Twokinds ARCHIVE Forums

"There is no greater fear than knowing you're going to die, that you cannot save the ones you love when you knew you once could. That dread is undeniably, the hardest thing to endure.", spoke the voice of a graying man in his 50s whom was sitting at a black lacquered table across from a young teen. The man appeared to be clothed in a dark suit and had rather thin, gruff features to his age worn face, yet still seemed to show a look of health. His eyes were tired, half closed, as if reflecting deeply on his own words.

"You cannot blame yourself for what happened in the accident at the Toyokuni Facility. You did what had to be done.", the youthful character said. His hair was entirely gray, an odd pair at the table they were. He was well tanned, but his hair, a dusty gray like an aged man's hair, more than the man's sitting across the table from him. He was thin, lanky somewhat. He was dressed in a school uniform, a white shirt and tailored khakis that seemed to fit him too loosely.

"Those people died only because of their circumstances. There was no changing that. The entire project was out of everyone's hands. I only regret now being alive after the incident... Why do you insist on these chats of ours? I'm fine, sir."

"It is to make sure you aren't being haunted by the Toyokuni Incident, and to make sure... That you don't lose your sense of personal security. I am somewhat of a guardian of you now since you were severed from your family. I'm sorry...", the man said, shifting a bit, uncomfortably in his seat. "This may come as a surprise, but we've done it again.", the man said, reaching to his side to reveal a set of documents and prints, sliding them to the boy. He stared down at them, as if trying to make sense. His expression slowly turned to surprise and shock, then eased to a look of tranquility trying to mask fear. He cracked a grin and chuckled softly. "You people... You humans never learn."

██████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

Air raid sirens could be heard in the skies, blasting throughout the city. The sun was at its highest point in the sky and shining brightly from above. The streets were dead empty and relatively devoid of life everywhere. Air craft were circling above, scanning the streets for any signs of people needing to evacuate.

"Commander Lorentz, it's time, the city is completely evacuated. We can run the test project.", a lieutenant said in a firm manner from behind the same grayed man from before. "Right on schedule... Preparations are complete too I presume?", Lorentz asked, speaking up as he sipped at a cup of coffee, looking out of his window in his office which was well tinted. "Almost, we're awaiting the pilots to suit up, but we haven't seen any of them except of pilot 01. Hmm... We may have done better to have someone find and escort them to their designated -- nevermind, I will inform you immediately when the pilots arrive", the young lieutenant said, turning to leave.

"If what Tobias told me was true, maybe we are making a huge mistake...", Lorentz muttered just as the door sealed behind the officer leaving.

Meanwhile in the underground hangar, the gray haired teen was suiting up. "Alright, just like in the drill before, move your arms and legs as if you were walking yourself about and the manipulators will react along with you just the same. Understood?", a technician explained to him. "Yeah, got it.", he acknowledged as he climbed up and stepped inside the control center inside of the torso of the powered suit before him. He laid down flat, his back against the interior as the manipulators of the arms and legs locked around him, interlocking small pistons and needles into the uniform he wore. "We're just awaiting the pilots at this point. Please stand by.", the technician ordered. Tobias nodded in response and let himself relax as he was carefully held by the controls of his FEMPS unit.

"I hope Lorentz doesn't get the others killed in these things...", he thought to himself as he eased.

Just outside, a helicopter landed with the other pilots. "It's a good thing we found you three when we did, we were just about to run some weapons tests. Come on, they're waiting for you three in the hangar below.", the helicopter pilot said from behind a pair of mirror finish aviator glasses and a cigar. He waved them over to follow him as the roar of the helicopter died down and soon shut off. They were on a four story structure that looked like an ordinary concrete parking garage A set of poorly lit stairs lead down into the depths of the orange glow of the garage.

Bernt Wilhelm spent the helicopter ride reading the final text for his academy classes. Technically, he didn't have to read this, or even think about it, but he couldn't just spend the time of the trip doing nothing. Every so often when he stretched, he would glance at his soon to be companions. He didn't recognize either of them, though he didn't really expect to. Midway though the chapter he noticed they were descending. He closed his book, memorizing the page he was on, and got ready to dismount the helicopter.

After the touchdown, Bernt exited the chopper and followed the helicopter pilot. They would be entering the building they had landed on. Bernt couldn't help but wonder what was waiting for them. He knew some of what was to come, but not nearly everything.

Jareth was already on the ground, sitting down by the main building, after having made sure that no one was coming up behind him. He watched the process, yep the FEMPS was about to launch, this should be interesting.

Cas hopped off the helicopter and swayed slightly. She never was a big fan of helicopters in the first place.
She pulled her hair tie out of her hair and let her hair, which she dyed black with purple streaks, fall down to near her waist.

She followed the officer and the others towards the building, eager to see what it was that this organisation needed her for.

