Sector Konig Chapter Two: The blind leading the blind

[Koritai]

Brenda

By the time a knock came rapping on her door, Brenda had tired of waiting and went to the corner where the laptop charged. She'd gotten it up and running and skimming through the itunes on it, she found a song she liked, "Ain't no Rest for the Wicked" by Cage the Elephant. It was playing as she started working on a simple little project. At the sound of the knock, she minimized the program the project was on and went to answer the door. She thought for a moment that it might be Reaper again or something like that, but he would just burst through the door. So she had to guess, and she guessed right. There outside the door was Marcus, although jawless.

His wave and shrug told her more than just "I'm bored." At least her assumption was logical, but just to confirm, she asked, "You can't talk with that thing out, can you?" It was hard to keep her eyes focused off his lack of chin for very long. She hadn't exactly seen a jawless man before. Then she moved from the door way and went back to the laptop, and said, "Sorry, but I'd like to keep working. You're welcome to stay, I'm great at talking while I work, but it may be a bit boring watching me." The door was left wide open, an invitation within itself without her vocal invitation.

Sitting down with her back to the rest of the room, she pulled up the program again and started working on the project again. It was actually a really trivial program, but she couldn't think of what else to do since the virus idea was a failure. With her back sort of hunched over (Hard to work with the vest.), as it used to before the convent fell, a small corner of a puffy pink scar shone across her shoulder. It crept down out of view under the vest and her shirt.

[Gasmask]

Cyber Nodded. He spun the jaw in his hand. Before laying it next to the laptop. Byt he size and the loud bang accomplished by the metal-jaw it was safe to assume it was extremely heavy to carry around on someone's cheek and skull.

He then turned around and closed the door with a soft-click, moving his hand to lock the door with a metal finger. He locked it out of instinct, it was typical of a warrior to burst into a room at anytime. One would call him paranoid. He then noticed her work on the laptop and stared at it for a brief second. Curious. He then leaned forward, he knew his way around laptops. He started up wordpad and typed.

"What are you working on?" "Also, your right about the jaw." "Feel free to examine it if you want." He then backspaced it all.
He slumped against the wall and let out a sigh which sounded more like a guttural cough.

[Koritai]

Brenda

Brenda continued to type, although her eyes glanced unhappily at the door, as she heard it close and lock. She didn't like that, a locked door meant two things in a bad situation, no way out and no one to save you. She shifted her legs a bit, but continued with her work as she looked back to the computer. She didn't want anyone to know about her own paranoia and mistrust. There was no true reason for her to mistrust people so much, it was just that little itch, the whisper in the back of her mind. People aren't safe, people are animals, they'll throw you to the wolves the moment they're done with you. Maybe it was the panic that ensued after the bots first came that bloomed the paranoia in her. "Stay by me, Brenda, these animals will tear you apart." She could still hear her father say bitterly after the death of her mother. It only fed the paranoia more.

Brenda's hands dropped to her lap as he reached over her and typed into Word. Minimizing the program he opened she continued to work on her program and said, "It's a performance program, pretty trivial I know, but I've nothing left to work on anymore. The virus I programmed, under the assumption that bots worked off of computers, failed because of my foolish assumption. I've nothing left for them." Then she glanced over at the jaw and asked, "How does it work?" She figured that maybe if it was something right up her alley, she could help maybe. It looked more mechanical, though, and she wasn't too good with mechanics.

Knowing that he'd be responding through word, she pulled up the window for him again. Then Brenda stood up and walked over to the door. She unlocked and opened it saying, "My little pet peeve. No locked door would hold back a bot anyway." She had guessed on the motives, most everyone was afraid and a little paranoid about them anyway. Who wouldn't though? This little detail made Brenda's paranoia seem a little strange. Wasn't she all backwards? Weren't you supposed to trust the people and fear the bot? Well she did fear the bot, but she still didn't trust the people.

