03 ▒ EVENT: STRELA OUTPOST ▒ ASSIMILATION

[ataraxites]

CHARACTERS: Ensemble production!
LOCATION: Strela Outpost.
WARNINGS: Mind horror, hivemindery, etc.
SUMMARY: Communal brainwashing.
NOTES: Divided by locations; players are free to indicate which day/stage, and to begin new subthreads wherever they'd like!

Looks like the authorities have apprehended you and have brought you in for processing. After being forced to wait in the waiting room, you're brought to the assimilation room - a terrible white cell, where you're trapped for hours, sentenced to be slowly stripped of your individuality.

Comments

July 28th; Closed to Shepard

[andblockbuster]

[The truth is, he never actually makes it to the waiting room.

Topher analyzes the human brain- he knows how it works. Logically, he knows that it's not that he doesn't remember when or how he was grabbed, but more that his brain hasn't caught up yet. And maybe he won't ever remember the details, but things will trigger the same response- the smell of antiseptic in that room he was pulled out of, the sight of harsh lights, a sudden feeling of electricity through his shoulder that brings him down on one knee hard.

Because you have a functioning amygdala and they don't. They don't. They don't, because if they did, they would react more. They would be angrier or more upset. They would mourn their dead. But they don't, because that's not written in the code. They're like dolls. God, they're like Dolls...

That he's still hanging to some adrenaline-fueled fight-or-flight response and the situation, itself hasn't registered. He knows this is bad.

Catecholamine hormones facilitate immediate physical reactions.

Acceration of heart and lung action. Check.

Shaking. Check.

Check. Check. Check.

He goes limp in an attempt to slow their progress, but he's hauled back to his feet and all but dragged. Another shock traces a line all the way up his spine and he lets out a yelp of pain. His brain catches up with his fear response and as the door comes into sight, he tries to draw back more, only to be shoved forward harder.

You can't imprint on top of a fully functional brain, it'll implode. He almost says that out loud, but he bites his tongue. His head's swimming with horrible snippets of out-of-context dialogue, like he's trying to retreat and keeps digging up old memories in the process.

Aren't you Big Brother? Aren't you Lord, my God?

Logically.

Logically, he knows that this is probably what he deserves, that he's heading down the same paths that nearly destroyed the world, that swearing he's changed and that he's not doing that anymore is all well and good when it's true, but not when he's lying.

But he is doing good- he is...

And that's why he can't go down like this- he can't lay here and become a victim of some cruel irony. He elbows one guard in the chest, bites another one on the hand and then jerks his way free. He manages a good five feet before he's brought down again.

But he tried. Flight failed. If it keeps them from putting him in that room, then he'll fight, even if it kills him.]

[galacticheroine]

[Through some stroke of luck Shepard has avoided capture long enough to follow a group of guards to what she hopes is whatever is controlling these poor people. What she ends up coming on is a familiar face of one of the Tranquility's passengers being dragged towards an ominous door.

Taking a split second to analyze tactical advantage, and seeing what those cattleprods could do, she draws her machine pistol and steps out of the alley she'd been skirting along.

The guards don't see her at first, too focused on Topher and his escape attempt. This gives her ample time for her biotics to flare, a slightly perceptible blue aura surrounding her, before she jerks her arm up and two biotic spheres fly from her left hand, arching across the street and hitting the two guards scrambling to subdue Topher, yanking them off their feet and sending them spiralling several feet away.

Now, they notice her. She slams the butt of her pistol into a third guard's head, dodging his cattleprod as she runs to close the space between her and their downed prey.]

Hey! Can you stand?

[She skids to a stop, holding one arm out to Topher to help him up if needed while watching the guards circling. She lays a spray of automatic pistol fire down at their feet, slowing them briefly but not stopping their regroup. She doesn't want to hurt any of them, they're doing what they've been programmed to, and that isn't their fault. Still, survival is generally a priority.]

[andblockbuster]

[Topher's immediate reaction to two of his pursuers suddenly not being on top of him anymore is to curl up in a protective ball and cover his head, wincing at the sound of impacts. He has no idea who is even kicking ass and taking names, but he's pretty sure it's not John or Ripley and when he hears the question...

He looks up in shock, because while being saved is great and all, he isn't the type to assume everyone and their dog would risk their lives to save him, so he's sort of perplexed to see a woman he's spoken to all of once looming over him and ready to beat back the next onslaught of people.] Uh... Yeah. Just a little... Shaky. [He grabs her arm and hauls himself to his feet, only to immediately jump back at the sound of gunfire, putting himself firmly behind her.]

We might be able to make it out. They don't have guns or telekinesis, so we've got the advantage.

[The problem is that there's a lot of them.]

[galacticheroine]

[She's got her eyes on the advancing guards, though she is listening to what Topher has to say. She also knows there's more of them than she can take in one go, and she's pretty sure he's not going to be much help in a fight.]

I can distract them. The second all eyes are on me, you run for the shuttles.

[There's no theoretical in her voice, and she's not phrasing it like he has an option. Every bit of her posture says military officer issuing a command as she points at the alley she'd come from]

Keep to the shadows, and you should be able to get back without them noticing. I'll keep them busy.

[Without waiting for a response, she raises her arm, surrounded by the blue aura of her biotics as a series of dark energy shockwaves erupt in the direction she'd gestured, knocking the guards that had circled around behind her when she'd run for him to the ground.]

Move it!

[andblockbuster]

What? [Oh, the irony, considering he just told Wheatley the same thing not two days ago- God, he better have made it. Him, John, everyone else- hell, even Dave, at this point.

Really, he shouldn't protest. He knows he's useless in a fight, but he also knows a one-woman rodeo can't hope to take down the advance guard on her own.]

That's- they'll kill you. Worse than kill you. [He hisses the words out, aware of the fact that he's being a hypocrite again, but when there's blue lights flashing in his eyes and she tells him to move, he, well, moves.

Maybe she'll be okay. He glances behind him just briefly and reassures himself that she's handling it and that he didn't just leave someone to suffer, because they outplayed his own misplaced nobility, and that if he makes it back to the shuttles, it won't have been for nothing.

Yeah. He can live with that... For a little while.]