Dec 21 20:58:22 108 PA - Flap, Little Bird, Flap

From Chronicles

Dec 21 20:58:22 108 PA.

NEAR THE LANDING STRIP

Last time, instruction took place at a time in mid-day. Today, Gabriel has chosen a few hours just after sunset. Eight in the evening is a good time for what he has in mind. Out here on the landing strip there is a continuous wind, a strong wind blowing an enormous amount of heavy rainfall almost horizontally. This heavy rainfall, coupled with the sub-freezing temperatures means that the rain is building up on every surface it touches, instantly freezing and leaving curtains of stationary sleet. So it is that today Gabriel is in his armor - helmet buttoned up and everything, with its unusual splotch pattern having recently been painted over, though temporarily.

Jaxain arrived early, and is currently going over the set of instructions given to him last time with the jet pack. He is wearing his armor as well, helmet on and protecting him from the rather horrible weather outside. He's obviously fallen a number of times already from the dirt and bits clods of earth that are clinging to him in various points, but he is still giving it his best go.

Gabriel chooses to use his suit's external speakers rather than the radio. At least for now. "Hello, Jax. Ready to learn s'more? Been keeping up what I told you to do?"

Jaxain nods, turning around and a bit surprised to notice Gabriel suddenly close to him. He's getting used to his new hearing, but in conditions like this an elephant could sneak up on a mouse. He switches to speakers as well, "Hey! Yeah, I've been practicing every day for hours." There is a grin in his voice which can't be seen behind his helmet. "Damn this thing is tricky!" He laughs.

"Alright. Do it. Hover for me." Gabriel waggles a hand, then says, "Make it four feet off the ground, and maintain it for two minutes without drifting outside of a ten foot radius."

Jaxain nods inside his helmet and does a quick shake to break some of the ice from his armor. Then he presses the button and takes off, reaching very close to 4 feet (if one had a measuring tape), and managing to hover there even despite the wind and the rain. Maybe because he's been out here for four hours already today and he's gotten used to the wind here, or just because he's been practicing like a freak. Go go gadget jet pack!!

The Crusader helmet nods slowly. "Good job! Particularly in this shit." Gabriel waves a hand around to indicate the weather. "How about the jet-hops? Can you give me two of those around the strip. Fifteen feet high?"

Jaxain nods and lands, slipping only slightly in the ice but keeping his feet. He readies himself, checking for anyone or anything incoming in the horrible conditions, and takes off. He makes his first 'leap' and goes about 10 feet in the air, less than he expected due to the weather, and he slips and slides upon landing, having to go down on one knee for a moment before he takes off again, this time reaching the full (or close to the full) 15 feet requested. He goes off course because of the wind a few feet, but does manage to land it with difficulty.

"Okay, okay. Now give me the two laps of the strip. Just the jet jumps. If you start to slip, just stop and get your bearings." Gabriel points a finger at the runway. No further words are spoken, though he does shelter himself behind a large hickory to keep ice from building up on his suit.

Jaxain nods again, and might be saying something but it's lost in the wind as a sudden gust nearly blows him over. Righting himself, he studies the terrain for a moment, then takes off in the required lap. He makes the rounds well, seeming to be in control of the jet pack, but either he has trouble with landings, or it's the damn ice and wind teaming up against him. he falls twice on the circuit, once after being blown a good seven feet from his planned landing point. The second lap, however, he fares much better. The wind dies down a bit, and what does gust up he manages to account for in time. "Whew!! Damn, this is fun!" He says upon arrival.

"Pretty good. You've been practicing." Gabriel floats it out as a statement. "Okay. Again, but the opposite direction - and double the height. This isn't exactly a suit of Terrain Hopper, but in an emergency it can be a miniature version." He demonstrates by suddenly jetting himself from where he is to above Jaxain's head, then coming down smoothly to land next to him. "These Falcons are good sets. So, the lap, please."

Jaxain nods, still smiling behind his helmet, and takes off. He does well on the first few hops as he is getting up to height, but this is about as high or higher than he has ever gone before... and the weather isn't exactly nice. After the first few leaps, he crashes into the ground hard enough to draw a wince from even the hardiest gladiator. But he's up again soon, looking down at ice and sleet below his feet in the mushed up ground. "Huh, lost track of the ground. Thought it was further down." He says, over the radio this time, before he shrugs and takes off again. He is more cautious, especially because in these conditions it is terribly hard to see the ground at times. Finishing the lap, he takes his time and makes sure he can land each leap as he goes, but he still slips on landing more than once.

