Okay, now to clear things up a bit here. First, this
isn't the teaser I released eariler called The Omega
Project. Rather, I scrapped that plan, and applied the title
to the Timewarp idea I sent out. For those of you who don't
remember, just read on and ignore this. ^_^
Onward ho!
Ranma 1/2 used without permission
Isn't it always?
Jed M. Bidwell, Idiot At Large, presents:
<snort!> If you say so, buddy...
The Omega Project
<cue dramatic drum roll>
===================================
The room was softly lit by the banks of flourescent
lights in the high ceiling, their soft glow too weak for the
twelve cylindrical pods to cast any significant shadow.
She stared down at herself, unable to recall who she
was, or why she was there. She searched her memory, but
nothing came to answer her myriad questions. Something felt
odd, however, when she looked at her impossibly buoyant
breasts. For some reason, their presence just felt wrong.
Um....
Looking up, she studied the other pods situated in
neat rows in the center of the chamber. She felt cold, the
air raising goosebumps along her skin as the tile floor
chilled her feet. Rows of sophisticated computer equipment
lined all four walls, monitors flickering as tiny lights
blinked in varying colors all across the machines. Several of
the monitors displayed a flashing word in large red text:
MALFUNCTION.
I hate it when that happens.
//What's goin' on here?\\ she thought as she made her
way to the nearest pod. The capsule was roughly three meters
long, with a small computer panel on the side. Several
digital gagues were on the display, the images making no
sense at all to the confused girl.
On the top of the capsule was what appeared to be a
fogged glass window. The window covered only a fourth of the
space, wrapping around from one side of the hatch to the
other. Painted on the side was the number "012". Maybe there
was a clue inside? Slowly, she reached ot her left hand to
wipe the mist off the window.
Very nice descriptions, here. Although I'm finding myself unable to
keep images of 'Aliens' out of my head, now... :)
<snip>
She just stood there, staring in wide-eyed confusion
at the stranger who had just appeared. He fiddled with the
panel for a few seconds, then suddenly seemed to bristle.
Quick as a snake, he spun around, a large black weapon in his hand.
The black coat fell just past his knees, a black
bodysuit beneath it that appeared to be made of metal.
*cough* Rather uncomfortable, that.
Beneath the black fedora he wore was a mask made of the same
material, deep red eyes glaring at her.
"One of you is active?" it said in a raspy,
mechanical voice. "Oh, well, it doesn't matter." He raised
the weapon, a red light shooting from the underside to form a
dot above her heart.
Instinct took over as she vaulted over the capsule
OVER the capsule? I got the impression from the description that
the capsules were upright, and about three meters tall. That's a pretty
spiffy jump... not to mention that most rooms are only 4-5 meters tall
themselves (jump - *clonk* - "oww..." - zzz...).
just before he opened fire. The sound of bullets ricocheting
off the metal capsules and the staccatto roar or the gun
filled the room as she crouched behind her impromptu shelter.
//Who is this guy?\\ she thought as she desperately
searched for a way out. She knew she wouldn't be able to
last against that kind of point blank pounding for very long.
Maybe if she got behind him?
The gunfire ceased abruptly as the shriek of tearing
metal took its place. Risking a quick look, she saw the door
bending inward as several gleaming claws pierced the surface.
//What's goin' on here?\\
All Hell Is Breaking Loose(tm).
"Damnit!" he shouted as the mech unit gradually
forced the blast door open. They wouldn't risk using the
thermal limpets, not with all this equipment here running
their most vile experiment. Kuno Industries wouldn't risk
that much just to get rid of him, no matter how dangerous he
was to them.
"Gotta work fast," he muttered as he ran toward the
main computer bank. His eyes scanned the MALFUNCTION message
briefly, realizing that the unit he saw had been activated
prematurely. The programming probably wasn't fully integrated
yet. Not that it really mattered much. In a few seconds, it
would join its brothers and sisters in hell.
He reached into the pocket of his coat, pulling out a
small spherical device which he then affixed to the control
panel. Pressing the small button atop the sphere, he stepped
back and looked around for the active unit. The thermal
detonator would explode in ninety seconds, and that didn't
leave him much time.
