revivalproject | Lurking Shadows

Entry tags:

Lurking Shadows

WHO: Celty, Open!
WHERE: Around Temba
WHAT: Another new...face?
WHEN: This week
WARNINGS: N/A

Around Temba
There's no warning, other than the light crunch of gravel beneath tire treads, or the scattering of loose stone and dust from a tight turn. And yet there it is, a black motorcycle speeding around the wider avenues of the ruined city. There's no growl of an engine that those familiar with such models would expect, and yet it can't simply be powered by gravitational momentum as there are obvious times it speeds up or slows down.

Its rider is difficult to discern given they're likewise dressed in black, a full bodysuit and gloves to match. The brightest thing is the yellow helmet with its blue trim, with molded cat ears and a dark visor. Where they're going is anyone's guess, but if there's someone out on the road or somewhere nearby, they'll make a stop.

SPACESHIP?!
I've been kidnapped by aliens.

She's been trying to deny this as fact ever since she'd touched that horrible glowing ball thing at the fountain, but even then it had been a slippery uphill battle. And now she's found her way to the hangar, filled with actual spaceships. In her thoughts she might be screaming, just a little bit.

Slowly, hesitantly, the helmeted rider walks her motorcycle along towards one of the closest shuttles, the Starduck. Maybe they're just...movie set props? Yes! They've gotten really good at models! That's all this is! Wariness bleeds away from her shoulders at this prospect, and she steps over to the hull to run a hand over its surface.

Eeeh. It's...very solid for a set piece, she notes, pulling her hand away. That hesitancy has returned as she starts to circle around it, and she just about jumps when the shuttle opens up as she nears its hatch. Shoulders hunched, she backs away hurriedly with her bike, looking on the verge of panicking.

No way! It's not real! Aaah, why did it open up?? Are there aliens inside?!

All the while she's silent, her thoughts a nervous swirl as she edges back a little more, looking just about ready to vault onto her motorcycle and speed away for whatever reason.

Network - Text

I found this device when I arrived. If it belongs to someone, I'll return it. It's a lot different than what I've used before.

I seem to be missing my phone, but I guess it probably wouldn't work here anyway. Still, it's important...

Is anyone else here? I really hope the alien thing is a joke.

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It certainly looked like a motorcycle. At first, Tony thought his audio wasn't working properly, either from the ground or some kind of interference at this height, making him drop several feet out of the sky in a freefall while he flipped through the cameras again trying to spot the spray of the gravel as it moved. The feed was still strangely quiet as he caught sight of the movement again, even with the Iron Man reporting all systems clear, making Tony narrow his eyes at the clear sound of the crunch under the tires and the unfamiliar, black form, like it was made for stealth. Except for that big, yellow target.

The Iron Man stopped falling, its engines kicking in with a mechanical whine to send him rocketing across the city and toward the ground and the D.A.T.A. unit that had spotted the vehicle last. In the stillness of the dead city, Tony could see the plume of dust it kicked up as he dropped closer, and the roar of his engines quickly drew up behind it in a chase through Temba's streets. The silent, black bike was pursued by a glimmer of polished red and gold that came blasting from the sky.

Such a sound wasn't difficult to pick up at all, although Celty had very little to compare it to, to even begin to guess what it might be. She was only certain that it was coming closer, something quickly confirmed as she stole a glance over her shoulder.

What is that?! Were the aliens after her?? No way! She hunkered lower against her bike, urging it faster down the lane. She'd outrun police before, but a rocket? The moment she saw the opportunity to do so, she took a sharp turn down a narrower street. At least there weren't many people around, but although the roads were hardly the smoothest, she expertly kept her bike from the worst of impediments.

The glance over the shoulder was recognizably human(oid) enough that Tony stopped second guessing whether or not this was really a motorcycle, and started wondering where it had come from. This wasn't some new game they were supposed to be playing, was it? He pressed on to catch up with the vehicle, and was taken enough by surprise by the expert turn that he went wide and almost clipped the corner of the facing building, twisting to kick off of it with one foot instead and flipping in the air to reorient himself. He should have easily had both the advantage of speed, and not being constrained to the ground, and didn't expect the challenge that dime turn presented. With a snicker, he dove down further to skim just over the road to see what the bike would do next as he darted up alongside it with a leisurely wave.

