DammitVictor

Noble Arms - The ASEAN War, Second Thread

Mission Four - Knives in Phnom Penh

Diamond Island Convention and Exhibition Center, The City of Phnom Penh - 11/11/2022 07:19 UTC+7, which is 8:19, UTC+8

[...]

"We have a new member called Lupe Chang; she's a Filipino Chinese with a Noble Arm focused on Healing and Enforced Pacifism..." He then forwarded him a picture of the girl in question, then continued, "Onc you find her, set up a triage site for military folk and civilians alike."

@Letter Bee

Berto looked at the photo briefly. "Wilco."

Berto didn't wait to be dismissed; he never did. Among his many shortcomings in military protocol, this one at least made him more efficient... most of the time. He disappeared into the crowd of arriving aid workers and opportunists, and fleeing refugees, looking like a tourist who had no idea he'd been dropped into the middle of a warzone. Within a few minutes of wandering just outside the arrivals' gate, he'd somehow acquired a heavy sack of breakfast pastries, a couple of large coffees, and a sign that read "LUPE + MYRON" inside of of a crudely fingerpainted black lotus flower.

Just another scared old man, desperate to find his loved ones and get them the hell away from this awful place.

He scanned the rush of new arrivals intently, looking for one particular face in the mass of strangers...

@AtomicNut

Noble Arms - The ASEAN War, Second Thread

Diamond Island Convention and Exhibition Center, The City of Phnom Penh - 11/11/2022

"We're going," the young man said, "Henri, take point until we reach our allies' Transports. The rest of you, follow me and take Cristina; you're going to the Phnom Penh International Airport - It's clear that the shock of this has left you guys unable to fight any further."

@Letter Bee

"I still - have some vim in me. You'll need the backup... and I have a mean left hook."

Raising her left hand, it flashes white, revealing the armored gauntlet of wrath.

"I've never liked leaving anyone behind to make a run for it; I won't start now. Please."

@Amidatelion

"Same deal, Boss. I'll put Crissy on the plane, but... I'm not much good in a fight anyway; I'm no good to anyone warming the bench." He thumps his injured ribs with Archie's Level and winces, but doesn't gasp in pain. "That's as good as I'm gonna get before this crisis is over. Put me on REMF duty or something, if you have to, but this shit's broken and I need to fix something."

"Medic or mechanic don't make much difference to me. Parts is parts, just give me something to do. Pounding we just took..." His voice trails off, and when he speaks again, it's in hushed tones. Referential. "I can put 'em back in the field, or I can try to send them home in one piece. But I can't just... quit now. I need to help. Let me help."

Berto rarely made eye contact; he rarely even took his sunglasses off, if he could help it. But he looked Myron in the eye.

"Please."

Noble Arms - The ASEAN War, Second Thread

Berto looked Nil over carefully. "Man, whoever put her back together is an artist. I can do field-expedient repairs with Archie's Lever, but this is fresh-off-the-factory-floor work-- she's even got that new human smell." He looked around at the rest of Task Force Obsidian's anxious, expectant faces. "No reason to keep her out of the fighting anymore. Yeah, I can wake her up."

In Berto's hands, Archie's Lever turned into a couple of electrode panels on long handles-- like a cross between dental mirrors, tongue depressors, and a cardiac defibrillator-- and gently slid them behind Nil's earlobes. "Sorry, Nilly. Remind me to buy you a drink when you forgive me."

"CLEAR!!"

It's not the voltage that kills you, it's the wattage. The voltage just hurts, and 100,000 volts hurts a lot, even if only for a split-second.

But it sure does put a little pep in your step.

@Gerlando

Noble Arms - The ASEAN War, Second Thread

Diamond Island Convention and Exhibition Center, The City of Phnom Penh - 11/11/2022 06:50 UTC+7, which is 7:50, UTC+8

Myron, Berto, and Cristina had finally joined up with Marta, Henri, Aoi (and maybe Nico), and the Cambodian ASEAN Loyalists. Upon not seeing Noel, Myron grits his teeth and speaks, "I see that Yulian got here before us."

