RP: ISC Phoenix [Mission 4] - Phoenixes, Caduceus and Zombies

Luca managed to fire his shotgun one handed, the lead pellets only scratching Vitriol's tough hide. It was stamping towards Luca with a claw raised. Luca holstered his pistol and jumped between Vitriol's legs, rolling underneath them as his claw came crashing down on the floor. He then noticed something strange on Vitriol's back.
A grey patch that seemed to fade in and out of sight time to time. These occasionally appeared on the thighs, and the back. Luca regarded them as simple markings as he unloaded his shotgun onto Vitriol's back.

This time producing an unexpected response! The lead pellets sunk in, and a screech from Vitriol was produced. Its black blood made a splash on Luca too. Getting his blue jacket now a shade of black, and some of his face the same colour.
"...my dry cleaner is going to get an earful about this." Luca said as he unloaded another shell onto him, but hitting the hide instead and doing minimal damage while moving away, keeping Vitriol focused on him.
"Aim for the grey bits! Its back!" Luca commanded as Vitriol's grin grew wider and wider as it was coming closer towards Luca, who had his shotgun pointed squarely at its head.

Meanwhile, Mitch was heaving the table that was dropped on him and saw that his leader looked as though he was about to become breakfast. He wondered just what his strategy was, but figured out that since his foe was too busy focusing on Luca, Mitch could sneak up from behind and tear into it. He beckoned for Vincent to hold his fire and to come with him with a melee weapon, and to be quiet.
Mitch's machete gleaned, and he too smiled at the prospect.

"What are you staring at?" Luca questioned the emotionless Vitriol as the two were locked in a fierce stare. Vitriol opened its mouth and beared its rows upon rows of razor sharp teeth dripping with saliva for its next meal. Luca was moving backwards slowly to lure it near the broken windows out and into the yard below and the tanks. He kept his shotgun steady.

Vincent nodded in Mitch's directions and pulled out a pair of bladed knuckle dusters, then slipped them over his fingers and followed Mitch.

Vitriol was oblivious to Mitch and Vincent's advance. It was busy, considering just how Luca should die. Slowly and painfully or quick and dirty? It juggled its options.
Luca kept on walking backwards until he eventually bumped into the back wall, but also very close to the howling winds near the shattered windows.

It then threw its claw back and thrust it directly into Luca's chest, or so it seemed! The bones were split apart so as to pin Luca by his clothes to the wall rather than killing him, so he doesn't escape.
Vitriol then opened its gaping maw and gave its prey a lick on the face, just to see how the next meal would go down.
Where the hell are you!? Luca was wondering where Mitch and Vincent were as Vitriol opened its jaws wide - when...

A machete hacking through flesh! A flash of fist hammering meat! Mitch and Vincent were sprayed with its black blood as they hacked away at the grey areas. Vitriol withdrew its claws from the wall screeching in agony, freeing Luca and turned around to try and claw the two, but it seemed to slow down, and melt, having trouble retaining its solid form.

"If you may." Mitch nodded to Luca as he took a step back, "The coup de grace please."

"Gladly, sir." Luca adjusted his position and now stood in front of Vitriol with a wide grin on his face, mixed blood splatters everywhere and a shotgun in hand. He pointed it squarely at Vitriol's weakened head and pulled the trigger. Its head was blown off like jelly and flew out into the firmament. "Suck it down!"
He pulled the lever and fired again, this time sending a portion of its body away, and he did it again and again!

The rest of Vitriol's broken, gelatinous form began to seep away and crawl down the building leaving great black marks, defeated.

"Victory is ours..." Luca announced with a smile as he looked out on the dawn horizon. He spun his shotgun on his finger and slung it over his shoulder in a smooth motion, but then noticed the black gelatinous form of Vitriol crawl up onto one of the containment tanks and reform into its 12 original feet of fear.
Luca immediately buckled for a moment when suddenly a massive explosion happened in the container where Vitriol was standing.