The brightly helmeted rider was a little dismayed to hear the sound once again coming up behind her. She however hardly anticipated what she saw next. For a split second it seemed like the world slowed down as the supposed rocket zipped easily up beside her...and waved.

It's...a person??

The shock made her swing the bike around to a sudden halt, wheels grinding against the uneven paving, kicking up gravel and dust.

The stop was as unexpected as the turn, and while Iron Man had started to lose the momentum and slipped behind the bike as he brought up one of his repulsors in the wave, he still had to pull himself up abruptly and slam a knee into the ground to slide to a sparking stop of his own, pivoting around much like the bike did with a hand to the road and his trailing bootjet trying to redirect the energy. He was left facing the broad side of the motorcycle, kneeling like he was ready to take it on in another sprint, free hand balled at his side but with an unmistakable whine of charge and glow escaping around his fingers. "That it? I just got here," he challenged.

It really was a person. Someone in full armor, with rocket-powered boots? The armor was sleek but still too bulky to be a play off of classic Sentai heroes. She had to admit, it looked pretty cool, like something straight out of a sci-fi movie. But you're pretty much in a sci-fi movie, she reminded herself, and as she saw and heard that suspicious glow build beneath the armored figure's hand, her fingers curled tightly around the handlebars of her motorcycle.

Does he mean to attack? What does he want? Is he some sort of space police? I didn't see any of those come up from touching that strange sphere...

It appeared she made up her mind then, deciding not to stick around to find out whatever the armored one had in store. In an impossible maneuver the motorcycle swung upwards on its rear tire, and she twisted it around to gun it back down the street. The strange echo of its departure surely must have been imagined, almost reminiscent of a horse's whinny.

The sudden wheelie almost shocked Tony enough to miss the chance to analyze the bike's belly, quick imprints and extrapolations drawing before his eyes on the HUD before he realized he was doing it and shunted to the side to run in the background as he smirked again and pushed off after the mystery rider. He meant to be testing the vertical limit today, but it looked like he'd been granted a pressure test for this first flight. In a couple of steps, he took a running jump back into the air with a burst of his jets that echoed like an answer to that curious sound the motorcycle left in its wake. Iron Man went high this time, arcing up and letting the rider gain the distance to decide what they wanted to do next, and show him what else they were capable of.

It looked like a motorcycle, it moved like one, but no light reflected off of its black finish, and no heat signature came off of it despite the obvious power pushing it on. There were no schematics to be gained on a deeper level than external because so far as things went, there seemed nothing to scan.

Again Celty looked over her shoulder as she heard that by now familiar sound roaring after her. Fine, she thought, gloved hands tightening. The motorcycle responded beneath her, tearing past the flanking buildings before coming out onto the main road again. She veered sharply once again, leaning almost parallel to the ground into the turn until she and the bike pulled out of it again, a straight shot towards the lake.

The turn was an easy roll for Iron Man, cutting over the top of the buildings and using this new angle to weave back and forth across the wide road with the sun behind him to tease the flicker of his shadow in the rider's path. They weren't going to keep going this way, were they? Either they really were a new arrival with a fancy toy and had no idea that they were shortly going to be up against the sand, or they weren't and they knew the city well enough and that the sand didn't pose a problem at all for this mysterious vehicle.

Tony wanted to see how they handled it either way.

Those tight turns weren't going to be easy to control, but Iron Man tried to force them to commit to their straight path by pitching down closer to the road again and boosting up closer, not quite coming alongside this time but pushing the rider to lean on the gas if they wanted to stay ahead and not let Iron Man clip their tire.

Meanwhile Celty was growing frustrated, still uncertain of what the rocket man's intentions could be. If he wanted to attack then surely he would have done so by now. Did he just want to race? The thought was almost ridiculous, but then she was in an alien city. Who knew what to expect?

