Private/Closed Bootleg Bros. Ultimate - The Banished Campaign (Act 1)

[PaprusTeuton]

Kazaaak

David sacrificed his plasma pistol's battery, to no avail, as the door remained shut. That is, until the swordsman jabbed his blade into the wires, releasing sparks and opening the door. The door did not open, however the gap that was created before it stopped was large enough for both of them to enter. A dead Brute was revealed on the other side.

"...You didn't expect that to work, did you?" Kazaaak joked, before passing into the area, waving at the foul air as he did so.

 

[comic]

THE COURIER​

—Arcturus Pit, Day 2 Early Morning—​

As it were, the grunts didn’t even reach his end of the hallway. They waddled right on by the placed plasma grenade, failing to notice it in the slightest, making their way to the elevator. Once all three were on board, the door shut and the elevator began to move.

There was no indicator what floor they’d moved to, but the possibility they had been sent to check on the brute meant to collect Blake was a strong one, so his time as an unknown escapee was likely short. No other enemies followed them to the hall, which was left once again bare - save for the placed plasma grenade.
​

Kazaaak stepped into the hall beyond as he made his remark, finding immediately that the brute corpse wasn’t alone - several others had been piled at the other end of the hallway, which made a sharp turn to the left. It was a little difficult to see at first glance, but any scrutiny of the skeletons would unveil deformities. As in, their actual skeletal structures had been warped and changed. Some seemed to have extra arms, or double heads, one even appearing to have overlaying rib cages.

The lighting here was a bit different than the usual Banished norm, too. While there was still the red lighting, actual white lights dimly shone from sparse lights above, illuminating a slight mist in the air, giving the hidden place an overall eerie regard.

It was unlikely the current Banished forces were aware this place even existed. And if they were, they avoided it intentionally.​

 

[Captain Cardboard]

Courier Six​

They went into the elevator. Of course. Why would they check in an empty room? How stupid of him. Stupid, STUPID - Blake didn't have time for this. But haste made waste. Blake slunk down the hallway. As he passed the elevator, he pressed the touch screen to call it. Anything to buy him a few more moments.

Blake approached the right door, hiding in the shadows on the corner of the south wall. He picked up the plasma grenade he had dropped and readied the Spiker. Carefully, he moved within range of the door to detect his presence and open up, peeking into the adjacent corridor to see what was within. If it was clear, he'd move in and start heading north towards the Cell Block.

 

[Psymallard]

Hidden Lab
The electricity predictably surged as the wiring short-circuited. However, more interestingly, there was a creak from behind David. He slowly turned back to the door, and then looked Kazaaak in the eye. A smug grin crept its way back onto his face.

"...You didn't expect that to work, did you?" the insectoid joked.

"I shall never tell," the swordsman replied.

He slipped through the door after Kazaaak, scrunching his nose to the smell of old air and the visage of veritable tomb they had intruded upon. The human's smugness had quickly evaporated- this was no simple backdoor to the facility. No, it could never be so simple. So what was this place?

David passed by the pile of corpses at the end of the hall, and as he did, he stole a glance at the skeletal deformities, which gave him a couple guesses as to what this place was. His first guess was that this was some sort of lab that dealt with biotics. Either they meant to splice genes, or whatever they had been studying had some sort of way to hijack genetic code.

His second guess would be that this was a place that dealt in the occult. Back in his own galaxy, there were no shortage of deities that had the power to warp the minds, souls, and/or bodies of mortals on a whim. Especially where the Kyrzals were concerned. David really hoped this wasn't an occultist temple. Either way, he pushed forward into the main hallway while on high alert.

 

[ArmedBlue]

Copen
​

Matthews' reaction was appropriate.

The communicator did more than transmit sound – it deployed a hologram of whoever was on the other end of the comm link. This revealed the entire group to the new brute, who had evidently considered this possibility. It wouldn't have been a surprise for news about Arcturus Pit to have reached him already.

Still, the communication hadn't cut off yet. Was the brute gathering more information still? His armor was different, likely denoting a higher rank, and unless his role was to manage Banished communications, it didn't sound right for him to be any higher-up brute. Based on what Copen had gathered lately, then perhaps this could be...

"...Are you the chieftain here?"​

 

[Fraseandchico]

JULIAN

He wasn't too surprised that he failed to scare the humans, only annoying them - It was annoying to him in turn, of course, but he'd been around military types enough to know by now that they were more likely to respond to his words with ignorance or immature, rude gestures, than fear.

Still, with compliance the SPARK activated the Communicator, JULIAN himself making sure to note each and every detail of the hologram, the Brute's appearance. This one seemed rather important, though his words implied the Banished had indeed traced his hacking. Drat.
"Hello to you too, ugly." The AI didn't hesitate in responding to the Brute's own words, though let Copen ask his own question.

