Darkness Redux

[Stavvy]

Politics huh? Hmm. He had dealt with politics in the past, been a mediator for dealings. Been an assassin for others. It mattered not which side fought, as long as there was a resolution and a just one at that. No trickery. He listened to the air whistling and heard nothing else. It was quiet. He continued listening, in case someone approached.

They spoke of a time before, something of a baseball bat and gestures to the corner. Frivolous, but nevertheless he listened. Mentally chuckled at the girl’s excitement for bloodshed. At least she’s enthusiastic. Willing to get SOMETHING done.

He looked back towards the street, thinking he heard something, a group of footsteps, heavier than a normal pedestrian. He continued watching as they were yet too far away for worry.

[Drollive]

~~~
Is he serious? Tell me he's joking.

Not everyone is as...fun-loving as you, Sev.
~~~

Sebastian sighed. "I'm sorry to say, Vince, but I don't think that we can end this peacefully." It rarely ended peacefully. He'd seen it happen once or twice, but the Demons just came back later. "I'll protect you all though, until you are able to protect yourselves." He wondered how long it would take. These Chosen seemed to adapt faster than most. "You'll get the hang of it...or you'll die. Hehehe." Sebastian turned away as a smirk appeared on his face. He struggled to maintain his composure.

~~~
That wasn't very nice, Severin.

Hehehe.

I'll thank you not to scare my trainees, Sev.
~~~

[Thor.]

Penny blinked, stunned at what Vince said. She picked up her turret and it retracted into a small cube which she slipped into her pocket. “Are you telling me…” she said to know one in particular “That the Good actually chose a Chosen….” Her smiled grew by the minute “Who doesn’t like violence.” She started giggling a little. “In fact” She laughed louder “He hates it soo much…that he thinks we should try to be Diplomatic.” She finally burst out in an uncontrollable stream of laughter. She slid over to Vince and put her arm around his shoulder. “Listen buddy.” She said leaning in real close “If that was the way we ran things…I wouldn’t be here…I would be out there…killing babies or whatever it is Demons do.” She let go of him “And furthermore-“ She stopped mid-mockery.

“Oh God Sebastian!” she ran back over to him grabbing the labels of his suit and dragging him towards the window “That reminds me. There’s this REEEALLY creepy guy watching me. He keeps appearing and disappearing and he’s got red hair and he’s creepy and he probably wants to…like…do terrible stuff to me or something.” She let out a gush of air and sat down against the wall.
“Hehe….won’t have to kill anybody.” She continued laughing softly

~~

Alemn was tired of the games this girls was playing. He walked brusquely to the window and looked down into the alleyways below. Copper colored machines were marching down the thin streets towards their location. He grunted and put his head back in the room. “More of those soldiers are on their way. A lot more.” He was confident they could survive this battle. His only concern was one of his new “allies” stabbing him in the back.

[Mr. Crowley]

Vince's shoulder sank as he listened to Penny mock him. She's just like the soldiers I used to work with he thought to himself Another person who thinks war is fun. He shook his head in disgust. Then the quiet one spoke. “More of those soldiers are on their way. A lot more.”

"Oh no. . ." said Vince quietly. He began to shake again, but caught himself. He drew his pistol and checked the ammo. It was fully loaded. Thats not gonna be enough to fight off an army though he thought to himself. He turned his attention to Sebastion and Penny again.

"D-do we h-have any weapons at our disposal?" he asked," I may n-not like th-th-them, but I can use a g-g-g-g-gun." He began to shake a little, but was able to catch himself again. I'm not gonna make it out of this alive he thought. He was terrified.

[Stavvy]

He nodded to Alemn, “You heard it too, huh?” He said mostly to himself. He looked around at the group. The big one had been silent for a while, possibly dumbfounded by something, too much so to speak. He disregarded him. He couldn’t lead us if he stood slackjawed like that. Alemn could possibly, but he wasn’t sure of his fighting abilities. The pacifistic girl was out. That left. . .Sebastian, Penny, and the boy with the aversion to guns. Vince didn’t seem too confident or sure of himself, the way he carried himself and spoke showed a sort of immaturity. Not of age, but experience. He wasn’t sure if the man had even killed someone.

Ellis sighed, “Alright Chosen. Here’s what we’ll do. First, we need to get out of here. We’re not accomplishing anything, and the sooner we actually move, the sooner we can stop these purges. The sooner we do that, the sooner we’ll know how to balance out this world.” He looked back out of the window, the machine soldiers were getting closer. “It’s too late to hide. It’s either fight or die. I’d much rather go down fighting than hiding."


Vince spoke up, asking about a weapon. "We don't need to kill them all, just make a path away from here.” He gestured to a door that lead to a stairwell on the side of the building. "Any objections before we head out?"

