The Fall of Every Sparrow

[rekindledtitan]

It’s a calm cold morning on the outskirts near the Wilds. The aeronautiloids are hibernating in their nests, the odd small creature chirps in the bushes, and the blue grass is hidden by a shallow layer of snowfall. It’s picturesque, and quiet: most of the Nexus visitors prefer the shelter and hot drinks of the built-up streets this time of year. In fact, someone’s counting on that.

There’s a white flash, a split-second burst of horrendous noise. An armed figure drops out of the air backside first, her plate armor in flames, and hits the ground with a low whumph. She rolls over immediately and pushes herself to her knees, swearing- then looks up, over her shoulder. There’s just a second to register the source of the noise above, and then the blazing, half-melted remains of a hoverbike crash down onto her.

It takes a minute before she pushes herself back up, twisting to shove the smoldering wreck off of her with a grunt. The fire on her own armor has gone out at this point, but it's black with chemical ash. Blaze lurches back a step or two and surveys the damage through the half of her helm that isn’t totally destroyed. The nearby snow has melted and begun pooling around the ex-bike, steaming away from the hot metal. Ghost materializes above her shoulder to scan his smoking Guardian, then the bike. Here’s hoping they didn’t land on anything important.

“Think we can salvage it?” Blaze asks him. The tiny floating robot gives her a Look.

Abashed, the Exo Guardian reaches up to try and detach her crumpled helmet, wincing at the pain when something jostles inside. Anyone getting close to help (or spectate) will get her hand lifted in sheepish greeting and a rueful look, the glow of one optic visible through her cracked faceplate.

“Ever had a great idea that you, uh, kinda regretted instantly?”

Comments

[sweetcandygirl]

The white flash of light had attracted Harley to the scene -- like a moth pulled to the flame. And she doesn't offer any assistance to the Exo Guardian... instead, pulls out a lollypop and places it in her mouth, as she surveys the scene. And the damage.

"I had tons of great ideas other people regretted."

[rekindledtitan]

"Well, sure. That's just a good day." Blaze doesn't heed the lack of help much, partly because there's not much to be done for either her or the bike at this stage. And partly because she's trying to figure out how to get her helm off with a minimum of discomfort.

"Depending on who's regretting things," Ghost notes.

"I've got more personal regrets in mind, though," Blaze adds.

[sweetcandygirl]

Harley surveys the surrounding area again. Just making sure nothing else is going to come along. She has her hand on her bat if something does.

"Usually, my teammates were in the regret side of things."

[rekindledtitan]

By contrast, the surrounding Nexus is the last thing Blaze is concerned about. All the bad news is a universe away, after all. Admittedly the cause of the accident is standing right here, but she's learned her lesson.

"Your team-mates?" Well, that doesn't sound so good. "Regret on account of your ideas?"

[sweetcandygirl]

"They typically don't put me in lead, for reasons." Harley shrugs. She is a attack first, ask questions later, kinda girl.

[readvondaniken]

"That's what I think it is, ain't it? I mean, it's wrecked, but it musta been a nice-lookin' bike."

Palmer's a mechanic and a biker, so even a wrecked hoverbike immediately grabs his attention. He runs over to look at it. Sure, he's ninety-nine percent sure it's beyond fixing, but that doesn't mean he can't dissect it to learn how it works, or cannibalize it for spare parts...

"I guess goin' to Antarctica sounded like a good idea at the time. I was fresh outta the rehab center, needed the money, and one of my friends back home helped me get the job. I sure as hell wouldn't turn it down. With my record, getting a job would be next to impossible. Former gang runner? Criminal record? Marijuana? I mean, would you hire me?"

[rekindledtitan]

"It really... was." Blaze gives a synthetic sigh. Her hands are lifted to her helm, but she pauses in her careful tugging to give the mechanic a sort of apologetic look. She's not sure if anything of the bike's internals have survived, given how warped and melted the chassis looks. It certainly doesn't look as nice as it did, but the sleek outline is still kind of visible. "We call them Sparrows. That is- heh. Was a Cavalier model. S-21 variant. Modified for maximum maneuvering power with a heavy passenger."

She winks, but that doesn't actually show with how broken her helm is. Whoops.

