Exodus

A Murderer's Game

I'll be gone until Monday. I don't anticipate being able to post. Sorry all.

A Murderer's Game

“Okay. Here’s what’s going on. We got this bloody man, and he’s dead, his head cut off and put in front of The Queen, kneeling. He had this in his hand.

Dorian rolled his eyes.

"Brilliant analysis as always, Constable."
He took the note, reading it silently:

'He died as he lived: Kneeling before a fat woman. The next one might not be able to say the same.'

"Interesting."
The detective paced around the scene, his eyes flicking around to several points of interest.

“As you probably already know, this ‘Game Master’ is bloody bonkers. We got three witnesses, one even saying she saw the entire thing. They’re in that house over there,” gesturing to the house across the street. “It belongs to one of the witnesses, and she’s letting us question them in the house while we’re here.”

Dorian nodded. Three witnesses was very generous. Not likely a mistake. After all, this was the Game Master. That's all this was to him, and maybe to some extent Dorian as well: a game.

"Mr. Karloff, if you could gather what you can from the scene... Don't hesitate to be thorough, though, do try to keep it undisturbed... I'll finish up here once I speak to the witnesses."

He turned on his heels and started towards the house.

A Murderer's Game

Brrrriiiiing!

"Telephone!"

Brrrriiiiing!

"Katherine!"

Brrrriiiiing!

"Good lord, make it stop!"

Brrrriiiiing!

"Kathie, please! I'm busy!"

Katherine almost stomped into the study from the kitchen across the hall in their flat.

"What's got ye' so busy this time? Christ, tha' phone's right next te' ya'!"

Dorian was on the ground, on his knees, with notes and a pen in hand. In front of him was a tortoise, evidently with wet paint on its feet, walking around on a sheet of paper. He scribbed a few notes on his own paper before lifting the tortoise up and starting to repaint its feet. Katherine would have sighed, if she hadn't become used to this sort of behavior from the man a long time ago. She picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Good morning, miss. Could you please tell Mr. Dorian that Chief Constable Grayson requests 'is presence at the Queen Victoria statue on Baker Street? The Game Master has struck again".

"Aye, sir. Good day, sir."

Dorian didn't look up from his 'work.'

"Who was that?"

"A constable, sir. Wanted ta' see ye', e' said tha' Game Master struck again."

The man dropped his notes immediately, and stood up. He was visibly (and perhaps disturbingly, given the circumstances) overjoyed at the case's continuation, and had been waiting painstakingly for this call.

"The Game Master! It's time, then, I'll fetch my coat at once!"
He immediately ran out of the room, grabbing his coat from a hook and stuffing a few items into his pockets. He turned back into the room briefly.

"Be a dear and clean Oliver while I'm out, would you?"
He motioned to the tortoise.

"Aye, I'll get 'im."

Dorian smiled and ran out of the room again. He turned around a split second later, running back into the room, where he suddenly, though gently, put his hands on her cheeks and kissed her. He wheeled around and ran out again.

"M-Mr. Dorian!" she stuttered, surprised, and started to blush.

"Not now, Kathie, I've got a killer to catch!"
He was out the door before she could say any more.

---

"Excuse me, please, excuse me, sorry madam, excuse me..."
He weaved through the crowd to approach the scene, almost disregarding the line of officers keeping the citizens out. He recognized a few faces, namely Chief Grayson and Alexander Karloff (who he occasionally worked with). Grayson was speaking to a young woman as Dorian approached.

"Good morning, Chief Grayson. Ma'am." He nodded to both of them politely. "I'll get to examining the scene immediately, if I could borrow Constable Johnson to fill me in." Dorian started walking away. "But only him. I like him. He's got a certain quality about him... He rambled on, moving further out of earshot.

A Murderer's Game

Will post soon.

Spiderverse: the Return

Team 1 in the sewers where you at?!?

~KL~

@The Kid Lantern

I tried to expedite things in my post by keeping everyone together. I didn't want to write any more without anyone else posting, but I could push it further if I have to.

Spiderverse: the Return

I replace my mask before I enter the portal. I drop in, onto the concrete sidewalk next to the sludge. The sewers smell disgusting. Not that I expected anything different from a sewer. After a minute or two, while we're still milling around the portal, I'm able to block it out mentally.

