Silas grumbled to himself as he stood up, as painful as that was to do. Were he 20 years younger, this probably would have been slightly easier, but his legs had grown weak over the years, making his cane almost a necessity. Speaking of which, where is that blasted thing?
He surveyed the warehouse, and saw his cane was just out of arm’s reach. He limped over to the place where his expensive ivory cane lay. He turned it over in his hands, revealing a decent number of chips in the originally pristine finish. But the sudden drop in the item’s value was far from his biggest concern. As of right now, the military was the foremost threat, though the colossus was right behind them on the list. With any luck, his position in the government might be enough to talk them down.
And if that fails… His thoughts drifted to the derringer in his suit’s interior breast pocket. Maybe he could use it to get something with a little more firepower…
“Ufff” Rose grumbled. She had been in various bad situations but none quite as unique as this one. She also had been in quite a few dumpsters but this was the first time she ever landed in one after an airship wreckage caused by a giant metal thing.
The situation was clearly out of control and looking at the platoon of soldiers trying to kill anyone involved with this mess didn’t give her much hope. One or two soldiers she could possibly deal with but given her less than ideal equipment and various injuries even that would be a challenge.
Hiding in the dumpster for a while seemed the best choice, but eventually they would find her anyways. Rose decided that sneaking out while the explosions and the giant distracted the soldiers was probably the safest bet. She dragged herself out of the dumpster trying to be as quiet as possible.
Pain is all Norda Aardvak could possibly feel in the current moment. The exact order of events that lead to what she currently was witnessing evaded Norda’s mind.
During her escapades as a weapons saleswoman, Norda had begun to fancy herself quite strong; especially for a frail old lady like herself (or at least, that’s what most who saw her believed). The second she saw and felt the absence of her lower leg, however, her entire history of toughness and indifference slipped away in an instant.
It was the most repulsive and grotesque thing Norda had ever seen. Her entire lower half was entirely splattered with blood, and bits of bone and flesh lay beneath her. As a torrent of vomit and blood erupted from her mouth, she started to feel her mind slip away and drift into the void of nothingness.
Using all the strength she could muster, Norda began to drag herself on the ground in an attempt to crawl towards a large piece of scrap metal that she could use as cover. She barely made it a few feet before she had to completely stop all movement. Just as Norda’s face was about to hit the rough, dirty ground, she caught a glimpse of a torn lilac bag right in front of her wrinkled and bloody fingertips. Using the last of her energy, she opened the purse and inside laid a small photo.
Adam wiped the combination of blood and soot from his eyes, trying to keep his head straight against the heat and smoke overloading his senses. The fire was encroaching on all sides, and Adam didn’t know which wall was closest to the outside. Regardless, he had to act. He used is right leg to shove off the board pinning down his left, which was enough force to dislodge it and free his leg. He got on his hands and knees to avoid the blanket of thick black smoke building above his head. The smell of the burning wood filled his lungs and made him choke as he quickly crawled to the nearest wall that wasn’t completely engulfed in flame. He pulled his gun out of his pants and noticed he only had one bullet left. Nuts he thought Better make this shot count. He leveled his gun at the crack between two boards in front of him and pulled the trigger, blasting a small hole in the wood. Looking back, he saw the fire quickly approaching, so he started desperately hacking away at the edges of the bullet hole, trying to widen it enough so that he could squeeze through it. No matter how much he hacked, the he hole didn’t seem to widening fast enough until Adam started kicking the boards, getting more and more desperate as the hungry flames approached.
Finally, he hit a week spot in the boards and a huge chunk splintered away, making it just barely big enough for him to wiggle through. He started pushing himself through the hole head-first, pain shooting through his back and chest as he pushed his way through the jagged edges of the hole. His clothes ripped and tore, and he felt his feet get hot as the fire overtook them. Finally, after getting past his hips, the fell out of the hull onto the ground, and he immediately began to roll around, trying to put out the fire on his pants, legs, and feet, screaming in agony as rubble pricked at his open scrapes and flame burned his legs.
Tod coughed. His whole arm felt like it was on fire, his body sore, but he was in one piece. He doubted that many had that luxury. He pulled himself out from the rubble, the crumbling place around him filling his gas mask with the smell of asphalt and oil.
