| abstract
| - The Lamplighter - SCB Citadel This dark, smoky bar plays host to many of the base's malcontents. Music plays from a jukebox in a corner, and the crud on the floor is at least an inch deep. The tables, although free of glasses and mugs, look as if they could use a good once-over with a damp cloth. Sun Oct 31 17:34:31 2651 Contents: Exits: Lt. Colonel Blackface Out Detective LeBeau Captain Sondrix Engineer Jest'liana Private Stormtemper Drink Vendor - The Lamplighter Holo-projector Shelf of Mugs Blackface heads into Promenade . Blackface has left. LeBeau holds up a hand as if refusing "No tank yu, I really jus popped en to see wha was going on. I really do plan on leaving en a few minutes as id es" Jest'liana blinks innocently at Stormtemper, demurely sipping her drink. Snowmist walks in, reflexively stepping out of the doorway with her back against a wall as she blinks, adjusting to the dimmer lighting. The matron bats her eyelashes some more at Stormtemper, decidedly ignoring Jest for the moment. "Drink? Why...*mRRRRrrrrrrRRRrr* of course..." Her tail swishes coyly as she simpers a little bit, revealing rather discolored yellow fangs. Sondrix ahhs, as if remembering something. "Mr. LeBeau, by the way, your friend has been discharged from the medical bay, as I am sure you know by now." Stormtemper is sitting at a table with Jest.. and soon, an overly large Demarian Matron... who has amorous intentions for him. Snowmist raises an eyebrow and tilts an ear toward the antics occurring about the table. LeBeau turns to look at Sondrix a bit and nods "So I hav heard, I jus hav no had a chance to ged o'er to see her yed. Mus remember to make a node o dat befo someting comes up an one o us has to leave." Steve sighs and moves to put the boxes in their various places. Stormtemper ,o0( Yech.. yellowed teeth.. )0o. Stormy bares his pearly whites in a not quite totally friendly smile.. "Of course.. I'm certain you know where they can be acquired..." Jest'liana sips her drink, expression bland. Snowmist notes the 'participants' and moves toward them. "Hey Jest...Storm..." The matron unceremoniously plunks her large furry bulk into a spare chair, as close as she can be to the young Demarian. She bridles again, coy and demure as she flattens her ears on her skull. "But of courrrrrse....mrrrrRRRrrrr." She certainly is very fluffy, as the fur sails all over the table. Jest'liana winks to Snowmist. "Hey Misty.." Sondrix chuckles, keeping an amused eye on the goings on at the table. "I think you and her husband might persuade her to slow down a trace, Mr. LeBeau. She has made an unbelievably fast recovery, but she tends to push herself far too hard." LeBeau smirks and scoffs "Well 've no idea jus where her husban es ad an trus me, when she geds someting en her head dare ar few people dat can change id. An en a case like dis I don tink 'm one o dose people Stormtemper glares at Jest for a moment, and then nods a greeting to 'Mist. Only then does he turn his less than friendly attention back to the unwanted matron.. "So why don't you go get yourself one?" Sondrix laughs softly. "Why do I doubt that? She certainly regards you as family, at least she says as much." Jest'liana laughs. Jest'liana senses, "Snowmist gives an amused grin, glancing toward the 'matron.' "Somebody's taken a fancy to the private?"" LeBeau nods "Dat she does. I jus tink she es a bid mo determined to make as quick recovery from dis as she can. An as long as she does no really hurd herself o burn herself oud den I don tink she would listen to me until such o time" The matron bats her lashes at Stormtemper, absolutely oblivious to the unfriendliness. "I'll get one when I feel so inclined..." she rumbles from deep within her very ample chest. Her purring is very loud indeed right now - rather like a cat who has just been given full attention with 8 pairs of hands. Jest'liana deftly exits her seat and circles the table to whisper in StormTemper's ear. Jest'liana whispers to Stormtemper. Stormtemper's attention flicks back to Jest.. and he glares at her.. Stormtemper whispers to Jest'liana. Jest'liana whispers to Stormtemper. Jest'liana saunters away from Snowmist and matron. Stormtemper growls softly at Jest, and swats at her backhandedly.. Stormtemper whispers to Jest'liana. The matron preens her whiskers, clutching a large box with one saucer-like paw on her rather broad lap. A shadow darkens the bright rectangle of the doorway, ears brushing the doorsill on top, broad shoulders nearly touching the jamb on either side... Jest'liana snorts, "You need better aim. And a better temper." She walks to the bar. A huge Demarian, grizzled and hulking, steps inside, sniffing suspiciously at the air, a habitual scowl twisting his features. Narrow, yellow eyes rakes over the room, a low, rumbling, almost subliminal growl emanating from deep within the barrel chest. Sondrix's attention is diverted from LeBeau a touch as the comedy at the table continues. The shadow makes her turn her eyes to the doorway with interest. "Mr. LeBeau, your friend is a very interesting, and, remarkable woman...Oh my." Stormtemper ignores the matron in favor of whatever is coming through the door.. LeBeau gives an unconscious glare towards Stormtemper as he swings at Jest and his hand dips into his coat and disappears Stormtemper mrrrs in dismay... The matron's ears flatten on her head as her tail bristles. She plants herself more firmly on the seat and her muzzle takes on a decided look of stubborn defiance as she continues to purr at Stormtemper. Another sniff, and the large Demarian turns toward the table at which Stormtemper, Snowmist, and the matron are gathered about, lip curling back from one canine. Jest'liana stands by LeBeau. "I think I need to find myself a better level of person to torment." She says softly, in amusement, eyes on Stormtemper. Then she looks at LeBeau. "How are you doing, lately?" Snowmist slowly edges away, glancing between the new arrival and the matron and Stormtemper... Sondrix shakes her head. "Dear dear...a rather ungentlemanly gesture towards a lady..." This clearly in regards to Stormtemper, while she keeps a very amused eye on the new, certainly piqued, Demarian. "I see I'll have some sport to tell my husband tonight." LeBeau keeps his gaze on Storm for a moment longer then looks at Jest who is now at his side " 've been keeping myself busy. An yu, I rarely see yu aroun anymo." He reaches over and wraps a loose arm around her waist and gives her a tight squeeze hug The giant stalks forward. His sheer size and bulk makes him appear almost clumsy in the relatively small dimensions of the room and its furnishings, but there's a leonine grace to his movements that bespeaks speed and cunning as well as brute strength. LeBeau wasn't to know that certainly. Stormtemper glances at Mist.. and then to the matron.. "So your mate's coming to take you home again, is he, ma'am?" Sharpeye arrives from Promenade . Sharpeye has arrived. Jest'liana hugs LeBeau back fervently. "I am alright. Working through things, but alright." Snowmist has, by now, backed all the way to the nearest wall and is now edging around the room. Having spotted Son's group, she makes her way toward them while keeping an amused eye on Storm's predicament. The matron's ears flatten back against her skull, the tufty points sticking up rather like an owl. Her amber eyes narrow in just a touch of annoyance but her purring volume increases as she leans forward to stare raptly at Stormtemper. LeBeau says, "So 've heard. Someting aboud some sord o haunting an things being thrown aroun ad yu o someting to dat sord?"" Through the door strolls a hooded figure, black cloak flowing elegantly around it. Sondrix gives a bit of a quiet smile at LeBeau and Jest, her attention taken first by Mist, and then by the Demarian trio. Looming over the table and its occupants, the giant Demarian emits another low, rumbling growl that seems to be his normal method of exhaling. "Dear," is the unexpected moniker that he drawls in a gravelly bass. "Where have you been? I've been looking for you all morning..." Jest'liana winces in memory. "Yes. It was nicely painful. I was really wanting to get off this station before tonight..but Malcolm never bloody showed up." Stormtemper looks up at the huge male, quite calmly in fact.. "I dunno where she's been all morning, sir, but she's been pantin' after me for the last ten minutes or so..." Sharpeye slowly makes his way over to the bar to take his usual seat. Lex arrives from Promenade . Lex has arrived. The matron cranes her neck up and she looks decidedly pouty. "But you were so busy at that SpotEar woman's eatery..." she mriaows in displeasure and flicks her tail for emphasis. "I couldn't get your attention so I decided to leave." This last is mrowl'd in a disconsolately flouncy fashion. Lex walks into the tavern with his arms crossed across his chest. Without giving any sort of look at the area, he paces towards the bar, taking a seat by the nearest stool. Sondrix is by now watching the little Demarian tableaux with supreme enjoyment, the only hint of which glimmers in her eyes. Perhaps that is to afford Jest and LeBeau some privacy too. The huge male ignores Stormtemper--not even intentionally; the impression is that Stormtemper simply isn't important enough to devote attention to--and takes up one of the matron's paws. "My darling Brushtail, please forgive me." He flicks a narrowed gaze toward Storm. "Has this fellow been bothering you?" Jest'liana glances over to Lex, then merely sips her drink. Snowmist slips into a seat by Sharpeye as she nods a greeting to him and the others, casting an amused ear toward the Demarian trio. Stormtemper snorts.. "Me? Bothering her? Nay, rather the reverse, good sir.." LeBeau says, "Well if ids any sord o consilation yu hav no been da only one. 've heard o da Demarians having a bid o trouble an someting aboud Ms. Jones being attacked. An jus where were yu headed an why waiding fo dis Malcolm guy. Yu hav yer ship now don yu?" The Demarian male continues ignoring anything Stormtemper says, watching the matron intently for her answer. "Ms. Jones?" Jest asks, then continues, "Nope. That is where Malcolm comes in. He is supposed to bring my ship here." Lex whispers something to the bartender and gets a nod in reply, followed by a beer. He sips and then glances at the 'Demarian trio', not being able to quite hear, but settling with watching. LeBeau nods "Yu know dat reporder dat has been aroun da base fo da pas few months. Thought dat yu would o ad leas heard o her. As fo yer ship I though dat yu had da Lil? The matron gives a little flick of her tail, pouting still, then almost as quickly, melts. "He's nothing as interesting as you are, GreatPaw..." she purrs and bats a coy glance at the large Demarian male, mrrrring seductively. Sondrix gives a thoughtful glance at LeBeau, then continues with her neglected drink. Sharpeye flags down the bartender quietly to order a drink and leans back on the bar stool, quirking an eyebrow at the antics of the Demarians at a nearby table. Jest'liana shakes her head, "Lil has no drop ship and no weapons." Jest says, "Upgrading her was going to be more than I could handle. So, I did a trade in. Plus, Lil had a history." She watches the Demarian trio, then smiles, "The reporter. Short? Dark hair? Limps? Yeah, I know who you mean now." Greatpaw gives a low purring growl, going to one knee and giving her a peck on the cheek. "Hm, you always know how to make a man feel special...let me make up this morning to you, darling?" Sharpeye senses, "Snowmist leans over, still keeping her eyes on the tableau across the room, a hint of a smile curling the corners of her mouth. "How come you don't do that for me?"" Stormtemper sighs softly in relief, and settles back into his chair.. and then leans over next to the matron.. "If you and your mate'd care to have a drink, tis on me..." LeBeau grins as he looks to Jest "Dark hair yes, a bid o a limp, bu she es jus aboud as tall as yu ar so I would no call her shord by yer standards cher. Bu wha o yu, wha sord o ship di yu trade en da Lil fo den?" You sense: Sharpeye smirks, taking a sip of his drink. "I thought you didn't like elaborate displays of affection in public." Brushtail, or so the matron seems to be named, gives a delighted little twitch of her whiskers. "MrrRRrRRRRrriaowww...my you do know how to charm a woman's heart Greatpaw..." At Stormtemper's words she whisks her tail, flattens her ears and directs a queenly glare of disdain at him, her nose twitching slightly and whiskers ruffled. Sondrix tucks a hand into a pocket and comes up with some credchips which she lays on the bartop. "Here, Steve...wonderful Antimone Delight by the by what." Greatpaw blinks at Brushtail's abrupt change in mood, and immediately turns toward Stormtemper, eyes narrowed to gleaming yellow slits, snout wrinkled, a fine set of canines bared for inspection as he snarls, "I suggest you leave the madam alone..." Jest'liana chuckles, "LeBeau, you think that everyone shorter than you is the same size." She grins, "And, traded her for a Tramp freighter." She grumbles a little bit then sighs. "Think I got screwed, but.." Sharpeye senses, "Snowmist hrms. "I might be persuaded otherwise...there's something to the act that's unexpectedly endearing."" Steve