"Okay, okay. Look, here." Gabriel moves over to Jaxain and jumps on his back. "Here! Forget about your feet. This is about flight." It takes him a second to secure a good hold, during which time he prays that his student stays upright. Then he's up into the air, up a good thirty feet, maybe forty. It's not easy to tell, if you're not used to measuring distances with accuracy, as he is. Cybernetics helps. "I'm going to let go. Just hover here."

Jaxain manages to keep his balance, helped greatly by his amazing load bearing capacity which reduces the strain of supporting another man on his back. He does, however, let out a light yelp of surprise when the take off, but luckily it's taken and hidden by the wind and rain. "Alright!" he yells about the letting go and hovering.

Gabriel doesn't provide any warning. He just plays mother bird, and kicks Jaxain out of the tree by releasing his grip.

Jaxain is ready, but things aren't always as simple as they seem. He flaps and flaps and flaps, but the ground keeps getting closer. Basically, what happens is he tries to hover by not putting on TOO much thrust... but he puts too little thrust instead. So he doesn't hit the ground HARD, but he sure doesn't hover. "Damn!!" he yells. "Can I try it again?"

Silently, Gabriel swoops down, gets a good grip on his charge once more, and takes him back up to forty feet. This time, before releasing Jaxain, he reminds, "Floating. A little too low, a little too high, a little too low, a little too high until the oscillation has narrowed it down. Hurry up, I'm getting bored with the pure basics. You really shouldn't be having much problem with this."

"Yeah, no problem." He is a bit more ready this time, and he takes a deep breath. As soon as Gabriel lets him go, he applies enough thrust to bring him another 15 feet in the air, then reduces it. That seems to solve his previous problem completely, and he doesn't even need to oscillate much at all as he already knows how to hover, and once he gets back down to the height he judges that Gabriel dropped him, he stays there. Swaying slightly in the wind, maybe, but his height is relatively constant.

Gabriel's external speakers click off, and he continues over the directional radio. "Okay. Enough fun in the playpen. Mommy ain't gonna be here to catch your ass, so keep up." Then, without any further warning he takes off, straight up from where he'd been hovering. It's just like the ancient flick, "Iron Man," but without the asinine story.

Jaxain doesn't turn his radio on, but yells in his helmet, "Alright!!" As he rockets upwards after Gabriel. Well, not exactly after Gabriel... but UP at least. He takes a moment to reorient and find his teacher, and adjusts his course to follow. "Right behind you!" He says. Not exactly accurate.. but he is at least behind Gabriel.

Behind Gabriel, indeed. Unless eyes had been kept on him the whole time, with magnification and no distractions, it may be a surprise when he appears from *below* his pupil to even up at his shoulder. He asks casually, "How high're you going?"

Jaxain not only had no magnification, but he has almost lost track of which way was up and which was down. So he does indeed yelp when Gabriel suddenly appears beside him. "Oh crap, ahaha!" he laughs, turning his maneuvering jets awkwardly to face his instructor. "As high as you want!"

"One-thousand feet is a common operating altitude. You have an altimeter with you, don't you?" Gabriel keeps pace as the two of them slowly rise, only a few feet per second at the moment.

Jaxain looks at Gabriel and tilts his head to the side, his confusion obvious over the radio. "Huh? Altimeter? Wassat?" He asks simply, bobbing slightly in the air as he tries his best to stay next to Gabriel. As long as Gabriel lets him, that is.

"Ah. It's a piece of equipment you need to buy for yourself, if you can't get an implant. Or at least, I'll show you how to eyeball it. Follow." He takes off, but slowly enough that he's obviously pacing himself for a pupil to keep up. "Without an altimeter, you can judge one-thousand feet by keeping this in mind. At roughly one-thousand feet, a six-foot tall man will appear as if looking at a quarter-inch tall object from ten feet away. So very small."

Jaxain looks at Gabriel, falling slightly behind as he tries to keep that in mind. "Huh?" He says, basically COMPLETELY missing the point. "Oh, because things are smaller when they are further away?" He asks stupidly, not used to using that part of his brain.

