LorelleQuips

(Dead) The Gifted World

Toby's hand flew up on instinct to catch Vivian's wrist, only to find there was no need. "Um...thanks," he said mildly, using the opportunity Montana had given him to roll away and push himself to his feet. It was a bit jarring, getting aid from...one of Them.

Hoping Montana was keeping her busy enough to hold her attention, and that she was too worn to make another teleportation, Toby considered taking off after Dawn again, pretty sure his long strides could outstrip anything but another warp...but he rather wished Montana hadn't reminded the woman about the mind manipulator. And it was becoming clear that she was going to protect the mind manipulator until she was subdued. He switched his gun to his left hand and withdrew a combat knife for his right. He would rather a firefight than a hand to hand brawl, but she was good, clearly good enough to dodge bullets, and if the teleporter got up close and personal again, he wouldn't be wasting ammunition. And he didn't forget that the regenerator could turn on him at any moment.

He took a defensive stance, waiting for Vivian's move.
---

Spire couldn't hold Dawn forever. He needed to blink, his focus was growing scattered by concern the longer it took Toby to appear in his peripheral vision, and the mental effort to sustain mirroring the young woman's ability was making his head ache almost as much as hers.

Well. Probably not nearly as much as hers.

The teleporter must have been causing more trouble than he expected. He should have taken her out first. His desire for a close fight the teleporter with the psychic out of the way had clouded his judgment - now Toby must be stuck with the fight, with only enigmatic Yoda in a Box to help him--or hinder him, for all Spire knew.

Spire felt the threads of his control snap. "Agh," he hissed through his teeth, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment at the sting of pain. He was no more good from this perch. She was so far away, and his eyes had gone so watery and blurry, he could hardly see her. He only hoped the young woman's brain sufficiently resembled scrambled egg after their long session together, leaving her weak until he could get her in his sights up close.

He did not attempt Montana's flying squirrel act, instead catching a dangling steel cable through his sleeve and sliding down two floors, making so much friction the fabric of his coat smoked, then dropping the final distance and rolling to keep his knees from shattering.

He sprinted to catch up.

(Dead) The Gifted World

Spire couldn't look at the inhumanly agile regenerator at his side, nor could he check to see what had "preoccupied" his brother. But his answer was sharply directed, earnest, and immediate.

"Help Toby."

Marchand: Of Mages, Mystery, and High School

Runes professor? And maybe a student as well.

(Dead) The Gifted World

An understated "Oh" was Toby's reply to Vivian's arrival and hostile greeting.
He evidently wasn't much for the mid-combat wordplay.

Toby expected the teleporter to come after him, but he expected to make it more than a few hundred yards before she warped so boldly in his path. Catching him off guard like that, Vivian would have spilled Toby's guts then and there if not for the microsecond of warning he got by sensing the teleporter's Curse.

The forward momentum of his run made it impossible to jump backward, so the only way to get out of the blade's path was to throw himself to the left, too violently to keep his balance, instead skidding on his side, fluttering up a cloud of ash. But even as he dived, he twisted his torso and aimed, so that when he stopped few yards past her, his eye, his gun, and her center mass made a straight line. Teeth clenched in a grimace of discomfort from his impromptu slide to home base, he squeezed the trigger once.

Even with the awkward spontaneity of the shot, Montana had been right about Toby's steady hand.

-

Spire could see none of this. Even though he noticed the teleporter vanishing from his peripheral, he had to keep his eyes on the mind manipulator, or she could wreak havoc on his brother when he approached. With the young woman so far away, Spire could barely keep his squinting focus as it was - already he worried his hold on her might slip if she pushed back - and intermittent wreckage would have hidden Toby even if he could look away from his target.

Underscoring these practical considerations, he liked the way said target cringed and folded like her hard drive was shorting out. He wished he was closer for a clearer view.

(Dead) The Gifted World

I think it's perfect! (: I love Eddie baiting Kora...

(Dead) The Gifted World

"Or isn't close enough to get a good hold," Spire mused.

"A mile, give or take," Toby chipped in quietly.

Spire looked around, studying the surroundings before heading toward one of the more sound-looking buildings, a three-story structure that may once have been some manner of office building. He stowed his weapon and took hold of the exposed steel bars and crumbling cement, scaling toward the top floor while avoiding the shards of glass camouflaged by the gray ashdust.

Spire looked over his shoulder at Montana. "Sorry that this isn't a very cheerful welcoming party, old man, but trust me when I say it's a little late to be making friends with this one. This is a bit of a kill or be killed situation. There's some history." All his and Toby's history, mind you, but not exactly a lie.

