shieldacademyau | [Event] If you want to get out alive...

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[Event] If you want to get out alive...

Those that sleep will awaken to a pitch black room with nothing but the faint red glow of the emergency lighting. This glow seemed to frame the ceiling of the room and gradually pulsate between a dimmer glow to a glow almost bright enough to read by then back down again. Every electronic device in the entire academy, dorms, and general building on the SHIELD grounds would display a black DOS-like screen with bright crimson lettering that read a simple, cryptic message.

SYSTEM ERROR
LOCKDOWN MODE INITIALISED

NEW MESSAGE

Activating the new message brings up another black screen with a mostly legible message to the students of SHIELD Academy. This ominous message doesn't seem to be salvageable by even the most brilliant of computer programmers. The file is just corrupt and there is nothing that can be done for it. It's a wonder the thing opened at all, to be honest.

the ⬛yste⬛ has bee⬛ compr⬛⬛ised
time is short so make haste
you have ⬛⬛ ho⬛rs to get out ⬛efore th⬛ purge
sub⬛outine demo⬛⬛sh⬛s ⬛⬛e ⬛uil⬛⬛n⬛ to con⬛ain
the th⬛⬛⬛t 
t⬛e cent⬛al c⬛⬛pu⬛e⬛ m⬛st be rea⬛⬛⬛d and reb⬛ot⬛⬛
dea⬛ti⬛ate the l⬛cking mechanis⬛s on yo⬛r door by 
ḁ̧̼͙͑5̡̙̩͎̭͗̆ͯ̍⬛̱͈̤̦̊͂ͩͦ̓̋n͉ ҉̬g̲̹̟̘̃ͣͤͬ͢y̩͔̓ͯͩͣ͑ͭ͜⬛ 8̘͍̳̤g̴̅ͫ̂⬛̲̞̺̜͉̿ ̢̲̙̗̩̐ͣ̍͊͗̚3̑͐̓͏⬛ ȁ̹̯̘͙͓̔́ͫ̈̃̃͡d͓͇̤͕͎̦͒ͪ̂̏m̷ͥ̃̇ͯ ⬛̠̩̯ ̌̓̂̉̽͏̯1̮͇̯͉͉͚̪͜ṇ̥͐ ̖̰̖͎͙̹ͨ͟ F̷̘̮̺̥̅̀ͯ͊ͣ͆̏Ȗ̩̦̅̈́̄̌R̨͔͎͎̥̱̼̘̈́ͧ̋͗̔̚̚Y̋͞| 

Those that didn't sleep would have found the lights had suddenly gone off around 0400. Shortly following the assumed harmless power outage, the usually white glowing strips lining the edges of every room would have faded to a red that indicated a warning. The red lettering on the screens would have followed after that and finally, a good ten minutes into the disquieting silence, the blue message alert appeared. They would have found their doors locked, and the windows all barred by solid adamantium panels.

There is no riddle to be had here, no teacher seems to be present to consult. The students were alone, required to rely on eachother, their own cunning, and their unique abilities.

For those poor souls trapped in the Hazard Room, well... just don't make any sudden movements. The training protocols seem to still be active. Fortunately, they are set on moderate difficulty. You had been looking to hone your skills and blow off a little steam. Well, you just got your wish.

Mod Notes: Treat this post like a mingle-log. OOC plotting can be found here.

Targets and Weaponry: SHIELD bots come in a variety of sizes from no more than a foot in height to nearly four feet and come armed with a plethora of weapons designed to subdue and capture. Weapons designed specifically to counter the abilities of those that live here, just in case they lose control.

Small built-in turrets keep hidden behind sleek panels in the ceilings of most hallways and in the ground outside. These turrets fire wide range of power nullifying munitions as well as good old fashioned taze rounds.

Targeting sensors on all the machines and turrets use facial recognition to identify each student. Their powers and weaknesses are recorded in the main SHIELD database, which it refers to and decides the best course of action.

