Epsilon stopped by the entrance to the tunnels, seemingly having finished his patrols around the Drill. It seemed like long, boring work. To Epsilon, it was needed. Required. He glanced around, looking above him. Even if they were just in the mid levels, it was still hard to see the sky.
He put away his weapon and approached the railings, looking down.
—
Odila’s patient was steady for now. She’d have to return to him later, but for now he was stable. She could start the amputation - the hard, gritty work - later. For now, she exited the medical room and walked towards the main part of the base; the Drill.
Odila whistled a tune to herself as she walked through the tunnel.
Cannon watched her companions mill around. She wasn’t quite worried about another raid. She was confident she could smash any creature to bits on short notice. She pulled her lip in between her teeth, spotting the massive figure of Rally lumbering around nearby. She scooped up a handful of pebbles, playfully chucking them at the man who was almost a full two feet taller than her.
The sound of the pebbles clacking against the metal catwalk made Rally's head whip toward the sound, eyebrows raised in near-catlike curiosity. It wasn't an attack - the sound was too quiet - so his rifle arm remained untensed. He narrowed his eyes slightly, scanning the surroundings for the source of the rocks… Ah. there she was.
"Cannon!" Rally exclaimed in recognition, a smile already tugging at his mouth as he bent down to scoop up one of the fallen stones. "Don't tell me you've mistaken me for a Raider!"
He slung the pebble in his hands back in her direction in a wide arc. "Tell me, how is our pintsized powerhouse doing? Bored, it seems!"
Cannon grinned as she ducked to dodge the pebble. “My deepest apologies, Rally! I thought you were a class six!” She shot back, her tone light and teasing. “I’m wicked bored. My gun’s gotta charge and there’s nothing around to slice up.” She added, rather dramatically as well, a lopesided smile forming on her face.
"Well, it's not like it's not a common mistake," Rally replied with a chuckle, shaking his head. He shifted his shoulders in mock-thoughtfulness, bringing his free hand up to his chin. "But for the boredom… I could offer to spar with you, but I am not sure I like the idea of you slicing me up…" He snapped his fingers.
"Ah - I know. Have you tried asking Epsilon for some chores?" The teasing in his voice deepened, and he visibly struggled to keep a straight face.
Cannon was unable to contain herself as she erupted in a fit of laughter. “Oh, for sure.” She replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “I believe he’ll want me to to do some dusting. He’ll hand me a broom and make me wipe every pebble off the face of the earth.” She rolled her eyes, halheartedly flinging another pebble at Rally.
Epsilon paused from his gaze to the depths of The Drill, somewhat hearing his name. He glanced in the general direction of the conversation, but said nothing.
Odila arrived into The Drill. “Good morning everyone - or is it afternoon? It’s hard to tell down here, isn’t it?” She announced her presence to no one in particular.
Lukas turned to Odila as he heard her. He smiled as he greeted her, “Hello, Odila! What have you been up to?” He asked, approaching the woman.
Ren sighed and decided he might as well get up, upon hearing the voices nearby. He pushed himself into a sitting position, using his staff to help him all the way up, then laid it across his shoulders, tiredly making his way to the others. "Hey. What's up?" he asked casually, arriving just in time to hear Odila's words.
"It will be a lesson for sure," Rally agreed, amused. "You can only truly appreciate the Drill once you've tried to do its job with nothing but a broom!"
He caught the pebble and tossed it back, turning the exchange into a miniature game of catch. After a second or two, he tilted his head in question. He could barely catch some snatches of conversation. Was that Theta's voice? It seemed to be.
"Is it me, or are the others having a gathering without us?"
“It wouldn’t be the first time. I have a theory that Señor Serious is trying to get rid of me.” She slid off the rock, landing smoothly on her feet. “I would say it’s a tall people meeting, but they rejected you too, so I suppose not.” She stretched lazily, hefting up her now half charged weapon. “Let’s see what this is about, shall we?”
"Davai, let's go," Rally said. "Lead the way." He was half-tempted to laugh aloud at Señor Serious, but he held his tongue. He felt that Epsilon had a sixth sense for detecting attitude half the time, after all.
He waited for Cannon to start walking, taking a moment to note - not for the first time - just how tiny she was compared to him. She probably weighed as much as his rifle - but that didn't stop her from being possibly one of the ablest soldiers he'd met.
"They're probably gossiping again," he mused with a half-serious sigh. "The nerve of this crew."
“I’ve just been dealing with a guy in the medical room. He’s sleeping right now, but I’m going to have to go back later and finish up. I’ll have to amputate one of his legs. A Class 4 bit it pretty hard. Usually it would’ve come right off, but for some reason the Class 4 didn’t bite it right off. The leg won’t work no more, that’s for sure though.” Odila sighed.
Cannon led the way over to the group, having to take two to theee steps for every one step Rally took beside her. She generally liked the the young man, he was amusing to be around, good with his gun, and made this place just a little less awful. As they strolled up to the group, Cannon caught the last of Theta’s words, frowning a bit. “Another one bites the dust.” She sighed quietly.
