Official Tensided Cyperpunk RPG Campaign

[Alyrium Denryle]

Looking at one of the HUGE guns sitting on the ground...

"What would Freud say?... I can tell you what he would say, he would say that the machine gun is so big because the man was compensating for a small penis, then he would go snort more cocaine" The good doctor chuckled as he jabbed Blain in the ribs and started speaking in a German accent

"You carry a gun because you have a deeply hidden urge to have the steamy hot sex with your mother. To do this you must compete with your father for her affection, and his penis was always so much bigger than yours, so you have to compensate by carrying a big weapon... Now let me snort a little bit more of the coke *SNOOORT*"

Everyone had a good laugh, but then Lennox had to say something a little more serious.

"Hey Blaine... I need to speak with you in private"

[Hotfoot]

The man is nervous, as well he should be. His life was now hanging by a thread. The threat of imminent death hung over him like a vulture awaiting a new meal. The uncertainty of it all was the worst part, and what Mikal had to balance to get anything from him. Once the soldier has completely removed his armor, Mikal moves towards him, gun still at the ready. He glances back, making sure someone is still covering him, and once he is sure of that, he looks back to his prisoner. "Now, up against the wall and assume the position."

Putting his weapon aside for a moment, he pats the man down to make sure there aren't any obvious hidden surprises...a knife, a set of lockpicks, a holdout pistol, that sort of thing. Once the man has been cleaned to his satisfaction, he pulls the man's arms down around behind his back and takes out one of his several stripwire binders, binding the man's arms to further minimize his ability to do any serious harm. The binders weren't as strong as handcuffs, but it was a good stopgap measure. All the muscle in the world doesn't do much if you lack the leverage to apply that strength.

"Now then, come with me...we have much to discuss, you and I," he doesn't smile, his face is solid as stone as he leads the man down to the room where the scientists have been hiding out, even as the sound of the car getting away boils his blood. Had they had a proper defense set up, the car would have never made it into the base, much less out again. Damn these last-minute jobs and the sloppy fools who planned them. As he walks, Stacey and the others come out of hiding.

"That's it? Are we safe?" She calls out with a look of anticipation.

He doesn't laugh at the telepath's attempt at humor, maintaining his stone-faced demeanor. "For the moment, but be careful outside, the shrapnel has not yet cooled and the rubble and corpses easily finds their way underfoot. This man requires a nice, solid cage to spend the night in," he motions to the prisoner with the barrel of his G-36C 7mm. "And I think we all need to sit down and have a nice little chat," he eyes the prisoner, "and then you and I need to have a little question and answer session, da?"

[Alyrium Denryle]

"I can always help wth any interrogations that we need to do...."

[Hotfoot]

"I can always help wth any interrogations that we need to do...."

Mikal looks at the good doctor and nods almost imperceptibly, and if the telepath had any natural body language skills whatsoever, he should pick up that Mikal was indicating a positive reaction, though he was saying nothing. In fact, Mikal had planned on using the telepath as a lie detector during the interrogation, then stepping up the role should the prisoner become...less than forthright.

He would have to talk to the telepath later, just to make sure they were on the same page about things. After all, he didn't want the telepath to be getting any wrong impressions about him...

[Alyrium Denryle]

Dr. Lennox saw the nod and nodded in kind, he was a psychologist and knew what that nod ment...

[Arthur_Tuxedo]

Upon Mikal's affirmation that it was safe, the non-combatants let out whooping cheers of exhiliration, some hugging each other, others still looking shell shocked and disoriented. The fact that their soldier friends were nothing more than bullet riddled corpses would probably dawn on them after the exhiliration from still being alive started to fade.

[Marcao]

Ernesto

the moment had shifted and it became quickly apparent that the conflict had come to an end. He took a deep breath, letting it linger within his lungs for a second and then another before slowly releasing it. He lingered in his position for a moment longer, his eyes sliding towards Mikal as he dealt with their prisoner. No, he did not believe that he had seen him and so it was not a problem. He would let Mikal deal with this man, he had no doubt that he could handle himself.

He left his cover and walked casually towards his right, retrieving the bag he had hidden before thankful to discover that it had not suffered any damage. He picked it up with his left hand, grunting slightly before he walked towards his van. He walked past Blaine, looking totally untouched by the death about him. He stumbled upon an arm, and kicked it back towards Blaine with a thin smile on his lips. Once he arrived at his van, he placed the bag down and reached for his keys, the doors opened as he slid the PSG-1 within his van and then his bag. During the next two minutes he made several trips to the weapons van, confiscating 200 steel cored rounds for his PSG-1 and a dozen rockets for his RPG. The RPG launcher was secured within his van as well, its power unnecessary at the moment.

