Futuristic Ishtar

[Enkerzed]

"Ah yikes!" Asher yelped as the muzzle of the flamethrower kissed his back, leaving a ring of soot. "Alright, alright, just don't... poke me!"


Of all the infamous stompers around, I had to run into this guy, Asher thought as he walked towards the apartment, remembering the stories he used to hear in his years as a ganger about the dreaded Ishtar Toaster.


At the time, Asher had fancied himself somewhat of a heavy hitter, a man to be feared, and when he achieved the rank of capo, he was. Even then however, he would have given a man like the Toaster a wide berth. As exaggerated as he believed the rumours to be, you simply did not mess around with someone wielding a flamethrower. In a crowded environment like the outer city slums, such a weapon was practically artillery. Only someone incredibly foolish or insane would consider using it.


As Asher tried to decide which of the two categories the Toaster fit in, he heard a hollow clunk and felt the thump of the following explosion before hearing it. Hurled off his feet by the blast wave, Asher landed flat on his back and he could hear nothing but a high pitched ringing in his ears. As far as he was aware however, he was still in one piece and he managed to roll behind a pile of rubber for cover.


Cheering loudly, the gang leader Barzoi whooped as he fired another round from a fifth storey window of the apartment. "Eh, I heard about you," he crowed upon spotting the Toaster, who he was evidently aiming for. "I'd like to see you get me from down there, motherfucker! You picked the wrong gun for the fight, eh!"


Then as an afterthought, he held up his detonator and rattled it as he added, "But don't even try, eh. You know what this is for? A nuke, motherfucker! Touch me and we all go down in flames, so you can fuck off or wait for my associates to finish you off, eh. They'll be here any second now, so it's all up to you how you wanna die, man. What's it gonna be?"

 

[Hercynia]

Well then. Seeing as the employer had opened fire, it made sense he did too. Azure moved his sniper about two centimetres to the right, and gently curled a finger around the trigger. He did have armour piercing rounds loaded. He just wished said employer had waited. What if the toaster or the person with him had long range weaponry? That said, the longer he mused about it, the more time the targets had to escape. A blue cross-hair gently pulsed on the toasters body. Best to hit him there first. Maybe it'd stop him from using the napalm launcher. Azure squeezed the trigger, and the sniper rifle launched its deadly projectile.


@Enkerzed

 

[TeaMMatE11]

Taylor was sitting in the shadows, looking satisfied as she just shot two gang members in the back.


She went over and reclaimed her arrows. She wiped the blood off, and left the bodies laying there. Someone's going to clean it up. Hopefully. I don't have time to stick around.





It was about this time, more gunshots were heard in the distance (@ResonantStorm ).


Really? No rest for the wicked in these parts





She sprinted, with full force, where she heard the shots previously. As she got there, she immediately dived into the shadows, hoping she wasn't noticed. She noticed, however, there was a sniper uptop a building.


Friend...or foe?





Just as a reaction test, she pulled an explosive tipped arrow, and fired it randomly across the street and into an empty building.

 

[Hercynia]

Something popped up on Azure's HUD, moments before the moving object fell into an empty building. Dammit, Grena-


Before Azure could finish the thought, the bright flare of an explosion painted his shadow clearly against the wall behind him. Ducking down behind the parapet, he clipped his sniper to his back, took his assault rifle out, and moved, crouching all the way, back to the other side of the building, away from the street. He'd be no use as a sniper if he was spotted by a hostile force. Better to be careful. Mentally selecting the corresponding button on his HUD, Azure's white armour darkened, making him a much trickier target for any other snipers. Moving down to the 4th floor of the building, picked up a motion sensor he'd placed there prior to entering. It'd be bad if he were surprised attacked, and he'd placed a trap that was much less harmless than the motion sensor. Peering carefully out a different window, he tried to spot whoever had thrown the grenade.


@TeaMMatE11

 

[TeaMMatE11]

As taylor looked around, she didn't see anything.


Waste of an arrow.


That's when she caught sight of something (@ResonantStorm ), in the distance, on the rooftop next to the deserted building after the explosion.


What the...





Taylor armed another explosive tipped arrow, and aimed it at the roof of the building. She fired, and the arrow stuck into the rooftop.


Perfect. Now lets wait until the explosion.





She crouch ran into the nearest building, going from shadow to shadow, hoping, again, that she wasn't noticed.

