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Post by Reaper on Nov 19, 2008 14:49:05 GMT -5
The river that leads threw the middle of Circular River Community, causing several bridges to cross over it in order to complete the community. The river is fairly rapid and not really meant for swimming and fishing, but it doesn't really stop anyone from trying. The river itself is considered a high danger. Rises rapidly when it rains or snows.
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Post by Lunapocalypse on Mar 27, 2010 10:41:30 GMT -5
)(Ashleigh is now entering the Circle River from Sisco Telecommunication.)( Ashleigh observed the damage from the hatchback, turned projectile, which had managed to impale the second floor. Electrical wiring hung from the roof, some debris had dropped to the ground outside; too many pieces of glass to count. The Gunslinger simply dinked the back of her head against Pearls hubcap, very much mentally f*cked over from the scenario and feeling exhausted. However her eyes widened once Thomas came into sight; from the looks of things he'd just caught the brim of the grunt from the projectile; Ash wiped her eyes, rechecked... yeah it was Thomas. Head back against the hubcap, "Mother'o crap," she breathed out, "It's like---" she began her follow up, standing and looking down the bridge to where the monster had gone, "Ooh, you're a funny guy... funny guy," voice raised a little, "Tell me a joke," halfway convinced this was all some laugh-a-thon. Ash then contemplated the idea of being so loud, and receded back to Pearls hubcap. Once Thomas hustled back past the gaping hole in the wall of the building Ashleigh stood up, "H'okay girl, I know that little bump from that meanie might'a hurt but we have to mosey on outta here," she checked her surroundings; no birds chirping, not a sound. There was that of Thomas cakewalking out the main entrance of Sisco; didn't need Ash to tell him to get things into gear, primarily the transmission in Metal Wave, "We need to get some kind of communication going some time..." Ash mentioned while hopping into Pearl, "Y'know. We kinda need it..." she paused, consulting her brain, then shook her head with the next sentence, "I don't think there's going to be a little screen thing at every door I rock up to," then slammed the cabin shut, fired Pearl up, and powered her window down. Malice shuddered out of Pearl; a sudden urge for velocity; the regret that she hadn't been on when the big boil and callus ridden monster had man handled her. She was much, much louder than before they had arrived; Ash felt the overwhelming vibration of revenge shudder her pelvis. She quickly rolled onto her back, hanging out the window, "I take it everything’s dandy with your weh weh weh-" (liner note: Ash exaggerating the vocalization of the 'w' consonant for World Wide Webz) "We're hightailing to Raccoon, I'll let you take the lead with maps and crap, 'kay," and with that she rolled back into Pearl. The crimson water gun rolled out the entrance first, a bit of a defense stance for starters; Once they got across the bridge though and the road opened up she'd let Thomas cruise on ahead. It was very much one way until reaching the first intersection so there wasn't much that could go wrong; a dirt path didn't seem a legitimate enough way to get around anyhow. First intersection; off the mountain now, level with the valley, and into the pines. Ash was almost convinced enough to stop and check for traffic, her precautious side; but the rest of her just wanted to flee from the beastie. She wasn't even aware of its location! For all Ash knew they could be following the damn thing. Roads were broad, this was good. Ashleigh let Pearl drift over to the side waving Thom on ahead. Metal Wave's growl was heard briefly as the Chevvy passed Pearl. A bit of a dingy convoy; a survivor from a little more robust looking group was probably looking them over and sounding "Mmmhmmmmm..." before turning to their group of MG mounted military roller coasters and debating with the other survivors as to which Texaco station they should head to next. Ash was happy to be moving again though; if memory served her it would be a short trip to Raccoon City. They'd be at least 2 hours out and there was plenty of sunlight left to go around. Wide open road, green grass, bitter-sweet smelling pines, the river coming into view. A closed smile crept across the Gunslingers face. Content. Everything slowed to a crawl, Ash was resting in the steering wheel admiring the blue sky above MW at the time when it... started to rain splinters. Eyebrow perked man, this stuff was all like comin' in sideways'n'stuff. She mentally scratched her brain while following the direction the splinters were coming from; the top of a pine came into view, 'That shouldn't be there,' the rat-bat-lizard-canine hybrid face came into the scenery along with it, mouth gaping wide open and looking directly at Ash so she could get a good view of its three tongues and uncanny row of needle sharp teeth. Question, 'Does it hurt when you bite down?'Bandwidth ticked over, Ashleigh’s latency dropped and suddenly the view went into overdrive to catch up with everyone else who had the better connection. Pearl swerved to the right as the pine tree shot across the road, the ripe inner wood scraping along the left-hand side of the fire engine. A near-miss. The monster had crossed the road with the tree as well splitting Pearl and Metal Wave up a significant distance, Ash was forced to slow down. One thing that clicked was the monsters feet pounding the ground, the approach hadn't been heard so it must have simply waited for the convoy to rock up in its field of view. The concept that it could achieve 60 in less than a second was frightening. It disappeared into the trees on the other side of the road; flickers of its hulking mass could be witnessed now and again sending chills down Ashleigh's spine. She focused her attention on catching up with Metal Wave a little, her and Thom would have to come to terms on how they'd approach the problem. At the same time Ashleigh pulled out both her sidewinders and placed them on the seat beside her. Looking back to the trees, the monster could no longer be seen. Poked head out of window; nothing behind them. If it had passed in front of them then they certainly wouldn't have missed it so it must still be to their left somewhere. Ash grimaced, picked up one of her sidewinders and held it out the window; she waved it briefly before firing a shot, chucked it back onto the seat. Ash waved Thomas on. They began to approach one of the bridges covering the Circle River, ahead of them lay winding roads leading up around one of the mountains.
