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Mutants & Masterminds: Future Imperfect - Chapter 1: The end of the world as we know it


Joani

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Tom moves to go with Travis and Ronnie, "I've got some training in engineering, so I might be able to help get them out."

As they go past the doc he comments to him, "Sorry doc but if there is robots on board it's a good idea to try to power them down before they hit us. After all they walked all over us last time."

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Sly stuck close. "I'm going with you guys. If there are more of those freak robots around I intend to be as close to you lot as I can be so you can do what needs to be done. With people I can be of help, but robots are right out and bullets don't bounce off me, they make nasty holes in my clothes and more importantly in me."

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Originally Posted By: Stargaizer
Kevin addressed Travis and Ronnie directly and more than a little sternly. "... More information is needed before we do anything rash."


Travis smirked as the others walked away from the doc and into the elevator. "All aboard. I've got nothing to prove we're in space and everything to prove that we can hit them where it hurts right now. But if you want to go up to the bridge, be my guest, I won't stop you."
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Juno takes a second to collect herself and says, "I think we should find the control room for this thing before we do much else. For all we know they can seal us off or vent poison gas in or something like that."

She nods at Kevin. "And it'll give us a chance to figure out where we are and what we're in."

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Kevin replied to Tom and moved from his position towards the front of the column, so that he would get to the elevator first. He'd have to talk some sense into these people before he let them get in. "You're right, power down the robots, not the entirety of whatever this thing is we're in. We don't know how any of this stuff works and if those robots, the engines or both are tied to those poor people. Personally, I'd say the robots are self powered, because, I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure I wasn't anywhere near this place when they wrecked my clinic. I'm just suggesting that we think about the implications and look at all the facts, and hopefully get more info before we do anything that could KILL US ALL. I don't need food, air or water, but I'm pretty sure that most of the people here do. Killing the power could well keep us from getting any or all of those things. Let's think this out people. And as far as being in space, were you paying any attention at all to this lovely lady who tried to port us out of here but couldn't? The one who can port anywhere within 200,000km, meaning anywhere on the planet from anywhere on the planet?"

By the end of his 'speech', he was very empassioned and speaking to everyone with the full authority of an army general.

Click to reveal..
I'll roll leadership/cha/whatever if I need to

(13:54:25) (kevin_bridges): Command Roll

(13:54:40) ChatBot: (kevin_bridges) rolls 5d10 and gets 8,4,4,6,3.

1sux

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Two conflicting orders ... Adrian was getting a headache. He gets on the elevator with his sister still ruminating.

"Okay, taking out the bridge first makes sense. Once we take the brigde we can figure out how to exit and how to save those two people. Splitting up doesn't make much survival sense either."

Looking to Kevin he asks,

"If we are in space, what is suupplying the gravity?"

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Kevin got on the elevator with everyone else, making sure to stay up front near the doors. Not only would he be able to protect people inside with his force field, but he might be able to keep them from leaving until they listened to reason.

Adrian's question, however, caught him off guard slightly. He recovered quickly though, replying "I don't know. Anything from rotation to a mutant power or technology. I'm not saying it's definate, just that it's a definate possibility, the only other one being some sort of porting shielding or dampening. And if that's the case, they may well know that we're awake and what we tried to do."

Not all was lost yet, but if Travis and Ronnie didn't start listening to reason soon, it could very well go that way very quickly.

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Travis scratches his head. He doesn't remember it but he was never one to make command level decisions, he was a man on the ground, he made the tough tactical choices. He frowns, "OK, lets just assume for a moment you are right. How do you suggest we launch a successful attack from an elevator into the command area of this ... whatever this is."

Originally Posted By: Joani Reikspar
To the left and the right are bullseyes like in a submarine showing blackness.

Travis steps of the elevator, "Hold on ... didn't I see a port hole?" He doesn't wait for a reply and instead simply walks away headed toward where he thinks he spied a window.

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Ok, finally, some reason. And Kevin decided to be honest in his reply. "I don't know, off hand. However, if it is going to be a large scale attack, we'll need to know exactly what everyone here is capable of. So, I'll start off, I can heal, project force fields, am myself highly resistant to all forms of damage and I can adapt to most any enviroment. Who's next?"

He looked around, expecting a response, and fully meaning to not move until they had a comprehensive list. He also watched Travis leave, figuring that if he could find a portal, it would would give them a wealth of information.

