Dis*, Dis*position Options

[JavaLamp]

An alley just off of Lingen Street Market
1:09 am

The man keeps taking quick setps toward you, but the sound of falling gravel comes with the fall of a handful of it and a brick that slams into a plastic dumpster, percussing the alley with a loud hollow 'thump'

And with that, everyone looks up. There's nothing visible, but they're visibly alert, the man dashes forward, "Higgs! Watch out up top! Sedge! Cover the streets!"

"No time now, Mary," he pulls out a grenade from his trench coat, "I guess we're leaving loudly tonight." He reaches his other hand forward to grab at your arm.

[TakayamaYuuko]

An alley just off of Lingen Street Market
1:10 am

No no, not yet. I can't tell if they're a danger to me or not.

She tries to dodge her arm away. "Just tell me where to go. You'll need both hands free." Her eyes are scanning up and around as well. Maybe somebody's running on the edge of the rooftops, but she can't escape the feeling the brick was thrown by a distinctly troll-sized arm.

She moves toward the side of the alley and mimes putting her head down and brings her arms up, left arm forward, right hand still some inches from the side of her face.

[JavaLamp]

An alley just off of Lingen Street Market
1:09 am

Trench Coat finally manages to snatch your left arm and tugs strongly away from the market, as he throws you off balance you start seeing images of a very angry man you haven't seen before shouting directly at you. You stumble where Trench coat is pulling you, but the images start moving, and there's even a little sound with them, even full words.
"Find rvivors. a scapeg "

Trench coat drops the pin and spoon from his grenade and lobs it with a fluid movement up where the brick and gravel came from as he continues to forceably pull at your arm.

[TakayamaYuuko]

An alley just off Lingen Street Market
1:09 am

Well, it's not the shrill scream of a visiting Great God, nor words out of a careless mouth or a pointed gun. It defies all reason, this sort of transmission she's got in her head. But she knows she's out of time and she's got to decide one way or the other.

With a double-step to catch up and a tug back on her left arm she pulls her head and torso back upright. Her right hand comes to her face, ring finger still crooked, and then she plants her index finger right in the corner of her eye, practically digging into the side of her nose. She holds that pose a second then gives the mightiest pull her frame can manage as she tries to lunge for the side of the alley. Anything to make sure she isn't as exposed as she wants the trench man to be.

[JavaLamp]

An alley just off of Lingen Street Market
1:09 am

"Yer kiddin' me, FRAGGITall!" It's a little muffled, but that's definitely Harl's voice as the grenade disappears from sight. It's not even 1 second before Harl himself appears, flying ungracefully through the air with his pistol pointed downward, he fires twice and again disappears from sight with a whump, a shudder from the wall of the building he jumped to, and a cry of pain "Gyeaaaah!".

Trench coat appears sufficiently distracted as you easily pull away from him to run into the same wall and he and Higgs start peppering the edge of the roof. Sedge, on the other hand, starts marching toward you.. and an explosion sends gravel flying from the roof Harl was on previously.

[TakayamaYuuko]

An alley just off Lingen Street market
1:09 am

It's often been said that by the time you're resorting to firing a gun things are already terribly wrong. Because it's true.

Given Harl's physical condition and the numbers, she thinks he probably can't carry off this whole fight and get out alive. He's going to need at least some assistance. Mary tries to get what cover she can, and if she can't she tries to keep low and back quickly toward the market. At the same time she pulls out the Manhunter, draws a bead on Sedge, and fires a shot.

[JavaLamp]

An alley just off of Lingen Street Market
1:09 am

It's a heavier pistol than you've used at the firing range.. to say nothing of having a living target, even if he isn't moving much scanning the other side of the alley. Staring down the iron sights, you fight down your anxiety and pull back the trigger. The gun reports loudly, the slide kicking back over your wrist. the gun pressing back against your arms and yanking up, the gun wrenches free from your grip, but remains on your finger, spinning around to point at you, swinging freely in place.

Sedge has taken notice, but seems more annoyed than hurt. "What da drek!" He starts running toward you, rifle slung and ready, but not pointing at you.

Trench and Higgs keep firing away at the roof. Harl might have to be daft to stick his head out into that... if he can get up from that fall, some part of your mind starts reasoning it out... guessing it was probably about 2 stories of a drop.

Somewhere at the back of your mind a voice starts crying out, though whether it's terror, or a mimic of Death's excitement from earlier is a matter of opinion at this point.

[TakayamaYuuko]

An alley off Lingen Street market
1:09 am

Okay, umm... that's one of them firmly distracted. Wish it was at least two, but...

"Run!" she cries out. The she tries to get the grip back in her hands, both hands, as she takes her own advice. She bolts for the open street. Come on, Harl. Let's just get out.

[JavaLamp]

An alley just off of Lingen Street Market
1:09 am

The sounds are so loud.. so sudden.. footfalls and panicked fleeing screams ahead, gunfire behind, they mix in the pounding of your chest and feet, they mix all together and it must have all been too sudden, because the cry of death seems to have returned too, tickling some part of your sense of hearing not already flooded.

