outofalpha | July/August Test Drive Meme

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July/August Test Drive Meme

Alpha Complex Test Drive Meme

Alpha Complex opened Sunday, July 31st. Please feel free to take a Test Drive to see if the environment would suit your character! All potential players are welcome.

It may be your first day in Alpha Complex or your hundredth, either way, you are in serious trouble.

In a bid to win sympathy and new recruits, the Frankenstein Destroyers - a secret society within Alpha who sees all bots as enemies, has uploaded a virus that is affecting all bots within the complex.

For the next twenty four hours, every bot you see will be the enemy. Your assigned Personal Digital Companion(PDC), a personal communication device, has turned on you and is intentionally misfiring your texts, phone calls and videos. The Bouncy Bubble Beverage machine in the cafeteria is shooting out bottles at passers by at high speeds. The high tech vacuum cleaner used to vacuum your clearance level's common room is attempting to suck up everything in sight. Elevators are trying to coerce people to climb out, so they can behead them. That adorable Petbot you purchased last week is trying to tear your throat out. That Guardbot from the Armed Services Sector is attempting to take out citizens, one by one. Autocars are driving themselves, right onto sidewalks and through windows...

Will you fight for your right to exist or hole up somewhere safe until the chaos passes?

Do not fear, citizen! The Computer and it's high advisors are working to restore order.

In the meantime, be safe and beware of bots and traitors!

Please post your character name and fandom in the subject line.
Mingle Together. Explore Together. Adventure Together.
Premise | Setting Information | New Arrival Introduction

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Caitlin should feel a little more reassured right now. She was right in not listening to the people who were there when she woke up. These aren't false memories, not with one of her best friends standing right in front of her, talking to her. But it means that, wherever they are, they're being held by people who are more than willing to lie to them, to make them question their very existence. And who may be willing to go to any lengths to keep them under control.

As soon as he nods the second time, she's climbing to her feet, pushing herself to standing. All the adrenaline dumped into her system makes her legs shake and her hands tremble. She moves in careful steps, avoiding the blood on the floor. Slipping right now would probably get her and Cisco killed, and that's not a death either of them need to experience.

She gets as close to the doors as possible, her toes just shy of the track and gap in the floor. "Okay," she says, sounding entirely not okay. But she doesn't have a choice. There's no telling when the elevators would go back to normal, if they went back to normal at all. She can't stay in there much longer. This is her best shot at getting free in one piece. "On three?" She makes eye contact, giving him that look of absolute trust. As soon as he jams the doors, she'll jump and hopefully come through with both legs, both feet, and all her toes.

"Barry?" He hadn't expected to recognize whoever he'd shoved behind him. Most of the people he'd seen here tended to blur together and, of the ones who didn't, he didn't know any of them. Until now. It was a small bit of comfort to see someone from his past and a larger bit of comfort that it was Barry. If anyone was going to be useful in a place like this, it was going to be Barry Allen, the Flash.

"I'm not trying to slow it down," he said even as he took aim. "I"m trying to stop it."

The arrow flew and he heard something crack. He found himself looking to Barry. Clearly he knew something more about these things than Oliver did and that meant if he had any ideas about how to stop them, Oliver was going to be all ears.

Edited 2016-08-15 11:52 (UTC)

It was crazy how much clothing helped you identify people. Especially when you're talking about Felicity Smoak. But even dressed in a terribly colored RED jumpsuit, Felicity always felt like she looked like a space cadet or something. So it wasn't the worst. But the time for pondering fashion was over when the lights in the hallway started exploding.

She would have blamed it on a power surge, but for some reason, it felt like each light was exploding only when she was near it. So Felicity made a run for it. It's what Oliver or Thea or Laurel would do. They wouldn't just stand here in the hallway hoping that the lights don't burn them.

When she gets to the end of the hall, she's nearly going to run straight past him when Oliver shoves her behind him and Felicity's eyes grow wide. There was no way that it was him. No way, she told herself. But then she saw the bow and arrows, and Felicity hugged him from behind. "Oliver!"

It was a dumb move. He hadn't seen her, not really. And when you put your arms around someone — from behind no less — who's basically a trained assassin who was simultaneously shooting arrows, there might be terrible consequences. But Felicity didn't think that far ahead, she was too happy and shocked and relieved to see him here.

Oliver did tense when he felt the arms come around him, but he hesitated when he heard the voice, one he was intimately familiar with. Felicity. A part of him had been in despair, knowing he'd probably never see her again, but he'd mostly been happy that she'd never have to deal with this place. Knowing she was here, he wasn't sure whether he was glad personally or worried for her safety. But he did know one thing. He was going to keep her safe, no matter the cost.

