"There's no specific direction," Davis says. "You have to find a crack, something that doesn't belong in what you remember of this, and you just concentrate on that. If you get a push back, you know you're at the right spot."
"Now, we need a plan of attack," Davis says. "This thing's pretty damn tough, and it shoved me out pretty fast, so we won't have time to mess around once we go out of here." He thinks for a second, and adjusts his sunglasses. "I think the best place to start is the ansible that I have. It's where this...demon-thing has to be coming in from, so it's the best place to start."
Davis looks down at his armor and weapons, and remembers what scenario his mind was running. He looks over to Kao. "You're gonna want weapons and some kind of armor where we're going. It's a little rough back there."
"I shall be fine," the Emperor proclaims. "Lead on."
Getting back to Davis' "simulation" is easier, although he doesn't know if it's because he's done it before or because it's "his" ansible or what. Davis hears the prop wash of three Black Hawks close overhead and the sharp cracks of AK-74s cutting through the helo noise. Rude burps from the miniguns lay down showers of lead, tearing through flesh and spattering stone and sand with blood.
Davis is in cover behind some ruins, the plume of smoke from the BMP still rising into the Afghanistan sky. Hadiya's shouting at him. "Davis! Wake up! Don't do this to me! The extract's here! Come ON!"
Davis starts awake, prompting an impromptu kiss from Hadiya and a "what the fuck were you thinking?"
A shadow falls across the pair as Kao shows up, looking at the situation with a surgeon's interest. "You bring new meaning to 'self-love', Garrett," the Emperor says.
Davis wakes up with a start, to see Hadiya kneeling over him, shouting at him to wake up.
"What the fuck were you thinking?" she says, and bends over to kiss him. Before she can get back up, Davis holds her close and kisses her again, longer, deeper and more passionately than before. This might be the last time he gets to do this, and he wants to make it count.
As Davis and Hadiya's kiss slides over the line from "passionate but publicly acceptable" into "awkward public make-out session", Kao shows up. Davis hears his smart-assed comment, but doesn't really care at this point. He takes a few seconds to finish with a delicate kiss on her nose, just as he remembers her liking it, and then the two of them help each other to their feet.
He looks back to Kao. "I hope that you were outside of whatever glass bubble they keep you in long enough to get a chance to understand what love really is, Kao," Davis says.
He looks over the Emperor's body, still dressed in those plain robes from the room before. "I have a pretty good idea of what's going to happen next, so you might want to wear something a little better armored." He looks back at Hadiya. "You too, azizam." As she smiles, or at least as he thinks she would smile as he calls her his term of endearment for her, he tries to mentally give her a much thicker set of body armor, because if he's right, this is going to be a nasty fight.
"Out of the thing?" Arketta answers Luis. "I dragged you off Davis' ansible. You must have tried to move it when you checked him. What thing were you in? Wait, no, first - there is a creature in here with us somewhere. It has hurt the Whiirr but Angel has stopped his bleeding. We fought it off but we don't know where it is."
Luis moves to give Angel's improvised medical aid a look-over. He shakes his head at the update, "See, that's not good. I'm gone five minutes in some freakish Matrix-kock-off hell and you all start on a creature hunt." He peers through the medkit in search of Whirr-compatible pain relievers and other drugs. At least I can read these. That spurs a thought, "You said Davis is still...like I was? I think he might be in trouble. There's some kind of intelligence in that damned thing. It was messing with my mind, probably screwing with him too." He glances over his shoulder. "Not sure if there's anything I can do, though. What's the story on this creature?"
OOC: Sorry this little thing took so long. I kept spacing on replying.
"The thing didn't go after Davis," Ngawai offers. "It went after the people still up and moving." She remembers Luis was out for the demon's first attack and adds, "Bullets work, blades don't. It doesn't bleed but it looks like we can hurt it. It doesn't look like it had any ranged weaponry but I wouldn't put it past it."
Luis can't help Swims much more at this point except by giving him a better-measured dose of painkillers. Swims eases visibly but remains unconscious.
Angel considers hunting the creature. They have enough chemlights for everyone to see whatever room they're currently in. Angel's got a hint of a direction just from the shot-off bits, although that direction could be a deliberately misleading one now. The area the team's in is honeycombed with archways and passthroughs. Holing up isn't going to do Swims-the-Black any favors, nor will they be able to help Davis. Plus, the creature may be able to nurse its wounds and return on its own terms. The Gate chamber only has one entrance, though. It'd have to come at them head-on. But they'll have to sleep, and they don't have enough food or water to hold out forever. If they don't hunt it down, the creature could wait them out. It seems to have been here a long time.
---
Hadiya's LBV is gone, replaced by a high-collared high-threat vest with all the works. She looks like she's ready to jump into the North Hollywood bank robbery. Kao still declines any offers of equipment.
"The flying machines are the way out," the Emperor says. Davis presses for a moment and feels it too - a measure of resistance coming from the two Black Hawks just now touching down on the packed dirt. The third one continues to circle. Its miniguns roar down into the village.
