Skyside 8: Base Violence and Unnecessary Change

[Gold Leaf]

[Tempest Row- Arrived at a Brick Wall]

Whoa. Road pirates are real? TANBot thought they were only movie monsters, like werewolves, witches and, uh, ninja robots... right. On the subject, look at all these sweet rides! TANBot would totally like to stand on these and strike badass poses sometime. Granted, standing on a motorcycle without its owner noticing is much harder.

When the ghoul pulls a gun on him, TANBot does what any rational person would do if a ghoul pointed a pistol at them.

And bursts into laughter.

"BA HA HA HA HA HA HA HAAAAAA, HAHAHAHA HA HA HAAA! Sorry, I'm sorry, it's-hehe-just BAhahahaha a ghoul pointing a gun straight at me! In real life! And wearing a leather jacket too! Ohh my goodness, it's-hahaha-I, I just have to get a picture of this." *repeated camera shutter noises* "Oh, oh, I know, say something completely unfitting to your aesthetic - that'll make it PERFECT! Say something like 'Born to play Kahoot, forced to use my real name.' "HA hahahahahahahahahaaa, that'd be peak!"

Hopefully they're not too offended.

[Earl of Purple]

Tempest Row- Arrived at a Brick Wall

'Road Pirate' in this case is the name of a biker gang Earl runs as expendable NPCs when they're needed, mostly in Outside but also appearing in the cities.

The ghoul doesn't seem offended by TANBot's laughter. Offended people with guns empty the magazines of their guns into the thing offending them, and she's only pulled the trigger once. So there's one bullet going to TANBot's head, quite fast as well. If he's still up afterwards, the others will also shoot him, for a given value of 'shoot'. The vedalken's staff launches an invisible blast of magical force, whilst the half-orc stays back with his sledgehammer. The shotgun might not be as effective as the howdah pistol, though both guns are only emptying one barrel at TANBot.

[Gold Leaf]

[Tempest Row- Arrived at a Brick Wall]

The ghoul actually shooting TANBot is less funny. Still has meme potential, but here there was bad execution. Or rather, no execution, since ninjas always beat bullets (Indiana Jones was an outlier and should not have been counted).

TANBot uses a relatively simple move to defend himself from the bullet flying at his head: he simply stores it. A flash of light appears from his helmet just as the bullets about to hit him in the fact, and then the bullet is gone. Put safely in his storage.

Immediately after this, he leaps into the air again with astonishing speed, first hifting a wall then kicking off that wall toward the kettenkrad, diving for and landing in the spot just behind it. The speed at which this action is completed should mean he jumps out of the way of the rest of the gunfire.

"You know, if you want to pick this fight, you're going to lose. That's because, in a contest of Pirates vs. Ninjas, the ninjas always win. Tell you what, if you want a guy you're actually going to be able to apprehend, look in the back of that boat. You'll find the Reddit moderator who actually drove it into your wall."

[Reinholdt]

[Extraction Plan: CD]

Near SIN's warehouse, a small blue kitty appears, making its way along the alleys nearby, sniffing. It's a scraggled and petite thing, small under most circumstances. But the malnourishment seems pretty apparent despite its normally small size for a Russian Blue.

His meows don't appear to have been sapped of their strength however, as the starving kitty is quite vocal in its desire for food. Any food. Please, it hasn't eaten in a week!

[Earl of Purple]

Tempest Row- Arrived at a Brick Wall

The Road Pirates have met ninjas before, and it's not a guarantee that the ninjas win. Of course, on that occasion the pirates were outnumbered. Here, TANBot is alone and the pirates outnumber him. The gunfire does indeed miss, the robot moving faster than the bikers can adjust their aim. "He's not trespassing, you overgrown calculator!" As he's hiding next to the Kettenkrad, anyone nearby gets away and then a grenade thrown by the half-orc lands next to him. It's a round bomb, with a mirrored finish, resembling a disco ball. After landing, it rises into the air and starts to sparkle, and if TANBot doesn't do anything about it, the Boogie Bomb will make him dance for five seconds, unable to use weapons, crouch or run.

[Ironsmith]

[Extraction Plan: CD]

"Hey, little guy."

