Invader Dib 04
Founders Falls
White manor
Guest room (lockdown protocol engaged)
Mimi blinked as she woke, her mind felt fuzzy. Looking around she slowly realised where she was, she was at white manor. She sat up, memories slowly surfacing, she had come here…. Because she was asked to… then... an attack… an attack she was linked to… then… Gir, yes Gir had been captured. She bit her lip as the tried to remember, there were blanks, as if some one had gone in and cut out the memories.
She rocked back and forward, trying to figure out what she had lost… but it was hopeless. She could feel tears string to run down her face, she remembered working for Dib… but not who he worked for. With a mounting feeling of dread, Mimi realised what had happened. My failsafe… I triggered it… meaning I’m as good as dead.
She slid off the bed and walked to the dresser and looked at the mirror. If her failsafe had triggered, it meant she had managed to break the master/servant program… but at what was the point? Would Jack even look at her? Knowing what she had done?
Sighing, she put her head in her hands. She should have expected this, but she got carless. She thought that she would have more time. Not that it really mattered now, she had been cut free of Dib, the failsafe had destroyed all the memories of Dib’s employers and several of her missions.
A slight chill ran thought her as a she realised something, her primary fail safe had triggered… but not her secondary. All the blades were equipped with a biological fail safe that could be triggered by remote or in Mimi’s case, after the mind wipe activated. When triggered it would release a nasty chemical compound into the blood stream that would rot flesh.
She desperately looked around for something sharp, she needed to get the Bio agent out of her. Spying a glass on her bed stand, she grabbed it and smashed it, grabbing the larges shard she could find, she rolled up her left sleave and started to cut.
***
A bit earlier
Virtue league base
Control room
Jack sat at he console, the feed form the cameras hidden in Milissa’s rooms up on the screen in front of him, he picked up a small box and flipped the lid, nestled inside was his mothers wedding ring. His original plan was to introduce Milissa to Patti and the purpose, but after tonight’s events, sighing he closed the box again.
He looked up as Giles entered with a tray, he placed it in front Jack and lifted the lid, the smell of a deep pan pizza filing the room. Giles stepped back. “I thought you could do with something to eat sir.” He said.
Jack poked at the food. “No, I’m good Giles.” Shortly afterwards his stomach grumbled. “Okay… maybe I’m a little hungry.” He put the box to one side and helped himself to a large slice.
Giles looked at the screen. “So that’s her sir?” he asked.
He nodded. “Yes. That’s Mimi.” His voice sound slightly pained.
Giles looked at him. “Are you okay Sir?”
“I… I’m not sure… she lied to me, about everything she was and did.” Jacks face twisted in pain. “I… I don’t know what to think anymore.”
Giles put a comforting hand on Jacks shoulder. “Maybe she lied to protect you, if I remember correctly, you spent a while trying to figure out if it was safe enough to date her.”
“I’m not sure if it’s the same.”
“You thought that she would be afraid of you sir, maybe she felt the same. Maybe she feared that you would be hurt? And form what I can tell, the gentlemen that attacked up earlier were sent to kill her.”
“As a diversion.”
“That boobie trap in her head makes me think otherwise, her master, this Dib person went through a lot of trouble to make sure she didn’t turn against him.”
Jack thought about it, there was no way Mimi could of not know about the mind wipe, but even still she told Seraph as much as she could before it triggered and nearly killed her.
“You think…. You think she was going to try to change sides?” Jack asked, a faint sound of hope in his voice.
“Well sir, stranger things have happened.”
He felt a slight weight being lifted, he realised that with all the time Mimi had been spending in paragon, all the questions she had asked about heroes, she must have been planning to swap sides for a while.
“But… why would she swap sides?” Jack mumbled.
“Perhaps Sir, she saw a better life here in paragon?” Giles looked that the ring box on the console. “Maybe one with you Sir?”
Jack picked up the box and held it in his hand. “How can you be sure?”
“Well Sir, while me and Miss Sera were stopping that virus from cooking her brain, I noticed several files with your name on them, they appeared to be heavily encrypted. Possibly to protect you from her master.”