Threaded | Flat

[Congratulations, you've made it all the way to the computer room. You have braved obstacles and dangers abound! You've crawled through ducts and broken into secure rooms in the basement. You've even probably found some kind of map of the SHIELD Academy that shows a sublevel no one knew about. Ohhh, but you think this is the only hidden sublevel... don't be foolish. However, you can't seem to find the door or lift that takes you anywhere else but the computer room. And here it is...

Beyond this sealed door lies a force of nature. A being of incredible power that seems to be protecting the room. If you touch the metal, a slight charged static shock of power will jolt up your arm. Harmless, but very foreboding. If there is that much energy behind that door, then just what could actually be there?

Dare you open it or turn back? The choice is yours. Will it be the last choice you ever make?]

Edited 2014-08-22 15:33 (UTC)

Some nights Maya couldn't take her sleeping pills, she'd stay up just too late and just have to muddle through. Tonight was one of those nights, so she found herself at thee archery range practicing at night shooting.

She got the message alert on her phone, and while troubling, it was always possible it was a prank. Until her headphones cut out. And the phone, and... main power in the school? There was a brief surge as various mechanical items turned on all at once, but then it all seems to be on back-up power.

Maya would have kept sensing, but someone started broadcasting a frequency that SHIELD used to cut Maya off from overhearing staff meetings. "But why would... crap!" And Maya managed to duck out of the path from the first volley of shots.

Under normal circumstances Lydia would be getting her beauty sleep at this time in the wee hours, but Stiles is a friend, and she has it on good authority that a rather significant pop quiz is inevitably part of his future in the next 24 hours. So she agreed to meet him in the lab before the proverbial bell rings for classes to start today, and prior to breakfast so that she can go over the most recent chapters that are being studied for his science course with him.

The lab has multiple student experiments in progress of course, and to be honest Lydia isn't surprised that Gwen is there to check up on one that she's working on. She'd expect nothing less from someone so dedicated. The room is big enough to share, and the trio can focus on their projects without respectively disturbing each other.

And then, of course, things go a little...haywire.

Allison always likes to get an early start on the morning. Today is a little different because she can't deny that oddly giddy feeling in her stomach that pulls her out of bed. She's up way before the sun, eager to run and shower and then maybe catch an hour of sleep before breakfast and classes.

Hair pulled in a messy bun, she keeps on earbud in her ear, the other tucked around the strap of her tanktop, her music player tucked into an armband. Her pace is light, with no intentions of speeding up since she still needs to wake up the rest of her brain.

The alarms nearly make her heart stop, but she continues running, now looking over her shoulder instead of ahead of her, not even noticing the change in screen on her player. What's going on?

Oh, no, no, no.

It's already a struggle for Elsa, settling into a completely different environment, dumping herself into a crowd of strangers. They all have been nice, but she keeps her space, wanting to be alone for the sake of everyone else. Sure, Loki had assured her that this was a good place for her, but she has her reservations.

A late night read seemed apt because sleep often finds her in the wee hours of the morning anyway. It's better than tossing and turning. She had hoped to find some reading material here on what to make of her own powers, but had, instead, found herself reading on the early history of women superheroes instead.

It was then that the library went entirely into shutdown mode, confirming a worry that they wanted to confine her. It was irrational, probably, considering the principle of the school, but she feels it nonetheless. Her heart beats out of her chest and it seems there's no room for escape, that the walls seem to close in as the windows slam shut. The alarm is too much. Elsa, gloveless for once, backs into a corner and shuts her eyes, just as ice fractals spread from her fingers and toes, creeping over books and tables and tiled floors.

Kevin couldn't sleep, so he got up to go for a walk. He's never been to a boarding school before, and he's curious about what the building is like when classes aren't happening, when everyone's asleep. Actually, it's just about as spooky as he figured it would be, so... that's good to know.

And then the lights shut off. He stops in his tracks, because that makes the most sense, and is very still until the emergency lights come on. After a few long seconds, Kevin finally moves again because he remembered his phone has a flashlight on it. Except when he pulls his phone out, all he can see is the message.

Um. Uuummm. Kevin turns around, but the hallway is so poorly lit that he's having a hard time seeing.

"Is anyone there?"

