2020-11-30 - City vs the Citizens: Run Like Hell

Devlin is in his turn out gear as he transitions from there to here.. At least this time he was seated there.. and yeah, seated on a nice chunk of concrete. "Well.. here we go again and no Whitesnake singing either." He takes a breath, "So much for a break while the fire eaters do their thing." He yawns a little as he takes stock of things around him. He then looks over at a spot with a slight frown. "Damn.. at least with coming out of drill, I had toys."

Kailey finds herself in a corner curled up. Arms around her legs and head on her knees. Right now her hair is tied up and back into a messy bun. She wears a black apron liberally sprayed and colored with all manner of paints and hues. The clothes beneath are old and also stained, though nowhere near as colorfully. The simple purple converse on her feet also have spots and splotches. When her head comes up there is a red streak of paint on one cheek and a blue smear along the chin on the other side. As the ground moves she lets out a yowl of surprise and her hands fling out to the corner walls. "What the fuck?!" Because that is the most important question at this time.

At least Vyv gets to wear proper clothes this time. Though that may be a mixed blessing, if things end up at all like the last time he found himself here. He's in a nice tweed today, with a light blue shirt and claret paisley tie, the pocket square a similar set of colours but with a pattern of stripes. Neither the suit nor the shoes are particularly well-suited to 'things falling down around one', but sometimes one has to make do.

"Bugger," he mutters, as the general situation sinks in -- first 'Dream' and then 'also Cityquakes' -- and he takes a look around to see who else might have been 'recruited' this time around before he takes a better look out at the world out there. "Ah. I think it may be time for resettlement..." And there's a plan! It didn't start with 'everything around you is collapsing', granted, but it's still a plan. "We know a place to get people to. Presuming we can get the guards and robots out of the way, or on-side."

Captain de la Vega is somewhere in the mix. Not attired for duty, this time; he's in a faded tee shirt and track pants, and most notably? Minus his nearly everpresent sidearm. Fresh off a few bouts with his fists and a bag, and this was the last place he expected to wind up. He swears loudly as his back is thrown into the bunker wall, and barks at the others, "Be on your guard, we're not alone." Of course, he's got no weapon on him, so it's his fingers that are flexed in anticipation of having to do things the old fashioned way.

Easton blinks and looks around.. this is not his couch. He looks at the people assembled and reaches into the pouch of his hoodie and pulls out a beer. With a disregard for the chaos around him he cracks the beer top and takes a gulp. "Alright, can I get a sitrep?" Sip "I don't recognize this at all." He reaches his free hand deep into the pouch of the hoodie, far deeper than it really should go and pulls out a Glock M9. He grins and says, "I have toys. .. Man I love this hoodie."

Devlin stretches as he stands up, "I think this is what smashing a control room does.. wonder how long afterward." He looks towards the general area that the good Captain is and comments, "Well, seems I am attired well for the situation." He then looks about, "Wonder where that weird robo dog is? YO! DAWG!!"

"Baby?" There's a curious, very out of it tone of Grant not quite awake. Opening his eyes with a yawn he looks around murmuring, "Vee, why are you down here you'll get schmutz all over you. Stop... being in a hole." There's a bleary frown. Hand digs in his pockets and he pulls out HIS toys too. He's eyeballing Easton and that gun as banishment for Vyv's sake has failed. Here we go. He doesn't pull out a weapon though so much as he does a small case so he can go about sticking his hearing aides back in. Did he hear Ruiz? No. Is he aware that hte man is wary and something is around? Yes that much is clear. A hand goes out to Kailey to help her up and the Po-Po gets a nad. Looking back to Vyv he offers by way of concern, "well you're only covered in dust and not frosting. I'm...we're okay."

The wobble causes Easton to spill his beer, which elicits a grunt curse out of his mouth. He traps that against his body with a free hand to go fish in his hoodie pouch again. He pulls out an AR-15, the illegally modded one that Ruiz would know from the range and hands it over to De La Vega. "Gunny. Now's not the time to pretend you can't outshoot me. Occasionally. Sorry Devlin, that's all I got in here, I loaded up the bar when I got back." Only two guns in that pouch, what a disgrace. He retakes the beer in his free hand to finish it off and toss the can aside.

