Collab Event 1: Treasure in The Sky
Part 2:
"FINALLY! WOOO!!" Johnny cried out as he stepped out of the window onto the parking lot deck that still stood strong. Joanna clambered out from the same window and smiled at the sight. There it was, the shadow-casting mystery of the district. The second the couple set eyes on it, their faces went blank.
"Johnny... holy shit..." Joanna's mouth fell, and Johnny simply stared at it.
It wasn't a carriage, or as others speculated, a tipped vendor's stand. It wasn't debris, or thrown bookshelves, no...
It was a shuttle.
And if the sight of one of the only remaning flying machines wasn't enough, the beeping noise was. Johnny shuddered, his hairs standing up as each beep (which came from some internal communications system) further picked an idea out from the back of his mind. It had been a year since anyone had thoughts on the subject of... escape. They had settled and cast themselves upon the path of survival. Death was normal, because death was their life now. THIS was their life. But the site of the shuttle completely shattered what changes had been made over the gruesome year for but a second. In that second, the walls vanished and Johnny and Joanna were looking out at the open fields that once welcomed those traveling to the city from afar. For that second, they smelled the aroma of the food from back home in Valira. For that second, they were free. But that second didn't last long enough.
~~
As the pair was torn from reality by their amazing discovery, death made its slow crawl toward them. The woman was now on the fourth floor, and was pleased to see that the ascent to the fifth would be much easier than the others.
As she peeked her head into the fifth level, she saw the two, starstruck by whatever it was that they had uncovered.
Ariela smiled, a dark and menacing grin, as she lifted herself onto their level..
"Interesting..." A voice suddenly announced, it was low and scratchy, warped by the transformation to sound almost inhuman. "...what a lovely treat you two have uncovered..."
Johnny quickly whipped around and Joanna followed suit. At the sight of her strange, deformed figure, he flinched and instinctly stepped in front of Joanna. "Shit! Okay, this is ours lady, we found it first," he called out. His hope was quickly fleeting, as he realized more and more that there was no way she could NOT be a host. Her eyes spelled death and she was barely human. Joanna gasped and whispered, "She's one of those possessed ones... the conduits... Johnny..."
"I... Can... Hear... You.." She bit of each word, hatred seethed from her tongue growing in heat with every second. The womans' focus had shifted entirely to Joanna. "Possessed? Oh no... I assure you... I have full control over my self..." She sneered as she stepped closer. Her left arm turning completely black as her rage took over. The black skin cracked, and a red glow radiated from beneath it. "You cannot judge me!" She roared. "What have you done!? What did you do!? I was alone and where were you!?" The woman cried in fury as she put her left fist through the wall and the building trembled.. "NOWHERE! You were enjoying yourselves weren't you!? ENJOYING YOUR PEACEFUL LIVES WHILE I ROTTED AWAY! FORGOTTEN BY SOCIETY!"
As the womans' rage grew, her spirit swelled, until she began laughing uncontrollably, and tears streamed from her right eye. "You created this, the both of you! and every other miserable human that skitters through this laughable excuse for a paradise!" As she piqued in power, a small child materialized before her. It took the form of her younger self, huddled, cold and helpless, surviving despite the weight of the odds that had stacked against her favor.
"Do you feel guilt yet? Do you understand my pain? Of course not..." Her voice faded off as she fell back into her state of melancholy depression. "you weren't there... no one was.."
Johnny and Joanna were struck speechless as they stood there in fright. As her tone died down, Johnny swallowed and slowly looked to Joanna. Without a word her pulled her towards him and yelled, "RUN!" In an instant, the two broke out into a full speed sprint in an attempt to run around the demonic woman.
The womans' rage grew once more as the two ran from her. She lost herself to the moment and Artemus stepped in. She could feel his hunger grow as he took the helm and began the pursuit. "What will running do you?" the womans' voice echoe'd throughout the building from seemingly everywhere. "Nothing can escape from my gaze.. No sound passes by these ears unnoticed.. I. Will. Find you..." The womans' possessed form gave chase, slowly becoming encompassed by voidal energy.
