From bad to worse (Tal)

[Anonymous]

Despite having grown up the the lower midlevels of Haviah and never really having seen the sky, Alaric's time as a Pilot had gotten him used to the more open spaces and all that open sky when he flew on Kazef. Not even the dragon's nasty nature could lesson his love of flying.

Oh, stop being so cold. I'm not that bad. I just don't believe in lying to you.

Right. Yes. You are only thinking of me.

Yes. Kazef's voice was a soft, purring sensation in his head. You are a freak Alaric. No one will ever really love you. They might pity you or lie to you, but they don't love you. I just don't want to see you hurt.

The alien sighed, shaking his head. It was hard to not listen to that voice, always there, telling him that the things he feared the most were true. Thank you for the concern. It's really alright though.

You should know by now Alaric. I'm the only one that cares.

Hunching his shoulders, Alaric chose not to respond. He was going to enjoy his time away from the Citadel. It was really too bad Gabe was busy, he had been meaning to show him this place. It was this tiny hole in the wall place that looked like it had a lot of geeky paraphernalia. He had seen in when he had been on a mission and he had been trying to go back.

He was even dressed as incognito as it was possible for a 6 and a half foot tall blue alien with horns could be. A hat helped hide his extra eye and his tail was tucked into his pants. The closer he got, the more excited he became. This was nice, just getting away from everything and everyone. The press of people around him was rather strange, as Alaric wasn't really used to physical contact, very few people would actually touch him.

Pausing as he past a window, Alaric looked inside. There was a rather cute hat in the window that looked very Blaine. Tilting his head, Alaric examined it for a bit. Maybe he should pick it up for him. He would just make sure he double checked that it was for...Alaric paused then, trying to recall Blaine's gender. It was really hard to keep everyone straight and they got so upset when you got it wrong.

Male. Blaine was male, Alaric was pretty sure. He would make sure the hat was for men before he got it. The woman inside was more then helpful and soon Alaric had a bag with the hat wrapped up inside.

He pulled his phone out and started punching buttons, texting Blaine.

Alaric
12:12 pm
Text: I got u a surprise.

He hit the send button and looked up just in time to run right into the man in front of him, "Oh! Sorry, I wasn't watching...where... I was...going..." Alaric had steadied himself and had looked down to see who he had hit. And it was the last person in the world he had wanted to see, let alone smack into.

[Tally]

Cross had accrued six days of leave, six days away from the Citadel and everyone there.  And who did he happen to see his first day out in the city?  Alaric. Fan-fucking-tastic.

It was hard to miss him, big blue head bobbing over the top of the crowd, out of place even in a city as diverse as Haviah.  Didn't seem like the alien had seen Cross yet though, and that was the only thing that stopped his impulse to back up out of sight.

I could just avoid him, he thought.  Turn right back around and disappear into the cafe he'd just exited.  That was such a pussy move though, avoiding something just because he didn't want to deal with it, though if Alaric saw him they might feel obligated to acknowledge one each other's presence or—the gods forbid—speak to one another. Cross was fairly certain that would ruin the day for both of them.

But Alaric had his head in his phone, texting, and like a ditz not looking where he was going.  It made Cross wonder why he should be the one hiding from an awkward confrontation just because Alaric was being oblivious.

Only a few steps away now and the alien still hadn't noticed him.  Cross folded his arms, planted his feet, and let Alaric walk right into him.  "Way to be observant, Al.  Can't walk and text at the same time?"

[Anonymous]

Alaric felt his upper lip starting to curl back in distaste before he managed to control it. Of course. He finally gets away from the damn Citadel and he runs into Cross. Raley was about the only person Alaric disliked more then Cross.

Take a deep breath. Don't let him get under your skin. He's just an unhappy bully that has to belittle people to feel better. Hitting him will only keep him around longer.

His voice tight, Alaric gave a quick bow of his head, "I already apologized. You're right, I shouldn't have been texting while I walked." Gods. Hopefully that would be enough and Cross would just drop it. He really, really didn't want to spend anymore time in contact with the other Pilot. He couldn't imagine Cross really wanted to spend time with him either.

blow....hostages....careful.....FEAR! Alaric froze then, eyes going slightly unfocused. He had never been that great with shielding and when he wasn't around the Citadel, he tended to be even more open. And the thoughts that had just slipped past bothered him. Ignoring Cross for a moment, he turned in the direction they seemed to be coming from, opening his mind even more, "Did you catch that?"

