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| A LucCorp warehouse in Obsidia |
| See Log |
| 04 November 3013 |
There is something particular about twilight. It is a place where day has not quite ended, but where night has not yet begun. Shadows are long and lazy, and colors begin to mute. Out on the Veldt, where the grasses are tall and the trees are hearty. There had once been several warehouses tucked away in this region of the Veldt — strange, featureless cubes tucked up against the western mountains — but the invasion of the Hostiles have left them abandoned.
Amongst them is the one owned by Lord Lucian of the Ring. With his business in the Crescent, it is unsurprising that there is some Lucian holdings even on the Khourni lands. When the Hostiles attacked, they did so ruthlessly. Reports have indicated that no one survived the assault, though an in depth investigation was put on hold while the House Military of the Ibrahms turned their focus to protecting their borders and chasing out the Hostile forces from the second landing.
There are various sized doors along the east-facing exterior of the building that supports all sizes of moving containers and storage units. An abandoned hover platform lies in the dirt, and the largest of these doors is left open where dust and dirt blows idly into the loading area of the warehouse. It does not appear that the building supports electricity anymore, looking dead and black within.
Ithaca Black, better known in these circles as "Rook", has been sent on this mission, because she's somewhat of an electronics and computers savant. She's also an Awakened of considerable power should trouble crop up. She's in a simple, plain black skinsuit and carrying a backpack which holds a plethora of equipment for disabling security systems, verifying data, and repairing electronics. She hasn't spoken since they set out, except in phrases of four words or less. Nothing new there. Her hair has been braided down her back to keep it out of the way. She looks to the two talkative sorts with her, expecting them to tell her what to do.
Lincoln and Ren are dress in nice business attire…with skin suits underneath. Lincoln's quieter than normal, bout that's still down right talkative compared to Rook. "Do we actually know what we're looking for?" He'll glance to the other two, Ren's in charge and Rook's the expert.
"Datacube, should be in office," Rook says, sidling over towards the open door with a cautious posture.
Ren shrugs at Lincoln, "Not really." He smiles at Rook, "Thankfully, this vixen was kind enough to wear an INCREDIBLY hot skin suit. When all else fails, look at her." He throws a wink at Rook, not really expecting much in return, however. "Let's just get inside, get the goods, and get gone."
The warehouse is not empty. In fact, there are rows upon rows of organized scaffolding that contains a variety of containers. There is a faint whirring noise that sounds like a generator trying to turn on, rotating hard to only produce a flicker of light before it blackens entirely once more.
Lincoln nods to Rook, and then turns and blinks at Ren. did he just…Instead of saying anything, he'll just punch him in the arm. Hard. "Dude." The look is clear, not cool. As the lights flicker, Linc glances around, "Yeah…cause that's encouraging…." isn't this how half the horror vid's start?
Ren winces a bit, and laughs, "Hey, she gets the family discount." He looks up at the lights as they go out. And he sighs. "Well… There's that." He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a pen light, shining it around. "Okay, Lincoln's sister. You're the computer chick. Where would it be?"
Rook just stares blankly at Ren's winking flirtations; they seem completely lost on her. She pulls a flashlight from her pack and clicks it on. "Yes," she answers Lincoln, most disturbingly. "Try to fix lights? Or go with portables?" she asks over her shoulder.
Lincoln purses his lips, looking around, "I'd think the less we disturb, the better." he'll also reach into his pocket and pulls out a pen light as well. "Should we still head for the offices?"
Ren nods, "Agreed. If we fix the lights, we leave behind evidence we were here." He shines his light around, looking for a moment, then nods again, settling his light on the office doors. "I reckon so." He begins to head that direction.
Rook nods her head briefly, swinging the flashlight around. "Should be in back, or up somewhere," she notes. Somewhere the boss could watch everyone from. She heads deeper inside, letting Ren lead the way. She looks sidelong at her brother, worried about keeping him safe.
As the threesome of Underworlders step deeper into the warehouse there is a loud crash several rows of scaffolding away. It is followed by a soft, almost inaudible sound of clicking and whispering. The pair of noises are rapidly retreating down the row away from them.
Lincoln nods following Ren, but then stops when the crash happens.His eyes go towards the noise and then he looks to Ren, silently asking him if he wants Linc to go check it out or not. His hand sneaks into his pocket to slip his brass knuckles on.
