[RFC] Super Dimension Magical Girl Lyrical Skitter

[Black Aeronaut]

ECSNorway wrote:

---

Just realized I forgot to post this here before I dropped it on the SV thread...

eh, it happens.  Just don't do it again until the next time you do it again. 

ECSNorway wrote:

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host interface ping . . . XCK@(D*!Jaiao39*#U!

... A shoutout to XKCD?

ECSNorway wrote:

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"And just remember. The boss wants the girl that came through the Wall. He wants her alive.
Which means no playing around. You'll know the one we want, she'll be
the only one there with a civ-grade Device. The rest will all be Bureau
goodies. So keep your eyes open who you're shooting at!"

Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do...

ECSNorway wrote:

---

The second was a bit more
useful, with optional modules for sight and sound integration. "I use
this one a lot myself," she told me. "Great for keeping track of things
on a battlefield."

Bells began going off in my head. I grinned and saved the file. "Sounds
like exactly what I need," I said, and saluted her with the soda bottle
before draining it.

I wonder why she would find this alarming... unless she's not used to the idea of a sweet natured girl like Nanoha actually being a total bruiser in disguise.  I wouldn't know since I haven't read Worm and this is the first Worm-fic I've read.

ECSNorway wrote:

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Then the lights went out.

*Klaxon rings out, lights go red, machine voice starts chanting, "RED ALERT!  RED ALERT!  RED ALERT!"*

ECSNorway wrote:

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-- tsuzuku

Nice cliffhanger.  Looking forward to the next installment.  I foresee Taylor and Nanoha becoming good fire-forged friends here in the next few installments.

[nocarename]

Black Aeronaut wrote:

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ECSNorway wrote:

---

The second was a bit more
useful, with optional modules for sight and sound integration. "I use
this one a lot myself," she told me. "Great for keeping track of things
on a battlefield."

Bells began going off in my head. I grinned and saved the file. "Sounds
like exactly what I need," I said, and saluted her with the soda bottle
before draining it.

I wonder why she would find this alarming... unless she's not used to the idea of a sweet natured girl like Nanoha actually being a total bruiser in disguise.  I wouldn't know since I haven't read Worm and this is the first Worm-fic I've read.

Swarm-sense, the PR friendly edition. Those suckers are going to be so very, very ambushed.

[Bluemage]

nocarename wrote:

---

Black Aeronaut wrote:

---

ECSNorway wrote:

---

The second was a bit more
useful, with optional modules for sight and sound integration. "I use
this one a lot myself," she told me. "Great for keeping track of things
on a battlefield."

Bells began going off in my head. I grinned and saved the file. "Sounds
like exactly what I need," I said, and saluted her with the soda bottle
before draining it.

I wonder why she would find this alarming... unless she's not used to the idea of a sweet natured girl like Nanoha actually being a total bruiser in disguise.  I wouldn't know since I haven't read Worm and this is the first Worm-fic I've read.

Swarm-sense, the PR friendly edition. Those suckers are going to be so very, very ambushed.

Exactly.  I get the sense that those weren't so much warning bells as 'oh gods this is PERFECT' bells.

---

My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.

I've been writing a bit.

[ECSNorway]

While I'm kicking my muse to get started on ep 5 instead of coming up with Battletech stuff and Firefly omake, have a bit of Episode 4.

---------------------------------------

Hiiii, mama!

The holo-image of the young blonde ran around a quick circle in front of the camera as Presea watched. Alicia seemed to be growing up so fast these days... she was already twelve, and starting to show just how beautiful she'd be in only a few short years.

Aunt Lindy says to tell you I've been a good girl, but you know that, right? You're Mama!

Presea smiled softly, listening to her first child relate the news of her life. With the Baerzen Institute so far away from the main reaches of Administered Space, they could only exchange these video letters once a month. It was why she'd sent the girl to stay with Lindy Harlaown in the first place. So far away from other children her age, she'd been afraid that Alicia would end up with stunted development, social and educational issues. They'd already had issues because of Presea's own past. She'd hoped that the respected TSAB officer's sponsorship of young Alicia would help to insulate her from that, and it seemed to be working. Alicia certainly looked happy and healthy.

-- and Aunty Momoko has been letting me help in the cafe, just like Nanoha-oneesama! It's really fun, I get to meet lots of people and try lots of sweet stuff! An' there's chocolate just about everything!

