The Snowdown Of The Season [Dart/Uni/Invite]

As they were talking Hugh noticed the little puppets the Steve now brandished. He double-took when he recognised one of them was him (O_O). How the hell did they- In retaliation he yanked away the cushion that Steve had propped himself up against and tossed it over his shoulder.

He was deliberately looking away from the Steve's response when Catra asked her question.

"I..." Pix considered butting into the matter by naming himself as technologically capable. He knew a few things about wiring a plug. And for everything outside his remit he could outsource; claim the credit. But he changed his mind at the last moment. Too much hassle, "-know several good tinkerers. But not their current locations. Control Freak will probably be easiest to get a hold of. I wouldn't try Chang unless it's important. There's a Brit called Mad Mod - if that inspires you with confidence, go ahead. Alternatively, I have an in with Gizmo, but in that event we should discuss a finder's fee-"

He was cut short by the building's localised earthquake. For crying out loud. It could only be the walker. A louder crash reminded him of his head pains. He tried pushing inward a point between his eyes but found it didn't help. A dull throb maintained. He had no desire to jump back into a fray.

So it was with a bleary, deescalating mindset that he was confronted with Catra's mockery. It was like waking up, "Wha- Like I would!" (⇀_↼‶) It certainly sidelined his gut reaction. He couldn't hide now without granting momentary mirth to this complete stranger. Fucking peer pressure.

He hesitated in following only to lean over the couch again and plunge a hand into the seams, causing the Steve's to move aside. He pulled out an item that he'd sensed was there and opened a cavity in his chest which he then placed the device inside, "We know where you live." He left the pair and stumbled into the hall.

Residents had begun evacuating. When they got to the stairwell they could see straight down and found it choked full of fleeing, convening, and panicking bodies. It was far too busy for Pix's liking, "Good luck with that." He told Catra and walked off further down the hall.

At the far end was a lift. Checking the number, he could tell someone on a floor much further down had called for it. Stupid really to trust electronics when the building was under attack. Pix dissolved his hand and slipped it through the slight gaps in the door. He'd done this before. Maintenance men had manual overrides for the doors on the inside of the shaft. He had to navigate his hand by memory and touch alone. Eventually he gripped something vaguely lever shaped and yanked it down.

He sent through a second hand to try again. This time he succeeded. The doors opened.

Pix lit himself brightly and looked down the shaft. This was quicker than the stairs.

Time was for this instance on their side- albeit the literal window of opportunity was closing. The Walker's face had taken longer to pry itself out of the window than Chief Officer Steve would've liked, being pelted by random household items did little to make things better as he wasted more time in retaliation. He was Chief Officer Steve dangit! He would be showed the misplaced respect he deserved! HIS HAT MADE THIS SO! Finally the walker would manage to pry itself out of what was once the wall of the building, starting to move into position before marching at ramming speed!


Meanwhile...

Assuming the funny looking adults were done with the remote, The Steves would look for something to watch again- completely not concerned with the shaking of the building. One would simply wave in reponse to Catra's demands, the other would just stare at Pix's claim of knowing where they lived. That wasn't at all stalkerish- sounded like someone needed a hobby- or a girlfriend. Wait- the one Steve would honk at the other one who shrugged, taking another sip of coco only for the wall behind them to suddenly explode! The walker's face had come crashing through, startling the living daylights out of both of them, causing coco to go everywhere followed by Sobbing Steve Sounds. Chief Officer Steve poked his head in and honked, ignoring the Sobbing Steve- getting beaned in the face by a now empty thermos. Chief Officer Steve was not having a good day at all.

He would Steve on with authority, completely missing the fact that neither Catra or Pix had not closed the door behind them like sensible people. Don't tell me it was completely rational to leave the door open in a crisis! Neither Steve were cooperating, due in part to the loss of coco. Never fear! Sherlock Steve is here! He climbed out of one of the portholes in the side of the walker's head, pulling out his little magnifying glass before searching around for clues. And clues abundant! It appeared that there had been a murder! Two infact! These Steves were in a lot of trouble now- until Sherlock Steve noticed that they were still breathing. So it was breaking and entering with assault of Steve?  Chief Officer Steve honked to remind him of the other culprits of the other crime- assaulting a Steve and resisting Steve. To which Sherlock Steve resumed searching for clues, finding some cat hair here and there... but not finding a cat.

Sherlock Steve pondered, and pondered... noticing the door was open... which meant... that these people were horrible pet owners! Who else would leave the door open while taking a nap while their cat snuck out? Sherlock Steve simply pointed at the door triumphantly, to which Chief Officer Steve blew a whistle- err, whistled. The Stevetroopers would try to use their stilts to climb in through the hole in the wall. And to clarify, they're not going to be on the stilts INSIDE- after the first three hit their head and fell out through the hole, they quickly realized indoors were no place for stilts!

"Finder's fee?" Catra gave a small hiss under her breath at that, shooting a look back to Pix as she lingered in the doorway. "You just said you don't know where these people even are. How about getting you out of this mess puts us even and you find me some tech monkey, because we are pals." This, believe it or not was her more diplomatic approach. She had considered offering not to claw his face off as ample payment, but if he had to do footwork for her to find people that wasn't something she could really make good on if he decides to run. Regardless of his help now though, she had a few names to look into.

