[MINGLE] PLOT: Down the Tubes: Alarm

[sixthiteration]

WHERE: The bunker & elsewhere
WHEN: 1 September 2018
OPEN TO: ALL - MINGLE
WARNINGS: Please warn on threads
NOTES: Plot Details | Bunker Details | Bunker Map & Key
Threads may take place ANYTIME during the plot, including before, during and after the tubes have been opened, just please do not godmod tube arrivals without explicit permission. Related threads not in the bunker are welcomed, as are general bunker exploration/reaction threads that have nothing to do with the arrivals. Please reference the bunker key doc for what is and isn't available to explore at present.

---

Deep under the mountain, tucked away in the newly-discovered bunker complex, there is a room where everyone begins. It is filled with equipment — Computer consoles, monitors — but the point of it all resides within ten vertical stasis tubes lined neatly along a far wall.

One of them has been cracked and lies dormant, dry. In six of the remaining are bodies, unconscious and floating in their familiar vari-colored scrubs, vital signs ticking calmly off on their respective readouts.

In the corner, near the cracked tube, the ceiling has shattered and tumbled inward, across the floor and over the largest console in the room — The one flashing 24 HOURS UNTIL STASIS FAILURE.

Comments

Cael Lupei | OTA | Tube arrival and bunker exploration

[cannily]

◊ immediate arrival

This is what your life costs everyone else; this is how much we hate you.

Famous last words, if anyone else had been around to hear them. Definitely the kind to have him swept out to sea without a funeral. Sacrifices for the Koronokto get their rites before, not after, if they get anything at all. The privilege to die for their city, Cael supposes. The immortality of returning to a well of magic, being used, cycling through for the betterment of their world.

Or it's destruction.

There is no greater consciousness, hitting the water. No lights in tunnels. There is a slowing of time, moments to take in the glassy heat at his back, a smell like every stick of incense and every side of pork upended into the fire. The fat of their glutted wealth burning on a pyre.

House Dane burns, and it is his doing, and he closes his eyes for the water while Kieran drags him close. He knows the peace of salt air stripping his skin, and then it is over.

And then it is starting anew.

The black of the sea is the black of unbeing, until sensation filters in. It's a curious, pregnant thing: at first he thinks he feels out of place because he should be dead, then those feelings elaborate from the nebulous wrong to the specific. An uncomfortable pulling sensation in his mouth and nose, some fixed object opening around each of his arms. When he opens his eyes there's a film of unseeing, a wash of too-bright light, the curvature of--

Cael finds his body floating in some kind of tunnel; glass all around, a cap above his searching hand. He pushes on it to move down in the water, closer to level with someone staring in through the glass. It's nothing he recognizes, and he brings a fist down at their face. When it doesn't immediately free him, he reaches back, finds the opposite side of the structure and thuds a surprisingly thick boot in its place, beating at the clear barrier until shouted instruction and lack of oxygen forces him to stop.

With the cap still in place, water starts to drain, drawing him to sit at the bottom of whatever this is, more exhausted than hostile, but eying the offered hands warily when someone swings the panel open.

item prep and specimen library ◊

Not generally one to let it show, Cael has no idea what any of these people are talking about. He just knows they're being directed up a wide hall, toward something called a pod, and that begs the question of what they're not being shown.

He's gleaned a few things from his immediate time here:

Something had gone horribly wrong.
No one seems to know who he is.
It is impossible to move quietly in big squelching boots.

At the end of the line heading toward the dock, someone would find a pair of soggy hiking boots, as if the last of their group had vaporized up out of them. The first door had given him the kind of fight that meant it either couldn't be opened, or couldn't be opened quickly and quietly; the next, beyond the caved-in set of stairs, gave way easily. Dust moved along the air, and he held his soggy sleeve his mouth to keep from coughing.

It's a place to start, the drip of his barbaric trousers mixing with the light detritus on the floor. His tracks are otherwise dried, going from wet footprints to clear spots in the dust, as he picks through empty boxes, ties a scrap of gold fabric across his mouth and nose, and uses the shelves and dim light from the hall to find a south-facing door, poised to delve deeper into the rooms.

[ Cael has a full profile with his history and permissions, and feel free to ping me on discord or plurk if you have other questions. ]

arrival.

[scathefires]

Jason finds this whole situation creepy as hell, and considering where he's from and the sorts of things he's used to dealing with, that's saying a lot. His nerves are on high alert the entire time underground, and his stomach lurches when he sees people inside giant tubes - glass? High grade acrylic? Jason only cares so far as knowing the correct approach for breaking it open, if he can't find an easier way of doing so. Keeping people in tubes is a whole new level of fucked up, and he has to swallow hard against the tight feeling that rises in his throat - he's not the one underwater, he reminds himself, and he's not drowning but outside on dry land where he can do something to help those who are stuck inside.

He gets Cael's tube open without needing to resort to smashing it open, surprisingly enough. It's a fact that leans toward the idea that something's not on the up-and-up about this entire situation, but he files it away in his mind for later and focuses on the person inside the tube.

