terribly sorry, officer (baelfiery) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2015-02-24 20:33:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, lina inverse, neal cassidy (baelfire), ruby lucas (little red riding hood) |
Who: Team 'Distraction' aka Neal, Lina, and Ruby
What: Rescuing Cindy
When: Late night
Where: Outside the empty medical facility where she's being held
Rating/Warnings: UMMM the usual fare when you put Neal and Lina in the same log. Violence. Things explode. The earth caves in. Rubywolf eats people. Etc. and so forth.
Status: Complete
If they were going to do this right, they weren’t doing this half-assed. One of Lina’s methods in making sure that no one went out was a modified demona crystal spell, and with the help of her talismans that amplified things practically tenfold, she’d constructed a wall of ice to surround everything - the building, the area around it - to make sure no one else got in and no one else went out. Including any crafty bastard that thought they’d be smart and sneak Cindy out while everyone else was in. But there was one thing that had her a bit bothered, she wasn’t going to lie. It was the fact that they were surrounded. And they couldn’t really see who was surrounding them. They weren’t just dealing with muscled thugs that gave no thought to strategic combat and simply relied on brutality. Now they’d thrown those stealthy ones with years of crafting their trade of lurking in the shadows, taking a knife to someone’s throat and moving silently and seamlessly to the next victim. Lina hated those types. She could deal with steroid-junkies and their penchant for breaking shit - it was a match made in heaven. Those sneaky and quick on her feet...eh, they made her admittedly nervous. “Welp,” she said, rubbing the back of her head awkwardly and tossing Ruby and Neal a hesitant look. Team Distraction, Directed by Michael Bay. “This is going to be fun.” Fun. Hell yeah it was. Or it’d be the sequel to what went down in Chicago, meaning, Joylock and his Inbred Cousins directed by Michael Bay. Neal had explained all that to Ruby but she’d never experienced the Dream Team that consisted of himself and Linabean the Fiery. Now she’d get to, and he felt...well, he felt like he was sharing something special with her. A relic from his past, just before he’d met Ruby. It was a beautiful thing. These explosions would also be beautiful, and Neal was well-armed. “Now that everything’s encased in an ice cube,” he started, crooked grin appearing. “Okay, plan. We lay traps for them? Because you know they’ve probably called for backup already.” It was just that, thanks to the efforts of Team Distraction, the backup would never reach the intended goal. “And they might have other exits...you know, underground ones.” They all knew where the doors were, and the windows, in the building - but the stealthier means of escape? There needed to be accounting for those too. Sticking bombs in those would surely take care of the problem - Neal wasn’t concerned about them not being able to leave, that was what the portal maker was for. Glancing toward Ruby, he asked her, “You’re...going to change, right? Please?” Her wolf self was a lot hardier than the human form, which was still recovering from having a crossbow bolt removed from her innards. “It would be handy.” Ruby really had no idea what to expect. Sure, she’d heard the stories, but that didn’t really cover what it would be like to be part of it. All of this? It was far different from the life she’d had in New York. Not so much with explosions and the like. Then again, it wasn’t like this was her first time storming a castle of sorts. Admittedly that had been Red and had been in the Enchanted Forest, but it wasn’t something that was completely unheard of. Just a smaller group and different abilities. Still, it didn’t stop the bemused look she shot Lina when she said this would be fun. “I can always bite out a few throats…..” Realising that was probably a weird thing to say, Ruby just shrugged and looked at the two, “What? It can help.” Which really was an answer to Neal’s question on if she was going to go into wolf form. Her senses were stronger as the wolf, and it took more to take her down. And, well, jugular biting out. It wasn’t for fun, but it got the job done. And then it could feasibly be blamed on something else, like a cougar attack. “Bite a few throats, huh?” A loooooow whistle of admiration on that end, because that sounded brutal. And effective. Thumbs up on Lina’s behalf, Ruby, but she was still on the edge of how eerily quiet it was at the moment. She wanted guns blazing in a hellfire glory like what happened with Joylock, but nothing was raining on them at the moment. It gave her an itch. Itchitchitch. “I can actually mess with their underground exits,” she proposed, surveying the ground and figuring out when was the best place cast the spell in question. Little did they know of snipers hidden by discarded warehouse tarp