Arc Of Hope Continued
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Hello! This is a science-fiction role playing story that was started on another forum before this one. Since the four current writers are ready to go (Omegus_Blue, Beeter56, StelmaPl (referred to as Azulon in the story), and AlphaRLee), and all are now in the same server, I decided to bring as much of my recovered story here (if I'm right, only the most recent chapter was lost) (formatting is lost). Feel free to read and enjoy, but please minimize commenting on this forum to make this reading experience better for others. The letters at the beginning of each chapter represent us authors, A for Alpha, B for Beeter, O for Omegus, P for Pwny (a former writer), and Z for Azulon (as called in the book). Hopefully, you guys will enjoy! Thanks!
Posted May 1, 14 · OP
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*Note to writers, please try to retain the original format the was previously used, thanks.

ARC OF HOPE

A-I

I live a good life. A simple life, or at least as simple as one gets on board a space station. Orbiting a brand new colony planet.

I'm part of planet Hope's orbital monitoring crew. The whole place serves as a massive maintenance and research center, but my job specifically is to watch for stray bits of asteroid that threaten the station or the lone city below. The giant chunks of the somehow obliterated moon makes this planet...hazardous.

I grab my coffee and walk down the sleek hallways toward my office. Once at my seat, I begin my long job of scanning the windows and monitors for the space rocks.

A couple of uneventful and boring hours pass before something of interest appears on my screen...crap...that...is really really...bad. I freeze up for a second, completely caught off guard. Asteroid BX-15, or Bessie as we like to call it, made an unexpected crash into its smaller neighbour, and is now plummeting towards the defenseless colony below. Panic fills my lungs as I smack the emergency button to my left.

A speaker turns on nearby. "What is it now, Alpha? Spill coffee on your console again?"

I ignore the jibe and breathlessly respond. "Tell the shuttles to get moving! Now!"
"What nonsense are you blabbering now? An evacuation? You're nuts. I bet it's a harmless...dear God..."

His heavy breathing fills the mic for a full 3 seconds. His whisper is barely audible "How long do we have?"
"I'd give...23 minutes..."
The mic is filled with the captain's shouting, filled with sounds of frantic rustling and murmured orders to the colony below.

16 minutes and 48 seconds later, the first shuttle lifts off of the ground, followed by two others 7 seconds later. There is no way a shuttle could be loaded that fast, they normally take days to prepare for launch. With a telescope, I see panicked figures running away from the shuttles and barreling towards the ones still on the ground. There must be 30 million people still trapped on the doomed planet...and there is no way those shuttles can actually be ready for launch.

The third shuttle must have run out of fuel, because the exhaust trail behind it suddenly stopped, and the shuttle tipped, falling from the sky.

Meanwhile, Bessie is charging in, and I realize that the computer was wrong. It's coming in far far sooner that expected. I run from the window and hit the deck as a massive tremor runs through the station. The lights flicker out as the shockwave that lasted for the long minutes of terror.

After what must have been forever, the rumbling stops, and I peel myself from the floor. Miraculously, the station is intact, and the first shuttle should be arriving in about 15 minutes. But one shuttle couldn't possibly make up for the millions of lives lost below.

I head towards the window and look below. A catastrophe would be putting it gently. The horror behind the ashes would scar me forever.

The grey ash below dotted with the fires of burning trees and buildings proved that this world is now potentially forever lost.

Hope is hopeless.
Posted May 1, 14 · OP
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A-II

We knew that we had to get out of here, this station wasn't meant to last without deliveries from Hope, especially not with this many people on board. We ran low on food quickly, our supply of meats, fish, veggies and apples going quickly, the bread and mushroom stew supply holding out, but shrinking rapidly. I've been trying to stock the food counter occasionally from my secret supply of apples, but even that can't last forever.

The captain called for an emergency meeting, where the able bodied members headed, both the staff and whichever evacuees who could. Once inside the makeshift auditorium, the captain started speaking.

"I'm going to be brief, many of us don't want to be here. We're running out. The food supply will only last us so long. But we have a solution! We plan to use the escape shuttle and fly back to Earth!"

Loud murmurs filled the room as people started discussing it. Evidently, nobody wanted to go back to the overcrowded planet, but it was evident that there was nowhere else to go. One man spoke out, "And how do we do that? We're talking about a shuttle, not a long distance ship. It's not like we just have the fuel, or a vehicle just completely designed to fly 3 trillion miles instead of 60. How's this gonna help?"

The captain smiled suddenly and stated talking. "So glad you brought that up. We already thought of that and we have a solution! Down below, scattered on the planet are 12 fuel cells and 24 shuttle modification pieces! Luckily, all are intact, and most are away from the barren side of the planet! And we have just enough fuel for a trip down to green them and a trip back up. All we need is...oh...um..." He turns his head to the side and asks about how many spacesuits there were. One of the staff on the side flashed 5 fingers. "5! Yes, we just need 5 volunteers to get them for us!"

Everyone casts nervous glances, wondering if the word "volunteer" actually meant volunteering, or otherwise. I don't know why, but I decide that it'll be just much easier if I go, rather than sitting here, slowly starving. So I walk up quickly and call out, "I'll go! Lead me to the shuttle!"

The captain turns his head towards me and scans my body. After a good look at me, he turns back to the anxious crowd, smiles and booms out, "Excellent! Any 4 other people willing to go?"
Posted May 1, 14 · OP
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O-I

At one point, I lived a good life...or so the scientists tell me. They also said that I walk and talk like them, in some situations...but in others I talk like my brothers: the Colony Protection Ordinance, or CPO for short. The scientists created us as an expendable robotic team to destroy larger asteroids, like Bessie.

Since everyone figured at one point or another the chunk of rock would never fall, my brothers and I were used more so as servants to the scientists, and had been given more humanoid looks to not ensue panic of walking machines.

I had grabbed a can of motor oil, fixing myself up when I heard sirens wailing. 'ArcX-331!' Is what I hear my creators say. I'm called to action...one that may be my last.

A short time after hopping into my mediocre craft and flying off, I realized the scientists calculated the time my ship would strike the rock incorrectly, and I missed my target completely. Looking down towards Hope, I feel something that was never placed in my databank: emotion.

Had I become defective? Is this only from my sign of failure, or is there something more? I ask these questions, returning home slowly.
Posted May 1, 14 · OP
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P-1

I stand aboard the station's bridge. I sigh and gaze off into the distant stars, wondering when I would ever return home. I sit in my chair, and gaze at the endless array of screens, spewing meaningless information toward my slumped form. We have been sent to assist the "Hope orbital monitoring crew" otherwise known as the most boring job in the universe. I pound my head against the ship's shiny interface.

I am dozing off when suddenly I am alerted by a loud beeping noise, and Alpha, my asteroid watchman. Annoyed, I shift my cap. "What is it now, Alpha, spill your coffee again?" I say nonchalantly. My best friend would always overreact to the smallest of things. "Get the shuttles moving, NOW!" he screams into the microphone. I begin to become troubled. "What nonsense are you blabbering now? An evacuation? You're nuts. I bet it's a harmless" I turn to see a gigantic asteroid headed toward the planet. "...dear God..." I whisper.

I take a couple of deep breaths. "How long do we have?"
"I'd say about 23 minutes" he replies.

Oh my scientific method. I plaster my hands to my face. I recover quickly and yell orders into the mic. ''ALL HANDS ON DECK, PREPARE FOR EVACUATION"

In my heart I know it's futile.

The asteroid, otherwise known as "Bessie" was headed at a blazing pace toward the hapless colonies below. 23 minutes?! Bullshit.

I watch helplessly as he third shuttle arriving from Hope plummets into the ground below.

We are suddenly rocked back and forth violently, and I duck just in time to avoid having my head taken off by a wrench that was lying around. The rumbling stops eventually, and I peer through the windows of the seemingly untouched station.

This was the end of all hope. Literally.

I was slightly relieved to see that one shuttle had arrived safely.

Bloody hell. What a waste of life.
Posted May 1, 14 · OP
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B-I

I looked overhead... Astonished. The stars glistening in the vast reaches of space. As I tried to keep the amazement, it was interrupte by a familiar sound, a ringtone, if you will, coming from my wrist pad. "Yeah, who is it?" I replied to the anonymous caller. No one answered. "Must be solar interference or something" I continued, "Hello? Hello can you respond?".

A faint, but noticeable static sound came from the other receiver. "Cruddy piece of junk.." I said as proceeding to take of the wrist pad and prepare it for maintenance. Although every civilian was required to have a wrist pad in this colony, they were always unreliable when things like orbital shuttles fly overhead, but it never hurts to make sure its just not your luck. A few minutes later I arrived at the maintenance areas, turning in the malfunctioning piece of equipment.

"Okay, now lets try to call that guy back again" I said, after receiving my fixed pad. The static was still there, the receiver wasn't responding. "What the.." I started to ask around to see if anyone else was having the problem - they were. "I can't get mine to work" said another clueless civilian. "The health system monitors are down too" said another one. "Okay okay, I'm gonna go check out the radio towers.."

Using a speed-bike, I quickly arrived at the nearest radio tower, although it was far from the colony. Opening the steel door, I walked into the small station and started inspecting the mainframes. I tested the radio tower signal, and the strangest thing - it wasn't receiving signals either. There was nothing to do at this point.

Dissapointed, I walked outside of the radio station, gazing upwards to see another look at the celestial sky. There was something strange though. All of a sudden, a colony alarm started to siren, signaling a huge problem. I looked back up -a giant mass of gray formed in the skies, increasing in size every second. I couldn't believe my eyes - a rogue asteroid was drifting towards the planet. Terrified, I grabbed the speed-bike and shot out of the area as fast as it could go. Although the area outside the colony is labeled as "Dangerous", I knew I had better chances than risking it in the colony, directly under the asteroid.

All of a sudden, a loud, ear-piercing echo blew through the sky, almost like an orbital jet. As I look back, the slow asteroid finally impacted, directly near the colony. The ground rumbled, and I barely made it out as a shock-wave threw me off the vehicle.
Posted May 1, 14 · OP
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A-II continued

The captain gazed across the room. Silence. Just a few nervous glances. He repeated his question. "We need 4 more people to go...does anybody volunteer?"

Again, nothing, just a bunch of nervous glances at the guards along the edge of the room, and towards the door. It was pretty obvious why. I just volunteered for a suicide mission. A long, horrible, dreary suicide mission. One probably full of infections, starvation, dehydration, major injuries, and no hope. May as well ask to be executed when I reach the planet.

Then a strange thought pops into my brain. Do I want to go? I just gave myself a very good reason already why I don't want to. Wait, that's...1...2...3...4...5...6...and probably more reasons why I shouldn't go. And yet I bounced up here and called out "I volunteer!" as if I wanted to be a tribute for a hunger game.

But something nagged at me in the back of my head. What is that feeling...guilt? I truly felt for some reason, that this could have been avoided if I acted faster. I could have saved billions of lives if I actually detected the asteroid earlier. Who am I kidding? I knew that the asteroid took an unexpected turn, one that nobody could have predicted. I needed to get these crazy thoughts out of my head. I'm going insane, I bet.

The captain's smile slowly melts off his face...unfortunately, nobody appeared to have a burning desire to get out of our misery.
He sighed and looked at me. For a second, I wondered if he was crazy enough to volunteer too to join me. Again, I feel I'm going insane.

The captain let out another sigh and called out, "Alright, we need our volunteers to get out of here. I'll post a sign-up list for anyone who is interested outside of this room. If you are interested, please place your name and which bunks you live in. We definitely need to get moving in about 3 days. Please decide quickly. This meeting is finished."

Yeah, they decided quickly. The decision to wait for some idiots to kill themselves was a lot easier to make than to go and be that idiot who gets killed. I join the crowd of people going through the doors. Though the doors are overflowing with people exiting, I have no problem getting out. In fact, come to think of it, nobody was within 5 meters of me. Yeah, there were a few people who thanked me for my decision, but that's about it. Everyone else avoided me as if I had the plague. Life of a hero.

I seat myself in front of my office chair and grab an apple, not exactly sure why I chose to come back here. I stare at the desolate world below. Not much of interest. Except ash, and busted buildings with fires blotting the bleak sky. The rubble looks terrible. I pull out a telescope and look at the mess. What I recognize is completely flattened cars, and what looks like what used to be houses. Or buildings. Or people.

Depressed, I swing the telescope to the edge of the collision area. Ash was falling like snow here too, but at least I can see a scraggly, burning tree here and there. And a speed-bike, almost intact, just a bit dirty. Odd...must be somebody trying to outrun the explosion. Which should be impossible. I find the rider, who looks like a rag doll that was thrown 12 meters. Luckily, the former rider wasn't in any awkward positions, so no elbows or knees look broken...

The dead figure just lies there for another ten minutes. I have no clue why I keep bringing my telescope to him. To remind myself of another life I could have saved? I keep scanning the same wreckage over and over again. The next time I bring myself over the dead biker, I see that he is gone. What? The ash didn't snow on him so quickly that he got buried, did it? Impossible.

But what I see are footprints, that lead from a smudge of disturbed ashes...that came from where the body should have been. I quickly trace the footprints and see the figure that's creating them. Yep. Same guy. Somehow, he didn't die from the collision. He walks towards nowhere before turning around and making his way to his tipped bike. He tries to activate it, but the bike doesn't respond. Not like he has somewhere to go. Defeat must have washed over him, because he just lies beside his bike and goes to sleep. Hopefully he won't die by the time I get down there, maybe we can save him.

Bored with the telescope, I decide to re-watch footage caught by the cameras of the asteroid coming in. Do I like torturing myself? Am I depressed? Insane? I don't know. All I do know is that I watch the footage, and Bessie looks far more peaceful just floating down than it actually is.

I see the 3 escape shuttles try to take off. There are 2 more that also try but can't get started in time. Little ships also dart out, aiming directly towards the asteroid. The CPO's, colony protection ordinance ships crash into their target, head on, but apparently do nothing to it. The inside must be a whole lot more dense than we predicted. One CPO totally misses its target and sails past harmlessly. It exits the camera's vision. Another waste, perhaps it was a faulty CPO. What if it did connect? Probably nothing, maybe buy a quarter second for more people to suffer.

My attention goes back to the 3 shuttles racing towards the sky. One falls, as I remember, and I watch. At first glance, it looks like that the ship ran out of fuel, but on closer inspection, I realize that it was actually because of a faulty engine. Not like it matters, they're still dead. The other unsuccessful one strays a bit too close towards Bessie, and lost control, possibly because it got caught in the mini gravity field Bessie has. A wing scrapes the asteroid, sending a shower of sparks, and the shuttle falls like a rock and smashes into the ground, exploding, just like the one with the faulty engine.

Then I watch the collision again. It sandwiches a couple of farms and looses a massive shock wave, which flattens the colony. Bessie explodes on impact with the ground and busts into a million massive shards. I watch a terrified lady get crushed by one. Another piece sails over a man's head and crunches into a building that was already nearly destroyed, raining concrete onto the poor fellow. An aftershock reverberated from the asteroid and sent everything else flying. A semi-truck sails into the sky like a ridiculous-looking bird. It smashes into a gas station, loosing another explosion.

I can't take it anymore. I slap the off button and sit there stunned. It's a reminder for why I have to help, why I need to protect those who are left, and put myself to a good use.

I am going to return hope to us.
Posted May 1, 14 · OP
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O-II

The scientists looked at me with anger and fear when I returned, believing I'd become default. I stepped out of the lab, seeing I was the last of the CPO. I headed towards the main hall, with my real creator standing there.

"I already signed you up...so you can fix your wrongs...Blue..." He states. I never realized he knew the names we CPO's gave ourselves. I felt a human emotion, 'happiness', when he said my name. I thanked him, returning to my charging station.

I hope there will be more volunteers...but one thing I sensed on Hope...one humanoid life form...
Posted May 1, 14 · OP
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P-II

Dammit. I checked our supplies once again, wishing that somehow this wasn't true. Hope, as you would assume, provided food to the station, and since that was no longer an option, we had to find food soon, otherwise we would starve to death. Desperate time call for desperate measures...

