Re: The Phenomenal Fracas! (GBS2G6): [Round One: Afterparty]
01-29-2011, 04:45 AM
Originally posted on MSPA by Anomaly.
Syvex pulled himself away from the back wall of the caboose, which he and Eureka had been unceremoniously thrown into by the sudden stop of the train. With some dismay, Syvex noted that he had been thrown into Eureka as well, ramming her into the back wall and no doubt causing an injury of some kind.
"You alright, Finch?"
Rather than answering, Eureka gave her standard reply of mumbling various choice curses under her breath.
"I'll take that as a no. ...Sorry about that."
Without warning, the door leading into the caboose was flung open, revealing two large, primitive-looking, steam-powered robots. Their construction appeared somewhat sturdy - a vaguely humanoid shape with long, thin legs supporting a large, stout torso, gears sticking out in various places. Two bulky arms with large hands extended from the main body, one of which clutched some sort of odd firearm. Steam poured from a vent on top of the torso, just behind the crude approximation of a head. The robots spoke in a grainy, synthetic monotone, one which would not be at all out of place in an old sci-fi film.
"YOU ARE NOT RECOGNIZED AS PASSENGERS. PRESENT YOUR TICKETS AT ONCE. STOWAWAYS ARE NOT WELCOME ON THE IRON ROSE."
Naturally, there was little chance of a peaceful way out of the situation. The two of them obviously couldn't comply with the robots' demands, and Syvex doubted that he could talk robots down. It was worth a shot, he supposed.
"Ah, well, we're going to have a problem here. Neither of us have tickets, sadly." Eureka shot Syvex an "are you crazy?" look, which of course was ignored.
"STOWAWAYS CONFIRMED. TRAIN IS CURRENTLY AT STATION. LOCAL POLICE ALERTED. DO NOT RESIST AS WE ESCORT YOU OUTSIDE."
"Nonono, you've got it wrong. We're not passengers, no. We're onboard to perform a... safety inspection. You weren't told about this?"
"NOT INFORMED OF INSPECTION AHEAD OF TIME. ALL INSPECTIONS ARE TO BE LOGGED WITH CREW IN ADVANCE."
"You weren't told? Unannounced safety inspections have been commissioned. Fortunately, you've pas-"
"UNANNOUNCED SAFETY INSPECTIONS AGAINST REGULATIONS. STOWAWAYS CONFIRMED. DO NOT RESIST."
"Well, it was worth a shot." Syvex lunged at the robot in front, swiftly biting its arm off with his huge, powerful teeth. The other aimed its weapon and began to pepper Syvex with carefully aimed bullets; not a very effective strategy against one who can heal their own wounds. Syvex attempted to pick up the first guard to use as an impromptu weapon, but found it to be inordinently heavy. He settled for giving the robot a quick shove, knocking it off its feet and into the other, who, just before going down, managed to land a bullet directly in the serpent's throat. He hissed in pain, then launched bursts of shadow at the both of them until they stopped moving.
"That could've gone better..." Syvex rasped as the bullet wound began to heal.
Eureka rolled her eyes. "At least you were around, I guess."
Syvex paused for a moment. "...You know, maybe we should just get off of the train. Leave the others here to fight out the round without us."
"Sure, we can avoid a bunch of killer robots and hide out in town. That'll definitely be easy."
"Well, if you have any better ideas-"
"Dammit, I don't know! Everything wants us dead, and we're stuck in this little car because you can't even go in the light!"
"Well, would you prefer killing Sandman and the cultist to get out of here faster?"
"You can't even kill... 'Sandman'... when you have the advantage! What makes you think you'll be able to take him on here? And the cultist can.... I don't even know what he does but it's probably some kind of horrible voodoo murder! Are you that reckless?"
"Yes. If we confront them in a windowless car-"
"You're not even listening! You're just going to get us both killed!"
Syvex stopped and sighed. "Eureka, we can't just stay back here, we'll get cornered. There has to be something we can do. Anything. So we might as well get moving."
"I... guess you're right." Eureka hated to think that Syvex's foolhardy plans were the only options, but with killbots and whatever else running around it wouldn't do them much good to stay in one place. However, they did have the sense to wait for the train to start moving again first. Neither really stopped to consider why the train would start moving again when there were several obviously dangerous stowaways onboard.
Unbeknownst to them, moments before, a seemingly innocuous passenger had held the engineer at gunpoint, forcing him to set the train in motion. In spite of his compliance, the man shot the engineer in the head, killing him instantly and sending the train barreling off with no one to control it.
Now that the train was moving again, Eureka followed Syvex through the door and back into the brighter hallway lined with cabins. Syvex dealt with the occasional security robot, which roamed the cars in search of the intruders but were never really much of a threat against a crazy regenerating shadow snake. As they came to a door to the observation room, however, it became clear that there was a commotion being raised over something on the other side. Loud discussions among passengers referred to something about "sand" and "guy with a hat". However, in spite of the fact that Tamerlane was obviously nearby, Syvex was more or less absorbed in the view outside the nearby window. He ignored Eureka's urging to head in the other direction or hide in one of the cabins or something, instead watching, unmoving, as the train entered a dark forest. Eureka impatiently glanced out the window to see what was so interesting, and for a brief moment, caught a glimpse of what appeared to be Syvex himself out in the forest. She stared in confusion for a moment, concluding that it was likely just her imagination and that that was clearly impossible and
After hearing from the passengers that Tamerlane was likely approaching, Syvex stopped in consideration. "I can't take him on in this light. Ugh... Let's just hide." He immediately threw open the door to a random passenger's cabin, finding it to fortunately be vacant. After the two of them entered, he discreetly shut the door and latched it, hopefully preventing Tamerlane from entering (not that he'd even know they were in there). Syvex drew the window's shades closed, blocking out the bright light that filtered in from outside. Nothing more they could do but wait.
