Out of the Frying Pan

[Jiang Winters]

"Right. I'm on level... Uh, 20, I think. The research ward looks like it covers everything between levels 12 and 24. I'm going to start looking here; whole place seems deserted. I haven't seen a security guard or even a nurse since I left the staircase. It's a little... Creepy. Anyways, priority one: Find pants. After that, I'll start digging for answers. Over."

Del continued on into level 20. The white tile walls and blue floors were immaculately clean, stainless steel doors closed tight, the glass walls of the nurse's station and labs were spotless, and yet the entire place was wholly devoid of life. There was paperwork littering the nurse's station and the computers were on, but a glance at the security system showed that it had been disabled. Even the cameras were off-line, and internal sensors were off as well.

He rifled through the station until he found a package of extra-large hospital scrubs. The feline tried on the pants - they fit. Sort of. He didn't bother trying to squeeze into the shirt; the pants would have to suffice. He stuffed his comms into his pocket, momentarily delighted in the fact that he had pockets now, then sauntered off. The station had mentioned an archive of lab research on his level - maybe that'd be a good place to start.

 

[Matt]

''Oh I am rather good sometimes''

The doors opened to what could only be described as a rather large computer room and several chairs swung to stair at him. He smiled and walked through flashing his card looking for a computer terminal. He sat down still smiling as the others went back to there work though still glancing over with curious looks at the new guy but Christian was far to engrossed in the computer's very interesting data.

He brought the communicator up to his lips and whispered very quickly into the mouthpiece as he tried not to look to stupid or strange.

''Delun, on the 16 floor there is a room to do with experimentation of indigenous species and flora. Bit of a mouth full but could be something quite interesting, over''

Christian masked the quickly whispered conversation with a cough before smiling at a nearby fellow.

''Terrible weather today eh!''

 

[Jiang Winters]

"Right, sounds promising. Look for a cryogenics lab while you're at it, would you? I came out of cryostasis, so that could hold some information as well, over," Del replied, quite unaware of poor Christian's predictament.

The door to archives was locked, but a sharp blow to the lock fixed that in short order. [Why the hospital insisted on using flimsy plasteel locks Delun would never understand.] It flung open, and Del stepped inside. To his immense surprise, the room contained hard copies of information; paper, holo-cards, data chits, and datapads, not servers and computer terminals. A summary search turned up a stack of archive data pertaining to alien species; a closer look at said stack yielded him a thin red folder labeled 'Unknown Feline, Subject 001, Prometheus Experiment.'

He yanked the folder and flipped it open. There was a single sheet of paper inside the spiral-bound folder; the rest had been torn out. What was left was almost entirely covered over in black ink; a photo, name, and some bare-bones medical information remained. "First Name: Delun. No last name. Height and weight are a match, physical appearance and photo's a match. Blood type O-, notes on physiology... Yep, this is me. Is there anything showing what level I was stored on?"

He flipped the sheet over a couple times. Nothing. "Of course not. Nothing's ever that easy," he grumbled.

Del left the archives and headed back to the stairway. "Christian, I found a folder on me with absolutely no useful information. It did mention that I'm part of something called the Prometheus Experiment, but judging from the amount of information that's been purged from this folder, I doubt you'll find anything in the database. I'm going to head down to level 19 and see what's there. I think there's a few genetics and cybernetics research labs near there. Why don't you download some floor schematics and meet me there? Over."

 

[Matt]

Christian was annoying the hell out of his ''co-workers'' as he had oddly discovered a terrible fake cough that seemed to come about every time his bloody communicator kept going off. Not that it was Delun's fault that the thing seemed set to it's highest setting.

He was getting very confused looks along with glares from the other workers so he knew it was time to leave so he downloaded the floor plan to his datapad and walked briskly to the lift, and was in very quickly hitting the button for level 19 and fiddled with the communicator to make the damn thing quieter.

