Rum Valley bar (Thieves meet up)

[SOLIS]

"I'll see what I can do."

In order to scan wireless channels, SOLIS had to split the antenna between blocking and receiving, only sending a pulse of noise every 50 milliseconds, causing the constant static to change to a high speed popping sound. With plenty of "time" freed up, it began scanning various channels again, catching what could possibly be several patterns of interest. It didn't take long to recognize the pattern of data as bus signals, passing data, commands, and memory requests quite rapidly. They appeared to be using a LOT of wireless devices, which raised an interesting point, was it automatically filtering out the noise of all the other radio signals in the air? Or perhaps it had some kind of radio shielding too weak to counter it's signal's strength? No matter, reducing the pulse speed seemed to allow it to function normally again, and opened it up to the device's snooping.

Several seconds of analyzing the bus signals allowed SOLIS to find the one thing it needed amongst the protocols the ships system used, the equivalent of it's MOV command. This allowed it to access the ship's memory, within which was everything it needed to know. Instructions, strings, current states, anything it wanted. That left it with two things to analyze: The full set of instructions the processors could execute, which could be used to figure out which programs were presently running, and the strings, which were particularly interesting.

"Nail, the strings I have found in the ship's memory do not match any languages I'm familiar with. However, it appears their systems are completely unguarded. I'm still working on determining their full instruction set."

[Terrador Bellator]

Terrador continued wandering around the endless void. His mind was shrouded in deep confusion. Just where did he end up and how would he escape such a thing? His limitless questions would be answered as he felt a rush of wind from behind him. Facing towards the draft, he felt his heart leap up into his throat. His breathing became difficult and he felt as if he was close to passing out. Standing before him were the two individuals he had been searching all this time for. Standing side by side only a few feet away was Quake and Gaia Bellator. Their expressions were similar to his

"It is so nice to see you, son." Quake spoke with a hearty smile. His voice was shaky and his words appeared to release with some difficulty. Terrador was frozen in place. His mouth hung wide open and he was lost for words.

Rest assured, young Geomancer. Your father and I are safe. The dimension we're in is a happy and peaceful place. No harm has come to us at all." Gaia stated, attempting to comfort her bewildered son. She felt tears tugging at the corners of her eyes. Happiness had overcome her from seeing her son. Terrador had many questions, but his body did not allow him to speak.

"We know this is a lot to take in, but our time is short. You have been bestowed with a great honor." The azure echidna said. Quake reached behind his shoulder and grasped a dark brown staff. A green glow enveloped it as he fully brought it out.

"This here is the Baculum Petra. A mystical weapon of our people that chooses its wielder and grants them great power. It has allowed us to speak with you. This mighty weapon has choses you, Terrador." Quake pointed. The staff than began floating towards the young warrior. The russet echidna had collected himself and with a nod, he reached out and accepted his weapon as it approached him. Geokinetic energy flowed through his body as the staff formed a magical bond with him.

"Cherish this staff just as you would for us. It will give you guidance in your quest. Show the world what a Bellator is truly capable of!" Gaia exclaimed. As Terrador was about to speak, his parents appeared to shrink in size before vanishing. The white void briefly turned into a black one shortly after.

The next thing he knew he was opening his eyes and his face was pressed against the concrete. A deep pain enveloped right above the marking on his forehead where the brute had struck. With a growl of irritancy, the warrior got to his feet with an open palm applying pressure to his wound. What had just happened seemed like a dream. At first, this is what he assumed. However, lying at his side was the very weapon he obtained from his father moments ago.

"So, it was real. But how...?" he muttered under his breath. He then wondered how long he had been out for. Grabbing his Baculum Petra, he leapt out of the same window he entered in. His emerald eyes first caught sight of the ship flying above the sky. He instantly began to wonder just who that belonged to. Wanting to utilize his gift for the first time, he grasped it with both hands and assumed a fighting position. He kept his eyes around him and was prepared for a threat from nearly any angle.

[Echo]

Am simply stared on in shock as the ship hung silently in the air.

