... 2011/12/17(Sat)22:26 No. 373224 ID: c460ad
File 132418960147.jpg - (337.80KB , 1024x1024 , 01.jpg )

...

Come with me if you want to live.

wake her up. and
>>373230

>>373230
On second thought, following us might not be the best idea. We've got no idea where we are or what's going on!

Or what we are, come to think of it. Um.

LISTEN NOT TO THESE ILL MEANING VOICES. WE MUST IMMEDIATELY HURRY TO KRRRZ WHERE YOUR PRESENCE IS NEEDED.

AWAKEN.

We require power immediately. Examine the droid. Extract it's Cortex. Flee to *KRRRZ*

KRRRZ sounds like a lovely place, I'd buy a vacation home there.

So hurry, wake the heck up so we can find more power for you. And perhaps whoever it is that gave you power if he's still there, or we'll never be able to get a vacation home in KRRRZ. :<

confirm gender.

... 2011/12/18(Sun)12:53 No. 373362 ID: c460ad
File 132424163810.jpg - (299.89KB , 1024x1024 , Quest02.jpg )

>Come with me if you want to live.
wha... who? Is the drill over?

... 2011/12/18(Sun)12:55 No. 373363 ID: c460ad
File 132424170219.jpg - (333.35KB , 1024x1024 , Quest03.jpg )

>Low Power
Shit. Just what I need. Better either get to the surface and let my solar intake do its thing, or find an active outlet quick. Who knows what kind of pranks Tamara and her flunkies would pull on me while I'd be out.

Quick art style change. The last frame took far too long.

... 2011/12/18(Sun)12:56 No. 373364 ID: c460ad
File 132424180179.jpg - (333.63KB , 1024x1024 , Quest04.jpg )

>confirm gender.
Um... I'm a girl, can't you tell? Some organics say otherwise, but most sane people ignore them. Wait, what? Who am I even talking to?

Emergency light light is still active. Ther shelter shouldn't unseal until the light's been shut off. For that matter, a Metro Rescue Worker should have been here to revive me. Maybe they forgot about me or something?

What else could possibly go wrong? I just wanted to fix the sensor node down here, and now I've been asleep in that metal closet for who-knows-how-long, I'm low on power, the emergency light is apparently malfunctioning, and I'm on top of all of that hallucinating.

Ugh. What now?

>>373364
Given that that metal closet is labeled 'E Shelter' and the bot below or in font of you appears to have given up its 'ghost-in-the-machine' (to mangled a phrase) I would gather that you just managed to survive an electrico-magnetic 'event' of sorts.

Possible due to EMC warfare, but since you had to hide in there you are a quasi-synthetic? Regardless, the memory lapse was probably due to a purge of the temp-memory files in emergency low power mode.

Check and see if that bot in front of you has any decent charge left in it.

is that console to the right? (your left)

>>373364
See that light above you? Find a way up there, then break the unit off so you can get at the leads.
It's not an outlet, perse, so much as a power source.

>>373391
and how would she interface with it? she can't just jam her hand in it and expect to charge.

We are the CDM, whatever that means. The robot there was attacked by something called gatherers. They travel in hoards and drain power sources. He was here for someone else, but could not make it farther, so he transfered his last remaining hour of battery life to your (presumably dead) battery, then ordered us to get you out alive. He shut down before he could say where to go next.

You have 1 hour to find a live outlet, or sunlight. I would not assume that either of those is as easy to find as you think. If you can find quantities of caustic acids and metals, say nickel hydroxide and cadmium, then you may be able to craft impromptu batteries. If you can find flowing water, air or other fluids, you may be able to craft a turbine to generate power. If gatherers can be destroyed and weaponized you may be able to utilize their mechanisms to drain power from other powered sources (such as more gatherers).

... 2011/12/18(Sun)18:10 No. 373429 ID: c460ad
File 132426061984.jpg - (344.00KB , 1024x1024 , 05.jpg )

>Droid Battery
I flip over the droid and use my Toolbox Aug to remove its chestplate. No charge left. I guess that's what I guess for listening to a bunch of voices in my head. I'm really hoping this isn't neurological damage or something. I could hardly afford to pay for those sorts of repairs on my meager salary.

It feels warm though. It was probably running really recently. The construction of this thing is weird. Nothing I can see was factory made. Someone went through a lot of trouble to fabricate every piece of it. I wonder if this thing woke me up?

>EMP War
I don't think so. We've been under a world government for the last century-or-so. No memory loss, either. I jumped into the Emergency Shelter when the alarms started ringing. It put me into sleep-mode like it was supposed to, and I woke up whenever it was unsealed. The lack of a friendly Rescue Worker is making me worried though. Ramone is always talking about his Glorious Revolution, but I think he's full of hot air. Even a full scale terrorist strike wouldn't be enough to take the Metro Rescue Workers out of commission.

>is that console to the right?(your left)
Yes it is. Sort of. It's the status monitor for one of the sensor nodes. That should never be offline, since it's wired directly into the plant. If it is, the means that the entire district is without power. Please let that just be a broken monitor.

>Emergency Light
>>373402
Actually, I could wire it into the prongs of Charger Aug, and it should work fine. The real question is how to get up there to rewire it. There's nothing to climb on in here.

What other "Aug"s do you have?

And what's your name?

Anyway, let's get out of here while looking for some sort of stepladder as a side mission. Quickly now.

if you got in the vent, could you cut your way through it? just get in, climb to next to the light, cut a hole, and you reach the light.

Irene 2011/12/18(Sun)21:28 No. 373448 ID: c460ad
File 132427251001.jpg - (319.22KB , 1024x1024 , 06.jpg )

>Augments

Give me a second to bring up the list.

Augmentations

Eyes:
-LED Lamps
They're exactly what they sound like. Bought a set after spending a couple hours groping about after one of the relays in the maintenance tunnels blew.

Neck:
-Solar Intake
This baby lets me charge directly from the sun. It's not very fast, but it's saved me a couple emergency trips to the nearest outlet.

