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Post by JW% on Nov 13, 2013 22:07:49 GMT -8
"Well... no... not yet." The older man said. "But I still think I should." He noticed Ryan's look. "Don't worry, I'm sure you won't get in trouble. I'll tell them you came right out when I put my flashlight on you, and you didn't do any damage to anything. You weren't defacing the gravestones or anything like that, right? There would be sad people if you did, sad, and some angry..."
~~~~~~~
Austin held his position as long as the other two were with him, and the gravekeepers flashlight could still be seen from where they were. But he was growing very anxious waiting as they were.
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Post by Penny Royals on Nov 13, 2013 22:25:38 GMT -8
"No, Sir!" He said quickly, snapping to attention with a salute. "Scouts honor!" He relaxed then, and nodded. "Alright... I'll go call home... at least to let them know I'm alright. I live close, so I can probably just walk home after that..."
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Post by JW% on Nov 13, 2013 22:33:31 GMT -8
"My house is just across the street, you can use my phone." He moved to show Ryan the way. "Be careful. The stormdrain comes out here. There's a fence around it, but I also put a few wooden boards over the top to make a bridge. It's almost big enough to drive a car through when it's dry like this, so I don't want you falling into it." They could actually go around, though there was a hedge in the way, it was easier going through that, than over the fence and the concrete artificial river that drained the hillside and kept the graveyard from getting too damp in heavy rains.
~~~~~~~~~
Austin watched as the flashlight moved out of the graveyard, but wasn't sure if he should come out of hiding or not. If it was his call, he'd probably just barge in and break stuff, and he knew that wasn't a good idea. So he glanced at Lyra and Zeph. Maybe one of them knew what to do now that Ryan was gone?
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mekasoundwave
Persistent Member
King of Braves
Filthy acts, at a reasonable price
Posts: 4,711
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Post by mekasoundwave on Nov 13, 2013 22:51:48 GMT -8
"No shit we need to go back," she replied to Austin, whispering. "But that gravekeeper's still there. Him seeing us will just waste time....."
Z suddenly had an idea. She had come to the realization that she was the only one there dressed properly for a stealthy night mission. IE: She was wearing black and not bright technicolor. Zephyrine leaned up to look at the gravekeeper and Ryan again before sneaking over toward a gravestone closer to the building.
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Post by JW% on Nov 13, 2013 23:15:55 GMT -8
Austin looked back and forth between Z and the gate where the flashlight had shown. The grave keeper was now shining it on the street and the trail back to his house(and telephone) for Ryan, so nobody spotted Z.
Good enough for him. Austin moved as quietly as he could through the grass, trying to follow Z.
They managed to sneak back into the funeral home without much trouble. The door was still unlocked after all. The little pink blip on their radars however said that Lucy wasn't in, or even under, the funeral home any more. She was traveling towards Ryan, deep under ground.
"The storm drain!" Austin blurted out when they were in the funeral home. "They came in through the storm drain and stole her that way! We need to catch up!"
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Post by Penny Royals on Nov 14, 2013 6:47:49 GMT -8
Ryan nodded, following the man over the storm drain. He let the man go slightly in front of him, and then took a quick glance backward, to catch a single glimpse of the party disappearing into the funeral home. His brow furrowed, and he sped up slightly. What the hell were they doing?
The house really wasn't far, which was good. He was ushered to a phone, and he did the only thing he really could do - he called home.
However, it WAS late at night by now. He knew as well as the next person that nobody would answer - even Jacques and Florence would be asleep. He let it ring, fall into voicemail, and hung up before he could leave a message.
"They're asleep... but I think I can get home from here by myself."
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Post by JW% on Nov 14, 2013 15:35:33 GMT -8
The grave keeper frowned. "I wouldn't want you walking the streets in the dark..." He said, sounding reluctant to just accept 'they're asleep' as an answer. "Maybe you should call them again? It's not that late, the sun's only been down an hour or so..." When the group had arrived it was sunset. "Maybe they just went to sleep and the phone ringing will wake them up? At the very least leave a message so they're not worried about you."
