<::||The Candidate||::>

[Dallas]

<::||The Candidate-The Interview||::>

NOTE: This story is set in City 45, in the year 2023, the events of HL2 are literally weeks away, the divisions of the CCA have long since been disbanded as the force is condensed and processed into OTA, Dispatch now controls the CCA, High Command and all units around in the server have either died or been turned into OTA, this is a darker and more visceral CCA of anonymous orders and faceless units. The CCA is now in full control, Humanity is crumbling and their spirits are breaking. In the midst of this a young woman; Emily Page, seeks to escape the life of hardship and finally join the CCA however this CCA has a very different recruitment process... The Candidate will document Emily's experience in the CCA Candidate selection program.


The circular microphone loomed awkwardly from the booth in front of Emily; she shifted with unease as the device halted in front of her lips, inches away. The tiny metal box was dim, Emily had been locked in here; taken from her home in the night, she was terrified.
'Candidate.' The voice of dispatch began in a contained quiet. 'Apply.' Emily glanced off to the left as she instinctively replied.
'Emily Page, Civil Identification Number: 22581.'
'22581, has submitted a Civil Authority Recruitment application, confirm?'
'Yes.' She replied, her voice cracked with nervous thought. Dispatch clicked and whirred beyond the box, processing the information a moment later it spoke.
'Candidate confirms, Dispatch commencing mandatory loyalty check.'

The walls to her sides opened; several probes emerged, the chair on which Emily sat slid back suddenly, the probes locked her face in position, Dispatch spoke once more, it's thoughtless voice in a calm tedium. 'Candidate, specify motive for recruitment.' She dared not look into the cameras that slotted into place around the chamber; instead she gave the stock answer.
'To serve the Universal Union.'  Dispatch beeped softly then asked.
'What is the Candidate's former nation of origin?'
'U-U-United Kingdom...' Emily replied shakily as the probes locked her face into position, sending metal bars that tugged at her eyelids, forcing them open.
'Dispatch has no data on specified country, repeat.'
'United Kingdom.' Emily Said again but without the stutter.
'Dispatch registers.' Dispatch replied flatly. 'What does Candidate wish to gain from the recruitment program?' Emily paused but then spoke up as she realised Dispatch would be picking up any hesitation.
'Candidate seeks... To be part of the Union, to serve it as a unit of the Civil Authority.'
A faint beep sounded again, Dispatch quickly clicked.

'State time Candidate has been resident to City 45.' Dispatch requested.
'Four weeks.'
'Dispatch counts twenty-nine day cycles, nineteen hourly cycles since transfer.'
Emily cringed as Dispatch rolled off the numbers. The front panel of the booth slid open; a sharp blade ejected from the wall, prodding out at an angle.
'Candidate, confirm loyalty status.' The blade remained motionless, Emily's heart rate began to increase, Dispatch knew it, so did she. 'Place your hand upon the blade, Candidate.' Emily reached forward, the probes folded off, she eyed the knife with fear and dread, her hand grew closer to it; she wrapped her fingers round the blade as Dispatch asked.
'Candidate, under the Union Doctrine of Civil Protection Act One, do you hereby pledge allegiance to the Union so long as you may live?'
'I swear my allegiance.' Emily replied, doubting herself at the back of her mind.
'Candidate.' The voice began as the blade pulled sharply back, slicing Emily's hand. 'Your application has proved adequate, you are herby accepted into the CCA Recruitment program, welcome Candidate Page.'   

[Khub]

I love this. Please continue.

[swag master spiderman]

This is best CCA, looks pretty good apart from that one spelling mistake.

[Dallas]

<::||The Candidate- Processing||::>

She sat once again upon a metal chair, she was one of fifty chairs in a long line, they were stripped naked and told to look forward at all times or be shot. Those that entered were units wearing dark black masks and uniforms, the voices cold and deep, they lined up behind us, Emily could hear them though dared not turn. The marching of the line stopped, a single series of footsteps sounded thrice before halting.
'Candidates!' Yelled the soulless voice. 'My name is unit Zero-Zero-One. I am the leader of the one hundred Training officers of Orion Base. My units are loyal, they believe in me, to them I am the master, my master is the Union.'  Emily stared forward at the wall, her eye twitched involuntarily as 001 spoke again.

