"Never could trust you, I still got your location on, fell out of love, I delete all the nudes out your phone. Can't get a reaction out of me, that's what you want."
27 days ago
You have to live every day as if you've dropped your pants and told the whole world to suck your dick.
The space they were in was far from cosy, but it served well enough, the back office of an autoshop that gave them some privacy away from the clusterfuck that was the last twenty-four hours.
"So, Judas is dead?!" The voice had a rasp, a combination of excessive tobacco use and a recent chest infection.
"Yeah," the bearer of bad news said, a thirty-something-year-old with a shaven scalp and mechanic's overalls, delivering said news to his boss, "Cops got involved, none of the guys you sent came back. Don, Jay and Lonnie are dead. Bob's girl at the coroner's office said someone wasted Big Vic, too, not pretty either. And you already heard about the shit with Joe Skinner."
"Fuck," his boss grunted, then made a circling gesture with his fingers, "C'mon Eddie, don't hold out on me."
"We ain' seen the others either since last night. Maggie, Val an' El, Dean."
"And cheetahman?"
"No, apparently took off."
"Shame," the disappointment in his tone betrayed a certain hope that the night's events had disposed of the subject in question, "So, how did Judas get wasted? The cops do that?"
"I dunno, there was some trouble at the Vee-Vee, someone trashed the place, I sent the guys like you said, and then "
Conrad let out a sigh, took a swig from his flask, then began to massage his temples. After a moment's pause, he continued. "Judas? Please, god - no." His tone was flat, making his insincerity clear. "Vic V and the others? Yeah." He jabbed a knee into the underside of his desk, making its whole contents rattle, "There's no walkin' around that, s'a loss but they ain' exactly gonna be able to help us now, are they?" He slammed a palm on the table for emphasis.
"What about Valjean?" Eddie asked, "You know that Judas and him were bunked up, man's gonna make a play if the cops didn't get him."
"Ah, fuck 'em, Jeanie can suck Shaytuh for all I fucken' care, and his sister too." Conrad hocked, leaned off to one side, then spat in a nearby paper bin. "Fuckin' methheads and traitors is shit we can do without."
Conrad was not the prime of the Wolfpack; a man of middling age, with a widow's peak and lampshade mustache that both bore a salt & pepper tone. A vague stubble clung to his cheeks and chin, and his eyes were darkened around the edges, a consequence of missing sleep. To keep the cold off, he was wearing a jacket from some military surplus store, and had downed enough coffee to stay warm and awake that he was probably going to fill a bathtub with piss at some point.
However, for all intents and purposes, he was probably the only one left that had somewhere close to the numbers and strength to hold ground.
Eddie finally broke the silence, "What's that mean for us?"
"Shit, you been paying attention Eddie? Look around you," Conrad gestured off to one side, "Judas is dead. The others aren't worth shit on my boots. We are the Wolfpack." Conrad snapped his fingers, to make the point. "Look, I gotta get my head around a few things. Tell the guys not to fuck around for a couple days, I don't want the cops breathing down our necks while we reconsolidate."
Once he was sure he was alone, he let out another sigh, and planted both palms against his face. The reality was grim, although he wanted to see an opportuniy. Judas was dead. The rest of his Wolfpack's real muscle were dead or MIA. A few of Conrad's people, the ones he could trust, had been taken out too, and the whole thing had started when his lady's dumbass kid-brother had been found painted across the walls of a private room in the Veni Vedi Veni.
As it stood, he reckoned he had a chance at holding onto a chunk of whatever was left. Not everything - he knew that there was no holding in to that. The methhead, her brother and the carpetbagger were all dead end for varying reasons, some more obvious than others.
Opening his flask, he used what remained to top off his coffee and downed the whole thing, then reached for his cellphone.
The Wolf’s Den.
Conrad was instructed to travel deep in the woods on the very outskirts of St. Portwell… he was told to drive down a specific highway and stop at a speed limit sign. He was told to travel to the woods to the left of the sign, and he would enter a series of different symbols drawn on trees… Norse Pagan symbols. Conrad was instructed to follow specific symbols, in a specific order… until he reached a bush at the base of a hill. He was instructed to go through that bush… and on the other side of it was a makeshift walkway that was dug out of the side of the hill. Then there was a large metal door with a hatch on the other side. It was the Wolf’s Den, a secret bunker created by Kaiser Draeger to act as a hiding place in the event everything went wrong that only the top members of Das Sonnenrad knew about.
Apprehensively, he rapped his knuckles on the access hatch
The hatch opened by a slide… and then what had to be a little boy on the other side spoke.
“... Are you our guest?”
“Yeah, I'm Walt Disney.”
“... We will send the Dragonslayer out.” Strangely enough, two little boys spoke at the same time.
He muttered something beneath his breath. “Your boss's expecting me, yeah.”
“Name.” The two boys said at the same time. “We are expecting two different guests today.”
“It's van der Vegte,” he grunted back, “Are we gutte?”
The hatch closed, and after a few locks were undone, the door slid open, and the first thing Conrad saw were two eerie, twelve-year-old boys, one standing with the door open, and the other next to him. Staring at him with their dark eyes… and behind them was an imposing figure, a massive black knight armor that heaved a massive black sword over his shoulder. Behind them all was a long tunnel going downwards, lit by lights.
They stared at Conrad before they said, “Come in; Berlioz is expecting you.”
“Come play with us, Conrad, forever and ever and ever.” It was a statement half-whispered, inaudible for anyone but him. Instead, he offered them a nod and continued onwards. The two gestured for Conrad to go in front while they used all of their little might to shove the door closed, and then they walked down the tunnel with the strange suit of armor bringing up the rear. They walked down the makeshift wooden stairs to another hatch… a large, imposing metal door that the two boys quickly opened.
On the other side of the door was a large concrete room illuminated by lights dangling overhead, powered by a network of wires. The two led Conrad to one of the rooms to the right, a massive square concrete room with a large oval-shaped table and plenty of chairs… only four were inhabited. The Twins stood by one side of the door, and the strange suit of armor stood on the other.
The person standing on the table's head was a tall, bald man wearing a black suit and white shirt. He narrowed his eyes at Conrad as he said, “My dear friend, Conrad,” He started, “It is great of you to join us. I extended my invitation to all of the remnants of Kaiser Draeger’s followers… why did it take you so long to accept my invitation?”
“Give me some credit,” Conrad shrugged, “I was biding time until I had enough people to take back what we had. Didn't have a crystal ball for when Judas and his shitbirds would be outta the way, but we got it now.”
"Look, someone had to keep lights runnin' when K-D dropped out on us, what the fuck do you expect me to say?” Conrad's gaze flared, “I gotta eat too, so I did what I had to. You think I liked working with that fuckin' carpetbagger that Judas sent for collections?" He let the pause hang, "No. But I kept faith with the cause. You and me, we play this right, Portwell is ours and we can clear out the trash."
Berlioz stood up, and placed his fingertips together as he mused,
“St. Portwell…” He started, “... The touch of the subhuman horde has tainted it… this whole universe. We have no interest in ‘saving’ this wasteland.”
He let his words hang in the air.
“My organization seeks to find our paradise… Thule, a world in which the subhumans have never touched.”
“Yeah, yeah-” Conrad said, “I get that. The Pacific Northwest is still our gateway to that world. I'm just realistic, Berlioz. I know history's written by the victors and alla’ that bullshit, and I know we're on the right side, but… look at us. You wanna spend the next twenty years holed up here when we could be taking our dues?”
“With whom?” Berlioz answered as he leaned forward and put his fingertips together. “What exactly is your plan? And tell me exactly where it lines up with our plans?”
“I got reliable cash flow comin’ in,” Conrad gestured with his hands, fingers half-cocked to form a gun shape, “ A couple of places that bring in business. With Judas outta the way, that’s ours, easy. That means no more hiding. I want in on your plans. All I’m askin’ for is the means to back things up.”
He slipped a hand into his coat pocket, which prompted the Dragonslayer to step forward for a moment - presumption of a threat. That made him flinch, so he stopped, looked to Berlioz for approval, then tugged it back out once he gave the nod. Between his thumb and index finger was a cartridge, NATO 5.56 caliber, one any veteran would associate with the AR-15 and its family of rifles.
“I’ve got the numbers. I got the guns, too. I got some Thorall to clean out a Nat-Guard depot for us a few months back. What I don’t have is the kinda power that Judas’ pets and the fuckin’ shitbirds from last night can haul around. Jean and his junkie sister, plus that cocksucker from the jungle. Do I really gotta remind you what kinda problems Shayton brings just by being on our doorstep?”
Berlioz didn’t flinch or move an inch as he stared Conrad down, “Conrad, I know you have no way of knowing this, but can you guess who is on their way right now, ready to offer the deal of a lifetime?”
The man threw his arms up.
“Blake Schmidt,” Berlioz answered. “He wants to employ us as his Paranormal security force for him and his colleagues… We’d be working under the subhumans, but tell me something...”
Berlioz leaned back in his chair and said,
“... Which deal would you take? Getting millions of dollars or helping a con artist take over a petty street gang?”
“Bullshit. And I resent that phrasing.”
“Answer the question.”
“I'll take your point, but if you're looking for a show of force…” Conrad let the answer hang, outstretching both palms, “Level with me, Berlioz.”
“I have been,” Berlioz calmly replied. “This. Whole. Time.”
“The real question is why you insist on wasting our time, profligate!” The older woman said, “Those who fight over trash just end up in the landfill themselves!”
“What, that's it?” Conrad exclaimed, “I'm offering you actual warm bodies; you're leaving me with my dick in my hands?! Throw me a bone here for chrissake.”
“You’re probably used to getting left like that anyway,” Paige chuckled.
At this point, Berlioz got up from his chair and placed his hands behind his back as he walked over to Conrad, “Let me tell you something: Nathaniel… Kaiser Draeger…” He paused as he glanced at the Dragonslayer, “... He had ambition but an oh-so-small scope to it. So, his ambition was useless as he just could not see beyond St. Portwell.”
Berlioz let his words hang in the air, “He could only see St. Portwell, and only St. Portwell. While he had power for a time, he was felled by the subhumans in the end.”
He put a hand on Conrad’s shoulder as he continued,
“The same happened to Judas, I presume? He was so narrowminded that, in the end, he lacked the strength to handle the subhuman hordes. So let me ask you a question…”
Berlioz leaned in to ask the final question,
“... What makes you think you won’t end up the same way?”
“Shit,” Conrad spat, “What are we doing, then?”
“Simple,” Berlioz began, “You are going to fold your men into my Society… and we’re going to find Thule…” He paused, giving Conrad the side eye, “or die trying.”
“My men,” Conrad reiterated, then slapped a palm across his midsection with a bemused snort, “Fuck it. They're good boys; they'll do what they're told. I work with you on this… consider ‘em yours.”
Berlioz grinned as he walked over to Conrad and touched his shoulder.
“… Glad to have you on board, friend.”
He looked over his shoulder at the twins and said, “I believe our other guests should be here soon. Keep an eye on the door for us.”
The twins nodded and walked off into the halls of the Wolf Den with the Dragonslayer behind them. Berlioz gestured for Conrad to sit with the rest of the New Thule Society while he sat down and enjoyed a glass of wine. It wasn’t long before the Twins walked through the doorway into the Wolf Den’s dining room with their guests of honor! Blake, and Phillis Schmidt… dressed rather eccentricly. They both wear khaki button-up shirts and cargo shorts with backpacks with a safari cap on. Blake had on a backpack as Berlioz could not help but raised an eyebrow.
“Oh, my apologies, my good sir!” Blake said. “We had a hard time following your directions, but nonetheless!”
Berlioz took a sip of his wine as Blake clapped his hands together.
"This place is off limits, take your petty bullshit somewhere else."
