RPG The Throwaways - Volume One

[Orcus]

The Throwaways

Volume 1:

Who Are The Throwaways?

*

MISSION:

Deus Ex Machina [INFILTRATION]

Although Geistâ??s largest competition in the race to total superhuman domination is MacOne Enterprises, thatâ??s not to say their hegemony is otherwise unchallenged. While the other companies clambered over one another for a spot in the limelight, one company grew unnoticed and then burst onto the scene. The India based corporation Umbral Limited promised to â??unlock the true potential of the natural world,â? and apparently did exactly that, having expanded into multiple countries in only a year as a power provider and supersoldier creater. Whatever means theyâ??re using to create their supersoldiers would be instrumental to Geistâ??s expansion, so infiltrate their headquarters and unearth their secrets.

*

The Future

â??This is a very simple situation: you have what we need, and we will not stop until weâ??ve extracted every bit of it from you, until you are reduced to nothing but ash! You can not run from us, Lucas Corrigan...â?

Now

â??Lucas Corriganâ?¦this is a sh*t plan.â?

To clarify, her issue was not with Lucas. She and Corrigan had worked a number of missions together, and he was a more than capable leader. And, admittedly, it had not been his plan to trust the shoddy intel Geist uncovered about Umbral Ltd. But there were no Geist operatives around to yell at-- save the stealth transport pilot, and Alice was not eager to crash and die. Not today.

So, just for today, she would have to take her frustrations out on her friend.

â??Donâ??t blame me, Allison,â? he hissed, zipping up his jacket and flipping the deep hood over his head. Allison rolled her eyes and turned back to their team. Some of the faces were new to her, â??unweathered and untested.â? Lucas had introduced her to that mindset the first time they when on a recruitment mission together. Back then she had laughed, finding the sentiment ridiculous as the gentlemen they had attempted to recruit was a man who had fought, and killed, seven men in hand to hand combat at the same time. You could see his past murders hiding in the creases of his face. But Lucas said it didnâ??t matter. Anything that came before the Throwaways didnâ??t matter. Thereâ??s a difference between making your own mistakes and making Geistâ??s.

Encouraging...

â??Everybody shut up!â? She barked at the others. â??Our fearless leader, Neutron is gonna give you the attack plan one last time-- shitty as it may be.â? Lucas mimicked the action of gritting his teeth and stepped forward.

â??Alright team. Weâ??re here to locate Umbralâ??s so-called clean energy source, whatever or whoever that might be. Once weâ??ve located it, and if it is a viable option, we will bring it back to Geist. If not, we steal what information we can and sabotage the rest. We donâ??t know where the energy source is, so weâ??ll enter on the 20th floor, clearing and searching as we go. Prioritize locating a security layout so weâ??re not blind for too long. Reaper will take us in, and we keep this as quiet as possible. Understand? Good.â? A series of grunted responses came from the unsurprisingly reluctant team, and Kato Aege, a young man codenamed 'Grim Reaper' stepped forward and grinned from ear to ear.

â??Hold on tight, friends. You might not enjoy thisâ?¦â? He said with his idiosyncratic sing-song voice. A lovely, equally melodic voice laughed from the corner. Morgana stepped forward and draped her arm around Katoâ??s shoulder.

â??Oh, I highly doubt that. I find teleportation to be one of the moreâ?¦ pleasurable means of travel,â? she sang, seemingly winking at every party member at once. Another teammate stepped forward, speaking in a decidedly sterner tone.

â??Thatâ??s enough, you two.â?

Despite Samuel Pratchettâ??s, codename Canary, short tenure with the Throwaways, his military background made it so he wasnâ??t shy about keeping the others in line. Alice found his loyalty and professionalism a welcome reprieve from the unruly lot she was usually placed in charge of. The less she had to worry about her teammatesâ?? behavior the less she had to worry about her teammates. Period.