After the ammunition was secured within his van its doors were closed and locked before he turned around. His G36 secured to his back before he walked back towards Blaine and watched him work for a moment. “You have done this before?” His tone was pleasant and laced with the usual accent. He kneeled down by a corpse and began to inspect it looking not only for weapons and valuables, but also hints that cybernetics laid within the body itself. If he found such hints, he would gently pull out his combat knife and see if he could…liberate the said cybernetics. Eventhough his attention was on the task at hand, he did not allow himself to feel safe. His peripheral vision aware of his surroundings. He was not among friends, he was simply among allies. The only person he trusted, was Mikal.

[CorSec]

Blaine listened to the shouts of glee coming from further inside the compound. He wished he could share their exuberance, but right now all he could see and smell was death. He'd just put away photos of one of the mercs family. He couldn't help but wonder if whoever he was thought it was worth not only his own life, but theirs as well. Soon enough the cold relentless hand of death comes for us all. The best we can do is live as good as we can before it pulls us into the eternal abyss.

Where the hell did that come from?

"Hey Blaine... I need to speak with you in private"

''Sure, Dr. Lennox. Let me finish here.'' Blaine watched as Dr. Lennox walked away. Although he wasn't sure of the doctor, Lennox didn't seem like a bad person. Much like Stacey and Dr. Ham, he was just in a bad spot because someone ''important'' wanted him dead. That nagging feeling hadn't gone away completely but Blaine chalked it up to having either met him before his memory implant or perhaps Dr. Lennox was a friend of the family or a friend of a friend. He shrugged mentally, pushing it out of his head so he could complete the task at hand.

A disembodied arm flopped towards him. He reacted by dancing away from it as if it had a life of its own and was chasing him down. When it stopped moving, Blaine shook his head at Ernesto. That crazy Cuban. Oh, I'll get him. I just hope I don't get myself killed in the process.

"You have done this before?"

Blaine watched as Ernesto expertly stripped a body of its valuables, trying to discern some secrets. Off-handedly he responded ''Oh, sure. Hundreds of times. Maybe thousands. It's hard to keep track, you know.'' He cast a side long glance at Ernesto, trying not to crack a smile.

They worked in silence for a while before Blaine asked ''Something's bugging me, mind if I pick your brain about it?'' Whether or not Ernesto assented to the question, Blaine was going to ask anyway. ''If you had planned the raid, would you have booby-trapped the elevator just in case?'' He wasn't looking at Ernesto so he wasn't sure if he was even paying attention, but he continued. ''Maybe I'm just being paranoid, or trying to be paranoid. I only ask because it's something that popped into my mind.'' He paused and looked over at Ernesto waiting for a response.

[Symmetry]

Yuuki's round of dealing with the wounded went very quickly, since he didn't seem to be able to find any. Maybe it was just that anything able to get through heavy body armor tended to be powerful enough to put someone six feet under.

"I can always help wth any interrogations that we need to do...."

So thats our telepath? Yuuki wondered. He was sort of glad the telepath was here. Unlike torture, he could stomach the idea of just going into somone's mind to get at their memories. Mr Bright Shirt didn't seem like the sadistic sort, at least.

After satisfying himself that he didn't have any medical duties, he started helping with laying out the corpses, and overheard two of the new guys talking.

"You have done this before?"

''Oh, sure. Hundreds of times. Maybe thousands. It's hard to keep track, you know.''

"So I guess that paleness is just from exhaustian? Since we were so rudely interupted before hand, I'll have to intoduce myself now - the name's Thomas."

''Maybe I'm just being paranoid, or trying to be paranoid. I only ask because it's something that popped into my mind.'' He paused and looked over at Ernesto waiting for a response.

"Don't worry, they probably didn't and if they did I can take care of it."

After Thomas ((I'll stop calling him Yuuki now, since I think that would get confusing)) finishes with the friendly bodies he'll try to find more grenades, including retrieve his Tear gas from where he left it, as well looking for some sort of nice rifle that he can practice with later. After that he'll check out the elevator shaft, and see if its been booby trapped.

[Arthur_Tuxedo]

Ernesto was not disappointed. All five of the mercs had one or even multiple implants. Retrieving them was messy, but they could probably fetch a few hundred bucks each.

Mikal leads the prisoner at gunpoint into a suitable interrogation room.

[Marcao]

Ernesto

His attention was mostly on his work, although he could not help but giving Blaine an occasional glance as they worked. He had noticed his reaction to the arm he had gently sent his way and it had amused him greatly. He had seized caring about body parts and such a while back, but he doubted that Blaine was that hardened yet. Still, the gringo appeared to have some wits about him and he had noticed that he been eager to assist in the defense of this place. Unlike others whom had hidden themselves like children from the stories of devils.

