OC Contest

{Attn: Open}

Kyrie hears some stirring, but blocks it out. After the night shift at Castle Control she deserves a rest. The crackling of fire enters her head making her snap her eyes open. What??? Fire?? She sits up in a cot and looks around in a calm panic. She sees cots lined up, some are filled while others are not. She stands up and looks closely at the people in the cots, not recognizing any of them. Great which planet am I on now? She walks to the far end of the room and takes out her communicator. "Kyrie to Castle Control, come in...." She waits for a response, but hears static. She curses under her breath. There is no way they can be blocked she just got it upgraded.

She looks over her shoulder at the ones on the beds. A part of her wants to wake them up, but another part doesn't trust them. She takes out her blaster and heads toward the brown door. She opens it up slowly only a crack and peers down the hall. There doesn't seem to be any guards or enemies. She opens it up more and quickly looks around the other side of the door, still no one.

She steps into the hallway seeing a variety of doors of all shapes and sizes. She walks slowly down the hall examining each doorway. She totally avoids the black one. She doesn't like the dark since what Prescott did to her. The mahogany one reminds her of home the most. She looks behind to see if any one else has entered the hallway. Not seeing anyone she turns the handle and enters. Kiah and Mishca will probably kill her for this. Naah Mishca will be right next to her, pushing her through the doorway.

She sees a yellowish glow from behind her and turns around. Around the door is some sort of barrier. She curses under her breath again and she pushes on the door. Of course she could not go through it.

[ATTN: Open]

Trick woke up quickly, but kept his eyes closed, knowing immediately that something was wrong. He had fallen asleep in the middle of Russia, and this was far too warm to be Russia. Had someone found him? He thought back quickly - he had found an employer that night, and the man had given him dinner as well as money as an advance payment. Perhaps the food had been drugged?

He heard a woman speaking professionally, and opened one eye. Whoever built the place knew what he was about, at least, and he scanned the room. He was in a bed, and several others lined the wall, some with occupants. He heard movement, and shut his eyes quickly as someone left - the woman who had spoken? He opened his eyes again quickly to see her shape leaving the room.

Trick sat up, pleased to see that his hands were still free. He checked his coat, felt the comforting feel of his gun, and checked for both of his boot knives. Everything was still there - even his deck of cards was untouched. Whoever had taken him clearly had no idea what he was doing. Trick grinned. That didn't matter. They were trying to trap him, and he'd be sure to make them pay.

He jumped up, landing lightly on the floor next to his bed. He reached for his gun, not pulling it out yet, and moved towards the door, opening it and peering around it. No one in sight. Even that woman had disappeared. Trick shrugged, stepping out quickly and shutting the door behind him.

"That's just mean," he said out loud as he saw that the hallway was filled with doors. But which was the way out? Or maybe this was a game, and games were meant to be played, after all. Trick smiled, browsing the selection. A door made of slime? Gross. But it's partner across the hall, a door made of nails, seemed much more promising. It almost looked like it was challenging him. Trick tested the handle - it was hard to turn, as if not wanting to let him in. That decided it. Trick grabbed the handle with both hands, managing to turn it and shove his way through the door of nails.

[ATTN: Open]

Trick spun as the barrier shot up behind him. He reached out to touch it - solid, no way back. And it certainly wasn't any technology he had seen before. Where on earth did they take him? He was starting to lose his patience.

He turned back around and squatted down, taking in his surroundings. No place to stand except for where he was, no way to the exit across from him. He tried to look down into the pit, but couldn't see a thing. How deep does that go? Trick reached inside his coat, searching his pockets for something he wouldn't mind losing. He eventually found his ammunition, grabbing a few bullets and holding them in his hand. Was it worth it? He reached back in his pocket, searching. One magazine with ten bullets, four loose bullets, including the ones he was holding, and whatever was left in his pistol. Surely he could afford one.

He threw a bullet down into the pit, crouching as low as he could to listen. Nothing. Then again, any noise it would have made would have been tiny. Still, he could guess it was fairly deep, not something he'd want to fall into.

