Racing the Storm

Nick22 · **Reply #940 on:** April 02, 2015, 08:19:29 PM

Copy that. i see them. ETA to shore 5 minutes. Atrua out.' Atrua replied as she then turned off the radio.
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Rose picked up the cup filled with the six bullets, and dumped them over the other side of the boat away from shore."Keep calm Axel. We'll have to pass it off as treating a previous injury.' She said." 'injuries from the accident revealed prior undisclosed injuries' that kinda line.' she said setting the cup back down.
_ You'd better be VERY convincing with that. ' Uesa said as she dug through Maries bag, coming up with a spool of thread and a needle, and began sewing up the incision sites, starting with the shoulder she had just operated on.. 'But if thats the line you're going with, I'll back you on that. Best for all concerned is that you guys head out of the country as soon as possible. once all the areas are sewed up Axel, help me bandage them. And try and ACT like tourists, panicking will only arouse suspicion."
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we were just in an accident, some trauma is to be expected ' Rose replied, and she went over to refill the water cup with a fresh amount, dumping the bloodied water out. the blood was from Uesa cleaning her hands off between treating each injured area. uesa sewed up each area, going cunterclockwise for the right should, neck, left shoulder, left side, leg and right side. the boat reached the shore as she finished with the final area. ' alright, bandages' Uesa said to Axel.

Pterano · **Reply #941 on:** April 02, 2015, 11:08:22 PM

"Yeah... yeah sure..." Tony nodded, hooking his thumb claws in his waistline and nodding. "Go ahead... I'll just... stay here and... keep a watch..." he gulped, giving one last look into that cave. "Just hurry back... sounds like there's trouble back at the boat..."

"Worse than that at this rate..." Vergil murmured, shaking his head as he sensed pain... anguish... but he couldn't be sure who it was or the circumstances. Tony exhaled and vibrated his lips as he watched the group start to descend into the cavern.

"Shit... I hope this goes OK..." Tony muttered, looking about him at nothing in particular.

Vergil didn't need lights, as he could see relatively well in the dark, his eyes adapting rather easily. If others wished to switch on lights, that was up to them. The cavern sloped gradually downward, and Vergil tensed up and gasped as bats suddenly charged overhead, zooming over them in those uneven flight paths that Vergil always found to be chaotic. "Guess we're disturbing their resting place..." He murmured, feeling a shiver pass down his spine.

As the passage sloped downward, a blue glue could be seen softly playing off the walls. It looked almost like water but... not quite. Narrowing his eyes, the gecko could see a bend ahead, and beyond that bend... the computer terminal of the waypoint! "There it is!" he exclaimed, nodding. "Except..." he stopped now, noticing the ceiling seemed to be... moving. "Uh... am I hallucinating or is that... not a solid ceiling?" he asked.

A faint clacking noise could be heard too, and Vergil strained to see what it was that was bustling about up there... and felt his stomach lurch as he saw what looked like giant millipedes crawling around in circles and spirals and twists. "OK..." he trailed off here. "Haven't encountered them yet... maybe... they won't... do anything..." he said slowly, but noticed they were starting to crawl in their direction now. "Or not..." He sighed, pursing his lips and drawing his energy blade before lighting up the area surrounding him with its red glow.

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #942 on:** April 03, 2015, 06:27:23 AM

"Guys!" breathed Flora. "Guys guys guys guys...what if..." she took a weak ragged breath; all of her bullet wounds were bleeding profusely due to being opened and her flesh was pale white under neath her fur. "What if we wait till they board, kill them, and steal their boat..."

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Emilena didn't even spare a glance as the others departed. "So. Tony. This is the best opportunity I'm going to get to be straight with you. If you could please hear me out."

She took a deep breath. "Look, we both know that we don't like each other. And that's likely not going to change. But I am worried about you, because of the danger you're placing this team in by ignoring the circumstances of your return to the land of the living."

She folded her arms. "'Sleeper agents' are captives who are mentally-altered and allowed to return to their allies. They can be unwittingly transferring information and even 'activated' to become hostile at a later tactically-opportune date. I think it's incredibly likely that you are one of these, but your refusal to even consider the fact is putting us all in incredible danger."