The kitten will be greeted by the sight of a dark-skinned woman in what appears to be a bastardization of a military uniform. Sure, the coat, hat, and boots look to be legitimate, but underneath that, she appears to be wearing too little to be comfortable with the chilling temperatures of a high-altitude city. This doesn't seem to bother her; just now, she's more interested in the small, frightened, half-starved stray in front of her. She's down on one knee, holding out her hand and encouraging the cat to come to her with a series of soft clicking sounds, sucking her tongue against her teeth.

"Now what is a precious little thing like you doing in a neighborhood like this?" Rose muses, reaching her other hand in her pocket and feeling around for that protein bar she never finished. It's fish-based, it should be safe for kitty to eat.

[Gold Leaf]

[Tempest Row- Arrived at a Brick Wall]

Ah yes, the well-known Conservation of Ninjutsu law in full effect. The more ninjas there are, the less effort it'll take to fight them off. But there's only one ninja here. So BRING IT ON!

"Overgrown... Oh, you must be one of those Berserk ghouls who-"

TANBot immediately stops talking about Berserk, unholsters his orange high-frequency blade and springs into action once he sees the Boogie Bomb, batting it with the flat side of the katana with a "FORTNITE BAD!" to hopefully send it flying off in a direction away from him.

"Time for my glow up."

Instead of glowing or anything like that, TANBot will proceed to cast a hologram of a smokescreen from his helmet, obscuring his next move from view.

"What am I gonna do next? Here's a hint: it's less serious than trespassing, apparently."

Now obscured, he'll attempt to slice the Kettenkrad vertically down the middle using his high frequency blade. Now, a normal blade exactly as sharp as his managed to cut through an entire Metal Gear in one perfectly clean slice, so with the HF increasing his chopping power further, slicing this thing should be a non-issue. Anyways, assuming he successfully deflected the Boogie Bomb (otherwise he'll just be dancing) and sliced the motorcycle, he will proceed to disengage the smokescreen and, with his powerful jumping legs, kick the back of the motorcycle (if it somehow didn't cut, he'll dropkick the entire thing) as hard as he can in the direction of the pirates. The intent here is to send that half of the Kettenkrad zooming across the room rowards the pirates, hopefully knocking one out or worse.

Now without much in the way of cover, TANBot will stand is a defensive stance behind the front of the half-Kettenkrad.

[Shadowcaller]

[In Search of Truth]

"Sure, after I brain an idiot." They're not going to fly out of here with people trying to shoot them down. Ilpholin doesn't doubt Tina would probably be fine, but Anika's much more durable as a bear than a bird.

Some bullets flicker off a field on the bike as it revs up loudly and Ilpholin flies forward towards the boar man. It swings to a sudden stop sideways and flings the nymph towards him as she leaps off in an attempt to knock him into the ground, her arm a shield that she raises and lowers over and over and over again to grind him into ground pork as viscerally and viciously as possible, screaming in his face and daring anyone around him to join in his fate, seemingly unconcerned when a bullet or two catches her arm and causes a spray of black oil to join in whatever fluids the boar man might be losing.

[In Search of Truth]

Tina starts off diving forward to bowl into the group, fearing no bullet or bludgeon. She throws out elbows and short kicks, smacks of her arm that feel like solid hits from a steel pipe. She only gives a solid braining to people who really tick her off - shooting her at short range, for example.

She tries to send them running, grabbing weapons where she can and smashing them with her bare hands. Although when she sees what Ilpholin's doing... "Hey-- hey I think you made your point!" Fettina says. Damn, this bitch is crazy. Assuming that Ilpholin actually does bring down the pig-man, Fettina will try to dive in and pull the nymph off of him before she can smash him into a sloppy joe. Dragging the shapeshifter back with her own arms around Ilphy's middle, if necessary.

She gets that these guys are throwing lethal force at them without a care in the world - but if you're gonna kill somebody, just kill them. Tina's seen it before and it makes her wince but she knows sometimes it can't be helped. Doing it like that, for the scare factor (or just out of sheer rage) though... That felt like something else.

[In Search of Truth]

As Ilpholin charges forward some of the other mercenaries decides to start firing as well if only in the hope of perhaps stop the bloodthirsty nymph from reaching them.
But hitting a target moving that fast, and through the air, isn't exactly easy and none of them are sharpshooters. The result is Ilpholin only taking glancing hits at worst while Anika and Tina decides to take this opportunity to join the fray. So once Ilpholin get into point-blank range they instead got an angry bear and angel to worry about.

