Nevertheless, I droppeth the F-Bomb for how that turned out.
- Last Seen: 3 hrs ago
- Joined: 7 yrs ago
- Posts: 1049 (0.42 / day)
- VMs: 0
-
Username history
- FalloutJack 7 yrs ago
-
Latest 10 profile visitors:
-
Most recent →
NinoDelDesastre,
Snowdrops,
Half Pint,
MegaraFoxfire,
sharkbites,
Izurich,
Owlriel,
Bork Lazer,
Abstract Proxy,
Lildear18
Status
Recent Statuses
7 yrs ago
Current
Oh, you know... Stuff.
Bio
User has no bio, yet
Most Recent Posts
"Secret Techni- Oh, he's dead already."
CHANDRILA
Such a pleasant little world, our Chandrila. Home to Mon Mothma, Galactic Senator and a Leader in the Rebellion...a place of peace and calm throughout the land...and the seat of the New Republic, now that the Empire frays both at the edges and from within. It's not the first time that great powers of people shatter and lay broken upon the floor, hopelessly trying to pick up the pieces when the next phase already seeks to replace their order with its own. A fool's game he would not play, not in earnest.
Order...is a lie.
Before it, a Senate and a loose Confederacy showed their equal inability to control the darkest desires of all sapient life. As you bind many together, you quickly find out that they wish to tear away in as many directions, each according to their own whim. You cannot keep them forever, so you entice them into your orbit, bring them to your way of thinking by cunning or by force. But...how long can you truly master their desires? Should you not encourage their freedom and only make demands of them as necessary? Shall they not flourish outside of captivity, acting upon their drives without inhibition?
Through chaos, there is freedom.
Every being has the freedom to choose, but they are ruled by fears, misgivings, doubt... It holds them back, plunges them towards inevitable failure. Republics and Confederacies afraid of their own power, Empires afraid of their own shadows as they await treachery, and militaries... Never was a greater fear born than that of this simple phrase: The Enemy. Once you know where you stand in the universe, however, there is no fear. Once you see the paths of all other lifeforms and can tell, just by a glance, where they are going and where they've come from, your mind is clear and nothing can stop you.
In freedom, there is clarity.
Fools who walk with their head lowered, unable to see to the right or left as they plod on towards their destiny, are easily manipulated. You have need of only the will and the talent for speech. Of course, those who embrace the Force in all its splendors can achieve more. Much more. Power resides in a word, a glance, a gesture - all these things in the right place can cause so much, an avalanche of expectation leading to a disastrous effect, but only with a mind open to the possibilities.
In clarity, there is power.
There is a purpose, a force in of itself within the Force. The Force does not merely surround and penetrate all things. It has ebb and flow. Some call this balance, but...if this power flows throughout the universe, and that life only makes up one tiny percent of itself, then the balance of the Force is truly made for the galaxies themselves, not this idle boast they call history. No no...this is but a blink of the eye, a small gesture, a minor bump on the road. Take for instance...this room.
The room was an office inside a building within the capital of the planet Chandrila, seat of the New Galactic Republic. Such trappings for only one room! And yet... And yet, it moved with purpose. Not to the benefit of any line in the sand mind you, to any side per se, but something else. It moved according to the will of the man who sat within it, a fairly handsome and somewhat gentlemanly being. A human, adult of age and black of hair. He was simply doing the work of any who would be head of security, here in the Capital. He read reports, he conferred with colleagues, he set teams to put down civil unrest, and he allocated resources for the various endeavours undertaken by the Republic.
He also concealed a number of things in his coat, such as a rather formidable tube-shaped device.
They knew him as Zaras Oren, and - as far as anybody could tell - he was exceedingly good at the job he was given for his attention to detail, quick decision-making skills, and exemptlary marksmanship. The man in his office sat across from him, irritated his petty problems. The only reason he ever saw the man or anybody else was because the organization and solution of their petty problems allowed him to do what it is he wanted to do. By facilitating fools, you can slip whatever you like under the table and they'll be all-too-happy to ignore it. This particular gentleman was from the Republic War Office, Medical Division, and he had made the complaint of missing articles, believing them stolen and either sold in some black market affair or in preparation for such. He couldn't have been more wrong.
"Soldiers go out on the line, pilots thrust themselves out into space, and all of them risk sudden death at the end of a blaster or in an explosion, but for those that manage to survive the worst, they NEED their medical supplies. What do I tell them when I don't have them and I should, huh?! The medical supplies must be found!"
Zaras sighed, enduring this rant as though he'd heard it many times before or words to the effect. He had, but that isn't what annoyed him. No, what bothered him was that he was preparing the man's placation and he wasn't giving him quiet while he went through the motions for the full effect! No one appreciates the subtle dance anymore, those little nuances that make life worth living. He now gave the man a tired, but calm look, one that might easily be mistaken for disdain, for he had it in large quantities, larger even than his missing supplies...which of course were obsconded with by the man before him.
"Mr. Aerslin, while it is not this organization's responsibility to keep immaculate record of non-security matters, it so happens that we DO - in fact - since the transfer of resources from planet to ship and ship to planet - to say nothing of ship to ship - IS within our purview. To that end, I bequeath to you the facts as I know them. The 'missing' bacta tanks and fluid are not, in fact, missing. They were transferred out to outgoing ships, such as the Escalor, the Triskele, and the Mondao. Additionally, and you may find this very interesting, an independent freighter hired by Dr. Zones was also sent to pick up certain supplies for the University of Bar'leth."
