Cyber Repair and Research Facility (IC Closed)

(OOC: cyber-repair-and-research-facility-ooc-and-interest-check-t7934.html )

Owen walked behind the two orderlies who was helping him move to the apartments above ground. He had come here with just the clothes on his back, well hospital clothes on, and was able to gain two boxes worth of stuff in the time spent here. He was a bundle of pain and was not afraid to voice his discomfort, the CRRF staff finally found stuff that worked to ease the sharp stabbing in the back of his skull.

He was completely upset when they were not able to remove the hardware, but he to got over that as well. Once he gave into their aid to regain some normalcy to life, he quickly improved. Now after all the hard work and suffering, he was able to live above ground. With others in similar situations, this was one of the last steps to be able to actually leave CRRF. And he was welcoming it with open arms.

The black box strapped to his left bicep chirped softly, his finger quickly found one of the three buttons on the face and silenced it. One of the orderlies glanced at him a bit of concern etched on his face. Owen only gave him one of his trademark goofy smile and shrugged.

The trio stepped off the lift, onto a beige carpeted floor. Large paintings of landscapes hung on the walls, the doors were numbered with bright gold detail. The same type of locking devices graced the left side of each door, three ways to gain entrance. Thumb print, number code or a card swipe.

Taylor, who headed this part of the facility stood before door 5267, a smile on his wrinkled face. “It is good to finally meet you in person, Mr. Christopher. We have had your room prepared with all your needs.” he stated, pointing to the pad at his left. “We just need you to imprint our thumb and we can let you into the room.”

Owen quickly obliged and his thumb was scanned and saved, the door slid open with a hiss.

A large open space greeted him, furniture are clustered together to chop up the openness with defined space usage. “Wow.” he stated stepping down only step in the apartment, a fully stocked kitchen. A high set table and chair for eating, overstuffed sofa and matching chair sat over an area rug completed the space. Behind an opaque glass wall lay the bedroom and an adjoining bathroom.

“I take it the apartment will suit your needs.”

“Very much so.” he answered looking at Taylor. “I know I have to work.” Owen was not sure how to finish the sentence.

The doctor waved his hand, shaking his head. “We will give you time to settle and get use to the surroundings before putting you to work.” he chuckled softly, waving his hand to devices latched near the ceiling of each room. “All of these units have the hologram program which will monitor your vitals and will remind you of any tests, medication or self diagnostics you must perform. Your hologram is called Bina.”

“Excellent.” Owen stated as the orderlies put the boxes down with the promise of seeing him as soon as he started working in the lower levels.

Owen was alone in his new surroundings, feeling a little strange with natural light pouring through the windows. Wandering to the refrigerator he wrinkles his nose at the bottled water and vegetable drinks. He pulled a chilled container of water picking up the thick book of planned meals that have been prepared for him and waited for his consumption.

All the red lights of the small devices attached to each wall, went green. Light flashed from them and a metallic figure forms, the hologram is faceless and genderless. Owen felt the tingle run up his skull upon the arrival of the computer based person. “Hello Bina.” Owen states without turning, he turned the page to his detailed meal manual. “Run a diagnostic on all systems.”

“As you wish.” Bina responded in a light feminine voice. “Diagnostic ran, all systems are operating normally. You will be able to remove the mobile damper now. Are you adjusting to the new environment?”

“So far so good.” he stated when the sleek computer on his arm beeped again. He dug in one of the boxes to find the recharging unit and extra battery. Peeling off the device from his limb he pulls the battery free and slips it into the recharging cradle, the light turns red as it begins charging. Owen wanders about the apartment happily, he stops in front of the large windows looking over the landscape of buildings. The setting sun sprayed colors over the darkening sky. It was good to be out of the basement.

One year later:

Owen leaned on a desk flipping mindlessly through a book, surprised people actually owned them still. Everything now a days were all data filed hunker in the back of some hard drive waiting for someone to stumble across it.

Aurora walked into her office taking the books from his hands as she rounds her desk and sits down. “Good morning Mr. Christopher.” she stated with a small smile. “I see you received my memo.”

