Racing the Storm

bushwacked · **Reply #240 on:** June 11, 2014, 12:47:12 PM

Triste shook her head, climbing down and landing next to Vergil. They really were after her.. But why? She was sure Vergil would be the focus of their attention - if he wasn't, then there was only one reason why Kalis would be interested in her. But how the hell could he know?

She turned to look at the waterfall, her eyes fixing on the water as it thundered down. If the Ivitz found out that she was about to let this information slip, the repercussions on her could be... substantial. But the way things were going, maybe revealing why she could be of so much interest would be safer. She swallowed and glanced at Vergil. Even to him.

"I... might know why they'd be after me." Rubbing the side of her jaw where Veranus had struck her, Triste turned to Vergil. "If the Ivitz knew that I told you what I'm about to, I could be in serious trouble." After staring at him to make sure he got the message, she took a deep breath. "Kalis might not be interested in me, exactly. It's more the... information I could present him with. My brain's been modified to give me a neural link to the Ivitz Federation's entire defense network. It lets me communicate with the lead members of the Federation, and - more importantly - gives me direct access to the information passing between the various fleets and defense forces. So if Kalis ever managed to get his hands on that kind of data... he'd know everything. All the Ivitz's strategies, all plans taking place - Kalis would be one step ahead of us, and the Federation would be powerless."

Triste clenched her jaw. "It's the Ivitz's greatest secret, how they've managed to secure their power. There's a number of us that have the ability, but nobody else is meant to know - not even other agents working for the Ivitz. So when I was trying to think why Kalis would be interested in me, I didn't think... I still don't know how he could have found out. But we have to work under the assumption that if he's going to this much trouble, then he must know." She looked Vergil directly in the eyes. "Kalis can't be allowed to gain access to it. At any cost. Even if it means..." she pointed a finger to her temple and mimed pulling a trigger. "And if for some reason I'm not able to, I want you to promise that you will."

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Axel blinked. "It's okay, don't be sorry. Hey, you're okay, aren't you? Nothing hit you?" He quickly looked her over, but apart from some small glass fragments on her dress, she seemed alright. He brushed it off and gave her a shaky smile. "Okay... it looks like we're fine."

He looked at Tony and grimaced. "Oh yeah... lovely... but not enough bullets and close calls, if you ask me." He saw his legs were shaking, and he willed himself to calm down. They weren't out of the woods yet, and losing his nerve now wouldn't help anyone. He took a deep breath and scratched his head, nodding across at Soren. "Alright, I'll, ah... I'll help put on the other tyre." He flashed a grin at Tony. "Thanks for the cover back there... for a second I thought I was gonna have to get used to looking a lot more, ah... holey than usual."

Axel walked around the car to the second shredded tyre and shrugged his shoulders. "I've got two ideas who those guys were. They were either the worst tour guides in the world or -" he gestured in Vergil's direction, where the gecko was talking with Triste - "It was Kalis' guys trying to stop him. Though I'd be willing to bet on the tour guides idea." He looked over at Lily. "I hope Ejlert's friendlier than they were. Especially when he finds out I'm involved with his mom." The rat stopped himself, realising it probably wasn't the best time to make a joke like that. "Sorry."

Pterano · **Reply #241 on:** June 11, 2014, 01:40:04 PM

Vergil could tell what Triste was going to say needed to be kept secret, so he allowed her to pull him aside so she could relay the information. The gecko habitually chewed on his lip as he listened, taking in the information with a steely gaze, looking for all the world as if his brain were processing it all with the efficiency of a super-computer. "I see..." He said slowly here, digesting it. "You... my god... the entire defense network... that would explain it!" he gasped softly, shaking his head. "So... it's not just the warship he's after... he wants it all... to know our every move before we even make it! That... that makes sense... but how did he find out?" he asked, more to himself than to her, as he knew she didn't have the answer to that.

He tapped his fingers on his snout, drumming them thoughtfully. But then she asked him to kill her if she was threatened with capture if she wasn't capable of doing so herself. "What?" he gasped, going paler than usual as his eyes bulged out at this. "No! I-I couldn't!" he shook his head, almost fearfully here, his voice stammering. "I don't believe in... sacrificing others like that... that's... terrible." he said softly, lowering his eyes and averting his gaze from her.

