10-30-2005, 10:16 PM
A single piece of paper offered the debilitated android the hope he had long been searching for. Pushing off the couch, Seventeen staggered over to the paper stapled to an aged bulletin board. Piccolo, noticing the movement of his wounded partner, walked over to offer some assistance. Leaning heavily on the namekian, the android made it over to the yellowed paper and plucked it off the wall. It was a small map of the lounge the two were in, and all of the surrounding rooms. Each of the faint rectangles was labeled, but only one had any importance to the injured android.
?Cybernetic Testing and Maintenance Laboratory,? Android Seventeen muttered weakly. The name filled both fighters with numerous questions, but with a single look at his mangled stump where his right arm should be, the cybernetic warrior understood that maybe there was slight hope for him in that room. Taking their time, the two made their way out the back door of the lounge, away from the direction the strange figure had traveled. Opting to walk on his own, Seventeen stumbled down the silent hallway alongside a cautious Piccolo. The namekian would have to be the eyes and ears of both fighters, because there was no way the android was capable of fending off attack alone.
The two stopped midway down the corridor and turned to face an aged, oak door. The map informed them that they needed to enter this room to find the door to the cybernetics? lab. Android Seventeen reached forward and groaned when he realized the door was locked. Piccolo stepped away from the door and motioned for his partner to do the same. The jade warrior charged forward, slamming against the heavy door with his full might. With a loud crack, the door fell away from itself?splitting in half vertically. The unhinged portion of the door fell inward, hitting the floor with a bang loud enough to stir anything in the quiet hospital.
Piccolo quickly ushered the machine-hybrid into the room. Both warriors remembered the strange figure that had possibly seen them back in the lounge. Android Seventeen was astounded at how intact this room appeared. Clean computer terminals and furnishings greeted the weary duo, and the entire place seemed to have been recently dusted and vacuumed. Not a single spec of dust was visible in the otherwise empty lounge. Seventeen began scanning the walls for the door to the laboratory, but besides a single, reinforced window, he saw nothing.
?The door should be around here,? Piccolo said, his gaze going from the map to the east wall of the room. The namekian stopped at a large shelf filled with dozens of moldy, old books about medical subjects. Seventeen, who had been busy seconds ago studying the deactivated computers, turned around and unleashed a small blast of ki at the tall bookshelf. Piccolo leaped back as the aged shelf and its even older contents were disintegrated by the energy discharge. The namekian just grinned as he tried to clear away some of the dust that had been released in the blast. Android Seventeen limped over to Piccolo, and both peered at what had been behind the bookshelf. The door was completely metal, far more advanced then anything either the android or namekian had encounter in the hospital thus far.
A small panel next to the door bore a tiny screen and a number pad. Injured and irritated, Seventeen blasted the panel into pieces and went to work on the panel, but Piccolo softy brushed his wounded partner aside and knelt before the metal door. After working his fingers under the thick door, the namekian?s aura flared with Super Namekian power, and with only a little effort, Piccolo hoisted the door up enough for Seventeen to duck under it and enter the room. The namekian let go of the door and rolled under it seconds before it silently hit the floor. Once inside the chamber, both the android and his namekian ally realized how dark it was.
?Has to be a light switch somewhere,? Piccolo?s voice came from across the room. Android Seventeen stumbled against the wall, searching for anything in the form of a switch or button. The android?s partner found the light switch first and flipped it?triggering the entire room to be filled with a blinding, white light. The duo cringed under the agonizing illumination for a few minutes before their eyes adapted to intensity of the chamber?s lighting. Seventeen started to look around the room and realized maybe entering it wasn?t such a good idea. The ?Cybernetic Testing and Maintenance Laboratory?, could have easily just been labeled a slaughterhouse. The edge of the room was a ring of countertops lined with bottles of medical supplies. After every few feet of countertop was a sink filled with a vile, greenish liquid. The only exception was a massive machine that dwarfed everything else in the laboratory. Cabinets covered the pale walls of the room?every one of them sealed with a strange, electronic device.
