09-14-2015, 10:07 AM
As both sides stood their ground, heavy breaths and adrenaline fogged the air around us as we sized each other up, I had grown silent in contemplation. If I had my weapons, if I had the smooth tools of death I was so used to in my hands, this would be a cinch. Even if it was just the less than impressive weight of my pistol at my side, I felt like I could have easily splattered the pack's brains out onto the frozen floor and been on my way. But all I had were my bare fists and the grey meat between my ears to fight with. Some people would say that's all you need, but I knew my limits. Maybe I could have beaten one down without serious injury, with the help of the other two I definitely could have. But we stared down three of the salivating, monstrous, teeth filled walking rugs, and I doubted that they were the only one. There were two ways into our position, if if these beast were as clever as their smaller cousins, then we'd be flanked from the hallway behind us in moments. It was a decision that had to be made now, I couldn't wait and see if it would turn out better.
"Don't waste that shot" I told Mike, who has steadied his aim on the lead wolf. It was probably the only thing that kept them from an initial blitz, although the three brutes started to wise on it and one started to slowly advance to test us. He pointed it at the smartass, but the monster saw the lack of response as proof that their prey was took week to fend them off and all of them started to creep forward. They packed in close together to fit in the hallway, like a wall of fur and bad attitude.
"Once he fires, get ready to run" Although these two didn't look like the type to listen to orders, certainly not from guy they met about five minutes ago, they seemed to have thought it a good idea as they leaned forward and readied to sprint ahead. Although that was probably because they already had the plan to run for it, it was just that now we were on the same page. I steadied myself, shifted my foot until i had a good grip the floor under me, and waited for the loudest starter pistol to sound off. I had my route, and it was time to see how our hands turned out.
A zip gun sounded less like a pistol firing as it did a hammer hitting a barn nail, a loud metallic pang than the definite bang of a real handgun. Despite the lackluster effect, it did the job: a red explosion of blood where the lead wolf's remaining eye was splattered across the rest of its thick fir. In a sudden instant, chaos broke. In fury and blindness, the lead wolf fell and thrashed at the darkness it was plunged into. Tightly packed between its two follow monsters, the alpha dragged the others into a brawl and their massive form wedged them in the hall. Snarls and and blood flew, and a general ball of pain stood in our way.
Our opening was through them. I threw away any fears I might have had and bolted head long down the corridor. Nothing gets in MY way.
Al'ter sailed over all of us in a single bound, his bald head nearly glanced the ceiling and he landed somewhere behind the wolves with ease. Mike went to the side, slid under the legs of one of the beasts as it was distracted by its berzerk comrade, and quickly scampered out form under it and back into the main room. I headed straight at one of the beasts, one that was a little more on the ball as it saw me and it snapped at me with foot long teeth in an attempt to get at least one meal. I swerved out of the way, balled one hand into a fist, and threw an uppercut right into its jaw with a loud thump and it reeled back from the blow. I vaulted onto the side of the beast, then pushed off and I was clear of the obstacle. I sprinted away and caught up to the others, and just didn't stop running.
The sound of rapid footfall behind us told us that we still had the large canines on our heels, and we picked up our pace to match. Although the pain in my leg jolted with each stride and the cold bit at us, it was still better than being chewed up. The massive super structure of the prison floor became more apparent as we got into the open. You couldn't see the roof of the level as a grey fog hung overhead like clouds, the building was big enough to have its own weather. Monolithic walls broke up the large area, thin layers of snow crunched under our feet, and the only thing that broke it up were metal gates build into the walls that looked to lead into clusters of cells. There was a brief sight of other prisoners within these cells, but I didn't have the time to chat with hungry monsters on my back.
Eventually the walls parted ways, and in the new space... were trees. They were frozen solid with ice, but they were there, still green with pine needles and covered in rough bark.
"Why is there a fucking forest in here!?" I yelled out loud, dumbfounded as it was one of the last things I would have expected, but fuck me if I wasn't going to use it to my advantage.
Al'ter was already up one tree, his super jump made it up easily, and by the time I had gotten to the nearest tree he had already pulled Mike up. A slightly upturned tile pushed up by underground roots made a perfect ramp for me to run across and jump to a high enough branch. I grabbed onto it with a death grip and used the momentum to swung my legs up and caught the branch next to it. I pulled myself upright, just moments before a set of teeth nearly took my head and clamped down on the first branch I was on. I climbed up the tree away from the bloodthirsty wolves underneath us and I didn't stop until I was far beyond what the beasts could reach. They jump and clawed at the bark and tried to get at us with their hanging tongues and crazed eyes, but once the realized that they couldn't reach us they stopped. They waited at the trunk and laid siege to us, rather pointlessly since I was already in the midst of summoning my weapons.
