The Numberless

[SliceOfDog]

((Finally we're getting started! Woo hoo, and all that. Please do not post unless you have a character approved by me.

Currently approved RPers; Arratra, Brome, Buzz, Daryn, Dusty, Reaper, Samantha and Shade. It might have been quicker to list who isn't in this RP!

Anyway, make sure you read my most recent post in http://www.scififur.net/forum/showth...ess-OOC-Thread before posting, and I hope you all enjoy))

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The prison truck waited, loading it's cargo of criminals awaiting transport to the Facility. Three guards were overseeing the process, with another in the driving seat. Around the criminals were the fortified walls of the prison courtyard, the symbol of Stalwart Security. To the East could be seen the much greater walls surrounding the city, eclipsing the horizon. To the West, the Tower of Rule pierced the sky, the sun shining in such a way as it appeared to glow with an almost otherworldly light, enforcing the old edict "The Rank 1s see all". For many in Stalwart, forever caught between the Wall and the Tower, it was hard not to believe.

Being shoved bodily into the back of the truck, Nowen stumbled, and rolled his eyes. He said nothing as his feet were chained to the floor and his hands to the roof of the truck, the way every other prisoner was transported. He turned calmly to one side, and saw he was next to a Border Collie who was under significantly greater security. She was chained in a sitting position with a muzzle strapped to her face. Nowen smiled superficially, his eyes widening and then looking away. As the last of the prisoners were chained into position, a guard joined them in the back, with the other two heading to the driver.

One, a tiger, sat in the passenger seat, placed his rifle along his legs and stared out of the window. The other, a cat, leaned in to the human driver and smiled nervously.
"We're ready," said Franklin, before returning to the Prisoners and slamming the doors.

[Jett]

"Wait, Franklin, we've got one more!" A voice said from outside the truck as two grunt escorts opened the doors of the prison truck to reveal the silhouette of a very uncomfortable looking polar bear in manacles, binding his claws together in a folded way. His ankles were bound as well to prevent his running. A leather strap kept his mouth clamped. The grunts had previously wrestled his pack from him and now stowed it under the front passenger seat. "He had this with him get rid of it!" Some rearranging had to be done in order to make room for his bulk and strapped him in across from the Border Collie. The two muzzled creatures locked eyes for a brief moment. One grunt asked, "Now are you going to keep that yap of yours shut or do we need to keep this on you?" He unbuckled the leather strap which gave him the free use of his muzzle, though he remained silent. He looked around the truck, gazing into the eyes of his fellow criminals and otherwise was quiet. My pack... Where is my pack? I NEED it...

The two grunts gave the okay and headed back inside the facility.

[Nelle Kozera]

Oh how fate is so unkind. She thought as the people where being loaded onto the truck. At this point it didn't matter if they where guilty or innocent this point their fate had been decided. She would have sighed at this point if wasn't for the muzzle on her, it she thought was very annoying everyone else could at least speak. That aside she was fairly comfortable, well as conformable as one could be with every limb with the exception of her tail being chained down or restrained in some fashion. One thing anyone that made eye contact with the collie would notice would be the total absence of emotion in her ice cold stare as she looked at everyone that could in the Armored Prison truck.

How am I considered evil? What did I do that was any different from what they did to me. Sure I would have done that again merely for the rush, the exhilaration of what occurred. But what is wrong with pleasures taken in this life? We are granted so few and yet they are considered evil. She thought, It only means one thing, the things we do, no matter what we think they are worth, are completely and utterly worthless. Each one of us are burdened with the strain of the wrongs of ourselves and those around us. She turned her head towards Nowen, she looked him with the soulless eyes that she had, and yet them seemed to hold a ruthless intellect. For the moment she just stared...