There was little hesitation as his hands deftly reached out and searched a body, stripping away what was valuable and placing everything aside in an orderly fashion. Weapons, ammunition, explosives, armor or pieces there of, jewelry, rings and everything else placed neatly aside. When Blaine spoke, he looked up at him his eyes watching his face closely. His words were noted and quickly he realized that there was sarcasm to a degree in his words, his near smile caught before he smiled thinly in turn. “Excellent, then we shall get along just fine.”

He continued to concentrate on his work, marking possible spots where cybernetics was suspected with a shallow “x” upon the skin of the victim. He did not wish to deal with blood squirting out or anything of the kind at the moment. Ideally, he would wait until the bodies had lost most if not all of their blood before he went hunting for cybernetics. His combat knife was making another incision upon the skin of a corpse, another probably cybernetic location noted before he looked upwards towards Blaine. “You may ask Blaine, I will try and help you if I can.” Of course, he made no promises. His education was mostly practical and his passion revolved around his work. If Blaine wanted to talk about tactics, warfare and such, he would get a pretty good answer. If he wanted to talk about women, emotions or other things along those lines he would get little.

He kept working as he waited for Blaine to ask whatever it was that was on his mind, silently hoping that the question was worthy of his time and the interruption to his work. When it came however, he was not disappointed. His lips curling upwards into a full smile as he nodded. “It is not paranoia Blaine; it is the way you should think. And yes, I would have trapped the elevator. After all, if you make it hard to come inside you also make it hard to get out.” He paused, considering for a moment. “Nonetheless, these fools did not seem to be very competent. I doubt they planned that far ahead, but is something to be considered.”

His head turned then, glancing towards the man that had intruded upon his discussion with Blaine. His words about Blaine’s paleness noted but he did not smile. Blaine was a fighter and while he had not seen him do anything truly spectacular, he had held the line alongside the others. The new man had been there as well, but did not seem to be as capable as Blaine was. When Thomas introduced himself he got a nod from him from acknowledgement. His words about the possible trap met with a raised eyebrow. “I take it you are well versed in demolitions?” he waited for only a moment, glancing towards Blaine before glancing at Thomas once more. “That would be appreciated…Thomas.” Better someone that was not yet proven in his mind to take the risk of sudden death than someone that had begun to take those steps.

[CorSec]

''Oh, sure. Hundreds of times. Maybe thousands. It's hard to keep track, you know.''

"So I guess that paleness is just from exhaustion? Since we were so rudely interupted before hand, I'll have to intoduce myself now - the name's Thomas."

Blaine visibly sighs at the redirected sarcasm. If I can dish it out, I should be able to take it. He nods in return, introducing himself. ''Blaine Richards.'' He takes the opportunity to mention the others he arrived with, ''That's Dirk and Mikal,'' pointing to the retreating figures, ''I don't know if you've met Dr. Lennox,'' then jerking a thumb to the other member ''and that's Ernesto.'' He hastily adds ''I've only just met everyone so that's about all I can tell you.'' Blaine is eager to pepper Thomas with questions but decides that right now isn't the time.

''Oh, sure. Hundreds of times. Maybe thousands. It's hard to keep track, you know.''

His words were noted and quickly he realized that there was sarcasm to a degree in his words, his near smile caught before he smiled thinly in turn.

"Excellent, then we shall get along just fine."

Blaine was busy with Thomas so he missed the near collapse of the Cuban's otherwise stoic demeanor. He's a little disappointed that his humor isn't better received, but his wit is an aquired taste anyway. With no other cues to go by, he simply nods in response whispering ''Good.''

"Don't worry, they probably didn't and if they did I can take care of it."

"It is not paranoia Blaine; it is the way you should think. And yes, I would have trapped the elevator. After all, if you make it hard to come inside you also make it hard to get out." He paused, considering for a moment. "Nonetheless, these fools did not seem to be very competent. I doubt they planned that far ahead, but is something to be considered."

Blaine listens to both Thomas and Ernesto, again nodding at each of them in turn. He feels good knowing that at least some of his random thoughts aren't really out in left field. Once the bodes have been marked and segregated, Blaine takes a few minutes to collect his thoughts, which are suprisingly few at this time and get cleaned up. Afterwards, he goes looking for Dr. Lennox.

((Alyrium and I are in PM with an upcoming conversation between the two characters.))

[Gerard_Paloma]

Catching up....
Dirk keeps the lone surviving goon in his sights until Mikal pats him down and secures his hands. Reluctantly, he takes his finger off the trigger and steps away from the M2.

Goodnight sweetheart, well, it's time to go...

