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Daycycle 108 [ September 18 - September 24 ]

daycycle 108

[Sept 18 - Sept 24]

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.

Death Leopard is back! After nearly having nearly all of it's members hunted down and exterminated after the parade fiasco a few months ago, new leadership has arisen within the secret society and has been secretly recruiting new members hellbent on destruction for destruction's sake. A large number of Death Leopard members work within the Armed Services divison and at approximately 1400 today, a large shipment of weapons will be stolen.

At 1500 Death Leopard members stationed throughout Alpha will cause utter chaos by careening through Alpha in stolen motor cars, blaring loud music and shooting up the place. For the most part, they are not aiming for people, but their goal is to accomplish as much property damage as possible and announce their return. They do not, however, have any qualms at shooting officials clearance level YELLOW or higher. They have several grenades that they will use throughout their reign of terror, tossing them at random store fronts and service firms.

All Troubleshooters will be called on to stop them by any means necessary.

It will later be discovered that during this show of blatant disregard for Alpha Citizen Life, two more shipments of weapons were stolen.

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 1700 in Meeting Room F, Wagon Wheel Floor 27 and will be hosted by the Volunteer Form Checkers. Help Alpha Complex by volunteering your time to check forms this evening as the scanners in the Housing, Planning & Development sector is down.

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Saying that he was tired of being pulled away from a service position he actually kind of likes in order to help deal with some chaotic bullcrap too many times a week is probably the understatement of the century. Cisco Ramon is used to being in the thick of things in his own way, typically behind a computer and helping Barry navigate his way through kicking ass and taking names because that's just how Team Flash works best. But actually having to go into the fray himself? Not really Cisco's cup of tea.

All the same, when everyone abandons their work stations to try to assess and neutralize the threat at hand, he knows he can't exactly stay behind, because that's just asking to be noticed. One thing Cisco absolutely does not want at the moment is for Friend Computer to notice him. He prefers to stay largely under the radar, bordering invisible to that end for the time being.

One thing he is good at, though, in the midst of chaos, is being able to look at the bigger picture. That's sort of reflexive for him at this point, after so much experience having to sort of the distractions from the real threat for Barry when things go south in Central City. So when Cisco arrives at the scene, he starts doing that.

There's gunfire. People are running. People are screaming. Most importantly, Cisco sees a lot of destruction. There aren't many bodies, but there's a lot of property damage. So what the motive, he thinks, is...is that they want to wreak havoc, but they don't necessarily want to hurt people.

Which leads him to the conclusion that he needs to do a quick visual scan of the area and try to move anyone that thinks they're hiding, only the spot that they've chosen is potentially in the line of fire for something entirely other than themselves as people. Which, is when he spots Taylor Swift tucked against a wall, directly underneath a huge neon sign flashing the several "important" Alpha Complex slogans about how to be the best citizen you can be.

...what. Taylor Swift is here?

Not important. So not important right now. That sign is a beacon for someone wanting to stick it to the man, he thinks, and sure enough, they're firing at it, which he can tell because the lights are starting to flicker out with little jolts of electricity and sparks are raining down around Taylor. The girl. Whatever it doesn't matter that she's Taylor Swift right now! he has to remind himself.

Cisco makes his way over and shouts at her and, yeah, he calls her Taylor, but the important part is that he's trying to get her attention and he makes that pretty clear by pointing at her. Whether or not she sees him, he doesn't know, because there's so much going on around them and he's trying to dodge bullets, quite literally, at the same time as he's moving toward her, ducking and covering as he goes behind whatever he can find in his path. "Hey! You gotta get out of there!"

Seeing the bigger picture is definitely a good skill to have. It's one that Gracie doesn't have, especially in times of chaos and panic. In her defense, the most chaotic and panicked situation Gracie has ever been in was the midnight release of the Harry Potter books (she went dressed as Hermione).

Taylor Swift is not here. Gracie's voice doesn't hurt anyone's ears, but she doesn't have much musical talent.

Yeah, she screams and wraps her arms tighter around her head, attempting to curl into a tighter ball. All she can think about is making herself a smaller target.

Not Taylor Swift. It's okay though. She'll certainly run into her own brand of disbelief about certain Specials here. She'll understand.

She hears him, but she's got no idea he's talking to her. There's too much noise for that. She doesn't see him either because she's busy making herself a smaller target and somehow that includes squeezing her eyes shut. However, when he yells at her again, she recognizes the voice from a moment ago and she looks up. She uncurls a little, as if she's preparing to bolt toward him. She is not going to pick now to be stubborn and he's not hold a gun, nor does he seem to be with this group in any other way. He's wearing a RED jumpsuit, like her.