~~~~~~~~~
Austin almost kicked down the door to the stairwell and rushed down to see several moving forms still in the basement. The scent of decay assaulted him as the figures shuffled and moved, trying to lower down the other bodies as well. Almost as one the zombies heads turned to look at Austin as he came down the base of the stairs, and as one they turned from their tasks, raising their hands threateningly to shamble towards anyone who would interrupt their work.
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Post by Fiery Firefly on Nov 14, 2013 16:06:59 GMT -8
Lyra rushed down after Austin, and she grimaced as she saw the zombies, holding back a shriek so as not to alert anyone. She slipped her knife out of its holster, trying to figure out the best place to strike.
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Post by Penny Royals on Nov 14, 2013 17:17:38 GMT -8
((Shit, I didn't realize that))
"I'll leave them a message, then," He replied, dialing again, and letting it ring.
"-Hello, this is the Stark residence,[/font]" the boy immediately recognized the voice as Jacques, and brightened up a bit, before realizing that, of course, he wouldn't be able to really speak to him. Better think fast.
"-Hi Dad!" He quickly said. The man cut himself off then, going silent as the boy continued, "I just want you to know that I'm safe..."
"...What?[/font]"
"...-Yeah, I know what I did was wrong," he gave a soft sigh, "I promise I won't ever sneak out again!"
"I'm going to guess something's happening and you're fake-talking, otherwise, this is a little weird, Kiddo.[/font]"
"Yeah, the boys are gonna be in big trouble..."
"Well, since you snuck out, I'm guessing they did too. They're going to go home and get yelled at! By whatever form of parents they have. I'm not the one making up the story.[/font]"
"I know... I know you're disappointed, Dad... But I'm safe..."
"Kiddo, I doubt there's a way any of us could be disappointed, but for the sake of your story, yes, I'm very sad that you would have snuck out. You're in big trouble, young man![/font]"
The boy brightened up, successfully keeping back a laugh.
"I love you, Dad!"
"I love you too, Kiddo.[/font]"
"I'll be home soon... bye!"
He hung up then, looking towards the gravekeeper.
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Post by JW% on Nov 14, 2013 17:33:37 GMT -8
One of the corpses propelled by perverted medical technology lunged at Austin, another at Lyra. Austin rolled away, bringing his saber up and disconnecting the zombies flesh hand from it's elbow. That wasn't the hand he was worried about however, as the other had been replaced with prosthetics, the fingers now metal claws swinging at him.
The servo-corpse that went for Lyra tried to grab her shoulder, catching only the armor plates. It's hand drug across her body heavily, decaying flesh from the fingertips leaving sickening tracks of slime that suddenly became sparks as the fingers wore down to the bones and the sharp metal bones scratched her armor.
"The neck." Austin said, trying to get his blade up against the neck of the zombie on top of him. The two of them could hold the narrow stairwell. Z would have to either take the small elevator down, or leap over the top of them into the midst of the zombies. "Oz said... cut their spines..." Easier said than done he found. This narrow space his saber couldn't swing well, and Z's hammer would be even less useful.
At least there wasn't very many of them. Maybe five left in the room... four. One on Lyra, one on Austin, two waiting for their turn, and the fifth just dropping down the stormdrain tunnel to escape.
"Prrrroblemsssshhhhh..." Slurred one of the zombies from within the stormdrain.
"Get the truck going." Krylov ordered his undead minions. Of course, nobody present recognized his voice, knowing him only as a name on a business card, but the fact that it was an intelligent articulate voice pointed to him being the one in charge. "I need a bit more time... the great Vahzilok has given me a little surprise for these meddlers."
Over the top of the sound of electronic hydraulics forcing the prosthetic arm down against his own strength, Austin heard the sound of an engine start up from down in the stormdrain.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The grave keeper frowned at the half a conversation Ryan had with his 'father'. "Well... I guess if your fathers okay with you making the walk in the dark... I'm still going to call for somebody to impound those motorcycles though. They can't be parked on the street like they are. Not in the middle of the night..."
