ic The Building Blocks of Life

[RobRX]

"Whoa whoa, wait! You're telling me there's actually a place that's full of giant monsters?" Cho asked, both terrified and excited at the prospect at the same time. She also took a moment to think as to why these things had never caused more damage, but then it occured to her that odds are many superheroes in the past had made it sure that these giant creatures caused no damage.

 

"So how did they drag that thing down here anyway? Or did you hatch it from an egg and raised it here?"

[Brown Dynamite]

"Alright, alright.  I'll spare the specifics like Dr. Steel asked.  But, this creature is in fact from a place full of giant monsters.  Not the giant monsters that attacked the city last time.  But, Kaiju island is full of the sort of things you would seen on an old 1950's serial.  We don't know the specifics of why the creatures are so large"

 

"At least most of them."  Doctor Derns stretched his arm out as if revealing the kaiju anew.  "As I can spare the messy details of how we acquired this sample.  I can at least reveal we have reason to believe this one is different from the kaiju on the island.  Its origins are more complicated than the standard Kaiju.  We have reason to believe that its ancestor was an Atlantean or some other sort of bio-weapon.  While this one is clearly not bio-engineered, its body could hold the secrets needed to replicate such science as Dr. Steel suspects."

 

It was illegal by UN charter to even step into the former Lemuria underwater.  That illegality extended to the technology.  So, a keen mind may have suspected that when Dr. Derns said "some other" he was implying that there was at least even the mildest suspicion of it being a descendant of a Lemurian bioweapon.

[Geez3r]

Cassandra's smile faltered a bit as Dr. Derns danced around the issue of its origin.  "What concerns me at the moment is that, if you're correct that this is indeed a discendant of an ancient bio-weapon, it means that the ancient bio-weapon was capable of reproduction, and it stands to reason that this one is as well.  Have you discovered any indications that there may be more of these creatures left in the wild?" asked Cassandra as she strode over to one of the computer terminals and began pulling up files without ceremony.  "Also, have you identified the creature's gender and have you given it a designation so that I may stop referring to it as "it" or "this creature"?"  Cassandra often found that the first day of a project involved lots of questions and getting up to speed, but she had this nagging feeling that this was going to be one of the projects where details were going to be glossed over, and it was in situations like this that she felt looking for her own answers came before asking permission.  Should be fun for the kids...

[RobRX]

"Right, well, just so you know in case you want to go check the gender, I am NOT going in there to lift the tail and check if it's male or female." Said Cho, quick to indicate she wasn't volunteering for a duty that would certainly piss off the giant, multi-headed dragon-monster-thing. For someone generally known to leap into action without any second thoughts, her behavior was certainly unusual. In truth, that thing did scare the hell out of her, since she knew that her powers would not protect her from something of this size and mass.

 

A few criminals in power armor, sure. Superpowered individuals, sure. But a giant monster straight out of kaiju movies...likely to beat the tar out of her.

Edited December 22, 2014 by RobRX

[Brown Dynamite]

"This specimen is male.  We have not found any signs of another in the wild.  Despite our best efforts.  Our hypothesis is that this creature may be the last of its kind.  No doubt in part to its somewhat aggressive nature.  Even the other Kaiju did not coexist peacefully.  Making its acquisition go smoother." Dr Derns stated with a flat expression.  It was clear to Cassandra that he was weighing his next few words carefully.

 

There was a balancing act with how much information he was willing to reveal.  Which was to be expected.  But, it meant an extra deal of measure in figuring out what could be revealed in the presence of the teens.  Even with all the signed forms, teenagers had a notorious reputation for making poor choices.  International issues in the making aside.

 

"We do, however, need to take a few samples from the creature for testing.  Blood, tissue, nails.  The easy stuff."

[RobRX]

"Right! So!" Cho said, fully aware of where all this was going. She figured she might as well get to it, since extracting these things was no doubt going to be a difficult task and considering the people they've gotten for it, that meant that the people involved would need to be able to take a major beating should the monster trash around.

