Futuristic 〘POLARIS.〙

[Clockwork_Magic]

Solline
Interactions: BnemonicDevice | Lucius Cypher ​

---

After the various happenings of the early journey in the caravan, things seemed to quiet down in the cabin as they ventured further and further into the Shell. Miss deadringer was fast asleep, the albino series holding the needle to wake her when the time comes, while most others were simply biding their time until they arrived at their destination. Solline was one of them, staring up at the roof of the cabin in silence, trying to clear her mind in preparation for their arrival, with only the sounds of the caravan's movements through the shell being the only thing keeping the cabin from being deafeningly silent.

After some time, the caravan stopped, with it the noises it generated through its movements, paving way for the droning, humming silence signature of the Shell that Solline was no stranger of. If it wasn't clear that they'd arrived at their destination, the "rise and shine" from the driver was sure to have done the trick, as the shutters of the caravan flickered open. Go time already... Without wasting much time, as soon as it was safe to do so, Solline freed herself from the constraints of those damn seatbelts and her first order of business was to take Apollo out of her pockets and put it on her face. Can't be a sharpshooter if you get even one of your eyes ripped through by a stray piece of metal, now can you? Well, that and it helped her see her targets and other stuff better.

Looking out the caravan's windows, there was a massive metal giant, to which Solline gazed upon in slight awe. This wasn't the first time she'd seen one, given her frequent missions into the shell, but it has been a while. Plus, with a thing of that size, one can't help but wonder what brought it into existence in the first place. As she looked on at the metal colossus, something caught her eye. "Hmm...?" There was... something odd about a corner of the colossus. Years of sharpshooter work made Solline adept at discerning details at a distance, after all it kind of is her job, except usually it's to determine whether something needs to be shot until it stops moving or not. Solline switched Apollo to reconnaissance mode to get a better look. Sure enough, the corner in question looked a bit... un-uniform in shape when compared to the rest of the plating on the thing. As she scanned over the area in question, she happened across an interesting sight indeed, that of a severed human hand. Based on the color of the substance around the hand, namely that is was not the color of normal blood, it's almost certain it belonged to some GPO. Best hope they have a great regeneration factor... She switched off Apollo's recon mode and looked around the cabin at her fellow operators.

Well, I guess I should tell the others... but that could wait... That is namely due to two things: miss deadringer and the other hulking metal giant of an auxiliary. The former was still passed the hell out while the latter was still properly strapped to its seat. The hooded blonde started walking towards where Chomp was sitting, passing Tiphereth on the way. "Now's a good time to give her a jab, don'tcha think?" She said to the albino series as she walked by, neither slowing her walking pace nor making eye contact as she did so. She only stopped walking when she reached her destination, right by the big metal auxiliary. "You need a hand with that, big fella?" Gesturing to the seatbelts that kept the auxiliary practically super glued to the seat.​

 

[Lucius Cypher]

Interacting with: Soline ( Clockwork_Magic )​

---

For most of the journey Chomp was satisfied playing his visual novels, taking his time understanding the route and characters. Admittedly, after his first successful run he was far less invested in characters he already knew about and focused on unlocking routes from the other characters, taking only slightly more time to read about them. His overall success rate in the game was still low however, and he had a lot more work to do if he wanted to unlock the different endings for each route, but for now he had a rudimentary understanding of many of the characters. Before he could start his tenth run, the transport stopped. It would seem that they have reached their destination. Chomp began to undo the buckles keeping his body down, getting the ones within arms reach first. However those were only a 1/3 of the seat belts: the rest Chomp would need assistance getting out of, or else he would be forced to break them to escape and cause a bit of damage to the Night Crawler. Fortunately for Chomp, he didn't need to ask for help when Soline came along and offered her assistance.

"THAT WOULD BE APPRECIATED. THERE ARE SIX BUCKLES TO UNDO THE EIGHT STRAPS. TWO ARE LOCATED AROUND MY ANKLES, ANOTHER TWO PARALLEL TO MY GROIN. ONE IS BEHIND MY BODY, I CANNOT REACH IT FROM THIS POSITION, THE LAST ONE IS CONNECTED TO MY ROCKET WHICH I ALSO CANNOT REACH."

Chomp would help Soline find the needed straps and once freed, Chomp would stand up. His metal joints creaked lightly as he had been sitting in relative stillness for the entire journey. Observing outside the window he noted the Rebuilder. He had encountered such machines before but has never defeated them. He knew about their repair plaster and was interested in researching it's inner workings. His own GP worked similarly to a rebuilder itself, consuming things to produce things. If destroying the rebuilder was important to their objectives, Chomp would gladly partake in the battle in order to conduct research for his GP. However at the moment it doesn't seem like the Rebuilder is an immediate threat. Instead, the chasm the rebuilder came out of was likely the source of the distress signal. It's not unusual for communities to be made within the plate itself: some locations are more hospitable to life than the surface.

While everyone was preparing, Chomp went to gather supplies. There was no telling how long they would be on this mission and there were many organics to take care of. While GPO's superior physical abilities ensured they don't need things like food and water like normal organics, it's still important for them to have access to supplies to last in this harsh and unforgiving world. Most deaths that happened weren't from machines after all, but from starvation and exhaustion while exposed to the elements. Thus Chomp made sure to pack plenty of food and liquid rations, fuel, shelter equipment, and medicine. While many of the GPO's have high regenerative factors and some have abilities to heal injuries, medicine was still important in the long term for the same reason food and drink were. The fuel was largely meant for starting fires and staying warm. The cold was as much an enemy as machines were, and unlike the machines a GPO can beat the weather to death. At least, Chomp has never met a GPO who's power was meant to defeat the weather.

Chomp himself required no sustenance and doesn't even truly sleep, and his body was purposely designed to be hardy with very minimal equipment. If necessary he could simply curl up and enter a hibernation mode that will keep his Black Box safe for an untold amount of time, resisting weather and entropy that all Auxilary typically do. Additionally he can rely on his apotheosis fluid to power his communicator to release a distress signal until someone can rescue him. Thus everything he backed was for the express purpose of aiding his organic teammates. He even packed a boiler and water purifier. Not only could the boiler be used to for stews, it can also heat water for washing. The water purifyer was a deceptively simple looking tube in a plastic bag, but used together it can take dirty or even radioactive water and clean it into something drinkable. Perhaps not tasty, but it can at least be drank or used for cooking and cleaning.

The last thing Chomp took for supplies were various mesh bags. Anyone who was watching him could tell what they were: body bags. There was a good chance that they would find corpses, fresh or old, on their way to the signal location. Official doctrine would ordinarily be to leave them were they lay, but Chomp has a vested interest in gathering organic corpses for the purpose of research and recycling. Though this isn't something he tells people about, since he's come to learn that most organics don't appreciate being recycled after they die. Especially when Chomp is involved. Not to mention these body bags may be needed to bring back any of the other operatives should they fall in battle. Unlike regular corpses, the bodies of GPO's need to be rescued in order to extract valuable data off of them, as well as any equipment should their GP's be objects. Though Chomp isn't sure if their bodies are recycled afterwards: he's never been told to recycle a GPO corpse before.

With all his supplies gathered, Chomp awaits further orders along with the others. He does an equipment check, ensuring his Butchering Blades are secured, and that his Impact Edge was ready for action as well. The giant cleaving sword may see some use today if they have to take on that Rebuilder. Chomp was confident that as a team, the GPO's would be able to defeat the giant machine. Though Chomp himself certainly would need to approach it differently compared to most Machines he faces. It's sheer size alone would invalidate his typical tactic of ripping through it via brute strength and weighty blows. So he would need to revert to his old hunting tactics, maneuvering into the best position to attack vulnerable points or areas that lack point defenses. Worse comes to worse, he may be able to inflict serious damage on it if he attacks it from within, however his data on the inner defenses of a Rebuilder is woefully lacking.

"WE SHOULD INVESTIGATE THE CHASM. THERE IS A HIGH PROBABILITY OF SETTLEMENTS BEING MADE WITHIN SUCH LOCATIONS. WE SHOULD ALSO BE AWARE OF ANY SIGNS OF CIVILIZATION THAT MAY ASSIST US IN FINDING A SETTLEMENT AND SUBSEQUENTLY THE SIGNAL'S SOURCE."

 

[BnemonicDevice]

scroll me!

TIPHERETH

Injecting Nor with her Syringe ( Ehb ), contemplating on how to terrorize Solline Clockwork_Magic , and giving everyone else a loud wakeup call (GOD PROGRAM ACTIVATED.)

"Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate."

Mmm, yes. Corny line this is. But some variant of this quote was running through her head as she picked up on the disinterest and aversion in the Markswoman's voice. When one wants to avoid something they do not like, they try to disconnect from it, interact as little as possible with it, detatch themselves from experiencing anything around them. Boredom, anxiety, disdain, yes-- all of these were the signs of a broken and lost soul that can be toyed with. She observed her as she looked out with her binoculars, clearly something had piqued her interest.