She takes a deep breath and glances over her shoulder at the chaos. She waits for a pause in gunfire and bolts toward him, keeping bent low and still trying to cover as much ground at possible as quickly as possible. When she gets close to where Cisco is hiding, she sort of throws herself across the distance, trying to roll back up tightly. It is not as graceful as it sounds. She's all long limbs and wild hair, terrified and awkward.

Another explosion of sparks high above the girl has Cisco worrying that she can't hear him and she isn't going to move fast enough before that sign up there finally gives up its valiant battle to remain in place. Even if he doesn't know her, Cisco does not want to watch someone dying Final Destination style by being crushed by a falling sign. But then she finally seems to notice him and move in his direction. She leaps forward and Cisco outstretches his arms to catch her because, look, she might be moving but she's far from graceful and if she lands on her face, that's going to hurt. And slow them down.

He's careful not to get too close once he's sure she's settled and she isn't going to fall over or anything, and he looks her in the eye, hands on her shoulders to get her attention. "You okay? You're good? You're good," he says because they don't really have time for her to answer those questions negatively. They're in the middle of a veritable buffet of destruction; the epicenter of the action is so for a reason and the sooner they can extricate themselves from it, the better. Cisco's not really a fighter, so "rescuing" another citizen feels like a perfect balance of following his orders to aid the situation and...effectively running like a little bitch. He's okay with that.

"Come on, I got you, we get away from—" he's interrupted by the crash of metal on metal, shattering glass, and the buzz of electricity from behind them, startling him physically, and he looks over her shoulder to see that that sign...lost the battle. Cisco huffs a shaking breath and looks back at Taylor. The girl. Whatever. "—we get away from all this; they're not shooting people. They're destroying property and propaganda. They're against The Computer; not us. We're just in the way right now, that's it. So we just have to get out of the way. Okay? That's all. And then we're good. So we're gonna run. Okay? You okay to run?"

Trust her, Gracie would rather not die Final Destination style either. She'd rather not die at all, not now and not here. She's grateful for the way he reaches out to catch her. It keeps her from totally wiping out. Of course, it also means she crashes into him a bit as well.

Though, she's not consciously aware of it, she's also grateful he keeps a certain distance. He seems nice and it's really kind of him to risk his own life to help her, but she doesn't know him and this is all overwhelming and he should either keep some distance or let her cling to him like a life buoy. It doesn't make sense; she knows that. It's fortunate for the both of them that Gracie is totally okay with following orders and running like a little bitch. She doesn't need to confront these guys or be a hero, not right now. "I'm okay," she breathes out. She's shaking a little, trembling from adrenaline and fear, but she's okay.

She stifles a scream, jumps half a foot and moves closer to him when the sign crashes down. Her eyes are wide and it's obvious that she understands he saved her. She'll thank him later once they're safe. It seems like gratitude out to be saved until then. She nods a little at his words, not really absorbing all of it because again it's so much but she gets the gist of what he's saying. "Okay to run," she tells him. "We're going somewhere safer?"

Please, please let them go somewhere safer.

The girl moves closer after the sign falls and, without even really thinking about it, he drapes an arm around her shoulders the way he would if he was comforting Caitlin. ...he misses Caitlin… Focus, Ramon, he has to remind himself.

It's that sobering self-reminder that has him dropping his arm away — not Caitlin; inappropriate with a stranger — and starting to look around, silently mapping out their escape route with plans B, C, and D, just in case. Finally, he looks back at her. They don't need to go far, they just need to get out of the eye of the storm.

Her question brings his attention back to her and Cisco nods. "Yeah, we're going somewhere safer," he promises and he holds out his hand. "Take my hand so we don't get separated. Okay?" Even if she knows her way around, she's panicking and it's easy to get lost when panic is muddling one's thoughts.

No, it's comforting and not creepy. Mostly because he's rescuing her. She's far too busy panicking to worry about the guy that's helping her being inappropriate.

She takes his hand, holding on to it tightly. She doesn't even question it. Gracie is reasonably comfortable with physical touch, but on any other day, in any other situation she probably would be creeped out by a complete stranger grabbing her hand or putting his arm around her shoulders. Right now, it's perfect. "Okay."

She'll go where he leads her, trusting that it's safe. It hasn't occurred to her yet that he could lead her into more danger.

Cisco takes a few seconds to decide their final destination. Trying to get to Specials HQ is probably risky as hell because it's out of the way and if they're seen and followed, they're screwed and so are all the Specials that use that place as a safe space. So that's out. If they can get inside a building, though, especially one that's unassuming and out of the way, then they'll be fine. He thinks.

"Okay, stay on my left. Keep your head down. On three, we go," he explains in an urgent whisper, giving her hand a squeeze that he hopes she perceives to be at least a little bit reassuring.

