ic Blod in the Air (IC)

[Tiffany Korta]

With burst of steam the two standing Avians fired upon the advancing heroes. The one firing on Lord Steam but that on Blodeuwedd struck home, only to skim off of her body armour. The two seemed to be bracing themselves for the possible assault from the still standing heroes.

Whilst through the docking port door Subito could see only a single Avian guarding there entrance to Cressida. But the Avian was a massive example of the species, probably larger than any of his king that any of them have seen before.

[Supercape]

"What a splendid piece of engineering!" said Lord Steam as he approached the magnificent cannon. Quick as a flash, his eyes and fingers caressed the copper and brass mechanisms.

"Clever! the self ejecting caseless reverse parabolic loading system! with a dual caseless pre-ignition system...quite ingenious! I thought of doing that for Bessie, of course, but it resulted in an unacceptable level of reverse kinetic decay. Just like...ah! here we are...so!!!"

With a yank of his hand something important and fragile went clunk inside the machine, and he pulled his hand out holding a broken piece of wire-thin metal.

The cannon emitted a sad hissssss....

[Tiffany Korta]

Blodeuwedd had watched how the two Avian as they had attacked, it was obvious that they weren’t really confident with the weapons and kept giving easy opening when they attacked. She just needed an opening to be able to press her advantage.

So when Lord Steam gave her an opportunity, in his own unique manner, she took every opportunity. With a leap she bounded between the two Avian’s, and with a series of simple swipes she rained a series of cuts onto the two. The attack was quite effective and the Avian’s collapsed, the steam gun clattering to the deck.

[Ari]

Heraldo took in the mighty specimen of Avian-kind that stood next to the Cressida's entryway, eyes widening in brief amazement before he quickly got into a ready stance, the Banner gripped in his hands. He was about to bust open the hatch and leap through when a warning shot into his mind. 'Wait! Wai-! Ah I gotta...I gotta make sure the others are on board with taking this guy on.' he drove the flagstaff into the floor, staring out at the tremendous figure outside.

"Okay, really big guy on the entrance, what's the plan?" he asked as he heard the last Avian inside crash to the floor. He glanced around with an anxious look "Er...should we save these guys? Pretty sure airship explosions are very dangerous for people not as tough as me."

[Tiffany Korta]

Blodeuwedd came alongside and look through the little window at the massive Avian guarding the entrance to the Cressida. For his part the Avian didn’t seem to be aware of their presence for now, he seemed content to stare straight ahead.

It was difficult to tell how difficult it would be to fight the warrior, and whether it was more of a challenge than the last warrior they faced.

“Unless Lord Steam has a way to bring us to the Airship without going through the airlock, which is not outside the realm of possibility, then we’re going to have to go through him.â€

[Supercape]

"Another big winged fellow?" sighed Lord Steam.

"I could do with a pair of wings myself right now. Mmmm...some big copper ones with oscillating feathers in a paradynamic air flow system...yes! it might work!"

He fingered the Steam guns missing component for a moment whilst scanning the ship around them.

"Given enough time, I'm sure we could find some air vent or other such wonder on this ship. However, it seems madam has deprived us of that luxury. In such circumstances, I would imagine the direct approach is for the best. Not very classy, I grant you. But I would rather stomach the vulgarities of violence than suffer being blown to bits..."

With that, he looked down at the Steam cannon, and inserted the missing gizmo with a satifying *click*

"Excellent!" he noted, picking up the weapon and nodding to Blod and Heraldo

[Tiffany Korta]

“I might not quite have the classic education of yourself, but even I’ve heard of Daedalus. I’d always consider his example before developing anything wing based propulsion.â€

At the offer of one of the woman’s strange contraption she shook her head politely.

“I prefer to use this†she held up her sword Dyrnwyn “It may not have the range of those contraptions, but I know this won’t let me down at an important moment.â€

She quickly scanned the airship looking for any alternative route to their airship.

“Well we could go outside, but as two of us can’t fly that would put us at a serious disadvantage should more Avians attack. Maybe those wings wouldn’t be such a bad idea after all; could you create them in about 3 minutes?â€

[Supercape]

Lord Steam shook his head, somewhat irritated that he couldn't.

"Alas, my powers of mechanical engineering, while excellent, do not extend to the impossible..."

"Improbable, perhaps. Impossible, no..."