His arrow hit metal and did nothing to stop the oncoming machine and he reached behind him to encourage Felicity to slowly back away with him. Maybe if they could get someplace out of harm's way for a minute, she could do her magic and shut them down. At the very least, he'd have a moment to just look at her before it all went to hell. He preferred the former, but the latter was enough for him.

"We're going to take this nice and easy," he said as they walked back step by step. "And if I tell you to run, run and don't look back." Because it meant that things were about to get very ugly and he didn't want her to have to worry about him.

It hurts his heart to see Caitlin so scared, but Cisco focuses on the important part: getting her out of the elevator in one piece. If he doesn't do this exactly the right way… Well...The smear of crimson on the floor comes to mind. Cisco feels like he's going to be sick, but he doesn't let himself process that feeling. Head in the game, Ramon, he tells himself. Keep your head in the game.

His whole body tenses as Caitlin comes closer and he isn't surprised, but he is relieved when she's careful to mind her step nearing the blood on the floor.

"Okay," he echoes back, swallowing thickly. This is Caitlin. This isn't some stranger he's trying to do a good deed for. It's Caitlin. She's like a sister to him and if he screws this up, then her blood will be on his hands. So he's trying to reassure himself as much as he is her with that parroted "okay."

Cisco takes a deep breath and raises his arms over his head, moving just slightly so that there's space for Caitlin to get past him rather than bumping straight into him. The metal leg feels suddenly so much heavier than it really is. He nods at her suggestion. "On three," he agrees, looking her back in the eye. She trusts him more than he trusts himself right now, if that look in her eye is anything to go by.

"One…"

He raises his arms a little higher, lining up the metal robot leg with the space between the elevator doors.

"Two…"

Cisco looks back at her and forces what he hopes is a reassuring smile before his eyes shift back to the robot leg in his hands. He takes one more step forward and to the side and takes a deep breath.

"Three," Cisco says and he shoves the robot leg in between the doors. It isn't long enough to take up the whole space, so the doors start to snap shut anyway. They hit either end of the leg with a nasty metallic clang before starting to actually crush it.

It all happens so fast. The doors slam against the leg and Caitlin's jumping and Cisco's grabbing her by the arms to pull her forward once her hands are free and, just like that, before he can process anything that just happened, the elevator doors slam shut and Cisco shifts himself to block Caitlin while raising an arm to shield his face as what little is left of the robot leg he meant to dissect, sprays at them in jagged little pieces before shattering to the floor.

"Holy shhhh—" tumbles out of his mouth before he realizes that he needs to make sure Caitlin is actually in one piece after all. He steps back with his hands on her shoulders. "Are you okay? Hey, huh? You good? Are you good?" The words spew from him so fast that they probably sound a jumbled mess, and his hands are shaking as they hold onto her, but he's looking right at her and he thinks she might actually be okay.

It was too bad Cisco didn't know Oliver well enough back home to recognize the other man's voice. That would've made him feel quite a bit better about a random dude shoving Cisco behind him while trying to use some homemade — pretty well-crafted, but still — bow and arrows to take down a rampaging robot.

"I'm not sure arrows are going to be our best line of defense, man," he said warily. "I don't know if you noticed, but that guy is made out of metal and all...where's your laser gun?"

Cisco was already taking his out, thankful that he'd had a mission already and had therefore been given the barrel. As if to prove Cisco's point, the Guardbot started firing, little red beams shooting out of his weapon, toward them.

Caitlin's sure her heart is pounding hard enough for him to hear it. Hard enough that it should be making an echo in the metal box she's standing it. They can do this. They can do this. They've done much more dangerous things than this. They've been through worse together. And always, always, they've come through it.

They can do this.

Cisco raises the leg and starts to count. They have one shot at this, and she can't be early and she can't be late. It all comes down to timing. He says three and she darts forward, not quite jumping but trying to clear the threshold as quickly as possible. The clang of the doors slamming shut is deafening, and she's honestly surprised when both feet hit the floor. When she doesn't leave some part of her stuck in the elevator.

Letting out a shaky breath, she stares at him, nodding. "I'm okay. I'm okay," she repeats over and over as she wraps her arms around him, practically clinging to him with a hug. Her breath hitches in her chest. "I didn't think I'd ever see you again."

It's with a dazed relief that Cisco lets out a breath he doesn't even realize that he's been holding when Caitlin assures him repeatedly that she's okay. And quite frankly, he's okay with the fact that she's clinging to him, because it gives him an excuse to cling right back to her without feeling like an idiot.