Palmer does have a story to take her mind off her own misfortunes, however. She leaves her helm alone while she listens. "Sounds kinda familiar. You seem all right to me, Palmer, but I see your point. Sometimes you've got to seize the one shot you've got. So was Antarctica all that bad? You know- before the monster."

[readvondaniken]

"Pity it's broken. I'd offer to help you fix it, but I'd guess it's busted up badly enough that nothing can be done. Shame." Palmer's a good mechanic, and he's gotten better from his time in the Nexus, but he's willing to bet this - Sparrow? - was beyond his ability to fix. He pats it sympathetically. It's never any fun to lose a good ride. Sometimes he misses his old bike back home.

He stands up to answer Blaze's question, thinking back. He still remembers his crew vividly.

"It was pretty good. I was brought on as an assistant mechanic. Most of the guys I worked with were decent - I rubbed the wrong way with some folks, but I guess that was to be expected, and none of 'em were bad people. Not even Garry or Blair. They were just a bit..." Palmer struggles to put in in a nice way. "Old-fashioned. They didn't bug me or anything, they were just kinda boring. But I enjoyed it - Nauls and Childs were good guys, and Mac was all right, even if he spend most of his time in that shack of his."

[rekindledtitan]

The Exo's hand is on his wrist before he can touch the bike, unyielding despite intending to be gentle. Palmer's probably noticed the heat already, but her instincts won't take the chance of him burning himself.

"Careful," she warns, letting go. The inner side of her gauntlet is a little hot too, but the flexible mesh that lines is softer and less burning than plate metal. "I left it pretty hot." She appreciates the sympathy, though. Poor Sparrow. It served her well. "If I figured there was much left I'd open it up and show you."

Losing a bike is small in the greater scheme, of course. Listening to him reminisce reminds her of that. "Just a few of you out there? Antarctica have been pretty isolated even in those days. The worst part about work like that is usually the boredom. And the confinement, for you. You don't make it sound bad, though."

[magnetite_plz]

One minute you're part of a perfectly serviceable patrol raining gunfire down on an enemy encampment and the next everything is on literal actual fire. Nike's still not sure what's happened. Ghost started shouting and things started bursting into flame. Then the pair of them vanished with a whisper of transmat and the demon found herself alone in the inferno and a host of enemies bearing down on her location.

Unluckily for them, Nike is not unarmed. Her hand strays to her belt and to one of the molotov grenades she keeps at the ready. Breathing slows as she pulls the pin and plans the arc of her throw. It's at that moment the calling comes--ripping her across the veil of time and space at her Mistress's urging because she's needed right Now--and the grenade leaves her hand.

Clonks off of Blaze's head and lands in the ground between the three of them. The demon doesn't even have time to gasp before there's a whole lot more fire and everyone's eardrums get a lovely case of being burst from the blast.

[rekindledtitan]

If Ghost wasn't thinking their emergency exit through, Blaze really wasn't thinking it through. Somewhere between 'oh hell where's Nike?' and 'oh hell we've done some damage' and 'OW' is the thought that drags the angel to them.

Which is fine, at least for the second before something clonks off her helmet and she sees what's landed in the mud before her feet.

Oh no, she thinks.

Oh yes, says fate.

She's close enough on the unsteady ground that even the heavy Titan staggers back from the shock, shuttering her optics on instinct. Ghost has his own shielding and the wisdom to duck, but he still goes rolling through the air like a tumbleweed. Blaze is left blinking at the new crater, bits of incendiary material clinging to her blackened armor as they continue to burn. Her audials have overloaded; her already cracked faceplate is half blown in. Her head snaps around, checking Ghost is there okay and Nike is there before she locks her jaw and straightens, already knowing how her lower abdomen is about to grind- oh. She looks down. Well, her armor down there isn't looking great but it feels fine...

Nexus. Right. Thank you.

"NIKE?" A flashbang would have been worse at that range but she still can't see herself. Blaze strides over to the angel, through the phantom sensations she still feels should be happening. "ARE YOU ALL RIGHT?"

[magnetite_plz]

There's no pain at least from the blast. Nothing that wasn't already injured when she was yanked between dimensions to Blaze's side by her summons. Her hair's singed badly on one side and she's trying to put out the fire clinging to her robes. The shockwave has left her reeling as much as it has Blaze--her sense of balance is shot. She staggers on her feet when her singed wings can't hold her steady in the air.

