Thursday, October 1, 2009

Nine of Blades

by Taki

What was I dictating a second ago?

 
Oh, right!
 
Overmind has a very punchable face.
Kara The Fortune Teller

 
I need to keep fairly quiet while Taki sees to this, but I am watching for any flickers in the immediate future. If we're going to survive this, Taki needs every advantage we can put together.

 
I have the Nine of Blades. Traditionally this is a card about sleeplessness and regret growing out of past choices, but that's not where I am focusing at this moment. Instead I see violent intent smashing down from the shadows onto a starkly lit target. Who is in which position? Taki is accustomed to being subtle, to constantly changing the approach of her attack to keep her enemy moving off-balance. On the other hand, she is badly outnumbered by Overmind's thugbots just now. Judging by her stance, she has decided that they can't be allowed an easy time of getting past her, either.

 
This is going to get ugly.

 
Sahara starts off by slamming an area-of-effect attack into the batch of six drones plus one Overmind. He knocks several of them away, wrecking their formation. They cannot all share defenses or attacks for the next few seconds. Taki immediately follows her teammate's attack by getting into the middle of the remaining group. She smashes an energy attack at half strength into the floor, creating a pressure wave rippling upward to knock off their supports any of the enemies that managed to withstand Sahara's first assault.

 
Only the Attack Droid manages to clamp magnets on the metal floor and stay upright!

 
Since she's at range of nearly zero, the Attack Drone makes a charging attack but misses Taki by just enough. It goes on to bounce off the wall.

 
Meanwhile Overmind rolls to get his feet and one hand under him. He fires some sort of numbing-field attack out of his gauntlet that passes over Taki as she launches a spinning side kick in his direction. Instead it hits one of his own drones!

 
I glance away for maybe four seconds to check on our teammates on the surface. When I return my attention to the corridor, Taki and Overmind are grappling one another. In particular, one of Overmind's gauntlets sputters ionic energy as if it took damage or malfunctioned; Taki has one hand wrapped around the forearm just below that gauntlet, her other hand locked on Overmind's elbow to keep him from pulling the arm away. She is using leverage to keep the sputtering damage near Dr. Overmind's own head, so he can't misuse the energy attacks on anyone but himself. Overmind has rocket boots activated so they are hurtling down the hallway. Sahara is trying to both catch them, and deliver a few extra subduing blows on Overmind.

Continue reading...

  1. The People's Glorious Twenty-Fifth of May
  2. Grip of NOT DEMONS Mind Thieves
    September 23rd, 2009
  3. Keepaway
  4. Sleuth and Rescue
    Monday, September 28th, 2009
  5. Canister Clues So Far:
    Monday, September 28th, 2009
  6. Coffee Date
    Thursday, October 1st, 2009
  7. Museum of the City Rebooting
    Thursday, October 1st, 2009
  8. The Sphynx Trap
    Thursday, October 1st, 2009
  9. Follow up on clues!
    Thursday, October 1st, 2009
  10. Underground
    Thursday, October 1st, 2009
  11. Magic Eight Ball says Try Again Later
    Thursday, October 1, 2009
  12. Pier 99
    Thursday, October 1, 2009
  13. Keepaway
    Thursday, October 1, 2009
  14. Balloons over Central Park
    Thursday, October 1, 2009
  15. The Villain's Lair
    Thursday, October 1, 2009
  16. Ten of Discs
    Thursday, October 1, 2009
  17. Nine of Blades
    Thursday, October 1, 2009
  18. Queen of Masks
    Thursday, October 1, 2009
  19. Souls and Swords
    Thursday, October 1, 2009