"Yeah, but if that's the case and this thing knows what went on when this happened for real, that's where things will start to go bad," Davis says. "I'll take point, maybe the demon will follow the script to start with and won't start shooting at me right away. Kao, keep an eye on that chopper in the air, it probably won't stay friendly for long once we try to push towards the helicopters. And Hadiya, I assume that you know...well...umm..."
"When this really happened, I died," Hadiya says, her stoic, in-the-game look on her face.
"Yeah."
Kao raises an eyebrow at this news. "I hope you've learned from the experience."
Davis flashes him a harsh look, then continues. "Then you know you should stay between the two of us, in case this things starts getting any ideas, and when things get hot, stay close to me and don't expose yourself if you don't have to." Davis gives her a cocky wink and a grin. "I'm getting you out of here this time, alright?"
He looks back to Kao and Hadiya. "Everyone good with this plan?"
"The thing didn't go after Davis," Ngawai offers. "It went after the people still up and moving." She remembers Luis was out for the demon's first attack and adds, "Bullets work, blades don't. It doesn't bleed but it looks like we can hurt it. It doesn't look like it had any ranged weaponry but I wouldn't put it past it.
"I don't like the idea of leaving somebody alone and unconcious on the off chance this thing decides to spare them. That's a long shot, and I don't like it. But we're not a lot of people..not really a good thing for a siege." Luis shakes his head, "Your thoughts, Riviera? We dig in or sweep?"
(ads ooc: edited Garcia to Riviera, as I assume you were talking to Angel)
Hadiya gives Kao a suspicious look, then nods to Davis. "Right behind you, baby."
Davis and Hadiya run out low, sweeping ahead and to the sides. A few short bursts clear two insurgents from a window across the street. Kao walks out quickly but without any regard for safety, almost daring someone to shoot him.
With a battle cry and enthusiastic extended bursts, two Taliban oblige. Kao literally pulls a Neo - he just holds his hand out and the bullets miss. With an arrogant sneer, he flicks his hand and one insurgent's rifle, still firing, twists in the man's grip and peppers his comrade with its remaining rounds. The Emperor flicks his hand the other way and the surprised attacker's head snaps too far to the side, loosely leading the rest of his body into the dirt.
Davis and Hadiya are first to the Black Hawk. The soldier in the sliding door waves Davis into the cabin, just like before. Davis knows that historically, the man would call for dustoff, there'd be some shoving, and the helos would leave Hadiya.
"Get in, sir!" the man shouts. The dirt and gravel kicked up by the prop wash stings even through his fatigues. Hadiya's face hardens, ready to fight. How much of the script is the demon following? How much does it actually have control over? Davis can't get the drop on himself, and the chopper crewman's demeanor tenses along with Hadiya.
Davis just stands there for a second, M4 in his hands, being pelted by grit and sand. He squints into the mini-sandstorm being blown his way, and thinks about what to do next. Demon's probably waiting in the wings to swoop in the instant this thing gets messy or we start to get out of here. Best choice of action's probably just to open fire now. He looks over to Hadiya, who nods. Yeah, probably best to just open fire now. Still, I've been waiting for this chance for a while. Davis smiles. Might as well make it perfect.
"Hey!" he shouts. "I've got two passengers here! One's Hadiya, my Afghan contact, and the other's a friend of mine," Davis says, throwing a glance back at Kao. "Got room for two more?"
"We're here to extract you, sir!" the crewman shouts back.
"Just me?"
"Just you! She's an enemy asset and that guy... " the helo crewman stops shouting for a moment and tries a different tack. "We're leaving, sir! Get in now or stay here!"
"How about this instead?" Davis shouts, snaps his rifle up to his shoulder, sights up on the crew gunner and lets a burst fly.
Angel looks out into the darkness, his face set in what now appears to be a permanent frown. The temptation to take the initiative, stop waiting for bad things to happen is strong, but he knows its a bad idea.
"We stay here, dig in. Keep Swims alive, and the Spook. Thing's either lost its taste, or it will be back - no sense in getting turned around and picked apart in those tunnels."
At some level, the crewman is Davis, so it's no real surprise that he brings up his MP-5 simultaneously with Davis' M4. Even in this fantasyland mindspace, however, a point-blank rifle flat-out beats a submachinegun. The rounds burst through the helo crewman while Davis is slammed in the chest by a family of hammerblows. He staggers back, coughing. Hadiya, some sort of manifestation of Davis' subconscious, his memory, and his current intentions, steps into the Black Hawk and double-taps the pilot. Kao pulls his Sylar trick once more and rips the gunner out of the slightly-too-small-for-him side window with invisible force. The Emperor helps Davis into the helo, pushing him towards the pilot's seat. Kao slides into the neighboring seat.
"Go! Feel our enemy and take us towards it!"
Davis feels it too - however the demon is plumbing his thoughts, it's just run out of roadmap. Davis is off the track, over the edge, outside the lines. Here there be dragons.
Davis powers up the helicopter's engines and takes it up into the air. He tries to figure out a way to diffuse his attention away from keeping the helicopter in the air so he can focus on finding a direction towards the demon, when he hits upon an idea.