Especially if he wants to avoid a full-body fourth-degree suntan....
The door was forced nearly a quarter of the way open,
just wide enough for a person to get through. Rolling up his
left sleeve, he aimed his fist at the gap. A small
rectangular portion of the smooth black metal slid open, a
micro-missle popping into position. It might not destroy the
mech, but the soldeirs accompanying it would definitely get
theirs from the blast.
The missle launched from his arm, a small jet of
orange flame roaring from the back as it screamed to the
entrance. The Kuno Industries mech unit blocked out the light
from the corridor, unable to dodge before the missle hit.
A ball of red fire exploded from the front of the
mech, a flurry of sparks accompanying the flame. With an
inhuman roar the machine fell backward, sparks flying from
the gaping hole in its armor as its internal systems shorted
out. Not wasting a second, he charged for the door. His
movements were inhumanly quick and precise as he easily
somersaulted past the confused and injured soldiers.
The night wasn't a complete failure, at least one of
those genesis chambers was destoyed. It may not have meant
much in the long run, but at least there was now twelve less
of those clones in the world.
Clones? This sounds... interesting... :)
===============================
She watched the missle shoot from the stranger's arm,
blasting something behind the door with impressive force.
Then, without pause he charged forward and somersaulted with
a grace and agility that she found rather remarkable. In the
back of her mind she knew she could do better, but that was
neither here nor there.
She cast her gaze over to the strange thing he had
placed on the console. Whatever it was, it had been beeping
steadily for the past minute or so. The beeping changed pitch
and pattern, becoming much higher and more frantic.
//BOMB!\\ she thought as the detonator cycled down.
Now, what I'm curious about is, if she just woke up and can't even
remember her name, how does she know stuff like this?
Darting out from behind the capsule, she leapt through the
gap in the door, bounding off the now-smoking wreckage of the mech.
Just as she hit the floor, a deafening roar filled
the world around her. The floor shook madly with the force
of the explosion, a rush of hot wind slamming into her back
through the space in the doorway. The heavy metal blast doors
had absorbed much of the impact, keeping the brunt of the
force away from her.
She turned briefly, eyes scanning the smoke and fire
pouring out of the door. The mech was badly damaged, unable
to rise on its own. Four men in black combat suits lay around
it, one injured and the other three dead.
The corridor was suddenly filled with a flashing red
light, a strident alarm klaxon blaring throughout the four
meter wide space.
//What now?\\ she thought in desperation as she
charged down the only path available to her. The sound of
thundering footsteps stormed relentlessly nearer as she
veered left at an intersection partway down the corridor.
The present hallway was nearly identical to the last,
as was the next, and the next. As she ran, fear and
uncertainty gnawing at her mind, she began to wonder if she
would ever find her way out of whatever this place was. Was
it built like some kind of maze?
Well, you -did- say Kuno Industries, and if it's anything like their
mansion.... :)
"Hey, you!" a male voice shouted from behind. She
stopped cold in the middle of the hall, turning about to
face the man who had called. He wore the same suit as the
three men she had seen at the exit of the room she had
awoken in, a bodysuit made of some dull black material with
gleaming metal arm and shin guards. A torso plate of the same
metal adorned his upper body, a black helmet with a mirrored
faceplate covering his head. "Stay right there!"
In his hands was a gun, much the same as the one the
guy in the trenchcoat had, aimed directly at her. As he
approached, she tried to think of a way out. Run? No, she'd
never make it. Bullets moved a good deal faster than she did.
Surrender? Never, she knew deep inside that surrender was
never an option. She may not have known much else, but that
fact was certain. Her only choice, then, was to fight.
"Now, what the hell is some naked chick doin' runnin'
around here?" he asked, looking up and down at her. She
remained silent, eyes locked on that faceplate. "Answer me!"
he shouted, thrusting the gun forward a little.
Siezing the opportunity, she lashed out at the gun,
snatching it free of his grip and tossing it aside. The
guard stood sputtering in disbelief as his weapon clattered
to the floor. Her hand clinched around his throat before he
could regain his composure, hoisting him into the air with a
strength that defied her size.
