[Massive Infiltration Plot] || [Semi-Open]

[great_king_of_evil]

Characters: All the characters who signed up for this infiltration, too many to write them all here. Characters who stay behind and do not infiltrate can tag into the mingle thread.
Setting: The Cafeteria, then the Elevator's Shaft and finally the Administrative Floors. The 29th of July, in the morning.
Format: Action most likely.

Summary: A month ago Ganondorf planned an infiltration to go and pay a visit to Riki's floor-- Given what has happened these last weeks, the 'Evil Alliance' has accepted to allow Enoch and the people he gathered to use the infiltration in order to do their own thing. Namely, retrieve scientific instruments from Jason's laboratory, so as to study the Collar Fluid. The infiltration will begin on the 1st floor, the Cafeteria.

The first thread is a traditional mingle thread, happening before the infiltration and briefing begin; anyone can tag into it. The second thread is a quick briefing before the infiltration starts, where Enoch and Ganondorf will explain to everyone what to do and what to expect in case they don't already know. Then there are the seven group threads, one for each individual team infiltrating.

The OOC post is here for more information. If you have signed-up but didn't pick a group yet, please do so here. While the infiltration takes place, the villains who stayed behind are unleashing a distraction on the tower and those who don't go.

Warnings: Administrative floors, danger, death, horror. Anyone tagging here is probably going to die, or at the very least meet with a terrible fate.

Mingle || Briefing || Meanwhile, in the Cafeteria...

Group 00 (Ganondorf, Sephiroth [OU], Veigar, Ocelot and Jin)
Group 01 (Enoch, Lancer [AU3], Patrick Dawn, Tohko, Raven and Ryoji)
Group 02 (Xion, Fon Master Ion, Yu Narukami, Asch, Luke, Jonouchi Katsuya, Dark Pit and Sheba)
Group 03 (Nesir Aeser, Zett Takajo, Kain Highwind, Solas and Minato Arisato)
Group 04 (Kyoko Sakura, Amelia, Shepard, Homura Akemi, Terra, Sephiroth [AU2] and Labrys)
Group 05 (John Egbert, Rose Lalonde, Naoya Toudou, Dave Strider, Riki [AU3], Sora and Riku [OU])
Group 06 (Zelda, Ruler [AU1] and Saber [AU5])

Comments

[tohko_amano]

[Normally, Tohko would have told Lancer to stop punching the wall so that he wouldn't break his hand..but since he actually was a Heroic Spirit in here, it would probably take more than that to actually harm him, so she kept her mouth shut and just tried to prepare herself mentally.

When Raven stepped in to try and steady her, she let him, doing her best to smile a little at him.]

Thanks..

[Then then spoke to Enoch as he got ready and nodded a little, gripping her fist since biting her lip to steel herself would just hurt herself even more.]

I'll do my best.

[As Enoch brought the Arch down, Tohko took a deep breath and, in physical reflex, bit her lip, only making the pain in her mouth that much worse. It closed the wound and would stop the bleeding, but it just hurt terribly, which wasn't good when it was piled up on top of everything else.

One foot moved backward, but Tohko forced herself to stay put, even if she did wobble a little, and even if even more tears popped out of her eyes in response. She quickly wiped them with her remaining arm and nodded as best she could at Enoch.]

..Thank you. I'll have to eat..and rest when we get out of here. But do we have any ways..to get down to where we..need to be?

[animusnpcs]

[The dust dances about them, looking almost as if it's grabbing at them, trying to pull them deeper into the hallway. It's only a trick of the light, probably.

The hallway turns once and opens to a large abandoned indoor park. There are no trees or flowers or plants, but there are places where they might have once stood. There's a large fountain in the center, though no water has run from it in a very long time. There are many paths outlined in smooth stone going all about the area.

The large room is quite eerie, dark and abandoned as it is. It's too dark to see to the other side of the room.]

[warriorscribe]

Come, let's follow Rick.

*Time is of the essence. He doesn't want to come all this way just to get caught by retrieval units. Attempting to guide Tohko with an arm around her shoulders, just in case, he follows the shapeshifter.

And, whether he got there with Tohko or not, stares at the remains of the garden.*

This place must have been beautiful once...

[tohko_amano]

[Tohko, in her current condition, didn't mind the arm around her shoulders, but nodded as they followed the shapeshifter. Normally, she would have spoken her confirmation, but the open air just made her teeth hurt even more, since it was just fresh air on multiple, tiny, stinging wounds.

