Daycycle 106 [ September 04 - September 10 ]

[computerized]

daycycle 106

[Sept 4 - Sept 10]

Early Morning [0800 - 0900] — All Troubleshooters Report for Duty
There is no Mission assigned to any Specials today.

---

Morning & Afternoon [0900 - 1600] — Service Firm Positions
All Troubleshooters not assigned a mission should report to their Service Firm for their daily duties, unless specifically assigned a different shift.

At approximately 1000, rogue robots loyal to Corpore Metal will actively recruit new members by finding citizens and attempting to improve them by adding robotic components. These robots are the more complex kind, such as sentry guardbots and medical techs. Improvements may be attempting to replace limbs with robotic ones, attaching special retna additions, or implanting mind control chips that make illogical humans logical. These robots are extremely intelligent and manage to work through the morning without being discovered. Citizens who are recruited kidnapped for these special surgeries, will be held in the Medical part of Technical Services against their will until their upgrade can be completed.

At approximately 1400 all Troubleshooters will be recruited in order to overrun and rescue citizens being held hostage by these machines. The sentry bots are not short on fire power. Troubleshooters are highly encouraged to disable the bots whenever possible rather than destroy them. This can only be done by short circuiting their power supply.

Citizen lives are important also. Sure.

Troubleshooters may also be forced to get through citizens with newly installed mind control chips who have been programmed to assist the robots.

---

Evening [1600 - 2200] — Citizen Improvement
All Alpha citizens are encouraged to better themselves through Alpha’s wide variety of educational, entertainment and cultural opportunities offered each evening. Attending these sanctioned events are not mandatory, but is highly encouraged by The Computer. Citizens choosing not to take advantage of these opportunities, have a growing number of other options available to them in how to spend their hard earned credits and free time.

Tonight’s event will be at 1900 in Technical Services and will be hosted by the Jovians. The Jovians share a common interest in the history of electrical technology. Join them on a special behind the scenes tour of the electronic make up of some of Alpha's most complex systems. For those who are morbidly curious, this may just turn into a tour of the worst of Technical Services after the day's events.

---

Alpha Curfew Restrictions
All Alpha citizens should be in their quarters within the Wagon Wheel by 2200, unless they’ve been given permission from a GREEN or higher clearance level citizen. Sleeping Aid gas is dispelled each night in the Wagon Wheel at 2200 to assist citizens in getting a productive sleeping period.

Confession Booths
There are hundreds of confession booths available around Alpha Complex if a citizen would like to communicate directly with the computer. Please use these confession booths to report mission statuses, report treason or terrorist acts, unregistered mutants, confess your trespasses against Alpha Complex, request propaganda or speak with Your Friend, The Computer, at any time.

Comments

Open | Throughout Day

[withstyle]

After Ten At Hostage Central...aka Medical Services (Closed to Caitlin Snow)

Izzy wasn't used to this place yet. Honestly, she wasn't sure that she would ever be completely acclimated to her new...home, if you could actually call it that. Of course, that was her assessment at (just barely) the two day mark of her time here. She was still struggling to wrap her mind around everything. Not only that but she was still in the midst of her struggle to actually....figure everything out, to put it lightly. Izzy had always been smart. She'd always been the most adaptable of the Lightwood siblings. She was the one that had always taken things in stride, and she was definitely the one that had always thought she could handle whatever came her way.

This place made her feel like she'd been completely wrong in thinking that.

She had, of course, been at the debriefing in the morning, right on time. The monotony of the routine was going to wind up getting old fast, she was sure. Right now, though, it was a necessity until she figured out how to navigate this place, and to carve her own niche, and excitement like she'd told Derek the previous morning. She was sure that she wouldn't find that excitement in the medical services sector of this place, though.

Boy, was she wrong.

Izzy was punctual, even early actually, as always for her daily duties and her shift. She had, of course, noticed the new face...if only because she hadn't seen the brunette woman her first day. Was she new? Izzy didn't know, it could have just been that she'd had a day off when Izzy had started out. She didn't get the chance to ask, initially, though because the duties that she was responsible for. Somehow even her usual curiosity and love of being a medical examiner/pathologist didn't manage to make this place all that great.

