OOM: Jungle

[latino_menace]

Ramon and Mary Anne have sorted out a cover story for why she's there and where she came from. Roxas...is harder, given that he's so obviously not...normal. For the moment, Ramon has decided to go with, once the inevitable questions come from his men, 'mind your own business.' It's always worked in the past and he can't imagine they'll suddenly have become less afraid of him. Esteban might be more of a problem but fuck it, he can't put this off any longer.

As soon as the trio exit Milliways, they're thrust right back into a hive of activity. Six men surround them, all heavily armed. He gave Roxas and Mary Anne a P90 each before they left the bar so at least they fit in in that regard. Everyone's running for the door of the run-down saloon, getting stared at by the few other patrons. Outside, there are shouts of 'vamonos, vamonos!' from the remaining two men in his guard - and clearly, in the sky, the sound of a whole bunch of choppers bearing down fast. On the single road into town, dozens of lights can be seen - military vechicles, all of them. Ramon swears under his breath and heads for the nearest Range Rover.

'Get in,' he says, shortly, to Mary Anne and Roxas. He completely ignores the bewildered looks from his cousin and the others until the two of them are in the car, then he turns to one of the men who is loading things frantically into the trunk.

'Give me that case you took from me.'

The man hesitates - it's already packed - but a look from his boss silences his objection and he digs it out again. Ramon takes it and gets into the vehicle, banging the back of the headrest in front of him.

'Lets get out of here then.'

The engine guns and they turn in the road, heading for the track that takes them into the wall of trees that loom ominously in front of them. It's pitch black in there and once more, he's reminded of how much he really doesn't want to be here.

Comments

[lockitwithkeys.livejournal.com]

Roxas gets in awkwardly - he's never been in something like this in his existence - and ignores the P90 as completely useless to him. He doesn't look around and shows no signs of curiosity. Or nerves.

Or reaction to heat. He has no sweat glands.

[song_tra_bong]

Mary Anne drops the bag of rations between her feet but keeps the ammo in her lap.

She braces herself against the door handle as the car swerves; the last thing she needs is to start off this adventure with a concussion.

[latino_menace]

'Fucking move it, Felipe!'

Ramon's looking behind and he can see that the Yanks aren't far off. They have a slight advantage in that they took off before the Americans got properly into town but there aren't any other cars heading for the trees so they're not going to be hard to follow.

The other two get a glance after a moment. No point in asking Roxas if he's alright so he directs his question at Mary Anne.

'Gun loaded? Once we ditch the cars, some gunfire in their direction might stop them charging right at us.'

Won't stop them trying to flank them and sniper them out but hell, can't cover every base in these situations. Then a question for Roxas does occur to him.

'Can you see in the dark?'

[lockitwithkeys.livejournal.com]

"No. But I can make enough light to see. Or to blind everyone who isn't me."

[latino_menace]

He shakes his head immediately.

'No good.'

Because, obviously, he doesn't want to be blinded. Though it might work well on a squadron of soldiers, as long as Roxas goes far enough away.

'We'll stick with flashlights because we can cover them. One single beacon would give us away too easily.'

[lockitwithkeys.livejournal.com]

"I can also do a low level gloom" Roxas states "How much light do you want and spread how thinly?"

[song_tra_bong]

Mary Anne gives Ramon a look that equates to bitch, please and flips the safety off for emphasis.

She twists in her seat to watch the cars behind them and leaves the boys to untangle logistics.

[latino_menace]

He ignores her look on purpose and says to Roxas,

'I just want to be able to see where we're walking once we ditch the cars but not attract attention. Can you do that?'

It occurs to him that he has no idea how he'll explain it to his crew but that's the least of his worries right now. As the Range Rovers dive under the tree canopy, the choppers are starting to set down nearby.

[lockitwithkeys.livejournal.com]

The male who gives the appearance of boy and yet probably doesn't even qualify really is also ignoring everyone but Ramon. "Yes. Something like the gloaming."

Mary Anne may notice that his voice never sounds right. It sounds like a robot faking emotion. Badly.

[song_tra_bong]

She notices, but it gets filed away for later. He's not the enemy and that's all she needs to know for now.

Her heart speeds up when she hears the choppers, matching the thump of the rotors and oh goddamn has she missed this.

[latino_menace]

She may love it but Ramon's not enjoying this in the slightest. There's a constant stream of Spanish curses coming from his mouth and he's snapping instructions at Felipe, mostly contrary to the ones that Esteban is also yelling. It's loud and confused and isn't getting them anywhere fast.

