Seven of Spades IC

[Quellian-dyrae]

"I think they just went down the road thataway," Aaron said, pointing down the road.

"We can cart him along while we fly," Ariel suggested. "Interrogate him on the way, maybe even use him to help dispense the beat-down to his allies, although I suppose he'd be less useful without the ring." her dry tone indicated this bit was being filed into the "not our problem" folder, and not in any way a suggestion that they should give him his ring back.

Spoiler: OOC

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Also, I had a thought. Are conditions imposed by Afflictions subject to Counters? And if so, could a Healing power Counter an Affliction with the Disease descriptor?

[Queen Sapes]

Solara
Landing in a corner of the quarry's pit, it doesn't take long for Solara to notice a group of teenagers who seem to be rather coherent. Likely due to the bikers controlling the keg trucks, these kids look to be more focused on smoking than drinking, making them a bit more coherent than most here. There are four of the teens, each dressed in all black with piercings and hair dyed various unnatural colors. They're loitering on the back of a truck likely driven by one of them. As Solara drops down to the ground, they do their best to not act surprised at the appearance of the nuclear angel, keeping stony faces as she approaches them.

[Nintendogeek01]

"Bring him?" Nightbird asked with a degree of incredulity, "You guys would, of your own free will, touch THAT?" she asked with no small amount of snark as she pointed to the disease-ridden Devil's Advocate.

"Though... I certainly won't say no to a lift," she added.

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Heck no," Ariel said with a stifled laugh. "We'd just drag him along telekinetically."

[Nintendogeek01]

"Gotcha, carry on then," Nightbird replied with a shrug and a smile that, if you were to inspect closely enough, deforms the mask over her face ever so slightly.

[Esprit15]

Solara
Landing in a corner of the quarry's pit, it doesn't take long for Solara to notice a group of teenagers who seem to be rather coherent. Likely due to the bikers controlling the keg trucks, these kids look to be more focused on smoking than drinking, making them a bit more coherent than most here. There are four of the teens, each dressed in all black with piercings and hair dyed various unnatural colors. They're loitering on the back of a truck likely driven by one of them. As Solara drops down to the ground, they do their best to not act surprised at the appearance of the nuclear angel, keeping stony faces as she approaches them.

"Ey, what in the Hell's Nine Circles are you all doin' 'ere?"

[Arcran]

"Or, you know, I ask him nicely," Cupid says with a smirk. "Buddy, how much of a fight can you put up again the others without your ring?" Cupid says, flapping his lopsided wings to hover just off the ground. "If you want to lie, slap yourself in the face then tell the truth."

[Quellian-dyrae]

"If you want to lie, slap yourself in the face then tell the truth."

"Nice," Aaron said with an amused smirk.

[Nintendogeek01]

"If you want to lie, slap yourself in the face then tell the truth."

Nightbird leans up against a semi, arms folded and staring in Buddy's direction in anticipation.

[Queen Sapes]

Solara
"What's it look like?" One of the punk kids asks, taking a breath off of a cigarette. "We're just having a party! What're you, a cop?" the teenager asks, slurring far too many of his words to be sober. The other kids laugh at the punk's question, all of them quite clearly not in their right minds. They may not be drunk thanks to the bikers protecting the keg trucks, but they're not smoking normal cigarettes judging by the smell focused around the truck they're loitering on.

Cupid, Nightbird, and the Twins
Buddy looks to Cupid, then to the others in a short line. "You're kidding, right?" he asks, clearly confused by Cupid's question. "You attack me and the boys just to steal our stuff and ya' don't know what they do?" Buddy pauses exasperated. He rubs his temple against the headache Cupid's magic appears to be causing mixed with the Twin's magic. "Without my ring even you might be a challenge, Love Bird," Buddy answers directly to Cupid with a smirk. "Still, bet I could take ya'. Angel and the Born Loser though? Not a chance in Hell with their gifts."

[Nintendogeek01]

"Didn't need to know much about you to make you bark," Nightbird responded with a roll of her eyes, she then looks to the twins, "Anyways, before we head out, can you send out a message to the others, let them know we're about to get moving?" she asks.

[Esprit15]

"Maybe I am. I 'ave the gun for it," she responds, knocking her arm cannon against a barrel to highlight its presence. "Who set this up? Where are they?"