Chocolate and coffee were turning out to be among UA97's biggest trade items with the rest of the settled multiverse, so far. That, and maple syrup seemed to be becoming popular in some of the outer colonies.

Presea leaned back, sipping her tea, and smiled again as Alicia spun her stories of her life on Nanoha's 'Earth'. She was enrolled in a local school, mostly for the chance to spend time with other children her age. Presea had left Linith there, temporarily bonded to the Takamachi woman, to tutor Alicia in the subjects she'd need to keep up with Mid-Childan educational standards.

-- Uncle Shiro came by Aunty Lindy's place to train with some of the Bureau fleet people, too! They were really surprised, he isn't a mage but he's really REALLY good at the local Strike Arts. I asked him how he did it an' he said he practiced lots and lots! So I wanted to try it too and I asked Aunt Lindy and she said it was okay since Mama wanted Alicia to grow up healthy and strong and Uncle Shiro's really strong! So I've got lessons three times a week with Kyouya-niisan and he's really nice about it.

And, ooh, ooh, big, big, BIG news, mama! Fate's ship is getting assigned to Aunty Lindy's squadron for wargames! So she's going to be here for a few months, they're arriving next week! I'll beat her up if she doesn't write to you this time!

Her little girl was picking up the local linguistic oddities, Presea noted. Not really an issue, she decided. She's just talking the way her friends talk. Once she's made some Mid-Childan friends, she'll speak properly. The news of Fate's assignment was of somewhat more import. She hadn't heard from the clone-child since the girl had announced that she was entering the Bureau academy with the Takamachi girl.

Alicia was going on about how Fate had promised to take her on a tour of her ship, and something about making chocolates for the Captain, when the lights went out... and the playback stopped.

"Hrist, do you have the entire message?"

"Affirmative, Master," the device replied from its pendant form.

"Good," Presea said, rising from her seat. "Let's go see what's going on, shall we?"
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

[classicdrogn]

Wow, I think that's the first time I've ever seen Presea's Device get a spoken line. Also, interrupting that woman's Mama time? Not the action of a person who wants a long and comfortable life, even without Taylor on site and having just picked up a replacement for the missing panopticon perception her bugs provided.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[Black Aeronaut]

Oh dear. Oh dear oh dear oh dear.

The White Devil
Skitter
And a pissed off Presea Testarosa.

These guys are in for it.

[nocarename]

It could be worse.

Those three will probably accept surrenders, if they comes fast enough.

If only because they are curious. Smacking minions is cathartic, but it doesn't stop the next attack. For that you need to climb the chain of command.

[ECSNorway]

So, I'm finally making real progress on Episode 5. Not much of it, but some.

So here's another bit of Ep 4 to whet your appetites for the Cosmic Beat-down.

- 1.4 --- * --- 1.4 -

"Cap'n Arboth, sir?" The pirate stood in the middle of the Institute rec room, looking at the slumped, stunned forms of the various people around him.

"What is it, Breslin?" came the Captain's voice, slightly tinny, over his communicator.

"Sir, the client wanted the girl with the civ device, right?"

"That's correct, Centurion."

Breslin nodded, then looked down at the two forms on the couch. "Sir, there's two of them."

"Two of them. Two girls with civilian-grade loaner devices?"

Breslin nodded again. "Yes, sir. Two matches."

"Well, bring them both. The client will take the one he wants, and we'll market the other as a bonus."

- 1.4 --- * --- 1.4 -

--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

[classicdrogn]

A ha hahaha. Boned, so very, very, inevitably and thoroughly boned.

They might as well just bend over and kiss their butts goodbye right now.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[deadpan29]

Since there is some time between postings I may have forgotten, but who is the other girl with a "civ device"? As ClassicDrogon said, they are boned, but the identity of the other girl might make them doubly so.

Then again, Taylor is enough to make you "doubly boned" all by herself if you try to back her into a corner. If any of the pirates say anything about being able to take her, then they will shoot past "boned" into "doomed" or possibly "eternally damned".
----------
No, I don't believe the world has gone mad.  In order for it to go mad it would need to have been sane at some point.

[Black Aeronaut]

The other girl was Nanoha. Raising Heart was in the shop for maintenance.

