hellburger | (no subject)

Naugus spares a moment for a manic smile, pleased at the mayhem his magic has caused one of his attackers. He continues charging headlong into the foliage, crashing through it loudly and with no care for being covert or trying to sneak. He glances upwards a few times, wonder if he can take flight, but determines the canopy to be too dense. He'd get tangled in the vines and then that'd be the end of him!

There's options for hiding, for proper escape, but the panic is too thick and too frantic to occur to him just yet. Slide into shadows, turn into mist; adrenaline's pounding much too free that there are no options other than running and attacking what attacks him first. Or at least what he perceives as an attack.

Another burst of flame is unleashed, now in just a halo around him, trying to plunge it deep into the dead foliage underfoot, to anything dry and suitable as tinder. Burn the whole forest! Who'll mourn a mess of war-mad Overlanders?!

Kaz pauses to check on Antelope and the soldier who stopped to assist. He looks up at his commander with wide eyes. "What is that thing, sir?"

"No time to explain. Give me your radio." The soldier, Iguana, immediately complies, disentangling his radio from his gear and pushing it into his commander's waiting hand.

Miller wastes no time pressing on, dials into the patrol's frequency and issues an order: "Maintain a visual, proceed with stealth, but do not attempt to engage the target. Await my further instructions."

Three confirmations crackle in response, and Miller feels slightly more at ease. These soldiers certainly aren't equipped for wizard suppression, whatever the hell that entails. It's not as if he is, either, but he's got a slightly better chance of dealing with the Mobian.

Naugus might begin to get the impression that they've given up. It's certainly a lot quieter now -- at least in terms of things that are not Naugus himself.

It's a few more frantic bursts of flame before he pauses, casting wide looks around himself, teeth bare and breath coming between them in ragged hisses. No sound. No tremors. (Because now stealthy steps dampened by plant life can't reach his sense for it.)

He needs to go back. He has every intention of finding the man in the glasses and making him pay for this, but he has to go back first. He can't run forever on an entire planet populated by war-crazed Overlanders. He can take so many with him, oh yes, but he knows he'll fall in due time. Not without a plan. With a plan, with time to think straight, it could be different...

But he can't go back. Despite his prowess with portals, Naugus still needs an item from where he wants to go. And everything on him is from his native planet of Mobius. Any portal he tried to open using his personal effects as a keystone would just lead to the blank that was left in his world's erasure. He has nothing that would take him back to the Nexus.

This only occurs to Naugus after he's already sunk to his knees, ripped up handfuls of foliage to get at the bare earth beneath, already scratching symbols and sigils from muscle memory. Then he just stares at it, mind racing.

Think. Think. Think. Think.

Miller continues to follow the trail at a more leisurely jog. His radio crackles to life with a hushed voice. "In position now. Target's stopped. It's ... digging? Is... is it wearing a cape, sir?"

He rolls his eyes. "Affirmative. Keep a bead on him and maintain your position."

Similar reports come in from the two other soldiers, equally incredulous now that they've had an opportunity to get an eyeful of the thing they've been pursuing. The three soldiers coordinate and carefully triangulate their positions, weapons aimed.

"Got eyes on you, Commander. You're close," the radio whispers again, in concert with a flashed signal from a nearby rise in the terrain. Kaz waves an acknowledging signal and slows his approach to place his steps slowly, carefully.

Naugus' purple cape stands out against the lush greens of the forest, and Kaz freezes at the sight of it. He takes a moment to observe the wizard and consider the best course of action. Preferably one that won't start the chase anew.

Naugus has stared long and unblinking at the unfinished sigil in the earth and no answer has come to him. One way portal. Keystone is on the man trying to kill him. Kill him first and get it back? Kill all his soldiers in the process. They're organized. This place is remote but they were ready. More will come. How quickly? All of this was a trap. How could he have been so blind? All of this was a TRAP!

Hide? He should hide. But his own pride rails against the idea. Hide? Like a scared rodent? Hide and quiver in fear of a bunch of Overlanders with their outlandish tech and reliance on guns? To slip into the shadows or the soil or the air now wouldn't be tactical retreat, it would be cowardice! Another insult to his primacy!

Think. Think. Think. Think.

Naugus pushes himself back up to his feet, still breathing hard, furious at his quandry. When was the last time he did battle in a jungle? Not ever. He ran right through it to find a location better suited for his magicks last time he was in a place like this. Pushed on right to the Southern Tundra. But he doesn't know what lies beyond this place. The situation of the continents in this unknown world.

"YOU'RE MISTAKEN IF YOU THINK ANY OF YOU WILL LIVE TO SPEAK OF THIS INDECENCY!" He roars into the trees, sending birds from the branches in noisy flight.

Edited 2016-03-12 08:54 (UTC)

"This is Snail. I've found your sunglasses, commandante."

"Nice work. Hold your position. We'll circle back shortly." Hopefully.

