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Heavy Metal - Chapter 13: The Forsaken

 
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 16, 2011 6:04 pm    Post subject: Heavy Metal - Chapter 13: The Forsaken Reply with quote

Heavy Metal
Chapter 13
The Forsaken



It was dusk by the time the Bouncer arrived at the outskirts of Las Vegas. Bounding into a deep concrete culvert to avoid prying eyes, he kept watch on the sky for further military pursuit. He wasn’t tired or winded, but by now, having bounced his way over so many miles of desert, his head was certainly spinning.

Behind him, his future self sailed over his shoulder, watching intently, now enjoying this life review process. He looked forward to witnessing the events to come.

The behemoth took a brief moment to examine himself. Not a shred of clothing remained to cover any part of his now hairless body, every follicle having burnt off in the fiery explosions that had failed to otherwise injure him, which only aided in showing off just how massively impressive he’d become.

Tyrone bathed in a sense of awe for a moment as his head finally cleared enough to realize who he was, who he’d been, and who he, apparently, had now become. Rubbing his hands across his taught muscles, squeezing at his newly rubberized flesh, biting at his wrist to feel his bones flex in an unnatural imperviousness, he marveled at his new form.

A deep throated chuckle escaped his lips as he shouted to the world, “I don’t think you punks are ready for ME! Hah hah ha!” A momentary lapse of fear at the thought that somehow this transformation could be temporary, or even somehow unhealthy, was quickly washed away in a wave of denial. Tyrone had never been one to worry about tomorrow.

The only thought that really dominated his mind was, Ok, then, what now?

“Clothes…” he rumbled an answer to himself. But where would he find anything that would fit him now? He’d never even SEEN a man so large as he’d become! Towering over seven feet tall and equally as thick? I’ll just have to find a sheet to wrap myself up in or somethin’. At least until I can yank some guy’s wallet and head to a specialty store in a mall somewhere, he strategized. Mebbe I can find some poor fool if I head into the city down this dry waterway… pull ‘im in and mug ‘im where I’ve got some cover under a road.

Looking ahead, the channel indeed crossed under roadways in long dark tunnels. He saw no one looking down into the culvert from up above but if he did, it wouldn’t be hard to get a ‘jump’ on them. And the channel seemed to wind its way towards the center of town, a ‘hidden in plain sight’ half-underground path for him to follow.

Darting from one overpass to the next, he stayed in the shadows as he journeyed towards the famed Las Vegas Strip.

~

Buttoning up his black leather bike jacket, a glowing cross emblazoned across the back, Thomas paused as his ears perked up. The news was finally reporting. Boots in hand, he raced across his kitchen and into the living room of his small apartment. Diving for the remote on the couch, he aimed it at the television and rammed the volume up.

“-this is the torn and beaten ambulance that brought the suspect in this morning. As you can see, it’s in pretty bad shape. We were told, when we arrived on scene, that-pzzt” Thomas hadn’t allowed the news reporter to finish before shutting off the TV. He’d already seen everything he needed to know.

After slamming his feet into his black leather boots he stood and flipped his black shades over his eyes. “UMC Medical Center,” he said to himself, having seen the logo of the hospital in the rear of the cameraman’s picture, “Here I come.”

Striding to a weapon rack situated on the wall, he slapped a new ‘Cross-Bow’ on his back clips, holstered new holy water grenades, water guns, and some silver-tipped, holy water hollow point loaded pistols for good measure.

“Oh Lord,” he hummed as he walked towards the garage where his Harley awaited him, “Guide my hand on this holy crusade.”

With a quick thrust of his leg, his Harley growled to life with a holy vengeance.

~

“Hey Stickman!” roared a gruff old General into a walkie-talkie.

“WHAT!” came the defensive static cry of a startled young black man over the receiver of the device.

“We got that super-goo onboard the M.H.?” Sternheim asked, wasting no time with subtlety.

“You said we might need it, so I made sure we had it along,” the young man on the other end stated with the tone of a parent patiently explaining it to his child.

“Oh, yeah… that’s right. Ok, I’m sending Kape out to get it from ya’,” Sternhem asserted, turned and nodded at the goat-man who nodded in return, adding a soft bleat that felt supernaturally foreign and out of place in this hospital hall.

