|
Post by Marshmallow on Jan 4, 2018 6:43:47 GMT -6
The woman continued to stammer and prattle on, but he had turned a deaf ear to her attempts at negotiation. The WDSA had made their intentions crystal clear so far as he was concerned, and they were far from peaceful. This was only further confirmed by the threats made against his precious specimens.
"Put down!?" the doctor cried in offense, whirling on the gargoyle. His face contorted with rage. "Hurrensohn! You vouldn't dare! Zis vork ist vital! It could save an entire species from extinction!" he spat, and there was a righteous anger burning in his gaze as he stared Stenson down.
There was a thump. Walter glanced back with a frown, though his spectral eye never left the grey beast. The sound was abruptly followed by a screech, and a heavy crash and clatter as his work table was suddenly upturned by the other agent. His eye went wide and he darted a few steps forward uselessly; all of his samples and tools and notes were scattered and smashed before he could even reach out with his thoughts. A wordless cry of utter rage and anguish tore itself from the mad doctor's throat as several hours' worth of work was undone in an instant.
The former human's lips twisted in a snarl, and he stared Aaron down as the agent rushed toward him. His left eye burned bright - almost literally it seemed, as the skin around the dark socket was beginning to flush an angry red as though scalded. Shimmers of blue tightened around the ankles and shins of the gargoyle and tugged sharply backward to trip him up, slow him down. But the human, the agent that had shot at him, that had the gall to smash his hard work, was his primary focus. The field of his telekinesis closed in a shimmering haze of blue around the man's body. Pressure squeezed at Aaron from every angle, willed him into the air, turned him head over heels... And then sent him sailing as if cast from a catapult, right into the wall of muscle and talon that was his partner.
Then he was sprinting. He needed distance from these agents, needed higher ground, needed cover. The doctor reached a wall and scaled the vertical surface like a gecko, pulling himself up into the tangled skeleton of ducts and supports of the ceiling. With one more extension of his will, he pulled the plug for the generator powering the lights in the room, plunging them all into darkness.
|
|
|
Post by tsukikoko on Jan 20, 2018 20:16:44 GMT -6
Sara found herself shoved down behind the cover of a table before she even had time to blink, the familiar and urgent voice of Aaron sounding in her ear for only a moment before he was vaulting over the impromptu barrier and charging for the doctor. She nearly went to rise, to assist, but the agent's words reverberated around in her skull before she could; she needed to stay down, keep out of sight. The shifter had already placed her friends in danger while they had been in this place, the last thing either Stenson or Aaron needed was to be watching out for her as well.
Already she could hear the sounds of a scuffle, a body colliding with another in a heavy thump. Grunts of pain and exertion that most certainly had not come from the doctor. But still she resisted the urge to lift her head above the barrier. Instead her gaze fell upon the blockade Hahn had created over the door Stenson had punched through, a chill running over her skin as she thought about what lay on the other side. While the doctor was most certainly a danger, so too were the myriad of creatures crawling through the factory. The mimics had not yet reached them, but surely it would only be a matter of time before they broke through the barrier, or found another way into this room. Sara knew she couldn't shift to fight them, given the potentially deadly repercussions even touching a mimic could have on her.
But she couldn't just sit here and do nothing.
Think, think, do something! The shifter looked frantically around herself, eyes roving over the shattered equipment, scattered chemical containers and remains of scientific research thrown hapharzardly across the floor around her. One chemical bottle in particular, about a foot or so away from her makeshift cover, caught Sara's eye. Or at least, the label on said bottle. Of course, Hahn would have surely been conducting cell research, much as she would do with an entity such as the mimics, who interacted with and enveloped other biological matter the way they did. She could use these.
Just as Sara turned onto her hands and knees, ready to peek out and grab what materials should could, the sound of scrabbling reached the woman's ears. It was almost like... something crawling on the walls. She nearly shrieked, hands clamping over her mouth to stop the sound as she fell back against the table. Had the mimics gotten in already?!
