Roland
Elite Warrior
Posts: 95
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Echoes
May 22, 2010 23:21:02 GMT -6
Post by Roland on May 22, 2010 23:21:02 GMT -6
BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG
Roland sighed, sitting back in his chair as he glanced at the door to his workshop. He’d purposely set up his shop in the basement of the DWP to avoid people bothering him without good reason to do so. As he stood, he switched off the light over his desk, plunging his projects into darkness. Several had promise, but none of them were past the design stage, and unless he could find some comparable tech or resources, they’d likely stay there.
Grasping the handle, Roland pulled the door open quickly, startling the young man who’d been knocking. By the position of his hand, he’d been in the process of knocking again, but as soon as his eyes caught the annoyed look on Roland’s face, his hand snapped into a salute.
“Private Jackson, sir, with a message from RS17.”
Roland said nothing, but leaned against the doorframe, his expression going from annoyed to disinterested. He twirled the fingers of his right hand in a ‘go on’ gesture, and waited for Jackson to get the hint.
“Uh…yes. We’ve had an incident at the RS18 border, we think there might be…well, Zeke sent me to get you himself, sir. He thinks we might be dealing with a super.”
Roland was moving as soon as he heard his second-in-command’s name. He’d given Zeke very specific instructions when he’d left him in charge of securing RS17. He was to be given progress updates every day when the bulk of their forces returned to the DWP, and otherwise left alone. Unless, of course, Zeke had reason to believe there were supers active in the area.
Pulling on his jacket, Roland grabbed the baton-turned-knife that he’d taken to the fight against Eddie Crown, as well as one of his old batons. He absentmindedly considered grabbing one of his emitters, but remembered that he’d dismantled all but one in trying to come up with parts for other projects. The last emitter was in working condition, but the battery had been dead since before he’d arrived on this world.
Emerging from his workshop, Roland swept past Jackson, leaving the youth staring after him.
“Sir? Where are you going?”
“Good work, Jackson. Someone else will cover the rest of your shift, take it easy the rest of today.”
Leaving the young man behind, Roland made his way out to the front of the building, grabbing his bike from where he’d left it. Starting the engine with a practiced kick, Roland took off, headed for the border between his new territory and RS18.
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Roland
Elite Warrior
Posts: 95
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Echoes
Feb 13, 2011 2:10:40 GMT -6
Post by Roland on Feb 13, 2011 2:10:40 GMT -6
As the sound of the bike's motor reached his ears, Zeke let out a heavy sigh, and turned to face the noise. Within a minute, the bike, with Roland leaning forward in the seat atop it rounded the corner, and headed straight for the older man.
As the vehicle skidded to a stop, Zeke gave a sharp whistle, gesturing to the bike. One of the newer recruits made his way over almost immediately, and reached Roland just in time to take the bike from the leader's hands. With a jerk of his head, Zeke sent the boy away to park the small vehicle.
Roland watched the brief exchange impassively, keeping an eye on the new kid just to make sure he treated the bike carefully. If circumstances were different, he might have made some comment to the recruit, or complimented Zeke's wordless handling of the men he'd been assigned.
As it was, he really couldn't care less. The fact that he was here at all made sure he remained focused on the task at hand.
"Tell me everything."
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Roland
Elite Warrior
Posts: 95
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Echoes
Feb 13, 2011 2:42:06 GMT -6
Post by Roland on Feb 13, 2011 2:42:06 GMT -6
Zeke started walking, Roland following close behind. "Still working on the details, but what we know right now is that 4 of our border guards went down sometime between Noon and 2:00. We're working on getting the time nailed down, but it'll have to wait until one of them recovers. No alerts ever came over the walkie, no shots were fired, nothing that left any witnesses."
Roland nodded. "When were they found, and what the hell does 'went down' mean?"
Zeke continued without missing a beat. "The men for the next guard shift showed up a few minutes late after helping put out a fire near the CPD. The 4 guards from the previous shift were found tied up together against a building, their weapons in a pile nearby.
