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Thread: The Sky City

  1. #1
    Sentinel DragonHeart's Avatar
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    The Sky City

    Tuesday, 5:51 a.m.

    Screens all over Arcelis flickered. For a long moment a white loading bar hovered against the stark black backgrounds, accompanied by a faint hum as the Sky City's network booted up. Few noticed. The tower's residents were still asleep. Those unlucky souls who weren't paid it no mind; the morning broadcast began at 6:00 and everyone knew how glitchy the paper-thin screens were. New technology developed for the Wireless Age cities.

    Then the video loaded. The view was serene at first, showing the twilight sky around Taneka, one of Arcelis' Japanese sisters. It refocused to show a dark splotch against the darkening horizon. Taneka's tower lights suddenly blinked on all at once. The plume of smoke appeared close, enveloping the cameras in a thick haze. The view refocused again, this time near ground level.

    There was no sound; the video would remain on mute until instructed otherwise by a human. Another lesson learned the hard way.

    The smoke came from a dozen burning vehicles and buildings, police cruisers among them. It obscured most details aside from the distinctive flash of gunfire and the epileptic strobing of siren lights all around the district. An unmanned camera drone nosedived past the tower cameras, tail aflame. At least one human-sized form lay crumpled in the street.

    The news ticker began to scroll across the bottom of the screen.

    SkyNet Emergency Bulletin

    Kisho district near sister city Taneka under siege. Casualties reported. Arcelis Threat Level: Yellow. Stay tuned. More details to come.
    Last edited by DragonHeart; 06-08-2010 at 09:41 AM. Reason: Typos.

  2. #2
    Don't mock me! I have a big stick! The Sky City Magi of Worlds's Avatar
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    Re: The Sky City

    Andrew walked through the hall's on his regular routine he has taken for two years to get to his office high up in Acrelis. He flirted with all the ladies too. That was just business to him, like usual. But Andrew did take his job as Systems Inspector very seriously. He was always on time for work, never missed a day and never screwed up.

    Walking into his office, Andrew was shocked to see his tv turned to the news and that it was showing an attack on one of Japan's district's near their tower Taneka. He read the scrolling words on the tv out loud.

    "Kisho district near sister city Taneka under seige. Casualties reported. Acrelis Threat Level: Yellow. Stay tuned. More details."

    He quickly pushed the botton that would allow everyone else in Acrelis to hear this message and sat down in his chair waiting for the inevitable calls that would soon follow.

  3. #3
    The Mad God The Sky City Heartless Angel's Avatar
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    Re: The Sky City

    Zach layed in bed, watching the news bulletin. While most would be horrified by the sight, he looked on with a vile grin. The weapons he'd sold to the attackers were now helping him collect on the insurance he purchased on Taneka. This wasn't the first time this had happened, and it certainly wouldn't be the last if he had anything to do with it. He turned off his screen, and went into another room to check on his bank account. He wanted to see just how much he'd profitted today...

  4. #4
    Learner The Sky City CloudTide's Avatar
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    Re: The Sky City

    Lan walked down the bungled streets of Kisho, watching everyone panic, as if nothing was happening. He continued to walk until he reached an alley and sat next to a young man.

    “You ready, Rex?” Lan said.

    “Yeah,” Rex replied handing Lan a machine gun.

    “Where is everyone then?”

    “They’re already in position. We’re gonna stop them Lan, don’t worry. For Dad.”

    “Right, for Dad.”

    Lan and Rex got up and walked to two motorcycles parked behind a dumpster. They got on and zoomed towards the chaos. Upon arriving at the scene of the dilemma, with explosions and gunshots in the background, Lan and Rex met up with a small army of men armed with a variety of firearms.

    “Alright guys,” Rex started. “We’re gonna save this place no matter what happens we’re gonna stop these punks. You ready guys?”

    “Yeah!” cheered the small army!

    “Then let’s save our home!”

    And the small militia began their rebellion…

  5. #5
    The Lone Dagger The Sky City Xithor's Avatar
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    Re: The Sky City

    There was a noise outside the window and Kolt rolled over in his bed high in an apartment in the city of Taneka. He smelled something burning and immediately looked over to his kitchen and noticed that nothing was on just as he left it. Glancing at his clock he saw that it was 6:35 am and he was frustrated that his sleep had been disturbed. He got out of bed formulating what exactly he was going to say to the younger kids directly above him who had kept him up for the past several months.

    "Damn those kids, I've still got another hour to..."

    He froze in his tracks as his bedroom window caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. He rushed over to it and threw the window open only to be bombarded by the sounds of explosions, people screaming and a barrage of gun fire. He was stunned, he he didn't know how to react. His legs locked up and he fell to his knees.

    "How could this be happening...who would do this....I've gotta do something!"

    Kolt scrambled to his feet and rushed into his closet, threw on his jeans and a shirt and got read for battle. He took out his battle gear strapping his belt around his waist and attaching the straps just above his knee. Over to his dresser he ran and slammed his fist down on the top of it and opened popped his knife display. He quickly grabbed all the throwing knives that he had room for and his two long daggers and ran out his door to the staircase.

    Once he made it to the bottom he burst out the door and was immediately struck with the disaster around him. He looked around not knowing who was the true enemy but began to run out into the carnage when he heard a familiar voice,

    "Kolt..."

    It was so faint. Kolt whipped his head around to see who was calling his name.

    "Kolt..."

    Frantically now he scanned his surroundings until he saw the source of the voice and immediately his heart dropped. He sprinted at the fallen girl and once he was close enough he recognized who it was.

    "Emma! Emma what happened? Are you hurt? Can you move?"

    "I've been better...it all happened so fast I didn't know what to do. Something came from the sky, rained down on us...we had no chance."

    "Don't move Emma," Kolt said trying to calm himself and comfort his partner, "I'm not leaving your side unless I'm-"

    "You must!" Emma injected, "You must get help, notify the authorities. I'll be fine."

    "But Emma you're my partner, I'm not gonna leave you to die here."

    "I said go!" Emma screamed. Kolt looked around and saw one of Emma's pistols just out of her reach so he grabbed it and placed it in her hands. "Don't worry. I'll get help and be right back. I promise."

    Kolt got up and sprinted to the closest know telephone location that he knew of. Once he saw the blue box of the telephone he kicked it into another gear and grasped the telephone and frantically dialed 911. A secretary came on the line.

    "Taneka emergency line what's the problem?"

    "My name is Kolt Vitters, I'm a resident of Taneka. The Kisho district is under attack!"
    Last edited by Xithor; 06-08-2010 at 11:36 PM.

  6. #6
    Don't mock me! I have a big stick! The Sky City Magi of Worlds's Avatar
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    Re: The Sky City

    (OOC: As a side note guys, DragonHeart said Sky City is in America. Its the one that is called Acrelis. You may have to fix those posts.)

    "Systems Inspector Jackson, hold please!"

    "Systems Inspector Jackson, hold please!"

    "Yes sir, I understand! Hold please!"

    DAMMIT! I SAID HOLD PLEASE!"

    Andrew just knew that these calls would all be a pain in the ass. Several of his junior assistants had called in stark-raving mad wanting explanations. He was getting tired of this shit. Yes the Taneka tower had a terrorist plot going on around it but these people were in ****in' America and didn't need to worry about Japan's problem's.

    At the height of the crisis in his office Andrew's boss, the Cheif Inspector walked in. He looked like he was about to flip too.

    "You see that?" he asked, pointing at the television.

    "Their transferring me over there to deal with that shit! I'm not leaving this office in a disaster so I'm promoting you to my place! Move to my office pronto Jackson!"

    With a stunned "Yes sir!" Andrew did just that. As he made it to the door with his things he slammed it shut to the madness behind him. Seeing an Acrelis holo-pad on his new desk he hit the button and waited for the Mayor's image to surface.

  7. #7
    The Mad God The Sky City Heartless Angel's Avatar
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    Re: The Sky City

    (I'm in America, I just have something to do with Japan's city, so mine's not in eed of editing)

    "Not bad. Not bad at all. I should probably start raising my prices on these weapons... I let them go too cheap.", he mumbled. He locked his computer, and got dressed for work. Today he'd be inspecting a new fusion reactor design, determining whether or not it was ready to present to the council. He dug through his closet to find his favorite black suit. He was already late, he'd need a decent excuse to avoid questions... He began running out of his room towards the agreed meeting place, while still tyring to tie his tie.
    Last edited by Heartless Angel; 06-08-2010 at 01:55 PM.

  8. #8
    Imperius Rex The Sky City Storm's Avatar
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    Re: The Sky City

    “Th... a break... n.ws... tin...”

    “Kisho... der... attack”


    The muffled sounds of the radio broadcast coming from the alarm clock were incomprehendable at first, and although they were becoming clearer with Ewan’s increasing consciousness, they still took a while to sink in.