[Dusty]

Garren watched with feigned indifference through his side-view mirror as the sorry lot was loaded onto the armored truck. He made a special note of the Collie, he had been specially briefed on her status. Thats someone both sides can agree doesn't belong, he mused. As the prisoners we're loaded he noted that only one of them was a normal human, as a matter fact all the guards on this trip we're morphs besides him. The ratio has been shifting lately, he noted.

His heartbeat picked up when he noticed one of the prisoners he had been briefed on hadn't been delivered. That represented complications, a factor beyond his control. He started to reach for his radio when two large guards of the Special Enforcement Team (SET) wrestled the large polar bear out and on to the truck, tossing something in there with him. That would be his 'pack', he noted. At last the rear hatch was sealed and the cat guard came forward and climbed into the crew cabin. "We're ready," he said nervously.

Without responding to him Garren keyed his radio, " Traffic Control, this is Prison Transfer 1138, we're loaded and moving. Advise on status of patrol and criminal activity along the transfer route." As he turned the key in the ignition. A loud rumble rang through the metal framed truck as the big motor turned over and began to purr. He pressed the clutch and moved the truck into first gear, rolling it forward towards the exit gate where a platoon of guards waited.

"Transfer 1138, the Northeast is quieter then usual, be advised patrols are light, after that last raid command is consolidating. Good luck 1138," the bored male voice of the Traffic controller announced over the radio. Things are falling into place, Garren thought to himself as he eased the truck through the gate and out onto the main highway. He glanced to his right at the other guard, nothing that is rifle was in his lap and his bored demeanor. Amateur he thought, He'll learn his lesson.

[Jett]

Puk's muscles tensed... WHY hadn't he been looking? WHERE did they store his pack? He turned his head from left to right, searching for it frantically. Not that he would be able to get to it...but he wanted to know where it was. He looked up at the front and saw the driver. As he COMMed the amplified voice caused pain to his ears, which were more sensitive at this point. His eyes were rolling around inside his head and he was sure he looked like a lumbering fool. He opened his mouth to say something to anyone, to ask if they had seen it but again fell silent. He looked at the Collie whose stair was fixed on someone else. He saw a passion burning in her eyes which he noted to represent a fury so malignant yet intelligent and almost...innocence. He shook his head. No time to think on these things, where WAS that D* pack!!! Panic...

[Shade Leshyr]

Shade sat rigid where he had been sat in the truck, completely in shock. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he guessed that he had always known this would happen one day... he just never expected it would be this soon. He was bound like the rest of the prisoners, but it wouldn't have made any difference as his mind was locked in repeat, going over his arrest time and time again.

It had been the nervousness the wolf had shown that gave it away, it was his first time in the club. Many of the other dancers were a little too hardcore and didn't have an easier dance for the new ones, so Shade took it upon himself to give the wolf a good time. Halfway through the dance, the wolf had relaxed, actually sitting in the chair instead of on it's edge, putty in Shade's hands, but then everything had gone wrong.

The door had almost literally exploded off of its hinges as the uniformed squad had stormed in, arresting anyone they caught. Shade was a repeated offender at this point, and in his own self-preservation move, his body had shut down in disbelief. They had taken him away without a single fight.

Even now, Shade stared at the floor of the truck, trying to deny the reality of the situation. Heart thudding in his ears, he started to slowly come back to the present, eyes darting around to the fellow prisoners around him. He shook his head once more, hoping it was a dream, but with a sigh, he finally accepted what was going on, but now half his mind was resigned to whatever fate awaited him, but somewhere deep was a part that was analyzing the situation, taking it in and biding its time.

[Samantha Arrow]

In most situations one might not have noticed the vixen who had been put into one of the corner seats, had it not been for the fact she did not look like any kind a villainous scum - her fur was immaculate, not even messed with. It meant she probably didn't put up any resistance to her arrest.

What would a little vixen like her do anyway? It wasn't like she could fight. She hoped just sitting pretty would get her out of this, maybe one of the guards would decide to keep her.

She kept her head down, she was stiff and shaking in fear, occasionally she would bite her lip to prevent herself from whimpering.