Eternally Damned is being to kind.

[classicdrogn]

Considering that Nanoha can do combat magic bare-brained? A single shooting spell, but still, and that was while burning a ton of mana and concentration running full-up combat sims at the same time, and training precision by playing hackey sack with it and a juice can for ... was it one or two hundred hits, at the start of A's?

She's far from being the goddess of destruction some imagine, but that is one scary, scary little girl to make an enemy of.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[ECSNorway]

Okay, folks, trying to use my vacation time to kick myself back into writing episode 5. In the meantime, here's all of ep 4 for your amusement.

Pirates. A scourge on all of space and time, they evolve in any era when ships transporting valuables sail far from aid. Every civilization produces some of those who will seek to take what they please by main force... and those who will strenuously object to that sort of behavior.

Episode 4 of Super Dimension Magical Girl Lyrical Skitter... hajimarimasu!

--- * --- 1.4 --- * --- 1.4 --- * ---

Hiiii, mama!

The holo-image of the young blonde ran around a quick circle in front of the camera as Presea watched. Alicia seemed to be growing up so fast these days... she was already twelve, and starting to show just how beautiful she'd be in only a few short years.

Aunt Lindy says to tell you I've been a good girl, but you know that, right? You're Mama!

Presea smiled softly, listening to her first child relate the news of her life. With the Baerzen Institute so far away from the main reaches of Administered Space, they could only exchange these video letters once a month. It was why she'd sent the girl to stay with Lindy Harlaown in the first place. So far away from other children her age, she'd been afraid that Alicia would end up with stunted development, social and educational issues. They'd already had issues because of Presea's own past. She'd hoped that the respected TSAB officer's sponsorship of young Alicia would help to insulate her from that, and it seemed to be working. Alicia certainly looked happy and healthy.

-- and Aunty Momoko has been letting me help in the cafe, just like Nanoha-oneesama! It's really fun, I get to meet lots of people and try lots of sweet stuff! An' there's chocolate just about everything!

Chocolate and coffee were turning out to be among UA97's biggest trade items with the rest of the settled multiverse, so far. That, and maple syrup seemed to be becoming popular in some of the outer colonies.

Presea leaned back, sipping her tea, and smiled again as Alicia spun her stories of her life on Nanoha's 'Earth'. She was enrolled in a local school, mostly for the chance to spend time with other children her age. Presea had left Linith there, temporarily bonded to the Takamachi woman, to tutor Alicia in the subjects she'd need to keep up with Mid-Childan educational standards.

-- Uncle Shiro came by Aunty Lindy's place to train with some of the Bureau fleet people, too! They were really surprised, he isn't a mage but he's really REALLY good at the local Strike Arts. I asked him how he did it an' he said he practiced lots and lots! So I wanted to try it too and I asked Aunt Lindy and she said it was okay since Mama wanted Alicia to grow up healthy and strong and Uncle Shiro's really strong! So I've got lessons three times a week with Kyouya-niisan and he's really nice about it.

And, ooh, ooh, big, big, BIG news, mama! Fate's ship is getting assigned to Aunty Lindy's squadron for wargames! So she's going to be here for a few months, they're arriving next week! I'll beat her up if she doesn't write to you this time!

Her little girl was picking up the local linguistic oddities, Presea noted. Not really an issue, she decided. She's just talking the way her friends talk. Once she's made some Mid-Childan friends, she'll speak properly. The news of Fate's assignment was of somewhat more import. She hadn't heard from the clone-child since the girl had announced that she was entering the Bureau academy with the Takamachi girl.

Alicia was going on about how Fate had promised to take her on a tour of her ship, and something about making chocolates for the Captain, when the lights went out... and the playback stopped.

"Hrist, do you have the entire message?"

"Affirmative, Master," the device replied from its pendant form.

"Good," Presea said, rising from her seat. "Let's go see what's going on, shall we?"

- 1.4 --- * --- 1.4 -

"Cap'n Arboth, sir?" The pirate stood in the middle of the Institute rec room, looking at the slumped, stunned forms of the various people around him.

"What is it, Breslin?" came the Captain's voice, slightly tinny, over his communicator.

"Sir, the client wanted the girl with the civ device, right?"

"That's correct, Centurion."