 

She took a moment to breathe in. "This is where we come in, huh?" In her mind, Cho could think a few more unpleasant situations she'd rather be in that risk getting flung around and squished by a beast that weight who knows how much. That and she didn't want to lose her composure too much in front of Atlantean royalty. That thing made her feel rather tiny and vulnerable.

[Geez3r]

Things were rapidly going from bad to worse.  Cassandra had walked into the lab today expecting a mostly mundane go of it, well mundane for a cutting edge genetics lab anyways.  Maybe analyze some protein strands, observe the effects of enzymes on cell structures, that kind of thing.  Now she was being expected to allow teenagers, admittedly super-powered ones, collect tissue samples from a giant-four-legged-double-tailed-winged-kaiju-quite-possibly-breaking-international-law-bio-weapon-monster. 

 

"Don't worry you'll be totally safe." said Cassandra to Cho.  "The specimen will be sedated well before you enter the enclosure.  Isn't that right Dr. Derns?" she continued in a tone telling Dr. Derns what was going to happen, rather than asking for reassurance.  "And you'll be supervised and instructed on the proper procedures thoroughly to avoid any incidents."

[Brown Dynamite]

GM

 

Dr. Derns wasn't surprised that Cassandra had already figured out the creature would be sedated.  "Yes and no.  The creature will be pacified, but the children are not to enter the enclosure itself.  Unless they truly want to."  A gleam appearing in the man's eyes as he mentioned the possibility of someone willing to go right up to the creature.

 

"We have mechanical arms in place to retrieve the samples we need.  However, if the creature is resistant to our attempts and recovers quicker than expected. Someone..."  At this he looked between Thaelia and Cho.  Before looking back at Cassandra.  "Will need to make sure the creature doesn't pull the arm inside.  A sort of tug of war.  If it comes to that"

 

He then spread his arms out dramatically.  "Or we can let the children inside and not risk the sensitive equipment.  As their little hands should be faster instruments."

[Brown Dynamite]

Thaelia sped off towards the railing. Hoisting herself on the bar get a better view of the creatures.  Clearly not the slightest bit concerned with the possibility of being eaten.  Leaning in a smidge too far her hand came in contact with the barrier keeping the creature trapped inside.  Sending a jolt through her body and a requisite yelp as a response.  "The fortifications are dangerous, be careful."

 

She stated to the room.  Despite no one else actually needing the forewarning.  As it was made up of mostly scientists who already. knew how their own equipment worked.  And Cho who was actually paying attention when Derns and Cassandra discussed the situation.  The Glamazon was of course only half way listening.  Missing questionably important things.

 

Such as touch the giant mechanical arms instead of the barrier keeping the force of nature sealed inside.

[Geez3r]

"Let's go with the option that is least likely to incurr bodily harm to our interns hrmm?  Especially because one of them is Atlantean royalty and while I don't speak as a public relations officier, I do believe they would side with me on that call." replied Cassandra, obviously a little upset that they were even having this conversation to begin with.  She was about to continue when Thaelia let out her yelp, and onlookers could tell from the twitches in her brow, Cassandra was desperately fighting the urge to apply her palm directly to her face.  "Thaelia, please don't touch the force field containing the kaiju-sized monster underneath the heart of the city without a scientist instructing you to do so." said Cassandra forcing her voice to be as calm as possible while she had to say another sentence she didn't think she would have to say this day.  "If you could join us here we can go over the particulars and get the two of you off to work, ok?" as an aside to Cho while Thaelia was out of earshot she added "Please keep an eye on her, I really don't want to know the particulars of the Atlantean judicial system."

[RobRX]

"Well I'll...see...what I can do?" The girl replied at the comment meant solely at her. She had no idea how exactly the Atlantean justice system worked and frankly had no interrest in finding out under circumstances such as that. Slowly but surely, Cho was having it drilled into her by experience that a good credo to follow is 'avoid the most troublesome and time-consuming scenario'. In that case avoiding some backlash from Atlantis was the troublesome worst-case scenario.

