The neon lights make me numb (Ch. 5: Day 3)

Kazz · Posted: Sun May 20, 2012 12:30 am

Mako status update: still immobile. Vague groan as he was nearly stepped on.

Corin had -- probably wisely -- dived for cover a short while ago. ... and suddenly, he was in the fray. "EN GUARDE"! he yelled (he couldn't resist the line) as he, disregarding all risk to self, took advantage of the break in fire just as Archer did.
By running, with his spear pointed business-end ahead, right at the deer('s general direction).

Sheff · Posted: Sun May 20, 2012 1:28 pm

Except Geoff wouldn't be serving as a meat shield that night. With Casey's gunfire already identifying the deer's position and the hedgehog still on edge, Archer's fist would only end with a solid impact on a chest plate of rock. It appeared Geoff was quick on the trigger with his crystal, finally taking advantage of its use since arriving on the rooftop. Sacrificing defense for speed had its negatives, that previous explosion proving as much.

"Yeeeeah, no."

A crystallized fist launched out with full intentions to sock Archer right in the face before the deer could even swipe for his neck, taking the small window of opportunity for granted. If the hedgehog indeed managed to land on a hit on Archer, the bowman would soon find Geoff trying to grasp a hold onto his most prominent features; his antlers. It was probably a more literal way of taking the bull by its horns.

NPC · Posted: Sun May 20, 2012 4:53 pm

Something went amiss in that moment when Geoff decided to call upon on his innate ability. The armor he expected to appear before Archer went to gut-punch him just plain didn't manifest. In place of whatever sensation he would typically have experienced when materializing his trademark crystalline armor was nothing but an odd, cold, numb twinge of discomfort (not to mention whatever sensation immediately followed with the whole "getting socked in the stomach" thing).

Something nearby was interfering with his ability to use his power. In fact, it was interfering with everyone; while no one else present had anything quite so showy or obvious, virtually everyone on that rooftop would feel the blight of the dreary, invisible aura. Corin's bold dash speed was muted to a rather un-knightly plodding run that took much longer to reach the target, Casey's gunarm suddenly felt like it was made of lead and sagged accordingly, and Archer probably didn't feel quite so spry and springy as normal, either.

Zaka51 · Posted: Sun May 20, 2012 5:39 pm

The strange sensation that had spread throughout the group was a heavy, fatiguing one.

And yet, there was a sound that proved that at least one person wasn't feeling so weighed down by the nigh-grisly aura.

From inside the staircase, there came whistling. Despite the bitter atmosphere, the tune was upbeat and cheerful, which likely made it all the more annoying on the minds of the group. Soon enough the source was visible: the vanilla-colored mouse, still in his recognizable suit and shades. He made no attempt to hide or sneak his way onto the roof--he was nonchalantly strolling along like he owned the place, whistling like it was a sunny day at the park instead of a chilly night on a hospital rooftop in the middle of a desperate brawl with the odd burst of machine gun fire.

Of course, the most striking feature about the mouse this time was what he held in his hands: a dark mirror, framed by dreary metal twisted into decorations that made it look more solemn and gloomy than beautiful. The inside of the circle seemed strange, like it was not completely solid, and it did not reflect the lights of the city like a normal mirror would. It seemed to wobble and shimmer as the rodent walked with it.

The mouse did not seem to be that bothered by the dreary-looking artifact he carefully carried in front of his chest, though his whistling slowed and lowered in volume as he scanned the rooftop. It was hard to see a bunch of people crouching around a helipad and AC units at night, especially when you were wearing sunglasses at night. So, he chose to speak.

"Well, Mr. Archer!" he called out to the deer, wherever he was, while still sounding rather chipper. "You've done a fine job leading them all here! If that was part of your plan, well done! But if your comrade has done her part as well, then I believe it's almost time for us to depart!"

MuffinUnsane · Posted: Sun May 20, 2012 9:50 pm

Needless to say, the scene was almost enough to shut Ember's beak for a moment. Some kind of armored tank covered in foam fighting with a beast of a woman. Plus Ace.

A garbled mess of words came out of her mouth as she pushed past Latika and rushed out onto the scene towards the injured cat. Slipping in the foam, she made motions to catch his arm and steady him.

"Does this happen every time you take a shower?", she asked with forced humor, "Girls crawling all over you."

Lastly, she spied the downed shark under the heavy layer of foam.

"He's not dead is he?"

Seafarinhare · Posted: Sun May 20, 2012 10:26 pm

Archer could feel himself fatigue. It was a familiar feeling, but not in a good way. Despite a successfully landed punch, a chilling wave running down his spine prevented him from following through with the rest of his attack.

