| abstract
| - Sirocco Street - A vast change from the city above, the undercity is filthy. Lights hang from the ceiling, shining onto the cracked gray asphault. The air is completely still, with the only breeze being stirred up as a vehicle passes. Factory fronts have grown like weeds amidst the ruins of old shops that once inhabited this street. Sheppard walks on out, stopping to take a carrot out and light up. Bri follows Sheppard out, her eyes looking around the area once she's outside. She stretches lightly and looks back to wait for Pavel. Pavel closes the door behind them all as he exits, shaking his head. "Anyway, da. I can live with a cat." Shep pauses to lock the door, before putting his lighter away, drawing on that smoldering carrot. Bri beams brightly, "Awesome, we'll have to get food, and a box, and a bed for it, and...I can teach it to sit in my arms and glare at people," she says all giddily. "Can I teach it how to attack people?" Pavel asks after a moment, voice thoughtful, "with a codeword?" Sheppard moves further out into the street, checking along it as he chambers a round into Jen. And from one of the old factory fronts comes a large explosion. Years of neglect, likely aided by some kind of mischief taking place more recently, make the explosion quite large, but ultimately contained. Unfortunately, as it is the undercity, asphalt and other grey specks of dust are unsettled by this, and they start to 'rain', for lack of a better word. Bri seemed about to follow after Shep, her eyes going back to Pavel, a little smirk on her lips and probably a witty reply when the explosion stops her, rocking her on her feet for a moment and then her first instinct kicks in, duck and run for cover. Her arms come up to cover her head and she lunges back in Pavel's direction, screaming in fright. "Hoop!" Pavel immediately jumps forward to place himself in front of Bri, protectively. "Sabrina, stay behind me!" He turns his back against the ashen rain for the worst of it, then looks back to see if there's any hint of who's doing the exploding. Shep is moving once the explosion hits, hitting the wall of an alley and pointing Jen down the street in the direction of the explosion, "Keep back an' keep 'er safe," Shep calls to Pavel, not seeming to really mind the ashen rain, or if he does mind, he does nothing about it. And when there is one explosion, others follow, the one of which being what looks to be an EMP grenade aimed towards Pavel and Bri, promptly making a point of exploding right near them. Sheppard seems to have not been noticed yet or nothing seems to have happened in his neck of the woods just yet. Bri screams again as the explosions come closer, "Pasha!" she cries out, panicking as she tries to run, and cling, and duck all at the same time resulting in her mostly ducking and clinging and failing to do the running thing so well. Unfortunately, Pavel's not much to cling to. He stiffens and staggers, blurting wildly, "Psi-psion-" before he just collapses to the ground in an undignified heap, eyes rolling back in his head. Sheppard risks a glance back at Bri's scream, "Fucking meat lovin' /'ell/!" he says when Pavel goes down. Abandoning his cover, he runs towards Bri and the slumped Pavel, "On yer feet schoolgirl, we're movin' /now/," he says, aiming to try and lift the fallen Ungstiri. Dean steps out from one of the many alleyways of Sirocco Street. His head immediately cranes as he senses the explosion, moving as well as he can to avoid any blast. And two more darts fly out. One hitting Pavel, which doesn't seem to matter a great deal in the great scheme of things, and another firing at Sheppard. Bri and Sheppard would notice that the source seems to be from one of the old factories near the source of the explosion, out of the asphalt rain falling over Sirocco street, in this case looking to number four. Bri screams even louder when Pavel goes down, "P-P-.." is all she can seem to get out as she pulls on him. At Shep's orders and seeing him grab the small Ungstiri she doesn't question, just following orders at this point, and trying to keep up with Shep. She only hesitates for a moment when she catches sight of the darts, but instict kicks in and she hurries for cover. Sheppard scoops Pavel up, and angles to bring both himself and Bri towards a nearby alley, wall, or anything of the like that would give them cover from those in that factory. If he even noticed getting hit by that dart, he makes no comment nor does