Swallowing hard, he finally looked up at her again after a moment. "Triste... I can't promise you that... but... I promise if it comes to that... which it won't because I'm going to keep you safe no matter what... then I'll assess the situation and make a judgment based on what I think the best course of action to be. It won''t come to that, OK? It won't." Vergil said sternly. "Because I'm going to keep you safe... all right?" Vergil told her sternly, the conviction of a steel wall behind his words. "No one gets left behind... no one." he said resolutely.

He then turned, and headed towards the others now, flexing his wrist to crack it and exercise it after having been using his blade for the past several minutes.

Tony was smiling at Axel's jokes, and shaking his head. "Yeah... if you can't laugh at your imminent death, what can you laugh at?" the ferret asked, chuckling here at Axel's "holey" comment. "I dunno... maybe they were guides pissed off we didn't take their tour... somehow though... I doubt that." Tony stuck out his tongue and jogged over to the back of his Rover to get the tire out and roll it over to Axel.

As he was performing this task, Vergil spoke up as he rejoined the others. "They were Kalis's men... that monitor... he was friends with Kalis... I remember a little about him. Makes sense he'd be one of Kalis's best after Kalis killed Rex. They were after me." he lied to the others, keeping Triste's secret safe for now. "The waypoint is a few miles ahead... but we're gonna have to reach the top of the mountain... Tony brought some climbing equipment, so hopefully none of you are too banged up to do some rock scaling." the gecko commented here, looking around at the group.

Tony had by now rolled the tire over to the rat. "Sure! I mean what are we gonna do? Turn around and go home? We came this far after all..." the ferret commented wryly.

Mace continued pondering his next move, then finally spoke to Marion over the comm link. "Would you be comfortable making contact with them to gain further information?" he asked her here. "I know you're more a security agent but... is that something you could do?" he inquired.

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #242 on:** June 12, 2014, 01:09:38 AM

Lily crawled out of the Jeep, holding her chest and wincing. "Is anybody wounded?" she asked. She glanced at Soren. "How are you feeling?" she asked him.

Still, she couldn't help smirk at Axel's joke despite the situation. It's nice to see most of us still have the same survivalist spirit that got us through last time, she thought.

bushwacked · **Reply #243 on:** June 13, 2014, 06:47:44 AM

Triste stared out at the waterfall as Vergil walked away, his words replaying in her mind. He... really has changed... She looked over her shoulder and watched him walk towards the rest of the group, chewing her swollen lip thoughtfully. After a moment, she sighed and shook her head, almost irritably, and turned to make her way over and join the group.

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Axel pulled the ruined tyre off, slid the new one onto the frame then started tightening the lug nuts back on. After several minutes, he stood back up and rolled his shoulders. "Right, that's done. I guess I heard wrong down there, but it sounded like you said we're going to use climbing equipment?" He chuckled.

"You've got a problem with that?" Triste asked as she came up behind the others, folding her arms.

Axel's chuckle was cut off with a strangled sound. "You... you're serious? We need to climb?" He gulped. "Climb high?"

"So? You've never gone rock scaling before?"

"Oh no... as a technician, we've all got to pass the rock scaling exam. I'm an expert, trust me." He rubbed a hand through his hair, unknowingly messing it up with black grease, and blinked. "Okay... can't, ah... can't hurt to try new things, I guess." Axel looked at Tony. "Just as long as the equipment doesn't make my ass look big," he tried weakly.

Pterano · **Reply #244 on:** June 13, 2014, 08:23:51 AM

Seeing that everyone else was just kind of standing around, Tony sighed, and went to change the second tire while Axel worked on the first. "Oh I don't think you'll have to worry about that." the ferret grunted, beginning to pull off the nuts with a spanner from his Rover. "Besides... strong guy like you with those augmented arms... climbing rocks should be a piece of cake, right?" he asked, grinning as he looked over at Axel from the other side of the vehicle. "You can't get muscle fatigue like the rest of us, right?"

Vergil shook his head at Lily's question. "No... just some cuts and bruises." He indicated the cuts on his arms from the glass, and rubbed his side a bit from where Varanus had struck him. "Thanks, though." He gave Lily an affirmative nod.