[Megraw]

"Hmm... Then he must have had an impostor. The man calling himself Reaper was the one who lured as many people as he could into the tunnels before blowing up the square." He said, thinking back to the explosion. As he sat down his hands ran across his face scrubbing off what was left from the explosion. His leg had slide out away from him as he bent over to unwrap his temporary gauss. "Give me enough time to properly treat this and then I'll be fine." He said, taking out a small flask. Kaun opened it and poured the almost pure alcohol over his wound. "Maybe if this world was more normal, but otherwise I don't mind being an armorslayer." He said, starting to take out a small pieces of wood and debris inside the wounded area of his leg. "Though, other then the enhanced muscles, reflexes and everything I'm just human. Bleed just as easily." He let the sword slide off his back and to the ground as they were taking a stop. "Well, as far as the heavy weaponry goes. It's not as effective as us to be carrying around a weapon more suited for Mecha. I mean I'm not going to be walking around with a fucking heavy cannon." He said with a chuckle. "And the mellee weapons seem to work well against the bots." He looked around. "Think we could find a med kit anywhere? Maybe a kevlar vest also if we can." He said, getting up to slowly walk around.

[TwilightShade]

Leonide parked Wrath in the mech garage upon arriving at Reaper's abode; he had many upgrade plans for her and so little time, and unfortunately, the skill required for such modifications went way beyond his knowledge on the subject. Thankfully, there was someone among the group that did possess the ability to perform such a task, the downside was that neither him nor Leonide were the most socially adept people, meaning that the change of an awkward exchange ran somewhat higher.

Not minding the fact that Reaper's "little abode" was not nearly as simple as he had imagined it, the Russian made his merry way into the kitchen, and found himself a pear. Far and away his favorite fruit from his younger days. Taking a bite out of the oddly juicy and tender fruit, he wandered around, attempting to locate the man. Pear chunks flew out of his mouth as he called out with his mouth full. "Yo, metal dude! Can you help me out for a bit? Just a teensy favor please?"

"If I could just get her to run and maneuver better as well as jump, fighting wouldn't be so fucking hard all the time. I'm surprised I've never had to use the EMP I stole." He thought to himself, staring around whilst getting acclimated to his surroundings.

[Koritai]

Brenda

Brenda had just sat back down when a new man stood in the door way, asking Marcus for help. "Oh look, you have a customer, you may want to take that." She said pointing to the metal jaw beside the laptop. "Come get me if it has anything to do with computers, programing, wiring, you get the jist. Have fun." She added in a cheery tone that didn't really suit her, as she waved with her back to the door. She then continued on with her programming, she still had a ways to go before it was finished, maybe another hours work. Once it was done though, she could use it for more than just her computer. Maybe she could even use it on some of the mechs if their pilots wanted it.

Performance programs were really useful, they increased how quickly the computer got things done, the quality of how they do things, and synchronizing. Brenda was sure that it would do a lot for mechs, but she wasn't done with program and she hadn't tested it yet either so it didn't matter.

[DarkManticoreX2]

Emily listened intently to the words Fong spoke, interested to learn at least a little bit about the motives of the man who had led them to his home.When Fong finished talking, Emily looked up, surprised to heard a response coming from Reaper himself as he walked by them, shirtless into the kitchen. How had she not noticed him?

"You know, it's rude to talk about the man whose house you're staying in for the night." He said, as he walked into the kitchen. "And...I wouldn't mind answering personal questions for myself, thank you." he called as he proceeded to grab a few berries. He glided back past them, mumbling things about them, and Emily, who was turning a shade of red that rivaled the tomato she was eating, blurted out "Sorry Reaper, I just wanted to know more about the man who's leading this parade. There's nothing better then impartial information, even you know that."

