Trip

"Doctor! Look over there! It's the sea!" Cuora shouted, the girl leaning out the side of the van they were riding to point at the vast expanse of water stretching out for miles from the coast. The Doctor smiled under his mask, staring out the window to look at the sight, the water almost seeming to shine under the summer sun.

After the recent series of successful operations and the slow-down of Reunion activity with the coming of the warmer season, The Doctor asked Kal'tsit if it was possible for a vacation of some sorts for their Operators as a reward for all their hard work. Kal'tsit had thought long and hard about it, pestered constantly by the Doctor, but eventually she relented and allowed for it, even mentioning that the Obsidian Festival was happening in Siesta and that it would be a good spot for it.

Skip ahead some time and now here they were, practically a small convoy of operators accompanying him to the place. Kalt'sit had opted to stay behind with some other operators that opted out of taking the vacation, instead choosing to either continue their work or relax at Rhodes.

As they got out of the vans, The Doctor put his hands on his hips, looking over the others as they got their belongings out of the vehicles. Provence hummed as Skyfire nagged at her about the sensitivity of her measurement equipment, Silverash somehow still looked intimidating as always despite wearing shorts, sandals and a more loose, short-sleeved white shirt and sunglasses, Matterhorn and Courier smiled while carrying suitcases and duffel bags as Cliffheart excitedly chattered about with Pramanix. Amiya carried a bag of her own, looking adorable in her summer clothes and hat as she waved at the Doctor. He waved back, gaze sweeping over the rest of the operators that came with him.

It was shaping up to, at the very least, be an interesting vacation.

"Hey! Doctor! Doctor! Isn't that big man over there in the armor someone from Reunion?" Cuora asked curiously, pulling at the Doctor's arm like an excited child.

She was, in fact, correct. There was a tall man in an EOD suit walking around in the sweltering heat like it was nothing, no one even remotely minding the blatant Reunion markings on it.

The Doctor sighed, seeing the other operators tense up at the sight of it. An Interesting vacation indeed.

Beach

Aside from earlier altercations with other beach goers, the vacation was proving to be somewhat successful. Silverash and his group went off to enjoy the water, sans Silverash himself that is. Who was now buried up to his neck by his sisters and encouraging Cliffheart and Courier to make the castle she was building over his head to be "As opulent and majestic as possible". Red went off with Cuora carrying a floatie, last he'd seen them Cuora was swimming at near blinding speeds while pushing along Red in her floatie, clinging on to it for dear life.

Team A6 and A4 were having a volleyball match, Cardigan having the unfortunate habit of running off with the ball whenever she caught it and turning it into a game of tag each time. He waved at Orchid and Melantha, looking fondly exasperated and concerned at their teams respectively before they waved back at him.

It was practically a picture-perfect vacation at that point. With musical performances scattered across the beach and plenty of other sights to see beyond that there was little that could ruin things.

At least, until the Doctor ran into a liberi girl carrying a parasol and being chased by some of the most stereotypical thuggish looking men in black suits he'd ever seen.

Breach

"Okay, like we said Doctor. You kick in the door and I shout 'FBI OPEN UP!'. Got it?" Vigna said, holding her trident at the ready. The Doctor nodded, standing in front of the door. Beside them stood Jessica, Liskarm and Franka, having been taken along for this part of the operation. Vigna smiled, nodding and getting ready. "Alright, on three. One. Two… THREE!"

Suddenly, the occupants of the room about to be breached were greeted with a boot through the door.

Literally. The Doctor's boot hadn't done its intended job of kicking the door open. Instead, it had torn through the oak wood door like it was paper and left them all in an awkward position. The Doctor pulled his foot back out with some slight difficulty, brushing off splinters from his pant sleeve and rearing back his boot for another go. "Alright, let me take another try at that-" and before Liskarm or the others could say anything the Doctor had already put his boot to the door again. The results were the same, but at a higher position than the last hole he left. He pulled his foot back again, groaning. "Alright. One last-" but before he could even get ready to do it for a third time Franka rolled her eyes, walked past Jessica and Liskarm and proceeded to roundhouse kick the door, the heel of her boot just barely slipping by the Doctor's mask.

