Racing the Storm

Pterano · **Reply #360 on:** July 01, 2014, 03:01:50 PM

The phone rang twice, and finally, the don's voice sounded on the other end. "I don't have a lot of time right now, Tony, so make this quick." Don Stracci seemed busied with things, but of course wasn't expecting news to break in the form of a microburst over his head.

Vergil, for his part, was looking out the window and trying to determine how he could best proceed. He felt no particular affinity for his task at hand, and began to muse over Rex and his life. He had been a hero... but what had he seen deep in the Unknown Regions that had made him turn against his country and everything he had fought for? He would need to find others who knew him in life, and see what he could discern from them... nothing like eyewitnesses after all. Most of those who had known him were currently fighting for Kalis, he knew that much, but there had to be other witnesses.... non-combatants, or defectors who no longer shared Kalis's view of the world. They just had to be out there...

As Marion glided down into the dark jungle, she could see a disturbed area of trees that looked as if something had ripped through them recently. At the bottom was the body of Tony Stracci... or at least, it should've been the corpse of Tony Stracci, but something was off. Movement could be detected from the prone form. He lay stretched out on his right side, but his arms were showing slight signs of spasms and his tail was flicking from left to right.

If Marion looked carefully, she could also see signs of breathing as the ferret's sides rose and fell in very slow, almost relaxed motions that made it look as if he was asleep, though his eyes were just barely open. One paw was grasping out for... something, but it wasn't doing anything aside from flexing and relaxing.

It was impossible. No one should've been able to survive a drop of over 3,000 feet the likes of which the ferret had just taken, but regardless, there he was, lying on his side, bleeding, barely conscious, but very much alive. Perhaps it had something to do with that dropship that was starting to descend into the valley now, and was at this juncture very much lit up, its lights glowing like a UFO in the night as it dropped downwards, though Marion beat it in terms of descent, both because the dropship was making a controlled descent and also because it seemed to be in no great hurry.

Serris · **Reply #361 on:** July 01, 2014, 03:23:57 PM

Soren gulped. "Don Stracci, sir," he said. He tried to keep his voice neutral. "This is Soren Almaya. I have terrible news. Tony...he was killed by Emilena and some street punk." He held his breath awaiting the inevitable explosion through the phone. He assured himself that Don Stracci was a reasonable man, but he was a powerful crime lord.

---------

Marion wrinkled her forehead as she spotted the disturbed area thanks to her helmet's built-in night vision equipment. She banked around and circled to bleed off speed.

As she approached the now brightly lit clearing, the woman activated her flying frame's thrusters to slow down further and landed, letting her prosthetic legs and exoskeleton take the impact.

She then folded her flying frame's wings as she approached Tony Stracci. Her helmet's enhanced vision allowed her to see him twitching slightly. She shook her head, a fall from that height was almost always fatal ó even to an Augment, let alone a Baseline.

As the dropship approached, she ducked behind a bush and got her compnoculars out to record the scene ó and scan the dropship.

Pterano · **Reply #362 on:** July 01, 2014, 03:36:35 PM

"WHAT?!" Came the inevitable roar on the other end. "Emilena and some street punk? Who?" he demanded now, snarling. The don was fuming, and with good reason. Emilena had escaped his clutches once before, and while he hadn't been actively hunting her ever since thanks to his son, she apparently decided to celebrate by taking away his underboss and his only real hope for a continuance of his family. "Where are they now? Please tell me you at least wounded them to the point they can't get away..." he said now, seething, the explosiveness evident on his end.

Tony attempted to raise his head from his neck, but couldn't accomplish this, only lifting a centimeter or so off the ground. "Is someone... there...?" he could barely ask, but couldn't turn his head to look at Marion. "H... help. Help..." he trailed off hoarsely.

The drop ship was continuing its descent, and was beginning to fly towards the two of them now, but whereas Marion was now concealed, Tony was not. Marion's scans would reveal a standard Scarab Mk IV dropship that was pretty prevalent during Rex's Rebellion. It was armed to the teeth with lasers, rockets, and heavy caliber machine guns. It was also armed with a sonic emitter, the waves of which were capable of bringing down a formidable high-rise.

Serris · **Reply #363 on:** July 01, 2014, 08:56:09 PM

Marion scowled as the compnoculars revealed what the dropship was. A Scarab Mk IV. Nothing short of artillery could bring one down. Or for that matter, do more than superficial damage.

A panel in her right leg slid aside as she grabbed her pistol. Right now, all she planned to do was watch the scene unfold. And possibly intervene if they decided to abduct Tony.

Of course, this was not because she liked the Ferret. She wanted information from him.

