Old Reminders - RPLOG
Participants
Date
Thursday November 1, 2018=Log=
The agents are gathered in Mike's chopper, long since having taken off from Zephyr HQ. The most pertinent details available in the fast-tracked Z briefing were as follows: A feral has, by some insane stroke of misfortune, acquired an active nanite server box. Zephyr has managed to triangulate the center of the bubble by measuring the perimeter. The server is highly likely to be in the middle of a previously undiscovered survivor enclave, self-isolated from the rest of the nanite ravaged world.
"Okay people, look sharp, this must be it," Mike warns: The faint sounds of distant gunfire are the first sign of the reported trouble, and the sight of a walled-off survivor enclave is the second, lit up like a beacon in the night by a rampaging fire. As the chopper gets closer, more of the horror is revealed by the senses. Screaming, the scents of smoke, the smell of blood and the underlying hints of orgiastic sex so intense it can be smelled from here. Anyone who was around at P-day is struck by the same, hideously nostalgic wave of emotions they felt on that fateful day. It's all too familiar. The tension is cut, though not deeply, by Mike's voice. "Tell me where you want to drop and hurry up about it. I have a bad feeling about this."
Edel hated walking all the way back to Zephyr just to catch a ride, but if her dear neighbor was caught up in all of this, well. She had to be a good samaritan and see what it was all about. Stroking her fingers along the string of her bow, she stares out at the approaching enclave in the distance. She was born in Fairhaven, before the nanite. It was a scenario she knew all too well. This time, though, she was prepared to face it. "I want out on the outskirts. I don't plan on going in hot."
Mike's chopper must be huge, because a towering 12-foot tall pile of armored metallic plating, solid muscle, and bony spikes like Loki absolutely dominates a huge corner of it. It wouldn't be surprising if the dragon actually had some impact on the chopper's ability to function to to his sheer density. The dragon's bronze tonge flits past his teeth as he eyes the carnage and he fights the gutteral instinct to just jump out and soar on down into the carnage. His eyes scan the scene, looking for two things - landmarks, what looks important, and safe vantage points that could be used for a retreat or holdout.
Cerris is silent for most of the ride aside from greeting those he was to be fighting along side. Dressed for both combat and to be reassuringly identifiable as sane, he plans to make his pressence here something to get things under control. For him this was both personal and political, if he was going to win over the various factions of Fairhaven he would need to show them he was a force to be relied upon.
"Let's stick together people, let's try to minimize the chaos and see if we can't come out of this smelling like roses. Be nice if we could drop a spotter and sniper further back for cover, but I'm ready to go."
So saying he pats Edel on the back and moves to the door and grasp the handle and pull ready to jump or respond as needed. He had a little girl to go rescue and damnit little girls deserve heros and rescuing.
Staring outside of the window, Phosphorus observes the scene silently. She's experiencing many, many emotions, currently - but the both her normal sort of temprament and a well-placed balaclava helps obscure this fact. Her armor proudly wears 'POLICE' printed across the front of the plate carrier, her protective helmet's face shield locked in the upwards position. She's rather properly representing the K9s, it seems. It's rare enough that she's out herself nowadays; but, desperate times, desperate measures.
The panda sighs. A cold wave of calm rolls over her. She turns to peer at the group, clasping her hands together, leaning forward on her knees, and sighing. "Alright. We have next to zero time. The catastrophe is in motion. I propose we split into two fireteams. One go help the existing survivors contain, and hopefully turn the tide, and the other head, go contain the source. Sound good?"
Fiore's eyes regard the scene unfolding in the compound off in the distance. Her eyes, used to scanning for movement in among the salvage, pick up on the sight of a few huskies going ham on a door. The shreds of cloathing tell her these might be the *recently* feral, and this makes the vixen nervous. The fire illuminated other hostiles, but Fiore couldn't determine just what they where. While this didn't confirm the roumor's she'd been told, this didn't contradict anything either.
"I'd gotten reports that the server here was stolen by the new daughter of it's owner, I'd consider her a hostile as well if I where you."
Fiore's nose picks up that *smell* through her helmet. Her ears would pin if her helmet's shape would have allowed it. They try anyway. She goes silent for a moment longer as any sense of duty or bravado leave her. "What's that smell-oh to hell with *this*... I didn't sign up for THIS." Her head looks back to the Pilot, "Mike! You're goanna have one comin back. I don't feel like pissing off my mother smelling like this. Nor did I bring what this requires... Russ will be pissed I didn't get electronic intel..... Buuuuut I think he'll understand when he sees the pictures." The vixen shrugs then, and tightens down her straps
Mike gives Fiore a broad shrug in reply. "Your call, man, but we're going to have to get closer before we get away. Uh, speaking of which, try to keep the ferals off if they get close, please." The agents lay out a plan and relay it to Mike- that is, to drop them off in the courtyard a bit away from the bulk of the action, somewhat near a barricaded building. Looks like it's some sort of barracks or other living area from the outside, but it's hard to say, especially because most markings have been torn away by the swarm of some dozen huskies trying to knock down the doors and smash boarded windows. The chopper hovers lower and lower, and with so much intense noise already present it just adds another layer to the din, only attracting the notice of some dazed, wandering ferals in half-ruined clothes, freshly transformed. They perks their ears up and start stumbling towards the vehicle, a small drop's worth above the ground. Mike nearly sounds hysterical when he shouts, "Would'ja look at that! Fresh outta time, people! Go, go, fucking go already!"
Everywhere there is smoke. Everywhere there is sex. It's hard to see too far ahead, both for the darkness and the smog. Figures move in the dark.
"I'm going after the source," Edel says as she slings the bow around her back, tail wagging behind her at the pat, though she offers little other reaction. "I have a feeling this is something of a loose end from my past come back to haunt me. I'd like to see it put to rest." The armored dog girl slides the visor down on her helmet. "Aww, don't chicken out Fiore. I'll help keep you covered as I can, and I'll vouch for you if your parents get upset. Anyway, whoever wants to come with me in pursuit, I plan on taking the quiet route of least resistance." Of course, what Fiore said confirmed her feelings.
