The wilds.

[FG Admin]

Bianca was a bit disappointed that he snubbed her but she opened the car door and climbed out as he directed. Wavelink pulled her bag from the floor behind her and got ready to leave the car as well.

"I can easily rig the car alarm to go off, that should be a breeze. If I can't trigger it remotely from my powers I can always rig it manually by tampering with the wires. It shouldn't be much of a problem. I just don't know if I should spend energy on setting off car alarms... I'm not sure how long we'll be in here..."

She climbed out of the car to join Bianca. Garrett on the other hand, tugged on the side door and had to kick it a few times to get the sliding mechnism to kick in. The Consumer that was trying to get in had jammed it shut and it no longer opened and closed like it used to. He was still in pain, but he limped out of the van to join his comrades, Shotgun in hand.

"As soon as we're clear from the area I'll set the alarm off. Just give the word."

Bianca raised the camera again and did a quick sweep of the street to survey their surroundings. "Lead the way. I'll stick close." She said.

Darkness was now starting to fall and the shadows stretched out. The cold cloudy skies hid the moon, so there was very little moonlight shining to show the road or what was up ahead. They had the cover of darkness, but the question remained if that was a blessing or a curse at this point.

There was no power in district zero, so not a single street light remained active. The only lights shining into the District was from Hydra's search lights sweeping the area, but with the Consumers breaching two locations in the wall, the lights were currently fixed to specific locations near the wall.

For the most part, the southern streets appeared to be clear, but it was too dark to be certain.

[Bernard]

((SP 10/57 of 60 Exp1/10))
HP:=120
Focus skill 11/20
((observation-looking for trouble- roll=43+20 skill ))
------
(( continuing down column 19)

Bianca raised the camera again and did a quick sweep of the street to survey their surroundings. "Lead the way. I'll stick close." She said.

Darkness was now starting to fall and the shadows stretched out. The cold cloudy skies hid the moon, so there was very little moonlight to show what may occupy the road up ahead. There was little doubt any would volunteer to take the lead. Like it or not, they thought of Bernard as their leader. They were grossly under equipped. He had thought about recruiting the Golden Spaniard, a indred spirits fighting for the same cause. But, at this point it might well be better to have a guardian angel looking over their shoulder than to put all their eggs into one tiny basket.

”OK, I’ll take point.” The red headed Sensitive instructed. ” Maio, we’ll try to keep Garrett and Bianca wedged between us. At least they will have some protection should we be ambushed. I’m not the most stealthy individual among us but I will do my best to get us there uncontested.’

” Under the circumstances I think it may be best if we stick to the center of the streets. We may be a little more obvious but perhaps the weaker ones will be a little more apprehensive and think twice before challenging us. Given the opportunity to launch an ambush from the shadows they may be a little more bold.“


“Let’s walk them like we own them!” Bernard commanded leading the quartet to the south while keeping a wary eye out for trouble.

[FG Admin]

((Sorry for the delay!
Note of equipment-
Wavelink: HASMG-9.
Garrett: TSG- 14 shotgun + Rycroft special side arm.
Bianca: Rycroft special.
No one has armor))



The group continued down the road, following behind Bernard. Wavelink did as was instructed and fell back to take up the rear. Before they started walking, she quickly took her backpack off and shuffled through her bag, removing two items from it before slinging it back over her shoulders.
"I brought a flashlight and night vision goggles just in case. If you need the light just let me know."

Bianca flicked the night vision function on her camera on and used it to see. The battery was still full so she had plenty of time before the footage would cut out on them.

Garrett followed behind Bernard with his tactical shotgun slightly raised in case he needed to quickly shoot, but he kept his finger off the trigger.


The group continued on south, walking down the lonely streets, but there were no signs of Consumers blocking their path. The few Consumers that were spotted continued Northward and didn't seem to notice the group, they were moving towards the sound of Hydra's gunfire. In the distance, the cry of a sobbing child could be heard coming from one of the buildings, whimpering and sniffing. As they continued to head southward, the sound grew louder. It definitely was coming from inside one of the buildings.

Bianca slowed down and began to look around. "Is that a child? Do you think someone else snuck in here with us?"

Garrett shook his head. "Nah, ignore it. Let's just keep moving forward. A scared kid will only attract unwanted attention. Let's move on."

"But they could be hurt! What if we get there first and save the child? We can't just leave them here..." She countered.

[Bernard]

((SP 10/57 of 60 Exp1/10))
HP:=120
Focus skill 11/20
((observation-looking for trouble 2- roll=19 +20 skill- distracted ))
------

Garrett shook his head. "Nah, ignore it. Let's just keep moving forward. A scared kid will only attract unwanted attention. Let's move on."

With each assessment it was becoming more and more apparent how like minded Garret and the red headed Sensitive were in their decision making process. Despite their begginings, perhaps the Ace could be trusted.


"But they could be hurt! What if we get there first and save the child? We can't just leave them here..."

