** Taki Wars, Session 13. Nick's gotten a fair amount of material on DISC, and what it means to be part of it, as well as some general information. He's even got his own little room. It's little, but it's got the neccesities. It's Febuary 20th, 2005. And just as the door opens, Nick nearly passes out- but not quite- from the intense sensation he's being burned alive. Start. It's a very vivid experience- he'd swear he was actually being burned alive. * Guy walks in, carrying some stuff. (Where are we?) ( Your spartan room. ) * Nick sits upright in a flash, eyes wide. "Holy *shit*." * Guy chuckles. "I've never gotten that reaction out of anyone unless I had my sword out." TMI, dude. Anyway, I wasn't talking about you. * Guy shrugs. "Wrong sword. Anyways." * Nick runs a hand through his hair, still looking freaked out. "How's Nina?" * Guy pauses, and looks Nick over a bit more carefully. "... she's been demoted and suspended, and is under official orders not to so much as lay a toe out of this dimension." * Guy tosses a backpack at Nick. * Nick catches the pack. "..Suck. What's in here?" Open it up. * Nick manages to restrain the urge to pat himself all over for burn scars, and unzips the thing. The backpack has a datapad, uniform, and a badge with Nick's name on it. Also a black, oval thing which Nick recognizes as a Spring. ..What, no skirt? * Nick pulls the badge, datapad, and spring out. * Guy chuckles. "If you want one, all you have to do is ask." Nah, I'm alright. Might need a few other alterations, though. I, fer one, would not like to see my new partner in something he'd look awful in, though. * Nick glances over at Guy. "..Huh. New partner?" * Guy nods. "Yer under my care fer the moment." * Nick stands up, pulling the uniform out and inspecting it with a critical eye. "Well, as long as you don't act like my babysitter or anything.." * Guy , for the record, isn't wearing the standard uniform. He's got that black body armor of his on, that has a cable running to something on his back. Know any good tailors? * Guy shrugs. ..Know any mediocre tailors? * Guy shrugs again, then points at Nick. Ya don't have to wear tha thing if yeh don't want to. Unless it's a meeting or sum'thin. * Nick packs the uniform back where it was before. "It just needs a little fixing up." So, what next? I wanna feel ya out. See what you can do. * Nick just raises his eyebrow at that. "..Oh." Put on the spring. (It's put-on-able?) * Guy pulls out his datapad, and taps some stuff on it. (belt-clip.) * Nick slides the spring onto the top of his pants. "Alright." Activate it. * Guy activates his own, and stretches out to an impossibly thin pillar- so impossible he ceases to be there. * Nick switches the thing on, warping out as well. Reality welcomes Nick at a large, rectangular room. It's a solid grey, with green lines forming a grid on all sides, spaced at 4 feet apart. Guy is there too. * Guy reaches behind his back, and pulls out a empty sword handle- it's connected to the cord that was running to his back, it's apparently how it's attached. * Guy shifts his stance, and the handle grows a huge blade of plasma, contained within a rough sword shape. * Nick blinks. ..Um, wow? * Guy grins. "Let's see what you got, kid." Do *I* get a lightsaber? Maybe. Not yet. * Guy steps forward, and SWIPES at Nick with the flat of the burning plasma blade. * Nick leaps vertically, managing to clear the blade with only minor scorching on his sneakers. He lashes out with a foot when he lands, trying not to look like a total amateur. * Guy oofs lightly. Mostly the impact just gets absorbed by his body armor. * Guy swipes at Nick again with the flat of the blade. * Nick ducks under this blow, managing to keep his hair mostly intact. He hops up quickly with an uppercut. * Guy steps back from the uppercut, and steps forward again- this time with a big, meaty fist aimed at Nick's face. * Nick reels backwards, taking a moment to reorient himself before charging in with a low kick. * Guy deflects the kick by slamming the handle of his sword into it. "That's good." * Nick steps back, grinning and breathing normally. "Thanks. You hit like a car." * Guy chuckles. "You have no idea." My jaw begs to differ. * Guy grins. "If yere lucky and the situation becomes dire enough, you just may get to see somethin' amazin. Until then..." * Guy turns off his sword, and tucks the handle back onto his back. "Yeh got good reflexes, but yer still a bit green." Nothin' experience won't fix. You got the right mindset. * Nick rolls out his shoulders, adjusting his jawbone. "Cool. I like the idea of not getting my ass kicked every time I'm in a fight." * Guy scrathes the side of his nose. "Good on the pain. Yer not bawl'in, still on your feet, yer heads still workin'." Hurt less than falling off a mountain. * Guy recites, solemnly, "A cop has to be able to fight. Not to hurt, but to protect an' defend. That includes kickin' someones ass if the need arises." * Nick nods slowly. "Only one person I want to hurt, and I don't think you guys want him defended too much." * Guy nods. "I got no right idea 'bout how good you are at investigation, that'll have ta be found out on tha field." * Nick kneels down, rubbing his foot. * Guy chuckles mirthfully. "Ah guess yer first task can be to figger out how to get to the medlab." Oh, you're funny. * Guy pulls out his datapad, and taps that. "Yer