Nov 23 08:37:01 106 PA - Machines have a mind of their own

From Chronicles

A mainly residential area, the northern section of steel street houses places to live for the thousands of workers that fill the factories to the south. There are many, many, many small side streets here that bear homes of every feasable shape, size and color. The only constant is that most of them are well looked after. The 'average joe' of Kingsdale lives here -- the non-augmented, relatively normal human-ish creature that has an average, blue-collar job and works to keep his or her family afloat with a half decent roof over their heads. These houses almost all have grassy yards and the sight of children, human and not-so-human, playing is very common. There are several schools in the area too and by and large this is a plesant and thriving community.

There are many small apartment buildings littering the place too, the best one of which is Raleigh's Retreat, a sprawling 300 unit complex that is clean and a very safe place to live. Not too expensive either, it is a popular place to live for younger and single members of the community. The streets here are generally two lane, and traffic is surprisingly fluid except during morning and evening rush-hour where one needs to wait a bit. Warm breezes blow trees and grass and one could almost forget that they live in a city. The ever-present shape of Kingsdle's wall changes that, though.

Twenty three hundred hours is the set time for the loose temporary curfew on steel street. Notices are up, radio signals are sent. Everyone knows that unless on official business the district should be avoided. Two KDPD hovercycle pairs patrol the area diligently, watching for the felons who have brought the city's industry to a grinding halt in a matter of days. A few do linger on the streets, determined mechanics set on fixing their vehicle before sleeping again, and would be heroes set on making sure the denizens can sleep again..

Alistair is still going from place to place - or at least vehicle to vehicle, tagging things as they come up, filling out the forms. Paperwork makes things so much slower - who'd have known? He carries a bunch of forms with him now, some filled out, some not.

Leaving the garage, Caliopa makes her way down to Steel Street, an unlikely would be hero but her interest in the machines' problems brings her there. She hesitates, standing at the top of the street, staring down at the activity. Her gaze takes in the notices and the KDPD hovercycles and the expressive face shows the worry she feels. Alistair is noted and a faint flush rises in her cheeks before she turns aside, heading towards a place to stand, out of the way, waiting for action.

Brady has good reason to be present, of course. He's on his way home, and in no real big hurry. At all. Plenty of distance is kept from what vehicles are brave or immobile enough to remain, since the last things he needs are the KDPD eyeballing him, or his own hardware to stop working. To that end, shadows between streetlights (if they're even still working) suit him just fine.

Alistair exhales, frowning faintly, perhaps at the state of things. He starts walking again and looking around to see if there's more to be done - and undoubtedly there is, but be spots Cali and pauses; he smiles at her and starts, "Cali! Look, all these things are broken-" he stops abrupty then, his head turning to look towards a parking lot near him, his smile dissapearing right away, eyes wide.

Alistair's call does get a reaction, but not a normal one for the pair. Caliopa ducks her head, almost avoiding Alistair for that moment as she moves towards the nearest broken vehicle. Intent on her purpose here, her sunny smile is missing, leaving a serious expression as she considers it thoughtfully.

Brady glances over at the call, focusing on Alistair a moment before looking about for the one that was called. If it ain't the Angel and her boy. He has to wonder just how official there business is, but he's not about to question that just yet. Somone might ask about his, afterall. Then he notices that Alistair isn't calling anymore and turns his baby blues back thatta way. That usually ain't a good thing, so he begins to mosey over, also.

The afore mentioned parking lot has a decent number of standard vehicles in it. Nothing with military endurance plating or the wondrous nuclear or electric engines. Just good old steel paneling and combustible fuels. The folly of such designs is perhaps most apparent as a large passenger van goes VABOOM!!! The explosion lights the night and sends the van into the air to somersault and land completely totaled on its cab.

Alistair turns his head aside a little, lifting an arm to shield his eyes momentarily - that was bright and sudden. "Ugh" he quickly looks back there, trying to see what happened - but it doesn't last long, he looks to where Cali is to make sure she's alright. "Cali!" he calls, his eyes moving tot henearest hovercycle, then to the parking lot as he starts to move to interpose himself between that location and where Cali is. "Where is it?" now he sounds frustrated, frowning. "It's gone."

Caliopa hides her face from the light, blinking as she stares towards the explosion. The petite woman turns to follow something with her gaze and then steps forward, moving towards a nearby alleyway. "There was somethin'..." She calls to Alistair, the fight apparently forgotten. "Went down here." She hesitates for a moment, before moving closer to the alleyway, trying to see down it without going in.

