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No Escape; The Great Gray Sea
Topic Started: Dec 5 2013, 09:32 PM (58 Views)
Ava
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Bullseye
There was water everywhere...

One minute, Ava and Gold had been preparing to take their first long distance jaunt through space using Instant Transmission from the peaceful planet of Yardrat back to New Vegeta where they could meet up with the comrades they'd been separated from, and the next Ava was drowning. Instinct kept her from gasping in surprise as completely darkness opened up all around her. Her body was suddenly light, weightless as she groped out for anything she could get her hands on. The sand of the bottom of whatever body of water she'd appeared in was soft like clay, and she took hold of a fist sized rock in her desperate attempts to seize anything. Bubbles erupted from her mouth and nose in a cloud all around her. Orienting herself, Ava crouched and kicked as hard as she could off the bottom, racing upwards - she opened upwards - towards the surface, kicking and paddling with her hands as hard as she could to get there as her precious little air supply was running out. She felt her mind going blank as her lungs screamed for air, suddenly dizzy and disoriented and forgetting what it was she was trying to survive in the first place.

Wake up, Ava!

Ava jerked suddenly, startled from her near unconscious state as with a final burst of adrenaline she broke the surface of that pool of water, coughing and gasping for air to replenish her starved lungs. It took more energy than it should have to stay afloat and she wildly kicked towards the nearest edge, draping herself over the rocky edge of that pool. For a long moment, Ava lay there just breathing, relieved to be alive, wondering what the hell had happened. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness she slowly looked around, not seeing or sensing Gold in the immediate area. Whatever had happened had separated them. She was in a cave of some kind from the looks of it, daylight shining in through the mouth of the cavern some distance away, and the rich blue of the sea just beyond that. Thankfully, her communicator would tell her where she'd ended up. She reached for it in the pocket of that violet jacket, laying her head down on the cold wet stone under her face.

There was a hand suddenly in her hair, wrenching her up out of the water with enough force that her weight seemed feather light. She dropped her communicator where it splashed on the surface and sank out of sight - her only means of calling for help now out of reach. Ava peered out through the half lids of her eyes right into the face of an ashen colored Arcosian, his metallic silver eyes narrowed, only heightening the anger that passed behind his eyes. He was fully uniformed, the emblem of a target tattooed on his throat - the same Ava possessed around her navel.

"Frore," she stammered, her now free hand flying up to grab his hand to try and take some of the pressure off of her delicate strands.

"Where have you been? We've been so worried you might have run off," the mammoth of a Arcosian hissed as he dropped to all fours and forced her head under again, water splashing as she writhed, smashing the rock she'd uprooted from the bottom of the pond into his wrist with little effect.

"You think because you're on deployment you can just not report in?" he said on deaf ears as he wrenched her up again, shielding his face when she spit the mouthful of water she'd nearly swallowed at him. She lifted that stone like she might strike him with it, but he caught her wrist, squeezing until he threatened the integrity of the delicate bones and she dropped it. It fell with a thud at the edge of the water and rolled away into the darkness.

"You think I like that they sent me looking for you?" he said quietly, seriously as he backed up and dragged her with him, dropping her right into his lifted knee. The little air she'd managed to suck into her lungs came hissing out, and he dropped her onto the stone floor on her hands and knees. Soaked and shaking, Ava coughed and gasped.

"You think that I like traveling across the galaxy to find out where our little human whore ran off to?" He planted his foot right into her midsection, knocking her onto her side and sending her skidding along the floor. With her head resting on her outstretched arm, Ava watched him through the bare slants of her eyes, her chest heaving as pain blossomed through her middle with each breath. She watched him stalk towards her, his hands opening and closing with impatience.

"Personally, I'd have rather just taken care of you from a distance. Unfortunately, you're too damn useful to just kill." He lifted his foot, ready to bring it down right on her face but was met with her arms stretched upwards, crossed in front of her head to protect it. Her aura shot out so suddenly it took him off guard, sending him staggering backwards several feet. Ava was up on her feet faster than he could have fathomed, her gun in her hands and trained right on him. The weight in the room intensified, making it harder for him to hold his standing position as she syphoned her ki through that weapon, charging a rather devastating blow.