He looks over to Kao. "Kao, unless you know how to fly one of these, you gotta get in the back. Keep looking out for anything hostile coming our way and take it out if it gets too close." He then looks over his shoulder to Hadiya. "I need you to get into the copilot's seat, azizam. You keep this thing in the air while I try to guide us in the direction we need to go, alright?"
Once the trade has been made, Davis closes his eyes and focuses on finding where the demon's resistance is strongest. He bumps the helicopter in a circle until he gets the strongest push-back, and then follows it, weaving in and out of the resistance like a shark following a scent trail.
With some trepidation, Angel, Luis, Arketta, and Ngawai fall back a few chambers to the Gateroom, leaving the chemlights spread out to where the team's darkness-adjusted eyes can just barely make out a handful of rooms "downrange".
After an hour with no sign or sound of the creature, Swims-the-Black stirs again. Groaning, the alien tries to sit up but lies back again. Davis hasn't moved much aside from eyes darting beneath closed lids. Sweat beads dot his forehead.
While Swims is filled in the situation and Luis checks his wounds, Angel inventories the team's gear. He figures they can hole up for a day with the rations they have, and then if the demon hasn't killed them or been killed itself, the remaining day of rations should hopefully last long enough to explore the complex and find some way out. Ammo shouldn't be a problem yet, although Angel realizes they should keep some rounds in reserve; the gunpowder might be useful as a firestarter if they run out of chemlights.
Angel hears a noise outside the room, and when Luis and Ngawai perk up he knows it's not just his ears playing tricks. The thing isn't relying on shock and awe anymore, not like last time with its amped-up freight train impression. It's close but it's not on them just yet.
---
Davis takes the Black Hawk up and away from the village. He can't stop checking to see that Hadiya's in the copilot's seat and not rushing back into the village, rifle chattering away. The Emperor looks out over Davis' landscape from the side door of the helicopter.
The chopper climbs as Davis follows the demon's trail. It's leading him into a fog bank or low clouds, and soon the Black Hawk flies through murky gray nothing. The clouds shift, their soft blurry outlines becoming harsher, sharper, until they buffet the helo with razor edges. The chopper's controls shift as well - the instruments contort, their edges forming angles that hurt Davis' head when he looks at them. The round horizon display scribes a circle on the instrument panel that's more than 360 degrees. The hands on the altimeter form an angle that's both acute and obtuse.
The Black Hawk stops being a helicopter and just shreds into math. Davis and Kao hit something that shudders and breaks. They feel jostled, then they're back on solid ground in what looks like a honeycomb of smooth-sided chambers. They feel the walls more than see them, escept for the faintest green light a few chambers ahead. A quadrapedal beast stalks along the chamber walls, jet black, equine head ringed with teeth.
It stops short as Davis and Kao appear. Claws where there were once stealthy footpads scrape across the chamber floor, the only indication it's noticed the newcomers.
Hadiya's on Davis' six. She racks the bolt on her rifle and nods to Davis.
Davis keeps his rifle lowered, but ready, and drops his voice to a whisper. "Okay, everyone just stay cool. We're heading towards the chem lights over there. I'll keep on the closest side to...whatever the fuck that thing is. Kao, you knock it back if it charges at us, and Hadiya, you keep behind us and we'll fill the fucker with bullets if it moves. Ready? Move."
Angel's stopped listening to his radio, but Luis and the others hear English from their comm equipment now. Faint whispers in a familiar voice. On the ground where he collapsed earlier, Davis' lips are moving softly. He's not talking, but there is some sign of movement, conscious or not.
*Okay, everyone just stay cool. We're heading towards the chem lights over there. I'll keep on the closest side to...whatever the fuck that thing is. Kao, you knock it back if it charges at us, and Hadiya, you keep behind us and we'll fill the fucker with bullets if it moves. Ready? Move.*
Angel crouches low, keeping his rifle up and scanning for targets, keeping to the shadows. Waiting - the creature will come, or it will flirt with the light threshold some more - but either way, eventually it'll play its hand.
Even through the radio crackle, Luis thinks he rocognizes the voice, and glances at the prone Davis. Odd, he thinks. He keys his radio, trying to match the low volume of the original transmission. If this really is Davis, there's no doubt he's involved in some stealthy spook shit and there's no good to come of making too much noise. "Stanhill to Davis. Did not copy your last, please repeat."
Davis hears Luis's voice emanate from the demon, a soft radio crackle accompanying the message. The Emperor hears it too, but clearly doesn't understand the English.
The demon crouches closer to the chem lights, making a pad pad tick pad as it stalks. It's clearly wounded, and one limb strains to carry the thing's weight. As Davis, Hadiya, and Kao keep their distance, the creature turns to face them. Its head has no easily identifiable features, save for a vertically-oriented line of glossy bumps and the aforementioned toothy maw. The thing's teeth blur as it comes round. It regards them with an almost curious angle to its head.
*It's right in front of us,* Davis says. *It's looking...right...at...us.* Davis readies his rifle to snap up at any moment, and feels Hadiya do the same behind him. *Go left out of where you have the chem lights lit up, two chambers down, you'll see it. It's injured, come quickly, preferably before it tries to eat us.* Davis taps on Kao's shoulder. "Backup should be on the way shortly, Kao."
punkey
