[The Gentle Breeze] Chapter 3 - Psychadellic Boogaloo

[TheFirstOne]

Jayden immediately stiffened up at the touch, moving away. "I don't like to be touched," She said, a little harsher than she may have intended it to come off, before stopping her sternum rubbing. "So, he must really be out if that didn't wake him up," She said, looking around the maintenance room. "Which means, we need Viz to wake him up as much as I hate to say it, but she's unconscious. So, let's have some fun. He's not going anywhere," She said, grabbing a bucket and filling it with water.

"Sorry to hear about your magic, by the way," Jayden said as the bucket was filled. "I don't know anything about it, so I can't really help you about it, but I can imagine it sucks," She said, turning to look at Dante, leaning on the wall. "But, I'm actually starting to think the bloody hand print is my hand, and this guys blood. He's probably also the reason my body suit was in the dryer and I couldn't get it out," She said with a frown. "Maybe be was bleeding on me and we were trying to help him? He felt bad for getting my suit wet and helped me wash it?" She asked, frowning as the bucket started to overflow. She turned off the water. "Would explain why I was naked, and why my bodysuit was cleaned, why my bloody hand print was on the wall, and why this guy is locked in here with us. Though, why he was in the vent is beyond me," She said, picking the bucket up and starting to walk into the main room.

Jayden walked over to Viz, and then stopped, thinking about pouring the water on the blue haired bimbo in front of her. Then she put the bucket down beside her, and stuck her hand in it. "Always wanted to see if this worked," She said, reaching down and picking up Viz's booze. "This must be what put her down..." She said, bringing the bottle to her nose. "Smells like a cocktail of some kind... It's pretty strong too," She added, tightening the cap and placing it in one of her suits pockets.

 

[ArsenicJohn]

Brigid glanced back as Sif departed, hearing the bang from the laundry. She shook her head. Jayden had probably been behind the noise, though she didn't know what they were doing in there. She really didn't want to babysit Viz. At least she's asleep, Brigid thought to herself as she knelt down to open the storage unit. She touched the side of the unit and it opened slowly.

The slow reveal was perplexing and anticlimactic. She pulled out a gun similar to her own except for someone with much bigger hands than herself, as well as some ammo. Remembering that Jayden had been missing clothes, she thought the gun could be hers. The question was why the hell had they locked her gun away from her. She activated her comms. "Sif, ma'am. I think I found Jayden's firearm and ammunition. It was locked in a storage unit I'm not sure even she could have opened." Brigid reported, standing up to put the contents of the unit down on the counter.

She jumped when she heard Jayden speak from almost right next to her, catching her pocketing the booze. "Viz isn't going to be happy that you took her alcohol." She said, holding the gun and ammo out to Jayden. "She's pretty deep asleep there. Maybe we should check the liquid in the flask. It could be drugged."

 

[CadetNewb]

???????
Lobby/Common Area

Even as Jayden left Sif behind to see what Dante had found, she could feel the Tigress's empty, blank stare on her back. The sensation only seemed to intensify as she drew closer and closer to the maintenance room where Dante was, only to become utterly dreadful as she set her eyes on the Koala.

Despite their effrots, the koala's warm body was limp like a rag doll as Dante and Jayden did their best to clean it up, its breathing picking up pace ever so slightly. Even as they talked, the young man didn't really didn't find anything as he peered into the vent. Not even any dirt or dust - it was kept immaculately clean. And knowing how the Daqinese liked things, recently too. More importantly, it took a 90-degree turn a meter or so in, and Dante couldn't see past that anyways. It didn't seem like that mattered though. Jayden had something else on her mind as she filled the bucket full of warm water. Leaving the Koala behind, the sensation of dread slowly fading away, the two walked down the long hallway, past the dorm rooms and back to the lobby before performing their holy task.

Dipping the priestess's hand in the bucket of warm water. It didn't take long for her frown to turn upside down. Watching this, they all knew what it meant, and they could all imagine her wailing, wretched screams on discovering what had just happened. Or worse. For the briefest, flickering moments, they could all imagine Viz yelling and crying at them to give her some of her own booze. Speaking of, the flask that Jayden took from Viz felt heavy and full, but that didn't matter. That feeling of dread returned, stronger and stronger with each passing moment.

