how to hide the Plot Armor

OK, I have a couple of characters I'm not willing to kill off, and they're antagonists to another set of characters I'm not willing to kill off. Both sides would gladly kill each other if given the chance. So, how do I disguise the fact that both groups have Plot Armor?

One group is a bunch of Chessmaster kids possessed by magic-eating spirits, and can drain magic from things and affect magical things, including magical beings such as vampires. Originally they were led by an escaped Sealed Evil in a Can (a former emperor possessed by the same kind of spirit) but he got killed by their antagonists. Their plan is to save the elves, who are being driven to extinction by hunting from vampires, and at the same time set themselves up as leaders of the elves. They are an emotionally repressed kid who killed his own mother, a pair of Think Twins who keep finding new ways to use their powers, and a foster girl who is probably the most moral one of them, and each of those four also have a younger kid they're mentoring the same way their former leader mentored them.

The other side is a gifted vampire detective who hunts slayers, and his trusty sidekick who can control moonlight to heal vampires. In the first book, the two hunt and kill the escaped Sealed Evil in a Can because he's been killing vampires, and in revenge one of the kids MindControls the vampire into helping to kill his mentor and attacking his sidekick. Unfortunately for them, his sidekick has a trick up his sleeve and breaks the control, but in the process the vampire's mind is severely damaged. The sidekick becomes somewhat of The Caretaker during his friend's lengthy recovery, and vows revenge on the kids for all the suffering they've caused.

So, how do I keep them from killing each other, without making it too obvious that both sides have Plot Armor? I was thinking of having the vampire and his sidekick's survival be part of a plan on the part of the kids, but I can't think of what that plan would be.

Have a third, more powerful person or group show up, forcing the two original groups to work together temporarily.

You could introduce extra characters on both sides for the express purpose of killing them off, but that seems kind of lazy from a literary standpoint.

Do either of these groups have goals beyond just killing each other? If the story and they're plans are advancing and progress is being made, then actual deaths shouldn't matter too much.

Also, have others die in the crossfire. Maybe they're just temporary allies or associates, but they're impact could be interesting.

I've always thought, as a sort of pseudo-solution to this, that in realistic situations my characters would get hit and injured, just not die. They'd get shot, hurt etc. and over the course of the story collect a series of scars.

^ You could also use the other logical scenario: They just don't get hurt in the process.

Rarely if ever are battles between men reducible to statistics to where everyone/everything suffers damage or gets hurt and such like seen in RPG's or RTS games. The vast majority of combatants in a typical battle emerge unscathed. (It's not typical of conventional warfare to have a high-to-majority-or-higher casualty rate on both sides slugfest.)

edited 10th Jul '11 6:47:03 AM by MajorTom

Seriously. I would figure a life or death struggle would be the most likely place for not only death, but injuries to take place.

Especially a war zone.

You could possibly have them fight in an area that starts to become too dangerous as their fight simply wrecks everything around them. Set up some environmental hazards that eventually start forcing the combatants away from each other along with whatever wounds are appropriate from such a fight.

The Enemy Mine example from above could work too, I think.

Battles between Red Shirt Armies may well end up as you describe, with minorities killed or even wounded (unless there's a rout). Battles between superpowered individuals probably won't.

They're not actively duking it out in straightforward combat, they're fighting with XanatosGambits instead.

So, any idea how I could have it actually serve the kids' purpose to leave the antagonists alive?