FalloutJack

Dragon Ball: Universe Zero

@Balthazar007 Is it Master Roshi in another glued-on wig?

Innocence Lost - A Science Fantasy RP [v.03]

NERO KAYAKOS

So anyway, I started blasting Nero was gonna head off to get the lowdown on the layout of the long walk of the ship. Except, he had been interrupted at about the doorway when Amy suddenly called out. He had been kinda' tuning out because the focus was on Navi's breakdown, and therefore a good time to be elsewhere, but he stopped when the self-appointed ship's morale officer wanted their attention for something. Must've been because of Narvia, 'cause she was talking about...well...therapy. Plenty of people would've said he needed some, but then plenty of people would be told to mind their own fuckinbg business. They'd had a guy, back in training, who was essentially the base shrink whose job it was to certify that Nero was ready and mentally-suitable for combat. Needless to say, he was shown to be rather anti-social and the doctor warned the officers on-base that Nero wasn't likely to respect any of them or a real chain of command, but only do what you set him out to do in order to 'rub their faces in how impotent they are'.

The reason that he didn't get on with people and that therapy wouldn't generally work was that he knew, going in, that they didn't care about him, so he owed those people...nothing. The good news is that time away from the war and with people roughly his own age that could relate to his situation had had the effect of him being not a total shithead. If he were older, he might've called the posse - the Star Marines - 'old war buddies'. As it stands right now, they're a mixed bag of 'fellow soldiers', 'close associates', and even 'friends, I guess'. And let's be clear here, this was a step up from just being 'people I tolerate'. He was even willing to put Moonstrike alongside how he viewed the Marines, assuming they let him be himself here. Anyway, what all of this was leading up to was that Nero didn't hold much faith in any kind of therapy, but he did find Amy interesting...because she actually seemed to care, which was unexpected. She was basically volunteering to be vented at. That wasn't too bad. He'd done about same, here and there, to his group, as is. Still, the added offering of biscuits now was a bit much, considetring that he'd eaten a few things already. He was about to reply to that when he heard Navi say the magic words: Greasy Kebabs. Nero's face lit up with that. Oh, fuck yes.

"Kebabs? Save my biscuit for later, Ames. If we're having kebabs, I'm gonna need it then. I'll be in to chop the meat later, Nav."

Like we said, Nero gets along with the other young soldiers. And that was when he wandered off, cranking some music on his Omni-Tool.

But yes, he was off and starting to get an idea of where everything went and where on board the ship while they were presumably getting ready to go to, and heading off for, Maiden's Reach. He wasn't in any terrible hurry. He was taking in all the ductwork and where it went, including where people could and would hide, and his Omni-Tool was on Map Mode, scanning the physical area to just give him a full 3D map where his eyes might - shock of all shocks - actually miss something. It was a while later that one of the crew addressed him in a hallway. It was that one girl that had bits implanted in her to interact with machines. You'd think that Nero wouldn't have seen that, but you're wrong. As what basically equates to an assassin, Nero was given a series of targets to look out for, just in case. They didn't know for sure how the Rau've operated, but they had to give him some army intelligence to work with. Part of that included being able to identify tactical officers with implants to control machines directly with their minds, coordinating turrets and other weapons. His stealth was used to get past such secure locations and open the path by killing the operator. Anyway, it didn't take a genius to figure out that plugs in head meant brain acts as computer, or that this musta' been a strain, since she wanted Doc Millard.

"Well, I ain't seen 'im, but if I were him, I'd be hiding the rest of my ciggies from Ari before she takes them all. She doesn't like unhealthy stuff."

So, he was basically saying 'If not the medbay, probably his quarters'. Speaking of which, Nero had spotted a room close to a duct he could leap into at a moment's notice. It was perfect!

Dragon Ball: Universe Zero

That punch had been a feint to slip in a kick at the last moment. Dammit! He still took a hit himself, but that really stung. Yeah, the coordination of these men were actually rather complex, coordinating alot of their movements to create a problem in keeping track of them. So much for the Law of Conservation Ninja. It turns out that group-fighting is difficult, after all. If Niko had had a pistol, he could leg-shot all of them in an instant, but he'd gone to the tournament unarmed, and thus came to this area unarmed, as well. Perhaps a mistake, but he didn't have an official reason to be carrying a gun off-duty.

So now, sensing his pain, the assassins had switched it up, keeping two men on Han while he had to take on four of these bastards. Han had done...well...Niko, hadn't seen what, exactly. It was bright and flashy and on the edge of his perophery while he'd been fighting, so he didn't really see it. The two of them were effectively separated, though, as the fout went in for a simultaneous charge! It was both good, and yet NOT good, in a way. You see, the four men were acting in a way so as to assure that one of their number would get through, but the execution was flawed in one specific manner: If it had been him, he would have moved faster. This exposed the other flaw, which we'll be getting to in a second.

