[Closed] Water, Water, Everywhere

[purplexing]

Who: Donnie purplexing and Leo faceguy
What: Two idiots skulking around the sewers during the torrential downpour
When: Eeearly May?
Where: Somewhere under Central City
Content Warnings: N/A


Donnie might be forced to admit that this is not one of his better ideas.

Rain's usually never a problem, but while even New York saw its share of storms, they'd never been anything compared to this.

The waterways below the city streets flowed like rivers, the sound of it trickling and at times pouring through grates. It masked anything else, which Donnie had figured to be both a boon and a liability. But so far he hadn't come across anyone else down in the sewers, and he doubted most would be inclined to roam them during a storm.

Things have more or less been within reasonable expectations, and for someone who had lived in the sewers all his life, he hasn't worried too much about a little extra rain.

There's this niggling feeling that maybe he should check in with Leo, or head back up, but Donnie's always been stubborn about things and when it comes to focus on a task at hand, then there's not much he allows to get in the way of its completion. Recent talks have only spurred him to spend longer scoping out possible spaces to set up a new lair and he doesn't want to put it off just because of a storm.

Comments

[faceguy]

Leo is equally invested in the whole “sewer hideout” idea, but thus far this afternoon he’s been inside doing homework. After all of the excitement last month he ended up missing a lot of school, and his grades slipped, and then the Alliance wanted to know why his grades were slipping and he could hardly tell the truth so he made up some lie about getting sick. Then they’d started talking about extra credit and summer school if Leo didn’t work to catch up, so work to catch up he has. It sucks but what can you do?

(Run away, of course, but he’s waiting to do that.)

His plan is to catch up with Donnie as soon as he’s done, but when that time rolls around the rain outside is somehow coming down harder - a look out the window shows roads that look like streams. The sewers are surely worse.

And Donnie hasn’t checked back in with him.

Well, he can handle himself - it’s not like they’ve never dealt with sewer flooding. Except this is looking worse than any storm he can remember… and what if Donnie has tried to contact him and can’t get through?

Okay, so maybe he’s a smidge worried.

Texting Huvrye to let him know he’s going out, Leo heads out into the rain. He doesn’t bother with clothes because wearing wet clothing sucks; it’s not like he’s going to be visible to the public for any significant amount of time, anyway.

Sure enough, he’s down in the sewers in minutes, pulling out his phone to give Donnie a call and hoping it goes through.

Ring ring~

[purplexing]

Down below, it's not really obvious just how much harder the rain's starting to come down, topside.

Donnie carefully makes his way down the walkways, frowning at how wet everything is. It's not lost on him how much water's starting to spill up over the ledge, but the runoff's still within manageable levels. So long as things are still draining somewhere, there shouldn't be any issues.

Caught up as he is in things, the sound of his phone going off nearly has him jump out of his skin. "-you finished your homework?" So that's not exactly a greeting, but at least he's answering at all. Sort of. The signal's not that great when you've got layers of concrete to go through, so his phone's cutting in and out.

[faceguy]

At least he answered. Any worry Leo had dissipates for now.

"Yeah, and now I'm down here. Topside's looking bad; animals are going to start lining up two by two."

Some of that faded in and out. Stupid signal.

Leo watches for storm surge as he walks in the direction he thinks Donnie headed; right now it's still manageable, but the canal is definitely starting to swell onto the walkways.

"Where are- ...send me a ping or something."

[purplexing]

That's not very helpful at all. Donnie scowls at his phone, pulling up his computer instead. He's not so sure how well the connection will work since they aren't operating off too different a signal, but at least this way he can try locating where Leo is.

"Hang on," he says as he stops walking to see if he can screengrab the map with their positions. "...I really need to make you a version of this app or something..."

Water sloshes up past his feet, but he doesn't readily pay attention to it as he tries to come up with a quick workaround. "Map incoming, you're maybe about a couple blocks and down a few streets from where I am. I'm going to see if I can rig something up so your comm can at least notify you when you're getting closer to my position."

[faceguy]

Leo gives it a second, watching until the picture of the map arrives. The water isn’t as bad where he is, but he can see how fast it’s moving.

“Okay, map received! On my way!”