Turning to Marta, Myron spoke to her, Henri, and Aoi, "You three; you're still combat-effective, right? Same for Volunteer Nico Makri? If so, the Philippine Civilian Diplomats are being evacuated to the Thai Embassy, but we need to take stock of what we have right now - The People's Republic of China has denied involvement in this and is saying they won't help the Cambodian Government if we try and 'pacify them'. Why are they saying that? Because they do not think we can do this. Thankfully..."

He then looked at a text message he received, then showed it to everyone else; it said, in English: HELP IS COMING.

@Letter Bee

"Rescuing Noel's high priority and we gotta assume we've got a short window," Berto mused, "but he'd be the first to tell us the mission comes first. Yulian needs to get got and I got a stake in watching him get fucked; I think we all do, now, so... can we consider that a matter of 'operational morale', yeah? I'm not a hundred percent yet, but I'm not a fighter in the first place-- I'm good to go wherever you need me."

"If Uncle Dong-dong's giving us a free throw because he thinks we're weak... he's not going to make that mistake twice. ASEAN needs to punch above their weight on this: take the Khmer off the board, or get them back on our side, and put some rabbit blood in the PRC so they keep making mistakes. I think that's gonna fall on us, Obsidian; Brass is too 'big picture' and we can't count on the Americans being willing to go to the mat as long as the PRC doesn't force them to."

Berto shrugs, and stares at his feet for a few seconds. "I got nothing, Boss. Maybe we round up the rest of the kids and have a spitball session about everything we've got on our little Revolver Ocelot wannabes, or ways to get the royal family to turn this into a media circus?"

Noble Arms - The ASEAN War, Second Thread

(Written in collaboration with @Letter Bee)

Berto tucked his face into the crook of his elbow as he touched Archie’s Lever to the hinges of the door, welding them into solid pieces of metal.

”We’re going to have to rejoin the fighting eventually, but let’s pick the time and place ourselves. And let the rest of our team worry about how they’re going to rescue the kids outside. Right now, our priority’s gotta be the people who are already inside the building, and getting them out of the building.”

Myron nodded and said, “You’re right, Berto. Damn it; I’m supposed to be experienced in espionage; how can I not have seen this coming?”

Either way, the man stood guard over Cristina, even as he asked Berto, “So, you dragged Volunteer Bernardino in? If so, that’s good, because I just received a call; Noel is missing - Presumed MIA.”

”You saw this coming. We planned for it. Crissy’s alive because you were prepared for this and you made sure I was. We keep her alive, we save everyone we can– lock down the birds in the hand before we start looking for birds in the bush. This is your plan, Boss; I’m just out here trying to prove you right.”

Berto moved on to welding the metal in the doorframe together. ”You wanna bring me some of those desks, Sir? Hilarious as it would be to hold this door when the soldiers start crawling through it, I want to be long gone by then.”

Myron nodded and dragged one of the desks to the door, before conjuring up his shield and saying, “Let me amend that plan you have.”

And in six seconds, he conjured up a sheet of thick metal, probably a portion of a prefabricated bunker, and said to Berto, “You can use this.”

”Perfect. What’s our next move?” Berto nailed the sheet into the doorway, Archie’s Lever ringing out like a gunshot a couple of times per second. He paused for a moment to admire his work, and let the ringing in his ears die down. ”Sorry about that, Boss. What’s our next move?”

Myron spoke, “We link up with Marta, Henri, Nil and Aoi - By the way, how did you find Cristina?”

Berto winces. It’s not his turn with Archie’s Lever, not yet– but it’d better be soon if he was going to be much help after this. Better not to let Myron see his shirt until they had time for Berto to take a break. ”Wasn’t easy!” He put a hand inside his jacket and felt the hot, wet stain spreading on his shirt. ”I had a hunch where she’d be. And another hunch. Just kept following them until I found a trail of dead bastards, and I followed it until I found a bunch of live bastards.”

He forgets himself for a moment, and makes a voila/BOOM gesture with his bloodied hands.

”Wouldn’t you know it, Boss, that’s right where I found her.”

Myron nodded at that and said, “I see. So she wound up killing a bunch of people who were going to defect to our side, but haven’t done so yet… This is bad, but also an understandable mistake. Either way, shall we start going to where the others are, now?”