[Brome Teks]

A man is amongst the prisoners, cuffed up like the rest. He regards the others only briefly before getting lost in his own thoughts. .o(Now, if I can get out of here, how might I go about recovering my assets? I suppose Mr. Miller might be able to keep my contacts hopeful...)

He looks back up to regard the rest of the prisoners again. .oO(Border Collie, clearly extremely dangerous, could easily be extremely helpful or a severe setback, would have to learn more. Polar bear, panicked over something, could be an asset or a liability, looking towards the latter at the moment. Hybrid, clearly has some fox and some dragon in him, maybe some other mixtures. Looks to be fairly fit, but also appears to be in denial. If he gets over that, he could also be an asset.)

Cain regards the the other passengers and finishes by staring off into space, lost in thought. in these crammed quarters that unfortunately meant he couldn't do that without appearing to stare at someone. Someone in this case being the last person he had regarded, being the Dragonfox. He appeared to be staring rather coldly at him, when he was instead lost in thought.

[Jett]

Puk's eyes searched every unoccupied corner of the truck until finally his eyes fell on the passenger seat. His pack, stowed away underneath with the black cloth folds sticking out. He had not noticed before because it melded so closely with the color of the truck's interior, but now that it was located he could rest easy. He smiled, licked his muzzle only slightly and seemed to relax. Whenever they got to where they were going he and his beloved bag would surely be reunited! Or...what it if were lost in the process? No, no, no worries. Heheh, that wouldn't happen. Calm. Cool. Collected.

Puk rested his massive paws on his knees and rubbed one claw down the other, which made the slightest sound that only anthros with the keenest of ears would pick up on. He looked up at the collie again, and then across the truck to the corner where a fox sat like a jade stolen from a museum and carefully placed in the get-away van. His forehead ruffled and he looked back down.

[Daryn]

Among the prisoners stuffed into the truck, almost unnoticed by everyone else sits a Gray Hawk. By the looks of him, you would guess he is a someone who has spent a lot of time working with the technical aspects within Stalwart. You do get the sense that he is a very intelligent bird. Despite his predicament, you don't get the sense that he is uneasy.

.o( I only had a short time to make a move when the guards came for me. Luckily, they didn't think a computer geek was much of a threat, so all they did was bind his hands behind his back. That is where I made my one subtle move. All it takes is clenching my fists as tightly as I could while they put the cuffs on my wrists. Thankfully they didn't notice.}o.

He glances around at the other assembled "criminals". He knows some of them really are scumbags, but some of them he isn't too sure. .o{ I guess I'll find out soon enough. ]o.

[SliceOfDog]

Franklin nervously eyed the Polar bear, who greatly exceeded him in size. Beside him, the other guard, an otter, was staring intently at his own feet with a steely expression, purposefully not meeting eye contact with any of the prisoners.
"Full load today," he said half heartedly to Franklin, who jumped slightly, looked over, and then nodded.
"Too many for a good society" the cat breathed in reply.
The otter smirked humourlessly. "Got that right. Makes me glad to be keeping freaks like these off the streets"

Nowen looked away from the Border Collie, cocking his head slightly and resting his attention, unlike most others, on the two fox beings in the truck. Both looked out of place, which suited him just fine. He smiled at the two of them, leaned in as far as his chains would allow, and said "And what Ranks might you two be?"

[Samantha Arrow]

The vixen tensed up as someone said something in her direction, she rose her head up cautiously and noticed it was another prisoner - not a guard. "Four..." She said softly in her sweet, innocent voice.

[Shade Leshyr]

Shade nearly jumped out of his hide when the canine broke the silence that seemed to permeate the truck. His first instinct was to be cautious, but after all that had happened today, the friendliness that was being shown hit home somewhere in Shade's mind and he found himself talking, "Five. Thank God, I thought we were going to be in this icy silence the whole way there," his attention focused on the vixen that looked so damn out of place in the truck, "if you don't mind me saying, I think they're out of their minds to think that you could be a big time criminal, you're so adorable!!" He gave out a very girly giggle as he relaxed, the silence broken and everything seeming to be okay.