The men were all bleeding from the ears, and were completely motionless and unresponsive. The men for the next shift alerted me, I told them to start patrolling, then I sent Jackson to you straight away."
Roland understood now why he'd been called in. The tech needed to pull off something like this might have been within the reach of this world once, but from his understanding of things, that had been some years ago. Any surviving machines that advanced would have to be found in decent shape, restored to working condition, powered in a way that made moving it an option, and then handled by someone who actually knew what they were doing.
In short, it was long odds against it being tech. More likely that somebody had been laying low in the neighborhood during the Push, and had managed to knock out the guards and make their way into RS18. Whoever it was obviously had sonic abilities; nothing else easily explained how all four men were bleeding from the ears.
"Alright. Where are the men now, what's their condition, and what have you found in the area?"
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Roland
Elite Warrior
Posts: 95
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Echoes
Feb 13, 2011 3:14:00 GMT -6
Post by Roland on Feb 13, 2011 3:14:00 GMT -6
Zeke was almost surprised; the boss seemed to be taking this all in stride. He was used to seeing him fly off the handle when supers were involved, to the point of madness, at times. But this, this was a different side to the younger man, more curious than anything.
Zeke was many things, but he was never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, and he wasn't about to start now.
"The men were moved to an abandoned diner nearby, and laid out on some of the booth seats. I set someone to watch them, and they started moving again a few minutes ago. Assuming there's no permanent damage, you should be able to question them yourself.
And I told you, we found the men with their weapons nearby. Nothing else at the scene."
At this last piece of information, Roland stopped dead in his tracks, training his eyes on his second-in-command. A skeptical grin found its way onto his face. "Alright, sounds good for the most part, but for a second there, you almost had me under the impression that after you got our guys taken care of, you stopped doing anything useful, and started dicking around proofreading your little briefing just now."
Roland laughed, a short, harsh sound that made it clear he wasn't happy with the older man. "Now, tell me that I've got it wrong, Zeke, because I think we both know that sounds like bullshit, right?"
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Roland
Elite Warrior
Posts: 95
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Echoes
Feb 13, 2011 3:21:53 GMT -6
Post by Roland on Feb 13, 2011 3:21:53 GMT -6
Zeke kept walking for a moment before he realized Roland wasn't following him anymore. When he realized, he turned around just in time for the younger man to deliver his opinion on what he'd been told. Zeke took a deep breath, and chose his next words carefully.
"Sorry, Boss. I meant to say, we haven't found anything else yet. I'd just sent some men out to search the area from the ground up before you got here. They haven't reported anything back yet."
With anyone else, Zeke would have felt foolish deferring so quickly. But with Roland, he knew better than to trust the man's demeanor not to turn violent at the slightest provocation.
Roland nodded, smiling widely. "Good, good. For a second there, I almost thought you'd let me down. Now, point me towards this diner, I'd like to have a word with our men about what happened."
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Roland
Elite Warrior
Posts: 95
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Echoes
Feb 16, 2011 1:30:44 GMT -6
Post by Roland on Feb 16, 2011 1:30:44 GMT -6
As he stormed out of the diner, Roland forced himself to breathe deeply, to count prime numbers in his head, anything to keep his composure.
Four men, and nothing of use. Three of them weren't even aware that anything out of the ordinary had happened until they awoke in the diner, and all the fourth could attest to was a high-pitched tone sounding before the jump in his memory. This might have been interesting if he himself hadn't already figured out that sonic abilities were at work; instead, he found himself frustrated to the point of anger at the brevity of information available.
Grabbing the walkie at his waist, he spoke quickly, keeping his voice tightly controlled as he did so. "Zeke, it's been half an hour. What the hell's taking so long?"
Zeke jumped at the sudden sound of the Boss's voice; the small area they'd been able to canvas so far meant that in-person check-ins were more effective, and he'd almost forgotten he had his walkie's earpiece in.