Kape clacked his way into the distance as Sternheim addressed the captain of the swat team, “Help me get this door open. I need to get a look at our errant soldier here.”

“Of course sir,” the captain replied, prying his eyes off the goat-man.

“Oh, and one more thing,” Sternheim added, “Whatever happens, DON’T use yer weapons on ‘im! Got it?”

The captain swallowed and nodded. Over his shoulder, he shouted, “You heard the man, let’s get that door open!”

Those members of the S.W.A.T. team that weren’t injured rushed to pry the door open. When they had slammed it shut in their hasty exit, they’d jammed it tight. A crowbar quickly solved that problem.

Inside, Sternheim strode through the smoke and debris, through pools of blood, towards the gigantic man convulsing gently in the middle of the floor. S.W.A.T. men fanned out, taking defensive positions behind the General.

Kneeling and running his grizzled fingers through his gray hair, Sternheim examined the giant that had nearly cost him his life once. Reaching forward, he carefully rolled, Tyrone onto his back.

Tyrone’s eyes were open, but rolled so far into the back of his head, Sternheim could only see white. His skin appeared reddened as if he’d been out in the sun for far too long, even for one of dark skin. The giant had jeans on, but they had seen better days. Missing, was the behemoth’s shirt, exposing his enormous musculature, and five deep red divots in the skin where it looked like he’d been a candle stabbed by a cigarette, the flesh melted into what looked like droplets. Though those pits appeared to have bled, the skin had sealed by now.

A blood-encrusted hole in the lower pant-leg led Sternheim to investigate the brute’s calf, where he found another healing wound, this one appearing to have gone deep with a wide incision.

“Hmph,” Sternheim muttered after a moment of examination, thankful Tyrone had not overly reacted to the touch, though noting each and every twitch.

“What is it?” the S.W.A.T. captain asked, watching over the General’s shoulder.

“He’s been injured somehow,” Sternheim mouthed incredulously.

“Well, we DID fire on him. Maybe some of the bullets…” The captain’s words were cut short as Sternheim roared to his feet.

“This man is completely impervious to ANY known weaponry, short of perhaps a nuclear strike! Your weapons had absolutely no effect other than to add to your own casualties and toss some of these ragdolls around the morgue,” Sternheim motioned towards some of the corpses that errant bullets had tossed onto the floor. “You’re lucky to have taken such MINIMAL casualties from this bastard! You aught to have seen what he did to our GODDAMNED BASE! He took every weapon we could throw at ‘im an’ you think your pittely little do-dads coulda harmed ‘im? I DON’T F***ING THINK SO, DO YOU?”

“N..no… I suppose not, Sir,” The captain croaked.

“DON’T CALL ME SIR!” the General stormed as he began pacing in thought. “It pisses me off.”

After a moment of silence, the only sound being an occasional grunt from the beast on the floor, the captain thought outloud, “I wonder if they tried to administer any sedatives THROUGH these wounds. Maybe needles could have a chance if we tried inserting them where he’s injured,”

“Maybe,” Sternheim nodded, “but I don’t think many of the usual drugs would work on ‘im either. I got a solution for keepin’ ‘im still on the way. What I wanna know is how he GOT those wounds in the first place. What force on Earth could’ve done that?”

“Well,” the captain replied, “There was some guy impersonating a police officer that was found standing over him when we caught up to him. Maybe he’s somehow responsible?”

“Yeah? Who is he then?”

“We don’t know. He escaped into the desert. The officer that found them said some sort of light burst from the impersonator’s eyes and that the guy was muttering some sort of religious mumbo jumbo. Apparently the officer fired on the guy to get him to stop retreating and the bullets seemed to have no effect. The guy just kept running and we had this,” the captain motioned towards the giant, “to worry about. It wasn’t in town so we couldn’t bring in a bird to track him so who knows where he’s at now, probably dying of thirst somewhere.”

“Religious you say?” Sternheim asked, intrigued.

“Yeah, apparently,” the captain shrugged. “Sounded like some holy-roller Christian type from what I’m told.”

“Hmm…” Sternheim growled. Crouching once more over the Bouncer, he cast some nervous glances around at the corners of the room, “Maybe there was more to why your tests went haywire than simple science can answer, eh, Tyrone.”