Jack looked up at the screen, maybe Giles was right? He looked up and watched as Mimi walked around the room and grabbed a glass. “What is she doing?” he muttered, then watched as she broke the glass and took the largest shard and started cutting her arm.
Jumping out of the chair, Jack bolted to the lift, as soon it hit the mansion he bolted out and rocketed to Mimi’s room, the door slamming open, Mimi sat on the bed, blood flowing freely as she pulled something from her arm and threw it into the corner. She looked up at Jack, her face almost white. “We have to run” she whispered before falling over, Jack quickly scoped her up and took her out of the room.
He was applying pressure to Mimi’s wound when he heard the door slam behind him. Looking up he saw the door control flashing the bio hazard. “what the hell was that?” he asked.
Mimi stirred and muttered. “Bio… failsafe…. Nuff nerve toxin to destroy body and… at least two other humans.” she blinked slowly, her eyes focusing on him. “Didn’t… didn’t wana die. To much…” she trailed off.
Jack picked her up and headed to the elevator, he hoped things where going better with Patti and Seraph.
***
Bloody bay
Entrance to blade base epsilon
As Seraph and Tish entered the base, seraph felt a chill run up his spine. Dull red lights lit what looked like a corridor from a spider base, strange machines hung beyond the mesh walls, clicking and whirring away.
It was easy to see which way Patti had gone, a massive hole was ripped in the mesh, as Seraph went to look at it, he heard the sound of groaning metal as something collapsed. “Crap… any idea which way we take?” he asked Tish.
Tish was cursing and smacking the small Automaper she was carrying. “No idea, can’t pick up there signals and something’s jamming the radios.” She looked over and shrugged. “Looks like we pick a tunnel and hope for the best, just… try not to tank okay?”
“Why?” he asked
“Cuz if something’s jamming us, there’s a good chance that it might mess over med ports.”
He nodded. “Okay… if you give me a boost we could probably cover more ground quicker, if we run into some goons we can probably out run them… I hope.”
Tish nodded and held out her hands, the air warped around them for a second before the bolted down a corridor, a single camera paned after them.
***
Blade Base Epsilon
Command hub
Teyla entered the darkened hub and winced at the smell of burnt flesh filled the room, Dib had pulled her off patrol just as the alarms triggers, only to die seconds latter. She could just see Dib in the shadows, sitting at his desk. He guesterd for her to come closer.
As she approached the desk, the smell got stronger. had Dib been injured? “Sir, is everything okay?” She asked.
“Teyla, I have a job for you.” Dib said, his voice just audible. “several heroes have entered that base.”
“I know sir, the alarms cut out be-”
“They cut out because I did not want the Heroes to think they were running out of time, one of them has already seen fit to start smashing her way thought like a ragging elephant. I did not wish the others to copy her example.”
“But Sir, shouldn’t we mobilise the golems? Try and mount a defence?”
“We have already been discovered Teyla, it appears that before her vitals went off line, MiMi betrayed us one last time, this base is compromised. So defending it would be worthless. Therefore, we are withdrawing, all the remaining Golems will buy you the time you need to complete your new mission.”
Teyla stood to attention. “And what is my mission Sir?”
Dib slid a case across the table. “that is all the Irken I copied from Gir’s hard drive, you are to take that to our main base and upload it into one of the back up drives, make sure you isolate it form the rest of the system, you will also find a sample, you are to place it in one of the cloning tubes and enter the details. That is all.”
Leaning over, Teyla took the case and headed to the door, she paused and turned to Dib. “Sir, aren’t you coming to?”
Dib stood up and walked over to a large cabinet, opening it up he started pulling out what looked like power armor. “There is one last thing I must do, if the heroes learn of our connection to Crey, we will most likely die.” He started pulling the armor on, its bulk made him almost double in size. “So, I must stay, to make sure the heroes don’t find out who our loyalty is.” He stepped into the light as he finished sliding his helmet on. A large Arachnos emblem was on the armours chest plate.
Teyla looked at him questioningly. “But what if they manage to defeat you Sir?”
“Plans have been set forth for all potential outcomes. Now go, you have your mission.”
