10 | But when I start to try to tell you that's when you have to tell me

[sinistral]

WHO: the Soldier (sinistral) and you
WHERE: the Agrii ship
WHAT: when stuff breaks, it's time to get to work
WHEN: during the first phase of the Problems with Portals event; as for what actual order things are going on, we get a little handwavey vague in these parts
WARNINGS: n/a in top levels; will update if that changes in threads

---

AGRII SHIP
→ Core Room Access;

Explosion in space? Not the first time the Soldier had seen one, though having it happen on the Agrii ship brought its own level of stress to things. Still, explosions usually meant crisis situations, and the Soldier had been inside (and caused) quite a few of them that keeping calm was natural. It didn't take him long at all to make his way to the Engineering section of the ship — the general distress marked the path quite plainly — and from there it took very little to assess the jammed door taking the attention of a number of the aliens.

Clearly something or someone was trapped behind that door. And clearly, it would take more strength (and possibly some coordinated effort) than the Agrii currently brought to bear to get the portal open. The Soldier didn't hesitate.

"Brace that side of it!" He didn't really look to see if the distressed Agrii had taken the instruction, instead turning to the person next to him. "Help me lead by example. We need to get this at least somewhat pried open."

→ Secondary Force Field;

With immediate danger seemingly mitigated the Soldier decided he'd be of the most use on the lower levels. He considered himself pretty indestructible — or at least very hard to damage — such that crawling around in unfamiliar and possibly dangerous areas would probably be easier for him than for someone more fragile.

What interested him was the extent of this lower area. The sheer amount of equipment down here almost made the deck above seem laughable, and raised questions in the back of the Soldier's mind as to who really ran the ship after all. Perhaps he was just being paranoid, but he couldn't help the feeling that something deeper was going on.

He slipped by a bank of equipment, moving quietly, a hand never far from one of the combat knives about his person. The air ahead seemed to shimmer with the red distortion of some kind of force field, and he wanted to get a closer look.

→ Wildcard;

Have another idea? Come at me here, plot with me here, or hit me up at sometimesamuse or via PM. Want a more specific starter for your character? Let me know, I got you. Want to handwave something? I'm fine with that as well, let's hash it out. And while I write starters in prose I'm happy to match brackets if that's your preference.

Comments

Core Room Access

[thelastechidna]

Now this was Knuckles' forte. "I can get that door open," he was sure.

[sinistral]

Considering that the room was occupied by a large number of multi-limbed Agrii in various states of distress, the Soldier wasn't even going to dwell on the fact that help came in the form of short and reddish; he simply didn't think he had the time to be picky.

"Start prying from that side. I want these doors intact." Breaking open would probably be easier but if they could get them off with minimal damage, then the doors could be used to contain the area again, just in case something was loose back there. It seemed a slim possibility, but not entirely impossible.

[thelastechidna]

"Right!" Knuckles does enjoy punching through, but he also understands the value in preserving things like doors, so he starts prying. He is very strong and should be able to start causing the door to move.

[sinistral]

Hopefully nothing too bad will be waiting behind the door; there have been enough fires and explosions that the Soldier had at least a modicum of caution in watching the opening they were creating. He was no firefighter but he knew from experience that introducing fresh air to a contained fire could cause the flames to leap and flare; hopefully they'd avoid that here.

"Watch for flames!" Partially to caution his companion but more to caution any lingering Agrii.

[thelastechidna]

Remembering the fires on Angel Island, Knuckles is also cautious as he pulls the door open more. There could very well be more fire.

"Have they got fire extinguishers around here?" he gruffly wonders.

[sinistral]

"Not a clue." They could try asking the Agrii but the aliens seemed in far too much distress to process the question, never mind providing an answer. "Are fire extinguishers even universal?" The aliens might not even have an equivalent.

Core Room and a Not so Wildcaaard

[out_of_order]

i. Open that Door!
Cal might not remember things too clearly from the last time he'd been aboard, but he knew that things had been far emptier and it was less emotionally cluttered. The Agrii were afraid and hurt, and he could hardly blame them for that. These were familiar sensations, but the Jedi had never felt them in such a condensed form, even when he and his master were making to escape their ship in the face of an unexpected betrayal of their troops.

"This has happened before..." He looked at the door as the Soldier starts working on it. Someone... Ga Re? Had been trapped on the other side. How had they opened it last time? Tommy had been there, and someone else. Cal shook his head, moving to help. "Is it moving? We might need to try to override the system," he said, even as he tried to get into a position to physically help, at least so he could give the Agrii an idea of what the Soldier was expecting. He knew his abilities were better suited without.


ii. Down the Hatch Hole!
With previously trapped Agrii finally being treated and the Engineering room getting slightly less busy, Cal could turn his attention to other things. He did what he could for the systems there, but if anything he knew these were temporary at best, until they could patch things at their proper sources. He wiped his brow with the back of his hand as he straightened from one of the consoles, BD-1 turning off his external light to glance up at him.

