RP: Cirrus Station [Episode 4] A Pleasant Dinner

There was barely any time to react.

Definitely not enough to do anything about it all.

The barrel, George, his voice, the report of his rifle, all combined together into turning the world into nothingness.

Well, not nothingness. There was a lot of red, after all.

Keziah screamed, a short involuntary sound, clearly heard through the rest of the field. Immediately, her face flushed with embarrassment. Not that anyone would've been able to see it through the red that coated her face and goggles.

Two of the shots had hit her square in the face, the third just barely going wide and splattering against the wall mere inches from her head. She fell backwards, more surprised than hurt, and pressed her hand against the wall for support.

"Ow..." was all she could muster as she pulled her goggles off and pressed her hand to her cheek. She'd have an incredibly bruised face soon, and the thought didn't appeal to her.

"Bah-bah-bah-BINGO!" George said as he pumped his fist in triumph. He quickly hopped down off of Lenny's back and checked the corner. Lenny looked just as surprised as Keziah, arms still raised over his head.

"Wow George, you sure got her," Lenny complimented his smaller counterpart.
"Sure did Lenny. Oh, uh, sorry 'bout that sweetheart," George apologized quickly. "That's the game, right? Heh heh."

George was pretty proud though. He knew Lenny well enough to figure exactly what would happen were if the big lug was left alone long enough. And by telling Lenny that he was going elsewhere and secretly hitching a ride on the giant's back, George ensured that the ID-SOL wouldn't reveal his secret at the worst possible time. Right now, however, he was much more worried about the (rather surprising) scream Keziah had let out; chances were the others would be hot on his tail.

"Alright Lenny, common, the exit is thattaway," George motioned back into the maze...in the complete opposite direction. Lenny nodded gleefully and trotted down the hallway, with George following closely behind.

Serra, not being one for gunplay, was still where she started, behind the two barricades that formed a cut off L right in front of the Red side tag zone. She did hear Kaz's very girly screach before, and made a mental note to tease her about it later.

Keziah watched them dart off, feeling stupid for having been caught off-guard. Not that she could've done much better, the smaller man was good at hiding if nothing else.

Still, she wanted badly to get him back, if just to trade bruises.

And humiliation. She was certain everyone had heard her scream.

She stalked out of the maze, her face and hair smeared bright red, rifle raised up above her head in surrender as she turned towards her end of the field.

Normally, if it had been the normal noises of shooting and some hitting their mark, Claire would have stayed watching the side entrance to the maze. However, between the tone of voice from Keziah's scream and the -very- close proximity it was to her, she got up and cautiosly moved around the corner. She noticed Keziah leaving and observed the red stains on the wall to her right... Had she a moment to spare, she might have offered Keziah a word of comfort, but as it was, the voices were still fairly loud when she had started moving again.

She moved forward and crouched next to the corner, pausing only a second before rounding it and aiming her rifle. Assuming Lenny and George were still in that hallway, (And it was likely, considering Lenny was the one setting the pace.) She would take her shot at George. She wasn't sure if it was him or Lenny who got Keziah, but seeing as how Lenny already had splashes of blue on him, he probably was already hit.

So now George became the target of Claire's ire and her shots.

As Claire prepared to fire her rifle at the slow-paced duo, George spun around and yelped in surprise. Of course, he had prepared for an attack from the rear but the surprise itself still shook him up a little. As the paint flew, George squatted low and pushed off of the floor, sliding on his rump straight between Lenny's massive legs and stood upright once more. Lenny looked surprised for a moment, then turned around to see what George was hiding from. A few of Claires shots splattered against Lenny's legs and groin...but Lenny didn't seem to feel anything from the shots. Quite the contrary, the big fellow giggled a little as one of them slammed into his stomach.

Suddenly, it was plainly obvious to those observing why George was deliberately leading Lenny in the wrong direction; the huge dimwitted ID-SOL took up most of the small, cramped maze corridors with his enormous frame. By standing behind Lenny and ordering him in the direction of the "wait zone", George essentially had a moving shield...and he knew it.

"Oops! My bad Lenny! The exit is actually thattaway," George said grinning slyly as he hid himself away behind Lenny's girth, his rifle at the ready.

