Re: Grand Battle S3G1! (Round Two: The Great Battlefield)
07-07-2011, 01:34 AM
Originally posted on MSPA by Pinary.
"This shouldn't be too difficult," Ester was explaining, her voice hushed as the three started up the stairs, "Jen and Charlie both probably have their headphones on, so they won't hear us if we're quiet, and around this time of day, Allen's always in the flight simulator. He claims he's keeping up his piloting skills, but it may as well be Helicopter Command for all he cares. He and I know each other from back home, and more often than not, he was down at the classic arcade racking up the points. Once, he-"
Walters cut her off with a sharply hissed "Ester."
"What, Mike?"
"You told me to stop you if you ever startled rambling."
She glared at him but didn't contradict him. "We should go for Allen first. He should be fairly easy to convince, and having him around for the other two will be useful."
"Right," Tor said, "let's-"
Huebert's booming voice echoed up the stairs. "Hey, Tor!"
Swearing, Tor whirled. "Stealth," he hissed, "generally doesn't work when people are shouting!"
Walters pressed an ear to the door, then reported, "They heard that, they're coming!"
It was Ester's turn to swear. "Captain," she urged, "we need to go. Now."
She didn't need to tell him twice. He lead the way down the stairs, clattering along with his two allies in tow, running away from people who'd shoot them without question despite being as close as family not fifteen minutes before.
Huebert stood back to let them pass, then matched pace with the retreating trio and asked, "So, what's the plan?"
"The plan," Tor shot back, his tone accusatory, "is to get out of here as fast as possible before we're all shot and made to sing Blue Skies Forever or something! Once we're safely away, we can figure out what to do next!"
It sounded good to Huebert, so he didn't reply, just kept jogging along behind the three who were running full pelt through the base. Walters, on the other hand, said, "If we can get to the roof, we can take the helicopter out of here!"
"Doesn't that mean going upstairs?"
"Shouldn't be a problem," Ester replied, "they're probably all-" A bullet winged into the wall to her left, and she turned her head to glimpse a woman with a shock of red hair and big, angry eyes, flanked by a pair of men in matching blue uniforms. "Yeah," she confirmed, lunging for cover as she did, "they're all downstairs."
Walters jabbed Tor in the side and pointed to a door on the other side of the hall they were in. It wasn't labelled, but he trusted the man to not point him towards a supply cupboard. Sure enough, when he slammed his weight into the door and barged through, he found himself in a narrow service stairway, steep steps leading upwards.
In short order, the whole group was once more pounding along, heading for the roof and whatever a helicopter was.
It was, Tor discovered, a bulbous-looking craft with thin blades sticking out from a spoke on the roof. An atmospheric craft, he could only assume, and when Walters jumped into the front and started the thing going. As the engines started up, the thing's paint-job rippled, the colours shifting from a vaguely-camouflaging blue to a muddy brown.
"We're in back," Tor told the two other battlers, "we need to talk. Ester, you go up front with Walters. I want you monitoring comms."
She saluted and ran around to clamber in the other side, and Tor held stood back to let TinTen and Huebert enter before him. He was barely in himself by the time Jen, Charlie, and Allen reached the roof behind them and opened fire. Their shots dinged steadily off of the chopper's plating, gradually dying away as the craft put distance between itself and the facility.
-
A bit later, Tor spoke into the headset he'd discovered to be quite useful in the near-deafening din of their ride's engines. "Right," he said, looking mostly at TinTen, "we need to talk. We didn't exactly see much of each other last round, but from what I can tell, you're more reasonable and level-headed than some of the other beings in this... competition."
"Could say similarly," the Meipi responded. "You would propose alliance?"
Tor nodded. "I'm not saying we have any chance at taking down the Fool. I can't speak for either of you, but he's obviously got power orders of magnitude above anything I could claim. If given the chance, I don't think there's anyone here who wouldn't take the chance to take him out, but aiming for that is just unrealistic."
"Of course. You have more feasible goals?"
Tor nodded again, leaning forward in a way that made it quite clear who he was and wasn't talking to. "Kerak murdered a good man in cold blood. There will be justice. You can help me or not, that's your call, but I am not going to let that feathery beast get away with this."
TinTen hesitated, choosing his words carefully. "Would not Scofflaw merit greater concern?"
Tor snorted derisively, not wanting to give the Saint the concern that he probably deserved. "He's done nothing but bumble around and get into brawls," he said, neglecting to mention that that could probably sum up his own activities last round the same way. "If he ever does show himself to be worthy of his grand reputation as master villain, then maybe I'll take him seriously, but for now, I'm going to focus on someone who's actually proven themselves to be dangerous: Kerak."
"Yeah?" Huebert was a bit miffed at the Telpori-Hal's rudeness. "What about Jetsam, he's the-"
"Jetsam's not actually out to hurt anyone," Tor interrupted, "it's not in his hal." He said it like it was obvious, the sort of thing anyone with half a brain could see. "He's only a danger to anyone stupid enough to get on his bad side."
"If you say so. Ten, what do you think?"
"Makes certain amount of sense." The Meipi rifled briefly through his book, stopping to scan a page before closing it and turning his attention back to Tor. "Am in agreement, then; Kerak is most dangerous, should take-" He was interrupted as the radio crackled and Ester joined the conversation.
"I don't mean to butt in," she said, "but there's something you should hear. I picked it up on a Blue frequency- apparently, someone calling himself the 'Tartan Tyrant' has set up shop near here and it's disrupting things."