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Solara might be out of range by now, but we can try," Aaron said. ~Solara, if you get this, we're heading your way.~

Spoiler: OOC

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Not entirely sure if Solara would get the message. My Mental Communication is rank 2, so limited to give-or-take a mile, which I'm guessing they're way past by now. Flip side, I honestly have no idea how an hour and a half has passed when most of what we've been doing has been in combat time, so it's also possible that we're currently operating on alternate time scales or...I dunno. But, give it a try, anyway.

[Esprit15]

~Sounds good. Seems like they're throwing the party of the century here. No ritual sacrifice far as I can see. I'm asking around for the other two.~

[Arcran]

~So, who's down for giving this guy his ring back? He isn't leaving my control any time soon and, if it would put him in the same weight class as the other bikers...~ Cupid inquires of the others.

[Nintendogeek01]

~Absolutely not!~ Nightbird thought back, ~If he does somehow get free, maybe even assissted by his fellow bikers from hell, we'd have to fight him all over again. I'm not keen on them having even a chance at evening their odds thank you.~

[Quellian-dyrae]

~Yeah, I gotta agree with Nightbird. We've taken out two of them so far, and there are two left. Even if we don't use him to fight directly, we should be able to handle it. And if all he does is add a bit of pressure and absorb a punch or two before he drops, well, that's still an advantage for us.~ Whatever feelings of mercy the twins may have had for the Advocate had pretty much vanished when they had seen what he had done to that poor man. They might not have been willing to send him on a guaranteed suicide mission, but they absolutely did not mind compelling him to risk his life if it aided their cause. Ethics were a luxury for when their family and the hope for their planet wasn't on the line. ~Besides, I'm not sure it'd be a good idea for him to be throwing those disease-powers around, mind-control or no.~

~In any case, we can hash it out on the move, yeah?~

[Nintendogeek01]

~Look, just have him tell us what the other two can do and let's go, if we wait too long Solara's going to be by herself against the other two plus the rest of the gang, Nightbird said over the mind-chat. ~So... Aaron, mind giving me a lift? Please and thank you,~ she added.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Aaron nodded, the twins cancelling the mindlink and summoning up their wings. Aaron took hold of Nightbird, using his telekinesis to actually lift. If they decided to bring Buddy along, Ariel would carry him - straight telekinetically. It...would be more like getting dragged along on a leash than being carried, but it would do the job fine. He might just have an uncomfortable flight.

Once any final questions were asked and answered and a decision regarding bringing the Advocate along was made, they'd head off following after Solara.

[Arcran]

~If you say so,~ Cupid says with a mental shrug, giving up on the idea of a superpowerful Horseman punching in the teeth of the other two. "Buddy, tell us exactly how to beat the others. Weaknesses, whether they have daddy issues, everything. I want them to be unable to put up a fight in any way, shape, or form," the Archer of Love states before nodding to Aaron's request and taking flight.

[Queen Sapes]

Solara
A couple of the punks raise their eyes at Solara's cannon arm, but quickly revert their eyes to apathy for appearances. The supposed head of the group takes another breath off her cigarette. "Dunno," he says, putting out the cigarette on the floor of the truck bed. "Happens every couple years according to my older brother. The bikers put it together, I think. Whole bunch of donations from each biker group put it together, nobody's really in charge of the whole deal." One of the punks motions for a light and the leader of the group pulls out his lighter for him.

Cupid, Nightbird, and the Twins
"Heh, what do you think we are? Strippers at the cheapest bar in New Orleans?" Buddy remarks sarcastically to Cupid's order. "Angel and Born Loser aren't just gonna crumble cause you make them miss their daddies. 'Specially since Angel killed his father for leadership of the Advocate's. No, only weaknesses you'll find between Born Loser and Angel are the exact same thing. Find some holy things and you might be able to make it sting a little. Holy water, crosses, consecrated ground, that sort of things." Buddy then shuts up with nothing else to cover for Cupid. With that the group is able to take off without the Horseman, leaving him to attend to the horribly mangled Cueball. The group flies off towards where Solara left the group, heading into dark storm clouds that cover the sky. It doesn't take long to find signs of Solara's travels, with the roads being cut apart with nuclear scars, and the broken remains of a bike sitting along the side of the road but with no rider in sight. Instead as they travel miles down the road, the group can see far in the distance lights coming up from an old rock quarry, sound carrying from the pit over the vast desert. The storm clouds above begin raining on the desert sands in earnest, the drips of water covering the road.

