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ENTRY # : |
76 |
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TITLE : |
ILLEGAL PROCEDURES |
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ARC : |
RAGE OF THE MACHINES V |
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ENTERED BY : |
Hazardman / Templar |
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DATE RANGE : |
June 22nd, 2001 |
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HEROES : |
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OPPONENTS : |
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PEOPLE : |
Ariadne,
Agent DeSalvo,
Hazardman,
Dr. Peter Hillary,
Reporter Stephanie Lee,
Replicants,
Sentinel,
Victor Stewart
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OTHERS : |
Beachside Scrap & Auto,
Coast City,
F.O.R.C.E.,
The Industrial Revolution,
Knightrider 1,
The Minute Men,
The Purple Ray Device,
The Rock Against Registration Benefit Concert,
Sirenos Inc.,
Stronghold,
Strongpoint Temporary Holding Facility,
The SkullBox (Communicator)
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ENTRY : |
"[I]t is a common observation here that our cause is the cause of all mankind,
and that we are fighting for their liberty in defending our own."
- Benjamin Franklin
Log Entry by: Hazardman.
In the pre-dawn hours of June 22nd, we flew at wavetop level back into Coast City and put the
Knightrider down in a far corner of the Beachside scrapyard (an impressive feat of piloting in the
dark, if I do say so myself). Black Blur took off to reconnoiter our base and retrieve the
Purple Ray device and some personal stuff we had left behind (not expecting to have become
fugitives the way we have). Cipher meanwhile headed off for Sirenos to find out more info on
what had happened to Dr. Stewart, and to retrieve some tools to work
on Mordred.
The rest of us sat around and debated what to do next. I don't remember who first suggested
springing Dr. Stewart from jail, but somehow that plan began to grow in all our minds. For some of
us, it was out of loyalty to an old comrade who was unfairly imprisoned. For others, it was
because they felt that Victor's expertise would be needed to stop the plans of the evil robots.
The local newscasts weren't saying much, other than that he was currently in the dock cellblocks,
awaiting transport to Stronghold. If we were going to take any action, it would have to be before
such transport was made, as none of us really felt like trying out the defences of that superprison.
While we were mulling over this, a call came in over the communicator for Templar from someone whom
we had almost written off. Phoenix.
Phoenix was aware of our situation and wanted to get back together with us. He was even here in
Coast City! As Templar and he tried to make arrangements to meet (without betraying the details
of that meeting with the Federal Agents we assumed were tapping our communicators), the distress
call came in.
Cipher had been waylaid by FORCE troopers at Sirenos and had been captured!
We immediately contacted Black Blur to get him to proceed to her assistance while StarSeed took
off from the jet. The closest person to her, however, was Phoenix who also took off to the rescue.
The rescue, while successful, was a brutal affair. Phoenix was not in the mood to screw around
with possible reinforcements en route and charged in without restraint, seriously injuring some of
the feds. By the time the very speedy Blur arrived on scene, there was little for him to do but
use the Purple Ray device to heal the worst wounded of the agents and almost come to blows with
Phoenix (whom he had never before met). We all breathed a sigh of relief when all the team members
arrived back at the jet.
We had a lot of new information to absorb. Our base, still smouldering from the aftermath of
the robotic attack of a few days ago, had in our absence also apparently
become a battle for some gangs, though no-one appears to have (in Blur's impression) penetrated
into the base proper. We also heard a little about what Phoenix had been doing while in hiding,
and he claimed innocence on the disappearance of the Federal Agent that had led to his going
underground (blaming a conspiracy with whom he had refused to "play ball").
There was also a nasty argument between him and Templar, Blur and StarSeed over his tactics against
the Troopers at Sirenos. Were we to try to take the foolhardy chance to liberate Dr. Stewart,
they didn't want to see any other people get unnecessarily harmed in the attempt. Phoenix,
meanwhile was concerned that the attempt would fail if they "pussy-footed" around, and thought that
some injury was inevitable to anyone who stood in our way, and that the political differences would
be negligible between serious and minor wounds to them. In the end, an uneasy truce between the
tactical and strategic considerations was achieved when Phoenix agreed to pull his punches against
the ground troops.
Meanwhile, even as this debate was raging, Cipher was getting terrifying new information out by
hacking Mordred's memory. The use of replicants to frame us was merely the first stage in the
master plan of the machines. It was to be followed up by the use of the replicants at a major
public event to "commit mass slaughter" and turn the world against us Exotics. Our minds leapt
to the most visible venue for this to occur - the upcoming Rock Against Registration
concert!
There was more bad news from Templar. Although he couldn't positively verify that Dr. Stewart was
still in the dockside holding facility, he did encounter a mentalist watching for attempts like
his. When combined with the fact that Victor had still to be transported to Stronghold despite the
long hours since his arrest, it seemed more than likely that we were walking into a trap.
Even so, the peril from the machine plot was such that we would have to take that chance.
At last (and far later than we would have liked; past noon by the time we were ready), our team
was ready to attempt the assault. I was not to be taking part in this one. I was to remain behind
and keep the jet ready for immediate dust-off when the mission ended. Also remaining would be
Ariadne (still recuperating under the purple ray device from the wounds
she received in Chicago), Dr. Hillary (still confined) and Sentinel (who was trying to rig some
weapons and armour for himself from the various robotic chassis we had taken). Those who would
take part in the raid numbered Phoenix, Cipher, Sub-Zero, Templar, StarSeed and Black Blur.
Before they left, each one of us was asked to be sure that we wanted to be involved in this. We
were about to commit - for real - the crime for which we had been framed. We were going to attack
a Federal Installation. We were going to put ourselves above the law. And people were likely to
get hurt in the process.
In the end, the stakes were too high to pull back.
The rescue squad set forth.