Logs: Banished Communicator, notes, first communication; On the other end of our first message is a Brute - A higher ranked one, with one of the humans believing it's the Chieftain here. It appears he already suspected this, likely having heard of our little escape and the conflict over at Arcturus Pit. We'll need to study this technology more, as I'm not sure if he just sees our holograms and words or if he sees our surroundings as well - Since we can only see him.

The logical side indicated he should have noted that part of the brute's words might have come from knowingly tracing the communicator, but if that were the case and this other AI had snuck through some backdoor JULIAN had missed, it would tip off the enemy as soon as they found that file that JULIAN did not, in fact, know about the backdoor they used. Ergo, embarressingly, it was safer not to log all possibilities.

"If my...ally here is correct about you being the chieftain, I don't suppose you'd be fond of telling us your location so we can kill or capture you? No?" Of course this was not a serious question, though some of these Brutes encountered previously seemed to like a good fight (Such as that one with the gauntlets who had landed with a rather dangeorus one liner before JULIAN had managed to escape with the aid of Nova), but assuming that would work wasn't the best idea. No, this was more akin to a taunt.

 

[comic]

THE COURIER​

—Arcturus Pit, Day 2 Early Morning—​

Another clear area. This place was beginning to feel like a ghost town...

Not that Blake was unfamiliar with such a thing.

With only two directions possible (left/north and right/south), the courier decided to take the left, ready for anything. Well, anything he could hope to expect, this was pretty unknown territory with an enemy he still knew very little about.

When the wastelander reached the desired door, it activated, sliding open with a hum to reveal a much larger area within - complete with cells. These ones weren’t like his. No energy barriers, no defilers, just vertical bars keeping captives secure behind in small box-like rooms. From the few cells he could see, there were people inside. Humans.

What was more, there were the wardens. Two brutes and a single grunt could be seen from his spot, all with their backs to him. The brutes were hulking over something, likely a device of some sort, while the grunt waddled around trying to peek around their hairy arms or between their trunk-like legs to see what they were engaged with.
​

[[ OST - HOSTILE AREA ]]​

Meanwhile, at the elevator...

The three grunts stared at a wall, waiting patiently. Behind them was the open hallway Blake had just left. They didn’t yet realize they’d been called back up.

The grunt on the left scratched at his rear.

“This sure be takin’ a while!” The grunt on the right exclaimed. “Shoulda packed food nipple.”​

—Hidden Laboratory, Day 2 Early Morning—

Rounding the bend, David led the way into a rectangular room with several options to pick from. A door on the south side of the room to the left, a door to the right, and two paths to the northwest, the leftmost a short hallway that stopped at another door, and the last path going around another bend and out of sight.

By now, the mechanics of locked vs unlocked doors was obvious thanks to the last one. Red lights meant locked, green meant unlocked, and no lights meant no power. By a stroke of luck, these doors actually seemed to still have some juice - but only one of the three visible options had the green indicator light; the door leading east.

This particular room they had entered had several desks set up along the wall, an array of box-like computers situated upon them. Their screens were dead, some even smashed open to reveal an empty cavity beyond. The center of the room had a lone table, a gurney of some kind, upon it placed another brute. Its weight seemed to have bent and lowered the gurney by a fair amount, and there were broken straps, but the brute was dead. Charred, actually. Its body had curled up in an almost fetal position, frozen in a blackened place, claws clutching at its chest.

Out of its chest, something had emerged, also blackened and dead. It almost looked like a tree branch with splaying branches of its own. Something had tried to escape the alien’s body, and both were nearly incinerated as a result.
​

[[ OST - SOMETHING TO HIDE ]]​

RUBIKIS ISLAND​

—Tiberium Woods, Day 2 Early Morning—​

A garbled chuckle emitted from the hologram, the image flickering for a moment. “You seek Rubikis? I am not he. But I know you. I saw your faces when I brought each of you here. I am your warden. I am Gorbak. You wish to find me? You are almost here.”

“Just toss the damn thing,” Matthews scoffed, peering into the skies for any sudden phantoms or otherwise.

“I would not recommend that,” Warden Gorbak interjected. “For I have a proposition. Interested? Meet me at the gates to my apex.”

The connection cut off, the hologram disappearing with one final flicker.

“Fat chance,” Matthews sniffed. “Obvious trap is obvious.”​

 

[ArmedBlue]

Copen
​

Warden Gorbak… not the chieftain, but a higher-ranking brute nonetheless. The motive behind his extended communication, it seemed, was to extend an offer of some kind. He requested they meet at the Apex’s gates, leaving Copen to ponder on what the proposition could entail.

One possibility was Matthews’ input: this was merely a trap. Then again, if the Banished intended to catch the escapees off guard upon reaching the Apex, they could do so without announcing their presence there beforehand, or send in their troops now that they knew the squad was coming. As wary as they should be, a trap didn’t feel the most likely to the cyborg.

