Life Onboard Serenity: #42 - Of Jobs, Vaults and Things Gone Wrong
POSTED BY: EnglishIvy
UPDATED: Tuesday, June 23, 2009 22:19
VIEWED: 30582
PAGE 6 of 14
Quote:
Originally posted by DRPAIN:
"You sure?" Pain asked soothingly. "You don't look like it, baobei. Perhaps Tommy should come out and take over for now."
Ivy took in a deep breath and embraced Pain hard, pulling her body as close to his as possible.
"No," she said, sounding stronger than before. "I can do this. I have to do this. I can't run to Tommy every time something gets difficult.
She backed up just far enough that she could kiss him lightly.
"We should get dressed," she said, looking down at her very near nakedness. "We have friends to help."
"We do, bao bei," Pain said softly. "Are you completely sure? I wouldn't think any less of you if Tommy were to come out."
Ivy thought for a second before she answered.
"Yes. I'm sure."
Pain lifted her off the wall and then off of him before setting her on the floor. They both dressed quickly, then grabbed their guns.
"Are you ready?" Pain asked. She nodded. "Keep your eyes out. We don't know who is hiding where. OK?"
Ivy nodded again.
"You sure you are OK?" Pain asked her a last time.
"Yes," Ivy confirmed. "Anyways, I have you to protect me, right?"
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Doc let out a long stream of innapropriate Chinese slang before standing, shooting the other man in the knee caps and walking to his location. John, knowing Doc to be a vengeful woman, worried how long this might take.
She lowered herself by the first man and pulled out a knife. "I don't like it when people touch my stuff," she seethed before chopping off one of his fingers.
"Doc we don't have time for this!" John said. Too hurried to comment on her brutality.
She turned to the other man. "He appears to be already dead. Too bad. But now I have my full attention on you." She removed another finger, this time slowly drawing out the pain.
"Where are you guys?" the comm chattered. "We're on our way, captain." John replied.
"Doc, if you want to get off this planet you come with us now."
"HE TOUCHED MY THINGS!" she said not turning from the man. She puntuated the next comment with non fatal stabs to the man's body. "I get very angry. when people. touch my things!"
"Well I don't have time for your anger. Jayne shoot him" John said.
"Just leave her to her torture and let's go" he replied turning away.
"I owe her a favor, just do it."
"Fine" Jayne fired at the man's head, killing him.
Doc sttod an turned seething. She wiped her knife on the man's clothes before sheeting it. "You're no fun." she said walking past him. In silence the quartet rushed to the rest of the crew.
John, Jayne, and Doc began to fire on the unsespecting men as they approached. Many of them hit the floor before noticing them. Once they had been noticed they hid with the captain. "Why aren't we getting back to the ship? This job's a bust and someone is going to get hurt!" John whispered loudly.
johnttf
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In the Stairwell
Quote:
Originally posted by EnglishIvy:
"Yes," Ivy confirmed. "Anyways, I have you to protect me, right?"
"Of course." replied Pain as they started to head up the stairs double time.
Pain wasn't quite sure Ivy was up to the task at hand, but she wanted to help and she adamantly insisted to Pain exactly that. He would do his best to make sure she was safe and hoped that 13 would too, despite his recent behavior towards them. Failure at this point was no option. Pain would have to do his best and be on his toes to insure Ivy's safety, even though she'd be on the firing line with both him and 13. He knew he could do it or least try to.
"No." he thought. "I can and will protect her."
At the Shootout with Mal and Crew
Quote:
Originally posted by johnthetheatrefreak:
"Why aren't we getting back to the ship? This job's a bust and someone is going to get hurt!" John whispered loudly.
"You know, John, as much as I'd like to high tail it out of here with all my parts accounted for and non-perforated by lead, we're short a few people and crates if you haven't noticed." Mal replied over the gunfire, a hint of disdain in his voice. Mal exchanged some gunfire in return from behind his cover, and continued as he ducked back down, "We don't and can't leave until everyone's accounted for and those crates are sittin' pretty in our cargo bay, don..."
An explosion coming from the other side of the facility cut Mal's words off and echoed off the walls. It caused both sides of the firefight to cease fire and wonder who or what had caused it. Where there once was a door on the east side of the facility leading to the stairwell, a gaping, smoldering hole two times the size of said door replaced it. Black smoke and a trickle of flame obscured the entrance. Bits and pieces of flaming door and wall lay scattered over the place haphazardly.
