The Big-Oh! II -- RPG Thread

[Gummi]

Emilia was startled by the sudden violent realization that the memories were gone. It had all happened so instantly, it was as if she was pinned to the floor, stupefied by her futility.

“How? How did I let this happen?” She thought, “ He left those memories to me, I should have…should have…destroyed them!” She uttered, her voice wavering hesitantly at first.

She glared in Jason’s direction, her soft brown eyes becoming hard with ferocity. He was right, in a sense. Even if Angel was to help her locate those memories it did not necessarily imply that Emilia would allow herself to be vulnerable enough to just trust either Angel or Jason for that matter. Emilia was overcome with sudden and violent emotion. Suddenly her thoughts narrowed and any inhibitions she had seemed pointless. She knew with all the certainty that remained with her in this insane whirlwind that if those memories reached Paradigm Corporation it would spell disaster. Although she did not disclose it immediately she knew that whatever was in that book was deadly. She had to get that book back and hopefully burn it. She knew that it would not be an easy task, seeing as how Angel desired the memories as badly as Emilia wanted to dispose of them.

"He's not from Paradigm City, isn't he?" Emilia looked for some spark of recognition in the woman's face.  "I felt it...he's like you! Evangeline...was like you both." Emilia spoke with restrained melancholy, as she mentioned Evangeline's name, her mother.  Emilia let the question slide away, and pressed on to a more important subject.

"We must find them that's all I know! If we don't..." Emilia paused, "I'm afraid that what was written there wasn't just his memories. It was a memory so valuable, he was even afraid of it."

Emilia bent down, moved Vanguard's arms restfully over his chest, in prayer like fashion.

"He mentioned something else unto me before he died. Although they were his memories they were only copies...implants. Those memories belonged to someone else...who died long ago. They were used to construct an android, not too long ago and if I had to guess that android is the key to deciphering those memories."

A silence finally rested over the them yet questions still saturated the still air.

A siren finally broke. The Military Police. Their arrival was always delayed yet they were consistent when it came to responding at the absolute most inopportune moment, but then again the whole situation was inopportune. Here they were, the daughter of a Paradigm official, a wanted criminal, and a femme fatale gathered, quite conspicuously, over the dead body of a librarian at Paradigm City University. In that instant the atmosphere shifted, the questions would have to wait.

[Jim Starluck]

There was a thump from off to one side. Michale was leaning against the side of a bookcase, legs trembling, face ashen and staring at the dead man on the floor.

He had just found what he had been looking for when a gunshot, then shattering glass and then another gunshot had muscled their way into his attention. He'd had only a glimpse of someone slipping out the window and the woman going on about memories didn't seem villainous, but the woman in the pink coat holding a still-smoking gun and Paradigm's #1 Most Wanted criminal (he reckognized him from the television broadcast of his last arrest) were sufficient to convince him that his life (even worse, his research) was in immediate peril. He drew minimal comfort from the approaching police sirens; there was still plenty of time for him to get shot before they got here.

He clutched the books--the one he had been given by his colleague and the one he'd been looking for and found--closer to his chest and stammered out "Wh-what's going on h-here?"

[Gummi]

"Wh-what's going on h-here?"

"I'm not entirely sure even I know." Emilia responded, more for her own self, as she approached the young man, cowering between the racks of the library, clutching a book in his arms. She recognized him only by face, he was an overachieving underclassmen with big aspirations. She recalled sharing a required class or two with him before graduating. She was not even sure she knew his name, and moreover the fact that he had witnessed the whole scene left her understandably mortified.

She looked back at Angel, her eyes meeting Angel's disapproving glance. Suddenly a voice broke in through the silenced library.

" Surrender your weapons," The voice on the megaphone crackled through the still air, "We have the building surrounded."

"Shit" She heard Jason say behind her. His gun clicking as he loaded a new clip, which she knew we would never be able to empty. She was certain that this was Paradigm's doing, they would not hesitate in resorting to heavy artillery, especially where memories were involved.

She peered at the young man, trying to decide if she would trust him or not. Angel stepped up towards him yet before Angel gotten around to inquiring, Emilia had already said what was on all of their minds.

"We need to get out of here and you're going to help us." Emilia frantically grabbed the young man by the arm, noticing the book in his grasp. " Do you know a way out of here, without us attracting too much notice?"

[Professor Vogler]

The man with the megaphone lifted his hat to scratch his head... the depressed scowl on his face predictable.

"What was said in the initial call again?" Dastun asked the officer next to him.

"Not much, Sir. Just that there were sightings of two suspicious people, and gunshots fired. There now seems to be a possible hostage situation."

Dastun's eyes shot open... but then slowly closed with a troubled sigh.

