Gordon Freeman

Doubtless a mutant weapon is very difficult to shake. X shifts position again, bringing one knee up under herself. That (conveniently) puts her toes right up against the hood, which means she can jab in one claw and hold.

And now, of course, she has her hands free.

The real question is--would it be more efficient to try to annihilate the engine, or go after whatever might be driving the car?

Efficiency suggests her position makes option 1 more acceptable, and so X suits thought to action.

What is under the hood?

Edited Date: 2008-09-09 08:47 pm (UTC)

From:

Bluntly put? They do a lot of damage. It's probably not a good idea to attempt to throw oneself on such a grenade to save the rest of the unit, as it would appear that the grenades are perfectly capable of sending their victims- or their victims' parts- flying.

As for X's situation, what lies under the hood is an internal combustion engine of a sort. Whatever fuel it runs on, it's heavily based on alcohol rather than petroleum. It looks as if someone got hold of a Wankel rotary engine and forced it through fifty years of design evolution or more in the space of a week.

The APC driver chooses that moment to slam on the brakes, perhaps hoping to fling the unwelcome passenger from the hood and into the line of fire.

From:

Momentum is a bitch. Superhuman reflexes and agility, on the other hand, are incredibly useful.

Which means that X, feeling the car jerk to a stop, drops her hands down and digs all of her claws deep into the inner workings of the engine.

When she goes flying--because even friction cannot save you when your claws cut through anything--she leaves a swathe of destruction behind her. If any of the fuel is leaking, someone should probably start hoping metal-on-metal did not give rise to any sparks.

X, for one, does not mind either way.

It is not often immediately relevant to her survival.

Edited Date: 2008-09-09 09:25 pm (UTC)

From:

OOC: Sorry about the delay, but I was offline for a bit.

Annabelle has missed a lot of the action. This is because one of the combine that got a bullet between the eyes landed near some good cover and Annabelle decided to get armor on now as well as getting her hands on his/her/its grenades.

Even with cover, getting armor on in the middle of a combat zone is...interesting.

She sees Ryan using one of the grenades, which gives her an idea of how long it takes for them to explode.

She may cackle just a bit as one of the groups of Combine that was harassing the resistance meets her new explosive toys.

From:

In the words of John Cleese, that is an ex-engine. There's about to be quite a lot of fire; the Combine inside start frantically trying to get themselves clear before it becomes a lot of boom, too.

One almost pities the Combine at this point. They seem to have just enough humanity left to be freaking out. There's not a whole lot of them left in the area after Annabelle starts throwing, either. The rebels are pressing forward, and overhead something that gives the impression of being a giant, flying crab darts through the air, passing over the scene on the way to somewhere else. "Dropship!" Dora calls. "Bet you that'll be coming back with some serious nasties inside!"

From:

Annabelle grins at Dora's explanation of the dropship. Bringing the nastier forces over here is the plan, after all.

Annabelle adjusts a few things on the new Combine body armor during this relative lull and then walks over to Dora.

When she catches Dora's eye she asks, "Is anybody injured?"

When that question has been answered she points to the Combine that have died from headshots. "If anyone is interested in trading up on their body armor those suits there should be usable."

Annabelle would like to keep as many Resistance members alive as possible and better armor will help with that.

From:

Ryan's looking fairly satisfied as well as he heads towards their liaison. Hearing Annabelle's question, he puts his free hand on the radio (the dominant stays on his weapon).

"Do I need to contact Valerie?"

From:

Dora casts an eye over the other rebels and says, "We've got some wounded. Nothing some bug juice won't cure. Alf! Search the corpses- get their medvials!"

As one of the rebels starts stripping the nearest headshot kills of armor, several lurid green vials come to light and are passed towards the injured fighters. "They'll be good in a couple of minutes," says Dora. "That stuff's a damn miracle, is what it is."

From:

"Good. So that's what those are. I found one when I got my armor but I didn't know what it was."

Annabelle looks at her vial curiously, "Do you need this one and do you swallow or inject these things?"

She heard the bug juice comment. She's employing the age old human defense mechanism of 'not thinking about it'.

She turns to Ryan when he comes over, "How about you? Any injuries?" Michael may be avoiding him for some reason, but she doesn't know anything about him. Besides, he's on the same team and therefore deserving of civility and concern.

From:

"I'm all right," says Dora. "Swallow, definitely. It's only the ones in actual medkits that're pure enough to inject."