That last one was actually true. He let him see the datapad on that one.
"'Delivery to a Dr. Indoumodo Zones, care of the 'No Don't Put That There'? Is this some kind of a joke?!"
Zaras delivered an empahtic shrug that solidified his confusion along with the gentleman.
"The registry checks out, and the owner and operator of said vessel is a former Rebel Pilot. What can I say?"
"And you seriously expect me to go back with this information as explanation to everyone else?"
"Yes, Mr. Aerslin. It is the truth, plain and clear."
His eyes suddenly dulled. The Force was moving...
"It is the truth...plain and clear."
"You will place your trust in security on this matter."
"I will place your trust in security..."
"Failure in these duties will being the Empire to your doorstep. You don't want that, right?"
"I don't want that... I can't let that happen..."
"I'm so very pleased to hear that, sir. Now, if you will please move along. I'm a very busy man. This planet won't mind itself, after all."
He left, giving thanks, of all things! That was certainly the best part of his work. They thanked him for his treachery. Of course, not every person may be fooled in his manner, which is why he engrained this reinforcement of the belief and the 'truth' in others, getting records to line up and all. Worst comes to worst, Zaras would find himself as baffled as you are, and would hasten to find someone to be responsible so it can never happen again...until the next time. Now, during this conversation, he had received a call upon his personal holo-comm. He was not ready, so he let it wait while he sent this man out. And then...out it came to reveal the face of Darth Simula. He was reporting - judging by his tone alone, he must have been successful. Indeed, Simula would only report failure if he felt that a great deal of effort and resources have been expended with little result, as would Tarak in his place. The man behind the desk, a Dark Lord of the Sith, smiled at the Zabrak.
"I trust your endeavours have born fruit. I, myself, have sequestered supplies away, though finding a proper site will be the real issue. And it occurs to me that a work force will be necessary. Droids would be easiest, as it's only a job of assembly. Still, if you have supplies, I would like them taken to the Dread Accomplace. Anyone who sees it must be made to forget about it later...or die."
The plan moves inexorably forwards. The purpose pushes through that ebb and flow they call balance, and soon...destiny itself may be destroyed. Freedom for all. Freedom, chaos, fear... Glorious.
With this power, I shall break the balance. The Force will never be the same.
Given what Niko thinks, any objection to a bit of conversation during the fight with Lee? Like, we're watching and potentially discussing the match with Ace?
The match did not last long, as he'd expected, but not for the reasons he'd suspected. Given the way their opponents fought, it seemed a long conflict was for naught. And yet, the way it ended would make it seem the rules were bended.
Or, to put it in a less-rhyming sort of way, something felt VERY wrong about this.
As he watched alongside the tournament attendant, it all started normally enough. The two female fighters began by testing the waters on each other a bit, working out how best to attack one another, Ace pulled some kind of move that made her seem more durable, and then as they both began fighting in earnest...it stopped! Why? Even the crowd found this a little confusing, but Niko...
Wait, something's not right.
As opposed to the fluid motions that Ace had been displaying prior, Ace raising her hand looked more stiff, in comparison. It was weird and out of place. Once the winner was announced, Ace left the arena and Angela tried to call out to her. Then, she left, as well. Niko raised his hand to call her over, but the roar of the crowd was too much, and as he tried to move, the attendant took him by the arm.
"I'm sorry, but the fight is over and you're going to the infirmary."
"But..."
"But nothing. We agreed, and you're still wounded. You'll have plenty of chances to talk with her later. After all, she's your next opponent."
That's true. Regardless of whatever the hell happened there, they would fight each other next. The question was...what DID happen? Niko had always heard talk of things like hypnotic suggestion, supposed mental powers, but did something like that really just happen? Or was he just fooling himself with this? Well, if it was, he couldn't allow it to happen again. Angela seemed like a nice girl, and she liked to fight. Would you want to disappoint someone like that? Once they reached the infirmary, he asked the attendant what would happen if someone interfered with a tournament.
"Unthinkable! It would disrespect the entire tournament organization, to say nothing of the fighters, themselves! Such a person would be ejected from this place and barred from ever returning, if not jailed!"
Well, that answered that... If there HAD been something like that going on, whoever would've done it would have to be daring...
Watch your back, Angela. Just in case.
Or, to put it in a less-rhyming sort of way, something felt VERY wrong about this.
As he watched alongside the tournament attendant, it all started normally enough. The two female fighters began by testing the waters on each other a bit, working out how best to attack one another, Ace pulled some kind of move that made her seem more durable, and then as they both began fighting in earnest...it stopped! Why? Even the crowd found this a little confusing, but Niko...
Wait, something's not right.
As opposed to the fluid motions that Ace had been displaying prior, Ace raising her hand looked more stiff, in comparison. It was weird and out of place. Once the winner was announced, Ace left the arena and Angela tried to call out to her. Then, she left, as well. Niko raised his hand to call her over, but the roar of the crowd was too much, and as he tried to move, the attendant took him by the arm.
