Difference between revisions of "2020-10-03: Sealab2020 5B Off the Deep End"
(Having discovered medical shennanigans, the crew of the Integrity on Deepwater make their way to the CEO's private submersible.) |
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|icdate = August 31st, 2020 | |icdate = August 31st, 2020 | ||
|ictime = Morning | |ictime = Morning | ||
− | |players = [[Albright]], [[Eden]] (ST and Quinn), [[Winters]], and [[Vivian]] (as NPC_Angela) | + | |players = [[Albright]], [[Eden Huxley]] (ST and Quinn), [[Winters (Weaver)|Winters]], and [[Vivian Starr]] (as NPC_Angela) |
|location = Deepwater Technocracy Construct | |location = Deepwater Technocracy Construct | ||
|prptp = Sealab2020 | |prptp = Sealab2020 | ||
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|themesong = | |themesong = | ||
}} | }} | ||
− | [[Category:Albright]][[Category:Eden]][[Category:Winters]][[Category:Vivian]] | + | [[Category:Albright]][[Category:Eden Huxley]][[Category:Winters (Weaver)]][[Category:Vivian Starr]] |
[[Category:Logs]][[Category:Plot:_Sealab_2020]] | [[Category:Logs]][[Category:Plot:_Sealab_2020]] | ||
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<p>Winters looks up at the ceiling as if he could find whatever voice is now properly calling them out for sending the sub to repair their ship. Eyebrows furrow, catch and close together like storm clouds ready to hurl lightning because the wolf is now Grumpy of the situation. Then his nose wrinkles as Angela causes PROBLEMS. "I guess we're setting ourselves in actual opposition now, eh doc?" A glance towards Albright after Angela damages something important. "Couple of hours means we should get somewhere AWAY from where they need to fix it. So lets get out of the bay at least."</p> | <p>Winters looks up at the ceiling as if he could find whatever voice is now properly calling them out for sending the sub to repair their ship. Eyebrows furrow, catch and close together like storm clouds ready to hurl lightning because the wolf is now Grumpy of the situation. Then his nose wrinkles as Angela causes PROBLEMS. "I guess we're setting ourselves in actual opposition now, eh doc?" A glance towards Albright after Angela damages something important. "Couple of hours means we should get somewhere AWAY from where they need to fix it. So lets get out of the bay at least."</p> | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>Steam releases from the bowels of this confusing hell as the Integrity Crew hides among pipes, chutes, underneath railways and passages. The sabotaged system rattled and gurgles for life; drawing a number of armed guards to its approximation. The PA speaker goes off again, <<You are upsetting, Mr. Klieg who has frankly been very hospitable to you during this stressful situation. Please surrender. We are about to unleash the hounds.>> </p> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>With scrapping on the ladder wells, giant naked mole rat like creatures claw their way about. Whiskers twitching, their incredible size is that of tigers or Janson in Hispos. Teeth like daggers, they sniff the air for all signs off activity. Angela and her illness is quickly found, the smell of vomit giving her away in the heated spaces. The monster chipping and chattering as it alerts the GENES of her presence. "Alright, girlie... come on out with your...", a flashlight and taser aimed at her body. "Oh, she's sick. Damnit, Mark! Mark! Get the fucking stretcher. We got to get this one down to Medical. Mr. Klieg will probably want to talk to her.", kicking the mole rat away. "Look Lassie, your probably not feeling too hot. Just make it easy on us. We will get you taken care of.", a few of the GENE's showing up with a stretcher and IV Bag for Angela. Along with a woman with hair pulled tightly in a bun, wearing a long lab coat. "Hello... I'm Dr. Miranda. Your very sick sweetie. You caught a nasty bug that exists down here. Why don't you come with me and we'll go to medical? Are of your friends sick? May I take your temperature?", pulling out a digital thermometer to read her.</p> | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>"They have hounds down here?" Angela asks off-handedly when the PA makes the announcement. Her hiding place isn't the greatest and the mole rat things find her pretty easily. Shivering, she steps out of her alcove into the waiting arms of the patrol. </p> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>"This is... common down here?" she asks, peering at the GENE who spoke before shaking her head, "I was locked out of my room when the alarms started. I was already sick and tried to find my way to the medbay. Then I ran into the other lady... Quinn, I think she told me her name was? Anyway, she told me to follow her and then was all angry and stuff and led me down here. Then she kicked a machine and stole that submersible." The Engineer motions vaguely to the moonpool, "And just left me here. Donno why she wanted me to follow if she wasn't going to help." Angela scowls before looking blearily at Doctor Miranda."</p> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>A twitchy smile rises on the brown-haired woman's features and she nods, "Uh, y-yeah. Thanks, doc. I don't think anyone else is sick. It's just me." She opens her mouth to allow the thermometer to be inserted.</p> | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>"I feel like they use the wrong names for the things too frequently." Winters is speaking mostly to himself since he has tucked away into a hiding place while goons show up to poke/prod/violate/console Angela in her current state. But Angela's 'capture' isn't enough for him to go on out and reveal himself. He'll stay tucked away and hiding. He isn't Ragabash enough to have Gifts to keep himself better hidden than he already is, but boy how he had started to wish for them.