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Heavy Metal - Chapter 5.3: Foresight

 
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 18, 2009 2:59 pm    Post subject: Heavy Metal - Chapter 5.3: Foresight Reply with quote

Heavy Metal
Chapter 5.3
Foresight, Part 3



“Lord guide my hand,” Thomas uttered as his sight illuminated the sickly crimson glow of a figure, hiding behind the fuel tanks in the back of the truck. The driver registered no taint, but the one in the passenger seat… a faint vermilion aura rested on that one; perhaps a contract unresolved?

This was going to be tricky. The Tainted was surrounded by highly flammable fuel tanks, which of course would be full considering the events that had drawn Thomas’s attention in the first place. How to destroy the creature without injuring the innocent? He’d have to draw out the beast somehow.

He was thankful that there had been a nicely starched police uniform in the back seat. While his shoes might not match, at least the clothes had been a close enough fit that he could wear them. His own pastor’s robes lie in a neatly folded pile behind him. The badge on his chest gleamed, with the name, Lt. Tolbert inscribed across a gold ribbon on the lower end of the insignia. Tolbert… should remember who I am trying to impersonate… just in case.

When he’d changed uniforms, he’d emptied the pistol he’d found under the seat, exchanging the standard issue ammunition with some specialty pieces of his own, liquid filled hollow tips. He’d had no problem, with God guiding his hand, retrieving and arming the shotgun that had been locked down in the cab, though with merely standard issue rounds. Should he approach with both? Why not, he figured.

Might as well add his favorite arsenal to the list as well; his Cross Bow was slung over his shoulder. So what it would throw off the appearance of a police officer? The ruse would only get him so far anyhow.

Taking a deep breath and offering another prayer, he stepped out of the car to approach the old Ford.

~

As the officer approached, he shone his mag-light into Dave’s eyes, making sure to blind and disorient.

“There’s only one of them?” Walt whispered in surprise, “Surely this is nothing more than a routine stop then!”

Arriving at the driver’s side window, his gaze shifting nervously to the back of the truck, the officer beamed his light into the cab of the vehicle. “Can I have your license and registration please?”

Difficult as it was to see the officer, Walt offered his registration forward as Dave provided his Nevada State license. Walt asked, “What seems to be the problem, officer?”

“You… uh…” the officer stammered, “seem to have a tail light out. Also, do you have a permit to transport this material? You seem to be missing the proper hazmat signs on the back of your vehicle. Are these tanks full?”

“Shit,” Dave swore.

“Oh yeah, forgot all about those hazmat signs,” Walt chuckled nervously. “We’ve got ‘em out at the house but forgot to put ‘em on. Sorry about that. I guess there’s a fine or something we’ll have to pay then?”

“Fine? Yeah, sure,” the officer stated uncertainly, cluing in the passengers that something wasn’t quite right about this ‘policeman’. “But it’s more than that, sir. I’m going to have to ask you to turn off the vehicle and step outside. We need to offload these tanks. I’m going have to go call in a truck to take them to impound.”

“Impound!?!” Walt shouted. “Are you freaking serious?”

“Yes, sir I’m afraid so. Please… step out of the vehicle and stand with your hands against the hood while I go… uh… radio this in.” Glancing back at the bed of the truck with an expression of extreme seriousness, the officer walked back to his car. I hope this works to draw him out, Thomas mused.

As he turned to leave, Dave caught sight of the antiquated weapon hanging from the cop’s shoulder. “What the hell is that?” Dave gasped.

“What? This is the strangest police procedure I’ve ever…”

“NO,” Dave insisted, “Did you see the CROSSBOW strapped to his back? What cop carries a freakin’ crossbow!?!”

“Something is definitely not right about this,” Walt muttered. “C’mon, let’s get out of the truck, as he asked. I think it’s time we stopped messing around with this guy.”

“You think we should...”

“Mhmm,” Walt nodded, confirming his plan.

As they stepped outside the truck, holding their hands up high, Walt shouted, “Alright, we’ve decided to let you play all you want,” as if hollering back at the officer, but Dave knew better. And so did the Bouncer, who clearly heard his cue.

As the black behemoth rose from his crouch in the bed of the truck, Walt and Dave both took off running for opposite sides of the road. Perhaps the desert could provide some sort of cover if flying bullets punctured the fuel tanks.

“Thank you Lord, for the battle you’ve blessed me with this day,” Thomas muttered as he paused just before his own car, full well feeling the diabolic intent rising behind him as the hair on his nape stood on end.

