| Subject: The Retrieval of Jewels |
Author:
Polly
|
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
Date Posted: 10/24/13 10:33:36am
In reply to:
Ruger Moss
's message, "/|Kick It In the Sticks|\" on 10/23/13 6:19:47pm
Polly would be lying if she said the suddenness Ruger's loud outburst hadn't startled her a bit, but she was pretty good at not getting her feathers ruffled in such instances and her patience and experience won out. Her only visible response was to keep her eyes on the road and quirk her eyebrow slightly. She listened to him and she learned. She let him finish his demands, but she stayed quiet, agreeing to no further promise as his flash of anger blew itself out. She didn't bother explaining to him that if the demon tackled her like it had him she'd have to hit the bastard hard to get him off her, thus pissing him off. She knew he probably wasn't expecting a response after his temper cooled and she could make no promises to not defend herself when required. It was a stupid request brought on by concern and fear, but it was a human response and she couldn't fault him for it. He didn't know her, he knew the monster, he'd seen whatever carnage it had wrought.
"It's alright, Tiger, get it out of your mind," she switched back to his nickname. "I've been running from demons for eight years," it hadn't been a statement of arrogance, or an assurance of her skill. There was a grim frown that pressed her lips into a line and something like lost innocence in her eyes, "It's not easy to bear the kinds of horrors left in their wake." She simply offered him a graceful way to move on from the awkwardness, "Doesn't really sit too well with me either."
She pocketed the little marble looking device, pleased that he carefully put the container back in her bag. Those things were easy to lose and way too fucking important to get in the wrong hands, not that anyone would know what they were by looking at them. "Keep it on you," she reminded one more time. "Blue will be fine without, it only locks onto humanoids," she muttered.
"It's funny you mention that, I am rather concerned about what they might be packing. If it was Connolly then I can assume they know a lot more about what to expect from me than I would like." Worse, Polly had no idea if Connolly was just going after the kid or if they were trying to bring her in as well. The girl was worth a fortune from the bounty on her own, far more than enough to tempt a decent man to sin and Connolly was no saint to begin with, but Polly didn't think he'd fuck himself this bad. "You are absolutely my wild card tonight, Tiger. No one's going to see you boys coming."
Polly had been watching the screen of her little tablet with her full attention when the truck fishtailed a bit and Ruger managed to get them back on course. Some small part of her mind was a little thrilled at the roughness of battling through all this mud and the skill it took to keep them going. She listened as Ruger responded to what she recalled about the area they were headed to, a wicked little smirk curling just the corners of her mouth at his words.
In the middle of this wild, volatile weather Polly felt so connected to the anger and insistence of the storm, but even she was caught off guard by the bolt of lightning that slammed into the tree. She could feel the secrets searing into her eyes, the things she couldn't understand. She was absolutely dazzled between the blinding image and the explosion of thunder that followed. A second later, the same boom of thunder reached Jewels, who jumped and squealed, her voice coming in over the Bluetooth still clipped to Polly's ear.
Polly didn't even register Ruger's frustration as her eyes flashed back to the screen. The kid was fine, a little shaken and definitely muddier, but fine. Polly heard Ruger's words. She didn't need to delay Jewels, Jewels needed to make it there as quickly as possible. As soon as the vampires figured out the kid wasn't in the house, which would be quick, they'd start following her scent and Polly didn't want to make any guesses about their tracking skills in this weather because if she was wrong the stakes were too high. Ruger was already out to clear the road when Polly spoke, "Easy kiddo, it's just the storm. I'm right here. You're fine. I can see you. The raptor is doing fine in this wind. Stay behind it."
"Thanks Polly. I'm almost halfway there!"
She reached down into the back and pulled out a few more things before dumping the contents of a random bag out in her duffle and filling it up with new items that Ruger might find useful. She wasn't sure what he would need, or how good he was at putting stuff together, so she just gave him a diverse little set of toys. After that, she checked the batteries in her spare comm device and kept it separate.
When Ruger hopped back in the truck, looking like swamp thing, despite the intense situation, Polly found herself snorting at his somewhat comical appearance, a fiery and serious and covered in mud. She was quite sure she'd never seen someone covered in that much before. Except maybe Jewels currently, who had coated the entire front of her rain slicker with it. She waited until Ruger was able to get the truck moving again to answer his question, "She's doing fine, still on time. If I'd known she'd be this motivated her room would be a hell of a lot cleaner."