"I'm sorry, but the fight is over and you're going to the infirmary."
"But..."
"But nothing. We agreed, and you're still wounded. You'll have plenty of chances to talk with her later. After all, she's your next opponent."
That's true. Regardless of whatever the hell happened there, they would fight each other next. The question was...what DID happen? Niko had always heard talk of things like hypnotic suggestion, supposed mental powers, but did something like that really just happen? Or was he just fooling himself with this? Well, if it was, he couldn't allow it to happen again. Angela seemed like a nice girl, and she liked to fight. Would you want to disappoint someone like that? Once they reached the infirmary, he asked the attendant what would happen if someone interfered with a tournament.
"Unthinkable! It would disrespect the entire tournament organization, to say nothing of the fighters, themselves! Such a person would be ejected from this place and barred from ever returning, if not jailed!"
Well, that answered that... If there HAD been something like that going on, whoever would've done it would have to be daring...
Watch your back, Angela. Just in case.
Yes, I'm just delayed by some computer woes. It'll be posted soon.
There'd been a question regarding X-1 having an emergency shutdown code, to which Joe had simply shouted "Probably!", and then didn't give it any thought because he knew the thing was outside of Shinra control, ergo the ability to tell it to do anything was out of commission. From his perspective, it seemed rather clear why the machine had modified itself. Given that it was malfunctioning to the point of being 'off the leash', it must've engaged some sort of self-preservation protocols to make certain its combat capabilities remained at high levels. While he was fighting it, he could see that the bits where extra armor and new equipment had been installed were in a damaged state, meaning it'd been damaged previously and needed to replace parts of itself accordingly. No matter. What was important at the moment was that the woman Turk - Ah, what was it? Lovell? Reno just kept calling her 'Maddie'. - was out of immediate harm's way. She'd managed to keep herself from being buried under a ton of rubble, but Joe had to question her immediate choice of cover. A washing machine? The Sweeper's bullets would chew through that like tissue paper! It was probably just spur of the moment, getting out of immediate sight of the thing. Couldn't blame her for that.
The other woman's robo-drones were, in the meantime, creating some decent openings for attack. Well, once, at least. You see, the basic problem with having a disc-shaped shield drone was that, eventually, someone was gonna see it as a frisbee. Cue X-1 treating it as such by grabbing Naisha's flying robot and flinging it away with its grabby scissor claws. Well, it was good while it lasted. He was really starting to dig into armor of the thing, popping the stacked-on metal plates off with the Force Stealer's pointed end. Then, without warning, he saw a blast of ice hit the ground near X-1's foot. It's come from Agent Lovell's direction, probably meaning to hit the thing, but instead caused a big ice patch.
Perfect!
He gave the robot a nice big Force Strike and knocked it back. X-1 attempted to stop itself and gain traction, but the ice made that impossible and it slid into a pile of cars near a junkyard crane. The Sweeper had taken a nice bit of damage from that, maybe even receiving proper chassis and part damage now that he'd gotten some of that armor off. Best of all, the Cutter blade was stuck, at least for the moment. It couldn't move! Joe took a stance and prepared to attack, but then he was interrupted by the voice of the woman in the wheelchair. A reset? What, like rebooting a computer? Good god, it couldn't POSSIBLY be that simple! ...could it? About a second ago, it was aiming guns at him, maybe tricking about missling the entire area, when it...stopped moving. Wait, really?! Joe quickly pulled out his phone, and found that the tracking data on his phone was getting new information, a display that Naisha could also see.
Ah shit... It has grenades? Slightly easier than missles to dodge, but in this junkyard, the shrapnel levels were gonna be through the roof! Naisha couldn't stop the software download. It was automatic and quick. They couldn't have their robo-killers stumped for long, right? A few second later, the thing's engine went into Overcharge and it pulled itself free from the cars it'd been stuck in, as well. Joe prepared for Round Two, now, but...weirdly...it didn't come. Another quick look at the display would reveal that it was not registering any enemies. At least, for now. Nobody was fighting it at the moment, so it seemed to have forgotten all about he fight it was in. The X-1 prototype then turned to face Joe...and waited. Joe paused, and then realized that it had scanned him and determined him to be the highest local authority, and that's when the wheelchair woman's comment from before came back to him.
"X-1, engage emergency shutdown protocol."
YES! It was responding! He watched it begin to fold in on itself for transport purposes and...oh wait. It couldn't physically do that now. X-1 attempted to collapse into the standard inactive mode for Sweepers and found itself unable to do so. It returned to a standing position, and from there both he and Naisha got an error message and an irritating BLAAAT noise, indicating that the order could not be completed as directed. Joe sighed in frustration, digging the end of his sword into the dirt.
"Fine, standby mode, then. Do not act without further orders."
This seemed to satisfy it as its engine calmed and it settled into its usual longterm standing position, completely motionless. Joe knew, of course, that it would react to any attacks on its 'person', of course. He turned to the others in the area now.
"Alright, immediate problem's dealt with. Yes, I realize this wasn't handled properly and that anybody outside the junkyard might've gotten killed, but I didn't get much choice on how to deal with things, and I was trying to keep it from going out there and definitely killing alot of people. This unit went rogue. Looks like it has been for weeks. If I hadn't come here, it might've killed half a Sector before someone finally puts it down."
