ghost in the machine, pt. two | rescue mingle

[whipshots]

WHERE: The southern village, a cave system about 5 miles southwest, and in-between
WHEN: April 6
OPEN TO: Kidnappees (Agent Washington, Tim Drake-Wayne, Cissie King-Jones) & their rescuers (Agent Maine/Brigitte Lindholm; Jason Todd/Stephanie Brown; Diego Hargreeves/Seifer Almasy/Anne Weying)
WARNINGS: Violence & NPC death. Will update further as needed!

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OOC details:

All 3 kidnapped villagers wake deep in a system of caves, firmly bound by rope at their ankles and wrists, with their hands in front of their bodies. It will be extremely dark. They will be able to speak to each other, however, and may notice that their wrist devices have been removed. There will be two canteens of water and two plates of berries and rice. They may begin to loosen or cut through their ropes, but it will be slow-going.

When Nat returns to the village and tells everyone about the kidnapping, it seems a fairly safe presumption that there will be folks wanting to go after the kidnapped villagers, locate them, and bring them safely back to the village. These characters may encounter NPCs along the way as they locate the kidnapped villagers and help them escape.

The odd hit-and-run assaults by the strange doppelgangers had finally escalated: three of their own had been taken. And so of course, others would go after them. Three ragtag groups eventually assembled within the southern village, setting out into the wilderness and trying to trace the path back to the origin of these inexplicable attackers, or at least where they’ve been holding their captives. It’s five miles away, so perhaps about two hours’ walk with all the stopping to check for footprints, broken branches, trampled bushes.

Once the rescuers start working through the dark caves, they start running into aggressive NPCs, and it seems likely a fight will break out.

A list of NPC clones they might encounter:

Anne Weying, Ashley Magnus, Aqua, Bobo del Rey, Brigitte Lindholm, Bruce Banner, Cissie King-Jones, Cougar Alvarez, Foggy Nelson, Frank Castle, Jacob Frye, Jason Todd, Jessica Jones, Joe Miller, John Druitt, John Wick, Kalen, Marian Hawke, Natasha Romanoff, Niska Elster, Oerba Dia Vanille, Peggy Carter, Reyes Vidal, Rinoa Heartilly, Rosa Diaz, Samantha Moon, Seifer Almasy, Thor Odinson, Tim Drake-Wayne

Comments

[excessed]

"Yeah but this sleeves, taunting you about it is fun," he points out, smirking at Anne. "And yeah, I've been to the machine. To get back the closest thing to what they took from me," he admits, frowning at that. He's lived with them since he can remember and being without it is odd. "Only could get one of them but..."

He pulls one of the knives from his sleeve spaces, holding it point down on the end of his finger. It then shot towards the ceiling, flung to the right, circled Anne and then came back to his hand. He grins at that. "Not exactly the same but close enough,' he says, sliding it back where it goes.

"Anyone know the person we're looking for? To know if we found the right vic?"

[can_fight_ugly]

She watches the knife as it makes its way inextricably around them and then back to Diego. Okay, that was pretty impressive. She exchanges a look with Seifer and then nods at Diego.

"That's definitely going to come in handy." Between the three of them, she's feeling pretty confident they'll have a decent chance against any enemies they might meet. "Cissie, right? I haven't met her, no. Do you think we'll have a hard time finding her?"

[firacrux]

Seifer rose an eyebrow at the trick, equal parts curious and mildly anxious over the prospect of getting a knife he never saw coming in the back. Had to remind himself that they were working on the same team and there was no reason this stranger would have for killing him just because.

Right? Right. Yup, don't mind the overly paranoid military boy over here. He was watching the knife warily, and wished very much now that he'd put Diego at the front of the group instead of himself. Anne, he hoped, would act as a decent enough barrier between them.

"Cissie's been to the house for Nida's get togethers before, she was also one of the first people I met when I crawled out of the fountain here." He offered. They weren't close, but he knew her well enough to recognize her. "We're not gonna find her standing around talkin' about it. Let's move." Impatient now with too much standing around and talking he struck out, drawing his sword in preparation to deal with whoever they might face.

[excessed]

It's not what he knew, but it will do. He'd gotten the ability out of petty frustration, but the truth is that he is thankful for it now. Hard to try and save people when you can't guarantee a hit. Not that he's entirely sure he can now, but he's planing to do the best he can.

So he kind of smiles, kind of grimaces at that, giving Seifer a nod. "Sounds good then, since we'll maybe have a clue if anyone we run into is her or trouble." Or trouble looking like her but he doesn't want to think about that.

Instead he nods, gesturing for them to get started and prepared to bring up the rear, ready to take an attack if he has to.

[can_fight_ugly]

Seifer in front, Diego in back, Anne taking the middle ... it was a good lineup. She wasn't exactly as well versed in this language of violence, but she trusted her own abilities to follow up should they alert to anything.

For now, she grips her hatchet and follows along, keeping alert and listening as well as casting her eyes about to asses their immediate vicinity.

"Do you hear that?" It's subtle, but with the cavern walls and shadows it's hard to tell where it's coming from. Voices, maybe?

[firacrux]

Between the three of them they should be a force to be reckoned with. Seifer's never seen anything like a tiger in a fight, but he can't imagine it'll be pretty. He's almost excited to let Anne go first, just to see what she can do. Then again he'd hate to put her in another Venom situation, so maybe they'll avoid crunchy skulls this time.

Trouble looking like her might be harder to discern, though from what he can tell the doubles give themselves away pretty quick. They don't act right at all. "I think we'll be alright, dealt with a pair of copycats before. They're quick to give themselves away." At least the last pair was.

He pauses, perking up and listening intently. She was right, and after some leaning and adjusting his position he decided the voices were coming from their left, which he gestured towards. Then glanced back at them questioningly. Did they want to head straight in, or try to divert?