Topic: Payback's a Bitch (Read 27005 times)

BerkaZerka · « **on:** February 03, 2018, 03:14:03 pm »

Capital One Arena, Washington DC; Saturday Evening, February 3rd 2018

The game at the Capital One Arena had been pretty good - the Georgetown Hoyas winning over Florida State in the final two minutes to avoid going into overtime. Beats had talked Robor into checking out the game and neither of them had been disappointed. Robor had even won some money on a friendly side-bet with two guys from the rival team.

It was just after six pm - the game having started at four - as everyone was filing out of the complex onto the cold February streets. The night was still young (despite the sun having already gone down) and a stop at the local bar seemed the next order of business.

As Robor and Beats waited for the crossing signal among the crowd of college basketball fans, mayhem abruptly broke out with the rev of an engine, thumps, screams, a loud crash, and panic!

A large white Chevy Suburban had just plowed into the crowd at the crosswalk - quickly losing control and crashing into a vehicle barrier that protected the entry to the sports arena!

Dazed bystanders stood in confusion as several mangled bodies littered the vehicle's path. For a moment, it seemed like it may have just been a terrible accident. That notion was shattered, when five brown-skinned men with black bandanas over their faces, jumped out and began stabbing everyone in reach with long thin trench-knives.

"Allah al Akbar! Death to the great Satan! Allah al Akbar!" they yelled - something about their accents being a little off to Beats' ears. To him, they sounded more South-Side DC ghetto than true Middle-Eastern - like they were trying to play it off for some unfathomable reason.

The crowd meanwhile, began to flee in all directions, while the men spread out to continue the assault. Quite a few people were now running back towards Robor and Beasts, as two of the attackers gave chase - drawing closer.

Forge · « **Reply #1 on:** February 04, 2018, 09:45:37 pm »

Beats takes a moment to take in the situation before shouting 'Dese guys are Southside DC! Somthins off here!"

He then clasps his Space tag and casts untouchable on himself before charging in, ready to show the knife wielding jackasses what a trained Boxer can do with a combo of punches.

Not Aman · « **Reply #2 on:** February 04, 2018, 10:11:47 pm »

"Shit." Robor mutters.

"You handle the racists Beats. I'll get to crowd control." Robor says, surrepditiously sliding his ring off into his palm. Focusing his mana, Robor emotionally urges the crowd around to get out of Beats' way, and get out of danger.

BerkaZerka · « **Reply #3 on:** February 06, 2018, 07:14:42 pm »

Under Robor's influence, the crowd parted around Beats like a school of fish, allowing the disciple a beeline to the approaching terrorists. They both bolted with alarming speed at Robor however - actually blurring a half second to jump the final gap.

Throwing himself backwards, Robor avoided a pair of triangular-spiked blades through the lungs, but caught one in his shoulder and the other right through the hand. He could feel the reinforced fabric of his hidden armor give way to the spike stabbing his shoulder, which was part of the spike's design, having been used in World War One to penetrate the heavy German coats in close-quarter trench fighting.

"Yeah bitch! You're mine! Hahahaha!!!" One of the men laughed at Robor, apparently enjoying the fight. He grinned broadly, showing Robor his long fangs.

Beats meanwhile, had not seen the fangs, and sprang forward to hook-punch of the men in the side of the head. It was hard to tell if it hurt the guy, as he didn't even bother turning away from Robor to face Beats after the fact.

Yelling and screams could still be heard from the periphery, where the other three attackers continued to pursue the crowd - invoking Allah, as they went.

As this went on, four armed police officers rushed from their post in the Capital One Arena to the main entrance. Arriving there, they drew their side-arms and took up a defensive position - directing the crowd to flee back into the arena behind them.

Not Aman · « **Reply #4 on:** February 06, 2018, 07:38:37 pm »

"Shit. Vampires!" Robor shouts out to Beats, stepping back away from the Vampire duo.

He grips his ring tightly, as he channels his psychic powers to assault the vampires, forcing Mana to try and stop their attack on the civilians

Forge · « **Reply #5 on:** February 06, 2018, 08:09:24 pm »

Being told that these guys are Vampires sets Beats off, before they were humans killing other humans that needed to be stopped. Now they were Evil unholy abominations slaughtering innocents for fun while shouting fake religeous words all just to cover up an attack on Robor.

