Post by Paperbag Fill on Mar 19, 2023 21:24:00 GMT
[googlefont=Share Tech Mono][googlefont=Montserrat][googlefont=Tilt Prism]
As soon as the words left the Toian's mouth and the whine of Grim's arm began, John's sidearm became immediately holster as a mechanical arm grasped the matteress and the frame of the bed pushing and pulling forward as he vaulted over, crouched low as the first two shots rang out and soared overhead. His mechanical legs leapt forward, dashing as every modification in his body began to overclock. To do what he built for.
Protect and serve.
The girl had already hit the deck of the floor as the third bullet slammed into the side of the detective's body armor. His entire momentum and torso shifted for a moment before he forced himself to right direction and simply keep moving forward. His entire body put between the woman and the two shooters as the fourth shot glanced off of his back and shoulder. John gritted his teeth at the slight pang of pain echoed through the armor as he kept close to the girl as more shots rang out. Peacekeeper weapons were no joke, but his armor would hold up from the shots--at least until the self-repair mods kicked in along with the regen mods to fix any possible superficial damage to his organic underneath. His eyes scanning the one named Voraan as he began scuttling up those ventilation shafts like a damn space bug. That left the only other person in the room.
Grim.
John slowly turned towards the android and slowly began to rise up, putting himself between the assassin and the woman. Ready to tackle the murderbot if necessary. And he found himself met with surprise as the robot turned around and left. Nothing but a few words about how they could go and enjoy breakfast. Clankers. Never know how to read a room. Although if there was any sliver of actual intelligence or consciousness, perhaps it could be all chocked up to nervousness on the bot's part.
Riiight . . .
John did not know nor did he care as he turned to the girl. Robotics and AI were not his specialty. He only knew what he needed to know, which was first helping the girl. The alien woman appeared to have no injuries sustained on her person besides a slight bruise on her chin. At least she was alive. A small sigh of relief escaped him as he rose up to full height. A sudden electrostatic shock began to hum and soon traveled over his entire body, through the entire ship as the lights went off-and-on. For a moment, everything went dark before he began to lurch to the side. He couldn’t even gasps or clutch his chest before finding his footing once more, a hand over his chest. His vision patchy and glitching as he took several deep gulps of air into his now-working lungs.
What the hell?
Everything was still working, more or less. Vision looked like it couldn’t quite get anything right, not with everything bugging out and not giving him a clear view of anything besides what was right in front of him. And then there was that pain in his chest and everything going limp. He couldn’t breath. He couldn’t even-. Was that an EMP of some kind? Had Grim been trying to end this entire fight by killing them all through a malfunctioned life support system? A last-ditch-effort of some kind? But when could he have-?
No more questions. The android needed to be stopped, no matter what. The Toian too.
John removed his coat before slowly and thoughtfully settling it over the poor woman's frame. He felt it was almost . . . wrong to cover her as he saw those lights dance across her skin. Like every freckle on her skin had become a tiny light. It was beautiful, platonically speaking. Little solar systems and stars swirling along her skin. "Here."
A small tinge of guilt pricked the back of his mind as the thought of those lights going extinguished forever crossed his mind. Instead, he focused on talking to her.
"You're an Asteri, right? A light elf. I can tell by your glow."
I don't have time for this.
"I need to go after those two and alert the pilot what's happened. The others onboard need to know too, assuming they don't shoot me first before then."
A hand, hesitantly, reached out and touched the side of her arm. His mirrorshades retracted to reveal blue-grey cyborg eyes underneath looking into her own.
"You okay? What’s your name?"
Protect and serve.
The girl had already hit the deck of the floor as the third bullet slammed into the side of the detective's body armor. His entire momentum and torso shifted for a moment before he forced himself to right direction and simply keep moving forward. His entire body put between the woman and the two shooters as the fourth shot glanced off of his back and shoulder. John gritted his teeth at the slight pang of pain echoed through the armor as he kept close to the girl as more shots rang out. Peacekeeper weapons were no joke, but his armor would hold up from the shots--at least until the self-repair mods kicked in along with the regen mods to fix any possible superficial damage to his organic underneath. His eyes scanning the one named Voraan as he began scuttling up those ventilation shafts like a damn space bug. That left the only other person in the room.
Grim.
John slowly turned towards the android and slowly began to rise up, putting himself between the assassin and the woman. Ready to tackle the murderbot if necessary. And he found himself met with surprise as the robot turned around and left. Nothing but a few words about how they could go and enjoy breakfast. Clankers. Never know how to read a room. Although if there was any sliver of actual intelligence or consciousness, perhaps it could be all chocked up to nervousness on the bot's part.
Riiight . . .
John did not know nor did he care as he turned to the girl. Robotics and AI were not his specialty. He only knew what he needed to know, which was first helping the girl. The alien woman appeared to have no injuries sustained on her person besides a slight bruise on her chin. At least she was alive. A small sigh of relief escaped him as he rose up to full height. A sudden electrostatic shock began to hum and soon traveled over his entire body, through the entire ship as the lights went off-and-on. For a moment, everything went dark before he began to lurch to the side. He couldn’t even gasps or clutch his chest before finding his footing once more, a hand over his chest. His vision patchy and glitching as he took several deep gulps of air into his now-working lungs.
What the hell?
Everything was still working, more or less. Vision looked like it couldn’t quite get anything right, not with everything bugging out and not giving him a clear view of anything besides what was right in front of him. And then there was that pain in his chest and everything going limp. He couldn’t breath. He couldn’t even-. Was that an EMP of some kind? Had Grim been trying to end this entire fight by killing them all through a malfunctioned life support system? A last-ditch-effort of some kind? But when could he have-?
No more questions. The android needed to be stopped, no matter what. The Toian too.
John removed his coat before slowly and thoughtfully settling it over the poor woman's frame. He felt it was almost . . . wrong to cover her as he saw those lights dance across her skin. Like every freckle on her skin had become a tiny light. It was beautiful, platonically speaking. Little solar systems and stars swirling along her skin. "Here."
A small tinge of guilt pricked the back of his mind as the thought of those lights going extinguished forever crossed his mind. Instead, he focused on talking to her.
"You're an Asteri, right? A light elf. I can tell by your glow."
I don't have time for this.
"I need to go after those two and alert the pilot what's happened. The others onboard need to know too, assuming they don't shoot me first before then."
A hand, hesitantly, reached out and touched the side of her arm. His mirrorshades retracted to reveal blue-grey cyborg eyes underneath looking into her own.
"You okay? What’s your name?"