"Yes. Perspective, it makes things appear smaller. So if you get to that range, you can estimate it. Theoretically, you should be pretty quiet on the ground as well. Plus, you'll be within easy range of most weapons that you'd be likely to be using. Not that you can't also be hit as well." Gabriel zips up a few hundred feet, then stops, hovering, waiting for Jaxain to catch up.

Jaxain does catch up, overshooting his instructor by about 11 feet at first, but adjusting his height to come back down and bob nearby, swaying in the wind. "Oh! Wicked, so I can use that for trying to figure out how far someone is, just like I would on the ground, right? For ranged fire?" he nods his helmeted head. "Are those altimeter things expensive? If it will help I can go buy one right away."

"Altimeters are cheap. I mean, you can buy expensive ones, buy you don't need 'em." A sudden blast of wind and rain blows through, knocking even Gabriel out of where he'd been hovering. There's some quiet cursing in Kentucky drawl, and some Kentucky phrases before he gets back to where he was. "So, you see the field all the way down there? Just fly to the far end, turn around, and fly back. Maintain this altitude. You're going to need to *lean forward* to get it to do anything more useful than just floating like a retarded genie's flying carpet. Just don't over do it." With that, he points down the runway, in his signature physical expression of, 'go.'

Jaxain was affected far more seriously than Gabriel in the burst of wind, as it actually changed his direction and he lost sight of his instructor. "Gabriel?" He asks, looking around, before finally spotting the man a hundred yards distant and nodding to his instructions. "Got it." Not used to doing anything but.. hovering... and gives it a try. He leans forward and starts going towards the pointed destination... and overbalances in a sudden gust of wind, plummeting like a rocket - well, AS a rocket, really - towards the ground. He doesn't say anything, his focus bent on trying to regain control of his dive as he puts his focus on the control pad in his hand. It wasn't his fault, exactly, just bad timing and inexperience.

"Lean back! LEAN BACK! Kick your legs forward!" Gabriel can only call over the radio at this point. Even he wouldn't be able to get to Jaxain fast enough to grab him and keep him from smacking the ground. "Pull back the throttle and lean backwards!"

Jaxain is used to having to reorient himself in his gymnastic exercises, and that is all that saves him now as he does as Gabriel yells, and kicks his legs forwards while leaning back, coming out of the dive and starting to climb again when only about 200 feet from the ground. Sure his armor would have saved him, but it wouldn't have been very fun. "Haha, by the gods!" he says into his radio, finally able to speak as he can loosen his focus. "I never figured that storms would be worse in the air!" He climbs further, looking around and trying to spot Gabriel to figure out what height he is at. "I can't see you, call out when I reach my height again."

"No, I'm not holding you hand. I showed you what it looked like, figure it out," Gabriel says over the radio. Yes, his method of instruction is harsher than many others, but it works well. "Do the loop of the field, and when you're finished - if you finish, I'll turn on my spotlights."

Jaxain nods, used to the 'drill instructor' in Gabriel by now, and does his best to figure out his altitude. He's off by quite a bit, but then again he has little to judge by. The forest looks pretty similar from 800 feet to 1200 feet and visibly is too poor to see much else. He makes his way across the field, slowly and carefully, but by the end he's going at a fair clip. He turns around and starts heading at a 30 degree angle to Gabriel, still obviously not seeing the other man.

Gabriel waits for about one-hundred yards distance, correcting so that Jaxain can't drift excessively far, before flipping on the spotlight. "Okay. Any guess at what I'm going to say next?"

"Hmmm... 'Do it again, and damn well do it better this time!'" Jax guesses, correcting his course and heading back to Gabriel.

"Yes, but more colorful than I'd intended." Gabriel's helmet nods briefly. "Try again. Then we'll talk about it."

Jaxain leans forward again, and this time is not hit by a huge gust of wind at the exact same time. He rockets forward, reaching pretty impressive speeds and makes it to the other side quickly, before he turns around and starts heading back to Gabriel. Now that he has himself oriented, finding the other man in the dim takes him a few minutes but is no longer impossible.

"Alright, pretty good. Now grab onto my arm." Gabriel sticks his left arm out to his side. "I won't go as fast as you eventually will, but you need to see how to do it better." When everything has been grabbed, he takes off at a moderate pace, as if to make another simple loop of the runway. Which he does, quite expertly. But then it turns into a tall vertical loop with a thousand foot radius. He reaches the apex, and then the exciting part begins.

