Drugs, Demons, and Delight ( Johannes, Devotion, Necris)

[Johannes E. Schlosser]

Nota Bene: Though this thread will take place primarily in London, the beginning scene starts in the Regal Necropolis. Time stamp of thread proper will be decided by Devotion and Necris.

There was a good reason why most of the Templar didn't venture into the Research and Development labs. Sure there was all kinds of traps and fortifications set up to deter ritualists and demons from breaching these important centers, but that was nothing for an experienced Templar to worry about. Then there was the tendency for random areas to go into wild Soul-Energy fed fires when prototypes failed in extreme ways, which again is an accepted possibility in the name of science. Deeper still is the screams and tortured sounds of those going through Augment-Rejection, a most unfortunate occurrence in those whose bodies cannot handle the processing of additional Soul-Energy, but all active Templars have heard those and worse in their tenure. No, the primary reason why most of the Templar did not venture behind those walls unless they truly had to was all because of one man. You never knew at which one he might show up and you never wanted to have to get into direct conversation or even worse direct contact with the fellow. Johannes E. Schlosser the head of Templar R&D.

Today, however there was one young Templar whose presence was required, although she was perhaps the only one who did not take exceptional disgust to Schlosser. He had, after all, made her into what she was today. While this didn't necessarily compute to some sort of thanks or appreciation ( indeed it was closer to mind washing ) it nonetheless left her in a very important position as being the essential means of communication between the needs of Schlosser and the needs of the rest of the Templar order. It also, however, meant that when the two of them met, very few if anyone else in the Order really knew what was discussed or planned in the depths of those forsaken white hallways.

" The foot bone is connected to the leg bone~ The leg bone is connected to the hip bone~ The hip bone is connected to the head bone~ Dem bones dem bones dem dry bones~ now hear the word of The Lord!"

For a brief moment all of the power in the facility blinked out following just the taste of ozone, the smell of carbonized flesh, and the laughter of a madman, before things went back to the everyday hubbub of R&D HQ. The Templar didn't know it yet, but Schlosser was sure they would absolutely love the miniaturized biomechanical All Terrain Scout Transport, or AT-ST for short, although there was the kinks of it screaming constantly that he still needed to work out...Oh well! Perhaps this new drug formula should help out with that. But first he would needed a live, whole subject who would be able to handle some....clinical trials. Yes that's what they were called, not fun syringe time, Grandmaster Amadeus has made that very clear.

.... " This is Papabear calling Baby Bear....whoops wrong code! This is Schlosser calling Devotion, do you read? Report to my labs immediately for refitting and further orders. Also please terminate the escaped owlbear in maintenance room C when you have the moment, thank you dear."

[Devotion]

Equipment

- Banshee
- The Twins
- Hydraulic joints
- Cybernetic limbs
- Battle sensor
- Titanium Plating
- Self-repair kit
- Artificial organs
- Titanium Endoskeleton
- Titanium Exoskeleton
- Move-by-wire
- Nailgun/Injections
- Dispenser


The incoming call arrived her just, as she executed the last remaining demon from a small pack, she had tracked down. Yet before receiving the call, she placed her boot on the crawling, dismembered demons back, aimed the Banshee at it´s head... and blasted it into a mushy mess, along with half it´s upper torso and large parts of the ground beneath. Now with her primary objective accomplished, Devotion received the call from one of her highest authorities. "Affirmative Sir, klar und deutlich. Melde mich zurück, sobald das Zeil ausgeschaltet wurde, um weitere Befehle zu erwarten." Transmitting the signal, she already went through her internal map to pinpoint the location of the laboratory. Marking it, Devotion activated her Augment, in order to arrive at the designated location within due time.

Sending a simple, arrival message to the head of R&D, Devotion scanned the envorinment, deactivating the traps mechanisms for as long as it took her to walk throug the area, by connecting to the mainframe. However, as she walked through the hallways of the laboratory complex, her senses stretched out, in order to create a 3D image of the incoming area, updating with twice a second, in order to detect incoming threats. Closing in on maintenance room C, Devotion readied her weapons, approaching detecting the appointed target within the room, upon entering it. The owlbear... measuring about 2m in size, immediately flew towards her, with a vicious, ravenous SHUHU! Yet, as it got hit in the face by three needles, its head started to blow up like a disproportional balloon, before bursting open, splattering brainmatter, blood and bone-splinters throughout the room.

