Futuristic Unknown Crisis IC (full)

[Nimbus]

Ji-eun Moon, Spacepark Ranger

Just like the Hardlight barrier followed the laws of material physics, the Poena seemed to be following its own natural laws. While it was doing its seesaw dance, June ordered the Ra-bots to form another wall. June hoped she could herd it into an HL cube, where it could be safely contained for transport back to its own habitat. It'd take some time to form the third and fourth walls, however, since the impact from earlier left a ra-bot whirring a bit more slowly than its compatriots. So June decided to weave back and forth on her scooter a bit too. The beastie was distracted for a moment. Then, It shook its head. June gasped, wondering if she banged it up too much with the headbutt fight.

Poenas, June learned, didn't appreciate pity much. This one put both its front hands on the barrier, like it could climb it. It did pitch halfway though layering the 3rd wall, but June managed to keep it and its attacker at one of the safer angles

"Hey, you're grounded young lady -"

The Poena roared and slammed on the barrier, shaking it.

"...or man? I'm not a exenobiologist. Sorry if I offended! Sorry bout this too!"

June slid her scooter into the soft earth, kicking up a bunch of dirt and debris in the critter's face. She circled round the back and set up barrier number 4. A quick nudge and the bonds linked to the existing endpoints. One amphibious alien captured. Though, it wasn't sleeping. Jne taxied next to the barrier.

The Poena did its bizarre swaying dance into the side walls. Too much longer, and June would be in trouble.

"Ohh dear, Poena does not liked to be caged. Hey Team, I've got it occupied for five, or maybe ten minutes. Can anybody else lend a hand?"

 

[Faelinara]

N7KK7
​

Nikki's face scrunched into a frown as Goody plopped her on the floor. Her lower lip went between her teeth and her eyes trailed to her thinking pose, lower left. She let out a small "hmm", and just as her face lit up with an idea, she heard Miranda on her inserts.

As the conversation over their predicament continued on comm, Nikki was back in the seat, Holo screens opened; she was back in the system. Her hands moved so calculated and fluid-like it nearly looked like an interpretive dance with hands. A giant 360 3D schematic model of the facility and it's levels looked up large over the dsk, slowly rotating. It didn't have much detail, but that wasn't her focus. She flicked her middle finger and the bottom levels filled with an intense red color. It spread throughout the model, trailing off at the upper levels, but still visible.

"Guys, I found base!- I mean," Nikki shouted joyously over the comms, then quickly hushed and turned to Goody. "He won't leave. We have to reach here." She pointed to the red that literally covered the lowest levels.

As more commotion came over the radios, Nikki heard June asking for help. She maneuvered quickly and brought up a rotating model of the poena, with detailed text next to it. One line showed what they were looking for, how much tranq this thing needed to go down. Nikki sent the file out to everyone, her signature smiley emote attached.

 

[wickedlittlecritta]

Cathal's incoming text made no fucking sense, and he frowned at it, deeply.


I̷̛͎̜̦̻͍͖͙̯̣͙̬͕̐̀̔̅̾͂ṯ̸̻̲͌̓'̵͔͚̻͙͉̦͙̮̻͚̤̰̿̄̐̈̀̉̀͂̔̂͂̿͘͜s̵̤̱̆̋͘ ̵̡̧̹̤̹̫͖̻̬̺͎͖̼̎̄̓͂̔n̶̫̥̜̝̙͇̰̏̃̄̆ǫ̷̭͍̤̲̟̯͇̒̓ͅṭ̴̢̲̘̫͇̝̽̋̐̏̄̎̑̎̔͌͋͝͝ ̸̡̠̠̝̠͇̠̂͋́̈́̏̈ḯ̵͓͈̥̥̤̲͖́̂̀͛̒̎͒͌̆͠m̷̧̺̣̟͕̥̰̲̹͓̖̳̙͍͛̃̀̌̅͒ṕ̶̛̳̟͔̠̅̋́̿̈́̋͋̕ợ̸̢̡̮͉̰̍̎̉̆̿͂͛̇̉̽͐ͅr̷͚͔͉̪̓̆̅̇̈́͐͛̄̈́͌́́͝͠͝t̶̢̬̟̱̘̯̼͉͙̮̜̰̿̉̌̈̓̒͆̄͜ͅä̶̡̡̡̡̟̰̮̘̤͓̣̜́̑̔̒̽̅͝ņ̸̱͙͉͖͈̫̲͕̤̉̐̆̎̅̚͜ţ̴̢̞̮̤̹̯͈͓̝͖̞͖̽̍͛̆̌ ̴̢̎͒̒͋̓̚f̴̡̤̱̦͍̭̼̺̜̆͌̉̌͠ò̶̢̜̗̏́̆̋͗́̾̿͝͝r̶̛̯͖̟͕͈̱͉͍̗̩͛͊̐̊͌̑͂͂̍̕͝͝ ̸̖̟̼̭̥͈̹͙̂͊́͂t̶̗̝̩̥͇͙͖̯͆̓̌̾̇̆̍́͐͠h̶̡͚̥̣̤͇̣̜͍̦͍̦̮̙͛̌͛̌̑͐́̆͆̉̂͘͘͝ḛ̷̝̞͚̲̮̳̲͑͋̐͐̽̒̉̋ ̵̹̏͗̐́̑C̸̖͎͉̰̬̫̩͇̗͉͚̐̾́̾͌̀̀͛͝á̷̛̰̺̭̱͉͓̟̯̭̦̘͙͓͍̾̍̑̒͌̿̕̚ͅu̵̗̰̫͊́̃̑̋̂c̶̞̰̥̆̾̓͘a̵͍̤̠̹͍̹̻͖̖̗͂͆̕͝͝s̸̡̬̠̮̪̯̜͔̯̤͍̯̠̮̉ͅǔ̷̧̟̳͍͚͍͙̎̓s̴̛͕̩̮̜̘͍̝͈̟̱͈͎̒͗͌̂̀͆̕̚͠ ̴͈̬̠͈͔͍͕͕̐͗̈̿̊̽̍̀̏͐͝͝͝t̵̞̳̟̂̓̔͆̔̕͝ͅo̴̹̟͒̔̂̑ ̴̧̛͓̬̠̎́̓̽̽̀͌̾̀͊͋̈͋͘c̴̢̻̲̜͍͂́̋̈́̓͠͝ǫ̸̡̞̘̪̻͉̳̜̱̇ṁ̷̡̢̧̧̼̖͇̘̹̲̪͑̓͋͛́̃̅̇̔̕ͅm̵̢̰̰̳̤̱̞̮̰̩̗̼̖͛̉́͋̋͝͝î̷̡̤̥͎̮͍̱̗͇̼̭́͛͗͊t̷̨̻͙͇̻̣̲̫̜̗̮̳͌͆.̴̢͙͉̼̼͈͎͖͎͓̹̗͓̇͊̀̽̋̑̌͒͌̉̿͋̍͝ ̷̮̰̗̼̹̝̜͘)̶̞͙̗͕̮̞̋̈́́̔͐͋̒́̓̚͠͠͝ ̸̢̜͎͚͔͓̄͌͋̎̇͋̆͠Ǔ̷̘̐́̀̓̃̓̀͛̈́͑̕̕, it said.


