Skyside 7: The Big Pizza in the Sky

[5a Violista]

Street Shootout

After realizing that she hasn't been shot yet, the batmaid lowers her wings and cautiously looks around. Oh! The guard's out!

Wings doesn't make the same mistake as the half-elf: getting the others out has a much higher priority than reloading the weapon, so instead of searching the gnome for more ammo, she sets down the dart gun and reaches for the keys.

Unfortunately, she can't slither. If she could, moving around would be a lot easier.
Instead, she moves more slowly, scooting by lifting herself up a bit and dragging herself, to the other cages. She pulls herself up to reach the next cage and hands the keys to the next prisoner, hoping they'll be better at this than the half-elf. C'mon, make sure to help other people too.


Noose & Shackle

Seeing the fight, Gharol sighs. Helmets that can just twist like that are pretty unfortunate quality...but she suspects the dwarf didn't have a say in the quality of his armor. If he's good at all, he ought to already have a plan in place for this, so at least that's motivation enough to keep one eye on the match.

"Hey. After this, are you still up for a massage as a consolation prize?" the orclady says. "i have to admit, you're a little too masculine for my tastes but you more than make up for it with your cleverness, and I think it would be a huge waste if I were the only one who got something out of this night."

[Recaiden]

[The Machine]

Hunter takes Haia to the lawless city by riding on the back of that giant pterosaur monster. Avoids having to take a second mode of transportation up from Groundside that way.
Also, last time she was here on worm-back, she made a lot of people angry. No point making it easy to recognize her.

Depending on the world the robot is from, simply seeing the flying metropolis, or watching the spaceships come and go, might be a bit surprising.
"The area we're going to is called Tempest Row. Don't believe- uh, be very skeptical of everyone there."

[Earl of Purple]

Street Shootout

The driver screams as he's shot, dropping the walky-talky. Their wrist is a mess; the pellet hit from close enough it broke most of the bones in it.

Everyone in the cages nod that they're OK, and will quickly pass the keys around and let each other out. The merpeople also escape, though none of them can move quickly. These ones can all breathe air, at least in addition to or instead of water, but they don't want to stick around. Three people cluster around the unconscious guard, stripping them of all their gear and clothes and putting it on. As all the people from the cages are very scantily clad and barefoot, there's a bit of a scuffle over their boots. The three now-clad individuals are a female elf, now wearing the bullet-proof vest strapped over her chest, a white-skinned male Kor who has pulled the guard's trousers on, and a red squirrel-girl wearing the chain hauberk.

Nearly all of them are looking at Klaus, so hopefully he has a plan to get all these people out of here. Otherwise they'll have to scatter and most of them will probably be recaptured, given how hard it is for them to blend in at the moment.

Noose & Shackle

Judging by the blood, it seems that wrenching the helmet around has broken the dwarf's nose, so it probably fits reasonably well. "Oh, yes! I would appreciate that. You don't have to, though. I'm... a little disappointed to hear I'm not your usual taste; I was hoping for another date." Thadd does sound a bit disappointed, but smiles anyway. "Another beer for the winner?"

The dwarf struggles around, as the khajiit moves down to start scratching at his chest and stomach, gripping on tight as the dwarf reaches up to try and pull her off. He was not expecting this; the cat-person surprised him, and he's still not seen who- or what- is actually attacking him. All he knows is they have fur and claws and they've twisted his helmet around and are hissing at him.

[Ironsmith]

[The Machine]

Hunter takes Haia to the lawless city by riding on the back of that giant pterosaur monster. Avoids having to take a second mode of transportation up from Groundside that way.
Also, last time she was here on worm-back, she made a lot of people angry. No point making it easy to recognize her.

Depending on the world the robot is from, simply seeing the flying metropolis, or watching the spaceships come and go, might be a bit surprising.
"The area we're going to is called Tempest Row. Don't believe- uh, be very skeptical of everyone there."

[The Machine -> Tempest Row]

"Understood." Haia replies, watching as they descend into the city. Despite its altitude, this was still a pretty comfortable environment for her... aside from the antiquity of the place, of course. "I will follow your lead while we are here. Please, continue."

Street Shootout

After realizing that she hasn't been shot yet, the batmaid lowers her wings and cautiously looks around. Oh! The guard's out!

