- Posting Speed
- 1-3 posts per week
- One post per week
- Writing Levels
- Adept
- Advanced
- Preferred Character Gender
- Male
Penny wasn't typically given to nerves. Missions, as of late, however, had gotten a whole hell of a lot more personal than she was accustomed to. Leaving the car, she rubbed the bridge of her nose as Deck addressed the others, and while they filed off to their respective duties, she turned to him with a small, tender smirk, "Careful, Big Guy. You keep gettin' sentimental on them, they're gonna wanna keep you."
Reaching out, sliding her fingers briefly into his, she pressed onto her toes to deliver a kiss to the corner of his lips, "We're gonna get him out. Whatever it takes. You ready…?"
Nodding, Deckard looked passed her in the direction they'd be traveling, "You think he'll go with me? I can't help but think he might not want to. After all, he's been stuck in that place, and I haven't saved him yet."
"I don't have a doubt in my mind, Deck. What worries me is how many others there are. What… what are we gonna do with them? We can try to home them, find their families, but… God knows what Kaiden's done to these kids." Breathing in, she shook her head, "Doesn't matter right now. We gotta focus, "Walk me through the plan you've got… This is your show, Big Guy."
"Well," Deckard started with a grin as they moved to their vehicle, "I figured we'd just park this thing through the front door. Think that'd get their attention?" Deckard paused long enough to open the door, "While they close in on what's left of the truck, we can make our way in through one of the side entrances that'll be less guarded because they'll be distracted. Once inside, I'm gonna tear the place apart."
"Hm…" Looking him over, she shook her head with a small, playful grin, "I ever tell you, you're pretty sexy when you're plotting to kick ass?" Nodding, she looked to the truck, "Sounds like a solid plan. I'll watch your back, and take care of any stragglers."
"Penny," he paused, "just be careful. I can stop a lot of things..but I can't stop bullets."
"Don't plan on gettin' shot again, Big Guy." Moving to the other side of the truck, she paused and looked up at him, cradling his jaw with her hand, "Just in case… I love you, okay?"
"I love you, too," he replied, "and I'll say it again when we're all done. Now get in the car," he smiled.
"Yes sir…" She gave a wink and a salute, before moving to the other side again, slipping into the passenger seat, "Here we go…"
It was a short drive to the front of the blacksite building, but to Deckard, it might as well have been a million miles away. His son was growing closer and closer, and he was becoming more and more nervous. As they sat parked against the side of the street across from the building that looked oddly like a regular office building with an underground garage, he wrung the wheel out before clearing his throat and growling in frustration, "Come on, Deck," he coached himself, "Get it together."
Reaching over, Penny put a hand over his, "Deck. He needs you. More than anyone in the whole world's ever needed you. I've watched you crush drones and build bridges and take down helicopters with a thought. These bastards took your little boy. Time to show them why that was the biggest mistake they'll ever make. You can do this, Big Guy." Releasing him, she nodded, "You got this."
Nodding, he steeled himself, "Alright," he looked to Penny, a whole new look of determination in his eyes, "Let's go get our son."
Exiting the truck, Deckard jerked his head toward the sidewalk, "Clear the truck, Penny, and be ready. On my signal, take out those windows. I need everything I can get to throw at these ass holes."
Sliding free, Penny nodded and sliding off her jacket, she wrapped it around her hands, moving to the nearest windows. With the jacket tightly wound over her fist, she struck the window panes with a solid punch, shards of glass landed in puddles at her feet.
Moving to the corner of the street, Deckard turned to the SUV. He envisioned it in his mind, and with a clenched jaw, he reached out to it with his mind. The tires squealed a moment against the pavement before they hung loose in the air. Looking to the office building, he smirked as he raised his arm. The SUV hurdled through the air without a sound. The guards didn't have time to react before it crashed through the main entrance crushing RIEF operatives beneath the ruined vehicle and chunks of the building.
It took them a moment to recover, but it was all Deck needed. Shards of the glass that Penny shattered whistled through the air pelting, and even passing through, soldiers. By the time he finished, there wasn't a guard outside the building that wasn't dead or groaning from the glass that protrude from their bodies.
Breathing in, Penny steeled herself against the carnage. It always took a reminder that these people would do the same or worse to them to keep the guilt from pooling in… They took and kept children. Other people's children. They'd brought this war down on themselves.
"Let's go."
Nodding, he started across the street, stopping only to pick up a rifle before extending it to Penny, "I can throw things with my mind. You should have something that lets you shoot back. Know how to use this?"