he show much sign of it. Dean doesn't take long at all to react to the going ons. He spots Bri, Shep and Pavel, and sprints towards an adajcent cover position, noting the darts. And as Dean goes to help, and Sheppard goes to run off, a pair of frag grenades follow. Shrapnel and another pair of explosions making a very large, very dangerous combination for those nearby. Sheppard ducks into that alley, thank you cover. Pavel is deposited next to him and smacked, "Wake up mate, we need yah," regardless of if he wakes or not, Shep glances over to Dean, "Glad yah could join us, let's kill 'ese fuckers, aye? Over in 'at ware'ouse,", and with that, he chambers a round in Jen, ready, but waiting for Bri. As the frag grenades go off, shrapnel rips through Dean's skin and body. Shards tear pieces of flesh off him, spraying crimson liquid on the ground and wall. Some major gashes, such as on his side, right cheek and leg, show pure metal. No bone, or any other sort of internal matter. Despite the blast, he keeps trucking. His focus seems on getting Bri behind cover. Whether he has to shield, carry, or throw her he seems hell-bent on the task. Apparently more explosions were not on Bri's mind at the time...and it seems that Dean's cover is the only thing that gets her in that alley. It's not without taking a huge hit though which leaves her staggering and falling to the ground, gasping for air, several gaping wounds in her tiny body, and when the dust clears she's hardly breathing let alone even conscious. The four in the building leaving, exposing themselves to the asphalt rain for the first time, three of them armed with little crossbows now, currently making a movement towards the alley everyone ran off to, but not firing this time around. "Fuckin' /'ell/ yew meat lovers are gonna fuckin' pay fer this!" Shep says as he sees Bri come in all wounded and the like. Jen is set aside for a moment, and a frag grenade is pulled from a pouch on his kevlar. The pin is pulled and Shep steps halfway out of the alley, still keeping himself halfway in cover to lob that grenade at the largest clump, or if there are no clumps, the closest one. And when Sheppard pulls out the grenade and tosses, two of them are caught in the debris, and are no longer looking so great, but they seem to have withstood the blast for the most part, and are making a point to run away. Plumpaw half-stumbles, on account of an explosion jarring her stride with surprise, out of the lobby and glues herself to a wall nearby. She dashes for the cover of a corner building before she even bothers to find her pistol and pat down for her spare magazine, with a quick peek to take stock of the smoking wreckage. Dean remains behind the cover of the alley, removing his stun gun and charging it up, pointing it at the entrance, waiting for the attackers to arrive. A groan escapes Pavel as he sits up, blinking blearily. Looking all about for Bri, he quickly finds her, his eyes widening in slow horror at the state she's in. "You fucking bastards!" he screams in groggy Mierz, lurching to his feet. Despite being visibly unsteady, he digs around in his coat's pockets, coming up with a grenade of unusual make. The Ungstiri stares at it a moment as if he can't remember what it is or how it got in his pocket, then hurls it violently at the two ones who aren't fleeing with more anger than panache. The scene that Plum would find herself thrust into so violently would be a building that suddenly exploded...and then several frag grenades that went off near an alley in which four familiar people are taking cover. Shep and Dean seem to be mostly alright, Dean with a few lacerations that don't seem to have slowed him down much. On the other hand, Bri's in a really bad state, bleeding out in the alley, and hardly breathing, the reason why becoming apparent when she manages to cough up a large amount of blood...at least large for her small frame. With two running, and two now stuck. One of the runners (the unarmed one) turns around for a brief moment, before continuing running. The other doing little more than dropping a flashbang behind to try and by them time. As for the stuck ones, well, they don't seem to be that loved. "Dean, get schoolgirl an' get ready to haul ass ta the 'ospital," Shep says, picking Jen back up, turning to cover Dean, ducking behind cover again for the flashbang to go off, before coming back out and shouting, "MOVE," to the man. If no one is shooting back, he'll take a shot at