06-14-2018, 02:00 PM
“Boss! Director!”
Blearily, he rubbed his eyes. What had he just been-?
Oh, right. This was the medical level. He’d been put under while that machine operated on his shoulder… or... did whatever it was that these things did.
Just because he was the one to have summoned them, that didn’t mean that Hijiri himself actually understood how they functioned; he had simply desired a fully automated hospital within his base, and this was what the Omnilium had provided.
There were a pair of lovely young women standing before him, one with chin-length blonde hair and a tattoo of an eastern-style dragon taking up most of the left side of her face—from cheekbone to chin—while the other wore her hair shoulder-length, and dyed a vivid, aquamarine blue. Both of them wore white nurses’ dresses which were so short that it was a miracle their skirts even managed to cover anything at all.
Judging by the urgency in their faces, though—as well as the blonde’s tone of voice as she spoke—this probably wasn’t the time for a fashion critique.
“Yes? What is it?” the Rabbit asked, his tone cool and professional as he pushed himself up into a sitting position. He felt the cool air on his skin, looked down, and hesitated, “... And why am I topless?”
“Er, well, the machine...” answering his less important question first, the blue-haired nurse gestured helplessly at a small waste bin by the side of the hospital bed in which he had been placed, in which the tattered remains of a preposterously expensive shirt and suit jacket and been tossed. Judging by how shredded they seemed, he could only imagine that the contraption had chosen to cut the garments from his body, rather than risk injuring its patient further by removing them in such a way as to leave them intact. He sighed. It was the reasonable way of doing things, he supposed.
“Alright, well, one of you—I don’t care which—go get me a fresh suit. The other, fill me in on what’s going on.”
The blonde lifted a small, immaculately folded pile of clothes from a nearby bed, “Soon as he saw you, the Chief said you’d want these, boss, so he had them sent down hours ago.”
“Thanks.” another suit. Practically identical to the now-ruined one. Excellent. The Prime smiled slightly, then accepted the clothes, looked about until he found a privacy screen, and headed behind it to change, “Alright then, the situation?”
“They’re here.” it was the blonde’s voice, “Or... they will be soon.”
“The Wolfpack.” added the other woman, as if she really thought he was dense enough to not realise that on his own.
“Right. How long do we have?”
There were a few seconds of silence before the reply. Hijiri imagined the nurses shrugging or shaking their heads helplessly; they probably weren’t the best people to ask, “Sorry, boss… we weren’t told any details... just to wake you up.”
“Right,” he said again. A few moments later, he was done, and stepped out from behind the screen, “What’s being done about it, then?”
“The Chief made an announcement over the tannoy for everyone fit to fight to arm themselves and gather on the ground floor to wait on you.” the aquamarine girl answered, her voice trembling slightly. Although there were many in his gang who relished the thought of being able to bear arms of their own, and would love the chance to gun down a few of the scumbags who'd ruled the roost here in Northside for far too long, it was clear that this young woman was not amongst their number.
“Okay, you two come with me; I’m sure there will be plenty of people in need of your attentions before long, even if all you’re doing is ferrying them up here. You needn’t bother with weapons.”
That said, he led the pair to the nearest of the elevator-columns. Taking the superfast lift down to the ground floor, they then waited a couple moments on the large slab of stone which served as the elevator's door on this level sinking down into the ground, then stepped out.
The one, huge room was packed. Some people looked angry, others frightened, whilst some actually seemed excited… as if they thought this was going to be easy. As Hijiri and his two companions left the lift, silence rippled outwards through the crowd, conversations dying out as people realised that their leader had arrived and turned towards him attentively.
He headed for the southern side of the building, as its proximity to the road made it a much more likely target than any of the other three cardinal directions. The crowd parted before him, and he was soon joined by Alejandro.
“Well?”
