Fill forms while casually dodging attacks.
+1
Attacking the papers please guy will provoke an immune response, presumably directed at whoever set it off. Therefore, we dodge around the papers please guy and make our enemies attacks hit him, causing them to be the victim of its wrath and making it so we don't have to do any paperwork since the clerk is dead!
((Tiebreak via Stirk's vote as it would happen anyway as part of Egan's proposed action.))
((OP has been updated to explain how to read the rolls that will be shown in this post.))
The gorilla rushes forth and... keeps rushing forward, rather ineffectually you should add. As if you'd just stand there and fight them, no you've places to be, forms to fill, and with your thrusters flaring it turns out they can't really stop you. You sway out the way of a hurled chair and keep on zooming. You don't even need to face where you're going anyway - you can jet backwards while keeping watch on your vassal's struggles, and make no mistake it is a struggle.
It turns out the gorillas do have a way to ensnare fleeing quarries, just, not when they bolt as quick as you did. Multicolored smoke pours from their forms, absorbing into the nearby crowd and re-emitting. It ripples outwards as it does the crowd becomes that little more disordered, that little bit more substantial, that little bit
ruder. Ada goes from moving through the crowd to moving
against, pushing and getting pushed in return, jostled as she ducks another chair, diverted as she tries to keep pace with you.
Well that's problematic you think, doing absolutely nothing to help her.
"Papers please"You press the censer's button and keep watching.
Your vassal steps out the way as a gorilla goes for a dropkick, crashing into one of the street-side carts. Pausing only to grab a fallen umbrella she continues sprinting towards you. However with how badly diverted her path was by this point two of other gorillas have managed to put their way between her and you. For convenience you decide to call them Gorillas 1 and 2. With the other two (3 and 4) hot on her heels a clash is inevitable. Frost spreads across the umbrella.
You push the clerk to the side, getting a better view.
The tip of the umbrella cuts through the crowd and Ada charges through, the smoky figures reforming as she passes. She sways to the side as Gorilla 3 throws yet another chair, dodging the ballistic furniture only for Gorilla 1 to snatch it out of the air and swing. Ada dives out of the way but Gorilla 1 isn't giving up just yet, continuing their motion to set down the chair and kicking it forwards taking the girl's legs out from under her and sending her skidding seated with front row tickets to Gorilla 2's fist.
Ada topples her chair backwards with a squeek avoiding the punch before kicking the chair forwards, knocking out Gorilla 2's legs as it goes for its own kick. She rolling out the way as Gorilla 1 tries to deliver a sliding knee and springs up with the help of her umbrella. Gorilla 2 runs in for another swing and you see a flash of steel.
You didn't notice it the first time, she had fired it point blank back then, but now you realize that Ada's handgun doesn't use the same kind of rounds as the bandits. The bandits used bullets that, in broad strokes, worked similar to yours - metal go quick is very very hurty. Whatever Ada uses is a little more
explosive. There's no overpenetration here, no metal tumbling out the other side, just a gaping exit wound blown through Gorilla 2's back.
The smoke rushes forth to close the wound and for a moment you think they might make it, but even as the gorilla moves its unraveling, falling apart. It loses cohesion and simply collapses. Maybe that shot blew out too much of its smoke?
Ada barrels past you, Gorilla 1 in hot pursuit, followed by Gorillas 3 and 4. Time for her to watch and learn.
T T T T S S S S S S S
^
Using the Clerk as a shield renders it difficult for the Enforcers to strike Alex.
Scale further improved by Stirk predicting this interaction.
Gorilla 1 comes in with a wild haymaker. This time you don't dodge. You don't even fire, you simply give the clerk a little push and step to the side, putting them right between your chest and Gorilla 1's fist.
The gorilla steps to the side and just topples. It was coming in fast, too fast to stop gracefully.
So, it seems they're not as dumb as you thought. But you were right - if they hit the clerk they'll trigger an immune response too. That's why they stopped the punch. You had tested things out while your vassal kept the gorillas busy, nudging the clerk to see if they cared, moving on to larger pushes when you found out they didn't.
There's probably some limit, but it seems you can be swift as long as you're not forceful.
Gorilla 1's topple turns into a roll, the roll meets a boot, Ada's boot, blowing a chunk out of their chest and sending them skidding back towards you.
That kick was nothing special, these gorillas are just fragile it seems, might have something to do with their smoke-like nature. This one? It's not dead yet, its wound is closing up but on the ground like that right next to you? It's completely at your mercy even if it doesn't understand that.
Its companions charge towards you and out of the corner of your eye you see the light of another clerk, and from another direction four more gorillas.
By your measure the clerk next to you will let you go real soon, well before the new gorillas arrive. Once that happens though you'll need Ada to authenticate with them and while gorillas 5 through to 8 aren't coming from the same direction as the next clerk, they're on track to get in your way.
> [] Head for the next clerk, take Ada with you. It's slower but that clerk will soon be following her so you'll get to keep them as a shield> [] Head for the new gorillas. You'll let the next clerk come to you at their own pace, these gorillas must be coming from somewhere and you're going to try and find out where> [] Kill the gorillas. Best not let them pile up> [] Eat Gorilla 1. It's called establishing dominance sweetie, look it up> [] (Write in)