    “Threat level: yellow.”

    Ewan was not quite sure what a ‘yellow’ threat level actually meant, but he suspected that it was quite high. He had only been living in America for a matter of just over 2 weeks, and was suffering for a little more culture shock than he had expected. Most of the culture shock, however, was from the strange majestic beauty of Arcelis. He had been living quite a simple life in Kew, England, before being sent the request of living and working in the sky city. That, itself, was quite surreal, as he was just a simple botanist. A simple botanist? With the World’s resources at a terrifying low, and with poverty sweeping the lands the way it was, his job was a rather powerful thing. However, he still could not help feel that he had betrayed his family, his friends, and his country by migrating. They told him it was for the best. He knew he would be helping people on a large scale. Things were far too complicated to comprehend. He sat vacantly, thoughts mulling through his mind.

    “...Suspected terrorist activity.”

    He snapped back again into reality. Now was not the time to be daydreaming. He had to get to work. He still did not understand the full scale of what was going on, and although the attack was in another country, on another continent, he couldn't help but feel uncomfortable.
    Last edited by Storm; 06-08-2010 at 02:24 PM.

  9. #9
    Sentinel DragonHeart's Avatar
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    Leon Arden steepled his fingers as he watched the latest reports on Taneka's situation. A dozen screens were plastered on his office wall like post-it notes, each one displaying a news report or a direct camera feed from a variety of sources. The chaos raged silently around him; the only sound in the entire room was from the small bamboo water fountain perched on his desk. A gift from his Japanese associates.

    He sighed and shifted, leaning back in his chair. He badly wanted to call over to Taneka. They had more important things to do though. Besides, in the world of 24/7 live broadcast news media, at this point Leon probably knew more about what was happening than his besieged counterpart did. Still wasn't much. No known terrorist group had this kind of firepower.

    There were a few international suspects, of course. China, Korea. Half the Middle East. It didn't make any sense, no matter who. No one wanted to attack the Sky Cities; they wanted to steal information and designs to build their own. Well, Homeland Defense would have to sort that mess out.

    A sudden, harsh buzz interrupted his thoughts.

    “Yes, Cynthia?”

    “The new Chief Inspector's on holo. Will you take it?”

    Leon grimaced. He hated using the holos but they were often the only convenient way to meet in the towers. Convenient for everyone else, that is. He ran a hand through his hair, straightened his tie. At least he never worried about coffee breath anymore.

    “Put him through.”

    A metal circle several inches in diameter glowed and began to load. Cumbersome and slow, as all these new innovations tended to be. It gave him a moment to frown at the image reflected in his old-fashioned LCD monitor. The holo always made his dark skin three shades darker than it was. Software bug or bigoted designer, some things just never changed. At least his suit, navy blue with a white dress shirt beneath, always looked crisp.

    Finally with a crackle and a click Chief Inspector Jackson's face appeared with the eerie, disembodied form of all holos.

    “What can I do for you, Chief Inspector?”

  10. #10
    Don't mock me! I have a big stick! The Sky City Magi of Worlds's Avatar
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    Re: The Sky City

    "What can I do for you Cheif Inspector?"

    The easy reply almost made Andrew want to laugh and then, sadly, cry. In fact, Andrew was not in the least bit in control of his emotions. He looked down and tried to fix his suite to look presentable, thought better of it and cleared his throat.

    "Sir it seems that the media has gone into full swing with this report and would like an interview with all of the chief staff of Acrelis. They won't take no for an answer unfortunately. What are we going to do about all of this? The whole City is in an uproar now!"

    He started pacing his office while waiting for a reply.

  11. #11
    The Quiet One The Sky City Andromeda's Avatar
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    Re: The Sky City

    Tuesday, 6:57 am…

    Distant sizzling and popping came from a currently unattended kitchen. The sweet aroma of cooking sausages was already permeating the large apartment. Everything had very still and clean look. There was a pleasant arrangement of a couch and end chairs with a coffee table in the center of the living room. Scattered pictures adorned the walls, mostly family photos digitally taken and preserved. Bookshelves lined the furthest corner of the room followed by a tall cabinet. It was a warm inviting feeling from someone that took great care and time in the appearance.

    A soft morning glow from the sun crept into living room as a thin figure hastily moved to the hall. The first bedroom door was closed loosely decorated with stickers from a popular cartoon and posters of planes. It was a very young boys looking door. That was for Leighton and Patrick. Only a few inches away was another with a very bare door that was left slightly open.

    Karen pushed the door open to let the light in and shine rudely on her daughter sleeping under all of her covers. “It’s time to get up, Claire!” she commanded firmly. There was only a little stirring in the bed, her voice had been briefly heard then ignored. “Claire! Up now or I’m making you take a shower with your brothers!”

    Her daughter burst up from the sheets throwing them down to her feet. There was a shocked awake scowl on Claire’s face looking back at her mother. “You wouldn’t…” She checked that look in her mother’s eyes knowing it too well.

    Karen turned her head away looking up like she was considering the idea. “That would save us some water in our daily allotment…”

    “No! Mom! I’m up! I’m up!” Claire was standing out of her bed in her loose t-shirt and pajama pants.

    There was a bit of a grin that Karen allowed herself before looking back at her daughter. “Your father is finishing up now. So you better be ready and be quick. School’s in an hour!”

    “I know… I know…”

    Now that the morning ritual with her sleepy head daughter was finished, Karen returned back to the kitchen. The breakfast had been left unattended for too long. She had enough experience in judging the food to know how long that she had between checking. Once the sausages were turned and shifted a rack of eggs came out of the fridge to rest on the counter. They waited until the sausages were finished cooking. She had a minute to spare.

    Karen returned back to the hall making sure that Claire was moving. Confirming her daughter, Karen opened the boy’s room. They might have been younger, but they seemed more motivated. All she had to do was push the light into the room as they were start moving out of bed. It made her life a little easier after having to pull Claire out of bed some mornings. “Your sister’s taking a shower soon, so be ready behind her. Don’t want to miss the big breakfast, right?”

    “Pancakes too?” Leighton inquired even though he already knew the answer.

    “Yup! Pancakes too!”

    “Yay!”

    The next return trip to the kitchen had the sausages nearly finished. A new flat pan was placed on the free burner prepared for the pancakes. She finished whipping together the mix and set it on the counter ready as well. Karen checked the table once more to make sure everything was already set out. It was not common for such a big breakfast with some of the limits on food, but it was an important day.

    Karen walked back through the hall to the furthest door, which went to their room. She knocked briefly before opening it to signal her arrival. Her husband was already in his dress pants and working on the white button up shirt. “Breakfast is almost ready, dear!” She approached him seeing his fingers fumbling a little on the last couple of buttons. “Everything’ll be fine,” she comforted, as she took over buttoning the shirt for him.

    Once she was finished he stand down on the edge of the bed letting the nervousness run out a little. He pulled her down on his lap and gave her thanking kiss. “Thanks…I just want this to go really well. The new position that’s been offered will give us more money and with the kids getting older…”

    “Everything’ll work out the way it needs to.” She ran her fingers through his hair setting a few fallen strains back into place.

    “Hey what’s this all about?” her husband questioned pointing up to the small screen running a newsfeed and picture of a building burning.

    Karen had mostly been trying to ignore it after she had seen it when she woke up thirty minutes ago. It had left her a little stunned when she saw it, but her mind started telling her of all of the housework that needed to be done. So she was not too distracted by it with too many things to focus on. It seemed too far away and almost foreign. “There was an attack made on one of the Sky Cities in Japan.” The view seemed to have caught him in a trance leaving her to awkwardly stand up. “…breakfast will be ready soon so please hurry!”

    “…yeah… Right! Sorry, honey!”

  12. #12
    The Lone Dagger The Sky City Xithor's Avatar
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    Re: The Sky City

    Back in Kisho - 7:06 am

    "Please hold sir." Click.

    Knowing that he had no time to hold and wait to be assisted Kolt slammed the phone back onto it's receiver. He turned and started to make his way back to Emma when another missile in the distance sending a shock wave through the city and knocking him off balance. He looked up into the sky to see it coated in a black smog, most likely from the burning of all the twisted metal. He snapped his mind back to the task on hand and ran for his fallen partner.

    As he approached her he bent down to one knee and said, "Alright Emma, it's time to get you outta here."

    He hadn't even noticed that her eyes were closed, fearing the worst he pressed his middle and fore finger to Emma's throat and was comforted when he felt a heart beat. Looking around for Emma's things he quickly picked up her two pistols and threw her arm around his neck. Lifting her from the ground he cradled her in his arms and started towards his place. Once he got to the front door he ran into the lobby expecting to get some assistance only to find that no one was in the building.

    "Is anyone here....? I could use some help!! My partner is unconscious."