''Delun, I'm coming to level 19 with a floor plan over''

 

[Jiang Winters]

Delun had just entered the staircase to descend to 19 when Christian called. "Got it," he said, trotting down the stairs with folder in hand, "I'll see you th-"

He cut himself off when he came face to face with a duo of security guards. Stocky humans, armed with heavy blaster pistols and stun batons, with black armored vests and drab gray uniforms. The two stared jaw-dropped at the feline, while Del stood frozen in place. "Uh... Hi?" the feline said, giving a brief wave of his left hand.

"It's that damned cat from earlier; shoot him!" the lead guard cried, drawing his gun. He leveled the pistol on Delun, just as instinct took over, causing the massive feline to surge forward. He dropped the comms and folder, snatching the man's wrist and twisting sharply. His wrist made a sickening crack as it was forced past its natural range of motion, and the guard screamed in pain. Del released him, then struck him in the chest with an open palm, knocking him back into his comrade. They tumbled down the stairs, giving Del a precious moment to retrieve his folder, comms, and the guard's dropped blaster pistol.

After scooping up the pistol, he set it to 'Stun' and darted after the two, then shot both men with stun blasts. "...Right. Remind me not to piss myself off," he muttered, quite shocked that he could remember how to fight yet couldn't remember the first thing about himself.

Once he'd ensured that the guards were dozing peacefully in most uncomfortable positions on the stairs, Del produced his comms. "Sorry about that, Christian. I'm on my way now. Over."

He took the time to lift one of the guard's pistol belts and his spare ammo, along with his baton. After adjusting it to fit himself, he buckled it around his waist and thrust the pistol into its holster, then trotted along happily until he reached level 19. He emerged not far from the lifts; a nurse resided at the station, though she was too focused on her computer to bother glancing up, to his relief. It was also likely that security was on-station in this level; it was good that Christian was here. They might actually run into some semblance of difficulty!

 

[Matt]

The door opened slowly to reveal level 19, thankfully this level seemed a bit more quieter or it was directly outside of the lift. He walked out smiling at a nurse at a station who gave a quick flicker of a smile before turning back to her work.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw what looked like a furball so made a beeline for the place, turned the corner and saw Delun thankfully out of his wonderful towel combo.

''Hi, take a look at these.''

Christian handed over the floor schematics as he moved out from the corner looking up and down the hallway, he suddenly had a rather bad feeling about the situation they had found themselves in.

 

[Jiang Winters]

Del was glad that he was able to skirt the nurse's station - no doubt thanks to the wonderful distraction that Christian made. It was fascinating how the man's simple presence attracted the attention of all the ladies. Were Delun interested in romantic pursuits, he might've been jealous!

The feline quirked a brow as the human handed over floor schematics. He took them in hand and gave them a quick once-over, tail curling at the tip as he did so. "According to this, there's a cybernetics lab just down this hallway, near the end. A genetics lab is in the next hallway over. I'd guess that there's something with a high power drain not far from the nurse's station - there's a dedicated maintenance tube running all the way between Hallway 5B and that station. That's a twenty-five meter stretch. Worth checking out."

He handed the schematics back. "I think you have more space for these than I do," he joked, before sauntering off down the hallway. "C'mon, let's investigate the cybernetics lab first. If we see any guards, let's try not to hurt 'em. Last thing I want is blood on my hands."

It was true - as violent as Del had been towards the Zabrak slaver, it had been nothing more than an act of self defense turned incredibly violent by his raw strength. He was still trying to adjust to his strength, to his physical abilities; it was puzzling. Though he could remember how to fire a gun, fly, fight, decipher technical documents and engineering plans, and otherwise perform useful feats related to the pursuits of engineering and the military as if such things were second nature to him, he was in remarkably poor control of his own body.

It was as if his strength was not his own, though he didn't have the time to think on that. The cybernetics lab was straight ahead - that was his concern for now. He hoped that he'd be able to simply walk in, but, to his dismay, he'd find that the room was quite populated, being home to a pair of blaster-toting guards and a balding bespectacled scientist of a rather short and rotund nature.

 

[Matt]

''Blast''

Christian whispered as he pushed Delun out of the way towards a nearby cupboard, he kept pushing until he was inside the cupboard and shut the door behind them quickly. He hit the light switch before turning to Delun with an apologetic look on his face.

