More Futurisitic Fun Than You Really Wanted, part I of V

[The Good Reverend Roger]

FUCKING WOW!

This just keeps getting better.

[Cardinal Pizza Deliverance.]

Your last bit is kick-ass, Charley. I love the methane excuse. That's probably just what they'd say, too.

[Luna]

FUCKING WOW!

This just keeps getting better.

And it's leaking to other threads.   

[Adios]

Recording found in Vault/Inner Sanctum.


"Jesus Christ! Is everyone alright?"

"Yeah, what the hell was that explosion? Damn, that was huge!"

"We'll find that out shortly, for right now let's get this damned equipment back on line. Are the back-up generators working okay?"

"Yeah, system is rebooting as we speak. Should take about 10 minutes."

"Good, as soon as you can find out what happened and inform me about any containment efforts already in play."

"Yes Sir."

Following day.

"Sir, a journal was just dropped off, it was found near the blast site. The official word on the explosion is it was caused by a methane build-up."

"Excellent. Let me see the journal.  Damn, could it be?"

"Sir?"

"Remember Tom? He was the first to go mole, years back. The son of a bitch killed more nessies single handed that any 4 squads combined.
Was there any signs of bodies?"

"Sir, parts were everywhere, nessie, human and even some pets. We may never get them all sorted out."

(sigh)

"I was afraid of that. Well, please keep me informed on any progress."

[East Coast Hustle]

Hot damn! CPD, that was awesome. Charley, fucking !

[Cardinal Pizza Deliverance.]

FUCKING WOW!

This just keeps getting better.

And it's leaking to other threads.   

[Cardinal Pizza Deliverance.]

I have a horrible urge to write a story about Petie's older brother, Harry, surviving a Nessie attack on an underground rave and his drugged up date making a joke about how he's "the boy who lived". I am trying to kill this urge but it's just so damn funny.

[Luna]

I have a horrible urge to write a story about Petie's older brother, Harry, surviving a Nessie attack on an underground rave and his drugged up date making a joke about how he's "the boy who lived". I am trying to kill this urge but it's just so damn funny.

Write it.  On paper.  Wipe with it after the oranges contest tomorrow.  :-P

[Eater of Clowns]

**Recording.  Tunnel 9 Operations.  6/29/13  0036**

"You look well.  Healthier, lately."

"I told you, I'm living a healthy lifestyle."

"You said that, yeah, but you say a lot of things."

"Wasn't always a pudgy fucker you know.  Did some sports in my school years."

"That's not what I was saying."

"Don't quite get a lot of exercise down here.  Never did see the point of walking in one place until the alternative was holding hands with a bloody monster."

"They're monsters, then?"

"They're certainly named after one.  What else would you call them?"

"Monsters works."

"What about yourself, ever get into athletics?"

"Not as such, no.  Always been a bit of a book person, I suppose."

"Well we share that.  Can't live a life out of books, though."

"Who says I have?"

"Ever been outside the country?"

"Never got the chance.  Rather expensive."

"And with that nice university degree you decided to work in the sewer, perhaps sign up as a servohead."

"I have my reasons."

"Your brother?"

"Who told you about my brother?"

"A man hears things.  Maybe it echoed off the tunnels."

"Yeah.  My brother."

"Except you don't have one."

"Come again?"

"You don't have a brother."

"I suppose I don't anymore, no."

"You never did."

"And you heard that echoing off the tunnels as well, did you?  Seems I'll have to have a discussion with the Chaplain."

"You'd have to tell him why you lied."

"I did not lie."

"Here's how I figure the conversation went.  You talk to the Payneites about serving down here.  They ask you why.  Rather than say because you believe in Payne's mission, you try to earn a bit of respect.  You'd heard the stories of a particularly heroic Templar and you let them make the connection themselves.  Sams isn't such a stretch to Samson is it?  Must've taken a bit of acting to find out he was dead, which really only helped in that he wasn't around to contradict your story."

"It was harmless."

"I agree."

"I shouldn't have done it."

"I agree there as well."

"It's just.  My whole life I haven't been taken seriously.  Through school, even as an engineer, really.  I just thought I could get treated with some respect.  And I didn't hurt anyone by it."

"But it didn't exactly help you either, did it?  You got some sympathy, but it's damn clear you're nothing like Samson.  Hell, nobody is."

