10-28-2016, 12:35 PM
After what felt like an incredibly short dash for Graowr, she finally slowed to a halt as the destination came into view. Didn't look like much, from this distance, just a regular building. It probably didn't help that she had no idea what a 'bar' was to provide any context, so really she was grasping at straws here. But she was fairly certain that the sign there said 'Moment of Peace'. Or, well...most of it. It was missing the 'of' part. But she was still just about positive it was where she was supposed to be headed. The little indicator on her map was pointing right toward it, after all.
Slowly staggering up next to her, the incredibly winded Private Hunt came to a stop, immediately kneeling over, hands on his knees, and tried to catch his breath. "Y-You cant just...run off like that without any warning..." he wheezed. He wasn't in bad shape by any means, but he couldn't do that fancy ass 'zero to fucking sprint instan-fucking-taneously' trick that some of these damn primes or higher ranking folks around the place could. He had to plod his way up to a running pace the same as everyone else. It took him at least a second to get up to full speed on a good day, and he was already almost thirty meters behind by that point. Keeping up hadn't been the hard part — he'd guess that, everything else equal, they'd have been more or less the same speed — but trying to do that and keep an eye out for anything that wanted to come and jam its nose into their business, since his speedy little blue pal clearly wasn't doing that, that was where the difficulty came in. That and being forced to dodge around various obstacles and people, in some cases, that she just hopped and flipped over kept him hard-pressed to really keep up.
After this he was taking his name permanently off the available roster for these sorts of missions. He'd take routine patrols over this insanity.
Standing up, he leaned back, sucking in a lungful of air. 'You...you gotta let your teammates know when you're gonna just go running off like that. We...we gotta be able to keep up, y'know?" He turned to face her, only to see her staring at him intently, looking..confused? "Wha...what is it?"
"Why are you breathing so hard?"
That was when it finally registered to him. She wasn't even breathing hard. Like, at all. As if she hadn't just run for who knows how many blocks, leaped over at least a dozen bricked vehicles and at least four people. "Why...why are you not breathing so hard?!" he countered, a little more aggressively than intended in his sheer dumbfounded, irritated state.
She just tilted her head slightly, looking confused. "...I don't breathe," she finally answered, just blinking at him. "It never really came up, I guess, but, y'know...don't really need air."
Hunt just sputtered at that, shaking his head and turning away. "Don't breathe...of course; of course not, of course you don't. Why am I even surprised at this point..." he muttered. "Right! Okay! That aside, we're here." He took a deep breath and turned back, waving a hand at the 'establishment' across the street. "What's your plan, here, chief?"
"I'm bad at plans," she stated bluntly, folding her arms over her chest. It looked like she was really trying to think of something, as she focused her gaze on the building in question. "I don't think we should just go and smash our way in...easy as it would be. This Shark guy would probably run at the first sign of that..."
"Well...not really. Maybe." Hunt suddenly looked thoughtful. "He's run in the past because he knew it was the EPD coming after him. Like you pointed out, stormtroopers kind of stand out. But someone like you..." He took a step back, giving his impromptu leader a once-over, thoroughly looking her over from top to bottom. "...well, you don't exactly look like EPD material. You go and smash in there, get everyone's attention. Break a few heads, knock out a few teeth, whatever it is you do. Call out the Shark, and if he's there he'll either answer that call, or go running. If he does run, I'll be waiting to hopefully take him down, or keep him occupied so you can catch up to us."
"And if he does answer..." Graowr lifted her hands, both clenched into fists. "...I can take him down!" She had caught on remarkably quickly.
"It isn't a pretty plan, and it sure as hell ain't one that would win any commendations for subtlety, but it'll be effective, at least." He left out the implied 'hopefully'.
"Well, sounds great! We got our plan, let's go!" She suddenly seemed very eager, and ready to pounce into action.
"Just remember, call out the Shark as soon as you smash your way in. Say you're here for a fight, or that somebody doesn't like his business or something. Just don't say you're with the Empire." Adjusting his coat, Hunt jammed his hands in his pockets and moved off. "I'll keep in touch via communicator, let you know if I spot him. Just don't get shot to pieces or anything in there."