Alarms blared in his head, as his ears rung and vision blurred, before he started crawling towards the nearest bit of cover. Idiot. Tod yelled at himself. You should have known better than this.
As you scream out in pain, it pierces all the other sounds ringing out in the night. You soon learn to regret the decision to announce just how much excruciating pain you are currently in as you watch several members of the platoon break away from the main group and towards your position.
Ari, as you take in the situation around you, you spot one of the high-pressure water canisters that you had originally planned to use on the colossus near the group of soldiers heading towards the screaming member of your party. Maybe a well-placed shot might provide a distraction. Unfortunately, to get into a position to hit it, you will have to risk being seen.
Unfortunately, Mr. Lefarge, your begging to the heavens doesn’t bring any answer that this is just a terrible dream, but here’s to hoping, right? You curse yourself as you begin to slightly recall the day’s events. In hindsight, blasting a giant metal beast with a glorified fire hose from a very flammable airship wasn’t the best choice.
It seems the soldiers haven’t noticed you quit yet, but who knows? Your position might be enough for them to spare your life, and if you play your cards right, perhaps the rest of your crew. Your legs are currently screaming in pain, so getting over to them in a timely manner seems like it may be an issue.
Unfortunately, you seem to have made quite the ruckus climbing out, but on the bright side, the soldiers seem more intrigued by the giant steel colossus and the screaming member of your party to pay attention to you at the current moment.
Norda aardvak Before you can drift into a state of unconsciousness, you are rudely awakened by the sound of a child screaming, and unfortunately for you, your child-caring instincts keep you from giving up just yet, whether you like it or not. However, your bleeding leg is still an issue. Although a tourniquet is not out of the realm of possibility,
Fortunately for you, Adam, you land right into a puddle of water, no doubt caused by a leak in one of the pressurized water canisters. I still can’t fathom how you thought something like that might work, but hey, it was coming in handy now.
Mr. Rot, as you climb towards the rubble, you watch the colossus stumble from an explosion planted straight on its chest. To your dismay, you watch as it begins falling towards you.
Unfortunately there was not a lot of possibilities for a speedy getaway, what with being in horrible pain and also missing a foot. Don’t think about it don’t think about it don’t think about it-
The gag reflex was pushed back down, at least for now, as adrenaline raced through Ottar’s veins. He would have to move and he would have to move fast, but how he was going to do that outside of a very painful army crawl was yet to be determined. His position was completely compromised; he had to make some serious space between himself and the area his attackers heard him from.
Her.
She had a… Whoa, Ottar wobbled violently as his memory seemed to inject dizziness directly into his brain. Something. She can hurt people, I know that much. But uh…
Thinking too hard about how he even knew her or what it is she could hurt people with was simply too much. He didn’t think she had been spotted, yet, and perhaps she could carry him away from this nightmare of a situation he had found himself in.
Well, ALL of us really.
…All of Who?
So saying, he pushed himself upwards enough to crawl, angling his thigh to not scrape against the ground as well as the cover he was hiding behind as best he could, quickly moving towards Ari’s position, all the while tears running down his face from the excruciating agony he now found himself in.
Ehre slowly opened his eyes, only to find that all he could see was a mass of what looked like the airship in flames to one side, with the bright day to the other, broken only by a massive shadow somewhere above. Trying to use his other senses, Ehre found only silence broken by muffled cracks coming from a ways to his front. Feeling the heat of the burning airship, he pushes himself upright and stands. Taking a few shaky paces forward, before falling.
Hearing what seemed like gunfire, Ehre jolts awake and begins to scramble out of the way, though where that was, along with where he was, he had no clue. Finally noticing the pounding in his head and aching across his body, Ehre tried to remember what had happened, only to black out
Ehre came to, only to find he was in some sort of hell. Having no idea where he was, what was going on, or how he had gotten here, there was only a few things certain: to one side, there lay a burning structure. In front of him, there seemed to be some sort of gunfight. To another side, he saw a large swath of ground hidden from the suns light that he could not explain. Attempting to stand and figure out how to get out of here, he hobbled towards, then dove behind some piece of the wreckage before the ever-growing blackness in his vision caught up.