. . . . 317 Rich Street
The 317 is a loosely organized faction in St. Portwell based out of an old industrial complex just off the main street. The group started on Main Street in a small storefront but quickly expanded due to popular demand and a sudden influx of artists from around the area, and from around the country as a whole. They have gotten their name from their street address, 317 Rich Street, which was an old industrial complex. Faith and Octavia, the two founders, bought the property together after a sudden influx of money that has been rumored to be due to Faith’s abstraction. Ever since they bought it seven years ago it has been brought up to modern code, however, the heart of the complex has remained without change as it was vital to Faith to keep it’s unique industrial aesthetic and atmospheric feel. Faith argued that the complex was as apart of the community's history as any other building, and she has worked hard to ensure that it remains as such. There are two wings to the building and they are connected in the middle by a large-open air community space. Food trucks dot the ends of it, allowing all who come to experience the delicious food of the local community. Underneath the building is a large basement where the 317 operates in full, and they have their paranormal services located here, including a divination table and medic station. They offer various services to the paranormal, and their most profitable is the cursed object business run by Faith.
They are a group that has a strong backing of paranormal artists and is one of the larger such groups in America. While not every artist has an art-based abstraction, every artist at least has an abstraction. They keep their paranormal dealings separate and out of the public eye during their open hours. The group does have a strict no-conflict policy on their premises and in the surrounding areas. They do not want to be drawn into any war with the various factions that call St. Portwell home, and with the recent gang war near the strip club, they have begun to enforce this even more. Any members caught supporting any other faction will be expelled with prejudice, as well any member caught cooperating with the PRA will be on their way out. Keeping the artist here safe, and employed, is more important to the leaders of the Cooperative than any amount of power that could be garnered from outside groups.
As they have grown, so too has their control over the area around the 317. While they are not a fighting force, they are led by three women with powerful abstractions that can often turn the tide if a rival group tries to poach their talent or push them from their space. Faith Ringgold, Sypha Fuchs, and Octavia Wilde are the primary powers in the Cooperative, and they ensure that the artists here always have a peaceful place to create and sell their art. Faith was the founder of the group after the Stygian Snakes rampage through the town. While she was never affiliated with any coven, she does know various members to some degree. Octavia joined a few years after its start and is the sister of current Sycamore Tree Coven member Jasper Wilde. She was never involved with the Coven either, however, Jasper’s recent return has put pressure on her shoulders. That is because she allowed Jasper to develop his talent within the confines of the Cooperative, and this exposure has allowed him to garner much more fame than anyone anticipated. His fame has brought attention on the 317, and attention has brought interest from outside groups. The Sycamore Tree’s recent fight with the biker gang, and with the PRA has made this even worse.
As things have started to get explosive in town once more, the 317 has begun to close ranks and keep a careful eye on every situation as it develops. The benefit of being a community hub is they often get information about the whereabouts and dealings of the various other groups, which will allow them to be ready if any group comes knocking. They are currently in possession of a few works of art that have apparitions sealed within. Their power, and their names, remain a mystery to all but Faith and Octavia. Rumor has it they are a pair of apparitions that have fought against each other for Eons, and if released they could spell trouble for any who is caught in their sick games.
Octavia.Wilde
28 | Octavia Wilde | She/Her[hr//]"Awwww looks like you walked right into that, sorry!"
Description:
Octavia is a short, petite woman who stands at a height of five feet and two inches tall. She has a lithe frame that is covered from the top of her shoulders to the tops of her feet in tattoos. There is no rhythm to the tattoos and most appear to have been done by very talented artists, and the line work, color work, and overall the quality is very high. She has got all of her tattoos from some of the very talented artists over at the 317.
She is the older sister of Jasper and she was present in St. Portwell during the attack on the Stygian Snake though she did not join the coven. Instead, she used her abstraction to help out where she could. She focused her abilities on fighting the Stygian Snakes monsters, and had a small army of them at her side by the time the fighting was over
Abstraction:
Spray Paint Spell Slinging
Octavia has a Red/Yellow Lux and her channeler is her ring which allows her to empower her spray paint cans and activate the sigils they create.
Spray Paint Spell Slinging: Octavia can enhance her spray paint cans with her lux, allowing them to paint sigils in the world that, when activated, can do a variety of different things. In a simple term, Spray Paint Spell Slinging focuses on hitting hard and hitting fast from range. She can create ice spears that fire on a target, enhance friends and structures to withstand punishment, and even summon defeated monsters to fight at her side. When Octavia activates her lux by pressing her ring to her spray paint can it will glow a dull white color. The paint from these cans will spray out and she can then form them into sigils, which she can then activate remotely with her ring.
Ice Shot: If Octavia wishes to use her Ice Shot, she must first create its sigil. The sigil is relatively simple to create, a circle with solid dots inside. There is no specific quality or number of dots, and as long as she is able to create the sigil it will work. However, the size of the sigil will effect what the spell is capable of doing. A small circle with three small dots will mean that three darts of ice get shot out. Whereas a large circle with ten bigger dots will ensure that Ice Shot shoots ten razor-sharp spears of ice. The fresher the paint, the stronger the sigil, and the more potent the spell becomes. She can create these sigils ahead of time, however, this would lose effectiveness before long.
She can further enhance this by making a sigil within a sigil. By spraying a second, larger ring around the sigil she can change Ice Shot into a more consistently firing spell. She can paint these sigils on walls, on canvas, on people, and any other surface that can hold the paint.
Creeping spears: Octavia can also send a wall of jagged ice forward. This wall of ice advances fast, and will move thirty feet in two seconds after activation. This will impale, push, and can even crush those unlucky enough to crush them under its weight. The sigil is three jagged v’s, with the top and bottom one hitting the circle they connect to. Octavia must ensure that there is a clean line where the sigils intersect.
The Wall: If defense is needed, Octavia can use a sigil that is a rectangle that sits inside a circle. The bigger the sigil, the bigger the wall however the height of the wall will always be the size of the rectangle. Therefore, if she would want to close off a passage the sigil would need to be the size of the passage itself.
Solid Support: If Octavia instead wishes to protect someone, she can paint the sigil of Solid Support on their back. The sigil is a more complicated one, and it is another circle with a person holding up the top of the circle. Once again, like Ice Shot, the bigger the sigil the stronger the effect however detail starts to become important. If the person is not making contact with the circle the power of the spell will not transfer properly. When activated, the sigil will freeze to the surface of whatever it is placed on.
She can also use this spell on solid surfaces to reinforce them. A door with the sigil on it might take three to five times as much force to breech, and the same goes for walls.
Sypha.Fuchs
28| Sypha Fuchs | They/Them [hr//]"I hope you aren’t squeamish"
Description:
Sypha is neither short nor are they tall, and they stand at a comfortable five foot six inches in height. They are often found wearing nice dresses, and a big coat during this season. Both her ears are pierced but they’re typically hidden under a mid length bob. They are always found wearing expensive rings and jewelry.
Sypha is a non-binary individual who hails from Boston. They spent most of their younger years on the East coast. They worked in an art gallery for a few years before they underwent her kindling event when a rogue agent attempted to bring a great evil into the world, and was only saved my the timely intervention by PRA agents. With their new abstraction, Sypha was quickly brought into a coven in Boston before they discovered the 317. They quickly joined their crew and came on board, bringing their abstraction and art selling knowledge to the team.
Abstraction:
Sypha is a green lux adept who can use their own blood to either heal, or destroy, a target.
Exsanguinate: Sypha channeler is a Swiss Army knife. Their abstraction is called Exsanguinate and it allows them to use their blood in many ways, but always with a cost. In order to use their power they must first open their body up and allow the blood to flow, most commonly through the palm of their hand. When engaged, or when needed, they can shoot off up to ten tendrils made from their blood and can hit many targets at once. Once they hit, these tendrils burrow into their target where they await the next phase of the spell.
Crimson healer: Sypha has an innate healing ability that allows them to recover from most non-fatal injuries in rapid succession. They can extend this healing magic to various targets through their blood tendrils. The more targets they use it on the slower the heal works. This can mend broken bones, heal most lacerations, and can even fix complex internal injuries. This healing comes at the cost of blood loss. The connection consumes blood through the tendrils in both directions, meaning the longer Sypha heals the more blood both they and their target lose. There is a real risk that both could pass out.
Scarlet fever: Sypha can infect enemies through their tendrils with a fast-acting blood disease that causes a high fever, nausea, and dizziness. Rarely is this disease fatal, and a person can recover within an hour after the last dosage of this fever. This will once again inflict blood loss on Sypha through the use of their tendrils.
Sanguine Slash: They can also use their tendrils to slash, and manipulate objects. To slash at a target, Sypha must first gather and shape their tendrils into a blade shape, push more of their own blood into it, and then it is usable to slash. To manipulate an object or a person, they can impale a target with as many tendrils as needed, and then use the tendrils to pick up and throw the target.
After placing the 317 description on the OOC, it's awfully long and it looks a little bit weird compared to the other faction descriptions... maybe a more concise version is in order?
"Because someone is killing us all. He calls himself Father Wolf, and he's been killing us one by one, no matter where we are. Members in different countries have been killed, and four others were found stabbed to death yesterday... Just like Kali. Each had a wolf statue left beside them. We've come back together to try and figure out what's killing us. All of us have lost friends, like Kali, or family members. We're all at risk. Of course, that doesn't help you trust us. I don't expect trust. But if you throw us all in jail, it will be a lot more difficult to find the actual killer."
“I think I can say one thing for everyone here, and that while we’re a bunch of idiots. I mean just look who we have within our midst. We’re not murderers, and I think you know that. If you’re able to plan this operation you had to know where we would be, you have access to our phones. Check our location data for yesterday, I’m confident that you’ll see that no one was there when your colleague was killed. Was anything found with the agent, perhaps an idol of an animal perhaps?”
Meifeng was silent momentarily as her gaze danced between Anya and Lynn... who had elected to be the big girls and do the talking for them, as the rest of the Coven had barely said anything worth a response. However, Cindy Keagan leaned into Meifeng (having to get on her tippy toes just to reach her somewhat taller friend), and whispered,
"It's just like what Agent Mahendra and Agent You-Know-Who said,"
Meifeng was silent momentarily before she turned towards Lynn and said, "... A strange Wolf Idol was found by his body."
"If anyone did it, it was Everleigh. She was pretty close to shooting him yesterday!"
Meifeng tilted her head at Linqian, and smiled ear to ear as she flatly asked,
"... What in the Goddamn?"
“you’re very pretty,” t
Jasper couldn't see the look of confusion on Fiona's face when he whispered this filith her way. She looked to the left and to the right before she took off her mask and revealed her inhumanity to him.
However, at this point, Agent Page pointed at the bushes where Tayla was hiding and shouted, "There's a girl in those bushes! I've been tracking her with my birds since she got here."
Meifeng smiled as she clapped her hands, took a few steps towards the bush, and announced, "Since you want to be in our business, you can be apart of it... Come out slowly, with your hands up. We're excited to get to know you." She chuckled as she sarcastically said.
”What is the meaning of this!?”
At this point, a portal opened, and a man with a woman in his arms stepped through. The first thing that all the PRA Agents did was aim all of their rifles at him. Meifeng adjusted her glasses as she looked at him and said,
"As far as I can tell, it has nothing to do with you. So go back into your..." Meifeng trailed when she noticed Auri in his arms. "Auri Auclair... [iwhat[/i] happened to her?" Meifeng spoke as she looked up at him with an eyebrow raised.
"Could I get some water, handsome?"
Maximilian awkwardly coughed as he looked at Lyss, then shouted, "Can I get a bottle of water, please?"
"I got it," Cindy said before she looked down at Luca and walked off to the PRA mobile command center.
Cindy returned from the PRA vehicle holding two bottles of water; she chucked one towards Maximilian, which he caught with both hands. She kept the other one in her hands as she walked over to Luca, then she sat down with her legs folded, and then... without seeming care, she lifted Luca's head with her arm so that it was in an upright position and stuck the bottle of water in his mouth. Luca decayed her arm, but she didn't so much as flinch as it decayed away more and more of her.
