imeeji_frontstage | mr. sandman, man me a sand

[If the Game Tower is nearby...

He turns, forking to go in a different direction. Does that mean the hotel (or what's left of it) is around here somewhere?]

[The layout of this area is familiar, and there are enough landmarks still standing that it's not difficult to navigate in the direction of the hotel.

There's a lot of debris here, loose and treacherous underfoot. He has to pick his way carefully to avoid sliding into patches of shattered glass or twisted rebar. While watching his step, me may notice other things mixed in with the rubble: a burned-out car frame. Half a couch. Here's a human leg, dark and withered, not attached to anything.

Once he looks closer, he will notice there are actually a considerable number of body parts poking out through the gravel. They're all shapes and sizes, some clad in dented armor, some with delicate jewelry. Some of these were children.

None of this looks fresh, though. These guys have been part of the landscape for a very long time.]

[That's...

Imeeji didn't have children (because Intensity does not see Talon as a child). So what bodies are these?

If he can uncover one that looks mostly whole, he'll try to answer that question.]

[There are corpses in abundance, so finding more isn't especially hard, children or otherwise.

Their features are dark and indistinct, mummified by the elements. Their weather-worn clothes look like normal streetwear, unregulated by Imeeji's fashion laws. There are also a number dressed head to toe in armor.

None of these corpses seem to be wearing anything Intensity recognizes, even when he looks carefully.]

[Great. So what is this? A later round of the production.

...

Well, if he doesn't know any of the contestants, maybe the Game Tower is the better option.

But first---

He snaps his fingers to see if Blue Eyes appears.]

[It's faint, barely more than an echo, but it's there -- that a familiar metallic shriek confirming the signal's been received.

It takes a several long minutes before Intensity begins to hear the beat of her wings cutting through the still air. They grow louder, and nearer, then Blue Eyes peals overhead like a streak. Her wings clap against the air as she banks, slowing herself in a wide loop before she dives back in between the ruins.

Her pedaling wings stir up dust and loose stones as she slows herself for a landing, then she settles, shining and discrepant, on a nearby mound of debris.]

[He walks over and reaches out to run his human hand along her snout, obviously more at ease now that's she around.

As he hops up on her back:]

Come.

Let's see what exactly happened here.

[And they take off into the air, veering to head straight toward the Game Tower]

[The altitude provides a much better view of the city, and from here, Intensity will be able to notice many things:

A few blocks from where he took off is the hotel -- or what's left of it, anyway. Miraculously, the facade still stands but everything else -- the rest building, the rest of the block -- has been crushed under the wreckage of a vast airship. It's dark and dead, with smooth black metal and a row of massive, slender structures along each side that resemble a line of oars from a longboat, or the ribs of a long-dead titan.

Beyond that, huge sections of the city are just... gone, reduced to fields of gravel and twisted metal beams, eaten up by fires.

The Game Tower in the distance looks slightly odd, with four towers instead of two, arranged in a square. The road leading to it is so badly destroyed it looks like it would be treacherous to get there on foot, if not impossible. But somewhere along the way, a space has been cleared, and all the rubble has been neatly moved aside to create an area that's bare down to the dirt.

It's hard to see it with much clarity from this distance, but the field of dirt is speckled with countless small mounds, tidy and tended, each marked with a chunk of rubble. There's a single point of light shining among the mounds -- the only light Intensity can see in this barren landscape.

Finally, as Blue Eyes' flight climbs ever higher, Intensity can hear it: a droning hum from above the cloud layer. The higher they go, the louder the sound, until Intensity can feel the vibrations in his lungs.]

Edited 2019-09-14 21:00 (UTC)

[Holy---]

[...

Well, there is only one direction to go.

And that my friends is always---

UP]

[The cloud layer is like a chilling fog, instantly soaking his clothing and sending water streaking along Blue Eyes' polished sides. Everything in his vision is white, so dense he can barely see up the length of her neck. It would be hard to tell he were making any progress at all if it weren't for the gradual increase of light penetrating the mist, and the overpowering thrum drawing ever stronger.

Then, Blue Eyes abruptly punches through the other side of the clouds and the clear sky yawns overhead in every direction, pale blue in the evening light. The sun, low on the horizon, tints the ocean of clouds below into a sea of gold.

The source of the noise is immediately apparent, as Intensity finds himself in the middle of an entire fleet of airships. Most of them are boxy and gray, hanging in the air, engines blazing to keep them hovering in place. They are absolutely dwarfed by the colossal battleship in the center. The battleship resembles the wreckage that took out the hotel, but this one is aglow with red and green lights, those long structures undulating along each side like the legs of a centipede. These airships are very much alive.]

[Normally Intensity doesn't notice the cold when he's flying, but this chill him to the bone in more ways than one.

If this is what attacked the hotel, the Game Tower then---

The lights.

He drops Blue Eyes down at nearly freefall speed.

The odds of survivors were absolutely slim, but not checking would be worse. Especially if there were more airships coming.]

[As Intensity plunges into the clouds, he can hear the sound of engines whining to a whole new crescendo behind him, shifting from idle hovering to engaged pursuit. The noise around him is unbelievable, vibrating through his very bones.

Sure enough, when the fog abruptly clears from his vision to reveal the dark ruins laid out below, it's not even a few seconds later before three of the smaller ships drop through the clouds behind him, vapor roiling around them in a cloak of swirling vortices, engines droning like ten trillion angry bees. The nearest ship opens fire, sending a line of white-hot tracer rounds streaking past as it tries to lock onto this very small target.]