    "I'm sorry sir, the city is in panic. All the medical staff is occupied."

    Ah, of course. If we were someone that they'd recognize this wouldn't be a problem. No matter I've got to get Emma a place to rest. My apartment is gonna have to do. Moving over to the elevator he pressed the button to go up and the doors opened immediately. Walking in he tapped the 22 floor and waited as the elevator took him up the building. Emerging from the elevator Kolt turned to his right and walked a few paces before opening the door to his apartment, 2207.

    His place was still dark and his priority was Emma, so he gently laid her down in his bed and examined her for any potentially fatal wounds. She wasn't bleeding from anywhere so he felt that all she needed right now was rest. Walking to his kitchen he grabbed a cloth of his counter and ran it under the facet to make it damp. He squeezed the cloth in his fist to wring it out of water and made his way back to Emma.

    Sitting on his bed he folded the cloth into a rectangle and placed it on her head. There you go partner, all you need is some rest right......what is going on.......there has to be an explanation.......the news! Grabbing the remote on his night stand he flipped on the TV to the news channel and immediately read the ticker scrolling across the bottom:

    SkyNet Emergency Bulletin

    Kisho district near sister city Taneka under siege. Casualties reported. Arcelis Threat Level: Yellow. Stay tuned. More details to come.
    Last edited by Xithor; 06-11-2010 at 11:01 PM.

  13. #13
    Learner The Sky City CloudTide's Avatar
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    Re: The Sky City

    “Rex!” Lan screamed at the top of his lungs with continuous gunshots in the background.

    BUDABUDABUDABUDA

    “REEEEEEEEEEX!!”

    Rex with three bullet holes in his body, one in his left leg, one in his stomach, and one in his heart, bleeding, chuckled and said, “It’s not over buddy *cough*. We’re still gonna…win this…for d…dad.” And as Rex breathed his dying breath Lan continued to scream as his associates continued the counter attack.

    “REX!!”

    BUDABUDABUDABUDA

    “REEEEEEEEEX!! You bastards! I’ll kill you all myself!” One by one Lan’s acquaintances fell.

    “Lan!” said one of Lan’s allies. “Lan I got the launcher! We can blow them all up with this! We can” —BLAM! “UHG!!”

    “NOOOOO!!” Lan yelled out. Then Lan ran towards the large grenade launcher and aimed at the attackers. “This is for my broth”—BLAM! “AARGH!”
    Last edited by CloudTide; 06-09-2010 at 08:41 AM.

  14. #14
    HRH Albha The Sky City Aerif's Avatar
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    Re: The Sky City

    One hundred or more computer screens were showing an identical news bulletin, repeating themselves over and over again, showing an a colour that was almost unidentifiable on some of the older screens. The screens were slightly out-of-sync and the effect was almost hypnotic, if you were one of the people who were easily drawn in by the media.

    John Smith (a man who unsurprisingly loathed his name), the current owner of all of the screens, and the various vintage computers, laptops and other IT gadgets and gizmos, was not one of those people, seeing as he sold the devices that often spontaneously decided they wanted to display a SkyNet bulletin.

    To distract himself from the screens he chose to look out of the shop’s window, which was basically the rounded wall that faced into the centre of the building, save for room for a door and a FlexiScreen that was luckily not attached to any network, but was instead used to display the shop’s sign. The view from the window was no better than over-graphic news bulletin, there were just a few too many people panicking considering the situation was over 5000 miles away, but then, he expected that kind of behaviour considering it was just so stereotypically American. And the floor of Arcelis that his shop was on happened to be full of those types, alongside a strange amount of immigrants who seemed to have had no problem getting into America.
    When SkyNet took over every screen, he was essentially out of business for the day. Something that had logged him many calls with the Chief Systems Inspector, and even a few with the office of Mr. Arden, although he had only spoken to the latter once or twice.

    It had happened so often that his assistant, Louise, had gotten into a routine, checking her television in the morning and making a point to come in early whenever SkyNet’s bulletins were appearing on everything from her mobile phone to her mirror. So she was now in the shop with him.

    “Louise, get the Chief of Systems Inspection on the line at the first opportunity,” he said, “and tell him it’s the British ambassador.”

    “But you’re not the ambassador, and you’re not even British…” she replied, in a tone that sounded less-confused than the average person but still suitably perplexed.

    “Well tell him, I’m ‘A British ambassador’, people keep mistaking me for British for some reason.”

    “Fine, I’ll call him, even though he’ll probably be engaged. And people only think you’re British because you talk English and you sound un-American. Also all of these computers have British plugs…”

    “Antique-people like British things. Most of these are just American computers with British plugs anyway…”

  15. #15
    The Lone Dagger The Sky City Xithor's Avatar
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    Re: The Sky City

    Taneka - 8:25 am

    "Zzzzzz....ah."

    Kolt abruptly awoke from a nap he had managed to slide into. Sitting up in his chair he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and looked over at Emma. Still out I see. Reaching over he grabbed her wrist and felt her pulse that was back to normal and the color was returning to her face. Her breathing was normal so he was comfortable with how she recovering. He sat back in his chair as the images on his TV flashed across the screen, images of carnage, destruction, and of artillery raining from the sky.

    He took his eyes off the screen and glanced out the window, the sky was full of black smoke and gun fire could still be heard in the streets. Glancing over at the clock he saw that it was close to 8:30 in the morning and he stood up and walked over to his kitchen and grabbed a coffee cup and made himself a pot. He leaned against his counter tops, still trying to make an assessment of what was going on in Kisho when he was interrupted.

    "You making a pot? Mind bringing me a cup?"

    Looking around the bend of his hall way he could see Emma sitting up in bed, smiling back at her he replied, "Absolutely Em. You still take it with cream and sugar?"

    "Yea, put extra sugar in there I need to make sure this is actually happening."

    Pouring two cups of coffee Kolt mixed in cream and sugar and walked back to his room handing Emma her cup and sitting back down in his chair.

    "So you gonna tell me what you were doing out on the streets that early in the morning Em? You get us a new job and not tell me about it."

    "No Kolt, I love going for a 5 am run every now and then," she said with sarcasm in her voice, "I was woken up but the gunfire, I do live in Kisho. My question is how did it not wake you when you're so far on the border of Taneka that you could pretty much say that you live in Kisho."

    "You know me, I can sleep through pretty much everything. It did wake me eventually, just not as early as it did you apparently. So this wasn't a job huh? Because not getting me up for a job is pretty selfish of you" Kolt replied as he smirked at her from behind his mug.

    "I got no calls, not from anyone, and you're the first person that I'd get in touch with if we had another job K. We're assassins, we don't exist to anyone else in the world but the most powerful government officials," Emma looked up with distress in her eyes, "but for something like this to happen, this is not how governments deal with problems. This is a call for war." She glanced over towards the window and immediately dropped her coffee cup. "The attack is still going on, what are we doing in here." She threw the covers off of herself and made for the door, grabbing her pistols as she passed the dining room table.

    "Em wait!" Kolt exclaimed. She paused at the frame of the door and reached out to grasp the knob. "No one attacks my home and gets away with it....are you with me?"

    "What am I gonna do with you...of course I'm in." Standing from his chair he drew one of his daggers and smiled, "You know you should still be resting though." Walking up behind Emma he put his hand assuredly on her shoulder, "Lead the way Em, you were the one out there before." The two darted into the halfway and began their descent back to the streets, to where the action had just begun.
    Last edited by Xithor; 06-11-2010 at 11:09 PM.

  16. #16
    Magically Delicous The Sky City Merlin's Avatar
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    Re: The Sky City

    Amongst the heightened emotions and widespread confusion, the Counter Terrorism Unit – Arcelis Division office remained relatively calm. The insulated, structurally reinforced walls allowed its employees to work without being disturbed by the tumultuous uproar of the citizens living within the building. The employees nestled inside were fully aware of the situation at hand, but had no time for panic – no time for phoning one's family. It was crunch time.

    There was no mistaking the entrance to the CTU office. Armed guards patrolled the surrounding hallways and cameras littered every surface, making it virtually impossible to approach the main doors without alerting someone. The heavy, plated glass doors that lead to the interior of the office were protected by another two guards, along with numerous identification verification mechanisms that would make airport security from fifty years ago seem like a joke.

    “Hey Joe, are you watching this shit?” One of the two guards at the entrance pointed to the screen sitting on the desk in front of them inquisitively. The screen, like almost every other display in the facility, was tuned into the live broadcast from Japan. Of course, their screen was supposed to be displaying video feeds from the hallways, but one of their many lines of defense was made useless by a certain guard's fascination with the news feed.

    “No, I'm looking at those tig-o-bitties walking this way!” Joe grunted in approval, nodding his head up and down slightly.

