* It's been a week since the Isis-wide incident. * Rumors abound of what the purpose of it was, but noone knows for sure. Oddly enough, noone has been able to track it yet. * There's been further rumors of massive hardware failure by various sites that have pressed their luck, causing several brown outs. But again, rumors. * You yourself, having responded to it, are wondering if it was just a hoax. [Start] * GodHand paces her small apartment. Bits and pieces of plaster and leftover food lay scattered about, the products of her hunger and accidents. She looks at the compu-screen once more, curses, and flexes her bionic right arm. "If I don't get that job...There's not much left." * GodHand checks her wallet. *fly flies out* * The compu screen activates suddenly, a face of some sort showing on it. * It knocks twice, a glass sound, as if it was on the other side of a TV, despite the fact that it's a plastic screen. Yoo-hoo! Godhand, you there? * The voice, now speaking, sounds rather feline. The image zooms out some to reveal the close up the face was the close up of a humanoid cat looking thing. * GodHand coughs, putting her hands behind her back. "Yes. And you are...?" * GodHand steps slowly over, peering closely Oh dear, I hope I've not gotten the wrong pla... Ah! Godhand! Sorry about the wait! No problem. * The face on the screen peers from its end, trying to get a closer look at the speaker. Ah... cute too. By human standards, anyways. But anyways! Business! * GodHand thinks 'By human-, who does she-...' but holds herself, coughing. "Thank you." * The cat-like figure leans down, picking up something, on its end, and clears it throat. 'Our seceret organization for the idealization of Isis desperately needs help!' 'If you are interes...' Sorry. Wrong page. ^_^; No...problem... * GodHand stares incredulously. 'What the hell? Are THESE the people?' 'Thank you for agreeing to join the idealziation organization of Isis! Your service will be appreciated!' 'After countless background checks, and weeding and screening protocols, we've chosen YOU! We beleive that you would be a great help in furthering our cau...' ..... Okay. This is rather cheesy, even for the Big Boss. * The cat-like figure tosses the papers behind him, shrugging. *ahem* Anyways. Sorry it took so long. I'll be your guide, if you so accept. You've been accepted, out of countless others, based out your background, ability, and other factors My guide? Should you choose to accept, I'll show you how to get on-site for a couple of further interviews and tests. Yeah! Guide! Big Boss likes to keep his identity a secret, so he runs everything through me. And just you nevermind I said that! Alright. I accept. Alright! I'll contact you again at the 123th floor exit to the apartments! See you soon! * Monitor clicks off, resuming it's previous operation. * GodHand throws a long cloak around herself, pulling the hood up and making sure the long sleeve cover her right arm...she then contemplates the best way to get to the 123 Exit * GodHand heads out and starts hopping stairs * The trip down the stairs is uneventful. Once you exit, however, it's a different story, as people are standing away from an odd looking mech. It seems to be waiting for you. Also, the various screens around are acting ..'funny'. * GodHand glances at the screens as she heads for the mecha * The screens all switch to the same face as before, looking around, then eyes widening upon detection of the other mech, then blinks out again. ...? So, you're the one they want. Dammit. Well, might as well get down to business. * The reason Mech is odd looking is apparent now, as it flings off a garment, revealing several weapons upon it. Eh. Crap. * Mech turns to aim several barrels at you! * The people and mechs who were milling around, and merely staying away from it, now break into a full-fledged run to clear the scene. * GodHand runs up to the Mecha, gritting her teeth, and makes a grab for its foot so she can swing it in a hard throw to the ground * Mech 's weapons are about to fire, as it suddenly get slammed into the ground! There's a small explosion as the charged weapons fire into the crater it's occupying. * Several smaller explosions are heard, then stop. Mech gets back up, looking badly damaged. Igh... ug... *glares at Godhand* Some.. other time. Wanna give up yet? That's what I thought. * Mech limps off, dripping oils and fluids. You don't think it'll make it far, leaving a trail like that. Well THAT was interesting... * GodHand looks at the wall screens again, as if mecha coming out of the blue and attacking her on the street were an everyday thing * Various screens switch from acting 'funny', to one of them showing the same face as before. Mind telling me what the hell that was? Oh, good? Are you okay? Alright! Way to go Godhand! Yuuuuh huh. No, I don't at all! Except the only thing I know is that one of the tracking attempts must have succeeded. ^_^ Joy. We'll look into it back here. Shouldn't be too hard to figure out how and and why, though! So how do I get THERE? *looks around* Ah! I was just getting to that part! I was going to guide you the whole way, screen by screen, but as our security has been temporarily compromised, I'll just give you the directions! I'm sure Big Boss'll understand! So, listen up! There's a bar called the Oiled Pony, in the Berva Nine area! Gotcha. You have to talk to the bartender, and tell him the magic words, and he'll give you a magic key! But it's not really magical. I guessed. The words are Bloody Unicorn, and he'll give you the rest of the directions. Bai now! * The monitor stops broadcasting the face, and, a few moments later, the 'funnyness' of the clustered screens