Meanwhile, the Bouncer leapt from the back of the truck to land in the center of the road, chuckling darkly. “Turn around and face me, Pig. You wanna make an arrest? Just try… what the f**k? A crossbow?” The Bouncer doubled over in a fit of laughter. “You ain’t no cop!” His voice turning deep and serious, he snarled, “So what are you then?”

Spinning on his heels and raising the shotgun at his hip with blinding speed, Thomas cried, “I am your ticket to HELL!” Two blasts rung out in the night in rapid succession. A hail storm of pellets ricocheted off the Bouncer’s impervious hide, scattering wide, digging pits into the road, deflecting off of the truck and the canisters held in its bed.

Thomas winced as one of the pellets rebounded and struck him in the cheek, tearing a gash and spilling a trickle of blood down to drip from his chin.

“Awww, you hurt your pristine face,” the Bouncer goaded. “Don’t worry pretty boy, it ain’t nothin’ compared to what I’m ‘bout to do!” Leaping into action, the brute bounded forward with a backhanded roundhouse across Thomas’s skull, the impact throwing the pastor yards down the road behind the police car.

As Thomas skidded painfully to a halt, he looked up just in time to see the Bouncer lifting the car above his head! Rolling to the side, the divinely chosen warrior just managed to avoid the vehicle as it flew through the air to collide with the pavement, screeching to a halt upside down in a shower of sparks and broken glass.

Leaping to his feet, Thomas twisted his head to crack his neck back into place. His eyes began to glow with a holy white light, illuminating the scene before him and making the Bouncer cringe in surprise and pain.

“What the hell? Since when does light hurt?” the Bouncer roared as his skin felt as if it were being flayed alive.

“The light of the Lord shall penetrate into the hearts of darkness,” Thomas declared as he pulled his revolver up and fired off six rounds in the blink of an eye.

The bullets burst against the Bouncer’s flesh, failing to penetrate, yet releasing their fluid to splash across his skin. As the fluid burned into him like acid, acrid smoke wisps pouring from the wounds, the Bouncer howled in pain.

“I take it you haven’t felt the blessed touch of Holy Water before, have you Tainted?”

The Bouncer roared in fury, agony tearing the words from his speech. Flying into a rage, he leapt backwards, into the truck, tearing his shirt from his chest and using it like a mop across his burning flesh.

“Damn,” Thomas cursed, unwilling to create the devastation that puncturing one of those tanks with a bullet would surely cause. Not like the tainted wouldn’t be immune to the flames anyhow, he figured.

“Fine, you shared with me your blessed water,” the Bouncer called out, “I’ll share with you the conflagration of HELL!” Hefting one of the tanks, he flung it at the impersonated officer.

Eyes growing wide, Thomas dove forward to avoid a direct impact. As he rolled across the pavement, the tank collided behind him, exploding with tremendous force, thankfully not so close that it lit off the other tanks as well.

As the shockwave struck him, Thomas flew through the air to collide with the side of the truck with a painful CLANG! Flames billowed into the sky behind him in an oily blaze.

His right shoulder dislocated and his Cross Bow skittered under the truck. The pistol had flown from his grip in the concussive force and was nowhere to be seen! Without a moment to spare, Thomas rolled under the truck as the Bouncer’s heavy boots slammed into the ground where the pastor lay just a moment before, deep potholes punctured into the concrete in his wake.

Gripping onto his archaic weapon with his left hand, Thomas raised it and fired one of the cross shaped bolts into the Bouncer’s calf.

Unlike other weaponry, to which the Bouncer would be immune, this blessed bolt tore through the Bouncer’s flesh, forcing the giant man to howl in pain. Stomping, the ‘Tainted’ forced the bolt out of his leg, spun, reached down, and lifted the truck over his head.

As the truck tilted in the big man’s grip, the remaining fuel tanks clanged together in the bed, but barely kept from tumbling free. Stepping forward as Thomas hurriedly tried to reload his weapon, the Bouncer savagely kicked forth, striking the priest in the stomach and sending him flying across the desert sands into the night.

"Field goal mother-f****r!"

Though he gave it a moment’s thought to consider hurling the truck after his mortal foe, the Bouncer instead placed it gingerly back onto the pavement, shouting, “Hurry! Get the hell out of here you two!” Though he couldn’t see Dave and Walt, he must’ve known they were out there somewhere.

“I’ll finish this myself. You’ve got other things to worry about. Get your asses home before the ‘real’ authorities catch up to you!” he roared at them as they crawled from the darkness up to the road, their faces pale with fright.