spring's set to yer room. Figger out how to get ta medlab from there, then meet me at Nina's old office." * Nick makes an affirmative sound and activates his spring again. Reality stretches out, and back in- Nick's in his room. The backpack and it's contents are still there. * Nick stumbles over, turning on the datapad. "Map, map, where's the map.." The menu is rather intuitive- the map's not hard to find and pull up. * Nick sticks the badge into his pocket, slips the backpack on, and follows the map's directions to the medlab. Nick's in the residential area of HQ. It's in the north-middle area of the complex. A few blocks to the south is Medlab, which is near the center. * Nick heads south, trying not to swear too much on the way. Medlab is found easily. It look busy, but it's not overwhelmed- a nurse greets him right away. (Is she hot and female?) (Well, is the nurse, I guess. "She" is supposing too much.) * Nurse is hot and female. Hallajulelah! I like this place. Hey. Hey. Just the jaw? I think my foot's just tender, but I've had too many fractures to not have it checked. Oh. Well, come in. Let's get you checked up. * Nick heads inside, walking fairly normally. ..So, what's your name? * Nurse waits for Nick to follow- and then leads him through the people and hallways and rooms to an empty one with some medical equipment in it. Nurse Joy. * Nick grins. "Hey, nice name. I'm Nick, recently.. hired, I guess." * Nurse nods. "Sit down, please." She unclips a datapad from her waist, and starts tapping it. "Nick... Nick Anderson, new recruit, no medical on file." * Nick takes a seat. "..So, how long have you worked here?" * Nurse hmms. "Started four years ago, I'm just seasonal though." Ah, that's too bad. I'm just here four months a years. *she taps something, and the various medical instruments activate and scanning Nick* * Nick just leans back and relaxes. "No kidding. When do you leave?" * Nurse doesn't look up- she's too busy reading her datapad. "I got another month or so." Interested in dinner sometime? * Nurse does look up at that, a curious smile and a cocked eyebrow on. "Are you hitting on me, Nick Anderson?" The scanning instruments finish. * Nick grins a little. "Definitely." Maybe. *she looks down back at the datapad, then frowns.* That's odd... * Nick leans over, trying to get a glance. * Nurse turns it so Nick can see when she notices him trying. The datapad displays a fair amount of medical data- wieght, hieght, blood type, energy level, brainwave patterns, x-rays... Hey, I'm at *least* five-ten. Uncool. * Nurse points at the brainwave one. "You've got some odd patterns there, similar to insomnia victims." * Nick blinks. "..Oh, yeah, I haven't been sleeping much recently." * Nurse then points to the x-ray. "And here... you've got a microchip at the base of your spine, with some wire threaded from it to various parts of your brain." ... Get it out! * Nurse looks squarely at Nick. "Nick Anderson." Please remain calm, and sit back down. * Nick takes a deep breath, sitting back on the scanner-table. "I'm calm, I'm calm. I have a chip in my rear end, but I'm calm." ( err, top of the spine. ) (See, there goes the entire joke.) (C'mon, let him have an ass-chip.) ( Sorry. ^_^; ) ( ... augh, no. >_< ) (Okay! Editing note: Replace rear end with neck.) * Nurse fiddles some more with the datapad, and the medical instruments come around for another pass, focusing on his head. ... nnngh. It's in too deep to safely remove. ... and, by the same token, to install. But it's there. Just out of curiosity, what might happen if you try to take it out and mess up? ... you'd be an acceptable meal for a vegetarian. Or simply be paralyzed from the neck down. * Nick blanches. "Okay, chip stays. Can you tell what it does?" By the looks of it, it's at a delicate spot where your neck and brain connect, and it's got filaments... threaded all throughout your brain. ... whoever did this is a genius. Yeah, I have a pretty good idea about who that genius is. * Nurse shakes her head. "I don't know. At a guess... I'd say it could precisely stimulate whichever part of the brain it targetted." What part does it target? * Nurse scrutinizes her datapad. "It looks like it can get about 70 percent of your brain accurately." * Nick twitches at that. "..That's a lot of brain. Can I get a tinfoil hat or something?" I don't see how that would help. Good news, though. Other than that, and the insomnia, you're perfectly healthy. * Nurse says this with a false cheer. * Nick grins. "Well, hey, then everything's alright." You've got a lot of old injuries. Care to tell me about those? * Nurse goes over to one of the cabinets, and pulls out some vaguely arm and leg shaped casts, and some more. * Nick pulls up his shirt, gesturing to scars and rehealed bones. "Thrown through a desk. Stabbed. Stabbed. Fifty foot drop into the ocean. Skateboarding attempt. Cliff. Bridge." Wear these overnight. They'll make those old injuries reheal cleaner. * Nurse gestures to the piecemeal suit of casts. This one was a disagreement between me and a really big dog.. oh, thanks. * Nick stuffs what casts he can into the backpack and loads his arms up with the rest. He gives Joy another sloppy grin. "So, dinner?" * Nurse blinks at him for a moment. "... you don't give up, do you?" Haven't yet. * Nurse laughs, and smiles. "Okay, fine. You're the one with the spring. Where do we