"I shouldn't have to watch your video feeds and baby you all," Sif's flat, emotionless voice began as she returned from the laundry room, " - but given that you all had effectively left what might as well have been a baby behind, I suppose I expected too much." The snowy haired tigress set the koala in her arms down on one of the couches, its equally small and not-so-bloodstained janitor's jumpsuit a cruel, mocking reminder of what it was. She glanced at it with a grunt before turning her attention back to them all. "Still, good work," their commanding officer looked squarely at Brigid. "Also, after investigating, I found that the red paw mark isn't blood. It's paint. Red paint," Sif explained, her eyes set on Jayden.

 

[TheFirstOne]

Jayden snickered as her plan came full circle. That'd show the bitch, but, it still didn't wake her up. "You're fucking joking..." Jayden muttered. "Suit, record the last uh... two minutes? Since I entered this room," She said, picking up the bucket of water and looking Viz over carefully. "Just gotta..." She said, before Sif started talking. "Probably cause you should be doing so-" Jayden started, turning around and looking at Sif carrying the Koala with her. Then she heard Sif call him a baby, and her face screwed up a little.

"Don't you patronize him like that!" She snapped, taking just enough time away from the rage to finally dump the bucket over Viz's head, then tossing the bucket to the side to look at Sif. "He's not a baby! He's a fully grown Koala Chongwu and does a super important job around this place!" Jayden growled. "If it weren't for him, the Daqin would probably have a panic attack trying to figure out how to use a mop and bucket. For all you know he could be fourty! An old man! You're sitting there calling him an infant cause what? He's cute in his little janitors outfit?" Jayden asked, rolling her eyes.

Then her eyes narrowed. "What, did you go and grab him because I told you I would go be productive? Gotta come back and find any reason to make me look dumb?" She asked, crossing her arms. "He was fine, where he was. Plus, if on the off chance he was dangerous, he'd have to walk down the entire hallway without any of us noticing him to get the drop on us. I thought we were supposed to be minimizing personal casualties or whatever I was told in that training course thing?" Jayden asked starting back down a hall. "Ground Control to Major Dumbass, I'mma go and try to open a few more of these doors," Jayden added, stopping at one of the door. She wasn't fully aware if it was locked or not, but... that didn't matter when you were 500 pounds of 'fuck you'as the Liger kicked the door in as hard as she could.

 

[Noodles]

As the door broke away from the frame and swung open and the room was revealed- the woman inside stirred. Royama, who had been missing for sometime since everyone had woken up, was sprawled across the floor in a heap. The door being totally fucked was enough to shock her from unconsciousness. She squirmed around on the ground as she tried to sit up- it took a few seconds of this before she was mostly upright and staring squinty eyed at the Liger, "What the fuck?" She murmured, "What's going on?" The doctor looked around the room, confusion set on her face as she tried to make heads or tails of things. Why was she on the floor? Why was Jayden breaking down doors?- and more importantly why had she been asleep on the floor in the first place?

She was alone in the room- or had been, at least. Everyone else had either been spread around, or had already gotten up. Both, probably, given Jayden was just now busting down the door.

 

[Sageshooter]

Rikka had been a confused mess of indecision as everyone else ran around. She had been told to keep watch and that was what she would do, blue eyes watching the halls until called off or something more pressing arose. She felt overwhelmed and out of place without her armor or hood, like if something went wrong she would never be able to help. She felt... Vulnerable, and it made her second guess a lot more of her decisions than she usually did. Multiple times she had gone to help the others, only to freeze up and wonder if she would be in the way or screw something up and instead had remained where she was until finally Jayden began to kick in doors and find stuff.

She was quiet as she walked forward, a glance to Viz to see just what all the effects of Jayden's actions had on the girl before she peered in to see Royama. "Hello Doc... Welcome back."

 

[ArsenicJohn]

Brigid shrugged and placed Jayden's gun on the desk beside the ammunition. She was done worrying about Viz. All obvious avenues of investigation in this area had been closed for one reason or another. There weren't enough pieces yet to even make a guess. Not wanting to let the big dumb cat show her up, she decided to start exploring other areas.

"Sif, ma'am. I am leaving Jayden's gun on this desk. I am going to explore dorms systematically." She said, giving a slight bow.