"Hey," he says, gently, "you're gonna be OK. Need a hand?"

item prep.

[nifties]

There's a trickle of blood that's dried down John's neck he doesn't seem to notice, matching his red scrubs as he picks at the communicator on his wrist. It won't come off and that's disconcerting. After his self-induced electrocution, it is acting a little weird though. He's scrolling through the posts on the community network, bemused by the dramatics of it all honestly. He looks up when he sees someone else wander inside, frowning when Cael pulls the scrap of fabric over his face. Okay, then.

John hops up and makes his way over, now dressed in the t-shirt and overalls combo with his hiking boots and peacoat on, the collar popped. What he wouldn't do for a ciggy about now.

"That's a choice," he says suddenly, for lack of a more clever way to greet the man. They are all in the same boat together, supposedly. Or are they? John's not counting his chickens before they hatch on that account. "Find anything out in there, Blue?" He means from the other people who have been here longer than them, but he leaves it completely open either way.

Owen Prichard | open to first responders and forward scouts

[underpinnings]

Back into the deep and dark they go.

The place gives him the creeps on principle: big underground base, secret pod entrance in a lake, more signs of abandonment than actual prior life. It's unclear if someone salted the earth on the way out, or if the tectonic shifts of their new home drove them out. It's unclear why they're wanted back.

The network is a mess of planning where and when to plan, misinformation, confusion about old and new evidence. Owen thought he'd washed his hands of the place days ago, but with six theoretical lives on the line and two recently lost--he doesn't need a map of where he's just been, and he's expendable enough to poke around with anyone else who doesn't want to wait.

Expendable isn't the same as prepared, for what they find.

He steps out to make the message just to get some space. It's Montana on steroids, it's some old school sci fi poster in too many dimensions, there to touch. The console keeps running down the time, and he puts his back to it in the doorway, firing off replies to Liv.

Six people in tubes. Still breathing. Twenty-four hours to get them out.

Stepping back in, he looks at the console, trying to apply what he and Danny found through trial and error days before. They've at least got the lights on, after the awful moment of a crank lantern dying, moments after illuminating the first bodies. His heart had dropped into the seat of his fucking pants. Now, he's almost getting used to it. Look left, there's a body. All done up in scrubs and wearing a fucking back pack.

It's gruesome, too bizarre not to be real. When he can't see a first move that doesn't potentially drop the time on the clock, he reminds Liv about the schematics.

"Keep an eye on that timer," he tells his help. "And them. Message everyone who seems inclined to do something, if it changes."

The pod's been sent, all he can do is work on getting the hall lights on and wait for help to arrive.

[littledhampir]

She really had thought that coming down here was the best thing she could do, that she could help in some way even if it means being ready to fight whatever comes their way. If she's being honest with herself though, she could have known she was only going to be in the way and still would have insisted on it. Rose didn't do sidelines, no matter the reason, no matter the personal cost and she sure as hell wasn't going to wait it out on the surface once she'd seen Elena's name on her device. There'ss a reason she hadn't told Sirius what she was planning to do before it was too late. She wasn't about to give him - or anyone else - a chance to try and talk her out of it. It was one of the reasons she liked Owen. He hadn't even tried.

There was something to be said for recognizing when you were far too close to something to be useful though. She'd never fully understood that concept until she was standing in front of Elena's pod, staring at the face of somebody she'd honestly thought she'd never see again and still isn't sure she'll get to speak to again even with her right in front of her.

"What-" Has he been talking to her this whole time? Rose forces herself to look away from the chamber in front of her, pulling up fragments of words her brain has latched onto to try and shove them into a workable sentence. Timer. Message. Change.

"Right." Point her at a problem and tell her exactly what to do. Even Rose can handle that, quietly grateful to have something to stare at other than the blank expression on Elena's face. She can only tell herself that she's sleeping so many times before it starts to feel like a lie.

"What do you think would happen if we just tried to break them open?"

closed to liv, major, ravi

[freightcars]

Twelve minutes after Liv's text Bucky makes it to the bridge; if you're early you're on time and if you're on time you're late, right? Despite his willingness, a small part of him still prepares for the eventuality of this being a trap, and so the satchel he's got slung over his shoulder and around his neck doesn't quite contain the type of supplies Liv had mentioned. He's stocked up with tools and weapons, with rope and knives and even a pickaxe. Frankly, he looks a little bit more like a mercenary than a rescue party, and that he stands rigidly with his arms crossed probably doesn't really help with that picture.

Ya boy doesn't play around with creepy underground scientific bunkers, okay? He's actually got a pretty significant aversion to them, so if he warily eyes anyone who approaches, well, it's nothing personal. He's got to get into that choke something if it pops out at him wrong zone. Eye of the tiger, thrill of the fight, etc.

