Infinite IC

[The_Admiral]

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OOC: Do I recognize her as the crazy lady from last night?

[crazydude369]

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OOC: Ok, I'll definitely use extra effort to take a move then.

Adam was still shaking with fear, but now adrenaline had kicked in, putting him in survival mode. He grunted from the pain, but managed to pull himself to his feet and stagger towards the mysterious voice he heard.

[bladesmith]

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Haj tries to jump back in before the crazed thug grabs his shirt. Something in him registered that this was not right, but right now he was focused on getting the counter-grab right. As he pushed back against baldy, he could feel the adrenaline surging, and a power that he wouldn't have managed otherwise flow through him.

{Grapple: (1d20+4)[20]

[Julian84]

EdroGrimshell:

Crypt cautiously walks up to his mother, still sitting at the kitchen table, staring out the window. He now notices the slightest touch of red at the corner of her neck, so thin he missed it passing by the first time.

As he nudges her, she falls over limply. Stretching across her throat, a thin red gash, contrasted by the paleness of her skin.

They’ve killed her.

Necron:

They hug Gary. Dana points: “Joan, Maggie, Kayla. This is our brother Gary!” They announce proudly. The other girls shyly say hello.

C_O:

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OOC: You do indeed.

Crazydude:

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“Hurry!”

The voice leads Adam south, past blocks and blocks of buildings. Where were the pedestrians, the police? Gunshots echo down the streets as the thugs chase Adam further, bullets whizzing past him.

“Run!”

Blood trickles down his arm and side from the bullet wound, an aching throb making every second seem like an hour. As he runs, he vaguely notices a yellow eye gliding with him in the reflections of windows.

“A little bit farther!”

Bladesmith:

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Hajime knocks the thugs arms away, grabbing him instead!

You can either hit him, throw him, or pin him.

[The_Admiral]

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John starts making a copy of the live feed, looking for a CD to burn it into while keeping an eye on the other cameras for people approaching the camera room. While he does that, he also makes quick glances at the feed of Verda, making sure she is still there talking.

[EdroGrimshell]

Crypt is frozen in place, then his fists clench and his teeth grind. He slams a fist into the wall, leaving a dent in the wood, tears fall from his eyes. He goes to the phone and, as calmly as he can, calls the police, which is fairly difficult, they'd be able to hear the hitches in his voice.

Once they're on their way, he goes to the front and sits there, waiting for them. Mindwalker, if you're listening, please, just help me let this not happen to anyone else, he tries to use his mind alone to send the message, I'm going to take the fight to them.

[Anecronwashere]

Gary smiles warmly at the girls, trying to make them more comfortable with his body language
"Hello girls, I trust you've been looking after my little sisters here? They keep resisting being wrapped in cotton wool for some reason."
He laughs, standing and ruffling the twin's hair.

[crazydude369]

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Adam's eyes widen at the lingering eyeball floating along with him. It all seemed like a horrible nightmare. In fact, he would have already conceded that it was, had the pain in his arm not felt so shockingly real. So he ignored the floating spirit, and the strange thugs, and the gunshots, and the lack of anyone anywhere, and he just kept on running.

[bladesmith]

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Haj watched it all go down as instinct took over. His hand over the attacker's wrist, a twist in the hips pulled Baldy past him, and with a heave he shoved under the man's armpit. Normally, this resulted in people being off balance, usually enough to be sent sprawling on the floor. However, this time the thug was sent flying ten feet through the air, and into a support beam.

Maybe the adrenaline was hitting him a little harder then he thought. The rational part of Hajime's brain registered that his fingertips were tingling rather oddly, and that he was snarling.

"Last chance, dude. Where's Karasu!?!"

[Julian84]

C_O:

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The copy begins recording, whilst Verda begins arguing animatedly with whoever is sitting in the shadows. She begins gesturing and points to her wrists and throat.

Suddenly, she jolts in her seat, sitting stock still. Slowly, she turns to stare at the security camera, right at John.

She jumps out of her seat, her wrist flicking. The camera feed turns to static.

A few seconds later, she appears on another camera, walking down a hallway.

EdroGrimshell:

After waiting for a bit, the police arrive. A man in a suit strides up to Crypt. “I’m Detective Clay. I offer my sincerest condolences, and if there is anything you need, you let us know. For now, though, I need your statement. Could you tell me what happened?”

Necron:

They laugh sort of nervously. “Er… Yeah. We play safe.”