Wings doesn't make the same mistake as the half-elf: getting the others out has a much higher priority than reloading the weapon, so instead of searching the gnome for more ammo, she sets down the dart gun and reaches for the keys.

Unfortunately, she can't slither. If she could, moving around would be a lot easier.
Instead, she moves more slowly, scooting by lifting herself up a bit and dragging herself, to the other cages. She pulls herself up to reach the next cage and hands the keys to the next prisoner, hoping they'll be better at this than the half-elf. C'mon, make sure to help other people too.

Street Shootout

The driver screams as he's shot, dropping the walky-talky. Their wrist is a mess; the pellet hit from close enough it broke most of the bones in it.

Everyone in the cages nod that they're OK, and will quickly pass the keys around and let each other out. The merpeople also escape, though none of them can move quickly. These ones can all breathe air, at least in addition to or instead of water, but they don't want to stick around. Three people cluster around the unconscious guard, stripping them of all their gear and clothes and putting it on. As all the people from the cages are very scantily clad and barefoot, there's a bit of a scuffle over their boots. The three now-clad individuals are a female elf, now wearing the bullet-proof vest strapped over her chest, a white-skinned male Kor who has pulled the guard's trousers on, and a red squirrel-girl wearing the chain hauberk.

Nearly all of them are looking at Klaus, so hopefully he has a plan to get all these people out of here. Otherwise they'll have to scatter and most of them will probably be recaptured, given how hard it is for them to blend in at the moment.

[Street Shootout]

It takes a moment for this to properly register with Klaus. Why were these people all staring at him? Were they that enthralled at what he'd done? He would have expected them to run by now... no, wait. They were looking to him for direction. Like he was their leader or something.

He smiles a little to himself. He'd almost forgotten how much he wanted that.

"All right, then..." He squeels. "I want everyone who was in a cage in pairs. Grab the mermaid that was with you and book it that way." He points toward the alley he'd come from. "Keep going until you reach a bus with no wheels on it, then hide out in there. It'll be tight, but you should all fit." He turns to the third person that was on the cart with Wings and the half-elf. "Your partner's down for the count, so just worry about your batty friend there. This guy, " he gestures toward one of the bigger would-be slaves, "will make sure ears gets out of here safely. Now! Go, go!" He squeaks the order on the top of this lungs, waving them toward the alley.

[Reinholdt]

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

The mecha-zombie doesn't reply because there is no number that starts with br and its limited vocabulary hasn't changed. What also hasn't changed is how good Rose smells to a hungry undead. While she may edge the form onto one end of the counter furthest from the mechanic zombie, this doesn't particularly stop the zombie from lunging. It's now going over the counter headfirst in an effort to take a delicious chomp out of Rose's flesh. Any part of her flesh will do. Just a nibble. It's an awkward and slow lunge because of the counter, but the mecha-zombie is literally falling over it at this point, so even if she darts out of reach, he's going to be on her half of this room here in a second.

[Ironsmith]

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

Time to go. Rose barely knew this guy; she wasn't interested in staying for dinner.

Actually, there was one more thing to do. After backing up out of the way, Rose pulls out her phone and takes a picture of the zombie and sends it to Astrana, while it's conveniently all sprawled out like this and can't see what she's doing. Not that she expects it to rat on her, but it's good to have the possibility off the table.

Okay, now time to go.

Rose turns and bolts for the door, trying to get it open as quickly as possible. If, for whatever reason, the door won't open, she'll pound on it furiously and call out for Krayger to come help her.

[Reinholdt]

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

She should probably leave the keys if she wants her car worked on! Is what the mecha-zombie doesn't say. He does moan as he stands up though.

The door is not locked and Rose can leave through it with relative ease. Whether the same can be said of the zombie is an exciting development yet to come.

...

Zombies can be a little slow.

[Ironsmith]

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

Fortunately, keys weren't going to be an issue; the kart didn't need any and she probably wasn't going to be back for it anyway.

The zombie chasing her was another matter. As soon as she was out, she bolts for the shuttle and scrambles in, not bothering to turn around and check if the zombie was in pursuit until she was safely aboard.