Breslin nodded, then looked down at the two forms on the couch. "Sir, there's two of them."

"Two of them. Two girls with civilian-grade loaner devices?"

Breslin nodded again. "Yes, sir. Two matches."

"Well, bring them both. The client will take the one he wants, and we'll market the other as a bonus."

- 1.4 --- * --- 1.4 -

"Well, Major? Just how did this happen?"

Tiida Lanster grimaced as he looked across the table at Presea Testarossa. "The pirates were, apparently, provided with our shield security codes. They were able to slip a teleport through the shields and take us by surprise. Two pods of anesthezine gas - one in the rec room, one in the security barracks - disabled ninety percent of our combat-capable personnel. They then ported a squad into the main lab and began removing equipment."

"And another squad into the rec room, apparently, given our missing personnel." Around them, several workers bustled about, repairing damage from the attack - mostly overloaded systems - updating security codes, and removing viruses from the computers.

"That's correct, Doctor. They appear to have absconded with Miss Hebert, Lieutenant Takamchi, Doctor Bishop, and Technician Voyle."

Presea's lips pursed briefly, while a holo-screen displayed the ongoing re-awakening of the base's security platoon. "They seem to be surprisingly well-informed. Doctor Bishop and Mr. Voyle were intimately involved with the design of some of the equipment taken."

"Indeed, Doctor. I still cannot produce an adequate reason for them to have removed Takamachi, however." A corporal in security uniform passed him an e-screen with the new shield lockout codes, he affixed a signature and passed it back to her.

"Neither can I, Major. And that worries me. I understand we have a trace on their ship?"

Lanster nodded. "The tracking unit in Miss Hebert's device is still signalling. From the distortion of the signal we can estimate the speed of their drive, and with that combination..."

Presea smiled thinly. "We can set coordinates for a long-range teleport."

"An extremely risky long-range teleport."

Her smile widened, eyes glittering with anticipation. "Not if I lead the retrieval team. I have some experience with long-range dimensional transfer magics."

- 1.4 --- * --- 1.4 -

Nanoha awoke, woozy and a little nauseous, and automatically reached for Raging Heart's pendant form to activate her Device. It wasn't there, of course, it was still in maintenance being checked on. And here she was, waking up in a probably-locked room with an anesthezine hangover. From the vibration and the slight mana pressure she sensed, probably onboard a ship already in the Dimensional Sea.

On the other bunk, Taylor woke up, as well. She shook her head, spat, and grumbled something under her breath that Nanoha was rather glad she didn't really catch all of. "Where?"

"Pirates, would be my first guess," Nanoha answered her. "They hit us with sleepygas, probably right through the base shields..."

Taylor grimaced, and finally managed to sit up after a minute or so of grumbling and cursing. "Well, shit," she finally said. "Looks like I get to stage yet another prison breakout." She glared at the door. "Wonder how many guards they've got on us?"

Nanoha paused a moment, then walked over to the door. "Are we really sure we're - " locked in, she'd been about to say as she tried the door, only to find it refusing to open. "Okay, we are definitely locked in," she said, then shrugged and pounded on the door a few times with a fist. "Hey! Open up!"

"Shut up in there!" came a coarse, rough voice. Male, and older, Nanoha immediately categorized it. Probably not Bureau-trained.

She shrugged and walked back to take a seat on her bunk. "I didn't hear anything to say there'd be more than one," she said, then took a double-take and glanced back at her hand. They'd left her the cheap civ-grade loaner Device she'd been wearing... and Taylor, grinning, already had hers out, typing away at a page of spell-code.

"Say, Nanoha," her erstwhile guest asked, with a grin. "Just how big of a shot can you get out of one of these things?"

A moment's review of the Device's resources, and her own mana reserves, gave an answer. "I could knock out the guard... maybe two at once. At least keep them distracted for a minute or two." She frowned. "Not enough to blast through that door, though. That's at least half an inch of hullmetal."

"Don't you worry," Taylor assured her. "Skitter is -on- the job. I downloaded a few books on basic defensive spells last night, just to check some things out, and it isn't -that- hard," she continued, fingers still working the keyboard, "to remove a few little safety measures."

