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Post by elizar on Jun 23, 2010 21:00:21 GMT -5
The moment Desmairais touched down, Taiq grabbed a first-aid kit for helicopters and waited for Bryan and Winsecki to go out to cover him. After being given the all-clear, he stepped out and tended to her injury.
Bryan was content with guarding Desmairais and Taiq for the time being. His episode had passed once the sizzle went, and he wanted to catch his breath and composure before being asked to assess the machine or anything else found. Despite the fact that there was a user inside the compartment. He looked over to it for a moment, wondering who was there.
"Seems that it is over." Miles said as looking over the images. "Pilar, how about we check on where and when we can land?"
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Post by Evangeline on Jun 23, 2010 21:56:05 GMT -5
"Control's coming up with that." Pilar answered. At least Picard had ceased bucking like a Bronco. She hoped that Serafina would take the rough edge off him after they landed. "All right, we're clear to land at Anderson. Lewis is on the way there."
Capt. Desmairais stood, head down and U/C splayed. She was trembling violently after the effort she'd put out, which took a grievous toll on her skinny frame on top of the frantic hours of preparation they'd had before. One of the forklift staff came and hosed out her mouth, and inserted a syringe of electrolyte and vitamin paste. He then signaled to the three men and tossed a folded blanket at them. "Let's get her blanketed and inside." he indicated the little hangar housing in the back of the cutter's superstructure before addressing the captain directly. "We'll get you tucked right in, ma'am."
"Damn," Desmairais jigged her head irritably as she folded her rotor blades. "It's just the syndrome, but I wish I didn't get so damned cold afterwards." Others were standing by with IV fluids and more medical equipment. They all had the look of people who were used to dealing with their superior as a cranky patient. "Just watch, they'll try to put me in an office again."
The humans were clearing Carl's deck while the larger vessels held him fast. One of the squad leaders came up to the metal box, finally, looking it over carefully before touching the doors. "Let's see who's in here."
<<< You want to do that? >>>
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Post by elizar on Jun 23, 2010 22:25:15 GMT -5
"Good. They got a nice setup there we can use." Miles said and propped himself where he could stretch. "We're going to need a vacation after this. All of us."
Inside was a young sedan car of undetermined make and model. It looked more like he should have worried about being popular at school than to be imprisoned by a maniac. His base coat was dark blue but with golden flame markings which were faded and not permanent.
A second passed after the doors opened to when the youth looked up at the doorway. There had been no yelling nor food coming through, which made him curious but frightened at the same time. His eyes were very light gray. He didn't look too malnourished, but could have been in just slightly better shape than he was in now.
Aside from looking up at the doorway, he hadn't moved at all.
Bryan kept his mouth shut before he would say she probably needed the deskjob to survive another year. He knew better than to insult someone, that despite their health problems did go on and on. And that he had been around people just like her. "You don't want to become like Bree." He chuckled. Now she had not gone silently to her deskjob.
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Post by Evangeline on Jun 23, 2010 22:55:08 GMT -5
"Amen to that." Lionel set himself free from restraints and made his way over to the suit storage area. "How you feelin', Picard?"
"Better." the shuttle answered with a sigh. "But that's the last I want to see of Carl for a while, if ever."
"If I know her at all, she was probably pacing the floor at the control center and getting in everyone's way." Desmairais, now blanketed, flopped down on the soft mat inside her hangar while Taiq and the medics still followed to treat her wound. "And she's going to be right at the dock when we come back, still pacing."
The squad leader, an MCPO of fortyish years and dark Berber looks, pulled up his visor as he looked over the occupant of the box. It was HOT in there, he noted, and this car looked like a frightened, naive kid. "Easy, son." he put his hand out to the sedan boy. As his eyes got used to the light, he noted the raw implant sites and the booted foretire. "We'll get you out of that sweatbox." He took another careful look to see that there weren't any other nasty surprises waiting, while a couple of specialists came in with an angle grinder to release the car.
"Chief Zidani? Who's in there?" Randy Jewison's voice inquired through the headset.
"Looks to be a teenager, sedan type." Zidani answered. "Doesn't look like he was a willing subject either."
There was a muttering sound as Randy muzzled an obscenity. "Still using kids after all these years. S.O.B. never changed his stripes."
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Post by elizar on Jun 24, 2010 6:50:26 GMT -5
The sedan stretched up towards the extended hand of the squad leader. He had seen humans couple of times before. He didn't live that far away from KSC, and he had gone watching launches with a friend group. But he had never seen a human up close.
"Is he dead?" The youth asked tentatively. He was still afraid. He knew that Carl hated humans, so there was no chance that the squad leader had come aboard with his permission.
"Now that's going to be an amusing sight." Bryan chuckled. Taiq rubbed a local anesthesia over the wound before undertaking the task of removing the bullet.
