vivala | 002 - A Time to Gain and a Time to Lose

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002 - A Time to Gain and a Time to Lose

Truthfully Hesaeth was not a place that Donnie had been in any particular hurry to return to. So much had happened there, such gains and losses in what he felt was comparatively a short amount of time. He'd had mixed feelings about their abandoning the resources, but he still wouldn't have questioned the decision when they had such dire threats bearing down upon them. Resources could be replaced. Lives could not.

And yet, here he finds himself again. At least he has no intention of poking around what's left of the camp itself, and he and the other Corsairs had made sure that the mines would be inaccessible in the wake of their escape. The Empire would have to start all over again, but for now it seems that they're too busy licking their own wounds after their losses from here and against Flotsam.

Their target is one of two downed ships. It's a wonder what some well-aimed guns can do. The vessel's entirety had listed to one side during its descent, driving itself into the nearby cliff-face until its starboard side had been nearly flattened.

"Considering the load capacity of those ships, I'm willing to bet they've got some decent artillery other than their cannons. Probably didn't think they'd need to pull out anything else," Donnie notes as he observes the site from the rail of their own airship while it circles closer.

The entry point is through the rear loading hatch, which had been partially open perhaps in an attempt to evacuate before the whole ship had tipped over, and after rappelling down from their ship, the real adventure begins. Footing is tricky given the steep angle, ensuring that anything not nailed down or secured has been thrown to the starboard side of the ship. Toppled crates, containers and the equipment meant to move heavy loads make up most of the 'floor' they have to navigate across, as well as some dangling machinery hanging precariously by their loading harnesses.

((OOC: Leaving it open as to whether interested parties want to thread together or individually, whichever is easier/preferred! Also, this is a salvage mission so if there's anything anyone else might be in the market for, let me know!))

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"I'm fine," Donnie assures. "Guess I should have factored in the possibility of survivors..."

He frowns, looking around more carefully, but the place has so many shadows and numerous opportunities for cover. "Keep on your guard. Let's head back over that way- there's something I want to check out."

Link shrugs. If there's any more out there, Link's not concerned. They're stronger than the enemy.

As for their fallen foe, Link leaves them lying unceremoniously where they are and moves to follow Donnie. His eyes dart around, looking for other potential attackers - and also trying to spot whatever it is that's caught Donnie's interest. What could it be?

The turtlekin picks his way back towards the spot he's sure he'd seen something. He'd be really annoyed if he had lost track of- ah-hah!

Still mindful of any potential threats still lurking, Donnie slides down a larger tilted crate to where he'd seen something reflecting off their light sources. "There," he says, pointing. Wedged between things, they can just make out the face of an armor unit. The storage crates probably all got flung clear across the hold and prevented anyone from making use of them.

"That looks like it's going to be a pain to get to, but if it's salvageable...."

Link makes a soft noise of interest. That would be good to salvage!

Only trouble is, how to get it out? Donnie was right; it was going to be a pain to get to, wedged in as it was. Once again, he missed having Ultrahand. This would be much easier to deal with if he did.

Although...maybe he could use what he did have.

He pulls his shield out, holding it in his left hand. His right hand reaches out towards the largest, heaviest looking crate - and then begins to glow, as echoes of odd metallic bands appear around his arm. Between his palm and the crate, a glowing green line of light appears - before the crate suddenly shrinks, and flings towards Link's shield.

"Hah!" Link cries, as the crate fuses to the shield. It's the exact same thing he did earlier with the Puffshroom and the arrow. But without the chaos of battle, and with the crate being much larger than a Puffshroom, it was a lot easier to see what was actually happening.

And now they have one less crate to move.

Cutting through things would be tedious, but given how haphazardly stacked things are, Donnie is starting to think that might be their best bet. He looks over when Link brings his shield around again, blinking.

Wait, what's..?

The turtlekin jerks back a bit when the green lightshow begins to happen, and then again as the crate there is suddenly transformed and magically attaches to Link's shield.

"Wh-" He stares. "Wait, what just happened??" Yes, he'd seen what happened but that still doesn't quite explain things, and ever the inquisitive mind, it's probably to be expected that he'd ask.