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Travis walked to the port hole and got slower as he neared it. The Darkness turned out to be filled with stars. Making his last steps he came to a full stop his mouth agape at the sight revealed to him. He could see the Moon and far bigger behind it Earth. For a moment he simply stared but then reality caught up with him. On the Moon especially on the dark side he could see lights which looked like a small city. Whatever this place was it was orbiting the moon.

In the meantime as Adrian wanted to get back to the elevator with his sisters he found the doors shut again. Someone must've called the elevator during their short intermezzo with the engineers.

The only sound they could hear was the low vibrating and humming sound coming from the huge kettle-like engine thing in the middle of the room.

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The nausea is driving her insane. The Virus never affected her this way. She looked at the engines and almost snarled. "Got to shut them off. Can't function with them on."

It was hard to even think straight in the room. "If nothing else I need to get out of here."

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"Travis, Ronnie, get back on. Let's go to the bridge, take over, and get this thing back home. We can rescue the others then, but we shouldn't split up. Now come on."

He wasn't quite pleading, but he was certain that shifting around doing nothing but talking wasn't going to help the situation. When in doubt, pick from the list of options and make a choice. If they didn't act, things would act upon them.

Looking to Kevin,

"Thanks Doc, then

"Any idea on how to pilot a space ship? Anybody?"

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Adrian felt Rebeccas hand slowly losing it's hold on his hand. She was slowly letting go, at least trying as it seemed. Looking up to here he could tell that she was really pale and not doing well.

Maybe she did get a glance at the massacre Tom and Travis caused, maybe there was another reason. Time seemed to be running out. On second sight he realized that she was looking less bulky then when they were in Vegas. What was going on with her?

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"Can't help you there buddy. I'm all for shutting down the robots, but Doc said it best when he said it could be dangerous for us that need things like air to live on." Meeting the eyes of the other mutants Joshua continues. "Everyone saw pretty much what I can do, so if we something to scout ahead to check things out on the bridge, I can do that."

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"Well now...what if that thing," Juno points at the thing Grav is pointing at, "is the only thing keeping her from just making one of those doorways back to Earth? We could just shut it down or blow it up, then boom...we're back."

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Travis walks back and nods toward Kevin, "The old dude was right about one thing. We aren't in Kansas anymore, or Neveda ... whatever. Hell we aren't on Earth anymore, though it does make a nice picture out the window there." He pivots to face the older man, "Now just because you had a point and you were right doesn't mean I'm going to kill myself by charging into the control room, the place where we will most likely find resistance. Fuck no. I still say we head down and free those people, shut down their power." He points to Grav and Juno, "If they are right we can hop on home well before the air goes stale and the cold of space makes us look like Popsicles.

"I got no reason to see why it won't work, plenty of reason why it would and frankly I don't much find myself feeling comfortable taking tactical advice from a doctor."

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"Perhaps it wasn't a mechanical problem, maybe it was a distance thing. I don't know how her ability works but seems reasonable to me that it is harder and takes more effort to travel tens of thousands of mile than a few hundred. Maybe she just gave herself the mutant equivalent of a hernia from trying to lift to much."

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Tom comments to the Doc as he passes back into the Engineering hall. "I've got some control of Sound and Vibrations, mainly giving me a couple of attacks and some kind of armour or forcefield using a standing wave about me. I've also got good hearing, going into both the ultra and subsonic ranges."

Back in the main room he looks out of both the portholes, examining the material they are made from and how they are built into the wall as well as the view out of them. Lastly he turns his attention to the big kettle/reactor thing in the middle of the room.

Click to reveal..

Perception + Engineering to examine various things in the room.

7dice including 1 mega

(21:19:37) ChatBot: (Tom_Davies) rolls 7d10 and gets 1,10,4,6,4,1,3.

1 sux frown

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Ronnie ground her teeth for a moment. "We're freeing the mutants. If that messes things up, we have the ability to power the ships again," she said, looking around the room at them pointedly. "Except we get to fucking figure out which one of us has to do it instead of some alien fucks selecting for us." She eyed Grav again.

"Alright, let's fall back to the Lab for a moment and geddafuckoudda this room since it's making people sick." This time, Ronnie's loading the elevator without arguing anymore.

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Kevin gives Travis a sideways look. Then, in the cryptic way that only wierd old people can, he replied softly, "I've never been only a doctor; more often than not, things are more than they appear."

That said, he looks between Travis and Ronnie. His tone back to that of someone who's seen way too much of people trying to kill themselves. "We need to get out of here, that much is certian. With the state of some of us right now, I would have to agree that the control room isn't the best immediate idea. That being said, if it is the engines that are being powered by those two hapless mutants downstairs, that is keeping this lovely lady from being able to port us, then yes, by all means we need to shut them off.

