DragonofTheWest

Frontier of the Damned

"Have a good day father." Achille stated as he bowed his head to Father Stone respectfully. So far so good... he earned the trust of the local clergy which would likely prove valuable down the line. With his read on the town somewhat complete, The bounty hunter took a gaze towards the sheriff's office, intending on making good of his word to see the man in charge only to notice that the drunk Irish soldier from earlier had already made his way over. How unfortunate... it would be difficult to approach the sheriff and get a proper read on things if the irish drunk was there also to potentially distract him. Yet as Achille took a moment to analyze the town and reflect on Colm's words, Achille figured that Colm was more than just his first impression. Likely a former soldier, Achille privately guessed, judging from the rival... perhaps he did have his uses.

It was here that Achille then noticed the pair of individuals who emerged from the saloon to listen in on the previous conversation. Judging from their appearances they were both relatively young looking but both distinct in presences. The man had a certain relaxed aura around him though his words gave off the impression that despite his age, he was at least knowledgeable on criminalistics activities. The female however had a different presence. There was something off about her, something... supernaturally familiar and the way she clung on to the man's side...

Achille's eyes narrowed, his face hardening behind his bandana. "There is another?" He privately thought. It seems there was yet another complication. The matter would have to be addressed another time however, especially since they were in daylight. The bounty hunter took a step towards Jack and Kira, his face all covered except for a pair of dark and intense eyes. "Do you speak from experience?" Achille questioned aloud, focusing on Jack.

"In these... peculiar times it seems we could all use a friend." Achille said, his head gesturing subtly in Kira's direction. "Now it seems like you have one but perhaps you can be generous and possibly tell this wandering gunslinger on what you know about this town they call Longwater."

Star Wars - Rise of Crusade

AHCH-TO // JEDI TEMPLE

Normally he would have something witty and cocky to say, as of typical character but if there was one person he would never question or disrespect, it was Master Luke Skywalker. There was a feeling of pride knowing he was permitted to undergo in such a mission and collaborating with a Ranger again. Yet for all the proud pride he possessed, the level of uncertainty and risk involved radiated with his inner doubt and competitive nature. Dante had never been on a mission that dealt with this utmost importance and circumstance. The mission was the standard failure is not an option type.

As Captain Larkas offered to potentially bring any sort of spacecraft, Dante shook his head. "I'm grateful for your offer Captain, but it's best I leave my ship. As much as I'm interested in potentially getting into a dog fight with some First Order fly boys, no amount of paint or deception will trick any First Order officer worth his rank when it comes to the new X-Wings. Having said that, I'm ready when to go when you are."

With no questions on the minute details, Dante then turned to Luke and bowed his head with the most utmost respect once more. "I'm thankful for the opportunity, we won't let you down."

Ambition 2.0. (Massive Crossover Superhero Sandbox)

With measured breaths Jon continued to push the weather machine further away from Gotham. It was delicate work pushing a machine of this size but such a display of strength had to be measured to ensure he didn't accidently damage the structure further. As the weather raged around him, Jon took the occasional peak behind himself towards Gotham, hoping that the work he was putting in was having some sort of positive affect on the city as well as hoping that his companion inside the structure was having better luck than he was. While he was more or less unaffected from the supernatural weather, it wasn't exactly fun trying to keep focus while getting pelted by a combination of rain and hail with thunderbolts exploding all around him.

"Almost. Almost done." the kryptonian reminded himself, over and over again, trying to remain composed in his peculiar situation. Jon had been pushing for sometime and after taking a brief moment to check behind him, Jon had managed to cover a considerable distance with the weather at last beginning to clear. The thunderclouds which had plagued Gotham were now parting, the snow and rain easing off as rays of sunshine pierced through the clouds. The young Superman smirked, knowing that he played his played along with beginning to feel a surge of energy. The kryptonian welcomed the rays of sunlight pour in all around him. With a rejuvenation of strength, Jon felt like he could merely throw the device out into orbit though that would hardly be fair to his companion on the inside. With the weather returning to normal, Jon heard a faint whine as the weather machine had taken it's last breath. The mission had been a success.

"Look at that. She did it." Jon said aloud in a mix of mild shock and amazement. Yet as Superman debated what to do next a spotlight emerged from the machine... back towards Gotham. Jon's eyes narrowed in focus as he traced the spotlight back towards a warehouse on Gotham's waterfront. "That must be it." Looks like he knew where to go next.