It was passed ten when Izzy realized something was very, very wrong. The petite young woman had just stepped out of her area when she heard the screams that caused all of the warning bells to go off. The place was full of robots that hadn't been there when Izzy had reported for her duties and she couldn't help but stare wide-eyed at the insanity that was playing out in front of her very eyes. One citizen was going through what, very much, seemed to be a painful surgery to remove their leg for a robotic one while another had a robot at their head, obviously working on their eye. Izzy couldn't take it all in at once, though, because she spotted a robot that didn't have a citizen. Instead of staying put to see if she might be next for one of these...ridiculous robotic additions, she darted, moving out of the line of fire (whether it wanted her or not) and down a different hallway, even if she didn't know her way around that well just yet, only to run into that new face from earlier.

It hadn't escaped her notice that the citizen whose leg was in the process of replacement was familiar...she'd seen him on her first day in medical services. Izzy couldn't help but feel sorry for him, but years of training and strategy dictated that she get herself (and anybody else) the hell out of immediate danger and regroup before taking care of the issue. "Hey!" Izzy called out to the other woman, knowing that they had to actually escape the hospital; much as she wished she hadn't wandered this far away from the morgue, she couldn't let somebody else be dragged into it. "You've seen the robots with the other citizens, right?" Izzy asked quickly approaching the taller woman, reaching out and gently taking the other woman's arm to steer her around a corner and out of the immediate danger of said robot. "I don't think you want a robotic limb or adjustment anymore than I do, so you don't want to go that way." Her tone was calm, focused only on that particular goal right now.

She wasn't going to leave the other girl behind, unless she refused to come, but she didn't suspect that would be an issue. For now, she wanted to know if she knew anything more. And obviously...to get to safety.


Citizen Improvement: Commissary

Izzy's had one hell of a day. There was no way in hell that she was going to go for the event at technical services. She's already spent too much time there today, and seen way too much of what exactly happened earlier. So, she's not in a hurry as she grabs her food and proceeds to find a seat. She's not quite sure that this stuff actually qualifies as food, and the idea of shoveling it down is less than appetizing, truth be told.

There's a part of her mind that can't help but wonder what she'd find ifs he examines it using some of the testing that she's accustomed to for autopsies and running the various substances found in a dead body. She knows it's morbid. She knows that there's no way that she's ever going to be allowed to run the tests, but she can't help but wonder anyway as she pokes at the substance.

Between her morning of insanity and the aftermath of said ridiculousness, though, Izzy's not had time to think about the glitches that she's pretty much decided are real. She's not sure what good the decision does, considering Alec, Jace, and the others she's so familiar with aren't here, but there's some comfort and certainty that helps the young woman with her decision. It doesn't matter, to her, if she's right because this place isn't the sort that would admit they were lying, anyway.

Sighing, Izzy takes a look around the room, knowing that she hasn't met many people yet, but knowing that she needs to work on that. She still doesn't have any interest in touring technical services, or anything to do with the place tonight. So, she forces a bite of her 'food' down, trying not to give into the exhaustion. Maybe she'll visit the gym facility later? Either way there's always tomorrow...

God, she hopes that tomorrow brings a lot less excitement. Or maybe more. The more excitement the less time for her to think. That's probably a treasonous thought. That realization alone makes her smile a bit. She's definitely not good at this whole....not being treasonous toward the Computer thing, but maybe, given time, she'll figure it all out.

this is so late and i am so sorry.

[trigeminalheadache]

It's her first full day here. Caitlin had somehow managed a good night's sleep, even though her mind had turned and turned and turned with questions after the tour Steve gave her. The questions were still there when she woke up, still occupying her thoughts as she swallowed down what breakfast she could and made her way to medical services.

At least the computer put her somewhere somewhat familiar.

It had been fairly quiet, with only a patient or two wandering in. She'd done what she could to plausibly stay busy, to keep her thoughts from meandering to other things. Other people. It seemed like it was going to stay quiet. The screams and shouts that split the air quelled that idea.

Two years of working with Barry had changed her instincts. She found herself moving towards the noise instead of putting as much distance between it and her. Catching a glimpse of what was happening, the robots running wild, dragging people with them as they swept in, turned her stomach to knots. They needed help, but what could she do?

The woman's shout caught Caitlin's attention, and she didn't fight as she was guided out of immediate harm's way. "No, but..." She hesitated. "They need help. We can't leave them here. Those things will kill them."

don't worrrry about it, promise it's okay

[withstyle]

Izzy definitely sympathized with what the other woman wanted to do. She didn't want to leave anybody high and dry. She didn't know anybody here all that well yet; the person that she'd spoken to the most was literally the person that had showed her around and given her the intro to Alpha Complex lesson, but that didn't mean that Izzy was a hardened woman who didn't want to help others.