~

The Bouncer noted some movement in the shadows under the next overpass up ahead. Smiling in anticipation, he walked confidently forward, full well aware of how intimidating his naked giant body would be to any onlookers.

He expected whomever was lurking about there would likely take one glance at him and run, fleeing in terror… that is until he caught up to them and demanded anything of value they might possess. Of course, that wouldn’t likely be much as the homeless were liable to be those found in such places.

To his surprise, an olive skinned female strutted forward into the waning light. “Well, well, well… what on Earth do we have here?” she asked with a crooked smile forming on her lips. “Ever heard of clothes?” she asked wryly.

Her own attire appeared ragged and worn, jean shorts sheared just under the hipline hugged her petite curves in a way that sparked an unknown flame of desire in Tyrone’s groin. A shredded brown tanktop hung from her bosom exposing a pierced belly button inset into a toned abdomen. He couldn’t see any weapons on her, but that wasn’t what his eyes were drawn to look for at the moment anyhow.

“Seems yours are too small for me, little kitty,” the Bouncer stammered a weaker reply than he’d intended.

“Looks like you’d like to get yourself in ‘em nevertheless,” she winked as she cast a sly glance towards his crotch.

For a moment, Tyrone stood embarrassed, then remembered he really wasn’t the shattered boy he still felt himself to be. No… now he was a man, more than a man… a man who could, no, should, no… would, have whatever he wanted.

And suddenly, he wanted her. Whoever this catlike female was, she had stirred up primal desires he’d never before known, and he was ready to express them.

She could see the gleam in his eye as he took a step towards her, his meaty hands raising as if to grab her. Smiling, devilishly, she darted back into the shadows, “Catch me if you can, Neanderthal man,” she giggled.

Tyrone failed to glance up to the street above as he charged into the darkness to pursue the dainty woman. If he had, he would have seen what awaited him.

He sped into the tunnel, looking about for her silhouette against the faint light at the end. Not seeing any sign of her, he figured she must’ve pushed herself up against a wall. Pausing for a moment, he tried to let his eyes adjust to the darkness.

Suddenly, someone leapt on him from behind! His cloaked assailant wrapped skinny legs around his waist and lanky arms around his chest and bit down on his neck.

Razor sharp canines nevertheless failed to puncture the Bouncer’s skin and the giant spared no time in reaching back, grabbing his attacker by the hair and flinging the thin man against the side of the tunnel wall with a sickening thud.

Roaring, Tyrone stormed forward to plant his foot through his attacker’s skull, but the wiry man rolled towards the giant, contorting himself to wrap an arm up around the Bouncer’s offending leg, pulling it so that the goliath fell to the ground. His shoulder impacted, rebounding Tyrone a couple feet before he was once more pulled to the concrete by the contorting motions of this expert grappler.

A shout came from the dark as a gleaming metal spike came crashing down against the giant’s chest, deflecting the handheld pick-weapon out of a second ambusher’s hands to spark against the stone ceiling of the tunnel.

The inability of the weapon to puncture the Bouncer’s flesh came as a shock and surprise to whomever had swung the pick, forcing an ‘ulp’ from an aged man’s voice in the darkness.

The sound was enough for Tyrone to get a lock on the general location of this second attacker and he reached down again to grasp his grappler by the nape of the neck, tearing the lanky one free from his legs. Tossing the grappler like a rag-doll towards the second attacker, the Bouncer rolled back up to his feet, catching a glimpse of a female silhouette running towards the far end of the tunnel.

Smiling, Tyrone bounded down the tunnel at the escaping female, leaving the other two in what he assumed to be a crumpled heap behind him. He caught up to her at the mouth of the far entrance, wrapping his thick arms around her as he descended from a mighty leap onto her back. Throwing his body into the blow and rolling, he kept her locked in a bear hug, but unharmed from the impact with the concrete ground as they fell together.

She squirmed and laughed. “I’m not going to have to ask you to let me go, y’know,” she said, matter-of-factly. Indeed, he suddenly realized his skin felt like it was on fire wherever he touched her. Having felt no pain since the ‘procedure’, this came as some surprise to him, of course. Yelping, he had little choice but to release his grip on her.

She wriggled free from the shocked giant, quickly regaining her composure. She strutted around like a cat on the prowl, watching him come to grips with what had just taken place, rubbing down her skin in long strokes.