She walked down the female side past the door Jayden just crashed through and drew her sidearm. Examining the next door down in number, she tapped at the door panel that would normally open it. Her security clearance should allow her access, she hoped. She pointed her gun at the door and nervously waited for it to open.

 

[Helios]

"Jaydens right, it was best to leave him back there, he's not going to wake up for a while so why carry him around like a toy" Dante said, regrouping with the squad and expecting some answers as to why they just woke up with no memory of how they got there. Spotting royama as she was only just waking didn't give him very much hope of what information they had.

Dante sighed as he trudged through the room and dropped into a seat, the looming sense of urgency that had hassled him into finding the koala faded when he saw that everybody was present and accounted for. "What happened with the security footage?" He asked sif, she had been trying to access the computer so there must be at least some kind of answer to why they couldn't contact other squads.

 

[CadetNewb]

??????
Lobby

As water splashed over Viz, the top of her buttoned up business casual grew opaque while the red arm band and skirt turned deeper in color as it spread. Watching her chest rise and fall with each breath only made it clear how amazing the Daqinese body armor was. It was pretending to be a busty woman under a wet top. "Mmm...monsturr," she briefly muttered under her breath. "Nooo....in the....trash..." Sif's eyes shifted over to the blue haired woman as she spoke in her sleep, but only for a moment before her attention went back to Jayden.

"But...he is cute," the Tigress stated. Despite her flat, emotionless tone of voice though, her ears drooped at the tirade that the big Chongwu went on. "Plus, he's safer with us," she added, glancing at Dante as Jayden stormed off. She then looked at everyone else. "I hope." She slumped her shoulders and sat down for a moment. But only for a moment.

The crash of an angry Jayden down the hall was unmistakable, and Sif quickly went after her.

??????
Female Hall

Jayden was angry. And alive.

Her heart beat away to a furious tempo, and every single nerve of her body tingled with energy. What's more, her senses felt sharper than ever! But that intense, heavy feeling looming down over her like a dark cloud took away any pleasure she could have gotten from this. Worse, that sensation of dread and animosity faded as Jayden left the lobby, but by then, so did that rage and adrenaline induced high. It was probably comical, seeing Royama laying there in the small dorm room, its bed neatly made and desk - complete with an empty pet's cage - tidy. They could even see the portrait of a fit, chocolatey skinned woman with thick, muscular thighs, white hair and rabbit ears standing alongside what had to be her human parents. Second class. There were several other pictures of her posted on the wall too. Of said woman dressed in the leaves and wood of elves as she stood beside them. Of her at some government building with several other protesters and holding a sign that said "Chongwu are People Too!"

However, finding Royama here instead of the woman in the pictures was in and of itself a problem.

"Did you even try to open it normally first?" Sif's voice suddenly asked from behind Jayden. The Tigress looked down at Royama, the tip of her feline tail held high and twitching with agitation. "Apparently, we have a missing occupant." As Brigid prepared to open the next unit, the Tigress drew out her own pistol and nodded, ready to breach. The two of them, and Dante as well, could feel a tingle of magic at their backs, likely from the other side, but that had to be ignored. Now was the time! The moment the door smoothly slid open, the occupant gave out a surprised squeak and held both of its paws up. "A guinea pig," Sif realized, holstering her pistol. "Someone's pet. Both Royama and the guinea pig gave the rooms the occupied status," she realized. Looking through the room, it was clear that there had been a struggle. Books were strewn about, a coffee mug had been shattered, spilling its contents, and a few clothing drawers close to the ground were left open as though someone had attempted to cling on to them for dear life.

It wasn't hard to figure out why. The things there told their own story. Looking around, they could see that the shatter proof picture frame tossed to the floor showed a pair of immaculate Daqinese roosters, one male, one female, and several human children that were clearly not theirs. The clothing that flat out stated that they were from an orphanage chain made that clear enough. Another picture, knocked back on the table, showed a young, freckled woman with blond hair in a crowd of people rallying in front of the capitol in New Texas. The signs they held read things like "Chongwu will not replace us!" and "Animals are Animals!" Another picture of her, this time, sitting up from an immersion tube, feline ears and tail present, her adoptive parents smiling proudly. She had gotten rid of her humanity. Second class.

