[center][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NujlXgBmUoU]...[/url][/center][color=bfbfbf][sub][table= //////= POST DESIGN v1=\\\\\\][row][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][img]https://i.imgur.com/NPbs4Q9.png[/img][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/row][row][cell][sup][img]https://i.imgur.com/CAvAF2h.png[/img][/sup] [color=2e2c2c]___________________________________[sub].......[/sub][/color] [/cell][cell][color=white][center][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][img]https://i.imgur.com/DHKvx27.png[/img][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][center][color=2e2c2c]Lower Ring · Late Afternoon[/color]Lower Ring · Late Afternoon[/center][/sub][/center][/color][quote][color=2e2c2c]_[/color] [color=9f9f9f][color=white]"What do I do?!"[/color] [color=bca346]"Nothing stupid."[/color] Nelu pushed forward on the throttle, putting his cruiser into a nosedive, and watched as the dreary world around him began to tilt. Black spires encroached by thick clouds of smoke pitched toward him as the cruiser began to fall, and as his speed increased and the wind picked up and began battering his windshield, Nelu felt the familiar twisting in his gut as gravity left him. The cabin rattled, the engine roared and water in the air became long streaks drawn across glass. Eventually, the thicker upper layer of fog was pulled away like a veil revealing the world of chaos the Lower Ring had fallen into. Framed in a city of smoke were streets littered in debris and the people of Ba Sing Se running in every direction with no direction. They dove into buildings or under cars and sought shelter where they could. Peppered in with the panicked masses were Benders, true to countless radio reports that were still coming in. But more than that, among the crowds were also those who were not exhibiting bending abilities but were attacking others unprovoked. Reports of individuals who were ignoring warnings and lashing out violently at those around them and in some cases, murdering those they got their hands on. Despite the panic and confusion induced by Benders revealing themselves all at once and in such large numbers, the random attacks were even more unsettling and the idea of a violent Bender drove Nelu to haste. There were few who could handle them, especially in the Lower Ring. [color=bca346]"Allen's location."[/color] A point of light appeared on the windshield highlighting a section of the road a few blocks ahead, close to where Nelu knew the soup kitchen was located. [color=white]"Officer Gima is here. He is not moving."[/color] Came a female voice. [color=bca346]"Status."[/color] [color=white]"Unconscious. Stable."[/color] [color=bca346]"Shit."[/color] He hissed, coaxing more power out of the engine. Gravity pushed him against his seat and the cruiser lurched forward, clearing several blocks of chaotic streets in less than a minute and putting Nelu above the entrance to the soup kitchen. There below him he could see a heavily damaged dumpster and the body of Allen slumped against it. Nearby was a man who seemed to have been half buried in the dirt and around the both of them were clear signs of earthbending. There were removed slabs of earth, drag marks and unexplained dirt spires protruding out of the street. His controlled panic and haste turned to anger. [color=bca346]"Get a paramedic unit to this location now."[/color] [color=white]"Yessir."[/color] [color=bca346]"Vanguard?"[/color] Nelu half yelled, descending close enough to the ground to dispatch his AI. [color=white]"Ready to deploy."[/color] [color=bca346]"Deploy it."[/color] The cabin shook again as the undercarriage opened up and a payload was dropped. As soon as it had landed, Nelu moved to land his cruiser. Normal procedure was to wait for a clear landing area, typically provided by the AI, but Nelu wasn't going to wait. He found and made for a small clearing in the debris near the dumpster and put the cruiser down there. He was out before it'd even landed, exiting and dropping a few feet out of the air and into an angry swarm of dust kicked up by thrusters as he moved toward Allen with his weapon drawn. So focused was he on his downed friend that he didn't even notice the AI dispatch another Bender in the area, nor did he give any heed to the half buried, crazed man. The first thing Nelu noticed as he knelt beside Allen were the heavy injuries he'd sustained to his face. It was as if he'd been beaten repeatedly by a blunt object, or in this case, pummeled by rocks, Nelu assumed. What didn't make sense to him was the fact that Allen's weapon was sitting across his lap as if it'd been neatly placed there. That and it was obvious that effort had been put into subduing the individual in the ground rather than killing