stops. Nice transportation. * GodHand grumbles, hopping into her car and spinning off towards Berva Nine * GodHand scouts around for the Oiled Pony * The ride is fairly uneventful. The news does mention another attempt to trace the hoax a week before, ending in a mainframe exploding. Also, there's a mention of an 'incident' from right around your apartment. News travels fast...the wonders of technology * The Oiled Pony is found easily enough, a small little bar nestled in between a megahighway and a maglev station. You'd swear theres not more than a few centimeters between the constant traffic or the heavy maglev shielding. It's also apparently a Mech bar. * GodHand pulls over and parks in a safe, out of the way place, and hikes it into the bar * The inside is home to various tables, mostly Mechs, with the occasional Numech about. It would seem like a fight is about to break out, but the denizens are acting rather well mannered. * The bartender itself is a rather large mech, loafing around during the slow business. * GodHand walks up to the bar, coughing slightly * Bartender looks over Godhand slowly. Yes? Don't get many humans here. Too scared off by the noise. Go off to their own 'Human' bars. I'm funny like that. * Bartender shrugs. You serve any...*looks up* Bloody Unicorn's here? We don't serve human drinks here, if you want.... Ah. If thats what you want, then I have just the thing. * GodHand looks down, smirking lightly * Bartender leans under the bar, grabbing something. Coming back up, it plunks a oily black mug, partially filled with a slightly clear viscous fluid. You also notice there's something in the mug besides the fluid. Some advice. There's a good 'Human bar' 3 levels down. It looks like a big building, but don't let that fool ya. * Bartender winks meaningfully. * GodHand twitches slightly, but smiles, raising the glass. "Cheers." She lifts the drink to her lips and pours it into her mouth...without bothering to taste, she immediately lifts up her hand, the fluid spurting from her mouth...as well as the object. Right into her hand. She quickly closes her fingers around it and hides it in her robes, wiping her mouth with her other arm. God...what is that stuff? * Bartender smiles some. This *is* a mech bar. Now I get why you don't get many humans... Anyway, thanks for the drink. Glad ta be of service. * GodHand strides out, heading for her car. If she gets inside, and pulls out her hand and inspects the object * You get inside. Then the ground swallows you and the car whole. =p WHOA! What the Hell?! * Just joking. Actually, you get inside with no incident. (Meeeeeean) * The key appears to be a solid iron key, with a couple of embedded microciruits. * GodHand checks the item ¬.¬ Swell... I had to put that in my mouth for this? * When we last left off, Godhand drank a mech drink to get a key, and was told by Barkeep that there was a nice 'Human Bar' a whiles down. * GodHand , after examining the key in the safety of her car, gets out, slipping the device into a pocket of her brown robes. Looking about, she starts making her way down the suggested route. * There is no 'suggested route', as there are several ways to get there. But regardless, you make it okay. * The 'big building' mentioned before is quite big, as it's obviously the one that was referred to. * It's quite big and opulent, a veritable mansion. * The surrounding area is suspiciously quiet, except for the sounds of distant traffic. * GodHand walks up to the entrance slowly, eyes constantly darting this way and that. * GodHand knocks * The echo of the knock upon the wooden door echoes louder than you'd expect, the sound breaking the silence, then returning to it. * And there's no response. * GodHand closes her hand around the door and yanks it open, frustrated and not thinking...*crack* She suddenly finds herself holding the unattached door by the knob. Dammit... * There's a faint beep from a lock that is no longer functioning. You'd guess that the key you have went to it. ...oops * The inside, now that the door is no longer obstructing your view, is even more opulent than the outside. * Expensive carpets, antique art, chandeliers, double circular stairs, etc. * GodHand wanders in and casually tries to position the door so her break is undetectable.. * A foot or so in, then the carpet, and the floor under it, fall beneath you! And you fall too, down a steeply angled metallic chute! Holy-...! * GodHand swears a bit and tries to twist around and sink her bionic hand into the material of the chute * It's no good, the chute is way too slick. * As you keep sliding down, you catch up to the sliding trap carpet segment. About a foot before the chute spits you out. * Which is a good thing, because it gets spit out immediatly before you, and you have a nice soft landing in an unlit room. * GodHand leaps up, whirling around at the darkness, body poised and ready to fight... * You hear a sliding sound from up above the way you came, then nothing. ...crap. YOU INVITED ME! * The yell echoes about nicely. You get the impression that you're in a big room. * GodHand growls to herself and starts moving through the darkness, feeling blindly with her weak hand. * You stumble into a loader vehicle. At least you think it is. The controls are glowing softly, and the ignition still has the keys in it. Alright... * GodHand hops into it, turning the ignition * It starts beautifally. And, the searchlights on the top come on! * Now that there is light, you can see your surroundings. Which, in this case, happen to be a large room, larger than the mansion apperared to be, you'd wager. * There's parts and equipment of various natures lying around. * GodHand starts trundling through the parts