She met his gaze steadily. "If you're willing to take some basic steps, I can guide and assist you to minimize the damage you can cause. I might even be able to help you discover if you are indeed a sleeper; I have special training in this regard because of an incident in my past. But it's going to require you to stop being in total denial and admit that you can't fully trust what your mind and body are telling you right now."

Nick22 · **Reply #943 on:** April 04, 2015, 01:05:38 AM

Dont talk ' Uesa said, as she stitched up the wounds, the loss of blood made it easy to locate the wound areas. within a couple minutes, all of the wounds were sewn up, and Uesa wrapped them tightly in bandages, covering them with clean ones. the bloody bandages were left in the boat, as the vehicle pulled up and three guards got out and headed up to the boat, two jackals and a leopard ' we need to get this one to Algal Medical fast . she has pretty extensive injuries 'Uesa said."one of the jaguars picked up Flora and carried her to the vehicle, the leopard motioned to Rose, Axel and rio " come with us please. we'll have you folks undergo some medical tests to make sure you didnt suffer any internal injuries." the leopard, a male said." just climb in the back of the vehicle.

bushwacked · **Reply #944 on:** April 04, 2015, 07:20:23 AM

Blinking as the leopard carried Flora away, Axel nodded and stepped out of the boat hesitantly, Rio beside him. Despite everything, being able to step on dry land again felt good. "Alright, just keep cool. Maybe this is gonna be okay."

"Maybe..." Rio kept his eye on Flora as the guard carried her out of sight around the rear of the vehicle.

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Carrying Flora around to the rear of the vehicle, the guard gently placed her down in the large, open area that was normally used for storing heavy equipment... then surreptitiously unclipped the holster securing the pistol to his hip. He'd noticed the gun that Rose was clutching - an AK-47. None of the security team at the facility carried that type of gun, so it belonged to the tourists... but what would tourists be doing with a gun?

The folf below him didn't seem to be too aware of what was happening around her. Slowly, he eased a claw beneath one of her bandages and gently pulled it up, just enough to see beneath. The leopard's lean face stiffened. The wound was stitched, but it had clearly been caused by a bullet. What the hell's going on? Satisfied that Flora didn't have a weapon on her, he left her there and walked back around the side of the vehicle, stopping Rose just before she followed the rat and the kid inside. "Let me take that, Miss," he offered, extending his hand towards the gun. "You must be in quite some shock, you should be taking it easy."

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"Shit..." Triste slid her knife out of the sheath on her inner arm, her eyes trying to keep track of the multitude of bodies crawling down towards them, their metallic legs making thin clacking noises as they clicked and scraped on the rock, small red lights glowing in the darkness along the length of their bodies. But there were just too many - and they were all swarming towards the group. "Stay together," she warned. "Don't get separated. And try not to shoot," Triste said, glancing quickly at Marita and Marie. "The bullets'll ricochet in here."

Breathing slowly to keep calm, Triste spoke lowly to Vergil. "It's more defensible by the console. Maybe we should -"

Almost as if they were of one mind, the swarm of sinister looking guardians suddenly surged forwards, speeding across the walls and ceiling of the cave and lunging towards them.

Nick22 · **Reply #945 on:** April 04, 2015, 12:43:46 PM

with all due respect sir, I need to hang on to this. we're headed through the Middle East once we pass through this country, and as you know that region has been unstable for thousands of years. best to have a weapon on you, just in case. Rose said.' that is true." the guard said slowly.' can you explain why your friend is in such bad shape?' he motioned to the the back of the vehicle. ' those bullet wounds look pretty new to me." well Flora is shall we say a bit of a free spirit, and thus gets into a lot of trouble some times. she got into a scrap in Khartoum, got shot a few times and we originally just left the bullets in. but well she got banged up in the wreck and her injuries got reopened, as it turns out she was shot more back in Sudan than we previously thought. never complained a bit, shes a tough girl."
_ Fine fine, just keep your weapon at your feet and in front at all times until we reach the medical wing.Get in" the guard motioned, and Rose climbed in, next to Axel. Atrua and uesa climbed in next, and took seats opposite the the ' tourists'. Atrua turned on her radio ' Algal this is Atrua we have reached the vehicle and are headed your way with injured tourist. Tourist, named ' Flora' is suffering injuries consisting of a combination of a prior shooting with injuries suffered in the river accident. she'll need some blood to be transfused, as removing the bullets caused quite a bit of blood loss.'
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do you know when she was shot, came a doctors voice on the other end 'tourists.. say in Sudan.. where in that country is unclear. ' well, we'll treat her injuries as best we can. were there any bullets fragments in the wounds ?' no from what i saw all of them were intact. the bullets were lost when a wave hit the lifeboat we were in so further forensic testing is impossible."" the Nile is a harsh mistress, just get her here as quickly as you can. Dr Musura out" the radio was turned off.
_ Millipedes.. giant millipedes this is something new- and very creepy' Marita said as she looked at the giant swarm of metallic creatures on the ceiling. ' what are milli- Marie started to ask before the swarm rushed towards them. " get to the console " marita called as the gap between them and the creatures rapidly shrunk.