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Post by .name//Technomancer on Mar 29, 2010 7:43:27 GMT -5
/./There was no shortage of urgency in Metal Wave. Gungnir was quickly set in the back along with everything else; only the Asus remained up front, which was promptly opened and de-hibernated. Stone dust that had not shaken loose from the VW incident slowly coated everything Thomas laid hand upon, which was not limited to the Asus, Metal Wave's seats, her steering wheel and center console. All became slightly more gray than they had been six minutes before. While his Eee began to power back up, Thomas quite literally ejected Metal Wave's keys from his pocket, tossing them to his right hand. His eyes turned back to I.R.I.S., clicking a few bios keys. They wouldn't be moving anywhere without maps. And, still being in range of the now-much-stronger wireless connection, Firefox booted. Aaaaaaand Googlemaps. Never before had he navigated to Googemaps, and qued directions to Raccoon as quickly as he did. Even his destination selection was ingenious: The closest Shell on the outskirts of Raccoon. Even in this moment of urgency, Thomas still stuck to his strict fuel diet. Metal Wave only drank Shell Premium. Nothing else had ever touched her injectors since he rebuilt her 305. Speaking of which...
While Googlemaps started blurting out turn-by-turns, Thomas popped Metal Wave's key into her steering column, and fired her up. The IROC's grumpy yawn rumbled throughout the valley, grumbling awake. Metaphorically, she slipped out of bed, and geared up for another run. Clutch out, gear up, and forward. Even as loud as Pearl was, enraged at her molestation, the notable difference was lost upon Thomas. The pair of survivors idled toward one another, windows shuffling down for comm-purposes. To this, Thomas temporarily shut Metal Wave down, effectively hitting her snooze for a few seconds. Speech:././
"I take it everything’s dandy with your weh weh weh-," /./Without words, Thomas nodded once, allowing Ashleigh to continue././ "We're hightailing to Raccoon, I'll let you take the lead with maps and crap, 'kay?"
/./Thomas didn't bother to ask Ash of the creature's location. It obviously wasn't right on top of them, and a snide answer would have likely been Ash simply pointing out of Sisco's gate. A facepalm would have ensued. The question was unnecessary.
Beyond that, the Native couldn't begin a query besides. Pearl's thick-panel window ascended too quickly for a proper question to be fired off. Another crack of The Wave's starter, and they were off. Ash took the lead out again; Thomas didn't mind. The downtime gave him precious seconds to situate the mini-laptop away from the sun, as to avoid glare and direct sun exposure. Using the touchpad, he moused over the "Next" directions. He didn't need to be told to "Leave Sisco Telecommunications > Join CRC-I-31 For 12.6 Mi.". Obvious directions are, for the time being, obvious.
He took a might longer on the webz than he expected, it would seem. Pearl was no longer a big red object obstructing Thomas' peripheral, but instead a glimmering, descending afterthought on the horizon of the mountain. The effort to regain his wingman position was not daunting by far. Even as collectively cool and professionally Ash drove, Metal Wave's polished 305 was more than enough to catch Ash up. When they had gotten a little ways down the mountainside, Ash pulled away from the gas a bit, waving Thomas over. Pole Position was his. He fired his accelerator into the floorboards, rocketing forward with ease.
The descent from Sisco's mountaintop couldn't have been smoother. The Zacks that Ash put down with Pearl's face littered the road, negating any moving obstacles. No gigantic dogs jumping out at them, nor masses of flesh and bone looking to rip up and hurl trees at the convoy. It was but a few minutes of driving, medium-style, to bring the pair down and along the more-recently-paved surface streets of Circle River Community. Flat. Endless. Nearly a highway. Two lanes in, two lanes out. Simple.
In an attempt to see their way to Raccoon more quickly, Thomas whomped on the gas, blaring forward. He knew Ash couldn't help herself in the same way. More than that, Thomas wanted to test the top speed of the Pierce. This test of speed, as Ash began to creep forward with more aggravation, became somewhat of a life-saver: The attack on the convoy was misjudged by The Creature. It's watchful eye judged the speed incorrectly, as the acceleration knocked off it's timing and therefore, possibly saved Ash's ass.
The thunderous racket generated by the thing's claws digging into pavement and gravel was, again, lost on Thomas and Metal Wave. In fact, were it not for the small pine needles fluttering gently over the IROC's hood, Thomas would have been literally oblivious to Ash's terrible peril. He nearly pulled a 110 mp/h 180 Handbrake b*tch, ready to fly back and dock with Ash, knowing that both of them knew how well the Camaro would be able to outrun the monstrosity, but Ash waved on again. Was she planning on having him run scout, evasion, or bait?
Any of them worked.
