[Nexus] That Day Has Come

[BladeofObliviom]

[Inside - Jakob]

Great, the dreaded Tumor Beast! Some foul construct of Black Mana, that it might hold even nastier tricks to assault him with.

He'll make the first move, firing a bolt of Blue Mana at the creature. Reasserting the laws of physics, chemistry, and biology will probably hurt the thing at least a bit, right?

Repost, since it appears to have been missed.

[Mr. Moon]

MagMart Parking Lot

Allen keeps his pistol squarely pointed at Tirin's chest as Dave explains things, and for a little while after. The cowboy's wide-rimmed hat is pulled down low over his face, so it's hard to get a good feel for his reaction to Dave's story."I dunno much abou' this apocalypse bullcrap." Allen says, once Dave is finished speaking. "This Cthulhu fellow, 'e's onno the big ugly ones, yeah? Seems to me that somesuch a fellow would jus' be more easy fer Cthulhu to influence, yeah? How d'we know tha' lady ya killed weren't jus' a normal lady apart from yer word?" And it looks like Allen's ignoring Elena, because he hasn't moved an inch. "Yer the expert, kid." Allen says, addressing Sadie but not turning to look at her. "Whadaya think about all this?"

[Lady Serpentine]

((It seems Sadei is ignoring Tirin's question, in addition to Allen ignoring Elena. Was that intended?))

[Rebonack]

((Eepers, sorry BoO))

The summoner guy hurls a bolt of blue energy at the tumor-beast! It doesn't seem to be very pleased by this at all. In fact, it reacts to it my causing several cysts on its body to rupture, spilling out disgusting tumor zombies. Zombies which, of course, come screaming toward Jakob.

He would do well not to allow them to get close to him.

As for the actual tumor beast itself, it's still some distance away. It isn't a direct threat, though Jakob has managed to get its attention.

[MagMart]

"I'm Raven's sister," the chimera replies in a level tone, her body still tense from being jumped at earlier. The Cthulhu thing is gone, but she remains on edge regardless. There's no telling whether or not it'll return.

Aaaaand then she wrinkles her nose at the story of Zero's origin. "I'm almost certain DNA doesn't work that way. But even if it did that would make that Zero thing one of Cthulhu's spawn, little more than an extension of his own will. So I'm sorry if I find your story a bit far-fetched."

She snorts.

"Besides. There's no way to tell a shoggoth apart from the real thing. Not even Mother can do that."

[The Skies!]

Zomg explosion!

A huge chunk of the tendril gets blasted off by the explosion, crashing into the sea and causing it to froth into a vile soup of pus and bile. Yuck... And no soul-stealing stuff takes place. Guess the Admiral is safe?

[Lady Serpentine]

[Parking Lot]

"Then you can ask her when she gets here; we met her earlier. And yes, there is a way to tell a shoggoth from a human; the emotions are all wrong."

[Mindfreak]

MagMart
"Then explain how we did it!"
Her smile goes away.
"That aside, he does require daily doses of a muscle relaxant to keep himself in check. If those aren't administered then he's going to go insane."

[BladeofObliviom]

((Don't worry about it. I'm doing this in between my homework anyway. ))

[Inside - Jakob]

Yay, more tumors! Wait...

...Let's go with "Not yay, more tumors! D:"

Anyway, Jakob's response is unsurprised. He really shouldn't be surprised that these creatures have Broodmothers spawning them, after all. He's seen similar things during his time in Jund, especially when fighting Mycoloths. Unfortunately, this time he doesn't have the convenient help of someone able to burn cities with a thought, so he'll have to find a new way to take this thing down.

Hopefully it doesn't regenerate TOO quickly.

Thankfully, the Basic Tumor Zombies aren't exactly the most difficult of enemies to defeat, and he'll devote only a burst of Solar Fire towards taking out the largest groups. No, his quarry is the Dread Beast.

If the Solar Fire thinned the ranks enough for him to charge more or less safely, he'll attempt to do so against the beast, meeting its sheer bulk with his sword, the appropriate signs, and more Blue Mana.

[Mr. Moon]

((C'nor, please wait for everyone else to post before posting again. Also, if you had actually read all my post (), you'd have seen that I explicitly stated that Allen is ignoring Elena.))

MagMart Parking Lot

"Yeah, no." Allen scoffs, his arm still unwavering as he aims his revolver at Tirin. "I dunno if y've noticed, li'l lady," the cowboy continues, and there is a particular venom to the way he says 'little lady'. He spits it out as if it left a bad taste on his lips, the same way one might make a particularly foul racial slur. "But it's on yer shoulders ta tell us how you knew th' lady were a shoggoth. An I'm not gettin' a whole lot o' satisfactory evidence here, so y'all best get on that afore I decide my arm's gettin' tired."

