Children. I Work With Children (Part 3)

 (Or, Show's Over)

Game date: 9/10/2020

Bright flashes of light outside.  Noise increasing on the rooftop.  No.  That should all be happening in here.  I ping the team, but they're already on the move -- Katrya out the rear with ER in tow, and Vamir to the roof.

What they saw...defies imagination.

Okay, maybe just mine.  I don't go outside the walls.  Obviously some of the people I now associate with have done so, frequently, but even they admitted that this was something strange.

First of all, it was big.  Like, luxury home big.  Pointed head.  Armored plates all down its backside.  And it is Ramming.  Against.  The.  Border.  Screaming its head off every time it hits, looking like the the celebration at the Club is pissing it off to no end.

As I said, some of our people have seen this kind of thing before.  Katrya even says it's on the small side for its species.

But this one is glowing.  Spidery glowing veins trace all over its body, as if its heart has been replaced by a power cell and all its blood vessels are circuits.  

This is the first big test of my leadership, and I kind of lose it.  A dozen different ideas run through my mind.  Is this a distraction?  Is this the big attack?  I see the BP guards check their wrists.  Were they in on this?  Do they mean to lock us in?  As each thought enters my head, I rattle off a different question or order.  I ask for feedback. I am not the picture of confidence.

Then something else Katrya said filters into my brain:  They are attracted to sound and vibrations.  And I finally know of something I can do.

I left my station at the soundboard and shoved my way to the exit.  Along the way, I snapped out orders, finally sounding like I knew what I was doing.  I told Ryatt to shut down the concert, and to make a reassuring announcement.  I told Parker to bring the Owlet around the front, and queue up a replay of the concert.  I told Mauger to bring his rifle outside.  I had a Plan.  Mind you, it may not have been the best Plan, but boy, did it feel great giving those orders.

Right up until the point when Mauger said, "Yes, Boss," and took the wind out of my sails.  

When I finally make it outside, the creature has managed to break through the energy barrier and has already mauled one of the greenie Border Patrol agents.  Katrya has assumed command of what's left of that force, and they are actually listening to her -- that is, between trying to avoid getting eaten by this thing.  Their pistols are just pissing it off, as far as I can tell.

Heavy sigh.  One last round of orders.  

"Katrya: Tell the BPs to call ahead to the West gate and tell them to get ready. I'll need it open."

"Mauger: You may be right. This might be a two-pronged attack for all we know. Trust your instincts."

"Ryatt: Keep the sound and external lights off until this is handled."

"I'll try to lure the creature to the West gate with pistol fire and loud sound. Everyone else: try to help herd it there, or try to help people stay safe."

And with that, I tear off past the monster (under its nose, more like), speakers blaring, heading north.

And...it ignores me.  I pull over and look behind.

This behemoth tries to make a snack out of another BP noob, who was heroically trying to distract it while his comrades dragged away the one who had already been gnawed on.  In my earphones, I can hear rising panicked voices transmitted via Maggie.  Fortunately, the amplifiers are still off.  Then, amazingly, I hear the clear young voice of EllieRocks rising above the clamor, telling everyone to stay calm.  I don't think it's working, but points for trying.  And for projection.  Here I thought it was all AutoTune.

Then I see Katrya jump onto the thing's back and pierce its hide with...something.  Looks like an entire set of knife blades at once.  

And it is still not chasing me.  Screw it.  I looped around for another pass, pulling out my pistol.

I would like to report that I fired off an amazing shot, enraging the creature, drawing it away from all innocent bystanders, but alas, I cannot.  Oh, I did fire an amazingly accurate shot, right between the eyes, but it didn't even blink.  I cursed, and pulled over, wondering what it was going to take to entice it to chase me.  Bathe in peach flavor, perhaps?  Put on a Border Patrol uniform?

As I ponder and watch, more reports and sounds come through my earphones.  Vamir found Katrya's van, and managed to get Ellie and Ryatt out of danger.  I saw the thing..."Golborn," Katrya called it... shake the foxkin off like a flea.  She bounced off a wall, shook herself, and then jumped right back on.  Then, seemingly out of nowhere, the other foxkin, Aru, jumps out swinging with two swords.  Both blades bounce off, but they bounce off several times.  Then he starts to run my way.

This is my cue to start moving again.  I pace Aru.  As I'm doing so, I think about the wisdom of freely associating with people who gleefully engage in hand-to-hand combat with creatures the size of apartment complexes.  

Speaking of, this thing is finally chasing me.  Fast.  I reached out to Aru and he hops on the Owlet.  The chase is on! And now the next big surprise of the night.

"Zeke. I am now assuming the gate is compromised," Katrya says into my ear. "Either communications are off, they are being kept from responding... or they are involved and choosing not to. Will be interesting."

What a gift for understatement.

There must be some real nice consoles in that van of Katrya's. I hope I live to see it.  Ryatt told me he would handle hacking the Gate, and I relaxed a bit, till I heard him use a word that I'm sure his parents wouldn't approve of.

As if that weren't bad enough, immediately afterward I heard two plasmer blasts from Aru's pistol, followed by "Crap! It is Tek related!" and "You are... CHARGING it??"

Pretty sure I knew the answer to that question, because I could hear (and feel) the Golborn running faster behind me.  I told Parker to take over driving, and suggested that if anyone was left back at the Wall Club, they probably needed crowd control (the sounds of panic in my earphones was truly distracting).  I would have told everyone to stop shooting at it, but honestly, they all figured that one out before I did.  I set about trying to hack the Gate.

Of course I failed.  I mean...maybe, with a week to plan, I could have done something, but on the fly, without even a wheelbarrow?  Nothing.  As I accept defeat in my soul, I hear Mauger over the BANlink.  "So shooting over their heads would not help, right?"

I have only myself to blame for this, I think. I told him to trust his instincts.

The Gate came into sight.  And -- I can't believe my eyes -- it's opening!  

I took over control from Parker.  I barely noticed anything else from this point on - I know that Varfana and Mauger were handling the crowd back at the club, and I saw a sleek white van with what looked like gun turrets on top powering up, but all I could concentrate on right then was getting through that Gate before the mutant energy-eating abomination could make kibble of me.  That, and the fact that it wasn't entirely up to me, but also those yahoos getting said Gate open in time.  

Okay, so I'm building it up for nothing.  Obviously I made it through, Katrya riding the Golborn right behind, and her van chasing it through for good measure, guns blazing.  A few yards in, I heard her tell me to cut my audio, and I happily complied, asking for anyone to get me a visual of the gate so I would know when it was closing.  I started a wide arc back around toward the gate.

Whatever it was Katrya did, it disoriented the Golborn badly.  I saw it wandering aimlessly as we headed back, and we met up with Katrya and her van.  We rolled through the gate, and she came right behind, drawing all the attention from us.

But I did catch the expression on the Border Patrol captain's face when he saw the van (which I now realize is what she calls "Frank"), and when he saw Katrya driving it.  Most interesting.  Maybe she should be leading this little group.

I did not see whether EllieRocks drew any press attention.  I'll have to watch the vids later.