takes the credits and nods, "Any time, Captain." Stormtemper nods slightly at Brushtail.. "Just bein' neighborly.." To GreatPaw, he merely nods, and then pushes back from the table to depart.. "The table is yours, sir." Brushtail prrprrprrprrrs as she leans coyly forward and nuzzles Greatpaw's vast and whiskery muzzle. "Catnip pie?" she mrrps with a burbly sort of feline giggle that's as near a rumble of the throat crossed with blowing bubbles in the water. "Mrrr. Shall we?" She totally ignores Stormtemper now. LeBeau grins and shakes his head pinching Jest's side "Only does dat deserve id cher" He looks to her for her reaction "An any deal yu made wit dat ship es a decen on, id really was no yer money dat paid fo id en da firs place" You sense: Sharpeye grins as he turns to look at her. "I'll keep it in mind, then." Greatpaw chuffs annoyedly toward Stormtemper, dismissing him. "Of course, my little kitten," he purrs back, stealing a quick kiss. Jest'liana lightly slaps at LeBeau's hand, "Watch it, LeBeau." She grins, "I bruise easy." She winks. "And, yeah, I know. So, I am not really upset. But..it is the principle of the thing." Snowmist glances aside toward Sharpeye with a raised eyebrow, her smile widening. LeBeau chuckles at her first remark "I don tink yu need to tell me jus how easly yu bruise. I know firs han" Sharpeye whispers, "I know we're enjoying the show here, but shouldn't we really tell Sondrix about the shadowtrappers? It's kind of important if they are going to start killing people." Jest'liana's eyes dance, "Hmm. I seem to remember a time where we had a bet going...Need I remind you who won?" Sondrix taps meditatively on the counter, giving Steve a quiet smile. She pauses, just a touch in thought before she slips off her stool, rather indecisive which is unusual. LeBeau grins "Yes I remember an I believe we called id a draw if yu where to remember correctly" Sharpeye senses, "Snowmist sighs. "On task, as ever. Heh, I was always being cuffed by Aunt Stripenose for a wandering mind...'Kay, lemme just catch her attention..."" Brushtail mrrps and heaves her huge bulk off the chair, scattering her largesse in the form of muchly sundered tabby-colored fur. "Now now...be patient," she huffs with a rather strange little coy snort, batting her tail at her much enamored GreatPaw and purring yet again. Jest'liana sniffs, "Well...only because I was going easy on you." She grins. You sense: Sharpeye chuckles. "Nah, it's okay... they were good wanderings." Stormtemper turns toward the bar, his drink still in his hand.. and liberally coated with tabby fur.. He wanders toward Jest and company.. LeBeau chuckles as he pulls her close for another semi-hug "I tink yu hav dat backwards an id was I who was going easy on yu" GreatPaw looks crestfallen, much battered and nocked ears drooping to either side. He looks rather strange, scrambling hastily to his feet, looking utterly cowed by his vertically if not horizontally challenged mate. "Oh darling, please forgive me...I promise to remember next time..." Grayback arrives from Promenade . Grayback has arrived. Snowmist grins, flicking Sharpeye's nose before turning back toward Son's group. Waiting for a moment when Sondrix happens to be looking her way, she waves, trying to catch the captain's attention without resorting to interrupting the conversation despite their proximity. Jest'liana reaches up and tugs at LeBeau's hair. "Oh no. Now let's not even get into that. I won earlier, before the formal debate..." Brushtail leans up against her greatly large mate and purrs. "Now then...let us..." she mriawls and nuzzles at his shoulder - which, is about as tall as she reaches on him, taking one of his massive paws and tugging him out. Grayback strides in, straightening his tie as he steps up to the bar. Sondrix glances over, catching the very distinctive wave of a white-furred Demarian in her direction. "Miss Snowmist," she greets, quirking a little half-smile. "You." Lex eyes fall on the bartender. "Gimme' another godamn beer, now." Pounds a fist on the bar, eyeing him. As the beer arrives, he pushes the other empty glass away. LeBeau reaches up and takes Jest's hand from his hair and setting it at her side "Well 'll jus led da discussion drop fo now since e'eryone jus seems to be en a goo mood ad da momen A beaming smile spreads across GreatPaw's battered visage as he happily leads his mate out, his stalking strides containing almost a bounce in them... Grayback looks to the bartender. "Demarian Wine, on the rocks." Stormtemper bows slightly to LeBeau and Jest.. "Greetings, sir.. and to you again, Jester..." Brushtail sashays out, her tail whisking. Her purring volume has reached a new crescendo as she more than happily lumbers out with GreatPaw, whiskers twitching. Jest'liana nods, smiling as if she has won something in this. She looks at Stormtemper, and her smile frays a little, "Stormtemper, it is just Jest, okay?" Snowmist grins and calls over to Son, "Got a mome to talk?" Happy to have a polite customer at last, the bartender nods with a snappy 'You bet.' In a minute he slides down the drink which Grayback snatches and raises to drink in one smooth movement. Sharpeye sips his drink, leaning back on the stool against the bar. Sondrix laughs softly, quirking a bit of a brow at Jest and Stormtemper before nodding at Mist. "Of course, anything to please a lady, Miss Snowmist. Should I depart for your corner?" Stormtemper sighs.. "Very well, Jest. I apologize for making a joke of your name.." Although he is perfectly deadpan, one gets the impression that he wants to break out in giggles again... Snowmist chuckles at Son's gallantry. "Sure, come on and join us if the others can bear to let you go..." Grayback hops onto a bar stool and begins to work on his drink, visibly relaxing. Jest'liana stretches languidly and shrugs noncommittally. "S'okay." Sondrix laughs. "I was about to retire myself, Miss Snowmist, but if you would like to speak in the privacy of my quarters on the Gettysburg? I must update some documents and starcharts." Stormtemper glances from Jest to LeBeau and back... "Kin I buy you two a refill?" Snowmist nods and glances back toward Sharpeye. "That okay with you?" Stormtemper settles onto a stool beside Jest, opposite LeBeau.. Toy has arrived. Sharpeye nods. "Of course." Grayback takes his drink and walks over to where LeBeau and Jest are sitting. Jest'liana smiles slowly, "Hmm. It would be my third Happy Dryad. Cutting it real close there..." She says, amusement in tone. "But, I like to live on the edge. As long as you're paying.." "The time has come..." A voice speaks, seeming to come from all around. Just as it does, the lights flicker briefly and the door slams closed. Snowmist stiffens at the strange occurrences and casts a pained look toward Sharpeye. "Please don't tell me..." Stormtemper grins.. and nods.. "I'm buy..... ulp.." The second time in two days that the lights have flickered in here on him, and that voice.. and the first time was not pleasant.. Lex raises an eyebrow. "Wha? Bah. I've had too much to drink!" Knocks the empty glass of the bar. Grayback jumps, his drink flying out of his hand. "By the Fire.." Sharpeye nods, sipping his drink. "Yep, it's our happy friends from the netherworld. Grayback says, "And I haven't even started drinkin'.." Sondrix's eyes flicker quickly to the door. Her facial expression has not changed a whit as she swings around, darting a hand to the pulse pistol holstered at her side. "Who goes there?" she snaps, crouching. Snowmist sighs. "Should I even bother trying the door?" Sharpeye shakes his head. "Would be a wasted effort." Jest'liana goes very still, and rests her hand on her blaster. "Wonderful." Stormtemper murmurs at Jest, "Blaster won't work, deary.." Snowmist slides off her stool and leans back against the bar. Despite the nonchalance that Sharpeye displays and which she'd somewhat picked up, she feels better being on her feet even if there's not much she can do. Laughter echoes through the room. On the far end of the area, the shadows created by chairs and tables seem to merge, forming a door-like one. Out of it steps out a faceless figure, wearing a black trench-coat. Sharpeye senses, "Snowmist tilts her head. "Hm, that's a new trick...and damn, but there's a lotta furniture for 'em to hurl around in here..."" Grayback looks to Sharpeye. "Do you know what the hell is going on?" Sharpeye whispers, "Hey, at the least they know how to dress right." Sharpeye nods, glancing at Grayback. "Ghosts. They've come to take someone to play with them." "The time has come." The voice says again. This time, unlike the others, the figure does not stop, it keeps walking until it stands on the middle of the room. "And you know this for /certain/?" Jest says sharply. She grins, "Gods, it has Horrible Fashion sense! Honey, when did you die? Last century?" Grayback says, "'Play'?" For some reason, Snowmist has to suppress a chuckle after Sharpeye's whisper despite the situation. Snowmist isn't so lucky suppressing a laugh at Jest's outburst this time. Sharpeye shrugs. "Ask them, not me." Sondrix straightens her back and lifts her chin. Without so much as a by your leave, she moves forward towards the figure, determined and calm. "Well, for now, you're on our company so ahh, please." Her voice too is calm, but commanding. Startripper arrives from Promenade . Startripper has arrived. Stormtemper nods at Jest.. "Pretty certain.. O' course, tis your hide if you get fried 'cause of it.." Jones arrives from Promenade . Jones has arrived. Brightclaw arrives from Promenade . Brightclaw has arrived. The door opens for Startripper, Brightclaw and Jones, but closes quickly behind them. Grayback says, "This is friggin' whacked." Startripper notices the door close behind him, "What's going on in here?" Jest'liana gives Stormtemper a flat look and snorts. She mutters something under her breath. Brightclaw spins in surprise, wheeling back to the door. 'Wha-' Jones's eyes widen, "Oh..dear." She chews her lip and looks around the room, brushing her hair back from her face. Startripper says, "Miss Jones, you remember my story about the ghosts? I think you're about to get a first hand account." The figure lifts its arms, two small balls of what appears to be electricity from on the hands. "The time..." Grayback says, "Is 6:48, so what?" Snowmist tenses and crouches. Brightclaw turns again, slowly. 'Who-' Stormtemper glances at Startripper.. "She already did.. Yesterday." Startripper pulls his gun, not that he expects it to do much good. Sharpeye shrugs and finally decides to slip off the bar stool, standing next to Snowmist. Sondrix raises her pistol. "And my, but grannyma would be proud that I'm speaking to the spirits...Neh'ya, you will leave now." She stands her ground, chin tilted defiantly. Lex glances at the figure, blinking. "What in the name of the Lord?" Startripper says, "Well, at least we know it's the same set of ghosts." LeBeau draws his pistol from under his coat but doesn't immediately point it at the new arrival. Instead he glances around the room for other options Jones pulls her recording device out of her jacket pocket, even knowing what will most likely happen to it. But she is ever prepared, she has a data pad out to scrawl notes on too. N'Sha-El arrives from Promenade . N'Sha-El has arrived. Grayback's face becomes a picture of agony as he grabs his right leg and slams to the floor.."THE PAIN!!!!!!!!!" Sharpeye edges closer to Lex. Brightclaw mutters under his breath. 'Ghosts?' Sharpeye whispers to Lex. Sha comes in, door slams behind her. Snowmist starts at Grayback's cry and narrows her eyes at the ghostly figure in the center of the room. Startripper says, "That's right, you missed it the first time. I'll tell you all about it later." Lex glances at Sharpeye. "What?! I am not an exorcist!" Jest'liana murmurs to LeBeau, eyes going to Sha-el. "Sha.." She moves to catch the other girl's attention and direct her over to the bar. Grayback continues howling in pain, writhing on the floor... Jest'liana whispers to LeBeau. N'Sha-El whirls around, startled first by the cry, then by the sudden slamming of the door. "Damn bloody hell with bells and Sanaen piss, what the HELL!" Snowmist growls, laying her ears back. "Stop it! Why're you doing that?" Startripper goes over to try and help Greyback, or at least keep him from knocking his head into a wall while writhing in pain. Sharpeye shrugs, frowning deeply at the writhing Grayback. Brightclaw attempts to halt Startripper from entering the fray, but misses his shirt by inches. The balls on the figure's hand release bolts of energy, which hit random spots in the room. One of them hits Startripper, as he moves towards Grayback, knocking him off against the wall. Grayback's face contorts in ways never thought possible at the pain. "BY THE FIRE, MAKE IT STOP!!!!!!" Brightclaw says, "Star! Damnit!" Startripper hits the wall, emanating a remarkable 'thud.' LeBeau looks to the door, first noticing Sha then looking past her "Dis place es a bid small to try anyting, we need mo room." He then raises his blaster and fires off a volley of shots at the closed door. Snowmist shakes her head and pulls her pistol, knowing it's futile, but unable to just stand by either. Brightclaw dives since he's in front of the door. Sondrix's jaw tightens. And this time without preamble she strides purposefully towards the figure in the gloaming, to hell with fireballs or not. Brightclaw says, "Drucking frackin!" Snowmist notices Son's movement and moves to back her up. Sharpeye returns to where he was standing before, next to Snowmist's side in front of the bar. Jones flinches, hands going to cover her ears as the shots impact the door, which is fairly close to where she is standing. Stormtemper ducks as a fireball sizzles over his head, mrrowring in irritation... Lex watches the happenings, and moves as far back as he can in horror, ducking to try and avoid the bolts. Brightclaw grunts as his chin hits the ground, peeling off a bright blue bandage. The figure seems to pay no attention to the happenings, simply stands there, releasing the bolts. One flies out directly towards Son's legs. Startripper gets up in incredible pain and begins walking toward the figure as well, with careful and purposeful steps, occasionally letting a knee buckle in pain. N'Sha-El snarls as the sudden fireworks display begins. "Bloody Fagin's breath!" She however ducks down, backing towards the bar, fists clenched. Grayback lets out a bloodcurdling scream. Whatever is happening to him, the pain must be absolutely excruciating. Brightclaw takes cover behind the side of the bar. 