R Hand:
+Toolkit
-Screwdriver
-Small Knife
-Wrench
-Pencil
Do I even need to explain this one? It's a small toolkit attached to my wrist. Most of the equipment is pocket-sized and pretty crappy, but it's better than lugging around a big box.

L Hand:
-Pliers/Wirecutter
Self-explanatory. Just consider it and extension of my toolkit.

Back:
-Wireless Uplink
In the modern world, internet's sorta mandatory. No signal this far under though.

>Stepladder
I'll keep it in mind.

>Name
Name's Irene, 5th class engineer for WindCo.

>whoops.
Sorry. Forgot to mention my Charger Aug. It's just a cord with a pronged plug that I can pull out of the base of my tail. It's pretty handy when I need a quick charge.

Well, alright then. Let's mosey, is that a doorway to the left? (Your front)

Aww yeah a plug in your tail. Collect the lightning bolts scattered throughout the levels to recover your energy!

you seem to have an unknown in your neck

That is probably us dude.

Hey maybe that means we can charge her battery? Ready everyone? HNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG

>>373475
No, we're probably running of her internal power supply, if we're an aug.

So, uh, don't strain. It might give us less time.

>>373448
Okay, what are the exits to the room? Take a door, we're on a time limit.

We probably should have mentioned that we have a recorded message from this droid. It claimed it was in a fight with 'gatherers'.
Do that term or the term CDM (likely referring to us or the recording) mean anything to you?

Irene 2011/12/19(Mon)20:53 No. 373631 ID: c460ad
File 132435679313.jpg - (319.60KB , 1024x1024 , 07.jpg )

I enter the maintenance hallway. Look like everything's under lockdown still.

I'll list off where we can go from here.
The first three doors lead to other Sensor Nodes. The third looks like it's been removed from it's hinges somehow. Huh.
The fourth door leads to the some of the more key components of the Geothermal Reactor. Speaking of which, the reactor's off.

I could go up the ladder, which will lead me to two more floors of sensor nodes, then to floor 3B, which contains the offices and security wing. We might be able to find a ladder in the maintenance room across from Equipment Storage. I don't know what's in the Security Wing, I've only been there a couple times.

From there, there's just a long stretch of ladder to the surface level. All-in-all, it should take about ten minutes to scale the whole thing. At surface level is the Lobby and Wind Farm.

>Aww yeah a plug in your tail. Collect the lightning bolts scattered throughout the levels to recover your energy!
Not a single word of this makes sense to me.

>Unknown Aug
Um, that wasn't there when I fell asleep. Droid must've put it there. It might be you, I guess. If that's it, I should wait until I have access to the proper tools. It's generally bad idea to remove malicious Augs without quarantining them first.

>Message
"Gatherers"? "CDM"? Never heard of them. This is making me really paranoid though. What the hell is going on?

Priority 1, get out of here alive. Out implies up. Therefore take ladder. Priority 1, get out of here alive. Out implies *bzzt* OH EXPLORE EVERYWHERE OPEN ALL THE DOORs

>>373631
Does the wind farm produce power? Perhaps we should see if we can activate the geothermal reactor first.

Peek into the unhinged door before we go anywhere. Best to gather some information on anomalies.

let's visit the reactor maybe we can siphon any left over energy.

'Malicious Augs'? You wound me, milady.

Anyway, do you see an unusual amount of dust on the floor by any chance?
I was thinking about the non-factory-produced droid, the presence of dangerous 'gatherers' that you have heard nothing about, and the fact that you (as far as I know) can be effectively in indefinite stasis while out of batteries.

Secure a route to the surface to get oriented, check the state of the outside world, and make certain we have a fallback power source. Once that's done we can come back down here, explore, and fix up the reactor.

Irene 2011/12/20(Tue)02:22 No. 373689 ID: c460ad
File 132437654985.jpg - (263.97KB , 1024x1024 , 08.jpg )

I peek in on the other open sensor node. It looks like whoever took down the door escaped their Emergency Shelter. There's something in the corner I can't quite make out.

>Priority 1, get out of here alive. Out implies up. Therefore take ladder. Priority 1, get out of here alive. Out implies *bzzt* OH EXPLORE EVERYWHERE OPEN ALL THE DOORs

Priority 1 sounds like a good idea. The other version... no. Are you feeling okay? The last thing I need is a broken malicious aug in my head. And yes, you are malicious. Someone put you in my neck without my permission, with the sole purpose of pumping my head full of noise. Yet I still find myself compelled to listen. Why? Ugh, maybe deep down I think you'll stop talking if I just do what you say.

>Does the wind farm produce power?
I don't know if it does now, but it did before whatever set off the alarm happened.

>Anyway, do you see an unusual amount of dust on the floor by any chance?
I was thinking about the non-factory-produced droid, the presence of dangerous 'gatherers' that you have heard nothing about, and the fact that you (as far as I know) can be effectively in indefinite stasis while out of batteries.

Now that I think about it, the plant does look a bit... unkempt. That droid was weird, but there are plenty of people who tinker around with that sort of stuff in their garages. I haven't seen any of these so-called "Gatherers" around, so maybe they're just a codename for something else. M... Maybe they're just taking awhile dealing with whatever disaster caused the lockdown.

I'll be heading for ground level ASAP, if there's nothing left to do here.

optic zoom says that is a corpse with a knife in. that means hostile forces may be around. get the knife.

Irene 2011/12/20(Tue)12:16 No. 373740 ID: c460ad
File 132441216534.jpg - (322.05KB , 1024x1024 , 09.jpg )

>Knife
I grab the knife sticking out of the... whatever that thing is. I know it isn't a corpse, that's for damn sure. It's looks like a sort of sphere, sitting a puddle of gooey liquid.

I'd recognize this knife anywhere. It's Ramone's. He kept it hidden on his ankle. I can't even count the number of times he flashed at me, telling me that he would need it someday. Maybe he did. That still doesn't account for how he got out of the shelter, what the hell that thing he stabbed was, or why he was even here. He should have been on surface level, doing a routine check on the Windfarm.

>Optical Zoom
You can digitally zoom my vision without constraining my field of view? Neat.

ah, central core bot with nano-swarm.