However, when they got to the gardens, she couldn't help but smile weakly and quickly speak, pausing every now and then to close her mouth as a break from the air.]

It would have been. I've read of..similar places, though..I've never seen them in person.

[She could see that there were quite a few pathways, and since Tohko had never been to the basement and didn't quite have a good idea of where they should be heading, she spoke up again.]

Which..path should..we take?

[puppy_lancer]

[It takes a little while of silently stewing before Lancer realizes everyone is leaving. He too hurries over down the hallway to see the garden.]

[It's a beautiful place. Or at least it would be if it was properly cared for. But right now, he's not in the mood to take in beauty.]

[He looks toward Enoch. He knows the most about the administrator levels. He might as well as be their leader.]

Your call, Enoch.

[animusnpcs]

[There's a large, sprawling tree just beyond the fountain. Its leaves spread out over much of the ceiling, pushing against their confinement.

It wasn't there before.]

[bashfulshifter]

[It shouldn't take too long for the group to catch up with the tiger--he's cautious to begin with, and now with having to trip over the very swollen back leg twisted underneath him, his gait is reduced to an arduous, painful-looking stagger. The way he stiffly carries himself forward says that Mittens is willing to continue in this state for some time yet, but it is inevitable that he'll have to stop and rest if they wander too far.]

[Until then, Rick makes use of his new-found mobility to investigate various parts of this park they've found themselves in. It's almost eery, how similar this place is to the nature area in his home town. The memories flood back quickly; he remembers sitting at a fountain much like the one here, watching a colony of ants march along its base to the bleached cobblestone picnic area across the plaza, while the Epps twins took turns seeing how many stairs they could jump down the grand entry. He and Codi spent many evenings together on the benches under the old oak on the corner, watching the sun set after a long walk, and they would quietly rest in the others' arms...]

[...Actually, was that tree even there before? Distracted by his own reminiscing (and possibly also blood loss), the tiger staggers past the fountain with his tail held low and twitching, whiskers extended far ahead to catch scents and movement while he approaches the anomalous vegetation. It could very well just be a trick of the dim light that he simply didn't notice it, but...best to check the center anyways before they decide on a branching path, right?]

[unkindnessof]

[ Raven startles at the sight of the tree, having quietly shadowed the group as they made their way in deeper. Darkness or no, he'd been able to see that far, at least, and he's sure that hadn't been there before...

He's not chalking this up to a trick of the light, considering everything they'd already seen. A defensive illusion of some sort? Had they triggered something with their presence? The dust they'd probably inhaled more than a little of earlier?

Frowning slightly, he releases a controlled burst of fire from his hand. It's not much, just a small flare, but it should briefly illuminate the area. Whatever the results of that may be, it's obvious enough in his posture that he, too, is looking to Enoch for their next course of action. ]

[warriorscribe]

Ah... *Oh, he's the leader. Well, he did get this mess rolling. At least it keeps him from puzzling over the tree that just appeared. Someone messing with the glamour for them? Is Ruana playing with them? Nope, there's something else to think about.*

...We should find out where we are, first. Which numbered area this is, if we can. To do that...let's explore this place and see how many doors there are leading out.

*Which means, first, seeing if Raven's flare makes any obvious.*

[animusnpcs]

[The tree withers away to ash as they get closer to the center of the room, blowing away in the nonexistent breeze. The light from Raven's fire illuminates the room, which is more of a dome. There's a door at the far end of it, with some sort of label beside it, though it's too far away to read as of yet.]

[puppy_lancer]

[Lancer looks from the door to the disappearing tree. He rubs his eyes. This is a new level of weird for the Tower.]

So there is an exit.

[He thinks it's an exit. After all, this room is dome shaped, meaning they must be inside something.]

[unkindnessof]

Well, doesn't look like there's anywhere else to go.

[ And with that, he cuts off the flame; sustaining it for too long gets uncomfortable. It'll put them back in darkness, but at least they have some clue what the far side looks like now. ]

Though for all we know that could be an illusion too.

[bashfulshifter]

[The tiger makes a quick hop backwards as the tree disintegrates. It's unsettling, certainly, but he realizes that Raven has a point; how much of what they're experiencing right now is real? Of all the weird blood junk that went on while they were going down the elevator shaft, the swirling dust, now the tree...it all came to them suddenly, then it seemed they faded without a trace. But with how strange the Tower is to begin with, Rick's having trouble deciding what's a hallucination and what is just another unpleasant quirk of their location, and eventually he decides that it's not worth confusing himself over.]