"Switch to normal rounds. Lynx, line up a leg shot. Take it if it looks like he's about to run again. Dromedary, Wolverine -- headshots. But ONLY at my signal." With that, Miller sets both rifle and handgun at the base of a tree and emerges from cover.

He smiles and raises his empty hands to make it abundantly clear he's unarmed. "Look, Naugus, just you and me now. I even left my Overlander weapons behind. How about you take a deep breath, stop acting like a cornered animal and follow me back to the portal. Nice and easy."

His ear quirks in Kaz's direction when he hears that voice, whirling around and crouching low, hissing again. And drooling. He really is acting like a corner animal and it's kind of disconcerting? Given his grand and snooty behaviour otherwise when he's in the Nexus. Or just in control.

"HHHHSSSS! Tricked! Trapped! I follow you nowhere! That's what caused all this in the first place! I know how you work! Where are the rest!?" Naugus looks around frantically, searching the trees and vines for any sign of a gun barrel, a glint of metal, a masked human face.

Kaz is momentarily taken aback by the drooling and body language. His movements become even slower, more deliberate, as if he's dealing with an angry apex predator.

"And what's the alternative? Skulk around in the jungle for the rest of your days? Show up in blurry tabloid photographs? Snail -- you know, that woman you attacked -- she's got the key. C'mon big guy. Let's head back." Miller reaches out a hand and makes a coaxing motion. Easy does it.

"Trap me here and I'll-...I'll sink myself into the core of your world! I'll shift the plates and send your cities crumbling! I will crush you all! I will turn the elements against your entire civilization of you even think for a moment that I'm your beast to capture!"

Funny how his fear of being caged and treated as an odd animal is making him behave like one.

Miller forces a laugh. "That sounds like a helluva lot of work. For what? You'll be trapped on a planet you just trashed. Great idea. Brilliant."

He lets out a long exhale. "Look. Nobody said anything about capturing you. I've got a lot more important things to deal with than your paranoid bullshit, Naugus."

He hisses something that sounds remotely like, 'anything for revenge', but instead looks...momentarily like he's calming down? Taking a few deep breaths? Maybe things are finally de-escalating.

At least that's what can be thought up until Naugus locks eyes with Kaz...and then suddenly darts back into that cape of his, slipping into its dark folds like it somehow hid a portal within it. In a display of completely bizarre physics that kind of are confusing to witness, said cape soon folds in on itself, following the owner, and vanishes.

Somewhere else in the jungle, back near the portal that he had created, Naugus bursts from the shadows beneath a tree, hissing and making a grab for Snail's gun.

"For fuck's sake!" Just when Kaz thought he was making headway. He lowers his stance and grabs the knife strapped at his ankle, unsure if the mage is still in the vicinity. "Naugus! Naugus!"

"Some kind of cloaking device? Orders, sir?" his radio crackles. He raises his hand for silence, knife at the ready and watching the ground cover for any signs of disturbance. Even if Naugus is invisible, he's probably still stomping and raging. There's nothing, though. What the hell.

While Kaz and the rest of the patrol are thus occupied with tracking the vanished mage, Snail is continues to have an awful day. Already on edge, she recovers quickly from the sudden reappearance of the thing and reflexively steps back -- towards those two portal trees, as it happens.

She winces; the fall from earlier either sprained or fractured her ankle. One hand keeps her gun raised, the other fumbles for her radio. "C-commandante! El monstruo esta aquí!"

"Shit! Keep him busy. We're on our way back," Miller's voice responds.

"Do NOT shoot me again. Why did you shoot me at ALL!?" He at least doesn't seem to be intent on hurting or hurtling Snail again. Just suddenly seems to have it in his head that she's the one who'll determine if this was a planned, attempted ambush or not.

Glaring at her angrily, rather than try anything violent or rash, Naugus hunkers down and remembers, oh right, he is shot, huh. And he's got some distance between him and the other soldiers now. Might as well deal with that. And by dealing with it, that means using his crab claw to try and pinch out the slugs left lodged in him. It's messy work and he continues to shoot angry looks at Snail because she caused this. Clearly.

"Well?! Do you even understand me? Me comprenez-vous? Pourquoi avez-vous tuer!" Might as well try other languages. Like these savages know Mercian, though.

"I shot you because you attacked me," she spits back in accented English. She's not only pissed at this weird creature, in the back of her mind she knows she'll probably get an earful from Miller later. Maybe even get stuck cleaning the hair out of shower drains for a few weeks. "You don't want to get shot again? Then don't give me another reason to do it."

Snail keeps her gun raised and adjusts her weight off of her injured leg. She watches Naugus' attempt at surgery with a grimace. "Dios mío ... You shouldn't do that."

"You already had your gun pointed at me! What was I to think! An Overlander already armed and ready is one who's already decided to kill! Your race is not to be trusted back home and not here either, clearly." Digging into his own bullethole'd collarbone doesn't seem to be working, but not for lack of trying. He grunts and switches to a finger instead. That's thinner and more dexterous, right? Just dig on in there.