"If you interrupt me, I'm kicking you out of this tree" I threatened Mike as Omnilium started to form in my hands. He shoot me an evil eye as he took the tedious task of reloading his slapdash pistol. Al'ter was silent and just watched as the multi colored orb straightened out and solidified until what I had in my hand was my favorite shotgun in the entire universe.
"Ah, my arm is complete" I joked, and started to load shells into it and chambered one with a single pump. I looked down at the hungry wolves with a smile and imagined as I shattered their skulls and splattered their brains onto the white snow. I would have loved to do that, but as I thought more about it I considered that, if this prison was as high tech as everyone outside made it out to be, then the sound of a shotgun shell firing off would have clued the guards immediately I was here. I was downhearted to not get payback , but I couldn't afford to be caught. I let out a sigh and put the shotgun away and started on the next weapon.
It was at least half an hour up in that tree, froze our asses and with wolves under us that waited for one of us to go dumb and drop out of the tree like a dead bird. I had gotten my full arsenal back and I finally got to patch up my leg wound. I the wolves didn't want to leave anytime soon, but I passed around a few cups of soup to the other two and we just waited them out. I thought they would eventually leave on their own, but when we all heard the loud stomp of a massive thing draw closer, the wolves left in a panic. The three of us hid within the thick pine as it came into view.
A metal head walked through the forest on thin chicken legs, the large angular box of a cockpit driven forward with each thunderous step and guns that swept its path that could have vaporized a man in a single shot. It was something I saw back on Costa del Sol, a walker the Imperials seemed to have at least some fondness over to look past its ridiculous construction. An AT-ST. Not something you would have considered a threat just by looking at it, when in battle the armored walker looked like death incarnate if you lacked the anti-vehicle weapons to bring it down. That's probably why it was popular to the Empire: it was a bully, something that could route insurrections and riots just from its arrival. Not that it skimped in the fire power department. Nor was it completely without support, as a patrol of stormtroopers flanked it on each side, their own blaster awaited a chance to spill blood. Unlike the usual armor, these had some sort of white cloak and their helmet had a cloth like covering that covered their necks integrated into it.
They also seemed intimidating. Almost.
If they noticed us, they certainly didn't care as they walked by us without even a glance over. Considering that their job was to keep the prisoners in line, they likely didn't see us as a threat nor noticed that I was armed to the teeth. They just went by, in the direction that I had come from. Send to inspect the leak I caused, I expected. They knew something was up, but I still had the element of stealth on my side, and I was going to milk that for as long as I could.
But what exactly was I going to do? I needed to find my objective, and searching witlessly through the entire prison was about as effective as bashing my head into a wall. If she had the collars like Mike and Al'ter, then perhaps there's a way to track those, or I could fight my way into the control room of this place and find a security camera that seen her, or...
I felt a hand on my should as I readied to jump back down, I looked behind me to find that it was Al'ter that stopped me.
"I know how to find her" He told me.
"Don't waste that shot" I told Mike, who has steadied his aim on the lead wolf. It was probably the only thing that kept them from an initial blitz, although the three brutes started to wise on it and one started to slowly advance to test us. He pointed it at the smartass, but the monster saw the lack of response as proof that their prey was took week to fend them off and all of them started to creep forward. They packed in close together to fit in the hallway, like a wall of fur and bad attitude.
"Once he fires, get ready to run" Although these two didn't look like the type to listen to orders, certainly not from guy they met about five minutes ago, they seemed to have thought it a good idea as they leaned forward and readied to sprint ahead. Although that was probably because they already had the plan to run for it, it was just that now we were on the same page. I steadied myself, shifted my foot until i had a good grip the floor under me, and waited for the loudest starter pistol to sound off. I had my route, and it was time to see how our hands turned out.
A zip gun sounded less like a pistol firing as it did a hammer hitting a barn nail, a loud metallic pang than the definite bang of a real handgun. Despite the lackluster effect, it did the job: a red explosion of blood where the lead wolf's remaining eye was splattered across the rest of its thick fir. In a sudden instant, chaos broke. In fury and blindness, the lead wolf fell and thrashed at the darkness it was plunged into. Tightly packed between its two follow monsters, the alpha dragged the others into a brawl and their massive form wedged them in the hall. Snarls and and blood flew, and a general ball of pain stood in our way.
Our opening was through them. I threw away any fears I might have had and bolted head long down the corridor. Nothing gets in MY way.
Al'ter sailed over all of us in a single bound, his bald head nearly glanced the ceiling and he landed somewhere behind the wolves with ease. Mike went to the side, slid under the legs of one of the beasts as it was distracted by its berzerk comrade, and quickly scampered out form under it and back into the main room. I headed straight at one of the beasts, one that was a little more on the ball as it saw me and it snapped at me with foot long teeth in an attempt to get at least one meal. I swerved out of the way, balled one hand into a fist, and threw an uppercut right into its jaw with a loud thump and it reeled back from the blow. I vaulted onto the side of the beast, then pushed off and I was clear of the obstacle. I sprinted away and caught up to the others, and just didn't stop running.