As the confusion and smoke started to wane, a tall, heavily armed man emerged. His bullpup configured assault rifle aimed at chest level spat fire and lead at those he didn't know before he fired a flashbang from the grenade launcher. The man took cover back inside the entrance to the stairwell and looked away as the flashbang exploded in deafening sound and blinding white light. At the sounds of the dazed and confused, he stepped back out and fired, ushering his female companion to some stacked crates for cover. Once his magazine was empty, he too followed her right as the gunfire erupted again.
"Nice of you and Ivy to join us, Pain." came Mal's voice from Pain's earpiece.
"Thought I'd make a grand entrance, sir." replied Pain. "That and I was too lazy to bother openin' the door with my hands."
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OOC: Here is a really bad rendition of what the tarmac where the crates, other ship and gunplay is happening. My graphics prowess is less than good. 
Pain and Ivy has come out of what was left of the northeast stairwell and hid behind some crates. Bullets flew all around them. She looked to her left at Pain, who seemed very much in his element. Across the way to her right were the rest of the crew. Mal's group had come from the command center and John's group from the northwest stairwell/elevator.
She cocked her head a little when she saw John's group. Who was that extra woman with them? She wasn't onboard the ship before. Ivy pushed it out of her mind and concentrated at the task at hand.
The crew all seemed to embody the idea of military and efficient. Well, everyone but her and maybe Cate. It was all very surreal. The only thing that made it quite realistic were the bullets that threaten to make them into swiss cheese.
"You OK, bao bei?" Pain asked as he paused to duck down behind his crate.
"Just dandy," Ivy called back to him, trying to make light of their circumstance, but her wavering voice betrayed her confidence.
"Just stay where you are, darlin' and let me take care of the rest."
"O-ok."
Ivy surveyed the area around her. She could see the other ship and Serenity. There were other entrances to the underground facility nearby and the Command Center was about 50 yards behind them. Crates and such littered the entire tarmac. That was everything and there she was too. Right in the middle of it all.
Breathe, she thought. In and out... In and out...
She saw some muzzle fire erupt from Serenity's cargo bay. She squinted and saw River standing there. One of their competitors fell to the ground. River ducked back inside the bay as her actions drew attention and fire away from the rest of them. She heard the footsteps of Mal's and John's groups seeking better positions.
The other ship started rumbling as their engines were coming online.
"They're gonna bolt!" she heard Pain yell.
Ivy peeked over the crate to see the crew of the other ship retreating back towards their ship.
"We need that cargo!" she heard Isahiah exclaim.
What can I do? she asked herself.
Ivy looked around again and an idea was born.
"I'll be right back," she shouted over to Pain as she sprinted away from her position.
"Ivy! Get back - " yelled Pain. He tried to follow her, but bullets rained down on his position and he was forced to focus on that instead. "IVY!"
She ran towards the Command Center. That was the place where a land lock might be able to be done. She was going to make herself useful. She would show them all that she could be a part of the crew. Then they would let her stay.
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John flinched as he felt the pain of each shot. The crew was suprisingly together, even Doc. He managed to catch part of the conversation she and Jayne were having. Something about how now he'll never get any. He continued to shoot at the men. They were beginning to retreat.
John began to dive from crate to crate shooting in between. They had to get the cargo to leave and maybe a direct approach was called for.
johnttf
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"Gorrammit!" Pain spat as he returned fire.
What the hell was that girl thinking? Running off like that without using any cover. Did she think they were firing magical bullets or something? Was she trying to get herself killed and make him go through one serious guilt trip?
A bullet whizzed past Pain's head and brought him out of his mental conniption fit about Ivy. He saw the culprit and returned fire with a three round burst to the man's chest. Another person took a shot at Pain and missed. Pain fired back, but missed as well. He swore as he ducked behind his cover and listened to bullets hit the crates, sending a shower of splinters every which way. Pain waited for a moment and then brought his assault rifle up and fired another burst, catching the man in the right shoulder and clavicle.
As the man fell screaming and cursing to his comrades, Pain caught movement from out of the corner of his right eye. He turned his head to see John diving from crate to crate and let out a long string of Chinese swear words just as another couple of rounds went Pain's way.
"John, you crazy ruttin' fool, you're goin' to get yourself killed." Pain muttered to himself as he ducked down and loaded another grenade into the launcher mounted underneath his assault rifle.
