Marigold Station

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

There was a park near the mouth of the Metro station at Grayditch's eastern edge, long ago. A few of the rides are still present- the fulcrums of the see-saws, the rusted-out remnants of the monkey bars, even the pitted, corroded sheets of metal that had once been the slides. It lies a little lower than the surrounding road-beds, but it offers the easiest access to the Marigold Station metro entrance- and currently, the park is free of ants.

"Okay," says Ellen to the people following her. "Who wants to go in front, and who's going to guard our rear as we head in?"

Comments

[bprd_agent_red]

Hellboy steps aside to give Ellen room so she can look at the computer. He's no good with those so instead he steps up to the door, inspecting it.

It's a piece of work all right.

"Sorry guys, but we're gonna be here awhile if you leave this bit up to me."

Basically Red has two options, smash the computer and hope that opens the door up. Or, spend a whole lot of time beating down the door.

Hopefully someone has a third option.

[magic_ferret]

Yuuno's not really what you'd call experienced with Earth built electronics. He'll be off to the side too. Ready to bind any stray ants, thanks.

[time_dancer]

"Let me take a look," Val says stepping forward. She looks over the device, examining the tech, looking for any access ports. If she can hook her armor's computer up to this it would make the process much faster. "It kind of reminds me of some of my Dad's older computers. Same basic idea but this has gone in a completely different direction than anything I'm familiar with. Still I think I can crack it. Ellen, can you point me towards an access port?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"It's all based on transistors," Ellen says as she reaches around the terminal to feel the back for ports. "The Vault computers were some of the highest tech around. Some of the more critical systems were vacuum-tube models, since you can't take those out with an electromagnetic pulse, but this is a pretty standard RobCo terminal. Transistors all the way... okay, here." She indicates the spot from the front, as the terminal isn't positioned in such a way that moving it would be easy. "Can you plug into it there?"

[time_dancer]

Val would laugh at the transistor based tech if it didn't make sense for the world it was developed in.

"Okay, I'm gonna need to jury rig something to bridge this with my armor's computer. Let's see," Val says and she begins to go to work. "I think I might need some extra wire for this. Does anyone see any old equipment around?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"There's a dead train car a little ways down," Ellen reports as she peers around the corner. "We could probably rip some of the wiring out of that."

[alertcommando]

"I can do that." Tanya does not like inactivity, and she has some mechanical, electrical and electronical expertise.

Anyone is welcome to follow as she moves towards the car, alert for any surprises.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

No surprises, thankfully. There are noises in the distance that probably aren't those of settling stone, but nothing approaches as Tanya rips out cable and component alike. It's a little dank and moldy, but most of the wiring is still intact.

[alertcommando]

She will try to bring cables and electrical components out as whole as possible, using a knife and a small tool set; the work brings a half-smile to her lips, as it reminds her of the months hiding in Berlin, scavenging parts and components for everything they needed.

She will return with the loot for Val. "Here, try these."

[time_dancer]

"Score!" Val says with a smile and she sets to work. Tanya had managed to find a jack which would fit the walls computer port so now all Val had to do was make a bridge between the two different technologies.

It takes her a couple of minutes and whispered curses but she's sure it'll work. "I think I've got it. Everyone ready?"

[bprd_agent_red]

While the computer stuff is being taken care of Red takes the time to eat one of his candy bars and drink a Red Bull.

When Val announces she's done he crunches the can in his stone fist and tosses it aside, stepping up to the door.

"Ready."

[time_dancer]

Val looks around to catch everyone's eye before she says, "Okay then, in 3...2...1." And she send the code to release the doors.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

The doors unlock with an audible click. Hellboy manages to heave them open pretty smoothly, just in time to catch a blond, bespectacled man wearing a lab coat, white tie, and trousers entirely by surprise. "Ooh! You startled me," the man announces, blinking at the sudden influx of people. "You really mustn't creep up on people like that."

[magic_ferret]

"Creep?" asks Yuuno.

The man in the lab coat must be a bit nuts. They left a noisy trail of devastation through the tunnels.

