And if their Heaven ain't got a vacancy

[goodluckkobra]

Who: Kobra Kid and OPEN
When: Throughout May
Where: Battery City and the surrounding desert Zones
What: Running, mostly
Warnings: potential for violence or references to drug use, but they can be easily avoided if you'd prefer I gloss over those details.


Battery City
The City is clean, almost devoid of personality, and Kobra jolts at the sudden sight of it. This is where he'd died and he remembers it so clearly. It takes him a moment to get with the program, but then he does start to look around frantically for anyone who might notice them and tell someone.

The only human form he can see on this block is a worn and weary pleasure droid and he's not too worried about him. He's likely got his own troubles to contend with and he doesn't seem to take much note of two strangers. Kobra's thankful for once that he's forced to dress in a more subdued manner on the ship than he's accustomed to here.

Of course, once he turns around, he comes face to face with a three foot tall rendering of his face on a wanted poster. It's right next to Party's and Ghoul's and Jet's.

"Should probably get ourselves outta here real quick..."

Zone 3
They're in the desert. That could be good or bad. There's no telling what zone they're in, but at least he knows they can't see the city from here.

He huffs out a tired breath and pulls his bandanna up over his nose.

"Let's start moving."

It only takes a few steps in the sand before he's tilting his head at a rock formation that can't be more than a mile out. He stays stock still, squinting into the hear.

"Huh. Might actually have an idea where we are."

With that, he turns a full 180 and starts back in the direct opposite direction he'd been about to walk in.

"If I'm right, shouldn't be more than an hour to food and shade." And home. They're not far from the Diner.

Wildcard
(Take Kobra to your character's homeworld or hit me up and we can combine the two! I can also write more specific starters.)

Comments

Battery City

[deal]

Cassandra is in the middle of tapping a finger against his wanted poster, and is about to make a teasing remark when he speaks. His body language combined with what he says causes her to go still, eyes looking around for sign of danger. She doesn't know this place, she can't pick up on what's dangerous or not here.

"Why?" She quietly asks, stepping away from his wanted poster to move in a little closer to him. "Where are we? What's going on?" It's probably one too many questions to hit him with when he's clearly not enjoying the fact they're here, but she feels like it's information she needs to know so she doesn't get in the way. She looks once more over at his wanted poster, then back at him.

She's got a feeling there's about to be a lot of running.

[goodluckkobra]

"Shouldn't be in the City, but we are." And maybe it makes sense because this is the last place he'd been and he'd died here, but he doesn't want to make sense of it when he's maybe about to get arrested and get Cas into a whole new load of trouble she didn't really ask for.

"Make like you belong and stick to the shadows with me. I'll get us out, but we gotta be real careful." As he talks, he starts to move towards an alley, nervously running his hands through his hair. The City feels so cold now--even colder with the knowledge that Party might not be out there anymore waiting for him.

[deal]

"Everything here is so...bland. How do either of us look like we belong?" She hisses out at him as she follows along, making sure to stick close to him. She's good at making herself go unnoticed, but she doesn't see how anyone here can look like they belong to the area.

She looks up and over at him just in time to catch him running his hands through his hair, and in an effort to try and get him to focus, she places her hand on his arm.

"Hey. We'll make it out, and maybe we'll have time for you to find your way back home."

[goodluckkobra]

"Can't go straight home from the city. Could be followed." If Party and the others are out there, Kobra's not going to be the one to lead Korse to their front door. No, he's going to have to take a roundabout route until he's sure. Maybe he can at least leave a message somewhere for Party so that if he's out there, he'll know that Kobra's okay, too. He can't think about the fact that he knows Party can't be out there anymore. It's too wrong.

"Gonna have to make quick work of gettin' out, though. Find a bike we can steal or somethin'."

[deal]

She nods, agreeing with the fact they need to steal a bike. Something small and fast that won't be noticed right away. The only problem is, the area they're standing in doesn't exactly have a lot of leads to anything easily stolen. So they need to move. Reaching over, she grabs hold of his hand, so she can tug him along after her as she takes the lead and cautiously moves out into the open. She makes sure to keep close to buildings and walks with her head down. No one here will recognize her, but she's paranoid that they only have a matter of a minute or two before he's found out.

They don't make it too far before she hears the sound of quick footsteps, and she grips hold of his hand a little tighter as she tries to look for an alleyway to duck into. It could be nothing, but given that he has a wanted poster up, it likely isn't.

Zone 3

[cardboard_boss]

Venom was used to the desert surrounding, having done missions out in Afghanistan. He knew how cruel the sandstorms could be; choking dust that gets into your lungs if you're not wearing a bandanna. The kid seemed to be wearing one. Good choice. Snake nodded to him, as he looked ahead towards through the haze.

