The Major is so done with your shit. (origami_cranes) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2014-02-21 14:22:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, canaan, motoko kusanagi |
Their attack pattern doesn't seem right for Cerberus.
Who: Motoko and Canaan
What: Holiday in the Alps part 2 only it all goes wrong
When: A day before the plot
Status: complete
Rating: PG
Motoko was mostly charged and the sun hadn’t quite risen yet. It was the pre-dawn, and Canaan was curled against her. She didn’t need the warmth, or the sleep, but she pulled her lover closer and smiled to herself. It was nice to actually feel human. It was nice to have some downtime even if she was starting to itch for a little action.
That didn’t mean she was particularly happy when she heard the sound of an approaching helicopter. She barely had time to roll her and Canaan out of bed before the windows shattered under a hail of gunfire. She kicked the bed onto it’s side for a shield and tugged over the duffel bag with their weapons.
It was a particularly rude awakening, and Canaan found herself working through the fuzz of the dream world and a little confused as to what was evening happening. Where had the gunfire even come from? Who had they angered this time? How had they even been found out there?
She forced herself to try and wake up as Motoko reached for their weapons, and took cover. Times like this, she was actually grateful that her lover was part machine; she didn't have periods of human frailty like this and could react more quickly.
A word was whispered softly under her breath, and then her eyes began to glow red. Canaan looked up at the sky, then all around them, "Six on the south side, four more climbing down from the chopper. Another chopper is inbound."
"I don't recognize the sound. It's not a helicopter I have on record." She tapped into the local wifi and ran a search while she loaded her weapons. Their clothing was in the closet and the. Their clothing was in the closet and the temperatures outside were frigid. They had hardly any time at all. “Cover me, I’m going to get you some clothing. Then we need to get out of this position.”
She heard whistling in the distance.
Canaan's head snapped up and her eyes immediately traced the position of the incoming projectile. That was bad. Motoko was right, they definitely needed to get out of that position.
Used to following orders, she took her pistol from Motoko and took up a cover position without argument. The only sound aside from incoming missile came ten seconds later when she discharged her pistol. Two shots rang out, then, and then another two. Canaan wasn't taking any chances, and they had plenty of ammunition, "It's getting closer."
Motoko grabbed a handful of clothing and ran back towards Canaan. She was counting the timing on the sound and estimating how long they had. Fifteen seconds at most. She grabbed Canaan, trusting the woman to get their weapons and then charged through the wall. With one hand she grabbed whoever was in that bed and broke through the next wall.
She went through three more rooms like that before she crashed out a window and into the snow below. She dropped all her passengers save Canaan as the missiles rocked the building.
There'd been enough time for Canaan to take down another of the six enemies that had surrounded them, then she grabbed the bag of weapons right before Motoko swept her up. After that, there wasn't enough clearance to get a shot off without hitting a civilian, and all she could do was wait and duck a bit as her amazing girlfriend saved them all and crashed into the snow.
It was freezing outside and Canaan knew they only had a finite amount of time before she'd get hypothermia. She decided not to waste it and went back to picking off whoever was alive and chasing after them as Motoko ran, "Have I told you how much I love you today?"
“Don’t start,” Motoko replied, edge in her tone. She had to get them lost in the woods, away from the civilians. They could pick off their attackers easily enough once they’d had a chance to regroup. If they could find a place to warm Canaan up without drawing attention, anyway.
"I'm not starting. I'm admiring," Canaan replied, with a bit of a snort. She was able to pick off one more attacker as they ran before the cold started to set in and her hand started to shake a bit. Her aim would be hurt by that and she didn't want to waste ammunition they might need, later.
The gun was still warm and she clamped her hand around it to heat it up a bit, "They'll have to track us on foot here. The forest is too thick to fly overhead."
“I’m too heavy to not leave tracks.” Which meant taking longer as she obscured their trail. If she could get to the cliffs she could scale them, which wouldn’t leave a trail. She changed her vision so she could see better, looking for some cave to hide Canaan in while she did something to erase her tracks in the snow.
"They still have to take the forest on foot. Not everyone is a cyborg," Canaan pointed out.
The sun still hadn't risen and it was still cold enough out that Canaan's fingers and toes were starting to freeze up. She curled against Motoko and the warmth she generated, trying not to focus too much on the fact that she was particularly deadweight right then.