He feels a bit better when they're under the cover of the trees but that brings a whole new set of problems - the track worsens almost immediately and there are patches, here near the edges of the forest, where loggers have cleared areas. It makes for patchy cover at best and their speed is slowing by the minute as nature claims the track inch by inch the further they go.

Eventually, it's pointless to continue with the cars. They could drive further but their position is so obvious to their pursuers that it's not gaining them anything. Ramon tells Esteban to shut the fuck up one more time, then says, when quiet has descended;

'That's it. Get off the road first chance you get, kill the lights and we'll dump the cars. We need to get away from here.'

The instructions get relayed to the other car by radio, Ramon curses one more time and turns to Mary Anne.

'Your area of expertise from here on in. Don't get us killed.'

And to Roxas;

'Fire up your light show kid, but don't make it obvious to them.'

He jabs a thumb up to indicate the choppers and starts checking his weapon one last time.

[lockitwithkeys.livejournal.com]

Roxas nods - Somebodies get loud when he doesn't obviously give them sign that he listened - and then a low gloom spreads outwards. It's not enough to be considered bright by any idea but it's enough that if you're in his immediate vicinity you don't have to squint to look at the ground. Diffuse and more of a greyish colour than anything else.

"How's this?"

[latino_menace]

The cars come to a halt and everyone piles out. Ramon's men start unloading stuff rapidly but he notices the curious looks that get thrown in the direction of the two foreigners - especially Roxas, given the light. Predictably, Ramon ignores them and checks the virus is secure before nodding at Roxas.

'It'll do. Keep it like that and switch it off if any of them get close, alright?'

[song_tra_bong]

Mary Anne scrambles out, tossing the ration bag with the rest of the gear but keeping them ammo for herself. She adjusts the straps on her M4 (a present from the Russians) and machete, keeping the P90 in her hand.

Her eyes are focused on the jungle, looking for movement.

[lockitwithkeys.livejournal.com]

Roxas has no idea what to do with the gun and eventually just kind of awkwardly slings it out of the way. He won't manifest weapons until he needs them. The boy makes no noise when he walks and still shows no signs that the weather affects him.

[latino_menace]

He's glad Roxas is here - trying to walk through this would be a damn nightmare if they couldn't see anything at all. The ground is rocky and sloping upwards; Ramon turns to Esteban and asks;

'Quickest way south?'

'...I'm not sure. I need to look at the map properly.'

The man is probably glad he can't see Ramon's expression at that point, because seriously, he knew they were underprepared but this is a joke.

'Mary Anne? I figure those troops are about a mile away. Find us somewhere to hide, will you? Somewhere good enough so we won't all be dead by morning.'

For fuck's sake. What a mess.

[song_tra_bong]

"I'll do my best."

She turns her attention to Esteban and the rest of the men for the first time. "Weapons and ammo get first priority, rations a close second. Carry as much as you can without overloading yourselves; no reason to leave them a trail of shit we had to abandon."

(average foot speed over uneven ground, barring injury, is four miles an hour so--)

"You've got sixty seconds, and then we're moving."

[lockitwithkeys.livejournal.com]

"I don't eat." Roxas states "Should I carry more ammo" he is clearly unused to the word "for other people? My pockets hold more than they look like, too."

[song_tra_bong]

She nods.

"That'd help, yeah. Thanks."

[latino_menace]

Despite the situation, Ramon smirks in the darkness. He can imagine how well those orders will go down and sure enough, all of the men look to him and only two of them start making a move toward the supplies.

'Do what she says. It'll keep you alive. If you even think about giving me shit about this, you won't have to worry about the Americans killing you.'

They start to do as they were told but he can see that some of them, at least, still aren't happy. It's a situation thats bound to come to a head at some point but he seriously can't be bothered to think about it just now. If it comes to it, Mary Anne can take care of herself and it's not like he hasn't already warned her what's likely to happen.

For his part, he picks up an AK-47 and slings it across his back, then stands back and lets the others share out the rest. Two guns and the virus, that's all he's damned well prepared to carry.

[lockitwithkeys.livejournal.com]

When Roxas moves away from the car he looks like he's carrying exactly nothing - but the stores of ammunition are seriously depleted. Someone who was looking the right way at the right time could see him working an entire case into one pocket.

With enough work you can fit a person into one of those pockets.

[song_tra_bong]

Mary Anne counts out the seconds in her head.

"Alright. I'll take point. Roxas, if you could hang towards the middle of the group." She's used to feeling her way through the dark, but she'd raterh they avoid as many twisted ankles as they can. "Everybody else..."