"... Don't worry about it, baby," Cindy said, "I am used to worse than this."
But, as Cindy was bottle feeding Luca, she craned her head around towards Meifeng and said, "... Meife- Agent Liao, I know I'm underneath you, but at the end of the day, I'm your friend... don't you think you're taking this too far?"
Meifeng whipped her head around towards Cindy and was silent as her friend continued.
"This baby-" and she was hoping that Luca didn't interpret that as her calling him a baby, "is coughing up blood, this girl almost bashed her head in, the church is on fire, and Agent Mayfield got injured."
From the spot where Sonya was laid out on the ground, she weakly raised a thumb in the air as she said, "Oh, this is nothing. I've suffered worse than this! Remember when I got my arms and legs ripped off, and I was swinging around with my tongue!?"
Sonya was silent for a moment.
"... As an aside, Trevor, can you heal me already!"
Cindy shook her head, before she continued.
"I know you-know-what, is still fresh on your mind, but that was an isolated incident. Enough is enough; you made your point and more." She narrowed her eyes at Meifeng.
"I have to agree," Maximilian said as he stared Meifeng dead on with his arms crossed. He continued as he floated towards Meifeng through the air. "We could have just arrested Everleigh at her apartment and left it at that..."
He pointed a hand toward the group and continued, "I know it's not my expertise, but none of these people look like killers... well..." He awkwardly coughed as his eyes landed on Everleigh, but he landed right in front of Meifeng and looked down at her.
"I know I'm technically just a Special Agent, but you forget that I have a lot of clout in this organization," He narrowed his eyes as he said, "You and I both know that Director Alcott will not be happy if they hear about this."
Meifeng was silent for a few moments.
Before she sighed and raised a hand in the air.
"... Uncuff them, we're letting them go..." Then she narrowed her eyes, turning her nose upwards as she looked at Everleigh and said, "... Except for her, she is coming with us."
The various Agents (sans Trevor because he's missing the skin off his hands) scrambled to uncuff everyone and Meifeng shook her head as she crossed her arms.
Cindy walked over to Jack and said, "Hey, I know it's not worth a lot, but I apologize for this... as a token of good faith, I can have Agent Obott heal the two of you."
Claire stood there, watching as the Stygian Snake rose from the darkness… its massive body blocking the night sky. Its eldritch red eyes shone brightly through the darkness as red electricity pierced through its body like an eldritch storm cloud. The Apparition recoiled for a moment before its jaw opened unnaturally and let out an echoing, blood-curdling scream that sounded vaguely human and was so loud that it hurt her ears; she had to drop her hockey stick as she had to grab her ears.
“... of fucking course,” Claire mused to herself; she bent forward and grabbed her hockey stick, and raised it in the air. Returning to her group, she announced, “Everyone, we gotta cut and run! We are not prepared for this fight!”
Alizée paled considerably and gave a nod to Claire.
"Shit, let's go," Bianca winced, boost dropping. With the hellhound gone, Linqian snapped out of her panic enough to react, glaring up at the snake. She stepped away from Bianca, body temperature rising to dangerous levels as she started to glow. There were still apparitions; they'd need to get through them to flee.
"Bea, stick with me," she hissed before beginning to burn her way through the constant wave of apparitions away from the snake.
Alizée slipstreamed behind Bianca, using her hands to ‘part the seas’ and scoop away handfuls of minions so Linqian had less to burn through. Like hell she was sticking around when the snake was so close by.
While this was going on, Jack took Reza to go make out in the corner.
At this point, the Stygian Snake had created a barrage of spear-like tendrils, ending in a barb. He created dozens and launched them at the group on the rooftop… each striking with enough force to shatter concrete and quickly flatten the buildings around them. Destroying a majority of its minions in the process
Several of the tendrils hit the building they were standing on…
“Everyone, jump!” Claire shouted as she hauled ass to the edge of the rooftop and lept… landing on the adjacent building with a roll. Fortunately, her barrier was enough to stop most of the damage from the roll. Amy had lept and landed next to Claire, using his club to take most of the impact by slamming it down first.
Alizée was the next to jump, balancing herself in the air and landing cleanly in a roll on cushioning void hands. They only felt a little cold.
"Fuuuuckkkkk," Linqian yelled as she jumped to the other roof, landing on her knees and rolling to the side, increased temperature making it only a little less painful. She immediately dropped it back to normal and turned around to catch Bianca as soon as she jumped over - like hell was she letting her get as hurt too.
A bright flash filled Claire’s eyes as Elsa and Zoey launched a monstrous bolt of lightning at the Stygian Snake… it had to be a distraction, as the two hauled ass down the fire escape immediately.
The light stung, but Alizée couldn't afford to let it slow her down. Alizée took a slightly faster approach than Claire, dropping from window sill to window sill until she reached the ground floor. She cast her eyes up, waiting for Claire and the rest to make it down safely. Linqian and Bianca ran for the fire escape, scaling down it as quickly as possible.
The Stygian Snake wrapped its dark tendrils around the building Zoey and Elsa were standing on… bringing it down as if it were styrofoam. Sending debris and a blinding cloud of dust in all directions. Claire prayed the two of them had made it off safely.
However, before Claire had a moment to think, Amy (a girl that was far smaller than her), scooped her up over her shoulder like it was nothing. “Hey, wa-” Claire tried to protest.
“No time, sugar!” Amy shouted as she lept towards one of the non-destroyed buildings… and slammed her kanabō against the wall, and it dug in; their momentum stopped just seconds later, and they were ground-level. Amy threw Claire off her shoulder and then stuck a booted foot against the wall to pull her club out.
“Thanks,” Claire said.
“Don’t mention it!” Amy shouted.
The two turned and ran in any direction the Stygian Snake was not in; Claire dug into her fucking utility belt that she had under this stupid robe and shouted, “Hey! Anya! ANYA!? Is this damn thing on?!”
"Yes? You don't need to shout."
“I thought the Wonder Women were keeping Stiggy busy!”
"Well, clearly they failed," Anya replied drily. "The situation is worse than expected. What's your status?"
“Our status?” Claire mused, “Our status is that we’re beating feet! We can’t take this thing on!”
However, the Stygian Snake dove into an alleyway, completely immersing itself in its shadows… before reappearing before the group, towering above them. Amy and Claire stopped as they looked at the Apparition in shadowy glory. It created a massive, club-like tendril made of darkness that violently slammed on the ground and swiped it across the area, knocking over buildings left and right.
“Shit!” Claire shouted before she turned her head over to Bianca. “Bianca!”
“... What are you planning?!” Amy shouted.
“Boost me!” Claire commanded.
“Heh,” Amy shouted as she slammed her club on the ground, creating fire, “I want in!”
"On it!" Bianca frowned, starting to boost Claire. Then, with great difficulty, she split it to boost Amy too. She'd just improved this spell recently… Claire bared teeth as she dropped her weight, digging herself into the asphalt, and stuck the hockey stick out like a shield. She sweat, as the tendril got closer and closer, and closer, and closer. However, she collided against the tendril, and with the help of Bianca’s boosting and Amy at her side, they could slow down the colossal tendril and bring it to a halt. It wasn’t easy, but Bianca, Linqian, and the others had an opening to escape..
“Ge-GET OUT OF HERE!”
Behind the group came a brightly colored pink snake out of the shadows. Its shape much like the Stygian Snake’s. It roared to get the snake’s attention. Behind it stood Tayla, pink lux activated for the illusion. Beside her was James; his orange lux added to her power, making the illusion real. Out of its mouth came barbs, similar to the ones it released earlier, but concentrated on one target, the Stygian Snake. The Stygian Snake countered the barbs with its shadowy tendrils, which wrapped around and knotted them.
The Stygian Snake quickly flew through the shadows with some unholy grace and wrapped itself around the illusion, constricting it.
“Get going, you guys! Or hit it! Something!” Tayla yelled. She could only hold the illusion for about five minutes without James’s help before she needed a break. James boosting it extended her time, but she’s afraid of the aftereffects if she exceeds the entire time limit.
It went without saying that Claire and Amy were a little bit tied down at the moment, as the Stygian Snake’s darkness was beginning to push them against the wall… it looked like they would get flattened, regardless of Abstraction. However, a portal opened behind him, and the Stygian Snake’s darkness gracefully pushed the two through it. The two fell on their ass and looked up to see Victoria and Drake Blackmore.
Drake had his makeshift wooden sword slung over his shoulder, crackling with electricity, and grinned, “Looks like we made it in the knick of time!” He laughed. “Don’t worry, the Blackmores got your back!”
“Drake, take this seriously!” Victoria rolled her eyes.
“Am I happy to see you!” Claire shouted as she raised her hands, and Victoria and Drake hoisted Amy and her to their feet. She looked around, and then Drake spoke again.
“We would have gotten here faster if Victoria hadn’t teleported us to St. Portwell in a different dimension.” Drake gave Victoria a shit-eating grin as she could only slap a hand into her face.
“... I’m still working on the spell.”
“Who gives a shit?” Amy said with a raised eyebrow. “Where are the others?”
However, the others made themselves known when the Stygian Snake destroyed the illusion… Amanda came flying in, slamming her hands together and creating a massive burst of fire and electricity that vaporized all the minions. She landed on the ground and wiped the sweat off her hands as the next up was Samantha Alger, who picked up a sedan and threw it at the Stygian Snake.
“By the power of the Sycamore, I will vanquish you!” Ella appeared in her magical girl glory, yelling a cringy catchphrase and hitting the Stygian Snake with prismatic light. Saskia rolled their eyes behind her, blood-forming long blades from her knuckles.
“... Thank you for making me vomit in my mouth, weirdo!” Emily G. Reed shouted after she loudly and dramatically gagged. Babylon floated over her shoulder with a delightful smile as she flamed them down. Other members of the Coven joined the fight: Ripley and Lionel Hunter, the Blackmores, Lynette Domingeuz, Paige Auclair, Carol Doyle, George Nelson, and more….
A spinning pile of bones slid onto the scene as if it was some type of blob… on top of it was the Coven’s leadership, Ashley Stone, Auri Auclair, and Daisy Hunter. Ashley pointed at the Stygian Snake as the other members of Sycamore came in, then grinned as she shouted
“... Go, Sycamore, go,”
Theater Group
Lisa experienced pure horror as her heart was pounding, and she stared up at the Stygian Snake in horror… while trying to reach into the pouch for her walkie-talkie. She grabbed it - almost dropping it - and finally raised it to her lips.
“J-Jinhai! The Stygian Snake… i-it’s… it’s…” She couldn’t get the words out. She was so scared right now. Before panicking, she shouted into the walkie-talkie, “... WHERE IS ADORA AND TRINITY?!”
"The woods," Jinhai replied, sounding more harried now. "They couldn't keep it contained."
There was a brief silence before Lisa continued calmly and reasonably...
“... YOU THINK?!”
She shook the walkie-talkie as she said it.
“Don’t worry, Lisa!” She could hear Adora on the other side. “We’re on our way!”
Their conversation was interrupted when something came crashing down some distance away like a meteorite… when the dust settled, it was revealed in its eldritch glory—a tall, demonic-looking man with razor-sharp claws, and a wide and sinister grin. Many would recognize this creature as Scott Reese, the man behind the massacre at the party before everything went wrong. He walked over to a stop sign and pulled it out of the ground as if it was nothing… facing the group as he menacingly sauntered before sprinting. His heavy footsteps could be heard from down the street.
“Uh-um, Jinhai!?” Lisa spoke into the walkie-talkie, “Scott Reese is here, too! What do you advise!?”
"Run," Jinhai said succinctly. "Towards the woods. Olivia, try to slow him down."
“Run… Okay, run… okay… we can do that..” Lisa said.
Olivia, who also had a walkie-talkie and had been tuned into the same channel, said, "I'll try!"