Once she's out of the helicopter, she draws her sword and peers into the surroundings. "Have any leads, Cerris?"
"The source is likely the sudden bubble. We find the server, I can manage damage control and containment." Loki says, rolling his shoulders as he gets ready to jump out of the chopper. "Count me in, though it looks like we'll have to fight our way out. Let's see if I can't clear the way." he says.
And then he's 'gone'. The great dragon leaps out of the chopper with a mighty, ear-splitting roar. Once he's nowhere near in danger from the blades, his wings flare out and the sharp snap as they catch the wind rips through the air like a mighty crack. Even in the night, the dragon isn't hard to lose sight of - especially with all the fire going on. That gold stands out like a sore thumb. So does the fire coming out of his mouth, providing some additional illumination as the gouts of flame illuminate the darkness. The odd crack of raw lighting sure helps too.
His aim is to demoralize through a sheer display of power.
Cerris gives the stoic Red Panda a thumbs up as he listens to her speak. Making his last second preparations, he concentrates and then pings the comm units of everyone present, his internal unit bouncing off of the local server to make his telepathic connection possible. Reaching his metal hand over to his other arm he slaps a unit on his bicep, his blood collector and several other internal implants kicking into gear with a bulge and ripple of his muscles and a sudden burst of heavy masculine musk.
"I'm here for that little girl and the box. But the girl is a priority for me, I'll be heading that way with all due haste and contempt for my opposition. She might be the cause of this, but I don't turn my back on anyone that has been good to me or I've been bad to. I'll keep in contact via the comm unit, so don't be startled if you hear my voice. "
Once they stop moving he strides past Edel to place himself between the oncoming ferals and the little kill dog. His form assuming combat readiness in a manner that suddenly alters his battlefield pressence from a commanding figure to an unignorable fount of both sex and power taking advantage of Loki's distraction to move right in.
"Edel, you with me? How about a kiss for luck? I'll try and keep some of the crazies of your backs, I'll be damned if I'm gonna sneak through this situation like some kinda damn other agency spook. Looks like its time to introduce to these folks the concept of a boss wave by entering like a BAUWSS."
He knew Cookies' smell so all he needed to do was find a huskie that smelled like Cookies' pussy right? Time to put that survival training and years of hunting outside the bubble back to use.
"If you are all going hunting, I suppose I'll get this building under control." By her logic, the survivor's command structure is likely scrambled to hell, and the building is in dire need of reinforcement and securing. Ideally she'd be able to have someone cover her arse or run anti nanomagic to stem the tide of the infection, but it sounds like, y'know. They're going in loud. As soon as the helicopter touches down, she's off and into the, black shotgun in hand and a mission in her eyes. She tries to assess the state of the inside as she makes a beeline for the front door; she'll ask who's in command later, or if anyone even IS, but first the holes need to be patched and chaos brought under control. Priorities.
Fiore nods to Mike in return, pulling her Uzi from her chest rig and strapping herself to the chopper to act as some sort of door gunner while everyone else piles out of the helo. As soon as door opens, She fires a few bursts at the ferals to give them covering fire. Fiore tries aiming for the knees because she's learned trying to kill them outright took way more time and lead then she had on hand, and they only needed to be slowed down long enough for Mike to lift off again.
"Mike after this I think you should ask for a Gunship for Christas." Fifi says as she fires another burst out of the door.
Fiore leans back into chopper as soon as Phos is out, reloading and waiting to see if Mike's clear to lift off before leaning out again and dumping an entire mag at the ferals just to make sure.
The display Loki puts on doesn't quite manage to do more than turn the snarling, snapping heads of some huskies for a brief moment, though the ones that were moving towards the chopper and the other agents come to a skidding halt and turn right on around, tails between their legs. It's more than enough to buy Cerris the extra time he needs to catch onto a scent that he only barely manages to pluck out of the plethora smells assailing his keen senses, and it isn't QUITE the smell of Cookies, but... No, there's something unmistakably Cookieslike on the wind and it's coming from the far end of the courtyard, opposite from what everyone now realizes is the flame-wreathed gate in and out of the enclave's perimeter walls. Mike is already lifting off with Fiore and getting the hell out of dodge.
At that far end lies a building that looks as though the whole place was built around it, four square walls of scrap steel with a domed roof, heavily fortified from all positions. Except for the fact that the huge, otherwise intimidatingly strongly built door is ajar. And slightly splattered with fluids of both violent and sexual origin.
Even with the panda's eagle eyes, Phosphorus lacks the X-ray vision currently required to see past the mass of huskies prying at the windows... until a gunshot rings out and one of the ferals is thrown backwards from the window into a small pile of howling, wounded huskies adding to the cacophany of the enclave, being cuddled and licked and otherwise 'tended to' by their more well-meaning comrades, some of the few not actually causing trouble. The less bold huskies start to scatter and find other things to trash or fuck, though Phosphorus' direct path to the barracks door is still blocked by two of the musclebound anthros, who turn their head towards her and hesitate, staring like deer in headlights for the long moment it takes for them to decide she's their new object of desire.
"I'm with you. Though I might not be present! I'll probably scout ahead later, as I can't handle them all head on like you," Edel says with a wry grin. "You can have a kiss though if you can get that box into my hands." She gives Cerris a pat on the side and takes a ready stance. "Now, show me that you can still hold your own after your absence, big guy!" come her encouraging words. "It's been a while since I've been in a situation like this, myself. Lead on Cerris, I'm with you!"
Cerris rises from his crouch, pointing his metal fist to the east past Edel. "That way, the girl is that way and chances are she can help us figure out the rest. Lay low and work your way east, likely she went rabbit and bailed from this burning hole. And now is time for me to do the distraction thing, so things should get interesting."
