08-21-2016, 01:26 PM
Finale - Part 1
They fought with everything they had left in their failing bodies.
Hiro stood a few feet away, his eyes nervously scanning the doorway that led out from the bridge and onto the flat deck atop the wheelhouse. If someone was coming at them, it would have to scale one of the ladders and come slobbering through that door.
“Give me that container from the briefcase,” Karl muttered, holding his hand back as he used the other one to thumb and flick various controls. When nothing happened, he shook his outstretched palm. “Mr. Protagonist, do hurry.” The tone of the producer’s voice grounded the young man back in the present reality, and he quickly dropped the container into Karl’s hand. A beat later, Karl chucked the now opened box over his head. He paused and glanced over his head at Hiro. “You might want to help them, you know. If I need you to hack a thirty-year-old tugboat, I’ll let you know.”
The samurai shook his head, seemingly oblivious to the smarmy tone of Karl’s voice. With the machete in his hand, Hiro made his way out from the bridge, down the ladder to the deck, and started toward the stern of the ship. He got about halfway there before Nanaki’s explosion threw him back a few feet and against the base of a large winch. The blow caused Hiro to immediately lose consciousness.
At the back of the boat, Deadpool dropped below the gunwale and put his hands over his head as the blast threw chunks of splintered wood and superheated metal shrapnel through the failing walls of the boathouse. When the mercenary lifted his head, he saw that the majority of the dock had collapsed into the ocean, but the lion’s raw display of force had only momentarily stymied the advance of the horde. The first of the ghouls left intact by the blast leapt across the frothy ocean as it swallowed the aged docks and landed against the front deck of the boathouse. Abner quickly blew the creature’s brains out the back of its skull, but already there were others attempting to get inside the crumbling building.
What seemed to be a burst of plasma tore through the remains of a nearby window frame and narrowly missed hitting the tugboat. Instead, the superheated projectile sailed wide of the boat’s wheelhouse and out through the front of the structure. “Which one of you assholes decided to make them sci-fi monsters? The teeth are bad enough, you know.”
“Metal or flesh, they all will fail.” Okor rasped as he grabbed hold of a nearby ghoul and crushed its skull in his hands.
“We can’t have a conversation if we have the same formatting – it gets awkward.”
With a groan, something beneath the deck stirred to life.
Up on the roof of the boathouse, the two primes heard the mechanical roar. “The engines!” Gin shouted as he checked his bazooka and leashed another round against a dive-bombing mecha-harpy. The shrieking beast was swallowed up in a flash of yellow and red, but before Gin could celebrate, he felt a hand latch around his upper arm.
“We’re good up here,” Remilia shouted. “Back down. We’re leaving.”
Down inside the boathouse, Hiro had regained consciousness, although his hair was moist with blood. The journey back to a vertical position took more effort than he would have like, and by the time he was ready to take his first few steps, Remilia came barreling passed him. Her shoulder smacked into Hiro’s chest and sent him crashing back against the unrelenting steel of the winch, and he retained consciousness just long enough to hear the vampire’s redheaded pal yell out an apology.
Remilia let go of Gin when it became time to clamber up the ladder. Once she was up, she looked through the glass of the bridge to see a smiling Karl Jak waving to her. The executive popped his head out through the open doorway and gestured her inside. “I need you on these controls with me.” He shouted as the boat lurched forward a few feet, causing everyone onboard to nearly lose their balance. The vampire shut the door behind her as she approached her side of the control array. Now that the boat was alive, there were so many lights and gauges and meters to pull her eyes every which way.
“Grab the two thrust levels and engage them,” Karl barked as something exploded a little too close to the wheelhouse. A beat later, Remilia’s hands found the two tallest levers, and she pulled back on them.
There was a momentary lull, and then the tugboat’s engines roared and sent the derelict vessel back at the remains of the shipping dock. The people fighting for their lives in the boathouse had to jump onto the deck as the tugboat crashed through the front of the building and kept going forty feet until it bashed against the docks. Fortunately for the crew of the ship, the tires lashed to its sides kept it from crushing itself against the pier, but although the hull remained structural intact, the collision caused one of the metal storage crates to slip lose and slide down onto the tugboat. As a result, even when Remilia sent the levers in the opposing direction, he screaming engines found themselves unable to get the vessel moving in the correct direction.
“Gin!” Remilia screamed through the glass window of the bridge. The redhead, who had grabbed a railing to prevent himself from falling eight feet to the deck below, turned to look at his friend. “Go see what’s tangling us up.”
The redhead held up a thumb and slid down the ladder en route to the stern of the ship. He immediately saw the crates that were effectively pinning the boat. A glance back over his shoulder showed that the boathouse was starting to sag into the ocean. “Gonna need a bigger bazooka,” Gin muttered as ghouls started to flood onto the tugboat.