 

[Hercynia]

Something hit the concrete above Azure's head. Instinctively rolling away, he cursed, right as it exploded. He was thrown back against the wall of the 4th floor as the explosion ripped apart the roof above him. They must have been aiming for the roof then. He looked down at his armour, noticing a large burn mark, and some gashes where shrapnel had hit him. His leg even felt slightly wet, and, as he reached down, noticed something had pierced his armour and hit his leg. Brilliant. Now he was bleeding. Unwisely, he reached down and felt the wound. "Gah!" Letting out a muted call of pain, Azure refocused. He wasn't losing enough blood for it to be fatal, his HUD assured him. Now, to complete the contract, or to pull out?


@TeaMMatE11

 

[TeaMMatE11]

Taylor then pulled out her standard arrows, and tried to arch the arrows over and into the building where Azure was, hoping for a hit. She started shooting as fast as she possibly could.

 

[Hercynia]

Azure slowly moved backwards, keeping weight off his wounded leg, and hissing in pain, as something clinked against the wall near him. If it was a grenade, he was screwed. Activating night vision, he looked over to the source of the noise. An arrow was lying on the ground nearby. Who used arrows to shoot people with? Guns were so much easier, to use, and to hurt with...


Jolted out of his thoughts by another wave of pain, Azure grimaced, then ripped a strip of fabric off his sleeve, armour obligingly shifting aside at his mental command. Tying it around his wound as a bandage, he grimaced again. God, that hurt. Better than possibly bleeding out, despite what the HUD told him.


@TeaMMatE11

 

[TeaMMatE11]

Azure slowly moved backwards, keeping weight off his wounded leg, and hissing in pain, as something clinked against the wall near him. If it was a grenade, he was screwed. Activating night vision, he looked over to the source of the noise. An arrow was lying on the ground nearby. Who used arrows to shoot people with? Guns were so much easier, to use, and to hurt with...
Jolted out of his thoughts by another wave of pain, Azure grimaced, then ripped a strip of fabric off his sleeve, armour obligingly shifting aside at his mental command. Tying it around his wound as a bandage, he grimaced again. God, that hurt. Better than possibly bleeding out, despite what the HUD told him.


@TeaMMatE11

Taylor then charged into the building. While crossing the street, she turned invisible. The invisibility wore off after she entered the building. Tayloy had light breathing, and light footsteps. She had her bow out, with a standard arrow notched in. She started climbing up, when she heard a noise coming from upstairs. She quickly ducked behind cover, and waited there.


@ResonantStorm

 

[Hercynia]

Motion Sensors 1 to 3 active. Dammit... Azure took a moment to reconfigure his armour, as it slowly filled the hole the shrapnel had created. Although it thinned out the armour on his leg, it was better than a gaping hole. Engaging thermal imaging, he noticed a heat signature from the floor below, and grimaced. Close combat was not his forte. At least he'd be able to move now that his armour was taking weight for his leg. Slowly, he stood up, grabbing the arrow and putting it in a storage pouch beforehand. Maybe the scientist could analyze it when he got back. Whoever was down there still hadn't moved. They were probably waiting for something. With another mental command, he activated the traps he'd attached to his motion sensors, grabbed his assault rifle from where it had fallen when the grenade had gone off, and ducked down behind some cover. The only routes out were now covered by his landmines. He was safe. Probably.


@TeaMMatE11

 

[Gui]

"This is Alpha Sam 42, advising several arbiters crashed the party,multiple casualties and a confirmed IT sighting at loc."


"We copy Alpha Sam 42,can you investigate location and check for the package?"


"10-4 moving now, Hotel One be advised all arbiters including IT have moved from location towards another part of the OC, approximately 10 blocks out. "


"Alpha Sam 42, Hotel One copies all, be advised no support, tread lightly. "


"10-4"


Apollo hung up the phone as he put on his coat and vest, cooking his .45 pistol. He had an investigation going with Barzoi and his Organization. Several shipments of weapons and a rise in crime on the Inner city kicked it off. After investigating the missing shipments and the components involved Inner City PD had reason to believe that Barzoi,was planning to stockpile weapons and explosive for an all out war with one of the other criminal organizations in Outer City.


Now normally that doesn't concern the Inner City except for two fundamental reasons. One he stole the items from the Inner City,Two based off of what he stole if any of that destruction has any chance of reaching the Inner City then we have a bigger problem.