Even so, his mind had briefly considered the possibilities. A parachute perhaps? using the steam cannons as a jump-pack? he would love to have given it a go. Perhaps he may need to, even. But three minutes was too much for even him.

...well, probably.

"Unless we use these cannons as modified jump packs, of course" he blurted, unable to contain himself. "But, to be honest, I wouldn't advise it. Highly dangerous at best! I'd rather get to the ground with Cressida!"

[Ari]

Heraldo glanced from Blodeuwedd to Lord Steam and back, fighting back a grin as the two avidly discussed the possibility of using Madame Vapeur's own improbable technology to fight her guard. Raising a hand he broke in "Guys! Guys, just strap yourselves to me, get some guns, we can take anything. That big man out there?" he jerked his thumb out the port at the ominous slab of Avian being, giving the dashing young agent and the inventive detective a confident smile "I'm willin' to bet he's not as strong as I am!"

He checked the walls nearby for a good place to punch out "It's either that or we try to talk him down, or fight him while we're all piecemeal and can be chucked off!" he looked meaningfully at Blodeuwedd "I'd rather we didn't risk that." he checked his watch, knowing that five minutes often seemed much longer than it really was...

[Ari]

...And this time was no exception. "Only a few minutes left, comrades!" he exclaimed to the others, leaping over to the door and slamming the round portal open with his mighty shoulder and letting out through it a terrific gust of air. Holding an arm in front of his face to protect himself from the raging winds, El Heraldo squinted up at the trios' new opponent and winced. This didn't look like it would go as easily as he'd hoped. For a moment he was still and silent, the flamboyant paragon's clothes and unfurled Bandera flaring in the high wind.

'Imminent explosion, do not forget! Yes yes, I know! I was trying to think of a good way to beat this guy Good, I would advise you to punch that man in the stomach as hard as you can Let's try that out'

Slamming his foot onto the harsh metal floor of Madame Vapuer's erstwhile airship the muscular Heraldo hurled himself towards the looming giant Avian, crossing the distance in the blink of an eye, raising a red-gloved fist as he ran that gathered a roaring golden glow around it, and when he was close enough he jumped a little and punched, driving his fist into the sternum of the mighty winged man!

[Supercape]

"Bravo, Sir!" called out Lord Steam, in response to El Heraldo's fist-work.

"May I compliment you on your formidable pugilistic skills and remarkable strength!" he added, as he made a few fiddles with the steam cannon.

"Now, if you would back away, I have never used one of these before. Remarkable piece of machinery. I would have changed the variable thrust compensation to a more dynamic thermal copper system, myself, to improve overall efficiency, but, overall, I would complement the engineer!"

He took aim, finding the weight and balance a little uncomfortable, and fired.

"Tally ho!" he shouted, as the weapon erupted.

[Tiffany Korta]

With a large flash of smoke and noise the bolt flew true from the Steam Cannon, unfortunately it hit part of the Avians mismatch armour and skittered off harmlessly.

The smoke and confusion however was just the opening that Blodeuwedd needed. With almost lightning speed she dashed forwards catching the Avian completely unaware. With a swift powerful blow from Dyrnwyn she managed to fell the surprised Avian. After a few seconds to make sure that the Avian was truly down Blodeuwedd knelt down to see if the humanoid was still breathing. Satisfied he was she began with some effort to lift the massive Avian to its feet.

“Do you have somewhere we can keep this one safe Lord Steam? I don’t think any of them will be save here in a minute or two."

[Supercape]

"If we fire up the secondary coal furnace, we can probably keep afloat in the air with all aboard..." replied Lord Steam, mentally doing a few calculations based on weight.

"But best to take her down as soon as possible and let the local authorities deal with them. To be honest, I would dislike keeping Avians captive in their home environment, even in my steam ship. This whole racket has left my feet aching for solid ground..."

"Yes, solid ground. That sounds like an excellent idea. Let us go there as soon as possible. And by that, I don't mean falling from the skies at terminal velocity, and with a great deal of mess, blood, and shattered bone and brain. I mean in Cressida!"

He opened the airlock to greet Singh and his own ship, the blast of cold air hitting him momentarily.

"Well come on then!" he said, striding forth.

[Ari]

Heraldo gave a whoop of joy as the last of Madame Vapeur's minions was defeated, twirling the Bandera with a flourish before sheathing it.