He stands and watches as people come out of hidey holes, begin scavenging, celebrating, and sorting through the dead. Dirk starts to follow Mikal to "interrogate" the prisoner, but stops when he hears Blaine speak his name. He comes up to the small gathering of Ernesto, Blaine, the telepath and someone he hasn't met yet.

"Hey Blaine, Ernesto. Glad to see you two survived," Dirk says, pointedly ignoring Lennox. "I don't think we've met. I'm Dirk Harrison. You are?" he asks the other man.

[Symmetry]

"Hey Blaine, Ernesto. Glad to see you two survived," Dirk says, pointedly ignoring Lennox. "I don't think we've met. I'm Dirk Harrison. You are?"

"Thomas," he replied, noting the apparent lack of love lost between this Dirk character and Dr. Lennox. A lot of people were like that with Telepaths, Thomas had found, and didn't let it bother him.

"I'm going to have to go and check to see if the entrance is usable and unmined. If you guys would be so good as to save me a nice rifle or auto-shotgun from the looting, I'll be back in a few minutes."

((Thomas is going over to the entrance to look things over))

[Alyrium Denryle]

Dr. Lennox did notice the lack of mention.., Dirk was apparantly one of *those* people... He figured there had to be a reason, maybe a telepath screwed him over once... It didnt matter...

"well thanks Dirk, glad to know you care" he said

[CorSec]

From the PM conversation during a lull in activities:

Dr. Benjamin Lennox:

Blaine looked over at Dr. Lennox, who motioned him a fair distance away and down a hall.

"Well Blaine, I am sure I seem oddly familiar to you. I would just like to say that... I am sorry... That telepth that supressed your memory a while back was...me."

Blaine Richards:

The room began to spin. Blaine started to feel light headed and a little queasy. Eight months ago there were two events that changed his life. One was the loss of his job, which he'd held for going on nine years. Being fired - forced to quit - is something one can get over. But being fired - forced to quit - and not remembering why was a hard and bitter pill to swallow.

Everything he knew about the day in question he learned from incident reports. Other than that, the particulars were rather hush-hush. With no one willing or allowed to talk to him, it made it easy to push it to the back of his mind, considering his other problem at the time.

Fate, it seems, has an odd sense of humor. Blaine wasn't laughing. Revenge isn't a motivating force in his life. He was having trouble building a scenario in which it could be - this was close, but there were enough pieces missing from the puzzle to give Blaine more than enough reason to hold back. Namely, this served to underscore a question that had been nagging at the back of his mind: If I hadn't lost my job, it's possible I'd have never seen her again - so was it necessarily a bad thing?

"I'm not going to lie to you, Doc. Not that I think I could," he added pointedly, "I'm angry. I've wanted answers to that night for almost eight months. Now that I can get those answeres, I'm not sure I do want them. So much has happened in the last day that I can't process much more."

As if to punctuate his statement, Blaine had reflexively crossed his arms.

Benjamin Lennox:

I owe you an explanation... I suppose first you need to learn what that pharmaceutical company was producing. They had a classified project to develope telapthy-suppressant drugs. Drugs that would make innocent telepaths slaves to their ends if they wanted to keep the use of their powers. I had no choice but to take out the facility. I am so very sorry for what I had to do in order to do that. Basically, I made you think I was an executive wh had forgotten his access card... You opened the doors, I set the charges and pulled the fire alarm. The building was evacuated and I supressed your memories of the event to protect myself."

Dr. Lennox was having difficulty keeping his voice from cracking. He hated using his abilities on innocent people, and Blaine had been an innocent before that day...

Blaine Richards:

I guess when you bury your head in the sand you shouldn't be surprised to get kicked in the ass. Blaine was saddened to hear that VAST had been involved in something so conspiratorial. He wasn't necessarily surprised ? just a little disappointed that a company he'd worked for was up to no good. He could easily sympathize with a segment of the population that was being oppressed because they were who they were. He may not know what it's like to be colored or a telepath, but above that they're just people.

He could see that Dr. Lennox had remorse for doing what he felt he had to do. But that still didn't take away from the hurt and anger he felt for being violated in such a personal way. Without changing his defensive posture, Blaine looks down, as if his shoelaces have an answer for this problem. After a moment of silence, Blaine looks up and speaks. ''I understand why, but that doesn't change what happened.''

''I don't believe in God or fate or karma, but I have a feeling that our history and the present is bigger than either of us.'' He laughs at himself, ''Maybe, it's like the universe knows why this world is the way it is and is trying to make it right.'' He shrugs, not knowing why he's going on the way he is with a perfect stranger. ''I don't know.''

Dr. Benjamin Lennox:

"I know... Though you will eventually get those memories back, they arent gone, just supressed. Actually, I am amazed seeing me again has not returned them."