 

"Hold on a minute." She said, before they started the whole thing for good. "I just need to get 'changed'." The teenager clenched her fists, focusing for a moment, as the whole process was actually quite messy and barely-understood for her. At the very least, she knew how how to activate it. The people she had been involved for a while now, the World Youth Rescue Movement, had been kind enough to obtain her a mean to quickly change into her costume. There was a small flesh of orange-red light as the device channeled Cho's abilities into the morphic molecules stored in it, reshaping matter to form a costume designed to withstand her own abilities. As the whisps of smoke cleared, Cho had a red and black suit with white accent.

 

"There we go, hope you two like it, took me long enough to settle on a costume. Plus, you know, the added bonus of it being...well, basically me-proof. That's always handy." At this point, the costume was just there more as a uniform and protection more than to hide her identity. Well that and it's tradition, can't be a superhero without a costume, right?

[Brown Dynamite]

GM

 

There was a loud banging on the sides of the floor's interior.  The thud echoed out as if someone was battering against the wall with a ram.  But, that should have been impossible.  They were several dozen feet underground.  Forcible entry from the outside was not likely to include some sort of ram.  At least that's what logic should have dictated.

 

The sound banging against the building clearly did not run on that logic.  Dr. Derns face quickly soured.  "Just what in the blue blazes is that?"  He called out while storming inside.  "Someone get security on line one.  I want someone to check out that ridiculous racket.  Probably, Dr. Dixon's pet project that self monitoring irrigation program causing havoc again.  People are trying to work."

 

The man was clearly annoyed.  However, he did not seem to think too much of the commotion.  Even writing it off as an unrelated experiment in one of the labs above his. 

[Geez3r]

Cassandra jumped about a foot in the air when the banging started, whirling around to check on the behemoth, ensuring it wasn't the one trying to escape or batter down the barrier.  She clutched her heart and breathed a heavy sigh of relief.  The problem hadn't quite gotten to titanic proportions.  Dr. Derns however seemed to think that this wasn't much of an issue.  And after a moment, Cassandra agreed with him.  Sure the guy was wrapped a little too tight, but when one worked for Grant Conglomerates for long enough, one got used to the idea of ignoring loud bangs if no one else jumped when they went off.  "I'll get them on the horn." said Cassandra switching gears and making her way to the nearest telephone, having memorized the internal phone list that was on the receptionist's desk. 

[Brown Dynamite]

GM

 

"This is Security Desk 3.  How may we assist Dr. Derns lab at this time?  Has a specimen escaped?  Unforeseen fatalities?  Perhaps the facility needs to shut down and brace for Nuclear fallout/ As always sir or ma'am remember that Grant Conglomerates full coverage insurance is only an optional deposit from your paycheck away."  The other end of the phone responded.  It sounded as much like a sales pitch as it did an actual inquiry.

 

In a way managing to deliver the sales pitch with every assistance call could be taken as a sign of professionalism.  Or perhaps a pessimistic look at the corporation structure willing to bleed out every stone.  Even their own.  The circumstances were what they were.  And the security guard was waiting for Cassandra's response.  All the while Dr. Derns was still running around barking commands to his crew.

[Geez3r]

"Hello, this is Dr. Steel.  There's a repetitive banging emanating from the west side of the lab. Dr. Derns believes that Dr. Dixon's project may be the source of the commotion, though outside interference is not outside of the question.  If we could get a team down here to do a sweep, and possibly contain whatever's going on in Dr. Dixon's lab, that'd be swell." said Cassandra curtly over the phone as if she was ordering take out.  "It's first day on site and I'd really appreciate it if the facility had as many walls at the end of the day as it did at the beginning, you know how it goes." continued Cassandra, making a bit of small talk.  This hadn't been the first time she had called security and likely wouldn't be the last. 