"Still nothing, Boss. We've covered half the neighborhood, there's only one building overlooking the site that we haven't checked out yet."
Roland prepared to fire back at his lieutenant, when something struck him as odd. "One building? Why didn't you check it out the surrounding rooftops first?"
"We did, Boss. It's just this one holding us up, all my men already starting canvassing away from the site. I just can't get anybody to answer the do-" Zeke stopped mid-sentence. He'd been fuming over Roland's attitude so much that he hadn't kept track of the time. If the Boss was right, and they'd been searching the area for half an hour, that meant he'd been checking out this one building for nearly 20 minutes without a single person buzzing him in.
"Boss, I'm sending a runner to bring you here. I think I found the place we're looking for.
Roland smirked; it seemed Zeke could think on his own after all, it just took him a while. "Copy that, Zeke. Let's hope you're right."
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Roland
Elite Warrior
Posts: 95
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Echoes
Feb 16, 2011 2:00:32 GMT -6
Post by Roland on Feb 16, 2011 2:00:32 GMT -6
A few minutes later, Roland rounded the corner of the three-story apartment complex where Zeke was waiting for him. He'd expected his lieutenant to be waiting for him; what he hadn't expected was the shotgun in the older man's hands.
"Well that's new. What are we hunting?"
Zeke cracked a smile, holding up the gun for Roland to see. "This is an S3 Rhino Tactical Response Shotgun. A bit wordy, if you ask me, but after the War, you couldn't find a more reliable weapon in the City. Unfortunately, the CPD knew it as well as any of the gangs did, so they made a point to keep them locked up in their precincts unless they were absolutely needed in the field, especially after the plants shut down.
All you need to know today, though, is that we found a nice little weapons cache in the CPD, and this beauty was part of it. I had one of my men run and grab it while the runner brought you; it's gonna be the easiest way inside."
Roland smiled, honestly impressed with Zeke's foresight. "Fair enough. I'd appreciate a heads-up next time we find out-of-production reliable weaponry, but under the circumstances, I won't complain."
Zeke nodded, taking a pair of shells from a small bag on his belt and loading the weapon in his hands. "Noted, Boss. You ready to do this?"
Roland nodded as well, drawing his knife and his baton. "You're the man with the gun, Zeke. Let's get this over with."
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Roland
Elite Warrior
Posts: 95
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Echoes
Feb 16, 2011 2:28:23 GMT -6
Post by Roland on Feb 16, 2011 2:28:23 GMT -6
Without any further discussion, Zeke headed for the door, bringing the S3 to bear at the handle, and the locking mechanism beneath it. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw the Boss with his strange weapons at the ready, and the runner he'd sent was checking his own 9mm. Satisfied, he turned back to the door, and pulled the Rhino's trigger, sending a blast of thunder and fire at the lock on the door.
The lock never stood a chance, torn apart by the breaching rounds in the shell. Stepping back for a moment, Zeke gave the door a sharp kick, sending it flying open.
Roland rushed inside after Zeke kicked the door open, slipping past his lieutenant. Glancing around, he knew they'd found the right place; a thick layer of dust lay across the floor, save for a fan cleared by the door, and a double set of footsteps on the stairs, one going up, and another coming back down. Whoever had been here had left when their business was finished.
"Zeke, call the rest of your search party here, get them started searching every corner of this building. In the meantime, we go up."
That said, Roland sprinted up the staircase, following the footsteps in the dust. He'd missed the thing that knocked out his men, yes, but he was already closer to finding it than the super had wanted, and that fact alone brought a smile to his face.
Zeke nearly pulled the trigger again when the Boss rushed past him; he managed to stop himself lecturing the younger man about running in front of people with guns. However satisfying it would be in the moment, he knew the outcome wouldn't be worth it.
