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Post by Lady Britannia on Apr 25, 2019 19:09:23 GMT -5
Iron Goliath
Loni watched the growing confrontation with horror. Although she had seen much in her time with the Dawn Patrol, she was still a rank rookie in the whole superhero biz. Powerful as it was, the Iron Goliath (both her great-grandpappy's original and the new one cooked up by Alex and Tania) wasn't exactly the headline-generators that Crimsonstar or Scarlet Scorpion were. No one approached the towering mecha or its pilot for interviews following the successful beatdowns of some psychotic killer or calculating mastermind bent on criminal mischief. Hell, she thought, I don't even appear in the newly released Dawn Patrol vs. Nemesis fighter game for the X-Box console.
But following the death of her parents, these people had become her family. Dave and Lily, Tania, Kathryn, Marsius, Bug... and Alex (who was so much more!). And now, as the lines were being drawn, it was falling apart. Scarlet, Crimsonstar, and Lady B were facing down Alex and Dave. She knew, if it came to it, where she would be standing also. Having witnessed the combat abilities of everyone here, more than once, Loni knew that even the mighty Iron Goliath, whose predecessor was destroyed saving the lives of those same three Dawn Patrol officers confronting her lover, wouldn't last five minutes. Without the mech (which stood silent in the Vehicle Bay), Loni wouldn't last five seconds, even with the little bit of martial arts that Dave had been teaching her. But none of that mattered. Silently, she rose from her seat and stepped down to the floor, well behind Alex and Dave, but still with them.
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Post by Lady Britannia on Apr 25, 2019 19:09:59 GMT -5
Terra
"I wont help you." "I don't need your help." "He's not worth it." "He is worth it." "He will never love you." "I don't care." "This is pointless." "You're pointless." "You wouldn't even be here without me." "Just.. shut up already." "Fine. Fight your foolish battles." "That's the plan..."
The child sized demon rose to her feet and walked to Daves side. Like the others, Terra could see a line being drawn, and she would make damn sure everyone knew where she stood. She could care less who was in the right or wrong, if anyone was either. Terra is loyal to Dave and Dave alone, no matter what. The earth rumbled in fear, Terra was ready for anything.
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Post by Lady Britannia on Apr 25, 2019 19:10:40 GMT -5
Battledog
"Why?"
"You have to ask that question?" Battledog said angrily, " How about WHY didn't you tell us about this yourself? WHY did we have to learn this from Vic? WHY we had to use the security footage from your original showing of the tape to actually see it? WHY weren't you here to explain it to us? You have a lot of nerve to ask that question right now, Scarlet."
He stared each member of the leadership directly in the eye.
" Each one of you were so tied up trying to work on this on your own, that you put us and our families in danger. We had to act."
"And you ask us ...WHY?"
He could feel the tension behind him. Terra had placed her ever present drink down and took up a position behind him. He felt a small rumble through the floor. Loni had moved behind him and Alex as well, joining Lily and Sam. He could hear Prof's foot tap a nervous fit on the floor. She was having difficulty dealing with this new development. He felt for the kid, he really did. He heard Lily move beside the young hero and put a comforting hand on her shoulder and another the stop Prof's hands from clenching and unclenching. He moved his focus back to the leaders arrayed in front of him.
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Post by Lady Britannia on Apr 25, 2019 19:11:53 GMT -5
Scarlet Scorpion
Scarlet just sat looking up at Battledog until he finished. His words stung but he stabbed her with her own question. Each pierced a layer of her restraint and she was grateful he stopped. At the same time, even restrained her anger was rising. No only at Battledog's obvious insubordination, but at the storm swirling within the Dawn Patrol. She kept sitting and tensed to remain calm. Yet, she couldn't help but smirk and started to nod.
Not like this.
"I see."
They all waited for more but all Scarlet would give was, "Did you ever trust me?"
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Post by Lady Britannia on Apr 25, 2019 19:12:38 GMT -5
Battledog/Lily Blue
"Did you ever trust me?"
Battledog couldn't believe Scarlett just said that. His anger flared. It became a red hot rage. His hands hands curled into tight fists as he shifted his weight onto the balls of his feet.
"TRUSTING YOU IS WHAT GOT US TO THIS POINT!" he yelled, " WE TRUSTED YOU TO TELL US WHAT TO DO! INSTEAD, YOU KEPT US IN THE DARK!"
Scarlet has to go first. A swift roundhouse kick to the jaw to silence her.
*****
Terra could almost read Dave's thoughts. She had seen him fight so many times, she could anticipate his first actions. She would protect him. Crimsonstar was the biggest threat to Dave, so she would take him.
Let's see if he can fight if I put a stone mallet to his bawls!
