(Ch. 6: Day 3)

Zaka51 · Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2012 1:01 am

Pax was slack-jawed and frozen yet again. That bit of confidence he had earlier had all but evaporated. With an air of uncertainty, he approached the fallen boar, glancing between him and the staircase that Ace had escaped down. Soon enough, he was standing above Casey with a brow cocked in bemusement.

"...Um...Mr. Casey?" He lowered himself onto one knee to examine him more closely. "Are you OK?"

"Well, that went to hell pretty quick."

Paxton sighed wearily.

Mie · Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2012 1:02 am

The loris glided with slow, deliberate steps, alarmingly calm contrasted to her emotional outburst moments prior. She didn't have far to walk before she stooped and slung an arm under the crook of Casey's elbow, and hefted him rather effortlessly to his feet.

In those close quarters, she lowered her voice, and told the pig, a troubled expression marring her features, "I do not know I can work with this organization..."

Nuzlocke Griff · Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2012 3:22 am

Almost as soon as the serval attempted to make his mad dash escape down the stairs, Desmond had already disposed of his drink (in a littering fashion) and even against his better judgement, attempted to once again stop someone who was running at him full speed.

With a sharp tug, the ferret released two knives from the sheaths holding the sharp objects in place. He positioned himself in a guard stance in case the cat expected to ram through him like the armored person before; placing himself in almost a lunging fashion to maintain balance if he chose to do so. Looking over at the serval entering in the lobby, Desmond attempted a speedy explanation so that he would either wait a moment and listen without a struggle, or take two slashes across the body.

"Hey Ace I need to talk to you for a sec'!" he almost sputtered trying to speak so quickly. Taking a short look behind the serval as he drew near he rethought his idea, "Could we run and talk or somethin'?"

If he would listen, the ferret would let his guard down a little and attempt to flee down the stairs with the yellow coated feline. Whatever his decision, Desmond kept his focus on the cat to decide his own course of action depending on the serval's next move.

Seafarinhare · Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2012 4:43 am

Ivan acknowledged what the ex-sheriff had to say with a nod, but it was around that time that Ace was making his exit only to be stopped by Casey. And then moments later, Casey was on the ground. Ivan grimaced as the blow was struck.

He rushed over, and from the looks of it, he'd give chase to Ace. But no, he stopped just short of the door, stopping at Casey's side. He started to try to help him up when Latika arrived at his opposite side and hefted him up with no effort whatsoever, and he let it go.

"Arr..." He grumbled, looking at poor Casey, "Hang in there, matey..."

If he overheard what Latika said, it didn't show. He then focused on their leader, "Well, I dunno about you, but I be thinkin' it's time to get the hell outta here. I ain't really interested in findin' out if ol' Pokerface was bluffin'r not."

psikeout · Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2012 11:56 am

Casey was propped awkwardly back onto his feet by Latika and Ivan, but, as he wavered there, still slightly hunched, he didn't seem to have a lot to say just yet. Well, then again, maybe had a lot to say, but just couldn't get the words out yet. After all, his mouth was moving; there just wasn't any sound coming out.

"Why is everyone okay with this," he begged in a voice that sounded less like a question, and more like a flat statement, if said statement were vocalized by the air leaking from a tire. "He's a jerk, and he's getting away, and we're, we're," (insert big breath), "all okay with this."

He turned, staggered and tried to support his own weight fully, but looked really sad doing it.

"Why."

Greens · Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2012 2:43 pm

Sadly, Desmond's olive branch was too obscured by the pair of knives in his hand for old alleycat to truly take it into consideration. There was almost literally no time at all wasted between seeing the ferret ready to pounce, and hurling a diagonal stretch of chaos cards at him in the effort to retain precious personal space. "Lose the knives and I'll think about it!" he shouted, in quite the hurry.

Nuzlocke Griff · Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2012 4:30 pm

Cards on the fly, Desmond quickly avoided the slew of chaos powered projectiles to avoid any injury to his person, and if for Ace's benefit, to not stop his fleeing attempt.

"Gotcha" the ferret quickly responded as he quickly sheathed his weapons after his dodge.

Despite the circumstances. Desmond couldn't help but smirk at the alleycat's decision to possibly listen to anything the ferret had to say.

Getting himself upright, he followed the cat down the massive flight of stairs, and wherever he would head to next if the serval desired.

Though looking up at his head while the alleycat ran past, he could't help but notice the sizzling remains of an eleven clubs right above him, with a small chunk of hair taken off as its prize. With a short fit of anger intact, he decided to let it go as he followed the serval. "Eh, I guess I deserved that"

Rachel · Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2012 6:51 pm

Jack turned to face Casey as he stopped the cat, then frowned when his attempt to do so failed. She wasn't deaf to what Casey had said though, so with a shake of her head she jogged towards the boar and passed him. Jack didn't bother to help him because it was just a nut shot. Sure they hurt but they weren't normally life threatening affairs.