Devotion turned her body slightly to the right, in order to evade the falling owlbear, before reporting back to Schlosser:"Ziel ausgeschaltet. Nähere mich dem vorgeschriebenen Treffpunkt." Confirming that she´d close in on Schlossers imminent location, Devotion walked out of the room. As she hadn´t been ordered to clean up the mess from the hallway, she didn´t bother clearing either her artificial body, or the hallway, from the remains of the owlbear. Simply approaching Schlosser, Devotion stood still upon getting into a proximity of four meters to him. Her final words, in order to finalize the actions were:"Mission abgeschlossen, Sir. Erwarte weitere Befehle." Staring right through Schlosser, her Exokseleton revealed her head, switching itself off temporarily to spare energy.

It was afterall not good to waste energy, that´s what both Schlosser, as well as the other Templars had taught her. Wasting energy meant, wasting resources and wasting resources for anything other than hunting demons, was a crime against the order, punishable by death, according to Sir White. Meaning, if she should ever waste Energy, without imminent need to do so, in order to destroy Ritualists or Demon, she´d be rendered disfunctional on order from her superiors. However, if that was necessary to keep herself functional, would it be the same thing? It was a question that could only remain to be seen, once she did it. Yet that would mean risking inability to perform with either outcome. She would have to talk to Schlosser about that, once she had accomplished his goal.

[Johannes E. Schlosser]

There was something especially pleasing about the sound of a splattered Owlbear, though few others in the Templar order would ever understand what it was. Admittedly Schlosser felt that it was the sounds of a slow but ever increasing success. If he could combine the senses and grace of an owl with the strength and ferocity of a bear, then what’s stopping him from doing the same with humans? Well…there is that whole “Morality” issue and then there’s the “funding” issue and the “lack of willing volunteers” issue and the “No Schlosser you can’t steal fetuses,” and “No Schlosser you can’t impregnate any of the female operatives with half-gorilla super-soldiers,” issues. Really, Schlosser was not entirely certain how he was able to get any real work done in this environment of doubt. Although he had spent more than the last half century figuring things out. Speaking of which, one of his favorite little projects finally decided to make her gore-splattered appearance. Schlosser, of course, knew that she would not clean the mess either from herself or from the hallways without explicit orders. He felt that not doing so ensured two things, A) the intimidation factor, because a weapon is only as good as the horror it generates, and B) he had tapped into the security cameras and was planning on studying human “disgust” later on when the janitorial crew came by to clean things up.  

In two on his long ostrich strides, Schlosser approached Devotion,  a smile upon his thin chapped lips and the light of the various screens in the room glinting off of his not-entirely-human eyes. “Well, well dear. I feel that you’ve made record time. I knew that new oil would be perfect for your joint. Come come child, embrace me.” The hugely tall Schlosser leaned down low to give Devotion a proper hug, his long arms wrapping around her metal frame gently. There was just something about the little cyborg that just evoked those strange fatherly feelings inside of him…or was it just the feeling of kinship? Nah, probably he was just a little bit of an emotional sadomasochist, who really knew?

“ Well dear, I have a fun little project for you today. I’m sending you out to Earth to collect a test subject for me! This is, of course, one of my classified projects, dear, one that no one must know about for the protection and greater good of the Templar Order. I am working on a formula for a new drug that could potentially be invaluable to the goals of the Order, however I am going to require a human test subject. Here are the parameters of the mission: I require one human male who has acquired a high drug tolerance but is in otherwise fit condition. I require this subject to be alive and whole of body and mind when I receive him, preferably with as little blood loss as can be achieved. In order to facilitate this objective, I shall refit your dispenser with the appropriate narcotics to knock out the subject with as little struggle as possible. This subject shall then be brought back to me in a manner both speedy and careful as the subject must be alive and in as good of condition as possible for the trials to work. Remember, all of this must be done in as great of secrecy as possible, if the subject can be brought willingly by promise of drugs to avoid open conflict then pursue this path. When you and the subject arrive back here, take the back entrance to avoid being seen by other Templar or security systems as again this is of the highest secrecy.”

Schlosser had learned to try to be exact as possible when giving orders to Devotion, the poor thing seemed to think violence was always the answer. If only that were so, life would be so much more fun, but unfortunately sometimes the test subjects had to have their limbs intact. While he gave Devotion her orders, Schlosser reached into a labcoat pocket and pulled out a glowing orange vial and caressed the female cyborg’s torso in the right places to open up her dispenser and install the drug. It was mostly morphine but…there was no reason not to try a little bit of a live trial of the drug right?

“Now my darling child, do you have any questions about your orders, do you have any specifications upon which you are conflicted? Is there anything you wish to personally request or inquire into? You know that it is my policy for all to speak freely around me dear.”

“PAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

“Except for the AT-ST, but he really can’t help it.” Schlosser pushed a node and shocked his unfinished project back into silence.

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