the nearest stuck person. Dean turns towards the fallen Bri, crimson liquid oozing off him as he reaches out to carefully, but powerfully, heft her up and move out for the hospital. And Sheppard's target is now not only stuck, but stuck and covered with blood now as well. His buddy is also covered in the substance. The dispatch of a flashbang is enough for Plum. She half-steps from behind her cover to line up a clear shot at the fleeing ones, particularly the one with the flashbang. Wearing a mighty frown and high hopes, she tries to concentrate less on the condition of the familiars and more on inflicting damage to the aggressors with a fair shot. Plumpaw's target manages to dodge. "Kill them," Pavel wildly tells Sheppard, reeling a moment from something as the flashbang lands before he shakes it off. The small Ungstiri digs into his pocket, whipping out an explosive surprise and heaving it at the two fleeing ones before taking off after them at full (unsteady) pelt. "Kill them all!" Still no movement from Bri and no protest when Dean lifts her, just a lot of bleeding out. Where Plum didn't hit the flashbang guy, Pavel gets another hit in on him. He seems somewhat shocked, but at this point just keeps trying to flee. The unarmed one, continuing in his flight, simply looks at Plumpaw for a moment before continuing. "Damnit mate," Shep says under his breath, "Dean, yew get 'er treated an' stay with 'er no matter what, we'll be up asap," he calls to the moving man. As the other two flee, Shep stands. Keeping Jen in one hand, the knife kept in a sheath on his right shoulder is pulled out, and he calmly walks over to the already injured stuck man, and slides the knife into where the man's throat would be. He walks over to the other, "You mah friend, are comin' with us," he states. A blow to head with Jen's butt to at least daze him, before he starts cutting him out. The poor guy being dragged by Shep squeeks, but not much else comes out of him at this point, his eyes going from Shep to his now dead companion and back again, no words seemingly able to be found. Lazarus Offices - The Tomin Kora offices for the Lazarus Corporation are larger than the outside would have it appear. White paneling gives the already sterile atmosphere more of a clinical feel, while the desk is done in a teak-like material. A pinkish carpet covers the metal floor out the front, giving a contrasting look to the area. The room with the resurrection creches is decorated with bright stainless steel. The front of the building has a directory with a variety of different services on offer. Dean bursts through the doors, using his shoulders, and not the woman in his arms. "We need medical attention!" His voice comes out a little strange, a little metallic and echo-y. Sheppard comes in after Dean, still carrying that one man. A smoldering carrot has been placed between his lips, and Jen has been replaced with Kat, held in his one free hand. The big Solan does NOT look happy at the moment, either. Several nurses stop what they're doing and hurry to assist at the call for help, chatter immediately starts, "Get a doc, stat, get a transfusion, IV..." a gurney is wheeled out and it's indicated Bri should be placed there. People start working immediately on her broken body, and she's quickly wheeled away toward the operating room. The man being hauled in by Shep seems to be staying quiet at the moment, and working very hard at doing so. Dean sets Bri down, and takes a few steps back. He's still dripping deep crimson liquid everywhere, flesh torn all over his body, major gashes showing shiny-steel colored metal. He turns to take another step and pauses. His head shoots to the side a little, shaking unnaturally. It settles, and then happens again. Dean seems to be just standing there. Kat is holstered again, and Shep's free hand goes to Dean's shoulder, "Mate, get yerself patched up too, aye? Yah did good out 'ere taday, would even letcha cover ma six after whatcha did," he says to the man. And then, without asking permission, he drags the tanglered man into an unoccupied room, barging through medical staff if need be. Tank not happy. The door flings open, a wild-eyed Pavel breathing very hard. He's still unsteady as he stumbles in, calling loudly, "Sabrina! Where is Sabrina, let me see her!" Plumpaw stumps in with a noticeable limp just a few moments later, looking immensely grumpy as per her flattened ears, wrinkled snout, and terribly mussed tail lashing irritably