I'm left with the scents of my allies, though Clan is trying to cover his up with the muck. It would be enough to fool a dog, but I'm unsure of the tracking capabilities of these goblins. I decide to say nothing.

"So what do you guys say? Divide and conquer, clear more ground to find our comrade faster? Though, we kind of have to deal with the goblins single-handed as well."

Neo suggests on how to proceed, followed by Clan's idea.

"Two by two, Neo and Silk, Murdock and me. We keep teams and double ground coverage. I assume for scanner purposes, we were not given radios to communicate with."

"Wait."

I say, and then I start to listen, and focus on what I hear. The sludge is shifting back and forth. A bug is scrabbling up the wall behind me. Six legs. No Spider-Man or Goblin within a few blocks. Anyone could have figured at least that, these sewers echo well. A blessing and a curse. I wouldn't be able to hear from this far away if they didn't, but the Goblins will be able to hear us as we approach. I focus further. I hear the engine and jets from a glider, and cackling voices.

"The itsy-bitsy spiIiIIder..."
"Come out and plaaAaaAYYyy..."
"HAhahaHAHAHahAHaHaH!"

Their echoed taunts are nothing if not unnerving. I feel safer knowing that the Goblin of my world is no threat, having been dead now for about a year. He was too dangerous for me to allow otherwise.

From the same direction I can faintly make out footsteps and the triggering of a web shooter. He's on the edge of my range, I'll lose him soon. If we go now, we can probably catch our target before we run into any Goblins, though they'll hear us coming and will find us shortly after. If we waste any more time, I'll lose him and have no more of a clue than any of the others.

"No need to split up," I say. A response to the previous idea, only a minute or so passed while I listened. "He's that way." I point. "We can catch him first if we hurry." With a little more urgency, I add, "Now!"

Spiderverse: the Return

@knighthawk

Y'know, about that line about ninjas being better on a team... The Law of Conservation of Ninjutsu says otherwise. :P

Spiderverse: the Return

Three heartbeats. Ba-bump. I tune my own out. Ba-bump. Two heartbeats. Ba-bump. I've memorized one already- it's Spider-Fist's. Ba-bump. One other person in the room. Ba-bump. It's beating faster than a normal heart. Ba-bump. I hear Spider-Fist walk away, and suddenly we're alone. Me and the other one, presumably another version of me. Or is it another version of 'Spider-Man?' I'll save the philosophical questions for later. I can sense the extra mass around their torso. Extra arms. More arms to pump blood to. Faster heart. Makes sense.

I simply nod to them, and almost as a response, the mass is gone and the heartbeat slows. Their arms are gone. Soon, Spider-Fist returns with more Spider-Men, one by one, until there are seven others, plus Spider-Fist.

"Hmmph, I could have more arms but there's no more room on my rib cage..."

The voice came from Tarantula, the one who was already here when I arrived. It was under his breath, probably inaudible to everyone else in the room, but I heard it clearly. I now know his name, shape, heartbeat, smell, and voice... Another voice speaks up.

"Now that I have you all gathered here, if everyone would remove your masks... I know there may be some hesitation in some of you but trust me when I say that you are among friends here."

Spider-Fist. I hear the faint swishing of the other Spider-Men removing their masks. Hesitating, I'm last to remove my own. I figure at least one of them is staring at me, but it doesn't bother me. The exercise was probably supposed to build some trust between the group immediately, but it does nothing for me. Oh well. I run a hand through my hair, setting it back down after removing my mask stood it up. It felt funny that way.

Spider-Fist starts dispensing information on the enemy before he's interrupted by two more Spider-Men. Before they finish their speech, I have a good grasp on their identities, (except their names, having not introduced themselves) as well as everyone else's in the room. The other "me's" start asking questions, one called Neo requesting more information on the goblins and commenting under his breath that he hasn't actually faced one before. A rookie? Spider-Fist must have a good reason to call somebody with no experience in. A Spider-Woman, Silk, calls the ones asking questions out on their time-wasting. Thank God. Spider-Rogue agrees with her, as do I. We need to move soon. Finally, I speak up.

"So what are we waiting for? Let's go."

A Murderer's Game

Yep. I'm here.

Spiderverse: the Return

Sorry I'm a bit late to start, I hate writing on my phone. I'll have time and computer access to write later today.