Then his eyes saw the man that appeared to be staring at him coldly, "Erm, if you want me to be quiet, you just have to say so. It's kind've rude to look at people like that ya know," again switching his attention to the Alsatian, "what's your rank, if you don't mind me asking. and what are the two of you in for?" His eyes darted between the vixen and the Alsatian rapidly.

[Nelle Kozera]

A muffled "huff" sound came from the Collie as she returned her attention to the rest of the trucks denzies. Fine ignore me. She thought to herself looking around. Sense she was effectively rendered mute, They might as well have sewed my muzzle shut. That might have at least been a little more interesting, hmm if I get my paws on the bastard that put me here they might know what that feels like... She smiled, or at least made an attempt the muzzle prevented such action much to her dismay. She decided to get another look at the people in the room with her. The thing she noticed first was the polar bear. From what actions she was able to observe from the corner of her eye that was facing her.

The knowledge from her profession from before kicked in. Hmm, that pack must be important to him. Family possession? No, his reactions don't fit, its frantic. Similar to those in the early stages of withdrawal...drug addition maybe. Its a possibility i'll label him under substance abuse for now. Her malevolent observatory eye moved to the next person a human no doubt, that brought a little amusement to her. Must feel a little outnumber, in anycase... when she looked at him he had a fairly blank cold stare directed towards the hybrid. Hmm he know the halfbreed? No the stare seems unfocused, must be thinking about something. She marked him for father observation as to make a final judgement.

She moved on to the halfbreed, he seemed uneasy, fairly nervous yet talkative. When she herd his rank she wondered what his profession was before. Anyone that knew how to read people would find it easy to notice that it seemed like the collie was profiling them filing them away. What for no one knew....

[Dusty]

Garren ignored the small talk between the two guards. The composition of the prisoners didn't perturb him, they still had the training and guns and therefore the upper-hand. But he'd rather not get into a fight, his charges might be injured. The truck's power steering whined as he swung the truck off the surface streets to an entry ramp for the express way. With a throaty growl the engine accelerated the bulky truck up the ramp and onto the trans-city express way.

The few civilian vehicles on the road where shunted via magnetic to other lanes to give the truck free passage. The central computer at Traffic Control actually DROVE the vehicles. While it virtually eliminated traffic accidents it also made it very easy for Stalwart to regulate and track where its citizens wandered. The arcane art of driving was actually lost to most civilians below Rank 3.

*Edit by SliceOfDog - The above was all written by Dusty, but he double-checked with me first. Please contact me if you'd like to ask about elements of Stalwart you don't know about, or if you have any interesting ideas, and do not make statements about the city unless you know they're true. Thank you*

[Buzzwolf]

Mako stood silently, his head dipped slightly due to the low ceiling, the guards had seen fit to lock him up in full gauntlet shackles that had been bolted to the ceiling. he stood listening to the banter that as finally starting to make an appearance. he stood at the very rear of the vehicle, nearly the last to have boarded, his feet had been unshackled to allow him to be able to move enough for the polar bear to board late.

He merely stood. watching and gauging the others around him....the Talkitive fox as already beginning to get on his nerves...How someone could talk for so long without saying anything as beyond him...a collie in a muzzle...that actually worried him a little, regardless if she was less than half his size, something about her made his skin crawl, she even seemed to be gauging everyone else...but, not with the same idea in mind. The Polar bear, the only other on this damn transport that probably rivaled his own size, seemed more on edge than anyone else there....then there was a single human. he sighed and dropped his gaze to the floor before he could gauge the rest of the group. everyone had a debt they owed...something they would all pay for in their own right. He tried to move his arm against his shackles out of habit to try to scratch an itch on his nose before realizing just how tightly bolted down his arms were. he tried to rub it against his shoulder, finding it just too far back for him to scratch it and get it to leave him alone. he didn't even need a quick glance around to tell him there wasn't anything that would help that he could rub it on. he glanced around at the shackled condition of the others around him. his eyes fell on the female fox sitting against the wall just next to him "Hey darlin," he gave her a soft smile, "think you might have a loose enough paw to lend to an old tiger with a nose to scratch?" he attempted once more to try to scracth it, but again to no avail