Lennox shrugged as he pondered the odd coincidences of the last few days

"I dont believe in God or karma either.. but then again this sort of thing does happen... I will find a way to make it up to you though. That I promise you. The end was just but the means required to get there where not much better, and for that I am sorry. I suppose we should get back to the rest of them... I have an interrogation to do... Hopefully i dont have to serve as anything but a lie detector"

Blaine Richards:

Blaine Richards is a results kind of guy. He takes people at their word, unless their actions prove they can't be trusted. Then there's Dr. Lennox. Blaine's been on the receiving end of his actions before so he's not sure he can trust his words. Then again, the doctor sounds sincere. He wasn't setting off any alarm bells with outright lying. It's also entirely possible that he has his own demons to exorcise from that night.

Maybe his memories would come back, maybe they wouldn't. Heck, maybe he didn't want them to come back. Who knows. Blaine was tired. Tired of confronting the past. Tired of killing people. Tired of... well, just plain tired.

''Thanks for being up front,'' Blaine's not sure what else could be said at this point. 'Stay the fuck out of my head,' Dirk would say. ''I'll let you attend to your duties, and if you'll excuse me, there are things that I need to do.''

Dr. Benjamin Lennox:

"I hope that one day, you can find some way to forgive me... " Though he is loath do to so, Lennox makes an attempt to help unlock the vault where the memories of that night are held. It seemed a little rusty at first, to use an analogy, but eventually the latch came free with just a small amount of effort. With that out of the way, Dr. Lennox went t go interrogate that poor prisoner.

((DF: 22 (Willpower + 10 + 1)
AT: 19
Roll: 10
Final: 29

This means expect some interesting trips down memory lane in the future.))

[Marcao]

Ernesto

He continued his work as he could, his attention split evenly along Blaine, Thomas and the corpses that littered the hall about them. The smell was not a problem to him, he was used to the smell of death and the after effects of it were totally expected. Still, he was becoming aware that the blood was becoming progressively more difficult for him to miss. He was crouching still, his legs quite used to the position but the soles of his boots were starting to become coated with the blood of the dead. He would have to find a way to fix that sooner or later.

When a particular pair of foot steps approached, his hearing concentrated it upon it and his implants made sure that he became aware of the sound. His head turned, glancing at Dirk as he approached another “x” marked on the skin of another body. When he heard Dirk’s words he smiled, an eyebrow arching as his knife was waved around towards the dead bodies. “It will take more than a dozen or so pendejos to kill me Dirk. Although I must admit, that the last six were starting to…irritate me.” He went quiet as Dirk began to speak to the other man, his attention returning to his work.

He heard Thomas speak and did not even bother looking up from the latest body before he answered. “We should have something that will suit you when you return Thomas. There is plenty to go around.” There was enough equipment about that he was not terrible worried about getting his fair share. It was true that he had played an essential role in the defense of this place but that was as much due to Mikal’s foresight as his own skill. Furthermore, he already had confiscated a rifle and an RPG launcher. He was satisfied for now, although if there was another toy that caught his fancy, he would certainly make the attempt to claim it for himself.

When Blaine and the Doctor began to speak, he was not physically paying attention. His eyes concentrating on his task of removing anything that he deemed of use and placing it aside. Nonetheless, his ears were listening to the conversation and his augmentations got to work. The entire story was caught, analyzed and contemplated. The truth was that Blaine was a hell of a lot more forgiving than he would have been in his position, although he supposed that the Doctor had a passably interesting excuse. It was all a matter of gradients, and he did not have the same moral compass as most. Anyone that fucked with his mind got lead in turn, unless the contact was cleared ahead of time.

In the end, he found himself coming to a stop as Blaine finished talking with the doctor. He had gone over most of the bodies that seemed to have had anything worth taking, and had taken extra time with the heavily armored goons. He stood, stretching slightly and shaking his head. His eyes sliding from Blaine towards the Doctor and back again. When the good doctor walked away apparently moving towards where Mikal had disappeared to he glanced towards Blaine. “You were more forgiving than I would have been.” He paused, shrugging slightly. “I suppose it is for the best.” His eyes slid towards what he and Blaine had gathered, trying to ascertain what they had managed to scrounge up.

(Arthur: Can we get a run down of what survived the encounter? I am particularly interested in armaments and such. The cybernetic removal will have to come later. I am certain that there is a lot of junk that Stavis might want dibs on such as jewelry and some of the weaker armaments, but I am interested primarily on tools of war. Ernesto is that kind of guy.)