'Anyone know what it /wants/?' Startripper stops walking after hearing Brightclaw's comment "You mean in addition to panic, fear, chaos and blood?" Jest asks dryly. Startripper says, "What do you want?" Brightclaw grunts. 'Fine time for jokes!' LeBeau finishes shooting at the door and looks to Jest beside him "Time to ged yu to some cover..." He grabs Jest up in one arm and sets her up on the bar pushing her over the edge and behind it. Jest'liana kicks LeBeau as he does this, "Hey!" She protest, "LeBeau, you...!" Thud. All of the shots LeBeau made were useless, the door seemed to absorb them. Sondrix gives a bit of a gasp as the directed fire singes her left leg despite her attempts to dodge it. She stumbles, going down on one knee but keeps her eyes and attention solely on the figure before her. "What is it time for?" she inquires, gritting her teeth against the pain. A wind. A powerful wind now seems to be coming from the figure. It moves chairs and tables away from him, and soon becomes powerful enough to move people. "God all-mighty "God all-mighty" Lex says. Brightclaw tries to dig his claws into the side of the bar, struggling desperately to keep hold. LeBeau turns back to the door after he finishes dumping Jest behind the bar to look over what damaged he caused and is dismayed when he sees nothing "Damnid" Stormtemper is pressed up against the bar by the gale, snarling and spitting in impotent fury... Grayback is slid across the floor to smack his head into the bar, adding even more pain to his misery. He screams in agony once more... Jones stays by the wall near the door, wild hair caught up in the wind, and attempts to move towards the left. Startripper pushes against the wind and tries to stand in place, "Have you come to take someone to play with? Are you the same spirit that said it would? N'Sha-El mutters a string of unintelligible curses as she suddenly gets thudded into the bar by the sudden whoosh of wind, the curses abruptly changing to a sharp hiss of pain. Snowmist makes her way to Sharpeye, squinting and crouched against the gale. Jest'liana comes up from behind the bar, and staggers back. "Oh, for bloody hell!" Grayback's face begins to relax, and he lets go of his leg..for a few moments, he does nothing but lie there, breathing raspily.. Brightclaw shouts above the gale 'Anyone try /shooting/ the damn thing?' Stormtemper reaches out a furry paw to steady Sha.. "Easy.." Lex squints. "What?! Who...?!" Looks around, startled. He quickly moves behind the bar. Startripper says, "Yes, it hit the door." LeBeau uses the force of the wind to help push him over the bar and behind it himself, from there he uses the bar's makeshift wind block to moves along the floor towards the door Sharpeye reaches a paw out to Snowmist, and pulls his hood down lower, shielding his face from the winds. Grayback manages to get a hold of a bar stool and pull himself up to a semi-standing position, using the bar for support.. Sondrix claws at the floor as she gets summarily blown into a passing table. She hasn't let go of her pistol and it doesn't look as if she intends to either. "Hold your fire!" she barks. "It's no use!" The figure moves, throwing one of the balls towards the bar, destroying the part behind which Lex is hiding. Snowmist takes Sharpeye's paw, huddling close and whispering--or rather, shouting in the gale--in his ear. Grayback says, "Frag! What the frack does this thing WANT!?" You whisper, "Got any bright ideas? You seem to always have something up your sleeve..." to Sharpeye. Jest'liana follows behind LeBeau, dodging shattering wood. Startripper holds on to a table that is pushed against others to stay close to the ghost. Brightclaw loses his grip on the side of the bar, and gets slammed by the wind against the door, pinned upright. 'Whuf!' "Well..." Jones says calmly to the trench coated figure. "Are you going to answer that question or not?" Stormtemper ducks again, and snarls more, very very irritated now.. Nevertheless, he takes the time to glance to Sha, "You gonna be alright?" He yells over the howling wind.. Lex gets knocked forward by the blast. "Argh! Sweet Lord, help us all!" Tries to stand up, the wind knocking back down again. "Agh!" Sharpeye whispers, "Buy it a drink maybe! I really don't know!" LeBeau reaches the end of the bar and looks out judging how close he is to Sha and Jones as he thinks over the odds and ways to pull them back to safety N'Sha-El hunches over, breathing hard. She glances up, about to speak to Stormtemper before the sudden scattering of fireballs causes her to make a clumsy dive for the nearest cover aside of the bar. She lands on her left side and growls, "Someone give it a damn enema...anal bastard with no innards!" Grayback yells over the wind, "I doubt it...considering how lame he looks, his intelligence probably doesn't go any higher than 4!" Startripper shouts at the ghost, "What in space do you want! Tell us!" The bolts keep coming out of the other, though. One of the bolts is shot towards the bar, then another to other parts of it, demolishing. Soon, all if the bar and stools get blown up. Brightclaw grunts, neon-crossed face screwed up in pain as he pushes to sit up on the door, and turn to his hands and knees. Grayback says, "I wish we could call those ancient movie characters....what were they called?? Ghostbusters?" Grayback leaps to the deck as the barstool he's leaning on goes up in smoke. "Fraggin' Hell!" LeBeau grabs Sha as she dives to the ground next to the bar and he pulls her towards him for cover Jones's data pad goes smashing against the wall, her grip on it momentarily loosening as she faces the wind. The wall is to her back though, so balance isn't a problem. Stormtemper scrambles out of the way to avoid getting flattened by bolts, trying to stay as close to Sha as he can... without a great deal of success.. Jest'liana flinches as wood from the shattered bar rains down on her, LeBeau and Sha. "This is getting bad!" Brightclaw shouts out 'Reverend! Now would be a good time to pray!' He crawls spider-like up and to the right on the wall, away from the bar, movement slowed by the force of the wind. Sondrix squints in face of the strong wind, her coasting along the floor stopped as she grabs a passing chair that gets fortituously entangled with a table. Her eyes narrow. And then, abruptly, her expression goes smooth, mirror-calm as she continues to stare at the figure, concentrating at him. Sharpeye pulls Snowmist to the ground as an energy bolt flies over their heads. Startripper dives at the ghost, flying directly through it in order to find cover on the other side of the room. Jest'liana is lifted into the air, by an unseen force. Grayback says, "Remind me to give the environmental guys a piece of my mind..we've got hurricanes brewing in here!" "NooOOoo. Blooddyy!" Jest protests this loudly and fiercely, thrashing to escape. LeBeau reaches down grabbing his legs and screaming in agonizing pain, but there is no visible signs of damage to those would look at them Startripper says, "Perhaps you should talk to security also, Grayback! They seem to be a little lax also!" Snowmist oofs as she's unexpectedly pushed to the ground. Squinting, she raises her head, trying to keep tabs on what's going on. Grayback says, "Amen to that!" N'Sha-El gives a yell of anger as she espies, in the chaos, Jest's sudden flight. "SIS!" she howls and tears free of LeBeau. "YOU DAMN BASTARD! Put my sister DOWN!" She attempts to stand, snarling in fury and trying to leap for the nebulous wretch. An unseen force pushes you back, hard. Grayback says, "You fraggin' bastard, quit these fraggin' games and tell us what the hell you want!!!" Jones's gaze darts to LeBeau and Jest, then to Snowmist. She swallows, eyes wide and face pale with fear. Snowmist yelps as she suddenly hurled backwards by nothing... Startripper tries to grab Jest's legs as she flies overhead. Stormtemper ulps softly, and then starts laughing.. laughing very loudly.... The wind is too strong to get close to the figure. A bolt is shot, right against Sha, hurling her towards the wall. Sharpeye, holding tightly about Snowmist, is hurled backward along with her. Brightclaw crouches against the wall horizontally and struggles to unlatch his holstered pulse pistol, screaming above the wind noise. 'Any particular /reason/ we're holding our fire? Grayback draws his pulse pistol. "I'm wondering the same thing..." Startripper says, "It won't work, Brightclaw! We tried earlier. It hit the door, remember!?" Snowmist grunts as she and Sharpeye are brought up short by a convenient wall. Grayback says, "That's because he was shooting /for/ the door...has anyone tried shooting the bastard!?" N'Sha-El gives a croak of agony as she's slammed into the wall with a bit of a sickening thud that would be loud if the wind were not so strong. She slides down it, dazed for the moment and kept there by the momentum of the wind. Jest'liana falls, right over Startripper. Laughter echoes through the room. Grayback says, "Aww fraggin' hell.." Brightclaw shouts back to Trip, as he fumblingly gets his pistol out. 'He was aiming for the door!' Apparently he didn't hear Grayback... Startripper tries to shoot the shoot the ghost, but fires at the ceiling when Jest hits him. The wind has pushed LeBeau up against the wall behind where the bar once was, the unseen pain coursing thru out his legs has left him unable to fight against it and all he can do it sit there pinned and in pain "Oofff!" Jest says as she falls on the hapless Demarian. Grayback tries to aim at a place through the creature without hitting anyone, and fires several shots.. Stormtemper shouts at the top of his lungs, ignoring Sha, who nearly falls on him, "He wants us panicked, and he's doing a damn good job of it, too!!!" Jones keeps looking from manifestation to manifestation and watches Grayback's efforts intently, still ducking against the wind. Snowmist shakes her head muzzily, trying to get her breath back. She looks aside to Sharpeye, checking to see if he's all right... Brightclaw grunts, fur pressed back almost comically on his grimacing face as he gets the figure in his sights. Sondrix hasn't moved since, her face still mask-like in its strange mirror-calm. Suddenly she calls out, a loud, commanding phrase in what's definitely another language, still locking her sights on the apparition. Her short hair blows back on her scalp. Startripper helps Jest get oriented. "If you've got a gun, help me shoot this thing." Sharpeye holds his left shoulder with a paw and a grimace of pain on his face. The shots hit the figure, knocking it off to the ground. The wind is still there, though, and the energy balls remains floating in the air, releasing bolts. The voice of a small girl yells out, echoing, "You cheated!" Grayback says, "OPEN FIRE!! THE BASTARD CAN BE SHOT!!" Startripper says, "You cheated first!" Brightclaw looses a cluster of 3 rounds at the figure on the ground. Snowmist's eyes tighten in concern and she reaches out to Sharpeye. "You okay?" Jest'liana draws her blaster, "Not until I know that it works..." She blinks at the little girl's voice. "It works. Great!" She sights and aims. Startripper realizes that that was not a very mature statement, but decides the circumstances merited it. Blackface arrives from Promenade . Blackface has arrived. Lex is against the wall, watching in fear. N'Sha-El shakes her head slowly as she comes out of her daze. With a hiss of rather muddled anger, she pushes forward on hands and knees and crawls for the voice, her eyes dark. Blackface steps in and pauses at the door. He blinks. Door opens for Blackface, slams shut behind. A big glare booms in the door, just as wall of fire appears around the figure, covering him from the shots. Startripper holds his ribs, which were probably broken when he hit the wall, and walks toward the figure, holding his gun on it while still fighting the winds. Grayback says, "And for his next trick..." Sondrix stands slowly, her pistol aimed in direction of the voice and apparition. "Why do you want him?" she asks. Sharpeye nods. "I'll be... fine." He slowly climbs to his feet, back against the wall. "Kill us, and there will be no one left to play with!" he shouts toward the figure with all the strength he can muster. Stormtemper snarls and looks for a weapon to use against the ghost.. Finding nothing, he crawls toward the nearest person.. LeBeau.. and shouts in the man's ear, "You got an extra weapon?" Brightclaw snarls as a bolt strikes the wooden wall to the right of where he is crouching. 