Hidden Cycles

[ChronicLunacy]

Hathaway

Hathaway slapped his phone against his palm several times in agitation, tried a couple more times, walked around with the phone stretched above his head looking for a signal, the whole nine yards. Unfortunately, it seemed to do no good. Looking annoyed, he tucked it back into one of his uniform coverall's pockets and joined the rest of the group. "Does anyone have cell phone reception? I think that whole teleport thing must have screwed up mine."

[The Unborne]

Nick

Snapping the last white caps together, Nick surveys his body liking the skin-tight look of the material. It reminded him of his wrestling singlets from a time long ago. It's been a year, hasn't it? The teen sighs to himself recalling the roar of the crowd, the vibrant singlets clashing together in a mix of bodies, and ultimately the first place spot with a huge trophy at hand. Damn it, I screwed up big time. Shaking off the thought, Nick zips up his slim leather jacket allowing some of it to stay open to reveal a hint of his chest. The skin-tight suit was much better at revealing his muscles than the under-armor he was wearing before, or so he thought.

Nick looks up to see Phoebe already blushing before she turned to dress herself. His face turns red before he's able to stand up straight again. "Daddy's boy, eh? Someone thinks this all a joke don't they?" After hearing Hathaway's experience with his phone, Papa reaches into his pockets instinctively to pull out his own cell. Unfortunately his pocket is empty, "I'd lend you my phone, but it seems like I got robbed before I was sent here..."

The teen holds up the rifle studying it like it was the first time ever touching it. Nick makes sure to point the gun towards the ground never allowing its barrel to point at anyone. First rule in gun control...Always treat a gun as if it was loaded. Gotta love those hunting classes.

[kuja.girl]

Neal

"Don't bother with the phone. It's a waste of time and that's luxury we don't have."

"Now that we're all dressed, we need to get going. The roach is that way." Neal says pointing toward Ellis Island. "It's been a while, but I think there's a bridge. Lets get this over with." Neal starts walking toward the shore then stops and adds, "Oh yeah and if you hear a beeping you'd better stop and head back the way you came from."

[SurlySeraph]

ooc: SurlySeraph re-reading your posts we still don't have much to go by as far as appearances go. Mind helping me out here?
Oh yeah, and Neal thinks Andrew is a little crazy, go figure.

Spoiler

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Sorry for forgetting to give more detail. Andrew's 17 years old. He's about 5'10", 160 pounds. He's a high school athlete, and fairly well-built. He's blond and blue-eyed.

Andrew

Andrew finishes getting the right suit on. He vaguely regrets not picking his clothes back up, but more because of their cost than because he now has to walk around a public park in extremely immodest clothing. Andrew looks at Neal. He knows what he's doing, trustworthy or not. Better got on his good side. "Okay, sir. Let's go." Andrew's attention drifts for a moment as he looks at his rifle. "Might as well see what this does first." Andrew points the rifle towards Ellis island and raises the eyepiece to his eye.

[PhoeKun]

Phoebe

Andrew finds his rifle and hands being pushed back down to a neutral position almost as soon as he raises the rifle to test it.

"Could we not do that, please? I mean, you've seen Men in Black, right? Well... it's not like I mean to pass off crappy sci-fi flicks as reality, but if that thing shoots some big eff-off energy thingy... well, I don't think it'll be pretty, yeah?"

Phoebe flashes Andrew a sort of half nervous smile before following behind Neal shaking her head.

[ChronicLunacy]

Hathaway

The EMT looked at the pistol he'd picked up with a sense of disdain. "I'm not sure I can do this, you guys. I don't like guns, never have." he admitted. "Are we expected to use these? Is this...roach alien some sort of criminal?" he asked, further concerned about the whole situation. "I mean, I've never even fired a gun before. I'm not sure if I'd even be able to hit something even if I wanted to."

[PhoeKun]

Phoebe Swift

Phoebe suddenly stops, spins on her heels, and walks back to Hathaway, poking him twice in the chest with her index finger.

"Ho ho hold on a second here... have you looked at this group? Battle-hardened warriors, we are not. We add up to... what now? One man who takes the strangest crap in stride and tells us it's all routine, one... you said you were an EMT, yeah? Which leaves one aspiring musician, a midget karate master, and two over-eager kids. I'd really like to think that if ever a group of people could understand your hesitation at charging into god-knows-where, guns a'blazin, to kill a... and I can't believe I'm saying this... roach alien... it would be this one. So if you don't want to shoot, don't shoot. I won't think any less of you.

But in the meantime, I will be damned if I'm going to let you wuss up before I get to. So chin up and forward march, before these suits decide we're being disobedient and blow up or something, 'kay?"