[Arthur_Tuxedo]

The gangers had Colt M5s, two of the elites had recently manufactured Russian RPG launchers, two had m240B machineguns chambered in 7 x 54mm, and two had riot shields. The armor of the two shield-bearers doesn't really seem salvagable, but the other four could probably be repaired. The uniformity of their equipment suggests that they did not own it, but that it was provided by Microsoft (that and the fact that none of the potential recruits at the meeting Ernesto briefly attended were packing any of this stuff). The two shield bearers are carrying Glock 19s as sidearms, chambered in 9mm.

Mikal and Benjamin lead the prisoner into the interrogation room. Mikal's hard eyes can see that he's on the brinking of cracking from the get go.

Thomas sees the trap immediately. As soon as the elevator reached the ground floor, whoever was using it would have tripped an infrared sensor placed at the top of the shaft and set off a claymore mine from point blank range. Explains why they didn't try to retreat when the battle went sour. Climbing up the service elevator and avoiding standing up to full height at the top would allow one to disarm the claymore without setting off the trap.

[Alyrium Denryle]

Dr. Lennox's normally soft, caring eyes hardened when he looked at the prisoner. He had no ympathy for those that tried to kill him, or his "friends" and while he hated messing with the minds of innocents, or those that didnt give consent, thiis prisoner was another matter.

"Alright you rat bastard. Talk or we play good cop bad cop, and despite how nasty he can be, you will beg him to save you when I start playing hopscotch inside your head."

[Symmetry]

Thomas sees the trap immediately. As soon as the elevator reached the ground floor, whoever was using it would have tripped an infrared sensor placed at the top of the shaft and set off a claymore mine from point blank range. Explains why they didn't try to retreat when the battle went sour. Climbing up the service elevator and avoiding standing up to full height at the top would allow one to disarm the claymore without setting off the trap.

Thomas, mutters something along the lines of "not quite as dumb as I thought," and proceeds to check for anything left to kill the person disarming the bomb, and then proceeds to get to work; keeping the explosives for later use.

[Marcao]

(OOC: this was an exchange orchestrated by CorSec so my hat is off to him. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. ^_^)

Ernesto Vega:

In the end, he found himself coming to a stop as Blaine finished talking with the doctor. He had gone over most of the bodies that seemed to have had anything worth taking, and had taken extra time with the heavily armored goons. He stood, stretching slightly and shaking his head. His eyes sliding from Blaine towards the Doctor and back again. When the good doctor walked away apparently moving towards where Mikal had disappeared to he glanced towards Blaine. "You were more forgiving than I would have been." He paused, shrugging slightly. "I suppose it is for the best." His eyes slid towards what he and Blaine had gathered, trying to ascertain what they had managed to scrounge up.

Blaine Richards:

Is there no such thing as privacy anymore!? Let's just put all of Blaine's life on display for everyone to gawk at and pick apart, shall we!

''Forgiving isn't the same as forgetting.'' It took him a second, but he laughed at himself. ''No pun intended. Besides, I'm not like you or Mikal or Dirk.'' He took a moment to take a relaxing breath or five, toeing the pile of weapons to examine what had been collected. ''It's not like he made me dance like a monkey or anything.''

At the word 'monkey' there was a flash of light. Blaine was in a room, a laboratory. Along three of the walls were cages with primates in them. He looked in one of them, and the monkey that looked back at him... there was something wrong with it. It was still alive, he could tell because it was breathing. No, more like panting. And it wasn't looking back at him, not exactly. Its eyes were staring into space, lifeless.

''This is what they do,'' a voice said.

Blaine turned and he saw Dr. Lennox.

Another flash of light and it was over.

Blaine reached up and touched his head, eyes closed. He tottered on his legs for a second before it was all over. ''Forgetting, it seems, is something I can't do.''


Ernesto Vega:

His eyes returned towards Blaine as he began to speak, his words about forgiveness being rather puzzling. Even if he never forgot what occurred, the good doctor had gotten away with his past actions even though he had come clean about his tinkering with Blaine’s mind. He found it a bit disconcerting that Blaine was so willing to turn the other cheek. Of course, one could argue that the Doctor had learned his lesson and would never again do something along those lines to Blaine. There was nothing guaranteeing it though, and there laid the problem.

When Blaine laughed softly he blinked, his clarification a moment later met with a dry chuckle from his lips. “No, you are not. That is true, not everyone can be so fortunate.” He leaned down then, using his hands to gather up the weapons and place them in order of usefulness. Ideally, two others would pick up RPG’s and at least one other would be competent with the heavy machineguns. His head turned to glance at him for a moment before he shrugged. “That is not the point where I am coming from Blaine. I cannot speak for you naturally, and what you do or do not do is entirely your choice. However, I have a policy about being fucked with especially by mind benders irregardless of the circumstances.”