I called an Emergency meeting

"I'm going to be brief, many of us don't want to be here. We're running out. The food supply will only last us so long. But we have a solution! We plan to use the escape shuttle and fly back to Earth!"

I looked around the room to find some shocked and dismayed faces. Evidently they didn't want to go back to the overcrowded dump that Earth was. Of course, there were questions. "And how do we do that? We're talking about a shuttle, not a long distance ship. It's not like we just have the fuel, or a vehicle just completely designed to fly 3 trillion miles instead of 60. How's this gonna help?" piped one spindly looking colony member.

I clapped my hands together and smiled mirthlessly.

"So glad you brought that up. We already thought of that and we have a solution! Down below, scattered on the planet are 12 fuel cells and 24 shuttle modification pieces! Luckily, all are intact, and most are away from the barren side of the planet! And we have just enough fuel for a trip down to green them and a trip back up. All we need is...oh...um..." I glanced quickly to the side. "How many staff members are there?". One of the staff on the side flashed 5 fingers. "5! Yes, we just need 5 volunteers to get them for us!" I said.

Once again I scan the room, hearing worried whispers and seeing nervous faces. Suddenly a voice cries out "I'll go! Lead me to the shuttle!". I could recognize that voice anywhere. I smiled and said "Excellent! Any 4 other people willing to go?". Alpha never disappoints me.
Posted May 1, 14 · OP
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B-II

The ash fell upon my desolate body, help beyond my call. But something pushed me. As I about gave in to the fiery ash falling from the sky and the carbon air filling my lungs, I jumped up from the ground instantly. Feeling a bit dazed, I tried to take a step, then instantly fell to the ground in a kneel. My eyes couldn't see clearly. All I could actually make out was the blazing orange from the fires that ravaged the colony after that asteroid hit.

I finally managed to walk on both feet, stumbling towards my speed bike. Activating the speed bike's operating interface, I sent a distress signal, though it may take time to reach anyone. "This should do it," I said to myself, "the signal might reach the orbital stations."

Realizing it may be time before anyone found me or heard my distress signal, however faint it may be, I lay down beside my bike. I pulled a handkerchief out of my back pocket and wrapped it around my mouth, at least that would stop any further ash inhalation. "Someone... If you're out there... please help.." I said into the distress signal.

"We fight on because there is nothing left to fight these days, but this... We fight because we must."
Posted May 1, 14 · OP

 Arc Of Hope Continued
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A-III

With my renewed spirit, I briskly head towards the auditorium entrance, where the sign up sheet is. I can't find it, only a pad to type on. Odd. The only real need for replacing the paper with a pad is...I'm not sure. What I do note is that a countdown is included at the bottom, and the digits are not that big.

And that there are 3 new names included on the screen. Two totally foreign, and one that completely surprises me. Pwny_Ryanbow, my loyal friend. And by coincidence, the captain of the station. Why he would include his name on, I have no clue. Is he seriously that desperate to fill those slots? I wanted to go talk to him about his decision and our tip ahead, but decide not. The other names I don't recognize, one is called Carl, and the other is Madison. Well. At least I'm not alone, and one member is actually a really really good friend. Makes for a better death when we step down.

I pack my gear and head towards the shuttle. Not much that I'm carrying, just clothing, the last of my apples, some bread and mushroom stew, a pad, and a book. These items all came from my hidden chest in my room, and I dropped that off randomly in the bunks for whoever wants an empty chest.

I strap myself into a seat onboard the shuttle beside the captain, and a dark voice enters my head. It's my last chance to escape, if I don't get up and get out now. I banished the thought. We're already too short on people to afford me dropping out. Besides, I can't exactly leave now, with Pwny right beside me.

The others file in. Madison is some beautiful brunette, as if she was actually some hired actress playing her role in an apocalypse movie. Except there's no devilishly handsome man to take the lead as the main character, so that wouldn't work exactly. Nonetheless, she gives Pwny a wink and sits in the opposite aisle. For sure Pwny noticed, but he didn't show. Carl is some buff middle aged guy who says he was a farmer before and lucked out, getting to a shuttle so far away, and by coincidence, the only successful one. He sits beside Madison and starts bantering with her, who obviously doesn't care.

The shuttle soon detaches from the station, my home, and starts soaring away. Weightlessness takes me, and I try not to gag. Puke in zero-gee is definitely not fun. I had enough experience about it when some other guy puked while we were first getting to the station.

We start our journey...and soon stop. I'm completely confused. We definitely can't be on Hope already, especially since I see it below. Gravity is suddenly restored, catching me by surprise. Why are we wasting energy on initializing the gravity drive? Then the hatch opens. To my surprise, another person walks in. No...not person...more like an android. A CPO, more specifically. The CPO, the one that attempted to hit Bessie and missed. We all glance oddly at it. I sure hope it won't go defective again when we're down there.

Soon, we're back to our original destination, as I watch the CPO lab shrink into a dot. We have a simple flight, making small talk (except the CPO called Blue), as we sailed downward. We almost land on the untouched (and mostly intact) side of the planet, when the autopilot blared a short alarm. An AI took over the speakers and apologized for the inconvenience. Apparently, it was struggling to regain control over the thrusters and couldn't land safely. As a result, we had a bumpy flight that took us to the colony wreckage, where the computer announced it fixed it's malfunction, and will be landing soon.

We touched down on a blanket of ash, beside a destroyed radio tower. The speakers tell us that the shuttle will be damaged here if it stays in this ash environment and must return to the CPO base, the nearest space station, and the only convenient one with a decent fuel supply. We grab our luggage and the 5 survival packs (an extra in case if we meet that biker or lose a pack), and hop off. Blue's maintenance kit and charging station neatly fold onto his back. Lucky robot. The shuttle alerts us to use our pads to locate the 32 capsules, and to check where to rendezvous with the shuttle. That said, it takes off, making a cloud of smoke and ash billow upwards.

"Well! Nothing like a breath of fresh air!" Carl jokes. I would do anything to breathe the artificial air that went through everybody's lungs a million times on space stations rather than breathe the choking fire of this place.

"Well lets make this fast, I have no love of this place," I gruffly say. We all pull out our pads to find what's first. What's first to catch my eye us a weak distress signal, about 800 meters from here. It could be any random signal from any panicked users punching the button before they got incinerated. Nonetheless, we decided to check it out.

Our short trek reveals the source, astonishing me. It's from the speed-bike, with the live rider. He is right where I last saw him, lying beside the bike, shivering, despite the heat. We walk to him.

"Sir, you alright?" Authority rings from Pwny's question.

"Yeah, I think. Just extremely thirsty," the survivor croaks. I fish the water bottle from the extra pack, and pass it to him.

"Don't drink too much, you're not getting a refill for a long time."

He turns his head back to me, confused by my last remark.

"You see, we're not here to pick you up and carry you somewhere safe. The only safe spot is running very very low on supplies. We're here to bring supplies to build a rocket headed to Earth," I continue, as Madison drapes a blanket over the person.

The guy doesn't try to hide his disappointment. He then asks, "So what's next?"

Carl chuckles, "Well, I guess you could join us on our long quest."

"Or you can pass me all of your stuff, right now." We whip around to see another man, standing about 6 meters away. And with a pistol pointed at my head.
Posted May 1, 14 · OP
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O-III

All I remember in the beginning was seeing myself packed into the shuttle departing for the fans infer of Hope. I look to the others, seeing the captain of our station and one of his 'asteroid rats', as the scientists call them. My data banks show nothing more than the first minute or so of leaving the station, and then re-log after my portable charging station is packed.

When I awoke, I noticed the others watching over a survivor. This man...his bike...I sensed these things after missing collision with Bessie. I walked to the bike, kneeling down to check its status. It seemed perfect for someone who wanted to scout ahead.

I looked to the captain of our team and stated, "This vehicle is in good enough condition to have for a scout...it appears the signal coming from it was not hindered by Bessie, but instead a defection in one of the other CPO's,"

I could sense the signal jam, it was the same one Phi would use to deter the objectives of other droids and AI's on the station...but why hinder the bike?
Posted May 1, 14 · OP
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B-III

"Well, I guess you could join us on our long quest" said one of the group of strangers. I guess they were really telling the truth, there was no way they could have acquired those orbital ship outfits and that gear otherwise; guess I should call them orbitals. As I tried to a reply back to say yes, a strange and unsettling voice from behind the guy said "Or you can pass me all of your stuff, right now."

We all looked, and the stranger was pointing a gun at one of the orbital crew. I waited in suspense... Then one of the other orbital crew members whipped around over my speed bike and jumped overhead. With one quick and decisive motion he pulled out his weapon and shot the strange man in the gut. The stranger fell over, I could even see the blood spurting from the back of his body. The orbital crew members gathered around the fallen foe, trying to apprehend him as he lie there kicking and moaning in pain. "Great job Pwny," said one of them. Hmm, Pwny, never heard that name before.

Half an hour passed, the orbital crew members helped the guy but send in off in another direction. I don't think he'll be a problem anymore. I, in the meantime, was working on my wrist pad again. Although it seems futile, the radio waves may still be signaling. "Transmitting... Done. Location: Hope. User: Beeter." the screen said on the wrist pad. All seems normal.

"So... Uh... W-who are you guys...?" I tried to say while messing around with my speed bike. "I'm Karl, this is Alpha, Pwny, and Madison. Now, back to what I was saying: You want to head on with us?" he said. "Thanks, yeah.. I don't exactly have a plan yet. I'll join you guys." I said in reply, "My home is gone now, as you can tell. Uh, I do keep some things in my speed bike's storage bags. Let me get those and we'll be on our way I guess." Karl nodded, and went back to whisper to his friends.

Lets see here: One flashlight, two flares, a couple of wrenches, several batteries, some candy bars, and a travelling backpack. I stowed my things in the backpack, snugged it on my back, and announced to the others "Okay, lets go." I wonder what they were discussing.

They asked me if I was sure I had everything, and, glancing back at my speed bike, I asserted yes. "Hey wha-" "Its out of fuel, the compartment leaked." I proclaimed before Karl could continue his sentence. "So, lets go then" said Alpha.
Posted May 1, 14 · OP
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A-IV

My heart hammered in my chest. The blood roared in my ears. My knees were jello. It was my life, right in front of me. The man with the gun knew it too, as he smiled and tested the trigger. So intent was he on his victory that he didn't notice Pwny sneak his gun up from its holster and plug a shot into his gut. The swift and deadly bullet ripped through the stranger, and he fell, a bob of blood staining his shirt.

I stand there, breathless. Yeah, Pwny and I are really good friends, but I never quite expect it to cone to him saving my life. And I'm pretty sure he's going to have to do it again and again. I hope I live long enough to repay the favor.

I head towards Pwny, studying the fallen body. Great job, Pwny."

He gives a curt nod and goes back to studying the stranger, now thrashing in pain. I stand beside Pwny and look for any useful information about this attacker. Was he a random guy who survived the collision and got desperate? Was he part of a gang made of scattered people? Or was he part of an organized group waiting for us to land and investigate the guy at the bike? He wasn't exactly in the mood to talk, hopefully we can ask him later.

Madison and Blue quickly join us. Carl comes, but stats back about 4 meters. Madison quickly joins us in getting the guy under control. As soon as she came, the fight just seemed to go out of the guy. The curse of beauty. His shirt serves as a nice way to tie his hands together and to staunch the blood. Blue walks a slow circle around the now tied up and standing guy, doing what looks like a scan.

The guy is soon calmed down and we force him to start walking, away from where we plan to go. I curse when I realize we forgot to ask why he attacked.

Madison walks up to Pwny's side and quietly asks him, "Figure anything out?"

Pwny replies, his voice full of command, "We're lucky that nobody got hurt. No, I can't say anything about this guy, but we should be prepared for more incidences like this. Hope for the best, expect for the worst."

We head back towards Carl and the biker, who Carl introduces as Beeter. He asks, still shaky from the recent events, "So...uh...W-who are you guys?"

Carl replies warmly "I'm Carl, this is Alpha, Pwny, and Madison. The CPO is called Omegus Blue, we just call him Blue. Want to head along with us?"

Beeter lets out a weary smile and answers, "Thanks...yeah. I'll join you guys." He pauses to survey his bike. My home's gone now, as you can see. Uh...I do have a few things in my bike's storage bags. I'll go get them." He turns back to his bike.

I whisper to Carl tensely, "Why didn't you help us with the guy back there? We could have used your muscle."

He turns to me, slightly irritated and whispers back, "Sorry, I...uh...ain't that fond with conflict like that. I wanted to step back and let you his handle it." I would have given him a tongue lashing, except that Beeter came back, toting his own travel pack.

"Okay, let's go," Beeter says, and Carl was about to say something before Beeter exclaims, surprised, "Hey, wha-"

Apparently, his bike's gas tank sprung a leak...annoying. Oh well, not like the six of us could fit on one bike anyways. I turn to the group and call out, eager to finally start, "Well, let's go then."
Posted May 1, 14 · OP
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O-IV

After seeing the shot by commander Pwny, my reflexes wanted to be in attack mode. Unfortunately, I had no attack mode at the moment. All sorts of weaponry were taken out of my body before I came on this journey.

I feel as if these humans see me as an unworthy machine...as if they only see me as a metal husk with no soul. Perhaps they will see more from me than just my metallic exterior.

Anyway, it appears both 'Beeter' and this gunslinging army wannabe are joining our crew...yay? I don't know if I should be 'happy' or 'frightened'. Oh! And even better news, the jet bike sprung a leak.

Seeing this machine 'die' to save this one guy's life is really angering me, since my brothers and I did everything we could to stop Bessie, and were unable of doing so. Sigh, these weird feelings are getting to me...perhaps I'm already more human than I think?
Posted May 1, 14 · OP
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A-V

We packed up quickly and started our trek. My pad said the nearest fuel cell is...18 kilometers. Fun.

Pwny and I briefly explained our mission to Beeter. It was grab the 24 cells and 12 rocket parts and go back to Earth. Beeter's eyebrows furrowed slightly when I mentioned the last part. Nothing should ever be bad enough that we need to return to Earth, and he knew it.

It was long and simple, our trip, the most eventful thing was a cough caused by the ash clogging our lungs. Madison was walking with Pwny, earlier trying to strike up a conversation, but now too busy walking to try conversation. Beeter and Blue took up the back, silent as well. Beeter was apparently fascinated with Blue. Not many CPOs at the civilian level.

I fell in step with Carl in the middle. Still 15 and some kilometers to go since my last check. I'd finish this in a good jog, but nobody really looked like they wanted to. And not to mention that I've never ran in ash before.

"This ain't anything like picking turnips" Carl's statement completely caught me off guard.

"Uh, yeah. So you were a farmer before?"
"Yeah. That was awful. This is torture, especially since the fact that we have to do this about 30 more times, each time about 10 times longer than this." He puts his hands behind his head and stretches to the left and right. I can see his giant muscles flex that he earned from years of plowing fields.

"How come you just don't use a farm kit?" I venture. This has been a pretty dull hike, do I want to make the most out of this conversation that I can.

He chuckles, "I do!" After seeing my confused face, he elaborates, "Y'see, they're too slow. And the turnips aren't too tasty." He smiles after seeing my bewildered face and keeps talking. "What I do is turn 'em on, 'n let my little Joseph ride it. Of course he can't touch the manual controls, he don't know how to turn the keys to turn it on!" He pauses for a drink of water. "Anyways, we're not rich, and our ol' girl ain't that good. Still plenty fast against an average person, but then again, I'm not average. I've spent years using my own plough and churning my own earth. I get faster and faster, and keeps me in shape after my fighting days. A guy's got ta keep busy somehow."

I almost was going to ask about his "fighting days" when I heard a loud thump. A quick 180 shows Beeter tripped over a root, by the looks of it, one that many a people stumbled over before this planet was wrecked. This surviving little nuisance still does its job even after the apocalypse.

I noted that Beeter's eyes held fear and panic for a short second, oddly directed at Blue. It melted completely when Blue lifted him back to his feet. What was that about?

