Infected

[Kjakings]

“I will not become another you! I will not bind my people to a promise I will not force them to keep. If a Doll hates humanity and wishes you were all dead, then that is their right as a thinking individual and undoubtedly a response to their treatment by humanity. However if ever a Doll becomes a serious threat to the survival of your race, if you learn of a Doll that has built up a force and is waging war upon human populations, then you will come to me, and I will do my best to convince them otherwise and if they will not be convinced then I will destroy them. On that you have my word.” Walker sighed and rubbed his forehead.

“I tire of arguing philosophy with you, especially as I feel we will never reach a perfect agreement. If it is true that it is your brother that is behind this, and the co-ordinates that monster gave you are his lair, then I propose we take that plane, fly there, find out what the hell is going on and stop them both, preferably with a minimum of deaths. I have no love for humanity, but a slaughter like that is horrific. She calls him Master, which means he is the true culprit. He might even have somehow been behind the original destruction of the Dome, if he’s capable of controlling something that powerful. I believe in choice and free will, but monsters need to be put down for the good of everyone.”

 

[Clown_of_God]

Before Phantom could respond, TINA came bounding up with a tire expression etched across her face. Something bad must have happened. It didn't take long to find out his assumption was correct.

 

"I just got news from Fort Hamilton, the place I was stationed at until I was sent to recover your aid."

 

Phantom didn't even have to listen to know what was coming next. Even before the attack, hardly anything could make TINA have such an expression on her face. What had happened to Fort Hamilton, Phantom had already concluded before TINA even began to relay the information. It...

 

"The Omega has attacked the fort and that's not all."

 

What came next, Phantom wasn't expecting, but the information was no surprise either. It was just like at the Dome. When the Omega had attacked, nothing had been spared from its path of destruction. Many believe it was responsible for the gash torn into the Earth and others say its existence is what caused the dust to cover the sky. One thing was for sure, though, one thing that was an undeniable fact. When the Omega attacked...

 

"It just suddenly appeared out of nowhere. No warning, no signs of its approach, nothing."

"Just like it did here, nearly five years ago. Hmm. Well, anyway, get everything loaded up into the van. We'll have time to ponder this while we drive."

 

((For whoever wants to post next, feel free to skip ahead into the actual driving scene. Gotta get to this plane soon, else it's gonna get blown up. XP))

[Clown_of_God]

((Herro? Ish anybodeh dere?))

[Thaelasan]

An hour later, the van was careening towards the direction of the plane, unstopped by the infected or anything else that could have halted its velocity.

Alan, sitting at the wheel, was slightly irritated that it was taking so long. They had three hours before the bombing run and Phantom would need time to repair the damn thing anyway.

As he sat in the driver's seat, he turned to look out the window.

The storm was coming.

 

---

 

Since the wastes had been formed, the sand of the Wastes were whipped up by the wind. It was a natural occurrence in the deserts of the world.

Yet, the Wastes had once been a place where wind was frequent. When they met, creating fierce storms, they merged with the sand.

Electrical sandstorms. The charges of the metals in the sediment conducted the charges of the lightning which flashed from the sky. It was almost certainly lethal.

"." Alan swore.

Edited November 23, 2013 by Thaelasan

[Kjakings]

((Still waiting on the edit.))

[Clown_of_God]

((I have that same feeling))

[Clown_of_God]

((Should I post first or wait for Kja, that is mah question?))

[Kjakings]

((I'd rather defer to you with regards to the whole driving thing.))

[Thaelasan]

(( Why are you asking people? :3 It's your roleplay. ))

[Clown_of_God]

Phantom made his way to the front of the van, watching outside as the electrical storm started to get worse and worse. Sighing, he patted Alan's shoulder and motioned for him to swap places with him.

 

"Let me take the wheel. I can react much quicker to oncoming strikes than you can with FIONA giving you input. In the meantime, check the parts we picked up and see if they'll suffice in repairs. If not, we might have to scrounge around the wreckage of whatever other planes survived and see if they have functioning pieces."

[Thaelasan]

Alan agreed. He moved to the backseat with Randall, who had already decided to pass out.

Phantom had compiled a good amount of machinery. Alan was impressed. The Dome had had plenty of mechanical parts, broken metal, and loose wires. Phantom just knew what to look for.

He sorted through them, separating them by type and color. As the van bumped, it made it a bit difficult, but not impossible.

The storm was to their east. They had to go Northeast. They had to go faster than it was. Hopefully it was moving the other way...?

[Clown_of_God]

((So, Kja, you got anything you wanna post? I'm debating on another skip to where everyone is at the plane. Don't worry, battles will be coming soon. Big battles, to top it off.))