"Sweetheart what have we gotten ourselves into" Am silently asked the craft.


"Say...who are these people you've been talking to? I want to know. They better not be police or anything."

Am turned to Gichii with a silly grin on his face like he'd just been caught red clawed with his snout in the cookie jar. A lump of anxiety formed in Am's throat preventing him from speaking momentarily. They had screwed up, they had screwed up bad. The gravity of the situation only just now hitting him. What he said and did right now would determine whether their cover gets blown or not.

"Am...what is that? I think you know. Is that some kind of fancy new cop aircraft? Are YOU a cop?"

"me and my big mouth..."

Am's face softened into a genuine smile as he let out a defeated sigh. It was time to come clean...at least partially so.

"Yes I know what that thing is. It's not a 'cop' ship it belongs to the people I work for. It's an aerial filming platform. My friend Sarah is flying it right now. She's sorta been my invisible eye in the sky. How do you think I managed to find you again after you left me at that residential building a while ago? That's who I've been talking to."

He paused a moment as his mind raced through various lies he could weave into this to throw Gichii off the trail and make it sound believable at the same time. As he did he found scenarios where he didn't have to reveal the fact that they were Dinosaurs or from outer space. The best lies always have a few threads of truth in them.

"look I can't really tell you what the whole deal is with all of..this" he said gesturing up to the craft. "It's a long complicated story. But Gichii, I'm not a cop ok? You have my word that I have nothing to do with any law enforcement in any way. We're just here doing some research for a new documentary about your city that's all. We work for Mobian geographic. Maybe you've heard of us? We're not here to film you or anything. I just got caught up in all this and with me being a former army man myself I was kind of itching for some adventure. Relive the glory days ya know? Man Gichii my supervisor is gonna kill us when he finds out what we've been doing with his camera ship ha ha."

Am stopped a moment to mentally congratulate himself on a well weaved tale. He only hoped Gichii would buy the lie with the truth.

"Now listen, I need you to help me get her attention ok? If we can we can get her to create a diversion for us we can work our way towards that sniper."

Truthfully Am could get her attention himself with a fireball or two. But there were some disadvantages to that. One, that would lose him Terra's powers that he may need here in a moment. Two, he needed Gichii to feel they were still on the same team here because he can't do this alone.

"Lets take this guy out. What do ya say Gichii? Ya with me?"

[Nail Strafer]

Quote:"Nail, the strings I have found in the ship's memory do not match any languages I'm familiar with. However, it appears their systems are completely unguarded. I'm still working on determining their full instruction set."

Nail frowned, as he quickly became lost in the terminology SOLIS used. He didn't know anything about programming, so he didn't know what SOLIS meant by strings or instruction sets. Sighing, he gave another command.

"Okay, just keep working it and let me know what you find out."

Meanwhile the craft continued to simply hover above without doing anything. That led credence to the theory it was police. The police typically used aircraft just for surveillance and nothing else. He was just one guy on a roof, and there was a whole gunfight down below, so perhaps it wouldn't pay attention to him.

As for his adversaries, they were still in hiding over there. If only Nail had some frags, he'd just toss a few behind their cover and blast them out of their hiding spots. Alas, he'd have to go with the more dangerous option of creeping over there and engaging in a direct firefight.

Slowly, Nail began making his way through the rooftop furniture, between the air conditioning units, the rooftop cabins, and the antennae. The only time he rushed was when breaking from cover to cover. The entire time, the hybrid kept the Garand pointed squarely at where he'd last seen the pair hiding.

[SOLIS]

[Skip for this round, please.]

[Giichi Twinkieland]

Giichi didn't buy the documentary story.

Why did you need an invisible ship to do a documentary on a city? Giichi could understand needing to get aerial shots of the city, but aircraft buzz over Soleanna all the time. No one would mind seeing the ship, unless the crew were trying to hide something.

And second of all, if Am was telling the truth, Giichi would be very surprised Am hadn't been fired from his job yet. This guy had been following Giichi around all day long. What would his boss say when Am had to explain he had almost no useable footage today because he'd been beating up gangsters all day long?