Lenny, as trusting as ever of his smaller counterpart, nodded, smiled, and started moving towards the corner Claire was positioned at.

Deacon had heard the scream and quickly made a move to see what would have made a blood curtling sound. When he saw that it was Lenny and George, he became conflicted. On one hand, he wanted to keep George in the game, because they shared a common bond. But at the other side of that coin was the realization that they were enemies, and that meant that bonds would have to be broken.

Curling his lip slightly, the Kohanian got down on all fours and planned his move. He looked to his right and left, making note of the walls, then up to see if there was anything above them to form a ceiling, or if there was anyone on top of the walls. Once all this had been evaluated, he stared straight at the ID SOL and his friend, then to Claire. He would only get one chance at this, and that meant it had to count...

In a flash, Deacon was out of his hiding place, running in an odd three legged stance while his right hand held Lenny's rifle. When he was within about fifteen feet, he stopped his run, but slid the rifle out in front of him, trying to aim it to slide right between the large male's legs, and possibly, if he got extremely lucky, slip either George or Lenny up...All he needed was an opening...

The game had truly begun now, sounds of stainball guns firing in all directions as well as the occasional scream. Stovaa, however, remained impeccably calm. Mainly because nothing had really happened over his side.

"Isaac, eh? I'm Stovaa, pleased to meet..." the hulking Id-Sol began before being distracted by the movement of the barriers in the middle, forming an unusual pattern. Must be random movement, they've been going before. Not this fast though...

Then he heard it. The unmistakable sound of either a water balloon hitting a wall or large breasts hitting someone in the face, barely audible above the occasional sounds of gunfire and shuffling feet, but still there. Stovaa aimed his rifle at the end of the barricade walls, looking for movement. A pair of goggles edged above the cover, seeming to loom out at him. Instinctively, his finger snapped onto the trigger, sending a volley of ink blots soaring towards the target.

Isaac nodded at his response, at least he had met somebody on this station. He watched as Stovaa readied his rife to aim at something and he went along with it, aiming his pistol where he was going to, shooting when he did. Isaac wasn't too sure what to do, but he had an idea that, Stovaa knew.

As the sleek-looking weapon Deacon tossed slide across the floor, it made an all-too-obvious scratching noise as it traveled down the hallway. George immediately spotted it as he and Lenny turned the corner, Lenny to hopefully find his way out of the maze while George hopefully pursuing Claire with his mobile barrier. While the smaller Nepleslian was quite prepared to dodge Deacon's hazardous pitfall, Lenny was far too busy being distracted by the tickles hitting his stomach to notice. Deacon's aim had been slightly off; the large ID-SOLs clumsy step found itself on the weapon, and with a gasp of confusion and the crack of bending mechanisms and broken glass the towering figure began to tumble backwards.

George didn't expect that. "WHOA WHOA LENNY!" He shouted as he put his shoulder against Lenny's flanks and tried to correct the falling mountain's correlation to the floor. However, the weight difference was too great, and George figured this out moment too late. As Lenny fell backwards, George attempted to leap back out of harm's way, but was just shy of his goal; Lenny's begoggled head landed on George's torso with a hefty "OOF!". After the low rumble of Lenny's enormous figure settled, George found himself pinned beneath his confused companion with a mound of bent and broken metal at Lenny's feet.

"Lenny! LENNY! GET OFFA ME!" The small, trapped Nepleslian yelled, unsucessfully pushing away at the top of Lenny's noggin. George still had his weapon, however, tucked away on his shoulder. He was now more vulnerable, but still very dangerous...and the Blue Team's window of opportunity became directly related to just how much time Lenny would take to rise again.

---

Cassefin, in her new and conveniently-formed fortified position, peaked her head out just in time to see the end of Stovaa's gun release a barrage of streaking blue dots. The Head Administrator yelped in surprise, pulled her body back down below the barriers just before the stainballs whizzed past her barricade and spattered harmlessly on the opposing walls of the arena. Cassefin ducked down with such force, in fact, that her ample bosom followed her downwards...and immediately bounced back up, striking her yet again on her unprotected chin. She release the front of her rifle and clasped her hand over her mouth, surprised and confused at first and then furious a moment later when she realized just what had hit her.