meet, and where's dinner going to be?" * Nick thinks on this. "Well, I'll pick you up at your room, and we can go get something in.. well, it'll be a surprise. Don't dress too warmly, though." * Nurse nods. "Well. I'm going to consult one of the veteran doctors about this chip. I'll tell you if anything is revealed." * Nick gives her a thumbs-up, almost drops a cast, and manages to rebalance his load as he heads out for the hallway by hopping on one foot for a second. * Nurse doesn't notice- she's already absorbed back into studying her datapad and walking somewhere. Nick is in the hallway! Hurt people and healthy people and medical people pass by him. * Nick walks back towards his room, this time without the benefit of a map. This ends up taking him through a lot of 'shortcuts'. Nick's room is just as he left it. * Nick unceremoniously dumps the casts on the bed, does a little victory dance, and heads out for Nina's office. Nina's office is not as he left it. It's even messier- the once-stacked piles of paperwork have been scattered all around, the desk is off tilt, and there's a burn mark on one wall. * Nina is sitting at the chair- about the only non-messy thing- and looking frazzled. * Nick sticks his head in. "Yo." * Guy is also in there, leaning against a wall with his arms crossed and eyes closed. * Nina blinks a couple of times at Nick. "... you look happy." She composes herself, and smiles. "At least I got that right." * Nick scratches the back of his head, stepping inside. "Ah-heh. Well, life's not so bad. The nurse is attractive, Guy didn't break anything, my sleeping problems are probably just insomnia, I have a microchip wedged into my spine." * Nina chews that over. "... microchip?" * Nick makes fluttery motions at his head. "Yeah. Wires all through my brain and stuff." You're a cyborg? I hope not. * Nina sighs, and glances over at Guy. "Might as well just get this over with." Oh, did you get my present? * Nina cracks a smile for a moment. "Already washed it." * Nick snaps his fingers. "Some people have no appreciation." Anyways. * Nina resumes her former grim gaze. "The Chief in his high and mighty wisdom decided that it would be just and fair for me, since I so vigourously defended you, to give up my spot for you." * Nina waves her arm to sweep about the office. "It's yours." * Nick blinks. "..Man, the cleaning is gonna take *days*. I may just torch it and save myself some time." * Nina shrugs. "I don't care what you do to it. Burn it down, for all I care. I'll take the damages out of the Chiefs hide whenever I get it back." * Nick gives Nina a grin before glancing back at Guy. "Particularly attached to anything here, big man?" * Guy shakes his head. I will enact my bold and daring cleanup plan after we're done, then! * Nick gives Nina a look. "You need to cheer up. You're just as awesome without the job." * Nina gets up, and walks up to Nick. She ruffles his hair. She sounds a bit sentimental. "Don't worry about me, I've made my choices and stand by them. You, however, better make the most out of your chance." Hey, I'm not gonna waste this. * Nick spreads his arms wide. "Hug?" * Nina hugs Nick, shifting position to smother his face with her breasts. She squeezes once, then lets him go, grinning like a fox. Seeya'. * Nick makes a surprised sound. "Goddammit, woman, one of these days you'll deliver." * Nina struts out of the office. And.. yeah, seeya. * Nick sighs heavily, turning around and resting his hands on Guy's shoulders. "You know, in this time of great emotional distress and heartbreak, you could be a big help.." * Guy shoves himself off the wall. "Well, hows this? We've got an assignment in 'bout a week. We've detected a spring signature hopping around inside it's own dimension." * Nick steps back. "No kidding." If ya got questions, try yer datapad first. Then try me. Well, uh, my datapad can't get me and my date to Spain tonight, so I guess you're the person I ask. * Nick gives Guy a big hopeful look. * Guy looks at Nick funny. O_o ..Whaaat? If yer gonna ask some'thin, ask. * Nick grins. "Can I go to Spain tonight? I'm dead in Taka's dimension so, you know, that works." * Guy pulls out his datapad, and keys something. "Ya hav'ta fill out the paperwork fer it. And figger out how to get there yerself." * Nina has quit (Quit: Ah, vacation. No more paperwork.) Hey, no problem. Also, got any firebombs handy? * Nick glances around. "..And are these walls heatproof?" ... resistant. Laser's'll get 'im. And plasma just plain ignores them. *he grins a little* * Nick laughs. "I just need some basic Molotov action. Cleaning'll be a lot easier if I just need a broom and dustpan." * Guy puts his datapad away. "I've unlocked your spring for any location within that dimension and here." * Guy then shrugs. "It's yer office. Do whatever." * Nick gives Guy a wave and dives into the junk in search of rags, something liquid and flammable, and a container or two. * Guy waves at Nick as he leaves. "Have fun." I plan to! * Guy has quit (Quit: Plasma > Fire.) Nick quickly finds suitable clothes and paper, a couple of bottles of alchohol, and dresser drawers. * Nick stuffs the cloth into the bottle necks, disperses the fuel around the room, and lights the rags. The young man runs like hell, skidding into the hallway before throwing the two cocktails back into the room and slamming the door shut. May 08 03:28:36 End!