The sound was building again, and she knew that the armored figure wasn't far behind. What was he doing? She shook her head, pushing the motorcycle on. The roads here were strange, very linear with sharp corners, but they were also unkempt and at times bumpy. And then came the sand.

She felt the wheels slip, instinctively leaning into the angle as tires fought for purchase. Too sharp, too fast, and now her momentum was effectively killed. The rider spun the motorcycle around before planting a foot to keep it from toppling over completely as the wheels came to a rest. She lifted her head to watch the armored rocketeer, hands tense on the handlebars.

A surprise, then. And despite the sounds, or lack thereof, that Tony couldn't explain, or that freestanding wheelie, no superpowers to handle the terrain, either. This time when the bike stopped, Iron Man was more prepared, pulling up in a blast of that sand spattered against the mystery driver's wheel and helmet as Iron Man spread his repulsors toward them to push himself to a hovering stop. Facing each other down once more, this time in the purr of Iron Man's engines as he held himself aloft with a dainty foot turned up against the other, Tony took his chance to consider the rider's grip and stance with an inquisitively tilted head.

Out loud, his voice mechanically even and his faceplate betraying as much as the bright yellow helmet, he lamented, "I was kind of looking forward to seeing you handle the water. Never know what to expect in this place. You're not a Ghost Rider, are you?"

The motorcyclist threw an arm up to shield from the worst of the sandy spatter, looking on as the man in armor as he caught up with her. She still looked ready to peel out, even as she brushed sand off of her suit. At the mention of the water, she looked back at the lake, then towards the speaker once again. Her helmeted head shifted in slight confusion at his question. A Ghost Rider?

She reached towards her side, slipping out the tablet from the pocket there on her thigh, and in a few moments found an open message window to type in. Her fingers worked nimbly across the screen, until finally she turned the screen outwards.

[I don't know what you're talking about. I'm just a courier. What's the big idea, chasing me down like that? Are you the local law enforcement? One of the aliens?]

The Iron Man remained effortlessly aloft and unmoving even as Tony flinched at the stranger reaching for their hip, all sensors lit up to analyze the threat, disarm, retaliate. When it was just a communicator, he didn't quite relax, watching warily as they typed and trying to find a zoom level to see the screen before it was offered to him.

The message didn't answer a lot of questions. Was the not speaking some kind of spy thing, to limit identifying features? He narrowed his eyes, turning his mapping and measuring calculations to the driver, trying to compare them to anyone else in the databank as he offered, "Iron Man. Not a local. More of a legend. What did you bring me?" It looked like a light load, from where Tony was floating, for a self-described courier.

[Iron Man. You were also abducted then?]

Celty paused, taking a moment before realizing what he was asking before that cat-eared helmet of hers shook from side to side again. Her fingers swept easily across the screen. It wasn't like her phone, that one had a more tactile keyboard, but she was getting quickly accustomed to this new device.

[Only myself and my bike. Not by choice. I work in Ikebukuro.]

Kaz was walking to elsewhere when it was more apparent that there was another person behind him. He had not clocked that this person was riding a motorcycle. He didn't even know what a motorcycle was in the first place. He just had a very well honed survival sense.

At the last possible moment he used his cane to take a single step out of the way. Only then did he see the motorcycle and rider pass. Confused but very curious he had stopped walking in order to stare at the passing riding machine.

Edited (Arg phone tagging sux) 2021-11-26 18:03 (UTC)

With so few people on the road it wasn't difficult to see when there actually was someone there. The motorcyclist gave more than ample room in passing, even as Kaz stepped aside.

The vehicle didn't go too much farther, its rider bringing it around in a u-turn as it slowed, rolling to a stop once facing the opposite direction it had been traveling. The rider set a foot down to keep it from tipping, that bright helmet tilting in Kaz's direction almost inquisitively.

Kaz had a faint note of awe in his voice, though when he spoke his voice sounded like he gargled with whiskey and broken glass every morning; like a grizzled old man speaking from a teenager's mouth.

"I've never seen a machine like that before. Are they common where you're from?"

His mind immediately went to the possibilities of what he could do if he did not have to walk everywhere or keep his body weight on his leg for much of the day.

