Operation story: 12-10
< 12-10
| Operation | Story |
| Previous 12-9 | Next 12-11 |
| Characters | |
|---|---|
 Desperate Thug  Worked-Up Thug |
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| Backgrounds | |
 1  2  3 |
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After operation[edit]
Summary W escorts the gravely wounded Kal'tsit. Rhodes Island accepts Delphine's proposal, now settled on a plan to pressure the Dukes into launching a rescue. Meanwhile, the embittered thugs of the lockdown zone are the latest to learn of Siege's royal status.
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| <Background 1> | |
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| [W drives the truck with the injured Kal'tsit, Mon3tr, and Shining in it across the battlefield.] | |
| Shining | W, perhaps you could drive a little slower. |
| W | Our tragically wounded Dame won't hang in there much longer, Shining. Hold on tight, everybody. Incline ahead. |
| [W drives the truck across the ramp.] | |
| Shining | A ride this rough likely won't benefit Kal'tsit's recovery in any way. |
| W | So what? Theresis couldn't hack her to death. You think a little bad suspension's gonna be what does it? Whew, the roads here suck. Passing through a bomb crater, guys. |
| Shining | You could steer around. |
| W | Too late, I'm going in. |
| [W drives the truck through a crater.] | |
| Mon3tr | (Menacing growl) |
| W | Yeah, yeah, Kal'tsit Jr. Now get your claws off me. You're free to screw off of the car and drag your sorry little master behind us. Your choice. |
| Mon3tr | (High-pitched braying) |
| W | Got something ticking in your metal skull? You can try it, I'll play ball with you. Or maybe, I should just throw you off and make roadkill out of you. |
| Shining | W, we're in a hurry. |
| W | This hag can't cough a single word at anyone right now, and look at how sad and distressed her stupid wimpy pet is! I've never felt this good in my life! Don't you wanna get payback on your boss? Medical Department shit-stirrer Kal'tsit, reduced to THIS!!! |
| Shining | She is my patient now. |
| W | Ugh. You're boring as ever. Tell Closure and her circus troupe to follow our route. With the dukes and the Sarkaz duking it out, I'm the only one who still knows where to find an opening. |
| Shining | You're very familiar with the terrain and situation. |
| W | How do you think I survived the past few years? What, did you picture me swimming in Londinium's sewers? A merc's got her ways. Once we're through these ruins, we'll hit our destination. |
| Shining | Is she already there? |
| W | You've got my word. I never miss the chance to make someone owe me. But pushing the wheelchair's not on your base plan. I get an extra favor for that. |
| Shining | ...Fine. |
| W | Oh yeah, what's the deal between you and the hag? Dragging an incap into Londinium's a pretty terrible idea. |
| Shining | She is my... No. I am her sin. |
| <Background 2> | |
| Amiya | ...A comms station? |
| Delphine | We need to broadcast our existence out there. |
| Doctor | It'll be an invitation. |
| Delphine | Right on the money, Doctor of Rhodes Island. |
| Doctor | The dukes need to know about this. If none act, it gives any other dukes fodder against them. When the crown's vacant, everyone will want to be airtight. |
| Delphine | You know Victoria better than I imagined. |
| Ines | Where can we find a comms station? |
| Delphine | The signal hub for this place got wrecked by the Sarkaz right off the bat, but I know of a small station we might still be able to use. It's in a pub. Best house in all of Londinium before Norport went to pot. They set up a signal transceiver with mad high power in there, so they could get ahead of what their guests from all over wanted. It looks like stones fell and blocked up the whole outside of it, but if we can find a way in, and use the gear that's still left in there, then I think we... |
| Ines | It'll be an extremely dangerous op. Going by what you've told us, we're in luck if that sorry station still works, after which we couldn't even encrypt the outgoing signal. |
| Delphine | Bang on. It's an old civilian model. No matter who hears, they'll know what we're trying to say in a flash. |
| Ines | And the Sarkaz will immediately act. |