Again, the Camaro launched forward, placing a considerable gap between the big red truck and his blue sports car. There was no shortage of road, and they had it all to themselves. The fight for life was on././
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Post by Lunapocalypse on Mar 29, 2010 8:57:53 GMT -5
Perception levels rising. Metal Wave was covering the bridge and Pearl was approaching. The blissful fact that Ashleigh would be given an opportunity to spot the monster was one she hadn't planned on passing up; shallow green grass covered both banks of the river, if the monster wanted to keep up with them it would need to cross the water out in broad daylight. Ash grabbed the side mirror and rotated it so that the reflection showed what was directly out the passenger side window. She leaned back as Peal moved up onto the bridge; keeping her moving straight was easy, 'Just pay attention to both sides,' she thought, watching downstream out her window and letting her periferal take care of the side mirror. Halway across the bridge and she spotted the monster leap across the river in the mirrow, turned to catch the tail end disappear into the trees, "Just as I thought..." it had managed to cross the road and persue them from their right hand side. Ash corrected to mirror and gun Pearl after hitting the other side of the bridge.
Accelleration took a dump as the angle of incline went up and up; Metal Wave wouldn't have a problem, but Ash needed to give Pearl as much as she could muster before hitting the steep. Worse was the prediction of the winding roads. The only upside was the path downwards onced they'd crossed the passing. Less and less straights. Ash had lost sight of Thomas completely now, that was fine, the mutant would probably tear Metal Wave up akin to aluminium anyway. It became obvious ol'beastie was more interested in the shiney, red thing that ws careening along the skyway. It made another pass at Pearl, overshooting above her and swiping one claw down. She dropped on her suspension and scraped the road, the roof of the fire engine being sliced into a little. The monster rolled once reaching the ground again to keep its momentum and disappeared back into the pines, "Fast thinker," Ash noted, "Didn't even look back to consider its f*ckup," she shook her head, 'It just rattles on to planning its next attack,' the thing was a freaking hunter! Whatever it had mutated from had been a ruthless animal.
'Surprise' ended up the word of the day when Ash made it to the top of the skyway without another pass from beastie. The thought of it moving ahead and flanking Metal Wave was a harrowing idea, but once given a clear view of the winding roads down the other side of the mountain came into view Ash spotted a glint of blue disappear around a block of trees. She sighed, it was clear the creature had this fanned out; screw up the attack on going up the mountain, use the other attack when your prey is heading down. Pearl would be gaining some serious speed at this rate though, weight coupled with power would let her catch up with Metal Wave.
A tree crunched and crumbled to the ground off to the left. Ash panicked, this was the part where she'd have to counter the attack. She sqwirmed in her seat looking about the cabin for something that would aid in her response. Ash's facial physique went from panic stricken to cross, her hand went up to the roof and slapped the switch for the ladder release and extension. Once it came into view from the front windscreen she swerved Pearl a little to test how loose it might sway. It proved stable in the end.
"Attack'll be coming from the left..." Ash mumbled, "'Round next bend," She moved over to the right hand side of the road and rotated the ladder so that it pointed out from an angle from the left of the fire engine. Pearl entered the apex of the rounded corner. The ugly face of the four legged tyrant was visible after exiting, it'd be coming for her head on. Ash drifted Pearl over to the right hand side of the road again with the monsters inertia heading straight for the jutting out ladder.
It collided, the ladder was torn off of the top of the fire engine. Muddy blood spattered the crimson walls of Pearl. In the mirror Ash caught the monster clawing at its face, a piece of steel stinging out of its open mouth; it had snapped the rest of the ladder off. Another, grateful, sigh. Pearl continued down the side of the mountain, slowly but surely catching up with Metal Wave. Distance slowly being made between them and the monster.
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Post by .name//Technomancer on Mar 29, 2010 9:26:19 GMT -5
/./On Thomas' side, there was little action. Crossing the bridge was neat enough. This aside, the ascent over the next mountainside would prove effortless and fuel-consuming.
Even with the creature in sight, Metal Wave was far and away quick enough to escape. Any attempt, if any, made by the hunting Tyrant to catch up to and attack Metal Wave proved useless. Any European or otherwise American-Muscle-Car-Skeptic would agree: The beautifully balanced, and encumbered '87 IROC-Z flew up that mountain. Her load didn't move an inch during transit. All of the added weight, in front of the rear tires and behind the front, kept all four of her Falken wides tarmac-glued. Each turn was beautiful in it's own right. Drifting down a mountain was easy enough. Drifting [up], now that was fun. It was about the third or fourth turn into the ascending mountaintop that it hit Thomas. Ash was an instinctive racer. She followed apex's solidly; like breathing, it came naturally to her.
Unaware if she would be able to corner properly without tipping Pearl, while battling the coming force, Thomas began to drift harder. Not faster, necessarily, but harder. He slowed down just a hair, and held onto the handbrake for a second longer. The result would be a stronger-imposed tire track left on the pavement. An Apex Guide. Even if Ashleigh wasn't driving like a maniac and drifting a fire-truck, she would still be able to take the apex's on the road. It should cut her energy usage down, as well as her time on the mountain. Those precious second may count for something.