“It was sort of hard to miss, and with the added touch of Bina reminding me every half hour was pleasantly annoying.” he stated as he stepped from the desk.

“I am glad I could offer some amusement then.” she answered as she rested her hands on her beloved book. One rose and waved to a data file laying at the corner of her desk. “The police have informed me of another ring, it is not exactly safe as of yet. It should be falling in about an hour or so.”

Owen didn’t bother to pick up the file, he leaned over it and touched the screen. Quickly, reading the report he has grown very familiar with. “In the Heco district? They never have presented there before.”

“I think they are getting a little desperate.” Aurora stated pleased, the black market labs were getting easier to pick up on the power grid in downtown. “Take out the regular group and bring me the survivors.”

“Aye. Aye. Captain.” he stated, presenting her a salute. She gave him a sour expression and pointed to the door.

Owen didn’t think that moving to the suburbs was a good idea either, it was harder to pin them down. More families were in the cross hairs meaning more injured and more work for the police and his team. Granted, he was only the clean up crew for the subjects.

The data file beeped in his hand, he lifted it and opened the incoming message. “I forgot to mention I added a team member. Jason Argyath, he should be arriving in the hanger shortly.” the image of the administrator blinked out.

"Okay." he stated to the dark box.

Jason Argyath strode up to a desk in one of the many chambers in the facility and looked down at the receptionist, who craned her neck to see the muscle bound man before her. A smile flickered on to his mouth as he watched her take in his metal arm and bionic eye, revealed bionics always surprised and frightened people, even those who worked around them their whole lives. When the woman finally found her tongue she spoke.

"H-how may I help you s-sir?"

Jason leaned down on the desk and a friendly smile lit up his face, it looked horribly out of place on the man and only served to frighten the receptionist even more.

"Could you direct me to the hangar, please," he said in his deep, thick voice, "I'm part of the crew, now, see?"

The receptionist nodded hurriedly as though afraid to deny him of his claims.

"Y-yes of course! It is just round the corner! First left!" she stammered and pointed with her slight hands at the direction. Jason gave her another of his smiles.

"Thank you," he said and moved away from the desk, striding down the hallway, his cybernetic arm swinging heavily at his side.

Several moments later Jason was in the hangar, leaning against the wall and waiting for this Owen guy he had heard so much about...

(Sorry, it isn't such an 'epic' post. I don't really know what the hangar or the facility looks like or our type of transportation so I couldn't really go into much of a description.)

The lift doors opened and the smell of fuel and other odors consistent with mechanical running things surround Owen. The huge room with high ceilings was home to all of the CRRF ground and air ships. Most were white with the logo stamped on aerodynamic bodies.

The gray polished floors are spotless, the walls and ceiling had the basic warehouse feel to them. He paused when the robotic sweeper ambles by, lifting his eyes on the data file. He scanned the room, tapping on the sleek computer housing on his arm.

A large brawny man leaned on the wall, looking rather menacing in his own right. “You must be Jason.” he stated pointing to the larger of the hover unit, it held up to ten pods and ten passengers plus two pilots. “Welcome aboard.” he stated with the impression the man had little to do with any sort of sense of humor.

“I am Owen, sort of in charge in this whole search and rescue team. I guess I have been here the longest, so that makes me team leader by default.” He was rambling and it wasn’t really the first impression he wanted to give. “Alright, there are a few things you should know. We hang back until the police finishes up with the Wave, or you will feel your implants go numb and unable to function. We pretty much scan the people, and toss them into the pods for the CRRF people to figure out. Any questions?”

((If you have any adds to my general discriptions, please feel free to add them. Since being here so long, he really doesn't pay attention any longer.))

"Yeah, I have a question," he rumbled in his thunder-like voice, he raised his bionic arm which had previously been hidden behind his body and gave Owen a grin, "Do I get to use this baby any time soon?"

Jason, like most men, was drawn to battle in an instinctive sort of way and savoured the adrenaline that only battle could bring, when he had been recruited he hadn't been all that keen to argue, since he reckoned he would be bringing down some tough, augmented guys. Similar to what his situation had been like, which he didn't remember much of. But 'scan the people, and toss them into the pods' didn't exactly sound like the action he had been looking for.