along behind her. Several nursed come to attend to Dean, trying to get him to move toward one of the empty medical beds in the ER. Two orderlies move to stop Pavel's progress, "You can't go back there," one of them tries to explain. "She'll be fine. Somebody will be out to let you know what's going on shortly." nobody stops Shep...nobody's brave enough to. A third new person shows up, practically skidding into the scene - oddly, from another wing of the facility. "'kari's thrice-damned, ferever-cursed -sword-," Kes swears. "The hell -happened-?" she demands loudly of nobody in particular, then stomps toward Dean and Shep deliberately. That is one very short woman with a very short temper. And she's on a mission. Dean doesn't allow treatment from the nurses. He just goes along bleeding as his arm twitches a bit. Then just his hand. He makes his way over to grab a single towel from a shelf and starts to wipe himself off. "Ambush," Shep replies to Kes simply, "Need some 'elp in 'ere," he states to no one in particular before moving into the room. The man he's carrying is bashed in the head again with Shep's fist, again to daze him, before that knife comes out to cut open the mess of tangler stuff on him. "I.." Pavel abruptly deflates at the nurse's words, and then slowly, mutely nods. Without another word he follows Shep, seemingly unhurt himself except for a bruise purpling on his cheek and a nearly drunk stagger to his steps. Plumpaw heads for Dean, and squints at him as if focusing is a big deal. "All right?" She manages to ask coherently. "Pavel, sit 'fore ya fall over," Kes snaps, then looks over at Dean. "You too. I'll look atcha both. Mayaswell, m'already 'ere." She points at the nearest ER bed, glowering sternly. She looks up at the Demarian then. "You sit too. Damn, y'all are a sorry-lookin' lot jest now." The man in Shep's clutches trembles and makes a soft whining sound but otherwise he remains still, no actual words coming from him just yet. Dean moves to take a seat at a nearby chair, continuing to wipe the liquid off of him and not allowing it to get on the furniture. He eyes the crimson ooze on the ground, continuing to twitch at random times. Sheppard frisks the man when he's free on the tangler stuff, removing any weapons, anything of value, well, pretty much anything at all. Weapons, credits, papers, pictures, wallet, anything he has on him gets moved to the side. The man says nothing, simply smokes his carrot as he works. "I am not hurt," Pavel says flatly over his shoulder to Kestrel, striding up to Sheppard's side. "Who sent you?" he demands of the bigger man's captive with single-minded intensity. Plumpaw doesn't refuse the tiny, tempermental woman, and sprawls in the nearest (and thankfully unoccupied) chair and props her sore ankle up on the chair next to her as she leans her head over the back with a humongous sigh. "Noidear whut's goin' on," she slurs to absolutely no one. Kestrel snorts at Pavel. "Coulda fooled me, yer walkin' like yer three sheets to th'damn wind," she retorts, "but suit yerself." She then eyes Dean. "You gonna say ya ain't hurt too?" A frown crosses her face, and she pauses, as if thinking about something, then shakes her head. "Kin take a look if ya like. But, well..." She leans close to whisper something to him. "Eat shit," is the only response Pavel gets from the man. With Kestrel seeming to have a grip on things here the nurses start to move away. And from the direction of the OR comes a man in a white coat, "I'm looking for anybody with Miss Alington?" he calls out, looking around the area expectantly, calling it out loud enough to hear in any other rooms nearby too. Sheppard looks to Pavel, nodding to him when the people come in. Then the knife is drawn and stabbed with the big Solan's strength and weight behind it into the shoulder of the man who they've captured, "YOU FUCKING ANSWER THE MAN WHEN 'EE ASKS YOU A FUCKING QUESTION, YOU DAMNED MEAT EATING BASTARD!" Shep screams in the mans face. No, he does not care that there are hospital staff in the room. "That's fucking right," Pavel snarls, leaving the volume to Shep and settling for a more quiet sort of menacing. A hand dives into his pocket, pulling out an Explosive Surprise. "Do you know what this is? A little bomb. I can light this up, shove it inside your mouth, hold your jaw shut with my -mind- and count on your fucking -face- to soak up the kaboom for me and my big angry friend here. So TAKE 2. Who. Sent. Your. Hooping. ASS!" Plumpaw