The way down was the same as the way up. Uneventful, and sideways.
The entire descent never saw Thomas touch his steering wheel with his right hand. His righty was much, much too distracted with shifting up and down, up and down, and slamming that handbrake into the floorboard. As sad as it sounded, he still had the stock, original transmission under him. Sure, it was a rebuild like the 305 and the rear diff, but for the most part, he would probably burn the clutch out at this rate. He started to inadvertently pick up speed, the wind resistance pushing his IROC closer to the ground... Grip, braking, air/fuel ratio... Everything slowly built up... And as soon as it had begun, it was over and done with.
Thomas broke the tree line on the mountain. The ground once again leveled out. Flat, straight. an opportunity!
He was too far down, and facing the wrong direction to see Ash's truck on the mountaintop, and her subsequent descent. Nor did he see her b*tchin' attack utilizing the ladder on the Pierce. Just as his tech-geeky prowess was as-of-yet witnessed by others, Ash's assault on the enemy was only known by herself, and her victim. Letting the gas go and clutching in, he propped himself against the back of his bucket seat on the clutch, practically standing on the brushed steel petal. His right arm again absent from the steering wheel, reaching back into the backseat. The battle to find the Charles Daly was once again on. If, by some off chance, Ash needed an extra gun, Thomas would be prepared with his.
If he could find it in time././
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Post by Lunapocalypse on Mar 29, 2010 10:37:18 GMT -5
Abstract anomalies picked up on the road; Ash couldn't help but be drawn to them and how out of place they were. It clicked after hitting the first corner that contained one of the anomalies on the bitumen; Thomas was creating picture perfect lines for her to follow. Ash's heart overloaded, sudden grace and gratefulness advent. It was no sh*t that keeping a fire engine rolling like a tuner was hard garbage, coupled with the fact that Ashleigh didn't make it a habit to jump in a fire truck often and go around bends at 80 kilometres per hour. If she stuck to the lines she'd have that much more speed and control shaving off tens of second on keeping up behind Metal Wave.
Doom struck when splinters fanned out onto the road, some reaching inside the passenger window, beside Pearl. Ash glanced; the monster hadn't snapped back yet but had simply munched a tree out of its path further inside the pines. Yes, MUNCHED; the thing had no tolerance for a lack of inertia and only had to snap its fingers to knock an obstacle out of the way of its path. Ashleigh felt mortified from the concept.
What hit her like a sledge hammer through broken glass was that the creature had passed her. Pearl was no longer the target.
Ashleigh looked ahead, followed another set of tire marks. A brief straight showed Metal Waves sweet backside disappearing around another lackey of pine trunks. Ash's eyes darted as the monster sprung out and followed MW around the same corner, her jaw and lips wobbled in the horror, "No!" there was absolutely nothing she could do to intervene.
Or was there... <.< >.>
A slow moment of regret trickled through Ashleigh's soul, "I'm sorry baby," she spoke to Pearl. Unlike the wild side beyond the road in both directions the nature strips weren't leveled perfectly for a comfortable coaster around corners, this would hurt Pearl and her pride to boot. To argue, Ash let her know she knew exactly how she felt.
Right before tugging hard on the steering wheel to the right.
Pearl veered off into the nature strip and beyond, a hard curve being built by her and jet black tire tracks formulating on the grey road. A thick pine tree stopped the fire engine's back end from spinning any further around and from there the rest of the speed was pushed down the steep slope; Ash used as little control as necessary to not tip the engine over but to make sure there were no collisions with the tree threat that swiped past all around her. It felt like going through hell. If she weren't so damn focused on the road at the other side of the tree line ahead of her she'd have sworn fire was creeping up the trunks of the trees around her.
Cleared. A brief moment of deafness.
Pearl smashed directly into the monsters head, neck and right shoulder pushing it off the side of the road. It was a good buffer for correction as well letting Pearl keep to the bitumen and retain as much speed as possible rather than speeding off into the other line of trees on the other side of the road. Metal Wave, as well, kept along its solid path around the corner; no evidence of tampering... evident.
Ashleigh had to power down Pearl severely to keep in time with her before snapping through its dozen gears and hunk into its inertia. While in this process she snuck a peek in her side mirror, noticing the monster:
It had... split? Was that the right word? It had split 'open' that was for sure. Its head was no longer visible, it had snapped back behind itself or something. The sides of its chest had split outwards and it was laying spread out on the ground; pink insides could be witnessed; Ashleigh held back the sensation to vomit all over the steering wheel. Strange knots, lumpy pink organs; writhing, short tentacles flapped about the place. One object in particular stood out from the rest; a giant dark red sack protruded from the centre of beastie and was spread on the hot bitumen. It almost seemed to shine in the sunlight... 'Sun-'
'HIT THE WEAKSPOT FOR MASSIVE DAMAGE,'
Ash returned to the road ahead of her with increased vigor, glancing one last time at the monster; her mind racing at ideas, 'Shoot the thing?' she queried, 'Run it over?---' it clicked, like a plug to immobilizer and key to ignition; the Gunslinger had it all sorted out.
The foot of the mountain finished, trees cleared; way ahead of Pearl was Metal Wave.