”We can and we will.” Bernard injected stonewalling any further debate.”Like I said from the time we left the safehouse….we assume all encounters are potentially infected and treat them as such. It’s not like we just strolled in here uncontested. If a child is situated behind these walls, they were probably here for a reason. And that reason is that they ARE infected. Child or not, we don’t have the resourses to get bogged down in a conflict with these monstrousities. The faster we make it inside the compound walls and find a secure location the better off we’ll be.”

Despite the presence of the sobbing child and Bianca’s protestssomewhere nearby, Bernard continue to lead the group a little further south through the deserted sidestreets . (locator S19)

”That thing have thermal imaging?”Bernard inquired of Bianca in a hushed whisper trying to focus her mind upon another task as they traveled."We could use any advantage we can get to get us through this potential minefield of sociopaths safely."

[FG Admin]

Bianca scowled at the rejection and denial of helping the child. It clearly bothered her and she shook her head in disbelief. That child could die if they didn't assist, but she didn't say anything else. She did look over her shoulder as they passed though, wishing that she was brave enough to go by herself to see why the child was crying.

"No, I wish it did. It only has basic night vision to see in the dark... and a little flashlight." She replied. She held the camera with her left hand, then reached into the back of her pants with her right hand and withdrew the Rycroft special, aiming the barrel of the gun down low so that she wouldn't accidentally shoot anyone. She wasn't planning on actually using the weapon, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Her hands shook nervously, indicating that she had not actually wielded the weapon before in a life threatening scenario.

Wavelink remained silent during the decision making process and continued to look around to make sure they were safe, she didn't chime in about the child, but she did give a subtle nod of her head as Bernard agreed to move forward. For now, the streets were still clear and calm...

Garrett gave a big smile. "Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. I don't want some demon kid ripping my neck out. Brat's probably deadly as hell. As I said, I don't want to have to fight one of these things if we don't have to. So far they don't seem to know we're here, let's keep it that way, eh?" He responded.

((ESP Danger sense: 69. Success))
And then the streets fell dead silent. The crying stopped, there were no footsteps, no Consumers around. Just silence. Bernard's ESP kicked in and he saw a vision- A small Consumer, maybe four feet in height, jumped out from the shadows and attack them from behind, lunging onto the back of Garrett and sinking its teeth into his neck and ripping out a large chunk of his flesh. The small Consumer let off a loud inhuman shriek as its face was drenched in his blood; so loud that it rang and echoed throughout the streets, attracting hundreds of other Consumers to its location, all of them running at full speed to converge on the deafening sound to join the hunt.

The rest of the group didn't seem to notice that the sounds around them had stopped and continued to follow Bernard without question. But it was clear that something was lurking in the shadows... and it knew they were there.

((Consumer search: 80... its watching....))

[Bernard]

((SP 10-1/57 of 60 Exp1+1/10))
HP:=120
Focus skill 11/20
((ESP-Psychic blast- roll=76 ))
------

If Garrett only knew the future Bernard had foreseen.

Following the vision, the red headed Sensitive stopped in his tracks slowly turning to look around. He didn’t want to alarm the others and alert their predator prematurely. He knew the perverbial “what is it?” was to follow so he whispered motioning the others forward.”Just keep moving. It’s probabably nothing.”

There was no way Bianca would see past the visage as anything but a child. To kill it in front of her would only bring hysterics and with it the hundreds of consumer racing to the beacon. The very outcome Bernard was trying to avoid. That and Garrett's untimely meeting with the demon spawn child. As Garret passed the red headed Sensitive had already begun gathering the appropriate energy to twart the impending disaster before it even began.

He had used the effect to great success in an earlier encounter with what he could only assume to be a far superior specimen. With any luck,, she too would be dispatched quietly and effectively without drawing any unwanted attention.His mind reached out sending a short condensed blast into her mind in an effort to overload the child’s synapses. Worse case his efforts would cause the young consumer’s mind to shut down momentarily knocking her out while they safely vacated the area. At best the hot mental blast would overwhelm the infantile mind and fry it completely.

He waited momentarily, hand ready to bring the Zenith blade to his defence should he have failed. Once Satisfied all was safe, he quickly and quietly joined the others as if nothing had happened.

[FG Admin]

((EDIT: Didn't see the sleep effect. Roll was a success= 56.
It is very difficult making children in heromaker...
42+30(defense)+20(Advanced Consumer stats)=92
40+76=116 damage.))


The child slowly walked out of the alley between the houses... blood running from her nostrils as the psychic attack took effect. She was wearing a black dress and was holding a teddy bear in her hand, she was no older than 12-14 years old. She stopped in her tracks as a deadeye expression fell upon her face, and she slowly cocked her head to stare at Bernard. The rest of the gang didn't stop, they didn't even notice she was there. Suddenly, the child gave a quick chuckle and smile that flashed for the briefest of seconds before her face returned to her dead blank stare, but it wasn't a friendly smile or chuckle, and then.... her eyes rolled back and she collapsed as the mental sleep effect kicked in. She was motionless and showed no signs of moving.

The rest of the group continued to walk, completely unaware of the attack that just took place.

In the distance, a loud uproar could be heard as the silence was broken. It was the sound of hundreds of consumers all howling at once.
Garrett's head jerked up. "Heck no! Let's get the hell out of here! Captain heatwaves over here can deal with the creeps, we should keep moving. Sounds like something tipped them off at the gate."