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #946 on:** April 10, 2015, 01:22:44 AM

I have literally never seen so little happen in such a long time... Lily thought with annoyance, watching something diagetic up on the spaceship.

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Even while talking to Tony, Emilena wondered what the hell was taking the others so long.

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"Could we move things forward please?" asked Flora dully. "I'm almost out of blood..."

Nick22 · **Reply #947 on:** April 10, 2015, 02:40:54 AM

the vehicle carrying Rose flora and the others headed towards the medical wing of the algal headquarters which was one of several buildings the corporation had built on this side of the river. ' rose turned and looked back at flora through a window in the vehicle a guard had placed some blankets under her ' just hang in there Flora ' rose said , trying to be reassuring.' we'll be at the medical area prtty soon, so you can get the treatment you need for your injuries..
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Marita waited until a number of millipeddes got close, then fiored. the sounds of the thud as the bullets hit the mettallic creatures was loud and disconcerting, yet even with the bullets finding their mark in a few milipedes theres were still many many more to take down.

bushwacked · **Reply #948 on:** April 11, 2015, 09:47:30 PM

Axel fidgeted uncomfortably with his fingers, staring at the squat, pale building drawing up outside his window as the vehicle started to slow. The medical section he assumed.

"Alright, we're at medical," the driver said, confirming Axel's thoughts as he drew the handbrake up and turned around. "Samuels, get the wounded in first, she's lost a lot of blood. The rest of you should also wait inside while we figure out what to do next. If you'd like, we can take a look at you if you were injured during your accident on the river."

"No... No, I'm good," Axel said, keeping his expression grateful.

"Me neither." Rio blinked at Flora's bleeding body. "She'll be okay, right?"

Swinging himself out of the vehicle, Samuels leaned into the back and pulled Flora out. "She'll be fine kid. We know what we're doing." He glared suspiciously at Axel, Rio and Rose for a second longer, then started towards the building, Flora in his arms. Their story doesn't make sense... why are Atrua and Uesa backing them up?

As Samuels walked away, Axel gulped then glanced at the others. "Alright, I, ah, I guess we should go in."

Pterano · **Reply #949 on:** April 14, 2015, 02:52:23 PM

((Please keep the OOC references to my time in posting OUT of this RP LB&T. Just a reminder OOC SHOULD NOT be implied IC in any RP I'm running. We can all respect each other and the fact that real life sometimes kills our inspiration to post I think. Sorry to single you out but it was pretty blatant on your part. I'm sorry I'm taking awhile but I just don't find any inspiration for the characters I'm writing anymore. When it stops being fun and starts feeling like work, it's hard to keep at it. I admire the enthusiasm you have for at least one of my characters, and just wish I could muster that up myself.))

Tony chewed his bottom lip and looked over at her. "You're implying I've refused to consider it... I have. I have no other explanation for how I ended up where I was... but I can't confirm if I was ever in enemy hands either. Either I was found by them or I wasn't... though of course, wouldn't have been in that situation had you not been mindlessly rooting through our belongings in the first place." he said pointedly.

"Still... I have an even simpler solution. One that has absolutely 100% chance of success: I leave the group. If I'm a sleeper, Kalis obviously wants to screw with us, and he can't do that if I'm not there. An ADDED benefit is that I'm not actually seeing the waypoint right now, so I have no idea WHERE we're going next, and if I leave soonish, that prevents me from being triggered, if that's what's wrong with me, and it prevents the party from getting harmed... problem solved. Believe me, I've BEEN thinking about it. Last thing I want is to do that so... while you guys go off and kill Kalis and solve that little problem, I'll be warming the bench from home and preventing any sort of issues that could crop up. Everybody wins, right?" he asked, spreading his arms a bit.