"Fuse," Link says. And then holds up his shield, showing off the now smaller crate that is attached to it.

See? He Fused it.

This is apparently what Link regards as an explanation.

A single word is hardly a decent explanation! Donnie looks almost exasperatedly at Link when nothing further is said, turning his eyes to the shield again and the haphazardly added accessory. He's not even going to ask what about the stuff inside of it, not when there are magical bags of holding and no care for the physics he's been picking at in books.

Letting out a breath, he turns to regard the rest of the things yet in the way of their prize. "Can you do that with multiples or one at a time?"

If Link could get away with no words as explanation, he would.

But to Donnie's question, he shakes his head. No, he can't do multiples. It's a quick solution, but not that quick.

Fortunately, Link does have a spare. He stores away his shield - attacked crate and all - into his pack, and then pulls out another shield. And then does the same thing again, with another crate.

"...."

Okay, so Donnie didn't know the guy kept multiple shields, but is he surprised? ...no.

"Unless you have like a dozen shields I think that's going to be tedious. Can you unfuse them somewhere out of the way?" he suggests.

Link makes a vague, negative noise - unfortunately, unfusing isn't actually something he can do. Once something's on, it's on.

Though, that doesn't mean he doesn't have options.

Taking the now fused shield, he steps up to a nearby wall. And then bashes it, violently, several times against said wall. At which point the crate promptly collapses into a collection of tiny, tiny pieces.

He steps back towards Donnie. Now it's good to go!

That...seems highly inconvenient. Donnie watches this demonstration, wincing at the noise as Link smashes the crate.

"Ah."

Well, he supposes that is technically unfusing.

"Okay. I think...if you can just clear enough of the crates directly on top of the thing, I can shimmy on down there and see if it activates."

Hey, if it works, it works. Who cares if it's not how you're supposed to do it?

Thus begins the process by which Link Fuses a crate, smashes it to bits, and then goes back to Fuse another. It's not the quickest method. But it's still faster than trying to move everything out by hand.

And eventually, Donnie should have enough room to get in closer.

Donnie just has so many questions and he's certain he'll just get a headache trying to get the answers out of Link.

He watches as Link gets to it, flinching with each broken crate, trying not to think about what might have been in them. In between he casts a look around in case anyone else decides to interrupt the party, but once the noise ceases, Donnie looks back, a lopsided grin pulling on his face in approval.

Okay, he can work with that. He nods at Link, moving to begin making his way down, trying not to let himself get too excited in case the damage was too severe, or worse, it had no power core installed.

Link stays close as Donnie descends. He keeps an eye out for any other potential survivors; he doesn't plan to let anyone else get another shot at them.

But he also makes sure to keep an eye on Donnie, too. Does he need help climbing down? Or with anything else? Is there something that Link could do to help?

He doesn't say anything; not verbally. But he does hover nearby, in a way that strongly suggests that all Donnie needs to do is say the word, and Link will leap in to assist.

Donnie's clearly no stranger to climbing things. Sometimes he and his brothers would have nothing better to do but scale the cliffsides and such by the coast where they'd lived. Donnie and Leo particularly liked finding good places to dive from.

Not that Donnie wants to do any diving here, but he makes his way without much trouble, eventually dropping down onto the armor so he can feel his way around for the cockpit's release.

Donnie looks to have things in hand, so Link stays focused on keeping watch. He relaxes into a solid, familiar guarding position - one he's clearly held many times before.

Until danger appears, or Donnie needs help, Link will wait. As long as is needed.

The turtlekin catches a glimpse of Link as he settles in to keep an eye out, which is enough for Donnie as he slides into the armor.

"Okay..." he says, looking over the console before he goes through the start-up protocols. His fingers fly across the board before he slides his arms into the controls for the arm movement of the mech. Externally there'd be the low hum of power as the armor activates, a soft glow brightening in its eyes.

"So far so good. Might want to move, Link."

Link nods. Scooches back a bit.

And then quite blatantly settles in to watch with clear curiosity. Sure, he's still keeping watch - he hasn't diverted his attention entirely.