[Kjakings]

((I literally had no idea anybody had posted after me. Skip, because I think we're just kinda posting a whole lot o' nothin' right now.))

[Clown_of_God]

Phantom sighed and tapped the top of his head with the wrench he had been using. Things weren't adding up. An Alpha had been slain in the pass they used to get to this plane, it had been simply cleaved in two by some fanatic weapon. A weapon he was sure belonged to MINA. Then, the air strike that was supposed to level whatever remained in this area to Ground Zero had missed its window by almost an hour. No other infected, besides little stragglers such as Walkers and Crawlers, had bothered them the entire time during their travel. It's like they were the ones being being avoided.

 

Still, Phantom remained cautious and had his extra men, with TINA's assistance, scout the perimeter and secure the area. Plane's were delicate and whoever owned this one before messed it up in their attempts to repair it. Wires were burned through, tubes were leaking vital fluids (not that nano fluids couldn't solve that problem) and even parts of the main engine were cracked. Rushed jobs often landed these things in the graveyard, but with appropriate materials and a few cheats this job was child's play. Even more so compared to the intricacy of the Dolls.

 

"Alright, that should do... there! She's all patched up and ready to fly. Now, who knows how to actually fly an aircraft?"

[Thaelasan]

Alan raised his hand voluntarily, beaming.

"Randall and I went to the same flight school before we ended up becoming scientists. Strange career change, yes, but we weren't sure if we wished to be in the military or not yet."

He appraised the skill of the repair, nodding in approval.

"It's beautiful, but I expected nothing less of Phantom."

He began to step inside of the plane, completely engrossed in every detail. FIONA turned to Phantom, smiling knowingly.

"He won't snap out of that for a while. Best to just ignore his inner fanboy and get the job done." she stated, getting onto the plane herself.

Randall got on last, grinning.

"Damn good job. DAMN good job, Phantom. You're coming with us though, right?"

[Kjakings]

((Sweet Jesus. It's a miracle. Think Rebellion could undergo the same process?))

 

Walker leapt up the tiny step into the plane, keeping his gun pointed towards the floor.

"The perimeter is still secure, not that it's been under threat. I don't like this, it feels wrong on every level. If the plane is ready we need to pile in and ship out. The Infected just don't ignore large parties like this, especially with such a threat level and illustrious company. Something is building." He said, looking out of the door at the few men and women on the perimeter that he could see.

[Clown_of_God]

"If we're going to those coordinates, then yes I will be accompanying everyone. If not, then this is where we separate once again. Just remember, if we go to this particular location, we might not be coming back out."

 

Phantom looked at TINA, who merely shrugged and nodded her approval, indicating she was with Phantom on whatever choice he made. Looking around, Phantom called the rest of the perimeter back and told them to board the plane, he would be last to get on.

 

"However, if things start to look too risky, I want you to get out of there and bring everyone back, to include TINA as well. You got that? Everyone here is probably man's best defense against the infected and I will not jeopardize their safety for glory and heroism."

[Thaelasan]

Alan quietly took the compliment, believing Phantom to be a man who gave not compliments but facts. Should he say something, it didn't feel like praise - it felt like a universal truth. His morale raised, Alan headed with Randall up to the front of the plane, taking his seat in the activation dias.

"You repaired the basic weaponry, like the machine gun, correct? Or even the bombs? The rockets? We need something in case of an emergency." Alan asked, flipping switches.

[Clown_of_God]

"I did what I could with what I had, besides this thing was once a military cargo plane not a flying armory. Basic defensive turrets, with limited ammunition and a few flare pods already loaded in their tubes. Not that I'm counting on it, but whoever is holding the infected back is probably the very person who invited us. Needless to say, I doubt our journey will be filled with hardships and gruesome sky battles. It's just a hunch."

 

Phantom sat in one of the auxiliary seats in the cabin, most likely what had once been the radio station and graphing area, stripped of its components (like most military vehicles) and left a barren mess of wires and scarp metal. Maybe if they made it out of this, Phantom would reconstruct the interior and make it a bit more... functional to his tastings. What was once a cargo plane, he would turn it into a luxury transport that could punch back. Of course, he'd need the time and resources, but it'd be a project worth jumping on.

 

"Let's get this bird in the sky. I'm anxious enough as it is going back to Sector Zero, anticipating this much longer might just throw me into an anxiety attack."

 

This was probably the first time Phantom ever revealed any sort of 'weakness' he had to anybody. In most cases, he'd just brush it aside and continue on, but flying had always sapped the strength from his gut and put him to his knees. Not even he could explain the reasoning. All he knew is that ever since his first flight, he hadn't been able to fully stomach aerotrans.