This was all mainly directed at Naisha, since she'd beratted him so venomously before the fight. However, Joe wasn't some heartless or ungrateful pain in the ass, unlike some people in his line of work - *CoughHeideggerCough* - that he could mention, so he also softened up, saying "Thank you for helping me get it under control.", aaand then he realized that Maddie was in civilian clothes, not her Turk attire, meaning he maaay have just called her 'Agent' out of turn... Honestly, some days, it just doesn't pay to get up.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Akira managed to come through with a nice length of cable relatively fast, and then was trying to suggest a means to lure the robots in before realizing that it may be a bad idea and stating that he didn't want to interfere with whatever Jessie was planning. The Avalanche member gave him sort of a funny look and said "I don't think they need much initiative. They wanna come in.", indicating that the only thing keeping them from charging in right now was the fact that they seemed keen on suppressing the mercs at the door first. Even then, they were showing levels of that initiative unseen in robots before. She DID give a nod to the locating of a firehose and DID find such a thing already prepared with an extension line by the good people of Fort Condor...who obviously had to be ready in case of fire emergencies. Once that was in place...
"Alright, everybody pull back and ready the hose and the cable!"
Good god, they were lucky that the floor itself was insulated, otherwise this would be a mess... All the remaining mercenaries stepped back, and - as if on cue - in came the Sweepers! Two of them. Just two of them. Jessie stifled a curse and shouted "NOW!" as everyone in the room did their thing. The water sprayed as X-2 and X-4 began to assess their surroundings, as ordered by X-9. What followed was a bright flash of electricity surging across wet surfaces that everyone got well away from, and the two Sweepers soon overloaded and exploded! Power was shut off, and there was some brief cheering. However...there were only two in here.
One of them was still out there.
But while they were concerned about the lone Sweeper out there, the technicians back at the bottom of the hill - some of them silently hoping that X-9 would get itself destroyed so they wouldn't have to deal with it - were going over the readouts as they had received some data from the Weapons Division personnel who had discovered just what was wrong with the X-Series. One of them looked back at the active screen once it was reported that the other two Sweepers were finished.
"Uhh, guys? You might wanna look at this. I think the randomization is happening..."
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Back in Junon...things were heating up for a big ole' chase!
The bikes were weaving around other cars, down below. Decent drivers, whoever they were. Avalanche couldn't afford to have too many rookies on their team, otherwise they wouldn't have lasted this long against Shinra. Tseng continued to follow them, mindful of anything that could be of any obstruction up here. Not as much as in Midgar, of course, but one could not afford to be careless, after all. The Vice-President was looking for the right opportunity to shoot...
Tseng felt his phone ringing in his pocket.
He'd switched it to vibrate so as to limit the possibility of distraction, but he couldn't just switch it off. He had bosses to answer to. Only President Shinra could order him to go completely silent. However, as it happens, this was a good call. It was from Ranger Krait, who was below them in hot pursuit. To both inform Rufus of this fact and to answer the man, he spoke thus.
"Why, I am in the chopper, Mr. Krait, as is the Vice-President. We will take all necessary precautions. Thank you."
He hung up. Rufus smirked as he explained what Lex said to him.
"Good. Star?"
Behind them, Darkstar stood up and casted.
Below, the situation was as you'd expect. They were trying to get away from any pursuit - by road or by air - via weaving in and out of traffic as they attempted to get out of the city. They'd take just a little longer than that other guy, though the problem with that was that the chopper looming overhead could still follow for miles and might just unload on them once they were out of the city, maybe even sooner than that! Biggs and Wedge didn't like their chances, as they were too busy driving to really open fire, and their little peashooters weren't going to be much help, anyway.
And then, there were the sudden gunshots.
Kanade would've seen a Manaward go up, and then a man in a white suit up there stick his arm out the side window of the helicopter to open fire. It was perilously close to the rear tires of the bike she was on! If the two Avalanche members hadn't already been working to be as evasive as possible... They were in a bad spot, though. That man would get his bearings soon and shoot them down, probably to take them alive, which might mean...which might mean they had something in mind, and that was never good. Fortunately, Biggs and Wedge's eyes lit up at the mention of grenades, remembering that she could throw like a champ! Biggs reached into his pocket and handed two devices back to her. They looked like compact explosives that magnetized to a surface on impact.
"Jessie specials! Don't waste 'em!"
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
The monster had latched itself onto the moving can as it tried to dislodge it, but it was stuck fast to its scalp, so it wouldn't be going anywhere. There were sounds of potential prey inside of the thing, and that was good. The giant owl-beast almost tried to lift the damn machine right off of the ground, though it was too heavy for that. Tace would find that his Zenzelett rider wasn't going anywhere, so he'd have to get rid of the thing himself. To that end, he got out of his car quickly - an errant talon would get real close as he did - and soon he was ready to fight. The flying beast screeched at him again, launching a Thunderbolt at him before jumping off of the car and going into a claws-first power dive!