Polly felt relief when they made it to the top. The drive had been a mad scramble up the side of a mountain, but it felt like it had taken so much longer than the leisurely drive she'd taken the first time she'd looked out over the land here and felt something in her stir. Here, in the middle of the most violent storm Polly had ever had to fight with, it still stirred something in her as her eyes gazed out over all that wild. The city lights way off in the distance were like tiny little fireflies, too dim to bother that light in the sky, which at the moment was lightning instead of stars. Ruger, as far as she was concerned, had done his part and anything else would be bonus.
She met his eyes as he imparted his last bits of advice. When he mentioned her acrobatics, her little smirk returned. "I remember, I remember, I'll be gentle with your ticker," she promised with a sassy tone. "Here, take this with you," She handed him the ear piece. "Old model, the channel on that one stays open, so I'll hear whatever the mic picks up and you'll hear Jewels and me when I want you to," she winked. "Don't want anyone getting lost out here if plans change quick like. Unless shit really hits the fan we shouldn't be far enough away from each others to worry about range." She knew he could probably track them, but it'd be fucking difficult with the torrential weather and time was of the essence.
Polly knew all bets were off if she had to take shelter underground, but that was absolutely her last plan. She just didn't fuck around in tunnels, she knew better from all the creatures she'd pinned down in them waiting for back up...or for those few terrible instances where she'd actually been forced to go in deep for one reason or another. The dungeoneers, as they referred to themselves, were the ones who actually preferred those cases and generally had shortest life spans in all ranking lists. Going into a place like that, hunting the creatures that made it their home, it was as dangerous as it fucking got. And the number of rookies that had died, alone and undignified in those terrible places still haunted her. As soon as Polly had enough rank to be choosy she stopped getting involved in those cases; they were too damn traumatic. She had no love of being under the earth. And that was in caverns in civilized areas. Polly had no intention of escaping vampires to let a mountain eat any of them.
She tossed him the pouch of goodies, no bigger than her hand. "For luck," she said, "You never know when you'll need to make your own."
She watched him hop out of the truck and opened her door as well. She'd only packed a really thick vest that would have been a lot more effective with sleeves, but she'd just zipped it up when he called back at her. She grinned at him and called back playfully, "Don't worry about me, Tiger. I've got a fishin' date to get to!" She chuckled to herself. She was almost done securing everything she needed to take. She was going to be hands free for a lot of the next bit.
The very last thing she grabbed before hopping out was her goggles, which she promptly put on. The frigid rain hit her like the wall of fucking water it was and immediately she was overcoming with shaking so bad stumbled into the truck. "J-jesus C-c-christ!" There was nothing she could do about it, her entire body seized violently against the cold and she was frozen for a moment. "What the fuck, Ruger, seriously? Are you part yeti?" she growled, quite relieved that would not be relayed to his comm. The rigid tremors didn't cease until Polly's entire body felt like it had cooled to the same temperature. Her hair was drenched and easy to slick back in a band so it stayed out of the way.
A deep breath in with a frigid gust of air, a step forward at a crack of lightning, movement shivering with thunder; she was finding her place in this chaos and once she'd listened to its warring rhythm she knew how to move through it. Before she knew it she was setting up the rope, her fingers nimbly tying the knots she needed without behind hindered by icy numbness. Her vision wasn't hampered at all by the weather, her goggles were truly one of the best things Jewels's mother had ever made for Polly. When she was sure it was secure she set herself up with the rope as needed and looked down into the rocky depths of the ridge.
Maybe if the sun had been out, Polly would have genuinely enjoyed what she was about to do. She loved the storms, but rock climbing in a lightning storm was about as stupid as it got, especially with such an abrupt set up as this had been. She was pretty sure granite conducted lightning, for fucks sake, but Jewels was going to be there and it was up to Polly to get to her and to giude her to safety. Polly had already risked death for the girl, she'd already taken on the responsibility of being the one who had to do these sorts of things when Jewels was in danger. So, rain, wind, or mother fucking lightning, Polly was going to be there.