'You are all here to be trained, to be tested, to be used. To the Union you are tools, tools of war; a war against instinct.' The unit paused, beginning to pace along the rows of chairs, sighing at the ground quietly before continuing. 'To me you are worthless, to me you are expendable, I see you and I say that I am worthy, you are not. Should any of you dare to fail me, then you have failed the Union, I have no trouble getting you amputated, are we clear!?'  There was a silence but it was soon shattered as a male voice spoke from the end of the line to my right.
'Sir yes si--' The gunshot sounded off automatically, without a moment of delay; 001 had shot the man. Emily shook with sudden fright but dared not to speak for fear she may suffer the same fate. She listened, biting her tongue down as she closed her eyes tightly. She heard the sound of the body slumping from the chair and the faintest sobs from the ones seated next to the dead man, their shocked faces coated in the blood.
'One down...' The Officer said, as a unit walked over and dragged off the corpse. 'Forty nine to go...' The Officer turned to the units and ordered. 'Units, begin processing.'

The uniform steps sounded as the line took up position behind the chairs, the unit behind Emily; identical to the rest, he didn't bat an eyelid at all the exposed flesh of the Candidates nor the unhealthy physiques of them, they cared little for the bloated stomachs brought on by starvation or the protruding ribcages that pushed up against the skin of every candidate, Emily included. The units grabbed hold of the candidates by the hair; Emily yelped with sudden surprise as the unit produced a set of clippers, turning it on with a loud click. The unit then attacked Emily's hazel hair with them, cutting deeply into her locks, cutting them asunder and casting them to the floor. Emily was left bald, like the rest of the candidates and although she could not see herself, she would surely have been upset at her new appearance. The units spun the chairs round and pulled us into line, still naked and ashamed.

The officer paced along the line, inspecting each of us, the room was cold, the units never noticed but every candidate felt it and shook and shivered in the cold temperatures. As The Officer passed, he spoke with grey monotone.
'You are here to become something more than flesh and bone. You are here to become a Unit, to be a Unit is to stand for the Union... And the Union will only let the fittest survive.' The Officer looked down at Emily as he passed, he noticed her head was hung, like the others, looking down at the floor, trying to pretend she wasn't there.
'Candidate.' 001 spoke to Emily whose heart skipped a beat with the sudden fear. 'Why do you think you are worthy?' Emily panicked, her mind skipped over ideas to please the Officer, she thought of a number of things in a second before simply saying.
'I am not worthy yet, sir.' Her head was still fixed upon the floor. The Officer paused at this, placed the fingers of his black leather gloves on Emily's chin, raising it up to stare into his dark mask.
'Good answer.' The Officer replied, relinquishing his powerful grasp before whirling his right hand in the air. At once the units herded the candidates off towards the barracks where they would be showered and dressed. Emily left that room with her head low and spirit lower as she stepped over the blood puddles left by the body. Training hadn't even begun yet....

[Reaver]

I like this, you should continue it, creating a story surrounding Emily.
It was also be interesting if, after applications and interviews, this was yet another test for CCA candidates. Stripped stark nakd, humiliated and pushed to the limit to find only the best of the best.

[swag master spiderman]

I like this, you should continue it, creating a story surrounding Emily.
It was also be interesting if, after applications and interviews, this was yet another test for CCA candidates. Stripped stark nakd, humiliated and pushed to the limit to find only the best of the best.

Yeah but now we know what would happen .

Anyway.

* Turian Nigga ? Moon reads

* Turian Nigga ? Moon cums.

[Dallas]

<::||The Candidate- The Kill House||::>


The explosions filled Emily's ears as she ran through the concrete labyrinth; the training "kill house" as it was called. The walls of the corridors were rigged with motion mines, above the course; three officers fired haphazardly into the maze from their elevated platform. The woman in front of Emily took a sharp right, Emily followed onto to see the wall to see the female explode into a cloud of blood and debris, she had ran over one of the mines. Emily was knocked to the ground by the explosion; her head screamed in pain, her hands shook violently as she stumbled to her feet. A series of shots ricocheted through the cloud of blinding dust kicked up by the explosion, Emily pushed on forwards, slipping on the bloody entrails of the woman. She came to another corridor of the maze; the platform overlooked it directly- giving the Officers a clear shot at anyone on it. Emily's head was spinning at this point though, she wasn't thinking straight and was considering just trying to run for it when suddenly two males charged past her, knocking Page's jaw against the stone wall.