"I didn't think I'd ever see you again," he admits. He's quiet, then, for a moment. Cisco gives them both time to catch their breath and he finally lets go of her, taking a step back. "...Barry's here. And Felicity," he says, because even though she's probably still reeling from the elevator thing and the fact that he isn't a glitch, she deserves to know and it's throbbing in the back of his throat to be said.

Cisco takes another deep breath and puts an arm around her to guide her away from the elevator — quite honestly, he can't stand looking at it right now and he imagines she would probably feel much the same if her back wasn't already facing it — and down the corridor a little ways. "Listen, we're gonna be fine. ...Barry's working on getting his speed back. I'm going to build a new pair of Vibe Glasses and get my Vibes back and between the two of us, we're going to get all of us out of here and back home," he says in a quick, hushed voice. "Don't believe anything that they told you in that orientation, it isn't real. You are. I am. We are."

His reach is enough to get her walking and to back away as he does. She releases him, just so its easier for Oliver to well ... do anything really, but her hands refuse to leave his waist.

When he tells her how she's supposed to run on his mark, she knows she should listen. Staying meant that she'd be a distraction, another person he'd need to protect and it would pull his focus. But Felicity just can't do it. She can't agree.

"No." It came out a lot firmer that she'd anticipated. Felicity was a little proud of that, actually. "Oliver, I can't just leave you." Not after being here without him for so many days. "I can't have finally found you just to leave you here."

Barry isn't even annoyed at the response that he probably should've come to expect from Oliver. Stopping it was Barry's agenda as well, of course.

"You've got to get through the double plated armor if you want to get at any of it's wires. In the meantime, we've just been luring it towards electrical lines to short them out."

It wasn't a perfect plan, but it'd worked on two of them so far. He pointed towards the lines he'd been making a run for. "Did you just get here?"

He loved her; she frustrated the hell out of him. He wanted to kiss her; he wanted to throttle her. It was an unsteady mix of emotions in an unstable situation, but above it all was the fact that he would do anything to protect her, even if that meant she ended up pissed at him. Or worse. As long as she was safe, he could live if she never talked to him again.

"Yes," he replied, steel in his voice. No, something harder than steel. Adamantium, maybe. Because there were times she'd managed to talk him or bully him into something, but he wouldn't budge when it came to her safety. "You can. I'll be right behind you, I promise."

He felt a tinge of guilt at that. He'd made a promise once that he wouldn't keep things from her again, that things would be different. And now he was lying to her. He wasn't going to follow her. Not right away. Maybe not at all, but he preferred not to be pessimistic. Just realistic. And realism said that he had a chance of surviving this depending on whether he could figure out a way to take the machine down and whether there were more out there like this one.

"Not just," Oliver answered with a jerk that could be considered a shake of his head. To be fair, he'd kept to himself for the most part. He wasn't thinking 'cannon fodder' exactly, but it was easier to protect people he didn't know. He hadn't planned on making friends. Allies, maybe, but not friends. The fact that Barry was here made him wonder just how many other people he knew were here. Diggle. Felicity. Thea. The idea made him sick.

"Do we know what's causing it, yet?" he asked, grabbing Barry and pulling them both out of the way of some kind of laser bolt. Everything was very mundane here for all that he wasn't sure how he'd gotten here or how he was supposed to get back home. He wasn't about to trust that Barry still had his speed.

But he'd heard some of the things that had happened while Barry hadn't had his powers and so he still trusted the man to have his back, so once they were out of immediate harms way, he split away. If the two of them could herd the thing, it would be safer than trying to lure it out by himself.

"If I could use my gun, Cisco, don't you think I would be?" Since Cisco had the working weapon, it was up to Oliver to play bait. It wasn't his most favorite position, but he wasn't sure just how good Cisco's aim was. If he'd seen the man shoot before, he didn't remember it, and so he was going to be cautious. He'd give Cisco as much time to aim and shoot as he could and in the meantime, he'd distract the bot.

He noted where the machine's sensor or camera likely was and aimed his arrows in that direction. If he could blind it, at least temporarily, it would give Cisco the time he needed to make the shot and then they could hopefully take a minute to figure out what was going on and come up with a solution.

"Unless you've got a spare barrel around here." Anyone associated with Star Labs was likely to be storing up useful things that might help in this kind of circumstance, but he had no way of knowing what kinds of things Cisco was hiding away.

