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[Daemon]

Otebon, the chapter was over, and Otebon the character was alone in the hallway. how was he talking to someone?

[Otebon Albrecht]

Because I am a derp... Sorry. Didn't read your submission well enough and thought Marcus was still there. So does the next post start the next chapter? Something like...

The next day...


I'm sorry, I just don't understand what your directions are on "the chapter is over".
 

[Daemon]

Start it how you think a new chapter should be started, more or less.

[Otebon Albrecht]

The new dawn (if it could be called that) found Marcus in the form of the door noisily sliding open in it's bracket. The room that Mark had given the four of them was small, cramped, and only had one bed. At first, Marcus had slept on the floor at the foot of the bed, surrendering the bed to Tammo and Sarah. That changed when he woke up because Tammo's arm fell onto his nose. Apparently the two of them had slipped off the bed and into his arms in the night, not wanting to sleep alone. So he had slept in the bed with one in either arm, but he slept shallowly as something bothered him: Otebon hadn't been there when Tammo woke him up. Instead Marcus had woken to find him sneaking back into the room to sleep in the corner at what must have been after three in the morning.

Otebon stood as Marcus rose to a sitting position between Tammo and Sarah to meet their guest. "You two," Smith said in what Marcus guessed was supposed to be a whisper. "Come with me. Mark wants to see you."

Better?

[Aoren Deringer]

Heh I was breaking the rules because I was absent and have no way of knowing if anyone would post! It was innocent, I swear!... And now it's my turn. lovely how Mark went from being a savior to being... Well, I don't know what to call him At least he gets to be complex. Also... HE'S NOT CALLED SMITH ANYMORE < My name reveal was not appropriately coherent?
 
They began to leave, but the Russian silently bade the children to stay. "We're not to speak until we're at the study." This curt statement was the only thing noise as they walked through the silent halls, each darker than the next until there was no light at all, and they followed Zat by the sheer feel of his presence. Soon they reached a pair of heavy doors, and as Zat opened them a brilliant light blinded Otebon; he was compelled to walk forward blindly, and soon the doors shut and the light dimmend. At the sight of Mark Otebon began to protest "Why are we here, Mark?" The anger was palpable. It was Mikailov who responded "What you know to be true is a lie."
 
Mark's was livid, and the halfbreed fell quiet. "We're not here to speak of bombs or the safety of children, Otebon. Even atomic weapons cannot compare to what has been developed." Mark's words rang thoughout the hall, and no response met them "There is an operation NSD in the world, but it is not as you believe designed to quell crowds... No, it is only the first phase. The kidnapping." Again, silence me this booming voice. "Each individual taken is lobotomised and fitted with the device known as the HUT- The Human Uplink Terminal. They remove their memories, thoughts, their very souls and install a computer. This computer is then controlled by one individual, thus creating the perfect army... No training, perfect synchronisation, et cetera." And now Mark fell silent. Finally Marcus replied "And what does this have to do with a Hydrogen bomb? Why are we going to break into a military facility again?" Mikhailov inhaled deeply, and then spoke "It is not your goal to steal, but to implant." This time Mark nodded his approval, and Zat continued "I am the keeper of souls. I, as were all of my brethren, was fitted with the command unit. We can control bodies of all species, of all sexes. I am but one of many, but I am the only man yet free." Otebon and Marcus stared on in amazement "Deep under my skin is the answer to this horror. I must command their armies, and I must ruin them lest all be destroyed." Silence rang throughout the hall.
 
Now I really had to trim that down Hope it came out alright. It feels a bit rushed to me.

[Otebon Albrecht]

(Facepalm). I did it again, didn't I? His name is Zat and I'm a derp... Well, this is why we edit right?

Also... what just happened? I am so lost...


Otebon stared at Zat with a deep curiosity and the emotions that had held him melted away. Now was not the time for a reaction, now was the time for thought, planning, and calm. He has a control unit? That must mean a transmitter / receiver array within the corpus callosum to ensure signals from both sides. His training must have been rigorous and abstract to deal with so much sensory input at once. How did they do it? Where would they put such a machine to act as a server between the "Control units" and the "Slave units"? It would have to be secure, well defensible, easily hidden from prying eyes, and something this big wouldn't have gone unnoticed by everyone so it's probably already known. As much as people like to say that the government is blind, they are actually quite good at finding things. They just don't do anything abou-- Wait... No... Otebon stepped forward a bit towards Zat and stared at him as though he could find the control unit somewhere on the half-breed's face. "So when are we going to Colorado Mark?"