Tony swapped out the tires and began tightening up the nuts. Vergil gazed straight at Axel now, his large eyes calm and reassuring. "You'll be fine, Mr. Whent. If you can survive killer droids and the Death Road, you can survive a less than 150 foot climb. Just remember to stay calm... panicking leads to more chances of an accident occurring. Maintain your cool and stay collected. Just think of making it through... for Lily's sake." Vergil suggested.

"And... theeere we go!" Tony grunted, making sure the last nut couldn't move any further to the right. "Provided we're all good, we got about another 20 minutes down this road and then we'll be at the spot. As for a first aid kit... uh it's one of the bags. Can't remember who packed it though." Tony confessed, scratching his head and wiping his brow. Damn it was humid in this jungle! His fur was practically matted to his body and his clothes were matted to his fur; not a pleasant situation.

Vergil looked to Triste. "Need any patching up before we go?" he asked her, knowing she'd gotten the worst of the exchange between herself and Varanus, unless of course Varanus was dead... but Vergil didn't sense that.

Nick22 · **Reply #245 on:** June 13, 2014, 08:42:49 AM

I suggest we patch up any injuries that we can, cuts bruises, and the like, before climbing.'' Marita said . ' Who's hurt the worst?"
- Rose went to working digging through the bags and finally dug them out of Vergils bag. " found it, she said, wiping sweat from her brow. the humidity made it feel like it was close to 90. Roses clothes stuck to some of her cuts, leaving streaks of red where the clothes absorbed the blood from the cuts, sweat caused streaks to run down her arms as some of the blood trickled off her arms onto the ground.
_ Marie was helping to sweep out some of remaining glass out of Marita's Rover. There were bullet holes in the seats, and the windshields and back windows were gone, the remaining windows had holes in them from debris hitting them..

Serris · **Reply #246 on:** June 13, 2014, 10:22:42 AM

"I'm fine," Soren said as he gently lowered the car back down. He then winced as he heard the mention of scaling a sheer cliff.

"Wait, we climb up there?" He pointed to one of the peaks high above the ground.

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"Affirmative," Marion replied. "Marion out."

She released her anchors and fell backwards from the cliff. As she did so, her flying frame's engines revved up and propelled her forward. Thinking that posing as a tourist with a broken flying frame would arouse the least suspicion, she cut the engines and activated a smoke charge in one of the engines.

The Human soon glided towards the group. Thick black smoke trailed from her right wing engine.

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Soren happened to look up as he wiped sweat from his brow. As he did so, he saw a line of thick black smoke in the sky and it appeared to be heading for them!

"The fuck!?" He snatched a pair of compnoculars from the bag and trained them on the object trailing the smoke. His jaw dropped. "Shit! Guys! We've got a frame-flyer coming in for a emergency landing!"

Pterano · **Reply #247 on:** June 13, 2014, 11:06:28 AM

Vergil shook his head. "No, no. We're climbing up there." Vergil corrected Soren, pointing to the top of the sheer sides above the road, about 100 feet above them. "The waypoint is on top of the Yungas Road... so technically, we only need to climb above the road." he explained.

But his thoughts and speech were interrupted by the personal glider belching out black smoke. "Shit!" Vergil exclaimed, noting the troubled look of the flying frame. "Get back!" he ordered, waving everyone back. "Give it room to land!" He held up his hand, ready to telekinetically catch the glider in case it threatened one of the Rovers, and to save the reckless tourist's life.

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #248 on:** June 13, 2014, 11:31:25 AM

Lily glanced at all the climbing equipment. "Thank you'd be able to help me figure out what I need to put on, and how?" she asked Triste. "I've never willingly gone rock-climbing in my life, at least as far as I know."

While Lily used to be quite fit before she transferred her conscience into a clone body in Lanthae, the logistics of the clone body having never exercised a day in its growth-accelerated life had taken away her muscles and left an awful lot of baby fat around the curves. She'd since repeatedly learned that a body lacking in fitness was far tougher to work out in than the toned, decently muscled one she'd had before.

bushwacked · **Reply #249 on:** June 13, 2014, 07:55:34 PM

Triste shook her head at Vergil. "No, I'm fine. It wasn't my favourite tooth he knocked out. Let's just focus on getting up there." In truth, the torn area of her gum where it had been torn out hurt like hell, but there were more important things to worry about.

