A City Built On A Hill Cannot be Hid

[Il Terra Di Agea]

"Mr. Headington, there is a man here to see you, " a thick metallic voice said over the cellphone, "He claims that he needs to see you right away."

"Who is he?" Baggs yelled back over the sounds of drills and machinery, "Tell him I'm busy, and he should schedule an appointment, Alex."

"I did, but every time I try to say something, he just yells that there's no time..."

"What? Hold out the phone, and try to say something."

Very faintly over the phone, Alex said "Sir, Mr. He...", but before he could finish, another voice rang through, "NO TIME!!!!"

"You hear?"

"Yes... Does the man, by any chance, have a prosthetic arm?"

There was a brief pause, "Yah, looks like he does, why?"

"That son of a !@#$%*..." Baggs mumbled, as he flipped his phone shut, and began to walk out of the deep shaft.

Fifteen Minutes Later

"Well, there's the man I needed to see!" Egorov yelled as he saw Baggs push the door open, "I need to talk to you."

"I need to kill you, but you don't see me following you around."

"Ha, always a joker! Komeil said you would do this, said I should give you this," Egorov opened up his wallet, and handed a small, red card to Baggs.

"Damn that Komeil..." Baggs muttered as he slid the card into his pocket, "What do you need?"

"I need you to be happy."

"Then go away!"

"How bout this, No!" Egorov responded, a sarcastic look on his face, "I need you to take me down beneath Haversbrook."

"How about I take you underground, shoot you in the face, and take your money, that gets similar results."

"But you wouldn't get any of this fun stuff," Egorov said, a giant smile on his face, while he threw a pile of papers onto the desk.

"Experimental... Typhoon... Nuclear..." Baggs muttered as he flipped through the files, "That's all great, but why do you need to go down there?"

"Semper Fidelis," Egorov took a deep breath, "Means always faithful in Latin. I left a lot of good freinds, and some of my own men down there. It's my duty to get them out. Agea is gone, and we need to accept that it won't come back, I won't let them follow their death orders for no reason..."

"Honor, you hit a soft spot there..."

"So, there is honor among thieves," Egorov mumbled.

"You bet there is. Now, I know what I get, and I know why you want to go, let's talk getting in."

"That's what I wanted to hear!" Egorov cheerfully yelled, as he pat Baggs on the back, "Let's go rescue some good men."

OOC: For those who joined more recently, I once ran a country called Il Terra Di Agea. The capitol was a city called Haversbrook, a near invincible fortress built on the inland side of a range of mountains bordering the Black Sea. When I got annexed/ owned, Haversbrook was locked up, leaving the external stuff usable, but everything from military tunnels to subways were locked up. Now the city belongs to Byzantium, but all of the underground stuff is still there. The last orders given out by the Agean Government were to leave a lot of people spread out between an underground city, a military base, and the tunnels under Haversbrook, in case of Agea rising again. No it's been a while, and that has never become an option, so I'm doing this to wrap Agea up.

[JEDCJT]

HAVERSBROOK, STAVROPOL REPUBLIC, BYZANTIUM

Haversbrook

Haversbrook is an imposing City. Situated somewhere in the mountain ranges bordering the Black Sea (OOC: Where is it located, exactly?), the city used to be the capital of the former Agean Empire until that Empire fell and the city was taken by the Byzantines. Under liberal Byzantine rule, Haversbrook received extensive funds from Constantinople, and because of this, the city prospered under the aegis of the Administrative Republic of Transcaucasia. But following the Nationalist coup, the city fell into disrepair as funds were cut off and living standards in the city declined. Mismanagement and abuses of power didn’t help either (hundreds of arrests were made in Haversbrook by the Gizli Polis). In a nutshell, the Nationalists essentially neglected Haversbrook and the former Aegean capital became one of the ’forgotten cities’ in Byzantium.

But now that the Nationalists had been overthrown, and an interim Government established, Haversbrook is on the rise once again as its population (approximately 50,000), once kept off the streets by Nationalist terror, can now walk freely on the city’s streets. However, despite large quantities of aid from the new Provisional Government, Haversbrook remains in a state of disrepair as its subway and pnumo systems are down, along with many things. However, citizens in the city gets around through the cargo elevators on the sides of the city’s steps. The industrial sector of Haversbrook (on the bottom ‘step’), once nationalized under the Nationalists, are now thriving as businesses and industries are popping up in Haversbrook; the same as the commercial sector.

On the top of the ‘step’ (the steps are famously named the “Steps of Haversbrook”) is the former government building where the Mayor of Haversbrook resides and conducts the city’s state of affairs.

