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

[then_there_were_none]

[It makes sense in Gensokyo.]

Can I see?

[FEARLESS

...except towards thunderstorms because those are scary. Or whatever else her strange little mind decided to focus on this week.]

[walking_nuke]

What, you wanna see me fire it?

[Not going to let the kid fire the shotgun herself. Not even if she's an EX boss.]

[then_there_were_none]

[That's okay the recoil would probably knock her backwards through seven walls right now.]

I want to see, I want to see!

[Some very childlike excited bouncing.]

[walking_nuke]

[Everybody follow the bouncing bat!]

Ahright, ahright. Guess it won't hurt if I aim up an' down'a road—

[Balin reaches behind his back and unholsters the shotgun. The moment it's detached from the back mount, the barrels on the shotgun spin about, accompanied by a heavy mechanical whirring, going from a perpendicularly-aligned storage configuration to the "battleship turret" form seen in the pictures. It emits a soft computer beep signifying that it's ready to fire.]

[then_there_were_none]

It changed shapes!

[Flandre's still leaning as far as she can over the fence in interest--which isn't very far, but still.

She also chirps back at the gun when it beeps.]

[walking_nuke]

Yep, it does'at. Makes it easier to carry when I'm not usin' it.

[Balin's taking a moment to get into a more sturdy firing position. Noticeably, he is not propping the shotgun up against the pit of his shoulder, like one would normally do with rifles and other long guns. Rather, he's holding it out in front of him at hip level, with the other hand gripping onto a "handlebar" sticking out above the weapon.]

[Aiming at the sky, he pulls the trigger. Out comes the blast of fire and sparks, straight up into the air—and an instant later, the shotgun jerks backward. The kickback on that thing is monstrous. Balin almost looks like a magician who just swiped the tablecloth out from under a place setting, but at least he doesn't lose his footing.]

[then_there_were_none]

[Flandre, however, does. She flinches backwards so hard she topples off the fence with an odd squalling...almost-quack sound.

She reappears soon enough, thumb-claws first--though the world was strangely muffled right now.]

It's really loud!

[The vampire's speaking in a louder tone than normal--though to her, it sounds just fine!]

[walking_nuke]

[Balin reloads the shotgun by jerking it back in front of him, ejecting the nine spent canisters off to his side. He glances over to see Flandre pulling herself up by her wings—more and more convinced she's some half-bat hybrid.]

Yup. I'm used to it, though. The battlefield's one Hell of a noisy place, yanno?

[then_there_were_none]

[Flandre uses her wings a lot! ...and they were really the only things that would reach the top of the fence from where she was sitting on the ground.

She does have hands, though! They're curled over the top of the fence as she tries to lean over and listen. She could see Balin's mouth move, but only heard a kind of indistinct burbling noise.]

What? I can't hear you!

[walking_nuke]

[... Oh. Oops. He better check the hardware store to see if they even sell earplugs ... Balin raises his voice to her level.]

I said I'm used to it! The battlefield's a noisy place!

[then_there_were_none]

Oh. Why didn't you say that, before?

[Sensitive not-bat ears here!]

[walking_nuke]

I dunno! Wasn't thinking about it!

[... Though thinking about it, he probably never had to worry because of the medical technology in the AFS. He really ought to start using ear protection, himself ...]