</p> | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>Dr Albright has the perfect hiding spot and isn't about to come out and get arrested so they can do strange experiments on her. She will just have to catch up with Angela and free her later on, when it is safer to make a move. For now she keeps herself well hidden to avoid the patrol and creatures.</p> | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>Dr. Miranda uses the digital thermometer and scans Angela's forehead, "Aww, your 104.3 right now. You got a bad fever. We got to get you out of here. Get on the stretcher and we're gonna try and cool you off. Let's talk later.", using her latex gloves to help Angela onto the portable stretcher as the GENE's strapped her down and hoisted her into the air. They trudge up the steps and soon it's just the two members of the Integrity crew hiding. The giant mole rats sniffing about and getting closer.</p> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>While mole rats are notorious for being practically blind, their tremor sense, vibrational understanding and location of sound is /phenomenal/, as Winters speaks beneath his breath - he accidentally reveals himself. The giant hound like creatures pouncing and clawing are him to pull him out. One of the nasty ones chewing on his boot and tugging with full strength. A GENE sighs, "Alright buddy, give yourself up. Don't make us tase you. Come on out.", he states as Winters was completely surrounded. Weapons drawn as they got plastic handcuffs out. "We doing this the hard way, or the easy way?", it appeared like there was no point in resisting he would be overwhelmed.</p> | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>Scent is definitely how Winters is going to be found, tracked down and captured. It lingers through every room he has wandered about, every hallway and every duct. His murmuring and mumblings just expedited the process. No amount of flailing, kicking or shredding was going to keep him from being captured. So he'll pop out with hands held at the level of his shoulders, dangerous still in the future whenever he might decide he was done being caged.</p> | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>Winters gets the male privilege treatment, a few accidental and friendly whacks with the batons. Handcuffed behind his back, instead of in front. Obviously being a male, he had to be the most dangerous of the group and so he's taken more violently. "One for the brig...", one of the GENE's states as Winters is taken to the DeepWater jail. Which just left Dr. Albright alone by herself. Watching and waiting... afraid to move or make a sound as giant Mole Rats climb around her and GENE's stomp about...</p> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>...Hours pass... days linger. It's difficult to tell how time has ticked on by. The guards keep roaming whether night or day, it's endless. While Dr. Albright slowly gets tired, fatigued and.... <<hungrier>> as she didn't eat anything at the banquet. At one point, her stomach growls in desiring food - luckily, no one heard it. But then more hours pass. "Maybe she left Quinn, aboard the sub?", one guard asks another. "Nah, we know she's still here? She might of died between some crack or set of pipes. I'll bet we retrieve her corpse a year or few later.", the guards wanting to give up. Albright could of likely outlasted them, perhaps even got away. But her damn stomach grumbles and the guards hear it. "Get the hounds! Where is she... over here?", the poor Dr. betrayed by her own body. It didn't help with the GENE's started offering food and water to help lure her out. "Come on lady. You've been hiding three damn days. We got shit to do too.", the mole rats getting closer as Albright was pretty much caught.</p> | ||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>Dr Albright figures it is time to come out as they were going to catch her soon anyway, and she bought them a lot of extra times for the Quinn to reach the other group and tell them what is going on, and perhaps even get the ship fixed enough that they could do something. She really needed to check on Angela as well. So she comes out of her hiding spot. "Okay, I am coming out."</p> | ||
+ | |||
+ | <p>"Alright. We got to cuff you... sorry.", the guards who were just doing their jobs explain. | ||
+ | They cuff her in the front and let her use a bathroom or chow hall briefly before a minor | ||
+ | interrogation unfolds. As these passing days would soon become weeks aboard DeepWater.</p> |
Latest revision as of 14:45, 3 September 2024
Off the Deep End | |
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Having discovered Quinn was once human and Angela swimming with parasites, the wayward crew of the Integrity make their way to the CEO's private submersible and discuss what to do from here. | |
IC Date | August 31st, 2020 |
IC Time | Morning |
Players | Albright, Eden Huxley (ST and Quinn), Winters, and Vivian Starr (as NPC_Angela) |
Location | Deepwater Technocracy Construct |
Prp/Tp | Sealab2020 |
Spheres | Weaver |
While the computers immediately warn and indicate a security is on there way and that the restricted and classified information was denied to them; Quinn the rather bulky Amazonian octopus lady with an electrolarynx is changing colors. Her deep aqua blues changing to a bloody orange and red, as she growls and picks up a computer monitor and chucks across the room and against a wall. She is obviously furious; but her anger doesn't seem to be directed at the Integrity crew - rather her parent organization: DeepWater itself.