Tyrone looked at his flesh where his skin had met hers in shock and awe. There, upon close inspection, were tiny, hair-like needles, hardly visible to the eye. Somehow, perhaps due to the fact that these needles were nearly microscopic, they had actually punctured his skin, and he was covered in them.

And they burned, itched horribly. “Urgh…” he grunted as he frantically tried to rub them free from his flesh. A heady sensation like vertigo began to assail his senses but he easily shrugged it off.

Giggling, the girl exclaimed, “Looks like you’re not the only one with a ‘prick’ big-guy. Surprised? There’s a reason my friends… and enemies alike, call me Cactus.”

Tyrone paused and glanced up at her with his mouth gaping. “You’re… You’re not normal are you?”

“None of us are,” croaked an elderly voice as a hunched over, full-bearded, gray man brandishing a silver pick emerged from the shadows of the tunnel, “Least of all, you, t’seems.” He pointed a crooked finger at the giant.

Behind him slunk a lanky man whose body reminded Tyrone of a teen but whose face was hideous to behold. His beady eyes were deeply sunken into his skull, golden and inhuman like a cat’s. His skin was… scaled and a sickening golden green color. And nothing about the way the man moved was natural, as if he were double-jointed at every juncture in his body. But most disturbing was the man’s mouth, slavering with some sort of greenish saliva, his jaw open, revealing two huge fangs dripping with… was that venom?

Shrugging off the nuisance of the pain, Tyrone stood up to his full height, towering above the band of misfits. “Ok, well, I don’t know who the hell you punks are… but you’re gonna be handing over what money you got on ya, or… I’m gonna kill ya. That simple, really.

And YOU,” he shot an accusing finger at the girl, “You’re gonna be the first to buy it if you don’t fork up whatever you got. You obviously ain’t worth snugglin’ up to or nothin’. So hand it over,” he growled.

The old man turned to his companion, “You dun bit ‘im an’ e’s still walkin’, eh Mohave?”

The scaly one, referred to as ‘Mohave’, simply nodded, some surprise showing in his beady eyes, the hatred gleaming from them piercing Tyrone’s soul.

“My spines seem to hurt him, Prospector,” the graceful girl told the old man.

“Well, that’s somethin’,” the ‘Prospector’ replied. “My pick dinna do nothin’ ‘neither. I can see he’s got lotsa value in ‘im though.”

“Oh, yeah…” the girl purred. “I’m sure you can my friend. Doesn’t take your eyes to see that.”

“I WON’T be ignored here!” the Bouncer threatened menacingly, “GIVE ME YOUR SH**!”

“I’ll bet Lucky will find him quite useful,” the girl continued nonchalantly as she paced back and forth.

“Betcherass he would,” the Prospector answered as he spat at his boots.

“Alright, THAT’S IT!” Tyrone roared as he leapt forward to pound the old man into the concrete with a haymaker. Surprisingly spry, the old man dodged sideways and the Bouncer flew past him back into the shadows.

Rolling to his feet, the giant growled as he rose to charge once more.

Suddenly, however, a shimmering, ghostly image of an old-western gunfighter blurred into being in front of Tyrone. The apparition’s eyes were simply glowing blue sparks amidst the rest of the azure outline of the wraith, clothed in what appeared to be ancient riding leather billowing in an unseen wind, a six-shooter holstered in his belt.

“What the hell?” Tyrone gasped as the hair on his head stood on end. He may have recently overcome just about any physical vulnerability, but THIS?

Thrusting forth his hand, the apparition silently slipped a palm through Tyrone’s body, an icy chill descending on the giant’s heart as those blue lights in the ghost’s eye sockets flared. For Tyrone, the world faded to black, a distant voice in the background shouting, “Don’t kill ‘im Billy! Lucky’s gonna wanna get ta know this‘n!”

Meanwhile, the phantom Tyrone passed a hand through the gunfighter’s apparition, curious if he had any way to interact with these scenes or if it were just a perfectly lucid memory. He wasn’t surprised to find that his action had no reaction. Soon, his view of this world faded, momentarily, as it had no further bearing on his own life’s memories. He knew where… and who… he would be seeing next. A smile came to his lips as the world momentarily vanished.

~

As the beast began thrashing about, growling and shattering marble tiles beneath him, Sternheim leapt back pulling his walkie-talkie from his belt with haste. “WHERE THE HELL IS MY GOOP, KAPE?!?” he shouted into the com.