Syvex pulled himself away from the back wall of the caboose, which he and Eureka had been unceremoniously thrown into by the sudden stop of the train. With some dismay, Syvex noted that he had been thrown into Eureka as well, ramming her into the back wall and no doubt causing an injury of some kind.
"You alright, Finch?"
Rather than answering, Eureka gave her standard reply of mumbling various choice curses under her breath.
"I'll take that as a no. ...Sorry about that."
Without warning, the door leading into the caboose was flung open, revealing two large, primitive-looking, steam-powered robots. Their construction appeared somewhat sturdy - a vaguely humanoid shape with long, thin legs supporting a large, stout torso, gears sticking out in various places. Two bulky arms with large hands extended from the main body, one of which clutched some sort of odd firearm. Steam poured from a vent on top of the torso, just behind the crude approximation of a head. The robots spoke in a grainy, synthetic monotone, one which would not be at all out of place in an old sci-fi film.
"YOU ARE NOT RECOGNIZED AS PASSENGERS. PRESENT YOUR TICKETS AT ONCE. STOWAWAYS ARE NOT WELCOME ON THE IRON ROSE."
Naturally, there was little chance of a peaceful way out of the situation. The two of them obviously couldn't comply with the robots' demands, and Syvex doubted that he could talk robots down. It was worth a shot, he supposed.
"Ah, well, we're going to have a problem here. Neither of us have tickets, sadly." Eureka shot Syvex an "are you crazy?" look, which of course was ignored.
"STOWAWAYS CONFIRMED. TRAIN IS CURRENTLY AT STATION. LOCAL POLICE ALERTED. DO NOT RESIST AS WE ESCORT YOU OUTSIDE."
"Nonono, you've got it wrong. We're not passengers, no. We're onboard to perform a... safety inspection. You weren't told about this?"
"NOT INFORMED OF INSPECTION AHEAD OF TIME. ALL INSPECTIONS ARE TO BE LOGGED WITH CREW IN ADVANCE."
"You weren't told? Unannounced safety inspections have been commissioned. Fortunately, you've pas-"
"UNANNOUNCED SAFETY INSPECTIONS AGAINST REGULATIONS. STOWAWAYS CONFIRMED. DO NOT RESIST."
"Well, it was worth a shot." Syvex lunged at the robot in front, swiftly biting its arm off with his huge, powerful teeth. The other aimed its weapon and began to pepper Syvex with carefully aimed bullets; not a very effective strategy against one who can heal their own wounds. Syvex attempted to pick up the first guard to use as an impromptu weapon, but found it to be inordinently heavy. He settled for giving the robot a quick shove, knocking it off its feet and into the other, who, just before going down, managed to land a bullet directly in the serpent's throat. He hissed in pain, then launched bursts of shadow at the both of them until they stopped moving.
"That could've gone better..." Syvex rasped as the bullet wound began to heal.
Eureka rolled her eyes. "At least you were around, I guess."
Syvex paused for a moment. "...You know, maybe we should just get off of the train. Leave the others here to fight out the round without us."
"Sure, we can avoid a bunch of killer robots and hide out in town. That'll definitely be easy."
"Well, if you have any better ideas-"
"Dammit, I don't know! Everything wants us dead, and we're stuck in this little car because you can't even go in the light!"
"Well, would you prefer killing Sandman and the cultist to get out of here faster?"
"You can't even kill... 'Sandman'... when you have the advantage! What makes you think you'll be able to take him on here? And the cultist can.... I don't even know what he does but it's probably some kind of horrible voodoo murder! Are you that reckless?"
"Yes. If we confront them in a windowless car-"
"You're not even listening! You're just going to get us both killed!"
Syvex stopped and sighed. "Eureka, we can't just stay back here, we'll get cornered. There has to be something we can do. Anything. So we might as well get moving."
"I... guess you're right." Eureka hated to think that Syvex's foolhardy plans were the only options, but with killbots and whatever else running around it wouldn't do them much good to stay in one place. However, they did have the sense to wait for the train to start moving again first. Neither really stopped to consider why the train would start moving again when there were several obviously dangerous stowaways onboard.
Unbeknownst to them, moments before, a seemingly innocuous passenger had held the engineer at gunpoint, forcing him to set the train in motion. In spite of his compliance, the man shot the engineer in the head, killing him instantly and sending the train barreling off with no one to control it.
Now that the train was moving again, Eureka followed Syvex through the door and back into the brighter hallway lined with cabins. Syvex dealt with the occasional security robot, which roamed the cars in search of the intruders but were never really much of a threat against a crazy regenerating shadow snake. As they came to a door to the observation room, however, it became clear that there was a commotion being raised over something on the other side. Loud discussions among passengers referred to something about "sand" and "guy with a hat". However, in spite of the fact that Tamerlane was obviously nearby, Syvex was more or less absorbed in the view outside the nearby window. He ignored Eureka's urging to head in the other direction or hide in one of the cabins or something, instead watching, unmoving, as the train entered a dark forest. Eureka impatiently glanced out the window to see what was so interesting, and for a brief moment, caught a glimpse of what appeared to be Syvex himself out in the forest. She stared in confusion for a moment, concluding that it was likely just her imagination and that that was clearly impossible and
After hearing from the passengers that Tamerlane was likely approaching, Syvex stopped in consideration. "I can't take him on in this light. Ugh... Let's just hide." He immediately threw open the door to a random passenger's cabin, finding it to fortunately be vacant. After the two of them entered, he discreetly shut the door and latched it, hopefully preventing Tamerlane from entering (not that he'd even know they were in there). Syvex drew the window's shades closed, blocking out the bright light that filtered in from outside. Nothing more they could do but wait.