2079/What Big Claws You Have

What Big Claws You Have
Date of Scene:	20 August 2017
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Voodoo, Taboo

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Voodoo has posed:
"No, no. Just drop me at the last call coordinates. I'll hoof it from there to the target location."

Famous last words.

A shimmering of green and gold light, and suddenly there's a masked figure in deep purple and gold standing in an alleyway between two buildings, just a block away from the apartment of Amanda Reed. The figure's lenses narrow as she steps out of the alley and checks the visual, then curses. "Damnit, Markenz. Wrong stupid //phone//. You just dropped me at the location of the last //private// phone call I made."

A pause, and then she shakes her head. "Nevermind. I'll just climb up and go from here. Ping the transponder on my bike, make sure it's still where I need it to be."

With that, Voodoo goes scrambling up a fire escape and onto a rooftop, then backs up, gets a good head start, runs and leaps to the next rooftop.. And repeat, as she skids closer and closer to Amanda's building.

Taboo has posed:
Amanda Reed is at home. Just got home. She still wears her Sludge Factory coffee shop uniform. It's hardly flattering but it does have a cute little sludge monster mascot on the shirt? Maybe that counts for something. She sighs and moves to the kitchen, tossing her work apron on a chair for the moment. "Damn. I need a cup of coffee... huhn... that's ironic." All day in a coffee shop as a barista and she still wants more. "Face it Amanda you're addicted..." She shrugs and puts on a pot to brew. "Oh well.. they say admitting you have a problem is the first step in self-help.. the second must be self-medicating..." She pulls down a bottle of Bailey's Irish Cream from the cupboard and sets it out. "Sounds good to me. This treatment is endorsed by Dr. Amanda" she says tiredly to herself as the pot of coffee begins to burble and hiss, sounding more like a rocket about to take flight than a device to brew a hot drink.

Voodoo has posed:
As Voodoo leaps onto the rooftop one shy of Amanda's building, she notices as a matter of course that the other woman is home. It takes her just a second or two to parse out enough to know she's just getting home, she's run down, and she's craving something. Part of Priscilla wants to call her friend and touch base; but she's on the job, and she really should stick to that, and not pull poor Amanda back into ugly, terrible things she would rather avoid.

And then a bullet tears through Priscilla's shoulder, throwing her to the rooftop's surface, skidding in the gravel. The soundwave of the shot takes a good six seconds to finally ring out. By then, a second shot explodes brick and mortar to dust not far from her head as she tries to come up and take a look around.

Unable to help herself, that gunshot sent a flash of empathic pain and agony lancing through Priss and out through the empathic connection she had made with Amanda. It's a 'whoopsie' sort of moment, as that echo of pain, and the shock of 'oh, f**k, I've been shot' jumps through her to someone else, along with a flash of what the rooftop looks like ...

Taboo has posed:
Amanda Reed had just turned to get a mug from the shelf when that flare of empathic pain erupted in her mind.

Crying out in surprise and agony, the mug falls and shatters on the kitchen floor followed by Amanda herself collapsing to the floor, eyes wide in shock and pain.

"...oh g... go...dd..." she groaned and reached up with her good arm to feel her wounded shoulder. To see just how badly she... wasn't bleeding.

What the actual huh? She gasped again to fight through this phantom pain, shaking her head to clear it.

"...rooftop.." she murmured as she jumped up, her complexion already turning to a ghostly palor of ivory as her symbiote derived armor began to cover her from neck to toes, the alien whip-like tail slashing behind her as she burst out of her apartment and up the fire stairs three at a time. Smashing through the locked door at the top, huffing deeply with aggression, the green eyed Taboo grinned slowly. "Not far.. saw my place from up here.... there!" she hissed as her eyes fell on an adjacent rooftop. Sprinting toward the edge Taboo lept across the dark alley below. Landing with the lightness of a cat, she ran toward the spot she was certain the image in her mind had come from.