Teyla nodded and left, she couldn’t help but feel a slight niggling feeling that this something horrible was going to happen, but Dib said he had everything taken care off, shaking her head, she headed to the sub bays.
***
Laz was lost, there was no other explanation for it, she had tried to follow Patti’s mad rush through the walls and ended up falling several levels, now she was in what looked like some sort of water treatment facility.
She had given up trying her radio, either the fall or something else had killed it, along with half her suits other systems, jump jest, the auto map and so forth. “Probably shorted them out when I bleed out earlier.” She mumbled to her self.
“Well that was a stupid thing to do N00b” Came a voice from above.
Laz Spun around and dropped into a combat stance as an armoured woman jumped down from amongst the pipes, her Armor was covered in a strange purple pattern of circuitry. Two optics stared out from the helm like bug eyes as she slowly circled Laz.
“Well, well, well, I wonder how much rep I can earn for taking you down?” she spoke, her voice seamed slightly off, like she was using a filter.
“Piss off, I don’t have time to deal with a Scimitar wanabe.” Laz snapped, her hands twitching slightly as dark energy surrounded them.
“Wanabe? I think not stiches, I want to see if you’re any better than your sister, bitch didn’t put up to much of a fight this time round.”
“What do you mean this time?” Laz growled.
The figure walked forward with an argont swagger. “Bout six months ago I tried to bring her in, bitch put up a lot of fight but got away in the end, this time we pulled her from her bed, and she couldn’t stop us.”
Laz felt her gut lurch as she remembered the night Gir came home from a date with Patti, Gir had been beaten up pretty badly, but she refused to say who had done it to her. Now, standing less that four feet from her, was the one responsible.
Letting out a feral scream, Laz threw herself at the girl, Darkness trailing form her hands and she swung. Her opponent ducked to one side and slammed a fist into her ribs, there was a brief smell of ozone before electricity poured into Laz, sending her reeling.
“Who the fuck are you?” Laz snarled as she got her feet.
Electricity crackled around her hand. “Tesla Blade, and I’m gonna enjoy kicking your ass.”
Founders Falls
White manor
Guest room (lockdown protocol engaged)
Mimi blinked as she woke, her mind felt fuzzy. Looking around she slowly realised where she was, she was at white manor. She sat up, memories slowly surfacing, she had come here…. Because she was asked to… then... an attack… an attack she was linked to… then… Gir, yes Gir had been captured. She bit her lip as the tried to remember, there were blanks, as if some one had gone in and cut out the memories.
She rocked back and forward, trying to figure out what she had lost… but it was hopeless. She could feel tears string to run down her face, she remembered working for Dib… but not who he worked for. With a mounting feeling of dread, Mimi realised what had happened. My failsafe… I triggered it… meaning I’m as good as dead.
She slid off the bed and walked to the dresser and looked at the mirror. If her failsafe had triggered, it meant she had managed to break the master/servant program… but at what was the point? Would Jack even look at her? Knowing what she had done?
Sighing, she put her head in her hands. She should have expected this, but she got carless. She thought that she would have more time. Not that it really mattered now, she had been cut free of Dib, the failsafe had destroyed all the memories of Dib’s employers and several of her missions.
A slight chill ran thought her as a she realised something, her primary fail safe had triggered… but not her secondary. All the blades were equipped with a biological fail safe that could be triggered by remote or in Mimi’s case, after the mind wipe activated. When triggered it would release a nasty chemical compound into the blood stream that would rot flesh.
She desperately looked around for something sharp, she needed to get the Bio agent out of her. Spying a glass on her bed stand, she grabbed it and smashed it, grabbing the larges shard she could find, she rolled up her left sleave and started to cut.
***
A bit earlier
Virtue league base
Control room
Jack sat at he console, the feed form the cameras hidden in Milissa’s rooms up on the screen in front of him, he picked up a small box and flipped the lid, nestled inside was his mothers wedding ring. His original plan was to introduce Milissa to Patti and the purpose, but after tonight’s events, sighing he closed the box again.