She trails off, looks at Ramon. "If you have any recommendations as to who brings up the rear, now's the time.

[latino_menace]

He looks straight at his cousin.

'Esteban, take the back.'

This could be because the man would be best at the job. Equally, it could be punishment for suggesting this whole thing in the first place. It's not like Ramon cares if he gets picked off first or not. But the man doesn't argue - possibly because the sound of the choppers is noticably closer and they need to get moving. The cover is good here but another thought strikes Ramon and he curses under his breath.

'I'm right behind her. Make sure you all keep up - its your funeral if you don't. Lets go.'

He steps up to Mary Anne and mutters to her.

'There'll be troops on some of those choppers. Some will have unloaded already and just be looking for us - some of them are going to be looking for other cleared areas of this place and will look to set down there and cut us off. We need to stay away from them otherwise we'll end up surrounded.'

Maps are going to be no help - part of the problem with this place is that large swathes of it are uncharted. No one knows everything that loggers, industry and the natives have done to it; they could stumble into an ambush and have no way at all of anticipating it.

He's starting to wish Roxas never told him of his ability to blind everyone - in a pinch (a really desperate pinch), they might have to use it. If they get surrounded and trapped, it might be the only way to get out alive. Mary Anne can heal and he couldn't give a fuck what happens to his crew but he sure as fuck doesn't want to lose his eyes. Better than death though? Maybe.

And there's always the threat of the virus. He knows the number one objective will be to secure it. There's always that as insurance.

[lockitwithkeys.livejournal.com]

Roxas doesn't bother explaining that he can keep the light anywhere he wants - it doesn't have to be centred on him. He doesn't bother protesting that he should be scouting - he's the fastest person there. He just takes up the position that he was assigned as emptily as he's done everything else.

If - when - the fighting starts he's going to ignore orders anyway. He fights his own fight and always has.

[song_tra_bong]

Mary Anne nods.

"When we've put a little more distance between us and the main group, I'll scout further ahead. See if I can't clear us a path."

[latino_menace]

The walk isn't easy, even with the light Roxas gives them. It's not long before the gentle slope upwards becomes a lot steeper, there are sudden crevices and rocks everywhere, it's hot and damp and the trees and undergrowth make it impossible to move quietly. The packs they're carrying get snagged on things, there's an occasional startled sound from behind as the local wildlife surprises the guys behind.

And then there comes the distinct sound of some kind of military vehicle tearing up the ground. Ramon thinks it's back on the track but that isn't far away - it seems likely to him that they've found the abandoned Range Rovers.

He drops back and is glad he doesn't need to tell his men to stay quiet. They file past and Ramon stops Roxas as he comes level with him.

'Can you check that out without being seen? And don't let this lot,' he jerks his thumb towards his guys coming up behind, 'see what you can do. I don't have time to answer awkward questions right now.'

[lockitwithkeys.livejournal.com]

Roxas nods and slips off into the darkness. The gloom stays where it belongs - spread out around the real people as they walk through the forest. As he moves off Roxas pulls his hood over his pale hair and effectively disappears - the uniform works with the natural ability of Nobodies not to be noticed to be as effective as any magic without actually using any magic.

He begins moving faster once he's out of sight of the Somebodies - even manifesting Keyblades. Just in case.

[latino_menace]

Ramon watches him go and briefly wonders again how he's ever going to explain the boy to the others. No time to worry about it now though - he catches up with Mary Anne to talk to her, ignoring the glare he get from Esteban as he does. He knows full well his cousin thinks he should have a say in what's going on, given that this was his idea, but again, no time to fight about it.

'Roxas is checking that out. Keep an eye out for a good place to defend ourselves if we have to. If the Americans have landed somewhere above us and are coming down towards us, we'll be fucked.'

He's seriously starting to think they already are. There are just too many variables they either don't know, or have no control over.

[song_tra_bong]

She nods, eyes sweeping over trees and vegetation.

"Gotcha. Any thoughts on how far we want to try and push before we set up for the night?"

Pros - establish a defensible position

Cons - risk being surrounded

Everything is infinitely more complicated with this many people.

[latino_menace]

'Anytime we can do it without getting caught.'

Hiking through the jungle at night is even less fun than doing it in the daytime, and with far more opportunities for random accidents and ambushes.

'Roxas doesn't sleep as far as I know. He can keep watch. We just need to find somewhere that wont leave us exposed.'

[lockitwithkeys.livejournal.com]

"I don't." Roxas agrees, back again and pulling his hood off. He offers a quiet, monotone report on the followers.

[latino_menace]

'Jesus Christ.'

