Finding Your Legs (Open)

“Hey! You!” Orion glanced at the marine who called for him to stop. He noticed the sword and gun at the woman’s hip. No matter her level of experience, he had no interest in starting a fight with this woman or any of the defenders for that matter.

“There's been an incident in the plaza.” He rushed out as though she was taking up precious time. “I need more bandage and stitching. Where do you keep the linen.” He demanded from her. He waited only a moment, not giving the woman time to question his story even in her own head. “There's no time for this!” His tone was stressed and urgent enough to give her pause.

Nodding, “This way.” the woman began leading him purposefully through the base. Orion followed, not very pleased at the new babysitter he'd gained. There was no way to continue his search with this marine around. His fingers slipped into the pouch, around the items he'd taken, to finger the metal of his blade. He'd rather not leave a body inside. It brought too many questioning eyes to where he didn't want them. Even his earlier iteration of this plan made sure he didn't leave anyone inside dead unless absolutely necessary, or explained away by other means such as the two he left in their infirmary.

Outside, the man fighting Rina paid for his hesitation as the woman knocked his strike from its target. He stumbled back, saving him from her own strike for the most part. Her blade raked across his chest, deep enough to draw blood but not enough to kill him outright. He nearly fumbled his sword, the pain of his injury telling his brain to see to it and its survival but training won out. Sword in hand, he swiped at her from the left, near desperate to get a hit and incapacitate this criminal.

The commotion had finally drawn the attention of the marine’s partner who had been investigating near by in the thinning crowd as civilians began to realize where the danger lay and which direction to escape from it. Rushing to his partners aid, long staff in hand and sword on hip, he hoped to make it in time.

The marine led him to the storage where they clearly kept all their excess of everything. While it was clean, it looked like the majority of this stuff was left here and forgotten. Perfect for his needs if there was indeed anything of value to him. He doubted it. There was no way he was going to get the chance with her around though. He was careful to maintain his sense of urgency. The marine wasn't going to simply believe unless he gave her reason to not question too closely or for long.

Orion moved quickly with the intent of going through a cabinet putting on a show of searching for the basic medical supplies supposedly needed. “There was more injured outside.” He tossed the information over his shoulder, rather hoping that it was still true and a couple dozen marines hadn't already gone over the scene he made and were now wondering where the helpful doctor got to. She didn't seem eager to jump on that information however. Damn her for being the one marine with the forethought that some stranger in their base shouldn't be left alone.

“Help me cut some of that linen into strips.” He thought of the blade in his bag, but passed it out of mind. This would be ugly and unrefined and way too overt but he was running short of time. Coming up behind the woman while her attention was focused on the task, Orion cracked her in the back of the head with the nearest solid object, which happened to be an old lighting fixture. She crumpled to the ground unconscious and Orion cursed under his breath at having had to resort to it. Mentally he sped up his time line. Weaving through the mess of organized abandoned things, he passed a quick eye over the things around him. Most were worthless, some were too large for him to get out unnoticed. He grabbed without much thought, anything small enough to shove in a pocket or his bag that looked worth the effort. Orion was about to leave with his prizes when a small chest caught his eye. He nearly ignored it once again because of its cumbersome size and potential to draw attention. Still, it might be worth it. Grabbing it, he tucked it under his arm and took off out of the room. He made a straight line to the doors, satisfied with what he had and willing to abandon the chest if necessary.

When he exited the base from the same door he entered, if only to not become lost and waste time, the first thing he noticed was that there were far more bodies then he had left. He'd picked a specific number. One that drew attention but not enough to drag the whole of the marine base down on him, righteous fury and all. “Jeasus.” He breathed out, eyes landing on the girl he'd roped into this and the fight she was in. “Stupid little-“ Orion bit his tongue so as to avoid drawing attention to himself. Rather then attempting to help her, Orion turned to beeline toward one of the side streets where he assumed citizens would have primarily avoided or risk being trampled by each other in the close quarters.

Orion caught the start of her show down but didn't slow nor alter course, especially when she took one of the marines hostage. His partner came to a stop directly before her, long staff pointed threateningly at her. It may not have been the deadly glint of blade or gun, but the ease that he held the pole suggested he knew what he was doing with it. “Release him.” This man didn't bother with a lot of words as he glared her down. She had made it personal. By this point, a few other marine guards were organizing and preparing to provide the one who confronted her with back up. They came in close enough to rush her if necessary but far enough to stay out of the strikes for the moment. One of the back up was preparing his long gun with shot.

Orion made it to the side street and stepping over to the wall, paused. Feeling safely enough away from the chaos, he wanted to be sure that they were focused on her and unaware of any other of his actions. He needed to know that he would be able to continue on with the next step sooner rather then having to wait out potential searches. Though he wasn't pleased with her for the risk she had put him into by making a bigger deal out of the distraction than he would have liked, he couldn't deny that she was likely going to bungle it up so completely that they might overlook his part entirely.

The marine with the long staff glared at this pirate who not only threatened his partner but acted as though she was the one running this show. His answer was the same regardless. “No.” Without waiting for her, he swept the staff around from the side. He wasn't, however; aiming for the pirate. His attack was intended to throw the captive marine to the side and out of the way. It would likely hurt. The man may end up unconscious but he would not be under the threat of that blade and that was the most pressing issue. For him at least.

For the other, it was taking this pirate scum down a peg where she belonged. Having hit his own man and knocked him roughly out of the way, he proceeded to flick the staff back through his initial stroke, aiming the blunt weapon at her temple. The marines behind him looked between the fight he was starting at their companion he struck, uncertainly.

Orion fumed from where he was watching her and struggled to keep a blank face. At least this new marine was capable of handling the impromptu hostage situation. That was way more attention then they needed. This was the single stupidest thing he had ever done. His original plan was so much more efficient then this bungled mess. He was currently hating himself for allowing the deviation and that frustration was finding an outlet in his anger at the girl he'd allowed to stumble into it.

“He’ll be fine. Which is more then I can say for you, pirate.” He growled out the term pirate like it was a slur. Her movements were something he expected. That said, he was fully ready for the clash of her scythe against his staff. Her weapon, unlike his, had a flaw when it came to head to head battle with a weapon of similar long reach. It was that weakness he sought out. The marine flicked his wrist once the two weapons clashed and used the momentum of his swing to let the end of his staff drag up her scythe until it ended in the nook created from where the blade and handle met.

With his staff effectively entangled in hers, he pressed against it, using the leverage from the long body of his weapon. To be more effective, the marine put his weight into it by aligning his thigh with the tail end of his staff. The pressure, if it was enough to overwhelm her, was designed to rip the scythe out of her hands, or if she managed to hold on, throw her to the ground with it. He was well aware that her longer reach with that weapon put his partner at a disadvantage with his sword, but that was because his weapon of choice had the same advantage and he was counting on the marine training to be a bigger boon then she may have.

Orion realized that this new set of marines were a bit more of a danger then the original had been and made a logical decision. Run. Sticking around was too big of a risk; one he was unwilling to take. He'd find out how this went down some other way or else he would just have to assume that his venture went down without a hitch. Turning, he carried on through the alley and back out on a road at the other end. There was a lack of people around this close to the commotion. That was a pleasant outcome. He shifted the chest he stole and patted a hand over the concealed medication, ensuring it was still there. Satisfied, Orion didn't have a final destination in mind, merely intending to get away from the apex of the mess behind him.