ASP:Cointainment breach (IC)

[Fardhin]

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[Fardhin]

The room was pitch-black. In the darkness, only a hand and a pair of eyes were seen. The eyes burned like blue fire, yet seemed to shed no light upon the darkness. The hand, was inviting a shake; covered in a leather black glove.

The Deal-maker knew he was getting some very special deals this day. Maybe one; will be the big one. Freedom.

[Atkemri]

ASP foundation, entrance

The security began to point their weapons at Vrone and the rest of her group. "You need to give us your weapons. You can keep the side arms but that is all." All security was pointed at them in case of possible conflict.

The elevator had already left at this point but they could still join the tour if Vrone and the rest of her group complied.

Elevator

Cavalier looked over at Clark and rolled her eyes "If everything wasn't fine we wouldn't be here would we?" she said with the usual coldness in her voice. The elevator stopped and Cavalier stepped out expecting everyone else to follow her.

[Greater vakolicci haven]

ASP foundation, Entrance, Security checks

Kadus moved into position beside Vrone, her long, slim arms folded at her chest as she looked with glassy-eyed indifference at the security officers.
"Havenic diplomatic services contacted your representatives on the 29th of may, the 3rd of june, the 5th of june, the 9th of june, the 12th of june," Kadus' voice wasn't usually ccold and robotic, but it was today. "Each time, Havenic diplomatic services made it clear to your representatives that members of the havenic special research group of the vakolskrtm would be in attendance at your little gathering. Havenic diplomatic services further made it clear that said representatives would be armed in case of any trouble, treatury or unforeseen attacks. Havenic diplomatic services further made it known that refusing to mention any special requirements you had to the diplomatic representatives prior to our arrival would be considered as a severe breech of the friendly diplomatic relations our two nations enjoy. You were told about this, and yet you continue to act as if you were not. Please comply with the wishes of Havenic diplomatic services, and the implied wishes of your own government."

[The Rapture Republic]

Squeezing out of the Elevator, Vonstein popped to the wall, to regain his breath fr nearby suffocating between trying to exit the entrance through the isolatophobic conditions that conjugated within the small steel box. Panting for oxygen, he’d looked at Cavielier, “Ack, who’s the birdie we be seeing down the Hall!” He’d asked with a out of breath tone, as a football player would, after finishing his match.

[Atkemri]

ASP Foundation entrance

The guards looked at each other knowing well that their orders were to not disturb the foreign dignataries. "Very well. Sorry for the inconvince." They'd lead them to the stairs and begin to escourt them down.

ASP Foundation, floor one

"The first ASP we'll be looking at is ASP 004" Cavalier said as she walked towards a containment chamber. "Gather around everyone time to see the first abomination" Inside the chamber a pale woman could be seen. Her teeth sharp like a lion's and a dark red liquid dripping from her mouth covering the floor. Her nails, large claws looking unatural on her frame. "Things like this are what we'll be asking you to help us cointain. More cooperation is always helpful. Even if it's from people like you."

ASP Liberation front, hideout

The front was in hightened security today because of the vistor. In case of a ASP spy sent through the Haven. The vistor in question was the elder a legend in the ASP world. A immortal man who seems to be as of yet to be uncapturable. The liberation front's leader waited in his chambers for the eluisive elder to arrive.

[Greater vakolicci haven]

ASP foundation

Vrone smiled and walked through the gap created by the guards, quickly following them to where the group had assembled. Surprisingly, she saw that not all of the group were human; one, even appeared to be a vaguely hhumanoid dragon...perhaps she'd find more support in this party than she had expected. All of the other containment programmes knew the fact that the Haven was pretty much an enemy of the global ASP strategy, however Vrone was surrounded by so much muscle and firepower that she didn't much mind.

Alfred Pescin stared in at the chamber, and then back at dr. Cavalier; with a nod of his head, he deactivated the cloaking device on his shoulder; his full, skeletal frame with the over-expansive belly could be seen.
"Why does she need to be contained?" he asked in a dry, unnatural voice. "Why not just ship her over to the Haven if you don't want her. I almost guarantee we can fiind useful employment. You could say she's killed...I don't know...50000 people around the world," Alfred began to chuckle, "But well. So have I."

ASP liberation front, hideout

Elder walked in the company of a Havenic guard, a smile plastered on his face. The guard looked farely normal, because he was; Elder on the other hand...didn't. It wasn't that he looked threatening or anything of that sort, instead he looked to be a 7 year old boy, complete with bright-colored clothing and high-pitched voice. Of course...Elder was older, much older. A matter of millennia separated Elder from most of those alive today; but he needed a mask, a vessil, to work with in this world; that of a young child was always his preferred one. Noone suspected a little kid of anything more hanous than stealing a cookie from the biscuit tin...certainly not of being one of the leading terrorist masterminds in the world.

He approached the man silently, and without asking, pulled out a chair to sit on; his escort waited behind him.
"Good morning," he called, smiling, "I am Elder. Who might you be?"

[A m e n r i a]

Daywalker maintained his eerie and unnatural grin as he was led to a containment chamber by Cavalier. "My, my, what have we here?" He asked walking closer towards the chamber. "A vampire, I presume? Why, I'm flattered, but there really isn't anything particularly remarkable with our kind. I don't think you need to treat one like a superweapon or something." Maintaining his expression, he tapped on the chamber's surface.