Honestly, if her memories were right like Steve thought...she protected mundanes every single day, basically, with what she did.

The problem was that her current situation had her in a precarious situation. Other, innocent, citizens of this place were in danger. Izzy didn't know how to neutralize the robots either unless it was through blunt force; it didn't help matters that she didn't have her whip, or any familiar weapon that she was used to carrying on her person at all times. Plus, there was the fact that she knew that the robots in this area outnumbered her and the new girl that she'd pulled out of harms way.

"I don't want anybody to suffer either." Izzy shared, knowing that she had to know that she did care, despite her quick assessment that they needed to get out of here. It just made the most sense considering their predicament. "But we're outnumbered here. And from what I can tell some of those bots are the ones I've seen around here, so they have medical programming....if that hasn't all been wiped out" Izzy explained, gesturing from the direction she'd come, hoping to hell that she was right and people weren't just being slaughtered via hacking off limbs and replacing eyeballs and the like.

God the thought was gruesome. She hoped that everyone that had been taken wouldn't die; nobody deserved that. She had no way of knowing for sure, she hadn't been here that long.

"If we get out, we can get help and bring it back with us before they can drag even more people in to operate on." The shadowhunter summed up her plan, pretty easily. She didn't like the idea of anybody being hurt here, but still....she knew what they should do. If she had her stele it might be easier, but...the fact of the matter was that she didn't, so she had to work with what she did have. "Unless you have an idea for how to help those people without getting strapped to an operating table ourselves?"

Izzy wasn't a leader, not truly, but she was doing her best and she was open to suggestion; she just knew that they couldn't get caught by those robots. That'd definitely not go well. She liked her body just the way it was, it'd been made perfectly, as far as she as concerned.

Open | Morning - Afternoon

[cassandran]

0800 - 0900
Stiles had been preoccupied, events from the previous evening running through his mind - the last thing he'd expected was to run into someone he'd known from before. Before the City... BC? That's what he'll refer to it from now on for himself. Luckily, getting away with the minimal amount of polite pleasantries as he made his way from the line over to the same set of tables he'd sat at on his first day. Others around him were trying to wake themselves up for the day, or finish whatever was being passed off as breakfast for the day: a dark, semi-solid substance molded into a variety of shapes. In another time, it would be the kind of thing he'd dare someone else to eat, but it's the food they've got, and it's definitely better than earthworms.

At worst, it'll have been processed earthworms. "Even bugs are edible," he mutters quietly.



0900 - onwards
No matter what job you try, it is guaranteed that whoever is newest gets the scut work – and watching a bank of monitors attached to cameras that looked over busier intersections was just that. It’s not like there are chances for people to jaywalk, which would have changed things up a little. That does mean he gets to see some of the guardbots in action, stopping different citizens and taking them aside – not unusual – until he sees them dragging people off without even arresting them first.

It’s a scene that repeats itself, from one monitor to another. And the only thing he can really do about it is to flag the feeds for someone further up the chain to go over, while he continues to do his assigned job, anxiety rising while the robot activity escalates on screen, spreading slowly through different areas of the City.

When the notification calling for all troubleshooters to prepare for a priority assignment arrives, he’s almost relieved. Almost, because dodging the robots, and people on his way to closest meeting area for equipment pickup had left him panting, and with an all to clear idea of what they’re dealing with.

This was not the robot uprising he’d been prepared for.

Morning

[sanguinescry]

Lydia feels so much better rested on the nights that she sleeps in Matt's bed, because the mattress, for one, is a lot more comfortable than her own — there's still room for improvement, but it's the little things in life, and all — but she's promised herself that that won't be an every night occurrence. Yet. So last night was not one of those nights and so when she heads to the morning briefing after breakfast — still gross, even in ORANGE clearance — she's on the barely-functioning level of awake. It doesn't help that she's started to spread herself a little too thin with her free time, between helping Matt with his dictations and working on the soaps and perfumes for Friend Computer in the hopes of a promotion.

She's making her way toward her little hiding spot as usual, but she catches the sound of a familiar voice as she walks down the aisle and she stops dead in her tracks. Slowly, Lydia turns around and scans the aisle looking for the face that matches it and, like Allison, like Ronan, she spots it. She just hopes that this is more like Allison than Ronan and that this guy is who she thinks he is and not...well. Someone else who just looks exactly like him.

"...Stiles?" she asks, worrying at her bottom lip with her teeth. "Is that you...?"

[cassandran]

Stiles looks up at his name, the sound cutting through his thoughts. He cranes his head towards where he'd heard it come from, and he stands abruptly when he realizes who it is.