Turning, the Bouncer leapt off into the darkness to chase his assailant, leaving Dave and Walt, stunned, standing in the center of the road.

“What just happened?” Dave finally asked.

“I don’t know… but he’s right. We need to get home before the piper comes along to demand we pay up.” Police lights in the distance blared. “We oughta be able to get off the main Route before they get here,” he pointed out the gathering crowd of authorities on the horizon.

“I know, but I feel like we should help one of them… I’m just not sure who we should be helping!” Dave explained as sounds of continued battle rang out from the desert.

“Me neither,” Walt growled…


So there you have the DP… stay and find a way to help one of the two combatants, or get home, NOW! And if you mean to stay and help, please suggest how they intend to do so.
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CHAPTER 25: Near-Light Speed (NEW CHAPTER! (12/4/2011))
Zephyrrr! And...


Last edited by Thunderbird on Sun Jan 16, 2011 1:31 pm; edited 8 times in total
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 18, 2009 3:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

IF's poll results:

Uh Oh... Cops approach... Now What?
Trek across the desert (back roads as it were... lotsa dirt roads heading off through)
12% [ 1 ]
Call on more help from Lucky and crew to get a scout car out to assist
0% [ 0 ]
Have the Bouncer capture the Police car and escort them home, radioing in all is well.
12% [ 1 ]
The Bouncer does his superman routine again and takes the cop and his partner out.
12% [ 1 ]
Get Bouncer to kick a fuel tank onto the road and light it. Boooooom!!!
0% [ 0 ]
Chill OUT! The cop is just pulling them up on a routine traffic stop, as the truck is rather battered. Maybe a tail light is out.
25% [ 2 ]
It's someone from a rival organization disguised as a cop, and he's out to steal the fuel. Battle ensues.
25% [ 2 ]

Tome's poll results:

Uh Oh... cops approach... What now? Trek across the desert (back roads as it were... lotsa dirt roads heading off through) 0 (0%)
Call on more help from Lucky and crew to get a scout car out to assist 0 (0%)
Have the Bouncer capture the Police car and escort them home, radioing in all is well. 0 (0%)
The Bouncer does his superman routine again and takes the cop and his partner out. 0 (0%)
Get Bouncer to kick a fuel tank onto the road and light it. Boooooom!!! 1 (33.3%)
Chill OUT! The cop is just pulling them up on a routine traffic stop, as the truck is rather battered. Maybe a tail light is out. 1 (33.3%)
It's someone from a rival organization disguised as a cop, and he's out to steal the fuel. Battle ensues. 1 (33.3%)



This made a tie between Chill OUT! The cop is just pulling them up on a routine traffic stop, as the truck is rather battered. Maybe a tail light is out, and It's someone from a rival organization disguised as a cop, and he's out to steal the fuel. Battle ensues, with three votes to each. I honored one of the other poll results as well as a functional part of the battle scene.

This led me to make some hard plot decisions. Lucky's organization has no peers really, in a sense, none that would take a role in this affair anyhow. And Walter's competitors wouldn't be aware of what he was up to since he hasn't yet registered his entry into the X-Prize competition, prefering to know he can win it before he even enters. Therefore, you have this, which may be confusing at first, but hopefully you can see why I gave Thomas to the story as a 'rival'. Not only does it fit somewhat, but it also helps to understand where the Bouncer and Lucky might be coming from... or at least give a strong hint...
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CHAPTER 25: Near-Light Speed (NEW CHAPTER! (12/4/2011))
Zephyrrr! And...
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 18, 2009 7:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

best suggestion? get the hell out of there before the real cops get there!
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 19, 2009 1:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wow, I agree. Get straight back home!

They need to take stock of what's happened - they probably didn't see everything, and they'll not understand it all.

They'll be theorising about who Lucky is and what his motives are now... whether he's the good guy or the bad guy.

And for us - the readers - intriguing about the faint red aura around who I assumed is Walt - the uncompleted contract? Wooo.

I can't see any other way than go back home - if they dumped the fuel they may as well be giving up their bid for the X prize. Of course, home may not be the safest place for them, but they're not going to be aware of that.

Good chapter, TB, and totally unexpected content.

Cool
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 19, 2009 3:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

CF wrote:
And for us - the readers - intriguing about the faint red aura around who I assumed is Walt - the uncompleted contract? Wooo.


Ah yes, the devil is indeed in the details...

Thanks for your comments Kang and CF. So far everyone seems to be in agreement that home NOW is the best idea, but to make the discussion more interesting... if you HAD to pick one of the combatants to help (assuming you could find an effective enough way to do so), which would it be?
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 19, 2009 11:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well - Not knowing who the Bouncer or who his adversary is, they'd not be aware at all of what each represent or what the issues are between them.