She picked up her pace as she made her way through the lobby and into the stairwell. Ace's mad dash bought him quite the head start. So the griffin dove right over the railing and proceeded to fall down the shaft. Once spotting the bright yellow cat and the strange ferret she opened her wings and landed on the stairs on the closest floor the pair where heading down towards. Jack already had a gun out when her feet touched the landing, she aimed up the half dozen stairs in front of her that lead to a landing and another half dozen stairs, and so forth. She could only pray the ferret was smart enough to realize they needed to catch him between floors to keep him from getting away.

"STOP!" She called, that was the extent of her warning to him because if Ace still rounded the corner she aimed at she would fire at his legs, apparently taking some of her own advice to heart. Jack honestly didn't know what they where going to do with him even if they did catch him. Either way Jack had made her decision to try to stop the cat's escape.

Greens · Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2012 9:53 pm

Ace wasn't usually one to keep a lady waiting if he could help it, but impolite as it may have been, it didn't take a pair of eagle eyes to see an ambush heading his way-- and she'd be waiting for a long while.

So, lovely. Ace had an angry broad with a gun below him, and a persistent as f**k ferret practically hugging his heels that would no doubt collide into his backside when he screeched to a halt. He bobbed to Desmond's side, beckoning him to follow in his mad dash back up as he whispered to him: "Fine, you wanna talk? Meet me on the seventh floor in ten minutes. 'Till then, I need you off my trail."

If Desmond was thoughtful enough to play along, then Ace was already hurling himself down one of the hotel's many halls. Jack managed to cut him off, sure-- but the door she was blocking wasn't the only one in the stairwell.

Nuzlocke Griff · Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2012 1:12 am

And play along he did.

Following his league, the ferret turned right around and dashed up the stairs with a few lunges up them that got him to the doors before the serval bolted away. The moment he fled, the ferret's doubt began to flood in. The attempt at placing faith in the alleycat became harder the farther he got.

Did I just trust this guy? Is he just using me to get out of here?

Ignoring his better judgement, he parted ways as well while tossing a smoke grenade behind him to cover his tracksrecalling Chapter 5 he still has the sash on with a grenade count of 1 EMP grenade, and 2 frag grenade and 1 smoke grenade. Apologies for the typo before with using a flash bang and flash grenade as though they were different items..

Running down the opposite hallway the ferret made way to the first floor to find if the cat was attempting to ditch him. "Ten minutes my ass" he growled lowly, his expectation to find the serval downstairs grew "I better be wrong".

Zaka51 · Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2012 3:28 pm

Pax rose back to his feet and placed his hands on his hips, staring at the roof's flooring, giving Ivan only a small nod of acknowledgement. With a deep breath, he said in a flat but wobbling tone that made his troubled mind obvious to anyone listening, "He was bluffing. None of his behavior lined up with any encroaching bombing. But...we are wasting valuable time. Everyone take your seats again if you want to..."

The canine turned back and returned to where he stood earlier when he was speaking. For a moment, he just stood there and stared off into the distance without a word. He raised a hand to his face, but made no sound.

"I'm going to assume that if you're still here, you're taking us up on our offer," he announced, turning around to face everyone again. "So...I'm just going to start the mission briefing now." Again, he turned to face the far distance, but his view was angled higher than the horizon. He raised a hand and pointed two fingers into the sky. "Everyone see that ship?"

His fingers lined up with a lone airship in the distance. Its details were obscured by atmospheric haze as well as its far location, but there was a visible ship floating above South Island near the mountains they had attempted scaling yesterday.

"That is a very important Chimera-operated radar ship. We have identified it as the primary aerospace-monitoring station in the South Island area. We're going to board and hijack it," he plainly explained.

psikeout · Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2012 6:41 pm

Not quite ready to, well, sit, Casey hobbled his way over to the table and sufficed just to lean on it with a palm flat on its grated metal surface.

"Hyeah," he puffed. "Normally, there's a lil' catch 22 problem with that kind of thing, y'know... Gotta go undetected to take out the radar, but gotta take out the radar to go undetected, right? But believe it or not, Pax actually figured out a way for us to make it happen."

Mie · Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2012 6:49 pm

Latika returned stiffly to her seat, which she sunk into slowly. There she sat, hands folded in her lap, back stick-straight, and utterly silent, as she breathed slowly out through her nose. Her lips were pursed, and she made no effort to contribute to the conversation, not even looking to Casey when he spoke up. Her gaze was distant, but her eyes clear and focused beneath her slightly creased brow.

