Faulty Wiring: Follow the White Rabbit

Participants:

Hopper_icon.jpg Aillen_Icon.jpg Dion_icon.jpgJocelyn_icon.jpg

Scene Title Faulty Wiring: Follow the White Rabbit
Synopsis Hopper, Aillen, Jocelyn, and Dion find themselves whisked away to a strange factory and find themselves faced with the Gremlins in person.

James Madison High School and Gremlin's Factory

A lovely little storage closet off the hallway of the high school.


Hopper can multi-task like a champ. A moment or two after the word sedative comes up, he holds out a hand for Aillen. It's a small bottle of ether. Labeled in it's chemical formulae. "So noted Dion." he offers as he continues looking around. "None of my notes are missing…. Maybe they aren't here?" He asks curiously of the group before looking to Jocelyn and Dion. "Either of you have any magic wu-….any magic that could give us a lead?"

Aillen gives a whistle. "Hey guys, Over there. I mean, it looks like a fire alarm and all, but its got to be the secret passage. Something just seems off about it." He goes over to it, prodding around it. "I mean, where else would it be?" He looks over his shoulder.

Dion shakes his head. "Well, there's that thing I mentioned before. Where sometimes I just know things?" Ah, Mystery. He glanes around them, but obviously doesn't have any idea what he's looking for. Nor does he seem to find anything interesting. To him. He looks over at Aillen then, and his forehead furrows a moment before he smooths the skin out with a finger.

Jocelyn looks over her shoulder at Aillen, giving him a sort of 'w.t.f.' look, "A fire alarm? Really? How about we leave that alone and look at things that won't call the authorities to us, what with the whole trespassing thing and all that jazz. Thanks." She shakes her head and looks around the room, muttering quietly in Greek and brushing her hand against her necklace, looking for anything out of the ordinary in the room. Other than the pickled science projects and such - which are hopefully non-magical.

Hopper knocks aside a few things and finds a few scratchings and weird clawed designs on one of the lower metal bookshelves. He studies them quietly, but doesn't really find anything else of interest.

Aillen frowns when Jo downs his idea. "Fine, I wont play with the secret passage." He shakes his head as he goes over to the others, putting his hand to the triskele at his neck as he murmurs to himself. "Have you guys found anything then?"

Dion thinks, then does shrug and tries to clear his mind. Fortunately, there wasn't a lot clogging it up anyway. He tries to open himself to whatever it is that puts interesting thoughts and ideas into his head.

Jocelyn snickers at Aillen's comment and shakes her head, scanning the room again, a bit slower. "Well, there's stuff in here, with ties to people," her eyes flicker to Hopper with a bit of curiosity, "But, I think that's what we're looking for," she points at the fire extinguisher on the wall, tilting her head slightly, "It's a lot like the lab animals were. Sort of squicky and chaotic-like." She nods.

Hopper tilts his head at both Dion and Jocelyn and after a moment gets up and walks over to the fire extinguisher and runs his hands around the base of it for a few moments before just lifting the extinguisher off the mount. Nothing. He holds the extinguisher there for a moment or two and then ponders before looking at the extinguisher in the nozzle. It slips from his hands accidentally and he offers a curt, "Shit!" before it clangs to the ground, fires off a cloud of white and when the room clears, Hopper is gone.

"Shit, what the hell!" Aillen clears the distance between himself and where Hopper was in a bare moment, before he lowers down to the ground, inhaling deeply as he let his mind trigger the vigil brand, figuring that wherever Hopper went, it wasn't a place he couldn't find using his capabilities. "He can't have gotten far, that was just a fire extinguisher."

Dion spends a long moment staring off at a wall, though he does talk quietly to himself as though unaware he's even doing it. "There's a passage in here, yes…" he says. "Let one of the critters go, and follow it…" He doesn't seem aware of what just happened with Hopper.

Jocelyn winces in the split second between Hopper's expletive and the extinguisher hitting the ground, yelping slightly, and blinking around, "Well, oh dear. That's not good, ah, Dion?" Jo's a bit spooked and concerned at the moment, leaning against a storage rack slightly, "Well, there's magical remnants of Hopper sort of filtering through that air vent," she points up, "Um, what was that about a passsage? You got a better idea of where it is?"