----------------

Soren held the phone away from his ear as Don Stracci exploded. He wiped some sweat away from his forehead and took a breath to calm his racing heart. "Last I saw them, they were at the top of North Yungas Road in Bolivia."

He then took another breath. "The two came in with a gang. I was blindsided by one of the fuckers and by the time I was done with him, the two had already vanished. I'm sorry sir, but there was only so much I can do. If it's any consolation, the area is extremely remote. There's a high chance that the natives, the mining conglomerate security forces or just the environment itself will kill them."

Pterano · **Reply #364 on:** July 01, 2014, 09:10:57 PM

As it was, the dropship's target was indeed Tony, as a beam of blue light shot out and snagged him in its light. The beam was an anti-gravity device, being able to lock on to specific objects and start to bring them back up. So it was with the ferret, who began to levitate up into the air towards the Scarab.

The ferret, who was wounded beyond belief, could do nothing to resist, and went limp in the beam as it brought him upwards...

"Well did you at least place a tracker on them?" he snapped. "If you did, I could at least dial into the frequency! While I may have people in far-flung regions, I have nobody in Bolivia, and it would take a few hours to get a team on the ground there. I don't trust random assholes finishing the job for me. NOT with her!" he said insistently.

"What was the name of this little shit, then? I'm gonna attach him to four SUVs and have them rip his limbs off whilst burning his entrails in front of him." he asked Soren again for the name.

Serris · **Reply #365 on:** July 01, 2014, 09:30:55 PM

Soren smiled. "Rio. His name's Rio. The guy's a nasty little thief. That's all I know of the gang." He knew that he was betraying Axel by placing Rio in Don Stracci's crosshairs but Rio was pretty much expendable to the group. Axel was not. There was also the matter that Rio was a kleptomaniac who would steal everyone's underwear if he could do so.

He then debated whether or not to tell Don Stracci that he didn't get a tracer on them. After a few seconds, he decided to tell him, figuring that honesty was the best policy with the powerful crime boss. "No sir. The cars got worked over by the gang. The fuckers stole everything."

-------------------------

Marion scowled. There went her source of information! She holstered her pistol and the plates on her left arm slid back as she deployed her piton gun. She aimed at a low hanging antenna on the ship and fired.

The cable sped through the air and the soon, the metal tip lodged itself into the dropship's armor. The woman gave the line a tug.

Satisfied it was secure, she reeled the line in and began the slow climb aboard the ship.

Pterano · **Reply #366 on:** July 01, 2014, 09:58:43 PM

"Rio, eh? Should be easy enough to find with a name like that... we'll start in Corona and work outwards. If it was Emilena's group, she's based in Corona, so should be a simple process of elimination." the don stated.

He exhaled heavily upon hearing no trace. "Never mind. We'll figure this out. By the time we get there, they'll be out of Bolivia I'm guessing... but they gotta come back at some point. No sense in wasting effort if it's not needed after all... thanks for the info... " The line abruptly went dead as the don hung up.

As Tony rose into the air, his body seemed to vanish in a flash as he was teleported on board. Once he had been clear of the ground, the teleporter had worked perfectly and "beamed him up."

Varanus had saved Tony at the last second, reaching out with his mind to arrest the ferret's fall to prevent it from being fatal, but leaving him injured enough he'd barely be clinging to life. The Nile monitor normally wouldn't give a shit, but Kalis needed living bodies for Devastation's Inception, and he would get living bodies. Of course, not just any moron would qualify, as Inception required the energy of those who were particularly noteworthy, violent, pure, or otherwise not your average run of the mill jackass off the streets, and Varanus figured the son of Don Anthony Stracci certainly qualified.

"Stabilize him!" Varanus ordered, and nodded at the Scarab's pilot. "Let's get out of here, we've got what we came for."

"Yes, sir!" responded the pilot, who began taking the dropship up and out of the valley. Tony meanwhile was hustled off to the Scarab's med bay, where he would be hooked up to life saving equipment to keep him stable but comatose for the trip to the fleet.

bushwacked · **Reply #367 on:** July 02, 2014, 05:31:17 AM

Axel stared dully at the back of the seat in front of him as they drove away, the vehicle bouncing and shuddering over the rough dirt road. He tried to imagine how Soren was breaking the news of Tony's death to his father, feeling sick to his stomach at the whole situation. He swore under his breath for what felt like the hundredth time. "Godammit..."