Taking in a deep breath, Sif answered the Infernumar man. "The system has been tampered with, though I don't know how," Sif explained to him. "I did synch our own systems with the dorm's mainframe as part of standard operating procedure though, which would explain why even our suit recording is missing footage." Sliding back behind the receptionist's desk, she tapped its surface a few times in thought. "I've been trying to trace the computing activity for a bit now, but I think I have it. Someone should investigate the bathrooms - there's a computing cluster in each apparently."

 

[TheFirstOne]

"Of course I didn't," Jayden said, looking at Sif. "Kicking the door is more fun, and it's not like I have to pay for it. Chongwu can't have property or money, so if anything comes back on me, it's going on Sakamoto's bill," She said, clapping a hand on Royama's shoulder with a smile. "Welcome back to the land of the living doc! Sleeping on the job huh?" She asked, turning and ducking back under the door. She walked over to Sif and Dante, looking at the guinea pig who was surrenduring. "Another Chongwu... Type one?" She half asked, looking at the room it was in. She walked up to the picture of the protest and snorted. "Hey look! Your model citizen Sif!" She said, holding up the picture before tossing it to the side, letting it smash on the ground. "I'm not smart, but even I can taste the irony in that picture," She said, looking about the room.

"Man, can we just not find this one? I would sleep pretty well even if she was being tortured right now," She muttered, leaning down and flipping the bed instead of just looking under it. "Don't mind me," Jayden continued, pulling drawers out and emptying their contents with little care. "Just looking for clues. Acting within my role, doing all the hard work!" She said, casually knocking an embroidered mug off the desk. "I'm too stupid to be careful. Gotta find clues!" She smiled continuing to look around.

 

[Noodles]

With a roll of her shoulders Royama popped her joints and then straightened and re-tucked her blouse into her slacks- trying to do so with as much decorum as possible. It wasn't easy with the bodysuit on underneath.

She let out an amused snort at Jayden- briefly raising her eyes to look at the resident angel as she popped her head into the room, "Absolutely. It'd be much easier to continue doing so if you weren't making so much noise." The maturing woman climbed to her feet and rubbed the sleep from her eyes, "Catch me up. What's going on? I definitely don't remember coming in here let alone falling asleep." She squinted her eyes as she looked around, swiveling in place as she took in her surroundings one piece of furniture at a time. She grimaced as Jayden let the picture fall to the ground, "Let's try not to make any more of a mess than we need to. If only avoid breaking anything that might prove useful later. Please." She asked gently, as she set about groggily having her suit scan her body for any foreign substances.

 

[Helios]

Tilting his head to the side as he looked down at the guinea pig dante groaned "so many chongwu so few answers" he peaked into the room royama was in and shook his head "im starting to think college girls are more hassle than they're worth, and i'm their age!" He excalimed.

Dante looked up and down the female hall listening to his squadmates, or rather squadmate, further destroy an unnasuming dorm room. Taking a step back from the doors he sighed "well you guys have got the search here locked down, i'm gonna fix whatever is in the bathroom" Turning his back on the group he pulled his gun out again and started lookig for the bathroom.

 

[ArsenicJohn]

Brigid lowered her gun and holstered it. She bent down and patted the little chongwu on the head. Glaring at Jayden she picked up the guinea pig. "You're going to scare him! It's okay little guy." She said, giving it a gentle hug against her chest. Part of her wanted to take it with her but she handed the animal off to Royama. "Protect this cutie from Jayden, please. Don't want her to squash him by accident." She said, rubbing its head.

Turning back to the doorway, she pulled her gun again and followed Dante. "Don't want you going off by yourself again. Last time didn't turn out so well, remember?" Brigid said teasingly.

Frowning, she continued in a more serious tone. "You might run into trouble in the ladies' bathroom. Whoever did this could be in there."

