Of freedom and of pleasure (Ch. 4: Day 4, pt. II) [Finale?]

Sheff · Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2012 12:58 pm

Geoff managed to get caught up with the immense sight as well, not having recalled the last time he was in a structure of such size. He definitely hadn't seen a view quite like this, and his eyes lingered on the speck that was the ARK far in the distance. Memories from only a few days prior filled his mind, the hedgehog finding it peculiar that he'd already returned to the cold mass that was space. It probably wasn't a coincidence in the slightest, but the thought remained anyway.

He absentmindedly did a full three-sixty as he stared above.

His gaze finally lowered to the raised platform that now lied before him. His eyes followed the curve that was the circling stairs, contemplating whether to make the long ascent or not.

With a glance to his other companions, he started to move forward, making it to the foot of the steps.

Someone brushed past him first though, the figure dark and silent.

It appeared Shadow had finally recovered from his immobile state, and even though he gave an irritated glance towards the limp body of Seven in Geoff's hands, it seemed like he wasn't intent on giving revenge. Instead, he began the long climb without hesitation, taking the lead. He barely even glimpsed at the marvelous sight above as if treating it like a natural view.

Geoff watched Shadow for a brief moment before giving shrug, both hedgehogs starting to make progress up the stairs, Seven in tow.

Greens · Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2012 5:34 pm

"...Damn..."

Yes, the stars, the cosmos, and what was quite possibly the most miraculous technological marvel of their time unfolded before before the humble alleycat, and all he had to say was 'Damn'. To be fair, the lids of his eyes expanded considerably as the scene blossomed, and even his mouth hung slightly open before the end. But the whole ordeal sent an ominous series of chilling waves... foreboding itself through his spine. A fifteen-story climb to King Eggman's throne room was bad enough, but in space, too? It didn't get much more 'final boss' than that.

He breathed a slow breath, slid his hands from his waist, and nodded to himself before putting down his first step. "Just couldn'ta been an escalator, huh," he bemoaned.

psikeout · Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2012 6:13 pm

But what "boss" was there at the top of the stairs? What made the towering central platform intimidating besides the simple fact that it was simply... tall? Eggman was presumably still lying unconscious somewhere down on the ground level in a pile off to the side of the structure. Seven wasn't doing much more than tepidly squirming against Geoff's continued toting. The only people at the top of the stairs were Rock and Jam.

"Mm," Rock answered Jam quietly with a single, slow nod.

He gazed upward in thought. He blinked heavily, licked his dry lips once; after a drawn-out ten seconds of deliberation, he breathed in and repeated plainly the command he had heard earlier:

"Execute 'Seventh Son.'"

"Override. Database error: Missing tables. User biometrics tables null. Calibrating biometric analysis interface. Please stand by."

Seven's virus prepared to overwrite Eggman's user information.

MuffinUnsane · Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2012 9:27 pm

Wrenching herself away from the compelling thoughts of impossible things, Ember watched at the group started to ascend. Well, if they were doing that it wouldn't be much fun to be left behind. Ember wanted at least a good seat for the grand finale.

Starting towards the back of the staircase, she slowly broke into a light run. Finally, with a flap of her wings she let herself be airborne.

Walking was for chumps.

Sweeping around the platform, she leisurely built up height. It felt good to spread her wings and just let herself relax. There was no telling what was going to happen after all. For all she could guess, this would be the last time she flew. The morbid thought unnerved her and she quickly pushed it out of her mind. it was unlikely that would happen and it wasn't good to dread anyways. Just made feathers fall out.

Quickly passing her teammates, it wasn't too long before she reached the top of the platform. Setting down, she let out a low whistle.

"Aw yeah, feels good to be a bird," she muttered to herself, then in a casual voice, "So what's all going up in here?"

Nuzlocke Griff · Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2012 7:13 pm

His next challenged laid ahead, laughing maliciously at his face as he took a quick inspection at the height of the stairs.

"Ember" he called, but she was already soaring through the air ahead of the pack. "Well, okay then"

Looking over at Ace he called over for assistance, hoping that maybe he could get a hand. "Hey Ace" he called over to the serval, hoping that someone could help him out. Feeling pathetic he dismissed his call for assistance and began to drag himself up the stairs, hoping to hold on to what little respect he had for himself.

Kazz · Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2012 8:31 pm

"Why always with the stairs," Mako groaned. He looked up and blanched a little bit. and with heavy limbs, he edged towards the stairs. He bit back any complaints or further comments. He couldn't find them in himself. Between everything that had happened -- this fast, especially -- and the daunting sight before him...

He'd save his breath. He cast one more look upwards, breathed out heavily, and... turned around. An idea came to him.

A moment or two later, Big was ascending the stairs with a shark riding piggyback-- or, rather, a shark clinging to, almost hanging off, one of his shoulders. The gargantuan cat had taken no issue, of course-- he barely felt the weight of his fishy passenger as he began to trundle up the entirely-too-long staircase.

It was this fresh on the mind that made him stop as he spied Desmond-- it wasn't hard to catch up to the injured ferret, at the rate he was ascending.
"Need help?" Big offered in his low, slow voice.

