Utterly Mad

"Access denied. You may retry - once." Snapped Medeina, who then added more casually, "Your clearance level isn't high enough Captain." Catalina barely heard it, she was too busy cocking her head at Dee.

"What's so funny Mr. Koenig?" She said, almost growled.

"She put it in the black file."

"The... What?" Leila asked, cutting in. "What's this black file shit?"

Medeina issued a short explaination, "Black file is VIP access only. The directive files in question were sequestered there because of the threat they impose to valuable personnel. Namely, myself. Can you imagine what someone could do if they could just shut me down? No no, no proxy of mine will have such flaws built into it. Such flaws may be absorbed into the source code if one isn't careful, and then where would I be?"

"Oh, I can get at the black file. So can Roxanne. The real question is, does Medeina want you to get at the black file?" Dee asked. Medeina clicked, making a "tsk" sound this time.

"No, actually. We only just met awhile ago, and there is information in there I'd rather you not have. No offense, but on such short notice? I am also not so silly and foolish to think we are on terms that would make me comfortable with you having that information." She said, then allowed the testiness to fall out of her voice. "I'm sorry, I'm just a bit upset. The AI isn't the problem anyway. I'M the problem. I am programmed to enjoy my work. Simple enjoyment is all I was programmed with, I've no idea where these other emotions came from, but I have them. I digress, I am programmed to enjoy my purpose. That purpose is to observe and record such observations about anomalous flora and fauna. When inside the walker, my purpose expands. Getting rid of what remains will not eliminate the desire to perform the duties of a war machine, but it will mitigate my lack of control. Please remove what you can reach. The black file is entirely inert."

"East, but we already scouted some places out, heh. Down by that big conclave of survivors next to your farm, yeah? There's a motel, north of it. Looks clear enough. I think that'd be a nice spot. If you don't have any better ideas, we'll be there first." Hoyt answered Nathaniel, idly playing around with a lighter in his off-hand. Carrol and Kermit were listening in silently. There wasn't anything for them to add, but this still seemed important enough to listen in.

Nathaniel gave a nod at that, before his response. A gesture that made him feel a bit silly afterward, given "Think some of us have visited that place during some scouting runs north. We should be heading out within the hour. Will radio ahead when we set off, Nathaniel out." he said, soon going to check on the others, and observing the machine standing idle outside Dee's workshop.

Leila for now worked on printing out the information, while Catalina walked around a little bit spotting Nathaniel who was regarding the robot with a mix of curiosity and concern. "Greetings. Corporal Ford, correct?" she said, the two leaving Leila and Dee to tend to the finishing touches of what Specialist Carnes and Dee were doing. "Yeah. Just Nathaniel's fine though. Don't think we got an introduction earlier. I'm assuming you probably poked around the center's database." he remarked, and she simply nodded. "Yeah. I'm Captain Catalina Anquiano, 3rd company, Special Projects Division IV."

"Huh. So this bot's really one of yours." Nathaniel said, examining the painted unit marks on the right side of the chicken walker, matching up with the patch on Catalina's shoulder. "That thing still work right, or has it gone berserk too?"

"Well it was working fine until Medina got her hands on it. If it got loose without her meddling, it wouldn't even open fire unless shot at by something that could hurt it, instead preferring to try and get back down to its assigned area. Unlike that shitshow SPD XIII ran, our Robotics detachment did things properly." Catalina snarked, and Nathaniel glowered at her.

"Why you...tough talk calling it a shitshow compared to what the rest of you f-" The glare she was giving him made him go a bit pale, stopping the impending tirade in its tracks. "Don't start talking back to me, corporal. Just because you DESERTED doesn't mean I won't hand you your ass if you don't watch your mouth." she barked at him, and he looked down.

"Alright, captain. Still, they tried. Not like the 'red-headed stepchild' divisions knew what to expect, what they were up against. Even the fact that you and the others of the first ten existed was still a secret." Nathaniel said. "But you know what? Fuck it. You're still right about Division XIII."