But that's all for later. For now--

The albino girl unstrapped herself, silently walking down to where the dormant operator lay, whipping out the syringe she entrusted to her, remembering the short instruction lecture she was given by girl before her. She spent her time looking for a vein, something she was unironically not too adept at. She's a trained field medic and has done similar things before. Yet, she wasn't into the injective substances, often they're done alone, in quiet corners, and no one can share in your delirium unless you got a double dose. But with a pint on the other hand. . .

There. Her eyes focus in, hovering the needle over her target.

Right side up.

Insertion.

Both hands.

Twist.

Hold.

And all now she had to do was wait.

. . .

. . .

. . .

God this was taking too long.

She closed her eyes, meditating in place as she maintained her hold on the syringe. She began to activate her God Program in place, resonating with the many operators laying here, and based on their close proximity on the Caravan Vehicle, a near-deafening tinnitus could be heard in their ears. If this person won't wake up in front of them, she'll just *force* them awake, not caring if she earned her ire, or that of any others.

But that couldn't compare to what Tiphereth was experiencing. Ten distinct noises filled her ears, as if a cacophony of personalities were clashing in her head, doing battle against one another all in her head. She got to work separating and compartmentalizing all of them, doing a silent roll call of all those present, sweeping her gaze across the metallic walls of the Linear Accelerator.

Pixie. Phobos. Dolos. Fortuna. Despoina. Hephestus. Chimera. Lethe. Brunhild.

That's nine. Her focus turned towards their driver, only to be met by black silence. She wasn't an operator. She had mistaken the mysterious signals weakness to be associated with someone not cleared for combat or exploration. So, who was the tenth-? Her eyes widened when she put it all together.

♡coded by uxie♡

-->

 

[Worthlessplebian]

Hiberus Shaw, Phobos Itself
Interactions: Clockwork_Magic Lucius Cypher Mentions: The others.


The journey melted away to Shaw's perspective, others stayed to themselves reading, watching, or interacting with an onboard digital program. Shaw did not accessorize the ghoul facade, adhering to his duties. Except not quite, as the Engineer could repurpose a feature in the helmet. He spoke a soundless command to his helmet, a series of drop-down menus filled his screen. His eyes blink-clicked through the pellucid, blue tabs. Arriving on a feature, the speaker program which Shaw occasionally utilizes as a disruption tactic sat before him. Opening up the program's hood, lines of code streamed across until finally filling the entire screen. A simple editing to the directional channel, manual volume adjustment instead of receptor-based on chaotic levels, isolate so nobody else hears and close. Now Shaw hit the play button. The sweet, serenading music filled his headspace - almost literally.

Time passed, the transport stopped. As fun as this side project was, Shaw put a stop the siren song immediately. Undoing the straps, he admitted to the smallest of fortunes that they did not perish on the arrival trip. Unlike that other line.

His attention drew itself to the brief exchange between Soline and Chomp, assisting the auxiliary to unbind himself from the seat. "Allow me to assist, as well." Aiding the sniper by unbuckling one or two straps. A small expedience.

The others began packing supplies, Shaw saw fit to poke ou the vessel first to observe. The Shell. Breathtaking night on this cadaverous world of gossamer metal. Eerily matched only by the nox surface of the Ghul-Star which rested on his head. This is not his first time on the Shell's surface; however, he does not hesitate to drink in the swirly night drink. Once he's had his fill, Shaw ducked down into the Nightcrawler to acquisition supplies like the others. He took the essentials, left nothing to greed then left.

The Rebuilder had been watched by the others and Shaw as well. Though unlike the others, he did not make note of anything specific for this mechanical creature. Instead he replied to Chomp's suggestion. "Seconded. I will take up the position behind you, the sniper take up the rear and the rest fill into the middle whilst exploring the chasm."

 

[Clockwork_Magic]

Solline
Interactions: Lucius Cypher | Worthlessplebian | Pretty much everyone​

---

Eight straps and six buckles, huh? Don't know how many I was expecting there to be but thought there'd be a bit more... Ah whatever, at least it makes my job easier. Following the metal giant's guidance, one by one the straps came loose, accompanied by the sound of clicking as the buckles were undone. The job was then made marginally easier when Shaw unbuckled 2 of the remaining buckles. As the auxiliary was freed from its confines, it went to go gather some supplies for the mission ahead. As she watched the metal giant walk away, she looked at the pile of seatbelts that was left after she and Shaw had freed the auxiliary. How the heck did it even set these buckles in the first place?

Her frivolous thoughts were interrupted by a somewhat familiar and definitely unpleasant ringing of the ears. Wincing under her goggles, she glared at the albino series through the corder of her eye. Is that really necessary?! We're all right here in the same cabin! Whilst glaring, she saw Tiphereth widen her eyes at something, to which she couldn't really care enough to even theorize what it was that made her perform such a reaction. The artificial tinnitus filling her hearing, she similarly left to follow in Chomp's and Shaw's lead and gather supplies for herself. She made sure to grab what was necessary for her own nutrition and hydration over the duration of the mission, which wasn't much in comparison to the others given her metabolic efficiency.

After gathering supplies for herself, she rendezvoused with the others. After listening to what Chomp and Shaw had to say, and after seeing that everyone else was up and ready to go, Solline decided it was the appropriate time to let the others know. "Yea, that sounds like a good idea. Probably have an idea of what the source of the signal is, though it probably isn't a settlement or anything similar, otherwise there'd be a lot more blood on that thing than already is." Gesturing with her index finger to the corner of the Rebuilder where she spotted the hand as she said that. "There's a hand with some blood splatter over there on the Rebuilder, right in that weird looking corner. And unless you all know of any normal person that bleeds a bright lime color, I think it's safe to say the severed hand over there is a GPO's. And since the Rebuilder came from the chasm, we'd probably find the owner of that hand down there, if not alive then at least their body." She retracted her finger and took a pause to think before speaking again, directing her focus to the formation proposed by the masked operator. "Yea, I think that formation would work, but first we'd need to find an actual way down into the chasm. I could get that done from a vantage point." As she finished, she looked around to see if any of the others had anything to add, while chambering a round in her rifle.​

 

[Ehb]

Nor Clyde
Interactions: BnemonicDevice

---

Nor didn't even remember taking the pill supplement before she found herself awake. As the circulation in her body began to accelerate itself from hibernation into normality she found herself looking at the glaringly white head of the one whom had... oh yeah. Promised to wake her up. The operator that she had entrusted the syringe to wake her back up once they reached the target area had indeed followed through with her promise. As Nor was awake and she immediately noticed the sensation of the needle stuck into her skin.

But she also was taking note at the expression that the operator who had awakened her had.

She seemed to have her attention directed elsewhere in the vehicle at the moment. Aw crap. Nor was noticing everyone else whom had been strapped in when she was awake were already gone. The still half-activated gears in her head began to turn, and immediately started to assume something not-exactly-ideal had just occurred and had to woken up early.

In any case, she didn't want the needle to get broken off and stuck into her, and it seemed like Tipareth knew more about what was happening than she did, so...

"Aw jeez." Nor began. "Something went wrong before we made it to the target location didn't it?"

Clueless, Nor seemed at that moment. Not aware she was actually pretty behind the rest of everyone at this point.

 

[Lucius Cypher]

Interacting with: Soline ( Clockwork_Magic ), Shaw ( Worthlessplebian ), Nor ( Ehb ), Tiphereth ( Clockwork_Magic )​

---

Everyone was getting ready to go, though Nor seemed to just be beginning to awaken. He wasn't quite sure what happened to her but he assumed she was asleep. Wordlessly, he gave her a small pack full of supplies. While it might not have all the things Nor specifically wants, it should have generally useful things. She can pack her own items once she's fully roused. He listened as everyone spoke and gave their words on the matter, but the one that Chomp was most concerned with was Soline. She had pointed out that the Rebuilder was blood-stained, and given the fact that she can tell the blood's color belonged to a GPO, it was recent. It has been some time since the assorted group had been sent out on this mission despite how short notice it was. Chomp pondered the possibility that the Rebuilder has already killed and consumed the GPO, or if this was a recent incident.

"One thing for certain is that Rebuilders are generally not that hostile. Dangerous yes, but they don't go out of their way to hunt and kill like other machines. And unless the GPO has been improperly trained, most should know not to engage a rebuilder alone. Perhaps the GPO was part of a group that attacked the Rebuilder for parts and supplies and the severed arm was simply an injury sustained during the hunt. But that does not explain the emergency signal in this area either. A wound such as that does not warrant a distress signal. Was the Rebuilder a participant in a siege against a settlement? Or perhaps the GPO was attempting to flee the settlement and came across the Rebuilder. Slow and ponderous as they are, they are not machines one should be around casually. They can and will crush all opposition with brute force and apathy. There is also the possibility that the Rebuilder has indeed killed and consumed the GPO, and if that is true and the death was recent, we may still be able to slay the Rebuilder and reclaim the body. If only to be recycled."