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Post by .name//Technomancer on Mar 29, 2010 12:07:40 GMT -5
"Goddamnit, where the hell is that shotgun?!"
/./Driving with one hand wasn't difficult for Thomas. A manual gearbox will do that to you. Finding an item in the backseat, that's the killer. Issac, shaken some by the completely insane driving style of Thomas', snapped back into reality after the last sixteen minutes of suicidal driving. The word of the day, gents: Shotgun. His right hand firmly clutching the b*tchbar, Issac peered into the chaos that was his IROC's backseat. A flailing dark-skinned hand prodded anything in reach. For once, Issac spoke in passing././
"I don't see a shotgun back there."
/./Brakes././
"WHADDYAMEANYOUDON'TSEETHESHOTGUN?!"
/./Still practically standing on the clutch, he finally pushed himself nearly out of his seat, contorting his head to lay eyes on his backseat. Lo and behold: water, food, spear, floorboard././
"Oh, for the LOVE OF---"
/./Two things then occurred to Thomas. He would have to slow down much more in order to let Ash catch up, and he would have to actually [Stop] in order to hand her the most powerful weapon the three own. While yes, Ash' Sidewinders packed a helluva punch, and Issac probably had a 'nade on him or two, the Charles Daly had deer slugs loaded. Sheer metal. It would put a sizable hole in... Whatever that was.
Thomas deered to kill a king's dare.
He made some nonsensical noise in Issac's direction concerning a seatbelt, and immediately pushed the brake petal to the floor. Issac promptly fell forward, his head just inches from cracking against Metal Wave's windshield. Doors popped, trunk popped, aaaaaaaand waddle to Metal Wave's ass././
"I swear to Gaea if I left that shotgun back in Montana I'm going kill you all...."
/./Thomas flung her trunk open, and began to dig. Cans of food shuffled to the side. Water out of the way. Essentials. The computer he picked up was moved carefully to the back, near the seats... And beneath the comforter set he picked up..
Shotgun Of Holy Smiting +2././
"FOR THE---"
/./No time for curses now, Thomas! He slammed the IROC's trunk, and bolted back to the driver's seat, in the process he nearly smacked Issac in the face with the heavily-sought-after shotgun. He shoved it into Issac's possession, telling him to prepare it. He didn't know if it was loaded, or if the safety was on... Or even if the shells were proper. He'd never looked at it, really. He had it in his hands for all of six minutes before he left Montana.
He hadn't even closed his driver-side door before whomping on the gas again. The door closed itself. through force. Just in time, as well. Ash was in sight, kinda. The front of Pearl was rather f**ked up, and Ash herself looked frantic and persistent. In a very short distance, Metal Wave exploded back up to speed, matching Ash's truck inch for inch. With Issac gunning, and Pearl running defense, the trio may last yet././
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Post by Lunapocalypse on Mar 29, 2010 14:04:24 GMT -5
The whole concept of 'clearing' was a little worse than Ashleigh's original idea of 'better'. For the monster it was a child’s sandpit; room to stretch its legs, and Pearl was like a red dot on a blindingly white piece of paper. The sticks that represented the trees were now out of the way, and the bump mapping of the mountain side had flattened out leaving nothing but an artists easel to f*ck about on. Ash was force to break now and again when the creature leapt, passing the windscreen; she was able to see all the unpleasant details closer up too. Fancy that. Stomach tested. Could probably go in ten rounds of transferring maggots from one tray to another. Gross ideas aside, she had to find something to counter the pounding beastie.
Sidewinder No.1 came out; Ash pot-shotted the creature from a distance as it pounding across the grass. She paused, let it come in closer, "Aim for the balls-" - '-Eyes,' PAP. Eye closed and the monster veered off from its attack on the bright red fire truck giving Ashleigh some breathing space, "Stings doesn't it," she commented. It wasn't enough though, nowhere near; as far as Ash could have determined the bullet had merely bounced off of the eye. Had to get ruthless. Her knees came up to the steering wheel and she went hands free, sidewinders in both hands. The muzzles pointed dead on the monsters right temporal lobe as it approached again and bounced to life; problems arose quickly... gert figrawr.
First sidewinder dripped dry, Ash had planned for that, but what happened with the second revolver made the first appear as a problem. A wet 'click' was heard when Ash pulled the trigger.
/disappointedface
"Gahd damn it!" she screamed, nearly lost grip on the wheel with her knees. She'd forgotten to clean the blood off of the damn revolver. It was too clogged to strip and fix it on the spot... in a moving fire engine. Spit in the air and it would probably land on someone with a lack of priorities; but hang on, taking down this monster is pretty important. Yes, but the revolver should have been cleaned long ago in a land far away, "SHUT-"
The mutant came back on in for another pass; out of pure aggression Ash let Pearl drift to the right briefly before swinging her back to the left and ramming the monster pushing it to the ground. Its leg was caught under Pearls front wheel bringing it to ground zero and snapping it entirely. Astonishment overwhelmed Ash. Was that it?