As if the cacophony weren't enough, about halfway to the next street from the alley, a sudden sharp pain on the back of your head sends you reeling into an abandoned stall and Sedge slams right into your collarbones with his meaty forearm.

"Listen, you're comin with us, I guess ya don't want ta do it peaceful, so you're comin' quiet at least." He cocks his other meaty fist back, and the clear outline of hard plates in his gloves become visible, swinging in to rob you of all consciousness.

[TakayamaYuuko]

Lingen Street Market, Abandoned Stall

The Manhunter is wedged between her and Sedge. She tugs but knows she can't get the angle to shoot him. Her mind is reeling with all the emotions assaulting her at once. Her body is filled with pain. Her guts are alive and twisting with fear and she's choking on despair. Her back burns with anger. And her eyes and lungs are filled with regret. She's going to get Harl killed for nothing. If she isn't brain-damaged beyond recovery, in a few days she'll be arrested as the psychopath who had her mentor and coworkers slaughtered. After a few months of show trial fill the trids she'll be put away for life, a meaningless life.

Then the fear strangles even that. All she can do is scream.

"Death is coming!"

[JavaLamp]

Abandoned Market Stall
1:10 am

Sedge's wide fist consumes your view, and then.. nothing. A full, complete nothing, no vision of fist, no sound of screaming and hail of gunfire, no grit of brick sliding against the back of your head, no smell of gunpowder, grease and market, no taste of gypsum grit lingering. Nothing. and nothing alone.

Which makes the return of sight first most sudden. You see yourself, Sedge's fist creeping forward in slow motion toward your face from a third perspective, hanging above, out of your chest and arm a robed hand bursts. Sedge's hand bursts in blood and sinew, then his arm... his whole body ripping itself apart. Your body hangs where it was as the wall behind and ground below start crumbling away and a light starts growing over your forehead. The wave of disintegration rolls onward like through water while the people move like through cold molassas.

One.. two running market-goers, unlucky enough to run the wrong way out get caught shortly after Sedge, three, four.. the wave catches some homeless, too used to nearby violence to care, the building crumbling away shows no end of stopping, likewise with the crater growing below... and all the while, your body and the ball of light centering over your torso as it floats there limply in the center of it all.

Five... six... nine... thirteen, the count keeps rising.

[TakayamaYuuko]

Ground Zero, the Atomised Remains of an Abandoned Market Stall
1:10 am

No, stop this! Please, I beg you, Great God of Death, stop!

Tears stream out of Mary's stony eyelids, trying desperately to bathe her drying corneas. They flit away as steam almost as quickly as they come. She tries to squeeze out another scream - "Harl, run!"

[JavaLamp]

Ground zero
1:10 AM

Time seems slower and slower as the wave rolls out, dusting everything it comes in touch with, walls, beams, it makes short work of the alley, Trench Coat and Higgs. It digs into the building Harl was on...

You can't be certain how many have been taken so far, but the numbers are rising and they're hard to ignore. Especially with Harl coming in sight now as the roof before him is dissolving away.

[TakayamaYuuko]

Ground Zero, about fifty feet in the 'air'
Time is meaningless

Hey Death, I'm losing track and I know you want me to count every single one, so why don't you slow it down a little more? There won't be any bodies for anyone else to count, you know. And to think, all that stuff about 'Sukie Redflower out for revenge'... what a joke. This drowns anything that's happened to me. There's going to be a lot of people with more reason to kill me than for me to kill anybody else.

Harl. I already had enough of your blood on my hands. I just didn't want all of it. See...

Oh, it's all somehow burnt off, floated away. Clean hands. Yeah, right.

This has gotten out of hand. Absurd. Stop. Now.

[JavaLamp]

A bed with an unfamiliar ceiling
??: ??

Harsh fluorescent penetrate your closed eyelids. Your muscles groan and complain from stiffness and your back whines with heavy bruising, the memory... is it memory? It's clear like diluted watercolor on canvas..

Harl... It had gotten to Harl. You clearly remamber him mid-tumble, his arm being chewed up like so much tissue paper in a blender. Yes that image is clear like a trid feed, unlike the others.

Your vision starts resolving after opening your eyes carefully from under the threadbare linen, you're laying on a former pool table, you can't imagine it being used for it anymore with the bloodstains you're seeing, but the fluorescent lit lamp hanging above still works plenty well making it hard to see the rest of the dimly lit room. Someone's digging around in some bottles a few meters off, and you're wearing a very unfamiliar, dress length troll sized t-shirt that smells clean despite several stains in it.

[TakayamaYuuko]

Lying on a felt-covered hard board under an unfamiliar ceiling
An unknown time

Mary tries to sit up, with no success. She tenses her abdominal muscles but really doesn't get any further. It actually kicks off a chain reaction that, in a few seconds, gets her desperately trying to roll onto her side.

It is coming and will not be denied.

B... Bucket... she tries to get out. It may end up being the corner pocket if whoever it is doesn't respond soon.