"You take away the NEED to trigger me... or... spy on the others, I'm no more different than the average Joe on the street to Kalis. The party moves on to their next destination, I have no idea where it is, and we're all safe. Do I like it? No. Do I think it's necessary? Yes." He nodded here. "Thanks for the offer too... it's surprising me I admit, but appreciated."

Inside, Vergil glanced quickly at the console, and nodded. "Right! Get over there before they can get down! And don't shoot! Too much chance of a ricochet in here!" he called, his voice bouncing around the chambers. He ran towards the console, though was nearly cut off by a millipede that crawled down the wall towards him. Slicing into its head, he drew a nice line across its mouth (or at least, he thought it was its mouth) and saw fluid spray in every direction, coating him a bit in its viscous substance. "Ugh!" he declared, spitting some out of the side of his mouth.

Punching his fingers on the console once he reached it, he tried to gather his mind to work this through. "Uh... OK... so... it's like... uh... what's the..." He began reading the questions they presented to him, his memory suddenly springing to life. He'd been here before! He knew these answers! Hitting one, then another, he worked quickly. "Neural scan? Dammit!" He uttered, turning around as he began to fight off another millipede with his blade as the creature shrieked hungrily at him. "Lunch is gonna have to wait! I'm BUSY!" he roared back, cutting off a few legs, which didn't seem to do much in the way of helping.

"Ugh! Don't have time for this nonsense! I'm putting your lunch plans on permanent hold!" He sliced into the area under its neck, and watched it slump forward a bit. Rapidly turning around, the scan hit his head and gave him the all clear. Yes! Simple! The map sprang to life, and there was only one choice left to make: China. Vergil pushed his finger down on it, and the coordinates appeared. Studying them carefully, he committed them to memory, whirled around, and began hacking away at another one. "Got them! Let's go!" He called to the others. "Lead the way!"

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #950 on:** April 14, 2015, 07:25:58 PM

"Striking it out alone is one of the worst things you can do," Emilena explained. "Your trigger has nothing to do with distance, Kalis might even be capable of knowing that you abandoned us, and then he'd have no reason not to activate you immediately. You're a mafia don's son, you have uses beyond reconnaisance."

She looked him straight in the eyes. "I know everything you're feeling right now, and its natural. The fear, the self-doubt, the desire to run away. Like you're just a pawn, destined to die in a game you didn't even want to play. But you have to unlearn everything you're thinking of doing until I've taught you just what you've gotten yourself into. You can't even stop feeling hopeless, because some triggers are chemical and react to a positive change in state of mind."

She reminded herself to slow down. "There are three steps to recovery, and the third is optional. First, we need to determine what type of trigger you've been embedded with. There's a depressingly high amount of possibilities. Then, we need to take steps to mitigate the chances of you being triggered, and minimize the possible fallout if you trigger anyway. The last step...I'll get to if we succeed at the first two."

She took a deep breath. "God, I don't want to do this next part...but you need to understand just why I'm the only person you can place your trust in." She began taking off her shirt.

Pterano · **Reply #951 on:** April 14, 2015, 11:17:35 PM

Tony blinked as she began removing her shirt. "Wait... what the hell are you doing?" he asked, backing up a little here. "Pretty sure there are certain things I don't need to see right now with the possibility of the others... coming back." he said, gulping. "I mean really..." he held up a paw, as if that would stop her (it wouldn't of course). "Can't I just... leave? I don't know anything about our next destination and I'm planning on leaving it that way..." He trailed off here, pausing as he couldn't help but wonder just what she was attempting, his nagging curiosity getting the better of him.

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #952 on:** April 15, 2015, 02:37:40 AM

Emilena showed him the lowest point of her nape. "Look at my neck. You see that scar? Right at the base of the medulla. That's where mine was, because it had to override my instincts. It needed to operate without me thinking."