The pair sprinted forwards; the course's exit was at the far end, their pace only quickened as the Officers fired their MP7s into the corridor. The one in front was struck in the neck; he stumbled over, falling to his knees, gasping for air and grasping his throat as the male behind leapt over him and powered forth. Emily took this as her cue; she began to run after the man, towards the end of the corridor. The man was in the last few metres when a mine detonated to his left, spraying his guts over the course's finish line. Emily leapt over the shot man who was now lying still in a puddle of blood, she continued running, a single officer laughed as he fired a single pistol shot. The shot impacted Emily's right arm, she cried out in pain and fell against the side of the corridor, she wept and cursed in sudden shock, blood was flowing freely from her arm. She mustered what strength she had and picked herself up and began hobbling towards the end just feet away, she cleared the course, stepping over the splattered remains of the detonation.

She fell over onto the concrete floor of the finish line, weeping and groaning in pain. She looked up around her; there were about twenty-something survivors in various positions around the room, they all had wounds of some kind, the featureless concrete room had only one door, which was sealed. The door swung open, the officer 001 sauntered in, clutching a revolver as he eyed us all with disdain.
'Candidates.'  He spoke with blank monotone. 'That was, by far, the worst thing I have ever seen.' He began to pace along the injured and bleeding rows of candidates, Emily was among them. 'How disappointing.' He finished, his words hitting Emily like a dagger. 001 knelt by a man; the man was curled up trying to hide something, he cursed and cried even in the silence produced by 001, the officer pulled the man to reveal his injury, his arm had been blown clean off. 001 tutted through his mask; a hollow echo that sounded through the room.

'We can't have armless units now... Can we, candidate?' The man just wept as 001 stood up and fired his revolver through the man's head, soaking the ground in grey matter. 'Amputate any of them you deem useless.' He ordered as two more officers entered the room. Emily was to be later treated for her wound... Some of the others there weren't so lucky.

[Martinerrr]

Woah.. Well, this is the only topic I'm notified of when new posts are made.

[Dallas]

<::||The Candidate- Target Practice||::>


'Candidates.' Officer 015 said as she paced in front the diagrams of the formations and along the rows of desks. 'Now that you know these formations, I expect a full written summary of all seventeen of them, by Oh-Eight hundred hours tomorrow.' Emily suppressed a sigh. She and the twenty other candidates stared blankly at the boards, studying the dots and arrows, trying to make sense of it. Emily had only understood ten of the seventeen formations and it would seem she was going to be punished for failing to meet the deadline. Page wondered what it would be this time; a beating maybe or electric torture, her mind tried forget out it for now.

Suddenly the doors at the end of the classroom swung open and in walked Officer 045; he surveyed the candidates before turning to 015.
'Ma'am, 001 requires three candidates.' He spoke, bringing his posture to a perfect straight.
'Very well, Forty-Five.' She walked towards 045; down the centre of the rows before gesturing the two to her left and right to stand, among them was Emily.
'Thank you, ma'am.' Replied 045 as he turned to the door. 'Move it, candidates!" He roared as we got out of our chairs to follow.

We came to the Officer firing range; a prestigious enclave of weapons in storage along with an expert level marksmanship range. 001 sat in laying position on a wide plush and decadent chair; his left arm hung off the back of his resting, his right arm held an AR2 assault rifle. He didn't even notice us enter as he popped off rounds down the range from his relaxed position.
'About time.' 001 grunted as he saw us out the corner of his eye. 'Forty-Five, take them out onto the range.' 001 gestured to the dispenser on the wall. 'Give them each a can of water, I want them to balance it on their heads and wait.' Emily knew where this was going; to say she was afraid would be an understatement. She shuffled along the stone floor, out onto the bullet laden range, she and the other candidates halted about twenty feet 001's chair, their cans grasped shakily in their hands. 'Further!' Yelled 001, Emily began to tremble, her eyes beginning to well with tears as she thought this could be it. Another ten feet back. 'Further!!' Yelled 001 with a slight sardonic laugh trailing off his order. They stood around one-hundred feet from the Officer, their backs pressed against the wall, the olive candidate uniforms pressed up against the bullet holes, Emily looked around at the two others; their faces were scared, they looked at her in the same way. At that moment Emily took it all back, she didn't want to be here, she had only joined in hope to lead an easier life but she has seen too much pain now, it was then Emily's emotions escaped her and she began to sob.

