RP: ISC Phoenix [Mission 4-Q] - In Desire

[Born-On-Board]

Floor 29, Restaraunt

As Shayla's grand opener missed, another player came into the chaos of the scene. Barging into the restaraunt from a stairwell, it was Piat, dressed in a now-ill fitting souz chef uniform. She'd rushed up the flight of stairs as quickly as she could, and even stopping to knock out two security guards cold on the way. The restaurant had devolved into complete chaos - a stone monstrosity was destroying everything, people were running in panic, and the targets stood a very real chance of becoming paste.

Situation as usual, she guessed. Her first action was to rip the chef's uniform right off her own body, standing naked and sexless. For what she had planned, clothes would only create drag, and she hadn't been given anything to be embarrassed of showing when she had been created, her body recognizeably female, but lacking any sex organs or 'lewd bits'.

She was built for combat, after all.

She took a running start, pivoted, then leapt backwards. She somersaulted in midair, landing on the wall behind her, denting it. She scrunched, torsioning her leg and knee servos as much as she could, then sprang off the wall, sailing, flying through the air, obliterating a crystal chandelier as she passed through it. No doubt it cost hundreds of thousands of KS.

Her in-built tungsten penetrator rod, implanted in her right arm, was fully deployed, reared back. The plan was to strike the monster with it as she sailed through the air, her armored, 200-pound body about to become an ersatz armor-piercing bullet to the giant creature's stone hide. On her face was a maniacal grin, and in her cyberbrain, she felt peace as she hurtled through the air towards the beast, like a cannonball about to strike a sailing a ship.

Floor 28, Kitchen

As Shayla left, Redrick regarded the fallen, knocked-out head chef that had, over the course of this short trip, caused him nothing but misery. Honor demanded he save her, as a defenseless civilian knocked out amid what was either an alien invasion, natural disaster, or both.

Shame, that.

Instead of taking her to the lift, he propped her up in the pantry, closed the door, and propped it shut with a nearby stool. Only after liberating her from her wallet, removing the small fold of KS within. It was petty, mean-spirited, and awful of him, but Redrick just didn't care. He was in full survivor mode now, and this woman had done nothing but aggravate him and, although incompetently, threaten his life. Maybe now she'd learn how to cook sand trout properly now that she would be a prisoner of an invading gartagen flotilla, if Shayla was correct.

He bailed from the kitchen, pulling the fire alarm on his way out. That would clear out the rest of them and confuse any security not already neutralized - like the two he just passed in the stairwell. He shook his head. At least Piat didn't look like she killed them. He staggered up the stairs to the restaurant, hoping he wouldn't be late to the party.

 

[Lamb]

"Look sweet-heart, y' guess is as good as mine." Was the only explanation Shayla got out of the conman, he being just a little too busy snatching each politician by the necks of their jackets. Without much more than that, the conman yanked at full force towards the furthest corner of the room from the rampaging behemoth. He eyed the wide plate window the beast had come crashing through and looked down at his cargo with a frown. If he let go of one of them to get out his communicator and tell John to just swing by...

"New plan!" Whirling about, Enzo slammed his prizes down on his trusty (so far) service cart and started rolling at full speed for the elevator with his collar loosening and his suave hairstyle twisting ajar with the sudden force as he screeched, "Hold onna yous cans!"

 

[Luca]

Aoi Hana-Bi, Floor Twenty Nine, Restaurant
Enzo's quick thinking artful dodging saved both his bacon and that of the politicians as they tumbled together off to one corner. With the oven being tossed through the floor and making a hole in the floor, Shayla had indeed made their exit wider. Hot on her heels was Piat, smashing through the creature - tungsten spike ploughing through its rocky body, ripping a chunk of its 'flesh' away and severely disrupting it.

The sounds of rushing engines could be heard, and the back of the Lady of the Night was open, with Melissa lying down with her heavy rifle, and Nostrovia kneeling down and directing people with a headset. "Where the hell's Enzo going?!" Nostrovia yelled as she watched him mash the buttons on the elevator with his trolley full of gains. It didn't seem to be functioning with the fire alarm activated. The stairs, however, seemed to be a viable option - so he took them!