She looked at Lily. "Of course. It's not hard to get the hang of." Her eyes flicked over to Axel. "Well, not for most people."

Axel, who'd been staring up open-mouthed at where Vergil was pointing, heard her tone and snapped his gaze down to her. "Hey!"

Triste gave a small smirk at him, wincing at the pain it caused in the side of her mouth, and headed over to Lily. She was about to start explaining what piece of equipment went where, when Soren warned the group about the inbound glider. Turning, the spider gecko eyed the figure warily as they approached.

Moving around the car to stand closer to the group, Axel bit his lip as he gazed up at the smoke billowing from the broken craft. Something tightened in his gut. It could be completely innocent... but after all they'd been through he'd learned that it was worth being suspicious around the unexpected.

Serris · **Reply #250 on:** June 15, 2014, 12:50:59 AM

Marion circled around to bleed off speed from her "broken" flying frame. When she had bled off enough speed, she descended in preparation to land. While most flying frames relied on an exoskeleton to absorb the impact of landing, Marion opted to use her artificial legs instead.

Unfortunately, she miscalculated and came in too fast. She deployed the anchoring spikes on her legs, carving small gouges in the road as they slowed her down. To further slow herself down, Marion used her left arm (which had a line thrower built in) to launch a projectile that embedded itself deep into the nearest rock face.

She breathed a sigh of relief as the cable grew taut and stopped her mere inches from the edge. Tumbling over the edge was not exactly a problem because of her flying frame but if she flew off, that instantly blew her cover as a tourist with a broken flying frame. Marion grabbed the cable with both arms and carefully reeled herself in.

Once she was safely on solid ground, she severed the cable, leaving it to dangle from the rock face.

Soren put the compnoculars away and rushed to help Marion. "Are you okay, sir?"

Marion took off her helmet and tucked it under her arm, revealing a middle-aged Chinese woman. "I could be better." She retracted the wings on her flying frame.

Pterano · **Reply #251 on:** June 15, 2014, 01:52:23 PM

The pilot was revealed to be a woman of Asian origin, and Vergil relaxed upon seeing she posed no immediate threat. With their string of luck lately, you never knew. Clearing his throat, he stepped forward. "Yes well... I'm glad you're safe, but if you need a ride I'm afraid you're out of luck if you're going back to La Paz. We can't retrace our steps at this point unfortunately thanks to some crazy gunmen back the way we came. Bandits most likely." Vergil lied, but didn't feel ashamed in doing so. They were losing enough time out here as was, and they weren't ultimately here to run a charity service after all.

"To be honest..." he continued here. "We aren't going much further down this road, so I'm not sure we're your best bet for assistance out here. But other motorists should be along at some point if you need a ride somewhere. If not, you'll have to wait until we're done with our 'sightseeing' before you can hitch a ride with us back to La Paz, and we'll gladly take you. Sorry for the abruptness, but we're on a bit of a schedule here..." Vergil stated, glancing back down to the bend, behind which he knew Varanus's men lay in wait, repairing their Jeep to quite possibly continue the chase.

Tony finished changing out the second tire and stood up, wiping his brow again and giving Axel a nod. "Right! I think that about does it for the repair. I couldn't find a lug wrench, so I had to make do with a spanner, but I got the tire on there." Brushing his paws off against his pants, the ferret gave out a "hoo!" of satisfaction that the job was over with.

"Good... then let's get moving." Vergil stated. "However..." he regarded the large flying frame with skepticism. "I don't think we can fit that thing into our Rovers. You'll have to ditch it here, so I hope it wasn't too expensive." the gecko commented. "Oh yes... and I'm Vergil... Vergil Speicher." he introduced himself.

"Tony!" Tony waved, not bothering with his last name for the moment, as he knew some tended to react negatively to the Stracci part, even in this corner of the globe.

Serris · **Reply #252 on:** June 15, 2014, 02:20:03 PM

Marion sighed. She stepped out the frame, leaving it standing on its own. She pressed a button on the frame and watched as it folded in on itself, leaving a heavy but ordinary suitcase.