"But not if'n I can do anythin' about that." Pain said to himself as he knelt on one knee, aimed for the ceiling above where he spotted a couple of baddies hiding and watching John.
As one was about to aim and fire at the crate diving man, Pain fired and watched as the ceiling above the men exploded and rained debris down on them. Seeing one of the men still alive, but crawling, Pain carefully aimed and fired a single shot at the man's head. He then gave John a nod and a smile before getting up and following the man's lead, providing cover fire along the way.
"This is probably not the smartest thing you've done, John" Pain said between shooting and moving. "Most likely wind up gettin' shot and whatnot, but I'll help nonetheless because you're crew and well.."
Pain shot another guy and continued, "I miss doin' stupid go-se like this." Pain fired another burst at few more of the rival ship's crew and asked, "How about I shoot while you grab the loot. Sound like a hoot to you?"
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Ivy dodged behind crates and such as she made her way back to the Command Center. She let out a small scream each time a bullet hit near her, but she was resolute about getting to her intended goal.
Finally she was inside. She looked out the window and saw that the ship was very close to being able to take off. The air around the dock area was swirling, whipping the hair and clothing of her fellow crewmembers around.
"Land lock... Land lock..." she whispered as she searched the consoles looking for something that resembled what she was looking for.
She had a boyfriend on her home planet who had worked part time at the local dockyard. She had been in there many times visiting him while he was at work and he had gotten so excited the one day he got to put a land lock on a ship. He talked about it for weeks, showing her every time she came which buttons he pushed as though it was the first time she had heard the story.
"Aha!" she exclaimed as she found the panel she needed. Looking at it she tried to remember what he had done. "Where's that switch? Where's..."
She located the land lock initiation sequence switch. She flipped it on and then looked at the screen to determine which spot the other ship was currently situated. She looked from the screen to the outside and back to the screen, trying to orient herself. She finally stood up completely by the window to see if there was a designation marked anywhere. She saw it just as a bullet crashed through the glass. She screamed and ducked to the floor.
Staying low, she crawled over to the screen, entered in the designation she saw and pressed the button marked "ACTIVATE."
Immediately, the ship's engines began to power down and a red flashing light pulsed around the ship's depiction on the screen.
"So there!" she whispered as if Mal was in the room with her. "I CAN be helpful."
She stood up to try to return to her original spot out by Pain, but another bullet richocheted off the window frame changed her mind. She sat down on the floor in a spot where she could watch for passers by, clutched her gun tight and made herself ready for anything.
"I think I'll stay right here."
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"It wasn't that stupid," John said in defense, "I knew someone would back me up, and they did. Sounds like a plan." John continued his journey toward the cargo, diving and twisting to make a difficult target. He was very good at this, despite how it seemed. He shot at the men in front of him when neccessary, but never to kill. He reached the crates, suprinsingly small. "Is this all of them!?!" he shouted over the fire fight.
"Yes," said River suddenly at his side.
Together they gathered the crates and attempted to return to the ship.
johnttf
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"Shouldn't you be back on the ship?" Pain asked River, as he ejected the empty magazine from his assault rifle and slapped in a fresh one.
"Ship's fine." she replied as she helped John with the crates. "Needed here more."
The rest of the crew was now joining in on helping to get the crates back to Serenity and shooting those who tried to shoot back. Pain noticed that the other ship's engines no longer were on, which must have meant that someone, probably Ivy or someone else, activated the land lock. Pain was sure that whoever was aboard that ship was sure having a heck of a time trying to override that land lock. That was if they weren't part of the dead or injured in the facility.
Pain along with Jayne and 13, stayed behind while the others headed back to Serenity with the crates. They did it to make sure no one from the other ship either tried to follow or shoot them. There were only a few of the crew from the other ship left. Pain, Jayne, and 13 traded lead with them, which only lasted for about two minutes until those from the other crew were subdued.
Jayne pressed his hand to his ear and then looked to Pain and 13 and said, "Cap says to pack it up and head on back."
"Alright." replied Pain. "I'll go find Ivy while you two head back."
"You sure?" asked Jayne, his brow furrowed.
"Yeah." Pain replied, slinging his assault rifle across his shoulder. "Probably shouldn't take more than a few minutes. I think she's in the Command Center."
"Probably take longer than that." muttered 13 loud enough for both Pain and Jayne to hear.
"What was that?" Pain asked, raising an eyebrow as he turned to 13.