"Tell me," she hissed, "how do I get out?" The guard
hung in her grasp, struggling wildly as she stared at her
reflection in the faceplate. A thick mop of red hair rested
on her head, trailng down past her shoulders. Piercing blue
eyes stared back at her from beneath her crimson bangs, set
within an almost delicate female face. She gazed at the
image, the face staring back at her seemingly that of a total
stranger.
Oh boy... I was afraid of this.... :)
(I should note that, for the past 3-4 paragraphs, "Istanbul Not
Constantinople" by They Might Be Giants has been playing on my computer...
it's a very -odd- backdrop for these scenes... :)
"HOW?" she shouted, tightening her grip just enough
to get her point across.
"gack... all right..." he managed, "ease up..." She
loosened her hold onthe guard's neck to allow him to speak,
but still held him aloft. "Down the corridor there... is an
elevator...," he said, "take it... up four floors... to the
parking garage... it's the fastest way out."
The sounds of men shouting at one another began to
grow closer as the klaxon continued to blare its piercing
wail. Realizing that she was out of time, she lashed out at
his faceplate with her free hand. The plate shattered like
glass, her fist connecting solidly with the face behind it.
She felt the guard go limp in her grasp as he lost
conscousness from the impact. Dropping the unconscious man,
she ran down the corridor in search of the elevator that
would take her to the parking garage. She hoped.
Y'know, the description of the guards kinda reminds me of the
faceless baddies out of the old G.I. Joe cartoons....
======================================
//Huh? No guards?\\ he thought as he scanned the
dimly lit parking garage. He saw the surrounding area in a
greenish tint, his low-light vision enhancing the existing
illumination as much as it could.
A long crosshair moved across his field of vision as
several streams of data scrolled at the fringes. In the top
right corner was a small compass display, pointing north by
northeast. The crosshair moved over every car and pillar in
sight, locking onto nothing.
//Motion and targeting sensors show nada,\\ he
thought, a sense of unease growing in his gut, or what was
once his gut. It had been a long time since he'd had one of those.
The greenish tint of his vision was immediately
replaced by several shades of dark blue with a few faint
traces of orange. Nothing in the garage seemed to stand out at all.
//Noting on thermograph,\\ he thought as he shifted
Um, don't you mean 'nothing'? :)
his vision back to low-light. //Looks like it's all clear.\\
Deep inside, however, he knew that it wasn't. Every instinct
he had kept screaming that something was wrong, and he had
always gone by his instincts. Nevertheless, he knew he had
to get out, and this was the shortest path to take. Remaining
in the shadows, he slowly made his way to the exit.
<cue Jaws music>
From across the expansive concrete garage came the
rumbling sound of a roll-up door rising into the ceiling. He
turned, motion and targeting sensors locking on to the
movement, and what lay beyond it.
//Oh, crap,\\ he thought as a feeling of dread set
in, //Juggernaut!\\ The door opened completely, the enormous
mech lumbering out into the parking garage. It towered over
him, the massive monstrosity measuring well over five meters
in height. Its two legs were backwards-hinged, much the same
way as any four-legged animal, ending in a pair of
three-toed feet. The torso of the giant machine was composed
of sharply-curved metal, bending upward and out to form a
sharp protrusion near the top that somewhat resembled a
head. Each massive arm ended with three pincer-like claws,
capable of rending or crushing nearly anything. But what
concerned him the most was the two fixed 20mm Vulcan guns
mounted on each shoulder that were being trained on him.
"Ohhh, shiiiiiittt....." :)
With balletic grace, he leapt clear just as the
rotating turrets began to fire. The roar of the twin Vulcans
echoed off the concrete surfaces of the garage as the
maelstrom of bullets smashed the pillar that he once stood
before. Juggernaut kept firing, turning as quickly as it
could manage in a vain attempt to keep up with him.
Juggernaut mave have had loads of armor and firepower, but
it wasn't very agile. It was meant for taking on entire
groups, not a lone intruder. If he could keep his distance
and stay ahead of it, he had a chance to get away. Scrapping
the Juggernaut wasn't an option.
