Special Branch: The Execution of Vixen Goddard
POSTED BY: SoulOfSerenity
UPDATED: Tuesday, February 1, 2011 15:54
VIEWED: 29582
PAGE 6 of 7
The crowd had now reached fever-pitch. Punch drunk and high on blood lust they roared for more. The various guards were no longer concerned with tracking Wisp and Vixen’s path to Seryn but were using all their strength to keep the raging mass of people under control. Staying low and dodging as many people as possible they eventually unite.
“Seryn You have no idea how glad I am to see you! You got an escape plan set up? Because mine is all shot to hell.”
“Yea there’s a ship ready to go on one of the rooftops. How is Soul getting out?”
“I’ve no idea. I thought he was with you?”
“We haven’t had any contact with him. When he appeared we thought he was with you?”
“Jesus you really know how to plan a rescue” Vixen interjected from the sidelines “Do any of you have any idea what the rest of you are up to?” Wisp and Seryn shared a look of mild embarrassment and a shrug.
“Well we’ve got exactly no time to catch up here. Seryn which way do we head and is anyone else with you?”
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Quote:
Originally posted by seryn:
Does that prevent Safe, Wisp, Vixen and I getting the heck out of Dodge?
OOC: Not at all. I just have something planned for Soul that requires him to be left behind.
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okay!
Seryn grinned "Yup - guess who" She pulled them back towards the building she'd started from, opening the channel on her comms as she ran "Safe! Get down here, we have them. Soul is here, with Ciaran.. i think."
"Ciaran?" Safe sounded stunned, but his muffled breathing and the clattering in the background told her he was already on his way.
She studied vixen. One thing she hadn't thought of - Vixen stuck out like a sore thumb in her overalls - was that black paint? Swiftly she pulled off her jacket and thrust it in the girls direction. Vixen pulled a face "Just put it on - don't argue" She loosened the ties on one of her skirts to and shuffled out of it, foisting that at . Not great, but it would do.
Safe clattered down the last of the step and joined them, a quick grin greeting Wisp and Vixen and then straight to business.
"Do we all have our running shoes on?"
(and this post was bought to you by being up way past my bed time.)
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OOC: Dammit!! I had two great posts that errored out and I lost all of the text. So consider this a test. Frankly, each time I rebuilt the post it lost more impact so...
"Do we all have our running shoes on?"
Wisp grinned, "Good to see somethings don't change."
"We all change a little here and there Wisp. Just happy to be on the sunny side of the dirt." Safe smiled back.
"You could at least show some signs you're happy not to be dangling over the square." Seryn aimed at the cross-armed, unintersted Vixen.
Shouts erupted nearby.
"Ok, lets move." Safe started back towards the building.
"What about Soul or Ciaran" Seryn asked as she, Wisp and Vixen fell into step beside him.
"Last I saw of him, he was moving like smoke through the rackus. He's got a purpose otherwise, I suspect he'd be here already. As for Ciaran... I couldn't care less."
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OOC Worry not, its still cool
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“There they are!” erupted behind them just as they were reaching the doorway to the building. Guards were beginning to fight their way through the crowds towards their location. Still too far, with too many people between them and their quarry to open fire but approaching like a thundering storm on the horizon.
“Seryn get the flyer ready, Vixen, Wisp go up with her” Safe shouted rushing people through the entrance “I’ll hold them off for a minute”
“No chance” Wisp said, the last one across the threshold “Its been too long and too far for Heroics now. Me and you hold this door. Girls you have exactly two minutes and we will be on that shuttle and we better be airborne the next second”
“Damn Wisp you grew a serious pair” Vixen smirked from the bottom of the stairs.
“Yea well I’ve had two years to practise my A game so get up stairs and get that ship ready!”
The foyer of the building had a single door which sat opposite the stairway. Opening up about half a meter on either side of the door Safe occupied the right hand side leaning out to take out any guards that emerged from the crowd before they had a chance to shoot. Wisp used two shells to take the door off its hinges then took up a position on the left.
“Hell a’ good to see ya Safe. But I thought I should let you know I’m nearly out of party favours”
“I wish you hadn’t said that, I’ve got two smokes and a flash left.” The conversation was broken up by both of them taking turns to lean out and shoot. By now the crowd were rushing as far as they could away from the entrance and more and more guards were headed this way.
“Mine was a ‘last man standing’ idea, there’s two bricks of Semtex woven into my flak jacket.”
“Jesus Wisp! That’s enough to level this building!”
Wisp winked back “My thoughts exactly” Wisp dropped his rifle a second and unzipped his flak jacket throwing it into the middle of the hall “Time?” reassuming his firing position.
“Thirty seconds, then we hit the stairs for thirty. They’re coming in thick and fast now” Both men were no longer taking turns, instead each was laying down as much fire as they risked to slow the advancing horde. “Seryn we have exactly zero margin for error so I hope you’re ready for us.”
