Filled with intense fear, Laura grabbed her weapon and slammed the front end of it into her perceived attacker, before pulling the trigger.
Chance to hit: 60%
2/5 rolls managed to hit.
Missed!
70% Ink left in Laura's OOPA.
The blow hit Hunter, briefly dazing him as he stumbled backward. Almost instantly, the creature behind him reached for him and shoved him out of the way before Laura fired her gun. The blue bolts flying past him as he fell to the ground.
Hunter shouts at Laura. "Hold your fire! I found a way we can get out of here. but we need their help!"
Laura bolted up and struggled to run away. Struggling to maintain her footing, let alone a run, she tripped over herself and tumbled. Starting to hyperventlate, she fired another shot at her 'attacker', and scrambled to get back to her feet so she could flee.
Chance to hit: 60%
2/5 rolls managed to hit.
Missed!
40% Ink left in Laura's OOPA. Will need to reload soon!
The 'run-and-gun' shot, because of Laura's improper balance had made her miss Hunter. The bolt of blue went past him, impacting the wall beneath the creature as it sighed. Contemplating the competence of the Inklings' ability to actually fight and reason.
As it seemed to be one or the other with these kids.
Hunter dashes in and slaps Laura. "SNAP out of it! I have a way we can escape!" Sighing, the creature waited for Hunter's attempts at calming the bluenette down to finally succeed. Since its involvement would only make her state more volatile.
Chance to hit: 60%
2/5 rolls managed to hit.
Missed!
Hunter's dash made Laura stumble backward, falling down onto her rear. His follow-up with the slap whooshed above her. Laura was even frightened more by her attacker's advance. Cornered and on the ground, her parents' training kicked in.
She grabbed her weapon again, rammed the barrel into the attacker's crotch with all of her strength, and pulled the trigger.
Chance to hit: 60%
4/5 rolls managed to hit.
Success!
Hunter's HP: 4/8
10% Ink left in Laura's OOPA. Need to reload before shooting.
As Laura pulled the trigger, hitting the unfortunate boy right in his unmentionables. He stumbled backward, falling onto the ground, clutching the spot.
Behind him, the creature, having lost his patience, leapt forth from the perch on the wall. It appeared he'd have to reason to the panicked girl himself. Landing heavily in front of Hunter. The creature stood up, looking at Laura and it said simply, gurgling as it spoke.
"Listen... child. We do not have time to fight, nor is it an appropriate decision to do so. What my... companion failed to say... was that we wanted to form an alliance between us." The creature stated, glancing back tiredly to Hunter before looking back to Laura. "In exchange for your survival and a chance of escape, you and your friends will assist us in my... family's vengeance."
Hunter gets back up. it wasn't his first time getting hit in a very sensitive spot so he pushes the pain to the back of his mind and stands up. "Please calm down. we can escape while these things are fighting those that brought us here."
Laura let out an earpiercing scream when the creature landed. She was dead frightened at this point, and for good reason; she had been brutalized by one of them earlier, but now she was alone against two foes.
Outnumbered and severely outgunned, she scrambled to get away as fast as she could.
Chance of success: 60%
Laura failed at running away...
Still in combat!
Before she could that, the creature reached out with one of its tentacles and grabbed her, pulling her back towards it. "This is amusing... but I ask you to stop, child. We can... help you escape, if you'd only stop shooting." The creature gurgled, becoming annoyed now.
At this point, Raye had seen enough. She had been trying to get to Laura the whole time, and had seen everything. Without even thinking, she pulled up her Splatling, and aimed it at the creature. "Get away from her, you b****!" she shouted, the barrels already spinning, punctuating her words.
Hunter see Raye and super jumps at Raye attempting to knock her of balance so he could disarm her. "STOP! These creatures want revenge against the ones who trapped us in here. They can aid in our escape!"
Chance to hit: 60%
3/5 rolls managed to hit.
Success!
Raye's HP: 7/8
Raye is now disarmed!
Hunter forced the Splatling down, punching Raye right in faceplate before using her now bad balance to pull the Splatling out of her hands as she fell down. The cord attached to the Splatling hissed as it was released improperly.
Laura struggled and flailed about, screaming from both fear and pain. She seemed to almost be forming words from the noise, but if so, they were utterly incomprehensible. She shook and twisted her body so violently, trying to wriggle free of the creature's grasp before she came to any further harm.
Chance of success: 60%
2/5 rolls managed to hit.
Squirming did nothing.
The creature grabbed Laura's head with its tentacles and forced her to focus on it, making her stare at the creature's maw. "Listen... you bleating whelp." It spoke.
"I am trying to help... help all of us. If you'd only... stop your resistance." It seemed as though speaking was still uncomfortable and even difficult for the creature, just forming the words clearly was a challenge to it. "Do you... understand?"
Hunter looks at both Laura and Raye. "They are willing to help our escape if we help them fight those that enslaved them."
"You want me to trust that thing?" Raye said defiantly. "Then get it to put. Laura. Down." she said, murder dripping from every syllable. The creature growled quietly, staring at the insolent pinkette. It didn't seem inclined to put down Laura. "It depends upon her answer..." It hissed, turning to glare at Laura.
Laura continued to flail about, her screams transforming into crying as the pain became more excruciating. She continued to try and free herself from the creatures grasp.
Hunter hears Laura crying now. "This just get better and better, don't it!" He sighs being very sarcastic. "Big guy. can you set her down please."
"Pitiful Inkling... the vice around you hasn't even been tightened..." The creature said, lowering her to the ground as it released her from its grip. As it turned over to the Raye and Hunter, averting its gaze from, in its opinion, the sensitive bluenette. "Now... I have done as you asked, pink one. Will you listen?"
Raye ran over to Laura after the creature released her from its grip, checking to make sure it hadn't hurt her too badly. "We're listening." she then said, making sure she was between the creature and Laura.
Laura was curled up in a ball on her side, sobbing and whimpering. Her arms were wrapped tightly around her weapon, holding it in place above her as a shield. Laura's entire body shivered rapidly as she continued to hyperventilate.
"Will you help us?" It asked quite simply to Raye. "I have already... discussed this with my... companion." In the distance, the three Inklings could hear clanking as another one approached. "Our terms are simple... help us get our vengeance, and we'll... help you escape. A... satisfactory deal, no?"
"How do we know you'll keep your word? You did attack us, after all." Raye said.
"The collars... painful things forcing us to attack... to kill your kind." It explained, gurgling angrily as it remembered the pain from it. "We would rather direct our wrath... on those who did this to us. Not to the... innocent and meek."
Following a startled scream, the other creature appeared with Selena wrapped in its tentacles. The one talking to them cooed, turning to the other one. "Have you... persuaded her?" The second one, sounded distorted through the helmet but sounded feminine, replied to it. "Yes, I have. Although... have you seen Data?"
The first creature shook its head, turning to the rest. "Have you?"
Laura slowly scooted herself towards Raye. “Raye…?” she said, broken up by her sobbing and rapid breathing. "Who's Data?" Raye asked. The larger, still helmeted one answered her. "Our... daughter. Similar to us... but unable to speak."
Uh oh... Raye thought. "She wouldn't happen to be orange, would she?" Laura let out yet another whimper.
Casting a worried look towards Laura, it looked back at Raye. "N-no... that was Delta. One of your kind... but he was turned into one of us." Raye breathed a sigh of relief at that news. "Alright, then. Because that one's dead."
"Dead!?" The other one spoke up, their maw opened up in a surprised manner.
"It kept attacking." Raye said. "We had no choice but to defend ourselves." Laura arms latched onto Raye's leg, gripping as tightly as she could, which wasn't very tight considering her condition. Her weapon fell the short distance to the ground, making a small clatter.
"That is... a shame." The helmeted one put her hand on the other's shoulder. "But... I am glad you put his suffering to an end, Inkling. That boy... suffered through too much."
