DEPLOYMENT 17: Speak Softly and Carry a Big Boomstick

[walking_nuke]

[Balin's been a really rare sight at the house ever since the Friday before last. He's spending almost all of his waking hours in town, even on Mother's Day. Outside of work, he's become a lot more focused on accomplishing something with his demolitions projects.]

[Though today, he gets a belated birthday present. As he heads out the door to work, he spies a package lying on the porch. Rather than taking it inside, Balin's curiosity gets the best of him and he opens it on the spot ...]

[... To reveal a shotgun. One big enough to have its own zip code and mean enough to come with its own postal worker. It looks suited to being a turret on a scale model battleship rather than in the hands of a human. Its ammo belt already has a few canisters pre-loaded into it. The sight of it makes Balin's eyes gleam.]

... Now we're talkin'.

[ACTION - A (Anywhere in Mayfield, Morning to Evening, OPEN TO ALL)]

[You might catch Balin on the streets while he's out running his personal errands. In place of the Remington 870 shotgun he'd been carrying around with him for months, he's going to be carrying the Series 3 Triple Incendiary Shotgun. It comes with its own back-mounted holster, so he doesn't have the shotgun sling on him either.]

[ACTION - B (John Doe Park, Morning, OPEN TO ALL)]

[Balin's taken a detour on his way to work in order to test out his latest piece of regained hardware. He's standing in a spot of open ground with a pail full of water from the nearby pond—just in case things get out of hand. Taking aim at the open sky, he pulls the trigger, and a flesh-searing armor-melting inferno that's twenty meters high at its most potent spews forth. Enjoy your wakeup call!]

[ACTION - C (Neutron Diner, Morning, Afternoon, or Evening, OPEN TO ALL)]

[Balin's also been frequenting the Diner for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, since it gives him a place to sit down, eat, and work on brainstorming and planning—and the drones don't seem to bother him at all, provided he sits down at a booth. You'll likely see him jotting down notes or making rough sketches in a journal while taking bites out of a hamburger or a pathetic imitation of a Philly cheesesteak.]

[ACTION - D (Jonathon's Tools, Early Afternoon, OPEN TO ALL)]

[Balin's taking a look around the hardware store, though he doesn't seem to be buying anything today. He's making note of construction materials and any items the store has pertaining to electronics or electric wiring, as well as checking up on the different kinds of paint for sale.]

[ACTION - E (339 Brady Lane, Afternoon, HOUSE RESIDENTS)]

[While Balin was able to rig up simple detonators from what he found at the construction yard, doing something on the level of what he had planned would require some help to get right. To that end, he's stopping by Quinn's house to see if the guy's home. If the garage is open he'll be taking a peek to see if the technomancer's hanging around. If not, he'll head over to the front porch and ring the doorbell.]

Yo, Quinn! You there?

[He really should have phoned ahead ...]

[ACTION - F (Mayfield Outskirts, Evening, OPEN TO ALL)]

[Like he's been doing for the past week, Balin continues to test and experiment with the C-4 he had created in the past week or two. By now, all the test detonations in that field have created some ready-made earthworks for future testing—a short trench five feet deep, beyond which are other shallow craters where more bricks of C-4 have gone off.]

[Balin can be found out here doing a final battery of experiments with what remains of his first few batches of C-4. Which means there'll be the occasional explosion coming from the outskirts of town—just mind the sign by the side of the road if you head out that way to investigate.]

Comments

A

[cuestickgenius]

[Droog's torn. It's both an impressive gun, but also a big and ugly one.]

That's quite the piece you have there.

[walking_nuke]

Thing'a beauty, ain't it? I've fried many a Crusty with'is baby.

[cuestickgenius]

Not so sure about beauty, but it sure is something.

Crusty?

A

[kettchmeifyoucan]

[Wes gives the weapon a once over and is suitably impressed]

Now that's more like it.

[walking_nuke]

Heya, Major—

[Balin gives Wes a brief salute—the kind soldiers usually do when meeting a higher-ranking officer on the go. Though Balin stops and turns to face Wes after rendering the salute, rather than continuing on his way.]

It's'a mean lookin' bastard, huh?

[kettchmeifyoucan]

[Wes returns the salute and goes back to admiring the firearm.]

So what sort of damage can it do?

A

[then_there_were_none]

Is that a gun?

[Sudden small curious entirely unafraid voice coming from this yard over here!

The owner of said voice is standing on the bottom rung of the white picket fence because she's not quite tall enough to reach over the top all the way.

She's still got her batlike wings fanned out like extra arms, with the "palms" resting between the pickets and the thumbclaws curled over.]