'Arck!' Blackface jumps a little as the door slams shut. He looks behind him, then grabs his weapon quickly, unholstering it. "What in the name of the Elements is going on?!" Startripper backs up Sharpeye, "More importantly, we cheat went he odds are stacked against us!" Grayback pulls out his comm, "Command, activate fire suppression system, Lamplighter! STAT! "Mr. Sharpeye, somehow I don't think that logic is this thing's strong point!" Jones calls out. Snowmist keeps a concerned hand on Sharpeye's arm as she gets up as well, turning to face the figure behind its shielding fire, biting her lip. Startripper says, "Roll with it, Miss Jones." N'Sha-El bats away a chunk of splintered table, wriggling her way past a gaggle of chairs and possibly a warm body. "Innardless bastard!" she roars. "C'mon and take yer damn headshots right here, BITCH!" GrayBack gets static in reply. Sharpeye growls, twisting his head slightly as if to remove some weight from his neck. Blackface takes aim at the fire. What he hopes to accomplish is anyone's guess, but... Brightclaw yells out 'Who does it want?!' as he rolls, pinned, on the wall, evading another bolt. Grayback puts the comm back in his pocket. "Frag...I guess I'll have to do it the hard way..." LeBeau completely ignores Stormtemper as he is able to fight thru the pain surging thru his legs long enough to move his head from an oncoming energy bolt from one of the floating spheres Startripper says, "She just wants to play a game. Isn't that right?" Grayback begins crawling towards the back of the room, where a manual fire alarm handle is located. Snowmist glances back at Sharpeye's growl. "What is it?" Sondrix holds up a hand imperatively. "Hold your fire now!" she commands as she watches the apparition, crouched a little from her wound of earlier. "You want to play...what do you want to play?" In stark contrast to the command, her voice is easy, calm. Blackface hunkers down against the doorframe, still aiming at the... thing. Brightclaw yells louder at Sondrix but holds his pistol at bay. 'Altheor's teeth, woman, /who/ does it /want/!' Sondrix gets laughter in reply. Soon enough, Lex is lifted into the air and brought floating, right over the figure. More laughter now. Brightclaw mutters 'Guess that answers that...' Sharpeye reaches a paw up to his neck, rubbing his throat. Jest'liana crouches, making herself as small a target as possible. Her blaster is still held at the ready. "We tried blasters...anyone got a slug thrower?" N'Sha-El makes her way, still on hands and knees, towards the apparition, grimly determined. Snowmist frowns, shaking Sharpeye's arm to get his attention. "What is it?" Lex starts yelling out incoherent phrases, which all end of 'Lord' or 'God'. Startripper puts his gun away and says tot he apparition, "You've had a chance to pick a game. Can we pick one?" The pain in LeBeau's face slowly disappears and he crawls to his knees and takes a brief and quick moment to scan the room Sondrix shakes her head at the apparition. "Let's play a game...hide and seek, you and me, child." Sharpeye grunts. "Thing tried to pull a Vader on me." Jones, standing next to LeBeau, glances down to him. She relaxes a very little bit as he seems to come back to himself. You say, "Did it stop?" "The time has come..." It seems to ignore everyone else. Bolts fly out, hitting everyone, no matter where, hard enough for them to feel tremendous pain. All except Lex. Brightclaw screams 'Yes, I know a better game! This one is boring!!' He holsters the apparently useless pistol. 'AAAUGGGGGHRRR!' Grayback yells out as the bolt strikes. "FRAG NOT AGAIN!!!" Daneel arrives from Promenade . Daneel has arrived. Jones screams, collapsing to the floor. Blackface yowls as a pair of bolts slam into his leg. Another one nicks his ear. He flattens down against the deck. Stormtemper roars in agony as his back arches and his legs snap outward in pain... Sharpeye growls loudly, holding a paw to his chest as he doubles over in pain. Daneel walks in, the door closing behind him. A bolt hits him, hurling him against the door, not giving him much time to think. No sooner has LeBeau gotten to his knees then an energy bolt slams into his chest, throwing him back into the wall as he lets out another howl of pain. Jest'liana stiffens, folding in on herself and choking, trying not to cry out. Snowmist collapses without a sound, caught off guard, and after the first startled gasp, not even having the breath to cry out. Sondrix goes down on one knee as a bolt strikes her in the shoulder, perilously close to her neck. She cries out, but only for a moment as she gasps, "He will not play if...if this...keeps up, come! I'll play....this...game, but only..." She arches forward in pain. Lex keeps yelling. "Lord, someone help me!! Please!!!!" Daneel enters, cricking his neck. He flies against the door, bouncing off and hitting the floor. Brightclaw convulses in pain against the wall. 'Gahhrrrrr!!!' Daneel rolling behind an overturned table, he yells "Who's doing this!" Startripper collapses next to Jest, also in pain. N'Sha-El gives a sharp cry as a bolt slams into her right about at waist level. She sprawls onto the floor, arching in agony. Sharpeye sinks to his knees, eyes narrowed in pain. "Mist!" is the only word to escape his lips as he falls besides her, seeing her condition. Laughter, this time, sounding like that of millions of voices merged together. The fire surrounding the figure turns black and grows, extending upward until it hitting the ceiling. Lex and the figure are hidden behind it. Jones struggles to her hands and knees, eyes on the disappeared form of Lex. "No! Don't...someone do something!" She moves to try and scramble forward. Brightclaw looks on in horror. 'Not that I /liked/ the guy, but, sweet Altheor..' Daneel jogs from cover to cover, trying to get behind the flame. He occasionally wince whenever he stretches his left pectoral muscle. As this happens, the door-shaped shadow /still/ on the far end of the room, releases a sort of mist. Startripper looks up, spent with pain, "What happened?" Sondrix tries as best as she can to focus on the wall of black fire, her free hand clasping her wounded shoulder. "Play with me, little girl..." she manages steadily as she can, interspersed with intakes of breath. "Why Lex?" Stormtemper seems to be taking his agony rather hard.. he's curled up on the floor now, his lips curled back from his teeth in a silent scream... Blackface drags himself along the floor, apparently seeking better cover behind the bar. LeBeau grabs at his smoking chest as he pulls himself together, part of the material on his torso has been burned away leaving a layer of tightly woven plates of a dense fabric and metal. He turns his head over to Jones "Yu alrigh?" Snowmist is curled about herself, breath hissing between gritted teeth, the claws of one hand digging into the floor. Stormtemper has disconnected. Startripper struggles to bring his head up and open his eyes, zapped of energy. A bolt hits Temper, knocking him against the wall, leaving him unconscious. N'Sha-El is biting her lips. Hard. One hand clasps to her wounded side, the fingers rapidly running bloody, her small form shaking. A small trickle of blood appears on her lips where she's just about bitten them through. Brightclaw groans in pain. 'I don't believe -' He tears at his shirt, trying to cover his face with the torn cloth, and struggles to sit upright again on the wall. Sharpeye crawls next to Snowmist, ignoring his own pain now as he shakes her shoulder. The mist is now all over the place, making sight almost impossible. The only things that can be seen, are the door-shaped shadow and the black fire. Daneel manages to get on the far side of the flame, barely able to see around an overturned table. He looks for Lex. Jones turns, and just stares at LeBeau, dark hair whipped into her face but jade eyes wide and horrified. "It took him...Remy..." She looks to the door shadow and again struggles to get to her feet. Blackface, blinded by the mist, thunks into the bar. Good enough. He flattens down on the floor again. Brightclaw breathes through gritted teeth rapidly, trying to stay conscious. Sondrix drags herself further, blinking painfully as she gives another long drawn cry in that strange language. Grayback has disconnected. Startripper looks up at the shadow, weakly imploring, "Please, stop. Please, we don't want to play anymore." Bolts hits Grayback, making him stagger back and hit his head against the jukebox. The impact makes the jukebox start, playing out a 20th century tune, known to many as "My way", by Frank Sinatra. Daneel breathes deeply in the misty air, glad that the higher CO^2 levels don't hurt him. Snowmist reaches up and takes Sharpeye's hand at the contact, squeezing it. "Sharp?" she gasps. LeBeau reaches up and grabs Jones' arm and pulls her back towards him as he once again gets to his knees "I sugges yu stay back here, no reason to pud yerself en a situation to en up being nex" "Sha!" Jest calls out, unable to see Sha or know her state at this point. She shows no inclination to move forward or interfere anymore. Daneel wanders half blindly towards the calls of Lex, trying to stay behind whatever cover he can. N'Sha-El manages, at Jest's call, to croak out a, "Gotta...sledgehammer?" as she uncurls herself slightly. Jones gasps, pulled back and her balance shattered. "But..! But..! He..." She protests ineffectively. Brightclaw squints in the darkness and shouts out at Sondrix 'Who is the girl, woman?!' "I... I'm right here," Sharpeye squeezes out between clamped teeth. Blackface bellows out, "What /is/ this thing?" As if they would know. Jest'liana laughs, "Could be worse!" Sondrix steadies herself and begins to move towards the door-shaped shadow. Again she calls out, again in that swift-tongued language, laced with pain. Laughter echoes through the room, mocking them, but now, its source seems to be the door-shaped shadow on the far end of the room. LeBeau pulls Jones to the ground and partly covers her with his own body to protect her "Yes I know, an dare es nodding we seem to be able to do, no reason to ged yerself killed fo no reason" Startripper continues to crawl toward the shadow, hoping to move through it if he can. Daneel looks over a table at the "door". "Who in the heck are you?" he shouts, pulling his pistol out of its holster. Snowmist hisses as she pushes away the lingering pain and presses up against Sharpeye, narrowing her eyes at the other end of the room, trying to make out details through the mist. "How y'doin'?" Brightclaw chuffs as he pushes himself horizontally again crouching against the wall. 'Any ideas, Commander!? Should we shoot at the door?' N'Sha-El watches with dark eyes, showing no inclination to move. Her hand still holds her side, her knees curled up almost to her chest as she raises herself on one elbow to watch this eerie scene. Blackface growls lowly and crawls in the direction of the laughter. He thunks into a few chairs and such along the way. Startripper finds the strength to stand up and begins to walk toward the door, "Common! It looks like a door, maybe it works like one! Stop cowering! The ongoing laughter seems to halt, just as BC speaks. "NO!" A voice, dark and sinister booms out. Lightning fall on BC, continuously. Brightclaw screams as the lightning hits him. 'AIIEEE!' Sharpeye fumbles around inside of his cloak. "I'll be fine," he says, reaching for his automatic, sitting up on his knees. "EVERYONE SHOOT THE BLOODY DOOR!" Snowmist curses and struggles to gain her feet. "Looks like Claw had a good idea..." she growls as she aims at the door and shoots. Jones has no answer for LeBeau's statement, but merely huddles against the wind, clinging on tight. Then Brightclaw's scream reaches her ears and she flinches. Brightclaw convulses in agony, searing him in bright pain. Sharpeye aims both his automatic and his pulse pistol at the door, pulling back on the triggers. Startripper continues to walk, regardless of Brightclaw. Pulls his gun and aims at the door, shooting and walking towards it. Blackface takes that as a good idea and blindly un-safes his weapon, firing it in the door-thing's direction. Jest'liana's expression is hard, she sights on the door and begins firing controlled tight pulses. Sondrix stumbles over a shard of shattered chair, but her eyes are fixed on the nebulous shadow. She raises the pistol - still contained in her fist, by some miracle of ex-Marine discipline, sights, and fires. Daneel yells loudly from behind his table. "What are you so afraid of, shadow?" He fires experimentally at the shadow door. Brightclaw says, "Gahahhawwwaahrrr!" LeBeau pulls Jones close to him and partly wraps his coat around her before the soft hum of his pistol charging is heard and he takes aim at the shadow door and proceeds to release a volley into the darkness Daneel sees everyone else firing, and fires as fast as he can, maneuvering between toppled objects to get nearer to the door. N'Sha-El uncurls a little more, moves aside some broken timber. At all the firing, she mutters something obscene, lost in the noise, and crawls forward painfully. Another glare, and then, the fire vanishes. There is no figure, only Lex, lying unconscious on the floor. This time, instead of emanating wind, it absorbs it, and anything else: A vacuum. Startripper limps forward, trying to avoid fire and holding his side while he shoots too. If he can walk through it, maybe the rest will follow and help get Lex. Brightclaw crumples unconscious to the floor. 