However, I also still say that some of us should stay behind to figure out who is exactly behind this. If they found us once, they can do it agian, and running isn't going to solve the problem. However, kid (ooc: Travis), that'll mean storming the bridge."

Kevin just hoped that Annalise was correct and that she'd be up to porting everyone back once they turned off the power. Otherwise, it'd get pretty lonely for Kevin up here, with all the floating mutant-cicles. (at least it would probably, hopefully, also freeze the robots)

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Tim watched in stunned awe at the mangled bodies. It's no wonder they wanted to lock us up. Tim understood the fear than non-mutants felt towards his kind. When they engaged in acts of violence, the results were extreme. All he could do was shake his head. The poor bastards never stood a chance.

The others were talking about going outside into space. Are these guys for real? he found himself worrying that they might just decide to bail on him and the others who could not survive the icy vacuume of space. Others wanted to take extreme risks that tim was not ready to do. It was time he spoke up.

"HOLD ON!" Tim yelled at them. "We need to stop and think for a minute about our options, before one of us does something stupid and gets the rest of us killed!" Tim was sick and tired of standing there while the rest fumbled around a ship they knew nothing about as they blasted everyone they came upon into a pile of organic soup.

"What can each of us do?" He had been guilty of conceiling this information himself, but now, he just wanted to leave. "We need to slow down and discuss what assets we have available. That way, we can find a way off this ship without freezing us to death in space or blasted by robots. We should allocate our resources, such that the proper person is put on the proper task."

Tim shrugged as if surrendering. "Or we can march, ham-fisted, through the bowels of a strange ship, in the hopes we can miraculously find a way off."

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"Get on the fucking elevator, kid," Ronnie said, just about out of patience. "We're going down to the lab we came from, we're going to see if people feel better there, and then we're gonna talk about what to do, real quickly. Time is of the essence, so get your ass on this car right now, or we're leaving you. Your choice."

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Fuck you Bitch! Tim was pissed: he had no smokes, some dipshit threatened his life if he did light one up, and now... The same woman who led them to this place wanted to lead them backdown to where they were? He felt he was surrounded by incompetents. She'd better know where she's going.

He almost lashed out at her, but restrained himself.

"Whatever you say, 'Oh Great One'," he made his disdain even more obvious with a mocking bow.

Click to reveal.. (Willpower)

rolls 4d10 and gets 1,3,6,10.

1 sux

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Travis laughed, what else could he do? "So now you admit that storming the bridge is a stupid fucking idea? That our best chance of saving these people," he indicated Adrian, Juno, Tim, Tom, et al. "Is by shutting down the power. So..." he taps an idle finger on his chin, "sound pretty much like what Ronnie and I were just saying.

"Listen man, nobody here, NOBODY, wants answers more than I do. But we are hurt, we are tired, and we are trapped behind enemy lines with no way home. There's two kinds of ops that fit into those circumstance; The first is a suicide mission, I'm not terrible fond of those. The second is a fighting retreat, and while historically those haven't gone well for me in the past I simply don't have enough left in me to do anything else." Travis looks into the elevator then back at Kevin. "These people aren't soldiers like Ronnie and I. If the eight of us were a squad, trained to work together, I would be willing to re-think attacking the bridge, honestly I would." He shakes his head and Kevin can see hurt and sadness in his eyes, "I need answers but we, alone or as a group, are not in the condition to seek them out and take them by force. Please, stop fighting this, we need to get away from here, recover, rest and regroup. If that young lady can send us home I've no fear that she couldn't bring us back here just as easily."

Click to reveal..

Rapport Check (3 dice)

(08:09:06) ChatBot: (Travis_Kincaid) rolls 3d10 and gets 4,6,8.

Result = 1 sux -> Travis is being honest, he very much wants to get answers but he feels it is more important to get the civvies out safely

Hurt (-1) / QP 8/28 / WP 1/3

EM: Shield is active total soak is now 23/21 vs physical (11/9 vs energy)

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Oh, great, things are falling apart even faster now... great...

Kevin ignored Travis for the time being. Despite how honest he now seemed, Kevin had already lost almost all respect, especially in a command roll, for both Travis and Ronnie. They both seemed to imply that they had some form of military training, yet they both seemed to have come unglued fairly quickly when placed in a stressful situation. That was definately not the qualities of a leader that Kevin admired.

