Sarah Briggs's Story

Left. Right. Left. Right again. Sarah hopped back and forth, exuding impatience. She'd been standing in line for almost twenty minutes now, and it showed no sign of getting shorter. Murph squeezed her waist, causing Sarah to inhale sharply and glare at him. She'd chosen him to be her dress for the evening, as his skin was the softest gossamer black material she could find, and it would look most elegant. Well, except for the large skull on one of the shoulder straps, that is. It would have to do, seeing as how she left all her "special occasion" clothes at her parents house, and she'd probably outgrown them by now.

Soft whispers brushed at the edges of her perception, drawing her gaze in their direction. Several of the guests had already caught Sarah's attention, but that wasn't what Murph was pointing out to her. A gap in the security across the garden revealed a door, probably to the inside. Sarah grinned mischievously, pinching her waist as she broke away from the line. As soon as they made it past a pillar and out of sight, her Living Weapon slid up her skin to her face, forming a smooth, featureless mask. The rest of her clothes that he'd been holding resumed their place on her body. She wore black slippers, a black and dark gray mottled sun-skirt with shorts underneath, a form fitting tube top, and a short cloak with a hood. The whole getup was still formal enough to pass as party wear, but also well suited to sneaky work.

"Okay Murph, simple smash 'n grab, only without smashing or grabbing, ok?" Her companion tugged at the edges of her face in acknowledgement as she stepped out of the shadows. Gliding under a balcony, Murph oozed an arm out of the mask, which shot out to grab the lower lip and drag her up. He was really very handy at times. Halfway up, Murph swung her under the balcony and hid there for a moment, sensing a guard on his rounds. When the man went back inside, they quickly vaulted the railing and darted to the shadows. Once inside, it was child's play to slip amongst the crowd and begin the night's pleasantries. She'd had him resume his form as her dress before, just to keep up appearances in case anyone outside was now within and had seen or taken notice of her.

"Remember, we need to find that doctor, or any of his friends. I want more information about the Living Weapon project. Those notes didn't explain everything well enough. Also, any juicy baubles you can snatch. We're gonna need to line our pockets once this gig is up, you know," she monotoned in a low voice. Murph squeezed her waist again, his almost invisible eyes darting around in their sockets, scanning the crowd at large.

As far as parties went, this one wasn't half bad compared to some of the others Sarah had attended. At least here there were interesting people from her social strata to talk to, unlike those boring commoners that crashed the parties back home on Venus. These folk had intellect, personality and money, three things Sarah enjoyed being around. As the night progressed, dinner was served and entertainment was summoned, which allowed her to concentrate on something other than the abysmal failure that tonight was turning out to be. Even though she enjoyed the party, the fact that she wasn't running into any scientists that had worked on the Living Weapon project meant that this whole blasted thing was a waste of time and resources.

Or so she thought, at least. Sarah had been so busy looking at the rest of the room (in between bites of her food) that she hadn't even noticed the woman sitting in front of her. Her name was something with a "Z", if she remembered correctly. This woman had showed up to the lab several times to give insight as well as check on the progress of the Living Weapon project, probably because it had some interesting applications to the GEAR field of research. With a slight frown, Sarah sifted through those hazy memories, trying to find any common identifiers that would spark a name. In a flash, it came to her.

"Dr. Britanov?" Sarah queried to the other woman. When she turned to face her, Sarah smiled as genuinely as possible and tried to act pleasantly surprised. "It is you, isn't it? Do you remember me? Briggs? Sarah Briggs? You came in to my lab several times to check on our experiment...something to do with weapons research you were conducting? I'm very glad to have run into you! What brings you to the party, per chance?"

Internally, Sarah winced at the veritable flood of words that issued forth from her mouth, but at the same time she hoped that it would off-put any suspicions that the other woman might develop. Until Sarah was done wringing her for information, she wanted Britanov to be as co-operative as possible. Even though Britanov wasn't directly affiliated with her program, the woman was a genius when it came to GEAR's, and since the Living Weapon project was a spin-off project, she was sure that the good doctor would have either insight or information enough to help with her little problem.

Zoara blinked rapidly a few times as she was knocked out of her train of thought. Wait, who was this person? Briggs… Where had she heard that name before. Well, she knew it was the name of her commander back at the base but this woman was too young to be in any position of command. "Oh! I remember you!" Zoara exclaimed a little surprised she recalled the woman. It had been a while since she had, had anything to do with the Living Weapon Project so she only remembered Sarah vaguely but it was still there.