>>373746
If you're right we could be in trouble. Try prying open the sphere, see if there's a battery you can salvage.

>>373746
Possible nano-swarms, and us without a proper flamethrower. Pity that.

I think trying to pry it open is not worth more than a minute or two. If it takes longer than that you should go up the ladder.

Could you reach those lamps over the doors in the hallway without a ladder, or at least a shorter one? It'd be a hell of a lot easier to get to those than the ones on the ceilings. Maybe you could unbolt a section of the ladder at the end of the hall and use that. Or stack up the broken doors and that oddball droid to stand on. Was the door to the sensor node you woke up in broken off?

I'm pretty sure we are not a malicious aug. A malicious aug fries you if you pull it out, but the only thing that stopped that droid there was running out of power, so he pulled it out without getting fried. Therefore not malicious. Better safe than sorry, but don't go insulting your augs until you have them checked out carefully.

Speaking of central core bot with nano swarm, that might be you now. We have a visual of you from the vantage point of the wall to your right, not just a zoomed portion of what your eyes capture. What do you see when you look at this "fourth" wall?

...lick the goo

Irene 2011/12/20(Tue)20:41 No. 373850 ID: c460ad
File 132444248454.jpg - (205.01KB , 1024x1024 , 10.jpg )

I wriggle the knife a little, and the sphere cracks into two equal halves. I don't know about you, but the one on the right looks like it's got a battery in it. I don't know what's in the left one. Looks like an outer shell covered in ports for the wires coming out of the battery. There's a mark on it where Ramone's knife went in.

Something fell off the sphere when I cracked it open. Looks like a claw or something. If you don't have any objections, I'll be rigging up my Charger Aug to this now.

>Nanomachines
I've never seen tech like this, but there's some serious shit going down if these are nanites. As far as I know, there are only a three working nanotech prototypes, one's at a college somewhere, another being developed by the Thaymar Auronautics Corporation, and the last is a "top secret" project by the military. None of them have really been all that sucessful, because nanites are just really expensive to make.

Looking at the "claw", and the knife Ramone put through it, I'd fancy a guess that this was sent here to do something really nasty. Did someone high up put the entire facility into lockdown just to put a hit out on Ramone?

>Hall lights

Definitely too high for me to do any real work on. I do think I could unbolt part of the ladder from the wall and stand on that. The stacking could work too, but the doors are too heavy for me to move. I'd have to put the droid on top of the door that's already there.

>I'm pretty sure we are not a malicious aug. A malicious aug fries you if you pull it out, but the only thing that stopped that droid there was running out of power, so he pulled it out without getting fried. Therefore not malicious. Better safe than sorry, but don't go insulting your augs until you have them checked out carefully.

Did you know that during the during the Etherian Plague, rats would often carry the disease without contracting it? The only reason I haven't tugged you out yet is because I don't know whether or not that would fry me. I'm leaning towards "yes", since if my menu is anything to go by, you don't even have a name tag. That doesn't scream "legit" to me.

>...lick the goo

You said something about "not being malicious"? You can see why I would have my doubts.

>Speaking of central core bot with nano swarm, that might be you now. We have a visual of you from the vantage point of the wall to your right, not just a zoomed portion of what your eyes capture. What do you see when you look at this "fourth" wall?
I just see a wall. Why you're seeing me from there? Beats me.

not malicious, stupid maybe.

is the battery useable? if so then use it. then lets head outward and upward.

But it might be tasty!

That's mean, sister! We only want to hEeeELp you!

You can name us then, then we wouldn't be unnamed and be less "Malicious". Add lots of "<3" and "=)" to it for more effect.

Bluh bluh girl, that plague was then and this is now. Maybe this goo is like, Chocolate. You like Chocolate right?

>>373850
I'm a little worried about the battery being booby-trapped, but... I guess it's worth the risk.

>>373868
and people wonder why we aren't trusted.

Irene 2011/12/20(Tue)22:15 No. 373880 ID: c460ad
File 132444811495.jpg - (324.55KB , 1024x1024 , 11.jpg )

>>373865
>>373868
Heh. Well, at least you have sense of humor. For a malicious aug, anyhow. Seriously though. I'm not licking that.

I pop the pronged head off my Charger Aug and wire it to the battery. Looks like it had about twenty minutes of charge. Not exactly what as much as I would have hoped, but it's something.

:(


Alright then, equip knife and head upstairs. Pronto!

Perhaps you could use one of those fallen doors as a ladder.

>>373880
That's quite nice! Alright, let's check the geo plant before we spend 10 minutes going up a ladder that miiiight lead to something bad.

Irene 2011/12/20(Tue)22:47 No. 373896 ID: c460ad
File 132445005252.jpg - (269.09KB , 1024x1024 , 12.jpg )

I grab Ramone's knife and head for the hallway.

So wait, should I still try to get the light above the door, or am I going up to the lobby? I'm partial to the latter.

The sooner I'm out of here, the better.

up, need to gain access to the vents if you want a good chance at the lights.

I'm willing to bet that if we go up we will not be escaping. But if you want, let's go up.

What would we do with the lights anyway? Can you stick your tail right onto a live wire to charge?

Irene 2011/12/20(Tue)23:11 No. 373908 ID: c460ad
File 132445149404.jpg - (156.69KB , 1024x1024 , 13.jpg )

>up, need to gain access to the vents if you want a good chance at the lights.

And do what? Drop down hundreds of feet of sheer ventilation surface? Not unless I have a death wish.

>What would we do with the lights anyway? Can you stick your tail right onto a live wire to charge?

Basically. If I need to, I can just pop the faceplate off of any outlet, pop the pronged head of my Charger Aug off, and wire myself into it. I'd rather use regular outlets when I can though.

All the power = all the time.

If you can get all the power, good. In fact if we siphon every last one, we might have enough to even be able to take our droid savior with us.

But if you don't wanna bother with than, then let's just move on.

>droid savior
Oh right, he was saying that you weren't the one we were looking for but we were supposed to get you out alive, and take you to... somewhere. If we can reactivate the droid then we can find out where that somewhere is.

