[action/video]

[candothat]

[action]

[Somewhere outside of City Solutions, Chekov is doing what he can to help others escape The Things running about today (or slithering around, as the case may be). Mostly, that involves shooting The Things with one of the laser guns he made when he first entered the City.

That's what he was doing, anyway. The gun has stopped working and Chekov, with his engineering knowledge temporarily traded away, can't get it running again. He's tried pushing buttons, removing and replacing parts, hitting the stupid thing, swearing at it in a variety of languages... and it's not responding. He grudgingly pulls out his network device.]

Derrmo... Pavel, you are an idiot. Trading away knowledge...


[video]

Howl, Sophie. If either of you are home, would you please go into my room and see if--

[A scraping sound. Chekov pauses. Behind him, a manhole cover lifts and is pushed aside by what might have been, in a previous life, a set of hands--gnarled, knuckle bones visible through a glistening coat of slime and rot.

Even as he turns to look, something whips out of the manhole and wraps itself around Chekov's legs. It drags him towards the hole and the grabbing hands. The young man yelps and reaches for the useless gun, but it's too far away. He twists and hits the thing around his legs with the only weapon at hand: his network device.

The picture flickers. The quality of the feed is poor, but a swearing Chekov is visible, halfway down the manhole, holding on to a crack in the cement above ground to prevent the creature from dragging him under. He slams his network device on the ground and--]


[action]

[--disappears from view, a jagged, broken piece of plastic--a remnant of the network device--firmly in hand.

There's nothing for a minute.

Two minutes.

A bloodied hand grasps the rim of the manhole. Chekov hauls himself up onto the relative safety of the cement, filthy and bleeding but very much alive. He has the presence of mind to replace the manhole cover.]

Eto pizdets...

Comments

action!

[anatural]

[Korra is limping through the streets, doing her best to stay out of sight of the monsters. She's still got fight in her, but even she knows that at this point, caution is the better part of valor.

She catches sight of Chekov coming out out of a manhole.]

Chekov! Are you okay?

action!

[candothat]

[He turns towards her (narrowly avoiding falling over in the process), ready to fight. It takes a moment for his brain to catch up with his adrenaline-fueled body.]

Korra. [Good, now he can sit down.] I think I killed it.

action!

[anatural]

[Woah boy! Korra reaches out to catch his arm, afraid he's going to fall.]

Congrats. This isn't the place to rest. We need to get inside.

action!

[candothat]

[Good catch! Chekov's right leg decides not to work, sending him all but falling onto Korra. It's a good thing he's light.]

You need to get inside. I doubt I will be walking anywhere.

action!

[anatural]

[Oof!]

You got that right.

[She heaves him up over her shoulder.]

Let's go.

[mightbeconcussed]

[Lucy catches the tail end of that video, just enough to see Chekov being dragged into the manhole. It's enough to incite a small amount of panic. She's spent the day holed up in her flat, watching the network to see how her friends were faring. This has her throwing on a pair of jeans, a jacket and some hefty puppy stomper boots. She fishes her laser screw driver out of her purse and sticks an Alabama ball cap on her head.

By the time she finds him, she's lasered more than a couple of slime things and is entirely freaked out. She's holding the laser screwdriver out in front of her, a little trigger happy on the button (she might have blown up a flower planter that was covered in slime) and she's near tears just from the sheer horror of the whole thing. It's stress and panic more than it's any kind of sadness.]

Pavel!

[candothat]

[Chekov is sitting on the manhole cover, not entirely sure that he's up for going anywhere. He has, however, armed himself with what's left of his broken network device, which he points at Lucy--until it registers that it is Lucy and not something monstrous and hungry.]

Lucy! What are you doing?

[Probably a stupid question, but she really should be inside.]

[mightbeconcussed]

[She takes a couple of steps to swat him on the arm, not hard as she doesn't know what's wrong with him just yet.] I thought you were dead!

[candothat]

[Lucy gets a half-hearted 'ow' for that, more because it's the thing to say than anything else. He's still running on endorphins and adrenaline; that makes it hard to assess what actually hurts.] And you hit me because I am not?

[mightbeconcussed]

No! I hit you because you scared me half to death! I thought you were dead in a ditch somewhere.

[She gives him a once over.]

Can you walk? If we can get back to my flat, I've got a first aid kit.

Manholes~

[mortemscintilla]

[ He keeps to the shadows. Clutching a misshapen pipe, filthy and bruised, he resembles a zombie-movie refugee. (But there's a throwing knife in his boot, two small explosives in his coat, and a dagger under the belt at his spine). He watches Chekov wrangle the sewer-monster. Only when the young man reappears does 'Li' show himself. ]

Ch-Ch-Chekov?

[ There's a convincing tremor in his voice. ]

Manholes~

[candothat]

[Chekov holds the mangled remains of his network device defensively from his current position on the ground. But no, that's not a monster--that's Li. Li's harmless.]

Li, why are you not inside?

Re: Manholes~

[mortemscintilla]

[ As harmless as anthrax. ] Me? What're you doing out here? [ He steps closer, offering Chekov a hand up. ] Never mind that. Are you okay? [ Even as he speaks, he's hyperware of any looming threats. Skills honed in a warzone never go away. ]

Manholes~

[candothat]

[He waves Li's hand away. The help is appreciated, but Chekov is reasonably sure that one of his legs is broken. Li doesn't look... sturdy.] I was helping, and I will be fine, thank you. I think this one is dead.

Manholes~

[mortemscintilla]

[ He's spent years in battle. He recognizes a potential fracture. His analytical mind is already forming steps. First things first. Determine how severe the break is. Find the best way to move Chekov to a safer spot. Put the leg in a splint if possible. Call for medical assistance. ]

[ Assuming his nervous, jittery 'Li-face,' he crouches. ]

Are you sure you're okay?

Can you stand?

russian/video;

[majorcrotchgrab]

Pavel...!

[Oh, sometimes he wishes he wasn't so cowardly...]

russian/video;

[candothat]

[It takes quite a while for a response to come through. Chekov looks like hell, so he must have lived.]

Ivan. Did you live through the curse?

russian/video;

[majorcrotchgrab]

I did. I was with Nathan... Are you alright?

russian/video;

[candothat]

Good. Who is Nathan?

I'll live, regretfully. [That wasn't serious. He likes being alive.]

russian/video;

[majorcrotchgrab]

My lover.

And I'm glad you're alive.

video;

[infernoandhearth]

[One of him knows Chekov better, so...Chloe it is. She doesn't know him very well, though, and he's Russian, so last name it is.]

Chekov? You've left me rather in suspense, you know: did you live through that?

video;

[candothat]

Unfortunately, yes, but I believe I won the fight.

Chloe, how are you?

video;

[infernoandhearth]

[Luke gives him a long, concerned look for a while, and then nods. She looks undamaged, if rather tired and a bit pale.]

Good. I'd have been cross with the City if it had happened otherwise. And I'm well. [She lifts a shovel into frame and waves it about briefly. Is there blood on it? It's difficult to tell before she places it down again.] Quite a few of them stay there if you slam them back into the ground.

video;

[candothat]

You seem very capable. Did things like this often happen at home?

video;

[infernoandhearth]

All the time. [Luke smiles brightly.] I find it's really often best to be prepared.