It was fascinating stuff that project, it was an offshoot of the whole GEAR construct with the weapons themselves being derived from the prototyping that took place within combat GEAR's taking the form of symbiotes. She had helped with the initial startup but was mostly just there to see the outcome of the whole thing. Experimental bio-matter was tricky though so there had been quite a few road bumps and she'd been pulled off the case by Christopher after things had been deemed to dangerous for her to be going to the lab. Especially with that break in that had happened. She hadn't heard much on the matter but it still was one of their prized experiments that had gone missing.

"Mmm, this party?" She asked suddenly feeling a little cheerier since she had a colleague to talk to, "After the research on the PiNG came out I've been getting to go to a lot more of these sorts of things." It was a nice thought getting to talk to someone from her field of research, of course she knew that there were others in the room that she had worked with but she didn't quite know how to go up to someone and just out of the blue start talking to them unless there was some sort of reason behind it. She was fine with other's starting things like that though, she just needed to get the ball rolling. She often theorized that it was the fact that she didn't get out often enough that caused all of this.

"So," she said setting down her cake on the table, "how are you doing? Is the research still going alright?"

What a relief! Britanov didn't suspect a thing! Sarah laughed at her hinting at how secluded she was before her big break, nodding in sympathy. At the mention of the research, however, Sarah faltered a bit. Apparently no one reported the loss, or she would have mentioned it. Murph rippled slightly, offering reassurance.

I guess word didn't get out, huh? There was a break in and....well, someone stole the prototype. I quit the project after that. After all, that was going to be our big triumph, and starting from scratch was impossible since the research notes were destroyed as well...No, no, no Sarah. That's too close to the truth. Be more vague...or specific. An idea formed itself in her head, becoming more and more solid as she mulled it over. Why not sprinkle the truth with grains of a lie? After all, who would suspect her of sabotaging her own research?

"You see, Doctor, I have a bit of a problem. I was hoping someone of your expertise would be able to help me out. See, the Living Weapon project was a success, but also a failure. Allow me to clarify. The project was indeed successful, as the specimen functions and is responsive. The failure is that the research was destroyed and the prototype...umm...well it bonded to my body. I, we, it..." Sarah paused a moment to collect herself. Her life could be at stake if the doctor suspected her of wrongdoing and reported it.

"I was studying it late at night, but I failed to use proper lab safety or protection. The symbiote sensed me somehow and made contact, which bonded our molecules together. In order to stop it from taking over my body, I had to see a street Mana-drive dealer with whatever notes I could pencil out and have him install an inhibitor which bound it to my will. There were...side effects, however. I'm not 100% myself anymore. I need an expert, such as yourself, to examine Murph...I mean it, and see if you can either fix or reverse the process." Biting her lip, Sarah tried to read Britanov's face.

As if to prove that she wasn't lying, Murph slid the skull shaped charm that served as his face lower on her shoulder strap. Sarah glanced down, then lifted her eyes to the ceiling in both prayer and exasperation.

"Dammit, Murph! You're gonna get us killed if you keep pulling shit like that!" whispered Sarah angrily to her dress.

Leung just stayed strong and silent at the table, sitting next to Zoara as she had her conversation with Sarah. He worked hard to keep certain information away from Zoara, and certain details of this situation were an example. So yes, he did know that Sarah was likely lying to a certain extent about “tinkering” with the Living Weapon. It also happened to be far more irregular of a situation than usual thieves, seeing as this one had yet to be caught and chose to come back to one of the people working on it. She had to have legitimately wanted it gone if she was going to one of the very people who worked on it, especially in such a major public setting.

This was nothing short of a fool’s move on behalf of Sarah. Leung had every right and motive to detain the thief and bring her to the authorities. Those who steal from the military are quite instantly criminals of a high degree, and it wasn’t often that the bandits brave enough to try something so foolish would be brought to perfect justice. As a member of the military, it was his duty to solely try and take her down, but in the current situation he’d just as easily succeed.

At the same time, Leung couldn’t help but consider the possibility of some benefit in this. Sarah’s parents were heads of Venus’ Research and Development, where Zoara worked, and with a better connection made between them through their daughter could mean a lot; more control over the facility for himself and more freedom in work for Zoara. Of course, there was still also the capability of getting the stolen Living Weapon back, a good-looking accomplishment to have under his belt.

He quickly leaned turned directly towards the two, leaned to Zoara and whispered “Keep your mouth shut and let me handle this, this woman’s parents are your bosses.” He didn’t need her getting in the way of something with this much benefit, especially considering she could potentially get some of it as well.

“She’ll be plenty willing to help you,” Leung intervened, before Zoara could object, “But only if we can get fittingly compensated in return.”