"Lydia?" he says, an edge of incredulity in his voice as he looks her over. She's different from the image of her he has in his head, which makes him wonder just when she had gotten here. First, it had been Derek, now Lydia. Twice might have been coincidence, but that's only if he didn't count himself.

He casts a quick look to the other people at the table, before stating: "You wouldn't usually sit here, would you." It's not a question. Not like you can hide much with the jumpsuits.

Open | Throughout the day

[preemptiveforgiveness]

When the robots come for Matt, he's in his office working on a defense for an alpha accused of treason. He doesn't flinch or show any sign of concern. He gets to his feet and comes around his desk. "Can I help you?" he asks, as if they're people, as if they're potential clients, as if he hasn't done anything at all wrong (when in fact, he's done quite a lot). Matt knows the value of appearances.

However, appearances don't save him. The robots don't say anything at all. They simply grab him by the arms and start to haul him away. He fights back--of course, he fights back. He knows if they drag him out of this room to somewhere more unfamiliar, somewhere he doesn't know every inch of, he's lost any advantage he might have had. He manages to get one arm free and grabs a clipboard, swinging it at one of the robots' heads. It connects and the robot stumbles back, beginning to glitch and break down. That gives Matt hope that whatever these guys want, not all is lost.

Unfortunately, he's wrong about that. All is lost. The robot simply calls for backup and Matt has no hope of fighting four robots with mechanical strength and weapons. They shock him until he's limp and they drag him to the medical ward. Once there, he starts to come around, but he's only vaguely aware of what's going on. Every time he starts to come around, he gets shocked until they're ready to put him under for the surgery. Yeah, he's aware that they're doing some kind of surgery, but he's not sure if it's something that's all in his mind, some audible hallucination with accompanying smells. It's far too weird to be true, isn't it?

--After Surgery, still in the medical ward--

Matt comes out of the anesthesia slowly. He's groggy and still restrained, which is probably a good thing because when he opens his eyes, it's not blackness that greets him, but light and colors. Everything is too bright, too colorful, too everything. He thrashes against the restraints, against the bed. His voice is hoarse from the breathing tube that had been shoved down his throat. He squeezes his eyes shut, trying to block out the visual stimulation, but he can still see the light through his eyelids. It's all too much, and eventually he has to be sedated again.

--Evening in his room--

[If you know Matt or know that he was a victim of the robot's upgrades feel free to stop by and check on him]

Honestly, he's still groggy when he's released from the medical ward but he's so grateful to get out of there and in his room. He skips the evening meal, still nauseated from the surgery earlier and from the overwhelming visual stimulation after 20 years of not seeing anything at all. His eyes feel dry and itchy, but that could be a mental side effect from his resistance to the surgery. Sure, he's wished more times than he can count that he could see in those 20 years, but he hadn't had a choice in this. For the most part, he lays on his bed, alternately staring up at the ceiling, occasionally daring to turn his head and look around the room, and squeezing his eyes shut to block out visual stimulation.

He won't mind company (in fact, he might even appreciate it) but he's in no shape to go actively looking for it.

Evening

[sanguinescry]

Another day, another disaster. Lydia's feeling pretty lucky that she's managed to stay out of it, because that's actually sort of a feat for her these days, it seems like. How she did it, she's still not sure, but it doesn't matter. What matters is that she did. So, at the end of the day, she goes to a surprisingly empty public restroom and changes into her GREEN jumpsuit, stuffing the ORANGE one into her backpack, and she heads up to the YELLOW clearance floor.

She hasn't heard from Matt, but she doesn't often unless they plan it and today, she was really busy testing formulas to work toward a line of perfumes and soaps, having gotten her approval from the Computer and having turned in all the appropriate paperwork as soon as she'd gotten the instructions to do so. She didn't even have time to go to his office in the afternoon to help with the dictations like she promised, so even though she doesn't like the idea of making it a habit to go up to his room too many days in a week while they're still getting used to it, she kind of misses him and she more than kind of wants to see him.

Lydia checks the clock on her PDC and notes that it's 1800 hours. It'd probably be later except that she can't really do anything with the formulas until they've had time to settle, because she's starting with the soaps since they'll take longer to set. Once they're good, then she can just use the same formulation for fragrances and keep it in liquid form for the perfumes; she'll just have to dilute them a little.