From:

"I'll keep that in mind," he says to Dora. Who knows? He may need medical attention before the day is out.

"I'm fine, thank you," Ryan answers politely. For his part, he doesn't know she's affliated with Michael, and even if he did, well. She hasn't threatened violence against him. He taps the fanny pack. "This doesn't let anything through, fortunately."

He does not switch it off. There's no guarantee of safety, here.

"Are we going to keep moving, or do we want to hold position here?"

From:

Annabelle grins when Dora tells her she's all right and stores the vial somewhere in case she needs it later.

"I'll remember that. It's just as well, finding an injection site in a hurry with this armor on is likely to be tricky."

Annabelle nods when Ryan responds and eyes the fanny pack curiously. "Sounds useful."

Annabelle liberates a machine gun and some ammo from another Combine corpse, just in case.

"What can we expect in the next wave?, she asks Dora. "Those strider things?"

From:

X, covered in soot and blood, returns from the scene of the wreck, such as it was.

"They will expect you to create an ambush?"

It seems like a relevant question. To her.

From:

"Not yet, I don't think," says Dora to Annabelle. "Elites, maybe. And more scanners, so make as much of a mess as you can, okay? Let 'em get off a picture or two before you take 'em down, all of you. They'll cue the Citadel in to where they've got to send the next reinforcements."

From:

Annabelle nods. "The Elites are the ones that carry sniper rifles, aren't they? I'll make sure to let the scanners take some pictures before I shoot."

Annabelle looks briefly concerned at X's appearance, but figures that from the way she's moving most of the blood must belong to other people.

From:

X nods just a little.

"Okay."

Beat.

"I will remember."

One thing she can do very well is make a mess. In case no one figured that out yet.

She also notices Annabell's look.

"I am okay. I heal."

From:

Annabelle smiles a little at X's answering her unspoken question. "It's a good thing I picked up that body armor," she says wryly. "I seem to be the least bullet-resistant member of our party."

From:

Snipers plus more of the same. Ryan nods.

"I'd've done the same were our positions reversed," says the werewolf keeping an eye on their surroundings. He is, after all, wearing Kevlar underneath his shield. "I received the shield generator as part of the kit for another mission. Talk to Ray Stantz when we get back; he'll probably be willing to make you one."

From:

"Pulse rifles," Dora corrects. "Capture the rifles if you can, we can always use more top-quality guns like that. And don't go near the orbs. Those disintegrate people."

The hum of engines in the sky and the faint but real smell of something living but not quite right comes on the wind. "Incoming dropships!" calls one of the rebels.

From:

X is already moving, attention directed toward the sound.

And the smell.

She does not jockey for position, but a frame of reference is important.

She needs to see what is coming. And where it is going. Then she will know how best to strike.

From:

Ryan tilts his head at the sound, stepping away from the small collection of people that's gathered. Smaller targets are better.

"How many on a dropship?" he calls back, switching out an old clip for one he knows is full.

From:

Annabelle nods at Ryan's answer. "Thank you, I'll ask him when we get back." As AEon's aiming system Annabelle generally ended up with the more offensively oriented of Dixon's inventions, but she's not going to turn down something that reduces bullet holes. She hates convalescing.

To Dora she says somewhat sheepishly, "Sorry, pulse rifles. And I will stay away from the orbs."

Weird devices that disintegrate people, vastly outnumbered and fighting the good fight, it's just like home!

There is a certain amount of glee in Annabelle's scent at the mention of pulse rifles. ~~Some people collect snow globes, Annabelle collects weapons.~~

As the dropships move in Annabelle moves to a defensible position and prepares to open fire.

From:

"Six to eight," Dora answers, skittering sideways to the partial shelter offered by a chunk of fallen masonry. "That's what they said at Lighthouse Point, anyway."

The first of the dropships- there are two- passes overhead and begins to lower itself for a landing. If one were to cross some sort of crab with a massive flying robot, engines glowing blue in the ends of the larger legs, it might look like that. Its smaller legs are clutching a dull black metallic container, which it sets down before landing entirely. The other hovers, awaiting its turn.

As the door opens on the container a pair of scanners drop from the hovering crab-thing's underside, sweeping down the street and beeping furiously.

From:

X notes the scanners' path with a corner of her brain; the majority of her attention is fixed on what's coming out of the container.

And, of course, on what the second dropship is up to.

From: