Mirror's Edge: Band of Runners IC

[OnyxSpy]

Galen lie on the sofa, his wounds slowly healing. The medic had him in his care while Faith sat at the computer monitors. "We have suffered heavy losses to the Blues, but that is not the matter of discussion. We have a man on the inside of the Blues. He says they pretty much know where our HQ is. They also said something about the Blues releasing every single Project Icarus subject into the city. This will devastate us if this happens. We need to stop this by any means necessary. I would say we break into headquarters and sneak around to find the info we are looking fore, to try and stop them from releasing all those clowns. Got it?" Faith asked those who were there and those who weren't using their earbuds. At the same time, Galen, although unconscious, could hear everything she had just said.

[wednesdaysun]

Marko, turning to look at Faith while she was talking, paid attention. She nodded, indicating that she understood, and continued staring out of the window, contemplating the death of Sky. It was painful, yes, as he was a new Runner, but there would always be conflict between Runners and Blues. It was unavoidable, though devastating. Tears flowed down her cheeks again, and she wiped them off.
"But we'd need to get off the radar. It would take some time before we're back on our feet again. We can't risk being exposed." she said in a firm voice, though her original intention was to suggest something.

[Aufeis]

Jules watched the people that were her acquaintances, her friends. She watched as Gale ran off, and did whatever it was he was planning to do, then came back and collapsed. She watched Marko pick him up instead of letting her do it, despite her injuries. She contemplated why she was still here. Why she still ran. Because they needed her. As Faith began to speak, she stood in the doorway, leaning on the door frame, "Only one problem. I don't understand how getting info on anything will stop them from releasing the hounds. If anything, wouldn't it make them more likely, if not eager, to do so. But I'm game for it, if you think it's what we should do. Just let me do a once over on Marko while the Doc is busy on Gale, and then I'll grab some more medical supplies from my apartment, and I'll be ready."

She undid Marko's bandaging and looked at the wounds. They looked like they were healing well enough, but just to be sure, she smeared on some more salve, and wrapped them with new gauze. She handed Marko some brightly colored pills, "If the pain gets real bad, and you need them, take them, but use them with a bit of caution. Not only can you get addicted, but these things have some nasty side effects." And with that she walked out the door, offering only a small wave and, "Be back in ten."

As she ran back to her apartment, she began to think. About before. When Merc was still alive. Back when El was still alive. Back when her parents were still alive. She slowed to a stop. It seemed like death followed her wherever she went. First her parents were killed in the November protests, their bodies battered and broken. Then El, dying in her arms. And then Merc. She'd seen the state of Merc's place. But that was because of Jackknife and his betrayal. Not to mention Cel. She'd been out of town on assignment when it had all gone down. She wished she could have helped Faith, but what's done was done. She jumped through the window of her apartment and landed smoothly. She went over to the medicine cabinet and refilled her first aid kit. She turned back to face the living room. A patch on the floor caught her eye. A dark patch. Blood. His blood.

'Glass broke. A body crashed to the floor. She ran over and took the bloody form in her arms, "El! What happened?!"

He coughed, "Blues. In...in the plaza...A shootout...Me and a couple others...I managed to escape... But...they got me pretty good, sis. I don't think...I'm gonna make it."

"El, don't say that, don't say that. I'll fix you up, just hold on."

"Sis. Julie. No. I'm not going to make it. Trust me...I've seen wounds like this before...just, do me...one last favor." He gave her the bag that was stained in his blood, the mixing of his red and its yellow making a sick orange, "Get this to...Faith. There's some...important stuff in here...I know you...quit being a Runner...but...make one last Run. One last delivery." He closed his eyes.

"El! EL! No, don't die on me, you're the only one I have left!" She cried, hugging his head close, "Please don't die, El."