"I'm sure your leader will somehow make this all my fault."

"Mira, I don't even know what you are. I'm just doing my job." She turns her head to talk into her radio. "Commandante, the thing has calmed down, but he's trying to perform surgery on himself. Should I try to stop him?"

"He can wait for a medic, or he can hurt himself all he likes. Entirely up to him." She shrugs at Miller's response, but continues to keep her eyes trained on Naugus.

"You should wait. You're making it worse."

If nothing else, this whole adventure is demonstration to Kaz how mercurial Naugus can be. Going from his usual pompous self to hissing monster and then off to being an old grump. An old, bleeding grump.

"Oh, and you're concerned now? For me, the thing?" He flicks his hand in irritation, splattering drops of red across the leaves underfoot. "Tell me the real plan. The one where I wind up in a prison or a cage, for the scientific curiosity or simple amusement of your leader."

"Master Miller could want you alive. Don't need you bleeding out on my watch after all this trouble."

Snail snorts derisively at the mention of conspiracy. "Haven't heard any plans, but who knows? Maybe El Jefe wants to start a private zoo."

Even with all this casual conversation, the barrel of her gun doesn't drop an inch.

"ENOUGH! The only reason I haven't set your insides on fire is because I just want to leave this miserable pit you call a planet and try to forget there's entire worlds overrun with your filthy, violent species!" Wow, touchy.

At some point, Naugus angrily looks to his right, perhaps watching for more mystery soldiers arriving...and spots the tranq dart sticking out of his shoulder.

"And this!? Really!?" He points at it incredulously.

"Feel sleepy yet?" she asks, ignoring the strange threat. Snail wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't. There's a lot of meat on that guy. "You might need a few more before those put you under."

A couple of mystery soldiers do arrive after a few more uncomfortable moments. Iguana stomps in through the bushes, head down with the effort of carrying Antelope on his back. He exhales sharply, looks up to see who Snail is speaking to, and the sight of the "target" throws him off balance. He accidentally lets his burned comrade tumble to the ground in the haste to draw his gun. Antelope cries out in pain and rolls onto his side.

"Easy, Iguana," Snail cautions, palm raised. "Master Miller's on his way back with the rest. How's Antelope?"

Iguana doesn't answer immediately -- he needs to take stock of the strange situation -- but he trusts Snail's calm tone. "He'll live, but won't be winning any beauty contests. Lots of burns. There's some shrapnel in his side from discharged rounds. Got the wounds wrapped up tight, though."

"Master Miller. Master of what, I ask!? Inciting gun violence, apparently." Naugus is far more content to just complain about his situation and everyone else's part in it rather than listen to the worries revolving around the guy who got toasted.

He also reaches up and yanks out that dart, tossing it ill-temperedly at Snail's feet. Here, take back your garbage. His tail thumps once or twice in equally foul mood.

Snail snorts. "More or less. 'Gun violence' is part of our business."

She tunes into her radio again. "Comandante, Iguana and Antelope have arrived. Target is still mostly cooperative."

"Good. Almost to your location," Miller responds.

Iguana shoots Naugus another suspicious look, before returning his attention to his injured comrade. He's careful not to turn his back on the mage while he checks over the wound dressings and helps him into a more comfortable position. Once this is done, the gun gets raised again.

"Target! Always a thing, or creature or target! I have a name, same as you. Oh, except not; you're all just named after various types of Mobians." At one point of Iguana's furtive, untrusting glances, Naugus bares his many teeth and clicks them. Snap snap.

"Is 'Master' Miller getting here anytime soon? I have half a mind to just relieve you of those ugly dark glasses and head back myself. You can have him."

Snail rolls her eyes and doesn't bother indulging the mage with any kind of response. She's equally tired of this whole, bizarre situation.

As everything calms, the jungle has similarly settled back into normalcy; insects begin to buzz again and birds chatter in the branches.

The last three soldiers finally materialize through the shadowy brush, followed shortly by Miller. His hair and face are damp with moisture -- a mix of sweat and the jungle's condensed humidity. He sighs sharply, annoyed.

"So. You finally get that out of your system, Naugus?" Kaz's eyes light on the aviators hooked to the front of Snail's uniform and wastes no time reclaiming them. A quick polish with his scarf and they're back on his face. "What a fucking fiasco."

"You said nothing of soldiers pointing guns at me waiting on the other side! What was I to think!? I made clear I don't trust your species and here exactly is why! Such a sight back home would have meant certain death and you don't so easily unlearn the reaction to escape or attack first! Surely a career soldier of all people would understand that!"

He's super quick to get right on the angry explanation, jumping back up to his boots and pointing accusingly at Miller as his tail lashes in anger. He's also got a good deal more blood running down his chest (what's visible behind his beard, anyway) thanks to digging at wounds like a big dummy.