Scene #8424: SFR: The Missing Miners

Owner	Pose
Kukuru	Colonel William Guile: One of the greatest martial artists in the world travels the global tournament circuit, using it to conceal his top secret mission as leader of an elite group of international crime fighters known only by their code name: Street Fighter! Years ago, the team of the most amazing warriors ever seen joined forces with Guile to combat the criminal empire of Shadaloo and its superhuman leader, Bison. They had their own code of honor: discipline, justice, commitment. And together, they triumphed against the forces of evil. Although it has been decades since the formation of the original team, Guile's work has never stopped even after the apparent dissolution of the syndicate once feared the world over. With most of the original team retired or otherwise indisposed since then, however, he's turned to the greater Multiverse to find those able and willing to join him in hunting down the remnants of Shadaloo. Their first task: Tracking down missing villagers from a mining town. Although kidnappings and forced conscriptions aren't exactly new on war-torn continents, tips have been coming in about these repeat kidnappers bearing weapons and gear nobody has ever seen before. More importantly, Guile's also received a tip off that the kidnappers could be coming in tonight. Rather than meeting in the village itself, however, he's directed anyone coming to join him to coordinates just outside of the mine. They lead to a cliff overlooking the entrance, and they're greeted by the sight of a grizzled man in a blue jumpsuit watching the entrance with a pair of binoculars. His biceps (uncovered, of course) are practically the size of his blonde-hair covered head, with said hair vaguely resembling a broom. Both of his shoulders are adorned with huge American flag tattoo. Conveniently enough, several trucks stop just outside of town after that. The lights are off, presumably to keep them from being seen too easily by anyone in the village, and about two dozen grunts in blue uniforms of varying sizes with black gloves, logo-adorned belts, and helmets with the same logo start filtering out of the vehicles. After a quick headcount from one bearing a jetpack, they start heading in. "That's Shadaloo, alright..." Guile mutters under his breath with a distasteful grunt as he lowers his the binoculars, looking over at you briefly and offering the binoculars in case anyone wants to get a better look. "We just need to keep a low profile, and then can track them back to wherever they're holding the rest. Once we do, we can put an end to their whole operation." He winces shortly after saying that, though, as the sounds of active combat start coming from below. Looking back at the town, it's easy enough to see even without the binoculars that the grunts are encountering a bit of resistance from the townspeople, but only in the token sense. Strong as they might be from lives of mine work, the workers are still workers first compared to trained combatants. The Shadaloo soldiers are quite literally trained for this, and they're having an easy time beating the absolute crap out of the people they're yanking out of those homes in order to get them rounded up and loaded onto those trucks. Guile certainly doesn't seem happy about waiting up there, and he looks ready to just jump right in and stop the kidnappings happening before him. He just hasn't yet because of the plan to tail the kidnappers, but what will everyone else do?
Gaonoir	The meeting point was not hard to find, or to reach. A flicker of black and purple can briefly be seen as Gaonoir and his Tamer appear to step out of the shadows of a nearby tree and make their way up to the cliff proper. Gaonoir resembling a somewhat cartoonish dog (as in her stands on two feet) in midnight colors, wearing a pair of violet boxing gloves and matching head bandana. In contrast Erika is rather typical looking bespectacled young lady, though the years as a Tamer working with the Watch has toughened her up. Since this was likely to involve some need of stealth she was wearing a black navel style fuku outfit. "Colonel," Erika is the one to speak, giving a curt polite nod to the old soldier. Then waved off the binoculars, and pulled her own pair out of her satchel. "No need, I have my own." She's a conspiracy hunter, she came prepared for a stakeout, taking a spot at the cliff edge. Gaonoir relied more on his ears and nose than eyes so hung back out of the way. "We've got plenty of experience in tracking operations," the Digimon replies as he's turning his own attention towards Guile and looking him over. "You can hold your own in a fight if it comes to it." It's not really a question, more of a subtle acknowledgement of a keen fighter from another. There is a wince from Erika. "They're getting rough down there..." She frowns. She doesn't like sitting up here and watching, but... "If we need to step in, someone with stealth capabilities could still trail them when they're chased off," she offers. Gaonoir snorts. His past is dark and checkered, but even he would consider it excessive against unskilled defenses.
