Area 51

The way down to the course was a set of iron stairs resembling a fire escape. They zig-zagged down a vertical cement chamber illuminated by the occasional fluorescent light mounted into the wall. There was little if any space between the stair railing and the walls.

Before the volunteers began their descent, each had been provided with a flashlight, a small wrist-mounted radio worn in the same manner as a watch, a flyer with three pictures on it, and a curious piece of metal that looked like a large bolt. They hadn’t met up with any faculty members up to this point; their supplies had been lying in a box in front of the stairwell.

Suddenly the speakers of each radio crackled with static.

“Sorry ‘bout the climb fellas; the elevator’s not safe for obvious reasons, but we’re pretty sure RICHARD doesn’t know ‘bout the maintenance entrance. You’re gettin’ pretty close to the door now, which makes this the perfect time for a brief recap of your mission.

“First and foremost, y’all need to get in contact with the three trainees trapped down there: Jenny Edinburgh, Oliver Edinburgh, and Hailey Jones. There should be pictures of ‘em on the handout you got before settin’ out down there.” He paused. “Y’all should probably know that Jenny’s only seven, and Oliver’s a paraplegic. With the safe-guards we’d taken it wasn’t a big deal for ‘em to participate in the course, but now… yeah, the sooner you get ‘em out, the better. Normally I wouldn’t worry too much about Hailey; knowin’ RICHARD like I do though, well, all three of ‘em could be in bad shape by the time you get ‘em out.

“That gets to the second priority: gettin’ RICHARD out. Do your best to take him down without causin’ a lot of damage. If he’s threatenin’ someone’s life that may not be possible, in which case do whatever you’ve gotta do. The ideal situation is that y’all catch him off-guard, subdue him quickly, and attach one of the restrainin’ bolts you received to the port in his back. You’ll just need to use one; they’re each designed to weaken him severely and override his… I guess you’d call it his will. He’ll obey commands given by whoever put the bolt in place, even if it is grudgingly.
“As soon as you’ve got everythin’ taken care of, come back to this entrance an’— crap, gotta go. I’ll be back soon as I can.”

There was a banging noise and more static, and the radios shut off.

If the team members examined the photos on the flyer, they would see the faces of a little girl with brown pigtails, a bony young man with a funny smile on his face, and a blonde woman with brilliant green eyes— Jenny, Oliver, and Hailey respectively.

It wasn’t long before the stairs ended. A small but heavy metal door was in front of them. The words Caution: Training Course were stenciled onto its front in yellow paint. There was a narrow window set in over the knob, revealing a hallway on the other side. It was bare and lit only for the first few feet before fading into darkness.
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Discussion thread: http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/forums/role-playing-and-communal-story-building/threads/9408

Ana stood in front of the door and rolled her eyes, reading the small paper covered in runes someone had scribbled down for her earlier. She looked back down the hallway, waiting for her 'teammates' to follow her.
I know this is short notice... the note read but you're joining some sort of mission. It sounded important, so I... er.... we volunteered you. Do your best, but you can't come back until the mission is complete.

Jack only heard bits and pieces of the debriefing. The wire of a black ear bud trailed from his ear down into his shirt. He hummed a little, only occasionally mouthing the lyrics to Hey Man Nice Shot, as he descended. He assumed what was said aloud and the information in the packet were pretty much the same. The bolt slid into his pocket before he even began the decent, and he flipped carelessly through the packet. He blew a quiet whistle when he came across Hailey's picture. Definitely save her...

{Since I have you all trapped, I figure I'll blab on a little.
Blah blah blah. First priority: don't kill the kid or the paraplegic, get them out alive. Help Hailey get out alive, though there is little concern that she will.

Second priority: taking RICHARD out. Take him out by causing a lot of damage. The bolts you received will make him obey your commands, sort of...blah blah blah}

"Does anyone else want to know why these guys are recreating the Matrix?" Jack arched a brow as he looked at the others.

He flashed a smile at the few glares he got. In front of him, Ana had stopped. Jack slipped passed her and opened the door, shooting a brilliant smile her way. "I'm normally all about chivalry, but I think in this situation, this is more chivalrous."

[Really? 'Cause I'd call it stupid.]

{Did anyone order a large plate of live bait?}

Jack slipped into the corridor, closing the door behind him. His force field shimmered in a bubble around him, but only to his own eyes. His Ipod cycled over to Pretty Handsome Awesome as he walked down the hall to the edge of the light. The information packet found a place inside his jacket as he looked around.