OOC: So, what do you think, Agea?

Edited February 28, 2009 by JEDCJT

[Il Terra Di Agea]

OOC: So, what do you think, Agea?

OOC: I believe that it can be summed up quite nicely by

And Haversbrook is here:

That map is several months old, but it should be accurate enough.

[JEDCJT]

OOC: I believe that it can be summed up quite nicely by

And Haversbrook is here:

That map is several months old, but it should be accurate enough.

OOC: Oooooh, thanks. Haversbrook's position would make it a border city.

[Il Terra Di Agea]

"So, Colonel Egorov," Baggs said, pacing around his office, "What are we going to do?"

"One, it's General now," Egorov said with a smirk, "Two, we're going in through the old Water Protocol station. We left half of a tube open when we evacuated in case we needed to return. From the station, we head in, and move up to Fermi's old office, the only link to the station. From there, we go back down, clean out levels two and three, that's where the real money makers are. After that, we need to get into the computers on level four, and gather up the old files, to be sent back here. Then we go down again, blow Ember back open so the people can get out, we clean out everything, lock anything below level five, and exit through Pontchartrain."

"Sounds simple enough..." Bags said, sarcastically.

"I'm a general, and the computers still have me in. I can override any order the soldiers down there have, and then they help us so they can leave... well, nah..."

"I don't like the sound of that."

"Well, they got orders from Fermi, but that shouldn't be a problem. After all, I trained them, even if they go hostile, I know everything that they'll do."

"Yes, an old man will kill hundreds of twenty year old soldiers. That is totally plausible."

"Well, I am a bit rusty on my killing legions of terror, but not more than you."

"I am insulted, I could kill you twelve times before you hit the ground."

"Ha. Good to see the old brain still plotting how to gut me."

"Yes... Well, I'll need to find Komeil, get him to gather the men," Baggs said as he walked over to his office door, "George get me Ko-" He paused for a moment, as he saw Komeil's eyes only five inches from his bag.

"I be on it," Komeil said, smiling, "And hello Egorov, good for to see you not dead. I be was worried after try to eat you on raft."

"We agreed never to speak of it again."

"Baggs? Baggs already gone, He not hear!"

Suddenly a booming voice played over their heads from the intercom, "I SEE ALL AND KNOW ALL."

"He bluffing..."

[Il Terra Di Agea]

"So, are we set?" Baggs mumbled to Egorov, still a little tired from the long night prior.

"Yup, everything looks good," Egorov said, "As long as no one sees us coming, we'll be in and out, two days tops."

"Good, Now I make fish jello for big day," Komeil said, "think I will be use cod this time..."

"No time, Komeil. We leave now, and get in with the boats through the Bosporus during the prime shipping hours," Baggs said, firmly.

"I make jello on sub then, yes?"

"Fine."

160 Hours Later

"Have I ever said that I hate submarines?" Lahye mutters from his small cot.

"At least fifty times in the last twelve hours, Lahye," Hummel yelled back, before going back to cleaning his gun.

"We're nearing the destination!" Baggs said, calmly over the intercom, "And stop your bickering, this is a submarine, and most of you are men, act like it."

"You think we'll really get anything out of this whole thing?" Mason yelled out, into the sleeping quarters.

"I think we'll get something, alright," DuPont muttered, "Get ourselves killed."

"Mew?" Whisker-Bottom said from withing his massive cat-carrier.

"Where did Komeil even get that thing?" Carla said.

"Komeil got Whisker-Bottom at a Bizarre in eastern Kazakhstan in 1999," Baggs said as he entered the room, letting Egorov take the controls for a while, "The man at the shop said that Whisker-Bottom would grow wing and fly, so Komeil bought it. He still hopes those wings will grow in one day, it's a little sad, in a hilarious way."

[Il Terra Di Agea]

"There it is," Egorov yelled out into the sub as it neared to water protocol tube, "Get ready, this isn't gunna be a cakewalk. If Baggs gets us in safe, we still have to get through defenses, and then we have a whole load of work to do."

"Rodger that," Hummel said, a tinge of sarcasm in his voice.

Baggs muttered something to himself as the sub began to touch into the tube, and slide down, "So Colonel, why aren't there any more tubes here, I though you said there were twelve tubes here?"

"Were being the operative word. We detonated large thermite charges in the tops and supports of the other eleven to keep people out, and to cripple the machine. We left this tube as part of Operation Paralysis. A quick blitz to rebuild Agea and take back the land, though, we obviously 'aint."

A loud creak began to echo out of the submarine's sides as the tube started to thin out. Slowly the ship pulled to a stop, wedged firmly between two metal walls.