[Yes.

Well.

They'd be foolish to think Intensity doesn't has weapons of his own. Blue Eyes banks, twisting in the air to face the closest of the nearest ship. And she growls, opening her mouth wide and sparks crackling deep within her jaws.]

Blue Eyes.

Burst Stream!

[That is to say she's been equipped with a taser which he is currently overloading the fuck out of to shoot like a goddamn laser cannon]

[The beam carves a stripe of molten metal straight through the hull of the ship. It rattles and groans, metal panels peeling away from the force of the air resistance and flipping away into oblivion. The craft is still flying, but the hole makes it aerodynamically unsound enough that it immediately begins to fishtail in the air, until suddenly it loses control completely and spins off to the side. It clips one of the other ships on the way, making the second one wobble treacherously in the air and fall back.

The third ship opens fire. At the same time, the sky above erupts with noise -- the sound of the entire fleet shifting into life.]

[Then come get him!

It'll take more time than is comfortable to repair the taser and recharge it before Blue Eyes can strike again. But that doesn't mean Intensity has to sit idle.

He urges Blue Eyes forward toward the final ship, guiding her around and below its barrage of fire.

Let's hope all those first person shooters actually paid off!]

[The ship struggles to keep up as Blue Eyes neatly does a mach speed limbo under the line of tracer rounds and streaks under the ship, entirely too fast for it to pursue. It shrieks and groans as it banks to follow, every part of it straining under the force of the maneuver.

Above and behind, the first of the new pursuers pop one by one out of the cloud bank. Intensity's put some distance between himself and the fleet already, but here they come!]

Edited 2019-09-15 09:48 (UTC)

[Who said he was trying to put distance between him and the ship?

Blue Eyes certainly shoots past the third ship, dipping low to avoid the oncoming pursuers.

Intensity, on the other hand, has hopped onto one of those undulating structures near the bottom. hopefully out of outside of the others airships. Creeped out by all of this? Yes. Deterred? Not in the slightest.

So what is this ship made of when you get up close and personal?]

[The ribs are spaced widely enough that Intensity can easily fit between them, sheltering him from both view and from gunfire. As far as he can tell, the ship seems to be mostly steel with plates of titanium armor.

The rest of the ships haven't noticed his sneaky dismount and are still in pursuit of Blue Eyes. She has the attention of most of them, now; the second ship (which has regained itself enough to rejoin the fray,) the third ship (which Intensity is riding,) plus the rest of the dropships are all firing at her. The ships are fast enough but they have nothing approaching her maneuverability. The sky is a criss-crossed web of bullets, with Blue Eyes weaving and rolling this way and that, just out of reach.

Far above, the keel of the battleship begins to slice through the cloud layer.]

Edited 2019-09-16 01:09 (UTC)

[He'll send Blue Eyes off with a burst of speed back down into the cloud layer. Hopefully that will be enough to dissuade them from following her.

And as for himself--- well.

He's just along for the ride at the moment]

[It is, in fact, not enough to dissuade them, since shooting her down appears to be their top priority at the moment.

When she dives into the clouds, half the ships hold position in case she comes back out, but the rest of the ships ships pitch down and plunge in after her -- including the ship Intensity's riding. In an instant, his view of the world is nothing but thick white fog again, and he's soaked to the skin from the freezing mist. The ship's constantly shifting orientation, combined with the tearing wind and drenching vapor, make Intensity immediately aware that there are no handholds here, just smooth, wet metal on every side that isn't open air.

The ship bucks while changing direction and Intensity's shoes skid right to the precipice--]

[Fucking---

If there are no handholds, then he's going to fucking make one. He grips hard into the side of the ship with his metal hand, seeing if he can puncture or dent it with enough power to give him a solid anchoring point.

While hopefully not tripping off any alarms]

[There are a good few seconds where it seems like this is going to work.

The titanium armor turns out to be pretty strong, though, and Intensity's metal fingers aren't able to puncture it before the ship suddenly pitches upward again, throwing him off-balance in the other direction. His fingers make a sharp screech against the rib of the ship as he's flug off the edge into open air.

In freefall, the wind rips at his face so hard it's difficult to draw breath for a moment, he tumbles...

twists....

...then breaks through the clouds again. The broken city spreads out below him in every direction.]

[He calls Blue Eyes back in this direction to catch him.

Is that going to get the attention of her pursuers? Absolutely.

But well - dying by getting shot out of the air doesn't sound any more awful than dying being going splat, so why not]

[He hears her cry from high above and a second later she bursts from the clouds like an arrow, wings tight against her flanks.

She streaks up to him, maneuvering herself so her back's within reach. All Intensity has to do is grab hold and climb on.

But the second he touches her, a line of bullets slices between the two of them -- missing him so narrowly he feels the heat on his skin -- and there's the staccato crack of metal piercing metal and Blue Eyes is violently knocked sideways out of his grasp, leaving him grabbing at empty air. She shrieks, jerking and flailing as she spirals away, far, far, far out of reach.

Well, fuck!

Intensity's still falling. Think, think! What tools does he still have at his disposal? He reaches inside himself and feels all six -- no, seven -- abilities there: six unit abilities, and then the seventh, one he hasn't used in so long he nearly forgot about it. Unlike the others, this one wasn't given to him by anyone. This one is his.

The last time he felt it, this power surging up inside of him, was in the monster game. But this time he knows he's unshackled by the artificial limits the Game Tower imposed on him to keep him in check. This time he knows he'll be the full size he's meant to be, with all the firepower he expects to have.]

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