So, acting on the qualities of a leader that Kevin did admire, he approached Tim. His tone was gentle and sincere, and also low enough to be construed as conspiratorial (it was a way to build trust, usually). "Look, I know that you want to slow down and think things through; I want the same thing. I've been trying to get them to do that since they started talking about pulling the plug. But, however rash they may be, they're right about one thing, this floor is making people ill. The lady that can make a portal out of here says that she can't work while the thing that he (ooc: Travis) said he heard the engineers say was powered by the mutants is still active. Once we get away from whatever this thing is, we can talk calmly and rationally. But we've all got to work together on this, ok?"

His 'pep-talk' given to Tim, Kevin went back to Travis. His tone was anything but soothing and calming. He was back to being the General. "No, I'm not saying anything that you were. The two of you rashly decided to pull the power without so much as an iota of information. I, on the other hand waited until I had some information, and I am now considering pulling the plug. The difference is that I was informed and you two were lucky. And if you have any of this operational experience that you keep hinting at, you'll know that luck doesn't bring people home, good intel does. So once we get away from this thing that's making people ill, we're going to stop and pool all the information that we have, then make a plan, and then act." There was no 'ok?', there was no seeing if they agreed. He had told them what was going to happen, and that was it; he left no room for argument.

Click to reveal..
(11:49:47) Rapport Roll with Tim

(kevin_bridges): Rapport Roll

(11:49:55) ChatBot: (kevin_bridges) rolls 4d10 and gets 5,2,6,6. = no sux

Command roll with Travis and Ronnie

(11:50:11) (kevin_bridges): command roll

(11:50:21) ChatBot: (kevin_bridges) rolls 5d10 and gets 8,4,9,2,10. = 3sux

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Adrian was getting confused and irritated. Move - don't move. Go up, go down. What he understood was fighting your threats and running away from them. Now people wanted to settle for something in the middle.

Did that mean that German guy had died for nothing?

Not knowing what to do himself, he fell back on what he did know.

"Juno, what do we do?"

It wasn't that he couldn't make a decision, it was that that up here - in space - he didn't trust his instincts to get him and his sister out of this pickel.

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Joshua just watched the Doc and Travis go at each other with amusement. He didn't care who was in charge as long as it lead them to a way out of this crazy place. If the robots weren't a concern he'd have left this party long ago, but that not being the case he'd have to make a choice on who to follow, and as of right that was still up in the air.

The plans that Travis and the Doc came up with both seemed like they would work, but the amount of risk going to the bridge was higher. "Look, I'm no leader but this back and forth shit needs to stop now. I'm going with Travis and Ronnie. Everyone else who's going needs to come on then."

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[OOC: I am really hoping everyone is on the elevator.]

Ronnie had the doors shut and the elevator rolling before Kevin was done talking. She hit the code and sent it back to the lab. Seeing the old guy (OOC: Kevin) was in full bitch mode, Ronnie rolled her eyes. "Look, dude, you don't have a fucking clue who I am, what I know or why I choose the path I did," she growled. "What the fuck makes you think it wasn't informed? You're assuming a lot based on not very fucking much, so undo the Depends wedgie you seem to be working and let's get this fucking program together! Fuck."

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Kevin sighed as he turned to Ronnie. He didn't like taking command. He was qualified and trained to, and he would if no competent leadership stepped up, but he still didn't like to. That being said, he was just about fed up with Ronnie, and while it was bad form and would lower his opinion of her if true, if she knew more than she'd told them (which was effectively nothing), then his leadership mightn't be required. He responded to her directly. "She speaks. Look, I made every assumption and decision baised on the information that I had. If you know more than you've told us, which is basically nothing, I suggest that you remedy that now. Everybody here is scared, in the dark, and pretty much on a hair trigger. We all have to work together to get out of here, and if you know more than your telling us, it'll be very difficult to get people here to trust you enough to do what you say. And that could lead to us all splintering off and doing lord knows what."

All he really wanted was for everybody to work together and get out safely; and he'd do whatever he had to to see that happen.

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Sly took all this in stride. He had never done anything in a group in his entire life and this situation was pretty much what he figured groups were like from his vantage point on the outside looking in. He knew two people here or thought he did, one of which was a lounge singer and wasn't getting in people's way. Bravo Tom for being intelligent! The other person was the woman trying to take charge and who seemed to know something about the people who had captured them. Therefore there was no question in his mind as to who to follow. He just wished all the bullshit would stop and people would get with the program as the saying went. He half considered nudging people over toward following Ronnie, but since he'd never used his powers on a mutant before he wasn't sure the consequences and didn't want to risk a confrontation... but if they kept on dithering and risking his life along with theirs....