    The other guard remained glued to the screen, ignoring the gestures of his comrade. “As if some hot chick would just magically waltz past the crew and make it all the way here without me noticing. Rather than fantasizing about your imaginary girlfriend, you should be trying to figure out what the hell is wrong with this damned screen.” He shook the screen in vain, hoping the jostling motion would somehow remedy the problem. “And if there was a chick, I seriously doubt she'd have any interest in talking to your fat a--.” He stopped mid-phrase as he felt the presence of someone hovering over him. The sickeningly-sweet smell of cherry blossoms overwhelmed his nostrils and brought him to full attention, almost bumping heads with a young female in front of him. “I... I...”

    Joe walked around to the side of the desk, motioning for the young woman to follow suit. “Welcome to the CTU. Badge please.” Anyone wishing to enter the facility had to have an identification badge as well as undergo a number of identity tests, such as a retina scan, hand scan, full body scan, or several other wonderfully annoying tests. The exact tests were pseudo-randomly selected to ensure a fair balance of hits and misses. Every person must walk through a localized EMP field which neutralized any electronic device, removing the possibility of any data being transferred in or out and disabling any explosives.

    The young woman nonchalantly walked over to the guard, her black, three-inch heels clacking with each step. She was dressed professionally, wearing a well-made royal azure woman's suit that went down to just above her knees. Her blonde hair was tied neatly behind the nape of her neck with a scarlet ribbon, forming a pony-tail that draped down her back. She grinned roguishly at Joe, looking deep into his eyes and said, “What's up big sexy?”

    “Not much Agent Alexandrescy. Just keeping an eye on the situation.”

    She gently cooed at him, removing her badge from underneath the corner of her jacket and handing it to Joe. “Aww what did I tell you about using the phrase 'the situation'? And that's 'special' agent.”

    Joe was taken aback by the later statement, sliding her card through the reader. “Special Agent? Damn girl, you're moving up the ranks.”

    “I've been a special agent for years Joe. Don't tell me you forgot already,” she sighed, grabbing her badge back from the guard and hiding it in her jacket.

    The other guard finally snapped back into reality and approached the two, saying, “Ma'am I'm going to have to ask you to keep your badge visible at all times. It's policy.”

    Joe glanced back at his partner and groaned, “Man... shut up. She's cool. Go back to watching your soap opera or whatever. I got this.”

    “Look we're in a crisis here and the last thing we need is people slipping on the rules. What's next, violating code of ethics? Sending data to the enemy? Spying on our fellow workers? Huh?”

    “Look white boy, stop trippin' before you end up hurting yourself.” Joe's temper was clearly becoming inflamed at the other guard. The man had recently been transferred from another branch and was quickly alienating himself from the others with his behavior.

    “Bah, don't get all worked up over it. Do you have a spare badge clip? Mine broke this morning, hence the pocket. If you give me one I'll be more than happy to wear my badge on the outside.”

    Just then the double-doors opened and a man poked his head out to look around. He focused his gaze on Special Agent Alexandrescy and rolled his eyes. “What are you doing dawdling out here? We've been waiting on you! Come on!” He paused and turned his attention to the guard that was giving her a hard time. “Oh and Harry, you're fired. Please leave your badge with Joe and get out of here.”

    As the man returned inside, the young woman stuck her tongue out at Harry and proceeded through the doors to CTU with no further issue. Upon entering the establishment, she was greeted by the sound of people furiously typing on keyboards and hurriedly clicking buttons on their screens. The noise dampened momentarily as curious onlookers noticed her arrival. The bland, nondescript hallway was a stark contrast to the internal walls of the room, heavily adorned with FlexiScreens of various sizes, each showing unique data. Not a single display had the SkyNet overlay on it, a sharp reminder that their systems were isolated from the rest of the network. The SkyNet broadcast had no control over any of the computers. In fact, the CTU ran on a dedicated server cluster designed by none other than Special Agent Alexandrescy. It only took one day working in the Archelis facility before she had literally smashed the original system designed by the building engineers with a sledgehammer. She couldn't care less how much time and effort they put into it. The system randomly crashed throughout the day, usually at critical points, causing all data to be lost – even data that was backed up on the multi-disk RAID controller. Normally, such an atrocious act would land a person in jail, but Alexandrescy was no ordinary person. Her claim to fame was cracking one of the most secure network systems ever conceived in less than a minute. Since then she worked for the US government, creating advanced encryption algorithms and assisting various agencies with high priority computer-related cases. Her latest stint was working at CTU – Archelis, ensuring that the massive skyscraper didn't turn into a smoldering pile of rubble from terrorists.

    Special Agent Alexandrescy quickly caught up to her doorway savior, and stopped him. “Thanks for helping out back there, Director Mason.”

    Director Mason, the head of CTU – Archelis, turned around and closed the gap between them. He got in her face and with a stern voice said, “Helped you? Is that what you think --- that 'I' helped 'you' back there?” He took a step back and laughed in a condescending manner. “Ha hah haa! Who the **** you think you are coming in here acting like you own the place. I'm the ****ing Director of CTU. I run shit here, while you just work here!”

    The typical response to such an attack would be to become upset, angry, or perhaps even cry. Instead, the agent thought to herself, pondering over what he just said. She knew it was familiar but she couldn't quite place it. Her face started glowing with excitement. “Oh! Oh! I know! You sound just like him! Gimme a sec... um”

    The director became calm and content, his body posture more neutral. “Ok. That's alright. That's alright. I don't give a ****, I'm winning anyway. I can't lose.”

    She grabbed him by the shoulders and embraced him tightly for only a moment. “Denzel Washington!”

    Mason sighed and started heading towards his office, which was up a flight of stairs in the distance. “You know how much time it took me to come up with that? You figure out my impressions of old movies as fast as you hack a computer. How do you do it?”

    “Well if I told you that ---” she said, shaking her finger at him, “I'd have to kill you.”

    “Seriously, that phrase died out like forty years ago. You need some new material,” he jokingly said as he continued forward. She followed suit, following him to his office.

    “So what's going on anyway?”

    “That's why I brought you here. I've already got calls from the Chief of Staff, District, and even the Japanese ambassador asking the same thing. All we know for sure is that there is an attack of some sort taking place and that the news feeds are fake.”

    “Fake news feeds?”

    Mason directed her to a screen on the wall behind his spacious office. “Take a look at this.” The walls were made of thick glass, capable of becoming as opaque as a true wall should the need arise. It allowed the director to view his people hard at work below while still maintaining privacy. It almost seemed archaic, like a king looking down on his peasants. This was not the intent, but such a thought could come to some people's minds. On the screen was the video from the SkyNet news feed. “Computer, pause on frame three minutes forty-two seconds.”

    The video froze in place, stopped at the moment right before the camera drone nosedived out of view. The agent examined the screen in detail, taking in the whole scene. “Computer, zoom in on sector four-five and enhance.” The image zoomed in on the drone. There was a slight difference between the area just around the drone and the backdrop of the tower. “Computer, run a level three optical analysis on this section and cross reference it with all known drone footage.”

    “Processing. There is a 99.9123% match with the Consinskie Massacre two years, thirty-one days and five hours ago.”

    “Display the image.”

    Director Mason was taken aback by the image that had suddenly appeared on the screen. “So we were right. It 'is' a fake!”

    “Someone went to a lot of trouble to cover up whatever is going on over there. And people wonder why there's no sound.”

    “But what does the Consinskie Massacre have to do with this?” Mason asked.

    Special Agent Alexandrescy shrugged her shoulders and responded, “Probably nothing, but we should look into it nonetheless.”

    “Very well. Assemble your team and let's figure this mess out. I'll inform District of our situation.”


  17. #17
    Sentinel DragonHeart's Avatar
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    Leon frowned. The edge of panic in Andrew's voice tempted him to reconsider the Chief Inspector's promotion. All Arcelis staff were supposed to be highly trained, calm professionals. He couldn't afford to have anyone rattled. Especially those with media connections.

    “Chief Inspector Jackson,” Leon said quietly, “we are not going to do anything. You are going to redirect your sources through the proper channels. My staff will handle any inquiries. That's their job. You will go back to work and do your job. The City will be fine. We are not under attack. The situation near Taneka will be handled and investigated and if anything leads here the CTU will take care of it.”

    He cut the holo before Andrew could respond and shifted his attention back to the screens. The flaming drone plunged past the camera again, thick smoke trailing. Something about it nagged at him. A sense of familiarity, as though he'd seen it before.

    The intercom buzzed again, from his side this time.

    “Cynthia, contact Director Mason. Don't bother with a holo, just have him email a report. And block any media inquiries that come in.”

    “Our stance?”

    “Isolated incident, no threat to Arcelis. Find out who elevated our threat status and fire him. Arcelis is blue until further notice.”

    “Yes, sir.”

    SkyNet Bulletin

    Kisho district attack reported isolated incident. Arcelis Threat Level: Blue. Normal programming will resume in one hour.