” What do you think you’re doing, Six? You can’t beat me, we both know that.

After fifteen years in the military, you’d be surprised what I’m capable of now,” Ava seethed, her voice dropping several octaves as the look of defiance crossed her gaze.

"That's enough!" he shouted, and produced a small remote from his pocket, his thumb just resting over the button on top. The effects hit her suddenly, her own heartbeat suddenly turning erratic, unnatural beneath that second rhythm as it suddenly appeared. She gaped down at her bared skin, seeing that red light illuminate over her heart, beneath her flesh. It was enough of a warning that her aura turned mute again, receding back into herself, but not enough that she lowered her gun.

"Why am I here, Frore? I'm sure you had something to do with this. You and this damn thing they have growing in me." Ava was panting, suddenly weak from the irregular beating of her heart.

"We waited for word from you after the mission at the docks, to confirm it was completed. Imagine our surprise when we discovered you weren't even on the damn planet anymore. No one gave you permission to leave, Six. We will always be able to find you eventually. It doesn’t matter what planet you go to, that thing in you will always give you away." Frore kept his position, even going so far as to cross his arms over his chest, thumb still pressed on that button ever so snuggly. Ava’s eyes never left it, her face carefully blank of the flurry of emotions that were happening beneath the surface.

If I would have taken the time to check in, I’d have blown my cover. The Heir is already suspicious, and if you have any hopes of keeping track of him, you’ll let me do my job.

They think you've been compromised, Six,” he said quietly, his voice softening just half a degree as he watched her slowly lower her pistol. “[color#800000]You, better than anyone, knows what that means. It means it’s over. You don’t think they’ll kill your General? It doesn’t matter how good you are at what you do, they’ll kill him, and they’ll make you do it.[/color]”

But Gold isn't the target -

Just because you happened to find out that Glacier is alive doesn’t save you - or him. You’re no less our property than you were before. Frost will continue to want information - and he’s going to use you to get it. The sooner you accept that and do what you’re told, the better it is for you. You don’t want to end up like Seven.” Just mentioning her sister struck the fresh chord of pain and guilt, enough that Ava’s hand tightened on the hilt of her gun until her knuckles were white. They would make her do it again, take away the only thing she still cared anything about. When she fell to silence, her face falling to the floor in defeat, Frore grinned.

Good girl. I knew you’d see it our way.” Frore depressed the button, and the light under Ava’s skin flickered out, leaving only the erratic rhythm of her beating heart deep in her chest. Pacified, Ava sank down to the floor and set her pistol down so she could take her weight and focus on breathing, to try and regain her composure, tears burning in her eyes. How much longer could this possibly go on for her?

What do you want from me now?” she asked without looking up. She couldn’t let him see her weakness, the tears falling from her eyes.

You stick to the assignment. You keep track of Glacier, and you check in. We want to know his movements. Do that, and you and your General live. It’s that simple.” He went silent, letting the words sink in and waiting for another outburst. When there wasn’t one, he smirked. “I’ll be hearing from you soon,” And as quickly as Frore had appeared, he was gone, blinking right out of existence. Had everyone learned about Instant Transmission before she had?

Alone again, Ava sat back on her knees, wrapping her arms around herself as she wiped at her face, using her years of training to force back the agony of what she had endured, the truth that she would never be her own woman, and because of that everyone around her would be in danger. She was a traitor, though not by choice, and it tore her asunder to know she could never escape it. For a long time, she sat in silence, trying to figure out what to do next. It only just occurred to her that Gold would be looking for her, and thanks to the unique nature of their training, her ki levels would be almost undetectable from a distance. She needed to get her communicator - which was at the bottom of the pool of freshwater she’d just climbed out of, probably ruined. The problem was? The water was pitch black, as was the cavern save for the sunlight streaming in from the mouth a distance away. If she was Gold, she could have used some of his flashy lightning right about then - but given that her element was Gravity, and unseen, there was no calling on it for help. Picking herself up, Ava holstered her gun and moved towards the opening of that cave, to try and get an idea of where she was.

