« 002 ⇢ INTERLUDE002.EXE »

[reparator]

Who: These unfortunate souls
When: OOC: 9/02, IC: 3/01
Where: CERES Research Tower
What: It's time to stage a raid against CERES while they're MIA; what better place to start than the research tower?
Rating/Warning: R: violence and death

---

▶ ACTION.EXE | IC: 3/01

[ It took some time to get to the tower itself; the Research District was in as bad a shape as the other district, if not more so due to the lack of reconstruction there; the debris was piled high, pools of water hiding shorted out electrical gadgets (be careful not to touch!).

But either way, after a few days of hard work, the characters will find themselves at the door of the research tower.

Time to go in through the front door!

You step inside, and then... you're separated. ]

---

▶ RUN.EXE | MOD NOTES

This is the event log for these sign-ups! Your groups have been sorted below; here are a few handy links for you:

Group 01 | OOC plotting
Group 02 | OOC plotting
Group 03 | OOC plotting
There is no tagging order, so feel free to tag in whatever way works best for you as a group.

There will be mod involvement in each of the tours; please be prepared for injury and death in each thread.

If there are any questions, feel free to ask them here. You are welcome to plot with your groupmates in this post. Thank you!

Comments

▶ GROUP 01.EXE

[reparator]

. . . LOADING GRELL SUTCLIFF.$$$ . . . LOADING HICCUP HORRENDOUS HADDOCK III.$$$ . . .
. . . LOADING HIRARI ABE.$$$ . . . LOADING NAMUR.$$$ . . .
. . . LOADING SAILOR MARS.$$$ . . . START RAID.EXE. . .

---

[ For everyone in this group, the moment they're inside the floor will open up under them, and they'll be falling. It seems to be a shaft of some sort, perhaps once for an old elevator that is no longer functioning.

Either way, they'll fall for a short period of time before they land on a hard and metallic surface -- it may, in fact, be the top of the elevator that's no longer in use. The shaft is incredibly dark; it's impossible to see just about anything.

Welcome to CERES. ]

Re: ▶ GROUP 01.EXE

[snakebait]

[ Hirari is just about to pull out his sword to stab into any nearby walls to slow the fall when he lands hard. Ow, that didn't hurt at all. Ugh. He feels around on the ground to see if there's anything there aside from them. ]

Hey, anyone hurt?

[om_nom_namur]

[Shit it's like going back in time. What is with this damn world and suddenly deciding that there's no floor? Namur picks himself up gingerly.]

Naw I jus' knocked my head some, sheheheh!

[For those that don't know him, he thinks he's funny.

Unfortunately, he's not.

Fortunately, his eyes are shit, so getting around in the dark won't be so bad. He has a few other senses that make up the difference.]

So, whaddy' think, try t' climb out or keep headin' down?

[faithfulflame]

[Falls happen. Just...they happen and you get used to them. Picking herself up, Mars taps a heel on the metal surface beneath her feet and sighs. Looking around in the near pitch blackness, she raises a hand.]

I'm fine, thank you. But I'm not sure about how to proceed. It's hard to see. [A pause.] I'm going to make a light. Please, don't look directly up for a moment.

[And with a whisper of will and magic, she calls up a small will-o-wisp, a glowing orange sphere of magic light to cast back some of the shadows. Hopefully that will keep any lurking grue at bay]

[allthreefourths]

[ what a good... birthday surprise... honestly, hiccup doesn't know what he expected. walk into the base of giant, questionable corporation? of course there's a trap door! unfortunately an elevator shaft isn't the best place for toothless to spread his wings with others around them, so when they fall, hiccup and his dragon are right there to fall with the rest of them.

sorry for the tight squeeze.

regardless, hiccup's still kind of making sure toothless is okay before he speaks. luckily they don't need any dragon or sword fire, because when mars says she'll take the reigns in the lighting department, he's all for it. ]

Well, it looks like the right person fell in with us.

[ lightly, as he stands and looks around the now lit shaft as he considers the "UP OR DOWN" question. honestly, both are basically a bad decision in a place like this... ]

Uh, we're good too.

[redcinemareel]

[Lucky for Grell, and unlucky for anyone below her, her hard fall isn't as hard as expected, but surely she landed on someone along the way to actually falling onto the floor. There is a groan after a moment of stillness as Grell gets her bearings together, as well as angered grumbling.]

Bloody Hell... [Once she stands, she spots a soft orange glow, and other figures around her. Apparently, she isn't the only one stuck in here.] I guess we all missed that first step.

[She takes out her device and makes use of th flash, making it act as a flashlight for her.] Any ideas of where we've fallen into?

[snakebait]

[ Well, someone not from the time before elevators were invented probably has an easier time figuring out what they're on top of (if that really is what they're on). ]

No idea, but either way we don't know what's coming.

[ He doesn't have any plans on dying here or losing another limb though, he has to go back to Botan in one piece. He promised her not to die after all.

Now that there's light, he looks around to see if there's any other directions to take, any holes to go through. ]

[om_nom_namur]

[Grell landed on Namur. At least they're keeping it in the family?]