[5a Violista]

[Noose & Shackle]

The fight seems to have largely lost Gharol's interest. Sure, it's happening, but there's no big exciting thing to watch. The best part of the fight so far was the first few seconds, and there's not really any serious bloodshed happening, and the dwarf isn't really doing any particularly exciting tactics. If everyone else looks surprised or it sounds like something interesting's happening, she might then look back at it, but probably not.

"Of course I have to do it," she says. She nods for another beer. "How else will I know whether I want a second date or not if I don't even bother to see what you planned?" So, basically, there's still a chance, she's saying.


[Street Shootout]

Wings, as it happens, is wearing a white bikini top.

"Hi, um..." she says to the person who will probably have to carry her. "Thanks. Sorry if I weigh a lot." She doesn't weigh that much. "Probably best if I hold onto your back." Because of the wings.

She balls her hands, because her claws could get pretty nasty if she doesn't do that and tries to hold onto someone. She considers just climbing something and trying to fly off, but that driver definitely called for backup and she doesn't know how long it'll take for them to get here. If they get here before she can find something big enough to climb, she'll just get shot down again. Best to go this way. Besides, she doesn't even know which way goes back to the coast from here.

[Rebonack]

[SPAAAAAAAAAACE!]

Not many vermin.

Not many xenos, either.

At least none nearby.

Though there ARE plenty of neat machines being kept as... relics.

Goodness these people are so weird. This is the problem with mystifying technology. It makes progress virtually impossible. But trying to discuss that with these people? Oof... That's a whole pile of problems isn't it? Good way to get shot more often than not.

Well!

If they want Zee to scout for baddies that's something she can do. Her range is, to a degree, limited. But she has ways to extend that. Which means?

She reaches into her pocket and pulls out a handful of little lumpy green tree cones about the size of grapes. Zee clutches her fingers around them as a pulse of opalescent power shimmers over the cones. The woman holds them up to her face and whispers, "Find life, exclude human, exclude microbial."

Then?

She tosses a handful of beetles on the floor that bear some degree of resemblance to cones she just fashioned them from. They go skittering off with frankly breath-taking speed to hunt down any genestealers or ship vermin and aggressively exist in their proximity.

[Shadowcaller]

[SPAAAAAAAAAACE!]

Minerva understood weapons well enough but wasn't educated in more advanced forms of technology. Though one didn't have to be particularly educated to destroy it however.
But it looked like they hadn't reached that point so she kept walking and she kept her guard up. They had to be ambushed at some point, didn't they?

[Earl of Purple]

Street Shootout

The fifteen slaves include Wings, four other merfolk- one teenage-looking boy, a man in his mid-twenties, and two young women, that look like they could be twins. There's also ten humanoids, five male and five female. The girls are the unconscious red-headed half-elf, the elf in the bulletproof vest, a tabby 18-year-old catgirl, an androgynous pale-skinned human-looking woman with short black hair and grey eyes, and the red squirrel-girl. The boys are the twenty-something kor with pale white skin marked with strange, angular tattoos, a very tall marshwiggle with green-brown skin, a slender half-orc in his teens, another androgynous-looking young apparent-human with short black hair and grey eyes, a dark purple young drow with a shaved head and an orange-skinned goblin.

The marshwiggle is the tallest member of the group, though exceedingly gangly with long limbs and a slender build. They can heft the half-elf quite easily. Wings shared her wagon with the half-elf and the catgirl, who might struggle a little under her weight. They'll all head towards the alleyway, leaving Klaus and the driver behind. The squirrel will give Klaus the keys, after locking the unconscious guard into one of the cages. They've also stripped the Gnome, though he was an awkward height and none of his actual clothes easily fit any of the group. The driver is looking a bit scared, cradling his shattered wrist.

Noose & Shackle

Thadd smiles at that, leaning back and happy once again. "Well, now. I am happy to hear that."

The dwarf hurls himself backwards to try and force the khajiit off his back, but she's quick as a cat and so isn't trapped by the move as the dwarf hoped. Instead, she jumps off the falling dwarf, before standing on his chest and putting a clawed foot on his neck. The dwarf taps the deck three times, and is helped up. The khajiit takes the dwarf's trident, and has managed to win.

SPAAAAAAAAAAACE!