The sisters grin. “So tonight’s the concert, right? Didja ask anyone out???”

Crazydude:

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Adam runs after the stranger through a narrow strip of suburb and across the 13 highway, into a dark and wooded area.

Freeman Forest. Originally intended by the city to be a public park, it fell into disrepair and has since become abandoned and empty.

“ust a little farther! Come on!”

The thugs grunt and shout behind Adam as they make their way through the underbrush.

Suddenly, Adam bursts through into a meadow, light filtering through the sprase canopy. Across the clearing, two yellow eyes, smaller now, stare menacingly.

"Hello, Adam."

Bladesmith:

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The thug starts sniggering uncontrollably and points to the double doors, which slowly open. Orange light from the furnaces trickles into the room, and more four more thugs start advancing through.

And silhouetted against the light, Karasu is tied to a chair. He's pretty battered looking, screaming something at Hajime, but he's been gagged. Standing over him is a scruffy middle-aged man in outdated nomadic clothing wearing leather gloves, smiling softly, his hands placed congenially on Karasu's shoulders.

“Hello, Hajime.”

Pain sears through Hajime’s arms, his claws finally sprouting through the tips of his finger, a feral roar splitting his lips.

[Anecronwashere]

"Safe? That's good to hear... Provided you actually do something risky now and then, I was joking about the cotton wool girls.
you two remember the 2nd and 3rd rules? It's not against the rules unless you get caught. And I always catch you."
Gary smirks as he recites them
"I got Danielle, you know her, the Ice Queen."

[EdroGrimshell]

Crypt sighs, "It started yesterday," he starts, "I was leaving school and encountered Verda, she runs one of the gangs in the area, and she wanted to fight against the 'tough kid' in the area. I just got onto a fire escape and climbed to the roof, though she managed to get a knife on me. It's healed up already, but you can ask Mrs. Diehl from the hospital, she stitched me up. Today, I ran into a group of the Skins. They looked like they'd seen better days, like they were sleep deprived, but they had guns, so I tried just getting out of there, but they were persistant. I had to get a shotgun off of one of them, I used that like a club to knock them out. Then this other one, he was bleeding from his eyes, but he shot at me a few times with some kind of pistol. I managed to get out of there without getting shot and got to the roof and just stuck to them until I couldn't get any farther. That's when I came home, I went to my room, and there's a message in my room written in blood. I remembered seeing my mother sitting in the kitchen, and went downstairs to make sure she was okay. As you can tell, she wasn't," his tears are flowing, and there's a strain to his voice, "I don't know what happened here before I got home," he then tells them where he fought the skins and escaped from Verda, for a little proof. He knows a few are dead, but at this point, he could care less. Right now, he was dead inside.

[crazydude369]

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Adam stumbled and stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of this new craziness. He looked nervously back and forth, between the glowing disembodied eyes and the zombie-like men shooting at him; he wasn't sure which was the worse option. "Wh-who are you? What are you? Who are those creepy guys?" He was breathing heavily and clutching his injured shoulder, "What the hell is going on?!"

[The_Admiral]

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**** exclaims John as he rushes to make a hardcopy of the video with Verda in the building. He keeps track of Verda's movement through the building. If she approaches the entrance, he gets the hell out, grabbing the copy of the feed.

[bladesmith]

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Seeing Karasu tied up, some smug looking loser standing over him, thugs rushing out to meet him... Haj had been through a lot of stress that day, but this pushed him over the edge. The rational mind, the part of him that asked him to make banter, show that he was confident and in control, all that was shoved so far back in his brain that its screams could not be heard over the torrent of rage and hatred that flooded in. Flexing his fingers, he could feel the claws growing, the pain of them splitting his skin making him almost double over in agony. As he looked down and saw the ebony talons rake the concrete floor, though, he knew that those who dared mess with his family would feel far worse. Snapping his head back up, he catapulted over the ground, completely silent except for the snarling, feral roar that escaped between his fangs.

He was a predator, an animal. And these guys were pissing on his turf.

{Charge attack on the obvious boss: (1d20+6)[19], +4 damage, DC 14 fort save vs. Fatigue. Defense currently 12}

[Julian84]

Necron:

The girls nod knowingly. “Right right, you’ve mentioned her.”

OOC: Need to push things along, so we’ll cut this short.