| Delphine | We've just got to gamble on the dukes not wanting a preventable massacre to their name. Besides, I'm trusting... some duke or other will want to step up proper. After all, they're not going to want a Victoria in ruins themselves. |
| Ines | The Duke of Windermere, for example? |
| Delphine | ...... She could be one of them, yeah. |
| Ines | Interesting. Looks like you do read plenty of newspapers, Delphine. Doctor, Amiya, I believe this plan is feasible. We need to inject a little chaos to shatter the deadlock. One or more dukes on the offensive can be a smokescreen for us, whether it's finding where that airship is located, or creating conditions for the people to evacuate their abandoned plate. |
| Siege | Then before we do, we need to put an end to the pointless infighting and cutthroat slaughter in this lockdown zone. |
| Amiya | We need to give them a reason to reunite. |
| Doctor | Letting everyone know hope still exists, for example. |
| Amiya | Yes. If we can make headway on that, and distribute the remaining resources here to those who need them most... then maybe we can hold out for even longer. Rebuilding broken trust, just like you said. |
| Ines | Hmph. Real or fake, hope is still hope anyhow. |
| Cador | So. That's your genius plan? Go to an old pub for an old comms station, and beg the dukes outside to save us because we're all dead meat in here? Incredible. I might want to applaud you lot. |
| Delphine | If you have any good ideas, you can give them right now, Cador. Aside from charging past the Sarkaz blockade walls. |
| Cador | Just didn't think after becoming thieves and conmen, we'd finally be grovelling on the ground to all those snot-nosed blue-blood boys and girls. |
| Delphine | If you don't like the idea of it being a mayday, you can think of it as a wager instead. |
| Cador | Oh, look, what an elite word, "wager!" Oh, we're off making a wager with the people in their castles now, lucky us! |
| Delphine | And you can choose to keep robbing people in the street. I won't stop you. |
| Cador | Pick what you want to talk about! |
| Delphine | Cador, I know you care about your "dignity" like nothing else, but NOW IS NOT THE TIME FOR IT. If the dukes attacking can help us, then inviting them is an option. |
| Cador | Alright. You thought of the consequences? The dukes help us. Bang-up. Then what? We hop on their warships to march for our great Londinium? Or do we become their subjects, sticking ourselves in Caster or Wellington's factories to feed ourselves to lathing machines? This is not going to do us bloody favors. We are about to sell our lives to the BLOODY NOBLES! Say goodbye to being Berties anymore, we'll be asylum-seekers for them to snuff out as they feel! |
| Delphine | AND WE AREN'T RIGHT NOW?! CADOR! DO YOU THINK WE'RE THE FREE AND HAPPY PEOPLE OF NORPORT RIGHT NOW?! WAR BROKE OUT! WE'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF IT! Do–Do you want to tell me that you think once a hero descends from the sky to guide all Porties together with you to crush the Sarkaz outside, just like you've been dreaming– –that everything can return to how it was? "Dignity!" Look at us, Cador! We know... full well, what the hell we've done! |
| Cador | ...... I– |
| [A loud sound is heard outside.] | |
| Siege | Shit. What's happening?! |
| Cador | In the street! They're all armed! |
| Baird | Okay, no panic. We need to clear this up– |
| [Baird checks outside to see a mob throwing rocks at the gym.] | |
| Baird | Do they not want to live anymore? Who still has the strength to scrap this hard? Every gang sheltering in Norbert should be in the same boat as us in terms of low supplies– |
| Through the boarded-up window, all that can be seen is still-live smoke. Then hollering and cursing, coupled with crying and begging. The sort of thing they've had to tune out these days. Blind eye, deaf ear. But this time, it's not brief clamor from a dingy alleyway. It's not following nervousness or hesitation, or any attempt at cover or disguise. Within the smoke, a luggage trolley nonchalantly rolls down the street, very well the previous property of some inn, a past life of conveying suitcases big and small belonging to guests from all corners. Now, pushed out amidst the dust by the explosion's aftermath, it becomes the focal point where everyone's gazes gather–the target of all their ardent desires. Atop that trolley is a stack of supplies full to bursting. Box upon box of tin cans, clean water, rations rough yet oh so sweet... | |