Ren doesn't even stop to look at the others. The moment the crash happens, he's running with his flashlight towards the noise.
"Shit." That's Rook's assessment of the noise. Her eyes roll over white, like a shark about to bite, and dark, smoky-feathered wings rise from her back as her aura ignites. She closes the wings around her like psychometric armor. "Don't go alone," she hisses, taking after their seemingly fearless leader.
Lincoln says, "Knight's balls!" Linc's voice isn't loud as he swears, but there's an annoyance. He knew he should have been in front, if Ren gets hurt….He'll take off after the other two, keeping an eye on what's going on behind them. No need to get jumped."
As the group rounds the corner of the row, they find an arrangement of small containers that have been knocked over by… well… something. Some have popped open due to impact and spill several bottles of more somethings. It definitely doesn't look like Red Eye on first glance. There is a series of swathes in the dust that look as if something dragged its feet across the ground while escaping.
Ren moves his flashlight over the area. He stops the light on the dust trail, and follows it with the light. "Nothin's ever easy…" he mutters, before kneeling to take a look at what's in the containers.
"The hell?" Rook blurts out. "Not Red Eye," she notes, though her eyes twitch a bit at the very mention of her former addiction. She begins to follow the tracks, warily.
Lincolnnarrows his eyes at Rook, "No splitting up, remember?" He's still keeping an eye on the way the came, glancing up to make sure there's not crazy Hostile monkeys hanging on the rafters. Damn that zombie vid! "What's it look like? Drugs? or something else?"
There is another sound of click, whispering across the floors, but now it comes from the neighboring row, heading toward the entrance at what could be described as a fast speed.
Ren furrows his brow a bit, looking at it closely, shining the light into the box. "Couple dozen vials inside. Looks like green syrup…" He looks at the other two, "I've seen a lot of drugs. Amp. Red Eye. Even Destros." He shakes his head, "This doesn't look like anything I've seen." He removes one vial, and slips it into his pocket. When the click happens, he stands, pointing the flashlight. "Over there!?"
Rook takes off after the sound, running full tilt down the aisle to try and get within sight of the door.
Lincolngrowls softly, taking off after Rook.
A large-bodied creature sprints across the gap at the end of the rows, and for a heartbeat, the flashlights illuminate the profile of an adolescent male lion. He skitters rapidly toward the door with a flick of his tuff-topped tail.
Ren runs after them, but then he skids to a stop, "Whoah! Holy fuck!" His eyes are wide, "Shit! Get back get back get back get back," he says to the other two quickly. "That's um… Not a hostile."
Rook reaches out with her psychometric telekinesis, and the visage of the dragon on her back tattoo rips out of her to streak towards the door. She slams it shut after the tufted tail of the lion passes through. "Was that?" she asks, "A mother-fucking LION!?"
Just before the lion makes his escape, he turns his mane-ruffed head toward the three interlopers. His entire left eye socket is empty with ugly scabs and deep wounds surrounding it. He then disappears and down comes the door, locking the three in, in complete darkness.
Lincoln blinks, coming to a stop behind his sister. He'll echo Ren, "Holy fuck…What the hell was this warehouse storing?!? What was wrong with it?" He'll swing his light around, "Turn the fucking lights on. There's a fuckign lion, no one's going to question the lights begin on…"
Ren just stands there a long moment. "I um… Hostile's I'm ready to fight. Lions?" He shakes his head, "Fuck that." He looks at his two cohorts. "Lets get the cube and go home, huh?"
Rook nods and heads for the sound of the struggling generator, pulling out her tools. "Definitely lights. Lots of lights," she mutters. "Lions roam in packs," she points out to Ren.
Lincoln's hand tightens on the metal wrapped around his knuckles. Can a person even punch a lion? He'll nod, "Lights, then cube, then home." He'll keep looking about, head tilted, like that's going to help him hear better for the next circus encounter.
Ren smirks, "You can punch a lion. Not sure you'll have a hand when you're done though." He looks at Rook, "I don't like the lights on, but if you two really want it, then let's do it fast and get what we came for."
Rook heads towards the sound of the generator and begins to look around for the control panel. If she finds it, she works at popping it open.
