I'm interested.
But you already knew that. :D
But you already knew that. :D
VitoftheVoid
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thesunthesunthesunth
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Ranch House,
As soon as Specter had relinquished his hold on her, Hel rushed behind Spire. Her hands clasped the back of his coat and, unusually, she seemed genuinely afraid. Robbed of her power, she was little more than a child, after all. It was only in moments like that that the girl truly seemed to resemble one. She didn't express joy or excitement like a child. She'd learned very little about those things in her short life. But she'd learned an awful lot about fear.
Mags recognized the object that had dropped to the ground, taking a moment of relief that it wasn't a real grenade, before reaching to pull the goggles from her forehead over her eyes and the shemagh round her neck across her nose and mouth. She took the time, whilst obscured in the smoke to turn her attention to the spike of wood sticking through one arm, and pulled it free with a curse. Warm blood drizzled down her sleeve. Hopefully wasn't going to kill her imminently. That would be an issue. Regardless, she had shit to do. Stuffing the papers into the messenger bag she was carrying, Johnny's assistant started forwards out of the cloud and made some advance toward the farmhouse.
"Wanderers! Listen! I get this had started out on the wrong foot and everything but...listen you really might wanna think this through! Your powers don't work and the people here are armed. If this turns into a fight it is not gonna be pretty! There's still time to talk this over."
One had to give her credit in some sense that an individual who was ostensibly unarmed, and already leaving a fair blood trail, was stepping up into clear view to give an ultimatum. It either came out of supreme confidence or a complete disregard for her own safety. Or both. Maybe that was what you got from working for Sweet Johnny for a few years. Enough arrogance to stare down an enemy...or sufficient weariness of life to expose yourself to potential attack.
Erubescan Citadel
Kora was already out of her seat by the time Lulu had spoken.
It's possible she'd already anticipated the order from the research commander.
It was more likely that she had some intention to punch the man square in the face if he didn't face any consequences for his little speech.
Green, for his part, looked quite surprised by these apparent revelations regarding the man's work. As surprised as Green ever looked at any rate. He'd certainly lifted an eyebrow and put his tablet down.
"I assure you Commander Botrelle had I been aware of this it would have never been allowed to go this far. " he responded to the questioning, before turning his attention to the, slightly pale-looking Commander Lovette.
"Commander I can only offer my sincerest apologies that such a grave matter would arise during your first meeting with us. This is clearly a very serious matter and I would hate for you to be left with the impression that this kind of violation of the ethical code is commonplace. Voluntary participation in research trials is the cornerstone of our work here. With that in mind, does anyone have any other matters they wish to bring up whilst Commander Botrelle is dealing with this matter?"
Kora walked out behind the Alchemist, jaw set and watching him like a hawk.
It was a few moments of tense silence before she was able to reign in her temper sufficiently to respond to Darrien.
"I have stupid fashionable hair and have posing with a sword from the wrong period and country. So more or less what I expected." she shrugged her shoulders.
"It's still pretty weird honestly. But means the Viceroy leaves me alone so I'm not complaining. How's things with you?"
In truth other people she knew in her life had been about the last thing in the Knight's mind over the last couple of months. The things that had happened. She was still rather waiting for her mind to catch up with everything and come to a final conclusion on how she felt about everything.
No sign of that happening yet.
Ranch House
Rei's body was limp as it was lifted from the ground and brought inside the house. One arm had been shattered on impact and a few shards of bone, streaked with greenish ichor, protruded from her forearm. Similar green shades littered the side of her face and soaked into her hair.
Not that any of that mattered.
She was dead.
Outside, a second figure made their way out of the armoured vehicle, hopped down onto the dusty ground and stood for a moment reaching around in a paper folder. The individual was a young woman, probably somewhere in her twenties, with dark hair ending in loose curls at her jawline. She wore fingerless gloves a battered-looking camo jacket that sat a bit large on her, and a noticeable degree of dark eye make-up.
She stepped over to the assembled Wanderers, seemingly without a great deal of concern for the number of guns being pointed around.
"So er, I've got the contracts here. Standard long-term employment contract, subject to a quarterly performance review by Mr Bellataire. If any of you want to take a look at any of the specifics it's all written down."
There was an awkward smile on her face, and a very slightly strained edge to her voice that seemed to indicate a keenness to resolve this situation amicably.
Unfortunately, Hel was not feeling the same way. Upon the mere mention of 'Erubesco', her eyes widened in alarm, sufficiently that having the coat dropped upon her. She dropped into a crouch in place up until the point Johnny made a pause in his speech, then she shot forwards at him.