That was where the virus was being cooked! The explosion rocked the landscape for miles and sped up the sunrise. It shattered all of the windows of the facility and the container next to it exploded too, along with most of truck department. The place was in ruins except for the main building. As for Vitriol, who knows where it went?

The blast had knocked Luca and Mitch back into one of the walls and left him on the ground, Mitch was able to free himself from the form fitting crater he'd left in the wall and figured he'd had a few broken bones.
Luca, however, was too tired from the previous events to get out on his own.
"Ah... little help guys? I think I've broken some bones."

"Then you should thank god that we have a medic because I think you're out of luck at broken bones dealing with me." Vincent said, removing his bloody bladed metal knuckles and placing them back in the pockets of his jacket. He was positioned in a corner of the wall, sitting on top of what was once a ceramic flower pot. Aside from a tender aft side and a few cuts and bruises, Vincent was okay.

"Just try not to get hurt any worse and I'll go find Jim." The ID-Sol said, pushing himself to his feet and plodding out of the main office.

Jim was found back in the receptionist's room, keeping an eye on the secretary, who was now rattled by the explosion and wondering just what the hell was going on. Jim was wondering the same thing when he heard the blast.

"Luca's hurt?" Jim answered, "I'll be right over!" He abandoned his post and moved over to Luca, who was still stuck in the wall.
"Hold on a moment. Luca, do your arms hurt?"
"Nope."
"Good, we can pull you out like that. Where does it hurt?"
"Maybe a couple of ribs and a backrub will do me good and I'll be back in action!" Luca remained optimistic on his condition as Jim tried to pull Luca out by grabbing both of his arms and pulling hard. Luca eventually came out with a pop and landed on top of Jim.

"Ouch, thanks." Luca groaned as he heaved himself off and lay down on the floor, breathing heavily and blushing slightly, "Now we play the waiting game for the heavies to clear this up. Jim, patch me up, will you?"
"Certainly. Remove your jacket and singlet and let me bandage you... you're seriously gonna have to get them cleaned anyway."

The procedure got underway. Luca had to have his jacket and singlet and show his battered body to the medic, who gave Luca a generous amount of bandages around his waist and torso. Jim also flipped Luca back on his side and gave him a quick backrub to ease the pain.

Mitch, Vincent and Crane were able to sit back, have small talk over the outcome of the mission (They thought it was a success, but didn't need the explosion) and bide their time. Eventually the whirr and hum of shuttles and ships could be heard outside. Mitch stood up to investigate. A portion of the IPG had come! Units landed near the facility and began to make formation and systematically sweep the building, until an agent found Luca and crew hanging out in the office.

"Sir! Here are the ones the agent designated!" He radioed to his colleagues and commander, "Three yamataians, a geshrin and an ID-SOL, just like she said! Most appear to be in good condition. Requesting a stretcher for an injured man. Over!" He put down the radio, "We've got control of the situation now. Wait till the commander comes and he'll debrief you and, if he feels nice, give you rewa- compensation." He coughed as he lowered his weapon and waited.

"Compensation? Good, I like compensation." Vincent half-mumbled, passed out against the wall. Only now had the exhaustion of the day's actions- Battling Godfrey, facing off against numerous bandits and agency employees, not to mention Vitriol- had him more tired than usual, and he was happy to sleep.

During that time, Luca had finally settled. He was sleeping soundly.
Eventually two dudes in white with a stretcher came along and hauled Luca's sleepy body onto a stretcher and escorted him out, passing a man in a black trenchcoat similar to Agent Nostrovia's, short brown hair and a pair of sunglasses. He had his arms folded and looked about the room, and tried to piece together what had happened.

"Where's the leader of your operation?" He asked. His voice was gruff.
"You just hauled him off to the infirmary." Jim pointed out.
"...So where's your second in command?" He questioned while tapping his temple, "Mercs these days..."
"He's out west of this place, about a mile, with a sniper and two shuttles." Vincent added.
"Oh, we found him and took him in for questioning. He says he was there to hold the place, and as it seems, to rile up the local fauna with his rifle-happy girlfriend. Also, further south, we found some scientists posing to be villagers and some lady with a truck who had a holiday gone wrong, and told us you'd given her 3000 KS for absolutely no reason."