Suddenly, his ears picked up a faint, distant rumble, over that of the tyres. Slowly, he looked back in the direction they'd came - and caught a brief glimpse of something dark moving far away, up through the clouds. Axel frowned and wiped the back of his hand against his eyes, blinking away tears. There was nothing. He swallowed. "Did... did you guys see..." Trailing off, Axel shook his head. Whatever it was, he hadn't seen it clearly... it was probably a bird, or a plane. "No... never mind," he sighed.

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #368 on:** July 02, 2014, 08:10:16 AM

Emilena's gang had finally made their way to the next town, and were crouched behind a large set of ferns.

"All right..." groaned Emilena, finally getting off her feet. "My legs are not interested in hiking any longer. We'll need to rest here for at least ten minutes."

Foley glanced at the unlit houses. "So, which one of us gets to sneak into a house and grab some food for the rest of us?"

Emilena groaned. "Certainly not me. The rest of you draw straws."

Nairda held up a collection of broken branches from the ground. But he did a poor job of hiding the short one so everybody drew around it. His eyes went wide and his lip tremored.

"Rio, go with him and make sure he doesn't knock over a rack of silverware or something," Emilena groaned.

"I don't need Rio!" snapped Nairda. "Stop implying I'm incompetent!"

"I imply nothing," Emilena frowned. "I'm outright saying it. Rio, go with him whether he likes it or not."

----------------------------------------

Lily took some deep breaths to calm her pounding heart and the pain in her legs. She hoped they would be out of the forest soon.

bushwacked · **Reply #369 on:** July 02, 2014, 09:07:53 AM

Rio twirled the stick in his hands and smirked at Nairda. "On it. Hurry up, I'm starving." He tossed the stick into the foliage and darted across to the closest house, keeping low. Hopping over a worn down wooden fence, he crept close to the building, shoes sliding soundlessly over the grass growing in patches around the perimeter. He made his way around the side of the house, towards one of the only open windows. It was cracked outwards a little, but a latch on the inside prevented them from opening it any further. The gap was just wide enough for Rio to slip through.

He listened carefully, but there was no sound in the room beyond. "Hang on a second," he whispered back to Nairda as he jumped, reaching for the window-sill and pulling himself up. Silently squeezing through the gap, he unhooked the latch and eased the window open all the way then looked over his shoulder. "Think they have pizza? I could kill for a fucking pizza." Mouth watering at the thought, he turned and dropped through quietly.

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #370 on:** July 02, 2014, 09:23:27 AM

Nairda scowled. "Why does she always rag on me lie that?" he muttered. "Am I not everpatient with her many quarrelsome attributes? Do I not labor for this team as she does? I note that we're doing her dream of sticking it to the system, but my dream of becoming a rapper is, quite literally, still in the gutter..."

He slipped through the window with all the skills of a cat burglar, putting his powerful combat techniques into his unnecessary diving roll.

"I'll show her!" he whispered fiercely to himself, hardly registering Rio's presence. "I'll show them all just what an Augmented hero like myself can do!"

He crept into the kitchen.

"Here's a little song I wrote..." cooed a voice from above the door.

Nairda's heart leaped into his throat and his Augmented part of the brain disconnected from the organic part of the brain and he slumped to the floor in shock, eyes blinking the blue screen of death. On the way down he hit a rack of silverware and sent its contents tumbling everywhere.

The motion-activated novelty bass above the kitchen entrance continued flapping its tail to kitschy music. "Don't worry..." it informed the twitching prone figure surrounded by spoons. "Be happy..."

bushwacked · **Reply #371 on:** July 02, 2014, 09:52:44 AM

Rio had spied an expensive looking gold watch resting on a drawer, and was in the process on pocketing it when he heard Bob Marley's silky tones drifting from the kitchen. He frowned. "The fuck..." Then there was an almighty crash, and Rio leaped a foot in the air. Shooting towards the kitchen and willing his heart to lower back into his chest, he almost went sprawling over the convulsing Nairda. His foot kicked against a fork, sending it skittering over the kitchen floor as the Bass continued crooning. "Ain't got no cash, ain't got no style..."

Rio jumped up and tried to knock the Bass to the floor, but he was too short. "Ain't got no gal to make you smile..."

"Fuck you!" he hissed, scooping a fork from the floor and flinging it towards the singing fish. The three prongs impaled it right between the eyes, and for a second the singing stopped. Rio started to breath a sigh of relief, but then the Bass shuddered to life again. "But don't worry, be happy..." Throwing his arms in the air in frustration, Rio crouched by Nairda and shook him. "Wake the fuck up! We gotta hurry, they..." From the floor above, Rio heard a door opening. Face blanching, Rio straddled the adult's chest and started slapping his face. "Wake up! Wake up!" Between slaps, the bass was now telling them that a frown brings everybody down.

