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BOOB CANNONS FIIIIIIRRRRRE!

It seemed that the road was just heavy with traffic today... or maybe it was just that a lot of people seemed to think that this was the place to be. Regardless of the reason, there was another vehicle on the horizon. It would have caught up with the rest of the group in the armored car sooner (especially with the erratic driving of Stryphe), but it had come a long way from the east: from the towering walls of the Leviathan, through the Dead Forest, and across the expanse of the eastern Gaia Plains before it even reached Barton. The trip hadn't quite been nonstop, either...

"HeyHEY! Watch it!" VanTech A muttered as he rubbed the shoulder of his labcoat when VanTech B bumped him. The sounds of the breaks kicking in were clear enough, even through the insulated and reinforced walls of the semi trailer that the machinery was housed in.

VanTech B simply gave VanTech A a cold stare, and went back to sipping at his coffee.

The air brakes kicked in, and the semi came to a full stop alongside the 'broken down' vehicle that had stopped at the side of the road shortly before. The diesel engine slowed, then halted, emitting a few callous clicks and groans as it settled, protesting sitting still for even this long, already.

The driver's side door swung open, and from the seat a man in black slacks and a white dress shirt swung down, pulling a folded overcoat after him from where it had sat in the passenger's seat. Mr. Black climbed down to the ground and, kicking the dust from the tires, draped the overcoat over his left shoulder and sauntered leisurely towards the back of the semi trailer, where not an ordinary latch, but a fully integrated code lock system was in place.

A few swift buttonpresses later, the locks released, and the doors opened-

Pushed by VanTech B, and VanTech A, respectively.

"Alright, boys... are you ready to get this show on the road?" James said, an amused smile on his face as he glanced quickly around at the graphs and meters on all the monitors at the far end of the trailer, and at the three VanTechs who were there to operate them.

"But, sir... why HERE?" VanTech B protested, sliding his glasses up against the bridge of his nose with one finger; still not moving from beside the coffee pot, unwilling to give up his claim.

"Why not?" James laughed boastfully. "It's a perfect place, isn't it?"

"While that is true, it doesn't make much sense, statistically..." VanTech A reponded, slumping down a bit further in his chair. "The plan was to run tests in Latent before the Heaven or Hell Tournament, not to run out into the middle of the desert like this!"

"You just don't want your baby damaged, do you?" VanTech C chimed in, sitting against the wall in the corner with a half-read magazine in his lap. "You always were the overprotective one. Getting in the way of progress."

"Shut up, C!"

"Why don't both of you just drop it?" James cut them off. He glared rather harshly at the both of them, and then turned his attention to the massive figure standing silently near the back; clad in a buttoned up overcoat and bowler hat, the nearly eight foot tall man hadn't moved an inch since the trailer had been opened up.

"Is it ready?" James said with a grin.

"Ready and willing... as far as it can be..." VanTech B said dryly.

"Excelent..." James tossed his coat over the back of one of the chairs, and then turned his attention back towards the open door at the rear of the trailer. "Get it prepped, I don't want to waste any time. Search and rescue."

James didn't even bother to explain to them what he intended to 'rescue' in this operation. He said it and he meant it. It was to say that casualties were meant to be minimized, if not prohibited altogether. Instead, he shouted, "Donovan!"

"Yes, guv'na?" the head of the little cambion child popped up over the edge of the trailer back as the boy attempted to climb in after James; he had been riding along in the passenger's seat since they had passed through Barton.

"Just like we talked about, okay? In and out. Don't make youself a target or I'll box your ears." With that, James walked over and gave the boy a hand up, pulling the child into the trailer with them. He bent down, reached into his pocket, and handed the cambion child a piece of hard candy.

"That's the one," James said, pointing towards the stoic figure in the back of the van.

"Wait, what's going o-"

Donovan grinned and ripped the candy open; shredding the wrapper with his little claws and popping it into his mouth. Without a second thought, the child dashed across the floor of the trailer and climbed up onto the tall figure's back; perching upon its right shoulder and wrapping his forked tail around both himself and the figure's head.

"Back in a flash!" the boy said jovially... and then, with a sudden gust of wind, both were gone.






Both the child and the huge figure appeared in a gust of wind about twenty feet above the bunker. Donovan released his grip upon the larger figure and, instead, reached for his uniform cap. His bosses at n00b TeleTaxi would kill him if he lost it, and whenever the boy ported like that there was such an incredible gust of wind to accompany it.

With his hat firmly in hand, the cambion child wrapped his forked tail around himself again, tucking in his knees against his chest, and promptly vanished.


Though that was not to say for the large figure whom he had transported. No, things were a bit different for this one...

As stiff as he had been before, he was in his falling; standing perfectly straight and still, like a doll, up until the last few feet of the fall. The figure bent quickly, spreading its legs a bit to create a firmer base upon which to catch itself, and it brought its left arm across to grasp upon the side handle of the enormous device which was held in its right arm.

In another moment, the full 3700 lbs of Heavy 02 came crashing down upon the roof of the bunker; bringing the 'barrel' of the enormous device to bear straight down at the rooftop.

The device itself was a full ten feet in length, and about four feet wide around near the top. The barrel of the device was eight inches across, with a four inch bore... but it wasn't a 'gun' in the conventional sense. The Penetrator had a rather... unique purpose. It was used for insertion.


(( La... la... la...

Mmm... makin' a hole. domokun ))