Apollo, walked down the stairs of the building adjacent the now pile of rubble the arbiters left. Taking a quick look to both sides, the streets were empty, only the occasional shout,gunshot or explosion breaking the uncomfortable silence present at the time.


As he approached the building, Apollo drew his pistol, slowly moving through the devastated hallways,bodies and weapons spewn all over the floor. After peeking past several corners, he found it a cellar like trap door leading to a dark basement.


Pulling out a small flashlight, he held it under his right wrist holding the pistol,using his left wrist as support. As he dropped down to the basement his eyes couldn't belive it.


He wasnt entirely sure of what it was but if the metallic objects and the radiation signs mentioned anything he would be it was a nuke. Flipping open his phone, he dialed a number getting him in contact with his superiors.


"Hotel One this is Alpha Sam 42, we have a problem. Suspicions were correct more or less. It looks like Barzoi is in possession of a nuke. Sending images now. Will await further instructions. "


Apollo began to take images of any possidle angle. Careful not to touch anything. This was supposed to be a simple recon, if there was a opportunity to grab the items he would have to call command, then they would authorize a team and thing would get moving. A very time consuming beaurocratic mess but that's how it was. Given the new info however, what the Inner City might choose to do is beyond him.

 

[TeaMMatE11]

Taylor started to head for the stairs, slowly. It might be booby-trapped, she thought. She took out another explosive tipped arrow, and fired it above her. She rolled out of the way and into a corner.


@ResonantStorm

 

[Hercynia]

Another explosion pierced the air. This one sounded like it wasc oming from... above him? Well then. With a quick mental command, he set the traps he'd set on the stairs to go off. They probably wouldn't harm anyone, but it'd make it harder to get to him...


Grimacing, he realised something. Hadn't the scientist offered him drones? God, he wished he had them right now. To run or to hide? Hm. Tricky. He just hoped his employer was still alive. He could charge him more with this information.


@TeaMMatE11

 

[Gui]

More explosions pierced the silence Of The Block simultaneously causing the building to shake.


"Fuck,the fuck am I doing here next to a God damn nuke."


As soon as he finished his sentence his phone began to ring,quickly answering it he checked his surroundings once more.


"Alpha Sam 42, this is Hotel Onebomb squad is to far out to make it in any reasonable window of time. Your authorized to move out of the location. Projected blast radius puts Inner city in the edge of the blast zone. Minor casualties are projected. "


Apollo bit his lip, looking at the bomb just stand there in all of its destructive presence. All of his senses were telling him to go but his gut was telling him to stay.


"Hotel One has the bomb squad viewed the images I sent?"


"10-4 Alpha Sam 42."


"Requesting permission to get a direct link with bomb squad in an attempt to defuse the bomb. "


The silence from his environment took over the phone. The pause in response from Hotel One felt like an eternity.


"Request granted Alpha Sam, standby for Bomb Squad."


Apollo sighed in relief. He began to take his coat off and remove his bulletproof vest all while he kept the phone to his ear.


"Alpha Sam this is Bomb Squad leader Lt.Williams, what's the status of the device?"


"Device is stable, nothing has moved or beeped if that means anything." He chuckled


"That means everything Alpha Sam, you should see a keypad on the left side of the device can you see it?"


As Apollo followed the instructions he tried his best to not touching anything else, almost as if the device had some sort of deadly disease. Upon inspecting the item he realized that the keypad was missing all its screws.


"Williams I think we may have a problem, the keypad is there but all the screws are missing. How do I proceed?"


"Ok, that means the keypad was either tampered with or it was internally changed into something else, I need you to carefully remove the keypad and tell me what you see. "


Apollo nodded as if he could be seen, placing the phone in his pocket he removed a tiny earpiece from the phone, placing it in his ear.


"OK here I go."


Apollo slowly grabbed opposite corners of the pad, slowly lifting it, revealing a plethora of wires connected to several different components but one stood out. A black rectangular box, which divided the wires neatly. Said box had a collection of 6 different color wires all in pairs of 2. 2 orange,2 green, 2 blue, 2 red, 2 black ,2 purple. Apollo relayed this info to Williams.