Tuning his radiotelepathic abilities to max gain he bathes the local area in his mental voice. "This is Colonel Cerris Voss, US Marine HARD CORPS. I have come to demand the end of all present hostilities and that this encampment return to a state of order. I am presently advancing on your courtyard and would like all fertile and receptive citizens present for relief and relaxation exercises. First comers are welcome to first pick of snacks afterwards."
Okay...his pheromones are flowing, the lure has been set, now he just has to make certain to keep things moving and under control.
The massive dragon frowns at the general lack of effect his actions have. With a weary sigh he makes another pass around, this time aiming to yank a few of those huskies turning towards Phosphorus into the air before ideally giving them a good toss back to the ground. If that's not an option? Well, things are going to be much more unpleasant for them when the dragon actually folds his wings in and goes for an abrupt dive towards the ground, ideally in a pile of hostile huskies. The impact is awash with the sound of crushing bone from mighty strikes and the shattering of rent earth as the dragon's metallic mass thunders against the ground... And the oh so obvious dense impacts of the dragon's massive balls thumping against his own thighs with his movements.
You know how they say that the bark is worse than the bite? With Loki it's pretty damn obvious it's the complete opposite of that. The sight is borderline horrific, like an adult wading into a group of toddlers and letting lose. Bodies fly and scatter as he quite literally knocks them off their feet and tosses huskies around like the small dogs they are (at least to him, anyways). Limb, tail, wing, and fang. All are put to brutally effective usage.
The smells of ozone from the arcs of electricity waft into the scents of battle. The dragon's own natural scent might not do him many favors when it comes to the female members - but it's at least bound to buy a few precious openings with the brief euphoria washing over the minds of those who catch a good whiff.
The panda's path through the building is efficient enough. She spies the bearded man, holed up by his window, nearly pausing for a second to toss some munitions his way. No time, though - more would simply come if she didn't lock down the entrances. Forward she goes, then, brown eyes staring through bullet-resistant glass, her shotgun raised and ready to fire. She turns the corner on the huskies, noticing them pause, then step towards her.
Phosphorus doesn't have such reservations. As soon as they step, her shotgun fires in rapid succession, targeting one, then the other, switching back and forth until the magazine tube is dry. Sure, they're huskies, but they're also the stronger ones. Taking chances wasn't on her list of things to do today, and magdumping was better than style, if it got you out of it.
For Cerris' part, he actually manages to hook the attention of maybe half of the enormous orgying mass of huskies, emerging from the shadows they were rutting in to curiously sniff and step towards Cerris. They seem cautious, but both the enticing offer and the pheromones draw them closer, ever closer, unaggressive but curious and expectant. This even makes Loki's grab-and-tossapalooza much easier to pull off, as rather than being swamped by the entire swarm of huskies, only the ones either Cerris didn't hook or Loki engages directly are actively fighting him.
Angry, fuzzy people are sent flying left and right, despite their best attempts to glom onto Loki's limbs and weigh him down. There just plain aren't enough paying attention to stop him! Phosphorus, meanwhile, manages to gun down one of the huskies in a spattering of gore and bloody mist, but only wounds one, leaving him with pellets in his side and still bearing down... until a shot whizzes through the boards in a window near the door and nails him in the back, sending him slumping forwards at the panda's feet. He wheezes and passes out, alive but incapacitated. This is quickly followed by the sound of boards being pried off and the door swinging open, a bearded man's head sticking out and hollaring, "Get in get in get in!" again and again until she complies or makes it clear she won't.
"You got it. Good luck, and treat those dogs well," Edel says with a wink before darting off to the east, intent on keeping to the dark spots and out of sight as much as possible. She was a small, sneaky dog so it wasn't too difficult for her, usually. She had a direction thanks to Cerris, now she just had to try and find that neighbor and her stolent thing. She didn't want to hurt her, no, just bring her back safely.
So caught up in the momentum of his rampage, it might take a few swings for Loki to notice that Cerris has managed to enrapture those not fighting back. The dragon pauses abruptly when he does - husky mid-toss within the dragon's massive hands. An awkward shuffle, and he slowly sets the doggo down. He's about to step away, before he turns the undoubtably disoriented pupper in the direction the rest of the crowd is currently facing. And then he kicks off towards the specified point Edel is heading towards in a very similar and completely different manner. Similar in that yes, the dragon's movement is urgent and hurried. Dissimilar in that the dragon is about as subtle as a gold-plated freight-train, leaving a Loki-shaped trail of wreckage and holes in what's basically a straight line towards the point, obstacles be damned.
Cerris flexes, cause he can, let's face it, he's a muscular black man wearing a fishnet shirt in the middle of a sex storm and raging inferno. This is how you establish yourself as a fucking legend. Cerris the god of FUCK...yeah had a nice ring to it, but let's face it, he wasn't fucking all of these mutants, but he was going to relieve them of their troubles.
"Thats it, come on, I'm not gonna bite today. Hugs, kisses, you know the way to say hello to your new best friend right? You're all the best boys and girls right?"
Thats right, he's talking to them like the dogs they are and he knows its gonna work cause he's a man and they are dogs. Fuck that, he's THE man.
Phosphorus eyes the barricade, wiping off her visor of any spare viscera and already slotting replacement shells into her shotgun. She glances left, then right, eyeing the front. The defensive perimeter could probably be expanded, but - who has time for that, anyways? She slips in through the barricade quickly, nodding somewhat respectfully to the man and quickly leaning her shotgun up against a wall, extricating gear from her pack and person, quickly moving to address the man - and anyone else behind the barricade.