Knowing what had to be done, Jon took a deep, concentrated breath as he began to lower the machine out of the air and towards the ocean. The kryptonian did his best to ease the descent as he didn't want to completely alarm Raimi that the machine she was in was falling out of the sky. Guiding the machine downward was proving to be more difficult than pushing it considering now he was the only reason the machine remained high in the air but none the less, this was yet another test of strength that Jon had prepared his whole life for. As his armored boots touched the water, Jon prepared himself for his own submersion. As he disappeared under the waves, Jon guiding the weather machine to the ocean's surface. Despite rocking back and forth for several moments and Jon was relieved to see that the structure's overall design kept it afloat. With no need for a potential rescue mission, Jon figured it was best to keep it upright anyway... he figured S.H.I.E.L.D would want to take a closer look upon this and it was best to stay them the trouble of helping them drag it out of the water later.

With a brief burst of speed, Jon emerged from the water and landed back on top of the weather machine as it rocked slowly back and forth atop the ocean's calm ocean's waves. Placing a pair of fingers to the communications piece in his ear Jon began his communications with his allies and other associates back at Gotham...

"This is an open message to all S.H.I.E.L.D assets in the area. The weather machine is down. I'm requesting that any and all available agents move immediately towards the Gotham waterfront. Possible location on the Weather Wizard has been determined." Jon took this brief moment moment to close his eyes and continue to soak in more energy of the solar energy... it felt good to be rejuvenated physically but he wanted to mentally brace himself for the confrontation to come. Walking back towards the hole he made earlier, Jon crouched down and called out to Raimi...

"Hey you alright? Sorry for the rocky descent but good job in shutting this thing off. Looks like you also find where our wizard is hiding."

Star Wars - Rise of Crusade

@Sep yeah that works actually

Frontier of the Damned

Achille shook his head in a mix of slight amusement and disappointment towards the drunk Irishman. Despite his status back at home, Achille never found much joy in alcohol despite it's popularity even in the big cities. Ironically his experience with alcohol normally involved him having to 'take care of' certain individuals whose drunken words tended to wrong those he was affiliated with. Turning back towards the preacher, Achille debated Father Stone's words. In all of his travels this would be a first... an entire cemetery plus the local flock having been tampered with? Surely the one responsible possessed extraordinary abilities... and the sheriff would likely be looking for help. How fitting that upon his arrival, he would stumble into another delay in his hunt for the renegade. No matter.

"Sometimes Father, the Lord sends those capable of dealing justice." Achille stated, his voice strong with conviction as he drew the revolver on his right hip. In a quick display, Achille twirled the orate weapon skillfully around his trigger fury before returning the weapon back to it's decorated hoister. It was a brief display, an irrelevant gun trick to many but if it could convince the preacher of his skill, it was worth the little show. "If you know anything else, I'm open ears. I'm willing to assist the sheriff in any way I can when he returns." Achille looked back towards the drunk, even in his guarded appearance you can still feel the weight of his eyes.

"After all. Someone has too. Not all of are in the right of state of mind."

Frontier of the Damned

The town was lively with commotion. Judging from what he could hear from conversations in the distance, something had occurred at the nearby cemetery. The matter was irrelevant, for now at least... perhaps he would do his own investigation when the situation was more relaxed but there were more important matters to attend to. Dismounting his horse, Achille led the well built black breton horse towards a hitching post by the saloon. Upon stepping on solid ground, Achille looked just as menacing off his horse. The man was tall, around 6'5 with a strong frame that seemed even larger due to his thick, dark duster coat. Every part of him was covered, save for the brief space between the top of his bandana to the tip of his hat. And while Achille's most visible part was his eyes, there was something peculiar about them... like the eyes of a hawk constantly shifting from one thing to the next.

Having dismounted, Achille began to properly secure the riffle and double barreled shotgun that was kept in hoisters in the saddle of his horse. He even took extra attention to conceal the longsword on the side with a blanket... to many he would have been a walking odd sight but the last thing he needed was strangers coming up to him with questions. The people of the town would speak their rumors should they care for his presence but it would take someone rather bold to approach him directly. With one last brief look around him, Achille made sure to make direct eye contact with any watching... a stern warning not to try anything stupid around him.

Rotating his shoulders forward and backward along with minor stretches of the neck, Achille prepared to enter the saloon as it was typical for men of interest and stories to be found there...it was through the town's saloon that he could find the strangest but sometimes the most honest of men in regards to current circumstances. Almost on que a priest approached the saloon shouting nonsense about sinners and devils. Achille found the statement amusing but none the less, this was the type of person he wanted to speak too. Placing his hands on his gun-belt Achille walked towards Father Stone like a living shadow.

"Preach your sermon Father." Achille said aloud, attempting to earn the priest's attention. "Tell me of these sinners and devils you speak off?"