He looked up as Giles entered with a tray, he placed it in front Jack and lifted the lid, the smell of a deep pan pizza filing the room. Giles stepped back. “I thought you could do with something to eat sir.” He said.
Jack poked at the food. “No, I’m good Giles.” Shortly afterwards his stomach grumbled. “Okay… maybe I’m a little hungry.” He put the box to one side and helped himself to a large slice.
Giles looked at the screen. “So that’s her sir?” he asked.
He nodded. “Yes. That’s Mimi.” His voice sound slightly pained.
Giles looked at him. “Are you okay Sir?”
“I… I’m not sure… she lied to me, about everything she was and did.” Jacks face twisted in pain. “I… I don’t know what to think anymore.”
Giles put a comforting hand on Jacks shoulder. “Maybe she lied to protect you, if I remember correctly, you spent a while trying to figure out if it was safe enough to date her.”
“I’m not sure if it’s the same.”
“You thought that she would be afraid of you sir, maybe she felt the same. Maybe she feared that you would be hurt? And form what I can tell, the gentlemen that attacked up earlier were sent to kill her.”
“As a diversion.”
“That boobie trap in her head makes me think otherwise, her master, this Dib person went through a lot of trouble to make sure she didn’t turn against him.”
Jack thought about it, there was no way Mimi could of not know about the mind wipe, but even still she told Seraph as much as she could before it triggered and nearly killed her.
“You think…. You think she was going to try to change sides?” Jack asked, a faint sound of hope in his voice.
“Well sir, stranger things have happened.”
He felt a slight weight being lifted, he realised that with all the time Mimi had been spending in paragon, all the questions she had asked about heroes, she must have been planning to swap sides for a while.
“But… why would she swap sides?” Jack mumbled.
“Perhaps Sir, she saw a better life here in paragon?” Giles looked that the ring box on the console. “Maybe one with you Sir?”
Jack picked up the box and held it in his hand. “How can you be sure?”
“Well Sir, while me and Miss Sera were stopping that virus from cooking her brain, I noticed several files with your name on them, they appeared to be heavily encrypted. Possibly to protect you from her master.”
Jack looked up at the screen, maybe Giles was right? He looked up and watched as Mimi walked around the room and grabbed a glass. “What is she doing?” he muttered, then watched as she broke the glass and took the largest shard and started cutting her arm.
Jumping out of the chair, Jack bolted to the lift, as soon it hit the mansion he bolted out and rocketed to Mimi’s room, the door slamming open, Mimi sat on the bed, blood flowing freely as she pulled something from her arm and threw it into the corner. She looked up at Jack, her face almost white. “We have to run” she whispered before falling over, Jack quickly scoped her up and took her out of the room.
He was applying pressure to Mimi’s wound when he heard the door slam behind him. Looking up he saw the door control flashing the bio hazard. “what the hell was that?” he asked.
Mimi stirred and muttered. “Bio… failsafe…. Nuff nerve toxin to destroy body and… at least two other humans.” she blinked slowly, her eyes focusing on him. “Didn’t… didn’t wana die. To much…” she trailed off.
Jack picked her up and headed to the elevator, he hoped things where going better with Patti and Seraph.
***
Bloody bay
Entrance to blade base epsilon
As Seraph and Tish entered the base, seraph felt a chill run up his spine. Dull red lights lit what looked like a corridor from a spider base, strange machines hung beyond the mesh walls, clicking and whirring away.
It was easy to see which way Patti had gone, a massive hole was ripped in the mesh, as Seraph went to look at it, he heard the sound of groaning metal as something collapsed. “Crap… any idea which way we take?” he asked Tish.
Tish was cursing and smacking the small Automaper she was carrying. “No idea, can’t pick up there signals and something’s jamming the radios.” She looked over and shrugged. “Looks like we pick a tunnel and hope for the best, just… try not to tank okay?”
“Why?” he asked
“Cuz if something’s jamming us, there’s a good chance that it might mess over med ports.”
He nodded. “Okay… if you give me a boost we could probably cover more ground quicker, if we run into some goons we can probably out run them… I hope.”
Tish nodded and held out her hands, the air warped around them for a second before the bolted down a corridor, a single camera paned after them.