 

[Sageshooter]

"I, am not the cause for the noise. Jayden is. She is in a mood for whatever reason." Rikka turned to look down the halls to where Jayden had gone, ice blue eyes staring after her for a moment before she turned from the doorway fully and began to walk down and explore more. She watched Brigid touch and tap away at the console thing on the door and walked over to look it over confused. It seemed to be like those back at their base of operations, but those things usually worked automatically when she walked closer which made it easier for the technologically illiterate Angel. But as they walked in Rikka again remained at the doorway, eyes up and down the halls to keep watch for anything that may happen out in the halls while attention was focused inwards. She still felt strange and odd without her armor, silently wishing she had it with her or at least one of her weapons, feeling more naked than ever.

 

[CadetNewb]

???????
Female Hall, Tale of Two Rooms

With its paws held up in the air, the guinea pig nodded its head at Jayden's half-asked question. It was indeed a Chongwu. However, it soon popcorned as the Ligress began to casually knock things over like it couldn't be helped like a housecat with a bad attitude. Backflipping through the air out of distress, the fancy furred rodent landed on its feet again and nervously tittered as one item after another was knocked over. For the most part, Sif simply took the abuse Jayden doled out, but remarked, "I'd rather not find her either, but a job is a job." Rummaging through the student's dorm room to the guinea pig's horror did pay off though. The Ligress soon found a knitted bag with balls of yarn, and sarcastically imitating a cat clawing at it, popped her claws through her suit's gloves before slashing it to bits. However, a pin cushion flopped out and onto the ground.

One carefully, skillfully knitted into the exact likeness of a certain janitorially jump-suited marsupial. Considering what it was, it was run through with a wide assortment of knitting needles and the like.

"We woke up mid-mission with our memories only going as far as somewhere in the middle of the briefing," Sif began to explain to Royama as her medical scan came in clear. "The facility is locked down now to prevent anyone from escaping or getting out, and we did find some clues." She glanced at Jayden, but didn't say anything more than that. It was difficult to say if she held her tongue for the Chongwu's sake or to avoid stating something so embarrassing however. "This cushion doesn't bode well for the Koala Janitor we found passed out with a nosebleed," the second class Tigress observed, her voice flat and aloof as it always was. Looking to Brigid and Dante though, she nodded and gave them the go ahead. "In addition to any findings, let me know when you two have recharged your power," the woman reminded them. However, the guinea pig had something else on its mind as the Infernumar woman picked it up and handed the little chongwu to Royama for safety's sake.

The large rodent, despite being in the woman's grasp, began to furiously point back to the room in which they had found her to begin with.

"Rikka, do you have any animal communication abilities?" Sif asked the Angel. "My rider abilities don't give enough detail. This guinea pig chongwu wants to go to that other room, and it isn't the high-end type that can wirelessly interface with everything," she explained. Back down the hall and at the lobby though, they could hear Viz moaning.

"Mah boooooooze....." she murmured.

????????
Female Bathrooms

What Brigid and Dante found could only be described as a luxury bathroom. Like the smooth, polished black main hallway and suave main lobby, it gave off the impression of being inside a space ship despite its clear and intended use. The waterfall style sinks to either side of them gently, quietly ran non-stop as blue, green or red light diffused through its water. Deeper in, the toilet stalls gave off the subtle vibe of each being a slick, simple airlock, the indicator lights making it known that none were locked and in use. Or, so they said. One of them was even marked with a red cross, making it clear that it was a med-station of some sort. But all the way in the back, opaque glass divided the area into several separate shower stalls. Like the sinks before, the brightly lit water continued to quietly, soothingly run.

But simply looking into the area, their HUDs were automatically greeted with information, their attention immediately being drawn to the far, polished black wall in the back - did they want to change the bathroom layout? Switch it from individual stalls to a group bath? Swap out the aesthetics and theme? Put on some music? Have some bathing company that could wash their backs for them?

 

[Helios]

Female Hall

Dante stared at the pin cushion koala, blinking in disbelief at the sewing needles through it. "That girl is definitely evil, or at the very least a psychopath, I'll leave hunting her to you" he said pointedly to jayden "have fun"

As he heard brigid teasing comment dante groaned, it would have been worth it if he didn't end up spawning a demon but who could've seen that coming. "If I didn't know any better, brigid, I would say you're jealous" he teased back "after all its 1-0 to me if we keep score"

Female bathroom

The concubus entered the bathroom with his pistol raised, if something was blocking the computers in here it probably wouldn't just give up without a fight he reasoned. His resolve and awareness lasted all of 10 seconds, spotting that the stalls were apparently unoccupied left him with some relief.