Olivia pulled back in all her vines before using them to form a thorny wall across the street between them and Scott - ten feet tall, likely not enough to stop him but enough to slow him down.
“Fuuuck,” Jasper shouted as he stood up and watched as the vine wall blocked off Scott, “I’m spent for now,” he looked down at the Paladin in process. He knew he needed at least five more minutes before it could do anything, “Evelynn, can you run?”
“Yes, yes, I can,” Evelynn responded as she wiped some of the blood off her face. She paused as she channeled her powers. Returning to the present, she looked over towards Michael. “Crows are still useless on him I’m afraid.”
“We’re going then,” Jasper shouted to the group, “run.”
“Everyone, get down!” Lisa shouted as she cupped her hands together… and, in a move that has disturbed many members, vomited two handfuls worth of random spiders into her digits. She threw them at Scott, and they quickly mutated, growing bee-like wings and horrible acid-filled cysts, and they flew around Olivia’s wall towards Scott.
… They exploded in his face and released their horrible, toxic, acid-filled load. He dropped his stop sign as he grasped his face and stumbled momentarily.
“Get on!” Lisa shouted as she slammed both hands on her mount, which was engulfed in a brown-colored wave of energy, which was a sign she was mutating it… causing it to grow dragonfly wings. The fastest insect in the world…
…The only issue was that it would be loud.
”Uh, I can’t,” Luca shook his head from where he stood at a distance to them all, holding up his hands. ”I’ll hurt it- and you all. Don’t worry, though, I’ll be fine!”
“... We are not going to leave you!” Lisa shouted… then she had to think fast, she closed her eyes, tapped her temples, speaking to herself. “Think, Lisa, think!”
Then it hit her.
“Quick! Turn around!“
“Okay!” Luca had no idea what Lisa was thinking, but he turned around instantly and Lisa hopped off…. She created a thick strand of web between her hands as she approached. Then stopped.
“... Your Abstraction doesn’t work through your clothes, right?” Lisa asked.
At this point, the hulking monster Scott had broken through the vines, using the traffic sign as an axe as he cleaved apart Olivia’s barrier. He roared as he raised his sign and rushed the group.
”Shit- It doesn’t!” Luca replied.
Olivia winced when her barrier was destroyed, drawing back her vines and trying to use the remainder to entangle Scott’s arms and legs. At the same time, climbed onto Lisa’s spider.
Michael was the first one onto the back of the spider, followed quickly by Evelynn and then finally Jasper. Jasper turned towards Scott and shouted, “fuck, that'll have to do,” as he flipped his paintbrush and began to pull the Paladin from the canvas. He groaned as the canvas fought his attempt, but before long, the Paladin was pulled from the page. The artwork was clean, and a lot of the detail was there, but it was missing a lot of the polish that Jasper typically added to his works. The Paladin looked like any old painting of a knight, with thick armor on the chest and arms, complimented by a large shield and an armored-up fist. The only noticeable issue was the legs were not as detailed as the rest of the body, clearly missing a few layers of paint.
The Paladin hit the ground and stumbled before charging at Scott, shield raised in front. He took the hit head-on; Olivia’s vines held Scott down, but the Paladin tanked the hit. Scott used his strength to pull one arm free…
“Okay, um!” Lisa tried to find the words to explain her crazy idea to Luca as she commanded her spider to spin a web in a long rope… she connected the one rope that she had in her hands to Luca’s back and connected the two strands into one that was lengthy enough to keep them all safe from Luca’s abstraction.
Scott freed his other arm before his legs grabbed the stop sign and continued his offense.
“... You know what? We’re a little short on time! So just trust me!” Lisa shouted as she hopped back on the spider and then commanded it to begin flying. It fluttered its wings as it started to fly, and it was painfully loud for everyone, but this was a last-ditch effort. Due to the strand of web, Luca was hoisted below like he was in a rescue helicopter, and he was the stretcher thingy they used to hang underneath. Lisa remained in the street, using the buildings as cover, because the last time she flew into the sky, she got mobbed by the Stygian Snake’s minions. Then, the Stygian Snake itself.
Fun times.
As she flew down the street, she could hear that hulking bastard Scott running behind them very faintly… he was just that goddamn loud. The issue was that Luca was dangling helplessly below them. She glanced over her shoulder and had to scream just not to have her voice drowned out by her voice,
“... DOES ANYONE KNOW THE FASTEST ROUTE TO THE WOOOOOOOOOOOOODS!?”
“I DO” Michael paused as he grabbed a handful of cheap jewelry, dollar bills, and various treats and held it out to his crows, “DIRECT…US…TO…THE…WOOODS..” His crows swarmed the offering before they flew above and before the spider-fly. “LISA… FOLLOW THE CROWS.”
“OOOOOOKAY!” Lisa shouted as she desperately tried to avoid hearing damage… there was that part of her that was jealous of Luca who was precariously dangling below her. However, Lisa focused on the trail of crows that Micheal was so gracious to use to lead them to the woods. She was desperately hoping that Adora would see them and get rid of Scott… who was jumping up in the air, trying to whack Luca with a stop sign like some type of fucked pinata. Lisa was sure that when she made it out of this, she would laugh about it with Luca and the others in ten years!
The birds led the group to an intersection, and Lisa narrowed her eyes as she lowered her body, grabbed onto the straps tightly, and shouted,
“EVERYONE, HANG TIGHT!”
Lisa’s voice started to burn after that. Still, she made a hard left, desperately hoping that Luca would hold on, and everyone yelped before she managed to correct her flying minion and continued heading toward the woods. She could still hear Scott chasing after them and was tempted to slow him down with some minions, but she stopped hearing the footsteps. They came to a complete stop.
Which was concerning.
Lisa looked over her shoulder; then her eyes widened as she saw Scott priming his stop sign to throw it like some type of fucked up javelin. He chucked it, and Lisa attempted to dodge, but the stop sign cleanly cleaved through one of her flying mount’s wings. Everyone on board screamed as they approached an excruciating death by crashing….
… They were stopped midair.
Lisa looked around, confused, wondering if she finally made it to the other side. However, they gently floated to the ground and were placed… and at both sides, they could see Vanessa and Clementine Washington, standing with their arms crossed, and Adora floating above them holding the strand of web that Luca was attached to. To which she gently lowered him down. All three of them were wearing a golden colored robe with black accents.
“... Good thing Jinhai was on his shit today,” Adora said, “Made it in the knick of time.”
Scott Reese slowed his approach, grabbing onto a nearby pickup truck and cleanly ripping off its bumper to use as a weapon. None of Trinity was phased by this, as Adora pulled out her walkie-talkie and said, “Jinhai, Lisa, and the others are safe. Should we engage Scott Reese or the Stygian Snake?”
"Scott Reese. Deal with the immediate threat."
“Copy.” Adora answered, then looked over her shoulder, “Get out of here; we got this.”
“Adora,” Michael shouted broadly, “thank you so much.” He looked towards Evelynn and Jasper. Evelynn had stumbled off the back of the spider and already started moving in the opposite direction of Scott Reese. Meanwhile, Jasper had his canvas in front of him, and he was painting it black. “I owe you one,” Michael said to Adora as he ran towards Evelynn’s side and began to walk with her. Jasper, looking down at where he was at with the next summon, whispered “fuck” and started towards the group. They would be able to find others who needed help before long.
“Don’t mention it,” Adora said.
“Hey, what about us!?” Clementine said with a smile.
"Shit, I thought I was a goner!" Luca exclaimed, looking a lot worse for wear. His hair was an absolute mess, and the right side of his body was covered in scrapes and bruises from bashing into a building when Lisa had to make a sharp turn. He turned to Lisa with a grin and a thumbs up… not realizing that half his face was utterly fucked up and bleeding. It hurt, but his whole body hurts nowadays. "Thanks; we wouldn't have made it out without your quick thinking!"
"Hey, drink this," Olivia piped up before he could continue talking at Lisa as if they didn't need to escape. She threw him yet another potion from her seemingly endless supply (her bag was stuffed). Luca carefully caught it, concentrating on not destroying it and knocking it back. "Thanks, Adora, Clementine, Vanessa… Luca, let's go."
“Don’t mention it!” Adora shouted for the three as she put her walkie-talkie away. “We gotta take care of Scott! Get out of here!”
Lisa was still on her mount and made the other wing fall off; she looked back at Adora as Scott made his monstrous approach. She sighed as she commanded her mount to take off to safety. Adora, Clementine, and Vanessa merely stood side by side as Scott approached them with the bumper. He roared as he raised it into the air and tried to bring it down on Adora’s head as hard as he could… Adora merely raised her hand and stopped the bumper in its tracks. This caused it to bend as Clementine and Vanessa flew forward, and they both kicked him in the chest hard enough to make Scott stagger backward.
His chest was caved in… but there was a sickening sound as his chest regenerated, and he rushed forward, punching Clementine hard enough to knock her out of range of the other members of Trinity and down the street.
“... Fuck,” Vanessa said as the two cut and were desperately running to get back in range of Clementine before this Hulk wannabe got close… and right, they got their true power back right when Scott bearhugged Vanessa. Adora whipped around and kicked Scott in his knee, making him stumble as Vanessa could get free and elbow Scott in the face. All three charged Scott, flying at him and pinning him to the ground with enough force to leave a crater. Adora began savagely punching Scott in the face, turning his face into a bloody mess. However, he grabbed Adora’s body with his monstrous hand and slammed her on the ground…
Only Clementine and Vanessa charge Scott from two directions and punch him in the face. Caving in his skull in an attack that would have killed anyone else… However, his skull decompressed, and the two managed to grab Scott’s arm he smacked them with the free hand he had, but they caught it. Adora caught it too, as she shouted,
”TOGETHER!”
They lifted Scott into the air by his arm, flying as high up as possible until it was absolutely freezing. All three of them let out their battle cry as they brought Scott down on the ground as fast as they could, all while he thrashed around…
… And hit the ground and turned Scott into a stain, leaving a crater. Scott exploded into darkness as Adora dusted her hands off and reached for her walkie-talkie.
”Jinhai,” Adora started, ”We eliminated Scott Reese, has Lisa and the others gotten out of range?”
“Affirmative,” Jinhai replied. “They’re all clear.”
”Good,” Adora nodded at Clementine and Vanessa, and then looked up at the Stygian Snake. They all flew up at it as Adora said, ”We are going to engage the Stygian Snake,”
Lila fought back the urge to get up and run. Every sense across every part of her body screamed out in pain, and she knew that it would continue being in pain until she managed to get herself scrubbed clean. Yet she knew that if she tried to get up and run, she would more than likely get hit, fall to the ground, and then get dragged out and placed into cuffs. She just needed to hold out a little longer, and she would avoid the taser, the fall, and skip right to the being dragged out and cuffed phase of the raid.
And then, the fucking roof caught fire.
Lila could not see why it did, but all she knew was that the roof of their brand-new lair was on fire. Her eyes darted around, looking for her quickest exit, before she saw Adora do the same thing. The difference, Adora took off first and fast. Lila watched as she tripped, smacking her head, and fell to the ground unconscious. “Adora,” Lila shouted through the pain as she began to make her way towards her with a crawl. Before she could get to her side, she saw the agent round the corner and grab her by the arm, pulling her towards the exit. “No, no, no, no,” Lila said as she smacked the agent's hand. “Grab her first.” As the agent pulled Lila outside, she hurled every insult she could think of towards the agent. “Whoever is in charge of you fuckwits is nothing more than a limp-dick, worthless, waste of sp-” Her final insult was cut short as she seized in pain as a taser round slammed into her back right shoulder.
Meanwhile, after the feds have evacuated most of the remaining coven members, Lynn and Jasper still lay on the ground. They had heard Bianca try and order them about, and that attempt at authority was nothing more than fuel for Jasper’s fire, and he pushed himself onto his knees and looked back towards Lynn.
“You good,” Jasper coughed out.
“Mhmm,” Lynn did the same, “you good to walk?”
