Post by Deleted on Apr 25, 2015 22:59:58 GMT -5
Things had, as they tended to do when Peter was involved, gone just a little bit wrong from the moment this particular rescue had started. He'd planned ahead, he really had! He'd checked and double-checked just about everything. Well, as it turned out, he'd checked and double-checked for just about everything except for the advancement of the front lines. He hadn't planned whatsoever, back when he'd arranged this about a month ago, for the fighting to have ended up exactly where Peter was supposed to be. But okay, okay. He could improvise. It was what he was good at, right? So he'd gone ahead with it anyway, figuring it wouldn't be the first time he'd gotten himself into a particularly dangerous situation.
This particular fight had become more urgent, anyway. He was trying to get one of his People's husbands out of Iraq before the danger got too high. His attempt at planning ahead had just made the situation more volatile, in the end, so he didn't have much of a choice. It wasn't like he could wait until he knew there weren't any soldiers around, not when the soldiers themselves were the present danger. So he'd prepared himself. He'd prepared himself as much as possible for a fight, even though he didn't particularly want one. He really, really didn't like killing people at all but if he wound up not having a choice, he wound up not having a choice. He also hated not having a choice. Everyone should always have a choice.
That was how he was explaining to a man and his nephew (another unplanned variable, the kid was eight) what exactly to do when they got into trouble, as they almost certainly would be getting into some trouble of some kind. "See this?" he said, holding up a small clear bag with two clearly separated powders. "If I whack this, it's gonna make a really bright white light and a loud bang," he explained, pausing and letting the older man explain what the English had meant to his nephew. "If you see it go off, I need you to get down and cover, okay? If you can help it, stay about- um, I'm going to say- what's three yards in metric? Um... I think it's about two and two thirds meters?" He paused and looked at them apologetically. "Right. Stay that distance away, because I have some explosives but they aren't as reliable as some and if I get caught in the back of a blast, I'll be fine. You won't be. Be careful?"
"Why are you small child?" the man asked back, curious. "You are Peter?" Peter laughed.
"Yeah, I'm Peter! I'm not an ordinary small child, okay? I think your wife- and your aunt- can explain it better to you? I can't remember what we're officially telling people at this point," he said, trailing off a bit at the end and mostly muttering it to himself. The man, though he looked a bit wary and a bit more confused, nodded slowly and repeated everything that was important to his nephew. "I'm really sorry I can't explain more right now, but we have to get moving, okay? I want to get out of here quickly if I can help it," he said, looking apologetic. He then grabbed the man's hand and gestured.
Almost surprisingly, it had started out by going off without a hitch. Peter thought he'd been right on the money, choosing the path where there'd be the least military personnel possible. He did not want to get caught up in the upcoming battle. He didn't normally want to get caught in things, though- it just sort of happened. So as he started to actually hear gunshots in the distance, he gestured to the people behind him to hurry up, please hurry up. This couldn't possibly go too horribly wrong, he figured. No disaster today, he'd decided. Except then he'd gotten to the meeting place and there wasn't anyone there.
"Oh," he whispered. "Oh no." They'd had to change the plans some, after all. The helicopter couldn't land anywhere near the battle so they were just supposed to meet up as a larger group in one place so that they'd have more ability to defend themselves before they got far enough out that they wouldn't be shot down on site. Except there was no one there. They'd had to change the meeting place, too, because the way Peter had predicted things going, the original location wasn't exactly a safe spot.
Not that this one was, either.
Guns and shouting went off much, much closer, and Peter stepped in front of the man and his nephew. Peter was made of metal and could take shots if he just did it right, let it hit more towards his chest where everything was closer to the surface, could see what happened and who would find him if he did have to take a hit. Peter was also relatively explosive-resistant, given the sheer amount of metal and concrete in him. That was why he mostly used his unreliable explosives at a relatively close range. He could take the damage, but other people couldn't quite take it the way he could (the first time he'd done that he'd only managed to keep going long enough to get out of the situation before sobbing and throwing up, before hunting down Raivis and asking him how he lived with it, before hunting down Sebo and asking him how he lived with it).
He heard them close enough, and he saw them notice them, so he threw his magnesium-phosphate flash powder as far away from themselves as possible and waited for the "bang".
He quickly pulled the rifle off of where he'd strapped it and preparing himself for a fight. Right. "We're basically civilians, believe it or not," he'd started. His English accent was apparently the wrong answer, though, and setting off such a bright light so suddenly probably hadn't gained him any friends. "Just, um, really, really well prepared civilians? We're also refugees. That's- that's completely true." He was lucky he looked so young otherwise he was pretty sure someone would have fired by now. After a few tense moments, Peter started to try to inch his way out of the corner he'd backed himself into.
Someone's gun fired.
Whoops.