The young woman, noticing the child's trajectory stepped across it, extending a hand to try and block her path.
Impact.
"Jesus christ!"
A splinter of bench about a foot long had been sunk straight through the assistant's forearm with a force that was very impressive for a six year old girl. Blood was dripping into the dust. Hel was standing before her glaring like a cornered animal.
She'd made a choice.
Ranch House
Oren had offered little in the way or resistance or disagreement to Mina's necessary, if rather brutal attempts to treat her. ANy other time such a thing would have caused her enormous concern, but by the point, everything that was awful and traumatic was sort of running together. At least she couldn't feel much of it. That put it a fair way above most of the times someone had stuck something sharp into her back in the last few weeks. Besides, by then it was kind of hard to feel that strongly about anything. She remained with her head low and her eyes shut.
The sound of Spire's voice had over the last few weeks provoked an almost pavlovian response. Her head shot up as the smug, sneering tone of the man who'd been itching to slit her throat for weeks. She glared at him, as if she stood even the remotest chance of being threatening as she was.
All of Erubesco's scientific ability and she was powerless against that bastard.
If he went after her again. She would more than likely die.
The only thing she could really have over him now was that she wasn't scared to die anymore.
She wasn't going to give that psychopath the satisfaction of her fear or distress.
When it came down to it, that might have been the only thing in a very long time that she truly had a choice in.
The combination of fever, painkillers, dehydration and days of sleep deprivation had already had sufficient effect on Oren's ability to think clearly, that any power nullification in effect passed by her entirely unnoticed. Had it been noticed it would probably have been met with as much indifference as anything else that day.
Meanwhile, outside, the effects were far more clearly being felt.
'Feeling strange' was kind of a hard thing to work out for Rei. If anything, she was always feeling strange. Her whole existence was a sin against nature by definition, and no way of how she functioned was in any was congruent with how any other living thing seemed to work, an ever-shifting, transient state that was constantly re-routing itself as a means to adjust to small changes in a situation, even when her exterior gave little indication of it. In that way, it was very hard to define 'normal'. It was also very hard to define when that was threatened.
So indeed the first thing that gave Rei a reason to be at all concerned was when she abruptly doubled over and vomitted green blood and pieces of rat all over the roof tiles.
That hadn't happened before. Rei frowned.
"...weird...I feel kind of-"
The mutant dropped off the roof like a stone and hit the ground in a manner that made on attempt to stop the impact. There was a distinct crunch on landing, but no reaction whatsoever from Rei herself. Her abilities were the only thing keeping the disparate collection of human and animal cells running as a functioning organism. Without Rei's powers, there wasn't a Rei.
Moments after the Erubescan experiment had smashed into the ground by the kitchen window, the small form of Hel came hurrying out of the back door, pausing for a moment to stop by her usual silver-haired punching bag and viewing the scene with distaste.
Nobody ruined her toy.
Except maybe her.
Not keen to wait for anyone older or more cautious to prevent it, Hel rushed forwards, over towards the source of the voice, her berry-coloured eyes narrowed in as much contempt as a six-year-old child could reasonably express. She didn't stop until she'd reached the foot of the armoured truck and was looking up at the man who had so unceremoniously crashed into her garden and started ruining her things with whatever it was that he was doing.
And she made her demands.
"Stop it."
Ashlands, Unknown Location
A long, high-pitched howl cut through the chill morning air somewhere to the north.
Cyrus Fox lay on his bed, brown eyes set squarely on the rust on his ceiling whilst the gears in his mind turned.
Coyotes weren't that uncommon in this part of the Ash. You could often hear their songs echoing across the rocks.
That was not a coyote.
The young man pulled himself up onto his feet and grabbed the pair of jeans from the floor of his 'house', the skeleton of an old bus that had decades ago come to make a final resting place of the small depression, sat between two high outcrops. He peered out from the windows into the orange sky and caught sight of a large shadow darting down the pathway, disappearing behind some bristly shrubs along the side of it.
Cyrus frowned. Looked like he had company.
A few moments later, Cyrus opened the bus door. The hinges were stiff from year of dereliction, and he had to lean a fair bit of weight into it to move the thing.
The rusted metal swung aside to reveal none other than his younger sister.
The sister he had last seen three years ago when she'd taken off on course for Liberty.
The sister he'd been pretty sure was either dead or assimilated.
The sister he'd long ago given up on.
She wasn't alone either. SHe stood sheepishly before the entrance, and in her arms she was carrying a child. Probably about four or five years of age.