<<They f*#king lied!!!>>, she hisses through her electronic voice, << I always knew, I was human. I have memories of being a little girl! They said it was all fake. I was born here. The amnesia is bullshit. It's all bullshit.>>, loosing control as she ripped a keyboard from a machine and began bashing it against a thigh glass window in anger.
The octopus gal growling, <<We got to get you out of here! I know where Mr. Klieg's private vessel is. We need to go, or we will end in trouble... or dead.... or worse.>>, panting as she began to prep for war. Quinn unholstering her machete and ripping off her life vest. Her skin and flesh was a chimera of underwater creatures. Fat and blubbery like a jellyfish or seal, covered in hard crab like shells and pulsating pufferfish like spines all rigid and dripping toxins. The GENE was preparing for combat and ready to take on her own people after learning the horrid truth of her origins. Enslaved to Deepwater without knowing truly who or what she was. Kicking open the sealed metallic medical doors, the woman is a living battery ram as she charges down the hallway to lead the members to the private vessel. Sirens not sounding, but lights flashing as an alarm as the moment felt heated and rushed. Someone would need to help escort Angela.
Angela is looking even worse than previously and it probably isn't due just to seeing the squiggly little parasites sashaying their way through her body. Her skin is slicked with sweat and the mottled grey of her complexion is even more pronounced. Her chest heaves as she seems to gasp for breath and -- what's that? -- there seem to be little flaps opening on her throat with every inhale.
She leans against the wall and cringes away as Quinn explodes in rage and begins to tear up the equipment. Swallowing visibly, the brown haired Engineer reaches up with a hand and runs it through her hair, slicked with sweat. When she pulls her hand away, however, a clump of her hair comes with it. Dully, Angela regards the pulled away strands hanging lifelessly on her fingers as if she doesn't quite understand the significance of it. "Oh," she eventually says in realization, but curiously there's no note of panic or concern -- it's more like a confirmation of evidence regarding a specimen during an experiment.
Pushing off the wall, Angela totters in place and offers up a weak smile, discarding the clump of hair with a flick of her fingers -- wait, is there a membrane forming between the digits? "Guys," she says, voice a bit of a gutteral croak, "I'm... not sure I can make it back to the Integrity the way I am. I'd need to be treated here at least to stabilize whatever is happening to me." Her watery eyes -- which seem much bigger now for some reason -- turn slowly to regard Dr. Albright expectantly. After a moment, though, she shuffles towards the busted down door, slowly following in the direction that Quinn rampaged, a hand on the wall keeping her stable.
Dr Albright stares at the screen for a long moment then steps back and pushes up her glasses as she looks around at everyone. "I have seen enough. The level of mutation and the strange things going on here are unnatural and a threat to reality itself. We should destroy the place and return to the ship." She looks to the mutant fish girl, "When we return I can see about getting you turned back to normal." She calls after the woman as she rushes off, "Before we leave, we need to set some explosives. That will keep them from following us, and distract the sharks." She looks back over to Angela, "If we stay around here, we are going to get attacked." She will grab any extra medicine or useful tools that happen to be laying around that might be useful for treating Angela before leaving however.
Winters is torn. Torn between following right behind Quinn and absolutely demolishing this station and destroying whatever they've used to do this to people. But his team is HERE in the medical bay and heading towards the vessel. "I think whatever we end up doing is going to based off of what /she/ is doing." Because she has already left and is already causing trouble. "I think they'd divide their security forces if we weren't together..." Winters is moving to be at the head of this group, reaching down to grasp the material of his bodysuit pants from his thighs as his shoulders flex. Ripped bodysuit as he changes to be a wolf again, on all fours. To pad out past the pair to scout ahead.
Like a bio-organic undersea tank, Quinn is charging and bashing through doors instead of trying to open them through the security procedures and lockdowns. At the stairwell, the female GENE hammers on the door and eyes, Rocco the French fishman chef with the elaborate mohawk. <<Rocco!!! Tell them we went a different way, or I'll cut you in half!>>, raising her machete high in the air and cleaving another Fishman cleanly in twine. Quinn had a level of unnatural strength to her as Rocco nods and cowers behind the body of his conversational partner; still in shock from being chopped in half and not registering he was dying yet. Blood pooling on the ground and steps as Quinn jumped over it like a school girl and a puddle. <<Tell them we went up... not down...>>, as Quinn leads the way to the private vessel of the CEO.
