(Untitled)

[plaga_priest]

Saddler flexes his fingers, so recently deceased. Still a little stiff, but this isn't too much of a problem for now. With a feat of physics, he's managed to compact his master plaga, which is now mostly contained within his "revived" human body.

He certainly didn't expect someone would be foolish enough to attack alone. But he knows the wizard

Comments

[h_hollister]

Remember that really really awesome part of the first Star Wars prequel? (Yes, there was one, shut up, you know you all saw it 18 times. I bet you even dressed up for it. Nerds.) Where Qui-Gon takes his lightsaber and shoves it into the double steel doors on the ship of the Trade Federation aliens? And there was an awesome effect of the steel melting around the lightsaber and sloughing off the door?

Yeah. That's sorta what happens here.

The Piledriver Inc. Bazookoid Mk. 2 was initally designed to blast rock out of meteors and asteroids. Jupiter Mining Corporation, remember? So when it's set on 'continuous burn', it'll bore through solid rock and space-tempered metals in a matter of seconds.

Wooden doors? Puh-LEEZE.

They don't burst in. They don't explode into tiny splinters. Nothing so dramatic. They're simply...gone. One minute there's doors, the next, the doors have literally been burned to less than ash in seconds.

And the woman holding this BFG stomps right into the Oval Office, snarling.

"Saddler."

That's all she says. She's seen his face (sort of). She's satisfied that she's got the right guy.

She opens fire.

[gadgetqueen]

To Saddler, Eiko's burned hand might just smell delicious.

The rain of APL blasts she brins in along with the rest of that, however, is an uncertain viand and probably not for a gourmet.

[plaga_priest]

And Saddler is gone. Was he vaporized like those doors?

Anyone who's been around PINpoints long enough will recognize all of the dissipating indications of teleportation. The afterimage, the sound -- mostly masked by the bazookoid.

Nope. Did you really think it'd be that easy?

[8th_castellan]

Ramon had been shuffled past quickly by Hippolyta. He assumed because she had wanted to get to the door and indeed blast it open...But then he watches in frozen horror as Hips then proceeds to open fire again presumably where Saddler was standing seconds before.

His mouth is agape and his eyes are wide. For several frantic seconds, he does indeed fear that she vaporized him as well. Just like that, his former master is up in smoke. Gone before he could even try to negotiate with him. Gone. He's gone.

But then he does indeed recognize several delayed moments later the sound of displacement that PINpointing causes, the telltale zap and 'whumph' of air closing in on where a person or thing once was. He only teleported to safety.

...But it doesn't change the fact that Hippolyta immediately opened fire on him.

Ramon's still staring in blank, openmouthed horror between where Saddler apparently just was and Hippolyta, small sounds of disbelief being made in the back of his throat; words were impossible to form or grasp now.

[h_hollister]

"Shit!"

She doesn't have time to recognize Ramon's distress. She knew what was going to happen the second he realized what she did. And she'll deal with it. Later. LATER. As soon as they figure out where the smeg Saddler went.

....Oh, fuck, Eiko's PINpoint is burned out. FUCK FUCK SMEG FUCK SHIT GODDAMN...

"Where would he go, Ramon? Is he still on this world? I need you to check. Now."

[8th_castellan]

He doesn't quite grasp her request at first. He's still staring at her in abject horror, like he's scared of her now. But slowly, one shaking hand reaches up and presses the button on his collar.

His eyes are still wide and distressed, but they grow distant and glassy as he seacrches the planet over the network of Las Plagas, curiously feeling for Saddler.

"...N-No. H-He's g-g-gone..." He swallow hard against the growing lump in his throat, then releases his fingers from the button, swaying a little on his feet. "He's g-gone..."

He really would like to sit down right now.

[gale_force]

Gale, steps into the office, surveying the damage to the interior, making a sweep with his gun aimed and ready. He cocks his head to the side, also hearing the faint sounds of a recent 'pointing. He looks to others, Eiko specifically.

"PINpoint...is there any way we can track it and give chase?"

[rogue_in_red]

Ada snatches one of the chairs to the side of the room that wasn't where Hips was trying to turn Saddler into piles of remains and sets it down behind Ramon. Worried? Hah, Ada has no such emotion. It would simply be bad for him to pass out when they all needed information out of him.

She gives a short glare at where Saddler had been and then sets her bag on the floor.