Different matters, the sleek blue of Metal Wave caught the sun ahead. Ashleigh squinted, "What the crap is Thom---?" she breathed out in a squeak, "What are you doing? Changing a f*cking tire?!". She glanced in the mirror spotting the monster doing its weird splitting open, sack on the floor thingo again; once more the raw ramen from last night threatened to drawl up her throat and out her mouth. Back to Thomas. He was stepping back into Metal Wave and started gaining altitude. The Chevy traveled slow though, it appeared Technomotive Mastodon was trying to get his lightning steed in time with Pearl.
Surely enough the two were eventually neutral with each other. Ashleigh leaned out the window wonder what the hell was on Thomas' mind to jeopardize himself and Isaac; in reply, sort of, Isaac leaned out the IROC with a shotgun in hand. Ash's eyes broadened, 'Nice timing chief,'
The Gunslinger clicked open her door, seatbelt off. The bite where the wheel was ended up being enough to sit safely over Metal Waves roof, paint weren't goin' nowhere today. A hasty glance at the road below showed nothing but grey blur; slip and f*cked; at this speed it'd probably be quick though. Knees back to the steering wheel, something Ash was beginning to tire of, she leaned out the cabin with her right hand keeping the door open against the force and left hand down to grab the shotgun. Ash took the liberty to scream, "Tell Thomas he has to get way down wind, up that straight and top of the cliff there; get as far away as possible," as fast as she'd leaned out, she was back in, door closed and space put between Pearl and Metal Wave.
The blue Chevy picked up revs and was out of mind. Ash had her attention back to the monster; it was free play from here on in, Metal Wave didn't have to wait up for Pearl. The ratty-bat-face pounded the bitumen skipping debris all over the place, "Come get me you f*cking cow," the Velvet Muse taunted and pushed Pearl over to the right hand side of the road. Ol'Beastie was ready to ram her, ****ed as sh*t; the once broken leg now back to normal, "Sucker has plant DNA in it," Ash commented, her previous assumption most certainly a fact around this point. Right then its head appeared at her window, and the term of the day popped in:
"SHOTGUN SURPRISE,"
Thomas' Charlie came into view; Ash rested it on her left arm which gripped the steering wheel tightly. Cheek against the stock of the Daly. Buckets and buckets exploded into the mutants eye, a monstrous shriek pierced the air and tore vibrations asunder, "Oh you want more!? Mister boomstick would be obliged!" the creature came back in for another pass, "Encore..." BOOM. A hole was made, big enough for three.
At this stage Pearl had hit the incline running up the cliff. Mirror glance. Again the monster did the splitty-opey-thingy, the corner of Ash's mouth curling, "Just a little farther," in another two hundred or so metres she slowed Pearl down, jackknifing her a little and U-turned to face the monster. It was proving grounds again.
Pearl purred, "Girl... I have to ask you to do something for me-" Ashleigh gripped the steering wheel tightly, "Something I would normally ask in any other situation, I just... really need this-" she paused, Pearl replied, warmth vibrating through the steering wheel and up into Ashleigh's shoulders; a floaty sensation. Everything would be alright, Pearl understood; she was a rescue vehicle after all, it was her job, her duty. Ash relaxed, "Thanks baby, I'll see you on the other side some time,"
Anchors on, Ash powered Pearl letting her wheels screech and plume copious amounts of smoke. Anchors released and the fire engine roller coastered forwards.
The idea was simple, to Ash anyway. Albeit her experience with a fire engine is near moot, the first thing she was taught ended up being the ability to compensate for the gallons upon gallons of water you were toting around like a loose moose. If there was enough of it, the liquid would throw the entire vehicle around if you slowed far too quickly; this was hazardous... life threatening kind of hazardous. Especially to the sort of mutants that let giant red sacks hang out of their... oversized orifice.
"Are you ready for this?" "Yeah, born hairy and sideways," "You do realize the kind of calculation it requires is similar to predicting a dice roll, right?" "Sure, I'm trying to think the odds are in our favor though" "Welp, if you're positive... I'm game."
Pearl jackknifed the last 100 metres still traveling a safe 70 kilometres per hour. Ashleigh straightened her entirely to be negative parallel to the road, Pearls left hand side facing the monster while sliding along the road. Ash crawled frantically for the passenger side door and snapped it open, the slip stream giving no force and thus it swung open. With what effort she had left she used to leapt out of the cabin, flying on the spot before dropping to the ground.
Pearl continued to slide towards the mutant, slowing down dangerously fast and stopping almost directly on top of it. The water in the tank on the right hand side crashed up and over giving her weight and momentum the extra force to topple over crushing the giant sack and half the creature with it, metal crunching. 200 metres back up the road Ash loaded a single bullet into her sidewinder and put the muzzle to the road at an angle, fired the shot. The rather unmentioned puncture of Pearls tank let a slick of petrol line all the way down the road; the liquid fizzed and flared sprinting all the way down to the derelict fire engine. With the name of the vehicle in departure pushed into metaphor a ball of orange exploded, shockwave sent outwards.