Following Roland's orders, he ordered his men back to the building, then followed the Boss up the stairs, or tried to, at least. He seemed to be taking them three, sometimes four at a time, something Zeke decided against attempting. Eventually, he caught up with the Boss at the top of the stairs, staring up a ladder at a hatch that must've led to the roof. Holding the hatch shut was a large, shiny padlock, obviously out of place in the thick dust that coated everything else.
The two men exchanged a brief look, then Zeke raised the Rhino again, and with another blast of thunder, the lock was all but gone, along with a good-sized piece of the hatch.
Roland bolted up the ladder as soon as the shrapnel finished falling, throwing open the hatch and hauling himself out onto the roof. Dashing for the edge, he wasted no time finding a view of the spot where another shift of his men were patrolling.
The view was perfect, showcasing a wide view of the border between RS17 and RS18. Any sniper worth his salt would've been able to drop all four guards with ease; the fact that a super with sonic abilities could manage it from this distance away was...well, almost surprising. The ability to keep soundwaves at that high a frequency focused so tightly as such a range...it meant they were dealing with something he hadn't anticipated.
As he stepped to the side, his foot made contact with something left on the roof, something that skittered across the old tar after his boot struck it. Glancing down at the thing, the look on Roland's face changed from one of contemplation to one of surprise.
There, on the roof, was a gun. At least, it looked like a gun. If it was, he doubted it was gun that anyone in Etrah had seen working in decades. Well, almost anyone. More troubling than its presence, however, was what it meant.
He'd been dead wrong about this whole attack. There was no super at all; there was only a gun.
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Roland
Elite Warrior
Posts: 95
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Echoes
Feb 16, 2011 2:52:18 GMT -6
Post by Roland on Feb 16, 2011 2:52:18 GMT -6
Walking over to it, Roland crouched down. Setting his own weapons down on the rooftop, he reached for the gun carefully, almost reverentially. While his lieutenant looked on, Roland grasped the weapon and lifted it from the rooftop, examining it with new curiosity.
The first thing that struck him was the light weight of the thing, especially considering its size: the weapon was close to three feet long, but it couldn't have weighed more than 5 pounds or so, and most of that was in what he assumed was the stock of the gun.
After the odd weight of the gun, he realized the barrel was...wrong. Instead of rifling, the interior of the barrel was completely smooth, and as he examined it closer, he realized the inside was conical, likely reaching a point near the place where the barrel and the stock met. If this thing had been meant to fire projectiles, it couldn't have been accurate too far beyond point-blank range.
Of course, there was no need for a rifled barrel; there was no projectile. No physical one, anyway. While the weapon in his hands seemed horribly out of place in the ruins of this City, he had no doubt that sonic weaponry like this had been state-of-the-art near the beginning of the War that devastated this place. The question then was, who found it? Who had the money and the knowledge to repair it? What was so important that they needed to use it? And, most importantly, why leave something so precious behind on a dirty rooftop?
Closer inspection yielded the answer to the last question; the weight in the stock of the weapon was a battery pack, or at least, a poor substitute. When the thing was ejected, the battery's casing fell out and tipped over, spilling a smoking black sludge onto the roof. Whatever material had been hobbled together to power the weapon only worked for a few shots before the power demands of the device had proven to be too much.
But still, why leave it behind? If it had been repaired to working condition once, surely it could have been done again. Why were they in such a hurry? What were they running from?
Then the pieces started falling into place. Roland smirked, chuckling softly.
"They were running from us."
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Roland
Elite Warrior
Posts: 95
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Echoes
Feb 17, 2011 1:52:48 GMT -6
Post by Roland on Feb 17, 2011 1:52:48 GMT -6
Zeke stood watching the Boss fawn over the strange looking gun, popping out a cartridge of what looked like hot roofing tar. After a few seconds of staring wordlessly at the liquid, Roland started to chuckle, and said something about someone running. He didn't know exactly what was running through the Boss's head, but he could put the pieces together well enough.
"Who do you think they are, Boss?"