The guards were now dropping a few feet from the door rather than the safe ten metres when the charge had started. Shots were starting to pepper their way through the open doorway and throw up clouds as they impacted the stairwell.
“GO time!” Safe shouted throwing Wisp his rifle. Wisp began walking backwards towards the staircase dual-weilding the assault rifles as Safe threw three grenades in series out of the door. The first cloud of smoke erupted just as the guards reached the doorway and Safe, and Wisp began running full pelt up the stairs. Neither wasted precious seconds in turning back to check the advance behind them or fire wild shots. Timing was everything.
They burst through the door just as Seryn was starting to take off. With neither grace nor style both men leapt through the open door as guards appeared at the top of the stairs. “Faster, Faster, Faster would be better!” Safe screamed as the shuttle inched upwards over what seemed like an eternity. Wisp held the detonator in his sweating palm waiting for the ship to ascend enough. Too early and the blast would take them out as well, too late and the Soldiers now appearing on the roof would fill them with holes.
All about timing.
Wisp pushed the button and the building they had been stood upon ten seconds ago shook. The ground floor exploded outwards forcing a fireball of super heated air, dust, and rock up the stair’s they had rushed up. Screams were heard for but a second before being replaced by tumbling brick and burning wood. The roof began to collapse as the ship accelerated took to the sky.
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Soul heard the crump of the explosion and had less than half a second to phase his body before the heatwave roared through, throwing the guards around him to the ground. It had happened none too soon, as Soul wasn't sure how much longer he could last. He had bullet holes in his left arm and leg, and he was bleeding from no less than two dozen grazes and cuts. He only had to hold on long enough for the others to get away.
He looked to the side as he phased back to solidity and watched as Ciaran's body, still wearing Vixen's face, faded into nothingness. He smiled softly. He could die now knowing that everyone was okay, and when he woke up somewhere else, they could all reunite and down a few drinks in celebration.
He lowered the dagger and made his way over the bodies of the guards, a few of them beginning to stir. It was in that moment that a thought tickled the back of his mind, only moments before something sharp drove it's way into his neck. Soul cried and twisted, swinging the dagger at--
"Kurren. You son of a bitch."
Kurren grinned, and it was a nasty grin. "So predictable. You even knew it was a trap, and yet you still came."
Reaching around to the back of his neck, Soul pulled a long needle from the flesh of his neck, the syringe empty. "Trying to poison me? Haven't you guys figured me out yet? I'm like Obi-wan." At Kurren's raised eyebrow, Soul allowed a small grin. "If you strike me down, I will return even more powerful than you can imagine. Well, not really more powerful, more like all healed like Wolveri--"
The gunshot rang out and Soul's head snapped back, the bullet from Kurren's gun passing clean through his skull. As he fell, the grin remained on Soul's lips. He would wake up somewhere else. Somewhere safe.
**********
His eyes opened slowly, and Soul groaned as he got to his feet.
"So where am I this time..."
His jaw dropped open as Kurren's grin became a smile. "You see Marshall, we have figured you out." He held up a small device, no larger than his hand. "The nanites I injected you with are linked to what I hold in my hands. Every time you die, you'll wake up within ten feet of me."
He shot Soul in the gut, and Soul screamed in pain. "You sonofa..."
Kurren kicked him in the stomach once, twice, and continued to kick him until he was sure Soul was dead.
*********
Soul opened his eyes again, and of course the first thing he saw was Kurren.
"You and I have a lot to talk about," the bounty hunter stated. "Let's begin, shall we?"
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There was a lot Marshall had judged her for - rightfully so. But there was a lot he didn't know about her. When she had tracked down Kurren and convinced him that she was the one they were looking for, not Marshall, The Expendables, and Blue Sun in turn had seen an oportunity for a weapon they truly could control. So they used her, allowing scientists to experiment on her until they could decide where she woke up when she died. When they reached that point - they knew they had her.
They trained her, pushed her past her breaking point and even further. She was sent on missions to kill people who had truly done nothing wrong; men, women, children. It didn't matter. She killed them all.
And she looked like Marshall every time.
As she found out, Kurren had never truly believed her about Marshall. Everything they did to her, every experiment, every test, it was all part of a larger plan: to capture Soul for themselves.
She watched the fruition of their plan from a hacked Cortex feed linking her to the sole remaining security camera in the square on Ariel. From several worlds away, with tears of rage streaming down her cheeks, she watched as the man she loved was killed again and again, and she knew he felt everything.
As far as he had come, as much of his humanity he had retained, they intended to break him. They wanted Marshall to once again become Soul, and to kill for them.
And she knew they would succeed.
She had to find his friends, because once Kurren was done, once Blue Sun had their way, if Soul found them first...
Ciaran shook her head, and her features shifted. Her red hair faded to black, and her skin and eyes paled. Sliding away from the Cortex terminal, she made her way towards the docking bay. She needed a ship, and she needed to find the man Soul knew as Safe.