“I think so,” Jasper said as he winced. He stood up and located the painting that he had brought. It was too detailed to leave behind in the coming inferno, and it meant too much to Jasper to leave behind. He gave it a quick look. It was a painting that he had spent the past week working on for the new coven. It was the entire group before that faithful final fight with the snake, all dressed in their various robes. He had spent much time getting the faces just right, including small details like Britney’s tongue sticking out, a crow on Lila’s shoulder, and Sully chugging at the beer chalice. It was a fun piece. It was meant to remind everyone of why they got together in the first place and to help maybe remind everyone why it was important that this time was different. His eyes lingered on his face in the image, and it did not look like the chemicals had done too much damage, though he would need to do some restoration after he got it back. He grabbed the painting by the frame with one hand, and with his other one, he reached back and grabbed Lynn’s hand. with a squeeze, he let her know it was time to go.
The two made their way into the main aisle before they found the center, and they turned towards the main door and began to run. As they neared the exit, Jasper sped up, pulling the two back into the fresh air and away from the gas and fire that threatened to bring the building down on top of them. While Jasper did this, Lynn suddenly was pulled into the possible future. As they made their way further outside, Jasper was able to locate a patch of grass away from the commotion. Without a second thought, Jasper tossed the painting in a way that only flew through the air for a second, but long enough that it got far away that when the inevitable fed came in to tackle him, it would be safe from that collision.
And then it hit him. Another taser round, this time slamming into his right shoulder. As it hit, Lynn came back from the possible future and jerked her body to the side suddenly, narrowly avoiding a taser meant for her. Yet, this jerk forced her away from Jasper, and Jasper fell forward again as his muscles seized.
The PRA agents managed to get everyone out of the burning building, while the PRA simply let the building burn down and let the St. Portwell Fire Department handle it... after the PRA had left, however. Everyone was laid in front of the building, on some grass some distance away, so they didn't have to worry about smoke inhalation. They were slumped up in a sitting position, save for Luca. Maximilian knelt over him, and waved his hand, and said,
"... Trevor!" Maximilian shouted, "He needs help!"
"On it!" Trevor ran over to Luca, knelt, rubbed his hands together, and shouted, "Clear!" As he slammed his hands onto Luca's unconscious body and began healing him... then began screaming in pain as Luca's abstraction decayed his hands. He raised his hands in the air, revealing the skin had been rotted off his hands (revealing flesh, tendons, etc), and Maximilian winched...
"Ouch," Trevor said. "Damn it, this is why we need Scarlet here!"
“... So what?” Leon said to Trevor as he walked up with Edict and threw him in the pile of Covenites. “You can Sweet Home Alabama her?”
“Oh, haha,” Trevor rolled his eyes.
”For what reason did you raid our small gathering? I understand you’re not bound by certain laws, but what did we do to warrant this?”
“... I have a better question,”
However, out of nowhere, a taser dart flew directly into the side of Linqian's neck, and then footsteps approached the gathering of cuffed Coven members. It was Meifeng Liao who aimed her Glock at the gathering of Jasper, Lila, and Lynn and let off three taser darts… with one missing as Meifeng narrowed her eyes at Lynn. She kept her pistol aimed at her as she said,
“... Just get on the ground, sweetie, I have a taser dart for everyone,”
Lynn kept herself standing up for just a brief moment before she obeyed the command, getting on the ground without a fight.
“Now… where was I?” Meifeng said as she put her Glock in her holster and remained stony-faced as she gazed at each member of the Coven who had been disabled. She held her hands behind her back as she looked down at Anya…
“... Do you all think you can do whatever you want?” Meifeng turned her nose upwards. “In less than two hours, you attack one of my agents, attempt to kidnap someone and spark an entire gang war. You all are so stupid you couldn’t keep it in your pants? You just had to blow your load that quickly…”
She tilted her head and bared teeth, “I expected your fellow Coven, the 8th Coven - or whatever they call themselves - to behave this way, but do you really think you all can do whatever the hell you want to? In my city? Because that narcissist Emily doesn’t run things, neither do those rich bastards, the treehuggers, the leftover Nazis, or even Dollhouse….”
Meifeng jammed a thumb into her chest, “... I run this city, and the next time one of you decide to lay a hand on any of my Agents, come find me, and try to lay your hands on me!”
Meifeng began to shout as she said, “And just see what happens to you! I won’t kill you! But I’ll fucking make you wish I did! Now, who here can tell me which one of you killed Agent Mahendra…” She let the words hang in the air as she gazed upon everyone.
“... He was found stabbed to death in a Dairy Queen parking lot within two hours of the chaos you all wrought on the city! It couldn’t have been anyone but one of you! Tell me why I shouldn’t haul you all to jail and throw away the key!?”
Maya Choi & Phoebe Carmicheal.
Interactions: None.
The Water Treament Plant.
It took one Google search to find the nearest water treatment facility… to which Maya and Phoebe were spying on from the safety of Phoebe’s car (A Nissan Altima, naturally). Phoebe was looking through her binoculars; she lowered them and smiled at Maya as she spoke.
“I don’t think they’re gonna let us walk in there… maybe we can do like they do in the movies and beat someone up and take their clothes, heh.” Phoebe laughed.
"If you're doing all the beating," Maya side-eyed her. "I'd alert the whole place… I could just put sand in their shoes, then when they try to get it out, we knock them out and steal their clothes."
“Come on now! You’re way too reliant on magic, you know!” Phoebe laughed as she reached underneath the seat and pulled out a tire iron. She slapped it into her other hand and said, “You forgot about your good ol’ left and right, didn’t you!?” She then laughed.
"You think I could hurt anyone with these?" Maya held up her delicate hands and skinny arms that were best at sending out sound blasts or sand. She then eyed the tire iron. "But if you have something else like that… heh, it'll be easy."
“Take this then,” Phoebe handed Maya her tire iron as she eyed two guys coming out of their car and walking towards the building. Going off of the lunch boxes they had, their shift had not begun yet. Now will it ever, as Phoebe opened the door, saying to Maya, “Let’s go!”
Phoebe crept behind them with Maya at her side, and then once they made their approach, Phoebe transformed her hand into a block of solid eye. She let out a valiant screech as she lept through the air and slammed her fist on one of these generic faceless guys’ heads. She knocked him out cold, but then she turned her head to see what Maya was doing...
Maya yelled and jumped at the other generic, poor guy who was trying to go to work, slamming the tire iron into the back of his head. He crumpled to the floor, and Maya grinned, kicking his prone body. She then squatted down in front of him.
“So where are we going to put their bodies after we strip them? A closet?” Maya asked. That was what they always did in movies.
“Let’s just drag ‘im in the bushes! Like the movies,” Phoebe shrugged as she squatted down, grabbed one of them by the leg, and said, “On my count, three…”
Maya grabbed the other leg, grimacing slightly. This was turning into a lot of work…
Exerting her lacking muscles, Maya put all her strength (which there wasn’t much of) into pulling nameless guy number one towards the bushes. With the help of Phoebe they managed to pull him about one centimeter! “... This isn’t working,” Phoebe muttered as she gave up. “Um… just take his clothes and we’ll dip!”
That was when Phoebe used all of her strength to flip the man over, and then she took all of his clothes and put them on… only to see that they didn’t fit. At all. It was way too big.
“... I look like a five-year-old wearing his pop-pop shirt.”
"You do," Maya laughed as if she didn't look as ridiculous in the other guy's clothes. She couldn't even get the pants on, and it looked like she was wearing a dress. "...This won't work. We won't even get through the front door!"
“... Back to the car.” Phoebe rolled her eyes.
After that debacle, Phoebe and Maya returned to the former’s car… sans the clothing and leaving the unconscious guys in front of the building. It was time for Plan B. Phoebe dug underneath her car seat and pulled out a glowing cyan potion. She raised it into the air and grinned like a fool.
“I swiped this from Greta’s lab when she was asleep one time,” Phoebe said… knowing Greta gets pissed when they go into her lab and start touching stuff. “This is her invisibility potion, I think… We can, like, share it, sneak in, find the treated water tank, and pour this in. Easy peasy.”
"Oh shiiiitt," Maya grinned, looking at the potion. That was a way better idea. "This'll be so easy, so long as it lasts… wait, does it work on clothes?"
“Well, only one way to find out!” Phoebe shouted as she popped the top, drank a little bit of it, and everything turned invisible.
Except for her clothes.
“... No,”
"Well," Maya shrugged. "Guess we'll have to get rid of them."
Without any second thoughts, Maya shrugged off her jacket, then pulled off her dress, leaving her only in her underwear. Before taking that off, she asked, "How long do you think half that bottle will keep us invisible?"
“If I ask Greta, she will go batshit again, and I won’t get her, uh, ‘special potions’ anymore.” Phoebe waved her hands as she said, “Either way, we have magic; we can handle anything.”
“Heh, true,” Maya smirked. “Easier to get out than get in.”
She reached over for the invisibility potion, knocking back half of it before taking off the rest of her clothes. Turning invisible, just like Phoebe. Phoebe quickly took off all of her clothes and casually opened the door, saying,
“Let’s go!”
After navigating the water treatment facility (holding hands (fingers interlocked) so they wouldn’t get lost), the two made it to the one place they meant to get to: The Purified Water Storage. It was in a water tower that the two looked up at as they approached. They saw a ladder and a nice little service hatch, and Phoebe turned to Maya and asked,
“Afraid of heights?”
By reflex, she smiled… even though she was invisible right now.
“Nope,” Maya made an okay symbol with her free hand… Then realized Phoebe couldn’t see it. Well, whatever. “I’ll go up first… Blast anything out of the way if needed. Wouldn’t want you freezing our precious supply of water.”
She grabbed onto the ladder (having to unlink their hands (sadly)) and started climbing up. When she reached the top, she shoved open the service hatch and climbed through. She shuffled back from the edge so Phoebe could get through, too… without crashing into her.
Phoebe climbed to the very top of the water tower and found a hatch… that was closed with nuts and bolts. She then produced the Potion (seemingly out of thin air!), pointed at the hatch, and said, “Maya, blast it open!”
"Gladly," Maya grinned before shoving out her hands and sending a targeted sound blast at the hatch. Blowing it open, without thinking of the consequences, Phoebe popped the top of the rainbow-colored potion and poured it inside. She wiped her sweat off her head as she said,
“Alright, let’s get some Dairy Que…” Phoebe said before she looked inside the water supply and heard it loudly rumbling. “... What?”
Nakala shouted as Agent Brown got put on his ass by the kid! The hilarity of the situation was completely and utterly lost when the kid stepped on his rifle and kicked it off into the distance. Her eyes shot open as she pointed at Samson and commanded, "GET YOUR RIFLE!" Then Samson chased after it, going underneath.
The last thing she wanted was the upper PRA leadership coming down on the office for losing their rifle. She gazed at the "Coven." They didn't put up much of a fight, as expected. The teargas did an excellent job of disabling most of them. The ones that did fight or tried something were swiftly eliminated by the PRA's sniper, Sonya Mayfield, and Nakala didn't so much as flinch.
Maximilian merely tilted his head at the child before he nudged Nakala on the shoulder and said, "That kid is Paranormal... a pretty strong one at that."
Nakala nodded and said, "You handle him, Mr. Champion."
Maximilian began walking towards Clancy as if he didn't put a grown man on his ass. While that was going on, everyone else was on the ground or otherwise disabled. Nakala didn't even need to finish her countdown as the sheer threat of a squad of SWAT team members wearing armor waving guns around. "Cuff 'em, and get them-"
That was when a literal fireball blew up and ignited the ceiling, and Nakala dropped her badge out of surprise and looked up at the roof. It was on fire. Her jaw dropped from underneath the mask as she shouted, "Jesus!"
"Whoa, shit!" Samson shouted as he was on the ground, having gotten his rifle from underneath the pew, but he dropped it out of surprise.