Chomp silently pondered their options. He really wanted to take on the Rebuilder now, if only for it's potential material worth. Investigating that severed arm would be important as well. However their mission was not to patrol and hunt but to find the source of that signal. And as fearsome as a Rebuilder can be, it alone is not a threat that ought to warrant a distress signal unless things are truly dire. Ultimately the mission comes first, but if the group decides it would be beneficial to take out the Rebuilder, he would eagerly join. So Chomp looked to the gathered group and proposed a question.

"SHOULD WE DESTROY THE REBUILDER FIRST? SOLINE HAS IDENTIFIED THAT IT HAS ENCOUNTERED A GPO, POSSIBLY DEFEATING AND CONSUMING ONE. IF WE DESTROY IT WE MAY BE ABLE TO ACCESS THE BODY FOR INTEL OR RECYCLING. ADDITIONALLY THE REST OF THE REBUILDER'S BODY CAN BE RECYCLED OR USED TO CONSTRUCT MEANS TO DESCEND INTO THE RAVINE SAFELY. SUCH AS UTILIZING IT'S LEGS TO CONSTRUCT A VEHICLE CAPABLE OF VERTICAL ASCENT, WHICH CAN ALSO BE USED AS MOBILE SHELTER BOTH ON THE SURFACE AND WITHIN THE PLATE ITSELF. HOWEVER THE DESTRUCTION OF THE REBUILDER IS NOT CRITICAL TO OUR MISSION. WE WILL STILL BE ABLE TO ASCEND INTO THE RAVINE WITHOUT BATTLING THE MACHINE."

 

[Lekiel]

Amiela Aeterna, BRUNHILD 059

Tsk. . . the coral haired GPO let out an air of annoyance at the abrupt high pitched ringing in her ears. Gritting her teeth, she forced the intrusive sound down into silence on sheer will alone, casting a frown at the pale haired petite GPO.

Tiphereth. She’d heard the same tinnitus back during the wormbus and carrier eradication mission but there had been so many of them. Now after spending a relatively monotonous length of time travelling with the group and reading whatever meagre information she could glean from publicly available files and the mission briefing, she was quite sure who was who and who could do what. As a support class herself, it paid to know the capabilities of her comrades; and their mannerisms of course. There was no point syphoning off damage if any of them seemed wont of reckless behaviour.

She noticed Tiphereth’s eyes widening as if having a sudden realisation, but as no explanations were immediately forthcoming, Amiela turned her attention to the rest. Chomp, Hiberus and Solline had already begun their pre-expedition planning, voicing out their various observations. The pink haired series listened in for the time being, but kept her own counsel. Pretty professional thus far–

"Aw jeez." A voice chimed in. "Something went wrong before we made it to the target location didn't it?" It was Nor, apparently having just awoken from her deep slumber.

“We’re discussing a course of action. Current formation is for Chomp to be upfront, Hiberus second, Solline at the rear. The rest of us in between. Signal’s from the deep chasm up a head and there’s Rebuilder just coming out of it. . . apparently with the remains of a GPO on it.”

The bearer of Brunhild brought the clone up to speed, if she’d shown any semblance of annoyance to the latter’s tardiness it was only with the slow blink of her eyes.

“Was such a deep sleep really necessary?” She added after a moment's pause, her voice coolly impassive. Whatever Nor’s reply was, Amiela would turn to glance back as Chomp made further comments on the current situation.

“I doubt that we would find a settlement here,” she replied in response to his earlier statement, glancing at him sidelong. It was a strange thesis by the Auxiliary, with them being so far out from the Polaris any form of organised community would be hard pressed to survive the hostilities. Amiela donned the helm of her Svalinn exosuit and checked her equipment as she spoke her next line.

“I think we should focus on heading towards the source of the signal and investigating along the way. It would take too much effort to attack that Rebuilder–,” satisfied that all her stuff was in order, she shouldered her heavy rifle Dainsleif and stood at the ready, “but we could definitely try retrieving whatever it is Solline saw from it.”


Mentions: BnemonicDevice Lucius Cypher Ehb Worthlessplebian Clockwork_Magic

 

[BnemonicDevice]

scroll me!

TIPHERETH

*Mildly* contemplating on how to terrorize Solline Clockwork_Magic , and giving everyone else a piece of her mind.

She gazed upon the awakening Operator she was seated next to, observing her coming to clearly struggling to catch-up with current events. I mean, a long nap does that to anyone now anyway. Blankly staring, taking in everyone's words and advice, she contemplated over the proposed course of action.

The Marksman she was keen on messing around with clearly saw what she had sensed, as when she had witnessed her glare off far from the window earlier, it was in a general direction where she sensed an unknown 10th signal.

"...Incomplete." she blurted out, now daring to proffer her insights to the team.

“Their resonance tapers off, like static from a broken receiver, similar to those I have nursed who have had other limbs severed from the main body."

"However, the signal I picked up from the receiver, is quite the opposite of any amputee I have seen."

"Instead of having a couple notes dulled or muted out, while the rest of the resonance perseveres. . . what I have heard, is mostly black silence save for a couple faint cries."

"It was scattered, fleeting, and weak. And could be sensed throughout the body of the Rebuilder below. I fear that... whatever parts of this operator has consumed; enough time has elapsed for its metabolized consumption."

"I say we descend down the chasm, as no more information can be gleaned by standing still" lending credence to the Marksman's logic.

♡coded by uxie♡

-->

 

[Ehb]

Nor Clyde
Interactions: BnemonicDevice Lekiel

---

The operator began to try to stand herself out of her seat, but she slumped back down, once again seated, her free arm falling over the supplies Chomp has passed her her. She was fighting against her own body's revving up metabolism, and the general desire to not do anything more for just a little bit longer. But as she allowed her metabolism to return to normal and her general demeanor began to return to normal, she listened to the discussion going on between the other operators.

A Rebuilder? One of those big and slow things? Nor's teammates appeared to have come to suspect that a fellow GPO had somehow fallen victim to the Rebuilder that was nearby. Well, if everyone so far seemed to be in consensus of that fact then nor much reason for Nor to doubt it. But in any case, it also seemed like the consensus was to investigate things further.

Ultimately, Nor yanks out the needle in her arm on her own. For a moment, a small glist of pink liquid drips out before Nor presses against it with her finger. One of the squad armed with a rifle asked her if taking the supplement and knocking herself out up until now was necessary. In response, Nor shrugged. In any case, in the time it took for that exchange to occur, the hole in Nor's skin from the needle had already healed enough for her to rather wipe off the excess drop or two of fluid around the entry point with her back of her glove. Good enough.

Nor gives a thank you pat on Tipareth's shoulder as she indicated her intentions to get out of her seat.

Sorting through the supplies Chomp - always such a gentleman - had provided, Nor unbuckles herself from her seat and gears up. Supplementing her supply of bullets with those that Chomp had passed along. Sadly, unlike the other day, she didn't have the liberty of being able to stay in one spot and spew out bullets. But she stows away enough to keep her unburdened. At the very least, enough to go guns blazing at a moments notice without much reservation. The rest she zipped back up and let it stash on the seat. Maybe they'd be needed later.

"Well. I'll just be on Chomp's Six then." Nor said, as she attached her two Kineti-Blades to her side. The disposable extra on her offhand, and the fresh new one on her dominant right. She wiggled her hips a little side to side testing to see if they were particularly cumbersome in that configuration. They weren't too much.

Nor's sensory abilities were nothing of note. Any observations that she could make were already declared. In the end though, her specialty was in cutting things. If things went completely south, whatever firepower Chomp brought to the table would probably be a deciding factor as to whether or not they'd be able to go back home to the Polaris in still functioning condition. Those Rebuilders were things that would normally be avoided and only engaged with the security of heavy ordinance and firepower. But it seemed like the situation was dictating that they were going to need to investigate it without those comforting security measures on standby.

 

[Clockwork_Magic]

Solline
Interactions: Lucius Cypher | Worthlessplebian | BnemonicDevice | Ehb | Lekiel ​

---

The blonde sniper listened quietly as the others proposed various plans of action, the first of which being the metal machine known as Chomp. Really? Us? Take out that thing? I'd rather not have my hands become decorations on that thing along the one already there. She'd have objected to that course of action if one of the others hadn't already done so shortly after Chomp presented the idea, by some coral haired woman. Solline had vague recollections of seeing her during the extermination sortie the other day, but other than that, she hadn't the faintest idea of who the woman was. Followed shortly after the arrival of the coral haired woman was miss deadringer, up from her deep, self induced sleep. Solline was a tad bit envious of heavy sleepers like that, though granted that sleep was anything but ordinary.