It wasn't that he enjoyed hurting people, unless he generally didn't like the person and they had done something to deserve it, it was just that he felt like he deserved some action after the less than invigorating events that had taken place in the CRRF facility.

Alexander rested against a wall of the hanger, peering down on Owen for a moment, "Make sure to bring back some interesting cases to... Study." The last word had a strange tang on the end of it, almost a malicious sounding one although joking at the same time. The man had a book held tightly in his left hand, a pencil held behind his right ear, and a strange looking scanner clutched in his right hand.

"I'm not one to wait, and you know this Owen, so I expect some results from you..." He turned to his right, walking towards the exit of the hanger, "Take care, mister Owen, don't let any of these fine people die...."
He stopped, casting his glance to Jason, "How are the implants feeling? Giving you any trouble...?" Alexander's voice actually had the little notion of caring, different to his normally cold emotionless voice.

"I can check it when you get back, if you wish... But I'm sure it's working fine... But for now, I need to get ready for this 'wave'..." He walked out of the hanger and into a hallway, walking down it a bit he finally found what he was looking for. An elevator, although this one was different; it went straight up to the highest floor, to no other. Stepping onto it he eventually rose to the highest floor, looking around as he stepped out.

"Well... Time to find my lab and get to... 'work'." A malicious grin crossed the mans face, an obvious look of madness portrayed in his eyes for a minor second.

[I'm kinda picturing Alex as one of those people who got obsessed with their work and went a little 'mad']

Jack woke up in an unfamiliar area. The world swam before his eyes hazily, and the light was painful on his retenas. Forcing himself into a sitting position, he brought an arm up, and rubbed his face. He yelped in pain and suprise as the gentle rubbing of his jaw instead landed with the force of a punch. "What the hell?" He muttered in surprise. Looking down, he saw his arm to be silver. Metal, robotic, inhuman. "What the hell?" He said again, louder and more agitated. Hopping out of the small cot, he looked around the room, obviously a medical bay, for a mirror. Seeing one on the wall, he ran over.

What he saw shook him to his core. His right arm, from the chest down, was a mechanical arm. It was the same size and shape as his other arm, and moved and flexed silently and as well as his left, but it was mechanical. Looking up at his whole appearance, he squinted. The mirror suddenly shot forward, and Jack stumbled backwards to avoid it. Falling on his bumb, he closed his eye, and realized nothing had moved. Focusing he unzoomed the eye, and took a closer look. While active, the pupil glowed red instead of black.

Unable to remember how he had ended up here, Jack muttered to himself once more, "What the hell is going on here?"

To see the arm so exposed would have normally unnerved him, but he was far to use to seeing such things specially here. “All in good time, friend.” Owen stated with a soft chuckle, the man surprised him with such a statement. He was expecting only grunts and growls from him.

Owen’s eyebrow’s shot up when Alexander made his appearance, the doctor was a little creepy to say the lease. But all that aside he was good at what he did. “Die? They be asleep when yank them from the rubble.” he nodded in agreement not caring to get into any sort of argument at the moment with the good doctor.

Once Alexander was talking to Jason, Owen turned to the hover car to check supplies and other things needed for the trip. “I guess it is just you and me today.” he enters the cot pit and drew out a thin cable connecting it to the main computer of the craft. The panels lit up and the engine started to hum to life, his eyes glowed green from the information dancing through his brain.

The doctors had designed this little feature just for his components in his brain. He leaned back on the head rest that was dropping temperature to keep the back of his skull cool. He sat and waited for everything to boot and Jason to settle into a seat.
------

A woman appeared in the middle of the room, her large green eyes blinked at the Jake, she smiled sweetly trying to ease his fear. A soft glitch went through the make up of her hologram body, giving her a slight dance around the edges. “I am Meea. I am here to answer all your questions. You are quite up set, I must ask you to lower your heart rate as much as possible. You are in the CRRF, Jake, you had a nasty accident and was brought here by the local doctors. No one is here to hurt you in any way, you are safe here.”

