Showdown at Frost Mountain

[npc_kun]

Characters: NPCs Fugue, Orca, Locke, Nothing, Charger, Steve and OPEN
Date/Time: Monday, September 26, 2011
Location: Frost Mountain (mostly the caves)
Rating: PG, possibly upwards for violence and/or language
Summary: Orca is executing the last steps in his plan to abduct and subdue Fugue. Locke says hell naw. Meanwhile, the rest of the Sphere

Comments

※ Orca, Locke, and Fugue

[hooksandlines]

Orca would have liked to have done this earlier, but the chaos from the kidnappings meant there was a need to keep his head down for a while. Fugue had sequestered himself away in his Section 4 hermit hole, feeling more sickly than usual and wanting to avoid the madness that did not directly involve him. If Orca were to hazard a guess, he would probably think that Fugue was afraid he would be blamed for everything. He was blamed for plenty else, but with good reason.

Fugue was the sort to stay in bed late, not a morning person, so in the dawn hours Orca snuck into the sleeping man's bedroom, put a cloth full of chloroform over his mouth. When he was sure Fugue would not be waking up dragged his unconscious bulk outside and hauled him onto a waiting griffin.

[lockeandshock]

Oddly enough, when Locke discovered Orca's plan, he felt no anger rush through his veins like it once would have, back when his life had purpose and he believed that he was moving for some larger goal instead of simple escape. The goal that he strove towards was still a large one, but it was far less urgent. Should Orca succeed in his plan, he reasoned, he would simply put a bullet through that infuriating man's head. Orca's plan was far from elegant, and he scoffed quietly to himself to know how simple it was to foil

[hooksandlines]

Well now, wasn't that voice a blast from the past. Orca pulled back on the reins of the griffon, causing it to curb the flapping of it's wings so as to tread the air about two hundred feet from the mouth of the cave where Locke stood. He had expected interference, of course, but it was a thorn in his side that it had happened now of all times. Everything was so close to coming to completion--he couldn't let anything or anyone get in the way

[lockeandshock]

"Don't be ridiculous," Locke scoffed, raising his own shotgun (an Ithaca 37, and if he was one to still feel happiness, he felt happy to have found it). When Orca shot at him, he scarcely flinched at the sound and only took a step back once it embedded itself in his bulletproof vest. "I wish to shoot you down without any farce preceding this game, though it seems to me that you are one step ahead of me."

When he squeezed the trigger, he aimed for the head.

[hooksandlines]

Damn it, Locke had broken out the kevlar. Orca tried pulling back on the reigns of the griffin so that it would flap out of the way. It saved him from having his brains blown out, but it punched a hole in the creature's wing. Struggling through a flurry of fur, feathers, and blood the beast barely managed to land in one of the caves not far from Locke. Orca grabbed hold of Fugue and jumped towards the cave floor before the griffin could hit to avoid being rolled on. It wasn't a pretty or a graceful landing, full of scrapes and bumps. Still, it was better than being crushed under the heap of ailing animal that had just hit the wall.

"Hnnrgh. Gettin'... too old fer this."

With some effort, Orca managed to haul himself to his feet. That was a start but he still had to drag Fugue's dead weight down the caves without Locke finding him first. Grumbling, Orca fetched his shotgun from the side of the ailing griffin. The beast was worse for wear, one wing shot through, the other broken, meaning it was wailing something fierce. It wasn't

[lockeandshock]

Bulletproof vests didn't mean that the pressure of the bullet didn't hurt, but Locke had long learned to tune pain out. After all, he knew that the pain he felt was but a fabrication, along with the rest of their petty existence. Orca had turned tail to run, but Locke was in no such hurry. Even if Orca did manage to put Fugue into a coma, it was of little consequence to Locke. After all, putting one out of a coma and into death was as simple as a bullet to the brain.

He walked into the caves, then frowned as he saw the labyrinth that appeared in front of him. A bit of a bother to be sure. He walked slowly, lest his footsteps cover up the sounds of Orca fleeing that he was listening for. He was gratified when he heard a familiar grumble come from the right.

"You are no older than any other in this place!" He said, knowing that if he could hear Orca, Orca could surely hear him. "With two exceptions."