albatross
Player
Omega Shield game master
Posts: 2,021
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Post by albatross on Jul 5, 2012 5:56:44 GMT -5
Tiger nodded, "Couldn't sleep." She is tense, but she takes a deep breath and let's it out slowly, probably a martial arts technique for concentration.
For the next couple hours Rock moves into position. When he reaches a couple miles from the edge of the demon's kill radius, Tiger says, "Ok, bring up you shield." Rock is a northwest of the creature now, to gauge its reaction to Rock opening his shield and also to delay it.
"Right," Rock concentrates briefly and sensors light up all over the command center, "shield up." Immediately the demon changes course and its ETA grows as it changes direction away from the hidden base.
"Run north for a bit," Tiger says and Rock complies. The demon follows, each step taking it the wrong direction from the base, adding time. But eventually it starts to close the gap. "It is faster," Tiger mutters under her breath.
Just before the demon's killing radius overtakes Rock, Tiger commands, "Turn around and start circling, when you get in close, trip the demon."
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Post by dakota on Jul 11, 2012 5:06:56 GMT -5
Khris yawned as he moved to stand by Tiger as she gave their trainee instructions. He knew no one would fault him for going for some sleep, but he stayed put. He looked at one of the monitoring team members, "Is someone tracking the other two demons? We need to know if this one calls for reinforcements."
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albatross
Player
Omega Shield game master
Posts: 2,021
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Post by albatross on Jul 11, 2012 17:24:30 GMT -5
Technicians call up the relevant screens for Khris to see. "No change in the other two, sir."
Rock attacks, circling in, the huge robot moving fast and fluid just like Rock when sparring. His tripping attack is flawless, and the Demon hits the ground with a thunderous crash like a building toppling over, thankfully muted in the Command Center.
The Demon struggles up as Rock rains stomps and kicks down on it. Inexorable, the thing shakes off Rock and his giant robot. It appears undamaged. Rock tries again, but this time the Demon manages to keep its feet.
"Try a joint lock," Tiger says calmly. Rock does, but the Demon is somehow able to rip its arm free. Rock gets creative, throwing the Demon in a body flip throw, but the thing is so heavy the robot can't toss it far and the move seems slow and sluggish.
"Keep trying," Tiger says. "Try other locks. Back up and try to tackle it." Rock easily weaves and ducks away from the Demon's flailing grasp and attacks again and again in every way he can think of.
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Post by dakota on Jul 17, 2012 7:09:57 GMT -5
Khris watched, feeling rather helpless. " Tigger, anything I can do to help here? I feel like a fifth wheel here in the way."
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albatross
Player
Omega Shield game master
Posts: 2,021
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Post by albatross on Jul 20, 2012 6:37:32 GMT -5
Tiger glances over to Khris and starts to open her mouth, but a tech interrupts.
"His heart skipped a beat." Hearing the technician, Tiger slowly examines the life signs replay monitor among the arrayed displays. "Um, nevermind sir. Its gone now."
Tiger turns her gaze on the main screen for a moment and then reaches down and flips a switch, muting to command center to Rock's audio feed and opening a channel to the recovery teams positioned in the jungle. "Recovery A, pattern is yellow. Recover when the killing field is clear. Recovery B stand by," Tiger says. On the other end the recovery officer says, "Are you sure sir? The readings look fine-"
Tiger flips the switch back and the recovery leader's question sounds from a distant background speaker. Rock can hear them again and Tiger says slowly, "You are doing great Rock." Her tone is strange. Flat, controlled, maybe a little tired.
"Uh, yeah." Rock responds. "I'm going to take this thing down!"
"Yes you are," Tiger says levelly. "Can you disengage beyond the killing field? I'd like to try a new tactic." She holds her breath.
"Uh, um." There is long pause. "I'm not sure. Tell me what to do and I'll see if I can do it from here."
Tiger closes her eyes and exhales. Opening them she says, "Nevermind then. Use your instincts. Be creative. Keep fighting."
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Post by dakota on Jul 30, 2012 3:34:31 GMT -5
Khris watched, not sure what Tiger had seen. He reached across in front of her to toggle the switch, "If he's in trouble get him out of there. We both know he won't stop on his own." He said lowly, just loud enough for Tiger to hear, " We'll come up with something else."