We continue until we're about 2 kilos away. I turn around and call out how far we are, except that nobody heard me. The distinct roar of an orbital shuttle interrupted me. Stupid things, they aren't supposed to be flying here. Why, that shuttle approaching the smoking skyline can't land there, that's no spot for landing. They don't belong so close over...heywaitaminute! What's an orbital shuttle even doing flying at all?!? Are they insane? We can't afford to use our fuel left like that! At its current speed and trajectory, its going to-

I'm interrupted by what I was just panicking about. The shuttle suddenly crashed into the burning city, throwing a massive dust cloud around it. The sound of screeching metal filled my ears for 3 whole horrible seconds, making me wish for the annoying sound of fingernails on a chalkboard. That would be music compared to this.

"Ugh, what was that? C'mon, we should go-" I turn around to see what everyone is looking at. My lungs fill with terror upon seeing it. Blue is lying on the ground, unresponsive and inactive.

Madison gets up from her crouch. "C'mon, we should go do what exactly?" Her brown eyes bored into me.

"Uh...I was going to say go back to investigate, but honestly, I think it'd be better if we got to the fuel cell right now. The pad says that we can get some underground shelter there...and I don't exactly think that those guys on the shuttles are friends of us."

It was a bad plan, but we all knew it should be done. Only other options we had were worse plans. Beeter and I picked up Blue, and we all started jogging towards the spot on my map. I see specks emerge from the horizon, kicking up dust and ash, and moving fast. Time to get a move on.

We all screech to a halt when Carl commands "Stop! We're here!"

I look around. There's...nothing...What? Nothing? Are we too high up? Everyone starts frantically looking around, but what are we looking for? I start pacing rapidly. What if the map was wrong? What if the GPS system failed, and we're a million miles from where we should be? This is bad, this is bad, this is bad, this is ba-

CLUNK!

What was that? I take a step, and hear another clunk. One more step, and another. One more and...nothing? Wait! I scramble back a few steps and start digging...about a millimeter. A blow dusts off sand and ash, revealing a mangled metal hatch.

Excited, I yell, "Guys! Over here! Everyone scrambles over to see the wrecked circular metal door, about 4 feet in diameter. We try opening it, and it doesn't budge. The door is open, but the metal hatch is warped by the asteroid collision. I try prying it with no luck, defeated, until it suddenly springs open. I stare at it, confused, until I realized Pwny shot it.

"I was telling you to move, stupid," he grunts. I mutter an apology and start climbing down a rusty ladder under the door. Everyone got in, Blue being awkwardly shoved in, the inactive weight slowing us. Madison does her best to cover the door with more sand, and closes us into the darkness ahead.

I so did not sign up for this.
Posted May 1, 14 · OP
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Z - 1

We were left behind on the Planet's Crust, left to die in this wretched planet, it was my daughter, which was my only family left, and my 2 team mates, Privates Zane and Seville, we managed to find a Fortified Bunker which was said to be a Bunker used in the Pre-World Wars before, I don't know when that was, but the Bunker was still in tact, even the Power Supply inside was still functional, based on the Power Supply, I'd say it should last for 2-3 days, enough to make Visual Contact with the Space Station. Kylie, my daughter was still with her Robotic Pet, "Dog" which I made for her when she was still young and after her mother was killed a few years back, I made Dog for Kylie, she needed protection in times when I'm away on work, Dog would watch over her and protect her from harm's way, then there's Zane and Seville, both my last Team Mates, we were from the Colonial Strike Force, most of our Platoon had left us, it was only the three of us, I hope they made it to the Space Station in time though.

"Dad..." Kylie approached me, with Dog still behind her, "What's going to happen to us here?". "We'll make it out of here," I said, a bit confident with the Equipment in this Bunker, "Just you wait Kylie, I'll get us all out of here to safety." "Corporal Azulon?" Zane asked, still with his Signature Colt and Spas Weapons, "Yes Private?" I asked him, "What are we going to do now? I'm sure this Bunker won't last long after "it" happened." Zane said hopelesly, "There's no way the Space Station could recieve our Distress Call from here, the Surface is littered with Debris from the Collision and probably in a few hours or minuets, the Planet might.....explode..." He said while swallowing his tonsils. "Don't say that Zane!" Seville said bravely with his Mini-Uzi in his Arm, "We could still get out of this Area, we just need to use these equipment and contact the Space Station as fast as we can, Corporal Azulon, we all have faith in you, me, Zane, and your Daughter." "You're right..." I said as I stand up. "We could still survive this, we could at least try to contact the Space Station before anything happens!" "Then do it." Seville said.

After Hours and Hours of trying to contact the Space Station, we were loosing hope that maybe we couldn't contact anyone from the Space Station, but luckily, the Distress Signal was picked up, and miracously, on the Space Station. "Hello?" Asked a familiar Voice from the Radio, "This is the Captain, who is this?" "This is Corporal Azulon of the Colonial Strike Force," I said desperately, "I got 2 men here, both Privates and... my daughter... We need an immediate evacuation from a Fortified Underground Bunker and...." "Why did you stop talking?" Seville asked, "Don't....Fucking...Move...." I said as I looked under us, the Ground was cracking, slowly cracking up." "Oh Shit..." Zane said while not moving. "Father!" Kylie said, Dog was on a Metal Ledge, trying to grab hold on to Kylie who was in the middle of the room, and under her, the ground was breaking way to fast. "Kylie. Don't Move." I said as I grabbed on the Loose End of a Rope next to Seville. "Father..." Kylie said again, and this time, the ground under her broke, revealing a very deep and big ravine. "Kylie!!" I shouted and grabbed her hand, and while that happened, the ground besides me were breaking and I fell also, but Dog had grabbed my hand before I was going to fall into the Deep Abyss with Kylie, I raised Kylie up so Dog could grab her from the other hand, Seville and Zane were on the other side of the now enlarged hole of the Bunker, watching near Death, Dog managed to grab Kylie but he lost grip on me and I was now hanging instead, Dog could have pulled the both of us back up, but the Metal Edge Dog was standing on was beginning to bent and if it continues, Dog would fall with us to that deep Ravine. "Dad.. Don't let go! Dog can pull us up!" Kylie said crying as she struggles to hold my hand, "Kylie.. I won't make it.. but you'll make it..." I said with tears in my eyes. "Dad.. No.. Don't!! Please!" Kylie said gripping her hold on to me. "I'm... Sorry..." I said, and with those last words, Kylie lost her grip on me and I fell to the deep and dark abyss of the ravine. "Dad!!! No!!!" Kylie screamed, the last thing I saw was that, Kylie was saved by Dog, and I was taken away instead to fall to the deep ravine before I faded into a black vision.
Posted May 1, 14 · OP
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O-V

As the group hiked on, I took notice of Beeter, the boy that was on the bike when we found. He appeared to be quite fascinated with me, even asking if I was one from Earth.

"Earth? I do not know of this region...tell me more." I tell him, suddenly watching him trip on a root. I was told that apparently tripping on roots was considered an activity of sorts for civilians of the colony, but I still stared at him confused. I grabbed his arm, pulling him back up when I sensed something coming for us: a space shuttle, one that was coming at the planet with increasing speed. Before I knew it, I was knocked unconscious.

When I reawoke however, I immediately brought out what appeared to be an electric prod, which I had no I had in me, and tried attacking the first thing in sight.

This 'thing' I attacked was unfortunately Madison. I looked over to Alpha and Beeter, who simply looked back at me and believed I was only in self defense mode, and then gently laid the poor girl on the ground.

It wasn't until after that I learned Alpha and Beeter saved me when the shuttle crashed, making me inactive.

"Thank you...both of you..."
Posted May 1, 14 · OP
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Z - 2

I woked up in the deepest part of the ravine, it was pretty damn dark, but I still manage to have some glowsticks with me, I grabbed one in my pocket and turn it on, the Light was luminating the very large area of the ravine, showing as far as the glowstick could shine through, as I looked up, it was pitch black, how the heck could I survive that fall? What did I land on? Did someone saved me instead? Questions were popping in my head, I should have died from that fall, but I somehow survived the fall, I hope Kylie, Dog, Zane and Seville are still okay, I guess they'll have to move on without me, my small radio communicator was destroyed in the fall, but my night vision goggles were still working, so I activated them, and the darkness was lighted up, showing multiple cave systems all around, I walked onwards, not knowing what Cave to go through that could get me back up the surface, there was like 5, 6, 7, 9, or 10 plus Cave Systems in the Ravine.

Looking around, I noticed that these caves where explored and the Torches were burnt out of their flames, I also saw many remains of previous minining activities in this large cave system, I still remember the times me and my friends would do in these mines, mine, play, kill mobs with our way too powerful stuff, and sometimes, get lost for more than 3 or 5 days, and we are being eventually searched by the people since we were dubbed "Lost People" now for being lost for almost a week now, I laughed a little when I was having the throwbacks, then I found another Ravine later on, which was more deeper than the last one, I grabbed an extra Glowstick in my pocket, turned it on and dropped it in the deep and dark abyss below, the glowstick fell for miles and miles and miles, 'till it's glow disappeared. "Real Fucking Deep Alright." I said, as I slowly walked to the ledges, trying to get to the cave at the end of the big ravine wall, which my guess was, probably the only way to proceed, I slowly walked sideways to avoid falling off again, I breathed in and out with every step I did, with every moment of thinking I would fall any moment "Oh Fu--!" I screamed as I nearly fell from a piece of rock that broke when I was almost near the End, Heck, I almost fell, I pressed on, until I finally got through, I breathed heavilly, thanking myself that I made it, the Cave was pretty dark, just then I heard a really loud noise, looks like it's an earthquake, I grabbed hold on a nearby Stalagmite 'till the shaking stopped, "What the heck was that?" I asked myself, puzzled as I cleaned the dust off me. "Seismic Disturbance? How could there still be earthquake occurance in this Planet? I think I better--" I was interrupted when I was knocked down on my back, the last thing I saw was someone saying something in strange language and dragging my body away.
Posted May 1, 14 · OP
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A-VI

I so did not sign up for this. Definitely not this. That's what circulates through my head a million times as I try to lug Blue down the rusty sewer-like ladder. The other major thought is that Blue here is definitely not getting any lighter. We decided that Pwny would go down the 30 meter ladder first, followed by me, then Blue, unconsciously kneeling on my shoulders, then Beeter, who chose to use his belt to wrap one of his legs to Blue's wrists, then Madison, and finally Carl, covering for us if necessary. Who knows what is coming our way anyways...

It was a fairly uneventful climb, just moreorless stressful and heavy for me, and not much for anyone else. Madison wanted to start some small talk with Pwny, but seemed too stressed to make any real attempts. We made it about halfway when Beeter unexpectedly called out.

"Hold up!" We all looked at him nervously. What did he see? Did he sense anything above?

He continues, "I just need to adjust my belt, feels like Blue is slipping." We all sighed a breath of relief, and I readied for him to transfer the weight onto my shoulders. The sound of the belt slapping against Beeter's pants echoed, along with his heavy breathing from trying to adjust the belt with only one hand. And Blue...is getting very very heavy...

The belt slaps against the metal bar, sending out a loud clear ring. We all flinched at the sound, and unfortunately, Madison flinched a little too much. She lost her footing and quickly recovered it on the rung below, conveniently on Beeter's only hand that's grabbing the rung. He loosed a quick bark of pain, and his hand slipped. Suddenly, the full weight of Blue collapsed onto my shoulders, and an unconscious cyborg hand gave me a good backhand slap across the face. I lose conscious only for a short second, but that short second is long enough for me to lose my grip for good and start falling. Pwny tries to offer me his hand to grab onto, one I grab, but lose as soon as Blue crushes me. I hear the slapping and the clunking of Beeter, desperately trying to free his leg of the other arm he's still bound to. I try to sling my arm into one of the rungs. That, I again am able to do, but again I need to let go, or suffer my arm get wrenched from its socket. I try again, only to get the same results. Beeter freed his belt and is trying to do some Indiana Jones whip thing with it to grab a rung. The result is the belt clanging against the ladder and Beeter losing his grip on it.

The ground is coming up fast, and I only have a short second to brace myself before I hit it, flat on my back. I lie there, stunned, and pinned by the still unconscious Blue, and the equally winded Beeter. That moment of stun and pain only lasts for about a quarter second more, until Beeter's belt falls and knocks me on my noggin. Another thing I so did not sign up for.

The rest scramble down the ladder and help untangle us, Madison blubbering an apology to Beeter. Pwny helps free me from Blue, and Carl keeps checking the top of the ladder. He motions us to keep moving. Though it hurts just to take a few steps, it is probably a whole lot safer to keep moving than to stay here like a dropped ragdoll. We look at Blue. Scratched up a bit...but doesn't look like he's too damaged. Hopefully, he's alright. We pick him up and prop him on a wall. Well, I'm secretly glad that we fell, it saved us a whole lot more time and pain...but thinking of my bruised butt, I honestly know I don't want to do that again.

We enter a room, about the size of a large living room. The rough stone walls obviously tells us that this place wasn't designed to be lived in. In the center though is our prize. On what looks like a table rests a smooth, metal (and yes, fairly dusty) cylinder, approximately the diameter of a tennis ball, and the length of my forearm. I'm surprised at first that these were going to do anything for us, until I study a label printed on its side. Apollinium. 1 full litre of pure apollinium. Holy crap, I didn't know that this stuff actually came in a full litre. Most scientists who study this stuff only have their hands on about a quarter mole of this extremely potent fuel. This is incredible...

Pwny comes over and swoops it off the stone bench...table...whatever it is. "Well that's 1 down, and 31 to go. Let's keep moving, we probably aren't safe here." Carl and I cast him an exhausted glance. He adds quietly, "Good job, team."

We get our bags and head towards the ladder, the cool canister resting in my hand. I almost set foot on the ladder when I realized we almost forgot Blue. We all head back to him.

Beeter stands there, arms crossing his chest. "Anyone know how to turn on one of these things?"

Our reply is to just shake our heads and look expectantly from person to person. I walk up to Blue, and start shaking his shoulders. "Hey, wake up, wake up. It's time to go." Obviously, that didn't work.

Madison snaps her fingers and walks up. "I remember! These guys should have a panel by their wrist that controls their manual activation and deactivation." How she knows this, I have no clue. She briskly takes my place and grabs Blue's left wrist. Rolling down its sleeve, she reveals a well hidden panel. She lifts it open and flicks a switc...KAZAP! She crumples to the ground, her jacket around her gut charred. Beeter and I run up to the crumpled girl and settle her down onto the ground again, in a more comfortable spot.

Turning my head back to Blue, I see him fully awakened, returning what looks like an electric prod into his right wrist. Note to self. Don't touch Blue's manual control panel. That is one heck of a self-defense algorithm. Blue gazes at the literally shocked Madison, with a touch of panic and terror in its eyes. He then snaps his attention to Beeter and I, and bows his head slightly. "Thank you...both of you..."

I smile half-heartedly to the machine and pass him the canister. Blue quickly takes it and slides it into a compartment on his portable super backpack. We then turn our attention back to Madison. I, being the nearest, cradle her head and whisper to her, "Hey, you okay? You'll be fine now, everything is good now. Just please wake up. Our team still needs you to keep helping with us, please wake up. Wake up, wake up."

The room is silent as I try to get Madison up again. Blue visually scans her stomach with some X-ray vision and quietly reports that she took some minor injuries, and should be waking up right...now. Madison's eyes squeeze together and she rolls off my lap, and would have bounced her head on the uneven stone if I haven't stuck my hand out and put it under her head. She quietly moaned, "Still too early, I don't need to go to school yet."

We all smile in relief, and I play along. "You need to get up now, you're going to miss your bus."

"No I'm not, it's still 7:24." I catch her head again and put it back on my lap. "Gimme five more minutes."

"Honey, it's 7:45. You're going to be late."

"Just 5 more minuu...WHAT?!?!?!?!" She suddenly snaps to life, sitting upright, and dashing towards her bag, "Ohmygod,ohmygod,ohmygod, I'm going to be late! On the first day of grade 7 too!" She made it 3 more steps until she finally stops to look around.

