trans_9 | Gently, but with undeniable will divesting myself of the holds that would hold me. (Pt. 5: Chances)

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Gently, but with undeniable will divesting myself of the holds that would hold me. (Pt. 5: Chances)

The plan was...well, it wasn't simple, but it sort of was.

While the CLF attacked multiple Clone Processing centers to distract the government, the group with the CLF would target one particular one in the region that'd once been New Jersey. The group with the government would offer their services in putting down their own people.

In the center, they'd split up into several groups. One would fight a fake fight, create a massive diversion, and blow up the room where the samples their DNA were being kept in the process. Another group would secure a teleporter pad. That team would teleport out other teams to steal a ship, steal some med tech to teleport to said ship, and steal a medical database. Another team would go to the main command center and hack into the government mainframe to down the sensornet around the planet so they could escape. And Nightwing himself would accompany the clones to upload the harvested memories to the Mother Brains, left unguarded because of the diversionary fighting, and make sure that was all they did.

Meanwhile, there'd be a standing order for all teams to avoid killing other crewmates, and avoid killing guards unless absolutely necessary.

It was a complicated plan. If a single part fouled up, they might find themselves dead, trapped, or worse. But if it worked, it'd work pretty spectacularly and leave them with medtech, a medical database, the clones helped, and possibly a grateful Council depending on how the fight went, because of the ones seemingly aiding the government.

In some worlds, things that were a million-to-one-chance (exactly a million-to-one) by their nature had to work. Let's hope this world is one of them, eh, mission crew?

[ooc: Only comment to threads if it says they are open here. All threads: OPEN. Characters may get injuries up to and including 7 on the Injury Scale (scroll to the bottom). Any higher, and they must ask permission of the plot-runners, just to make sure everyone isn't immobilized without enough people to help move them.]

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" I am all for giving them the slip." Howard follows Zouichi up, hiding in Zouichi's shadow, as usual. The footsteps get closer, closer, and in focusing on them he almost misses the person who comes from the door directly at his back, returning to the stairwell from a cigarette break. even before Zouichi's lightning fast reflexes can come into play, Howard reflexively slams the door, panicking.

THUMP. THUD.

The employee falls to the floor. Somehow, Howard hit him hard enough to knock him out.

The yelling outside stops. Howard can perfectly picture the security guards looking towards the stairwell, alerted by the noise.

He looks at Zouichi. "Wanna do something really stupid?"

Zouichi raised an eyebrow, looking at the prone guard. Poor guy. "You mean like this entire mission? Sure, I'm up for stupid."

"Help me lift this guy." Howard tries to hoist the guy up at the waist and cracks open the door to the stairwell, flopping the man's arm out to make his hand wave. "Yell 'everything's okay in here, just slammed the door too hard'."

Because Howard's voice is too high-pitched for that. Also, people don't tend to sound terrified out of their wits when they inform others of door-slamming.

Zouichi gave Howard a hand holding up the man's bulk, projecting his voice out to the other guards. "Everything's okay, just slammed the door too hard," he said, then added, "You guys seen anything?"

"Nothing on this end," answered one of the guards from the other end of the hallway. "Five-by, I'll check this corridor. Bet it's a bunch of those clone punks."

"...I can't believe that worked," Howard says, breathing a sigh of relief. "No, really. Pinch me. I think I'm stuck in the dumbest, most annoying nightmare ever. Not a bad Galilee accent, by the way."

He lets go of the man, letting him fall to the floor in a heap. "Okay, now what do we do with this goon?"

"Thank you, thank you. I'll be here till Tuesday." Zouichi scooped the man back up, hefting him over one shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "We'll find someplace to stow him upstairs. In the meantime, he might come in handy. Now let's find those pharmaceuticals you wanted."

He took the stairs up two at a time, careful to check the hall for any guards. So far, so good. They actually make it all the way to the storage room with all the medicines without incident. At which point Zouichi figured Howard would be more at home figuring out which bottles to shove into his pockets.

"You want to get your thievery on? I'll keep a look out for anyone coming this way."

They hadn't encountered any more guards yet, so for the moment, they seemed to have eluded their pursuers.

"God, Zou, you act like I'm some sort of criminal." Even with the time limit, Howard isn't indiscriminate about what he starts shoving into his cargo pockets. Most of he stuff in this store room is basic iodine and sleep aids - useful, but not exactly unique on Stacy. What Howard's looking for is something a bit more potent.

Oh, and also narcotics. Bad habits die hard.