Ehre Okarr woke up on a battlefeild. Not knowing what was going on, he fights desparatley to stand, to find out what happened before he regained consciousness. Barely reaching his feet, exposing himself from the cover he had conveniently woken behind, a sudden pain cuts through the dull ache and pounding in his head. Something small ripped into his shoulder at high speed, barreled through his flesh and bone before rocketing out the other side. Suddenly thrown back by the impact, Ehre falls, only to hit his head and watch his vision shrink to a small tunnel of light. The first complete thought he makes after waking forms only now:
Tod internally screamed as he quickly crawled to his feet, limping away from the metal beast.
His arm was another kind of pain. It seared his body into smithereens, laying limp against his body.
As Aristomache stared at the metal bird, dumbfounded by the fact that such a vile mechanism could even exist, memories started flooding back into her mind. Bird. Ship. Water tank. The details of what just happened were still blurry, but now Ari knew what she needed to do.
She quickly turned around and eyed her surroundings, trying to see if at least one of the canisters managed to survive, and sure enough, there it was, nestled neatly in between the leftovers of the ship, somehow seemingly undamaged from the impact, positioned perfectly to carry out her plan if she hits it hard enough with the last charge. How lucky. This day just got a bit better all of a sudden…
…and then got much worse again. As Ari watched a group of soldiers appear in between her and the canister, that stupidly optimistic thought disappeared from her mind. Fate really is a heartless witch, never lets you have anything your way.
The soldiers didn’t seem to notice her yet, but she couldn’t just wait until they pass by. She needed to act now. It was now or never. She couldn’t miss her only chance.
Ari started moving towards them, picking up a mangled metal sheet from the ground on her way. She put it up in front of her, using the piece of metal as a sort of improvised shield, and bolted towards the group of soldiers. There weren’t many. She could probably take them on. She was pretty sure she’s had to fight larger groups of armed people in the past.But were they well-trained soldiers?
She was limping slightly and felt the pain of her severe burns, but it was significantly numbed by adrenaline rushing through her body. Dealing with it will be a problem for later… if there is going to be a “later”.
As she ran, she realised what was the source of the screaming from earlier that attracted these soldiers. It was a kid with an annoying face trying to crawl towards her. The kid with an annoying face that she… knew? Her memories on that matter refused to return, but for whatever reason she had a feeling that this was not just some random child caught in the middle of this mess, but someone she had a reason to… care for?
Nah, it can’t be. He looks too much like a total brat, she thought as she bolted past him, rapidly closing the distance between her and the soldiers.
Ottar’s rapidly-whitening face lit up as Ari seemed to dart towards him. She’s going to grab me and run, and we can get out of here and then never had to deal with this ever again… Does she have a mechanical limb? Can’t only rich people afford those?
She definitely didn’t look rich, but Ottar didn’t look like he was racked with anxiety and guilt at every waking moment, either - as far as he knew, anyway. Regardless, he, pushing past his pain, reached out his hand towards her as she approached, so very grateful for her doing this-
Ottar stared at the air where she should have been if she decided to stop and pick him up, but instead she rushed on by, DIRECTLY TOWARDS THE ARMED SOLDIERS. Great. I’m bleeding out in unfathomable agony and the most efficient help I could receive is from a headcase.
Ottar’s face continued to fall as his muscles seized in rapid convulsions, his wounded body’s attempt at turning around enough to see where Ari went. What… What do I do now?
“A-Ari!!” He weakly tried to get her attention, immediately following up the cry with a hiss as he gripped his thigh, having bumped the metal jammed inside it just the wrong way.
Adam splayed out into the soothing cool water, staring at the airship burning above him. The blood from his scrapes mingled with the water, turning it red. Then a loud cry and gunshots pierced his ears, bringing him back to the current moment. He stood up out of the water and moved out from under the burning ship, just in time to watch the whole thing collapse and cover where he had just been lying. As soon as he realized that the gunshots were coming from the military, he sighed in relief, reaching down to get his military ID out of his satchel… only to realize that he didn’t have his satchel. He swore under his breath. If only his handler were here, then he wouldn’t be worried, but there was no way these soldiers would recognize him, nor was there any guarantee that they would even know his name. He looked around for the highest ranked military person, hoping it was someone he knew.