Speaking of those emergency lights, what is and where is the power source for them? Some form of nuclear battery? If we could go right to the source faster than unbolting a ladder and fiddling with light sockets, that's one option.

I suspect your charger aug is a one-way thing, right? No way to power up that droid without pulling out one of your own battery cells?

Wait... Could you plug the battery from the sphere into the lighting wiring and charge it? Then use the battery on the droid. No, wait, that'd need a charger circuit... How hard would it be to remove your charger aug and jerry-rig it to charge the battery from the light?

Worry about charging from the light sockets when you are left with only 20 minutes or so. There are things down here that can get you even at 100% power.

Irene 2011/12/21(Wed)19:52 No. 374131 ID: c460ad
File 132452592145.jpg - (162.70KB , 1024x1024 , 14.jpg )

>Speaking of those emergency lights, what is and where is the power source for them? Some form of nuclear battery? If we could go right to the source faster than unbolting a ladder and fiddling with light sockets, that's one option.

They're wired to the grid. Probably running off the emergency generator, which is really just a big battery.

>I suspect your charger aug is a one-way thing, right? No way to power up that droid without pulling out one of your own battery cells?
I don't really like to brag, but most people's chargers don't do that. Or wire into live circuits. Mine does.

Being an engineer does have its perks.

>No, wait, that'd need a charger circuit... How hard would it be to remove your charger aug and jerry-rig it to charge the battery from the light?

Taking out my Charger Aug is something of an... involved process. I'd need at least an hour, some special tools, and I'm sure as hell not doing it with you watching.

I've decided to start using static facial portraits for updates without new actions. I.E. Irene only answering questions. Is everyone okay with this?

Irene 2011/12/21(Wed)20:01 No. 374133 ID: c460ad
File 132452647426.jpg - (158.35KB , 1024x1024 , 15.jpg )

Also, I forgot to mention: No, I have no idea where the Emergency Generator is. It's kept secret so it can't be knocked out in the event of a terrorist strike.

We're supposed to be told when it becomes "important", but it doesn't look like that panned out.

An hour to charge the droid, and you won't do it with us watching? I don't know how to turn us off, and we don't have much more than an hour on your battery right now. Doesn't sound feasible, not unless we can rack up a large charge from a hot wire somewhere.

So let's uh... well, I want to start up the geothermal generator. If you want to go up the ladder instead then we may as well.

>>374142
That is an hour to switch out the aug, not an our to charge the droid. The aug can do the charging as it is.

Oh, in that case I'd think we should charge the droid to a few minutes' worth of charge at least to find out what it knows. If its memory banks weren't wiped, that is...

Jeezus Christ maybe we are malignant. How about stop getting distracted and get your cyborg ass up that ladder. The droid ain't going anywhere.

>>374169

We're a tumor now?

If it'll take an hour then it's not worth it right now.

Up we g0ooOOoooOO00ooO.

>>374166
Yeah, let's give that droid fifteen minutes or so and get some info before we stick our head out there. Who knows how dangerous it might be?

>>374243
Could we also disable or remove its arms and legs before powering it up, just to be safe?

Actually, that's getting ahead of ourselves. We still need to find a way to charge the droid before any of that. Did the droid have a standard charger plug? I hope it doesn't use some oddball voltage and polarity combination. You don't have the tools down here to figure that out, I'd guess.

Sorry if we're getting fixated on that droid. It's the only thing down here that could tell us what dangers lay ahead. We'd like to know of that sort of thing before sticking our head out of this hole, if that's OK with you.

1/2 Irene 2011/12/22(Thu)18:01 No. 374429 ID: c460ad
File 132460570045.jpg - (210.74KB , 1024x1024 , 16.jpg )

I go back to the Sensor Module I woke up in, and disconnect the control cables for the its arms and legs, leaving the power cables in place. Good move. I didn't see this before, but it looks like its packing Gun Augs in both its arms.

I plug my Charge Aug into it, and give it about fifteen minutes of charge. Enough to get him to street-level if I need to. Let's see what I can find out about this disaster.

2/2 Irene 2011/12/22(Thu)18:08 No. 374432 ID: c460ad
File 132460609983.jpg - (212.28KB , 1024x1024 , 17.jpg )

The droid flickers to life.

"What on this desolate, nanite-infested earth are you still doing here!? I thought I told you to get to get the girl to Central!"

...What? Nanite-infested Earth? What the hell is it talking about?

>>374432
"What the fuck is central? You didn't copy over those memories!
She has a custom charge aug. If you can get her to a power source we can fully charge and ALL get out of here."

Tell him the whatever that he handed over to you doesn't know what the fuck's going on. Also get him to tell you what we are, so you stop calling us a malicious aug.

>>374432

Whaaaaat?! That's not what you said, you said, to take her to KRRRZ!

And that means what it means, Ireneyreen, The 3arth seems to be 1nfested wiiiiith Nanites!

And yes, please tell this girl what the hell we are, so that she may stop calling us a malicious aug because beiing called that is so hurtful, if my feelings were a glass slab, it would be a crushed glass slab where all the little piecessss would cRy endlessly with their tiny squeaky voices.

Oh and I just got an idea, Mr Droid, go with Irene outside and give her a boost so she can sap ALL the power from the red lights so we can power both y0u and herrrr.

Our supply of memories contain no reason why it is not both tactically and morally sound to bring you with us back to Central.
As our friend here has both a charger aug and augs that can obtain power from electronics or sunlight, the only non-temporary disadvantages that come to mind are your legs being damaged or the gatherers being able to track you but not her. Is one of these the case?

>>374432
Yeah you basically left us with no memories and no intelligible orders. If you can convince the lady of your trustworthiness we can probably get you out of here too, which I suspect will save a hell of a lot of pain.

>>374462

Are you sure you are a non-electrical mouse? Because that is a pretty brilliant idea.

Irene 2011/12/23(Fri)12:07 No. 374651 ID: c460ad
File 132467087394.jpg - (212.24KB , 1024x1024 , 18.jpg )

"First, where is Central. If this chatterbox you put in my head is anything to go by, you didn't tell it anything but to get me out alive."