The mercenaries have just enough discipline to not just route on the spot and instead have a few provide covering fire while the rest retreats back. Dragging the one injured by Tina's fists and Anika's claws with them.

The poor boar-man is left behind though as none of them dared to get close enough to rescue him from Ilpholin's wrath. He is bleeding profusely from the wounds the nymph inflicted on him.

Anika is chasing after them if only to make them focus their fire on her while Tina is attempting to pull Ilpholin off the boar-man.

[Earl of Purple]

Tempest Row- Arrived at a Brick Wall

Vandalising the biker's vehicles is worse than trespassing, as it happens. They're fighting because after telling him he was trespassing, TANBot decided to crack jokes, disrespect the bikers, and seemed to think they were funny, rather than threatening. Earl doesn't know what a Metal Gear is, besides the fact they are apparently Solid, but the WWII-era half-track is bisected, along with a box loaded in the back. The box contained some neatly packed assault rifles, now all sliced in two; so TANBot might figure out that these Road Pirates are gun runners.

The Boogie Bomb is knocked aside, and some other guards are now dancing instead of preparing to fight back. This means the incoming quarter-track (because it's half of a halftrack) is harder to dodge, and the half-orc that threw the boogie bomb is knocked over and doesn't move. The hologram is peppered with more shots, and several of the bikers put gasmasks on- they don't know it's a hologram. Once they're wearing them, however, three more grenades are thrown at him. There's other guards closing in from elsewhere in the warehouse, where they'd been loading things or working on the helicopter. The thrown grenades include a fragmentation stick grenade, a canister spewing yellowy mustard gas and a petrol bomb. Since TANBot's destroying their stuff already, and resisting their less destructive weaponry, they'll make some sacrifices to try and drive him off.

[Reinholdt]

[Extraction Plan: CD]

Maybe this person was immune to the cold. A lot of people seem to have developed that over the years, especially those touting higher end fashion. And by higher end, Rein means, low cut, partially there fashion. Unfortunately, he's unable to discuss the intricacies of the cloth with Rose at the moment.

Did she come out of the SIN warehouse? Would that make her a SINner? Well, Rein's not going to go to her just cause she's clicking her tongue. He will stand a distance away and meow at her though. Alert, but not quite ready to bolt, clearly watching her movements. Can't make this too easy on her.

No matter how hungry he is. Ugh, he doesn't care what she's got, just hurry up and put it on the ground meow and no one gets hurt!

[In Search of Truth]

"Yet they persist," Ilpholin points out, yanking herself out of Tina's arms after being pulled off the boar she was brutalizing. It would be one thing if they retreated. Maybe the women could retreat the other direction and that would be that. But no, they're still firing. Still trying to take the trio down.

Ilpholin gave them a warning. Made an example of their leader. Yet they persist in signing their own death warrants. They seek only the crazed death battle can offer them. Ilpholin will only grant them what they desire.

Besides, even if she wanted to just pull back and leave, which she kinda did really, Anika made it completely impossible by chasing after them. They can't leave the bear behind and if reason won't work and intimidation won't work, perhaps violence will.

"I guess I'll need to make another," Ilpholin says, going to deliver a sudden kick into the boar man's side hard enough to fling him into the hail of bullets that continue to be sprayed in the trio's direction. Behind him, the phyrexian nymph charges into the fray, one arm a shield to protect herself from their return fire, the other an executioner's axe swung with deadly precision. Unlike with the boar man, her attacks are designed now to be brutally efficient, with no purpose other than to kill or incapacitate anyone who raises their weapon. One swing, one death, another.

Unless the angel gets in her way again or stops her in some other way. Ilpholin won't turn her blade against Tina.

[Gold Leaf]

Tempest Row- Arrived at a Brick Wall

Well, usually when TANBot sees a ghoul or skeleton pointing a gun at him, they're always either useless in an actual fight or are just saying something completely silly to be ironically funny.

Spoiler: Kind of like this.

Show

Most Metal Gears are Solid, but only some are Rising. Another thing that's rising is TANBot's temper, since one of the bullets dealt a glancing blow to his arm and scratched his paint further.