"Agent Philips..." Nakala heard Meifeng's voice on the other side of her earpiece. "What in God's name is going on in there... ?"
Nakala was silent momentarily as she said, "... The building is on fire."
"... Why is the building on fire?" Nakala could just feel Meifeng facepalming.
"No clue, but the situation is under control!"
"I'm sending Trevor in with a fire extinguisher; evacuate the building immediately. We already have a loooooot of explaining to do," Meifeng commanded. "Let's not give ourselves more to explain, shall we?"
"Roger," Nakala answered with a nod before she reached behind herself and pulled out her compound bow; she pulled back the string and created an arrow made out of water, "Get them out of here!"
"On it!" Maximilian shouted, before he noticed Leon and went over to him, grabbing the back of his shirt and effortlessly picking him up and hoisting him over his shoulder as if he weighed as much as a five-year-old. He then walked over to Anya, grabbed her by the cuff of her collar, lifted her, and carried her out towards the door as if the two of them weighed nothing. Akira Shinjo and Claudette ran over to Linqian, and together, they managed to pick her up and carry her out as a team effort. Samson ran over to the nearest person, Luca, put his rifle behind his back, and picked him up, doing the fireman carry as he ran towards the door.
Nakala let go of the arrow and released the arrow made out of water, which exploded and... did not do much to the raging fire above them. It was effectively splashing a bucket of water on it... so she needed a lot of water. She released a few more arrows, which made the same progress as she hissed and just gave up... She ran over to the nearest teargassed, Lila, grabbed her by her arm, and dragged her outside.
"Oh my God!" Sonya had to contain her laughter when she saw Samson fall on his ass. "We're never going to let him live one down, are we?"
She tried to wipe her tear... but then forgot she was wearing a fucking gas mask. She looked at Helena, who appeared to have a stony face and didn't respond. This prompted Sonya to say, "Oh, you're such a sourpuss, Page!"
This was when some psycho decided to try and yeet a bible at the line of agents! Sonya almost laughed at the scene as she aimed down the sights and aimed directly at Linqian's center of mass. Sonya let out a "Pew" before she pulled the trigger, let out the taser dart, and nailed the rebel in the chest. That was when she saw the other one use an abstraction (Jasper) and darted her sights around. She took a deep breath, and at the top of her shot, she squeezed the trigger. The dart slammed him in the shoulder.
"Ay!" Sonya said, briefly letting out a Spanish accent before she looked over her shoulder at Helena. "Like shooting fish in a barr-"
That was when the fireball engulfed Sonya, and she loudly screamed in pain and fell off the roof... however, Helena's glowing ethereal birds went into action and caught her. It wasn't a pretty sight... Helena cringed as she saw Sonya had third-degree burns. The fireball didn't do much to Helena because she wasn't directly in front of the window like Sonya, but she got scaled. Helena sighed, pressing her earpiece, and said,
"Agent Mayfield needs immediate medical attention!"
Her bird apparitions gently lowered Sonya to the ground.
That was when they noticed some girl watching from the tree... Helena made sure to gather a majority of her glowing birds in front of her. Until they formed a massive flock, all staring at her...
Hopefully, she'll take the hint.
Meifeng Liao, Cindy Keagan, Leon Vahan, & Trevor Obott.
"♪ Speeding 72, we’re faster getting nowhere, baby; we could go there, shining on a secret avenue, hear the burning rubber fanfare, maybe there’s a show there... ♪"
The song on the radio played, which Trevor was (obnoxiously) singing along to, doing a little dance in his seat as he sat in front of his laptop. Meifeng was sitting in the driver's seat of the command center, texting her husband (some of the most disgusting filth known to man), Leon was sitting by the door with his rifle in hand (using his abstraction to create extra eyes around the battlefield), and Cindy was in the passenger seat next to Meifeng (texting some normal stuff to her son).
... Then the explosion rocked the building, and Meifeng almost dropped her phone. That was when she immediately pressed her earpiece to get in contact with Agent Phillips inside. She was praying, praying, they controlled the situation (they didn't), but as it turns out, after a brief chat with Nakala... one of them set the building on fire. The church. It was on fire. Meifeng smiled at the sheer hilarity of it all before hopping out of her seat, running over to the fire extinguisher, and shoving it into Trevor's hands.
"Go in there, hand this to Phillips, and do not do anything stupid!" Meifeng commanded, wagging a finger in Trevor's face. "Do not so much as look at any of them. I know you, and I know your 'Little Trevor' usually takes precedence over what's up here!"
She jabbed him in the temple with a finger and made Trevor wince.
"Roger!" Trevor shouted as he sprinted outside.
Leon hopped up and pointed at Edict, making a break for it, "One of them is getting away!"
"I got it!" Cindy shouted as she pulled out her Glock and opened the door. She held the pistol in both hands as she sprinted as fast as a somewhat overweight, forty-something-year-old woman could. She dropped to one knee, aimed to the best of her ability, and pulled the trigger, and a taser dart flew out... nailing him directly in the ass before he could get away. Cindy hosted her pistol as Leon walked up next to her.
"Nice one," Leon said.
"Hmph, this old lady's still got it," Cindy confidently said.
The two of them walked over to Edict on the ground, and Leon pulled out handcuffs as he turned toward Cindy,
"Will you do the honors?"
"I would..." Cindy answered as she pressed a hand to her back, "But my back's been killing me today."
Leon pressed a foot on Edict's back, and turned to Cindy as he asked.
"You hurt it in the Army, right?"
"Oh no, I was pregnant with Cameron, and I did something, and my back ain't been right since."
"You went to the VA, and said you 'hurt it in the Army,' right?"
"Hell yeah, I did," Cindy laughed. "Like I was going to miss out on that thirty percent; I'm about to get back surgery done in January."
"Oh, right?" Leon said as he put Edict's hands together. "How is Cameron?"
"He's in remission," Cindy answered. "I used to stress about it, but I think he'll have a happy life."
Leon put the cuffs on Edict and squatted down to pull him up to his feet. "That's great to hear, he in St. Portwell?"
"Of course," Cindy chuckled. "We're going to the Halloween festival next week."
Leon began walking Edict back around to the church.
"Sounds corny," Leon chuckled.
"It'll be fun; at least he'll have fun," Cindy said.
Their conversation continued as they walked Edict back to the church.
Interactions:
The Church of Ass.
Adora was not having a good day.
Adora had no clue what was going on, and her anxiety was through the roof... this was not the best situation for the girl, especially since she was practically a human compared to some of the others here. Unfortunately, she was having such a horrible time with the tear gas that she didn't even know what she was feeling. Whether it was an anxiety attack coming on or she was going to drop down was a mystery. Adora had no clue what anyone else was doing - because she was too busy vociferously vomiting, spewing all of her breakfast all over the floor... and herself. Her shoes and hoodie were ruined, and...
... The fucking roof caught fire.
Adora didn't pay any attention, but she just heard a boom, and then she blinked, and the building was on fire. Okay, fuck this. It was less than an hour of forcing herself to come here, and Auri and whoever sold her out to... whoever the fuck these armed goons were. Honestly, the only thing on Adora's head right now was getting far away from these people. So, Adora covered her face, got up, and bolted for the nearest window, hoping to jump through it and take the glass carving her to bits...
... Then she tripped on the nearest pew and busted her head on the pew in front of it. Falling unconscious...
Nikki Watanabe, Amanda, & Victoria Blackmore
Interactions:
Last night... The Blackmore Manor.
Drake's Dodge Charger stopped in front of the garage of the Blackmore Manor... He sighed defeated, ran his hands through his hair, and walked up the pathway. He stuck his keys in the door and opened it... and he turned his head towards the first thing he heard was Amanda and Nikki playing on the game console, and they briefly paused as they looked at him.
"... Drakey!" Amanda shouted, "Come take the controller; Nikki is shitting on me."
"I told you I was good at this game, Amanda," Nikki softly said.
"Yeah, and I called you a fuckin' nerd!" Amanda laughed.
"... Girls, keep it down!" Victoria could be heard from the kitchen. "If you wake up the girls... You said be helping me clean!"
"Oh, right," Amanda laughed.
Drake went right past them and straight into the kitchen and saw Victoria mopping the floor... Drake stepped over to the refrigerator to grab a can of Bud Light. He opened it up...
"... HEY! I'M CLEANING HERE!" Victoria hissed as she pounded the mob against the ground... before Drake just chugged the beer and grabbed another one. She narrowed her eyes as she asked,
"Drake..." Victor trailed off, "... What's wrong?"
Drake didn't respond to Victoria, and she gently placed the mop against the table as she walked over to him, and placed a hand on his shoulder. "What happened at the meeting?"
Drake was silent.
"You can tell me." Victoria stated.
"I..." Drake choked out. "... Punched Sloane."
"Wha-what?" Victoria tilted her head as she asked.
"She asked me why I wasn't there to save Jade, then called me a bastard and... I couldn't handle it."
"This..." Victoria shook her head as she turned her body and threw her hands in the air by the elbows, "This is why you should have stayed your ass here. I knew this was going to happen. Someone was going to overstep, and... and..."
Victoria then pointed the finger at Drake and said, "... You can't be acting like this, Drake. I understand everything, but... come on!"
She turned her head as she rubbed her temples, "You just assaulted Ms. Farris because she said something stupid!"
"... You should have told me you were gonna clock Sloane!" Amanda said. Drake turned his head and saw that she had poked her head into the room with Nikki at her side. She gave him a thumbs up and said, "She deserved a lot more than just one litt-"
"You're not helping!" Victoria chided her; Victoria went back to massaging her temples as she said, "Look... you need to stay the hell away from the Coven. There is a reason why they broke up!"
"Believe us, we saw everything," Amanda said with a dramatic wave of her hand. "I ain't surprised none of them changed much."
At this point, the two little Blackmores were awakened... and they made that clear because they were loudly crying. Victoria sighed, resting her hand on her face.
"Look... just..." Victoria started, "...Just don't drink yourself into a coma tonight!"
She took off up the stairs to tend to her children, and Amanda grabbed Drake's hand and pulled him into the living room. "C'mon, big bro! Let's take your mind off things..." She pushed Drake into a seat and said, "... By playing a game about punching people!"
Drake looked at the screen... before the logo for the game appear and a dramatic announcer character shouted<
"NOMADC ODYSSEY! FIND YOUR HEART!"
Amanda shoved a controller in her hand as she dangled something in her hands... the keys to Drake's car! She smiled as she said, "Immagrabussomepizzabye!"
Then darted out the door.
"... HEY!" Drake shouted before Amanda was gone.
"I promise she won't crash it... again," Nikki chuckled. "So, see if you can beat me, Drake."
Drake put his game face on as he tried to enjoy a night of video gaming with his cousin and sister.
Just like the good old days...
Interactions:
The Shadowzone.
Whatever response the Heart was expecting out of Jack never came. The room they stood in lit up with a green glow, and Void Heart would feel his body and hands begin to feel as if they were burning away. His strength would start to slip from him, as if the floor had just become kryptonite. He and Layla could see glowing patterns reminiscent of shields along the floor and the walls. Those were the symbols used by Stormy whenever he needed to seal something.
It was, indeed, a trap.
Auri hopped out of the closet and didn’t even waste time aiming the butterfly staff at Void and barraging him with a sea of lightning-fast butterflies that would hit like little bullets. Out of her back came two butterfly wings, ready to dodge any attacks from Void or Layla.
”Shit!” Void hissed, hand reaching to shield his face. The butterflies seared his skin, leaving cuts that seeped smoke. With a snarl, he tried to reach out and grab Auri, but every movement felt like lead as Stormy's magic played hard on his being.
“You bitch, I fucking knew it! You both'll rot in hell!”
The potted plants around the room went unnoticed as various roots and vines were spawned from them, creeping toward Layla to wrap her up. Starting from her legs up to her upper body. Britney calmly came out of the closet, raising a hand in the air, and said,
”This is for your own good, Layla!” Britney said, ”Trust me!”