Trick looked up, annoyed, at the door across from him. Was that lettering? Not in any language he knew... unless it was a code. Yes, it had to be a code, the middle word had no vowels. A puzzle, then? he thought, smiling. That made things more interesting. It almost made being kidnapped worth it. At least he wouldn't be bored. And maybe if he solved his host's little puzzle, he'd find someone who could tell him what the **** was going on.

{Attn: Open} Leah let me know if I need to change anything!!

After a few frustrated moments of trying to get past the barrier, Kyrie turns around. What she sees before is a large scale. It seems to be perfectly level. An even closer look reveals two unconscious people on the scale. She crosses her arms; this is too simplistic to be the work of Doom. There is nothing under the scale to guarantee the person will die upon falling.

In front of the scale she sees a pedestal with writing on it. She tries to read it to no avail. A smirk comes to her face. They are trying to stump her with a code, interesting. She takes out her communicator. She wishes she had the guys to help her out with this. Pidge would be drooling. Then she remembers the upgrades they did. She slides open the communicator and begins typing in the code. If it is a letter switch, she will have it solved in no time. She looks at the letters closely. Well U seems to be all alone, that is more than likely an A or I. It is slow going at first, but she thinks the has it solved.

only once can the scale be lowered
only once is life given and empowered
should one life be valued over another?
the value determined by hands on a lever?
make your choice

It is then Kyrie notices the black lever. She does not pull it right away, only once? That destroys her idea of a counterweight. She walks under one of the scales and looks up. She scratches her chin and starts to think. Maybe if she lowers one side down first. Then she can stand on it while moving the body. She wonders if she can climb up the chain and use herself as a counterweight. If she slowly moves across the arm of the scale, she can slowly lower the other side. It is risky, but if the doesn’t to it the one is going to die anyway. Time to put some of the training to use.

She walks over to the lever; the man is less fragile than the woman. But the woman has lived a full life. Which life should be saved first? Kyrie grabs the lever and does a mental einy meenie miney mo. She slides the lever to the right.

She steps onto the scale disk and checks on the woman. She seems to be alright physically at least. Kyrie helps her off the scale, being sure to stay on it herself. As soon as the women’s body is removed, the scale springs to life and starts to move upward, quickly at first. Kyrie is almost thrown from it. Eventually it slows down, but is not perfectly level. It appears the man is heavier than she is. That may help actually. She begins the task of climbing the chain taking it slow when she feels the weight shift. She will have to thank Hunk for the strength training when she gets back.

She finds herself at the top. She rests for a moment moving her arms around so they don’t stiffen up. She looks down to check if the woman has recovered at all. She begins the slide to the other side of the arm. Now she really has to be careful because if the moves too fast the weight can go down even more. So once again caution reigns. She inches over stopping when she feels the weight shift. As she gets to the middle the disk is lowered, until it touches the ground. She did it! Now she can throw caution to the wind and slides down the arm of the side on the ground.

Kyrie picks up the man and sets him down off the disk. Hmm what is going to weigh it down when she gets off? She will have to time this right. Kyrie runs and jumps off the scale watching the disk shoot up and balance out again. She watches it for a moment. Balance, I wonder when my life will have some. The woman and the man wake up and thank Kyrie for rescuing them. She looks beyond them as a door appears.

She walks over to the door and takes the handle. She turns it and cautiously opens the door. She looks back at the two people she saved "Are you sure you will be alright." They nod and wave her on. She walks through the door...

Trick frowned as he looked at the cipher. He checked the pockets inside his coat once again, but he already knew he wouldn’t find any paper. That certainly wouldn’t make this any easier. Trick’s hands rested on his pack of cards, and he pulled them out, suddenly struck by an idea. He whipped out his cards, laying about half of them down. The cards were starting to get old, battered, everyone else said he should get a new deck, but to him, they’d only just gotten comfortable in his hands. Trick pulled a knife from his boot and flipped the cards face up, carefully carving in a letter into each with the knives. That should help him visualize it, at least.