He was a little too far away to really tell, but he was getting a jumble of thoughts. He frowned, trying to sort through it all. There was a lot of fear mixed in with thoughts of triumph and...worried about police?

Kazef? What is going on? Are you getting this?

Oh yes. My my. For once you are useful. There seems to be a little problem not too far from you.

Yes. I got that. What is it?

Apparently there is some group with a bomb. They have taken over a building not far from you...hostages and they have told the police they will blow the entire building if they see any military or police.

I'm not getting my day off, am I?

Not at all. And bring your friend. Don't let them blow that building. The hostages should be saved if possible, but the bomb is the first priority.

Yes sir. Alaric turned back to Cross, unable to keep the distaste from his expression, "Looks like we get to work together today."

[Tally]

Cross rolled his eyes.  "Oh, whatever.  Hey don't walk into any poles, Al."

Since neither of them were on duty, Alaric didn't technically have to wait for Cross to dismiss him, but there was always that pressure on a lower ranking officer to defer to their superiors even at a time like this.  A superior who felt slighted and was petty enough could make your life hell over the smallest thing.  Cross made the matter easy for both of them and stepped around Alaric himself to continue on his way.

A troublesome wave of thoughts stopped him.  It was barely at the edge of his range so all he got was a general impression—and the word bomb repeated several times.

He nodded at Alaric, turning in the direction the thoughts had come from.

"Do you have the position?" his dragon said.  Straight to the point as always.

"I'm looking at it." He had the building in his vision.  It was within walking distance.

"Yep.  Guess you're my date, Al.  You armed?"  He'd left the Citadel without a weapon.  He'd have to find a policeman on the way and take theirs.  "Let's head that way."

[Anonymous]

Alaric shook his head, "No. Not anything besides the natural one. Is their a police station between us and them?" He did his best to keep his nose from wrinkling at the date comment. He would much rather have done this alone then with Cross.

Making his way down the streets, Alaric kept his shields open, trying to feel out the threat. Cross outranked him, so it was his call about how they handled this. He could already feel himself switching over into the mindset.

"How do you want to go in? We're going to have to be careful not to alert them that we're here." Luckily Alaric was very good at killing people silently. He just would rather avoid it.

[Tally]

Cross had already descended into a state of calm and objective calculation.  He'd extended the spiderweb of his telepathy to its maximum and opened every channel wide.  It could have been worse.  He could have been stuck out here with Gabriel, or Blaine, or some other Pilot that didn't compliment his abilities so well.  He possessed a hyperactive physical awareness that would allow Alaric to utilize his offensive arsenal with ruthless efficiency.  They should clean up in no time.

"Go vocal silence." No more audible speech until Cross ordered otherwise.  Not only did he not want any nearby citizens to hear anything of what they were discussing, but there was always the threat of a reflectivist among the insurgents.  They coveted reflectivism and went to great lengths to acquire people with the ability on account of the edge it gave them against Pilots.  If there were reflectivists in the area, especially out around the building watching for a police response, they could overhear the two Pilot's speech and alert those inside the building.

"You're on point.  Link up close and I'll feed you the intel."  The best ability he brought to the table was information, knowing where to strike and when and anticipating complications before they could become a problem.  With that, Alaric would be able to strike with efficiency and they could clear the place out without any unforeseen problems holding them up.

Cross nodded toward a group of three policemen keeping watch over the intersection.  "We'll take arms off of them."

[Anonymous]

Alaric nodded, body going lose and relaxed as he wove his way toward the police. He didn't like Cross much, but, well, he wasn't the worst person to have to do this with. Letting go of personal feelings, Cross had complimentary abilities.

And while Alaric wouldn't trust him as far as he could spit normally, in the field he knew Cross wouldn't let him down. Stopping in front of the policemen, Alaric glanced down at their belts, then over at Cross. Cross had said to go vocal silent so Alaric kept to telepathy, "I am Pilot Echo Eftwyrd. We will need to take your arms." He held his hand out, eyes narrowing as one of them looked about to question them before the man seemed to think better of it and handed him the pistol.

Quickly checking it, Alaric made sure it was loaded and ready to go before sticking into his waistband. Not the best place to keep it, but he didn't want to dick around with attaching a holster. If he was lucky, he wouldn't have to even fire the gun. They were rather noisy and would alert anyone in the building that they were there once it was fired.