Oh, Ruiz knows that AR-15 all right. He narrows his eyes slightly as it's handed over, and it's on the tip of his tongue to say something about it. But in the end, prudence wins out, and he simply accepts the weapon with a grunt of thanks. Sling draped over his shoulder, he does a quick check of the clip before dropping back to cover the party's six. And sniff around a little, metaphorically speaking, in case what he felt a moment ago is still- ah. There it is. The two creatures that emerge from the shadows are watched cautiously, though he doesn't go so far as to point his borrowed gun at them. Yet.

"You two wouldn't happen to be friends of Pwill's, would you?" ventures the cop somewhat gruffly.

The movement of the ground, does not seem to phase Devlin at all as he finishes standing up. Devlin shrugs as he learns no weapon today, "When I don't have a crazed cat woman trying to sharpen her claws on me.. I'm a better as a medic anyways. Works for me, but I could use a med kit. Seems that lightly napping in the cab has it's price." He sighs and then looks to that area again. And then.. there's Dawg.. He replies to the shove with a firm hip check, "Behave you. Heel."
Devlin then looks to the Unicorn, "So let me guess.. shaking ground. People hiding in bunkers.. and Pwill's team needs help to get people out of this shit? as the bunkers will not be safe for much longer."

Kailey looks at the big gun with a certain kind of terror. Making a little noise so that even as Grant helps her up, she releases his hand and falls right back down as the ground sways. "You keep that THING away from me!" She screeches at the two men and with a crackle of electricity arcing between her fingers as she points at the AR-15. The fear is real and panic is setting in as she scoots back on her ass more terrified of Ruiz and the big gun than the robot right now. But her finger levies from gun to robot as it appears with a scream as she lets out a burst of lightning. "The FUCK!" She isn't really aiming, but suddenly there is electricity arcing out from Kailey.

"I'd quite like to," stop being in a hole, Vyv replies to Grant, but allows to his bright-side, "...but generally slightly easier to dry-clean, yes." He briefly watches the hearing aid situation -- good work being prepared there, less need for signing! -- but Ruiz's comment and the gasp that follows are a definite distraction. He takes a step away from the sound as the pair resolve from invisible to not, wariness tempered by how often allies have been waiting in this particular world, lately. He opens his mouth to return the greeting, just in time for that pitch of the ground to nearly knock him over, saved only by the fact that the wall is right there, and now he is as well. More dust on the tweed, that.

"...hello," he manages afterward, pausing again at the arrival of the robot, but it... seems to be bumping rather than shooting anything? It gets a wary eye kept on it for the moment. "I believe the City is free," he says, "...and what was built on her can't sustain. We've done some research on where people can be relocated to safely; Bax knows it best. But," he glances up and out, then to the unicorn and gekkoish, "it looks as though the powers that be are still fighting it?"

Between the unicorn, the ghecko and the robot dog, not to mention the girl screaming and shooting sparks in the bunker, Easton looks warily around asking Gunny, "Can you just tell me what needs shooting?" Because yes, all of those things are currently on the 'possible' list. He doesn't have his finger on the trigger though because he's a damn professional. He has never been in these Dreams so he's still trying to play catch up on what all of these things are, but he's happy to trust Ruiz.

Itzhak's unmistakable voice can be heard a little ways outside, cussing luridly among the chaos. A few moments later he's found where the group is--sensing Ruiz, no doubt--and slinking quickly down the stairs. He's barefoot, wearing soft sweatpants and a tank top with the Captain America shield on it, clearly dressed for not doing much outside. The sharp debris underfoot doesn't trouble him though, not this Maestro, his Song already glimmering in his flesh. "Guys," he says, making straight for Ruiz, before he even realizes there's a unicorn in the room. Who he does a fine double take at, and, "Riza!" in delight. "You found him!"

"Bakkurot, Riza nice to meet you. Your parents big WuTang fans too? Niiiice." There's an approving nod from Bax in greeting in time for him to stumble with an arm out either protecting his egg-dyed friend or holding her back? Both ineffectual really. "Hey, it's cool. They're with us." It's Itzhak behind them that makes him start. "Oy, fucker. Ya scared me, Itzil. It's fine, the heart attack is great for my blood pressure." Which is Bax for glad you're okay, good to see you. Looking back to Vyv he sighs, relieved and offers the baker a hand up to hold onto and crouching a bit to keep better balance. "Yeah we're friends of Pwill. We're here to help evac people. Not a lot of time."