James Bond	A black Lamborghini pulls up--but not the type of Lambo typically implied by the name. but not the type of Lambo typically implied by the name The four wheel drive, front-engined V12 behemoth would look quite at home in any military convoy, if not for the distinctive bucking-horse badge on the bonnet. Its run-flat treaded tires easily carry it to the meeting point, and somehow the SUV makes it here without use of its lights. James Bond wears dark fatigues, with a combat vest overtop, both chosen for a night operation. The vest sports numerous pockets and, if the way it sits on his torso is any indication, a bulletproof insert. A compact carbine is clipped to the vest. His right hand is extended for a firm handshake, and his cold blue eyes spark with amusement as they notice Guile's arm markings. "Bond. James Bond," he says by way of introduction. The corner of his mouth twitches upwards, and he nods at the flags. "Is it true that those are birthmarks?" he asks. The smile fades quickly, as his attention turns back to the town. He levels his wristwatch at the trucks parked near the entrance to the town, twists the bezel, and presses the stop. A sharp 'fwip' sounds in the night air. Below, a tracking device strikes the rear truck. "Chase them off," he says to Erika. "By all means. I'll provide support from here and then do exactly that, once they turn tail."
Kukuru	Somehow, Guile doesn't look all too surprised by the sight of the bipedal dog Digimon and the Tamer nearby. It probably has something to do with his past experiences with strange creatures or creature-adjacent people, but he simply nods at the two at their arrival and Erika's display of her own binoculars. "Good. It never hurts to be prepared with the right tools when it comes to jobs like these." He replies with another slow nod to Gaonoir's acknowledgment of his apparent fighting ability. "When, not if. It never ends without one, when Shadaloo's involved." Bond's arrival, meanwhile, is met with a raised eyebrow that lingers on the driver rather than the vehicle itself. That handshake is accepted firmly, and he actually cracks the slightest of grins at that introduction. "The legend himself. Either this mission just got a lot easier, or we've got much bigger problems waiting for us. Considering who we're dealing with..." He doesn't finish that thought. The flag question, meanwhile, gets a brief and amused exhale. "You've really done your homework. I'd be flattered if we weren't about to go bust some heads." He answers, looking back towards the town while considering each answer. Once again, an eyebrow gets raised at first, but he quickly nods once while running a thumb over his chin at the plan provided. "Good plan. They don't know we've got a ride yet, and we can take our time once they turn tail and show us where home base is." With that affirmation, Guile nods towards Erika and Gaonoir before starting to slide down the cliff, finding convenient (but risky) hand holds to get down there that much faster. He's not flight capable in the general sense, though, so it'll still take him a second to get down there. With that fighting going on, meanwhile, the tracker goes completely unnoticed. It's an easy enough opportunity to get the first strike against the grunts roughing up the townspeople!
Gaonoir	It is nice to not be gawked at and regarded as weird, but there's not a lot of time to revel in that moment as everyone is quick to agree to the course of action. Bond is even already ready with a tracker. "Let's go, then." Gaonoir hooks an arm around Erika's waist, and the two disappear in that black and purple static shadow effect as they jump down the cliff. Moments later Erika drops to the ground at the edge of the town, crouching a bit to catch herself as she's dropped off. Gaonoir grunts as he lands, taking most of the blunt of their landing. They essentially teleported sure, but the voidstep technique does carry momentum with it, so it wasn't a gentle landing getting down from that cliff. Gaonoir shrugs it off though as he lets go of the girl. "Are we ready?" Erika thumbs the Digivice app on her phone-like device active. "Ready." A nod, and Gaonoir statics out again as he bolts forward. The first interruption the Shadaloo men get from their abusive abductions is a cross between a howl and a warcry. Followed by the cruel surprise of a gloved fist appearing literally out of nowhere to strike as Gaonoir comes hurtling from the opposite direction of the ruckus! Like we just mentioned, voidstepping carries momentum with it. So that sucker punch is more like a battering ram with enough force to send the grown men sprawling backwards. Gaonoir's rear paws hit the ground to arrest his forward motion after, but keeps ready doing that little foot hop boxers typically do, gloved fists off. "Time for you pick on someone your own size, assholes." Not physically, seeing as he's only about the height of a large child and just extremely strong for the scale. But you get the idea.