He blinked as Blaine seemed to tune out for a second and then another, an eyebrow arching as he looked at his eyes. It seemed that he was no longer home, his lips parting about to speak when he finally spoke once more. He went silent, considering his words before he rolled his shoulders. “That is good; it will keep it in perspective in case it happens again if not with the current then another.” He was of course, referring to telepaths. “I do not want you to get the wrong impression about me, so I will clarify.” He paused for a moment, watching Blaine as his hands moved equipment about without looking down. “I have no ill will towards telepaths as a whole; they can be useful things to have around. However, the threat of a telepath is something I take very seriously.”

”I have lived a considerable amount of time, and I intend on living more still. However, during my time I have discovered that most things in life are simply transient. Moments in transition if you will, love, family, friendship, by and large all these things will not last forever. Hell, they may not last a great deal of time at all. This however will.” His left hand moved leaving a RPG launcher he had just moved to join its twin before his forefinger pointed at his skull. “This is my lifetime companion; this is what keeps me alive and I dislike the idea of anyone being able to take a look in there at all, least of all without my consent.” He shrugged. “It is I suppose, a matter of perspective.” And his perspective was that what the doctor had done had been as personal as if he had raped his quite dead sister. It was an invasion of privacy of such scale, that it was something that he could not tolerate. However, his mind was all he had that was truly his own. That had to count for something.

Blaine Richards:

Blaine saw the question in Ernesto's eyes, waiting until he was finished speaking before relaying what he remembered.

Blaine finally realizes something. He'd been looking down his nose at the three mercenaries without even realizing that's what he was doing. His mind flashed back momentarily recalling the sounds that escaped the van as Ernesto pulled into the facility. Anyone who is moved by that music can't be 100% All Business 100% All the Time. While any of them were certainly capable of killing on a whim, there was much more to them than that. He'd known Dirk the longest, which wasn't to say too much. Ernesto's response genuinely moved him. It wasn't necessarily the words that made the impact, but it was the openness with which they were shared. As it was, Blaine was silenced into reflection with his advice.

"I don't know what to say, Ernesto." Blaine pauses to consider what to say next. "It certainly makes sense. No one could be faulted for wanted to protect or preserve their mental privacy. Heck, it's pretty much the only that can be considered truly private, or used to at any rate.

"The Big Picture tells me that both my former employer and Dr. Lennox are wrong. But maybe that's my problem, I think too much. Up to now, I've had that luxury, whereas you haven't. Retribution and justice needed to be swift and resolute or you probably wouldn't be alive today."

There was something he wasn't ready to admit to anyone, including himself. That is, after Lennox confessed was about as close to honest to god, cold blooded murder Blaine had ever come. Fortunately for Dr. Lennox (and probably for Blaine's conscience), Blaine was used to not listening to his id give orders. Maybe Blaine believed in a kind of karma after all. He wasn't worried about the killing itself but more worried about the repercussions. No, not mortal justice, perhaps something more... subtle. What would Lennox's death mean for the future? What if he was going to do something tremendously uplifting for humanity, despite his faults? How would that throw off the cosmic balance? Then again, what if it was Blaine's duty to right the balance by, shall we say, negating Dr. Lennox? And there he goes again, thinking way too damn much.

Blaine eyeballs the arsenal laying on the floor. He tallies the cache from this haul and the weapons van, coming up with just over two dozen weapons in all, more than enough for everyone. He thinks he has a good idea about what to do with them, but broaching the subject wouldn’t be just tricky, it could be deadly.

"What we should do," he chances "is create a makeshift communal armory or even internally known secret caches for all of the weapons." He quickly adds "All of the as yet unclaimed weapons, I mean." He gauges Ernesto's response before continuing.

Ernesto

The truth was that he was not particularly caring about what people thought of him, he lived for himself and he would not lose sleep over what an outsider thought of him. On the other hand, this did not mean that he was rude by nature. His eyes glanced at Blaine as a sudden uneasy silence drifted above them. His companion was thinking and that was generally a good sign, his words about not knowing what to say met with a soft chuckle and a wave of his left hand. “Then say nothing Blaine, there are times when silence is better than anything else.” He had never been fond of speaking simply for doing so. Words had meaning, and if he had no reason to speak then he would not.