"It doesn't matter what I think, Zeke. What matters is that someone's out there right now with access to tech nobody's seen working in decades. I shouldn't have to tell you how serious a problem that is for us."
Standing up, Roland handled the weapon carefully, reviewing the events of the afternoon in his mind. "Where's this fire that held up the guards for the next shift?"
Zeke thought for a moment, recalling the address as it had been described to him. "About a block away from the CPD, towards the boarding house we busted during the Push. Whole place went up, like..."
Zeke trailed off, just reaching the conclusion the Boss had been hinting at. Reaching for his walkie, he glanced at the younger man. "I'll call a driver. We'll be there in 5."
Roland nodded, nudging the spent battery pack with his boot. Under his breath, he muttered,"Glad we're on the same page, Zeke. Certainly took your time getting there."
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Roland
Elite Warrior
Posts: 95
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Echoes
Feb 24, 2011 5:42:46 GMT -6
Post by Roland on Feb 24, 2011 5:42:46 GMT -6
"You're kidding, right? You honestly expect me to uproot this whole system and bring it back to HQ? There's no way, Scrap. Even if we manage to take it apart, we just don't have the manpower to transport it safely AND put it back together correctly. Anything else, I'll make it happen, but give me something!
"My abilities at this range are limited strictly to visual analysis of video evidence, Roland. The fire was intentionally set to damage those areas most crucial to data storage and retrieval, most likely to hinder anyone who managed to discover that the fire itself was acting as a distraction.
As I tried to explain before you interrupted, trace data retrieval may still be possible, but I will need direct physical access to the console and its components, a feat made impossible without the system being brought to me.
Evaluation of our numbers indicates that there are 27 among the Dogs of War with the mechanical and technical expertise necessary to properly dismantle and transport the system. Once the parts are brought to me, reassembly can likely be performed entirely by my systems, but without the components, my usefulness in this matter is...finite."
Roland let out a heavy sigh, setting the walkie down heavily on the console. Pacing around the burnt-out basement, his eyes passed once more over the bank of monitors and computers, and a feeling swept through him that he was fast becoming accustomed to.
Jealousy.
Whoever these people were, they were smart. They were well-funded and well-equipped. Most troubling, they'd managed to escape his notice entirely until today, while he'd been turning the Inner City upside-down for weeks, making the place his own. That kind of oversight would be unforgivable in a subordinate, but in himself...he didn't have the words.
As it stood, the gun and this burned-out computer console were all they had, and as much as he hated to draw the resources to do it, he knew Scrap was right. As long as the damn robot was bonded with the DWP computers, any help the machine could offer was limited beyond about 3 feet away.
Switching channels on the walkie, Roland ordered Zeke to report to Scrap for a list of the 26 other men who could take this thing apart, as well as whatever tools the group would need. Switching back, he took a calming breath before resuming his conversation with the metal man.
"Fine. Get a list ready, we'll have this thing dismantled by sundown, back to base in time for dinner."
Looking down at his hand, Roland read over the word printed on the charred slip of paper they'd found. When they'd abandoned the building, they'd tried to burn whatever paper records they hadn't been able to take with them.
Most of it was useless now; ashy scraps that fell to pieces at the slightest touch. However, through some mad stroke of luck, this one piece had survived. And printed on this piece of paper, capitalized in the middle of some now-lost paragraph, a single word now caught Roland's eye.
"Scrap? Tell me, how's the cataloging of the CPD's file system coming?"
"At last estimate, files had been scanned, sorted, and uploaded to nearly 94% completion. If a human were performing the task, completion would now be nearing...17%. Why is it relevant?"
A smirk crossed Roland's features once again as he heard the robot rambling on. He could almost hear pride in the thing's voice. "Start a search on the new database. Query is one word."
"Depending on commonality of the word, this search may take some time. What is the word in question?
Stepping out of the smoke-smelling basement into the afternoon sun, Roland raised the walkie to his mouth.
"Echo."
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