Za'cha looks at the white flag as she hears the "we should talk." thinking to herself, maybe they now know that they were just the meat for the grinder and were not meant to get off this ship alive. She asks "Talk about what?" Making sure that her hood is place she walks into the through the shadows after asking that question.
"You think that you can tell us apart? Many have tried, but then again, many have failed. What do you think the price for that is?" The Three Sisters Lylie-governess to a child of the first plain "You grew up. Thats a shame. The carousel never stops turning. You cant get off either. Its a shame."
Narrowing her eyes, Hannalore watched the room suspiciously, mentally checking off areas where there could be hidden assailants. It was not a small room, and there were, to her untrained eye anyway, quite a lot of chances to unseen backup. Fingering the butt of her gun with her palm, she clenched her long fingers on the weapon uneasily. This did not bode well…
“Wh-why are they trying to t-talk n-n-here? Surely t-they know about the bo-bomb, right? And t-they started th-this, right?” Hannalore was confused, and feeling more then a little threatened. She couldn’t help but wonder if this was the start of some grand trap…
"About...you leaving." said Sophi Marseux in a very calm and deliberate manner. She tried to sound menacing, but admitted to herself that she was just trying to hold back tears.
"You...just have to turn around and head back towards...the cargo bay. The last relay...said that the area was lost to...an organized UMP force. You leave, we leave. You live, we live. Simple right?" Sophi had said what she needed to say to the keshian woman...who was no longer within sight. ------
When Lars Epstien got regulated to 'general upkeep' during his Cadre's very first operation, he understood. When he was told to paint the Firefly armors in a different shade of red instead of commanding joining the initial boarding party, he was perturbed. Now things were starting to go south so much that even a few people he called friend were dead by the hands of enemy he was about to meet.
Lars Epstien was furious.
Compounding his fury, was the fact that vindication was not even to be met on the field of battle. They were to be allowed to waltz right into a tactically perfect area to talk about whatever the hell Sophi was spazing out over.
As his enemy walked into Astra Delphi's temporary HQ, Lars wanted nothing more then to uncork his anger on the first person that opened their mouths, but he knew how to follow orders. Hell, they were even talking like the fight was already over, like Astra Delphi had lost and all this was some sort of formality. Upon this realization, Lars knew it wouldn't take much to set him off.
Which is why he didn't hesitate to draw his weapon when the keshian female damn near vanished into thin air.
"Good news! In less than two seconds, you'll all be the grand prize winners of a lead eating contest unless that woman comes back from...uh...wherever the hell she went!" --------
Xi'ku had never heard the word parley and had no idea what its meaning was. He hoped it was a fancy term for peace or cease-fire or even surrender though, that was just wishful thinking.
"I also snare your concern Private Ureon. Perhaps they wish to end this battle without buffering further losses." said Xi'ku considering this very odd situation.
Xi'ku couldn't quite make up his mind about trusting a bedsheet as a sign of truce. It did seem that the more intelligent members of his group had begun to ask questions while not receiving hostile fire for once. Za'che even sounded interested in what they had to say.
Shouting and the familiar sound of readied projectile-based weapons soon shattered what little hope their was for a peaceful solution. He was too far away from the agitated man for a quick hand to hand solution so Xi'ku had to draw his handguns.
"Drop the weapon. Now." said Xi'ku a low growl.
-----
Aoi almost laughed aloud as she drew her sub-machine guns and pointed them at the big cat and that pretty girl that had dared to fire at her before. Sophi had blown it and the proof was in the pudding as they say. Why Shawn left her in charge of this area was beyond Aoi's current capability of reasoning.
Aoi began to slowly fan out away from her comrades as to not be caught in any hostile lines of fire...no. That wasn't quite as true as Aoi needing to get a better angle on that pretty girl's face. Yes, if she went down, the rest of them would fall back to take care of her allowing Aoi to escape if the need came. -----
Sophi visibly jumped when Lars shouted something about a contest and drew a bead with her long rifle on the first target she could actually see, which happened to be a young looking girl with green eyes and a...scarf around her neck? This was not the way this was supposed to go. Was reason so far out of the question? This fire needed to be put out.
