Invaders Must Die (Ch. 3b: Day 1, pt. VI)

psikeout · Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2011 1:41 pm

"Yeah, like stabbin' people who need help," Juke retorted, revealing that he was in fact somewhat aware of what was going on around him, and not ignorant of the hedgehog's sarcasm, nor his completely unapologetically sociopathic behavior.

Sheff · Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2011 3:11 pm

"Yeah, well, maybe a stop, drop, and roll would be a better idea next time," replied the hedgehog a bit coldly. "Ya know, instead of running around like a maniac out to murder us. Enough crap has tried to do that already, so excuse me for jumping the gun."

This was probably the closest the bat would receive to an apology. What a barrel of rainbows Captain Sparkly was.

psikeout · Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2011 3:52 pm

"Why you such a bitch for?" Juke asked Geoff bluntly, yet almost... conversationally, as if it wasn't that big of an insult to throw out there. (He was kind of a ruffian; maybe this was normal discourse.)

He just kept walking and talking in his normal tone. "I mean, I was in a tiny box full'a fire, you knowwhatI'msayin'? You can just go stop, drop an' roll off'a bridge, man."

He stopped at the moderately large, mechanized door that exited from the personnel bay to the hall, reached out, and gave the big, red button a thwack of his spike-gloved fist. For better or worse, it swished open...

NPC · Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2011 4:32 pm

Fate chose for worse.

Just beyond the door was a giant, head-high wall of metal, twisting, moving, and causing quite the ruckus.

Well, not exactly a wall. More or less an immense horde of robots, running to and fro through the halls, clawing their way through even each other all for the sake to just keep moving. There wasn't a foot of space anywhere, all occupied by the machines. They were completely restless.

Until they noticed a new path had opened up for them.

Dozens upon dozens of pairs of glowing blue eyes swiveled there way to lock sights with the gateway to the unknown. Most stopped in their tracks upon studying the new door, examining with tiny buzzes, until finally, as if the message was sent out to the others, everything fell silent.

They stared for a moment...

...

...and then they burst forward. One after another began pouring towards the door, metal hands outstretching to get a hold of the previously-injured bat. Some even tried to slip by to pounce towards some of the other group members, and there was even a few lighting up spheres of electricity around their light bodies, much like a certain monkey most of them knew.

In a sense, Juke had just opened the doorway to robot-hell.

psikeout · Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2011 4:42 pm

Juke looked for just a second. A silent scream took over his face—no noise, just a gaping mouth, jacked up brows, and raw terror.

He slammed the button again, and the doors swished shut with a crunch. A lone robot arm dangled from the crack in the door, hanging by severed wires, shooting sparks and wiggling.

The bat slowwwly turned his head back to the others, horror frozen on his face. He seemed to be searching for the right words to say. His expression slowly leveled out to forced neutrality, his mouth smacked a couple times, he inhaled, exhaled, then finally, he colorlessly asked:

"Do we have to go this way."

Seafarinhare · Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2011 5:03 pm

Having been mostly silent up to this point, Badge followed along with the others, making sure to heed Rodolf's advice about not dying.. And then Juke opened that door.

It'd be counter-productive to not dying to fight such a horde. Luckily, Juke was heeding the advice as well and shut it immediately. Badge looked at the others, "I think another route might be a good idea."

Kazz · Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2011 8:59 pm

Rodolf stared at Juke for a moment, seemingly struck dumb. After a moment to gather his thoughts, he shook his head. "If you touch anything else, especially any more buttons, I am going to--" It was at this point that Badge cut in -- probably for the best -- and he heaved a sigh. "Yes, dare I say that the route that doesn't involve a swarm of robots out to kill us might be preferable."

Even as he spoke, his eyes were darting around in search for another way out, some deep part of him steeling himself in the event that no other opportunity presented itself.

NPC · Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2011 10:47 pm

There was a persistent scratching coming from the door as the horde on the other side scraped against it. Next were a few resounding slams of metal meeting robot. Finally, there was silence.

Then one last thump occurred on the other side.

The door slid open effortlessly.

The horde stood there once more, and suddenly, they were piling into the personnel bay, buzzing in unison over the rewards of their very recent discovery. Yes folks, the common enemy had managed to learn the function of a simple button.

psikeout · Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2011 1:09 am

"Aw, like you weren't gonna open it—"

The door opened.

"Wasn'tmethattime."

Juke flew like the bat that he was out of there. Away.

Seafarinhare · Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2011 12:32 pm

Let it be known that Wild Badge was not one to run from a fight. But there is a limit. A super hero must know the limits of his influence, and fighting these numbers would just be stupid.

"That's...not supposed to happen." He simply said before following the bat's example and high-tailing it as fast as his legs would allow.

Sheff · Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2011 2:58 pm

Geoff had been rooted to a spot a few feet behind Juke, but as the bat rushed past him after being in the face of danger, the hedgehog didn't move quite yet. These things were flooding in fast, and the others were trying to get out of the way. They needed a safe haven, but they also needed time. Perhaps he could provide the latter.