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #372 on:** July 02, 2014, 09:57:36 AM

Nairda was out cold and not getting up.

A portly man dressed only in a white wifebeater came sprinting down the stairs from the second floor, holding an AK-47. He quickly scanned the living room for intruders, and then began stomping his way into the kitchen.

bushwacked · **Reply #373 on:** July 02, 2014, 10:15:41 AM

Rio heard the heavy footsteps thumping their way towards the kitchen and he re-doubled his efforts, pounding his fists ineffectually against Nairda's chest. "Come on..." The footsteps stopped suddenly. Rio looked up slowly, meeting the eyes of the portly man. He tried to smile innocently, still sitting on top of the twitching Nairda, surrounded by scattered cutlery while the novelty Bass sang away happily. "Er... I'm just a little boy..."

The man's grip shifted slightly on the AK-47, and Rio's eyes widened. Scrabbling off Nairda, he scuttled across the kitchen, through the adjacent room and dived through the open window. Landing with a roll, he jumped over the fence and started running up towards the ferns where the others had been hiding.

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #374 on:** July 02, 2014, 10:32:09 AM

The man's eyes opened wide and he aimed his rifle at the escaping boy, but he didn't fire. His curiosity was piqued by the semiconscious figure on his floor.

He tiptoed forward and prodded the body with his gun barrel. When nothing happened, he kicked it in the head.

Nairda gave a full body heave and sent the guy stumbling backwards in fright. As Nairda came to, the man began screaming in angry rapid-fire Portuguese and pointing his rifle wildly.

All of a sudden he felt a pistol barrel embed itself in his back. Then a katana pressed ever-so-gently against his neck.

"Stop moving," Emilena demanded firmly. "Drop the rifle, nice and easy now, and you get to keep your appendages."

The man didn't speak English, but he got the gist and let go of the weapon. Now that he wasn't in danger of accidentally shooting Nairda, Emilena pistol-whipped him across the head and let him crumple to the floor.

The lovers looked at each other from across the kitchen. The bass started up again and Emilena bisected it.

"Ummm...I..." Nairda tried to start.

"Check upstairs," Emilena cut him off, as Foley and Flora crept into the house. "See if this gentleman had family. Foley, go get Rio and start preparing us some food. Flora, tie up our host and make sure to gag him. We're resting here for the night."

With that her wounded legs once again sent her tumbling to the ground. Nairda inched towards the stairs to the second floor. He hesitated at the base and opened his mouth to speak. "Quiet!" she hissed exasperatedly. Her hands shivered from drug withdrawal. "You've made more than enough sound for one night..."

Pterano · **Reply #375 on:** July 02, 2014, 10:45:17 AM

They reached La Paz about four hours later, and by then the night was well advanced, and Vergil retired without saying much to his comrades. He knew they needed to arrange transportation to Voltaic, but also knew no planes flew out there: there wasn't enough room for aircraft aside from helicopters and dropships to land, and those were strictly prohibited by Judaken, who would blow any such thing out of the sky with Voltaic's formidable defenses. Thus it rested on securing passage on a ship out to the mid-ocean station.

Vergil's sleep was such that it was much disturbed and interrupted. Tossing and turning, he was dreaming of his past. But there was something darker too... deep within the heart of the Unknown Regions... it was reaching out for him, calling him to join it in its mad crusade. It was powerfully seductive, enticing him despite his best efforts to resist... he'd already seen so much death, destruction, and needless sacrifice, and this wasn't helping. It was telling him that could all go away if he helped locate Devastation's Inception...

He awoke with a start and a cry of "Fuck!" Breathing heavily, the gecko looked over at the clock, and could see it was just after 5 in the morning... he'd only gotten about five hours of sleep. "Ugh!" he groaned, holding his head in his hands as he closed his eyes, feeling his face drenched in sweat. Running his fingers through his disheveled feathers, Vergil rolled out of bed and headed to the bathroom, both to relieve himself and splash some cold water on his face. A minute or so later the toilet was being flushed, and the gecko began to douse his face in cold water, staring at himself in the mirror. Why was his past coming back with such a vengeance?

A white gecko with large orange eyes stared back at him, and for the first time in a long while, he was starting to not even recognize himself anymore. Who had he been back then? Had he joined Rex in his crazy rebellion willingly? No... NO! That couldn't be true! He wasn't like that! He knew he wasn't! If he was, why did he feel that taking a life was only necessary in self-defense or to protect the weak? Why did he feel that Rex's Rebellion was wrong? Triste had told him he'd been loyal to the Federation even while he was in his deep cover mission of spying on Rex and Kalis. He had to hold on to that... it was all he had... but somewhere deep down, a part of him understood Rex to an extent... not fully of course, but it was there.

