Event - The 25,000 Light Year View

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The 25,000 Light Year View

The atmosphere in the lower level gym at ADI headquarters is… tense, to say the least. Nia, Neil, and Rae are present with the rest of those remaining at the organization (or willing to come when called by Neil and Rae for a final statement) seated in benches and chairs that have been dragged in. It's not the usual, orderly meetings that some might have gotten used to for mission briefings.

Neil speaks first. "Thank you, everyone, for coming in. Lot's been happening, but we've come to… an understanding about where we need to go. The artifacts that were in the Vault have all been accounted for or noted as destroyed in some manner with a few exceptions. We're still chasing- ADI is still chasing those down with help from anyone who might want to give it. Won't pretend this is going to be a kumbaya moment, so let's get down to brass tacks. There's an apocalypse on. Whatever this organizations stands for now, its original mission was to uncover and stop those. That's still my mission."

"Mine, too," Rae chimes in.

"It's one we all share," Nia adds.

Neil nods before continuing. "So, we stop this, and we go our separate ways. I'll be leaving ADI and starting my own organization. We've seen a large number of threats in the Appalachian region and a lot of folks heavily impacted by decisions ADI's made. I'll be taking my organization there. Already been in touch with our- with ADI's field agents in the region. Some will be joining me. Along with a certain newsperson who keeps sniffing around. We'll do what we can to do right by the people who've been hurt most. That's going to be our focus. Support and security. We're not feeding the Hunt anymore by running down threats."

Rae steps up next. "And I'll be going where I need to. Lot of threats out west. If you're looking to do some good that won't be working for the Hunt… maybe think about heading that way."

Nia is the last to speak. "And I'll be staying here in Gloucester. ADI will be staying. And I will be its final Warden. We're stopping Zyrian, then we're figuring out what the hell is going on with Dogtown to get all of you people from other worlds home. Or at least stop anyone else coming in. After that? I'm out. What happens after that is still in the works. But Neil's agreed to stay in touch to help with everything… once I'm gone." There's a flicker of emotion across Neil's stoic expression. Regret, frustration… grief. "But right now, we look to Wolf Trap. I-"

There's a pause, and Neil and Rae look to Nia in concern as she puts a hand to her temple. She recovers, though. "Huh… We look to Wolf Trap, Virginia. We'll have buses to get everyone down there. We'll be arriving just as Copernicus' launch of the New Horizon's project is underway. That's where Zyrian Steel's going to do his ritual. We need to find the server rooms at the event. Those are important."

Rae squints at Nia, "You sure?"

Nia nods. "Yeah. I'm real sure about that. It'll be dangerous, though, and that's not the- it's not the only threat that's gonna be there."

Neil's looking wary. "Nia?"

"There's something else. The Web? It's not just the Vast that's involved in this, I don't think. It would make sense, right?" She shakes her head. "We'll be facing multiple Entity threats down there, not just the Vast. And I'm sure Zyrian's gonna kick the ritual off on the last day, once he's had time for-for something… not sure what. But he's a dramatic bastard, if nothing else. And timing's everything."

Neil and Rae exchange uncertain looks before Neil speaks up again. "Coming is voluntary, like always, but we'll want boots on the ground to cover as much ground as possible. They'll be holding the biggest events and productions at the Filene Center stage. But we're expecting tech booths scattered all throughout the park. Be on your guard."

"And bring a gun," Rae advises.

➥ Links

• General Setting Prompts - Part 1 & Part 2
  
• NPC/Mod Response Prompts - LINK
  
  

Wolf Trap Park
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Comments

Bucky/Winter | OTA

[worthallthis]

I. En Route

Winter much prefers buses to trains. He kind of likes the sense of having all the people around him, without the senseless fear that the train brings, even if he has a kind of sadness to him. Unless Nia Lehrer steps down after this, he's out. He likes her, but he can't work for an avatar. An entity.

So he's watching everyone as if he might memorize them all, for this last mission they're all on. It might be a little creepy. Sorry, guys.

He does offer to share his snacks or the three books he brought on the trip, though, if anyone looks particularly bored.


II. Wired - Outside

After the whole dancing thing, Winter is pretty focused on the goal, the server room, but he does make a patrol of the booths set up outside, too, just in case it will give him a clue to what he'll find inside. He's not liking what he sees.

There's no way in hell he's trying the fake hand. He already has a fake hand, thank you very much. Also he can just imagine putting the tech from this place on his body, and how stupid that would be. But he watches others who try it for any signs of strange behavior, afterwards.

The little toy robots really freak him out, though. Because he knows Morse Code, and he can understand exactly what they're saying, and he wants to-- he doesn't know what he wants to do. Smash them. Collect them all and take them away somewhere safe. But there isn't anywhere safe, in this world, is there. He maybe stares at them in horror for longer than he probably should.