and bushes, but soon the three red laser points would show up on each of their chests. “We can blow up their underground passages, stifle them there, and--” That’s when Lina saw those red dots, and show time had come up faster than expected. “MOVE!” Well, shit. Neal didn’t even have time to be turned on by Ruby’s declaration that she’d bite out a few throats. It wasn’t that the act itself was sexy but more like the fact that - as Garrus said - she had guts and was willing to get dirty and help. This looked to be getting dirty too. “Fuck it,” he snarled, and then was off - scattered away from the others, this was the only way to get shit done. Disperse and conquer. He trusted that Ruby would transform into a wolf and, indeed, sink her teeth into flesh (probably wouldn’t taste very good, but) and that Lina would hold her own too. There was a truck just across the way and he headed for it, diving beneath to take cover - when shots were pinging this way and that, by rubber was the best place to be. It held up well against bullets. But he didn’t remain there for long, not enough time - just enough to slide back out the other side, pull the pin on a grenade, and toss it into the brush nearby. Ka-boom, the first explosion. The first pay attention to me blast, that was the sole reason for this teamup anyway. But he’d make sure to save some explosives for the underground exits. It was preferable to share the wealth, you see. Really, Ruby wasn’t exactly sure what to anticipate with this whole thing. They had different resources in the Enchanted Forest, but she was also willing to do what was necessary to save someone. This time it was team distraction and if that meant throat ripping, so be it. With a plan beginning to be put in motion, she was listening only for the order to move came in. Well okay then. Eyes narrowed as the three went in the opposite directions, Ruby focused and shifted into the wolf, keeping low to the ground to find a place to take cover. Explosions were loud enough as a human, but the loudness as a wolf? No matter. Ears flattened against her head, she moved slowly until she caught a scent near her. And off to dispatch the guards. This was one of the reasons why she hated the stealthy type. Well, most of them, there was a select few she kinda liked, but they were crafty little goddamn shits and Lina’s flaw was that she wasn’t quiet, none of anything she did was quiet. Now with the group dispersed, she found herself cover behind a dumpster. And then there was a boom. “Neal Cassidy, I swear,” she tsked in bemusement, shaking her head. Out from hiding several goons came out and scattered - one popping up by Lina with a handful of knives - but good thing she reacted quickly, tossed over a digu volt spell for some deadly electrocution that lit up the area like a storm. After pocketing the knives, she climbed up the dumpster like a monkey and stood on the lid with arms waving around. “Hey fuckers! Missed us, now you gotta kiss us.” Lina’stongue stuck out briefly, and then quickly, an insanely large ball of fire formed in her hands. This was a signal for Neal and Ruby to move out of the way before they got caught it in, and soon it was time for explosion round two, away from the building so it wouldn’t catch on fire and freak out the comrades inside. And then she got down right afterwards so she wouldn’t get shot. Signal received loud and clear, Linabean. Neal vacated the area before Lina’s fireball of doom made contact, heading down a slope of grass - mostly dead, but there was a fence he followed, leaning over the edge of it. The shape of the structure beneath the hill likely led to a door - one of those exits that was set apart from the building, attached to a tunnel. Prime spot for the next explosion, and he tossed another grenade into the depths below. The debris from the subsequent blast created a pile of rubble that was sure to be a fun obstruction - maybe it even blew up those guards right on the interior too. It’d be a pleasant icing on the cake. One of these days, he’d go back to doing something more stealthy. After all, he had a few skills in his wheelhouse - you couldn’t be a successful thief if you were obvious. But rather, it was just that today was not that day. Then he was heading back up the hill, searching for a familiar dark wolf in the fray. All the while dodging the warfare....and hey, wait a minute! “That’s my fucking crossbow!” he growled, when he saw the guy running with it in hand. Oh hell no, he was re-claiming that thing today. Gun pulled out, click, bang, he shot the fucker in the back. It was like playing Duck Hunt or something. The wolf had already ripped out one throat when she got the signal and so it was to the outdoors to avoid being blown up. That would just really put a damper on the whole having survived being shot with silver thing. No need for that. The flash from the explosion was temporarily blinding but she got her bearings straight and remained crouched low to the