Luckily, about mid-dive, his spellcasting took effect, and the bird-beast descended upon him more slowly.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Back in Midgar, Aiko had managed to secure a job, and one that she would excell in with her personal talents, no less. A decided 'Take That!' to the forced of evil working for Don Corneo, at the very least. Soon, there would be some excitement going on, and a challenge, to boot. Oh, if she only knew the purpose of that venture...and how much was going on around her during her day-to-day life. The Avalanche member was satisfied once he had secured the services of the girl. Yeah, he'd heard of that one. Definitely a stroke of luck, getting her to sign on. Well, he could move on, then, and report in person to the others. He was heading off, then, when he found himself accosted by what looked like a gang of roughs.
"Can I help you gentlemen?"
"Yeah, just a little favor is all. You're gonna cancel whatever it is you got going with that girl. Someone's got plans for her."
"Is that a fact? Well, I don't really give a damn."
"Oh, you will, buddy. You will."
He really didn't, and to demonstrate this fact, he dropped a Smokebomb and kicked the lead man in the face to get past and head out the alley he'd been using, giving them all a decided laugh as he - at least for them - practically vanished. Well, what could they do, really? They didn't stand a chance against a career mercenary. This town was gonna blow, so he didn't have time for these petty-anty thugs.
Although, speaking of which, Aiko might notice after a while that she herself was being followed...by three goons who looked like they were in a gang, a little short on cash and brains, and figured her for an easy something-or-other. Or they were more of the Don's trash. Either way, a situation to be resolved, yes?
The other woman's robo-drones were, in the meantime, creating some decent openings for attack. Well, once, at least. You see, the basic problem with having a disc-shaped shield drone was that, eventually, someone was gonna see it as a frisbee. Cue X-1 treating it as such by grabbing Naisha's flying robot and flinging it away with its grabby scissor claws. Well, it was good while it lasted. He was really starting to dig into armor of the thing, popping the stacked-on metal plates off with the Force Stealer's pointed end. Then, without warning, he saw a blast of ice hit the ground near X-1's foot. It's come from Agent Lovell's direction, probably meaning to hit the thing, but instead caused a big ice patch.
Perfect!
He gave the robot a nice big Force Strike and knocked it back. X-1 attempted to stop itself and gain traction, but the ice made that impossible and it slid into a pile of cars near a junkyard crane. The Sweeper had taken a nice bit of damage from that, maybe even receiving proper chassis and part damage now that he'd gotten some of that armor off. Best of all, the Cutter blade was stuck, at least for the moment. It couldn't move! Joe took a stance and prepared to attack, but then he was interrupted by the voice of the woman in the wheelchair. A reset? What, like rebooting a computer? Good god, it couldn't POSSIBLY be that simple! ...could it? About a second ago, it was aiming guns at him, maybe tricking about missling the entire area, when it...stopped moving. Wait, really?! Joe quickly pulled out his phone, and found that the tracking data on his phone was getting new information, a display that Naisha could also see.
Ah shit... It has grenades? Slightly easier than missles to dodge, but in this junkyard, the shrapnel levels were gonna be through the roof! Naisha couldn't stop the software download. It was automatic and quick. They couldn't have their robo-killers stumped for long, right? A few second later, the thing's engine went into Overcharge and it pulled itself free from the cars it'd been stuck in, as well. Joe prepared for Round Two, now, but...weirdly...it didn't come. Another quick look at the display would reveal that it was not registering any enemies. At least, for now. Nobody was fighting it at the moment, so it seemed to have forgotten all about he fight it was in. The X-1 prototype then turned to face Joe...and waited. Joe paused, and then realized that it had scanned him and determined him to be the highest local authority, and that's when the wheelchair woman's comment from before came back to him.
"X-1, engage emergency shutdown protocol."
YES! It was responding! He watched it begin to fold in on itself for transport purposes and...oh wait. It couldn't physically do that now. X-1 attempted to collapse into the standard inactive mode for Sweepers and found itself unable to do so. It returned to a standing position, and from there both he and Naisha got an error message and an irritating BLAAAT noise, indicating that the order could not be completed as directed. Joe sighed in frustration, digging the end of his sword into the dirt.
"Fine, standby mode, then. Do not act without further orders."
This seemed to satisfy it as its engine calmed and it settled into its usual longterm standing position, completely motionless. Joe knew, of course, that it would react to any attacks on its 'person', of course. He turned to the others in the area now.
"Alright, immediate problem's dealt with. Yes, I realize this wasn't handled properly and that anybody outside the junkyard might've gotten killed, but I didn't get much choice on how to deal with things, and I was trying to keep it from going out there and definitely killing alot of people. This unit went rogue. Looks like it has been for weeks. If I hadn't come here, it might've killed half a Sector before someone finally puts it down."
This was all mainly directed at Naisha, since she'd beratted him so venomously before the fight. However, Joe wasn't some heartless or ungrateful pain in the ass, unlike some people in his line of work - *CoughHeideggerCough* - that he could mention, so he also softened up, saying "Thank you for helping me get it under control.", aaand then he realized that Maddie was in civilian clothes, not her Turk attire, meaning he maaay have just called her 'Agent' out of turn... Honestly, some days, it just doesn't pay to get up.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Akira managed to come through with a nice length of cable relatively fast, and then was trying to suggest a means to lure the robots in before realizing that it may be a bad idea and stating that he didn't want to interfere with whatever Jessie was planning. The Avalanche member gave him sort of a funny look and said "I don't think they need much initiative. They wanna come in.", indicating that the only thing keeping them from charging in right now was the fact that they seemed keen on suppressing the mercs at the door first. Even then, they were showing levels of that initiative unseen in robots before. She DID give a nod to the locating of a firehose and DID find such a thing already prepared with an extension line by the good people of Fort Condor...who obviously had to be ready in case of fire emergencies. Once that was in place...