'Unnnhhr...' Snowmist, originally bracing against the gale, is pulled off her feet with a squeak as the wind abruptly reverses. Sharpeye grabs Snowmist's retreating arm with his left paw, and anchors his right around a water pipe attached to the wall. Startripper falls to the ground and slides toward the door, still firing, but with more concentration with the absence of pain from walking. The unconscious form of BC slides slowly across the floor towards the door, smacking into a chair leg, sending the chair spinning. Blackface gasps, trying to grab onto a stationary object - the chair in question flies away. Instead, he grabs for the bar, digging his claws into the wood. "Does anyone have a grenade!?" Sharpeye shouts. Snowmist tightens her hold on Sharpeye, and as soon as she's sure they weren't being tugged any further, continues firing with the pistol in her other hand. Jest'liana, likewise having been bracing herself against the gale, is pulled forward with a whumph. She grabs for the floor and purchase with one hand, and for her knife with the other. Her blaster goes flying through the air as she releases it. Lex's unconscious form starts to slide towards the door. "Come to me!" The door yells. Daneel says a few unpleasant words as the wind reverses. He tries to holster his pistol, but it falls from his hands and watches it slide it to the shadow door. Blackface appears most displeased when he only grabs a plank. Brightclaw is about halfway to the door, now, catching briefly on a table, which is also moving. N'Sha-El's startled "Wha-!" changes into a howl of, "Bloody friggin' damn hell's bells!" as she's suddenly tugged from her position and sucked bodily towards the door, clawing along the way for some hold somewhere on the floor, the debris on the floor, anything. "KISS MY BUTT STINKER!" she howls. Daneel tries to move back, but slips on some liquid refreshment, and slides toward the door. Startripper braces his legs against the wall on both sides of the door, firing between his legs into the shadow. The pulse appears to be going into another room. Bright's body gets absorbed into the shadow. With all her strength, Jest thunks her dagger in the floor, burying it several inches and holding on to the hilt and the stable point it offers. Blackface grabs for another plank, and yet another, searching for anything that will stay still. All the while, he snaps off some more shots at the door. Snowmist growls, "He's got Claw!" before she untangles herself from Sharpeye's hold, actually pushing off *toward* the doorway. Daneel happens to see his gun, stopped by a random piece of debris, and manages to retrieve it. He fires towards the door, even as he nears it by the second. Startripper says, "Brightclaw!" Sondrix stumbles and crashes to the floor at the sudden change of wind direction. Her pistol flies from her hand as she gets pulled, inexorably, towards the shadowy door. She shouts again, frantically, in that strange tongue. Startripper lets his legs go and follows into the shadow LeBeau uses his position with his back to the door to quickly slide his weapon back under his coat and is slowly pulled towards the door itself even as he holds onto Jones. He quickly grabs her cane from her hand and jams it into a hole in the floor where a table was once anchored and holds on to Jones in one arm and the grounded staff with the other Sharpeye releases his hold on the water pipe, rushing after Snowmist. Daneel finally sides feet-first into the shadow. The vacuuming stops. BC gets spitted out. Now, the door only stays there. Jones struggles to try and see, her hair and LeBeau's coat getting in her way. "Wha..?" Brightclaw shakes violently, eyes still closed. 'No! Not my - fault.' Snowmist pulls out her boot knife with her free hand, clutching the pistol in the other as the suction abruptly halts. She slowly gets up. Startripper wonders where he is, since Brightclaw was spit out, but he was still stuck in the weird Shadow-dimension Daneel raises an eyebrow, and backs away from the shadow of a door. Blackface lunges away from the source of the vacuum, caught off guard by the sudden lack of force. He breathes heavily. N'Sha-El unfortunately doesn't have anything to break her force as she abruptly connects with a puddle of ale and the wind dies down. Daneel gets to his feet, and wipe himself off. "Bloody ghosts!" Sharpeye climbs to his feet, offering a hand to Snowmist. Startripper says, "No! We didn't! /I/ didn't!!!" Now, the only thing moving is Lex's unconscious form. The door is pulling him towards itself. A soft THUD sounds out as the vacuum dies out and LeBeau and Jones drop a few inches to the floor Jest'liana is half reclining, twisted to look at the doorway. "Didn't what?" She snaps, moving to get to her feet and pull her knife from the floor. Sondrix cannons to an abrupt halt as she reaches to grab for a chunk of splintered wood. She shouts again at the door, squinting and making an ungainly lunge for Lex's body. Blackface scrambles to his knees and looks around. A piece of wood is stuck to his hand, impaled by his claws. "What in the..." he growls. Daneel frowns, and grabs ahold of Lex. "Somebody help me!" Brightclaw shudders, unconscious, thrashing a little. Sweat flattens the fur on his face. Snowmist slips her knife back into its sheath as she takes Sharpeye's hand. Startripper repeats weakly, "No, didn't do it....didn't...couldn't....save them. Didn't.... Blackface spots Daneel and scrabbles forward, clamping his gun in between his teeth as he reaches out for the man's hand. You whisper, "Think it would do any good to continue shooting?" to Sharpeye. Daneel slides along with Lex towards the door. Daneel reaches out with his hand to try and grab Blackfaces. Sharpeye whispers, "It didn't do any good besides making it angrier... we need something more powerful." N'Sha-El lies in the puddle, taking her time before she raises her head to glare muzzily at the shadow door and the unfortunate Lex. "Up yours, y'blockheaded bitch of a lil' gal who ain't got no guts to show yer face!" she snarls. Then she dips a finger into the ale and sucks it off moodily. Daneel stretches a little more and clasps hands with the man. Blackface clasps onto Daneel's hand and tries to anchor himself with something else. He hooks a foot onto a toppled table. Startripper starts crying on the ground, repeating, "Didn't...not...save them..." Jest'liana moves over to Sha, after a quick look to the forms of LeBeau and Jones. She raises an eyebrow, stifles a smirk and scrambles the rest of the way to Sha. "Sis?" Sondrix gasps and reels, but manages to shout yet again. This time she leaps and grabs for Lex, a wild look in her mercurial eyes tinged with something of horror. Brightclaw shouts out suddenly 'No! Don't kill them! Throne... Save Lex - we'll save Lex' LeBeau yanks Jones' cane from the anchored position in the floor and half walks and half carries Jones over to where Jest and Sha are to check on the two of them "Yu guys all alrigh?" From within the shadow-door, two red eyes appear, staring at Lex. "Nemesis. Apocalypse. Come to me, Lex. We must finish!" The pull on Lex gets stronger. Daneel's hands separate from Blackfaces as the pulls gets stronger, he is drawn along with Lex towards the door. Snowmist glances up at Sharpeye and then starts moving toward the others, tucking her pistol at the small of her back. Blackface scrambles to catch Daneel, but can't. He collapses onto the floor. N'Sha-El dips another finger into the puddle of spirits. She glances to Jest. "Circus eh?" she mutters wryly as she licks the ale off again. "Pretty good damn ale here." Daneel curses loudly as the pair of them near the door. Startripper sobs, curling into fetal position. Sondrix gives a shudder, eyes closing as she cries out with a hoarse scream, clamping her hand down on what she thinks must be Lex's leg. Jones has her eyes focused utterly and completely on the door. "No!" She yelps, "Don't." She would lunge forward, after the disappearing forms, but she can't quite manage that. Everyone now feels a pushing force. While Lex gets pulled towards the door, everyone gets pushed away. In all of this, Blackface flies through the air, hitting a cat that had been hiding behind a table. The cat squeaks and BF loses consciousness. Jest'liana looks up at LeBeau, then to Jones, then flinches, "Not again!" As she gets pushed back.. N'Sha-El squawks obscenities as she gets a face full of ale. Daneel grabs onto Lex hard, trying to balance the forces on them so that neither go anywhere. Sondrix is not affected by any of the forces. Brightclaw gets rudely awakened by a traveling chair leg. 'Whr- where..' Sharpeye plants his boots firmly on the floor, determined to stand his ground. LeBeau tightens his grip on Jones so she doesn't break out of his arms and run towards the door, and is just about to question Sha about her new drinking habits when an invisable force begins to push them all away from the door The quaking cat gets blown back, hissing as he goes through the air, landing on Bc's face. Startripper cries and gets pushed against a wall Brightclaw screams as 8 pinpoints dig into his face. 'DAAAARRRH!' Snowmist growls and crouches, willing to drop to all fours and scrabble her way across the floor if need be, tired of being pushed around like so much dandelion fluff. Sondrix's breathing is shallow as she musters up her strength and cries out, desperately, fiercely. With a determined leap, she again clamps her fist down and, this time, manages to grab Daneel's arm. Daneel curses and yells as his strong engineer's arms try to keep a hold of Lex. The red eyes widen. Startripper pounds the wall a little and gets angrier. Daneel nods to Sondrix, still cursing at the door. Daneel grits his teeth and still holds onto Lex. Brightclaw struggles with the kitty, which comes loose finally with several bright neon bandages in its claws. 'Ow ow ow ow ow ow!!!! Shades of Danethor!' He gives the cat a disparaging glare, and looks about for a safe place to land it. N'Sha-El growls, her torrent of inventive and colorful language coming to an abrupt halt as she gets sploshed into Brightclaw and cat. The yowl that occurs as she meets with several sets of claws is almost tangible. Brightclaw spots the white-clothed Lex disappearing in the door. 'No! Don't let them get 'im! YAAAHWWWR!!!' The door slowly, very slowly, begins to close. Brightclaw baubles the cat onto Sha's belly. Snowmist resolutely takes out her pistol again, thinking it can't do much harm at this juncture, and takes aim, firing three shots rapidly at the door. Daneel holds on, refusing to let Lex go. Daneel yells out. "Poke it's godamn eyes out!" Brightclaw crawls out of the fray desperately. 'NO!!!' He scrabbles across the floor, slipping on the ale. The shots increase the closing speed. Sondrix draws a sharp breath as she blinks. Her hold on Daneel doesn't slacken a whit as her fingers clamp down even tighter, tugging, pulling. Again she shrieks, and there is a fierce note of defiance in her voice. The eyes widen even more, glaring out. LeBeau continues to hold his grip on Jones, even as a loose flying foot hits him in the side as Sha and Brightclaw collide into each other Brightclaw says, "Lex! I believe! Wake up dammit man! I believe in the Lord!" Jest'liana is against the far wall by now. "Stop firing!" She yells. Snowmist shakes her head, stopping. "Why is it playing with us like this if it can suck him in anytime?" Brightclaw says, "Get /Lex/! Demaria - destroyed - ungh!" Startripper gets really pissed and gets up, residual tears in his eyes Brightclaw takes a face dive to the floor, and tries to turn it into a tumble. N'Sha-El gives a truly hideous howl as the cat claws her belly. She almost bodily picks it up and sends it sailing off her towards a nearby table. Daneel groans as the strain of holding a man against a strong pull starts to get to him. Sharpeye growls and aims his pistol at the ceiling right above the door, firing in hopes the debris will land in front of the door before Lex is sucked in. Startripper says, "Not my fault!" Brightclaw scrabbles across the floor against the wind with his claws dug in. 