'Oh come now, candidate!' Shouted 001 as he drew up aim. 'Emotions are our enemy.' He whispered to himself, straightening the rifle. 'Balance your cans now!' He ordered mockingly. The candidate to Emily's left balanced the can on his head as ordered; he too was upset, tears began to fall from his eyes as he muttered some form of prayer and shut his eyes tight. The round escaped the AR2; it impacted straight into the can, exploding water all over the man and Emily; they gasped shook at the sudden situation. 'You! Female! Balance it!' Demanded 001 as he snapped his sights to her. Emily was now in full emotional swing, she began to silently beg 001 not to shoot her, she wished she had never applied, she wished she was dead...

The round fired, the can above Emily shattered and flew to the ground, drenching Emily's hair and jumpsuit, she gasped but then gathered herself, she tried to make sense of it, whether or not it's better she lived, her thoughts scared her almost as much as 001. The Officer then fixed his aim on the final candidate. 'Trust me!' He roared, firing the AR2, the round missed the can and ripped straight into the man's head, missing by a mere inch. The man fell back against the wall, eyes a cold and sad shade, he slid down the wall into a crumpled, half kneeling mess before falling face first over onto the concrete, Emily turned away, repulsed by the sight.

'Oops!' Shouted 001 as he swaggered out onto the range, AR2 swinging in one hand. 001 stopped in front of the body before emitting a light chuckle. 'You are dismissed, run along to your lessons.' He finished before he jammed his AR2 into the man's eye and pulled down on the trigger, his chuckle growing into a maniacal laughter as we hurried out.

[Martinerrr]

It's been 4 days, rest in peace.
aka bump we want more

[Dallas]

<::|| The Candidate- The Survival Test ||::>


Emily awoke in the darkness; she had been torn from her bed and drugged, she was awake now, in blackness, void of anything. Emily's legs had been bound together; she was tied firmly to a chair, her wrists bound also. On her lap was a single note, a message of some kind; it lay torn and crumpled, above Emily a faint dim bulb sparked briefly. Emily grabbed hold of the paper with her restrained hands and inspected it closely, her mind beginning to panic, her mind was awash with fear, her hands shook franticly as she held it close. The words were scrawled in poor handwriting, heavy lead pencil was the tool of its origin, the message was short but readable.

"You've failed."

Emily threw the note to the ground.
'No!' She screamed in the dark, the bulb flickered and died with a whimper as the distant sound of a gunshot sounded followed by the stamping of boots. She pulled frantically at the chair, trying to escape her prison but to no avail; she fell sideways with the chair. He hand brushed by something, an object, she grasped it and flicked it on, a bright beam of light hit the wall, skirting along the ground in front of her. A small knife lay on the ground, Emily grasped for it and used it to cut her free from the chair and un-bound her legs, she then positioned the knife, holding it with her knee on the ground and yanked upwards, she succeed in awkwardly cutting herself free. The noise was getting closer; "Inject!" A monotoned voice shouted from a speaker several rooms away. Emily took the knife and tried the only door in the room- Locked. Page cursed and shouted out for anyone to respond, she heard the screams of the people now; panicked screams followed by gunshots, this wasn't training, this was execution. The candidates were doing the shooting now. The noise reached the outside of Emily's door; the sounds of boots halted as a lone series of steps sounded directly overhead the room. The gunshot sounded immediately after Emily took position by the door; the candidates funnelled in, not checking the corners, focussed squarely on the chair that was exactly the same as the other rooms... Only this time there was no candidate. By the time they had realized their mistake, Emily had left out the door and had begun running back through the course; she recognized it, it was the Kill-House.

She headed for the exit as the sound of boots began to enclose on her from beyond her view, she ran out into the same corridor from before; the final stretch of bloodied dirt and concrete. Emily ran as fast as she could, she had no idea what she was going to do or even why she was running there, her mind was in too much of a frenzy, she had to go she had to get out.