ground. With that done, it was back to trying to take people out who would be a problem and to allow the ones getting Cindy not to deal with more unwanted company. Growling, she lunged forward and knocked one of the men to the ground. Oh look. There went another throat. Lina was close enough to the wolf to get a look at her work, and goddamn. Talk about brutal, jesus christ. And morbid. She tried not to get distracted too much (how did a human neck even taste like?), considering they had plenty of other things to worry about (such as being shot at or getting a knife to your throat), so Lina’s fingers went back to work in unleashing spells left and right - mostly electric ones for a quick, clean kill. Sometimes a wind to get them the hell away. And then she heard Neal and blinked up. “What th--” Didn’t even get a chance to finish her sentence, because those very few burly muscle men Lina knew were stomping around had prowled behind her, wrapped an arm around her throat and lifted her off the ground in an effortless chokehold. He was literally a giant in comparison, and her airflow was too constricted to even let out a scream. Nails went up to claw at his skin, trying to scratch and pull, and even try and concentrate for a spell but concentration was hard to gather when your oxygen was limited. “Who the fuck brings their dog to these things,” scowled the man, treating the redhead like some little china doll that was about to get crushed in a couple seconds. Ruby was eating these fuckers for breakfast, literally, and Neal was oh so proud. He’d never seen her maim anyone before. It was like a nature special he really couldn’t look away from. Not to mention that he also nearly pissed his pants with joy now that he had his crossbow back where it belonged - with him, the rightful owner, praise Jesus aaaaaaaaaaamen. The commotion with Lina attracted his attention, and after he’d yanked the crossbow from the grip of the dirty asshole who had soiled it with his touch (this was the guy who shot Ruby too, Neal recognized the hoodie) and ensured that it was loaded, he tested it out. By shooting the behemoth who had Lina - right in the ass. That had to hurt, when a bolt punctured your keister. It seemed to. Because it was enough to cause him to drop her as he focused on the agony currently situated in his bum. “She’s not a dog, she’s a lady.” Don’t think he hadn’t heard that, dipshit. Always with the damn dog jokes. As if those didn’t get old. Though she would be happy when this was done. But the jerk who had grabbed Lina… and called her a dog… was distracted and so she raced forward from where she’d been and pounced, knocking the guy to the ground and snarled in his face before clawing his face down to sternum. Time to circle any other idiots who got ideas of messing with them. She would deal with all of this later. For now, compartmentalizing was a necessity. Without losing herself to the wolf. Nailed in the ass, then ripped apart by the wolf. Lina had people that would avenge her damn impressively, all while she landed on her rump and gasped in gulps and gulps of air despite the scent of blood. Pinkness had colored her face and she had to cough a few times, just to make sure all the important muscles of her neck worked right. “Geez,” she wheezed, a hand to her throat. “That...could have ended badly.” Note to self: don’t get caught again. Keep away from the ones that could physically fuck her up in the distance while she unleashed doses of lethal magic. She could do well in hand-to-hand combat if she had to, but...not against someone ten times bigger than her. Not a goddamn chance. “I can work on the underground tunnels,” she said hurriedly - back on track, because distractions needed to be at a minimum. Especially with snipers and men going trigger happy around. “If we can gather them in one spot, I can blow them up from und--” A ding, as something small had been thrown in their general direction. A grenade. It wasn’t just the mighty trio blowing things up to kingdom come - they were fighting back with equivalent firepower, and after a screamed ‘duck!’ she dove away from it, landed and rolled for cover. Assholes! Whatever, if she could just get the fire directed elsewhere, she could still access the tunnels and screw them up from underground. So where she was, her hand hit the Earth and she murmured a chant, ended up a bephis bring, and soon the ground beneath her collapsed and she went down with it. Duck and cover! Neal followed suit, before the next boom could take a limb off. This was a clusterfuck, is what it was, but sometimes genius bred from chaos. “There’s a hill that way - “ He jerked his thumb to the left, “...It slopes down and there’s a door leading out. I already marked the spot so head there, you should be able to find it easily underground. That’s where we’ll herd them, that hill.” Luckily he got that all in before Lina fell into a pit beneath them (and how cool was that, usually when people said ‘I wish the