Domino City Duel Academy

"Let's get a move on then. Since they came from that way, maybe we should go the other?" Felicia points at the opposite direction, "Dinah, remember this location, just in case we need to teleport away from more of them." The red-head notes, taking note of how using their spells has left Yoko, and Julia a bit exhausted. Where are you Adam. She thinks to herself, clenching her fists as she's almost useless in this situation.

 

"Mmh." Seth grunts. The gun is heavier than the movies make it look. With a shaky grip, Adam presses on.

Peering through the clear curtain, he sees a large, warehouse-like room with a collection of canvas-walled bunks lining both sides of a narrow aisle. Seth's spell continued straight from the entrance, so Adam shouldn't have to worry about anyone from the left side of the walkway getting the drop on him, assuming it works as well as it did on those first two soldiers.

Spoiler: Stealth Roll

67=67 success

After passing the first two sets of bunks, both empty, the Frenchman spots a pair of soldiers. Both of them are hurriedly throwing open their footlockers, presumably retrieving their weapons. One, a dark-haired, broad-chested man with an obviously fake eye, looks considerably tougher and more experienced than the other, a relatively scrawny young man with his back turned to Adam. Neither have noticed the student yet, but the grizzled veteran, with his locker near the translucent curtain serving as a door, will see Adam if he isn't careful.

Spoiler: Veteran

 

As Julia emerged from cover and collected her breath, she caught a glimpse of the body that was left by her rain of ice shards. It was fairly bloody and seeing the results for herself made her visibly flinch, even if she tried to keep her smile.

"I didn't know I could do that." She joked about it, but her thoughts read on her face.

Did I just kill that guy?

Even as she thought about it, she....found the emotions somewhat mixed. She was more surprised at her own indifference. She didn't exactly enjoy it, but given what the options were between choosing herself or him, the answer was quite easy. Circumstances had forced her hand and a non lethal approach wasn't exactly something as a readily available option. Yet, she still had to wonder if she was just more capable with her magic then they're might have been another way. Even a being like Yoko wasn't left with many options with of her amazing abilities, but Julia still found herself weighing the idea of trying to determine if she took the life of someone who didn't need to be killed.

Though...it wasn't for as long as she probably thought she should have dwelled on it. At the end of the day, he still planned to kill them, and had she not done it first, it would have been them. It was the same reason that while maybe she didn't advocate hurting people, Carly needed to be dealt with.

"Well, hate to say it. Dwelling on it won't bring him back. Even if I knew where to begin with mimicking a monster reborn thing, I'm not sure that would be for the best. If any of use are left alive, they can worry about all the ethics of it later."

 

Knowing that any attempt to fight the big guy will probably end badly, Adam rushes forward. He initially goes for the vet, to make the guy prepare to defend himself, before pressing his gun against the skull of the rookie. "Hands in the air, or I blow his fucking brains out!" He snarls, using his naturally dominant tone.

 

"Yes, mistress." Dinah's hands fall to her sides as she nods, her speed-altering spell abandoned. The quartet continue their foray, advancing through the underground corridor.

"Who is 'him?'" Yoko gives Julia a questioning look before realizing what the professor means. "Ah. The soldier. Never killed a man before?" She hesitates. The group's footsteps clack on the hard tile floor. A second or two passes before the illusionist speaks again, her voice low and bitter. "Consider yourself lucky." Her expression hard, Yoko pointedly looks straight ahead as the women approach a set of grey, metal doors. They are not labeled. The corridor continues, bending to the left, should the rescue party not wish to investigate.

Spoiler: Perception Rolls

Felicia 39+20(Perceptive)= 59 weak success
Julia 23= 23 fail

Felicia hears multiple people running in the distance. The sounds of the clamor echo off the walls behind the quartet. They are not near enough to be an immediate concern, but the reinforcements have reached their dead comrades.

 

Caught unawares, the veteran instinctively raises his arms to fight Adam off, allowing the French student to reach the newer soldier unabated.

Spoiler: Intimidate Roll

61+20(Dominating)-10(Hardened)= 71 success

The rookie, unsurprisingly, immediately thrusts his hands out in front of him. The lid of his footlocker falls, slamming shut. A word gets caught in his throat. Only a wimper escapes his lips. The older man considers the situation for a moment, calculating, before sighing and raising his arms over his head. "Good job, kid." His voice is gravely and weathered. "Got the whole place on alert and you still snuck up on me."

Spoiler: Perception Roll

13= 13 fail

[I'm not sure if I should apply Poker Face. It depends on whether Adam's threat is bluffing or genuine.]

 

As they come across the metal doors, Felicia's frowns as she hears the incoming footsteps. "I think their backup is coming." She informs the group, "She we check what's inside... maybe even get lucky so we find a place to hide?" The red-head said, trying to gauge how far away the footsteps were.

 

(I think he's borderline at the moment, but still on the bluffing side. If the guy changes his demeanor, though, Adam's willingness to kill him might change.)
"Oh, tres bien! I was really looking for validation of my skills from a bunch of rapist soldier assholes." Adam snarls, finger on the trigger. "Turn around and lie on your stomach, with your hands behind your head." He orders the older man.

 

"It's our best option for now." She agreed with Felicia's assesment that they didn't have much time to wait.

"It's going to be more than I want to use at this rate, but I might be able to freeze the doors solid behind."