Juggernaut's torso began to rotate towards him,
independent of the legs. He kept moving, knowing that
standing still would mean getting a target lock and something
for Juggernaut to fix its weapons on.
Not to mention that the Vulcan would be fully capable of tearing
-through- a concrete pillar, him, the car in front of him, and most likely
whatever was beyond that as well.
Which brings to mind another question: what about the offices below
the garage - you know, the ones that are now *gulp* painted red because of
all the lead flying through them, from the missed shots that hit the floor?
"WHAT IDIOT ORDERED THAT THING TO FIRE WHILE IT WAS INSIDE?!?!?"
"uh... me, sir..."
BLAM!
"urr...." <thump>
"You're fired."
The Vulcan guns roared again, hot lead cratering the
concrete and ripping the metal of the myriad vehicles stored
down there. He continued to dodge around, moving faster than
any man had a right to. The garage offered no real shelter
from Juggernaut's onslaught, nor would his armored body
withstand any sort of pounding from it.
Its left arm shot out, a beam of red energy blasting
forth from the center of its hand. The beam lanced the air
that he had occupied not even a second before, lancing
IMO, using variants of 'lance' so closely together doesn't work as
well as other words. I'd replace the second one with 'slicing', myself.
through the front of a grey Mercedes parked in its path. The
Mercedes and the two cars next to it erupted in a fiery
ball, the sound of the explosion filling the air and
rebounding off of the floor and walls as burning scraps of
jagged metal flew in every direction.
//Damn plasma cannon,\\ he thought as a piece of
flaming shrapnel embedded itself at his feet. Water began to
rain down from the ceiling as the fire suppression systems
engaged. He almost cringed as the water hit and chastised
himself for it. It had been a long time since he'd had to
worry about getting wet. He had to get out, he wouldn't last
much longer against Juggernaut. As he darted between columns
and cars, evading the flak from the mech's guns, he thought
of the rumors surrounding Juggernaut, that there was actually
a human brain in there. Most who knew of the hulking
death-mobile discounted such stories. If they only knew...
... which, of course, suggests that he does. ;)
The fire ceased without any warning, the air getting
quiet save for the sound of cars burning and water soaking
the concrete. Looking around, he saw the Juggernaut's torso
pointed toward a lone patch of light around an elevator door.
the doors opened to reveal a nude red-haired girl staring in
wide-eyed surprise at the monstrous robot.
"It's so... big... oooh..."
SMACK!
Sorry, didn't mean to slip into hentai mode....
(of course, I've now got scenes from Tank Girl stuck in my head...)
//What the?\\ How did she survive the explosion in
the genesis chamber? He briefly considered moving to
eliminate the clone once and for all, instead choosing to
sieze the chance for escape. He was fast enough to get away
before Juggernaut's targeting systems could lock on, and the
clone wouldn't stand a chance against the hulking killing
machine. He vanished into the night, moving for the tunnel
that led to the streets above. The night wasn't a total
failure, and it was time to leave.
"Let's blow this popsicle stand!"
============================
"SHIT!" she cursed as the enormous robot's shoulder
guns rained hell into the confines of the elevator. She hit
the wet concrete floor, coming out of her roll and darting
to the left before it could retaliate.
As she ran, she head the sound of hydraulics engaging
and the thunder of the machine's legs as it turned to
pursue. Her legs hit the floor at a furious pace as she tried
to escape the metal creature, the soles of her feet stinging
from the impacts.
The floor began to vibrate slightly in time with the
robot's crushing footfalls as it lumbered after her. Terror
and confusion warred for dominance as she fled from her
robotic adversary. What had she gotten herself into?
Pure and utter hell, m'dear, pure and utter hell. Welcome to the
club!
A strange warning sensation overtook her, screaming
for her to dodge. Following the feeling, she sprung to the
right a half second before the twin cannons of the machine's
shoulders roared. She kept running, staying as low as she
could between the cars as bullets shredded their thin metal
frames. Tires popped and glass shattered from the hail of
bullets, the small projectiles hitting with a short zinging sound.