He stays on the phone, following the map as best he can in Donnie’s direction.

“You can do that? Sweet.”

Admittedly Leo tends to assume Donnie can do anything like some kind of tech wizard, so he doesn’t doubt it.

[purplexing]

"Pff, I'll take that for the rhetorical question it should be." He's not so sure how much of any of his explanation is getting through to Leo but it doesn't keep him from talking. Maybe it's just the comfort of knowing his brother's on the other end kind of able to hear him.

"It's just a matter of adding an extra command prompt on my end, which will measure distance between the trackers and send pings from my computer to your comm. Best I can do on short notice," Donnie continues as he works. He sighs. "I should've done this before, really." An obvious thing he could have done, but it's only in retrospect that he realizes maybe it'd benefit someone else and not just himself.

"-okay, I think that should... Uh." There's a concerned pause if ever there was one. "Hey Leo? How deep is the water over there?" Because somehow it's gotten to his ankles here and he hasn't been moving on.

[faceguy]

Leo understood the part of that explanation that said Donnie’s computer will ping his comm, which is enough. He doesn’t mind letting Donnie ramble anyway in this instance, since it helps him know the call hasn’t dropped.

“No worries, you‘ve had a lot on your plate.” Though it is useful, so Leo appreciates Donnie taking the time to do it now. When they get home, he should have him set up that kind of system on all their comms, in case they get separated on a mission or need to send out a distress signal.

Stuff to worry about later, though.

He’s still walking when Donnie announces he’s done with the adjustments, and he’s about to say something about it when Donnie suddenly drops off for a second, and then…

“Uh, it’s starting to flood the walkway. Not too bad, though.”

But if Donnie is asking…

“How bad is it where you are?”

[purplexing]

It would probably be good to rework the panic button, even though he'd already made a lot of adjustments to the program ever since April gave her input on it. Ah, his never-ending list of things to do.

Donnie doesn't answer immediately, straining to see into the darkness ahead, as far as the light from his battle shell goes. He glances down at the water, which isn't draining somewhere nearly as fast as it should be. Just past the sound of dripping and general slosh of the water nearby...what was that?

"It's uh, gotten just past my ankles and I am pretty sure it wasn't that deep when you first called. Wait-"

The sound's gotten louder, despite it being much of the same, he realizes that now that he's paying attention. Water comes rolling down the tunnel, pushing him back a bit once it hits his legs. "Ohno."

It's hard to run when the water's getting higher, and the interference isn't doing them any favors for their line of communication. The background sounds grow louder and cuts in and out, and with it, Donnie's sudden shout as he's overtaken by a wall of water.

[faceguy]

Past his ankles!? Geez, how much water-

Any questions Leo has are cut off by the shout and the sound of rushing water from the other end of the line. Leo breaks into a full on sprint toward Donnie’s location, because that can’t be good.

“Donnie!? Donnie!”

The water gets higher as he moves in Donnie’s direction, with more of it pouring in.

He’s not worried about Donnie drowning (benefits of being a turtle), but getting slammed around in an unfamiliar sewer system is bad bad bad.

[purplexing]

A beep goes off on Leo's comm as he rushes against the water. It's a gradual thing, repeating only after some thirty seconds. Little by little the time between them is getting shorter.

...of course then there's all the water.

It's difficult to tell heads or tails when you're being swept head over heels and this way and that. A few times he manages to break above surface, but things are moving too fast and it's too dark for him to be able to register anything to grab onto.

Meanwhile where Leo is, the sound of water's getting ominously loud as it competes with he beeping, steadily building in rhythm. Which...is both good and bad, probably...

[faceguy]

The beeping helps him know he's headed in the right direction, but it becomes moot when he starts to hear the encroaching sound of water getting louder and louder...

His plan is to grab Donnie and try to yank him out, but as the beeping reaches its crescendo he quickly realizes that plan is going to have to be rethought because an absolutely massive wave of water is headed right his way.

"Oh sh-"

Leo turns and tries to run, but it's too fast - he only has time to suck in a breath before he's swept right up in it, too.

It sure is a good thing he has a hard shell, because he gets smacked into a wall almost immediately. This is not good.