Rather than just let herself in, on the off chance that he's skipped Citizen Improvement, Lydia knocks on the door and then turns the knob, calling out to him first to let him know who's at the door. Gucci is on her heels as she moves into the room and then closes the door behind her. "Hey handsome," she says with a fond little grin. He's already got his glasses off, so that's a nice change. Usually she gets to wherever they're meeting first and she has to take them off for him to be able to see his eyes.

Evening

[preemptiveforgiveness]

Matt has had a rough day. He knows he should have contacted Lydia and he wanted to contact her, but he had no idea what to say to her. He still doesn't know what to say to her, but he sits up when she comes in the room. He looks exhausted (because he is). His voice, when he speaks is rough.

"Hey," he finally responds, taking a deep breath as his eyes drift to Lydia. For a moment, he just looks at her, seeing her for the first time and for that moment, he doesn't feel overwhelmed. In fact, he might feel the tiniest bit grateful for being able to see her. His eyes trace over her body then finally focus on her eyes. "You're beautiful," he finally tells her.

[whattingawhat]

Buffy is already at work when the recruitment begins and she's one of the first to sign up. She's still bruised and battered from the riot the other day, but those bruises are healing (and she used to heal within hours--at least the glitches say she did and she's chosen to believe the glitches). She's certainly not going to let them stop her from helping out the other citizens.

This time, she doesn't argue about riot gear. She's found the shield is handy for knocking people out and aside. She's also discovered that the bullet proof vest, while cumbersome helps her cope with her fragile human status. She does, however, ditch the helmet at first opportunity, shrugging when Steve glares at her. "It got lost! There was a wall and it bumped against my head and it fell off!" She swears!

Now that she knows what she isn't capable of, she doesn't hold back when she punches people or hits them with the billy club she's chosen for her weapon. She will get through the robots and the mind-controlled citizens to those that need help. Besides, maybe hitting the mind controlled citizens really hard in the head will help them and jar the chip loose, or short it out, or something helpful.

Yes, this is Buffy's train of thought.

[missromanova]

This riot gear is awful.

Natasha has no idea how she's supposed to move properly in it, a large part of her skill is maneuverability and she can't do that with this much bulk. She's fought in battles with nothing more than a simple catsuit, and the jumpsuit she wears isn't as skintight but it doesn't matter. It'll do. Anything will do better than the bulky helmets and shields that they're handing out to everybody. Besides, the billy clubs that were made available to her were more than enough, especially considering Natasha was going to do her best to disengage the bots instead of destroy them. She's lived under tyranny before. 'Highly encouraged' doesn't mean 'try your best'. It means 'if you break more than one, there's going to be a problem'.

She's been wandering around ever since she was put on duty, stopping whenever she see's a rogue robot to pull it into combat and disable it, and so far she's got a pretty good track record going. It doesn't take long before she spots a blond woman in the distance swinging a club of her own in a way that shows experience, not irrational flailing. She approaches, and when the other woman swings her club Natasha takes the opportunity to grab the distracted bot from behind and disconnect the wiring to its power supply, letting it crumple to the floor between them. The redhead greets her with a crooked smile and a cocked eyebrow. "Someone looks like they know what they're doing."

Hacking Corpore Metal Bots + Mind-Control Chips [OTA, details below]

[smoak]

Ever since her first day in her job within Encryption Breakers at IntSec, Felicity has been worming herself paths into the system. There was a limited amount of hacking she could do on her PDC, but her work computer? It was souped up. After inspecting this thing as soon as she was assigned to it, Felicity could go on about the specs for days. FOR. DAYS.

I mean, there was no way the Computer herself wasn't expecting this right? She was assigned to Encryption Breakers. Felicity still can't get over the irony.

She had gotten past the department's encryption fairly easily, but just because you can hack doesn't mean that big brother isn't watching you do it. Seeing her write a hack using an IntSec computer was enough to get her dragged off for treason. So for four entire days, Felicity's actually been writing a program using only pen and paper, and then transcribing random parts of it to her workstation, interspersed with normal things she was supposed to do at work. That way, when she finally executes her advanced scrambler, the Computer won't see it coming.

But the part she was proudest of was the covert way she was writing the code. Oh no, not even close. See, normal key logging scramblers just jumble up your typing into a random string of numbers, symbols and letters. Anyone who had half a brain and was reviewing her logs would know immediately that something was wrong. So Felicity wrote two programs. One to intercept the key logging and another to copy bits and pieces of her official work, find logical ways to randomize it, and replace her key logs with those logs instead. That way, she looked like she was always doing exactly what was expected of her, without making it seem like she was stupid and had to write the same code twice everyday.