Her eyes clouded. "When I was a junior officer in the Lanthae Police Corps, I woke up hogtied in the basement of the First National Bank with no memory of how I got there. I freed myself and quickly discovered the bank was in lockdown, surrounded on all sides by police forces with a team of criminals draining the place. I reached the sewers and opened up an entrance for a small four-man team of SWATs to infiltrate the bank. Then I insisted on accompanying them so I could get revenge on the men who had tied me up. Never once did I wonder what I'd been doing there in the first place. Just like your instinct is to run away, mine was to fallback on my combat training."

Emilena's cheeks flushed. "I was so stupid. We made it all the way to the hostages in the vault, me and the SWATs, and then...I blacked out. When I woke up, everyone was dead. I'd thrown a live grenade into the vault and locked the door behind my teammates."

Tears unwittingly stung her eyes and she couldn't meet his gaze. "Four highly-trained officers, Tony. Six innocent civilians. In one second I went from the hero of the hour to a mass murderer..."

(OOC: I'm not inventing this conveniently; this is part of the plot a story I wrote months ago. If you'd like to read it and other stories set during Emilena's police years, PM me and I'll give you the link.)

bushwacked · **Reply #953 on:** April 15, 2015, 06:06:04 AM

Triste nodded quickly, yanking her knife from the skull of one of the millipedes and letting its body slump to the side. "Alright! Marita! Marie! Let's go, move it!" She turned and started backing away towards the slope leading out, the cave becoming darker again the further they moved from the console's blue glow.

With the ringing in her ears from Marita's gunshot, Triste didn't hear t.he light scuffling as a large shape crawled overhead. "Hurry up!" she started to urge again... then cried out as something heavy slammed into her from above. Yelling, she felt something snap in her chest as her knife was sent skittering out of her grasp. Gritting her teeth, Triste rolled over... just in time to see the millipedes grotesque head dart forwards towards her neck. She threw her arm up, and hissed in pain as its mandibles closed around her wrist. Struggling to force her other arm past the millipede's body as it writhed on top of her, she closed her spare hand over one of the appendages slicing into her flesh and yanked hard, tearing it off the creature's 'face'.

The millipede reared back, and suddenly free again Triste took the opportunity to push herself to the side, reaching for her knife despite the burning pain in her chest... almost...

Triste was yanked back back again, the knife beyond her reach once again as the millipede recovered and bit down on her leg, clamping firmly on the limb. Dragging her claws on the rock, Triste tired to stop herself, but the creature kept dragging her back - and then started to climb the wall, taking her with it. As she struggled uselessly, the pain in her side worsening, she ground her teeth in horror as she saw it was trying to take her up into the roof of the cave. Into the nest where countless more of them crawled and slithered over each other.

Nick22 · **Reply #954 on:** April 15, 2015, 11:35:37 AM

Marita and marie breathed heavily as a number of millipedes lay dead around them, the internal fluid spilling out on the ground around them. the clicking of legs alerted their attention , and the girls looked on in honor as trieste was slowly pulled up the wall. marita took careful aim and aimed at the millipeedes baxck, and began firing. her ai, was good and hissing from the millipedes indicated the bullets were making an impact.' the millipedes screeches became louder as each new bullet found its mark, and it stopped its ascent about halfway towards the roof. ' Marie get over there! Break her fall! that millipedes going to be dead soon and she'll need someone to soften her labnding! Marita said as she continued firing.

Pterano · **Reply #955 on:** April 15, 2015, 01:41:01 PM

Tony stood there, frowning slightly as he listened to the story, thoughts running through his head. He then noticed... her... crying? Or almost doing so. She had emotions? His face fell here, and he looked her over. "I see... but you don't think... that would happen to me, do you?" he asked. "I mean how did you actually... get rid of it?" he inquired now, looking to the right, but couldn't see much thanks to the hills all around them. He didn't like this... way too easy for someone to get the drop on them... they were sitting ducks in this valley...

The bullets weren't very effective, thanks to the armored carapace of the millipede, and Vergil whirled as he saw Triste getting dragged off. "No... NO! TRISTE!" He shouted, heart leaping into his throat as he tore after her, blade at the ready. He swung, but halted its arc, afraid he'd hit her. Bullets began flying in every direction thanks to Marita's efforts, and Vergil yelled over to her as he followed after the bug: "Stop firing dammit! You have as much chance of killing us as you do them!" His point was brought home when a bullet buzzed the top of his feathers, ruffling them and causing him to gulp.