Eventually, Kevin makes his way through the hallways. He needs directions to get to the main computer room, and a lot of help, but he's sure that he can work on the computer once he gets there, or at least he can help.

[ OOC: This is an open thread for Kevin's adventures in getting to the computer room! Anyone can tag in at any point during his quest -- secret basement rooms, maps, etc. ]

So it's 4 in the morning. Her mom never would've let her train until 4 in the morning. She'll be exhausted during the day, but whatever; Cassie is having fun and stretching muscles that she doesn't get to stretch at home. Literally. She shrinks back down to a normal size and starts toward the showers. She's worn through and pretty tired, but it's a nice feeling, a feeling of accomplishment.

Before she gets too far, though, the lights go out. She whips around, her eyes wide in the darkness, and she wills them to adjust. The red glow of the emergency lights sends an eerie glow out on the training course.

And that's when she sees a bot rolling around the corner. It's hard to make out in the darkness, but she can tell when it trains its weapon arm on her.

Shit.

[ OOC: Cassie has no idea what's going on as of yet because she hasn't checked or seen an electronic screen yet; she's focused on fighting off bots and whatnot. Find her at any point -- come save her, or call for her to help save your character! Anything goes! ]

OTA:
Loki managed to make his way into the halls, and at this point, he was wishing he'd stayed in his room. The devices kept calibrating with every shot fired. The usual tranqs didn't take him down like they would a human, and even the heavier doses would be tricky, thanks to his metabolism and healing factor. Dodging and shields kept him unscathed for the most part. It wasn't until one of the turrets that dropped down from the ceiling charged some kind of energy weapon that cut right through his barrier that he took his first hit. His entire arm had gone numb and he took to getting the heck out of Dodge, shutting himself in a bathroom until the feeling came back to his limb.

"Note to self: don't get hit." He muttered with irritation then poked his head back out the door to make a run for it again.

Billy:
Another good thirty minutes of playing dodge the deadly lasers, he took cover in a janitorial closet to collect his thoughts. ...thoughts! Why hadn't he thought of this earlier? He made sure the door was locked and mustered up the energy for the communication rite.

Wherever Billy was, he would be greeted with a green, slightly static-y 3-dimensional image of his slightly battered friend.

"Kaplan?"

Edited 2014-08-23 16:28 (UTC)

The only thing that could get Billy up this early was his boyfriend, who he was supposed to be meeting in the Hazard room that morning to get some training in before classes. Teddy had promised him copious amount of coffee and maybe a kiss or two for getting up early, and Billy was looking forward to both.

What he hadn't counted on was the power suddenly going out and the room being locked down. With all his stuff in the locker room he didn't have access to his phone to get the message. All he knew was that those practice bots should not be rolling towards him and they should definitely not be firing at him.

He managed to get a shield up around himself just in time before ducking behind a pillar.

This was not good.

Edited 2014-08-23 19:45 (UTC)

Teddy was running late!

He had only meant to go for a quick jog around the campus before he met up with Billy in the Hazard room but his Ipod shuffle mix was so good that he lost track of time. He tugged the earbuds from his ears and moved towards the door, hoping that Billy wasn't too upset with him when a siren sounded.

WARNING: INTRUDER ALERT! SYSTEM LOCKDOWN

A mechanical voice shouted and two red lights appeared on Teddy's chest.

"System lockdown?" he murmured to himself before the world erupted into large fire. Teddy was knocked flat on his back by two large beanbags to the chest. At first Teddy thought he'd been shot but a quick assessment of his chest revealed no blood but, damn, did that hurt.

He pushed himself up on his feet, ignoring the ache in his chest. It was beginning to fade (thanks, crazy alien genetics) and his mind spun. System lockdown - there was some sort of intruder in the school which meant... shit! Billy!

He didn't have time to really think things through as he dodged another round of non-lethal deterrents and he raced to the side of the school, looking for a section of space where he was out of the line of sight.

"Of course it would happen today," Teddy sighed to himself. He left his phone in his room when he left. There was no way of contacting Billy and he only hoped that his boyfriend was all right.

