((Sorry, busy with university stuff and relatives coming to visit. It probably won't get better for the next month or so. And it looks like I won't be having any summer vacation either.))
Cooooooooool
Try to contain myself for the speech.
"I've done the math myself. I triangulated its position using a short-wave pattern matcher." The man approaches a map.
"This signal is coming from right... there." He says and taps the map at a certain position. "Not from the far reaches of the cosmos but from our own back yard, only 30 miles away."
"The base of Mystery Mountain?" Asks Dan incredulously.
"Or from inside the mountain itself..." says the other man and lets the question linger suggestively while Dan stares at him with disbelief.
At that moment, the camera pans away from the men staring at each other to show the entrance to the room. The door opens and a woman walks in.
"Hello?" asks the woman. "Anybody home?"
The men turn to face her and give her a questioning look.
"You know you've been in here working for five hours and you mad scientists haven't even stopped for lunch?" she says to answer their questioning looks.
"Well, I wouldn't call what Dan is doing working." says the other man with a small laugh and gives her a short, movie-appropriate kiss.
"Hey Steve."
"Hello Sal."
"Something going on over at Mystery Mountain." he continues and turns around to face the map again.
"A mysterious mountain?" asks Sal.
"The most god-forsaken spot on this side of the world. Never had a human visit it. All we got got is those aerial photographs and some gold-digger rumors." explains Dan. "Sure must be hot out there in the middle of the desert."
"I'm surprised dad hasn't taken his troops out there to claim it yet." jokes Sal. "Sounds like the perfect spot for him. Completely miserable."
Before she can finish speaking, the machine starts beeping again.
"There it is again!" exclaims Steve. "Look at that dial!" he says and taps the top of the machine. "100 rems by inches per second per square foot divided by..." he continues with the arithmetic mumbo jumbo for a while before his speech is reduced to unintelligible mumbling. He looks down for a few seconds and frowns.
"Come on Dan!" he exclaims and looks at Dan with purpose. "We're making an expedition to Mystery Mountain!"
"Not before we eat!" complains Dan as the scene changes.
By the way, you'd probably reconnect with your host right about now, but I can't see any way you could influence the mission since you're on the other side of the town. Wanna keep watching the movie or do you want to reconnect with your host so that you can keep ruining his life?
Oh, and this script is closely based on a mix of some real movies from around the 1960s.
"You're a loose cannon, Ike Wayne! We can't have you out on the streets!"
Assume direct control for a few moments and echolocate the shooters as well as anybody else by the windows, then aim and fire at targets in priority order: seemingly unarmed people or seemingly powered individuals first, armed rebels second.
You gain control of your host. Your interface starts beeping but it's a lot slower than last time. It must be that you are more in tune with him now.
There's that feeling of being able to hear more again, like someone just removed their hands from your ears. Like the feeling one gets when they ascend to higher attitudes.
You peek around the car door and try to send out an echolocation pulse. Doesn't work. Stupid helmet is in the way. At least you're not shot.
You remove your helmet and gas mask and try again.
It's a little fuzzy due to the large distance, but you're certain there are three men with guns clustered on the first floor, hiding behind the walls near the windows and occasionally taking a peek outside. You also think you can sense some more people on the ground, but they aren't close to any windows (because there aren't any windows on the ground floor), so you can't be certain about their numbers or positions. Finally, there is some kind of large rectangle blocking the entrance.
Well, you got your targets. Now what are you going to shoot them with?
Probably the RPG, as that's more fun.
I was hoping you'd say that.
You grab the bag containing your various weapons from the back of your now semi-burning car and retrieve your RPG, rocket already loaded in it.
<Yeah! Now we're going to make some noise!>You stand up, raising your head above the door. You twist to face the building, steady the RPG on your shoulder and take aim on the three men, all in one swift, fluid motion. Before anyone has a chance to do anything, you pull the trigger. There's a click and following it is the sound of exhaust being released behind you, irritatingly loud for your sensitive ears. The rocket leaves the launcher with little recoil, reaching the building's face (only just barely within the 50 meter minimum effective range of the RPG) in less than a second.
On impact with the first floor's wall, the rocket detonates. But it doesn't produce a fiery explosion, at least not immediately. For a few fractions of a second after impact, happening too quickly for the eye to see, a black spray is pushed out of the rocket's broken shell. It creates small cloud of a combustible substance, a perfect fuel-air mixture. A thermobaric explosive. And
then it explodes.
Even though the effect of the blast is severely weakened, the fireball and the blast wave still cause considerable damage. A small part of the wall is destroyed, a large cloud of dust is raised, whatever windows existed in the surrounding area are broken...
For Ike, all this happen significantly faster. The rocket hits the building, there's a flash of light and next thing he knows he's lying on the ground beside his helmet and RPG, holding his hands over his ears, his instincts guiding him to protect them from the pain, even though by now, the damage is already done.
The tradeoffs of supersensitive hearing.
<I guess you could say that was a deafening success. Definitely a sound move on your part, don't you think?>They may be telepathically transmitted, but your entity's puns could still make your ears bleed. If your ears weren't already doing that, that is.
