Into the Black

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #440 on:** November 18, 2013, 12:09:09 AM

"Modified?" Emilena drew the sword, then gasped as it vibrated at a nearly-unnoticeable frequency. Pressing it to the heated pipe, it slid through as if the pipe were made of soft butter. "You've added a high-frequency vibrator component!" she gasped.

Lily squinted. "What does it--?"

"It can now cut through basically anything short of another HF sword or heavy armor like a tank." Emilena carved up some more pieces of Soren's old car. "These are incredibly illegal outside of heavily regulated construction services due to their lethality."

She grinned. "I think I can get us an alternate way into Soren's house. Everyone follow me."

StarfallRaptor · **Reply #441 on:** November 18, 2013, 02:19:08 AM

Kojuuro nodded.
"Indeed I did. After all these years, that sword of yours is complete again. Make sure to use it well. It's owner would have wanted you to."
He said softly, as Adrian blocked a round from the sniper before ducking back around the corner.
"Oh...right, HF swords. Forgot about that. Then again, mine's been on the fritz, so..."
He chuckled a little, as Kojuuro raised a hand.
"Is that so? Probably because you're using a cheap, new-production sword. And not even how you're used to. Here. These are yours. An old friend of mine would have wanted you to have them."
He said, producing another pair of katana swords from within his coat and handing them to Adrian. Adrian stared at them for a moment, then grinned, slinging his larger sword across his back and placing the two new blades at his hips.
"Right, thanks Kojuuro. Now then, shall we go rescue Soren?"
He said, not even noticing the similarities between his swords and Emilenas...

bushwacked · **Reply #442 on:** November 18, 2013, 04:41:53 AM

The Man downed the rest of his drink and didn't say anything for a moment. He followed Aaron's gaze and watched the augmentation advert play out. One aug-ad was much the same as another, and they all made him just as sick. Finally, when it ended, he set his glass back down on the table with a small clink. "Yeah. I believe you," he said, dropping a few credits down to pay for the drink. "I can see it in your eyes. You're like us."

Standing abruptly, the Man pulled his denim jacket tighter and buttoned it closed. "It was good meeting you... Aaron Geasbrecht," he said, reading the name off of Aaron's work suit. "You'll be hearing from us real soon. But," he continued with a smirk as he stepped around the table and walked past him, "You might want to lose the name tag. Just a bit of friendly advice." Shoving his hands in his pockets, the Man walked across the bar and out the door without looking back.

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

Axel gave Adrian a small smile. "I'm Axel. Son of a bitch!" he yelped, falling back as Adrian blocked a round from the sniper.

He joined Emilena and looked at the sword she was now wielding. It made the small rock he was clutching feel fairly useless. At least it looked like she knew what she was doing."Alright, I'm behind you. We can't let them hurt him." He felt a vibration run through the floor as the sniper fired again at their cover. His stomach churned.

Axel turned to Lily. "Maybe you should stay back here, it'll be safer..."

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #443 on:** November 19, 2013, 01:21:19 AM

Lily shook her head. "He can see the entire street from here..." she breathed. "There's nowhere safe anymore."

Emilena led them to the backdoor of Soren's house and effortlessly cut through the metal door. "Step one, we remove the sniper from the attic," she said. "I hate snipers, they make things far too complicated."

bushwacked · **Reply #444 on:** November 19, 2013, 06:58:04 PM

Axel pressed himself against the wall next to the open doorway, exhaling nervously. "No kidding. I can't say snipers are high up on my list of favourite people right now, either." He peeked his head through cautiously. The rear hallway was completely trashed, and the thick smell of smoke hung in the air, accompanying the crackling of something burning. But the back of the house seemed clear.

Breathing a sigh of relief, he ducked back out. "We have to be careful. If they know we're trying to help Soren, they might kill him even faster." Axel shook his head. "There's no way that sniper didn't see us coming."

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #445 on:** November 19, 2013, 09:13:00 PM

"Agreed," nodded Emilena, "which is why Jackie Chan is going in the room first." She glanced at Adrian.

Lily was hanging in the back. She was trying to see the future again, but sadly it only seemed to work on its own schedule...

Serris · **Reply #446 on:** November 20, 2013, 03:37:53 AM

[Club De Kard]

Aaron swiped his credit chit on the bartop mounted reader. The breakbeat had switched to smooth chillout trance.