"Thank you, thank you. Right! Listen up. I'm with the Fairhaven police department, and we're quickly working to try to shut this down. Until then, we NEED a defensive perimeter set. Whoever's in charge of inventory and engineering, come to me. Anyone else, if you can fire a gun, take this LMG, get it mounted. There's grenades, and a handful of spare STANAG magazines." She projects her voice clearly, tapping her chest to clearly indicate the 'police' tag. "Stay away from any strange items. If there's a puddle of liquid, avoid it. Any fur? Avoid it. Anything vaguely dog related? Do not touch. Move, move, move!"
The moment Phosphorus passes through the door, she is met by the faces of, by her count, a little under two dozen heads at 22, 6 of whom are badly injured and being tended to by what looks like a medic from the equipment they're hauling from person to person. Someone unskilled is trying to assist, but is mostly just holding things or passing things to the medic, neither of them paying attention to Phos' entry beyond a momentary glance. The bearded man slams the door shut behind her and immediately starts rallying the others, who seem completely perplexed by the sight of a sane, armed and armored mutant. "You heard her! What are you all looking at?! Get to work, they're not going to STOP beating down the walls!"
Just like that, the rest of them startle into action, a couple of seasoned-looking fellows taking the LMG and working to get it set up, others picking through the spare munitions. Someone's pet dog whines as its belongings are swept into a closet with brooms, which is then locked tight, the dog itself corraled into a seperate room and cordoned off. The man who Phos sighted first turns to her and points to himself. "I am- was- in charge of maintenance around here. Are- are you people really military? No- no, no time," he rambles for a moment, then gathers his wits, standing up straight and looking her dead in the eye with as much confidence as he can muster. "What needs doing, ma'am?"
Meanwhile, outside, Cerris has a bunch of huskies slowly crawling down around him, hugging and licking and snuggling his legs, sometimes just opting to flop and roll in the dirt and mud as the effects of the man's powers take hold over them. From there, they're easily incapacitated with a touch thanks to his mutations, one at a time... good lord there's a lot of them, but at least they're docile now.
Loki drives his way through another cluster of ferals, sending them yipping and flying on his warpath into the fortified building, not noticing Edel come up behind him when he passes through the doorway. It's eerily quiet in here, long, dark halls with shattered bulbs and glass all over the floor, the distant, muffled sounds of barking and whimpering coming from somewhere inside. A nearby husky-man turns from the female he's pounding into submission to grrrowl at the two, though otherwise focuses his attentions on his long since transformed victim. There's a stairwell at the far end of the hall, going up, and a cursory glance suggests that this building was supposed to act as some sort of fortress-slash-panic room, a set of bedrooms on the hall to the right and other living accomodations down to the left like a kitchen and a rec room. The splattered cum and entangled, moaning huskies everywhere seems to suggest that it was one of the first places to fall, instead.
Edel idly tailwags as she hears Cerris in the distance. Even if the words weren't directed at her, the words were exciting and vivifying to the canine part of her. But no! She stays focused on the task at hand, prowling and scouring the building in pursuit of fellow dogkind. She didn't even entirely know WHO she was looking for, but the tinyshiba figured she'd know it when she saw it.
If he's unable to fully stand within such a building, the dragon will instead crawl around on all fours, though with a measure of visible disgust considering the state of the floor is likely in. For the most part, he'll completely ignore any of the ferals he comes across unless challenged - and if he is, any challenge is swiftly quelled with all the strenuous effort of a grown man toppling a toddler. Of course, by ignored this does mean that if there's a few huskies on something like a bed and the server ain't on it, the bed is flipped over. Anything that something can be plucked or put inside is opened and checked. Lets hope something turns up before he has to start opening dogs... A task he hopes he doesn't have to do - but it wouldn't be the first time something like that's ended up inside a feral deciding to play 'Anything's a dildo if you're brave enough' or one who'd managed to swallow something they shouldn't have. The only thing he's really keeping an eye out for is any feral that looks like they're a leader of some sort - bigger and stronger, or perhaps looking a bit smarter than the rest. If something's managed to cause some server-related chaos, no doubt they've managed to conquer doorknobs.
Cerris sets about dusting himself off and addresses the remaining ferals with a calm but in charge voice. "Alright, good boys, good girls. Now I want everyone to be on their best behaviour and STAY. I'm going to go our new best friend and together we are going to clean up this mess and put away all of your toys!"
Inwardly he isolates the signals of the other agents and broadcasts to them. "Voss here, situation is mostly contained outside, focus on fire fighting, I've got the populace pacified. Edel, I'm coming your way."
He still had the scent, so now it was time to take home the litle girl that caused all of this. Quite frankly these people were going to need the nanites now, but one way or another nothing was going to be the same, he should march them all back with him... But for now that matter was shelved, just gotta get to the girl and convince her to come home. Oh yeah, she has a comm signal too right? Why not call out to her?
"Okay...Uncle Cerris has come to play...come out so I can se how big and pretty you are, and I am the best playmate I enjoy long walks, rubbing bellies and throwing things over and over and playing tug of war and I don't even mind having my leg humped..."
"The reinforcements have gaps. Check the windows, the roof access. In fact - secure us a route to the roof. We
"The reinforcements have gaps. Check the windows, the roof access. In fact - secure us a route to the roof. We'll use it to get the hell out of dodge when the time comes, and it'll give us a good spot to start thinning them out if we have to." Phosphorus instructs, firmly. She glances at the couple of wounded, a hand quickly going to a pocket on her plate carrier, extricating some extra medical supplies from a pouch, passing it to the unskilled one set on triage, and tapping her finger pouch. Some quick-clot, a couple extra sterile bandages, a tourniquet; all with instructions clearly printed on the side. Designed for combat medical use! "Stop the bleeding first. Pass the other supplies to the medic. Everything else can come later," she firmly notes to the person.
"Police, yes, not military. Refer to me as 'Phosphorus', if you need to call me anything." The panda adds, securing her shotgun to her body and getting out her assault rifle. "You need to keep your people out of contact with any of the huskies. Additionally, we need to set some people out to get those fires down, or, at least, keep any fires away from this building. If someone comes running up here, and they don't seem infected, set up a quarantine cordon somewhere. They can't be let in, but we're not going to let them die, either. The situation outside is starting to tamper down, but we can't let our guard down, yeah?"