Voodoo has posed:
When Taboo comes through the door, she'll see another explosion of brick and mortar from that rooftop, just as she is focusing in on it, ready to jump. And there's a glint of purple and gold in the moment before the explosion, and a whipcrack of sound seconds //after// the sight of the shot. That's high-power, long range rifle fire. And someone is pinned down on that rooftop.

When Taboo sprints for the edge and leaps, Voodoo rolls out from her cover and jumps up, firing her weapon several times //past// Taboo towards the shooter. There's no way her handgun is going to reach that range; but she's hoping the rifleman will focus on //her// instead of firing on Amanda.

And then the masked form in purple and gold, one shoulder already exposed showing mocha skin torn to smithers by a bullet that is not just heavy and moving at incredible speeds, but also explosive, takes another shot to the chest just as Taboo is landing on the rooftop.

Thankfully, this one doesn't lance across an empathic link into Amanda's brain. Small favors. Wow, that looks awfully messy.

Taboo has posed:
"Priss?!" Taboo shouted as she skidded to a stop. Then her friend is hit in the chest. "F&@#!" she screamed as she dropped down, "Priss!" She knelt over Voodoo's form, looking at her wounds. "Don't you go and die on me!" She spares a peek over the edge of the roottop machinery they were behind for the moment to try and see who was shooting at them.

Voodoo has posed:
Gurgling, spluttering, coughing and choking, the downed form in purple and gold flails into Taboo's arms. Her face is covered by the mask, but that color skin, the purple and gold, the hint of the tattoos, it really couldn't be too many other people than the one Amanda just found; the one with empathic powers who projected her agony into her friend as she was apparently shot; thank goodness she didn't do that the second time.

A shot rings out against the machinery when Amanda pokes her head out, and a small piece of the machinery explodes away with the round. But it doesn't penetrate, and Amanda lives.

Yay, right?

As Taboo checks out the wound, she'll see it visibly rippling, working to stitch itself back together, the blood flow slowing down. It's pretty impressive, but apparently Voodoo will not be dying. Not right this second, anyway.

Taboo has posed:
Taboo sees the wounds seeming to heal. "Okay... good. Just... stay here. okay? I'm going to go return the favor to whoever shot you and is shooting at me. It's really not cool. I'll be back. Soon. I promise." She kisses Voodoo's forehead and then rolls off the side of the building. As she does, she sprouts large almost dragon like wings though the membranes are translucent more like a fairy or dragon fly. Gliding along below the rooftop level she flaps to gain speed before arcing high into the sky once she is past where it seemed the shooter was located. Rolling over, she hovers a moment, trying to get a glimpse of her prey.

Voodoo has posed:
Since his target cannot actually fly - that he knows of - the shooter is not looking around for anyone flying away from the scene, or flying over his head. Which is not to say that he's easy to spot, but he doesn't spot - and shoot - Taboo, and when she manages to get up above the area, he doesn't spot her up there either. That offers her the opportunity to spot the suppressed muzzle flash of the rifle as it barks out another bullet that blows another piece off of that piece of machinery behind which Voodoo is sprawled, trying to heal enough that she can speak and use her phone to call for backup.

"Whisker to Alpha: target got backup, somehow. They're under cover and not coming out. I may have to employ grenade charges. Advise."

When Tabboo swoops in close, she'll hear those words in a German-tinted accent.

Taboo has posed:
Taboo frowns at it all. "Oh this is not going to happen. No eff'ing way!" She bares her pointed fang like teeth and swoops into a dive head first to pick up speed. From five hundred feet up she nearly free falls toward the target, wings tucked in and used just to control attitude and direction. Then at the last moment she kicks forward, striking at the shooter with her armored feet. She isn't the largest girl but with all the speed she should be able to not only surprise but fully bowl over the shooter. Maybe even separate him from his weapon

Voodoo has posed:
The shooter is lying down in a standard sniper's prone position, so divebombing him this way drives him into the rooftop he's on; if he weren't wearing some armor, it would be enough to probably have damaged his spine. As it is, he's winded, stunned, and has fumbled his rifle. It's not far away and he's a professional, so that state's not likely to last very long.

