Issue 1 Downtime

The old Trabant pulled up to the docks late one night, headlights out -- and out stepped Roland Sackville, dressed in a long trenchcoat.

((Technically open, though it's not exactly close to anybody who wasn't trying to follow Roland))

Somewhere on a roof behind him a spread out swarm of locusts silently settles down, watching.

A rugged looking man by the docks was waiting for the professor, a scar running down his cheek.

"Это последняя партия, Ролан, но я думаю, нам нужно поговорить об оплате."

"Вы получили то, что вы обещали, а не рубля больше, Димитрий," Roland replied.

"Ну, видишь ли, я и мои друзья есть проблемы с этим," the man replied, revealing a Kalashnikov from underneath his coat.

From a nearby boat, the sounds of more movement could be heard.

A moth flutters over towards the boat while Teri tries to figure out what they're talking about.

"Take it easy, Dimitri, no one wants any trouble here."

"Well, you should have thought of that when you paid! What the hell were you trying to pull?"

"Calm down, Dimitri."

"The shit was fake! It was all fake! And we're going to take it out of your hide."

A lone fly of some kind buzzes around the man's face.

"You've got two choices, Sakharov. You either replace all the stuff, or..."

"Or what, Dimitri? You'd really risk shooting me? I think not. Just get the stuff off of your ship, and I'll consider letting you go."

"Заткнись, иди на хуй! Perhaps you've miscounted, Rolan -- there's seven of us and only one of you."

If Teri was humanoid right now she probably would have gasped. Like this there's only the faint rustling of bugs shifting in the distance.

Silence. And then...

"Dimitri, you don't want to do this," Roland said, bending over to tie his shoe.

Dmitiri shouldered his gun and fired --- but Roland wasn't there anymore, having sprung to his left nearly instantaneously, behind some heavy piping. Charging out from the other side, he rammed his shoulder into Dimitri's back before grabbing his arm and twisting -- hard. The snap of the bone breaking echoed through the night.

Some of the men on the boats opened fire, too, but Roland moved Dimitri in the way of the bullets, using him as a shield as he made his way back towards the piping.

The locusts chatter nervously, unsure what to do. Help! Run! Dangerous! They're bad! He's fine! They can't hurt us! He'll know we followed him! Hide! No! Yes! Do something! Keep watching!

Roland grabbed Dimitri's gun, and,without looking, fired a few rounds into the darkness of the ship. Some screams indicated the accuracy of his fire -- but the illumination gave his position away, and a bullet found it's way into his side. He gave a short grunt of pain, and quickly put a hand over the wound.

He's hurt! Get help! Flee! Help him! Hide him!

That seems to do the trick to help her make up her mind. The swarm of bugs raises from the roof and, along with a couple stray moths and flies, descends towards the ship to keep them from shooting. Or at least to keep them from aiming.

"What th?" the Russian guards said, only in Russian.

Roland swore again, getting to his feet, and tried to make his way over to the ship itself.

Teri keeps buzzing around, trying to get into the Russian's faces while simultaneously trying to make sure she dodges when being swatted at, hoping she made the right decision in helping Roland.

Roland reached the boat --- but stopped as sirens could be heard in the distance. Swearing, he headed through the yard back towards the Trabant, taking another hit in the shoulder as he went.

The entire swarm, for lack of a better word, flinches. The cloud kind of contracting in on itself for a moment when Roland is hit. Then they break off of the Russians and fly up and towards the car.

There's shouting and various pandemonium-laden cries coming from the boat -- which Roland ignores as he opens up his car door, and, grunting, floors it, with all the horsepower a 1975 Trabant could possibly muster, all 18 horsepower of it.

Teri flies ahead a bit, pondering whether she should rush to the school and alert one of the doctors.

Roland sped off into the night.

Well, "sped' being a relative term, of course.

Teri, slowly falling behind as the car 'speeds' up heads straight towards the school to find a doctor so Roland can get medical attention when he arrives.