Digging for Orgone (Shane)

[ShadowVigilante1]

September 6, OE 102
Former Ashford Estate, Moon Cradle
2:00 p.m



The Moon Cradle, a place where the idle rich could gather under a sky made of steel. Comfort and security was all theirs once, but no longer. The streets and houses were now being put to better use by those who put their actions before their words. All the better for Mu as he approached the former estate of the traitorous Thane. He had just finished having the house cleared of residents, all in order to conduct a thorough search of the whole mansion. He will leave no nook or cranny left untouched, he must have left something behind.

In accordance with an earlier situation, he decided to bring along some backup. He had to put himself to use, otherwise he would simply be looked down upon more than he already was by that Terran mechanic. So he decided a simple search would help him get his feet wet, not to mention he could possibly hack any electronic lock they should find. And should the worst case scenario come to pass, his Raftclans, two Ganjals, and the Alteisen Nacht were on standby.

“Are you with us, Mr. Moon?” Mu would address the young man as they were about to reach the front door proper.

 

[GrimmShane]

From the arguably smaller cities throughout the lunar surface to the streets of the great Cradle itself, Shane had pretty much been dragged up to the very top of the hill to pay back his own deeds. Of course it wasn't sightseeing, which meant there was a quiet focus to the once courier now wannabe soldier; finally reaching the gates of a gaudy mansion proper as the cyborg's humming came to a sudden stop.

"For as much as I'm needed to" he'd speak audibly while keeping a softer, more contained tone to it.

Slowly, the young lad would grasp his mechanic arm and adjust his jacket's sleeve; rolling it up slightly before quickly pulling it back down to the knuckle. keeping it visibly comfortable despite having no real form of feeling on his right side, pretty much just trying not to be an akward pressence; and right afterwards, he just felt silence once again.
Not really much of a communicator this one.

 

[ShadowVigilante1]

“Good, now stay close. If you spot anything suspicious, tell us immediately.” The two men stacked up at the door soon opened it slowly, ensuring that they did not disturb anyone who may have been left behind prior to the search party arriving. The doors swung wide open after there was confirmation that no one was left inside. The Crescent Arms immediately got to work, first off deploying a ground penetrating sonar to detect any abnormalities within the building. An underground piece of real estate has endless possibilities, and it is very likely Ashford had a hangar built somewhere only known to him and a few loyal workers.

“Follow me to the study. I have the code for the lock, but just come with me in case something requires your expertise.” Mu would immediately take a turn, heading down the hall to a set of twin doors, engraved with markings and decorated with the crest of house Ashford. Clearly the former Thane spent a lot of time in this place.

Mu would slowly approach a small panel by the door, entering in the code given by the new owner of the house. A few button presses later and the two would be met by an affirmative beep. “And we are in.” The doors soon gave way to an open room, with books littering every table, wall, and corner. Some seemed to be in a state of complete disarray as some books had yet to be put in their place by the new masters of the house.

“So… does literature interest you?” He said trying to be friendly with his new protege for the time being, a squire in a sense now that he thought about it.

 

[GrimmShane]

A quick nod and the doors swung open before them, leading into the equally rich-looking hall and thus into the depths of the mansion proper; for every few steps Mu took he'd follow close behind; like a quiet phantom waiting for his moment of work.

His expertise was mostly centered on bigger machines, from bikes to trucks to Personal Troopers; though a bit more recently smaller circuits had entered that spectrum as well. Halfway back to his own thoughts, the "duo" arrived at the study, the beeping of the security code giving way to the unveiling of a place rich in literature; how much of this he'd be able to understand or be interested in was questionable at best. Though I suppose there's some things one could never find elsewhere.

"You could say that, most of what's at home is manuals and engineering textbooks; though that's just what I tend to bury into."

Voice rising by a noticeable measure, the cyborg made his way towards the table itself, looking at Mu with a querying look; hands hovering one of the shut books as he tried to ascertain if he had permission to scavenge the pages laying shut before him. A singular bang of hair covering Shane's right eye from the arguably more hurried entrance into the study itself.

 

[ShadowVigilante1]

“Well then, you should find ample reading material here then. The former honorable Thane was the creator of our cherished Orgone technology. I’m sure you’ll find something interesting to read. Perhaps even things most aren’t privy to.” The book Shane had been hovering over was a book seemingly written by Ashford. A book detailing the inner workings of Orgone Extractors and their function in the modern day military weapons of Luna’s knights.

In the meantime however, Mu would be pouring over the titles of books detailing the lineages of each family, mainly out of curiosity. Ashford was a stickler for one’s pedigree, he wouldn’t see why keeping such tomes would be abnormal to him. He would find one that contained the alphabeticals of his own family lineage. The Hunt family. He would crack open a page, immediately spotting his family’s history that he knew quite well. One of the few families descended from a European heritage rather than a Japanese one. He would manage to find details on his immediate family members as well, and a short entry on him.