As they descended into the darkness of the dimly lit 'parking garage' as one would suppose, they were met by two armed guards, each armed with a type of modified XM8 with a reduced stock and an additional bullpup action and clip. Needless to say, a heavy modification indeed. One of the guards holds up a hand, halting the group. "We need to confirm these are the pilots. One moment.", the officer said, his voice deeper than usual and muffled behind his helmet. He then reached from his hip with a small, white scanning device and a flat, read beam was projected. He scanned each of the children, then quickly nodded, pointing towards an elevator shaft, plated in brushed steel. It looked out of place in this derelict, concrete cave. The helicopter pilot lead the way once more as the elevator doors easily slid open before anyone clicked any buttons. One could assume it must have been switch activated by the guards... Everyone stepped in and the doors sealed behind them, the elevator smoothly, but quickly descended.

Back in the hangar...

"The other pilots... What could they be like? Are they anything like the last three? Maybe they're using different kinds of pilots this time... ... ... I'm getting anxious.", Tobias muttered to himself in a daydream. From high above in a surveying tower, commander Lorentz watched the preparations go underway, listening in on Tobias' musings. "Things certainly won't fail this time, I have to show some confidence for once. At least, if we do fail, we can end the project and I won't have to carry on with this lump of fear in my throat...", Lorentz said, sighing with discontent.

"I wonder what the crew has in store for you guys.", a technician said with a gleam of curiosity and envy as he looked at Jareth. "Y'know, they're probably wondering where you are at the moment. Best rendezvous with the chief and suit up. The other two should be here soon.", he said as he went back to his work, checking various fuses and switch panels.

At that moment, an elevator across the way opened up, revealing the pilots. "I'll leave you with the technicians. Time's short, so try not to turkey-neck about, staring at everything.", the helicopter pilot said with a friendly grin. Two people in lab coats approached the two pilots. One was a rather thin, tired looking guy with long, brown hair in his mid twenties, the other, an aging woman who looked to be in her late forties with an oriental ethnicity to her.

"Welcome to the FEMPS hangar bay, I'm Dr. Roger Keeps and this is Dr. Ryoko Watanabe. We'll quickly brief you on your first mission and assign you your FEMPS units and equipment. We'll be available to assist you during your missions as analysts. If you have any questions or trouble, you can see us.", the younger lab technician explained as he walked forward in front of a line up of four individualized FEMPS units, roughly 16 feet tall each. The control canopies of each FEMPS unit was wide open, displaying the seats and control manipulators open and ready for use. Each unit was marked with an insignia in the shape of three hexagons joined side by side in a triad with some small text beside it, illegible from afar. "Ah, there you are, Jareth. I was worried you got delayed, but I see you made it just in time as well. Please, join us then.", Dr. Watanabe invited.

Later, after much discussion and explanation of the controls, everyone was lead back out to the FEMPS units. "Alright everyone, listen up. We've currently prepared the city above ground for combat situations. We were informed a small aggression force from the Radical Insurgency Party is preparing to launch an assault here in this city to loot it and take it over. Little to nothing do they know, we're here, about to deploy our best weapons against them. That will be you three. Your objective is to defend this sector of the city. The budget at this point has ignored the city cost repairs as it is outside our jurisdiction or responsibilities. Let's try to keep any sort of damage to a minimum when you engage any enemy, is that clear? -- Good. Now then, once you launch, you can freely move about, uninhibited. Try to make contact with the enemy first before they realize what they're up against to surprise them. Destroy with extreme prejudice. We cannot allow them to escape and relay any major relevant data regarding the FEMPS units just yet. And know this, they too may be armed with similar, less advanced versions of our weapons systems, so be sharp on your guard, cover each other, and above all else, cooperate as a team when you can. End of briefing everyone, you may suit up now. Any questions, refer to analysts, Dr. Keeps and Watanabe.", a burly sergeant, brusque of manner and disposition with a dark colored soldier suit explained. He then turned back around for a moment. "These suits you're about to pilot will activate and adjust to your blood types. This, you should know. They'll react just as you react and even utilize special 'black components' of the FEMPS units specific only to your peripheral genetic data. That is all", the man finished, leaving the locker room where the pilots now were.

Jareth walked to the FEMP that he found looked the best and most suited for combat. It was one of the biggest and bulkiest, yet still had a feeling of...grace, about it. He carefully checked the door, and then opened it, the poked his head inside and out really fast. Nothing clanged down where his head would have been, so he pushed his hand up into his sleeve and wiped the seat in case of anything being there. He sat down in the seat and tested the controls. "Excuse me, Dr. Keeps and Dr. Watanabe, do these suits have A.I?"

"The A.I. functions in the FEMPS units are semi auto for targeting and balance adjusting, but if you're talking about self-piloting... No, there are none.", Dr. Watanabe replied, seeming hesitant in the end of her sentence. "These units operate based on the users thoughts and actions, therefore it's all up to what you do. I see that you chose the F-type unit. It's equipped for ground combat and has more armor than the other models, but also has a more powerful engine and can be equipped with heavier weaponry. That's another things. When you're out in the battlefield, there will be various stations you can stop at that will deploy weaponry for you at any given time requested. Keep that in mind. You'll recognized these outposts for the black, square panels in the middle of the road ways. These lift up from the ground when you approach them. They act as a cover as well.", Dr. Keeps added in with a more lively smirk than the rest of his appearance suggested of his tired face.