"Alright, if I get my paint scratched one more time, I'm not just going to unalive you all, I am going to KILL you to DEATH!"

Then, another bullet scratches his paint one more time.

"...oh, TANBot's about to kill some [femaledogs]."

Speaking of Metal Gear Rising, the OST of that game starts playing from TANBot's helmet. TANBot playing rock music is the equivalent of Ash Ketchum turning his hat backwards: it means it's time to get serious. He's also pleased to see he downed their only melee fighter, providing him an opportunity to get in close and start doing some damage.

As the holographic smoke clears away, TANBot leaps away from his previous position, leaving the grenades behind, and heading straight for the nearest wall that isn't directly behind him. He'll then hit this wall feet first, letting him launch off of that and directly towards the ghoul from earlier. When he gets to this ghoul, he'll jump off of her head, fly up about half the height of the room, unholster his orange katana, and drop to the ground with the sword outstretched, aiming to chop the ghoul in two as he hits the ground. If the ghoul moved fast enough to not be where TANBot jumped, he'll settle for a dropkick to the head. Either way, he'll then charge the human carrying a shotgun, first staying low and aiming to chop their legs off, then coming back from the behind to chop their chest in two.

Once this has transpired, he'll stare down the other human and vedalken, specifically keeping tabs on the human's hand so that he can dodge out of the way if he fires the shotgun.

"Where there's smoke, I pinch back."

[Ironsmith]

[Extraction Plan: CD]

Maybe this person was immune to the cold. A lot of people seem to have developed that over the years, especially those touting higher end fashion. And by higher end, Rein means, low cut, partially there fashion. Unfortunately, he's unable to discuss the intricacies of the cloth with Rose at the moment.

Did she come out of the SIN warehouse? Would that make her a SINner? Well, Rein's not going to go to her just cause she's clicking her tongue. He will stand a distance away and meow at her though. Alert, but not quite ready to bolt, clearly watching her movements. Can't make this too easy on her.

No matter how hungry he is. Ugh, he doesn't care what she's got, just hurry up and put it on the ground meow and no one gets hurt!

[Extraction Plan: CD]

"I'm telling you, something about this whole operation stinks to high heaven."

Rose lets out a quiet gasp and presses herself against the side of the building. Stupid! She should have been paying more attention to what's going on around her. That kitty's cute and all, but she can't let herself get that distracted!

Meanwhile, the owner of the voice, which appears to be one of the Nexus's many offshoots of "dog-man", comes around the corner, deep in conversation with a rat-girl. "I mean, I can't be the only one to notice, right? Remember that fish lady we met way back when we first started?"

"The one with the wings?"

"Yeah, her. Ever since she left, things have been getting weird around here, haven't you noticed? How many times has the boss called you down to his office?"

"This past week? Twice... I think. I dunno."

"See? That's what I mean. You can't even remember for sure."

"Well... I haven't been getting a lot of sleep lately. Maybe that has something to do with it."

"Bebe, you always slept like a rock back when we were in the same cage. I'm tellin' ya, something isn't... hello, what's this?"

The ratgirl gives Rein a little smile as she kneels down to examine him more closely. "Hi there, little guy!" She croons, holding out her hand toward the starving cat. "What's a precious little thing like you doing in a neighborhood like this?"

Rose quietly rolls her eyes in the background. She hopes she didn't sound that airheaded.

[Reinholdt]

[Extraction Plan: CD]

What?! Why is this perfectly underdressed woman hiding? Isn't that Rein's job? Well... to be fair, it is Skyside. Keeping one's head down is just a generally good policy if you aren't one of the laughing egomaniacs proclaiming something for all the people who have their heads down to hear.

But... he really did want whatever it was she was getting out of her pocket. Ugggghhh.

Honestly, Rein didn't think he'd feel this weak in general. Probably should have known, but it's not like he makes a habit out of starving. You don't survive many treasure hunts by starving to death.

Alright, alright, new people. Animal people. Goddesses, he hopes their boss they've been talking about is Klaus and not some mad scientist that turns animals into people. Would that even work on him? He would have SOOOO many questions about this unscrupulous science.