  18. #18
    Professional Klutz. The Sky City Hyzenthlay's Avatar
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    Re: The Sky City

    The news blared on in a high office. It's listener shaking her head furiously as the story unraveled. Eventually the woman became infuriated. Her bright, green eyes flashed as she pushed the t.v's power button. She brushed her golden hair behind her fringe angrily and turned in her chair.

    Luca tapped the edges of a stack of papers on her desk. As she placed her thick framed glasses on her button nose she smiled. Sitting the papers in front of her she licked her thumb before turning the first page. A detailed list of the applicants to the tower were listed. She picked a red pen from a drawer beside her and began to read.

    "American..." she spoke under her breath ticking next to a males name. She looked at his picture quickly and smiled, "welcome..." her eyes moved slowly to his name "Richard." She scanned over his qualifications, background and noted skills and nodded.

    She ginned and looked further down the list overlooking the work applications. After all she had been told to specifically seek out people to help in power sectors. With all the trouble happening around her she felt that help in rebuilding was vital. This involved much more work than she would have liked.

    "Russian!?" she scowled and crossed several times. Without even looking at the name, picture or resume she continued to search.

    The smile had fell from her face. Pulling the glasses from her nose she rubbed at the corners of her eyes. A knock came at her office door and she raised her head to meet it.

    "Come." She chanted.

    A small, balding man walked in nervously screwing a cap in his oil stained hands. His knuckles were bloody and his face to match. Luca sighed and pointed to chair opposite her own. She placed the papers in a drawer as the man took his seat. Lucas eyes scanned over his name tag. With her eyes on the man she spoke.

    "What can I do for you?" A bored tone had slipped passed her lips without her even noticing.

    "I've been told to come to you about a transfer. I've had it up to here with the..."

    "And why would I give you that opportunity? Do you know how many people would have been turned down the slot you have taken up? Do you know how many people today alone?" Luca was now staring at the man with distaste.

    "Well... No. I mean, It-It isn't that I'm not grateful. Really it isn't. It's just that I can't take any more of the..."

    "The romance of this situation is escaping me. Hurry it up."

    "Yes, well... I only ask that you transfer me to a separate construction crew. The boys in this one have taken a dislike to me." The man rubbed the back of his hand across his nose revealing a line of fresh blood.

    Luca sighed once more and leaned in low to get a better look at the mans face.

    "Did I not ask you for a reason why I should transfer you? I'm not asking for a sob story. Or did my question confuse you?" Her teeth were gritted with irritation at these words.

    "No, no... I'm very good at what I do. I'm the best. I only ask that you transfer me. I'm sure I'll be much, much better in a different sector."

    "How much better?" Said Luca looking at her desk and pushing a paper clip idly with her index finger.

    "Oh, a thousand times better. I swear it. I'll work 'til my fingers swell."

    "Very well. I will write you out a letter of transfer... With a 5% pay cut." She looked up waiting for the man to object. "Is that okay with you Mr. Price?" she asked in a sweet tone.

    "Yes... It will have to be." Said the man with a sigh of relief. "And I'll work so hard that I'll earn the extra 5%. I swear it."

    "That's what I like to hear. If you prove your worth you may even make above that. Maybe." Luca reached into the drawer to pull out a different set of papers. Looking back at Mr. Price she spoke again, "you may leave now."

    The small man bowed showing the shine of his scalp. He exited the room shutting the door with barely a sound. Luca placed the new papers on the desk and turned to a spreadsheet. At the top read 'budget cuts to save for new facilities'. Luca took up her pen and scribbled in an open slot '-5% to Egan Price'. She smiled and looked back to the door.
    Last edited by Hyzenthlay; 06-13-2010 at 08:52 AM.

  19. #19
    Don't mock me! I have a big stick! The Sky City Magi of Worlds's Avatar
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    Re: The Sky City

    Andrew sighed and forced himself to calm down. The mayor was right. There was no need to panic if the threat was halfway across the world. Andrew chuckled to himself and sat down at his new desk. Now that he was thinking clearly, Andrew had the chance to actually celebrate his new promotion. He gave himself a high-five and promised he would go out to dinner that night.

    After a few minutes of this he got an idea. Popping his head out the door, he gave the secretary some instruction's.

    "Give Peter Ganzoss my old position and fire Jack Calson. Also have the media people leave the waiting room now. I'm too important to put up with that crap! Thank you!"

    He stuck his head back in without waiting for a reply. Seeing as how he was a Chief now, Andrew had more responsibilities. So instead of complaining, he got to work. First he had to check on the system's mainframe to make sure there were no bugs or viruses. He was doin this now.

  20. #20

    Re: The Sky City

    As the SkyNet bulletin once again flashed on the many screens throughout Arcelis a tall man sat looking at the sunrise coming up over the horizon. His hand holding a small ornate cup of chai tea, he sipped the last bit of it casually listening to the report. As he stood revealing his towering height he pulled out a few dollars and carefully placed it in between the cup and the small saucer on the table. As he left the small tea shop his large thick dreads swayed nonchalantly to the rhythm of his steps. As he walked he could see many people making their way to work and the tired expressions on their faces. Others stood with their gaze glazed over watching the bulletin.

    Not even fifty yards from the tea shop was his destination, it was a small apartment complex, and he advanced through until he came to the twelfth floor and room 1206. His knock at the door was slow almost as unsure if he was knocking at the right place. However he opened it and waltzed in as if it was his own home. A small man sat in a corner with his head turned towards the six screens mounted close together. His fingers moving quickly as he worked to the steady dull hum of older technology. It wasn’t until he heard a strange melody coming from the opposite end of the room that he stopped.

    “It’s funny how vinyl has seemed to weather the technological age over and over again, isn’t it Gravedigger.”

    The man called Gravedigger agreed and made his way over to the screens. His dark brown eyes glowed as his head moved closer putting a hand on the chair and leaning forward. He looked intently at each screen trying to process all the information. He looked at the smaller man and put his hand on his bald head.

    “So what does this all mean? Something is going on in Japan?”

    “More or less, yes is the answer you’re looking for. Ya see this incident that started this morning is causing quite the stir. You saw the threat level change? For whatever reason it has been changed back and I’m trying to find out exactly why it was changed in the first place.”

    “Everyone is going to be on edge now. Do you know where the CTU is standing yet, Grim? I think we need to hold off for a little while still. It isn’t wise to jump in while everyone is already on their toes.”

    Grim shrugged and then agreed. “I’ll work on it but can’t guarantee anything immediate. CTU has ante upped their security but I’ll get a small crew of us hacks to see what we can come up with. I’ll put a word out about the wait and arrange a session in the next two days. Which reminds me the tag job needs to be addressed, Plague was the only one that got busted but he managed to get away soooo all in all I think it went well. Finally Gravedigger there has been talk of a supplier that is pretty heavy. I hear that this guy supplied the whole outfit for what happened this morning in Japan. I don’t know what kinda connections he has got but it could be useful.”
    Gravedigger stood up straight and pulled out his sunglasses from the pocket of his red track pants and began heading towards the door. As he left he waved the glasses to Grim “Haha alright I’ll look into it, when you get an update for me send it to these. Later days Grim.”
    Last edited by Imposter; 06-14-2010 at 08:55 AM.

  21. #21
    HRH Albha The Sky City Aerif's Avatar
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    Re: The Sky City

    The change wasn’t noticeable at first, in fact John expected most people to miss the difference between the original news ticker and the message that was now displayed below the video footage. Apart from the different wording, the colour of the lettering indicating the threat level had changed to reflect the new threat level, a calming blue.

    The screen that John had been observing at the time hadn’t indicated this colour change, since he was checking a computer monitor that was almost 100 years old, and still miraculously worked. Somehow the picture detail was high enough to display the SkyNet stream and when watching the video in monochrome there was something weird about a certain part of the video. Something that John just couldn’t put his finger on.

    Louise had stopped trying to get into contact with the Chief Inspector once John had pointed out that the news ticker had changed, ironically the man he had been trying to get a hold of later called him to tell him that he was emigrating to Japan, and had been replaced by someone named Andrew Jackson.

    “Louise will you take a look at this news-feed, please?” His voice cracked with worry as he said the word ‘please’.

    “I’ve already seen it one hundred times. It’s everywhere I look!”

    “I’m betting you haven’t seen it on a NASA antique?”

    “Why on earth would I want to do that?”

    “Educational value.”

    Louise was better at spotting inconsistencies than John was. She had been a lawyer in Japan before she was deported back to America for her essays on overly-controversial subjects, an event that the media had a field-day with, criticising Japanese law, with the end result being a dent in United States-Japan relations.

    “Look at that flying camera. There’s definitely something strange about it.”

    “It looks… what’s that word they used in the olden days…? ‘Photoshopped’.”