Giichi still thought Am was some sort of undercover police officer and that ship was his secret backup. He was probably planning to bust Giichi as soon as this was over.

Outwardly though, Giichi didn't give the impression he didn't believe Am's story. Instead, he nodded and smiled and appeared to be listening with an open mind.

Once Am finished, Giichi said, "Okay, I'll help you get her attention."

And with that, he took his cloak off and whipped it in the air a few times. No doubt the dark crimson cloak would stand out. Then once that was done, he pointed in Nail's direction and hoped she'd understand he wanted Sarah to fly closer to the hybrid.

---

Meanwhile, the burly human with the shotgun looked on with surprise, when Terrador leaped back out through the window he'd crashed through. He thought he'd knocked the echidna flat with that first blow. Not to mention Terrador's adversary couldn't help but laugh at that new weapon.

"You think a pointy stick's gonna save you?" he chuckled out.

Oh well, the human didn't mind knocking him flat again...this time permanently. And with that he fired his shotgun from the hip, blasting a spray of buckshot in Terrador's direction.

[Terrador Bellator]

Terrador glared at the brute, surprised he was still there. That aircraft would most likely bring confusion onto everybody and he had an assumption everybody had retreated. It didn't matter though, he just wanted to see what he could do with this staff. Then it struck him; his foe's question made him think. He never used a weapon once in his life. He looked down at it in disappointment, thinking it would bring him no use. The sound of the gunshot placed him into a state of vigilance. Out of instinct, he gave his staff a swing. Since this was instinct, he was embracing his inevitable demise inside his mind. There was no way this thing would save him. However, he heard the sound of multiple pings as the bullets ricocheted off his staff and striking the building behind him.

"Whoa..." he muttered with awe as he gave an astounded look at it. His parents were correct about it possessing great power. His eyes turned to the brute and he wondered how to go on the offensive. The Baculum Petra had some sort of bond with the echidna, which means it would always come back, right? With this thought in mind, Terrador grasped the end with both hands. He looked like a baseball player ready to score a home run. He pulled it back and with a mighty swing, he threw it with blistering speed. It spun rapidly in the air as it quickly approached the brute. There's no doubt it would be lights out for him if it struck.

[Echo]

Am stood still a moment looking at Gichii as he twirled his cloak in the air. Something was off about Gichii's reaction to his story. He couldn't put his claw on it but something was definitely off.

Am put that aside for now and began waving his arms at his sides carefully to be sure he didn't alert the sniper to the fact that Am was on the roof too if he wasn't already aware. If Nail didn't know he was there that could prove to be an asset if they could get Sarah's attention.

___________________________________________________________

Meanwhile Sarah was frantically trying to regain control of her ship. The panic stricken dinosaur only barely noticed the movement from the roof. Am and a....Mobian?....were apparently trying to signal her.

"Am...if you've told him anything..." she began with a threatening tone but cut herself short as it hit her what they were seemingly requesting of her. It was at that moment that she noticed another figure making a slow bee line for their location.

"I see....I think. Give him the scare of his life. I think I can do that" she said pushing forward on the controls putting the craft into a steep dive. The ship reacted swiftly to her commands as it dove sharply for the rooftops.

Sarah waited until the last possible moment before she pulled back on the controls pulling the craft out of the dive just 20 or so feet from the roof top. She made it a point to stay as close to the rooftop as possible to try and spook Nail.

She repeated this action several times, climbing into the sky,reversing, then diving threateningly at Nail before pulling up at the last moment. She was careful to use her engines to generate powerful gusts of wind on Nail's position to throw up as much dust and debris as possible to hopefully make it difficult for him to continue.

______________________________________________________________

Am made a face that defied explanation as he watched her ship dive straight for them.

"what did you tell her to do Gichii!?!?!" he yelled alarmed as the ship dove for them.

Am had never noticed just how large the ship was until it was about to give him a high speed face high five. This massive machine, easily the size of a later model HH-53, was not something that seemed pleasant to play chicken with.