Trick stared down at his cards for what might have been hours. His eyes hurt, and his legs were sore from squatting, but focused as he was, he almost didn’t notice it. He was being challenged, and he wasn’t about to give up. He thought he had the middle word – This - but he couldn’t quite get the other two. He looked back up at the door, studying the phrase from a distance. There couldn’t be that many coherent 3-letter phrases with this in the middle.

Trick gasped as it came to him, and he swiped up his cards with a grin. A tune had jumped to his head, and as he studied the phrase, the more it made sense. Thank you, Aerosmith. If Salander wasn’t dead, he would have thanked him as well for introducing him to the band.

Walk this way, it said.

Trick’s elation died. Well, that had been a fun distraction, but it certainly wasn’t helpful. It almost sounded like he was being mocked. Trick gave a twisted smile. Well now, he thought, soon as he found his host, he knew how he’d entertain himself. Still, he had to find a way out, which there wasn’t, not as far as he could see. Unless… maybe there was a path? Something he couldn’t see, maybe? Trick reached an arm down, sweeping it out in front of him until he felt – yes – something solid. He searched with his hand, finding a small path roughly as wide as his foot. The only way across, it seemed. He wasn’t too keen to stand on it, though, and so Trick crouched down even further, grabbing both sides of the path with his hands and sliding cautiously out onto it. He made it forward a few feet before the path ran out in front of his hands – there was a moment of panic until he realized it had turned to the right. He shifted himself cautiously, continuing on, hoping that the path would actually lead him to the door.

He shuffled along laboriously in this way, up until he finally found himself in front of the door. The path widened out slightly in front of the door, much like his little island at the start. Trick stood up slowly, cracking his knuckles and twisting to loosen his back.

Trick put his hands on his hips, staring at the new door that was now across from him. “You’ve been a real pain in the ***, haven’t you?” he said under his breath, reaching in his coat and drawing his gun. No telling what was beyond. His amusement had died along the path, and now he was sincerely hoping he would get to meet his host soon. He had so many things he wanted to show him. Trick smiled to himself, and with a breath he slammed the door open, bringing up his pistol to meet whatever was on the other side.

[ATTN: Girl]

Trick yelled in surprise as his legs suddenly sunk in an instant, throwing him off balance. He somehow lost his grip on his gun, and it landed down in the sand at his side. He lunged for it, but he was already waist deep in sand, and the gun had instantly sunk down into the sand, just out of his reach.

Trick cursed loudly - the sand was already up to his elbows. He spun as well as he could as he heard a voice in a strange language, and saw an eerie little girl just standing on top of the quicksand. Not possible - but he had no time to think about that. If she could stand on quicksand, maybe she could pull him out, no matter her slight figure.

Trick kept his arms up high, trying to keep them free. He leaned forward as far as he could, the sand all the way up to his armpits, and reached for the girl. "Help me," he said. No time for pride - that didn't matter, this was life or death. "Please help me here, **** it, can you even understand me? I swear if you help me I will repay you however you wish."

{Attn: Open}

Kyrie tenses as she enters in her black room. She puts her hand on her blaster and holds it out in front of her. She creeps forward slowly, hoping this isn’t one Prescott’s tricks. “A…Anyone there?” She calls out. Then she sees it in, almost imbedded in the wall of the room. It is a tube filled with water, and there is a beautiful woman inside. She puts her hand on the tube. There she sees the inscription. Not again…She unclips her communicator once again, hoping that the code is the same.

shiva wishes to sleep
but should her slumber keep
the 'right hand of death dies
if you wake her, you will die.

Now this…This sounds like something Lotor would dream up. Her life for another and the choice is mine. She looks around the room, not seeing a way out. She sighs and paces in front of the tube. Mishca always said she was too self sacrificing, but usually it was the lives of people she knew on the line. This time it was some stranger, the right hand of death.

People are scared of death, but it isn’t always a bad thing. Death is a part of life after all. She looks up at the tube. Goodness if the guys knew what she was considering, they would all tackle her. She laughs as she imagines that.