He laughed, his eyes still closed, "That's not true. Faith is still your friend. All the Runners are. You'll always have friends with the resistance." He kissed her on the cheek, "I love you sis. Now. Take care. I don't want you to come visit me any time soon." His breath escaped. His head drooped. She sobbed, humming a lullaby their parents used to sing when they were little, the tune echoing mournfully off the bare walls of the apartment. She dragged his body to the roof and burned it, the flames burning a bright strong red, letting all Runners in the area know that a comrade had fallen. She moved slowly back downstairs, her steps slow and shuffling. She went to the closet and pulled out her Runner gear. It felt good to put on again, like finding a part of you that you thought you had lost, but now it was back again. She wasn't even out of practice. She made the long sprint in minutes. When she got to Faith's lair, tears were still streaming down her face. She flung the bag onto a table and said only, "I want back."

Faith had looked surprised, but she hugged Jules anyway. It was comforting, somehow.

Jules shook her head. The dark spot was gone. It was never there. She had cleaned it up after she had burned his body. She hopped back in the window sill and glanced over her shoulder, "El...I miss you." She did not run the way back. Instead, she walked as slowly as she had ever, finding planks over gaps and using stairs instead of jumping. The weight of death weighed heavily on her, now adding Sky's body to the top of the pile. She felt numb. Hollow.

----------------------------------------

Lucius watched the scene below. One of the Runners must have ambushed Lance, because he was hauling some serious ass. Then he saw one of them come streaking out on all fours and stick his feet into Deagle's legs, and then just stop. Deagle got away, and then a second Runner appeared (god, he wished he could get a better look at the buildings entrance) and looked like he was yelling at the other one. Interesting. Unrest in the resistance, perhaps? He smiled a bit and picked up the pistol strapped to his leg. Likely, the bullets would go nowhere near the lone Runner, but he screamed pretty loud, so he figured he might as well try and put the guy out of his misery. He used the entire clip shooting at the guy.

[wednesdaysun]

Marko smiled and took the pills in her hand. She merely pocketed them, and her arm fell slightly limp.
"Thanks, but painkillers I can live without."
Remembering her uncle's warning about painkillers, she merely ignored their existence, unless she had a splitting headache she would only take ibuprofen. She leaned her head on the sofa seat and closed her eyes, slowly drifting off to sleep. Her head lolled over to the side unconsciously and gave a look that anyone would've mistaken as death. But of course, she shifted in her sleep, telling them that she was still indeed very much alive. Some of the pills she had been given fell to the floor directly below her open pocket.

Her dreams drifted off to times of her childhood, when she would play with other children like other civilians did. Until the day she saw her cousin Ray run. She had never been more fascinated with the grace, the power, the agility of running. She was in love with running ever since. And ever since she was a child with dreams of running, being a so-called 'hero', her family members tried to protect her from doing so. Until she finally became a Runner, there was nothing much they could do but watch and wait for her to run into the same trouble with the Blues as they did. And she did. Her passion didn't let her turn her back on running. But now, she needed to rest.

[papolatte]

One after another, thumps against the walls, on the ceiling, and on the overhanging balcony announced the arrival of the rest of the Runners. So many were injured. Nearly everyone was hurt, or helping the hurt, but Alex avoided looking in their direction. Blood made him queasy. At least from the steady breathing, and the available medics, there wouldn't be anymore deaths. At least there shouldn't be.

Alex listened intently as Faith began discussing the reasons she called the meeting. She acknowledged the all too recent foray with the Blues, but dismissed it quickly. There wasn't much she could say about it other than that. Plus there were more important things to discuss. She had seemed antsy and nervous the whole time they waited for the others to arrive. Alex stood up uncomfortably and walked to the window, leaning his face against it, looking out over the city while Faith talked.

They had been within view when it all happened. Galen and Sky's brother. Alex and Faith watched them on the monitors together. For a moment, they both had thought Galen was done for when the bullet pierced his chest, but he must of been lucky. Obviously he was still alive. Alex vaguely wondered how any of them would be running with all the bruises and wounds. Then there was Sky's brother. Alex understood his anger, especially with his brother dead, but he was so violent. Maniacally so. Alex had never talked to him, despite the fact that he was one of the closest Runners to his age. He just felt no affinity for the kid, and today, on his rampage, Alex realized why. The boy was a few years younger than himself, yet he had no hesitation about killing. It was disturbing. And then the fact that he openly attacked Galen. Even Alex felt the sudden urge to knock the kid down, hard, not to even mention the anger which showed on Faith's face. How could Runners make a difference if they acted the same as the people they were trying to stop?