floor would open up and swallow me’ it held no actual merit). Turning his attention toward Ruby, he motioned for her to go first. “Pretty sure they’d follow the werewolf, so let’s play cat and mouse.” They had to act quickly - and also not get shot. Crossbow in hand, he only took a few seconds to reload a bolt and then they were moving on. There was a plan. Good. It was all timed out, so it was a matter of waiting for -- And down they went. She had gotten everything she needed from Neal in what they planned to do. She just needed to get to the spot Neal had marked. Prepared to move, she waited and then there was a nod about playing cat and mouse. No one had to tell Ruby twice that they needed to act quickly. There was too much hinging on this. And not getting killed. Now she was a shepherding dog, but at least it was something. Moving at the motion to do so, it was time to herd the idiots to the hill without getting hit. Just because it took silver to do damage in this form didn’t mean she was looking to be shot. Marked spot, marked spot. Neal’s words echoed in her head, even if she fell none too nicely on her rump (again, her butt was probably going to be black and blue after this, jesus). Bits of dirt, both dry and wet covered her some - grossest feeling ever - but she’d pummel through it, using the tunnel spell to make herself a personal ant maze underground, where it was dark and slightly claustrophobic in the sense she almost felt like she’d been buried alive. But despite the layer of ground between her and those above land, she could still hear the ruckus - the stompings and weight of everyone making dirt crumble and fall over her, and it was her guidance. Eventually there was a standstill when her spell wouldn’t work, because instead of natural terrain her hands touched upon a different material, whatever it was the actual man-made tunnels were made of. “This is it,” she breathed, wiping her face, and then nodded to herself. First thing was first - destroy their tunnel. A bright vibrating ball of bright red, like the sun but no flames had materialized in her hand and with a shout of the spell’s name, she tossed it into the metal underneath them, making it collapse. It made the earth up above tremble some, the ground to only cave in a little, and she’d listen for a sign of do it already! before she blasted them to hell. Above ground, it worked like a charm. Ever the gallant protector, he called to his currently furry companion, “I got you covered, Rubycakes.” Which meant that he kept himself covered too, using piles of rubble and debris and things like trucks and rock clusters to keep himself concealed as he wormed and zig-zagged toward the designated location. Super wolf she was but that didn’t mean he wanted her to be shot either. A small miracle that he didn’t end up with bullets in him this time. Maybe the destruction gods were smiling upon him. They’d herded the clowns to the designated kill zone as planned, getting there just in time. It was mass chaos, then the small earthquake, upsetting his balance just a tad. Kind of in a whoa, shit! kind of way and he caught himself before he could go tumbling down the hill like Jack, telling Ruby, “Howl. Lina will hear you.” And that’d be the signal. Then they’d get the fuck out of dodge. The great thing about being a wolf? Enhanced speed, so she was able to zig zag and keep anyone who tried to shoot her off their game. Really. They were probably hadn’t anticipated a wolf who knew out to think like a human. Too bad, so sad. But there was no scent of blood that would make her panic, which was a good thing. Once everyone was where they needed to be, she did as told and howled. Getting out of here was a great plan. And no time to waste in case the jerks tried to get out. Okay, that howl could either mean three things. One, Neal got hurt. Two, Ruby got hurt. Three, that was the signal Lina was waiting for. “I’m hoping that was option three,” she whispered to herself, a nervous glance to the ceiling of dirt above her. Either way, she was going through with it, and it wasn’t going to be pretty. A step back and she formed another spell in her hands, this time one of melting proportions, flames swirling and licking at her hands. It was reinforced by a chant to give it some growth because it was either go big or go home. And Lina liked big showy things anyway, for the flair. “Fireball!” Force and flames, all met together in one catastrophic blow, crumbling the ground beneath the herd and making a pit of fire, their own makeshift circle of hell. A sight of gore and screams and hands trying to climb their way out. But the impact wasn’t met without consequences. The tunnels Lina created collapsed all around her, and she soon found herself buried in a shit ton of dirt, that she tried to claw her way out of. Hey, maybe she’d rise like a zombie or something, but this day really wanted to suffocate her, apparently. Lemme out! Lemme ouuut! Neal staggered back, because it wasn’t