Ramon jumps, not having heard him return. He'd tell him not to creep around but that's kind of what they need right now and besides, he's listening.

'So they're close. If we try and speed up, they'll hear us for sure.'

He glances at Mary Anne.

'Somewhere to defend ourselves. Right now. And Roxas, kill the light around us, it'll be seen.'

But even as he says the words, a shot rings out just ahead of them and there's a startled yell and the unmistakable sound of someone hitting the dirt. Suddenly, everything becomes a hell of a lot more loud, with their team firing into the darkness and yelling to each other, and the noise in the forest of men closing in on them.

[song_tra_bong]

"Son of a bitch!"

Mary Anne dives and takes cover at the base of a tree. It's the scrawniest damn thing she's seen since she got here, but it'll do for cover in the dark. She spends a handful of seconds listening--(where are they coming from where would you be going if this were you)--before leaning out and opening fire.

[lockitwithkeys.livejournal.com]

Roxas does as requested and kills all of the light in the area - until it's dark enough that he can't see either. He's never heard a firearm like the ones from Earth and so stays standing while everyone else takes cover.

The monotone and empty voice of the Nobody asks "Do you want me to kill them?"

It's good to be sure about these things. Somebodies get loud when you kill the wrong Somebodies.

[latino_menace]

Ramon doesn't answer for a moment, not until his AK-47 is out of ammo and he's reloading in a hurry.

'Fucking yeah, kill them, you idiot! That's what you're here for!'

Jesus, what is with this kid.

[lockitwithkeys.livejournal.com]

He's an idiot. Computers and Roxas - they do what you tell them and only what you tell them. Once he's got the direct order he's gone.

There aren't even noises. His path is marked by gunfire simply stopping where he moves. It's less than thirty seconds before he's standing next to Ramon admitting "I got all that I could find."

Three guns still rattle towards them out of the darkness. No more than that.

[latino_menace]

'It'll do.'

He likes the odds a lot better now. It appears that his men do too, as they're emerging from behind their various cover (still staying low) and looking around to see what happened.

'Mary Anne, can you go find the rest? If I let that lot loose, they'll never find each other again and probably all break their legs or something.'

Gun reloaded, he starts moving towards the man who got shot first. He can't see who it was from here.

'Roxas, go back the way we came and see if any more getting close.'

[song_tra_bong]

She nods, slinging her rifle.

"Sure thing."

With a knife in each hand, she slips further out into the dark.

[lockitwithkeys.livejournal.com]

He nods and disappears into the darkness again while Mary Anne performs her part.

He'll be back when called in or when he's comfortable that the Somebodies are not in danger.

[latino_menace]

Ramon trusts that they'll do their jobs and walks up to the man down. It's Felipe and he's hit in the chest - probably not mortally but he definitely needs a hospital and right now.

He squats down next to him, handgun hanging loosely in his hand, looking at the mans face. Felipe was there when Ramon shot Hector and there's no hope in his eyes.

'I'm sorry, Felipe. But we can't help you and I can't leave you for the Americans to find.'

He knows too much and Ramon's willing to bet he'd swap information for medical treatment. So he stands and Felipe nods once, white-faced and resigned. It's over quickly, a shot to the heart, and afterwards Ramon looks to the faces of the others. But he can't see them in the dark.

'We'll stay here until she gets back otherwise we might lose her.'

Silence.

'Who is she?'

It's Esteban and his voice is carefully polite. Very carefully. Ramon considers for a moment, then lights a cigarette.

'She's a friend. She kills for me and that's all you need to know.'

No one says anything else.

[song_tra_bong]

One of the guns in the dark goes silent.


And a second.


And a third.


When Mary Anne comes back, there is blood on her face that doesn't belong to her. She scrubs it off with the back of her hand.

"Way's clear."

[latino_menace]

Everyone's watching her wipe that blood away and Ramon's the only one not surprised. He has a small smile on his face whereas the others are silenced by the sight. He nods at her (good job) and tells the others to take Felipe's pack off him and share the stuff out.

'See anywhere that might be alright to spend the rest of the night?'

Directed at Mary Anne, obviously.

[song_tra_bong]

She nods.

"Not far at all. Decent cover; with watches posted, we shouldn't get snuck up on."

[latino_menace]

That fuck for that. He nods and jerks his head at the men sitting down and waiting and looking pretty pissed off), indicating they need to move on.

'Come on, amigos. Not far.'

They stand without complaint and Ramon once more gets Mary Anne to take the lead. He trusts Roxas will find them, though its harder now without his light to help them.

'Vamonos, all of you.'

He is so ready to quit for the night.