If Gorbak really intended to speak with them, then, what could the proposition possibly be? Continued survival was no doubt part of it, possibly with some added boon to convince the group. It was likely they would get off this island before the glassing, at the very least. As for what the Banished would want in return, the most simple answer would be alliance or servitude – perhaps some sharing of information and technology as well. Copen doubted the Banished would let anyone go easily once they were in their clutches. Escaping would come down to a fight, no doubt.

Weighing his options, Copen turned to the rest of the group. “A trap’s possible, though not certain. With our location likely known, they’d be free to send forces our way and set up further defenses at the Apex. They wouldn’t need to talk with us if they simply intended to launch an ambush. I think the proposal may be real and, to some extent, worth evaluating.”

He crossed his arms. “It’s certainly risky, but they’ll be prepared regardless. If need be, I can investigate on my own and pull back should things go south. Unless anyone would like to join, that is.”​

 

[Captain Cardboard]

Courier Six

Ah, the Cell Block! Silently, Blake waved cheerfully at the prisoners. He put a finger to his mouth, gesturing for the prisoners to be quiet. He began to tip-toe into the room in an over-exaggerated, yet silent manner. There were two more doors, one on his left, and one on his right. Even more decisions. Going left had been pretty helpful last time, since it meant he avoided that patrol. So he'd try that again. Blake tip-toed left, sneakily trying to look into whatever room or corridor that was behind door number 1...

Damn he really wanted to kill something...

 

[Psymallard]

Chestburster Central
Nothing leapt out at David as he entered the room. He was thankful, but it only made the eeriness of the place weigh on him that heavier. He spotted a corpse, and upon a double-take, there was something sticking out of its chest. The swordsman tip-toed past the corpse, inspecting it as he passed. Of course they were testing on parasites. Though gruesome, he had some solace in the fact his nanomachines had equipment to deal with infiltrations of the sort.

Still, it didn't bode well for their visit. If this place was sealed off, it meant that they had failed to contain their 'experiments'. Such creatures could have died from starvation, like perhaps the brutes in the hallway did, but it could also be a creature that could survive through suspended animation (like the Toothies), or even sustain itself through an innate connection with magic.

David didn't think his delving buddy had a similar resistance to parasitic intrusion- especially if this creature wasn't choosy with its hosts. They didn't even know if there was a way to get into the main compound from here, so the risk might outweigh the reward. For now, however, the vagabond pushed forth- keen to make use of his earlier stroke of luck in opening the first door.

The Spaniard made his way over to the computers. His index finger began to peck at any buttons he could see as he halfheartedly tested if the un-smashed computers would be of any use.

 

[PaprusTeuton]

Kazaaak

The Banished were experimenting with parasites. Kazaaak wasn't too surprised. Genetic testing on sapients was explicitly illegal in the Federation, but the practice had been common on black market stations even before the war- and as the federation collapsed, it had flourished. In spite of all those scientist's best efforts, they never did end up making a super-soldier.

Kazaaak chose to guard the door, turning back to David- "If we're lucky, everything down here is as dead as those brutes we saw earlier, but if we aren't..." the mantis chose not to finish that thought, but he knew David could extrapolate. The Mantis remained at the door, watching down the hallway, vigilant to any sound, his weapon at the ready.

 

[Fraseandchico]

JULIAN

"Aw," The AI sounded almost sad knowing it wasn't the big boss. Well, almost - Knowing it was the Warden removed that issue, but still, that offer...
"Yes, I agree, meatbag, this is geniunely the most obvious trap I have ever seen. And I made an obvious trap once. That people fell for, right after I told them they were walking into a trap." He spoke, suprising even himself over the fact that he agreed with Matthews. "People far smarter than you, by the way." And there was the rudeness. Can't go a second without it.
But, Copen had his own thoughts, making his own offer.

"You are suicidal," JULIAN stated matter-of-factly. "When was the last time you talked with a therapist, seriously?" It wasn't actually serious, but he did have his concerns about going, so why was he about to continue with...
"I want to go too, though. When it inevitably goes horribly wrong, all I ask is you remember I require orders now. Stupid...blocks."

Logs; Banished Communicator, notes, first communication; It was not the Chieftain - But rather, the Warden of this island - Gorbak. Sounds like something out of a 1980s science fiction show. Ironically, that sort of name would probably be given to an AI. Ah, distration. Regardless, Yappin and Ripnip mentioned that our, or at least my, equipment was taken by the Warden's brother - The one who smells like a bunch of big smelly butts, according to their own words. If these brothers care for each other, I suppose killing one would probably cause the other to attack in a rage, which is an easy way to draw the latter out. Or, perhaps the Warden is willing to cut a deal with us. In which case, I have plenty of opportunities... I wonder, can you remove the programming blocks, little Banished?