"I've got a PINpoint in there somewhere." Ada points to the bag and shoots a glance at Gale. "If you can figure out where to go..." She shrugs. It might help. Right now she needs to think. She'd failed one of her objectives, one of the main ones at that. In frustration, she says nothing more, and simply glares at where Saddler had been moments before.

[h_hollister]

She's not the only one glaring.

Damn it, she should have anticipated this. That he'd do a runner. And now, instead of a dead Saddler and a devastated Ramon, they have a missing Saddler and Ramon would probably never speak to her again.

"Mine's ready, too. Just need coordinates."

She's glancing around the room, hoping against hope that there's SOMETHING that would give them all a clue as to where that smeghead bolted to.

[8th_castellan]

Ramon immediately sinks into the chair Ada had set up for him, mumbling a quiet, "Gr'cias..." as he does.

He agreed that they had to follow Saddler. But he knew (or at least highly suspected) now that if they do give chase, the others are going to just try and kill him immediately.

He should be telling them that they can't. He should be dragging his feet and refusing to take part in the assassination of his master. He should just voice his desire of just forgetting about this and everyone just going home.

But he knows he can't. For some reason, he can't voice a single protest. Weakness? Denial? He doesn't know what it is that's stopping him.

At times like this, it's just better to shut down entirely. Let others do the thinking when it gets too hard. So, bunching his knees up to his chest and wrapping his arms around his legs, that's what he does.

[gadgetqueen]

"Gale. Give me yours." She looks around. "I built his. I can use it like I would use mine, use it to trace. If the one that Saddler has is one of mine, I can override it. Find a place. Make him go there. We can be waiting."

She's hanging on barely.

[gale_force]

Gale wordlessly hands Eiko his PINpoint... and something occurs to him. "If you need a place where Saddler can be cornered, my PINpoint contains coordinates to an alternate Earth where aberrant 'data' from the sun prevents outbound teleportation. If he can be led there, he can PINpoint in, but not out; he will have no escape."

[displaced_robo]

Custo, being without a working mouth, can't really contribute to any of this conversation.

He does, however, give Salazar a reassuring pat on the shoulder and a thumbs-up to Gale. Good planning.

[rogue_in_red]

Ada looks back at Ramon once, then back to Gale and the others. "And there would be absolutely no way for him to leave?" The thought of leaving him there bothers her slightly. He'd escaped being directly killed once.

She wants the man dead. After everything that has happened in the past on top of her current orders, it's the only way to be certain, she thinks.

"How do we finish the job, then? We'd be detained as well."

[gadgetqueen]

She pauses and looks at Gale.

"That is perfect. And I presume you know a way to a portal so we can get out, or you wouldn't be here for this. Thank you." She takes the PINpoint and puts her fingers on a special place on it, almost hanging it from her fingers. Her eyes get faraway, as she reaches into the network. Even if she had both hands available, the amount of data is too much for just eyes and keypad.

Beast!
Mistress? This isn't your usual coding-
Authorization Unity Seventeen.
Acknowledged. What's wrong?
Screwed up. Had to use someone else's stuff. Will show you when I get back. I need access to the tracking systems and the database. Just let me in and I'll do what I need to do, and get out of the way. This is an emergency
Understood. Accesses unlocked.
..... Thanks, Beast. Give me access to data storage two. Auth 5-7-9-6 Eternity.
Open. This is highly irregular.
No choice. Will tell you when I get back, Beast. Don't tell Isis I called in.
As you wish, mistress.

"I have the trace... and I have him. Yes. Yes. It's one of mine. Override. Feed. Fake response." She seems almost lost for a moment, mind far away. "...and done." She hands it back to Gale, slightly twitchy.

"when you're ready, Gale."

[gale_force]

He looks to Ada as Eiko is working with the PINpoint. "He can only exit via portals, and it is highly unlikely that he will find one. Furthermore, the sun is lethal to organic matter -- it turns such into stone in a matter of minutes. If Saddler evades us, the sun will finish what we were unable to.

"That said, we must also exercise extreme caution. Humans are only safe there at night.

"Fortunately, Victoria Sage notated nearly all of the portals in the vicinity during our stay in that world. There should be several near the drop-off point, allowing for safe retreat after the target is neutralized . . . or if the sun should rise."

He looks to the others, looking for confirmations of readiness.