[Thor.]

Penny walked over to Ellis. “Oh it just makes me so excited when someone tells me what to do.” She said putting her face right up to his. “It just makes me want to…” She leaned even closer, pressing herself against him “Kick you in the damn nuts.” She pushed him away and walked over to the window. “Sebastian, you’re the one who ACTUALLY runs the show, and I’m not doing anything just because SPARKY over there decided that he was a big shot. On a side note I don’t think he even likes girls. Anybody else would have taken the opportunity of a lifetime and kissed me. Hell, there are GIRLS I know that would have kissed me. But NO this guy doesn’t even have the guts to do that. How can we expect him to lead us into battle exactly? I mean to fight clunkers like these guys doesn’t take much but you have to have SOME kind of fighting-“ She stopped complaining and turned, horrified, to Sebastian. “You’re gonna go away aren’t you? You don’t have to you know” she began talking rapidly “I mean you’re just fine as a fighter and you’ve got the brains to lead the team that I don’t think anybody else has, if you know who I am talking about and plus I really really don’t want to have to deal with-“ She was rocked by the impact of an explosive going of near the building. She rushed over to the window. “THERE ARE INNOCENT PEOPLE WHO LIVE HERE Y’KNOW AND YOU’RE KILLING THEM!”

~~
Alemn was dizzy by the time the girl took a break from talking non-stop to yell out of the window. She just spoke more words there than Alemn had ever spoken in his life. He shook his head and activate his aura again. The think blackness pushing down against him. “Listen are we going out there or not?” The soldiers didn’t worry him. No matter how many there were, there were things on the Surface that trumped them anyday, and he had brought some of those home to feed the City.

[Stavvy]

Penny’s actions didn’t get to him, he kept a cool head. He had dealt with her kind before, it’s either you ignore them and they eventually listen to you or you play their game right back at them. He shouldn’t have asked for her opinion. He thought bitterly. As he spun a knife in his hand. He threw the knife up in the air and an explosion rocked the building. It didn’t hit the building, but it was enough to make him almost drop the knife. “And now you see why we need a leader. If we stay here, we’ll die. We don’t have time to argue about who the leader should be, this isn’t a sort of politics. It’s whomever has the ability to lead will lead. Sebastian, do you have any input on this?” He had decided he was just going to set the girl aside, she certainly wasn’t going to lead them.

[Drollive]

~~~
It seems we don't really have a choice. We have to fight...

They need to fight. A real fight will help them. Open their eyes...

Hehe, it's showtime...
~~~

Sebastian took a look out of the window before addressing the Chosen. "All right, everyone up. It's time to go. Your first fight will be good for you. Even if you're not fighting, you can't stay here. Penny, you know the layout of this place the best, so we'll follow you." He worried about Lori and Vince, but was certain that this was for the best. If they didn't fight, he could protect them, but they'd have to learn eventually.

[<3]

Penny had so much energy, so much bloody energy. She actually enjoyed all the fighting. It worried Lori to be introduced to her. Penny was all over the place, and soon, everyone was speaking, Lori felt so confused with all the action and speaking her head started to ache. She pushed down on her temples, rubbing them as if it would make the pain go away.

"Will you all just slow down!" She shouted. Shocked by her outburst, and the long silence that ensued, concerned her. As she lifted her lids back open, everyone was moving in slow movements, their mouths slowly opening, their speech in parted syllables. It made no sense. Lori stared in wonder. The heavy cluck of metal footsteps outside had also slowed down.

Then, as if she had magically pressed fast forward, everything sped up to it's normal pace. Lori was speechless, she wasn't sure whether anyone else had noticed, she didn't want to mention anything just in case.

"All right, everyone up. It's time to go. Your first fight will be good for you. Even if you're not fighting, you can't stay here. Penny, you know the layout of this place the best, so we'll follow you."

Lori took a deep breath in a prepared herself, she wouldn't fight, but she would at least try to help.

[Thor.]

"Are you going be okay?" the words left Penny's mouth the same way all the others did, quickly and with out thinking. Everyone else was still steeling themselves for the battle ahead and Penny took a moment to stop and have a little 'girl time.' She patted Lori on the shoulder and gave her a cheerful grin. "I can imagine what it must be like for you. I mean all I really have to do is think about..." Her smiled faltered for a microsecond and was restored. "All I really have to do is thinking about letting these scumbags live and I get all kindsa the creepy crawlies. So it must be the same when you think about hurting people right?" She shrugged and gave the girl a hug "Look we have to work together so...try to have a little fun okay?"