Bigby had been by the window having an early morning smoke when the window suddenly slammed shut, the alarm sounding in his room. He turned with a growl to see see the message flash on his television screen. System lockdown? Stay in his room? Like fuck Bigby was going to do that!

It didn't take him long until he was shifted, a large black wolf snarling at the door. There was a way he could get out but there was a chance he'd trash his room right along with it. Still, his roommates would thank him since breaking out of the room meant that they, too, could escape. Bigby took a deep breath and exhaled.

His idiot brothers had always teased him about his ability to create a strong wind. Huff and Puff they used to say and Bigby always kept it a hidden talent. He was the only one to be able to do it as he inherited it from his Father. Anything that dick touched Bigby didn't want anything to do with. Still, desperate times called for drastic measures and he blew until the metal creaked and the walls cracked. He didn't wait for the door to repair itself. He threw his large, heavy body at the door and slammed through, crashing into the hallway.

He shook his head to rid himself of the debris and looked around. It was time to find a way out of this place.

At first, Johnny has no interest in waking up for the warnings. He'd worked late at the diner and on his way home, he'd stopped off to hang with some friends before sneaking back into the dorms well after curfew. So, when the alarm sounds and he can only half-read the instructions being given, he's sorely tempted to just go back to sleep.

Alas, the Academy has other ideas. Eventually he's bugged too much to snooze and finds himself getting forced into the action.

His first stop after figuring the best way out of his room will be at Natasha and Phil's doors. From there, he'll find his way outside to try to hook up with any of the other people at the Academy that might have an idea what's really going on. He'd offer to help with the main computer, but that's probably his worst subject next to math, so he'd rather leave that bit to the tech kids.

Edited 2014-08-24 19:38 (UTC)

For Buffy:

Late nights hadn't been uncommon for either of them, but neither seemed ready for the Academy to completely disregard the needs of the modern Vampire Slayer & Co. Tired and ready for bed, Buffy and Xander had turned to the bathroom in the basement in order to wash off the dirt and grime and mud involved with capturing and killing absolutely no vampires. It wasn't the first time, it won't be the last.

Xander, of course, couldn't keep himself from grumbling as he attempted to use a thin paper towel to wipe away some spots from his new pair of sneakers; they had to last him the whole year.

"You know," he said, looking back over his shoulder in Summers' direction, "if I would have known we had to patrol the football field, I would have volunteered for sod duty." He tossed away the towel and added, "This better be mud and not something worse." No one liked having to go to class smelling like crap. Harris was just about to say as much when the cacophony of closing shutters and emergency noise drew his attention.

"What's that?" Xander stood and turned to see the door closed and sealed. "Hey, we're stuck! Buffy, quick, the door!"

OTA:

Some time later, after very nearly digging out of the basement, Xander and Buffy find themselves split and on their own, maybe on purpose, maybe not. In any case, Xander's trying to make his way toward the central computer, likely seeking out Wheatley, who seems like the type of person who might understand what the computer systems are doing.

He'll pass by the cafeteria, and end up outside, at one point, half-panicked by this alarming series of events, and half-bravado because, haha, they're not going to kill their own students, right? No one signed a waver that indemnified the school in the event of their untimely demise, at least as far as he can remember. But, then again, he can't exactly recall the last time his parents paid attention to anything but themselves, either...

"If I survive this, I'm getting myself a lawyer," he says to no one in particular, as if it's a credible threat and something he can afford. He presses his back against a wall to avoid a SHIELD bot somewhere down the hall and rolls his eyes up to glare at the ceiling. Why can nothing ever be easy?

[Remy was late. Not just for class or meeting friends, but for the start of the year. So he got a little side tracked over summer; he spent time with family, with Bella, but most of all, he did some jobs. Jobs! God he had missed it. So when one went a bit over time than planned, his return back to campus was later than planned...

Bag over his shoulder and a take away coffee cup in hand as he strolled towards the dorms, he slowed his pace until he was at a full stop as machinery began to appear.

Not good.]

Huh... [Looking down at his coffee in disappointment that it wouldn't be finished, Remy took one more mouthful before throwing it towards the nearest turret and took off sprinting towards the buildings.]