Once the roof was secured, her plan was simple. Get up there. Get her portable mortars set up. Send up a flare, to signal the remaining survivors. Hope she doesn't have to call the artillery.
Edel and Loki search around in the dark until they come across a closet built into the staircase, muffled whimpering coming from it. Edel opens the closet, and almost immediately, a giant tangle of confused huskies spills out, one of whom is unmistakably a female alpha husky kemonomimi, and is unmistakably clutching an entire computer in her muscular arms and what the fuck, there's a grenade inexplicably sticking to it, no tape or glue or anything. Edel can recognize by this that it is DEFINITELY the server that caused her some issues in the past, the one that Cookies stole years ago. Cerris arrives just in time to look upon the huskypile and the server.
The grenade doesn't seem keen to go off on its own any time soon despite having a missing pin, though it doesn't exactly look... disarmed... and the kemo holding the whole thing is growwwling at the agents and kicking her way back into the closet, pushing herself by her feet while she holds the server close. A couple of huskies follow her, cuddling into her sides as though for protection. "N-nnnnNO," she barks out, followed by several more animalistic snarls and barks. "Not fun anymore, NOT FUN ANYMORE!" It's hard to get an exact read on her thanks to the dense bangs covering her eyes, but it isn't difficult to guess, all things considered. How she sees the agents through that veil of hair anyways is a mystery.
Phosphorus at least manages to get the makeshift triage into smoother action, though the two don't even have time to do more than sputter out a quick thank-you each before they have to get back to their work. The bearded fellow gives a single solid nod to Phosphorus, though he looks more than a little uncertain. "I'll do what I can about the fires, people will be fending off the- Christ, they're all mutants now, aren't they?" He rubs a single huge, hairy hand over his face and takes a deep breath, nodding quickly. "I'll see what I can get people to do. In the meantime, I- we need a way out of here. We're trapped like rats in our own goddamned home..." He snaps his fingers in sudden realization.
"Oh, fuck! Fuck, uhh- good fuck, I mean! There was a weakspot in the western wall we were working on, hadn't finished before it all went to hell. I know one of you guys said you're military, didn't you? If you have anything that could blow a hole in that, we could start evacuating properly, maybe use it as a choke." He barely finishes that last sentence before he's started gathering supplies, snagging whatever spare fire extinguishers he can find and passing them to able survivors while the armed folk clear a path outside for the imprompteau firefighters. The sound of gunfire and howling is beyond thunderous. Sounds like they're putting Phos' gifts to good use.
"Aha! There it is! There you are!" Edel's tail wags up a storm as she regards the mess of dogs. "Hey, no need to worry for fuss, miss. Just come on out of there and we'll get you back home to safety. Just... Just hand over that thing before it blows, alright? I don't want that grenade going off right in the middle of the lot of us."
Cerris shakes his head with a sigh, this was exactly the sort of thing he was trying to avoid, a damn near mexican standoff between a bunch of kids, a gonad engine and Edel's adorable murder pup vendetta all centered around a live fucking grenade. Reaching forward to rest a hand on Edel's head and Loki's...whatever isn't his cock and balls, Cerrs walkward showing his hands are empty save for a small remote.
"It's okay darlin, everything is going to be just fine. I got most of the folks outside to calm down and we'll all help clean up later, but right now I just wanna see you get home to your momma, a nice friend of mine. I'm uncle Cerris and to prove I'm tellin the truth I'm gonna let you hold this...is a switch to my equipment, if I r anyone here does anything to scare or hurt you, it will make me feel the same way and it'll all stop. Here go ahead and take it and try it out if you like."
Extending his hand carefully, he offers the remote the the girl with the server, clearly showing zero interest in the server itself. Just him her, a calm tone, a southern drawl, direct eye contact and a a shock collar remote...add a candle and this would almost be the setting for a date huh?
Loki regally proclaims, "Didn't think i would see another one of these. Small world... Got the software... i would love to make a systems copy of this one for reference as well..." he trails off. "Maybe take a look at the hardware..." he adds, partially lost in thought for a moment. attention shifts from the server to the kemonomimi. "What isn't fun anymore?" he inquires as his eyes drift over her body. he gives his head a shake to re-establish focus. He is poised and ready to haul both server and girl out as one if need be."
The panda perks, tilting her head to the side. Wall? Opened? Sure, she can do that. She sighs, surveying the survivor camp for a second while everything moves into action. This is much better, yes - it could have been commanded smoother, but she wasn't going to exactly be able to manage an entire wing of people. A small group? Sure. She claps her hands together, recovers her bag, throws it over her shoulder, then starts climbing up the ladder to the roof, trusting that they'd be able to manage themselves down there for a handful of minutes.
A handful of seconds, and she picks out the wall, spotting the damage. A few cracks here, some crumbling there... she nods, pulling out her rocket launcher, clicking off the safety, and quietly lining up the sights, using the building as a brace. She checks behind her, making sure nobody'll get killed by the backblast. Then a squeeze, a pull, and the rocket's off, bearing down on the wall!
The kemonomimi glances between the agents, reluctantly accepting Cerris' remote, the other huskies near her growing increasingly frightened and irritated with being cornered in that closet. She gazes up at Loki, quietly answering, "She- She. She is I, I am She." She pins her ears against her head and scooches an inch further into the closet space. "The cats, the cats... They shouted 'SHE HAS THE SERVER' so I think I am She. They wanted the box but I wanted to play and so I made them chase me and it was fun but now, now I found here and played with the people and what HAPPENED?! They are ALL FIGHTING!" She gets so panicked that she starts to hyperventilate, clutching at her head, though between the soothing words of Edel and Cerris, she barely, just BARELY manages to calm herself down enough to not break down completely. "Home, home, home, home," she repeats ad nauseum, cradling the server and rocking.