The center of the room was nothing but row after row of surgical gurneys, but the thing about the laboratory that shocked both warriors the most was the occupancy. Some of the bodies on the gurneys had been put in body bags, but a large majority had been left to decay in the open. Examining the nearest corpse, Android Seventeen realized the man had been a victim of scientific experimentation. The researchers apparently had attempted to graft mechanical parts to the poor person?s body. Apparently, the results had been disaterous, because the poor soul had been left horribly disfigured. The man?s face was wrenched in an expression of pure suffering. Even more shocking was how the man?s veins were a lot darker then they should have been. However, as freaky as the experiments seemed, it was the dead scientists and doctors that intimidated the android a lot more.
Some had been thrown to the ground and impaled with mechanical body parts, pools of blood drying around their twisted, maimed bodies. Other scientists had suffered having their skulls crushed against the steel countertops that lined most of the room?s walls. Other victims lacked heads at all?their spines had been torn out through the opening at the top of their neck. In the struggle that seemed to have been between the researchers and their creations, blood had been spilled and splattered upon nearly every surface in the room. Bloody hand prints could be seen on the wall near the door where one man had tried to crawl up to the panel, only to be dragged down and ripped in half.
Neither the android nor the namekian really knew who to feel sorry for. On one hand, the test subjects must have been forced to endure some horrific things, and it seemed that most had died in the process. However, the way in which the workers were killed was just so brutal and animalistic that it made the android wonder what the process had done to its guinea pigs.
?Come here and read this, Seventeen!? Piccolo seemed to be less shocked by the slaughter, but nonetheless, he had found something of interest. Stumbling over to the other side of the room, the machine-hybrid started to read the journal entry the namekian had collected from a maimed scientist.
We have recently experienced a major breakthrough in our research! Our engineering team has finally completed work on a mechanical and electronic storage device. Although bulky and rather ugly, the device will allow us to store everything from mechanical body parts to internal implants. All of this will be readily extracted with a simple number sequence. Now our research can progress at a much faster rate, and I even believe we can stabilize a human being by the end of the year!
Piccolo flipped through a few more pages before a distressing entry caught the attention of both warriors.
The research is not going as it should be?more and more of the subjects are reacting violently to the implants. In some cases, they suffer from internal rupturing of their organs and blood vessels. Worse yet, I?ve seen some experience having their blood coagulate internally. The morgue is running out of room to contain the failed corpses, and we?ve had to resort to just not bagging the failed subjects. I am growing weary of all the death in this room, I?m starting to think what we were promised isn?t worth using all these people as test subjects.
The duo flipped the page to see another short, rushed entry.
This is impossible! The drugs were supposed to leave them unresponsive for the duration of our work! But it failed! Now they are free?killing us all! I pray for my soul that the bastards in this hellhole suffer the same, merciless fate as we have!
The rest of the entry was too incoherent to understand, and the rest of the pages were blank. Without saying anything, Seventeen started limping down the long row of gurneys to the massive machine at the back of the room. As he walked down the line, he noticed some of the body bags had been torn wide open and more of gurneys were starting to appear mangled and broken. Piccolo walked ahead of the android, skimming the journal for the codes to operate the machine. By the time Android Seventeen had made it to his friend, the namekian had got the massive machine operational.
Large stripes of blue light hummed vibrantly as clean, maintained parts within the contraption started up for the first time in however long it had been since the massacre. The apparatus began to shift internally following Piccolo?s input of a simple number sequence. A large thud resonated in the tall chamber, and a small drawer slid out of the machine?s base. Inside, a metal arm awaited the astonished machine-hybrid. Seventeen picked the limb up and let Piccolo type in another code to deposit an elbow joint in the tray. With both parts in hand, the android stumbled over to the nearest countertop and started to pull out tool after tool.
