Zechariah was confused. To this point, he couldn't remember what the interface could be sounding off for.
Erm... is that good or bad? Please, please let it be good. I'd even take neutral, if it was a thing at this time. Just not bad. My host has already danced with death, I don't need it to go any farther than this...
>Check the interface. See if it does anything out of the ordinary. If not, stay behind the dumpster and... take your coat off, if you have one. Leave just the undershirt and your pants, and rustle yourself up a bit - leave your hair undone and all. Wrap the coat over your torso to hide any obvious bullet wounds. If possible, tear up a bit of fabric from the coat or your shirt and use it to wrap up any small wounds. Other than that, keep your wits about you and hide behind the dumpster. If someone arrives and they don't seem friendly, act like a disheveled homeless person. Better to feign weakness than to be captured again. Use the Shadow to hide your face and voice if needed.
It's a long stretch, but anything I can use to help him live will do for now.
Well, that's a reasonably good plan. If it wasn't for one small detail:
There's nothing belonging to your host around here. Not even his clothes.
The paramedics stripped him for some emergency treatment, so he's been walking around with hospital clothes ever since. He's wearing something kinda like a hospital gown but made from some sort of synthetic material. And he doesn't exactly have a mirror to look into, but he feels like something's on his back, probably bandages or similar.
As for your interface, it's just beeping from time to time, the beep accompanied by its blue-tinted screen lighting up with an orange light. The interval between the beeping appears to be getting shorter.
It hasn't happened before but it's not currently doing something else. So unless it's going to explode or similar, you're probably going to be fine.
Well, as fine as one in your situation can be, anyway. Your host is not exactly in top shape.
He really needs to reach a phone and call someone to help him. Someone to hide him from the police. Otherwise, either his injuries will kill him or the Agency will find him and hang him as a traitor. And he isn't very certain about which of the two would be worse.
Bryan
Think I strained myself a bit there. Hope I don't burn out, I still have so much I need to do.
Use telekinesis to put out as much of the fire as possible. At least a clear path to the door.
Faron
Any water hose or fire extinguisher nearby he can use?
There are no fire extinguishers around that you can see (abandoned warehouses tend to not comply with safety regulations for some reason) but there are some pipes around here. They might hold some water in them, if he's lucky. If he breaks one on the right spot...
While your host inspect his surroundings, both to consider alternatives and to ensure nobody will sneak up on him from behind, you focus on clearing a path using a more direct approach.
You focus on "pushing" the flames and the air surrounding them down, hoping to extinguish them by smashing them into the ground, thus depriving them of oxygen. But the moment you begin to do so, you encounter resistance, like someone pushing you back. It's weak at first, like you caught that opposing force by surprise, which allows you to gain some ground, but it quickly matches you in strength. After a few seconds, you've only managed to make a small impact on the fire and already it's beginning to strain you.
Meanwhile, your host catches sight of that heavily armoured man again, a small distance to his right. He has just stumbled from behind a metal box and seems to be in a bit of trouble, as a guard has managed to jump on to him and is currently trying to stab him.
You on the other hand can see from this angle that he has an interface too, a metal shackle taking up most of his lower arm with a spherical portion sporting a round glass screen embedded in it, almost like a watch. It's quite similar to the one on your arm, except for the fact that his screen seems to be transparent and not red like yours. And it's a bit bigger, to account for his armour.
Your host is unsure about whether or not he should do anything about it. On one hand, taking care of both of them right here would eliminate an unknown variable that might cause problems further down the road. Their objectives might not align. On the other hand, the guards are hostile to that man as well, so that means he would be a useful distraction at the very least.
Irine
I need to keep him pressured and preoccupied
To Victor: <I'm still hearing explosions. Why?>
Keep piling the situational pressure on Victor, implying that I want to destroy the facility and am only just barely keeping myself restrained as Boris's men continue to report their failures and deaths over the radio.
Zoe
No Influence
<Boy, you really are impatient. I already told you I'm taking care of it as best I can. What more do you want? I can't leave this place and take care of it myself, can I?>You feel something in the fire barrier you had created near the door. You weren't really controlling the flames at this point, you were mostly just giving them nudges to prevent them from dissipating too quickly. But even that was enough to feel something "pushing" against you. or more accurately against your fire. You quickly respond, trying to match whatever is doing this and counteract it, using the resistance to judge where you must apply more force (since you can't actually see the fire). You're not in what would be called an optimal situation both regarding using your power and judging its effects, but despite that, you don't think you've lost much ground. Looks like whoever's doing this isn't as strong as you. Or maybe they're just not as good in manipulating fire as you. For now.