***
Blade Base Epsilon
Command hub
Teyla entered the darkened hub and winced at the smell of burnt flesh filled the room, Dib had pulled her off patrol just as the alarms triggers, only to die seconds latter. She could just see Dib in the shadows, sitting at his desk. He guesterd for her to come closer.
As she approached the desk, the smell got stronger. had Dib been injured? “Sir, is everything okay?” She asked.
“Teyla, I have a job for you.” Dib said, his voice just audible. “several heroes have entered that base.”
“I know sir, the alarms cut out be-”
“They cut out because I did not want the Heroes to think they were running out of time, one of them has already seen fit to start smashing her way thought like a ragging elephant. I did not wish the others to copy her example.”
“But Sir, shouldn’t we mobilise the golems? Try and mount a defence?”
“We have already been discovered Teyla, it appears that before her vitals went off line, MiMi betrayed us one last time, this base is compromised. So defending it would be worthless. Therefore, we are withdrawing, all the remaining Golems will buy you the time you need to complete your new mission.”
Teyla stood to attention. “And what is my mission Sir?”
Dib slid a case across the table. “that is all the Irken I copied from Gir’s hard drive, you are to take that to our main base and upload it into one of the back up drives, make sure you isolate it form the rest of the system, you will also find a sample, you are to place it in one of the cloning tubes and enter the details. That is all.”
Leaning over, Teyla took the case and headed to the door, she paused and turned to Dib. “Sir, aren’t you coming to?”
Dib stood up and walked over to a large cabinet, opening it up he started pulling out what looked like power armor. “There is one last thing I must do, if the heroes learn of our connection to Crey, we will most likely die.” He started pulling the armor on, its bulk made him almost double in size. “So, I must stay, to make sure the heroes don’t find out who our loyalty is.” He stepped into the light as he finished sliding his helmet on. A large Arachnos emblem was on the armours chest plate.
Teyla looked at him questioningly. “But what if they manage to defeat you Sir?”
“Plans have been set forth for all potential outcomes. Now go, you have your mission.”
Teyla nodded and left, she couldn’t help but feel a slight niggling feeling that this something horrible was going to happen, but Dib said he had everything taken care off, shaking her head, she headed to the sub bays.
***
Laz was lost, there was no other explanation for it, she had tried to follow Patti’s mad rush through the walls and ended up falling several levels, now she was in what looked like some sort of water treatment facility.
She had given up trying her radio, either the fall or something else had killed it, along with half her suits other systems, jump jest, the auto map and so forth. “Probably shorted them out when I bleed out earlier.” She mumbled to her self.
“Well that was a stupid thing to do N00b” Came a voice from above.
Laz Spun around and dropped into a combat stance as an armoured woman jumped down from amongst the pipes, her Armor was covered in a strange purple pattern of circuitry. Two optics stared out from the helm like bug eyes as she slowly circled Laz.
“Well, well, well, I wonder how much rep I can earn for taking you down?” she spoke, her voice seamed slightly off, like she was using a filter.
“Piss off, I don’t have time to deal with a Scimitar wanabe.” Laz snapped, her hands twitching slightly as dark energy surrounded them.
“Wanabe? I think not stiches, I want to see if you’re any better than your sister, bitch didn’t put up to much of a fight this time round.”
“What do you mean this time?” Laz growled.
The figure walked forward with an argont swagger. “Bout six months ago I tried to bring her in, bitch put up a lot of fight but got away in the end, this time we pulled her from her bed, and she couldn’t stop us.”
Laz felt her gut lurch as she remembered the night Gir came home from a date with Patti, Gir had been beaten up pretty badly, but she refused to say who had done it to her. Now, standing less that four feet from her, was the one responsible.
Letting out a feral scream, Laz threw herself at the girl, Darkness trailing form her hands and she swung. Her opponent ducked to one side and slammed a fist into her ribs, there was a brief smell of ozone before electricity poured into Laz, sending her reeling.
“Who the fuck are you?” Laz snarled as she got her feet.
Electricity crackled around her hand. “Tesla Blade, and I’m gonna enjoy kicking your ass.”