The beetles scuttle off, and scout ahead! They'll encounter a few issues. All the true servitors are dead, but that doesn't mean there's no active defences around. In one air vent, a servo-skull fitted with a hellpistol is hunting vermin, and will shoot at the beetles if it sees them. If they lure it closer to the tech-priestess, she can transmit command-codes that will reprogram it, adding it to their party- the Gunners will look at it rather askance, since it's not something they're familiar with. In another corridor, a secondary route to the atomic furnace, some cognis flamers will ignite if the beetles trigger the right motion sensor.

Some, however, will find something. Headed to the party, ripping its way through an adamantium wall, are three genestealers, one an exceptionally large individual. They're still quite a distance away, though their route- through the walls- is ensuring they aren't getting as much attention from the defence systems.

[Ironsmith]

[Street Shootout]

Wings, as it happens, is wearing a white bikini top.

"Hi, um..." she says to the person who will probably have to carry her. "Thanks. Sorry if I weigh a lot." She doesn't weigh that much. "Probably best if I hold onto your back." Because of the wings.

She balls her hands, because her claws could get pretty nasty if she doesn't do that and tries to hold onto someone. She considers just climbing something and trying to fly off, but that driver definitely called for backup and she doesn't know how long it'll take for them to get here. If they get here before she can find something big enough to climb, she'll just get shot down again. Best to go this way. Besides, she doesn't even know which way goes back to the coast from here.

Street Shootout

The fifteen slaves include Wings, four other merfolk- one teenage-looking boy, a man in his mid-twenties, and two young women, that look like they could be twins. There's also ten humanoids, five male and five female. The girls are the unconscious red-headed half-elf, the elf in the bulletproof vest, a tabby 18-year-old catgirl, an androgynous pale-skinned human-looking woman with short black hair and grey eyes, and the red squirrel-girl. The boys are the twenty-something kor with pale white skin marked with strange, angular tattoos, a very tall marshwiggle with green-brown skin, a slender half-orc in his teens, another androgynous-looking young apparent-human with short black hair and grey eyes, a dark purple young drow with a shaved head and an orange-skinned goblin.

The marshwiggle is the tallest member of the group, though exceedingly gangly with long limbs and a slender build. They can heft the half-elf quite easily. Wings shared her wagon with the half-elf and the catgirl, who might struggle a little under her weight. They'll all head towards the alleyway, leaving Klaus and the driver behind. The squirrel will give Klaus the keys, after locking the unconscious guard into one of the cages. They've also stripped the Gnome, though he was an awkward height and none of his actual clothes easily fit any of the group. The driver is looking a bit scared, cradling his shattered wrist.

[Street Shootout]

Klaus is not entirely satisfied with this arrangement. That was his fault, he supposed; he hadn't given them any instructions on what to do with the guard or driver. He'd have to take care of them himself.

First thing's first, he hauls the driver to his feet. "You're coming, too." He growls, shoving him in that direction with his rifle. "You and I are going to have a long, long talk about what happened here tonight." As if to punctuate his statement, he tilts the rifle slightly and pyuts a pellet through the unconscious guard's temple, reloading the rifle in the same gesture. "Now, unless you want ankles to match your wrist, I suggest you march."

[5a Violista]

[Noose & Shackle]

Gharol drinks some more.

"You've already managed to impress me more than most other people I've met," she says, "so it would be a huge loss to just throw that all away."

She notices that the other people around are reacting like the fight's over, so she glances over to see how it ended up.
Yup.
The cat won.

"Unless something really spectacular happens at the start of the next fight, I doubt we're going to see something as exciting as that half-elf," Gharol says, providing her commentary on it.


[Street Shootout]

Wings is pretty okay with the current situation.

For her part, she does her best to stay as still as possible, to make it as easy for the catgirl as possible. "If you need to need me to adjust, just say so and I'll do it." She doesn't want to make things hard for the person carrying her, after all.
...
Not to mention, being carried while wearing such a skimpy outfit is pretty embarrassing in itself, but she thankfully doesn't comment on it. It's for the best that she doesn't mention it until later.

Once they finally get to their destination and no longer has to be carried, she tells the catgirl, "I'm sorry, and thank you so much. You okay?"

[Reinholdt]

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

Fortunately, keys weren't going to be an issue; the kart didn't need any and she probably wasn't going to be back for it anyway.