Her heart thundered in her chest, skin rippling with a change she barely managed to prevent. She mustn't shift. Now, finally, she spun round and looked over the table. She had to know what was in here. Only, when the shifter's gaze turned up towards the ceiling, it wasn't a mimic she saw there. It was Hahn, crouched amongst the debris and tangled metal. She saw him for the span of only a moment, before light suddenly evaporated from the room, save a dull glow, barely maintained and certainly not enough to fill the room as brightly as it had been. Aaron. It must have been Aaron who had saved at least some of the light. A sigh of relief she could not contain escape the crocodile-tailed woman. If nothing else, at least he was alright, otherwise he wouldn't be able to hold the light. But she could no longer see the doctor, could barely make out the items she had wanted to collect when she looked around again. There was no telling how long what light remained would last, or when Hahn might strike again, this was not the time to panic. She had to trust the boys would be able to handle themselves. She needed to move.
Hoping she would not be noticed, Sara very slowly made her way around the barrier, reaching out first to grab the chemical she had spied earlier.
|
|
|
Post by Pearl Dragon on Jan 20, 2018 20:47:47 GMT -6
Hahn seemed...more than just a little sensitive at Stenson's test statement against the man's 'pets'. That was both good and bad, which meant that they were definitely far beyond any kind of civil reasoning with the mad scientist.
Stenson then noticed in his peripherals in the very next moment Aaron rush forward to knock the entire table full of scientific equipment over, upending it and spilling its contents onto the ground. Stenson had already begun to charge forward at that moment's distraction, and everything that followed seemed to happen in an instant.
As he rushed forward, something like static-charged air tightened around his ankles and shins before a strong backward pull yanked Stenson's legs out from under him. Thanks to his hunched, half-gallop strides, he was saved from a full forward fall onto the concrete ground, but he did feel his knees collide hard with the floor before his stomach and chest were dragged across the concrete back a short distance the way he'd charged from, front claws scrabbling and digging to find purchase. When the pulling finally ceased, he gathered his back legs underneath of himself, pushing back up with both his arms and the knuckles of his wings to stand once more. He let out a growling 'Hrumph' with a shake of his head and wings before preparing to charge again. However, in seconds, something was hurtling towards him and he struggled to raise long arms to catch whatever it was.
It was Aaron.
Stenson did his absolute best to catch the other agent without accidentally clawing him, although there was little he could do to soften the impact for Aaron. He grumbled an apology and set Aaron down to collect himself, stepping in front of the other man defensively. Darkness engulfed the entire room shortly after, and Stenson looked around to try and spot the mad doctor using his natural nightvision. Something glowed in the darkness, scrabbling across the walls and ceiling, and soon Stenson caught sight of the thin frame of the doctor, crawling like a spider across the top of the room with his ghastly eye illuminating the socket it occupied.
Stenson bared his fangs at the man, widening his wingspan to block Aaron and trying to make himself look like a larger, more imposing target. Sara, it seemed, was hidden for now, and the officer was glad for that. For now, they had little hope of escaping and Stenson intended to give the others the best chance he could if things went from bad to dreadfully worse, as it seems it had already begun to do.
|
|
|
Post by MP on Jan 20, 2018 23:55:26 GMT -6
Hahn stepped forward - actually stepped toward him as the materials crashed and clattered over the floor. Seeing this, Aaron increased his pace, lowering his shoulder to ram the smaller man before Hahn could take notice. A solid hit to the midriff would put the doctor down and off his feet before any real harm could be done - avoid the risk of any hidden weapons or projectiles or -
A flicker of blue. Aaron lurched to a stop, a sound of alarm dying in his throat as the air pressed in around him. Hahn's gaze was on him, the one eye a sickly, burning blue. The telekinesis, he thought. The damn telekinesis - He struggled futilely as he was lifted off his feet but could do nothing to stop it. With a stomach-twisting twist he was pulled off his feet and hurled toward the charging gargoyle. He caught a flash of fangs, of outstretched claws, and his only thought in the moment before impact was to pray that he wouldn't be impaled in the landing.
He struck the gargoyle with a dull sound, the breath whooshing from his lungs. But he struck back-first, not with head or shoulders, and the claws came curling around him the next instant, securing. He was lowered carefully to the floor, winded but unscathed thanks to the reinforced coat and Stenson's own reflexes. They muttered simultaneous apologies, Aaron's with a slightly wheezing quality, and then there was no more time for talk. The background hum of the generator guttered abruptly out.