James Bond	Bond unclips the carbine from his vest, steps over to the SUV, and deposits the weapon in a hidden compartment cleverly tucked into the driver-side door. He climbs in, waits for Gaonoir to get down the cliff, then throws the V12 behemoth into reverse, letting gravity carry him backwards and pulling a daring handbrake-assisted u-turn to put the back end towards the cliff face. Slowly crawling back up the cliff with one arm tucked 'round the passenger seat, Bond activates the emergency brake again to stop it from rolling back down. His finger presses and holds the power button on the radio. The center console tucks into itself and rotates, revealing an array of previously hidden options and arrayed across a switchboard. As if by habit, his finger races a cross a few of them. The rear and side mirrors, headlights and brake lights rotate to conceal themselves, so as to prevent casting reflections from his vantage point. The windows all tint themselves so deeply as to absorb rather than reflect light, further reducing the black SUV's profile in the night sky. And, with the last switch flipped, the seats, save his, all fold themselves flat, and the tailgate opens vertically rather than horizontally, creating a fairly discrete sniper's nest. Crawling on his stomach to peer out over a stomach-drop-inducing view of the mining town, Bond retrieves a suitcase and opens it, procuring a collapsible sniper rifle with a high-power scope. The WA2000's wooden bullpup stock is an old friend. His hands find their places with ease, pulling back the bolt. He doesn't bother with a silencer--or even with killshots. The goal here is chaos--to make the Shadaloo vets think that they're much more surrounded than they actually are. Bullets zip into the ground in the darkness of night, near-misses punctuated with one shot through the foot to make it just real enough.
Kukuru	Howling wolves aren't uncommon, especially in worlds with plenty of forests, mountains, and open plains where such animals might thrive. What's less expected, though, is a howl that also sounds more like a deliberate shout. Indeed, it does raise some brief confusion among the Shadloo soldiers and townspeople alike, but their focus remains on the impending battle than whatever Gaonoir's about to do with them. His unlucky target, as expected, gets decked square in the faceplate and sent sprawling backwards before he even knows what's happened. Yes, there's shorter soldiers among their number, so the Digimon's statement isn't all that weird compared to... Actually, they don't seem surprised at what he looks like in the slightest. Rather, they're startled by his sudden arrival, and a group of five soldiers (all conveniently arranged in height order) turn their focus towards him and Erika once they realize that they're actually being threatened by anyone. As if on cue, they break around to each side of the pair, coming in with an oddly synchronized charge of alternating slide kicks from below, lunging jump kicks from up high, and the middle one coming in with a running bear grab! Bond's SUV, thanks to all that concealment technology, becomes practically invisible to the Shadaloo soldiers from their vantage point in the mining town. It'll certainly make it child's play for them to be tailed later, as they still don't have a clue as to what other vehicles are in the area aside from their own. Why would they, considering that this town-no, this entire continent is more on the low-tech high-fantasy end of things? That's why, when that sniper rifle gets turned on the soldiers still accosting the villagers, nobody actually reacts right away. The impact is assumed to just be a stray arrow that their uniforms could (probably) handle, but the bullet through the foot and the ensuing cry of pain is enough to get them looking around. "Where's that...? We're under fire!" The tallest soldier shouts, gesturing at the rest of his companions on the ground to start scrambling for cover and yeeting flashbangs into the sky in the hopes of flushing their unseen assailant out from wherever he may be. Others that are still dedicated to getting the job done start trying to get through this ordeal with something rather than nothing, kicking some villagers that are already down to keep them there before shouldering bound villagers to start heading back to the trucks before they get shot at themselves. Guile, meanwhile, finally makes it down that mountain in time to dive at another group of five. "Mission: Start. Sonic... Boom!" He shouts as he descends from that jump, crossing his arms swiftly in front of himself to launch a crescent-shape projectile right down the middle. Somehow, it explodes on impact and sends the whole group of five reeling.