There was no escape left...

_____________________________________________

Egorov pulled a small box out from his coat pocket and punched in a long code with his mechanical arm. "If they didn't break it, this should close the blast doors, and drain the water in the chamber."

"I don't like that 'if' Egorov," Mason said, shaking from head to tow, "If implies that it may not work, ad that means we all die... and starve!"

"We won't starve," Baggs said cheerfully, "We will eat like kings on the corpse of the man who got us in to the !@#$ hole!"

"I would make fantastic pate for your information," Egorov yelled back, "There!"

A faint creak began to resonate from the rear of the sub, as the flood doors pulled shut, but before the noise could fully stop, DuPont began screaming, "HOLY CRAP!"

"What is it?" Carla yelled back from the front of the ship.

"The walls are closing! The walls are closing in!"

"You're cra..." Baggs was cut off as he saw the metal crushing down to either side, "DAMMIT EGOROV! What is this?!?"

"The code being changed, we should get out now."

"Yes, we should."

With that, Hummel frantically pried open the hatch, and took the full brunt of the water flowing in. Amid the chaos of the crushing walls, everyone puled themselves out of their coffin, and swam out, and through the rust hole in the side of the aging tube. Hummel floated back to the surface on the other side, and was soon met by the rest of the team.

The mission was off to a less than ideal start.

OOC: Image isn't great, but it get's the point across >_>

Edited March 10, 2009 by Il Terra Di Agea

[JEDCJT]

OOC: Interesting...

Although I'm not sure of what I should do in this RP...

[Il Terra Di Agea]

OOC: Interesting...

Although I'm not sure of what I should do in this RP...

OOC:Lemme PM you

[JEDCJT]

At this, a roaming yacht caught something...unusual in the Black Sea, near the Transcaucasian coast. The owners of the yacht reported it to the authorities, and surely a couple of coast guard ships were dispatched to the area.

When they arrived at the scene, they could see...wreckages, floating on the sea. A closer inspection (and analysis and examination of the pieces back in Sebastopolis, formerly Sukhumi) would indicate that the wreckage was a submarine, from ADI. The UK Government has contacted ADI regarding this.

(OOC: Edited. Hope that's better. Also, thanks for the PM. )

Edited March 10, 2009 by JEDCJT

[Il Terra Di Agea]

"Hello! I'm going to have to put you on hold for a moment!" A frantic voice yelled from the ADI offices.

Before another word could be uttered, the line went dead.

It was only a second later that the phone rang on the Byzantine side, "I am so sorry!" The voice yelled, "I'm having a hard day, the boss is out of town, and I can't get a hold of him. What can I do for you?"

Tunnels leading out of the Water Protocol Station

Egorov began to mumble in anger as the team walked down the dark corridor. There was no sound, beside the scurrying or rodents, and the gentle drip of water.

The lights had all burnt out, or broken from the extended time without maintenance, and the roof was beginning to cave in in more than one place. Egorov could barely stand seeing one of the militaristic gems of the Agean Empire rotting away as it was. As he began to get lost in his thoughts, Lahye pulled him back to reality.

"General Egorov? Is there anything we can do to make this whole thing go faster? I thought you said there was a tram line... or something."

Egorov stopped walking for a moment, and looked down, "...Gin."

"What?"

"Two parts Gin, one part fresh squeezed lemon juice, a drizzle of sugar syrup. Add soda water and garnish with a wedge of lime."

"That's the recipe for a Tom Collins?"

"You don't expect me to do this sober!?! After all, alcohol speeds everything up."

OOC: That recipe may be wrong, but I don't think so

[JEDCJT]

"Hello! I'm going to have to put you on hold for a moment!" A frantic voice yelled from the ADI offices.

Before another word could be uttered, the line went dead.

It was only a second later that the phone rang on the Byzantine side, "I am so sorry!" The voice yelled, "I'm having a hard day, the boss is out of town, and I can't get a hold of him. What can I do for you?"

The UK government aide who'd called ADI raised an eyebrow, perplexed, as he nodded slowly. "Okay..." He muttered as the line went dead. The aide turned to a coworker and shrugged. When the same voice called out seconds later, the aide nodded again. "Okay...anyways, I'm calling on behalf of the UK Government regarding a series of discoveries that we've made in the Black Sea a few days ago." He paused for a moment. "We've discovered what appears to be remains of a...submarine, so to say. Upon closer inspection, it seems that the submarine orginated from ADI. Do you know anything about that?"