"They also said something about the Blues releasing every single Project Icarus subject into the city", Alex looked up. Things were more serious than he had thought. He listened more closely to her briefing. "This will devastate us if this happens. We need to stop this by any means necessary. I would say we break into headquarters and sneak around to find the info we are looking fore, to try and stop them from releasing all those clowns. Got it?"

Marko spoke up, "But we'd need to get off the radar. It would take some time before we're back on our feet again. We can't risk being exposed."

The Blues HQ? Break in? He wondered if he would be left behind for this mission as well. he didn't suppose he would though. It seemed Faith intended to use all of her resources this time. The fact was, they were nearly wiped out this time. In the 3 weeks since he had joined, he had never seen a Blue so close to the base much less a helicopter and experienced team.

"I'm more concerned about how we're supposed to sneak into the Blue's HQ? Especially such a large group of Runners?" Alex breathed heavily as he questioned Faith. "Or is there more to worry about? And...", Alex looked around sheepishly, "What exactly is Project Icarus?"

[Aufeis]

((I love how my character's dialog almost always goes unnoticed, despite being directed toward a specific person))

Jules walked up the stairs of the building the HQ was situated in. She didn't feel like running right now. She felt tired. Like she hadn't slept the night before. Like there was a weight on her shoulders. When she finally reached the HQ again, she just kind of leaned against the door, "I still don't understand how this is going to take the pressure off of us." Then Alex spoke up.

"What exactly is Project Icarus?"

Project Icarus. Here hand clenched at the mention of the project, "Project Icarus is an effort by those Blues to create the ultimate attack force to eliminate us Runners. They're fast like us, they're strong like us, and they think similar to us. I'm not quite sure how they do it, but they create their own Runners...or steal ours..." She remembered both Jacknife and Celeste. They had all been on the same team...now...they were all divided, "Speaking of traitors, has there been any word on Celeste yet, Faith?"

She wanted to talk to Celeste her own way. With a little rematch on their last fight. And this time, she wouldn't be afraid to hit hard.

[AlWayZFrE3]

Bullets peppered the ground next to Takuya for a few seconds, and his eyes snapped to a lone officer standing atop a building, firing with a pistol. With bloodshot eyes, blood covered limbs, and a look that could kill, Takuya must have looked freakin scary when he pulled the sniper parts out and flash assembled them. He glared through the scope and growled, "Just won't fuckin die..."
When he pulled the trigger, nothing happened: out of ammo. Instantly, Takuya dropped the weapon and bolted towards the building, scaling the wall up to the man with his special shoes like it was nothing. He flipped over the edge of the wall and spun midair, lashing out with the demonic shredders on his feet, "Sup" he said before attacking, "I'm Takuya, Sky's BROTHER!" Then he fought for all he was worth.
(Promise the rampage will be over soon)

[Aufeis]

The fact that the Runner literally ran up the wall surprised him, but it was nothing he was unprepared for. Special shoes, special gloves, he'd seen it before with those Project Icarus freaks. The fact this guy decided to throw himself into an office building swarmed with Police officers seemed stupid, "I advise you to freeze, or be shot. You are under arrest for the aiding and abetting of a fugitive of the law, Faith Connors, as well as being a Runner. Put your hands on your head and get down on your knees. If you resist, we won't hesitate to shoot you." There were enough guns in the office that even if the guy could wound or kill two or three of them, then he'd be bleeding so bad, he'd be dead in minutes.

"Sup, I'm Takuya, Sky's BROTHER!" And then he attacked. The name Sky meant nothing to Lucius, but the office lit up with gunfire as the kid moved to attack.