James Bond	One of the flashbangs unfortunately has exactly the intended effect. With one eye through the scope, Bond is blinded by a sudden, agonizing flash. He spits a swear and lowers the rifle, pawing at his eyes as he moves to change positions. They're looking now--and any of them with a cool head might think to look for a muzzle flash in particular. Ears ringing, Bond ditches the rifle entirely, leveling his watch at the entrance of the mine. Once more twisting the bezel and squinting to see in the light, he presses the stop. One end of a zipline darts through the night sky, embedding itself in the uppermost portion of a sturdy support beam. The other end, fed from the watch, is pinned neatly into the rock face, as Bond hangs perilously from the open tailgate. Wire is fed from the watch into clip produced from his vest, and Bond rapidly slides through the air, his feet impacting a goon in the process of kidnapping a villager. "Sorry to swing by unannounced," he says with an insufferable smile, before gently ushering the villager to hide. Using the trucks, humble buildings and the darkness of night as cover, he attempts to skulk a circuitous route around the village, to further assist in driving the Shadaloo agents towards their trucks and out of the village.
Gaonoir	Despite his shifts in character developement over the years Gaonoir was still a rather cocky and overconfident individual. It shows when he dives into a fight with little regard other than to throw hands and make the enemy withdraw. Which doesn't go quite as intended as while his misdirection and ambush assault work in that regard in concert with Bond's confusion suppression fire, he has underestimate how capable these Shadaloo operatives really are by going for in still in his basic form. With a growl he jumps over the slide kick... but that puts him right in position for a jumpkick to knock him back out of the air, and get snared by the running grapple before he can recover from the first blow. Erika keeps her distance from the direct fight as per usual but she is hardly being a bystander. If anything she realizes their recklessness has bitten off a bit more than expected before Gaonoir does, and she's already activating the now charged app on her phone to release the digital energy it contained. Gaonoir is slammed into the side of a building by the warrior that grabbing him, knocking several bricks loose from the force of the impact DarkGaomon, Digivolve To... But that man is in for another surprise as the form in his grasp shifts, growing tremendously in both size and mass as it does, until his back feet once again touch the ground. In the form of a monsterous wolf-faced huskie with the build of a giant ursine. What had been the headband was now a long scarf that emerged from the thick furr around Gaonoir's neck and shoulders. DARKGAOGAMON The huge claws protuding from the gloved forepaws are fierce enough... But it turns out the fringe on the ends of the scarf are equally sharp as the accessory proves to be animate like another pair of limbs, slashing at Gaonoir's direct assailant several times before grabbing onto him, heaving up, "GAOGO POUND!" and extending as they whip forward to smash the man down into his teammates!
