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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Calinon" data-source="post: 1623355" data-attributes="member: 13737">Lancheng, ChinaInitiatives: Raisa 18 (5HP, 2L, 3S, stunned), Kevin 14 (5HP, 6L, 1S, -1 Super Strength), X12 13 (3HP, 1L, 3S), Dara 5 (5HP, 5L, 5S, -8 strength, disabled, unconscious) Medicine check (DC 15):  15 succeeds Kevin knows Dara is dying, but other than bind some of her wounds, there seems to be little he can do for her.  It's unclear what has happened to her mind.  Luckily, it seems to be enough. X12 puts the Jackal to the sword, and after a pair of thrusts, succeeds in severing his spine.  Rather than bleed out, Jackal's body turns incorporeal, then vanishes down through the broken cobblestones leaving an outline of his body where he was a moment ago. Raisa is rather surprised but Michael is not only alive, but his wounds are not nearly as bad as they should be.  The wounds in his stomach are visibly knitting, and those in his shoulders are closed, with barely a mark as a reminder.  The blood covering him, however, is ample reminder that he was near death.  He remains unconscious as his body heals. As all this is happening, Kevin suddenly gives a shout of surprise as liquid shadow starts leaking from Dara's eyes, ears and mouth.  It pools on the ground rapidly, causing her convulsions, then the shadow starts taking the form of a rather recognizable figure.  The man is applauding even as he takes shape. "That was most exciting to watch," he says, stopping his mocking applause.  "I see you haven't lost any of your cold-hearted killing prowess, Directive 12," he says approvingly.  "Though you should have ended him in one stroke, not two," he adds in a voice that means corrective punishment would be forthcoming.  Surprisingly, he doesn't do anything hostile.  "You're free to go," he says, waving his hand.  The statue vanishes and a swirling portal appears in its place.  You get the feeling he is quite satisfied with how things turned out. "Oh, I nearly forgot." With a blur of motion, he plunges his hand into Kevin's chest.  Kevin shrinks to normal size, losing his super strength.  The man yanks his hand free, holding something small in his hand; a small red light.  It vanishes into him as Kevin collapses backwards, gasping for air.  Surprisingly, he's physically unhurt from the experience, but feels... wierd, like there is something missing. "You really should have taken my offer," he says matter-of-factly.  "If you change your mind, I'll give that back."  Speaking to you all he says, "I'd gather up your wounded and leave.  The portal won't last forever." Brazilia, SAASAP Corporate HQHoppy doesn't seem to take offense to Vince's comment. "Yeah, sure, hit the guy who wiped out what... four robots?  How many you'd score there in your headlong solo rush, speedy?" he says with a smirk. "Hey, Cosmo," Tara says.  "How about you shut up, k?" The doctor finally manages to get Monica's attention so he can treat her wounds and Anna removes her helmet.  She is showing signs of some fatigue, probably from her nervous system interface. Miss Vaile answers Sanjay.  "Creating medicine doesn't always go as planned.  We were working on a cure for a particularly virulent strain of influenza, and our experimentation resulted, unfortunately, in the strain mutating to form Anaconda.  While we've managed to create a cure, it is far more difficult to distribute than it is to become exposed to the virus itself.   "Anaconda also proved extremely difficult to manage.  It's liquid state can eat through standard metals, so for safety it has to be reduced to a crystalline form using extremely cold temperatures, then suspended in a pure alcohol solution.  We keep that frozen as well.  If removed from the alcohol, the virus could revert to its liquid state and disperse into the air.  We actually constructed a large containment unit for the virus at our main research facility, where the remaining three litres of the compound is stored in three seperate containers, suspended in a crystalline state within alcohol.  We'd have destroyed it, but need to use our disintegration chamber at our storage facility.  The standard disposal unit runs on heat, and reverting Anaconda to a liquid state would be very bad.  Which is why I need to test your ability to destroy complex compounds, specificially a compound suspended in a solution at extremely low temperatures, within a container of highly reinforced industrial metal." "Our research facility is several hundred miles inside the mountains.  That's where Anaconda is stored, in the lowest level nearly a mile beneath ground level."</blockquote>

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