First priority, people. Second, RICHARD. This was the phrase that echoed through Beaver's mind as she walked down the dark path. Reaching the door, and two other people with it, she offered a smile to both of them, before plunging into the darkness. For a brief second, she wondered what RICHARD stood for, but she brushed that aside in the excitement of the moment.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Following a ways behind Beaver was another girl, 21 years of age. Janice Brown was walking slowly down to the door, humming a soft tune as she went. Those poor trapped people! I wonder how they're doing? Especially that poor little girl... First priority, Jenny. Janice wasn't going to let anything happen to a little child like that girl. Second priority, the other people, Oliver and Hailey. RICHARD wasn't really on Janice's mind at the moment.

Ana rolled her eyes and followed the 3 others. First Priority? Unknown. I don't really care about the people... hopefully the Robot-thing will put up a good fight. That'll be fun.

ooc// So we just jump right in, yes? Posted my profile in the recruitment boards. This is going to be fun. =)

Aliza lingered in the back, suspicions already rising about the unusual size of the team. Dr. Walker had called her into his office, rattled on about a RICHARD, which he described as a person but was most likely definitely not. Not considering the barely-suppressed fear in the doctor's tone as he spoke of him. It. There was more wrong with this place than he let on. Nearly a dozen members in the team? Is that so as It picked them off one by one, there'd still be enough left to take It on? And which ones of them were meant to be the cannon fodder?

She reached into her hoodie and rested a hand on the flat wallet strapped around her waist for reassurance. Inside it was a paper covered in small tabs. She was twenty minutes from becoming a werewolf, at any time.. She didn't have her packmates at her back, Walker wouldn't allow even a single one, and so she was in this mission alone. Still, she had her tabs, she had her wolf. Perhaps 'alone' was only as negative as she'd take it. She glanced around at her companions, blue-green eyes hooded with disregard, but did her best to give a damn. Mostly a group of females her age, and one slick male with an iPod. No one of interest, but all potential allies. Surely at least a few of them had abilities like her own, and would actually be useful. Aliza decided to hold back judgment until the next moment of reckoning.

She caught the singular man's question and raised her brows, strolling forward to be beside her teammates with her hands in her pockets. "Sure." Her tone was roughened by years of snarling and howls and even more years of smoking, but it wasn't unkind. "I'm assuming you have a guess?"

Jack's gaze fell on Aliza, evaluating her with a debonair smile. "Not the slightest." Little Red Riding Hood by Bowling For Soup came on his Ipod. "But sounds pretty appropriate for the start, eh? Someone let's his Richard go missing and sends a group of..." Jack paused.

{Say it. Psychotic. You've seen profiles on a few of these people.}

But the pause was only for a second. "Unique individuals."

Jack bent slightly to put his lips next to her ear. "Might not be around others just like you, but think of this as a pack anyways." With a wink, he began whistling the tune as What a Day came on, and he strolled further down the hall.

Aliza's twitching hands slowly slid out of her pockets, as he got ridiculously closer. That slimy tone. That pseudo-class. Those... eyes. God damn, it was like he was custom engineered to put her on edge.

"I suppose. I'll never understand these scientists and their yearning for AI. Fucking creepy, if you ask me." At his next words, all too close to her ear, she turned and fixed him with a smoky glare. Because of her height, her eyes slid to his lips first, but she forced her gaze to meet his. Cobalt. Distracting. Her anger simmered, now mixed with a sort of intrigue. "This isn't a pack. How did you even know...?" She shook her head. "You know what? Never mind. And we're not having sex. Get your mouth away from me."

Grudgingly, she fell into step just behind him as he started moving down the corridor. She nodded at the iPod. "Also, not a bad song choice, though I'm more a fan of 'I'm Gay'."

Ana scoffed. "Typical mortal..." she muttered under her breath, forcing herself to calm down as her aura flared up. She silently followed everyone.

{She can read minds!}

Jack laughed, closing his eyes as he continued to walk. The smile remained. "Yet, but you know you're fascinated by me, so don't try to act like you aren't."

[I can't believe you.]

{Same guy, different situation.}

"By the way, when shit starts to go down...smart thing is to just move."

Even with What A Day still playing, he began to whistle a different tune; He's Got the Whole World in His Hands.