Kukuru	The goons tossing flashbangs, noticing that they haven't been shot at in a little while, actually rally a bit and take that chance Bond's given them to start joining in the captive-evacuation efforts. Some of them shift gears to trying to fight off Guile, and the rest focus on getting their captives out. In their haste, though, they don't realize that their shooter has opted to engage them in melee until one of them gets laid out from that swinging kick right to the back. As that goon clutches his head and staggers off rather than continuing the fight, the villager quickly makes his escape, but not without vaguely shaking his hands at Bond's in thanks beforehand. It's probably just an animation error, but the gesture is still there! Nevertheless, Bond's making quick work of many of those soldiers as he takes them down from the shadows with his sneaky surprise attacks. Gaonoir, meanwhile, changes forms in a way that only a few of the Shadaloo soldiers are vaguely familiar with. They start to give the Digimon a wider berth at first, trying to find a better angle to strike from and readying for another diving kick maneuver while their grappler companion holds him in place. The token big guy, though, soon realizes that instead of holding the DarkGaomon off the ground, he's the one being held off the ground when the Digimon turns into something far bigger than himself, slices his arms up something fierce, and then gets hurled right into the four. The soldiers are, if nothing else, dedicated to covering for each other, as those four actually cushion the big guy's fall collectively instead of just letting him take a nasty bump on his own. With their numbers of healthy fighters dwindling and the townspeople even starting to join in with hurled stones and axes as more start to awaken from all the noise, the Shadaloo soldiers know when they're beat. Picking up their wounded, they start scrambling to get back to their waiting trucks. They still have some token coverage from the few healthy troops brandishing long hammers and one even spinning around with a pair of charged stun rods (that quickly get kicked away by Guile just going right in), but it's more of a delay tactic than anything else before they finally bail in their tagged trucks. As expected from this sort of scenario, cheers erupt from the villagers for their heroes of the in that vaguely unintelligible way that subtitles would just display as generic cheering. A few voices can be made out of all that, though. "Oh, thank you, strange travelers! Please, speak to Lord Zanon. He's sure to reward you." "We've been saved again! When will we finally be freed of those monsters?" "What powerful warriors... Please, train us!" So many people clamoring, but so little time... Maybe? Maybe. Guile certainly looks uncomfortable being swarmed by townspeople, and he glances at his watch once before looking over at Bond, Erika, and Gaonoir. "We should get a move on. We don't know how many other people they've got back with them, and we've got the element of surprise still on our side." "They're probably dead by now." One of the older villagers answers, groaning lightly as she approaches the group slowly using a pickaxe as a walking stick. She's just shy of being as beefy as Guile, and she looks and sounds closer to sixty than forty. "Plenty of other towns got hit like ours, and Lord Zanon's had his hands full just stopping half of these attacks. If you're going after them, you should get him in on this first thing in the morning." Furrowing his brow lightly, Guile lets out a noncommittal grunt before turning to the trio of Elites. It's time for another decision!
Gaonoir	Some scuffling and swiping continues, though once it's clear the Shadaloo goons are moving to withdraw it's more to just keep ushering them along that course. Gaonoir even swats at one of the trucks with a scarf to give it a little jostle and make the appearance of trying to stop them from fleeing. Just letting them run away would look suspicious. We don't want them knowing that we want them to retreat back to their hideout. Once they're gone Gaonoir lets up. But doesn't really get a chance to reprive as the locals swarm in awe. Guile isn't the only one slightly uncomfortable by the growing crowd. Gaonoir is no fan either. Erika climbs onto his back, but rather than sit she stands, making a light downward gesture with her hands. "People, people, please calm down. We appreciate your gratitude, but this is not over. We are working towards a more long term solution to this cruel problem your people face." She's better at talking to people, at least in comparison to her partner. One of them has to be something resembling a source of reason. Though even she flinches a little when the older woman comes up and just flat out says what she says about the grim situation of previous kidnapees. "She might be right, but we won't know for sure until we track them down," is all Gaonoir has to add for the matter. He's not a decision maker, he's just a big thing to point at people that need to busted up.
James Bond	Bond activates the tracking device once the familiar rumble of truck engines is heard above the din of shouting villagers. The watch he wears is not actually analog, but a very convincing facade of one--the minute and second hands wink out, revealing a graphical interface he navigates by twisting the dial and pressing the stop. A progress bar appears front and center, before minimzing and taking an unobtrusive spot overlaid atop a wireframe mockup of the surroundings, quickly zooming out to reveal a little winking red blip. "If this operation is that concerted," says Bond to Guile, with a slight nod towards the older villager, "Then we'll want all the help we can get. I'm forwarding the tracking information to a Paladins analyst corps. They'll have a briefing ready for us by tomorrow morning. Aerial surveillance, radio transmissions, and the like." "You've fought them before," says Bond, reaching into his vest to procure a pack of lucky strikes. "So has this Zanon. We should take the opportunity and see what he knows. The bases aren't going anywhere--and Shadaloo's taking these people for a reason." He pulls a cigarette out and lights it, his eyes narrowing in thought. "Let them think they've gotten away, and we can hit them later with advance intel and local expertise."