Julia didn't bother explaining the whole thought process, but she doubted the soldiers would be carrying breaching explosives on them for their own facility. It would most likely annoy and just stall them, but while taxing, could give some much needed time to recover if they have to circle back around just to get to another entry point and at least just enough time to escape out of their sight.

 

Opening the door just enough to peek through, Felicia, and Julia if she chooses to look, sees a huge, hanger-like room. A small collection of vehicles, including semi-trucks, vans, and armored personnel carriers, sit lined up within individual docks. They almost resemble ships in port. Mechanics and technicians in jumpsuits are scattered through the garage, working and idling. There's another pair of doors on the other side of the expansive room, far from the quartet of women.

Spoiler: Motor Pool

Spoiler: Perception Roll

37+20(Perceptive)-10(Noise)=47 weak fail

Felicia can barely hear the footsteps over all the noise made by the mechanics working. The soldiers are still behind her, but she can't tell how far away they are.

 

[Alright, thanks.]

Spoiler: Intimidate Roll

58+20(Dominating)+20(Poker Face)-10(Hardened)= 88 success

He waits a moment, giving Adam a reproachful yet assessing glare, before turning about face. Keeping his hands visible, the false-eyed man lowers himself to the cold floor and then interlocks his fingers on the back of his scalp. "Listen here, kid." The veteran soldier rumbles from the ground. "All I do is guard this junk heap. If you got a problem, it ain't with me. Or the rookie. We'll come quietly."

Spoiler: Perception Roll

29 = 29 fail

With Adam's attention locked on the more experienced fighter, he fails to notice the younger soldier he's holding at gunpoint gathering courage. The rookie ducks down to one knee, drawing a bowie knife from his boot before the Frenchman can stop him. With only a split second to react, what does Adam intend to do?

 

Adam gasps in surprise and almost hesitates, but then the vision of his cell and the angry Portuguese woman tied up there flashes in his mind. He presses the gun against the rookie's knife hand and pulls the trigger.

 

"There's so many people here." Felicia mumbles, sharing what she saw with the group. "What do you think? Should risk going for the door on the other side of this... garage?" She asked, frowning as she failed to determine how long they have. "Dinah, how much energy will you need to teleport us all right next to the door?"

 

[For hand-to-hand fights I've been doing a momentum based scale to determine who wins, but, when fights use more dangerous weapons like firearms, I think it makes sense to use normal rolls in order to reflect the difference. Is that alright? Feel free to veto me on this one.]

Spoiler: Combat Roll

Adam 64 = 64
Rookie 34+10(Trained) = 44

Acting quickly, Adam manages to take hold of the rookie's forearm and line up the gun within a second. A ear-splitting bang fills the room and the spent casing is ejected from the pistol. Recoil jolts Adam's wrist up, revealing a gaping hole in the fresh soldier's hand. The knife clatters on the floor. The Frenchman's attacker cries out in pain. Defeated, it's former wielder slumps forward, nursing his wound.
For his part, the older soldier remains on the floor, hands at his head. "Whichever one of you is still alive, the other idiot had it coming." His voice is remarkably nonchalant, considering what he just heard.

 

@Arachna

"It shouldn't be too draining, mistress. No more than..." Dinah does some mental math. "...a quarter of my energy, at worst, if there's a hidden ward nearby. Considering the lack of mages so far, I should be fine."
"For what it's worth, we can go down the hall too if you don't fancy wearing out your toy." Yoko gives Felicia an devious, unsettling smile.

 

(Seems fine to me.)
Adam gasps in shock, the recoil, the scent of blood and gunsmoke filling his senses, before he's jolted back to the present by the veteran's words. "Both idiots are still alive. Get up and bandage this guy's hand with a bedsheet, then tie him up with it, so he stays that way." Adam stoops down to grab the knife and sheath and tuck it into his waistband, next to the other pistol. "Then get back to the position you were in before." He orders, standing back so that the man can't make any quick moves and disarm him.

 

"I'm just thinking about every possibility." Felicia replied, closing the door. "You only need to see the place once, right?" She asks Dinah, "Then let's head down the hall first." She looks at Julia, wondering if the professor had anything to add.

 

"We best keep our energy consvered as much as possible. There's no telling how many they're are and if this place was designed to hold people with attunement, it's likely we haven't even come across their deeper defenses yet. Better to be prepared for when the time comes. I very much doubt that if we get caught by the grunts, they'll just challenge us to a duel."

 

"Mhm" The older soldier pushes himself to his feet and turns around. His good eye coolly assesses what happened. "Hey, Graham, I told you so." He strides to the wounded man's side, and then pulls the sheet off the nearest bed. The veteran tears a wide strip from it to dress his comrade's hand. While working on the bandage, he tells Adam "That's going to bring more here. Soon. What's the plan here, kid? Sheets won't keep me tied for long."
"You live. Good." Seth, still stumbling more than walking, pushes through the makeshift door to the bunk. "Why are you wasting time with them?"

 

"I look like I have a plan? My plan is shoot anyone trying to take me back to my cell. Back on the floor." When the man is lying down, Adam gives him a hard whack with the pistol's handle. "Nothing personal." Checking that the man is unconscious, Adam turns to Seth. "Just want to make sure they don't follow us. Open the footlockers and grab their weapons - if you're not able to use magic, a gun will have to do."