[purplexing]

Donnie...is panicking, and he knows it's not good. This isn't an accidental turn off the lazy river, this is being stuck in white water rapids so far as he's concerned. Things are happening too fast and all of his thoughts are on worst possible outcomes.

He's already taken a few knocks, thankful his battle shell can hold up against that much, but it's a jarring feeling either way. His fingers brush the rungs of a ladder but by the time he realizes what it is, he's been pulled away again.

The space must have widened some as Donnie's able to bring his head above water and manage to stay that way a little longer, gasping for a breath as he tries to simultaneously look around. He has no idea where Leo is or how far he's even been carried. One of the lights on his battle shell's been knocked clean off, but the other's still functioning, more or less, although not providing nearly enough illumination to see where the water's going.

And it's still flowing, the levels lower but with a current strong enough to continue to drag them along.

[faceguy]

The lowered water levels help Leo get his own head up above water, and in that time he just manages to see the remaining light from Donnie’s battleshell before he’s sucked under again.

It’s enough to orient him a little when he resurfaces next, taking a big breath before calling out, “Donnie!” and going back down. He tries to maneuver against the crush of water to get in Donnie’s direction, but everything is moving so fast…

[purplexing]

He can't catch a glimpse of Leo, but Donnie's sure he'd just heard him. Figuring out exactly where is going to be difficult with all the water. He can't exactly access his computer right now, and with how disorienting things already are, accessing his computer the other way doesn't seem wise when he needs all his focus in the moment.

"Leo?!" he does manage to call out the next time he finds his head above water. It's slightly easier to keep so, which means less being thrown around by underwater surges. But the current's going faster, which has Donnie look in the direction everything's going.

...he knows that sound.

"Drop!" he warns, wherever Leo may be, hoping his brother can at least hear him before the water shoots them out and into the darkness below.

[faceguy]

"Hey!" he shouts back when he hears his name, surfacing again. Like Donnie, he's able to stay above for longer now, but he's having a hard time seeing anything.

And he also recognizes that noise.

Not good not good not good-

He spins, looking, looking, looking for any way out of this. If he could just find...

"Is there anything to grab!?"

Donnie has a light, maybe he can see... a ladder or some exposed piping or something.

[purplexing]

His tech's waterlogged and he can hardly see three feet in front of him, a distance that shrinks all too quickly for how much faster the water's flowing. Donnie's remaining light catches a glimpse of what might've been a grating that originally would've kept things from getting swept out past the drop-off, but all the water must have forced it open. Unfortunately it's nowhere near his reach.

Something to grab...

"-!" Oh, he's such an idiot. Leo's point helps him focus. He doesn't need to find anything when he can just make something. A familiar magenta light brightens the passage, outlining the rectangular markings on Donnie's skin and tracing across his battle shell as he taps into his ninpō. "Leo, hang on!" Lines blaze out just ahead of them, stretching from wall to wall and not a moment too soon as it also happens to illuminate where the tunnel ends and the water goes over.

Naturally there's a technical flare to something otherwise relatively simple, an extended bar that might resemble in some ways his old tech-bō. Donnie grabs a hold of it, glancing back to look for his brother.

[faceguy]

Oh, smart - Leo feels a rush of gratitude that Donnie's powers can make actual, physical constructs.

Now if he can just grab it...

An eddy whips him around, disorienting him in the dark, and he loses sight of the bar momentarily. It's enough that he gets pulled out of easy grabbing range, and with a jolt he realizes if he doesn't do something then he's going to get swept too far away to grab onto Donnie's mystic tech.

He does have one idea, but it's not, he would say, his best plan ever.

But it is A Plan and it may be his only shot.

Leo fights the water to stay up long enough to pull his good katana from its sheath - then he yells out, "Dee, catch!"

Yes, throwing a sword at his most athletically challenged brother in the middle of a flood is a catastrophically stupid idea, but he did angle it so it should get to him hilt first and won't take his head off his he misses.

Leo would appreciate if he doesn't miss, though!

[purplexing]

As though seeing Leo be unable to make the grab isn't already launching his heart into his throat, hearing that word directed at him and then seeing what's being thrown at him is nearly enough to make him panic again. Donnie doesn't have the luxury of freaking out however, perhaps for the better.