Let's be real, it was brilliant. At least Felicity thought so. But it isn't until she executes and sees it actually working that Felicity jumps out of her chair with one armed raised in a victory first. "YEEEESSSS!" Of course, that's when everyone else in E.B. stared at her like she was crazy.

It seems like just everything comes together at the right time too, because thirty minutes later at 14:00, the news starts to travel that one of the secret societies has been using robots to kidnap people and what? They what? Were replacing people's limbs? Inserting mind-control chips into people's brains?

Oh no no no no. Felicity had her machine purring like a kitten now, and she was going to use it. She weaves her fingers together, flips her palms and stretches. Oh yeah, she's got this.

[ ooc: For anyone out there who wants to be kidnapped by robots, or successfully implanted with a mind-control chip, but wants a fun way to get out of it, you need no fear, for Felicity is here!

Basically, she's going to attempt to hack into whatever is controlling these bots and make their batteries implode, or shut off the mind control chips. HOWEVER, since she's doing all this while at her day job, she occasionally has to switch windows so her boss/co-workers in the cubicles next to her can't tell what she's doing. (Remind anyone of real life? Anyways!) Therefore, this means that she could be called away periodically / randomly, giving YOU dear friend, a way to basically pick any time you like for your character's mind-control chip to stop working, or he robots kidnapping you to start malfunctioning.

Fair warning: if you go with the mind-control chip option, you're definitely going to hear her voice in your head before she successfully shuts them down. It's just the cost of doing business with Felicity. ]

Hacking Corpore Metal Bots + Mind-Control Chips [OTA, details below]

[fictor]

It should be no surprise to anyone that Ronan is among the first targeted for mind control. He's been vocal about being anti-computer (as vocal as he can be without outright being treasonous) and he's caused problems time and time again. He's also been in trouble time and time again. He fights the bots who come to get him, but they're stronger and they've got weapons. it's really no contest and Ronan ends up with a blow to the head that knocks him out. He never even regains consciousness before the surgery so when he wakes up, he doesn't have a clue what's been done.

He'll be one of the citizens that try to defend against the rescue. Or, at least he will until Felicity gets in his head.

[im_ironman]

Tony hadn't seen the robot coming for him. He had been working, too busy trying to find ways to make the robot pieces that he was working with to work in his favor, when he was dragged away. He had tried to fight back, but nothing had worked, and the last memory that he has is getting dragged into a room before everything goes dark.

When he wakes up - or, rather, when he realizes he's actually awake - he's moving along the SubSectors. His muscles are coiled tight, and his knuckles are bruised, but he can't remember why. Mainly because he doesn't remember being used to drag others to be experimented on, he doesn't remember fighting with those that fought back, but he does know that he shouldn't be here. Hadn't he been at work? How in the hell had he even gotten here?

The world feels like it spins for a moment as he tries to get his bearings, but he's suddenly distracted by what sounds like static in his ears. It makes him cringe for a moment as he moves to a deserted corner, but... Was that a voice? He looks around, but doesn't see anyone around him.

"Uh, hello?"

Open | Morning/Afternoon

[onthedot]

When they had presented her with her new belongings, and assured her that she was fully prepared to enter the service, this was not what she'd imagined. Peggy stared at the shield in her hand and struggled with herself not to wing it at the first robot that came at her.

It would not bounce back to her.

And she was on damage control, not destruction duty. It's a bit of a lark that they call it recruitment when there isn't a test, or any form of training given, but she would make do.

If only because slapping people unconscious with a stick was a much better outlet for the simmering outrage she was feeling than shouting down walls. She rounded a corner and took the moment to truly listen to the sounds around her before making another move. She'd been thrown into the proverbial fire only moments after being expelled from what, at best, could be described as mind-numbing torture, and given no further assistance other than an abrupt message saying where she needed to be right then.

She was fairly sure there was something entirely wrong about that, but what it was, she couldn't put her finger on just yet.

Afternoon

[a_man_out_of_time]

90 days ago, Peggy Carter was dragged off by Internal Security and marked as a traitor. At least that's what Steve would have remembered, if six days ago, the Computer hadn't wiped his memories of her time in Alpha. It must have known that Technical Services was working on Peggy again — a refinement maybe — so they called Steve in for a checkup. He'd woken up the next morning with so many more memories than he had the night before, but when it come to the ones Steve lost ...

... he'd never know he had them in the first place.