~~

Alemn stood at the window watching the identical bronze creatures stepping in perfect time with one another and he couldn't help but think about his home. He didn't miss it, with the exception of his teacher there was nothing there for him. But this was the kind of thing he had dreamed about as he made weaponry and power generators from the scraps he scrounged from the surface. It was strange to think about how to destroy machinery. He certainly knew how but the entire concept was something so alien to him. Idly he wondered how many there were. Certainly enough that this...Council of the Nine thought they would be able to make it past Penny.

Penny.

There was another thought. Regardless of the way she acted Penny had been protecting these people. When she admitted to not being able to save all of the poor people who lived here in the slums there had been real sadness in her eyes. That was more caring than anyone back in Hel had ever shown for the poor and the downtrodden. As he looked around the room his eyes rested on Penny. She was speaking in a low tone to Lori.

Whatever the measure of the other Chosen, he was about to go into battle with them. A lot would be learned today. Much to be gain. He looked again and Lori and Vince, both scared of what was to come.

Much to be lost as well.

[Mr. Crowley]

Ellis's words comforted Vince, even if just a little. If I don't have to kill anyone, I think I can do this he thought as he reholstered his gun and put on a pair of brown gloves. Vince knew a little hand to hand combat. Although he didn't know how well it would work against these enemies. They appeared to be made of metal. He threw a couple of practice punches at the air in front of him. He sighed and shook his head.

"I don't like this, but it looks like I don't have a choice." said Vince," Awaiting y-your orders ma'am!" Vince gave a quick salute and readied himself for the battle ahead of him.

[Candy Man]

Karde kept his eyes locked out the window, not even turning to see the turret disappear inside Penny's pocket. It was clear now he was miles upon miles away from Keswell. Perhaps even off the shores of Augur altogether. He couldn't make much of what was around, but he knew he was far from home.

The bronze soldiers marching towards them lurched forward jumpily on gears and pulleys, blank expression on their faces. These were unlike the Moncule he had seen, it was clear no living being was inside of these or ever was.

He grinned again. He didn't know who was at the top of this class war and it didn't much matter. all that mattered is that he kept the people on bottom safe. and maybe it was time to send this purge in reverse. He pulled his pistol from his belt, the segmented barrel growing longer and looser as it moved. He gave it an experimental crack and turned to the tohers, smiling broadly. "What're we waiting on?"

[Thor.]

Penny let go of the girl and skipped off her heart studded boots clicking heavily across the floor as she did. She peeked out the window with a tinge of excitement welling up. It was finally time to get personal. Her transforming weapon rested in her pocket and she smiled.

The big fellow spoke up, making an impressive display with what looked like some kind of whip-gun. She rushed over to his side, trying to keep her eyes on him and not just stare at the beautiful piece of machinery he was handling. “See big guy. I knew there was a reason I liked you.” She tried to make it clear she meant his initiative to fight the battle but she had a hard time not thinking about that gun. She reached hand out towards it.

[Stavvy]

“What are we waiting for?” He heard a voice echo all around him. He flashed a knife in his left hand and drew his sword, “The first move.” He said as he took a step to the window. He looked around, looking for something. He found it, a building looked like it was about to collapse.


The building that was near them, the one that was hit with the explosive. The people within had already evacuated it, some were killed by the small army. He stepped from the window and jumped towards the building, landing in some rubble a story or so above the ground. Hopefully the army hadn’t seen him yet. He found a weak point in the wall and tried to tackle it, but it did nothing. He grabbed a piece of lumber and tried swinging it against the wall. The wood broke and sent splinters everywhere. Finally, he concentrated, his pulse quickened, the blood flowed through his veins faster than before. His skin started to heat up, to burn. The unseen runic tattoos glowed underneath his clothes. He took his sword and made a clean slice through the weakened wall and then jumped into an alley and made his way back up to the others. The building started to crumble and then at once fell, sliding backwards into the street and back on itself. Killing a handful of soldiers but minimizing damage to civilians. Perfect. As he made it back to the others, his head pounded a bit. “Good way to start it out?” He asked, leaning against a wall. “The next move is up to you, but decide fast.”

[Candy Man]

Karde smiled and held the gun up to the girl, always eager to show off his handiwork. He didn't have enough time,. "Sparky" made it clear the battle had begun, showing off his new power. Little over the top for my style, but not bad.

He pulled over and out the window with a bellow, drawing his gun into a tall arch before pulling it down hard. Spark flew along the barrel as it's resounding crack echoed down the street. A soldier's head twenty feet away splayed behind him in a mess of gears and wire. Karde twisted his arm right and another split in half against a building's corner, drug by the neck.

One bronze monster drew close to him and Karde pulled his second gun from his belt with his left hand. Before it could take another step, a frozen shard of electrified liquid punched a hole in it's chest, then splashing onto the ground. He grinned excitingly at the chance to show an efficient kill, cracking the gun again in the face of another soldier, bursting it's head in two.