Without warning, from the end of the corridor stepped an armed candidate; he was roughly the same age as Emily, his hands trembled as he saw Page who collided with him a second later. Emily scrambled onto the man, attempting to knock his 9mm away from his hands; the gun skittered across the floor as Emily raised her knife to plunge it into the man. The candidate forced himself upwards, head butting Emily who reeled back; swishing the blade blindly, the candidate then seized Emily by the shoulders and threw her off him; Emily dropped the knife as she was pinned. The pair struggled; pushing clawing, biting and punching, Emily's grapple with the candidate failed, he pressed his thumbs onto Page's eyes in an attempt to gouge them in. Emily screamed in agony as her hand grabbed hold of something... It was the knife. Emily flipped it round and plunged the blade into the man's throat in a moment, blood sprayed from his wound, onto Emily. The candidate's body fell limp; his hands twitched momentarily before releasing her Emily's eyes (which were not damaged too badly, much to Emily's relief). Emily pushed the man off her; he used the last of his energy to clutch his neck feebly before dieing silently.

Emily stared at the roof, her face and hands now soaked in blood, her eyes throbbed from the pressure, they readjusted to the light with difficulty, she heard the single door open but she was too shocked to react. From her blurred vision stepped an officer; he clapped slowly pacing around Page.
'Very good, Candidate Page.... Is it?' Emily recognized that voice; it was the voice of 001. Emily promptly began to kneel as 001 walked over to the dead candidate who was lying in a slowly spreading pool of blood. 'You evade a group of witless candidates and then proceed to kill another. I'd say that was good considering you're one yourself.' He paused, his vocoder emitting a sigh as the breaching team came out of the Kill House and lined up an the wall. Emily remained kneeling, watching the candidates with distrust. 'You missed a spot.' 001 laughed, drawing his 9mm, flicking the safety off. 'Don't worry though... Candidate Page here has just showed me your incompetence.' The candidates hung their heads out of shame and fear. 'None of you are fit to be units! Your team are embarrassments.' He levelled the gun to the breaching team leader, pressing it against his forehead and firing.

He ordered the remaining three team members to kneel, 001 then turned to Emily and spun the gun round so that the handle faced her. 'Shoot them.' He almost whispered to her as he passed behind her, folding his arms. Emily took the gun and walked up to the first member; a woman, she held her hands behind her head, she stared at the ground, weeping. She remained silent until the bullet escaped the pistol and entered her head. Page moved onto the next one, her hands shaking, held still by the foreheads of the candidates. The second one died begging for his life, Emily sobbed quietly as she approached the third. The final man looked up at Emily as she lined the shot up.
'You bitch... You're one of them now.' He whispered before his brains were sprayed across the ground. Emily stood frozen in front of the bodies, 001 came over and placed a cold, gloved hand on her shoulder; his grip was incredibly firm, it hurt Emily but she dared not speak.

'Congratulations on passing the survival test.' Rasped 001; his very words sounded contrived and forced, anything but genuine. 'Return to the barracks now. You will be taken shortly for the final test.' He finished as he grabbed the gun from Emily and exited swiftly, leaving her among the dead. 

[Reaver]

You should add some inward monologue, like, what exactly she is thinking. You also seem to unintentionally jump from first to third person perspectives, although I do very much like the content, I'm looking forward to the next installment I'm planning on writing one of my own, yes.

[swag master spiderman]

>goes through all of this to become a unit
>stabbed by lolwebul first day on the job

The ultimate tragedy.

[Dallas]

<::|| The Candidate- The Conversion ||::>

Emily had been abducted in the night, drugged and dragged off into the depths of Orion base. Her mind was hazed, she faded in and out of consciousness, each time she saw the same corridors of the facility; faded and cracked. Two units who remained silent throughout the journey were dragging her; Emily clung to reality in the darkness by listening to the constant heavy step of the carriers. Then there was nothing. No sound, no stepping, not the faintest whisper, Emily was alone. A hard pain shot through her face, she opened her eyes and coiled in shock, at once she cowered in fear and confusion. Her vision cleared; one of the units was staring down at her, eyes a lidless blank, he unclenched his fist, satisfied with the punch he used to stir Page from her limbo. The pair then picked up Page once more and continued pulling her along the concrete floor; the legs of Emily's jumpsuit had now become completely torn, every bump and stone of the floor was ground into her knees like hammer on a vice. Emily was still partially numb to the pain however, she cast her squinted gaze around the path ahead; the corridor had opened up to a single walkway over a chasm of blackness, in the centre towered a dark and featureless spire at the base of which a door awaited her. Emily tried to wriggle free with her ached joints but to no avail, she uttered to the units to let her go but she trailed off after knowing that they wouldn't ever betray their orders.

