The Zone: Part Two

[re_alignedmods]

Thanks to the distraction caused by the various creatures and anomalies, and the interference from the ever-increasing radiation, pinpointing the fallen 'meteor' and likely source of the attacks may have been difficult up until now.

But efforts to locate it have paid off.

South-west of Haven, there is a ridged valley that did not exist a week ago. In it's center is a massive, sprawling power plant, exhaust towers rising up to the horizon. It is literally crawling with more mutants.

As if that was not ominous enough, it is a nuclear power-plant.

Anyone who has been to Earth or knows their human history - or happen to be from a Tyran universe - may recognize it for what it is: Chernobyl, straight out of some alternate Ukraine. The facility is tucked in the middle of the valley like it landed there, edges slightly off and melded into the landscape, but entirely intact in it's crumbling, ominous glory. Despite being of human-make, the building is devoid of functional electric lights, the very air around it seeming to leech the light out of the surroundings, but it is far from lacking in 'living' activity.

The concentration of anomalies, radiation, and Lambda-like energy signatures is at it's strongest here, surrounding the moldering facility. Any sensors point to the readings only getting worse on the inside.

Any organics or particularly weak-armored Cybertronians are going to want protective shielding of some variety to participate in this attack. The radiation in this valley is well beyond safe levels, and only on the rise. Any attempts to simply attack from the air (unfortunately) do little damage, the majority of any ordnance hitting some sort of storm cloud-like anomaly thundering with increasing intensity above the facility.

It looks like it might be growing. Time is running out.

You will have to enter to find the source.


[[Mod Note: Given modly time constraints, the following prompts are not intended to be NPC'd, but are instead to serve as a vague story-line for the assault. Feel free to use them, pick and chose only ones that interest you, or to thread your own attack as you please! However, once the Source is reached, a final prompt will be posted when it is destroyed, (or when the event comes to a close a week from today.)

And as a side-note, this plot contains SPOILERS to the end of the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series.]]

Comments

ZOMBIES

[re_alignedmods]

Location: Outside perimeter
Radiation: Moderate

They are nothing you haven't faced already, as the mindless, deformed humans have trickled into the Haven.

But perhaps not in this sheer magnitude.

Dozens of groups of five or more shamble about, all around the facility. Walking 'patrols' or staring off into space, or even sitting, huddled around small fires in some pitiful resemblance of their former lives - until the unlucky attacker attracts their attention. Singularly, they are easy enough to pick off - or run over.

Attract too much attention, however...and it could turn into a swarm straight out of a zombie movie.

GEISTS

[re_alignedmods]

Location: Perimeter / inside the facility
Radiation: Moderate to severe

And then, there are the sentient anomalies. Given the amount of radiation and proximity to the Source of all this, it shouldn't be much of a surprise that they are also present in much greater numbers.

Like tiny Lambdas made of lightning or flame, they don't seem to move much. Going around them wouldn't be a problem, if they were not blocking the halls and doorways at regular intervals when found indoors.

While seemingly made of energy, they have a definite presence - and a spiteful one at that. If they are not attacking with their element, charring flesh and metal or scorching the air, they are using psionics to close heavy hatchway doors or flinging scrap piles at anyone nearby. And this run down old facility has a lot of crumbling infrastructure to throw around.

Proceed with caution.

UBER-BEAST ONE

[re_alignedmods]

Location: Inside the facility
Radiation: Moderate-severe

Large and powerful enough to flip a car - or an average sized Cybertronian - with stunning blows, this two headed creature is fast and agile. Capable of dodging shots and leaping down from above with crushing attacks, this beast may be difficult to down.

Especially when it comes in packs, hunting down the unwary in cramped halls...

CONTROLLER

[re_alignedmods]

Location: Inside the facility
Radiation: Moderate-severe

You might catch a glimpse of what could have been a human, at one point. Or you just hear the high-pitched audio sound that heralds it's arrival, piercing the core of your mind, before things change in some manner.

Perhaps the creature is gone. Or the path seems different; safe where it once was not. Or you simply can't see the psionic bolt of energy that is now flying your way.

Or what you think are you friends and allies...are in fact the fetid claws and fangs of your enemies, closing in around you...

The malicious physic attacks of this creature, aimed to confuse, disorient, and incapacitate, might arguably be the biggest threat to the well-armored Cybertronian.

UBER-BEAST TWO

[re_alignedmods]

Location: Inside the core of the facility
Radiation: Severe

This hulking monstrosity blocks the way for those that seek entrance to the core, lurking in the dark. The physically strongest mutant to be found, it is capable of stabbing through metal with it's claws, and creating shockwaves that stun the unwary or unagile. Despite it's size, it can skulk around quite easily in the dark...

With bones as tough as steel, it will take a lot of punishment to bring this beast down.

THE CORE

[re_alignedmods]

Location: The Sarcophagus
Radiation: SEVERE

At the heart of the sarcophagus, there lies a device. Glowing with livid yellow light, the only light present in the entire power plant, the room fairly pulses both with radiation and Lambda energy. The glow comes from seven pods arrayed around a column. Humanoid shapes are present in each of the pods, curled in a sort of stasis...but they fade in and out with each pulse of the Lambda energy. They seem to whisper, voices indistinct in your mind, always falling out to static and silence before any real words can be made out. The column flickers in and out of reality. The entire room is not entirely there.

Not yet.

But the pulses are getting incrementally faster, and the Lambda energy around the column is growing more distinct. This could be the start of a second tear in reality.

Destroy the source. Before it is too late.

END

[re_alignedmods]

All it takes is a sufficient shot. Accidental or purposeful. Even a large enough bit of falling debris striking one of the pods is enough to set the end in motion.

Despite it's flickering between realities, the core and the C-Consciousness takes damage readily enough. It's a cascading failure from there, small sparks and flaming short-outs leading to the whole thing going critical.

The pods glow brightest before the end, the loss of one spreading like a fuse to the others, exploding like bursting light bulbs before they are engulfed in the explosion of the core detonation.

If you haven't already: Run.

What might have been an explosive meltdown, however, occurs in reverse.

The explosion never gets past the edges of the room. The shockwave blasts out with fire and flame, sending any remaining attackers flying and cracking the walls of the core with the force. And with a final flicker, the explosion rewinds back into where the core was - which is now just a pillar of black nothingness.

A void in space.

The debris. The walls. The power plant itself. All are pulled back into the gaping void like a black-hole. Glyphed natives seem strangely resistant - but not immune. It's like fighting a raging river current.

Chernobyl and all the closest creatures outside vanish into the tear. And instead of growing into black hole capable of destroying the planet, the void devours itself right out of existence, with only a final pop of changing air pressure.

A few straggling zombies and geists - and an oddly large population of the more mundane, less-mutated creatures - remain, left behind. But other than the crater valley, Chernobyl and the Zone are gone.