Wavelink and Bianca nodded their agreement.

((Stealth: 54+20=Hidden and dangerous-Negated))

[Bernard]

((SP 9/57 of 60 Exp2/10))
HP:=120
Focus skill 11/20
-----


As Bernard rejoined the group Garrett's head jerked up. He could berely read the words that left the panicked man’s lips but he knew that despite his efforts something had tipped the denziens of District Zero to their presence. Perhaps his method of dealing with the child consumer wasn’t as quiet as he had hoped. His impairment made it difficult to tell but the party he traveled with seemed oblivious to the foiled attack. Perhaps his psychic meddling had drawn the attention of a similar being.

”Head for the compound!” Bernard directed the trio. Let’s hope that we can gain access quickly before that horde you spoke of is upon us. Powers or not, I don’t think I will be able to dispatch them as readily this time around. I don’t have much in the tank at the moment if you know what I mean. “

”Maio, now may be a good time to trip that alarm if you are able. The distraction may buy us some much needed time. By the looks of things I'm going to have to dig into those blues you are carrying. I was hoping we could get find shelter and some rest when we reached the compound. That may not happen now. Let's move!!”

((The group is now heading west toward the compound (S20) ))

[FG Admin]

Wavelink reached over and pulled her bag down and tossed Bernard two of the serums to take. "As soon as we get indoors we'll can take a break and figure out what to do next." She responded after putting her bag back over her shoulder.

The group from here could now see the compound a lot clearer, but surronding area was still covered in darkness and hid most of their surroundings from sight. It was almost impossible not to see the mass silhouettes of the thousands of Consumers at the front entrance of the District Zero building, shuffling about and pacing in circles as if they were lost and had no idea what to do. They weren't like the other Consumers though, they had a blank stare and were just standing around in a daze. Many of them were laying on the ground- dead and unmoving. Others had their flesh hanging from their bodies and they looked malnourished. A few were crouched down, feasting on the dead bodies of their fallen comrades.

((Search=53. Battle start))

One of the skinny and sickly looking zombies that was standing out in the open slowly turned it's head, it's eyes glowing yellow in the darkness. None of the other consumers seemed to notice the group, but this one stared straight at Bernard and locked it's eyes on his as if it had no problem seeing in the darkness. The creature let off a hiss and began doing a slow shuffle like jog in his direction, then out of nowhere it picked up speed and began sprinting with full force. The Consumer jumped abnormally high in the air and fell towards Bernard, swiping it's right hand in a eagle claw fashion with furious force to knock him to the ground and pounce on top of him. The monster was so fast that Garrett, Wavelink, and Bianca barely had a chance to react.


((Consumer accuracy: 86+20=106.
Damage if hit is successful: 40+20=60.
Consumer is wearing no armor and has no weapon.))

[Bernard]

((SP 9 +10-7-1/57 of 60 Exp3/10))
HP:=120
Focus skill 11/20
((DEF-Telekinesis-Hold on there!- roll=60+7sp+40 lvl= 106- tie goes to the defender  ))
((ATK-Telekinetic Push back- roll = 18 + 40lvl =weak!))
( if successful captivity + 40 dmg ))
-----

The massive silhoette of the congregation outside the front enterance of the N.O.ER. complex was discouraging although the Sensitive tried hard not to let it show. ”That’s a good sign. At least now we can account for a large number of the dezien’s here.We’ll make our way to the rear of the facility and try to find a way in.” The red head calmly explained to the others.

By the time Bernard had received and injected the first vial a creature had broken off from the pack and began a slow shuffle in their direction. ”Keep moving” Bernard commanded the others placing himself between his companions and the threat as the creature broke out into a full out sprint . The yellow eyed monster jumped abnormally high in the air and fell towards the red headed Sensitive, swiping it's right hand in a eagle claw fashion with furious force to knock him to the ground and pounce on top of him. It was all Bernard could do totelekinetically produce a force designed to catch and corral the plummeting meanace. It seemed only by sheer will he was able to stop the repulsive razor sharp digits only inches from his soft warm flesh as the creature hung helpessly suspended in mid air.

”No use jeaprodising us all.GET OUT OF HERE!” Bernard declared to his companions. ” Any weapon support you provide is only going to attract more attention from that unruly mob. I can’t reiterate enough that we DON’T need that! Get to the building and find us a way in. I’ll join you soon enough.”

Focused upon the demon in front of him Bernard had no idea if the others had headed his insructions or not. It may not have been the best of plans but at least if the conflict drew attention, the others would stand a better chance of survival. The downside. He couldn’t account on what they may encounter in his absence. With any luck they will have procured accesst by the time he rejoined the trio.

Regardless of their decision, he knew he was handicapped. With his energy levels depleted, even his trusted fallback, the Zenith blade, would have to sit this one out. Its radiant glow would only serve as a neon diner sign illuminating through the darkess. Bernard drew the purple exel long blade from its resting place upon his back. Retreating ever so slightly as psionically pushed back constricting the invisible restraints upon his captive assailant.