    Louise looked rapidly at several different screens, comparing the details in each picture at an incredible rate, before finally stopping and giving John a puzzled look.

    “This video looks like it has been tampered with to me,” she said, showing pride in her observational skills.

    “Who is responsible for this? Arden? Or could it be from an outside source?”

    “I don’t think so. I can’t see any reason why he’d do that.”

    “You’re right. If it was Arden or someone working for him then they wouldn’t be adjusting the threat level. If they were trying to fabricate a terrorist event in Japan then they wouldn’t be jumping between threat levels. I think someone’s just messed up.”

    John considered the possibility of a fabricated terrorist attack, but he couldn’t see how it would benefit Arcelis in any way. Though, as he thought about it he realised that it Arcelis had even more of a potential to mislead its citizens than Nazi Germany had had. Arcelis controlled the media, which had significantly improved since the 1930s, but they also had the ability to cut the people off from the outside world, as SkyNet (as far as John knew) controlled every network in the structure, meaning that they could also prevent the usage of the Internet, something that they were incidentally doing at that very second by broadcasting their news feeds on every possible screen.

    “You know, I sincerely hope that Interpol investigated Leon Arden,” he said after his pause.

    “Why don’t you? Aren’t you an Interpol agent?”

    “I’m not Interpol and I’m not British. Why do people think those things?”

    “Because it would explain everything!”

  22. #22
    Professional Klutz. The Sky City Hyzenthlay's Avatar
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    Re: The Sky City

    Luca's eyes were stinging due to long hours staring at a computer screen. Her head began to ache as she stood to finally go home to rest. The whole day had been filled with more whining and countless tired excuses for incompetence. The only thing that made any of her work tolerable was the fact that she controlled it. Almost no outside interference at all. She was trusted in every aspect of what she did and she took pride in that. Almost a little too much, actually. She felt untouchable.

    "Lucretia DuVall?"

    Luca rose her head as her heart skipped a beat. A man was stood in a shadow near the doorway. His glasses reflected light, crating a glare, and making it even harder to see his face.

    "How dare you come into my office without even a knock!?" Spat Luca as she looked up and down his neatly fitted black suit.

    "I don't need to knock, and this isn't your office."

    "I beg your pardon?" Choked Luca with a laugh. "Either you're mistaken or very ignorant. You know my name, so you must know who I am. This is my office and I'm late for dinner... Good day." Luca made for the door but the man stepped between her and it.

    "My name is Special Agent Christophe." The man lowered his glasses and stepped forward revealing a finely chiseled, handsome face. He smiled gently as he approached her slowly. "Do you know who I am?"

    Lucretia shook her head rather timidly. She had began to redden. She felt her face heat up with embarrassment. The agent went on talking. He took a seat on a desk by the right wall.

    "I'm hearing troubling things about you miss DuVall." He leaned forward and undid a pony tail. His chestnut hair fell about his shoulders. "People have been very unkind towards you."

    Luca felt her embarrassment shift quickly to anger.

    "You think I care what you have heard, man? Get to the point!" She had took another step toward the door, though she knew she couldn't leave.

    "You've been employing very peculiar people, haven't you?" Nodded Christophe. He picked up a metronome and watched the pin flick from side to side. "All of them have criminal records. Don't you think that's strange? Hundreds of talented young technicians apply to work in your department... only Americans get in." He bit his lip and looked at her. "I find that strange. Especially when you take into account this recent trouble around the city."

    "My secretary whittles down the applicants. I only choose who I think is best suited." Said Luca, this time with faked disgust.

    "Your secretary is already in custody. She told us that you gave her specific names. You told her to mix certain Americans in with other, foreign, applicants. That's an odd request. Isn't it safer to just go for the best qualified?"

    Lucretia felt he muscles grow tense. This agency, whatever it was, knew all about her plans. In fact, they seemed to think what she had done was worse than it was. They thought she was responsible for the recent attacks. She took another step towards the door.

    "My partner is out there. Running would be very foolish." Agent Christophe placed the metronome back on the desk and stood up watching Luca.

    Luca stared at the door considering her options. She looked to the side and directly into the Agents eyes.

    "It isn't what you think, but you won't believe that." She said desperately.

    With these words she ran to the door and threw it open. The agent on the other side blundered and scrambled to draw his weapon. It was too late, however, Luca was down the corridor and in the elevator before he'd even realized what was going on. Agent Christophe was hot on her heels. The doors to the elevator closed and Luca heard him tapping on the open button.

    "Damnit! Get downstairs and try to catch her, I'll take the other elevator. Call in back-up."

    Luca's nerves had led her to cry and shake uncontrollably. She had pressed the button to floor 5. From there she'd need to take the fire escape and hide somewhere until she could think of a way to clear this mess up.

  23. #23
    The Lone Dagger The Sky City Xithor's Avatar
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    Re: The Sky City

    The lobby of his Taneka apartment was still in a flurry although it had settled down quite a bit from when Kolt had stammered in more than 2 hours ago. Sliding his dagger back into it's sheath he continued to calmly walk behind his partner, he blue eyes staying fixed on the door. As the duo reached the sliding doors at the bottom of the tower the smoke could still be seen darkening the sky. Stepping on the black pad in front of the doors they immediately opened and the sounds of gunfire immediately flooded both of their eardrums.

    "Looks like we haven't missed the party just yet," Kolt remarked, "we have to get back to Kisho but I'm not walking. It was hard enough carrying you all the way back."

    Emma's green eyes immediately glared at him, "I know you're not suggesting I'm too heavy are you..."

    Kolt smirked and winked at his partner whose face broke into a soft smile. No cars were parked outside the Taneka Sky Tower, not many people that resided in the tower were very willing to leave their cars out of sight out plenty of security. There was however a series of motorcycles that were tucked away each enclosed in a metal-like shell for protection.

    "Can you still break through those shells?" Emma inquired.

    "Can I? It's too easy." Striding up to the row of bikes Kolt unsheathed his dagger from his waist and examined the latest high-tech model of anti-theft security. The key pad was metallic so he couldn't depend on wear and tear of the 4 most used buttons, like in older models. "This is the newest one Em, can't use my old tactics." Dropping to one knee he slide the point of his dagger just under the edge of the shell and with a quick jolt up it retracted revealing a burnt orange motorcycle. "Look at that bike, and they left the keys in the ignition."

    "They don't expect such security to be breached. Lets get going."

    Getting on the bike Kolt turned on the ignition and revved the engine a few times. Emma mounted the bike and clutched his waist holding on as he pressed down the clutch and drove towards Kisho. After only a few minutes he reached the out skirts of town and stopped the bike to look around.

    "Alright I don't know who started this, wear they are, or why but lets try to find out." Kolt kicked the motorcycle back into gear and began into the city. As they drove deeper into the city the gunfire got more and more intense and Kolt released the throttle and came rolling to a stop. "Time to ditch the ride and head out on foot, do what we do best."

    "Nothing more deadly than an enemy lurking in the shadows right?"

    "Couldn't have said it better myself Em. There is where I picked you up," Kolt remarked pointing over to the side walk about 50m north of their current position,"what did you see?"

    "I got tangled up in some bad crossfire, I could've sworn that I saw a group of people fighting back. Not so small as a team but not as big as a squad, they were shooting back and forth from those building there towards the southwest. When you got here they had just advanced past me. They weren't hostile to me either, they almost welcomed my presence and the additional support I provided."

    "But they also disregarded you as soon as your worth was used up." Kolt muttered with disgust. "Lets go after them then, I can still hear the gunfire. Stay out of sight as much as possible." The duo started to head southwest, following the echoes of rounds being fired into the light of the early morning sun.

  24. #24
    The Quiet One The Sky City Andromeda's Avatar
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    Re: The Sky City

    The gathered morning breakfast table was full with all four seats being occupied. Karen kept continued watch over the pancakes that she was still making and serving up fresh as they were finished. She had already given them something to start with eggs and sausage along with the first two rounds of pancakes. It had left their small round table completely covered with plates and cups of milk or orange juice.

    In the corner still looking very tired despite having a shower and time to wake up was Claire slowly poking at her food. Half of her hair kept falling down over her shoulders as she leaned over getting in the way of her seeing her food and possibly threatening to get in. She had avoided actually washing her hair so it was still in a bit of a mess.

    Karen flipped the pancakes seeing that they were brown enough and quickly served them up on the plate. “Hope you’re all hungry, because I’ve got more!” she said cheerfully, getting a little excitement out of Leighton and Patrick. There was only a low mumble from Claire. Karen reached into her pockets and pulled out two hair clips taken from her daughter’s room, knowing her forgetful nature. She stepped behind Claire taking a gentle mother’s touch to pull back the hair behind her ear and out of her way. The clips were placed a little above the ear keeping it all in place. “Don’t forget to brush it out after breakfast or I will, understood?”