"Where's my lunchbag?!?" She grabs her pack, frantically unzips it, and finally stops, with a fistful of her clothing in her hand. She sheepishly puts her clothes back, and burns bright red.

The rest of us can't help it, and we're on the ground, laughing. She stands in front of us, giving off a sarcastic laugh. "Yeah. Hahaha. Funny, guys."

It takes us about 5 minutes to recompose ourselves, where we finally grab our bags and walk towards the ladder. Carl hoists himself up, and we follow, up, and up. It is a whole lot easier without Blue lying on me, but I still ache every time I take a step upwards.

We reach the top, and Carl cracks open the lid, taking a quick scan. He then drops the lid, making a loud clang, but it doesn't compare to the blood roaring in my ears from Carl's next statement.

"Get down! Get down! We're under attack!"
Posted May 1, 14 · OP

 Arc Of Hope Continued
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B-VI

Climbing my way up the ladder, shrugging off minor sprains in my ankles and thigh, I come to a stop. Apparently Carl was looking up out of the hatch. I wait there, picking up a small, faint static on my wrist pad. That faint sound... that which, through all of this chaos, lead me to be part of this team in the first place. I study my wrist pad, looking for the slightest change in anything. "Come on you lousy piece of metal" I thought to myself. Before I could mess with it any further, Carl let out a loud shout "Get down! Get down! We're under attack!"

This gave me a slight heart racing, that and the sound of him banging the hatch lid back down. Alpha tries to question him, Blue get's a better stance, Pwny readies his pistol, and Madison hangs on tighter to the ladder. Carl interrupted Alpha's question immediately with "Shh!". I myself am readying to climb back down or up in a hurry. "Dud, dud, dud!" went the sound of the hatch.

Carl readies himself, appearing to be pulling down on the hatch. He whispers "Okay, Beeter, I'll need your belt." I shrugged "Fine, one more time" I replied. "I'll tie it to the hatch and one of the ladder bars, then we all slide down. Madison, since you're at the bottom now, go ahead and climb down right now." Madison begins her descent while Blue ejects a small fluid glow stick that drops through the shaft. "Blue, don't think about shutting down again" Carl adds to his last sentence, "If you do we're done for." Blue nods, and so do we after our swift agreement. "Okay, go!" Carl shouts.

We all slide down, rough or smooth for some. We all let out small grunts as our hands burn. My hands started to blister as I continued downwards. Blue, luckily, has no problem as he continued down. CLANK! The hatchet door was destroyed. Metal pieces rain down on us, several gaining momentum as they bounce repeatedly between the walls of the shaft. Looking down, I see the glow stick, and let go of the ladder and brace myself as I hit the floor of the bottom room. Dodge rolling, I move out of the way in time for Blue, Alpha, Pwny, and finally Carl preparing their land. After we are all in the room, Carl whispers "Get some cover and ready yourselves!" We do as he said. I ran for a pile of stone, which after further inspection appeared to have come from the wall. Blue switches to a night vision view, evident by the sound, and makes his way to another pile of rubble. Pwny runs behind the giant stone brick that held up the Apollinium fuel cell. Madison follows, taking cover beside him. Carl and Alpha sprinted to a thick, rusty pipe that was lying on the floor, accompanies by several stone bricks.

Silence. We wait for what seemed like forever. The light from the outside above the hatch was dimming as what sounded like the intruders climbing down after us. I braced myself against the rubble, as so did the others that I could see from my position. More silence. Did the intruders stop moving? As thoughts raced through my head, I was stopped by a sudden CLINK. I looked over the rubble, and saw a small blinking object on the floor near the ladder. Pwny shouted "Duck! Flash grenade!" The others looked surprised, and before we all knew it we were blinded by an immediate flash of light.

"Augh!" I grunted as I fell to the floor, covering my eyes. While trying to make sense of what just happened, I noticed my wrist pad static getting louder, followed by the loud sound of the ladder rattling. The intruders were making their way down. I was completely blinded, seeing the effect wear off slightly while I keep rubbing my eyes. I can hear the others stumble around as well. "Ah!" someone yelled out, followed by a loud DUD as the sound of their body hit the floor. The effect finally wore off, and what I could make out was just pure chaos.

I saw Carl fist fighting a black silhouetted figure, then being overwhelmed by the attacker's quick reflexes. Carl fell to the ground. Alpha was tackling another dark figure, only to be apprehended by a second. Pwny and Madison ran for the ladder, but Madison was grabbed by the arm as an attacker pinned her to the floor. "Help!" she shouted. Pwny turned around, pulling out his pistol and firing it. The deafening sound of the shot was accompanied by another dark figure falling tot he ground, while the remaining ones fiercely tackled him, knocking the breath out of him and becoming unconscious on impact with the ground. Finally, Blue was taking down a bulky dark figure as another one ran up behind him and with one jab, deactivated him. Blue's cold steel body fell to the ground, emitting a loud sound.

With my heart racing, I jumped over the rubble, dodged the stone table, and made my way for the ladder. So close yet so far away, it seemed, as I ran. Without looking back, I readied onto the ladder, but then suddenly a strong force pulled me back. I fell to the ground, and one of the silhouetted figures stood over me. With one motion, I swept a kick toward's his legs, but was stopped by the impact of metal.

Shrugging off the pain of the kick, I stumbled back up, only to be picked up and pinned towards the ladder. With the light shining down from the top of the shaft, I could make out the attacker's face. But it wasn't - instead a full head wrap covered by metal plating. The eyes were concealed by two large lenses, in which I could see the reflection of my terrified face. Struggling for freedom, I was met with even heavier resistance. The attacker then let out some weird radio static that sounded like it was encrypting his words. The only language I could make out was unfamiliar. The other attackers stood behind him, carrying the bodies of my friends. They mumbled to each other, then finally pushed me against the ladder once more, knocking me unconscious.
Posted May 1, 14 · OP
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O-VI

Augh! I was deactivated again! I feel so angry that I failed my team. If that little imp hadn't come from behind and knocking me out, I would've probably killed the Goliath, as I call him.

I quickly reactivate again, seeing Beeter in fear. I gotta save him...I gotta save the others too, but how? I check my systems immediately, seeing that I have things aside from the prod that weren't considered weapons. The first thing I noticed was a flare gun...how is it NOT considered a weapon?

I wait a short bit before bringing myself up using my weight against my enemy's and blast him in the back of the head with a flare. I then hear a fleshy thud, seeing a few others turn to me. Without considering the odds I charge in, the prod in one hand and the flare gun in another. I tell myself suddenly 'This reminds me of a game.'
Posted May 1, 14 · OP
AlphaRLee Builder
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A-VII

Ugh! My head...honestly, does fate have a grudge against me? Why must I keep getting knocked in the head over and over again? This is the third time now! And my head is really really hurting now.

Last thing I recall was fighting figures cloaked in pure black...head to toe. And I also recall getting clobbered. Right after that flash grenade, I jumped at the nearest figure. Luckily, that was an enemy, would have been awfully useless if I smacked a buddy. I almost pulled off the attacker's hood when someone landed on me...and proceeded to punch me in my temple. Third time in less than 2 hours...or was that four?

I fully lose conscious from that last blow...or maybe the one next...my brain is still seriously foggy. Nonetheless, I wake up, still in the same chamber as when the one sided fight took place, but I would have never recognized the place now. The room is much more crowded, and features the same hooded figures swarming over the place. Some are holding guns and are aiming them at us, and the rest are rifling through our bags. Strange lab equipment and their own gear is propped against the far wall. The stone block in the middle has a pad on it, displaying what looks like our map, with...oddly enough, only some of the 32 points we have on ours. My buddies and I are all pinned to the wall, by what looks like a gel that police force use to keep suspects pinned to a surface, whether a wall, or the floor...or sometimes the ceiling even. Everyone is to my left, Pwny, Madison, Beeter, and Carl...and...where's Blue? Oh...to my right. They chose to leave Blue on the ground, looking like a toy doll limply propped against the wall by a kid playing tea-party with him. Again, he's inactive, and they're probably counting on him staying that way.

One walks up and checks that we're still secure. When it looks at the goo pile wrapped around my chest, I get a good look at the face. Like a crudely, yet well made robotic face. The eyes covered with some lens, and a speaker by the mouth. Those things are actually people, just with disguises on, or so I think. I can't really tell, but they seem fairly fluid, not stiff. The lenses most likely serve as telescope and HUD lenses, safer than glasses, and more efficient. And I'm pretty sure that the...er...mics are for garbling their voices, and they have some fancy ear piece to translate the gibberish they say to each other. And somehow, I get all of that information from a quarter second glance. Now if this information was only useful for getting out of here.

Another approaches me, this time, making no effort to hide his (I presume) mask. He silences his...I'm guessing subordinates with a short static buzz, and then turns to me. The dark lenses bore into my eyes as he says something to me.

"HSSSHKBRSTHSVK!" I just stare at him, totally confused.

I reply with a cocky smirk, "Sorry, I don't speak gibberish."

The masked figure pauses, and places a hand at the chin, as if to peel off his disguise. He thinks better, and just flicks a switch on the bottom of the mic covering his mouth. "My apologies, Alpha. I forgot one doesn't actually learn how to speak static."

Alpha? Wait, he knows my name? Does he know everyone else here? The pads don't have our ID visible just for that reason. "Wait! How do you know my na-"

"Tut! I haven't finished talking yet. My my, so rude to your guests. Anyways, where was I? Oh, yes. Let's keep this brief. I ask, you answer. Simple!" His cheeriness in his voice, and his definition of 'brief' makes me want to punch him. "So. Let's get on with it. You see, our pads have the location of most of your capsules that you're after. Most. I really would love the rest of them. Will you let me have the rest?"

What does this psycho want with our to-be stuff? I defiantly spit at him...only to have it dribble down my chin. So much for my brave image I was looking for. If the guy wasn't in my face, my teeth would be chattering, and my knees knocking. And I'm probably going to pee my pants next.

"Is that how it is? Well then, I have no problems 'negotiating.' I'm negotiating whether to shoot him first, or the pretty lady." He chuckles as he alternates the end of his pistol between Pwny and Madison. Pwny looks like he'll suddenly break loose and pulverize everyone who dares touch him. He only looks more fierce when the gun is aimed at Madison.

He calls out loudly with defiance, "What kind of man are you? Come fight me like a real man, you piece of-"

"Tut! One person at a time please, Mr. Captain." He turns back to me, but keeps the gun trained on Pwny. "So rude, your friend! So shall I be. I don't really need to spell it for you, do I? Where are the rest of the capsules?"

"Tell me first why you nee-"

"Tut!" He says that one more time, and I'll punch him. He keeps up his rant. "Who is talking? Me. And who is in control? Me. And who is going to get hurt very soon?"

His question is immediately answered, by a flare gun shot to the back of his head. Blue somehow is alive again, and is going crazy, with just a flare gun and an electric prod. It fires quick, well aimed shots at the guards aiming at us, and uses its super strength to free me from the gel. It doesn't even give me time to thank it as it jumps back into the furry of the battle. His distraction is just what I need, and I manage to pry the others out. Pwny blazes to life and takes over Blue's spot in the center of the battle and firing his pistols at inhuman speeds and with inhuman accuracy. Just in time too, by the looks of it. Blue is battered by all the bullets it took, and can't take much longer. Even a bit of wiring became exposed by the knee. And his can of Apollinium is a wee bit too exposed for comfort. One shot at that can, and this place won't exist anymore. Still. Pwny is incredible, doing the impossible, and dodging bullets. Either that, or nailing the source of the bullet before it can leave the barrel. He has so many of the enemies pinned that he served as the perfect escape.

Carl grabs Beeter and gets him to go towards the ladder. Somehow, Beeter got ahold of our unguarded bags, and I don't see any of our stuff on the floor. How'd he get there? Must be Pwny's covering. Blue still wants to fight, but Beeter somehow convinces Blue to climb with them. I only needa few shots to cover them, Carl has the rest, and he hardly has any targets himself. He disappears after the others up the ladder.

I'm about to tell Madison to go herself when she suddenly collapses. Crap crap crap crapcrapcrapcrapcrap! I help her to the rubble, and half-sigh with relief.

"Aaaaargh! My leg!" She's holding her right calf and is rocking back and forth. "Ow! Argh! It hurts!"

I fire 4 more bullets before I hit my target. Then, with as tender a touch I could muster, I coaxed Madison's hands from her leg. She repeatedly called out quietly, "Ow ow ow ow ow"

Hmm. Grazed her calf. Luckily, not the bone. The hem of my shirt serves as a nice bandage for now. "You're alright, no broken bones. But we need to get out of here. Can you climb the ladder?"

She nods rapidly, and squints to keep tears out. We go to the ladder. Pwny is still in the middle of the room, giving us the cover we need. He sees us, and chucks a grenade at the most dense group of baddies. He runs, and starts firing again. "Go! I got you covered! There is only a few left! Go!"

My protests are useless, so Madison and I follow orders and scramble up the ladder...if you call it that. I'm again carrying her, like I did with Blue. She's on my shoulders, and we soon escape. Pwny follows, after another grenade toss.

Pwny climbs out, and we hear the loud bang of another exploding grenade, along with what was presumably the scream of somebody, based on the loud, sharp static buzz that lasted shortly afterwards.

He answers my question before I need to ask. "Popped a grenade on a ladder rung, blasted the whole ladder apart. I took four more, catch." Four grenades sail smoothly from his hands to mine, and quickly were stowed onto my belt. "I know you're all quite exhausted, but we need to move. We probably have 15 minutes for a head start if we get going now. Everyone good?"

And with that, he sprints away, giving us about 2 seconds to grab our bags and follow him. Madison winces, but she can run too. Blue easily gets moving, the damage doing nothing to its ability to run. Beeter and Carl are on their feet and go. And in no time, I'm with the group, feet pounding the ash and dirt under us.

About a half hour later, I'm panting heavily. I'm not the only one who's exhausted. Beeter and Carl are huffing, and Pwny's chest is heaving for air, and his arm is covering his gut. Madison is losing steam, her leg starting to drag behind her. I fall back to her.

With a small smile, I ask her, "Need a piggyback ride?"

Her answer comes out ragged, interrupted by her need for air. "Nah, I don't want to be the princess you need to rescue." Her face bravos into a small grin. "Besides, you're so tired you'll probably collapse picking me up!"

"Not true! I have tons of energy left!" That probably was the most shallow lie I could have ever said, except for the time when I had to explain how I got tooth paste in my hair (don't ask, it's a long story about a runaway frog and a trip to the dentist by the biology lab).

Feeling that I can't run much longer, I went to Pwny. "Hey, dude. I'm...uh, we're getting pretty tired, and we've ran quite the distance. Can we take a break?"

He doesn't even slow. "We need to keep ahead of them. They could be right behind us, in a tank for all I know."

"They're not even in sight!" We both glance behind us to check. Still nothing, just like when we started. "Look, we're fine. We need to catch our breath. And you can't run with a cramp that well," I say, looking at his arm.

"Who says it's a stomach cramp?"

"What?"

"Okay, I'll tell you, only because you're my friend." He peels his hand from his stomach, and I can see it's dark red, dripping blood. A handkerchief is glued to his gut, equally red.

I'm at a loss of words. "You're...shot...but...why? When? How?"

"Simple. I went into an ice cream shop and asked the clerk to shoot me. As for why we're running instead of bandaging? Simple. The team comes first. Besides, I'm fine. I was pumped on enough adrenaline for me to ignore the pain. But if you're that tired, we'll stop." He petered out, and everyone flopped down, heaving for air (except Blue of course). Pwny whips out his bandages and starts wrapping himself up before I can move. Never heard of a wounded guy wrap himself, and never seen it die with such finesse He's a walking miracle. But miracles only go so far. Eventually, he'll get himself killed, even if it's to save us or protect us. As his friend, it's my duty to save him.

Pwny is already bandaging Madison by the time I get there. I almost plop myself beside them when I hear the roar of an engine, and see clouds of dust billowing our way. The others jump up, readying themselves.