Frontier of the Damned

His quarry was out there somewhere. After several years and hundreds of miles later, Achille felt no closer since he had departed New York. Such time however was irrelevant to a vampire. In his long travels, Achille had immersed himself properly in the wild western frontier. From the odd encounters with strange beings and several notable side hunts, Achille had taken a liking to this uncivilized part of the world. Such a curious thing time was... how time could erode strength from the mightiest of man and beast, a weakness he could not fathom nor share. Unfortunately the prey was not human. The target was very much like him with the gift of a head start. The trails led all over, the hunted knew who pursued him and was wise not to leave details on his various places of stay. Still even as Achille contemplated his hunt, surely his quarry would fold sooner or late... to be hunted across a country must have been an uneasy feeling.

It was a feeling however that Achille was now experiencing. In his journey through Kansas, Achille paused at the smell of blood. Blood spilled was a regular thing for him to notice but it was that of a human and from his location, he wasn't near a particular place where people resided... what was a human doing out here this late at night? Against his better judgement, Achille rode through the high grass towards the corpse.

Arriving quickly, Achille found the body mangled as if some sort of wild animal had ripped the body apart. Yet the wounds inflicted were too brutal to be done by an animal such as a wolf... it had to have been done by something larger and more ferocious. It was here in this moment of inattentiveness that Achille suddenly felt the presence of several pairs of eyes on him. Brutus, the vampire's horse also detected the foreign presences and began to aggressively snort and trot in place, ready to run or kick. It was only through it's loyalty to it's rider did the horse not run off. Instinctively Achille reached for one of his revolvers, his body poised to spring into action but a strong voice called out to him.

"We know who you are and what you are. You are not welcome here." The voice was deep but the accent was recognizable... one of the country's natives. He heard these people speak before. Surely he was not on a reservation? Either way it did not matter, not now.

"I'm passing through, you have my word." The vampire replied. The tall grass made it difficult to properly access the situation through sight and the smell of the dead human body distracted his other super natural smell. If these were mere mortals, Achille wouldn't have been opposed to fighting his way out but the realization that he was caught in a trap by the natives was an uneasy feeling.

"You will ride far from here. You will not rest even in daylight. This is your only warning." And just like that the voice faded. Again Achille tried to guess the proper number through sound but they moved quietly and disguised their movements well... they were true hunters in their element. Forced to concede this situation, Achille mounted his horse and continued west...

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

It was now daylight and the sun was bearing down on him. Achille rarely travelled during the day, it was when he was weakest to be exposed like this. Despite his strong frame, Achille felt tired and weak but took care not to show it in case he was still being pursued by those he had encountered earlier.

Riding into the town of Longwater, Achille would have been quite a peculiar sight. Dressed in all black, ornate weapons visible, his face hidden by a bandana, it would have been easy to tell what type of activities he dabbled in. Yet it seemed the attention was elsewhere as a crowd was gathering right by the sheriff's office. In need of a place to stay as he calculated his ongoing hunt, Achille rode towards the crowd to listen in on the conversation. If he was going to be here for awhile might as well introduce himself and get a proper feel for the town's folk.

Star Wars - Rise of Crusade

@DragonofTheWest just so you're aware they're not in the council Chambers they're in the briefing room. Think of the one from Revenge of the Sith or Ckone Wars

@Sep

Oops I just realized my mistake, I'll make the adjustments

Star Wars - Rise of Crusade

AHCH-TO // JEDI TEMPLE

Dante arrived at the designated Jedi council room and was surprised to see the room already occupied with several individuals. The young Jedi Knight was prepared to make some witty remark as an excuse to excuse his arrival but instead stepped into the room after recognizing that another individual had raced into the room before he did.

"My apologies for my tardiness. I hope I didn't miss anything."

It was brief and simple though internally Dante was slightly embarrassed. Perhaps in a bigger room he would snuck and blended in though that wouldn't be the case here. Dante's eyes started to move from person to person, his mind working to identify who was who. The easiest one was the other Jedi. Even though time had passed, the individual seemed somewhat familiar, after all there wasn't too many Jedi in the new order and he was sure he must have seen her face once before whether through some other meeting, in person or some file. As Dante scanned the room however it was the completely foreign faces that earned his interest. One of them was a Zabrak and judging from her appearance, she wasn't a Jedi but still suited enough to handle her own. Yet in the brief sentences he just heard... it all made sense. It looked like Jedi and Rangers were once more coming together to collaborate.

Placing his arms behind his waist, Dante bowed his head and awaited what was to come.

Frontier of the Damned

@Silentfeather
Yea, you too.

By the way, if you want to have Kira be able to walk around in daylight in a weakened state (like the OG Dracula) that's totally fine. I don't want you to miss half the plot simply by not being able to be in the sun.

@Nobodyman123

I was actually gonna do that haha nice to know thats works with you