*****
Lily was in horror. They really meant to do it. They would fight. The rage that poured off Dave was almost overpowering. He was hurt so bad, he wasn't thinking straight. She could feel it. The Patrol always joked about her maternal instincts, how she mothered them, worried about them. How the young woman, barely as old as most of them, treated each one of them as her family. And now her family was about to tear themselves apart. She had to act. Lily gave Prof's shoulder a confident squeeze and then boldly walked between the two factions.
"STOP THIS!"
The shout echoed through the room and minds of all that were there.
"LOOK AT YOURSELVES!"
She turned and looked at each and every member.
" Is this what you want? To fight each other?"
"You are all to blame for this!"
She turned to Scarlet. " You were wrong. You should have told us about this. You should have trusted us enough to help you."
She could feel a smirk forming on Dave's lips. She quickly rounded on him. "And you...you were wrong too. You should had came to them first and not go behind their back. I love you, Dave but want you did was inexcusable."
"Our friends...our family are out there, hurting and alone. And what are we doing?"
"We're squabbling like school kids."
" This stops now!"
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Post by Lady Britannia on Apr 25, 2019 19:13:17 GMT -5
Drive Train
Sheena walked slowly for the first time in seemingly forever. Yes, she had somewhere to be - her new family was meeting, and she was the proverbial cat that ate the equally proverbial canary, and she couldn't wait to tell everyone about the gray and purple armored canary she had eaten.
Walking down the long hall towards the briefing room, though, she sensed something was off. There was precious little noise coming from the briefing room - no one seemed to be speaking. Then she saw it - the armored doors leading into the briefing room were shut. Sheena cocked her head in confusion. She walked up to the doors and pressed the button to open them up. Instead of the hissing noise of hydraulics kicking into action, only the pleasant voice of DOGMA responded.
"Please state your authorization code."
Somewhat confused, Sheena responded immediately with, "Authorization Lancelot-zero-one, Drive Train three-six-two Sierra."
An unpleasant buzz then sounded, and DOGMA's voice responded. "You are not currently authorized for entry into this chamber."
Confusion growing, Sheena then asked, "DOGMA, what are the current locations of Field Commander Beringer, Captain Denthar or Leftenant Lockemont?"
"Please state your authorization code."
Sheena impatiently responded with, "Authorization Lancelot-zero-one, Drive Train three-six-two Sierra."
Another unpleasant buzz sounded, and DOGMA's voice again chided her, "You are not currently cleared for that information."
Confusion was sliding quickly towards panic. "DOGMA, what are the current locations of Sergeant Zhang, Patroller Kinmount, Patroller King, or Patroller Prage?"
"Please state your authorization code."
Sheena hurriedly responded with, "Authorization Lancelot-zero-one, Drive Train three-six-two Sierra."
Yet another unpleasant buzz sounded, and DOGMA's voice once again spoke, "You are not currently cleared for that information."
Her panic exploded.
They're back. They got back into the base. They got back into the base and took everyone, and they're holding them in the briefing room. This was nothing but a trap!
But they didn't expect me. They still thought I was being held somewhere else. I can save them. I have to save them!
"No. NO! NOT AGAIN!"
A brilliant red electrical display triggered around Sheena, throwing crimson arcs of lightning against the metal walls and floor of the base.
"You can't! YOU CAN'T HAVE THEM!!!"
Forcing every ounce of power she could into her arms, Sheena wound up in a twisting motion, and let loose the explosive force of her blow into the armored door.
BOOM.
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Post by Lady Britannia on Apr 25, 2019 19:16:19 GMT -5
Lady Britania
BOOM!
Already tense with the confrontation, everyone in the room jumps at the extremely loud impact against the briefing room doors. Tania shakes her head, exasperated. “Oh bloody hell, what now?!” She pulls her tablet out from where it was beside her leg. “DOGMA, transfer camera image from outside the briefing room to my tablet.”
“Working…”
Everyone looks over at her as the image comes up on the screen and Tania sees Sheena standing outside the door, looking like she’s ready to swing again. "Oh Christ, its Sheena, going off her rails again.” She looks up at the ceiling. “DOGMA Deactivate Security Protocol 04 and open briefing room doors, authorization Lancelot-03/Lady Britania 051-Tango.”
“Authorization accepted…Security Protocol 04 deactivated…Opening doors…”
The doors quickly slide open. Drive Train, who is already in mid-swing to hit the door again, is unable to stop and spins completely in a circle, losing her balance and falling face first to the floor. “Ooof!”
It starts with Loni, unable to hold back a giggle, and then Dave is holding his head in both hands and chuckling. Quickly, it spreads through the briefing room until everyone, previously tense at the possibility of a fight, is laughing uproariously.