[SliceOfDog]

Nowen smiled at the dragonfox, and opened his mouth to reply, stopping when he heard a 'hmph' issue from the collie. He turned, not looking her directly in the eye, and said calmly "You'll have your turn dear, don't worry"
To this the otter guard muttered "Not likely"
Ignoring him, Nowen turned back to the vixen and dragonfox. "I am a Rank 5, born and bred. And if you ask me, there's no better calling in life," he grinned slightly at the vixen "present company excepted, of course"
At this, the tiger in the passenger seat turned around and snapped "Quiet down you lot, this ain't a knitting circle"
The otter shrugged, and replied in a reasonable tone "Come on Dave, they're hardly gonna get a chance to talk at the Facility. Let em have their last chat"
Franklin, meanwhile, was craning to see out of the window, at the moving terrain beyond. He gripped his gun tightly, and glanced at Garren.

[Shade Leshyr]

Shade turned his attention to the tiger in the passenger seat and before his brain could say "Dude, shut up" his mouth was opening and letting words out, "Listen, Dave was it? You don't mind if I was to call you Davey right? Anyways, I get the feeling that you haven't gotten any in a while, you come look me up, give me five minutes and I'll help you with that tension." He gave the tiger a wink and a short giggle.

[Daryn]

While all this is going on, Ryan can't help but take it in with a bit of an amused smile on his beak. Oh sure, they're being hauled off to the Facility to have god knows what happen, but somehow that doesn't bother him right now. Maybe the Professor know what happened, if that's the case, he doubts that this trip is going to go as smoothly as the guards intend it to go.

At any rate, he glances around the passenger compartment of the truck, noticing the ones who seem the most out of place. The vixen, the Polar Bear, possibly the hybrid. He looks over to the Border Collie, he definitely gets a bad vibe from her. Something about those eyes spells bad news to him.

For the first time the bird speaks up, "Quite the situation we've gotten into, don't you think?"

[Brome Teks]

Cain snaps out of his spacing out and catches what the dragonfox was saying. .oO(Well, Guess that explains what he was arrested for...)

He looks to the avian. "Indeed," He says simply, studying the bird up and down. He looks across the others, and is a bit surprised that he's the only human prisoner. .oO(Guess they didn't find many of the launderers yet...)

[Samantha Arrow]

Sasha started to blush as the males started to turn their attention to her. However, she was scared stiff and didn't respond the the tiger's request. Poor thing was terrified!

[SliceOfDog]

((I promise my posts will become longer once everyone is introduced. Only one more to go!))

Dave growled, and turned away "They are gonna eat you alive in there..." he muttered, glaring out of the truck window, before adding with a wry smile "or something similar"

Meanwhile, Nowen turned to Ryan, his smile dropping slightly, and said "Not as bad as you might think." He looked the bird up and down. "Rank 4 I suppose?"

[Shade Leshyr]

Throughly placed back into a good mood by the sudden conversations, Shade laughed at Dave's comment, "Are you trying to turn me on Hun? You could just ask," he turned his attention to the muzzled Collie and saw she seemed to be sizing up the group, "interested in anything you see there sweetie?" he asked with a giggle. He shifted a little, trying to get a better look at the Collie, able only to lean a little to see her just a tad better and making eye contact so she would know he was speaking to her.

