Take back the city (1-2)

psikeout · Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2010 9:35 pm

The sun was well past its midway point in the sky by the time Tails and the local help got the Tornado back on its wheels and rolled it someplace it could be worked on. Given the sheer manual labor involved, all that remained of the party by the time they reached the auto garage was whoever had the compassion in them to push an airplane down four or five half-flooded, debris-filled city blocks, and whatever passersby were kind (or dumb) enough to get recruited into the task.

((That means if you want your character here, go for it.))

The garage was not a hangar, and was not meant to accommodate an airplane. The Tornado was thankfully pretty petite as far as planes went, though, so with a little fiddling about, they managed to persuade it through the door and into the shelter, amidst the convenient array of toolboxes and equipment, and out of the heat of the day.

Rock would have been lying to himself had he denied his second thoughts about the ordeal. Something in him just wanted to say "screw it" and go back to Rekk for further resources and information, but at the same time, a big part of him... didn't want to work with the government guys.

So, that meant a do-it-yourself approach.

"Alright, s'your machine, so where do you wanna start?" he asked the fox. "What do you need? I wanna get you back in the air before it's anywhere close to nighttime."

05/30/10 EDIT: Surprise, Central City isn't on South Island anymore! Ignore anything you see in this thread implying otherwise. RETCON POWER GO.

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Diluss · Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2010 11:05 pm

"Uhhhhhhh..."

Tails stared at the machine. The fight through the water, and then the fight with the plane, and then the fight to get the plane back to the shop had left him almost dizzy with exhaustion.

He placed a hand on the wing of the tornado and gave it a few absent-minded pats. His hand shifted. His fingers drummed lightly on the wing's surface with a gentle, hollow, noise. T-t-trrong trrong trrong.

He stretched up on his tip-toes to look over at one of the broad mechanized metal flaps that extended off the back of the wing. He stared at it, his brow furrowed. He hunched down and peered under the wing surface at the same piece of machinery with a critical air.

Trrong trong trong.

As he began his silent examination, he seemed to brighten up. His face took an interest.

"Weellll..."

"The control surfaces need to be repaired; we need to check up on all the linkages; we should probably get the salt off the electronics and make sure the engine block isn't too wet..." he looked up at the wing, "this... these rivets came loose, if we can't cut them out and replace them then we'll need to," he frowned, "to weld them together."

"...and the computer..." Tails turned and looked at the cockpit with a determined light in his eyes, "if any of the electronics are damaged, I'll have to repair them myself... the computer systems are all packaged in, uh, capsules made out of PEEK plastic, though, so they shouldn't be too affected unless any of the internal supports broke under the impact, what we basically need to worry about are wires and mechanical joints and whether or not the plane's frame is compromised in any way."

Then his face fell again.

"And the propeller..."

Greens · Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 1:15 pm

"Well," breathed Ace, still hating himself for even getting this far with the damned plane all the way to the local garage and listening to that boisterous lizard's fanatical tales the whole while. "That was fun. Now let's never do that again. Ever."

And as reward for his valiant efforts, he got to listen to an eight-year-old boy throw out terms and terminology he couldn't ever have a hope to understand if he lived to be a hundred and two years old. While he did that, the cat kinda... looked around, not really even trying to feign interest.

He saw a trash can that seriously needed taking out. He lost interest in that rather quickly. He looked outside to see what people were walking down the street. They were relatively scarce, and he lost interest once some enormous turtle of sorts in a white-pink suit fell out of view. Then he looked back to Rock hoping he shared the same bewildered facial expression as he did (and somehow knowing that he totally wouldn't).

"Yeah, alright. Uhh... Good luck wit' that," he began, desperately think of excuses not to be there as he slid his way back. "I gotta go... fish my... fish for some fish... Forrr dinner."

And suddenly, there was nothing but a hand waving goodbye outside of the garage, as he bid them "Later!"

psikeout · Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 1:36 pm

Sadly, Ace was correct. Rock had ceased to notice the guy existed, as he was thoroughly engaged in the task at hand, the technology, the airplane, oh my. No, he wasn't jumping up and down by any means, but it was probably about as excited as Rock could get about mundane things like machines and repairs.

"It ain't so bad," replied the monkey as he fiddled about with one of the elevators with intense interest. The small, flap-like panel was hanging out sideways from where it'd been halfway ripped loose from the horizontal stabilizer; it and the surrounding damage gave him an opportunity to look at the guts a little.

"You do have some pretty serious equipment goin' on here, though, for such a small plane," he commented. "No cables... just fly-by-wire controls. Digital, I'm guessing." He shot a look at the little computer brainiac, and alleviated any doubt that it'd be otherwise. His attention then drifted forward, as his feet carried him to the wings, and he examined the separated wing support, and again, noticed something. "And these struts..." He ran a finger along where it used to be joined. "You've got these on some kind of track assembly."

The closer he examined it, the more his expression turned toward being utterly confounded.

"And is this—... this's some sort of conductive polymer around this joint... Why's there even a moving joint here...?"