"Dis joke ends here you farking bloodsuckers." He says as he clasps his space tag and casts Shattered images (Worlds collide Space 5) Burning as much mana as he can to help it suceed.

As he casts he hunches down and pretends to cover away a little like the sleepers

BerkaZerka · « **Reply #6 on:** February 07, 2018, 10:47:47 pm »

Robor's psychic assault caused one of the vampires to throw its head to the side in a yelp of pain, but did little to deter its onslaught. Both vampires continued to pursue Robor - intending on perforating him repeatedly with their trench-knives until they were sure he was dead.

Not wanting to allow that, Beats reached deep within his newfound well of arcane power - bringing to bare one of his most potent spells. As the vampires set on Robor, Beats abruptly collocated them - literally superimposing them in the same space. This was immediately followed by a violent chain reaction, as their molecular lattices collided with each other, then were explosivly driven back apart!

The hundreds of sleepers witnessing this, couldn't comprehend what just happened, and their combined expectations warped the reality of the spell, changing it into something they could actually believe!

One of the terrorists had a suicide vest - it had to be - and he had just set it off!

A reverberating BOOM shattered the surrounding area - metal bolts and ball-bearings blasting everywhere! The vampire at the focal point of the new reality was instantly vaporized, while his companion was ripped in half at the waist in a gruesome disgorging of entrails!

Beats meanwhile, found himself on his back, coming out of darkness in a daze. Something was stuck in his right eye; and he reached a bloody hand up to pull a human finger from his own socket. He also found metal shrapnel embedded in his chest and could hardly breath. When he looked down, Beats could see that his legs were both missing at the knees.

Fortunately, consciousness didn't last long and Beats slipped into a coma shortly thereafter.

Robor was also seriously injured by the proximity of the explosion - though he never knew what hit him - and did not regain consciousness to see how bad it really was. In his case, he had lost his left hand (one finger ending up in Beats' eye), while all the bones in his right side were shattered (leg, hip, arm, ribs, and skull). He too, was left in a coma afterwards.

A few civilians had been killed by the blast, while another two dozen were injured by shrapnel.

Even then, the killing did not stop, as the remaining three terrorists continued to attack the fleeing crowd, until SWAT teams arrived a few minutes later to contain them. The terrorists refused to give up and were all cut down in a hail of bullets.

---

(Continued in Enemies At The Gates)

BerkaZerka · « **Reply #7 on:** February 07, 2018, 10:48:36 pm »

BREAKING NEWS!

WASHINGTON DC -- 6:24 pm -- Police and witnesses say five men deliberately drove a rented SUV into a busy crosswalk near the Capital One Sports Arena in Washington DC, as a college basketball game was letting out, killing eight people and injuring at least twelve others, then emerged from the vehicle screaming and attacking the fleeing crowd with World War One trench-knives (a weapon banned by the Geneva Convention for the difficulty it presents in treating the wounds that it inflicts on its victims).

Moments later, one of the attackers detonated a suicide vest, killing himself, a nearby fellow attacker, four more people, and injuring an additional twenty seven in proximity. DCPD commissioner John O'Connor (on the scene) described the blast as a high explosive device with an outer layer of metal bolts and steel shot, designed to produce the greatest amount of carnage.

Other witnesses say that two men, both critically injured in the blast, had rushed up to fight the two attackers away from the crowd, allowing many people to get away before the explosion took place. Had it not been for their remarkable heroism, even more would have been killed.

SWAT Teams quickly arriving in the area shot down the other three terrorists, when they refused to drop their weapons and rushed the police line. None of these men had explosives, though they did manage to kill another five people and critically injured two more during their spree.

All told, the attack took the lives of fourteen people, plus the five terrorists, and injured thirty seven.

"This was a cowardly act Islamic Extremist terror," President Triumph said about the attack -- the deadliest act of terror this city has ever seen -- "It is very painful day in our city and for our country, but we will pick ourselves up from this attack, and see justice fall swiftly on the inhuman savages responsible!"

Sources say the suspects were of various Middle Eastern descent and yelled "Allahu Akbar" -- Arabic for "God is great" -- during the attack, lending credence to President Triumph's assertion that the attack was the work of Islamic extremists. As of yet, no group has claimed responsibility, though an ISIS flag was found in the rented SUV used by the attackers.

Investigators are still processing the area and DCPD commissioner John O'Connor has promised to hold a press conference as soon as they conclude securing the scene.