The zombie chasing her was another matter. As soon as she was out, she bolts for the shuttle and scrambles in, not bothering to turn around and check if the zombie was in pursuit until she was safely aboard.

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

The zombie does not follow Rose out, though the door does rattle behind her as the undead bumps into it. With her pheromone perfume gone the mecha-zombie recovers what little it has in terms of 'senses' and returns to its assigned duty, no longer obsessed with eating her.

It takes like... half an hour to get back around to the other side of the desk though. Really a pain.

[Earl of Purple]

Street Shootout --> Klaus' Minivan

The unconscious and naked guard dies, though Klaus did have the key to let him out. The driver takes the hint and, still cradling their wrist, follows the slave group. He doesn't want his ankles shot out, because then he'd not have any chance of escape.

The catgirl doesn't mind that Wings is in only a bra; she's only wearing black underwear, herself. None of the group- save Klaus, and those that took the unconscious guard's clothes- are wearing more than that. "I'm fine, thank you. Glad to be out. You're... quite heavy." Bats, unlike birds, don't have hollow bones. Wings weighs more than the catgirl expected, as a result. They're all quite glad to have made it to the battered old minivan, which they'll climb into. The marshwiggle will stay outside for as long as he can, since he's so very tall- he'd have to duck quite a lot to fit inside.

Noose & Shackle

"I agree. Their best fights are at the beginning, when they've got the whole roster to choose from. Now they're scraping the barrel a little. We can finish our beers and head to mine, if you want." Thadd takes a gulp of beer. "You know... I have some contacts with the trainers. If you want, I could arrange for you to meet the half-elf. Have her tied down, even. She can't fight back, then." It'd probably take a bribe or two, but if it makes Gharol think better of him, it's worth it, to his mind anyway. Her opinion on the offer may differ.

[Rebonack]

[SPAAAAAAAAAAACE!]

Those poor, poor little cone beetles.

The beetles weren't instructed to pay attention to flying skull robots so they largely ignore it until it sets several of them on fire. They're made of redwood cones, however, which are notoriously fire resistant. That may not help them all that much depending on how intense the flames are.

Toasted or no, enough of them make it off into the vents to do their job. Getting close enough to the incoming gene stealers that Zee is made aware of them.

She immediately frowns and turns her head toward the oncoming threats.

"Okay bad news! We've got three of those gene-stealers ripping through the walls and headed our way. They're coming straight at us so if we can back up into a hallway so they aren't right on top of us when they smash their way in that'll probably be a good idea," she says, drawing both of her tonfa and sticking the two lengths of wood together before pulling. The weapons adhere together and shift until she's holding a wooden long gun thrumming with sunlight. She sights down the weapon and-

Hmm...

The big one is probably going to be able to take a beating and she's probably only going to have time to take one shot, so she lines up with one of the smaller gene stealers and-

"Don't look at the beam," she warns moments before pulling the trigger.

A pinpoint of searing solar plasma lances from the end of the weapon with the sound of a thunderclap, leaving a molten finger-width hole in the wall. The projectile is aimed to transfix the brain-stem of an incoming gene stealer. Typically most animal life has a pretty major issue with surviving damage there.

Well, at least Minerva is going to have something to do now, right?

[Shadowcaller]

[SPAAAAAAAAAAACE!]

She have had things to do all this time, walking!

Perhaps not the most exciting activity, but that's what warfare was usually about. Hours, days, weeks or even months of nothing and then seconds or minutes of intense activity.
Three enemies is not something she would have considered a lot but these were largely unknown xenos they were dealing with so she had to treat this as seriously as possible. She reaches for her grenades but stops herself as she has to look away due to Zee's... psychic beam.

What does the area around them look like? She would need some cover, probably.

[Ironsmith]

[Klaus's Minibus]

Klaus shoves their new prisoner into the back of the bus, producing a roll of duct tape from under his coat. It should be pretty obvious what his intentions are.

The bus itself will have had a few changes made to it since Klaus showed up. He still has his sleeping tank in the back; a cylindrical container, about two and a half meters tall and a meter across, tilted back at a thirty degree angle, with a metal tray dividing it neatly in half, such that an occupant would have to lean on it to fit inside comfortably. The front half of the tank is slightly ajar, letting a faint, minty aroma drift out into the bus.