Brady blinks and reflexively ducks his head, to let his Stetson shield him from flash, fire, flying mufflers, and such. "What in tarnation?! That was real subtle..." He hasn't a clue why the van just exploded, but it probably wasn't just because the warranty expired. It isn't quite midnight, yet, anyhow. For lack of anyone easier on the eye calling out where things went, he starts for Cali and the alley, rather than Ali.

The explosion being what it was the first KDPD patrol is on the scene immediately, lights flashing. "Stay where you are. We will land and assess the scene immediately." They order over the loudspeakers as the descend on the parking lot. In the surrounding area the explosion has clearly roused quite a few people as lights come on and people look out into the darkness and at the smouldering husk of the van.

"Careful it's bad!" Alistair calls out to Cali, his fist instinct is to run to her full tilt, which he follows; he'll stop near her and look into the alley as well, "What was it Cali? I didn't see it!" he asks, looking to her, then the alley, the Brady, "Did you see it?" back down the alley. He glances to the hovercycles once, and points down the alley, then he looks down it again.

Caliopa glances back at Brady and Alistair and shakes her head. "I only heard it yowl,...and then it ran down there." She glances at the smouldering husk of the van, a hint of disapproval on her face before she turns and begins to move slowly down the alleyway. She does, at least, take the precaution of drawing her gun, Mickey, armed for once.

Brady, wait for the 'city's finest' to allow whatever it was to flee while they decide what to do? Yeah, right. "Nope. Still looking..." Cali gives him a fairly good idea of where to look, though. He doesn't even slow, and his boots even pick up a bit of speed as he heads to the alley, and in. The multitude of iron on his person remains holstered, for the moment.

Landed the KDPD Dismount to chase after the individuals as the start moving towards the alleyway. "We said stay where you are." One calls out in exasperation as the both draw weapons. The assumption of course is that if they were felons they would not be cautiously approaching the alleyway, and the majority at least are not. As the the one that is, once he is a good distance ahead of the others two short stocky creatures with wide toothy grins and beady red eyes jump at him.

Alistair starts on his way in as well, "Cali careful, they can see in -" his voice concerned, his eyes moving to her quickly, then down the alley, watching Brady go past the two, "That's ... " and when the things attack, his eyes widen, "No!" he breathes out; the lead critter goes from ballistic to wall-seeker, though it's unlikely to have suffered much from it - who knows? "Cali, keep them away for just a short time - you got armor?"

"I ain't wearing it." Caliopa replies, lifting the weapon to aim at the other creature. She squeezes the trigger and the bullet spins past the creature, burying itself into the wall. She steps back, moving to allow the KDPD to join them, "Brady!" Her concern for the man is real, written all over her face.

One little, two little, uh.. one little uglies... Brady really doesn't like ugly, and draws down on the one remaining. One Glock for each beady eye, which is where his barrels are pointed. "Don't s'pose you're in the mood for chattin, are ya?"

The weapons are drawn but without the shot there is nothing to deter the critter from its course as it bites down hard on Brady's armored shoulder. Leaving a clear crease of teeth marks before its lets go to make a run for it, following after the open that was deflected in mid air. Both make for an open sewer grate as the KDPD arrive to help as well.

"I am - so please stay behind me" says Alistair, moving ahead of Cali, then pausing for a moment as he sees the things retreat. "Are you okay?" he asks Brady, running towards the man. "Neverming those, there's more coming out in the parking lot!" he calls out, frowning - and he isn't even looking in that direction yet, but he does turn.

Caliopa does do as she is told but there is a flash of red-head's temper in her brown eyes and she turns at Alistair's words, staring across the road towards the parking lot. "Where'd they come from?"

Brady takes that as a 'no,' and now he has teeth marks on his duster! "No." As the things scamper off, his splay of pistols widens slightly, focusing on both ugly skulls as he fires. That'll teach him, and his friend. Or would, if his aim was not thrown by those teeth marks.

A quick yowl is given in retort to the shot clean to its backside as both creatures slip away into the city's drainage systems. "What were those things?" One of the KDPD officers ask as the holster their weapons to escort the group back to the parking lot. "Whatever they were they are possibly part of the sabotage happening. We'll need to get you folks back to the bikes and get down all you saw to add to the investigation."

"The sewers, I think - I bet there's a manhole in that parking lot" Alistair replies to Cali, brows hiking up a touch in contemplation, though he looks at her a little longer than he needs to - "Oh, no, there's more!" he protests with the officer, "They're in the parking lot! This feels almost like that time with the skeletons, there's probably someone with a plan behind it all."

