The two might have been vaguely aware of a blue thing descending some way away. Natalie touched down and shifted into her uniform.
Penny rushed over to meet her. "Natalie! It was awful! The soldier came down, my little puppy pupil was hiding and-"
"There there, Penny. We'll get into the details later. Is the culprit detained?"
"Yeah. Took a couple of deep cuts and a few bullets though."
"I see. Let's hope he's well enough for questioning. Anyway, the mini-evacuation went smoothly. As far as anyone'll know, this was just a terrorist oper-"
"Umm, Natalie?"
"Yes?"
"There was kind of a...complication..."
"What?" Natalie's attention was directed to Lars and Alan. "Oh, balls." She went over to them.
And a Strange Figure Emerges.Having been interrupted by the group of people now surrounding them, Lars spoke to Natalie without looking up, working on the second bloody axe. "Miss, I still don't know the odds-and-ends of this business, but seeing as our friend here," he nudged his head towards the soldier, "was working his way into town, I'd say one witness ain't bad."
edited 24th Apr '12 12:49:13 PM by nman
"Camera bug? Oh, this just keeps getting worse and worse..." Natalie gave an acknowledging nod to Lars, then knelt beside him and Alan. "Sir, I'm Officer Johnson. Have you seen anything unusual here today? Aside from the terrorist here, of course."
edited 24th Apr '12 12:49:50 PM by LizardOfAus
And a Strange Figure Emerges."Sir, I need to ask, what sort of unusual things did you- Oh fuck me." Natalie had just noticed Lars had a surplus amount of arms. She pinched her temples and shook her head.
Penny, looking nervous as a schoolgirl, sat cross-legged beside Alan. "Mister...can you keep a secret?"
And a Strange Figure Emerges.And thus, the migrane-inducing dull days of waiting to get on the road again had begun.
While Xue indeed loved her job, this was the portion she detested with every ounce of her being. She'd never asked to work with a team. She'd never wanted to work with a team. Unfortunately, fate had a rather sick sense of humor and found it fitting that she ended up with this lot. Most of them she didn't mind, admittedly. Heck, most of them were downright pleasant when not exhibiting some of their less appealing quirks.
It was a rather typical afternoon for the team, at least typical of when they lacked any real work to do. The leader, Charles, a rather short and feminine-looking young man, was engrossed in a book in the shade of a tarp they'd set up as a makeshift awning, occasionally pulling himself away in order to converse with Mai'iq - whom, despite his enormous size and intimidating appearance was actually a very quiet, contemplative, and scholarly sort, always focusing on his research in his spare moments As she thought on the matter more, it occurred to Xue that the man rarely if ever took initiative in any conversation. At the moment, Ilya seemed to be very absorbed in maintaining his guns, which he was capable of wielding with astonishing accuracy despite his apparent blindness; meanwhile, Ai was perched upon the top of Woolsgroove's rather gaudily painted tour bus, watching the clouds and their movements for no particular reason other than she wanted to. How she managed to get up there in that kimono of hers was anyone's guess, but then again not much of anything Ai does makes much sense.
Xue's eye twitched in annoyance. Everyone else was having their peace and quiet, but she always ends up stuck with that idiot chattering away at her about something completely pointless that she honestly didn't care about. While Woolsgroove had annoyed her from the beginning with his general foolishness and. . . Odd fixation on the fashions of the 1970's in America, the fact that he had decided to make her his own personal target only made him that much more infuriating. Contrary to his harebrained beliefs, she was not playing hard-to-get. She simply despised him. There were some days she honestly wanted to light that obnoxious purple afro of his on fire.
While she ignored Woolsgroove's rambling - she'd honestly given up on even looking like she was paying attention to him - she remembered what she'd witnessed the other day. That crystal and the powers it bestowed upon those normal people. She'd only come across them by chance; complete coincidence, and observed from afar. Yet she knew the knowledge would stay with her.
Xue could just picture how powerful one experienced with their powers could be. A worthy opponent to test her skills against, indeed. She checked her watch; it was about time for practice. She stood up, briefly stretching her arms.
"Please be quiet," Xue said to Woolsgroove, who had still been talking her ear off, "Now, unless you can make yourself useful and aid me in training, stay away from me. I'm sick of listening to you."
"Aw, don't be that way, baby!" Woolsgroove replied, unfazed by her rudeness towards him, "A little bunny like you shouldn't be working herself all hours of the day! Ah, well, check you later! I'd rather leave the job of being your punching bag to one of these other cats." he added, before retreating back into the bus like a pup with its tail between its legs.
Coward.
“DAMMIT WHEN I HEAR 'SPACE CQC' ALL I CAN THINK OF IS BIG BOSS WITH A FISHBOWL ON HIS HEAD, STRANGLING AN ASTRONAUT OUTSIDE THE ISS.""Goddamnit, don't call me 'Mister'. Surely I don't look that fucking old."
Alan was silent for a moment save for some grumbling, before continuing."
"And if you're gonna tell me that this all involves the crystal in Cusco, then save your breath. I've known about that."
"You lost, Dio. You lost for one simple reason - you were using charcoal." - Hank Hill"Really?" said Natalie in a sterner tone as she got up. "Well, what makes you so certain this is linked to a crystal?"
"Um, Natalie? He did a lot of the fighting here. He could be kinda helpful."
Natalie seemed to contemplate this. "We can't go around making just anyone secret keepers...What's your name, sir?"
And a Strange Figure Emerges."The fact that your accomplice here can firstly grow six arms, and secondly turn into a giant red ox; not to mention that you and your friend here treated the sight like it's normal. I've seen what that crystal can do before, although I cannot quite remember exactly. Still, some freaky shit went down here and there only that crystal could have caused." Alan replied, holstering his gun.
"As for my name... well, introductions aren't an issue. The name's Alan Jackson."
"You lost, Dio. You lost for one simple reason - you were using charcoal." - Hank HillGary came out and put his son down on the ground. John ran up closer to the others and when nearby the soldier, stopped when he caught sight of the attacker's wounds. The deep wounds were not a good sight for the puppy, he felt nauseated.
Gary did not understand what Natalie meant. "Connection, what do you mean?"
Some people say I'm lazy. It's hard to disagree.Alan raised an eyebrow. \"The puppy can talk... Is there no normal person here...\"
"Anyway. Yes, went to the temple, no, didn't touch the crystal. And I don't believe I ever agreed to help you out, either.", he continued.
"You lost, Dio. You lost for one simple reason - you were using charcoal." - Hank Hill

Alan knelt down where he stood, breathing a bit heavily. One by one, he rached into his pocket for a bullet, responding "Damn straight. Bastard pointed a gun at me for trying to ask a question or two." as he reloaded.
edited 24th Apr '12 11:00:00 AM by InfiniteParagon
"You lost, Dio. You lost for one simple reason - you were using charcoal." - Hank Hill