Makita

Goldy's distinctive voice is the next over the airwaves.

"Bored," she reports in a flat, slightly huffy tone. Then there's a little chuckle. "Nice job, people."

Miho's personal battle took her out of the Goldy's sight line. Nevertheless, the Fable is still stationed on the balcony in the ambush plaza, where she's been watching for any enemies who might have doubled-back.

"Main square clear for rendezvous."

The square isn't the only thing that's clear. The storm has abated over the course of the battle: the wind has dropped, snowfall has dwindled to innocuous flurries, and the sky is brightening overhead somewhat. Noticing this for the first time, Goldy frowns.

"I can't say for how long though..." she adds inauspiciously.

From:

"Okay, I've got wounded with me. Non-critical, but it'll slow me down. Everyone meet back up at the building where we started. Link up as you make your way in. Good work--" Makita cuts off suddenly, listening. There's a nearly sub-sonic rumble sounding as the storm clouds continue to clear out.

"The storm's gone, Reds are coming back. Stay under cover as you move. There's no way for them to know precisely where their team was when we hit them, so as long as they don't spot us we should be able to clear out without a problem."

She turns to the non-combatants with her as she keys off her comm link, "That goes for us too. Let's get moving."

From:

theredstars.livejournal.com

Out in the snow, not too far from Makita's little group, the lone survivor of the ambush, spared by Mel, grins savagely. Sorceress-Major Reyvenne pulls an emergency signaling device from one of the pouches on her belt and presses the button.

Should have killed me when you had the chance she thought as the deep rumbling of a skyfurnace began to drift closer.

From:

gotham-knocking.livejournal.com

Knox just nods at Makita. He's feeling exhausted now. It's still hard to walk, and he can tell that Raps and Allie want to go home, too.

But he notices what Makita is like here. 15 going on 40. She's in charge. He dones't know who any of the women at the other end of the walkie talkie are, but all sound older than Kita, and all are following her orders, too.

It's like he doesn't know her at all. Which isn't a total surprise, but isn't precisely a comfort either.

From:

grandsuccess.livejournal.com

Allie kept her hand in Knox's, watching the world move around her. But her thoughts returned to thinking some about the things Fox had said to her.

About family.

And about family not being replaced.

She squeezed his hand a little tighter.

"Home."

It was simple. But the only important word.

From:

longlonghair

"That's right, sweetheart. We're going home."

She makes a mental note to get the girl a pony or whatever they hell else she wants after this. She's a miracle, plain and simple.

She increases speed, gently urging Alex along, wincing at every step he has to take. They're not safe, yet.

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"Let me help." Unless opposed, Cait will carry Alex to the gathering point. It is the least she can do, after all...

Also, they really should vacate the area ASAP, if the mission is complete.

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"Okay people let's move out," Makita turns to lead the way back toward the apartment building that she brought the team through. "It hasn't been long enough for the door to have moved on me, but we shouldn't dawdle. This is still disputed territory."

From:

slayer_fray

Mel just plain doesn't come in an undercover variety. She zips across the snow hastily, reaching the crossing and continuing over until she can see a group ahead of her. None of them other than Makita can she name, but they're all obviously bar folk, and non-fighters at that.

She rises up to follow from a height. No point drawing the attention a flying girl would bring them, and up here she can get a better view.

From:

twiststheblade

Miho does undercover - but it doesn't take her any longer to cross ground unobserved than it would if she went in a straight line, really. Besides, she figures that a huge crater with a spire in the middle of it isn't exactly inconspicuous. It's not long before she catches sight of Mel in the air, takes an educated guess as to her destination, and trots off to join the rest of the group.

From:

song_tra_bong

Mary Anne picks her way back to the square more carefully than when she'd set out. This time she's not focused on pursuing a target, so she can maintain cover a little better; cover's also a little more necessary with the loss of the storm and the fact that her coat (now with blood bright at the shoulder and a smear on one side) isn't exactly winter cammo anymore.

She can focus on the environment a little more, too.

"Hey, guys?" she says into the comm. "Maybe I'm just paranoid, but you hear something?"

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Goldy remains stationed on the balcony. From this vantage point overlooking the ambush plaza, she's able to cover the various team members as they fall back and regroup. Additionally, this position also affords her a commanding view of the skies...

A portion of said skies is getting a good deal darker. Bleak gray is being blotted out by the gargantuan mass of an enemy skyfurnace—an airborne war factory close to three kilometers in length. By all accounts such a mammoth vessel shouldn't be able to fly, but somehow it does. And it does so with a languid grace that delivers an arrogant 'fuck you' to terrestrial physics.

