Libertatem et Animositas

Alex Savage

"There are three wings of the buiding, which surrounding this central area that contains the target." A simple blueprint displayed itself on the screen to the wearer, with a small pinging dot that indicated their own current location. "We’re about halfway into the east wing. It’s pretty much a straight shot directionally from here to the heart of the building, but as you might imagine, it’s not quite that simple. Security is scattered everywhere, and unfortunately, the closer we get to the center, the less cover you’ll have." The display changed to zoom in on a room just before the main area of the building, right where the wing they were in transitioned into the main area. "There is a conference room that must be passed through in order to enter the target area. That’s probably going to be the most cover you’ll get, there’s a quite large table there which you can probably hide under, if you’re silent. There may or may not be one guard in there. You may have to use force on him, there aren’t any other more clear ways around. Does this work?" Even before her answer, he’d already stored several alternate routes on the chance that she should stray from his suggested one.

Reviewing the floor plans, Alex silently memorized the route proposed and continued along the top of the shelf. "That looks good... if necessary, I won't have any trouble taking out people who get in my way. The only problem will be hiding my tracks." When the patrol had vacated the aisle below, she dropped down to the floor and slipped into the next room, immediately ducking behind a large crate near the door. She was in a wide corridor with a lot of people. Unfortunate. "Activate cloaking, CAS, I don't have time to disguise myself."

The cloaking mechanism was similar to a chameleon's camouflage- she could still be seen fairly easily if she was moving around too obviously, but if she remained motionless she was virtually invisible. It wouldn't eliminate any possibility of being seen, but she had always been skilled with stealth. Well, not as skilled as Agent Monkey or Agent Snake, but...

She scowled, suddenly feeling very bitter.

Getting through the corridor to the next area was no easy feat. She had to skip between covers and watch for any watching eyes. At one point, she had to jump onto the side of a vehicle that was moving down the hall, riding it until she noticed someone screwing their eyes in her direction.

Eventually, she managed to get there, but this time she didn't bother with hiding. This was the conference room CAS had mentioned before, and she walked in without cloaking, her naturally confident stride acting as a small cover. She betrayed no ill intentions with her presentation, and as such, the man in the room didn't even bother looking up when she walked in. "Hey, soldier, come here, would you?" The man said distractedly, beckoning toward her. "I just need someone to speak aloud to."

He gestured to the charts he was poring over. They looked very complicated, and upon further inspection, Alex noticed they were highly detailed graphs and data templates for the movements of the military's force over the last few months. It was filled with information, up until...

"Odd, isn't it? Two weeks ago, all action stopped. There has to be something here, some sort of pattern, that I'm missing. They can't be gathering forces, their full force is focused elsewhere. So what could it be...?"

Alex's mouth twitched. "Yeah, I agree," she said, and pressed her silenced pistol to his head. "You really did miss the pattern." Before she could shoot, the man grabbed her hand and turned her gun away, so she kicked his chair out from under him and shot him on the ground. "Alright, we won't have much time until they find him, we're going to need to act fast." She nudged the body as far under the table as she could, and then put the chair back in position. It was broken, but as long as nobody sat on it, it wasn't too noticeable. She continued on her way.

One more corridor, two more rooms, and she finally emerged into the hall that preceded the target location. Between her and the door stood four guards, who reacted almost immediately to her appearance. Three ran forward, while the other yelled at them to stop. So dumb. Alex shook her head and got in position, smirking under her helmet.

As they drew close, she took three running steps and wound up before punching straight through all three. Grabbing the third by the helmet, she spun on her heel and smashed him into the other two, throwing them all into the wall, where they lay groaning. She shot all three.

The final guard was now distressed. "YOU KILLED THEM, YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT!" he yelled, turning his semi automatic on her. Without hesitating, she dashed to the right, running full speed down the length of the hall. A majority of his bullets glanced harmlessly off her armor, but one managed to graze her side. It wasn't anything serious, but it hurt like a bitch. With a hiss of pain, she ran at the wall and placed a foot on it, using the spring on her heel to push off with enough force to fly into the air and land directly on the soldier, holding him down with a foot and shooting him in the head.

"Sorry," she said. She turned to leave, but then thought against it and took the semi automatic, holstering her pistol. "We only have one chance at this, CAS," she said, touching the side of her helmet as she jogged to the door and opened it, revealing a small room with a large computer terminal at the far end, just as it had been described to her. "I'll plug you in, and it'll be up to you from there. You'll need to overpower the program and bring it straight back. I'll stand guard, but I don't know how much backup will come, or how long I can hold them off. It'll put up a good fight, but I think I would be discrediting you if I had any doubt you could pull this off, right? I'm counting on you." Ejecting the small chip from her helmet, she kissed it, and then plugged it into the computer's port.