After some growls and mumbles (and a few snorts and nervous chuckles from the few spectators focusing on the Administrator), Cassefin disappeared from view for a moment behind the safety and privacy of the freshly-formed barricades. A few moments later, she reemerged and quickly returned fire across the teacup spinners...her once impressive chest now reduced back to their normal sizes.

One could suppose that this was, in a very special Cassefin Montreal fashion, her way of 'getting serious.'

After the scream, Jen reminded still not really sure who was the one screaming, nor if it would be an advantage for her, Stay calm, focus, remember your survival training, she thought to herself. Though once she heard shots being made she crept around the right side of her barrier. Her nerves were on fire knowing that action was going on where she was, and felt she had to act now, can't just sneak forever, I'd be the only one left that way!

She reached the bottom right corner of her box cover, then dashed out toward the left of the map, she kept careful eye of her opponent's location, giving only covering fire if she was noticed. Jen then found cover on a random wall ducking there she would assess the situation.

Wiping at the paint didn't seem to help matters much, it just smeared everywhere on her suited hand. At least neither her hair or face were vulnerable to becoming red-er. She needed a shower, but something told her that that wouldn't happen anytime soon.

She sat off the field, close to the perpetually unresponsive Dream. It was disconcerting, seeing her so involved in whatever was going on in her head, but she knew better than to bug the 'Spacer. So instead she turned towards the field, and watched, while she pulled her gloves off and ran her hands through her hair, trying desperately to make it less horrible and probably failing harshly.

Claire knew an opportunity when she saw one. She rushed forward behind Deacon and began firing at George. Though slightly miffed that Lenny had broken her teammates weapon, she would worry about it in a moment. She aimed as well as she could while moving, but as many shots as she fired, she likely hit Lenny a few times as well. Not that she cared at this point.

She had a slight idea for something to do for Deacon, but it'd have to wait till she was sure that her two antagonists were down and out for the game.

As Cassefin ducked below the barrier and was promptly hit in the face by her ginormous chesticles (probably not real words), Stovaa laughed along with the spectators. He shouted across to her, still pumping fire towards her hiding place.

"When you've spent as much time amongst the depths of Funky City as me, the sound of breasts slapping is one you'll have ingrained into your mind..." he bellowed, loud enough to echo across the arena. He glanced sideways at Isaac, hidden well enough that Cassefin's paintballs weren't likely to hit him.

"Isaac, you think you can try to get her from another angle?" Pop pop pop went the paintballs against the walls. "This is going nowhere fast, but if we can flank her, she's toast..."

His attention turned back to where he was shooting, pausing to check the ammo and gauge the target.

After Stovaa's tasteful remark finished circulating around the room a low growl slowly began wafting from Cassefin's fortified position. This growl, barely above a rumbling stomach, quickly escalated into a full-blown cry of rage as the Head Administrator popped back up from behind the barricade. Whether it be from the rather embarrassing idea that Stovaa had seen her mishap or the following anger-inducing comment, at this point it was difficult to tell the shade of her face from the deep red of her goggles, hair and stripes on her uniform. Cassefin flung her weapon forwards towards Stovaa's hidden position and let loose a returning flurry of her own, seeming to ignore Isaac, who was lurking near his position, and Jen who also seemed to be moving more further down the field.

This time would be different for Stovaa, however. As the angered Administrator rose from her roost the reliable knee-high wall Stovaa had stashed himself behind quickly sunk into the ground, leaving the large fellow high and dry in the open. And if the wall of polished, proudly-displayed marksmanship competition trophies on Cassefin's wall held any substance, Stovaa was also in for some very accurate enemy fire.

---

Deacon and Claire rushed towards George quick enough to put some extreme worry on the pinned Nepleslian. With a heavy grunt, George was able to push up Lenny's upper body at a sharp enough angle to receive a tiniest bit of cover from Claire's hail of paint-filled hurt. The shots battered Lenny's chest and begoggled face, covering his goggles completely in the process as he grunted in confusion.

"Ack! Gah! God dammit Lenny, get up already!" was all that George could say as he struggled to both keep Lenny's body propped up for cover and at the same time slide out...but the sheer weight of her companion made both of these actions at once impossible. Preoccupied as he was, George did not have any attempts to fire back at his advancing foes as he wriggled and twisted away at his (quickly falling asleep under the weight) trapped legs.