[Thaelasan]

Alan shrugged.

"As long as we have something to bite back I'm not complaining. We can use the flares for signaling later on."

He finished the final preparations and soon the airplane was taking to the sky, boosted by the propulsion systems.

It was a very gentle ascension, which surprised Alan. Below them, the wind howled over the sand, covering up where the ship had been just moments before. In the distance, he could hear the bombs. They had just barely made the time limit.

He sighed, relieved. He opened up the coordinate entry and turned to Phantom.

"If you would, just type the coordinates in here and we'll autopilot the rest of the way. Makes things so much easier." he leaned back a bit, coughing.

[Clown_of_God]

Phantom looked at the coordinate grid for a moment and then looked back at TINA, who was taking this moment to rest and stabilize her systems. Technically, dolls didn't need sleep, but the way they evolved and took it upon themselves to imitate the act brought a sense of warmth in Phantom's chest. They took their standby mode, merged it with data they collected on the way human's slept at night, and formulated their own variant of sleep.

 

Sighing, Phantom stood from his seat and proceeded to enter the coordinates into the grid. After it was entered the plane adjusted itself and began its course where all this mess began. Sector Zero.

 

"Destiny. A facility meant to better our world and the people in it, the very catalyst that brought it to this apocalyptic state. It was founded by a man that my father had been acquaintances with during his childhood and my brother and myself were welcome into the organization with open arms. My brother was a member of the research team responsible for the development of Type X. Actually... he was the head of it. As much as I want to deny it, the facts are driving hard and pointing at him no matter which angle I take."

 

Taking his seat, Phantom pulled his mask off and took a deep breath and filled his lungs with natural air. Placing the mask on his knee, he proceeded to dismantle it in order to change the filter and thoroughly clean it out.

 

"Did you know Doll wasn't my original label idea? I mean, why would I refer to them as a girl's play toy? Nanahumaroid was the rough draft, a nano material mechanical human-shaped device. Then, shortly after the break out occurred, I realized the significance of a doll to that little girl. They're comforters, a source of power, protectors, whatever that child incisions them to be. That's how they came to be called Dolls."

Edited January 25, 2014 by zakku_uchiha

[Thaelasan]

Alan pondered for a moment, taking in all of the information. Deep in his mind, he knew it wasn't easy for Phantom to reveal anything about his past - definitely not anything so emotionally heavy. Phantom was a man who gave facts, not beliefs. Yet, almost symbolically while he spoke of his past, he removed the mask which shrouded his old face. He was allowing them to see into his hidden desires and fears, reminding Alan that Phantom was just a boy in hell.

He stood from the pilot's chair and moved to the back of the plane, taking his seat across from Phantom. Whereas TINA had already fallen "asleep" (it was sort of a lie. The Dolls were always prepared to battle. Within a nanosecond, she could be awake and ready to serve in a conflict.), FIONA was still sitting next to where Alan had taken his own seat. She was busy playing some sort of game using her integrated computer systems. It looked like some hero with a lightbulb chasing him.

Alan stared at Phantom for a moment, coughing.

"Well, I'll just come out and say it. I am pleased that you consider us friendly enough to tell us so much about yourself. I don't mean to sound like a psychiatrist... but I am a doctor." he grinned.

"Based on all the information I know and the information you just shared, I can't help but agree with you. If you're this talented with survival and engineering, then someone of your blood could share that talent as well. It would also make sense, considering as I said before that there are cosmic forces at work making you some sort of wandering hero. If you didn't fight your brother, it wouldn't be as poetic, though it's probably going to be the worst moments of your life. Get mad at the universe, not me.

I believe in a God, but I also believe in other powers. They affect parts of a person's life, causing mayhem and mischief for their own entertainment. We're part of a grand play that's thrown for them daily and we can do nothing but act. Shakespeare said it best, I believe." he crossed his fingers together, leaning forward.

"'All the world's a stage, and men and women are merely players. We have our exits and our entrances...'" he quoted, sighing. "But I don't think he ever imagined this - excuse me - would happen."

Alan looked at Phantom's real face for but a moment but then thought twice about it. He didn't need to see it. In fact, for some reason, he didn't WANT to. Possibly it was the masked Phantom represented some sort of unknown force of great skill, while the boy.. Erik.. represented a weak survivor in a desolate waste.

He had put on that mask for a reason. It hadn't been for dust or sand - Alan could survive that without it either. He wore it because people couldn't see him. They could only see his reputation. They would imagine a face for him, be it bearded or scarred or broken, such as the visage of a survivor of his caliber.