His attention stayed on Cross, waiting. The Noble would have a much better idea what was going on in the building and where to enter than he did, so he awaited his orders.

[Tally]

Cross put himself between Alaric and the taken building, blocking the passing of the sidearm from view of anyone who might be keeping watch.  He used the opportunity to let one of the policeman scan his chip to verity their rank.

He took a gun for himself and, like Alaric, tucked it into his waistband.  "Carry on," he told the three of them.

"Let's get out of line of sight.  There's a closed walkway further down—covered and locked up—connecting this building and that one.  We'll go in that way."  Edenlark had sent him images of the schematics and maps as she accessed them.  There were any number of access points, the quickest ones being the most risky and the further ones being safer.  He'd settled for one in between.

An elevator ride and a short walk later found them at the opening of the walkway.  Cross hung back to let Alaric take the lead.  They were close enough now that a good deal of the building fell within the sphere of his abilities.  He sent Alaric everything he was getting.  There were six on the other side of the far door, spread out and each armed with F15 ACRs.  The trick would be taking them all out at once without one of them alerting the others on the floors above.  They all had transmitters on them.

[Anonymous]

Alaric gave a low, soft hiss, an alien sound, not something a human could make. Of course there would be 6. That was going to be very, very hard to take them out before they alerted the men above them. First Cross, now 6 guys. Could this day ge-no. No, he wasn't even going to think that, because the second he did, something really awful would happen.

Deep breath, calm thoughts. He would have to use his psychic powers, that was a given. But the where and the how was what mattered. No gun, not yet. Wouldn't matter if he kept them from their transmitters if he started firing guns off.

Open the door Kazef. There was a soft click as the lock slid open and Alaric then kicked the door open, knocking the man behind it into one of his friends, stunning the man. The alien was a whirl of movement, his actions fast and flawless, using Cross's information to know just where to strike.

Two men dropped, their brains exploded by Alaric's telekinesis before they even had a chance to realize what was going on. One went for his transmitter, but Alaric's clawed hand slammed into his face and with a squeeze the deadly claws had pierced the man's skull, killing him instantly.

While the remaining men were still scrambling to respond, Alaric's leg shot out, his boot catching the man still standing in the throat, silencing his cry. Dropping the dead man, Alaric closed the distance, snapping his neck with a quick jerk.

That just left the two on the ground. The one he hit with the door was bleeding from his nose and still seemed stunned. His friend was busy shoving him off when Alaric's telekinesis ruptured his brain, his body slumping forward onto the stunned man.

Still moving quickly, Alaric reached the last terrorist and with a short, sharp motion ripped the man's throat out, leaving him to bleed out.

"Alright Letendre. The men are gone. Orders?"

[Tally]

Cross followed behind Alaric into the room, his mind split between a dozen different places.  Part of him monitored the take down—it was too one-sided to call it a fight.  Alaric was dominating.  He monitored it just the same, ready to step in if events turned against them.

The rest of his attention followed a lone target approaching from the floor above, behind a closed door.  The amateurs had brought transmitters with them but didn't think to choose a location without soundproof doors.  Or clear glass ones that they could see through.  Cross didn't miss a stride.  When the door opened to admit the target, he clamped a vice of telekinesis around his head and snapped the man's neck.  The body slumped to the floor.

From this vantage, he could get a feel for the entire building and everyone in it.  He followed the pattern of their collective movement, funneling it all to Alaric, mostly wordlessly. "This entry point is secure.  They have no consistent recon planned to come this way—shit."

What he had just found was outside Alaric's telekinetic range, so he went on.  "They've set up a series of closed circuit cameras down most of the major hallways.  We'll have to avoid them."

It had probably taken them weeks, maybe months, to set up that network of cameras undetected, and all they'd gained from it was to irritate Cross at the delay it would cause.  Which made him more likely to resort to petty torments when taking them down.  The safe path to the hostages—and the bomb—was apparent.  It was circuitous, but they didn't have enough men or enough cameras to watch every hallway.  The tricky part would be breaching their inner hold.  They'd surrounded it with surveillance.

"Let's get going."  The path would take them down two stories, across to the other side of the building, then up again to approach their main force.

[Anonymous]

Alaric left the decisions to Cross. He knew enough about the other Pilot to know this was what he did best. It was rather impressive to be honest, though it rankled Alaric to admit that. It would have been much more satisfying if Cross was an utter waste of space and talent.

