KillamriX88

Innocence Lost: Space Western Science Fantasy (Temporarily Open Again!)

---

With Reisus chiming in, he had more than enough volunteers. He honestly didn't know who would be best for this. This was a fortified encampment. But, it wasn't exactly a base. They might have troops and armor, but static defenses would be limited at best. With that in mind, he personally liked Stella for this job. Full invisibility just might guarantee success in this situation. However, he was hardly gonna decide for them for something this dangerous. That wasn't his place anyway.

"Well, I'll let you three hash it out, but whoever you decide on, come see me tomorrow 'fore we drop you off. Gonna have a lil' present for ya," he told them. "But fer now, take a look. See this here hull breach in the Circle?" He had the computer zoom in the image they'd been provided. "That's our target. Big enough for us to enter the ship, and likely t' be less defended then the front door. You'll just need to get there, drop off my present, then stand back. Don't worry 'bout it too much right now, I'll give you some more details tomorrow when I actually hand it to you."

The breach would require them to climb a little bit to reach, but that was why it was perfect. A gaping hole at ground level would be an obvious entrance... but this? This gave them a shot without them having to break through the enemy front line. At the end of the day, elite soldiers and tanks were a bad gamble when they had limited numbers to throw at them.

"I s'pose all y'all could work together, but if it comes down to it, we might need to try sneakin' one person to the target," he told them. "So just keep that in mind even if you don't wanna decide on someone right away." He gave them a nod. "Anyway, gonna go make sure I'm ready fer tomorrow or I won't have anything t' give ya." With that, he gave them a casual salute before walking off to start his preparations.

He then stopped for a second a turned around, "Oh, and don't you worry too much 'bout those tanks. Don't need you kids gettin' blown t' smithereens." He gave a playful wink before walking out of sight.

Royal Rumble!

@Dezuel

---

Vera's legs grew weak as she heard the guards calling for back-up. She slowed to barely a jog, trying to think of a way out of this. The likelihood of her pepper-spraying her way through security was... slim. A patsy, then? Pay someone to run through security and distract them?

Ugh, no, the area was practically deserted and they were looking for someone with pink hair! Curse her uniqueness!

She could see security closing in on her now. Looking back, she saw Galbrek himself closing in. And there was more security that way too. She was hemmed in. Welp.

Vera sighed. She was in the right here, but she had a feeling Galbrek would get his way long before she could get security to figure that out. So, being in the right, she took the last thing afforded to her.

"I give up." She raised her hands over her head. She then took a step backwards as Galbrek got close, spun around, extended her baton, and aimed to crack him across the face.

She was nothing if not petty, a mild comfort as security finally grabbed her and pulled her hands behind her back...

Royal Rumble!

@Hammerman@Gentlemanvaultboy

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Rurik sighed at Bak's instruction. Did she really want his help, or was she trying to keep him from becoming a liability? The implication kind of stung. He pursed his lips and began... pacing. Kind of? With a mildly annoyed look on his face, he began walking in circles around the "flag bunker", running his hands along the four walls as he did so.

At this point, Bak had begun firing volleys of shots over the walls. In between salvos, he gave her a smalls nudge to step away from the bunker.

Then, even more oddly, he began walking in a line, slowly, in front of Bak and the bunker, pausing in between large steps. He only stopped once he'd made it from one end of the field to the other... or the enemy showed its face. Whichever came first.

He offered no explanation to his teammates, but that was fine. It might be better that they didn't know. Or maybe he was just too lazy to bother spelling it out.

@Dezuel

---

Vera almost laughed, but she was too stressed out for that. However, he made it just so easy. He was literally saying, out loud, that he was a bad guy. It gave her all the justification she needed to just hold up her pepper baton and blast him in the face while he was busy with the woman he was trying to hypnotize.

Trying... successfully, unfortunately. She was already under his spell as she let loose. She quickly turned on Vera, lunging at her. Vera threw up her free arm, the woman latching onto her. It took a bit of struggle, but Vera was able to aim the spray at her face next and let her have it. The woman shrieked in pain and then fell to her knees, sobbing in pained confusion at why she'd just been peppered.

