Arkadia
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Arkadia
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The shadows draped over Leon, the overhead light only pouring onto his arms, the singular indication he was in the room. Silent. Listening. The kid had questions. Questions Leon hadn’t considered. He wasn’t so sure they were worth considering, but if the kid wanted to play Alice and follow this particular rabbit down the hole, he wouldn’t stop him.
”Not much of a story to get straight. We insert, take fire, return it, you go down, so do they. We claim check mate. Unless you want the story to go another way.”
the team and the mission, those were the only things that mattered to Leon.
Leon’s eyes shifted in a frantic pattern as data stormed across his eyes, sub-systems and core programs warning that life support was dangerously close to losing power and Katie would be a very expensive paper weight soon.
“I need an evacuation asap, Boss lady down, we need the medic here, not in the bird.”
Quick, sharp words.
“Repeat, Leo-1, Commander is down?”
“Confirmed.”
“What is her condition?”
“Stable, barely, but not for much longer, need evac asap.”
Adrenaline and performance enhancing drugs pumped through Leon’s veins, the 1s and 0s that flashed across his eyes crystal clear, something even an enhanced optical nerve on a civilian would have gone crazy trying to make sense of it. The stuff they gave field operatives was meant to keep the mind sharp and aggressive, but it gave Leon a clarity of mind, a focus he didn’t get anywhere else. To be a SCAR operative was his true calling. He would not lose the boss lady. This role and squad had given too much to him, he would not lose. The whirling of the heli-birds blades sounded distant, shortly after a medic team came crashing through the doors, taking Tae with them. Leon wasn’t sure if he did enough. Another mission accomplished.
New drawing added. Pretty happy with it.
Asuka x Crimson
Joint post
James eyed the young woman that shuffled through the tavern’s doors. She scrounged her pockets for a bit of change, trading it for a glass of water. You really didn’t want to order water in a place like this, you’d be shitting your brains out for the next week if you were lucky. Some ale would clear up whatever nasties were in that water, so James made his way over to the bar, taking the tankard of ale with him.
“Here, let me pour you a glass.”
James took the glass from the bar and poured the dark amber liquid into it, handing it over to the haggard looking woman with a smirk.
“Long night?”
The girl was quiet, looking over at the man with her wide eyes. She took a second to respond, but nodded ‘yes’. She looked over at the cup, hesitantly taking it and sipping the liquid, Her eyes lit up for a second, before going emotionless once again.
“…A lady said I was filthy, and that I needed a bath. So I took one, but now I’m cold.”
She explained, looking down into the glass.. staring at it.
James raised an eyebrow at the girl’s comment, not sure how to take it.
“Is that so? Well, ale will warm you right up.”
“Barkeep!” James called,” a bowl of your stew.” James threw a few coins on the bar,” though a hot bowl of stew will surely help. You new to town, girl?”
“….Yes. I don’t really know, though. Everything is kind of a blur at the moment.”
The girl drank some more, putting the glass on the table. The girl looked down again, she seemed to dislike eye contact. Her wet hair dripped down slowly, making her shiver again.
“Thank you for the meal, sir. I heard it’s polite when you say thank you.”
She held her arms, trying to get warm again, much to no avail.
James took a long drag of his drink, putting the glass down with a content smacking of the lips.
“You’re a strange one, girl. Wet, cold, hungry, and alone. Not a good combination in this town.” James took a seat next to the girl, studying her.
Was she a con? Part of a team trying to use her to gain sympathy from a mark? If she was they went a long way towards seeming believable.
“You got a place to stay for the night?”
James wasn’t the charitable kind, but a few coins for a bowl of stew and lodging at a place like this was a chump change.
“No. I don’t really sleep that much.”
She looked over at him, looking at the side of his head to not make eye contact. The girl was indeed strange.
“People always said I should keep an eye open so I don’t get taken advantage of. So I barely sleep.”
She explained blankly, looking back over to her lap. She yawned, rubbing her tired eyes. She laid her head down on the table again and closed them, opening them a minute later. She hasn’t slept in a few days and it was obvious. Yawning again, she nuzzled into her arms.
“Well…here,” James placed a few coins on the bar counter,” use em for a room… or don’t, but it looks like you need sleep, kid.” James nodded at the girl then headed back to his table, intent on working on his carving.
“….”
“Thank you, sir.”
Mikaru looked at the coin, a blank look in her eyes. It seems that not everyone is bad…
“Confirmed.”
Ramirez waved the virtual display suite in front of him away, the tangerine lines of data fizzling out as the Baltimore docks came back into focus. The thick cord attached to his belt that secured him to the ledge of the building was pulled twice to confirm a firm hold, then Ramirez flew over the side with practiced precision. Padded grips at the sole of his machine legs bounced off the side of the building once before gravity brought him flying through the previously shattered window of the room his squad mates currently waited for him. Leon landed with one knee to the ground, weapon ready, right next to the collapsed body of his squad leader.