About 50 meters away, is the orbital shuttle that brought us, the same one I summoned. The doctor onboard jumps out and gets Pwny into an emergency surgery. Madison gets a bit of automated help for her leg. Pwny protests, but decides for the better and lies on the surgery bed.

The pilot comes to me. "You summoned me?" I nod. "Well, I understand why, the captain needs some more surgery and medication on the station. But we're low on fuel. Another trip, and we'll be using the fuel to get to Earth. Oh, and we're just about done here, any last words to your friend?"

I jog past the pilot, and get to Pwny. I can't decide on what to say, so the first, and dumbest thing comes out of my mouth. "What's up?"

Pwny turns his head to me. "The sky. Honestly, the tunes you asked me, and you still say that."

"Yeah...oops. Anyways, you belong up there. The captain orders and directs the mission, not get killed on them."

"Hmm? Yeah. I'll be up there. Don't worry, I'll make sure the guys who got me won't be able to get within a mile of you guys."

"Haha, how?"

"I don't know! I'll figure out." The engines are warming up now, and Madison hops off to join the others. The pilot signals that he needs to get going.

"Oh! Times almost up! Uh...yeah. Oh! Thanks, man. Thanks for covering us as we escaped and for saving our lives today. Thanks for everything." The door is starting to close.

Pwny smiles and gives me the look that I know that I can trust, his promise to be there for me. "I'm your captain and best friend. It's my job to protect you."
Posted May 1, 14 · OP
AlphaRLee Builder
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O-VII

My systems were running, what I considered adrenaline was pumping, GPS coordinates going off left and right, and all sorts of other gears grinding, metal mashing...this is what I could have heard, if it wasn't for what piece of humanity I have that heard Pwny's wounds. I could tell not long after he took my flare gun in his hand and protected everyone. I feel as if he knew my shields were gonna give, although my exterior is full of dents and other wounds. I should have scanned him for serious injury before the shuttle Alpha requested arrived.

I watched the two intently, feeling the sadness in their voices as Pwny was whisked away to the station to recover from his injuries. I look to Beeter, who only looks back with a small smile. He wasn't happy about the situation we're in. I then look to Madison and Carl, who were conversing about what to do now that they're captain was mortally injured.

"If only you people left me back there!" I shout, punching at the nearest rock wall, "Maybe he'd still be here...and I wouldn't!" My adrenaline continued to pump, and with it kept my anger. I continue attacking the wall with pure anger, something my brethren and I never felt before.

It was only after a few minutes I see Beeter and Alpha looking at me with distress. They tried calming me down, when I hear a slight noise. It appears I've released most of my fuel core...I need a recharge.

I immediately search through my capsules, seeing my second energy core. "...I need to find something to recharge from once this is gone." I say, switching the cores. I feel something bright, brighter than any star I've seen and calculated. I feel slightly happy.

"...sorry for my outburst, I'm...just shaken by what happened." I tell Alpha, "But Pwny will get better, and with the doctors and scientists on board, everything is fine."

I hear more whizzing and see more blurs, looking to the back of us. "We gotta leave, now! They're here!"
Posted May 1, 14 · OP
AlphaRLee Builder
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Z - 3

I woke up and found myself in another cave area, it was still the same, dark, but pretty damn quite, like I was being watched, "It's damn dark alright." I said to myself, standing up, "I'll just grab some, wait, what the heck?!" I said as I went to my pockets only to find out I'm all out of Glow Sticks, which was impossible because I HAD 6-8 Glowsticks with me before I got knocked out with whoever attacked me. "Screw it." I said a bit mad about it, "Good thing I still have my Night Vision Goggles with me." I said as I placed them on my eyes, turned them on and walked wherever this cave would take me.

I walked for a few minuets before I saw a glimmer of light not far from my distance. "Is that... Sunlight?!" I asked myself surprised and happy as I ran to the direction of the light, only to find out it wasn't the way out, but in fact, it was a Bunker, which wasn't in ruins yet, it was just abandoned, but the fact that it was my friends' Bunker. "Samuel's Bunker?!" I asked myself as how I saw that his bunker was still in tact and functional. "This could probably help out, Samuel might have some equipment here and some supplies, or maybe a radio to make visual contact with the Space Station." I went in, for some odd reason, the doors to the bunker was ajar, I peeked around to see if someone was still inside, no one was in, so I went inside, every piece of equipment, supply, armor, and more stuff were still in here, even the broken Orange Gun was still inside, it was broken so it couldn't help me, I went in a little more and grabbed some of the food supply there, which there was still some left, I grabbed all I could carry and proceeded to the armory, all the weapons, ammo, and attachments were taken, so I guessed whoever came in here first took the good stuff first.

Just as I was about to continue on, I heard a loud bang on the doors and screaming afterwards, I looked through the balcony and saw 3 armed dudes walk in, with guns propped up, ready to shoot, I went as fast as I can back to the armory looking for something that could at least help me defend myself, I found a Crowbar at the end of the room, I grabbed it and prepared for an offensive attack, I hid behind a big crate as they barge on the main room, they separated in 3 ways, this was a good sign to either sneak past each of them or to take them down one by one, I decided to take them down one by one, "Better Safe than Sorry.." I said to myself as I slowly crept to the first guy who went to the infirmary which was in the next room of the armory, the other 2 were down the first floor.

With a Crowbar in my hand I slowly sneaked to the infirmary, I saw the guy looking through the Medical Shelves, went near him slowly, prepared to hit him with the crowbar, but as I charged in, he was already prepared to face me, he was holding some kind of wierd knife, not the regular combat knife, it had a Skull-faced base and a bone-like point replacing the blade on top, he attempted to stab me but I deflected it by hitting his arm with the crowbar, as he dropped the strange knife, he let out a loud scream which should be enough to alert the other 2 of my presence, I got distracted by his loud scream, and while I was distracted, he stabbed me in the shoulder with a regular combat knife, "Bloody Hell, Agh!!" I screamed in pain as he shoved it on my shoulder, "Goddamn you!" I punched his face and pushed him away from me, I probably punched him real hard because he got knocked out from it which was a good call, as he layed down there, I pulled the knife he stabbed on my shoulder as hard as I can, I got the knife out and closed the door of the infirmary, blocked it with a cabinet and looked for another way out of the room, they were banging on the door really hard, and if I don't get out of here, I'll be dead, I looked around and saw an air vent, I used the crowbar to pry off the lock and went in, I swore they heard me on the vents because they were shooting at the air vents, my shoulder was still bleeding because of the stab, I had to pressurized it, I ignored the intense pain and continued on.

The air vent led to another room which led to a new room, it was the Cafeteria, there should be a First Aid Cabinet around here if I could remember, and luckily, I found it near the closet, it was still efficient as any normal First Aid Kit can have, I grabbed some medicine and patched myself up, just to stop the bleeding from my shoulders, then on the table next to it was a 9mm Pistol with a few clips with it, I quickly grabbed them and fully loaded it with a clip, hoping it could help me out, just then the Cafeteria Doors exploded, I quickly ran for cover behind an Oven, the two of them fired their Semi-Automatic Rifles at me, good thing though, the Oven was as hard as Obsidian, when they stopped firing, I returned fire and shot a few rounds at them, they weren't hit, they quickly maneuvered to the sides, hoping to probably flank me, I reacted quickly and backed to the end of the room, with a Pistol and Crowbar in hand, I prepared myself for any attack, and expected a thrown grenade at me, "Grenade!" shouted one of them as he threw it towards me which I reacted quickly once more and jumped towards an open area before it could explode, they followed me while continuously shooting at me, I countered back by shooting at them also, I quickly ran around and got out of the cafeteria and went to down to the first floor, then to the main hallway, they followed as well.

"Damn them!" I said while still running, "I need to loose them, got to find some-" I was disturbed after I fell from a crack on the floor which led me to an underground area of the bunker, which was a secret armory Samuel must have probably made, in it were empty armor stands, one armor stand was closed, which was mine, "Mine's still here.." I said to myself as I stood in front of my Armor Stand Console, "Pray God mine's still here.." I opened the Armor Stand and saw an armor which wasn't mine, it was Samuel's, on it was a Note dangling, I teared it away from the armor and it said "Yo Azulon mate, here, you probably might need this A.M.C Suit, I know, it's mine, but I know you're probably going to need it someday. Regards, Samuel." I hid the note and put on the Armor, the pre-recorded messages we would hear when Samuel wears it was still the same, "Welcome, to the Mark 6, Assault Marine Combat Suit, for use in danger, and in Combat, Medical Administration online, Weapon Management online, Vital Signs, Administration, online, Have a good a successful day." I grabbed the Pistol and climbed up the hole, I managed to get up before they could even reach me yet, I continued running away from them until I got to another room which was the main lobby, I stood at the center and waited for the both of them to come here, "Let's... Do this..." I said to myself with my Crowbar in my hand, they both approached me, but instead of shooting at me, they dropped their guns and took out their knives, similar to the other person I first encountered, I held on to my Crowbar tightly and waited for them to attack me, "What do you guys want from me?!" I asked them angrily, "And why are you chasing me?!", "Heheh" the one on the left laughed at me, "The dude doesn't know what we're here for, get him!" he said as they both charged at me with insane speed, and the 3 of us engaged in a really tough battle, it was pretty hard to tackle two guys with just a crowbar who have 2 deadly daggers with them, just as things were going to get worst, one of them stabbed me in the side of my body, which hurts a lot! "Agh!!" I cried in pain and agony, I also got a warning from the Suit as well, "Warning Vital Signs, Critical." the Vital Sign Administrator said, I struck my Crowbar at the guy who stabbed me, which must have caused him to get unconscious, I quickly dispatched the other one and did the same thing to him as well, both of them were down, and I was heavily wounded once more, I slowly went away from them before they could regain consciousness, I managed to get to the exit hatch of the bunker which leads to the surface exit, I climbed up slowly because of the pain which hurts a lot, I opened the Bunker hatch and finaly got out of darkness, I slowly walked around the desolated wasteland hoping to find some help, I saw some figures in the distance, running, they were humans, I tried to get near them hoping they could help me, but all that happened was is that I slowly got down on the ground, too weak to walk from all that blood lost, I let out a plea of help, "H-H-Help.. Me.." I whispered instead, in which they couldn't hear me and continued running until they were gone from my sight, I collapsed to the ground, still bleeding from the attack, "Could this be it?" I thought to myself, "Will I die here and never see my daughter again? God please, if I die here, let Kylie be safe from harm's way, same goes to the rest, Seville, Zane, Dog, and especially Samuel." As I lied down there, I saw another figure walk towards me before I passed out from the pain and blood loss.
Posted May 1, 14 · OP
AlphaRLee Builder
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B-VII

I glanced into the window of the Orbital Shuttle that took away Pwny. The medics were fixing him up, opening med-kits and preparing to stabilize him for the trip to the main station. The dust that came off of the ground after the Orbital Shuttle departed turned my attention behind me. I looked back to Blue, who was acting strangely. I took a few steps towards him, along with Alpha. We both were ready to apprehend him, but he regained his wits and notified us he was okay. I turned back to grab my bag and a moment later Blue started yelling "We gotta leave, now!" They're here!"

I looked back again, seeing several figures jogging in the distance near a large scar in the ground. I could only describe what the feeling of knowing that these guys are still after us with curiosity. I thought back about Pwny - his courage and determination to protect us. Without knowing what I was doing, I charged out at the figures.

Jumping forward a little, while maintaining accuracy, I lunged for an assault. My body slammed against the body of the figure, who fell to the ground, emitting a groan of pain. I turned around to see another figure charging for me. "THUD!" was all I heard as I had the breath knocked out of me. "Agh!" I yelled out in pain. The dark figure walked over to me, several other racing past him, and grabbed me by my shoulder and shoved me. Unable to resist the slide, the ground below me suddenly felt like it wasn't there at all. Was it my head? Looking down, all I saw was pure darkness.

That sinking feeling hit me. My arms flew into the air, trying to do anything. I barely managed to grab ta ledge, intensely spraining my arm in the process as it rebound from holding my weight. After a split second of perception, I noticed I was hanging from the wall of a ravine. Trying to ignore the pain, the dark figure shaded me from my point of view. "And what do we have here" he said while messing around with his translator, "A hero? Bwahaha! You're nothing to me." "W - why don't you just -" I said while trying for his leg. He dodged my swing and made a disapproved laugh. "Now that you're done, you could be of some use to me... Oh! How could I forget... Now where are those fuel cells..."

The pain in my arm was increasing drastically. No, I... wait, what's he want with the fuel cells? "So?" his annoying voice interrupted my thoughts. "Will you tell me or are you going to die without being helpful?" he continued. "... I don't know what you want with those cells... But you're not getting them!" I yelled at him while letting go of the ledge.

What was I thinking? I just let go of the ledge without hesitation... Why? My thoughts were suddenly halted when I struck what seemed like a tree growing out the side of the ravine wall. "Ng-" was all I could mutter out before I dazed off. Faintly, I could see the shadow of the figure turn around and disappear from sight.

Pitch black turned even darker. I opened my eyes to find myself on the floor of the ravine, badly injured but still able to move. "W - what... wait..." I slowly muttered out while trying to get up. I looked to my white, slightly dusty wrist pad. "Loading time... 6:14 PM."

"WHAT!" I yelled out, "No no no no!" I looked up and saw the blue of the sky starting to fade, small stars shimmering too. "Okay... okay, let's just -" I noticed I forgot my backpack. Great. Stuck at the bottom of a hole in the ground without anything to get me out. "Sigh, okay maybe - " I said before I slipped on the ground. "What's this..?" I noticed a dark liquid. I ever so slightly touched it fearing what it was. Yep, that's blood. I checked myself for bleeding - none?

"Hello!?" I shouted into the darkness. My voice echoed, but nothing called back. "Signal found" my wrist pad said on it's screen as it lit up the ravine. "North East - 100 meters." Does this mean they're still here? No.. they didn't have any radio or communication devices with them as far as I could tell. Must be a... "Arg, never mind that, I need to get the heck out of here" I said to myself. I braced myself, and steadily tried to climb up the wall. The stinging pain in my shoulder started to get worse as I climbed up. Carefully maneuvering my hands and legs, I got about halfway up the wall before I couldn't do it any longer. I turned around, back against the wall and waited... still. The pain went away, and I felt more comfortable. I turned back around and proceeded again.

Almost half an hour must have passed, the wall was unbearably tall - but I finally felt the soft dirt of the surface. "Okay.... okay... one, two, three!" I lifted myself up over the ledge and fell unto it with a breath of relief. My chest was beating furiously, but a few inhales helped to calm that. "Now..." I quietly said while getting up. I walked back over to where Alpha and I were trying to calm down Blue, ignoring the pains as I took every step.

I finally walked into the area, the foliage the same as before, a few footprints here and there, and... wait what's that!?

I rushed over to the object - scratch that it wasn't an object, but a... a person? I knelt down in front of the body, trying to figure out who it was. The strangest thing though, it wasn't anyone I've ever seen before. His clothes were... a bit weathered, but looked too different to be standard issue civilian clothing. I turned them over to reveal the ground soaked in blood.

I ran back to the area our group was at earlier, but I couldn't find my backpack anywhere. I ran back to the body, and, despite my feelings toward personal things, looked around for his stuff. He had a small pack with... some medical supplies! What luck! I looked for the wound, and after a few seconds of inspection I noticed it was in the person's shoulder. Not only that, it looks like the person already tried to patch it up. Looking around in the bag for specific materials, I noticed the figure had a knife on him. I took it quickly and set it down on the ground, out of reach of the figure should he wake up and try to stab me or something.

40 minutes pass. I successfully bandaged the wound and stopped the bleeding. After that, I lay him down and started gathering some sticks and wood to make a fire. Without exhausting myself, I finally managed to get a fire going by using some flint I found in the forest nearby. I sighed a breath of relief, and watched the flames of the fire flow up and disappear into the night sky.

