Poughkeepsie Attacks!!!: Team Smith Brothers

[gone_byebye]

The Smith Brothers were once upon a time considered the Beards Who Made Poughkeepsie Famous. In many a world, their old factory has long since shut down and their product is now manufactured in Chicago. Not so here; the same factory continues to operate, churning out lozenges by the gross.

Or they do during the day, anyway. Tonight the place is crawling with security. Who knew that non-prescription cough drops needed so many guardians?

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[stilljustandrew]

*Andrew studies the sign for a moment, and steps onto the double-F at the opposite corner. His foot covers most of the word.*

We're gonna have to sort of hold on to each other. And I'm thinking stay low, too, to lower our wind resistance and our visibility.

*Suiting action to word, he crouches down and holds out an arm to her.*

[precocioustilda.livejournal.com]

"That's reasonable," she agrees, and suits actions to words by crouching beside him and huddling close, her small hands gripping the edge of the sign.

(up sign, down ground, up sign, down ground, come on, there we go, lift lift lift, sink sink sink--)

It's slow and wobbly at first, but Tilda's a quick learner. Soon they're hovering steadily about three feet off the ground as she waits for him to give Francis his orders regarding distraction of the security force.

[stilljustandrew]

*Andrew's got one arm around her, half-protective, half to maintain balance as he leans forward to speak to Francis.*

Okay, boy -- go make some noise. Make them think you're serious about trying to get in.

Do I need to tell you not to hurt anyone if you can help it?

[gone_byebye]

Francis turns around and blinks his eyelight at Andrew a couple of times. What that means is anybody's guess, but he turns again, backs up a few paces, and charges towards the gates.

"WHURF WHURF WHURF WHURF WHURF," is the last thing the robot dog says before the pattern of its limbs change and it leaps.

Francis was a hunter-seeker once, after all. He was designed for the chase and the neutralization- not the kill, the neutralization- of enemies of the Librian state. Sometimes, that meant getting over obstacles.

There's shortly going to be an awful lot of angry, poorly trained men running around the Smith Brothers property trying to catch up with a dog that can do thirty miles an hour in its sleep.

[precocioustilda.livejournal.com]

Matilda is highly entertained by this.

She'd be much more so if she didn't have to stare intently at the edge of the sign.

"I'll need you to keep an eye out horizontally and tell me if I get off course," she tells Andrew, blinking (which causes a momentary, barely perceptible wobble). "I have to maintain eye contact to keep us in the air."

And with that, off they go - rising steadily and gliding in the direction of the factory roof. When they pass over the fence that surrounds the property, it's close enough that Andrew could probably reach out and touch it if he were foolish enough to let go of Tilda or their impromptu hovercraft for the purpose.

[stilljustandrew]

Little higher if you can. *He's barely breathing the words.*

*Below them there are already men starting to run -- not, Andrew is unsurprised to see, all of them, and not in a mob; discipline is holding. For the moment.*

Left a bit.

[precocioustilda.livejournal.com]

They rise a few feet and turn, very slightly, to Andrew's left.

This is difficult. Every time she blinks she has to 'catch' them again afterwards.

Luckily, Matilda has plenty of practice staring unblinking at the same spot for extended periods of time. They only wobble twice more before they're close enough to the roof that it's in her peripheral vision.

[gone_byebye]

The rooftop is generally well tended and clean, for a rooftop. It's the sort of place the occasional employee goes for a smoke break, but only the very occasional employee. It's too easily seen to be really practical as a hideaway.

Of course, right now it's dark and the guards are about half divided between chasing the robotic dog and phoning in the incident to somebody, although they have varying opinions as to who. Not that it can be told from up here. The important thing is that no one is really looking at the rooftop as Matilda brings them into jump-down or landing range.

[stilljustandrew]

*Landing is definitely preferable -- quieter as well as safer. Andrew waits till their makeshift skyraft is settled before straightening up and stepping off.*

*Instead of saying anything, he raises one finger to his lips and gestures purposefully at the door with his other hand.*

[precocioustilda.livejournal.com]

Matilda nods, taking the time to flip the sign over so that its stealthy side is up before moving to check if the door is locked. Hey, it might get seen from the air. Who knows.

The door isn't locked. With a shrug, she opens it. Somewhat gingerly, yes, because it's possible it might be rigged to set off an alarm of some kind, but the only other option she can see is standing around on the roof waiting for Something To Happen.

[gone_byebye]

There is no alarm, no.