There's skepticism mixed with concern on her face, but because he's in front of her, Felicity knows he can't quite see it. She doesn’t actually believe him, but still, Oliver was promising to be right behind her. He said the words. Promises are supposed to mean something, right?

Fine.

Plus, she's the one who's been hiding things from him lately — helping out the team when they were supposed to be disconnected in Ivy Town. She loves him and she doesn’t want to lose him, but Felicity doesn’t want protecting her to be the reason he dies either.

He’ll be able to feel her hands let go of his waist. It’s as much of a confirmation as Oliver was going to get.

“Just remember. Sometimes machines are just like humans. Whatever is powering that thing is probably located in its chest. It’s where I would put the battery and CPU.”

On his count, she was ready to run.

Caitlin's a little reluctant to let Cisco go, but she isn't about to forego social etiquette for her own reassurance and comfort. When he lets go, her grip loosens, letting him step back. Her arms are folded over her chest to fill the void and keep her hands from shaking. The hug would seem to calm her, giving her some relief.

And then it's all lost when he says Barry's name. She stops hearing anything after Barry's here.

Her steps are little more than shuffling as he tries to guide her down the corridor, her body barely responding. It's all she can do not to slide to the floor and become a mess. When she blinks, the tears gathered along her waterline threaten to fall. It's too much. This is too much. A moment ago, she was questioning if any of her memories were real and fearing for her life. And now, proof that it's real is here in Cisco. But Barry... she remembers now why she questioned calling for him. It's not that she didn't think he was real. It's that she knew he was dead.

Her right foot falters, making her stumble before she catches herself against the wall. She swallows hard, and when she blinks this time, a few tears slip free. "Barry's alive?" she asks in a tear-thickened, cracking voice.

Cisco grabs onto Caitlin to try to help steady her and it takes him a second to realize what's wrong. It doesn't make sense, because they know Barry was just trapped in the Speedforce, but he's been okay. They've known that.

He looks back at her, confusion and concern for his friend etched deeply into his expression. Of course he's alive…" Cisco pulls her back in for another hug. "He's alive, Caitlin, he's okay. It's okay, you're okay. I'll explain, just...let's get you back to my room so we don't get caught talking about stuff that's not supposed to exist. Okay?"

But even as he's asking it, he's guiding her down the hall just the same as he had been guiding her away from the elevator. If he was in her shoes right now, it isn't even a question in his mind that she'd be doing the same for him. "I promise, it's okay. He doesn't have his speed, but he's okay."

He wanted to tell her that he loved her. Just in case whatever happened next was fatal. But at the same time, he didn't want to burden her with the worry. She knew he was coming after her. She trusted that he'd have her back and that was the thought that was killing him. If he couldn't come up with a way to bring this thing down, he might not be able to save her the next time. His grip on the bow tightened. It just meant that he'd have to be true to his word. He'd have to follow her.

He looked at the machine. In the chest, she'd said. Not much chance of opening it up with an arrow. He didn't have a working gun. Gun.

He took another step back, brushing aside his fingers along her side for more for his own benefit than hers.

"I don't suppose you have a working gun?"

How long had Oliver been in Alpha Complex and why hadn't Barry seen him? It was true that the number of specials were growing everyday but ever since Felicity and Cisco had arrived, he'd tried to keep an eye out for others from his world.

"It's a virus," Barry said, as he was pulled out of the way of a laser beam. "Uploaded to all the robots in the complex. Felicity's working on hacking it, but in the meantime we're trying to keep the damage minimal."

To people, anyway. If the distant fires and sounds of gunfire were any indication there was still plenty of property damage being carried out. Barry followed Oliver's head and split away. The robot seemed to hesitate and then went after Oliver.

There was a hesitation so brief that only a speedster would notice. Felicity was here. On the one hand, it meant that he could protect her. On the other, he didn't really want to contemplate anyone he cared about in this place. Well, it was done. He couldn't just magically wish her away. At least on the plus side, he had someone he trusted trying to fix this on the end where she was most comfortable. She wasn't out in this mess and that was all for the better.

He didn't have time to hesitate long, though, because the machine followed him. Better him than Barry, he supposed. He weaved between blasts and headed toward the nearest source of power. If Barry had a good mind, and Oliver knew he did, then he would come around and be waiting for them. Oliver just had to trust in that. And in the meantime, he had to not get himself killed.

Easier said than done when it was just him and his bow and he had more than a close shave as one of its blasts seared his bicep. He gritted his teeth and kept moving.

[ He tries not to look offended by that. He's aware of how he comes across, but there's no doubting the look of determination that flashes across his face in response.]

You might be surprised.