[Atkemri]

ASP foundation, floor one

Cavalier turned to the person talking to her quickly finding that it was not a person but an obese skeleton. With the rest of what shes seen that was normal "We do not give anomalies to other nations for any reason. Don't get any ideas about getting them either. It would be a shame if a nuclear reactor in your nation happened to have a meltdown coincidentally after you tried to take an anomaly." She pauses for a moment slowly smiling "And before you ask yes, we did do Chernobyl."

As she said this she heard Daywalker speak. "Skywalker was it? That is not a vampire. That is.....something." as she said this Daywalker tapped the glass causing ASP 004 to leap onto the screen snarling and causing the dark red liquid to spill onto to one way window.

[ASP liberation front, hideout

The leader of the Front looked on in confusion. He wore a mask and has not given his name to anyone. "You are elder? Nevermind, I am the leader of the ASP liberation front. What have yoi come here to discuss with us. We have plans so we must make this quick."

[Greater vakolicci haven]

ASP foundation, first floor
Alfred glanced around, from the creature in the chamber to dr. Cavalier, the tightly-stretched skin of his forehead somehow managing to furrow as he did so.
"Tell me, doctor," came his grating rasp of a voice, "What has this inmate done to your people that is so hanous? No. I'll expand. What has the population of this prison as a whole done to your people that is so hanous? I would hazard a guess. Nothing at all, just be different and be things you don't understand. Like me." As he spoke, a strange mist seemed to pour from his mouth to settle on his body, he extended an arm and the mist divided itself, turning into a veritable cloak of dancing, gliding spiders. Alfred looked up to the sky "Why not let her out that we may speak with her?"

ASP liberation front, hideout.

The chair didn't seem to have a method of propultion, Elder certainly didn't stand up and move it. However it calmly lifted itself, travelled a few feet and placed itself, and its small occupant, closer to the man.
"That is what I am called, yes," Elder informed him, placing his arms on his thighs. "At the present time. Many civilisations have had their own names for me, but Elder certainly is one of the better ones, I think. It says nothing of my true nature, save for that something old decided to make it known that I am quite a lot older than it. Thus, Elder.
I know their is not much time. My monitoring of certain computer networks has led me to believe that a vulnerability in asp foundation defences is able to be exploited. Certain assets made said vulnerability known to you. A team of loyal friends has been inserted, under the guise of a diplomatic group, into the foundation, and I have shown up to help you direct stuff. I'm likely to go off someplace that's not here or the asp foundation and do what I do, so first I need an idea of what you want that to be. Do you want me to give the foundation a serious case of the computer gremlins?"

[Shwe Tu Colony]

"The first ASP we'll be looking at...

"Reminds me a little of myself," Sekka said, his hand near where his mouth would be in his suit, with his palm facing downwards, "A vicious fighter, capable of holding her own without any augmentation. Course, she's not petrifying anyone in fear from her appearance alone. & speaking of contai—"
"I-I've n-never seen you..." blurted out D'aillisioux, "O-oh! S-sorry..." The boy crouched down a bit, putting one of his arms over his head, as though expecting retaliation for his sudden outburst. Sekka tilted his head towards him, & despite his face being obscured by his suit, the demon's movement was enough to cause the other to continue & remove his arm. "W-well, I-I just wanted t-to s-say that I've n-never..." his timid nature was probably highly grating on everyone else by now, with how long he'd take to get his point across, "S-seen you without y-your suit on."

"Well, of course, anyone who'd see me without it on would not enjoy that sight. It befits my original purpose that my appearance inspires a... petrifying terror," he casually said, as though it was perfectly normal for him to have gorgon-like capabilities, "But back to what I was mentioning, I do know a fellow with a similar goal in my own universe by the name of The Gatekeeper, only his goal is to rehabilitate his captives to be less hostile & destructive rather than keep them locked up. Of course, he would only act when it was clear that a beast was getting overly belligerent — & only rarely would he capture a creature if it wasn't behaving violently — but at least he had a high success rate in containment & rehabilitation."

Alfred glanced around, from the creature...

"Fear of the unknown is quite a guiding factor, but it is something that any fellow must conquer," Sekka said, not caring for the spiders, "It is less what this creature has done, but more of what it might do, & to discover its capabilities, there must be some sort of analysis occurring. For some of those 'different' folk, it might be easy enough, but for others, it may come with a need to be contained to avoid devastation." Once he said this, a blonde woman who gave off the impression of a pacifist Valkyrie suddenly entered the area, wearing a delightful smile & a turquoise dress, her shoes clacking loudly on the floor. She gave off a serene, motherly aura such that one would feel it nearly impossible to raise their weapon against her, with a calming aroma of lavender emitting from her to further intensify this. She seemed perfectly human enough to everyone, but there was a strange, exotic twist to her; perhaps these two contradictory traits were used to gain the trust of others.

D'aillisioux, though, seemed to have a different reaction to the lady's otherwise delightful, pacifist aura, & skittered behind Sekka, but he was at least not crying. Undeterred by either of these actions, Sekka continued to speak. "That is not to say that containment should be cruel, though. Wherever something unknown is contained, it should be treated with as much kindness as it seems to comprehend, as some may be too bestial to understand & remember one's generosity. Still, I support not taking the risk that something may not remember — you would be surprised at the hidden nature of some of those unknown folk. That is not to say that they should live better than or equal to the wealthiest in your nation, but they should at least have some form of luxury to calm them down, or else they might retaliate with surprising power."