“Puta madre.”
The sub machine gun was tossed to his side as his fingers mechanized into tools to jack into Katie’s systems to try and stabilize her.
“If you can hear me, boss, try not to die. It would be inelegant to pass on in such a place.”
While data streamed through his optic nerve, his subsystems were pinging local networks for any cloaking gear. In an attempt to hide, whoever shot Katie had used a small jamming device in an attempt to remain invisible. To a trained operative however, that data blackhole was as good as a lighthouse pinpointing their location.
“Building directly across us, eight floor, marking his location, one of you be a dear and take care of it while I keep the boss lady from early retirement.”
Wish granted, but it’s in Japanese.
I wish a tasteful jaunty cap.
The world lit up, and Ramirez phased out of reality. The camo cells activated and bent light around him, assisted by processing units that actively scanned his surroundings to give him near invisibility. He was a ghost, his face covered by a hood, not even the cool touch of the night wind could reach him. That’s how he liked it. His job was to be a curse; an unseen punishment laid upon the wicked. He took a knee. Carbon steel wrapped in tactical gear and padded with dampening pads touched the roof of the building as a map showing a one mile radius around them popped up on Leon’s mixed reality HUD. Neon veins pulsed through the heart of the city, connected to buildings and mega structures that made up the skyline of the Baltimore docks.
“May death watch over any fool that needs to call emergency services tonight,” Leon shadowed keystrokes with his digits, hijacking the tower of the building to send out a jamming signal that would redirect all calls in a one mile radius back to the server pack on Leon’s back.
“Good to go, commander,” leon informed K.T. as blips began to appear on his HUD, indicating all the calls trying to go out from the tower, multiple calls going out from different levels in the building.”
Leon stood and began setting his rappel equipment by the edge of the roof, taking a moment to give a short prayer to the saint of death.
Death arrives tonight
a final breath in summer
To home they return
The sub machine gun to Leon’s side was brought to the front, quickly inspected and readied, he eagerly waited for the signal to begin the assault.
The stale aroma of dark ale and wood shavings provided an almost nostalgic sense of comfort to James, like a warm blanket thrown over your naked self by a relatively nurturing prostitute on a cold early morn. While most people would be hard pressed to find themselves calm and relaxed at a bar patronized by pillagers and murderers with hair triggers when it came to their emotions, James was perfectly chuffed to sit back and take in the commotion that was a night of tales, singing, and the occasional physical debate. After all, James had made a name for himself going on monster hunts, then after a few years of experience doing that he was hired as a monster expert for larger expeditions into wild territory filled with fearsome creatures. At the moment James was in between jobs, taking pleasure in the heft of his coin purse by enjoying pitchers of ale and ladies of the night.
The monster expert had recently purchased a new pistol; fine work with a sturdy wooden handle and an unadorned steel barrel. He had spent the past few nights coming into the bar, taking a seat at the back, and working away with a few tools engraving the pistol with delicate and complex depictions of some of the creatures he had the displeasure of coming into contact with for work. For the most part, James was given a wide berth by most patrons of the bar, his large frame and traditional monster hunter tattoos indicated to the others he wasn’t someone you wanted to get on their bad side. This was fine by James, he was happy to sit in the low light, enjoying the silence of his own company and the liveliness of a tavern filled to the brim.
The self proclaimed captain had been regaling the tavern with a tall tale, one James had occasionally paid attention to while working on his pistol. Now James sat with his black leather boots on the edge of his table, his smoky round glasses covering his face as he sipped his ale. He studied the lizard person who walked into the tavern, drenched to the bone and clearly exhausted.
“Come, take a seat by the fire, warm yourself, and help yourself to some ale.”
James had a soft spot for the non-human beings of the world, considering most would be found in monster expeditions as laborers and scouts. They were his kind of people, and he was always ready to lend a helping hand. James raised his glass to indicate his invite was genuine before he returned to enjoying his drink.
Character Sheet:
Name: Leon Ramirez
Age: 30
Gender: Male
Occupation: Scar Shadowrunner
Background:
Leon’s time in the military is best described as redacted from official records. From the beginning Leon has worked from the shadows, comfortable in the dark corners of reality where he can strike unseen. Once out of the military Ramirez was immediately recruited into SCAR, which suited him just fine as the shadowrunner had no desire to live the boring life of a civilian or be tempted into a life less than upstanding.
Augmentations:
Wireless neural hub with attached network plug in.
Prosthetic carbon alloy legs for speed and silence.
Prosthetic eyes with tactical visual options
Dermal ports for stealth skin suit attachment.
Prosthetic arms with a suite of hacking tools.
I like the second idea. Two academics traveling together studying history and magic. Gives me Indiana Jones/The Mummy vibes. Lots of cool possibilities.