Lincoln huffs, "Well, I didn't bring my whip, Just my knuckles." He may actually have a whip, but still! He'll work his jaw, Ren may be right…"Do you think we should maybe just get to the office instead?" This is directed more towards Rook.
Ren shrugs, and looks at Rook. "You two decide. You're the ones afraid of the dark…"
Rook heads towards the back of the warehouse, using her flashlight to guide the way, keeping her psychometric armor up as well. She looks around for a control panel.
As the Underworlders pass by the various shelves and scaffolding, it appears that there is very little disturbances to the other containers. Few have labels, and those that do, are just a series of numbers. As they near the middle of the warehouse, there is a faint dripping noise toward the left.
Lincoln glares at Ren, "I'm not afraid of the dark, I would just rather not run into another fuckinglion." He'll move to follow Rook, but makes sure Ren is following. Linc glances towards the left at the dripping, "I'm gonna check that…" He'll start moving off in that direction
Ren huffs, "Come on, let's stay focused." He turns his flashlight towards the back and begins walking. "The office needs to be here somewhere…"
Rook continues on her path to where she recalls hearing the generator sputter and die when they came in. She telekinetically floats her flashlight where she needs it, leaving her hands free to open panels and move items. Eventually she finds what she was looking for. "Found it. Let me get the lights back on." She pulls tools from her pack and pops open a panel on the wall, rewiring tenaciously.
"Oh Fucking Six!" Linc slams back into the row of shelvings. His eyes are wide as he stares at the horror in front of him, the light swings around wildly to make sure there's nothing else there that could possible eat them.
Lincoln's light flashes over the source of the dripping. First the light hits the puddle of red blood first, and then as it scans up, the body of a Lucian guard, strung up and disemboweled. It looks like its feet have been chewed by an animal of some kind.
Ren looks about, and when Lincoln shouts, he tenses, looking that direction. Once the light settles on the hanging body, he relaxes, and he walks over to it. He doesn't seem to be bothered by it, and he takes a quick moment just to make sure the guy is dead. "He was eaten by the lion, but that lion didn't string him up." He looks around, shining his light around the room, before looking at the other two. "Unless you can get those lights on right now, forget them. Let's get what we're here for and go. Before we run into more trouble."
There is a sizzling array of sparks, and with a slowly chugging kachunk, the generator starts back up and the lights flicker on. They're dim, but it's plenty enough to see by for the trio. "Lincoln?" Rook calls out at his cry. She stuffs the tools back in the bag and grabs her flashlight where it was floating, jogging in the direction he went. She skids to a halt at the sight of the body and grimaces. "Hostiles did this?" she asks. With the lights on, she gestures towards a stairway to the catwalks, and what looks like an office up there.
Lincoln's shaken, but smooths his face. He could deal with a dead body, even strung up, but the dude's feet were eaten, "Yeah….fuck, let's just do this." There's only a small quiver in the light as he swings it around after the lights go on. He actually keeps it on. He'll just glance to Rook before starting quickly towards the office, "I thought Hostiles were cannibals and shit. What the fuck purpose would that be for?"
Ren nods a thank you to Rook, and then begins heading up the stairs towards the office. "It might not have been Hostiles. Lucian has enemies. It could have been any number of them."
Rook looks back at her brother as she climbs the stairs and stops at the catwalk. She tests it with a foot before being convinced it'll hold them. "Dunno. Maybe a warning. Maybe Hostiles killed, someone else hung." She moves one step at a time down the rickety catwalk, eying the battle damage done to the rails warily.
Lincoln grimaces some, looking around behind them. He keeps his voice low, "Yeah… but what the fuck kind of warning is a fucking lion?" Linc seems a little more comfortable as he starts up the catwalk, while still not ok, he doesn't think lions can climb. Linc didn't do super well in biology class. "Let's find this cube and get outta here."
Ren makes his way up the stairs, and once at the top, he begins looking in each room. "More bodies," he says as he finds in the first office, indeed, just that. "Rook, do you see anything resembling what we need?"
"Obsidia. Guessing Lion smelled the bodies. Came in. Rogue, one eye, hard for it to hunt," Rook explains. She moves into the office, with the door that was blown off, and glances around. Everything looks rifled through. "In here," she calls.