The sound of rapid footfall behind us told us that we still had the large canines on our heels, and we picked up our pace to match. Although the pain in my leg jolted with each stride and the cold bit at us, it was still better than being chewed up. The massive super structure of the prison floor became more apparent as we got into the open. You couldn't see the roof of the level as a grey fog hung overhead like clouds, the building was big enough to have its own weather. Monolithic walls broke up the large area, thin layers of snow crunched under our feet, and the only thing that broke it up were metal gates build into the walls that looked to lead into clusters of cells. There was a brief sight of other prisoners within these cells, but I didn't have the time to chat with hungry monsters on my back.
Eventually the walls parted ways, and in the new space... were trees. They were frozen solid with ice, but they were there, still green with pine needles and covered in rough bark.
"Why is there a fucking forest in here!?" I yelled out loud, dumbfounded as it was one of the last things I would have expected, but fuck me if I wasn't going to use it to my advantage.
Al'ter was already up one tree, his super jump made it up easily, and by the time I had gotten to the nearest tree he had already pulled Mike up. A slightly upturned tile pushed up by underground roots made a perfect ramp for me to run across and jump to a high enough branch. I grabbed onto it with a death grip and used the momentum to swung my legs up and caught the branch next to it. I pulled myself upright, just moments before a set of teeth nearly took my head and clamped down on the first branch I was on. I climbed up the tree away from the bloodthirsty wolves underneath us and I didn't stop until I was far beyond what the beasts could reach. They jump and clawed at the bark and tried to get at us with their hanging tongues and crazed eyes, but once the realized that they couldn't reach us they stopped. They waited at the trunk and laid siege to us, rather pointlessly since I was already in the midst of summoning my weapons.
"If you interrupt me, I'm kicking you out of this tree" I threatened Mike as Omnilium started to form in my hands. He shoot me an evil eye as he took the tedious task of reloading his slapdash pistol. Al'ter was silent and just watched as the multi colored orb straightened out and solidified until what I had in my hand was my favorite shotgun in the entire universe.
"Ah, my arm is complete" I joked, and started to load shells into it and chambered one with a single pump. I looked down at the hungry wolves with a smile and imagined as I shattered their skulls and splattered their brains onto the white snow. I would have loved to do that, but as I thought more about it I considered that, if this prison was as high tech as everyone outside made it out to be, then the sound of a shotgun shell firing off would have clued the guards immediately I was here. I was downhearted to not get payback , but I couldn't afford to be caught. I let out a sigh and put the shotgun away and started on the next weapon.
It was at least half an hour up in that tree, froze our asses and with wolves under us that waited for one of us to go dumb and drop out of the tree like a dead bird. I had gotten my full arsenal back and I finally got to patch up my leg wound. I the wolves didn't want to leave anytime soon, but I passed around a few cups of soup to the other two and we just waited them out. I thought they would eventually leave on their own, but when we all heard the loud stomp of a massive thing draw closer, the wolves left in a panic. The three of us hid within the thick pine as it came into view.
A metal head walked through the forest on thin chicken legs, the large angular box of a cockpit driven forward with each thunderous step and guns that swept its path that could have vaporized a man in a single shot. It was something I saw back on Costa del Sol, a walker the Imperials seemed to have at least some fondness over to look past its ridiculous construction. An AT-ST. Not something you would have considered a threat just by looking at it, when in battle the armored walker looked like death incarnate if you lacked the anti-vehicle weapons to bring it down. That's probably why it was popular to the Empire: it was a bully, something that could route insurrections and riots just from its arrival. Not that it skimped in the fire power department. Nor was it completely without support, as a patrol of stormtroopers flanked it on each side, their own blaster awaited a chance to spill blood. Unlike the usual armor, these had some sort of white cloak and their helmet had a cloth like covering that covered their necks integrated into it.
They also seemed intimidating. Almost.
If they noticed us, they certainly didn't care as they walked by us without even a glance over. Considering that their job was to keep the prisoners in line, they likely didn't see us as a threat nor noticed that I was armed to the teeth. They just went by, in the direction that I had come from. Send to inspect the leak I caused, I expected. They knew something was up, but I still had the element of stealth on my side, and I was going to milk that for as long as I could.
But what exactly was I going to do? I needed to find my objective, and searching witlessly through the entire prison was about as effective as bashing my head into a wall. If she had the collars like Mike and Al'ter, then perhaps there's a way to track those, or I could fight my way into the control room of this place and find a security camera that seen her, or...
I felt a hand on my should as I readied to jump back down, I looked behind me to find that it was Al'ter that stopped me.
"I know how to find her" He told me.
![[Image: oGzCtPC.png]](http://i.imgur.com/oGzCtPC.png)