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“Hey Wisp I’ve got a hot date tonight do you mind closing up by yourself?”
“Sure it’s been a slow day I’ll have the place in ship shape in no time. Who’s the lucky lady?”
“You know Laura who works the fryers?”
“LAURA? Jesus dude she doesn’t count as a hot date! I mean you’d have to carve the grease off of her”
“That is absolutely correct, but her Sister on the other hand works at a very nice law firm down town and she does not have that ‘I work a deep fat fryer’ aroma”
“Dude how did you get her? I mean we work in a Gorram fast food joint, not even a good one”
“We’ll after one of our shifts last week some of us went out and she was there and we hit it off and well, I got a date”
“Well you go out and achieve the impossible.”
“Thanks dude I’ll see you tomorrow”
Wisp’s co-worker quickly grabbed his stuff and left out the back door of ‘Bry’s Burger Bar’. Wisp waited a reasonable time which he spent cleaning one of the grills then headed to the cortex station in the back. He wrote a quick message to a secure account:
“Meet me round back BBB in one hour”
Wisp finished the cleaning and then headed out for his secret rendezvous. He didn’t have to wait long before a private shuttle landed in the furthest spot from the building. A single man got out of the back and wandered into a single circle of light in the darkened lot. Wisp went out to meet him and placed a duffel sack at the mans feet.
“As ordered two dozen grade A lock overrides. Entirely disposable and untraceable.”
The man pulled open the bag and extracted the first device. Wisp made a living selling these kinds of black-market gear for a variety of local criminals.
“Looks good. How do I know they work?”
“Come on Vankeetsen’s been buying my merchandise for months and he’s never had any problems. Now if you’re trying to haggle price then you can forget it and hand over the coin.”
The Man looked very serious and stern for a moment then burst into a wide grin, And passed him a bag packed with notes “I like you Wisp. Always do good work, never take any Gosa. I wish I worked with more private contractors like you. Actual Vankeetsen was saying just today that he liked your work; he told me that he’d like to offer you a job”
“He already gives me a job. What do you call that nice pile of tech at your feet?”
“I mean an in-house full time paid position. Vankeetsen’s private technical consultant.”
“Look I really appreciate these one off contracts but I don’t want a full position. Tell him thanks but no thanks”
At was at this point in time that two large armed men appeared behind him and the man in front drew out a pistol.
“This wasn’t really a request but as I like you I’ll spell out how this can go down. You come of your own accord and live in luxury with very nice perks, or you have to come by force and you get treated very unpleasantly. Your choice”
“Well. Looks like I’ve been hired.”
OOC- HOLY MOLY Soul! Thats awesome stuff. Exciting
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OOC: DAMN! Loving the posts, some great twists.
--
Liam Torne thumped his fingers down on the keypad, ending the call.
It was all for nothing, he told himself. Nothing!
He thumped his fist down on the table and swiped the phone off with his hand in a fit of anger. It crashed and broke on the floor.
He sighed loudly to himself, and ran his hands through his hair. His eyes were red.
He'd wanted to make a difference. To be the kind of man that his great-great-uncle had been. There had always been something terribly wrong with this verse, he'd known that despite his initial allegiance to the Alliance. It was only after an attempt was made on the President's life - Sian Dreight, the husband of Liam's cousin Gabriella - and the truth behind who was behind the attack had been unveiled, that Liam realised that he could be more than just another yes-man.
Gabriella had always had a soft spot for the Resistance, and it was those very ones that eventually aided Liam and his family when their ship The Dwarf had run into trouble. They helped them on their way, they made sure that the Torne family got to where they wanted; that Janti - the man who had been used, brainwashed by Blue Sun, a man that had been nothing more than a "Weapon" - would live long enough to tell his tale.
But it was all for nothing.
They hadn't changed the worlds. They hadn't taken down the powers and instituted a New Alliance as they had hoped. Their mission had only served to make the ones responsible more cautious, more secretive. On that day Liam realised who was really in control. If not even the President of Albion could make a difference on his own world, what hope did a few freedom fighters have of changing the verse?
Liam downloaded the feed of the incident on Ariel to his personal viewer and watched as the girl, Vixen, was killed, and the remaining survivors took a building down - and all those that occupied it - in their attempt to escape.
He couldn't help them now. He and his office had helped some of the imprisoned Resistance, transfered them to a more comfortable facility. But these ones - the ones that had personally helped him and his own - the best they could hope for now was a life on the run.
He had hoped to assist them, had even sent a trusted aide to Ariel in a bid to help in someway, but evidently even those in his own organisation couldn't be trusted. As far as he was concerned, it had all been for naught. He'd achieved nothing of any real consequence, and worse still, he'd lost people - his wife, his daughter, his friends. Few remained by his side now.
But that was about to change. Now he had nothing left to lose. Janti had contacted him with the news of what had went down on Ariel, and he had a plan. Maybe there was still time to help the former crew of The Epsilon after all.
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