"WAIT! This doesn't have to go on! Just...just leave!" -----
Last Edit: Dec 31, 2007 12:41:16 GMT -5 by antaeus
"4) Lastly, there were some video games that also weakened the MMMG. Most of these games were played at John's house be they video game or rpg." -Celest
"Damn you, Big Brother. Damn you." -Curulambe
"I was told our base was for the Black Man." - batman
Za'cha put down her hood, still by the door. She fanned out her hands in a gesture of peace. " I will let you leave, but we need to get engianes from not go exploding. We let you leave if we get this not to be exploding. O.K.?"
Za'cha recognized that they were desperate. She knew that feeling also. All she wanted was to keep the engines from exploding. "If they exploding then we all not leave. You are for the meat for the gringing, yes? You know this, we know this, yes? So we get engianes not be the exploding and we all go to leave, yes?"
"You think that you can tell us apart? Many have tried, but then again, many have failed. What do you think the price for that is?" The Three Sisters Lylie-governess to a child of the first plain "You grew up. Thats a shame. The carousel never stops turning. You cant get off either. Its a shame."
Hannalore jumped as one of the one of the enemy broke the charge silence with a yell. Questioning what a lead-eating contest could comprise of, her question was quickly answered with the sound of a gun being drawn. A terrified, but strangely charged with resolve, thought ran though her head at the sound. I shouldn’t keep relying on them… I’m going to have to start watching myself, aren’t I?
Pulling her sidearm, she nervously brought it up and scanned the room, where she noticed Aoi looking her way. Ducking low behind the pillar she was next too, the medic trained her weapon in her direction, hoping against hope that perhaps a show of force would scare the hot-tempered woman off. Still…
“W-wait! We can work something out!”
She really hoped this ended up working. Her aim was terrible…
As usual, Summer was thinking. This situation wasn't horrible, but it could be far better. One of them obvisouly wanted to live. The man was probably of no higher rank than George, her wanted action but knows his place. Then of course there was that woman from before, Aoi. Summer wanted nothing more than to but a few between her eyes. But Summer had lived this long only by keeping a cool head and thinking things through in times like these.
Summer continued to think. Her forces outnumbered their's as far as she could see, but not by much. It was possible that they had people hiding, but there weren't that many places. However, she trusted Xi'ku's and George's skills enough to that even if a few more poped out, she felt they would survive. One the other hand Summer didn't want Xi'ku to take any more hits. She didn't trust them to turn her back and leave, she had to stop those engines. She couldn't live with herself if even just one person was left behind. Plus she wanted to see all those who fell got a proper sending. Not to mention that ships are expensive and she would hear it if she just let it exploe.
This wasn't good, it wasn't horrible, but it wasn't good. Summer put her hands on her hips, anyone inteligent would know that it was there to linger near her pistol, but by not drawing the weapon rigth away she showed she was willing to talk.
"Miss Aoi," she called out to the woman, "If any one of my friends are hurt. I promise you that you won't leave here alive, and more than likely, nither will your commrades." She paused and turned her attention to the woman that wanted to talk.
"As Miss Za'cha just said the engines on this ship are going to explode unless my friends and I get there to stop them. Now yes, maybe all of us could just leave and survive the ship exploding, but there is no gaurentees that every last person on this ship would leave, so I'd rather stop the engines. You can walk away if you want to. We will even let you take Mister Ted here if you like."
"The choice is yours. Either you walk away now, or you die. Either way, we are stoping the explosion."
The situation was murky now. “Wh-why are they trying to t-talk n-n-here? Surely t-they know about the bo-bomb, right? And t-they started th-this, right?” It seemed Hannalore had hit the nail right on the head.
"I actually don't know, Hardzel. I can only hope they do." The statement trailed off inside of George's head, But if they aren't careful, I'll finish this.
Zeke caught Ureon's attention, "I also snare your concern Private Ureon. Perhaps they wish to end this battle without buffering further losses." said Xi'ku, seemingly in some kind of contemplation.