"Oh, lord, they have computers in their brains, poor things," he said out loud. He wasn't sure if that counted as being more or less backwards than a planet like Eppie and Elias'. But it wasn't that important. He just sent Miranda back a D: and wondered how glitched it would be when she got it, and joined Finn and Elias.

"How are we, lads?" he asked, and then scooted down, careful of the brace on his bare ankle, and told Finn, sternly, "This is the opposite of your job description."

Finn said, "Fuck," quite coherently, with one arm draped over his face.

"That's my boy," Cathal said, patting Finn's face. "We're going to have to send you back for a nap."

 

[TrashRabbit]

"Elias- how bout you stay with me," Donny said, and then turning back to the others still gathered in the main group, "The rest of you go on ahead, we'll make this our Hq once- SOME ONE DOES SOMETHING ABOUT THE ALIEN RHINO," He shouted. He'd had his head down making sure Eppie and Finn were truly alright, he'd tuned out the roar prior, and the creature thrashing against the hardlight threw him for a curve. "Fucking hell guys," He said putting his hands on either side his head for a moment in true Donny form.

"When anybody has a chance," Goody added over the radio, "Our Gremlin found the source of the Ai that's got this place on lock down. Looks like we got to get all the way down to level 8. "

Then he turned to Nikki and signed and said; "Good job nerd." Then offered her a high five. He wasn't going to let her go back outside until the poena had been dealt with- at least that was his intention.

 

[CelticSol]

Elias and Eppie Cross
​

Elias nods as Donny heads over to check his sister, replacing Donny’s hands on Finn’s dressings and wrapping it up. When Cathal indirectly asks whether or not Elias has a phone, Elias quips, “Bold of you to assume that someone from New Eden would know what a phone is,” He holds his phone in the air and waves it with one hand, “I got all the texts, Cathal. I’ve been signed up to the VIP experience of dying in a space Jurrassic Park.”

He finishes the field dressing of Finn’s wounds, looking up as Cathal crouches down beside them, “A little sore from having one hundred and twenty pounds of snake dog dropped on me and falling on my ass, and a little sad I missed out on quoting ‘clever girl’, but you win some, you lose some,” He eyes Cathal, eyebrow raised, “You took a rough tumble there. Are you holding up alright?”

Eppie makes grabby hand motions at her admirers as Donny takes her by the leg and drags her out from under them, whining a long, “Nooooooo,” the entire way. Pouting as Miranda leaves her to do her job, she stretches her good arm to put her hand on Mako’s knee, which plops pathetically onto the other woman’s thigh, “Mako. Mako, I’m dying. Donny’s going to stab me,” However dramatic she may be, she stays still as Donny administers antivenom into her system, half because he will smack her if she decides to get difficult while he is trying to treat the bite, half because being able to just lay down after being a little bit mauled by a raptor snake dog is nice.

She almost closes her eyes to relax a moment when a roar makes her jump out of her skin, and she sits up rapidly, looking over her shoulder in the direction of the roar, which is where Miranda disappeared. She grabs her tranquilizer, slinging it over her good shoulder and ignoring how upset her adjacent shoulder is about being moved around, “Well, Donny, your time is up and that’s my cue,” She scrambles to her feet and heads off towards the roar before Donny can stops her, “Don’tbemadatmeokay byeeeeeeee!”

Eppie takes off into a run after the roar, careful when she reaches a water habitat so she doesn’t slip and fall into a pond, and almost smacks into Miranda’s back, “Jesus, Mirri-“ She just as quickly stops her tirade of bitching as she spots the beautiful beast in an impromptu cage courtesy of Juna, who is making an obvious display of aggression and maybe even fear at being trapped in such a small containment as she smacks into the inside of the cage at all sides.