”Well… you know what we call people who haven’t defected to our side yet, right? They didn’t look too friendly when I caught up to them. They can…” Berto gasped. ”They can surrender later. I’ll be happy to debrief them for you… Boss.” Berto sat down on the floor.

”Gonna need a moment here. Didn’t have much time for first aid on the way back.”

Glancing back at Berto, Myron asked, “Do you need first aid? We can’t have you dying on my watch.”

They were wasting time; Noel and Callie were gone, and Qingshe was dead or ‘dead’. Task Force Obsidian was at its weakest point ever and they had to live.

”Little bit of morphine and a stapler, I can help you carry Crissy until we’ve got time to breathe. After that, I’m gonna need a whole-ass medic and you’re probably gonna have to bribe them if you don’t want me forced to sit the rest of this one out. Reyes has a gambling problem if you can find her.”

Myron twitched as he said, “Not necessary; Marta is also a healer and our primary one. Now I hope she’s all right…”

He pushed on, further into the building. He needed to join up with the rest of the group now!

Nodding silently, Berto stripped off his ruined shirt and jacket, tore open a trauma pack, got into the morphine. He squeezed out half the standard dose, sighed audibly, and squeezed out half of the remainder before injecting himself. He took a couple of deep breaths… sighed again, and then started stapling gauze pads directly to his ribs with Archie’s Lever. When he was satisfied with his… well, satisfied, he slipped one of Cristina’s arms over his shoulders and followed Myron once more unto the breach.

Noble Arms - The ASEAN War, Second Thread

Mission Four - Knives in Phnom Penh

Aoi had eluded his notice as she successfully got her hands on Huo Ren's phone while Roberto made him seethe, then used the teleport beacon to 'upload' herself into Myron's Noble Arm. Nevertheless, Dara felt that he was fulfilling his job well as he turned his gaze back to Noel's group; was it just him, or was the young First Lieutenant suddenly nervous as he checked his military-issued encrypted PDA?

@Letter Bee

At the same time, Myron was walking towards the window where Cristina was, but not before sending a message to Roberto to, Specialist Williams! Meet me and Volunteer Bernardino at the second-floor balcony, eight meters away from the front entrance - We need to prepare for evac now!

Reaching Cristina's position, he pulled out his Noble Arm, but not before uploading Aoi and Huo Ren's phone to the Philippine delegation's office, where she could use the equipment to broadcast Huo Ren's intentions and atrocities to the world...

@Letter Bee

"Well, Ren-ren... I can say it's been real, and I can say it's been fun, but I can't say it's been real fun. My superiors have invited me for a little TV watch party, some hors d'oeuvres, some champagne." Berto blew him a kiss and made a beating heart with his fingers. "Just bet your superiors are gonna sit you down to watch the same show. It'll be like we're watching it together before you go away on your new assignment. Toodles!"

Berto faded into the crowd and made some distance before Huo Ren got the news. He took some detours before making his way back to the exfil point-- fewer than usual, due to the time constraints, but hopefully enough to shake any of Huo Ren's comrades.

He signaled, discreetly, to Special Agent Makaraig before approaching. Can't be too cautious. He leaned in and whispered, "What's the good news, Mac? Did I miss something juicy?"

Noble Arms - The ASEAN War, Second Thread

Then to Berto, Noel responded, "If you mean Huo Ren, well, he's a very powerful Arms Master who is also a perverted asshole. He lusts for two people in this Task Force; one is Nico Makri - He's the slightly older youth with the grey hair - and the other is me. And he wants to provoke us into getting ourselves captured by him so he can have our way with us."

@Letter Bee

Berto blinked; that wasn't the direction he expected this to go at all.

"Well, L.T., I didn't, but you saying it that way makes me think I shoulda brought a longer shit list to keep track of all the criminals and degenerates the Chinese are throwing at us. I meant the Russki fella, Julie whats-his-nuts. Ol' Uncle Dong-Dong knew what he was doing when he dropped that steaming pile of crap in our lunchbox."