“Baaaaaaa,” came a reply a moment later as racks fell and a stone table cracked under the seismic shockwaves.

“Yeah, well, HURRY THE F**K UP WILL YOU!” Sternheim hollered into the device. Around him everywhere, S.W.A.T. team members were hurling themselves behind cover, one ducking just in time to avoid some haphazardly flung rubble.

Sternheim, himself, ducked and rolled behind a fallen morgue table, unceremoniously shoving aside a corpse in the process. Peeking up over the stone slab, he watched in fascination at his agency’s handiwork flailing in a destructive, unconscious rage. At one point, Tyrone seemed to be trying to bear-hug an unseen oppenent, then hollered in pain and began scratching at himself furiously.

Kape’s arrival elicited a sigh of relief from the General, who ran to the goat-man as soon as it appeared in the doorway. “Gimme that stuff!” Sternheim cried as he ripped a large glass bottle out of the goat-man’s hands.

The General paused to wink at the S.W.A.T. commander, “Get a load of this s**t!” he yelled as he stepped forward and broke the bottle over the thrashing giant’s chest. For a moment, the beige liquid within fizzed and foamed, oozing down over Tyrone’s chest, then suddenly began to expand like frothing shaving cream all over the man.

Tyrone rolled in the substance, which started to harden into a gelatin-like consistency. As the goliath twisted and squirmed in the stuff, he pulled it taught, like a bubblegum, which simply kept contracting upon him.

Sternheim explained, as he and the S.W.A.T. team watched in fascination, “This is some of our best nanotechnology at work here. The more he pulls at the stuff, the tighter it gets, using his strength against him. It simply takes any force applied and reverses it. Soon, he’ll be wrapped up tight in a fibrous cocoon no brute might could possible break free from. In fact,” he added with a smile, “it’s quite helpful that he decided to throw a fit right now. The stuff works better on a struggler.”

Within moments, the General’s words proved true. The Bouncer lay wrapped in what looked like a cocoon up to his neck, his body lying motionless despite evidence of strain showing in his solid neck muscles. The thrashing had been calmed.

“Alrighty then,” Sternheim chuckled. “Let’s get this guy home, Kape. You grab the head side an’ I’ll get the…” Sternheim was interrupted by his own momentary surprise as the goat-man simply walked over and hoisted the whole of the cocooned captive over his head. “… or you can just get ‘im. Works for me.”

~

A growling Harley came to a screeching halt at the edge of the sidewalk outside the University Medical Center. Upon approach, Thomas had been feeling the hair on the back of his neck rise higher and higher. No less than five of the Tainted are here, he mused as he stepped off his bike and paid the meter nonchalantly so as to not gather further suspicion from the gathered crowd of gawkers, onlookers, and reporters swarming the emergency room entrance.

Their attention was apparently predominated by the arrival of another ambulance, screaming its siren in irritation at the crowd. All too slowly they parted and jostled out of the vehicle’s way.

It was by the Grace of God that I found a spot to park the hog so close to the entrance, and continuing Grace that allows me to slip in hardly noticed. Thomas considered as he shoved his way through an opening in the distracted crowd like the passage Moses might have parted through the red sea.

But as soon as he entered the emergency room lobby, his hair stood fully on end. The Tainted were here!

A professionally dressed, olive skinned, dark-haired minx cooed to the male nurse behind the counter, asking, “So… you say he’s in the morgue then?” She glowed like a red Christmas light to Thomas.

“Yeah, but…” the male nurse leaned forward to whisper, “We’re not supposed to let anyone down there. I’ve been told the military is here and they’re about to take him up to a chopper they got up on the roof.”

“Really?” the girl purred in excitement.

Immediately, perhaps in response to overhearing their conversation, a tan-cloaked man, also glowing a brilliant vermillion in Thomas’s sight, silently and aggressively slipped past a nurse who wasn’t quite wide enough to block a swinging doorway.

“Sir… SIR!” she cried at him as he vanished down the hall, “YOU CAN’T GO in…AAAAAAAA!” she screamed, terrified of something she’d seen as she watched the intruder down the hall. The nurse took a few terrified steps back into the lobby gripping at her chest, her eyes wide in terror.