A quick recall of the zoo’s brochure puts the name of Poena at the forefront of her mind as Eppie removes her tranquilizer, laying it on the ground by Miranda’s feet and creeping towards what she can only think of as Danger Porpoise. The Danger Porpoise slams into the side of the hard light cage once more before it spots Eppie, and surprisingly stops her aggression display. She’s obviously still very agitated by her body language, but she huffs a heavy, hot breath on Eppie before letting out a low, sad whine.

It’s... a magical moment. For a lady who has been mauled by animals more times than she can count, having one respond to her positively is a change of narrative that leaves Eppie beaming. She figures she likely just resembles Poena’s trainer, and this gal is still way to mad about the cage for Eppie to be confident she’s not going to die if they release her, but having the beastie calm down enough that she stops thrashing against the cage while they figure out what to do about this? Eppie Cross might as well have just become a Disney princess.

Eppie smiles, her voice soft and soothing as she creeps closer to Poena, “Hi, baby. I know you don’t like the cage, but we’ll get you out soon. We just gotta figure out how to get you back where you belong, lovely. It’s okay. You’re okay. Just take it easy, girl. Lay down. You’re okay.”

 

[ValtheStarGal]

Miranda Menendez​

Having made her way to the site of the confrontation between Team 9 and the rogue Poena, Miranda lands from a swinging leap onto a patch of jungle floor as Ji-eun manages the impressive feat of caging the creature in hard light - a technology that Miranda has only a vague familiarity with, as the Commonwealth had developed technologically in considerably different directions. The hard light cage keeps the Poena contained, but Miranda still feels every muscle in her body tense up, coiled like a spring ready to release should the beast breach the cage. Zephyr signals that they are close but hanging back, and Miranda acknowledges with an ultrasonic click.

Her attention so focused on the Poena, Miranda almost doesn't hear Eppie in time to dodge her, hearing her muttered curses as Eppie approaches from behind - her nerves further tightened by Eppie's as she storms past Miranda. Bracing for the worst, Miranda watches with surprise as Eppie sets her tranquilizer gun down - and then with awe and admiration as she approaches the caged Poena; after the violence of the snake-raptors, Miranda beams to see Eppie choose a gentler approach. The creature bellows at Euphemia in subsonic tones that Miranda hears the menace in quite clearly - but also something else...recognition? Confusion? Emotional distress?

As Eppie works her magic, Miranda wracks her brain for encounters she's had with similar organisms in order to follow Eppie's lead to placate rather than combat the beast. Solitary, omnivorous organisms like this have arisen in all kinds of ecosystems with complex animalistic life, and such creatures generally have the capacity to recognize organisms that are not a threat to its territorial dominance: there is an intelligence behind the eyes of the Poena to suggest that this creature can distinguish between genuine threats and life forms that it can coexist with, and possibly even respect in a keeper-animal capacity. The pieces of a plan fall into place as the Poena grumbles, pacified to an extent by Eppie's words but not totally at ease.

The Poena's eyes dart to Miranda as she takes a step, and her heightened awareness springs into action, every micro-expression of the hulking creature reading wariness that could easily be set off and endanger not only her life, but Eppie's, Ji-eun's, Kevin's, and the rest of the team. Miranda keeps her movements slow and steady - a sharp contrast to the staccato heartbeat and the tension she feels all over. In order to gain the good will it expresses for Eppie, Miranda wills the chromataphores in and around her hair to turn pink, hoping that the Poena will respond positively in kind.

"They're a territorial specimen, but not inherently predatory," Miranda says, keeping her voice low as she speaks into her communicator's microphone. "Such organisms have varying levels of aggression, so we have to convince them that we're not a threat to their territory. The key is learning how they discriminate between aggressors and background wildlife; no sudden movements, voices low, no challenging or threatening displays..."

The Poena gurgles at Miranda, who stops in her tracks, hands out and low and tail whipping around with the anxiety she tries desperately not to feel. Her treasonous nerves scream at her to run or fight, and Miranda clenches her fists to try not to feel afraid...but the beast before her picks up on her nerves, emitting subsonic rumblings that are a clear warning to her. Miranda's breath is shallow, and it's all she can do not to swear. She wills herself to take a singe slow step...

...and Miranda's upper hand takes Eppie's in her own, in urgent need of a steady presence to stabilize her own.

"¿Veté conmigo, cariña?" Miranda asks, doing her best not to shake or startle at the rumbling of the Poena. Slowly, carefully, she steps toward the hard light barrier separating her from this magnificent, terrifying creature, watching every twitch and pressing forward despite every urge screaming at her to get away get away get away-

Miranda places a hand to the barrier, which shimmers under her light touch. The Poena on the other end might have tapped its head to her hand if the hard light wasn't in the way - instead taking several loud draws from the air to take Miranda's scent. Miranda grimaces, cursing her heightened nerves for making her start at a perfectly reasonable response to a stranger in their territory, doing her best not to crush Eppie's hand in a death grip. All she has to do is stand there, respectful of the Poena as an intelligent creature, composing herself through her trembling nerves that she fights with all her strength to keep inside...

...and listen as the Poena emits a new sound, a pleading noise to be released from its cage.

"Yo sé, amiga, vamos a te extraer allí pronto..." Miranda says, her voice as soft as smooth as it can be despite the dryness of her throat and the tightness in her chest. Taking several steady breaths, Miranda stands there with Eppie a moment to watch the Poena's stance soften and its pleading grow louder and more insistent. The creature even sits back on its haunches, putting a huge foreleg to the barrier that almost makes Miranda jump backwards - but she is too close now, and with Eppie at her side is able to keep steady despite the trembling in her breath.

