poly_chromatic | 013 :: voice/action

Entry tags:

system shock 2 - marie delacroix

013 :: voice/action

DELACROIX to VOID: 12-05-???? re: Resist

Zhe worms are everywhere. Do not listen to zheir singing. Do you hear me? Do not listen to zhem. Arm yourselves quickly.

^{^TURRETS}

[There's a pair of turrets stationed on either side of the street. They fire indiscriminately at anything that moves, which includes Marie Delacroix, crouched down behind a dumpster, steadily acquiring more and more bullet holes. She peeks around the edge of her cover, firing off one round, and then another. They strike, piercing through the armored shell, and the second one is met with an explosion. Marie hardly hesitates before she rushes out into the open, something preternaturally fast about her movements. If she can duck down inside its range, she can hack the fucking thing...]

^{^HYBRID}

[They look almost human, bipedal and fleshy, but something horrible has taken them over from within. One levels a shotgun at Marie, begging miserably,]

Kill me.

[Another is a step behind, head tilted back to swill down a large mouthful of vodka, liquid dribbling over its face. The empty bottle is thrown at her furiously as it in turns pleads,]

Hurry. Run.

^{^MIDWIFE}

[Hacking apart a foul-smelling egg - life humming inside - with a laser rapier, Marie is being harassed by a swarm of insects, a cloud of something noxious hanging around her, expelled from the pulsating egg. She knows the caretakers must be close...]

^{^RUMBLER}

[The creature lowers its shoulder, barreling forward and knocking her onto her side. She falls with a grunt, feet lashing out as she lifts her pistol. She fires one round that doesn't halt the monster in the slightest before it jams and she's forced to bludgeon annelid's head in with the butt of the gun. By the time it falls, head bleeding, it has clawed Marie viciously. Deja vu, she's lying very still on the pavement.]

[[ooc; All images from here.]]

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[ And people thought tribbles were bad.

Swearing, McCoy grabs his phaser again, dropping his medkit to take aim. He doesn't think, three years of training ingrained into his system, and he gets one shot off (set to kill, not stun, though not high enough to completely vaporize the little bastards) before he notices the reflection of Vulcan in the metal. It's enough to make him jerk, but there are more worms and he swears again and takes another shot. ]

Think you can move?

[She takes a deep breath, swallowing roughly, watching the creatures shrivel up, their insidious song cut short.]

Yes. Zhey know where we are.

We need to get somewhere where I can patch you up.

[ And if they come, they'll move again. And again. And again. ]

You know what the hell these things are capable of. I don't. There anywhere that'll be harder for them to access?

No.

[She thinks about Constance, locked in fluidics control, thinking she might be safe.]

Zhe worms will find zhere way anywhere, and once zhey 'ave spotted you, others will follow.

[She shakes her head, pushing herself up unsteadily.]

Then we keep moving when we have to.

[ Because like hell is he leaving her behind. ]

[She nods, not thinking about the 'we' but she will, inevitably. Everyone around her had died, she had died. There is only death at the end of this dream. But for now, she needs to find somewhere quiet where she can repair this gun.

She won't be going far with her injuries, but she's used to finding corners to huddle into, ears pricked every minute sound: the groaning misery of the hybrids, the roar of the rumblers, the tick-tock-tick-tock of the cyborgs, the rattling of the spiders, and the squealing song of the worms.

Never let your nerves settle, Marie.]

[ And every time they pause he will heal what he can, scanning her with his tricorder to see where she needs it the most, if there's anything he can do. He has painkillers in a hypo but he holds off for now, because they need their wits and she's handling it well enough. It's not a call he likes to make, but sometimes it's necessary. He has his dermal regenerator and bandages for wounds too deep for that to fix, though he can't help with the gun. He can keep an eye out, though. ]

[Marie is jacked up on adrenaline and fear, the contents of a speed hypo coursing through her. She finds the little things in the pockets of the hybrids, but there's never quite enough of them, her own pockets always emptied at the last moment. She's not terribly content to sit and let the doctor look her over, but she's also not going to argue about it right now. She pulls the pistol apart with quick hands, cleaning it out. Gore and spores have gummed its workings, and she isn't surprised. That is the way of The Many, a creeping filth, always hungry, always breathing and oozing its way slowly outwards, encompassing evermore.]

It ees me zhey are after, you know.

[Her dream. Her monsters. Her death.]

Then I'd better keep you alive so they don't decide to try and go after anyone else.

[ This is said while he works on bandaging some of the deeper wounds. Her burns should be taken care of with the dermal regenerator, so long as they're not too bad. Once this is over he's probably going to attempt to drag her into the hospital either way, because he refuses to acknowledge that they might not get out of this, the both of them together. ]

[That makes her laugh, thick and bitter and miserable.]

I 'ave yet to survive zhis dream.

[And she will probably die just before midnight, no matter what you do, McCoy.]

You haven't had me in it before.

[ Or, well. He's pretty sure she hasn't. ]

Eet will not matter.

[She begins to put the gun back together, the motions just as quick, finally reloading the thing with a sharp click. She glances over her shoulder, listening closely.]

We'll see--

[ But she's listening to something and he stills, listening as well. ]

Zhere are hybrids, patrolling nearby.

[The sound is faint, but each of the beasts has a unique movement. The hybrids shuffle and moan, the lowest of the annelids, incomplete amalgamations in constant torment.]

Hybrids?

[ Time to pack up his medkit. ]

[She takes a slow, steadying breath.]

My shipmates. Zhose infected.

Jesus.

[ Yeah okay this is bad. ]

Can they be cured?

Many of zhem are already dead, zhese are just corpses walking.

[She pushes up into a crouch, staring around the corner, watching. The hybrids are not quick, many of them can be taken out before they even see her.]

And upon removal, zhe annelids release high levels of toxin into zheir former host.

[She levels the pistol, hands perfectly steady. The shot fires, straight through the creature's head. Its companion is quick to follow, charging mindlessly towards them. He falls before he is even halfway. Marie is on her feet. Time to move.]

[ Well, then he doesn't have to feel bad about taking them out. ]

Got it.

[ He follows, phaser at the ready. He's better at following when it comes to combat, but he's got her back. ]

[He has her back, for now. She is leading him away from her dreams, mostly encompassing the blocks around her apartment. She might try to leave the area herself, if she were not afraid of the creatures following her out into the city. She stops at the borderlands of it, the thermal tiling of the Von Braun suddenly giving way to concrete.]

You need to go now.

[ And that's when he stops, scowling. ]

I'm not leaving you behind with those things.

[ She may need to knock him out. ]

Zhere ees no reason to stay. Per'aps if zhere were more of us, zhere would be some point to uprising. Zhere is not. Zhere ees you and I, and eef you do not leave, you will die as I will and as zhe others 'ave.

I'm not going to let you be killed by those things.

You are many months too late for zhis.

[She begins to check the pistol over again absentmindedly. Really, she's just going to crack him across the temple with it though.]

Guess I'll have to try.

[ At least until she knocks him out. Whoops. ]

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prosopopoeia - 2012-05-14 06:32 (UTC) - Expand

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