System Shock - Fight the Power!

[thesystemshock.livejournal.com]

Gods could be too arrogant. Such was the case of SHODAN, who had turned the Pods into a nightmarish zone where she could freely amuse herself and torture those that had come here.

But arrogance breeds pride which breeds mistakes. Instead of killing everyone off, she had decided to do this more slowly – watch them suffer in a slow agony, and, therefore had not expected them to fight back.

It had been a lucky shot, really, one in a million, But one of the people present that day had accidentally shot a tiny, insignificant object. A tiny little drone, that, once it had been the source of the power damper, had fallen. The tables were turned, and the goddess had been forced to retreat from the pods.

Now she was on a panicked mode, not only because some of the other people on the ship had managed to work their way into her system files, using another AI to send pointless images and sounds to her, distracting her from her task, but they knew how they could defeat her and gain their powers back.

It didn't take long for the message to be sent out, as the word quickly spread. Find the tiny little creatures, and shoot them down. SHODAN couldn't work their shields properly and once they were found, it was only a short matter of time before the powers returned to an area.

It would take time, but, finally, the tide of the battle was turning on the side of the crewmen and women. In vain, she was throwing her all; even more strange robot creatures, attacking in packs, but with hope on their side, they could win this...

[OOC - OKay go for it! NPC players, feel free to NPC as many robots as you like. Players, once your powers return, feel free to make as much scrap metal as you like, no need to have people NPC for you if you just want to write tags of them kicking ass.]

Comments

[fattynoparents]

She still wasn't entirely comfortable on a bike, but she had to admit it was better when someone else, someone more experienced was driving the thing. Chell, as much as she hated to admit it, was much more comfortable behind the trigger of a gun.

So this was a pretty good setup, all things considered. Zouichi could keep his eyes on the road while she scoped the area for enemies--which quickly made themselves known from a nearby roof.

With a quick tug on her driver's sleeve, she pointed to their location before readying her weapon.

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Zouichi nodded, then veered off to the right, taking note of the terrain nearby. His bike ran quiet, and there was some cover to take advantage of provided by the crumbling walls nearby, so if Chell could take advantage of the robot's current lapse in attention...

[fattynoparents]

It was times like these, be it running from the Ohm or robots, that Chell really wished she had her Portal Device. There was just something disquieting about being able to destroy with the pull of a trigger, but in this situation anything else would be a pointless waste of time. The ASHPD only helped her find creative ways around enemies, after all. These invaders needed to be destroyed.

She readied the rifle on her shoulder, closing one eye as she aimed, pretending she was searching for a tiny white panel across a bottomless chasm.

And...fire.

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Nice shot, Chell. Zouichi wasn't watching her too closely; he was keeping his eyes mostly on the road, in fact. But he did know the sound of a clean hit when he heard it.

"Ow ow ow!" wailed the Droideka as it fell from the roof. Zouichi still couldn't believe someone had programmed them to actually say 'ow' when someone hit them -- what was the point?

But while Chell had been aiming, Zouichi had removed one hand from the handlebars to aim a pair of pistol shots up ahead. Two droids fell over, sending out sparks from the holes that suddenly appeared in their metal-alloy chassis. They were almost immediately run over by the bike's wheels. "I haven't seen one of those power dampeners for a while, but there's one around here. I can feel it."

[fattynoparents]

Robots saying "ow ow ow" or "no hard feelings" or "I don't hate you" when you tipped them over or set them on fire was not necessarily new to Chell, and she watched the Droideka fall to the ground with the same stone-cold expression she gave most things.

Her brow furrowed a little at the mention of the power dampeners, mostly because they didn't have any effect on her. Which was nice, in one regard, but it also meant she couldn't exactly pinpoint where they were hiding.

All she could offer Zouichi was a shrug. Hopefully the dampeners weren't affecting him too badly?

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

That was cold, Chell. That was real cold. In fact, if they were on Winter Shore Leave right now, it would probably be the time to make some terrible ice pun.

Instead, Zouichi scanned the roofs of the buildings as they moved past. He could feel the influence of the dampener strengthening (which coincidentally meant he was weakening) as they approached its sphere of influence. And he thought he spotted it. Or something that the crowd of robots up ahead felt was of strategic importance, anyway; they were bunched up in front of a tall clock tower.

Zouichi turned them in the direction of the tower, his face grim. "This might get a little intense."

[fattynoparents]

Yeah. She really missed the ability to bypass dangers like this via Portal Device. Not that she didn't think they'd be incapable of storming this collection of robots--it just would have been so much easier to avoid them entirely.

Chell knew that Zouichi had somewhat superhuman abilities, but not the extent to which he had them. Obviously they were being dampened, which could certainly cost them in the inevitable melee they were approaching. She touched his shoulder, a concerned look on his face that clearly asked how much the device was affecting him.