Fong had probably been just as shocked to find Reaper withing earshot, but if he had made a response Emily hadn't registered it. Her blood had been boiling too much having found out she had been eavesdropped on. Reaper left, off to take a shower, and Emily turned to Fong, taking another bite out of another tomato slice as Leonide walked around aimlessly, seemingly looking for something. His question "What about you? where have you been?" came back to her mind, and she turned to him, shifting uncomfortably. The question seemed like one of curiosity, but also interest in her. She wasn't exactly sure how to approach it

"To be honest, you probably won't believe me, but I'm from the great state of Texas, from the old United States." She said, smiling, proud of her heritage. From her bottom left pocket. she pulled out her diary, flipping through a few pages for exact months and dates. Closing it, and putting the book back into her pocket, she continued. "About five years ago, I learned from a fellow survivor about Garrison Alpha, about how peaceful and robot free it was. Based on his information, I decided to try and get there. Anywhere that i could have safety for more then a few minutes was better then where i was currently at. So i make my trek here, virtually entirely on foot. until I made it to a hidden survivor depot in Massachusetts. In exchange for some upgrades and repairs my magic could provide to their mechs and facilities, i was granted a speedboat with a load of gasoline, a self made mast, and some other supplies. It took about 3 months, but i managed to cross the Atlantic. landed in Portugal originally." She laughed at this, remembering the old man that told her she needed to go a ton north to get where she wanted to go. "Went north, landed, and proceeded to plan a way through the outskirts of Garrision Alpha. They found me outside the gates on Garrision alpha, one wrecked shell and guard, right next to me. When i woke up, I had been told I had been out for three days, Two days after that, Garrison Alpha was attacked, and here we are."

She contemplated for a bit, letting Fong mull over the story. "Quite the wild ride" she commented finally. She wanted to take a shower, and consequently a nap, but she hung around, eating the third to last slice of tomato, waiting for Reaper to finish his business. "How about you" she prodded back to Fong "You're a damn good shot and a mech pilot, where'd you learn all that from"

[elloit]

Kris stopped to allow Kaun to examine his wound. He walked over to a nearby tree and sat down, leaning against the trunk. He listened to Kaun's answers, suddenly realising the amount of questions he'd asked in a few seconds. How very unlike him.
"Yeah, well, at least if you had a heavy cannon I would be of some use. Or even a gun of some kind. What do you think this is for?" he replied, indicating the backpack. He didn't even wince as he watched Kaun pull shrapnel and debris away from the wound. He had seen far worse in the few years he had been alive. When Kaun mentioned the medical kit Kris sat in silence for some moments before answering.
"I'm pretty sure I have something like that in here somewhere. Let me just...", with that he began rummaging through his bag, "Maybe it was under...no, they're just magazines.", he removed a couple of the magazines, designed for AK-47s, in order to see better, "I think I can see it, I reckon it's underneath this...", he slowly lifted the tank shell out of the bag, and carefully placed it on the ground beside him. With a triumphant grin he pulled a battered-looking and slightly squashed first aid kit out of the bag. "Here you go.", he said, tossing it over to Kaun, "And here's dinner, if you're hungry. Hope you don't mind cold rations, because I don't think we'll get a fire up in this rain.", he slid the ration pack over as well before re-packing the bag. "As for a kevlar vest", he concluded, "I only have one. And so far I've needed it more than you have. Maybe there'll be something leftover in Convent Reaper you could use?"

[Arke]

"You know, it's rude to talk about the man whose house you're staying in for the night." the Reaper said, passing by. "And...I wouldn't mind answering personal questions for myself, thank you." The sniper's keen ears that came from years on the field didn't miss those words that came after. "Maybe you should listen more closely then, eavesdropper." He called back, slightly relieved that even though he was almost a good decade older than Reaper he didn't hear that Fong looked up to him as a great leader. How embarrassing to be heard saying that. Slowly, he took a drink, noticing that Emily had turned a deep shade of red. He pretended not to notice- he didn't know what else to really do. Suddenly, she answered his question, shifting noticeably in what looked like discomfort. Was he, perhaps, delving too much into her past?