His reaction was less conscious than instinctive. Aaron, hearing the sound and feeling the sudden absence in his magic, put out a hand. The panels were already out, but he caught the fading glow of the nearest two. Their light froze in a screen around the dead bulbs, flickering a little as his control slipped, then holding steady. Not much to see by. But enough. Aaron gritted his teeth. His thoughts were muddy, unfocused. He forced them to attention, ignoring a pounding headache as he got to his feet. Where was Hahn? Where was Sara? The agent turned, back to back with the gargoyle as he scanned the room to get his bearings. His movements were uncoordinated, distracted. Holding the lights to this degree was a noticeable strain.
|
|
|
Post by Marshmallow on Feb 3, 2018 20:43:51 GMT -6
Lithe, agile and inhumanly flexible, Hahn weaved his way through the supports, ducts and dangling cables of the ceiling like a spider in its web. His movements were near silent, relying on the pads of his palms and feet rather than his claws for grip.
His human eye was all but blind in the darkness, but the spectral eye cut through the gloom. The latent heat of the room and its occupants, and the subtle vibrations of sound rippled across his vision. He could see his adversaries below clearly, while he himself twisted around and inside the cover of old ventilation systems. They still had that rifle, and while he doubted the effectiveness of their darts, it was a gamble he would rather avoid. He'd cut the lights, and while two of the agents at least looked human, he could not be entirely certain of their capabilities. It was annoying enough that the big one's gaze had followed him despite the darkness. But he had a lot of cover to hide behind and inside; unless the thing could see through steel, he was confident he could evade it.
There was a dim glow hovering around two of his lamps; he saw the aura of magic more clearly than the light itself. So, his opponents would not be left completely blind. The development intrigued him more than anything. He kept his gaze on the source of the aura - the blonde human - as he picked his way across the ceiling and through the duct segments.
He whispered softly to himself as he moved, taking mental notes of his observations, a scientist even when under siege.
"First subjekt appears human. Photomancy. Ozer possible abilities unknown. Armed."
"Large creature of unknown shpecies. Obfious physical shtrength. Appears to haff functional low-light fision. Beastial tendencies, usink body language, opening of vings for threat display. Flight capabilities unknown."
"Zee voman dishplays clear intellect. Altered physique, possible shplicer, possible non-human. Male subjekts fery defensive of female."
Hahn knew that he could not take the larger super in a brawl. But it appeared to be quite protective of its allies. The human male appeared rather disoriented by the throw and abruptly diminished vision. The female... was up to something. She was on the move, slowly. He watched her thermal silhouette pulling itself across the floor, searching. If anyone understood the inherent threat of intelligent minds, it was the Doctor. He would have to deal with the woman. But as the magic-user was the one possessing the rifle, he was priority one. If he could get close enough, all it would take was a quick sting to remove the man and his weapon from the equation. Perhaps he could force them to separate...
His telekinesis reached out, the faint glimmer wrapping around his overturned table. The beast and the agent were protecting each other; no one was guarding the female. The table scraped across the floor as it was turned, and then rose into the air. It flipped broad-side down and thrust itself at the odd-tailed woman as though she were a pesky insect to be crushed.
Anticipating that the agents would be distracted by the attack and likely jump to their companion's aid, Hahn crept quickly and quietly out of the ducts and across one of the rafters, positioning himself above the rifle-toting human. He'd wait until the man's attention was diverted, and in that moment swing himself from the support beams, stinger uncoiled and ready to strike, aimed precisely to slip into the underarm gap in the man's tactical gear.
|
|
|
Post by tsukikoko on Mar 20, 2018 12:17:10 GMT -6
Ever since the most of the light had died, Sara's skin prickled with the unease sense of being watched. Hunted. All her senses were on high alert, every tiny sound a potential danger to assess. She wanted to shift, replace her ill-equiped human senses with something more suited to the environment. But Aaron's warning still rang in her head, the risk should she shift and come into physical contact with the mimics. Not only that, Hahn hopefully didn't know she was a shifter. Knowledge was power, so it was best he not find out. So she held her nerve. Her fingertips scraped against smooth glass.
