[Her smile doesn't fade but the playfulness doesn't throw her off of the information he's given her, even if it isn't much. She has a feeling Laine is the kind of guy who knows he's charming and it isn't going to make her forget that whole "treason" bit. This isn't her jurisdiction and she isn't about to try and step into the politics of a world that isn't her own, but that doesn't mean she doesn't want to know if her traveling companion is the kind of guy she can trust not to stab her in the back. Before she can try for another more direct question, the alien chirps again just as movement in the thick trees to their left makes itself known.
She has enough time to throw a shield up in front of them both before something propels itself out of the bushes and slashes at them, each of it's unnaturally long limbs lined with blades that make it appear less like a creature inhabiting the planet, and more like something out of a bad scifi movie.]
Wh-- [Laine takes in a sharp breath through his nose, trying to catch the scent of whatever's rushing at them. It came up on his blind side, and it's a good thing Jessica throws that shield up.]
That's not good. [Laine doesn't sound too worried, but he's also keeping an eye out for more.]
[The shield can hold it, it's not strong enough to break through. She frowns though, staring at the weirdly humanoid reminiscent form and mangled appendages. Something tells her this can't be native to the planet.]
No kidding, Ring, what's the deal! [The answer comes to her a moment later in her head.
Inorganic life form. No language available. No sentience detected. J-Bird, it appears to driven only by need to destroy.
Well, great, that's perfect.]
I think someone made this thi—[A shriek in the distance is followed by others and Jessica turns her head in that direction, immediately lowering the shield and instinctively reforming the green light into a swirling mass of tendrils that lift the creature and slam it into the ground once then twice just as several others approach.]
Crap. Okay, maybe run. I'll find you. I got this. [She doesn't feel like she has this but maybe if she says it to herself enough, she'll mean it.]
[She says she's got this, and Laine wants to keep his advantage hidden for as long as possible.
But it's going to be a lot, he can hear those screeches, and the thing doesn't look too bothered by being slammed into the ground.]
We both need to get out of here. Come here. [There's no guarantee that they won't be tracked, but if she'll just get close enough that he can grab her, they can run.]
[She hears it in his voice that he has a plan and isn't aimlessly going to attempt to outrun these things, but before she can do anything, another whose approach must have been masked by the sound of the others jumps out at them from behind and she has to split her focus to make another shield that shoves it a dozen feet away. It buys her time to turn the green tendrils on it and they take both creatures, slamming them together.
They might be able to take to the sky but if they run into one of those flying things, they aren't going to be much better off. The thought has barely passed when the rest reach them and whatever Laine's plan had been she can't reach him now as the wave hits. Tossing the first two into the rest, she changes the light into a long beam that she swings at a dozen, knocking them all over and keeping one of them down for good. It's not nearly enough.
Her eyes find Laine in the throng and she throws up a sphere around him even as she dodges a blade to her side. After using a makeshift wrecking ball to clear a path to Laine, she lowers his shield, unable to maintain so many constructs. They have seconds maybe, before they're swarmed again and her battery won't last forever.]
[He's got something in his hand, translucent and blue, more like the idea of a weapon than anything solid, but it's sharp enough to cut through these things. The bright green of Jessica's not-SPH gives him enough of a shield that he can catch his breath for a second, turn his head to get an actual look at the battlefield instead of just trying to guess what's on his blind side.
It's not good.]
You fly out of here, I'll try and meet up with you later.
[If she weren't so busy being overwhelmed, she might laugh.]
Maybe your space cops are different, but I don't leave my partners behind! [She thinks suddenly, achingly, of Simon as she hasn't in weeks and knows he'd curse her out for staying even though he'd do the same.]
Come on! [She reaches a hand out to him, ready to put all of her power into a shield around them both.] We'll just have to try our luck in the ai—[She doesn't finish as one of the creatures, in a fit of athleticism unknown until this moment, easily jumps from fifteen feet back to land squarely between them and knock Jessica to the ground. In seconds her lantern light has formed a blade to counter the bladed limbs edging closer to her body, but they won't do much good when the rest of the creatures overrun them in moments.]
she's on the ground, one of those things between them, and more rushing at him.]
Are you okay? [He shouts, as he blocks with his blade and tries to figure out how to get out of the press of hostile bodies.
He needs the eye for a fight like this, but even as he blocks and strikes and tries to figure out how to get enough space to get into the air, the eye doesn't give him so much as a tenth of a second of foresight.]
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She has enough time to throw a shield up in front of them both before something propels itself out of the bushes and slashes at them, each of it's unnaturally long limbs lined with blades that make it appear less like a creature inhabiting the planet, and more like something out of a bad scifi movie.]
Stay behind me!
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That's not good. [Laine doesn't sound too worried, but he's also keeping an eye out for more.]
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No kidding, Ring, what's the deal! [The answer comes to her a moment later in her head.
Inorganic life form. No language available. No sentience detected. J-Bird, it appears to driven only by need to destroy.
Well, great, that's perfect.]
I think someone made this thi—[A shriek in the distance is followed by others and Jessica turns her head in that direction, immediately lowering the shield and instinctively reforming the green light into a swirling mass of tendrils that lift the creature and slam it into the ground once then twice just as several others approach.]
Crap. Okay, maybe run. I'll find you. I got this. [She doesn't feel like she has this but maybe if she says it to herself enough, she'll mean it.]
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But it's going to be a lot, he can hear those screeches, and the thing doesn't look too bothered by being slammed into the ground.]
We both need to get out of here. Come here. [There's no guarantee that they won't be tracked, but if she'll just get close enough that he can grab her, they can run.]
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They might be able to take to the sky but if they run into one of those flying things, they aren't going to be much better off. The thought has barely passed when the rest reach them and whatever Laine's plan had been she can't reach him now as the wave hits. Tossing the first two into the rest, she changes the light into a long beam that she swings at a dozen, knocking them all over and keeping one of them down for good. It's not nearly enough.
Her eyes find Laine in the throng and she throws up a sphere around him even as she dodges a blade to her side. After using a makeshift wrecking ball to clear a path to Laine, she lowers his shield, unable to maintain so many constructs. They have seconds maybe, before they're swarmed again and her battery won't last forever.]
Ideas?
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It's not good.]
You fly out of here, I'll try and meet up with you later.
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Maybe your space cops are different, but I don't leave my partners behind! [She thinks suddenly, achingly, of Simon as she hasn't in weeks and knows he'd curse her out for staying even though he'd do the same.]
Come on! [She reaches a hand out to him, ready to put all of her power into a shield around them both.] We'll just have to try our luck in the ai—[She doesn't finish as one of the creatures, in a fit of athleticism unknown until this moment, easily jumps from fifteen feet back to land squarely between them and knock Jessica to the ground. In seconds her lantern light has formed a blade to counter the bladed limbs edging closer to her body, but they won't do much good when the rest of the creatures overrun them in moments.]
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she's on the ground, one of those things between them, and more rushing at him.]
Are you okay? [He shouts, as he blocks with his blade and tries to figure out how to get out of the press of hostile bodies.
He needs the eye for a fight like this, but even as he blocks and strikes and tries to figure out how to get enough space to get into the air, the eye doesn't give him so much as a tenth of a second of foresight.]