Given the sudden torrent of fatigue that seemed to hit not only Archer, but everyone on the roof, the incoming attack from the spear-wielding adventurer became surprisingly easy to avoid. He was able to deflect the spear with his bow, knocking the business end aside as the Aardwolf plodded unheroically toward him. Archer then decided to take the opportunity to distance himself from the dogpile, moving around the Aardwolf back toward the door.

Then the source of the disturbance made his way up.

"You..." He said in a confused tone, stopping in his tracks, "Wasn't expecting you here."

Then his gaze fell on the mirror, "I see. Testing out Li Fang's new toy, huh?"

Rachel · Posted: Sun May 20, 2012 11:12 pm

Tracer's situation was degrading quickly, first the wolverine and now the familiar bird and whoever the other one was. She needed to get the cat and go. When the Wolverine went to attack again Tracer was a little surprised. It was suicide to try and run across the slick foam covered floor which certainly wasn't going to cooperate with such an attack. So when the attacker got closer Tracer redirected her with a awkward slide on the foam towards the cat and the familiar bird.

"This doesn't involve you. Do not interfere." She snarled at the wolverine and the newcomers. What the hell where they doing anyway? This guy was little more then a thug, why would anyone risk fighting her (fully armored no less) over him?

"He certainly wouldn't do the same for you." she said finally, motioning a hand towards the shark as if the heap laying there was evidence of such.

Greens · Posted: Mon May 21, 2012 12:25 am

Sad as it was to lose the chance for yet another girl 'crawling all over' him, the moment Tracer turned her attention to... whoever this woman was, that was permission to scramble himself upright and haul butt outta there without a word. Oh.

A beeline he made for the cafeteria, so either he was dying for a snack, or he'd completely lost the remainder of his marbles. And as could be expected, all the evidence pointed to the latter; the first thing he did was hop over to the fallen cafeteria-bot and scoop her up by the wrist. As late as it seemed for an attempted rescue, saving the poor robo-damsel from her fate seemed to be the last thing on his mind, judging by the way he started swinging her around like a discuss by her arms. It might've seemed some sick, impromptu dance lesson, were it not swiftly growing an aura of blue.

And so came the lunch lady's final farewell: one chaos-charged fastball from Hell, aimed squarely at Tracer's backside.

Kazz · Posted: Mon May 21, 2012 1:39 am

Mako kind of gave a strangled noise up at Ember. It was what had been his mantra for the past handful of time:
"I'm okay", though this was said with articulation akin to that if he had a mouthful of marbles.

Sir Corin, meanwhile, was thrown off-path by the arrow deflecting his spear-- wherever his beloved polearm went, it seemed he went. And then... even slowed down as he was, the aardwolf suddenly snapped to attention at the mouse. ... or rather, the thing in the mouse's hands.

And with the same slow, plodding, completely unheroic gait, he tried his best to rush at the rodent with a guttural noise, grabbing his spear with both hands. It was quickly followed by something far more in-character for the would-be knight errant.
"Fiend!"

Zaka51 · Posted: Mon May 21, 2012 3:52 am

The wolverine didn't have any special balance, so the simple redirection from Tracer successfully sent her slipping past the armored combatant and nearly falling to the floor. She caught herself on a knee and a hand, and quickly whipped around as quickly as she could. Not exactly the most dignified recovery, slipping and sliding on foamy gunk while being covered head-to-toe with it. She was clearly ticked off by all of it.

"Think I'm his buddy-buddy? I don't even know him, but I need him more than you," she finally spoke, practically growling through her clenched jaw. For someone who apparently had even less emotional connection to the fight than Ace's friends and Tracer herself, the pinkish girl still seemed quite angry.

Then, since she had just spoke about him about him, it occurred to her to turn and check on the merc's target's status, only to find empty space behind her.

"Wait, what--" And then she saw the glowing supercharged robot flying through the air. "--the hell?!"

"Testing a device, ensuring a smooth operation, and checking on an associate's well-being," the mouse replied with a friendly smile that, up-close, looked a little forced. "Win-win-win, so they say--"

And there was the angry spear-wielding aardwolf charging at him. The suit's smile then vanished as he glanced at the slowly plodding attacker. With a more serious expression and a slightly irate tone, yet a lack of real concern, he looked back at Archer and quickly whispered, "Please handle him with something--anything. Running around with this thing in my hands is damned impossible."

Sheff · Posted: Mon May 21, 2012 7:39 pm

A perplexed look of deep concern spread across Geoff's features just before Archer's fist connected, his body bending in on itself. His arms wrapped around the point of impact as a heavy grunt left the hedgehog, air quickly evacuating his lungs, the hedgehog stumbling back. Having been so expectant of the punch never to make impact with his body, he'd been relying on his usual shield of rock to do its usual job, the attack having a bit more affect.