"Alright, everybody pull back and ready the hose and the cable!"
Good god, they were lucky that the floor itself was insulated, otherwise this would be a mess... All the remaining mercenaries stepped back, and - as if on cue - in came the Sweepers! Two of them. Just two of them. Jessie stifled a curse and shouted "NOW!" as everyone in the room did their thing. The water sprayed as X-2 and X-4 began to assess their surroundings, as ordered by X-9. What followed was a bright flash of electricity surging across wet surfaces that everyone got well away from, and the two Sweepers soon overloaded and exploded! Power was shut off, and there was some brief cheering. However...there were only two in here.
One of them was still out there.
But while they were concerned about the lone Sweeper out there, the technicians back at the bottom of the hill - some of them silently hoping that X-9 would get itself destroyed so they wouldn't have to deal with it - were going over the readouts as they had received some data from the Weapons Division personnel who had discovered just what was wrong with the X-Series. One of them looked back at the active screen once it was reported that the other two Sweepers were finished.
"Uhh, guys? You might wanna look at this. I think the randomization is happening..."
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Back in Junon...things were heating up for a big ole' chase!
The bikes were weaving around other cars, down below. Decent drivers, whoever they were. Avalanche couldn't afford to have too many rookies on their team, otherwise they wouldn't have lasted this long against Shinra. Tseng continued to follow them, mindful of anything that could be of any obstruction up here. Not as much as in Midgar, of course, but one could not afford to be careless, after all. The Vice-President was looking for the right opportunity to shoot...
Tseng felt his phone ringing in his pocket.
He'd switched it to vibrate so as to limit the possibility of distraction, but he couldn't just switch it off. He had bosses to answer to. Only President Shinra could order him to go completely silent. However, as it happens, this was a good call. It was from Ranger Krait, who was below them in hot pursuit. To both inform Rufus of this fact and to answer the man, he spoke thus.
"Why, I am in the chopper, Mr. Krait, as is the Vice-President. We will take all necessary precautions. Thank you."
He hung up. Rufus smirked as he explained what Lex said to him.
"Good. Star?"
Behind them, Darkstar stood up and casted.
Below, the situation was as you'd expect. They were trying to get away from any pursuit - by road or by air - via weaving in and out of traffic as they attempted to get out of the city. They'd take just a little longer than that other guy, though the problem with that was that the chopper looming overhead could still follow for miles and might just unload on them once they were out of the city, maybe even sooner than that! Biggs and Wedge didn't like their chances, as they were too busy driving to really open fire, and their little peashooters weren't going to be much help, anyway.
And then, there were the sudden gunshots.
Kanade would've seen a Manaward go up, and then a man in a white suit up there stick his arm out the side window of the helicopter to open fire. It was perilously close to the rear tires of the bike she was on! If the two Avalanche members hadn't already been working to be as evasive as possible... They were in a bad spot, though. That man would get his bearings soon and shoot them down, probably to take them alive, which might mean...which might mean they had something in mind, and that was never good. Fortunately, Biggs and Wedge's eyes lit up at the mention of grenades, remembering that she could throw like a champ! Biggs reached into his pocket and handed two devices back to her. They looked like compact explosives that magnetized to a surface on impact.
"Jessie specials! Don't waste 'em!"
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
The monster had latched itself onto the moving can as it tried to dislodge it, but it was stuck fast to its scalp, so it wouldn't be going anywhere. There were sounds of potential prey inside of the thing, and that was good. The giant owl-beast almost tried to lift the damn machine right off of the ground, though it was too heavy for that. Tace would find that his Zenzelett rider wasn't going anywhere, so he'd have to get rid of the thing himself. To that end, he got out of his car quickly - an errant talon would get real close as he did - and soon he was ready to fight. The flying beast screeched at him again, launching a Thunderbolt at him before jumping off of the car and going into a claws-first power dive!
Luckily, about mid-dive, his spellcasting took effect, and the bird-beast descended upon him more slowly.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Back in Midgar, Aiko had managed to secure a job, and one that she would excell in with her personal talents, no less. A decided 'Take That!' to the forced of evil working for Don Corneo, at the very least. Soon, there would be some excitement going on, and a challenge, to boot. Oh, if she only knew the purpose of that venture...and how much was going on around her during her day-to-day life. The Avalanche member was satisfied once he had secured the services of the girl. Yeah, he'd heard of that one. Definitely a stroke of luck, getting her to sign on. Well, he could move on, then, and report in person to the others. He was heading off, then, when he found himself accosted by what looked like a gang of roughs.
"Can I help you gentlemen?"
"Yeah, just a little favor is all. You're gonna cancel whatever it is you got going with that girl. Someone's got plans for her."
"Is that a fact? Well, I don't really give a damn."
"Oh, you will, buddy. You will."