Somewhere along the way as Lily followed Faolan’s path, she was abruptly hit with a stench that defied anything her nose was familiar with. There was nothing she could do to hold back her reaction to it, and she hoped she didn’t look too offensive to the other as she let out a heavy cough in response and brought the pit of her elbow to her nose. She glanced at Faolan and gave an apprehensive smile, trying to hold her breath so she could lower her arm a bit. Upon inspecting the rest of the home, she had to admit that for his conditions, it was in pretty good shape. Faolan definitely knew what he was doing, and the setup of it almost reminded her of a typical home that she might see among someone who could be called more human. But she didn’t think about Faolan like that, as inhuman, just as…adapted, to his own world, this special one. Lily stepped in a bit further, slowly, looking around at every detail. She tried to pick out the little things that reminded her of her own home, the things that were common between them despite their lifestyles. She turned to Faolan and gave a small nod, smiling awkwardly and sticking up a thumb for him.

The gesture, though simple, lifted Faolan's spirits a significant amount. His lump of branches and pelts, which had seemed mediocre and kind of insufficient before, now gave him a small sense of pride when he looked at it. Watching Lily looking around the shelter, he smiled, his head slowly tilting to the side. He didn't really understand it, but something about this girl really made him feel... Well, something. She made him want to just sit and think for a long time. Or walk through the forest and appreciate the finer points of its beauty. Or watch the stars in the sky as they slowly edged their way across the sky... but with her. She had to be part of these equations, these scenarios. Beside him.

He wanted her to stay. He wanted to know more about her, to learn from her and become... better. More like her. She inspired him, and made him want more than what he had. She made him think about the world and all it entailed, and she made him feel alive. His smile broadened, and a short burst of happy laughter bubbled out of his chest. Funny how his perception of life could be so drastically altered by a person he had only met yesterday.

#faolan

Alex Savage

Silently and without need of explanation, the program shifted the settings of his wearer’s suit to fit the indoor environment. An increased sensitivity to sound and to activate a coating of gel between the suit’s most protective metal layer, and another thin outer layer made of a much thinner metal. This extra layer served purpose specifically for an indoor surrounding, because upon being filled with the gel, it added a degree of cushion to the layer and minimized sound and impact between the suit and other objects. As a result, Alex would be able to move more freely through the area without having to worry so much about the sound of her presence giving her away. It wasn’t flawless, but few things were, perhaps even CASPER knew this.

"From what I scanned, the room below us is full of shelves, they’re almost to the height of the ceiling and they’re wide enough for you to be able to crouch on top of them if you’d find that useful. What they hold is irrelevant, but they could be useful to shield you, even on the ground. There’s no doubt that officials will be patrolling the aisles, but of course, you’re good at mazes, aren’t you?" There was almost an air of a smirk in his voice.

Breathing slowly and evenly, Alex crept to the opening of the vent, her back pressed against the side, and leaned out slightly to get a look into the room. It looked like some sort of resource room; there were millions of files and folders in the shelves, which were stacked high. From the vent, it would be possible for her to climb on top of the nearest shelf, but it might be an awkward maneuver, with the small opening she would have to squeeze out of, and it could draw attention. "I guess you could say that," she murmured, scanning the aisles for guards, "but those things got old years ago. Like, back in training. I prefer to create my own path."

Back in training, she and the other agents had gone through countless sessions of search-and-defeat scenarios, pitted against each other at opposite ends of extremely large and elaborate mazes. After a while of following the rules, they had all grown bored of the usual, and had begun to deviate. Sometimes they would climb on top of the walls, or simply blow holes in them. The directors never complained, because it made for interesting fights.

Slowly and carefully, Alex pulled the bars of the vent out, leaving the opening clear of obstacles. Making sure the guards weren't watching, she leaned out, placing her feet on the wall and holding herself in place by hanging on the one remaining bar. With a small grunt, she pushed off, flying 12 feet across the aisle and managing to catch hold of the shelf by her fingers. Just as the guard came around the corner, she pulled herself on and crouched down, her heart beating fast as he walked past her. "Alright. CAS, give me a layout of the building and an estimate for the best route to take. From what I was told, the target is in a small room directly in the middle of the building, with four guards. Can you find it?"

lylahammar

Really relaxing thing to do!

First of all, click here, and choose any of the natural noises (I personally prefer the Wind Noise for this particular thing, but any of them will work great). Once that noise loads, click the “Animate” button.

Next, go here and play the soundtrack, with the noise you chose in the background. You can add any sort of extra things you feel like (fireplace sound, more noises in different tabs, w/e), but that’s the basis of it.

I do this a lot when I need to get work done, or when I’m writing- as someone with an extreme case of ADD and sluggish cognitive disorder, I can assure you that it definitely helps my concentration a LOT. Enjoy!

here u go bee use this!!

i found a thing someone did so i colored it to make it alex hhhhhhh

Alex Savage

A quick flash of numbers to the side of the screen indicated the execution of the command, and a quiet ping which was only to be heard to the wearer signaled its completion.