With Kailey's tossing lighting at the robo-dog, "Hey.. it's on our side." Devlin manages not to yell. "Stop that.. would ya?" He takes a few steps over to Kailey, "Yeah.. it's weird here. I really am a paramedic and can help. Just take it easy.. deep breaths nice n slow. Easy now.." He attempts to help Kailey calm down without touching her for now.

A deep purr fills the air around Kailey and from the shadows forms an inky black cat with impossibly yellow eyes. Stars seem to glimmer in the notfur of the feline shape as it rubs up against the terrified woman. Roughly the size of a bobcat currently. << Hush kitten, >> The Uncat says without opening her mouth. A bright pink tongue comes out to lick tears and paint from the woman's cheek. With Devlin, Bax and the cat all soothing her she does take that first deep breath. And with the first the second comes and she begins to settle.

"Sorry," She says with a shakey exhale. "So sorry about that. Is...is it okay?" She peers at Big Jake as her arms go around Uncat and she nuzzles into her fur. "Hello my floof."

To which the Uncat snorts indignantly. << Floof indeed! >>

Ruiz gestures at Easton to stand down, and drops his own rifle in its sling at the unexpected reaction he gets from Kailey. He shows her both of his hands, fingers spread apart, posture nonthreatening. He's a cop; he's got an awful lot of practice getting civilians to trust him, after all, so hopefully it works. "Show us," he tells Bakkurot, dark eyes flicking the unicorn's way. Because that's how de la Vega do. He doesn't ask, he tells.

Itzhak's arrival, meanwhile, gets a flickered smile from him. A lingering look, before he takes a brief count of their party and prepares to set off.

Devlin smiles to Kailey, "There you go. YOu'll do fine." He then stands up and turns towards Ruiz and nods to the man, "Ready to roll. Just have to work with what we got.. not what we wish to have." He says to robo-dog, "Dawg..stay with me."

Easton lowers his gun at the look from Ruiz and nods. The flicker of a smile appears when he sees Itzhak, "Aww good, I don't have to be the only one chucking giant robot dogs." He says to the tall lanky man. He glances at Devlin and clarifies, "Not yours.. unless he wants to fly?" He looks at Dawg with raised eyebrows, just in case that's what the robot dog would like. He doesn't say anything to Kailey about the guns, and frankly doesn't have a lot of patience for someone yelling about them, it's best for morale if he keeps his mouth shut. "So we're freeing captives, shooting guards and getting the fuck out in one piece?" He asks of the group at large, trying to make sure he has the mission parameters as he readies to move out.

Itzhak glances back at Ruiz, eyebrows canted, lingering look returned with a little quirk of a smile. Badass Maestro boyfriend, reporting for duty. Then he laughs, matching the name Riza called him, and sweeps the little gecko person up in his arms for a big hug. "Yeah, mine found me too. I miss her." He resists the urge to smooch Riza between her big gecko eyes. Probably shouldn't lick any Veil reptiles no matter how cute. Letting her stick to him if she wants, he checks out who's here. "Please, like I'm scarier than your boyfriend," he says to Bax, with a grin at him and Vyv. He dips his head to the unicorn, with a flourish of one hand not around Riza.

"They're great and famous warrior-bards from our world," he murmurs to Riza, about Wu-Tang. What? Is he wrong? Time to move out. Itzhak has an anticipatory gleam in his gray-green eyes that bodes ill for anyone standing in his way.

Grant just tries to keep his balance for now and watch the happenings. When Riza asks what is Wu Tang he answers quite studiously, "Well they are famous for being ain't nothing to fuck with, and also a great warrior-bard named the Rza who's name, in our modern parlance translates to Knowledge-Wisdom-Understanding. He's quite excellent." Mmhmm. Because now's the time to get hip-hop philosophical. Helpful this one. All in all this seems like praise. Considering Big Jake he arches an eyebrow and looks back, "I think he might a enjoyed that. Uhhhh guys can we just like not shoot doggos?" He looks back to Vyv and nods silently with a pull. "Hold on to me if you gotta. I have a lower center of gravity."

