Deliver the Goods [Mission!]

[wrmods]

[The stopover at Fishermans Horizon takes maybe two minutes, total.]

[One moment, the Garden is slowing to a halt -- the next moment, the dock latches hiss into their closed position, the ramp into town is secured against the second-floor exit, and the SeeDs are being gestured out the door and into action. In the same moments, in a flurry of action, a hatch deploys on the side of the floating citadel and a transport boat steams out to position itself at the ladder just next to the Garden's dock. The Ragnarok swoops gracefully through the air to land in the center of the city, while down in the train station, traffic has come to a brief halt while an engine waits at full steam, quivering with anxiety.]

[No sooner do the teams touch ground than each receives a small package, easily tucking into a medium belt pouch or pocket. No words are wasted; the SeeDs receive only a cursory nod from the waiting townsfolk before they hurry back into work. The hatch shuts, the latches disengage, and Balamb drifts away, picking up speed as it does.]

Comments

[gunbladegrrl]

[In the other group, three-on-one quickly evens out to two as Maria parries an attack from each side, then flip-kicks one of the soldiers a full three feet off the ground and fourteen backwards. Even she looks surprised at this when she regains her footing. Blood trickles from a few scratches on her arms, but her own Junctions have blunted the strikes to slightly worse than cosmetic damage.]

[morphitudinous]

[Billy moves in with his blade and strikes one from the side, then dodges and tries for the other. He tries to shove them down before moving onto the next battle, sparing only a moment's glance for Maria. She seemed to be okay. His unprotected back takes a blow and blood is drawn when he can't completely protect against it, but he'll live to kick back and throw himself even harder into the fight.

As the numbers dwindle, he tries to move toward Maria. Separation would be a bad thing.]

[wrnpcs]

[As those numbers dwindle, a shower of arrows rains into the battle from the men still outside. One of them barks out a command.]

Surrender the data and you'll be free to go! Otherwise we'll take it from your corpses!

[gunbladegrrl]

[Without bothering to consult, Maria pauses in her whirling dervish of violent pain to cast a Blizzard spell at the soldier who had shouted that. Have an answer!]

[morphitudinous]

[So they're fighting to the death, like true SeeDs. Billy lets out a nondescript yell and begins summoning again. Thunder, how we need you...]

They have the higher ground. We have to minimize that.

[wrnpcs]

[Billy gains the strategic advantage by once again using a GF's hit points as a shield, and the arrows that flicker towards him thud into the energy surrounding him instead of his flesh. Maria, on the other hand, has no such protection, and her position makes her a compelling target for the other archers.]

[gunbladegrrl]

[Maria throws up her blades crossed in front of her, protecting her torso. One arrow clatters off the flat of a gunblade, a couple others go wide, but a third catches her in the arm just below the elbow, penetrating to the bone, while a fourth thumps into her upper thigh just below the hip.]

Just -- hold them off for one second and I can end this!

[The way she's failing to react to the pain, is she even feeling it?]