"It's a foldable one," she replied.

Soren went to pick up the "suitcase" but couldn't even budge the object. He grunted with exertion but only suceeded in moving it an inch.

Marion chuckled and effortlessly picked up the "suitcase", her powerful mechanized arms whirring slightly. "It's a bit heavy. Anyways, I'll follow until I can find an airport or bus stop."

bushwacked · **Reply #253 on:** June 15, 2014, 02:50:42 PM

Axel squinted at Marion's mechanical arms as she lugged the compacted flying frame with apparent ease. "Why couldn't I have been fitted with arms like those?" he asked wistfully, noting how heavy it appeared to have been for Soren. Shrugging dejectedly, Axel leaned forwards and folded his arms across the front of the car. "We should hurry. The faster we get there, the quicker we get this climb over with. And the more distance between us and the... ah, bandits." He waved a hand at Marion. "I'm Axel, by the way."

Triste frowned at the newcomer, not giving her name for the moment. "We're not exactly tourists," she told Marion, her brow knitted. "I'm not sure you're going to like where we're heading." Triste looked over at Vergil and lowered her voice. "Letting her follow us to the waypoint isn't a good idea, Vergil. We have no idea who she is - and even if she's just a civilian, we can't risk her screwing things up for us."

"Guys!" Axel called over anxiously, drumming his fingers against the car's bonnet. "We going?"

Pterano · **Reply #254 on:** June 15, 2014, 08:59:39 PM

"Of course not, I know that." Vergil responded to Triste in hushed tones. "I'm not gonna let her accompany us up the cliff, after all. She'll have to wait until we get back." he quietly informed the spider gecko. He noticed Axel impatiently calling for them to get moving, and the white gecko nodded his head. "All right! We're coming along then! Let's reach this point!" he called over, jogging back to Tony's Rover. Marion would have to go with them, as there was no room in Marita's Rover.

Starting up the engine, Tony got the Rover rolling again, glad to be moving away from the gunmen as quickly as they could. It wasn't much further on. Only about 20 more minutes of fur-raising driving along the edge of the North Yungas Road, and they arrived at a hairpin turn. There was a slightly wider area here to safely park off to the side to allow for traffic to still move by them while they left the Rovers to go rock-scaling, and Tony graciously pulled over.

"All right! This is the spot!" the ferret declared, putting the Rover in park and killing the engines.

"Right... let's go!" Vergil exited the vehicle now and moved to the trunk to retrieve the climbing gear. "Sorry." he told Marion. "But this is where we're going to leave you for a bit. This is something we've come here to do, and it doesn't concern you." the gecko stated as he raised the trunk's lid up and began rummaging through the luggage. "We'll be back in a few hours, by my estimate. Just wait here... or flag down a passing motorist if you desperately need a ride; the choice is yours."

Taking out several piton guns, the gecko began passing them out to those gathered around him. "We have four of these, so we'll have to make several trips, but basically just point, fire them at a spot close to the top... they have a range of 200 feet, so we should be fine getting them up there. Then..." He pulled out several harnesses. "Put these on, attach them to the ropes, and begin the ascent. Make sure you get good handholds as you go... if you slip, the ropes should hold you, so there isn't TOO much worry of plummeting but... be careful all the same." he instructed them, then turned, took aim, and fired off the piton. The rope lanced out into the air and upward, the metal spike becoming embedded close to the top of the cliff with a satisfying clink.

"Right... here we go." Vergil murmured, beginning to strap on the vest and fit it snugly around his smaller form. It was like a youth wearing an over sized life vest. He was almost engulfed by it, but he did manage to get it on tightly. Attaching the carabiner to the rope, he gave it a tug a few times and then set off on his climb, jumping up and getting both handholds and footholds. Grunting, he bared his teeth and began hoisting himself up hand over hand, climbing higher to start his ascent a get a pace going.

Serris · **Reply #255 on:** June 16, 2014, 01:55:27 AM

"Pleased to meet you. I'm Mariah Yin," Marion said, shaking Axel's hand.

Soren was strapping himself into the harness. His rifle and a few spare magazines were strapped across his back.