Vera took the opportunity to bolt and run for it... the wrong way. She'd headed toward the exit, away from people who might be able to help her. She saw a security guard jog past, heading toward the sobbing woman. Vera had a feeling she didn't want to be around for when the guard met up with the man who was probably Galbrek. The last thing she needed was a hypnotized man with a taser after her. Did guards have tasers? She decided not to find out.

Exit into the city it was.

Innocence Lost: Space Western Science Fantasy (Temporarily Open Again!)

---

Tanks. They had tanks. This was just getting more and more ridiculous by the moment. He'd never had to fight a tank before. He'd been a rifleman, anti-armor hadn't been his thing. His one big battle had quickly ended with him in pieces. After that, he hadn't exactly been up against the kind of people who could afford tanks. Not the kind they'd be dealing with today at the very least.

"So... close in all quiet and then go loud. That's gonna be tricky, but I think we can make it work," he said, the beginnings of a plan in his mind. "Real quick while we're all here," he spoke even as Reisus ironically made to step out. "I'd like t'ask who among all y'all is the best at bein' sneaky?" Kelan himself certainly wasn't, the orc was a no go, and something told him that a floating medical bot would stand out. That left possibly Reisus or the newcomers for what he had in mind.

As he waited for an answer, he took a closer look at the footage of the crashed ship. It was in decent enough shape that it made sense for there to be survivors, but between the crash and whatever had brought it down in the first place, there were still some noticeable hull breaches... Yeah, his plan could definitely work.

Innocence Lost: Space Western Science Fantasy (Temporarily Open Again!)

---

He was amused by Rachel's reaction to the handshake. She said nothing, but he could see the confusion as she had to adapt to shaking his left instead of his right. Not only had she been totally willing to shake the giant, three-fingered limb-crusher he had attached to his right shoulder, but she was almost definitely reading into why he'd used his left too much. Well, as funny as he found it, she was a bit too mouthy for her own good, so he'd let her think what she wanted for now.

Reisus meanwhile did as he'd asked... but not spectacularly. Not much for first impressions, that one. Oh well.

Whilst pondering the possibility of laser beams, they were not long after contacted by the masterminds behind all this -- Moonstrike. Time to get to business then.

"Oh, so it's easy then. Fly into the midst of a planetary revolution and break into a crashed prison ship. Piece o' cake. So are we goin' in hot or doing this all stealthy like?" He crossed his arms. "I'd like to know how much ordinance to bring." The girls' concerns were well founded, but one way or another they were expected to do this mission at the end of the day. He needed to know how many heads he was expected to pop in order to get them all out alive.

"Must be a big deal though, sending out troops in power armor. Not holding back. We never got any o' that in the outer colonies." He might still have some of his limbs if they had...

Royal Rumble!

@Dezuel

---

Vera's jaw dropped as the nut vendor began chasing her. Who was this creep!? She picked up her pace and ducked into the women's bathroom. It was at the tail end of the bathroom rush, so the line didn't extend outside the bathroom anymore, but the stalls inside were all full with one other woman waiting her turn semi-patiently.

She had three to five minutes before she was alone and everyone got distracted by the upcoming match, she figured. That wasn't as much time as she liked to process what the hell was going on. Her head was still spinning for... some reason. It took her a moment before what happened came back to her. A nut vendor had told her to go with him... and for a moment she had considered it. That was concerning.

A woman finished her business and made her way out, letting the woman who had been waiting take her turn.

Vera had to assume she'd been the victim of some form of suggestion. Fortunately not an overpowering one or who knew what would have happened. She could have been kidnapped.

Kidnapped? She groaned. She only knew of one person who had a hard-on for kidnapping right now. She quickly pulled out her phone, flipping through her contacts, seeing if anyone on it was in a position to help her. The answer was no. Andras and Wolf were tied up with the tournament and... no... no she was absolutely not contacting Seth. Why was he still in her phone?!

She shook her head, swallowing hard as another woman made her way out of the bathroom, like grains of sand falling through an hourglass.

OK, she was on her own then. Time to hedge her bets. She furiously tapped at her phone before stuffing it into her shirt. She then discreetly pulled out her pepper-spray wand, and waited for the next few women to head out. Safety in numbers, right? As the next person exited the bathroom, she followed closely behind.