Smiling to the Lieutenant, George understood, "Funny how they may share that sentiment with us. Let's hope they do, Eltee." Under a flurry of sudden movement, however, Georgiana returned her attention to the enemy. One was pointing a weapon indiscriminately while another was trying to settle the situation down. Oh, geeze. I don't like where this is going, were the words in Ureon's mind as she trained her weapon on Aoi. She had escaped once, but would not be so fortunate if shove finally arose. Oddly, she could feel the sickly cool bead of sweat form on her brow.... and it disconcerted George.
Since the last shootout, Ted had been working on creatively poetic yet startling brilliant escape plan featuring an epic disabling of the keshians with a surprise jump kick followed elegantly by the deft disarming of the two soldier women and ending with a climactic showdown with the team medic. Oh the praise he would receive!
Ted then heard his name mentioned. He had done a fairly good job at staying out of their way until this point, but if Aoi knew he was here and was mad at him getting captured, then there was no time for planning or excuses. He would just have to make this up as he went along.
"Sorry I'm late guys! I was...leading these dolts into our perfectly laid trap!" spoke the former captive, now free of his bonds. Ted, now acting on some sort of adrenaline high/training/idiocy combination, now decided he needed a weapon to further prove just how true his lies were. Now...where could he get an easy weapon? The medic!
They should have eaten him when they had the chance. ----
"You'll...what!?" said Aoi adjusting her aim to the loud mouth woman as she failed to suppress a laugh. The nerve of some people.
"Better soldiers then this lot have died trying to take me out! The security teams at that weird lab had the sense enough to call for backup before taking us on and they still died!" Aoi openly laughed as she spoke. Almost overcome by the absurdity in this situation.
"Heres your chance to find out what I mean." ---- Battle initiated: Encounter 02. Battle Post
Last Edit: Aug 10, 2010 16:35:23 GMT -5 by antaeus
"4) Lastly, there were some video games that also weakened the MMMG. Most of these games were played at John's house be they video game or rpg." -Celest
"Damn you, Big Brother. Damn you." -Curulambe
"I was told our base was for the Black Man." - batman
"George take out Aoi!" Summer calls as soon as the woman pulled the trigger. Summer drew her weapons as her mind began to race. How the hell did that Tom break from his restraints. So much for a human sheild. He'll have to die too.
Summer dashes to the side to avoid Aoi's fireing. A sub machine gun. That could hurt. "Everyone spead out!" Aoi's attention was on her for the most part. Summer could take a few hits from it. Hopefully Aoi would focus on her. It would hopefully allow George to do her job.
Ok left are, Tom, the pistols and the that girl Sophi. Summers mind raced more as she calculated. She wish she could trust Za'cha more but hopefully the she-cat would agree with her tactic. Summer had some idea of what would work best. Now to put it in motion.
"Hanna take cover!" She than began she best efforts at Keshian. The accent may be a little off but she hoped that they would understand. >Za'cha, if you can please see that the sniper rifle stays out of this. You skills are best at that. Xi'ku retrive Hanna's weapon. Then focus on the pistols. We can do this if we work together!<
Summer pistols in hand takes her shoots at Aoi. Hopefully with two people aiming at her she'll only dogde one.
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Battle Post
George watched as Lars divided his attention between herself and Xi'ku. With a wide arc, Ureon placed herself on the other side of her pillar. When Lars fired, the shot would be placed where he had seen her, not where she was. The Private could hear the bullet ricochet off the metal plating. It didn't concern her where it came to rest. Only her orders mattered, "Take out Aoi."
Hefting the Magnum up, George took the moment to precisely aim. Free of the worry of Lars's weapon, her mind focused on her training. The weeks of basic flooded her mind and clarified the situation. Aoi fired, put bullets into the air, but she didn't move. George didn't hesitate a moment longer. She shoved her left thumb into the safety and then applied five pounds of force with her left index.