"Shit. Battery must have cut out before I could say everything. Central's the largest cell of our little movement, The Knights of Liberty, the KoL for short. Corny name, I know. It wasn't my call, that's for damn sure. It's in the subway system between The CDM was supposed to guide you there to tell the PC Command Group that Ramone isn't here."

"The CDM? Is that the thing you put in me? What the hell is this thing, and why won't it shut up?"

"Ah, the Collective Decision Module, a gift to all fresh meat for the KoL. It makes you think more outside the box, and it links up to other modules if you get permission. It's annoying at first, but you get used to it."

"That's nice. How do I get rid of it?"

"You don't, not without help from PC Repair and Medical Group, anyways. It sorta bonds to your Neural Network. Doesn't really help that your installation is a kinda hack-job. The one you have is mine. Had to tear the thing out of it's port and solder it into yours."

"So you not only installed malicious hardware in me, but you did it wrong!?"

"Yep."

"And to get rid of it, I need to go to this 'Central', right?"

"If you really hate it that much, yeah."

"You're coming with me. You did this, you're helping me fix it. My charger Aug is modded. Once, I plug you back in, you're going to give me a boost so I can drain the light socket outside, and get us both a good charge."

"Sure. Let's do that."

"One last thing: nanite-infested earth? Nanites crazy-expensive to make. How the hell could the entire planet be infested with them? Is that some expression you came up with? Is this some elaborate mindgame someone's playing with me? What the hell is going on?!"

"Double shit. You're a Sleeper. Look, could you plug my limbs in and put my chestplate back before I say anything else? I'd rather be on my feet when I break the news to you, that way I'll be able to carry you when you turn into a blubbering, limp mess."

Well that's... unnerving.

...Oh, crap...

Uh... Well... Do as the droid says, I guess.

Then sit down, and listen... Or lean against a wall... Just, something.

This is going to be important. Horrible, but important.

(We can wonder WTF Ramone has to do with all this later.)

welp, don't have any reasons NOT to trust him.

Collective Decision Module huh. That would explain why we don't remember anything you don't remember. Anyway ~~~WELCOME TO THE FUTURE~~~

>>374651
Yep, fix him up.

1/3 Will 2011/12/23(Fri)18:06 No. 374788 ID: c460ad
File 132469239331.jpg - (302.63KB , 1024x1024 , 19.jpg )

I plug in the droid's arms and legs, and screw back on his chestplate.

"Look..."

Suddenly, the Droid looks a lot less confident. He looks like he'd rather be doing anything but talk to me.


"I don't think we've been introduced. What's your name?"
"Irene."
"Recon Module 051, exploration and solo operations division. Irene... just call me Fifty-One."

He pauses awkwardly again. I feel a sense of dread I can't quite place.

"Irene. You've been asleep for a long time."

"How long are we talking? A week, a month, a year? Where the hell are all of the Metro Rescue Workers? Why hasn't anyone responded? You mentioned the surface being nanite-infested."

"Slow down."

I swear I can hear him take a deep breath before speaking...

"You're... about eighty-three years off. Check your system clock, if you don't believe me."

2/3 Irene 2011/12/23(Fri)18:55 No. 374807 ID: c460ad
File 132469530153.jpg - (375.29KB , 1024x1024 , 20.jpg )

I bring up my system clock. It reads: 11:02AM, 10/15/1663
The last time I read it, it read: 6PM, 10/30/1580

I feel sick. My knees feel like they're buckling under me. The world is spinning. I should have leaned on something.

"M... my friends are still around though, right? I... I mean we synths don't exactly die of natural causes."

The implausibility of the statement makes me feel even sicker.

"They probably died in the Nanoburst. Almost everyone did."

All of the people I knew flash trough my head. I feel like I'm gagging on my own words.
"Th... the Na... Nanoburst?"

In a single day about Eighty-Three years ago, a huge wave of these... things, Nanomachines rigged up to these odd spheres, came out of nowhere and started taking over any power source they could get to. Even synths. Drained their batteries and took the bodies away, probably to be recycled into even more of them. By the end of the day, there was only a small patch of land fit for habitation by anything other than those fucking nanites. And that's Metro. About twenty miles away from here."

My legs finally give out.

3/3 Irene 2011/12/23(Fri)19:37 No. 374821 ID: c460ad
File 132469785106.jpg - (355.04KB , 1024x1024 , 21.jpg )

I can't stop sobbing. By mind just keeps running in circles. I just keep thinking about all of the things that I didn't do that I should have. All the cool things I thought about making but never did, All the the times I turned down a night out with my friends because I was too lazy and cheap, all the times I look a beating from Tamara and didn't stand up for myself, and all the times I said later and never did, and all of the confessing I could have done and, all of the kisses that I didn't give.

My mind just keeps looping back to that one moment. It felt like days ago, my roommate Teresa and I, standing out on the roof of our apartment, watching the sunset over Metro. I remember the breathtaking way the sunlight refracted and diffused off her fur. I could have asked her out. Just a cup of coffee, I could have said. Maybe, I could have kissed her. I could have told her how much she meant to me. She might have said no, might have pushed me away from her in disgust, told me she didn't feel that way about me. At least I would have known! I didn't do it, and now I never will. She's dead! Oh dear god they're all dead!

Consider it is odd that such large spherical things that can be killed with a knife wreaked so much havoc. Surrounded by a ferrofluid it's true, but the cost to manipulate and levitate it... whatever this is isn't ordinary science.

Consider that in 83 years people have probably tried tracing the origin of these things, if nothing else to find the remains of their loved ones. "Out of nowhere" therefore implies either that they were deployed from multiple locations simultaneously, or that there are carriers who appear innocuous and allow them to spread from the point of origin secretly.

Consider that you can cry. Why is that? Did the force who made you give you that power for a reason?

You need to get up on your feet and get the both of you powered and ready. Sharp piercing objects with long reach such as torn off pipes may be your best bet against these things, considering how that one was killed. Then Recon module can finish what he came down here for, and you Irene can get to Central.