As he exited into the smoggy streets, he ripped the nametag off his uniform and stuck in his pocket. Passing over a drunk on his way to the lift tubes, he sighed.

-----------

[Lanthae Outskirts]

Soren continued trying to break the cable ties by rubbing them against the rebar he had been bound to. After what seemed like an eternity, the cable ties still held fast.

"Come on, hurry up!" he muttered.

StarfallRaptor · **Reply #447 on:** November 22, 2013, 11:50:41 AM

Adrian smirked, sticking his tongue out at Emilena.
"Geeze, nice to know you're worried about me."
He teased, as he ducked into the room, drawing his sword cautiously. Kojuuro was the next in, pistol held at the ready...

bushwacked · **Reply #448 on:** November 22, 2013, 08:27:28 PM

Axel watched Adrian and Kojuuro move into the house. He almost expected them to be cut down by gunfire from an unexpected ambush - but there was nothing. It couldn't be this easy, could it?

He waited for Emilena to move ahead of him, his heart hammering in his chest as he desperately tried to think of a way that he could fashion a weapon from the scrap electronics strewn about. If he could just find a small-sized power core, with some way to direct its energy... Axel was also painfully aware of the dangerous situation Lily was getting herself into. I'll die before I let anything happen to her.

Serris · **Reply #449 on:** November 23, 2013, 11:29:00 PM

Aaron arrived in his apartment and locked the door. Taking the name tag, he held his lighter to it. He smiled as the fabric caught fire, falling into the sink.

"You could have kept me, but no, you had to hire a gleamer. Yeah f--- ou," he muttered as he flushed the burnt remains of the name tag down the sink.

Grabbing some clothing, he tossed his uniform into the hamper and stepped into the shower.

Nick22 · **Reply #450 on:** November 23, 2013, 11:43:21 PM

marie yawned as she snuggle into bed, along with marita on her right and rose on her left ' night girls she yawned. rose leaned in and kissed her on the lips, then did the same to marita . marita kissed rose back then kissed marie. night girs marita yawned and soon turned to face the wall, sleep quickly taking her.

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #451 on:** November 24, 2013, 09:08:57 AM

Emilena cautiously glanced into the attic and saw the remains of the sniper. "No need to worry about somebody who can take care of themselves," she grinned. "Now we need a protective perimeter. This floor is ours. Keep the useless ones in the center."

Lily didn't even take it as an insult. She was walking to the middle when suddenly...

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

She was shaking as she observed the intruders standing around the room. In the corner, the remains of her husband lay splattered against the wall.

Fumbling, she grasped and loaded her emergency pistol. The chrome of a nearby toilet gleamed in the moonlight of an otherwise unlit bathroom.

"Oh god...oh god, oh god..." she whispered to herself. "I don't wanna die..."

She stared at the door. A thin trickle of blood ran under it. Blood from the man that used to keep her warm at night...

Once her gun was ready, she gritted her teeth and prepared to kick the door down. "This is for Saul you bastards..." she muttered, masking her fear.

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

Lily grabbed Emilena. "There's someone up here!" she whispered frantically. "With a gun! In a bathroom!"

Emilena whirled her eyes about. "Dammit, anyone know where the bathroom is?"'

Then a door masked in shadow flew open, and a woman popped out, blasting dual rounds at everyone. The first shots flew at Kojurro and Axel.

StarfallRaptor · **Reply #452 on:** November 24, 2013, 11:10:37 AM

As the figure fired, Kojuuro responded near instantly, rolling to the side and snapping of a pair of quick shots into the gun, aiming to disable it or knock it from the assailant's grasp. Adrian, on the other hand, seemed to almost disappear, reappearing in front of Axel and rapidly spinning his new HF sword, using it to deflect the fired round, sending it flying off into a wooden beam with ease...

bushwacked · **Reply #453 on:** November 24, 2013, 06:38:57 PM

Axel flinched when he saw the figure step out, and at the sudden explosion of gunfire he closed his eyes, waiting for the impact of the bullet that would end it all... but it never came. When he opened them, Axel saw Adrian crouched in front of him, sword poised and a bullet hole smoking in a beam above them.