She crouched on the edge, switching her view so she could see through Jewels for a moment, and then her progress. "How you doing, kiddo? You're almost to the clearing."
"I'm not going to lie, Polly, this test sucks and it's the meanest one you've ever come up with. But seriously if it proves to you I deserve a puppy then I don't care if my toes freeze off." There was a slight paused before she added, "And I don't want to have to eat brocolli for a week because of this."
Polly snorted. Through her comm she responded in a dry voice, "Careful kiddo, you catch a cold and Leroy's gonna make you eat spicy soup for a week."
"Bleh! I don't like the bones!" Polly watched her slow down, shaking like a dog in disgust. She could just imagine Jewels sticking her tongue out, despite the weather.
"Keep moving brat."
"How do you always know?" Jewels started trotting again.
Polly was distracted by digital alert. She'd set up a warning so she'd no when the vampires were driving up to the house. It wasn't but a second after stopping that they were using their super speed to get into the house to start their search. "Honey, you're almost here, I need you to hurry though. You're running out of time. I'm coming down now, I wanna see you in the treeline when I reach the ground, okay?"
"I think I can do that," she huffed, but she picked up her pace, scrambling along.
"Ruger, they're pulling in." she gave him the update. She'd had the comms open, except for Jewels, who only heard Polly. Ruger could adjust the volume and power as he wished. For some, hearing the 'mission chatter' was a good thing, a sign of life, for others it was a distraction. She assumed he'd let her know which.
With a deep breath and not much else in the way of preamble, she began to rappel her way down the rocky edge of earth. The leather sheath on her gloves gripped the rope well and she was able control her fall between that and her superior ability to judge sight and distance. She was able to be quick and picky about her footing. There were only a few spots she zoomed by that she thought might be trouble on a return trip. At least it wasn't nearly as windy now.
And then about thirty feet down there was a little ledge and a hella ominous cave with a wide entrance and she didn't like the look of it on sight. Polly repelled right over it and kept going. She only slipped once when her boots hit a place that was more mud and less rock, but she'd been able to slide with it and hopped free a moment after.
As soon as her feet touched the ground she scanned the immediate area for threats again and then crouched, ignoring the torrents of rain, and checked on everyone's progress. Jewels was twenty feet inside the forest and both of the vampires were still in the house...good sign. Using her goggles as a guide to pick a way through the grass that wouldn't be an absolute swamp she made a nonsensical path through the tall grass, crouching low and disappearing into the vegetation. She didn't want to make a trail to follow, so she was careful about where she put her feet. It wasn't perfect, but she did have the shitty weather on her side to screw up any of her sloppier slip ups.
As soon as she emerged from the grass on the other side Jewels ran up and hugged her, wrapping her cushioned little arms around Polly's hips tightly. "Shit, Polly-wolly, you're an ice cube."
"Julia Marie! Polly chided. "What would Leroy say?"
"He'd say you're a damn ice cube!" The girl didn't quite manage to dodge the swipe the older woman sent her way, straight to whap the back side of her head.
"Come on, kid, the timer is ticking..." Polly walked forward, knowing Jewels would be her silent shadow.
Jewels was actually very suited to this. Her gear, unlike Polly's, was crafted to keep the weather out and to work as light armor. She was used to sneaking around nimbly, playing at escaping and hiding even before Polly had hold of her. She was precocious and she was sly. Polly was teaching her to be meticulous and she was happy to see that Jewels was practicing this by placing her feet in the exact prints she left. She was such a smart kid, honestly, Polly didn't know if she was smarter than Jewels.
The raptor was visible as soon as it cleared the treeline. It was a giant toy helicopter, and really, with the tech and weapons it had on board it was really more comparable to a drone. The thing probably weighed more than Jewels. It was nearly silent when there was no noise, but now it was drowned out completely by the elements. It was exactly the reason Polly and Ruger needed those little black markers. Polly had intentionally designed the raptor to only recognize Jewels on patrol mode. She hadn't really had time to program it to Terrance yet and her and Leroy knew not to fuck around with the thing when they weren't prepared.
It didn't take them long to make their way out the other side again. They were at the base of the ridge when another alert came, this was the warning that the vampires had left the house and were now searching around for clues.
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
| |