Spinning around in surprise at the hologram's appearance, he listened in interest to her explanation. When she had finished talking he asked her, "What... what HAPPENED to me? How did I- lose my arm? And my eye?"

"So that's your implant," he said wryly, having completely ignored the doctor from before, he strode over into the ship to join Owen and thudded into a chair opposite his captain, "I was wondering what was so special about you for a moment," he said, obviously meaning it as a joke with his friendly grin.

Now that is came down to it, Jason was actually starting to feel a tad excited about his first assignment, after all, who knew what was going to happen? Anything could go wrong and then he would have the chance to prove just how helpful he could in a dangerous situation, to his allies at least. He settled back into the chair and regarded Owen for a moment before deciding he was curious about the man and his implants, and wasn't nearly bashful enough not to probe.

"So, is that all you can do?" he said, reaching behind his head with his normal hand and wriggling his fingers about to indicate Owen's implant, "Or have you got another neat little trick up your sleeve?"

Owen chuckled at Jason’s comments and grinned at the slight challenge the man unwittingly had initiated. “I have a few tricks up my sleeve.” he stated, turning to the general direction of the man. Jason looked flat and slightly blurry through the dancing information on his retinas. “Buckle up, this is going to be a bumpy ride.”

The hatch closed and the engines whined in effort to lift the craft off the floor. The bay doors opened with a thought, the landing gear folded as the ship moved peacefully toward the yawning doors.

Once they cleared the third story bay, things were a different story. To Owen he saw only a computer generated graphic everything in the most basic shapes, another haze dancing from the surroundings were the output from computers. He knew this craft better than he knew himself, and the reaction time involved in each maneuver. In short, he would be the best get away driver on the planet.

The ship hurdled through traffic and around buildings, dipping and diving like a mad person. Several calculated close calls would have brought even the most sane and nerve of steel like man to white knuckle the experience.

It has been a while since he actually showed off this part of him, it was nice to actually open up his wild side. He could do more with his mind and computer parts, but he wasn’t about to show all his tricks on the first meeting. “You doing alright over there?” he asked, sitting calmly as if they were driving down a marked road. The ship pitched just enough to miss the top of a building, his eyes may not be on what is in front of him, his brain clearly was.

Meea shook her head. “You were a victim of a mugging from the black market hostiles. The police transported you to the nearest hospital, they were only able to stabilize your vitals before sending you here to CRRF. Your body parts were to far damaged to remain in your body. They had to be removed and replaced with what you see now.”

She waved her delicate hand toward a shatter proof pane, behind which lay a computer screen with voice activation. “All of the details of your operation and what was installed are there for when you are ready. Beside the screen is a food and drink dispenser, when you are hungry just choose from the menu and it will be brought to you. Is there anything else I can help you with?”

Jack sunk back down onto the cot, dropping his head into his hands. Rubbing his face with his left hand, he dropped his right back down to his side. "I... I see. Thank you. That will be all." Turning he walked to the machine, and ordered a large amount of alcohol and a gigantic tub of cookie dough ice cream. He needed comfort food desperately at a time like this. Grabbing the bottle of scotch as it arrived, he took a large swill, and then dug into the cookie dough as it too arrived. "Sake alive." He murmured. "I can't believe it. I'm a fucking monster."

Jason had not been ready for it, that was for certain. As the ship jerked to life, seemingly at a mere thought from Owen, Jason was sent flying across the length of the ship and crashing into some pods, which jangled noisily. With a moan the massive man pulled himself out of the tangle and managed to reach his chair after a series of slips and falls at the fault of the 'bumpy ride'. Pulling himself back into the chair and ensuring it was safely buckled he looked up at Owen, a slight look of begrudging upon his face.

"Yeah, nice trick," he muttered as they zoomed in for their destination.

Meea watched in somewhat discontent at the man who would order such a beverage. Even though in her programming she was not allow to gloat at the fact there was no real alcohol in it. The man would not get drunk, even if he drank the whole flask. They didn’t need an drunk cybernetic individual trying to smash everything in sight. No there were safeties in place to ensure the hard work of getting this man into top shape was not about to go asunder. The ice cream and scotch was loaded with vitamins and minerals that his body screamed he needed.