[Instead, Rick decides to combine Enoch and Raven's suggestions and do some exploring ahead of the others. He's quiet on his feet, despite the limp, and he assumes he can naturally see much better in the dark than most of the group (save Raven and his weird glowing-yellow eyes), so it makes sense that he take point. After a quick look behind to make sure nobody calls for or cautions him otherwise, Rick strikes the same investigative pose as before and makes the journey to the other side of the room, making sure to check for scents and unusual movement along the way. He thinks it might be helpful to see where the other paths go, too (assuming they don't just loop in on themselves), but he doesn't want to separate himself too far from the main party.]

[warriorscribe]

*He won't worry too much about having to go too far from the rest of them. Enoch, still guiding Tohko if she'll let him, follows Rick towards the door Raven's light illuminated before, sparing a lingering look at the old fountain as he passes it.*

[tohko_amano]

[Tohko silently watched as the tree appeared and vanished when the room was illuminated for a few moments. It could have been the illusions of the Administrators-and she hoped that none of them had tried to make themselves be like Eric, the Phantom-but..she also couldn't rule out the ghosts..which scared her a little, even if she didn't want to admit it.

So, she let Enoch lead her along, trying her best to put on a brave front as she looked towards where she saw the door.]

Well..if it is an illusion..we'll find out once we go through it.

[puppy_lancer]

[Like the rest of the group, Lancer heads toward the door. Like Rick, he sniffs around for strange odors, but the large amount of dust makes him sneeze.]

Guess the administrators don't really like this place.

[He mutters to himself.]

[unkindnessof]

[ Well, if they're all going, they're all going. Certain others have their immediate surroundings covered...

Soundlessly, and trailing shadows in his wake, Raven ghosts over toward the door and the label besides it, though not before dispelling his remaining spear. ]

[animusnpcs]

[The door is labeled "RECOVERY WARD 006". The zeroes appear to be turning in slow, lazy circles on their sign, even though they're painted on.]

[warriorscribe]

*Enoch watched the spinning zeroes a moment.*

First the tree and now this... Is she toying with us?

*Regardless, he reaches out to open the door, a hand back on his Arch, ready to pull it out if he needs to.*

[animusnpcs]

[The door opens to a large, dusty room filled with empty hospital beds and machines that look as if they haven't seen use in ages. There are labels on each bed, though they're small and would have to be approached to be read.]

[puppy_lancer]

[Lancer puts a hand over his face. He doesn't want another sneezing fit.]

[After taking up that precaution, he goes into the room and starts examining the beds.]

[bashfulshifter]

[Attentive to smell as he presently is, Mittens is not so fortunate and promptly sneezes in the threshold. No good...his nose is completely clogged now, all the scents are too jumbled up with dust for him to identify anything specific. Ah well--if he really wanted to track something Rick would have let Toby take over, but they both knew the dog wouldn't handle pain nearly as efficiently as Mittens has been.]

[Hopefully that won't be required--those machines look promising, and could be all they need to finish this horrid mission and get back to (relatively speaking) familiar territory. So while Lancer investigates the beds, the tiger cautiously approaches the old machines. Hopefully his close studies of Doc's diagrams before they left will help him identify what they are--or at least, if they could be remotely useful.]

[tohko_amano]

[While Tohko was very bad with technology and didn't know if the machines were what they were looking for, she did sneeze a little as she saw the hospital room of sorts and stepped into it. This..was this where they performed experiments on people in the past? It was very plausible, which meant that the ghosts they saw could be ghosts of children or people they had killed and tortured once upon a time.]

Either..she is..or the ghosts are.

[Tohko, curious about who might have been in the beds, staggered over to the label of the first bed and tried to read it.]

[unkindnessof]

[ Raven mostly dismisses Tohko's words. Still, though... ] If there were other wandering souls here... Without rest, then...

[ He avoids the beds. Instead, he heads toward the far end of the room to check any machines that might be over there, though his expectations aren't exactly high. The apparati on display back up in the cafeteria were less medical than this ward seems to be, and even if they found anything, would it even be in usable condition? ]

[warriorscribe]

You seem so certain of ghosts. *She did this before too, with the "poltergeist" thing when the power had gone out before the glamour failure. It's why he doesn't pay her any mind; he assumes it may well have been something possible on her world but doesn't seem to be the case here. He lets go of her shoulders for the moment and goes to the perimeter of the room, searching counters, cabinets, any place where something might be hidden.*