[RobRX]

"So, I'm going to take a wild guess here and assume this really isn't normal or supposed to happen, right?" Cho asked to anyone nearby, hoping to get some answers. As much as she wanted to leap into action...well...the fact remained she had no idea what was going on, which would complicate said plan to leap into action. It didn't seem to come from the giant monster, so that ever so slightly narrowed it down to 'something else' which in itself wasn't much clearer.

[Brown Dynamite]

GM

 

"No one else has reported anything.  The sensors show nothing.  I'll send a team to sweep the area and get in touch with the other floors."  The man on security responded to Cassie.  The loud clacking of keys carrying over on the phone.  "Huh, that's odd-"  Whatever his response was what suddenly concealed by the loud commotion in the lab.

 

There was a loud crashing noise followed by screams as debris flew everywhere.  At the source of this commotion?  A large hole that had been bore through the wall.  Three people standing front and center in.  One a metallic skinned, muscular, woman with dreads and a silver sheen.  She was tall, but still smaller than Rampart or Glamazon.  Opposite her was an equally metallic man, with red hair and amber eyes.  He seemed to have more of a bronze finish.  In between them, a brown haired man in a lab coat.  He was notable in how completely unthreatening he looked compared to them 

 

 "Told ya, I'd break through first Alloy."  The bronze man called out.  Roaring with laughter afterwards.

 

"Are you blind?  It was my punch that broke through the wall Coppertop."  The woman apparently known as Alloy responded.  The man in the labcoat simply cleared his throat and the pair finished their petty argument.  The man in the lab coat stepped forward and began to address the lab.

 

"As many of you know.  I, Dr. Alexander Kirsch, was unjustly terminated of my employment by that hack over there."  Dr. Kirsch yelled while pointing at Dr. Derns.  "My reputation sullied.  Do you know how hard it is to get another position after being blacklisted by Grant?  Of course you don't not yet.  But, think of what they'll say after you lose your fine specimen.  That monstrosity is going back home, and you're going to the unemployment line."

[Geez3r]

Wellllllll #$%^& summarized Cassandra internally as the wall of the lab was broken down before rather unceremoniously slapping her hand down on the big red alarm button.  "Everyone out!" shouted Cassandra over the din.  "Standard evacuation procedure!  File out the nearest exit, and head to the upper levels.  Use the stairs!  Last one out, lock the security doors." she continued, reciting passages of the employee manual from training.  One good thing about being in a conglomerate was that fact that most of the policies were standardized.  While Cassandra was focused on getting the civilians out of the way, she shot a look at Cho and Thaelia who were likely about ready to spring into action.  She hoped the young heroes would be enough to stall these interlopers long enough to evacuate the scientists, and hopefully give her an opportunity to slink away and Max out. 

[RobRX]

"Oh yeah, well...well..." Cho paused for a moment, trying to find the right thing to say. Finding something suitably cool, heroic and witty on the spot wasn't as remotely easily as it seemed. Quite difficult, actually. "Oh yeah well...YOU are not...n-not..." She stumbled for a moment, looking lost, before reassuming the same 'heroic' pose. "And you aren't going to find much work while you're in prison!" She stood there for a moment, hand extended toward the robots and the scientist, unsure of how bad her line was.

 

"Oh what the hell!" The teenager said, cracking her neck. "...Let me just smash the damn robots." With that said, the helmet formed around her face.

[Brown Dynamite]

GM

 

Coppertop stepped forward screaming.  "I ain't no robot!"   His hands crackled with blue electricity.  Slamming both fists together a beam of electrical energy surged from his hands.  Hitting Thaelia dead center in the chest.  The Atlantean screamed in pain.  Durable though she was, electricity had always been an achilles heel for the demigoddess.

 

She remained on her feet.  Barely, upright she had clearly been dazed for a moment.  Barely instinctively managing to take up a defensive posture.  At the sight of this Coppertop laughed.  Bellowing with pride he proceeded to taunt his foes.  "Ha! Ha!  We might just have  some fun here Alloy.  Brat didn't die in one blast.  Some fun punching bags."