He flings his hand out, the hilt glancing off the side of his palm. Forgetting everything else for a moment, he swings his other hand out to try where the first had failed, an almost comical display of sword juggling before he somehow finds the katana grasped in both hands.

He's also bent awkwardly over his mystic-tech, his victory short-lived as he has to haul his head up above the current that still goes against him. But he's still hanging on to that sword!

[faceguy]

Well, he got it, though his fumbling sent Leo's own heart straight into his throat. But he caught it and he has it and he's still hanging on to his own mystic-tech.

Leo is getting further away - he needs to do this fast, before he can't thanks to his stupid broken ninpo.

The problem is that his swords have been a set since he finally awakened his full strength, and trying to teleport to just one when he doesn't have the other one... it's difficult. It's hard to explain, but it's like he can't aim with the other one gone.

But Donnie was right in what he said; the swords are just conduits, he's the one with the power. Which means even with one sword missing, he should still be able to pull himself to the other one if he just... focuses.

He takes a breath and tries to grab at the core in his chest, the one that gets yanked every time he teleports himself. Tries to find that link between himself and the sword. Unfortunately, he goes still and disappears under the water for a moment, which probably isn't doing much to keep Donnie from panicking.

But the focus works because he can feel it - weak, but there. It hasn't left him yet.

With one big, internal tug, he pulls himself toward his sword-

and with a jolt of blue electricity he's suddenly right in front of Donnie, flailing to grab this thing.

[purplexing]

"Leo!!"

Donnie's trying to pull himself back, but he freezes as he sees his brother vanish. He has half a mind to throw caution to the wind and go after him, and looks halfway to doing so.

Suddenly there's a flash, and there Leo is, right in front of him. He's pretty sure his heart hasn't yet made its way back down where it's supposed to be but it hasn't stopped his brain from kicking the rest of him into motion. Donnie throws a hand out towards Leo to grab a hold of whatever he can to help pull his brother in.

[faceguy]

Leo reaches for that hand and Donnie will end up grabbing his arm as a result, but it's enough that he gets pulled in and grabs onto the bar, holding tight as he can. He reaches his free hand out to grab the sword before it gets dropped, then holds on and tries to breathe.

"Well... let's take a second... to assess... the current situation."

Yep.

[purplexing]

Probably a good thing considering it's taking everything for Donnie to hang onto Leo and the bar, on top of trying to maintain said bar. He looks at his brother exasperatedly then, and the only reason no words are launched in immediate retaliation is because he's just trying to catch his breath. Oh, but that glare.

He's still got one hand around Leo's arm in a death grip, the other hanging on to his mystic-tech. That's about all he can do right now as he struggles to keep that bar solid.

"...not sure how long... I can keep this up."

[faceguy]

Hey, let him have his coping mechanisms.

“Okay, just… try as long as you can.” Leo looks around, trying to spot anything in the dark. “Leon will find us a way out.”

Easier said than done.

The purple glow from the mystic-tech helps just a bit. Leo looks around the dimly lit space, frantically looking for…

“Hey, there! Maintenance ladder.”

It’s about five yards from where they are, but it’s back upstream. Getting to it will be difficult… Leo looks around, trying to think of a plan.

[purplexing]

Donnie tries to look where Leo is. Getting there wouldn't have been a problem if his tech was working. Trying to fight against the currents had been exhausting, and it's taking everything just to hang on and make sure they don't get swept away again.

"Don't know if I can construct something else and still hold this one together," he admits as he tries to gauge the distance and work something out. It'd be a gamble to release it and make something new, especially if the water is rushing as it is.

His ability to generate his mystic-tech is what everything hinges on so far as he's concerned, as estimating the current's speed and the distance it could carry them closer towards the edge will be pointless if he can't pull it together in a timely manner.

[faceguy]

Yeah, that’s a problem. If Donnie can’t build something to get them closer then they’ll have to find a different way.

This would be so much easier if Leo could just…

“…I’m going to portal us back upstream.”

He says this like he’s confident he can accomplish it.

He’s not confident he can accomplish it, but stay positive, right?

“Don’t know… if I can get us right to the ladder, but if I get us close can you be ready to grab on?”