Stepping over to Blodeuwedd, he quickly helped with hauling their erstwhile foe into the airship, commenting "You know, I seriously wonder what she offered these people. I mean, there are things in this world I would gladly die for," he clarified hastily as he glanced at the lithe agent, momentarily struck by how easily she wore both the steampunk dress and her close-fitting costume...quickly looking back at the Avian he went on "but 'keeping these people from escaping the deathtrap I'm standing in' will probably never be one of them." once their mighty cargo was dragged into the copper vessel, he dusted off his gloves and stepped back outside, gathering the power of El Dama Azul about himself and soaring back into the ticking bomb that dwarfed the Cressida!

He made the best time that he could as he scooped up Vapeur's discarded soldiers, racing back and forth between the airship's halls and Lord Steam's air-going anachronism. Each time he returned laden with their former enemies, the fast-flying young paragon managing to snatch even those who had fought them in the dining room from an imminent and fiery death!

Dumping the last few bulky warriors on Lockwood's spotless floor, not even panting from the exertion, the bright-eyed boy glanced at the other two, practically bouncing with excitement now that they could follow their new lead "If there's nothin' else we need here, let's go!"

[Supercape]

NPC

Kamil Singh was sipping tea and dealing out some cards on the dashboard of Cressida for the umpteenth game of patience when the heroic trio started piling the Avian's into the airship.

"By Vishnu! what are you doing?" he asked, firing up some tanks, flicking switches and consulting thermo-gauges.

"This ship isn't built for mass haulage, Sir!" he said politely to Lord Steam "As you well know, seeing as you designed it!"

Singh knew the ship almost as well as Lockwood, and flew it even better. He could hear the creaks and groans of the ship and had an instinctive feel for the ship. And knew it was sinking.

"Auxiliary steam supply to aft! Thrusters to horizontal! Bilateral ballast eject!" he called out, flicking switched, turning knobs, and kicking a naughty lever.

"And do try to even the load!" he called out to Heraldo, who was dumping to many avians portside, causing Cressida to lean a but uncomfortably.

"Right! Lets move!" he said, jamming two levers fully forward, and pushing Cressida into the skies, at top speed, to get as much distance as possible from the bomb in the sky...

[Tiffany Korta]

Cressida struggled to get any height, the two airship having dropped so low during their time aboard the Vickie. But in Kamil’s capable hand the Cressida few away from the other airship with less than a seconds to spare.

The Vickie didn’t immediately explode however, first with a large series of bangs the airship’s Gondola drop the short distance to the sea below its hull seeming to be designed for water. Bereft of the weight below it the airship’s gasbag’s floated rapidly up into the air before exploding harmlessly away from anyone who could have been harmed.

[Ari]

Heraldo had instantly started trying to balance the piles of muscular and hairy Avians, struggling against the constant sway of the Cressida's desperate flight away from imminent destruction. Managing to get things more or less sorted out and occasionally making brisk apologies to the unconscious people, the young paragon took a moment to look out the aft portholes of the soaring airship, pumping a fist in the air and giving a whoop of joy as the mighty vessel's gondola sank beneath the waves. "We did it! We escaped that crazy Madame Vapeur girl's trap, and now we can stop her evil plan!" he laughed uproariously and even got into the mood enough to wave his hat with both relief and giddiness at the amazing adventure.

His cheerful laugh was cut short, however, by the sudden flash and thunderous *BOOM* of the detonating gas, flinging an arm over his eyes and clasping his other hand over an ear, groaning in momentary pain before he dared to lower his arms and look back out at the burning debris falling into the ocean. Turning to Lord Steam and Kamil he bowed slightly "Amazing job, thank you so much!"

Turning to Cerys he leaped over and swept his arms apart as he gave the young agent a brief and powerful hug. Letting go he relinquished the power of the Blue Dame with a grateful thought of 'It is yours again, O Dame! It is received, well done my Herald.' and appeared in a flash of light wearing his regular clothes. The stocky Puerto Rican boy's eyes danced with excitement.

"Alright! Where to now?"

[Supercape]

"The ground, for starters!" said Lord Steam, activating Cressida's inbuilt kettle and serving up the three heroes some rather spiffy grey tea.

"Or at least as close to it as we can. I feel rather uncomfortable in the air, to be quite frank. I shall have to take up ballooning, something more serene..."

"But for now, I suggest we drop off these fellows at a suitably secure facility, in other words one with a lock, key and most importantly, a reasonably robust roof. Then, time to reconvene in Steam Manor, and work out exactly how we deal with Madam Vapeur and her conundrum of words!"