Aurum Hunt, the adoptive child of the Hunt family. Born on the streets and raised to be a great warrior. Only that Ashford found it shameful a runt such as him came to gain such a position. He had worked to become worthy of the elite title, yet the cur still seeks to mock him even in writing. But he found one part of the entry… peculiar.

’Resembles monarchs of ages past. Bastard lineage?’

Bastard lineage? He found that quite unlikely. He doesn’t even know who his biological parents are, perhaps it was simply mere coincidence and Ashford could not stand a former commoner appearing similar to members of the royal family. It was quite preposterous to say the least. Mu would slam the book shut as he returned it to the shelf. He wished he could burn that book, but it was better to keep it for archival reasons of course. He would continue to scour the shelves for any other clues or for insights Ashford may have left behind.

 

[GrimmShane]

Given confirmation, the younger of the two quickly grasped the leathery covers of a well-kept treatise; pulling them open as softly as he could, eyes beginning to scan through the words. It was all new knowledge to him, and that got those gears in his head racing.

"So this is how your Raftclans runs... it's quite...Interesting..." Tone slightly confused, Shane kept flipping pages on this first tome to come to his grasp; beginning to pace around the room slowly looking up at the shelves and back at the book. Seemingly just a small observation as the idea of an Orgone extractor cleared up in his head.

It didn't look like a confused man trying to make heads or tails of a situation however, the gazing and quick checking of others with titles related to it instead denoting an interest to close the gaps in his understanding; it was his way of scouring the shelves in his own little way, fetching books from them for a few moments looking at their pages and placing them back on their spot.

"Where would someone who employed EOT hide study pieces or unfinished projects? maybe in some sort of service room? like a backroom or cache connected to the actual shelves." being given a topic like Orgone technology, as well as information on its creator, really did get the lad's mouth running; an interest brought forth alongside a series of somewhat more organized thoughts.

 

[ShadowVigilante1]

“Those were my thoughts exactly. This is an underground suburb and fortress. If he would hide something, this would be an appropriate place, even for the new masters of the house.” Mu took a stroll past some of the shelves, if they took an index to comb through the books, they could likely find an anomaly. But given the new entries placed in by the new owners, he found that it would be a useless task. Intuition will be a better tool in this situation aside from technology.

Mu thought to himself for a moment, it could be possible that it was some type of wireless system. So he decided to rely on Shane for a moment. “Mr. Moon, you wouldn’t happen to be able to track wireless signals with that arm of yours, would you?”

 

[GrimmShane]

Being given an aggreement meant his current trails of thought were solid at the very least, though of course there was no time to dawdle when it came to theorizing and finding leads; sliding up his jacket's sleeve Shane would then open the manual terminal for his navigations system. The thing was mainly routed to his eye as a way to keep locational data in convenient view while driving, but it wouldn't really be much of a hassle to link it up with a communicator and use it as a tracker
"Maybe, just need a second to adjust the radio"

The Cyborg then begun to type on the noticeably small keyboard of the terminal itself with his still human hand, parameters visibly changing as he moved through menus with quick shortcuts; eventually he'd save changes and refresh his right eye - a signal bar appearing where a map would've been, closer to a radio or a phone searching for signal at least in terms of visuals

"Had it filter out most phone signals and network connections with standard security protocols; if it finds something, it'll probably be of interest"
The "Squire" would then begin to scan through the room, pacing near walls and furniture, taking close looks and moving his right arm around carefully, trying to get a hit on something within the room itself

 

[ShadowVigilante1]

“Well then, let’s see if Ashford has been hiding a private study.” Mu simply watched as Shane moved about, trying to see where a specific signal would come from. As he moved towards a corner at the back of the room, the signal bar would begin to get stronger and stronger. The shelf was seemingly stacked with books of similar colors, likely to confuse any who would attempt to find a potential hidden room.

“These are all books on the study of materials… which one could be the culprit lever then?” Shane would not be able to find anything stronger on the ground floor, but a ladder was conveniently placed right next to the shelf, perhaps one book higher up was the hidden wireless switch.

 

[GrimmShane]

"Probably one on the higher shelves" Having follow the thread almost to its source, Shane would quickly slide the ladder over to - more or less - the center of the specific bookshelf, climbing its steps up to the books that'd be otherwise out of reach from the ground.

