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Post by Cordite on Jun 22, 2009 19:35:17 GMT -5
A massive dock grounds from which much of Mercury's commerce comes in from abroad, much of it from Japan and the Far East. Storage boxes stack high, dockworkers come and go, and the massive hauling ships and barges come to moor here.
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Post by Cordite on Jun 22, 2009 19:42:11 GMT -5
At about midday, a nondescript cargo hauler, bearing the name Steychkin pulls into Mercury docks, its Russian crew unpacking metallic storage crates by crane and by hand.
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Post by Anei and Hokori on Jun 23, 2009 16:27:27 GMT -5
(*deep breath*)
"There sure are a lot of them, aren't there?" quietly asked Arella White, clinging prone to the elevated superstructure of a dock crane and positioned to avoid observation from above and below as the vast machine rumbled to life unloading the illect cargo on the Russian ship below her.
"We don't have to take all of them. Just enough to get onto the bridge make sure no one is left cappable of ordering the ship back out into the bay by the time our backup gets here," answers Arella's older sister with a chuckle, almost on top of her in a similar patch of cover, "...Which give us a window of ten minutes if my watch is right."
"Then let's get to it, then," adds Arella with a fleeting grin, checking that her pistol remained unobtrusively holstered under her armpit before bursting into motion along the crane's main arm, aiming for the load-bearing cable that she could slide down into jumping range, her sibling a few paces behind.
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Post by Cordite on Jun 23, 2009 17:30:55 GMT -5
The twins' advance remains unseen, as yawning Russians, dressed in long coats despite the hot summer weather, march up and down the length of the ship, watching the dockworkers.
Their jump lands them quietly in front of a storage crate, in which only one sleeping Russian man can be seen, leaning against a wall.
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Post by Anei and Hokori on Jun 23, 2009 17:43:48 GMT -5
The sisters shared a tight smile and a nod before starting sneak their way through the maze of crates, alert for anywarning their senses might gift them as they silently attempted to bypass the sleeping man. The target was the stairs leading up to the bridge, the suspected problem a somewhat heavier foot presense and threat of premature exposure if caught half-way up the stairs.
Arella trailed behind her sister, one hand near her weapon to offer supporting fire should melee not be an imediate option, green eyes narrow and focussed.
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Post by Cordite on Jun 23, 2009 22:15:56 GMT -5
The twins advance up the stairs to the heavy, sealed door of the bridge. As with lower in the ship, the watch here is lax, one man lazing about in his chair- from what you can see through the windows in- his feet propped up on the consoles. Unlike the other men, he does not wear a long coat, and is instead dressed in a long-sleeved shirt and overalls, a hat, tilted on his head.
He's awake, but more focused on a small, portable television than anything.
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Post by Anei and Hokori on Jun 23, 2009 22:36:06 GMT -5
Rachel noiselessly touches the door and indicates herself while in a crouch and then points at her twin before indicating the man.
Arella smiles and tilts her head head briefly to the right.
The older sister then stands up and drives her fingers into the door before ripping it right out of the frame with a protest of metal, holding it to screen them from imediate fire from the crew below as she steps to one side.
The younger tumbles into the bridge in a blur of graceful motion, rising into a open palm uppercut backed with enough TK-boosted strength to knock the presumed 'Captain' unconsous in a single blow if it connected, her features focused and serious.
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Post by Cordite on Jun 23, 2009 22:57:57 GMT -5
The Captain rises into the air a good foot as he takes the uppercut, bounces off some consoles, then crashes to the floor. Outside, in the hallway, there are shouts of alarm, and the sound of many weapons being charged.
Two men immediately enter, the first clearing right, the second clearing front and left. The first man immediately spots the twins, and fires a burst of ammunition out of his AKM at the twin's shield. What the twins do not know, however, is that Cordite knew full well what kind of enemies his men would face.
Steel-cored bullets zoom at the younger.
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Post by Anei and Hokori on Jun 23, 2009 23:19:45 GMT -5
Bullets punch through the barrier in the blink of an eye, pulping Rachel's chest with ease even as she lofted the shield into place to intercept. Or they would have if her powers hadn't given her a last second warning about what blocking with the door would result in. Instead, she released her grip on the door and dropped to the ground, the bullets from the burst whizzing over her head even as the echos of the falling shield bounced off the walls.
Crap crap crap... Arella's thoughts were a mantra of concern as her precognitive powers, and boosted reflexes barely kept her clear of the first barrage, the last bullet passing an inch from her ear. She used her last dodge to jump forward, attempting to grab her assailant's arm and throw him at his compatriot, clear the room for ten seconds.
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Post by Cordite on Jun 23, 2009 23:25:15 GMT -5
By this time, a third man has appeared in the doorway, and the second, having completed his search and assess of his arc of the room, steps further into the room, firing two round bursts at the twins as they close on his point-man.