He decided to give it a few more seconds since it looked like they were preparing to follow at least as far as getting downstairs. Just for the record he figured he'd voice his opinion as he stood in the elevator waiting for the rest to board. "Except Tom and possibly Ronnie, I don't know the rest of you from Jack, but she seems to know something about the situation so I'm following her, and if you all don't get with the program I hope she leaves your asses behind. Every minute you stand around bitching is one more minute closer we may be to getting put back in those tubs and I don't intend to let that happen."

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"I get wanting to know what's up, but we didn't have time for that. Now, it's show -n- tell time, so let's just get to the lab where we can breathe," Ronnie growled softly to Kevin. She silently begged the elevator to move faster, wishing that the engineer they'd found had been closer to her size.

She looked at Sly, wondering what he was talking about; they'd never met. Then she remember what dress she was wearing. Sonova!

In the back of her mind, the Others spoke, but they were distant. They always held back in the middle of missions, and as always, Ronnie was glad of it. Dealing with Lena in her head and this guy out would destroy her mind.

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The heavy doors shut and the elevator set in motion again. The tension in the cabin was palpable even though the elavator was huge in comparison. It had enough room for 2 large SUVs the size of Hummers.

After another eternity of awkward hostility and unspoken prejudice the doors opened again revealing the corridor from which they came from. They passed the intersection and followed through to the Laboratory labeled <Laboratorium 1>.

There was still goo and liquid all over the place. Several lamps where blinking on the console obviously indicating that something was missing. The hoses and cables snapped around as if they had a life of their own which gave the whole scenery a creepy H.R.Giger like quality. It was as if the lab was alive.

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Travis decides not to bother with a reply. Old dude needs to get his head out his ass. Instead he started to inspect the elevator closely. He checked the control panel first before moving on to the ceiling looking to see if there was a trapdoor up and out onto the roof of the car. As the others exited he remained behind intent on making sure the elevator shaft would be accessible when the power was cut.

Click to reveal..

(13:58:28) (Travis_Kincaid): Perception (5) + Awareness (3)

(13:58:32) ChatBot: (Travis_Kincaid) rolls 8d10 and gets 7,10,10,6,6,4,10,4.

(13:58:43) (Travis_Kincaid): popping 10s (Observant Quality)

(13:58:49) ChatBot: (Travis_Kincaid) rolls 3d10 and gets 6,10,7.

(13:58:57) ChatBot: (Travis_Kincaid) rolls 1d10 and gets 8.

(13:59:02) (Travis_Kincaid): plus 1 mega

(13:59:05) ChatBot: (Travis_Kincaid) rolls 1d10 and gets 1.

Result = 7 sux

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This Ronnie wasn't making much sense, they didn't have time before, time to do what, go to the engine room and kill to innocent people? However, not everything was lost. They weren't on the floor with the other two mutants, meaning that they couldn't cut the power immediately and before thinking through the consequences. To stop and think through what they were going to do, to plan, was what he wanted to do from the start; so he'd take it how he could get it.

Besides, as much as he knew he only had everybody's best interest at heart, people were starting to gather together. Of course it was behind Ronnie, but the fact that they were acting together was enough for him.

He watched as everyone exited the elevator and followed Ronnie. Everyone except Travis that is. To Travis he said, "Come on, spec op, we're going to need your input too. We're all going to have to work together to get everyone out safe and sound.

Hopefully his tone would convey that he didn't hold a lasting grudge and actually valued his input, regardless of how he thought of him as a leader. (of course, whether or not he agreed with it was a completely different matter).

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Juno hung back with Adrian, letting all the drama pass over her head or under her feet, or wherever it went...just not into her.

"Just go with the flow for now," she advises Adrian. "Unless you have a spaceship in your pocket we can ride home in."

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The elevator indeed had two access hatches. One above on the ceiling and one below. Most likely for maintainance or service purposes. The hatches were secured by a special locking mechanism that required a key or something large enough like a wrench to open them. Brute force could do the job but then you'd risk damaging the elevator.

Next to the control panel was only the one hidden compartment that they already "found" when Ronnie was prompted to enter a security code.

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"Alright," Ronnie said when they were all back in the unsettling lab, "we've seen some of what's going on. Time to lay a few things out. We've had preliminary intros, but let's do it again, quickly, while everyone's paying attention. That way we know who can do what and if we're jumped, we have a small chance to coordinate. Keep it brief. I'm Ronnie, I have some fighting ability and can augment my body with claws and fun stuff like that. Next?"

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