"Okay...I think we can lower the barrier now," Miranda says with the confidence of dozens of such encounters over the anxiety induced by genetic tinkering. "Our friend here should leave us be, so long as we do not linger in their territory."

 

[Nimbus]

Ji-eun Moon, not an Exenobiologist!

June watched with awe as Eppie and then Miranda step closer to the Poena than she'd ever dare go with it in its current mood. In hushed tones, they managed to make the Poena stop dancing, and kinda slump a little, look like a puppy wanting to go outside in the yard. That, from a rampaging "Alien Rhino," as Donny put it. Best danger puppy. 5 stars.

"I'm with you there, Mirri. I just don't think...this is it's turf. You know, where it's supposed to be. But, uh, we can fix that later."

She backed away from the poena as she stretched her arms back to break the link she held on the . Thank the stars she had a "chill and pretend nothing illegal is happening" mode programmed on the Ra-Bots. Otherwise, they got zippy from standing still for a while. Kind of like her...but like, less mature about it? Hopefully? With a sloth's pace, she stood the scooter upright and powered it back on. It sounded a little weird, like the engine was floating instead of sitting in the cage like it was meant to. June looked down to discover that her feet and her wheels were a few inches off the ground, but also parallel to it.

"Oh cool, I didn't know this thing had a hover mode. That would've made life easier."

The red blob on the map Nikki gave her glared at June from her periphery. Red, for a warning. Red for danger. She sure as hell wasn't Will Robinson, though. She had hardlight armor. It took a few minutes to wrangle all the RaBots, but June managed to coax them to shielding her bike. She then conjured a hardlight helmet , because safety first.

"Y'all should probably grab a scooter," she recommended glibly to the members of Team 9 in the jungle, "unless you're faster than a charging Poena. Looks like we have a bit of a trek to reach the 'X' on our treasure map."

Even as she said this, June's body still wasn't sure she really wanted to get there and find out why the stain on the map was danger red.

 

[TrashRabbit]

STAGE ONE CLEARED

With the first level of the facility secured it takes a few minutes of communicating with mission control before UC9 moves out again. Finn is sent back to Sudenthunderbabywagon666 and the team moves on to the otter exhibit, giving the still skidish Poena a wide birth. Donny stops to take a picture of the alien Rhino idly mentioning it's his daughters favorite. Goody Scooped nikki up and let her sit on his shoulders for the very tactical reason of it was much harder to lose track of her if she was there pointing at the animals. they passed many enclosures that while the doors were open the animals had stayed with in and having both been raised in captivity themselves seemed to equally enjoy the animals-
"Goody lets go," Donny called after him but he and Nikki were both pointing at the otters wordlessly. "C'mon. You got a lifetime membership we can come back later."
They came to the staff stairs and stopped short-
"Raptors?" Donny asked leaning in close to Miranda and Eppie. This earned a laugh- Just peacocks. Mean Peacocks that cathal fell in love with instantly.
The team watched as he shooed some them away from the staff stairs.
down the stairs they went, single file with the emergency lights on. It was more than one flight, more like five or six and when they came out- Donny at the lead he stepped out and then back in, "Fucking hell," He said as he stepped fully out into the artificial Savannah. The sky was huge. Bigger than he liked and pale blue. the high grass came up almost to his waist on either side of the trail. The facility was only 5 square miles but some trick of hardlight made it seem infinite. Standing on tip toe the team could see where hard light fences had once cris crossed the biome. Just like the level above there was a loop of pathways, only now the fences were gone and the elephants were exploring a group of picnic tables by flipping them over- one calf trumpeted in delight at the sight of them.
"Jesus," Donny said to himself. His agoraphobia hiccuped inside of him like a tangible force- This was not his favorite mission suddenly and he desperately wished for trees.
One of the elephants looked up suddenly and trumpeted. Her eyes said, there was something in the grass as she hurried the calf and her companions away from the picnic tables.
Mako gets the scent on them- two of them, slinking through the grass closer and closer, with barely the shiver or twitch of a grass blade as they approach. While not tall, these beasties are long, almost ten feet so and they smell as if they had already had a successful hunt-

Spoiler

 

[theunderwolf]

Mako had mixed feelings. She missed having a tail because it would be wagging and human smiles just weren't enough to show how excited she was. Also she was glad humans didn't have a tail because its incessant wagging would give away that she had noticed the hunters coming for them. She had smelled them immediately and she respected their guts, hunting upwind from her. She was even semi-impressed with how 'subtle' they were. She could barely see the grass move. She was going to have some fun. She took another sniff. Two of them, a ways away. Pack hunters, with meant they were built for bigger prey normally. She supposed it was why the normal? Elephants (Ok if she was being honest she did not understand elephants. Herbivores that big were just weird. She was not convinced they didn't hunt down some smaller animals sometimes). The elephants ran which she thought was a bit insulting to the raptors, they couldn't sneak up on those big eared dorks. "Hmm," She hummed happily, "Everyone please try to be as big and loud as possible, we are being hunted." Hoping they would listen she silently jumped into the tall grass, circling around to the side of the raptors. Slowly, she stalked towards them, and looked. Quadrupeds, she noted as she waited for her fingernails to grow thick and sharp enough to cut. There was a moment of quiet, then, one took an errant step, scraping and tripping off a piece of debris. All the opportunity Mako needed really. Jumping with amazing force she slashed the creatures leg, hamstringing it, then twisted to slam a leg into its head. It screamed in pain but twisted to bite at her. Fast, surprisingly fast. She barely jumped back but in the instant she had attacked the beat the other had circled behind her and its claws scored her back, thankfully only shallow cuts.