The three inch, high explosive shell tore out of the rifled barrel with the ferocity of a tiger and the grace of a bull elephant. The projectile pierced the target's personal shields and detonated just inside, enveloping Aoi with a fiery inferno of pain. Without hesitation, George opened the chamber and jettisoned the spent we shell from within. It was immediately replaced with another by her delicate fingers. Resealing the chamber, George took aim again.
Things were getting bad, quickly, it seemed. Hannalore's mind raced, as she tried to keep up with how everyone was talking, moving, acting. Realizing combat was inevitable, she lined up a shot at Aoi and fired, only jumping a little as her finger pulled the trigger.
Ted, much better trained for these sorts of situations, saw his chance. Noticing that the medic seemed to be distracted, he jumped at her, just as her finger moved on the trigger. She shrieked in surprise as he crashed into her, causing her shot to disappear into a ceiling duct. Smirking as tried to get away from him, Ted grabbed the poor woman by the throat with one arm, and maneuvered her out of cover with the other. He wasn't sure who she was aiming at, but he had noticed Aoi lining up shots in their direction. Perhaps the medic would make a good bullet shield...
Hannalore, confused as to what was happing, threw up her hands in from of her face in desperation, quaking in pain and terror as shots ranging out around her, striking off her armor. Feeling her pistol yanked out of her hand during the panic, her mind raced, groping for a way out. Think, Hanners! There has to be a way out! Find it!
Suddenly remembering her Zorbidov shock stick, dropped one hand, hoping to get to it before Ted noticed what she was up to. If only she could get to it, then she could maybe get him in the stomach or side with it... --- Battle Post
Aoi counted the rounds she was firing at...well pretty much everyone. The red ammo indicators on her began flashing as a warning no later then two seconds into her current engagement, filling Aoi with a sense of accomplishment. A blue aura flared to life around the small woman twice in rapid succession drawing Aoi's attention to the source, that annoying woman.
"You'll neveAAHHH!" screamed the blue haired girl as the impact of the impact of the grand magnum cut off any sort of taunting. The small woman is easily thrown a dozen feet backwards into a wall by the raw concussive force of the impact, shrapnel and fire licking at her through her now failing protective field.
Pain shot through Aoi's upper extremities when she pushed herself up off of the ground and took off towards the engine room full tilt. How could they be that fast!? Is this the power of of the Coalition!? What did they mean by 'bomb'? Shawn...I have to warn him!It was completely unbelievable that she was beaten a second time...no...it was Sophi's fault. She had to let them in to talk instead of just shooting first and piecing it out later. Well, she can deal with the mess herself. A damn shame Lars and that other guy got caught up in it, they would be missed.
---------
Ok Lars! This is your big chance! The secret is to not get killed in the opening shots, especially from...nobody.Lars had been ignored. Passed up for 'higher priority' targets.
This allowed for certain tactical freedoms with a little cooperation from Sophi...who wasn't even participating in combat.
Aoi then. She would know exactly...when to start running away...hmmm.
Ted could...
Lars decided he would have to make his last battle his best. ---------
Ted, as normal, hadn't actually thought his action through. While relatively quick in his execution, Ted had failed to consider all of the ramifications of him accosting the 'squad' medic. The very notion of somebody attacking Aoi would have sent Thomas into a rage, why would it be any different for these guys? The very idea of igniting the powder keg or retaliation in some terminal form involving the severing and summary consumption of his internal organs had not crossed his mind till after he had aggressively acquired Hannalore's gun and then only after he saw the big keshian barreling towards him...from mid air.
Fast.
It would be the last thing poor Ted would think. ----
Xi'ku knew that look in his former instructor's eyes and they spoke worlds of information in less time then it took for them to blink. What was the human word? Symmetry?
So it came as a great shock to the big keshian that his attention was to be directed at helping Hannalore pick up a misplaced weapon in the middle of a firefight in which he was already surrounded. Xi'ku was tired. He was so tired in fact that if it were any other person giving the order, Xi'ku would have ignored it and just keeled over at the thought of...of...
What was the human word? Babyknitting?