Some of the immunity-boosters and vials of high-powered antibacterials disappear into Howard's hands - he's getting rather deft at legerdemain. What was once basic pickpocketing experience is turning into genuine high-level skill.

"You know, if anyone comes looking for us, that box could probably fit two of us."

"I hate to break it to you, but we are kind of criminals on this planet." Zouichi watched with mild interest as Howard put away vial after vial. Maybe he should look into becoming an amateur magician or something.

And then, from outside, the approaching sound of booted footsteps.

The guard peered inside the room. Had he heard voices in here? He looked back and forth, but saw nothing out of the ordinary. Just a bunch of medicine and shelves. In one corner was a tattered old cardboard box.

He must have been hearing things. The guard left, muttering something about stupid evacuation procedures.

Zouichi was in a box (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K--YiJma6xI). He was just looking at it, and he suddenly got this urge to get inside. No, not just an urge -- more than that.

It was his destiny to be here. In the box.

Yeah.

And when he put it on, he suddenly got this feeling of inner peace. He couldn't put it into words. He felt... safe. Like this was where he was meant to be. Like he'd found the key to true happiness.

Maybe that wouldn't make sense to someone else.

They should come inside the box. Then they'd know what he meant.

Howard, on the other hand, finds this entire both ridiculous and scary. How are they supposed to know the guard left if they can't see him?

Finally, he hears the door click closed again, and practically throws the box off them. "I was joking about that being a good idea! Are you crazy?"

Zou looks way too zen about this. But he supposes it did, in fact, work.

Galilee: run by the unlikely, the undesirable, and the unbelievable.

Well, obviously they just had to poke an eyehole or two in the box. "Hey, it worked, didn't it?"

He pulled the poor unconscious security guard out from behind the door, where he'd been propped. Then put him in the corner, used some plastic ties lying around to strap the guy's wrists and ankles, and a roll of duct tape in one drawer that, guess what, they were gonna use on this guy's mouth.

Then he put the box over the guard.

Perfect.

"Okay. We about done here?"

"Yeah. Might want to take out that security system before getting outside gets to be too much of a hassle. People can't evacuate worth shit," he says, hearing all the stampeding in the stairwells. He checks his watch.

Howard overhears one of the security guards in the stairwell yelling at someone else that if the security breach isn't neutralized in another few minutes, the real enforcements are going to come in. Another one yells that they've already got a blockade up front for the intruders so why should the government hotshots get involved, rarara not paid enough for this job, something about wanting a pension, whatever. It's hard to hear over all the footfalls.

"I'll bust up the security system and you clear a path up front. Meet you outside."

Zouichi nodded. In his experience, it wasn't like Howard to volunteer for a dangerous task he wasn't reasonably sure he could carry out. And as long as Zouichi was providing adequate distraction, well. No sweat.

"Sounds like they're stopping some of the elevators, too. I'll find a way to the entrance and meet you there. Take care of yourself."

You too. Stay safe," he tells Zouichi before he slips into another hallway, and he means it.

Finding the security room doesn't take long - it's where most of the security officers seem to be running from. Howard ducks out of sight as each successive wave passes, managing to use the commotion to his advantage and slip through unseen. The security room itself is actually fairly small, but the computer that runs most of the system is easy enough to find.

On the other hand, if Howard had been hoping to unplug it - which he had - he forgot that a lot of Galileean technology is wireless. Whoops.

First things first, he tries to enter the computer. It requires a password. It does not accept 'password', 'user', 'abcd1234', '123qwe', 'pass', 'letmein' or 'popcornball'. It does, however, accept 'guest'.

"Seriously?" he mutters to himself. "This is like, babytown frolics."

Except what do you do to disable a system you don't understand, written in computer jargon you've never seen, with a desktop format that seems designed for either the incredibly brilliant or the incredibly eccentric?

Howard clicks things for a few tense minutes before giving up. He can't afford to waste time. There's barely thirty minutes left on the clock and he's several stories up with elevators that don't work. Also, that robotic evacuation voice is going to give him a migraine if it tells him to calmly leave the building one more freaking time. And has it been long enough for more troops to get called in?

He pokes his head out the window to see if there'd be a ledge to stand on for the teleportation. Nope. But there is a security guard who chooses that exact moment to look up and point. Which gives Howard an awful idea.

He grabs the computer and dumps it out the window on the guy.

The crashing noise is actually pretty satisfying. For Howard. He gets the feeling the guy under the window finds it less amusing, but at least if you're going to get a computer dropped on you from a non-lethal height, there are worse places to do it at than a hospital.

Robotic Evacuation Voice stops.

Howard takes a deep breath and starts to leave the room.