and such with the vehicle, casting the searchlight around as she does * Also, in the far end of the room, there's a maintence elevator. * There seem to be a lot of mech parts. Legs, gunarms, heads, torso peices, gyros..... * The layer of dust on most of the stuff there seems to indicate that noone is down here much. Yech... * GodHand drives over to the elevator and hops off, looking for the button and pressing. * The button presses, but nothing happens. *press press press* * Given the lack of reaction, and the way everything else is, it would appear the power is off. ...swell * GodHand draws her bionic fist back and slams it into the doors * The grating covering the elevator crumples quite easily. * GodHand tosses it aside grumpily and looks to see if the elevator is on this floor, not expecting it to be * Congratulations! You can now step foot inside the inactive maintence elevator. * It is. It's a big elevator, too. * GodHand futilely tries the buttons in here too, eyeing the roof * Nope. The buttons in the elevator don't seem to be doing anything, either. Why must they make everything difficult? * The roof is a see-through caged grate. You think you can see light some distance up. * GodHand jumps, pawing at the grate * You don't quite get a hook on it. * GodHand tries for it again, cursing * You still fail to get a hook into the grating. Damn you! * The elevator laughs at your puny efforts, too. But not really. * GodHand flumps down and tears away the panel with the buttons, examining the wires for any way to get it back and working * The wires seem rather unruly and fscked up. Ripping off the panel didn't seem to help to find a way to turn it on. ... * GodHand drives her hand through the elevator wall and goes for making a hole big enough for her to crawl through * There's a nice hole after 15 minutes or so. It leads into another room, which is also dark. * GodHand creeps through, low * The haphazard destruction that created the tunnel isn't kind, there's a number of jagged edges on the way through. There's enough light to avoid most of them, though. * The other side is dark, but not as near as dark as the previous room was. * You can make out shady outlines, of books and desks. * And also, a person. Who seems to be watching you calmly. Sss! * GodHand jumps back slightly, adopting another fighting stance. "Who's there!" * MysteriousGuy chuckles. I should ask the same thing, shouldn't I? * MysteriousGuy 's voice is full of acidic mirth. And male. That's the only impression you can get of him, besides his outline suggesting he's tall. GodHand. I got invited here. You? * MysteriousGuy chuckles again. Hm... I guess that would make me your host. ...you sent the message? * MysteriousGuy shrugs. Perhaps. You should talk to Cait, though. Are you lost? I guess you could say that * MysteriousGuy moves to to wall, seemingly unhindered by the darkness, and flips the lights on. * MysteriousGuy is tall, 'bout 6'3. He's got long blond hair, and ice-cold blue eyes that seem to have infinite depth. He's wearing a black t-shirt, sneakers, and faded blue jeans. * MysteriousGuy has a wiry build to him, almost skinny. But he walks with an eerie assurance of movement. Godhand, eh? That's what they call me. * MysteriousGuy closes his eyes, in thought, slightly nodding his head. Ah. We should hurry, or you'll miss the feast. * MysteriousGuy opens a door, and steps outside, holding it open for her. ...feast? Feast. * GodHand shrugs, rubbing her arm through her long cloak, and starts walking It's also where all the invitees get introduced. * The door opens into a long, dismal, concrete hallway. I see. * MysteriousGuy walks down it, at a fairly slow pace. * GodHand grumbles to herself 'cause she really doesn't, following at the same pace * The hallway makes a sudden bend, and turns into a spiral metal staircase leading up. * MysteriousGuy stops at it, waiting patiently. * GodHand eyes him, heading up it. *clank* *clank* *clank* * MysteriousGuy dosen't follow, staying at the base of the stairs. Just follow these all the way up, and you'll exit into the billiards room. And then? A guide should be waiting, to direct you to the feast. * GodHand nods and continues up * MysteriousGuy heads back the way he came. * The spiral staircase seems to go up forever, the irritillibaty of the trip compounded by the narrowness of the steps. * Eventually, you make it to the top, and there's a faintly glowing square button in the wall. *press* * The wall slides open, and you are presented with the view of the billiards room, which is currently empty. * Except for the 3 foot tall feline mech standing in front of you. ...*stares down at it* Ah! Godhand! Sorry about the dismal trip, I lost track of you after our last contact. ...you mean after you ran? Eh... hehehehe. Nevermind that, okay? It wouldn't do any good for the communication to be tracked further, anyways. I had to break contact. Well, at least you made it okay! And just you nevermind the old kook down there, m'kay? Oh. By the way, my name is Cait! Please'd to meetcha! ...hi. Where's the feast? Oh! Right! Are you hungry? Good! Come on, come on! Follow me! * Cait pat-pats along, waiting at the exit to the room. * GodHand makes sure her arm is concealed, continuing on * The hidden door slides shut silently as you clear it. * Cait leads Godhand through several hallways, and down a flight of stairs, into the dining room. * Cait gestures to the dining table. Go ahead and find a spot! Shouldn't be too hard! I've got to get ready for the speech! * Cait walks off briskly, leaving Godhand in the room with all the other people. It's pretty easy to find a seat, as there's maybe 30 people in the 200-odd seats available. [End.]