[Dusty]

"Why you little..." the Tiger hissed as he spun around in his seat. Before he could do something stupid Garren grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back around into his seat. "What are you doing?" the tiger exlaimed.

Without taking his eyes off the road Garren explained in a neutral tone, "Don't bother. Your playing into their hands my reacting. It will cloud your judgement." The tiger opened his mouth to protest, but before he could Garren shot him a look that told him to sit down and say nothing. With a grunt the tiger sat back in his chair and propped his leg on the dash.

[Daryn]

Ryan looks over at Nowen and shakes his head. "5 actually. Not that that particularly matters at this point." he shrugs, "Whatever we were, according to the powers that be, we aren't anymore."

[Nelle Kozera]

Well now, I know why he was arrested, common ground is found in the oddest of places... Even with the muzzle she looked very amused. Thankfully it was a yes or no question as a result she shook her head no. What was totally meant the action still clouded behind the muzzle. It was then her eyes locked with his, cold nearly demonic in nature, almost soulless, it may have been a good thing that she wasn't interested. Those eye while they held surprising intelligence also held ruthless barely constrained malice of the purest kind. The contact was fleeting she closed her eyes and lean back it seemed like she was going to try and take a nap.

[Shade Leshyr]

As the Collie locked eyes with Shade, he felt his blood freeze at the look in her eyes. Of all the things that Shade was willing to do or try, stand in the way of this Collie, or anger her in anyway, was at the very rock bottom of that list. The Collie closed her eyes and the spell was broken and Shade felt as if he'd just run several miles. He didn't pant, but his heart thudded in his ears.

He shook his head and looked away from her and back toward the others in the vehicle. His eyes locked on the tiger up front, obviously irritated by his antics and he broke into a broad grin. It was a horrible idea, but messing with the tiger gave him something to do during the ride and the driver had already made it clear that the tiger wasn't allowed to do anything. He looked at the other prisoners and asked, "Anybody know any good songs? I only a few types of songs, course there are some good ones, oh wait I know!! Let's have a sing along, what's that old campfire song?"

He watched out of the corner of his eye for any reaction from the tiger up front.

[Brome Teks]

Cain looks to the Dragonfox. "Don't. If you do, I and several other people by some way or another make you unable to speak. And I doubt the guards would mind." He rolls his eyes. .oO(Idiot...)

He looks over to the border collie and sees that she may be trying to sleep. While it was a good idea to conserve energy, he decided to stay awake to catch any info he could.

[Arratra]

A dragon was standing in the middle of the truck, his eyes scanning the crowd. Someone had placed him in a muzzle, similar to the collie's, on his snout, but mainly just to keep him from talking. They had done it to stem a constant stream of quiet, entirely valid objections that came from the dragon when they had interrogated him.
When his eyes settled onto a single point, it was on one of the guards, rather than any of the prisoners.
When the question of Rank came around, however, his gaze swerved to the side, and he held up four fingers, made a slight sweeping gesture, then held up all five on his hand.
After this, his gaze did not return to the guard, but rather flicked down to his wrist, and the slight, barely noticeable bulge in the prison jumpsuit.

[Jett]

Puk watched the exchange between the loud mouth and the silent one. She reminded him of himself...or something. He couldn't quite put his claw on it. He watched as her body curled backward in a seemingly relaxed position and her eyes closed. His mood was becoming lighter and lighter, as it always did between...

He slumped comfortably and kept his gaze on her. He spread his legs and tapped his black claws on his knees. While she had previously been sizing everyone else up he wondered what she had surmised of himself. Intellect is, of course, a sizable thing, but facades can be another.

Without taking his eyes off the collie, he angled his body toward the white tiger who was chained to the roof of the truck and spoke in a rather surprisingly smooth, yet tough voice, "You ever heard of a library of endless information? If were gonna have ar' last conversation let's make it an important one, shesh! You think such thing exists?" the question was short and low, and all the while he never took his eyes off the collie.