Cyrus stood there for a long moment, unsure exactly how to react to this. In the end, it was Dinah, the not-dead sister, who broke the silence. She tossed her head to throw a few strands of hair from her face, and gave an awkward, lop-sided smile like a three year absence was about the same as spilling cranberry juice on his couch.
"Hey uh, this is kind of a long story and I swear it all checks out in the end but...I kinda need your help to break into Liberty. Also this is Jimmy. He's not my kid or anything. Honestly it all makes sense. It's just...kinda complicated."
Another long silence, before Cyrus finally sighed, rubbing his eyes.
"It's way too early for this shit. You better come in."
"Hey, language, there's a kid present."
"My bus, my rules."
Erubesco, The Citadel
Cadriel didn't really like people placing their hands on her without her say so.
Particularly since the day a certain Knight Commander had tried to stab her.
But that was a long story.
As such, as soon as the serf felt a hand on her shoulder she instinctively pulled away, her mild sense of alarm pushing back his psychic enquiry.
As such only a few things would flash up in Sairan's mind.
Cadriel, or someone very much like her, but devoid of scars and stitches, stood before a full length mirror, adjusting a Knight's uniform and badge for a scout regiment. Large, speckled wings were tucked in behind her shoulders.
--
An empty conscript room. Cadriel crouched down beside the bed, on which lay a clearly badly injured Commander Botrelle, covered in cuts and gashes. The serf was taping some gauze over when looked like letters carved into the woman's skin with a knife, whilst speaking.
"I don't know...guess I'm just a better person than you huh?"
Caddie meanwhile had moved away to stand with her back against the wall, waiting until she was needed. Very little that came up surprised her, even if they did shock the ginger knight and the new Commander. The only thing odd was most Commanders were a little bit more subtle about the horrible things they got up to...ones like..
Commander Green.
She didn't recall seeing him come in.
Perhaps she'd been there already.
It was a tiny bit unsettling.
The Commander sat at the table, dressed in a neat white labcoat and a set of opaque grey gloves. White hair, youthful face, and the eyes of some kind of carnivorous reptile. Caddie gave him a wide berth.
"Thank you Commander Botrelle, much appreciated. And Commander Lovette, welcome to The Citadel. I hope you find the visit inspiring." Green smiled a little, a smile that never seemed to quite reach his eyes.
"Now, in regards to Medical Research. Most of you will be aware that one of my best qualified alchemists has been signed off as 'Missing in Action' as of last week, having received the last communication from her two weeks previous. Most unfortunate. With this in mind I will be beginning interviews for a replacement in the coming weeks. It's relatively non-urgent currently as the present staff are more than capable of keeping up with the routine tasks, however with Citadel plans to recommence the Red Queen project in the near future I feel it would be prudent to be well-prepared. If there are any recommendations for the position they would be much appreciated.
On that note the potential resumption of Red Queen will mean that I'd be requesting that a few of the routine testing tasks be passed on to a couple of alchemists in other departments for a few weeks, given the current staffing shortage here. Drug trial and the like, nothing considerable. If there are any objections in that regard please do let me know before I submit any requests to the Viceroy. "
KOra, for her own part in the meeting, had been sitting drinking coffee and doodling pictures of bears with swords on her notebook.
Right up until the point one of the Alchemists started casually talking about killing test subjects. The pen scratched on the paper as the Knight's head shot up. When Green had finished, she lifted one hand.
"Uh, question...what the fuck? There's an Alchemist that's casually offing serfs and nobody is bothered? What kind if sick fucks are you hiring here?" her gaze moved to Botrelle in particular. She was her friend after all, and she'd like to imagine that Lulu was not completely at ease with killing prisoners and serfs by the score in the name of scientific research.
Ranch House, Unknown Location
The continual drone of the radio snapped off, as the younger woman who had appeared departed once again. The echoes still seemed to be bouncing around in Oren's head for some time afterward. It had been the only thing really keeping her awake all this time, when her resolve to do so had long failed her.
The Alchemist's body had swiftly rejected the water, causing Oren to throw up onto the dirty concrete. She coughed, stomach acid burning her throat, and slumped sideways against the peeling wall. The pain, from her legs, arms, torso, was no less severe than it had been. Her head felt like it was full of hot tar. These things were still there, but by this point felt distant somehow.
Was this dying?
She'd long ago ceased to care about it.
Eventually things caught up with you.
Eventually you had to pay your dues.
The Nightwatch Project was cursed.
It got you sooner or later.
No kind of deal with the devil held it off forever.
Green was a bastard.
Why had she gotten into this?
Sterling, please don't have done anything stupid..