It was a simple setup, he'd have to admit, a simple lever broadcasting a signal to a receiver connected to a lock somwehere in the room; hiding it behind a book where in a shelf with books containing convenient knowledge being a mere extra step - made it feel more natural to open the door, so to speak. And so the Cyborg begun to pull on the tomes one by one, taking a quick glance behind them if the one pulled wasn't the correct guess.

"You ever wonder why things like panic rooms are always hidden behind bookshelves and such? do they think thieves won't scour through them in case of hidden valuables?" Despite the focus on searching for the correct book, the lad still allowed himself a bit of a more cheeky thought; the questionable practice of hiding triggers and levers in oddly out of place bookshelves getting him to grin slightly wider than before as the process of elimination got him to one last book

 

[ShadowVigilante1]

“If you were to ask me personally, I think it’s more just to make themselves feel sophisticated. That or they’re overly paranoid someone would swoop in and steal their most prized possessions as you said. But not everyone will know what to do with those possessions once they get them. Such as when you stole the Mark 3, you had no clue how to operate such a machine. And neither would a thief know what to do with the knowledge that could be gleaned here in this building.”

As Shane had pulled all the tomes, Mu would attempt to see the title of the last book on the shelf. “My Miracle: Larseilam? That’s not something I’m familiar with.” The titles on the level of the shelf all seemed to be written in different languages, what Mu read seemed to be an approximation of what Ashford had written in French.

As Shane pulled the book on Larseilam, the book would slide right out of the shelf and no mechanism would trigger. Perhaps there was something inside of the book that triggered the mechanism such as a remote?

 

[GrimmShane]

He'd quickly turn around while on the ladder, leaning back onto the ladder slightly to check through the book's pages interested in searching for the remote of sorts as well as a bit of clarification on what his Larseilam was; it would seem Shane's reading had gone from an energy harnessed from the inherent radiation of one's surroundings through Orgone over to something far more out there.

"Seems like talk about some sort of energy he managed to harness; and get this, it can apparently be used to stop time"
There was a tone both of wonder and almost slight dismissal in his voice when mentioning the proposed use, just what kind of energy was this? A miracle that's for sure if it could pull off such things even in laboratory enviroments. Of course, the cyborg was expecting a bit of extra elaboration on it as he flipped page after page, it all feeling like the ramblings of someone who'd gone a bit off the rocker with their research.

"Honestly don't know how to feel about my being compared to a common house robber; but the emmiter should be around the end, part of the pages are all clustered up. If they're pages at all, of course" And thus the last few written pages were turned, the expectancy of this cluster of pages being something akin to those fake bibles drunkards used to hide their hip flasks while at home; except containing a remote or something along those lines instead.

 

[ShadowVigilante1]

“Stop time? Ah yes, I remember. But we must send that to Lord Argenti, there may be things unknown to us about Larseilam that we have no knowledge on.” The thought that Ashford had such a power was unimaginable. If he had used that during the coup extensively, no one would have been able to fight back at all. It would have been a landslide victory. So there were obviously some caveats in its usage, which only could mean it was reserved for the most deadly of machines. Could one such machine reside below, or could it be within that unearned Granteed of that Terran Director? It would be dangerous should he prove to use it in order to dispose of Luna, but he found it unlikely given the man’s previous track record.

As Shane flipped through the final pages, he indeed found a bunch of fake pages, all of which housed a controller of sorts. It was likely used for something within this room one prominent button displaying fire. There was a fireplace to match, and it seemed appropriately sized to fit a person.

 

[GrimmShane]

Having found the controller, Shane extracted it from its crevice, closing the book and coming down from the ladder while directly looking at the conveniently sized fireplace; looking at Mu with a slight grin on his face, the Cyborg pressed the button on the remote. The idea of stopping time was indeed quite a terrifying one, pausing everything around you except yourself sounds quite literally like cheating; and in actual life there was no such thing as an admin system to take care of those cheaters automatically.

"a pathway behind the fireplace, the convenient size wouldn't seem out of place compared to a normal one; I'll keep the book in hand just in case"
There was a certain smug in the squire's voice when speaking about the whole fireplace thing, though it sounded more like a general sense of accomplishment at finding it himself; although childish, it was quite a thing to see the Mark 3's thief actually pulling his own weight.

 

[ShadowVigilante1]

As Shane pressed the button, the fireplace granted his wish and soon a door behind where the flames would be opened the way to a path previously unseen. Mu looked on in amazement and slight excitement. “Excellent work, Mr. Moon. With performance such as this, I say your debt will be resolved in no time flat. Possibly you could even continue working with us and gain a very prestigious standing. Your parents would be very proud.”

The two soldiers who had searched the living room soon barged into the study, seemingly both wishing to make a report to their commanding officer. “Sir Ord, the scan was a success. We’ve detected a large anomaly below the mansion. It’s big enough for a warehouse-like structure.”