[majorlyugh]

Major had gone to the Inn to pick up Liv's requested supplies - first aid, blankets, that sort of thing - which is all shoved in a crude satchel of sorts and slung over his shoulder. He arrived at the bridge at the agreed upon time but, not seeing her, he'd wandered a bit to see if he could find her in case she'd gotten tired of waiting and went ahead in typical Liv fashion. But, not finding her nearby, he returns to the bridge in time to see a man chock full of stuff arriving.

He hasn't met him before, not officially, but it doesn't take much for Major to put two and two together and get Bucky.

Boyfriend Bucky. Great. Cool. Cool cool cool. Awesome.

He puts on a smile - half-genuine, half-forced - as he nears and puts up a hand in greeting.

"Guess you got the Liv Bat Signal, too, huh?"

Samantha Moon | OTA | Hallway and Specimen Library

[thegreatexperiment]

In the earliest days after the Rain of Fire, when the world was like a pro wrestling match, complete with the colorful costumes, Sam had walked through the streets with a revolver, trying to break up fights and sort out shit. At the time, she'd at least felt somewhat empowered. She was a fucking Kindred. She had abilities. She could honestly affect change.

Now she was a goddam peon and all she had was a lead pipe she'd ripped out of one of the walls of an empty house.

But damn it, that pipe felt good as she draped it over her shoulder and stormed through the hallway of the bunker, like some kind of Mad Max Road Warrior.

The only thing that really took away from the picture was the LED unicorn horn fastened to her beltloop, just in case she needed light. Yeah, that was a little weird. But Sam wouldn't put it past their Overlords to turn off the lights, just to see what the hell happened. Or unleash the kraken or whatever. Hence the lead pipe.

She poked her head into a few random rooms, but either they had people in them, or else they didn't hold much interest. The specimen library, however, was pretty much made for her. There might as well have been a neon sign above the door that said 'This Room for Sam Moon.' There was enough shit in here to keep her busy on a multiversal PhD or twelve. But, naturally, it was the vials of human blood that caught her attention. Blood coded with colors and letters of the alphabet.

"You fucking dicks," she murmured, hoping the Overlords could hear her as she ran her finger along the labels.

[living_proof]

The good news: There ended up being no actual medical emergencies requiring my expertise. The bad news: Bull had definitely been burying the lede on the creep factor of this place.

Case in point: I'm wandering past, huffing out a weary sigh that just about encompasses this entire experience, when a shock of brightly-colored hair catches my eye and pulls me into a room I otherwise might have ignored. A room that is quite possibly the most screwed-up one I've stumbled into down here yet.

"What the hell," I say, slack-jawed as my gaze shifts from Sam to the shelves beyond.

[tosavecocoon]

Vanille came down here originally with Fang to offer help, though mostly to explore. A lot of people seemed to have the same idea and she doesn't want to crowd anything. The sight of all that technology makes her miss Sazh more than ever; if anyone could get all of that working again, it would be him.

Slipping quietly away before she starts letting on more than she wants to, she heads for another room. Fang won't be far away, she knows, but she wants to find out more. As much as possible. And maybe something will start to make sense.

Naturally, the first place she slips into makes even less sense. Well, no, it makes sense, but not in a good way. For a moment, she just stares at the area in general before she notices someone else inside. "Do you know what all of this is?" she asks, walking up to examine some of the vials, keeping her voice from betraying how shaken she feels. But only just barely.

Locked to Alarm Team: Peggy, Circe, Vergil, Clint and Logan

[notan_animal]

Only the day before, Logan was telling a bunch of people over the network that this was all a trap. That the distress signals were bait to get people down there for one reason or another, though not necessarily in a 'danger Will Robinson' way. If Logan had to bet money on it, he's guessing this is another test to see how they're going to respond.

And judging by what's all been happening the last few days, he's expecting there to be something huge down there.

Stopping off at the inn, Logan collects a few things and heads over with the rest of the team. How he got roped into this was definitely by him being in the wrong place at the right time, but this just happened to be the way his luck ran.

Once in the bunker, he glances down the first hallway before going first a few steps before fishing out the schematics from the inn that were shoved into his back pocket.

"Now's the time to back out if you don't think you can do this."

"

[womanofvalue]

Peggy wouldn't have wanted this any other way. She's determined to get this done and to find out what the coordinates are. It's the first time in a long while that she feels the promise of an actual answer being there and waiting for them and she's not about to let it pass without being there on the team. She gives Logan a dubious look as she walks right past to wait, heart beating quickly, but not racing.

"Not likely," is her response, reaching out to get the schematics, wanting to cross-reference the GPS signals to the map. "Though we should set up a perimetre to ensure that we're watching all avenues, just in case."

Rose || open to first responders, forward scouts, rescue people

[littledhampir]

Tried to square not being there

SHORELINE BY THE POD

Considering the last time anyone in the village, other than Sirius had seen her, was the day that Elena drowned, it's a wonder that Rose isn't a little more uneasy about returning to the very spot where it happened. That she isn't more aware of the looks that people might be giving her, or at least meeting them with a defiant stare as she dares them to think her too fragile. She might have skated through her time in the village by bringing relatively little attention to herself, but after the scene by the lake that day, it's hard to imagine the near anonymity she'd found, would continue after this week.