Ash merely smiled as her silhouette was cast from the light, her kind of ordinance, "Good work, girl,"
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Post by .name//Technomancer on Mar 30, 2010 23:04:41 GMT -5
/./The weapon swap was clean. No ugliness. No paint traded. All went well. Issac's action of leaning out from the IROC sparked a bit of rage from Thomas, in that Issac had been trying to prop himself out further using the removable T-top section of the IROC's roof. Again, Thomas made some ungodly noise concerning Metal Wave's few flaws, one of them being used to pull a full grown and well-equipped Marine a few inches out of a fast moving sports car. The complaints were scrambled by a barrage of wind and a change of the air pressure difference in the cabin, thus rendering Thomas' curses of warning and feigned threats against Issac useless. As luck would have it, the Marine had indeed taken caution to use the outer-most edges of the glass T-top for support, effectively only applying force to glass-covered metal.
The moment that the useless [to Thomas] shotgun was passed along to the would-be Road Warrior, Issac slid back into Metal Wave's bucket seat, grasping the b*tchbar once more only after powering the window closed././
Issac: "I think she said to take off up that cliff, Thomas."
/./He still had to raise his voice over Metal Wave's lightened exhaust, but there was no audio dyslexia. The message passed through Issac, from Ashleigh to Thomas. Run.
And they did.
He absolutely exploded away. There was a moment in time where Thomas considered clicking on his IROC's Cambridge system; the Progressive Metal loaded onto his stereo's hard-drive would have provided an excellent adrenal rush, but it would have introduced a variable that may have ruined Ash's plans. Thomas battled the urge greatly, allowing the soundtrack Metal Wave spat out to suffice. He brought her a gear lower, and destroyed pavement.
In very little time, 120 mp/h was done away with. 150 mp/h. The narrow, flat road, arrow straight, let Metal Wave soar near her top speed. Still untested, he would find her reaching 177 today. This lust for speed would be a holiday romance, unfortunately. The mountains once again began to chew up the road, curving and inclining yet again. Thomas compensated, letting off the gas, easing onto her ceramics, and pulling her down to third. Drifting gear.
Issac already barring, Thomas let loose one furious drift lash after another. They slid as though on rails. Straight up the cliff side.Metal Wave roared here and there, exclaiming her love of being sideways, and the love of her driver. Anyone else behind the wheel, and she refused to start, let alone handle cliff-side drifts this well. In the moment of escape, Thomas got a bit far ahead of himself. He began to ease away from accelerating quite as heavily, braking a tad more than usual. His overall top speed slowed. Then, rather surprisingly, Metal Wave's voice was trumped. Not in a small way, by far. A heavy high-pressure sound wave broke her latest acclaim, just between a downshift. Gravel shook loose from the cliff side. Dust and sand kicked up and away from the side of the pavement. More startling than concern of his own vehicle's performance for once, he suddenly realized what caused it.
Pearl a'splode.
Thomas was between shifting from third to second, in means of gaining speed for the next drift. Instead, he slapped Metal Wave into neutral, pulled the handbrake up and shoved it back into the floor, and cranked her wheel hard left. Two-lane b*tch, single turn. No three point turns for Thomas!
He fired back down the mountain, the dust and gravel still raining down from the explosion just a quarter-mile away. "Ash's a tough b*tch, she probably survived..." Thomas lamented, "She's not that dense... She jumped... She had to..." His roll continued to slow, reducing to more of a cruising speed as he rounded the last corner... Black smoke billowed from the epicenter. Burnt metal and infected flesh invaded the senses of the two men, a smell that made at least Thomas cringe in disgust. For a second, the Native was fearful he was breathing Ash. The cliff side curved; two sets of eyes immediately locking onto the inferno of a wreck down he road. And yet... A speck in the middle of both lanes stood...
Ash!
Of the three, Metal Wave was the least happy to see her. Spark Plugs seven and eight both failed to burn any fuel, instead pushing it right into the pipes, causing a bit of a hiccup performance-wise. She pouted a bit, thankful that Ash was indeed alive, but grumpy in her escaping unscathed. She lumbered on, carrying her driver and shot-rider down the curved road, pulling aside the Muse. A window powered down, the driver leaning out just a bit. In Thomas' place, a poet would have better sufficed././[/i][/b]
Thomas: "Did you seriously just kill that thing with a fire truck?"
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Post by Lunapocalypse on Mar 31, 2010 12:56:11 GMT -5
Hands to knees. Monotonous panting. The adrenalin rush that Ashleigh had become victim to had finally passed and now she was exhausted beyond belief; the smile still remained though, and she laughed a little too, overcome by how much everything could have simply not worked out for her. She stood up straight, breathed in deep, hands on hips; chin raised and chest out in triumph. It wasn't every day you cheated death... "Oh wait.." Ash said comically in retort to that thought. The Gunslinger turned on her heel, tucked the shotgun under her left arm and drew her right revolver going into the slow process of snapping out bullets and wiping the thing down a little with some spit and polish.
The ploom had finally dissipated, the only orange in the whole place licking up and about from the now oversized road block several hundred metres in the other direction. Ashleigh had a couple of bullets wedged in her mouth queued up for cleaning doing most of her breathing through the same hole and occasionally slurping now and again to stop herself from dribbling all over the place, "Third god damn vehicle you've trashed in less than 24 Ash..." some of the consonants in her dialogue didn't sound properly, "I swear to god if Alicia finds out about this in any way it'll be the end of me," she leaned back while strolling down the side of the road, gravel crumbling, squinting directly into the sun, "Thomas's probably worried sh*t his Chevy'll fall to pieces the moment I touch it," Ash snorted a short laugh out her nose while thumbing through her coagulated blood covered rounds.