    “…yes…” begrudged Claire. She as only twelve, but seemed to have started a small rebellious phase a little early. It was never really too much, but usually surfaced in the morning. Then again it could have just been the fact that she was adamantly not a morning person.

    The pancakes reminded Karen that she still had things to do and rushed back to the stove top. There was still plenty of time left. Karen took a few bites from the breakfast that she had set aside for herself. She wanted a warm and fresh meal for everyone today, so there was no the chance to sit down with everyone. It may not have been the same, but she was happy enough to have everyone together and enjoying the food.

    Breakfast concluded and sometime during it she noticed that the warning of the status change had disappeared. Even though she did not show it, there was some relief knowing that her children could go out without her worrying as much. There was still some concern that she could not get rid of, but there was reassurance in knowing that the danger was passed.

    It was time to see her husband off. “You’ll do fine!” comforted Karen to him still feeling anxious about going into work.

    “Thanks…” He leaned over from the doorway and hugged her tightly needing as much support as she could give him. “I hope this work outs…”

    She smiled for him even though he could not see her with their heads resting against each other. “You’re going to do fine, dear. Just don’t think about the ‘what ifs’ and ‘maybes’ and focused on the goal. Take hold of it.”

    He sighed a little feeling a touch better, but still trying to calm down the butterflies that were threatening to ruin the breakfast that Karen had worked so hard to make for him. He pulled back and straightened up trying to put together that confidence that Karen was never seeming to lack. “I will!”

    “You’re smart and handsome as well! I wouldn’t have married you otherwise,” she teased him trying to get him to lighten up a little. It worked to make him blush a little before stepping out of the apartment. “I love you!” She watched him wave back to him and hurry over to the elevator. It made her giggle a little to herself to see him still acting so innocent at times even though he was older than her.

    Karen returned back inside checking on the children. Her two boys were going about the living room bouncing on the couch while the other was hiding away in her room, more than likely napping. There was still a small mess in the kitchen left untouched and the nagging feeling of knowing that time was running out. ‘I’ll have to take care of it when I get back. It won’t be much of a mess…’ She returned back to her room picking up her walking shoes and purse. A quick check ran through the contents to make sure that she had everything that she needed.

    On the way back out she stopped at Claire’s room. “Time to go to school Claire!”

    “…yeah…”

    In the living room Leighton and Patrick were starting to settle down a little when she came back out. She corralled them towards the door and checked back to see Claire slowly coming up. The slightly messy bed hair from napping aspirated Karen and she pushed them out the door. She locked the apartment up and followed up behind them as escort and hair dresser, in Claire’s case as she was taking a brush to the mess.

    “Mom!” whined Claire the instant the brush hit her head knowing what she was doing.

    She ignored her daughter’s complaints and kept cleaning it up for her. “If you’re going to leave it a mess I’m going to fix it for you. Now keep walking the train’s going to be arriving soon and I don’t want you late for school!” Her daughter kept moaning to her about her hair, but Karen persisted hoping that some of the embarrassment of her mother doing her hair out in public might leave a lasting impression on her. It was a little suffering to learn some personal hygiene.

    The train was on time and they were nearly late for it, but arrived with about ten seconds to spare before the doors closed behind them. Their school rested on the next floor at only a short five minute walk from the station. Since it was an entire community together the schools were built together as an escalator school system, but there was no school on their floor. It was larger than the average school divided out into several buildings filling up a few city blocks and one of only three. There was some convenience for having her children together on the same grounds and she hoped it helped them feel a little more comfortable together. She did suspect that Claire was less interested in spending time with her brothers these days.

    Karen saw her kids off at the school gates and returned back to the station. She had shopping that she needed to take care of while she was out, which was part of the reason why she went out with her children. The train still had a few minutes before it arrived when she made it back. She was running a mental check of the food that she needed to pick up as she walked. When she came to the platform she was still going through the list and suddenly bumped into someone not seeing them. “I’m so sorry!” she exclaimed from the floor.

    She rubbed her backside feeling sore before she looked about at her long one piece dress that was fanned out covering up everything but a little of her feet. Her absentmindedness distracted her from checking on the person that she had bumped into until there was a low groan of minor pain from across her. Karen looked up to see who it was and if she needed to help them.

  25. #25
    Sentinel DragonHeart's Avatar
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    Alex balanced her phone against her shoulder, listening to yet another angry lecture while she finished applying her makeup. Even with the cosmetics, her hazel eyes were dark, shadowed with too little sleep and too caffeine. At least her hair looked nice, but then it always did. Red and lightly curled, with fresh gold highlights bright in the morning sunlight, in sharp contrast to her fair skin and dark blazer. Wasn't perfect, but it would have to do. She snapped her compact shut and stuffed it back into her badly overcrowded purse.

    "Umph." Alex felt someone run into her from behind, nearly knocking her over. She did drop her phone, her boss' irate voice still railing at her until it hit the floor and bounced, jostling the device just enough to end the call. Shit. As if she hadn't already pissed him off enough by being late.

    "I'm so sorry!" A woman's voice from behind drew her attention. Alex turned around to see a middle-aged lady picking herself up off the platform floor. She held her hand out to the woman and pulled her up.

    "It's all right. One of those days," Alex replied.

    A sharp, angry buzzing drew her attention back to her phone and the lit display. The boss again. She was not looking forward to explaining why she'd hung up on him, inadvertent as it may have been. With a sigh she leaned down and retrieved the phone. Stared at it for a moment, then slipped it into her purse, where it continued to vibrate. She just didn't want to deal with him right now. She focused on the woman who'd run into her instead, wanting at least one thing to go right today before she got fired. Or worse, transferred to the CTU.

    "Looks like we're on the same train," she observed as the maglev stopped at the platform. After a moment of deliberation she offered her hand and a smile, a bit forced but sincere. "I'm Alex."

  26. #26
    The Quiet One The Sky City Andromeda's Avatar
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    Re: The Sky City

    Karen dusted off her sun dress and pulled herself back together. There was a bit of a silence afterward as she noted the younger woman looking distracted by something else. However, when the train arrived it seemed to have broken her out of her focused target. The noise from the train washed out some of what was said from the woman, but Karen was able to understand most of it through what she could hear. Her last words and gesture made it clearly.

    “I’m Alex,” the woman said.

    She accepted Alex’s offer and smiled warmly back at the woman. “I’m Karen.” The doors opened to the train along with a stream of passengers. A few seconds of standing around made Karen realize that they were not going to make the train if they remained standing still. “Oh! We should probably get on before the doors close!” They were able to find a free couple of seats together not too far from the door. Karen pointed them out to Alex.

    Once the train started moving again Karen turned to look over at Alex. She kept her cheerful expression getting the sense that there was something troubling the young woman. “Pretty long morning already, huh?” There was a momentary pause between them that felt like minutes to Karen. It made her feel it was necessary to say something to keep awkwardness staved off. In her hand there was a stick of lipstick rolling around, which was certainly not her color (it was something flashy and bright that appealed to kids who did not know any better). “My oldest, thinks she needs it to be more mature. Though I’m pretty sure it is borrowed the way she reacted to me taking it from her. They grow so fast don’t they? I’m going to have to start worrying about other things soon with her.” Karen rattled on for another minute carelessly talking about her children not taking any consideration that she might have been boring the young woman.

    A hiccup in the train’s ride interrupted her one sided conversation. It gave her enough time to think for a moment to recollect herself. She put the confiscated lipstick into her purse and focused. “I’m terribly sorry! Hear I’m talking about boring little stuff like this! I must be annoying you. My husband tells me I talk enough for three.” She started looking a little sheepish, making it clear that it was not the first time that she had to stop herself. “I guess there’s some truth to it.”

    Karen leaned over towards Alex ever so slightly changing the mood quickly. “Anything bothering you? You’ve looked a little distracted.” For others being so upfront about it would have been too forward and nosy to someone that was more or less a stranger, but Karen did not see it that way. She knew no fear in going up to talking to someone.

  27. #27
    Sentinel DragonHeart's Avatar
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    Karen was nice enough but unfortunately, all too typical of a housewife. Alex half listened to her rambling, her own thoughts focused on much less pleasant subjects. The faked Taneka attack footage, the unconfirmed e-bull. On the surface it was an amateur job, the sort of thing kiddie hackers would do for kicks. There was something very sinister underneath that surface, something she couldn't quite place. Whatever it was, it was very familiar...

    “Anything bothering you? You’ve looked a little distracted.” Karen said suddenly, leaning over slightly to study her.

    Alex forced a slightly more pleasant expression to her face.

    "I'm sorry, I'm not ignoring you on purpose, just a little late for work," she said, cursing inwardly. She'd never remember now.

    As if on cue, her phone started buzzing again, the sound muffled somewhat by her purse. Then it stopped, the sudden silence ominous and all too telling. Definitely CTU.