Kailey takes a deep breath and scratches with one hand the Uncat's chin. She wipes the remaining tears from her face and really looks around now. Taking in the Unicorn and gecko with rapid blinking and a soft, "Ooookay." Then more loudly, "Hi. I'm Kailey. Just...tell me what to zorch? Or I can try keeping us all hidden?" She begins patting the pockets of her apron down with her other hand. "Aha!" She pulls out a vape pen and tucks it between her lips before standing. The end lights up in purple as she inhales. Pulling it from her lips she offers it to Grant as she blows out smoke.

Uncat sits down at her feet and eyes the others. They fall on Itzhak and suddenly the Uncat is purring again. She leaves Kailey's side to go and rub up against the lanky man's legs. A brief greeting before she returns to Kailey's side. Her tail is up in the air as she eyes some of the humans with suspicion. As they begin to move out the Uncat keeps her ears and eyes peeled as does Kailey. And when she starts seeing refugees she begins to move off. Her and the cat moving among rubble and doing what they can to reassure and pull people out. The Uncat having the most luck with children. While Kailey's soothing purple shimmer settles calm over the terrified people, she lets it soothe her too. The edges of earlier fading away.

Well, it is one thing to have a good base but when suddenly the ground opens up suddenly under one foot, one tends to fall over. That just happens to be what Devlin does.. he falls to one side as the ground vanishes beneath him, He ooofs as he lands grabbing a newly exposed bar of metal in the debris. Just past it he notices there are people caught in a void that need help to escape it, "Dawg.. give me a hand." He uses his abilities to push/hold an opening for the people to escape as Dawg helps to brace things, "Come on... don't waste time getting out."

The group starts moving, and the ground shifts under them; Javier's footing was none too solid to begin with, and when a shelf of it gives way without warning, he stumbles hard into a freckle-faced girl running full-bore in the opposite direction. She apologises profusely for nearly bowling over a Maestro, blushes crimson, and stumbles off again. And he continues on, helping to direct traffic and funnel people away from crumbling, failing masonry as they go.

At some point, his rifle comes out when he spots a group of guards harrassing a family of fleeing citizens. And with a nod to Easton and a cluck of his tongue to Devlin to be on guard, he makes a couple of hand signals to pick off which ones they should take out first. Then the safety comes off, and his finger skates the trigger, and he fires.

Grant is no stranger to panic. He looks to Kailey and her uncat as the next quake rocks slowing to make sure Vyv isn't left behind. He signs <<C'mon we know crazy panic. They don't. We can help them>> to say hey Care Bear Stare We Got This Bruh protocols are engaged! Weirdly it's like two negatives make a positive and there's a focused stillness around the Maestro knows as the Artist (do not rat him out to Prince). The calm seems to attract attention as they bust into the hovels where people are holed up he offers a hand, "Come with me if you want to live." yeah, he stole that line. it's appropriate tho! There is hope and a friendly face! He points, "That guy over there? That's Maestro Vyv c'mon out, head that way. He'll guide you. It'll be different but you'll be okay."

Easton moves through the different zones comfortable in a crouch. He stumbles a little with the shaking but manages to at least not faceplant. He nods back to Ruiz at the signal and says, "Left two are mine." taking targets so that they can get them down as efficiently as possible. He squats into a secure firing position and fires. He grunts out a satisfactory noise and then calls, "And move." getting to the next sets of cover.

Itzhak plunges into the chaos to impose his very special brand of order on it. Enormous chunks of debris, fallen parts of buildings, crumpled doorways, they all prick up their metaphysical ears and listen to their Maestro when he grabs them and orders them to move. Impossibly huge damaged objects get tossed aside like they were very realistically-painted styrofoam. "C'mon, this way, we're gettin' you outta here!" he shouts to the people of the City as he clears paths, offers a hand to limping people, lifts children. Captain America would be proud.

"Mm, maybe, though I don't usually sneak up behind him unexpectedly," Vyv replies to Itzhak, arching a brow; grins aren't really his style, but there's definitely amusement in that look. The explanation of Wu Tang does not diminish that. It does fade a bit at the mention of airships, which get a nod; that sounds... more or less right for what he knows of the area they'd found, even if he's not so well-versed in the local technology.