Tor exchanged a glance with TinTen, who then exchanged one with Huebert. Kerak, it seemed, was going to have to wait.
"This shouldn't be too difficult," Ester was explaining, her voice hushed as the three started up the stairs, "Jen and Charlie both probably have their headphones on, so they won't hear us if we're quiet, and around this time of day, Allen's always in the flight simulator. He claims he's keeping up his piloting skills, but it may as well be Helicopter Command for all he cares. He and I know each other from back home, and more often than not, he was down at the classic arcade racking up the points. Once, he-"
Walters cut her off with a sharply hissed "Ester."
"What, Mike?"
"You told me to stop you if you ever startled rambling."
She glared at him but didn't contradict him. "We should go for Allen first. He should be fairly easy to convince, and having him around for the other two will be useful."
"Right," Tor said, "let's-"
Huebert's booming voice echoed up the stairs. "Hey, Tor!"
Swearing, Tor whirled. "Stealth," he hissed, "generally doesn't work when people are shouting!"
Walters pressed an ear to the door, then reported, "They heard that, they're coming!"
It was Ester's turn to swear. "Captain," she urged, "we need to go. Now."
She didn't need to tell him twice. He lead the way down the stairs, clattering along with his two allies in tow, running away from people who'd shoot them without question despite being as close as family not fifteen minutes before.
Huebert stood back to let them pass, then matched pace with the retreating trio and asked, "So, what's the plan?"
"The plan," Tor shot back, his tone accusatory, "is to get out of here as fast as possible before we're all shot and made to sing Blue Skies Forever or something! Once we're safely away, we can figure out what to do next!"
It sounded good to Huebert, so he didn't reply, just kept jogging along behind the three who were running full pelt through the base. Walters, on the other hand, said, "If we can get to the roof, we can take the helicopter out of here!"
"Doesn't that mean going upstairs?"
"Shouldn't be a problem," Ester replied, "they're probably all-" A bullet winged into the wall to her left, and she turned her head to glimpse a woman with a shock of red hair and big, angry eyes, flanked by a pair of men in matching blue uniforms. "Yeah," she confirmed, lunging for cover as she did, "they're all downstairs."
Walters jabbed Tor in the side and pointed to a door on the other side of the hall they were in. It wasn't labelled, but he trusted the man to not point him towards a supply cupboard. Sure enough, when he slammed his weight into the door and barged through, he found himself in a narrow service stairway, steep steps leading upwards.
In short order, the whole group was once more pounding along, heading for the roof and whatever a helicopter was.
It was, Tor discovered, a bulbous-looking craft with thin blades sticking out from a spoke on the roof. An atmospheric craft, he could only assume, and when Walters jumped into the front and started the thing going. As the engines started up, the thing's paint-job rippled, the colours shifting from a vaguely-camouflaging blue to a muddy brown.
"We're in back," Tor told the two other battlers, "we need to talk. Ester, you go up front with Walters. I want you monitoring comms."
She saluted and ran around to clamber in the other side, and Tor held stood back to let TinTen and Huebert enter before him. He was barely in himself by the time Jen, Charlie, and Allen reached the roof behind them and opened fire. Their shots dinged steadily off of the chopper's plating, gradually dying away as the craft put distance between itself and the facility.
-
A bit later, Tor spoke into the headset he'd discovered to be quite useful in the near-deafening din of their ride's engines. "Right," he said, looking mostly at TinTen, "we need to talk. We didn't exactly see much of each other last round, but from what I can tell, you're more reasonable and level-headed than some of the other beings in this... competition."
"Could say similarly," the Meipi responded. "You would propose alliance?"
Tor nodded. "I'm not saying we have any chance at taking down the Fool. I can't speak for either of you, but he's obviously got power orders of magnitude above anything I could claim. If given the chance, I don't think there's anyone here who wouldn't take the chance to take him out, but aiming for that is just unrealistic."
"Of course. You have more feasible goals?"
Tor nodded again, leaning forward in a way that made it quite clear who he was and wasn't talking to. "Kerak murdered a good man in cold blood. There will be justice. You can help me or not, that's your call, but I am not going to let that feathery beast get away with this."
TinTen hesitated, choosing his words carefully. "Would not Scofflaw merit greater concern?"
Tor snorted derisively, not wanting to give the Saint the concern that he probably deserved. "He's done nothing but bumble around and get into brawls," he said, neglecting to mention that that could probably sum up his own activities last round the same way. "If he ever does show himself to be worthy of his grand reputation as master villain, then maybe I'll take him seriously, but for now, I'm going to focus on someone who's actually proven themselves to be dangerous: Kerak."
"Yeah?" Huebert was a bit miffed at the Telpori-Hal's rudeness. "What about Jetsam, he's the-"
"Jetsam's not actually out to hurt anyone," Tor interrupted, "it's not in his hal." He said it like it was obvious, the sort of thing anyone with half a brain could see. "He's only a danger to anyone stupid enough to get on his bad side."
"If you say so. Ten, what do you think?"
"Makes certain amount of sense." The Meipi rifled briefly through his book, stopping to scan a page before closing it and turning his attention back to Tor. "Am in agreement, then; Kerak is most dangerous, should take-" He was interrupted as the radio crackled and Ester joined the conversation.
"I don't mean to butt in," she said, "but there's something you should hear. I picked it up on a Blue frequency- apparently, someone calling himself the 'Tartan Tyrant' has set up shop near here and it's disrupting things."
Tor exchanged a glance with TinTen, who then exchanged one with Huebert. Kerak, it seemed, was going to have to wait.