[Geez3r]

Great, they went straight to the blasting.  I prefer the monologuing types.  thought Cassandra as Thaelia got blasted by Coppertop.  I need to help even the odds while we get the civilians clear. she continued on her own internal monologue as she plopped down in front of one of the computers, fingers flying over the keyboard as she rushed to bring the lab's defenses online.  She had to thank Grant Conglomerates in that moment for having built in panic buttons on their system, they always seemed to see the value in strategically placed turrets and choke points.  The fact that they had a true to life Kaiju sitting in the lab probably had something to do with their decision making process as well.  

[RobRX]

Cho's arms began to glow, followed by a stream of red and black crackles erupting from them. Extending her hands forward, she fired a beam at the robot called Alloy. The beam struck the machine and stayed on it for a few moments before dying off. Unfortunately the damage proved superficial, if not inexistent. "That was a warning shot. Next one's going to hurt more and I also got these fists so if you don't stop you get to pick how I tear you apart! People are going to get hurt! Stop this!"

[Brown Dynamite]

GM

 

Four turrets popped  out from the ceiling.  The computer screen confirmed that they were scanning each person's security badge and judging the threats that way.  Avoiding the Dr. Kirsch with machine capable precision the turrets honed in on Coppertop and Alloy.  Firing a volley of shots they pelted both metallic villains. The clanking sound of the energy rounds hitting against the armor echoed throughout the lab.

 

Alloy charged for the already injured Glamazon.  Cut off by Cho who seemed ready to prove her threat.  Her fist aimed to direct the traffic towards her.   "Haha.  A warning shot.  Girl, we ain't playing here.  There are no warnings.  Only pain"  Alloy ducked underneath an oncoming blow and punched Cho directly in the kidney.  Tough as she was Cho dropped to a knee.  Her hands not even held up with any sense to defend herself.

 

The scientists (other than Cassie, Derns, and Kirsch) began scrambling towards the two elevator exits.  Only half of them managed to fight their way inside.  Pushing the button to exit.  Derns had disappeared during the scuffle.  But, it hadn't seemed as if the man in charge had made his way for the elevator.  Kirsch for his part walked up to the electric cage and laughed.  "Yes, soon.  Soon this will all be mine.  What I mean to say is the creature will be freed.  On account of my doing"

 

Messing with a console he attempted to override the locks on the cage.  Only to find his computer access rescinded.  Sneering the Dr. Kirsch turned around and called out to his muscle. "Coppertop.  An Ion Blast if you would."

[Brown Dynamite]

GM

 

"You're the boss.  Ion Field it is!"  Coppertop charged forward.  The appropriately named being slammed  his colossal fists together.  An azure burst of energy pulsating forth in a dome like shape.  All the machines in the area reacted in concert to the assault.  The lights blinked on and off.  Remaining lit solely because their power source was not nearby.

The computers turned off and with them the turrets hung low inert.  More worriedly those with an attentive ear would notice the low hum that had been permeating throughout the lab had suddenly disappeared.  For those in the know it meant one thing and one thing only.  The containment field had been turned off.  The roar of the creature below establishing how dire the situation had quickly become.

If there was any solace to be had.  It was solely in the fact the creature was not yet aware of its freedom.

[Geez3r]

"Stop you idiot!" cried out Cassandra, outright terror creeping into her voice.  "If you set off an Ion Field that close to the-" but it was too late; the defense turrets were fried, and even worse, the suspension field containing the kaiju went along with it.  Cassandra knew this had to be part of their plan, but she was seriously hoping there was more to this plan rather than "break stuff because I got fired".  The amount of damage that the released Kaiju could wreak on the city was staggering to say the least.  They only had a few precious moments before the Kaiju realized it was free, and Cassandra needed that time to get the civilians to safety. 

Cassandra wordlessly got up from her now fried computer terminal, and bolted out the door after the other scientists that had already left.  Seeing a group clustered around the elevator doors, she officially lost all patience for people without a lick of common sense.  "We're out of time people!  Stairs!  NOW!" she roared to the crowd, making a mental note to chew out whoever was in charge of the safety drills when this was all over.