 

[Graystone713]

Kevin Starr
I don't watch Lucha.
​

Kevin wasn't sure what to make of the Poena-taming (and almost offered to wrestle it back into its original enclosure) but it worked out... Despite being terribly unsafe. He still felt guilty for putting Ji-Eun in danger. He felt stupid, too. Was pissing off a creature that big, and yet that easily reasoned with, really a good idea? He frowned, an expression no-one could see. His shame was much clearer in his body language. He still followed the others into the savanna. He trudged behind them, and when Mako said to look big and get noisy, he stomped the ground with all of Gamma's might. A bit overkill, since it shattered the bricks under Gamma's feet, but it was fine. If he didn't, a Peona or an elephant might've. He also had Gamma pound its fists into its chest, making a lot of clanging clamor. He was big and fighty. He was not to be fucked with. Then he noticed Mako was gone. Where did she-... Oh, there she was. Fighting some very long monster things. Of course she was. He charged over without a second thought, and Did sort of an aggressive shove-grab on the one monster she wasn't fighting before he picked it up and did his best impression of Sabin's famous suplex. He might've gone overboard, but as he got up to help Mako with monster#1, a thirf one bit its jaws into Gamma's back, and he grabbed it, trying to yank it off... Fuck, its teeth had cut something back there, and he hoped it wasn't important.
"Get OFF! Your teeth are NOT designed to chomp on metal!"

 

[wickedlittlecritta]

Cathal McKay

There was probably a very exciting bruise growing on Cathal's hand where one of the peacocks had bitten him, but nobody else could see it under his glove, so Cathal didn't mention it.

"Why are we wrestling the bears?" he shouted after Mako and Kevin. "Donny. Donny they're in the way," he complained, watching them through the scope of his rifle. "I'm gonna hit you two idiots," he added to Mako and Kevin over the radio.

 

[Faelinara]

N7KK7
​

Sitting high atop Goody's shoulders gave Nikki a very freeing feeling, much like a bird. Pointing at the otters, her mouth went wide with excitement. She tried adjusting herself to reach forward and touch stuff, but Goody seemed to have a solid hold of her, so her movement was limited. She rubbed at her translocator, biting her lip, itching to be out and about.

As Mako disappeared into the brush Nikki sat upright, her face plastered with a smile. "Best hide and seek marathon ever!" She exclaimed, arms waving sparatically. She leaned forward, smiling into Goody's face, hands laid gently on top of his head, "is it our turn?!"

 

[Nimbus]

Death from Above, featuring Ji-Eun Moon

Mako said they were being hunted, but didn't say by what. June tried to act really big and loud by revving her hover bike. The anti-grav engine sounded a lot smaller and whinier than she thought it'd be, so halfway through, She grounded the bike and banged on the chassis with her fists, hollering like she was at a Basquatch game.

June looked around to see what those unidentifiable, non-hollering noises were. Mako had disappeared. Oh, and Kevkev was running Gamma into the tall grass now. What was going on? She weaved around to get a better look, and found Cathal peering into his rifle. Bears, he said. The were wrestling bears. But from what little June knew, bears weren't slinky-types. They just lumbered along. The way the grass moved it was like someone was tickling it. June knew sneaky, because she could be sneaky. And that was way too sneaky to be a bear.

"Cathal I really don't think those are be-" She started to tell him.

No that face was not a bear face. N O P E. That face you didn't want to see in your dreams, much less in close proximity to your friends during waking life. Steadying the hoverbike with her knees, June un-slung a boxy-looking pack from her shoulder. Whatever not-bear was hunting them, there's no way she'd stand by and let it get her friends.

"a-"

Oh sweet burning comets, one was on Gamma's back now! June shucked the pack to reveal a rifle with mounts for a modular frame and a sturdy grip with a “Rockn’Roll” sticker slapped on. She twisted a lock the magazine in the center of her rifle. A series of soft clicks, felt more than heard, announcing that bullets were ready to be chambered.

"-rs."

There's never a boring day, when you work with Team 9. June didn’t know if Raptordogs with Piranha mouths counted as the usual excitement, but Lovely, her trusty AR-118, probably wouldn’t get tired before the adrenaline Junkie did.

"Hey Team Critter Science, about how high do you think these bad boys can jump?"

"Probably high enough to snatch a bird out of the air in flight," Eppie suggested, sounding rather like she wasn't sure why June wanted to know.

"Yep. Ok. I think I got this. Thanks, Epp!"

June looked up at the sky, pointing towards the illusion of clouds. There wasn't much of any wind at all, come to think of it. In any other circumstance, this would unsettle the colonists, used to conditions that mimicked an earthlike experience - even if that was only made possible by the clever placement of several AC units. But now, all she could think of was how favorable the circumstance was to her plan.

"I'm gonna be a bird. But what they don't know, is this bird's packin' heat."

June patted Lovely gently, then, swiveling the gun’s muzzle back to the ground, woke up her Ra-Bots to make a slope like you’d see at a skatepark. Except, by June’s design, the edge dipped out towards the tall grass and all its dangers instead of circling back in to the “bowl.”

“For Christ’s sake,” Donny grumbled.

“But for real tho! Hoverbike to the Ramp gives the best view and angle of attack. Donny, I swear I won’t eat pavem- er, savannah dirt.”