If he was right...the assassins would come charging in, he would effectively disappear suddenly, their hands and feet would meet as they stop to prevent themselves hitting each other, and then they would see that Niko had swiftly moved through one of the gaps to break through the circle without warning. But they would be too late, because the other flaw in their technique was something they tell you never to do in the army, which was clump together. If you group up into a tight wad, you are inviting any enemy with a gun to go to town on you. Niko didn't have a gun, but he had a special technque, and it was about time he used it. He was planning to throw them ALL off-balance, but two of them were very definitely getting the strike!

Niko VS Four Assassins?!

Health: 85
Power Level: 97

Surprise Tornado Fist!
Serious Speed Boost!

--Attack: 40 x 2.5 = 100!
---Speed: 50 x 2 = 100!
-Defense: 7

Spread out thusly...

Assassin-1
--Attack: 0
---Speed: 25
-Defense: 0

Assassin-3
--Attack: 50
---Speed: 25
-Defense: 3

Assassin-4
--Attack: 50
---Speed: 25
-Defense: 4

Assassin-6
--Attack: 0
---Speed: 25
-Defense: 0

Dragon Ball: Universe Zero

@Balthazar007 I think our stuff needs to be added and THEN displaced among the group, so that's what I'm gonna do. Speed, out of them all, MAY not translate as well as Attack and Defense in this format. Something to think on as this system evolves.

Dragon Ball: Universe Zero

@DoubleI'm going to use great speed to dodge out of the way of these guys and hit them when they're clumped together.

Dragon Ball: Universe Zero

I wouldn't see why not.

Innocence Lost - A Science Fantasy RP [v.03]

NERO KAYAKOS

So, at the moment, there were basically two camps in this meet-'n-greet that was their initial gathering. On one side, you have people talking about getting the Xuanzang - What the hell's wrong with just calling it by name, Ave? It doesn't need a nickname. - past an area with high levels of Ascendancy presence, a full military cordon. Most people were already agreeing that even though it was pretty dangerous, time was of the essence. The longer it took for them to get there, the more chance their enemy had to gather enough people to get to Realist first. This was especially important because the people of Plenty were actually on the side of Moonstrike, and this would be the Ascendancy's big chance to push back. Couldn't let that happen, now could they? Think of all those poor starving assholes that'd get their lunch on time.

The other camp was...not one that Nero really wanted to be a part of. Narvia was feeling homesick, terribly so. She'd been betrayed by at least part of her own family - It's come up a few times in conversation. Navi's rather talkative. - and yet she missed seeing them and her home back on Mars. Others, like Tarak and Amy, tried to comfort her. Nero was...not in that circle. He wanted to pay more attention to the part about the mission. He wasn't really longing for his home on Earth. He and the old homefront had a love/hate relationship. It was a good enough planet, but not for all the people on it. It was a difficult thing, trying to figure out what he wanted. He supposed he wanted to be away from people, so he couldn't be given a hard time, but people are funny, sometimes, so maybe just a few are alright. Anyway, they seemed to be making headway on that, so he went back to the first camp.

Things were just about wrapping up, there. Natasha was mentioning a particularly-nasty piece of work who could be in charge of the cordon they were gonna run, and then Ash and Flame were wondering about quarters. Yeah, there ya go! Priorities! Where do we sleep? Well, fortunately, the Xuanzang had a large amount of rooms, plenty of space to oneself. Perfect. However, after that, Natasha said that they were now all officially crew, which meant that they'd have to help out doing jobs around the place. At that, Nero let out sort of a deadpan "Fuuuuuuck.", at least until he heard that - of all things - accounting was on the list. What a boring task! Oh wait, they had someone to look after the numbers already: Flame Brooks. Probably with Ash on the side for the technical stuff, but Flame was Big Brain Mode about alot of things. Nero clapped him on the back.

"Good luck with the numbers game, buddy. I'll be finding something more my speed."

It was probably gonna be maintenance. The way he could get around, it was pretty on-point, there. Either that, or the cook was gonna have him chop everything edible in the kitchen to bits. Diced everything. Nero took this opportunity to wander off and get what you might call some sighting laps of his new territory. No, not his quarters. He was gonna make some rounds in the Xuanzang and get familiar with the place, all of its nooks and crannies, and see if there was any duct work he could fit into. Getting around ventilation was one of the ways he did his stealth work.

Dragon Ball: Universe Zero

I'm good here. How's everyone else?

Innocence Lost - A Science Fantasy RP [v.03]

NERO KAYAKOS

So, alot of the votes were apparently going towards a swift campaign to hit the planet of Plenty sooner than later, handling all of the dangers therein so they could make it to that prison ship in a hurry. Good to know and great to he- What the hell, man? Nero started giving Fin a look like 'What's your problem?' after the boy gave him a nudge. What was he objecting to? They were agreeing on shit here and he didn't even say anything weird. They all knew what they were getting into, what they were signed up for. Geez, give it a rest... Aaand no sooner did he think it than Fin decided - purely at random - to be a cat, and to settle on Tarak's shoulder. Okaaay... Let's move on, huh? Moving on right to a...man who was very definitely drunk, who just sauntered in, wondering what's up.

"Dunno. Kind of a show-stopping number walked in the door."