The visible disturbance of She sets off the other huskies, snapping and barking and lunging out of the closet to attack Edel, Cerris and Loki, one husky for each.
The red panda's rocket fires and hits home with ease, blasting the already weakened wall wide open and sending a few huskies scrambling away from the sudden noise and shrapnel fireball. There's more or less a clear path from the barracks entrance to the western wall as long as people follow the buildings, and Phosphorus can see that people are already funneling out, ready or not, despite the audible protestations of her bearded buddy downstairs. The rush out the door of over a dozen survivors quickly garners the attention of the stray huskies still left meandering about the enclave's grounds.
"Well, ... 'She,' it's going to be alright. Uhm. That box caused a little bit of a mess-" When one of the huskies lunges for her, Edel swivels out of the way, spinning around Loki in an attempt to divert them onto the larger of the group. "We'll take you home. Just hand over the box, She, and we'll get you back safe and sound. I promise," she says, offering an endearing, doggy smile and a wag of her tail.
Cerris gains 1 wounds for: husky scuffle
Cerris for his part simply raises arm and allows the husky to bite into him, look how nice he is, he didn't even use the metal arm! Using his other hand he pets the husky biting him, those metal digits caressing those pinned back ears.
"Okay, now now, how about we just calm down? I don't want to hurt anybody and as long as you only bite me I will forgive you. So stop snapping at Edel okay? She? COme here darlin, you look like you could use a hug too, and we'll get right on seeing you home. I'll contact your mom and let her know you are safe and tell her you like playing chase with the cats."
Reaches out a hand to offer to She and the other huskies, playing the role of the martyr for the time being, because soldiers are supposed to inspire little gils to want strong manly men when they mate. Of course the the true telltale of how this sadomasochistic soldier is the way his muscles bunch and bulge and the spicy scent of arousal that will soon become hard to ignore seeing as his pheromones flow outward and fill the narrow space. Funny thing? The wounds heal almost immediately due to the blood in the air from all the fighting.
That blast from the rocket, the agressive ferals, and the terrified husky girl must have caused something to snap wothin loki. in scant seconds he has the girl and server alike safely secured in one arm against his belly. its obvious now he was holding back, for tooth nor claw were employed before. there is much less husky on carris'arm, having become a snack for the great golden beast
any husky that steps up is swiftly cut down as he moves towards the new exit. any unfortunate or stubborn enough to not clear the path are simply trampled underfoot
Explosion created, Phosphorus quickly drops her missile tube, discarding it somewhere out of the way on the roof for the time being. She grabs her sniper rifle, extricating the thing from the straps that bound it to her body, quickly releasing the barrel on the gun and sending it to full length, disabling the safety and chambering a round. Placing the gun on the edge of the house and peering through the scope.
Soon, booming shots echo through the compound, each in swift succession. The panda is mainly trying to pick off the huskies going for the survivors, since they took 'exit' for 'book it'. A hand goes down to her belt - she briefly debates the merits of popping smoke for the survivors, but her version of smoke is rather burny and not fun. That being said, placed far enough away... and the smoke wouldn't kill them with enough fresh air... nah, there's simply not enough for that math to work out. She returns her hand to her rifle, hoping that sheer volume of fire (from the LMG that's hopefully still running and herself) to compensate for it.
She seems perfectly willing to go with Cerris and Edel, and when She's snatched up by Loki with incredible ease in an awe-inspiring display of raw strength that dominates even the muscular husky, She barely manages to keep hold of the server... until the husky Edel redirected into Loki instead bumps into She, and the witnesses can almost perceive reality falling into a terrible slow-motion as the heavy computer slips free of her hands completely. Despite the fact that the sound certainly isn't louder than your usual heavy object hitting the ground, the crack that it makes is almost deafening for the implications alone, She's outstretched arms reaching in vain for an object that grows further and further out of reach while Loki takes her away.
It doesn't completely shatter, but every light on the box flickers and dims, and suddenly the palpable empowerment of being within even a low-density bubble fades to a dull, distant shadow of its former self. The red panda finds herself with more than enough fire support down below to keep going and protect the escaping survivors long enough to let them funnel out of the hole in the wall, even after the bubble fails around them. Pain becomes sharper, howls grow louder, then fade to nothing. Medical nanites already struggling to keep bleeding ferals alive find themselves overwhelmed with work and, in short time, fail their hosts forever.
Edel doesn't miss a beat. She had been ready to try snatch it from someone's grip, but when it's dropped, that makes her job easier. She darts forward, doing into a sliding skid to lay claim to the server. Broken or not, she wagered she had the supplies and skills to fix it. But first, she had to keep hold of it. Being one that relies solely on her equipment, she knew how to get more into less space, and begins stuffing it into her bag.
"Cerris! I need you to do me a favour. Get me out of here safely, and I'll let you have some of that milk you desire later. As fresh as you want it!" The reason for her request? She quickly draws a leaf from her pocket and invokes its supernatural power. A puff of smoke and Edel is gone! Server, bag, and all, left in the form of a stuffed doll caricature of herself.
The great dragon scarcely seems to notice the server dropping even as he keeps She firmly within his grasp. he continues his inexorable onslaught as he clears the way to the new opening in his advamce through the building
by tooth and claw and flame does the dragon's onslaught clear the way. any poor souls attacking from behind are given a bone shattering sweep of the tail or a lunge agains the wall as he drives his metallic bulk into them. when he finally bursts free from the structure, he continues the warpath towards where they were dropped off. even at night and even with the smoke, he should be hard to miss.
Cerris ever hear a human snarl before? Well this one just roared. Yes an honest to goodness feral eruption of rage and frustration at having evrything he'd just spent hours working to see come to pass ruined in a fit of thoughtless action. That was effectively his neice that had just gotten snatched! He gave that little girl his word! A man has only his word and his balls and someone just put their balls in the way of his word.
