MISSION: GET TO ZE CHOPPA

[initiatesnpc]

Date & Time: August 23rd, 2753 (OOCly forward-dated to the 1st)
Location: Uruguay National Defense HQ
Characters: All transports!
Summary: All transports are sent back to Uruguay to download a self-aware AI before it gets bombed out of existence by an early incarnation of the UE. Time distortion effects will be set right either on the way there or on the way back, according to player choice.
Warnings: violence, action movie tension, 3 terabytes of foot fetish porn.

The Transporter drops the entire transport population into what will quickly be established as Home Base, a mile from the vast, sprawling facility that is Uruguay's National Defense HQ. The low roar of helidrones moving above is pervasive, but the black ships can only be glimpsed here and there through the thick cover of trees overhead. If you keep calm and quiet, it's likely you won't be spotted. It's the UND HQ their attention is on, after all.

The population is quickly sorted by attending Initiate employees according to who volunteers to fight and who volunteers to protect, along with those with enough skill to access the computers, and those with enough skill to get them there. The fighters move out first, off to intercept the early UE's ships and ground troops, and to draw the automated defense systems of the facility alike. They'll be in a crossfire, and neither side will be happy to see them there.

The techies and their escorts are sent out far more quietly, in groups of three. Their task is to sneak past the front lines and into the facility itself. There might be alarms and automated defense drones, so those escorts may well be called on to earn their keep. The Initiative can't give any information about which building will house the AI's mainframe, that information was long since lost to history. All they can do is send out enough people to hope that one of them manages to find it.

And remember — as soon as the UE troops withdraw, there will only be minutes until the bomb drops. Everyone would do well to work fast.



[[ Mission information is here, and the techie/escort teams, along with their hacking results, are here. Each techie/escort group will have their own established thread, but Team Distraction and Team We'll Stay Here, Thanks are welcome to thread where ever and however they like! The newbie log that goes up on the 1st will also encompass the arrival back in Exsilium, if you'd like to play that out as well. ]]

Comments

[speakveryclearly]

[A couple of gunshots punctuate falling troops who are still struggling underneath the blade slapping them, and then Kanaya is catching up in a stunning black and white dress with a whirring chainsaw in her arms.]

Sayaka! You're doing fantastic today. [She saw a network post that made her suspect Miki-san might be deaged and not recognize her - but what the hell, this is a great gory mission and friendliness is the order of the day, might as well.]

[fortissimos]

[ The gunshots make her flinch, and it takes Sayaka a moment to compose herself again. They're the enemy, she tells herself, and even if that doesn't make it okay, she can at least look at Kanaya with a straight face. ]

I... yeah. [ Having seen a few non-humans already, she's not as surprised as she might otherwise be. (She still stares a little.) ] Sorry. A lot of people seem to know me, but I don't really recognize you.

[speakveryclearly]

[She debrightens just a tad but can't yet properly be called dim.] Oh, don't worry about that, I've seen plenty of cases like yours already and I'm pretty sure restorations are supposed to be occurring soon. I'm Kanaya if you must know.

[Soooooo... she surveys the situation. Seeing her chainsaw unnecessary at the moment, especially with Sayaka covering melee on her sword, she reverts it to lipstick and is holding her eyeshadow too.] Now where next.

[fortissimos]

[ ... Looking kind of baffled, ngl. How can anyone be so casual about all of this? ]

Uh, I'm just... [ What, exactly? She tries to muster up her earlier enthusiasm, with some degree of success — even like this, she's still miles ahead of her other self. ] Some of those guys were about to break through, so I had to stop them. We've gotta protect these people.

[speakveryclearly]

Okay... [So no plan. She holds her bizarre weapons and for a little while thinks.]

It's just that everyone but us will be bombed, you know.

[fortissimos]

[ Sayaka is not much of a planner, it's true. Some things never change. ]

Yeah, I know. But that doesn't mean I can slack off. [ She shrugs. ] If Mami-san was here, she wouldn't care about any of that stuff. She'd keep fighting and helping everyone until something happened. As her student, it's my job to make sure as few people as possible get hurt.