Melissa started firing at the Abomination Piat had pinned down with a much larger rifle. Semi-automatic flashes the length of an outstretched arm lit the entire restaurant up, but huge rounds all the same at semi-automatic pace - putting holes into the rock creature's torso, and blowing one of their legs off. She cackled - and managed not to hit Piat.

Suddenly more Abominations, composed of other molten looking metals burst through the walls and the ceiling of the restaurant with jagged appendages, and fists, four in total, some of them stained in evaporating blood. "GO GO GO! GET IN!" Melissa screeched as she fumbled with a reload after covering everyone's escapes. "GRAB THE POLLIES AND GO!" In the confusion, Shayla smashed through the Silica Abomination by throwing a table through it, and grabbed the politicians. SHe hurled them both with force into the accommodating back of the Lady of the Night, before grabbing Soruk and Red by the collars and getting them inside. Piat leapt inside, while Enzo disappeared, but maintained radio contact with his rattling trolley.


Later, Enzo was picked up at ground level with his trolley of ill-gotten gains. Nostrovia was distinctly unimpressed, but the trolley lacking wheels and having a grav system made it possible to wheel down the stairs. How he made it down that quickly was a conman's secret. (Service elevators can be overridden in the advent of an emergency to facilitate emergency staff movement or rescue VIPs, and he may have had to run over a couple of security personnel, but he didn't tell them that.)


Enzo's Lady of the Night
Nostrovia and Melissa were incredulous at what'd happened as they sat back, legs crossed. But all the same, Melissa had a smirk on her face as she held her rifle by the barrel and a pouch full of empty shell casings rattling as the shuttle was taking off. Nostrovia meanwhile was too busy talking into a headset at someone who sounded military, perhaps the Yamataian Star Army. She made references to 'Handler's Revenge', named after Handler's Reach. Things seemed to be clear, and the vessel wasn't flagged down during transit to Albini's orbit.

The two senators meanwhile had no idea why they were rescued and/or abducted, but the bald Nepleslian spent the trip with their head down and silent. By contrast, the haughty Yamataian had to be restrained by Shayla to stop them from breaking their bonds. Though, a golden-eyed freespacer child was helping too.

"Whatever you've got coming for me, I probably deserve it," the Nepleslian senator spoke out, directed at Nostrovia. "I've betrayed Nepleslia by being complicit in Senator Yotsuyuki's actions."

"I'm not interested in you." Nostrovia shrugged at them, eyeing the Yamataian senator, who was still defiant-faced. The Nepleslian senator was perplexed. "This member of Yamataian senate has been under investigation for the misappropriation of public funds, and a paper trail discovered by the ISC Phoenix-" the name made the Nepleslian senator gulp "-has lead us here. You'll both be investigated, but I do believe that Mr. Winsbury's loyalty doesn't lie with you entirely, Senator Yotsuyuki."

The Yamataian senator launched themselves into a series of rants throughout the shuttle trip, and it didn't take long until Piat decided to roll up a t-shirt and wrap it around their mouth to get them to shut up. Everyone agreed it was a good course of action. Nostrovia lit herself a cigarette and shared with Melissa and Red. Winsbury would've taken one too, but he didn't feel like he wanted one. "Job well done, but we'll have to investigate what those creatures are." Nostrovia pointed out. "Army's on the scene doing 'investigation'."

"Ambushed by rocks." John sighed as he was piloting the ship back. "Ambushed by fucking rocks." He got on the communications, fiddling with a headset. "Echelon, heard you wrapped up early too. I'm on my way back to the Kestrel on our agreed meeting point. How's Luca? ..." He listened to something. "Oh shit-" he whispered, looking about the cockpit as more came in, "Oh shit... Nostrovia! You might want an ear on this."

Nostrovia's face seemed to screw up when she connected her digital link to what Echelon was streaming her. Lower lip drooping, then searching, looking at her datapad. "Dear ... Maker, what happened there?" She looked at the other members of the Phoenix, and thought sharing what was going on would not be the best course of action, even as Melissa gave the IPG agent a nudge and looked down at what appeared to be a perfectly blank pad - only the agent could see what was going on, and it was horrifying.