With the conclusion of his whole speech, the Valkyrie-like lady suddenly began to speak, her voice melodious, high pitched, serene, & disarming. "I hope that I am not late?" she said, her smile hardly fading, "So sorry, if I am. Anyway, I am Vaalky—" Her introduction was suddenly interrupted by some sort of invisible sword cutting through the air in front of her, & it would have sliced her apart had she not jumped back. The only indication of a probable source of the attack was D'aillisioux, whose gaze was focused at her as an infuriated scowl, although how he was able to summon invisible to attack was one point of confusion. "Oh dear me..." she made a delightful, charming chuckle, "How strange that I was victim to an attack... Perhaps this place is quite dangerous."

At that, her gaze shifted towards D'aillisioux, who still seemed infuriated at her presence. "What is a child doing here, for that matter?" she said, her tone still its usual sweet self, "It seems awfully irresponsible & idiotic."
"Ba'urh*!" he yelled at her before realizing what he said & instinctively placing his hands over his head, fearful of what Sekka would do, although the demon was only surprised.
*Highly inappropriate curse in Demonish used against others
"Look, Valkyrie lady, I'm not certain what's wrong between you & D'aillisioux, but I'll have to kindly as—"
"Leave me alone!" the boy interjected in a uprising rage, not exactly kindly asking anymore. His timid nature had seemingly vanished, having been conquered by his seemingly inexplicable anger at the newcomer.

[The Rapture Republic]

Victor, rolled his eyes with the childishness of the doll boy and his drama. Now, turning his attention to the creature in the chamber.” It’s uglier than Lucky’s fetish for fucking seal lions. It is only worthy to be incinerated, it’s life holds no meaning, no purpose to the advancement of mankind, in its quest for existence and 4chan memes. It’s nothing but a stain on the windshield to be wipe off with a wet rag.” He commented on the vampiric creature, as his voice was unconcerned with the creature’s presence here, merely wanting it to be deleted from the mortal plane, as he normally perceives things.

[Purnelaw]

Artemi had remained relatively silent throughout the entire elevator ride, although so was everyone else. However, the lack of interaction wasn't bothering him, as he kept himself preoccupied with wondering if there were any actual emergency alternatives for the giant elevator. To him, it seemed as quite a security oversight, as many vital personnel could be trapped if- when a containment breach occurs. This fear was somewhat compounded when he saw the first 'ASP' on display, fast, aggressive, and already agitated. He crossed his arms and stepped in closer to the group.
"While we can debate the reasons for keeping presumably dangerous anomalies alive," he shot a quick glance over in Victor's direction as he spoke, "I would debate whether having a glass window in a corridor that has clear access to the elevator is a good idea." He dropped his hands to his waist, "Personally, I'd have that thing secured in a properly reinforced chamber and behind a blast door or two for safe keeping."

[Kalmaktamatarmakunta]

The Sarkites had carefully studied the area by a plethora of methods, from satellite maps of the area's surroundings (themselves quite obviously unreliable given the circumstances, but at least offered ideas as to means of transportation), to information by infiltrators and sympathizers among the facility staff, to astral projection by scouting low-ranked sorcerers, to extrasensory perception reconnaissance. The Devoted of Nedukh, a cult based among the Atkemrian deserts' nomads, were the primary scouting forces deployed by the Sarkites, using the vast wisdom and enhanced perception their abilities included and courtesy of their patron Klavigar's powers. Reinforcements from the extradimensional bases of the Deathless Empire would multiply intelligence gathering assets by hundredfold however, as they offered the superior technologies that were the tip of the iceberg of the forces developed over millennia by an army of Ion preserving its strength.

Various probes of the ASP facility had allowed the Sarkites to chart out the collective psyche of its current occupants. From such a map it was very easy for Sarkic commanders to identify the various visitors by virtue of their attitudes being radically different from the longer-experienced local staff, who generally bore the sentiment that nothing should happen today. Karcist Kaihi, reconnaissance officer, found this not unreasonable. After all, knowing their job, one could only hope that all is uneventful, especially when visitors of the sorts he'd heard about were around. Alas, Ovan would not let it remain so.

Within other realms, the temporary communion's participant groups moved their donations to the mission into position, readying to begin the storm of blood and flesh that would soon befall the ASP and those unfortunate enough to decide to visit the facility on such a day. These 'refuge' realms were also being used for the transit of forces of cults of more remote regions in regular worlds, access to them granted thanks to their common faith. These worlds, which always cloaked themselves with the rancid smell of decay, were now rumbling with steps of marching columns and operation of organic machinery, and voicing loudly an unprecedented bloodlust. Even copses of sinew had began to communicate their succour by rhythmically vibrating along with the parade of the god-eating fighters.

In this plane where the skies were perennially black or dark-red like dried blood, Karcist Isonsiitin was not at all concerned that his feet made of hard keratin was gripping tightly onto bone and flesh which had been cultivated into a large platform for purposes of reviewing military parades. While his genes remained mostly consistent with that of any normal human being, he had grafted onto himself so many organic augmentations as part of his pursuit of godhood that he had began to resent the pretentiousness it suggested and wore a thick chitin coat to cover the goulash of huge tendrils, miniature laboratories the shape of insect eggs, openings to hammerspaces, and various reinforced keratin shapes that allowed him to transform into an organic ramjet, all typically expected from a seasoned flesh-shepherd. His seemingly human face was more of just a mask, the right eye replaced with a glimpse of porcelain-like skin and maggot-like organisms crawling from and into the cracks and creases between.