And unfortunately, nearly bumps into the worst security guard in the world. This man could be the poster-boy for why you shouldn't listen to headphones while on the job. Somehow, he's managed to miss the entirety of the sirens and robo-voice and gone about his day, going in to log into the security computer.

However, oblivious as he is, it's hard to miss almost getting barreled over by a teenager.

Howard instantly realizes his mistakes and tries to sprint past him, but the guard grabs him by the neck of his shirt with enough force that Howard's feet slide out from under him. The guard - easily three times his size - slams him up against the wall. The impact makes Howard see floating colors all across his vision.

"Did you do all this?" the guard yells in his face, indicating wildly with his free hand at the smoke coming from the elevator. "This is a hospital! Sick people need their rest here!"

In a moment of confidence spurred by their unbelievable luck so far, Howard spits at the guy. Or maybe he's just frothing because he's struggling to free himself and screaming for help. Either way, saliva gets in the guy's face.

"That's it, you little punk-"

Howard twists and wrenches his shirt free, dropping to the floor and starting to run away. Unfortunately, he didn't realize how disoriented he was from hitting the wall, and he stumbles over his own feet right as the guard aims a kick at his stomach. He goes sprawling.

"Don't move or I shoot this at your head!" the guard warns, aiming his energy gun at Howard. But Howard's ears are ringing and he doesn't register what the man says, so he starts to crawl away.

The man's finger starts to clench the trigger.

Howard hadn't been included in the check in. It had been enough to have them split up to find the teen.

Howard might not be a good person per say, but he was their paranoid mental case and that was to be respected. Medical wasn't going to leave him behind and Rory definitely wouldn't even dream of leaving him.

Don't move, Howard.

The order was silent, his own gun coming up and tracking for a shot. "Hey! We're supposed to take the terrorists alive."

The guard looked up, startled by the sudden loud noise, still smirking, finger still on the trigger.

Conveniently that also bared his neck. Rory pulled the trigger, face cold as he quickly cleared the gun from the guard's hand and watched him gag, face turning purple from lack of oxygen and body writhing against the floor. If the stun would wear off enough for him to survive or not was an unknown, and Rory didn't really care. He'd been about to shoot Howard in cold blood, and that made his life utterly expendable. It would be very difficult to shoot little boys without the ability to breathe, after all. And if he survived, it would serve as an object lesson for his future.

Rory doubted very much he'd survive, and couldn't for the moment make himself care. He wasn't fond of bullies, and he'd seen far too many of them during his long wait.

The guard was the least important part of this situation, Rory bent, offering Howard a hand up. They were running out of time, he'd need to check on Howard later. Right now he just needed to get him clear of the building. "Let's go, Howard, stay behind me, I'll get you clear."

After a moment of lying on the floor, letting the full impact of what just happened (and what almost just happened) sink in, Howard finally reaches up and takes Rory's hand. He's shaking, his usual reaction to this sort of stress; somewhere along the line - probably around the point when he got an energy gun pointed at his head - this caper went from terrifying but somewhat exhilarating to just plain terrifying.

He leans against the wall, slightly doubled over with a hand over where he was kicked, trying to catch his breath. No serious damage from getting roughed up, just some bruises. Nothing permanent. No splatters of brain matter on the floor.

Just a guy who seems to be choking to death.

"Thanks," he says, looking at Rory, who doesn't seem particularly bothered by the suffocating man on the floor. Rory, who just shot a man in the neck for him, despite all Howard's attempts to hold him at a distance. Maybe it's just because Howard works in the Med Bay, but Howard suspects Rory's protective nature around him runs deeper than that of coworkers. "Where's Chakra Spice?"

And then, breath regained, he starts to follow Rory.

Rory reached out, resting a supportive hand on Howard's shoulder while he caught his breath. It wasn't a pretty thing, thinking you were about to die. And Howard was still young enough that the shine hadn't quite worn off the sense of 'it just won't happen, it might happen to other kids, but not to me. I'm better.' that seemed to be the common mentality of the young of any race.

"Ok? Did he break any ribs?"

<Sakura, I found him, we're heading back up. Meet us at the extraction point. Did you locate Zouchi?>

"We'll be meeting her in a moment, we were looking for you." They wouldn't leave him behind, and that was that.

He didn't even glance at the guard as they left, unconscious or dead, it didn't matter to him. His mission and his job here was Howard.

Howard shrinks back from Rory's hand, even now, after having been rescued. It's instinct, deeply-ingrained. But there's only so far he can recoil while trying to check himself for serious injury and pull air back into his chest.