Nearby, Klaus has also set up a workbench, which has various mechanical parts scattered across it. There's an open vice on one end, and a few dents on the other end that have simple tools (hammer, screwdrivers, a monkey wrench, the like) neatly tucked away in them.

The rest of the bus, however, is untouched. When they get in, Klaus gestures to the front of the bus, where all the empty seats are. "Get cozy. We'll be here until the heat's off. As soon as I'm done with this sack of human trash, we'll see about getting you some proper food and clothing."

[5a Violista]

[Klaus's Minivan]

It's a bikini top, not a bra. A bra would be so much more embarrassing, because...
...
Well, she doesn't really know why. It just would be.
Regardless, talking about it would make it pretty awkward, which is why she doesn't mention it.
Honestly, though, she looks androgynous enough that she's glad she has it because then everyone knows that she's a merbatmaidgirl and not a merbatmangirl or whatever it'd be called.

Wings finds a place to sit, and listens to their armed rescuer.
...
Well, she hopes he's here to rescue them and not just take them to a rival company or whatever. The fact that he's saying they'll get proper clothes and food is a good sign. "Thanks," she says to him.

Wings turns back to the catgirl, and says, "Well, um, is there anything I can do to thank you? Or..." Honestly, there's not really much she can do without legs, she thinks, because she can't really move around without flying. And if they were in reversed positions, it wouldn't really be any different.


[Noose & Shackle]

"Yes, let's just go to your place," Gharol says.
After she finishes off her drink, of course.
She starts drinking the rest of it much quicker.

"I'll take you up on that offer next time I'm in Skyside," she says. "Maybe she'll be even better then."

Having gone through her drink really quickly, it's now empty.
She stands.

[Earl of Purple]

SPAAAAAAAAACE!

The area around them is a plain corridor, with very little cover. There's some reliquaries against the walls that could provide some cover; the nearest is an antique grandfather clock with a pressed steel case and a secondary digital display above the pendulum. It looks bulky enough and sturdy enough to survive a beating, too- though the tech-priestess probably won't appreciate its use as a barricade. Alternately, a heavy weapons servitor is emerging from its hidden emplacement in the floor, a slack human face attached to a heavily armoured body mounting a pair of storm bolters. Unfortunately, the servitor is dead, so the guns cannot be used- but it can still serve as cover. It swivels around to face the wall.

Or she can use the Gunners, who are all dropping into a crouch and aiming their weaponry in the direction that Zee is pointing. They have thirteen assault rifles, an Imperial autogun, a laser rifle and a flamethrower. They've all shut their eyes for now and are looking away. The tech-priestess sheds her robe and hovers higher, until she's far overhead, pulling her arc pistol out and streaming a blast of binharic cant to inspire the machine-spirits used by all the humans in the corridor, and also Minerva's. She's joined by the servo-skull. Neither of the cyborgs bother closing their eyes; they can't, for one, and the enginseer is quickly cycling through all the options of her augmetic optics to determine the one best suited to seeing the genestealers coming.

Zee melts a hole in the wall. The lights flicker and the ship's artificial gravity lurches slightly before the power systems compensates, and on the other side of that wall and the one beyond that a genestealer collapses with a hole burnt through its chitin, cranium, and brain.

Klaus' Minibus

Those that can- so not the marshwiggle or the merpeople- get into the minibus.

The androgynous girl will tilt her head to one side. "I'll go back, keep an eye out." With that, she starts to change, feathers sprouting from her body as she shrinks. Her arms twist and bend into wings and her feet splay out. It doesn't take long before where she was standing is now a jackdaw, which flies off. It might be awkward when she gets back; the underwear she was wearing didn't transform with her.

Noose & Shackle

Thadd nods, and will lead the way.

At his house, he'll hand over the cook- a nervous-looking half-elf with green eyes, olive skin and straight black hair, wearing an apron over tattered rags and a bronze collar- and receive a massage. Earl knows little about them, so... end of scene, maybe?

[Ironsmith]

[Klaus' Minibus]

Klaus watches the bird fly out with some degree of suspicion. He just saved her from a life of slavery, and everyone who had been with her was now here. Unless she'd left something behind in the caravan (which seemed unlikely), she had no reason to be going back the way they came now... unless, perhaps, she was a plant. This couldn't be the first time a group of slaves had been rescued or run off, and the actual convoy's security had seemed a little light to be their only defense against would-be liberators like himself.