[Lady Serpentine]

((I had said that in addition to Allen ignoring Elena, which I knew you has said, that Sadei was ignoring Tirin; I had misread earlier, and thought both of them were your characters.))

[Reinholdt]

[The Skies!]

For certain definitions of safe. And for today. I suppose. Probably bought the people in Inside just a little bit more time. Yay!

[Mindfreak]

MagMart
"Because I trust Robert."
She looked at him with grim determination.
"Now, for the love of the gods, don't make it so I have to watch another one of my loved ones get senselessly murdered!"
Tears begin to form in her eyes.

[Lord Magtok]

MagMart Roof

Magtok shakes his head at all the chaos down below, and decides to finally take action. He grabs a megaphone of his own, clears his throat, and steps forward where everyone can see him. While this might make him an open target to any who might be as bad as he suspects, he's fairly certain his death wouldn't be worth nearly enough to anyone to risk blowing their cover like that. Let's hope he's right.

"Attention shoppers: It is with a heavy heart that I must inform you all that all Umbrella employees and Umbrella sympathizers are hereby banned form the store. Umbrella is more than welcome to trade resources in the parking lot, or simply deposit their cargo on the ground entirely free of charge as originally intended, of course. However I'm afraid that until additional evidence surfaces proving beyond shadow of a doubt that the organization is not collaborating with the enemy, we cannot risk allowing Umbrella personnel into MagMart.

With that said, we are now officially opening our doors to civilians and non-Umbrella refugees. Please follow the trail designated by the aisles and shelves that have been reconfigured into a big windy path and stuff. Remember that sales clerks are positioned both within and outside the premises, and that any attempt to order an attack, shoplift supplies, or sabotage the telewarp station will be met with immediate and painful execution. Thank you and have a nice day, I guess."

The doors open. There are, of course, Magbots pointing guns all over the place, but as mentioned earlier, they're heavily concealed. One would have to go out of their way to locate and identify them.

[Mindfreak]

MagMart
How about the fact that they risked death by coming to MagMart in the first place? Or that they brought survivors? Or that they've made a large perimeter around MagMart to help keep out the Starspawn? Or perhaps the fact that the soldiers tried to calm down the citizens?
Or what about the fact that they didn't try to take over MagMart?
If they were in league with the enemy they would have just used the humvee with the rocket launcher to blow a hole in the wall surrounding MagMart and crush the employees like a bug!
Dave, however, rubs his temples in anger.
"This is why you don't shoot at people until you know the full story. Thanks a lot little girl, you sure screwed us over!"
Dave was not happy.

[Rebonack]

[MagMart Parking Lot]

Actually the emotions of a shoggoth when they're pretending to be human (or whatever other species they might pretend to be) are spot on. There really aren't any psionic abilities that would identify one. Partly because when a shoggoth is mimicking someone the shoggoth isn't actually even aware that it's a shoggoth until it is discovered.

At which point it does the creepy John Carpenter's The Thing impression and starts nomming people.

So, it sounds like the Umbrella groups telepaths have been condemning innocent people as shoggoths! Or maybe not. Either way...

Sadei makes an irritated snorting noise and stomps off into MagMart, her little-girl arms crossed over her chest. Or... wait... Wasn't she a chimera? No. She was never a chimera. That would be crazy.

"It's my duty to slay anyone who's in league with the Old Ones," she comments from the door to MagMart. "The only reason you aren't dead is because I'm not totally sure. However, you."

She points a finger straight at Elena. "Stink of the Dead Dreamer's power as well. My other siblings might not be as kind as I am."

[Fightin' the Tumor Beast]

Solar flare!

FWOOOSH!

The cleansing flames incinerate the incoming zombies in fairly large numbers. A few make it through, though they're burned pretty well and slowed down by their injuries.

Then the Walker... uuhh... Charges the massive monster with his sword? Oof... The stench alone may over-power him before he even gets close. Though once he's within about ten feet of the behemoth it'll spew a torrent of pus at him.

His blade will cleave into the thing, sure. But it's absolutely huge. Not sure how much a smallish blade-wound will actually hurt it.