Meanwhile, Awena continues talking to Zoe, quietly relaying the information she has received as best as she can understand it. At the same time, Zoe keeps an eye on Boris. A guard returns after a while and quietly tells him something.
<Second squad is moving in now. See? That will take care of them. And if they somehow manage to get through the door, then I will take care of them.>
<Nice shooting, though! I wonder when we're going to run into the objective. Ike Wayne wants blood!>
>Get to cover, then move carefully to investigate the shooting noises - things are getting right fishy about now, it seems. As well as very much critical! Maybe you'll get to shoot somebody who these rebel assholes will dearly miss at last!
Your host rolls and falls off the roof of the small structure, running towards one of the boxes for cover while checking the area around him for enemies. Besides an unconscious (or dead, can't really tell from here) half-burnt guard lying in a corner, you can't see anyone else.
Once you reach the box, you take a peek from the side. There's a man there, looking through a door and the burning hallway it leads to. He's well dress, although his clothes have taken some abuse. He has a bullet hole on his abdomen and another on his shoulder, although he doesn't appear overly bothered by that. One hand holds a large pistol (and an interface, which only you can see), while the other has been very badly burnt and is oozing... hmm... it looks like blood, but not quite. It's colour seems lighter than blood should be and-
At that moment your host hears something impacting the concrete behind him. Before he can do more than start raising his hand, something heavy hits him from behind, causing him to stumble out of cover and almost pushing him to the ground. He feels the extra weight on his back. He barely manages to intercept a hand holding a knife that was on a collision course with his neck.
"Logic puzzles? Whatcha got?"
"Let's see... Oh, I got it."He takes flight and moves in a circle high above you.
"It's rather simple, really. A test of creativity and quick thinking."He dives towards you, his eyes glowing blue followed by his entire body lighting up with blue light.
"I'll give you power..."A lightning bolt flies from him, passing right through you and hitting the ground below your feet, causing your entire body to tingle.
"...and you have to catch me..."The ground below you begins crumbling, cracks spreading outwards from the scorch mark created by the thunderbolt. Before you can do anything, it has become a hole in which everything around you, debris, water from the stream and first and foremost yourself fall.
"If you can!"You plummet into the hole while your entity flies past you, the blue light it's emitting reflected by the walls of the tunnel as it dives further down the hole.
Well then, looks like you're going to have to catch him. But that's probably not the entirety of this challenge...
Grab the wires with my injured hand and wrap them around it and pull. Tsar slash with my other hand.
Displaying formidable endurance, you continue ignoring the pain coming from your injuries. Instead of coming towards her to lessen the pain like your opponent expected, you instead decide to pull. She is utterly surprised by this, so much so in fact that your pull manages to throw her off her feet and face first on the ground in front of you. Your injuries appear to have been aggravated by this, but this doesn't overly concern you. Because the important thing now is that you have a clear shot at your enemy.
You put all your strength in the knife slash, both natural and supernatural. The implement transforms as it falls toward its target, becoming more like a short yet broad sword than a knife. She tries to roll out of the way but she isn't fast enough. You manage to stab her on the side of her abdomen, near the waist. The position of the blow allows her to roll away with a pained growl, leaving only your blood stained Swiss army sword embedded in the dirt, but it is a serious injury. You can see blood quickly soaking her black shirt.
EH
Cartwheel out into the aether!
Hey Rhymerer, how's it going?
Your attempt to cartwheel ends rather poorly when your hit a wall like a wrecking ball made of fat and your head gets embedded in the wall. You're stuck there, your head in one room and your body in another, while your neck is in a sandwich of thick and sturdy drywall. What's worse, the room you're in appears to be some kind of kitchen. And your head is right above one of those kitchen friers they use at restaurants, full of potatoes swimming in boiling oil.
"It's going fine, I have to say
I seldom have, such fine a day,
with blood and battle, every which way,
arrayed around me, like bales of hay.
Then there are other things, like hey!
Your actions funny, I find them; yay!"
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Topic: Special People: Mechanical Syndrome (Read 1147518 times)