- - -
Log entry by Andrew Mathers [Templar], 22.06.01
As he did not take part in the assault, Daniel has asked me to fill in the log as to what took
place. I admire his persistance in ensuring the completeness of the log considering our current
status. Knowing what I do of the Source's sense of humour, I also fully expect this record to
be read into evidence at our trials, should such come to pass.
Nonetheless, a record of all of this would not be amiss.
We arrived at the docks some time around one p.m.; about five hours or so later than I had wanted
to carry forth this attempt. There was a sizeable crowd of people outside the gates of the
facility, either protesting against us, or (a smaller contingent) demonstrating support for us
instead. There was also a television news van on scene with cameras rolling and that harpy
Stephanie Lee conducting interviews.
So much for low-profile.
As indicated above, they were waiting for us. Our actions the night before at Sirenos hadn't
exactly been subtle, and this action was predictable enough, though prehaps not for the reasons
they though. Phoenix had no sooner picked up the news van (intending to toss it through the main
gates) to begin the assault when he was engaged by Rightwinger and the Patriot and everything went
to hell in a handbasket.
This fight was perhaps even more confused and fragmentary than the usual. We had Phoenix and
Sub-Zero scrapping it out with Rightwinger, the Patriot and of all people the Scarlet Skater amidst
the crowd in front of the facility while FORCE Agents took potshots at them from inside the
perimeter. Meanwhile, Black Blur found himself engaged by another speedster (Lady Liberty) and
Cipher and StarSeed tangled with the White Knight near some warehouses to the north. As for myself,
after a brief (and vain) attempt to convince Stephanie and the rest of the civilians to flee, I
started out trying to find the mentalist that I could sense probing the battle, having been lucky
enough to be ignored by most of the big guns opposing us.
Soon enough, I was forced to ignore the mentalist (who wasn't doing anything particularly effective
anyway) as the weight of numbers threatened to turn the tide against us. Despite my distaste at
mucking around with the free will of others, I turned the Scarlet Skater's intentions off of
messing with us and on to distracting the guards inside the perimeter. I also tried to take
U.S. Agent (Rightwinger had changed his jolly pirate nickname) out of the fight, but only ended up
getting him pissed off at me. This distracted him long enough for Phoenix to knock himself out
trying to charge bodily through the opposing goon, leaving U.S. Agent woozy enough to be finished
off with a sleep spell.
Granted a bit of a breather, it looked like things were going pretty well for us, despite the
momentary loss of Phoenix. Sub-Zero was still tangling with Patriot, but it appeared that White
Knight was on the defensive against Cipher and StarSeed. The mystery mentalist - who bore the
presumptuous monicker "Bishop" had made an appearance, only to be imprisoned by Cipher. Cipher
also momentarily imprisoned Lady Liberty (at which point Blur hit her with a nasty attack that
looked like it broke some ribs). I exploited this opportunity with a mental prod to get her to
withdraw from the combat to seek healing and was overjoyed when she took Bishop away in the
process.
The fight now moved inside the perimeter, and against the FORCE agents and troopers assembled
there. Things were looking pretty good for us.
Then Omega Squad arrived.
By the film footage, their response time was incredibly fast. Their ground effect vehicle was
overhead and they were rapelling or jetting down around where Phoenix and U.S. Agent lay, groggily
trying to throw off the effects of the fight. Before either could do anything, there was the sharp
whine of their sonic weapons as the Agents indiscriminately blasted both of them, and turned on the
rest of us.
Even as Liberty and Bishop returned to the field of battle, that mentalist having helped the
speedster to throw off the effects of my manipulations.
If we had been more aware of what was happening (or had more time in this wild melee to see what
was going on) we probably would have attempted to withdraw at this point. Phoenix was down.
Sub-Zero was still entangled with the Scarlet Skater's bolas, and woozy from a couple of sonic blasts
himself. StarSeed and Cipher were still trying to put down the incredibly tenacious White Knight.
Black Blur was reeling from some mental attacks by Bishop. Skater, who had been drawing off some
of the enemy attention, was down. And as for me, I had been blinded momentarily by one of the last
remaining Beta Squad Agents, and was struggling to act mentally against them while taking withering
fire from a handful of Agents, Troopers and Lady Liberty (who had not been impressed with my
mental meddling).
Then things began to turn around, spearheaded by the speed of the Black Blur.
His first act was to save me, knocking her away from where she had been kicking me repeatedly in
the head (or so I was able to observe later, from seeing the footage. At the time, blind, I
thought someone was taking a jackhammer to my mystic defences.). He knocked her away, and left
her bleeding and broken on the ground. It was ironic that the world saw Black Blur as being
responsible for this brutal effect, given his stance on my side in our "debate" over tactics
beforehand. Having spoken to him it seems that the desperation of the situation was largely
responsible, aided by a large helping of bad luck in that every time he attempted to pull his
punch, she moved in an unexpected manner that foiled his intent to be "gentle". Nevertheless,
the footage of her broken body will haunt him - and us - from this point on.
After charging past Liberty, Blur continued in a high-speed pass through the FORCE Agents that
drew their fire away from the rest of us, and terminated it with a pass by Bishop that left him
senseless in the dust. From the verge of defeat, it seemed we now had momentum on our side.
Momentum personified in the form of Black Blur.
Just then came another shift in the battle.
Still "locked" into the mind of one of the Agents, preparing to paralyze him mentally as I had
a number of his comrades, I became aware that there was another factor involving itself in this
battle.
For it was not I who launched the powerful - yet subtle - domination into this Agent's mind that
ordered him to "open the cellblock doors".
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WRAPUP : |
The balance rested upon the blade of a knife. The group was slowly overcoming their opposition,
but Phoenix was down and they were still outnumbered. And now a third group was entering the
fray...
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