Though right then it was handy to have such a useful partner. Wiping his hands clean, or at least clean-ish, Alaric watched Cross take out the man in the other room. He followed after the other Pilot, keeping quite as Cross felt around.

Taking directions from Cross, Alaric carefully moved through the halls. He crouched, waiting near the door, listening intently, "How many are left? Can I use my side arm yet?"

[Tally]

Cross led the way to the lift.  He was beginning to anticipate their movement patterns and patrols.  They were being cautious, and had set up guards in stationary positions at halfway strategic places. But only halfway.  The whole operation reeked of ineptitude.  They'd set up the guards and made an effort at choosing defensively sound locations, but they weren't as solid as they'd thought.  If he didn't want to avoid the cameras, he and Alaric could have smashed through their guards with relative ease.

"We'll intercept six on the way to their central location.  They'll cross our path two floors up, almost directly when we get off the lift."

A heavy silence reigned as they took the lift down and passed along a dark hallway.  Only the emergency lights were one, bathing the entire corridor in a weak, orange glow.  It ended in another lift, and Cross sent them back up.  This would take them to the same floor most of the enemy's forces were on.  Things would get more...interesting here on out.

"Hold your fire until we secure the bomb. Once the lift doors open we'll have approximately six seconds until the patrol turns the corner and sees us.  There are four of them.  They'll be roughly fifty feet away.  They're yours." He paused a moment, double checking his timing and the status of the patrols.  "Four seconds after they turn the corner, two more will come from the opposite end of the hallway, near the elevator, behind us.  They're mine."

The lift was almost there.  The anticipation electrified Cross's blood.  He hadn't had this kind of action in a long time.  Working with another Pilot, he felt like an ill-fitted gear suddenly snapped into place.  It was humbling and thrilling at once to work as one part of a unit, the two of them operating together to create something powerful, functional.

[Anonymous]

What the fuck is with these guys an units of 6? Alaric shifted nervously, jealous of Cross's ability to see all these things. He was in the dark, forced to trust the other Pilot to let him know where the enemy was and where to go.

The bloodlust was making his body hum, his sense sharp. He didn't want to be still in this elevator, he wanted to move again, hunt and tear. Guns were useful, but there was something disturbingly...exci ting about getting to kill someone up close, feel his claws sinking into them.

He gave a sharp nod to Cross's command, ready to move as soon as the door slid open, his eyes on the number. It reached their floor and the doors opened and Alaric was a streak of pale blue, darting into the hallway. The guards stood no chance, the Pilot tearing through them, their blood splattering across the pale walls.

[Tally]

Cross took position on the wall opposite the elevator doors.  He kept his gun concealed. If everything went well they wouldn't even need the firearms, but he always felt better with a gun on him.

He was ready for them.  As soon as they turned the corner, one of them crumpled to the ground with a column of telekinesis holding his down, one leg crushed underneath him and his mouth held shut.  Cross took the other one down physically, with a punch to the throat then a knee to the face. He snapped both their necks with telekinesis.

"Hurry! Keep going that way."  Cross rushed after.  He was some hundred feet behind Alaric.  He sent him the set up for the next encounter.  One of the cameras had gone out, and it was their best chance to breach their fortified position, but they had to hurry.  They were fiddling with the camera even now.  One man stood on a chair, fiddling with the wires, and one other had accompanied him.  Neither were looking at the end of the hall, the place where Alaric would come at them from. "Hang one right, then a left.  They'll be around the next corner, about seventy feet away."

Time was constricted now. There were more of them in this part of the building.  They'd have to move with speed and accuracy.

[Anonymous]

Following Cross's instructions, Alaric moved quickly down the hall, long legs eating the ground. The men didn't stand a chance when Alaric reached them, unaware of his presence. One went down with a quick twist to his head, snapping his neck and the other didn't even have a chance to scream before Alaric's telekinesis had exploded his brain.

Glancing up, he could see the camera was still broken, wires hanging unconnected from where they had tried to fix it. Morons weren't even doing it right. Shaking his head, clearing away some of the gore that had splattered on him, Alaric made a face.

Such messy work, though it did satisfy some deep, primal part of his soul.

[Tally]

Cross could see how it all went down before he even got there.  He was there in the militant's thoughts just before Alaric cut them off for good, and heard the note of panic in the other's mind in those instants before he died.

"Nice."  He didn't slow, continuing on past Alaric and the dead terrorists to where the hallway forked.  They had little time before others would come by to look for the missing guards, so Cross ran on, taking the left fork and explaining as he went. "We're splitting up here.  Stay there.  I'll signal you when I'm in position."

