[O] 17 and KB Still Travelling (Day 16+)

[Burter]

PCs: 17, Kid Buu

[Burter]

Now in the Unforgiving Plains, and lost.

[Android 17]

?Where the fuck are we?? Seventeen seethed, his eyes frantically darting across the bleak horizon. ?And wasn?t it still noon an hour or so ago?? The android reached into one of his trench coat?s pockets and fished out the map that he had been carrying with him for the duration of the war.

?Unforgiving Plains,? Paige said, reaching out from her location behind the android and pointing to the center of the grid. ?We both know this isn?t where we?re supposed to be?? the woman said, her voice trailing off as she tried to fathom what had transpired. Seventeen let out a sigh as he folded up the paper and crammed it into the pocket from whence he had produced it.

The cybernetic warrior returned to fiddling around in his pockets until he produced his flask and pills. Seventeen paused to down a handful of painkillers, and then he followed them up with two swigs of vodka from the metal flask. As machine-hybrid moved to stash the drugs back into his pocket, he let out a yelp of pain as the two objects exploded?the bonds that united it on a molecular level being torn asunder.

As Seventeen watched the particles evaporating, he turned to see a smiling Paige. The android let out a sigh at the former whitelighter?s seemingly infinite supply of abilities. It was like she pulled a new power out of thin air every time that the cyborg thought he had her deciphered. What was the actual extent of the techniques she had picked up while evading death in void?

?You?re not immortal,? Seventeen murmured, his expression morose and taciturn as he addressed the jade-skinned woman. Paige frowned at the accusation and crossed her nimble arms across his chest. The machine-hybrid suddenly paused?his eyes glued on the terrain stretched out in front of them. ?I don?t think we?re in Kansas anymore,? he muttered, the sarcasm the only plausible means for the android to cope with the insane realization.

The grass for miles upon end seemed to wither and die even as the plains vanished into the horizon. The barren landscape was dotted by the occasion ruptures that appeared to be hemorrhaging sulfur into an already venomous environment. Seventeen stopped marching and turned his weary eyes to the bleak skyline looming above the heads of his soldiers. What the android saw above his head was a most distressing and disturbing development.

?the sun was gone. Noxious clouds had saturated what had once been blue and sunny, and the only portent of the sun?s former glory was an ebony circle barely visible amid the darkness. The android ran a hand through his head of hair as he desperately attempted to deal with the situation at hand. Seventeen could already hear the paranoid whispers spreading throughout the ranks as the battalion continued their march across the desolate landscape.

The android knew he couldn?t just tell the men that they had become lost in the hellish landscape without any means of locating an exit nor could he tell them how the scouts had yet to return from their trek. Seventeen could only fathom what fate they had met on the twisted, inhospitable plains. Whether or not the scouts could be salvaged was not one the cyborg itinerary though, because he understood that locating a scouting party was far less important compared to getting his troops out of the hell they had becoming wove in.

?We have to tell them something,? Paige whispered, casting an uncomfortable gaze over her shoulder at the teeming masses marching behind the couple. ?We can?t just expect them to deduce a coherent explanation for the sudden, ridiculous change in terrain and atmosphere, Seventeen,? the cyborg nodded his head and took a moment to mull over a response.

?Tell them that we?re taking a detour through this landscape to prevent any ambushes from the enemy forces, and despite the relative malignant taste of the environment, they are safe,? Seventeen replied, ushering the woman back through the lines of soldiers with the order to relay the message.

With that issue taken care of, the android feigned a content smile and continued to march across the Unforgiving Plains. Seventeen figured he might as well take advantage of his time there. After all, maybe he?d actually find some merit in the hellish hills and dips stretched out before him. Anything was better than getting emo about the whole situation.