But Alan had seen enough of Erik's face to realize it was none of the above. In fact, if he had to say it, the boy looked like a Doll himself. It was pale white (it couldn't get any sun through the mask he wore at all times), and melancholy from years of dealing with this suffering.

Yet Alan wouldn't have dared try to console him. In fact, it would probably make Phantom jump from the ship with TINA, to find his own way to Destiny. No, he would respect his fellow survivor, because that's what Erik - no, Phantom - was. And that's all he would be.

"In any case, that reasoning behind the name is quite poetic as well. I never thought of that." he said simply after all of that thought. He had tried to make it sound more complicated, perhaps more praising, or more friendly, but both would have just made it awkward. Instead, he took a chance and stood up, stepping over to Phantom and taking a seat by him.

He reached into his jacket and removed a small wallet, opening it softly.

"This is a picture of FIONA from before she-.." he stopped. FIONA didn't react to the sudden introduction of the picture. She continued to play her game.

"You see, Phantom, we all have our reasons for surviving. In my case, foolish though it was, it was just so I could see her another day." he said, sheepish. "I'd wake up in the morning, and she was there. I'd travel to cities, searching for people, and she'd look with me. I'd run across the sands, battling the hordes, and she'd be there right behind me. This is why I stayed alive. It wasn't because of me."

He grunted, shrugging and replacing the picture.

"Oh well that's not entirely true. She is a very important part of it, yes, but there's always that natural human instinct to survive. What I'm saying is that she was the only reason I fought so hard. I would have been slain very early on. I wouldn't have been motivated to live. She motivated me."

He turned to Phantom, smiling in a friendly, sincere manner.

"I think it's the same way for you, though you may not realize it yet. What made you want to rise from that wreckage of the Dome? What made you don the mask? What made you fight and survive for years across the sands and wastes and hell that rose? What did you want to see on the other end of Tartarus?" he asked, curious. "Why did Erik, the boy with little chance of survival in normal situations, fight for years across a land broken by the undead?"

He looked behind Erik, at the sleeping form of TINA, and winked.

"And what is he fighting for now?"

[Clown_of_God]

After Phantom finished cleaning and making minor adjustments to his mask, he pulled it over his face once more and secured it to his face. For a moment, there was a dull red glow behind the right eyepiece as his eye adjusted itself to the darkened scenery. With a quick secondary check, Phantom relaxed once more and focused his attention on Alan.

 

"My reason to fight? That's a good question that I still ask myself on a daily basis. We've all suffered and I had lost everything that had been precious to me. Yet, I still got off that operating table and went into the Wastes, wandering the world aimlessly, assisting those that needed help and fixing things that needed to be fixed. What drove me to do such things? Why had I pushed on despite losing everything that could've motivated me? Maybe it was my own fear of dying, maybe it was revenge, maybe it was self-pity. Honestly, I can't say why I did any of the things I did, but I know why I do it now. For the first time in years, I've made friends and I've found that not everything has been lost. There's also a young doll that I need to try and save, corrupted as she might be it's not a situation I can't fix."

 

Phantom leaned back in his seat and glanced over at TINA, her face soft and peaceful as she rested, as if nothing in this world was actually occurring. It was serene and started to make Phantom forget everything going on around him for a brief moment. Of course, when turbulence caused the plane to bounce ever so slightly, he was brough back to reality and TINA had woken from her slumber.

[Thaelasan]

Alan nodded knowingly, ignoring the obvious hostility. You kind of learned to live with it.

He was about to retort with another one of his famous stories when - luckily for everyone involved - the plane began to shake violently.

"You HAVE to be kidding!" Alan grunted, grabbing something to steady himself. "Please just tell me we accidentally flew into a rogue wind? A passing bird hit the wing? A big bird? Maybe a lot of little birds?"

"You're just grabbin' at straws." Randall leaned back from his chair. "I'll run a scan. See what we get."

 

(( Whatever it is. ))

[Kjakings]

Walker shook his head at Alan's drama over the turbulence, little more than a gentle bob really, and quietly turned his heat vision on to do a quick scan for whatever flying Infected the good doctor was having a panic attack over.

"Calm down, man. It was just a bit of turbulence. You're apparently one sixth of humanity's best defence against the Infection, for gods' sake. And you're on a plane with the joint most-advanced Doll in existence - when any Series III worth their salt could pop the door and go up on the roof - who happens to come packaged with the Second Coming of Da Vinci. Unless the turbulence was caused by the spontaneous and violent explosion of all our engines, I think we're okay."

 

((Prediction next Zakku post: "and then, all the engines violently and spontaneously exploded."))