"Excuse me, but can I try to calm down Laura before she inks herself?" Raye asked, wobbling slightly from Laura's grip on her leg. The creature nodded her permission to Raye, seeing that Laura needs help and a lot of it. Now, she turned to Hunter. "Have you seen her?"
Hunter tosses Raye's gun back seeing she wasn't a threat to them. "I only saw her when the three of you were grouped up around here. But i will have a quick glace around to see if i can spot her." Hunter turned into a squid and super jump straight up, looking for any sign of the other living creature.
"...Did he just... leave?" The helmeted one said, seemingly not knowing of what a super jump does.
"It seems so..." The other answered. Hunter landed roughly where he took off from. "Nothing...except for what i can only assume is Delta. I'm sorry but she is not in this arena."
The creatures hissed and growled at Hunter's sudden reappearance, calming down quickly when they saw it was him. The helmeted creature hummed, looking in a trance ahead of itself after he told them his findings. The other one growled, the tentacles on his face shook slightly. "This deal is... off!--"
"No... these children were pitted against her." She said, "they are... not at fault."
Hunter crosses his arms. "If she died then I would have seen a body. I only saw one body. and we already have one confirmed corpse from what she said. so the one your looking for could very well still be alive."
Laura let out another whimper in reaction to the anger in the one creature's voice, as she wrapped herself further around Raye's legs. "I wouldn't know... she was grievously... injured last I saw of her!" He hissed, the words dripped with hate and anger. The other growled, silencing him. "No matter the case... we must avenge her."
Raye was grateful that Hunter had given her her gun back, after hearing the anger in the "male"'s voice. As she braced herself for a possible fight, she tripped over Laura, who was still clinging to her leg, falling to the floor.
"Okay, Laura. you really need to calm down." Raye said. But to Raye's surprise, Laura had fallen unconscious; a result her panic response to the encounter having been left unmanaged for too long.
"I will have no part in this with these... children." The male one growled, throwing Hunter's Charger to the ground, skulking off away from the group.
The helmeted one gurgled quietly, causing him to pause for a moment but he continued on, fuming. "Do not fret, little ones... I understand the circumstances you were in. Even if it pains me so. Come. You all will not... be able to reach where we need to go without me." Hunter picks up his weapon and checks it before reattaching it to his OOPA. Raye reattaches her Splatling to her OOPA and holsters it before picking up Laura's unconscious form.
The creature picked them all up, carefully ensconcing them all in its tentacles. They saw nothing of the outside as it carried them upward, eventually, they heard a loud crashing before something made of glass broken. And then it got rough for the group inside of the tentacles. They could hear gunfire, shouting, and strange mechanical chirps, buzzes, and beeps.
Above everything, they could hear a synthesized voice roaring over it all. "Stop Subject: 216 and her companions at all costs!"
In reply, the creature that had carried them up spoke finally. "Prepare yourselves, little ones. Fight... with all your strength." Without missing a beat, she threw the group out of its tentacles behind an overturned table. Off to the side behind them, the window overlooking the arena was shattered into many fine pieces. Ahead of them, however, were around eight soldiers, garbed in armored jumpsuits with additional plating, they resembled the ones back in the dorm.
At least, until they started firing at them. Lances of fuchsia Ink launched forth at their cover, thudding heavily against it as all of them, Raye with the unconscious Laura, Hunter, Selena, and a few other Inklings sat behind cover with them. Two orangenettes, an orange Inkling, and a light-bluenette.
Roaring, the creature launched forth and went to work against the group of soldiers. She tore through their line, crushing them under her mechanical limbs as it simultaneously grabbed two of them with its tentacles and threw them out the window into the arena. Before long, the remaining security guards, just two of them were left, quickly retreated out of the door.
The creature grabbed at the door just as it was closing, twisting her hand a bit, she tore it out and tossed it off to the side. "Let's go..., little ones. We have no time to waste." It moved through the small door, widening it to accommodate her size. Beyond it, they could hear her rampaging through the laboratory beyond.
What will you all do now?