She doesn't seem to care, or even be aware of anyone around her, however, Rose sweeping the area in search of the only face that she knows will get her what she wants. If she had the slightest clue how to operate the pod, she wouldn't even be waiting for Owen but she has more chance of figuring out the device on her wrist than she does of getting down those tubes without his assistance.

So she waits, her weight shifting from one foot to another as she fights the rising impatience, her eyes hard and looking to the est where Owen said he was coming from. The only time she even dares to drag her gaze from that direction is when she lowers her gaze to her wrist; needing the reassurance that the name is still there.

But think that I should have been

DOWN IN THE BUNKER

Give her something to fight, something to physically do and Rose is always in her element but throw her in a room full of machines and timers and tell her that brute force isn't going to help her out of this one, while a timer counts down on the life of somebody she thought she'd never see again? It's the emotional equivalent of Chinese water torture and at present, she has that edge about her that suggests she's ready to break and just start trying to smash her way into those pods.

The only thing stopping her? Owen's words. His clear and simple explanation that doing so could be the very thing that kills them. So instead she stands there, of little use for anything else. Her arms folded across her chest as she stares at the timer to make sure it doesn't change dramatically. All the while silently calculating what she would need to do to break these things apart if it turns out her particular talents are required. It's either that or she stares at the veritable coffin that encases one of her only true friends in this place, and Rose doesn't need to stare at Elena to know how she looks surrounded by water. She's been seeing it every time she closes her eyes for the last six days.

Kenzi || New Arrival || Single Thread + OTA

[morethanasidekick]

Shout when you wanna get off the ride

IMMEDIATE ARRIVAL - SINGLE THREAD

The problem with rescuing people from vertical pods that contain water, there’s really only one way for the contents to go when the pressure inside the tube is released. While that’s all well and good for the water, for the 110-pound tiny person who happens to be stuck in the pod, it’s a little more like a giant reptile has been set loose on downtown Tokyo, and she’s just along for the ride.

There really isn’t a graceful way for somebody to regain their consciousness - mid faceplant and given the unfortunately timed inhale of breath that was at least ninety percent water? Kenzi’s arrival in what she suspects is only the latest incarnation of hell is about as smooth as Mickey Rourke's face. (Circa 2008)

Despite the fact that she frantically tries to grab whatever she can on the way down, it still ends in a soaking wet, mess of red scrubs on the floor with her jet-black hair spilling around her. Her cheek smooshed against something hard as she tries to blink the water out of her eyes, groaning at the weight of the backpack that’s still strapped to her back.

“This has really gotta stop happening.”

G-g-g-go home, go home it's over

SHORELINE BY THE POD - OTA

“Hi - Yes. You. Excuse me.” Still dripping water on the ground as she shuffles over to the first person she spies in the vicinity, a too bright smile plastered on her face, especially given the expected trauma of having been ripped from your world and thrust into an entirely new one. One full of people you don’t recognize and a near drowning to boot. Of course, she’s going to have questions. So many questions.

a ][ “Do you happen to know if this is one of those kidnappings that comes with refreshments?”

b ][ "A Succubus, a Werewolf and a Siren walk into a bar. This isn't actually a joke I'm just hoping any one of those things ring a bell so you can point me in the right direction?"

c ][ "I think maybe I'm in the wrong place? I like an Abercrombie casting call as much as the next girl but -" Motioning to her wet hair, face, clothes. "I could do without the side serving of Girls Gone Wild."

Am I the only sour cherry on the fruit stand?

WILDCARD - BUNKER + SHORELINE - OTA

OOC: Choose your own adventure. Feel free to hit Kenzi up anywhere between the Bunker and the Shore with a starter of your own. If you hadn't noticed from the rest of this post, she is the least traumatized person there. It's almost like this has happened to her before. Maybe even a lot. Her bio is over here

Shoreline a

[fishermansweater]

He's realizing now that it would have been a good idea to bring some spare clothes for people coming back out of the lake, or at least some of those blankets from the Inn storeroom. There are a lot of people swimming back over now, and some of them are people he hasn't seen before.

They must be the ones with names nobody recognized on the distress calls.

Finnick turns at the sound of the voice and wades back in towards the shore. Despite the fact that he's been up to his knees in the lake, he's about the driest person here, except Annie up her tree.

"That depends," he says, grinning. "How are you at hunting?"

Claire "For All Your Medical Needs" Temple | Open

[theluckygirl]

Paying very close attention to Clint's network the day before, Claire doesn't have to decide where she needs to be, it's instinct. So she gathers a bunch of medical supplies into her backpack and heads over to the lake over in the north village and makes her way down into the bunker to set up a makeshift clinic. Claire spends a good several hours near to where the people in stasis were.

Later, she heads back to the hospital where she keeps herself available in case anyone has issues they need tending to.