remains sprawled, only lifting ehr head a mite to peer across the lobby at the loud room and flick an ear in irritated dismissal. She does manage, however, to utter a grunt. "'Is is a fuckin' -hospital-," Kes snarls, poking her head into said loud room. "People in 'ere don' need 'at kinda shit, you two dick-wavin' fools either take it outside 'r do it later." She blinks blankly and watches as Dean walks out, shaking her head. She perks up as the doctor calls out, though, and scoots over to him. There's a scream when the knife's shoved into the man's shoulder, and he sags against Shep, blood running out from around the knife. He then starts to chuckle softly, his eyes coming up just enough to look at Pavel. He may or may not be trying to suck up the injury with his sardonic words, "Yeah, we know all about you," the man says to Pavel, a sneer on his lips, "Know all the fuck about you. Do whatever you want to me, your gonna kill me anyway." The doctor looks Kestrel over, "You're with Miss Alington?" he asks, "I think we should go speak over here," he says indicationg an area away from everybody else. "Yew fucking bastard," Shep states simply to the man. He grabs the man's left shin, once at his ankle and once right below his knee, and bends the limb, which from Shep, will most likely result in some serious breakage. "I think you lack a grasp of the continuum between stone cold dead and alive. You want to die neatly, quickly and with dignity or do you want to be paralyzed, watching yourself flayed alive piece by piece, gagged with strips of your own skin so nobody can hear you scream?" Pavel asks the man softly, his lip curling. "Think about that. Just... think about it for a little." He moves over to close the door, perhaps some concession to Kestrel's words. Plumpaw's stiiiilll borderline senseless in her chair at any rate. Not even pained screaming gets her to stir out of her staring contest with the ceiling. Kestrel nods at the doctor, trailing along with him. "I'll get rid'a them noisy assholes soon as we're done talkin' by th'way," she grumbles, glaring back at the now-closed door. Then, she rubs at the bridge of her nose. "Got some medic trainin' under m'belt, so feel free t'talk plain with me, doc. 'R not so plain, as th'case may be, however ya need ta git yer point 'cross." The doctor nods, "It's...bad quite frankly, fluid in her lungs...caused by a punctur wound....more serious gaping wounds, broken ribs, broken arm, leg...you getting the picture here? Very...broken," he explains to Kestrel. Another scream of pain as the man's leg snaps almost like a twig in Shep's big hands. "Fuck!" the guy shouts, panting..and anymore words are lost in the pain. Shep gets in the man's face, finally pulling that knife free from the man's shoulder, wrenching it out too, he's not gentle with it, "Yew fuckin' tell me somethin' worth more 'an /shit/ a'fore Ah break yer other leg, yah hear me!?" he says, backhanding the man across the face, hard. "I think he needs time to consider his options," Pavel tells Sheppard, voice firm and cold. "He cannot speak through the pain yet. Give him a moment. And then if he refuses? We should take him home and let him think about it overnight." "'kari's sword..." Kes says, shaking her head and crossing her arms. She stares at her boots for a few moments, then looks back up to the doctor. "Jest tell me straight, she gonna live?" The man's head rocks back with the blow and it's several moments before he can finally reply, "Fuck off and die," he says through gritted teeth. The doc looks at Kes, "She's stable for now, we'll know more in the morning. It's...a lot of surgery." Sheppard really does not seem to care about what's going on around him at this point. Instead, he takes the man's good arm, and shoves his dagger none too gently under the man's thumbnail, before using it as a fast lever upwards, tearing the nail off at the roots. "Sheppard!" Pavel reaches to touch the bigger man's shoulder. "We need to do this carefully." His voice remains cold, calculating. "We need to take our time with him. Let me knock him out and take him home, we can work on him tomorrow." Kestrel sighs and rubs one hand across her hair. "M'stayin 'ere 'en," she says, nodding. "In th'room with 'er if you'll let me, 'r I'll sleep out 'ere if I gotta. But I ain't leavin'." She holds out a hand to the doctor, and offers a very faint smile. "Thanks fer talkin' straight with me, at least. Got somethin' else I gotta