He let his breath out. "Thanks Adrian," he said shakily, moving to the middle like Emilena had instructed. "What do we do with her?" Axel asked, looking at the disarmed assailant, still not quite over the shock of his close death.

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #454 on:** November 24, 2013, 07:00:02 PM

Emilena stepped forward, sword drawn. "Where is Mr. Almaya?" she demanded.

"I don't know--," started the woman, when Emilena slashed her across the thigh.

"Like hell you don't know!" Emilena snapped. "You're part of a small and organized attack group, they don't keep secrets from each other!"

"I've been stuck up here! How would I know what's happened since?" stammered the woman, clutching her thigh. Then she cried out as Emilena slashed her horizontally across the breasts.

"If you have nothing useful to say, then I'm just going to kill you!" Emilena glared, pressing the bloodied katana an inch into the woman's chest.

The woman glared back, still clutching her new wounds. "...Fine, kill me! At least I'll be able to see Saul again!"

Emilena glanced at the bloodied body in the corner. "Really? You'd die just in memory of a man? Pathetic. You're not even worth killing," she spat, smacking her upside the head with the blunt of the blade.

As the body slumped to the floor, Lily stammered, "Wh-was all that really necessary?..."

Emilena glanced at the doors, not bothering to answer. "The others will have heard the gunfire. People with weapons, pick an entrance; I'd prefer to keep the defensive advantage. People without weapons, find somewhere to hide. Psychic woman, you make sure to tell me about any other surprise visitors who feel like showing up."

Lily moved to hide in the bathroom, then hesitated. The possibly dead woman was in her way, and Lily couldn't even bear to look at her...

StarfallRaptor · **Reply #455 on:** November 24, 2013, 08:29:13 PM

Kojuuro stood near the body, looking at it intently before looking up.
"Everyone, get down! There's a second shooter out there!"
He uttered, moving to get Emilena out of the way of the window as Adrian pushed Axel and Lily out of the way, just in time as a massive crack split the air, a massive chunk of the floor shredding out from the force of the shot fired at them...

bushwacked · **Reply #456 on:** November 24, 2013, 09:04:25 PM

Axel hit the floor with a grunt, skidding along on his chest and coming to rest by the unconscious woman. She'd dropped her pistol nearby, and Axel snatched it up hastily, hoping it was ready to fire. Raising himself into a crouch, he moved closer to Lily, raising the pistol up to the window where the shot had burst through. As he did so, he could make out raised voices coming from somewhere outside. The workshop?

"I think I know where they've got Soren," he whispered to the group. "Maybe we should split into two groups; one to keep their attention here, and the other to help him? If we don't hurry, they might decide he's not worth it..." As he finished speaking, a second bullet smashed through the window and tore a chunk out of the wall.

Serris · **Reply #457 on:** November 25, 2013, 02:27:30 AM

"Hey give that back!" Soren shouted as one of the thugs swiped the keys from his pocket. He was rewarded with a crowbar to the chest from the other thug. Even through the protective clothing he wore, the blow was still enough to wind him -- but luckily, not break his ribs.

"Shut up, we hold all the cards here!" the other thug said, kicking him in the groin -- hard with his steel-toed boot.

Soren screamed multiple profanities -- even with the protective clothing, a groin kick of that power from a steel-toe boot was incredibly painful.

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #458 on:** November 28, 2013, 11:44:14 AM

Two gunmen had approached the door, but weren't showing themselves. One peeked his head around and got bifurcated by Emilena's katana.

"We've got this under control!" she said to the group. "They can't enter without--"

Suddenly a gunshot punched through the floor inches away from Lily, who shrieked.

Emilena hadn't calculated for that. "Change of plans, we take the fight to them,"she corrected grimly. "Kujurro, if you've got a grenade, make Mr. Almaya a new entrance to his first floor..."

StarfallRaptor · **Reply #459 on:** November 28, 2013, 03:12:03 PM

Kojuuro smirked, drawing his broadsword from his back.
"Unfortunately, I don't have any grenades. Pretty sure this will suffice, though."
He chuckled, stabbing his blade into the floor beneath himself, spinning quickly to cut a holed around himself, dropping through to neatly bifurcate the gunman who had fired on them. Adrian was directly behind him, dropping through to cut down another two assailants.
"First floor clear. You can join us now."
He joked...