[walking_nuke]

[Balin's not yet met Remilia in person, so seeing a girl with bat wings makes him think more "batgirl" than "vampire."]

Yeah, it is.

[then_there_were_none]

[Flandre makes some batlike chittering sounds, which isn't helping this misidentification issue.]

It looks like a cannon! Or...a pepperbox, but bigger.

E!

[technohippie]

[Quinn is indeed in the garage - currently working at the laptop, working out his playlist for that evening and making sure his babies are in top working order. He's a bit in the zone when Balin walks up, and it takes a second for him to realize someone just said name.]

Hey, Balin! What's shakin'?

Is that userpic Quinn as Kamina? XD

[walking_nuke]

A whole lotta displaced mud an' dirt.

[That was corny and unless Quinn's heard the explosions coming from the edge of town, he probably wouldn't get it—but Balin grins anyway.]

Wanted to talk to you about somethin', though. You remember a while back, when I first stopped by here?

sure is. :3

[technohippie]

Been busy, I take it?

Hmm. That was awhile ago, man. I remember some geeking out over Alice In Chains, and you showin' me your cool spell thing.

B

[idkmybfforin]

[Around the second shot or so, the plume of flame seems to go...sideways. Like iron filings drawn towards a magnet.

...oh, fancy that. It's your favorite person, Balin! Just kind of hovering over there and condensing the fire into a more compact fireball, though she seems to be having some difficulty with it. The occasional flare gets away from her now and then.]

1/2

[walking_nuke]

[Okay, shotgun fire isn't supposed to do that.]

The fu—

[Balin's head turns to follow the new direction the flames are taking ...]

2/2

[walking_nuke]

[... And he sees Utsuho there, playing with the flames like play-doh. He blinks, then linefaces.]

... Cute.

[Or does he mean "CLEVER GIRL" ?]

B

[virtualdiva]

[So Miku was practicing in the park, strumming her guitar and singing when--

BOOM.

Needless to say, she panics almost immediately and runs right out of the remote spot she'd been using.]

AGH!!

[walking_nuke]

[Whoops, looks like he just woke somebody up with that one.]

Whoa—hey! Sorry about'at!

Action B

[photonicfighter]

[Oh.

Oh wow.

Oh wow, this is the GREATEST THING to have found on what she was SURE was going to be a boring morning. A guy with FIRE POWER.

...that she was pretty sure he was being careful about aiming.]

Aaah, wow! That's great!

[Have yourself a purple android approaching from behind and a ways away.]

[walking_nuke]

[After the recoil has expended, Balin swings the shotgun back in front of himself. When he registers that the woman's calling out to him, he looks over his shoulder for a moment, then turns about to face her.]

Redefines'a term "hot stuff," don't it?

[... Huh. That girl's got purple skin. Almost reminds him of some of the Brann and Brann hybrids ... but they don't have hair to speak of.]

Action F - (Long time no see!)

[afieldofswords]

[So Archer had only been in town for a few days now, and he had taken the time to go about at night to try and get a personal layout of the town while looking for anything unusual.

Random explosion sounds count as unusual. And while he still has absolutely nothing of his abilities or equipment, he decides it warrants investigating. He arrives on the scene and gives the sign on the road this expression.]

And this is allowed? They must be pretty confident in their confinement methods...

[He hasn't spotted Balin in the crater yet, but Archer himself probably isn't too hard to pick out in the darkness.]

AACHA HAS THE EYE OF THE TAIGA! *ducks*

[walking_nuke]

[Balin pops up out of the earthwork, muttering to himself.]

Fuck. 'Kay, that one ain't gonna work—

[Though he stops upon picking up someone else's voice out near the road. He turns out to look that way, though he doesn't immediately see Archer.]

Yo! Who's'ere?

A | Around Town

[equinamity]

I would think that gun might be a bit excessive, Sergeant.

Just maybe, though. You never know around here.

Whoops,reposting XD

[walking_nuke]

Oh—yo, Lieutenant!

[Balin offers that same "on-the-go" salute he gave Wes earlier, then stops and turns to talk with her.]

Yeah, this gun ain't made for fightin' in a house or somethin'. Woulda been wonderful to have durin' shit like'at zombie invasion, though.

A

[1st_superhero]

Woah...that's beautiful.

[Gilgamesh points at Balin's canon.]

Can I touch it? Can I? It's so big and firm and shiny!

[walking_nuke]

[Finally, someone who agrees that the gun is beautiful! Though, with the way he saw Gilgamesh wander onto his testing range ...]

Maybe—you know proper trigger discipline, yeah? 'Cause'is baby ain't like other shotguns.