Gary has a nice chat with his sisters and mother, before Neil arrives. After that, he returns to the university to pick up Danielle, who is nicely dressed, though unsure how to act around Gary, smiling slightly awkwardly.

On his phone, a text from Wendy appears. “We’re all set!”

EdroGrimshell:

Clay nods and finishes writing down his notes. “Alright, we’ll follow up.”

Another officer walks in, an old lady in tow. “Sir, we’ve got a witness.”

Clay extends his hand and shakes hers. “What can you tell us ma’am?”

The old lady clears her throat. “Well, I was just doing the normal chores to keep everything running, outside most of the time, making things look nice, when this nice-looking younger gentleman comes in, polite enough, if a little awkward. He had a backpack on, had brown hair, n’ blue eyes. He seemed pretty fit, some sort of body builder. Anyhow, this fella comes up asking to know where the Walkers live, said he was visiting Mr. Walker. Mr. Walker don’t work much, so I figgered he must be at home and pointed him on his way. Was ‘bout an hour before he came out, this time in a different set of clothes. Then he walked off without a word.”

Clay nods. “Can you accurately recall his features for our sketch artist?”

The old lady nods and smiles. “Oh sure!”

Crazydude:

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Out of the shadows, the terrifying misshapen man from Adam’s dream calmly shuffles out, angry reproach and menace written on his face.

"I told you last night a war was coming, I gave you power, now go and kill those men"

C_O:

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She starts coming down the elevator, so John grabs the tapes and runs.

Where’s he headed?

Bladesmith:

The man smiles congenially, and Hajime suddenly finds himself falling towards a lifeless, burning plain, fire crackling in low pits, tortured screams echoing on the winds. A portal opens beneath him, and he’s abruptly teleported back to the foundry, slamming against a wall.

The man conjures three spikes from the surrounding metal and drives them into Hajime’s wrists and ankles, the unbearable pain causing him to scream in agony.

The man motions his hands, and he floats into the air on blue light. He chuckles lowly. “Oh, you stupid, stupid boy.” Blue lightning crackles from his fingertips, arcing into Hajime’s body.

“Your brother? He’s mine.” Another surge of electricity.

“So run back to your master. Tell him he’ll have to try harder than this.”

The blasts of lightning stop. “And as for you? I’ll let you live. Just to see me take him away from you again.”

He floats down, grabbing Karasu by the shoulder. “Seeya around, kid.”

He and Karasu vanish.

OOC: You get a hero point simply for attacking him, even if you had no clue what would happen. Sorry about the fact you couldn't save, but you really didn't stand a chance.

To the others: Holy epic beatdowns, batman! Discuss at your leisure.

[Anecronwashere]

"You look ravishing tonight Danny."
Gary takes Danielle's hand, smiling disarmingly as they head towards the exit

"So have you listened to the Flamers much?"

[bladesmith]

For a while, Haj could only scream/roar/snarl as he thrashed weakly about, almost dropping himself unconscious trying to free himself. It was only then, when he finally had no more energy for rage, that he was able to calm down and start thinking clearly. Well, at least a little more rationally. Blood loss did funny things with your thought processes. Either way, things were definitely worth trying to puzzle out. First point of interest: he had claws, unnatural strength and speed, and he didn't make noise. Or something like that. He was more then human. He could be a superhero, or whatever. Secondly, that he wasn't the only one. The man that had Karasu not only was able to teleport him, but also reform material to create spikes, and shoot lightning bolts. And fly. Can't forget that. Seriously, what the crap? The guy had more powers then Superman.
Which left Haj pondering a lot of things, including the fact that he was still stuck to the wall. With spikes. Looking to do something about that, he started carefully trying to work his way down off the spikes, while his brain starting working on something else.

There was a third, and for now, last point for consideration. The Bad Guy(as he was now to be referred to) thought Haj was working for someone. Which, Hajime could only assume, was why he and Karasu were in this mess. Which meant that Haj had to find this person or persons and both figure out what the heck was going on, and probably kick the crap out of him/her/them. You know, when he wasn't reeling from pain, grief, blood loss, or whatever.

[The_Admiral]

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Depends, if she turns towards the lobby, he gets out and loiters in front of the building, waiting for her to exit. If she turns towards a back door, he gets out through the lobby also, but runs around the building to the loading dock.

[crazydude369]

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Adam is filled with dread at the sight of his nightmare literally coming to life. "Wh-what do you mean? What power? None of this makes any sense!"