All Nike can smell is burning. Hair, fabrics, chemicals. The twisted remnants of the Sparrow with its half melted metal chassis, definitely melted wires, and fluids that have boiled away into caustic gases still steaming off of the wreck. All she can hear is the ringing in her ears.

Her shaking legs give out and the angel slumps to her knees in the mud while her hands grope to put out the fires on her clothing, smother them beneath her gloves and the cool wet terra beneath herself. She can't hear Blaze calling.

[rekindledtitan]

It's a shock and a blow but this is familiar. If for a moment her mind's eye sees red sands beneath the vaporizing snow it makes no different. Threat's ended. Check for damage. Move.

"Nike!" She's still calling too loud, but she's realized none of them can hear her. She sees Nike kneeling in the mud, though she can't get a proper look at the angel through her busted helm. Reaching up, she yanks it off - there's a grind and dull snap and sharp pain but it's irrelevant. She dumps the helmet aside and strides a couple of steps closer, throws herself to her knees in front of her team-mate. The sight and smell of blackened feathers sticks in her mind, vivid because it's strange.

Her hands close on Nike's shoulders, steadying her. Conscious. Good. Always lose them otherwise. She peers at the angel, trying to check if Nike can focus on her before the Titan pats out a couple of burning spots on her robes. No blood - check for concussion, head trauma- and Ghost is there, scanning before she can try to flag him over. He always has her back.

[thissideonly]

"Uhhh... never mind that question, are you alright?!" There's a duo coming closer, looking like twins in different clothes- no, on a closer look, they looks like mirror images of each other. The one who asked the question was in a colorful hoodie and what seemed like candy cane stripped leggings, while the other one- in a red leather jacket and red denim jeans- stared at the hoverbike in utter dismay.

[rekindledtitan]

"Who, me?" They get a glance from under her malfunctioning helm: twins, from the look of it, she can't see anything more nuanced with her faceplate so damaged. "I'm fine. It'll take more than that to keep me down. I'm just sorry about the bike."

[thissideonly]

"It's completely mangled- no one can salvage this..." lamented the one in the leather jacket.

"Alright, Suou Tatsuya, get a grip, it's busted." The one in the hoodie chastised. "There's no way your magical rumor powers can fix it, you said it yourself."

"...Fine. Have it your way, Suou Tatsuya. But still, is there anything we can do to help? I'm a mechanic..."

[rekindledtitan]

In a way, the lamentation almost makes her feel proud. When she destroys something, she destroys it for good.

Then she remembers the something is her own mount and that's just embarrassing.

Anyway, the twin bike-lovers are getting over their sorrow- oh. She processes the identical names. Not twins, then: alternates. She's getting used to that. She just hopes she never runs into one of her own.

"Thanks, but you're right. The bike's a lost cause. Nothing to do now but wait for it to cool so I can haul it back for scrap." Shipwright Holliday is going to give her such a look.

[outpostcook]

"Many. It's a long list, where do I start?" A small, scar-faced man in polar gear is observing the wrecked bike. Kinner was well-familiar with motorbikes, but not one like this, and he's both interested in the trashed bike and the people he guesses are its owners. "But there are some folks I used to know who might have a more interesting answer to that question. I've got regrets, though, that's for sure."

Kinner chuckles, stepping back. "But I'm getting ahead of myself. My name's Joseph Kinner. I don't think we've met before. It's an honor." The little cook bows his head slightly. He knows what an android is now, thanks to Connor. "I'd help you fix it, but I'm no good with machines and, frankly, I think that bike's done. Shame. It looks like a nice model. Not one I'm familiar with - I used to have a Triumph back in the day."

[rekindledtitan]

It's a good thing Blaze doesn't mind drawing attention to herself, given the entrance she just made. She's embarrassed enough about the cause of her untimely arrival. She doesn't know this voice, so she has to turn and peer past the cracks in her faceplate to get an idea of who's talking. Hm. Good winter gear. This guy's got some sense.

"Kinner, huh? I'm Blaze-37, and this is Ghost. Good to meet you- circumstances aside." There's a synthetic edge to her voice, though it's warm and expressive as any human woman's. It just sounds like she's speaking through a very good radio. All her armor certainly makes her look like a robot even without glimpsing the metal face beneath her fractured helmet.

