[OOC: For the full Experimental history, see the previous thread here.]

Fidel glances over the wire and sees that the military basically rolled the stuff off a reel, spooling it out across the parking lot in a hurry. Yeah, it's sharp, but it's not that thick. There are three layers of roll, one after the other. "It's like a hurdles event at a track meet, except your eggs are on the line," observes Fidel. "I think we can do it."

Rickie looks at Fidel and says, "Right, then, let's do it." The three nod at each other in their NBC suits, take a deep HEPA-filtered breath, and then take off at a dead sprint for the razor wire line.

For the first dozen meters, nobody in the camp reacts. After all, there are troops all over the place, and many of them are moving about. Then they hear a shout, "Hey, what are the NBC guys doing?" "Aw drek! They're running away! There must be a leak!"

On the assumption that if the biohazard technicians are sprinting, the drek is deep, a general panic erupts in the camp. Soldiers in the immediate area start running in the same general direction as the team. "Move it! Move it! Class 3 Containment Failure!" shouts a sergeant somewhere in the distance over an amplified throat-microphone. Engines fire up, troops start to move.

The soliders at the gate dispatch a pair toward Fidel, Dragoon, and Rickie as they run. They are still a dozen meters off when the team gets to the razor wire. Dragoon shouts back at them, "Class 3! Class 3! Run for your soul!" Rickie and Fidel dive over the first line of wire as he does so.

They tuck and roll on the far side, and Dragoon leaps over after them. The second wire line is immediately after, and they dive over that too. Dragoon doesn't clear this one -- his suit snags in passing and he falls right into the wire, tangled up. Rickie and Fidel can't stop -- they dive over the third line of wire gracefull, tuck and roll in the open parking lot beyond, and come up running.

"Drek!" yells Dragoon, trying to disentangle himself. He thrashes around but can't do it. He can hear various military personnel shouting nearby, and he's desperate to get free before they catch on to the false alarm.

In a panic, he shifts to mist form, dissolving his shape inside the suit. Rickie and Fidel look back from 20 meters away to see Dragoon's suit go limp in the wire. Dragoon's misty essence slides around the inside of the suit, seeking a way out. The rubber suit is sealed, however, and he quickly finds himself stuck in the HEPA filter. "Damn bio suit works both ways!" he thinks to himself, disengaging from the filter system and pulling back into the suit.

The suit is collapsed on his amorphous form, but he re-solidifies anyway. This time he's upside down and backwards -- arms in the suit's legs, legs in the suits arms, sticking up from the wire in an awkward handstand. "What's going on, soldier?" shouts someone from the nearby wire at him, confused by the disturbing contortions of the shape inside the suit.

Dragoon falls over from his handstand deeper into the wire, snagging more of the suit on the barbs. "Frag," mutters Fidel and he and Rickie continue to walk further away.

"Leave him," says Rickie. "We can't take the risk now. We're almost out of here."

"I know," says Fidel, "but frag it, he's such a simpleton... he's a good man. Or elf. Or banshee. Or whatever the frag he is." Now outside of the light radius of the CAS Army camp, he unzips his suits and carefully removes the Vektor. "You might want to put some distance in before I do this. I'll meet you at the van."

Rickie's eyes widen. He has no idea what Fidel is going to do, but shots sure won't help their cause. "You're putting him down? Jesus, Fidel, let it be."

"Get moving!" says Fidel. "You got ten seconds."

Rickie takes off running while Fidel crouches down behind an abandoned car and takes aim on Dragoon's form.

Dragoon thrashes around in the suit, upside down and confused. He's misting in and out, partially stuck in the filter, and totally panicked. "Get that guy out of there!" says one of the officers, and Dragoon can hear them snipping the first line of wire, to get it to him. The game is up. They'll capture him soon, and then perform all manner of weird experiments on him to unravel the mystery virus.

crack-crack-crack! Shots ring out from Fidel's rifle. "Under fire! Under fire!" shout the troops at the first wire line as the bullets come in. They hit the ground and ready their weapons, but the bullets weren't aimed for them. They penetrate the NBC suit and rip into Dragoon's flesh. He screams as the bullets tear right through him and out the other side, splattering blood across the wire.

"Man down!" shout the soldiers as they see what they assume to be one of their techs getting shot from hostile elements in the parking lot.