Delicately packed into rows and columns were thousands of humanoids, figures whose silhouettes were recognizable as nearly human until their fangs and blades flashed before an observer's eyes. Their faces were long deprived of what they once possessed, and their new appearances were tailored to indicate that in every possible way. Their teeth were now spike-like and vertically arranged, and the bricks of muscle were to simply enable tearing whatever was unlucky enough to be caught between their slender and sharp claws. The hands of some other of these figures were more handy for actually holding weapons, or in many cases fit into them as a glove would, and less commonly there were those with still-human faces, but were equally capable of transfiguring parts of themselves into the obscenities of biology next to them. Their uniforms were first the aura of infestation, then the stench of their flesh, and finally their carapaces of keratin meant to shrug off small arms to the same extent a couple of kevlar vests do.

Far more abominable puzzles of organic material erected greater images of terror behind this army, and rightfully so. While access to higher, godly powers did form a major base for Adytum's powers, the laws of physics remained consistent in most planes, and so were the concepts of contraptions that utilized them. The karcists that had first in their minds birthed ideas such as organic ramjets and electromagnetic wave sensors saw the exploitation of physics as yet another exercise of using blind gods to one's advantage, abusing these rules to their own advantage they could turn most adversaries into ash or their own, while ultimately they themselves were to transcend it in their promised earned divinity. Put simply, these behemoths of various appearances were organic counterparts to much-familiar mechanical military technology, built as how Sarkites interpreted the needs of weaponry and from what they had access to. From aircraft to missiles to armour, each component of conventional warfare was grown and fashioned from living tissue.

Isonsiitin stepped down from the platform and strode before the lines of 'infantrymen', still barely controlling their savage growls or the display of their tusks, followed by a company of võlutaari, seductive in countenance yet also flashing acuteness with their crystalline eyes, and other subordinate commanders, while a choir began to out of nowhere orchestrate a foreboding melody with instruments of bone, sinew and of course throats, that only made the scene bear more eerie resemblance to an actual military parade. Isonsiitin stepped past heavily covered men before chitin-keratin-built armoured vehicles and also of biological weapons delivery platforms, solemnly standing for inspection.

Dragging six concubines wound around his body performing unspeakable acts while their amygdalae were almost shut down, Isonsiitin inquired a resolved yet silent officer, taking careful measures to not tip his centre of mass as he turned his head. "Are the soldiers politically reliable, general?"

"What is considered reliable these days, excellency?" came the confident reply, assuring with its stone-firm tone. "The simple man of Adytum's armies is doing just fine."

"He is the arch-enemy of the ignorants and the gods, and thus loyal to Ion, and his Klavigar, and their ideals. He doesn't care about the rest."

As the officer stepped back onto the platform as they made a circle around the area, the bare bodies circling Isonsiitin changed position, one covering his face and obstructing his vision. For respect of this occasion, with his bare hands he torn through the pristine physique a wide aperture for visibility. The concubine failed to complain as if her throat was ripped out before, and continued to practice total submission to the Karcist's authority.

"Soldiers, you must rid the destination of your journey of the ignorants. The fate of the pieces of gods contained within are in your hands."

"Prepare to march!"

The throat-singing and music had suddenly took a triumphant and jubilant turn, and now had the participation of much of the army. The song vibrated through the plane and would soon tear a hole through it. Every fibre of existence was now shaking with ever-increasing vigor. The choir turned into a mass incantation, and as the pitch changed once more, so did the assembled legions' location. Riding on these enchanted waves they advanced towards the objective.

---

The first gift on first meeting for the ASP and its visitors was to descend from the skies, which were still blue in this part of the multiverse. To the Sarkites the region still reeked of innocence, which was to be changed very soon.

Sections of the sky were suddenly transmuted into a shade of red comparable to a blooming rose. And from this emerged a roughly tapered shape, descending at about 300 meters per second, before a rocket engine in the rear ignited, tailing the object with a bright flash which streaked through the sky, providing further acceleration for the strobile, though its real purpose was to allow the projectile to function as a ramjet more efficiently. As it fell further, air was compressed through the inlet and combusted with fuel, expelled from the exhaust in the rear to produce thrust that eventually allowed the missile to attain the speed of Mach 1.9, or nearly 652 meters per second, which was to transform to an amount of kinetic energy devastating for its targets. It was unthinkable that this was in fact built of organic materials, its durability in the heat of the ramjet engine a product of the composite used for its construction that incorporated metal particles in a matrix structure, as well as using extraordinarily durable proteins developed by Sarkic mastery of biotechnology.

Falling at a nearly completely vertical angle the organic missile's kinetic energy penetrator perforated the ground mercilessly. The warhead, 100 kg in weight, exploded once it had became lodged deep in the complex at about 150~250 meters below the surface, raising the temperature rapidly while the blast's forces found their effects multiplied as the weapon detonated in tight space, increasing greatly pressure and the power of the ensuing shockwaves. These floors would very soon become inferno for its unlucky inhabitants who would be likely burnt to death if not torn apart by the blast. Following the first missile, 2 more descended upon the ground the facility was under, each giving to the target the same destruction. This was followed by 6 more projectiles, smaller, but no less deadly, even if their payloads were different.