Something screeched against the concrete floor behind her.
Sara whirled around, pulling the bottle she had located against herself in the process. She couldn't really see, didn't register exactly what the incoming danger was, but knew (even without the cacophony of instincts from the creatures residing within her genetic code) that she needed to move. "Bloody-" Was all the shifter managed to say before she threw herself into a sprawling roll, just about catching sight of the table as it loomed out of the darkness to hit her. One edge clipped her tail with a meaty 'thwack' and a few crystals of glass scraped up her body from where she landed, but otherwise she avoided injury. With no time to think, powered by a rising tide of instincts, Sara scrabbled into a half-crouch and all but ran towards the nearest large silhouette she could make out in the gloom.
She turned her back to it, slamming herself perhaps a little too hard against the metal of a long-dead piece of machinery. Her skin rippled furiously, her breath came in quick bursts, but Sara kept herself human. In her trembling hands she still held the, luckily undamaged, chemical bottle to her chest, but had no idea if it was the right one, or if she would be able to make use of it.
Then, out of her peripherals, Sara's eyes fed back information to her; someone was approaching and bringing illumination with them. Given there was only one person that could be, Aaron must have been on the move, trying to regroup with her perhaps. The shifter's head turned towards him, "Aaron, no! Stop!" She called out as quickly and urgently as she could. After all, the table had been thrown with such accuracy, Hahn must have known exactly where she was despite the dark; there was no point staying quiet now. Far more important, was that she warn them. "Look up! I saw 'im on the ceiling before!"
|
|
|
Post by Pearl Dragon on Mar 22, 2018 18:12:22 GMT -6
The man, or creature, began to weave in and out of the ductwork and vents. Stenson's upturned gaze zigzagged and searched frantically to follow the Doctor's movements and path, but soon enough Hahn had lost him as he disappeared completely. Stenson's head and muzzle turned this way and that, nostrils flaring in heavy, huffing breaths, and ears swiveling to try and catch any sound when suddenly a table upturned and threw itself in Sara's direction. Stenson started as if to try and stop the object, but Sara had already thrown herself to the side, narrowly missing the impact before darting over to a large piece of machinery.
It was just as he'd leaned forward every so slightly in a reactionary attempt to catch the table that he'd left Aaron partially exposed. Something leapt from the shadows overhead straight at the human agent and Stenson turned towards the movement with an outstretched, clawed hand aimed to swat the figure from the air mid-fall. If he succeeded, he would wrap taloned fingers around the thin frame of the Doctor and attempt to slam him to the ground in a pin however best he could, or at least knock him away from Aaron and whatever it was he planned to do if he collided with the agent. This man didn't seem to need to get in close to fight, so it alarmed Stenson that he would try to pounce the way he did....what was he planning?
[Sten's attempt: 10]
|
|
|
Post by MP on Jun 5, 2018 17:14:59 GMT -6
[Aaron's defense: 11; attack: 18]
As Aaron crossed the room, half crouched and keeping close to the walls, he heard three things simultaneously. The first was a weighted scuff that could only be the sound of Stenson's claws. The second was Sara's warning, urgent and clear, the meaning registering a second later. The third was subtler, only half heard as Aaron turned to scan the rafters. It sounded like the brush of fabric, like a faint rush of air. That was the only warning he had before something swung into range of the light, features ghoulishly illuminated as it leaped at him.
The movement was too quick for a yelp, or even alarm. Aaron's eyes widened. The glow wobbled and bled as his concentration slipped, almost snuffing out as he skidded to a knee to try and duck the striking tail. The rifle came up in the same movement, training on the doctor with the speed of adrenaline and drilled reflex. He fired a single retaliatory dart, hoping that at either his armor or the barrel of the rifle would divert Hahn's strike - that the doctor was too focused and too fixed in his momentum to catch the missile.
The puff of the rifle was drowned out by an impact against the door. Outside, there was a grating scream as something massive and clawed began to scrabble at the door. The barrier held for now, but one could see the dart and flutter of many smaller limbs where the door was imperfectly aligned.
|
|