As he looked around, he noticed several soldiers approaching a small pile of shrapnel from which the screaming he he had heard was coming from. The child! Adam thinks. And then he doesn’t think, there’s no way he’s going to let these soldiers harm an actual child. Adam looks to his empty and battered gun, deciding it’s not worth grabbing it. Then he starts speed walking as fast as he can towards the screaming (now silent) child and the soldiers approaching him. Adam expected his legs to hurt from being burned, but strangely he could barely feel them at all, with most of the pain being center on his scrapes and cuts. As he approaches the soldiers he puts his hands up, attempting to display that he is not a threat.
Thanks for the distraction Ottar Rose thanked the screaming kid and started to slowly move away from the soldiers wait who? She stopped in her tracks trying to recognize the voice, but all she got was a worse headache who the hell is Ottar?
“I better get away as fast as possible” she thought, but something was stopping her, something wasn’t right. She was worried? Maybe curious? About a kid she didn’t even know. Impossible. She hardly ever forgot a person. Rose grabbed her knife and hid behind a pile of rubble.
Rose didn’t even have time to think before seeing some kind of crazy lady running full force towards the soldiers is she crazy? Well i know she is but…I know? Her headache worsened. Another person who seemed familiar but that she couldn’t quite place.
Rose decided that a close ranged fighter with a knife couldn’t do much against a platoon of soldiers with rifles couldn’t do much. “If only i had a gun or something” She muttered. “Maybe i could make a sling?” She thought
Choice? What choices are left now?
Jacques shakes his head, feeling slightly better (still with a sticky feeling in his lungs), and looks up to see the Titan falling from an explosion that has ripped a chunk out of its chest. Unfortunately, it seems to be falling in such a way as to destroy more of the docks, and eliminate much of the escape routes from the area.
“Drat. And now I need to stand up.”
He climbs to his feet, looking dazedly at the destruction of the docks. Ok, at least I’m not in a crossfire yet, he thought. The soldiers weren’t paying attention to him yet, instead seeing some crazy old lady charging them and a girl armed with an expensive-looking prosthetic arm preparing to take action. I suppose I can turn myself in, Jacques thought. Or should I…
He glanced at the surroundings again. There were several buildings, including a few warehouses… he began walking unobtrusively towards a nearby warehouse, hoping the soldiers weren’t paying attention to him.
Norda slowly began to lower her head, having given up any hope of surviving.
I suppose this is where I will die, Norda thought to herself. The photo that she so desperately clenched in her hand was covered in blood, so much to the point where she could barely recognize her own face.
Suddenly, piercing scream rang throughout Norda’s ears. She recognized it as that of a child’s, the voice seeming to belong to a boy somewhere near the age of 12.
Against her better judgement, Norda began to inch closer to the wailing cry for help; a strong maternal instinct had suddenly shot into her mind. Scraping herself on the ground, her body tore and she left a trail of red in her wake. If Norda didn’t do something soon, she would lose consciousness due to her lack of blood. After enduring this agony for around a minute or two, Norda caught a glimpse of her government issued ID. It was badly burnt around the edges and a lot of the text was unreadable, but the photo was unmistakably her.
If I can find anyone in this hellscape, they could help me protect the child
Silas, now somewhat steadied by his cane, began limping towards the way out of the warehouse. He produced his golden pocket watch to check the time. While the watch’s delicate crystal face had developed multiple cracks, it was still quite readable.
Otter, you excruciatingly crawl your way to your suspected ally. The large shrapnel in your leg is beginning to loosen as you do so, beckoning forth more blood. You begin to feel lightheaded from its absence, and you observe as the soldiers turn their attention to Ari, who is now breaking in a full-on mad dash towards the enemy.
You have lost it; to any onlookers, you seem to stumble and slam into debris strewn about in the battlefield. Clearly, your concussion is affecting you in the worst way humanly possible, but despite your delusions, you look up and bear witness to a giant metal construct, shifting and shimmering as explosions light up its form. You watch as the creature stumbles and rocks; you watch In fascination as it begins to fall towards a man now desperately trying to flee from it.
Ari, as you sprint towards the soldiers, you see as one of them orders the other two to deal with the screaming child while they attempt to deal with you. As they raise their gun, you watch as the other two take off towards your comrade; he won’t be able to stand a chance against them. You need to think fast!