She explained about her great trek across half the old United States, then finding her way to Portugal and up to Garrison Alpha. It was an amazing story, with a very sad ending seeing as the Garrison had been attacked only a few days since reaching her goal. All that travel for so little reward of rest was almost discouraging, since Fong really never experienced such failures with the exceptions of losing his Scouts during missions. The excited young men hoping to be useful to the Garrison always getting in over their heads. He listened in relative awe, trying not to make things uncomfortable for her.

She ended the escapade with "Quite the wild ride." The sniper chuckled once at the comment. "How about you" she prodded back to Fong "You're a damn good shot and a mech pilot, where'd you learn all that from"

Fong thought for a second, deciding to tell her since she had the grace of telling him what he wanted to know and then some.

"I guess I've been learning since I was a little kid. A bunch of survivors found me, and they all decided I shouldn't be fighting on the front lines. I was a kid at the time, and I wanted to help. They taught me how to snipe so I could be useful. Wasn't too useful in the beginning, but I got a lot of practice. Had to get my ass saved a few times." He fell into deep thought. "Got to pilot a mech since my regular sniper isn't too good at taking out anything more than a shell, if I'm lucky. Wasn't too interesting, since most of the time I learned how to remain undetected in it. In a head on fight I'd be just a bit better than you are at it." His face gave a grim smile at that. "My teacher probably died when the Garrison was attacked. Lost contact after I 'graduated'. Eccentric man."

"If I'm making you uncomfortable I apologize. I mean, you saved my life. Otherwise I'd be warrior feed a while back." He said, stretching. "You also don't look like you got much rest from the ride over. Trust me, I stay up all night sometimes trying to stake out my target." He grinned, unsure how to proceed.

[DarkManticoreX2]

Emily listened to Fong's story with interest. It had been quite some time since she had actually had a give and take conversation with someone. She put down the neatly finished plate, and sipped her water glass. Only two slices of tomato remained, but Emily was finished with them. She hadn't eaten in quite some time, but even though she was still hungry, she knew if she ate too much she'd suffer for it later.

As he ended his story, he chimed in "If I'm making you uncomfortable I apologize. I mean, you saved my life. Otherwise I'd be warrior feed a while back. You also don't look like you got much rest from the ride over. Trust me, I stay up all night sometimes trying to stake out my target."

She smiled warmly at him. It was nice to have someone genuinely care about her. She stood up, downing her remaining water glass. "It's not quite being uncomfortable, thats just the first time I've shared my travels with anyone, and I've been traveling alone for almost 5 years. It's a nice change to have someone to talk to that listens. Besides that..." She winked at him, grabbing her glass. "I'm sure you'll find a way to pay me back eventually".

She deposited her glass in the kitchen sink, washing it out with some warm water. As she waked back through the living room, she waved to him "The rest of those tomatoes are yours Fong, If you don't want them, give them away. I'm going to clean up and recharge. Catch you later." She followed the hallway down, walking past the party that was Brenda's room. Cyber, and the Russian were both in the room, as well as the girl Emily had seen earlier. Emily nodded at them, walking past them and taking the room two doors down.

She took off her heavy green and purple overcoat, depositing it on the airmoire. Underneath that, she wore a purple Cameo that came down to her midriff, and a black pair of formfitting yoga pants that came down just under her knees. She felt better with the overcoat off as she normally did. Her connection to magic always seemed stronger in this outfit, but she needed the overcoat for storage. Life was a tradeoff.

She sighed, patting down the overcoat, making sure everything was still inside.
--Her Diary, Check
--The minidisk of her Parent's death, Check
--four emergency grenades, two in two different pockets, Check

She discovered something else in her overcoat as well, Cyber's Radio. Huh She thought to herself I forgot I put this in here. Grabbing it, she brought it with her, closing the door to her room and tapping the doorknob with her finger. The doorknob heated up, to a point that would certainty shock someone who wasn't expecting it. It wouldn't scald them however, she simply wanted to protect her belongings.