Soon he will figure out this was his last meal as he chose it. He would be given planned foods to keep his body functioning in top shape, there for the expensive replacements would also be kept in good repair. “A monster is who does not appreciate the human body as given in the natural birth. You are enhanced, you are still who you were before this happened. We, at CRRF plan to keep you that way as much as possible.”

With that her hologram flickered from sight, the scans would continue updating his condition on a screen watched by an attendant near by.
------

Owen grinned at the man’s approval or disapproval. He didn’t care which, he was able to actually stretch his mind and flex his powers a bit.

The craft set down behind the police line who were in fact in full assault mode in the rather ordinary looking two story house. One would picture a family with kids and a dog living here, not black market doctors carving ruthlessly into human flesh.

Something about this didn’t feel right, the siege should have been done by now. He knew the flight here was not that short, for it had actually taken the same amount of time to arrive if he had been driving normally. “This is wrong.” he stated and leaded against the pod, his mind reaching out to the house computers. He was able to get flickers of images once he tapped into the hologram nodes. The implants were not down they were actually fighting tooth and nail with the police officers who were not armed for such conflict. “The Wave isn’t working. I don’t understand why it is not working.”

Owen dug deeper into the memory of the computer, but could not find anything stored since the system had been turned off. He cursed and shook his head. “This is not good, Jason.”

"Not good?" asked Jason, not a trace of worry or anxiety in his voice, "Hell, this is great! Let's go kick some arse!" he roared and thrust his massive robotic arm into the air.

This was more like it, thought Jason as he felt the adrenaline that had been building up inside of him start to pulse through his body. He had known this was going to be good! If the wave was working that meant it wouldn't work on him either, probably, and the cops weren't likely to fire on their own men so this was a certain green light for him to charge in there and pound the living daylights out of any bad guys.

He turned to the door, anxious to jump into the fray, but remembered that Owen had to open it for him. He didn't feel like busting a hole in his new mates ride. He spun round to face Owen again.

"Come on buddy! Let's go smash some bad guys!"

Jack realized that there was no alcohol in the supposed scotch. Angrily, he tossed it towards the trashcan and its shattered against the wall dropping inside the bin. He ordered Dr. Pepper in replacement. If he wasn't going to get smashed, he would at least drink delicious liquids. The soda made him want pizza, so he ordered it to. He stuffed himself full, and when done threw the lefto vers away. Then he looked around the room, and called, "Hello!?! Can I leave here please!?"

Owen stepped into the craft and gathered some weapons belt, he did not feel the same excitement Jason did. He was not a solider, just a regular guy doing regular stuff and slapped into a situation. One that was just flew out of his control, he was trained with the weapons he now carried. To use them outside the firing range was another different story.

He added some body armor to his chest legs and arms, and a helmet to protect the old brain pan, he activated the mobile damper to his bicep as he once again stood outside. Waiting for Jason to gear up for the possibility of a gun fight.

They may be body recovery, but CRRF was not about to let their people go into a fight with spit and a prayer. They were armed with the best weapons and strongest body armor. The two almost looked like a team in the matching gear, of course Jason looked more the part than Owen.

The pair headed toward the building, the interior was decorated by a hand who loved flowers and pink. It made Owen’s eyes hurt a little, he defiantly didn’t like pink upon pink. Gun fire echoed through the large space mostly coming from the basement, he froze and swallowed hard. Keeping his weapon pointed up and his back against the wall, like he was taught. He moved slowly making sure each room they passed was free from snipers.

Another explosion of gun fire erupted as he moved through the cheery kitchen with cat pictures and knick knacks every where. The basement door stood ajar, many bullet holes defaced it. With his toe he gave it a gentle shove, it creaked loudly in the silence that followed the gun fight. He wondered who was down there and if they were hostile.

Pointing his weapon at the stairs, his heart raced finding it empty. The situation of the open stairs gave anyone down there the advantage. They would be able to blow away their knee caps after the fifth step. He returned to his position against the wall. And explained what lay ahead of them. He was open to suggestions at this point, his eyes land on the hologram node. He could plug in, but that would leave him venerable and without a cooling system his brain would be fried in no time flat.