((Whoops, sorry for not posting the previous turn.))
<Well, manipulating the shadows during the night is the only answer that doesn't require potentially killing my host. Well, at least, not directly. Even if I can't muster the power to summon some shadows, at least they won't notice.
It's not foolproof, but everything else I can come up with requires some extreme luck that I don't have at the moment.>
>Summon the shadows to cover the front window of this car and make the driver think we're going to hit a building. Focus all your energy.
<Not what I would had chosen. But I suppose it will have to do.>You take control for a moment. Your host's pain becomes yours. You knew about it before but you can
feel it now, through the drugs. The thousand points of discomfort in your back. Better get this over with quickly.
You focus on manipulating the shadows outside the vehicle.
There's the screeching of tires and you're suddenly pulled to the right.
Then there's the sound of glass breaking, you suddenly stop moving and are violently pulled backwards. Nevertheless you miraculously receive no further harm during all this.
You can hear a pained groan coming from someone beside you. Sounds like the man in white.
Bryan
<Yes, he would be standing between me and my freedom, but he might not understand what is going on. He might only be a guard that was hired to watch a cell, someone who knows nothing more than that the person he is watching is dangerous. Being able to read minds has taught many things. One is that everyone has a life outside of their job. It hurts to end a life knowing this, but sometimes it is the only way forward.>
Faron
Continue towards the destination.
<Hmmm... Yes. I understand what you're saying.>You have a feeling there's a but trailing at the end of that sentence but she remains quiet.
You continue driving. It's getting very late now. Close to 2 AM. There's nobody out there but emergency services, rushing to contain the chaos that is currently unfolding in the quiet streets. Not that it concerns your host. He has his goal.
There's a flash of light in the distance, followed by the rumble of an explosion a second later.
<One of the others must have gotten there before us.> observes your entity.
<I'm sorry.> she apologizes after a few seconds of silence.
<If I hadn't delayed you, we could had gotten there sooner.>
Theri
Awena..I really and seriously don't want to be a burden to you here...so could I ask if we could take a peek outside? As in, either we look out (and peep to where the general gunfire is, memorize the location, then sound off towards Irene, perhaps) or check the spirits for aid? I'm unsure as you on the latter, but if you seriously need aid--I am able to help.
...If you're confused, just...please tell me? I don't want, need, wish or any synonym of such to hurt you.
Ask Awena such. Offer to work as Spotter for Irene and probably Boris :v
I don't know what to do. Awena speaks to you reluctantly.
I just wanted to help my friends, I never expected this to happen. I don't know what to do. I've never done something like this before. It's all so much. I... You helped me before, didn't you? You and your friend? Thank you. You are very different from the spirits I usually deal with. In a good way. She still sounds slightly unsure about you but at the same time she does seems willing to trust you.
Your interface beeps several times.
Awena takes a deep breath to calm herself and turns to speak to the others.
"I'm going to see if they need any help.""Don't be long. I'll be keeping an eye on Boris here." replies Zoe, not taking her eyes off the man in front of her for more than a moment.
Awena walks out of this room and back towards the entrance. The layout of the room has changed a bit. The armed guards you saw before have moved a large metal container to block the entrance to the building. They've also moved smaller boxes around to use as cover.
There are no windows on the ground floor. The only windows are on the first floor, where 3 armed men stand watch, occasionally taking a peek outside. There's a metal catwalk leading to those windows.
Awena is about to start climbing up there, when something causes her to hesitate. She stops walking, trying to overcome a sudden feeling of fear. You aren't sure about whether or not it was her powers or her hesitation that caused that fear, but whatever it was, it seems to have saved her life. For within a few seconds, there's an explosion.
Awena finds herself lying on the cold concrete floor. Her ears are buzzing and her head hurts, but she doesn't seem to have been seriously hurt in any way. She slowly pushes herself to her knees. The dust the explosion has raised causes her to cough a bit.
She can hear the shouts of men around her, but they seem distant.
There's a man on the floor besides her, his body lying between a charred brick and some broken glass. His skin is slightly burnt. His left leg is twisted at an angle legs aren't supposed to bend. He is desperately gasping for air.
Irene"I'm going to see if they need any help.""Don't be long. I'll be keeping an eye on Boris here." replies Zoe. She turns around to look at Awena and make sure she isn't trying anything. She doesn't fully trust her. She only met her today, after all. And while Awena helped Zoe, that doesn't necessarily mean her intentions are good.
Meanwhile, Irene tries to use her flame manipulation to make another attack at the people outside, but all she can manage is to intensify the fires her first attack created. Not that she can see that, of course. All she knows is that she did something, but she is unsure of what exactly that was.
Zoe doesn't let her attention linger on Awena any more than necessary. Soon, her eyes are back on Boris who is once again fiddling with his machines. She may not trust Awena fully, but she certainly doesn't trust this Russian fellow one bit.
"So what is that thing supposed to do exactly?""Its job."Zoe sighs.
