Breathe In Half Stop (Ch. 3b: Day 1, pt. IV)

Greens · Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2011 12:37 am

Suddenly sharing Rock's view of the ground, the expression on Daniel's face turned slowly, but very surely for the darker as he explained the llama woman's supposed backstory. Even though he should've known better than to judge anyone with the title of 'mercenary', especially given the chaos he and his friends had already caused GUN in Empire City alone (though granted, in his mind, it turned especially bloody through no fault of their own), the term somehow left a sour taste in his mouth. That, and she was so gaudy to do it all in orange.

"Coopmore...," Ace echoed quietly, still mulling over the circumstances in his head. Suddenly, he raised himself up, offering a concerned looking glance in the monkey's direction. "I still don't know his whole story. Is he cool? Er, no, better question: if Lieutenant Psychobitch was such a threat, why didn't we just lob her into the deep recesses of space? I mean, after what she... did. Was it Badge?"

psikeout · Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2011 1:52 am

Rock shrugged weakly. "By the time I got my bearings, she was out," he explained, but in way that sounded like he wasn't convinced it was a good idea, either. "You know that if I'd offed her, I'd probably have Badge chasin' me right now, and I'm in neither mood nor shape for that %$*#."

As if the discussion reminded him, he slowly slid his CT pistol out of its holster and examined it.

Greens · Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2011 5:17 pm

The cat looked like he'd been dealt the finishing blow in a game of Chess. "Maaayn," he whined, leaning back and planting the rear of his head on the wall behind him. A fatigued, crooked half-grin of defeat crawled over his face "...Whatever. What's one little vigilante," he croaked. "I coulda taken him. Kicked 'is... spandex-wrapped ass, straight to the... moon."

It might've been evident that Rock wasn't the only one who was tired.

psikeout · Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2011 5:24 pm

Rock looked conflicted a second. He glanced sideways at Ace.

"I thought you liked the whole superhero thing," he contested. He started to gesture at Ace's shirt with his gun, but came just short of doing so, apparently realizing he was waving a weapon around. "Y'know. Like Bolt Pig."

Greens · Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2011 5:35 pm

Without really moving his head, Ace's eyes drifted beneath his collar to the barrel of Rock's pistol (and subsequently, the shirt/chest it was pointed at). "Phwell, I-- mean, yeah," he stammered, before correcting the monkey. "And it's Bolt Boar."

Punctuated silence.

"...B'this guy 'asn't had the benefit of being my childhood hero. He got unlucky, he caught the old, angry, embittered Ace."

psikeout · Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2011 6:14 pm

"Mm," Rock murmured and slowly nodded a couple times in understanding. His brows lowered again after a couple seconds to consider, though.

"... Old," he echoed incredulously, with an amused snort.

The primate grunted and stood, and started ambling through the lobby, toward the desk and areas beyond. He gestured with a motion of his head to invite Ace to follow if he wanted.

Greens · Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2011 6:48 pm

Ace's baby blues followed the monkey's nodding head on the quiescent path it took, and then away, as if distracted by some stray thought... before again being called to Rock. "...W'll not that old,", he added, so quickly and quietly it was almost hard to hear.

Regardless, with a strained grunt he heaved himself upwards and trailed along, as per Rock's unspoken request. "Willin' to bet you're older 'n me..."

psikeout · Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2011 8:08 pm

"Already older than I can take," he muttered, but neglected to actually answer meaningfully as he approached the room designated "pharmacy." It had a counter with a shuttered metal gate, and a traditional metal door with a narrow wire-reinforced glass window—locked, as was soon discovered.

It was also wide open and dangling weakly from its nearly-ripped hinges a single, earsplitting kick and smash later.

"I have no earthly idea what I need," he admitted as he flipped on the lights and began to peruse the shelves. Naturally, he turned to Ace for advice on the matter, sparing no blatancy.

"You're from Westside. You know all about this kinda stuff."

Greens · Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2011 10:24 pm

It was clear Ace had no objections to the Rock-styled treatment the locked door was receiving by the punctuated nothing he gave in protest. It seemed he merely shut his eyes and turned away for the sake of humoring himself, as if he was more mildly offended by the noise it made getting kicked in, rather than the brashness of the one actually doing the kicking.

When he opened his eyes again, there was a veritable cornucopia of pills, patches, and medicinal beverages, almost all of them with the drawn-out, 10+ syllable labels that only a crew of doctors, scientists, and physicians could discriminate between.

Ace gawked incredulously at the apparent stock Rock had suddenly placed in him. "What? Man I grew up in Westside, not a medicine cabinet," he answered with an incontestable fluster in his voice, but picked out and briefly examined random bottles all the same. "$%@&, I got sick or hurt, I went to the doctor. Figg'red with all the gauze you're wrapped up in, you'd be fit as a mother f%#$in' fiddle by now..."