Pritkin had been asleep when the defenses triggered, but he'd snapped upright almost immediately the moment the power dropped out and the red lights turned on. He was already on his way to Cassie's room when the message came through on their devices and that stopped him in his tracks, having him backtrack for his ammo belts. He didn't have his usual equipment on him - the school had forbidden most of it, but he'd made do with some substitutes.

And he really didn't like the sound of "purge" or "demolish" or "threat". While Plan A had been to check on Cassie and maybe barricade them in her room, that message tossed that plan out the window. He didn't know what was going on, but he was getting Cassie and her was getting her out of here, before this place turned into a death trap. Or a bigger death trap.

He didn't bother knocking, and if Cassie's door was locked, he didn't notice as he burst into her room, already shouting for her.

"Cassie! Wake up! We gotta go!"

Somewhere along the way, he'd forgotten he was only wearing a pair of sleep pants, but modesty wasn't really on his mind right now as he draped his ammo belts over one shoulder to keep them easily in reach.

{{OOC Note: Pritkin and Cassie are going to be heading pretty directly out of doors and will be helping anyone they come across as long as they're heading in the same direction. Pritkin's priority is Cassie, but he won't willingly leave people behind, either. Also he's pretty much a walking armory, so he has plenty of defenses of his own to use on the things trying to neutralize them. Feel free to hit up one or both as they make their way out!))

[Locked to Suite 7]
Natasha had been sound asleep when the defenses triggered and at first, she'd been tempted to just drag her blankets and pillow over her head and go back to sleep until a reasonable hour, because this was not one and someone had a lot to answer for, pulling this shit before there's even been coffee.

Except then her phone starts blinking with a warning and that's harder to ignore. Especially when she blearily makes out the message.

After that it's hard to go back to sleep. Instead, she raids her stash hidden in the ceiling vent, a pair of daggers and some bracers she's been working on perfecting that she fixes around her wrists. She grabs a training staff from behind the door before dashing out to the common room, yelling for her roommates to wake up.

"Coulson, Blake! We've got problems! Get your asses out here!"

[Hallways | OTA]
Her first instinct had been to head for the Computer servers, to see if there was some way of overriding the system, but she bumped into several people heading the same way, more than was maybe necessary, but she didn't mind leaving it to them to handle.

The hallways, however, were mass chaos, with volatile defenses and confused students everywhere, and that seemed like as good a priority to have in a crisis as any. Instead of heading in to stop the problem, she lets the computer experts handle that and instead focuses her attention on clearing the halls for everyone else.

Anyone who manages to get out of their room or into the halls might find her taking on the defenses with a determined skill. She will happily accept assistance and will also do her best to get any fleeing students to safety. Somewhere. She's not sure where that is at the moment, but she's hoping the people outside are faring better than the ones inside.

[Oops? | OTA]
Up until this point, she's been handling herself well. Natasha knows how to fight, and how to handle herself in an emergency. But she's not perfect, or superpowered, or anything like that. And her attention can't be everywhere at once.

Which is why she doesn't see the panel open up behind her while she'd fighting off the pair of bots in front of her. The turret sliding out catches her by surprise, the stun setting sending a jolt through her nerves that has her daggers sliding from suddenly numb fingers to clatter onto the floor.

The look of surprise on her face isn't one most people normally see from her as she sways for a moment, then crumples limply to the ground without a sound.

Threaded | Flat

[Computer Room Threads]

Maya Matlin - Archery Range - Open

Science Lab (Gwen, Lydia, & Stiles)

allison | outside/school grounds | ota

elsa | library | ota

Kevin in the hallways | OTA

Cassie Lang in the Hazard Room | OTA!

Loki | Hallways | OTA

Billy in the Hazard Room| OTA

Teddy Outside | OTA

Bigby Wolf |Room to Hallway| OTA

Johnny Blake | Room & Outside

Xander Harris | Basement Bathroom & Beyond

Remy LeBeau | Outside/Campus

Room to Hallways to Outdoors (Hopefully) OTA

Natasha Romanoff | Hallways | OTA