Also managing to place themselves within the subterranean complex through their high-power penetrators, these missiles had a much weaker blast, which only served to disperse quickly a petrifying plague - the Red Death, a weapon that turned victims into aggressive jumbles of flesh and landscapes into oceans of bloody muscle. An improved variant of the typical "infect and infest" weapons even the Sarkites found excessive to use, it was deployed here in recognition of the danger some of the visitors posed. The rate of infection development of this biovar was significantly accelerated such that individuals shed skin and grew tendrils within an hour of substantial contact, and the vague resemblance of consciousness larger groups of the pathogen developed was instructed during programming to prioritize sealing off escape routes of 'prey', compensating for the slightly slower rate of infestation via spread-out tissue growth that would have been further complicated by the lack of organic material and surfaces to appropriate in the environment.

Each warhead released billions of individual microorganisms, which constituted a lethal dose to immediate victims, and would allow for rapid development of tissue in the areas it first came into contact with. Its spread would be helped further by entry into the ventilation system that would carry it across the facility. The bio-weapon formed a means of area denial, though it was used with the intention to effortlessly slaughter opposition while reducing resource usage on other units to allow the ASP's objects in custody to be safely retrieved once the entire area had been overrun. For now however, the priority of this infection was to seal off escape routes as well as denying easy passage within the facility, and it will be quite some time before it develops strength enough to endanger any wisely set up survivors' pockets. At least one of these would hit close to the entrance to the abandoned tram system, perhaps not by intention, rendering access to it extremely difficult for would-be escapees.

Tunnels began to open among the sand dunes, from which figures of about 4 meters in height with a gorilla-like stature and gait, armoured by bony plates their faces and front were clad in, crawled for the entrance, followed by chitinous shells with surprisingly uniform and smooth design, rolling forward on wheels and overall resembling BTR-80s and other wheeled armoured personnel carriers. Other vehicles of such bizarre appearances and properties would appear too, crackling and rumbling as they rolled on, among them what could be referred to as equivalents of the MT-LB, the BMP-2, the T-72 and even the ZU-23-4 Shilka. The tunnels roughly circled the facility's area, and from this deadly necklace flowed out a display of Sarkic military equipment and capabilities. Behind the vehicle columns were foot-soldiers, no less terrifying in appearance with the mutations they had undergone, and able to inflict gory deaths in a variety of ways.

The defences that surrounded the entrance would be overwhelmed with both the numbers and firepower of this force; in this case losses were of no concern to the Sarkites. Bio-lasers, hornet-like organisms functioning as bullets, and organic rocket artillery were to blanket any opposition to this fright-inducing horde reducing resistance to ashes in no time and picking off more critical installations. Once the surface was secured, the attackers searched for surface vents necessary to sustain air exchange within the compound, and deployed the Red Death to more efficiently remove resistance from within. Through the entrance the assaulters dropped virus-contaminated explosives, disabling the elevator as well as creating further infestation zones to increase the misery the ignorants shall suffer today.

A roughly 30 kilometer radius perimeter was to be established around the entrance defended by the Sarkite forces, which by now were to number 2,600 infantry and 120 vehicles and 'heavy organisms' in total. Patrols were to scout the ground above the complex for breakthroughs and quash such attempts, while barricades and positions were set up to intercept any attempt at relieving the facility. The sand once again seeped away to reveal more holes, this time from which large 'eyes' functioning as organic lasers, as well as living surface-to-air missile installations, would emerge, alongside another type of flesh-pillar that emitted a deafening clicking sound for echolocation, as well as yet another species that emitted radio waves as some sort of low-frequency radar. These collectively formed an air defence grid meant to defeat any attempt to use air power to infiltrate the perimeter, and it would be with these measures the will of the Sarkic forces be voiced perspicuously.

Ovan chuckled, his course of action not truly the most efficient, but palpably among the most sadistic. Reinforcements were well on their way to bolster the garrison to about twelve thousand if possible, but even with what has been accomplished so far, a mountain of difficulties and sorrows would have materialized before the occupants of the facility.

[A m e n r i a]

Several explosions were heard and felt. The underground facility rumbled and the vampire mage struggled to keep himself standing. He quickly turned to Cavalier, his expression now of belligerent urgency. "My knife! Give me back my knife! Whoever's attacking us, we must make sure they don't get their hands on it!"

[Atkemri]

ASP foundation floor 1

"I'll tell you what they've done. They've killed who knows how many. They are dangers to humanity even if they don't know it. Another comment like that and I may have to consider throwing you in one of these cells." Cavalier scoffed as she looked at Alfred in disgust.

Cavalier noticed the fighting going on between the boy and a newcomer sighing she simply turned and shook her head no.

"Artimi that is not a ordinary window
. It's the kind of glass they use on the Limo the American President uses. We are fine." Cavalier sounded annoyed and began moving to the next cell.

Explosions were then felt throughput the facility and Cavalier was looked horrified. "You know what Let's do that Daywalker. Everyone we're going on a little detour to the armoury. Alexandria and Lao get i in front" This caused the Slavic woman and one of the asians from before to run in front of the group.

