Protecting the Water Way
Sep. 24th, 2011 11:52 pmThe door opens onto what can only be described as an urban wasteland. "Don't worry," Ellen calls from Shiphrah and Puah's back, "all the mutants that used to live here are dead. Just don't let your horse go in the water, okay?"
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Date: 2011-09-25 05:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-25 06:04 pm (UTC)Up ahead, the Arlington Memorial Bridge is coming into sight. So is the rump of a Brahmin loaded down with massive yellow-painted metal barrels, and a few human figures scattered around it.
"Hey, I think that's them!"
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Date: 2011-09-25 06:08 pm (UTC)William nods and gets going to a canter.
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Date: 2011-09-25 06:26 pm (UTC)... and the first to see the armored bandits stepping out of the shadows under the bridge, their assault rifles raised and ready.
There's going to be a lot of gunfire in a moment.
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Date: 2011-09-25 06:33 pm (UTC)He slows his horse down so that hopefully he ends up in front of the caravan and not out on his own with the bandits.
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Date: 2011-09-25 06:39 pm (UTC)The other bandit is busy firing on the caravan driver, who goes down like a poleaxed mule, and then on the Rivet City officers, who're diving behind whatever cover they can find and shooting back. Oh, and there's green fire streaking through the air from behind, too- Ellen's going after Will's bandit, just to be on the safe side.
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Date: 2011-09-25 06:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-25 06:54 pm (UTC)It's just that some of that gunfire was intended for the bandit, and while Ellen's usually precise and accurate with her shots, she's not really used to making them from a moving platform while someone else is crossing her line of fire. William's going to get a hell of a partial thickness burn where the plasma bolt grazes him.
Although he may not notice just yet. The sight of two more plasma bolts striking the bandit and reducing him to a faintly luminescent pile of green goo can be kinda distracting.
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Date: 2011-09-25 06:57 pm (UTC)William almost drops his rifle before taking the reins with both hands and saying, "Shh, we ain't dead."
That's when he feels the burn and stares at his arm.
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Date: 2011-09-25 06:59 pm (UTC)"What just- what just happened?" asks one of the officers. He doesn't seem to know whether to stare at the plasma puddle or the horse or the fact that someone is riding a damn cow.
"Officer Lepelletier sent me to follow you because of the bandits," Ellen says. "Um. You'd... um, I need to take care of my friend there...."
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Date: 2011-09-25 07:04 pm (UTC)He keeps staring at his arm and he's going to have to fix his shirt and jacket and explain it to his mother.
Les whinnies and William turns him towards the caravan.
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Date: 2011-09-25 07:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-25 09:07 pm (UTC)He's still in shock from the whole situation but he makes sure Ellen can see his arm.
The plasma blast hit a long strip from his shoulder to his elbow and he's starting to shake because his skin shouldn't bubble.
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Date: 2011-09-26 01:37 am (UTC)And because she doesn't want him to wig out any further from looking at the kind of burn a plasma bolt can leave.
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Date: 2011-09-26 01:40 am (UTC)"Right, lookin' at them."
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Date: 2011-09-26 01:48 am (UTC)It'll be the itching of six weeks of healing happening in the space of several minutes. Not the kind of thing one usually handles easily, but... at least it's over with quickly, right?
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Date: 2011-09-26 01:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-26 01:54 am (UTC)She'll hold his arm still herself during the healing process, just in case. It's not something you want to take chances on. She's been wearing armor and wielding all kinds of things long enough to have a surprising amount of arm strength, too.
"There," she finally says when she releases him. "Is that better?"
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Date: 2011-09-26 02:01 am (UTC)He's grateful for her hand holding him down and with his other hand grips his horse's reins and tries not to think too much about what's happening.
When she releases him, he looks over at his arm and says,
"Y.yeah, thank you. I'm goin' to have to mend this before I go home."
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Date: 2011-09-26 02:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-26 02:04 am (UTC)Her firmness helps him and he tries to pull himself together after all he survived that day in Contention. He can do this.
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Date: 2011-09-26 02:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-26 02:16 am (UTC)He wants to feel useful and not think about the pile of goo that used to be man and how a few minutes ago his arm was bubbling.
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Date: 2011-09-26 02:25 am (UTC)She could do it just as easily herself, but she's got to see if there's anything left that could give her a hint about where these bandits came from, and people get really uncomfortable when they see you searching corpses or sticking your hand in goo piles.
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Date: 2011-09-26 02:30 am (UTC)He rides over to where Shiphrah and Puah are being loaded and makes a few suggestions about making the load a little more even.
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