“She’ll be plenty willing to help you, but only if we can get fittingly compensated in return.”

With a glare, Sarah turned to the man who so rudely injected himself into a conversation he wasn't involved in. Something about him rubbed Sarah the wrong way. Maybe the tie. She cleared her throat and turned to face him directly, keeping her suspicion out of her facial expression, instead giving the air of simply being offended.

"Excuse me, sir, but I don't believe you were consulted for this matter. This is a private discussion between myself and Dr. Britanov. Plus, I don't believe I could compensate you even had I the inclination, which I don't. I have no money of my own anymore, and all my connections have been silenced. I doubt Mother or Father would be delighted to know that some...person is trying to blackmail their cherished child..." Sarah stopped for a second, adopting a serious facial expression. This man could actually have some dirt on her, and it wouldn't do to alienate him entirely just yet.

Nodding slightly to herself, she resumed. "Actually, sir, I believe I may have spoken out of turn. I apologize. Maybe we could make a mutually beneficial arrangement. I will inform you in advance, however, that I cannot compensate you monetarily for some time, but I may be able to 'pull some strings' with Mother or Father. Provided, of course, that you tell me exactly your affiliation with Dr. Britanov and what aid you can offer me in return. 'Tit for tat' as the commoners say." Leaning back into her seat, Sarah continued to study the man as she chewed on her lower lip.

If he was a threat, she'd negate him one way or another. If he was an asset, she'd leverage him. Men were fickle creatures, and with the right carrot one can coax anything from them. If being a thief had taught her anything, it was to manipulate. Know when to fold and when to double down, as they say. If push came to shove, Murph could always turn someone into jelly anyways. Sometimes force can be more persuasive than the subtlest of arguments.

"Wait… I thought the Prototype was stolen…" Zoara thought to herself as a puzzled expression appeared on her face as she tried to rationalize the situation. Wait, it had fused to her? That and the involvement of an illegal Mana Drive operation was need enough to run away with something like that. It could get you killed by the Conglomerate, especially with how dangerous the bio-matter industry was known to be.

It seemed that Leung had caught onto the matter too. No doubt he was trying to to make a profit off of the situation. She wasn't comfortable with the idea of him hawking her out like this though, nor the morality of his bargaining. "Ssh, it's your job to make sure I'm safe, not mass market my abilities," Zoara whispered back. The posiblility of some sort of freedom was a tempting thought though. It was a strange thought to think that this woman was related to her bosses. Leaning back towards Sarah she smiled sheepishly, "I'm sorry about that, this is Colonel Leung, my retainer," She said looking between the two then back at the woman, "he doesn't mean any harm, he's just a little goal oriented."

Her smile continued turned to a look of concern. "It's a sad thing though that this has happened. I'm guessing you're not working with the project, are you? "Lowering her voice she leaned in slightly, "I'm guessing you are the one that they are blaming for the break in on the prototype." she said Smiling softly as she nodded her head, "I know it's not your fault though. I understand what it's like to be afraid of being prosecuted. I'm willing to help you." She had a weakness for the what she assumed were the unjustly accused, maybe this was why she had such a strong urge to help this young woman.

Eyeing the strap on Sarah's dress she figured this must be the fabled Living Weapon prototype. "well,I know there's a bit of the mechanics of a GEAR you have there but I'm going to have to do some research to come up with any definitive solutions since the bio-matter's a bit too far deviated from anything I can get a reading on. Would you be alright with visiting my Lab once we get back to Venus? I'm sure it wouldn't look to suspicious."

Relieved that Dr. Britanov was on her side, Sarah readily agreed to acompany her to the lab back on Venus. It had been too long since she visited her parents anyways, and she missed them sorely. Before they could continue negotiations, however, a light smattering of applause announced the arrival of the nights entertainment.

Ad Infinitum, the famous orchestra, strolled on stage and set up their instruments. They played a beautiful melody to start, a song that Sarah was familiar with. She smiled and hummed to herself, finger swaying gently in time to the music. Something subtly changed in the air, however, causing her to stop and look to the stage. Ad Infinitum's instruments spawned a host of vile, black creatures which looked strangely familiar to her.

"Murph! Look, Living Weapons without a host!" cried Sarah. There was no mistaking that sheen or makeup. Reacting quickly, Murph released his hold on Sarah's clothes and took his position on her head, causing all the baubles he'd collected to clatter to her feet. She didn't even care as she leapt over the table and charged through the crowd, Murph pushing people out of the way forcefully but not brutishly. The GC marines above began to shoot at the creatures, but their fire was sloppy and several guests were struck by stray rounds. It was a good thing that Murph was pretty much indestructible, or Sarah'd be worried about him catching bullets.