It's beautiful. It's awe-inspiring. It's loud. It's... petrifying.

"Fuck me."

Wide-eyed and mostly speechless, the Fable continues to track the descending metal behemoth. It's a few more seconds before she realizes that her unhelpful comment was probably heard over the comm link, during which time several Krawls are jettisoned from of the belly of the beast. These heavily armored tank-like vehicles drop like stones, falling towards the streets in the team's immediate vicinity.

"Um... I don't want to alarm anyone," Goldy now says.

"But... WE'VE GOT COMPANY!"

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Makita looks back toward the plaza in alarm, then shakes her head before reaching for her comm, "Everyone just stay calm. They don't know where we are, the storm saw to that, so as long as we move quickly we won't--"

She cuts off suddenly as the skyfurnace stops moving, hovering directly over the plaza where the ambush had been sprung. Large metal pods detached from the massive ship, plumetting toward the ground.

"Krawl drop!" Makita yells, a hint of horror in her voice. "Everyone move!" Her eyes are wide as she looks at the small group of non-combatants with her. "I don't know how, but they've found us. We've got to get out of here."

From:

theredstars.livejournal.com

The massive steel blocks cut through the air emitting an oddly deep whistle. Thirty feet above the ground anti-shock protokols engage and there's a rumble felt for blocks as five forty-ton combat vehicles slam into the ground. The drop pods slam open and the heavily armored krawls lurch forward looking for targets.

Makita is yelling into her comm, "Everyone out of the plaza! They'll blow up any potential strong points and then start gating down troops!"

And sure enough, the krawls were already swinging around to bring their main guns to bear on the buildings around the plaza, deep booming explosions rolling out as they began demoloshing anything big enough for a person to hide behind.

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"I'm moving! I'm moving!" Goldy cries into the comm.

Sorceresses and bodyguards are one thing, but heavy armor is quite another. She has no intention of becoming cannon fodder, so she gets to her feet in a hurry. Unfortunately, the location of a certain pesky sniper was included in Major Reyvenne's transmission. Thus it is that the first krawl into the square is quick to swivel its turret towards her balcony.

This turn of events doesn't escape Goldy's attention.

"...Oh shit."

There's a whoosh as a rocket streaks away from the krawl. It's well-aimed. There's not enough time for her to retreat far enough into the building at her back.

Only one option left.

She lifts a boot onto the balcony railing and with a grunt, she uses it to propel herself up and away from the platform.

KA-BOOOOOOOM!

The balcony disintegrates in a cloud of flame and masonry chunks. Goldy is not there—her desperate leap got her just beyond the blast radius. However, this still leaves her with the problem of a four story drop...

From:

slayer_fray

"On it!"

Mel spins in the air and zooms back towards the krawl and the plummeting Fable, picking up speed at the top of the acceleration Tim included in its design.

Soon enough she gives up on the rug and launches herself off it, hitting Goldy in the midsection, but aiming for a nice deep snowdrift.

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The slayer's acrobatic maneuver is Goldy's salvation. She's knocked out of her vertical trajectory, and the pair of girls barrel sideways into Mel's pre-selected bank of snow. Fortunately there's no piled rubble hidden under it, and it provides for a much better landing than the cratered concrete she was originally heading for.

Still... it's not a bed of feathers.

"Oof!"

Goldy grunts from under Mel and a whole lot of snow. When she speaks again moments later, she sounds dazed and a little pained.

"Thanks Mel— ooh... ow."

"Ow!"

From:

slayer_fray

Mel, on the other hand, had a much better landing.

Not that Goldy's all that soft.

"No problem," the Slayer says, climbing out of the drift and offering a hand.

She's slightly distracted though, looking around for something...

...which turns out to me her rug, hurtling off in the wrong direction. Damn.

"You OK?"

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"I've been better," Goldy groans.

She takes the offered hand and allows Mel to haul her out of the drift, grimacing hard through the action.

"Think my left arm's broken... urgh... ow... and maybe a rib or two?"

There's no time to properly assess the injuries however. The krawl is rolling onwards and retraining its guns on the fallen females.

From:

slayer_fray

Mel glances up, and shakes her head, partly in dispair over her lost rug, but mostly over any chance she had of holding off the enemy anymore.

"Assess injuries later," she says. "Now, we run."

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"Good plan!"

