Door 2 - The Wasteland

[Elesariin]

Gwen gritted her teeth and tried again. The creature's reaction to the graze had more or less confirmed her suspicion about the eyes being the weak spot; now she just had to hit one of them dead on...  

[Dark Angel of Sol]

Dante chuckled and said, “It's not going to be easy, This is a foreign computer language and it'll take time to learn.” He started to analyze the base code. Damn he couldn't give me any info on the code. At least he got me this far and that's the most important part. It looks like this code has a common link to C++. That'll quicken the learning process, but it's still going to take time. Dante opened a word processor and started writing notes as he constantly alt-tab back and forth studding the code. He would occasionally type in a line of code in the command code box but to no avail.  

[Dark Angel of Sol]

Dante kept trying many different lines of code and the notes were over three pages long, but nothing worked. Dante, without realizing it, spoke out softly in frustration, “God damn it.” As he was trying the next line of code his finger hit the F1 key instead of the 1 key. What came next made Dante speechless. A simple help file came up. A few seconds later Dante spoke softly, “You've got to be shiting me.” Then he exclaimed without realizing that Max was right next to him, “My mind has a ******** help file?!” Then Dante noticed Max was right next to him and apologized, “I'm sorry Mr. Driskoll. I didn't mean to yell so close to you.” Dante then took back to reading the help file and learned a few pointers.

He typed into a set of code into his computer and a new window popped up with a video feed. He could see what the creature saw. He could see smith battling and it almost looked like smith wanted to kill him. Dante kept going and soon he could see and hear what the creature did and got a layout on it's overall health. Dante said to no one, “Wow I'm impressed. This is very interesting.” Dante then typed a line of code that made the creature swing his club arm up and down repeatedly.  

[NativeForeigner]

Rather than having the creature flail it's club-hand about, it's thinner, more sleek left appendage rapidly extended from it's socket, wrapping around the nearby concrete pillar several times.  

[Dark Angel of Sol]

Orion watched this turn of events as a learning experience. He wrote a few lines of notes and then looked over the instructions. He found that they were written as he if was controlling a person. Don't people have there left side controlled by the right side of the brain and vise versa? I don't know where his brain is, but maybe the right brain controls the right side. Now if I use this code... Orion tried a few different lines of code to try out the left side, right side. This may make the ooze creature look very weird. ((Well more weird then an ooze would look.))  

[NativeForeigner]

The left-controls-right and right-controls-left rules turned out to be generally the same for the program, as Orion found out. He also discovered, however that the creature's mind was rather...different from what it used to be, it's functions were rather eccentric, many of the functions had either been changed, added, moved, or removed entirely.

Orion found this out as he played with the code and observed the thing's reactions.

Max watched the laptop screen with mild interest as he unconsciously wound one of his pocket watches.

*

Inside, the creature was flailing about, obeying the codes from Orion's program though resistance was evident.
The creature pounded the ground with it's club-arm while it's tentacle appendage wrapped around one of it's legs. It's eyes blinked awkwardly and out of sync while it's mouth hung open and a thick, drool-like substance began to drip from it's mouth as it spun and stumbled about.

In light of this display, Smith, his men, Juliet, and Alastair had ceased fire.

It tripped over it's own arm and began to topple forward. Smith, seeing this as an opportunity, took his hammer and swung it upwards, hitting the thing's larger eye dead on. It let out an blood-curdling screech as the hammer smashed into and destroyed the eye, leaving only a bloody mulch in the socket as it hit the floor.

At that exact moment, Orion lost his connection to the creature.

"Looks like you'll have to reconnect." Max commented as he continued to wind, "It seems that a sudden shock to the system is enough to sever the connection."

Juliet's magazine: 24/24 (SMG) [0]/ 12/12 (Glock26) [3] | 20/20 (Five-seveN) [4]
Alastair's magazine: 18/36 (AR) [1], 12/12 (SIG) [4]
Gwen's magazine: 10/12 (HG) [1], 3/5 (Rifle) [4]
Orion's magazine: 9/12 (HG)/ 9/12 (rifle) Battery life: 80%
ROUS: 6/6 [?]
M82: 8/10 [?]
Smith's Men (1): 8
Enemy: Mid-Level Infected  

[Elesariin]

Gwen just stared. What on earth had happened? Why was the creature suddenly just... insane? Not that it hadn't been insane before; it had been trying to kill people. Plus it was a MONSTER. That new behavior had been completely out of place. Was there something wrong with the air? Maybe whatever was wrong with it was... degenerative, or something?  

[Dark Angel of Sol]

Orion watched the creature with a straight face. He just watched and added notes. When the connection was lost, there were more then five pages of notes. When Smith's hammer hit the creature, Orion felt a slight ting in the back of his head. He took a minute to regain his thoughts then said, “Yeah that could be it, or the sever my have crashed, gone off-line, or was destroyed. I'll see if I can connect again.” Orion hit the connect button and waited to see what would happen.  