"Right. Let's go," he agrees, allowing himself to be pulled. The skater does have a lower centre of gravity, it's true! And better balance, clearly, as the next big crash throws him just about off his feet; would have entirely, if it hadn't essentially thrown him into Grant, who manages to keep them both from ending up on the ground. Pretty much on his own. "Thank you," Vyv murmurs as he regains his balance, with a slight throat-clearing. We will just... now pretend that didn't happen. Except perhaps from the staying reasonably near Bax thing, where possible. "Please come out and join the group; there is a safer area to move to and we will help escort you there," he calls to the people and buildings they pass, emphasizing the suggestion with a bit of psychic support to build on what Kailey and Bax are doing. "Follow us; there is a plan." It's not the most eloquent and impressive he's been, but he does a good job of radiating the confidence that says it's worth listening, and probably quite a good idea.

With encouragement, the Paramedic gets the trapped family out of that void and then he lets the opening collapse behind them. "Ok.. follow the others, we are getting out of here to a safer place." He then realizes that bar he was holding comes loose from the debris and it is a nice size for a thin heavy staff. He helps to guide others coming from other places to join with the main crowd that Vyv is leading. "If anyone is hurt.. let me know. We'll see what we can do. But we have to keep moving, help each other so we call can get out. Dawg, if you sense injuries that keep people from moving along.. let me know."

Do Grant and Itzhak watch too many movies? Maybe but when you are saving lives! There's a quake and really he's taking to this think like one would expect: it's kinda fun but for the people maybe getting hurt part. But Itzil's there, his pals, and the military guys. This is good! The 'Dogs'? Less good. Bax turns, plants his feet and runs at the thing cause he's seen Star Wars too many times. Times to grab some air!

A dog (a cute name for a killer robot) goes bounding at Itzhak, colliding with him and knocking him sideways. "MotherFUCKER!" and he kicks at the blatting, snarling thing. The child Itzhak was lifting from the rubble screams. "You, go! Find your ma!" Itzhak orders her even as he's got this goddamn thing all over him. She flees, and he turns his attention to the dog, wrestling with it, throwing his weight, shoving it off him by only a few inches--

and then a toppling wall slumps down on the robot. Crunch. What a lucky coincidence.

The fact that Easton is able to drop the guards who don't have guns of their own is not a surprise to him. He is just moving along with the group, more than fine with playing the role of aggressor and defender for the rest with Ruiz. He is doing his best to keep track of everyone and everything but he doesn't manage to see the dogs coming. They are damn fast. And he goes down, hard, under the weight of the dog. He gets slammed into the ground and his gun goes skittering off to the side. He grunts and pushes the dogs face away from his own "No! No kisses! Bad fucking dog!" and reaches out with his tk to grab a slab of concrete. He can lift it like it's painted styrofoam sure but boy does it not hit like foam. It slams the dog clear off Easton before being unceremoniously dropped onto it with a sickening thud. He rolls to his side and pushes himself up, "Everyone okay?" He pulls his gun back to his hand and gets ready to shoot a dog.

Seeing Kaily dodge one of the attack dogs, Devlin focuses on it as he points and calls out, "Dawg!" Small flames escape the chassis joints for a moment. And then Big Jake tries to ram it but misses the target as the attack dog side steps letting Big Jake slam into a wall leaving the friendly robodog doing the electric version of the momentary woozie walk and showing off some nice new dents in his chassis.

Kailey lets out a yelp of surprise as she turns from helping a woman down out of the rubble. The dog is coming right at them and so she shoves the woman forward and leaps down and over a large hunk of concrete. Vyv is not so lucky and her eyes go wide. She reaches up and grabs at the air, making a quick cat's craddle with her fingers before flinging her hands wide. Those with Glimmer can see the purple strands of energy form between her fingers. Flung out it spreads like a wide blanket. The purple shimmer settling over Vyv, Grant, and Kailey. But also a few of the refugees get caught in it.

Meanwhile the Uncat is 'not happy' with this robodog thing. WIth a hiss the black feline launches at the dog. Landing on it's back and tearing at wiring with teeth and claws the aren't meant to exist and so tear nicely through other things not meant to exist. There is a satisfying howl from the cat as she launches off of the dog's back and back towards Kailey, tail lashing. "Yeah! You show that dog!" Kailey cheers her familiar on.