This afternoon, when word got out about robots kidnapping citizens, of course Steve volunteered. Of course he wore the standard protective gear except for his helmet. And of course, when he rounds a corner after powered down a bot, he feels his nose crack as something whacks him in the face.

The Cap takes two steps back to steady himself, his own shield up and ready to deflect any further attacks. He shakes his head once, trying to shake off the sting that was still resonating in his head. When he looks up, he assumes it was a robot, because how could it be anything else? How could it be...

His eyebrows narrow and his eyes usher in a wave of concern and confusion.

"Peggy?"

[avemachina]

service firm | ota | single thread pls
Something's not right, here...

There's a woman cornered by a sentry bot, but she makes no move to try to escape.

To most citizens save a special few, Samantha Groves is a well-behaved ORANGE. Meek, even, given the right circumstances. In public she keeps her voice soft, her laugh quiet, and her eyes low. She makes her daily motions with little fuss, and unless you've been here from the "beginning" or had cause to work with her one on one, you probably don't even realize she's a Special.

In the corner of the hallway, this woman pulls her hair back, turns her head to the side and allows this bot to inspect her. A moment later, its monotone voice proclaims that she's already been upgraded to its satisfaction and turns to corner another citizen.

The woman walks past without another glance.

citizen improvement | ota
[ root chuckles at a piece of misinformation given by the tour guide, and leans over to attempt to share the funny: ]

Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi...

Citizen Improvement: So late, but I had to.

[whosalicewhite]

[Whether or not the tiny whoosh is heard before Parker's sudden arrival is unknown. Her voice, on the other hand, is almost as quiet, but whispered quietly behind Root.]

You're my only hope.

[Parker's going to look stupidly proud of herself for getting that right.]

Technical Services Section: Orientation for Elsa

[withstyle]

Izzy wasn't all that certain that she'd actually grown accustomed to this place yet. She hadn't fully settled in, her second day was full of insanity, truth be told. She hadn't been prepared for what had transpired today, and she definitely hadn't been prepared for the responsibility that had been gifted to her now either: welcome wagon.

It definitely wasn't that Isabelle Lightwood wasn't a fantastic choice to welcome new people. Really, Izzy knew that she'd be fabulous at the job; the only hitch in the thing was that she hadn't been here long. Still, she'd memorized the layout and she felt as if she owed Steve. She liked Steve too, so there was no way that she'd tell him no when it came to joining the welcome wagon.

She wanted to belong, and she wanted to find her footing and make friends...well...perfect opportunity right in her lap!

Izzy had eaten dinner earlier. and now that she knew she was needed made her way to technical services for the new arrival. She didn't have a name, which was a little more annoying than she wanted to admit, and she didn't know any particulars. Couldn't make anything easy on Steve...or her, huh?

The petite woman stopped outside of the cloning facility. Patience had never been her strong suit, but she could remember, vividly, the way that she'd felt when she'd come out of those doors, so she couldn't help but stand there calmly....despite her tacky shoes and jumpsuit. Izzy's mind was full and she had the passing thought that technical services was a bit of a mess for the new arrival; she'd just have to make it clear the place wasn't like this, not on an average day (or at least she assumed not, anyway).

Several moments passed before Izzy looked up, some of her curls making their way toward her face, and spotted the new woman. She wasn't all that surprised, and it even brought a smile to her face. Steve probably wanted to avoid another #27 realization, or at least that was what she was going to tell herself. Not quite as disciplined as Steve, Izzy lifted her hand and gave a small wave accompanied by a welcoming smile for the new recruit. Waiting on the GREEN bureaucrat doling out her sanctioned equipment over was almost enough to drive Izzy nuts, but she waited, anyway, just remaining open and friendly...because god new that going through all of this was not easy and Izzy'd never blame someone for needing a friendly face. She'd be the one that she figured anyone might need.

She's not Steve and she'd never try to be, she definitely needed to do this her way...following the general way that he'd done things beyond that, though!

[ladenga]

Red. Her jumpsuit was red. Not her first choice in color but it seemed that Elsa had no choice in the matter. Her head felt strangely fuzzy as memories of all sorts started to collide and fade all at once in her mind. Her eyes focused on someone waving at her.

A little dazed, Elsa waved back, stepping forward toward her. She took in the sight of everything around her. Something told her that this wasn't home. This wasn't home at all. She did her best to hold onto the things that were immediately handed to her and stumbled toward the waving woman.

"Who are you?" she asked.