"I SAID IT'LL PROBABLY TAKE LONGER THAN A FEW MINUTES!" 13 shouted.
Jayne let out a chuckle and said to 13, "Good one." Patting Pain on the back, Jayne said with a grin on his face, "Just remember to comm us when you two are done, so we can tell the Captain not to leave you behind."
Both Jayne and 13 shared a laugh as they headed back to the ship while Pain stood there fuming. He took a breath and let out a sigh as he headed up to the Command Center. While Pain did that, 13 stopped and cocked his head. With his hearing he could hear footsteps come from elsewhere in the facility. They didn't match those from Serenity's crew, which told 13 that they belonged to those from the other ship. They were stragglers most likely. Late to the party as always.
Jayne stopped and saw that 13 was standing there. Tilting his head slightly, he asked, "Hey, Bot Boy, somethin' gettin' yer gears in a bind?"
"No." 13 replied. He turned around and started to head back to where Pain was before stopping once more and adding, "Get back to the ship, Jayne. It's nothing I can't handle."
Command Center
Pain approached the door to the Command Center. He stood there for a bit before knocking and asking, "Baobei? You in here? We've got the crates and are ready to head back to the ship."
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Quote:
Originally posted by DRPAIN:
Command Center
Pain approached the door to the Command Center. He stood there for a bit before knocking and asking, "Baobei? You in here? We've got the crates and are ready to head back to the ship."
Ivy jumped up and into Pain's arms.
"Did you see it? Did you see me put the land lock on that ship?" she exclaimed. "Mal and the others will have to see that I can be useful now. After all, I was very useful."
"Well, let's go, while the getting is good," Pain said as he grabbed her hand and led her out of the Command Center.
The kept to the crated area, just in case they needed any cover. Ivy looked over at the door that Pain had blown up making their entrance.
"That was a little overkill, wasn't it?" she stated, giggling a bit.
"But you have to admit, bao bei," Pain chuckled back as he turned to look at her. "It was fun-"
Pain was interrupted by the sound of gunfire. He shoved Ivy behind a crate and took up behind another one himself. The gunfire was coming out of the other ship's cargo bay. Reinforcements had arrived.
"Gorrammit!" he swore as he dropped the gun that he was holding in his right hand. He started to assess the damage from the bullet that ripped through the muscle between his shoulder and elbow. It didn't look bad, but moving his hand and shooting with it would now be problematic and also painful.
From behind the other crate, Ivy tried to look over at Pain. Pain was crouched down too, but something was wrong.
His gun.
His gun lay on the ground and he was holding his arm. A grimace played over his face.
“Pain?” Ivy asked shakily.
“I’m fine, bao bei,” he called out to her. “Just a slight graze.”
She looked over again as more bullets flew over her head. She cringed. Pain ripped his shirt, wrapped it around the wound and using his teeth, he tied it off.
She closed her eyes and pulled the gun up between her knees to stop her hands from shaking.
Pain picked up his gun in his left hand and got a few shots off, killing one of baddies in the cargo bay.
“Ivy?” he yelled over to her. “I’m gonna need you to help.”
Ivy shook her head slightly, the shaking spreading to her whole body.
“Ivy?” Pain gently called out to her again.
Bullets from a slightly different angle rained down on their location. A couple of stragglers had come on the scene from the Southwest entryway.
“Ivy!” he yelled at her. “We got more visitors from the stairwell! They’re gonna move around to our right to get a better shot at us! They get there, we’re goners!”
She didn’t move.
“TOMMY!”
The shaking stilled and Tommy looked over at Pain.
“Watch the right! I’ll watch their cargo bay!”
She nodded as they both rose up to take aim of their perspective targets. Tommy shot, cutting down one of the two stragglers. But then she felt it, bullets piercing her body. One... Two... Three... It knocked her backwards and onto her side, her gun skidding a few feet away from her.
It was surreal. Too surreal. She was thinking that when she felt herself slip away and her heart stop.
Meanwhile...
River was running at full speed up to the bridge when she fell. She couldn't get her breath and was trying to get up but couldn't.
John had been behind her, wanting to get up to the engine room in case Kaylee needed him.
"River!" he exclaimed. "What's wrong?"
River clutched her chest, but was finally able to stand partially straight.
"Ivy..." she ground out. "Get Simon."
Slowly she started back on her trek to the bridge. She had to get them off this rock before things got worse.
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