Xi'ku jumped backwards and twisted with all of the strength he could muster while praying to his ancestors that his armor would hold against the oncoming assault. Still in mid-air, Xi'ku thrust his right arm out towards and firmly grasped the smaller man's neck, taking a bit of satisfaction in the crackle of energy he heard upon contact. Continuing to flow with the momentum of his spin, Xi'ku lifted the now quite paralyzed man off his feet. He was much lighter then he looked.
"This...has to stop!" roared Xi'ku continuing past the 540 degree mark of his rotation, slamming the man once known as Ted into the hard floor with a satisfying, electrically punctuated crunch which could only have been several vertebrae.
"4) Lastly, there were some video games that also weakened the MMMG. Most of these games were played at John's house be they video game or rpg." -Celest
"Damn you, Big Brother. Damn you." -Curulambe
"I was told our base was for the Black Man." - batman
Damn it. She ran away again. Summer was sure that that woman would die this time, especially after George's shot hit dead on. That woman was going to prove very difficult.
The pain of bulletes hitting her armor refocused Summer's attention on the battle on hand. She would have to take care of that Aoi later. Summer did a count of results of her order. Xi'ku had done his job perfectly, as expected. He always performed well when given orders. Za'cha was no where to be seen, hopefully she was doing what she had asked her too. The woman Sophi had yet to do any thing and the pistols was focused on her for the time being. Things had for the most part gone as planed. The only thing was that Aoi ran... again.
Summer took two shots at Lars with her pistols. George needed a new target now. "George!" she shouted "The pistols!" They should drop quickly where the brunt of her force focused on them. Hopefully the show of force and quick actions of her team, and Za'cha is she was doing her job, would keep Sophi out of the battle. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Edit: Battle Post
Action time Lars! You've got suprise on your side so now is not the time to think, ACT! Lars' first impulse was to throw a grenade and charge before they reorganized. A stuned combatant was a dead combatant, he could also engage the other multiple targets thus occupiying any unknowns. Lars spoke aloud when he charged.
"They will finally know my name!" ----
Time seemed to slow as a phenomena in the opservation dome that day on the Ulysses. A perfect storm of chance, coincidense and luck occured that foreshadowed very dark times to yet to come. The warrior known as Lars lept forward into battle, determined to make his last battle more grand then those of his compatriots. The Healer was scrambling to defend herself from a seemingly hopless situation having been accosted by one who ranked among the lower echelons of the unknown assailants. Her saftey compromised, the Healer had set about implementing her own solution putting her faith in a small stun weapon instead of her allies.
Yet, she still had allies.
The Teacher had entrusted the saftey of the Healer to the Guardian, who carried out his charge so well that when he smote the assailant it caused the Healer to lose control of the weapon, sending it across the floor seemingly out of harms way. In fact, the unasuming weapon flew into the path of the one known as Lars connecting squarely the man's leg. The resulting pulse told his muscles to freeze allowing the Teacher's well aimed attacks to hit the man's heart, taking him out of the fight. ----
"4) Lastly, there were some video games that also weakened the MMMG. Most of these games were played at John's house be they video game or rpg." -Celest
"Damn you, Big Brother. Damn you." -Curulambe
"I was told our base was for the Black Man." - batman
Leveling her weapon at the remaining enemies, George emerged from her point of cover and approached the still remaining woman, Sophi. With frustration, fury, and the wrathful vox of an angel, Ureon commanded, "Lay down your weapon, now!" With a twisted kind of satisfaction, she could feel her own speech rattle down her weapon like a volley of fire all it's own.
Summer quickly begins looking around, taking stock of the situation. George had a hold on the woman Sophi, Ted was dead, the other man was dead. Xi'ku seemed.. tired. Summer didn't blame him. She have to do something for him later. Recommend a promotion or something.
Aoi had gotten away. Hopefully she would die soon, but Summer knew where she was headed. She was going to warn the engine room. If there were lucky they would find her body while on their way. Summer didn't think they were that lucky. She didn't leave things to luck often. Then again... Za'cha was no where to be seen. It was very much her style to disappear and do things her way. Summer very much hoped that Za'cha had followed Aoi and taken her out.