Sheena looks up from the floor at everyone laughing at her. “HEY! What’s so damn funny?!”
The laughter gets even louder, the tension that was previously in the room flowing away to nothing.
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Post by Lady Britannia on Apr 25, 2019 19:16:48 GMT -5
Drive Train
"HEY! What’s so damn funny?!"
As the laughter of her friends built around her, Sheena felt something drip down her cheeks. She raised a metal hand to her face, confused at first. It, too, came away wet.
Why the hell am I crying?
Sheena put her forehead to the cold metal floor and clasped her metal hands behind her head, pulling her elbows in as tight as she could.
Because they're not in danger, idiot. Because this was nothing.
Because it's all going to be okay.
Quietly, as the laughter continued around her, Sheena said, "I'm glad you chompies are okay, too."
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Post by Lady Britannia on Apr 25, 2019 19:17:30 GMT -5
Iron Goliath
It started with a little giggle. The sight of Sheena sprawled out on the floor, after overswinging when Tania opened the door to the conference room, sent a titter through her, an almost hysterical reaction to the adrenalin pumping through her system, brought on by the building confrontation. Only a moment before, the elders of the Dawn Patrol were being yelled by Dave, whose body language showed he was prepared for the argument to get physical. Maybe Dave was planning to throw the first punch, who knows. But things were getting ugly real, real fast.
Now, seconds after her first sputtering giggle, the room was filled with chuckles, laughter, and guffaws. Folks were smiling at each other again, hands and arms were clasped, shoulders and knees and backs being slapped. Of course, the underlying cause of the stand-off still had to be addressed, but there was a better than even chance now that the medics in the Infirmary wouldn't have any extra bone-setting or stitching to do. Standing behind Alex, her arms around him in a tight embrace, Loni smiled over to Lady Britania, sitting in the wheel-chair with Crimsonstar and Scarlet Scorpion. Tania smiled back. She glanced around the room, at the various couples and clutches and groups of heroes who made up the Dawn Patrol, and a few of the more senior staffers also. She wondered where PAX was while all this was going on. No one seemed to have heard from the Bug since this whole mess started.
Then a movement caught her eye. At the corner of the corridor outside of the conference room, she spied a massive head, peering around the corner about nine feet up. The mismatched green ocular lenses regared the scene...regarded her, for a brief moment and then retreated. Was she the only one to feel the heavy tread vibrate through the floor? Loni didn't understand. She hadn't summoned it, even though for a second she thought she might have to. She didn't know if the sealing of the room would have prevented the mech's teleportation to her, or if the doorway would have been enough to stop the piledriver fists if it had to enter the room by more mundane means. Loni was pretty damn certain that she didn't activate the summoning mechanism in her belt control. Somehow, the Iron Goliath had made its way from the vehicle bay to the conference room on its own accord. And even if she had summoned it somehow in the confusion of the pending fight, her arms were still wrapped around Alex and not fiddling with her belt. But her mech was walking back to the hangar, on its own. Her thoughts raced through her head as she listened to the faint thud of its massive feet. What is going on?!? she thought.
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Post by Lady Britannia on Apr 25, 2019 19:18:27 GMT -5
Crimsonstar
Marsius felt his fists uncurl and the tension in his arms, legs and chest suddenly dropped.
Had they, the Dawn Patrol, almost actually entered into combat....with one another? Sheena's comical, yet timely arrival, had worked a miracle. It reminded him and all of them that above all else, total and complete trust had to be given to each other. Their daily survival counted on it. He stepped up and faced them.
"Kathyrn, you're right, as are you Dave, and everyone else who's thought but didn't voice it. We all let our trust slip, but please keep in mind, many of these developments are new even to us. This almost....altercation, proves that the real goal was to get us fighting amongst ourselves. Our enemy is smarter than we all believed" He smiled and motioned at all of them to come in close together. "It's tme we start working as a TEAM, again, and get some answers."
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Post by Lady Britannia on Apr 25, 2019 19:19:19 GMT -5
Lily Blue
Lily relaxed as most of the tension left the room. She still couldn't quite comprehend that the Dawn Patrol had almost started battling between themselves. She stood there shaking and holding back her tears as Marsius stepped forward.
"Kathyrn, you're right, as are you Dave, and everyone else who's thought but didn't voice it. We all let our trust slip, but please keep in mind, many of these developmenst are new even to us. This almost....altercation, proves that the real goal was to get us fighting amongst ourselves. Our enemy is smarter than we all believed" He smiled and motioned at all of them to come in close together. "It's tme we start working as a TEAM, again, and get some answers."
Lily took a moment to gather her self the stepped forward.
