open log » ❝ The VR Program ❞

[initiatesnpc]

Date & Time: August 5th, mid morning.
Location: Anywhere characters happen to be/the VR.
Characters: Everyone.
Summary: From August 5th to August 8th, characters are plunged involuntarily into the VR Program.
Warnings: Potential violence within the threads.

When the chance arises, she's quick to take it. The programming is incomplete, she knows; the simulation isn't ready — but she's not likely to get another shot at it. And so she moves, slipping through security codes to input the command. The machines hum to life with nothing but a flicker of a green light in a dark room, and it takes only seconds to establish connections. The signal is sent out; the weapons respond.

In a single pulse, reality drops away.

There will be darkness at first as the mind realigns itself to the signals being sent it. Slowly, the darkness fades, forms take shape. People take shape. The setting is terribly familiar, plucked from the user's own mind. It might feel like a dream at first, with events playing out as if predestined, the would-be dreamer moving through a familiar and unalterable route in them. But as things begin to feel more and more realistic, as more senses more fully connect to the simulation, awareness will change. This is not a dream. This is more than a memory.

Welcome to the VR.

Only 20 minutes later, in some underground quarters, Doctor Sponde is roused from an undignified sprawl. He's hastily briefed and shuttled toward the command center, looking grim. He knows the problem demands an immediate fix, but… well, this is some complex machinery. It could take some time. It could take days. He gets to work.

Comments

[boughtabookstore]

[ Distraction, distraction - it's huge, she's going to be like a fly buzzing against a window. But she can do a distraction. ]

Good luck.

[ And a second later she's running, striking out across relatively open ground as she heads for what looks like possible cover on the other side of the room. The shots she fires are more for show than anything, aim on the run always more hit and miss, but she goes for joints as much as she can, hoping to get at least take some small amount of mobility out. ]

sakdfjsa no never i died when i saw this

[beingrepressed]

Merlin's not exactly helpless by any means but the entire situation has him a little off guard. People trying to kill him is a pretty regular thing. People he likes trying to kill him, not so much. Clearly someone's up to some goofy magic up in Camelot today. Still, when he hears the door creak he can't help but peer up in hope that it's someone who knows what the bloody hell has gotten into Gaius only to see a tall man with very strange, curly hair standing in the hallway.

And then he closes it without a word.

"Hey!"

Oh, but he's back again. That's... That's good, he guesses. Not so much for Barnaby, who is now Gaius' new target.

[bfpierce]

[Have a batch of defensive Hawk there Tony.]

Hey a week ago I was patching up solders in South Korea. Then as if one draft wasn't bad enough? I'm shanghaied into yet another war. So how about you give a man a break huh buddy!

[fe_male]

[ She sets off on the distraction - he can hear the clamor as soon as she's moving, and he curves around from the other side, resolutely ignoring the taunts coming from the inside of the beast. His saving grace - one last golden egg to give - will be if it doesn't play out how it did. If he doesn't have to open the suit to finish it. Come here, you little prick.

Tony shoots a little bit, at the optical sensors. He hasn't got flares, but he can make Stane put his arms in front of his face, obscuring his own vision, long enough to put something similar near them. I was worried I was killing the golden goose...

It works fairly well, blinded, Tony jumps up to the same place he did before - and man the double vision, present-past on top of each other, that's hard. Where are you. He yanks out the same bundle of cables - if you yank out that bundle on the Iron Man suit, JARVIS just insults you, because he likes his easter eggs. One last golden egg to give. He hops back off, sort of falling and sort of rolling to a safe cover, and glancing over.

I would have preferred that she live. Fuck. Stane, like last time. Tony turns to where he thinks Roslyn's gotten to. ] You can shoot any of the exposed wiring. Aim above his right shoulder to disable weaponry! [ He wants to just shoot him. This isn't real. This doesn't count. It would be cathartic, right? It wouldn't make him feel totally guilty. Hold still you little prick. ]

[fe_male]

[ That's like, so not what he meant. But okay, sure. ]

So, Korean War. [ Picks off a few more. Drops down to keep working on a third weapon. ] Now this one. What'd they pull you in for?

[bfpierce]

Same as the last one apparently. Cleaning up the mess the brass makes when people get hurt in their nice shiny wars.

[fe_male]

Well that's not going to be helpful at all in this scenario. I'm just shooting these guys so I can get through that door and hopefully get out.

[boughtabookstore]

[ Alive, for now, which part of her wasn't entirely expecting. She holds her fire as Tony makes his move, crouched behind the first piece of cover she could find. He's good, moving like he knows exactly what he's doing, and for that she's thankful. She hadn't been sure what to think of him as a fighter, but based solely on this she'd have to say he's got it in him in spades.

And there, those are instructions she knows what to do with. She's been practicing, maintaining her sharp shooting, and her hands are rock steady as she aims and fires for above the right shoulder, the spots where she can see wiring already. If the weapons systems go off, it's only a matter of time before they get the rest of him. Hopefully. Right?

This is not the sort of situation she knows how to handle in the slightest and it isn't in her head either, so for now she's going to leave it to Tony to call the shots. It seems like the safest way to go. ]

[fe_male]

[ He leaps backwards off the mechanoid just before he sees her take aim and shoot - because shooting at a weapons system can sometimes set off all the weapons and he doesn't feel like getting blown up. It doesn't, but Stane's complaining about not being able to shoot now, even now, while Tony crawls back up the back of the machine, hand over hand and forcing himself up - this needs to be taken of as quickly as possible, and as soon as he within position to do go, he stops, pulls out one of his cobbled together guns, and shoots Stane in the head.