The next to speak was the self proclaimed psychologist. The prelude to her proposal was... something alright. What the actual hell are you talking about? Aside from the revelation that Tiphereth hears voices and cries of some kind in her head, which would have had Solline slightly concerned for her mental well being if she hadn't caused her little... incident being during that extermination sortie which she still remembered very little about, Solline roughly understood that Tiphereth was trying to say that there was traces of the GPO's parts within the Rebuilder. If that is what she's actually trying to say... how did those get in there?

Interesting as that information was, Solline figured it didn't really change the overall situation. Fact of the matter was that there's remnants of a GPO on and in the Rebuilder, but as of now no body to confirm or refute the demise of the owner of said remnants. "Albino girl over there has a point, no point in standing around for longer than we need to." She hated to admit it, but in this particular case Tiphereth was right, however she did see some merit in the coral haired woman's proposal. "We could try to get that hand from the Rebuilder. If we do find a live person down there and not a body, having another GPO with their limbs intact would increase our chances of survival out here. I'll probably sit that retrieval out, though. Close range isn't exactly my thing." She gestured down to her rifle as she said that. "Best I could do in that situation is shoot at it to distract it somewhat, but I'd rather not provoke that thing. I like having my limbs attached to my body and not have them skewered on that Rebuilder's plating right next to that hand. Retrieve it or not, though, we ought to get moving real soon. I'll take up the rear of the formation, as settled on."​

 

[Worthlessplebian]

Hiberus Shaw, Phobos Itself
Interactions: Clockwork_Magic Lucius Cypher BnemonicDevice Lekiel Ehb Mentions: N/A


Shaw waited patiently, eerily resembling a statue in its stone majesty. He knew that his—by extension Chomp's—suggestion would not be popular or efficiently-inclined. Suffice to say that Shaw expected his sentiments to not be matched by the sentiments of others. Namely the GPO with the coral locks, the blonde sniper, and Tiphereth. Nor Clyde had been amiable to the idea, though Shaw suspected it had been passed in neutrality, not support of the idea. In any case, the auxiliary and he were outvoted in this particular group so Shaw, the passionless terror that he is, went along with the newly agreed upon plan of action. "Very well, let us then depart in search of our primary objective. Secondaries will be decided upon at later timeframe during this operation, agreed." The phrasing of that last articulation resembled a question, but the tungsten confidence in which he delivered meant that he had already decided such course of action.

As soon as they reached the ledge of that cavern, an electronic whoop preceded by a pulse of darkish blue spark trailed up Shaw's puffy jacket, signalling that it is ready for slow-descent. "Beginning gravitation towards signal source." He says in a monotonous, professionally stoic tone.

 

[Lucius Cypher]

Interacting with: Everyone in general​

---

It would seem that via majority vote, they would not be taking on the rebuilder. Chomp was slightly disappointed but not enough to voice any displeasure: fighting it was more of a personal desire anyways and this was a mission. And the mission took precedence over personal matters. He wordlessly nodded at everyone's vote and went to gather more rope for the recent into the ravine. One final equipment check and updating the mission report to send back to the Polaris, Chomp would leave the safety of the Nightcrawler and head towards their destination. Though somewhat burdened by by the (almost excessive) supplies on his back, Chomp's stride was unchanged in it's lumbering but unerring speed towards the crevice.

Once at the edge, Chomp made a quick survey of the area to ensure there was no surprise machine. While they were easy to spot on the surface, it was far easier for them to be hidden within the plate. Barring GPO's with honed senses or a related GP to detect them, it wasn't unusual for the machines to lie in wait for organics or even other machines to come by and devour them. Chomp knows very well from his experiences surviving within the plate for so many years. But first thing's first, they would need to get down. Some were equipped with means of decent. Chomp himself was equipped to be able to withstand all sorts of falls, so he could reach the bottom simply by jumping off. But doing so alone was practically a death sentence since he has no idea what was below and plus, maybe the signal wasn't at the bottom by some level closer to the surface. Close being a relative term that is; The settlement would have to be at least 100 miles or so deep just to escape the hostile conditions on the surface, and itself could be hidden in a massive spanning tunnel complex. This ravine alone could be anywhere between 10 or a 1000 miles deep, Chomp simply wouldn't know until he reached it. So as with all things, little steps.

Chomp begins by taking out some rope and climbing equipment. He first starts by taking a spring loaded piton called a Cam and finding a secure opening to insert it in. Nothing that will shift or break. Once inserted he pressed a button that activates the spring and causes the axles to spread out, creating an anchor point for Chomp to secure some rope through. His massive yet dexterous claws tied a simple but effective hitch to the cam to keep it secure. Finally he pulls out some carabiners, metal hooks used to secure a person to rope, and hands them to the others if they lacked one. They would need it to secure themselves to the rope as they descended and keep their hands free if they need to fight. Chomp would take the lead in order to secure additional anchor points, opting to climb via just his claws. This way should he run into a section of wall that cannot support his weight he doesn't end up bringing everyone else down with him.

"INTO THE DEPTHS."

 

[BnemonicDevice]

scroll me!

TIPHERETH

Regenerative abilities were usually hallmarks of combat-oriented operators. It was unusual for a support unit like her to have an extremely low metabolic factor, physical factor, but also having an excellent healing ability. It was as if. . .

. . .

"Big guy." she languidly looked over the edge, seeing Chomp ( Lucius Cypher ) hastily put together our means of descent.

"I'll be going on ahead to get a better look. Time my drop for your depth gauge," curtly coming to the conclusion that this chasm was not too deep for her to drop down to.

Even if she were to take some damage, leaving her immobile for a while wherever she landed, which to be honest-- that's basically her entire job anyway. Standing over the edge, looking to land some good distance away from the closest edge of the square Rebuilder to the chasm, she let herself go into free fall face-first.

If her maximum range of her God Program was 250m, detecting signals from the bottom meant that this chasm was no greater than 900 ft. She wouldn't even need to consider making her jacket a parachute to compensate slowing down a bit from terminal velocity. She tumbled over in the air, letting her feet come crashing into the ground and then...

*THUD*

Dust scattered as a quiet tempest of dirt rushed away from the center of where the operator stood. White electricity sparked throughout her legs, Tiphereth shakily trying to remain standing, forced on her behind, taking a seat, wincing in pain, but knowing that her Apotheosis Fluids immediately came to her aid in repairing the damage.

"...Alright then, let's see what we're handling." she internally mused as she once again entered in her meditative state. [God Program Active].

♡coded by uxie♡

-->

 

[Ehb]

Nor Clyde
Mentions: Everyone in general

---

Nor looked into the depths with some form of apprehension even as her fellow comrades began to make motions to head down those same depths in sincere earnest. Tapping one of her head baubles she brought up her heads up display. Just to be ready. Being up at high heights wasn't particularly new for Nor. Just the other day, and just like many other days she'd been hanging off the side of Polaris gunning and slashing down monsters crawling up from below which in theory was a more frightening proposition than a plain old hole like the one she was presented with here. But that chasm really looked deep and Nor herself didn't have much a means to gauge how to get down there without some pretty risky maneuvering.

Luckily, as expected, Chomp came prepared. He was setting up a secure rope system to be able to rappel the way down in a way Nor was more accustomed to. Though, it would've been a little insulting to the complex rope system used on the Polaris for raids to say that they were on the exact same level. She held the Carbaneer he handed out for use to descend the rope dow nthe Chasm as she observed the others making their various approaches.

Hiberius seemed to have some special equipment for making a descent on his own. The pink eyed operator also listened to the quick exchange between Tipareth and Chomp. Nor raised an eyebrow as she processed Tipareth's intentions of jumping down.

"You really planning to just jump- ...and there she goes. Oooph." Nor cut off herself as Tipareth's figure disappeared, having launched herself over the edge. Moments later, contact with the ground.

Judging by the timing Nor could theoretically do something similar. Jump off and catch at certain intervals of the fall. It was possible. But the plain-jane method of using what Chomp was setting up was the safer option, and there was fewer chance of a catastrophic missetep or a holding ledge failing on her. Nor's legs couldn't recover from a fall like that quite as quickly as the others if she miscalculated.

But on top of that. Taking a fall like that was hella painful. Nor had winced, and still was getting the shivers as just how loudly her own nerves would've fired off if she'd attempted the same exact thing the white haired Series just did.



Nor attached her Carbaneer to the ropes heading down as she began to see Chomp making good headway down 'Into The Depths' as he mentioned.

"Better safe than sorry for me. I'll hook up and go first." She said, glancing at the others intending to use the rope system as well. She was of course far from being the first person going over that ledge, however.