Yet, despite the pain and the fact Archer was probably advancing on him right now, Geoff was only focused on the sudden lack of crystal. For ages he'd just been able to conjure it with just a thought, not really knowing the specifications that allowed his body to perform such an inhuman ability. It had always worked though, never having a hiccup like this. All that was left was a dark, dreary feeling when he tried to access his trademark power, like a thick mental wall blocking him. His defensive capabilities were beyond his reach. He felt... exposed.

And then there was the mouse. A familiar face, but not a comforting one. What was he doing here, striding into the fray with... a mirror? Just peering at the thing made the shadowy weight the night air held become more prominent, the hedgehog quickly averting his eyes. Thing were clicking together now, however, and Geoff was finding regret in the fact he'd not done much more to stop Archer back on the train. The deer and rat's conversation was revealing enough of the mirror's origin as it were.

Finding even more reason before, Geoff started to trod forward, finding the simple task like swimming through molasses. Step by step, though, he made his way towards the mouse, all sorts of bad intent in his eyes.

psikeout · Posted: Mon May 21, 2012 10:19 pm

"Hey!" The shout from Casey was an abrasive look-at-me sort of belted blurt. He repeated it for good measure. "Hey!"

He was in the middle of loading a new magazine into his gun. Its heft looked to be considerable, but Casey was a pretty strong to begin with, so a little energy-draining mystery magic wasn't enough to keep him from wielding his own gunarm. It just made it... less reflexive and stable than it would have normally been.

"Er'ybody just stop talkin'!" he ordered loudly from up on the helipad, his tone almost as if he was genuinely upset Archer and the mouse were having a conversation in the middle of the conflict. "Don't think I won't shoot you! And don't think I won't start at the kneecaps an' work my way up when I do it!"

The boar looked on, very deliberately wide-and-wild-eyed as if to assert his Crazy-Big-Man-Who'll-Definitely-Shoot-You Quotient.

"Put that thing down and get outta here!"

Mie · Posted: Mon May 21, 2012 11:18 pm

"Ace can handle self!" urged Latika, as a super-charged robot corpse went sailing over her head. After flying to Mako's side, the porter unceremoniously hefted the sticky, foamy shark across her shoulders like the world's lightest sack of potatoes, and peeled away from the confrontation.

"We need move injury people! Find Mr. Casey and Green Rock-Sonic!"

Despite the fire extinguisher's leavings on the floor, she was surprisingly stable, and surprisingly quick (for her, you know; not quick for say, someone spiny and blue) to leap to her feet and book it towards the cafeteria door. It was only there, on the precipice of safe haven, that she looked back at the scuffle, hesitating, and then turned to go.

"Will come back with help!" she called over her shoulder.

Rachel · Posted: Tue May 22, 2012 2:03 pm

Tracer's H.U.D. lit up with warnings when Ace started putting energy into his attack. Tracer whipped her shield down off of her back in such haste that it took out a few of ceiling tiles. It clanged into the ground standing upright between Tracer and Ace. His charged assault smacked into her shield and exploded as one would assume it would. The power of which scorched all the paint off that side of her shield and sent the armored tank of a llama flying back shield and all, through a wall with a loud crashing crumbling crunch.

Hospitals where not built to be war zones. Shortly after going though the wall, there was a second crash, followed finally by a third. The first wall she went through all but fell in on itself, the room beyond was... well it might of been a room at one point, but now it consisted of bent metal, rubble and currently smoldering sheets, with holes in the far wall and floor.

There was a moment of quiet. Should Ace's attack of sent her that far? It became apparent she might of intentionally thrown herself back to get clear of the room when the ground under Ace's feet exploded up under him with one angry llama and what can assumed to be one very nasty uppercut. She only had the one free hand at the moment for said attack as the other hand now carried her Gear/Shield that might not be functioning as well as it used to.

Seafarinhare · Posted: Tue May 22, 2012 4:28 pm

"Hey!"

Anything that Archer may have said in reply to the mouse's feigned friendliness was cut short by the startling realization that the conflict was in fact not resolved. He spun around quickly toward the man with a gunman as he was reloading.

Now, typically, in a stand-off between a bow and a machine gun does not end well for the more archaic ranged tool of war. This fact caused Archer to think twice about quickdraw dueling with the guy. Instead, he grabbed the mouse and pulled him to cover behind a nearby AC unit right in the middle of the boar's tirade, before he could get a bead on either of them.

"Man," He said with his outdoor voice as he drew another arrow from his quiver, "I'd prefer to keep my knee caps as they are. Li Fang will probably have them taken out, if we lose the mirror."

Just a lose-lose all around. How careless he was to ignore the big guy with the gun arm.

The neon lights make me numb (Ch. 5: Day 3)

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