"Oh there will be a reckoning if a single hair on her pretty little head is harmed." Vengeful wrath aside, Cerris reaches over to pick up what stands in for Edel, his body seething with hostile vampiric intent, his own body shunting and manufacturing nanites to protect Edel's transformation while reaching to 'gently' brush aside the huskies while commanding in his best drill instructor voice.
"DOWN! NOW COME TO HEEL! I WANT THESE FIRES OUT, I don't care if you have to piss and spit them out! GET THIS MESS CLEANED UP AND SO HELP ME BY THE VIRGIN MARY'S BLESSED TITS I WILL SKULL FUCK THE NEXT PERSON TO STEP OUT OF LINE!"
It should be clear Cerris doesn't plan on running out of here, he plans on being respectfully escorted out as the new alpha of this compound. Running wasn't the way this was goign down for a lot of reasons, but most important are his dignity as Leader of men and the fact moving too quickly would make his nanites scatter and ruin the effect of his manufactured ability cloud. As for the huskies they are ready knew him to most pleasurable and now they've seen him to be thr strongest and right now he is clearly unhappy, hopefully thats enough to convinces them without rearranging someone's organs in alphabetic order.
Phosphorus sighs softly, feeling the passive connection she had to the server via her NICE shut down, even if she didn't see the server break directly. Every shot counted much more, now - and so did every bit of medical supplies she threw down to the others. She's somewhat glad she did that, now. Her rifle scope tracks Loki as they begin flying up, her lungs slowly evacuating themselves of air, her finger twitching... before she shakes her head, and removes her finger from the triger, unmounting from her shiper rifle, taking out the magazine, clearing the chamber, and pressing the barrel back in. It was time to help get the last of them out; the fires are a lost cause, and it's simply more important to get the survivors out of there. She quickly bundles up her remaining gear, slipping down back into the building with her rifle pointed at the ground.
At the top of her lungs, she yells, "Right! Time to get the hell out of here. Everyone, collect what you can, collect who you can. Grab the dog now if you have to; the infection's not going to spread anymore. If you can carry the woudned, buddy up and help carry someone. If you can't, grab a rifle, bring the LMG, start filing out. People with guns first, I'll follow up the rear. MOVE, MOVE, MOVE." She claps her hands, gesturing to the door.
The kemo husky screams bloody murder the whole way she's being carried, kicking and flailing, but even slowed down by a lack of nanites, Loki has her held tight enough that she can't wriggle free. Therein lies the issue, though. She will NOT stop wriggling, and in the lack of alleviated gravity, She suddenly feels like she's full of bricks instead of meat and bones. The mad dash, the constant thrashing and the carrying of a suspiciously dense husky all combine into an incredible strain on Loki's heavy mutant body. The dragon can see his way out from here in the form of that V-shaped hole in the wall, and it's a clear shot, but he has to bring up that second wind within himself for the home stretch!
Cerris' display does manage to spook at least a couple already-terrified huskies into trying to put out the fire, but they quickly give up when they realize they are actually quite flammable. Thankfully the previously assigned firefighters are doing a decent enough job on their own. Instead, the 'convinced' huskies just sort of pitifully try to clean up bits and pieces of fallen debris even while more buildings collapse around them. The remaining survivors march their way out at a slower pace than the rest, in the form of the patients, the medic and some assistants to carry them, and the dog with his owner, having evidently refused to leave his pet behind.
Edel was spared a terrible fate by Cerris' timely intervention. In hindsight she should've thought that out a little better, being a dog herself, but... Well, heat of the moment and all. She remains as she is for now though, but she's a pretty light carry at least- Even moreso in her current state. She felt bad for the destruction, but hopefully those mutants would be alright. Survivors and mutants alike, wheverer they went!
The dragon barrels along, shrugging off whatever fatigue that might have bothered a more coherent mind. There's a place he needs to be. There's a thing he has to protect, and more still to rescue. All of his energy directed towards a singular, fanatical instance of selfish selflessness. In his draconic, nanite-addled mind, the kemonomimi in hand belongs to him, and those coherent civilians and soldiers here are beings to protect within the world's garden he strives to maintain. The swath of destruction he carves begins to slow, carried on instinctively by the built up energy he'd maintained within his mass. He moves farther than he has any right to by the sheer virtue of being able to effectively manage his immense momentum despite the lack of a bubble to help alleviate the burden.
When his mind finally realizes the last vestiges of strength are beginning to leave him and exhaustion begins to set in, the great beast crumples forward in a practiced motion. His own body takes the brunt of the impact as he moves forward, rendering the fall gentle for She. The rest of his body falls into place as the dragon forms a protective dome around her body, limbs, tail, and wings all drawing in to protect his vitals and to ensure that no feral is going to get through unless they first go through him... A task any of the huskies are increadibly unlikely to actually manage, considering the abnormal nature of his metallic plating. Yes, indeed even his massive set of nuts factor into this... Speaking of which, that husky's probably getting one hell of a dose as she's litterally being hotboxed in the dragon's scent...
Cerris has no opposition so it is a simple enough thing to walk out of the compound carrying Edel, unable to call to Phosphorus using his mental comm unti he looks around for her from a sniper's position and if she remains on the roof he'll wave her down, otherwise he will maintain a position near the wounded so that his nanite production can ease their burden and hasten their recovery.
When finally catch up with the fallen draco-gonad Cerris has no choice but to cut his production in order to turn his own internal focus to toward forcing the dragon over to retrieve She. Sure he could likely just tear one of those wings off, but that would only further damage his reputation and utterly invalidate the point of this mission. No, the Girl must make it home safely, he promised himself and he promised /her/.