[ It's stupid reasoning, when the bombs will drop the moment they leave, but... to simply not care would be even worse. ]

[speakveryclearly]

As few people as possible, of course - but I can tell you from experience I'd much rather be cut or shot than burn to death. The only people we can protect in any real terms are transports. Just keep that in mind.

[Note to self: Ask later who Mami is.]

[fortissimos]

[ 'from experience?' okay, because that's not unnerving at all. ]

... Even if that's true, I can't just kill people. That's not what magical girls do. [ This is obviously causing some degree of internal conflict, and she shakes her head. Things are so very black and white for her at this point, without the shades of gray that will eventually cloud her morality. ] We're allies of justice, who fight monsters and protect the innocent. There's gotta be another way.

That icon omfg tbf not entirely inaccurate

[speakveryclearly]

[Well, you're a lich, Sayaka.]

And just what makes a monster?

huehuehue

[fortissimos]

[ SHE DOESN'T KNOW THAT YET

also wow normally she could just default to 'something that isn't human', but with Kanaya here... ]

They just hurt people without any reason. That's how it works back home. [ That's how it works everywhere. ] These guys might be our enemy, but they're still human. I can't forget that.

SHADES OF GREY

[speakveryclearly]

[She was all ready with "Do I Look Human To You" too... well, okay.]

That's a really noble sentiment you've got there. [Beat. Well, if no baddies are materializing...]

Do you want to amuse some small children?

but are there 50 of them

[fortissimos]

[ She doesn't try to be offensive, okay, it just happens sometimes. ]

It's the right one. [ Simple. Simple like everything should be (but isn't). ] ... I guess I could help with that, though. At least until more of them show up.

over 9000

[speakveryclearly]

[Success!! She glows brighter at the agreement.]

Excellent. Your species' young is so easy to amuse, you know.

acceptable

[fortissimos]

[ Kanaya why are you like a lightbulb ]

Yeah, I guess they are. But most kids haven't ever seen magic, or... [ how to put this non-rudely... ] anyone who isn't human before. [ She thinks back to how they'd entertained all the children back in the city, and laughs a little. ] I'd be pretty impressed too.

[speakveryclearly]

[Homestuck + Twilight

No really]

That is what it boils down to! I wonder how they'll perceive these memories upon returning to themselves.

[fortissimos]

[ ?? ]

Wait, what the heck is that supposed to mean? [ look going back in time didn't made her any smarter... ]

[speakveryclearly]

We're pretty sure there won't be children around anymore after this mission.

[fortissimos]

Why not? They were kids before we left, so why would anything change after this?

[ it makes sense in her head! ]

[speakveryclearly]

Yes, but they weren't kids before they... were... kids...

[This is a lot harder to explain to someone who is a kid.]

[fortissimos]

[ no she's just dumb ]

... That sounds really weird. [ SHE DOESN'T REALLY GET IT BUT... ]

[speakveryclearly]

They weren't children when they were recruited and they shouldn't be children anymore.

[SHE'S DOING HER BEST.]

[fortissimos]

Well... yeah, there shouldn't be kids here at all. But it'll be okay if we protect them.

[ nice job misinterpreting that Sayaka, who's going to give up first ]

[speakveryclearly]

...Right.

[It is indeed Kanaya; she has officially declared CLOSE ENOUGH.]

[fortissimos]

[ she'd apologize if she knew, okay

instead she just shrugs. ]

See? And keeping them happy is definitely part of that! [ Suddenly enthusiastic again, so she's just going to grab Kanaya's hand and go running off to wherever all the kids are holed up. Adventure! ]

[speakveryclearly]

[ADVENTURE ON THEY DO. Into a room. There are only like three kids here? They look wide-eyed at Kanaya's glow brightening the place up.]

Hello, wigglers.