The hedgehog gave an examiner's look over the robots. No guns, no charging weapons, nothing sharp and deadly... there were those few breaking in with the Jam-esque electricity bubbles, but already he noticed they were flickering with inexperience. Yeah, he had somewhat of a chance. Time to hold his ground.

As the first 'bot approached him, a green, rock-covered fist shot out, smashing it down to the ground, followed by a similarly armored foot. Metal and circuitry crunched satisfyingly under him, and he couldn't help but give a grin of victory, spearing the next one to come up to him with another pointed limb.

Geoff threw a yell over his shoulder. "These things aren't as tough as the last one!"

That didn't muddy the fact of how many of them there were in the first place.

Greens · Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2011 4:37 pm

While the others busied themselves 'tending' to their impalement-victim tagalong and... discovering their latest hostilities, Ace was kept occupied relieving himself of the stiff, gaudy orange space suit that he was very quickly learning to hate. By the time he was done, and the threat had been established, and he was clad in his favorite jeans once again, the serval was already off looking for ways out aside from the path that lead them away from the horde of angry little robots.

That wasn't going to happen, of course.

In fact, there was barely time to blurt out "Aaaooh CRAP! (Crap! Crap! Crap!)" before the cat staggered back and began hurling his arms like his life most likely depended on it. He had that half-panicked, tight-lipped sort of expression about him that said there was no time for saying much of anything, instead pouring his focus on pouring down a rain of chaos-charged cards through the little funnel-tip of robots the front door had become. He didn't intend to stop the force altogether there, but at the very least, kept them out.

psikeout · Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2011 6:24 pm

Riding high on his new-found invincibility fallacy, Juke reentered the fray in seconds, driving a baggage truck.

Well, it wasn't exactly a baggage truck. It was really just a small cargo mover of sorts, intended for helping get things on and off arriving ships that weren't destined for the cargo bays. But, nonetheless, it was a little electric truck, and he had unplugged it, turned it on, jammed the pedal to the metal, and was racing to run over the robots at a blistering (feeble) 25MPH. (If he had half a mind to figure out how to operate the thing correctly, it may have been able to go faster.)

Chances were that the hostiles that noticed him would be able to easily get out of the way, but hey—at least he'd be cutting some kind of swath through the crowd, right?

"RIGHT OF WAY, CHILDREN," shouted Juke boisterously from within the vehicle, barely audible over the din as he rump-a-bumped over robots and whooshed past the others.

The trailer was shallow and open on all sides, if anyone (friendly or not) had a mind to hop aboard. Whether or not this would be a good idea was up for debate.

NPC · Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2011 10:15 pm

Surprisingly enough, Juke's brilliant idea did, somehow, work. Although most of the robots simply parted out of the way of the slow-moving block of a vehicle, there were still a few that were dull enough to be sucked under and crushed. The path the bat had intended was now becoming a bit bumpy, electric pops heard under the wheels as limbs gave out. Add this on to the efforts of Geoff and Ace (the latter being quite destructive with his attempts on holding back the horde), the horde was starting to be pushed back.

However, despite the very small dent it was making into their offensive, the enemy did take the new vehicle as a threat, and began swarming around it. A couple of electric shields buzzed up around them, the energy crackling and buzzing, and soon enough, a couple were clambering onto the trailer portion of the tractor.

Meanwhile, it was becoming apparent that the only way out was through the door that kept spawning the hostiles, whether this was for better or for worse. The bay didn't have any other obvious exits at first glance, and soon, if they kept waiting, the robots would only overwhelm them before they could find any other options.

Sheff · Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2011 10:27 pm

Geoff had to give the bat some credit now. He was actually being a bit... brave, compared to his recent actions. And not only that, he was also somewhat useful. The little electric vehicle was providing an easy distraction to allow him some breathing space to think as he watched the tractor roll along.

Then the bat gave him an idea. If that clumsy battering-ram could be used to part the sea of moving robotics, he could easily do the same.

Launching himself forward, he went for a full-on sprint, catching up to the tractor easily. Jumping up onto the trailer, he took a moment to dispatch some of the attacking robots with some large, side swipes of rock-covered arms, the limbs passing right through the electric bubbles present without harm. Despite the fact more were attempting to climb on, he turned back to the rest of the bay, waving his arm in the direction of his own self.

"Let's go! Let's go!"

His intentions were now clear; they were busting out of there. The hedgehog only hoped the others would assist.

Geoff turned back around, patting the bat on the shoulder for a quick moment as he drove.

"Just keep movin' forward, alright?" he ordered, and without another word, leaped past the front of the vehicle, kicking away a few more robots.

It wasn't long before he got the room necessary, his quills suddenly layered up with crystal. Rolling forward, he pulled himself into a high-buzzing spin, and a moment later, he was blasting off, smashing through the horde with great effectiveness. Chips of green rock flew as his quills ripped through them all, and soon a gouge was carved through the group, the hedgehog disappearing past the doorway.

Invaders Must Die (Ch. 3b: Day 1, pt. VI)

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