Once he's sure they're on the same page, Cisco takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly to steady himself, and then he counts off. When he gets to three, he takes off, dragging her with him, keeping his head low and his shoulders slumped as he goes. Cisco pulls the girl behind several obstacles to give them a few seconds and to allow the gunfire to move or cars to squeal by before continuing and they manage to get themselves into a dilapidated warehouse a few minutes later.

Cisco lets go of her hand and flops back against the door he's just closed, trying to catch his breath. Panting between words, he tries to explain why they're in a crappy, neglected warehouse and not some place that looks the part of a safe place to hide. "They're focusing...on destruction of...property, from the...looks of it. This place...is a shithole...so I think...we'll be safe here." Because he doubts they'll waste their time with a broken down building when there's more important sectors to destroy.

Gracie has spent part of the morning exploring this place, but right now it's all a muddled mess in her head. She couldn't even tell somewhere where her room is if asked. She's assuming the guy saving her knows the place a little better.

The little squeeze of her hand is reassuring. She takes a deep breath and nods. She feels like her entire body is shaking from the adrenaline rush and fear. It probably is shaking. Every sound makes her flinch and her nerves feel raw.

She's poised on the balls of her feet, taking off with him when he does, mirroring his posture. Her free arm is over her head, as if that'll do anything. Every time he pulls her behind something, she tries to collect herself, prepare herself for that next dash to the next obstacle.

She's got no idea that the warehouse is their final destination, but when he lets go of her hand, it's a pretty good sign. She collapses against a wall, just as breathless. She scraps her hair back off her face, listening to him and nodding a little. She gulps air and tries to stop herself from shaking. "Sorry....about fre-freezing like that...just I've never been in anything....like that."

Shaking his head, Cisco lowers himself to the warehouse floor. He's exhausted; he's not really a runner. Why should he be when one of his best friends is the Flash?

"No, no, no, don't be sorry, it's okay. It's cool, if I wasn't used to crazy, I would've freaked out a little too, it's okay."

He pauses then. "I'm Cisco," he offers, way the hell belatedly. "Sorry if this sounds super lame, but are...you Taylor Swift? Because you look just like her and if you are, I swear, I will not go all fanboy on you, I'll be cool. Just...yeah, are you?"

Translation: did I just save Taylor Swift's life? I am awesome.

Gracie isn't really a runner either. She probably should run. It makes her healthy (or it's supposed to) and it would help a lot in cases like this.

"So this kind of thing happens a lot?" She sounds a little dejected when she asks that. She's not sure she can survive in a place where this sort of thing happens regularly. Her first day here, and she had to be rescued.

She tilts her head at him and gives him the most confused look. "

The singer? With brown hair. She does the pop thing?" She shakes her head. "No." She's trying to see the resemblance and failing. "My name is Gracie Cannell. "

He probably is kind of awesome, at least in Gracie's estimation since he saved her and all, but he didn't save Taylor Swift.

Cisco doesn't answer that directly right away, huffing a humorless laugh and cocking his eyebrows. He's trying to decide just how honest to be with her here. "Sort of? Yeah," he agrees, "but I was mostly talking about the way things were back home, though, for me." Saying back home out loud is risky and he knows that, but it is what it is. After what they just went through together, Cisco likes to think that he can trust her not to turn him in for treason, even if she isn't a Special.

Though her response to the Taylor Swift question throws him off. Brown hair? He's only ever seen TSwift with blonde hair. Or that one video with the red hair. So if he looks confused, it's because he is. But it doesn't really matter, anyway; she says her name is Gracie, so Cisco will go with that. "Gracie, then. Sorry. It's nice to meet you. Another circumstance would've been a lot better, I'm sure."

There's no way Gracie is turning anyone in for treason. She's still getting used to the whole idea of treason. It had only been a word back home, an idea thrown around with the name Edward Snowden. Even if she were an alpha, even if she realized she could gain something by turning people in for treason, she wouldn't do that. "Oh." She's quiet for a moment. "I'm sorry. Good training though?"

She shakes her head at his apology. "You could have mistaken me for worse people, like a Kardashian," she jokes. Of course, he may not get that joke. She doesn't know. "Another circumstance would have been really nice, but hey...thanks for saving my life."

With a half-smile and a full shrug, Cisco runs both hands through his hair as he finally catches his breath properly. "Yeah, I guess so, huh? Who knew fighting metahumans could come in handy for something completely different someday?"

Which, he supposes, suggests that he actually fights off metahumans and isn't just in Barry's ear guiding him through doing the grunt work there. What? She's cute. Barry won't mind. Probably.