Thomas didn’t have a moment to spare before he realized the third crimson-glowing individual in the room was staring right at him from a few feet off to the left of the Tainted woman at the counter. He was some old, hunched over geezer that looked like a guy stuck in the mining heyday, still latched onto his tool of the trade, leaning against his pick like a cane.

The gray old man’s blue eyes seemed to see right through Thomas, much as the holy man imagined his own gaze might appear to the old Tainted… if he weren’t wearing black shades anyways. The salt hobbled forward, grunting something to the girl and motioning towards Thomas.

As she glanced over her shoulder at the pastor, Thomas realized it was time to act. His quarry was below, in the morgue? And the Army was going to be transporting him somewhere via a helicopter on the roof? And who were these newcomers? They were Tainted for sure… and obviously no less endowed than his giant enemy, and no less important to address. But here? In the lobby? In full view of the public? Average citizens were everywhere here in the waiting lounge. How to best handle THIS scenario, he considered…

“Whatchu’ lookin’ at feller?” the grizzled geezer asked menacingly.

_________________

CHAPTER 25: Near-Light Speed (NEW CHAPTER! (12/4/2011))
Zephyrrr! And...


Last edited by Thunderbird on Sun Apr 17, 2011 12:03 pm; edited 3 times in total
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Tikanni Corazon
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 18, 2011 8:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Brilliant Chapter TB! Loved it!


These new 'tainted' are very interesting new elements to the story. I especially like the Prospector character, and can see him becoming a real challenge for Thomas later on.


As for how to deal with the current situation, it seems like, despite their powers, the tainted don't really want to cause a stir. They're finding out what they need to know, and doing what they need to do, calmly, without actually making any real scene. Yes, Mohave (I'm assuming) did push his way further into the building, but aside from frightening a nurse, he didn't draw any attention to himself. I could be wrong, of course, but that's how I felt about it when I was reading. I also think that, considering the trouble he had with just the Bouncer, these guys are going to be too much for Thomas to take on all at the same time, especially since there are lots of other people in the room, likely all defenceless against attack.


Hmmm... it's quite a tricky one this. If he still had his policeman's uniform, he could probably have the other people vacate the building, to at least get them out of harms way, before making his next move. But I'm thinking he probably doesn't, considering the state it's likely in after his fight with the Bouncer. ;-) For now, the only thing I can think of, is to try and get through the doorway that Mohave used, and try and get them to follow him. With it leading straight into a hallway, there might not be quite so many people around, and a limited amount of space to move around in anyway. Maybe once in the hallway, Thomas could use one of his powers on them to hinder them while he escapes, and tries to get to the Bouncer before Mohave does. Considering his 'Gaze of St Peter' requires him to look directly into his opponents eyes, I'm guessing that it wouldn't work on both of them at the same time?


Anyways, this is only a first suggestion, and a very spur-of-the-moment one at that. I'll have another think about it, and try to come up with something a little more solid, and less messy. ;-)


Again, great chappie, and looking forward to the next one already!
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 18, 2011 11:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ah, Tika, you should know I love long responses!

The Gaze of St.Peter is indeed a very personal, somewhat lengthy in terms of combat, one on one extremely close range sort of abilitiy. Works great if he can get close enough to plant his hands on his opponent's head and make eye contact within a foot or so but not so great when he's got other opponents to consider as it does take some focus and time to really send his enemy into the life review.

He can flash the lights from his eyes in an attempt to blind, but being a well lit environment, it might not be as effective as it was just before dawn.

Thomas is equipped with two cross shaped billy clubs that I forgot to mention, for those close hand-to-hand fighting moments, but yes, the threat to many innocent civilians is certainly looming in this environment. And what tainted who's already bound for hell (at least in Thomas's understanding) would have anything to lose from injuring a civilian?

The impressions you have suggest I implied what I wished to but may have wanted to make some of it a little more explicit. Indeed, up until now, the calm environment in the waiting room appeared to have gone undisturbed so they must've gotten this far without making a scene.