The rider remained silent, nodding at Kaz's question. Well, they were fairly common, anyway. Not as much as cars, but if he'd never seen a motorcycle, which was strange enough in itself, then would he know what one would be?

Turning slightly to pull the tablet from a thigh pocket, the rider began to type at its screen once the proper application was pulled up. She held it out once she was done.

[You don't have motorcycles where you come from? What sort of vehicles do you use to get around?]

This is not the only time that Kaz had interacted with a mute person but he did wait an extra beat when the other person did not speak. Seeing their written message he was more inclined to speak with the person as if they were having a normal conversation and shook his head in reply.

"No. Even vehicles without horses is something of a novelty. The most I have ever seen is a tank and that was really big and clunky. I don't suppose you would actually know what you need an order to build one of these machines?"

While Tony wasn't convinced that he should be trusting this new, well, face yet, they at least seemed to be playing their part for now and it might get Tony more information to play along. The Iron Man finally descended to touch down to the ground with a heavy thud, engines winding down, not much less intimidating as he squared up to his full height with an extra six inches from the lift in his jet boots but opening his arms in casual welcome nonetheless as he observed, "Look how much we already have in common." Just a couple of abductees, what were the chances? He didn't realize how applicable it was going to be.

Behind his mask, Tony's eyebrows raised in surprise and he had to confirm, "Tokyo?" Then, in what might have been a wild leap on the scale, "Earth?" Not his Earth, surely. Iron Man was a hit in Japan. Realizing belatedly that this might have been a little rude, he put his hands to his chest to contextualize, "New York." Then after a thought, trying to adjust to the driver's scale, "Manhattan."

[I do miss the simplicity of a horse-drawn carriage sometimes, but there's clearly no place for such things in the city I'm from.]

The figure seemed to sigh, at least with the slight movement of her shoulders. She started to shake her helmeted head in response to Kaz's question, though she might have laughed a little at the thought.

[Unfortunately no. I'm no mechanic. Just a courier.]

Despite no visible face, it seemed like the helmeted rider was giving him a very flat look at that. Oh yes, so much in common. Look, they both had helmets too!

She gave an emphatic nod then. Really, where else would she be from? But then again, they were apparently on an alien planet. The thought made her hunch her shoulders up just a bit.

[The United States. I've never been, although I think I'd like to, some day. I'm from Ireland originally.]

But here was no time to be planning vacations.

[What did you mean by being more of a legend?]

It occurred to Tony with this tidbit about the driver's origins that what she was sharing with him so far was so pleasantly mundane that he gave an involuntary chuckle, then raised a hand in apology for the laugh. It wasn't funny that she was new and getting her bearings on an alien planet, just that Tony couldn't remember the last time he had an idle what do you do, where are you from conversation.

"Beautiful country. Both of them, Japan, Ireland," he tried to placate before continuing quickly, "Hopefully, we'll get you back on the blue ball soon, and I can give you a personal tour back home." He grasped at how to explain what he meant when he wasn't sure what she did know and where their home planets might have differed, and landed on, "It's a brand recognition thing. Kids tell stories about me. If I do my job right, so will you." He flicked a finger toward her tablet and asked, "Is it going to be typed?"

Her own experiences of having such normal conversations in person were far and few even back home. Her acquaintances consisted of unusual high school students, a seedy information broker, a bodyguard (of sorts- it was difficult classifying Shizuo, really), and her overly doting roommate. Of course, here she was, speaking with a man in a full suit of armor so maybe her ideas of 'normal' were a little warped.

[I'm not sure I follow.]

Did he want her to write about him? Waving off any explanation with her hand, she tapped out another few sentences. Clearly she was used to this mode of communication for how fluidly she managed.

[I would like to get home as soon as possible, but it seems like we're expected to do something, here? At least that's the impression that that glowing ball by the fountain left.]

Then Kaz was resolved to find a way to take the machine apart and see how it worked. But on that subject, Kaz tilted his head to the side quizzically.

"What if I could find a person to act as a mechanic? Someone who knew how this machine is supposed to work already, I mean."

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Lurking Shadows

aaaall around Temba

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