Right now it's meow. Meow meow... oh a finger. Rein will sniff it, getting dangerously close to the ratgirl. Heavens above, it smells like rodent. Food, food everywhere, but not a bite to eat. Should he bite the hand? Is that unreasonable? The smell alone makes him salivate a little.

[Rebonack]

[Waterlogged]

As it turns out a minotaur kicking a priest in the face is a pretty solid way to end up with a priest that isn't conscious anymore.

Down the priest goes!

"Oodles of it," Penna replies as she busies herself with cutting through the rope hanging up the wyrmling by the tail. "But you'll probably want to have that knife not sticking in you before I do it."

The wyrmling is cut down!

Penna does a pretty good job of lowering him to the table.

"Wow thanks you saved me! Now you have a MIGHTY DRAGON in your debt!"

He puffs himself up and spreads his wings to show off how mighty he is.

Which isn't very.

[Deathkeeper]

Waterlogged

Mina carefully reaches out to pick up the wyrmling so she can turn and sit down on the altar, placing the wyrmling down on her lap so they can sit while Penna tends to Mina's leg. As soon as the knife is removed it starts bleeding absolutely everywhere so hopefully Penna works fast. And localized because Mina really doesn't want the rest of her sprayed with goop.
"So um. If we get you out of here can you find your way home?" Mina asks between sharp intakes of breath from the very painful bleeding injury.

[Ironsmith]

[Extraction Plan: CD]

"Aw... I think he likes me. Go figure." The ratgirl giggles and gives Rein a little pat on the head, followed by some scratching behind the ears and around the neck. "...Huh. No collar. You a stray, little fella? Out here all on your own..."

"...Bebe, no. You're not adopting another stray. You've got dozens already, and it's getting to where you can't go two feet without tripping on them."

"But lookit him!" The ratgirl burbles happily. "Isn't he just adorable? How can you say no to a face like that?"

"Like this. 'No.'" The dogman scowls.

"...This is a race thing, isn't it?"

"Oh, come on, don't start that again-"

"I'm just saying, cat, dog, seeing some hostility-"

"I'm not a dog, I just look like o-"

"Well if you look like one and chase your tail like on-"

"I told you that in confidence! I-"

As the two bicker, Rose reaches into the inner pocket of her coat and produces a small pink vial and a cloth, carefully stepping toward the two as she upends the contents of the former on the latter. All she needs is a few more seconds...

[Earl of Purple]

Tempest Row- Arrived at a Brick Wall

The ghoul is kicked in the head and drops her pistol, falling and then getting sliced in two as TANBot lands. Nobody is able to react fast enough to stop the robot from jumping forward and killing the human, blood dripping from his blade.

As TANBot stands over the human corpse, the pistol fires all four barrels and runs forward screaming in anger and grief at the brutal death of their twin.

The Vedalken, meanwhile, amplifies their voice. "Everyone out! The president's down, save yourselves! We'll strike at every robot manufacturer we know later, they've won this one! Take what you can and leave!" The other guards, who had been preparing to attack, change their plans and run towards their vehicles. The Vedalken sends a blast of lightning at TANBot before sitting atop their staff and flying away.

[Gold Leaf]

[Tempest Row- Arrived at a Brick Wall]

"Rookie mistake number 1: forgetting that the N in TANBot stands for 'Nearing my fricking limit'."

It doesn't actually stand for that, but the opportunity was too good to pass up. It's like a 'my middle name is danger' thing, you know?

TANBot deflects all four shots with his sword. When his music is playing, he's unstoppable.

"Rookie mistake number 2: firing on an average Jetstream Sam fan while The Only Thing I Know For Real is playing."

Then, the blast of lightning hits TANBot right in the helmet. This immediately stops the music and stuns him briefly.

"Nggh... Rookie mistake number 3: forgetting to take out the support..."

The stun means he probably won't have time to react to whatever the human currently charging him does next.

[Reinholdt]

[Extraction Plan: CD]

Yeah, Rein meows in agreement with the dogguy, despite leaning into the pets. He's not getting adopted by an individual! He needs to be adopted by the whole SIN warehouse. By which mostly it means he hangs around and they feed him and that's it and oh please feed him already.

Though the guy was clearly a jerk. Rein was absolutely adorable and the cat would show more offense if he could. Right now he just kinda meows for attention. Meows for food. Slightly turns his head towards Rose and meows at her as she sneaks up on the duo in an effort to warn them, hey. Girl sneaking up on you right Meow.