[Mr. Moon]

Magmart Parking Lot -> Magmart

"'Cause you trust 'im?" Allen repeats, incredulously. "You stupid whore, ya want me ta believe you 'cause you trust him?" He lifts his free hand to his face, covering it as he laughs. It is a horrible, cruel and nasty laugh. It is the laugh of the man who has seen too many horrible things in his life and has been completely twisted by them. He laughs at her tears, at her suffering, at the mere idea that she is asking him, of all people, to grant her mercy. The whole time he keeps his gun trained on Tirin, and you can bet that he's on alert for any attempts to take advantage of his momentary distraction.

Finally, Allen calms down. As he lowers his hand, tears of mirth roll down his left cheekbone, leaving little trails of clean skin behind them. "Man, you are one dumb broad." And just like that, without warning or provocation, Allen lifts his revolver from Tirin, and fires a shot at Elena. The shot won't kill her instantly, but it is a death shot. A single shot, to her stomach. There's a chance it might lodge in her spine and paralyze her from the waist down. There's a chance it might shred through muscle and gut, cutting open her intestines. The myriad of bacteria inside will spill out into her gut and infect anything it touches, resulting in a slow and lingering death. Or it might hit any body-armour she's wearing and just knock her over and wind her for a bit.

Either way, Allen's already turned away. Even as the revolver is still smoking from the bullet it fired, the cowboy has strode through the MagMart doors, disappearing into the supermarket. There is no explanation offered for the heartless act of violence, no consideration to the consequences. Just a low chuckle, and the sound of a spent shell clattering to the ground.

[Mindfreak]

MagMart
Before he goes inside though, the closest humvee that was a part of the perimeter fire at him with its 50. Caliber mounted machine gun. Umbrella does not take kindly to one of their scientists being shot.
Elena does get shot in the stomach and she falls to her knees.
"I don't feel so good." she said while clutching her wound. It already tore into her stomach and through her intestines, there's no hope for her.
Dave, however, has upgraded from a sour mood into REALLY PISSED OFF.
He does look at Elena's wound and grimaces.
"I'm sorry Tirin, but there's nothing I can do for her, she's going to die."

[Zefir]

[Inside]


Andy will just wait for Raven to have her talking to the bird girl. Hopefully she don't forget him.

The other sibling is dead now or can it be helped? Andy would clearly go and look for that.

[Lady Serpentine]

[Parking Lot]

"There are people with magical healing somewhere, I'm sure. They might be able to help."

Tirin's voice is tightly controlled, but he's clearly very, very, angry.

He draws the incinerator he was given earlier, and fires at Allen, if he can, and Allen is still alive. Not to kill him immediately, but to leave him laying there with his legs covered in horrible burns dying slowly.

((Also: That's... Not good. Tirin's main method of checking is out. He cleared Missy that way. And Elena. Then again, Raven cleared them both, too. Maybe drawing the Elder Sign on them would work?))

[Rebonack]

[Inside]

Raven is... probably going to stay there next to her dying brother until he's actually dead. She's probably also feeling gloomier than usual. Which is saying something, because Raven is pretty gloomy most of the time anyway.

"Understand," she says in a low voice. "That we are giving our lives to protect your kind. Do not make our sacrifices in vain."

[MagMart]

Sadei jumps with an "Eep!" at the gunshot, whirling around to find that lady slumping to the ground. "Why did you do that, mister?" the girl yells before darting back outside-

-and right into the line of fire.

She gives an inhuman cry of pain as she's acquainted with some bullets and fire. Fortunately for she and her siblings they happen to be rather tough. Tough beyond the usual unnatural durability of Far-things in general. Shooting at them is like shooting at solid stone.

By the time she's beaten the flames out her clothing is singed and there are a pair of radial fracture marks on her torso, as though the bullets had slammed into thick glass rather than flesh.

"Stop it. Stop it, all of you!"

Rawr!

[Lady Serpentine]

[MagMart]

Tirin stopped shooting with the incinerator as soon as she got in the way

((I sort of doubt that the "wait for everyone else" rule applies, since all he's doing is stopping shooting at her.))

[Zefir]

[Inside]

"Well if I could I would help you out here, but I don't know anything about the Old ones or these Zombies or just your kind. I don't even had a chance to talk with your mother."

He seems to be between angry and sad, mostly more angry about himself than anyone else.

[Mina Kobold]

[Beckett's Clinic]

Nach'tt will look curiously at the gun and slightly shake his head.

"(Not seen before, but I think I could figure it out)"

He will pick it up and examine it, writing a few symbols on his hoverboard as a sort of equation before taking out the ammunition and reloading the gun.

"(Similar to my tribe's weapons, but I am not a trained... bowman?)"