"Ha, we'll I got good news and bad news. Good news is we've seen this modification before it's common among the terrorist groups that surfaced from the middle east. Bad news is , that means someone has a detonator, so cutting one wrong wire will automatically trigger the explosive, further more that also means it has a dead switch. Meaning there's normally two wires you can cute, the power and the trigger, but if the dead switch is installed in any of those two and you happened to cut that wire...well you know what happens. "


Apollo, tsk as he hears the news, his eyes systematically moving across the wires scanning everything remembering everything.


"So what now" asked Apollo


"Well you have 4 options, the detonator will also have an deactivation switch you can use that, you can also try your luck and cut one of the wires and hope the kill switch isn't there, you can search for the kill switch then remove it and cut that wire,or if you have a jammer you can place a jammer near the bomb and no detonation signal will reach it."


Apollo scratched his head as he broke down the different options in different orders and different outcomes.

 

[Anaxial]

The first explosion hardly merited a response from the Toaster, he stood as firm as ever the force of the explosion flapping his cap in the air as shrapnel bounced pointlessly off the thick plates of the Power Armor. As Barzoi exposed himself in the window however, he immediately glowed a bright red and became clear as day in the Toaster's eyes. He took a single step forward before another grenade was lobbed at him, crouching down and using his arm to cover the weaker plates on his helmet. The second explosion was much more effective than the first, the shockwave rattling the Toaster inside his armor knocking the man silly while blowing the armored plates off the arm and revealing the armor frame and his own skin to the fire that came with the explosion. Charring his skin black, a pained groaned erupted from the Toaster's lungs and he immediately threw his arm down away from his head.


Locking on target, Barzoi was highlighted and the pressure in the Power Armor's legs was reaching maximum level. Just as before, a metallic click was heard and the Ishtar Toaster's legs exploded forward and propelled the Toaster at unbelievable speeds. The concrete around his feet exploded into dust, if you blinked you'd miss him as he crashed through the Apartment building windows and mid-air tackled Barzoi, the impact alone enough to crush his ribcage and puncture his lungs. The force of the Toaster's jump continued forward however and he exploded into the hallway of the Apartment building with Barzoi hanging on his shoulder pauldron. Dropping his napalm cannon he reached up with his good arm and grabbed Barzoi by the leg, slamming him against the floor of the building with enough force to smash through the wooden flooring. Following Barzoi as he fell to the next floor, the Ishtar Toaster jumped on top of him with his immense weight, instantly causing Barzoi to explode into a gorey mess as they crashed down to the bottom floor of the Apartment building.


With Barzoi MORE than dead, the Ishtar Toaster covered the explosed arm with his good hand and let out another angry growl to phase out the pain of his ruined arm. He pried the Detonater from Barzoi's dead fingers and stormed out of the Apartment building, leaving his Napalm cannonn as he stumbled, obviously wounded. His exposed arm lay limp at his side as he left the building, the Toaster looked over to Asher and through pained grunts he tossed the detonater at the Deputy.


"Barzoi is dead. The bomb is in your hands...." He paused as he tried to maintain focus, couldn't let the pain envelope him... "I... have to go... My cannon is yours, if you can lift it." He said and with that he took a few steps and collapsed.

 

[Enkerzed]

(@Anaxial, don't forget about Azure's sniper round)


Asher blinked as he looked at the detonator, still trying to process everything that had just happened. His ears were still ringing after the second grande explosion when he peeked over his cover of concrete slabs and saw Barzoi shaking his detonator around like a rattle, taunting the Toaster with reckless confidence.


The next thing Asher knew, more explosions erupted nearby and Barzoi's fearless veneer had evaporated into erratic desperation as he held out his detonator like a shield and continued babbling threats. Fearing an Arbiter attack, he cursed them loudly and called for an end to the attack, but by the time whatever intense duel was happening had taken to the rooftops, the Toaster had launched from the ground like a cannon shot and into the fifth storey window of the apartment where Barzoi was standing.


Even though it happened in the blink of an eye, Asher saw clear as day that the gang leader was frantically pressing the button on the detonator just before he was shattered into pulped meat, savaged apart by the Toaster's brutal strength. In that moment, all Asher could think of were the children back home and how sorry he was that he could not see them safely into the future, but when the Toaster threw Barzoi's detonator onto the ground and quit the scene, apparently wounded, it began to sink in.


Where was the nuke? Where was the explosion? Hell, where was the mushroom cloud?