    "But with all that's been going on this morning, I'm sure they'll understand." Even Alex thought she sounded just a little too cheerful. "If you have a few minutes, want to grab a coffee? My stop's next. I know a great little cafe overlooking Revere Garden."

    Every section of the massive tower had a massive garden, each named something equally ridiculous. Revere was named after Paul Revere of course. Others were named after other so-called American heroes. Washington, Lincoln, Kennedy, all the way up to the Garden of Light on the very top of the tower, honoring the victims of a terrorist attack some fifty years ago. Alex never saw much point in looking at the past when there was so much to be done in the present.

    The train slowed, preparing to stop. If Karen was going to take her up on the offer, she'd have to do it soon as the maglevs only stopped for thirty seconds at a time.

  28. #28
    Professional Klutz. The Sky City Hyzenthlay's Avatar
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    Re: The Sky City

    The sad thing is that Luca was still wondering what to do. A woman that had always prided herself on having the answers to questions. Some that didn't even need one. How ironic that her smarts now eluded her. Instead she wept. Tears that had no real base of origin. No real reason to exist. The truth was that she didn't know what was going on. She was being accused of masterminding terrorist attacks. She may have done terrible things in her life but this certainly wasn't one of them. The irony of her predicament now became too hard to stomach. She felt fear grip her and fell back onto a wall and slid down it. Her eyes now too dry to issue tears. Instead she just sobbed and whined.

    "There, there." A calm, friendly voice spoke from beside her. Luca raised her head to view the origin. A kindly old woman stood before her, her wrinkled lips turned up into a gentle smile. "What does such a pretty lady have to be sad about? I assure you; if you were as old as me you'd have something to cry about. As you don't have a wrinkle or grey to be seen I'd say you weren't my age." The old woman chortled slightly with a snort. "Seems to me that you don't have anything to be sad about."

    Luca felt herself almost force the tears back as she mustered a reply. She tried hard to think what to say but her smarts had truly left her. She didn't even have the energy to be rude. She simply let her head fall forward and sighed, closing her eyes.

    "My life is ruined." She moaned, clenching her fists.

    "No, you haven't lived it yet. How could it be ruined? That dress, that's ruined, but certainly but not your life." The old woman grinned but, having not receive one in return, it slowly turned to a frown. "Oh, dear. Oh, dear. It's most unlike me to not be able to make a person smile. I haven't made you, though. Not even a little. I must be losing my touch."

    The old woman seemed distant for a moment, as if lost in thought. She put a finger to her lips and hummed a tune barely audible to Luca. Finally her smile returned and the light in her eyes was back.

    "I have the most fantastic idea. Why don't you come back to my house and tell me all about your troubles over a nice cup of tea? If I can't help you then what have you lost? A night in a cold alley, perhaps?" The old woman chuckled again and her silvery, curly hair swayed in a gentle breeze.

    In her present state the woman was right. If she were to stay here Luca would surely be caught. Besides, going back to this old ladies house seemed much nicer than staying in a cold, dark, narrow alley all night. The prospect of a warm fire far outweighed that of sleeping with rats at her feet any day. So, with barely any choice and nothing to lose, Luca nodded. The old woman clapped her hands together and grinned.

    "Fantastic." Said the old woman with a grin, "follow me, dear."

    Luca suddenly noticed the womans attire as if she had completely ignored her until now. She was very well dressed with a pearly white, fur coat over a long, emerald dress. In her right hand she held a fine, oaken cane with an amber handle. It seemed to bang on the floor in rhythm with her right leg.

    "Where are we going, exactly?" Asked Luca. It surprised her that she asked this for no other reason than she was genuinely interested.

    "Oh, not far dear. I can only assume you haven't visited my district before. I'm sure you'll like it. Come, come. It's not far." The old woman hobbled away with Luca at her heels.

    A burning thought entered her head. What if this woman was a spy? She shook her head. A ridiculous notion. What sort of a spy was seventy years old with a limp? She then supposed that most government agents weren't in the habit of searching kindly old ladies homes for fugitives. This could well be the luckiest thing that could have happened. The only problem was that Luca didn't believe in luck, or coincidence.
    Last edited by Hyzenthlay; 08-17-2010 at 06:51 PM.

  29. #29
    The Lone Dagger The Sky City Xithor's Avatar
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    Re: The Sky City

    Kolt and Emma continued to move throughout the district where some spurts of gunfire could still be heard.

    "They are coming from this direction," Kolt whispered softly to his partner under his breath, "I think we're getting close-"

    "Hold it Kolt," Emma interjected grabbing Kolt's shoulder and abruptly pulling him in the shadow of an alley, "there is motion over there." Kolt looked over in the direction Emma was indicating and noticed a small elderly woman come around the corner of a dark alley in a long fur coat and an emerald dress. She normally wouldn't seem suspicious at all but the fact that she just came out of an alley that most sane people would avoid did set off an alarm in Kolt's head.

    "It's just an old lady," Kolt said to his partner ready to dismiss her as bystander and move on towards their initial target. Just at that moment another figure emerged from the shadow of the alley. It was a woman, with blonde hair and thick rimmed glasses and she seemed to cower behind the elderly woman.

    "She's not alone." Emma replied and turned to face Kolt. "What do you think, should we follow them?"

    Kolt weighted the options in his head, looking down at the ground to ponder his thoughts. "Well the fact that the old lady came out of an alley was suspicious to me to begin with but now that she has the company of this other woman who appears to be dressed in Sky City attire does make me skeptical of their intentions." Emma smirked as she knew what Kolt was going to say next. "Alright lets follow them. We're nothing more than shadows right now though Em, you got me? Don't jump the gun on anything yet, let's learn exactly what these two are up to."

    Emma nodded and Kolt began his pursuit of the two woman walking on the other side of the street. Waiting for them to get 50 yards in front of him Kolt crossed to the same side of the street and kept his distance following the two to a small apartment building not to far from the edge of the district. Kolt held up his hand as the elderly woman walked towards her door putting her arm around the young woman and ushering her through the door. Kolt signaled to move up closer and the two took a position underneath the first floor window. Slowly lifting his head he could hear the conversation inside...

    "Come in and sit down dear. Since I couldn't put a smile on your face maybe some tea and a nice fire will make you feel a little better."

    Sulking back down to where Emma was waiting he explained what they were to do.

    "Ok Em, reconnaissance first. Let's gather all we can from the conversation that is going on in there and then we can decide whether to break in from there. Got me?"

    "Roger that." Emma replied as the two slowly extended their legs and listened intently to the conversation going on inside.

  30. #30
    The Quiet One The Sky City Andromeda's Avatar
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    Re: The Sky City

    The signal of the train lowering speed and murmuring abruptly stopped all made Karen realize that the stop was coming soon. Less than a minute remained before the doors opened. Several thoughts quickly ran through her mind. She calculated out her plans and schedule seeing how it would affect the rest of her day. There was not anything pressing for her, simply shopping that could be done at anytime.

    Karen looked closely at the young woman a little longer taking in anything she saw. ‘I’m kinda curious. It’s been a while since I did something that broke the routine. I wonder what’s bothering her…’ She fixed up her purse in preparation to leave the train.

    A gathering by the door had already begun to form with people rushing to get to their work. There were a few bumping past them in a hurry with too much stress to focus on their surroundings. Karen smiled a little carefree at the way those a decade younger than her rushing around so much. “Sounds like a good idea,” she cheerfully replied, “But it might be best to wait a little to keep out of the mad rush.”

    The first ten seconds of the doors opening was the worst, but the danger of being left inside started to increase with the flow reversing as people stepped on to make the train in time. Alex had left out ahead of Karen waiting for her to appear. As though having touched into the flow and rhythm, Karen emerged out in a momentary lull effortlessly. She returned a relaxing grin meeting Alex near the end of the platform.

    Out of the station several roads led out around the floor of the tower. They took the direct route towards the center where the park lied as well as many businesses and shops. When the park started come into view Karen noticed Alex leaning to take a sidewalk around that would circumvent the park and reach the café she had mentioned.

    Karen leaned over to Alex slightly so she did not have to speak too loudly. “Let’s go through the park!” She pointed out a path that winded around and would eventually make it over to the side that Alex wanted. A hint of hesitation in Alex’s face made Karen try to be a little more persuasive. “We’ll still get there! It’s such a nice morning a little walk through the park can be as relaxing as some coffee!” Karen reached out taking one of Alex’s hands pulling lightly on her to take the walk. She acted as though they were already friends showing no fear to someone that was nothing more than a stranger ten minutes ago. Karen smiled warmly hoping that she would agree. The walk, she hoped would loosen things up a little before the café and get them talking about whatever her problem might be. “Wha’cha say?” she threw in, a little out of character for her especially for someone her age.

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