The point-man himself puts rounds at the charging precog, but to no avail, as the girl seems to be everywhere where his muzzle is not. He manages to avoid a grapple, however, throwing himself backwards, and-- his primary rifle empty-- draws his secondary, a Makarov and emptying it in Arella's direction.
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Post by Anei and Hokori on Jun 23, 2009 23:46:37 GMT -5
Arella's eyes narrow in anger, denied a hit and forced into dodging away from the second man's shots long enough for the first open fire, the only possible future that didn't involve her being imediately pulped one where she retreated out of melee range and closer to her twin. Metahuman reflexes and enhanced awareness kept her safe save for a single bullet that clipped her upper arm even as she produced her pistol and fired two shots at her primary attacker.
Rachel had tumbled clear of her own barrage without incident, and came to a rest near her dropped shield. Arella's wound angered her, and here was the answer. The door spun up and at the gunmen with a crude, lethal tragetory, propelled with all the force she could muster on the fly.
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Post by Cordite on Jun 24, 2009 1:58:03 GMT -5
The point man cries out as he takes two rounds to the chest, but appears to be still alive, something having stopped both pistol rounds. He scrambles to free up a spare AKM magazine from his coat pocket, reloading it, and bringing it to bear as he rolls out of the line of fire, shooting clean through the consoles at the girl
His second, however, is not so lucky. His head is clipped clean off by the projectile door, a garish splash of blood and brains painting an arc on the wall.
The third man gives a yelp in Russian and calls out to the rest of the ship. Strange fires are started in certain storage crates down the length of the ship in response, and he readies a shotgun, firing its twelve gauge round at his friend's killer, Rachel.
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Post by Anei and Hokori on Jun 24, 2009 10:50:46 GMT -5
Rachel is in motion even as the man readies his shotgun, hurling herself into cover behind the doorframe with a grunt by the time the trigger is pulled and a blast of shot whisks past her face with a stench of used gunpower. She popped back out and fired one, two, three times at the man's head with her pistol, relying on her powers to try and compensate for any potential evasions, less instinctive though that trick was. Two minutes till the back up showed up, if the 'flames' didn't take out the ship first.
Arella was back on the defensive, dodging and rolling along a tightly choreographed dance of possibility to avoid the latest barrage of armor-piercing bullets, blood from her wound starting to stain her sleeve. Next time they would request the armor-piercing bullets, extra paperwork or no extra paperwork. Seriously... If they couldn't block, their opponents shouldn't be able to eiether.
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Post by Cordite on Jun 24, 2009 11:12:30 GMT -5
The third man takes two bullets directly in the face, with the third taking his ear off. As he dies, the shotgun discharges into the air, taking a chunk out of the ceiling as it goes.
The original point man, now finding himself hopelessly out matched, empties the rest of his magazine in three round bursts at Arella, displacing away from his position into the hallway.
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Post by Anei and Hokori on Jun 24, 2009 11:37:12 GMT -5
Arella gets caught by another hit to her gun arm, dropping her weapon as the near hit takes a chunk out of her bicep, the laws of probability having caught up to her at the end of her latest evasion. Graah, that hurt. She didn't let that slow her down yet, the other hand smashing down into the nearest control console as her sibling took care of business.
Rachel encourages the man on his way, charging forward and hurling the body of the decapitated soldier at him, a small touch of VEIL terror tactics rearing it's ugly head in the grip of her adrenilien rush and concern for her sibling, body flying ragdoll style at unfortunate point man.
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Post by Cordite on Jun 24, 2009 16:11:45 GMT -5
The point man is struck by the headless corpse, and knocked into the wall by the force of the wall, after which he collapses with a groan. Already the sound of boots nearing is intensifying, and looking about at the bullet ridden navigation consoles, you feel like your mission may just be done.
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Post by Anei and Hokori on Jun 24, 2009 21:18:45 GMT -5
"Come on, Arella. Let's go," calls the older twin, holstering her pistol and running for the doorway they entered by. Only a few minutes till the police showed up en-mass to arrest the crew of this disabled ship. They're job was to get over the side and away by water.
The younger twin followed, face tweaked in pain as she followed in her sister's wake.
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Post by Cordite on Jun 24, 2009 21:23:19 GMT -5
Various Russians spot the twins as they exfil from their position, putting armor piercing ammo down at them, fire that they avoid aptly. It seems, however that they might pin the two of them down, when suddenly, on the horizon, a slight silhouette appears, and the Russians stop shooting.
Instead, they start jumping up and down, waving their arms screaming in panic what you can only assume means 'NO!'. You have a bad feeling about this.
From this silhouette, now distinctly visible as a submarine, there is a flare as a missile exits its tube, flying vertically into the air on compressed gas before firing it's own thrusters and turning toward the Steychkin laterally. From its sides unfold short wings, and the there is a small white puff as the thing breaks the sound barrier, and zooms right into the side of the Steychkin, creating blast massive enough to sink other ships nearby.