I woke up, laying against a dead tree, and my first reaction was to check the body. I looked over and found the body still laying there. Out of curiosity, I walked towards the hills nearby to try and see if I can spot my friends. An hour of searching however, suggested otherwise. I returned to the fire. As soon as I walked up, the body started moving. I stand there, still, trying to figure out what to do. Hide? Introduce myself? I readied a stance, preparing for the worse. The person struggled to get up, releasing a few coughs as well. He finally stood up, turned around, brushed the dirt off of his shoulders, looked up, and saw me. "Uh... hi?" I said.
Posted May 1, 14 · OP
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A-VIII

Without Pwny...without Pwny....without him...I...I don't know. I am just tempted to curl into a ball. Sleep an hour away. Maybe the afternoon. Or just a whole week. I.e...can't put the finger on the feeling dwelling inside of me. Sadness? Yes. Frustration? That too. Hope? Ironically yes as well. How odd.

The shuttle doors are now well shut, and just behind them, Pwny. The shuttle takes off, and flies away until it looks like a mid-day star, far in the sky. I doubt he said it, but I feel a world of weight just press onto my shoulders. It's my turn. The torch has been passed to me. It's heavy, but I'll take it. I'll carry it high and with pride, for Pwny, for my friends, for this world. That's what Pwny would have done.

Blue looks at me, the edges of its eyes slightly dimmed and turned down. This is the closest portrayal this bot has of sadness. Everyone feels it.

Blue stamping its feet, cursing at itself. I know none if us are happy to see Pwny leave, but Blue is the last one I expected to be so upset. It lets out a calm rage, which soon escalates to pure anger, not at all disguised in its voice, "If only you left me back there!" A fist shoots out at an already crumbling wall, and the stones crack loudly. "Maybe he'd still be here...and I wouldn't!"

It fires another super-powered fist at the wall, creating a more-than-obvious crater where it struck. Nono, what kind of robot acts like this? A CPO never needed these emotions, they'd hamper with the ultimate objective they have. What code in his algorithms are built for this? What algorithms will calm it down? Nothing. This isn't the thing pure logic and buzzes of electricity solve, it's the raw emotions, the comfort of another person, the joy, sorrow, rage, and glee that we share. A robot was never meant to be those things, and yet, here is a perfect example of that.

It's my job as the new...not captain, so...no, I'll need to work my way up to be leader, so scratch that. It's my job as a teammate and a friend to help out in situations like these. I walk up, along with Beeter, but quickly have to dodge Blue's arm, stretched out to turn the bricks to oblivion. I step back, not getting hit in the head this time. As a leader, I need to know when to step up, but as a leader, I also need to know when to step aside.

Besides. The problem already seems solved. Blue stops suddenly, then resumes his mechanic routine of changing fuel core. It's like nothing happened...except for the busted wall. He turns to Beeter and I, and dips his head slightly. "Sorry for my outburst, I'm...just shaken by what happened." A slight nod automatically comes out of me, though the smile isn't there quite yet. "But Pwny will get better, and with the doctors and scientists on board, everything is fine."

"Yeah...tha-"

I stop when I realize Blue isn't listening. He is tuned into...obviously something we can't hear, I envy those supersonic ears, the magnifying eyes. He turns back, with what looks like panic in his face. "We gotta leave! Now! They're here!"

It takes me a second for my eyes to find what Blue was saying. It was almost impossible to spot, but it was there. A black haze on the horizon. And it's definitely growing bigger.

"C'mon team! Let's move!" Everyone obediently hurries towards their bags, grabs them, and goes...until I realize that Beeter didn't grab his bag, but he's going.

Towards them.

"Beeter! No! What are you doing!" He was in a full sprint, speeding across a good mile like an Olympian. My shouts were lost to the wind, and he zipped away. It finally sank into me what he was doing. That is pretty brave. Scratch that. Extremely brave. He's giving us the once in a lifetime opportunity that's going to slip soon. I better take it.

"Move, move, move! Just get away from them! Go!" We're dashing a full sprint. I'd say I'm still exhausted from the run we just did about a half hour ago, but the adrenaline is too loud in my ears. The pounding of my feet on ash is too strong. The hot air slapping my face is too familiar. This was, is, and will be my life. I hate it, but we better get used to it. I don't think we were made to fight, we are ones of flight.

Beeter diminishes into a dot, but an aggressive dot. He and whoever he pitted himself against are thrown onto the ground. I backpedal for a second, but Carl grabs my wrist, and pulls. Hard. Just hard enough to jolt me back to life.

My shoes slap the dust and ash below me and we book it. We run so hard, my lungs are going to burst. To my right, a dead forest that somehow didn't burn. To my left, a wasteland, and another dot I'm going to assume as a tumbleweed of some sort. But in front of me...I wish I was paying attention. In front of me is a sudden hole that jumps out at me, and grabs my foot. It grabs me and pulls me down, smacking my chin hard against the edge. I fall inside, only about four meters, but I'm moreorless stuck. And I ache everywhere. A grisly skull smiles at my defeat. How long it was here, I can't tell. But I really don't want to be its next buddy for the next eternity.

I grab the nearest ledge, if only there was one. My pawing at dust gives me nothing, and the others circle around, getting on their stomach, and reach for me, only to be hopelessly out of reach.Blue tries an extension, only to fall short of my jumping grasp. I have never been such a failure. Pwny. Fights to the end like a hero, one that statues and poems should be built around. Beeter. Leaves like a protector, one that a legendary story can be made of, to be passed to his grandchildren. Me? A guy stuck in a hole, one who will die to dehydration, and become another idiot who fell into a lame trap.

"No! I am not, I say, not losing the third person in one day! Alpha! Please! Do something!" Madison is screaming at me, her hand uselessly dangling to me, far out of reach. Blue is doing his best to prevent her from tipping into here with me.

"Argh...yeah. I'll do something. I tell you guys to keep going! Move! They're going to catch up to you if you guys just stay here!" I order. If I'm going to die, for the love of God, I'm not making everyone get killed because of me. "Just go! Maybe they'll miss me! But if you stay, there is no chance anyone can get out of here okay! Go!"

Carl surprises me. He slides down and falls in with me. "Yeah, nope. You ain't dying today, pal. Besides. I'm sick of running. Looks like a comfy hidey-hole to me." I just stand there, with my jaw wide open, totally in disbelief.

"Butbutbut...you'll die! D-i-e, die! You're gonna look like that guy! Bone white, like how real bones look! What are you doing?" I'm just flapping my lip, totally losing the composure of a leader that I've been trying to put together for the last 10 minutes.

Madison slips in, apparently ignoring my protests. She lands her foot on my face, something that I've learned to expect. "Ack! Sorry, didn't aim there on purpose!" She recomposes herself, but I never really was interested in what her sneakers tasted like. "But I don't think it'd be alright with just the three of us running. No, we need everyone we have. Even if it means landing in a hole."

Alright. Fine. Maybe I'm not fit for leadership, doesn't seem like anybody listens anyways. "Well, Blue, make yourself useful at least before you get trapped with us! Can you find or make a lid for this? Can't have the enemy literally stumbling here too."

Blue momentarily drops in, after making a lid from dead branches, leaves, and a lot of dirt. It's pitch black in here, and the dirt dropping from the roof never seemed to smell that good. Blue fixes one of the problems, and turns on his lights. Though it's blinding whenever he faces me, at least I can see again.

The loud stamping of feet shakes more dirt, and I fight to hold a sneeze. I finally let it go, but I am lucky for a change. Our pursuers are gone. We all exhale in relief, and I do another victory sneeze.

My sneeze shakes the whole pit, and Carl notices something odd. He nonchalantly goes to one of the walls, and gives it a good, hard body check. " Blue? Help me out, bit tough for me."

Blue complies, and fires a punch at the wall. To my surprise, his fist goes through it. He pulls his fist back, and looks at the hole he just made. "Well! Good news. We're not stuck in a hole anymore." I don't get it. "Now, we're stuck in a cave!"

Blue smashes down a flimsy dirt wall, and to my surprise, there is a hole, about 3 feet in diameter, that leads to a dark cave. We all wriggle through, one at a time. I haul Beeter's bag, along with mine last. A small circuit board with loose wires fall out. I shove it back into the bag, probably with less care than I should have given, before I finally get to the other side, where Carl pulls me out. "Nothing like a good caking of dust, neh?"

"Had better days, but yeah...now where are we?" I scan the area, and flick on a flashlight.

Nobody answers. Nobody knows. Which leads to us wandering for hours on end. I call out over and over again for Beeter, but with no luck. Like he'd totally be lost in this cave with us. We amble aimlessly for a few hours longer, running twice from strange sounds. And I ran into 7 walls, since it was so dark. And tripped four times...and got lost about three times.

We finally set camp once we hit our millionth dead end. My portable fake firewood (guaranteed to light a fire everytime, even when wet!) made for a nice light, and made my canned pork n' beans taste nice and warm for a pleasant change. Blue offered to stand guard, but I insisted he go charge himself. He only looked more than happy to comply.

The long hours passed. Everyone was lightly sleeping. Where was Beeter? Is he still alive even? Ugh. We only have four of us left! How can we do this...I can't do this...I can't do this...I can't do-

"So you wanna switch guard?" Madison had snuck up on me so stealthily, that I didn't even notice. I jumped so high that I banged my head on a stalactite dangling above me. The tip snapped and bonked me on the head. What else is new?

"Er...uh...nah, I'm fine. You should head back to sleep. We have probably a really long distance to cover tomorrow." I'm rubbing my head, only getting more dust and fine bits of rock stuck in my hair.

"You sure? I'm sure you can use a rest." She sat beside me, making me think that a jungle cat's stealth was copied after her style.

"I'm fine. Just have a lot in my head running around. Can't sleep if I tried."

She smiles. "What a coincidence. I was silently awake for the same reason myself. C'mon. We'll take guard together." I am so grateful for her company, that I almost let out a laugh.

"So...what happened on the first day of grade 8 anyways?"

"That's 7, actually. Well...it started when I woke up late."

"6:30?"

"7. 7:45. You really don't pay attention, do you?" She punches my arm lightly. "Anyways. I woke up...with about, uh...I think, yeah, 15 minutes to catch my bus. My mom woke me up, almost exactly like how you did back in that room. Um...let's see. I got up, and ran to find my lunch bag. Inside was an old sandwich from sometime over the summer. Ugh. Did that ever stink! But...yeah. I grabbed my stuff and launched myself out of the door. Only to forget my jacket. I ran inside, and grabbed it. And then I ran to school. Yeah. And I tripped on my neighbour's dog, and then he wanted to play fetch with my lunch bag." I nodded patiently. I thought only bad luck like this was in books...or came to me. "I got my lunch bag back, but my banana was gone for good. I got the gift of drool instead. When I got to school, things were pretty normal. Oh. Except for this cute boy in my second block class. God...I blush just thinking of him."

I looked at her cheeks. They were flushed bright, bright red. "So that was your day?"

"Huh?" Her eyes were drooping. "No no. I...wanted to hang out with him at lunch. So I came to him during lunch, and he had spaghetti and meatballs. And I was in a nice little white dress. I was so nervous, that I completely did not pay attention to the fact that there was a bag in the way. And so, one second, I'm just about to greet him, next second, I am. Just on the floor. With red pasta sauce all over my face and dress. God! I am still so embarrased!"

"Wow...that sucks."

"Yeah. So I spent the rest of the day trying to pick spaghetti out of my hair, and trying to scrub pasta sauce out of my dress. But...it was actually a really nice day. At the end, he wanted to walk me home, and we got lost trying to figure out our way from the school to my house. It was probably the best and worst day of my life." She stifled a yawn. "Nah, I had probably...three worse days...but they ironically all had a happy twist to them too. More or less..."

I'm just a bit curious. And I honestly didn't want her to fall asleep right here. It's been a long time since I had a good talk, I didn't want it to end here. "So what were your happy-sad days?"

She really is going to fall asleep. She lets out a yawn, and makes no effort to hide it. We rest on the floor, me sitting with my legs stretched out, and her resting her head on my leg. "Sorry I'm so tired...um...bad days? I had...to walk that stupid dog one day...saw a squirrel...ran halfway across town to catch him...got ice cream...rocky road...ugh...tired...There was a time...grade 10...presentation with popcorn...popcorn machine spewing popcorn everywhere...sleepy...And probably the day...when Bessie hit. I'm alive...lucky me...oh yeah..." She was almost inaudible, and I barely caught her last sentence. "And the time when you were..." And she fell asleep.

I shut off my light, and just sat there. Alone, with only my thoughts to keep me company.
Posted May 1, 14 · OP
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Z - 4

I woke up and found myself still alive, lying on the ground, facing the night sky, "Ugh.. I'm.. Alive??" I thought to myself, "Or am I in Heaven?" I tried to sat up and noticed my stab on the left sife of my body was patched up, I looked around and saw first a Camp Fire in front of me, and next to it was.. another guy? He was different, he had different clothings, they were different from the dudes in black who attacked me, "Uh... Hi?" he asked me peculiarly, "Ugh... Who are you? "I asked him as I tried to stand up, "How did I get here? ugh..." "Whoa... stay down." he said as he made me sat down on the ground again, "You've been heavilly wounded with a round of blood loss, I had to patch you up though, my name is beeter, yours?" "Uh.. it's Azulon." I told him, "Thanks for the Rescue though." "No Problem, Azulon." He said, "By the way, what are you doing here? Were you sent here?" "No." I said, we were left behind, me, my daughter, my two team mates and my daughter's guardian." "You and your group were left behind?" he asked, "Where are they?" "I don't know," I said as I grabbed my locket in my pocket, "I got separated from them after a Bunker Collapse, and I've been attacked thrice by a group of people in black and.." "Wait.." he interrupted, "Dudes in black?" "Yes.." I said, "Dudes in black robes, I don't know why they were after me." "They're after something alright." he said, "And it's those Fuel Cells which we are looking for as well." "Fuel Cells?" I asked, "Why do you need them by the way?" "We need those Fuel Cells, and Shuttle Modification Pieces to make another Shuttle to rescue the remaining civies here." he said, "And based from our Leader's Briefing, there's 12 Fuel Cells here and 24 Shuttle Components supposeldy to be in tact." "Then we ought to move fast," I said as I stood up confidently, "There's no telling what those people in black will do if they find those before we could." "How can we even move fast?" he asked, "It's just the two of us." "No, there's a Buggy in the last bunker I got out of," I said, "if we can get to that, we might be able to use it and find those materials, your group and my group as well." "Okay," he said, "You lead, I'll watch your back."

We slowly walked our exodus towards Samuel's Bunker, the trek was unmindful, we only needed to do was watch out for those dudes in black, get the Buggy, activate it, get the hell out of there, and find our guys, we managed to find the Bunker Hatch, the Garage hatch to the buggy we next to it, a few meters away, we went near it and opened it, the both of us opened it since it was so heavy, rusted and dusty as well too, we mananged to open it and saw the Buggy still under there with a stockpile of Fuel Canisters in it's back. "Wait.." I said as I raised my hand, slowly getting my Pistol out of my pocket, "What?" beeter asked, "What's wrong?" "Get in the Buggy! They're coming!" I shouted as beeter and I jumped on the Buggy, activating it and letting it rip out of the garage after hearing bullet shots from above behind us.
Posted May 1, 14 · OP
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B-VIII

CRACK-POP! went the buggy as my new friend started it up and sped us off. This all happened so quickly, but apparently those mysterious figures found us once again! "Hey! Where are we going!?" I yelled out to Azulon as the buggy rumbled over rocks and dirt with the sun partly blinding me. "Anywhere!!" he yelled back.

I looked out the cracked rear-view mirror and spotted the mysterious figures coming up fast - the dust blocked most my vision however. Minutes passed, the buggy would occasionally let out a pop or two every time we zoomed over a big rock. The dusty sand of the ground combined with wheels going at... 40 MPH? Not good.

