Majoraa — Roleplayer Guild

Level: 1
EXP 3/10
Word Count: 2,856
Current Location: Dead Zone, RCPD (Chief's Office >> Third Floor)Collab between @Majoras End and @Lugubrious

Carrying the treasures salvaged from the private collection room, Nero made for the main hall, leaving Joker to follow. The young thief lagged behind somewhat, still on the hunt for some discovery, and it was that unwillingness to throw in the towel so soon that led to his first real find. As he followed in Nero`s footsteps back toward the safe area, a faint noise reached him. Its quietness, borne not of weakness but distance and obstruction, almost prevented its identification, but Joker could tell what it was. A scream of genuine terror, welling from the depths of the chest and pumped through a ragged throat, drifting to him from the above.

Part of the third floor could be seen from Joker`s current position, since it too had a walkway that ran around the perimeter of the main hall, but unlike the second floor no stairs provided a way up to it.

There had to be a way up there. Despite not wanting to leave Nero alone so suddenly, the thief couldn't couldn't shrug off the fact that there was someone in danger. So Joker allowed his third eye to guide him, looking for a way up. Though he felt like he had to hurry, or it would be too late to save them, whoever they are.

While no convenient ladders or chandeliers appeared to be hanging around, there existed enough for nimble hands and sharp wit to exploit. Before him stood a bannister by the stairs, a hefty wooden railing running parallel to the great window stretching up the main hallls back wall, and finally another bannister. Climbing atop it would lend enough height that a good jump could get Joker a grip on the elaborate archway holding up part of the third floor walkway, and from there he could climb up to the third floor. With the lack of footholds, it meant a lot of strain on any prospective fingers and biceps to hoist oneself up, but short of a grappling hook nothing would be faster.

"Note to self, get Mona to help me make a grappling hook." Joker said, as the thief made his way through the quickest path up for him. It took a bit of stubbornness to pull himself up, with the strain working against him. 

The sound from before led him down the walkway. One after another he tried the doors he encountered, making a steady loop around the third floor, but all were locked until the last. When he tugged open the eastward door, which lay almost directly above where he stood when he heard the scream. Its handle offered significant resistance, and when it slid open, an eerie fog spilled forth. A wall of mist hung in the threshold, and when he crossed it Joker found himself in a room far larger than East Storage had any right to be. All sorts of junk lay strewn about and piled high, some up to the ceiling. The stink of fear hung in the air, and of ozone, riddled with the sickly-sweet smell of blood. 

A few feet away, a young woman sat huddled against a crate. She held her head, her palms in her eyes, rubbing furiously as if to try and dispel some sort of affliction. 

Joker carefully approached the woman, not wanting to scare her. "Miss? Is everything alright, are you hurt?" He asked her, searching through his pockets for some medicine in the case that she needed it.

The girl responded to his presence instantly, indicating lucidity. She looked up from her hands, regarding Joker briefly with suspicion in her eyes. It soon faded, however, leaving only the fatigue and sharpness of long suffering. "Shut up!" she whispered, creeping up to look over the crate. "Fine for now, but not if he sees us." The word carried a certain gravity, and the moment she said it, Joker could feel a certain tension. Some sort of presence, not too far away, was quickening his beating heart.

He visibly tensed up, pulling out his rebel knife. With his free hand, Joker offered to help the girl up. "I can help you out of here, I know a few others that can protect you, if you can trust me on this." He whispered, looking around cautiously.

A blank stare. "You're...going to try and fight him?" A humorless chuckle escaped her. "Good luck." Still, she took his hand and got up into a ready crouching position. Movement farther inside the room caught her attention, and she narrowed her eyes to watch with bated breath.

The two saw a man stumble around a corner, knocking over a few cans. He moved with desperation rather than caution, and the reason why soon became apparent. A red glare fell upon his back, a baleful, evil luminance, and a moment later a doctor appeared. He held in one hand a crude, brutal-looking beatstick, and around the other danced sizzling bolts of electricity. His target's gaffe prompted him to raise his hand and release a crackling wave that rolled over the man and across the floor. The corrupt spark flooded his system, tearing a terrified wail from his throat, and in his panic he could not evade a crushing blow from the doctor's blackjack. Blood flew as pain spurred the wounded man onward, giving him a precious moment of speed to escape a deadly second blow. He darted past a pallet and threw it down to block the doctor's path, and when the killer stopped to kick it to pieces, he escaped into the gloom.

Joker's new acquaintance had clamped her hands over her mouth to avoid screaming herself. Clearly his corrupt spark had touched her too.