"A shooting in a school... What is this world coming to--"  COLONEL DASTUN!!


It was for a brief instant but a dark figure was seen escaping through an allyway near the school... on the side where the reported sightings were said to have taken place.  Dastun was not a happy man today... dealing with armed students was not necessarily a stress reliever.

"Alright, you men go after him! The rest of you, enter the school around the back and try to block off the library's doors! Wait for the order to move in, REMEMBER there might be hostages!!"



There was a sudden urge, a twitch, going up Dastun's spine... he turned his head towards the row of police cruisers and heavy trucks. In an odd sort of satisfaction, he was relieved not to see a certain black sedan.

[Jim Starluck]

Shock silenced Michale again for a few seconds, then he shook his head and focused. "Uh... tunnels! The tunnels!" At the blank look the other two gave him, he explained in the quick, rapid-fire voice that he often adopted when describing something while excited.

"Every main building on campus is connected underground. Some old materials and lab projects can't be taken out of controlled environments, and the tunnels are the only way to move them from building to building when the weather gets cold. Plus the students like to use them when they don't want to go out in the rain or snow. It isn't widely known outside of the student body, so unless one of those cops out there went to this school they aren't going to know about them. There are at least three ways out of the library through those tunnels, and three or four branches in each direction past those. If we're quick, there's no way they can block them all off even if they do know about them." He finally took a deep breath and fought the urge not to tremble.

[Tifaria]

"Tunnels!  Wonderful.  I was so hoping that I'd end up on the run again, less than a week after breaking out."  Beck stood to the side of the broken window, carefully peering out of it.  A handful of Military Police had gone running off in the direction the scarecrow man had gone, but he wondered if they even knew what they were looking for.  Beck had the feeling that Alan Gabriel would only be found if he wanted to be.   
 
"We should just give you to the MP.  You're the most wanted man in Paradigm right now.  They'd probably be happy just getting you."  Angel was sitting on the floor, head in her hands.  She'd been uncharacteristically quiet in the few minutes since Alan got away.   

"As much pride as I take being Paradigm's number one criminal, I really have better things to do than play games with the Military Police today."  Beck sauntered over towards Michale and threw an arm around him in an almost friendly manner.  "So, little bookworm, how about you steer us towards those tunnels already?"  He slapped the boy on the back without letting him respond.  "Thanks.  Now then," he yanked Angel from the floor roughly, blonde curls flying in all directions, and shoved her towards Michale.  "You get yourself together and stop moping, and you--" he pulled Emilia up much more gently, and Angel scowled at him as she patted her hair back into place.  "You, I finally get to teach how to make a proper getaway.  Your father will be so proud." 

"If you're done talking, we really need to be leaving now."  Angel smiled sweetly at Michale.  "Now then, why don't you be a good boy and open whatever door or wall it is we need to get out of here?" 

[Jim Starluck]

Michale blinked. "Uh... it's not really that secret, or anything, we just have to go downstairs... there's a stairway at the end of the hall out here," he said, half-heartedly pointing over his shoulder with his thumb, "if that's what you mean."

[Tifaria]

"Please excuse her," Beck said, still gripping Emilia's hand.  "Angel here is so used to making sneaky escapes that the concept of a very obvious route is beyond her.  Now then, shall we?"  He swept Emilia out the door, hurrying for the stairwell.  Truth be told, Beck was pretty sure he recalled exactly where these tunnels were from previous visits to the library, but he wasn't about to admit it.  He skirted the edges of the hallway until they reached the stairs to the ground floor, then flew down them, skipping every other step.  Emilia followed closely, then Angel and Michale, the younger man still clutching books to his chest. 

"Where do we go once we're in the tunnels?"  Angel hollered from above them.

"Wherever there aren't Military Police!"  Beck called back.  "They can't have blocked everything off.  We'll follow the tunnels to another building and get out through it." 

They reached the bottom of the stairs and Beck pulled open the first door he saw.  It was dimly lit inside, but wider than he recalled.  They filed in and Beck shut the door with a quiet thud. 

"So, bookworm," he said casually, "Which way now?" 

[Jim Starluck]

"My name is Michale," he said, and pointed down a long corridor to the left, "and that way leads towards the engineering buildings, and from there under West 120th Street. The tunnels extend to another cluster of school buildings a couple blocks away; you should be able to get clear to West 122nd before coming above ground."