?You are lucky these maniacs have all this equipment,? Piccolo said with a hint of sarcasm as he deactivated the machine, ?this man must have been the lead researcher, he has procedures for all the operations in his journal,? the namekian was glancing over the small book?s numerous diagrams. Piccolo arrived on the correct page and set the book down on the counter next to Android Seventeen.
?Can you get these drugs?? the android asked. The namekian nodded and tore open one of the metal cabinets. Inside were dozens of small vials and beakers of chemicals completely foreign to both Seventeen and Piccolo; however, the researcher?s journal contained the exact description and name of each and every drug the machine-hybrid needed. The process of attaching the metal limb lasted what seemed like hours, but in actuality it didn?t take as long as it would have without the book?s instructions. Grafting the new, metal joint to both his organic tissue and existing cybernetic implants was the most time-consuming and painful process. The drugs, however, dulled most of the pain during the procedure. The actual application of the mechanical forearm was a rather simple operation. All it required was extending Seventeen?s cybernetic nerves all over the metal arm, hand, and fingers and fusing the two metal parts together. The end of the job required merging small plates of extremely durable steel over Seventeen?s joints and palm.
?How does it feel?? Piccolo asked his fatigued associate. The android was flexing the joints of his new, mechanical limb to make sure they operated effectively. Although he was pleased to have two arms once again, Seventeen realized how ugly the limb looked. It resembled a bone too much to make him feel whole again. Seeing the metal joints and cold steel enraged the android and reminded him of what exiled him from normal human living.
?Fine?? the android finally said. Something was not right at all within Seventeen. For one, he couldn?t channel energy through the limb, but was this a temporary effect because he hadn?t adapted to it? Or was this going to be a permanent handicap? Even so, the next order of business was to patch up his numerous wounds. Android Seventeen found some fresh bandages and more drugs to nullify his pain in the large cabinets. However, the machine-hybrid had only managed to bandage his leg and forehead wounds when both Piccolo and he heard the noise. Something had fallen off a counter from across the large chamber.
?Shit, what was that?? Piccolo said, kneeling below the rows of gurneys. Seventeen dropped to the tile floor softly and quickly finished up bandaging his wounds. Then they both heard the footsteps?animalistic and fast. Something was scampering around the other side of the room, and whatever it was apparently wanted to meet the android and namekian.
OOC: Third and my last post.
?Cybernetic Testing and Maintenance Laboratory,? Android Seventeen muttered weakly. The name filled both fighters with numerous questions, but with a single look at his mangled stump where his right arm should be, the cybernetic warrior understood that maybe there was slight hope for him in that room. Taking their time, the two made their way out the back door of the lounge, away from the direction the strange figure had traveled. Opting to walk on his own, Seventeen stumbled down the silent hallway alongside a cautious Piccolo. The namekian would have to be the eyes and ears of both fighters, because there was no way the android was capable of fending off attack alone.
The two stopped midway down the corridor and turned to face an aged, oak door. The map informed them that they needed to enter this room to find the door to the cybernetics? lab. Android Seventeen reached forward and groaned when he realized the door was locked. Piccolo stepped away from the door and motioned for his partner to do the same. The jade warrior charged forward, slamming against the heavy door with his full might. With a loud crack, the door fell away from itself?splitting in half vertically. The unhinged portion of the door fell inward, hitting the floor with a bang loud enough to stir anything in the quiet hospital.
Piccolo quickly ushered the machine-hybrid into the room. Both warriors remembered the strange figure that had possibly seen them back in the lounge. Android Seventeen was astounded at how intact this room appeared. Clean computer terminals and furnishings greeted the weary duo, and the entire place seemed to have been recently dusted and vacuumed. Not a single spec of dust was visible in the otherwise empty lounge. Seventeen began scanning the walls for the door to the laboratory, but besides a single, reinforced window, he saw nothing.