Always with the sass... Nero was the savage here, one way or another. Maybe this guy was a die-hard mercenary when he was on the clock, but this? This was clearly happy hour, for him. Nero watched things unfold while taking bites of the lemon bar he'd been offered. He was about halfway through it as somebody else made their way in. Geez, seriously, how many more people are gonna...what? That...that was different. The person who walked in and greeted them all was a being Nero had never seen or read about before. He was taken by surprise, because of her appearance. She was obviously an alien, but...as far as she looked...not bad. Nero was caught up staring for a moment, so he almost missed the part where she was in adoration of the cute feline perched on Tarak's shoulder, and as she proceeded to pet it, Nero facepalmed, thinking...

Fin, you lucky son of a bitch.

That shapeshifting power had been good OR bad for him, given circumstances. Well, at the moment, it had to be more of a highpoint, in his case. That girl - Amy, she called herself - was all over him. Tarak wasn't even trying to stop her, which made it kinda' funny, but Nero decided not to tease this one. There was something about her that was...better. Maybe she was being a bit doting, aaand maybe she didn't realize they were teens and not kids, but this didn't look like a bad thing, you know? Anyway, she started asking for introductions, and of course Fin decided to change back. All this amidst Ariel taking the bottle of alcohol off of the drunken soldier. And then, as she brought up information on the Ascendancy's movements in regard to their mission, Nero snapped his fingers, remembering something.

"Yeah, that reminds me: I was gonna ask if we had to worry about any prisoners on the ship besides the Realist."

It was always possible that the prison ship was full of nutjobs who either wanna get out or wanna fix the ship and take it away. You never know. Annyway, though, Nero would be listening for an answer while keeping an eye on other events in the room.

Innocence Lost - A Science Fantasy RP [v.03]

NERO KAYAKOS

A funny thing happened while people were introducing themselves. Actually, it was fucking hilarious. You see, a doctor had come into the room and Ariel couldn't stop staring at him. Happened every time the doctor puffed on his cigarette. Finally, she went over to basically demand - in her own way - that he hand the thing over, and...well...cue the barely-held snort-and-guffaw ensemble from Nero. She was kinda' their unofficial medic, since she wasn't exactly a combat expert, so seeing her act that way here and now was just funny as hell. He laughed out loud a bit when the doctor actually gave her the smokes!

Oh my god, that's priceless!

He was still chortling somewhat when Natasha spoke up, saying she was gonna contact the big boss of their rebellion if nobody had anything more to bring up. It finally stifled once Moonstrike One went 'Ahem'. The hologram had no face - only a symbol - and the voice was obviously a fake, like the sample voice people use for their translators when they wanna talk English in one end and out comes another language from the Omni-Tool. Nero couldn't get his to speak in any other voice than that of John Cleese. In any case, the voice was female, so for now...we'll assume that Moonstrike One is, as well. I mean, for all we know, it could really be Natasha making a very good recording and just playing along with it. Anyway, she talked about tyranny and the struggle for freedom, but these were minor things to Nero, really. He wasn't in this for anything as big and bold as that. At the end of the day, whoever won this fight, he was still gonna get bossed around by someone who was too busybodied to mind their own business and leave him to his own devices. It was the mission itself that mattered to Nero. The journey, not the payoff. What could you really offer him more than a good time?

Speaking of which, their first actual mission was actually pretty good. So, there was a big ole' farming world with big Fuck You cannons to defend itself against the Ascendancy that just had something interesting drop in their laps. It took them a minute to get to it, but once the interruptions ceased, he got the picture. They knocked a prison vessel out of the sky and it hit the planet, where - maybe - nobody survived...but apparently somebody did. They were transporting an AI called Realist, and Moonstrike wanted them to get this guy out of there before the President-For-Life - probably some jerk named Calvin - sent in his people to go get it. They needed to get to the planet of Plenty in plenty of time to do this, or they risked a non-standard game over. No no no... It meant there'd be a terrible setback and the lot of them wouldn't get paid. Then, the question was asked 'Do you want the long route of the short route?'. One was more dangerous, but saved time. The other was safer, but slower. You could see what Nero was gonna pick a mile away.

"I say we do the short route. Nobody even knows we're around here. It's not like they'll be prepared for the likes of us, so we can catch anyone thinkin' they can take us unawares and end their sorry existence quick."

He didn't want to take forever to get to this thing and possibly fall behind the Ascendancy on this. Better to get there in a hurry, pull out their new robot pal, and be one with it. They could recover from shit, anyway, right?

"Now, what ! wanna know is- What the fuck?"

Abaddon the Cake-Maker! He was offering them...lemon bars?!

"I uhh...yeah, I guess..."

He lost his train of thought completely. Whatever it is that he was gonna ask about was...just gone, banished by the weird sight of this Kaisoken in an apron. It was only when someone new spoke up that he noticed there were more people in the room that hadn't been before.

When the hell did THEY get here? And hey, just how many people are ON this mission?

Not the question he was going to ask before, but pertenant nonetheless. He didn't voice them, though. Not yet.