him. [i]He[/i] obviously wasn't the bender in question and whoever [i]was[/i] responsible for what happened was no longer here. Or at least that's what Nelu would have initially believed if he hadn't heard noise coming from the kitchen and noticed the Vanguard focus on the doorway. He looked too and could feel a number of individuals huddled inside. Perhaps what happened here wasn't an act of unprovoked violence and was instead one of defense. Maybe there had been a misunderstanding. Maybe the man in the ground, who was clearly unhinged, had been one of the crazed individuals running around and murdering people and had attacked Allen and the Earthbender was only trying to help. There was some obvious skill involved in the bending. Most were not capable of such feats, even when their powers were boosted as they were now. Everyone else was bending uncontrollably but this person was clearly making use of techniques they'd learned from somewhere, and [i]that[/i] was more telling than anything else. [i]That[/i] was dangerous. They needed to come in but Allen had to get out first. [color=white]"Hold on, Allen."[/color] Nelu gingerly scooped his arm under the unconscious officer's body and carefully picked him up, supporting some of his weight with the man's arm over his shoulder. It was difficult but he managed to guide him to the front seat of his cruiser and place him inside. [color=bca346]"Cancel the paramedic request and get him to the hospital, now."[/color] Nelu said once Allen was secure. [color=white]"Yessir."[/color] There was a mechanical chime as the cabin door swung shut, hissing gas as it sealed. Thrusters under the cruiser flared to life, once again throwing Nelu into a cloud of dust, and steadily lifted the vehicle off the ground and into the air. Once it was high enough, it took off toward the pink haze canopy above where it was quickly swallowed up. Nelu turned to join the guard at the door but as he approached, the street was suddenly torn open and rolled like a rug. Dirt and rocks and slabs of asphalt spilled over the AI, burying it. But while the robot was rendered temporarily useless, the extreme display of Earthbending was all the sign he needed that his suspect was still here. Inside the room, he froze one of the individuals. A child. [color=bca346][i]...That can't be right...[/i][/color] Another began bolting toward the back and Nelu immediately raised his gun and started putting rounds through the wall, refusing to release whoever it was he had. If it wasn't a bender, then they were in serious danger and he needed to keep them away from the others. If he could keep them where they were, he could avoid accidentally hurting them in the crossfire and given their position close to the door, getting to them himself wouldn't be a problem. Once removed, he could more easily deal with the Bender without injuring an innocent civilian. However, as he began moving toward the door, a large earthen wall suddenly burst from the ground and pushed into the front wall of the soup kitchen, destroying it but also sealing it completely off. [color=bca346]"Damn it. Door."[/color] A muted jingle from under a pile of dirt answered the command and after some rumbling and shifting of debris, a large slab of concrete was lifted and thrown off the pinned robot. It recovered, found its footing, picked up its rifle, and hit a button on the side before shouldering the weapon again. When it fired next, instead of a bullet, a ball of spirit energy was thrown at the wall, evaporating a chunk of dirt the size of a basketball. It fired again... and then again... and then again, steadily chewing through layers of loose rock and stone and pieces of concrete as Nelu studied the movements of those inside. What surprised him the most was that despite the others retreating, one of them went for the kid. They dove for them, pushing the child out of the way and sacrificing themselves to Nelu's grasp, whether they knew it or not. A selfless act. A good Samaritan not unlike the one who was willing to defend an RSF officer [i]and[/i] return their weapon to them. [color=bca346][i]...There you are...[/i][/color] [color=white]"aaAAAAHHHH!!"[/color] Nelu turned in time to see a man running toward him, screaming at the top of his lungs. By the time he'd dropped the boy on the other side of the wall and focused his attention on the stranger, he'd been grabbed around the waist and thrown to the ground. He hit his head rather hard. [/color][/quote] [/cell][/row][/table][/sub][/color] [h1][/h1] [h1][/h1] [h1][/h1] [h1][/h1] [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/zeuij47.png[/img][/center][color=bfbfbf][sub][table= //////= POST DESIGN v1=\\\\\\][row][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][img]https://i.imgur.com/NmBXw0q.png[/img][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/row][row][cell][sup][img]https://i.imgur.com/84y4sux.png[/img][/sup] [color=2e2c2c]___________________________________[sub].......