'Don't let him go!' Startripper fires above the door along with Sharpeye The cat flies in the air and is suddenly sucked into the door, hissing all the way. A voice laughs. "You cannot stop me!" Jones continues to try and keep an eye on events, though she is holding onto LeBeau and unable to do anything about them. "Watch me!" Sharpeye screams back. Snowmist leans into the force, even digging her claws in, slowly inching her way to the door. Brightclaw says, "No! Trip! Hold your fire! Unh unfh! unf! unfh!" Brightclaw slams his claws into the floor, raking his way across like a ... Demarian possessed. Sondrix suddenly blazes out with a long drawn out wail, rather like an incantation. She still keeps her hold on Daneel determinedly and her eyes are fixed on the door with fierce intensity. LeBeau squeezes Jones a bit but it would seem to be more in a comforting fashion then tightening a hold on her. He lowers his mouth to her ear and whispers. Daneel grittily tells the door where to stick it. The pushing and pulling stops. The red eyes remain, though, and the laughter. Slowly, the eyes seem to move forward, as if coming out of the door. LeBeau whispers to Jones. Brightclaw stares up at the eyes. 'Oh, Altheor's mane... what /now/..' Daneel sighs, still holding onto Lex in case the vacuum returns. Startripper snarls at Brightclaw, "Why?! I'm going to kill it one way or another. Snowmist doesn't hesitate but takes the opportunity to lope nearer the door, muscles tensed in case the invisible forces start up again. Brightclaw yells out 'Get Lex to a safe place! Move him now, while it's distracted!' He leaps up at the eyes as best he can, trying to claw at them. Sharpeye takes the opportunity to slide a fresh clip into his slugthrower. Out from the door steps out a mutated version of the cat that got sucked in. It's bigger, about the size of a baby lion. Odd, green goops falls from his side. Some of his skin has been ripped off, allowing for people to see it's ribs and such. Somehow, it's alive, and its red eyes are staring at Lex, hungrily. Jest'liana moves forward too, weaponless except for her knife. Brightclaw boggles mid-air and screams. 'Ohhhh sheeee---' Daneel gets up quickly, one arm around Lex, and pulls him as fast as he can towards the main exit. "...oh god.." Jones says very quietly. She freezes for a moment. Sondrix continues to chant, her voice now a wailing banshee cry that rivals even the screeching wind. She doesn't move, letting Daneel see to Lex. Startripper walks over near Lex, holding his gun on the mutated kitty and running along with him and Daneel. Snowmist reaches Brightclaw and tugs at him, trying to pull him back. The door is still locked. The cat-thing hisses, as the door behind it keeps closing, slowly. Brightclaw tries, unsuccessfully, to change direction, as he hurtles at the eyes, attached to the big head. His arm snaps back as Mist catches him, flipping him sideways and down to the floor. 'DOHG!' LeBeau pulls the side of his coat up over Jones face to prevent her from seeing anymore, at the same time he puts an arm out to restrain Jest from getting closer "Don be stupid cher, yu won ged witen ten feed o dat ting wit dat knife" Snowmist snorts as she aims at the demon cat, but holds her fire, waiting to see what happens. "Think this thing has a time limit for how long it can keep this up?" Jest asks calmly. She grins at LeBeau, "Don't worry, I have some common sense..." She glances at Jones and rolls her eyes. Sharpeye crouches on one knee, aiming both his guns at the mutant, and lets the targeting graphics slide across his vision. N'Sha-El bats at the new scratches on her tummy, glaring at the door and the little tableaux acted out there. Daneel gets next to the door. With a grunt he pulls out his gun and shoots the cat in the head, by chance directly between the eyes. Jones doesn't bother to bat the side of the coat down, but moves to dig in her backpack frantically. Snowmist tugs at Brightclaw while keeping her eyes on the demon cat the whole time. "Come on," she growls, "this's too close for comfort..." Daneel holsters the gun and tries the door. Brightclaw groans, having landed on his neck, and sits up. 'Whu-' he looks up at Mist woozily, and tries to get to his feet. The shots hit the cat, blowing its head off. The remains of the head disappear, but the body stays there, starting towards Lex. Startripper tries firing at the wall next to the main door, since the main door would not open. Daneel sighs. "Shit. It's a zombie." Snowmist hmphs, firing a shot at one of the demon cat's legs, hitting the joint. Sondrix steps forward now. She hasn't stopped her chanting, which is now slowly taking the shape of an eerie song, dipping and floating on the syllables. The words 'Nemesis' and 'Apocalypse' drift in and out of its strange wailing cadence. Sharpeye ups the power level on his pulse pistol, before letting loose with both his guns. LeBeau quickly re-draws his pistol and takes aim at the creature's legs and shooting "Then find a flame thrower." Jest says, "We've got the alcohol about..." She is backing towards the ruined remains of the bar. The voice from within the door glares as the cat gets off'ed. Somehow, this increases the speed at which the door is closing. Brightclaw blinks a moment or two, then comes to with all the firing. 'Watch Sondrix!' Brightclaw says, "Are we all here? They didn't get anyone, right?!" N'Sha-El growls, "Hold the damn fire, you'll hit th'doc!" She clumsily attains her feet and staggers to lean against a largish chunk broken bar, glaring. Jones comes up with a slug thrower, now squirming to get LeBeau's coat out of her face and aim. She doesn't fire, luckily for Sondrix, since she has never actually /used/ the gun before, but..she is ready to fire if need be. The shadow is now only the size of Lex, not too big, but Lex is one fat dude. Sharpeye holsters his guns and gets to his feet, running to the nearest table. "Someone, help me get this thing in front of the door!" A glare, quite loud, deafening. Brightclaw tries to take inventory, as he crouches against the wind and reaches for his pistol, digging his claws in. He runs towards Sharpeye, speed doubled by the wind, and stumbles as he tries to slow himself. Brightclaw says, "Commander! Sorry, look out!" Sondrix gives a cadenced long "Aoooooooogh-ahh!" as she makes a stylized grasping motion with one hand. Between the chanting and her gestures, it looks eerily like a ritual of sorts. Her face is set with concentration, beads of sweat starting to dot her forehead. Daneel tries to help open the hole that Star was trying to make. The door finishes closing, just after sending a powerful bolt out, aimed at Sondrix's chest. Brightclaw trips on a fallen chair, and leaps over it, but smacks into Sharpeye's shoulder. 'Oof!' Snowmist cries, "Son!" leaping toward her, not at all sure she would be in time. Startripper throws a chair between Sondrix and the bolt, hoping to stop it N'Sha-El gives a snarl but of course, she's too wobbly on her feet to do much good. "Agh!" Sharpeye calls out at the sudden impact. Brightclaw cartwheels to the floor with a flying grunt. Daneel braces himself for whoever's scream would result from the bolt's impact. Jest'liana straightens out her clothing, eyes narrow, "The idiot was /not/ worth this." She shoots a look toward Lex. Bolt hits Son, sending her off a few feet. Other than that, it's all over... Sondrix gives a sharp cry as she's struck, the chanting breaking off with a banshee wail, picking up for just a fraction of a second with a "Kiii-ya!" The next thing she hits the floor, whacking against a large chunk of chair. Toy has left. Brightclaw rubs his neck, sitting up. 'You ok, Commander?' Lex slowly wakes up. "Wha-what happened?" Looks around. Daneel grunts, and drops Lex, heading to see if he could help Sondrix. Sharpeye nods absently at Brightclaw. "I'm fine," he mutters, already moving toward Sondrix. Snowmist drops beside Sondrix. "Son?" Startripper puts his hand on Lex's shoulder, "Long story, Lex. Suffice to say, you have quite a few friends. N'Sha-El glares at where the shadow-door was. "Bloody damn..." she growls and looks around slowly. "Sis? Jet...?" Her voice is a trifle shaky. Daneel kneels next to Sondrix. "Someone get a medic." Jest'liana walks back over to Sha. "Fine here, hon..You okay?" Brightclaw stands slowly and looks about, counting under his breath. '5,6-' Lex stands up, with the support. "How nice." Winces. "Godamn headache." He mutters. Sondrix's lids flutter, her breathing a touch shallow. Sweat runs down her forehead, her face. She's apparently out for the count, for a little while. Stormtemper twitches and moans, teeth grinding together in semi-conscious fury.. Daneel frowns at Lex. "Just be lucky that Sondrix and I stopped that door from sucking you in." Brightclaw sighs in relief. 'Guess we're all here.' He squints at Lex. 'Gads, man, quiet yourself. You have no idea what we've been through to save your hide.' Snowmist begins to check over Sondrix. While hardly a qualified medic, she'd had to patch up her share of wounds before and she knew something about first aid. LeBeau looks down at Jones peaking out from underneath his coat then over to Sha "'m alrigh, wha aboud yu an Jest?" Sharpeye alters his course and heads for the wall with the alarm on it, hoping that it might work this time around. When in range, he reaches an arm out and pulls the lever. N'Sha-El reaches a hand up to Jest wearily. "Help me up?" she murmurs with a sharp huff of her nostrils. Jest'liana extends her hand to help Sha up without a word. Startripper walks over to Brightclaw and Sharpeye. "Claw, did you see what I saw? Inside, I mean." Looks imploringly, hoping the answer is 'no.' "I think I can stand on my own." Lex moves away from Startripper, holding his head. "Dammed thing." Tilts his head at the fallen Sondrix. "Poor, poor, child..." Brightclaw walks towards Snowmist, calling out as he passes 'You all right, Miss Jones?' He nods to Startripper. 'I think I did.' He freezes a moment. Snowmist straightens Son's position out, seeing that she's breathing comfortably. "Knocked out cold," she reports, settling back on her heels. Jones takes a wavered step back from LeBeau, then, without the cane for help and under the stress of being pulled about, her legs start to fold. She grabs for LeBeau again, slug thrower still in one hand, "Ahh, fine..fine..Did you see where my...?" "What do you see?" Sharpeye asks suddenly, wheeling on Brightclaw. "And what was that BS about Demaria being destroyed that you were screaming out?" N'Sha-El steadies herself. "Thanks sis....Dammit, I'm a walkin' drink barrel," she growls. Her clothes are full of ale. Dripping, in fact. Startripper says, "So, how's this for a story, Miss Jones?" Daneel nods. "Is there a bed somewhere near?" Stormtemper shivers and slowly rolls over.. Startripper says, "It's not important, Captain." Jest'liana grins feyly, "Oh, you should have fun with Jaxx tonight, eh?" Sharpeye grunts. "I'll be the judge of that. What did you see?" LeBeau grabs a hold of Jones before she falls and pulls her towards him to help support her. He then holds out her cane to her "I believe dis es wha yu ar looking fo" Brightclaw shakes his head, snapping out of the semi-trance. 'Hm? I - don't know, Commander, I just saw Lex on some sort of throne, in a - I think a black cape, all my friends killed, Demaria destroyed. Lex was saying it was my fault.' Snowmist shrugs. "Don't wanna settle her in this mess. Might just be better to call for a stretcher from med. It's only a level down anyway, and they'll be able to give her expert attention." Sondrix gives a little shudder, her eyelids quivering. A soft moan escapes her, but she doesn't wake, not just yet. Daneel nods. Sharpeye furrows his brows. "Lex... on a throne?" Startripper says, "It was just some trick by our friend. It's not important. For your own piece of mind, you don't want to know." Jones takes her cane, giving LeBeau a sickly little smile. "Thanks..." She brushes hair out of her face and looks around, as if waiting for the other shoe to drop. Daneel says, "Someone get down to the Medical bay and grab a stretcher." N'Sha-El gives a bit of a snort. "Jaxx? Lick ale off me? You gotta be kidding. Try Odari Red." She peers forward at the fallen Sondrix, concern lacing her eyes. "Th'doc OK?" Lex chuckles. "Yeah, a throne. That'll be the fucken' day. Has it occurred to you the door was maybe trying to scar you?" Lex says, folding his arms. Brightclaw glances around. 