Day One: Part 1

[Karl Jak]

Face to Face
#40 Tartaros & #31 Okor vs #12 Dr. McNinja & #42 Delsin Rowe

For six hours, the trio had been locked in a stalemate over who would rule the clinic.

Despite having a numbers advantage, Delsin Rowe and Dr. McNinja wanted nothing to do with the plague marine that patrolled the hallways, but even so, the new pair of friends didn’t want to pass up a chance to uproot the marine and take over the place for themselves. In the hours since the first scuffle, Okor had turned the once humble clinic into something closer to a fortress, with the gurneys and chairs crushed or reshaped into hedgehogs and barricades.

***

On one such patrol through the corridors of the clinic, Okor spotted the two outside the barred window. The plague marine scowled—he wondered why they didn’t try to force their hand. He’d seen them surveying the place all day, so unless they were truly simpleminded, they had to have found some sort of point where they could force an entrance. Were they waiting for reinforcements? Did they have a means to communicate with their allies that Okor lacked?

As he watched the pair scheme, Okor saw movement beyond their position, and a beat later, the situation changed entirely.

***

He was bruised and bloody.

One of his hands was gone, and one of his legs was snapped inside his power armor. Despite knowing that his time was nearly up, the marine willed himself forward. He knew where his comrades had told him to rendezvous, and there was no way that he would perish with them believing he had failed to search for them.

But Tarataros Castus was an Adeptus Astartes!

The space marine once again summoned his bolter and charged the two men standing outside the clinic.

Delsin Rowe and Dr. McNinja were both taken by surprise by the battered, bloodstained suit of armor rushing at them and spewing automatic fire in their general direction. The graffiti artist threw himself out of the way as his associate brandished his clawed glove and sprung forward in a blur. Much as he had treated Okor, McNinja appeared a few yards behind Tartaros, but before the doctor could shout the phrase, he furrowed his brow at the sight of cotton all over his claws.

Tartaros looked down to his side and saw that Mr. T was missing half of his body.

“No!” The space marine screamed, unsure what exactly came over him as he turned around and fired a quick succession of bursts into the man in the ski mask. As McNinja hit the ground with a groan, Delsin leapt forward to protect his friend. The young man, using the only ‘weapon’ he had at his disposal—his duffel bag—smacked the space marine in the side of the head.

For someone who had survived an amputation, a snapped limb, and a building falling on top of him, Tartaros almost laughed as Delsin reeled back for another swing. The marine leaned forward and smashed the barrel of his weapon against Delsin’s skull. Before the fatal shot could be made, Dr. McNinja sprang up and stabbed his claws through an opening in Tartaros’ battered power armor. Yet more blood bubbled out of the suit as the beleaguered marine threw and elbow at the doctor’s face and followed up with a frantic swipe with his bolter.

With that, Tartaros stumbled backwards and collapsed onto his metallic haunches. In front of him, Delsin and McNinja were regaining their bearings and planning to end the injured marine.

They would have succeeded if not for the plague marine that burst out from the clinic door. Okor had no assault rifle, so he ran with all his might and managed to get in-between his comrade and five metal knives that stabbed through his diseased flesh and down to the bone. A lifetime of never feeling pain was the only thing that gave Okor the fortitude to punch Dr. McNinja in the face.

The good doctor stumbled backwards and put a hand up to his mask, afraid that he’d have to deal with more of the pestilience. When his hand came back clean, he motioned for Delsin to retreat, and the two primes fell back into the forest surrounding the clinic. They didn’t plan to go anywhere, and it was clear that the two marines weren’t going to get much further.

Live to kill another day.

[spoiler]Tartarus has used Tier 0 Super Move Tigrus Pattern Bolter (-1 SP)
Dr. McNinja has used Tier 0 Super Move Base! (-1 SP)
Okor has five deep lacerations in his abdomen – Major Injury (+6 Damage)
Delsin has a fractured skull – Major Injury (+6 Damage)
Dr. McNinja has a bruised jaw – Minor Injury (+2 Damage)
Tartaros has a small stab wound – Minor Injury (+2 Damage)
Mr. T has been cut in half =([/spoiler]