It would be a few more ambush kills and Quinn even being shot by automatic weapons, but the monster regenerates quickly. Killing former ally and letting some run, as they went deeper into the hell of it. Sweltering heat takes over, engine compartments and vast machinery that drained the Mariana's trench of Quintessence. For Albright, these lower levels would be ideal to plant and hide charged explosives... but heat on Angela turns her stomach rancid. It gets harder to descend into this engineering pit and fiasco of corridors, even as they neared the Moonpool. The giant football field sized entrance that allowed vessels to depart back into the ocean.
Down in these depths, they find the holy grail. A single white submarine covered in the same ceramics Deepwater was made out of. From the outside it should house all of them, but once Quinn kills the guards of submersible and opens it up with one of her keycards... a dire fate is presented.
The submarine is small, it's really used for personal trips of the CEO, Mr. Klieg. It can house roughly six to eight people if really packing them in like a clown car. Four people is reasonable, two to three is quite manageable and one is ideal. However, vast majority of the space is occupied by a fabricated ballast tank for the Integrity. To be delivered and help ship get upright. Due to the ballast tank taking up so much room, and Quinn being rather large herself... taking up the space of 2-3 people by herself. The room on board is extremely crowded. Really it can only fit one other member besides Quinn. <<....Shit....>>, the GENE woman said while turning blue and trying to calm. <<...I can pilot the craft... since that's my job as Mr. Klieg's body guard...>>, a position she would likely no longer have. <<But we can't fit everyone on board.... I don't know what to do. But I don't think I can stay...>>, gripping her weapon tightly. <<You have to decide, who will stay and who will go... before they catch us.>>, they were after all - about to steal the CEO's private submarine.
A faint moue of concern spreads on Angela's features when Albright brings up destroying the facility, her brows knitting. "Do you... really think that's necessary?" the brown haired (though perhaps not for long) Engineer rasps out, "Even ignoring the huge investment the Union has put into this facility -- it has to be multi-tens of billions at least! -- think about all the personnel who will die if we do that." She pulls in a gasping breath before continuing, "I think Quinn proves that not every person here is part of the problems here -- some are innocent victims! And no doubt some are just people sent down to work for a couple weeks before being rotated out. We'll be condemning a lot of people to death. People who don't deserve it." She bites on her lower lip pensively -- and that's odd, it looks like her front teeth are fusing together; there's no spaces in between them now -- before she continues, "Would... wouldn't it be better if we just got to the Integrity and reported to the rest of Union what is going on down here? The Symposium overseeing Deepwater can then take whatever steps they deem necessary. Besides, we still need Deepwater's help to get the Integrity into a state where she will move under her own power again, right?"
Angela's lips quirk up into an amused (if sickly) smile at Winter's glib statement regarding being led by Quinn's actions. "True enough," she says, letting out a glurgling chuckle as she follows along, her steps wavering and unstable, but trying to keep up the pace.
Quinn's rampage leads to Angela shuffling through the aftermath of bloodied Fishman corpses and general destruction with an expression of mild distaste -- not the full blown disgusted horror that this path of destruction warrants. Of course, everyone on the Integrity is a professional, so that might account for her lack of reaction. She does give a sheepish, apologetic smile to the cowering Rocco as she passes, though, shrugging with a 'what-can-you-do' gesture.
Angela's stoicness dives off the deep end, though, once they reach the underbelly of the Construct. The smell of various lubricants and hydrolic fluids combined with the oppressive heat and the cacophonous noise clearly affects the Engineer and she looks more than a little green around the gills (pretty much literally at this point). She's only able to shuffle along a few meters before she lurches off to the side and heaves into a dark alcove behind some mysterious Enlightened component -- the spatter of whatever stomach contents remain in her adding yet another wondrous sound to the general din of the area. After a few moments of heavy breathing, Angela straightens up and wipes her mouth with the sleeve of her pajamas. "Sorry," she mutters, sounding embarrassed, "I couldn't hold it."
Once finally reaching the CEO's craft, Angela lets out a sigh of relief -- that quickly turns into a groan of frustration as the interior is revealed to be mostly taken up by the new ballast tank. "Integrity -needs- that tank," Angela grouses, "I don't think we should remove it, even if we could shift it." She frowns, her cheek bulging as her tongue slithers over her teeth before the Engineer freeze. Hesitantly, she reaches up and puts two fingers in her mouth, pulling out what is clearly one of her molars, slimelike saliva oozing from the root. "... Fuck, that's not good," Angela says, staring at the tooth in her hand with a strangely detached expression before her eyes travel to the others. She closes her eyes -- huh, did her eyelids just close -horizontally-? -- and takes a deep breath before opening them and speaking again, "I think... I should stay at least. I wouldn't be much help if you guys run into trouble before getting back to Integrity. But, uhm..." Angela shuffles her feet, unsure, peering at Dr. Albright, "... I'd like you to stay and try to help keep me stable."
