn't help but laugh. Oh yes, things were going prefectly. Now, for the final piece of the puzzle...
"X13, take the prisoner to a more comfortable location. See to his wounds, and when he wakes, give him something to eat. Make sure he is comfortable, but don't let him leave and don't let him out of your sight. No doubt it has been noticed by now that he has gone missing, and there will hopefully be a rescue mission soon. When one does come, make sure to go with them." He put a hand to his nose, reminding himself to go get his own wounds treated.
Pulling something out of his pocket, he slid it into X13's with a smile. "When you're back at the hunter headquarters, find the others and use this to activate their tags. Once you have all of them, make your way back here with them so we can start the final phase of the plan."
Once he was done giving X13 her instructions, Mauser turned on his heel and left to get his broken nose sorted.
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Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 4:49 pm
As Mauser left, X13 got to work. She undid the shackles around his legs and feet first before letting his arms free. As he fell to the ground, she caught him with her power and floated him behind her as she exited the room.
As she walked, Lydia bashed against her prision with all the power she had at her disposal. Though the AI program wasn't powerful enough to keep her detained for long, the telepathic cage that the tag had palced on her was ceratinly enought to keep her locked up. Not only that, but it was using her power psychic power to keep her trapped. She would need someone else to help her break the trap.
Finally getting to a room, X13 opened the door and stepped in, closing it after she had floated Will through. The room was simple, with a small bed against one wall and a table with two chairs against the other. On a third wall was a wardrobe, marking this as quarters if an Archangel needed one.
Setting him down on the bed, X13 began to tend to Will's shoulders, her hands lingering on his body somewhat as Lydia influenced the AI as best she could. She furiously worked away in her prison, trying to formulate a plan to get herself free.
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Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2006 1:06 am
Will had no idea how lond he'd been out cold, but it had to have been at least half a day or more. He was in a secured room, but not a cell. He couldn't hear any guards or the whir of electronic devices, couldn't smell the scent of gunoil or explosives, and could sense that while the door was thick and solid it wasn't warded or too heavily reinforced. Perfect. Mauser was probably expecting him to either wait here for rescue or attempt an escape since he was held captive and helpless. But escape wasn't his plan, and he wasn't helpless.
What only a handful of people knew, and Lydia wasn't one of them, was that while he still carried his weapons as normal, after he was changed by his near death experience he didn't just use weapons, he WAS a weapon. He'd never tapped more than a small bit of his power, but that didn't mean he'd been training himself secretly in it's use. He'd held this secret close to his chest, keeping it for the day he needed a hidden weapon of terrible power. Now that day had come.
The hunter leader sat on the floor of the room, the same place he'd been for the past three hours or so since waking up. His accelerated healing had brought him to peak physical condition after the rest, now he just needed to center his spirit. Finally, he found it. His focus. The core within him, shining like a beacon, burning like the sun. It was so beautiful to his spiritual eyes. And so very deadly. He smiled, an almost evil thing that spoke of a desire to kill and destroy his enemies. Soon Mauser will find just how deadly this flame is.
Tapping into his power core, William focused the energy, willing it out through his pointer finger and to take form. Within minutes, a three inch long blade of burning plasma extended fromhis fingertip. A perfect cutting tool Will thought, as he gazed at the metal warbrode and metal bedframe. Getting to his feet Will went to work.
After several hours more work, he had his arsenal. Dozens of crude ninja stars cut out from the sheet metal of the warbrode. A bedpost, heated and quietly hammered into a longsword with the use of his powers. And other pieces of the bedframe hollowed out and fused together while the more delicate mechanisms and explosive substances needed were scrounged or created from whatever else he could find in the room, giving him in the end half a dozen primitive pipe bombs. It would do well enough for now however.
Situating his improvised weapons on his person, Will's grin turned wicked as glowing whiteness filled his eyes. Mauser thought he'd captured the leader of the hunters. In actuality, he'd brought Will right where he wanted to be, in his enemy's midst. He would enjoy showing Mauser the folly of holding someone prisoner when you had no idea how powerful they were. Fueled by thoughts of Mauser's decapitated head fried to a crisp and thrown from the top of this tower, Will ignited his cutting blade again and went to work on the door to his room. Soon he'd be loose within his enemies headquarters and the Hunt would begin.
((Too much? Let me know and I'll tone it down. And BTW, what's been going on while I've been away?))
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Posted: Tue Apr 18, 2006 6:16 pm
((Nothing much has happened while you were away, and I think your post is fine.))
Elsewhere, away from William's room, the AI and Lydia were having a mental battle of sorts. While it was true that the AI kept her in a telepathic cage, one that was far stronger than the one the mousy-haired woman had used, Mauser seemed to have underestimated Lydia's tenacity in wanting to get out.
Her hand was held tightly on the scanner. With the AI in control, Lydia wouldn't be able to use it to completely deactivate the control chip, but she could disable it long enough to get up enough control over her body to bypass it. Only if she did it correctly though.
Though normal physics rarely applied to psychic powers, Lydia knew of one principle that applied everywhere: frequency. Just about everything had a natural frequency, even psychic powers. If Lydia could force the telepathic cage around her to vibrate at its natural frequency, she would be able to force it into resonance, eventually destroying it.
Now...to get everything ready...
In her mind, the chains that held her had been severly loosened as the AI concentrated on controlling her body. Slipping them off now was no problem; the one problem with using her own power to bind her was that she knew her own power best, including its weaknesses. Now free to use her powers, if only in her own mind, Lydia forced the orb around her to vibrate using her telekenisis. Before the AI knew what she was doing, Lydia had her prison vibrating at its natural frequency, and it soon wrested itself apart.
Seizing her chance, Lydia rushed at the six-armed robot that was the AI's mental avatar. Using her pyrokenisis, the psychic prisoner half melted the thing, causing it to shut down to repair itself. With it out of the way for now, Lydia took control of herself....
...and opened her eyes, in complete control. With a shaking hand, she set the scanner to the right frequencey to shut off the AI and ran it by her control chip. The AI shut down, and all feeling of it left her mind. Putting the scanner back in her pocket, Lydia sent a message to Will, a message full of relief and joy.
Willl...Will, I am free. I am free, I turn off the AI, I am free...free...
Lydia stood and rushed towards the room where Will was, tears of happiness streaming from her eyes.
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