They fought with everything they had left in their failing bodies.
Hiro stood a few feet away, his eyes nervously scanning the doorway that led out from the bridge and onto the flat deck atop the wheelhouse. If someone was coming at them, it would have to scale one of the ladders and come slobbering through that door.
“Give me that container from the briefcase,” Karl muttered, holding his hand back as he used the other one to thumb and flick various controls. When nothing happened, he shook his outstretched palm. “Mr. Protagonist, do hurry.” The tone of the producer’s voice grounded the young man back in the present reality, and he quickly dropped the container into Karl’s hand. A beat later, Karl chucked the now opened box over his head. He paused and glanced over his head at Hiro. “You might want to help them, you know. If I need you to hack a thirty-year-old tugboat, I’ll let you know.”
The samurai shook his head, seemingly oblivious to the smarmy tone of Karl’s voice. With the machete in his hand, Hiro made his way out from the bridge, down the ladder to the deck, and started toward the stern of the ship. He got about halfway there before Nanaki’s explosion threw him back a few feet and against the base of a large winch. The blow caused Hiro to immediately lose consciousness.
At the back of the boat, Deadpool dropped below the gunwale and put his hands over his head as the blast threw chunks of splintered wood and superheated metal shrapnel through the failing walls of the boathouse. When the mercenary lifted his head, he saw that the majority of the dock had collapsed into the ocean, but the lion’s raw display of force had only momentarily stymied the advance of the horde. The first of the ghouls left intact by the blast leapt across the frothy ocean as it swallowed the aged docks and landed against the front deck of the boathouse. Abner quickly blew the creature’s brains out the back of its skull, but already there were others attempting to get inside the crumbling building.
What seemed to be a burst of plasma tore through the remains of a nearby window frame and narrowly missed hitting the tugboat. Instead, the superheated projectile sailed wide of the boat’s wheelhouse and out through the front of the structure. “Which one of you assholes decided to make them sci-fi monsters? The teeth are bad enough, you know.”
“Metal or flesh, they all will fail.” Okor rasped as he grabbed hold of a nearby ghoul and crushed its skull in his hands.
“We can’t have a conversation if we have the same formatting – it gets awkward.”
With a groan, something beneath the deck stirred to life.
Up on the roof of the boathouse, the two primes heard the mechanical roar. “The engines!” Gin shouted as he checked his bazooka and leashed another round against a dive-bombing mecha-harpy. The shrieking beast was swallowed up in a flash of yellow and red, but before Gin could celebrate, he felt a hand latch around his upper arm.
“We’re good up here,” Remilia shouted. “Back down. We’re leaving.”
Down inside the boathouse, Hiro had regained consciousness, although his hair was moist with blood. The journey back to a vertical position took more effort than he would have like, and by the time he was ready to take his first few steps, Remilia came barreling passed him. Her shoulder smacked into Hiro’s chest and sent him crashing back against the unrelenting steel of the winch, and he retained consciousness just long enough to hear the vampire’s redheaded pal yell out an apology.
Remilia let go of Gin when it became time to clamber up the ladder. Once she was up, she looked through the glass of the bridge to see a smiling Karl Jak waving to her. The executive popped his head out through the open doorway and gestured her inside. “I need you on these controls with me.” He shouted as the boat lurched forward a few feet, causing everyone onboard to nearly lose their balance. The vampire shut the door behind her as she approached her side of the control array. Now that the boat was alive, there were so many lights and gauges and meters to pull her eyes every which way.
“Grab the two thrust levels and engage them,” Karl barked as something exploded a little too close to the wheelhouse. A beat later, Remilia’s hands found the two tallest levers, and she pulled back on them.
There was a momentary lull, and then the tugboat’s engines roared and sent the derelict vessel back at the remains of the shipping dock. The people fighting for their lives in the boathouse had to jump onto the deck as the tugboat crashed through the front of the building and kept going forty feet until it bashed against the docks. Fortunately for the crew of the ship, the tires lashed to its sides kept it from crushing itself against the pier, but although the hull remained structural intact, the collision caused one of the metal storage crates to slip lose and slide down onto the tugboat. As a result, even when Remilia sent the levers in the opposing direction, he screaming engines found themselves unable to get the vessel moving in the correct direction.
“Gin!” Remilia screamed through the glass window of the bridge. The redhead, who had grabbed a railing to prevent himself from falling eight feet to the deck below, turned to look at his friend. “Go see what’s tangling us up.”
The redhead held up a thumb and slid down the ladder en route to the stern of the ship. He immediately saw the crates that were effectively pinning the boat. A glance back over his shoulder showed that the boathouse was starting to sag into the ocean. “Gonna need a bigger bazooka,” Gin muttered as ghouls started to flood onto the tugboat.