But it's clear that Link's mostly focusing on Donnie and the suit right now.

With most of his view obstructed, Donnie can only hope Link's moved enough. He pulls the arms back testing mobility before he tries to find enough purchase on something to try getting the armor free. The crates and things that have been piled in around and beneath the armor begin to shift slightly.

Already he can see that this is going to be difficult given the positioning. But he's also noticed the armor's controls have some very interesting features. If he can just push a little bit more of these things away to give himself more space to move, then maybe...

The earlier commotion had already been enough to draw anyone's attention, if there were any other lingering bodies about. The unmistakable sound of a powered-up armor isn't hard to miss when all else is quiet.

Several stuttered shots sound off, something whizzing past Link's ear, the others striking boxes and equipment, but it's clear enough there's more than one person this time.

Link starts moving immediately - though not towards the source of the shots. Instead, he moves towards the now Armored Donnie.

Armors aren't the same as constructs. But they don't strike Link as being that different either - so he sees no reason why he can't do the same thing with them that he did with Mineru.

He climbs up the armour, scrambling right to the very top. He then finds a place to settle in right behind the head, where he can maintain a good hold.

Only then does he fire back with a few arrows, each one Fused to more Puffshrooms.

As Link moves towards the armor, the armor moves towards him. Donnie had heard the shots go off. No time to be careful about things, then. He activates the thrusters, feeling a brief rush as he hears them activate, light flaring behind the armor as it pushes upwards.

He grins to himself as Link hitches a ride, maneuvering the armor around. Already he can tell the response-time is off; it must have sustained some damage when it had been tossed across the ship and buried. He hears a shot glance off the armor's shoulder, but as the smokescreen starts to build up, Donnie eases the thing back, crates toppling as it finally clears the hole completely.

"Hang on," he tells Link, starting to turn the armor around so he can aim for the hatch they'd come through. Shots continue to be fired off, and while the aim is off, they're still too close for comfort given the glare of the thrusters is kind of a big giveaway to their position.

Link's not really sure what Donnie's about to do; he can guess he's about to move somewhere, but he doesn't know when or in what direction.

But he heard the instruction to hang on, and so hang on he does. Getting in close, Link makes himself into a small target as he holds on tightly to the Armor's neck. Once he does so, he makes a soft affirmative noise - telling Donnie in his own way that he's ready for whatever's about to happen.

"Come on, come on, come on..." Donnie murmurs as he pushes the armor. They probably won't be able to fly very far, but he's sure they can make it to the hatch and call for a pick-up.

That Link's still in danger of getting hit is worrying, but the Feder's weaponless, its guns probably buried somewhere below. Time to improvise then.

That purple light appears again, lines forming their own weapons, ammunition slotting into hardlight components of an armor-grade pistol. Donnie fires in the direction the shots had come from, trying to ignore the panicked shouts as he lays down cover fire. It's either them or Link, and Donnie's not letting anyone hurt his friend and ally.

The entire armor falters in midair as one of the thrusters threatens to gut out, and Donnie shifts the massive thing forward to plant a foot on some jutting piece of machinery, propelling them closer towards the hatch with each jerky step.

With his hands busy keeping a grip on the Armour, Link can't fire off any shots off his own. But that's okay, because Donnie's doing a pretty good job of that on his own.

A bigger problem though is the way it stutters in mid-air. He can only hope that Donnie has it in hand, as they come closer to the hatch.

And when they do get close enough, reach up to push the hatch open.

It's not a good thing, and it only gives the Imperial survivors more cause to renew their efforts, daring to pick their way through the fog to try and get a better shot.

"No good, I'm going to have to...improvise," Donnie says as his attempts to restart the thrusters prove futile. Outside, Link has a good view as the turtlekin's magic is at work, an external booster building over the one that's failed on them, all bright glowing purple lines. The armor makes another leap and the remaining thruster supplemented by the mystic one fire up again, carrying them up.

"Link, can you call our ship on standby for a pickup?" Donnie asks as he maneuvers the mechanical arms to brace for contact with the hatch as they come upon it.

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