He took aim with the piton gun and launched the metal harpoon. When he heard the clink of the harpoon penetrating the rock, he gave the cable a gentle tug. "Here goes," he muttered clipping himself into the harness and slowly climbing up the rock face.

Marion watched as the group began climbing. She needed to make sure they were all out of sight before she went digging through their cars.

bushwacked · **Reply #256 on:** June 16, 2014, 04:46:55 AM

Triste was helping Lily fasten her equipment. "Just do what... he says... and you'll be fine. There." She finished tightening the harness around Lily's body and stooped down to pick up her own piton gun. "And just keep looking up."

Axel had been watching, and strapped his own harness on to match how Triste had done it. "Oh really? We were going to spend the whole time looking down," he muttered, attaching the equipment to the rope.

Looking back at him, Triste fired the gun up the cliff and heard a clunk as the point hooked into the rock. "That looks good on you."

Beaming, the rat looked down at himself. "Really?"

"No." Triste quickly fastened her straps, and looked between him and Lily. "See you at the top." Giving one last suspicious glance at Marion, she turned and started the climb up.

Axel scowled and poked his equipment. "Would this look good on anyone?" Reaching up, he tested the rope's strength - it seemed to be holding well. "Alright... well, let's do this," he sighed, wrapping his mechanical fingers around two handholds and pulling himself up. "Shout if you need any help, honey," he called across to Lily, climbing higher. "20 credits says I reach the top first!"

Pterano · **Reply #257 on:** June 16, 2014, 04:26:04 PM

The climb wasn't particularly strenuous, but it was challenging, Vergil would give it that. He grunted as he pulled himself up, figuring the faster he got this done, the sooner he'd reach the top. The rocks were mostly well embedded into the cliff face, but there was a lot of vegetation to navigate as well. Spitting a plant out of his face, the gecko brushed it aside and continued on climbing, hauling himself up as he exerted himself to make this effort.

Suddenly, he found his fingers suctioning on somewhat well to the sides of the rocks. "Hey!" he exclaimed, noting the effect. "I didn't know I could do this!" But then again, it did make sense, as he was mostly a gecko. "Oh this'll make things easier!" he grinned, practically walking up the side of the cliff now, albeit on all fours. Putting his head down, he moved much more rapidly up the side of the mountain's face, not hesitating as he set his sights on the lip above him.

It wasn't too long before the nimble gecko reached the top, pulling himself up into dense jungle before him on a gradual upward slope. Unbuckling himself, he smiled as Axel proposed a 20 credit competition with Lily. Who knew which of the two would make it up first? He dropped his harness down to Tony, who took hold of it and began strapping himself in. "That was quick!" the ferret called upward.

"Yeah well... never knew my fingers could stick to surfaces like that!" Vergil shouted back down.

Pulling the harness over himself, Tony exhaled heavily, looking up at the wall before him. "OK... I can do this..." he said, and ran forward, jumping up and getting a hold on the rock ledges and closing his eyes for a moment to let it sink in that he was securely on and not plummeting back down to the road. "OK... ha! I did it!" he declared happily, grinning widely as he held himself on. But he noticed he still had a ways to go, so he stopped congratulating himself and pushed on, his muscles already starting to burn as he began scaling the mountain, reaching out for a plant that snapped off in his paw, causing his left side to flail outward a bit dangerously.

"OK! Don't grab the plants!" Tony reminded himself, talking to himself to keep him calm. Lashing out with his left arm, he caught hold of a rock, and pressed onward, not intending to quit; he could rest at the top after all.

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #258 on:** June 16, 2014, 08:21:16 PM

Lily smiled. "You're on!" she retorted, mainly to keep him in a good mood. Fashioning her harness, she began climbing arm over arm.

In a few minutes she was huffing and puffing. She couldn't see where Axel was, but her completely unfit body was not taking this hike well.

Nick22 · **Reply #259 on:** June 16, 2014, 08:51:15 PM

(Congrats on 6000 LBT!)
Rose Marie and Marita began climbing up, each wore a harness and were making decent progress up the cliffside. Rose ripped out some vegetation so Marie, who was beneath her could get a firm hold. Marita huffed and puffed as she climbed up, her claws not really suited for grabbing holds for very long.. but she made do..they were about a third of the way up the cliff now..