I looked back behind the buggy, trying to shield my eyes and see whatever I could. Nothing appeared to be following us. "*cough* Azulon - stop the vehicle, I - I don't think they're there anymore!" He slammed the brakes. We came to a sudden halt that pulled me out of my seat and threw me against the metal dashboard. Ignoring the pain, I jumped out of the passenger seat and stood there next to the dusty vehicle, leaning against the front. We waited for the dust to settle. Nothing. I guess we lost them, but after all that's happened, I wouldn't count on them being gone for sure this time. "Looks like we're in the middle of nowhere," Azulon said while grabbing a fuel canister from the back of the buggy. He filled the tank with more fuel, sweeping the sweat off his face with his shoulder. It really was hot outside. The terrain was almost exactly that of a desert. There was no ash on the and, however, and the sky was blue, and the sun was shining warmly. "Hmm, do you think the ash finally subsided" I asked Azulon while searching the buggy for any more useful items. "I think there are some places that didn't get effected when this whole thing happened, but -" he stopped, noticing the fuel tank was full. "There's no guarantee it's like this everywhere. I'd say this desert is as much a wasteland as anything else."

I tried to respond, but was interrupted by my wrist pad receiving a signal. "Is that a mark twelve?" he asked. "I assume," I replied, "It has standard relay station access but it hasn't been working right since the asteroid hit." I proceeded to access the signal, but it faded before I could track it. "Hmm." I gestured.

"Well, we better be off - hey, weren't there more people with you?" Azulon asked. "Yeah," I replied, "but... I fell into that ravine so... I was out for a while." "Well, let's try to find them" Azulon said, I've had enough of this desert already."
Posted May 1, 14 · OP
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O-VIII

As I was charging, I'd listened on to Alpha and Madison's conversation. I noticed Madison falling to sleep, and looked to the young man.

"Alpha...what you had seen of me earlier, the emotion I had for Pwny, well...the scientists said I would feel new things, somethings that a robot should never be able to feel. With my rage, I felt my core shut down for a mere nanosecond...and in that small amount of time, I felt human." I say, putting my head in my hands, "Humanity is so strange, but yet, it feels so normal to me. It appears I will learn things on this journey that perhaps I shouldn't know."

I stopped my continuous rambling, noticing the human falling to sleep. I stood with what power I had, and looked towards the sky. I checked my internal systems, with everything being clear, and then tried making contact with the space station...but as I had assumed, there was no answer. Afterwards, I continued looking on, wondering where Beeter was, and why he was fascinated with my metallic exterior. Beeter, though being the last colonial of Hope, continues to fight on to my amazement. And with these new friends he has gained in a matter of hours, I feel as if he can push through anything.

For the last of my minutes before continuing my charge, I hear a quick voice tell me something.

'Never give in Blue, you were made for this kind of stuff....you are unlike your brothers, both of interior and exterior. I bid you goodbye on the journey of not only finding an exit, but of also finding your true self...'

I sit down once more, pondering upon these words, and realize only one thing; the being who said this, sounded just like me, only without the static feedback. I shut my eyes, allowing my core to charge once more, and pull a small smile before finally resting.
Posted May 1, 14 · OP

 Arc Of Hope Continued
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A-IX

Eventually, I felt sleepy. That was bad...I really need to stay awake, we could get killed if I fall asleep...but I just couldn't sleep either anyways, even if I wanted to. What was Madison saying about me? The bad time when I was...when I was...grrrrr! I am so tempted to just shake Madison awake and get her to tell me that time. I need answers.

But seeing her sleep so peacefully, I just simply can't will myself. We all have been working too hard lately. I'm not going to exhaust her any further for something probably fairly insignificant. Madison rolls slightly, and I shift a blanket under her head. My head dips, and I feel my eyelids grow heavy.

Until Blue suddenly speaks up, "Alpha, what you had seen of me earlier, the emotion I had for Pwny, well...the scientists said I would feel new things, somethings that a robot should never be able to feel. With my rage, I felt my core shut down for a mere nanosecond...and in that small amount of time, I felt human." He scares me to death, his sudden activity. I thought he was inactive during this whole time...so...when I learn he was eavesdropping, I burn bright red in the cheeks. Nobody could see it in this dark, but his stupid infrared vision can easily see my cheeks burn orange red in his vision. He doesn't even bother to acknowledge my reaction. "Humanity is so strange, but yet, it feels so normal to me. It appears I will learn things on this journey that perhaps I shouldn't know..." I can't catch what else he is saying, my body fell asleep first.

I wake about what feels like...never mind, I can't tell. I wake up again in a hole. Wait, the hole, the exact same one I slipped in a day ago. What's going on? Above me is everybody, out of my reach. Madison tries desperately to reach for me, but can't come close. She's babbling something, something with me in it, about me being a leader, but I can't make sense of it. She gives up, and a teardrop falls. It drips beside my foot, leaving a little wet mark on the skull smiling at me. Carl, frowning, grabs a shovel. He takes a scoop from somewhere outside of the hole and dumps the content into my hole. Apollinium fuel canisters rain onto the ground.

"Stop! What are you doing? Please! Use these! Save yourselves! What are you doing?" My throat is raw. Nobody can hear my pleas though. Not even myself. Pwny grabs his own shovel, and scoops another round of fuel canisters onto me. And again. And again. Beeter, Madison, and Blue join in. The fuel canisters keep falling, despite my screams. I'm getting buried alive, in what can save us all. My feet are covered, and I can't move them. It's like I've just sprinted a marathon, I can't pick them up. I'm up to my waist. Then my shoulders. My arms are like lead too. My neck. I can't breathe. Then my head. I can't see anything, except a sliver. Pwny fills up that sliver, his eyes locked onto mine. "When we needed a leader most. How could you let me down? How could you?"

And he shovels another load, blinding me completely. I can't move at all. I can't see anything. I can't hear anything. I can't say anything. They can't hear me. They won't hear my screams to save me, to come back, my promise to be there for them. An eternity passes. Eventually, the canisters stop blocking my vision, and I can see through another crack. I see the station high in the sky. I see inside it. A man sits at a console, looking bored, staring out a window. He screams, and pounds a button. Red lights blare. I see from my little crack three shuttles taking off from the ground. I see again that everybody is the first shuttle. Except Pwny. He's on the second shuttle. The second shuttle turns upside down, and I see bullets flaring out of it. Black garbed men, with mechanic masks shoot back, but fall from Pwny's thunder. Pwny's ship turns right side up again and sails towards the sky. I'm desperately begging he will make it, but he doesn't. His shuttle runs out of fuel, and he falls. He stares right at me, saying he did it for us, he did it for me. An asteroid appears in the corner of my crack, and I can't take my eyes off of it. I watch in horror as it crashes down, right into the lone colony city. Fire leaps from the impact, and I watch hundreds of people turn to dust in seconds. The fire engulfs me.

I choke on the acrid ash for hours. When it clears, I'm on board another space station. The walls are cold, black steel, nothing like the usual white space station. I can see the stars from where I stand. I can see an asteroid hitting a planet from here. Above the window is a symbol, painted in bright colours. There is a flame in the center image. Around it, like the ring of a planet is a ring of white light. But this ring isn't a ring of rock, it's a ring of pure energy. My gaze reverts back down to my surroundings. I'm sitting in a throne, made of plushy black leather. In my armrests are two displays, buttons underneath them. My left has a picture of Earth crippling into an airless rock. My right has a picture of me being forced to kneel, and being executed by one of the black clad figures. In a perfect ring around me are more of the black clad figures. They all salute me. I can't see any of my friends. I can't see anybody's faces, save one. Madison salutes me with her right hand, a needle in her left.

"GAH!" I'm upright, in the cave. Sweat is pouring off of my forehead. Nobody wakes, Carl just rolls and grunts before snoring again. Blue is for sure charging, deactivated for more efficient charging. I almost nod off again when Madison sits up. From what I can see from the red embers letting off the smallest of a glow, Madison looks at me, worried. Before I can say anything, she wraps her arms around me, firmly embracing me. I hug her back. She whispers so quietly that I almost don't hear it, "Don't worry. We're safe right now. We'll get through it. We're still together."

I don't remember how long we hugged. I don't remember falling asleep again. But Carl eventually wakes me up. He shakes my shoulder gently, saying to me, "C'mon, wake up, Alpha. It's morning, or at least that's what my watch says." He cracks a small smile. "Man, you should have called me to take over the night shift. If I knew you were going to fall asleep, then I would have stayed up all night worrying that you would wake up the others with your snores."

I get up. Blue and Carl cleaned up the camp, Blue saying he did it about half an hour ago. He goes and wakes Madison, asleep in her bag. She mutters something about how she still has another fifteen minutes to sleep before getting on some summer camp bus. Another story I'll need to ask her about. We set off after a cold breakfast. I'm surprisingly hungry, even though I want to barf after that dream.

A few hours pass, us wondering through the caves again. Instead of getting lost, we simply have to deal with an incidence where I trip over a rock that we didn't quite expect. Around another corner, and I see light. Finally free! I'm sick of this place! It takes us about ten more minutes before we reach the exit of the cave. And to my surprise, I'm stepping on a thin layer of white powder. It takes me all ten minutes to realize I'm stepping in snow. From the air here, I think we just came out of a mountain. The exit hurts my eyes. Cracking open my eyes slowly, I can see white sparkles falling all around me.

I'm awestruck. Tiny, dazzling, beautiful crystals lightly dance around me. I would never believe such place could ever exist, ever since Bessie struck. I thought everything beautiful was destroyed. I'm so glad Im wrong. Almost nothing can compare to this beauty, except maybe the sight of the stars. But these.. They're so much like stars themselves, the little dazzling light coming from each one. If it weren't so cold, I would be making a snow angel right here.

Whack! Madison laughs. I see a puff of snow coming from Carl's hands. And snow is oh-so cold going down the back of my shirt. "Hey! What was that for?" I call out, stooping down to grab my own clump of snow.

When I start pulling myself up, I get smacked by another snowball, right on the forehead. I fire my snowball, but it misses by a mile. I charge, getting clobbered from Carl's onslaught. I tackle him in the waist, making his bulky body step back about a quarter inch. He laughs, picks me up, and is about to give me a snow washing when Madison pops him one in the neck. He drops me, and screams, "AAAAAGH! It's down my shirt! That's cold!" He shakes his shirt out, completely forgetting me. I run towards Madison, about to say my thanks, until she powers one into me.

"Hey!" I chuck more snowballs, again missing my target completely. I nimbly dodge one of hers, but it does little good. Carl bear hugs me, and tosses me into the snow. I can hear Madison squealing while Carl sends a barrage at her. I pull myself out, numb, but laughing. Blue is standing patiently by the cave entrance, waiting for us to finish our little game.

I call out to him, "C'mon! It's fun! Join us!" Blue politely shakes his head, and resumes standing there. I throw one at him playfully. It hits his chest. Blue staggers back, and smiles. "Reason I didn't join you guys was because I was afraid that I'd nail you all. But since you asked so nicely..."

He scoops the snow into his hand in one fluid motion and starts whipping snowballs at me, at an inhuman rate. His accuracy is impeccable, and I'm running to escape his onslaught. He chases after me, picks me up, and throws me 20 meters into a large snowbank. I get out, and he's after Carl. Carl is smacking Blue, but Blue doesn't seem to care. He whips one at Carl's foot, and he flopped into the snow. Meanwhile, Madison made her way over to me, and offers her arm to pull me out of the snow. I grab it, and almost get out. Unfortunately, my foot is stuck, so Madison tumbles into the snowbank beside me. I'm about to get up and out, but Madison acts faster. She grabs a snow load and is about to smush my face into it, but she suddenly pauses.

She's looking at Blue, and Blue repeats his message, seeing that I missed it. "Alpha. We got company. A jeep, 2.6 kilos out there, 1 o'clock, coming fast."
Posted May 1, 14 · OP · Last edited May 1, 14
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******Note******
From this point onward will be new material that has been freshly written, and no longer from another page, the transfer of posts have been completed, and I'm sure that only 1 chapter by Beeter (B-IX) has been lost. Hopefully, you all have been enjoying the story up to this point, and I hope you'll continue reading

Writers, please include formatting now from now on, especially in the title. If anyone else is interested in writing, I ask please do not try to jump into this story (this one was well planned, and I have a short fuse for anyone who ruins that plan). Message me if you want me to be part of your next story, and post it in the forums under a new thread. If you do, for sure I'll read it, I love writing this stuff, along with reading great works from you guys.

Enjoy everybody
Posted May 1, 14 · OP · Last edited May 6, 14
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B-IX

The terrain changed, and so did the jeep's endurance. Over the past few miles, the engine's been getting louder. You can't blame it though, we've been sliding across snow for a good while already. Heck, I didn't even think a place like this existed on Hope. Oh, and that was before I thought rogue asteroids could actually hit Hope.

I stood up in my seat and looked behind the jeep. Nothing but a snowy trail, and maybe a few oil spots. I sat back down and re-positioned the side-view mirror. Aside from the storm of snow-mist we left behind us, I couldn't spot anything interesting. I turned the mirror more to the right, ever so slightly, carefully trying not to break it. As I turned it even more, I could hear the bolts coming loose and the thing about to snap off. Before I could stop myself, we hit a small bump and SNAP went the mirror. Trying to make sense of the patent fact that it was broken, I held it up over my head and looked at it once more. Something new was there though - a black shape. I tilted it left and right, and the shape disappeared. "It's not a chip, and not a..." I whispered to myself before another bump knocked it out of my hands. My hands stumbled to catch it. Finally, I managed to grab it. I held it up once more, only to see an even bigger black shape. "Azulon, do you see what I see," I asked. He turned his head over once, then back on the terrain ahead. He hesitated, then looked back again. Without warning, the jeep sped up and he issued "Yeah, that's not a smudge."

I dropped the mirror on the floor of the jeep and looked over my shoulder. The shape was becoming more conceivable. It was another vehicle, no doubt. However, the odd thing that struck me was the odd protrusion out the side. It wasn't until a slight squint that revealed a familiar figure sticking his upper body out the side of the vehicle. Suddenly, tons of loud 'pings' dented the back of our jeep. "Hostiles," Azulon yelled, "I'm taking us up the mount!" What? I looked ahead and was dumbstruck with how I could have missed such a feature. A huge, snowy hill lay ahead. The jeep accelerated. The wind became bitter cold. The soft snow flew up behind the front tires, nearly filling up the back. With the height advantage, I peeked over my seat once more and saw a vehicle full of armed figures.

Azulon pulled out his pistol and started shooting behind us, missing by a distance but coming close a few times. "I think I should try," I said. The words just fell out of my mouth. He looked at me like I had two heads, then looked ahead, then back at me, now with a different look. "Fine. Don't miss." Yes! He handed over the gun while I took it without hesitation. I positioned myself, aimed down the sights, and pulled the trigger. The following sound was like a glass bottle hitting the pavement. My instant reaction returned a familiar feeling - one of excitement and pride. My joy was crushed to find out I missed by a long-shot. Apparently, our pursuers didn't like my retaliation, and made their own retaliation as well. The jeep was hit with dozens of shots, many buzzing past my face. I braced myself, and fired two more shots. One hit the grill and the other missed. The pursuing vehicle swerved but rebound even stronger than before. That did it. "Did you get 'em," Azulon asked. I was about to answer when a loud 'pop' shook the jeep. The right side of the jeep lowered and became shaky. I looked back at Azulon, who was now struggling to control the wheel. The back tire had been shot clean through, and we losing control. Thankfully, a small clearing lay up head. However, another surprise shot blew another tire, letting out a swift streak of air and lowering the the jeep even more to the right.

Our vehicle was now sliding across the snowy field. "I don't have control anymore, we're practically dead in the wa- er, snow!" Azulon shouted. I stood up out of my seat as snow poured into it. Several small mounds of snow were coming up fast, and I looked over to Azulon, who was... gone. He'd already jumped out of his seat. In quick response, I did the same, but less efficiently. As I hit the snow, the jeep slid front-first into a mound, completely burying it. I tried to stand back up but came to a kneel instead. I rubbed snow off my face and saw Azulon limping away, holding up his pistol. Azulon fired a few shots. Standing up completely, I ran around the burried jeep and was confronted with several figures in the distance. They were firing back at Azulon, who let out one final shot before tripping on the snow and falling face first into the white powder. One of the figures ran up a bit, to get a better shot, perhaps. He aimed my way and shot. I let myself go and fell down, coincidentally, behind the jeep. Without anymore breath to give, I stumbled back out of the snow and tried to put my hands up. Maybe that'll work? The figure sheathed his weapon. He ran up quickly and I got a better look at his face. No armor, no cloak, no weird-face-thingy. Wait.. That looks like...

