In the Sewers
The Death Mage trapped her in another tangle of black tentacles, and Noelle struggled not to panic, hoping that Jack would be able to get to him quickly, distract him for a second so she could get free. The vague claustrophobic feeling she occasionally got was worse than usual, down in the bowels of the abandoned sewer network below Paragon City. Not as bad as a cave, but still...
Jack threw a glacier around the mage, and while his attention was focused on breaking free from his own immobilization, Noelle was finally able to pull away from the black trap. She reinforced the ice cage around the mage, then called Jack to follow her, hightailing it away from the dead end tunnel where she'd been attacked.
These tunnels – jeez, it was crazy. What the Thornies hadn't tried to claim, the Rikti were fighting for, and both of them had nothing on the misshapen humanoids blobs that lurked in the sewage, and the slimy tentacles that came up through the muck, pitching some kinda of acidic stew at anyone unlucky enough to disturb them. Noelle ran past a cluster of them, caught for a second as one twirled its length around her wrist, tugging at her, her skin sizzling at the contact. The flash of pain gave her a surge of strength, and she sent a wave of ice down her arm as she tugged away. Frozen, the tentacle couldn't release, but she slammed it against a pipe, dashing it to pieces as she moved on.
She ran forward, randomly turning corners, ducking past another group of Mages, throwing down an ice slick to keep a bunch of Rikti monkeys from following her, and finally found a quiet nook to catch her breath and get her bearings. Perched on top of an old pipe, with Jack below to guard her from anyone approaching, Noelle grabbed her wrist PDA and pulled up a map of the sewers.
Well, tried to pull up a map of the sewers. Something... gooey... coated the device, and even after she wiped it off against her pants, she still couldn't pull up anything useful. Stupid tentacles, she thought. Pressing a few more buttons, she attempted to call out on the Storm Knights frequency, but got an electric shock for her troubles.
"This ain't good, Jack," Noelle muttered to the ice man, fiddling around with a few more buttons, and earning herself another small jolt. "Bugger!"
She blew a breath of cold air on her fingers, and shook her hand as she stared at the unresponsive screen. "Ok, don't panic. No need to panic. You can find your way out. There's loads of exits, ways back up to the surface. You just need to find one. You can do it. And maybe no one will notice you as you look for it..."
Noelle took a deep breath, then another, and jumped down from her perch. Wishing she had some sort of swanky stealth power, like some of her friends, she instead wrapped herself in a protective force field, and after an eeny-meeny-miney-mo moment at a crossroads of tunnels, set off on a search for an exit.
_____________
"Ok, this is getting ridiculous."
It felt like hours later, though Noelle had no way of checking, having long ago given up on wearing a watch when she had her PDA. She thought – no, she knew – that she'd have to toss her pants, as covered as they were in the stench and sludge of the sewers. She couldn't even bear to think of the state of her boots. Her hair fell around her face, half in and half out of her usually neat ponytail, and as she pushed it out of her eyes, she spread another streak of grime across her forehead. Streak...
She poked at her PDA again, but even the shocks were getting haphazard. Still, she hit the button that would normally open a comm channel, and tried sending another message, as she’d been doing on and off for... well, it seemed like ages. "Streak? Hello? Anyone?"
Nothing.
A Rikti soldier lumbered around a corner and tried to take a swipe at her with its gi-normous blade, but she tossed a force bolt at him, picking him up and throwing him against the tunnel wall, freezing him into place. "Jack!" she called, leaving the alien to her ice buddy as a robed archer came at her from the other side, firing a crossbow bolt, which she avoided, barely. The shaft whizzed by the exposed flesh of her upper arm, leaving a trail of blood, and Noelle rushed him and whaled on him, forgoing her ice powers momentarily to rely on brute force, and the punch combination she'd learned from the Baron. With reinforcements no doubt ready to pour in, Noelle threw another punch, and briefly, momentarily wondered if it wouldn't be easier to just take the beating, call up the hospital transporter, and deal with the medical bills later.
As Jack turned from the defeated Rikti to help with the archer, Noelle sighed. Yeah, with my luck, she thought, that's futzed up too, and I'll end up in an even worse place. If that's even possible.
Noelle glanced at the tunnel behind her, which seemed to open up into a larger room, and hopefully, a place she could hole up for a bit and take a break. With another swing of his ice sword, Jack took care of the archer, and Noelle took off down the tunnel, crossing her fingers. Jack collapsed and melted back into the air, as Noelle vaulted over a group of Rikti and made for a platform at the far side of the room, tucking herself behind another pipe, her heart racing. She bit her lip, and peeked around the pipe, hoping not to come face to face with a wall of enemies...
But it seemed ok. The Rikti were caught up in something else, playing with a portal or some other device – Noelle didn't want to know. For the moment, she was safe, and as she fiddled with her PDA once again with a growing sense of futility, she sent off another call.