He sent Alaric everything he knew of their inner hold, the number of men, the positioning of them, their states of mind and levels of vigilance, if they were still or moving and what kind of weaponry they had on them.  There were no cameras past this point, but the terrorists were thick and their leader would blow the building at the first sound of infiltration.

"Go in fast when I give the signal.  Your objective is that trigger in his hand, nothing else.  I'll be laying down cover fire for you."

[Anonymous]

Alaric nodded, absorbing the information. It was amazing how Cross was able to get all that. "Am I allowed to use a gun when I hit the end room? That would make this a hell of a lot easier."

If they were busting in on the final boss, seemed to reason he would be allowed to shoot. Though if Cross said no, he would go in anyway. He still had a few rooms to go still, and he would avoid making noise there, but it would be nice to just be able to put a bullet through the leaders brain.

Though...if there were still that many men and no hostages and Cross was in cover, that meant he didn't have to be careful with his psionics. He could let loose and obliterate the room.

[Tally]

"Use anything you want to get to the bastard.  Just make sure the leader stays alive.  They've rigged a sensor to his pulse.  If it stops, the bomb blows."

Cross's path took him to a public bathroom where he climbed up onto the tank of a toilet and from there up into the ceiling.  He picked his way through the fiberglass ventilation and ducts until he was just above an empty office adjacent to their main hold.

The partition between the office was half wall and half window.  The wall portion rose to waist height.  Decent cover, but not great.  A couple of file cabinets, too.

Cross eased up one ceiling tile a fraction of an inch.  It was all he needed, a thin and straight line of sight to their leader, the one holding the trigger in his hand.  He extended a rope of telekinesis and clenched it around the man's hand, the trigger hand, and watched as a look of curiosity and confusion crossed his face.  It could feel rather like a spiderweb on your skin, telekinesis.

The trigger was held safe, frozen in the man's hand.  Cross kicked a ceiling panel down and dropped into the office.  He opened fire to give Alaric cover to make it in and get to the leader.  Bullets thunked against the file cabinet at his side.

"Go."

[Anonymous]

While Cross got into position, Alaric paced, keeping his heart rate up, going through his plans of action in his head. Cross's intel was amazingly useful. As soon as he heard Cross's signal, Alaric kicked down the door and ripped off the surprised guard's face. The next room had no one in it, and Alaric moved into the third room quickly, crushing the two guards skulls with his power.

He could hear the gunfire on the other side of the door and didn't hesitate. Charging the door, he slammed it open and a quick glance let him get an idea of the room. Cross's cover fire was keeping a number of them down, but Alaric had to go fast.

He darted to the side, going for cover as shots came his way. Concentrating, he sent a blast of telekinesis at them, blasting them back. Using the break, he charged the leader. The man got a shot off, hitting Alaric in the shoulder.

Hissing, he dropped the gun, but his momentum kept him going forward. Ignoring the pain from his wound, Alaric grabbed the leader's arm, still holding the trigger and ripped, hard, tearing the limb away from the man.

[Tally]

Cross had sometimes described his mind as a bee hive, but in times like this, it was more like watching two dozen televisions at once, really watching them, aware of everything that went on in every screen.  Time slowed for him.  His reflexes peaked and gunfire exploded in his ears from everywhere.  He put a bullet in a woman sighting on Alaric.

In a space of seconds, Alaric had the leader and Cross had the stragglers.  He leaped over the half wall, glass crunching over his feet.  A voice boomed in his head and Alaric's.

"Valiant!  Deeds echoing into time!  What light of bravery shines in each of you, reflected in song, immortal, luminous!"

"Not now, Eden, gods!"

"My heart is moved to poetry!"  When was it not?  She could write poems about his breakfast that one.  "Conquering knights of city fair!  Saviors who answer the clarion call for aid!  Strike outward, abolish fear!"  Her voice grew fainter, as though she were taking herself out of range.  She couldn't stop herself, so she just rose higher until they could no longer hear her.

"Eden gave the order," he said.  She'd gotten that much to him privately, before she couldn't hold back the praise any more.  He kept his gun drawn, and faced outward as he approached Alaric, for there were still operatives in the building.  "They'll be swarming soon."

With the bomb secure, their people would flood the building in minutes.  They couldn't enter before, but they'd been made ready, and put into position.