[Gummi]

"Well, it sure sounds like a plan." Emilia nodded as she set foot off the stairwell and unto the cool cement of the tunnel. She had heard affirmations of such a place beneath the university, but was never keen on investigating these passages for herself. There was never any motive for her to do so, Emilia never held any charm for the cramped, gloomy, underground. Darkness was by no means a friend to her sensibilities but she would have preferred darkness over what she beheld once they reached the underground passageway. The tunnels were more ominous than she had imagined. Not only was the way cluttered with broken furniture and excess storage but an eerily dull florescent lamp flickered above them. The pale yellow light illuminated washed out concrete walls, tagged with graffiti. Emilia was anxious about the next leg, underneath West 122nd street. They were perilously close to the underbelly of the city. A place her father had warned her about.

She noticed that Beck had not relinquished her hand from his grasp. She felt a bit more serene, and simultaneously aggravated. After all it had been a while since she had laid eyes on him and if it were for fate they would have never reunited. Emilia was not optimistic about their prospects, and it certainly was not the time to sort things through with him but she was comforted at least with the hint that beneath that gaudy exterior belied a gentleman.

--------------------------

"I'm assuming we've cleared the engineering buildings." Emilia said sorrowfully pondering what was to come next. "Michale, have you ever been any farther than this? What I mean is, do you know your way underground?"

[Jim Starluck]

"Not this part of the tunnels, no," he said, looking up from the book he had started reading again as they walked. "I've only been in the sections under the science buildings, and even that was rarely." He glanced around. "I think we're still headed in the right direction, though."

[Char Aznable]

((Finally!!))

Snake woke up and looked around. He let out a heavy sigh. He had yet to figure out why he was living in the underground base where he became what he was, but to him it was a home nonetheless.

He had slept the whole night, but the dreams kept him turning. They were the nightmares that would keep normal human beings from ever sleeping again. Then again, Snake Marcato was no longer human. He was something else. He was an experiment gone wrong. And those nightmares were the memories of what had happened to him.

Memories. That's what was wrong now. Noone had any. Something happened, and everyone forgot what or why it was. As for Snake himself, he never lost the memories, but he didn't know to begin with. He was supposed to be frozen in a tank, never to be released. Sometime over the forty years, some mechanism failed and he was released. Maybe it was programmed in, he didn't know. Maybe someone wanted him out at some point, to lead an army for some purpose.

Someone. That's right. Snake wasn't alone. He had Julia who, not to his surprise, he had no clue as to the whereabouts. And then there was the android that Snake had found in the facility, Barthow. Barthow was usually performing some task so that Snake didn't have to, and Snake made it a point to usually avoid him, because he couldn't stop the android from calling him "Mr. Marcato." He heard Barthow singing somewhere. He was as enthusiastic as he was annoying.

Snake got up and got dressed. he looked at the various sunglasses that he had, and grabbed the red ones, "Need my eyewear before my eyes see anyone. I don't need another incident of what happens without them," Snake said to himself.

He walked over towards the elevator that led to the surface. On the way past, he walked past Big Soh, the "Brother Big" as he had once heard it called. The weaponry on it was almost entirely energy based, save for the anchor chains on the waist. He looked at the red scars that covered the black body of the Big as he took the elevator up.

Once to the surface, Snake ran his hand along the black Griffion that he drove. He opened the driver's door and slid into the black seat. He was the man in black, and his chariot matched him the same. He drove toward the city, out of the desert. It was a long drive to make, but that was something that didn't matter to him. The action was hardly out there.

He pulled in front of the bar known as the Speakeasy and sat down at the bar, three stools from the door. He looked around, wondering if there were any faces that would grab his attention, and how many people grabbed the attention of his face. Dale set down a glass of vodka in front of Snake at the bar. He faced forward, picked up the glass, and took a drink.

[Tifaria]

Angel shivered slightly.  It was a little chilly in the tunnels.  At some point her gun had ended up back in her hand.  She didn't remember when she had pulled it out again.  There was something about simply being underground that made her feel funny, even though they were still within the boundaries of Paradigm University.  The tunnels had started out fairly well lit, but the further they went the more space there was between the dim lights, and the less they saw of discarded objects and graffiti.  Things that prove other people have been through here.  She pushed the thought aside quickly.  This was a safe sort of underground.  This underground had lights and paths and actually led somewhere, and soon they'd come to a building or something and they'd be out and--   

"Where are we?  I haven't seen any doors or signs in a while."  Beck looked around suspiciously.  He had his gun in hand too.  Knowing Beck, though, it was more likely a defense against any MPs they might encounter than some strange sense of paranoia.  Angel felt herself twitching at every little sound she heard, and her stomach was beginning to feel queasy.  She glanced at Beck, who looked calm and collected, though he still gripped Emilia's hand.  She found herself staring at the two of them for perhaps a moment too long, and Beck shot her a dirty look, as if daring her to say something.  Angel raised an eyebrow, but remained silent.