Berto straightened himself up a bit. "Respectfully, L.T., this is a Rule .303 situation. It's beyond our remit, but we've got the means, motive, and the opportunity to pull these thorns out of High Command's paw, so it's our duty to do it. We just have to make sure that it's China with egg on their faces at the end."

Noble Arms - The ASEAN War, Second Thread

Berto, of course, had no clue who these men were-- but it only took one glance at his young comrades for him to understand the nature of the situation."Cristina, is it? The Chinese sent that man here for one reason. Well, two reasons; one, to rattle our people at the negotiating table, and two, to provoke us into firing the first shot. Our primary objective hasn't changed. We still have to make sure nobody fires the first shot."

He tried to catch Cristina, and Callie, and Koichi's attention."But now we've got a secondary objective. We've gotta find something soft on their side, as close to this 'Avatar' is possible, and we've gotta stick something in it and break it off. The bean counters and the pretty little liars are gonna thank us for it, because if the Chinese are slapping us in the face out here-- fishing for an incident-- then you can bet they're trying to screw us a lot worse in there."

"So what do we know about this asshat that the PRC wishes we didn't?"

Noble Arms - The ASEAN War, Second Thread

"So, Chief..." Berto's deferential tone belied his casual words, "what's our role in this? Site security? Maybe I'm just the FNG talking, but this doesn't seem like a 'site security' kinda crew. I mean, we can have a look, shore up any holes... but is that actually what you want us doing?"

Noble Arms - The ASEAN War, Second Thread

Name: Robert "Berto" Williams

Age: In his fifties, approximately.

Nationality: American.

Noble Arm Name & Appearance: Archie's Lever; appears as a variety of old, battered hand tools, but its "natural" form is a weathered and pitted iron prybar.

Noble Arm Rank: D
Power: E (S)
Speed: E (S)
Range: F (S)
Persistence: B (S)
Precision: D (S)
Potential: D

Noble Arm Type, Element, and Range: Melee/Ranged, close-to-mid range, depending on form. Archie's Lever is serviceable as a weapon, but its real power lies in its use as a near-universal multitool.

Noble Arm Abilities:

Multi-Tool: Berto can use Archie's Lever as pretty much any small hand tool whose form and function he understands.

Field Surgery: When Archie's Lever is used to provide first aid, it can temporarily allow a wounded character to function with the injured body parts and allow total (or near-total) healing within 24 hours. The extent of the long-term recovery depends on how effectively Berto can dress the wound.

Kintsugi: Any physical object that Berto repairs with Archie's Lever-- including people and animals he offers first aid-- is more resilient than it was before it was damage. This effect is only temporary when applied to living beings.

Misc Abilities: Berto has picked up a lot of odd skills from his years on the fringes of society. Notably, he possesses a solid, if unpolished, grasp of the Occult Programming Language.

Personality: There's something a little unnerving, perhaps a little unnatural, about Berto's easygoing demeanor; his kindness and patience are seemingly endless, but anyone who spends time with him gets the impression that he's constantly doing everything in his power to keep from screaming. Berto loves using the powers of Archie's Lever to help people in little ways even more than trying to change the world.

*Likes: Solving problems, wandering in the city, homecooked meals.

*Dislikes: Authority, cruelty, senseless destruction.

Bio: Robert-- probably not his real name-- was enrolled by his parents in an illegal Spartan Training Program in his early teens. The program was particularly brutal, but more effective than most; nevertheless, Robert was an abject failure and by the time the program was shut down, his psyche was believed to be irreparably broken. With his parents in prison, Robert was made a ward of the state until he was eighteen years old, and spent the next couple of decades bouncing in and out of homeless shelters, jails, and hospitals.

A few years ago, Robert discovered Archie's Lever while in "therapeutic isolation". Unconsciously and unintentionally, he used it to fix his mind, a feat that appears to be beyond his current powers. A few months after that, he was declared competent to stand trial, convicted of a laundry list of petty misdemeanors, and sentenced to time served. A few months after that, he disappeared without a trace, and the first sightings of a "Robert Williams" using a Noble Arm to repair bombed-out houses and set broken bones were reported.

*Current Goal: Identify the problem. Understand the problem. Fix the problem.

Military or Civilian Rank: Is in the country illegally on an expired tourist visa.