| Baird | That's... |
| Her voice fails and falters. She finds herself... unable to avert her eyes. | |
| <Background 3> | |
| [A throng of thugs are fighting over the food supplies.] | |
| Desperate Thug | I... I need this food! Get lost! |
| Worked-Up Thug | You get lost! God's sakes, I don't need you here! You can't eat that much! |
| Desperate Thug | You can split a bit with me, come on, just a few rolls of bread'll do... |
| Worked-Up Thug | Take your hands off the stuff first! |
| The crowds are quarreling, ripping and tearing, the luggage freewheeling from one group's hands to another's. People fall, climb back up, throw themselves at their mountain of hopes, each with a wish to get their share from it. But most end up empty-handed. | |
| Cador | Bloody hell! Where'd all that shit even come from?! Half an hour more and they'll be killing all their own! Hey, stop! Stop! |
| [The mobs threw rock at Cador, but Baird protects him.] | |
| Baird | Stay back. For now. They won't hear what you're saying. We can't... |
| Baird notices a silhouette slip past her. | |
| Baird | Siege! |
| Siege's hammer smashes fiercely against the ground, the turbulence blowing away the dust and stench of blood throughout the street. She takes in the people before her, and they give her death stares back. | |
| Worked-Up Thug | Siege... What are you here for? What are you doing? |
| Siege | I recognize you. LJ. Your three brats doing alright? |
| Worked-Up Thug | Hahahahahah. Alright? We can find out once we see them. Just die first. Or maybe I will. It's fine for them. They're free. No need to fight over scraps like the brutes we are. They died a clean and honest death. So, Siege? Gonna be a saint, send me to see them? |
| Siege | We don't have to do this. There's no point going knives out at our own neighbors here. |
| Worked-Up Thug | There's all the point. It's the point and then some, Siege. A roll of bread means I live through tonight. If my luck's good, tomorrow night too. Aren't you hungry? Aren't you parched? Do you even have the energy to choose? 'Cause that tells me it hasn't tormented you enough. You're not even part of this. Give me an answer, Siege, why don't you. How much hope are you looking to steal from me? I could never beat you before. But now, I can– |
| [Suddenly the worked-up thug's body become unstable, obviously due to his Oripathy.] | |
| Worked-Up Thug | Uwgh–graagh– |
| Amiya | No, stop! Sir! You're not casting, you're destroying your own body! Your increased Arts Assimilation is just a pathological result of acute infection! We can help you! Please stop! |
| Worked-Up Thug | Shove off, shove off! You self-respecting do-gooders! Either go back and hide in your houses, or join the bloody fight! Everyone wants to survive, and this is the most reliable method I know. |
| Cador | Shit, LJ! You want me to pound you flat that badly?! Alright, I– |
| Morgan | Save it! God's sakes, enough! Her Royal Highness Alexandrina Vina Victoria is here! |
| Siege | Morgan! |
| Morgan | Progeny of the Aslan King, Her Royal Highness Alexandrina Vina Victoria, has brought back the Sighs of Kings! |
| Desperate Thug | Victoria... Siege, your surname was Victoria?! That sword's... the Sighs of Kings? But... Well, I always suspected... you weren't an ordinary Feline. |
| Delphine | ...... Per Her Royal Highness's demands, the dukes' forces have begun to advance their way here. Those Sarkaz won't hold them off, even if they throw in the ship! We're saved now! |
| Siege | Delphine, even you're... |
| Cador | Her Royal Highness? Siege... you were bloody royal family? Hahahah... |
| Desperate Thug | The dukes, they're finally– Siege... no, Your Royal Highness Alexandrina, I have to... |
| [The worked-up thug collapses.] | |
| Worked-Up Thug | Rgghh– |
| Amiya | ...Acute Oripathy symptoms. I'll prep an inhibitor injection straight away. He's in terrible condition. |
| Morgan | You see, we have medicine too! We just need to hold on a little longer– That's right, just a little longer now. |