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Post by Fiery Firefly on Nov 14, 2013 20:55:59 GMT -8
"Get off me!" Lyra shrieked. As if in a trance, she began imitating the hold she had learned in training with Ryan, a bit sloppy with her movements but being able to pin the zombie down and use her knife to stab it in the back. She didn't need space for her weapon like Austin did.
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Post by Penny Royals on Nov 14, 2013 23:18:35 GMT -8
He nodded, and, as he started to leave, he turned back.
"I know I shouldn't ask... but can you wait to call them to impound them for another hour? I know that all my friends are jerks for leaving me, but they don't deserve to have their bikes junked or anything..."
He figured that he needed to hurry this up and get out the door - time was wasting, and there was no telling what his friends were up to.
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Post by JW% on Nov 14, 2013 23:52:36 GMT -8
"Don't worry about it." The grave keeper waved, to Ryan as the boy left. He held his phone in his hand ready to make the call, but had a kindly smile on his face. "They won't be junked."
~~~~~~~~~~~
The zombie beneath Lyra continued to twitch, but it was clear as soon as her blade went into it and a few sparks flew from the implanted pace-maker like spinal implants that it wasn't going to be combat worthy ever again.
"Nice moves." Austin choked out, managing to get his boot up under his opponents sternum and push the zombie off of him. They needed to push through this bunch as quickly as possible before Krylov got away with Lucy.
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mekasoundwave
Persistent Member
King of Braves
Filthy acts, at a reasonable price
Posts: 4,711
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Post by mekasoundwave on Dec 5, 2013 20:13:10 GMT -8
Things had gone awry, as expected, and now they'd have to deal with the usual abominations. Zephyrine wielded her hammer, aware that this tight area wasn't exactly the best environment for her big wide swings. She'd just have to change things up a bit. Behind her helmet, Z locked eyes on an unengaged zombie out in the open. Hoisting her hammer up onto her shoulder, Z took a step forward and chucked her hammer at the ghoul, the improvised projectile spinning like a big, blunt throwing knife at the monster..with Z chasing after the hammer to finish off whatever would be left of the ghoul should it hit. Or to get her damn hammer back if it didn't.
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Post by JW% on Dec 5, 2013 21:55:28 GMT -8
The hammer flew past both Lyra and Austin, smashing the servo-corpse to the far wall and knocking over a few of the bottles on the shelf. Zeph was behind it shortly, recovering her hammer and smashing what parts of the zombie were still moving despite it's caved in chest.
Austin managed to roll away. "Come on, we need to move. I think I hear a truck down there or something..." His roll brought him to the edge of the hole down into the stormdrains, and as such he dropped immediately down into the darkness.
In front of him were more of the zombies, but at least down here there was more room to fight than the stairwell. About as much as the room. Behind the zombies there was a pickup with a tarp over the back. Motions from beneath the tarp implied something there was happening.
"Drive! Get us out of here before they catch us." Krylov told his minion at the wheel. "This is weapon takes longer to work than I enjoy..."
Austin fired a few shots from his pistol, trying to hit the trucks tires. He missed quite dramatically and quickly had to switch back to his sword to deal with the shambling monsters closing on him.
~~~~~~~~~
As Ryan crossed the concrete drain path he heard the truck through the tunnel. Looking up it he also saw the markers for Lucy, and now Austin, were at about this level.
And the two or three laser bolts were kinda obvious too.
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Post by Penny Royals on Dec 7, 2013 10:24:09 GMT -8
The boy had stopped, some ways down the road, and had made sure the man wasn't looking or following him before re-armoring, and taking to a sprint back towards the church. Coming over the bridge was where he saw that the markers had changed, and he paused before hearing the trucks below, and seeing the lasers.
A moment later, he had jumped down, and was running through the sewers to find the rest of his teammates to find out just what the hell had happened.
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Post by Fiery Firefly on Dec 28, 2013 20:38:21 GMT -8
Lyra took a leap of faith... literally. She could tell something was up in the truck, and that it couldn't get away and she jumped as high and far as she could to try to land on the tarp in the pickup.