'Sorry dear boy but I thought I should of got you out of there before they saw you....I believe we need a plan of ingenuity and cunning to get us through those people. I have a feeling they might recognize you if we are close to the area you came from when you broke out of this establishment...''

He paused for a moment trying to think of a method of getting through and all he could think of was even by his standards..ridiculous.

 

[Jiang Winters]

"...Huh? Hey!" Del whispered as he was pushed and shoved along. As he was caught off-guard, he didn't bother trying to brace himself, and instead just flopped into the cupboard Christian was shoving him into. Literally flopped in; the feline tripped at the last second and stumbled in. His head whacked a mop pail as he fell in backwards, causing the steel bucket and its mop to invert, landing quite neatly on Delun's head, with the mop's strands dangling over his face like sopping wet dreadlocks.

He sighed and cradled his chin in his palms. "I just can't stay dry, can I?"

The cat knocked the pail off his head after a moment and rose to his feet. "So people in the lab, eh? I guess that is cause for alarm. I think that schematic you had showed that the maintenance tube in hallway 5B ends at the cybernetics lab. It also showed, if memory serves, that there's an access point..."

He turned around and, gently, probed into the cupboard's drywall with his claws. He could feel something tough behind it, something distinctly metallic. A few seconds of explorative wall-poking found a seam in the drywall, which was not screwed down or otherwise fixed. A gentle tug caused it to swing open, revealing a hatch. "Right here!"

A twist of the hatch's handle popped it open with a quiet hiss, and Delun pushed the hatch inside and slid it out of the way on its tracks. "Not sure what I'll be able to do from in here, but I'm sure I can do... Something. Maybe I can do something to make them leave or to incapacitate them. I'll figure something out. Let me know if you come up with a plan before I do. Also, sidenote: Just noticed that my claws are made of metal. I'm officially creeped the hell out."

Del clambered into the tube after speaking. It was a tight fit, but the tube had been made to accompany engineers and all their equipment and to allow them to stand as they worked so he was able to squeeze in. Then he was off; tracing piping and ductwork and electrical bundles, and examining fuse boxes and control panels. He could already tell that the facility was designed to be able to pump gas into rooms as well as extract noxious fumes; maybe that would be useful. First he had to figure out what was with all the unlabeled canisters screwed into the ventilation system, though!

 

[Matt]

''Sorry my friend, I just didn't want them catching wind of you''

Christian thought over a brief idea in his head more, perhaps he could pretend that Delun was his prisoner but then he would have to do some very quick talking and the guards would must likely ask about credentials that he wouldn't have.

He couldn't use the force because the guards may have been weak minded but the doctor in the white coast would most likely be a academic and have some strength of will and not a brain full of dust. As he stood there mumbling to himself he saw with some alarm the canisters that Delun had found and his even stranger metal claws.

''Good lord, I don't know which is odder! these canisters is there a way to pump in enough gas to knock those fellows out rather then kill them? I wouldn't be fond of such a plan, call me squeamish ha!''

 

[Jiang Winters]

"They're unmarked, but the console has a setting to flood rooms with Agent 938 Bravo. There's a note taped to dial that controls it; something about how Agent 938 is the stun gas, and Agent 849 is the lethal one. Probably left by whatever technician last worked on this place."

Del frowned and scratched the back of his head. "I'm not really sure I like the idea of using this gas either. A lot of things could go wrong, but... I don't really see what choice we have. I could cut the lights, or set off a fire alarm, or do a number of things to confuse and distress 'em, but if I were them I'd just call for backup in response. Whatever we do, we'd have to take 'em out of the equation almost instantly so that we don't draw undue attention."

He turned to the panel once more, studying its displays and the manual levers and dials that controlled the flow of gases and air between rooms. "Or we could pull a distraction. I go in and pretend to my surrender myself. You cut the lights when I do that. I can see just fine in the dark - cat and all. I don't think you humans can do the same. Might buy me enough time to disarm and secure the lot of 'em. I think the gas might be safer for us, but..."