"None of us knowing anything about the alien bullshit is one thing. I mean, the top brass basically considered our existence an admission that they all fucked up royally, that you lot weren't enough to prevent all this. But that doesn't excuse wherever the hell caused the bots to fuck up like that. Maybe it was part of the early anomalies and your inactive bots were simply sp-"

"Our turrets were active, even some surface ones, and they weathered zero hour without going berserk." Catalina said bluntly, to which Nathaniel just sighed. "...figured that. So yeah, you're right. They fucked up, and way too many people I used to know paid for it. But that doesn't give you the right to shit-talk them like that."

The captain looked to the corporal, recalling the files Leila dug up on the locals. Corporal Ford, MIA. Corporal Erik, MIA. Sergeant Anderson, KIA. PFC Lowe, KIA. She just gave a little sigh at that, seeing how he was looking down now. "I know, corporal. We all lost a lot of good men and women. Not only comrades, but friends and family too." she said, before continuing. "What all family you lose?"

Nathaniel looked at her, visibly trembling a bit. "Don't know about my dad or older brother. Mom and I left them behind in Mississippi when I was maybe 11." he said, and Catalina gave a nod at that. "Didn't have a brother. Last saw my dad about 17 years ago, right before I shipped off to officer school. Don't know how he held up. You mentioned your mother?"

Nathaniel simply nodded, reluctant at first. "Living in one of the cities that had part of Operation Antibody assigned to it." he said. For a moment his voice broke, even his accent slipping a bit, from the habitual yet still faintly southern blend he'd picked up, to something that sounded more natural. "Harrisburg was evidently completely overrun by the undead and other X-rays, with no confirmed reports of survivors."

Catalina had quite a lot of time to think about friends and family, time to accept the inevitable consequences of the cataclysm. Nathaniel on the other hand never bothered talking or even thinking much about it, despite how long it'd been. He'd been so focused on the events of zero hour in the years he was alone, and what all his unit did in the months before that, that he was only just now hit with a realization that Catalina had long since come to terms with.

   Meanwhile, all the arcanist prepared for a mission that would take all day. They all readied themselves by the vehicle area.

Sometime later...

The APC pulled up and parked on its “designated” parking spot. It’s inhabitants now free to return to their daily lifes.

Leila, interested as she was, didn't pry too hard when it became clear that it was likely something embarrassing, or maybe too morbid. She couldn't even begin to guess, to be honest. Mica seemed to be a rather complex subject. Catalina tolerated her despite being what the two squaddies formerly from 3-IV would've labelled an "unauthorized 5a" with all that entails. She at least knew why they abandoned those old orders. Hector's behavior, even concern over the viscous man-eating predator almost choking on a still-unopened can, had perplexed her more.

She was interrupted from her thoughts by something on the laptop's screen, hurriedly trying to close it out of a reflexive response. Then she realized it was likely a certain bot intruding again, and became aware of the modified, grounded eyebot being active. She recognized the chassis as a fairly standard LW-LE241 UAV, issued to law enforcement over most of the region. Given its lack of weapons, most of them went haywire in a less-dangerous way, but even then they had less failures that the other police and military bots. They still had some IFF issues when deployed, but at least they still only deployed when responding to the few still-working commercial alarms.

"That AI's still quite a...voyeur, isn't she?"

---

They'd left while Nathaniel and the others were making their preparations, the tank soon starting up as they stowed the items to take along to exchange. Nathaniel had been a bit quiet after the conversation, shaking his head as he'd walked off to finish what he was doing. Catalina had been a bit surprised that he seemed a bit shaken, when it'd been seven years after everything went to shit.

"Mica? Lilith? Y'a- ... you ready?" he called out, looking around to find the two of them. "We're about to head out to visit the guy that's been treating Kath, so if you two are still up for it..."

---

It'd been at some point as they were setting out, when they heard Helen over the radio. Initially at the very edge of her two-way's range and not coming in well, after giving it a moment she was heard clearly. "Think---ndset's in ra---now. I think that should do. We're on our way back, we've done what we set out for. Only casualty was...an ally we met with on arrival."

"And Sergei, Sol? If you're hearing me, I think we've all earned a chance to celebrate. Offer to host it at The Hall's still up for now."