Nat Romanoff | Open

[iwasrussian]

There's a lot about the bunker that triggers a number of things for Natasha. Memories, mostly, especially when Natasha finally saw the empty stasis tubes of where six people had been for, well who really knew how long they'd been there. There were plenty of questions and given there were computers, the spy was certain there were answers, no matter how cryptic they might be.

Standing in front of the large console, Natasha looks it over and makes some initial observations about it before setting her fingers down to do what she does best.

[womanofvalue]

Peggy has been milling around, not ready to leave. Seeing people coming out of the those tubes should have been good. It should have given her answers, but instead, it's left her feeling out of sorts and off-kilter. Staying down here to find some sort of understanding is better, but instead, she feels like she has no purpose.

The computers are strange things, but at least she can see a familiar face in front of them. Dropping herself down beside Natasha, she looks ready to learn. "Can you show me what it is you're doing?"

Peggy Carter | Status: Stasis Failure

[womanofvalue]

After they'd found the room, Peggy had taken herself out of the pack in order to drift into the newly discovered room with a fair share of wariness. She can't say that she's averse to experimentation given what she'd worked on during the war, but this isn't like anything she's seen before and more than that, it's been hidden away. It's just another example of this place thoroughly messing with their minds.

She sees the broken tube first, but her attention drifts to the others as she wanders to them, looking past the fluid to see ...

"Oh, god," Peggy exhales, the words pushed out of her chest. There are people in there and something is going terribly wrong. The control panel is talking about stasis failure and Peggy might not be a whiz in technology, but she knows enough to know that's not good. She looks around the room, intending to break open the pods, but she has a feeling that it might be better to try and work the system. The only trouble is, she can't do that alone.

"I need help!" she shouts, trying to get anyone's attention who might have come down in search of the signals. "Anyone, please!"

[underachievement]

Jess isn't down there to help anyone, she's just there to stay out of the way and fill her waking hours. After allowing for Kamala to nearly drown herself by trying to take care of everyone (two kids) at the same time, she's the least qualified responder in an emergency situation. So she hung back, avoided the crowd, took in the big details they already did and soaking up a few smaller ones. Part of her is looking for the jukebox, just to validate her suspicion of it from the beginning.

At the first call for help, she freezes, her ears straining for footfalls as someone else comes running to answer. Nobody does. Jess sighs when beseeched again, by a semi-familiar voice, and trots towards it.

Her mouth falls agape as she enters the room, then seals grimly as it occurs to her that these are the potential victims of the countdown, not any of them. Jesus Christ. Swallowing, she turns her attention to Peggy, who seems present and focused despite reality and the building crumbling around them. "How do we get these open?"

clark kent | ota

[symbolizes]

arrival - Fountain | closed to Kira

[He is the lucky guy who shoots out through his tube and up to the fountain. Clark doesn't know that. He stayed asleep through that entire ordeal and dreamed of the past. He remembers fishing a bus of children out of the river when he was no older than they were. He remembers going back for Pete because even if he always treated him like dirt, he was a person. Clark couldn't let him die. He can never let anyone die except-

It's unsurprising the first thing he does when he wakes in the water is see if there's anyone with him to save. The second thing he does is lose all the oxygen from his lung in a single burst. The water is cold. For the first time in his life, he knows how badly that can hurt. Clark kicks hard to the surface, hand shooting up to grip the side of the fountain. He does it too hard and is rewarded with more pain. He comes to the surface with a loud groan, but he can't stop. Something is wrong. He is real danger here.

The other hand follows to grip the side with the appropriate amount of strength this time. Clark pulls himself up with more effort than he's ever needed to before. A leg shoots out to finish the job and he falls to the ground for his troubles. He's in no rush to get back up. He hasn't experienced pain since he was a kid seeing through walls and hearing things no one else could. It's terrifying. He's fine with laying there and trying to catch his breath in more clothing than he had when he first fell into the water following the explosion.

Another thing to fear, he supposes.]

post-arrival - Inn

[It doesn't matter how his first encounter goes. He bolts because that's what he does. The only thing that changes really is if he offended the first person he encountered or not. He can find open housing anywhere in the world. This place is no different.

Clark parks himself in front of the fire and tries to decompress. He'll get up soon to ask about food and shelter. He'll get a job and shave his beard to fit in better if need be. Right now he needs to come to grips with the fact that for the first time in many years he isn't different from everyone else. He doesn't know why.]

Inn

[theluckygirl]

[ It's been a long afternoon and the first thing Claire decides to do after being in the bunker for as many hours as she had been, is collect some coffee and park herself at the inn for a bit. Try to unwind, as much as she can.

She notices the form of someone at the fireplace and cranes her neck a little to look at him, immediately surmising that he was one of the new people rescued from the tubes.

Claire didn't want to spook him so she softly clears her throat and steps closer, careful to stay back and respect that he must still be out of sorts. ]

Hi. You look like you could use a coffee. Or maybe something stronger?