Jaxain garbs onto Gabriel's armored appendage, holding tight and doing his best to either match pace or at least hover in a way that won't counteract their combined movement. "Wooooahh!" Jax whoops at the height of the loop, enjoying himself despite his attempt at just focusing on the mechanics of flight.

"Now watch the brakes," Gabriel says. A sinister tone? Humor? Tough to tell, he can be a tough man to read. The point is that he takes his own grab on Jaxain's arm, and begins to rocket downward to complete the vertical loop. "Pay attention to what's happening!"

Jaxain nods, though it is completely lost, and does his best to follow along with Gabriel. "Alright!" He says, a slight note of uncertainty, possibly, in his voice. He isn't AFRAID of hitting the ground, he's worried about disappointing his instructor. And he doesn't know what to expect.

Once more, the baby bird is kicked out of the nest. As the upper descending quarter of the loop is nearly finished, he releases Jaxain's arm - they're in a head down position. "Almost full speed, approaching two-thousand feet, half a second to figure out how to not hit the ground. Good luck." Then *zoom* he peels away.

Jaxain is, possibly, laughing on the inside as Gabriel launches him at the ground at full speed, but he's focusing much too hard to actually vocalize it. He'll never trust another arm grab again... though it us quite fun. He looses his sense of direction and can hardly see through the sleet on his visor as he pulls up viciously, closing his eyes and letting his body do what it was trained to do as he pulls himself into a half flip and tries to reorient himself. He comes VERY close to the ground as he jets the opposite way, or actually at an angle, going at full speed 60 degrees from the horizontal plane. "Holy crap!" He finally says over the radio. He'd probably be crapping himself if he hadn't just gone through this a few moments ago, due to an errant gust of wind.

"Hey! You survived!" Gabriel exclaims, both impressed and surprised at the same time. "Okay, come up here. I'm at one-thousand. Lights are on. Do your own vertical loop around me. Try to keep the same one-thousand foot separation."

Jaxain laughs as he makes his way towards Gabriel, "Ok, I gotta ask. Do you train everyone like this, or am I getting special treatment?" He goes up and tries his best to do the loop, his gymnastics training again coming in incredibly useful during the mid-air-acrobatics, but his form is far from perfect.

"I train everyone like this," Gabriel answers quickly. "However, these are only physical skills. Others that require a lighter touch receive such." He flashes his spotlights, just to provide a center for the loop. "Your basic villagers, guerrillas and freedom fighters start out at a very basic level, not knowing much about anything. The Black Flag units that I trained could take on a Coalition battalion and win - *before* the training was complete. Consummate professionals prior to training. You're somewhere in the middle."

Jaxain nods, taking it as a compliment. Maybe after he comes back he'll have a story to impress Gabriel with, but nobody knows the future. He's still a bit nervous about the mission with Val and Bart, but he trusts everything will work out fine. He laughs, "I meant the crash, sure I'd be fine but your average person woulda been pretty bruised up even with the armor." He chuckles again, "Not that it wasn't fun, and it sure as heck got my heart racing. Wanna do it again?"

"A new Falcon 300 at full speed produces enough thrust to reach roughly one-hundred and twenty miles per hour," Gabriel says. After all, information is information, and it's all important. "Most people inside of armor impacting the ground at that speed would make a nice filling of jelly surrounded by an armored outer casing, probably a cracked outer casing. And that's why you don't want to hit the ground." He doesn't argue the merits of this individual's ability to handle more impact, just the important generality. A hand is waved. "Please, around me. Vertical loop, one-thousand foot radius, as fast as you can. I'll keep the lights on so that you can see me." Indeed, with the hour and weather it is now quite dark.

Jaxain isn't laughing so hard once the imagery is described... Sure he's pretty tough, but that still sounds painful. Though his impact armor would allow even a normal human to survive the impact, most likely... it's still not gonna be fun. "Wow, alright. Yeah, that would not be good." He does as ordered, completing a vertical look around his instructor, though it is more of an oval than a true loop, but he's not quite able to see that from his perspective. The loop isn't that hard once you get the hang of it, but he needs more practice before he can keep it from being wobbly, the wind gusting him dozens of feet from side to side as he ascends and descends vertically, completing the loop.