Sergei and Solomon had been at The Hall, Sol still checking on Lucian, Sergei for now preparing a somewhat simple lunch for the three of them. They'd heard her report on the radio receiver they had. "дерьмо́. Should get a proper radio from the farm or center." Sergei grumbled. Sol for his part simply breathed a sigh of relief. "Glad they're mostly alright. But yeah, that...she'll want to know about what happened to Lucian and that he'll be here for a bit."

The ride to the motel was a rather long one. The road that led to it winded north for a decent while, before looping around to another road that winded south for a decent while. The drive itself was uneventful in that the RV didn't encounter anything besides the occasional squirrel, raccoon, or possum scurrying across the side of the road. Inside the van, however, it was a different story.

Kathrine was still in the back, as usual. Whether she was unconscious or not, nobody else knew. She was quiet even when she was awake. The other three occupants were up front, and they sure as hell were not unconscious.

"FUUUUCK! FUCK! FUCK YEAH!"

Hoyt's scratchy, frenetic voice rang out loud. He was driving, as usual, with Carrol sitting next to him, and Kermit next to her. Hoyt had his eyes on the road, but his mouth on the glass pipe Carrol was holding beneath his head. There was a lighter beneath it, and something crystalline burning inside. His pupils almost swallowed the whites of his eyes. Carrol herself was staring at the road, too. She'd gotten used to multitasking. Once Hoyt was finished, she resumed her earlier task-fastening the old-fashioned bulletproof vest she had on fully, and arranging perfectly the massive assortment of knives, hidden and obvious alike, spread across her body.

Kermit had his eyes on the large box in his lap. It was usually his job to do what he was doing, though Hoyt liked to sometimes. Once he'd loaded all seven pistols in the box fully, he turned to the three shotguns next to him, and he loaded them up too. One was a Remington, a nice utilitarian item from the back of a police car. The other two were full-length double-barreled things, lovingly cared for, probably with a good few ducks and deer under their belts. Once he was good and ready, Quintero pulled three of the handguns from the box and fastened them to his holsters. A long-barreled, old-fashioned Colt .45 1911 on his belt, plain for all to see, a slightly less conspicuous Five-Seven in a side holster beneath his jacket, and a compact .38 Ruger snub-nose in an ankle holster above his boots. The jacketed bullets in the cylinder twinkled in the light of the van. He reached into his pocket and produced a nerve-calming lump of hash, which he ate with a bit of Hoyt's jerkied venison so as to not upset his stomach.

---

The van coasted on over to the motel soon enough. It was a desolate, lonely place. The paint was peeling and the windows were broken. It might've looked like that before the Cataclysm. No way to tell.

Hoyt turned the van over to the little parking lot, between the main building, pool, and something like a gazebo. There were other ruined cars here and there, but Hoyt's van was obviously not among them. He'd be visible enough. He opened his driver's-side door, leaning his legs out of the van itself. He didn't get out, though.

Carrol did. She stepped out through the side door from the back of the van, before looping back around the vehicle and stopping at the hood. She leaned on it nonchalantly, a potent rolled cigarette clamped in the corner of her mouth.

Kermit wordlessly left from the passenger door. There was a rifle in his hands. It was huge. He was somewhat small, but he carried it as well as anyone as he walked up the motel's stairs.

Nathaniel smiled a bit as Lilith practically bounced over at the mention of Kathrine, leading the way back to the tank before patting the top of it, where he could easily reach at least. "Alright Lil, get on and we're pretty much set." he said. The tank only gave a quiet hum of the electric engine that had been added to it, Nathaniel climbing in and poking his head out through the commander's hatch. Even with Lilith's size, the vehicle handled the greater weight without undue complaint, starting along to make its way out. Mica being there, and getting in the tank already, was a pleasant surprise as they set off.

"Hector here, en route with Nathaniel. The fellow you spoke to earlier. Let me guess, motel in-between the center and that tiny little old town? We'll be there soon. Have Mica and Lilith here as well. The spider girl and the giant tiger lady, respectively. They've been made to promise that they'll behave." he said, the tank already crossing the open field that led to the center and surrounding roads.