[/sub][/color] [/cell][cell][color=white][center][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][img]https://i.imgur.com/DHKvx27.png[/img][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][center][color=2e2c2c]LSF HQ · Morning · In collaboration with [&.Exit][/color]LSF HQ · Morning · In collaboration with [@Exit][/center][/sub][/center][/color][quote][color=2e2c2c]_[/color] [color=9f9f9f][color=white]“Good morning, 141.”[/color] There was a tap against the capsule and from the other side of the frosted glass pane, a number of concealed faces could be seen. After a few moments of muted voices and a series of electronic beeps and chimes, there was a hiss of gas and the lid on the pod popped free from a latch. Another button press and it slowly began to rise, giving 141 an unobstructed view of a familiar room. It stood in the center of a cold, steel and gray box, its walls interrupted at regular intervals by piping and wiring tucked too closely together. They seemed like veins as they wrapped around the room, slipping in between and underneath machines, monitors and the metal shapes that made up the shell of the holding chamber. On every surface and tucked into every corner was a bulb or blinking LED, and in the dimly lit space, these could almost be mistaken for the night sky. 141 was currently secured by a number of straps and platinum bands around his arms, wrists, legs and ankles, all of them holding him in place and strong enough not to fail in case there was an attempt to escape. Across his chest was a large rig, the back of which was connected to a series of tubes and wires. As the pod opened up, the small monitor just above 141’s breast blinked to life and a man nearby began tapping the surface of a tablet in his hands. He was in a white, full-body suit that covered him from head to toe. His face was obscured behind a dark pane of reinforced plastic. [color=white]“We’ve got your usual breakfast…”[/color] He said to the backdrop of a series of mechanical clicks. From somewhere in the ceiling, hydraulic pumps could be heard. [color=white]“How are you feeling today?”[/color] Dead silence accompanied the question - not a single word spoken. The usual response from 141. Twisting his head towards his “caretaker,” 141 awaits for the man to finish up the regular checkup. In the meanwhile, 141 “entertains'' himself - calculating a general kill-time frame for the local vicinity. Seven seconds for the man in front. Thirty seconds to breach the hardened entry and exit ways and about five seconds for everyone else. Course, being utterly bonded by a complex series of interlocked restraints does not help. The only thing now is to wait and see what awaits for the day - usually decided by his overseers. With no humanity left, there is not much to ponder on but the efficiency of extermination. The man nodded as if he were listening to the thing talk, even as no words were being exchanged. [color=white]“How’s he looking?”[/color] Another called from the other side of the room. A female voice. [color=white]“Good. All good. Vitals are green. Readings on brain functions all indicate green. He’s good to go.”[/color] [color=white]“Good. They want him prepped.”[/color] [color=white]“Already?”[/color] The man in front turned around. [color=white]“Whatever is going on out there is apparently serious enough to activate the rest of the team, including 141. A joint operation from what I’ve been told.”[/color] [color=white]“Do they have a package?”[/color] The female individual tapped a screen in front of her and paneling in the ceiling above 141 began to move. They slid to the side, making space for a number of large panels. Before they’d moved into place in front of the subject, they began populating with information. Lines of text and images depicting the destruction of the city were being flashed at 141 in quick succession. There was just enough time between each ‘slide’ for it to understand what he was seeing; Ba Sing Se was tearing itself apart in the presence of a sudden spike in Bender sightings. Then, the images changed to a series of faces. These were shuffled through a little slower than those previous with enough time for 141 to absorb the features of each face. At this time, the female individual walked around to stand opposite the male in the room. [color=white]“They’ve made it outside the walls and need to be handled before they escape past the desert.”[/color] 141 quickly absorbs the information given to him. - eyes twitching heavily as he processes each panel in a blink of an eye. A nightmarish flood of mission data consumed and understood in mere seconds. Once done, 141’s eyes return to their normal position. The thing now awaits to be released from his restraints, quietly and perfectly not moving an inch of muscle. [color=white]“Vitals are still reading good. Looks like he’s absorbed everything.”