"Please remain calm--" is about where Vyv's most recently got to when the robodog hurtles his way -- from behind, so that he's only just sensed Something Not Quite Right and started to turn to look before the thing leaps on him and takes him right down to the ground. MORE dust on the suit! Possibly oughtn't be the first concern at this moment, granted. It still likely adds to the flare of anger from the chef, who... is not at all effective at getting the dog off of him, but at least the thing looks deeply confused when Kailey manages to get her illusion over him. Vyv takes a deep breath, and stays still and, for the immediate moment, quiet, so as not to break the invisibility more than he has to, but that doesn't stop him sending calm and persuasive prodding at the various refugees. [Keep going. Stay calm. Continue toward the airships.]

Seeing a few of those dogs wading into the mix, and starting to overrun their friends, Ruiz switches up his attack with a brief gesture to Easton to inform him of what he's doing. The rifle's reloaded, and he squints a little without his glasses to aid him. And still manages to pick off the one harrassing Vyv, pretty handily. Something filthy is snarled at his fellow ex-Marine as he racks the slide and starts striding forward, barking an order at some loitering, ogling civilians to move the fuck along! Stay calm, his ass.

Grant does a hand plant on the thing's head and vaults up and over the robo critter and lands on its back riding that fucking thing like a mechanical bull. Now we commence in trying to ride the damn thing into a wall. See? this is supporting the seeee danger is going away from you stay calm trip!

Kailey turns her attention from making sure her dog is down to see Grant in a pickle. This time her shimmer is red, like her shield, and glows around her hands as electricity begins to arc a second before it arcs across the distance. Slamming hard into the dog charging at Grant. Sparks fly. It's glorious and she's grinning triumphantly. "YEAH! Eat force lightning!" And then she turns to grin at the people they have been herding. "See folks? We got this. Your only job is to survive and get out of here. Okay, that's two jobs. NOW GET TO THE AIRSHIPS!" The Uncat moves with Kailey to encourage the people that might be dallying to watch the fight in awe of Maestros.

As impressive as Kailey's force blasting the attack dog is, Devlin's well.. just fails much to his annoyance. However, leave it to Jake to finish it off. Big Jake trots over to Devlin to rub against the man's leg.. yeah.. he knows he was a good boy.

Grant does not steer robo dog into a wall. He does start flying through the air in a glorious trajectory as it turns around to line up to trample him again. He falls in a dive roll, around, and back up on his feet sliding back another meter. The hand comes out waving that dog to run up at him again. This is an adrenaline junkie's best day except, you know, pending apocalypse. but nope, there's everyone and their brother to the rescue. It's Ruiz he looks to and says "Thanks, Lobo." Because he's the one who shot at the thing trying to eat Vyv's face. Fingers push through his now dusty hair catching his breath. Easton and Itzhak still in it. Cool! Kailey and Vyv on team wrangling? Aight! and then there's Devil saving lives who he signs <<I'm fine. I'm ok>> to so that he knows.

Itzhak, realizing Grant is in serious danger from having been a complete moron, dips to snatch up a length of rebar and fling it like a javelin at the dog charging for Bax's face. Clunk! it lands in the thing's shoulder joint, encouraged along by Itzhak yelling in Yiddish. "BAX YOU YUTZ! Schmuck, vas meynstu az du tust?!" Between him and Vyv and Kailey they stop it. Itzhak glares angry Jewish mother at Grant. "Any more stunts like that and I'm gonna let you get ya face eaten!"

No he won't.

The whole business with Grant jumping on one of the dogs just gets Easton's head to tilt to the side. He gestures with the gun, "I say we leave 'im." to Ruiz. But it seems like the others might be fond of the guy so he shrugs when others take down the dog.