Peter immediately shouted "Duck and cover!" before getting ready to fight himself. He didn't particularly want to but the kid behind him made it completely worth it as he pulled out one of his explosive packets, shook it, and tossed it forward, hoping less to catch the soldiers in the blast and more to make enough of an opening to slip out.
He really should have expected this, shouldn't he have?
This particular fight had become more urgent, anyway. He was trying to get one of his People's husbands out of Iraq before the danger got too high. His attempt at planning ahead had just made the situation more volatile, in the end, so he didn't have much of a choice. It wasn't like he could wait until he knew there weren't any soldiers around, not when the soldiers themselves were the present danger. So he'd prepared himself. He'd prepared himself as much as possible for a fight, even though he didn't particularly want one. He really, really didn't like killing people at all but if he wound up not having a choice, he wound up not having a choice. He also hated not having a choice. Everyone should always have a choice.
That was how he was explaining to a man and his nephew (another unplanned variable, the kid was eight) what exactly to do when they got into trouble, as they almost certainly would be getting into some trouble of some kind. "See this?" he said, holding up a small clear bag with two clearly separated powders. "If I whack this, it's gonna make a really bright white light and a loud bang," he explained, pausing and letting the older man explain what the English had meant to his nephew. "If you see it go off, I need you to get down and cover, okay? If you can help it, stay about- um, I'm going to say- what's three yards in metric? Um... I think it's about two and two thirds meters?" He paused and looked at them apologetically. "Right. Stay that distance away, because I have some explosives but they aren't as reliable as some and if I get caught in the back of a blast, I'll be fine. You won't be. Be careful?"
"Why are you small child?" the man asked back, curious. "You are Peter?" Peter laughed.
"Yeah, I'm Peter! I'm not an ordinary small child, okay? I think your wife- and your aunt- can explain it better to you? I can't remember what we're officially telling people at this point," he said, trailing off a bit at the end and mostly muttering it to himself. The man, though he looked a bit wary and a bit more confused, nodded slowly and repeated everything that was important to his nephew. "I'm really sorry I can't explain more right now, but we have to get moving, okay? I want to get out of here quickly if I can help it," he said, looking apologetic. He then grabbed the man's hand and gestured.
Almost surprisingly, it had started out by going off without a hitch. Peter thought he'd been right on the money, choosing the path where there'd be the least military personnel possible. He did not want to get caught up in the upcoming battle. He didn't normally want to get caught in things, though- it just sort of happened. So as he started to actually hear gunshots in the distance, he gestured to the people behind him to hurry up, please hurry up. This couldn't possibly go too horribly wrong, he figured. No disaster today, he'd decided. Except then he'd gotten to the meeting place and there wasn't anyone there.
"Oh," he whispered. "Oh no." They'd had to change the plans some, after all. The helicopter couldn't land anywhere near the battle so they were just supposed to meet up as a larger group in one place so that they'd have more ability to defend themselves before they got far enough out that they wouldn't be shot down on site. Except there was no one there. They'd had to change the meeting place, too, because the way Peter had predicted things going, the original location wasn't exactly a safe spot.
Not that this one was, either.
Guns and shouting went off much, much closer, and Peter stepped in front of the man and his nephew. Peter was made of metal and could take shots if he just did it right, let it hit more towards his chest where everything was closer to the surface, could see what happened and who would find him if he did have to take a hit. Peter was also relatively explosive-resistant, given the sheer amount of metal and concrete in him. That was why he mostly used his unreliable explosives at a relatively close range. He could take the damage, but other people couldn't quite take it the way he could (the first time he'd done that he'd only managed to keep going long enough to get out of the situation before sobbing and throwing up, before hunting down Raivis and asking him how he lived with it, before hunting down Sebo and asking him how he lived with it).
He heard them close enough, and he saw them notice them, so he threw his magnesium-phosphate flash powder as far away from themselves as possible and waited for the "bang".
He quickly pulled the rifle off of where he'd strapped it and preparing himself for a fight. Right. "We're basically civilians, believe it or not," he'd started. His English accent was apparently the wrong answer, though, and setting off such a bright light so suddenly probably hadn't gained him any friends. "Just, um, really, really well prepared civilians? We're also refugees. That's- that's completely true." He was lucky he looked so young otherwise he was pretty sure someone would have fired by now. After a few tense moments, Peter started to try to inch his way out of the corner he'd backed himself into.
Someone's gun fired.
Whoops.
Peter immediately shouted "Duck and cover!" before getting ready to fight himself. He didn't particularly want to but the kid behind him made it completely worth it as he pulled out one of his explosive packets, shook it, and tossed it forward, hoping less to catch the soldiers in the blast and more to make enough of an opening to slip out.
He really should have expected this, shouldn't he have?
For those of you wondering, Magnesium burns with phosphate in a sudden, very bright white light and a loud "bang" sound. This mixture is known as "flash powder" and used to be used in old camera flashes when photography first got its start. Hardly a modern flashbang, but a good signal and a good distraction.