“One of our plainclothes spotted them gathering. ETA 20 minutes or so.” Hijiri nodded in response to the Spaniard’s words. Given their lack of a real uniform, or even a unifying colour scheme, the ‘plainclothes’ of the Group were essentially just people who’d left behind their identifying armbands when leaving the Pillar… it was hardly a high-effort disguise, but with the exception of the three leaders, none of them were high-profile enough to be recognised, so they didn’t exactly require much to keep beneath notice, “I left King and some others up on the security level. I thought it might be best to have some people running the turrets.”
“Yeah. Good thinking.” theoretically, the numerous turrets scattered throughout the building were supposed to be run by AIs with advanced threat identification software… however, they could also be controlled manually, and given that scores—if not hundreds—of gang members were going to be fighting to defend this position, the Rabbit was totally fine with not using this battle as a testing ground for their programming.
Stepping outside, after one of the massive wall/door slabs of reinforced glass had sunk down into the floor to permit his exit, Hijiri walked the ten metres of the plain, empty stone plateau which bordered the Pillar, taking him to the top of the steep, fifty-metre-high staircase. He spoke loudly, so that everyone nearby could pick up his words, “We won’t give them an easy time of it. I want everyone with guns arranged out here; primarily on this side, but with a thin cordon around the whole building; we’ll need to be alerted if they try to hit us from behind.”
“Of course, sir.” Alejandro nodded, his expression deadly serious.
“Medical personnel are to gather behind the front lines to evacuate anyone who’s wounded, and someone contact our Treasurer; I want the walls getting no lower than three feet from the ground; if they look like they're going to reach the top of the stairs, I want us to have a defensible position to fall back to.”
“Yes, sir.” the Security Chief responded, fishing out his phone to get in touch with Bernie, as those closest to them obeyed their leader’s instructions without question; readying themselves for what may well prove to be the most brutal fight of their lives… and, for many, no doubt the final fight of their lives. Despite this certainty, they seemed much less fearful than earlier. Their faith in the Director was absolute and unquestioning. In his presence, they were sure that their victory would be swift and decisive.
Blearily, he rubbed his eyes. What had he just been-?
Oh, right. This was the medical level. He’d been put under while that machine operated on his shoulder… or... did whatever it was that these things did.
Just because he was the one to have summoned them, that didn’t mean that Hijiri himself actually understood how they functioned; he had simply desired a fully automated hospital within his base, and this was what the Omnilium had provided.
There were a pair of lovely young women standing before him, one with chin-length blonde hair and a tattoo of an eastern-style dragon taking up most of the left side of her face—from cheekbone to chin—while the other wore her hair shoulder-length, and dyed a vivid, aquamarine blue. Both of them wore white nurses’ dresses which were so short that it was a miracle their skirts even managed to cover anything at all.
Judging by the urgency in their faces, though—as well as the blonde’s tone of voice as she spoke—this probably wasn’t the time for a fashion critique.
“Yes? What is it?” the Rabbit asked, his tone cool and professional as he pushed himself up into a sitting position. He felt the cool air on his skin, looked down, and hesitated, “... And why am I topless?”
“Er, well, the machine...” answering his less important question first, the blue-haired nurse gestured helplessly at a small waste bin by the side of the hospital bed in which he had been placed, in which the tattered remains of a preposterously expensive shirt and suit jacket and been tossed. Judging by how shredded they seemed, he could only imagine that the contraption had chosen to cut the garments from his body, rather than risk injuring its patient further by removing them in such a way as to leave them intact. He sighed. It was the reasonable way of doing things, he supposed.
“Alright, well, one of you—I don’t care which—go get me a fresh suit. The other, fill me in on what’s going on.”
The blonde lifted a small, immaculately folded pile of clothes from a nearby bed, “Soon as he saw you, the Chief said you’d want these, boss, so he had them sent down hours ago.”
“Thanks.” another suit. Practically identical to the now-ruined one. Excellent. The Prime smiled slightly, then accepted the clothes, looked about until he found a privacy screen, and headed behind it to change, “Alright then, the situation?”