The gray sea opened up on all sides around her that she could see, the sun blazing down from overhead, hot on her face. The only piece of land in any direction was the one she was currently on, a little island in the middle of nowhere with a plume of rocky cliffs at the edge of a volcano, which immediately explained why the water had been warm and fresh. She could have taken off in any one direction and could have been a day or more flying over the water. It would take more time than she could afford to gather up the strength and use Instant Transmission again. Not good. There was no getting out of this that easily. With a frown, she turned and headed back into the cave, reaching for her pack of capsules, which she clicked open and selected from. A push of the plunger and toss formed a survival pack, from which she withdrew two flares. It would be enough to help her find her communicator and hope it was working well enough to send out a signal to the others to let them know where she was.

As she lit up the flare, Ava took a look around the room, ducking when a nest of bats shrieked and came down out of their roost to flee he offensive fiery glow. She was startled to see something glowing in the corner of the room, her eyes squinting as she moved slowly towards it. To her surprise, it was the rock she’d brought up from the bottom of the pool, reflecting the light of the flare back at her. Kneeling, she took it up, stunned to find it wasn’t a rock at all, but a fist sized gem.

K-kami…” Ava hadn’t ever seen a gem that big, taking a minute to marvel at it before it set it down and pulled off her jacket and boots, ready to take a swim. Stepping to the edge of the pool, Ava dived in, making a quick swim towards the bottom to search.

What she found down there wasn’t at all what she expected.

Gems...Hundreds of them littered the sandy floor of that pool of water of various colors, the light reflected in glittering dots all around her, she dug around, picking out small red stones and large blue ones, just laying there ready to be collected. Finding her Communicator took three dives, but when she broke the surface, she shook it to try and flick the excess water from it. She pulled herself out and sat at the edge, clicking it open.

Gold’s voice rang out almost immediately, and she breathed a sigh of relief to know it was still working at all.

-ome in! Ava! Where are you?

Gold’s vocals came in staticy and distorted due to the communication link being difficult to establish at the beginning of the transmission. Once a few moments passed by, Gold was able to pinpoint Ava’s location with very little trouble.

How in the hell did you manage to get all the way out there?

The plan was quite simple. Gold was supposed to meet up with Ava inside of the capital city on New Vegeta and now she was almost on the other side of the planet. The technique they picked up from their short stint on Yardrat -- Instant Transmission -- allowed them to jump from one planet to the other at the expense of a lot of energy. Intra-planetary jumps were much easier to do and could pretty much be done ad infinitum.

Coming to your coordinates,” he said, not waiting on an answer to his query.

All around the blonde-haired General were bodies of alien pirates who had decided they did not like the idea of a human popping up in the middle of the treasure they found. Gold was not the only one to miss the mark, but his endeavor was much shorter than that of his gun expert partner. Two fingers -- index and middle -- were placed to the man’s forehead so he could lock onto the ki signatures around Ava. A moment later he vanished from his spot and reappeared in a fraction of a second.

Looks like I found a better spot to mess up.

Ava shifted when he appeared, her silence betraying that she was glad to see him. There was something in her eyes, something that she quickly averted her gaze so as to avoid him seeing too much of. She picked herself up, shaking her communicator off once more before she bent to grab her jacket.

More profitable too,” she commented as she took up that fist sized gem and tossed it at him. “And there’s more where it came from,” Ava gestured to the pool of water where she was seated, tossing her flare down into the water so that it glittered off the stones at the bottom. Talk about hitting the ‘money-load.’
Edited by Ava, Dec 5 2013, 09:32 PM.
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Ava
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Bullseye
The Great Blue Gray Sea: Completed
[+90 EXP//+300 Zenni]
[+1,000 Zenni]
Edited by Ava, Dec 5 2013, 11:59 PM.
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