Acculturation

[Dave Strider]

Crash stared, wide-eyed, at the scene before them. Those marines just took out at least half the balcony. Crash watched as small bits of stone fell far into the streets below, disappearing from sight before they reached the bottom, then ending in a puff of smoke. The delayed crack shook the orange creature's very bones, and within a single moment Crash was up against the wall. He wasn't going to take any chances with these guys. Stuart was right, they needed to get the heck out of there, now. Aku Aku shared the bandicoot's expression.

"Yes, there isn't any time to waste, I do not want to wait around to see what those weapons do to us." The floating mask was obviously nervous, worry evident in his voice. "We need to-"

PEW!

A single red shot pierced the air and hit the wall behind them. Just moments after, the smell of burnt feathers filled the air, and everyone could see the spoke exuding from his singed feathers, the colors orange and yellow now hideous with the red and green beside them. With a straight face, he slowly lowered to the floor.

"As I was saying, we need ta get down to the bottom floor. We can try to go back the way we came and get out of this mess."

[Stuart Gillman-Street]

"Well, we'll need to be especially sneaky. Come on." Stu began to make his way down

[Stuart Gillman-Street]

...as the rest followed. While the marines were temporarily out of sight, another shot hit, but the four couldn't see where. Still, they were shook so violently that Stuart almost fell.
"Guys, guys. This will not end well- where the hell are the other exits?" Stu tried to get back up again to search again for other ways to get out.

[Marcus Wright]

Luger's eyes turned as the balcony was literally just turned into dust where they were just standing a second ago. Luger pushed them inside the door as the balcony fell. "Damnit...

...

Luger could feel the floor shaking very violently...

The woman frowned, so far none of their plans worked. There had to be a way to pull out the impossible without both the Marines AND Judge Dredd from seeing them. They were surrounded and so fa- nothing .

Wait...

Grenade..

[Stuart Gillman-Street]

Oblivious to Luger's moment of epiphany, Stu called, "Have you guys got anything on you? I have a gun with no ammo, and what feels like a phone with slightly tangled headphones." He fumbled around his pockets, hoping for a cheap escape.

[Marcus Wright]

Luger eyed Stuart and sighed "All i have is a combat knife, and a submachine gun that can shoot from a distance. The noise suppression and flash compression at the very least can if we aim for the right spot, we could take down the building but with what of all things?

The stormtroopers could be used as meat shields at the very least "It's a desperate attempt to escape guys, so anything or ... anyone is now our options to get out of here.

The marines won't care if they take out a stormtrooper to try and get to us..

Maybe it was just her cold nature...

But then again, it was the very nature of her cold job.

Luger would grab Stuart and Crash and start breaking a hole in the floor where the stairs met up and hopefully the stony damage would bring a chain reaction causing no way for the space marines to get across to them.

[Stuart Gillman-Street]

Stuart was far less than comfortable with the decision- after all, he'd never killed someone before. Still, it was for the greater good, so he sighed and said,
"F-fine. I guess we'll have to. Let's go."

[Marcus Wright]

Worry started to fill Luger's mind, who exactly was she working with? This .. man never killed a man in his life, and the Orange creature and mask seemed to grow increasingly worried, What was next? How would she even get out of this mess?

The strangely cold, confident woman seemed a little... off...

She looked at her combat knife and bit her tongue. The helghasts were absolutely nothing like these.... space marines....

Her anger grew yet she hid her frustrations from the group.

She wanted so badly to be anywhere else.

But here.

"JAN, RICO, GREGOR WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU GUYS?!"

[Stuart Gillman-Street]

"Jesus, Luger, are you okay?" Stu said as he was almost physically taken aback by the yelling of his compadre. Had he done something wrong? What happened? Admittedly, Stuart too wanted to be somewhere else, but he still managed to accept this was his only choice.

[Marcus Wright]

Luger swore she could hear one of her teammate's voices down below but she couldn't confirm it. Was that actually Rico down below that building or was her mind playing tricks on her again?

There might be hope after all. Luger blinked for a second and sighed "Guys, one of my teammates maybe down there beside the building. His name is Rico, but he's not the smartest cookie out there. Maybe we might pull our asses out of this after all."

[Dave Strider]

Crash's teeth jittered as he chomped down on his nails. Things were not looking good. These space marines seem to be a lot tougher and stronger than any enemies he had faced. It seemed so unreal.

Aku Aku spoke up, "Maybe we should check. The more people we have the better. These guys are serious business, and any help we can get will be good." Crash nodded along nervously glancing around as his guardian spoke.

[Stuart Gillman-Street]

Meanwhile, Stuart peered out of the side of the building. There stood a man looking up to the floor they were on.
"Luger, is this the guy? Hispanic-looking fellow? Dressed head to toe in heavy armour? Doesn't look amazingly intelligent, more of a shoot-first person?"

[Marcus Wright]

Luger's eyes moved over to Stuart and nodded "That's right, that's him. "

"What the hell is he doing? He's down there with some sort of ... kid. But wait, i hear some stuff going down there too... "

"RICO! Don't do something stupid!

[Dave Strider]

As the trio stood distracted by the possibility of new allies, the marines from below managed to climb up and have a visual on them. Shots flew through the air as the three primes scattered,

Luger was thrown across to the opposite bulding, grunting as she hit the wall with a thud. She cursed herself for being distracted and unware of her surroundings.