Technical Services Sector, Closed to Bucky

[a_man_out_of_time]

First Natasha, then Peggy. Maybe Steve was being paranoid, but it was starting to feel like Technical Services wasn't notifying him on purpose. So after the robot rebellion settles, Steve makes his way West, heading straight for the orientation center. Troubleshooters working there had to be GREEN or higher, which means they either were the same rank or outranked him, but at least Steve was high enough rank not to be ignored.

Or so he tells himself as he walks into the general building with its pristine white walls. His boots squeak against the recently scrubbed floor. There's no question that Steve's upset, but he also isn't being an idiot about it. This wasn't the time to start a war between Armed Forces, which he represents now, in a way, and TechServ. So when Steve finally makes it towards the orientation center, he pushes the double doors open — just hard enough to make a difference, but not hard enough to slam them against the wall.

"Sir-" His eyes lock on the GREEN Troubleshooter behind the equipment. "I'd like to speak with your supervisor-" Footsteps echo from behind the doors to his left. The doors that new Specials usually exit out of. Steve's eyes quizzically glance towards it.

Was there another new arrival right now that they hadn't told him about?

[kholodnyy]

He argues. He argues a lot.

Awakening on a table is unsettling. It feels like that's happened before, an echo of discomfort so vast it can barely be described as pain. But his head is a little foggy, and the dude in the purple VIOLET outfit sounds like a robot. Bucky almost tunes him out completely, still trying to get his bearings and figure out which flashes of memory are the real ones. And which have been planted by ... by ... he can't remember.

That's alarming, and probably what the drugs in his blood system are designed to counter. The how and why he knows this are brushed aside. Just put on the RED jumpsuit, ask some questions, and be a good little worker. Funny how worker sounds like soldier. Or maybe it's not so funny, because the arguing starts in the cubicle.

Which is when he gets the video treatment. Three hours of mind-numbing propaganda. Except it's not always propaganda. Sometimes it sounds completely realistic, and Bucky is ready to swear himself to the Computer for as long as he lives. But then some little thing seems just a little out of place, and a glitch flickers in his brain. He spends half an hour (he thinks, time is a little weird here) reciting name, rank and serial number. Except he's never had the last two before, because that would just be silly. (Stand down, Sergeant.)

Eventually he lets himself be worn down, or he is worn down, and says the right thing next time they ask all the questions. Someone hands him a stack of papers about a mile high. Despite his best efforts, the words start blurring together after a while, and about halfway through, he starts skimming and signing wherever he's told to. It's easier not to make a fuss. And he'd rather not sit through that goddamn video one more time. By the time the papers are taken away, and he's ready to face this brave new world, Bucky's head hurts and all he wants to do is go curl up somewhere and figure this shit out. But first he's got to get through those doors.

If anyone says he runs out of them, they're lying. It is possible he's walking at a fairly fast clip though, gun tucked against his side. Well. Half a gun. (Smart computer, limiting the ways citizens can hurt each other. Or it.) Bucky slows down just past the exit, distracted with releasing a breath he hadn't realized he was holding, and almost collides with someone. Almost, depending on how good the other guy's reflexes are.

GREEN suit. "Sorry, sir--" That's what you say to a higher rank, right?

Technical Services Section - Orientation for Wanda

[runsonwater]

Barry was all too happy to help show the new Specials around. Alpha was a confusing place, full of rules that he wasn't sure anyone really knew all of. He'd made a habit of trying to give the Alpha 101 to new people as he met them, but this idea of Steve's ensured that Specials got to know the important information when they got there. And maybe more importantly that the current group got to know the new arrivals and had the opportunity of determining if they were trustworthy.

Still, he felt a little out of place standing at the edge of Technical Services, even if he had the permission pass that Steve had granted him for this particular mission. There aren't very many people in ORANGE like himself here at all. He straightens up slightly as a Technical Services employee in GREEN leads over a young woman in the standard RED jumpsuit.

The GREEN employee doesn't even bother introducing them before walking away. Barry smiles and offers his hand. "Hi, I'm Barry Allen."

[divaricate]

Well, she can't complain about the red jumpsuit, at least -- it does happen to be her color of choice. Nice. She, however, can't keep the feelings of confusion and overwhelming off of her face or out of her tone of voice when she shakes Barry's hand and introduces herself in return. "Wanda Maximoff. Hi." A beat. "What's your job here?" As in, is he a tour guide or is there another surprise part of her processing or whatever that he'll be leading?

Derek and Felicity, early morning

[smoak]

[ Tags via Google Docs. Warning: It will break your heart twice, first with cuteness, then with sad, sad, misery. ]