She tapped the 'execute' key, and a basic Round Shield appeared next to her left hand, rotating slowly around her hand. She tapped the key again, and a second matched it. When the third appeared, Nanoha realized they were at converging angles, and starting to speed up... a fourth, fifth, and finally sixth joined them before Taylor rather carefully stood up.

"Have to - whoa, careful there - focus on the location parameters," she said. "Don't want to chop my hand off after all the trouble Doc Yamada took to put it on."

Nanoha swallowed heavily. She'd taken risks before, but this - coordinating six entirely separate spells at once? - this really took the cake. She knew she could manage that many blaster balls from a shooting spell, she'd done it before, in her duels with Fate and at the Academy. To manage six counter-rotating shield spells when the slightest misjudgement could cut off your hand? That scared her more than just a little. Possibly scarier was how absolutely casual Taylor was about it.

No, she told herself as her comrade slowly, carefully advanced on the door. Just like in the stories Taylor had told her. It was Skitter now, ready to fight, willing to risk it all for the chance to snatch victory from the jaws of the dragon.

Nanoha called up what mana her own borrowed Device would let her channel, and started forming blaster balls.

-- tsuzuku
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

[Black Aeronaut]

.... I can think of only one response to this.I'M GONNA SING THE DOOM SONG NOW!

[Rajvik]

And I'll join you singing it
 

[classicdrogn]

I'm not really visualizing the configuration Taylor's got the shields in, I'm afraid. At first I thought she was setting them up like the wheels on a pitching machine to accelerate a blaster shot, but then you've got her walking it over to the door, and talking about ctting off her hand if it gets out of alignment... is it like a Barrier Punch / Giga Drill Breaker combo thing? Some kind of glorious abomination of razor-edged buzz saw whirlwind? Something else entirely?

And again, like I said the first time... Dat multitasking!
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[ECSNorway]

It's more of a drill sort of arrangement, yeah. Think multiple planes of force arranged in a wedge shape around her hand, like she's reaching into a funnel made of forcefields, only they all have monomolecular edges.
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

[classicdrogn]

Hm. Either the collection is spinning the wrong way to actually cut into what she presses it against, or the bigger risk is the bits they cut out of the door as the motion of the composite spell carries them toward the center, with monomolecular-cut sharp edges. It's definitely a very Skitter plan... though shouldn't she be thinking of herself as Weaver, come to that, when Skitter was a name picked by someone else that she went by for a few months, while Weaver was her own choice and was used for two years and change?
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[Black Aeronaut]

I think the risk is in that she might cut her arm off at the shoulder if she's not careful. This is coming from someone who's done extensive maintenance work on machinery that will gladly take an appendage off you without even thinking of it.

[VladimirTherin]

She took the safeties off the round shield spell so that the edges are sharp now, and is using her arm as the focus "shaft" of six of them arranged as a drill bit.
Loving this story ECSNorway: please continue!

[robkelk]

It's definitely a very Skitter plan... though shouldn't she be thinking of herself as Weaver, come to that, when Skitter was a name picked by someone else that she went by for a few months, while Weaver was her own choice and was used for two years and change?

I never read Worm, so I'm not sure whether this is right... She got her powers, went by Skitter for a while, then went by Weaver when she came into her own. Then she lost her powers. Now she has brand-new powers, so she's repeating the cycle?
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Foxboy]

Rob, the most important thing to realise about Taylor Hebert/Skitter is that she's the queen of escalation. If she were a D&D character, she'd be the one that uses an obscure polearm and just the right combination of multiclass and skills/feats to make a murdermachine out of an NPC class.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

[robkelk]

Ah. Yeah, "Weaver" would make more sense, then.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Rajvik]

it was more a matter of having to rebrand herself once she joined the wards as a way to save her friends and family from getting caught in the crossfire of giant robots and PRT thugs trying to take her down like an endbringer or some other S-class threat. Skitter was something the government tagged her with that she made her own, she never really identified "Weaver" as herself, it was a role she had to play to keep the government off of her friends backs
 

[ECSNorway]

So, the opening and first scene of Episode 5 are FINALLY ready for viewing. By you, at least. I encourage feedback while I work on the next scene.

This is so cool.

I'm on an actual spaceship.

Run by actual space pirates.

If we can beat them all does that mean I get to keep the ship?

Episode five of Super Dimension Magical Girl Lyrical Skitter, hajimarimasu!