Hopefully they'll notice? They might not though, they seem fairly occupied with arguing with themselves. Well, Rein is giving them the best opportunity he could. He's not going to break character for this. Not that he's entirely certain what this is yet. A mugging? Who performs a mugging with chloroform?

[Ironsmith]

[Extraction Plan: CD]

Presumably, a mugger half the size of her victim. That seems to be the case here, with Rose coming up behind the dogman with the rag soaked in some chemical cocktail that presumably acts faster than chloroform.

Meanwhile, the ratgirl's attention quickly snaps back to Rein, and she continues to pat at scritch at him affectionately. "Now look what you've done. Poor thing's upset..."

The dogman opens his mouth to reply, but that's the exact moment Rose chooses to stuff the cloth into it, resulting in a strangled gasp instead of a snarky response.

Fortunately, the ratgirl isn't so oblivious as to not notice that. And combined with Rein's warning, she quickly draws the conclusion that they're being attacked, and turns to face their assailant, pistol raised.

Unfortunately, Rose got to the dogman's first, so when the ratgirl faces her, she already has a weapon drawn and in the girl's face, with a convenient meat shield right in front of her, in the form of a half-asleep sentry pawing clumsily at his mouth.

"Drop it." Rose commands.

clk-a-tk

"Turn around, get on your knees, and put your hands out in front of you."

The ratgirl shakily moves to comply, clearly apprehensive about where this is going. She's seen streetside executions before, that's usually the pose the victims are made to assume. This likely won't end well for her.

Or Rein, for that matter. The SINners aren't likely to help him get through the door if Rose shoots them, or knocks them out, or whatever she's planning on doing. Now might be a good time to act.

[Earl of Purple]

Tempest Row- Arrived at a Brick Wall

Given that TANBot didn't introduce himself, this is the first they've heard his name. They don't know what the letters stand for- they didn't know there were letters.

The charging man drops the pistol and holds his hand out as though he's holding something. He'll then swing at TANBot's torso, his 'empty' hand holding a magical sword that exists enough to hurt but not enough to see. It's just about visible on sonar and radar if TANBot has either of those and is actively using them right now; otherwise, he's being hit by an invisible strip of force mimicking a sword but which isn't actually a sword. It's reasonably sharp and reasonably hefty; depending on what material his chest is made of, it might dent, or do nothing, but after the first swing if it didn't seem to do anything the human will swing again at somewhere that looks weaker, aiming to cut cables, hydraulic lines, or anything else that might hamper TANBot whilst everyone else is jumping on a motorcycle, starting it up and roaring away, or else running towards the motorcycles with that aim. The Vedalken is no exception, though they're heading for a reasonably normal-looking penny farthing.

[Gold Leaf]

[Tempest Row- Arrived at a Brick Wall]

The stun on TANBot wears off just too slow for him to avoid the first slash, leaving a gash across his chest that, while not deep, is still troublesome. The battery in his chest is protected by the glassmetal. TANBot hops backward to avoid the second swing, then immediately rushes in to exploit whatever opening is left, slashing at the human many times with the aim being to chop him into 16 pieces or more.

After that's done, he will look around. He can't help but wonder, if everyone left on their bikes, what happened to the guy that owned the kettenkrad?

Anyways, what now? Oh, right, Liam has probably been cowering in his stupid boat the entire time.

TANBot runs back over to where the boat is.

"YOO HOO! FATTY! I CLEARED OUT ALL THE PIRATES, YOU CAN COME OUT NOW!"

[Earl of Purple]

Tempest Row- Arrived at a Brick Wall

The human is sliced, diced, and cut into pieces. His sword disappears, the will and intent holding it together totally failing with his death.

Four people died- the orc, the ghoul, and both humans. Four vehicles are left behind; the Kettenkrad, a monowheel, a dicycle and an ancient De Dion-Bouton tricycle. Presumably one of them drove the destroyed half-track.