As she began to descend, one of the swords at her hip caught the ledge. Though Nor quickly rectified it before it caused a blunder. With one of her hands, she re-positioned her blades from her sides to go on her back along with her gun to free them from getting caught on anything further on the way down.

Nor begins her descent after the others. As she went down, her head gear began to map out a limited topographical detail of Nor's immediate surroundings. That might come in handy later.

 

[Cresion Breezes]

POLARIS
CH.2.4 OUR CHOICES (5)

Beneath the chasm there was a profound silence, other than the perpetual humming that comes from deep within the Shell. There was nothing of note around, other than the occasional scampering of some mechanical automaton flailing across the monochrome structures. The gentle shifting of various plates and machines of the Shell rumbled underfoot, a vibration that echoes throughout the body and mind.

The only motion that stirred in the great gash was the movement of the expedition team down the chasm, sometimes their footsteps and tools riled up some dusty particles that swirled around for a moment before resettling down as if nothing has ever happened, but most of the time their presence was virtually unknown, an unseeable spark of life upon the perpetual dead silence.

Oh, is that rumbling growing louder? Perhaps it was, but these illusions of feeling were common out in the Shell, the great source of disorientation. Swaying sensations buzzing from underfoot were a common occurrence, however, this particular instance came from above. In another moment the rumbling turned into a screeching sound that was akin to metal dragging upon similar material, then it was clear what was happening when a dark shadow blocked out the slightly pink-tinted twilight sky. Something was falling. Crashing through the jagged edges of the chasm’s walls and bringing down heaps of material and scrap metal that were peeled off of various surfaces, the Rebuilder from the surface was falling. It half fell half glided down the wall, kicking up a mass of dust and steel shavings as the material under it screeched, the sound vibrating throughout the Shell in a strange twisted harmony when mixed in with the ever presenting low hum of machinery, as ear grating as it was.

With a thundering crash, the remains of the Rebuilder came to a stop as it hit the end of the wall, wedging itself into the ground below. A flurry of dust was kicked up as the huge mass touched down, crushing anything fragile and unfortunate enough to be upon its landing pad. The gentle giant was now motionless, not even exerting any gaseous substance from beneath its plates to mix into the floating dust. The legs that were left hanging in the air occasionally gave out a creak or two under the weight of gravity tearing them from the main body, they dangled silently.

[Bzzt- Bzzt-]

A static sound came from the team’s portable communicators, inside the caravan driver Mavi’s voice rang out with a tinge of wavering signal static.

[“G-guys? Holy shit, are you guys still alive? The Rebuilder was already damaged enough to lose grip, it just slipped down like that I felt the shake from up here.”]

[Perception/Reaction] - As the Dust Settles

The dust from the fall of Rebuilder was settling, obscuring the great metal husk’s form. The screeching of the sparking friction between the metal plates has ceased, returning the sounds to the Shell’s ambient hums. This gave the smaller noises around a small spotlight. It was a sound of shaking, tapping, or drumming upon steel. Soon it turned into banging, shattering, and then a piece of the steel plating went flying, blasting a clear trail throughout the dust. It landed with a thud outside of the swirling dust cloud.

There wasn’t much to be seen, as the steel dust wasn’t much deterred by this one anomaly, but something can be seen. There was movement, movement of something much smaller and nimbler than the lumbering crawling of the Rebuilder itself. There was a shadow that was emerging from the area where the steel plating was broken off, a dark silhouette against the grey mist that permeated the site.

Then the silhouette collapsed. Its form rolled off of the Rebuilder before stopping by hitting some pieces of broken scrap. A small piece of cloth teared from the figure after being caught on a stray metal beam, the scarp of carried by the still swirling wind towards a direction away. The cloth piece was extremely faded, but any soul that is nimble enough to catch it, or even just catch a glimpse of it would notice the pattern upon it.

It was a half faded logo similar to the one of Polaris' Caravan Teams, beneath the logo etched the lettering: SOLARIS - OUTPOST 115.

After the dust settled, it was clear that there was something there. The dark silhouette that emerged from the dust became more clearly outlined and coloured in by the dim horizon’s light. It was now quite clearly, a person.

A disheveled-looking young man laid in the monochromatic ruins of the Rebuilder’s fall, his ashy olive-toned skin, and shaggy grey-ish white hair blended in well with his surroundings, it was as if he was a part of the Shell, or he had become a part of it whether willingly or not. Most importantly, one of his arms looked extremely abnormal. The entire forearm and parts above the elbow were missing, in place were splintered-looking remains of a bone. Some fleshy bits of sinews and veins still clung stubbornly onto the stark white bone, wrapping the entire appendage in a twisted and chaotic manner. It looks almost robotic with its rudimentary frame, yet it was still so distinctively organic. The condition of the limb resembled the process of how normal GPOs regenerated lost limbs, yet no skin nor fats were regrowing upon the bone, instead only the base muscles remained, all tied together by veins coloured a bright lime green.

In his other hand, the young man was holding some sort of box, it seemed like a cargo crate that was larger than the boy himself. A few wires came off of the box and look to be connected to the person holding it, on its side blurry, dusted engraved letters read “ASUMR-035”. Even while unconscious the holder seems to have no intention of letting it go, the biting frost has nearly fused the box’s metal handle and the skin of the holder’s hand together.

“We…Xun…We…”

A nearly inaudible murmur raised from the figure’s body, a few broken syllables.

“L…Light…I saw…saw…”

POLARIS
CH.3 OUR REQUIEM

 

[Clockwork_Magic]

Solline
Interactions: Everyone​

---

Solline watched as the others descended into the chasm, waiting until everyone else was descending to make her descent as the rear of the formation. The method by which her fellow operators descended ranged from somewhat normal to outright crazy. Case in point, for some reason the Albino series thought it would be a great idea to literally jump off the edge into the chasm. You got a death wish or something? The clone girl had a similar reaction to the blonde, vocalizing her thoughts as the Albino took the leap, before descending the chasm herself. After everyone else started their descent, only then did Solline start her own, using the rope system that Chomp had laid out when he descended.

The descent was going pretty well, with no signs of enemies that Solline could see from her position in their route below them so far, when a new noise filled the ambient humming silence of the Shell, a rumbling one that was growing louder and louder by the second. The hell is- Her thoughts were cut off when that rumbling sound turning into an ear piercing screech, similar to when you would drag a sharp metal piece against another metal surface hard, filled the area. What little light shone upon the the team in the chasm was blotted out by something. That something turned out to be the giant Rebuilder, evidently having lost its grip on the wall it was climbing. "OH SHI-" The blonde sniper braced herself, trying to secure her footing as much as possible and shielding her head with her free arm. Even if that thing didn't land right on top of them, the impact of its inevitable crash could possibly send them off balance and into the depths below. That's also not to mention the Rebuilder was bringing down entire chunks of the chasm's wall and a mass of metal dust and shavings down onto them in its fall. Her current position on the rope system meant that she did not have the luxury of maneuverability as much as she would have were she on solid ground, therefore all she had to hope was that no large piece of metal came down on her. Furthermore, given that she was at the rear of the formation, in other words probably the closest to the falling Rebuilder above, it meant that chance was much more likely than if she'd been anywhere else in the formation, since it's likely that any sort of debris going to hit the rest of the team would hit her first. Thankfully, no such metal piece came down on her to end it all, however small ones that caused relatively minor injuries did. A small shard of metal came down from above, making a gash in Solline's left forearm, which she was using to shield her face from incoming debris, gritting her teeth and wincing as yellow fluid flowed out of the gash in her arm and down into the depths.

The pandemonium finally came to a halt with the Rebuilder crashing halt in the chasm below, the screeching earsplitting noise of its fall now replaced with the familiar, humming silence of the Shell as the dust started to settle, which was interrupted once again by a static sound, this time originating from her communicator in Apollo rather than any external source. The voice of their driver followed the static sound. She put free hand to her ear, slightly wincing in pain from the gash in that arm. ["Y-yea, we're alive. Can't say the same for the Rebuilder down there."] The blonde sniper took another look at her forearm. A gash like that would have taken a normal person several weeks, if not months, to heal completely. Thankfully, she was not a normal person and although her regeneration factor was only 4, the gash seemed to be healing quite nicely. Probably would be fully healed in a couple of minutes, Solline estimated. That's all well and good for the long term of the mission, but it still hurt like hell, not like there was anything she could really do about the pain itself, so she just had to grit her teeth and bear through it for the time being. Well, at least the pain would lessen as time went on and her arm healed.