[AlWayZFrE3]

Takuya knew what was about to happen, and he was well prepared for it. Before the gunfire even started he was in motion, using his reinforced chainmail gloves to deflect a few rounds before reaching his target. He slammed into Lucius, then grabbed and spun the man so he faced the cops. If any of them fired, they would have to blow through their friend to get to Takuya.
Togu knew that the officer in his hands was related to Sky's death, but not completely responsible. He tightened his hold and backed up, "One Wolf already died today, there's no way you're getting two." Then, louder, almost to the edge, "Remember this name and remember it well! Skylar Etrius Wolf, my brother, died today by your hands. My name is Takuya Neku Wolf, and I'm going to kill every last one of you."
His speech done, Takuya used the man's shoulders as a balance and jumped, corkscrewing his feet into his back and leaving bloody marks before shooting off. He landed hard but still managed to make it to the HQ. When he walked in, he said simply, "Hey, guys, i think i got one..."
Then the exhausted warrior fell, a bullet hole in his back bleeding badly.
(And thus ends the wrath of Takuya the Grinder. sorry it took so long, guys, i'll be a bit more civil now)

[Aufeis]

Lucius felt the force of the kick tear into his flak jacket's metal plating. It knocked the wind out of him but nothing more, sending him sprawling as the guy disappeared. He shouted to him as he was going, "You can call me Lucius or Lucifer! I won't stop until all of you are dead! Just like your brother!" He stood up and watched the guy streak away before disappearing. He turned to the other guys in the office, "Well? What the hell are you waiting for?! Get an APB out on that guy, he just attacked more than one officer! Idiots!" And stormed out.

[OnyxSpy]

Galen lay on the sofa, coming to slowly. He was all bandaged up and didn't miss much. He sat up and tried to hold himself up with his hand before exhaling sharply in pain. Broken hand... Damn, I almost forgot. Galen sat completely up and looked around at everyone.

"Celeste... That traitor. I don't exactly know what happened to her. Maybe she turned full fledged Project Icarus subject, which leads to completely wiping their memory and brainwashing. With that being the case, I am not too worried about them finding HQ. She was the only one who knew and if she wasn't brainwashed, she would have told them our exact location." Faith said, leaning on the computers.

Galen opened his mouth after about three minutes. "To break into the HQ, we need every single Runner in this room, and even a few that aren't in this room that should be heavily medicated. We need to stop every Project Icarus subject from getting out. They are all in glass cages and have a terminate button on the cage. Only problem is that if those buttons are pushed without Dr. Barnaby's keycard, the alarm will sound. Since we cannot get his keycard, We will all have to push a button at once, terminating all subjects." Galen looked down at his chest, and then his arm. He had a bad scar on his arm, but it wasn't from the explosion...

I want a flashback too!

Dr. Barnaby: "Ahh, finally. Our subject is complete. The best one we have ever made."

As Dr. Barnaby pushed the button, a hissing sound was heard. The door on the Project Icarus subject opened upwards like the doors of a Delorean. From the mist surrounding the subject, walked a man in a mask with a tube in his right arm.

Dr. Barnaby: "Subject 11-249. You are awake."

Subject 11-249: "What am I? Why did you call me a subject?"

The subject takes a few steps towards Dr. Barnaby before the needle and other tubings deny him any further passage.

Dr. Barnaby: "It is alright, nothing too major. Please, step back into the chamber so I can release those troublesome tubes."

The subject had different plans though.

Subject 11-249: "NO! I am NOT a test subject. I am a person! Even though you say it is not major, it feels major! I am leaving!"

As the subject finished his sentence, he pulled off the first tube. This was the poisoning tube, making it impossible for Dr. Barnaby to kill him anymore. Then he removed all others. Forgetting about the one in his right arm, he took off. The needle cut his arm open, about three to four inches and down to the bone. The subject fell to his knees, bleeding and in pain. He yanked the needle out, then removed his mask.

Dr. Barnaby: "You should have just stayed..."