This could go on for some time.

nUcLeArEnVoY · Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 7:27 pm

(In this case, just figure that Teck arrived, noticed Rock's presence and tried to remain as ignorant as possible of him, offered as much of a strong hand as he could pushing it over, and is now with their group.)

Taking on a more stoic air this time, the porcupine simply watched intently as Rock and Tails discussed the technobabble, situating himself along a large red toolbox with his arms folded. He understood parts of it, particularly the computer programming bits that spliced with his astronomical know-how, but any discussion about engine blocks, Teck always seemed to look the other way wearing a blank expression. However, one word stuck out and it had nothing to do with crisis at hand by any means. His ears perked and his eyes widening, he glanced over to Ace, "Did you say fish, m'boy?"

His fingers twiddled in a most joyous delight, approaching Ace genially and patting him on the back as if inviting him inside somewhere. "Privy idea, mate, just privy! Indeed, let's go fishing - I can really go for some snapper right now after all of that energy I used moving the plane!"

The funny part is, Teck really DID use a lot of energy - it just wasn't very helpful considering his feeble arms!

Diluss · Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 8:51 pm

"Hey, seeya guys!"

Tails began to wave, trailing off half-way through when he realized the had already left. Evidently not everyone was as enthralled by the prospect of checking individual transistors for arc damage as he was.

He turned to Rock.

"Huh?"

He looked at the area the monkey was currently referencing.

"Oh, that... that's part of the transformation sequence," he said, perking up again, "it covers the motor system that extends the wings--oh, and there's a control pod that controls wing sweep!"

Greens · Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2010 7:52 pm

The alley cat left with the quietest of chuckles accompanying his little smirk. Somehow, he expected Tails to be a bit more sour that he couldn't even fake interest in the field of aero... dynamics? Nautics? Whatever. Regardless, Ace was happy that he was happy, and everyone was happy for the moment. But for a split second, his expression went from satisfied to suspicious, when he realized the fox made a mention of

"Wait... guys?"

"Hw--" was the only sound he made come an only somewhat-unexpected pat on the back mid-departure. It was in a proverbial flash that he turned around, fists raised to either cheek, boots kicking up dirt as they dug into the cement of the sidewalk. His whole demeanor seemed to switch to something chillingly cold, and dangerously sharp as he adopted his stance.

...And then, somewhat awkwardly, it was dropped once he recognized the fellow he was looking at.

"Hohh, s**t. Don't-- ...sorry. Uh..."

He slipped his hands into his pockets, and kept walking down the sidewalk.

"No, I'm not... actually going fishing, dude. Tha'was a, tha'was a joke."

nUcLeArEnVoY · Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2010 8:59 pm

Upon the sinking of that dismal earful, Teck's own ears flattened disdainfully. However, he figured there must've been a way to turn this to his benefit, and so they perked inquisitively once again as he continued...

"Ah, well I couldn't be anymore serious. When was the last time you've eaten anyway, laddy? This is a good time to capitalize on the peace if I do say so myself."

psikeout · Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2010 9:21 pm

Rock's eyebrows shot up at first, as if pleasantly surprised, but then flattened suddenly. "So it does transform," he muttered, caught between being impressed and utterly put off by how it complicated matters.

He stepped back and settled his hands on his waist, and addressed the fox more directly. "Well, look. I don't wanna just step in and start messin' with your ride, obviously. If you want help, though, I do this sort of stuff. I weld, I wire, I can machine parts, whatever, so in the interest of the, uh...," he spun a finger idly in the air and drawled casually, "resolution of th'situation, by which I mean flyin' planes and shootin' badguys, I can do whatever you need done."

Greens · Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2010 10:45 pm

Ace kept walking for a bit even after Teck made his suggestion (assuming he'd keep walking along with him of course). For a moment, it seemed his mind was set on going for a stroll down the street, or whatever he already had in mind. But then, slowly but surely, the cat slowed down a bit, and eventually came to a complete stop. A curious expression did his face bare.

"...Hell. Why not?" he eventually surmised with a shrug. "I've got time to kill. You have any like... rods on you? Fishing rods, I mean."

Diluss · Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 4:26 pm

"Well... I guess first things first is to dry... this... off..."

He turned, and looked at the Tornado for a moment, before laughing nervously--relief brings out the humour in any situation.

"Good thing most of it is waterproofed!"

psikeout · Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 10:14 pm

OOC: Skipping through some of the work junk, though this skip won't necessarily affect Ace or Teck or anything. Opening it up for certain other folks to reenter. (You know who you are.)

And so work began, as the cat and porcupine departed to go fishing, and the fox and monkey set about undoing the damage done to the biplane as best as possible. Truth be told, as much as Rock liked airplanes, there were a thousand other places he'd rather be than sopping up ocean water and blasting electronics with a hair drier. It was with some trepidation that he hung up his jacket and set upon the task, but, a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. At least time went by faster once that was all done and he got to employ the arc welder and do a little metalwork. Eventually, he even had an opportunity to try his hand at machining some replacement components, making the best use of what auto parts were available, as well as some scrap metal.

