Infinite Project | (IC)

Shasta Trinity National Forest | Pass-n-Gas

Alex had to stop his advance when he got to the edge of the glass box around them, stopping and turning his head to look at Jason's phantom. "You know we ARE kind of on a time limit here. Network can explain it better than I can anyway so you're going to have to wait til we're in the clear." He said before again trying to get the others to push forward. Alex seemed a bit impatient about getting back, as if he were paranoid about being spotted.

Skies of California

The Pigeon was flying at great speed towards the water, its pilot was moving her shoulder to calm the throbbing on her muscles "Ok, we got a bad situation that went worse, a group of soldiers from another faction, and a technological crazy child and our shuttle is pretty much compromised." Lynchwood spoke to the group "So for the sake of not being ambushed by idiots or drones, we must escape and get off the radar as fast as we can."

Samantha was slowly letting the adrenaline leave her body, the muscles on the armor were getting on a more feminine form again "I wouldn't we surprised we are being tracked already, but as soon as we reach the water, we got a chance to hide, unless you and your friend fly this thing like a sunday driver."

The experiment's senses were starting to bother her, one of them being the smelling part, she couldn't take away the scent of blood from the injured soldier, her inner instincts were kicking in, but the armored woman kept them in check, trying to focus in other senses. Her eyesight was now focused on the skies as she looked through the window, she could see with great detail the minimal scratches on the panel, then her hearing went to the pilot, the markswoman's heartbeat was still agitated, but in a more normal rhythm, that was good, then.. a hissing sound?

Looking around, Samantha paced around the ship, the sound was so small, almost unperceptive, but it was just there, one thing 034 knew was that if there was a hole on a vessel, on a high altitude, it was the foreboding of a decompression and pretty much death of anyone inside if the damn thing got ripped open by the pressure.

"Was the ship damaged through the evacuation?" Samantha asked aloud, with the ship's AI responding directly "Negative ma'am, the Pigeon got no hull damage throughout the trip and the hostiles didn't fire at us as we escaped."

This wasn't good, something was going on, and they didn't know, but soon, it was Sarah who spoke "Guess we got some problems, could you look around for any malfunction or thing out of place?" the blonde asked the armored experiment, with the latter doing rounds around the ship, the helmet ears looking around and the glowing lights where her eyes were focused.

"Pilot Lynchwood, I would suggest we leave the vessel, I will have a replacement for you and your new allies," the AI within the ship spoke, this earned a grin from the blonde "Hey, how much is this thing valued?".

The hybrid responded without hesitating "At least 7 zeroes, why?"

Sarah was already making the autopilot route "Would you be able to get another one? We don't have many vehicles."

Sam grinned behind her helmet "You must remember I got many of them without using money."

Shasta Trinity National Forest | Pass-n-Gas

Jason gave a resigned sigh as he followed, not really knowing how any of this was happening, but accepting it for now. Little he could do.

Meanwhile, Jenny had her mind set on getting home. She knew why Alex would have wanted to go home so soon, and she did too. Once they were safe, they wouldn't have to worry about the enemy wandering behind and following them home.

Shasta Trinity National Forest

Alex again began leading the other two out of the gas station and back into the forest. He started out at a walking pace and then slowly sped up to a quick jog. He knew the others would be able to keep up with little margin for error at this pace while still getting there quickly. Jason would have somehow recognized the landscape as if it were all familiar to him. Stranger yet is that he would have known exactly where Alex was heading, the secret entrance to their base, or rather one of many. It wouldn't take much longer now.

Shasta Trinity National Forest

Jason and Jenny followed closely behind Alex, and now that they were running, there was little to be said. That being said, Jason was still tempted on asking what exactly was going on. This new development suddenly had him recognizing a part of the forest that he had never been to, and he even knew where they were headed. Was it some kind of mind altering psychic? How powerful were they to be capable of using their ability at such a long distance?

Shasta Trinity National Forest | Entrance to Project Esper

As the trio made their way deeper into the forest, the came across a small cellar door hidden at the trunk of a tree. It was covered by fallen orange leaves that seemed to be glued to the top, camouflaging it well with the rest of the forest. The door was locked however and could only be opened from the inside, or by an esper capable of moving the iron lock from the outside. "Can you get it" alex asked Jenny, trusting she could probably multitask with her abilities.