"Hello, anyone? I could use a little help down here."
Static.
... and then, a garbled voice through the electronic noise.
Jack threw a glacier around the mage, and while his attention was focused on breaking free from his own immobilization, Noelle was finally able to pull away from the black trap. She reinforced the ice cage around the mage, then called Jack to follow her, hightailing it away from the dead end tunnel where she'd been attacked.
These tunnels – jeez, it was crazy. What the Thornies hadn't tried to claim, the Rikti were fighting for, and both of them had nothing on the misshapen humanoids blobs that lurked in the sewage, and the slimy tentacles that came up through the muck, pitching some kinda of acidic stew at anyone unlucky enough to disturb them. Noelle ran past a cluster of them, caught for a second as one twirled its length around her wrist, tugging at her, her skin sizzling at the contact. The flash of pain gave her a surge of strength, and she sent a wave of ice down her arm as she tugged away. Frozen, the tentacle couldn't release, but she slammed it against a pipe, dashing it to pieces as she moved on.
She ran forward, randomly turning corners, ducking past another group of Mages, throwing down an ice slick to keep a bunch of Rikti monkeys from following her, and finally found a quiet nook to catch her breath and get her bearings. Perched on top of an old pipe, with Jack below to guard her from anyone approaching, Noelle grabbed her wrist PDA and pulled up a map of the sewers.
Well, tried to pull up a map of the sewers. Something... gooey... coated the device, and even after she wiped it off against her pants, she still couldn't pull up anything useful. Stupid tentacles, she thought. Pressing a few more buttons, she attempted to call out on the Storm Knights frequency, but got an electric shock for her troubles.
"This ain't good, Jack," Noelle muttered to the ice man, fiddling around with a few more buttons, and earning herself another small jolt. "Bugger!"
She blew a breath of cold air on her fingers, and shook her hand as she stared at the unresponsive screen. "Ok, don't panic. No need to panic. You can find your way out. There's loads of exits, ways back up to the surface. You just need to find one. You can do it. And maybe no one will notice you as you look for it..."
Noelle took a deep breath, then another, and jumped down from her perch. Wishing she had some sort of swanky stealth power, like some of her friends, she instead wrapped herself in a protective force field, and after an eeny-meeny-miney-mo moment at a crossroads of tunnels, set off on a search for an exit.
_____________
"Ok, this is getting ridiculous."
It felt like hours later, though Noelle had no way of checking, having long ago given up on wearing a watch when she had her PDA. She thought – no, she knew – that she'd have to toss her pants, as covered as they were in the stench and sludge of the sewers. She couldn't even bear to think of the state of her boots. Her hair fell around her face, half in and half out of her usually neat ponytail, and as she pushed it out of her eyes, she spread another streak of grime across her forehead. Streak...
She poked at her PDA again, but even the shocks were getting haphazard. Still, she hit the button that would normally open a comm channel, and tried sending another message, as she’d been doing on and off for... well, it seemed like ages. "Streak? Hello? Anyone?"
Nothing.
A Rikti soldier lumbered around a corner and tried to take a swipe at her with its gi-normous blade, but she tossed a force bolt at him, picking him up and throwing him against the tunnel wall, freezing him into place. "Jack!" she called, leaving the alien to her ice buddy as a robed archer came at her from the other side, firing a crossbow bolt, which she avoided, barely. The shaft whizzed by the exposed flesh of her upper arm, leaving a trail of blood, and Noelle rushed him and whaled on him, forgoing her ice powers momentarily to rely on brute force, and the punch combination she'd learned from the Baron. With reinforcements no doubt ready to pour in, Noelle threw another punch, and briefly, momentarily wondered if it wouldn't be easier to just take the beating, call up the hospital transporter, and deal with the medical bills later.
As Jack turned from the defeated Rikti to help with the archer, Noelle sighed. Yeah, with my luck, she thought, that's futzed up too, and I'll end up in an even worse place. If that's even possible.
Noelle glanced at the tunnel behind her, which seemed to open up into a larger room, and hopefully, a place she could hole up for a bit and take a break. With another swing of his ice sword, Jack took care of the archer, and Noelle took off down the tunnel, crossing her fingers. Jack collapsed and melted back into the air, as Noelle vaulted over a group of Rikti and made for a platform at the far side of the room, tucking herself behind another pipe, her heart racing. She bit her lip, and peeked around the pipe, hoping not to come face to face with a wall of enemies...
But it seemed ok. The Rikti were caught up in something else, playing with a portal or some other device – Noelle didn't want to know. For the moment, she was safe, and as she fiddled with her PDA once again with a growing sense of futility, she sent off another call.
"Hello, anyone? I could use a little help down here."
Static.
... and then, a garbled voice through the electronic noise.
posted by ktbuffy at 11:00 AM
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