They had to risk their legs for the greater good, they were already part machine. What was a few more pieces? He took another breath and started to turn to enter the basement, that was when the thugs appeared. Owen pulled the trigger and the man’s chest exploded, and fell backwards down the steps.

He leapt behind the island a moment later the kitchen was torn apart by an array of bullets.
---------

Meea appeared once again and blinked at Jack. “You will be unable to leave this place for at least a week to ensure that your implants will not be rejected by the natural tissue. Only after you pass the physical and mental exams will you be able to move up in levels.”

Jack groaned, and facepalmed with his left arm. "A week in this place? Tell me you got TV or something, I'm bored outta my mind. Maybe some Playstation? Something!" In truth, Jack just didn't want to think about his machine parts, and wanted to do something to get his mind off of it.

"Damn! They sure are loaded!" roared Jason over the barrage of bullets that were tearing the kitchen to shreds. He looked down at his arm, cables and wires still showing where the metal plating was missing, his eyes travelled along it and rested on the laser that was tucked neatly into a groove in his wrist; he had apparently used it against the CRRF when they had come to retrieve him but he could hardly remember that. Hell, he wanted to see what this thing could do.

The surgeons at the complex had told him the arm was connected to his brain, internally, and that is how he could use the laser in conjunction with his eye. So, the arm worked as a biological one would, which meant all he had to do to arm the gun was- the laser, if rather jerkily, slid out of the groove on small arms - thinks about it. Jason grinned and looked up at Owen who was taking cover from the fire.

"Let's show them some real fire power eh? Cover me!" he said, and before even giving Owen time to cover him leaned round the doorway and focussed his laser gun down at the thugs firing below. One bullet grazed his metal hand, leaving a groove across his knuckles, but he couldn't feel it; he just knew it.

"My turn," he grunted and at a thought the laser pulsed, sending forth a thick red beam that slashed through a thug’s neck and struck the basement floor. It exploded. Dust and bits of flaming debris shot through the door in a cloud, followed by a series of screams and groans.

"Holy shit..." exclaimed Jason, looking at the gun in awe, completely unconcerned that he might have hurt the 'good guys', but not because he didn't care but because he was a little slow when it came to the consequences of his actions. He looked back up at Owen and smiled.

"Race you down there!" and with a roar he leapt into the door and down the stairs, clearing them in one massive leap.

Meela listened with compassion that could be generated from several different programs. The understanding of the boredom and entrapment of humans in this room have been compiled from years of watching. She tried to pull the correct responds to the situations, although each human was different and very unpredictable. “We have a few tests that need to be ran. If you would be so kind as to step through the door.” A panel slid aside, this is where Jack will be ran on a tread mill for a certain amount of time. Giving the doctors much needed information on where human ends and the machine begins. He will also be instructed to use his eye to learn each function available in the programming of it. This is where he will find his boundaries on his capabilities, and see how much stress the mesh of parts can endure.

--------

At Jason’s request, Owen nodded only getting one shot off before the other was in the line of fire.

A laser shot from Jason’s mechanical arm tossing up a cloud of dust from the basement, Owen ducked back behind the island grumbling to himself as he put a fresh clip in his gun.

He followed Jason down the steps as the ventilation part of the house kicked on to suck the cloud of dust from the air. He went from body to body to check for life, Jason had done a real nice job of clearing the room.

The unfinished basement looked like a battleground blood splattered on the wall and ceiling. A few cops survived the gun fight and the minor explosion, he knew he would get his head chewed off for this. He didn’t have time to worry about that right now, he had people to toss in pods and transport them to CRRF.

A few of the illegally implanted was still breathing, the damage done was enough to daze them. Owen quickly put them under and stabilized their vitals before turning to Jason. “Bring three pods down here and direct the new wave of police to the basement to care for their own.” he ordered, moving to a cop who was moaning rather loudly. He quickly applied a few medic patches to ease the blood flow from the wounds and waited for Jason to return with back up and the pods.