Kukuru	Erika focuses on getting the townspeople calmed down, and they finally do settle down before they can bother their heroes for too long. They're not completely unaware, at least, even if they do loiter long enough that even the older villager can easily tell that it's getting more uncomfortable for several of the Elites. She claps her hands a few times before shooing the townspeople back. "Come on, come on. They've still got work to do, and we've still got a quota to hit in the morning. Get some shuteye!" "A quota?" Guile asks the older woman, prompting her to give him a confused look in return. "Just because we're not slaves anymore doesn't mean we can take it easy. Metal sells for a lot, and we've got plenty of bodies to dig it up. It's the only thing keeping food on the table, but with all this crap going on..." She shakes her head before wandering off, leaving Guile to consider Bond's assessment of the situation. The wifreframe display has him doing a bit of mental geography to sort out where they are and which direction that blip is heading in, then pulls up his own map on his phone to help illustrate where it's headed: Southeast. The strange part, though, is that it's not (relatively) far between this town and the sea, but the blip is still moving at a rapid clip. "That'll get us a good rundown of what they're planning, I hope. Then we can move in, flush Shadaloo out of whatever they're aiming at, and be back home in time for the holiday. And this Zanon..." Guile looks over towards the villagers taking stock of all the damage, then back at Bond and Erika and Gaonoir. "If he's been fighting off even half of these guys alone, he could be a help with all this. Get some shuteye, and we'll head out to meet him by sunrise." He offers the three a salute, then starts heading back to the rendezvous point before turning to Bond once more. "... The Paladins, huh? Didn't see that coming."
Gaonoir	"I can fly at supersonic speed... in a different form, of course," Gaonoir grunts. "Once we have a location--" "And a better idea what we're dealing with" Erika chimes in as she slides down off his back. "We can still easily get the jump on them," he concludes like her addition was nothing new. It wasn't. This is how the two of them worked together. "And having another ally familiar with them and the area would only be to our advantage." Seems to be an agreeance on getting Zanon's help. Once Erika is back on the ground he shimmers with that digital static effect again, reverting into his previous base form. Has to stifle a yawn behind the palm of one gloved forepaw. "Until then, a rest and something to eat is a good idea." "Right, we got to build your energy back up." Erika reachs into her satchel as the two walk away to find a spot for the night. "That better not be more MREs...." "Ugh, please. That one time was literally an emergency... No, I've got some yogurt cups in the cooler pouch, some trail mix packets, and some dried veggie chips." "That's... marginally better," Gaonoir gruffs. "-Marginally-."
James Bond	"Neither did I," says Bond with all honesty. "It's been strange," he muses, after a pull on his cigarette. "And it's taken some getting used to, doing things their way. But given the chance, I'd rather be stopping things like this than upholding 'our values.'" The quotes are implicit--and Guile can probably take Bond's meaning. Maybe he's even had the misfortune of working with guys who'd say it without the implied quotes. Bond navigates out of the tracking screen, the progress bar once more at the forefront and blinking a pleasant blue 'complete' notification. Up on the cliff overlooking the mine's entrance, the military SUV with luxury branding rumbles to life, its stealth alterations undoing themselves as it rolls gracefully into town, coming to a stop next to the mine just as the tailgate closes. Bond finishes his cigarette. "You should consider joining, yourself, if you get tired of that sort of talk--not that I imagine you'd hear near as much of it as I did." Different worlds, really. If there's room and board available in this little village, he'll pay generously, arranging for a night's stay plus a handsome tip to be wired from the nearest bank, via the phone in his car. Otherwise--the car itself is comfortable, as cars go.