As they take off though, it quickly becomes apparent to both of them that Goldy's 'run' is going to be a fast hobble at best. In the grand scheme of things, this is pretty unhelpful, and leaves them as sitting ducks while they attempt to gain the cover of a side alley.

"...Or not."

Goldy starts to fumble in one of her pockets.

Even as she does so, high caliber machine gun fire rips across the ground towards them, flinging snow and concrete chips into the air.

From:

slayer_fray

Mel glances irritably at Goldy's fumbling, and out of the alley again at where the gunfire is tearing up the snowas it approaches them.

"Whatever you've got in there..." she says, as she leaves the Fable behind and runs out of the alley, "...make it fast."

She pelts across the road at her topmost speed, drawing the gunfire away from Goldy.

It's not he cleverest of plans, as a sharp pain in her foots tells her in a few seconds.

Mel throws herself forward and rolls, knowing it'll only buy her a second or so more...

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Goldy uses the crucial moment of respite to hurl a tiny pebble-like object at the krawl.

"Eat mutant tech, motherfucker!"

There's no explosion when the projectile hits the turret armor and deploys; just an unspectacular thud. It's one of the last miniEMPs that Hank McCoy gave her for the sword recovery mission in Miho's world. It should render any electronics useless within its small blast zone.

Hopefully the vehicle isn't totally protokol driven...

From:

theredstars.livejournal.com

A couple of sparks fly from the surface of the krawl and it shudders to a stop. However, not everything is electronically driven within the machine and automatic fire continues to spray toward Mel and Goldy. The turret jerks as it tries to get the stream of lead closer, but the mechanism is jammed for the moment.

From:

slayer_fray

It's still too close to comfort.

Mel scrambles to her...

"ARGH!"

...feet, and is grateful to find Goldy there quickly to offer at least one arm.

Fable and Slayer are left leaning on each other as they hobble out of range as quickly as they can.

From:

gotham-knocking.livejournal.com

The battle is close. Too close. Way too close, for a man who is close to both physical and emotional shock. And just because Caitlin is carrying him, that doesn't mean he feels any better about getting home.

"You better not drop me, Cait. What would all the other heroes say?" Strange how he still finds some of his sense of humor, as he grins at the big redhead and then at Allie and Raps.

From:

grandsuccess.livejournal.com

It was too close.

And it was more than Allie could stand anymore.

She was supposed to be running, she'd gotten Rapunzel's hand again since Alex was picked up....but her hand slid out and she stopped running. Stock still and turned staring at the battle with eyes that were becoming darker and darker and darker.

The world around her, around all of the heroes, started to blur white around all their edges. While the rag tag band of heroes could still move normally everything around them--debris falling, bullets flying, all of their attackers--was moving at an exponentially slower speed.

From:

longlonghair

Rapunzel skids to a stop when Allie lets go of her hand. She recognizes Goldilocks, and her jaw tightens. That bitch better be on our side, she thinks with a small surge of panic at the sight of the deranged Fable. She doesn't recognise the other woman, but both of them join the small group, and don't seem to be attacking anyone they shouldn't.

"Allie, please, come on. I am not going to leave you here."

She turns and looks at Alex being carried away, and shouts after them, "Keep going! We'll catch up!"

She prepares to pick up Allie and carry her along, if necessary.

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Goldy spots her compatriot as she and Mel stagger onto the scene, and treats her presence (and the presence of the small girl) with a baffled expression. There's no time to dwell on the peculiarity of it though, and she rapidly turns her attention back to her and Mel's progress.

"Come on, Hop-a-long," she urges. Not that she's moving any faster than Mel at this point. "I don't know how long this slow motion thing is going to last, whatever it is. But it's really handy for escape purposes. We ought to take advantage of it."

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Cait curses low, and hurries with Alex; she will pick up Raz and Allie if the need arises, rushing along with Makita to an exit point. She can fight, and fight well, but she also needs to get the non-fighters out of the way and FAST. "Lets GO! We have to take these three OUT of here. And ourselves if we can!" Because she is already mentally self-added to the fighting group.

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Despite being in excellent shape, Makita is huffing loudly from the long sprint as she reaches the fire escape to the apartment building they came in through. "Everyone up the stairs!"

Her eyes flick back over those who have arrived and she hopes that the stragglers haven't gotten lost.

From:

Cait just starts up, carrying whoever needs or wants carrying, up to whatever spot Makita shows, to get the wounded and the non-fighters out of the way of danger.