The combined punishment from The Doctor's botched kicks and Franka's finishing blow were enough to completely knock the door off its hinges and into one of the unfortunate occupants that were standing too close to it. After a short pause, punctuated by Franka strutting into the room with her sword at the ready by her side like she hadn't just casually kicked the door clean off the frame, she stopped and stood in the middle of it, staring at the remaining thugs inside. She threw a look over her shoulder at Vigna, who was staring at her in admiration. "Well? Your line?" she said. Vigna, excited, ran into the room while also kicking aside the door as the thug behind it attempted to push it off himself. The force of the impact was enough to knock him out this time.

"FBI OPEN UP!"

Suffice to say, with all of those combined, the thugs inside surrendered without much conflict for fear of getting brutally kicked down by either the Vulpo, the impish Sarkaz or the dopey looking masked man standing outside the door.

Solution

It was a big, nearly disastrous problem with a surprisingly simple solution that the doctor had come up with on the fly. Albeit, it was stupid, insane, and had astronomically low chances of working. But it did.

"Doctor"

"Yes, Ceylon?"

"I… have heard stories about your tactical prowess and ability for unorthodox strategies but…"

"But what?"

"I don't think I've ever heard of stopping a volcanic originium slug about to cause a catastrophe by blasting it with several industrial strength water hoses"

At the base of the volcano, where they had stopped the giant originium slug called Pompeii, everyone was soaking wet. Through some quick, desperate thinking, no small amount of bribery and some stealing of public property the Doctor had managed to "Requisition" several firetrucks and other firefighting/construction equipment with the help of Rope and a very, very determined Schwarz. With that they managed to, at the very least, temporarily stop a catastrophe from happening by dousing the source with gratuitous amounts of water. Shaw marched up to the Doctor, soaked to the bone and shivering despite her firefighting equipment.

"Thefirehasbeenputout. Chief,whatdowedonow?" She fired off in her usual machinegun chatter, saluting. Skyfire stood slackjawed off to the side, Eyja still listing off the readings of the volcano to her and noting how it had calmed down considerably after they'd pacified Pompeii. Provence stood next to her with her hands on her hips, shaking her head in amusement and disbelief.

"We just stopped a plot to bring about a Catastrophe by a corrupt politician, and then proceeded to stop the same Catastrophe from ever happening. By hosing it down like a common bushfire. Huh" As she said that the originium slug seemed to groan, its fire long gone out and too tired to struggle. Eyja expressed some concern over the thing, saying that it sounded "Sad" somehow. Skyfire's slackjawed expression somehow got even more disbelieving as she looked between Eyja's video feed and the giant, boulder sized originium slug that was about to cause a volcanic eruption less than an hour ago, and threw her hands up, turning around and walking away.

"Screw it! I'm stepping away from this insanity for a bit. I'm going to go enjoy what's left of my vacation here while I can" Skyfire sounding both tired and resigned. Provence laughed aloud, slapping her thigh as she followed behind her, waving back at the Doctor as they left the clearing.

"Skyfire's probably going to go grab a few drinks to deal with this so I'm going to stay with her and make sure she doesn't do anything stupid. We'll see ya around, Doctor!"

As the two left, Shaw and Ceylon both looked at the Doctor questioningly, the other Operators part of this little operation getting more curious about the massive slug. Cuora even began lightly poking at it with the tip of her bat, the creature unresponsive beyond some resigned rumbling. Then she climbed on top of the slug, sitting down on it and causing it to jiggle.

"Doctor! Can we keep it as a pet? We can make it like a mascot!" She called out from atop the thing. She was quickly joined by Ifrit and Red the three starting to hop on it like like a trampoline. Nervously, the Doctor chuckled. Faintly wondering how he would explain to Kal'tsit why they'd brought back a giant originium slug as a pet.