everyday that he saw a hellmouth opened before his very eyes. He braced himself, hand shooting out and reaching for wolf!Ruby - she wasn’t going to fall into the pit, but still, just in case, he felt better to feel...fur. Beneath his fingertips. It was a gruesome sight but they’d accomplished what they meant to, no hiccups besides the obvious one of Lina being buried beneath a shit ton of rocks and debris. He coughed, waving his hand in front of his face, the air hazy and smoky. Breathing in soot, skin streaked with it. “Can you...help her out?” he asked Ruby, because she was a bit stronger than your average human, right? In this form, anyway. Otherwise Neal would have to go find construction equipment or some shit. Luckily for Lina, it was option three. They were ready and it was time to put an end to this. The shaking of the ground was unsettling, but Ruby remained where she was, poised and low though she was aware of Neal reaching out to keep a hold of her. Just in case. The scent of soot and death was…. well it was nauseating but that was what they had to deal with. Not needing to be asked twice, Ruby started to paw at the ground quickly, digging where she heard a heartbeat beneath all the dirt. Come on, Lina… She didn’t stop until Lina was able to get out and then she backed away from the hole she had dug so that she could be human again, wiping the blood from her mouth/chin and shaking some. “Please tell me someone has gum or mints.” Because she could still taste human throats and blood and it would be great if she could get rid of that taste. Air! Success! Oh most holy air, and like the dead she rose from the ground and dug her nails into the earth as an anchor to pull herself out of what felt like muddy quicksand. “I think I love you,” she croaked to Ruby in absolute gratitude, coughing out any dirt she might have accidentally swallowed. Because that’s gross. A shower once shit got settled, stat! Poor thing though, no mints or gum on her end - she tossed Ruby a sympathetic glance, then looked to the pool of fire they ended up creating in their team effort. Smell of fire and brimstone and death was what that was. Lina had a hunch that they didn’t get all of them - some were trying to escape as they spoke, probably trying to see if they could get through the wall of ice she’d so conveniently trapped everyone with. But now that they had a minute… Red eyes gazed up at the towering building, all in concern. Everyone else. They were in there. No one better be dead. No one better be shot. Come out alive, people. Please. “I think I love you too, Rubycakes,” Neal quipped, voice tainted with smoke so it was more gravelly than usual. He patted his pockets for...well, amidst the arsenal of weapons he had cinnamon tic-tacs? Would that do? He passed her over the plastic container, then allowed himself a minute to breathe too. While the fools attempted to chip their way through a gigantic wall of ice - might take awhile, and they’d need more than a toothpick. Or they could use bombs and hopefully blow themselves up. His gaze followed Lina’s, and he watched the building to see if he could discern any movement. Then he maybe saw it? “Did people just jump out the window?” “I should hope so.” Because who didn’t making random teasing remarks like that in a situation like this? Okay. Tic-Tacs would work in a pinch. So long as it got rid of the taste of blood and throats… she probably wouldn’t be eating meat for a while. At least these idiots deserved it and it wasn’t some innocent she had mauled because she wasn’t in control. Knowing she needed more than one, she poured some of the tic tacs into her hand and popped them into her mouth. Not a good combination but it did exactly what she needed it to. Handing the container back to Neal, she followed the gazes to where it looked like people just jumped out a window. Hopefully their people. “I definitely saw something.” Wait, what? They were right. There was definitely something. Three people, looking like they were almost flying out of the building. A closer squint of examination, because the fire smog had been fluttering in and out of their line of vision, but that looked like… “Pete!” That got Lina on her feet quick. “Cindy--I think that’s Ro--yep, Rogue. Where the hell’s Garrus?” People were still inside. Their people. But at least the goal had been achieved - Mission Rescue Fairyale Princess was almost complete! “I’m sure there’s a plan, we just don’t know what it is,” was Neal’s explanation, also hefting to his feet. He offered Ruby a hand (both hands), helping her up as well. “Let’s go meet them though, then do a headcount and blow this popsicle stand.” This literal popsicle stand. Damn, that ice wall was giving off some chills. Brrrrrr! And drinks, drinks afterward? Could that be a thing? Because after a rough day of planned rescue missions, explosions, gunshots, and more fire, nothing calmed the soul quite like something alcoholic. Or, you know, Gates of Hell chili. |