He sighs and starts duct-taping their prisoner to one of the bus seats, mummifying his forearms and the chair's armrests in the stuff, doing the same with their legs, and cross-bracing their chest, making sure they had absolutely no freedom of movement. Then, he goes around the head twice; once to form a makeshift gag, and the other to blind them. The whole process shouldn't take him a very long time; a few minutes at most.

Assuming that goes well, he sets his Hotbox to start printing off a series of small proximity mines; if bird-girl returned with slavers in tow, he wasn't going to be taken by surprise. That, however, was going to take some time. At the moment, his personal resources were taxed to their effective limits, so to avoid wasting time, he was going to do something that cost him absolutely nothing; talk.

He moves back up toward the front of the bus and takes a seat near Wings. "That was a nice shot back there." He says, with a small smile. "It's always good to be able to count on someone who can think on their feet... if you don't mind the expression." He extends his hand. "I'm Quire. What's your name?"

[5a Violista]

[Noose & Shackle]

A cook is exchanged, a massage is given, the scene ends, and...
...in the morning, Gharol leaves.


[Klaus' Minibus]

With help, I'm sure all the mermaids can eventually get into the front seats.

While Quire does one of the no-cost things he can do, Wings conversely does one of the only things she can do. Coincidentally, it's the same thing: talking.
"Oh, no, it's fine," she says, shaking her head. She flops her tail up and down a little, 'cause they're basically like feet. "Feet are pretty useful, so I don't mind. Shooting at him was pretty much the only thing I could do, anyway, so it's not like I had a choice."

She lets her fins stop flopping and move them under her seat as much as she can, to avoid them getting stepped on as people try to walk by.

Wings holds out her hand, too, to shake. "I'm June," she says. That's the same name she gave that angel, so might as well keep on using it.

She decides she wants to suss out what Quire's end goals are: just to save them? Or something else? so she asks, "So what led you to decide to take on them and rescue us, anyway? Just felt like it, or something?"

[Earl of Purple]

Klaus' Minibus

The driver is bound, gagged, and blindfolded. And the catgirl has claimed his boots. The marshwiggle keeps on trying to puff on something, but their pipe was taken from them before they went in a cage. The birdgirl won't return for an hour or so, and she's not followed when she does.

If he were to ask about the low defences, some of those Klaus released know why. The Guild has a reputation, and most of the former slaves are hoping Klaus has a way to get them out of the city, as they think otherwise they'll be captured quickly. Another reason for the low guards was the distance- Klaus didn't know where the transport was going, but it wasn't going far- the warehouse isn't too far from the markets and shops where they would have been sold; Klaus got lucky and managed to hit the vehicle in the middle of its route, where neither the Street nor the Warehouse have full control.

[Ironsmith]

[Klaus's Minibus]

Klaus isn't inclined to believe them. Not that he finds the former slaves inherently untrustworthy; far from it. Rather, he simply doesn't believe they'd be an overly reliable source of information regarding that kind of security; if they understood the situation well enough to avoid capture, they wouldn't be in this mess, now, would they? Maybe it was paranoia on his part, but he planned to establish some perimeter defenses anyway. The goods news is, the bird lady probably won't trigger them on her return trip if she flies in.

Meanwhile, in the present;

Quire is pleasantly surprised. June's question was a fair one, and the fact that she was asking now said good things about her intelligence. Besides, he'd have to establish a reason for these people to trust him sooner or later; might as well make it sooner.

"In a matter of speaking, yes." He replies coolly. "These slavers are a blight on this town, and tonight's the night I've started to do something about it." He pulls a tape measure from his pocket and extends it, using it to measure first her height, then the length of her tail. "That's why I came to Skyside. I'm here to wipe them out like the vermin they are."

[Rebonack]

[SPAAAAAAAAACE!]

"Bullseye," Zee mutters, half a smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth. She shoulders the weapon, turning her attention to the gunners taking up position. With how fast those monsters are ripping through the walls something that's simply hard isn't going to help very much. These people are going to need cover that will actually offer some amount of protection. What if she...

Hmm.

She...

Could reanimate the turret servitor.