"Well." Mitch intervened while looking out at all of the destruction and shaking his head, "We're ready to go and get debriefed when you are."
"Right away then. I like being punctual." The agent replied, "Follow me. We'll do this back at your 'shuttles'."

So the group (with Luca sound asleep in a stretcher) was escorted, by Jeep to the area where the Junker and the Shuttle had landed.
They all sat down in the ISC Phoenix on the seats. John, Mel, Jim, Mitch, Hitori, Vincent, Crane and Luca were sitting down on the chairs while the Agent stood up and leant against the door to the pilot's compartment. Also there was the lady who just wanted a holiday and her truck, and the scientists with Harley doing the answering for Gordon, Jarred, Mina (with her son) and Daryl.

"So how did you find out about this operation?" Was the first question the agent asked.
"Ask Luca." John replied, "I just fly the shuttles, he does all of the field-work stuff. Let me wake him up."
Luca was an exponentially heavy sleeper, especially after today's events. John walked over to his stretcher and gave him a few slaps, which didn't do anything. Luca just yawned in his sleep. John sighed for a moment, then licked his finger and put it Luca's ear, which woke him quite rightly with a jolt.

"ARGH I'M DROWNING." Luca screamed as he looked around, then felt pain return to him, "...sorry."
"How did you find out about this operation?" The agent repeated.
"Oh. We were initially here for something else." Luca explained from the comfort of his stretcher, "We were told there was a town just a few miles south with a bit of a bandit problem on its hands, so we came in to hold it from a rather precisely timed raid." He sighed, "When I was rummaging around the body of the huge guy who lead the bandits in, I found this note." He pulled it out of his jacket pocket, "So this was a hired hit. Hell, the guys even had the virus in them, so they raised as zombies and we kicked their asses."
"Yeah, that's true." Harley backed up.

"Interesting." The agent said as he took the note and read it, "Yeah, this is the letterhead."
"Turns out that those villagers - they made the virus, and decided to flee. Company got possessive and decided to give 'em a whack and they hired us to defend. They then asked, nicely, if we could go on ahead and tear the company down and steal a few files."
"Wait wait, we didn't want you to steal anything," Harley interjected, "But seeing as you did such a good job of running the place into the ground, aheh..."

"Stolen files, eh?" The agent said, "Everyone hand them over."
Crane handed over his folder, Vincent gave them the USB HHD he'd used to back up some information, Jim gave them a few documents he'd found while Luca gave them a vial of the virus for safe keeping and showed them the cure.
"Your other agent, the lady, she has her own samples of the stuff. We worked together to find the virus and infiltrate the place - by accident."
"Yeah." Jim said, "He fell into a trap door cesspit place."
"Yes, she did mention running into you and collaborating." The agent said, "And she did collect her own samples of the virus and cure. Seeing as you won't need the virus..." He took out of of Luca's hands, "...You can hang onto the cure as a memento if you want."
"Sure." Luca said as he tapped the glass of the airtight vial and pocketed it, "A reminder."
"And for use in case of zombies." Jim smiled.

Everyone chuckled for a moment, except for the agent and the woman on a messed up holiday, who was just rubbing her temples trying to comprehend what the crew of the Phoenix had done.

"To summarise. For assisting an agent in escaping from a marked enemy structure, recovering vital files and protecting Nepleslia and Delsauria from a national threat..." The agent started as he reached into his jacket and pulled out a communicator, "...You, the Crew of the Phoenix shall be paid the sum of 20000 KS, each, and an extra surprise which will be delivered here soon..." He then answered the communicator, "...Yes, deliver it now to my location. Over."
Everyone's faces lit up with smiles at all of that money and the possible surprise.
"As for you..." He turned to the Scientists, "You shall be given new identities and housing on Nepleslia. A shuttle his here to escort you back to Nepleslia."
"As for you..." He told the lady who had missed out on a holiday, "I'm not really sure how to help your situation. Good luck finding a holiday."