Walking back by Brenda's room, she leaned on the Russian standing in the doorway, and eyed the jawless Cyber. "Hey. I didn't catch your name, but thanks for the help. I expect you'll want this back now that I'm done with it." She tossed the radio at Cyber, in much the same way he had tossed it at her originally.

She looked at Brenda and with a nod said "Hey" before wisking off to one of the unclaimed showers.

[Megraw]

"True. I do carry a heavy pistol when I find them. At least till they break." He kept his eyes half diverted to scan the trees for danger as he cleaned out his leg. He finished clearing out all the leftover shrapnel in his leg as he watched Kris rummage through his pack. "Thanks, this will help me get moving normally faster." He said, as he caught the medkit opening it up to take out some gauss and other things. Bandaging his wound he kept an eye on Kris as he talked. "Fair enough. Only real reason I wear one is in case of explosions or other humans who aren't friendly." He said, tightening the gauss around his leg. "I'd be dead with everyone else in the square if not for one." He muttered not really paying attention to the conversation anymore. :: Until my leg heals I doubt we have high chances of making it anywhere. :: He thought as he grinned. :: Though then again, Alex was pretty banged up some times and he fought at his top. :: "Heh.." He laughed as he stood, taking the ration and his sword. "Let's move."

[Gasmask]

Cyber caught the radio. He placed it by brenda's side. He then sighed. He pulled the jaw up. He flipped it over, revealing the glint of a grenade implemented on the side. Looks like someone was determined to have the last laugh. He reattached it to his jaw. He craned his shoulders. The familiar gruff voice sounded.

"Sure, I'll help." He then turned to Brenda. "I could actually use your help." He folded his arms. "And the program, when your done with it." "I'll try it out." He then turned for the door. "So you want it to go faster?" He frowned and eyed the mech from the doorway. He slipped a spanner out from his pocket and hoisted it over his shoulder. It was oversize to fit mecha components. He then pulled leonide along to his mech.

"I once took a walk into the wasteland." "Nearly died." He paused. He walked over to his mech and kicked the side. Climbing up with skill, being his metal arm magnetized to the metal surface. He got to the top and jumped onto an arm. He sat down on the arm and unscrewed a large box that had attached to the surface. He then jumped down. Hitting the floor with a thud. He picked up the box and kicked it open, sprawling scavenged bits of nearly every-type of bot. Everything but the best of the best bots had graced the boxes insides. He picked up a cortex chip of warrior unit that still buzzed with life. "Don't worry, I removed it's send commands, it can only receive." He passed it over to Brenda. "You might like it." He then slammed the box shut, as the rest of the bits seemed unchangeable.

He then took to wraith. He looked her up and down on the legs and started to loosen up the joints. "Faster, faster." "Always the young-ones want faster." He grumbled. He then kicked the leg and splattered it with some of his mech's oil.

"Should be slightly faster now."

[Koritai]

Brenda

"Oh? I'll just finish this later then. It'll take too long, right now." Brenda said as she stopped typing in code. She followed him out and as he talked about the wastelands, she said, "You're doing that thing again." Like that made all the sense in the world, realizing this, she added, "You know, where you start talking about random things. Is that intentional?"

She followed him out to the mech and watched as he climbed up the mech, jumped down, and ended up with a box that spilled its contents all over the floor. She looked at the chip as if it were gold, taking it with eager hands, she said, "This is perfect, it's great. How'd you get something like this?" Then she went on to talk more to herself then anyone else. "The hard part will be translation, but it's a small price to pay for what this thing can tell me."

Then she watched as Marcus started working on the other man's mech and couldn't help but laugh, internally, when he grumbled, "Always the young-ones want faster." She gave a small sound, that could be assumed as a laugh, and said, "I don't think you're the eldest in here." She looked over at Leonide for a moment, indeed the man looked like he was in his late thirties. Of course, she could be wrong.