He avoids the mirrors like the plague. He is not trying whatever they're offering, because he can easily imagine what they'd try to show him.


III. Wired - Inside

Prowling the small server room smashing snakes and yanking wires out of people is something Winter can do. He is never in a million years letting them stick wires in him (not again never again stay the fuck away from me) but thankfully, he's good at smashing things and yanking things.

Come across him stomping on transmitters, shooting copper snakes, pulling people out of the clutches of wires, and when he's sure he has a clear row, actually tipping over racks of servers. He's here to make a mess. More than once he has to catch an attacking snake's electrical charge on his metal arm, which deadens it until he has space and presence of mind to give it a reset swing. Even then, its functioning is getting less and less precise with each zap.

Now and then, when the noise of all that electricity gets to be too much, he has to pause and wrap his arms around his head to shut it out. "Shut up shut up--"

II. Wired - Robots

[graveyounglady]

Of course she'd been drawn to the children's theater. Mercy knows she's not far enough out from her youth to scorn such things, and seeing other grown people playing with the robots, building their own, had encouraged her. Perhaps she shouldn't be detouring when they have other priorities, but this seems... wholesome. Nice!

She looks up from her own creation after several minutes and sees Winter has joined a nearby table. The young woman lifts a hand to catch his attention, but then sees his expression. Mercy sobers immediately and sets her robot down to move over to him quickly and quietly. She finds a seat next to him to avoid startling him with a sudden grab, and speaks low.

"You look like you just seen a ghost or three, Mr. Winter. What's wrong?"

Re: II. Wired - Robots

[worthallthis]

He isn't sitting, he's just standing by the table, kind of staring at one of the completed toys. "Can you hear them clicking?" he asks Mercy as she approaches, not looking away, but tilting his head a little her direction. "That pattern."

[graveyounglady]

She looks to the robots, then cocks an ear. "Aye. Thought mechanical things... make those kinds of sounds?" Maybe there's something she's not hearing in the pattern. Mercy is quiet a moment, but nothing seems off. They're not grinding or sounding like they're working improperly.

"Is its something you've heard before?"

[worthallthis]

"The tapping is a pattern," Winter explains slowly. "It's Morse Code. That one is saying 'help' and that one is saying 'hurts'." He doesn't know if this means they're actually hurting or if they're just programmed to spout that to disturb the people who would understand. How could you even tell something like that?

[graveyounglady]

Mercy looks down at the little robots again, concern painting her features. "You... think they're connected to someone?" Her eyes widen and she jerks her head up toward him as she lowers her voice. "You think it's the people Mr. Steel's got? Like... like he turned them into this? For the ritual?"

[worthallthis]

"I don't know. It could just be programming. Or it could be the entities fucking with us." He steps back once, unsure, though the metal arm is buzzing under his sleeves and glove like it wants to hit something. "Or it could be connected to people. I don't know."

[graveyounglady]

"I- maybe we oughta... collect them?" Steal them from other people... And children. Mercy eyes the collection of little robots and the constituent parts. "I got a pack. You wanna create a distraction?"

[worthallthis]

"The server room might be more important," Winter says hesitantly, because while he could definitely create a distraction, it might result in getting them thrown out and kept from their ultimate objective. "Maybe if we stop that, these will stop trying to talk?"

It's more hopeful than tactically sound, but even if they liberate the toys, they might not actually stop begging for help.

[graveyounglady]

"No way to be sure, though, not unless we got at least a few with us. Or maybe it's a... proximity thing?" Maybe. She doesn't really understand quite how that works, but she knows she needs to be close to places with internet to acquire it at this point. "Not like Mr. Steel can have whatever he's doing stretch across states. Or- Hmm..." It is like he can have that. Where else would the signal creatures have come from?

"Okay, I'm gonna gather at least a few so we got a way to check if they've stopped." More than just her own. "I'm sorry it's all... like this, sir." He does still seem rattled.

[worthallthis]

Giving himself a little shake, Winter says, "It's. Well. It's not okay. But I'll manage. Bring a couple if you want. I'm." He hesitates, then finished, "I'll smash the rest after we've dealt with the worst. If they don't stop." The little machines themselves can't feel pain, he's pretty sure. It's either a programmed response, or they're connected to something else feeling pain.

[graveyounglady]

The idea of just smashing the things is alarming, enough so that Mercy's eyes widen and she clutches her own little robot a little closer. "But-but what if they're people? That might hurt 'em." There are some people starting to look over at the pair now, especially given Mercy's visible (if small) recoil at the idea.

"We gotta be careful, sir. If they are connected to people Mr. Steel's got, it might be their souls. And we might have to-to get these near them to put the souls back."