[He tries to look up at where they used to be, but Rei's light gets in the way, so he stomps a foot instead, listening carefully to the vibrations that come back at him.]

'S hollow below us. Might as well get a jump on the shitty place an' drop ourselves on purpose for once, eh? Hang on t' yer asses!

[That's all the warning they'll get before Namur draws back an arm and twists into a downward punch, his arm turning black as he moves. There's a small impact wave as his fist connects, and the floor judders and caves, but Namur can see it won't break. Yet. His other arm turns black for a moment and he slams it against the same spot before the movement from his first strike can die down. This time the stress is enough and the floor opens up beneath him- and maybe a few others. Namur disappears into the darkness below.]

[faithfulflame]

[Mars doesn't immediately drop down, instead just stepping aside when that portion of floor breaks away and waiting. She's not going to jump into a bottomless pit. She will, however, cast a light down after the sharkman, a second ball of flame, and then peer into the gloom.]

▶ GROUP 02.EXE

[reparator]

. . . LOADING HIRO HAMADA.$$$ . . . LOADING KORRA.$$$ . . .
. . . LOADING MASAMUNE DATE.$$$ . . . LOADING SORAMARU KUMOU.$$$ . . .
. . . LOADING TERRA.$$$ . . . START RAID.EXE. . .

---

[ At the same time that the other group falls through a trapdoor, everyone in this group will find themselves grabbed by robots and dragged through a hallway. It's at a disorienting speed that they drag everyone, and doors are passing by, some closed and some empty -- but they are just robots.

It's hard to say where they're taking everyone, though; there's two robots per person, one holding to each arm, and they're all metallic lines and cold eyes, none of the cheer of the AIs that populate the rest of the city.

Welcome to CERES. ]

[zerotohiro]

[On the one hand, having a flying robot came in handy when it came to actually getting to the facility in the first place, especially when Baymax can lift a thousand pounds and move debris with ease. On the other hand, it was just one more thing for the other robots to grab as Hiro finds himself being pulled off of Baymax's back and restrained, yelling in surprise and squirming.]

Hey! [But it's too fast. It's too fast and too rushed for any of them to even stop and he hardly gets a chance to see what exactly happened as he hears the sounds of the first group disappearing right through the trapdoor and notices the swarm of bots descending upon the second group to haul them off. There's a displeased grunt as he tries to wiggle free again, finding it nearly impossible to move at all as the robots flanking him march him on down the long hall.]

See if anybody else can shut them down!

[braavado]

[Grabbing her the way they did already puts those robots on her shit list, but when she notices how different they are from the other robots she's seen around the colony, Korra doesn't hesitate to attack. Struggling doesn't work when their grips are so unforgiving, but... there's another way. Though in the middle of capture isn't the ideal place to recall Suyin's metalbending lessons, Korra tries exactly that. She's rewarded when she's able to get a good feel for the metal beside her and send one of them flying away from her.

Gritting her teeth, Korra gets to work on the second one, sparing a glance at Hiro and the others.]

Tell me what to do! I think I can tear the metal casing open, if there's no other way!

[She thinks she can, anyway.]

[ailingsoul]

--Whatever you can's fine!

[ soramaru hates robots, he thinks. even though it's been over a month since coming to this place, he's barely used to "future" technology, and whenever robots are about... it usually means there's some kind of trouble, and he's getting a little sick of being kidnapped by them.

he doesn't have time to think about his weakness. he doesn't have time to think about the fact that he can't do anything, right now. someone offered to help, and so -- he's going to trust them. ]

[earthshaken]

[Terra tries to dig his armoured boots into the ground to stop the robots from hauling him along, but even as the biggest and tallest of the group, they're still managing to drag him with the rest at a dizzying speed. Breaking free would be easy if he used darkness, but the last thing he wants to do is risk hurting the others.

Korra's plan seems a lot less risky, so as she flings away one of the robots restraining her, he summons his Keyblade to hand and calls to her.]

Get one of my arms free! I can take care of the rest.

[reparator]

[ One of the robots goes into a wall, the others pausing at that, which gives everyone in the group a moment to react. They're armed, however; the robots that were holding Terra let go, but only to reveal the guns kept in compartments in their metallic legs, which they then lift.

The others continue to grab hold of their victims, but they are certainly distracted by the fate of the other comrade, which lies in a heap against the wall. ]

[zerotohiro]

[It's enough of a moment to react and for Hiro to twist in the robots' grip to face Baymax.]

Baymax, roundhouse! [Without question, the large-bodied armored robot moves to swing his leg into a kick to free himself from his captors, sending another one into a corner and freeing up one side. It's the guns Hiro's worried about though as he attempts to bodily collide with the robot holding his left arm to slam it against the wall.] Move while they're distracted and watch the guns. Korra, bend what you can!

[And he's just going to hope Terra and Soramaru can defend themselves fast enough, if nothing else that Terra's keyblade can take care of that.]

[braavado]

Got it!

[Combat experience aside, Korra knows better than to brush aside anything Hiro says about the robots when she's completely in over her head with the technology here. Another quick sweep of her eyes and Korra quickly judges the situation, snapping into action after ditching her second robot.