She turns around and once again follows along behind Neal.

How come I'm the one who has to be strong...?

[ChronicLunacy]

Hathaway

Hathaway stopped in surprise when the girl who had been sobbing on the floor a minute ago decided to call him a wuss and tell him to man up. He couldn't stop the flash of anger that spurred his rebuttal. "HEY, look, Madonna! I may not be able to shoot this at a living thing, but don't think that means I'm going to run screaming because of it. I've worked in the slums of NEW YORK as an EMT. Do you understand what that means? It means I've seen things that would make an army medic piss himself! I've held my hand to a bullet hole in a man's throat as the scream he was trying to get out ended up just a hiss and a gurgle because he was drowning in his own blood. I've had to hold a little girl's intestines in her abdomen after she'd been hit by a car or else they would have all come spilling out. I may not be able to fire this gun, but it's not because I'm afraid, it's because I choose to heal instead of harm! So don't you give me that crap!"

Maybe he was just venting and looking for an outlet after dying and being thrown into all of this, maybe her words hit home, he didn't really know, but it felt good to focus his anger on something besides a big, metal orb. Unfortunately, he felt he couldn't have picked a worse target and immediately regretted it. He felt that anger replaced immediately by embarrassment and remorse for snapping at Phoebe, but took a moment to compose himself as he walked along with the group, his cheeks flaming. Looking at the pistol again, he stuffed it into the briefcase that had once held his bodysuit. He'd apologize later when this was over.

[kuja.girl]

Neal

Neal stops and looks back. No one was really following him, were they? Well, the girl was, now. Seemed she had stopped for a bit to get in a shouting match with the EMT, whatever that was about. He wasn't sure but what she'd said had sounded a little insulting. He'd never said any of this was routine, had he? Frowning, Neal looks at the screen readout on his wrist and taps it absentmindedly. The "blip" still said SE, mostly East, which meant that the 'roach was likely on Ellis Island. Odd place, but also sort of fitting.

"Stop shouting. And for the record, I don't care if you aren't going to shoot but don't expect any help from me if you attract the wrong kind of attention making all that noise. So either shut it and follow or stay here." Neal turns East and heads toward the coast again. Why me? Why did I get a group with ethical, moral, and personality conflicts? This is going to be loads of fun. Just LOADS.

[PhoeKun]

Phoebe

After all the shouting is finished, Phoebe lets out a sigh. For whatever reason, she seems visibly relieved, having earlier been quite obviously on edge...

She offers an apologetic smile to the waiting Neal, and starts to sing quietly:

"Sweet Caroline...
Good times never seem so good
I've been inclined to believe it never would..."

Perform - Sing: (1d20+9)[21]

[SurlySeraph]

Andrew

Andrew smiles, happy to see the argument diffused. "We've got everything worked out then? I like that song, keep singing. Here's a deal: I won't test the gun out if you keep singing that well. That work for you?"

Andrew taps the side of the rifle in time with Phoebe's singing as he follows after Neal, humming along. I still need to see what the gun does, but I'll wait until she's more cooperative. If worse comes to worst, I guess I'll end up testing it on the roach.

[The Unborne]

Nick

The teen snaps his head up to see all the commotion starting up. Making sure his rifle was still pointed towards the ground, Nick shares his attention between Phoebe and Hathaway as they both exchange words. It must have been everyone's nerves, it's not every night that you get stabbed and wake up in a room with a bunch of strangers; other people that are given guns and skin-tight suits and asked to go playing around in New York. Crazy night its turning out to be.

Taking another look at the gun in his hands, Nick scrambles toward Neal trying to get to his side, but keeping a keen eye on their surroundings. "Now by Roach-Alien, are you people really serious?" He directs the question to Neal. "This ain't some joke you guys are playing on us, is it? I hope it ain't like a reality show, because I feel some drama starting already between the contestants." The teen gives a smirk at the thought as he gives a quick glance to Phoebe close by.

[kuja.girl]

Neal

Neal frowns. "'You guys?' What makes you think I'm in on the joke? I'm just as stuck as any of you. The only difference is that I've been here longer."
After a moment of awkward silence Neal adds, "You'd better take the alien thing seriously. Whatever they are isn't human and it's us versus them, life or death. Or whatever this is. Once we get a bit closer we should start thinking about about a plan."

[The Rose Dragon]

Iain

"OK, first: I am not a midget. My height is perfectly normal for a man of my age, even though it is a little on the lower side. Second: I am not a karate master. In fact, I don't know the first thing about karate, aside from the fact that it is a martial arts that employs hand strikes, as opposed to tae kwon do's - which is the one I practice - kicks. Third: I forgot what it was, but I'm sure it was more ranting." Iain tries to get his bearings, but he is as confused as any - probably more. He had a real life before he died, a wife, a daughter, a career as a national athlete... now all this was gone. Most of the others, in his opinion, didn't have much they lost, except for possibly the medical technician.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to lash out. Just that I... never mind. Hopefully we'll have more time to chat after we kill this... roach-alien-monster-thing."