"Don't suppose it did, no."

"Which is why you want to join up as a Templar.  Show us all you've got the minimals to do it just like your fake brother.  All that about duty and whatnot was bullocks."

"Getting a bit personal now, Hayes?  What about yourself, you cynical fucker?  I bet you want me to go and live life just like you did, eh?  Talk down to half the world and trick myself into thinking I've got a right to?  You're down in this sewer just like we all are, but somehow you got me thinking that there's a reason for you doing it.  I bet you have yourself half convinced you actually do, too.  The Payneites are evil bastards, the servoheads are stupid pawns, and the Operators all have the wool pulled over their eyes.  Is that it?"

"If I knew what I was getting into, Sams-"

"Yeah?  You and me both.  Probably all of us.  Except the Templars."

"Maybe so.  What if there was a way out?"

"What are you on about?"

"Sams.  Let's be honest with each other a second.  Do you believe in what we're doing down here?"

"Yes.  The Nessies need to be stopped."

"But you aren't sure we're doing it the right way."

"Well that.  Yeah, that's a bit more on the mark."

"Because we aren't winning.  And this is too big a job to handle for a church, even one with the resources of the Payneites."

"Yeah."

"So I'll ask again.  What if there was a way out?"

"I still think I should be down here doing my part."

"And if you could do your part elsewhere?  Be the one to alert higher authorities?  Get us some real presence down here to stop the Nessies before they do any more damage to England?"

"The Chaplain says-"

"Bugger what the Chaplain says, Sams!  I am asking you.  Operator Sams.  Do you think we need help down here, and are you willing to be the one to get it?"

"I...I would, yeah."

"Tonight I want you to get in touch with Palmer.  Yes, that Palmer.  Tell him I sent you.  And not another word."

"What happens then?"

"I think you'll get your chance to be taken seriously."

**End Recording**

[Wyldkat]

   The darkness vibrated with sound.  She could feel it all over her body, but particularly through her feet and that was what she was paying attention to currently.  Part of the brilliant vibrations she felt were from the song of her pack.  She could feel them shifting behind her, slowly growing more impatient, but it wasn't time yet.  They would have to keep waiting for awhile longer.  She looked back at them, the darkness of the Below only allowing faint outlines of black against black.  They were all good fighters, most veterans of many hunts.  Her song shifted expressing her pride in them and theirs warped to match hers.  Pleased that spirits were high she went back to concentrating on the vibrations of the Below.
   She could feel the very faint vibrations of her sister Alpha's pack even with the distance between them.  It wasn't the part of the song her ears could hear, but the deep subsonics that communicated across long distances.  She tuned in to that sensation, readjusting her weight on her haunches, settling in for the wait.  It was one of her sister's pack that was acting as scout this hunt, lying in wait for the next group of armored Above creatures that they knew would eventually venture out into the Below.  The other Alpha was close enough to feel the alert from the single scout and then her pack would sing the signal alerting the other group with the vibrations.
   Her pack was to feast on the first, smaller group while her sister's pack took the larger group by surprise from behind.  They were each expecting to lose about half of their respective packs on this hunt, but there should be much meat to bring back to the den.  It would be a satisfying fight with good rewards.
   Suddenly the strumming deep vibrations shifted urgency and she rose off the ground, changing her song to her pack as she did.  They all rose in unison, their singing mutating to merge with hers, matching it, alerting her sister Alpha that they had received her message.  She led them through the passages in search of their quarry, feeling for the vibrations of metal on artificially made stone and allowing them to guide her to her goal, her song taking on an exhilarated fighting edge and her pack matching her in song and movement.  Nothing could possibly surpass the joy of an Alpha leading her pack on the attack.

My opinion may be colored by the fact that you're a smelly pagan from a pack of shitbirds and I don't like you at all, but...


I'd appreciate it if you'd stay the fuck off of my story arc. Thanks. You can do what you want, as this is an open-source project, but I'm asking.

Um...  This was my own take on them.  I wasn't trying to mess with anyone's story arc.

[Eater of Clowns]

**Recording.  Tunnel 9 Operations Lower Office.  6/30/13  0327**

"Hayes, sit down."

"Believe I'll stand."

"This is past the point of games, Hayes."

"Which is why I'm ready to run, Chaplain."