BerkaZerka · « **Reply #8 on:** February 08, 2018, 08:01:17 pm »

(Continued from Forgive Me Father For I Have Sinned)

---

Ten minutes later, the Saint (Killer) had jogged the remaining mile and a half, arrived on the scene, outside the Capitol One Arena. The place looked like a war-zone. Countless Police and SWAT vehicles were everywhere, along with emergency vehicles, lighting up the sky with their red and blue lights.

Subtly bypassing a police vehicle cordon, the Saint (Killer) made it to a massive crowd of onlookers, outside a perimeter actually being kept by police tape and a wall of officers. It was across the street from the main entrance of the arena - starting at the bottom of the steps, where the sidewalk met the street and encompassed the entire width of the street, on up the whole block.

Inside the restricted area, Ambulances were loading the wounded and heading off, while coroners bagged bodies, and investigators processed other aspects of the scene.

At the top side of the street, were a bunch of news stations, filming the events and reporting as things unfolded.

A notable crater - 15 feet in diameter - had been blown into a section of pavement near the crosswalk, where a white Chevy Suburban had crashed into a concrete and steel post.

Even in the dark of night, the spatter of blood on the crumpled grill and front quarter-panels could still be made out.

"I feel like a kite on a string haha!" Miguel quipped, trying to lighten the mood a bit. Indeed, being a ghost, he had literally been swept along on his tether to the Saint as the Priest made the run into town.

Drakilian · « **Reply #9 on:** February 08, 2018, 11:49:44 pm »

Killer casts spatial map again, taking a picture of the scene to go still the chaos. He looks over everything in his mind's eye with his magical vision - the dead, the wounded - what were their injuries?who were they?

Was there anything that he, as a disciple, should care about? Or was this just a typical bombing?

BerkaZerka · « **Reply #10 on:** February 09, 2018, 07:36:15 pm »

From where he was, the Saint (Killer) couldn't see anything that stood out among the busy scene as anything but the mundane. The injured that still remained, appeared to have been stabbed, while others had been hit by shrapnel from the bomb going off. They currently waited with paramedics and EMTs in a small triage area for the ambulances to ferry them off to the hospital, while investigators questioned the less wounded about what they had seen.

The Saint (Killer) was unable to see any of the dead however, as they had already been 'bagged' by the time he had arrived. They would likely be taken to the city morgue as soon as the living had all been taken care of.

Drakilian · « **Reply #11 on:** February 09, 2018, 08:06:05 pm »

Come on, an explosion in my backyard and nothing exciting anywhere to be found?

In a last ditch effort to find some entertainment out of this debacle, Killer steps up to the police lineup and asks offers to give out last rites. If nothing interesting is to be found there, he'll begin heading for the nearest hospital large enough and well equipped enough to handle this many victims. Perhaps he could interrogate the dead about what happened.

BerkaZerka · « **Reply #12 on:** February 10, 2018, 10:05:54 am »

The Saint (Killer) had no problems getting past the police line, being directed to the triage area by the officers who let him through. He was supposed to ask for a Lieutenant Dunn, who would provide an escort (to ensure he did not disturb the crime scene), while going from body to body.

As he was walking across the street and around the bomb crater, something of a familiar resonance suddenly drew his attention. Following the source, the Saint (Killer) looked down into the gutter and saw Robor's iron ring, hidden among the shadows. There was no mistaking the unique item, fashioned from a skeleton key wrapped into the shape of a ring.

"Is not that the ring of your fellow disciple?" Miguel asked, looking to see what the Saint (Killer) had found.

Drakilian · « **Reply #13 on:** February 10, 2018, 02:30:14 pm »

"It is. Keep a very careful eye out Miguel, it seems we've been attacked. If the attackers have people on the scene and they're hunting disciples then I might be their next target."

Killer picks up the ring and tries to scry for Robor's current location, using it as an additional medium. Hopefully he was still alive, it would be inconvenient to no longer have any sort of spirit master.

BerkaZerka · « **Reply #14 on:** February 10, 2018, 03:38:40 pm »

The Saint (Killer)'s scrying window opened to a chaotic scene in the Emergency Room of the George Washington University Hospital. There he saw Robor, in emergency surgery - doctors swarming around him, trying to save his life. He appeared to be missing a hand.

There were other victims of the explosion there as well.

