*laughs* Not sure if that'd be Atropos or not, Ben. Admittedly, she's the more aggressive of the three, which is why she's the weapons officer, so
I can't rule her out.
Now...what Fate's been up to...
I slipped into the room, keeping an eye on the holographic display floating just to the right side of my vision. Nobody showing up so far, but that wasn't
necessarily an assurance of safety. Once in position, with a good view of the room and the elevator banks, I leaned back against the wall and sub-vocalized,
just enough for my throat mike to pick up, "OK, Iris. Hide me." The air shimmered around me, and the wall now had one more column than before.
Looking over the map a bit more closely now, I tried to see who would be coming this way shortly. This level was fairly quiet at the moment, but I saw a few
good prospects. Fortunately, most of the icons were easy to read: brown for Browncoats, Blue Blazers in blue...little Jolly Rogers for the pirates, ninjas in
orange....It made keeping track - and choosing fun targets - a lot easier. I smiled, watching a pair of red dots coming this way. Soon, soon...I spoke softly
again, "Fate? How're things on your end?" Her voice rang in my earbud. "Fairly well, father. Samantha and Junior are a big help in here.
We're not the only ones in the system - Gina is in here, too - but so far between the three of us, we appear to have successfully masked our own presence.
A few signs that there might have been others here, but nothing current. Unless they're hiding themselves even better than we are." I nodded. "Be
careful. The map's really appreciated though." That got a chuckle. "Thought you'd like it. I've been in here enough over the years that
this is old territory for me. We're also attempting a masking program for you, to erase your presence from anyone else attempting to use the system. No way
of knowing how successful that will be until someone trying to use the system reacts to it or you, however."
I shrugged. "Not a big deal. Nice if it works, if not...." Another shrug, then I grinned as I saw the two red dots almost to the room. "Just
about showtime. Let's see how the new toy works, hmm?" I settled in quietly, waiting.
A pair of Trekkies entered, wielding Nerf guns.They peered warily around the room and started towards the elevators - to set up an ambush maybe? About
halfway there, I sent off my little surprise. When they caught movement out of the corners of their eyes, they whirled to cover it with their guns...and froze
at the sight of a little green anthropomorphic duck, dressed in a diaper and sucking on a huge baby bottle. It waddled towards them, giving them huge, innocent
eyes. Why they didn't fire just on general principle, I have no idea...I would've. Nothing that looked that cute could be up to any good right now. The
little duck peered up at them. "Me Plucky. Who're you?" One of them actually gave his NAME. I bit my lip, hard.
I glanced over the map for a second, noting another open room three levels up that was empty, and murmured softly. "Fate. Send an elevator to the
bottom to get it out of the way...and bring in the cloud, just down the corridor." Off to the side, the little duck was still peering up at the two
Trekkie redshirts. It spoke again, "Wanna hear a secwet?" It got a little closer, then squeezed its bottle tight...before grinning. "Fire go
down the hoooole." It vanished with a poof of smoke to reveal a grinning image of me, holding a canister. Even as the pair tried to target me, the grenade
exploded, coating the hapless redshirts with a rapidly expanding, foaming mixture of marshmallow cream and maple syrup. A mixture that was quickly starting to
harden as well. I bit back a snicker. It wouldn't harden completely, but that made it worse. It was some of the stickiest, most uncomfortable goop
ever....and the pair were covered. The image of me vanished, the empty grenade falling to the ground as I got treated to some of the most imaginative cussing
I'd heard in a while. It was getting harder and harder to stifle laughter.
I nodded. Time to run, and see what else I could get into. I'd always considered myself Chaotic Good, and it was fun to let the Chaotic side out to play
now and then. I subvocalized, "OK, bring in the cloud. We're going up three levels, to the empty atrium up there. Got the doors?" I received an
affirmative from Fate, and just before my ride appeared, I let my holographic disquise go and whistled loudly. "Kinto'un!" A yellowish cloud
rushed towards me and I jumped into the air. It swooped under me and as my feet hit its surface, I felt the gravity field and force field clamps and braces
kick into place. "Hit it!" We were accelerating towards the elevator banks even before I'd finished speaking. The two Trekkies were watching me -
they couldn't fire, their guns were far too gooped-up for that - cussing and shaking their fists at me. We were already doing seventy when I blew past
them, laughing and heading straight towards the bank of elevators.
Just when it looked like we'd hit, the doors of one elevator snapped open, revealing an empty shaft. We were in and the cloud did a nearly right angle
turn up, still accelerating. Laughter rang down the shaft, the last thing the Trekkies heard before the doors snapped shut again.
Three levels up, a pair of elevator doors whooshed open and my cloud and I flew out. I grinned, doing a couple rolls for the hell of it, and then headed off
towards the emptier parts of the Port to get some food before going back to the battle.
Why, yes, the Jason IS enjoying his second childhood, why do you ask? We were never this healthy/fit the FIRST time around, and we've got even more energy
now. And when you consider that we like Coyote and the more positive portrayals of Loki, well...creating mischief is a lot of fun.![[Image: banana-dance.gif]](http://www.accessdenied-rms.net/forums/forumimportfiles//banana-dance.gif)
The Jason's Kinto'un
It's not a true magic cloud, of course - though the Jason would have gone that route if he could've thought of any way to do it. This was the next best
thing he could come up with. It's a VERY fast hoverboard, with a lawn mower engine waved to serve as a speed drive. There's a gravity field set up so
that the board's surface is always 'down', and force field clamps and braces ensure that the Jason won't fall or get knocked over, no matter
what speeds he hits. Since he's taken the thing up to nearly two hundred mph in atmosphere (and faster in vacuum), this is a good thing. The board also has
a force screen - not a full shield, but enough of one to give protection from wind and particles at higher speeds. The final component is a small dedicated
holoemitter, one that gives the board its 'cloud' appearance.