"Stay with me, now,"
Oren opened her eyes again, blinking a couple of times to focus. She was greeted by the presence of someone else in that room, and the presence of instuments on the table.
Someone else wanting to have a go?
No.
The mannerisms were different.
Doctor.
Oren's jaw clenched reflexively at the word the held in her mind. Doctor was not a good word.
But she had neither the energy or the time to get sufficiently worked up before the doctor stuck her with the needles.
--
Visually, a short while after being given the painkiller, the captured alchemist seemed to relax, her head lolling to one side, hair half plastered to her face with dirt and unhealthy sweat.
ALchemist Kovalenko had barely been out of the sterile fortress of Citadel Research in fifteen years. She had very little resistance to the pathogens of the Ash, and those bacteria had been making the most of an easy target, invading the half-healed injuries Spire had left behind and killing the tissue. Oren's own natural stubbornness only got her so far, and her body had been fighting a losing battle as the wounds turned septic.
As the scalpel started cutting into the skin the alchemist tensed, bound hands closing into fists, but she made no attempt to stop what was taking place. Out of necessity or sheer lack of will to do so was unclear.
"SO you got plenty of time to make boast and make threats and give a speech on why you don't have time to say sorry, but not enough time to not boats or make threats. Or use the word please. Or to say sorry. If you're gonna be a dick at least be honest about it." Rei responded, sitting against the tiles with the knees level with her chest and a look of general contempt on her face.
Quite honestly she spent enough of her time dealing with assholes that she could do nothing about to let those she could do something about go unchallenged. Maybe it was projecting to some degree. She didn't care too much either way. If she could manage to treat people civilly after all the shit Spire and Hel had put her through in the past then she didn't see what gave this guy a free pass.
As if that was not enough, there also seemed to be yet another unwanted guest. She had her concerns, though this one at least sounded something close to sincere. And others seemed to be handling it.
Rei leant back on the roof. Barely past sunrise and it was already chaotic.
Well, whilst she was up there she might a well check the attic.
Rei was in no way comfortable with what was taking place. She was also not comfortable at the prospect of a regenerator breaking out and murdering everyone in the house in their sleep. You couldn't trust regenerators. She should know. SHe was one after all.
The shapeshifter crept up the incline of the roof to peer through the dusty window of the attic. She'd expected to see the broken winged man up there. She'd not expected another pair of wings to be occupying the space.
Drake was back.
It was all happening today.
Rei remained still, listening in as little more than a blurry smudge of grey and green at a tiny window.
Ranch House, Unknown Location
Rei hated being around Spire. Hated it especially when someone like Toby or Mina wasn't around to act as a buffer. Out here there was really not enough people for him to share out his nastiness between.
She was rather relieved when the devil-child took the psycho's hand and he started to lead her away back toward the house and the kitchen. Meant she would know where they were for the next half hour or so so she could avoid it.
What she could not avoid however, was catching sight of the scene taking place by the door, and the stranger there. Toby was pointing a gun at him, so he had to be a stranger.
Rei did not appreciate his tone. She gritted her teeth, canines digging into the inside wall of her mouth very slightly. She took off at a job towards the farm house, that turned into a run, before making a lemur-like spring into the house, up the wall and over onto the roof top with digits that now spread out like those of a gecko.
She made her way over to the door where this was taking place, jumped over, and perched on the eves like a gargoyle, pupils contracted to black slits by the morning sun.
"I think the words you're looking for is 'please let me stay here'." she stated, narrowing her eyes.
"And less of the attitude would probably help your case there."
In many ways, Rei was a pushover.
She had a very low level of expectations when it came to her own treatment. She didn't complain too much if she got an arm ripped off or Hel made her eat bits of tractor engine for fun.
She did however start to bristle when people started trying to cause trouble for her group.
And this guy had trouble written through him like a stick of Brighton Rock.
Ranch House, Unknown Location
Oren was ready to die.
Well, 'ready' was the wrong word.
She'd forsaken any other possibility.
That was, when she caught the knife being put away she felt almost.. cheated
Was all this, the girl showing up, the exchange, just some other trick to try and get something out of her?
Just then, Hat Guy pushed her head up, and Oren felt water splashing into her mouth. In previous days she might have spat said water directly into her tormenter's facr in a bitter act of rebellion. Now, she was too weak and sick and resigned to her fate to both with such a futile gesture. As the water hit her throat her stomach reacted with objection to the now unfamiliar sensation, and Oren coughed and gagged, splashing some of the water onto the floor.
She wish he'd finished it.
And my Libertybros.
More characters in WIP because I'm scared of losing my progress.
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