"Not a chance!" And she was off and running, across the street, right for the main doors of the building.
Slowly staggering up next to her, the incredibly winded Private Hunt came to a stop, immediately kneeling over, hands on his knees, and tried to catch his breath. "Y-You cant just...run off like that without any warning..." he wheezed. He wasn't in bad shape by any means, but he couldn't do that fancy ass 'zero to fucking sprint instan-fucking-taneously' trick that some of these damn primes or higher ranking folks around the place could. He had to plod his way up to a running pace the same as everyone else. It took him at least a second to get up to full speed on a good day, and he was already almost thirty meters behind by that point. Keeping up hadn't been the hard part — he'd guess that, everything else equal, they'd have been more or less the same speed — but trying to do that and keep an eye out for anything that wanted to come and jam its nose into their business, since his speedy little blue pal clearly wasn't doing that, that was where the difficulty came in. That and being forced to dodge around various obstacles and people, in some cases, that she just hopped and flipped over kept him hard-pressed to really keep up.
After this he was taking his name permanently off the available roster for these sorts of missions. He'd take routine patrols over this insanity.
Standing up, he leaned back, sucking in a lungful of air. 'You...you gotta let your teammates know when you're gonna just go running off like that. We...we gotta be able to keep up, y'know?" He turned to face her, only to see her staring at him intently, looking..confused? "Wha...what is it?"
"Why are you breathing so hard?"
That was when it finally registered to him. She wasn't even breathing hard. Like, at all. As if she hadn't just run for who knows how many blocks, leaped over at least a dozen bricked vehicles and at least four people. "Why...why are you not breathing so hard?!" he countered, a little more aggressively than intended in his sheer dumbfounded, irritated state.
She just tilted her head slightly, looking confused. "...I don't breathe," she finally answered, just blinking at him. "It never really came up, I guess, but, y'know...don't really need air."
Hunt just sputtered at that, shaking his head and turning away. "Don't breathe...of course; of course not, of course you don't. Why am I even surprised at this point..." he muttered. "Right! Okay! That aside, we're here." He took a deep breath and turned back, waving a hand at the 'establishment' across the street. "What's your plan, here, chief?"
"I'm bad at plans," she stated bluntly, folding her arms over her chest. It looked like she was really trying to think of something, as she focused her gaze on the building in question. "I don't think we should just go and smash our way in...easy as it would be. This Shark guy would probably run at the first sign of that..."
"Well...not really. Maybe." Hunt suddenly looked thoughtful. "He's run in the past because he knew it was the EPD coming after him. Like you pointed out, stormtroopers kind of stand out. But someone like you..." He took a step back, giving his impromptu leader a once-over, thoroughly looking her over from top to bottom. "...well, you don't exactly look like EPD material. You go and smash in there, get everyone's attention. Break a few heads, knock out a few teeth, whatever it is you do. Call out the Shark, and if he's there he'll either answer that call, or go running. If he does run, I'll be waiting to hopefully take him down, or keep him occupied so you can catch up to us."
"And if he does answer..." Graowr lifted her hands, both clenched into fists. "...I can take him down!" She had caught on remarkably quickly.
"It isn't a pretty plan, and it sure as hell ain't one that would win any commendations for subtlety, but it'll be effective, at least." He left out the implied 'hopefully'.
"Well, sounds great! We got our plan, let's go!" She suddenly seemed very eager, and ready to pounce into action.
"Just remember, call out the Shark as soon as you smash your way in. Say you're here for a fight, or that somebody doesn't like his business or something. Just don't say you're with the Empire." Adjusting his coat, Hunt jammed his hands in his pockets and moved off. "I'll keep in touch via communicator, let you know if I spot him. Just don't get shot to pieces or anything in there."
"Not a chance!" And she was off and running, across the street, right for the main doors of the building.
Quote:Hand of the Empire quest progress: 845 + 1043 + 1022 + 1107 + 754 + 661 + 866 + 963 = 7261 words