When the two split into the Hall, she had expected Pix to follow her regardless of the chosen path. It was only once she heard him calling back to her and found him going in a different direction. She scowled, retreating back to follow him instead. Like it or not he was her best lead on getting the help she wanted so she intended to stick with him for as long as she could. Besides, it always helped to have a distraction on hand to throw to the wolves if needed.

She padded to a stop behind him as he worked blindly to open the elevator from the other side, folding her arms as she waited. She was pretty sure she knew his type pretty well now. That skilled finesse type that tried to be super slick about getting things done. It took all her willpower to let him have this moment and not just rip the doors open herself just to get it done faster. Once the elevator slid open, she gave him a small golf clap for a job well done.

She peered past with glowing feline eyes, taking in the image of the shaft. At least she knew what this was. Reaching up underneath her hoodie she felt around, unlatching something from her belt. With a flick of her wrist she lashed her whip out, letting it fall loosely along the floor. Stepping forward the femme feline shoved past Pix, giving the weapon a small crack before swinging it out across the void of the open shaft, wrapping it around two of the elevator cables.

"Race you to the bottom." Without hesitation she hopped out into the open elevator, dangling from her whip as she gripped the coiled leather. She eased up on the tension, allowing her to start to slide rapidly down the cables with ease, her laugh echoing as she descended hastily.

He was of course gratified that she possessed the sense to follow him. The best way forward wasn't always a straight line, or a... winding stairwell. If she understood that, they'd get along famously. Pix took the applause at face value. What he'd done was worthy of it after all. Not like he'd merely tried to wrench the doors apart or something low-brow like that.

Barging passed was just rude, however. Pix fell back a step and slumped his shoulders with an expressive sigh (￣□￣). Not that he was looking to go first. Vertical descents could be tricky. It was best to go down with due care and diligence, following the path of first descent. I don't have a whip... Aaand now it's a race...

Pix formed a handgrip for one of his hands from what little excess pixels remained. Then he quickly looked at his other hand, held it over the ledge, and let it drop. It fell at the speed of gravity and hit the roof of the lift cabin, splintering a little but remaining mostly intact. Still smarted a little.

The sprite came floating serenely after. His handgrip gave him buoyancy, while he hooked a foot around a cable to keep his bearings, "Y'know. Couldn't really see from up there. Sounded like some kind of hand landed first. Was it me? Did I win? You're going to have to say." (^_^)

His approach was like a spotlight forming over the feline. His feet met metal just as the lift spurred back into life, causing him to fall onto his behind. Hugh expected it to return to the first floor where they could depart, but instead they found the landmarks disappearing below them.

"Why would we be going up?!" Who usurped a lift in the middle of an attack to go deeper into the building? It defied all his well considered assumptions. Land on lift. Lift goes down. Cus people aren't stupid. It would be just typical that a series of good ideas was dismantled because some addled old crone forgot to grab her outdoor coat.

Pix scrambled up to the emergency entry hatch and unclasped the mechanism. He opened it a fraction and looked into the cabin. He shut it just as quickly and hissed a warning, "Shh. More of the critters." Well that explained why they were going up. Just not how they hit the button for the top floor...

He looked above them. Fortunately there was a gap just large enough to squat when the lift met the top of the shaft. They could wait until the small-fries got out and then commandeer the lift themselves. But as they passed the floor they'd just come from, they encountered an Officer Steve stood stark in the middle of the hallway. It watched them mutely as they went by before being hidden once more.

There was no doubt it saw them. Pix sheepishly dimmed his brightness, "Oh here's a great chance for you to get us out of this mess. I think I booked this miracle for the rest of the day. Whenever you're ready." (^_^; )

Chief Officer Steve and his band of merry Stevetroopers quickly flooded into the hallway, presented with two directions- Chief Officer Steve hated more than two options. Fortunately, he was totally following the lead of Sherlock Steve who was starting too closely at the ground with his magnifying glass as he headed the completely wrong way toward the stairs. That was until one an Officer Steve for whatever agency looked back and spotted the pair slowly rising up. It would then honk and squeak excitedly, trying to call back it's friends as the elevator doors would open and reveal... more Steves of course. One of which had a map out and a little travel pack, he seemed to be reading a map sideways and clearly had no idea where they were. But did anyone know where they were going? No of course not.

The Officer Steve and friends would start Steveing their way toward the already full elevator!

Catra let out one of her little laughs as spiraled down along the cable in a wild corkscrew, doing very little to slow her descent. Even the the darkened shaft she could see the bottom clearly, fast approaching… too fast actually. Her body tensed, drawing the whip tighter to slow her fall as something glowing dropped past her just out of the corner of her eye. It caught her attention enough to watch it drop onto the top of the elevator just before she lowered herself almost gracefully down onto it in a crouch.