[ She offers a smile. ]

Phryne Fisher | Closed + OTA | arrival/exploration

[fishingfortrouble]

{Arrival; closed to Peggy}

It's not the first time Phryne has found herself underwater. It's not even the first time she's ended up underwater in a sealed container. It is, however, the first time she's ended up underwater with no memory of how she got there and that alone is enough to be concerning. That she doesn't recognize what she can easily see outside the glass of her watery prison doesn't help either, and moves things quite firmly into the realm of 'potential kidnapping'.

She doesn't panic. For one thing, it's almost certainly not going to help. For another, she very rarely goes anywhere without a lockpick at least. That is, of course, not going to help much if the locking mechanism is on the outside, mind. But it's more than she suspects her kidnappers will have expected, and that's certainly a start.

This runs into problems almost immediately. She doesn't have to do more than brush her fingers against the scrubs to know that they are most certainly not the clothes she'd been wearing previously, and a brief glance downwards only confirms the fact. Worse still, there isn't any obvious way to get out either.

She panics, then, eyes going wide as she struggles to keep herself from instinctively drawing in a breath; it's only when the water starts to drain that the panic begins to fade away. (To be replaced by mild irritation at needing to be helped in the first place, but better that than to drown.)

{Exploration; OTA}

While she might not have any idea where she is - and only has a very basic idea of what all happens to be going on, Phryne is nothing if not endlessly curious. Unsurprisingly, then, once she's decanted and has gotten the basic explanations as to what's going on (and possibly also a clean bill of health) she wastes absolutely no time in poking her nose into the various other rooms, boots squelching softly as she goes. Admittedly, a good deal of it doesn't make much sense to her, especially any of the rooms that have to do with computers, but that's no reason to not familiarize herself with them all the same. It just means that she might need to ask a few more questions, that's all.

And regardless of which room she should happen to be in at the time, anyone she happens to cross paths with is treated to her most charming smile (although the effect is a little ruined by her still-damp hair and scrubs) and a polite "I don't suppose you'd have a moment?"

[womanofvalue]

With the help of Natasha and some of the others, they've managed to reboot the systems and get the code working. It's something she wants to learn for another time, but right now, she can see that someone inside is waking up and the water is draining. Peggy is glad for the other people helping, so she assigns herself to a tube with a woman inside wearing scrubs like her own (which she's wearing now simply because she'd wanted something efficient for the mission).

Prying open the tube and being grateful she doesn't have to smash it open, Peggy stumbles backwards when the force of it drives her a step or two back, but at least she's able to help free the woman (whom she's never seen before). What on earth has been going on down here? And is this where they've been all along before they arrive?

"You're all right, you're free," she promises. "Are you okay?"

Shore by the pod | OTA

[fishermansweater]

He's trying not to think about how unsettling the idea of an underground complex in this place is. It makes him think of the hidden network of tunnels and launch rooms under the arena from which tributes are lifted up into the arena. He hates this, hates how this place pretends not to be like the arena and then reminds them all precisely how like the arena it is. He can talk that over with Annie, later, see if she gets the same vibes as him. The two of them came here together, and Annie's acting as an extra pair of eyes for him while Finnick stands on the shore, watching the pod and tracing approach routes from the shore with his gaze. Annie's up a nearby tree, hidden from view but able to see more and different angles than he can.

He's given her a knife, though he knows she won't want to use it.

Finnick's taken off his boots and set them on the lakeshore, and his pants are slightly rolled up so he can wade out into the shallows. He's confident that if anything or anyone tries to get at the pod to cut off the people down there he'll be able to either outswim them or get close enough to throw the trident he's carrying, but being already knee-deep in the water will help.

Despite being heavily armed, his greeting to the people arriving on their rescue mission is friendly enough: smile, nod, a wish of luck. He's hoping his presence can help tilt the odds in their favor, but the good wishes never hurt.

And later, when people start swimming back out from the pod, he'll go to the aid of anyone who looks like they need it, swimming fast and strong through the deep water.

Otherwise, he'll stop someone who's just come back, with a gesture towards the pod.

"What happened there?"



[ OOC - open to before and after the events in the bunker! Feel free to find him on your way in or out, or say hi if you're new. He'll be there until there's nobody left to need guarding. ]

[littledhampir]

She couldn’t be sure how long she’s been standing by the edge of the water, waiting for Owen to show up. Her arms folded across her chest and emanating an aura of barely controlled, forced calm. Truthfully, if she thought she could get into the pod on her own? She wouldn’t even be waiting but knowing Rose’s luck, that would only add another name to the list of the recently deceased. She might be able to swim well enough not to drown in still water but even she knew better than to push her luck, especially right now.

She hears Finnick’s approach before she sees it but doesn’t turn around, doesn’t know his footsteps well enough to place their owner until he moves into her periphery. There’s the slightest of shifts in her posture, an infinitesimal relaxation. Just like you’d expect from somebody registering a threat, but deeming it not a threat to her.

“Coming or come to watch?” Rose only allowing her gaze to shift in his direction once she catches sight of the trident, her face an odd mask of curiosity and confusion as she silently tries to picture how one would fare in a fight.