Firebird
Miles behind the group as they travel towards the quarry, the ashes of the crater created by Solara begin shifting slowly. The scattered ash created by the nuclear angel begins moving of its own, pulling into a central area by its own willpower. In the ether above it, the spirit of the Firebird and its host are pulled towards the ash pile as it gathers. As the ash gathers it lights itself on fire, burning from a supernatural source within. The ash burns together, fusing pieces back into place. Slowly the pile begins climbing up as the fire reshapes the ashes into a solid form. The fire burns bright against the rain touching the flames, as the ash becomes limbs and features of the woman it was a moment before. The fire slowly returns into itself, as the ash becomes flesh and skin and bone. The flames climb inside Firebird, the embers returning inside her skin as it closes up and leaves the pheonix standing in the crater that was the road where she was slaughtered several hours ago by Cueball.

[Esprit15]

"Uh-huh. And where would I find one o' these bikers? I'd rather not 'ave to clear everyone out of 'ere to find 'em, but if I 'ave to, I will."

[Queen Sapes]

Solara
"Well, uh, there's one," one of the punks responds, pointing to a big guy with a jacket that says 'Momma's Little Helpers' on the back. "And there's one," says another of the punks, pointing to a guy wearing a denim vest with 'Snake Eyes' sewn into the back. "And there's another," says one of the few girls in the small group, pointing to a woman with 'Big Helga's' on the back of her jacket. "I take it you couldn't tell that almost everyone here is a biker from the massive number of bikes on the way in?" asks the head of the punk teen group.

[Esprit15]

The angel sighs. "No, I mean the leaders. Who coordinated this? There oughta be two o' them. Gaunt, scraggly guy and one who dresses like he thinks he's Death himself.""

[Ionbound]

As Firebird returns to life, she grins and takes a deep breath, saying, "It's good to be back...Now then. Where the hell did everyone else go?" She launches herself skywards in a pillar of fire, looking around for any signs of the rest of the party.

[Queen Sapes]

Solara
"Dunno who you're talking about," say the head punk, with a combined murmur from the rest of the group. "Like I said, the biker gangs work together to set this show up. One gang donates some kegs, another hires a band, stuff like that. Maybe the individual biker gangs have leaders that work together to set it up, but otherwise it's no one guy," the head punk explains while lighting up another cigarette.

"Although," chimes in one of the girls, "the scraggly guy kinda sounds like you're describing the Born Loser. He should be up on stage after the next band, but I think I saw him signing autographs at the side of the stage earlier."

Firebird
Rocketing into the sky on a pillar of fire, Firebird stops just below the cloud line. From such a great height, the phoenix can see the desert surrounding her for miles. Traveling along the road they intercepted Cueball on, Firebird can see a massive pit miles away lit up like a Christmas tree. A mile before that she can see a dim light that ripples like magic, most likely the Twins and the rest of the group.

Cupid, the Twins, and Nightbird
As the group nears the quarry, coming within a mile of it, they suddenly catch a massive spire of fire erupting into the sky out of the corner of their eyes, the source of which is too far for them to see.

[Esprit15]

"And that's one of the men I am looking for. Thank you." While ideally she should try breaking up the party as a whole, that would likely result in casualties, panic... It would be a mess. Not interested in the music itself, Solara heads to the stage.

[Nintendogeek01]

As the group approached the quarry Nightbird's thoughts drifted to Var and Gypsy... they hadn't responded in a while, did they try and run for it hoping that Sin was bluffing? She hoped not. That's when the stream of fire caught her attention, "Erm... who brought the fireworks?" Nightbird couldn't be sure whether she liked the looks of that or not.

[Quellian-dyrae]

"I'm...not sure, actually," Aaron said.

"Lower-planar manifestation?" Ariel suggested.

"I hope not. Seems unlikely, though. The Advocates haven't had a chance to combine their powers and we have two of the totems now."

"True...although that may not be a point against it, if the totems create a sort of sealing effect."

"Maybe... If so, we'd better move fast. If we have to reseal some breach to a demonic realm, we'll probably need all four totems to do it."

"Here, we should be close enough to link Solara again, let's set down here and see what she's learned, and what sort of plan we can come up with," Ariel suggested, the twins swooping down to land about half a mile away from the quarry. Once they touched down, their wings vanished and they reached out with their minds, ~Solara? We're here, about half a mile due {direction} of the quarry. What are you looking at?~

Spoiler: OOC

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The tactical portion of my brain is faster than the dramatic portion. Fortunately, I realized before posting that if the twins actually knew/revealed that Firebird was back, it would take some of the oomph out of her dramatic return. So semi-plausible demonic theories it is!

[Ionbound]

As Firebird sees the ripple, she breathes a sigh of relief and dives with a spin, flying in the direction of the Twins, looking to make her presence known.