The feline's voice trailed off and he shook his head. "I just don't know. I'll take your lead on this, Christian."

 

[Matt]

''I like that! Once I hit the lights I can come and assist you in disabling them as I will be able to see there presence in the force, I'll be blind as a bat to everything else mind you! I don't want you thinking I suddenly became competent in all this''

Christian laughed to himself as he drew level with Delun and looked for the electricity supply to the nearby room. He found it fairly easily and pulled out a very important looking wire, whilst doing this he couldn't help but laugh again at how absurd this situation was. Imagine if the poor janitor needed to use his mop bucket!


''Very well Delun, go now I will hit the light then follow you in''

 

[Jiang Winters]

"Got it."

Del bugged out of the maintenance tube and beelined straight for the cybernetics lab. He slid open the door and stepped inside the now-dark room. Though the ceiling lights were dead, the glow of computer screens and status lights still created pockets of illumination, one of which surrounded the rotund little scientist, who was sitting in front of no less than six computer screens and three keyboards, and seemed so incredibly engrossed in his work that he failed to notice the power outage.

The guards, on the other hand, were groping blindly through the room. One began cussing out whatever 'nimrod' that had turned out the lights, and threatened to shove his stun baton where 'the sun didn't shine' once he got his hands on the culprit.

Needless to say, the foul-mouthed guard wound up Delun's first target. The feline casually sauntered up to the guard and drew the stun baton he'd taken off the men in the stairwell, turned it to maximum intensity, and gently prodded the fellow in the chest.

The baton made a loud bzark! sound as it touched the man. He lost conciousness instantly and collapsed to the floor, twitched for a moment, then was still. The other guard heard the noise and came running to try to find out what had happened, only to completely forget that he was in a pitch-black room full of diagnostic equipment. He clotheslined himself on a robotic surgical arm hovering at head height. His legs flew forward and his torso flew back, and he fell to the ground as unconscious as they came.

"Looks like somebody was behind the door when they were handing out common sense," Delun mused, a grin stretched across the cat's face as he turned towards the portly man. He'd be Christian's to deal with - Delun had too much strength to incapacitate him safely, and the fellow looked so hideously out of shape that the feline was afraid that one touch of the stun baton would stop his heart, even on a lower setting.

 

[Matt]

Christian came into the room only seconds after Delun and knew right away that the man had managed to break the resistance of two of the guards leaving just the small portly fellow.

As if to mock his ability to do anything remotely technical the lights came back on right away leaving the portly man in stunned silence as his hand hovered towards the panic button below his desk, but christian saw what he was doing and was across the room in seconds.

''I would advise against that my dear fellow if you wish to continue eating those meals you are clearly so very fond of''

He patted the mans stomach with a grin on his face, this man seemed to be having a conflict of emotions between anger and fear towards both of them but Christian decided to try and bring out the fear a wee bit more.

''My dear man, I have brought this rather large and intimidating cat back here as he has something of a worry in regards to not remembering anything and being twice as heavy of the rest of his species. Would you happen to know anything about this?''

 

[Jiang Winters]

The good doctor took a deep breath to calm his nerves. "The cat? You know, cat isn't really the right name for that dude. He's a bipedal feline, more tiger-like. Cat's are just... Y'know, housecats! Small, cuddly little things. Him? Hah! All fangs and claws, baby!" Roly-Poly pronounced with a hearty laugh. He adjusted his spectacles and hopped to his feet - barely five feet tall, he was dwarfed by Christian and didn't so much as hold a candle to Delun.

The doctor plodded up to the feline and gazed up at him. "I guess you guys can't be all that bad if you didn't just murder-death-kill your way in here. Y'know, like every other testosterone-crazed vigilante in this town. Seriously, one little slip up and suddenly every little protest group is jumpin' down your throat!" he complained. He dragged over a footstool as he babbled, along with a hand-held scanner, then hopped up and rather rudely waved the wand-like device over Delun's head and chest.

"De-du-dum... Oh. Oh my."