She snarled at the bit of Pix he had dropped, presumably to beat her in the race. This however, wouldn't count she decided as she began coiling up her whip again, looking skyward for the rest of her travel companion coming down. She gave him a rather flat look as he played dumb to what he had done, rising to stand. Just as she opened her mouth to retort, the elevator suddenly came to life. She jumped a bit, fur standing up on her tail as she wobbled from the sudden motion, looking from Pix to the lift.

"Do any of your plans actually work?" She padded across the uneven roof of the elevator, walking up behind Pix as he fiddled with a latch. One she understood what he was doing, Catra crouched down beside him, roughly shouldering in next to him to also sneak a peek into the elevator car. More Steves. She was pretty over all of these little guys right now… 'cept for Coco Steve. That one would stay.

"Don't shush me." She hissed in a whisper, dismissively flicking a hand over to try and bap Pix upside the head. "It's fine, they done even know we're he-" she lifted her head at the flooding lights of the hall they have come from, the elevator slowing just as they passed the open shaft door. She locked eyes with Steves in the hall just as they were rising up, clearly their cover blown. Great.

"We can do this my way now? Finally. Hold on to something." Catra stood up on the elevator roof, reaching up to grab hold of the cable as high as she could. With a flick of her wrist she flexed out her claws, rearing back with a ranger grin painted across her face, dim light from below playing off her features. With a wide swipe, the cables parted, her sharpened nails slicing through them like butter. The elevator freaked beneath them as it lurched in its tight convinced before suddenly falling away, rapidly falling out of sight as it plummeted to the ground floor where its sudden stop echoed up the shaft in a thunderous crash of metal and brickwork.

Catra dangled from the cable, having waited until she heard the smashed elevator cabin hit the ground, half wondering if she could hear the pops of Steves as well. While muffled, she was pretty certain she picked a few of them out of the other sounds flooding up from below. Looking to the open doors, she kicked her feet forward, then back, building up momentum enough to swing. Letting herself go she hopped into the open hall, landing in a short tumble before popping to her feet.

Reaching back she drew back her hood, shaking out her mane of brunette hair as she stared down the growing number of Steves in the hall. She tugged back the bottom of her hoodie, letting her stun baton hang out in the open from her waist like a holstered pistol, hand at the ready with an itchy trigger finger as she held her ground. In the distant apartment they had left moments before, a television channel was changed and the sound of spaghetti Western music started to play.

They were literally backed into a corner here. If they dropped into the cabin they could be swamped. Pix knew he wasn't going to try it. Though he expected his cohort to make an attempt. Probably end up on #ThereWasAnAttempt, but never mind. Sometimes took a few false starts to win the day. When she asked him to hold on, however, his mind went reeling.

Hugh gripped a drilled hole in the concrete ceiling above them. When she approached the cables he realised when she intended, "You can't just-" Too late. His feet were left dangling in the air as the terrifying noise echoed beneath them. A fierce updraft of air passed up the chute buffeting the pair. Pix felt his grip weaken.

That was going to cost a lot of money for someone to replace. It was also going to raise more questions about what went on in the building. Nothing could be done about that now. Despite everything he could have sworn he heard a Steve go 'weee' as it plummeted.

Hugh lowered himself with levitation, gripping the edge of the drop, and getting one knee into the hallway to help lever himself up. When he looked at what awaited them he stifled a groan. His head was never going to get any rest today. He found his feet and rippled the pixels of his body to knock a layer of dust off.

Strange that the critters continued to ape Earth culture. He was looking at police uniforms and some kind of Sherlock outfit. They were strange facsimiles of humanity. Pix looked behind him naturally in the direction of least resistence and then back at their assortment of foes.

"You just missed your friends. They went that way?"

It should be noted for the record that Sherlock Steve's 'mask' was more akin to those of the Coco-Steve, making them one of the more docile ones. The rest of them were the gas-mask wearing, white police uniformed variety with little red and blue spinning lights attached to their helmets, Incase it wasn't obvious, they had stolen the biker helmets of some highway patrol men and for Steve reasons they now had police lights on them- and because they were totally cosplaying as Imperial Snowtroopers. All except the aforementioned Sherlock, and the Chief Officer Steve- who pushed his way to the front of the team with his eye holes slanted- someone scribble angry eyebrows over those to better convey how angery he is! Oh, there's red in their eyes now. That's probably enough warning.

Chief Officer Steve would Steve something to the Stevetroopers who would start either dancing, doing a Steve version of The Ginyu intro, or were about to perform a satanic ritual to fuse their powers into one being. After they started to run around Chief Officer Steve to the point of blurring together, we can safely conclude that it was the satanic ritual. Once the clealy boss transformation, Chief Officer Steve was now- SUPREME Chief Officer Steve! Which meant that he had digivolved to have white gloved hands covering long fingers. He was also much taller, possibly a head shorter than the ceiling. AND he overall would be mistaken for a military officer with the gasmask on, if not for the shiny badge AND the red/blue light attached to his hat.

With a flick of his wrists, SCO.Steve produced a pair of batons! As if the building was filled with Steves, or because there was some otherworldly force at work, MUSIC would start up as SCO.Steve leaped forward and spung with his batons.