Vyv is free of the robodog, and even gives Ruiz a small nod for shooting at it, though now there's time to give his suit an unhappy look as well. Barely time, because Grant is riding one of those things -- which, okay, later he might admit to himself (if no one else) is kind of cool, albeit, uh, unwise -- and then isn't, and the thing's trying to eat his face. Vyv is quite fond of the face in question, and sweeps up the nearest chunk of concrete he can to smash into the robot's, instead. The dent it makes at least gives the thing a serious headache while the other attacks are joining to take it on down. "Stop riding things!" he chides Bax, as if that were ever likely to happen, and he takes a breath, brushing down his suit sadly not very usefully and getting back to chivvying the crowd along toward that checkpoint, with a small pause for Bax to catch up. And get a Stern Look that's only a little bit checking for damage.

Ruiz has probably come to expect this sort of behaviour from Grant; the look he gives the younger man is one of mild exasperation, but not surprise. "De nada," is muttered as he hitches his rifle's sling and prepares to move on again. To Easton, with an amused snort, "No man left behind, Marshall, no matter how fucking tempting." He shoulders past his fellow ex-serviceman, mutters something to Itzhak in passing, and continues right along. Expecting, presumably, that the others will follow.

Easton keeps a move on, growling some 'encouraging' at the group when they slow down. He shakes his head and stops when he sees the defensive line. he holds up a hand in a fist and then looks at it and 'hehs'. He tilts his head at it while looking at Ruiz, like get a load of me forgetting who we're fighting with. Though Itz at least probably games enough to know combat sign language. He looks at the guards and dogs and then back at the group. "We can take 'em." With a good amount of confidence behind that. He stumbles again, grumbling at his leg. But he waits while the team figures out a less 'shooty' solution.

That growl does something to Kailey. Where she was grinning and feeling triumphant. Even offering others high-fives and pats on the back as they moved on. But that growl has her shrinking back and then falling to the ground with a whimper. Her green eyes turn pale as she crawls backwards among the rubble until her back hits something. But Uncat is there, purring, trying to reassure her. It works enough for the young woman to sniffle and gather all that fear and fling it right back where it came from.

Devlin boldly steps up to where it appears there is a senior guard and begins to use an NCO's talent to deliver an educational ass chewing that could be entitled.. >Are you this stupid in the face of the disaster? You should be helping people to evacuate and get your families out too< Of course Devlin lays it out about what falling buildings and pseudo earthquakes will do to themselves and those they care for.

As a few of the others seem to have ideas for how to address the blockade they're suddenly faced with, Ruiz falls back to let them do their thing. Thumb hitched in the strap of his rifle, he observes the proceedings cautiously, vigilant for signs that his assistance is warranted.

There is from the other side an illusion born of a rumble and what looks like a dustcloud of angry creatures with hands raised marching shoulder to shoulder a block deep coming for the platform. While not aggressive they look like they are not going to be stopped until they get to their destination. Gee so many villagers!

The ships! That's a heartening sight. Less so the number of guards and 'dogs' around the path they seem to need to take. And less so the growl, though Vyv's able to mostly push the very recent memory of being knocked down by one of those things from his mind. He glances over at the armed members of their number, does a little bit of mental math, and settles on 'talk first'. It's been doing all right for him, mostly... and it's arguably easier to shoot people after you fail to thoroughly talk them around than vice versa.

Devlin's arguments of what will happen just from the disaster if they stay their current course are good ones, and he adds in some more on the themes of 'if you succeed in preventing people from escaping, exactly what do you envision happening next?', 'the base of the city is already gone; it's too late for this', 'do you really want to be responsible for all these people dying?' and 'if you hurry, you have the opportunity to escape this as well'. He doesn't have the same military heft behind his words as some of the others, but the logic and conviction are pretty sound, at least.

It worked? It Worked! Kailey brings her head up at a mental nudge from the Uncat. << Look Kitten. You took the fear and gave it back. It worked. >> Kailey has tears in her eyes and is hugging the feline to her as she stares at the opposition slowly melting away. Reaching up she dashes tears from her eyes and gets back to her feet. "Yeah...Yeah! I did...Okay...okay...we're almost there?" She spots the ship and grins. Turning back she makes starts to gather any stragglers, urging them forwards once the blockade gives way to their collective wills.

Easton glances at Devlin who has far more intel on this situation than he does and shakes his head at the line of soldiers. "Pathetic. Where are your goddamn heads? So far up your asses you can't even here sense when it's spit in your faces? That man" He indicates Devlin, "Is busy breaking it down Barney style for you morons and your too busy sucking each others dicks to stop and take notice. Get yer shit together and get a fuckin' move on." Boy it didn't take long for him to get back into Captain mode.