[Gasmask]

Cyber folded his arms at brenda. Slinging his over sized tool over his shoulder he said loudly. "Bashed a warriors head in with my mech's foot until something fell out that was usable." He then pointed to his jaw. "Same chip that calculated removing my jaw was a good decision."

"Your probably right here." He shrugged and detached a blow-troch. He picked the box up and smelted it onto the foot of his mech. "Careful with it though." "I'm pretty sure if not done right, it could override your laptop and start sending."

"I'm not good with chips."

[Koritai]

Brenda

"Hey, if it works, it works." Brenda said with a hoarse laugh about how he got the chip. Then she pocketed the chip and said, "I'll be careful, no need to worry about me. So what do you need me to do here?" Brenda had plans for that chip, she only hoped that they would work out this time. Right now, however, she needed to focus, well sort of. She didn't know what she needed to do here, not yet anyway.

((Edit))

Then, with a yawn, Brenda realized just how tired she was. "You know what, it's been a long day, too long. I'm heading in. If you need my help, I'll be sleeping." She said as she walked back to her room and, once there, closed the door behind her. Brenda sat on her bed and pulled the chip from her pocket and looked at it for a long moment. It would be quite useful, there was no telling what she could learn from it, but it was a powerful thing. It had that ominous feeling to it that reminded her of where it came from. With a sigh, Brenda went and dropped it by the laptop, it was still waiting for her to finish the code, but it would have to wait.

Brenda, sitting back down again, started with her boots. The boot knife was placed on the ground beside them, the vest was next and that slumped to the floor in a rather lazy fashion. All in all, it seemed that everything that was needed for the day went to the floor. A cautious hand felt for the pistol hiding under her pillow before rest finally came.

[TwilightShade]

"Always the young ones want faster."

"Actually, this young one wants more functionality. As in, the ability to run instead of having to rocket around at lethal speeds like a bunny. " Leonide thought, rather displeased about how much was assumed about what he wanted. Some aspect of the ignorance the man had exhibited was bothering him, but he managed to keep his thought where it belonged, in his own head. He looked on as the man deftly performed his upgrade on the machine, only making seemingly minor adjustments to various parts of the mecha. "At least it'll have a better chance at outrunning the enemy." His mind continued to highlight the positives of the misinterpreted call for help (the request hadn't even been verbalized yet and the cybernetic man was hard at work).

Once the upgrade was complete, the Russian felt at liberty to introduce himself. "I'm Leonide, in case you didn't see the name carved into the hull. I'll be wanting your help often, and hopefully communication as well in the upcoming days and battles; I really want Wrath to become a top of the line mech. Beat down those metal fuckers you know?"

"I don't think you're the eldest in here." Was the next sound to grace his ears. This time however it came from a woman, but not the one who requested piloting instructions. Leonide's mind searched for both their names, but miserably failed. "Asking again would be awkward, but whatever. And I guess I'm ageless now or something; one thinks I'm young, the other old."

Scratching the back of his head, he took another bite of the now finished pear, and began to wonder whether food was recycled into compost or merely thrown out like the good old days.

[Gasmask]

Cyber looked up and snorted. "You ever heard the freakin' stories from the early war with the bot's, the big towering monstrosities the bot's..'used' to have?"." "We hardly see them anymore, if they still exist." "Legends, If I ever got my hands on one of them." He brought his hands together greedily. "I could upgrade wraith and my old mech, Betsy." He grinned, yes he had given a mech the name "Betsy". On the leg of the mech, was the clear symbol. A crimson logo with a woman with outsreched legs, looking very much like a sexual undertoned posing. With the underline reading. "Betsy.".