"He's gone. Nothing, I can't smell anything." Aillen lets out a little snarl as he looks to Dion. "Rat chasing then? Follow the white rabbit maybe?" He sighs, and looked around the lab, trying to find a spool of wire or even some thread. When he finds some, he feeds the bunny a little more candy as he loops a little leash around the bunny and looks to Dion. "Just follow it then? Well, here's hoping we don't end up through the looking glass too far." He removes the rest of the candy from the floor so it won't be distracted and lets it go its merry way.

Dion's still staring off, in his little world. He looks puzzled, and says quietly "It's not…?" Though then he can't help a quiet chuckle before he slowly becomes aware of everything around him and looks to the others. "Are we missing someone?"

Jocelyn sort of waves a hand in front of Dion's face, a bit concerned, "Ah, yeah… Hopper just vanished into a puff of smoke and ah, yeah." She watches Aillen with the bunny, "Where are we planning to send the little fluffball?" Jo crouches down to where Hopper had just been, frowning slightly, "And how? I don't know how good the lead will be if we poof it with the extinguisher… that seems to be what sent Hopper away-ish…

The little creature, not given food to munch on, angrily takes a moment to lean back and chew on the leash, cleaving it easily, before making a mad dash for the fire extinguisher, moving as fast as it can in order to kick at the trigger that causes a huge cloud of smoke…. and boom Joc is gone. While the cloud is still there, the rabbit jumps into it and *PooF* Gone as well.

"Send a techno rabbit to find the other one. Sides, Dion said there's a path and that it can lead us. It might be a better idea than just randomly poofing us.” As the bunny did its vanishing act with Jo, he lets out another curse. "Alright Dion. Guess we're doomed to follow the brainiacs." He sighs as he re-adjusts his spear in his hand and taps the handle of the fire extinguisher and lets out a prayer to Lugh to guide him.

Dion stares as things vanish in a puff of fire extinguisher. "The night just keeps getting weirder, doesn't it." He shakes his head slightly, then moves to do what the others do.

The sensation is extremely bizarre. You feel yourself dissipate and become weightless. Then suddenly you are whisked up on a breeze and into the air vent, traveling up and up and up and up, faster and faster until you hit a bend and plummet. And it's scary as hell. The lines blur past you as up and down no longer make sense to you. And then suddenly *WHAM* All 3 of you and 1 little bunny hits the hard metal grate.

The building around you is one of huge stature. It looks like some old smelting factory. There are the occasional moving figures here and there, as little creatures work on assembling mechanical components. No one seems to notice you right away. But the bunny quickly rights himself and starts heading down the very very narrow path, over the vats of molten metal towards the escape stairs down and towards some of the mechanics working below. Hopper, blinks as you all appear and notices the rabbit in tattle tale mode, before he lifts up the Tar-Baby and fires it with a soft whir and splat.

That's a serious rush, as they are all whooshed along. The sudden stop sucks, of course. The rest was kind of fun. When they hit the grate the wind goes out of Dion for a moment, and he has to take a little time to catch it again before looking around. "Um. This is interesting. And different."

Dion… doesn't look at all ready for whatever they might be walking into. But, he does have his goblet in one hand and his wireless microphone on the other. He seems content to follow the others for the moment as they try to keep Robobunny from sounding the alarm. Really, the most ready he can be is filling his cup with Jolt.

As Hoppers voice made its way to them over the cacophony, Aillen watches the bunny heading for the steps. He needs a better angle to get the damn rabbit, and to manage it he leaps into the air, his left arm grabbing onto one of the cranes chains, and as he swings out to the edge, he sees the bunny between rails and he hurls the mighty spear side arm to take advantage of the momentum of the swing, hoping to get enough impact to spear it into the catwalk itself.

The little lagomech has no idea what hit it. One minute it's scrambling along the pathways on a mission, the next minute, it is decidedly no longer scrambling. There's a slight ping lost in the overall din of the factory, an awkward sound of bone against metal, as Aillen's spear lances clear through the creature, pinning it to the walkway where it had last been. The mechanical rabbit twitches slightly, but then ceases movement, stuck rather soundly to the path.