Not that witnesses had helped last time, but a packed stadium was a lot different from a mildly busy street... she hoped.

Royal Rumble!

@Dezuel

---

Vera sighed as the vendor stopped by her. Neither wolf nor Andras were in the middle of a match just yet. Andras's was about to start, but until something exciting happened, she was busy telling someone on the internet that they were wrong. She didn't even glance up from her phone at the offer of nuts.

"No thank you..." she offered the bare minimum politeness, before he was even half-way done speaking. But then he kept talking. Good for the skin? What the hell? Now she was getting annoyed. She grit her teeth.
"Look, don't you know how to take no for an answe-" She looked up from her phone and froze.

Her eyes pretty much glassed over as she was told to follow him. But... she didn't move.

'Yes, a nice walk. Do what the nice man says.'

'But Andras's match is about to start. She probably wants me to watch... or something.'

'Just obey-'

'Obey?! Since when do I obey anyone?!'

'Listen-'

"NO ONE TELLS ME WHAT TO DO!" Vera suddenly shouted, practically at the top of her lungs... out loud. "What?" She blinked in total bewilderment. A few people were staring at her. "Uhhh... I need to pee!" She bolted to her feet and stormed off int he direction of the bathrooms. Great, now she looked like a crazy person. What had just happened?!

Innocence Lost: Space Western Science Fantasy (Temporarily Open Again!)

---

"Well what can I say? You learn to be friendly real fast when your only other option's bleedin' out," he told the boy, Eldrid and then just listened to his story of how the Ascendancy had gotten its hands on him.

When Kelan noticed the look on Orky's face, he was wondering if he should say something, but fortunately he quite literally snapped himself out of it. Eldrid made another good point then. Cybernetics or not, they all had something in common, something that had led them all to this ship.

"Well said. Hell, I reckon there ain't enough forks on this ship to get us through all our issues," Kelan said with a small chuckle. He was more at peace with his past than most, but he still had his baggage.

At that moment, he detected the smell of... smoke. It was faint, mostly being taken care of by the ship's air scrubbers, but it was there nonetheless. Perfect.

"Hey, Reisus! Quit creepin' an get your ass out here 'fore I drag you out!" He figured the kids ought to know everyone that was on the ship. "It won't kill you to show yer face a second!"

Innocence Lost: Space Western Science Fantasy (Temporarily Open Again!)

---

"Pal, maybe alcohol poisoning's not the best greeting for our new friends here..." Kelan looked at Eldrid sympathetically. 'Brave kid... or stupid.' It was up in the air for the time being, though he supposed being a former "super-soldier" meant he probably leaned toward the former.

He was honestly more thrown off by Rachel though. As he shook her hand, using his left, she made a comment about his muscles... or lack thereof. How forward of her. "Well now, it's a figure o' speech darlin, but I'm sure you knew that." She'd amused him by just how thoroughly she'd broken the ice there. She may as well have used a wrecking ball. "I just mean to say I'm this ship's front line." Oh sure, Orky still had some actual muscle left to flex, and plenty of it apparently, and Reisus seemed to be a fighter of some sort, but none of them struck him as soldiers. Not like he had been at any rate.

"And 'sides, I still have abs..." He pondered for a moment. "Well, most of 'em anyway."

He glanced again at Stella. She'd said her name and nothing else. Kindred spirit maybe, but he had a feeling she wasn't going to make it easy. He was pretty shocked, honestly. Her cybernetics looked very extensive. Perhaps more so than his. There was no appropriate way for him to find out of course, unless she ever felt like telling.

"Well anyhow, there's actually one more person in the room needs introducing," he told them. He lifted up his arm so everyone could see the large tubes that ran along it. Inside was what looked almost like a viscous liquid or gel... that was moving. "My roommate Tee, here. It's a long story, but we got blown up at the same time and been together ever since. Silly Tayanen took a likin' to me I guess." It was always a awkward affair explaining that he had another living being in his arm, but it would save them from a panic attack if they ever saw him crawling around on his own.