By contrast, Nikki, parked atop Goody’s shoulders, was completely delighted by the prospect of a June-bird. She giggled and waved a set of pompoms. Stars, where did she get those from?

A minute click and a change in pitch signaled that the bots made a stable cluster. June hopped back on the bike and taxied back around.

“If anyone's worried, just cover me, kay? I'm gonna help our team 9 fam out,” She said with a smile, like she launched herself in the air above a garden full of of murderpuppies every day.

Judging that she was far back enough to get the bike up to ramping speed, June revved the whiny engine as high as it would go.

“Here. We. Go!”

Oh and did June ever go! Once she hit the ramp, it was a struggle not to scream, or to remember to breathe. But she managed, somehow, like she managed to throttle the hover-converter all the way up after the whole machine left the relative safety of the ramp.

Wryyyyyyy, went the bike, pushing out air at high speeds in an effort to both stabilize and heed its master’s command of Go Fast.

Whoosh, went June's breath, as she aimed in mid air, a near instinctive response, honed from years of experience with the science of bullets.

Pop, pop, pop! Lovely sang as June pulled the trigger at the height of her arc, both a gun and a blurred rainbow.

Bork! Each murderpuppy she hit yelped, surprised and probably also angry they didn't think about the possibility of Death from Above.

June slid out her landing to the far edge of the grass. The cloud of dust made it tough to see many details, but she wasn't seeing any of the murderpuppies get up, which was good enough for her. She whooped a small whoop and circled the grass with Lovely in hand, ready to clean up any stragglers.

 

[TrashRabbit]

Two of the extremely rare creatures went down and the other, and those who had not revealed in the grass fled. It should have been a moment of victory, but as June's bike slammed back to earth and she stuck the landing a low siren went off. The sort of ergent Low Euuughn that often indicated loading bay doors, air locks or other slow moving but dangerous elements, as apposed to high wailing sirens.

"Enclosure elements engaging," said a smooth monotone that gave Goody's a run for his money, "Enclosure elements engaging."

Donovan looked around, there was not a wall in sight. He glanced down at the crinkled pamphlet in his hands and it clearly showed walls in neat black lines.
"Every one- get to the path!" He shouted. But the team was only able to dart a few feet in any direction before the Hardlight walls flashed to life from the ground the smell of charred grass filled the air.

June, Kev and Elias found themselves on the far side of the wall from the path, inside what is clearly marked as the elephants enclosure. While Cathal, Mako, Goody and Eppie found themselves looking in at them from the path.

"Uh, Shit," Donovan said, he'd been in the grass on just the other side of the path along with Miranda, zephyr and Nikki. This enclosure was marked Savanag herd, and has at one point homed several species all together.

"You'll just have to find the staff exits and stairs," Goody said, "Unless- Nikki can you get these walls back down?"

"It could be worse," Donny said as the artificial sky rapidly progressed from day to night in a matter of moments, "God I'm never saying those worse again, I promise."

You're goal remains getting to level 8 of this zoo and turning off the rogue AI there, what do you do next?

 

[wickedlittlecritta]

"Well, in the words of a wise and ancient bisexual, this is a goddamned bitch of an unsatisfactory situation," Cathal said. He reached dramatically for Donny across the hardlight barrier and said, "I ain't quitting you."

 

[Graystone713]

Kevin Starr
DON'T SPLIT THE PARTY. EVER.
​

Kevin, for his part, didn't immediately panic when he heard the siren. He did start to panic a tiny bit when he realized what it meant, and found himself trapped in that pen with Mako and June. He quickly ran through his options and picked the one that would hopefully end with his team back in one big squad instead of in three much-easier-to-pick-off groups.

"Okay, calm down, I've got an idea. Everyone take up defensive positions, don't worry about covering Gamma, just cover yourselves. June, if you can get you and Mako in a hardlight bunker, go for it. I'm gonna hotswap to Beta and see if I can dig up the power conduit. Speaking of, Tina, prep Beta for hotswap."
"Acknowledged."

Then Kevin swapped, and Beta took off like a bullet as Billy actually spoke up on his frequency.

"Fuckin' hell, Kev! Shoulda gave me a minute to doublecheck him for ya! I'm not even sure he HAS the drill on! And he definitely don't have a dartgun!"

He was already too far to turn back, and as he checked, Beta did have a drill on. But it was a manual steel bit. Not a laser cutter, a regular big drill. Not at all suited for excavating part of a stone path, though the conduit itself would be easy enough to drill through. He could make this work. Maybe. He ran to the group on the path and found a conduit spot below him pretty easily. Then he started drilling. He did his best, varying his speed and pressure as he tried to get through a layer of grout between the stones. He was going pretty fast, but he was sure he had this... Until his drill began to overheat. He kept going because he didn't have any way to spray it with coolant, and slowing down at this point wasn't an option. Then, with the drillbit stuck way deep in, and part of Beta's arm entering the hole, something made a grinding noise. The drill was broken. And, trying to tug it out, he found that Beta's arm was stuck, too. He couldn't pull it out without breaking it.

"Oh... The drill just broke and Beta's stuck wrist-deep in the path. Beta's no good unless you want me to eject that arm and give you a one-armed gunman with a weak taser... I... Billy, do we have any handheld laser drills?"
"Naw, after you blew yaself up wif the one we had, we never got 'round to replacin' it. And I don't fink the non-lasers can do this. Hell, if you were doin' that stone, why didn't you get me to load Beta with a jack'ammer?"
"... That would've actually been really smart. And the jackhammer isn't compatible with the others?"
"Nope. I fink you ain't got any choice but to split up."