He really didn't, and to demonstrate this fact, he dropped a Smokebomb and kicked the lead man in the face to get past and head out the alley he'd been using, giving them all a decided laugh as he - at least for them - practically vanished. Well, what could they do, really? They didn't stand a chance against a career mercenary. This town was gonna blow, so he didn't have time for these petty-anty thugs.
Although, speaking of which, Aiko might notice after a while that she herself was being followed...by three goons who looked like they were in a gang, a little short on cash and brains, and figured her for an easy something-or-other. Or they were more of the Don's trash. Either way, a situation to be resolved, yes?
Looks to me like it's reaction time. And looking at it, Niko's got the scrutin-eye on that one. Something wasn't right...
Awesome-y sauce.
The Chopper, About Ten Seconds Ago...
The bastard opened fire! Oh, what was he thinking? Of course it opened fire! Whenever a Shinra robot malfunctioned to ANY degree, it treated literally everything around it as the enemy, including people from Shinra and conspicuous blades of grass, but that's only due to the whole Mandragora thing. The pilot maneuvered out of the way, but there was a certain vibration and then a red light flashed on his console as they were veering away.
"Steering's going! Gotta put down outside of the junkyard or we spin-out and crash!"
"I gotta get down there! It'll go after people if it leaves here!"
"She won't hold long!"
"God, two seconds!"
NOW...
Uhhh, so, he'd come down here to keep the heavily-modified Sweeper occupied and was warning someone nearby to get the hell out and...she called him a moron. Naisha couldn't see the confusion on Joe's face, thanks to his helmet, but the tone of his "Ex...cuse me?" couldn't be missed. This was a 'What The Fuck, Mate?' if ever there was one. Unfortunately, the wheelchair-bound woman had an explanation for her telling off as something robotic on the junkpile hill nearby fired on their large friend that was trying to make its way around. X-1 was barely distracted by the drone, basically giving it a look before deciding it was beneath its level of care for the time being. Meanwhile, Naisha was telling off the SOLDIER, who was trying to figure this one out in his head.
Wait, bullet muzzle velocity divided by range plus penetration equals...shit.
She was right. He hated it when people were right about this sort of thing! The tank treads of the X-1 unit were getting closer, and with a snarl, the woman brought up this flying drone that looked like it was made to provide armor, saying she'd block shots for him. How many depended on the stability of the thing and - very probably - her deteriorating mood. Joe went "Right.", sword pointed down and off to ths side. The thing made its appearance as Naisha considered her options. Sadly, the chopper wasn't going to be a part of them, as it hadn't stayed and was indeed landed somewhere, no doubt to make some quick repairs. That left her with her drones providing distraction while she got to some hacking.
X-1 rounded the corner and found - mainly - a SOLDIER. Normally, the presence of any sort of Shinra employee, especially a military one, should prompt it to stand down and await further orders. That part of its program was hopelessly scrambled as its adaptation system had led it to ill-define it's entire friend-or-foe and command structure when its security protocols tested whether these programs were changeable or not. Because they were, it launched into an endless conundrum over what to consider enemy or ally. The simplist solution was to consider all targets to be its enemy and merely adopt a passive or active response based upon their threat level. It was for this reason that Joe was its primary target throughout all of this now. He ran towards the robot, it pointed its guns, something obstructed its sensors, an impact was registered, and now it was firing a full 88-degrees off target?!
What had happened was that Joe approached, Naisha's drone had run interference, and when the autocannons were about to fire, he slid nearby that arm and executed a Driving Slash to knock the arm upward. Joe was focusing on the gun-arm right now. If he damaged it enough and the weapons fell apart, that was one problem solved. This was, however, when the robot executed a Cutter swipe, a 360-turn using the giant sawblade. Naisha's drone was swept aside, right along with-
ZZNNK!!
Now, she might see a helmet flying, but before any assumption to the state of the SOLDIER can be made, there would be an "Agh, my head!" as Joe basically got whiplash from the saw hitting the tip of said helmet and knocking it right off of him as he ducked. He openly slashed at its body right then, which one of those managed to knock the guns up and to the his own left, shooting up a junkpile closer to the entrance...which Maddie Lovell was coming through now. She would've seen the helicopter set down outside the junkyard and continued to hear the sounds of combat going on. As soon as she was inside, though, a now-helmetless and familiar SOLDIER happened to be looking over his shoulder, and he shouted "Agent?! Look out!" right before she heard the rumble of falling junk parts VERY close by! Nevermind the robot he was fighting for now! Maddie could be buried in short order!
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
There was panic both in and outside of Fort Condor, right now. Those inside had to deal with the X-Series Sweepers, and those outside...had to do the same thing. This involved two technicians shoutin at each other over a computer that wasn't getting the response intended while a third was currently trying to get word to the main office back in Midgar.
"Why won't it accept the input?!"
"It's on executive lock-out! There's nothing I can do!"
"Yes, I need a direct line to Director Scarlet's phone! It's an emergency!"
"Did the home office do this?! What the hell?!"
"Dammit, I don't know!"