Hannalore looked shaken, as usual, poor woman. Summer was still trying to figure if she had purposely sent her shock stick toward that last man or if she had simply lost it when Xi'ku attacked Ted. Summer knew what she was going to say though.
"Thank you Miss Hannalore. You're quick thinking allowed me the opportunity to bring down our opponent. I will have some very good things to say about you when I make my report." She holstered her weapons. "Now, Miss Sophi, I suggest you listen to Miss Georgian and put away your weapon. We still have a bomb to take care off."
While all of this fighting was happening Za'cha thought that this would be a good time to leave the fighting up to the foot soldiers and for her to go do her job. When the loud and obnoxious leader of the soldiers started to call out orders Za'cha did what she does best. She disappeared. She picked her way around the outside of the fighting and started toward the engine room. As she was walking she heard footsteps coming fast towards her. Looking behind her she saw the woman named Aoi barreling in her direction. Za'cha stepped into the middle of the hall and braced herself for the impact. Why do I let myself do these things. Za'cha thought as the woman ran straight for her. It's a good thing that my cloak is up or I wouldn't have been able to do this. I love this cloak.
((ooc: I hope that this was alright for a post. I have kinda been out of the loop for a while. Just let me know if it is not.))
"You think that you can tell us apart? Many have tried, but then again, many have failed. What do you think the price for that is?" The Three Sisters Lylie-governess to a child of the first plain "You grew up. Thats a shame. The carousel never stops turning. You cant get off either. Its a shame."
The fear that had gripped Sophi had passed, bleeding out of her extremities and leaving a vague tingling feeling in her fingers and toes. She had stood motionless and apathetic to her adopted sibling's plight and had thought nothing of it when Aoi and Lars were taken out by...those same people that had killed Karl and Thomas. Sophi felt a familiar heat around her cheeks as she considered what to do next, comfortable in the fact that is would involve violence. Sophi (still standing in the same spot she was when the shooting started) resolved to join her fallen comrades in typical Vanguard fashion, but just couldn't get her appendages to move in any meaningful degree.
Hell, she hadn't even realized that the fighting had stopped until the girl with Thomas' gun stuck the aforementioned device directly in her face and started barking orders. Sophi didn't let Shawn make demands like that and get away with it let alone some Coalition dog. Time to teach this mutt not to bark, the hard way.
"Yes'm. I shall comply." said Sophi clearly and distinctly while laying down her customized anti-material rifle in the ground in front of her.
Wait. That... wasn't what she wanted to do.
Sophi mentally went through a Vanguard combat readiness checklist, almost literally beaten into her during her earliest years:
1. She felt light headed. That covered fatigue. 2. She felt out of touch with reality which covered disconnection. 3. Finally, she handed over her weapon to the enemy over killing them with it. Thats a big check on lack of prioritizing.
Great. The textbook definition of combat fatigue. thought Sophi. She must have been exhausted after that mission in Xualla. Ok, just tell her to piss off and that she is not going to get anything out of you.
"I'm sure you have lots of questions." said Sophi in a coy fashion. Inwardly, the woman was quite confused. Ok, Shawn was acting weird but...this is getting out of hand. ----------
Marshall Prost now know what exhaustion truly felt like as he sat atop a heap of smoking parts that was a thoroughly destroyed Vindicator II. His labored breathing finally began to slow when he let the now empty Light Anti Armor Weapon tube slide out of his now throughly destroyed left hand. There were four PGC Naval Security personnel that came back with the empty Gustavacuator. They had brought what seemed to be a friendly Armor with them for backup, the aforementioned Vindicator II. After the pilot disembarked, it came to life of its own volition and started shooting at them.
One situation after another. It was never easy.
The three men and one keshian woman jumped at the sound of the spent LAAW hitting the ground. They had taken cover when the Vindicator went after them and could only watch in awe as Prost solved one of the many problems that had presented itself in the past 48 hours. One of the men showed his lack of training by speaking.
"S-sir? You? Are...what?" he said unable to prioritize his questions and vaguely indicating the pile on which Prost sat while opening his personal medical kit and starting to climb said pile.