[JavaLamp]

A pool hall?
??: ??

"Buckets through any corner pocket, miss." A youngish voice calls out from the rattling bottles. "Try not to... miss" He starts laughing raucously as you barely manage to get your mouth to one of the pockets.

True, there is a bucket hanging there. It hasn't been cleaned carefully from some of the crust you're seeing too.

[TakayamaYuuko]

Pool Hall? More like Open-bed Lunatic Ward, under the Surgeon's Lamp
15 seconds after waking

Whatever.

No time to be picky. The sweat springs out on her forehead as she centers nose and mouth over the pocket. A wave of heat infuses her entire face as her eyes shut tight and a thin mixture of bile and tiny bits of fiber come tromping out and fly into the bucket. This repeats a handful of times, although on the last couple nothing actually comes. Her nostrils are suddenly clear and burning with the lack of mucus. The sweat and stream of tears dilute out the mixture even more as they drip in after it. These, surprisingly, do not boil away. A couple more spits and she rolls back to enjoy the short time of feeling well that she has, a moment where the release of her body helps drown out the shock of being turned into an atomic weapon.

[JavaLamp]

Pool Table
Time you can sink your teeth into.

As you retch into the pocket, Two glasses thump the table next to you. "Gargle with the blue one, warm salt and water. Spit into the bucket. Take slow, shallow drinks from the red one."

You finally get a look at him.. he wears a clear, boyish face except for the long, ragged scar running from his lip through his right eye into his scalp. He even has strong freckling to compliment his orange hair. He turns around and starts tossing a bunch of cloth from a basket onto the pool table.

"You'll want some dressing when I dress your back." That same, grating laugher peals out from him, almost a cackle, really as he pours a long tall glass of clear alcohol.

[TakayamaYuuko]

Pool Table
2 minutes after waking

The pall of light nausea is returning, her head is starting to pound, and Mary's gotten annoyed enough with the puns (on only the second one!) to start complying with instructions. She cleans her mouth out with the saline solution, taking extra time to make sure she's gotten it all out. She takes an exploratory sip from the red glass, trying to gauge the taste to make sure it's water or something actually healthful. As she's managed to prop up on an elbow, she takes a look at the cloth pile. The pun has confused her a bit, so she's wondering if there's a pair of pants or something here large enough to preserve some modesty before 'medical procedures' go any further.

[JavaLamp]

Pool Table
Time... is on my side

The saline solution stings considerably as you swish it around and spit it out, but an exploratory sip of the red reveals it's a sports drink; and to your parched throat it's like a single sip of paradise.

Between the rips, threadbare and ill-fitting clothes you manage to find enough that you think would work to keep you covered as the 'doctor' lays out a jar half full of dull gray gel and a spray can next to the tall glass of alcohol. He's taken no interest at all in you so far, bussing back and forth between a bar and the neighboring pool table.

[TakayamaYuuko]

Pool Table
2 minutes 30 after waking

When the red-haired man has his back turned, she takes the best piece she can for covering her loins and pulls it on underneath the giant shirt, then selects another to cover her chest with when it comes time for wound cleaning. She takes another slow sip of the sports drink.

"Is this... Akenmann's?"

[JavaLamp]

Pool Table
2 minutes 45 after waking

"Achin'... man..." He snickers through his clenched teeth, "That's pretty good- hehehehe.. "

He turns to you suddenly and uncovers your back, it stings as you discover it was sticking to your back in a few places and he goes to work, pouring a small amount of the alcohol into his hands, then rubbing it over a portion of your back.. back and forth again in alternates between cool relief and the sharp tongue of alcohol. His movements are swift, and really spare nothing for tender areas, but in a matter of a minute he's done and fetching the gel.

[TakayamaYuuko]

Pool Table
3 minutes 45 after waking

Mary winces and grimaces through the disinfection procedure. As a woman, she thinks she's supposed to be inured to pain, yet she must concede she hasn't been through the initiation of childbirth. Plus, apparently the fair-skinned can be more sensitive. She can't bring herself to actually cry, as she thinks it would be pointless to feel sorry for herself in light of what's happened to so many others. Once she's been cleaned, she takes the opportunity to speak again.

"Fair play. I guess I knew you were going to say that. Okay, so who runs this place?"

[JavaLamp]

Pool Table
3 minutes 55 after waking

"This place? Heh heh, speaking of which, I'd better wrap up soon"

He takes a scoop of the gel with his hand and spreads it quickly around, and it chills your skin while stinging at the same time.

"And finish up with the skin...." He walks to the other table again and grabs the spray can.

"As fun as the games are, I'm guessing you're digging for my name. Akenmann's good enough." The can sprays all over your back.. the synthetic skin swiftly contracts, leaving it's stiff extra layer clinging and flexing with every move. "After all, now you owe me." The turn in tone and the corner of his smile is unmistakable. "You can't pay, can you. But since you're a referral, we'll let it slide for now, you get a week. 250 nuyen, a steal!"