Gabriel's helmet nods as he follows Jaxain's loop. "Wobbly. But acceptable. Okay. Go down to the far end of the runway." He himself jets forward to mid-runway - off to the side, of course. "I want you to start down there, do a full-speed run at me, then pull up into a vertical loop, come out near me and fly out the other end of the runway like you're headed toward the city. Keep your speed up as fast as you can go." He sits back and waits to see if the speed plays a part in the maneuvering accuracy. "Remember, you're controlling it with your body."

Jaxain is more than happy to comply with his instructor... but his body is not willing to comply with him. Possibly it's due to the wind, maybe because Tek souped up his jet pack to make it extra fast, or just plain old inexperience, but as soon as he starts going fast he looses control and goes into a mid-air tumble, letting go of his thrust while he sorts himself out. He falls nearly 150 feet before he reorients himself, and starts again, going for maximum speed but this time with a slower acceleration. But again, once he gets up high enough he looses it as the aerodynamics of his armor, or lack thereof, just throws him for a spin. "Dammit!" He says. "As soon as I get over 80 I just get spun around!"

"Then don't do that," Is Gabriel's helpful advice. He jets over so that he's hovering a few feet away from his charge. "What, exactly, is it that makes this any different from learning to ride a bicycle or a skateboard?"

Jaxain shakes his head, "Nah, it's the same. Just gotta keep at it." He looks down. "I'm gonna try and hold my legs together this time, see if that helps." And he takes off, not at Gabriel, of course, but just forwards at a fast pace. This time, he's able to control it fairly well. "Ha! Ok. Sorry, I got it now. Wanna give it another go?"

"If no one had ever told you that people weren't meant to fly, do you think that you'd be having these troubles? Or would your instincts be taking over, letting you fly like a hummingbird?" Gabriel answers his pupil's yes-or-no question with a question on philosophy.

Jaxain is dumbstruck by the question, which could well be it's intent. "Uhhh..." He says sagely. "I guess I'd be a hummingbird?" He ventures randomly, floating in the sky nearby.

Gabriel's armored arms cross as he floats in the sky, the freezing rain pelting his faceplate. "Most failures come when people have been told that something is not possible. Or that something is not supposed to be done. Or something doesn't work that way. Et cetera. You grew up where people didn't fly. I did to. But now I fly. Now you've seen me fly - and you know that it's possible, and it does work that way." He extends a hand across the distance to Jaxain. "Believe that it can be done, and your subconscious mind will do what it knows that it can. Not perfectly, but with a good position to start. You got the most basic from me last time we met. Now you need to push further. Open your mind." He opens his arms wide. "Now - fly, Jaxain. The same one-pass runway loop."

Jaxain isn't quite sure how to take all this philosophy and whatnot, as it's kinda above his mental pay grade, but he shrugs and nods and flies towards Gabriel as fast and as well as he can. Keeping his legs tucked tight together seems to fix his problems with spinning out of control from air pressure, and actually flying is EASIER than doing the on the ground hops and close to ground hovering. It's a LOT more forgiving up here, because if you fall 100 feet you won't hit anything. So off he zooms, clearing his mind and opening his throttle. "Damn straight!" His pack is FAST, even faster than a standard Falcon, as he makes his way.

The instructor simply rotates his hovering attitude to watch Jaxain pass by. "When you pull up, you need to use the palm control as well as rotating your body. Otherwise your inertia will try to keep you just going forward." Gabriel stays in the dark, observing through any number of optic systems that he personally built into his armor.

Jaxain pulls up, shaky and overcompensating slightly at first, but he manages the ascent with only a 10 or 20 percent margin of error in his steering. It's no ballet, but it gets the job done, and his quick loop has him almost loose control a number of times, one big one when his legs start to part again, but overall he manages to complete the maneuver despite the pelting rain and driving wind. If anything, at his speed the wind affects him less, but his lack of experience makes it hard for him to compensate as quick as an experienced pilot.

"Looks good! Now turn it into a horizontal loop, centered on me, as fast as you can," come Gabriel's quick instructions. "Use your palm control to tuck your body in further so that your turn's tighter."

Jaxain tries to do as he is told, but gets caught in a gust of wind again and, strangely, seems to have more trouble with horizontal loops than vertical. Possibly something to do with a complete lack of horizontal loops in gymnastics? It's hard to say, but he has a lot of trouble with his first loop, doing a couple tumbles and having to regain his position. He keeps on trying, but he's doing something a bit off...

