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Entry tags:
Crime & Caves [Action, semi-open; Ask if you wanna tag into it]
Ted recalled one prescient writer summing up Nova City perfectly: "It would be the loveliest city in Genessia, if one did not know how to read." In the evening sky, it burned with multitudinous lights, as though the heavenly dome above was reflected perfectly on the ground below. Of course, the lights on the ground were advertisements, a thing not known for its high art.
These were the kind of thoughts Ted amused himself with while waiting for trouble. It was the most tedious and dreadful part of his latest occupation. If only he had the gift of prophecy and could shortcut himself to the criminal's lair; alas, he must always be the reactor, not the actor, and wait for them to make the first move. Nova City had entered into its own crime wave, and Ted wanted to be there to stop it. So he's once again in his three-star uniform, blacker and darker than perhaps the most severe of evenings. He had laid out, like a bread crumb ball of yarn, many threads to different districts of Nova City. In seconds, he could enter and reemerge into, or out of, any one and cover much ground. His gadgets were tuned into any police scanners for the slightest sign of trouble.
The Hellfire Legion wasted no time getting up to trouble. Someone was playing bumper-cars amidst the night traffic. By reports, the vehicle resembled an over-sized fly. Its activity was not so innocent, hurtling itself into other vehicles, or else laying some bizarre mechanical brood which rained down leaden fury on passersby. Ted rushed to the scene; reportedly this was all taking place near a hub of 'night life'; these were moralistic terrorists, then? Ted couldn't help but feel some affinity to these would-be reformers; goodness knows he wanted to change things for the better. But of course, wanton murder and destruction wasn't the way, and conflicted with his quest besides. The quest to save all life.
He stepped into the space nearest his quarry, then made with the acrobatics. He ran, leaped, and entered and exited stretched threads to cover the remaining distance to the airborne UMV. It wasn't hard to tell, judging by all the gunfire. The robo-police had their mechanical hands full. This PMC had captured some black-and-green vehicle which could lay the most curious eggs. One in particular would zap down any projectile that zoomed into its radius with an incredibly accurate later, so any solid projectile had no effect in bringing down the enemy. Ted would simply have to be better than a speeding bullet. Silently as he came, he extended a black thread in an effort to swallow the target whole.
Somehow it must have detected him, for he got only a small grasp on it before it zipped out of the area. Ted was dragged along a chaotic ride through the night-time traffic, hurtling along its course as it wove between the sterling buildings. He was first brought into a hail of gunfire, which the suit thankfully detected by opening up pores wherever the bullets entered. Anything too fast it instinctively distrusted, and would part for the purpose of safety. But only if it were small enough; other vehicles or the buildings themselves he would have to avoid with more ingenuity. Like an upside-down kite, Ted had to swing or compress himself through the void he controlled to not end up splattered. What's more, it took the time to produce more turrets and more means to defend them, so Ted would have to capture those as well if he wished to spare the pedestrians below from further mayhem.
He couldn't allow the wild ride to continue much longer; it was only a matter of time before some unlucky soul bore the brunt of Chani's toy and was smashed to smithereens. But he could hardly focus on its capture; even his enhanced reflexes were taxed in trying to contain its crazy course. But then, he didn't have to. His will intended the thing to be swallowed, and bit by bit, the threads crept over and around its hull. The vehicle's lights were conquered by thick darkness, until finally, the mechanical menace was swallowed. That left the remaining momentum to Ted, who compressed himself into something like a ball of yarn as he bounced harmlessly off the side of another vehicle. He re-expanded on the ground below, head reeling from the vehicle's bucking course and his own nausea. Entering, compressing, and directing space was not an easy task at such high speeds; the suit, which still bore some of his dread and fear, was not yet familiar to him.
Nor was the criminal. He had taken away their toy and prevented further damage, but Aiden was still at large. How was he to apprehend this devil of remote-controls? There wasn't any time to think; another UMV was raising hell. Hell fire, in this case; in fact, that was the vehicle's name: The Hellion, a kind of high-tech buggy designed to lay waste by flame. What possible use this had, Ted could only guess. It was thematically appropriate to the Legion, at least, but poetic integrity was no excuse for evil!
Unfortunately, Ted had collected the threads he'd laid out before, and would have to take the scenic route to his latest UMV foe. Thank goodness for enhanced super speed! Thankfully, the automated police forces had cleared out the area, which left the space pleasantly open for him. Fire, unfortunately, was the suit's main weakness, and Ted couldn't count on the expansion of the void to protect him from the heat.
As he pounced upon the hellion, arms around the base of the turret for purposes of containment, he wondered how he might fare better than last time. If it went as before, he'd be dragged along another ride where he narrowly avoids more collateral damage. He needs to be smarter this time. How can he follow this toy back to its controller? He had to find some way to recall this contraption back to its owner, while still neutralizing the threat. The space he still held the other UMV inside confused Aiden a great deal. He had lost all wireless contact. It had simply vanished off the radar. He thought it had either been destroyed or utterly jammed.
Or so Ted would guess his train of thought to go. That meant that to follow this breadcrumb trail, the Hellion would still have to be visible on some electrical spectrum. In other words, no putting it into the void. But that flamethrower couldn't be left in tact, and even his vast utility belt didn't have a way to stop it delicately without shutting the whole car down. As he swung around to dodge another jet of flames, Ted made silent apology to the victims of the theft. Ted waited for an opening between the flames, then used his super strength to incapacitate the weapon. He lifted and grunted with the labor, until finally he had managed to tear out the gun from the buggy, rendering it toothless. After that, he vanished. Invasive threads crept into the unmanned vehicle, stowing himself into whatever crevice made itself handy. Thus, the UMV master still had his toy and the means to move it, but a completely inert one. Aiden also lost contact with whatever heat signature had assaulted it; all he had now was a busted Hellion, and the only thing left to do was bring it back to the shop for repairs.
Ted counted on that kind of careless greed, and once the vehicle stopped moving, he waited for his chance to strike. A lanky man in mechanics' clothing approached his ill-gotten goods, and Ted reappeared from outside the Hellion's cavity.
"Let's talk."
*****
That was an almost too exciting evening. Then it struck Ted that he'd be late for the outing he planned with Hinata! Did he oversleep? It was so difficult to tell in the pitch blackness of the void. Damn; he's late for a very important date! What would his excuse be? "Sorry Hinata, I was very tired on account of chasing down a terrorist maniac with flamethrowers and air-dropped turrets. These things happen."
He arrived at the Crystal Caves with shortness of breath, panting. "Hah...hah...sorry Hinata, I overslept." He flashed an apologetic smile, hoping that his fatigue wouldn't weary the day's activity. The suit took a lot out of him, to say nothing of last nights adventures. "You didn't wait too long, I hope?"
These were the kind of thoughts Ted amused himself with while waiting for trouble. It was the most tedious and dreadful part of his latest occupation. If only he had the gift of prophecy and could shortcut himself to the criminal's lair; alas, he must always be the reactor, not the actor, and wait for them to make the first move. Nova City had entered into its own crime wave, and Ted wanted to be there to stop it. So he's once again in his three-star uniform, blacker and darker than perhaps the most severe of evenings. He had laid out, like a bread crumb ball of yarn, many threads to different districts of Nova City. In seconds, he could enter and reemerge into, or out of, any one and cover much ground. His gadgets were tuned into any police scanners for the slightest sign of trouble.
The Hellfire Legion wasted no time getting up to trouble. Someone was playing bumper-cars amidst the night traffic. By reports, the vehicle resembled an over-sized fly. Its activity was not so innocent, hurtling itself into other vehicles, or else laying some bizarre mechanical brood which rained down leaden fury on passersby. Ted rushed to the scene; reportedly this was all taking place near a hub of 'night life'; these were moralistic terrorists, then? Ted couldn't help but feel some affinity to these would-be reformers; goodness knows he wanted to change things for the better. But of course, wanton murder and destruction wasn't the way, and conflicted with his quest besides. The quest to save all life.
He stepped into the space nearest his quarry, then made with the acrobatics. He ran, leaped, and entered and exited stretched threads to cover the remaining distance to the airborne UMV. It wasn't hard to tell, judging by all the gunfire. The robo-police had their mechanical hands full. This PMC had captured some black-and-green vehicle which could lay the most curious eggs. One in particular would zap down any projectile that zoomed into its radius with an incredibly accurate later, so any solid projectile had no effect in bringing down the enemy. Ted would simply have to be better than a speeding bullet. Silently as he came, he extended a black thread in an effort to swallow the target whole.
Somehow it must have detected him, for he got only a small grasp on it before it zipped out of the area. Ted was dragged along a chaotic ride through the night-time traffic, hurtling along its course as it wove between the sterling buildings. He was first brought into a hail of gunfire, which the suit thankfully detected by opening up pores wherever the bullets entered. Anything too fast it instinctively distrusted, and would part for the purpose of safety. But only if it were small enough; other vehicles or the buildings themselves he would have to avoid with more ingenuity. Like an upside-down kite, Ted had to swing or compress himself through the void he controlled to not end up splattered. What's more, it took the time to produce more turrets and more means to defend them, so Ted would have to capture those as well if he wished to spare the pedestrians below from further mayhem.
He couldn't allow the wild ride to continue much longer; it was only a matter of time before some unlucky soul bore the brunt of Chani's toy and was smashed to smithereens. But he could hardly focus on its capture; even his enhanced reflexes were taxed in trying to contain its crazy course. But then, he didn't have to. His will intended the thing to be swallowed, and bit by bit, the threads crept over and around its hull. The vehicle's lights were conquered by thick darkness, until finally, the mechanical menace was swallowed. That left the remaining momentum to Ted, who compressed himself into something like a ball of yarn as he bounced harmlessly off the side of another vehicle. He re-expanded on the ground below, head reeling from the vehicle's bucking course and his own nausea. Entering, compressing, and directing space was not an easy task at such high speeds; the suit, which still bore some of his dread and fear, was not yet familiar to him.
Nor was the criminal. He had taken away their toy and prevented further damage, but Aiden was still at large. How was he to apprehend this devil of remote-controls? There wasn't any time to think; another UMV was raising hell. Hell fire, in this case; in fact, that was the vehicle's name: The Hellion, a kind of high-tech buggy designed to lay waste by flame. What possible use this had, Ted could only guess. It was thematically appropriate to the Legion, at least, but poetic integrity was no excuse for evil!
Unfortunately, Ted had collected the threads he'd laid out before, and would have to take the scenic route to his latest UMV foe. Thank goodness for enhanced super speed! Thankfully, the automated police forces had cleared out the area, which left the space pleasantly open for him. Fire, unfortunately, was the suit's main weakness, and Ted couldn't count on the expansion of the void to protect him from the heat.
As he pounced upon the hellion, arms around the base of the turret for purposes of containment, he wondered how he might fare better than last time. If it went as before, he'd be dragged along another ride where he narrowly avoids more collateral damage. He needs to be smarter this time. How can he follow this toy back to its controller? He had to find some way to recall this contraption back to its owner, while still neutralizing the threat. The space he still held the other UMV inside confused Aiden a great deal. He had lost all wireless contact. It had simply vanished off the radar. He thought it had either been destroyed or utterly jammed.
Or so Ted would guess his train of thought to go. That meant that to follow this breadcrumb trail, the Hellion would still have to be visible on some electrical spectrum. In other words, no putting it into the void. But that flamethrower couldn't be left in tact, and even his vast utility belt didn't have a way to stop it delicately without shutting the whole car down. As he swung around to dodge another jet of flames, Ted made silent apology to the victims of the theft. Ted waited for an opening between the flames, then used his super strength to incapacitate the weapon. He lifted and grunted with the labor, until finally he had managed to tear out the gun from the buggy, rendering it toothless. After that, he vanished. Invasive threads crept into the unmanned vehicle, stowing himself into whatever crevice made itself handy. Thus, the UMV master still had his toy and the means to move it, but a completely inert one. Aiden also lost contact with whatever heat signature had assaulted it; all he had now was a busted Hellion, and the only thing left to do was bring it back to the shop for repairs.
Ted counted on that kind of careless greed, and once the vehicle stopped moving, he waited for his chance to strike. A lanky man in mechanics' clothing approached his ill-gotten goods, and Ted reappeared from outside the Hellion's cavity.
"Let's talk."
*****
That was an almost too exciting evening. Then it struck Ted that he'd be late for the outing he planned with Hinata! Did he oversleep? It was so difficult to tell in the pitch blackness of the void. Damn; he's late for a very important date! What would his excuse be? "Sorry Hinata, I was very tired on account of chasing down a terrorist maniac with flamethrowers and air-dropped turrets. These things happen."