[Il Terra Di Agea]

The UK government aide who'd called ADI raised an eyebrow, perplexed, as he nodded slowly. "Okay..." He muttered as the line went dead. The aide turned to a coworker and shrugged. When the same voice called out seconds later, the aide nodded again. "Okay...anyways, I'm calling on behalf of the UK Government regarding a series of discoveries that we've made in the Black Sea a few days ago." He paused for a moment. "We've discovered what appears to be remains of a...submarine, so to say. Upon closer inspection, it seems that the submarine orginated from ADI. Do you know anything about that?"

"Well, let me see..." The voice mumbled, "Alright, we shouldn't have anything in the Black sea right now except for a freighter. Let me ask my supervisor if there is anything on the higher security databases."

Tunnels leading out of the Water Protocol Station

--Click--

Baggs stopped his fast paced walk, took a deep breath and held out his arms.

"Stop, we just entered hostile area."

"What do you mean?" Lahye muttered back.

"I just triggered an IED."

"!@#$, that Rasputin," Egorov mumbled, " Baggs, it was a pleasure to know you..."

"Hey, we can disarm it," Hummel yelled as he pushed Egorov up against the wall, "We don't leave a man behind."

"Holy mother of god," DuPont said yelled a small room ahead, "I...I can't disarm this..."

"What are you talking about?" Mason inquired, clearly getting worried.

"This thing, it's an IED, but whoever made it took a lot of time. We have, uhhhh, 'bout 250 pounds of butane and nitrate fertilizer. To get that burning, eight or nine small high explosive charges. Looks like the trigger was that mousetrap, that stuck into Baggs' shoe; One more step, he would've flicked a switch, boom."

"So? Cut the chord!" Carla said.

"Nope, can't do that either. The chord looks like a grounding wire that's fed through a pulley. If we cut it, it would stop grounding a charge going into this hear metal tube, and that would make the path of least resistance closing the circuit... boom."

"Open the trap?"

"Boom..."

"Rasputin doesn't make mistakes," Egorov said, with a grim look, "The only thing we can do now is to make sure we don't all die."

"I have plan for save Baggs," Komeil cheerfully chimed in.

"No Komeil," DuPont muttered.

"It good plan, you all go."

"What is this 'plan'?" Hummel questioned, as he slowly let go of Egorov.

"Thermite and parachute, Mr. Hummel. Thermite and parachute."

A look of fear began to spread across everyone in the room; They knew Komeil well enough to know what he meant, and they ran.

OOC: CLIFFHANGER!?!?!?!

[Subtleknifewielder]

OOC: Uh oh...this'll be good...

[Il Terra Di Agea]

OOC: Sorry for the slight gravedig, been busy, and sleeping more, so this is one of the first chances I've had to work on this.

IC:

"Komeil, I hope you know what you're doing," Baggs muttered, "I don't feel like dying today."

"I do not feel for like dying either, Baggs," Komeil said back, "Now, get ready for to run."

Komeil closed his eyes as he lifted the parachute filled with thermite up to the ceiling, being careful not to let the lighter taped to the front touch the outer case. With a breif whimper, he hurled the bag at the metal panel on the wall, and sprinted off towards the flood door at the end of the hall. Baggs had to stand for only a moment longer before he ran, the water needed to hit the bomb before he could move, and, with any luck, the blast of freezing water would rip the bomb apart and scatter the pieces too thin to ignite.

Everyone stood in the hall as they heard the crackle of the thremite and the explosive flow of water. They waited, anxious of their friend's survival, every second droning by like an hour, until a moist Baggs sprinted around the corner and jumped through the metal door. With just seconds to spare, Hummel and Egorov slammed the door shut, and spun the lock until it would turn no more. "That was close," Baggs muttered, still laying on the steel floor, "Well, we definitely aren't leaving through there."

Slowly everyone began to laugh, death had been stopped by a few inches of steel plate, a parachute, and a few pounds of thermite, and they could barely believe it. After a few minutes, Baggs stood, and brushed some water off of his coat, and they all moved forward.

Five hours, Fifteen Minutes Later

Egorov held out his arms, and smiled, "We're here."

"No, this is it?" Carla said, gesturing at the plain, rusty door at the end of the hall, "All those miles walking, all those damn dirty stairs, for a little metal door? No bar? No gold encrusted knob? No carpet?"

"I have to agree, I was expecting something a bit more... fancy? Lahye said with a deep inflection of disappointment.

"The beauty is on the other side. This door leads to a small room, and in there, we push put in a code, push a panel aside, and we are in Emperor Fermi's office."

"Stop talking," Baggs yelled back, "What's the code?"