Kevin released a sigh of defeat before returning to Gamma and saying
"I'm sorry, I... We should move on. Mako, who do you want on point?"

 

[Nimbus]

The Mystery of Puzzle Zoo Island, featuring Ji-Eun Moon

Team 9 was all broken up, and it might have been June's fault. She shouldn't have done such a flashy thing, even if it did end up working in her team's favor. She cursed under her breath.

"I didn't figure the brain behind this place would trap us out of spite. Really, we're helping...most of the animals. We should get medals, or ice cream, or something for this."

Kevkev suggested a HL bunker before he switched out robots. Considering their situation, the suggestion surprised the mesh-head. June felt a bit boxed in right now as it was. Her biggest concern was the AI. That it knew how to handle the HL barriers inside the zoo and prop up the sectors that quickly worried her.What if it hacked into her Ra-Bots and whispered to them to squish the walls of the bunker she made with them smaller and smaller until she and her friends were crushed by their own safe zone?

"Hmm...I think we can manage that. Kev, Eli, can you hold a couple of things for me?"

June held out the tiny robots, currently powered off, towards her comrades. She could activate them remotely from her console as stationary endpoints, rather than order them to move, but they'd have to be put into place first. And now she was putting that in the hands of two people who didn't have much Hard Light rigging experience, as far as she could tell. That would certainly be interesting, and, maybe, if they managed to make it work in the end, maybe kind of fun, too.

 

[ValtheStarGal]

Miranda Menendez​

Miranda leapt at the first word of warning that issued from the ambient systems, and was clear of the hardlight barriers as they flashed into place: she recovers her wits in time to see most of Team Nine on the far side of the barrier from where she stands. She runs for it, her hands out and catching the wall before she can collide with it. Zephyr is at her side - gracias a la cosmos - claws out and trying to stab into the barrier to climb it, their blades glancing off of the wall designed to take a lot stronger blows.

Miranda turns and swears, her already-agitated nerves leaping and her mind racing with the possibilities. She looks back and sees her friends and comrades on the other side, similarly reeling from the barriers' activation and finding ways of taking it down. Miranda's eyes pass from Eppie to Mako to Elias to Kevin to Cathal to Ji-eun and everyone in between, her guts twisting that she cannot do more for them and her tail whipping around in anxiety. Zephyr has stopped attacking the barrier, nuzzling up against her stomach to try to settle her nerves.

"Thank you, cricket," Miranda coos, a weak purr issuing from the bug: Miranda forces herself to breathe and steady herself, having been in much worse than this and come out ahead. She glances up, sees Donny and Nikki on her side of the barrier - breathing a sigh of relief to find herself not totally alone, her panic receding. It will take all of their talents to make it through the tiers, but they have a chance yet.

"Unless Nikki can subvert the control systems for the barriers, we ought to get moving for the closest access point down and keep going," Miranda suggests. "Zephyr and I can scout the way - we explored a planet with a biome like this not long ago. Then as now, so long as we keep moving, we'll make it to the control room."

 

[Faelinara]

N7KK7
​

Watching all the commotion and the reaction of her friends, Nikki's face scrunched in dissatisfaction. She walked up to the barrier and plopped down into a cross-legged position. Stretching out her arms, she laid one hand palm flat on the barrier, the other in the air nearby, motioning her wrist and fingers as if stretching for a vigorous maneuver. Her eyes turned to Mirri, an intense and deep gaze glazing over her normally lighthearted eyes for just a moment, "Get ready..."

Turning back to the barrier, the little hacker raised her free arm to the sky, then onto the barrier like the other. Her eyes squinted into a glare, "Olly olly all of us free..." she whispered. The cyber lines along the mesh on her arms lit up in a rainbow of colors, slow at first, then sped up as she closed her eyes. A few moments of silence followed, only the light of the mesh breaking the tenseness of the situation. Then, suddenly, a loud whoosh, and all the barriers lowered briskly at once. The field was wide open again.

Nikki stood up, her eyes hooded and tired. She wobbled a bit as she walked back to Mirri and Donny. She looked up at them, a faint smirk appearing across her face. If ever there were a moment to see Nikki drained, this was it. Even her idioms were lacking. "We've leveled up, but the game has changed. Our new friend is REALLY good. Second Alliance has some skills."

She plopped onto the ground, laying back into the warm tall grass. "Is it nap time yet?" She asked as she closed her eyes.

 

[Graystone713]

Kevin Starr
FLY TO SAFETY!
​

Kevin didn’t like the situation at all. Not one bit. Three of them, against whatever was in this enclosure? June could definitely handle herself, but the Poena had been a close call, and he had no idea what Elias’s specialty was. Still, they could handle this. Maybe June could make something like a mobile bunker he could carry with Gamma, or-let Nikki hack their way out? Phew.

“One hell of a save, Nikki. I thought we’d be-“

Was all he said before he heard the humming again. No time for hesitation, he just grabbed his teammates and tossed them out... into the other enclosure. Oops. Well, a bigger group was a safer group. It was still the right move.

“Okay... Well. It looks like we’re splitting up no matter what. I’m gonna be alright on my own, so long as you guys stay safe I can manage... You hear me on that? Stay safe. I mean it.”

He said to the others before he began walking to the way out... then, on his channel to the sisters, he painted a much different picture.

“Prep Alpha for deployment, make sure he’s got tranqs and that netgun ready. I’m gonna keep going with Gamma, but he’s already damaged. I don’t think I’ll last long.”