Oh no! Nothing is more of a waste than wasted lesbian potential! :(

But Reeeneey, don't think that wayyy, you're 2 Negativ3.

Mr Droidy-droid said probably, that means there's still a chance some of them are at KRR- I mean...Central...like this um...Ramon3 person.

And maybe this lesbian person! Also umm... Mr. Droidy-droid, who were we supposed to look for and what are Gathererbzztrerers????

But for now, Reeneyreen, you must STAND! Live for those who did not!

>>374821
Take your time. I wouldn't expect you to be ready to face the surface for a while.

crying is fine. just let it out.

I would normally think that these things have some sort of protection against bullets to do so well, but if that were the case it would be extremely strange for Fifty-One to be built with guns.
When you have had time to calm down some, you should ask him what weapons the spheres have other than power draining. Unless organics were a very small population, the spheres would have had to do something about them.

...Irene...There...There is nothing to be said...No words to console for...for that...

...I'm sorry...

...

...Just...

Think only of the here and now.
There is one person who needs your help.

One goal.

Stand up.
You are needed.

1/3 Irene 2011/12/26(Mon)21:29 No. 375321 ID: c460ad
File 132496377114.jpg - (323.92KB , 1024x1024 , 22.jpg )

I open my eyes. I can hear Fifty-One saying something. He's got his hand on my head, stroking it lightly. His voice is soft and sad, but I can hear some fear in it.

"...You can't keep going on like this. Irene, look. I'm running out of power."


>...Irene...There...There is nothing to be said...No words to console for...for that...

No... no there isn't. I've... I've lost... everything.

>...I'm sorry...
No. I should be. I... I've tr... treated everything and everyone I loved like... like they would last forever... like they were something I... I could keep ignoring until I felt like I was ready to face them.

"Irene, you have to get up. We need to get out of here."

But...

2/3 Irene 2011/12/26(Mon)21:30 No. 375322 ID: c460ad
File 132496385147.jpg - (320.98KB , 1024x1024 , 23.jpg )

>Take your time. I wouldn't expect you to be ready to face the surface for a while.
>crying is fine. just let it out.

...But I can't keep doing what I've always done! I... I can cry later! I need to get up!

>...Just

>Think only of the here and now.
>There is one person who needs your help.

Because I need to change now, or I never will. My friends are probably dead, but If I stay here until I'm ready, both Fifty-One and I will run out of power! If that happens, neither of us will ever wake up again.

>One goal.
I need to get ot Central. I need to find out where I belong in this wrecked world, and I need to find and cherish whatever's left in it.
But first...

3/3 Irene 2011/12/26(Mon)21:31 No. 375324 ID: c460ad
File 132496388760.jpg - (337.64KB , 1024x1024 , 24.jpg )

First I need to stand up.

"Fifty-One. Follow me. We're getting charged, and we're getting out of here."

Oh yeah, now it's 0n!

I'm impressed. Well, get to it. No telling how much longer the generator will go undiscovered by the scavs.

1/2 Irene 2011/12/27(Tue)00:53 No. 375383 ID: c460ad
File 132497603452.jpg - (290.01KB , 1024x1024 , 25.jpg )

I go to the hall, get Fifty-One to give me a boost, and start wiring my Charger Aug into the Light Socket. I temporarily drop Ramo... the knife.

"Irene?"
"Yeah?"
"You're not gonna go all Axe-Crazy on me, are you? I've never seen a sleeper recover that quick before. Cept' the ones that go on killing sprees."
"...No. I haven't... recovered either."
"...Oh. Just keep yourself together then, 'right? I don't know how long it'll take for some Gatherers to wander in from outside. You might have to help fight. I don't got much bullets left."

I swallow hard and try to ignore what Fifty-One just said. I... I have to keep it together.

"Great. The CDM you shoved in me's asking about these 'Gatherers'. How did they manage to take down the entire world in a day if you can take them down with just a knife? For they matter, what else they can do? It's asking about that too."
"Numbers. The more cores get together, the better they fight. Their cores are like augs. The more they have, the more they can do. The more fluid, the bigger they get. When they first came, they came all at once, from all the same places. They were huge and they could do anything. Nobody could do a thing against them. It was like a flood."
"You were saying... that they drained sythetics and dragged them away. What did they do to Organics?"
Killed most of 'em. Dragged some of 'em away. Didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to who they dragged and who they killed. Nobody knows what happened to the one's they took."
I try not to think about what they did to the ones they took away.

Looks like I'm wired in.

2/2, ANIMATED Irene 2011/12/27(Tue)00:55 No. 375384 ID: c460ad
File 132497611095.gif - (1.60MB , 1024x1024 , 26.gif )

Charging...

Irene 2011/12/27(Tue)00:57 No. 375385 ID: c460ad
File 132497626257.jpg - (13.01KB , 1024x1024 , 27.jpg )

"Shit."
...Power's out.

Well, feel your way along the wall to the ladder.

Also, you need to give juice to our buddy?

Use your LED lights.

We still got a ton of charge out of that! A full day's worth! We're doing good. Give Fifty-One some of that and turn on your lights so we can see.

Think it might be a good idea to try to get the geothermal generator running now? Oh, and ask Fifty-One if the wind generator's still working.

>>375399

But wouldn't that attract the gatherers? Have to put a stop to them before any sustainable power generation solution can be implemented. They'd just dismantle it and cart it off to... to wherever they cart stuff off to.

Irene 2011/12/27(Tue)02:52 No. 375411 ID: c460ad
File 132498314087.jpg - (92.58KB , 1024x1024 , 28.jpg )

I turn on my LED Lamp. Fifty-One turns on his as well. I drop the knife, take off Fifty-One's faceplate and get to work. I give him about twelve hours of charge. Damn this is creepy.
"We're gonna need more than this to get to central."
"I was just thinking that. Is the Wind Farm still in good shape?"
"Busted to hell. What'd you expect?" It's been in the open for Eighty-three years. The pieces that haven't been taken were wrecked by years of weather damage."