[Julian84]

Necron:

She blushes a little at the compliment. “Uh… Sometimes. Y’know, on the radio. I don’t own any of their albums… or anything.”

The two hop on a bus up to Hedriksville, passing by Gary’s neighborhood along the way.

Stepping off, they see large neon blue and green pavilion set up, beyond it a huge crowd listening to one of the warm-up bands on stage.

Bladesmith:

As Hajime struggles to pull himself off of the spikes, a man walks into his line of sight, dressed in an immaculate pinstriped suit with red tie, beard neatly trimmed and hair slicked back.

It’s the Hobo, except… different.

He glances up at Hajime. “Owch. Teleported, electrocuted, and crucified. Bet you didn’t see that happening on your morning agenda.”

He waves a hand and the spikes crumble into dust, allowing Hajime to fall in a heap. The man grabs him by the front of the shirt and drags him over into the light. He grabs one wrist and starts pushing the sundered flesh back together, which causes Hajime terrible pain. “In all honesty, I admit I should have warned you that he was going to be here.”

As Hajime claws at the back of his odd rescuer, he sees that the wound on his wrist is beginning to heal under the man’s ministrations until it is closed entirely. “On the other hand, I didn’t expect you to attack him like a complete idiot.” The man grabs the other wrist and begins to repeat the process. “There are some people that you should really just avoid for your own safety. Vain is one of them. By rights, he could have just killed you and called it a day.” He finishes closing the wound on the other wrist and moves down to Hajime’s ankles. Within minutes, those are healed as well.

The man stands up and rubs blood off of his hands. He stares down at Hajime with a mixed expression of slight contempt and weariness. “Told ya a war was coming kid. You’re a soldier. He and his boys n’ girls are the enemy. Get that straight in your head, or someday you’ll try a dumb move like that again and he will not be quite so merciful.”

C_O:

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She begins heading down towards the lobby, so John vamooses before she can get to him, waiting outside.

Soon enough, she strides calmly out into the fresh air, looking around, sniffing the air.

Crazydude:

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The mutilated man sighs and rolls his eyes in frustration as the first thugs hurtle into the meadow. They stop and stare at the man warily.

He stares back, lifts his hands. “I’m done wasting time on you. You want my attention, prove yourself. Sink or swim, Adam, sink or swim.”

He steps back into the woods, and the thugs start advancing slowly, reloading their weapons.

As Adam realizes he is about to die, he feels the itch of tears in his eyes.

Notice check.

[crazydude369]

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Notice: (1d20+4)[9]

[Anecronwashere]

Gary leads Danielle through the crowds, hoping to get a good spot beofre the place hits capacity

[bladesmith]

Haj growled as he was healed, his voice coming out more animalistic then would be possible for someone without fangs. Admittedly, the pain wasn't quite the same as being crucified in the first place, but having bolts of electricity fry his nerves might have something to do with that. In the end, though, he was able to sit up, rubbing at his wrists to make sure that they really were there. One less ambulance call to explain. Though this guy might need one, if he kept talking.

"It's not my war, and I'm not your god d@^% soldier. I don't know what the hell you are fighting over, and I don't really care. I came to get my brother, and that's it. All you nut jobs are looking pretty much the same to me."

[The_Admiral]

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John grins slightly as he attempts to stay our of her field of vision and tail her.

[Julian84]

Crazydude:

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Caught in the reflection of some thug’s sunglasses, Adam sees a pair of burning red eyes.

His own.

His mind explodes with power and knowledge as the shadows seemingly rise and intertwine around him.

Necron:

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Gary finds Theo and Wendy with drinks, which they pass over to the two newcomers.

“You’re just in time.” Theo remarks.

As the crowd begins to get restless, the lights dim down, signaling the main event to the stage. A chant goes up, quietly at first but soon erupting into an ear-deafening level of noise as fans scream for The Flamers. Gary’s vision becomes spotty at the corners, but when he shifts his eyes to look, it returns to normal. He doesn’t have long to investigate, as the lights return full-force, blinding the audience momentarily. When his vision clears again, it is as if a dark film coats it, ink-like shapes clouding around the edges. The stage with the band and the crowd can be seen behind the film, but only faintly. Everything has gone silent.