take care'a, then I'll be back 'round." The doctor nods to Kestrel, "Stay in the room if you like," he replies and heads back into the OR. "There's only screaming when that nail tears loose, nothing else just loud blood curdling screaming. Sheppard does pause as Pavel talks to him, some sort of internal battle going on, but it doesn't quite seem to reach him. His attacks aren't quite as vicious, but those fists of his move to pummel the man's face, aiming mostly for the nose. "Damn it- SHEPPARD!" Pavel shouts, throwing a hand out and trying to telekinetically yank the prisoner up and safely out of reach, floating for the ceiling. The door to the room containing Pavel, Shep, and the man Shep's beating to hell -flies- open, slamming into the wall behind it. "KNOCK. IT. THE. FUCK. OFF," Kes roars, an awfully loud sound from that tiny woman. She's still got one booted foot up in the air from where she kicked the door after unlatching it. For effect, of course. "What, ya want Bri ta fuckin' -die- cause y'all couldn't keep from doin' 'is shit 'ere? Sick people need -quiet-. Kanter's -mercy-." Shep's stopped from pummeling the man only for the poor guy to fall flat on his face when Pavel lifing him from Shep's grip suddenly isn't enough to keep the poor guy afloat. Sheppard pauses at Kes's words. The knife is picked up, wiped clean, and returned to it's sheath on his left shoulder. Jen is picked up after that, but instead of shooting, he walks over to the man and smacks him in the head with Jen's butt, obviously to knock him out. When that's done, well, the big Solan is actually trembling, finally getting off that adrenaline high. Pavel slumps heavily against the wall as his power fails him, beginning to tremble slightly himself. "Hoop. Hoop," he whispers, drawing a shaky breath. "Kestrel- Kestrel, how is she? She... she will be all right, yes?" Kestrel takes a deep breath and rubs a hand across her hair, then wanders over to Shep, laying a hand on his shoulder. "Better?" she asks quietly, her brow creasing a bit. Then her gaze goes to Pavel. "She's tore up pretty bad. Needs lotsa surgery. Stable fer now, but they'll know more in th'mornin'." She shrugs. "Got permission ta stay in 'er room with 'er. I ain't leavin'." There's nothing but a groan from the poor guy on the ground. Sheppard nods a bit to Kes, slinging Jen back over his shoulder, "Ah get the kill. No one kills 'im 'cept me," he states simply about the man on the ground. He pauses again, taking a breath, "An' Ah'm stayin' 'ere too, 's mah fault she's 'urt 'is bad, ain't leavin'," "Fuck," Pavel says eloquently. "...We tie him to a gurney, then. And..." He hesitates, visibly unhappy. "...Someone should watch him." "Yer thinkin' inside th'box, Pavel," Kes notes, waving a finger at him. "We're inna hospital. I know a fair bit 'bout medicine. Betcha I could knock 'is 'kari-cursed ass out fer a good long while." She grins, then blinks innocently. "'E's obviously in need'a painkillers, first off..." She pauses. "Then 'e -does- need restrained. So 'e don't hurt 'imself, see? Ya tell th'hospital staff 'e's a danger ta 'imself an' others, an' they'll keep an eye on 'im, too, I bet." "After what 'ey pulled Kes, Ah ain't riskin' leavin' 'im up ta the 'ospital staff, or keepin' 'im unwatched, two of 'em got away, keep watch, two hour shifts, Ah'll go first," although Shep really doesn't look like he could stay awake for two full hours at this point. He does lift him onto a gurney though. "All right," Pavel says at once, immediately turning to rush out for the nearest nurse with single-minded determination. "Sabrina? Where is Sabrina?" The nurse that Pavel catches looks over at him, "Sabrina? The little girl?" she asks, "She's just been wheeled into recovery. You family?" she asks. The poor smashed up guy doesn't put up more complaint than a groan as he's set on the gurny. Kestrel frowns for a few long moments, then slowly nods. "If two of 'em got away, 'at changes things." She gives Shep a gentle shove toward the door after he's put the man down. Does she expect to actually move him? Hell no, he's nearly twice her size. But the idea's there. "Go on. Rest. I'll git 'im. When it's yer turn, I'll wake ya up." Sheppard nods to Kes after the man's down, and does move for the door, and then follows Pavel to where Bri's room is, no more words from the big Solan. "Little girl? I am her fiance," Pavel growls, an eyebrow twitching. "Where?"
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