-Small- projectiles? Son, what've you been smokin'? Those puppies
are bigger around than some perfectly healthy -carrots-!
She ducked and rolled beneath a red truck-type
vehicles, an SUV she realized. Just as she rolled clear, the
sound of something launching came from where the robot stood,
an explosion ripping the air a second later. She hit the
floor again, covering her head as the corpse of what was
once a car flipped into the air to land on another car near
her. The crashing noise nearly deafened her as the bottom
car was mercelissly flattened. Adrenaline racing through her
veins and panic threatening to break loose, she rose to her
feet and continued her flight. She had to get out. Forget
finding out who she was, she needed to get away from that...
whatever it was!
ED-209 AWAITING ORDERS.
;)
From the corner of her eye, she saw its torso follow
her as its legs rotated back in alignment. Lifting one of
its massive legs, the robot brought its huge foot down on the
roof of a small car in its way. The compact's body crumpled
like a soda can under the enormous weight of the mech, doing
little to impede its progress.
Its chestplate slid open, revealing several
red-tipped cones nestled within the structure. Three of the
cones launched from their bays, arcing toward the running girl.
Mmm... That's definitely a Bad Thing.
She jumped forward just as the first rocket hit, the
force of the blast hitting her back hard as the small
explosion burst from the floor. The second rocket hit just
after the first, blowing a crater in the wall of the garage.
The third rocket hit much closer than the other two,
knocking her off of her feet. She tumbled across the floor,
her head smacking the wall with enough force to black her out.
She opened her eyes, pain throbbing in the back of
her head, as the water sprayed down on her body. Wincing,
she rose to a sitting position just as a metal three-toed
foot stomped down in front of her.
Shivering, she looked up to the robot that towered
over her. Her legs felt weak and rubbery when she tried to
move them, desperate to get away. The machine just stood
there, as if it was trying to intimidate her before the end.
Nah. The guys in charge are just archiving GIFs from it's vision
systems - after all, how many wet, naked, busty redheads does your average
guy run across in a lifetime? :)
"Hurry up and finish it," she said with as much
bravery as she could muster. She wouldn't let this thing see
her fear. If she was going to die, she would do it with her
eyes wide open.
"P...." it said in a raspy metallic voice,
"p........iiiiii.....ppppiiiiiiiii...."
"What?" What was it trying to say?
"Piiii....ggggg......Piigggg...."
"Pig?" Was this thing trying to insult her? Why was
it calling her a pig?
Um... I've got a baaaaaadddd feeling about thiis....
Its hands clamped down on the protrusion that may
have been its head, a bellowing roar bursting forth from
whatever it used to speak. The robot began to hit itself
furiously, the clang of metal striking metal crying out as
it screamed.
//Now's my chance!\\ she thought as she rose to her
knees. Stumbling, she regained her feet and lumbered to the
tunnel she saw in the distance. That had to be the way out.
==============================
"It's going nuts!" the tech shouted as his fingers
tapped frantically on the control panel before him. The room
ED-209 General Protection Fault
(A)nnihilate, (R)oast, (I)ncinerate, (F)ail? f
WOULD YOU LIKE TO PLAY A GAME?
was lined with some of the most sophisticated computer
equipment money could buy, their soft humming noises
providing a subliminal aural backdrop as the technicians
worked furiously at their assigned stations. The monitors
placed before each white-clad scientist displayed various
technical readouts and schematics of the rampaging mech in
the parking garage. A large monitor in the center showed the
view Juggernaut saw, the image jumping wildly with each
self-inflicted blow.
Next on Springer: Cyborgs Who Hate Themselves and the Techs Who Love
Them
"Increasing barbituate concentration!" the tech at
the far right station shouted.
"Shutting down sub-routines Alpha-four-niner and
Alpha-three-two!" exclaimed another.
"It's not responding!"
"Attempt system shutdown!"
"Negative! Juggernaut's not responding!"
The words 'Juggernaut' and 'not responding' in the same sentence
would tend to indicate, to me at least, that things have gone from SNAFU to
TARFU and proceeding right quickly towards FUBAR....