'Walking' his sight from Robor's surgical suite into some of the adjoining suites, he was suprized to find an even worse off Beats - currently having the stumps of his legs (below the knees) sewn up, while another specialist removed shrapnel from his chest and face. For some reason, it also looked like someone had spray-painted Beats' forehead silver, giving him a bizarre post-apocalyptic road-warrior-like look.

Drakilian · « **Reply #15 on:** February 10, 2018, 04:07:07 pm »

"Hmph"

Killer sighs and uses the mana necessary to cast balm of flesh, invoking it through the sympathetic link.

He purposely limits the strength of his casting to only heal minimal damage (stabilizing them at best). Anything more would most likely invoke paradox.

He casts it twice, once on Beats and once on Robor.

He then leaves the scene. He'll look for the closest restaurant or fast food place still open for business and try to find a handicapped bathroom, where he will try to summon Sarapheen and explain the situation to her.

The whole way he will order Miguel to keep an eye out for anyone following them.

BerkaZerka · « **Reply #16 on:** February 11, 2018, 10:31:48 am »

There were plenty of places to eat along the strip, but the Saint (Killer) had to get out of the vehicle cordon to find any opened, due to the tragedy. He and Miguel entered a crowded sports bar - all televisions set on the news.

Walking through to the back, the Saint (Killer) gleaned from the various reporting that Islamic extremists drove the white Suburban into the crowd and then started stabbing people. One had a suicide vest and was heroically fought back from the crowd by two brave men, who saved many by their selfless act. One news clip showed a security camera view of the street, right before the bomb went off - sure enough, it was Robor and Beats fighting the attackers!

Heading into a large handicap accessible restroom, the Saint (Killer) called for Sarapheen.

She descended through her portal, in the guise of a nurse, and closed the gate behind her. Apparently, she intended to remain down here for a while.

"Robor and Beats will survive this," she said; "Especially after surgery, where we can visit them in the hospital to spirit them away in all the confusion."

Drakilian · « **Reply #17 on:** February 11, 2018, 02:43:38 pm »

"They will survive the blast. We need to keep them safe from anything else that might come after them.

People who don't know they're dealing with disciples shouldn't have been able to take down Beats and Robor that easily, even in front of that many sleepers. I think this might have been targeted, and if it was then Beats and Robor are in danger at that hospital. I want to pay a visit to the police morgue to question the dead attackers but I don't want to leave Beats and Robor unsupervised.

As well as that..."

Killer shows Sarapheen the image Emend had sent him.

"Emend sent this just a few minutes before the explosion saying he had visitors. He might be in danger as well, I doubt it's a coincidence that at the same moment Emend and Usdi are entertaining strange visitors in our home Robor and Beats were targeted and nearly killed."

"Can you go help Emend and send me to the hospital? I can't portal around like you and with Beats down we can't afford to chance losing the stone. When you're done at the castle you can relieve me at the hospital and I can go to the morgue with Usdi or Emend to figure out what happened."

BerkaZerka · « **Reply #18 on:** February 11, 2018, 05:01:55 pm »

Judging from the extent of their injuries," Sarapheen replied, "They will be in surgery for a few more hours, then transferred to the ICU. I'd rather you come with me to High Oaks Castle in the meantime, so we can all come back when Robor and Beats will finally be alone."

"If someone plans to attack them in the hospital, they are likely to wait for that moment. And we can all be there to stop them."

"Besides," she continued, "we'll need Emend to scrub any records of Robor and Beats' names from the hospital computers, before we can bring Robor and Beats home for the type of healing they really need."

"I do think it a good idea to speak to the dead concerning the matter though, but if Emend and UsdiYona are in danger, then we should go address that first. The dead will wait."

Drakilian · « **Reply #19 on:** February 11, 2018, 05:23:17 pm »

"Very well."

While waiting for her to open the portal, Killer scries the castle grounds for Emund and, should the two visitors be there, he will use Analyze Life on them.

BerkaZerka · « **Reply #20 on:** February 13, 2018, 05:23:29 pm »

The Saint (Killer) opened a window in time to see a black limousine leaving the property, while Emend and UsdiYona closed the castle portcullis and went inside.

He noted that while he could make out an elderly black driver, the passenger compartment itself was warded against scrying.

As this went on, Sarapheen opened a portal into the attic storage space so she and the Saint (Killer) could walk down the steps into the Library.

---

(Continued in Enemies At The Gates)

News:

Author Topic: Payback's a Bitch (Read 27005 times)