Caliopa gives Alistair a sidelong look, her forehead wrinkling but she does go with the nice officer, holstering her own weapon. "I ain't never seen anythin' like that before." She comments softly, her gaze flickering to the parking lot, and then back towards Brady and Alistair. "Might be worth checkin' out the lot. Just to be sure?"

Brady holsters his iron, a muttered string of curse cut short as he turns back to the others and the officers. "They're ugly, up to no good, and they bite." He'd offer more, maybe, if he could, then scowls as he looks to Alistair. "And there's lots more of them?"

The officers nod, pulling out notepads to get the reports as they lead the group back to their cycles. One of them goes into a compartment for a voice recorder to start taking statements while the other mounts to radio the other patrol with their situation.

Alistair blinks his eyes and exhales, "They're gone again ... " he frowns, pursing his lips, his expression betraying some frustration. He glances at Cali, then at Brady; finally, he looks to the officer and he's about to start saying something but he stops, and points to the missile launcher on one of the bikes. "Isn't that unsafe?" he inquires, concerned.

Caliopa is willingly giving it up for the officer. Her statement that is, her voice soft and low, ignoring the others for the moment. "Is there any chance I could be lookin' over that truck? That one that blew up? Might be able to tell you a piece or two about it..."

"How about I make this speedy?" Brady gives one of the officers a light smirk. "What I told you before is all I saw..." His baby blues drift past to the cycle that Alistair noted and his head tips that way, also. "Well, that and the kid's right. Looks like something might be falling off if you ain't careful."

Ninsun says, "Weapons Armed. Target locked." Comes the smooth feminine voice of the cycles computer as it apparently decides the the officer's partner is a hostile undeserving of life. Two missiles shoot from the tampered cycle to veer up and then sharply descend on the other officer."

"Weapons Armed. Target locked." Comes the smooth feminine voice of the cycles computer as it apparently decides the the officer's partner is a hostile undeserving of life. Two missiles shoot from the tampered cycle to veer up and then sharply descend on the other officer.

Alistair's first reaction is of course to try and tackle Cali a good ways away from and shield her with his own body - or, if she has made a run for it, he'll do his best to be between her and the coming explosion in one way or another - and naturally the warning to 'Get down!'

Caliopa hadn't moved and is tackled, thrown across the road, landing heavily on the floor with a noise that sounds pain related. "Ali!" His name is not a cry of gratitude from the petite woman beneath the armoured man, having been thrown across tarmac.

Brady may be armored, but he isn't stupid. He isn't fond of taking orders, either, but that's one he really didn't need to be told. Somewhere between 'target' and 'locked,' his eyes widen and braind begins the process of reacting. He drops and rolls, throwing arms up to protect his face, being his second-best feature.

The second officer also makes to alter his current location with some haste. Sure he'd survive the missiles. But he'd never live it down back at the station..

Alistair does have one hand under her head, to protect her at least a little; he cringes as the explosion washes over them - or whatever's left of it anyways. It takes a few moments for the ringing in his ears to clear. "Cali? Are you alright Cali?" he asks, leaning back to look her over, and offering an arm to help her up; at least he still -can- move, that's a good sign. He'll be checking on others soon, he's got priorities - but his face does betray some pain also.

BOOM! The blast strikes down where the officer formerly was, knocking his cycle over and pushing it several feet as everyone recovers. The first officer is pale with shock.

Caliopa takes a moment to clear the ringing in her head, along with the impact of the Alistair landing on her and the blast. "Do I look alright?" The tone is a little sharper, and louder, than normal. She ignores the hand, staying down for a moment. The blast, and Alistair, has left various parts of her grazed and bruised. Slowly, she gets to her feet, gingerly testing her body, ignoring Alistair's hand.

"This y'all's idea of peacekeeping?!" Brady yells louder than he reall needs to, but everyone else might be a little rung and ringing, too. His eyes open and the first thing he looks for is the rogue cycle, before he worries about standing up and making himself ripe as a target.

Caliopa moves slowly forward, giving the bike a wide berth as she walks up to the stuttering officer. "Might help if we could tell them that it weren't you, 'n' how it happened." She hesitates before speaking again, "I could look it over, see what happened..." She offers, itching to get her hands on the bike.

When no one else is announced as a target, Brady stands and brushes himself off. "Wonderful little varmints, ain't they? If there are as many as he was saying, ought to be glad they're sticking around here."

"Target locked." The computer chimes again, apparently still set on eliminating the other officer as the mini missile launcher sends off its second volley. "Command this is team 1, been hit by the saboteurs requesting MAYDAY! MAYDAY team one is under fire! requesting immediate back up!" Is the before and after of the second officer's radio conversation as he makes to evade the missiles once more.