I can't rule her out.
Now...what Fate's been up to...
I slipped into the room, keeping an eye on the holographic display floating just to the right side of my vision. Nobody showing up so far, but that wasn't
necessarily an assurance of safety. Once in position, with a good view of the room and the elevator banks, I leaned back against the wall and sub-vocalized,
just enough for my throat mike to pick up, "OK, Iris. Hide me." The air shimmered around me, and the wall now had one more column than before.
Looking over the map a bit more closely now, I tried to see who would be coming this way shortly. This level was fairly quiet at the moment, but I saw a few
good prospects. Fortunately, most of the icons were easy to read: brown for Browncoats, Blue Blazers in blue...little Jolly Rogers for the pirates, ninjas in
orange....It made keeping track - and choosing fun targets - a lot easier. I smiled, watching a pair of red dots coming this way. Soon, soon...I spoke softly
again, "Fate? How're things on your end?" Her voice rang in my earbud. "Fairly well, father. Samantha and Junior are a big help in here.
We're not the only ones in the system - Gina is in here, too - but so far between the three of us, we appear to have successfully masked our own presence.
A few signs that there might have been others here, but nothing current. Unless they're hiding themselves even better than we are." I nodded. "Be
careful. The map's really appreciated though." That got a chuckle. "Thought you'd like it. I've been in here enough over the years that
this is old territory for me. We're also attempting a masking program for you, to erase your presence from anyone else attempting to use the system. No way
of knowing how successful that will be until someone trying to use the system reacts to it or you, however."
I shrugged. "Not a big deal. Nice if it works, if not...." Another shrug, then I grinned as I saw the two red dots almost to the room. "Just
about showtime. Let's see how the new toy works, hmm?" I settled in quietly, waiting.
A pair of Trekkies entered, wielding Nerf guns.They peered warily around the room and started towards the elevators - to set up an ambush maybe? About
halfway there, I sent off my little surprise. When they caught movement out of the corners of their eyes, they whirled to cover it with their guns...and froze
at the sight of a little green anthropomorphic duck, dressed in a diaper and sucking on a huge baby bottle. It waddled towards them, giving them huge, innocent
eyes. Why they didn't fire just on general principle, I have no idea...I would've. Nothing that looked that cute could be up to any good right now. The
little duck peered up at them. "Me Plucky. Who're you?" One of them actually gave his NAME. I bit my lip, hard.
I glanced over the map for a second, noting another open room three levels up that was empty, and murmured softly. "Fate. Send an elevator to the
bottom to get it out of the way...and bring in the cloud, just down the corridor." Off to the side, the little duck was still peering up at the two
Trekkie redshirts. It spoke again, "Wanna hear a secwet?" It got a little closer, then squeezed its bottle tight...before grinning. "Fire go
down the hoooole." It vanished with a poof of smoke to reveal a grinning image of me, holding a canister. Even as the pair tried to target me, the grenade
exploded, coating the hapless redshirts with a rapidly expanding, foaming mixture of marshmallow cream and maple syrup. A mixture that was quickly starting to
harden as well. I bit back a snicker. It wouldn't harden completely, but that made it worse. It was some of the stickiest, most uncomfortable goop
ever....and the pair were covered. The image of me vanished, the empty grenade falling to the ground as I got treated to some of the most imaginative cussing
I'd heard in a while. It was getting harder and harder to stifle laughter.
I nodded. Time to run, and see what else I could get into. I'd always considered myself Chaotic Good, and it was fun to let the Chaotic side out to play
now and then. I subvocalized, "OK, bring in the cloud. We're going up three levels, to the empty atrium up there. Got the doors?" I received an
affirmative from Fate, and just before my ride appeared, I let my holographic disquise go and whistled loudly. "Kinto'un!" A yellowish cloud
rushed towards me and I jumped into the air. It swooped under me and as my feet hit its surface, I felt the gravity field and force field clamps and braces
kick into place. "Hit it!" We were accelerating towards the elevator banks even before I'd finished speaking. The two Trekkies were watching me -
they couldn't fire, their guns were far too gooped-up for that - cussing and shaking their fists at me. We were already doing seventy when I blew past
them, laughing and heading straight towards the bank of elevators.
Just when it looked like we'd hit, the doors of one elevator snapped open, revealing an empty shaft. We were in and the cloud did a nearly right angle
turn up, still accelerating. Laughter rang down the shaft, the last thing the Trekkies heard before the doors snapped shut again.
Three levels up, a pair of elevator doors whooshed open and my cloud and I flew out. I grinned, doing a couple rolls for the hell of it, and then headed off
towards the emptier parts of the Port to get some food before going back to the battle.
Why, yes, the Jason IS enjoying his second childhood, why do you ask? We were never this healthy/fit the FIRST time around, and we've got even more energy
now. And when you consider that we like Coyote and the more positive portrayals of Loki, well...creating mischief is a lot of fun.
The Jason's Kinto'un
It's not a true magic cloud, of course - though the Jason would have gone that route if he could've thought of any way to do it. This was the next best
thing he could come up with. It's a VERY fast hoverboard, with a lawn mower engine waved to serve as a speed drive. There's a gravity field set up so
that the board's surface is always 'down', and force field clamps and braces ensure that the Jason won't fall or get knocked over, no matter
what speeds he hits. Since he's taken the thing up to nearly two hundred mph in atmosphere (and faster in vacuum), this is a good thing. The board also has
a force screen - not a full shield, but enough of one to give protection from wind and particles at higher speeds. The final component is a small dedicated
holoemitter, one that gives the board its 'cloud' appearance.