ASP Liberation Front, hideout

"That would be much apprciated Elder. Our operations are almost ready. I'd like to thank you for your support in our efforts. Our assault is ready." The leader of the Front stood up and gestured towards a man. The attack and drill were ready.

[Prussian Polish Commonwealth]

retag

[Gogol Transcendancy]

OOC: I'm assuming Adeline was already tagging along with Dr. Cavalier's group when the attack started, because making a frontal entrance now would be rather difficult.

It was only thirty minutes into the tour when the facility had been spontaneously bombed by a group of mad Cronenberg monster wannabees. By typical ARD mission standards, that meant it was shaping up to be a relatively good day.

"I'd certainly be up for an armory run", she said to Cavalier, as the smartmatter surrounding her endoframe shifted, changing her appereance from a fairly unassuming looking, if attractive, female scientist to a featureless, nearly invisible metamaterial statue with a vaguely human shape. She pulled out her laser pistol and checked it, plugging into her internal power supply.

As she ran with the group, she checked in with her transport several levels above her - a small, single person, sphere shaped SSTO craft roughly the size of an SUV. It had automatically gone invisible the moment the attack had started, and evidently hadn't been spotted yet. That'd change the moment it tried to lift off, of course, but for now she was content to let it wait and watch. Whether they had anything that could take it out if she attempted to use it as a ride back to her orbiting - and alas unarmed - ship later on was more in question, though - she didn't think the Shilkas would be able to hurt it, but the bio-lasers looked quite a bit nastier.

[Prussian Polish Commonwealth]

Oberst von Hesse swore under his breath, while Jan grimaced and Hans nonchalantly lit up a cigarette. The Fallschirmjaegers behind them went for their carbines-before remembering that they were confiscated.
Carl von Hesse looked at Dr Cavalier. "Good fucking job with site security, Doc Froggy, over at the Abwehr we'd have blanketed the fuckers with a few dozen MLRS trucks by now."
Jan sighed. "Oberst, lay off her and let's just get to the armory."
Hans chuckled. "Finally I get to use the blessed HE gyrojet rounds I picked up from the armory the other day."
The 3 rushed to the armory with the rest of the group, their Fallschirmjaeger team following.

[Shwe Tu Colony]

"I'll tell you what they've done...

The explosions were enough to throw Sekka briefly off balance, although he quickly stabilized himself by summoning shadow tentacles at his feet, these tendrils firmly rooting themselves in the floor without tearing holes in them. D'aillisioux, meanwhile, jumped into the air, barely missing the roof. When he landed, he was hyperventilating & shivering, his hands seemingly grabbing something near his throat while the short ponytail on his head curled into a spiral. "Yes, a visit to the armory to reacquire what weaponry we have would be excellent, with the increasing threat to the foundation building," Sekka said, "I am able to handle most foes just fine with what magic & flourishes I can assault with, as can D'aillisioux..." With that, he noticed how the boy's hair had curled. "Ah, Urgash's coils, not again!" he said, glancing over to the kindly Vaalkyne, who seemed to also be ready to get moving & was making no effort to help the Doll, "Still, we must move."

Sekka then stepped into a portal that sent him back out after he entered it, "Ah devils, someone is interrupting our teleportation abilities! D'aillisioux?" He turned towards the Doll as a wormhole-like hole of mauve fabric materialized in front of the latter, who limped into it while frenziedly grasping at something at his throat. After falling in, he was gently ejected out, at which point Sekka threw one of the lavenders from earlier at him, calming him down enough that he could walk with stability. Additionally, a few shadow tendrils materialized in the air around him & took hold of some sort of invisible ring around the boy's throat, thereby freeing his hands from having to stay there. "Aight then, time to get moving," Sekka then said, moving near the front but not totally so & beckoning the still slightly frightened D'aillisioux to follow him. Upon closer inspection, he was not truly walking, but instead his motion was done by spider-like robotic legs that crawled along the floor.

The first gift on first meeting for the ASP and its visitors was to descend from the skies...

Above, the wind seemed to become ominously still, or at least it slowed down. With it came a sense of something sinister manifesting, & peculiar, small fires appeared near any unfortunate attacker after they had dropped & used several explosives. While starting off as seemingly harmless, the blazes would quickly begin to grow before finally bursting in a brilliant flash of light that would briefly blind anyone nearby. During this growth process — which seemed impossible, as there was nothing much for the fires to consume — the smoke emitted from each of them would group into a column above each one that then gained a horrified expression. Moments after, the smoke would dash towards whoever was nearest, potentially tearing a hole through them, & vanish, leaving behind only a putrid odor of deacy. If the Sarkite forces had any method of detecting magical energy, they would feel enormous amounts radiating from deeper in the ASP, where D'aillisioux was, while the strange occurrences above emitted a similar magical signature to him, as though implying he was the source of them.

[Fardhin]

Room of ASP 015, "The Deal-maker"
Through pitch black, darkness an eerie chuckle is followed by an ever-changing voice heard differently by each person. Chains rattling can be heard as the deal-maker laughs. "What is that now I hear and see? Your end of the bargain running out of supply? If you cannot provide me my deals, then I will look for them myself."

Suddenly, the nearby wall disappears into ash, as what sounds similar to the flick of fingers is heard; opening the room up for the Deal-maker and bringing in light. No longer could he be seen in the room, yet his voice is still heard. "I will wait, but if I find your end of the bargain lacking; then the deal is over."