Mu gave a small nod to the soldiers. “Very good, return to your Ganjals. If this is indeed a storage space for mobile weapons as I suspected, you will ensure they do not cause any collateral damage, am I clear?” The two soldiers gave a salute before Mu gestured for them to get going. The two exited right and Mu began walking towards the new doorway, pistol drawn.

“Come, let us see what the Thane has been hiding.”

 

[GrimmShane]

"Maybe they are, yeah"
Shane seemingly grazed over the clearing of his debt or even continued work, simply breathing in and slowly following behind Mu; as opposed to the knight however, the cyborg wasn't armed.

With careful consideration, the door's controller was slid comfortably into a pocket of his jacket; they were diving into a warehouse potentially filled with combat-ready weapons so nerves were inevitable. There was no one else other than them...right?

"Assuming whatever's there is dangerous and potentially armed, what's the idea to get our machines in here without blasting a hole through the city above?"
The lad wondered, messing around with his navigations once again in order to return the usual map/radar to action; this time saving the signal tracker as a preset just in case.

 

[ShadowVigilante1]

As Mu entered the doorway, he saw that it was in fact an elevator. Quite the clean one he might add despite being left to gather dust for 6 months. Clearly someone or something was taking good care of this place, but it was certainly not a courteous groundskeeper. “If there is trouble, they will be the ones makings the holes. Not us. The greater threat will lie above regardless, so they will break through the ground inevitably.”

Mu pressed a button to go down, all the while inspecting the lift a bit more. The walls all seemed to be made of a special acrylic or glass, allowing a complete outside view when a passenger acquires a curiosity. He would bring his gun up to the door as he stacked up on the side. “Whatever is down there, by on your guard. If you spot any trouble, rendezvous with me immediately.

 

[GrimmShane]

Ah, a warning while entering an elevator that, clearly, hadn't been used recently by anyone at all; this could only go well. From there it was just a quiet gulp, a nod and a grunt of acknowledgement as the cyborg ruminated his own thoughts on the way down; this kind of elevators were interesting to him, oddly common when designing hangars in a lower position, he'd caught onto.

"I'll try to not startle any unwanted guests if I can"

As time moved on and the elevator crawled down to the hangar itself, Shane couldn't but wonder if someone had truly come in ahead of Mu and him; the silence left in the wake of the elevator's noises messing with his very own perspective on the place. It was...a terrifying thought, not being alone in an otherwise silent area.

 

[ShadowVigilante1]

Through the clear elevator walls, both managed to gaze at the gaping abyss below. An abyss filled to the brim with terminals and cage docks. All would have been quite a good amount of evidence to see what Ashford‘s lackeys we’re up to and what projects he may have been cooking up. “Would” being the key word as the cage docks laid open, and the mobile weapons previously inside them roaming freely. 3 purple Vorlents met the gaze of the Crescent Arms, they seemed to have been expecting them.

“Damn it, they knew we were here.” One of the Vorlents aimed its Orgone Gun right at the bottom of the elevator’s pulley mechanism, aiming to drop them both in a crash. Seeing this, Mu quickly shot the side of the glass elevator that had the pulley going upwards. While it was a risky move, it was the one that offered a better chance at survival. “Jump and grab the rope!” He backed away from the wall he just shot before dashing towards it, shattering the tempered wall into a million tiny shards. He quickly snatched the pulley and held on for dear life as the Orgone Gun fired a green beam right towards its target.

 

[GrimmShane]

And there went the only semblance of discretion. Armed forces already awaiting them at the bottom, guns trained onto the only way down there; and without a second thought they shot at the knight and would-be squire. Through Shane's mind right now there would be nothing but a muted fear of death and the adrenaline drawn from his boss' solution; glass being shot apart and thus wall demolished the way had been opened, they could survive this and make it down there.

No second thoughts, no hesitation other than a sharp breath being taken in, the cyborg dashed his way right behind Mu; and he didn't just hop, he jumped with all the momentum his body could carry.
Clank, shssshshshsss
The lad's metal fingers closed around the rope, rapidly scraping against it as the momentum turned into a half-swing and a slightly accelerated - even if safer - descent

"This might be a good moment for those holes in the ceiling! unless you'd rather holes be made of us!"

More an anxious take than a proper suggestion, Moon's grip holding up painlessly only through locking the finger joints into that position; sparks visibly shining under the slowly heating up metal, the green light of the weapons awaiting them being vividly reflected against his eyes. Not so much in the artificial one, as a mere screen-glare; but rather on his left eye: a reminder of the great risks this job carried, as well as a reminder of what they'd have to deal with once their boots made contact with the ground anew.