"Feels like being back home again." He offered Kobra Kid a small smile. Yeah. The desert. The heat. Just like being on a mission. All they needed now were some enemies to shoot at them.

[goodluckkobra]

Kobra's steps are sure in the sand now, light and easy but it's clear to anyone who knows what to look for that he's watching the way the wind moves carefully and he's listening for something. The last thing they need is a dust storm or worse, engines.

"Oh yeah? You live in a desert, too?" He figures most people who live in deserts mean the climate and not the general lack of society that he's grown accustomed to in the Zones, but there's really no telling. Some people seem to be from his past, others might as well be elves from story books.

[cardboard_boss]

"No. I don't live in the desert. I'm a soldier." Snake looked over at Kobra and wondered what he would think about that. He hardly knew the man and had only spoken to him briefly about music but he wasn't opposed to getting to know someone better. Venom had spent a lot of time riding and walking through miles of open desert with often no one to speak to for days at a time. Part of the job.

"You get used to the sandstorms and constant heat whilst out on missions." He winced up at the piercing sun and knew the feeling well.

[goodluckkobra]

The hum Kobra responds with is non-committal and when he turns again, there's an almost wary look on his face. Soldiers can do a lot of things. Some people probably see him and the other Killjoys as soldiers, but the legions of dicks in white that BLI sends after them are definitely soldiers. He can't help feeling like soldiers are rarely on the side of freedom these days.

"What kind?"

Battery City

[ersatzeverything]

Deacon looks at the wanted poster for a few seconds then wordlessly takes off his pompadour wig and holds it out to Kobra. Having enemies that are organized and stuff sucks.

"Not arguing with you there. So, where's the exit? And, uh, how many guards-slash-automated turrets-slash-security robots are going to be watching it?"

[goodluckkobra]

The wig gets a quick smirk, but no argument as Kobra takes it and tucks his greasy blond hair up and under it. Even with the posters, people don't really know his face all that well. This might actually work. He and Party have never really made an effort to blend in or sneak around, but now it seems like it might actually be worth forgoing a statement if he can find some information about his brother.

"Exit isn't too far. Maybe half a mile, but there will be guards and they'll be armed. Shouldn't give you much trouble leaving, but it's gonna be hard to get me out."

[ersatzeverything]

"Yeah, but leaving you behind to make my escape would be kind of an asshole thing to do so we'd better figure out a way to get you out, too."

Hopefully in a way that avoiding fighting, but if it comes to that he's got his sniper rifle and laser pistol ready.

"Any other ways out? You know, convenient located sewers or something? Vertibirds we can steal? Or maybe just a really really tall ladder?"

[goodluckkobra]

Kobra stops for a moment to think about that. "Never tried sewers before. Thinkin' there was a reason for that, but I wasn't really the plan-maker."

No, he'd been the one they pointed at problems that he could solve. Kobra has skills, but plan-making's never been in his wheelhouse. If the ship had had him missing his brother, it's almost like Kobra's missing a limb now that he's back here without Party.

Then he shrugs. "Let's find out why we never used the sewers before." They'll have to get closer to the edge of the city to be sure that they'll get out, but that won't be hard. Security shouldn't be tight until they get to the exit and it's not like anyone's looking for a Killjoy in Battery City right now, right?

With a nod, he starts to walk down the street, sticking close to the building's smooth and cold walls.

Battery City

[ryuuzaki]

He's not really sure why he agreed to do this. Maybe because Kobra Kid's story seemed so far-fetched, maybe because, if it was real, L had a passing morbid curiosity about what the kind of world that could produce it would be like. The time this altered Ingress allowed would be more than enough to satisfy that curiosity, and if Kobra had been adept at evading his pursuers for as long as he'd implied, it seemed probable that he'd be able to keep it up for a few hours longer.

Still, L sees the Wanted poster and turns his head to his companion and raises his eyebrows. "You lead the way."

[goodluckkobra]

Kobra starts to move with a quick nod, but then he stops abruptly. He can't keep running like this. All it does is put him in a worse hole. It's what Korse wants, isn't it? He wants to keep chasing them.

He turns back to L. "Gotta check something first. Can stay here if you don't wanna come, but you'll want to stay out of sight."

Without any other warning, he starts to walk towards a building he remembers well. It's not far to Better Living Industries and it's not difficult in the cover of night.

[ryuuzaki]

"No, I'll come," he says, picking up his pace to match Kid's. Standing in the dark on an unfamiliar street doesn't seem appealing. If nothing else, someone who's wanted is probably heading somewhere where there's cover.