Drying his face with the hand towel, the gecko figured he may as well go down to the front desk and see about arranging transportation out to Voltaic Station. Already he was becoming horrified by his own inner musings, and how he'd acted only a few hours ago on the Yungas Road. He'd let his anger consume him, but why? He wasn't like that... there was something wrong with him. He was... changing...

Padding down the stairs of the sleepy Bolivian inn, the gecko picked up some brochures and sat down, trying to clear his mind and pick out a way to get out to the middle of the Atlantic in one of the more remote regions of the ocean.

bushwacked · **Reply #376 on:** July 02, 2014, 11:10:43 AM

The front door bumped open as Rio followed Foley back into the house. He locked it behind him then joined the others, his glancing cautiously towards the kitchen doorway. "The... the fish..." he started, but then trailed off, nodding in approval when he saw the Bass' body parts strewn on the floor.

There was a creak as Nairda came back down the stairs. "Nobody else." His face lit up. "But there is a fabulous karaoke system upstairs..."

Shaking his head, Rio made his way across the kitchen, stepping on the man's unconscious body, and slumped over on a badly stained couch in the adjacent room. "Wake me up when dinner's ready," he mumbled over, angling his face away from a suspiciously crusty white stain.

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #377 on:** July 02, 2014, 11:31:20 AM

Foley sighed. "Because we want the neighbors investigating the house because the karaoke is on..."

Flora had dragged the man's body into the bathroom, and now came skipping out in a white shower robe. "Look what I found!" She held out a wide array of over-the-top pills and cough syrups.

"Oh thank god." Emilena swiped the codeine and took a long swig.

"Hey, I want any sleeping pills!" Foley darted forward. "Dibs!"

"No way, I found them!" Flora snapped her stash away and stuck her tongue out. "Blow me!"

"We're all going to need to share the sleeping pills if we're hoping to get any rest before sunup," Emilena interjected. "Let's be cooperative here."

So the three drugged themselves into a lazy stupor. At one point Emilena pegged Nairda with a bottle of Robitussin in an unspoken offer to join them, but he had spent the majority of his time dragging the karaoke machine down two floors and into the basement.

"Guys?" he finally panted, coming into the trashed kitchen. "The basement is soundproof, we could do one of my private concerts? Like old times? I've got some R&B queued up..."

Every one of his teammates was out cold. The pot Foley had put on the stove had completely melted into the stovetop and was giving off smoke. Clicking the stove off, Nairda sadly walked downstairs to karaoke alone but tripped on the Robitussin bottle and bounced all the way downstairs, slipping unconscious for the second time that night.

bushwacked · **Reply #378 on:** July 02, 2014, 11:39:52 AM

In front of Vergil a brochure suddenly lifted itself up into the air and drifted across, stopping just before the seat next to him. It opened up, and with a shimmer Triste appeared in the seat, flicking through the brochure with disinterest. "These things always make the destination sound ten times better than the crap it usually is," she sighed.

Moments passed. A clock, ticking above the front desk, was the only thing disturbing the silence. Letting the brochure drop beside her, she turned to look at Vergil. "I'd ask if you're feeling better, but... it looks like you didn't exactly get the best night's sleep."

Pterano · **Reply #379 on:** July 02, 2014, 11:51:59 AM

Vergil glanced upwards, noticing the floating brochure, and furrowed his brow until Triste appeared sitting in the seat next to his. Recoiling a bit, he finally relaxed, and sighed. "No..." he confessed here, shaking his head. "I didn't. Nightmares really... about my past." He frowned, and gazed downwards at the floor, as if trying to scrutinize it. "I keep dreaming about... well no I don't keep but I did start to dream about my past with Kalis... and Rex..." he trailed off here, sighing again. "There was something dark... something hidden... deep in the Unknown Regions..." He looked up at her now. "I think Rex and Kalis went to go find it... the 'truth'... behind the Alliance's attack on the Federation. Someone was pulling the strings... manipulating the war for their own benefit... and whatever it was, or whoever it was, Rex and Kalis found it... and it changed them... by the time they got back, they were working for it, trying to find Torment's Cataract and... what I now believe to be the warship's name, Devastation's Inception." he explained, the mere name sending a chill down his spine as he spoke it.

"Triste... I'm sorry... Agent Acyle," he corrected himself, shaking his head. "I didn't... I didn't willingly follow Rex... did I?" he asked, his voice turning hoarse. "I stayed... I stayed loyal to you... to the Federation... up till the moment you assaulted Rex's flagship... right?" he asked, eyes searching her own now for hopeful answers.