As the creature began to retreat up the walls, Vergil leaped onto the rock surface, his fingers and toes actually useful here, as like any gecko, he could scale vertical planes. "Triste! Hold on!" he called to her, scaling after her. He'd never catch up at this rate, as he couldn't compete with hundreds of legs, but he could do one thing...

Closing one eye, he held his sword like a spear, and tossed it like a javelin, the deadly blade hurtling toward the head of the creature. It lanced into the skin and caused the millipede to shriek, and as it expired, it dropped Triste. Vergil's arm shot out and he grabbed her, but strained as he slid down a few feet on the wall. "Agh! I think... I think I'm gonna have to drop you... you all right?" he asked. "Hey!" He called down to the girls. "Can you catch her? I can't climb down AND hold her at the same time! Can you get her?"

Nick22 · **Reply #956 on:** April 15, 2015, 03:19:12 PM

Marita stopped shooting after hearing Vergil at her. " Alright. Look like you got it Vergil! Nice work. just hold on for another 15 seconds' marita said Running towards the wall where he and Trieste Was , She and Marie soon stood below Vergil at the bottom of the wall, looking up " Ok! you can let her go, we can catch her!" Marita called up " you can get down and we can get the heck out of here.
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rose headed into the medical wing which had a smell of chemicals in the area- likely to disinfect any surfaces in the vicinity. a row of small chairs stood in a corner ' just have a seat in those chairs ' one guards said to Rose rio and Axel. once we treat your friends injuries and shes stable, then you can visit, might be an hour or so though.

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #957 on:** April 15, 2015, 05:24:31 PM

"That's the thing, Tony..." Emilena sighed. "I didn't have to get rid of it. The routine ended after I killed my allies. I wasn't even important enough to get a suicide command included."

She realized she was balling her fists. Counting silently down from three, she relaxed a bit and met Tony's gaze again. "Do you know what my trigger had been? The sensation of safety. As we walked into that vault, and the hostages were alive, and I had four highly-trained officers to rely on...for the first time that whole day I felt like I was going to survive. Like things were under control."

Emilena had a number of metal straps around her chest and hips; she removed them before putting her shirt back on. "That's what I'm trying to explain to you, Tony! You CAN'T just try to live life avoiding what the trigger might be! It could be anything, and it'll probably be whatever Kalis expects you to do! If you remain ignorant, it'll only hurt more because you aren't prepared when it'll finally strike."

She handed Tony the metal straps along with a dial remote. "I'd purchased a Faraday dampener in preparation for this conversation; it prevents electronic signals from penetrating a small field around me. That was in case they bugged you, because if they heard us talk like this they might send the trigger signal right away. You should put it on. Once we're somewhere safe I've got all sorts of precautions I'll be able to teach you, and training that might help us narrow down the possibilities for triggers. I've...kinda spent a lot of time researching this topic..."

bushwacked · **Reply #958 on:** April 15, 2015, 05:42:59 PM

Triste felt Vergil let go of her. As she fell into Marita's grip, something crunched and she let out a choked gasp. "Goddammit!" Triste stooped to retrieve her knife and pressed a hand to her side, grimacing. "I think it broke a rib... Shit." She glanced back at Vergil, Marita and Marie. "Thanks... they - "

Her eyes widened as she suddenly saw a surge of movement just above Vergil. "There's more coming! We need to move!" She started backing away painfully, watching to make sure Vergil wasn't about to be snatched by the mass of millipedes.

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Axel nodded to the guard and smiled. "Alright. Thank you sir." As the guard walked away, his smile vanished and he turned to Rose and Rio. "Crap... the others are gonna be stranded..."

Nick22 · **Reply #959 on:** April 15, 2015, 07:48:38 PM

Run!' Marita said, grabbing onto Trieste Shoulder and helping her stagger towards the exit as fast as she could , Marie ran in front of them trying to put as much distance between her and those monsters
_
Not much we can do about that" Rose replied, picking up a magazine off a table next to her seat- it was a magazine about the history of Egypt. she opened it up to the first page.'we'll have to wait until they try to call us..'