The closest of the creatures was advancing in a predatory manner on a boy, who stood paralyzed with fear. Sarah rolled her eyes, but charged in anyways.

"Meteor Knuckles!" She hollered. Murph quickly drew one anvil sized fist back before sending it straight into the belly area of the creature, slamming it into the floor with a nasty squelching noise. "Get the hell out of here, squirt! This is no place for kids!" Sarah yelled at the kid. Whether or not he responded, she didn't know or care. Kicking at the creature ineffectually, Sarah ordered Murph to pull it apart. Obeying instantly, the Living Weapon nabbed the blob like creature and raised it over them, pulling with all his considerable might. The thing simply stretched without protest, though it struggled weakly against the oppressive grip. The bright red orb on the center of the creature caught Sarah's eye, though.

"Murph, lower! I wanna stab that eye, see what it does," ordered Sarah. As soon as the creature was withing striking range, she produced a wicked looking butterfly knife and jammed it into the bullseye. That seemed to piss the creature off, as it redoubled its efforts to escape. The thing sucked itself free of Murph's grasp with a pop, only to be flattened as he brought his hands together in a clap. Murph did his best to compress the thing between his sausage sized fingers, but the damned thing oozed out of the cracks. Giving up, Murph just chucked it at another of the creatures, knocking them over and tangling their limbs.

"This sucks, Murph. We blew our cover," lamented the woman to her hat. Murph silently agreed, eyes darting back and forth from the skull shaped crest on her forehead. They both adopted a ready stance, aiming to hold off as many creatures as possible to let the guests escape. Maybe they'd get lucky and kill one, which would allow her to study it more extensively.

Taking the back seat of the conversation, Leung felt both frustrated and uncomfortable. He had this sort of feeling often when Zoara got talking about science, an area he didn’t have enough knowledge on to participate in well. There wasn’t any response he could make or any method he could use to intervene in this situation: all he could do was just sit there and focus on the logistical side of things. He always wished for some better skills and comfort in this situation, but for now there wasn’t anything he could do.

Both thankfully and unfortunately, the feelings were short-lived this time around, once Ad Infinitum started spawning their monsters. The best he could do to describe them were as beasts of tar and oil. Even without their attacks at the other guests, they were nothing short of horrific to see as they oozed out of the band’s instruments. To an extent, he did expect something threatening would come to this event, be it for Zoara, the politicians, or the trial in the top floor, but nobody could’ve expected something this strange.

As Sarah gunned off, Leung darted around to get a hold of the situation. The creatures coated the ballroom, the security officers were coming from everywhere, and the fighting against the creatures did not seem to be all too effective. Leung’s mission of the night was the safety of Zoara, and from his perspective it looked like the best way to accomplish it was to get out of the tower quick as possible, or at least find the safest place inside. The front door was out of the question as an exit, with the guards and creatures making it impossible to walk out without somebody getting hurt. Guards from the balconies and upper floors started pouring out from the staircase, bringing to mind that the upper floors were likely the emptiest part of the tower. For the sake of common sense, he pulled his plasma pistol out of his belt with his right hand, and dragged Zoara’s arm with his left.

With Zoara following behind, he walked around the ballroom to avoid any confrontation. If need be, he could’ve blasted any of the creatures’ eyes out, but any intentional confrontation seemed like a lost cause. He made it to the staircase at the end of the room, nudging around the armed guards into the empty hallways of the rest of the tower. Nothing appeared to be following them, but depending on how dangerous the creatures were they could’ve eventually. That said, Christopher couldn’t help but realize this was about the safest spot, with the wall of guard fodder keeping him aware of their location. If any other trouble came along, he knew he could just sprint off to a balcony or emergency exit straight ahead.

“We’ll wait it out here for now,” he stated to Zoara as he sat down. “It’s going to be okay, alright?” he said both to her and himself as he stared up at the expansive ceiling.

"The ship for the criminal Solo is headed here. Head up to the observation deck and..."

Atlas's report stopped synchronously with the screams of the party goers and a slight tremor in the building. Ignoring his commanders orders Indigo ran back onto the 4th floor balcony overlooking the main hall. Below was carnage, the band had disappeared and monsters were attacking the guests.

"Open fire!" he commanded, and at once the men on the balconies shot down at the creatures to little affect. Their bodies were like fluid and, as a result, the bullets and energy shots passed straight through. Deep in his mind he recognised at least the constitution of these creatures, and then the thought disintegrated. Watching below, some of the guests were taking a more active participation in the battle, doing what the guards could not. One woman was even in possession of something similar, using it to smash the creatures to pieces.