"Hello? Yes, it's us down at the Fort Condor offensive. Listen, it's chaos down here. Our remaining Sweepers have gone nuts and they've killed the Commander! Even if they complete the mission themselves, I dunno how we're gonna shut them down. They're only accepting executive orders right now, and at the rate they're going, it may not be long before they ignore that. Will you give the order for an emergency shutdown? We can take Fort Condor later. We can still salvage the plant, and after today, I doubt they'll get much hired help too! What? Hello? HELLO?!"
He put the phone down and looked at his collagues with a shocked expression.
"She said no..."
Back at the Sweepers, the door had blown in and the machines were closing in on it as one, walking instead of using their foot wheels. They stopped some feet from the entrance as the mercenaries opened fire, threw grenades, launched explosive crossbow bolts, and yes some of them even had lightning...but it wasn't very much. In fact, it wasn't gonna be enough, because the three robots were at a distance and getting less of it than they normally would. After exhausting her good explosives and getting in some damage done (and making a small crater out there), Jessie looked around...and then got an idea. She turned to Akira while reloading her submachine gun...while he might've been having a fit from Kanade shouting in his brain.
"Hey, kid! Would ya find some heavy-duty cable and connect it to something live? We've got a whole reactor here, so why not use it to fry those dead weights?"
Fry 'em with the reactor's output? That'll do it, right? There was, of course, only one problem: They'd have to come in...
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Once Aiko had handed over her information, she would've gotten half of her payment sent to her account, as per the terms of their agreement. That made it official. They had a contract. The man nodded and expected that she would go her merry way. They both knew that with matters having been settled, all they really needed to was wait for the appointed time. However, the skate expert had paused then and decided to ask some things right when her contractor was dialing a number. He held up a hand.
"Yeah, hold on. I'm phoning my 'supervisor' right now. He'll have the answers you're looking for."
There was a pause there, and then presumably a man on the other end picked up.
"Yo. I got us our runner. Everything's good on my end. What about yours? ...really? Hmmm."
His expression had changed to indicate some level of bad news passing between them.
"Well, that's not great, but at least we were prepared for that. Does it move up the schedule? Alright, cool. So, you'll tell me, and I tell her. Gotcha. Now then, runner's kind of a hotshot. Says she might have better routes than what we got. Might just. Any problems with that? Okay then. Later!"
He hung up and turned to her.
"Guy says he doesn't care if you walk on walls or fly by the seat of your pants, as long as you do the job in a timely manner, and by that he means quick as lightning. You obviously know Midgar, right? No worries, then. We'll call you when it's time. you just don't let us down."
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Lex's final warnings were met with {A} gunshots from Biggs and Wedge, plus {B} a rock from Kanade! Between these two things happening, it would be safe to say that Ranger Krait and Wasteland were at least distracted for a moment, long enough for them all to be on the bikes and making tracks. The only thing about that was that the smoke was soon cleared away because a helicopter WAS overhead and in pursuit. This meant that Lex could see his targets making their escape and get after them with his own vehicle. He did not know yet that it was Rufus Shinra and Tseng up there...but he would soon enough.
But back with the motorcycles for a moment... They were heading down the Junon street now at a fair clip, following the layer of tire track that the car driver had laid into the road. He was rude and crude, but he was also pretty easy to trail right now. Wedge was the one who spoke up to their charge, Kanade Toragami, as they were speeding along
"So, the plan was originally, Miss Kanade, to meet you once you were off the boat and find a nice chopper to steal and get us over to Midgar! I don't know what the change in plan was for, but it may not have been the best idea!"
"Maybe not, but it looks to me like they were preparing to intercept her and she probably threw them for a loop."
"Threw us for a loop too, though."
"Well, these things happen. Welcome to Avalanche, though. I'm Biggs, he's Wedge, and apparently we're going to Fort Condor? Not a bad idea, considering we got friends there, but how come?"
Aaand up in the chopper, the white suit and the black suit were both considering their options.
"What do you think? Shoot the tires...or just pop the balloon next to our target?"
"I'd advise against any sort of killing shot at this time. If she's really what we think she is, then we need to put on the kid gloves, for now."
"Tires it is, then. Keep 'er steady and we'll have them all in the next couple minutes."
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
As for Tace...he was moving at top speed in a car that had alot going for it under the hood. He was making the exit to Junon in record fricking time, so much so that his approach to the border had the tollbooth worker there in a bit of a panic.
"Wait, stop, HOLDONAMINUTE!!"
CRASH!!!
"God...dammit! You're suppose to STOP, asshole!!"
But he didn't, and he would continue not stopping as he decided to head for Fort Condor on...a whim? Because the girl had wanted to go there? Who knows? Maybe there was something there looking into. Hard to tell. As he was moving along, he had decided to slow down...ish. It was all relative, really. His car was still plenty fast, by normal measurements. However, because he HAD slowed down and due to the fact that he'd made a HELLUVA NOISE getting here...
Well...his first warning wouldn't be until it was practically on top of him. Or rather...on top of his car.
The monster, like all monsters in the wild, had learned long ago that strange noises meant these strange creatures that sealed themselves up in metal cans that needed to be torn open in order to get to the contents. With that in mind, a Zemelezett had taken to the air about a mile back, swept high over the car so it would not be easily seen...and dropped. The first warning that Tace had that he was under attack was the heavy THUD against his roof and a screech as a large owl-like creature tried to tear into his vehicle!
© 2007-2024