Caitlin wants to protest. He may not have been the most credible source, but it's hard to wrap her mind around the idea that Jay would lie about Barry's death. If anything, she would think he'd lie to take credit for it. But he.. well, he wasn't kind or gentle about it, breaking the news. He took her up to Barry's lab after telling her, but that could have also just as easily been about keeping her out of sight of his minions.

She isn't sure what to believe anymore.

Her steps are more sure as he leads her down the corridor, and she seems less likely to fall over. "Okay," she replies, her voice hushed. They can't be caught if no one else can hear them, right? It seems logical enough. "Him... losing his speed, that was Zoom? Jay." Her voice cracks over saying that name.

"I just need to be sure I'm remembering things right."

He leads Caitlin to the room he shares with Blue and pushes the door open before leading her inside and guiding her to sit down on his bed. Then, he turns back to ensure that the door is closed behind them.

Returning to her, Cisco sits beside her on the bed. He looks as concerned as he feels. "...no. No that's because if this place. Not Zoom. …Hunter," he reminds her in a gentle voice before realizing she might not be there yet. Everything happens so fast, ironically, at home that he can't always remember the details of his own timeline...which, now that he thinks about it, would make a potentially interesting premise for a comic book or something. ...which is neither here nor there, he realizes. Focus, Cisco. "His real name is Hunter. Not Jay," Cisco clarifies.

"Zoom did take his speed, that's happened, but he got it back. This place took it again."

She was actually about to say yes, she did have a gun, when Felicity realized that it didn't have any ammo. They'd distributed them when she arrived, but she'd never been assigned a mission.

"Just an empty one," she says, as his fingers brush against her, and more than normal, she wishes there wasn't a homicidal robot targeting them right now.

Maybe it was pure luck, but an explosion further down the hall erupts, and the robot actually turns around, its sensors attempting to figure out the bigger threat. Maybe it was time to run. She can almost hear Oliver giving her the mark anytime now.

Natasha was a fan of red and all, but these jumpsuits were ridiculous. But fashion was far from her biggest problem in that moment.

This place that she woke up in, it reminded her of home, and she didn't mean New York. The way that they worked so hard to convince her that she wasn't who she thought she was, the overwhelming darkness despite the place being well lit - the feeling that she was constantly being watched, not because she was paranoid but because she was. It all reminded her of the Red Room, of her monstrosity of a childhood that she had long ago given up on trying to leave behind in favor of embracing it and letting it become a part of who she was. The oppression was palpable in the air, and perhaps that was in her head, but if it was, so be it. She could accept that. Right now, her head was all she had to get her out of this mess.

As soon as she stepped into a public street the sound of chaos hit Natasha like a solid wall, so overwhelming that it made her feet abruptly freeze to the ground beneath her as her widened eyes searched around in loss. Alright, she wasn't a native, and she may be he new kid, but this? Robot dogs chasing after people, vending machines violently spitting out drinks with a vengeance, and - was that a vacuum trying to chase someone up a flight of steps? This didn't look normal. Or, god, she hoped it wasn't.

A part of Natasha just wanted to turn around right there and walk back inside, and demand that someone tell her why they took her from her home just so she could suffer through that stupid conditioning program long enough to keep her out of harms way. She was going to do just that until she saw what looked like a hovercraft...car...thing moving at high speed towards her, so out of control that she had to jump back as it skipped up the sidewalk and nearly ran her over. "The hell is going on here- hey - hey! Hey, turn around!" Her eyes had followed the hoverthing as it swerved back and forth on (over? this was truly ridiculous) the road, and if it would continue it would hit a person who was obviously distracted by something else. They were facing away from her and probably couldn't hear her above the chaos, and Natasha's instinct took over as she broke out into a sprint just as the demonfloat turned to head directly for the unsuspecting bystander.

It was a close call. Natasha had to take a running dive at the person with all of her weight to knock them out of the way, aiming for their center of gravity on purpose to get them to go down, and once they did Natasha landed on top of them as much as she could as the Unidentified Fucking Object crashed into the shop window above them, glass raining down over the back of her head and jumpsuit. "Come on," she said loudly to the stranger, immediately trying to move before something else decided that it was already time for her to die. She literally just arrived, why were there never welcome baskets? Wine? Safety goggles?

"Come on, we've got to move before a fire hydrant tries to drown us!"

(( ooc: psssst, d'you still wanna do a thing even though you just apped in? ))

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Page 6 of 7

July/August Test Drive Meme

Alpha Complex Test Drive Meme

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Natasha Romanoff | MCU

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