Ducking to the side of the door and pulling her phone from her pocket, Penny pulled up a video, loaded on the screen. It was brief… no longer than maybe twenty, thirty seconds and when it finished, she reached for the rifle, "I do, now… at least for the next few hours."
"Then let's make this as quick as possible," he pressed himself against the hole in the wall, "In through the front, and up the stairs until we get to the nursery," he repeated the plan, which was pretty much the same minus entering through a side door.
Stepping through the hole, Deckard took a moment to collect a few pieces of rubble small enough to not require too much concentration as they hovered near him but large enough to be deadly. He wasn't allowed many more steps before gunfire erupted in the lobby causing him to duck in close behind a ruined desk.
Ducking beside Deck, Penny pulled the rifle close and inspecting the clip, clarified the number of shots she had remaining, "Did you see how many?" She whispered, sliding the hammer into place, "Locations?"
"The balcony," he answered, "two or three," another round of bullets slammed into the SUV, "They're trying to keep us pinned here, which means there has to be others on the floor with us."
Closing her eyes a moment, Penny listened to the volley of gunfire, and in her mind pulled up the map of the building. A little off… just a little off and she could find herself very swiftly reliving recruitment day with Deck…
Breathing out, steadying her hands, she opened her eyes, "Got 'em."
Pushing upright, crouched halfway behind the desk, she braced the rifle on the desk surface and sighted upwards into the balcony, firing off three shots in consecutive order. Thrown back slightly by the kick, she shifted her balance, lowering the weapon to their current level, before ducking back down.
"Got our vultures… but I can't see anyone on the lower floor. Need to draw their fire…"
His eyes scanned what he could see form behind the desk until they fell on the SUV, "I'll draw their fire," he nodded. The creaking of the the SUV sounded as the door flew open and then stretched beyond its limits until it popped off. Moving it beside the desk, he crouched behind it. Then he began to take steps using the door as a shield and distracting them. Bullets slammed into the door as he continued to lead them away.
"Bingo." Rising again, Penny eyeballed the trajectory of the bullets striking the door and fired off another two shots, hitting the mark on the first, just a touch off the second. Swearing, she checked the rifle and frowned, "Gonna need to take the last one, Sugar. I'm out!"
Peeking over the door, the other man had turned his rifle back toward Penny. Deckard launched the door toward the man and charged behind it. The soldier grunted as the door slammed against him, throwing him to the ground, and just as he managed to push the door off of himself, Deckard set upon him raining blows down until he ceased to move.
Breathing out, Penny tossed the gun to the side, "Grab his side arm. The other guard's, too." Taking a second, just a second to calm the pounding pulse in her chest, she pushed off the desk and moved to Deck's side.
After retrieving both sidearms, he handed one to Penny and checked the one he kept for himself, "Head for the stairwell and start up. I'll watch your six."
Nodding, Penny checked the clip and clicked of the safety, before moving towards the door marked 'stairs'. As she started up her heart rate picked up again. There was no telling what they'd find when they got to the nursery… No telling who they'd run into…
WHAM
The door to her right slammed open suddenly and Penny nearly collided with the guard that burst through it. Smacking into her hip, he stumbled and Penny hit the stair rail, momentum smacking the gun from her hand, skittering across the floor. The guard recovered first, swinging a hard left that caught her in the jaw and swearing, Penny kicked out, her heel colliding with the man's chin. As he staggered back, Penny reset her foot and swiveled, flipping her other leg to kick the guard in the side of the head, sending him flying towards Deck.
As the man stumbled toward him, Deck ducked driving his shoulder into the man's waist before flipping him over his shoulder. A thud sounded as the man's head bounced off the bar before he fell over the railing and plummeted to the stairs below motionless.
Turning back to Penny, he snatched up her sidearm and gave it to her, "You alright?" he asked, already moving toward the next set of stairs.
Rubbing her jaw with her free hand, Penny nodded, "It'll bruise, but I'll make it. You?" Checking the weapon, she kept it close to her side, "That was a hell of a throw."
"Eh," he shrugged, "You threw him off balance. I just took advantage of that and momentum."
"Well, it looked sexy, so there…" Lowering her hand from the red mark on her jaw, she glanced up, "Few more floors. You ready for this?"
"Let's go," he nodded.
The last few floors were relatively easy to climb. The sounds of panic and even fighting on some of the levels informed them of the other teams' success. As they stepped out and into the room where they would be meeting the others, Deckard let out a sigh of relief.
"I thought this would be harder than it was," he admitted to Penny as he tucked the handgun into the back of his pants, "Guess I shouldn't complain, though."
"Ah Big Guy… you just had to say that…" Looking over at him, Penny frowned, "Pretty sure that was the warm up…"