It's not the first near-death experience he's had. Experience tells him it won't be the last. So he files it away in that part of his head for things he'll deal with later, that he'll let rot him away from the inside until he's ready to untangle them. The brushes with death, the nightmares. He'll tamp it down until the end of the mission, at least.

"Don't think so. Just knocked the wind out of me." His stance is still a little bowed, though. That kick wasn't exactly a love tap.

He may ask Rory to take a closer look later. It seems like a bit much to ask now, not to mention that it'd take too much time. But he knows Rory will do him the favor later. If Rory wants to take care of him, and it seems he still does - he came looking for him, after all - he'll indulge Rory in practical ways. Injury, medical training. Emotionally is another issue entirely.

No longer one he's discounting wholesale, though.

The sound of explosions outside should answer Rory's question to Sakura.

He turned him lose after only a moment of contact, allowing him his space with as much care as possible with his current concern. "Not exactly a raptor bite, though, is it?" He glanced down at Howard's shoes, using the chance to quickly scan him for anything beyond the slight bow of his body.

"Covert." the word was muttered with a rueful shrug, motioning for Howard to stay behind him as he unsheeted his sword again, hugging the wall with something that resembled a trained soldier's instincts, body coiled in prep for the fight.

"Well, he won't be doing that again. Just stick close, we're getting out of here. Did you get everything tagged?"

General health, and then mission objective. Those were the important things. He needed to make sure Howard was still with him.

"No. That was way scarier." The raptors were a whole new level of terror - it's one thing to fear getting killed by an energy beam to the head. It's another to fear being torn to shreds and eaten alive by wild animals. While Howard's not eager to repeat either experience, he'd take the former.

"We dropped the idea of doing 'covert' an hour ago. He's making as much noise as possible to try and drag the fire away from innocent bystanders and let me take a crack at the security system." He glances back at the guy on the floor, who is no longer moving. Howard hopes he's just unconscious. "Would have worked, too, if the douchebag you Darth Vadered hadn't been listening to his iPod at work or whatever."

He follows Rory closely - Rory knows what he's doing better than Howard does, and clearly is willing to defend him, with violent force if necessary. Rory's gone up several ranks on the 'people to hide behind' list. Besides, Howard's work here is mostly done. "We stole a burn unit. Think we got a regen machine. I have a few stickers left in case of emergency."

"Lets hope they don't have any clever ideas to reenact American cinema, then. What with the cloning and all."

He shook his head faintly, he and Sakura had remained completely undiscovered the entire time. It was a bit disappointing to find that someone who had been left in charge had so quickly dismissed the plan for something more...exciting.

"Most of the innocent bystanders were evacuated over an hour ago, the long term coma ward just finished. Sakura and I were keeping track while we worked. Playing along with the evacuation routines. Most have been air lifted to a hospital out of the city. They're tightening the net around the hospital in order to trap the terrorists, though their orders are for the moment to keep you alive. That could change, with more explosions. At the moment, the only people here are us and the security personnel responsible for capturing us."

He approved of Howard following so closely, ready to tuck the teen into further cover if they encountered any guards.

He ignored the comparison, keeping track of his partner via the comm rings and keeping track of the residents of the corridor as they moved. "Where were you supposed to meet him?"

Admittedly, he and Zou would have been totally happy going for covert if it hadn't been for some jackass doubting the veracity of a 5'3 babyfaced intern and a doctor with a fold-up coil gun.

"If I hadn't shut down that system, the call would already be going out for more reinforcements on their side. But we need to get out now," Howard confirms. "I told him we'd meet outside."

Like Rory, Zouichi won't leave Howard. He's proven that on past missions.

"We don't have much time, Rory," Howard says, voice a little panicky again. He's looking for someone to tell him what to do again.

"I'm not aruging with you, Howard. You did the right thing. We do need to get out, but you need to stay calm. I know what I'm doing." His voice was incredibly level, almost frightfully calm. They might only have eight minutes, but Rory wasn't even close to worrying about it.

"We're meeting Sakura in the locker room, it's less than a floor away and we have more than enough time. Take a deep breath and keep walking."

Were it Conner, he would have reached out, given him a pat or a touch, something to soothe him. But it was Howard, who was more skittish than a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs and who was already on edge. Touching him might just make him run.

"We'll be fine, I know the extraction coordinates even if we miss the jump. Trust me. The Doctor won't leave without me, and I'm not leaving you behind."

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iselldrugstothecommunity - 2011-07-29 06:01 (UTC) - Expand

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Gently, but with undeniable will divesting myself of the holds that would hold me. (Pt. 5: Chances)

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