In spite of himself, Cisco laughs out loud when she responds and he shakes his head. "What kind of monster do you think I am? I would never mistake someone for a Kardashian. Even if I was ninety-nine percent sure, I would absolutely err on the side of caution," he says with a smirk that completely betrays the responsible tone he's trying to keep in his voice as he speaks. His cheeks start to warm at the last bit, though. "It's cool. Thanks for not dying? That could've been a huge blow to my ego, first time trying to save somebody and they bite the dust…" Cisco jokes because he has to. The whole mood of this place and the situation they're in is too macabre if he doesn't.

His comment gets a puzzled expression from her. "Metahumans? That sounds like...I don't know.. X-men stuff. If you're going to tell me you worked with Professor X, shut the front door. I mean, I've already met Tony Stark today sooooo who's to say it isn't possible."

What's a best friend for?

A smile spreads over her face in spite of their circumstances. "You're a good man, Cisco." Clearly, because he wouldn't mistake her for Kardashian. Oh, also that life saving thing. She laughs a little. "I'm really glad I could save your ego. Dying is something I'm hoping to avoid for a few decades at least." Oh no, she agrees completely with him. Joking is totally called for in this moment.

Cisco shakes his head a little. "Nah, no, sorry. It's...a thing back home, it's hard to explain," he tells her with a little shake of his head and a smile. Trying to explain metahumans would probably calm him down some, but he doesn't need to be overloading this poor girl's brain in an effort to calm himself down. She's just been through a trauma, too.

Her compliment has him ducking his head a little and he finally pushes himself to his feet because he doesn't like sitting still for this long when he should really be listening at the door for a good opportunity for them to get out of this warehouse and back to actual safety, like their rooms, which he doubts will be a target for the time being.

"I do what I can, anyway. I'm glad you're okay."

It might help to give her something else to focus on, but her brain probably would go on overload.

When he pushes himself to his feet, Gracie follows suit. This place feels safe right now, but she's aware that it probably isn't. In fact, it could become a target if these guys really aren't trying to hurt people and simply destroy things. This is abandoned and a perfect target to destroy if they're wanting to hurt the Complex.

"I am. Thank you. Have you been here long?"

"You're welcome," Cisco says with a small smile as he moves past her, toward the door. If it's quieter out there, then maybe now is a good time to start looking around the warehouse for something they can use as a shield before running for it again.

She asks how long he's been in the Complex and Cisco actually has to think about it for a minute because every day runs into the next. The first few days had been kind of a nightmare of too many hours at work and nowhere near enough hours of sleep, which throws him off, just as much.

"A week, I think? Like a week or something, give or take a couple of days. My first few days were kind of crazy so it's a little harder for me to keep track."

As much as she knows that he's probably right, she dreads leaving the relative (seeming) safety of the warehouse.

If today is any indication of the way most days go, she can understand that he'd lose track.

"So what you're saying, is that in a few days, I can look forward to losing track too," she says with a slight smile. She moves to stand beside him at the door, her cheek and ear pressed to it. "It's time to make another run for it, isn't it?"

Giving her a sheepish sort of grin, Cisco shrugs a little. "Yeah, it's..." his voice trails off for a moment before he shrugs again and sighs. "Probably. My second or third day I got assigned like a nineteen hour mission on top of my troubleshooting, though, so I literally got like twenty minutes of sleep in forty-eight hours, so...that didn't help. Hopefully you won't have to worry about that kind of crazy," he says.

He doesn't hear anything on the other side of the door and when Gracie asks, Cisco nods. He's thinking the same thing. "Yeah, I think so. There's lots of places we can go, we just have to take it a little bit at a time and...uh, hope for the best." He pauses to give her an apologetic look. "You ready?" he asks, holding up a hand because he gets the feeling that she felt a lot more comfortable with running knowing that she wouldn't get lost in the melee.

Her eyebrows shoot up a bit, her expression a visual representation of you're kidding. "Sleep deprivation, unfamiliar surroundings, constant noise. You realize this is sounding more like your movie of the week kidnapping and torture all the time." She's teasing, but also not.

She nods a little, dismissing his apologetic look with that little nod. In answer to his question, she takes his hand. "I'll follow you, Hero."

At her look, Cisco gives her one of his own. One that speaks very clearly of Yeah, I know, right? "Trust me, there's nothing about this place that doesn't sound like that to me these days. So yeah, I know."

She takes his hand and Cisco laughs a little when she calls him hero, but she's ready to go and so is he. Mostly. He thinks. He hopes. Cisco reaches for the door with his other hand and pulls is slowly open before exchanging a glance with Gracie. Here goes nothing...

((ooc: thread out their run for it or ftb?))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Daycycle 108 [ September 18 - September 24 ]

daycycle 108

[Sept 18 - Sept 24]

Death Leopard attack

Death Leopard attack

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