â??Yes sir!â? Kato mocked, flicking up a facetious salute, and the team was suddenly and abruptly inside of the building. Better still, the disoriented members were standing dead center in a brightly-lit office filled with rows of typing employees. The clattering of keys was a constant, low-level noise thrumming away in the sickly fluorescent light that flooded the vast room, and the team quickly re-oriented themselves, ready for whatever actions would be necessary.

â??Reaper!â? Alice scolded, preparing for the sh*tstorm to come. Yet said sh*tstorm never came. The workers continued typing away, completely oblivious to the teamâ??s unexpected, and likely unwelcome presence. Alice and Lucas eyed each other curiously.

â??You doing this?â? Lucas questioned. Alice shook her head and cautiously approached one of the employees. She tapped him lightly on the shoulder, but the man continued to ignore her. She shifted her eyes from the man to the computer screen and inhaled sharply.

Well sh*tâ?¦ she thought with surprise. She motioned over for Lucas to join her, then pointed to the screen. Lucas sucked in air through his teeth and frowned deeply.

â??Well what does that mean?â? Lucas wondered. He lightly shoved the employee to his left, then another, and then another. Each time, no response.

â??Em, excuse me? Care to share with the class, dears?â? Morgana quipped. Alice turned to the team and squeezed the bridge of her nose.

â??Youâ??re not blind, Avalon,â? Alice responded curtly to Morgana, using an abbreviated form of one of Morganaâ??s favorite titles.

â??For whatever reason these people arenâ??t responding to external stimuli. Letâ??s use that to our advantage for the moment, but letâ??s also assume that anything could set them off,â? Alice ordered.

The team swept over the room, checking the computers for any viable information, but primarily found a sea of logistical information, personal emails and correspondences with other companies. It was as if the employees were on autopilot, suspended in a corporate coma.

"It's like they've been brainwashed...co-opted into working for these people..." murmured Canary, running a finger down a carefully-maintained list of names and personal information displayed on one of the many computer screens they were faced with, to the apparent ignorance of the employee using the computer.

"One sympathises," sighed Felicia Cole, codenamed 'Danger', as she waved a hand in front of one of their faces, trying to drag any kind of reaction from the corporate zombies in front of them.

Once they were sure there was nothing of importance on any of the computers, Alice signalled for the team to leave the room, but as soon as she gripped the doorknob a jolt of electricity shot up her arm and knocked her back.

â??Stasis!â? Samuel swooped down to assist Alice. Her entire arm had gone numb, but she'd suffered worse injuries on the job: at least this time she could still use her arm. She looked back to signal for Tomiko, â??Arashi,â? to step forward, when she noticed something terrifying.

All of the workers were staring intently at her.

The closest employee stood up and surveyed Alice.

â??Having trouble, friend?â? Her voice sounded friendly enough, but she was not smiling at Alice, and her eyes remained cold and empty. Alice motioned for Arashi to disarm the door and then engaged the employee again.

â??I am indeed. The door malfunctioned,â? Alice said calmly. A small click from behind her indicated that Arashi had opened the door. The army of stares returned to their computers, and the woman in front of Arashi returned to hers as well, without a word. The team poured out into the hallway swiftly, and found themselves in a maze of offices and hallways.

â??Oh goodee,â? Morgana groaned, â??This just keeps getting--â? Morganaâ??s sentence was interrupted by a strange noise, like the rushing of air into a vacuum. The others looked back at her, but the space she had been standing in was empty, with nothing but shadow taking her place. The group bunched closely together, scanning the halls in every direction.

â??What now, Neutron?â? Samuel questioned.

â??Now this is a rescue mission as well,â? Lucas responded without missing a beat. â??Arashi, can you feel the energy source in the building?â? Arashi closed her eyes and concentrated.

â??Not very well, boss,â? Arashi said, shaking her head. â??I know itâ??s beneath us, but we need to get closer.â? Lucas turned his attention to Kato.

â??Reaper, can you sense Morgana?â? Kato smiled eerily, and then for a moment he became hazy, almost blurry, as if he was an afterimage, before returning to his regular state. His smile was gone.