Turning her attention back to the remains of the Rebuilder, a figure seemed to emerge from the wreckage. Solline observed with curiosity, adjusting Apollo to get a better look. Not long after the silhouette appeared, it collapsed. As Solline watched the figure roll off the Rebuilder, a piece of cloth seemed to be torn off the figure's body and was blown away by the wind. She couldn't get as good a look at the design as she would have liked on the cloth as the wind carried it away, but what she was able to ascertain was the logo on the piece of cloth. Was that the Caravan logo? No... something seemed different about that logo, though it did look like the Caravan Team's logo... She used her communicator to contact the rest of the team as the dust settled, revealing that the figure was, indeed, that of a person. ["Hey, unless I'm seeing things, there's a person down there, come right out of the Rebuilder. Probably the person we're looking for. We should get down there as soon as we can."]​

 

[BnemonicDevice]

scroll me!

TIPHERETH

The Albino mystic-slash-rationalist-slash-psychologist-slash-psycho could only get in a few moments of deep contemplation when she picked up two things. First was being able to piece together that there was someone underneath who matched the green resonance she had heard earlier. But now that she was on the ground, she could--

Had her line of thought not been interrupted, she could have noticed the other ominous presence that was found on the friendly mechanical giant, only to see it collapse straight on top of her, as if the sky was falling from above. She blankly stared as shrapnel and torn limbs fell all around her. She braced herself on the ground, placing her hands against her neck and her arms against her head-- she wasn't planning to die looking like such a fool, and especially not without divulging precious information.

Suddenly, a pain seared through her body, originating from the core of her body. She was struck, something pierced through her midriff, practically skewering her in place. Her eyes widening, she felt a bile build up, and before long, white fluids lay splattered in front of her. Her eyes were hazy, she couldn't even look up, still left in a prone position, served like fresh Sephiroth Kebab.

She strained her head upwards, thrashing her legs to try and kick off the ground. No good, whatever it was, perhaps one of the Rebuilder's many legs, or some other ambiguous part of it, it was too heavy for her to get up and walk off. Yet she saw it-- her mind connecting to the ominous sound she heard to a distant silhouette making a fast escape, only to make the rookie mistake of having part of their jacket tear and shred when it made contact with some of the debris.

...Caravan Outpost Team 115. That was-

She coughed out another load of White Blood. Damn, she had to get some assistance fast. Thankfully, their wonderful driver decided to chime in and give them a friendly check-up. The trembling and fear heard in all of their voices... God, it felt good to pity and jeer at their scared intonations internally. She pressed into her earpiece and began to run her mouth:

["I'm currently immobilized, it's hard to explain, but you'll see once you reach the ground. I'm picking up the presence of another Operator that is likely the feller of the Rebuilder and is rapidly leaving my range. I suggest you recover from your shellshock quickly if you want to catch up to them, or maybe, save your *hack- wheeze* scout and healer."]

♡coded by uxie♡

-->

 

[Worthlessplebian]

Hiberus Shaw, Phobos Itself
Interactions: BnemonicDevice Clockwork_Magic Mentions: Lucius Cypher Ehb and Lekiel


The line up to the edge of the Abyss and the subsequent gaze into the bottomless barrel did not escape Shaw's sense of dramatics or seeing a piece of that pit as himself; reminding him that is how he looks upon this life. Not dark, or cold, but simply empty and endlessly spiraled with fractals that lead into bigger creases in the immobile walls or altogether different ones. It is a sobering experience, one that also informed him to quiet down. The mission begins proper now, no time for anything else except for it. He takes a breath of the world around him, not exactly the planet's atmosphere or his survival device, or even the squeaky-clean air that is scrubbed by the mask which it passively does for him. He sticks a stiletto into the edge which then bites down before hooking an industrial strength rappel rope for GPO use, able to withstand the heavier loads such as Chomp's mechanically, hefty physique. And as they discussed, they would both be deploying the rope. Redundancies are important for these types of things.

Except as Shaw's dynamo jacket whirred to life, using complex systems powered by kinetic energy to slow down his descent into the oubliette which granted him enough maneuverability to plant more points to stabilize the rope, his keen sight and quick reaction times caught the Albino's frilly hair streak downwards at alarming speeds. Shaw could not help but stare with all the enthusiasm of a janitor bot at the prospect of someone spilling a drink onto the floor that it had recently cleaned to mirror-quality. Still, unlike the others, the engineer-turned-fearmonger knew intimately that this fall won't be the death of Tiphereth, less of course there are flesh-eating microbots at the bottom. No, what might be the ending of them would be the Rebuilder to ruin their vertical jaunt at— Oh, Hell!

The form of the Rebuilder blotted out any light shining from above for a split second. The scraping, crashing came right after heralded first by the scratching, breaking noise in a manner similar to having your head pressed against a metal sheet and having someone drag a knife across it a fingernail's distance away from your ear. The shavings, the detritus proved to be the better torture in Shaw's eyes as thousands clipped through his arms or torso. Reflexively, he had cannoned himself against the wall so that if his jacket fails or is slammed by falling shrapnel, he need not splattered on the ground below. His body became a vignette that closely resembled a modern arts project. Shiny parts protruding with midnight blue streams swimming down his form, violently. Even when matched against the darker blue of his attire, the Apotheosis fluid stood out irritatingly. It streamed down from his eyes as well, likely planted his head against the wall too hard. "Wonderful," He says through the concluding chaos.

The static strangled whatever sound came into Shaw's ears, their ever-helpful driver chimed in with her worry. Shaw thought how much of that worry had been for their sake or hers, but found it wasteful to ask. ["No casualties."] Shaw replied hurriedly, but with a calm cadence to his voice. Despite his best rendition as a pin cushion.

His midnight-stained eyes with blemished cheeks turned to the fallen body of the rebuilder, spotting a silhouette emerge. Almost lifelessly. Soline suggested that they retrieve it as soon as possible, Shaw agreed. Except, ["Affirmative, but first regrouping's in order."]

He abseiled down to the bottom, guided by instinct or Tiphereth's clicking whenever she interfaces with an operator. He turned the corner created by a chunk of the Rebuilder to spot the white-haired psycho-psychologist impaled by the broken leg of the Rebuilder. He tried not to smile because of it. "You look like the refuse from a trash-compactor." Shaw commented, whilst standing over her form with chips of silver as big as nails or screws in him. He lifted his hand above his head, calling upon Phobos' constructing power to fashion a single use blade. It shimmered into being in his palm, he knelt down next to her and looked as if he was about to chop her head off, only to shorten the piece that punctured her midriff in half and the blade to disintegrate in a surreptitious manner. Just enough so that he can pull her out immediately, but not so that she won't feel the pain. And he could've shortened down to her stomach if he wanted to, he has the delicateness for it.

He offers his hands so that he can stand her up.

 

[Ehb]

Nor Clyde
Mentions: Everyone in general
Interactions: Lucius Cypher Lekiel

---

[“G-guys? Holy shit, are you guys still alive? The Rebuilder was already damaged enough to lose grip, it just slipped down like that I felt the shake from up here.”]
["Y-yea, we're alive. Can't say the same for the Rebuilder down there."]
["Hey, unless I'm seeing things, there's a person down there, come right out of the Rebuilder. Probably the person we're looking for. We should get down there as soon as we can."]
["No casualties."]
["I'm currently immobilized, it's hard to explain, but you'll see once you reach the ground. I'm picking up the presence of another Operator that is likely the feller of the Rebuilder and is rapidly leaving my range. I suggest you recover from your shellshock quickly if you want to catch up to them, or maybe, save your *hack- wheeze* scout and healer."]
["Affirmative, but first regrouping's in order."]

Nor, is roused back awake by the burst of radio chatter.

She lifts herself off of the ground only thinking about how regrettable that the giant Rebuilder decided that it was when they were trying to scale down into the crevasse was the perfect time to finally fall down into that same location. Nor supposed the possibility of the Rebuilder falling off from where it was holding position was a possibility, but for it to happen so suddenly. Nor remembered feeling the impending sense of dread that allowed her those precious few moments to look up and see the great mass about to fall down upon her. Her first instinct was to unhook herself from the line and 'get away'. She could only remember jumping against sides of the cliff in crazed fashion as she tried to get away.

Crap. Did that mean she got hurt?

Nor looks over herself. She was feeling impact damage, but it was minor. Her whole body was aching but from how it felt it was again just from kinetic damage as opposed to anything like horrific cuts or impalement. But as she tested out her various joints for any pain correlated to disabling damage, she only felt some trivial amount in her legs. Additionally one of her supply modules - a pouch of ammunition - from what Chomp had supplied was lost in the chaos. But that was one pouch out of several. Luckily, her spare blades and her Chimaera was still on person.

Overall It seemed like she took a tumble, but otherwise her physical characteristics, instincts, and simply luck seemed to have seen her through with only scratches. Confirming herself still able to continue, she communicated her status over the radio comms.