"Beeter?" the figure yelled out. I limped forward and saw a familiar face. "Beeter, is that you," he yelled out. Assuming my best, I replied with "... Alpha?" Yep. Alpha began running over until several gunshots from afar caused a pause in both of us. Alpha looked back and more figures came out of cover. Carl, Madison, Blue. They're all here! Alpha regrouped with the others as they helped up Azulon. All that lay between them and I was a large blanket of snow. I ignored all bruises and pains, and rushed through the field. The snow compacted under my shoes as I ran awkwardly through.

I finally made it back to the group. Alpha threw me my bag and continued his talk with the others. "... They're in some sort of jeep, maybe three or four of 'em," Azulon said. Carl cut in with "Then we should take a chance and shoot out their driver as he passes by." I settled back down behind the snow mound we hid behind. Blue suddenly stated "Hostiles incoming, 60 meters." Azulon readied his pistol, Blue assumed a strong stance, Alpha readied himself as well as Madison, beside him. Carl stood to my left, and I... I picked up a snowball.
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Posted May 6, 14
AlphaRLee Builder
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A-X

The snow load in Madison's hands drop, thankfully not in my face. I am so glad not to become a popsicle, but on the other hand, Blue's report stopped all fun and games and reminded us of who we are and where we are. Right now, who we are are three people and one robot up on a mountain who will get killed if we don't do anything. Where we are is in trouble, deep deep snow, where we can hardly run. And there is a jeep, barreling towards us, now starting it's ascent up the mountain. It's going to be right on top of us if we don't move...but where? I can hardly run in this weather...

We quickly packed our stuff, and hid behind a snow lump, praying that this jeep will just pass us by. Or maybe it's a friendly jeep. Yes, that'd be a nice thought. A friendly jeep with friendly passengers who aren't trying to kill us for a change. Maybe it's even Beeter! Maybe it's even Pwny! I had to slow down for a second. It's definitely not Pwny, why the heck would he be climbing a mountain right now? And it's probably not Beeter, he's probably dead after jumping those guys. A brave, but suicidal move on his behalf. He's probably gone. So that logically concludes that those are the bad guys. But just one jeep? They must be pretty confident that we're almost dead by pneumonia or something.

We all decide it would be best to hide behind a snow lump and pray they'll just pass us by. Blue refuses to sit though, saying, "I have a plan. Sit tight."

Blue tries to divert them a different direction, by taking a super leap 400 meters down the mountain from where we are, and starts quickly stamping his feet. While he stamps his feet, he slowly moves up the mountain, veering towards the right. Clever thinking. To them, it looks like we walked up the mountain and headed right, instead of randomly appearing out of a cave. He makes another massive jump, and another...and another back to us, to minimize any more footprints to our hiding spot. Makes me wish I was a super-jumping-uber-powerful-infrared-seeing-never-hungry-can-opener-in-arm-super-epic-machine...

Blue reports to me just as he ducks behind my snow drift, "I think I detected another vehicle in the distance, odd thing is that I think the vehicle, a jeep, I think it is opening fire on the first jeep detected." He quickly risks another peek. "Yes, they're fighting each other, interestingly. The one in the front holds two passengers, the passenger armed with a pistol. The jeep in the back contains 4 passengers, it's a larger jeep, and it's firing with a...sorry, my cameras didn't get a good enough glance, I believe the larger jeep is armed with an assault rifle..."

Now what? Who's the friendlies, who's the baddies? What if neither are enemies? Fat chance. With our luck, I wouldn't be surprised if they are both enemies. No time to take chances. I steal a glance too. Seeing no bullets fly past us, I stick my head out again and see the first jeep. I can't see the passengers, but Blue is right, there is two, from what smudges I can see. And they're driving fast to us. I hear the muffled sounds of their pistol firing, I think we're too far away to hear the bullets from the other jeep. Shoot, shoot! Somebody kill the other guy! Make it easier for us! Shoot! I realized I'm rooting for the guys coming towards us, though they are probably more likely to kill us before the other team can arrive. But the other group is bigger...which probably means they're the guys who were chasing us ever since this whole friggin thing started. So who's in the front jeep?

Well, they're dead. One of the tires are shot. Wait...still driving. Madison grabs me and pulls me behind the snow bank. Thoomp! I'm somehow sprawled on top of both Blue and Madison. Carl suppresses a smile, and does his tough look, telling us to shush. Blue rights me quickly, and I keep looking. I pull my head out a little and...almost get shot. A stray shot from the guys way out in the back almost nailed me! Crap! If they were aiming at us, I'm screwed, we're all screwed. I'm glad Madison pulled me back...but...my curiosity needs to know how this car fight ends. My next glance is safe again, no shots coming. Well, I can't exactly tell, I'm being way more cautios this time. Nonetheless, I can see again, just not as well. The jeep closest is veering out of control, crap. I can see one grimy guy jump for his life. The other one looks stunned. He panics, and sees the fast approaching snow bank. He jumps too, but quite awkwardly. Obviously not meant for things like this, but the first guy is well trained. Crap. I knew somebody with military experience would probably be trying to kill us, but...well, I was just wishing my luck would hold out a bit longer first. The jeep is gone, and I see the aftermath of an explosion of snow. What I can tell is that that jeep collided head on with the snow bank, and I can't see any of it. What the? OOMPH! I'm gargling snow again! And somebody is on top of me. Erf. I roll off the person, and try to draw my gun. Blue's strong grip grabs me first, and Madison is staring at me, exasperated...and quite peeved. Oops. Twice now that she saved my life. "Get down, you idiot! That guy who just jumped is going kill us if you keep poking your head down like that!"

"Okay, we need a strategy..." Carl is drawing quickly in the snow, two x's to represent the jeep guys, and a bunch of dots to represent us. "Alpha, you first, you're the nearest. We'll give you cover support. But we need to figure out who this guy is, and you need to expose his weakness. Got it?"

"Uuuuuh...yeah. Let's move. Blue, you give me back up as soon as you can, your armour ok?" He nods. "Alright, Carl, you go out the other side, try to sneak up on him along the sides if we're still alive. Madison, you- CRAP!" A bullet skimmed the top of the snow bank. Since we're hidden by pure snow, this serves as the most useless shield ever. I jump out, firing wildly. My sights finally lock on the guy, but he's in the middle of trying to kill me, so I can't get a clean shot. Carl starts moving out the backside, as planned, but he can't get a clean shot either. He's stumbling in the snow. My assailant fires a few shots, but I disappeared behind a snowbank first.I need to improve my position. These deep snow drifts don't let me even move anywhere without tripping. More bullets whip by me. I can't stay here, I need to finish this.

I kneel and shoot some more.A majority of my shots go sailing way past this guys head. I get a few close ones, but he always is moving and messing me up. Crap. Last bullet already? Crap crap crap. Better make this good. I fire, and I feel like I can see the bullet fly. And it's a prefect shot, going right into his nose...considering if he was there 10 seconds ago. Again, I do more fancy dodges. I lock my sights on him again, and I pull the trigger. What am I doing? I already shot my last shot, and missed. Ugh. I hate that fleeting moment of hope of me miscounting and thinking I might have another bullet left.

New plan. I romp through the snow and jump at him. He doesn't even fire, he must be in shock.. Not like it would have mattered. My jump falls half a meter short, and I'm now smushed in snow. Too many a time today. Oh yeah! He's going to shoot me! Crap! I evade with a lopsided roll, and barrel into his feet. He aims his gun, and fires. Luckily for me, I somehow rolled between his legs, and he just missed. He turns around to fire again, but I'm finally on him. I am finally on my feet, and I tackle him into the snow. He topples backwards and I land on top, trying to choke him.

But this guy is skilled, and he definitely knows what to do. He snags my left leg with his right, and pulls me off balance, rolling me onto my back and him kneeling. From there, he grabs his gun from the snow and starts bludgeoning me in the head. Crap! Crap crap crap crap! Crap. Ugh! Ow! Crap. My vision is blackening around the edges, I can hardly think straight. So I do what's reflexive. I swing my leg and clip him in the nose. He, startled, loosens his pressure, and lets me squirm out. I escape, and I'm running up the hill as fast as I can. Unfortunately for me, I forgot all about the snow drifts, and I face plant...again. My new thing apparently. Crap. He arms his gun and jumps forwards to improve his shot. And for the first time ever, I get lucky. He trips too. I scramble up...

I'm almost to the top, and I turn around, seeing if I have to dodge yet. At first, I see him again, but looking further, I see the other guy. Crap! He going to shoot me too? Wait...why are his hands up? I dive into the snow, but no bullets fire at me at all. I get up cautiously, my gun ready (though it still has no bullets, I'm just trying to use it as a scare tool...I think...) and look. And...is that who I think it is? That dirty guy who jumped out of the jeep late, was shooting backwards, and stuff like that? Just hoping it is, I tuck my pistol away.

And I take the risk, and say his name. "Beeter?" The guy snaps his head to me, limping up the hill, and I get a clear look at his face. Yeah...it does look like him! "Beeter? Is that you?" I'm bounding down the hill in ecstasy. It's really him! He's alive! Beeter's alive!

He croaks, "Alpha?" and starts limping to me. I never thought I'd be so happy to see a near stranger who was part of the group trying to shoot me. I'm running down the slope and am only a couple hundred meters away from Beeter when I hear more loud bangs. Whipping my head around, I see Blue, Madison, and Carl finally taking action, trying to shoot the newcomer. Beeter looks relieved, but I don't think he realizes that we don't know him yet, and we're not exactly on friendly terms.

More bullets spray the snow around us, and I see the new guy hiding, readying his gun to return fire. He almost gets the gun ready, before I finally snap to my senses. "STOP! DON'T SHOOT!"

Luckily, it worked. The new guy was startled enough that he couldn't pull the trigger, and I waded in between our team and him, hands up in the air. My team got the message, and they lower the gun. We get out of hiding, and approach the new guy, gently lifting him up and brushing him off. By the looks of it, he's been through a lot, he's bruised, cut, bandaged, and stuff like that. Beeter soon wades over, only to be attacked by a massive group hug. Blue lifted us all with his super grip, almost crushing my lungs. Oh well, all's good. We almost resume our conversation, before I forgot there's the new guy beside us, the one who I tried to kill; the one who almost killed me.

Beeter quickly introduces the new guy, Azulon, says he met him on the top of the ravine wall, a story he'll share later. Azulon debriefs the situation, "They're in some sort of a jeep...maybe 3 or 4 of 'em." I totally forgot about those guys...crap. I'm exhausted after my fight with Azulon, and boy, my head hurts.

Carl pipes up, "Then we should take a chance and shoot out their driver as he passes by." It sounded like a plan. We all moved behind the nearest snowbank, the one where the jeep crashed. I wanted to talk to Beeter a bit more, figure out what happened, but Blue cut us off.

"Hostiles incoming, 60 meters." Time for action, the real fight. I shrug off the pain. Azulon loads a new rack of bullets. I grab my gun, and some new bullets, after shooting Azulon with my empty gun. There's Madison beside me, along with Carl and Blue and Beeter. Beeter fumbles, and grabs a snowball.

We're tired. Exhausted. We've been through a lot. But we're not at the end of it, so we need to keep our heads up until the very end.

Bring it on.

Continued...
Posted May 8, 14 · OP · Last edited May 12, 14
AlphaRLee Builder
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A-X Continued

They whip around the corner in less than 5 seconds. But we were ready. Oh, were we ever ready. First thing that happens is that Blue jumps out from cover and jumps into the jeep, totally scaring them all and smashing the driver out of the jeep. All the bullets are concentrated at Blue right now, giving us a perfect opportunity to continue the attack. Beeter smacks the nearest guy in the face with his snowball, allowing Carl to barrel in and knock him down. I fire my gun at them, but miss. By nice coincidence though, I hit one of the guns they are carrying, rendering it useless and buying Carl another second. Madison climbs into the jeep, delivering a nice kick to the head of another guy, knocking him out of the jeep. She proceeds to get the guy that Carl was fighting, and grab him from behind in a chokehold. Carl smashes that guy, and chucks him out of the jeep.

Blue grabs the wheel, and steers the jeep into a snowbank, with less force than when Beeter's collided, but still enough to jar everybody. Meanwhile, Beeter, Azulon and I are still sprinting to catch up. We catch up, ready to pounce the last guy, only to see Blue already shackling him.

*Yep, still not finished.*
Posted May 13, 14 · OP
Shrouded

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B-X

It's the midst of an intense fight. I ran up as fast as I can to the enemy vehicle along with Azulon and Alpha. With about 10 meters between me and the jeep, I started sprinting as fast as I could. At about 4 meters left, Blue was already ahead of us, putting the last guy into a submission.
"Wait!" Alpha yelled, "We should interrogate him. We need to know why they're following us right?" Alpha made a good point, because Blue picked up the guy and sat him down beside the vehicle. Carl and Azulon caught up, along with Madison climbing back out of the vehicle.
As we gathered around, Carl and Azulon searched his body for weapons, but fortunately he was clean. Blue knelt down, studying the guy's helmet. With only a seconds time, Blue had somehow figured out how to "unlock" his helmet, or face guard.
Just before Blue lifted up his metal mask, he uttered something that sounded like radio static, weak and faint. Blue rested his hands upon the guy's helmet one last time, and right before he could lift it up, he froze.
"Uh... Blue?" said Madison in a quizzical way. Before she could say anything else, a loud, resonating sound began to be audible in the distance. Blue stood up and faced us. "Heavy machinery about half a mile away... Big."
Could it be some tanks, a jet, artillery missiles? I began to question just how important we are. Could we really be the only remaining survivors on the planet aside from this group of masked strangers who want to kill us?
"This jeep seems damaged but we could repair it with the right materials." said Carl as he investigated the vehicle.
"There's no time for that," I said while looking up to the sky. Everyone else looked up and saw a monstrous airship, almost like a blimp. The design was a bit different though, almost as if we'd stepped into a retro-futuristic world, as this airship's architect was clearly nostalgic about the 1930's or 50's back on Earth.
"Okay, new game plan," Alpha said as he gestured to Blue. "There's no way we'll have another chance like this." Alpha and Blue now both continued towards the airship. "I need to get inside."

Apparently Madison didn't take that so well. "What?" she said in confusion. "No, you can't.. what if something bad happens up there!?"
"Don't worry," Alpha replied, in a reassuring tone. "If there's anything that we need to do that's more urgent than anything else is finding the remaining cells. Now we can't exactly do that with these annoying pests at every turn we take. We're all after the same thing in this case. Either we get there first or they do and we don't have a ride out of here."
Everyone pondered his words. "You're right" said Carl, backed by Azulon. He was right. If we're ever going to get off of Hope then we'll need to figure out why these guys are tracking us and top them.
I stepped in to say my part. "You have my support, if you need any help," I said. I hope he doesn't pick me to go up there though.
"So are you okay with this, Madison?" Alpha asked her. She looked up to the airship, then back at Alpha, then finally said "Okay. If you have to, but... please be careful up there." Alpha smiled and nodded, then continued his plan with Blue.

"Okay, here's the plan. Blue is gonna boost me up there and I'll sabotage their engines or the controls. However, that blimp will be heavily guarded. With that in mind..." Alpha explains while putting his hand out towards Carl, who reluctantly hands Alpha the knife he just looted off of one of the unconscious guys.
We all wait at the bullet-filled jeep and try to stay out of sight. Carl tries at the gas tank but finds it leaking. He heads to the driver's seat and tries to start the vehicle, but nothing worked. The only glimmer of hope he found was a pony keychain on the rear-view mirror.
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Posted Jul 15, 14 · Last edited Nov 26, 14