impunity,
seeing only a few doors and no windows. They took a moment to have a look up,
then both of them took to an opposite wall and began to crawl up using their
armor’s grip points, for the building sides were nearly sheer.
Jenna made it to the roof first, pulling herself up
over the edge as Levi crawled up the taller building and kicked off the wall,
jumping across the alleyway to her side and rolling out of a reverse somersault
before catching up to her as she walked across to the building side with a
larger street below. She inched her head over and looked down, finding a light
amount of traffic, mostly pedestrians who were moving with haste. They weren’t
the Varshoo, rather denizens who had been captured along with the infrastructure.
A quick mental scan on a few of them indicated that they were in no immediate
harm, but they were spooked none the less, not knowing what was coming in the
future with their new rulers.
She also realized that most of the people were staying
indoors, with only those that needed to travel about were doing so. That should
help their transit, but the agitated state the populace was in would also make
them more aware of what was going on around them. Hopefully though, that
attention wouldn’t be focused skyward.
Jenna backed up a few steps then sprinted off the
building, planting her foot on the edge and jumping with the assistance of her
armor. Levi followed a split second later and the two armored bodies flew
across the gap to land on the slightly shorter building on the far side of the
double- laned road.
They ran across to the next building, but given that
it was taller they had to transfer over to a side building and the alleyway
there to do their spiderman thing and climb up high
enough to make the next jump. One after another they made their way across the
city to the location of the Varshoo headquarters that had been set up in one of
the local buildings, but with ample security established around the block that
it was located on to deter guests.
The first sniper position they came across saw the
Varshoo soldier slumped over his weapon as Jenna walked up to him, already
having knocked him out from afar with her Ikrid. She searched his memories,
trying to determine if any of the people on their ‘to find’ list were inside.
As far as this one knew at least some of them were, so the Archons eased up to
the edge of the building and looked across the wide street to the buildings on
the far side. The one they wanted was behind those, but the gap was too far to
jump…and neither of them had brought a jump pack.
“Pole vault or slingshot?” Jenna asked, giving Levi
his preference.
“You think I can make the roof, or have to shoot for
the wall?”
“I’m thinking wall.”
“Pole vault then. Softer landing.”
“Alright, get ready while I blanket the area,” she
said, her eyes disfocusing as she reached out with
her Ikrid searching for all nearby minds. Any that had a line of sight on the
street she hacked into, planting a little bit of programming that would
disincline them from looking up. The effect would last anywhere from a few
seconds to a few minutes depending on the race. Given that she was unfamiliar
with these they probably only had a short window of opportunity, but it should
be enough so long as something didn’t attract their attention, otherwise it
would break the little spell she was weaving on them.
It took too long for her to get through them all, with
the first ones being questionable as to whether they were still affected or
not, but Jenna gave Levi the go ahead anyway and he started running from the
far side of their building roof where he had been waiting. She offered out a
battlemeld prompt and he immediately took it, syncing their minds and giving
them access to other psionics. Using Bataf , which the
Archons typically referred to as ‘ repulsor ,’ Jenna
pushed her hands out towards Levi and emitted an invisible column of energy
linking to
seeing only a few doors and no windows. They took a moment to have a look up,
then both of them took to an opposite wall and began to crawl up using their
armor’s grip points, for the building sides were nearly sheer.
Jenna made it to the roof first, pulling herself up
over the edge as Levi crawled up the taller building and kicked off the wall,
jumping across the alleyway to her side and rolling out of a reverse somersault
before catching up to her as she walked across to the building side with a
larger street below. She inched her head over and looked down, finding a light
amount of traffic, mostly pedestrians who were moving with haste. They weren’t
the Varshoo, rather denizens who had been captured along with the infrastructure.
A quick mental scan on a few of them indicated that they were in no immediate
harm, but they were spooked none the less, not knowing what was coming in the
future with their new rulers.
She also realized that most of the people were staying
indoors, with only those that needed to travel about were doing so. That should
help their transit, but the agitated state the populace was in would also make
them more aware of what was going on around them. Hopefully though, that
attention wouldn’t be focused skyward.
Jenna backed up a few steps then sprinted off the
building, planting her foot on the edge and jumping with the assistance of her
armor. Levi followed a split second later and the two armored bodies flew
across the gap to land on the slightly shorter building on the far side of the
double- laned road.
They ran across to the next building, but given that
it was taller they had to transfer over to a side building and the alleyway
there to do their spiderman thing and climb up high
enough to make the next jump. One after another they made their way across the
city to the location of the Varshoo headquarters that had been set up in one of
the local buildings, but with ample security established around the block that
it was located on to deter guests.
The first sniper position they came across saw the
Varshoo soldier slumped over his weapon as Jenna walked up to him, already
having knocked him out from afar with her Ikrid. She searched his memories,
trying to determine if any of the people on their ‘to find’ list were inside.
As far as this one knew at least some of them were, so the Archons eased up to
the edge of the building and looked across the wide street to the buildings on
the far side. The one they wanted was behind those, but the gap was too far to
jump…and neither of them had brought a jump pack.
“Pole vault or slingshot?” Jenna asked, giving Levi
his preference.
“You think I can make the roof, or have to shoot for
the wall?”
“I’m thinking wall.”
“Pole vault then. Softer landing.”
“Alright, get ready while I blanket the area,” she
said, her eyes disfocusing as she reached out with
her Ikrid searching for all nearby minds. Any that had a line of sight on the
street she hacked into, planting a little bit of programming that would
disincline them from looking up. The effect would last anywhere from a few
seconds to a few minutes depending on the race. Given that she was unfamiliar
with these they probably only had a short window of opportunity, but it should
be enough so long as something didn’t attract their attention, otherwise it
would break the little spell she was weaving on them.
It took too long for her to get through them all, with
the first ones being questionable as to whether they were still affected or
not, but Jenna gave Levi the go ahead anyway and he started running from the
far side of their building roof where he had been waiting. She offered out a
battlemeld prompt and he immediately took it, syncing their minds and giving
them access to other psionics. Using Bataf , which the
Archons typically referred to as ‘ repulsor ,’ Jenna
pushed her hands out towards Levi and emitted an invisible column of energy
linking to
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