'Get the comm off of your friend, Mist.' Startripper says, "Forget it, Brightclaw. There's nothing they can do about it." Daneel nods in Sha's direction. "She's just unconscious." Snowmist glances down at Son's movement and lays a hand comfortingly on her shoulder. "Yeah," she nods to Sha. "Just out." Brightclaw turns on Lex, and advances, slowly, a very nasty look on his liquid-plastered face. LeBeau holds on to Jones a bit longer before he slowly starts to let her go "Yu gonna be alrigh now?" Stormtemper moans softly again, and his eyelids flutter, but do noy open... Snowmist cocks an ear at Brightclaw's suggestion, and nods to Daneel. "You got a com on you?" She begins to search Son's person. "The cap must have one somewhere..." Daneel gets up and checks Storm. Startripper says, "I didn't see Lex. Mine was worse, but its not important" Jones nods, "I am fine." She says quietly. She takes a long breath and nods again. Daneel says, "This one looks like he's been through a little hell himself." Sondrix shudders yet again, as if she is far far in the throes of a nightmare that won't let her wake. Her lips part, a breath, a word that only Mist can hear. There is a commlink hooked onto her belt. Sharpeye shakes his head with a sigh and walks over toward Snowmist. Brightclaw mutters as he stretches out his claws out of their sheaths, 'Might just finish the job myself, by Altheor...' Lex raises an eyebrow at the Demarian. "Hmm?" Jest'liana watches LeBeau and Jones, and stifles another smirk. She grins to Sha. "Happy Dryad." She says soberly, eyes glittering. Snowmist glances at Son's face with a small frown as she snags the commlink. Glancing up at Sharpeye's approach, she tosses the comm to him as she bends over Son, taking one of her limp hands and squeezing it. LeBeau looks down brushing some strands of hair from Jones' face "Yu sur yu gonna be alrigh, yu took quide a beading back dare?" You whisper, "Shhh...we'll get him. Just relax." to Sondrix. N'Sha-El shakes her head a little, rubbing at the back of it. "Now that sounds good..." Her eyes go to LeBeau and Jones. "Y'all right, Jet, Miss Jones?" Daneel catches the cat's actions in the corner of his eye, and holds Brightclaw back. "Hold on, buddy. No more violence tonight." Stormtemper is still out cold.. merely stirring a bit more now.. Sharpeye catches the commlink and flips on the switch. "Hey, whoever's there, get a medical team to the lamplighter." Brightclaw growls, then points to the fallen. 'You see those people on the ground, Lex? They /saved/ your worthless white-clothed, God-touting, condescending-' Daneel grunts at Sharpeye. "And an engineer crew." Snowmist looks up toward Sharpeye again. "See if you can't get a hold o' Warrick too." Brightclaw says, "/Racist!/" Brightclaw says, "... hide." Brightclaw says, "So have the decency to shut your trap, man." Jones nods and smiles again, stronger. "I am fine. Compared to the rest of you, I got off easy. Are you all right, Sha-El? Remy?" Startripper holds back Brightclaw, "Relax. Be the better person." "And an engineering team to clean up this mess," Sharpeye adds, then flips off the switch. Lex simply smiles at Bc. "Keep those away, before someone gets harmed." Chuckles. "Yes, yes. Well, it is not my fault the... whatever they were wanted me." Shrugs. "I thank those who saved me, but don't expect me to actually give a damn." LeBeau looks over to Sha and Jest nodding " 'm fine, wha about da two o yu" Sondrix gives a little gasp as her eyes open, the mercurial depths frantic. "Warrick!" She tries to push herself up, not registering anything yet, her cheeks pale. Sweat still beads her forehead, her breathing shallow. Brightclaw snarls once more, and relaxes against Daneel's grip. He looks puzzled. 'And how exactly does a reverend get off swearing like a Zangali whore?' Daneel raises and eyebrow, and looks over his shoulder. Snowmist pushes Son back down, tightening her hold on the woman's hand. "Relax, Son!" Daneel says, "On second thought, be my guest, Brightclaw..." Jest'liana says, "He's not much of a Reverend, obviously.." Sharpeye flips the switch on again with a nod to Snowmist. "And someone tell Warrick to get down here." Lex chuckles. "A Reverend? What the hell? Don't be ridiculous." Waves his hand dismissively upward. "Screw him." Startripper turns his gun on Lex without turning his head from Brightclaw, "And you had better shut up. Your Lord didn't save you, so learn to worship the right people, or we can be just as dangerous." Brightclaw nods, and spots Stormtemper on the ground. Grunts once at Lex. 'Hmph.' He moves to Storm's side and checks his pulse. "Dusty, but fine, LeBeau..." Jest says off handedly, watching Lex. Stormtemper is quite alive (for about the 4th time), but also quite unconscious still.. Brightclaw looks up at Star in amazement. 'Didn't know he had it in him...' He chuckles, and nods in satisfaction, letting Storm's wrist go. Daneel looks at Lex. "Just be glad you hadn't uttered all this before I saved your white hide. I might have let you go." "And maybe, just maybe, you should try and think a little more. Because maybe, just maybe, you didn't save me. Maybe... it was the other way around." Lex shrugs and laughs a little. "Bye now. Have a good fucken night." Turns to head for the door. Sharpeye furrows his brows. "That's not the same Lex, is it?" Brightclaw looks up in astonishment at everyone. 'What the-' N'Sha-El's fulminating gaze goes over to Lex. "Oh good NIGHT," she mimics. One hand picks up a chunk of debris and she aims it, squints and throws it at Lex. Hard. Daneel grins at Sha. "Nice thought." Snowmist frowns after the reverend--or former reverend? "No...not at all..." Jest'liana says, "Some one shoot him." Maybe serious, maybe not. The debris hits Lex's back, merely pushing his head forward. "Oh please." He chuckles some more. Daneel thinks for a moment. "What if that /isn't/ Lex? LeBeau nods with a grin to Jones leaning down and resting his forehead on hers for a brief moment then lifts his head and beginning to moves towards Jest and Sha, his arm around Jones but not to tights so she can pull out if she wants Sharpeye raises his slugthrower and aims it at Lex's back. "Don't move." Lex disappears through the door. "Night." Brightclaw growls 'Shooting is too good. Let's do something more annoying...' Lex heads into Promenade . Lex has left. Sondrix struggles a touch, but evidently she is too weak to move much. "Sky Mother..." she murmurs, her voice a thread of exhaustion. Sharpeye growls. "That's not Lex." Daneel says, "Perhaps a holding cell would be safer for him?" Startripper fires his gun where the door used to be. "For the record, I went into that thing for Brightclaw and to see if I could help the rest of you guys, not for Lex." Sharpeye nods to Daneel. "Very much so." Snowmist pats Son again on the shoulder, a little awkwardly. "Relax, Son, everything's taken care of..." She rises. "Someone look after her? I'm gonna go check on where that stretcher is..." Brightclaw looks over at Startripper. 'Thanks?' Daneel says, "Let's find him then." You whisper, "And let's see where Mr. Lex went off to?" to Sharpeye. Jones walks with LeBeau, taking some support and thus walking easier. Sharpeye nods to Snowmist. Brightclaw says, "Oh, you meant Lex. Thanks." Startripper says, "If it isn't him, then we can kill that thing without thinking twice next time, right?" N'Sha-El grunts. "M'ok Jet...and I'm a mess besides. Anyone want to lick ale off me?" Daneel heads towards the door, after Lex. Brightclaw sighs and nods. 'Let's not talk about more problems just yet, Star. And thanks Snowmist. You saved me from becoming kitty chow.' Stormtemper wakes up quite suddenly, and sits up snarling... only to fall back onto his back again, groaning and trying to hold his throbbing head.. Startripper turns to Brightclaw, "Not a problem. Glad to help a friend." Snowmist nods toward Sha. "Sorry, can y'sit with Son for a bit? I'm gonna go see what emergency's holding up medical..." Snowmist smirks toward Brightclaw. "Anytime. Just don't jump so quickly next time, eh? I almost didn't catch y'." Daneel looks over the room. "Damned whores ruined a good bar. Two white-clad male nurses rush in with a stretcher, panting heavily. '-the hell are people calling us out for in the middle of the- oh my Looooord.' Stormtemper mrrs.. "Did someone mention ale? Bring me some...." Sondrix sits up slowly, shaking her head from side to side. Her eyes look exhausted. Snowmist growls as the medics enter, "About time." The stretcher is dropped as the two nurses, name-plated Gore and Howe, stand open-jawed in amazement. Daneel looks over at the medical staff and points to Sondrix and Storm. "There and there. Move it.' LeBeau grins and chuckles "Yu know 'm no dat big o drinker, besides wha would Jaxx say if he foun oud" Brightclaw nods a grin at Snowmist. 'I guess that's three I owe you. Must stop keeping count.' Jest'liana leans against a wall and chuckles. "Sha...tsk tsk." Jones looks over to Brightclaw, checking to see what his state is after all of this. Startripper drops to the ground in pain, the broken ribs finally getting to him, as well as the lack of energy. Gore and Howe stumblingly lift the stretcher, and after a glance at each other, burst into efficiency, tugging in opposite directions for the 'there' and 'there', dropping the stretcher. Snowmist crouches by Son again, eyeing the medics dubiously. "Think you can get on your feet?" she murmurs. "Lean on my shoulder...it might be safer than trusting those two." The nurses recover with apologies, and change directions, unfortunately each moving the other way, dropping it again. 'No, no, we'll -' 'We have it!' N'Sha-El snorts and makes an obscene gesture at LeBeau. She finds a spot to perch without being in everyone's way. Daneel says, "Damned yokels. Give me the damned thing." He grabs the stretcher, and sighs. "Sharpeye, will you help me get Sondrix down to the medical facility?" Gore glares at Howe. 'That one!' He points at Sondrix. Howe nods 'That's the one I was going for in the first place!' They heft it over to Sondrix. Stormtemper opens one blurry eye at the two nurses, and *SNARLS*. "Don' even -think- of trying to carry me, you imbecilic morons!" Startripper lets tears begin to well up again Jones balances herself, again searching around in her seemingly endless backpack. She comes up with a data pad, amazingly intact. Sondrix manages to find her voice. "Down to med bay. Now." Her voice holds still some traces of command. Snowmist ducks beneath one of Sondrix's arms and wraps one of her own about the woman's waist, carefully easing her onto her feet. Sharpeye nods, kneeling down next to Sondrix. LeBeau chuckles continue and he looks over Sha "Es dat an offer? Because if id es yu migh wan to head down to medical an make sur yu ar alrigh an di no reenjure someting befo I take yu up on id" Startripper smiles just a little bit through the pain and tears, "Wait your turn, Storm. Jest'liana begins to hum some unknown song, tapping her foot in the air. She grins at LeBeau's statements. Brightclaw glances over to Jones by the old position of the bar, and nods to himself, seeing her walking. 'Easy there, Mist, use the stretcher.' He picks up the other end of the stretcher and nods at Daneel. Snowmist shakes her head at Brightclaw. "Naw, 's okay. We'll walk her down. Use it for the others..." she says and begins to lead Son with Sharpeye on her other side out. 'That's Medbay property!' Gore nervously exclaims at Daneel's back. Hore hovers uncertainly, but follows the stretcher. Daneel looks at the medics. "See if you can use the one brain you have between you to help that one over there. (pointing to Startripper.) N'Sha-El wrinkles her nose. "Come take me up on it..." she murmurs as she stretches a little wobbly-like. Brightclaw nods, sighing. 'All right. Storm?' He looks over his shoulder. Stormtemper opens his eyes fully at Bright. "Yeah? Wha'?" Howe nods and rushes over to Startripper. Brightclaw says, "Want a ride?" You head into Promenade . Promenade - SCB Citadel This circular Promenade houses the many shops on the outside of its hub. People stroll in and out of them as they go about their shopping. A large neon sign points to the Lamplighter, the premiere cantina of the station. Sun Oct 31 20:56:37 2651 Contents: Exits: ATM Up Lift Abrikim Down Lift Advertisement-Raven Transport Consortium ID Center Portal Machine Raven Transport Mail Console - 1038 The Colonels Cove Citadel Base Directory The Lamplighter PLEASE READ - SIGN ADVERTISEMENT Sharpeye arrives from The Lamplighter . Sharpeye has arrived. Sondrix arrives from The Lamplighter . Sondrix has arrived. Sondrix's brow is creased even as she makes her way out the chaos of the Lamplighter between the two Demarians. Snowmist murmurs to Son as she turns toward the lift, "How y'feelin'? Anything broken?" Sharpeye presses the button besides the lift, and the doors slide open. Snowmist eases Son into the lift. Sondrix manages to shake her head even as she stumbles into the lift. Sharpeye slaps the 'down' button. Sondrix heads into Corridor. Sondrix has left. You head into Corridor. Corridor - SCB Citadel This massive corridor is indeed a very busy place. People mill around taking care of whatever tasks may be at hand. Along the cold steel walls are advertisements and Vangard recruitment posters. A tram carries cargo through the massive round spoked door leading to the Docking Arm. Sun Oct 31 21:03:59 2651 Contents: Exits: Captain Sondrix Sullivan's Quarters Sharpeye arrives from Promenade . Sharpeye has arrived. Sondrix heads into Medical Department. Sondrix has left. You head into Medical Department. Medical Department - SCB Citadel The first thing that you notice of this room is the strong smell of the cleaning solutions used here. Beds line both walls of this room, with a walkway in between them. Doctors, Nurses, and orderlies patrol this room, checking on the patients. Several offices are at the far end. Through the glass doors, you see doctors sitting at desks reading over charts. Sun Oct 31 21:04:05 2651 Contents: Exits: Captain Sondrix Out Chief Engineer Daneel Private Stormtemper Mercenary Brightclaw Radiation Suit - 6778 Radiation Suit - 7838 Radiation Suit - 7835 Radiation Suit - 7844 Radiation Suit - 7830 Radiation Suit - 7834 Intercom - 1256 Sharpeye arrives from Corridor. Sharpeye has arrived. Snowmist calls out, "Nurse!" as she moves Son toward the nearest bed. Brightclaw heaves into the door with Storm on stretcher, Daneel carrying the other end. 