Kazz · Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2011 10:34 pm

Meanwhile, back on the farm... (Or, as it was, meanwhile, back with quite likely the only unicorn on the space station...)

"Well, I'm not in any rush to play spaceman. You said something about a ship graveyard?" Rodolf said (for despite the inflection in his voice, it wasn't really a question), looking at Astrid. The unicorn stretched his arms above his head, popped his neck, and looked around. "Shall we try to," and he paused here, selecting a term. "... gather the party?" he finished with a certain level of distaste in his voice-- what was he, some half-rate video game character? He gave looks, in turn, to the scientist squirrel, the hedgehog, and the superhero, and then...

Well, honestly, anyone else who happened to be lingering nearby.

He folded his arms and breathed out conspicuously through his nose. Oh, joy of joys.

Jahkari · Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2011 12:16 am

Astrid nodded. "Sounds like a wise idea to me," she agreed. "It's important we know as much as we can about this area before we dive in head-first, as it were, and those ships seem like a fine place to start." Glancing at the others, she continued, "I'm not forcing anyone to go. But. If you're willing and good at maneuvering in space, well, it'd be a help. I'll stay on the ARK and find out as much as I can about the state the old girl is in." She a soft, slightly bitter laugh, she added, "Not as if I'd be much help for you in space proper, anyway."

Turning back to Rodolf, she added, "I know you're not one of my hired team, but... since you seem the most willing, I think- not that it's my place to, but -I think you'd best lead this excursion."

Seafarinhare · Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2011 6:20 am

Hoji listened as the game plan unfolded before him. And then the scientist lady decided that the unicorn was the best fit for their leader in this mission.

The mission, of course being the one to search the graveyard of ships. If the news effected him at all, it didn't show in his expressions. He was here to help, so whoever was the group lead didn't really matter.

After all, the pursuit of Justice is not bogged down by protocol, and rank-and-file. There are, of course, rules of engagement. But that was another thing entirely.

"I have my own ride to the crash site. It's a one-seater, though, so I'll be right behind you guys."

Of course Wild Badge had a space fighter. Did you expect him to go into outer space without a specialized vehicle of some kind? Hardly.

psikeout · Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2011 4:26 pm

Edit:

Diluss · Posted: Sat Jul 09, 2011 11:03 pm

psikeout · Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2011 11:26 pm

Sometime later, a quieter section of sector 2QI (the ARK's only inhabited area, as of a few hours ago) echoed with footsteps. Secured doors whizzed open and shut without dispute. Two figures passed through the dim-lit confines of the administrative wing, past the various boring-sounding offices and chambers. Records office, requisitions office, staff conference room...

"Armory," mumbled the white member of the primate pair. The word was uttered with intrigue, as if it was precisely what he was curious about.

But how did he get there to begin with?

Rock's conversation with Ace had ended at some awkwardly disgusting point when he felt it necessary to make his first bandage change—the first of what would likely be many, with as much stomach-churningly red gauze as came off him. If that hadn't killed the conversation, though, the forceps did. No sooner than a healthy (see: mind-numbing) dose of painkillers went down the hatch, Rock hauled out with the forceps and went digging hunks of jagged shrapnel out of his own wounds.

It was something he really felt more comfortable being alone for, anyway.

After all that mess was cleaned up, sanitized, and dressed with fresh bandages, he set out once more, feeling like a new man. This was likely the medication setting in, as he still looked like the corporeal embodiment of a train wreck crossed with a carpet bombing. He wandered until he found his first locked security door, then remembered: Tau had registered them with the ARK's systems. A little deduction and searching later, he found the administrative offices, then finally, the identification office (see: expansive cubicle) where IDs were printed. There he found a tray next to some kind of automated printing machine, containing a loosely scattered pile of laminated photo ID cards with the ARK logo, each with their names and some personal information, including birthdates, blood types, etc...

Rock made a mental note of it at this time to ask Tau just how much information he had on them, and when he had found the time to take mugshots of each of them, too.

Though Rock sought to distribute the cards, he soon discovered that everyone on his team except Jam had already departed for the ship graveyard. He didn't seem terribly put off about being left behind; if anything, he was relieved, and took it as an opportunity to go exploring.

And so, that's how they ended up at the armory. Really, would anyone think for a second that a guy like Rock wouldn't go there first? The ever-militant monkey swiped his shiny, new key card at the door and slipped inside as soon as it opened.

"How d'you feel about guns?" he asked his reddish accompaniment out of the blue, with a kind of candid curiosity, as he approached the metal-grated gun cabinets. "I mean, would somebody with electro-powers even want one?"

Breathe In Half Stop (Ch. 3b: Day 1, pt. IV)

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