The fellow adjusted his spectacles once more. Del's ears lowered. "What is it?" he queried.

"It's nothin' bad, stripes," pudgy replied, "But it's not exactly anything good, either." He turned to Christian and jerked his thumb in Del's direction. "You did know that tiger boy here is stuffed full of synthetic tissue and electronics, right? The guy's got more gadgets and gizmos stuffed in him than a computer store. Haven't been activated yet though. Well, your synthetic eyes and ears have, but not the REALLY fun stuff. Anywho, can't help with memories. I'm a techy, not a psychiatrist or neurologist or whoever deals with that stuff. Don't know who or what you are, either, but the augmentations in ya would definitely explain why you're so heavy."

The tiger's ears flicked, tail swishing back and forth in aggravation. He looked to Christian, jaw set in a slight scowl. "You think he's being level with us, Christian?" Delun queried.

The doctor laughed. "Stripes baby, I don't have any reason to lie. Here, I'll show ya! Sasha, chop chop girl!"

A pair of heavy robotic arms descended from the ceiling, each one equipped with heavily padded pincers. They seized Del's wrists and pinned him in place, while a third arm, equipped with a collar-like device, descended and snapped in place around his neck, driving a pair of massive needles in on either side of the small metal port he'd found early in the day. The feline howled and thrashed for a moment, then went almost completely limp in the device, save for the occasional spasm.

"Now chill, just be cool, a'ight? That thing's gonna take a couple seconds to boot you up. Problem is, you've got a direct neural interface soooo you might be kinda sorta paralyzed for a couple minutes as it uploads the necessary device drivers and what-have you. Perfectly safe!" the doctor proclaimed, clasping his hands together and turning back to face Christian as if expecting approval.

 

[Matt]

Christian listened to the entire conversation quietly taking it all in which was very odd for him. Electronic inside of a man just seemed odd to him but then Christian was old fashioned in his ways.

He did however try to look for the best in people and was a natural optimistic but he did not like this doctor one bit and he was sure on that. There was a slimy and seedy element to the man that put Christian on edge.

It was as if the force was reinforcing his point when Delun was gripped by huge metal arms that descended from the ceiling and gripped him against the wall, his friend let out a howl that ripped through Christian's heart and t sight of the doctor turning towards him with a smile was unbearable.

He used the force to bring his lightsaber to his hand, activating almost before it was in his hand, he leaped forward and slashed through the metal contraptions in seconds dropping his friend to the ground, he turned to the doctor with a cold look across his face as Delun stirred behind him.

''Do not do such things to a living being again please Doctor''

 

[Jiang Winters]

Delun's vision had gone to black the moment the machine had seized him. Vivid flashbacks flitted through his mind; a string of broken visions, shards of memories from the time he had spent in the hospital. In this lab. The scalpels, the drills, the needles, the tables, the machines; it blurred together into a single, horrifying vision, the binding force in which was pain and terror. When he was brought out of it - courtesy of Christian's timely intervention - he was only too glad to be free of the visions. If that's what his past was, then maybe he didn't want to remember after all.

He groaned and pried off the pincers still clutching to his wrists and the collar at his neck. The feline hissed as the needles tugged out of his flesh, then weakly discarded the semi-circular device. He didn't bother trying to stand - he felt like he had no strength left. His world was still dark, but then, a light. A flickering blue box appeared in his vision. A load bar. It ticked off the seconds, building itself up to completion. In just ten seconds, it was complete. His vision instantly snapped into focus, crisper than ever before. Status indicators and boxes of information lined the edge of his vision, a simple compass at the top. Health information in the bottom right; he had a HUD.

The outline of his body - the health display, he assumed - was flashing red. He wondered why, and on cue the image enhanced and showed that all cybernetic functions were off-line and that his body was running on emergency power - the primary power cell was in place, but it had never been activated. Activating it was surprisingly easy - he just willed it so, and it happened. He found that he could navigate his HUD with his mind with ease, and in just a few moments was doing so astonishingly quickly. He wasn't going to try a full boot until he was somewhere safe, so for the time being he only activated his muscle augmentations and power cell, along with a handful of apparently important subsystems installed in his central nervous system.