[Callos_DeTerran]

Only the silence of the night greeted all of the commotion that you make in the middle of Liberty State Park, but the overall sense of some higher power laughing can't help but be had by those who believe in such things. Still there seemed to be some kernel of wisdom in the whole mess, the so-far enigmatic Neal who seemed intent upon getting to Ellis Island and then finding the 'roach' there. With this in mind, and no one having a better idea to suggest, all of you from the apartment minus Gilgamesh tramp off to the long bridge leading out to the island proper. At around one thousand feet long it proved to be quite the long walk but it was also easy to see if anything was coming down or going up the way as well.

All of the way up at the island itself there was a steel gate with a thick padlock set into the equally thick chain holding it shut. Just on the other side was a small lite guard booth and the noise of a television. It seemed that there was a night guard and late night duty to make sure no trespassers sneaked inside and vandalized the historic buildings on the island, but whoever it was inside didn't come out as you approached.

[SurlySeraph]

Andrew

"Okay, I'm ready to do whatever I'm supposed to do to 'defeat' the roach alien, but I don't want any people to get hurt. If there's someone in that guard station, I'm going to talk to him." Andrew points his gun down at the ground and starts walking towards the guard booth as openly as possible.

[PhoeKun]

Phoebe

"So... this is probably as good a place as any to actually plan this out, yeah?"

Phoebe looks around at everyone, shrugs and shakes her head.

"I don't even know what to expect right now..."

[kuja.girl]

Neal

Neal ignores Andrew and walks toward the gate. He bends down and examines the padlock holding the steel gate shut. After a few experimental tugs on the gate, he shrugs and and jumps trying to grab the top so he can pull himself over.

jump: (1d20)[1]
climb: (1d20)[11]

[Callos_DeTerran]

Andrew and Neal both approach the gate but for very different reasons. With his hands up in the air Andrew was able to get a fair look into the guard booth on the other side of the gate and caught a peek at a slightly overweight man in a blue uniform. A thinning mop of brown hair was covered by a lighter blue cap with a badge pinned to the front of it. He seems to be fairly involved in what he's doing. One of those new taser-pistols was holstered on his waist and the yellow light of the booth contrasted with the blue light coming from a small portable television. From the looks of it there were not very many 'customers' to Ellis Island, especially at night, so he had seen fit to determine entertainment for himself.

The night watchman didn't make any response as Andrew approached, never once looking away from the flickering screen until Neal leaps for the first time to try and clear the gate. When the asian man's hands slap against the wrought iron and make it rattle his head snaps up and he flails about for a moment before pulling a black flashlight from the other side of his belt and clicking it on. A bright beam of white light erupted from the little thing as the man waved it slowly back and forth across the gate, peering out inquisitively but never stopping for too long on...well anything. Despite the people, dressed most oddly in some cases, standing right there he never seemed to notice. Two more times Neal tried to jump the gate, looking irate, and twice more the gate shook. Looking spooked the night watchman began to back up with a look of fear on his face.

"What the...?! Hey is somebody just messing with me!?" He calls out into the night. Finally Neal bent low and something most peculiar happened. The black suit began to grow larger, bulging around his legs as if massively thick blood vessels had formed in a twisted nest all over them. A moment later and Neal was pushing off the ground and cleared the seven foot tall gate easily to land with a small thud on the other side, still on his feet...from the looks of it though the somewhat smallish man had cleared it by at least three or four feet...

[PhoeKun]

Phoebe

With a blink and a long stare at the fence, Phoebe opens her mouth to speak, and then closes it after no noise comes out. She stares at her arms, and the suit covering them, and shakes her head.

"Cannot believe I'm wearing something like this..."

She walks over to the gate herself, pushing on it experimentally. She hops up and down a couple of times, trying to burn off a bit of nervous energy, and then kicks the gate.

"Effing thing."

[ChronicLunacy]

Hathaway

Hathaway ran up to the gate after Neal, looking in wide-eyed awe as the man just hopped it. What's more, the guard didn't even seem to notice them! Neal had been banging and clanking around that gate right in front of him for two minutes before he finally made it but the night guard could have been blind and deaf for all the good his flashlight was doing him. Hathaway looked at the gate, then at the guard, and back to the gate as Phoebe kicked it, the sound drawing his ear.

He set his feet to follow Neal in a running jump at the gate whenever Phoebe moved to the side a little bit.