The Steychkin itself is mostly blown apart, and quietly comes to rest on the beach floor, amongst the burning oil pooling on top of the water. In the distance, the submarine is gone. Dead Russians float about idly.
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Post by Anei and Hokori on Jun 24, 2009 21:48:50 GMT -5
Some time later, the twins drag themselves out of the water and cling to a dock ladder, filthy with oily water and generally the worse for wear. After catching their breath, they just stare at one another, thoughts full. "This... is definitely a lot bigger than everyone thought it was, isn't it?" offered the older sister, green eyes weary.
Arella, more tired from pain, only nods in response and waits for her sibling to help her up the ladder, one arm currently useless.
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Post by Andrew Albright on Jun 25, 2009 16:40:08 GMT -5
It takes a minute, maybe two, before sirens fill the air. Flying debris from the cargo hauler has touched off a number of smaller fires around the edge of the bay, and soon the first fire truck pulls onto the dockside road, big donut tires rolling over the wreckage on the street.
Two more trucks show up in as much time as it takes to talk about it, and the Fire Chief's car follows suit. As it pulls to a stop, a man in a gray work suit climbs out of the back, staring at the wreckage in the harbor. "Jesus and Saint Nicholas."
Chief Engstrom stops the car and points at the half-sunken wreckage of the Steychkin, surrounded by a burning oil slick. "That's where we need you, Albright. It'll take days for the fireboats to get that slick under control, far too long for anyone left alive to hold out." He hands the gray-clad man an oxygen mask with a small tank.
"With all due respect, sir, I doubt anyone survived that." Nevertheless, the man shrugs out of his heavy boots and lowers his goggles. "But, you're the boss. I don't think I've done an oil fire before, actually." Lining himself up with a ladder on the dock's edge, he swings his arms back-and-forth twice, then takes a running leap into the burning harbor.
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Post by Anei and Hokori on Jun 25, 2009 17:38:27 GMT -5
Rachel grunted as she pulled herself onto the dock, her injuries, a proud collection of light burns, bruises, and muscles that definitely didn't want to listen to her brain anymore TK or no TK, loudly and vigorously complaining about their recent treatment. She managed to rollover to offer Arella an arm to pull up on.
Arella White took it and managed to crawl up herself, teeth clenched as her upper arm continued to bleed from it's bullet hit. She lay flat on the dock, blinking at devastation afflicting the adjacent jetty. "...Oh look. Our backup called in the Fire Department," she groaned, "Somehow I don't think they'll find anyone else."
"If they lacked forewarning and the strength they needed to leap clear of the ship, definitely," agreed the older sister, sitting up to make herself more visible while they waited for emergency services to find them. God, if Cordite was willing to blow up a ship just because two Supers boarded it, he WAS a product of VEIL, too. This was going to be... interesting.
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Post by The Emergency Services on Jun 26, 2009 0:19:21 GMT -5
More fire trucks pull up from neighboring stations, working to help control the burning warehouses. The first ambulance quickly joins the scene, and as its paramedic crew piles out more sirens behind indicate more on the way.
The crew of the first ambulance races to the edge of the jetty, scanning the harbor for anyone moving. It quickly proves fruitless, but the paramedics don't give up, and soon one of them spots something on the next dock down.
As another ambulance, accompanied by a police cruiser, arrives on the scene, the paramedics make their way over to the dock to find two girls lying battered and drenched amid the wreckage. Two of them head back to the ambulance for a stretcher, while the third leans down to the pair of survivors, who look surprisingly alert. "Hello? Please, don't move, it's all right. We're going to get you out of here."
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Post by Anei and Hokori on Jun 26, 2009 15:02:48 GMT -5
"Good news to us," replies the older twin, a wan smile on her face as she produces a soiled yet still recognizable SWORD badge, wincing a little as she holds it up, "We've done more than enough moving for today. ...Ow."
She lets herself fall back to the dock, sucumbing to the exhaustion that had already claimed her sister. Everything was going to be okay.
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Post by Andrew Albright on Jun 26, 2009 15:40:59 GMT -5
What's left of the Steychkin's interior can no longer be recognized as a ship. Albright makes his way along what used to be a corridor, looking around the ruins with dismay. Eventually, he gives up and dives back into the water, swimming the short distance back to the jetty.
Chief Engstrom is waiting near the top of the ladder, watching two girls get loaded into one of the ambulances that's arrived. "Any survivors?" he asks as the Special Officer climbs onto the jetty.
Albright shakes his head. "Nothing. They probably all died right off, with a blast like that." He stands up, brushing oily water from his hair. "But what made that ship go off like that, anyways? It might have been fuel fumes, but that's not usually a problem on modern ships..."
"It gets stranger," Engstrom replies, gesturing at the loaded ambulance now pulling out. "Those two girls? Evidently, they're both with SWORD, though neither of them was in any condition to explain things. I get the feeling this was definitely not an accident."
Albright says nothing in reply, other than taking one more look back at the ruined cargo hauler before heading off to help with the dockside fires.
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