Adam, as you approach the child, you watch as the two soldiers stop in their tracks and train their guns on you, but a quick flash of hesitation crosses their faces. You turn to follow their gaze to watch as the colossus begins to fall, most certainly causing more damage to the docks.
Rose, as you observe the scene before you come across a variety of materials, there’s certainly enough scraps and trash here to make something of use, but do you have the time to scavenge through everything?
As you flee from the falling automaton, you watch in horror as its dim shadow slowly begins encroaching upon you. But you were nearing the edge, and no matter what you do, nothing is going to get you out of its way. Perhaps there’s a place you can seek cover? Or maybe you would like to accept this fate?
Unfortunately for you, Jacques, the soldiers do seem to be paying attention. As you pass by a nearby warehouse, you make direct eye contact with a soldier who is currently backing away from the colossus as it falls. He pays you no mind, however, turning back towards the bigger threat. Unimpeded, besides your crumpled ribcage, you make your way inside the warehouse, coming face-to-face with a familiar man. What is his name again? Oh, that’s right!
You come to find one-
Silas, as you take a breather from your very short trip through the roof, you take a glance at your very nice timepiece; unfortunately, that glass will cost quite a penny to replace.
The time you witnessed is 10:21 p.m.
14 minutes remain
Norda Your crawl is interrupted as a foot is swiftly pressed down on your back, knocking the air from your lungs, and along with your struggle to regain your breath, you feel the cool barrel of a rifle placed against the back of your head. Man, this day surely can’t get any worse, right?
Ehre, in his concussed state, uses the only two things available to save the strange man from a very flat fate: his arm (well, the one that hasnt just been shot), and the rope kept wound across it.
Weakly tossing the rope a short distance towards the man while waving and making what noise he could, Ehre tries to get his attention, though it likely wont do anything more than confuse and delay the man he is trying to save, all while an ever increasing list of problems work against Ehre himself
Adam grits his teeth as the metal monstrosity lays waste to more and more of the dock, but quickly turns his attention back to the soldiers.
“Hello, my name is Adam Crayton” his words came out raspy and painfully, likely from
All the screaming he’d been doing and the smoke he’d inhaled. Sweat mixed with blood and soot dropped down from his forehead and into his right eye, causing him to blink as he focused on trying to not get shot. “That child over there is under my care, and he needs medical attention, please let me attend to him.” He was hoping to play the ‘worried guardian’ card to try and win over their sympathies. He figured it might work better than his military card, since his actual military ID card was MIA. If they were still suspicious of him or refused to let him try and help the child, then he’d try pulling rank, though admittedly he wasn’t sure these soldiers would believe him. If these soldiers still didn’t believe him, he might have to do something drastic, which was not something he wanted to do. Adam caught movement out of the corner of his, and for the first time he noticed a figure with a metal arm dashing towards the rest of the soldiers that had begun to approach the kid. How did I not notice that before? he thought. He must still have been a bit light headed from his crash and the smoke. Focus Adam, focus! he thought to himself, trying to mentally shake off the fog creeping into his brain.
The kid’s voice was extremely weak, muffled by the sounds of screaming, burning and general chaos all around, yet it still rang clear as day in her head. The single word startled her. The kid called her name. Aristomache Grimm. Ari for friends. The kid was her friend.
Why can’t I remember anything else about him?! Who is he?! How do I know him?!
They finally spotted her. All their attention was focused on her. She was so close now. Ari raised her improvised shield higher, preparing to protect herself from their gunfire when she saw two soldiers split away from the group and start marching toward the barely conscious kid.
To her own surprise, she witnessed herself instinctively swing the large heavy mangled piece of steel around (what purpose did it serve before the crash? Was it a door?) and hurl it at the pair in an attempt to knock them off their feet.
Why why why did I just do that?! Left myself completely unprotected for the sake of some kid?! Who the heck is he?!
She put her metal arm in front of her face, hoping to at least protect her head and dashed towards the closest soldier.
She was about to attempt to rip his rifle from his grasp with her normal hand while punching him in the face with the metal one from the side without activating the last charge.
The time was running out, she couldn’t waste any time on fighting them, so she needed to act quickly. She needed to get to the water tank as soon as possible.