?The door should be around here,? Piccolo said, his gaze going from the map to the east wall of the room. The namekian stopped at a large shelf filled with dozens of moldy, old books about medical subjects. Seventeen, who had been busy seconds ago studying the deactivated computers, turned around and unleashed a small blast of ki at the tall bookshelf. Piccolo leaped back as the aged shelf and its even older contents were disintegrated by the energy discharge. The namekian just grinned as he tried to clear away some of the dust that had been released in the blast. Android Seventeen limped over to Piccolo, and both peered at what had been behind the bookshelf. The door was completely metal, far more advanced then anything either the android or namekian had encounter in the hospital thus far.
A small panel next to the door bore a tiny screen and a number pad. Injured and irritated, Seventeen blasted the panel into pieces and went to work on the panel, but Piccolo softy brushed his wounded partner aside and knelt before the metal door. After working his fingers under the thick door, the namekian?s aura flared with Super Namekian power, and with only a little effort, Piccolo hoisted the door up enough for Seventeen to duck under it and enter the room. The namekian let go of the door and rolled under it seconds before it silently hit the floor. Once inside the chamber, both the android and his namekian ally realized how dark it was.
?Has to be a light switch somewhere,? Piccolo?s voice came from across the room. Android Seventeen stumbled against the wall, searching for anything in the form of a switch or button. The android?s partner found the light switch first and flipped it?triggering the entire room to be filled with a blinding, white light. The duo cringed under the agonizing illumination for a few minutes before their eyes adapted to intensity of the chamber?s lighting. Seventeen started to look around the room and realized maybe entering it wasn?t such a good idea. The ?Cybernetic Testing and Maintenance Laboratory?, could have easily just been labeled a slaughterhouse. The edge of the room was a ring of countertops lined with bottles of medical supplies. After every few feet of countertop was a sink filled with a vile, greenish liquid. The only exception was a massive machine that dwarfed everything else in the laboratory. Cabinets covered the pale walls of the room?every one of them sealed with a strange, electronic device.
The center of the room was nothing but row after row of surgical gurneys, but the thing about the laboratory that shocked both warriors the most was the occupancy. Some of the bodies on the gurneys had been put in body bags, but a large majority had been left to decay in the open. Examining the nearest corpse, Android Seventeen realized the man had been a victim of scientific experimentation. The researchers apparently had attempted to graft mechanical parts to the poor person?s body. Apparently, the results had been disaterous, because the poor soul had been left horribly disfigured. The man?s face was wrenched in an expression of pure suffering. Even more shocking was how the man?s veins were a lot darker then they should have been. However, as freaky as the experiments seemed, it was the dead scientists and doctors that intimidated the android a lot more.
Some had been thrown to the ground and impaled with mechanical body parts, pools of blood drying around their twisted, maimed bodies. Other scientists had suffered having their skulls crushed against the steel countertops that lined most of the room?s walls. Other victims lacked heads at all?their spines had been torn out through the opening at the top of their neck. In the struggle that seemed to have been between the researchers and their creations, blood had been spilled and splattered upon nearly every surface in the room. Bloody hand prints could be seen on the wall near the door where one man had tried to crawl up to the panel, only to be dragged down and ripped in half.
Neither the android nor the namekian really knew who to feel sorry for. On one hand, the test subjects must have been forced to endure some horrific things, and it seemed that most had died in the process. However, the way in which the workers were killed was just so brutal and animalistic that it made the android wonder what the process had done to its guinea pigs.
?Come here and read this, Seventeen!? Piccolo seemed to be less shocked by the slaughter, but nonetheless, he had found something of interest. Stumbling over to the other side of the room, the machine-hybrid started to read the journal entry the namekian had collected from a maimed scientist.
We have recently experienced a major breakthrough in our research! Our engineering team has finally completed work on a mechanical and electronic storage device. Although bulky and rather ugly, the device will allow us to store everything from mechanical body parts to internal implants. All of this will be readily extracted with a simple number sequence. Now our research can progress at a much faster rate, and I even believe we can stabilize a human being by the end of the year!
Piccolo flipped through a few more pages before a distressing entry caught the attention of both warriors.