[SurlySeraph]

Andrew

Andrew's mouth hangs open as he looks between Neal and the gate. "Did he actually do that? The suit... what did... wow..." Andrew stands there marveling for a few moments before realizing the implications. "Does that work for my suit?" Forgetting completely about the security guard, Andrew breaks into a wide, childish grin. "Jump, girl, jump!" he shouts at Phoebe. "Don't let me beat you over!" he mocks, as he charges at the gate and leaps from about five feet in front of it, intending to go over Phoebe's head.

Spoiler

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Jump check: (1d20+2)[6]

[PhoeKun]

Phoebe

"Gah!"

Phoebe leaps to the side to avoid getting clipped by Andrew.

"The hell is wrong with you!?"

She shakes her head violently, and takes a few steps back before running towards and leaping at the gate herself. Worst case scenario, she'd humiliate herself. Athletics were never her strong suit...

Spoiler

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Jump - (1d20-1)[1]

[kuja.girl]

Neal

As soon as he lands on the other side of the gate Neal turns his whole attention to the guard. The guy had to have a key for the padlock, right? So the best thing to do would be to knock the guy out as fast as possible. With this in mind Neal circles around the guard until he's directly behind him trying his best to ignore the chaos on the other side of the gate.

Neal takes a deep breath raises his X-gun and darts forward...

rolls for GM

Spoiler

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attack: (1d20 2=14)
damage: (1d4=3)

[Callos_DeTerran]

When Neal performed an amazing leap right up and over top of the gate a couple others among you tried to do the same thing, or just kick it open in Phoebe's case. After Phoebe's kick, Andrew's failed jump, then Phoebe's own failed jump the guard was looking more then a bit panicked. Eyes wide, face pale, the slightly over-weight man was back-pedaling quickly away from the wrought iron fence with his flashlight swinging every which way. That was before Neal dashed forward and smashed his bizarre pistol's butt against the back of his head, just where it met his neck, and sent him crumpling to the ground with a sigh and a thud.

His motions were more then surprisingly quick and the cording effect had spread up to cover the rest of his body as well before gradually beginning to fade back into the smooth expanse of skin-tight material that it had been before. Squatting down he took the keys from the man's belt, and after a couple seconds of fiddling unlocks the gate and pulls it open...

[PhoeKun]

Phoebe Swift

Phoebe finds herself glad that Neal is part of the group. Aside from having even the slightest clue what's going on, he also seems highly competent. She makes a mental note to stay as close to him as possible.

As the gate opens, she takes a deep breath and steps inside, a feeling of uneasiness welling in the pit of her stomach...

[kuja.girl]

Neal

After opening the gate Neal tosses the padlock key to Andrew. "Lock the gate behind us once everyone gets through. And you, tough guy, Nick" Neal amends, "Help me drag this guy back to his box, we might as well make him as comfortable as we can. Then we need to start thinking about who does what before we find the roach or before it finds us."
Neal grabs the limp form of the guard under the armpits waiting for Nick to take the guy's legs so they can move him into the booth. If Nick doesn't help him Neal will try to drag the guard himself.

[SurlySeraph]

Andrew

Andrew catches the key with one hand, trying to make himself look a bit more competent after failing to get over the gate and pissing off Phoebe. "Got it. Sorry I almost bumped into you, I got bored. I won't do it again, unless I get really bored." Andrew winks at Phoebe. "Seriously, I won't do anything stupid like that again. I won't bother you."After everyone gets through, Andrew carefully locks the gate, double-checking that it doesn't open. He then turns to Neal. "I'm more or less fine with any plan, sir. Shoot at the roach, trip it when it comes at us, act as bait, whatever I can be most useful at. You're in charge of the team, to the extent that we're a team, and I listen to team captains. Especially ones who can jump fences with no effort."

[ChronicLunacy]

Hathaway

Hathaway, upon making it through the gate with the others, helped Neal and Nick move the guard and checked the man's vitals real quick to make sure he hadn't been hurt too bad. Then he made the guy as comfortable as he possibly could before joining the others. "Was that necessary?" he asked Neal as an aside, looking a little annoyed.

[PhoeKun]

Phoebe

"Look... Andrew, right? It's not about you bothering me. If you want to say or do something stupid, that's fine. I do it all the time. It's just... you've got to be more careful about doing dangerous things. I don't honestly know you from the hole in the ground I'm afraid you'll blow at some point here. And since I'm pretty sure we're all stuck together, I'd really prefer to get to know you all before I'm blown apart..."

She pauses to shake her head nervously.

"Maybe if we get out of this, god willing we can all go catch a Sox game."

She sighs, and looks to Neal for leadership.