Dr Albright isn't phased by the cost of the place, "Money can be replaced, they will simply invest in another station if this one is destroyed. It is true there may be innocent people here, but thousands, perhaps even millions people can be harmed by the reality deviance of this location, if effects spread out further than they already have. In fact the spread already seems to be across much of the sea floor. Ideally we would report it for others to deal with but they could also escape the area before we are able to report it, and they will also likely follow us and attack us while we repair our ship. It is better to deal with them now. Also if we leave them, the sharks may attack us as well." As they reach the sub she considers their choices, and looks to Angela again. "I think it might be better for you to go on the ship. Ideally I want to be near you to provide you any treatment you need, but will you be able to hide and possibly evade any patrols that are searching for us for several hours?"
Winters has already shifted into a form incapable of communicating with his team. So the morality of the situation gets no input from this man. And his jaws of biting death are of little use because he sticks to his people and keeps coming up behind Quinn after she has already decimated the defenders of this fair underwater base. Paws patter on the ground as the situation is made clear and he'll wonder as to what to do. The situation requires talking though and Winters is forced to resume a less furred existence. "I don't think Angela and the Doctor should be split up. I don't think the pair of you should be by yourself without a guard. Its probably better if someone delivers the ballast tank first and THEN comes back for us. If we have what we used to get here, the pills or what not. Then if worse comes to worse, we'll take a rover back....Didn't the Rokea tell us to help destroy the place? Wouldn't they be willing to help if things get dire here?"
Quinn agrees, << I can try and come back for the remaining team once we unload the ballast tank... but I got bad news...>>, looking to Angela with pity - even though Quinn had already gone through her own alterations. << I do not know where your ship is located exactly and it's coordinates are not in the submarine.>>, showing the problem after going through the routine of powering up the ship. << I can try and search for it on my own. But would not like to get lost or fail to deliver the tank.>>, looking back to the crew. Talking with her electrolarynx, <<Even if I do come back. They'll likely arrest and kill me. Perhaps... if you hid in the water. I can meet you somewhere? But even that is dangerous.>>, the alarms blaring as they were running out of time and would need to make a decision.
While she doesn't appear happy regarding Dr. Albright's rebuttal, Angela doesn't offer up any further arguments either. She merely nods with reluctant assent before continuing to shuffle along.
"My main concern is that I'll be useless if the ship is attacked while on the way to Integrity," Angela says to Albright, worrying her lower lip again, "Integrity can't get off the seafloor without that tank, so it's critical that it gets there and is installed. The alarm probably means they will be looking for something to leave. I... I can probably remain hidden somewhere as long as I don't have to throw up again. Staying still doesn't take much energy." The sick Engineer turns her attention to the ship sitting in the moonpool, staring pensively at the water lapping against the sides of the submersible.
As Angela stares at the moonpool and the lapping water there, her eyes going unfocused. After a long pause, the Engineer speaks, her voice low and almost trance-like. "Ever heard of the Pacific Megathrust?" she asks apropos of nothing in that dreamy voice, "It's a fault line just off the coast of Oregon and Washington where magma is building underneath the Pacific tectonic plate. Every ten thousand years or so, it results in a massive earthquake that reshapes the western coast of North America. A massive tsunami, over a mile high, washes inland for over ten miles and drags everything it catches back out to sea. When the next one comes, it will break off the entirety of Seattle and plunge it into the ocean." A faint, warm smile spreads over her features, "I was just thinking... won't that be wonderful? Just... everything returning to the primordial sea?"
She blinks rapidly -- several horizontal eyelid closings -- and shakes herself out of the fugue state. "S-sorry," she says, voice trembling and again running her hand through her sweat- soaked hair, "I don't... I don't know what I was saying." She shakes her head quickly, "I think I'm too sick to go. I should definitely stay here. Maybe even return to Medbay. I don't think they want to kill me if I'm changing, right?" She smiles weakly.
Winters' input into the situation gets a nod from Angela. "Those are all good points," she says, "Though I don't know anything about the shark people. Would they be willing to help or will they just leave us to rot? I can't say, but I'm not really comfortable trusting some Deviant that introduced itself by killing the people rescuing us and making demands that came with a 'or else you die' threat. Not exactly the friendliest of folks, right?"
Angela bites her lip again as Quinn speaks, eyes shifting back and forth. "Dammit. If I had my tools with me, I could hack a terminal or something and get you a map." She takes a deep breath, "Okay, so one of us should go with her to make sure she can find the Integrity. Every moment she spends searching is another when we could be hunted down or the Integrity and Isaac and Midge are vulnerable -- remember, they don't know what's going on here. I can't go because I'm too sick." She looks between Dr. Albright and Winters, "So one of you will have to be it."