Johnny didn't dare look back. He ran as fast as he could, his adrenaline nearly blinding him as he felt near weightless. Joanna, on the other hand, was drowning in her fright. She looked over her shoulder only to widen her eyes and gasp as she slowed her pace. "JOHNNY!" she yelled.
Joanna's eyes' met with the demon womans' in that instant, and the dark abbyss that greeted her left her speechless. everything else dissappeared as The woman closed the distance between them. The black arm reached forward and grasbed Joannas' face. Her breath came in short, difficult gasps as she tried to grasp the the situation.
"You... you will live... For now..." The black arm grasped the woman by the hair and dragged her along the ground. tossing her on the ground infront of the shuttle. A blade, made entirely of a unknown, black metal, materialized in the Woman's palm. She jabbed it into Joanna's calf and into the rubble below.
Joanna screamed in pain at her actions before passing out from the pain and blood loss. Johnny froze at the sound of his wife's scream and simply stood there, half in anger and half in fear and despair. After his state of shock was replaced by an inner rage, he turned around and cried out. "JOANNA! YOU MONSTER, THAT'S THE WOMAN I LOVE!" he yelled as he charged forward with his fists drawn.
"You love her do you?" The woman questioned as she caught the first fist with her human arm, and punched the man in the face with her black one. "Then, pray tell, why would you bring her into such a deadly place?" She swept the mans' feet from under him and cackled as he fell to the ground. "why.." She slid down and laid atop him.. "would you not bring some sort of protection?" She rubbed her body against his as she whispered in his ear, her breath hot and steamy. "did you think your fists capable of defending her from this city? Or were you foolish enough to believe that it was safe here..?" The woman bit the mans' ear playfully "No... you do not love her... you are selfish... Caring only about the treasure you so desperately sought out in this dangerous place.." The woman took in the mans' scent. "I can smell the sin on you.. the lies... the.. Bravado..."
Johnny struggled on the ground after having been rocked by her punch. It had knocked the sight out of one his eyes and everything else began to spin. But his rage-driven state kept him going, and he reached up to shove off the woman who attacked his wife. "You don't KNOW ANYTHING! You're just a weakling who gave into the corruption of the onikages! And I WON'T LET YOU HURT MY WIFE!" he yelled as he dashed forward in an attempt to punch her just as she did to him.
The woman took the hit, falling backwards as she did. Behind the man, a small child emerged from the rubble, and the woman who had fallen became envelopped in a black nothingness. Her voice came from the child, who laughed darkly. "Have you truly become so blind? I have done what must be done.. Whether or not you view that as weak is irrelivent..."
The child jumped at the man, digging its' teeth into his neck. as it pulled back blood poured from the mark, and a chunk of flesh tore from the mans' body. Johnny screamed in pain, but before he could finish his bloodcurdling death cry, a piercing sound tore through it. As blood continued to spurt from his neck, a splash of the red liquid flew out of the right side of his skull, circling a hole that cut through the ground next to Johnny. Both the hole in the ground and the fresh circular wound upon Johnny's temples sizzled as smoke emit from the bloody penetrations. Johnny's body fell limp and slumped over to the right, away from the location of the rifle that had dealt the damage.
About two buildings away, two stories below the combat, a sniper knelt near his long range plasma rifle. It was built like a turret - a huge, and long frame that was implanted into the ground. After a moment of charging up, it had fired a single plasma round that traveled at immense speed. From behind the rifle, a military squadron erupted into cheers.
"DAMN! YOU SEE THAT SHIT?!"
"HOLY FUCK!"
"AEROS UPON 'EM, WHAT THE BLOOD SIN WAS THAT?!"
"DAYUUUUMMM!!!"
About twelve men stood upon the roof, and two military grade carriages progressed from the street adjacent to the building. Soon, footsteps were heard coming from the makeshift stair cases that the couple had been forming. Not long after, a voice also sounded from the floors below.
"Confirmed kill, tango down. We got a Code S on six, honing in. Check your fire, we'll be there t-15, primary objective the shuttle. If we let these damn hosts find anymore of the remaining shuttles, they'll fly outta here and the seniors will have our heads. Destroy it if you can," as the voice grew nearer and nearer, the sound of the humming carriages also grew louder.