[ "Nor here. I'm okay." ]

Nor's HUD picked up the squawks of some of her other teammates' communicators. Pips indicated that Shaw was near Tiphereth, and Solline was observing the anomaly that she had described from the carcass the Rebuilder had left behind. In any case, Shaw and Tiphereth's location seemed like where everyone would probably rally to. Seeking to help out their far-fallen team healer as they could.



But of course there really wasn't anything Nor could do to help out Tiphereth's situation that was particularly useful. Shaw was already in the middle of stating how messed up appeared in her current state so even making any obvious comment was already accounted for. Speaking for accounted for... Shaw, Solline, Tiphareth, and Nor herself. Then that just mean that at least there where those two left to be accounted for.

As Shaw was offering his hand to help the team physician up, Nor activated her own comm again pressing the left one resting in the bauble on her head.

[ "Hey, Big Guy and... what was the pink head's name again? What's-your-face. Yeah." ] Nor said, sounding like she'd given up remembering Amiela's name. [ "...you two doing okay still? You guys didn't get injured from the fall did ya?" ]

 

[Lucius Cypher]

Interacting with: Nor ( Ehb )​

---

Chomp had barely began to climb down when Tiphereth decided that the fastest way down was to let gravity do all the work. While he was aware of her GP and her own regenerative factor enough that she could survive such a fall, he could not see any logical reason to do so. Firstly, it was dark down there, with little to no light coming from anywhere. It's not as if Tiphereth could see. And secondly while she could survive the fall, that doesn't mean she will land unharmed: probability that she will break her body, quite possibly into literal pieces, was guaranteed. If there was a threat down there she would be completely defenseless against it in her current state. And that's not even including the amount of pain she would be in. Pain itself was a strange and foreign concept to Chomp. He understands that mechanically, pain is used as an indicator of danger and to figure out where a source of injury is coming from. To Chomp, pain just lets him know what part of him needs to be carefully managed and used. But for organics, pain was something else. Something far greater. Chomp doesn't understand organic pain, but he knew that it was such a great enough force on Organics that pain can make someone ordinarily calm and logical into a raving madman.

So what was Tiphereth thinking, inflicting so much pain on herself willingly? Truly, she was among the most strange and bizzare of organics. "Are all psychologists like that?" Chomp thought to himself as he continued the climb down the ravine. He moved quickly, but not quite quickly enough as something began to fall. The Rebuilder that they had previously ignored. Chomp knew they should've gone after it, but now was not the time to be snide. There was no cover on this wall, no cracks big enough for the group to hide in. Chomp didn't have time to make one, so he would have to do the next best thing: shield the others.

Leaping past the other operatives hanging by the rope, Chomp stomped his feet into the side of the wall, his claws digging in to price himself. He took out the Impact Edge, bracing the side of it forward and planing it into the side of the wall. He would use his own body as a shield, deflecting the largest of the debris away from everyone else. As the shaprenal rained upon him most of the larger chunks were batted away, with only scraps and shrapnel getting past him. Not the best result, but better than nothing. As quickly as it came the threat of the rebuilder's body pass, crashing into smoke and dust on the ravine ground. Chomp worried about the well being of Tiphereth considering she was the only person down there, so Chomp had to quickly finish the rappel to the bottom.

"I HAVE COMPLETED THE ROPE LADDER TO THE LOWEST POINT OF THE RAVINE."

Chomp announced over the communicator. Probably not as relevant as what everyone else was saying, but this at least confirms that Chomp was alive. Taking out some flares from his bag, Chomp activated them to illuminate the wreckage. He saw Shaw attending to Tiphereth, who seemed to had previously been injured. Chomp wasn't sure if it was by the rebuilder or if she fell on something, but either way she wasn't dead and was being tended to. Solline was still on the rope but she reported her life and mentioned something coming out of the rebuilder. Likely another GPO if Chomp had to guess. No way a normal human would survive this fall. They may also be related to the signal source as well, so Chomp had a vested interest in check on them. Finally there was Nor, who was calling to check on him and Amiela. He lost track of her during this chaos, so he would need to verify her safety, but he otherwise was okay. The Impact Edge was scratched up but still usable, and he didn't sustain any significant damage. Some more cuts and a few missing plates, but nothing he couldn't replace on the go.

"THIS IS CHOMP. DAMAGE MINIMAL. INVESTIGATING THE REBUILDER."

Chomp would walk over to the ruins, noting valuable parts from the rebuilder that he would pick up and consume. This was no time to bring back materials, so Chomp would need to eat whatever he could get his hands on in case something else happened soon. But more important than any of that was the GPO at the center of this. They were missing an arm, and with it's abnormal blood coloration Chomp could guess that the missing arm they previously saw belonged to him. So Chomp's suspicion that there was a GPO inside of the rebuilder was true. But was this GPO the reason why the rebuilder fell in the first place? Mavi didn't seem to report any artillery fire, merely that it fell. But the way it fell seemed more like internal destruction than merely a mistake on it's footing. So Chomp approached the body carefully, unsure of it's state. This person could be alive. He could be a threat. But either way, Chomp would approach him and apply some first aid, doing what he can to stabilize the body via injections and tourniquets.

"WHAT IS YOUR NAME? WHERE ARE YOU FROM?"

 

[BnemonicDevice]

scroll me!

TIPHERETH

Oh great, my hero has arrived. Usually she would be ecstatic to see the hunky handyman float down from on high to save our would-be damsel in distress. But to be honest, the searing pain she felt in her gut was kind of a turn off.

Well, at least he did his job right. Hearing the upper half of the leg being sliced off easily, in a similar vein to the various party tricks involving how to open the *fun* bottles, once she heard the upper half of the Rebuilder's lost limb sink into the ground somewhere else, she immediately pressed against the ground, still unable to push herself up, only to be offered a helping hand by the Engineer.

She scoffed, grabbing on so that she could be pulled up, dusting herself off, only to notice that a part of the leg was sticking out of her. Right, I gotta take care of that now too.

"Before I subject myself to even more excruciating pain, I'll just let you know that there is a second operator, who is probably too far away right now to apprehend. I surmise that they are the slayer of the Rebuilder- for what reason though... I think we've lost our chance to find that out." She kept hidden the information the gleaned, if their assailant could silence a rebuilder on their own, it wouldn't take much imagination as to how she could be just as easily dispatched. And besides, the sad-sack markswoman probably saw it, and so she'll let the consequences fall upon her neck instead.

"Now if you'll excuse me for a moment..." taking in a deep breath, gripping both of her hands around the upper part of the Rebuilder's limb. Grabbing on tightly, she felt even as she moved, a searing electricity being held at bay, as if taunting her of the consequences of what she was about to do.

Consequences, might I add, is a recurring thing Tiphereth never really came to terms within her life, not now, and not ever in her mind.

. . .

She was panting, trying to cry for clean, fresh air in this dark void under the Surface. In her right hand, like a champion boxer holding up their belt is held a metallic rectangular prism, gleaming and glistening white liquids that will soon fade into a darker, morose shade of red.

In front of her lie a similar chromatic splatter, that too will share that same fate, that appeared like a brush stroke in an arc. One needn't guessed how it was made.

Her eyes bulged and twitched like a madman, as the hole left in her torso was near-instantaneously patching itself up. Truly, one could argue that she broke the scale of the extent her fluids reinforced her regenerative abilities, and that being rated at a 10 meant she was literally a million times better at healing than someone who was sitting at around a mere 4.

As she reveled in the euphoria of her seemingly impenetrable invincibility, cackling like a hyaena, when all her spark and bluster finally ebbed away, she came to come into a trust fall backwards, hopefully landing in someone's chest, arms, be it operator, or that of the ground below.

♡coded by uxie♡

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[Clockwork_Magic]

Solline
Interactions: Basically Everyone (Specifically Lucius Cypher )​

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Two more voices came over the communicator, that of the Albino series and the masked man. The Albino seemed to have gotten herself in a bit of a pinch due to the pandemonium the Rebuilder caused in its fall while the masked man agreed with Solline's idea of checking out the figure but proposed to regroup first. She reached to activate her communicator with her left arm, which was still bleeding yellow liquid, stinging like hell. Could have been worse, though, better having a gash that runs along the length of most of your forearm than having that metal piece that caused the cut lodged in her head. ["Alright, I'll just come down to where you all are at then."]

Putting both hands on the rope she was attached to, she began rappelling down the side of the chasm to where the Albino was. Each and every rappel down only intensified the sharp, shooting pain radiating from the sniper's left arm, yellow blood continuing to flow out, although the rate has slowed somewhat, and soaking into her left sleeve. The sniper tightened her grip on the rope, both out of the pain and to prevent herself from slipping, gritting her teeth as she continued her descent. Fuck! Why the hell did I think this was a good idea?!