"Whoever designed this ship should be strapped to the outside of a crashing starfighter," he muttered.

ii;

[sinistral]

It wasn't the first time the Soldier had crossed Cal's path for various repair efforts. Cal gave instruction well for the simple stuff, and for the more complicated stuff the Soldier's steady hands could provide support (and a literal vice grip that one time). Aside from brute strength the Soldier had very little to offer the repair efforts, but when he heard the sound of his friend grumbling, he followed it to its source.

"How about I just punch them really hard?" he asked, catching the last of that grumbling. "With the left hand."

[out_of_order]

"I have a feeling there'll be a line for that, but I'm not saying no," Cal said, smirking a little as he glanced over at the Soldier.

"You'd think we should have been able to handle a good chunk of things here, but it turns out things have deeper connections and BeeDee can't even get into the source of the systems from here." He sighed. Of course things weren't going to be easy.

[sinistral]

He chuckled a little; would that they could enforce good design practices with so simple a threat!

"Hey," he replied, "we don't do easy, do we?" Certainly they'd both had a few challenges putting things back together, and they worked well together. They could manage this part of things. "You think we need to go deeper into this mess, we could probably manage it."

[out_of_order]

"Well, no." So far as he was aware, there'd never been an 'easy' mode for anything in his experience. Rolling his shoulders back, Cal held an arm out for BD-1 then as he slipped away his arc-welder.

"We'll have to either way, at some point or another," he said, nodding towards the hole. "With that thing blown open, no telling how far spread the damage is unless we head down ourselves. May as well start an assessment." He couldn't ignore that tickle of a 'Bad Feeling' at the back of his mind, something that still hung around even with less panicking and injured bodies in the room, but unfortunately the Force wasn't usually very specific about things sometimes. "Best we be prepared for anything."

i;

[sinistral]

The whole situation had shades of familiarity to it, to the point that if they'd had the time to calmly sit down and examine it they could probably draw a few parallels. But they didn't have the luxury of time; the Soldier considered it a luxury to have help in the form of someone with whom he'd worked before.

Even so, the door barely budged against their combined efforts. If the purpose of design was to keep the door closed in an emergency, then it was definitely doing its job.

"It's moving a little," he answered Cal as they strained against the door. "But not enough." Breaking the door would be easy for them, but the Soldier wanted to keep it intact as much as they could. It was possible they'd need to put it back as a barrier against some danger and that would be much easier to do if the door wasn't in a dozen pieces.

[buildingitsir]

York… really wasn’t good in situations like this. There was no getting around that part. He’s accustomed to situations like this, experienced at least with the alarm and panic that the Agrii are expressing from his fellow androids at home. Here or there, it’s not pleasant. He’s moving around the area to see where he can maybe help when he spots Cal and… who was that? Sick arm. He notes how the door is moving but not enough to unseal it to open it.

The android heads over. “That looks pretty heavily sealed.” He focuses on the door, eyes dilating as they scan it for a moment. “Pretty sound structure and unless you break that shit into pieces, it’s sound. You’re not going to open it with brute force.” He goes right up to the door and squats down to run a finger over it. “What’s keeping it sealed? Something on this side or the other?”

[out_of_order]

Cal nodded over at York. "It's mean to be sound- emergency protocol. Unfortunately it might also be slightly stuck depending on how much that explosion knocked out- I can't tell."

He looked at the door again before glancing at the Soldier and the android. "I think we forced it open the last time, but power was kind of faulty in the ship. There's probably a failsafe for the system to lock this room down in case of some kind of breech. If the system's still functioning, we might need to try overriding it to get it unlocked."

[sinistral]

"Think brute force was our only choice last time." It had been a while, and memory grew fainter with distance. But here, though they'd forced a gap in the door, they still fought against the force trying to close it. Even if they got it open and braced it, they might still face the trouble of the bracing failing — and possibly injuring someone in the process.

"I'm not complaining if we want to try overriding it, but that'll have to be up to you guys."

Secondary Force Field

[wearingthestars]

Needing a break from healing, and maybe more importantly- needing to assure himself that Soldier was all right, Billy stole away and teleported to his side. Or more accurately- just out of immediate stabbing range and into hopefully he'll recognize him range, palms raised and letting out a breath of relief.

"Hey-" he greeted, clearly distressed not only from all chaos but from the sights he'd seen as he was healing.

A strange feeling interrupted the relief of seeing Soldier whole and well, and Billy frowned, trying to shake it out of his head.

[sinistral]

"Billy." A small sigh of relief once he recognized the figure materializing just outside of his reach. In fact the Soldier did reach for him, tugging Billy to his side for a brief moment to reassure himself that Billy was whole. He didn't want Billy to worry about him but he knew that the other man probably couldn't help it, given the widespread nature of the crisis.

That faint shimmer in the air still lingered at the corner of his eye and he tried his best to ignore it and put all his attention on his companion. "You are okay? Do you need me?"

[wearingthestars]

"I'll figure out a way to do this with some kind of warning eventually," Billy promised with an attempt at humor, tamping down that worry at least marginally now that he had confirmation Soldier was all right.

"M'okay-" he confirmed, though his features shifted, "...A lot Agrii are hurt. I was helping, but...I needed a minute." There was some guilt attached to taking a breathier when there were still people to heal. He'd dealt with traumatic injuries before, but not on this scale. And coupled with not knowing where Soldier was...he just needed a minute. "I just needed to make sure you were okay-"

Seriously though, what was that weird feeling? "...What is that?" he asked, finally taking in the shimmering as his head tilted.