â??Avalon is difficult to track as it is, thanks to her affinity with the Khaos magic, but thereâ??s something else disrupting my abilities. Like Arashi said, itâ??s below us,â? Kato added. Lucas grimaced.

â??Fine. Then the plan is the same. Search every room, every floor. Assume everything is a trap. Letâ??s go.â?

*

OOC: There you have it ladies and gentlemen-- the beginning of the Throwaways! We're trapped at the top of a 20 story building, with who knows what traps standing between us and our goal. Add to that the sudden disappearance of an essential team member, and the possibility that more may too go missing, and we've got quite the beginning to our first mission as a team. So interact, foil some traps, run into some potential super-powered guards (*gasp*) but most of all be creative! This is as much your story as it is ours! Edited February 5, 2015 by Orcus

[Nyxian]

"I'll say everything's a trap..." Kato groaned as he pointed at the ceiling where several auto turrets were dropping down, aiming at them, as if they were triggered by the door they had just used. Kato quickly threw his arms out, the hands seeming to disappear as the bullets were fired, but none hit the team. "What do we do now? I can't keep this up and get us out of here at the same time, and time's running out quickly. I can sense two guards on patrol coming this way, and they seem to have a bad feeling about them." he warned as he focused on aiming the bullets into the walls and floor. I wish I could aim them back at the turret, but I don't have the skill for that yet he thought as he tried to play his part as the spy and assassin in the group.

"Then you keep those guns occupied while we deal with our friends." Danger said as she rushed off in the direction Kato had indicated with a head bob. "Good luck, and call if you need extraction!" Kato yelled back. He grimaced as he started to feel the strain of prolonged use of his powers pull on his consciousness, causing his spatial field to falter enough to let a couple of rounds through.

"Hey, watch it!" Alice quipped a bullet nearly hit her foot. She looked back at Kato, who was fighting to maintain consciousness while also deflect the rounds. He dropped to one knee as his vision started to blur.

"Somebody, please be so kind as to rid us of these tasteless toys. I'm having a bit of trouble, keeping conscious here. Too much use of my powers and I'm out like a light." he panted as he tried to keep things under control.

"Sure thing, now where are their service panels?" Arashi said as he moved to help Kato, searching along the hallway for the panels that housed the turret's targeting controls. "Just a minute. And.... there!" he said as he broke through their firewalls and gained access to the turrets. He quickly shut them down, allowing Kato to move to sit on the floor with his back against the wall.

"That took more time than I thought it would to jump out of the fire." he muttered. He then stood up and dusted himself off with a tired groan. "Shall we continue with our search. I do need to save some energy for our extraction, so let's limit the spatial magics to a as needed basis? Great, thanks!" He then turned and walked down the hall, leaving his companions to deal with his sudden change in behavior. He checked every door he found as he continued, until he opened one and called back to them. "I found the stairs. Whose up for some leg work?"

 

"Hold up. Care to explain what you said so the rest of us are n the same page?" Lucas asked as he quickly moved towards Kato, closing the door with his hand. He raised an eyebrow and waited for Kato to answer him as the rest of the team came to listen in.

 

Kato sighed and shrugged. "Fine. My powers, though impressive and  powerful, also limits. Basically, it's not my physical body that is everywhere at once, it's my mind. The body is just luggage that travels along with me. It works like this, If I jump a far distance, I use up a large part of the energy that keeps my mind and body linked. Same applies with extended use. Once that energy is used up, my body is basically an empty shell and my mind is cast out to occupy everything at once. I remain in that state for roughly 8 hours before enough energy is restored for me to make small jumps, like jumping between floors of a building. Anything more, and I'm useless again. I was trying to suggest that we simply keep my power use to a limit so that we have them for emergencies or when we complete the mission." he smiled, a thinly veiled mask for his reluctance to reveal how his powers worked.

 

"But doesn't that make you useless for the rest of the mission? What happens if we get in a fight, you just going to hide while we do all the hard work?!" Alice asked, a frown of disgust on her face.