[worthallthis]

"That's why we smash them after Steele is stopped," Winter says, ignoring the looks they're getting. "Get more intel." You'll notice he is restraining his urge to smash things, right now, Mercy. Because he is absolutely having that urge, warring with the urge to collect them all and get them as far away from here as possible.

He adds, frowning, "Besides, we saw how they're made. There's nothing to feel pain with. It's either coming from outside. Or part of the parts to communicate this."

III

[punched_hitler]

Steve had been tempted to spend more time in front of the mirrors; he'd caught a glance and trailed to a stop, only to manage to shake himself out of it a moment later and get moving again. His mind keeps drifting back to them, but he pulls it back onto track, because what's in the server room is so much more important.

He hasn't been in here long, only a row or two deep and worrying he'll make the wrong move by just pulling at the wires entangling the bodies he's come across when he hears a familiar voice echoing through the room.

"Winter?" he calls, standing up like he's been shocked (though fortunately, he hasn't), tilting his head this way and that, trying to pinpoint the sound. His bad ear's been, well, kind of bad again ever since they fought that tower, the ringing coming and going and coming again. "Winter, where are you?"

[worthallthis]

That's a welcome sound. A positive distraction from the buzzing of electricity all around him and the struggling circuits of his own arm. "Steve." He pulls his hands away from his ears, looking around, moves a little in the direction he thought the voice came from. "Over here."

[punched_hitler]

The fact that Winter recognizes his voice, calls his name, is some not-so-small measure of relief. Steve's head is swiveling this way and that, trying to follow the sound. "Keep talking," he calls, stepping away from the bodies he was worrying over, promising not to forget them, but if Winter is responding now, that's something he can't ignore. "I'm coming to you."

[worthallthis]

Being told to keep talking leaves Winter completely devoid of things to say. "Uh. I don't like it in here?" he goes with after a moment, still trying to work his own way in Steve's direction, too. "The snake things. They. They shock." Steve, how much do you know about what HYDRA did to their asset...?

[punched_hitler]

Oh, Steve knows plenty. Which means he doesn't like the sound of that at all, and is pushing his way through the rows of servers, searching for the source of Winter's voice. "Shit. Did one get you?"

He rounds a corner, but - no, not there yet. He's close, he thinks. Closer, at least. This feels far too much like that time in the woods for comfort, when they couldn't find each other and couldn't find their way.

[worthallthis]

"A couple did." Mostly on the arm, but that's still connected to the rest of him and it still hurt, even if it wasn't entirely as debilitating as it was probably supposed to be. "I shot one. Stepped on another. The arm crushed the last one."

He flexes his metal fingers and admits, "Not sure it will again. It's getting glitchy."

[punched_hitler]

Steve swears softly under his breath. Winter seems okay - himself - and that's all he can ask for in this situation. The aftereffects, if there are any... they'll deal with those after.

Though he's not happy to hear about the arm.

He's already hurrying; now, he picks up the pace even more, crossing another two rows as he says, "Well, now it's my turn," like they've got a choice. "Let me at these things."

[worthallthis]

"They might zap you worse than me," Winter warns, coming to the end of one row of server banks and pausing there, looking both ways in the hopes of seeing Steve. "The metal arm dissipates some of it. Or. Keeps it from getting to my brain, anyway."

[punched_hitler]

"Yeah, let's try and keep your brain intact," Steve says, ignoring the possibility of getting shocked, himself, because it's just a risk he's willing to take.

He makes to the end of the row, finally, and sees a glint of metal. Silver, he thinks - "Winter?" He starts heading in that direction, trying to make out the rest the other's silhouette in the dim light. "You know, call me old-school, but all this technology is really overrated."

[worthallthis]

"When it belongs to an entity," Winter agrees sourly, "it really is." There. There's Steve. He sees the hair, the curve of his shoulder. Winter turns towards him and starts walking, reaching out with the hand that's not glitching. "Here. Get over here."

[punched_hitler]

"Everything with entities," Steve agrees, talking a little just to talk, both out of agitation and hoping it will help Winter find him -

There. He breaks into a not-quite-sprint, just wanting to get over there, though he's got to take care not to trip over wires (or bodies) in the dim light.

He thinks he sees something flash down one row, undulating and - "Shit. Snake."

He practically leaps the last few feet, grabbing for Winter's flesh forearm. "I don't know if it saw me," he hisses, twisting to look back the way he came, at the end of the row he just passed.

[worthallthis]

Winter grabs, back, clutching at his elbow so they're locked together. He's not hopeful that they weren't noted. "We were making enough noise it didn't have to see you. Get behind me."

And he pulls his gun out with his glitchy left hand, and hopes it doesn't twitch at the wrong moment.