The spire door slid open; a blue hue emitted from the inner chamber, blanketing the walkway in its artificial tone. One of the units forced Emily's head downwards harshly; her neck stung with pain has the units pulled her up and strapped her, barely aware, onto a steel slab. Emily's joints were locked into place; her knees, ankles, elbows, shoulders and neck. She was now fully awake but it was all too late, the process was now underway. Emily struggled to move her eyes to the right where two other slabs stood mounted at the same angle to Emily's, one held a man; he was motionless, his head was limp and had fallen to face Emily, his eyes were glassy and his mouth was wide open as if he had died in agony...

The other slab held a man who, like Emily, had just been strapped in. A screen lowered over his face as a piece of apparatus took hold of his eyes, holding them open. The light of the screen flickered into life, the man twitched as the video played; from her angle, Emily saw the video as a series of flashes whizzing past the man's eyes. The eye clamps then ejected a series of long needles, which penetrated the man's skin; some entered his eyes, others through the eye sockets and into the brain, it was then he began to scream. The screaming shook Emily into a panic, she averted her eyes and began to tug and struggle at her confines but it was not enough; the screen folded down over her eyes and the eye clamps descended, jamming quickly into position and tearing her eyelids open, exposing her retina to the film. The film played; images and sped up clips of violence, murder, anger, slaughter, torture. Pictures and videos of horrifying nature funnelled into Emily's eyes, she gasped upon the first few seconds before starting to shout in fear. It was then she heard the clamp buzz before ejecting a series of needles. She screamed in terror, shaking violently with all her might, she wailed and spat as the syringes entered her eyes, at once the pain was unbearable; she cried out in endless agony, she gasped as the fluids from the clamp were pumped into her before falling into comatose.

She wasn't finished, not yet.
She had to fight it.
She tried to remember, remember the things that she lived for, what was worth living for and fighting for.
The time before the war... It was so perfect, they all lived so blissfully, she had to remember who she was or they would win.

Her sight returned; eyes red with trails of blood from the lingering needles, she screamed.
"I am Emily Page! I am E--" She gasped again with pain as a fresh salvo of drugs entered her system. "I am human! I am not one of them! I..." She tried to remember who she was; she couldn't remember her parents, her brother, her life before the war, the invasion, her assigned apartment, even what she looked like before enlisting was a faded dream. "I will not be like them! Never-- Aaargh!" She continued to shout in defiance. "Never! Not me! Not like this! No, I am Emily! I am fr--" She fell limp against the third and final dose of the drugs, she fell to them and tumbled into a deep and dreamless sleep.

She awoke, an unknown amount of time later in the barracks, she couldn't remember anything... Nothing of the room or the conversion, she rose from bed as a unit entered; he gestured Page to follow, she obliged. Emily felt fine, more than fine; better, much better, everything was clear now. She saw things clear as day; she no longer held any fear to the unit that lead her, for it was he that, like his fellow units, carried the sacred and just mantle of the Universal Union. Page was led to an open topped hanger; above the concrete was a perfect clear blue sky, in the middle of the hanger sat an active dropship; the bay ramp was down, inside there were Page's fellow candidates. The unit took her into the dropship; he then turned, advised the dropship was ready for lift-off then departed quickly as the ramp rose, sealing Page and the rest of the candidates inside the ship. The familiar voice of Dispatch spoke.

"Unit status: Approved. Destination of assignment: City Seventeen."

Emily Page was now dead; Unit 016 had taken its place. 016 stared blissfully stoic straight ahead, just like the others, she was at peace and she was happy...

Spoiler for Hiden:

And that's a wrap! Thanks for reading, sorry for the delay in the final part. Also...

Spoiler for Hiden:

<::|| The Unit ||::> Coming soon... Maybe.

[Khub]

* Khub claps.

The Unit, yes please. Good work. Now, continue.