Immediately, Alex said into his earpiece, "It's a dud, the nuke was a dud! I saw Barzoi pressing the detonator just before the Toaster killed him and nothing happened!"


"Whoa, slow down a second," Gideon's voice replied. "We still got to assume the worst here, it might be on a timer, so if you're still at the apartment, I suggest you keep hauling ass and debrief later if we're all still alive."


"All r- wait... I see some cars approaching. Is that you?"


"No."


"Shit!"


Barzoi had mentioned something about the arrival of more men among his litany of threats and although the nuke may or may not have been a bluff, this certainly was not. Asher briefly contemplated using the Toaster's cannon to defend himself with, but one test lift of its bulk discouraged that idea. The thing was only going to be more hindrance than help with its ridiculous size and weight.


In any case, the cars had pulled up short of the apartment as the invisible duel raged on across the rooftops, giving Asher some time to gain a bit of distance. Someone up there was having a hard time.


"All right, just get out of there," Gideon said. "We'll meet at the neutral zone and hope that's out of the blast radius. Everyone got that?"


"Yeah," Asher replied as he moved stealthily around the corner of a ruined building and vaulted over the collapsed remains of a wall, not stopping for anything as he made his way to the neutral zone.

 

[Gui]

As Apollo paced around the room a beeping sound was emitted from the nuke. Startled, Apollo shuffled backwards a bit. The beeping was loud but slow and steady with about 45 seconds in between each beep.


Given the new info, Apollo relayed it to the bomb squad. Immediately the bomb squad began to change its tone. The thought of the OC having a nuke was laughable but now the slim chance seemed real.


With silence on the phone,Apollo Yelled asking for instructions.


"What the fuck do I do?"


Nothing but more silence. Suddenly from the other end a low voice said


"Sorry,your on your own."





The feeling of helplessness kicked in, at this point he figured if he's gonna die anyway might as well die doing something. Remembering the steps the bomb squad gave him, Apollo pulled out a small utility knife from his pocket,quickly unscrewing the screws from the main cover of the bomb.


As he slowly removed the cover the beeping got louder and faster now with 20 seconds in between each beep.


It was then that pieces started to come together for Apollo. At first heb wondered how did Barzoi get a nuke. All the items they stole were explosive or parts for explosives. The possibility of them building one was possible but they need nuclear material. Though the investigation of him was solid, things could've slipped through the cracks. As the insides of the nuke were revealed however it was clear what happened. They built a bomb, a regular bomb and in cased it in a nuclear shelling.


Apollo spent time in the military and knew what C-4 and Semtex looked like. Based of off memory he calculated this was enough to level minimum half a block but no more than two. Given the new info, Apollo holstered his weapon,grabbed his coat and bolted from the scene.


Running as fast as he could, he looked at his watch, based of the beeping speed change he assumed he had maybe 20 seconds left. At the end of his calculations the bomb exploded, releasing a large enough shock wave to knock a man down if he wasn't holding his ground. Apollo was just at the two block mark, the explosion reached one and half blocks, knocking him down.


Turning himself on his back he stated at the smouldering remains.


"Fuck."


(I believe no one was in the area, so I took it upon myself to detonate the explosive. I hope it was ok.)

 

[Enkerzed]

Gideon flinched as he heard the explosion then looked back as he shouted, "Oh shit, there it goes!"


A black geyser of dust and smoke rose up from the compound, billowing into a mushroom as it reached for the sky. Bits of rubble were visibly thrown in every direction and several nearby buildings collapsed, but beyond the the immediate area around the site for a couple of blocks' distance, there was little effect. Not even a blast wave.


"Huh, I was expecting a lot more than that," Gideon said before saying into his comms, "Is everyone still in one piece?"


"I'm fine," Asher's voice replied, somewhat out of breath.


"No shit Sherlock, you're ahead of me. Anyone else?"

 

[Hercynia]

As Azure scrambled back to the window, only to watch his employer get turned into a bloody mess right as his backup arrived, the sound of a loud explosion pierced the air, louder than any other that had gone before, shrapnel hurling itself through the windows as Azure instinctively ducked underneath the window sill, the small wall providing protection, his HUD flashing red and setting off tiny klaxons that drilled into his ears. Azure cursed, and scrambled back to the window sill as the shrapnel stopped, only to observe a huge cloud rising over Barzoi's base. Azure looked down at himself, seeing, to his relief, that his armour was fine apart from a few light slashes. Warily he gazed up, towards the door at the stairwell, and leveled his assault rifle towards it. He had to get away and back to the nearest bolthole now, and then back to the hideout.