[Greater vakolicci haven]

ASP Foundation, first floor

Alfred paused, his eyes going backwards and forwards from Vrone to Cavalier. Hands had gone to weapons all over the Havenic delegation, and Kadus' arm-mounted gun was fully extended.
"If you were to do that," he quietly told her, "You wouldn't survive the minute. Don't threaten me again."

She wasn't given much of an opurtunity to respond however, as explosions began to rock the massive facility; Kadus immediately rushed to the front of the group, Moore taking one of the sides and Alfred the other.
"We appear to be under attack," Vrone said dryly, "And it's not even me doing it. I suppose you didn't expect this to occur. Shall I ask for Elder's support in defeating your invaders?"

ASP Liberation Front
Elder relaxed in his chair, his consciousness extending out into the pre-breeched pathways he had dug in the ASP technical security system. The spirit, the demon, whatever he was, began to inject itself into the electronic systems of the foundation; door control panels, security monitors, all screens changed to a simple message.
'Error 312: Elder.'

[Democratic Exodian Territories]

Clarke, put off by the woman's coldness, backed off both physically and mentally. The ABSD team exited the elevator, all a bit too tense and alert.

As they approached the containment chamber, staring at 004 like a chimpanzee at the zoo, Alcono tensed up- he'd seen similar beings and their nature at the age of just 14- he still couldn't shake the memory of the blood splatters on his school uniform. His hand instinctively moved towards his Eagle, as he flicked off the safety, but still didn't draw it. He hoped the glass was seriously reinforced.
Seeing Daywalker move his hand towards the glass, he made up his mind and brandished his pistol, pulling back its heavy slide with a firm click. "Don't you dare." he said, a building stiffness in his voice. "You make one more move towards that window, both you and that fucking bloodwhore will be dead in an instant."
With everyone staring at him, he calmed down, putting its barrel to the ground. "Should have taken my rifle with me- could put that thing down with a silver-trace before it even gets close."

The facility rocks, the force of an explosion aboveground echoing.

Everyone, at once, was on high alert.
"Fuck! Knew this was going to happen at one point during our little journey, but-" Reissen started, as Clarke cut him off- surprising the ABSD team, as this was something she did rarely.
"It's too early. If anyone within the ASP would want to break out the detainees or kill us, they'd do it at the lower levels, where we would be not well armed and unwary due to the success of the trip. This is a straight-up external attack, I know it."
She drew out her revolver for the first time, holding it with a sort of quiet authority.

"Dr. Cavalier, I'm really sorry- but you need to surrender the facility to us should this breach continue. All we know so far is that you're a civilian specialist dragged into this." She motioned to Sergeant Volkoff and Corporal Andretta to stay, then spoke to Reissen. "Go retrieve our weapons and gear. I'll contact home base and send in a response."

Reissen, not one to think twice, started to the armory, falling in step next to the Prussian-Poles, with Alcono and Lieutenant Fonsworth right behind. Meanwhile, Clarke tapped an earpiece and began to speak, while Andretta and Volkoff, pistols tense, stared at Adeline and her transformation.

[GHOST LOCATION]
Exodian Army Biological Security Division, Headquarters and Main Retainment Center

A group of officers and personnel waited in a large, dimly-lit office, clustered around a set of monitors and servers, as a stocky, olive-skinned young man in urban-camouflage fatigues and a pale, bespectacled young woman with a gray combat jacket over a white blouse, navy skirt, and red tie. The group gave a short salute once they entered.

“Brigadier Graysol, Colonel Solomon.” They acknowledged. “We’ve got an emergency on our hands."

“Let me see.” Graysol said, setting herself down into a chair, while Solomon stood over her shoulder and watched.

“It’s Brigadier Clarke.” An officer piped up. “Telling us a breach has potentially occurred, while confirming an external attack on the facility. We’ve also detected a large explosion, and what looks like a Rift occurrence above Atkemrian skies- but it’s nothing like we’ve ever seen before. Definitely not Amenrian or any known civilizations that use portals to infiltrate Earth. Sky looks damn red.”

Another soldier spoke. “Oddly enough, it doesn’t look like there’s been any distress signals from the ASP, or the Atkemrian military, despite the large detonation.”

Graysol and Solomon looked at each other for a moment.

“Best send in an Aurora, high-altitude, to check out the ground and the Rift. Let’s have some fighter-bombers, fighters or surface-attacks on standby, as well.”

Graysol then looked at the personnel in the room, before adjusting her own earpiece and sending a message over the intercom.

“I need an Aurora to perform a high-altitude flyover to investigate an anomaly over Atkemri- over the ASP, to be exact. I also need 2 XF-45s and 2 LEV-18s on standby on the runway.”

…

A hangar, hidden amongst the mountains of the southern Exodian islands, opened its doors up, as a black, sharp figure, trailing flames, emerged into the sky. As the Exodian archipelago and the Gulf of Mexico slipped away from the pilot’s view, he switched on his turbojet’s afterburners and plotted a course over Atkemri, ready to deploy his cameras- and a few defense systems, if necessary.

