Vivi hits the guard hard in the gut, but he responds by drawing his side-arm, aiming it at her and shouting, "Legen Sie es, oder ich schieße!"
Gruen translates, "He says to drop it or he'll shoot."
The other two guards also draw their weapons, but are high up on the steep staircase and are therefore out of view.
Vivì's responds by accelerating her muscles and boosting her deflection rate.
Grey aims his newly acquired baretta 9mm at the guard and fires.
|
Grey hits his target just like he was somehow certain he would. The officer winces as his shoulder begins to bleed.
The officer turns from having shot Gruen, and fires at Grey
The officer attempts to disarm Grey in a fumble of fingers.
Gruen stands to his feet and runs back behind Angi to keep himself safe, and the officer fires a shot off at him, but he's too fast.
for
Angi wove fire together, then sent a stream of it into the (blue) guard bothering her friends. They'd gone for violence, so she'd reply in kind... not because she wanted to, but because it was all she really could do, and the only way to protect the other project members.
The guard is engulfed in flames and is burned badly.
The officer, reeling in pain and astounded at what he sees in front of him, staggers back up the stair behind his comrades
The officer blinks twice as he sees Vivi blur into two...he shakes his head and fires a shot at her...or...them? As he fires, he misses Vivi proper, but her duplicate fades into nothingness.
The officer fires at her now that there's only one, but he misses also.
"O', we are no longer being secretive?" Celeste throws up another link, this one to Grey.
With a quick wink, Vivì answers to Celeste:
"Who would believe them?"
Grey grunts in pain as the bullet enters his torso.
As the guard fumbles after the pistol in Grey's hands, Grey swings the pistol at him in retaliation.
Grey turns to the guard and fires his pistol, attemping to avoid any vital areas.
The guard's jaw is tossed by his own pistol, but his attempt to avoid vital areas leaves the guard unharmed.
Order: Vivi, Angi, K(black), K (white), K (green), Celeste, Grey, K(gold), K(blue), Gruen
In response to being fired upon, shoots Grey, but without any attempt at the same measure of mercy shown him.
, reeling from his bruise and burns, flees.
Gruen tries to convince them their efforts are in vain, citing 's wounds as evidence. Or so he explains to you later.
Each of the remaining officers look at each other and then at their assailants. They put down their weapons and remove their belts, but ask inquisitively, "Was willst du von uns? Wir können nicht einfach können Sie über das Schiff."
Gruen translates, "He wants to know what we want them to do. They obviously can't just give us the ship, they'd be put in jail for aiding and abetting."
"Would it help if I threatened them?" Angi asked, holding up one hand that seemed to shimmer slightly in a self-produced haze of heat. "If they're threatened by something they were clearly unprepared to handle, I don't think anyone could realistically blame them for whatever happened...." She seemed like she was still trying to figure out proper social behavior, and wasn't entirely sure what would be appropriate here.
"That's an issue within itself, we can't have them telling a story about a woman who shoots fire from her hands or another who can blur into two. We need a story they can tell, any ideas?" The leutnant looks down and scratches his head clearly racking his brain.
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"I think eet eez too late for zat. We 'ave demonstrated our abilities, and we cannot change what zey saw." I believe zat destroying zee engine and radio, and zen 'eading to shore in our boat, could work. Eet puts distance between zem and us, and we can find a ve'icle to take us to our destination."[/b] Collecting the weapons, Celeste looks at the others, trying to gauge how injured they are. "Eez everyone un'urt? I feel quite badly about leaving zat burnt sailor unattended."
"I'm certain they'd be willing to lie to save their jobs and livelihoods," he relays the question to the men in German, and they nod enthusiastically, "But what can they say?"
He also translates Celeste's concern for the burnt officer, and they assure him that he'll get medical attention on shore as soon as they're done here.
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"I took a couple of bullets, Celeste. I can heal it, but it will take some time." Grey closes his eyes in concentration and places his hand on his chest.
The blood running from his wounds lessens slightly.
"I wouldn't try to approach the shore in our boat, I would take theirs. We need a boat with their markings to avoid another encounter like this. Also, who would believe them even if they broke their promise?"
"...Experimental technology?" Angi suggested. "Or we could just say that there were more of us than they'd expected, and we managed to overpower them by sheer numbers." It was clear she was trying to come up with some sort of believable excuse... though she didn't know what would appeal to their superiors and what wouldn't.
"Ah, they could say they were overpowered, but by whom? We're far from the front, it wouldn't be believable to say it was the Kommunisten." He juts a thumb to his right, in a relative easterly direction, indicating the enemy of the war.
"Oui, zat eez true. 'owever, sympathizers and partisans could be a problem, no? Could we convince zem to use zat as a story?" Celeste runs through her memories again, trying to think about what underground cells the enemy might have.
Angi shrugged. She had nowhere near enough information on local politics to be able to figure out who might be behind this. "Well, I suppose there's always religious fanatics..." she observed.
"Terrorists! That could work!" Gruen relays that suggestion to the cops. They reply with an inquisitive look and then ask a question that causes Gruen to scoff and reply angrily, but calmly.
"He asked if we were in fact, terrorists. I set him straight. Now, let's tie them up in our little boat, and take their big boat and supplies to port somewhere, shall we?" He addresses them again, asking them a question. They stare at him nervously, then at each other, and back at him again.
"I asked them where the nearest port was that could harbor this ship, but they seem to need a bit more encouragement. Angi, if you would?"
Angi tilted her head for a moment, then nodded and smiled. She carefully straightened her fingers, and a two-foot blade of fire sprang out of the end. She moved it close to their necks a moment later, allowing them to feel the fierce heat radiating from it. "Please answer the questions." she said, hoping she wouldn't actually need to hurt anyone.