--- * --- 1.5 --- * --- 1.5 --- * ---

"So, Lieutenant Takamachi. Having successfully escaped confinement, you decided to allow our guest to take the lead in an attempt to defeat the entire crew of the pirate vessel - total numbers unknown to you at that time - total resources, one civilian and one green Lieutenant, both with noncombat Devices. Is that a correct asessment of the tactical situation at the time, Lieutenant?"

Nanoha Takamachi stood at attention before the Major's desk, her eyes fixed on the wall directly above Tiida Lanster's head. She was not exactly green, to be certain, with two major incidents handled even before she and her friends had been singled out for the Academy. She knew better than to contradict a superior officer who was chewing her out, however. "Yes, Major," she answered. "That is a correct summary of the situation as we knew it."

"Would you care to inform me, then, Lieutenant," he asked, voice dangerously low, "Just what in the name of the Sankt-Kaiser you thought you were doing?"

Nanoha marshalled her thoughts carefully, aided by the comprehensive report she and Raging Heart had put together from her own memory and her loaner Device's data-logs of the incident. "Sir. Ms Hebert is technically a civilian, but by her own admission is a veteran of several years of guerilla-style and counter-insurgency combat incidents, frequently against both individuals more powerful than her and large groups of opponents. She had already shown an impressive bent for out-of-the-box tactical improvisation in arranging our escape from the holding cell. Given that, I saw an excellent opportunity to gather further data about her combat style, personal ethic, and tactical ability...."

- 1.5 --- * --- 1.5 -

I watched Taylor approach the door, her expression taut with concentration. Maintaining focus on that many spells at once - and not just the shield-drill, I could see other spell-balls forming around her as well - I could handle that number fairly easily, but if her focus on the drill slipped for even a moment she could lose her hand. Again.

"Get ready," she said. "This is going to get real obvious in a few seconds." I nodded and started forming blasters, only a couple at a time to spare my poor loaner Device from mana overload.

The drill made a lot of noise when it hit the door. It seemed to be cutting through the dense material fairly easily, though. I'd have to make a note of that in my report for an entry technique in teleport-warded areas. Once the safeties were properly refined, that is.

And of course, the guard noticed, too. "Hey in there! What the hell are you doing?" Taylor lifted her free hand for a moment to beckon me closer. I grinned and nodded, my first batch of blasters swirling around to frame the doorway while the second formed.

The screech of tearing metal came to a sudden stop as she drew her hand back from the door, stepping aside to dodge the blaster shot that ripped through the doorway as it slid open.

A half-dozen spell-balls preceded Skitter through the cell door. For a moment I wondered where she'd gotten hold of a blaster spell, but then I recognized the Wide Area Search spell I'd shown her just before we were gassed. I stepped through behind her, forming a third set of blasters, and kept a close eye in case she needed help.

For a moment I thought she was going to go after the guard with the safety-broken shield 'drill' she'd built, but she was smart enough to realize just how reckless that would be. She'd dismissed the 'drill' and recast just two of the shields while sending out the Search spells, which made a bit more sense.

I still wasn't quite sure what the searchers were for, until I saw her actually step into the fight. All the hesitation and lack of confidence I'd seen in her Strike Arts sessions with Graff was just plain gone. She flowed around the shooter he managed to get off like water, then effortlessly stepped around the punch he threw at her. Her first blow, padded by the shield on that hand, sent him flying into the wall, and she stepped in again to plant a foot in his gut.

She didn't even turn her head, but she'd already noticed the second guard coming around the corner and into the corridor. She stepped aside from one shooter, deflected the second into her first opponent with her shield - one down, one to go, and stepped into a quick exchange of blows.

The searcher spells she'd had out spread, even while she was still in mid-fight, moving down the corridors and around the junctions. Her style was quick and efficient, no wasted movements, and she never seemed to miss an attack even when it was outside her line of sight. Time to see how much attention she's paying, I decided, sending a flurry of blaster-balls to circle around the room and get in behind her opponent.

She kept his attention focused on her with a rapid series of jabs and a quick side-kick, obviously not doing much damage past his Barrier Jacket except with the shield-punches. After a few exchanges she jumped back, and I let him have it with the blasters. He never saw it coming, and went down flat almost instantly.

-- next scene goes here --
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.