Am forced his back into the a/c unit he was hiding behind, his teeth grit tight, while he stared on in shock as the craft pulled up just short of hitting them and shot by frighteningly close overhead. Am's hair and clothing were whipped about by the sudden jet blast that threatened to knock him off his feet. He forced his eyes shut as dust and gravel were blown about by the wind and dared not open them again until the gust had passed.

He looked over at Gichii to see how he'd weathered the encounter.

"You okay over there? Your head's still where it's supposed to be isn't it?" He paused a moment for a reply before continuing." I got bad news for ya Gichii. I'm afraid you'll be receiving a bill in the mail for that haircut." Am laughed out hoping the break the tense situation with a little humor.

" Now listen, while she's whipping up all that dust over there maybe we can start making our way closer to that sniper. What do ya say? You ready?"

[Nail Strafer]

A whooshing sound resonated through the air, as the mystery ship's engines started up. Nail immediately stopped and snapped his head back towards the craft. He wasn't sure what to expect, but he never thought he'd be staring the aircraft down as it went into a kamikaze dive towards him. There was no time to run, so he simply threw himself to the ground and hoped it would fly over him.

Thankfully, that's what happened. Shaking his head, Nail pulled himself off the ground and dusted himself off.

Then there was that whooshing sound again. Looking up, he saw the ship coming for yet another pass. Again, he ducked down to the ground. The blast of hot wind and dust in his face made it pretty much impossible for him to move.

Time to call for help...

After the next pass, he quickly dashed for the edge of the roof facing the street and called out to his 'troops'. Frantically, he waved towards the craft incoming yet again, hoping they'd get the signal.

"SHOOT THE JET! SHOOT THE JET!"

He just managed to shout it out again before the backdraft of the aircraft blew him over onto the ground.

---

It was impossible to hear Nail over the ship's engines. However, the frantic waving and pointing at it was enough for his ground forces. Shortly thereafter, Sarah would find a small hail of bullets flying towards her.

---

[You know Terrador, I think I enjoy this one on one fight better than having him fight many people. Hope you don't mind. I can have him taken out next round if you want.]

The brute spared another chuckle as Terrador waved his stick around oh so menacingly. As the echidna tossed it, he raised up his shotgun to block and deflect the incoming projectile. But for something that looked like a plain staff, it sure had a lot more force behind it than he was expecting. In fact, it knocked the human flat on his back and sent him skidding several feet.

Because of his raw strength and stamina though, the brute wasn't totally out of hit but dazed. As he gathered himself back up, he got a look at his shotgun. But to his amazement, he saw the weapon was bent, with the bend right where the staff had struck. Amazement rapidly gave way to anger though, as the brute tossed his weapon aside. He looked around for another weapon, and then spied something he might could improvise.

He'd landed near the edge of the street, by a parking meter. Grinning at Terrador, he wrapped both hands around the pole, and started pulling. Immediately a crunching sound would be heard from the base of the parking meter. Within a few seconds he'd yanked it totally loose from the concrete and wielded it around, rather like the baseball bat imitation Terrador had been doing before.

Laughing, he held the parking meter across his back with one hand while he beckoned for Terrador to fight again with his other.

[Giichi Twinkieland]

" Now listen, while she's whipping up all that dust over there maybe we can start making our way closer to that sniper. What do ya say? You ready?"

With your friend there diving and bobbing all over the place with the aircraft that probably weighs 15 tons? Not really...but...

"Okay, let's do it," he said, with more conviction than he thought he could muster for this.

Not the safest plan but he supposed he should roll with it now that it was in motion. In fact, as he looked towards their adversary, he saw it was working quite well already. Their sniper friend had literally been blown off of his feet by the backdraft. Giichi used the time Nail was on the ground to make a quick leap over to the next rooftop. Now he was on the same roof as Nail. Immediately, he dived for cover behind a small rooftop greenhouse someone had set up.

Once he'd glanced at where Nail was, he waved for Am to make the jump as well.