Warm thoughts would keep her spirit from freezing, at least. Canaan was certain once they got somewhere a bit more enclosed a fire could be started or she could at least put on whatever clothing her lover had grabbed for her. All she had to do was get that far.
Motoko started to run faster. It generated more heat for Canaan and that was critical. Something like panic was gripping her and before long she’d covered ten miles in as many minutes, virtually flying across the snow. They needed fire. She needed to do something. Anything.
After a few more minutes and miles she found a rocky overhang. With superhuman speed she dug a tunnel through the snow, creating a packed barrier. Then she got to work starting a fire. “Think warm thoughts.”
"I've been thinking... warm thoughts."
Canaan's teeth were chattering now. Her tan skin had gone slightly pale from the snow, and goose pimples had risen up all over her skin. She closed her eyes and thought about all of their times together. Of the warmth of the desert sun. The smell of the sand - everyone always thought sand had no smell, but it did.
"I'm thinking about... The sun beating down on the sand... and a place with white beaches and aqua colored water... both of us in swimsuits. I'm thinking of that hot cocoa at the lodge. And eating warm ham dinner... I still can't believe you made with your own hands."
“Here.” She placed Canaan next to the fire. She’d made it with the friction of her own hands, and then wrapped what clothing she’d grabbed around her lover’s body. She kissed the top of her head and rubbed at her arms. “I don’t wish to test the theory that we can use my spare parts to replace your limbs.”
"I'm sure Mayuri would be excited about that theory if we did have to test it," Canaan joked a bit. She cuddled the clothing around her, somewhat relieved to feel one of her soft, warm sweaters against her back. She liked their chances a little better, now, and actually worked to pull the sweater on over her head before concentrating on warming her limbs up on the fire.
"My pistol needs to be reloaded. We need to think of an exit strategy of some kind."
Keeping her thoughts on their survival helped to keep her going in general. Canaan was trying not to concentrate on how angry she was that they'd been found in such a relaxing place. That their dreams of settling down and being happy were momentarily over. She refocused the anger instead, letting the emotion get her blood pumping and warm her up more quickly.
Maybe he could regrow a limb, Motoko thought. She hoped that it wouldn’t come to that. She reloaded her lover’s weapon. To think she had been considering staying here longer. Maybe even forever. “I think they’re Cerberus, but I can’t be certain.”
She started to rub at Canaan’s toes.
"Their attack pattern doesn't seem right for Cerberus." Or maybe they'd just only ever faced low-grade soldiers that didn't know what they were doing. It was entirely possible that Cerberus had been holding back this whole time. Though their last mission had definitely involved some much more coordinated people...
"Except for last time. Maybe they're finally taking us seriously."
"Or they've increased their training." They'd lost their phones in the attack so they couldn't warn others or bring in backup. They were on their own this time. She picked up her own gun to inspect it. Canaan's core temperature was distressingly low. She didn't know what to do.
"Or we're finally facing the agents of theirs that are important," Canaan added. It was definitely something like that, anyway. She tried to keep herself from feeling like she was frozen solid by getting up and pulling on the pants Motoko had collected. It was the only clothing her girlfriend could grab, which meant her feet were uncovered. She thought her toes were in the worst danger and risked moving closer to the fire.
"Come closer. You generate heat. I'm not... Going to die here. After everything we've been through, dying of hypothermia is just ridiculous."
"When we get out of here we're going on the offence." Motoko sat next to Canaan and pulled her into her lap. She started to run her systems, all of them. It was too cold for her to overheat and the heat would help Canaan. "Can't lose you."
Canaan curled in against Motoko and closed her eyes, "I like the idea of going on the offensive. We need to be ahead of them. We need to hunt them down where they live and make them regret ever coming after us."
Her words were filled with that anger that she was still trying to refocus into a kind of energy that would keep her warm. Motoko was so very warm that if Canaan opened her eyes she knew she'd be blinded by the light of it. This wasn't going to be last of them. They couldn't be over now.
Motoko remained silent, conserving her energy for the all important task of keeping Canaan alive. She kept faking breathing, and a pulse though, to help keep Canaan calm. To help herself feeling alive.
And she made plans. Figure out if this really was Cerberus. Where to strike. When. And how.
But she just kept Canaan warm, and said nothing.