While the doctor was still cowering in front of Christian, Delun pushed himself up to his feet and rubbed the back of his neck. It was quite tender from the needles - he'd have to ask Christian to patch him up later.

"****, that hurt," Del swore. "If I was a violent man, I'd deck four-eyes here for pulling that stunt. Could've at least, y'know, ASKED," the feline growled.

His attention shifted fully to Christian afterwards. "Thanks for getting me out of that thing. C'mon, let's get out of here. But first, there's one thing I need to know..."

He spun the doctor about and planted his hand atop his head. "And that is this: I know this hospital has a small research ship. I can remember it now. Not much else, but I remember it very, very distinctly. You're going to tell me where that ship is."

The doctor swallowed nervously. "A-and if I don't?"

"Doc, I can bend solid durasteel with my bare hands, without synthetic muscle or your fancy electrical bullshit. It might not be wise to make me angry while I've got your head in my hand."

Roly-poly harumphed and folded his arms across his chest. "Point taken. Level 31, right below the roof. Corporate hanger there. Keycard's on my desk back there. If you leave now you'll catch them in the middle of a shift change. Shouldn't be any guards on station. Otherwise, there'll be two guys there. No scientists. Ship's not registered, but you can take it to the black market and buy a fake registration easily enough, then actually take it to the port authority and get an official registration and just claim you bought it and need the registry changed."

Delun blinked in surprise. "...So I ask for a ship and you give me detailed information on how to acquire said ship and then make it seem like I'm its legitimate owner."

"You did threaten to squish my head. I like my head."

The feline shook his head. "Whatever, doc. Hey Christian, thoughts on ways to deal with handsome here? I don't want him squealing to the guards the moment we walk out."

 

[Matt]

Christian smiled and look at the guard, he tapped into the force using it's power to become a presence inside the mans head, he delved into his mind stripping away layers of his conscious mind, the mind itself was something far to complicated to try and do much with but Christian knew enough about it to make sure the man was promptly....

''Knocked out, see I can be most useful at times when my mind isn't away thinking of fairies and stars etc etc. So we should be moving on Yes but where to after we have this ship? Or more to the point where will you go?''

The Doctor moaned softly as Christian smiled back to his normal happy self after the moment of coldness at his friend's discomfort.

 

[Jiang Winters]

Delun shook his head. "I don't know. Away, I think. I need to isolate myself for a little bit. You know how sometimes you just... Feel like you're built for something? I feel like I'm built for war. It's a bit spooky. I think I should stick myself somewhere that I can't hurt anyone, take a few days to learn what happened to my body and if I can control it. Maybe figure out what skills I have. After that... I don't know. Maybe find a job, try to just... Fit in with society, I guess. What else is there to do?"

He smiled thinly and hitched his shoulders. "It's not like I've a home to go back to, after all!" he chortled. The feline strode out of the lab after policing the doctor's keycards - and a fistful of 10-credit chits from his desk, likely used to buy doc's snacks and whatnots - and headed towards the lift. He made sure to restrict his pace as he didn't want to leave Christian behind. Once at the lift, it'd be a straight shot to the hangar. If the doctor was true to his word, there'd be no guards on duty, or, at worst, only two. It wouldn't be difficult to just hit them both with stun blasts from his pistol; they wouldn't need subtlety now that they were on their way out, after all.

 

[Matt]

Christian had to jog every few steps to keep up with Delun, He let Delun into the lift first and wondered how to bring up the subcject he had given some consideration too since he had first met Delun.

''You could come back to the Jedi order with me! Think about it, you clearly have force potential and the masters could help you with your memory and help you piece your life back together, you are far more likely to succeed with the Jedi's help then wondering around the galaxy surely?''

Christian looked at Delun trying to gauge the reaction of his word's, he truly believed this was the best cause of action for Delun. He had shown remarkable restraint when dealing with others, he was kind and not a complete nutjob and a thoroughly nice chap.