@TeaMMatE11

 

[Gui]

As he lay there on his back holding his upper body up by his elbows his phone began to ring. Answering it he was greeted by a loud thunderous voice.


"What the he'll is your problem Sanchez. You want all of the OC to come knocking on our door?"


Apollo sighed, the voice was that of his boss, Chief Edward Kazinski. A decorated officer he had been in charge of Inner City PD #24 For decades now.


"Hey chief, listen I tried disarming it but the bomb squad bailed on me....before I touched anything it had already been detonated. It wasn't a real nuke. There's at least that..."


Apollo replied


"Yeah no shit genius, get your ass back to the precinct for a full debrief. I'll get after the Bomb Squad myself. "


Apollo smiled as he got up, brushing the debris of his coat and hanging up. Sure there were rumors of the chief being dirty and at this point they were probably true. But with half the Inner city cops being dirty, the chief never failed Apollo and that's all he cared for.


With his goal clearly set, Apollo began to walk towards the Inner city wall, the streets still empty for a few blocks with the occasional onlooker, peeping from the Windows. After a few minutes of walking he joined the busier streets,hookers,peddlers,drug dealers,drug addicts and other assortment of well respected individuals walked the streets. Granted a massive explosion just happened but this is the OC after all. This is an everyday thing.


As Apollo kept walking, he could see the turrets, vehicles and armed guards at the crossing point. Though he lived in the Inner city he proffered the OC. Something about the lack of restrictions on prostitution always kept him coming back.

 

[xrakkax]

"I'm fine," Asher's voice replied, somewhat out of breath.


"No shit Sherlock, you're ahead of me. Anyone else?"


There was no need for Knight to give Gideon a verbal assurance, but he did tell the man that Diamond Division was alright. “They are waiting for us to arrive.” He paused, listening to someone on the other end before turning to Gideon once more. “Our com link is listed as ‘DiamondCom23’ and the password is ’11.20.23_02.14.17.15’ if you want to talk directly to our Boss.”

 

[Enkerzed]

"No need for that," Gideon replied as he hopped off the bike. "Just tell her that our work here is done. I'm heading back to the Citadel."


"WHAT?" Asher shouted through the comms, unable to believe what he was hearing. "Are you fucking serious? Barzoi's dead now, do you have any idea what's going to happen when you leave?"


"I can guess," Gideon replied as he negligently rubbed at a bullet scratch on his titanium arm. "Ain't my problem though, I did what I came here to do. My part in this is over."


In the pause that followed, Gideon could practically feel Asher's resentment bleeding through the silence and in a half-hearted conciliatory tone, he continued, "As promised, I'll clear you for residence near the wall and anyone else you want to bring. You'll be safe there until the storm blows over."


"... And what about the other guys?"


"Who?"


"Yeah, that's what I thought."


Asher tore off his earpiece and held it in a tightly clenched fist, wishing that Gideon's neck was in it and not made of metal. The man had already forgotten about all the gangers he had pressed into service before the assault on the compound. He may as well have killed them upon capture to spare them the effort of dying later on or being reabsorbed into another gang. No doubt they were marked men now for even being around an Arbiter.


Unleashing his anger on a brick wall, Asher punched and kicked and swore as he thought how foolish he had been to trust Gideon. He could not believe that he was naive enough to think that helping the Arbiters would have helped with anything. From now on, the violence would only get worse as soon as rival gangs caught wind of Barzoi's death and even though it was the Toaster who killed him, it was the Arbiters who made it possible with their assault on the compound.


Left unchecked, the ensuing power vacuum would only drag in rival gangs like wolves upon a carcass and it wouldn't close again until it was choked by more blood, more corpses and the same old story of innocents caught in the crossfire. Nothing changed in the slightest and the biggest joke of all was that instead of helping when in a position to, the Arbiters would just kick the hornet's nest and let them run wild as soon as the damage was done. Just what the hell was it all for?


"You know, I don't think my deputy likes me," Gideon said to Knight as he closed comms with Asher. "So I'll be calling in a shuttle. Wanna hitch a ride out of here? If we're lucky, we might just be able to see the fireworks from above."