The blonde continued rappelling down, a good portion of her left sleeve now saturated with her blood, passing the masked operator and the so called psychologist on the way down, blue and white fluids spilling forth from their respective bodies. Evidently, most of the team was injured in some way or another during the fall of the Rebuilder, some more than others. Specifically the so called psychologist, who had been impaled by a stray leg of the Rebuilder, being freed with the help of the masked operator, the hole in her gut being near instantaneously sealed soon after she was de-impaled. So that's what 10 regeneration factor looks like... damn lucky. The Albino started talking to the masked man, but not wanting to be around her any longer than she needed to she started rappelling down to where Chomp was. Suddenly she heard a mad cackling coming from above and a few seconds later the Albino flew past the blonde, having thrown herself down to the ground. You really are insane aren’t you? I hope you weren’t counting on me to catch you!

As soon as it seemed safe enough to do so without breaking her legs and causing herself more agony, the blonde detached herself from the rope system and jumped down to the ground where the auxiliary Chomp was and walked over to him. The auxiliary was attempting to resuscitate the guy who came out of the rebuilder while asking them a few questions, which was all well and good, but Solline’s attention was more drawn to crate they were carrying, which was bigger than the guy carrying it. “He’s probably from a caravan team. A piece of cloth with a logo that looked like the Caravan Team’s got ripped off his clothing. Can’t say for sure he’s from Polaris, though, it looked like Polaris’s Caravan logo but I can’t say that it actually was the Caravan’s logo.” She glanced over at the box the mysterious GPO was carrying again. “If we’re in the mood of asking the guy questions… what’s the deal with that box?”​

 

[Lekiel]

Amiela Aeterna, BRUNHILD 059

The light hissing of Svalinn’s all-terrain ground stabilisers was a steady beat in the oppressive silence of the outer Shell. The bearer of Brunhild stuck out like a sore thumb against the side of the rocky crevasse wall, apparently the only one equipped with an exosuit that enabled her to walk nigh perpendicular to the side of the wall. Still she left nothing to chance and had deigned to fasten herself to one end of the many scaling ropes Chomp had provided.

It was quiet for the most part, if she could ignore the general bustle of the rest of her expedition team. Moving in the midst of them, she could better observe their actions. Precise, methodical. An effective team. Well. . . not all of them.

“Hmpff” Salmon pink irises strained into the umbral depths of the canyon, focusing on the albino silhouette that had allowed herself to become a smudge on the rocky floor. Every expedition seemed to have one of them. Play-acting a child, a GPO on the first rodeo and high on the euphoria of finding out they were a transcended human.

When Tiphereth had spontaneously hurled herself over the edge a few moments ago, Amiela had extended her hand on instinct to divert fall damage, but quickly retracted her hand with a roll of her eyes as soon as it became apparent that the Series had done it on purpose. It almost made a mockery of their ‘formation’, when one of the supports of the group decided they function best by putting themselves in a completely vulnerable position.

A sudden tremor broke Amiela’s brooding as the screech and bang of metal signalled that something had gone terribly wrong high up above.

There was barely time to react as the glow of the twilight sky was blotted out by the hurtling form of a thrashing Rebuilder. On stabler footing, Amiela quickly ran out from under the danger zone, taking minor pelting from smaller rocks. The others too were scrambling to get away from the falling debris, though unfortunately for Nor she seemed to be caught in the middle of it.

“Nor-!” Amiela shouted a warning but the GPO was well aware of her position, making the decision to drop her line and attempt to get to the bottom in haphazard fashion. The clone was doing quite well until the end where she’d slipped into a tumble. Almost in an instant, a pink glow enveloped her frame and whatever damage or pain she might have felt was dulled. Amiela’s knees wobbled for a moment as she felt the impact of rock syphoned from Nor to her body, but she managed to stand firm until-

THUNK a basketball sized chunk of Rebuilder armour hit Amiela square in the back of her head. Though she’d moved out from danger, she failed to notice that Chomp had attempted to deflect a large chunk of debris, shattering it and sending pieces flying in all directions.

“Wh-” She couldn't even get out a surprised cry before she’d been knocked clean off her perch, Svalinn’s stabilisers failing to keep her standing at the sudden movement. The dark rocks spun all around her until it ended with a sickening crunch that reverberated throughout her skull.

“G-guys? Holy shit, are you guys still alive? The Rebuilder was already damaged enough to lose grip, it just slipped down like that I felt the shake from up here.”
"Nor here. I'm okay."
"No casualties."
"THIS IS CHOMP. DAMAGE MINIMAL. INVESTIGATING THE REBUILDER."
"Hey, Big Guy and... what was the pink head's name again? What's-your-face. Yeah… you two doing okay still? You guys didn't get injured from the fall did ya?"


A buzz of radio chatter woke Amiela up from her stupor. Almost immediately she was aware of an acute throbbing pain in her throat causing her to heave, but it was already dulling as whatever injury she’d sustained in her bad fall, had already mended due to her healing factor. Nonetheless, she had a ringing headache and had to clutch her head for a brief moment as her vision swam.

“Amiela here. . . I’m doing fine.” She managed out, wincing as she stood up.

She’d fallen just a couple yards away from where Shaw was helping Tiphereth up, with the latter having a large piece of Rebuilder leg sticking out from her torso. She didn’t know how lucky the psychologist had to be that a larger piece of the machine hadn’t crushed her, or they’d be stuck playing caretaker until she fully regenerated her injuries. As it was, her current predicament was painful enough, healing factor or no.

Turning her attention away from the two, she checked that her equipment was still in order before walking over to where Soline and Chomp had apparently identified the owner of the detached arm.

“If we’re in the mood of asking the guy questions… what’s the deal with that box?” Amiela was just in time to catch the tail-end of Soline’s query. Taking a moment to survey the wreckage and the survivor, she hitched a guess.

“Could it be a Blackbox?” Her voice was quiet as her eyes continued to observe the injured Operator. In the presence of her other two companions, she decided that he didn’t pose a threat; not that a fellow Operator would’ve been a threat to them in the first place. Walking to the pile of debris, the field support searched around for a moment before finding the lost limb and retrieving it from the mess none the worse for wear. Reaching into her pouches for medical gauze and some salves, she headed back to the survivor and began reattaching his arm, unless, of course, he fought her attempts.

Mentions: All

 

[Cresion Breezes]

POLARIS
CH.3.1 REQUIEM (2)

“-sst- Hsst- P-Polar…-is”

The sound of wheezing air exited from the injured young man’s throat, he coughed harshly a few times. The lime green fluid splashed out of some gash in his throat, revealing some sort of metallic shard stuck inside. The sound of wheezing air and the man’s broken speech patterns seems to be due to some damage to the vocal cords, but despite this, he pressed on.

“P-Polaris…”

His eyes flickered open and shut from the few rays of twilight that managed to shine through the chasm from the habitable zone yonder on the horizon. They were an amber colour, but parts of the irises and sclera have been eroded by the lime green of his apotheosis fluid, and were fixated on the few other operators that gathered around them. More specifically, the identifying markings on the group’s persons, the embroidery of the Polaris’ and Caravan Team’s logos upon clothing, laminated upon equipment, and the halogen watermarks that reflected an incandescent glow under the dim lighting.

“I…I’m…No…N…”

The boy seemed to have trouble continuing to speak, then he raised his half-gone arm, ignoring any medical attention being given to it, and tried to use whatever remained of it to reach towards his tattered jacket, as if he isn’t even aware of the fact that he lost the limb. The splintered remains of bone poked through the durable yet worn fabric, the green apotheosis fluid dripping down the waterproof cloth and pooling below its human’s barely functioning body. Despite the fact that he had another arm, he seems unwilling to let go of the box that he was holding. Now that some of the group is closer to the box, it appears that a very faint, rhythmic beeping sound can be heard. Although occasionally the beeps dragged on longer or seemed somewhat irregular.

[Beep- Beep- Beep- Beep-- Beep- Beep- ]

As he was doing this more words were forming, and the term “Polaris” could be identified quite clearly now. This person knows about the origin of his unexpected rescuers.

“I-I need…the Captain-..Polaris…Captain.”

“M-My outpost…it was……”

“Gone…in…instant-t- Danger…It’s…coming- What dest…”

The rest of the words were accompanied by the sound of air swishing through a ripped vocal cord and the occasional coughing from the speaker. It was as if speaking drained his strength greatly, even the rhythmic beeping in the background seems to be speeding up.

Meanwhile from the young man’s jacket that he was half prodding half searching with his mostly destroyed arm fell a steel-bound card. It was an ID card, complete with a rudimentary signal emitter that gets issued to all individuals stationed at Outposts. Despite the fact that it was built for survival and durability, it still seems damaged, many scratches and a larger gash were visible upon the metallic object, but the information upon it was still partially readable, the incandescent watermark of Solaris’ Caravan Teams glimmered brightly when looked at from certain angles.