I'm really glad you enjoyed my new 'Nevada-esque' tainted characters. I was a bit worried about the Prospector actually, so it was nice to hear you thought him particularly interesting.
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CHAPTER 25: Near-Light Speed (NEW CHAPTER! (12/4/2011))
Zephyrrr! And...
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 21, 2011 10:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

...and more dots are beginning to join up - Lucky is mentioned once more. Smile

Thomas is outnumbered here, and the Tainted seem to know that he is their enemy. If he fights, it's unlikely he'll win. My thought is for him to get out of there, maybe lure them into a situation where they reveal themselves for what they are - in public. No doubt they are also products of the military 'experiments' - and it will be up to them to deal with with their own mess. So - get them to wreak havoc, and let their creators clean up the aftermath.

Meanwhile he could then be getting closer to Bouncer while the distractions are going on.
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 21, 2011 12:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The situation is terrible for Thomas, but I think overreacting would be a bad move. Don't acknowledge the tainted, or do anything about them unless they make an aggressive move. I imagine Thomas would be duty-bound to prevent any innocents from being harmed and of course he himself must not be harmed, but otherwise, casually go to the helipad and wait for the target to come to him. By that point, I expect there will be a confrontation between the military and the tainted. That would be the best time to strike, while everyone is distracted or running away.

I'm hoping that though Thomas appears to be a potential threat, he is not the intended target, so they'll leave him be until provoked.... So don't provoke them. Wait to ambush them at the right moment, especially since we know the direction the target is headed (if we don't know where the helipad is, ask a nurse as discretely as possible).

Naturally, if the tainted are determined to cause trouble, we'll have to make a hasty change of plans. Ideally, we would divide and conquer, so run as though to escape, and repeatedly lay ambushes for the fastest pursuer. Avoid fighting more than one at a time!

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Thunderbird
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 21, 2011 12:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for reading!

Great suggestions there... will make for a very interesting poll.
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PopeAlessandrosXVIII
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 11:53 am    Post subject: I Think...... Reply with quote

Wow, lovin' it! Gotta give much Kudos for cactus lady! Heheheheh. I do really like the new guys, and the goatman is getting funnier! The elastic lizard is spooky sounding. Keep up the good work.

What next....I'm not all that sure that our hero cares all that much about anything but doing "God's work", so I can kinda see him overreactivly trying to take down the tainted while making his way towards rubber man on the roof. Maybe he could throw a surprise attack at one of them, then book-it for the roof. He's gotta figure there are millitarty guys here, so if he can get the three new ones to where the guys with guns are, they'd be taken out for him. He knows Bouncer can't be hurt bt regular means, but there's no guarentie that the rest of the tanted are as invunrable to the devces of man.

So, in my oppinnion, Provoke the three tainted in the lobby in to following him. Get them to where the nice gun toating officers are, then, while everyone's ditracted, take out Bouncer.
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PostPosted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 2:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for reading Pope, commenting so kindly, and for adding a nicely aggressive reaction for the poll selections.
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 06, 2011 12:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Now Polling! I hope to have this poll wrapped up by next Sunday so I can get Chapter 15 presented then. I'm wanting to pick up the pace a little.

Enjoy!
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 08, 2011 9:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Remembering that you favor "balls out" action, Thunderbird, I voted the violent choice. From the the character's perspective they're all worthy targets, even if they aren't the main target. They'll need to be dealt with eventually anyway. Let's do this!
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 13, 2011 3:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ok, so I'm not going to be able to finish my next chapter today, but I HAVE begun work on it so I have closed the poll. It's comin'!
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Thomas is confronted by the Tainted in the emergency room lobby. What now?
Chase after Mohave down the corridor towards the morgue using stall tactics on the others if pursued.
0%
 0%  [ 0 ]
Pick a fight to lure Cactus and the Prospector outside where media and police are swarming, then slip through the chaos towards his goal - the Bouncer.
0%
 0%  [ 0 ]
Refuse to acknowledge the Tainted and calmly make our way to the helipad using ambush tactics as much as possible.
0%
 0%  [ 0 ]
Pick a fight then lure all Tainted to the roof where he can use military assistance to his favor.
50%
 50%  [ 2 ]
Avoid the Tainted and head for the morgue immediately.
25%
 25%  [ 1 ]
Take them down NOW, one at a time if needbe. If we attack quckly enough, we can protect the innocent.
0%
 0%  [ 0 ]
Author Vote
25%
 25%  [ 1 ]
Total Votes : 4
Who Voted: Crunchyfrog, Lebrenth, PopeAlessandrosXVIII, Thunderbird

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