Mark laughed. "Just like old times, eh Ote?" Mark turned and went to a small console bolted to a wall and began to type rapidly. "You were always so good at puzzles and always knew the answer. Yes, we are going to head west and hit up that old Thermo-Nuclear fallback bunker that the United States Military uses to control NORAD. The one inside the Cheyenne mountains. From there, they could withstand pretty much anything, which is why this makes such a good base for them. Don't worry though, this isn't U.S. Government or Military we're dealing with here." Throughout all of this, Mark's fingers flew across the keyboard. "This is a splinter group with a lot of money. I mean boat loads. They got it in their heads that shoot, they've got the money, they've got the political pressure, they've got the desire, why not rule the world through a zombie army." Mark suddenly stopped typing. "There we are... and now we have perfectly legitimate excuse for a Wolf, a Human, and a Half-breed to get into Cheyenne." A tray dropped from below the console and three small objects that neither Otebon or Marcus could make out clicked as they fell. Mark grabbed them and came over to Otebon and Marcus, handing them ID badges. "Good morning, Lt. Col. Albrecht. How do you do Lt. Col. Whitehall."

I've always wanted to run a tactical insertion into Cheyenne

[Aoren Deringer]

Oh, sorry! I really tried to make it... Understandable Generally I'm making Mark less of the controlling antagonist and more of the hero again
 
Otebon stared at his ID card; it had of course a miserable picture allied to an RFID beacon. "So we have the identification..." Otebon began "But what's our excuse, and how do we get there?" Mark thought for a moment and began typing again "You'll be transporting a prisoner. After Mikhailov was poached by SOCOM they imprisoned him and began training him. Since he has escaped, you shall be returning him." Zat's face twitched slightly at this, but Mark continued "As to how you will get there... Well, we cannot drive or fly. You'll be going for a bit of a hike; your going to leave tonight, if you're comfortable with that. I'll be having you head through the outpost..." Mark trailed off as his printer shook to life.
 
"Yes, you'll go through the outpost. I'll send word ahead, they'll resupply you. " He paused thoughtfully "Yes, then you'll heave through a series of caves and crevices that will take you west in safety, until you reach the spur of the Rockies. At which point you can abandon the mountains and find official transport. That will be up to you." Mark walked over and handed Otebon the paper he had printed- A prisoner ID form and official debriefing. "Any questions?" Marcus looked dumbstruck "Uhh..." His eloquence made Otebon smirk.
 
Also we started this off on a code- which is supposedly the catalyst for all of these events. Now obviously we should address the current issues first (perhaps the code will make for a later series of chapters ), but we need to figure out exactly what it is. See I figure it would be like Wikileaks +: A code that removed all secrecy from the world and would inevitably lead to a massive war.

[Otebon Albrecht]

Well... to keep with the whole central computer being a server for a massive army controlled intrinsically by a select few experimental soldiers, why not make it an algorithm? A code that when applied to a database is able to direct and render usable a nearly infinite amount of information. This could bind into the army and "souls" in that a code this complex was necessary to interface with the Master / Slave protocols of the units. They had the ability to take Slaves (but would, by necessity, be the last step as kidnapping thousands would be suspicious) and the ability to make Masters (which was already done) but couldn't link them without the Code.

How's that sound?

Also... the H-Bomb? I hope you don't mind the change.

"Wait a minute here," Marcus said as he quickly recovered. "What's going on here? We're going to just sneak into the Cheyenne Aerodefense base with a prisoner and do... what exactly? At best this would be a suicide mission, at worst... And what in the world would we need Darcy for? You know, the Hydrogen bomb?" Marcus was proud that he'd been able to follow most of this, but it was mainly a series of flukes. Being a data miner, he knew where and how to look to figure out some juicy secrets, but he only had some cursory knowledge of what was going on. "You know what, while we're on the subject, how do you two know each other?!"

Otebon immediately dropped his eyes in embarrassment. "I'm sorry Marcus, I should have told you earlier. A long time ago, Mark and I were part of a group that I'm not allowed to tell you much about. I was the team's medic, he was our..." Otebon glanced at Mark and he jumped to fill the void. "Hacker". Otebon sighed. "I'll live with that. He was our hacker. It was our job to stop bad things from happening, and we were pretty good about it until we were betrayed and we both had to go underground. As for Darcy... Darcy was something that Mark had the original idea for actually. It is a Hydrogen bomb, but modified and changed in such a way that it is very controlled. The power of a sun with a kill radius of about 100 yards. It's the perfect sabotage tool as it completely atomizes it's target. We need to get it so that we can atomize the server unit that will link these Slaves to Masters like Zat over there."

[Aoren Deringer]

Mark looked amused as Otebon said this, but let him finish "Oh my dear Otebon, no. We cannot destroy the uplink because there are more than one. Each controller was given a legion, yes, but not every soldier. The goal here is to form our own army in the attempt to destroy the others. Darcy is just a weapon to go in our arsenal." Otebon looked confused "But I assumed-" Mark cut in "You assumed incorrectly. Darcy has a purpose, but not to eliminate our only chance of survival. What you're doing is smuggling Zat in, and linking him to the mainframe. At which point he'll... Well he'll remove all nearby threats, by whatever means necessary." Mark paused before continuing "Then we can move onto the other terminals, and that's when Darcy will come in handy. But don't worry your little head about the big girl right now... We're not taking her until after we have an army."