Karen Page | OTA

[digging]

It was easy enough to focus on the newness of it all, at first.

This place has always been coy, revealing itself in slivers of information and oblique hints, never enough to form a complete picture, and whether by design or accident, this is more than its ever deigned to show them before. Pencil and notebook in hand, it had been natural, easier to catalog and notate, to sketch out crude maps as a shield against the existential mire they've all just found themselves up to their necks in.

Karen had been doing okay. The irrefutable jolt of this hidden place had been a lot, is a lot, even after months of its probability hovering over everything she's done. But she had been putting one foot in front of the other, she had been pushing forward, stepping carefully but finding her footing.

But now there's a room and it's filled with endless rows of test tubes and specimen jars winking in the industrial lighting, and they are all so carefully labeled over the scarlet of the blood inside: CT, KA, KP, FC, JJ, DR...

A fine tremble in her fingers, she plucks one tube from the lot and stares at it, cool glass resting against her palm. Emotion bands tight against her chest and she nearly drops the thing, clamps both hands protectively over it — What if this is all there is? What if there isn't any more? — and retreats to the far wall, where she slides down with her back against the cold concrete and squeezes her eyes closed.

None of this should matter, she knows that. But god, it does.

[fishingfortrouble]

Phryne doesn't know Karen from Eve, to be perfectly honest. Which isn't hard, given that she's only just arrived, but for all that the room itself has the potential to be interesting - if not precisely the sort of thing she's usual dealt with - that's not what she's seeing. What she is seeing is a woman, curled against the far wall and clearly in some sort of distress besides, and that's something that Phryne has never been able to simply walk away from.

Her approach isn't silent. The soft squelching of her still-damp boots sees to that, and even if they hadn't she wouldn't have tried to make her approach silent anyway.

"I know it's probably not any of my concern," she begins, as she takes a seat against the wall nearby, "but is everything alright?"

John Constantine | will match style!

[nifties]

spitting in a wishing well

closed to Steph Brown

[ his eyes pop open wide, blue and wild as he attempts to assess his surroundings. at first, he assumes it's a vision even though he doesn't explicitly have those. he has seen things that weren't happening to him, which is closer to what this would be - if not for the chunk of sandy blonde hair he sees float past him when he struggles. he's not a super great swimmer, what brit is? and that moment of confusion cost him precious oxygen. through the liquid, he's also able to see scrubs, bright red this time. a new mental hospital? it isn't so farfetched for him. still, that can wait until he isn't drowning in a test tube, maybe?

the first person to happen by him gets all of his efforts, concentrated into flailing his arms and legs against the glass until it either breaks or they let him out. unless they're the ones who put him in, but he can't think about that now. he can't think about much of anything without the proper air to his brain. ]

LET ME OUT!!! [ he screams, knowing it isn't the smart play since it will use up the last of his air. if this is how john constantine dies, well, it'll probably be the most mundane death he could have asked for. he's really not ready to go to hell though, so here's hoping the girl takes pity on him anyway. ]

blown to hell crash

OTA

[ once he's let out of the tube and catches his breath, the first thing he thinks to do... isn't a smart thing. especially after nearly drowning. still dripping wet, he goes to find the first electrical socket he can and sticks his finger in. he immediately starts to seize, held to the outlet by its electrical current. he finally falls away from it and hits the ground with a dull thud, blood trickling from his eyes and ears. when someone comes over to check on him, his eyes pop open again, and this time a raucous smile takes up his face as he offers a hand up. help him to his feet, come on!! he rights himself and ignores a shiver that racks his spine, already talking a mile a minute. ]

I saw shadows... lurkers. People who inhabit this place the same as us, they don't belong. But they've made quite a place for themselves here, haven't they? Sick bastards. [ he still sounds wicked cheerful about it though. ] The veil between this world and the next is... strange. It's a one-way trip, that makes sense I suppose. But the other side is highly permeable, like a curtain made of glass beads.

[ and if they all made it in, it's highly likely something else pierced the veil as well. john wipes the blood from his face and goes to find dry clothes. ]

i'm the last splash

OTA

[ he stops dead in the doorway of the prep room, boxes and bags abandoned in a hurry. he drops his backpack on the table and starts going through it, seeing the same items out like an assembly line, ready to fill the next hapless victim's pack. ]

What a botch job this is, eh?

[ even for john, this is a weird day. he starts stripping out of his wet scrubs without much care for who's in the room with him. ]

[spoileralert]

[ Steph was hovering. She wasn't comfortable getting too involved in the whole rescue operation, not after the last time she tried to help ended in a full-on gang war. But now the people in the tubes are waking up and freaking out. She isn't sure how long they'll be okay in there, but she's pretty sure panic will strain the life-support systems. ]

Hold on, we're gonna get you out of there!

[ She's not really sure how. With the tube she took to get down here she sort of kicked it, and it popped open. Somehow she doubts that will work with the thing full of... mystery fluid.