Feeling the sharp cold of metal, he looks down at his hands to find them in chains, bound to the ground that is rapidly falling away from his feet, leaving him stranded on an island-like piece of earth. Before he can test the strength of the chains, they give a tug with surprising strength, the far ends receding into the ground as he is forced to kneel. He is accosted with a loud groan suddenly, coming from all sides, from all directions. Where once stood his fellow concert-goers, there are now shapes, dark but skeletal in appearance with empty eyes, reaching for him across the chasm left by the fallen earth. They scramble over one another, fighting to reach him, some falling into the darkness below, others hanging back but still reaching towards him with utmost yearning.

“Foul creatures,” comes the chuckle from the direction where the stage used to be. One of the creatures, taller than the rest, stands before him, speaking in a hollow voice that barely carries so that he can hear it. “They would see you bleed, you and the rest of your kind. Is that what you want, child? To bleed?” It takes a step closer and Gary finds himself looking down, feeling moisture dripping from his eyes, his nose, his mouth, as blood pools down below him, pouring from every orifice on his face. The pool grows much too quickly, soon flowing off the edges of his barren island. “No? I did not think so.” The chuckle again, devoid of any emotion. It is closer now, dark skeletal feet at the edge of Gary's view. He feels a soft touch against his brow, barely any pressure at all.

“Your world is dying, child. Go, before it is too late.”

With a sudden gust of wind, the creature is blown away, as if dust. Gary finds himself as he was, at the concert. Wendy looks over at him, concerned. “Hey Gary, you alright?”

Bladesmith:

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His eyebrow twitches in irritation. “Don’t call me a nutjob.”

He begins pacing around the boy. “You’ve had a rough day, I understand. It’s not all the time your brother gets kidnapped and you’re crucified to a wall.”

The man cracks his knuckles. “But this is reality, Hajime. Vain and his minions will not rest until you, your family, and all life that doesn’t bow to him are dead. And frankly, I don’t buy it, kid. You, not a soldier? You jumped at the opportunity when your gramps said you had to take responsibility. You enjoyed taking that idiot little gangster to task this morning. You thrive on this. Look at what you did, you threw that punk 10 feet! It’s just today, you bit off more than you could chew. Work your way up the food chain, and wait for the day when you can take Vain in a straight up fight. It’ll come, don’t worry.”

He drops a note beside Hajime. “If you have the guts, that’s where you’ll find one of Vain’s boys, and he’s itching for a fight.”

He begins walking towards the door. “But remember kid, you ain’t getting anywhere without me.”

C_O:

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John follows Verda down the busy sidewalk, trying his best to keep up with her fast pace and navigating the crowded streets.

Suddenly, she stops. Peering ahead, he can see in the reflection of window she’s grinning from ear to ear.

And there are police directly behind him. A hand claps down on his shoulder. “John Adams?”

[bladesmith]

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Haj works had to calm himself as the man paces around, saying a lot of words that might mean something later. He wasn't particularly listening to the part where the guy was making him out to be a soldier. That was manipulation, just someone trying to get something out of him. Plenty of people had been trying that on him for years, trying to make him fit one profile or another. The twitch over the insult was probably worth noting, but it would take time to process. This whole situation needed a good thinking over. Best to see how far down the rabbit hole went, though, just to see how far he was going to fall.

Well, at least he had one name to hate now. Vain. The man that had taken his brother away. Maybe he should know the name of the man trying to guide him.

"So," Haj's voice was calm, having lost its snarl. He crumpled the note in his hand. "What should I call you, then?"

[Anecronwashere]

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Gary shakes his head "Dying world. But where do I go. Me, yeah I'm fine. Just had a dizzy spell. I'm fine. So, how has your night been Wendy?" He asks, grinning keeping an ear on the crowd in case of any more sudden spikes or fading of the sound.
"Has Theo been treating you right?"

[The_Admiral]

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John turns around saying yes?

OOC: ****, I'm screwed.

[Julian84]

Bladesmith:

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The man waves over his shoulder before rounding a corner. “Call me Tye.”

Necron:

Wendy stares at Gary curiously as the music thumps and booms and the crowd screams. “… Gary, we talked about this today already. Are you sure you’re ok?”

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Theo drifting out towards the edge of the crowd and Danielle looking at him and Wendy oddly.

C_O:

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He turns to see four cops and Detective Clay. “John Adams, you’re under arrest for the murder of Helen Walker and under suspicion for the murder of Shane Salazar.”

Clay steps forward. “I suggest you come quietly.” He says with menace.

Absentmindedly, he notices over the roar of the traffic the sound of an eagle’s call.