"Phantom System. A central AI controls several terminal drones allowing for singular direction in fleet actions." Said Prost finally summoning the strength to stand.
"Take out the controls and it has no way to relay commands to the unit. Oh, and I'm fine ensign."
The other three showed their lack of training by still staring gawk-eyed at the the UMP commander as he descended what must have looked like a throne to them after awhile. Prost noticed this and attempted to get the ball rolling on the mission he called them to the Ulysses for in the first place.
"Look, I'm fine. Well...my watch stopped, but that happens at least once every month or so. I have to take it to a shop to get it recalibrANYWAYS...we've got a job to do folks. One last loose end to tie up before I handle the big problem."
"4) Lastly, there were some video games that also weakened the MMMG. Most of these games were played at John's house be they video game or rpg." -Celest
"Damn you, Big Brother. Damn you." -Curulambe
"I was told our base was for the Black Man." - batman
The pain in Aoi Soba's arm wouldn't go away. She had shot herself up with an emergency stimulant designed to kill intense pain like the kind she was feeling. The shrapnel shard was in too deep and it vibrated with each rapidly placed, heavy foot fall as Aoi made her second strategic retreat of this battle. Aoi thanked whatever powers that be for stopping her tears as her one uninjured arm was occupied in taking care of the other and couldn't be bothered preserving her dignity.
Aoi was making good time down the primary access hall towards engineering. It would have taken a dedicated pursuit in order to catch up with cadre Astra Delphi's top runner, and they would have to be incredibly brave and to follow her at top speed due to the possibility of traps and/or additional entrenched forces. Regardless, she felt almost warm at the idea of seeing Shawn again. Knowing that the one man in the universe who could make this mess right was little more then 100 yards away gave Aoi the closest thing to joy she had felt in the past 48 hours.
Or maybe it was just the drugs finally kicking in.
Aoi's personal security field flared to life as she hit...something full tilt. She must have been traveling at some speed as well as being of larger mass then her as the field counteracted collision physics and lifted her a good foot in the air before failing completely though, not before accomplishing its job of protecting her person from harm.
Mostly.
Unable to catch herself with her hands, Aoi hit her head on a corner wall with such impact as to stain her dark blue hair with a streak of blood. Despite herself she let out a quite undignified series of words not fit for polite conversation. Gathering herself, Aoi turned to face her aggressor expecting a large crate or a bench or something that it turned out not to be.
From her position on the ground, Aoi observed a familiar tall, dark skinned woman whos pink hair looked more like platinum blonde in the Ulysees' failing running lights. Most alarmingly, she was wearing Vanguard light combat armor and wore a large saw-like weapon on her left arm. Most inflamatory, she was smirking...with her foot sticking out into Aoi's previous travel path.
"Lacy you bitch! What the hell do you think you're doing!?!" Aoi said in a low growl through gritted teeth.
The taller woman laughed.
"I'm cleaning up the trash, you cow." the woman known as Lacy's words were punctuated by the activation of her weapon. A quiet, but distinct whirring noise accented its wicked nature.
The color drained from Aoi's face. Could Shawn have given Lacy a kill order? But why? She was about to protest and question the validity of Lacy's last insult, when the saw came crashing down where her head had been seconds earlier, digging a groove into the re-enforced steel floor and shooting sparks in every direction conceivable. Aoi, having jumped to her feet and into the air avoided the attack.
"Cow!? You're like twice my size! Twice as ugly too, but now I'm just adding on." taunted Aoi who, back-flipping, punctuated her words with three well placed cluster grenades. They exploded less then a foot away from a strangely calm Lacy. There were three explosions, followed by several secondary explosions and a whole mess of dust and shrapnel. Aoi's PSF came online just in time to block the worst of it, but could feel some of the smaller shards of shrapnel biting into her legs. Aoi couldn't help but allow herself a triumphant smile. Did I get her?
Which was the exact moment the saw decided to go straight for her stomach.