There's just a bit of scuffing of a patch of floor as the not-quite-even bottom edge of the door scrapes across a crudely drawn design on the floor, placed there some time ago by the enterprising fellows who're at work down among the vats and tubes and hoppers. Something in the air shimmers in response, and swells, and cascading arcs of PKE silently lift from the ground floor and twine themselves around the equipment in the factory.

... Andrew and Tilda might very well be able to see some of that going on as they peer over the catwalk into the factory. They'll definitely be able to see the greater runic circle down below, the one that was in the process of being completed by two not-quite-clued-in men consulting several sheets of paper.

[stilljustandrew]

Oh, frell, we just set off a tripwire circle.

*Except the men below don't seem to be noticing. Too focused on the ... *

*... the other circle.*

Thaaaat's not good.

[precocioustilda.livejournal.com]

...See icon.

"Define not good," she says around the oopsface.

[stilljustandrew]

Not the tripwire one, that one --

*He points.*

It's a power-circle, it's supposed to divert energy along particular lines, like if you wanted to gather all the local ambient energy towards one purpose? Except he hasn't got it grounded anywhere I can see -- that diagram looks like it would just send the mojo ricocheting in a totally random direction --

*His voice may be getting just a tiny bit louder.*

[precocioustilda.livejournal.com]

"...Will it stop working if I blow it up?" is the first question she thinks to ask, raising a finger to her lips at the same time because the last thing they need is for both of them to attract attention needlessly.

[stilljustandrew]

I can't -- *He catches her quieting gesture and subsides back to the barely audible whisper.* I can't tell. It's totally nonstandard. Whoever designed that circle was either a complete ignoramus or an absolute master.

They haven't finished it yet, maybe we should just, I don't know ... distract them?

[gone_byebye]

That may not be necessary, if the amorphous shape slowly gorbling its way out of the shadows is anything to go by. The PKE arcs found a place to earth themselves when the tripwire circle went off- the first vats of cough drop mixture to be poured out on the morrow, waiting silently in lidded slumber. Spirit energy pouring through such a medium has interesting effects, like creating a drive to come together with more of the same substance and really cut loose on everything in sight.

"Hey, Will," says one of the men kneeling on the floor to the other, "is it just me, or do you suddenly smell a lot more cherry in the air?"

"Huh?" says Will.

"GRAAAR," says the cough drop monster.

[precocioustilda.livejournal.com]

"...Really," Matilda comments, staring, "I'm not sure whether to let them be distracted by that or start throwing fireworks. The creature seems to have impeccable timing for a blob of animated cough remedy."

[stilljustandrew]

*Andrew's staring too.*

... yeah that'll work.

[gone_byebye]

There's a small clatter as Will's paintbrush falls to the ground, followed by his written instructions. Of course, Andrew might not hear it over the "AIIIIIGH!" that Will's companion lets out. Or over the cough drop blob monster's second mighty ROAR, or the oozing sounds it makes as it shluckshluckshlucks towards them at a disconcerting clip- anyway, you get the picture. The two men are running in the space of heartbeats as the cough drop monster comes at them.

It bellows again and whips a couple of pseudopods this way and that in search of other presences. One of them seems to be growing upwards, possibly to get a better look at high places?

[precocioustilda.livejournal.com]

Matilda yeep!s.

And, because she's sensible that way, tugs on Andrew's arm to get them both out of sight of the door.

Also, she's going to be looking for a way down off that roof that doesn't go through the building, now. All things considered she'd rather be solidly on the ground if and when she starts letting loose with the explosives.

"I think we had best get to ground level," she explains lest Andrew not follow this train of thought. "In case I need to blow things up, and one of those things happens to end up being this building."

[stilljustandrew]

Right there with you--

*He's looking for a fire escape.*

[gone_byebye]

And he finds one- old, and a bit rickety, but still up to code and eminently capable of supporting one person at a time.

Which is good, because the pseudopods are shlucking swiftly towards the stairs.

[precocioustilda.livejournal.com]

Tilda thinks quickly. It's a talent.

"You first," she says, motioning to the ladder. "In case I need to throw things at the medicine monster."

Of the two of them, Matilda surmises she makes the better rearguard.

[stilljustandrew]

*He shakes his head.* You first. Always send the lightest member of the party first to cross a rickety structure. And if I get stuck up here you can levitate me down --

*As he speaks, he's rummaging in his coat's capacious pockets.*