The subject turns around, being no other than Galen Levick.

Galen: "You will regret this day. I will make sure of it."

And with that, Galen took off at speeds he had never been able to run at, climbing things that would be almost impossible to climb. He escaped, his arm still bothering him. He took off into the sunset, trying to find the Red Resistance.

Galen snapped back to reality. He looked around at everyone and said "Trust me, I know they have termination buttons."

[Aufeis]

Jules felt bad for Tak; she could definitely relate to his pain. But first thing's first, "So what's the plan? Even if we can all get in and hit the buttons all at once, the regular blues will swarm us like an angry nest of wasps, stinging just as relentlessly with bullets. It sounds like a suicide mission to me. They'll get the same ends, by different means. Otherwise, you better have one hell of a plan thought up." Jules said. Then Tak fell over and she saw a bullet wound in his back, "Jesus Christ, I swear you people are trying to get killed."

She stood up and looked. The wound wasn't very deep, but it was bleeding badly. She stuck a small thin piece of metal in and pulled the bullet out. It's head had mushroomed, but it looked intact, "He'll be fine. He's just tired. I'll bandage him up, stop the bleeding, and then let him rest a bit, but he should be fine. He'll be completely ready for the mission."

[Draruto]

[oh what the hell, me to]

Five years ago, downtown

Walking with his little sister perched on his wide shoulder, Caliban felt happy or at least whole for the time being. "Cali' why do you run so fast?" Aimber asked, her youthful innocence showing brightly. "I just do sis, I can't explain. Even if I wanted to." he replies. She smiles and hugs the top of his head. As the minutes wore on and the digital clock rung, an unnamed runner came thunder by. 'Damn.' he thought, as he said, "Aimber, I need you to get on my back." Instantly doing as Caliban directed, she trembled with fear. Right the sirens sounded, the crowd panicked and started to swarm around mindlessly. Jumping over a few benches, over turned trash cans, Caliban made it out of the crowd before the cops came exploding in. Watching from behind an ac unit, he and Aimber waited for the buzz to die down. "I'm scared Brother." she told him, quivering like a little bird. "Don't worry, I'll get us home." he said, putting on a small smile. Grabbing his hand, Aimber trusted Caliban.

Night was coming and Aimber needed to be in bed in thirty minutes. But, unfortunately the activity below them had died down enough for him to go back down yet. Placing his sister on his back, he sighed. 'Might as well, she needs to be bed.' he mused, breaking into a fifty mile per hour jog on the roof tops. Coming home with incident, their mother took Aimber from Caliban. Knowing what was coming next he pulled up his emotional armor to keep from doing something stupid. His mom came back, and she was up royally pissed. "What the hell took you Caliban!? You said you'll have back hours ago!' she hissed at him in an angry tone. "Well mom, I would've been sooner; but a runner had dashed through downtown and the cops locked it down for what seemed like forever. Then I did roof hopping to get here." Turning two hundred shades of red, his mom sputtered, "I want out before ten tomorrow."' Walking to his room, his anger was practically broiling. 'Bitch!!!' he thought, throwing everything had into his big black dufflebag.

Present

Popping out of his memory, he said, in a brusque tone, "I'll rather blow their asses away with a nuke."

[AlWayZFrE3]

(Hey, why not? My turn!)

Takuya dreamed of a time last year, when his brother was still running with him, fast and strong. They soared over the rooftops with the grace of raptors. When one went high, the other went low. When one zig zagged, the other joined in formation. It was a dance of deadly precision. Their target was clear: Lance Deagle. He was exactly where they were told he would be: sitting on guard duty at a police checkpoint. Sky gave Takuya a look, then took to his namesake, soaring over the target to attack from both sides. Lance rose and drew his weapon, firing two rounds into Takuya's brother. One was mild, a simple shot to the arm, but the other looked like it hit his heart.
Takuya freaked. He charged the Pig with the full intention of killing him until Sky landed and retreated, yelling for him to do the same, that it was an ambush. If he'd died then, Takuya would have likely killed the future leader in blood rage. Now his brother was dead anyway, and Lance was still on the loose.
Even in the dreams, Takuya made a promise. He promised that he'd be like his brother: wild, but still with the mercy to not kill everyone he fought.
Except Lance and Lucius. Those two were dead men.