He says the last word as if he fully well know that it's not in any way a bow, but his own Underdark isn't perfect either.

[Inside]

Rahona contemplates what Raven just said and sighs.

"Dun I feel guilty now, trying ta save ma own feathers."

She jumps down in front of Raven and offers her hand to shake.

"Anything I can do ta help? I can't jus' leave if there's still hope fer this place"

[Lost_Deep]

Beckett's Clinic

Iriel finishes her shower, dries, and gets dressed. She probably has found one of Beckett's old belts and has it on the last notch to keep the trousers around her waist. Apart from that the only worry is the shoes, and those were not worn to bed, and so are just fine. She begins to gather stuff up, but can't seem to avoid looking out any windows. When left with nothing to do and no windows, she will wring her hands. Poor, paranoid, nervous girl. If it weren't for Beckett, she would probably be dead by now.

But would that be good or bad?

[BladeofObliviom]

[Fightin' the Tumor Beast]

Solar flare!

FWOOOSH!

The cleansing flames incinerate the incoming zombies in fairly large numbers. A few make it through, though they're burned pretty well and slowed down by their injuries.

Then the 'Walker... uuhh... Charges the massive monster with his sword? Oof... The stench alone may over-power him before he even gets close. Though once he's within about ten feet of the behemoth it'll spew a torrent of pus at him.

His blade will cleave into the thing, sure. But it's absolutely huge. Not sure how much a smallish blade-wound will actually hurt it.

[Fightin' the Tumor Beast]

His suit's airtight enough where he probably won't notice the smell until later. That will probably not be fun...

The torrent of pus, on the other hand, probably slows him down significantly. Jakob's likely strong enough to power through it, but the effect of his charge will be lessened.

Once he's nearby it, he'll move to try to get under the beast, thereby making it more difficult for it to see him. Of course, it might have eyes on its belly, but that just gives him more targets!

If he's successful that far, he'll try a bit further to reassert logic. Since that probably won't work, he'll move on to trying to cut it's many legs out from under it.

[Lord Magtok]

MagMart

The gunner responsible for shooting at Allen with an anti-material weapon, and consequently, ripping holes in the MagMart doors behind the guy, might find himself abruptly discouraged from doing so, via a single Magbot sniper taking aim at his skull. As this particular sort of sniper's ammunition was originally intended to lodge itself inside of shoggoths and other eldritch monstrosities and then explode from within, the result might be more than a little gruesome. Hopefully nobody near him has their mouth open when the bullets detonates.

"That was your first warning, Umbrella. I don't like putting holes in people, but if you can't keep your bullets from putting holes in my store while you're enacting your stupid vigilante justice, we're going to have an even bigger problem here, Umbrella. There's guns for killing people and guns for killing tanks. I'd appreciate it if you took the time to remember the difference."

[Mr. Moon]

MagMart

"Oh, she had it commin' to 'er." Allen says to Sadie, striding into the MagMart. As she darts past him and out through the door, he pauses, twisting to look back at her. "Hey, where ya goin' off t-"
Allen's question is answered with a deafening barrage of automatic gunfire. The cowboy half-turns, watching as Sadie throws herself in the line of fire. His lips, cracked and dry, form a circle of understanding as he mouths the word 'oh.' That's where she was going.

A normal man might be humbled by the display of gunfire, realizing that if Sadie hadn't thrown herself in front of them he would be nothing more than a sticky smear on the ground. But not Allen. He watches the bullets scream through the air, pinging ineffectively against Sadie. A laugh pulls at his lips, spreading his mouth into an ugly, yellow-toothed grin. The laugh starts as a low chuckle in his throat, before it bursts outwards. Allen throws his head back, his howls of laughter lost amid the din.
"That's the spirit!" He calls out at the top of his lungs. "Keep on wastin' ammo! 'Snot like y' coulda stabbed me while my back were turned, ya sorry sods!" After all, it's no like Allen's some super-soldier. He's just a normal human who'd get killed by a single well placed bullet.
... A kinda stupid human, at that. That's right, Allen, keep taunting the highly-armoured militia with a grudge against you.
[hr]
Beckett's Clinic

