Nail shoots Sinthia a raised-eyebrow glance. “OK, but you can’t catch carp with grasshoppers.”
When it becomes clear that nobody has any idea what Nail is talking about, he says, “It’s a fishing metaphor. Let’s figure out what kind of bait you are first.”
After more stunned silence, Nail says crankily. “Just see you at Synthcorp. I need a smoke,” and with that he closes the door less than softly behind him.
Rescigno leads Erwin, hands bound behind his back with zip-tie restraints, to the garage. As Rescigno enters the garage with his prisoner, the trunk of his sedan opens remotely.
“Are you kidding me?” Erwin complains. “No fuckin’ way I’m getting in there! I know how that story ends.”
“Wasn’t asking,” Rescigno says, and shoves the man’s head into the trunk. When Erwin resists, Rescigno scoops the man’s legs up from underneath him, causing the elf cultist to smash face-first into the interior of the trunk. With a fluid motion, the Universal Omnitech director slides the man the rest of the way in.
“Hey! Let me outta he…” Erwin’s voice is cut off by the sound of the trunk slamming shut. Goethe was watching the exchange, and can’t help but be impressed by the quality of the sound-proofing. Then, a much darker thought seizes him, as he realizes that the sedan must have been built with that requirement in mind.
“Nail, you’re with me,” Rescigno says. “I mean, unless you want to cozy up to that ork again.”
Goethe, 4509, and Nightshade have their own vehicles, and Rescigno doesn’t bother to order them. He knows this isn’t a corporate Run anymore, and he’s not the boss. Still, he can’t help but let his natural urge to lead shine through. “Butch! You’re with me, riding shotgun.” Then, he turns to Sinthia.
“Sinthia, I don’t want you to fly alone,” he says. “One dark former Raven mage vampire is enough. If my wage-mages are wrong, and the Dark can turn you against your will, I want to know about it before you end up at the wrong end of the cyborg’s scope, like Seneth did. Lord knows I can’t force you to do anything, but I think it’s best for the whole crew for you to ride backseat with Nail.”
Once the crew finalizes their travel orders, the ride to Synthcorp will begin. If things are good to go in the next few hours, the next update will be tonight. Otherwise, it will be tomorrow, 9/23/2012, at about 6pm PST.
The off-road motorcycle roars to life on its own as 4509 makes his way from the house to the street. He’ll linger behind the group with his headlights off during the drive.
Nightshade feels an itch between her shoulder blades as she wonders how close on their scent the shadowy opposition might be. “Fine, I’ll meet you guys there,” she says, and quickly throws her bag into the saddlebag of her racing bike. Seconds later, she’s speeding through the streets towards Synthcorp’s old building.
With her faster vehicle, she’ll be able to arrive well ahead of the group. As she normally does, she’ll park some distance away and quietly watch the destination for some time before going in. Nightshade hates surprises …
“How well armored is your car, Rescigno? If it doesn’t have much, and none of you are particularly skilled with vehicular combat, it might be better to have Sinthia ride with me, because while my bike isn’t armored or designed for combat, it is considerably more maneuverable and can go places your car can’t. And if they are tracking her, we need speed and maneuverability. Plus, I know the routes to take when it comes to trying to lose a tail, even if it’s flying. I’ll keep in regular contact over the commlink and let you guys know if we run into any problems.”
“That’s fine. I can go in the back seat for now.”
Nail is already on his way to Reggie’s car when he hears the “order.” He makes a gesture indicating he heard him, but does not say anything. He gets in and takes up the whole backseat, but will move if Sinthia gets in.
The crew departs Goethe’s safe house in their various vehicles. Nightshade rides first, hoping to clear the path to Synthcorp. Goethe rides near Rescigno’s sedan, on the lookout for trouble. 4509 pulls up the rear, not trusting anyone in the group nearly enough to be behind him.
There is a sense of unease among everyone. The stakes are high, and the unknown nature of the spell targeting Sinthia sets everyone on edge. None more than Nail, although he’d never admit it, and his casual slouch betrays none of his nervousness. He can’t help but to watch Sinthia, and wonder about the spell. Is she about to become another Seneth? It’s up to him to make sure that she can’t hurt anyone if she does. A tall order.
Sinthia’s nervous. Confused. Uncertain. Nail can see it, and he doesn’t like it. Something’s twisting that girl’s conscience. His hand is in his lap, close to his pistol. He hopes he doesn’t have to use it.