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albatross
Player
Omega Shield game master
Posts: 2,021
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Post by albatross on Aug 1, 2012 20:41:39 GMT -5
Tiger thinks about this, nods and toggles Rock back in, "Move back beyond the killing field. Withdraw." The confidence is back in her voice, for a moment.
There is silence for a long moment. Then Rock says, "This trip will work and then I'll kick it apart."
The tech monitoring vital signs says, "There is a bit of an anomaly." His screen is displaying in the corner, where a waving can be seen in Rock's heart rate.
"Repeat," Tiger says, "Withdraw. Get beyond the killing field."
Again Rock doesn't respond. He grunts as his heart rate see saws wildly, while he is still trying to bring down the demon.
"Rock?" Tiger asks. Her voice is soft, wavering. "Rock?"
Rock's vital signs go haywire and then flatline. The demon leaves. The recovery team moves in. There is silence in the command center. The recovery team says nothing. Tiger stares at the screen in shock.
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Post by dakota on Aug 2, 2012 6:32:19 GMT -5
Khris stared at the monitors in disbeleif, just as he imagined everyone else was. They had all assumed Rock was their best chance, and now...
Though they were normally professional about their relationship in public, he couldn't help drawing Tiger close and holding her as he broke the silence softly. " Don't blame yourself, we both knew the kid would give it everything he had."
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albatross
Player
Omega Shield game master
Posts: 2,021
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Post by albatross on Aug 2, 2012 9:54:11 GMT -5
Tiger embraces Khris and leaves a few drops of tears on his shirt.
After a long moment she stills her trembling. "This isn't over yet," she whispers. "Let's go. They will bring Rock's body to the new base. I want to be be there when they do."
Tiger turns to the command center staff. "Go and help with the evacuation. Dismissed."
As Tiger turns away a small display shows the original eta of the demon and the new eta. Rock bought them 11 minutes and 47 seconds.
Tiger hurries to leave the command center, though she knows leaving changes nothing. She wants to get to the plane and away.
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Post by dakota on Aug 3, 2012 6:12:04 GMT -5
As Tiger started to leave, he looked at the people in the command center. " You heard her. Rock bought you the time to get out of here. don't waste it." He turned and followed after Tiger. Once he was aside her and pacing, he said," If only we could figure that killing field of theres out so we could negate it. If it wasn't for that, we could tear them apart easy."
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albatross
Player
Omega Shield game master
Posts: 2,021
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Post by albatross on Aug 3, 2012 6:56:32 GMT -5
Tiger thought about it for a moment. "The shield worked. Rock lasted longer than anyone and was far more functional. It... it wasn't strong enough. But how can we make it stronger?" She shook her head. "The command center was able to record a lot of data. Maybe Jeckle can find something we are missing."
The team gathers at the plane. Tiger is grateful Dancer and Peacemaker will be traveling with their machines. She isn't ready to face them yet.
Taking off, they depart for Poland. There are backup bases in China and the United States, but the one in China is already overrun and the United States had concerns about the demon crossing the Pacific. So Poland had received a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council in exchange for use of their secret underground base.
The flight from Vietnam to Poland seems to stretch on for eternity. But when they land, Strongbow has strange news.
"Rock has recovered. He is alive." Bel tells Tiger quietly. Tiger hugs her and says, "Thank you."
"Let's go see him." Tiger says, as if she is unwilling to believe the news until she sees Rock.
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Post by dakota on Aug 3, 2012 7:35:35 GMT -5
"He's what?" Khris said in suprise as he overheard the exchange. "How? I thought..., " he didn't bother hiding he was confused.
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albatross
Player
Omega Shield game master
Posts: 2,021
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Post by albatross on Aug 3, 2012 14:57:02 GMT -5
Tiger faces Khris and says, "Rock did indeed die. Among Strongbow's order there are powerful healers. Even they cannot raise the dead by themselves. But they are working in refugee camps - able to draw upon the energy of hundreds of thousands of people. It was.... a backup plan." Tiger sounds a little confused herself, as if unwilling to believe that Rock is really alive.
"This particular plan wasn't my idea." She glances at Strongbow. "Because these kinds of powers have a fail rate. And it was unknown if the demons killing field would be curable. But once Rock died there was no harm in trying."
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Post by dakota on Aug 8, 2012 11:57:42 GMT -5
"Thats....",Khris wasn't himself. He was suddenly speechless. He just looked at Tiger and then Bel in disbelief
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