Kez's scream, George's voice, and the following conflict between Red and Blue both within the maze and near the Teacup area both happened very quickly. Not too quickly for Tweak to follow, but fast enough that she didn't really have time to plan anything for them. And it seemed both sets of her teammates were doing just fine besides.

George was now found, and she quickly tagged his scent trail and position within the playing field before she lost him again. The sly player was using his own buddy as a shield, she noted with a slight annoyance, wasn't that considered cheating since the IDSOL wasn't even supposed to be on-field? Probably as much "cheating" as Cassifin's control over the barriers in mid-field. All in all, though, no one seemed to need her assistance.

Then Tweak noticed a heat sig that hadn't really moved in the last...well, nearly since the game began. The tag over it read "Lorcan", and she could hear breathing from it so she knew it wasn't a phantom like the one she used to label as George. Leaving her dead-end safe zone, Tweak slipped out into the central maze corridor and out the Red-side exit as the others did battle on the Blue end of the maze. Silently, she poked her head around the corner and spotted Lorcan....just standing there. She frowned and ducked back behind the corner, keeping her gun's muzzle pointed at the corner in case he decided to rush her.

"Hey? Are you playing?"

Isaac nodded at Stovaa's suggestion and bended himself to a half-prone position, attempting to get himself as low to the ground as possible, while still being able to move at a steady pace. He took a deep breath and begin to move to the right of the Head Administrator's location. Yet, at the same time, she began open fire on the two blue's position. This halted Isaac for a moment, before he took another breath and moved his way away from the fired, to the side moreso.

As soon as Isaac had touched the tea cup obsticle, he braced himself around the edges and trailed back around it, to the Head Administrator's location. He stopped his body before he became visible on the right side of the tea cup. Another deep breath, breath in, breath out. As soon as he had finished that thought, he forced his lower body above the tea cup's rim and aiming for a moment at Cassefin, unloading the rest of the ammo at her in a blind barrage of paint balls. He hopped to anything out there, that while she was distracted, his ammunition would strike her body, or possibly her head.

... Heh, head shot.

For a few moments, Stovaa's face was a mask of childish amusement, watching Cassefin's scarlet face rise from behind the barricade as he kept popping off shots. But only a few, because immediately afterwards, the wall he was hiding behind fell into the floor, and he felt a lot less confident. And a lot more vulnerable. His mind felt as if it paused time, mulling over what he could try to do and how much time he'd have.

Before he could reach a good decision, time sped up and he found himself getting to his feet and firing off a few final shots towards Cassefin's torso and face before her deluge plastered his face and torso with paint, coating his visor as well, leaving the world a multi-coloured kalaidoscope to him.

He stood, unmoving, totally silent through the storm of paint, speaking only once. "...Fraggin' hell... you quite finished?"

Deacon had waited to see if anyone else was going to help him out, finding that no one had the angle to hit the pinned enemy, the Kohanian would take matters into his own hands...paws...whatever.

Bracing himself, he decided to use a move that he had learned during fighting and survival training on his home planet. He rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck, and then ran right at the wall that ran parallel to George's hiding place, and without a moments hesitation, he actually ran up that wall, and since there was no ceiling with which to deal, he soon pulled himself up onto it, and began to fire down from a higher position. The plan was simple, either he would hit the Nepleslian, or would be one hell of a good distraction so someone else would take care of it for him.

He didn't care one way or the other, he just knew that something had to be done, and perhaps a non conformist style would be just what the blues needed.

Seeing George struggle and Deacon pressing the attack (In his own style which Claire seemed approving of), Claire moved up too in hopes of taking down the pinned red team member. Her shots aimed at what she could see of George, that becoming more as she approached. She had quite enough of this charade and was slightly eager to move on from the maze to assist the rest of her team.

That and she wanted to avenge Keziah's humiliation from this creep. She never said it before, but she really didn't have that much of a problem with Lenny. He was rather harmless after all. George though... She moved up quicker, continuing to fire whether or not she had already hit him. (Had to make sure, you know.)