Twisting away in mid-air was a testament to Aoi's athletic abilities, yet it only saved her from being run-through. The saw took her in the right side, just below the ribcage and was very painful. When she landed in a heap for the second time in just as many minutes, Aoi tried to yell in pain only to notice just how deep that cut was. The feeling of elation that Aoi had felt entering this hallway had disappeared being replaced with abject fear. It hit Aoi like a ton of bricks. The logic of Lacy's callsign and nickname had eluded her since the beginning of her teen years up until this very moment.
Buzzkill.
----------------- "Cow, because they are dull witted, slow moving and easy to predict." said Lacy taking slow, deliberate steps emerging from the cloud of debris. Lacy spoke just as deliberately, taking her time to enjoy her work as well as daring the much smaller girl to try a last ditch attack.
"There were twelve different options for you to dodge my attack. The easiest path for you has always been route of quickest egress so knowing this...well, you get the idea." Lacy finished with a chuckle. She had almost pounced on the smaller woman when she coughed, trying to retain control of her breathing.
"Eh? What was that? 'Why wasn't I harmed by the blast'? You never did learn how to properly identify threats." Lacy ran her free hand over part of armor and continued.
"Heh. Thats really why I'm here, you never learned. I'm just finally sick and tired of you running back to Shawn, batting those baby-blues in his face and expecting him to clean up after you!" Lacy kicked the fallen woman. Aoi managed a yelp and attempted to guard her wounded side. This display only futher angered Lacy.
"Even during training we needed to have someone on 'Aoi duty' to make sure you didn't screw everything up just like today. Well, I'm sick of it! We were all sick! Of! It!" Lacy repeatedly kicked the downed woman, almost losing her composure and losing track of her surrounding...and who was in them.
"You were never fit to be a part of this Cadre and when I bring your head back...well, it may be my chance for a little alone time with Shawn. Finally. Without you in my way. Goodbye Aoi, you will not be missed." Lacy raised her weapon, intending to end a deeply held grudge. She smiled as Aoi had rolled into a corner with no way of escape. Typical. Incompetent to the very end.
Hell. I took too long. Lacy's features suddenly darkened. She had detected...something. A threat possibly and there were far to many variables to engage at this juncture. Lacy's expression changed from 'barely contained, deranged glee' to one of stark determination when she turned her head slightly to address the new arrival attempting to hide itself.
"You'll have to do better then that. You can clean up this mess, I've got work to do." spat Lacy as she began her egress back to engineering.
"Well, the cavalry has arrived. You survive by the good graces of someone else yet again, you trash." Lacy kicked Aoi one last time for good measure before exiting. Hard. -----------
Aoi coughed trying to get fluid out and air in knowing full well that one of those kicks broke a rib and punctured a lung. It burned just breathing. She didn't have long and her only thoughts were to curse the person or persons that had 'saved' her. Each word Aoi spoke came out labored and strained.
End Encounter 02. Artemi Edit: Fixed a weird formatting tag error...
Last Edit: Aug 10, 2010 16:40:35 GMT -5 by antaeus
"4) Lastly, there were some video games that also weakened the MMMG. Most of these games were played at John's house be they video game or rpg." -Celest
"Damn you, Big Brother. Damn you." -Curulambe
"I was told our base was for the Black Man." - batman
Za'che looked down at Aoi and then at the retreating figure. The small human was obviously hurt. That was something that she could not do anything about. Za'che stepped forward and removed her hood hesitantly. "I sorry that I stopped your..... pretty..... liked..... hourned death. I think that you will expire soon. I can not do any about this."
Za'che pitied this woman who was denied her Honorable death. It must be horrible for this warrior to be denied the death that she deserves.
"I must be go now, for any to leave here with their lives still theirs. Is there any I can do for you? I will try to make this more Hourned for you. A worrior deserves this at least. Not how the cowerd one left you."
"You think that you can tell us apart? Many have tried, but then again, many have failed. What do you think the price for that is?" The Three Sisters Lylie-governess to a child of the first plain "You grew up. Thats a shame. The carousel never stops turning. You cant get off either. Its a shame."