 

"That, my dear, is not going to happen. My scythe, a tool that our employers prefer i didn't use, contain part of my essence.... Which means that I can summon it no matter where I am." he added when he saw the confusion on everyone's face. "I can fight, so I am still a useful part of the team. Is that what you wanted to know, leader?" he asked, turning to Lucas.

 

"Yes. now, we need to decided to wait for Danger, or we can continue our mission and hope that she catches up with us."

Edited February 25, 2015 by Nyxian

[DeLarge]

"Danger, do you require assistance?"

 

The voice crackled into Felicia's ear as she ran through the darkened corridors of the Umbral building, her feet making little more than a whisper on the ground as she made her way towards the guards Kato had spotted. The words distracted her, and she ducked into an empty corner office to pause for just a moment - offering to activate Danger was among the worst things Geist did to her regularly, tempting her into succumbing to her addiction when the executives knew deep down that she could never resist for long. She felt her hands begin to shake at the very thought of being allowed to indulge her compulsion, and she squeezed her eyes shut to try and block out the thoughts that would always lead to her giving in.

 

"Repeat: Danger, do you require assistance?"

 

Shut up for a second.

 

The thought snarled through her head, the anger going some way to distracting her from the offer, but she knew saying it out loud would have repercussions further down the road.

 

Weigh up the bloody options.

 

On the one hand, if she was going up against two highly trained and potentially super-powered security operatives, Danger would definitely give her an edge. But, on the other hand, if the assignment continued as poorly as it had started, she would undoubtedly need the suit at some point in the near future, and she couldn't risk using up her allowance on a couple of guards.

 

"That's a negative, Control," she finally spat into her communicator, "I am proceeding alone at this stage."

 

"Copy that," her handler replied, "Assistance is primed and ready when you need it."

 

Exhaling slowly, Felicia ducked back into the corridor, and saw the silhouettes of two guards at the far end of the corridor.

 

Large. Heavyset. Male. Armed.

 

That was good - if they were armed, it was less likely that they had highly offensive superpowers, if any at all. Their size could cause problems, but even with her relatively small stature Felicia was confident she could take them both out. After all, she'd taken out far more dangerous targets with far fewer resources on her side before.

 

Got to go in big, take them down as quickly as possible. If that doesn't work, divide and conquer.

 

She focused on the shapes, and took off down the corridor at a silent sprint. A few steps before she collided with them, she dropped to the floor in a short and dirty slide, slamming her feet directly into their ankles then flipping onto her front as she scraped along the floor past them. She watched as they both dropped down to one knee, the initial attack having taken them by surprise, and leaping towards them the moment she stopped moving. With a single swift motion she grabbed them both by the neck and slammed their heads into the hard floor, knocking one entirely unconscious and dazing the other for a moment.

 

She took that moment to scramble back to her feet and yank the handgun out of the conscious guard's holster, swiftly firing a succession of clean, lethal shots into the pair of guards.

 

"Neutron, this is Danger," she said into her communicator, her breathing only slightly laboured from the confrontation, "Guards on the western side have been taken out. What is your current loca-"

 

Her words were cut off as a huge, almost comically-muscular man burst through the thin dividing wall keeping one of the offices separate from the hall, slamming his fist into Felicia's chest and throwing her from her feet. Even with the dizzying explosion of noise and movement, she was fairly certain she'd felt at least a couple of ribs break, and she landed hard on her back as the bigger, and clearly super-powered guard loomed over her.

 

"Damn it..." she wheezed as she hauled herself to her feet and faced down her new opponent. He was big, at least eight feet tall, and covered with rippling, unnatural muscle and a healthy selection of tattoos and scars created an odd mosaic-pattern to his exposed skin.

 

"That's far enough, little flower," he said, his voice as deep and booming as one might expect from a man of his stature, "Your visit is over now."

 

"Danger, do you require assistance?" asked the crackly voice through Felicia's communicator again. She winced as pain shot through her injured chest, and stared down at the cartoon strongman she was now faced with, a snarl twitching the corner of her lip.

 

"Repeat: Danger, do you require assistance?"

 

"Oh, hell yes."