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Post by JW% on Dec 28, 2013 21:47:52 GMT -8
Lyra vaulted past Austin, who was still fighting the shambling zombies and landed on the end of the truck even as it rolled away. She found Lucy, or at least Lucy's casket, underneath her. And something else. Something moving...
Ryan ran towards the headlights of the truck seeing a tarp on the back being thrown aside by something huge. He barely caught sight of Lyra being thrown from the truck. She bounced against the wall as a behemoth jumped off the tailgate. It looked... well it was taller than the truck and almost as wide at the shoulders. Beyond that, to Ryan, it was just a vague shape in the darkness behind the shining lights on his face.
Austin got a better look at it. This... creature... had massive shoulders, massive arms, and pretty good sized everything else. Except for a head. One could make an argument that it had no head of it's own. Instead, Krylov was inside the... creatures ribcage. His head stuck out somewhere between the creatures collarbones, and with every motion as his hands, now buried in the things biceps, some sort of white puss leaked. He saw it toss Lyra into a wall like she was a rag doll, and then focus on him.
"That's... not good." Austin said, wondering where Zeph was and not knowing that Ryan was just ahead of him, even if the stitched up frankenstein creature carried the mastermind towards him with a killing intent in Krylov's eyes.
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Post by Fiery Firefly on Dec 28, 2013 22:05:31 GMT -8
Lyra shrieked as she was thrown off and hit the wall, and struggled to lift herself up. "Ryan! Zeph! Someone! Help!"
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Post by Penny Royals on Dec 28, 2013 22:39:11 GMT -8
The scene was a bit confusing, jumping down into the sewers first thing, with headlights blasting out from the stationary truck. Squinting, he was able to make out a lumbering figure of some sort on top of the truck and a being of some sort driving the truck. His radar showed that Lucy was somewhere on it too, and showing his teammates and their places. He saw Lyra being picked up and tossed off the side, and then heard her scream for help. Unable to see the rest at the back just yet, but able to see at least that there was a creature that may or may not have just been alerted to her by her screaming, he rushed to her.
"Are you okay?" He asked quickly, leaning down and taking one of her arms to heave it over his shoulders and lift her up. "Does anything feel broken?"
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Post by Fiery Firefly on Dec 29, 2013 16:07:20 GMT -8
"OW! OW!" Lyra said, "One of my arms really hurts. At the very least I think its sprained, but it might be broken. I can't tell."
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Post by Penny Royals on Dec 29, 2013 16:43:35 GMT -8
"Shhhhh, hey, it's okay." His voice was soothing, but there were hints of panic seeping through. He steadied them both back against the wall, and cast a few glances around to see the scene better, and the figures that hadn't moved towards them - yet. Concerned as she spoke, he hardened his face, and reached down to hold her hand, lifting her arm up as gently as he could. He surveyed it for a moment, fingers going up to touch her jumpsuit lightly. "It's hard to say... but whatever it is, it's not good. And I could say the same for this situation. Can you use your phaser with your other hand?"
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Post by Fiery Firefly on Dec 29, 2013 16:52:28 GMT -8
"I dunno, I hurt my right arm and I'm right handed, but I'll try." Lyra said, awkwardly grabbing the phaser with her left hand.
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Post by JW% on Dec 29, 2013 17:18:12 GMT -8
Austin raised his sword in one hand, his other firing off to his side and hitting, but only annoying, one of the shambling servants of Vhazilock.
"You miserable meddling children..." Krylov growled, taking a step forward, trying to get his balance in the new suit of flesh he wore. "I had a sweet deal going. I help the infected. I keep their lives going! I'm trying to save people!"
"Save them to become these?" Austin rallied, trying to keep the mans attention off of Ryan and Lyra. Zeph was backing him up, right? The ping in his helmet showed Zeph behind him, but he couldn't look to tell where exactly. With a sweep he lunged forward. A flash of light and servo-corpse staggered back, it's primary motivator unit... it's head... disconnected from it's twitching body. "Is that what you wanted for my brother? To replace him bit by bit as you let him rot until he was your slave?"