That would pretty much without question upset people, though. And she still isn't sure how she feels about it. Gross and creepy, mostly?

No, making cover is a better use of her time.

Zee kneels down in front of the soldiers and places one hand against the metal floor, invoking the spheres of Matter and Shape. And speaking firmly aloud as she does, "The Emperor protects." The floor buckles and warps like a still pond disturbed by a stone as mass weaves itself together, a tightly bound barrier of layered metal wire spun under tremendous pressure. In that newly created wall slots have been set where the soldiers can take aim at the incoming monsters. The genestealers will have to cleave through one more wall to reach them.

But this wall will fray with explosive violence when the claws pierce it. The outer three most layers will expand into clouds of metal wire many times their current volume when cut into, possibly injuring the creatures while making it more difficult to reach the deeper layers. In innermost layer is simple solid metal, a final bulwark to keep the barrier from fraying toward the humans inside.

The 'psyker' makes a show of staggering under the effort after completing her work, then draws a tonfa in each hand from her hips, taking a deep breath.

Those who had been paying attention may note that she had drawn the things before hadn't she?

[5a Violista]

[Klaus's Minibus]

Meanwhile, in the present/past (depending on your perspective):

"I see," June says. "Makes sense. I guess I'm pretty lucky, then, that you chose right now to do this."
She watches as he measures her.

It's a little weird, she has to admit. Especially measuring her tail. If it were just her top part, she'd understand if he were going to look for clothes. But the only thing that'd fit on her bottom half would be a skirt, and even then, measuring to the tip seems odd when choosing skirts for a mermaid.
From tip of her fins to her head, she's about 6'10", but about a foot of that is just fin and thin tail. Since her upper bat-girl-ish body would fit on a girl just a couple inches shorter than Quire, the total length of her hip-to-tail-tip is just over four feet long.
(Spent way too long doing those calculations)
She only adjusts her position once while being measured, because her wings were getting uncomfortable against the back of the seat.

"So you're going to take us out of town, and...then what?" June asks, implicitly saying the first thing she thinks needs to happen is getting them to safety.

[Ironsmith]

[Klaus's Minibus]

"Take you out of town?" Quire asks, wrapping the tape around her waist. "Why would I do that? Oh, don't misunderstand, I'm certainly not going to force you to stay. But I have no intention of running an underground railroad; there's just no practicality to it. But... stick with me, and I'll see to it you get food, shelter, clothes, training, and a shot at the bastards who did this to you. (Could you lift your arm, please?)" He moves the tape measure up as he talks. "Best case scenario, we cut out the rot together and collectively make Skyside a better place to live. Worst case scenario, you help me a little and I greatly improve your chances of making it out of the city alive."

[Recaiden]

[Tempest Row]

"Understood." Haia replies, watching as they descend into the city. Despite its altitude, this was still a pretty comfortable environment for her... aside from the antiquity of the place, of course. "I will follow your lead while we are here. Please, continue."

Before too long, they've left their ride and are walking through the chaotic market streets of Tempest Row, with Hunter trying to track down a dealing in high-end electrical parts who might have the coil that Haia needs.

There are countless distractions from this.

• Hawkers trying to sell them this-and-that: sandwiches, love potions, airships, yoyos, jewelry, really anything.
• Beggars by the side of the street calling out for money to get food, to rescue their family-
• Lone pickpockets trying to brush past and take whatever they might have.
• A board with wanted posters - there's Hunter's armored helmet on that old flyer in the corner.
• Mystics offering to solve all their problems.
• A mad scientist's assistant looking for volunteers.

You know, just all the stuff that goes on in a city.

[Ironsmith]

[Tempest Row]

The beggars manage to catch Haia's attention. Human safety is, after all, a high priority for her, and some of the more assertive ones could be construed as giving commands. Since Hunter hadn't specifically told her not to help them, her programming demanded she do so. She walks up to one of them. "Hello. I heard you say you are hungry. How can I help?"

[Black Abyss Body Shop]

Rose collapses on the floor of the shuttle and lets out a sigh of relief. "That... was not at all what I was expecting." She groans to Krayger. "Here I thought we were going to be doing some snooping, maybe schmoozing it up with whoever they had at the counter, but nooo, they're not even trying to hide the fact that they've got zombies working here! Or that said zombies want to eat people!"