Layla gasped, immediately struggling against the vines entrapping her. Her panicked eyes moved from the vines, up to the bombardment of butterflies engulfing Void, then to Britney, whose hand was raised in a calming manner.
“Wh-what are you doing?!” Layla cried out.
Void hissed in Layla's mind. “Isn't it obvious? They're trying to seal me!”
“But Jack said-”
“Jack's a traitor!”
Layla's eyes widened in realization, her voice cracking as she tried to plead with Britney, “No, you can't do this!”
”I’m sorry! Down the line, you’ll understand!” Britney shouted.
Layla trembled, staring up at Britney. “N-no, you don't understand! If you take him,”
Tears pricked her eyes as she struggled. “I'll be all alone!”
Layla summoned her hands, working like a toddler to get the vines off. The phantom hands were shaking, creating scratch marks on the floor from her rushed movements. Once free, she made a beeline to Void.
Void hissed, moving away from Auri, trying to run as one hand smashed through the glass of the curtained window. He could feel more strength leaving him, his eyes burning as he glared.
He wouldn't last long like this.
Layla instinctively moved in front of Void, pushing him back towards the window with pale hands, ignoring the numbness, while her tear-streaked face faced the coven leader, Britney and Jack.
Her phantom hands swelled, capturing the butterflies and crushing as many as she could in her grasp before they hovered as fists in the air, like a boxer taking their stance.
“Just let us leave!” She shrieked, trying desperately to push Void out the window.
The two would only have to jump through…
Earlier that day…
The Void was a strange place.
Stormy and Britney were simply left here to do what they needed to do with a simple instruction: Don’t open the doors, and don’t go outside. At least that shadowy dude had the foresight to leave a few potted plants inside for Britney’s consideration.
There would be a meeting at a park soon, so the two of them had to get everything ready as soon as possible before the target of this plan was brought in. Stormy had brought something special for it. A flask with a special mixture of otherwise ordinary things that came together to make invisible ink. This was the same stuff he used to seal dozens of apparitions back in the days of the old coven, and with Britney here helping him, they had all they needed.
The Void Heart would have no idea that the floor of this uncannily normal house was covered in countless symbols, until it was too late.
Okay… we’re in the Void…. Stay cool. Now, when Jack suggested they set up a trap in the Void of all goddamn places, Britney thought that he was mad. That he was crazy. That he was literally insane. Then the more he talked about it, the more it made sense, and somehow he managed to convince Britney… though, the faster they did this and got out of here, the better. With invisible ink from Stormy, Britney ran across this creepy house like a mad woman. She traced her sealing symbol, a fancy tree, in every corner of the house… because they had no clue what the Void Heart was going to do (Or what Jack was going to do to be honest) and she hoped that Jack wouldn’t mind if the Void was sealed into one of his… decorations.
”Stormy!” Britney shouted across the house. ”Remember, this won’t work unless the Void Heart is out of her body! Otherwise, he’s technically already sealed.”
”I know, don’t worry,” Stormy used his ink to inscribe much larger symbols across the floor, working around the old, somehow still intact furniture despite it winding up here. This place was full of things that looked like they belonged in some cheesy dark academia movie. Large rocky crystals, bookshelves, skulls from supernatural creatures, you name it, were in here.
Stormy’s sealing symbols took the shape of, to no one’s surprise, shields. All over the walls between the tree symbols, despite them being invisible, and on the floor. Once the sealing was done, the invisible ink would vanish within hours, so hopefully, Jack wouldn’t kill them for vandalizing his “home.”
”Of all the places to lay a trap, I definitely didn’t expect this one to be up for consideration.”
”Trust me, I tried to come up with an alternative…” Britney rolled her eyes.
”We just gotta hope that Voidy behaves while we’re out here…”
She kept the idea that hurting Layla was a valid option to get the Void out to herself… that type of thinking was why she was so vilified in the old Coven in the first place. They just needed to seal the Void Heart in here, and then they could leave him there and forget about it.
”Maybe we should pick a hiding spot to spring out on the Void Heart?”
”I was thinking that I’d hide in a closet somewhere and leap out to root him in place when he drops his guard. That was the point of bringing them both here wasn’t it? False sense of security, easier to surprise.”
”And what’s the plan if he stays in Layla?”
”We force him out. Or rather, I will. We’re trapping the whole house, and I can cut off as much of it as we need to make him get away from Layla. The same magic I used to ward off apparitions during the old days is going to come in handy now. He won’t expect my spell to drain his strength, so he’ll panic and fly away. Layla won’t be affected, and she doesn’t need to be. Simply put, if I have to, I’ll just light a fire under his ass.”
”What if he takes her?” Britney asked.
”Where will he go? He won’t be able to open the doors, because we’re here to keep him trapped. He won’t be able to run back to Shimmer, because he won’t have access to his Abstraction once I start using magic. No Abstraction means he can’t move freely, no free movement means we have him in a cage,” Stormy said, confident in the plan.
”Once they’re here, all we have to do is lay low long enough for me to get my hands on him, possibly literally,, and then you can leave the rest to me.”
”I get it,” She started, ”I’m just worried he might try and hurt Layla… that’s the one thing I want to avoid if possible.”
”I guarantee he will,” Stormy said, ”But he won’t be able to. He’ll be powerless, Britney. I can assure you that.”
Britney nodded.
”Let’s set up and get out of here, quick,” Britney added.
”Right.” Stormy entered the kitchen, quickly dropping his invisible seals across the floor. It was a small one full of curious foods from all over the earth, and likely other places beyond Shimmer, but there was a storage closet that Stormy made a note to hide in.
It wasn’t long. ”Let’s get the upstairs, too.” Stormy hopped up the flight of stairs and started sealing off everything. He started with the door to what appeared to be a study. Rows of bookshelves lined the inside, and a very comfortable-looking chair was inside.
On the walls were maps, some labeled with descriptions of regions of the Void, as if they could be mapped somehow. Others depicted places Stormy had never heard of: The Silent City, the kingdom of Yurama, Pathway Nine, and more. Decade-old pictures of kids spending their childhood together were scattered across a messy desk.
There was vast knowledge and storied history kept in this room. A window into who Jack Hawthorne was as a person. That explained the sword on the wall, which held Stormy’s attention the longest.
A straight blade with an ornate guard in a scabbard made of sycamore wood. The Sycamore Tree coven’s crest was burned into its side. And an old leather sling was wrapped around one end. It hung on a wooden plaque, with an inscription written under it.
Reza Cabrera
”…I never thought I’d see that thing again.”
Britney’s jaw dropped as she walked over and muttered,
”... Reza…” Britney walked over and traced her fingers over the inscription… ”He was one of the best of us… I watched him die…” She sighed.
”... I wish we could have done more to protect the people like him.”
Stormy’s eyes fell to the floor for a moment. Reza was a fighter who kept the coven together by sheer force of personality. He was downright legendary back in the day.
”Saved my life a few times. We wouldn’t have been a real coven if it were for people like him.” A smile crept up on his face, as he thought back on it. ”It’s nice to see that sword again. I’m surprised Sloane didn’t get her hands on it.”
Britney laughed as she put a hand on her hip.
”You know Jack wouldn’t let that happen, heh.”
”No, I think not.” For a moment, Stormy couldn’t think of anything to say. The coven fell to ruin in the Stygian Snake’s wake. He once watched Reza run towards the Stygian Snake head-on and tear its head off in a single swing. If only it were that simple, though. A lot of them looked up to him for strength.
Good times.
”I never did track down his family. He never told us anything about them. You think he has one? Or that they ever found out about his death?”
”That's an adventure for another day…” Britney mused as she just… Reached for it, she grabbed onto it’s hilt…
… And saw everything.
Reza massacring the Stygian Snake’s hordes and how the sword was functionally a piece of him. All were experienced in mere seconds. Britney held onto the sword and examined it for a few moments. Before she turned to Stormy…
”... We can use this,”
Concern etched over his expression. ”Hold on, Britney. I know that sword’s one of the most powerful artifacts we ever got ahold of, but shouldn’t we ask Jack before we start taking things? That’s important to him, and it’s all he had left of Reza after everything that happened.”
Britney snorted, laughing,
”I’m not going to bring this to the meeting,” She snorted. ”Our good friend the Void Heart might see it and think something’s up.”
She slapped a hand on her hip and said,
”We can ask Jack at the meeting; let’s hurry up. This place is creeping me out.”
”You know what? Sure, he’ll probably understand. Let’s get out of here.”
However, another vine had entangled itself around Layla’s foot, trapping her before she could escape. Britney raised one hand as she said, ”But, Layla! You won’t be alone!” She kept trying to wrap as much around Layla as possible so she could not escape. ”... You’ll have us!”
Layla struggled to breathe as vines constricted around her, eyes frantically searching Britney. Britney didn't understand. And Void was about to pay the price…
The Void Heart wasn’t nearly as lucky as he might have thought. Breaking the window and then running to a portal outside the house where it would be risky for the others was a clever move on his part. But something he failed to calculate was that he was in Jack’s domain. One did not come into his house and expect to pull a fast one on him that easily unless they thought he was stupid.
Jack disappeared inside the house, reappearing between Void Heart and his way out. He admitted to Layla that being outside posed a risk, particularly to one’s sanity, but only because Layla and Jack were different people. Jack reached out with his magical hand, and it shot toward the apparition like a harpoon from a canon, grabbing him as if he were nothing more than a foam stress ball.
”You blind fool. Did you think I’d let you escape me so easily? After the life of AGONY you subjected my friend to!?” Jack hissed at the Void Heart, reveling in the fate they were about to subject him to. He had been waiting a decade for this.
“Let go of me, you bastard!” Void spat, phantom hands weakly pulling at the grasp Jack had him in.
“Alizée was MINE!” His metallic voice cracked, eyes tight. “How dare you! She became perfect with me, no you assholes!”
Immediately, Jack teleported back inside with the Void Heart, keeping the bastard out of arm’s reach to avoid his energy-sapping touch.
”After everything you coerced her into doing, after the madness you drove Alizée to, nothing could ever convince me to save your life! DO IT! NOW!”
Void struggled hard, eyes twisted in madness. “You'll all REGRET THIS!”
A faint static built up in the second or two it took Jack to bring Void Heart back into the house. The strange sound ramped to a thousand percent as the sanctity of the area was broken, windows shattering as bullets began to rattle into the living room from outside. Six clear white boxes ripped open in all corners of the room, and several others expanded across the place's windows. As if they were old televisions, they slowly but surely began to fade into color, reflecting the image they looked at.
It was a jarring, illusory field, contextualizing only as the two individuals stepped through one of the screens. The man wore a clean black suit, hair pulled back into a ponytail and piercing blue eyes darting about. He held his right hand in the shape of a gun, the gem on his cufflink glowing bright red. The woman sported a massive blonde afro, similarly suited to the man in a pinstripe pant suit with a sly smile across her face.
”Ladies, Gentlemen and All in Presence, puh-leeeease put the floating sac down and step away!”
As she yelled, she mirrored the man’s posture, except in her hand was an actual and factual gun, complete with wispy purple smoke curling from its snub barrel.
”A visitor from last night? And our dear Jackie!? Oh, Void Heart, you certainly draw a fucking crowd my friend…”
Furio and Clarissa watched as Leon and Edict walked across the park toward the gazebo.
“Break his balls a little bit?”
“Yeah, I mean, he played it off, you know those wise guys.”
The two of them spun around a bit in the distance, and Clarissa started to laugh with a little bit of a snort. Still on the steering wheel, Furio stuck his fingers up as his face pursed with confusion.
”What, yes Leon… There’s nobody there! My guy, like…”
Furio scoffed, clearly not keyed up to the microphone transmitting their walkie-talkies.
”God, we give you the Queen of the Wolves, and you fucking waste it!”
”Hey, easy… You know that’s a blaspheme. Take slow, deep breaths; remember our thirteen properties.”