"It's too bad, but you're right. Guessing the best we can do is melt this all the way down and recycle the metals. It's a Sparrow, a hoverbike - at least it was. I had it fitted out just the way I liked, too. What's a Triumph like?"

[outpostcook]

"A Triumph?" Kinner remembers back in his world, when he biked for a while. He wasn't that big on it, and he wasn't that good, but he did ride the roads back in the twenties every now and again. "It was a kind of motorbike from my world. Much less fancy-lookin' than that, but back in my world motorbikes were pretty new. They were good fun, provided you didn't hit somethin'."

Kinner plans to keep the winter gear until spring comes, then he'll take it off. He knows time in the Nexus works differently, but the four seasons still exist in recognizable forms. At least that's his impression. Anyway, the small cook considers himself very proud of his horse-sense, and keeping the clothes for now seems like a good idea.

"Nice to meet you, Blaze-37 and Ghost. Mind if I just call you Blaze?" Kinner offers a hand. "As for the polar gear, I came over here a while back from Antarctica. I was working for an expedition there. Due to, uh, circumstances, the clothes came with me."

[rekindledtitan]

"Maybe one day I'll get the chance to take something like that for a spin - if it can hold my weight, hah. They still had wheeled motor vehicles when I was built, but I haven't seen one in working shape that I can remember." Her memory isn't as durable as her body, unfortunately.

She reaches for his hand before she hesitates, then more carefully shakes it. The reason for her caution is two-fold: the tough mesh on the inside of her hand is decidedly warm still, and the iron of the Titan's grip suggests that it could be a crushing one, if she forgot herself.

"Hold up, you're from Antarctica too?" And people used to think it wasn't real! The armored warrior leans closer, unconsciously looming over him in her excitement. "Are you with Palmer's crew? Does he know you're here?" He'd be thrilled to know someone else made it out, she thinks.

Better late to the party than not showing up, right?

[runningscams]

He’d like to be able to say that he came over with the noblest of intentions — that he just happened to be out here in, as far as he could tell, the nexus’ version of wilderness — and came over like a good citizen when he saw the accident. The truth was that Han had heard whispers about racing taking place here and he was actually scoping the place out with macrobinoculars. How else was he gonna really learn what people were driving out here and how fast the vehicles got.

Regardless of the why he was there, he does come in a hurry when he see the crash. He doesn’t really know how he could help, but he’d rather get there and improvise something that just standing there gawking uselessly.

Relief comes when he gets close enough to realize nobody was serious hurt. The bike looks trashed, though, and Han feels a pang of sympathy for the owner of the newly deconstructed sparrow.

“Me?” Han says with a thoughtful look about his face. Then an rueful smirk shows up on his face and he answers, “nope. Can’t say that I have.”

A good rogue is always welcome to the party!

[rekindledtitan]

Blaze turns on her heel, because some voices are always bound to get her attention. She's yanked her broken helm off at this point, although in the process half her left antenna has snapped clean off, leaving a painfully sparking stub that she's rubbing at a little. Her armor's blackened and still smoking a little and it smells kind of awful, honestly, but the Exo herself isn't seriously hurt. If anything she just seems embarrassed when she laughs.

"You never have, Solo? That's hard to believe."

She looks back at the wreck, and lifts the hand not clasping her useless helmet. "For the record, I didn't crash it."

[runningscams]

Han is able to take in the scene with good clarity since he had to approach from a distance. He sees the smoke coming from both the bike and her armor, as well as the sparking and the split in her helmet. It makes him wonder if the Exo can feel pain, because he’s reasonably sure that the droids where he came from didn’t — with L3 being the possible exception.

“Well, it might have happened once or twice.”

He might get around to pointing out that he rarely regretted making any decision for very long, but he might not. It didn’t seem as important as asking, “are you okay?”

[rekindledtitan]

"Ahhh, just a little dented." She rolls her shoulders for emphasis, but then winces and rubs at that antenna. "All right, that hurts. Nothing Ghost can't fix in a second. ...Uh, Ghost?"

The little bot leaves off scanning her torso for more potentially threatening (if less painful) damages, and floats upward obligingly. A few flickers of that strange blue light he's running over her, and the sparks stop at least. Blaze sighs in relief. Then she reaches out to pat Han's shoulder.

"Don't worry, I get worse maulings all the time. Comes with the job. But we Guardians are hard to keep down."