Alistair stands up as well; and there's a second volley about to launch - "What" he breathes out, and starts to move towards Cali again - there will be some more shielding being done, and he moves to interpose himself once more, looking somewhat exasperated for a moment.

Caliopa steps back, giving the bike space, space enough to avoid whatever it is going to do. "This ain't a good thing." The mutter is soft and she backs off to take cover. Just in case.

"Son of a.." Brady guesses he stood up too soon, and moves to try and take several hasty steps away from the targets cycle. That's what he hopes is targeted, at least.

Another loud explosion as the second officer evades the attack. Cursing he turns and snaps at his young partner. "Get that forsaken thing back to the station for a complete check. NOW!" The partner visbly shaken histates for a moment before saying "Yes sir." And firing up the cycle. it accelerates well, too well speeding towards a wall.

The wall is evaded the the accelration is clearly out of control as the young officer screams in panic as he tries to keep his cycle and himself from certain doom.

Alistair is glad the explosion didn't reach this time - the slap from the shockwave is still felt, and makes his ears ring, but it's better than what was before. He then looks to the cycle, making a face first, then frowning. Things are certainly out of control and he breathes out, not having much of an opening to do anything. "Jump off and roll!" he shouts.

Caliopa watches, shock on her face as the bike rushes towards the wall, unable to help from this distance. "Jump!" The advice from a woman who recently got wiped across the floor is screamed at the hapless biker.

Brady yells out an alternative course of action. "Ride like you know how!" If he did, the offier wouldn't need to worry about jumping, now would he? On the bright side, it's not firing at them, and if it crashes, it probably won't be, later.

The senior officer watches in silence as the younger one regains enough control to evade the wall. In the face of death his training seems to take over as he tries to rest control of the unruly cycle. Unfortunately though the model being used has a ceiling of sixty feet. A far cry from the height to clear many of the districts immense buildings.

And just not enough for the pilot to evade the next close encounter as the cycle crashes with a large explosion. The senior officer curses, taking to one knee and grinding his armored fist into the dirt.

Alistair stands there, jaw on the floor for a moment, but then he takes off running to the crash site - miracles do happen, and perhaps a miracle is what's needed here. It's just that they're somewhat rare.

Cailopa covers her mouth, the movement an expression of shock, her eyes fixed on the crash site. Her cheeks pale and for a moment she stays still. She doesn't follow Alistair, believing less in miracles, and more in horrific burny deaths.

Brady winces notably with the explosion, even if this one is nowhere near him. The cringe is more symbolic, this time. "Guess maybe he should've jumped, afterall..."

At the wreckage little remains, the officers armor clearly not having withstood the blast. Not that the several hundred km/hour impact would have been more survivable. Elsewhere the seems to be further commotion a few blocks down, a clearly audible firefight..

Alistair does reach the wreckage - he does look about, but it seems to be of no avail as he frantically moves from one spot to the next, upturning this or that. He gives up after a reasonable search, head turning towards the sound of gunfire. He sighs, looking to see what if anything he can see - a few blocks down is not partiuclarly close - he starts back towards the others, still at a run.

Caliopa turns at the sound of a firefight, hesitating. Not the hero Alistair is, she moves slowly forward, warily. "Ain't that...?" The question is only half spoken, the answer the sound of gunshot in their air. She turns to look towards the other two, unwilling to run in, half cocked.

"Sounds like somebody else is getting shot up, too." Brady turns towards the sounds of the fight, and begins to head that way. He's not running, half-cocked or otherwise, but fully cocked, locked, and loaded. If he had the choice of incoming missiles or incoming lead and light, he'd rather be shot at by the nonexplosives.

The fight seems to be drawing closer, though faster for Brady than the others. In it a rolling thunder apv is being quite expertly handled and just shot down one of the other patrol's cycles. It on the other hand seems to have taken minimal damage so far.

"I can go on a little longer still but" Alistair replies, breathlessly for a moment, "But we really aren't equipped for this" he looks down the road, blinking his eyes at the APV. "It's the po-" he stops, and frowns. "No - we don't know, it just shot down a hovercycle, we don't know who's who now!" he breathes out. "Those things are well armed and well armored ... Cali" he turns his head to face her, "You have no armor. If you think you can ... talk to it" he says the latter softly, "I can try and help you get close, but it would be extremely dangerous - I don't want you to get hurt. I'd leave this to the KDPD, but it's your call. I'll support you whatever you decide."