"You know, you're not making it easy for me to-"That's all Zoe manages to say before the building is rocked by an explosion. They're far enough from the entrance that they remain mostly unharmed, although the explosion is still strong enough to make her ears buzz slightly and cause some of dust inside the room to rise.
"Govno! They weren't supposed to-" Boris runs to the radio again, speaking into it while searching the nearby tables for something.
"What's going on out there? Hello?" There is no response.
Meanwhile...
Go get a jetpack from the spaceplane, put it on, fly over the BETA.
Tsar a firebomb, light it on fire, and drop it. Only drop it if it is successfully Tsared.
Try to aim for the gaps in its armour.
Hurry up and get that jetpack.
"<<Crash closer next time.>>"
After instructing your teammates to crash closer next time, you start limping your way towards the downed spaceplane. Which brings you on the path towards the BETA. Now, you see, the BETA is lying with its back against a semi-destroyed building, facing the centre of the street. Its hands are lying limply beside it. One of them is pointing towards you. Specifically, the dome-fist. You see where I'm going with this?
You hear a low rumble and notice that the dome-fist has begun to glow. You're not sure about what that means exactly but you have a bad feeling about this. You slowly start backing away from it.
This turns out to be the right thing to do for a few seconds later there's the roar of a rocket engine and the dome-fist is hurtling forward, towards your general direction. You awkwardly fall backwards and manage to scramble out of its path, hiding behind a large chunk of rubble.
The dome-fist passes by you with a rumble, carving a large gash on the street and showering the surrounding area with debris and exhaust in the process. It impacts the building on the opposite side of the street. Despite the front of the building being utterly destroyed, it remains standing. No major supports were damaged from the impact.
You peek up from your cover. There's the sound of thunder coming from down the street. You look just in time to see the other hand of the BETA that is now apparently shooting lighting towards a man. Said man seems to move like a mix of ninja and... flubber? Anyway, he's dodging everything like a pro and looking cool while doing so.
<Show-off!> your entity yells to him.
Turn away from the person, and test my flames on a nearby pillar or wall. If it melts the pillar or wall, it's ready to fight the B.E.T.A. with. If it melts the structure, then fly in the direction of the B.E.T.A. If approached by any hostile things in flight, incinerate them.
Eh, whatever. Evolve to breathe fire.
You focus on making adjustments to your body to support fire breathing. It goes quite smoothly, all things considered. You now have the ability to create fire by extruding some sort of natural napalm from a newly acquired organ and then igniting it by mixing it with another liquid as it leaves your mouth. It's more of a flame spit than a flame breath and it's not infinite, but it can do some damage. Just don't expect it to burn concrete like some sort of fluorine containing compound.
That done, you take flight, circling above the BETA. Hmmm... Looks like those of your teammates that chose to attack the BETA on foot are in a bit of a pickle. One of them just dodged a rocket punch while the other is currently trying to dodge lightning. The BETA is just lying there, its insides exposed, immobile. It can only fire its weapons it seems, it can't aim them. It can't move to protect itself.
Good thing you can fly, right?
<"Any of you guys play Shadow of the Colossus? I am going to see if it's accurate.">
Head towards the BETA, then start climbing to one of the gaps in the armor. Look inside to see if there's any vunerable parts like wires or machinery. If so, see if they can be smashed/destroyed.
You start running towards the immobile BETA. The biggest and most easily accessible gap in its armour seems to be on its torso, near the place John placed the bomb. Which also happens to be close to its juiciest parts.
As you approach the BETA, you begin hearing a rumble coming from its far side where one of your teammates is approaching from. Not a second later, an electrical whine joins it from this side. It's coming from the BETA's electrolaser-shotgun-hand. Which is currently pointing at you.
You instinctively activate your ability and jump. Your hair stand on edge. The air around you becomes hot and fills with noise. You close your eyes to protect them from the blinding blue light coming from the electrical arcs you're dodging. You keep moving with your eyes closed, gracefully landing, rolling and jumping again to evade the streams of lightning.
You manage to make it to the other side unharmed, with nothing but small burns to show for your effort. Now there is nothing stopping you from entering the BETA. You continue running towards it, your ability still active.
Using your special ability so many times in quick succession seems to be tiring you though. Your muscles are beginning to ache.
((Stopping here because of time. Your action will continue next turn unless you want to change it.))
Ugh. A splint's not going to cut it here.
<<Just a heads up, but my leg's pretty mangled. I'm going to try to do something about it, but I may not be moving much any more.>>
Need more than that. Will probably need some sort of exoskeleton reinforcement for the leg to let the machinery do all the work and just let the leg be. Also, painkillers.
Summon that up.
You get ready for some grade A summoning. Which would be a bit hard with all that pain clouding your judgement. So you decide to start with the painkillers. But it is a kind of chicken and egg deal. You need the painkillers to help you concentrate. And you need to concentrate to make painkillers.
After much effort, you manage to summon a couple of pills. Better than nothing.
You're feeling a bit light-headed. You're loosing too much blood.
Too bad you left that automated bandage applicator in the spaceplane, eh?
Poll
15 (42.9%)
Author
Topic: Special People: Mechanical Syndrome (Read 1148961 times)