"Feel this?" He asked after few second, poking at her with a sharp instrument.
"I doubt that anyone here feels any different." Miles said. Carl's under control, there's no one for miles around the group, so I guess this is a good as time as any to leave. Did any of our instruments catch any reading on that lightning?"
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Post by Evangeline on Jun 24, 2010 8:12:31 GMT -5
"He probably wishes that he was, with three big sets of teeth hanging onto him." Zidane answered dryly. The petty officer with the angle grinder finally cut through the boot and cleared it away. "There. Can you move?"
Outside, a couple of forklifts on Cmdr. Stokes' bow put down a boarding plank so that they could assist the humans in securing the crew. Another fired a tranquilizer dart into Carl's side, then waited to see how it took effect, as it had to be carefully calculated for his tonnage. They were taking no chances with him.
In the distance, another ship's horn sounded. A second cutter was joining them.
"Not anymore." Desmairais finally laid her head down, eyes half-shut with exhaustion. "Somebody could whack me in the head with a two-by-four and I wouldn't notice."
"I'm looking at it now." Lionel summoned a graph display. "Holy s***. Look at that!"
Pilar turned and paled a little. "That would've had all the power of a little nuke. Who did that rat b*st*rd find to replace Kam, I wonder?"
Picard was listening for the others, and chimed in. "Feed from the fleet says it's some teenage kid. He's scared and a little raggedy, but OK."
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Post by elizar on Jun 24, 2010 8:41:19 GMT -5
The shooter sedan stretched his tires a little to fix the kink in them. He was still nervous, expecting a blow at any moment now. "If I go out he's going to hurt me." He said.
Taiq quickly took to the wound and proceeded cut it to get the bullet out more easily.
"Any idea who the kid is yet?" Bryan asked in the radio. The short time since Kam was rescued probably meant he was still missed, and his age probably meant he could say who and where his parents were.
And isn't Zoe on the way? He thought to himself and looked up to the sky. She probably knew of some missing user kids, especially if the family already had some users in it.
"Thanks for saving all our lives Picard." Miles said as he looked at the readouts.
"This is obviously far more than Kam put out." Gates said. "Either he hadn't developed fully, or Harold had been very stern on not draining Kam too much. Poor kid must be beat."
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Post by Evangeline on Jun 24, 2010 9:38:37 GMT -5
"He can't hurt you now." Zidane reassured the teen, "And where he's going, he'll never hurt anyone again. What's your name, son?"
The other cutter was rapidly closing the distance. He was an older gentleman, of rear admiral's rank, one below Bree's. His bow stripe was blue and gold, indicating that he had been removed from field duty for some time, but the scars of his service years were visible. This senior had more than paid his dues. He glared at Carl momentarily, and nodded to the three ship women who had their mouths full for the moment. The Jewisons smiled pleasantly to him, Erika looking particularly innocent after giving Carl a nasty rake with her teeth while the others were taking hold of him. From above, there was a sonic boom as Zoe made her appearance.
For the moment, Rear Admiral(LH) Francis Chaffee Jr. satisfied himself with inquiring after Capt. Desmairais' condition and receiving an after-action report from Cmdr. Stokes' communications bridge. He had been miles away when this all transpired, viewing some training exercises, but when the word went out, the old warhorse in him couldn't stay away. He made some CARRY-ON signals to the others and waited for the fleet to get moving again, slightly disappointed that the action was over before he showed up.
"Master Chief's getting that now." one of the other squad members answered. "How's the Captain? She was foaming pretty bad before she landed."
"Heh, no problem." the shuttle replied. "Yeah, I wanna know about this kid too. I bet Zoe certainly does."
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Post by elizar on Jun 24, 2010 9:59:34 GMT -5
"Jerome Grant." The teen answered, both relieved and glad to be able to even say his name. "South-eastern coast shooter clan in Florida." The Grant family in the shooter clan had a handful of users, all known to command elemental forces, though definition of element went past the usual four ones in this clan. One for instance controlled darkness.
"She's recovering." Bryan said. "There doesn't seem to be any alarm with those who know her." He looked at the newcomer cutter, and despite not being part of the coast guard, he saluted when he made eye contact with him. He then glanced up to see just where Zoe was going to land, because he was not really keen to be near her then. He had too many episodes today.
"And she did leave earlier to reach the fight." Helen nodded. "Though the fight ended rather quickly but with excitements which should be at a far longer struggle."