At seeing the little mechanical beast dart away from them, Jocelyn reaches out her hand, sword appearing moments later, accompanied by a slight breeze and sound that is largely lost in the noisy surroundings. She prepares to strike out at the escaping creature, but holds off as Aillen effectively dispatches the foe. Frowning slightly, she looks around, speaking just loud enough to be heard, "Ah, well, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore," she points to the creatures below, looking ever so slightly over the edge of the catwalk, "Although, I think those little munchkins down there are decidedly not from the lolipop guild, nor do I expect they want to welcome us, per se."

Hopper give Aillen a quick thumbs up. "Nice one…." That said he looks back to Dion and gives him a small smile and even casts a wink to Joc before he takes a moment and then offers, "I think I got an idea. Aillen, I'm gonna need you to back me up if this goes bad…." He sucks in a breath and tugs up on his sleeve. He presses his hand against the briar bracelet he wears and grunts a bit as the thorns pierce his hand, then after a moment of concentration, he rubs his palms together, smearing the little bit of blood until it becomes a rather abundant grouping of black tar. He then goes about smearing it all over himself, shaping it this way and that.

Dion's eyes widen as Aillen spits Robobunny with his spear, and he sticks his tongue out a little in distaste. The he, too, looks over the side at all the other critters. "Hm. Well, I've got the thing responsible covered. It likes caffeine. I don't know what I could distract those with, though. Sugar water, maybe?" Though, then he pauses. "Wow. I'm dumb." he says. "They're part machine. I have liquid." It leaves him wondering how waterproof they are. Whatever Hopper's doing does provide a distraction for him, though. "O… kay. I realize black is always classic, but I really think a line has to be drawn."

Aillen carefully extricates gae bolga from the catwalk and the rabbit, chucking the bunny into his bag with the dead rat, not wanting to leave parts behind to show they were there. As he looks to Hopper at the askance of backup, he raises a brow. "Backup for what?" As he sees Hopper covering himself with black he makes a face of disgust. "Ugh, I agree with Dion. Totally a line there".

Jocelyn watches as Hopper spreads the tar-like stuff over himself, curious at just what he's aiming to do. At the other's comments, she casts them both a look, "Bah. I'm pretty sure he's not going for this look permanently, and hell, if it works, it works." She shrugs, apparently being completely unbothered by this sort of thing. Jo's odd.

After a few moments of work, and Hopper's eyes studying the creature, he manages to smear the tar into an appropriate shape, and after a moment of concentration is solidifies into a shape and changes color. He comes to be seen as a Gremlin. Reddish colored with flecks of brown scaling, long canine like snout with a mouth full of teeth. Fox like ears that flicker this way and that. Yellow reptilian eyes, a narrow body and a long set of gorilla like arms with giant hands. He grins a little… which is unsettling as he sort of knuckle walks down to the spiral staircase. "If I give you a thumbs up, Aillen, take out the one I am thumbsing up…" He then starts down the stairs in a soft jog. He slows when he hits the bottom and starts towards the nearest gremlin that he can see.

It is worth noting, that much like regular Hopper, Gremlin Hopper has giant ears…. and wears glasses.

Dion can't help just staring. It's completely bizarre, after all. He just keeps staring at the thing, speechless as he follows along.

"Great, no pressure there. Jo, you can back up my back up with your sword." Aillen gives a grin, and hefts up his spear as he glances over the rails to the gremlins down below. He keeps a close watch on gremo Hopper as he went, eyes tracing to the gremlins ahead of him as he starts aiming at the various targets.

Nodding and grinning to Hopper as he transforms into the spitting image of one of those creatures, amused yet thankful he had distinguishing features from the other Gremlins, otherwise it would be potentially bad when Aillen started aiming. At Aillen's request for backup, she nods, lifting her sword to readiness, tracking Grem-Hopper's movements and watching for the signal.