[sinistral]

"Come here." Close where the Soldier could wrap both arms around him, let Billy hide against his shoulder. It wouldn't banish the phantoms of everything he'd seen or the stress of the crisis but maybe it would let Billy breathe easy for just a moment. "Just breathe with me."

A few quiet breaths to center themselves, to feel each other breathing and know that they were okay. He even pressed his lips to Billy's temple, not quite a kiss but just a gesture of closeness.

He raised his head when Billy spoke, and stepped back. Their rest moment was over. "I don't know," he admitted, following the like of his companion's gaze. "I want to find out."

[wearingthestars]

Folding in against him, Billy allowed some of that tension to fall away, centering in on Soldier's breath and trying to match it. He smiled softly at the press of those lips, reassured and hoping Soldier felt some of that himself.

Though with the odd feeling of that barrier, maybe that calm wouldn't last long. He frowned a little anxiously, but he didn't doubt there was little that could pose a real danger to Soldier. But he could still be hurt, even if he acted like it didn't matter. "...Does it make you feel...weird, too?" he asked, not able to properly articulate how he felt, but he nodded a sort of guarded acceptance. Soldier could explore, but Billy wasn't going to leave him until he was sure it was safe.

Core Room

[playingtough]

What the fuck. What the absolute fuck. And this sort of spaceship bullshit was the kind of stuff that Leo turtle wanted in on? He could have it. But there was no way of getting out of this mess, so Billy moves. He's got his axe with him, the blade guard off, to help. It doesn't do anything against metal, but it's good for leverage.

At the yelling, Billy would've just walked away in any other situation. An older man yelling? Hell no. But this is an emergency situation, so he heads in that direction.

A man yelling at the aliens to brace the side of a door. Billy doesn't linger to take in the situation and just goes over to do as told. To brace the side as instructed. "Here-" He pushes the axe in the guy's direction, and lets it fall over to the floor with a clang.

[sinistral]

With the added help the door budges just a little; not far, and not quite enough to get his hand in the gap just yet. If they could just create enough room that he could get a better grip, then maybe the Soldier would have enough leverage to pull the door open enough for more people to get leverage against it. A small gap would give them what they needed, if they could manage just that much.

Perhaps that was what the other man was thinking when he tipped that impressive axe in the Soldier's direction. Certainly nothing else in the room resembled a pry bar, or any other tool that might be useful for getting the door opened. The axe looked pretty sturdy too, a functional piece and not just for show.

"Keep it," he replied, nodding his chin at the axe. It was a nice piece of hardware, from what he could see. "I'll just snap the handle if I use it as a pry bar." Something more disposable he'd consider but it was hard enough to get weapons around here; the Soldier didn't want to ruin someone else's.

[playingtough]

"Then I'll get a new one." He's sure if he told Gladio why the axe broke, then he could get this one fixed or another one made. It was nice though, but it wasn't enough to just cast aside in hopes of finding another way to open the door. They had no idea who was trapped, or if they were injured and needed quick help. "It's a battleaxe, it's meant to take on tough shit like whatever the fuck happened here."

He holds out the axe with a jerk indicating for the guy to take it. "We can't just argue about what to use! There're people on the other side, right?"

Billy wants to help them. He wants to be better and to help to show people he could. And that he would.

[sinistral]

"In this place?" Weapons had been traditionally hard to come by, considering the Agrii's dislike thereof. But it wasn't worth arguing too much; the handle of the thing was likely its weakest point and weren't handles designed that they could be replaced? He'd have to risk it, especially as he didn't want to spend time arguing — and the blade of the axe was thinner than his fingers. Right now all they needed was a gap; the Soldier was sure that if he could get even a bit of his left hand around the edge of the door in a proper grip, that he could bring more strength to bear against it.

"I just need a small gap," he told the teen; considering the general panic of the Agrii on top of the language barrier, the guy was his best choice. "If I tell you to grab this thing, you grab it. And keep your fingers clear no matter that I do."

They didn't have a ton of time for him to explain the generally indestructible nature of the prosthesis. And the last thing he needed was someone with more human qualities to get their fingers into the gap — and potentially deal with the side effects of the door shifting closed again.

I learned parts of an axe for this LOL

[playingtough]

"Made for me. Custom job from my trainer." The difference between now and the last time he saw Gladio was that the blade guard was off. The very one he had claimed he wasn't ready to take off yet because he hadn't earned getting those lessons yet even though the Shield insisted he was.

He nods at the instructions. More growth because any time an older man told him what to do, Billy pushed back.

People were strange in this city. A talking blue hedgehog. A talking turtle. So what if this guy had a shiny arm? Tommy had pretty white hair and he was super speedy. People were strange here and that was the normal thing.

Billy moves into the guy's space, then slams the blade into the crevice between the stuff. Then pushes at it with his boot to get it wedged in deeper. Then, crouching down and grabbing it at the shoulder and the belly of the handle, he starts pushing at it like he would a crowbar.