[/color] The man nodded before placing the tablet down and walking around behind the pod holding 141. The female stepped back as he began pressing a series of buttons elicitings more hissing as hydraulics were released and latches on the metal bands and straps fell away. The rig across his chest remained in place but the tubing and wiring in the back popped free, allowing 141 full movement once again. [color=white]“Chip is still receiving.”[/color] On the ground were two green lines painted parallel to each other. A path laid out before 141 for it to follow to the opposite end of the room. There, a panel slid open allowing access to its combat gear, mask and weapons. [color=white]“Go ahead, 141. They’re letting you out today. You get to be with the rest of the team. They’re waiting for you.”[/color] [/color][/quote] [/cell][/row][/table][/sub][/color] [color=bfbfbf][sub][table= //////= POST DESIGN v1=\\\\\\][row][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][img]https://i.imgur.com/NPbs4Q9.png[/img][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][/row][row][cell][sup][img]https://i.imgur.com/CAvAF2h.png[/img][/sup] [color=2e2c2c]___________________________________[sub].......[/sub][/color] [/cell][cell][color=white][center][sub][sub][sub][sub][sub][img]https://i.imgur.com/DHKvx27.png[/img][/sub][/sub][/sub][/sub][center][color=2e2c2c]LSF HQ · Morning · @Everyone[/color]LSF HQ · Morning · @Everyone[/center][/sub][/center][/color][quote][color=2e2c2c]_[/color] [color=9f9f9f]Nelu pulled at the bandages around his head as he tapped on the table in the center of the darkened room. Lights around the edge began to illuminate the space above it, drawing in the air a three dimensional rendering of the Ba Sing Se. All three rings and every building in between floated in the space between every person present in the room. As it lazily spun in the air, red dots began to illuminate across the entire city, each one representing the last known location of a confirmed Bender who was yet to be apprehended. [color=bca346]"I'll make this quick so we can get on the road."[/color] Nelu began. [color=bca346]"As you are all aware, a little over sixteen hours ago, the Synergy Storage Facility suffered a catastrophic accident, the cause of which is still under investigation. During the accident, an event was triggered across the city, similar to what occurred across the world during the Harmonic Convergence nearly two hundred years ago. Anyone who could bend was suddenly empowered. I'm sure you all felt it. More importantly, some who could not bend suddenly could."[/color] He hit another button and a number of faces began appearing on screen. Most of the individuals were unremarkable. Normal people pulled from their lives in a most violent and unexpected way. Some were more prominent, like a popular television host or a rising politician and others were icons known across all of Ba Sing Se. A particular stickball player's face was added to the lineup. [color=bca346]"And these are just the ones we know about. We still need to look into missing persons and those who are knowingly aiding and abetting these fugitives. But that's an issue for another day. Right now, our focus will be on containment. Now, normally you are all activated separately and alone, specific to the needs of your target, but our objective today requires that everybody be present."[/color] Nelu traced the table, pulling the rendered map of the city along with his touch until, many 'miles' beyond the wall, a rendering of a small tower like structure could be seen half buried in the sand. [color=bca346]"A large group of Benders managed to escape before we could seal off the city. It is believed the majority of them intend to cross the desert to attempt to get to a small settlement beyond it. As impossible as that trek may be, we cannot risk any of them getting free so... we will be meeting the group here."[/color] Nelu tapped the air, blowing up the image so the structure was more easily visible. It was A tall-ish tower leaning precariously at an angle that looked to have once been a rest stop of some kind. [color=bca346]"A little failed outpost at the edge of the desert that is used as a jumping off point for a caravan that crosses the desert. This is kill or capture, although we've apprehended plenty of Benders. Enough to replenish rank. It's really up to you how you want to go about this."[/color] Nelu crossed his arms and then looked at each of his team members. [color=bca346]"Any questions?"[/color] He adjusted the bandage again.[/color][/quote] [/cell][/row][/table][/sub][/color]