"Done," came the clear voice, surprisingly human in tone, as always. "I also took the liberty of activating your radial movement signal for everything behind you, you’ll feel it on your wrist pulse if anything goes on out of your line of sight." The system often deferred most of these alerts to go through the band worn around her wrist, which used a pulsating notifier that was silent, unlike his voice. Of course, his voice was inaudible to anything outside of the helmet, but he preferred to not speak up too suddenly when she needed to concentrate, such as in these moments. Everything he did during her active combat was only out of necessity, and sometimes the necessary had its own useful tricks, too.

The agent blinked the colors of the area around her flared with sudden vivid display. As she registered the sheer number of living signatures all around her, a small whoosh of air escaped her lungs, and she closed her eyes for a moment. "Thanks, CAS," she whispered. "Here I go. Remember, keep lookout for me, just in case I miss anything." They had set up this agreement ages ago- since she was human and was subject to frequent error, she counted on him to watch her back and stay on alert for anything she might miss. Most agents only saw their AI as tools, rather than comrades, and would quickly shut down any effort on their AI's part to provide assistance. Their pride was too great. Her deviation from this trend was the reason behind her skill-- but she had yet to tell anyone about that. Let them believe what they wanted to believe about her. She'd just continue doing their job better than they ever could.

Taking a few deep breaths, she waited for the guards to patrol past her, giving her a clear path. Then she stood up and backed up 7 paces, her eyes locked on the wall before her. She bounced on the balls of her feet for a moment, looking the wall up and down, and then kicked her feet back against the opposite wall- first one and then the other. As the heels hit, her boots transformed around her feet, the panels sliding with quiet metallic clicks, to form a springy heel that would offer her support for falling from great heights. Then, without waiting a moment longer, she started forward, gaining momentum quickly, and scaled the wall in 3 agile springs.

High above, she managed to catch hold of a vent, her fingers closing around the metal bars. Such a dumb oversight on their part. How did they not think to protect the vent more closely? They must've assumed that its height would prevent any intrusion. So careless. Using the heightened strength that her suit provided her with, she yanked the bar out and slipped inside, placing the bar laterally to the opening, so it wouldn't roll against the opening and make a loud noise. "We're in. Let's go."

her armor would be something like this except built more for agility (the chest wouldn't be so bulky), and the helmet would cover the entire head rather than just the top half

i was looking for female armor but it was all super sexual hhhhhhhhahah,,,,,,,,,,,,,

#sorrymysurgery #alex

Alex Savage

Silence. Perfect, absolutely necessary silence. It enveloped the dark figure, casting them in a veil of flawless imperceptibility as they crouched in darkness, staring out at the patrolling guards. Before them was a giant metal monolith, completely impenetrable to even the most powerful army, with the most advanced weaponry. Thousands had tried and failed, countless times, to storm the fortress. The efforts were beginning to cost them valuable time, resources, and soldiers. Which was exactly why they had only sent one person.

"There has to be a chink in the armor..." the figure murmured, their eyes scanning the entire area. 12, 13... 19 guards, all gathered in one area. It could only be guessed as to how many more there were stationed within. Brows furrowing in concentration, the agent lifted a hand to their helmet. "Hey. I need you to run a heat signature diagnostic on the entire area, and keep it running on my visor. I need to know where everyone is at all times. Can't be running into a guard on accident. I'm going in Stealth."

sarasalvador13-deactivated20141

mentalsuicide1985

Winter Forest

#photography

#photography

Lily’s gestures throughout the presentation of what seemed to be Faolan’s main living area consisted of wide eyes, and scattered glances to everything everywhere, trying to take it all in. She felt like she was looking at an abstract work of art, which she always avoided at museums because they made her feel inferior for her lack of understanding, much like in this moment. She was sure there was something to praise here, there was no doubt that he was a skilled survivor after he’d been living this way for what she assumed was most of if not his whole life. It all looked like a jumble of leaves and parts of trees to her, although there were a few things that definitely resembled purposeful construction, which she approves of. It was all just different a kind of architecture. Come, he called, as if she appeared to be capable of his feats. Her mind instantly flashed to Tarzan for a moment and she couldn’t help but laugh quietly to herself at that. “Alright…” She sighed defeatedly and figured if she had gotten this far, there was no point to stop and turn back. She pulled her hair up behind her head, and used a convenient elastic from her wrist to tie it back in a neat ponytail. It had been a good few years since she’d been doing her martial arts as a daily practice, but she had no doubt that the skills were still in her. She grabbed the nearest knot on the tree for leverage as she propped one foot up onto the tree, kicking off with the other. She pulled herself up, admittedly slower and more clumsily than Faolan, but successfully. “Okay,” she exhaled and smiled at Faolan. “Where to?” Her eyes sparkled.