[Atkemri]

ASP Foundation floor 13, Dealmakers cell

The wall disintegrating was a unwelcome surprise to the scientists even more than the explosions above them. Dr.Dahkt, there for his daily check of the facilities, quickly ran to the microphone in the cell's control panal

"ASP 015 we will get you a subject to deal with. Please wait. We'll get one soon." He grabs a nearby scientist and throws them towards the door. Unfortunately the door had not been opened causing the scientist to slam against the door and knocking her out in a quite embarrassing manner. Dr.Dahkt approached the door and tried opening it. "Error 312:Elder"

Dahkt cursed under his breath. He was effectively stuck and all of the electronics had the same error. He turned to the other two in the room "This is bad, very,very bad, but at least it couldn't get worse right?" The other two in the room agreed with this statement... until they heard drilling outside the door

ASP liberation front, ASP foundation floor 13

The drills penetrated the walls of the foundation and out of those drills soldiers came crawling out desperate to avoid the automatic defence systems active in the facility. They began attempting to open doors to no avail. Most were confused, they were not told of elders involvement in their operation. For a while they just stood, unsure what they had to do next.

Behind them came a man bound in wires and metal. His hunched over body oddly gave off authority "Why are you all doing nothing? Pry the doors open you idiots!" yelled in his almost comically robotic voice. He walked to the door to the next section of the facility and single handedly ripped it open as he watched his men go through it "My name isn't Kane Eishenhower if my army can't open a door!"

ASP foundation floor one

Cavalier simply looked back at Von Hesse and flipped him off with a scowl on her face "Shut up Kraut. The Abwehr is a microscopic spec compared to the ASP.". As she continued leading the group Vrone talked about help from elder. She had felt she had heard that name before but could not exactly remember where. "If he'll get us out of this then fine. Use Elder."

Before she could react to anything else ASP 007 walked out of his containment cell covered in blood from head to toe holding a equally as bloody bat which was also covered in barbed wire. Dr.Cavalier turned to the rest of the group "Run." and began sprinting in the opposite direction.

[Kalmaktamatarmakunta]

Apologies for the atrociously short post, just getting some things moving.

The surface

It was anticipated that the targets had among them limited access to higher powers, alas their ignorance limited their proper use of it. Indeed, many of them would wield powers far from the path to a true ascendancy. Ovan and the other Karcists lamented this, completely carefree of a large cloud of smoke incinerating unlucky footsoldiers at the entrance. This had only indicated to them that they were scammed again when they were purchasing from the black market the vials of Red Death, and reinforced their distrust of merchants, even merchants of their own faith. One of the commanders swore under his breath that he would flay alive that accursed trader then use his body to incubate giant spiders, certainly an unpleasant experience.

The order in response to the 'smoke monster thing' as reported by the dim-witted frontliners was very simple, and no attempt to confront or combat this occurrence was made, which was surprising. Sarkic forces simply withdrew from the vicinity of the entrance, leaving a 1 km perimeter which was to be garrisoned and surveyed. This was of course not the only course of action taken, as it was in itself quite ineffectual.

Taking a bold but reasoned guess, the Karcists hypothesized that the forces conducting the counterattack relied on detection of any of the following: life, psyche, and hostile intent. Fortunately, their effort would be conserved by a solution that instantly satisfied all three possibilities. A morbidly obese woman concealing her physical deformities via a black cloak produced from an amphora a stenching, orange, viscuous liquid, with white and red particles suspended in between. Via portals, this curiosity-hooking mixture would flood the desert surrounding the entrance from many points.

After flooding the area, the liquid condensed into chunks of flesh, living and sentient, but had no independent way of communicating or locomotion. Each was vigorous with the energy of life, possessed a psychic mind albeit largely unused, and in their neurons, constantly expressed thoughts of murdering every last living being in the ASP facility. The beings formed structures similar to barnacles. Their psychic signatures were amplified both by the high capacity and complexity of their minds as well as efforts by the controlling karcists to do so, blanketing much of the area in emissions rendering distinguishing individual minds impossible. Any sensors that made use of life, technological or magical, would also be cluttered to become unusable. For the defenders, thousands of false targets for their pyrokinesis trick had popped up, while the sheer quantity and sudden introduction of emissions would also be able to overload weaker sorcerers.

This was essentially the application of the concept of chaff, or rather decoys in general. to anomalous warfare.

In addition to this, patrol units were ordered to scatter evenly in two dimensions, again distributing their organic and intent signatures. With this, the surface would now be practically covered entirely by such emissions, rendering precise responses based on detection of them extremely difficult overall.

The question of 'magical' signatures was another matter. Sarkic fleshcrafting was unique in both its methods and channels employed, and was witnessed by very few to design systems or acquire capabilities specifically to trace such, while the products of such rapid organic engineering were in themselves non-anomalous most of the time, at least the case was with the foot-soldiers. However, it was still possible the foe detected Hume levels, or other measures of normality breach. The protection of command and control of the operation was critical as well, and though the operations rooms were tens of kilometers away from the entrance, they were now to be moved regularly, and covered via more decoys, which were the barnacle organisms from before but with self-sustaining low-cost dimensional anomalies or material transmutation phenomena to inflate the Hume level of the region overall and cloaking the work of the fleshcrafters, whose own Hume levels were almost normal when not casting incantations or performing other of their magic anyway.

Nevertheless, the counterattack, inflicting significant casualties on the pioneer battalion that arrived at the entrance, did deter the Sarkic forces from attempting to venture into the facility for quite a while, and it was decided that no assault will be made for a long duration. Orders were issued for units to be solely occupied with patrolling the surface and making sure no other force breaches the perimeter.