Stuart fell a few floors down, grabbing onto what he could along the way until he managed to grasp a railing. He let out a sigh or relief. Had he not caught himself he would have been well on his way to become a not so appetizing pancake.

Crash managed to hand on to whatever was left of the balcony, and slowly pulled himself up. Aku Aku hovered behind him, staring forwards as the rest of the marines arrived at the floor.

"GET OUT OF THERE!" Luger shouted as she dove into the building she landed in.

"Crash, jump!" Aku Aku shouted to his friend, pushing him towards the edge of the balcony.

The bandicoot's eyes widened in fear as the marines prepared a barrage. Bullets flew as the entire room leading to the balcony was destroyed, and Crash took a leap of faith to the next balcony. Nothing was left of the platform he once stood on, and the building opposite oh him, where Luger hid, was tattered with holes in its walls. Crash thought he saw the movement of his ally through one of them, but he didn't have the time to make sure. The Marines were already on the move.

Crash ducked back inside as he heard more shouting. Suddenly, he realized that his faithful guide was no longer with him. Where did Aku Aku go?

The smell of singed feather and wood filled the air as Stuart stared at the motionless mask in front of him. It seemed a whole quarter of its face was missing. The edges were charred black, singed from the explosions above. Stuart felt a deep worry, and didn't want to imagine how he would tell the orange creature that his friend was dead. But now was not the time. The blue-haired human looked towards the other building. It might be possible to jump across to find the guy they saw, but he wasn't too sure.

[Marcus Wright]

Luger cursed under her breath "SHIT!" very quietly as she took out her M84 Combat knife and kept close. She didn't look back to worry about Crash and his masked friend...

There was holes tattered on the building where she was at. Luger was staying close, she was a shadow marshall damnit, she could handle problems like this. "Stuart, COME ON, you can make it!"

Sadly Luger frowned at the sacrifice Crash's masked friend made for them and bought them some time. Luger summoned a rope and threw it across to Stuart.. "Stuart, keep going. You're going to have to crawl it over danger to make it to me...

"Damnit, i'm not willing to lose my allies without a fight.

[Stuart Gillman-Street]

"Bloody hell." Stu yelled as he latched onto the rope and began to pull himself up, slowly but surely. Once he had a steady rhythm going, his mind began to drift to other things. Jesus, how could he tell Crash? It would be harder than anything physical he ever had to do.
He sharply exhaled once he had reached the top, and rubbed dust off his trousers.
"Thanks. Really appreciate it." Stuart put his hand on Luger's shoulder.

[Marcus Wright]

Crash was deathly silent, he seemed to be shaking a bit but he looked back and forth and gave a gulp... Wait... where was his friend? He stood there shaking, as Luger helped Stuart up the rope. Luger nodded as Stuart placed a hand on her shoulder at least calming her more. "No thanks necessary, let's just get out of this mess guys... Thanks for sticking with me through whatever happens."

Luger took a deep breath and looked over at Crash who just was standing there, Crash! SAY SOMETHING!" She could see a scared look in the orange creature's eyes as she literally started to drag Crash with her. Sure, his friend had died for them but Crash wasn't going to play a hero if she could help it.

Luger bent down on one leg and started to strategize, once again placing her thermal glasses on. She watched the space marines from the building far away, and saw their heat signatures. Luger closed her eyes for a second and focused on a familiar weapon the Shadow Marshalls used back home. It was a dronish like equipment that she could put on her back.

[Stuart Gillman-Street]

Stu put his hand on Crash's shoulder and began to shake.
"Crash, I- I need to tell you something. It's about Aku, he-" Stu and Crash both knew what he was about to say, as they embraced each other in a fit of lamentation and sadness.

[Stuart Gillman-Street]

When they had finished mourning the loss of Crash's friend, Stuart and Crash were then interrupted by Luger.

[Storyteller]

Streaks of cobalt rushed through the structure, the Ultramarines seemingly oblivious to the damage they wrought to the local infrastructure. Thick, ceramite shoulder-pads burst through doorframes and heavy boots crushed furniture underfoot.

“Target acquired,” one of the four men shouted as he opened fire, bullets the size of fists ripping across the void between the building they stood in and the one the criminals fled to. There was a puff of feathers and the sound of breaking wood, and one of the targets was neutralized.

The Space Marine’s targets lay only the width of a narrow alleyway, and were stalled by the death of their companion. The enforcers of the Emperor’s Will moved swiftly.

Luger, Crash, and Stuart turned their heads to the sound of shattering glass and bending steel. The Ultramarines exploded into the room, their blessed bolters already firing. Luger hit the ground almost instantly, retaliating with a hail of sub-machine gun fire, her attacks shattering over their armor like little more than a child’s playthings. Crash and Stuart were slower to react, staring wide-eyed as the massive law-enforcers trudged towards them.

When the squad leader drew his chain-sword, there was no warning. There were no options to surrender. Not a single phrase was uttered from the time it left his hip, the teeth spinning wildly around its length, and the time it was buried into Crash Bandicoot’s shoulder.

Thankfully for all involved, Crash came from a land without gore, and instead shouted, “Woah!” performed a dizzy pirouette, and fall onto his back. His body lay for a moment, unbreathing and unmoving, and slowly began to fade away into a white fog.

Stuart was only able to stop his slack-jawed stare when Crash was well and truly dead, reaching his hand out, and shouting, “Crash! No!”