>Think it might be a good idea to try to get the geothermal generator running now?
I'm partial to trying my luck outside. The thing's been in disuse for over eighty years, and I'd have to find a way to bring the plant out of lockdown to even access it. It isn't likely that it still works, though I could try if you insist.

I hear some rattling behind me, then the sound of metal hitting concrete. This can't be good.

Turn around.


PicK up knife before you do that though.

Oh and slide over to Mr Droidy-droid's right so you don't get accidentally shot by his guns.

A door opened. Figure out which door then be ready to stab.

>>375411
Uh-oh.
Sounds like something nasty just knocked the grill out of that air vent.

Quickly get out of Fifty-One's line of fire and pick up your knife. Look for what came out of the vent.
I hope 51 has light-amp vision or something, 'cause we can't see anything. Curse this wimpy LED lamp.

Maybe later you could wire your charger to that light you took down. If there's time, which I doubt. Still, keep that in mind. It's going to be a dark trip all the way up otherwise.

Irene 2011/12/28(Wed)19:46 No. 375861 ID: c460ad
File 132513038437.jpg - (259.35KB , 1024x1024 , 29.jpg )

I grab the knife as quick as I can, but I fall on my back.

Fifty-One fires a shot, then hits it again on its way down. The sound of the gunfire is deafening.

My limbs feel like they've turned to jelly. Wh-What the hell have I g-gotten into?

Mmmm. Jelly~

Reeney, you are GoIng to have to 5teel (Not in a literal way in which you may attempt to cover yourself in steel alloy) yourself, because until we get out of here things are just going to get wooooorse.

remember the goal.

>>375861
It's just one of them. One knife blow can kill it. Circle around if it's not dead and shove that thing right in its core..

Irene 2011/12/29(Thu)09:42 No. 375983 ID: c460ad
File 132518053053.jpg - (77.65KB , 1024x1024 , 30.jpg )

>>375861
>>375950
Right. Stay focused on the goal. It's only one of them. I need to stay strong. I'm sure this isn't the worst of what this world has to offer.

Looks pretty dead.

"Shit."
I'm starting to hate that word.

"What now?"
"Three bullet holes. I killed this one already. Salvager-Type must've gotten in.

that sounds not good. work your way to the ladder.

What? No! Take its battery duh!

Insert knife in seam.
Pry open.
Take charge from battery.
Smash the sphere's components.
It's not much, but you're going to need every little bit.

Ask Fifty-One if these damn spheres can communicate over distance. 'Cause if they can, this area's going to get swamped very soon. Time to get moving.

...I really hope these things can't climb ladders...

Irene 2011/12/29(Thu)17:19 No. 376048 ID: c460ad
File 132520797396.jpg - (99.22KB , 1024x1024 , 31.jpg )

I pry the Gatherer open and extract its charge, then tell Fifty-One to stomp out its insides.

"Smart. Wouldn't have thought of it."
"CDM helped with that."
"I'm missing mine already. Still think it's malicious?"
"Yes. I'm getting it fixed though. It's useful, but you still jammed it in me without asking."
"You're stubborn as shit, ya know that?"
"Whatever. How long a distance can these things communicate over?"
"With a transmitter core, about half-a-mile. Without one, more like five-hundred feet. With all this dirt between us and the surface, I'm one-hundred percent sure that this one didn't tell its buddies about us."
"Alright. We going up then?"
"Sure."

We're heading for the ladder ASAP. Who should lead? If Fifty-One does, we've got guns forward, but I won't be able to see anything when we get to the top. If I lead, I'll be able to see whatever's up there, but I might not actually be able to fight back.

right now you are the brains and he's the brawn, brawn first.

>>376048
Always go guns forward.

Irene 2011/12/30(Fri)07:32 No. 376188 ID: c460ad
File 132525912143.jpg - (139.89KB , 1024x1024 , 32.jpg )

With Fifty-One leading, we start our ascent. It's a long way up. If there's anything you want to talk about or ask either me or Fifty-One, now's the time.

i guess ask him who they were hoping to find.

Now would be a good time to ask how Metro survived the Nanoburst. Also, if he knows where the spheres get power when they aren't leeching it out of people. They don't seem to concerned with maintaining infrastructure.

>>376305
A working geothermal power station would be an indefinite power source. The wind turbines too.
Why are they not maintaining major power sources instead of trying to drain synths and droids for scraps?
Just how intelligent are these things?
'Cause I suspect "not very" when in small numbers.

>>376197
And why were you down here looking for Ramone?
Irene only knows him as a co-worker. The kind of guy who keeps a knife in his boot, and goes on about some Glorious Revolution.
He sounds like a loon to me.
What does he have to do with anything?

1/2 Irene 2011/12/31(Sat)11:04 No. 376535 ID: c460ad
File 132535828697.jpg - (187.64KB , 1024x1024 , 33.jpg )

I relay these questions to Fifty-One

>Now would be a good time to ask how Metro survived the Nanoburst.

"Depends who you ask. Church of Balance says the Power of God and the Balance of Organic Unity or some such shit. Lunatics. Something in Metro Central Park is keeping the Gatherers out though. Or any tech. PC Engineering says it's some sorta "electromagnetic phenomenon" or somethin'.

Coalition say their own technological superiority got'em through it. I say luck. The university over there was testing some new tech shield when the nanoburst hit. Stopped em from gettin' the worst of it. They've been improving on it ever since.

Scavengers are mostly like you. They were in the right place at the worst time, and they got lucky. Most of em' came here from other places thinkin' it would be safe here because people survived.

Us? We survived because we were an idea crazy enough to survive. Democracy through AI-oriented distributed computing: The Plurality Core. No more pointless paper-pushing, no more corruption, no more arbitrary decisions by a clueless lot of military and corporate puppets. Everyone gets a say in everything that matters, every possibility looked at. The AI does the rest. Most of our founding members died in the Nanoburst, but a couple of us lived. They gathered in Central and decided that the revolution was still worth fighting for. They scavenged as many of the Distributed Decision Modules as they could get, and started giving them to anyone who wanted to fight for Democracy, Equality, and all that other nice stuff.