The thief cursed under his breath as he watch the Doctor attack the man. He drew his handgun and fired at the killer to draw attention to himself. "Stay behind me!" Joker told the girl, getting into his fighting stance.

For a moment the sound of gunshots confused the killer, as though he'd never heard them before. The bullets, aimed hastily and in the dark, did not strike him, but the image of a survivor exposed and vulnerable filled his vision. With eyes and mouth pried open by disturbing instruments, he let out a wild cackle and started to move. He approached with long, purposeful strides, forgoing electricity to ready to blackjack instead.

As the Doctor started to approach him, Joker brought a hand up to his mask. "Come, Arsene!" In a blue flame, the mask burned away, a shadow obscuring most of his face. Behind him, his persona appeared in the same flames, though Arsene could have been mistaken for another demon, something about him was different. 

Joker commanded the phantom to use Eiha against the killer, before the thief slashed at him with his knife.

The spell struck the Doctor dead-on, but the hulking killer bulled through the dark magic. Rather than trying to dodge Joker stood his ground and lashed out with his knife, yet still his adversary didn't stop. He took the dagger's cuts without flinching, already having raised his club. He slammed it down on Joker with outrageous strength, halving his health in one mighty blow.

Well, brute force went south. The thief was lucky to still be standing. Or alive for that matter. He just hoped he could distract the Doctor long enough for the two survivors to get to safety, but it was obvious he wouldn't be able to defeat the killer by himself.

Motioning his acquaintance to get out while she could, Joker lured the Doctor away from the entrance as best as he was able to. Maybe there was something he could use among the junk to help?

The girl only glanced incredulously in the direction of Joker`s motioning, at the impassable fog wall in the doorway, before sprinting away herself. She pivoted around a stack and headed in the direction taken by the other survivor. If her actions were anything to judge by, escaping was not an option at the moment. Meanwhile, the Doctor began his pursuit. He began to pursue his new target with gusto,  relishing the chase. 

The thief kept firing his gun at the killer, focused on evading any attacks targeted at him. Playing Cat and Mouse with a deranged psychopath wasn't really a good idea, if he was honest, but he could trap him if he timed things right.

A few stray bullets struck the Doctor, but he kept on coming. His huge, intentful strides allowed him to marginally outpace Joker, not by much, but by enough that he grew steadily closer and closer, that perilous red glare falling heavier and heavier on the thief`s back. Around him shelves, boxes, and various items rose like the walls of a hedge maze, hemming him in and limiting his options, but those same objects provided a glimmer of hope. If he could collect his thoughts long enough to suppress the primeval terror of being chased, a whole assortment of potential gambits lay within his grasp, waiting to be used.

Then, the idea hit him. If he could find and gather enough supplies, the thief could quickly make some megido bombs and such to give himself an advantage. Joker maneuvered around the Doctor to grab what he can. He had to get the killer off his trail, so he decided first to make a smoke bomb to help him hide.

A near missed crushed an antique clock instead of Joker`s head as he swerved around an obstacle. The Doctor moved around it to resume the chase, but he`d lost ground. When it came to a straight line he could evidently outpace any survivor, but his cornering wasn`t quite so fast. When given a moment Joker rummaged in the darkness, searching for anything of use to make a bomb. If the encounter had happened in an armory, he might have been in luck, but there was too much to sort through. After a few moments another survivor, noticing Joker`s predicament, shouted to get the Doctor`s attention. The killer looked away only a moment, but it was enough for the dark-clothed youth to slip away into the shadows, and without hesitation the Doctor started off after his new prey.

A few tense moments passed. Then Joker ran right into the other male survivor from before. "Get down!" he urged, crouching behind a ratty sofa. A pitiful look lurked behind his glasses. "You new? Nevermind, we have a sec. Let`s heal each other." Without any prompting the guy started patting Joker down, and in bizarre fashion, his health actually started to return. He healed the thief right back to full, then waited expectantly.

Joker nodded to the other male. Once healed, he used the bit of medicine he had with him to heal the other male as thanks. "How long has everyone in here been dealing with that guy?" He asked him, worried for the survivors.

The guy`s face became the picture of resignation. "A very long time. Not always the same place, or the same killer, or the same people. Sometimes we power on the generators and escape. Sometimes we die." Still on alert, he glanced above the sofa. In the distance, the red light emanating from the Doctor illuminated the helpful man from earlier on his shoulder. "The killer can`t off us himself. He downs us, then puts us on the hooks, and the Entity takes us away. If we had a flashlight we could blind the killer to let that guy escape, or pull down a pallet, or just wait `til he`s on the hook and pull him off." He spoke matter-of-factly, all too familiar with his subject material.