I know that’s not much to go on today, but think of it as just a teaser. I’ll start moving the game forward more quickly after tomorrow. I know the pacing is weird at the moment. I’ll fix it soon, I promise!
Sinthia is looking directly at Nail, matching his gaze. She then looks upwards into the corner for about a minute.
She whispers something to herself.
And looks back at Nail.
“Have something to say, Nail? If not, kindly move you hand away from your side and rest while we travel.”
There’s too much silence in Rescigno’s sedan. The engine hums, while each of the vehicle’s occupants are lost in their own thoughts. Rescigno glances at the rear view mirror as Sinthia breaks the tension with a sharp, sudden comment.
“Have something to say, Nail?”
Yeah, lady. All of us do. Are you going nuts, like your spirit-pal Seneth? Rescigno’s eyes narrow as she speaks, and his hand moves to the gear shift. He’s not exactly expecting trouble, but he’s ready for it.
“Move your hand away from your side, and rest while we travel.”
*Rest? Not on your life. *Rescigno sees the witch is frustrated. Probably annoyed that the crew doesn’t exactly trust her anymore.
After speaking her mind, Sinthia goes back to her own thoughts. Who cares what those chumps think, anyway? It’s not like I wanted all this. Without me, they’d be in the dirt already…
Boy, does her blood boil! The ritual magic spell is really ramping up, until she feels an urgent desire to crawl out of her own skin. She can’t concentrate. She grits her teeth in annoyed frustration.
“Take it easy,” Nail says, watching her distress.
Sinthia turns on him angrily, prepared to shout, but her own words are not what escapes her lips.
"Servants of The Dark are here! Prepare yourselves!"
The voice booms through her, powerful, masculine, and impossibly low. Even Sinthia is surprised, as she has never heard Raven’s voice with such an urgent edge to it.
Rescigno slams on the gas, and the sedan surges forward with unexpected power. “Don’t let her blow us up!” Rescigno shouts to Nail.
“It isn’t me you should be watching, fool!” Sinthia replies.
Goethe’s voice adds to the confusion, via comlink. “What the hell’s going on in there?!” he asks. Apparently, he can see the sudden, erratic movement of the vehicle…
4509 is the first to spot the atmospheric disturbance. A shadow passes overhead, dimming the artificial lights of the night sky around the sedan. A shapeless form distorts and bends the light around it as it soars past the cyborg, from above and behind him. 4509 doesn’t bother trying to describe the thing, but simply activates his eye recording unit.
“Trouble,” the cyborg says via comlink, and broadcasts the image, as it glides toward Rescigno’s car…
Nightshade is ahead of the others by about two minutes as 4509 broadcasts the image. She watches the video superimposed over the traffic before her. Damn, that thing’s fast. There’s no hope of outrunning the thing.
As she considers her options, she makes another disturbing observation. A swarm of bats flies high above her, far out of weapon range, headed toward the rest of the crew…
Goethe sees himself, far ahead of the camera in 4509’s broadcast. He glances backward, and sees the eerie creature speeding toward him and the car he’s riding next to. Whatever it is, it’s certainly in pursuit of the car, and will catch it all too soon.
A particularly nasty servant of The Dark is in pursuit of Rescigno’s sedan. There’s enough time for some communication via comlink, but avoiding or outrunning the thing isn’t likely.
(Short version, long version to come later today)
Nail picks up his pistol and leans out the window to begin firing at whatever monster is in pursuit of the sedan.
Goethe applies his brakes and slows his bike to a stop. He pulls out his AK and instantly starts cycling through his visual enhancements–including his natural low-light vision–looking for the enemy. As he does all this he says over the commlink:
“We can’t outrun this thing. We have to stand and fight. However, this thing has positional advantage, so we need to stay spread out. Fortunately, we already are largely in position. I’ll take center in this. Cyborg, you stay in the rear. Nightshade, you’re point–and get back to our position as soon as possible. The rest of you will fill in the sides. Throw everything you got against this thing. I’ll try to keep it focused on me as long as possible. I probably can take more damage than anyone else here, with the possible exception of 4509. I’ve got plenty of ammo, too.”