"Payment due." Krylov replied, feeling much steadier on his oversized feet. He flexed his arms, creating a squelching sound, and the muscles and hydraulics responded. "Doctor Vhazilock is going to find a cure... and for that he needs test subjects. But you're just little lab rats that don't care how many lives your saving."
Austin knew he should say something more. He knew he should keep the banter going. There were still a few of the shambling medical technology created abominations in the tunnel. But the best tactic against them was to break the spine, cut off the head. Krylov was the head he was being presented with. Hot tears in his eyes, Austin gave a scream of frustration and charged forward, leaping. He caught one of the zombies on the shoulder and kicked off, knocking it down as he gained height. His sword raised high in a double handed stroke that came down on Krylov...
And sunk deep into the suits forearm. Muscle and tendons parted from the blade, and it bit deep into the steel bones. The sword caught on the bone, blood like fluids spurted out. There was no blood in this suit, but you couldn't tell that to Austin as some of it sprayed on his helmet and chestplate. His sword was yanked out of his hands as Krylov swung his arm out of the reflexive blocking position. The sword stayed in the left arm, even as Krylov backhanded Austin with his left arm.
The green suited guardian was flung off his feet into the air, hitting the curved concrete wall and bouncing off of it. He landed and collapsed to his knees, struggling to pull himself to his feet. Austin felt fire blossoming across his chest, he tried to draw air and nothing happened. The best he could do was gasp shallow breaths, it felt like his chest had caved in from the blow and his lungs were crushed. In truth, he only had the wind knocked out of him, but that didn't help him at the moment.
"See how close we are?" Krylov asked. "See what power we have? You were a useful stage of development. You children, an experiment that turned you into something less than human. Worth study. But ultimately you're a dead end."
With a gurgle Austin fought through his tears and pain, trying to stand. He had to stop this... this thing. This giant monster. Krylov took a step towards him, the fleshy bare foot of the suit making the step that should have been thunderous surprisingly mundane sounding. Austin got himself wobbly to his feet and charged forward. Krylov's massive hand came down on him, smashing him into the pavement of the concrete stormdrain floor. He sprawled and twitched, still not able to breath, his world going black. The massive fingers closed around Austins leg at the thigh and he felt himself being lifted.
Krylov was going to use Austins limp body to beat Zeph down now.
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Post by Penny Royals on Dec 29, 2013 17:44:42 GMT -8
His breath caught in his throat as the shadows above passed over the duo. Austin had reached the top of the truck, and the monster was spouting out what felt like misappropriated heroism - did he really think that what he was doing was good? Austin was voicing his opinions, and had gotten on top and -
Blood rained down as Austin stabbed into it. Austin had caught the brunt, but bits had flown off and down both sides. There seemed to be some small confusion, and the next thing he knew Austin had been thrown from the truck and off the other side. He felt his stomach drop hearing small cracks as his friend hit the opposite wall, and his grip on Lyra's hand tightened.
But then Austin was getting up, he was going to go and fight again! Until...
"Austin!" The boy blurted out, before clasping his free hand to his mouth. The man still didn't seem to notice them, he was aiming for Z... what could they do?
He turned to Lyra, taking his hand away, and dropping his voice as low as it could go.
"Go down that way," he whispered, pointing towards the front of the truck, the way he'd come, "There's an opening and a bridge eventually - and there's something in the driver's seat of the truck, keep that in mind..." He paused, shaking his head. He wasn't making sense. "You need to get out of here. Call Oz. Try to see if your arm can heal fast like everything else seems to, okay?"
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mekasoundwave
Persistent Member
King of Braves
Filthy acts, at a reasonable price
Posts: 4,711
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Post by mekasoundwave on Dec 30, 2013 19:44:58 GMT -8
With most of the small fry shamblers out of the way, Zeph joined the charge on the truck where Lucy's body and coffin was being kept. Which seemed like it would be pretty easy...until the hulking monstrosity some guy seemed to be riding from inside its rib cage showed up. Z hesitated to attack the piloted monster, her common sense over-riding her will to collect the mission temporarily. And as Austin attacked in her stead, she realized that might have been a good idea.