Dr Albright thinks about that and looks to Quinn, "How many people are on the station, how many in security? Would it be possible to ambush and kill them all? If possible, we could focus on just killing the leader as well. If we take control of the station, then the time issue is no longer a problem. If that doesn't work, I say we just send Quinn and we stay here for her to come back. That or we dump the ballast tank and all go, and find another way to fix the ship when we get there. Though that doesn't deal with them coming after us. If we stay here we can do some damage while we wait."
"I doubt we'll be able to fix the ballast tank by ourselves, otherwise Engineer Chiefly Zee-Zee-Why would've been able to do it. I got faith in that man." Winters looks back down into the submarine. As if the ballast tank managed to get smaller somehow. It had not. "We have to get the tank back. If we can go through the water, we could attach ourselves to the submarine while someone inside the sub directs Quinn. Or take our chances being in the water." He'll be shaking his head over trying to kill |everyone|. "Theres a lot of them. I think we'd need the sharks. If they're watching and waiting, we might make it to the bridge or command center and disable whatever defenses they have to call'em in."
Quinn almost stutters, <<There is a lot of good people. People like you Albright who help with medicine and care for the animals of the sea... there is also very bad people. Those who are... darker... the rotten apples.>>, nodding and looking up at the walls and engine compartments. <<Roughly two thousand and five hundred people. Security, engineers, researchers and scientists, administration, farmers and laborers. Visitors and guests like you... most of the security is rotten. Something bad is inside us. I can't explain it. But I'm a monster... they're all monsters... she's becoming one too.>>, pointing to Angela and then herself even if their conditions were different.
<< I can't stay here though. I've killed too many. Mainly the bad ones... Rocco is nice. I spared him. We remember our past lives. We weren't like this. Just ... changed one day. I don't know, how I even got here. I woke and was told what to do... I've been following orders ever since. I was ok with this. Because there are good people we protect here. But over time... you see the black of the ocean. The darkness in people's souls. Something isn't right and I can't do it anymore. I've been lied too and want to be human again. I feel like I've seen the sun in the sky many years ago. I'd like to see it again. I want to escape... others want to escape... we just don't have a way. The sharks eat us... if we try to swim to the surface and they don't let us leave. Because we look like monsters.>>, looking at her webbed hands. A bullet pushed from her blubber skin as she bled out and regenerated. <<Frank protects us. I'd of given up... if not for him. He's been here since the beginning. He's on your ship. He'd like to free his people ... but can't.>>
"Do some damage?" Angela focuses on Albright's final statement thoughtfully, "Like... as a distraction you mean? Yeah... yeah, we might be able to do that. If the Deepwater crew are too busy dealing with sabotage, they might overlook the CEO's craft leaving and coming back. They'd probably even ignore Integrity -- it's far away and much less a critical problem than the machinery that keeps everyone alive down here breaking. We won't suffocate in a few hours, but if the CO-two scrubbers or oxy regulators are damaged, it's dollars to donuts that the Deepwater crew will prioritize that. Same with the reactor or other critical systems. As long as the systems are repairable and not completely destroyed, they'll concentrate on fixing them and hopefully leave us alone."
Angela nods sadly in affirmation with Winters. "Isaac knows his stuff. The ballast tank wasn't just damaged, it was virtually -gone-. We couldn't fabricate a new one on Integrity, at least not upside down with all the damage we sustained. The tank is mission-critical." She grimaces, "I'm not confident in my ability to either hang on the sub or walk to Integrity. And I'm not even sure of where the Integrity is; I was a bit more concerned with the giant radioactive crabs and shark people to make note of any landmarks, so I'm not sure I could do the navigation, either." And then she sighs, looking down at her sweaty, mottled grey hands, "And I'm going to be pretty useless in the fight." A pause. "Wow, I just realized I'm The Load here, like from TV Tropes. Wonderful." She smiles sheepishly, "Sorry, guys."
Quinn's little monologue wipes that smile off Angela's features. She regards the Fishwoman with a mix of pity and trepidation, but has nothing to add, so doesn't. Instead, she just looks off to the side, folding her arms around her torso.
Dr Albright nods to Quinn, "I think you should take the sub and the tank back to our ship. There are other people there, so they will figure something out. Frank is over there too, so he might have some ideas. Once there you can either come back, send someone else for us, or if the repairs are done quickly enough bring the entire ship back over here with you. I am sure the rest of us can figure something out."