A roar resounded up on the cliff and down the road, a clear indication Metal Wave were not too impressed with the outcome, "Blow it out yer ass," Ash breathed as she took her backpack off and dropped her revolver rounds into their designated pouch, she snapped the revolver shut and holstered it unloaded; it'd need a major cleanup before loading it again, she'd do with one for the time being anyway. Thomas pulled on up, poked his head out.
"Did you seriously just kill that thing with a fire truck?"
Ash looked directly at Thomas while swaying on the spot slightly, turned to check the burning debris down the road for several seconds, turned back to Thomas, "Yup," fairly convinced that was what had just happened, "Just fighting fire with fire," she smiled, "'Sides, I couldn't let something that would beat the pants off of your Chevy in a race live now, could I?" Ashleigh rounded Metal Wave to Isaac's side who was stepping out in response, "Shove over genius..." it never did take long for Ash's cynicism to click back in after a moderately decent win. She popped Heavy Wave's passenger seat forwards and stepped on into the back finding a cozy place to mosey down on.
Charles Daly was held up briefly, "And cheers for the shotgun. It was a pleasant surprise," she was about to relax before deciding to add more, "Pleasant for me... I don't think ratty-bat face back there enjoyed it so much," she set the shotgun upright against the seat beside her and pumped it once pulling the shell out and holding the rest in the gauge pipe, the same shell loaded straight back in to keep the chamber empty, then pushed the shotgun far over to the other side of Metal Waves backseat. Isaac snapped the seat back and hopped in, door closed.
Not even all the grumpiness from Metal Wave could keep Ashleigh awake; her eye lids felt like giant iron doors she was holding open... or maybe a better expression would be the garbage disposal room in Star Wars, only it wouldn't get to a stage where it would kill you. Ashleigh didn't think it would anyway; it'd be pretty appalling to die from eye lids right after felling an over sized buffalo with a shotgun and a fire engine. Ashleigh tapped Thomas on the shoulder, "Wake me when we get to Raccoon, 'kay?" she said. A moments passing and she figured MW's brass band would have muffled her dialogue, so she just stuck her thumb in the air as in indirect 'cheers' before letting her eye lids kill her to sleep.
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Post by .name//Technomancer on Mar 31, 2010 21:39:53 GMT -5
Ashleigh: "Yup, just fighting fire with fire... 'Sides, I couldn't let something that would beat the pants off of your Chevy in a race live now, could I?"
/./The Camaro shuttered a bit, grumbling to herself. In a quarter mile, uphill, whatever. If that thing was still alive, she would have smoked it. Anytime. Any place. Metal Wave's discrepancies were short-lived, as always. With Issac stepping out, Thomas made a notion to the marine that he should hop in back, allowing Ash to take shotgun. The Muse had other plans however, as the bucketseat slid forward and folded up a bit, allowing Ash to crawl into the oddly spacious backseat. The seat flew forward, with Issac occupying it once more. The Native shrugged. Whatever works for them, He thought.
Once the door was closed, Thomas began the arduous task of three-pointing a b*tch on the side of a bleedin' cliff. Ash spoke again, holding up the obsolete Charles Daly in praise././[/i][/b]
Ashleigh: "And cheers for the shotgun. It was a pleasant surprise..." /./A pause, before she broke silence once more././ Ashleigh: "Pleasant for me... I don't think ratty-bat face back there enjoyed it so much."
Thomas: "I'm glad you put that thing to use," /./He noted over the exhaust pipes,/./ "I sure as hell can't use it."
/./With Metal Wave once again facing the road toward Raccoon, Thomas began the ascent up the mountainside. He'd gone only eighty feet perhaps when a slender finger tapped his right shoulder. Only just so, Thomas could hear Ash asking him to wake her as they neared Raccoon. He acknowledged with a nod, and turned back to the road. Oddly enough, the day's events had taken them all across Circle River, and none of them had remember to eat or drink well enough. Thomas reminded himself to grab a little somethin'-somethin' if they stopped for fuel. The sky began to dim, a humble end to a stressful day. The loss of three team-mates, two temps would be hard to over-come. But as a unit, they could. Even Metal Wave came to respect the turmoil. She seemed to muffle her over-zealous voice, allowing Ash to rest further, and a quieter trip overall. The ride into Raccoon had begun..././
[Thomas, Metal Wave, Ashleigh, and Issac have traveled to Raccoon City.]
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Amphibian
Survivalist
Fighting for Frogs worldwide!
Posts: 58
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Post by Amphibian on Aug 7, 2011 2:43:40 GMT -5
Kill him. It would be perfect.[/color] Ezekiel said. Micheal pondered the idea but decided to turn it down. Why kill him, when he can experiment on him? That's the fun part of the job, not mindless murder. All was silent besides the droplets of water hitting the floor. It was peaceful and serine. Micheal relished in the silence. He stepped out of the shadows like a assassin. It was cleaver. "I'm here but I am not working. Yet" Micheal said with a devilish grin.
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