Sheff · Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2012 8:27 pm

It took a moment, but Geoff did eventually detach himself from his white-knuckled grip on the edge of the building, slow feet leading him back to his chair. He appeared to drain like an overworked battery the minute he sat down, all the tension just being released in a brief second. The frustration left his eyes, replaced by a tired, defeated look that soon rested on Pax as he explained the details of the mission.

He didn't necessarily reply, only glancing between boar and dog with an expectation for either of them to just continue at some point.

Mie · Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2012 10:02 pm

Even in a town like Starlight City, the Castle wasn't difficult to find, and the sleek (somewhat gaudy), retrofitted, repainted, and otherwise made-over and unrecognizable Eggmobile made it there in no time flat. Sky traffic tended to be pretty forgiving like that, even in a bustling, ultra-modern metropolis. The was a purposeful focus to the way its operator glided straight to the floor in between the twelfth and fourteenth, slowing to a steady drift, breezing along the side of the massive tower.

Inside, the pilot counted windows, cross-referencing a well-graffitied scrap of paper .

"...eleven, twelve, thirteen. Wow, really? How unlucky can a bastard be?"

The monkey, back in her usual shorts, crop top, combat boots, and business gloves, smirked, shaking her head, and pulled up alongside the superstitiously unfavorable window, hovering there as she leaned out the side, and gave the window a sharp rap.

"Open up, Crawford," she called, her voice slightly chilled. "We need to talk."

"Gyyaaugh!" came an almost shrill cry from the room within, shortly followed by the various clunks and clangs of kitchenware. It would've been clear that 'Crawford' was not the one whose attention she had suddenly just stole, even without the subsequent "oh gosh, oh gosh"es that could be heard from... somewhere within.

Given a few seconds of awkward silence, it was none other than Caz the mole herself who crept up to the window with a cautious look in her eyes that only lasted until she actually saw who was rapping at her proverbial chamber door. A (pleasantly) surprised "Oh!" served as the monkey's greeting. "Hey--, Jam," she said, almost as if a question rather than a hello. "Whadd're you doin' here?"

It was difficult to stay terribly stone-faced in the haplessly affable mole's presence. Something about her just tended to lighten situations whether or not they should be. Still, Jam shook her head with a hint of an exasperated grin playing at her lips. It faded quickly, though.

"I need to talk to your boyfriend."

Her features softened however briefly, almost as if a wordless apology, adding, "Don't mean to bust up the honeymoon with shoptalk, but it's kind of urgent."

"Oh," she repeated, this time with an almost regretful bend on the word. There was a second where the mole bit her lip, and looked awkwardly at the corner, but she explained herself before long.

"Ah, sorry, Danny's actually out right now... That-- um, that dog guy called him up and said that he wanted him to meet with him. For a meeting. I think they're actually up on the roof right now." Caz pointed over her shoulder, back to the dining area of the rather lofty hotel room, revealing a bubbly mess of baking mix in a pan and all the appropriate ingredients and cooking tools surrounding it. "I wanted to make something for him for when 'e got back, so I asked the staff if I could borrow some cake mix an' stuff!" She beamed with her claim, clearly proud of her work despite the disarray that came with it.

"You wanna try some? He should be back pretty soon."

"Meeting?" repeated the primate, her brows knitting together. It wasn't for lack of friendliness that Caz's baking adventures flew straight over Jam's head, but apparently, the mole's news didn't sit well with her for whatever reason.

"With a dog guy?"

The simian girl pursed her lips as she summoned to memory Geoff's group from the previous evening... A dog didn't jump out at her.

"You ain't talkin' about a little blond fruitcake in tights and my exact same shorts, are you?"

"Aah, no, he was a... ... ...nwell, he was something else. I don' really remember. But uh--" she shook her head, snapping her fingers in an attempt to force her mind back on track. "No, no, he was theeee... I think he was from GUN, actually. 'Cause I remember Ace bein' like, uuugh, what's this guy want, but he said he owed it him."

She shrugged.

"GUN agent? He's having a meeting with a GUN agent?!"

It was practically spat.

"I knew it, I f**kin' knew it! Stupid, lying, two-faced, son of b***h!"

Both sparking palms went slamming down into the console, punctuating her frustrated roar, and the the former-Eggmobile bobbed and shuddered, but remained dutifully in place. It wouldn't for long, though; if Jam's suddenly harried switch-flipping and button-pushing were of any indication, she intended to be gone five minutes ago.

(Ch. 6: Day 3)

Who is online