Mie · Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2012 9:48 pm

With a deep breath in through her nostrils, Jam stood back and watched. Despite the palpable gravity of the situation, her expression remained resolutely impassive as she observed the console's progress; only the clench of her jaw belied her utter confidence in what was being done.

But that was before Ember arrived.

With a fleeting, what the hell? intoned glace back to the whiter primate, Jam stepped forward, wary of the little firebird's incoming team mates.

"We're just... finishing up, here," answered the berry-hued monkey hesitantly. Her brow furrowed as she cast a brief look behind Ember, and added somewhat more loudly, "That being said, we're gonna need a way out of here, and soon. I'd guess we've got less than five minutes, so somebody's gonna need to find us a ride."

Nuzlocke Griff · Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 3:41 pm

Gazing up as a shadow suddenly loomed over him, Desmond noticed Big staring at him asking if he needed help. Desmond took his offer into consideration. Seeing as he would probably (definitely, just not going to admit it) need the assistance up to winding staircase.

"Sure" he replied, offering his free hand to the cat, a bit giddy in fact of the case that he was actually going to get a free ride up the seemingly unending stairwell. Plopped safely on the big guy, he offered his hand to Mako "Need a hand?" he asked, repeating the same generosity he recently received.

Sheff · Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 7:46 pm

Geoff felt no great sense of urgency as he ascended, no real rush to reach the pinnacle of the long climb, but that didn't deter from the fact he was still going at a relatively quick pace. Perhaps it was because, after days of constant imperative point As to point Bs, that he was cemented with the rush of everything that had occurred. It came to no surprise, then, that he began a light jog up the corkscrewing steps, cursing Seven's weight as he insisted on carrying him all the way up. A strange amount of persistence given for someone he loathed.

In only a few minute span, he finally made the last the step onto the platform that now served as the lookout for the entirety of the chamber. Panting lightly, he abruptly dumped Seven on the floor with a flick of his wrists, finding the endeavor pointless now. The kid was in sight and barely moving all too much. Wasn't like he was going to try to pull any tricky maneuvers in the state he was in... or so Geoff hoped.

Shadow glanced to the other hedgehog with indifference, having arrived a few moments prior, situated mostly to the side of the rest of the group. His lack of visual involvement, however, didn't stop him from turning to the computers that were lined up on the tower. Without even a turn of his head, he popped the statement that may have been churning in some of the others heads by now.

"We will need someone to take control," he said almost in a dry, matter-of-fact manner, expressing a subtle air of disapproval of the idea.

Greens · Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 8:22 pm

"Yep," Ace agreed simply, stepping up from behind. "But we can figure that out once we're done here." He raised his shoulder, popped it. Whirled his neck in a 360 tilt. Series of snaps. Finally, he laced his fingers, and stretched his arms out. Snap, crackle, pop. He breathed in deeply, and breathed out quickly, accentuated with the puffing out of his cheeks. It was clear this wasn't something he foresaw ending peaceably.

"Here we go..."

psikeout · Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 8:41 pm

In a way that could perhaps best be described as humorless, or just plain deterring, Rock stood dead-center in front of the great chair, staring down the approaching group, one hand resting atop his equipment-laden belt, the other hanging stiffly at his side, and answered,

"Everything's already under control."

Mie · Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 9:31 pm

Perhaps not visibly, but Jam bristled at the approach of the hedgehogs and serval. The only outward indication of her inward tension was a subtle tightening of her eyelids as she swept cleanly away from Ember, and planted herself firmly at Rock's side, creating a short, but solid wall of monkey. It was too early to tell how this was going to pan out, but something intangible in the pit of the smaller simian's stomach prepared for a fight. Much like her snowy analogue, though there was nothing expressly hostile about her posturing (her shield wasn't even active), one only had to know Jam to know that one errant move in their direction would be throwing down the metaphorical gauntlet.

She waited.

MuffinUnsane · Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 10:14 pm

Satisfied with everyone now in one place more or less, Ember crossed her arms over her chest and simply waited. For what she did not know in the least. An explosion? That would be sweet. Unlikely but sweet.

More or less probably just a simple computer voice. Then shuffling to some escape pods and rocketing on home. After all of this, she couldn't wait to settle in for a rest. Maybe have some fondue.

Greens · Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2012 11:48 pm

"Rock, be a mensch and level with me here for a sec."

Ace crossed his arms. The look he gave Rock was almost surveying in nature—Not quite looking down his nose at the monkey, but nonetheless evaluating him.

"I've always respected you. From day one. And you might've convinced me otherwise if this weren't the case. But if all this wasn't a ploy to make the whole world Emperor Rock's bitch, then why all the secrecy? Huh? Why keep everyone else," he said with a glance to Jam, "...Out of the loop?"

psikeout · Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2012 12:05 am

Rock's head tilted to just the slightest backward cant simultaneous to a silent, amused snort.

"You don't really think I sent you back inside that ship to grab my laundry, do you?" he asked rhetorically. "I knew you wouldn't be comin' back out. I knew you'd get mad and help'em, even if they didn't deserve it. Heaven sure as hell knows I wasn't gonna help those people anymore," (cue a glance to Geoff, perhaps as the representative party member), "but it was still only right that somebody did, and that was the only way."

Of freedom and of pleasure (Ch. 4: Day 4, pt. II) [Finale?]

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