He arrived at the Crystal Caves with shortness of breath, panting. "Hah...hah...sorry Hinata, I overslept." He flashed an apologetic smile, hoping that his fatigue wouldn't weary the day's activity. The suit took a lot out of him, to say nothing of last nights adventures. "You didn't wait too long, I hope?"
no subject
But when she entered into the cave and saw the walls, and the top, she stopped and stared up at the top. It was so bright and lovely, nothing at all like what she had imagined when he first brought up the Crystal Caves. Granted she didn't have the best experiences with most caves back in her world, but none of them ever looked like this.
"Wow," she breathed out; missing Ted's yawn. "This really is beautiful. I never imagined something like this in Everglade.."
no subject
The water and light increased. Ted knew they'd made the right choice; blue was dominating black, and clarity started to appear as the crystals edged towards translucence. He laughed a little as his feet sank into deeper depths with a more solid splash.
"Hah, I hope you've brought a spare change of socks. I've got spares if you need."
no subject
Hinata followed after him just as eagerly. Having seen such beautiful sights already, she was excited to see what else this cave had to offer. After having spent so many days and years on the road, in various countries on missions, a little water in her shoes meant nothing. She glanced down at her feet, despite not entirely being able to see them in the water.
"It's fine," she said with a smile. "I've never actually worn socks before. If the water becomes too much, I'll just take off my shoes. They're a little more cramped than sandals, sadly.."
no subject
His fatigue was outpaced by wonder and happiness as they traveled deeper. "I'm glad the cliche came true. One can feel silly, seeking after hearts of gold in scoundrels. Suppose there's a reason lost sheep lose themselves. But in this case I think we've really found it in another sense, if only aesthetically. Sunt altera nobis sidera." He spoke the Latin dreamily, before realizing no one on Earth, let alone other worlds, would likely understand.
"Oh, ah, that means 'there are other stars for us'; spoken by the Lord of the Underworld to quell a weeping woman he kidnapped. You aren't weeping, thankfully, else your feet would be wetter still. But it still holds water. Goodness, to think that Everglade's light lies below it, rather than above in the heavens like everyone else. There's something very bad or very good about that, I'm sure. Either they're so depraved as to be completely upside down, or else...they're surrounded by light on all sides, as if the angels were waiting on them. What do you make of it?"
Clearly Ted's excited, talking along the way. The cave was growing now, with rosy pink and dark purple buttressing arches of solid blue, all surrounding some radiance, as if it were being guarded. Now the dangers of the cave became apparent; it was reported that some people died here. Ted would've found that very romantic, being the underworld and all. He nearly did himself, as his talk or his tiredness bade him trip and hang off the ledge. Reflex kept him hanging on as he grabbed a jagged rock for support. He yelped a little, but otherwise was still chatting like always.
"Whoa! Hah, that'll do to wake me. Just one moment..."
no subject
She was just as excited and enthralled as Ted, but she had years of keeping her emotions to herself to tamper down any outward showing of it. Still, it wasn't enough to keep the excitement from her eyes or the somewhat-open-mouthed awe she looked around with.
"Oh!" she said, startled when her opinion was asked for. "Um.. I think it's more of that they're surrounded by light? Just because... Even if it's buried within, that doesn't mean they're depraved. Otherwise, there wouldn't be light, right?"
She turned away from the sights of the ever-more beautiful cave to look in Ted's direction for his reply, only to be caught off-guard when he slips. She froze until she heard his voice.
With a relieved sigh she headed to the edge and knelt down. "I'm so sorry. I should've paid better attention and pointed how that you were close to an edge!" She held out a hand. "But... Here. I can pull you up."
no subject
He laughed again as he gratefully accepted her help. "Hah, well I can hardly blame you losing focus here. It must be tempting to use those eyes of yours and see everything at once, if you haven't already."
Once he came to grips, he was just a touch sad that the bright, almost blinding light they looked for seemed to be elsewhere. Had they missed it? Some optical trick? Oh well, there was more to see. He was especially attracted to that rosy, misty pink surrounded by purple beams on every side. Like they were guarding something. Ted, naturally, wanted to get past them.
Without a word, he walked toward the obvious goal. As he approached nearer, he saw a perilous, perhaps bottomless divide between their platform and the rosy mist's. Not too hard a jump; four or five feet, at most. He took a studied look this time, only to cut himself as he leaned too hard on a protruding crystal. "Ah!" He flicked his hand. It didn't go too deep.
"Suppose that's one way to leave your mark on a place. Hinata, what do you say we leap towards all that rosy bloom? I'd like to see what that purple platoon is protecting."