On the other hand, he's also fumbled a grenade, and it is now bouncing ... bouncing ...

Uh oh!

Taboo has posed:
Taboo slams into the shooter, bowling him over. She tucks into a roll and twists to come up facing the man. She sees the grenade, "C'mon... like you could throw it that far. Stupid!" She unfurls her wings; they seem larger than before. More than enough for her to grab him about the shoulders with her taloned feet. "C'mon. Let's go say hi." Heavy downward flaps swirl the air as the grenade bounces and she lifts off, intent on trying to drag this loser along with her and to get clear of the blast range of the grenade. A girl can hope can't she?

Voodoo has posed:
The grenade explodes, but with the wings wrapped around him, she has managed to shield him and herself from most of the fragmentation; clearly, however, a rifle-fired grenade would have been a disaster for Voodoo.

Taboo will find this guy not nearly so passive, however, and he actually knifes her ankles to get free, even if it means he drops to the rooftops or the streets below. What a jerk.

Taboo has posed:
Taboo flaps up and away as he gains his senses and tries to stab and slash. "See? The thing about chitin armor? Your knife is like attacking a tank with a BB gun." Her tail swishes down and seeks to wrap around his arms at the elbows, intent on coiling them tightly to his body to keep him from getting up to any more shenanigans as she flies the half block back to where Voodoo was. He might just make it. Or not.

Voodoo has posed:
The shooter was a good bit more than half a block away, but progress has been made, and finally Taboo can drop him off on the roof with Voodoo, who is about halfway done healing the damage done to her body. Her costume isn't so lucky. "Hey." she coughs, looking at her friend. It's the first time she's seen her all armored up. "You got him." Great." She pauses for a bit, pulling out her communicator and tapping away. Hold him, ... backup ... take him in." More coughing; she's not really ready to be talking just now, but she's trying. And its' more polite than prying into Taboo's mind.

Taboo has posed:
Taboo keeps her tail coiled around him as her wings disappear into her shoulders as if they were never there. "Hey. Take it easy. He's not going anywhere. Get your backup here and we'll get soldier boy to someone who can figure out why he hates his mother so much he has to hurt other people." As he struggles two whip like lines emit from her wrists and she wraps one around his knees the other around his throat. "Keep it up and you're not going to die. You're just going to wait up with one killer headache. Got it?" She then grins near his ear, "See what I did there? You kill people? Killer headache? Yeah... some of my best work."

Voodoo has posed:
Voodoo snorts with amusement at her friend's wry joke. She manages a short phone call, and soon enough more green and gold sprinkles of light sprout a few SWORD agents. Voodoo keeps them under control, gesturing towards the captured shooter. They take him into custody, and she makes a point of introducing 'Taboo' to the agents before they port away. Once she's feeling better, she walks over to give Amanda a hug. "Hey. Sorry about the zot to the head, earlier. I realized I was running by your place and went 'looking' to see if you were home. Idjit managed to shoot me while I had just picked you out. Thanks for the help." Conveniently, the stripper is now completely healed. Her costume is a wreck, though. "That was pretty awesome. I didn't know you could do all //that// with it."

Taboo has posed:
Taboo detains the shooter till the SWORD agents come and recover him. "He tried to frag her with a grenade just as I got to him. He has a rifle about a block and a half that way. If you want to recover it too." Helpful. It's what she does.

After SWORD leaves she looks to Voodoo. "Hey. You were the one that got shot. It hurt to feel it. I'm just glad it wasn't actually me. I hate getting shot." She hugs Voodoo back. "Sure you're gonna be okay?" THen she pffff's, waving a hand, "Ah, it's no thing. You should see what I can do when it's extra Gold Stars day at Starbucks" she quips.