“They’re here.” it was the blonde’s voice, “Or... they will be soon.”
“The Wolfpack.” added the other woman, as if she really thought he was dense enough to not realise that on his own.
“Right. How long do we have?”
There were a few seconds of silence before the reply. Hijiri imagined the nurses shrugging or shaking their heads helplessly; they probably weren’t the best people to ask, “Sorry, boss… we weren’t told any details... just to wake you up.”
“Right,” he said again. A few moments later, he was done, and stepped out from behind the screen, “What’s being done about it, then?”
“The Chief made an announcement over the tannoy for everyone fit to fight to arm themselves and gather on the ground floor to wait on you.” the aquamarine girl answered, her voice trembling slightly. Although there were many in his gang who relished the thought of being able to bear arms of their own, and would love the chance to gun down a few of the scumbags who'd ruled the roost here in Northside for far too long, it was clear that this young woman was not amongst their number.
“Okay, you two come with me; I’m sure there will be plenty of people in need of your attentions before long, even if all you’re doing is ferrying them up here. You needn’t bother with weapons.”
That said, he led the pair to the nearest of the elevator-columns. Taking the superfast lift down to the ground floor, they then waited a couple moments on the large slab of stone which served as the elevator's door on this level sinking down into the ground, then stepped out.
The one, huge room was packed. Some people looked angry, others frightened, whilst some actually seemed excited… as if they thought this was going to be easy. As Hijiri and his two companions left the lift, silence rippled outwards through the crowd, conversations dying out as people realised that their leader had arrived and turned towards him attentively.
He headed for the southern side of the building, as its proximity to the road made it a much more likely target than any of the other three cardinal directions. The crowd parted before him, and he was soon joined by Alejandro.
“Well?”
“One of our plainclothes spotted them gathering. ETA 20 minutes or so.” Hijiri nodded in response to the Spaniard’s words. Given their lack of a real uniform, or even a unifying colour scheme, the ‘plainclothes’ of the Group were essentially just people who’d left behind their identifying armbands when leaving the Pillar… it was hardly a high-effort disguise, but with the exception of the three leaders, none of them were high-profile enough to be recognised, so they didn’t exactly require much to keep beneath notice, “I left King and some others up on the security level. I thought it might be best to have some people running the turrets.”
“Yeah. Good thinking.” theoretically, the numerous turrets scattered throughout the building were supposed to be run by AIs with advanced threat identification software… however, they could also be controlled manually, and given that scores—if not hundreds—of gang members were going to be fighting to defend this position, the Rabbit was totally fine with not using this battle as a testing ground for their programming.
Stepping outside, after one of the massive wall/door slabs of reinforced glass had sunk down into the floor to permit his exit, Hijiri walked the ten metres of the plain, empty stone plateau which bordered the Pillar, taking him to the top of the steep, fifty-metre-high staircase. He spoke loudly, so that everyone nearby could pick up his words, “We won’t give them an easy time of it. I want everyone with guns arranged out here; primarily on this side, but with a thin cordon around the whole building; we’ll need to be alerted if they try to hit us from behind.”
“Of course, sir.” Alejandro nodded, his expression deadly serious.
“Medical personnel are to gather behind the front lines to evacuate anyone who’s wounded, and someone contact our Treasurer; I want the walls getting no lower than three feet from the ground; if they look like they're going to reach the top of the stairs, I want us to have a defensible position to fall back to.”
“Yes, sir.” the Security Chief responded, fishing out his phone to get in touch with Bernie, as those closest to them obeyed their leader’s instructions without question; readying themselves for what may well prove to be the most brutal fight of their lives… and, for many, no doubt the final fight of their lives. Despite this certainty, they seemed much less fearful than earlier. Their faith in the Director was absolute and unquestioning. In his presence, they were sure that their victory would be swift and decisive.
![[Image: Hijiri_Name_Sig.png]](https://image.ibb.co/k1H7Hd/Hijiri_Name_Sig.png)