Liam is still present, but he's not cowering. He's managed to detach his feet from where he'd mounted them and is working on building something. There's also three empty energy drink cans around, and another is hovering in the air next to him. He's leaning over the remains of the boat, the outboard motor, an electrical cabinet in the side of the warehouse, and a minifridge. He's bodged it into what closely resembles a jetpack. "Ha-HA! Eat my shorts, Rusty! I'm still going to the beach and you're still not invited! See you never, you loony tune bucket of cheap components and semi condumbtors!" He pulls a lever on the jetpack, and it shoots straight up, at least twelve metres, and implodes into a black sphere that falls back down and hits the ground, lodging into the pavement with a hefty thud.

Liam, who hadn't put the jetpack on yet, looks at the sphere, looks at TANBot, and starts to run away.

[Reinholdt]

[Extraction Plan: CD]

Reinholdt of all people understands how deceptive size can be.

Ugh. He doesn't know for sure who SIN is or isn't. They probably should have done that pre-stakeout option anyways just to get a bead on who is who. Maybe get a third person for that. If these are SIN people, they don't seem particularly well train... oh yeah. Former slaves. Guess, they wouldn't be? Not trained well enough to notice when a cat is meowing at someone behind them, that's for sure!

Well... it probably doesn't matter who's who. Is Rein going to risk his disguise to get involved?

Of course he is. He can't really help himself and stand by when someone is in need of aid.

Fortunately, there's always the cat play. Which involves running up to Rose's feet, biting her ankles and scratching her shins with overly sharp claws. Which is what Rein does. No mercy! Oh... damn. She's wearing boots. That's cheating! Rein will just have to clamber his way up until claws meet leg flesh. Many hisses and meowrls are given!

[Gold Leaf]

Tempest Row- Arrived at a Brick Wall

"Semi-condumbtors? Well, that was one of the lines ever. I've seen YouTube Poops with better roasts. For example: 'This world is a big clown car, and you're one of the clowns in it.'"

TANBot watches the jetpack fail, and is uncharacteristically unamused. "A few years ago, I'd laugh hard at that, but epic fails are something only old people find funny now."

TANBot gives chase to Liam, moving very quickly."Hey, why are you running? Get back here so I can call the police on you or something! Uh... what's the number for the police in this country?"

[Murkus]

[In Search of Truth]

Well, if they're going to just keep shooting, Fettina's going to give up then. She didn't want to watch somebody get beaten to death, or watch any kind of death really, but they were writing their own checks at this point. She just tries her best to shield Anika and knock out any strays until it's over - whether that means most of the mercs are dead or they've been driven off.

[Earl of Purple]

Tempest Row- Leaving a Brick Wall

Amazingly, when asked for a telephone number to call the police with, Liam will provide it. It's not a short or snappy one, though; quite long, like a specific phone number. A mobile phone one, at that. Calling the number out does slow Liam a little, and he's not super fast. TANBot could maybe just catch him, since Liam's apparently human and hasn't displayed any ability thus far to resist grabbers.

It's probably not the police, but exactly who is on the other end can only be found out in two ways- hacking a telephone directory or ringing it to find out who answers.

[Gold Leaf]

[Tempest Row- Leaving a Brick Wall]

TANBot will catch up to Liam and reach out a hand, aiming to grab his shoulder and stop him. Once he does this, he'll proceed to say "I'm warning you: if you gave me a wrong number, I swear you will find a pipe bomb in your mailbox if you make it home." and then dial the number he was given, using his helmet to do so.

"Hello? Is this the police?"

[Earl of Purple]

Tempest Row- Leaving a Brick Wall

Liam is grabbed! So he shrugs out of his labcoat and carries on running, leaving TANBot with the garment and whatever might be in its pockets. Underneath, he's wearing a stained white t-shirt and a pair of jeans, with a bandoleer across his torso with a small pouch on it.

Hopefully this distracts TANBot long enough for Liam to get further away, especially if he tries calling that telephone number. Liam isn't worried about the pipe bomb threat; he doesn't have a post box.

[Gold Leaf]

[Tempest Row- Leaving a Brick Wall]

TANBot unceremoniously chucks the labcoat over his shoulder. He yells after Liam, "No, seriously, why are you running? I'm a ninja, you're a fat madman who drives like my daughter except way worse." To prove his point, jumps forward 'til he's next to Liam and begins matching his pace perfectly. As he does so, he continues ringing the 'police'. "Hello? I'm calling ya! What if I was the Based Department, would you leave me hanging then? Hello!?"