"Mars... uh Sir. They came after us and our families. We know they have taken Davs's brother Jayson. We need to figure out who else may have been taken. Also we need somewhere safe to house any family members who are still at risk. This is far from over and they may come at us again"
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Post by Lady Britannia on Apr 25, 2019 19:20:02 GMT -5
Drive Train
From her prone position on the briefing room floor, Sheena was dimly aware of the conversation taking place, quite literally, above her head. Quickly wiping her face with the metal back of her forearm, Sheena popped to her feet as Lily was talking.
"Mars... uh Sir. They came after us and our families. We know they have taken Dave's brother Jayson. We need to figure out who else may have been taken. Also we need somewhere safe to house any family members who are still at risk. This is far from over and they may come at us again."
Sheena looked over at Lily, then back at Marsius and the leadership cadre. "Okay, someone fill me in. What the hell is... ya know, nevermind. Not important right now. I'll find that out later. Right now, I think I got somethin' that might help ya out."
She proceeded to regale the assembled members of the Dawn Patrol with her experiences of the past week: the abduction from the base, waking up in the tube in the Vanguard facility, her fight to escape, and her subsequent capture of the base commander. "An' that commander? She's in our holdin' cells right now. You wanna find out what happened ta Jayson? You wanna know what the heck is goin' on? We got all the answers waiting fer us in that head o' hers. I think it's time we started fightin' back!"
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Post by Lady Britannia on Apr 25, 2019 19:21:10 GMT -5
Scarlet Scorpion
“I think it's time we started fightin' back!"
Scarlet’s bandaged eye was hurting from grinning. She realized she was standing behind Battledog and surmised she did so at the timely interruption. Overhearing Drive Train’s tale, she started formulating a plan. A cunning plan … from her perspective.
“Enough. It is said to divide is to conquer. From where I’m standing, the forces against us came amazingly close to that goal. Dawn Patrol is hurt, by many cuts. Some wounds will take longer to heal, but other things can get attention right now. Sun Tzu said, ‘Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.
First, let’s prioritize our resources. We can’t abandon the base, and it’s far from crippled. DOGMA is still functional and that’s a great asset.”
She turned to Alex, “how you got and what you have from DOGMA is not relevant right now, but it’s not yours to own. DOGMA is for all of us. Please give back what you have taken.”
Then to Battledog, “we need your … enthusiasm. Will you lead a group in a go-for-broke rescue mission? Not only for Jayson, but for anyone Lily alludes to.”
She turns from Battledog to address the others. “Being in Dawn Patrol has its glory, but obviously with risks. Wearing these colors means we accept those risks, but even in war there are rules. Those that have targeted our loved ones have crossed a line that will not be ignored.” She raised her left hand; the whole time balled into a fist, and opened it to reveal a burnt shard of glass the size of a fingernail. It was all that remained from the perfume bottle given to her by her lover and the instrument of destruction to the base. She dropped it to the ground and it shattered into smaller pieces, lost in the groves of the metal floor and mutters, “I’ve been … we’ve been attacked from within.”
Scarlet sniffles slightly then looks to Drive Train, “I’m going to have a word with your captive and I’d like your assistance with that.”
Then to Crimsonstar, “Captain, we need to find Darling.” She turns back to the group, “and if I have missed anything, forgive me … but now is a good time to keep me honest.”
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Post by Lady Britannia on Apr 25, 2019 19:21:55 GMT -5
Lady Britania
Tania looks at the group, and then looks down at herself... and at her wheelchair. Obviously, she's in no shape to go on any rescue mission. Tears start to well up in her eyes, and she quickly wipes them to keep anyone from seeing them. "I... I guess I'll monitor you guys from DOGMA. Keep your comlinks open, and I'll try and pass on any info I can find on any discoveries you make."
She turns her wheelchair and starts to wheel it towards the hallway.
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Post by Lady Britannia on Apr 25, 2019 19:22:26 GMT -5
Scarlet Scorpion/Lily Blue
Scarlet sniffles slightly then looks to Drive Train, “I’m going to have a word with your captive and I’d like your assistance with that.”
Lily hesitated and watched as Sheena and Scarlet exited the room and headed down the hall. Truth was Lily felt uncomfortable and intimidated when Scarlet was around. She suddenly felt foolish for feeling that way, she gathered her nerves and jogged down the hall to catch up with the pair.
"Excuse me Commander"
Scarlet stopped and turned to face Lily
"I may be able to be of some assistance if our prisoner decides she doesn't want to talk."
Inside Lily was a bundle of nerves but she stood there confidently as she awaited a reply. Scarlet simply nodded then turned about and headed down the hall towards the holding cells.
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