'Why did the polite boy drink the liquid? It seems like an... strange choice.' Tee struggled over his words for a moment before deciding on strange.

'Well I think you said it right there, pal. Probably bein' cordial.'

"He says hi," Kelan spoke aloud again. The look on his face betrayed that was indeed not what had been said. He then looked down at the arm. "Come on now, wave to the kids..." An awkward moment passed before- THWACK! The arm suddenly shot up, smacking Kelan across the face before waving to the newcomers. "Son of a b- Be more careful!" He groaned, clutching his aching jaw. "At least half o' that's still real..."

Innocence Lost: Space Western Science Fantasy (Temporarily Open Again!)

(If y'all thought I wasn't making a new name thing for this you were sorely mistaken)

---

Kelan had found himself in an awkward position. Strapped down with both his arms removed and some half-wit rummaging through his gear. When over half your body was mechanical, alcohol tended to go through your system really fast. It seemed he'd become the prey instead of the predator due to his... excessive intoxication. Oops.

"Listen. I'm sure this has all been just one big misunderstandin'. Let me go and I won't hurt you. Promise," he said to the guy. The man, one of a large band of pirates, looked up only to scoff at him. Judging by his especially greasy appearance, he must have been the band's mechanic. He was probably trying to make sense of Kelan's equipment. 'Yeah, good luck with that, pal. We'll be here all year. Hey, I think it's time you took a weight off his shoulders, know what I mean?' He glanced over at the containment arm, where it lay on a table.

"Well, I'm real sorry to hear that," Kelan said to the pirate and then stared at him expectantly. The pirate just raised an eyebrow as the growing awkward silence ticked by. "Oh come on, you're embarrassing me in front of the pirate!" Kelan turned and shouted at his arm.

Finally, with a mechanical whir, the arm sprang to life. The next thing anyone knew, the pirate flew up and smashed into the ceiling before crashing back down to the floor. Then the lever controlling the slab he was strapped to was thrown, releasing him.

"Shucks, I dunno why they saw the need to tie me down. I was perfectly 'armless," he chuckled to himself. He then knelt down, the arm containing Tee crawled over to him and swung into place, the arm reconnecting itself with a series of clicks. "Much better." He then retrieved his other arm and reattached it similarly.

He then looked over his armor. "Well, least they were kind enough not to scratch the paint," he mused before activating it, the plates snapping open so he could step into it. "'Fraid I can't afford to be so kind in return..."

. . .

. . .

"Well then I reckon I must've set off something, because when I walked into the hallway there were at least six of 'em waitin' for me," Kelan regaled the crew. He'd paused to acknowledge the captain as she disembarked to find their "cargo" before continuing. "Now I couldn't tell if they were more surprised that I escaped or that I was in my armor. In hindsight I think they were more surprised by the armor. Can't blame 'em honestly. Now, I won't go into detail there cause it got little messy, but here's where it gets interesting." He grinned. It was time for the climax of his tall tale. In his defense, his stories usually contained a few grains of truth. It was just a question of how many.

"Now remember, I told you I'd been hired to get rid of these pirates, and well, pirates have ships. So after that, before anyone else could find me, I made my way to their ship's hangar. Now they had a big 'ol ship, big enough for me to climb into one of the engine exhausts. Led me right to the main engine compartment. I rigged it so it'd go up in flames the next time they fired her up," he then broke out into laughter. "Now imagine my face when not five seconds later that baby started purrin- . . . the hell?"

And just like that he dropped the story, staring wide-eyed at the people their captain brought back on board with her.

"Why they're practically children," he mumbled to himself in surprise. His jaw nearly dropped at the sight of the girl with mechanical limbs. 'What is it about this ship that attracts people like me. We got me, the ork guy, a bonafide AI robot, and now this girl?'

He made room for the newcomers to find seats and get fed, for now giving them just a nod of the head in greeting. After they were seated, he listened to what they had to say until one of them asked how much they knew.

"Well missy, I figure not nearly enough. Cap'n never told us you were youngins, that's for darn sure. Got me thinkin' there's a whole mess o' things we don't know at this point," he told her. "On that note, why don't we get introductions outta the way. Call me Kelan. I guess you could say I'm the muscle 'round here."