Yuuno'll humor the poor crazy man, "It's not like you left a door bell."

[there-is-a-me.livejournal.com]

Blink. Blink. "If you want I can go out and start blowing shite up? Haven't actually blown anything up this trip. Yet."

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"I don't think we expected to run into anybody alive down here," Ellen says hastily.

"Well, don't go blowing things up indiscriminately! I have some very delicate experiments down here that I must attend to." His voice is nasal and pinched-sounding, and he doesn't give the impression of someone who talks to people much, for all that he's clean and reasonably well-groomed.

[time_dancer]

Upset scientist? Val's got this one.

"I'm sorry sir, we didn't expect anyone down here. What sort of experiments are you conducting? May we come in and see?"

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"My experiments are of an extremely complex and delicate nature- you must be careful," the man says. "My foray into reducing the girth of these insectoid creatures is of utmost importance. I intend to generationally reduce their immense stature by way of a pre-hatching induced mutagen- isn't that clever?"

Ellen's father may not be on the same scientific scale as von Doom, but he was also a scientist, and Ellen's not sure she appreciates the tone of that last sentence. "You're trying to make them smaller over generations by doping their eggs," she translates.

"My word. You understand perfectly. How marvelous!"

[there-is-a-me.livejournal.com]

Spoon has this thing about experiments on living beings.

It is a thing that causes him to say several very, very nasty things in yautja that the translator gives up on (it actually says: "Exceedingly improbable suggestions of applications of scientific experimentation." in an aggravated voice.) and stomps out of the room before he kills someone.

[bprd_agent_red]

Once the doors are open Red heads in, letting the others deal with weird scientist guy. He instead has a look around, possibly poking at a thing or two.

"Those things out there ain't exactly chickens, mac. How're you getting the eggs?"

[alertcommando]

Tanya shakes head. "Better yet, where are the eggs, and the one laying the eggs? if we destroy those, there will be no more ants to worry about... then the survivors can be handled one at a time."

All the science is good, but she agrees with Spoon: its time to blow stuff up.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Oh, I leave them precisely where the colony's queen lays them- in the hatchery," says the man. He eyes Spoon uncertainly before continuing. "Unfortunately it seems my calculations contained an error that caused the specimens to develop a new biomechanism, pyrosis, rather than reducing them to the size of ordinary ants- an ability which makes it more than a little difficult to reach the majority of my equipment."

"Wait," says Ellen. "You seriously think you can make these creatures' next generation that small?"

"Well, perhaps not the next generation, but one extremely proximal to that," says the man, adjusting his glasses. "I estimate a likelihood of about five generational turn-overs before the current oversized cohort is completely replaced by specimens of less than an inch in length."

Ellen glances over at Val, who she knows is far better educated than she- for all the Vault's trying- and then back to the man. "How do you expect something like that to even work?"

"A modified strain of something called the Forced Evolutionary Virus," says the man proudly. "I obtained a sample some time ago and have been attempting to modify it from producing monstrous mutants to rendering organisms significantly smaller and more tractable-"

He goes nattering on, but Ellen turns to the others. "I think we need to find the hatchery," she says, "but I think we also need to be very, very careful what we blow up. If he's using a virus to change these creatures, and we blow stuff up without making sure it all burns, we could get exposed."

[magic_ferret]

One of Yuuno's best friends was abused by a mad scientist. Spoon's not the only one with issues.

"Let's- let's just shut this down," he says then taps his headset, "I'll keep an eye out in case Spoon runs into anything that gives him serious trouble."

Then he ducks out to keep watch on the werewolf.

[there-is-a-me.livejournal.com]

"Some people," the werewolf says to the boy, "need to fuckin' contract a serious case of fuckin' dead."

There are a number of less structurally sound bits of wall than there were when he came out.

[magic_ferret]

Yuuno attempts a should bump to Spoon. It could have gone better.

"Not for us to decide," he says, "All we can do is try and minimize the damage."

Sometimes being support instead of command sucks.