After the small precession arrives outside the walls of the compound and get a pretty respectable distance away, the panda helps direct, lay out some triage areas, throw down some tarps, get a handful of the survivors' tents up, for shelter and signalling. It's easier to pick out a tent against a background, and they're going to need to wait for a larger evac force if they want to leave, or going to have to wait a while outside the bounds if they want to rebuild. Having high-vis would help draw any of the remaining survivors, anyways. She was already with the survivors, so the hail from Cerris would have to go unanswered - but the tents would make the location, clear, anyways. She really couldn't make it more clear without sending up a flare. "We'll hunker down here until either the transport comes, or the big fires are put out. The injured are safer over here, anyways, and you're... uh, going to be cleaning out huskies for a while."
Phosphorus works to help heal up those injured, as much as she can, anyways, now that the immediate threat of getting swarmed by huskies who want to either bite or mount the remaining ones is over. Sutures where the bleeding would allow it, tourniquets where it couldn't, getting broken bones splinted... they would take time to heal, yes, but as long as they wouldn't die, it's likely that they would heal.
There's a struggle, and not a brief one either, for Cerris to roll the dragon into position and pry open Loki's arms, but ultimately the human is the victor, and the moment Loki's grip on She is released, She practically flails her way away from the dragon and then flops on the ground beside him limply, twitching slightly and intensely flushed. She pants for breath and squirms, clutching at her head and whimpering to herself, flustered beyond belief and exhausted from the whole ordeal. "Nooo moooore," she whines, and that, for all intents and purposes, is that. She's finally 'defeated' wholly, unable now even to sprint away as she seems so good at doing.
Phosphorus manages to provide critical care to people who were otherwise dying without the assistance of the nanites, though one of the six still ultimately perishes from an earlier-acquired friendly fire wound, despite the greatest efforts of their medics. "If you didn't get here when you did, there would have been nothing left," one of them says somberly to the agents, wiping a little blood off herself. "We owe you a lot. It seems wrong to ask for more, but... We don't have anywhere left to go..." The soot and scar-marked faces of the survivors stare at the group expectantly. Some are still too shellshocked to even fully register that they made it out alive. A stray alpha husky peeks his head through the hole in the wall, takes one look at the gathering, then scampers off.
The dragon's body shudders when the temporary field nears. He can feel the field, even if it's but a ghost of the ghost they were already in... and then it fades. He can smell who it is, if faintly. The dragon stirs, if ineffectively. He appears to resist the man's attempts to move his arm out of the way - though this merely appears to be a result of irritation as he moves to brace himself as he hoists his body up with an arm. A deep breath is drawn in, and let out in a long, snakelike hiss.
"Turn the field back on, you bloody imbecile!" he says with a startling abundance of vigor despite his state, his words gradually fading to a state of strain. "Saved the girl... What happened to the server?" he wheezes, the earlier snap obviously taking some sort of toll upon his stamina. He looks none too pleased with the man.
While Cerris tends to Loki and saving the girl, this particular dog girl that is Edel returns from her transformed state. At least for now. "Don't you worry about that. I've got it. It's broken, but I'm pretty sure I can fix it. Anyway, I'm going to skidaddle now. Nice working with you all. Good work! Great mission success, and thank you, Cerris, for getting me out of there!" She turns and starts to scoot off. "Nice work to you, too, Phosphorous! You did great."
Cerris takes the time to scoop up She and place her on his shoulder, be that sitting on it or laying on it is up to her energy level but, but once he has her up there he makes his way over to the make shift medic camp. Only then reactivating his manufacturing ability and taking the time to craft a transcript of the ongoings and prepare it for transmission to COokies once they get close enough to another bubble either than himself.
"Miss Phosphorus, have you already set off your flares? And I would advise relocating these people to Woodfield with me, the huskies will be fine in Fairhaven or any other community. "
For however long it takes, Cerris will be lending his strength to healing with his adept ability to reconstruct bodies with his nanites.
The dragon's eye twitches at the silence, though he lets the man take the girl. Their goals are the same, after all. After he's caught his breath to a satisfied degree, the dragon starts to haul his ponderous bulk towards the established camp. He focuses on guarding the perimeter until help arrives, though he's not above dispensing a bit of medicine and first aid as required.
There might be heard a slight grumble "Hope that girl doesn't end up ripping a hole in space-time when trying to fix the bloody thing."
Phosphorus wasn't an EMT, and was far from something like a corpsman, but every little bit of medical help, well, y'know, helps. Especially since what she lacked in formal training, she picked up via sheer experience. Which she probably had more of then she'd care to admit. "Yes, cheers to you too, Edel. Glad that, uh, we got as many survivors out as we can. Well, almost as many as we can." The panda gestures solemnly to the body covered by a tarp, her tough gloves stained with the blood of the one who lies under.
Pivoting to Cerris, she answers, "No, not yet. I also think they should be given the proper choice whether to leave or stay out of the bubble. Woodfield isn't all sunshine and roses, and bringing them into a proper bubble without innoculation first is tantamount to suicide. Best to get a vote from the remainders, then we can set them off with survival supplies and some rifles if they want to leave." A faint scratch at the back of her mind reminded her that she -was- basically telling a colonel 'no', but she wasn't exactly military anymore now, was she?
At the end of it all? She was glad that the server was bust, sure. She was also glad that she was able to save as many as she did. She was also -fucking pissed- that this happened in the first place, and so many survivors were turned into feral huskies, and that -her bullets- had to rip through so many of them, but. Focus on the present.
In closing: She is eventually returned to, err, 'safety' with an extremely grateful Cookies, and Edel leaves the smouldering remains of the enclave with a slightly-too-jangly, cracked nanite server. Zephyr, when informed, is all too willing to provide inoculations to the survivors, and the Prometheans send a team to round up what they can of the surviving ferals to take them on the first steps down the long road of recovery. The survivors ultimately elect to go to Woodfield, and RSX performs a recovery op on the remains of the enclave, both to deliver belongings to survivors and salvage the heap of scrap left behind.