She puts both hands on the glass, feeling for any kind of control. She even tries smacking it a few times, just in case. Whatever she did seems to have worked, because the water starts to drain. ]

Okay... hopefully this is a good thing.

Logan | Open

[notan_animal]

[ bunker - after "team rescue" ]

Once the distraction of getting people out of the tubes was over, Logan had to get out of there. Not because anyone was in danger of the creature he could become had the powers that be not inhibited the claws from coming out. Smart move on their part, but it did little to stop the whole place from triggering the PTSD that started in a bunker that looked a lot like this one a number of years back. Now all he wanted was to keep himself together long enough to remember how the hell to get out.

[ lake/shore ]

It's only been a couple of hours when Logan appears on the shore directly off the path that leads to and from his house, walking it more times than he can count in the couple months he's been back. He stares across to where the pod is as he perches a cigar at the corner of his mouth and fishes out a box of matches.

He's not doing much better, doesn't expect to for a good few days or until he can find a decent distraction to focus on until he shuts his eyes, letting everything that happened at Alkali Lake back in before waking up as violently as he always did.

To him, it felt like Stryker was behind this like he was behind everything else.

Once the end is lit, Logan takes a good few puffs and takes comfort in having it. He isn't quite sure if it's some kind of reward for helping or someone feeling charitable. Either way, it's nice to have.

But you won't catch him admitting it.

lake/shore

[cannily]

It's a lot to take in, and he's only looked behind one curtain, into one room. Cael had broken off from the welcome wagon as they made their way up the bunker's long hall--curious about what he might be led away from, and needing a moment of his own.

That they'd gone on without him hadn't offended: it was exhausting, walking the line of utter ignorance and utter refusal to show it. The underground keep had space enough for those lingering to explore their separate corners, contend with what they found. Had he done that? Had he parsed the difference between ingredient and trophy in the room of backlit shelves? Tomorrow, a day after: he thought he'd go back.

Now he isn't sure where he'll start. At some point, he'd picked himself up off the floor--a thimble turned out to not overestimate his understanding--and decided to move.

The keep had given him pause. The pod, its movement, he had endured from a corner, eyes shut, breathing slow as not to be sick.

And then the world had opened: water all around, stretching to multiple horizons. A sea of green trees in one direction, and enough of a swim to make him glad he'd endured his wet clothes for this long. Solitude was his only boon, that no one had seen him struggle this far, that this much made sense. Swimming toward a shore, cold and weighted by his clothes, the past behind him.

When he crawls onto the shore, more than his scrubs are going blue, and he drops his pack for the first time--just to better flop over on the stones.

The sky is wide and clear; the water laps at his feet, his legs. The crunch of stones and smell of smoke turns his head to the source.

"I don't suppose you know where everyone goes, from here."

elena gilbert ; closed to rose then OTA

[copingskills]

(re)arrival

[Elena doesn't stir as the tubes start to finally drain. She doesn't wake as it slides open and tumbles out, her body limp as a rag doll. Perhaps she doesn't realize that she's (still?) alive, or her body is tired from her terrible ordeal that occurred just recently, but it isn't until moments later, either in a pile on the floor or the arms of a particularly observant rescuer, that her eyes pop open as she simultaneously pulls air into her lungs.]

bunker

[She's a little dazed and wary as she quietly explores the bunker, eager to get away from the stasis tubes but still foggy from what feels like a very, very long sleep. Rose is constantly by her side, and though it's hard for her to entirely gather up her thoughts, she isn't going to turn anyone away that tries to talk to her.

They'll just have to deal with her very intense bodyguard, too.]

(re)arrival

[littledhampir]

[While it can’t be more than a few seconds, for Rose, its as if it’s happening in slow motion; Her breath catching in the back of her throat as she waits for Elena to take a breath, to open her eyes, to do anything to let her know that all of this, hasn’t all been for nothing. That every second she’s spent, watching that timer as if her own life depended on it, wasn’t leading to the moment when she would realize that she was once again, far too late.

It's instinct that propels her forward, Rose’s arms moving out to capture a girl who is little more than dead weight and it's in that window of despair, that anyone who happens to be watching would see it. The moment when the spark of hope she’s managed to find, is all but extinguished.

Until she breathes.

Rose feels her own chest deflate, as if with that one breath, Elena's pulling the air from her own lungs, the Dhampir unable to react right away as she desperately tries to wrench herself back from the edge. She hears Elena’s name slip past her lips but it’s almost inaudible even to her own ears, as the strain of keeping them both upright, finally becomes too much to bear.

Rose feels her legs give way beneath her as strong arms try to keep Elena from slipping from her grip, her mind tripping over every thought in her head, as she struggles to come back to the present. Moisture gathers at the corners of her eyes, spilling down her cheeks before she can even register its presence, and Rose tries to brush the hair out of Elena’s face, needing to see for herself before she can fully believe it.]

Elena? [Her name barely more than a whisper, as if saying it out loud will curse the moment, and Elena will turn to dust right here on the floor.]