He went silent as he continued to speak, his words considered for a moment before he nodded. “You are quite right, these are interesting times and you have to protect what is yours.” One’s own mind was the only thing that could truly be considered free, well that and a mother’s love but the latter was not always the case. His own mother had been as close to a saint as any mortal could claim to be, but he knew that was the exception and not the norm. When he continued to speak he listened, pleased for the most part by what he heard. It was true that he knew little enough about his own background for him to comment upon, but he supposed it was close enough to the truth. He let the comments slide, unwilling to take a step back when they had both taken two forward. “No one can be faulted for thinking too much, especially in situations such as these. Of course the trick is to know when thinking is proper and when action is necessary.” His eyes slid about them as if to accentuate the fact that the dead about them, probably did not think too much. “I am someone that trusts my instincts, and so I would recommend that you trust your own.” It was his instincts after all that had saved him from being one of the dead about them. A thin smile appearing on his lips at the thought, he had almost gone against Mikal. That was rather ironic, considering even now he was not certain what he would have done if he had looked down the barrel of his gun and seeing Mikal in his cross-hairs. He would have likely hesitated; the question was if Mikal would have done the same. He exhaled, pushing the thought aside. They would not need to find out now.

He considered for a moment talking about his past to Blaine, but decided against it. It was too soon and he did not know Blaine enough to truly gauge if he was worthy or not. Nonetheless, he had brought up his past and it would be rude of him to simply ignore those words entirely. In the end, he settled for taking a tangent that would hopefully address those points without needing to go in depth about his life. Irregardless of what many considered, he was very much a private person when it came to certain things. “I am alive today because I have given everything to my profession. It was not a path that I wanted to take, but it was chosen for me as much by circumstances as fate. I have no regrets Blaine, but only a fool does not consider what may have been. I have been ruthless in order to stay alive, but I would not go as far as saying that justice was involved.” If the corporations had not moved into Cuba, he would probably be some sort of farmer right now. He would have found himself a wife, probably would have some children and would live in the outskirts of Villa Clara like his parents had. It would have been a satisfying, if difficult life. Instead, he was here surrounded by enough money to feed his family back home for months if not years. He had been shaped into the blade that he was now, and he discovered that he no longer could see a path back to the simplicity that had been life before the battles in the jungle. For better or worse, he would live and die as a life taker. His path was before him and his fate was sealed.

When Blaine began to speak once more, he was more than expecting it. His eyes watching his face as he began his pitch, a thin smile on his lips widening as he caught where he was going and he stopped to see how he responded. “There are limits to my greed Blaine and I have already claimed both a sniper rifle and a rocket propelled grenade launcher. For the moment, I am more than satisfied with those additions to my arsenal.” He paused, his eyes sliding over the weapons for a moment before he looked up once more. “Your idea has a lot of merit, and if we are all going to survive we will need everyone to pull their weight. As such, it is in everyone’s interest to have everyone being as well armed as possible. Of course, I would prefer that if someone chooses a weapon, he or she know what they are doing. If not, they are wasting the weapon and putting the lives of others at risk.” He paused, glancing at Blaine for a moment in silence before he nodded. “What about if you make your pitch to everyone else? I assure you that I will support your idea as long as it is implemented properly.”

Blaine Richards:

Blaine felt more at ease with Ernesto now that he'd had a chance to talk to him. He wasn't at all the mindless killer Blaine originally thought him to be. As synergistic as the conversation seemed to be, now felt like a good time to let it rest. He was especially pleased that he'd had another good idea, at least in theory.

"I'll wait until after the interrogation and when everyone's more settled in. We seem to be past it, but the air is still a little charged." Besides, I don't have a clue how to implement this thing properly. Not yet, anyway.

"In case I don't get a chance later, thanks for listening and sharing," Blaine said not a little awkwardly. Boy, did that sound all feminine and soft. Shit, Blaine, why not wear pastels? He thought maybe a handshake or some other more masculine gesture seemed in order, but rather than initiate contact, Blaine nodded courteously and turned up the corridor. He spied Thomas returning with the remains of a device that looked quite lethal.

"Hey, Thomas? Who do we see about quarters and what-not?"

[Arthur_Tuxedo]

Thomas had just finished disarming the trap when the question was posed.

[Symmetry]

"Hey, Thomas? Who do we see about quarters and what-not?"

"I guess that'd be Stacey. Did you guys save a gun for me? As cute as my TMP is, I think I'm going to need something with a bit more umph if I tangle with this sort again."

[CorSec]

Blaine points, indicating the pile of Colt MP-5s. "Ernesto says those are serviceable." Blaine sees that some of the researchers and scientists are reorganizing their work area after the firefight. Desperate resignation lines many of their faces. Obviously, they don't like having their work interrupted - especially by men with guns - but they seem to tolerate it perhaps because the work they're doing is really that important. Blaine doesn't see Stacey, so he wanders amongst them before heading towards the safe zone thinking she's still there.

[Symmetry]

Yuuki checks over the M5 rifles and makes sure that the one he picks is in good shape, then gathers it and about 10 clips of 7mm and brings it to his little pile. Next, he'll check ot see if the scientists need him with anything, then fire of three of the clips in target practice somewhere he won't be in the way, and after warning the appropriate people about the upcoming gunfire.