Winters will look back towards Angela now. Yes. That is a bit of a problem and he has gotten enough context to realize just what is happening to her. The future Fomor. He doesn't think that medical science would be the one to save her if she was going to be able to be saved. "Or we can take the sub, doctor, drop off the ballast tank. Hopefully negotiate with the sharks on our way over there so that they might let the ones twisted and tormented here in these forms escape. The shark's arrival and interference would be enough to let us sink the sub back in to pick up Angela and myself once more." The military minded man has the OBJECTIVE on his mind at the moment. "The ballast tank is more important. I can flub through convincing them that we are just trying to stay alive while the station seems like its going to shit. Maybe they can reverse what is happened to her and let us go again."
Quinn waves a goodbye after receiving a vial from Albright, << I think it's settled, you can blame this all on me. But I likely won't be coming back. They'll execute me like they did Jakob's.>>, the large woman said while getting into the porcelain white submarine and sealing it up.
The giant straps holding the vessel releasing it into the water as Quinn piloted one of the only vehicles out by herself. Hopefully, she'd find the Integrity and could keep to her oath of helping people. That she wouldn't be called to just flee and abandon everyone else and head to the surface of the ocean. To see the sun one last time and disappear forever. A heavy choice weighed on her as she disappeared out of view... leaving the crew stranded on a oil rig with monsters and darkness deep within the depths of the building.
The silent alarms blaring, flickering and flashing. Hearts beating faster and sinking as the PA system announced over the engine rooms. "Mr. Klieg is not pleased with the theft of his vessel and unauthorized access to restricted areas and a medical bay. Please surrender and turn yourselves over.", the system clicking off as a dreadful feeling creeps through the Integrity crew. Apparently, they hadn't discovered the bodies yet.
Angela watches Quinn disappear into the sub and the sub disappear into the water of the moonpool. She remains there for a moment. The mutating woman then turns and shuffles her way back towards the constant thrum of machinery that keeps the Construct operable. Sick as she is, she still has a keen eye... but lacking tools can make things difficult. She shuffles up to an important- looking mechanical doo-hickey, carefully runs her hands over the surface... and then gives it a savage kick of surprising strength. There is a shudder and a clank as a giant piston elsewhere begins to slow down and eventually stop, Angela smiling in satisfaction.
"There. A good hard hit can knock an electromagnetic bearing out of wack and crash it against the side," Angela says, "I shut down the primary atmospheric pumps. Auxiliaries will kick in, but they'll want to fix the main one quickly. Should take them a couple hours to replace the broken part."
Dr Albright looks to Quinn, "If you can stay with the crew when you get there, and we can try to turn you back to a human. The others as well, if we can." She waves then looks to the others, "We should avoid the patrols, maybe they wont suspect us, or maybe they will think we are gone." She looks around and then moves into the shadows, and slips behind some things you wouldn't think a person could hide behind but she is able to squeeze her self into position and not move at all."
Winters looks up at the ceiling as if he could find whatever voice is now properly calling them out for sending the sub to repair their ship. Eyebrows furrow, catch and close together like storm clouds ready to hurl lightning because the wolf is now Grumpy of the situation. Then his nose wrinkles as Angela causes PROBLEMS. "I guess we're setting ourselves in actual opposition now, eh doc?" A glance towards Albright after Angela damages something important. "Couple of hours means we should get somewhere AWAY from where they need to fix it. So lets get out of the bay at least."
Steam releases from the bowels of this confusing hell as the Integrity Crew hides among pipes, chutes, underneath railways and passages. The sabotaged system rattled and gurgles for life; drawing a number of armed guards to its approximation. The PA speaker goes off again, <<You are upsetting, Mr. Klieg who has frankly been very hospitable to you during this stressful situation. Please surrender. We are about to unleash the hounds.>>
With scrapping on the ladder wells, giant naked mole rat like creatures claw their way about. Whiskers twitching, their incredible size is that of tigers or Janson in Hispos. Teeth like daggers, they sniff the air for all signs off activity. Angela and her illness is quickly found, the smell of vomit giving her away in the heated spaces. The monster chipping and chattering as it alerts the GENES of her presence. "Alright, girlie... come on out with your...", a flashlight and taser aimed at her body. "Oh, she's sick. Damnit, Mark! Mark! Get the fucking stretcher. We got to get this one down to Medical. Mr. Klieg will probably want to talk to her.", kicking the mole rat away. "Look Lassie, your probably not feeling too hot. Just make it easy on us. We will get you taken care of.", a few of the GENE's showing up with a stretcher and IV Bag for Angela. Along with a woman with hair pulled tightly in a bun, wearing a long lab coat. "Hello... I'm Dr. Miranda. Your very sick sweetie. You caught a nasty bug that exists down here. Why don't you come with me and we'll go to medical? Are of your friends sick? May I take your temperature?", pulling out a digital thermometer to read her.