"Damn, that's awful," Renegade sighed, attempting to straighten out his perpetually messy hair. He was thankful now that she'd been the one to handle his recover, since amputation wasn't exactly something he was experienced in. "Any good news?"
"Good news would be nice to hear," Rally agreed, coming to a stop beside Cannon, nodding towards Renegade in affirmation and turning his gaze onto Epsilon and Theta. "And if that's too much, I would appreciate a solvable problem. It has been quiet - have you noticed? The stir-craziness is setting in."
“Well, on terms of good news, we should be finally receiving some reinforcements for the places that need it down here. Though in all honesty, while it will make it easier to defend ourselves down here, it’s still pretty boring.” Odila said.
Epsilon approached. “I have a feeling it might not be quiet for much longer.”
“Thank the gods. I want to blow something up!” Cannon grinned, patting her shoulder cannon excitedly “I bet all we’ll get is some weak class ones anyways. We haven’t had a real challenge in at least a week.” She complained, rolling her eyes.
"But what does that mean?" Ren asked, briefly returning Rally's nod of acknowledgement. "What is your feeling grounded upon, I mean," he restated, looking to Epsilon.
Rally tilted his head a bit, considering. To Odila, he offered a gracious smile.
"We'd never turn down extra defense," he commented. "Boring as it is."
He glanced over at Epsilon.
"This feeling," he said. "It wouldn't happen to be a foreboding gut feeling, would it? I may have one just like it."
Epsilon looked over. “Maybe. Also due to the fact Raiders don’t like leaving space between their attacks. It seems a bit odd that they haven’t raided in some time.”
As Espilon said that, on the other side of the Drill there was a rumble and crash as some rocks collapsed. While it might have just been the Drill, Epsilon grabbed his gun again, making a note to call this in on his radio later as he moved to investigate.
Odila nodded. “That’s true.” She turned to look at Epsilon.
Renegade frowned, but had to agree. He opened his mouth to say something, but went quiet at the rumble. He let the staff slip from one shoulder and held it in front of him, following Epsilon's lead.
“Showtime already?” Cannon readied her weapon, balancing it on her shoulder. She steeled herself and entered a battle stance, ready to attack. “Lukas, Ren, get close to me.” She ordered, scanning their surroundings, waiting to attack like a coiled spring.
As soon as the rumble sounded, Rally almost lunged to put his body between the others and the source of the noise. He readied his rifle, gathering it into both hands, his face hardening into a tensed focus.
"Epsilon?" he asked, voice hushed. "What are your gut feelings telling you about that one?"
Epsilon held silent as he looked at the collapsed rock. It was a fairly large hole that had opened up. The hole was dark as far as you could see. There was no way of telling what was down there for now. He responded quietly. “Listen.”
There seemed to be something scratching at the walls of rock. Or climbing. Suddenly, a creature jumped from the hole, gripping onto the railings and throwing itself onto the platform. The Raider crouched down for a moment, before standing up fully, twisting itself to face the group.
Odila immediately identified it as a Class two Raider, but she was confused on why it was alone. She too revealed her weapon, getting ready to shoot, but also keeping an eye on the collapsed zone.
(Hey! It's been a minute, hasn't it? I'll go ahead and keep it going, yeah?)
For his part, Rally narrowed his eyes at the reptilian creature, watching its breaths, its claws, anything that could give him a hint about how best to attack.
"What are you doing, you horrible thing?" he asked quietly, bemusement seeping into his tone. He carefully shifted forward, maintaining his protective position in front of the others, and cast a glance Epsilon's way.
"If Cannon or I shoot this thing right now," he said, "how stupid would that be? Because if we don't have a plan in the next few seconds, I think that is what's going to happen." A thought occurred to him. "Theta. You look thoughtful. What are you thinking?"
Cannon listened carefully to Rally, giving a swift and subtle nod. “Whatever it is, Theta, I’m gonna need you to act on it in the next ten seconds.” She whispered, bracing herself to fire.
Theta nodded out of reaction, before coming to the realization. "It's a diversion, they're coming from both here and the other side from here!" She realized, saying out loud to the others. "We need to cover all of the weak points of the Drill!" Just as she said that, there was distant noise of more movement in the rocks; more Raiders.
Epsilon fired at the distraction, and the Raider seemed to fall off of the platform as the shot hit it. However, he seemed to agree with Theta, hearing here. "Cover the area. Let no Raiders pass."
((Just a note here, you fellas can control up to class 1 to 3 Raiders if needed, as mentioned in the rules.))
((Gotcha! Thanks!))
Cannon let out a low growl. “I’m gonna light these friends up.” She hissed through gritted teeth, charging towards the opposite end of the area to defend. Her helmet lay forgotten where she had been resting on the rocks as she sprinted, her heavy boots spraying up dust.
She came to a halt, her entire body poised for combat. All was quiet for a moment. And then the wall in front of her exploded. Ten class ones came sprinting out, leaving the stunned woman only seconds to fire, her ears ringing and dust blurring her vision.