The bullets were too small to have an effect, designed for little more than human targets. They needed larger pieces of metal to destroy them, and before the hand cannons got here from weapons storage, he would have to do. He drew his sword and leapt as gracefully as his metal body would allow into the storm below. The bullets couldn't dent his body, only his face which he aimed to keep pointing down. Within a few seconds, and with careful aiming, he landed straight on a creature that almost seemed to explode, as did the floor beneath him. He stood up surrounded by dust when some of the creatures turned on him. Two leapt at him, and in response he swung his sword with precise force aiming to bisect both of them. The first simply reformed where the sword cut, albeit being a little stunned and missing him. Indigo misjudged, though, and he caught the second dead center in the eye, splitting it. The creature dissolved to dust and all that hit him was a slight gust of air. Indigo maintained the swing and brought it down back on the first creature, this time aiming for the eye.

----

"You, tell these soldiers to take these fucking chains off me! Let me go, and I'll help with your little...problem. Deal?" The convict was acting as insane as he was during the trial, never losing his grin. Calmly, Atlas replied.
"I'm afraid I cannot do that Solo." The grin swapped to Atlas, Solo now looking furious. "You see, under interplanetary law, a majority vote must be.." he began, semi-sarcastically, only to be interrupted by McCall. "Here's you majority vote, sir!" and he released an equally shocked Solo. Solo glanced at Atlas for a second, before running down the hall. McCall, meanwhile, returned to his stand. No more would be said until the building was safe again.

----

Out of the corner of his eye he spotted Zoara and an unknown man running deeper into the bulding where some of the guards were coming from, and behind them were three of the creatures. One of the creatures switched targets, only to be batted away again by a guard behind a column. Indigo began to run after the creatures before something heavy smacked into his face, knocking him to the ground. In a daze, he subconsciously called out and, almost instantaneously, saw Zoara stumble a little. In his head, he could hear her gasp.

And then...

----

Indigo opened his eyes. He was standing again, stock still in the middle of the hall, barely moving, but something was off. It was as if the world was placed at the front of a theatre, surrounded by a black outline. It was like he was watching the world from a projector. He looked around to assess the damage, and the image of the world scrolled out of view. Turning back to face it, he could see that it was indeed some form of screen or projection. He tried to move and found his arms bound and a suspicious lack of legs. He could see faint red lines on the walls around his 'vision' and, as his eyes adjusted, could see he was strapped to some sort of giant pillar that looked suspiciously like a neuron. Turning back to the outside world he was now moving, or at least his body was. He bent over his sword to pick it up, and Indigo gasped, a sound that echoed through the void.

His hand was definitely his hand, but what had been brown or yellow painted metal was now covered in a smooth matte black that had formed soft curved spikes. As 'he' grabbed the sword a black fluid, similar to the creatures, emitted from his shoulder and enveloped the sword, shaping it, transforming it into a brutal matte black scythe. What happened next shocked him more. The scythe suddenly sprouted three red eyes near the blade, not too dissimilar from that of the creatures, and as those eyes appeared, their visions appeared alongside the main projection. He could 'see' through them! Sadly, his body was just out of sight.

"So, you're awake?" announced a booming voice, slightly deeper than Indigo's and featured a subtle hint of egotism.
"Who are you? Where am I?" cried Indigo's particularly feeble voice back to the void.
"Who am I? Who am I? Let's see..."

At that dark grey beams appeared from outside Indigo's vision, coalescing on on point in front of him, forming a large mass. The viewports all ceased in movement. Whoever was talking to him was also controlling his body. After a few seconds the mass solidified and grew sharp obtuse edges, three spikes on a large torso, two arms roughly the size of Indigo here and whisps where the legs should be. Then the face solidified, forming a long pointed edge down the middle and then, on the left side, appeared a perfectly circular dark red eye. Instantly the figure began talking and gesticulating as if performing.

"I am you... or to be more precise, I am your significant." He grabbed Indigo's chin with a thumb and finger and pulled him forwards, almost tearing the bindings. "...and this is our mind. Don't you like it? I reside here while you fumble about, and then when I'm tired of you, or you don't go where you should go, I take control."
"Take control?"
"As I said, I am you. This body was built for me, with only you to tether me, restrain me. Not that I needed restraint, as with restraint comes inaction, and with inaction comes failure. Oh, and if you need a descriptor for me, call me Zero." He released Indigo who fell back into place. "Now, while I'm awake, I must fulfil our purpose," he turned. "...Oh, and thank that woman for wakening me." he replied, before the form disintegrated.