"Again! Never consider a skill learned until you can do it three times in a row." Gabriel has lowered himself to the ground at this point, as there's no point in taxing his jets any more than necessary. "Caress the controller. It's a use of thrust, as well. You build that thing into your palm yet?"

Jaxain growls to himself, then has to reach up and slap his forehead, "Swimming! It's like swimming!" He says to himself, doing his best to reorient his inner ear and stop focusing on the vertical aspect of a flip. He tries again, this time going much slower at first, but manages to get up to speed with one arm extended out in front of himself. Kinda like Superman, but there is a reason... it makes it feel more natural. "Alright! Uh yeah, I had it put in the palm." He says, as Gabriel mentioned it previously.

"Okay, good, good! Go vertical for five seconds, maximum speed, then turn around and dive at me." Gabriel waves his hand at Jaxain, despite the fact that he won't be seen. "But when I say dive, I mean 'cut' your throttle entirely at the apex. A controlled, unpowered dive to pull out of by waiting to fire your 'pack back up and landing gently."

Jaxain is definitely impressed by what is asked of him this time, as it seems like quite a feat indeed! But all he can do is try his best. He thrusts upwards, missing five seconds by a heartbeat, and cuts his power. He carries on upwards for some time, seeming almost forever to Jax-in-the-air, and then starts falling backwards. He does a few dips and dives and finally manages to reorient himself facing downwards... and he falls. He doesn't have as much confidence as Gabriel might have in his skills, so he takes a moment to make himself invulnerable to the impact, should it happen, and that removes a lot of the pressure of the fall. 500 feet up, he is still facing downwards, but he raises his arms and tucks his legs to reorient himself and he hits the throttle. In his armor and with his weight, terminal velocity is close to double the speed his jet pack can muster, so he doesn't slow down as fast as he though he would.... but he still manages to touch down without too much issue. Sure his feet are buried about an inch and a half in the frozen ground... but it's hard to see in these conditions.

Gabriel nods approvingly. If anyone is yet expecting cheers and waving arms, they haven't been paying attention to his style. "Okay, that was good. Keep practicing things like that. Loops, horizontal and vertical. Practice equipment malfunctions. High-speed passes at altitude. Stay at about one-thousand for now, it's generally safe for this kind of flight. But before I let you go tonight, there's one more trial." He rests his voice for a moment then says, "I want you to fly into the city, and find Yakov's Deli. Land, go in and buy me a serving of vatrushka. Bring it back. If you make it inside of thirty minutes, we'll be done." Doesn't sound like he's kidding. He has an odd method of instruction.

Jaxain nods and takes off, flying high into the sky and then over the city. He takes a moment, but he spots the deli and comes in for a landing. Luckily, the streets are clear and there are no pedestrians around, as Jax's landing on the pavement actually leaves it slightly CRACKED... But who's gonna notice a little thing like that.... *AHEM* He enters the deli, purchases the food, and does his best to fly back and not have it destroyed. The bag is wet and despite his best efforts rain has gotten inside, but it's manageable. However, upon landing Jax has too much forward momentum and has to go into a roll and spin to avoid falling flat on his face... he does his best to preserve the food, but it's been through a hell of a ride...

Gabriel takes the bag without a word, peers in.. and nods. "Close enough. It's not meant to be a pudding, but it's better than cold trout for tonight. Keep practicing, Jax, just like I told you. If you work hard and long, focusing on what I've said, then next time we can get into some real maneuvering, things that'll be helpful to keep you alive other than a simple vertical emergency departure." He starts to... walk... out of the landing area, clapping his pupil on the shoulder. "Good job. I'll see you later. Got things to talk about down at the Lady. Hey, try a few more loops before you go home." He shoots a childlike pistol-hand and Jaxain, then just continues his walk toward the gates. Never having offered up compensation for the purchase. Apparently that's just part of today's training fee.

Jaxain wouldn't have accepted compensation anyway, and didn't even notice. He smiles beneath his helmet, "Wicked, thanks man! Yeah, I'll keep practicing for a few more hours here, too excited to get any sleep anyway. I'll see you soon!" He says, raising a hand as he applies the thrusters, taking off into the air and vanishing in the murk.