Come later in the day, he was starting to feel the wear. They weren't very far from being done, but he was dirty, oily, greasy, singed (he skipped some necessary precautions with the welder at first), and he smelled of the ocean and sweat. They were beating the clock, though. At times, Rock couldn't help but wonder if it was a good idea to invest so much effort, but the little kid really seemed like he knew what he was doing, so he figured the payout would be good.

Diluss · Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 11:21 pm

Tails was tired and grimy and his forehead was prickled with sweat. On three separate occasions he had tried to get the airplane's basic systems online, with discouraging results.

A pool of water somewhere deep in the system had leaked through a crack in a piece of rubber that was very old but otherwise well shielded and would have been fine had it not been exposed to water through, unfortunately, the whole plane being upside-down.

Through a chain-reaction of small disasters, a transformer had shorted out and the resulting damage to the electronics caused the waste of a few hours as Tails had tried to dismantle car radios in the desperate attempt to find pieces that could be removed. He broke two transistors before he got one out intact. Finally, something had been cobbled together that functioned marginally within the bounds prescribed by the basic systems--of which there were few

He climbed awkwardly up to the pilot's seat and plonked his bottom down, wincing at the discomfiting skpblissh that burbled out from the sodden upholstery. Water splashed out from underneath the seat.

"Ok, I'm gonna try to turn on the batteries," he announced over the side of the plane, "ready?"

Mie · Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2010 7:05 pm

OOC: SUPER HYPER MEGA ULTRA COLLAB (of Mie and Greensness) OF DOOOOOOM.

With an exasperated huff, both berry-hued arms folded over her chest, while Jam glared at no less than three things at once. The first was the street sign reading "Shady Oak Ln," which she and her fair-furred accompaniment were stopped in front of for the third time that afternoon. The second target of her ire was the low battery warning, incessantly blinking in the upper right-hand corner of her cellphone's LCD, while a final source of irritation blared indistinctly mobile's speakers, as it implored them to, "Turn right on Shady Oak Lane."

"It didn' work the first two times, you $3-a-month piece of s**t," grumbled the monkey with no shortage of snap, as she pinched her nose bridge, and groaned toward the heavens.

"You need to treat your things with more love," Caz said half-sincerely, not sounding very authoritative despite the wagging of her index finger.

With little more than a roll of her minty green hues at her admonishment over her mistreatment of inanimate objects, she leveled a stare of mild concern muddled with defeat at her mole-in-tow, and flailed both arms outward, allowing them to flop against her sides with a muffled slap.

"Okay," she began after a deep breath. "I ain't from around here, so 'm not exactly the best choice for a tour guide or nothin'. If you feel up to it, we can keep sniffin' around 'til we find 'em, or I c'n take you back to th' presidential pad."

"UuuuuuuuuuuuuuIiiiii dunnooo," she admitted. "I'm not terribly familiar of this place either, actshually. Never really learned my streets, either, sad to say." With that, she turned her vision to the pebble-filled cement beneath her, and closed her eyes. Her head swaying, and her fingers unable to resist channeling through her own hair, she released a groan that sounded like she just didn't want to bother inhaling right then.

"Ace said," she began, and started walking again. "That they were in aaaaaaa garage. Of sorts. And I wrote down the place! If only I didn't forget the directions." The mole released a nervous chuckle that came straight from her throat, her pinky scratching any backup plans out of her forehead.

"Mmmmbut we've come far too far to give up now..." Sulk.

"Oh! How about this!" Perk.

"I'll look on the right side, and... you look on the left!" Nod.

Drumming her fingers against her leg with partial interest in the mole's suggestion, she cast furtive glances in all directions of the compass, evidently allocating more attention to her own plan of action. When she finally realized what Caz had proposed, she stared with an expression that possessed all the enthusiasm as styrofoam packing peanuts.

"We coul' do that," conceded Jam, boredly in response, holding up an index finger in a "wait here" sort of gesture, as she stepped off the curb and into the street. About half-way across, she stopped in the middle of the deserted intersection, turned, and set her hands on her hips.

"But I'm gettin' sorta sick'a screwin' around, so I think I'll jus' call."

Call? But Rock's phone --

"HEY, ROOOOOCK!"

bellowed the boisterous simian through her cupped hands, brushing an ear-splitting 100+ decibels.

"oh god ahaiyurwha" said Caz as she fell flat on her ass.

"WHERE YOU AT?!"

Shady Oak Lane seemed to have pretty good acoustics, too.

psikeout · Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2010 7:48 pm

"Yeah, I've been done soldering back here for a while," confirmed the monkey, though it looked like he was still fiddling with the elevator. "Whenever you're—"

His eyes narrowed and he looked over his shoulder. "'Scuse me, think somebody's callin' me," he muttered, and strolled over to the open garage door.

Soon enough, Jam would hear his voice echo from somewhere down the road behind her.

"YO! SOMEBUDDY CALLIN' FOR ME?!"

They were on the right street, in the right approximate area; the town had actually been desolate enough for that to work.

Take back the city (1-2)

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