[Otebon Albrecht]

Otebon's look was one of absolute revulsion. "No Mark, this is something we have to get rid of. This isn't something that we can just leave around. No one should have the ability to rule like that. No one should eliminate people's free will."

Zat stepped forward. "I can understand what you are saying, perhaps more than anyone," he said in his thick accent. "My training to withstand the... noise of so many showed me the absolute control that is within the HUT system, but it's not as simple as you think. The technology exists. It can be used and will be unless we stop it. When I was... created... I learned that you must fight fire with fire. Back then it was with tooth and claw, knife with knife, and guns with guns. Now it's armies and I am the only one that can control them that fights for our side. We aren't going to rule the world Otebon, we're going to eliminate all traces of this abomination."

[Aoren Deringer]

Otebon still looked uneasy "But... All of those people..." Mark sighed deeply and answered cooly "They aren't people any more. Just drones. Everything that made them human, or anything else, was removed." Zat spat on the ground, and Otebons anger flared and he turned on the Russian "So what, there's no other way? So says somebody who's known nothing but war. You were made in a lab for this, those people weren't!" Again there was silence, as if each word carried a physical weight.
Then Mark broke the silence "There was no lab." Marcus tilted his head in confusion, encouragng Mark to continue "Halfbreeds weren't designed as part of a super-soldier program. If they were you'd never have seen one. They're a genetic anomaly, from traditionally sterile couples. But when they began to bring them in from across the planet an excuse was needed. And all good lies hold a kernal of truth..."
 
Sorry if I broke down the super-soldier plan I just didn't have any good ideas of where to go. I don't mean to break down character constructs, though '

[Otebon Albrecht]

No worries man. This is starting to develop into a spy novel anyways. The idea that what you know is false and what you know to be false is a cover for something darker is fantastic. I think I like this more actually. At the very least, it's an interesting concept. I actually like what you did with Otebon too. It's a good reaction.


That little bit of information struck Otebon hard. But then... why within the last 40 years? Why suddenly now? What changed? He looked at Zat a little closer and small pieces of the puzzle became clear. Genetics hasn't progressed far enough to produce such a well-adjusted subject. He's too... good. No emotional or physical quirks that make him unstable that have been observed and he's definitely been pushed to it. No strange actions or signs of stabilizing drugs. No...

Marcus stepped in to fill the gap in conversation. "Okay guys, break it up. We'll have plenty of time for stories while we walk from here to Timbuktu, so cool it for now and just let it settle. When are we leaving and what is going to happen to Tammo and Sarah?"

And moving along...

[Aoren Deringer]

Oh good. I was afraid I may have begun to go too far off. Good thing you like that because that's where I was going with it!
Zat answered suddenly "They must stay. Little ones cannot keep up the pace we'll need." The outburst did not go unnoticed by Mark, who quietly stared him down. "But will they be safe?" Marcus's questions were beginning to border on the impertantent but luckily it was Mark who responded "They will be staying with me. It's far safer here than anywhere else." Otebon switched gears and nodded in agreement. Now is not the time for arguments...
 
Hmm, I really seem to like ending paragraphs on "..." o.o

[Otebon Albrecht]

Otebon glanced down at his right wrist, where his watch glowed faintly. He knew that most right-handed people put their watches on the left hand, but this had always felt more natural to him. It was 0458. "Look guys," Otebon said with a bit of an irritated air. "We have a long hike ahead of us apparently and it's 5 in the morning. Now... either you wanted us to get an early start, or there was another reason you wanted to see us before the sun even thinks of breaking the horizon. Which is it?"

Mark nodded. "Exaclty. You need to leave almost immediately if you are to get to your checkpoint at a reasonable hour." Mark turned and pressed a button. "Continue along this path and, if I still know your walking pace Ote, you should be there in about... eh... 7 hours. Zat knows the way. Have fun!" And he turned to leave the room.

Sorry, wanted to move things along.

[Daemon]

Mark stopped for a moment, then turned back around. "Oh, and you won't need any weapons. I'm sure that your hand-to-hand is subtle enough for any engagement, hmm?" The door slid closed with a whisper, and Zat turned to look at the two. "Well, it's time to head out. We've no time to lose."


Marcus stood up, and sent a glare at Zat. "Who made you leader?" Zat smiled, his wolfish teeth glinting ominously. "I'm bigger than you, and stronger. You want to fight for alpha, then be my guest. I won't guarantee you'll survive." Marcus' fists clenched. Otebon, realizing this, grabbed Marcus' arm. Zat laughed. "Having your friend pull you out of fights? You see, he's smart. You... not so much." He paused for a moment, smile on his face evaporating. "Meet me in the clearing in 5. Make it snappy."




Hey, guys. I'm back for a bit, so I'll be adding moar to this story. NOW GET POSTING, I want to write. ;-;


...please?