"Think there's any flashlights in the boxes? Or a generator nearby?" Joker asked him. He couldn't really hide the disbelief on his face that no one else in the area knew about them, or the nutcase in a doctor's coat.

His new acquaintance nodded. "Yeah, just look around. Two generators are online already. Saw another along that wall." With a tilt of his head he pointed out the north-facing wall. "But even if we do escape this trial, we`ll be thrown into another soon enough. It`s a vicious cycle."

He couldn't believe it. There had to be a way to help them escape, to break the cycle, but what? "...Has any of you tried fighting back?"

An incredulous shake of the head was his reply. "We`re just normal people, man. Hungry, tired, scared. The killers are brutal. We can`t fight back."

"I might be able to help you with that." The thief weakly smiled a bit. "Though I sure as hell can't fight him myself, we might need the others to help."

The announcement provoked a miserable chuckle. "Yeah? How?"

"There's more than one way to win a fight." Joker looked around. "We can set up a trap to deal a heavy enough blow to him to finish him off, but it'd take too long to go through all this junk normally."

The guy shook his head. "Lead the way, then."

"Call me Joker." The thief introduced himself. "And you're...?"

"Dwight Fairfield," he replied, as if it didn`t matter.

Thanks to the info he got from Dwight, Joker knew how to set his plan in motion. Before the Doctor could string up another survivor on a hook, him and the others could force him onto it instead. The thief gathered a few flashlights, and a couple of med-kits just in case they had to heal someone. The construction materials were set up to trip the Doctor, with the furniture acting as the hiding spots for the survivors.

Now to wait.

The Doctor worked tirelessly. A sudden change in the atmosphere interrupted the stakeout, and part of the ceiling turned to ashes. Long, black limbs, spiderlike and spiked, extended downward over another hook at the other end of the large room. As Joker and Dwight watched, they pierced the survivor hung there -the man from earlier- and pulled a soul from his body to carry away into the void. Dwight shook his head; there was nothing he could do now. A scream reached the two, and after shifting his angle Dwight could see the Doctor picking the girl up and carrying her on his shoulder. He made a beeline for the hook, only to come to a stop. Some crap had been piled in his way right in front of it, short enough to step over but still irritating. With a grunt the Doctor started smashing the makeshift `trap` using his foot, while the girl wiggled furiously.

A risky move, Joker grabbed a flashlight, and came out of his hiding spot to face the Doctor. He whistled to get his attention, and once the killer turned around, shone the flashlight in his face with the intent to stun him.

The Doctor spun around only to receive a blinding glare straight in the eyes. "Nngh!" His grip loosened just enough for the girl to slip free. She hit the floor running and was off, unaware of her fellows` plans. Growling, the Doctor released a wave of maddening electricity to try and force Joker back.

The thief stood his ground, even if he had to hold back a pained yell from the corrupted spark, and rushed up to tackle the Doctor onto the hook. While not the heaviest of men, he managed to push the stunned killer across the remains of the tripping hazard. He went over, his own weight working against him, and fell on the hook. It stabbed through his chest, electricity arcing between himself and the metal hook, as he attempted to get off. He tried once, and the faint outlines of needly legs appeared around him. After the second try they materialized fully and bent in to impale him. The Doctor grabbed onto the legs to hold them at bay, uttering an incoherent stream of rage, but there was nobody to save him. After reeling back the limbs of the Entity sank into his flesh, dragging a odious soul from his body, and into the dark sky beyond the ceiling it went.

Going limp, the leftover body turned to ash, leaving behind the killer`s spirit. Around the room the fog began to dissipate, including the barrier blocking the door out of here. Strangely the room itself seemed to get smaller, collapsing bit by bit until it returned to its ordinary size.

Throughout the whole thing, Dwight was speechless. "That...worked?" he breathed, not daring to hope. The girl joined them, just as baffled. "We can`t be free...right, Min?"

"Never underestimate the will of a Phantom Thief. But if you're still unsure, well, we'll just have to see for ourselves." Joker smiled, pointing to the exit.

The others followed his lead, still at a loss. They pushed through the door without incident, finding themselves inside a normal building. Both almost collapsed, fighting to keep themselves steady. Whatever this world held, they were free from the nightmare, and they were alive.

Glad that they were free, Joker lead them back to the main hall, hoping to explain his sudden disappearance.
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