Beckett watches as Nach'tt examines the weapon. He's clearly a little nervous at the prospect of letting someone who doesn't know how to use a gun fiddle with it, but when the kobold displays that he isn't going to go around shooting anyone by accident, the medic seems to calm down a bit. He nods, standing. "<Good.>" He says. "<Be... safe. Point at no person unless want make hurt. Use only for danger.>" He turns just in time to see Iriel step out of the bathroom. He glances at his watch and frowns. The sooner they got out of this place the better, but he still had to go over some ground rules for the trip.
"Iriel." He says to get the girl's attention. "We're gonna head downstairs now. I need to brief you and then we're going to get moving." He forces a quick smile for her, before turning to Nach'tt. "<Come. We go downhouse then talk then go.>" He motions for the kobold and his dog to follow, before leading the way down the stairs.[hr]
Inside

Raven's brother lays on the dirty ground next to her. Each of his breaths are a struggle, his chest heaving raggedly. With each of his breaths there is a horrible bubbling sound - there's blood leaking into at least one of his lungs. He's going to drown before he bleeds out. His wings lay stretched out in painful angles on the ground, too weak and limp to be supported.
As Raven speaks, the Chimera reaches out for her. He lifts one of his paws weakly, resting it lightly against her arm. "Raven." He says, in a voice so weak and fragile she has to strain to hear it. "Please don't be mad at them. It's not their fault."

[Mindfreak]

MagMart
The soldier dies. It is unfortunate. Another soldier takes his place on the 50. Cal, his equipment is taken off of his body, leaving on his clothes on. They would give him a proper burial later.
Dave is really pissed now, even more so then earlier.
"Tirin, at most she has 15 minutes."
He then looks at the little girl.
"Seriously now, first you shoot my friend and now you're protecting the guy who just fired a death shot at my other friend!? He shot for no reason what so ever!"

[Lady Serpentine]

[Parking Lot]

Tirin seemingly ignores everyone else, and tries to bite Elena very gently, just enough to inject his venom and make her fall asleep. This should lower her heartrate, thus giving her longer before she bleeds out. Whether or not it works, he tries to pick her up, stick her in the front seat of one of the trucks, and drive at top speed to the MagCave. If the truck has a driver or passenger who objects, he'll attempt to forcibly eject them in the fastest way possible, whether or not they would receive an injury from it.

What everyone, except possibly Allen and the refugees, doesn't know, unless they can somehow sense it, is that Tirin is trying to take all of the fear from the refugees, but if it works, instead of eating it, he's storing it, and building it up to release on Allen. Which he tries to do, assuming he got it, as soon as Elena is in the truck and they're leaving.

[Rebonack]

[Fightin' With the Tumor Beast]

He waded through the pus?

Oof... Not a wise course of action.

The gunk will harden at an alarming rate into a thick scab-like material very likely binding Jakob in place. As if that weren't bad enough it'll begin trying to eat through his armor and begin oozing over him. Should it make contact with his flesh there's a decent chance he's going to become a new tumor zombie in the near future.

[Inside]

The chimera's request manages to get a small smile from Raven. Don't be mad at them. Mad at them for what? For being frail. For being weak. For being ignorant. For the sacrifice of her siblings for them. She rubs a hand through her sibling's hair once more as she draws her kama with the other.

"It is not their fault, you are right. And whether I understand it or not we have been given a duty to protect them, to give our lives to protect them. It is a duty I will fulfill. I love you, brother. And I will join Mother once more with you soon."

The kama descends to end the chimera's suffering.

And so Raven rises, her ebony face streaked with tears even as her ebony kama is streaked with crimson.

"It does not matter who we are," Raven states, her voice dark and emotionless. "We are no one. All that matters is that your race survives these dark days. Come with me."

And without waiting for a reply she begins to march toward MagMart.

[MagMart]

Another person dies.

Another one. Because of her. Was she wrong? Are these people telling the truth? But how could they be? What they're claiming is impossible.

Sadei limps out to the middle of the parking lot. Limps and replies to the ninja with a simple, "Hold your tongue." Limps toward the recently shot scientist, a small trail of crimson behind her. Apparently... she wasn't quite as unphased as previously thought. She'll kneel down next to the scientist, her hands glowing with dull white radiance.

"I don't have much to give. But what I do have, I give it freely. And if you really are a servant of the Dead Dreamer then may my gift be death to you."

And with that she'll attempt to pour bio-aetheric essence into the recently shot woman. The result really depends... If she is heavy with the power of Cthulhu the essence will devour her from the inside out. Otherwise it'll heal her wounds with miraculous speed.

As Sadei goes about her task she begins to look... well... not very good...

Meanwhile, the refugees suddenly feel kind of brave all of a sudden! Or at least not as afraid.

[Lady Serpentine]

((Actually, if Sadei was coming over, she should have enough time. Tirin's venom takes about 45 seconds to kick in, and then there's more stuff he has to do, so...))