"Where are we going?"

[goodluckkobra]

As they walk, they're getting closer and closer to a large glass building that's clearly labeled as the headquarters of Better Living Industries.

"Gotta look into something important. Won't take long."

There are tire tracks on the asphalt where he remembers leaving the Trans Am outside, but there are no guards and the car's gone. There are still signs of the fire fight everywhere, but it looks like any blood or loose debris has been cleaned away.

He doesn't stop walking until he reaches the front door and he presses a palm to the glass as he looks into the lobby. A few of the windows around the door have holes from stray ray gun blasts, but he's staring straight ahead at the wall that he'd watched his brother slump down against. Ghoul and Jet had lasted longer, but Kobra hadn't made it long enough to see them go down.

This is where they died and he shouldn't be here.

Zone 3

[kidjoy]

She hadn't started to follow when he gave the first command, head tilted back to watch the sky instead. The dry air, the expanse around them; it felt good to be back in the sun again after being cooped up in the lifeless metal of the ship. She drops her head back down as he comes past on his way back, smile as large as it's ever been since she found him on the Moira.

"Home?" She asks, hopeful and already sure. She follows in his footsteps, a bounce in her step. They're in the middle of the sands, no car nor supplies, and yet she feels lighter than she has in months. Even the usual chemical tang of the air smells better than she remembered.

[goodluckkobra]

He lets out a heavy breath that he hadn't known he'd been holding and grins down at her. "Home!"

Party and the others could be there waiting for them. Maybe they're even planning some dumb rescue plan. That thought leads to some other thoughts he'd rather not dwell on, like how their last rescue went down. If he's still alive, though, then maybe they are, too. Maybe they're looking for Kobra and their Girl right now.

"Wonder what we've been missin'. Can't've been much of a party without us there."

[kidjoy]

"We'll turn the radio on and find out." Surely D would have been reporting on what happened after the rescue mission. Which almost throws her off the initial happiness of being home. It's just as likely he'll slip in something about her running away from him and Cherri. But the kicker is Kobra mentioning a party, making her think he's thinking of Party. As happy as she is to be home, if they'll be here. She doesn't know what's worse, if they're here and she can't stay or if they aren't and she has to see Kobra's disappointment on top of her own.

"Ain't never one without us," she says, trying to get enthusiasm back. "Whole Zones are probably mopin' about us being away."

[goodluckkobra]

"Sure the ladies are really weepin' at the loss of my pretty face." He's joking. Probably.

As he starts to walk in the direction that he's pretty sure the Diner is in, he holds a hand down for her. This is good. They're going to find the others and even if they have to go in a few hours, at least they'll know that the two of them are trying to get home and that they're okay.

Zone 3

[jedimindtrick]

Another damnable desert. After visiting Tatooine with Anakin, he'd hoped to be done with arid climates for a while, but somehow following Kobra Kid through the modified Ingress has dashed those hopes.

Obi-Wan squints and lifts his arm, his sleeve becoming a handy mask against the unpleasantly warm and unfamiliar atmosphere. "Perhaps it's best we keep moving, in that case," Kenobi suggests, voice muffled. He's not particularly interested in finding out what makes this desert clearly unpopular to life.

[goodluckkobra]

"Yeah. Should be water'n'food nearby." He inclines his head in the direction he's walking in, but then he looks back to study Obi-Wan.

"What kinda place are you from?" Keeping one ear open for any signs of danger, he figured they could use some conversation and maybe one that didn't involve him having to answer too many questions about himself. He keeps coming back here, but he can't seem to find any of the answers he wants. There's no way to tell who can even answer him. He's getting mad just thinking about it.

[jedimindtrick]

Obi-Wan wonders on the benefits of sharing with Kobra Kid, but decides even if he sees none that are clear and obvious, it's bound to make the walk a bit more bearable. That's the hope, at least.

"Somewhere very different from this," he says ruefully. "A planet populated largely by humans. It's vastly urban with an extensive underground system where the majority of the native residents live." The underground on Coruscant was not a place for Obi-Wan, but he'd spent enough time there to know that's where the true heartbeat of the planet resides.

"I've been to a few places like this." They've never been his favorite destinations.

[goodluckkobra]

"Crazy how big all your worlds seem compared to mine. We just got the city and all the desert 'round it." Of course, Kobra doesn't know what's really too far out. There's a point where they don't go past because the radiation's supposed to be too deadly. Beyond that, he doesn't know whether the rest of the world lives on without them or whether they're the last humans left, but he does know that he's never seen any signs in the sky of life outside of the city and the Zone Runners.

"It ain't all that many people. We're prob'ly half a day's drive from the city."