What knocked Dante's focus off the mission the most were the suggestions coming up in his HUD. The infernumar male grasped that the Daquinese had complex technology he couldn't understand but he really didn't expect bathing company on command to be a luxury they could avail of.

 

[Noodles]

Female Hall

Royama's face scrunched up as Sif explained the situation to her in full. She had already come to the realization that her memory was awfully hazy- she didn't need that one explained to her- but it was good to know it was the same for everyone else as it ruled out her managing to drink herself into a blackout or some other strange personal lapse of memory.

The Doctor squinted at Jayden, grimacing as she continued to needlessly destroy things, "You are a horrible listener- Jayden." She complained, but made no real moves to stop the oversized cat- there was no real reason to make her stop, after all. The knitted koala caught her attention long enough for her to make a face of disgust. Sif handing her the guinea pig was the only thing that stopped her from going and picking the terrible little pin-cushion from the floor. With the squirmy, pointy little fuzzball in her delicate grip she turned her attention to the room that the Guinea pig was pointing at so frantically.

She stepped towards the room, hoping that the creature in her hands could lead her to some solid clues, "Just don't break anything important, Jayden!"

 

[TheFirstOne]

Jayden continued her rampage, finding some catharsis in ripping apart all the yarn balls. Sure it was stereotypical, but at the same time, everyone could go fuck themselves. Yarn was awesome. She wasn't even listening to everyone else at this point, at least until she got a hold of the Koala Doll and just looked at it. While many of the thoughts in the room were that this did not bode well for the Koala, Jayden thought the opposite. This did not bode well for the one who owned the knitting supplies. She did notice the Guinea Pig pointing at a door.

Someone, or something, must be behind it. She looked around, finding anything she hadn't topped over before walking over to the Closet. She didn't much care if there was a "normal" or "expected" way of opening doors. That was boring. Instead, she ripped the door open as hard as she could. pulled it open, ripped it off it's hinges, whichever kind of door it was, she made sure it would fast and aggressive. Shock and awe baby.

 

[CadetNewb]

???????
Female Hall

The guinea pig in Royama's hands quailed in fear as Jayden tore the closet door open with a crash, the reinforced polymer crumpling aside like it was cardboard. As the Ligress searched about, tossing clothing and ripping through dresses, its tiny paws grabbed on to one of Royama's fingers and shook it around like a joy-stick before frantically pointing to the room from where the doctor had emerged. Just as Jayden turned around with a malicious glee in her eyes, the guinea pig leaped out of the doctor's hands and began desperately scratching at the door to the other room. The Liger's heavy footsteps followed on after it, and as the door began to slide open, the guinea pig slipped through just as metal warped and groaned as it was simply torn out of the way.

The door just didn't slide open fast enough for Jayden. Scurrying into the room before the Ligeress, the guinea pig leaped into the cage and vanished inside the small house, the lights to the set's base coming back on.

"Evil cat-thing!" a tiny voice called out at them. "Skitter-flee!"

"Congratulations Jayden. You've absolutely terrified the witness," Sif stoically remarked. The guinea pig chongwu had returned home to its set, powering it on and activating the speech device installed in the process.

???????
Female Bathroom

Standing within the shower area, they just didn't see the computer core that they were looking for. Instead, all they saw was a very nice, sleek, clean bathroom, just as they should have. The Daqinese were just going to leave the computing cluster out in the open, weren't they? The more they thought about it though, the less that sounded right. They were probably going to hide it or something. As they thought this over though, the computer text on their HUD asked again if it could help them with anything.

Right as they heard a faintly muffled snore from behind them in in the toilet stalls.

 

[TheFirstOne]

"Oh yeah," Jayden said, turning to Sif. "Cause the rodent being terrified of the giant cat lady is abnormal?" She asked, looking at the cage. "It probably thinks I think it's delicious. I could also kill it by stepping on it. You'd be scared too if that was the case. Of course, you're daqin, so I can't scare you. So ask it questions, and if it doesn't answer you, tell it I'll eat them or something, I don't know," She grumbled, crossing her arms. "But you told me to go look around and be productive, so I'm looking around, and making sure my productivity can be noted."