'Medics!' A flurry of activity as the head nurse gasps and calls out for doctors. Daneel gently stops next to a bed. he unlocks the sidebar of the stretcher, and grabs the legs again. "One, two, three" Brightclaw heaves on 3, and Storm is deposited on the bed, a little ungently. Brightclaw says, "Ogh. sorry mate." Stormtemper groans, and snarls his anger.. Gore runs by, and retrieves the stretcher, giving an evil eye to Daneel. Sharpeye senses, "Snowmist snickers. "Well, Stormy's certainly getting his comeuppance today..."" Rossellini, her bright green eyes snapping and sparking, comes barreling out the back of the bay. "Stations!" she snaps as she immediately begins her assessment of the injured parties and heading towards Sondrix. A tall lanky medic heads towards Stormtemper, asserting, "Aye Loot." Brightclaw pants heavily. 'I'm going to have to get... out of here!' Brightclaw schnarfs, seeing the nurses attacking. Daneel chuckles. Brightclaw says, "With your leave, Commander! Eek!" Stormtemper growls at Bright.. "Coward.." Stormtemper just might be teasing, but it's hard to tell.. Snowmist nods to Rossellini. "Cap's got a bump on her head..." Daneel says, "My civilian hide is out of here myself."" Brightclaw hustles out the door, a quick salute thrown back. 'Thanks again, Mist! Good night!' Startripper arrives from Corridor. Startripper has arrived. Brightclaw whisks by Star in a flurry of fur. Snowmist waves back to Claw. Daneel heads into Corridor. Daneel has left. Brightclaw says, "See you Star! Hope you feel betteeeerr! Get away!" Brightclaw heads into Corridor. Brightclaw has left. Startripper walks over to the small group. "Hey guys." Snowmist nods to Star from where she's standing by Son's bedside. Stormtemper opens one eye at Star.. "Whadya wan'?" Rossellini snatches a compress from a metal trolley beside Sondrix's bed. "Cap!" she scolds crossly as she lays the compression on her head. Startripper says, "Just to see how everybody's holding up." The medic crossing to Stormtemper's bed, Durango by the tag, peers at the irascible Demarian. "Now then what happened 'ere?" His voice is a languid drawl. Snowmist pats Sondrix on the arm. "Well, I'll leave you to their expert attentions..." Stormtemper growls at Durango, "Got knocked the hell out.. wha's it look like?" You whisper, "We'll talk later when you're feeling better. But just a warning, you heard of the shadowtrappers?" to Sondrix. Blackface arrives from Corridor. Blackface has arrived. Sondrix, in the midst of submitting to Rossellini's attention, looks up at Snowmist, eyes somewhat more alert. "Indeed..." Sharpeye seems to be checking Snowmist up and down for any kind of injury. Blackface steps in, his limp a little more pronounced now, holstering his gun. He looks over the casualties. Snowmist nods, trying to convey her sense of urgency, looking intently at Son. "Well...watch out. It seems if there's still some hanging around, they might be...a little more malicious than before. And get ahold of me soon as you feel up to it." Durango mmms. "Well let's see..." He pulls a handheld scanner out of his pocket and activates it, directing it at Stormtemper. Startripper says, "You guys take care of yourselves. I think I'm going to back on the Heart. Hope you feel better" Rossellini meanwhile continues to scold Sondrix quietly as she continues her ministrations. "Now, lay down Cap!" she grumbles. Startripper walks off, muttering to himself, "And Dad said it would be more interesting to stay at home..." Sondrix meekly obeys Rossellini and nods at Snowmist briefly. "I will." Startripper heads into Corridor. Startripper has left. Stormtemper merely watches Durango do his work... Snowmist nods to Son, offering a brief smile. "Well, take care, Son. I'll see about leaving Warrick a note." Sondrix manages a little smile in return. "Thank you Miss Snowmist..." she murmurs. Sharpeye peers around at Snowmist's left shoulder, then the other one, making sure there are no large cuts, bruises, or anything that he could have missed. Durango mms as he reads the small screen. "You got a bump on the head, nothing serious, just need a cold compression on it from the looks of things. Gonna be pretty bruisey." Snowmist turns to Sharpeye, just in time to see his intense scrutiny. Dryly, she says, "I'm fine. But as for yourself...how's that shoulder?" Stormtemper grumbles but shrugs slowly.. "Fine." Blackface sighs quietly with relief upon seeing everyone is okay. Or, relatively so. Sharpeye absently lifts a paw to touch his injured shoulder. "Ah... it'll be fine. Just bruised for a bit." Rossellini nods at Snowmist. "Thankye for bringin' the Cap in. She's a stubborn coot." She then lays the compress under Sondrix's head and whisks out a scanner from her lab coat pocket. Stormtemper catches sight of Blackface by the door, and nods slightly, "Evenin' Colonel.." Durango moves to rummage at a counter cabinet for a little, coming up with a compress and wending his way back to Stormtemper's bed. "Keep this under your head for about 48 hours." Blackface nods back. "Private. I trust you are not seriously injured?" Snowmist tilts her head, eyes narrowing, but she doesn't say anything before she turns to Rossellini. "Sure thing. Somebody needed to watch her since she seems incapable of doing so herself." She winks at Son. Stormtemper mrrrrs? "48 hours? I'm not gonna be here in 48 hours..." Sondrix swivels her eyes in Blackface's direction. "Colonel sir..." she murmurs. "I'm a little ahh, indisposed at present so pardon..." Stormtemper nods again at Blacky. "No. I'm fine, sir." Blackface shakes his head to Sondrix. "No worries, Captain. I just wished to see that there were no serious injuries." He looks around. "Apparently, there are not." You whisper, "So, you think y'need anything from here? Or shall we go take shelter on the Chimaera? 'Least nothing's happened there yet..."" to Sharpeye. Durango says, very patiently, "Sleep with it, and you *are* going to be resting for at least 10 hours tonight. Starting now." Stormtemper growls, "Keep yer damn needles to yerself, medic." Sharpeye whispers, "Hrm, good idea. Perhaps the Chimaera is immune from bad things. Though it was almost stolen once... Come to think of it, I owed Davies for helping me out with that. Too bad he's dead now." Rossellini runs the scanner with an eagle eye. "You're gonna be spending a night sleeping, Cap, if you know what's good fer you," she threatens roundly. "Or I will get the..." She stops talking and rounds on Stormtemper. "No one said anything about needles Private, so do as the medic says and all will be well." Sharpeye looks over at Blackface. "Colonel, you might want to consider tracking down Lex. He does not at all appear to be the same Lex that walked into that bar. Oh, and there is quite some disturbing news about the Shadowtrappers." Snowmist raises an eyebrow before nodding. Waving to Son and Rossellini in farewell, she turns toward the door, pausing only when Sharpeye mentions the shadowtrappers. Stormtemper turns to raise an eyebrow at Rossellini. "I've been in med bay before, dear.. an' they -always- insisted on giving me something to 'help me sleep'..." Sondrix arches a brow as she pushes herself up on one elbow. "Private. Do as he says." Her voice, while still tired, is nonetheless still commanding. Blackface looks over to Sharpeye. "Lex. The one..." He pauses, thinking for the words. "sucked up... by the... thing?" Sharpeye nods. Stormtemper salutes. "Yes, ma'am." Blackface snorts. "I see. Do you know where he went?" Rossellini's green eyes spark. "I am not your 'dear' and if you wish to call me anything else accord me my rank of Lieutenant," she snaps. She turns back to Sondrix and looks at the scanner she's still holding again, snorting. Sharpeye shakes his head. "No, sorry." Snowmist offers, "He's usually hanging around the docking arms, though. He might turn up around there later." Durango waits for the fracas to be over before he eyes Stormtemper over again. "And, I have no intention of giving you anything to help you sleep. You've a thick skull and it isn't broken. Keep the compress on it, or you'll end up with a massive headache." Blackface hangs his head, and reaches up to scratch behind an ear. Only then does he notice he still has a piece of wood impaled by his claws. He gently works to tug it off, asking, "And what is this disturbing news of the shadowtrappers?" Sharpeye shrugs. "According to the zookeeper, there are more of them now, and they are mad that one of their kind was killed. They will start attacking people more often." Blackface frowns. "I... see. Thank you." Sondrix eases herself down on the bed again with a soft little hiss escaping her. "Ros, what's the status on the bump on my head?" she murmurs wryly. "No concussion, aye?" Stormtemper snaps off a picture-perfect salute at the Lieutenant Doctor, and snaps, "Yes, ma'am!" Returning his attention to Durango, he merely nods, grudgingly. Snowmist adds to Sharpeye's information, "Its suspected that 2 or 3 have been spawned in the interim, and that they could affect non-psionics adversely as well if they choose to. Which they just might, with the killing of that last one. It might be that one's also slipped off the station..." Rossellini deactivates the scanner. "Nothing serious but you're extremely fatigued, if the levels in your bloodstream show anything, Cap. Get you some rest or I'll have the Brigadier General make it an order, damnit." Blackface frowns even more, his tail falling to the floor. "Very well." Durango hands Stormtemper the compress. "There you go. If it gets any worse, come back and we'll do something about it that doesn't require injection." Sharpeye nods and offers Snowmist his hand, the one on the arm with the uninjured shoulder. "Y'wanna get going now?" Sondrix chuckles a little. "You won't have to make it an order Ros...I wager he'll take a hand in it soon enough when this gets to his ears." She winces a little as she moves her head. Snowmist snorts as she takes it. "Shouldn't I be the one lending an arm here?" Daneel arrives from Corridor. Daneel has arrived. Sharpeye chuckles with a little shake of his head. "Come on." Daneel comes in, rubbing his arms and his left pectoral muscle. Stormtemper nods, and slowly sits up, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed before accepting the compress.. "Thanks.. it think." You head into Corridor. Corridor - SCB Citadel This massive corridor is indeed a very busy place. People mill around taking care of whatever tasks may be at hand. Along the cold steel walls are advertisements and Vangard recruitment posters. A tram carries cargo through the massive round spoked door leading to the Docking Arm. Sun Oct 31 21:33:55 2651 Contents: Exits: Reporter Jones Sullivan's Quarters Captain Marcus BFG Weapons Emporium Sharpeye arrives from Medical Department. Sharpeye has arrived. Jones smiles, unsuccessfully brushing hair from her face, "That is an easy question for me to answer." A slightly above average Vanguard Captain, looking quite scruffy, asks Jones. "Well, but you aren't me and..." Jones cuts off the babble and shrugs, smiling. Snowmist and Sharpeye walk out of medical, hand in hand, heading toward the docking arm. Blackface arrives from Medical Department. Blackface has arrived. Blackface steps out, a small piece of polished wood in his hand. He looks around and heads for the ladder down. Marcus smiles to Jones, shaking his head slowly. "It's all really cheerios and spray cheese, isn't it?" He asks, looking towards Medical. "Is terestin in?" Jones nods, "I am betting she is. During that...fiasco, she was the last one to get hit.. She was conscious and everything, but they brought her down to Medical anyway." Sharpeye stops walking when he and Mist near the others. "Ah... Miss Jones, you didn't happen to get the incident on tape, did you?" Blackface heads into Security Checkpoint. Blackface has left. Marcus frowns at Jones' words, looking more than his fair share of worry. He sincerely asks Jones. "You alright?" Looking quickly toawrds Medical and then the reporter again, biting his lower lip and awaiting the response. "I don't know..I have to check. But based on the other times I encountered that thing..I doubt it." Jones says slowly. Her eyes move to Marcus, "I am fine. Go ahead." She smiles a little and nods to the Medical door. Marcus nods quickly, his hand rising for a moment towards Jones, though he halts it, offers a wide smile, a brief bow and heads for medical. Marcus heads into Medical Department. Marcus has left. Jones's eyes look down. Sharpeye nods. "All right, thank you. Let me know if you have anything recorded, will you?" Snowmist looks over Jones briefly. "You all right Jonesy? Gonna be making a trip to medical?" Stormtemper arrives from Medical Department. Stormtemper has arrived. Jones nods, "I will, and...I don't think so, Snowmist. I am fine. Thanks though." She smiles to them both and turns towards the lift. Stormtemper emerges from the med bay, holding a cold compress to his head and looking quite displeased with the way the world is treating him.. Snowmist waves. "Laterz, Jonesy. Take care." Jones says, "You too.." Jones heads into Promenade . Jones has left.
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