Meanwhile Jason would have been able to tell that beyond that door were thick layered walls, including one layer of lead which prevented the government from finding their hide out. This whole place, the area both above and below would become increasingly familiar to him despite having never been there in his life. As he waited for the door to be opened, a small voice spoke to him, not in his ear, but in his head itself. "Hey there" It was sudden, but defensively there... It was his sister's voice from 17 years ago.

Shasta Trinity National Forest | Entrance to Project Esper

Jennifer gave Alex a quick nod before touching the door and putting the smallest iota of her concentration to unlocking the door. All the mechanisms clicked and shifted into place, and the door opened.

"All done.", Jen said as she gave a thumbs up.

While Jennifer unlocked the door, Jason had something rather strange, rather harrowing happen. He was going over and over it in his head why he remembered this place until he heard what he could only describe as a ghost from the past whisper to him inside his own mind. Immediately, Jason's heart jumped and his breathing increased in intensity. Everything felt like it was moving so slowly to him as he pieced together who the voice belonged to. It didn't take long. After all, it was one of the few people he could never stop thinking about during his time locked up as some kind of weapon. It was his sister. Jason didn't know how far this psychic had penetrated his mind, but he did not like it.

"Get out of my head. Now.", Jason coldly, harshly said aloud, instinctively clutching his head as he focused on the voice.

Shasta Trinity National Forest | Entrance to Project Esper
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The moment Jason spoke out against the voice in his head, he would have felt a slight moment of fear, not his own but fear from the voice that had spoken too him. suddenly the phantom versions of Alex and Jenny faded from his sight. It seemed whoever was inside his head was gone now, in fact they left in a hurry. Meanwhile Alex actually turned to Jason, a look of disdain on his face, though it could not be seen. "Jesus fucking Christ we're trying NOT to be detected remember?" he whispered back to him before hastfully opening the hatch, He was about to climb down the ladder, but hesitated for a moment, as if he were thinking about something. He put a small tap from his foot to use his sonar, making sure he knew where everyone was before looking in Jenny's general direction. "Uhh maybe you should go first."

Shasta Trinity National Forest | Entrance to Project Esper

Jennifer quickly turned around when she heard Jason suddenly and rather harshly spoke. He only assumption was that he was talking about Network. She did not know why he would have spoken like that to her, and frankly this was not the time to go asking. She would figure it out once they were inside.

Meanwhile, Jason was already put off by the person in his head that took his sister's voice, and Alex only served to make things worse. Jason wanted to say something to him, a retort, a harsh remark, but right now was not the time to fight. Just as well. Once Jason had his guns, he would make preparations to leave and be on his way.

While that happened, Jennifer gave Alex a somewhat large smirk as she put 2 and 2 together.

"Really? Your loss then.", Jen teased as she tilted her head to the side to look at him as she passed. She then lowered herself into thje ladder and took a brief moment to see his reaction.

Shasta Trinity National Forest |Air above Pass-n-Gas

---

Sidna was monitoring the gas station for quite some time, waiting for the group to make their way out again. She did not notice them when they passed by using the glass and light manipulation. After some more time waiting, Sidna decided to begin preparing the crime scene, and survey the area for anything of interest. She released many small worker robots over the forest, especially where the fight had taken place, to see if she could learn anything with eyes on the ground. In around 6 hours, they would probably make their way towards the gas station, where Sidna could check if they were still hiding there. If they had somehow left, she could trace their footsteps, or other clues left behind when they left the station.

Skies of California

---

Sidna's plan had accounted for a lot of factors. She knew the group would most likely try to get away, and so they did. A ship was a bit unexpected but still worked. Going underwater how a much bigger problem, especially salt water. Underwater she couldn't as easily receive radio signals, and the bots she had used didn't have any native acoustic equipment. The first she did was to upload blueprints for acoustic devices into the bots so that they could rewire parts of the ship to create the sounds. She also created directives to search for acoustic equipment and do other tasks when they lost connectivity. Finally, she also uploaded a blueprint for low a frequency receiver she could use to send data to the bots, as long as she could find a sender big enough.