"How far do you think you'd make it?"

"I imagine further than ordinary, given standby teams are tending to the incident."

"You aren't in any danger, Hayes.  Even now.  Just have a seat.  There.  Now, I don't need to ask you why you're here."

"Something to do with whatever is going on."

"Ever the perceptive one.  And yeah, it has something to do with whatever is going on.  I suppose when we get a minute and this is over, reviewing the vids, we won't find out you had anything to do with this."

"What is this, again?"

"A half hour ago, an operator, two runners, and an unidentified fourth party left the perimeter."

"Why the alarm?"

"Because they're, for lack of a better term, civilians.  We can't have them in danger."

"So you decided to drag them back here against their will?"

"Yes."

"Why don't you ask them what it's about then, not me?"

"They aren't in any state to answer us."

"What happened?"

"Rotten luck, as far as we can tell.  It looks like they had a plan.  Where to go, how they intended to get topside, precisely the kind of thing you'd expect to see from very capable people.  Except for one thing."

"That would be what?"

"Didn't bring any weapons.  As close to the perimeter as they were, they probably didn't think they needed any.  One Nessie, as far as we could tell.  Two of them killed outright, the other two caught running in separate directions.  Only one we could identify was Operator Palmer."

"Fuck's sake."

"Pretty chummy with Palmer, weren't you Hayes?"

"Yeah.  Yeah, he was a friend.  Or at least as close to one as you can come down here."

"If you're finding out this way, and I'm not certain you are, then I'm sorry.  What about Operator Sams?"

"Did you find him?"

"We started doing a body count as soon as this all started.  There isn't a way of telling with the state of the bodies, but right now we're assuming he was among them.  But then, until you were found, so were you."

"Sams.  The fucking kid."

"This is a big loss for us all, Hayes."

"Kid never did anything wrong.  He trusted you.  He trusted me.  We fucking killed him.  I...I killed him."

"Thought you might have been invo-Hayes?  Operator Hayes where are you going?"

**End Recording**

[Eater of Clowns]

**Recording.  Tunnel 9 Staging Grounds.  7/2/13  0750**

"You don't have to do this, you know."

"The needle, please."

"We saw the vids.  You're a bullshitter, it's not your fault the kid listened."

"The needle, Chaplain."

"This'll sting a moment.  We were missing one other, you know.  Tech, worked on the armor."

"Hope he got out alright."

"You hear what I'm saying?  Sams might have made it out."

"The words please, Chaplain."

"Stubborn fuck then still?  Fine, we'll see how stubborn you are after a few runs."

"The words.  Starting to lose my edge to this juice. The words, Chaplain, before I can't muster them any longer."

"This isn't your pla-"

"May this maille."

"May this maille, blessed by Payne, guard thy skin."

"MAY IT GUARD MY SKIN, AS HONOR GUARDS MY SOUL."

"May the servos of thy arms and legs carry thee into peril and back again."

"MAY THEY AID ME THERE IF MY TASK NOT BE DONE, OR LEAVE ME IF MY TIME BE UP."

"May the helm protect thy neck, be thy eyes, and guard thy conciousness."

"MAY MY PRINCIPLES AND FAITH GUARD ME WHERE I SHALL WALK."

"May thy weapon be sharp, and thy skill unerring."

"MAY I BE THE ARMORED FIST OF PAYNE, TO CARRY OUT HIS SENTENCE UPON THE VILE."

**End Recording**

Chaplain's Note:  The preceeding logs chronicle Operator Alec Hayes.  As of this writing, Operator Hayes is no more.

Operator Sams is still missing, presumed dead.  If he was not the unidentified party of the Palmer Incident, I assume he simply managed to run a litte farther before abduction by Nessie.

Given the unfortunate fate of these few, I highly discourage "civilian" only positions in our operation.  In the future, that duty may be filled by former Templars.  We've found that dedication to Payne is drastically increased in those who have faced the Nessie.

[Cardinal Pizza Deliverance.]

Holy shit, Eater of Clowns. Nooooooooo!! Not cute and cuddly SAMS! NOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

Amazing stuff. DAMN YOU! 

[The Good Reverend Roger]

That story arc was AMAZING, EoC.

You've really got a talent for this.

[Luna]

EoC, next time you're in Prov, I'm buying you a beer.