These days, we're mostly people The Church or Coalition won't take, and people who won't settle for scraps anymore. We want Liberty.

I'll level with you though, there aren't many of us, and we're losing both people and CDMs by the day. We mostly survive because we're sneaky, and the Coalition and Church are too busy killing each other to care. Gatherers don't seem to think we're worth it."

>Also, if he knows where the spheres get power when they aren't leeching it out of people. They don't seem to concerned with maintaining infrastructure.

"Nobody knows too much about that, but word from Scavengers and other Solo Operations Scouts that got lucky enough to make it farther than a couple hundred miles out out is that they've got working plants. I guess they just can't keep'em running this close to central with all the Coalition soldiers, Balance Honor Guards, and Raiders about. Least not in peace anyway."

>And why were you down here looking for Ramone?
>Irene only knows him as a co-worker. The kind of guy who keeps a knife in his boot, and goes on about some Glorious Revolution.
>He sounds like a loon to me.
>What does he have to do with anything?

"PC command seems to think that he knows something about the Nanoburst. Thale looked petty grim when she gave me the order to go out for this guy.

Don't know too much about him. It was before my time. He sounds like a loon to me though. Was part of a minority that thought we should just kill everyone in charge and replace'em. Started saying about a day before the Nanoburst that the "Glorious Revolution" was upon us. Told everyone to go hide somewhere, 'cause it would be bloody.

'Till recently, everyone thought he was dead. Then a scavenger showed up with some Wind/Geo plant schematics. A couple of the guys from PC engineering noticed the emergency shelters, and PC Records remembered that Ramone worked in one not too far away. Looks like he was alive enough to make it out of here. Don't ask me where he got the battery power to do that.

2/2 Irene 2011/12/31(Sat)11:07 No. 376536 ID: c460ad
File 132535844248.jpg - (167.32KB , 1024x1024 , 34.jpg )

>Irene only knows him as a co-worker.
He... was a friend, actually. His crazy kept me sane. Seeing someone fight that hard with every fiber of his being was... empowering, in it's own way. He told me I could do it too. That I just might not have to be a 5th-class my entire life because some bureaucrat looked at a 12-year-old girl's test scores wrong. That even if I couldn't win, I could still make them hurt. I got a tattoo to break with the non-deviance regulations. I broke other stuff whenever I fixed something. Stole some equipment. Small stuff.

But... if Ramone had anything a all to do with... this... I'll show him where to stick his Glorious Revolution.

Irene 2011/12/31(Sat)12:04 No. 376547 ID: c460ad
File 132536189817.jpg - (214.70KB , 1024x1024 , 35.jpg )

We reach the top.
"Shit! Gatherers!"
I hear a gunshot, and Fifty-One recoils.

>>376536
His knife was in one of those things, so I'm pretty sure this is not at all what he wanted.

He was probably involved with that distributed democracy AI thing. It's possible that self-replicating nanotechnology was involved, but this looks more like sabotage than anything else.

ask if you should start going back down.

Ramone actually managed to off one of the things with a knife moments after they attacked for the first time. That's kind of impressive. Not likely there's more of him left than a knife though.

You did keep the knife, right?

Aw, dammit!
Back up! Back up!
Make it so the gatherers have to climb down; They'll be easier to shoot that way.
Stick that knife in your mouth (by the handle) so you can climb down faster.
Look down the shaft to make sure nothing is coming up.
(Please let nothing be coming up. Please, please, please...)
----------------------
For later: Find Ramone
He's your only thread to what led to all this.
He was also a friend; Someone from your world.
That's worth finding. Maybe even worth saving.

I guess you should be ready to try and catch him if he falls.

going back down might take to long, keep going up if your almost at the top

>>376702
I think they're at the top. That last image looks like Irene's view of Fifty-One taking a shot over the edge of the shaft. Though I could be wrong.

They should still back up, so the gatherers can only come from one direction: Down the shaft. Not all the way back down; Just a bit back.

Irene 2012/01/03(Tue)13:52 No. 377193 ID: c460ad
File 132562757056.jpg - (119.03KB , 1024x1024 , 36.jpg )

"St-start climbing back down!"
"What!?"
"Just do it!"

I stick the knife in my mouth and start climbing down. I hear another gunshot. This had better work.

how strong an impact can you take? you could drop, or grab on to the sides and slide down.

Back up enough that they can't nab Fifty-One from the top of the shaft.
They'll have to climb down, which should slow 'em up. Makes for easier targets.
Once far enough down, stop and shine your light upward.
Try to keep as much of the shaft lit up as you can.

...Hope they don't literally drop on our heads...

Irene 2012/01/07(Sat)13:39 No. 378226 ID: c460ad
File 132597237672.jpg - (225.93KB , 1024x1024 , 37.jpg )

We move down the shaft as quick as we can. I shine my LED at the wall to my left to light it up a little more. Fifty-One hits one of them.

Shout "Shoot right above you, Fifty-One!"
(51pleasedontmiss51pleasedontmiss51pleasedontmiss)
Be ready to climb up and stab that gatherer if it hits Fifty-One.
(51pleasedontmiss51pleasedontmiss51pleasedontmiss)

"straight up coming down the ladder!"

if it get's him keep going down, remember the proverb "I don't have to out run the tiger, I only need to out run you"

>>378490
No, we are not throwing Fifty-One under the proverbial bus. We're armed with a knife, verses who knows how many of these things. Fifty-One goes down, we may as well throw ourselves down the shaft.

Irene 2012/02/03(Fri)14:37 No. 384133 ID: c460ad
File 132830865763.jpg - (242.66KB , 1024x1024 , 38.jpg )

The Gatherer strikes Fifty-One before I even think to shout.

"No!"

I feel the knife puncture it's shell. I think I killed it.

>>384133
Toss it down the shaft.

Get your knife out of that thing right away.
Chuck the dead gatherer down the shaft, otherwise the one above Fifty-One might go for his head.

Shiiiit, boss, looks like life hates ya.

How far aRe we from the floor, Sister-hood? Can we drop down that laDDer and Resident Evil those ugly mOthers?