"I'm called cyber, but my name's marcus." He exposed his back, with the miniature holes made for the enhanced controlling of his mech. "I say were the only ones left, The bots know what there doing, I'm willing to bet they've been doing this for centuries." "They could be from the moon and eat shit and die for all I care however."

He put away his things in the mech, slammed the entrance shut and craned his neck. He didn't care much for eating. He simply hit the leg of his mech and closed his eyes, already snoring.

[DarkManticoreX2]

Emily continued down the hallway and took a left, turning into one of the bathrooms as all three people in Brenda's room poured out of it. She closed the door as they walked by, and audible click coming from the door as it closed. Locking it, Emily turned around and sighed. It had been a long day. One that made her seriously re-consider why she had come here in the first place.

Taking a quick look around the bathroom, Emily found both black and white towels. Taking one of the longer white ones, she laid it on the floor in front of the shower and turned the knob ten degrees toward the cold end. As the water flooded out of the shower head, Emily absent mindedly recalled the horrible end to her trip. She had been traveling for so many years, only to Glimpse the inside of Alpha as it was being destroyed. In truth, it was a demoralizing experience. Just when she thought she might be able to do something against the bots, she was sent scrambling once again. Shoved out of comfort just as soon as she had felt it.

Her fingers wiggled in the cool water stream, the water seeming to be a stark contrast to her flame manipulative abilities. Undressing, and leaving her Cameo and leggins on the rack nearby, Emily stepped into the shower. The beads of water hit her with a dowsing effect, hissing slightly as they came in contact with her body. One of the side effects of becoming a fire mage had been the inability to operate at a normal 96.5 degree body temperature. Instead, her body normally operated at 102 degrees. Cool showers like this were one of the few points of revelry Emily had left in her life. As the water ran down her, Emily felt cooler, some of the stress of the day working it's way off of her down the shower drain, as well as much of the dirt and grime she had picked up as well. Her temperature lowered a bit to a more manageable 100 degrees. Still though, her mind wandered. This whole trip had been nearly a waste. While this group was equipped for a small firefight, they were unlikely to stand a chance if the Bots came after them in any force. She sighed again, running her hands through her azure hair, another side effect of becoming a mage.

Traveling alone on the surface had been fairly simple. The bots didn't really pay you any mind unless they were hungry or you attacked them. Even then it was generally only one or two warriors at a time. Generally hiding wasn't an option once they decided on you as a meal, but being able to manipulate fire was enough to take two robots down at a time. Search parties would come looking for the bots after about five minutes, during that time you needed to find an adequate hiding place a good distance away. Outside of their thermal sensor range. Half a mile seemed like enough distance to outpace a warriors sensors. With a group this size though, traveling on the surface was sure to draw unwanted attention. She didn't know what Reaper planned to do about that.

Reaching out, she pushed in the water knob which turned the shower off, and stepped out onto her towel. Drying off with it, she consoled herself. "At least I've got a bed to sleep in and am safe for the night. On top of everything, It was good to meet that Fong guy. A diamond in the rough of this horrible day." Laying the towel on the ground and stepping on it, she grabbed her cameo and ran it under the sink water soaking it and working out the dirt and sweat from the piece of clothing, before putting on the sopping textile. She repeated the process with her pants getting them clean as well before putting them on.

To finish the process, Emily heated herself up just like in the cave. Steam began to rise off her clothing and body like she was being ironed. In 2 minutes, she was dry. Hanging back up the towel, and picking up her sneakers, she walked back to her room. Opening the magically enchanted door with no problem. Closing it, She deposited her sneakers next to the Overcoat which hung on a chair close to the bed. Emily tapped the mattress lightly with a finger, picking up almost an inch worth of dust from it.

"Well he did say they were dusty." Emily complained as she took the top cover off the bed and flapped it out getting the dust off of the heavy top comforter and flinging it into the air. Emily hung the comforter at the top of the bed before similarly flapping out the pillowcases. She took off the pillow covers and turned them inside out, before stuffing the pillows back inside them and depositing them back on the bed. Without a further thought, she crawled under one of the smaller covers and laid her head on a pillow. In three minutes the exhaustion of the day took its toll and she fell asleep. Resting for another day of uncertainty.