They may have some inkling that the Bouncer and this stranger have some historical disagreement, which they won't want to get involved in, given the superhuman powers each have displayed.

They may have their doubts about the Bouncer and Lucky's backing, now they've seen that he is capable of killing, but Bouncer has protected them, and continues to do so.


At very least my gut feel would be to remain neutral, but if that is not an option, and not knowing anything about this phoney looking police officer with a crossbow on his back, I wouldn't have found any redeeming features to give me a reason to help Thomas out.

If there was no other option, I think it is a case of better the devil you know, so to speak.
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 23, 2009 3:00 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Great story, I'm really enjoying it.

So, Walt started out doing a simple fuel heist and suddenly he's stepped into armageddon! From paying for fuel, to stealing, to accomplices-to-murder, to shooting-a-cop, or at least something that could possibly be a cop... that's heavy.

If you ask what side he's likely to be on, he'd mostly likely say his own. Primary concern? Getting this damn voyage underway. Anything else is secondary. But there are going to be forces chasing him now. Big, incomprehensible forces.

There are two sides that he can see:

1) The religious zealot with a crossbow, spouting all that 'begone foul fiend' stuff. With kickass powers and an insta-repairable spinal column, from what they've seen.

2) The bouncer. A killer who seems almost unassailable, except to Cop-with-the-crossbow's attacks. Plus, he has Lucky on his side. A guy who never loses, and whom Walt owes money to (or at least is in a financial contract with). Upset the bouncer, you upset Lucky. Upset Lucky, and you can be pretty sure your own luck will run out faster than milk through a seive.

Walt needs to get out of here fast. He needs to get up in the air and not take sides in a fight that's bigger than him. But if he were to take sides, I'd be coming down on the side of the Bouncer at this point.
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 23, 2009 3:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the comments Stoat! I'm honored Smile So well thought out too.

CF, your analysis seems to be pretty well considered as well!

Polling should begin fairly soon (possibly tommorrow).
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 12:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Awesome chapter - very enjoyable.

I found the switch to Thomas an interesting aside, and fitted in well. Not sure where the metal head from your picture comes in yet - but I'm sure it will all fall into place.

I have to agree with the above comments. Get the hell out, and in to space as soon as possible. Delaying just provides more opportunity for something to happen to his fuel, he's already lost one barrel of it.

If I was trying to come up with arguments for siding with the cross-bow cop, I would say perhaps the 'holy light' that flashed from him, as it fell on Walt's watching face, he felt warmth, and protection etc... this is the only way I see Walt having any desire to help the holy warrior.

*giggles at the 'Devil's in the detail' comment.*

Looking forward to the poll.

Happy Writing Smile
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 4:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I just had the chance to reread the chappy Nice transition on he story between the two scenes and the spiritual take was interesting and you did it in such a way that probably did not step on anyone's religious beliefs . that is a very fine line to walk on but you did it perfectly
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PostPosted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 6:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

That said, I assume I probably WILL step on someone's beliefs at some point, but really... that's very difficult to avoid. And if I do, I hope it is understood that it is merely in the effort to make people stop and consider posibilities...
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Zephyrrr! And...
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 25, 2009 4:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well if it DOES step on their beliefs then maybe it will open their eyes a little bit personally i saw no "flags" on what you wrote so its all good with me and very accurate with the way you traced everything down
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 01, 2009 2:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Alrighty then... I was going to put up a poll before I left for Thanksgiving (visited my dad in Seattle (well Sequim to be precise but for those of you international folk... Seattle suffices Very Happy ) but I didn't find the time and while there I could only log on for brief periods. Anyhow, I'm back! Razz

And poll's up! Considering the comments so far, shouldn't be much of a contest. I expect I'll close the poll this weekend and write out the next chappy.

Thank you all for reading and for adding HM to your fav's!
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 05, 2009 12:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Only one more day or so to go on the poll!
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 08, 2009 6:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Welcome to IF and thanks for voting spowerq! Smile
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What now?
Head home immediately! Time is limited to launch.
60%
 60%  [ 3 ]
Grab the discarded shotgun and assist the Bouncer.
20%
 20%  [ 1 ]
Grab the pistol with Holy Water bullets and aid the newcomer.
0%
 0%  [ 0 ]
Author only vote box
20%
 20%  [ 1 ]
Total Votes : 5
Who Voted: Crunchyfrog, Shady Stoat, Smee, spowerq, Thunderbird

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