RP BYLINE :~:
You wanna hide, you wanna run; there IS no where to run . . . you're under a Shutdown Siege!

Only one way out . . . you have to keep THEM from coming in!

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Hello all;

Ever see Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds"? Well, I want this RP to have the same sense of horror!

Turn on the bottled air . . .,
Skyl

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STORYLINE BACKGROUND :~:
The frontiers of Nanity Manipulation have been pushed back until the field of Nanity research is an absolute warzone; Robotnik is utilizing his 'bred' Nanities in his bid for power and his Nanity Commander is A.D.A.M.

The good guys have counted on A.D.A.M.'s possible limitations and have established several centers of command where their Nanities are controled remotely by talented tacticians trained for the job ~ their stress levels are on par with air-traffic controlers.

Suffering defeat consistantly when he faces legions of 'Nanitenemy' forces controled by multiple commanders, A.D.A.M. recommended several weeks ago that Robotnik allow him to strike at their Field Command bunkers; he got the go ahead.

Since then, four bunkers have been breached and their personnel eliminated . . . three of them on high alert, with their macro-warfare defenses activated and fully manned.

The Master Command bunker ~ codenamed 'Big Buck' ~ is two weeks overdue for a personnel rotation and for the sake of efficiancy, the crews inside must be relieved. The risk of contamination is there, but all precautions are being taken to ensure that the bunker remains clean of infultratant Nanities.

Everyone inside wants out, those going in feel like they are walking into the depths of a psychological hell; a slip-up in security or a clever move by A.D.A.M. will spell a physical hell for the new crew.

The only consolation for those going in, is the less than cheering fact that the crews in the past 'bunker breaches' seem to have died quickly . . . .

The worst realization they could have, is that their need to breath could be the death of them all; the ventilation shafts are small and well-protected, but if air can come in, then why not the Nanities? If any one of them really thought about it seriously for a while, they would realize how much like sitting ducks they truely are.

Being a Nanity Commander is a high-paying job, but their hazard pay will seem cheaper and cheaper, the longer they sweat it out under threat of a Shutdown Siege!

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Chapter One: Contaminant

IC: Ontijumi was the last out of The Maize, the multi-level system of tight tunnels which really served no other purpose than mental security ~ the Nanities could find the correct path to the Down Locks in under a minute, at a conservative guess.

The female siberian tiger had nerves of steel, but even the last few weeks of overshift had done her as much damage as the less calm-hearted individuals who had made their 'escape' already. She felt nothing but sympathy for Harcorm, the younger kimodo dragon who was her shift replacement and who was already trapped down below in her vacated stead.

"Passing contaminant check," Ontijumi said loudly, so the vocal pick-up fifteen yards further on could pick her voice up and send it to Kalendrow, the smart-ass otter who was currently manning in-base communications and computer sys. functions.

His response was typical. "Good news; you're not carrying any unfriendlies out with you," he informed her in languid tones of voice. His voice became smug in the next instant as he added hastily, "And don't you DARE snap at me or I won't let you out of here!"

Ontijumi bite her tongue, drawing blood. 'If he makes it off-shift without getting himself killed - either by breach action or his unfortunate shiftmates - then I'M going to kill him myself!' she promised herself silently.

Another moment and she was tempted to turn back and do it now. "You're famed for your nerves of steel, but come on and admit that you're lookin' forward to getting out of this hellburrow," came Kalendrow's voice, still smug, now holding a leering quality.

She took a smug tack of her own. "Well, who's getting clear for a month and who's stuck for the next two weeks?" she shot back cheerily. "I don't mind admitting anything right now. Yes, I fully intend to set a new speed record for getting clear of here and at least ten miles away."

She could hear amused laughter besides Kalendrow's jeering own, and knew everyone down below felt better about their own fears at learning that she had been a sharer in them.

'Who wouldn't be a little scared?' she wondered. But she knew Kalendrow would have the galls to claim otherwise.

Speaking of who . . . . She was pulling even with the vocal pick-up - which was mounted on the steel wall to her immediate left - and informed her 'captor' calmly, "Open the foregate, you blood-sucking freak of nature."

She was caught completely by surprise when it DID begin to lift, without any biting response from Kalendrow.

'Don't tell me the fork-tongued otter conceeds defeat,' she thought carelessly ~ she just wanted to get out of there.

Unwilling to let the foregate raise completely, the 'white tiger' bent and made to duck under it . . . and something 'whoosh'ed past her ear.

The klaxions went off and she just wanted to run out of there as fast as she could ~ a contaminant was detected.

Instead of running though, she froze, and it occurred to her in a flash what she was almost certainly going to have to do. 'Oh, Sheowti!' she screamed inwardly. 'Please don't ask me to . . ." But he did.

"Onti! Follow it! Track it visually!" came Kalendrow's thoroughly unsettled voice. "Night-visual One is blacked out at the lense and I've got negative on infrared detection! What the hell was it?"

She had only gotten an impression but it was enough to give Kalendrow her guess as she whirled on the heel of her basecellen boot and tore after the intruder. "I think it was a bird ~ a sparrow!" she shouted, frenticly. 'Oh, Goddesses I shouldn't be doing this!'

But she felt compelled by more than her sense of duty; if there was half a chance that she could help to preserve the lives of her co-workers down below, she would do anything ~ even risk her life which she might have otherwise claimed.

"Have you got visual yet?" Kalendrow demanded tensely.

"How about some blazing up-lighting measures?" she growled back, feeling her emotional controls slipping.

"Damage!" she heard him curse, "they're suppose to be going up now! Oh, hell with it! I'm engaging the night-vision screens. Let me know when you have visual and I'll bring up the right laser barrier section. Can you hear it?"

"Not while I'm moving!" she bit out sarcastically. "Give me a prayer and clip it's damned wings! Bring up every barrier beyond my postion!"

"Um, where exactly ARE you?" Kalendrow ventured meekly.

She swore an unjustified bluestreak at him and took pains to catch sight of one "Sector/Corridor/Area" marker as she 'flew' past it. "I'm stopping now! It's my call; from Cor-2 A-4 onwards! Juice the deathly thing now!"

There was a brilliant flash of laser barrier output several Areas ahead and Ontijumi sagged with relief as there were cheers to be heard over the sound of the contaminant alert klaxions which Kalendrow had thoughtfully down-volumed.

Her heart was going like mad and she felt ready to drop on the spot as she registered Kalendrow's fearful voice say her name and ask, "Can you see anything near you?"

Her relief flooded away in a riptide and her sensitive ears picked up a little 'klick' of metal on metal.

As she turned toward the sound she detected movement out of the corner of her eye and felt a bolt of adrenalin shoot through her veins anew. "Oh, SHE-"

The shock set in so fast she almost couldn't scream in her agony, but she remained alive long enough to do so ~ as was intended she should.

Kalendrow and the others were chilled to their hearts to hear a sound that was new to all of them . . . the full-cry death-scream of a felineous species.

*"Aaaahguuuuewaaaheeeoooowlaaahraaah!"/*

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OOC: I just wanted to finish this first introductory post to the point I had originally intended.

It is obvious to me that no one is interested in this RP thread, so just let it lie so it dies sometime soon.