[Miss Aeriya]

Smith reappeared roared loudly and raised his hammer into the air, preparing to smash the creature further into pulp as long as it was more or less disabled.

"Don't hold fire!" he roared suddenly. "If you have a shot, take it!" His men complied, releasing round after round into the creature's chest and eyes as possible. Juliet emptied her last remaining magazine for the submachinegun, realized she had done so, and slung the empty firearm over her shoulder, drawing her Five-seveN and preparing to use it.  

[Elesariin]

Gwen obeyed immediately, trying to get a shot at the remaining eye. ((Hooray for one liners!))  

[NativeForeigner]

The creature attempted to defend itself, raising its large arm to take the brunt of the strikes while it managed to untangle itself from its other appendage. The tentacle lashed out, aiming to trip up Smith and take his hammer while the creature righted itself, continuing to soak up bullets, getting all the more sluggish.

Orion began to reconnect, albeit slowly. And he was losing his signal. He began to see flashes of the creature's vision, including that of copper glinting, but they quickly turned to static as the connection was retried.

Juliet's magazine: 0/24 (SMG) [0]/ 12/12 (Glock26) [3] | 20/20 (Five-seveN) [4]
Alastair's magazine: 0/36 (AR) [1], 12/12 (SIG) [4]
Gwen's magazine: 10/12 (HG) [1], 3/5 (Rifle) [4]
Orion's magazine: 9/12 (HG)/ 9/12 (rifle) Battery life: 80%
ROUS: 6/6 [?]
M82: 8/10 [?]
Smith's Men (1): 8
Enemy: Mid-Level Infected  

[Dark Angel of Sol]

Orion started to shut down the computer after the last attempt to connect. He said, “Not much more I can do. The server... I mean it's mind is too badly damaged to keep the connection up. Nothing else I can do from this end.” Orion put away his laptop and got up off the rock and continued to speak, “I've still been thinking about what you said and I think I will try and help you. I would like to talk with the guy who saved my life before I go, and say farewell to those who came in with me.” From behind Orion, Jack became even more tense when Orion announced his plans, but he relaxed when Orion said he was going to say goodbye to Smith first. Jack thought to himself. If anyone can stop this duke it would be Smith. All I've got to do is get Orion to Smith and he will be safe.  

[NativeForeigner]

Max hopped of the rock and landed stiffly at the mention of heading back inside. He composed himself and cleared his through, "I'm afraid that simply isn't an option for a multitude of reasons. One of which happens to be the sever aversion that Smith possesses towards me.

He'll do whatever he can to convince you to not to come with me, not to help us. They've been through enough in there, they don't need another scare from Smith and myself. I'm afraid that he may start a fight if I should return which would be necessary to defend my reputation against his words that he will inevitably spill.

I have already lost your friends to him, I must admit, but my siblings have enlightened others, so you will not be alone, I assure you.

If you find it necessary, I must insist that you ask your friend to relay your message rather than yourself. Or I could leave a proper message myself."

Max took a moment to eye Jack curiously, "And perhaps your friend could join us, I have no objection to allowing one from the other side join ours. What do you say?" he proposed, moving towards Jack in a non-threatening manner.

*

For a moment, Mason was surrounded by the darkness without the familiar light emitting from the other door. He stayed calm for a moment while he waited, no sense in worrying when he could just leave through the other door...maybe.
After several seconds, a door-shaped outline of light shone through in front of Mason and Mick's voice could be heard muttering unintelligibly and coughing.

The door swung open, light spilling through and around Mick's silhouette. Mason was handed something from Mick, a mask.

"Put this on." he said simply, "Fight's goin' on, might wanna help."

He moved out of Mason's way, allowing him to enter the room.  

[Venom3001]

"Always got a fight on in the Wasteland," Mason grumbled as he donned the mask. He stepped out and surveyed his surroundings with narrow eyes.  

[Dark Angel of Sol]

Jake was in shock. Betray Smith? He wasn't even going to think about that. Maybe Orion will see through this guy? Orion's response was less then pleasing for Jake to hear: “I understand. It looked like he was short handed when we got here and he lost more during the fight. I understand them trying to survive in this world but this is not my own. He saved my life, that is true, but I can't just follow him for that.”

Jake knew he could not stop it. He thought that if he told Orion the truth, this duke would kill him and maybe even Orion and he couldn't have that. So he did the only thing he could do. Jake reached into his pocket and gave Orion a Flare Gun and said, “Listen. Smith needs me and I can't leave him. Take this. If you ever need my help come back to this land and fire this flare into the air. It will signal the recovery team. You'll need to tell them this password in order for them to let you come.” Jake went in close to Orion's ear and said, “The loonies are in the MADhouse.”

Orion took the flare gun and replied, “Thank you, for everything. I just wish for you to tell them that I'm okay and I'm sorry I couldn't say goodbye in person.”

Jake said with a hand drawn to shake, “Alright take care.” Orion shook his hand and with that he and Max were walking away.