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Post by Evangeline on Jun 24, 2010 10:26:07 GMT -5
"OK, Jerome." Zidane touched the boy's fender at last, "We'll get you home as soon as we can." Outside, Carl was snorting as he saw Zoe coming in, this was one of the few he truly feared. The Arrow woman made herself a cushion of forces to slow her descent, then seemed to dissolve. She reappeared on Carl's bow as a human, dressed in practical seagoing attire. She looked him in the eye for several beats, then unleashed a warding and locking spell which bound him up as effectively as chains. The ship women could now put on tow ropes and give their jaws a rest. Zoe acknowledged them and the rear admiral with a nod, then weaved her way through the gaggle of boarders and newly apprehended perps to join MCPO Zedane at the box.
"Good thing old man Chafee didn't see her like that, he'd put her out to pasture in jig time if LeVasseur wasn't there to overrule him." the PO answered to Bryan over the radio, taking care to use a more private channel. Any more than a small amount of foam in extreme exertion was a bad sign in a doctor's eyes.
"I don't think she's in the mood for any more nonsense." Lionel laughed. "She just locked him down six ways to Sunday and her wards don't break!"
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Post by elizar on Jun 24, 2010 11:05:29 GMT -5
"Great news. Then this bastard can get truly what he deserves." Miles said smiling. This was an end of a long chapter, and hopefully there were no more satellites going out.
Jerome leaned a bit into the touch, and within a moment the air inside cooled considerably, while his metal frame became also colder to the touch. Once it hit comfortable levels, Jerome relaxed and looked at Zoe who had just arrived.
Bryan chuckled low in response. Despite all that was happening with Desmairais, she still wanted to be able to stay in the field, even how unforgiving her health was to that notion. You couldn't bind someone born to fly and fight. When the name and clan were told to him, he began thinking. He had good relations with the shooter clans who hadn't had much access to grimoirs, so he knew a few.
"One of the few primals left, old family but few individuals with power." He relayed to Zoe. "Not keen on showing off, but can cast without breathing a word. Limited on what they can cast, but compensate with power."
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Post by Evangeline on Jun 24, 2010 14:40:15 GMT -5
"Well, boss-man, are you ready to call it a day?" Picard asked.
"When I get onto solid ground again, it's beer o' clock no matter what time it is." Lionel vowed.
Zoe leaned over to check out the car boy in the darkness of the box. "Hello. Are you feeling OK?" She paused momentarily as something came in over her headset. 'Thanks, Bryan."
"His name's Jerome Grant." MCPO Zedane told Zoe. "He was all locked up and booted in here, and only saw anyone when they fed him or beat on him."
"Jerome?" Zoe looked back towards the sedan. "We'll contact your family right away. Are you feeling all right now? Are you hungry or thirsty?" While she was talking, she carefully checked out the implants, felt him over for any sign of fever or inflammation and looked for other wounds, finding a few scratches and bruises. Others were taking video of the scene for evidence later. Zoe asked for a first aid kit and began to clean up the scratches and apply analgesic cream to the bruises, and also sent for something for Jerome to drink.
In the meantime, the other vessels had Carl restrained and under tow, and began to move him to shore. Even the rear admiral put a line in and pulled his weight, being too much of an old-fashioned gentleman to stand around while women did all the work.
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Post by elizar on Jun 24, 2010 14:56:47 GMT -5
"I concur." Miles sighed. "Let's get back to solid ground. This is enough excitement for one day."
"I'm tired." Jerome said, but he wasn't about to refuse a meal. As Zoe rubbed the cream on him, he leaned slightly into it, enjoying it, and apparently confident and tired enough to steal a nap.
"Sounds like you got a surgery coming up." Bryan radioed to Randy. "And hopefully this one will be the last one you do of this kind."
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Post by Evangeline on Jun 24, 2010 15:06:32 GMT -5
"Control's set us up for a landing at Anderson." Picard announced. "We de-orbit in one hour."
"Let's go." Pilar and Lionel made their way to break out the suits for re-entry.
Poor kid, Zoe thought as she felt Jerome drifting off under her hands. She had made sure that the leads implanted in him were permanently rendered useless, before Randy and his team removed them. With a teenager, it wouldn't be as delicate a matter as it had been with Kam. Of course, this begged another question, as to who furnished Carl with this lad. She would take great pleasure in dealing with them.
"I should damn well hope." the powerboat shot back. "Have fun with the sweatbox, if you can talk Zoe into letting you near it."
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Post by elizar on Jun 24, 2010 15:18:37 GMT -5
"I'm bloody through with magic today, no offense." Bryan replied. The ocean tried to give me a lewinsky, not going to let that happen again. He added to himself silently. While it did appear to most that he had beat his addiction, the only reason for why he hadn't gone back to it was because the potion, tailor-made for him, were no longer available. Having the episodes without the high, and without the sex, was annoying and made him angry.
Miles and Gates made sure that everything was strapped down and ready for re-enter before they got themselves in the suits as well. Helen had joined Pilar and Lionel.
I just hope that nuke didn't do anything to Picard we can't see. Miles thought to himself as strapping himself in the chair.
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