Furio watched Edict as he stuck his finger down at the ground and watched it trail upward toward a road on the other side. His hand slid off the wheel, and a smile cracked as he took a deep breath. Fucking kid…Good for something, maybe. He remembered the name in the book and the address at the time. It wasn’t up to date now.
Five or so minutes passed by when Leon reported in again.
"Furio, VL on the move. Probable Purple influence."
”Oh? Understood, on the move.-” Furio confirmed, cocking his head to the side. He was met with his wife’s beautiful wide smile. The sunshine of her love. ”Get your beeper on sweetheart. Time to boogie.”
The two of them slipped out of the car, and Furio locked it behind him and slipped the key into his pocket. This was a process that they’d gone through a hundred times in their days; Clarissa clutched the metal of her pistol in the palm of her hand, and with the thick portion below the thumb, she cocked the hammer back. Her focus on the sound projected a sixth sense that echoed across the park field and back to her like a radar feed. She compulsively flipped the thing in her hands with very subtle movements, tucking her thumb between the trigger and letting the hammer slam back down. Another echo each time she searched for the swirling of a pinhole in the middle of the Shimmer.
The two walked briskly to the gazebo before Clarissa saw something she was interested in. Her hair bounced like a cartoon sun as she took off into a jog toward the location of interest, a nearby tree blocking the line of sight that gave off a strong fizzle on both sides. Either a teleporting Squirrel was using a hollow in the tree.
Furio smiled as he watched Clarissa take off like the bloodhound she was. He’d been by her side to watch the progression of her senses into a honed blade, and whenever she had an instinct, he trusted her explicitly.
Rounding the corner of the tree, Clarissa took a deep breath. It was safe to check at the very least, and she looked around for any nearby pedestrians before smiling and reaching into her pocket. She flicked the gun’s cylinder open, the hand in the pocket sticking a speedloader into the space and twisting away. It made a satisfying click as it closed, Furio coming around the corner just as she pointed the gun at a space in nowhere.
Technically, a tree.
It was a funny thing about Furio, the way his mind worked.
How dare these Gerber fucks force his Lady to shoot this innocent tree in the light of Eden. Why would you be here? Why would you need to teleport here of all places?
All that went through Clarissa’s head was the pleasure of the recoil against her palm as the bullet ripped through the hole she knew was there.
The impact zone expanded rapidly into a flat white screen which she carefully poked her head through. Typical outer Void, but the conditioning was working well, so most horrifying things were visible but imperceptible. Silhouettes in the foreground of an otherwise bleak and dark background.
But up on the hill, there was a house. She had to be quick. Her head pulled back out of the portal and looked up at Furio. ”Alright, Baby, here’s the deal. I’m gonna pick it up in here, you’re going to get ready to dive, ‘cuz a dive’s a jump. When you see my hand come through, you book it as hard as possible.”
Furio nodded. He wasn’t so conditioned, but he knew the score. No eyes, no ears, no mouth. His cufflink began to glow bright red as he channeled a conjure element spell. Shaping solid iron from thin air, he rapidly fabricated a solid helmet to block the outer horrors. Leaving only the slightest strip to see when she was back, Furio backpedaled and thought about everything he hated that day.
It was already a long list. Furio waited, waited a moment longer, and then… The hand. In an instant, he took his last breath and welded the mask shut to the open air. He sprinted, diving into the portal head first. His outstretched arm grabbed Clarissa’s, and for a moment, he felt the cold dark around him, penetrating his suit coat and gripping at his flesh before he felt the vague warmth of a new location. It was still in the Void but some kind of sanctuary. He opened his nose holes first, getting a rush of noise as the portal closed behind them.
Clarissa patted Furio on the shoulder, and he dropped the helmet from his head as he forcibly pulled the atoms apart between the seams. It put up much resistance, typical of these areas, but not enough that he figured he couldn’t overcome it. Everything was made out of atoms, held together by tiny magnets that can just be flicked and blocked and split at will. He’d studied for years, having the chance and the opportunity afforded to him by the Richoux clan.
He hated to admit that he needed those pompous fuckers.
The two of them stared into the house from outside, watching the proceedings until things began to get too bad. At first, Clarissa was going to barge in immediately, but Furio held her back only until after Jack had managed to get Void Heart back into the house after their attempted escape.
She had already grabbed another speedloader, and as Furio’s arm moved out of the block, she immediately began plugging holes through the window with her gun. She didn’t need a lot of precision to make her mirrors, but she did need precision to reload at competition speed as she dumped the empty casings and slotted six fresh rounds, four of which she dumped into a few more portals.
”Move your ass, Baby Boy!”
Furio happily did as he was told, harnessing a channeled spell and stepping through the portal to wherever she was sending him. He trusted her.
[center][b]"You're a fine warrior. Call me sentimental..."[/b][/center][table][row][cell][img]https://64.media.tumblr.com/139ceac154751673f3ae0a9fe3c9db14/tumblr_n5ns5eDSUE1spjmjdo1_400.gifv[/img][/cell][cell][img]https://64.media.tumblr.com/8de527f156d1dcdab59303529f9a2963/tumblr_n5ns5eDSUE1spjmjdo2_400.gifv[/img][/cell][cell][img]https://64.media.tumblr.com/fdd81701556b497cef877cce8608411e/tumblr_n5ns5eDSUE1spjmjdo3_r1_400.gifv[/img][/cell][/row][row][cell][img]https://64.media.tumblr.com/f4c53df62090bdfc77fc8d4af49bd3bb/tumblr_mp19k0oeBn1spjmjdo1_400.gifv[/img][/cell][cell][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/tiUPmOX.png[/img][/center][/cell][cell][img]https://64.media.tumblr.com/973255b1496b1e15ea88881ee0842923/tumblr_n5ns5eDSUE1spjmjdo4_r2_400.gifv[/img][/cell][/row][row][cell][img]https://64.media.tumblr.com/92b4cd3f3f69445efc0b66dbf4040d4e/tumblr_mp19k0oeBn1spjmjdo3_400.gifv[/img][/cell][cell][img]https://64.media.tumblr.com/076f8a0494600005276b223a9c34f4df/tumblr_mp19k0oeBn1spjmjdo4_400.gifv[/img][/cell][cell][img]https://64.media.tumblr.com/91ef2adb4acfaae1ed6e5882900137f2/tumblr_mp19k0oeBn1spjmjdo2_r1_400.gifv[/img][/cell][/row]
[/table][center][b][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oBfsNh4c_E]"...but I wish we'd met under different circumstances."[/url][/b][/center][hr][hr][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/RKmK4q0.png[/img]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/N7tTd5u.png[/img]
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpOgr4s3GrE[/youtube]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/hFWozfG.png[/img][hr][hr][img]https://i.imgur.com/1efdG4h.png[/img][/center][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent][indent]Currently updating...[/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][/indent][table][row][/row][row][cell][img]https://64.media.tumblr.com/f12910313dd47ea9cead1c314f8ab833/tumblr_ntbm31BkSa1sznb4xo3_250.gifv[/img][/cell][cell][img]https://64.media.tumblr.com/fe472fa332e424f66ed2837f2eaf23c9/tumblr_ntbm31BkSa1sznb4xo4_250.gifv[/img][/cell]
[cell][img]https://64.media.tumblr.com/fb00b50c1dbf289d9140c30a7a332011/tumblr_ntbm31BkSa1sznb4xo8_250.gifv[/img][/cell][/row]
[row][cell][img]https://64.media.tumblr.com/ec26b8c0fcc1da9903b62bf0022ce62c/tumblr_ntbm31BkSa1sznb4xo5_250.gifv[/img][/cell][cell][img]https://64.media.tumblr.com/468eaf4ed38d54774f2d3fd269296f74/tumblr_ntbm31BkSa1sznb4xo6_250.gifv[/img][/cell][cell][img]https://64.media.tumblr.com/23bf4bb5ad09c631a81860f2f822ccce/tumblr_ntbm31BkSa1sznb4xo7_250.gifv[/img][/cell][/row][center][img]https://64.media.tumblr.com/30d05b58ba9137c6662a93a96bfa527a/tumblr_ntbm31BkSa1sznb4xo2_400.gifv[/img][hr][/center]
[center][b]"I'm a dominant..."[/b][/center][/table][center][hr][b][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v31J3arX5Kg]"... This is my job."[/url][/b]
[img]https://64.media.tumblr.com/e91570ee96f9a973747062884eeea1ce/tumblr_ntbm31BkSa1sznb4xo1_400.gifv[/img][hr][/center][table][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/XFCLhxV.png[/img][/center][row][/row][row][cell][center][b][color=forestgreen]REALLY PUNCHY GUYS[/color][/b]
[sup]_______________________________[/sup]
[b][@redbaron1234]
[@Kamen Evie]
[@KaiserElectric]
[@Drag]
[@KremeSupreme]
[@Megsychan]
[@Oddsbod][/b][/center][/cell][cell][center][b][color=forestgreen]THE DISAPPOINTMENT CLUB[/color][/b]
[sup]_______________________________[/sup]
[b][@Spoopy Scary]
[@Junkmail]
[@Maxx]
[@Luminous Beings]
[@Dragonbud][/b][/center][/cell][cell][center][b][color=forestgreen]OTHER SCRUBS[/color][/b]
[sup]_______________________________[/sup]
[b][@Zombiedude101]
[@Lord Wraith]
[@FernStone]
[@Atrophy]
[@Moth]
[@Skai]
[@silvermist1116][/b][/center][/cell][/row][/table][table][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/GXlptHc.png[/img][/center][row][/row][row][cell][center][b][color=forestgreen]SETTINGS[/color][/b]
[sup]_______________________________[/sup]
[b][url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/183613-the-tyrant-shell-universe]The Tyrant Shell Universe[/url][/b] - Mechapunk (Mecha and Cyberpunk mixed together).
[b][url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/183624-the-black-fall-universe]The Black Fall Universe[/url][/b] - Modern-Superhuman tale.[/center][/cell][cell][center][b][color=forestgreen]LINKS[/color][/b]
[sup]_______________________________[/sup]
[b][url=https://discord.gg/4FznNGS]The Collective[/url][/b] - My Discord Server.
[b][url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/183740-the-ghost-lounge-a-1x1-thread-thats-destined-to-go-places-bad-places]The Ghost Lounge[/url][/b] - My 1x1 Thread.
[b][url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/183358-the-ghost-archives]The Ghost Archives[/url][/b] - Character storage.[/center][/cell][/row][/table][table][row][/row][row][cell][img]https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/928186361494425545/93DB229F54AD7363FF943FAF9627A2056CE6A354/[/img][/cell][cell][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/wmKBNmF.png[/img][/center][/cell][cell][img]https://64.media.tumblr.com/aab171d51ab0877e8cb44ef26725c12f/tumblr_mmijotYZ851spjmjdo1_r1_400.gifv[/img][/cell][/row][row][cell][img]https://64.media.tumblr.com/a8b92dee73766c54e1c588067f7b05e9/tumblr_mmijotYZ851spjmjdo2_r1_400.gifv[/img][/cell][cell][img]https://64.media.tumblr.com/c6db94e7f43a0116556b31237e9394cb/tumblr_oetl2fk7YA1r9ibuko1_400.gifv[/img][/cell][cell][img]https://64.media.tumblr.com/d85b9d9f883fcf1e71cad4d1b5c574e2/tumblr_oetl2fk7YA1r9ibuko2_400.gifv[/img][/cell][/row][row][cell][/cell][cell][img]https://64.media.tumblr.com/827528918c7f7bf2672681b30b851654/tumblr_otjspp0ccf1u0vn73o1_400.gifv[/img][/cell][cell][img][/img][/cell][/row][/table][center][b][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnvqcSKho5w]"Oh, I'm afraid we have no allies. No allies nor enemies. I love EVERYONE!"[/url][/b][/center][hr]
Member
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swordmasc
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