The agent then stood up and put his hands behind his back, "So concludes the debrief. I want none of you to sell your story to any news outlets or sources or speak of this to anyone outside the incident at all. Understand?" Everyone nodded, "Good. I bid you good morning, ladies and gentlemen."
He walked out of the shuttle and gut back into his Jeep and drove off back to the compound. The scientists gave Luca and company a wave as they disappeared into an IPG shuttle and were flown back to Nepleslia.

Jim sat down on the sand and watched the sun rise above the mountains. "Another successful procedure." He quipped as the rays of dawn soaked the crew and the lady who didn't get a holiday.

Vincent was gaping and wide-eyed. "T-t-t-t-twen-twenty-t-thousand KS?!" He stuttered.

"OH MY GOD!" He shouted suddenly, looking at his datapad again and again as it spelled out, quite bluntly, "you got money", and showed the 20,000 KS being updated to his bank account. Eventually, he calmed down a bit and remembered the IPG agent's statement.

"Wait, what did he mean by 'presents'?"

Luca shrugged in his stretcher, "Must be just an extra gift that isn't monetary."
"Figures." John poked in, "So, lets say we pack up and head back to base? My head's killing me."
Mitch and Mel nodded in agreement, "I need a sleep and a grog." Mel said.

"Yes, but wait." Luca said, "Is that lady with the truck still here?"
"Yeah, uh, why?" Mitch questioned as he began to scour his pockets for a drink. Hitori untied her hair and let it down, combed her fingers through it, then tied it back up to get the dust out of it.
"I don't think this is the sort of planet for a holiday to begin with."
"Say what?" John adjusted his sunglasses, "Are you suggesting?"
"Yeah."

The lady was still trying to comprehend this night's events. Who were these mystery men and women, who can make entire buildings explode in an instant and rub shoulders with an Intelligence Agency?
She sighed, "Great. Now I get abducted by you idiots, too."

"We'll take you somewhere nice. I hear Tami's good at this time of year." Luca assured her, "We'll give you shelter at our place for as long as it takes for you to get a good holiday."
"You are very odd man." The woman just rubbed her temples and tried to figure out this disarranged man's goals.

"Right then team, pack up, and MOVE OUT-CH!" Luca commanded, then felt the pain for yelling loudly with broken ribs. Everyone distributed themselves into either the Junker or the Phoenix. Luca and John assumed their rightful position at the control panels of the Phoenix. The woman was standing up next to them.

"Y'know Luca, you look strange with those bandages on." John said as he worked with the interface.
"I do?" Luca questioned as he hung his currently ruined jacket and singlet up and sat down.
"Yeah, you look like a half-complete muscular Mummy. Remember that movie 'The Talon of the Dunes'?" He was plotting a course for back at base, and sent the co-ordinates over to the Junker.
"Yeah yeah, from College, starring Chisako Kinato as the dame in distress."
"Remember how the mummy wasn't some lumbering hulk like in other mummy movies we'd seen?" The engines were warming up.
"I do remember that, actually!"
"Moviegoers?" The woman questioned.
"It passes time." John replied calmly, "Now head back into the passenger compartment and buckle up. You could get hurt."

She did so and wedged herself between Mel and Mitch, the latter had found an abnormally large flask of whiskey somewhere on his persona and was sufficiently drunk enough to have a song from an historic, probably Elysian opera he'd once heard. His voice was lamentful and slow.

"E lucevan le stelle,
ed olezzava la terra
stridea l'uscio dell'orto..."
Lae looked at the large, apparently cultured man with a bit of surprise, then looked at Mel, probably for an answer.
"What? I dunno." She responded with a shrug, "e's good though."

"...E un passo sfiorava la rena.
Entrava ella fragrante,
mi cadea fra la braccia..."

With that, the Phoenix and the Junker were on their way home for a well deserved break for a couple of days...

MISSION 4 - COMPLETE!!