"They have hounds down here?" Angela asks off-handedly when the PA makes the announcement. Her hiding place isn't the greatest and the mole rat things find her pretty easily. Shivering, she steps out of her alcove into the waiting arms of the patrol.
"This is... common down here?" she asks, peering at the GENE who spoke before shaking her head, "I was locked out of my room when the alarms started. I was already sick and tried to find my way to the medbay. Then I ran into the other lady... Quinn, I think she told me her name was? Anyway, she told me to follow her and then was all angry and stuff and led me down here. Then she kicked a machine and stole that submersible." The Engineer motions vaguely to the moonpool, "And just left me here. Donno why she wanted me to follow if she wasn't going to help." Angela scowls before looking blearily at Doctor Miranda."
A twitchy smile rises on the brown-haired woman's features and she nods, "Uh, y-yeah. Thanks, doc. I don't think anyone else is sick. It's just me." She opens her mouth to allow the thermometer to be inserted.
"I feel like they use the wrong names for the things too frequently." Winters is speaking mostly to himself since he has tucked away into a hiding place while goons show up to poke/prod/violate/console Angela in her current state. But Angela's 'capture' isn't enough for him to go on out and reveal himself. He'll stay tucked away and hiding. He isn't Ragabash enough to have Gifts to keep himself better hidden than he already is, but boy how he had started to wish for them.
Dr Albright has the perfect hiding spot and isn't about to come out and get arrested so they can do strange experiments on her. She will just have to catch up with Angela and free her later on, when it is safer to make a move. For now she keeps herself well hidden to avoid the patrol and creatures.
Dr. Miranda uses the digital thermometer and scans Angela's forehead, "Aww, your 104.3 right now. You got a bad fever. We got to get you out of here. Get on the stretcher and we're gonna try and cool you off. Let's talk later.", using her latex gloves to help Angela onto the portable stretcher as the GENE's strapped her down and hoisted her into the air. They trudge up the steps and soon it's just the two members of the Integrity crew hiding. The giant mole rats sniffing about and getting closer.
While mole rats are notorious for being practically blind, their tremor sense, vibrational understanding and location of sound is /phenomenal/, as Winters speaks beneath his breath - he accidentally reveals himself. The giant hound like creatures pouncing and clawing are him to pull him out. One of the nasty ones chewing on his boot and tugging with full strength. A GENE sighs, "Alright buddy, give yourself up. Don't make us tase you. Come on out.", he states as Winters was completely surrounded. Weapons drawn as they got plastic handcuffs out. "We doing this the hard way, or the easy way?", it appeared like there was no point in resisting he would be overwhelmed.
Scent is definitely how Winters is going to be found, tracked down and captured. It lingers through every room he has wandered about, every hallway and every duct. His murmuring and mumblings just expedited the process. No amount of flailing, kicking or shredding was going to keep him from being captured. So he'll pop out with hands held at the level of his shoulders, dangerous still in the future whenever he might decide he was done being caged.
Winters gets the male privilege treatment, a few accidental and friendly whacks with the batons. Handcuffed behind his back, instead of in front. Obviously being a male, he had to be the most dangerous of the group and so he's taken more violently. "One for the brig...", one of the GENE's states as Winters is taken to the DeepWater jail. Which just left Dr. Albright alone by herself. Watching and waiting... afraid to move or make a sound as giant Mole Rats climb around her and GENE's stomp about...
...Hours pass... days linger. It's difficult to tell how time has ticked on by. The guards keep roaming whether night or day, it's endless. While Dr. Albright slowly gets tired, fatigued and.... <<hungrier>> as she didn't eat anything at the banquet. At one point, her stomach growls in desiring food - luckily, no one heard it. But then more hours pass. "Maybe she left Quinn, aboard the sub?", one guard asks another. "Nah, we know she's still here? She might of died between some crack or set of pipes. I'll bet we retrieve her corpse a year or few later.", the guards wanting to give up. Albright could of likely outlasted them, perhaps even got away. But her damn stomach grumbles and the guards hear it. "Get the hounds! Where is she... over here?", the poor Dr. betrayed by her own body. It didn't help with the GENE's started offering food and water to help lure her out. "Come on lady. You've been hiding three damn days. We got shit to do too.", the mole rats getting closer as Albright was pretty much caught.
Dr Albright figures it is time to come out as they were going to catch her soon anyway, and she bought them a lot of extra times for the Quinn to reach the other group and tell them what is going on, and perhaps even get the ship fixed enough that they could do something. She really needed to check on Angela as well. So she comes out of her hiding spot. "Okay, I am coming out."
"Alright. We got to cuff you... sorry.", the guards who were just doing their jobs explain. They cuff her in the front and let her use a bathroom or chow hall briefly before a minor interrogation unfolds. As these passing days would soon become weeks aboard DeepWater.