The cluster of three Gremlins far beneath the catwalk are standing around chatting, their language a rather odd mix of grunts, growls, and what sounds like very crude German. One of them holds a rather grungy looking bottle, and occasionally takes a drink, passing the glass to the others - it honestly looks like they're on some sort of a coffee break, or something. One grunts something crude in German, causing the other two to laugh – a creepy, rasping, growling laugh. As Grem-Hopper approaches, their laughs quiet, and one of them grunts and nods towards him, asking in growling, rumbling German what he was doing away from his post, sounding rather accusing and squinting at Grem-Hopper through a pair of grime coated old-style glasses - the other two standing there turn and nod slightly, grunting in greeting.

Glitch, that is Gremlin Hopper, frowns visibly for a very long moment as his brain processes his language center and starts to spill out pieces of knowledge. As it stands, Hopper spears 8 languages. German just happens to be one of them. He snaps his fingers and reaches for the bottle with a growl. Every fiber of him grouchy and powerful. He speaks in his own version of grunted German, doing his best to sound like a mean, mean monster. He explains that he is Glitch…. Boss Gremlin, of course they have heard of him, and he heard about this project from the network, and he demands to know what the function of this place is, and who is in charge of this specific cell. He then crosses his arms over his chest and awaits an answer.

Dion hasn't spent much time yet around German-speakers, so it's not a language he's absorbed yet. The grunts aren't helpful, but the rest he listens to carefully to try to get it down. When offering drinks, it's not necessary to speak the language, but it might help. Meanwhile, he watches carefully for the moment something terrible happens to Hopper.

Aillen waits for the doom and gloom to start, but so far it’s just talking odd. He has no clue what they are saying, and it only really mattered if Hopper was about to get himself killed really. Still he has to keep his duty in mind, and he keeps watch as well for any goblins that might be appearing by way of other catwalks that might spot the heroes up above.

Jocelyn listens closely to the snippets of conversation, rather nastily cursing herself in her head for not having studied German more, straining to hear what was being said over the roar of machinery. She's rather on edge, watching for some hint that the conversation was going south. Watching Aillen for cues, she frowns, sword at the ready.

The two younger looking Gremlins snuffle and wiggle their ears at 'Glitch,' harumphing slightly. The smallest, and youngest looking of the three Gremlins mutters something under his breath equating to 'Blasted big ear boss man…' but his grumblings are cut short by a swift knuckle to the side from the other younger Gremlin. The old Gremlin with the glasses nods slightly to Glitch, handing over the glass bottle and grunting, explaining in broken, guttural German, that this is the main production venue for the bio-enhanced mechanical creations, with a focus on the lagamech varieties, although R&D has been churning out some rather interesting combinations lately. He says 'interesting' with some disdain, but overall seems quite proud of the work being done here. With a slight bow, the old one asks that Glitch forgive his son's insolence, as he's young and still new on the job, and has always had a problem with authority. There's a distinct glare at the youngest gremlin.

Glitch gives a nod of his head and narrows his eyes at the youngest, “Hit him again,” he offers in German, obviously seeing that the youngest isn't learning, and even grinning daggers when the youngster is hit. He then waves a hand. "Where is the head here? I want to speak with him? Just point me in the direction, then get back to work," he offers as he takes a swig of the bottle and then passes it back to the others.

So far, Hopper isn't dead. Dion takes that as a good sign to stay quiet and out of sight for the moment. Meanwhile, he's getting more of a feel for the German.

Aillen remains ready for death dealing, though he isn't sure what is going on. He murmurs low to the others, "Do you guys got any idea what he's saying?"

Jocelyn shrugs slightly at Aillen's question, "I know that's German, or something, but I can't quite make out what they're saying." She frowns, rather obviously disappointed in herself about not understanding a language, "Gimme a minute."

The youngest Gremlin holds his side with an enormous hand, looking rather cowed by the reprimand he'd just gotten. The old Gremlin takes a long swig from the bottle and grunts, nodding his head up towards a windowed office well overhead, completely darked out, indicating that that's where the head of this whole thing resides. The catwalk on which Dion, Aillen, and Jocelyn are standing on is part of the access path to the booth - another set of spiral stairs wind upwards behind them, apparently heading to a door in the booth.


Part of a continuing plot regarding Gremlins at the school. Preceeded by Faulty Wiring: But They're Cute! and followed by Faulty Wiring: Glitch Boss Gremlin.


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