She takes out her blaster, her mind made up. She pauses and looks up. Mom, Dad, I will see you soon. She holds up the blaster, sets it at the highest output, pointing it at the tube… Four… Three… Two… One. She closes her eyes as she depresses the trigger.

{Attn: Shiva, Joseph, Open}

Kyrie hears the glass shatter. She swallows hard and slowly opens her eyes. She lowers her blaster and stands ready for whatever is to come. She sees a hint of a shadow move as the glass falls. Shiva's eyes suddenly open.

Shiva stays in the air for the briefest of moment before her feet touch the ground. Kyrie watches as ice appears on the floor and spreads throughout her room quickly. Soon her can see her breath. She rubs her arms trying to stay warm.

Shiva then speaks her voice as cold as the air around them. Kyrie raises her eyebrow raises. "Both of us? I was the one that shot the tube with my blaster?" Shiva steps into her room and she sees the other walk forward.

Kyrie's eyes open widely when the new person calls her a healer. She has kept her abilities secret, then she remembers the inscription. "You don't look like someone who can be classified as 'right hand of death'. Please do me a favor and don't tell anyone about the healer thing, just call me Kyrie. So either one of us dies or we work together? Well together it is then."

She looks over at Shiva. "So what is our challenge?"

[ATTN: Girl]

The girl grabbed him one-handed, dragging him all the way out of the quicksand and onto solid ground. Trick pulled his hand back slowly, alarmed. There was something deeply wrong here. He had known that, of course, ever since he had awoken, but it hadn't hit home until now.

Trick looked back towards the quicksand longingly. Fat lot of good his spare bullets were now. Trick turned back around quickly as the girl spoke, and he couldn't suppress a shudder. 'A strange language?' What was that supposed to mean? She didn't know it, yet she had already could speak it?

"Thank you," Trick said warily, wishing he had his gun back. He didn't feel so great about being in this chick's debt now. "Well," he said, unsure of what to say. "Uh, in that case, I should go on," he finally said, wanting to be out of there. The girl was giving him the creeps. He scanned the room quickly, finding the door and running up quickly to it. He reached down, grabbing one of his boot knives and pushing the door open, more cautiously this time.

{Attn: Open}

Femaust awakens to a dull pain in his side. Something isn't right but he just can't put his thoughts straight. Finally his sluggish mind makes him awaken and opens his eyes. The sight that greets him isn't the forest, not even his masters tower. Instead he finds himself somewhere completely different, a stone room with a fire burning in the fireplace.

This must be what Master must feel like when he dies and wakes up somewhere else Femaust thinks to himself, but wait I don't have a vessel waiting for me. Sitting up suddenly afraid he cries out in pain as the wound in his side cracks and starts bleeding afresh. That's right, the Boar he realizes as he clamps a hand over his side in the rent of his armor.

Peering around he notices several lumps... on beds... Then slowly with comprehension he realizes that they are people asleep. It would have to wait before exploring, for now he stripped off his armor and noticing his backpack at his bedside he fished around till he found his first aid kit. With much practice he cleans the wound, and biting his axe's handle stitches it shut. Groaning slightly he releases his axe, his jaw cramping now that his task is complete. Standing up out of bed he puts his gear back on and shoulders his backpack. Leaning over he attempts to wake another one of the sleepers, after a few tries he gives it up, perhaps they are under some magical slumber.

Walking to the end of the room past the numerous beds, he pauses in the door, then turns around and grabs the torch nearest him from the sconce on the wall. Then with a light he continues past the door into an odd room filled with many doors of truly bizarre manufacture. Several of the doors seem to shine an odd yellow color. Upon closer examination he realizes through touch and the faint hint of energy that they are some kind of barrier. Focusing he places his hand on the cool surface of the marble archway and attempts to disperse it, ground it to the floor, or shift the door archway itself. His attempt is forcefully rebuffed as he is thrown backwards through another door. Flailing for purchase his hand cuts itself on the wireframe before he vanishes into oblivion.