[Il Terra Di Agea]

It took several minutes pounding on the old, rusted door before it finally gave way. With a deafening crack, the door's hinged bent out of place with a splash or rust, and the wood panel placed to hide it splintered into the couch that now lay in front. Egorov pushed the couch the rest of the way out into the dark, massive office. It still smelled of scotch and cigars from Fermi, but none of the furniture was the same, except the wine rack in the corner. The moon shone through the high windows, casting the room with a blue glow.

"We need to move," Egorov whispered, "Entrance like that, we're gunna draw some attention."

"You're right, any fast way to your office?" Baggs whispered back.

"Stairs are the fastest. My office was right next to them, three stories down." Egorov paused and looked a bit confused for a moment, before shaking his head and walking towards the door."

"What was that?" Lahye muttered.

"Nothing, everything is fine."Egorov whispered back.

They all stepped quietly out into the hall, trying hard to make as little noise as possible on the clean, marble floor. It was minutes before the got to the stairway access.

Egorov walked to the door, and threw himself, shoulder first into the edge, snapping the lock out, and down to the floor.

"That was not quiet." Carla muttered to herself as the walked down the flight of stairs towards the underground military offices.

Another several, silent minutes passed as the descended the stairway, down to the unlit third level. Egorov began to tremble and sweat as they neared the floor, he knew that there was one possible problem to his master plan: If the crews running the lock-down were thorough, the entire level would be closed off, and completely inaccessible. Egorov kept whispering to himself that the nation fell before they could finish.

Mason stepped up to the dust covered door, and took out a flash light to inspect his work. "Well, looks like we have some sort of... leaking here. It's hard, like rock or something. The lock isn't even done..." He muttered as he held his light to the keyhole.

"Well, open it," DuPont snapped, getting a bit inpatient with the last few days of work.

"Can't," Mason muttered back, "It opens in, and there is something big behind it, won't budge."

"Cover your ears."

"What?" Everyone began to mutter.

"I am going to smash the hinges off of the door," DuPont said grimly, as he took out a hammer.

With a several loud cracks, the door folded back, and revealed what Egorov expected, a wall of solid concrete, embedded with splinters of the door, and the knob.

"Damn," he muttered, We need to go down to the lowest level of the city, and go in through the cargo lifts."

"What?" Hummel yelled, "There is no damn way we can get through! We've made enough noise as it is! We're gunna have to fight our way down to get there!"

Komeil let out an quick shriek of excitement the moment Hummel finished.

OOC: Jed, your turn, time to capture them

Edited April 1, 2009 by Il Terra Di Agea

[Subtleknifewielder]

OOC: Bump for Jed.

[JEDCJT]

Unknown to them, the area wasn't as deserted as they'd presumed. The sounds of something...banging from somewhere alerted several UK technicians, who notified the police. Soon, several heavily-armed police officers rushed toward the scene.

"Halt! Stay where you are!"

OOC: Weak, I know...

Edited April 1, 2009 by JEDCJT

[Subtleknifewielder]

OOC: Uh oh, will they be discovered?

[JEDCJT]

OOC: Uh oh, will they be discovered?

OOC: Is the sky blue? Is the UK the UK? Will Jed and Laurel get married?

[Il Terra Di Agea]

Unknown to them, the area wasn't as deserted as they'd presumed. The sounds of something...banging from somewhere alerted several UK technicians, who notified the police. Soon, several heavily-armed police officers rushed toward the scene.

"Halt! Stay where you are!"

OOC: Weak, I know...

The moment they walked to the door, it shot off the hinges, towards the technicians, and in the flurry of splinters, they began to sprint out of the stairwell.

"Crap," Baggs yelled, "You said it would be deserted!"

"I never said that" Egorov yelled back, "I never even said we could get in!"

[Subtleknifewielder]

OOC: Is the sky blue? Is the UK the UK? Will Jed and Laurel get married?

OOC: Let's see...Yes, yes, and...uh, yes, I suppose...

[JEDCJT]

The moment they walked to the door, it shot off the hinges, towards the technicians, and in the flurry of splinters, they began to sprint out of the stairwell.

"Crap," Baggs yelled, "You said it would be deserted!"

"I never said that" Egorov yelled back, "I never even said we could get in!"

The armed police officers gave hot pursuit of the...intruders. "Halt! Halt now, or we'll shoot!" However, one of them pressed the triggers, firing off rubber pellets, aimed primarily at the legs and/or knees...

OOC: Let's see...Yes, yes, and...uh, yes, I suppose...

OOC: Then....yes, they will be discovered (and captured).

Edited April 1, 2009 by JEDCJT