 

[CelticSol]

Eppie and Elias Cross​

Eppie looks up as an alarm system starts blaring, a sound that still her blood to ice in her veins due to how much it reminds her of airlock warning sirens. Donny yells for the crew to get to the path, so, despite the lingering haze over her brain from the venom, Eppie takes off like a shot towards the path, barely making it past the barrier before the hardlight walls go up. Turning to look, she finds that, true to Cathal’s words, that this is a god damn bitch of an unsatisfactory situation - only Cathal, Goody, Mako, and herself managed to make it back to the path. with the others split, her brother scowling from where he stands with June and Kevin, Miranda looking deeply anxious from where she stands with Donny and Nikki.

“Ruh-roh,” Eppie says in an immitation of one very famous great dane, putting her hands on her hips after she flicks on her comm-line, “Looks like this is Scooby Doo, guys.”

Miranda catches her eye again, looking at Eppie with her eyebrows upturned into a deeply worried expression Eppie can only think of as doing a BIG concern, and Eppie saunters over, switching to a private comm-line between herself and her comrade, smiling reassuringly, “You’ll be okay. Zephyr Donny, and Nikki will take good care of you. Mako, Goody, and Cathal will take good care of me. We’ll see each other later.”

Jokingly, Eppie plants a kiss to the hardlight barrier towards the crew on the other side, though her eyes look past Miranda as Nikki speaks, then, after a handful of quiet moments, the barrier drops, fizzling to nothing. Without hesitation, Eppie grabs Miranda by the collar of Miranda’s suit and yanks her over the burnt line of grass where the hardlight wall had been moments ago. She planned to also try and pull Donny and Nikki over, but she stumbles over her own feet thanks to wooziness from venomous snake dog bite, falling flat on her ass and dragging Miranda with her.

Elias gets nothing as graceful as getting accidentally pulled to the grass covered ground by a woman who is a hundred and twenty pounds soaking wet. No, of course not. One second, Elias is trying to think of how in the entire fuck theyre supposed to do this separate, the next the barrier is down, and Elias is fucking airborne. He hits the ground hard, rolling into Donny’s feet. He looks up, grass and dirt in his bleached platinum hair, and finds the barrier up, Kevin’s robot body trapped, alone, on the other side. June is in the grass beside him, Nikki is laying down and says something about napping.

Elias lays his head back, groaning, “Donny, can it please be naptime? I don’t want to Jeff Goldblum anymore.”

 

[TrashRabbit]

Elias knocked Donny over like a bowling pin and he said from the ground, "We're leaving this part out of the report." He hauled himself up and added, "If we can get to the staff access stairs we can probably meet up in the behind the scene bits."
He pulled up the map Nikki had pulled up that showed the staff only behind the scenes tunnels. "Goldblums don't get to choose," He said hauling Elias up to his feet. He paused when he saw Nikki in the grass. "Hey sugar duck," you alright? He asked kneeling low.

 

[theunderwolf]

Mako was in a pickle, a real conundrum. The hard light barrier wasn't moving, she had punched it with all her gusto might and etcetera. It even made almost as big a sound as Goody's massive fist, which was a little scary. She had to look around self consciously and do an exaggerated "My hand hurts" motion. Which she hoped a five year old or Cathal would buy. 'What the hell is....Scooby-Doo?" She muttered as the barrier came down, "Also are there more barriers we should worry about?" She finished aloud.

 

[wickedlittlecritta]

"I think our big worry is getting down to the next level," Cathal said. "We'll be able to regroup there, I think. Come on, ducklings," he said, gesturing to Mako and Eppie and Goody and the rest before heading off to the staff entrance. It seemed a simpler way to regroup, rather than continuing to fuck around with the barriers. Besides, they had to go down anyway.

 

[ValtheStarGal]

Miranda Menendez​

It happens so fast: Miranda is standing at the barrier one moment, bracing for the journey to come, and then the next thing she knows Eppie has grabbed her by the collar of her suit and pulled her across the threshold with astounding force. Miranda rushes to stay on her feet, her momentum sending her tumbling into Eppie and her livewire nerves driving her to bolt, her own strength lifting Eppie off the ground as she tears for the other side of the barrier, rational considerations forced down by every impulse shouting go go go. She trips over a rock and can’t fully avoid falling on Eppie as the two are sent tumbling to the ground. Zephyr is at her side in a blink, Miranda laying there for a few seconds to collect her wits before remembering she is laying on top of Eppie and bolting back up to get off of her teammate.

“Apologies, cariña,” Miranda says, brushing herself off as Zephyr tugs at her collar to help her to her feet. Looking around, she sees Mako, Cathal and Goody - doubles of them, more precisely, before shaking herself out of the dizziness she feels. Looking back to see the barrier back in place, Miranda sees June and Elias with Donny and Nikki, feeling a little better about the situation knowing they won’t be left to fend for themselves.

“I don’t think that’s something we can do twice, so we should be going,” Miranda says in agreement with Cathal, not wanting to linger in a zone marked as lion territory. Miranda nods to Zephyr and the two of them go ahead of the group, scouting around the pride of lions that are supposed to occupy the paddock - happy to find them contentedly lying about and easy to avoid with the proper precautions. They meet the rest of the group at the stairwell leading down to the next level, Miranda’s nerves having settled somewhat but sensitive to every rustle of savanna grass and dissonant scent.

“Shall we see what awaits us?” Miranda says, before turning and following Zephyr down the stairwell.