From:

slayer_fray

Mel disengages from Goldy as the two of them catch up with the others, jerking her head to shoo the Fable up the stairs. Face set to control any display of pain, she deliberately stands on both feet and turns back, pulling out one of her remaining grenades.

"Get up."

Hero syndrome. She won't save her own life until everyone else is safe.

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Goldy ignores the shooing. She stays at the bottom of the fire escape, now brandishing the Red issue handgun at the end of her good arm.

"Non-fighters and children first," she replies.

She doesn't have as much hero in her as some of the others. But, if there's a stand to be made, she feels qualified to be part of it.

Also? She has smoke bombs.

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Makita stands at the top of the stairs as the civilians make their way up. "Second door on the right. The closet should open to Milliways," her voice is hard and a bit distant as her eyes scan back toward the plaza looking for both their stragglers and for the Reds she know will be headed their way soon.

From:

gotham-knocking.livejournal.com

"You heard the lady, Cait. Let's get the hell out of here." There is fatigue in Alex's voice. Worry. Utter confusion - did time really just go bonkers? Did Allie do that? But there is also a sense that they might just make it. That he and Allie and Raps will get home, in part thanks to having a overly strong, somewhat impetuous redheaded teen carry them.

He decides that as soon as he can, he's going to get all three of them something special. Cait and Allie - wasn't that a TV show, he thinks muzzily - for saving him. Raps for just being Raps.

And he totally doesn't think about how scary Makita is right now.

From:

grandsuccess.livejournal.com

Allie looked up slowly at Rapunzel's words, blue eyes and pupil all but black, but somehow their tiredness showed regardless.

She nodded, barely, and hurried with Rapunzel after the group.

Home, and safe. That was all that mattered.

From:

longlonghair

Thank God! However, they weren't out of the woods yet. She runs with Allie, prepared to scoop her up and carry her at the first sign of the girl being to tired.

"We're going to make, honey. We're going to make it!"

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Cait will just haul the three up herself! That's what super-strong, super-agile super-heroines are good at, getting innocents out of trouble.

After she makes sure Knox, Raz and Allie are into the room into the closet, and into Milliways, she comes to the window shout to the others. "Non-fighters clear!!" Now its tome to retreat... or kick ass.

From:

song_tra_bong

Speaking of ass-kickers...

Mary Anne skids to a halt at the bottom of the stairs.

She'd put her sword away as the krawl drop started, the better to run like a bat out of hell. Between trying to maintain cover, flying debris and that weird time slowing thing, it's been an interesting time.

"Better late than never," she says, grinning at Mel and Goldy.

"Everybody here?"

From:

slayer_fray

"Yeah," Mel answers as Miho catches up.

The thief nods to both of them, and jerks her head-up the stairs.

"Get in. I'll be behind."

She doesn't move to follow, though, idly saying to Goldy, "y'know. We're running, leaving this situation. So what happens when 'Keet opens the door again?"

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Goldy looks over her shoulder as she mounts the first flight of steps, and rolls her eyes at Mel.

"Enough with the heroics already!" she chides over the nearby rattle of hailer fire and richochets. Now that Allie is through the door, time around them has resumed its normal rate, with the consequence that gated infantry troops are closing in on their position at much greater speed.

Goldy ducks down and raises her voice even more.

"There's not a lot you can do to change the 'situation' given that you can barely walk. We need to get back, heal and then figure out if we need to return to clear Skeeter's way."

"SO GET YOUR FINE ASS UP THESE STAIRS!"

From:

slayer_fray

"Toy," Mel says.

And to prove that the accusation of her being unable to walk is toy, she launches herself off her good foot, grabs the railing of the fire escape with her free hand, and lands again on the good foot.

Of course, as she hurries Goldy down the corridor, she's force to limp painfully. There's only so much bravado she can manage at once.

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Makita watches Krauser move smoothly through the door back to the bar and then turns to Mary Anne and Miho as they make it into the room. "Let's get home people," she grins, "I'll buy you a drink or something on the other side."

As the two women move through, Makita sticks her head out into the hallway as Goldy and Mel reach the door, "Come on, people. We don't have all day to wait on you." She's grinning: they made it, they're home.

Then her hand snaps up, pistol aiming back toward the window at the end of the hallway, and she rips off a burst at a Red trooper who sticks his head up. "Come on, move!" she snaps at the two stragglers.

And then the trooper ducking down on the fire escape responds. With a grenade. The metal sphere sails down the hallway and skids to a stop at Makita's feet just as Goldy and Mel reach her. Her eyes widen in horror.

They were so close.

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