[Arke]

The tomatoes were finished by the sniper, nodding slightly as Emily made her departure. He settled down, deep in thought about what had occurred on the bridge. The bright limbs obviously a reaction to something. There was no doubt about that, seeing as it was so visible. He cleaned off the eating area, and replaced the two glasses along with the plate. God only knows where the Reaper had managed to find such luxuries to have in his home. Walking toward the mechs, he noticed Cyber talking with Leonide and decided to leave them be.

For now, the strange actions of the warrior in the sewers were not the primary concern for the Sniper. It wasn't important enough to abandon what sense of etiquette was left in this world. He left just as quickly as he came, sitting back down on the couch. He pulled the Bowie knife that he had hastily snatched from his apartment home back in the garrison, looked at it, and sighed. He wanted to throw it away, but a knife had many more uses other than to attempt and cut a warrior, so he decided to keep it.

Admittedly, he didn't want to go to bed. Constantly having to watch his back meant he got little sleep, and he sleep he got was fitful and light. He much preferred to keep watch, as unnecessary as it might be. However, with his body still in the process of healing it wouldn't do to stunt that by staying awake and draining his structure even more.

He got up once again, walking the short distance to a room where he placed a hand on the mattress. Sniffing slightly, he resisted the urge to sneeze. Unlike Emily, however, he merely flapped the blanket that covered the mattress out once, then snapped the pillows out a few times to get rid of the general dust and particles that accumulated over the course of time. It was a while before the restless sniper fell into an uneasy sleep, the sense of security still relatively new. He had been away from Garrison Alpha so many times he was not familiar with the sense of sleeping soundly. That meant having a measured sense of security, and out in the wild, one did not have that.

[elloit]

"Heh.." Kaun laughed as he stood, taking the ration and his sword. "Let's move."
"Ok." Kris said standing, not bothering to enquire about Kaun's private joke. It was already quite dark beneath the thick forest canopy as it was, but night was now rapidly descending. Reaching into one of his pockets he pulled out a small torch and switched it on. The immediate area was iluminated by a small cone of light.
"I don't mind walking through the night, but without the torch I can't see anything. I don't suppose you Armourslayers have some form of in-built night vision?" he asked, laughing slightly "Reaper is this way." he finished more seriously, as once more they began trudging through the wilderness. The bad thing about the bots was that they didn't need to sleep. The good thing was that when it was as quiet as it was now you could hear them coming from miles away.

He walked mostly in silence after that. At this pace they would be at Convent Reaper in about an hour, maybe a bit less. Once they were there they would have shelter, the possibility of some decent food- and Kris now wanted to go look for Reaper's body to see whether or not he really was dead. He figured he would probably spend a day or two there before pressing on to the South West, towards Portsmouth. If there really was a fortress there then they would also have guns. Guns required maintenance, and in the case of mech-cannons, manual re-loading once they ran out. That was the role he filled in the leftover society, it was how he got accepted into places that would otherwise turn him away. The remainder of his generation were pretty much the future of the entire human race, but no-one ever gave a shit about that. Everyone was always too busy looking out for themselves. He finised his rations and slung the packaging into the undergrowth.

The beam of light from the torch stabbed out into the darkness, illuminating the forest and occasionally a startled animal. Eventually they crested a hill. In the distance, if he strained his eyes, he thought he could make out a ruined wall just visible above the treetops. Not far to go now, and then he could rest. But not sleep. No, sleep was something he dreaded, because when he slept he always re-lived the slaughter of his parents in vivid detail. That was why he was happy to walk- the thought of dreaming was as much a terror for him as the bots. He didn't voice any of this though, merely kept walking and picked up the pace slightly.