_____________________________________________________________________

Hailey pulled Jenny into a small closet after dropping Oliver on the floor. Jenny squeaked, but Hailey quickly clamped a hand on Jenny's mouth to quiet the girl. "Shhh..." Hailey's breaths came in heaves as she peeked around the corner.

No sign of the robot. Hailey slid the door closed, satisfied there wasn't even a clink to confirm the door shut. She pulled out her lighter, and lit it. The flames painted the metallic storage room orange as she searched for something, anything that would keep that door shut.

Jenny handed her a section of chain.

Hailey took it, evaluating the weight to the pull strength. It would hold for a little while. She had to put more effort than she liked into shoving the link into place on and around the door knob then attaching it to the rack against the wall.

She looked at Jenny and Oliver. She wasn't supposed to be making sure shit didn't happen to them. She was just there to test her own skills further into the course, but once RICHARD crashed her party, and knowing that they were in the course, everything changed. She had no clue what either could do, but they could do something - otherwise they wouldn't be down here.

Hailey tried her wrist communicator again. "Can anyone hear me? Anyone?" No response. "Gorammit!" She put her hand behind her head to keep from slamming her head against the wall and creating too much reverberating noise.

She looked to the others again. "They've got a team coming." They better have a team coming.

Wolf came in grumbling as he walked behind the others. " I don't see why we can't just destroy the stupid thing. If the eggheads built it once, they can do it again." He heard jack's comment and laughed. " This is nothing like a proper wolf pack. For starters no one is the Alpha here. Also there's no hierarchy, mating partners, and they don't like it when we kill things."

Jack glanced back, a huge smile on his face. "I never said we made a proper pack. I said think of it as a pack." Jack spun and began to walk backwards to look at Wolf better. "I guess, if you're volunteering, you could be her alpha. You'd like that, wouldn't you, Wolfie?" Jack winked at Wolf.

{Remember the last time you pissed him off?}

[Yeah, didn't he almost rip our throat out?]

Just a little, just a little.

"By the way, would you be able to track this thing buy scent? Most Richards are pretty stinky...."

Ana laughed softly at Wolf's comment. "That's true... though I suppose we're better off as a team than alone..."

Chris descended the stairs slowly, smiling slightly at the others' banter. She looked to her shoulder, checking that Gabby was alert and ready. The little monkey was sitting up, her head high and nose sniffing rapidly. "Will this be scary?" She asked in an unusually soft voice. "And are those other people weirdos like you?"
"Like us, you mean," Chris corrected. "And yeah, I think so. We're supposed to disable a robot or something. That means fighting."
"Fun!" Gabriela squeaked loudly.

Beaver walked along with the others, laughing softly at the conversation taking place. She wondered when they would find the people. She wished they could get to them fast, before RICHARD got to them. The sooner the hostages were out, the sooner they could get RICHARD DOWN.

Janice was walking along behind the others. She stopped humming her tune to speak up. "Now," she said, "I don't mean to be uncalled for or anything like that, but what are all of your names? We've never had a formal introduction."

Jack spun around, draping an arm over Janice's shoulders as he looked her over, the debonair smile pulling open his mouth on the side she stood on so it showed just enough tooth. "Names Jack. Jack Smit. Bet you got a name as pretty as your eyes."

{Really? That's the line you're going with?}

[What's wrong with that? I think it was rather smooth.]

"I'm Gabby!" she said quickly. "Ha! First!"
Chris rolled her eyes and sighed. "I'm Chris, and I'm an Illusionist." She hoped that they didn't try to talk to her overly much now that they knew her name.

Ana rolled her eyes. "Anatalia's my name. Call me Ana. I prefer not to explain my powers to people unless I'm about to kill them."

Chris arched her eyebrows as she gave Ana a once-over. She seemed pretty tough, but as for powerful, who knew. Chris figured she could take the other gir, but decided she'd rather be friends, or at least non-enemies rather than enemies. And the only reason she revealed her powers was that she didn't think she would be fighting them.

Jack chuckled looking at Ana. "Why would you bother explaining your powers to someone before you killed them? What, using the old "superhero cliche" much?"

Jack smiled her way, in a way to almost say 'try being mad at this face' with a wink sent her way. "You're too cu-"

{Did that other girl just say her name was Chris...?}

[And that she was an illusionist?]

Jack glanced over at Chris. "You're not Chris Angel, right?" He flashed a toothy grin. The White Rabbit started playing on his Ipod, and the grin grew more.