The research is not going as it should be?more and more of the subjects are reacting violently to the implants. In some cases, they suffer from internal rupturing of their organs and blood vessels. Worse yet, I?ve seen some experience having their blood coagulate internally. The morgue is running out of room to contain the failed corpses, and we?ve had to resort to just not bagging the failed subjects. I am growing weary of all the death in this room, I?m starting to think what we were promised isn?t worth using all these people as test subjects.
The duo flipped the page to see another short, rushed entry.
This is impossible! The drugs were supposed to leave them unresponsive for the duration of our work! But it failed! Now they are free?killing us all! I pray for my soul that the bastards in this hellhole suffer the same, merciless fate as we have!
The rest of the entry was too incoherent to understand, and the rest of the pages were blank. Without saying anything, Seventeen started limping down the long row of gurneys to the massive machine at the back of the room. As he walked down the line, he noticed some of the body bags had been torn wide open and more of gurneys were starting to appear mangled and broken. Piccolo walked ahead of the android, skimming the journal for the codes to operate the machine. By the time Android Seventeen had made it to his friend, the namekian had got the massive machine operational.
Large stripes of blue light hummed vibrantly as clean, maintained parts within the contraption started up for the first time in however long it had been since the massacre. The apparatus began to shift internally following Piccolo?s input of a simple number sequence. A large thud resonated in the tall chamber, and a small drawer slid out of the machine?s base. Inside, a metal arm awaited the astonished machine-hybrid. Seventeen picked the limb up and let Piccolo type in another code to deposit an elbow joint in the tray. With both parts in hand, the android stumbled over to the nearest countertop and started to pull out tool after tool.
?You are lucky these maniacs have all this equipment,? Piccolo said with a hint of sarcasm as he deactivated the machine, ?this man must have been the lead researcher, he has procedures for all the operations in his journal,? the namekian was glancing over the small book?s numerous diagrams. Piccolo arrived on the correct page and set the book down on the counter next to Android Seventeen.
?Can you get these drugs?? the android asked. The namekian nodded and tore open one of the metal cabinets. Inside were dozens of small vials and beakers of chemicals completely foreign to both Seventeen and Piccolo; however, the researcher?s journal contained the exact description and name of each and every drug the machine-hybrid needed. The process of attaching the metal limb lasted what seemed like hours, but in actuality it didn?t take as long as it would have without the book?s instructions. Grafting the new, metal joint to both his organic tissue and existing cybernetic implants was the most time-consuming and painful process. The drugs, however, dulled most of the pain during the procedure. The actual application of the mechanical forearm was a rather simple operation. All it required was extending Seventeen?s cybernetic nerves all over the metal arm, hand, and fingers and fusing the two metal parts together. The end of the job required merging small plates of extremely durable steel over Seventeen?s joints and palm.
?How does it feel?? Piccolo asked his fatigued associate. The android was flexing the joints of his new, mechanical limb to make sure they operated effectively. Although he was pleased to have two arms once again, Seventeen realized how ugly the limb looked. It resembled a bone too much to make him feel whole again. Seeing the metal joints and cold steel enraged the android and reminded him of what exiled him from normal human living.
?Fine?? the android finally said. Something was not right at all within Seventeen. For one, he couldn?t channel energy through the limb, but was this a temporary effect because he hadn?t adapted to it? Or was this going to be a permanent handicap? Even so, the next order of business was to patch up his numerous wounds. Android Seventeen found some fresh bandages and more drugs to nullify his pain in the large cabinets. However, the machine-hybrid had only managed to bandage his leg and forehead wounds when both Piccolo and he heard the noise. Something had fallen off a counter from across the large chamber.
?Shit, what was that?? Piccolo said, kneeling below the rows of gurneys. Seventeen dropped to the tile floor softly and quickly finished up bandaging his wounds. Then they both heard the footsteps?animalistic and fast. Something was scampering around the other side of the room, and whatever it was apparently wanted to meet the android and namekian.
OOC: Third and my last post.
![[Image: A17June08.jpg]](http://frozendust.com/sig/A17/A17June08.jpg)