But Z wasn't gonna let this ugly SOB start beating on her comrades so easily. Tightening her grip on her hammer, she rushed forward to attack Krylov.
"HEY! Put him down, you ugly motherf-," Z yelled as she rushed forward, hammer held back and ready to swing...and of course, she was cut off by the impact of Austin's body against hers.
Ow.
Zeph was knocked to the ground before another club like impact of her partner's body hit her from above. At this point, she was pinned down. She couldn't counter the attacks without hurting Austin and she couldn't reach Krylov, since his already long arms were swinging a nearly six foot long flail at her. So Z just put her arms up to try and block and soften the impact.
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Post by JW% on Dec 30, 2013 20:48:20 GMT -8
Krylov flailed somewhat wildly with his oversized frankenstein arms. Austin felt himself lifted and brought down on something hard, yet giving. Not the concrete. He couldn't figure out what it was immediately, the pain making it hard for him to think. It was, of course, Zeph. Another blow and Krylov let Austin go, the boy bouncing off Zeph and rolling to lay on the somewhat damp floor.
"How much does it take to break you?" Krylov muttered. Austin and Zeph's armor had both withstood all the impacts, despite how much the wearers had suffered from the blows, it wasn't enough for the armor to ablate away. "I suppose I could use a live sample of you... Learn how they made you..." He tried to move his arm, but Austin's sword was still stuck in it, and he was still leaking fluids. It wasn't blood, but in the darkness one really couldn't tell. He grunted, trying to move the arm with his own arm inside it's bicep, but found it too heavy without the augmentation. Instead, with a sound of frustration, he lashed out at Zeph, kicking her backwards and letting her bounce up hill in the stormdrain. Somewhere her hammer left her hand and the sound of it's metal striking the concrete could be heard.
"And don't think I can't hear you two little pests." Krylov growled, turning to face Ryan and Lyra. "I'm not deaf you fools, and you're not going anywhere." The mad scientist in the armor of animated abomination lunged with his good arm at Ryan, intent on giving that boy a proper beating as well. There might be suitable materials in the truck to bind the children up. Vahzilock would be please with so many samples of the stuff he had been refused.
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Post by Penny Royals on Dec 30, 2013 21:00:47 GMT -8
The boy glared up at the man in front of them, which now he could see somewhat better. It was still dark, but he could make out its grotesque form, the bodies entwined to make up a giant suit of armor for the man. As he swung down, he thought fast - and pushed Lyra out of the way, keeping her from direct harm, and from getting picked up with him as the arm came forward. His other hand grasped for his spear at that point - but whether or not he would be able to use it was still a possibility he had to face.
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Post by JW% on Dec 30, 2013 21:18:52 GMT -8
Krylov needed to take a step towards Ryan and Lyra, shoving Ryan rather than grabbing him, letting the boy get his spear drawn. As Krylov advanced around the truck he took a moment to actually draw the sword from his arm. A new splatter of fluids hit the floor. "What do you kids think you were going to do here anyway? Did you think we wouldn't take precautions against your interference? We've been harvesting from here for months. You're meddling, uncooperative presence almost spoiled our plans. Why wouldn't your... your creator... share his designs with us? Is that who this 'Oz' is? The one who built you?"
He tried to lift his leaking arm again. It worked now... not as well, but he had movement in it again.
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Post by Penny Royals on Dec 30, 2013 21:30:13 GMT -8
The boy's spear was drawn now, and he stood ready to attack, trying to focus on keeping the man preoccupied.
"Maybe because Oz knows what you're doing is wrong," He replied, taking a few steps backward. He would hopefully be leading him away from Lyra. "You may share the same goal... the same want to solve the mysteries of this disease... but Oz's intentions never have been to... to use these people for a suit of armor!"
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