While Easton's over there being an officer on those poor saps, de la Vega's going full Gunnery Sergeant on whomever's still unconvinced about the wisdom of doing as they've been told. He's not actually much of a shouter, so whatever he tells those men, he sidles up nice and close to say it. A few words murmured low to each, as he prowls along the line. And probably that heavily modified AR-15 slung across his shoulder, and all that prison ink scrawled up and down both arms helps get his message across. When he's done, he gives Easton a sharp whistle with his fingers and cuts away, making it clear that he fully intends to get them moving forward, whether or not these guys step aside to let them pass.

Grant is hanging with Itzil. While dismissed as a vagrant and a dipshit at a glance the scattered 22 year old gathered a small assembly, kickstarted this revolution in its nuts and went to space with a fist full of souls that could help him make this chance plan to evacuate people to a sustainable place. It's a lot for a B student. He's not ungrateful for the support the others have lent to these people's cause, nor absle to do it alone and it's much the point; this is a community effort.

So when the guard captain relents there might be watery eyes of relief. Vyv's hand is reached for and gets a brief squeeze. This is all going to be over soon, but in a productive way. He signs to the fawn remembering to speak halfway through doing so *"There's room for everyone. Bring them. Come too. Everyone's going to need a new home and the Mechanism will support this. There's room, and environs." His hand goes up to gesture at the wall; art reappearing on it of the well of stars. "They'll need you, and you all them. It can be okay."

"Excuse me Ma'am," Devlin says to the Faun with respect, "We are going to open the lanes to make it easier for people to pass through to the Airships." And with that he starts working on breaking things up for easier removal by the powerful telekinetic's. He then adds, "Thank you Ma'am. Also as a suggestion, you may want to distribute your medics amongst the airships to help with the wounded. I am sure your guards can help them out as orderlies to maximize the aide your people can provide." Meanwhile, large objects heat up and crack making for an easier time to be moved.

The walls that are holding back the people are pushed with an outstretched hand from the smaller Marine. Easton frowns and concentrates on all the debris making sure that all of it is safely removed aside so that they can open up a hole for more people to get through. "I'm gonna need at least a half-bottle of Makers when I get back and then maybe someone can explain to me what the fuck just happened?" He still is only clear on maybe a tenth of who these people are and what they are doing but thankfully Itz & Ruiz are there for him to immediate just follow their lead. Sure he would have eventually come around to one of the others but it's easier this weay.

Vyv's shoulders relax a fraction when the apparently-lead guard agrees, and when Bax claims his hand, he returns that squeeze before letting go again. "Thank you," he says to the captain in particular and the guards in general as they step aside, and gives a small nod to second both Devlin's explanation of what they're doing, and Grant's invitation that they come as well. He takes a beat to look over the starwell art that appears before he lifts his hands and starts taking parts of the wall apart, mimed movements that nonetheless affect the actual structure. His bits of it are done with care and intent, setting the moved sections of Stuff down aside and out of the way to enlarge the path.

Whatever Ruiz told him had put a savage smile on Itzhak's face. He murmured in reply, and watched Ruiz walk past him, just blatantly looking at his broad shoulders and muscular arms and everything he's got goin' on there.

Then he thwapped Bax on the shoulder to chivvy him along. "C'mon, cowboy."

Then a whole lot happened, including Ruiz intimidating the absolute shit out of a lot of Veil guards. Itzhak is wearing sweatpants. This might be embarrassing. But he's got a job himself: striding forward through the ranks and punching that fucking wall.

SLAM! Cracks spider out from the impact point, which Vyv might find a little messy, but messy is just Itzhak's style. The structure begins to fall apart, chunks of it randomly blasting out and flying away, the thing under their combined efforts being ripped up like tissue paper.

The slap on the shoulder to join Itzhak & junk Co. is enough to get the robo cowboy to grin and take great satisfaction in taking the wall as Devlin makes it brittle and, like Vyv, at least make an attempt to b e neat about it. Hey the city is a living organism after all. "Ya know I never knew my proclivities for property damage would be so damn handy. Ironic."