The men quivered and mumbled almost all at once, "Sportboothafen Norderney." According to Gruen, they went on to explain that the route was mapped on the bridge, and with some hesitancy, that there was a military checkpoint between here and there.
"... And that raises a new question, how are we going to get past a checkpoint?"
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Angi blinked. "Set it on fire" probably wasn't a very good answer here. ...Probably. Maybe if they set SOMETHING on fire and ran past while everyone was distracted...
Seeing Angi's facial expressions change in thought, Gruen asks, "Did you have an idea?"
"I do not suppose any of zese men would be inclined to 'elp us pass zee checkpoint?" Celeste thinks for a moment before walking up to stand next to one of the coast-guardsmen. Comparing her height and build to him, she tries to determine if she could fit in his uniform before giving up. "What do you all think? Could we, per'aps, strip zese men of zeir outfits, give zem zee sweats, and attempt to fool zee checkpoint in zat way?"
"Everybody looks at fire. Especially when something important is burning. If we wanted to get them to look away..." Angi observed. It was worth noting that she could send flames as far as a hundred and twenty feet away, which ought to be enough distance to stay hidden and avoid being spotted. Especially because, y'know, distractions.
"Hm, two very good options. I think the uniforms may fit, but if they try to talk to anyone but me, we could be in real trouble. The distraction idea may work, if enough of the ships are busy doing something else, we may be able to sail right in unchecked. What does everyone think?"
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"Sounds like a plan. If there aren't any other suggestions I'd say let's do it."
Gruen nods pensively and relays the plan to the cops. After a short conversation, Gruen explains, "He said we won't get any resistance from them, they very much wish to return alive to their families. They also said they'll keep our secret as they'd also like to avoid the asylum."
***
As the sun begins to set, and the sea breeze gusts across the bow, Gruen remarks how beautiful this all would be if they weren't zip-tying police officers to a life boat under duress. But they make quick work of it anyway, and set them adrift toward the shore, with a little extra help from Oodie, who is glad to finally rejoin the party above deck.
As they explore the ship, they find it to be considerably smaller than they'd originally perceived. Next to the staircase that lowers into the holding cell, another staircase lowers into the storage cabin, where they find extra rounds for the Berettas, four shotguns, and two assault rifles. They also find police-issue Kevlar, and spare uniforms in three sizes (small, medium, large). The main deck houses the mooring equipment and a fire extinguisher/hose. On the forward most portion of the deck is mounted a relatively small antipersonnel machine gun/grenade launcher. Below it in a dedicated storage department are about 100k rounds, a case of tear gas grenades, and a case of smoke grenades built for the launcher. Finally, they find the bridge to be immaculate, and clear save for the helm, throttle, and navigation equipment.
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Angi didn't bother with the guns - she didn't know how to use them and they probably weren't as strong as her flames anyway. She was, however, interested in the armor... and was fairly certain she could control her inner heat enough to avoid burning her own armor. It would be... inconvenient... if she scorched her own clothes off.
Celeste grabs a medium-sized uniform and steps out the door and into the holding cell. There, she changes from her sweats into the uniform. Returning, her uniform somewhat sloppily worn, she pulls the Kevlar armor on over the top, strapping it into place over her chest, and reaches for one of the shotguns before shaking her head. "Do I look German enough? I would like to 'ave two of zee 'andguns, eef zat eez acceptable. I do 'ope we weel not 'ave to use zem soon, though."
As the authority on 'looking German,' Gruen gives Celeste two thumbs up. He finds and replaces his own sidearm and says, "Unless someone else wants two, there should be enough handguns for you to double up, since I have my own and there were six armed police men."
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Adjusting the holsters so two handguns hang from her belt, Celeste makes her way up to the bridge. Looking around, she spots what could be controls for the vessel, and she shouts down into the storage cabin/armory. "Would one of you prefer to pilot zees thing? Eef not, I may be able to figure eet out. O', and someone should tell me where we are going, no?"
Gruen follows Celeste up to the bridge and finds Sportboothafen Norderney on the map and shows her a good route to get there. He doesn't know how to pilot a ship any better than anyone else, so he grabs a pair of binoculars off a nearby table and keeps an eye out for the checkpoint.
Vivì helps Celeste after taking the shotgun and the vest.
"Lieutnant? Could you please find out where our hosts keep the rest of the ammunition for these weapons?"
As the boat sails along, Angi is the first to spot a ship, a tad larger than theirs and a different color, sailing toward the coast of Norderny island. The boat is about 60' out. It begins to slow down, presumably so that it can search you per protocol.
Seeing that Celeste looks more than capable of steering the boat, Vivì goes and changes into a uniform too. Her blond hair and fair skin should hopefully help her in looking "German", at least at first sight.
She searches her memory to find anything that can help her in case they're boarded again. Her eyes light up when she finally finds something: a way to access a vast array of languages for a short time.
Oodie continues to swim behind the boat.
"Ship ahead." Angi warned, once again making herself scarce and trying to hide out of sight. She... did look at least a little bit distinct, after all, and couldn't properly wear the vests they'd found. She kept her fires out, too, given how easily light could draw attention to her.
"I do not think we should let the board. Maybe this would be the right time for a distraction?" Celeste stays at the helm, slowing down enough to hopefully convince the other ship they're stopping.
The large navy ship stops moving, and you can see a secondary boat being lowered into the water from that side of the ship.
"We could probably kill everyone on that smaller boat, but that seems like a bad long-term plan..." Angi observed, fighting the desire to flick a bit of flame on and off. That... seemed like it would be developing into her nervous habit if she didn't keep a lid on it now.