Trusting Hiro and Baymax to handle their own, Korra concentrates on Terra's captors first. She reaches out with her bending, sweat beading at her forehead as she makes a wrenching sort of motion with her hands. The metallic arms holding onto Terra's keyblade arm jerk suddenly and then break off from the robot's main body, leaving Terra free to take care of the rest himself. With that done, Korra whirls around and leaps toward Soramaru, hands already outstretched to yank the robots off of him with her metalbending.]

▶ GROUP 03.EXE

[reparator]

. . . LOADING ALCOR.$$$ . . . LOADING CHIBI.$$$ . . .
. . . LOADING ILLIDAN STORMRAGE.$$$ . . . LOADING ISHTAR.$$$ . . .
. . . LOADING JACK FROST.$$$ . . . START RAID.EXE. . .

---

[ Group 1 falls through a trap door and Group 2 is dragged off so suddenly by robots that there's really nothing that can be done --

And then Group 3 is left in the lobby alone.

There's awkwardly cheerful music playing. A door across the way denotes itself as an "Employees Only" entrance, and there is an elevator off to one side, though the lights are flickering.

There's no receptionist at the desk.

Welcome to CERES...? ]

i love that the youtuber got requests for the last second of elevator music and had to upload it

[manolia]

[Chibi braces himself for something sudden - will he fall through that trapdoor? Get dragged off by robots to gay baby jail, or be struck down where they stand by lasers or, uh, something suitable??]

[Overall, he's more surprised when nothing happens at all... Just the music (it's quite nice, actually, he thinks) and the four people standing around him. For a long moment, he stands there, eyebrows raised, mouth opening and closing.]

[Eventually, he settles on:] Well, at least our blessings are with us. [For now, or something.]

[He doesn't even look at the elevator - no thank you, no metal box from which there's no escape for him. Instead, he casts a careful eye towards the door, but lingers on the desk. Maybe there's some kind of directory, even if it's a puzzle?? Action Man, he is not, and he's grasping at straws here.] Shall we, then?

it's like director's cut, those seconds make aaaaall the difference

[2cool4guardian]

[After so many days trying to find a way... he's finally in. But he's not alone - dammit! He doesn't want to risk it for the others too! His worst fears are proven when part of the group gets kidnapped not once, but twice.

Jack has been angry since he met Water, and this only makes it worse. He hits the closing trap doors with his fist, obviously not getting an answer.]

They took my friends, don't call this a blessing!

[Sorry, but Jack is just mad - and it shows with the temperature going down in the hallway. Hiccup, Rei, Hiro, Korra... it was a glance, but he saw them, he would recognize them everywhere. And now they're gone who knows where.

Unlike Chibi, Jack IS a man of action, and one without patience. So he'll just shoot an ice beam at the employees only door in an attempt to find a way deeper into the building.]

[unpreparer]

If they cannot handle themselves, then they should not have bothered coming. I have faith in the priestess,but I cannot speak for the others.

[Illidan would have rolled his eyes at the bickering, had he still had them. Instead he gazed around the area, while his eyes could detect magic, the lifeless metal of the place was another matter entirely. Illidan followed the stringy water elemental boy down the hall. He would have tried to take lead, but with his size maneuvering that which he could not see would be difficult without a guide. He did keep a lookout for any threats at least.]

Come on, hurry it up, boy. Patience is not one of my virtues.

[adminproof]

[Alcor/Saiduq/whatever he's known as by now simply follows along via floating a few inches off the ground, not uttering a word of complaint or conversation. He's far from uninvested; indeed, he's also looking out for any threats, and making a mental map of their surroundings and the current layout.

He simply shoves a hand in his pocket, preparing himself for anything that might happen from Jack's outburst of ice aimed at the door.]

[reparator]

[ If Chibi searches the desk, he will find a pamphlet titles "CERES and You: How to Make the Most of Your Career With CERES". It seems to be full of propaganda, but there is no map.

The ice hits the employee door, and now it is a frozen employee door!

No, really, it's a normal door, it's not even locked. ]

[xroyal_bratx]

Yeah I wouldn't really call this a blessing. It's like a curse, or a nightmare of some sort.

[ Ishtar was disoriented at what just happened, and it took her a moment to understand what was going on. ]

Er... was that a good idea...?

[ Maybe not since the ice hits the employee door. It's frozen. Well, that's wonderful. ]

[manolia]

The 'blessing' would be that we're not falling through any trapdoors, as of now. [If they, you know, work together and plan how to extract this Bridge best. And luck and the Goddess are on their side. Which they are not. Of course Chibi gets stuck with the group that just rushes ahead, he thinks - what a mess.]

[So he takes it upon himself to portal over to the desk, opening and shutting a few drawers quickly - no advanced machinery, no maps, but a pamphlet which he tucks into his hat for safe-keeping. He's back through another portal as quickly as he left, landing lightly on his feet.]

[He won't browbeat Jack over the frozen door, which creaked unpleasantly with the force of the ice hitting it. Instead, he'll just walk towards it - aside the rest of the group, not in front or back - while quipping:] Let's see what's through door number one, then.