The bookish boy, Michale, was still flipping through pages of text, not really paying attention to anyone.  A strange boy, Angel thought, to be so consumed by a book that he had walked right into the middle of their conflict without realizing it.  It had taken a gunshot to get his attention.  Even now, he didn't seem to register that there were other people with him, and yet he continued to follow them without really looking at where he was going. 

They reached a small open space, with a few different paths leading off of it, all of them narrower than the ones they had come from.  Angel frowned.  "Michale, you said the tunnels extend to a cluster of buildings, didn't you?  Does it matter which of these we take?"

[Jim Starluck]

Michale looked up from his book again (how he could read in the steadily darkening gloom was anyone's guess) and frowned. "I, uh... I don't know. We should've found another stairway by now. I've walked the distance to West 122nd on the surface, and it didn't take nearly this long." He glanced over his shoulder at the long, poorly-lit tunnel behind them, then turned back looking slightly alarmed. "I-I think we might be... lost."

Lost. Underground. The dim, dark recesses beneath the city where everyone knew ghosts and memories of the past lurked, ready to swallow up the unwary explorer without a trace. It was entirely more dangerous than being lost on the surface, where you could at least guess at your location by reckoning from the Domes. Down here, there were no references... just endless tunnels and featureless corridors, some winding deeper and deeper into the bowels of Paradigm City where who-knows-what kind of relics of 40 years ago waited, merely slumbering until some foolish denizen of above came down and awakened them.

Michale's earlier fear from being in the room with people considered "armed and dangerous" was now replaced by fear of the unknown, the dark, and most of all... the past. He trembled slightly, but tried not to give away how suddenly afraid he was.

[Professor Vogler]

The door to the underground clicked gently shut just prior to a horde of Military grunt rounding a corner rushing to the Library doors. The call went out over the radio...

"We're in position Colonel Dastun, and awaiting your order!"

Dastun took hold of the short brim of his hat... he had this-- this feeling...

"Move in."

The soldiers broke down the doors with guns at the ready.... the room before them: empty. They were taken aback, but on their guard... perhaps they were merely hiding. A small group of MP's moved in sweeping the area only to find a broken window and the body of an old man dead on the ground.

"They're not in here, Sir!"

Dastun clenches the radio microphone... "What?!"

"They must have escaped..."

"Is there any way they could have gotten out of that room? They didn't all go through that window--"

"...Sir, there's also a body here. Dead."

Dastun's eyes dropped slowly. He sat down, legs out, in the driver's seat of his patrol car.

"Was he shot?"

"There's no visible wound, Sir." --- "The area is clear, Sir!" --- "Remaining units, standing by."

He hung up the radio, and sighing rubbed his head.  There seemed to be no end to the insanity of the city. Stundents held hostage... disappearing criminals... Rosewater's p-- ... *Rosewater* ...The image of Rosewater, the folders, and the watching guards all flashed before his eyes.

..."I've got to tell Roger!"...

The ever present determined scowl reappeared on Dastun's face as he affixed his hat and started the engine. A rookie quickly moved to his window.

"Colonel Dastun, where are you going?"

"There's ahh... information I need to look up back at H.Q."

"But Sir! Who's in comma--"

"Then I'll send somebody over! Bustems, Sullivan, I don't know!..."

The window rolled up as Dastun drove away... he hadn't time to mess around. The rookie ran a few yards, but gave up in confusion.

The patrol car rounded a corner, heading for the freeway towards the residential districts. On the corner, a suited man in an unmarked car watched as Dastun took the on-ramp...watching coldly...
Alex Rosewater sat cross-legged in his private cablecar in Paradigm Dome... reading journals and files as he made his descent down the center tower. The bell in the car dinged and it slowed upon reaching a platform... not the platform Rosewater had selected, which instantly irritated him.

A young female doctor in labcoat hurried boarded the car with a folder with photographs and charts just barely kept from falling out. She sat down in the compartment and the cablecar continued with its descent.

"Mr. Rosewater! I'm sorry... but--"

"How is our dear patient doing, doctor? I take it everything is coming along alright?"

"The surgery was a success, Mr. Rosewater, but the patient... The patient-- well, he's left, Sir."

Rosewater raised an eyebrow, and looked up at the doctor.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Rosewater! We had guards outside his room during recovery, but he's--"

"...Doing just fine I take it, doctor. That's good to hear."

"...Sir?"

"Your patient is no ordinary human. I trust he can take care of himself for the time being. Thank you for your services, doctor, please see my secretary to receive your payment. You'll find its the amount we agreed upon."


Rosewater pressed a button on a panel to his right, signaling the car to stop at the next platform.  The doctor disembarked, still rather preturbed. Rosewater smirked to himself as his private car continued down the spiraling track.