Goethe gets off his bike and stands in the middle of the road (Unless we’re talking busy highway here, in which case he’ll pull off to the side of it as he slows down.). When Goethe spots the enemy, he’ll zoom in with visual magnification and taking aim will open up a full wide burst from his AK into it.
At least that should get its attention, he thinks.
The bright headlights on 4509’s custom Growler pop on with a flash as the creature passes overhead, flooding the street with light. The heavy motorcycle grumbles powerfully as it accelerates, the cyborg driver calmly cycling his right machine pistol out of its concealed compartment and into his hand.
4509 will use a complex action in his first pass to control the motorcycle and a free action in his first pass to pop the weapon. During each of his remaining three passes he’ll make two attacks against the creature.
Nightshade curses a blue streak as she slams her bike into a sharp U-turn. Other drivers honk angrily as she cuts them off, but she’s gone in a cloud of burning rubber before they can otherwise react. She leans over her handlebars and tries to coax a few extra RPM out of the already racing engine as she activates her commlink.
“On my way–should be with you in just a couple of minutes. Unfortunately, there’s a swarm of bats above me heading the same way, and I don’t think they’re hunting mosquitoes.”
Nightshade searches her memory–and to the extent that she can while driving at reckless speeds, any maps she can bring up on her comm–for anyplace nearby that can provide some cover and limit the enemy’s mobility. A shootout on the open street with flying opponents sounds like a recipe for disaster.
Sinthia yells to those in the vehicle with her:
“It can not hurt us unless it takes solid form. Keep moving, but be prepared! We can not hurt it in this form, either.”
Rescigno grumbles in response, “So this is it’s nice and cuddly form?”
Nail tests that theory, leaning out window of the speeding vehicle with his pistol drawn. He pulls the trigger twice, firing at…what, exactly? The thing itself is formless. It’s a confusing sense of presence, a visual warping of the things near it, but but undeniably present in a way that induces vertigo when Nail tries to focus upon it. Unsurprisingly, he can’t see any effect from the attack.
Rescigno saw the shots from the rear view mirror. “We need a plan, guys! I don’t think we want to see what the flesh-and-blood version of this thing looks like out here in the middle of the freeway. Nightshade, find me somewhere to lead this monster!”
Nightshade’s heads-up display overlays street maps superimposed onto her live vision. She swerves through traffic while simultaneously plotting a route for Rescigno. As far as she can tell, there are three options for such short notice. An industrial lot, wide open with clear lines of fire and nothing for the beast and its minions to hide behind, or the airport bypass traffic tunnel, with plenty of cover and a natural bottleneck. The third option is to simply fight on the open freeway, praying for Lone Star intervention. Funny, I never thought I’d be considering counting on help from the cops.
Goethe tries to get the creature’s attention, slowing his bike down until he’s nearly underneath it. “Hey, you! I bet you can’t catch me!” he says. The monster ignores him, soaring past without even slowing. It really wants something in that car, Goethe realizes.* It must be the ritual magic spell on Sinthia!*
4509 floods the area with light, bright enough to cause the vehicles before him to swerve aside in confusion. He roars past them on his bike, easily overtaking Goethe. The orc shields his eyes with his arm as the cyborg zips past him, before he cranks on the accelerator and speeds off to catch up.
“Copy that, boss,” Nightshade responds to Rescigno’s call. “I think your best bet is the airport bypass tunnel–uploading directions to your 'link now. It narrows a hundred yards or so in–that’ll give you some spots to take cover and force that thing into interlocking fields of fire once it becomes material. And this bat swarm won’t be able to easily flank you in there, either. The main risk is escape routes–if they hit the other end as well, you won’t have a clear retreat. There have to be service exits, though–I’ll track some down if I can. Retreating through those means abandoning the vehicles, though. I hope that won’t be necessary–the tactical advantage of that ground should negate their numeric and mobility advantage. As long as everyone has plenty of ammo.”
Sinthia bows her head into her hands. She then raises her head and yells:
“We have to fight it! Slow down and let it solidify! There is no escape!”
Over the commlink:
"That thing is concerned only with Sinthia at this point. Wherever she goes, it’s going to go. I think the idea that the ritual magic was setting a homing beacon on her was the correct one. You guys lead it into the tunnel, and the cyborg and I will follow up the rear to prevent its escape. We can get trap it between our two groups.
“Just remember to keep an eye on your flanks as well. This thing could have allies besides just the bats. We don’t want to be trapped ourselves.”