Dragoon's flesh heals instantly, and he mists again just on instinct. The perforated suit is no barrier now, and his misty form immediatelly shoots out and up into the night. The soldiers don't even notice as they scan the horizon for the shooter. Fidel is now dropped down behind the car, heart hammering and out of breath just on fear. I hope that worked, buddy. he thinks.

The rumbling engine of a military transport heads his way from the gate. He stays crouched behind the car, almost crying. I almost fraggin' made it. Unbelievable. Out of the mall, just to die in the fraggin' parking lot!

The truck seems to homing on his position. Sensors probably pick my heat up right through this car. Drek. Drek drek drek.

The truck rumbles to a halt just 10 meters from his position. Doors open and close, boots hit the ground, and rifles click ready. A voice booms out. "Step away from the vehicle with your hands up! Any movement will be interpreted as hostile and result in your termination. Step away slowly."

Drek drek drek! Fidel takes a deep breath. Might as well go out in a blaze of glory... maybe buy Rickie a little time. He stands up from behind the car, rifle in hand. "Bite me, motherfraggers," he says calmly as he lifts the rifle to fire. There are at least two dozen troops facing him, in heavy armor and with fully modernized assault rifles.

Suddenly, the whole group gives a collective scream and starts retreating. Fidel blinks, so surprised not to be cut down that he doesn't even fire at them. They holler like children, turn tail, and run toward the camp, abandoning the running truck. The driver even jumps down from the cab and runs away.

Fidel suddenly feels an itch and looks behind him to see Harley standing on the roof of the car, blue, naked, and sticking his reptile tongue out. "Boo!" he says brightly.

"Aw hell yeah!" shouts Fidel. The two of them run across the open space and hop in the running truck. Within seconds, they floor it across the parking lot. Not two blocks later, they pick up a stunned Rickie by a van with a flat tire. The team escapes into the night, reunited and free.

------------------------

/cinematic mode off

Hi guys -- as you might guess from the title, I'd like to wrap up the Experimental run now. I'm running short on time, and our three friends Fidel, Rickie, and Harley had a fine adventure through the mall, the sewers, and finally out to freedom through the military camp. It's been a good ride, and we're at a good stopping point.

Lemme hand out some karma for the last couple of scenes:

ALL:

Survival -- 2 pts.
Saving the weaponsmith -- 1 pt.
Escaping the internment camp -- 1 pt.

Dragoon:

Roleplaying (everyone's favorite fool!) -- 1 pt.
Humor (built in to his whole operation) -- 1 pt.

Fidel:

Roleplaying (cynical outlook) -- 1 pt.
Humor (dry humor) -- 1 pt.

Rickie:

Roleplaying (sharp mind) -- 1 pt.
Smarts (tactical thinking) -- 1 pt.

That's makes 6 karma for each of these characters. You might use them again somewhere, so there they are. Since they were made by standard SR3 rules and paid for things with normal karma, you could probably bring them into any normal game. (Although, Dragoon's SURGE and Banshee status may raise a few eyebrows).

--K

Wow! What a great ending! You had me trembling, laughing, feeling sad and happy! I grew to like these characters. If you wanna run a follow up, be sure to post! I'll be with you.

Thanks for a great run, krishcane!

Hey, thanks for playing, man! I'm glad it was a good time! It worked out well.

Hasta!

--K

Kudos, krishcane! If you ever want to do another random character run, sign me up!

Admittedly, considering it was a wrap up, I was expecting Fidel to finally do something completely selfless, and get killed for it. For some reason Rickie hearing automatic gunfire and Fidel scream would have been interesting.

Made me nervous, but I was glad he made it out. I expected him to die. I would have missed him though.

Hrm... Does anyone else feel like trying to pressure Krishcane into running another one with these guys? I miss Fidel. Always wondered what life would be like for these guys on the open seas.

Oh, I'd definately like to play another one! I've come to like Rickie.
However, I'll be gone for a week from next Saturday on, so I won't mind if we wait a bit.

Should I post my Paypal account number?

MrSandman, when you get back, post here to let us know, and I'll see what my schedule looks like. I'm leery of starting something I can't keep up with, but when you get back, I'll take a look at the calendar.

--K

I'll be back in Germany on the 20th, that would be saturday in a week. However, I probably won't get to go online until monday, which would be the 22nd. Just so that you can plan ahead.

Just wanted to tell you: I'm back! Start whenever you feel like it.

I'm ready too.