The mech instantly becomes inert, and he slides back off of it. Calls out without meeting her eyes. ]

Thanks for the help. I can do the clean up. Be out in a minute.

[payback]

To an extent Rin was expecting an attack. Everything else had attacked her so far, after all - or most everything, so she threw herself backwards and out of range on quick feet (the raging adrenaline helped).

She had to curb herself before running too far, unfortunately - it looked like there was a long drop to be had, which. Could maybe be the way out.

"Can't YOU fight?" she took the moment's reprieve to jab back, inappropriate as it was, and then pointed. "Try jumping!"

[payback]

- is that a joke?

[payback]

She got out of the way. And then she looked around wildly at his question. "Ah. Yeah." Scrambling over to get it and scooping it up in her arms, she realized that she needed to ask only belatedly: "Do you want it? Where does it go?!"

Nothing made any sense! But at least nothing was attacking them, right now.

[payback]

[The slave quarters. A snap decision. Rin raises her sword and tries a diagonal slice to hit a client at the juncture of his neck and shoulder and split him part open. She can't quite bring herself to cut at a girl yet.]

Down! Let's go down!

[effective]

Katniss rolls back to her feet, and despite everything this kid is doing to get himself killed, she's seen way too many children die to just sit back and let it happen. A problem with this plan emerges almost immediately, however, as the beasts - mutts, her brain supplies - come right at her.

Up comes her bow. She needs more arrows to do it that she once might have, but she still shoots the creatures down. She can feel bile rising in her throat, and swallows it down. Now's not the time. "She's not going to listen to you, it's not her!"

[majoring]

The husk is slowing down a little (maybe), but neither one of them has been able to stop it yet. That doesn't stop Kaidan from trying again with the biotics; he can feel himself starting to lag a little, but it's not enough to be concerned about. Not yet, at least.

"What I'm concerned about - watch out!" He breaks cover to avoid the husk coming right at him, finding another vantage point almost immediately. It's not like he doesn't have their surroundings engraved in his mind, after all. "What I'm concerned about is what happens to our bodies, if we're trapped in here. We don't even know how long it's been."

[effective]

"I'm fine!" she snaps. "Other than my best friend trying to shoot me, that is!" For the time being, at least, she's mad. It takes her a couple of seconds to actually register what the hell just happened. She actually looks sort of relieved when she sees him, although she covers it quickly. "Thor?"

[effective]

Out of all the explanations that the other woman could have given, those last words are the only thing that actually makes sense to Katniss. "I'm shocked," she replies flatly, and shoots the Capitol girl leaping at the woman from behind. "We have to get to the City Circle. Now."

[majoring]

Jack? [There's no time to be surprised, not with the students way more powerful than he remembers. Rahna's on Jack's side, and he's not sure if he should be grateful or horrified by that.

His Pull drags three students into the air, sucking at their energy. He replies to jack, tone dry] Well, it's only been almost twenty years since this actually happened. Maybe I got soft.

[scintillates]

She can't keep the naked relief from her face, letting him tug her for a few steps before she gathers her reserves to run after him. She hasn't been training as much as she should have been, sticking to parlour tricks and magic charms. Nothing physical.

"If we get out of this, I'll leave the library, I swear," she pants. Her visions blurs, and she curses, rather inventively if she does say herself. "Finnick, just to check - there aren't currently two of you here, right?"

[scintillates]

"I understood about half of that," Snow admits. "But winging it is a speciality of mine!" She neglects to mention what usually happens when she's trying out these 'specialities', tugging the mirrored necklace from about her neck. Angling it at the worst of the flames, she draws in a breath.

"Mirror, this is pretty dire,
Please put out these stupid fires."

It takes a beat or two, but the fire starts sputtering out. A pounding starts up at the back of her skull, but she ignores it, carefully aiming her necklace at the fires around the girl's machinery, as instructed. "How's that?"

[sacrificar]

[she will hide herself, for now. at least until she obtains enough information to understand what has been happening.]

What is this?

[sacrificar]

[Halibel had taken note of the statue before. The way Ico behaved around it... The statue must've held great importance to him. And it seemed as though the statue itself was not without purpose.

Such a curious statue, to have been moving under it's own power.

Still, despite the new development, they remained vastly outnumbered.]

The coffins, let's go.

[sacrificar]

"You are in Hueco Mundo. This is... where I came from." Where corrupt souls fought each other in an eternal cycle, all so that they could live for another day. A pathetic existence, Halibel felt. Though pathetic or not, those very souls, having long since become Hollows, would be upon them once more.

She could've told him to run, but what would that accomplish? Sending him to face the dangers of Hueco Mundo alone would only bring a premature end to his life.

"Can you fight?" Halibel asked. "Are you strong?"

[sacrificar]

Tier Halibel.

[The introduction was kept brief as usual as she shifted her attention back at her enemies. The increase in fighting competency did not go unnoticed by her, still finding it interesting.

If this continued, Halibel might find herself actually trying to defend herself against these opponents.]

You are familiar with all of this?

[She asked as soon as she was able to.]

[ladyspitfire]

She nods in agreement. "We've been in worse situations, remember." The Blackmarsh, for instance. "Don't worry. We'll get out of here." Elissa slowly stands and brushes back a few pieces of her hair that have come loose, grimacing at the caked blood in it. Blighted Mother. She takes her time walking, looking for tears in their 'illusion', and to see inconsistencies that could help them. She doesn't find any they can exploit.

"We can head back up the way we came and find the beginning of this place. That might be our way out."