Toby shaded his eyes to watch Spire's progress up the side of the building. "So...I d--dunno if it's rush hour around here or what, but some of that other group is moving this general direction...and, um..." he said. Out of nowhere, a new presence had burst into his senses. "There's another one. Resurrecting. Was probably, you know, d--dead a minute ago, so I missed it, said Toby. He coughed. "If they all show up, we're probably in over our heads a little, here," he muttered.

A resurrector and regenerator. Because killing one or the other wouldn't be enough of a pain. Spire could just imagine the hassle of alternately killing Montana, then this resurrector, one popping back up as the other went down, he and Toby unable to keep either of them dead enough to get them both in the ground, like some macabre Vaudeville routine.

Usually in a situation like this, Spire and Toby would wait, avoid confrontation, sometimes even buddy up with the strangers until sleep or trust left guards lowered, but the presence of a mind reader blasted a bit of a hole in any tactic that involved deceit.

In any case, they needed to get rid of the mind manipulator.

Spire had reached a firm foothold in the empty windowsill of a gutted office. Far away, he could see the smoke curling from the flames of the damaged building. A bit closer, several other figures, and what looked like an animal of some kind. Closer still, but still far enough that he had to squint to see detail, two women. "Kid?"

Toby closed his eyes to concentrate before pointing in the direction of the psychic and teleporter. "Your left."

Spire focused on the leftmost girl, the mind manipulator, as well as he could at the distance. "Hang tight. I still want to hear those stories of yours," he said to Montana, and then his matte gray eyes turned bright as mirrors as he used his ability. He smiled, feeling his power hit her. "All yours, Toby."

Toby took off toward the quarry, knowing that as long as Spire kept his eyes locked in the psychic, she would almost certainly be down, her brain screaming with pain or her body out of her control. Now his only obstacle would be the teleporter.

(Dead) The Gifted World

Vit is out of town, I think, but my understanding was she's still on speaker since Kora said "We're not here to give the scrub a history lesson." If I'm wrong I'm sure you can edit after she gets back. :)

(Dead) The Gifted World

No worries. We all have those weeks!

I am excited to see where all this is going, tho.

(Dead) The Gifted World

Speaking of bullets, Spire counted the shiny, tipped cylinders in the clip of the 9mm in his belt. (Marksmanship wasn't Spire's game like it was Toby's, but he'd be an idiot not to carry a ranged weapon.)

"Well," Spire said, "the expression 'give them a taste of their own medicine' comes to mind. Just have to get them in my sights. You'll probably be seeing a demonstration soon, here."

...And another, very up-close demonstration later on.

Spire was cautious of showing Montana his entire hand unnecessarily, but they might be allies for a while, and knowing each other's abilities could be strategically critical.

(Dead) The Gifted World

Toby's efforts to control his thoughts waned and then died as he heard Montana speaking freely about the potential danger of a mind manipulator's approach.

Maybe feigning neutral intentions--feigning that they didn't know she was there--in order to lure the mind manipulator into shooting distance was a bad tactic anyway. Wouldn't it just be better to avoid an altercation altogether? He imagined it would be a small percentage of ashlanders - even powerful mentalists - who would intentionally pick a fight with a trio standing ready to kill.

Yeah, okay. Go away. Let's not fight, he thought, all literary distractions falling away from his mind, leaving him to think clearly of the fact that he was, indeed, aware of her, aware of her range of influence, aware of what she could try to do to any one of them, and aware that they were on some level prepared for that possibility.

Unlike his younger brother, Spire rather wished to maintain the charade of innocence; despite the danger of the desire, he wanted the mind manipulator and the teleporter to come close enough. Three of them. Item one, psychic, good to be shot in the head as soon as possible; item two, regenerator, some disassembly required; item three, teleporter, a veritable surprise box - Spire's power could just as soon bury her alive as leave her to fall through a thousand feet of air and go crunch on the ruins.

If Spire's mental distraction hadn't died enough with the slip of his imagination, it did when he answered Montana's warning.

"If that happens, I hope there are no hard feelings if we need to stuff you back in your box for a while, Dracula," he said.

He smiled. Since killing Montana was already on the docket for the day, whether the mind manipulator made him a puppet or not only affected whether they could speak of the old War or not. In his mind, the only real danger was if the mind manipulator was coordinated enough to control all of them at once.

"And, ah... I'd appreciate any force to be of the nonlethal variety if Toby or I suddenly try to take a shot at you," he added.

The hypocrisy of this request was not lost on him.

Dawn, it may be noted, would not find Spire's consciousness a pleasant place to dwell if she chose to thread the tendrils of her mind into his. Even if its fringe hadn't been hosting scenes of gory possibilities at the moment, it was not exactly a warm place.

It was oddly quiet there. Isolated, like some distance muffled and dulled everything outside.