[Aufeis]

The APB came back empty. There was no sign of anyone in hospitals except soldier with bullet wounds. Lucius growled angrily. He was already back at HQ, sitting behind his desk. Lt. Lucius K. Brant. He put his feet up and tilted back in his chair. He looked across the room to Deagle's office, which was still empty. He wondered briefly where the hell that guy was, but figured it was nothing he had to piss himself over. The guy could take care of himself.

[OnyxSpy]

Lance arrived at his house. He plopped down on the couch and relaxed. "Why did he..." Lance was still curious about Galen's mercy. For the longest time, Lance thought Runners were bloodthirsty killing machines, much like Takuya. But he saw something different in Galen, a sort of pain that he had also experienced. Then Lance remembered. "Subject 11-249..." Lance had remembered him because the good Dr. Barnaby had released him that day to become a Project Icarus subject to kill the Runners. Of course, he used the same serum on Lance he had used on Galen, making them not under the mind control. Lance waited in the lab in the darker area as the commotion with Galen happened. Lance thought there was something about Galen that he knew.

---

Galen cleared the air that was thick of flashbacks in HQ. "Anyway, about the matter at hand. We need to work on getting everyone back into fit, running condition and then we need to get into the headquarters. Either we all go, or I can assemble a crack squad and we can try for Dr. Barnaby's keycard. Any suggestions?" Galen was open to them as Faith nodded. He was just as in control as she was and he also spoke what she thought. It was weird to her. How was he aware of her thoughts? It was odd, but she didn't mind it.

[Draruto]

"Just one, get a bomb and watch it explode in the cops' hq." Caliban said, his tone heated and angry. He wondered what it would like if the lockdown in downtown never happened. Maybe his sister would still be here.

[OnyxSpy]

Galen tossed Caliban a disapproving glare. "We are here to stop the Blues, not kill them. Look, I don't know about the rest of you, but killing was never a Runner thing. Ask Faith.. Out of all the guys she has gone up against, only three lost their lives and that was because of insolence or another person killing him and her taking the blame. Look, point is, I would like to do this as non-lethally as possible. No casualties makes it look professional, not like we tried to kill them all." Galen said, annoyed. What happened to the guys I used to work with... The guys who didn't want to kill every single Blue because we were the ones they shot at. For christ's sake, they are only doing their job.

[Aufeis]

((Oh my gawd, teh angst! lol))

Jules shook her head, "Look, I feel the pain of a lost sibling too, but if we just go and blow up the blue's headquarters in this city, what is that saying to every citizen in the city? It's just proving that we're the criminals they say we are, and we aren't. We aren't here to kill, we aren't here to get vengeance, and we aren't here to blow anything or anyone up. We're messengers. That's how Merc wanted it, and that's how it's always been. We are supposed to be practicing non-violence here, people. No matter what. That's the code. The creed. If you can run, run and don't fight. Now, I don't exactly like this suicide run either, but blowing them up solves nothing. There will always be Blues, whether it is this lovely lot or the next squad sent in to play clean up after you blow them all to hell and back." She said angrily. "This isn't what El died for. This isn't what Merc died for. They didn't die so that the names of the Runners could be strewn in the dirt by some vengeance crazed loons. Get your heads in the game and your shit straight."

She breathed heavily as she looked around the room at the other Runners, her face glowing an angry red. When nobody spoke, she turned back to Faith and Galen, "So, what's our plan?"

[Draruto]

'My shit is straight,' he thought as he said, "Thanks to some unnamed Runner and a police lockdown of downtown, I got my sister home late and kicked out. Then they moved, so pardon me if I'm not the usual one here." Turning around, he knew that he would always be misunderstood and left in the back.