Bounty hunters of the apocalypse

Harry swore fervently as he finished pulling the last of his armour on. He shouldn't have let his guard down like this, but it was just so much easier to make his way around the country with it off. With his sword in his right hand and shield strapped to his left, Harry rushed past the NCC group and into the nearest swarm, hacking at any bugs within reach.

Having been awoken by Goldilocks' shrieking, Roderick was now awake and surveying the area around him to make sure he wasn't under attack. After spotting the battle with the bugs going on in the distance, Roderick stuck his head into the truck and said "Why the fu-" taking notice of Sophia's presence, Roderick took a moment to rephrase his question and clean up his language a bit "Any particular reason why this truck isn't moving at breakneck speed to get your friends the heck out of there? I'm no expert, but they look like they could use a hand."

Truck

"Listen brother - I don't know what you see but I sure don't know what is going on. Our job is to make sure to keep these two safe." Earl told Roderick, pointing to Garnett and Sophia.

Grimacing, Roderick pulled out his binoculars and handed them to Earl "I can't say I know for certain, but from what I can make out at this distance it doesn't seem nice. Now why don't you take a look for yourself and give us an idea of what's going on."

Shapshift, sword, now Goldilocks ordered Shinespark as her hand shifted back to normal; she did not have the time to work up the momentum to swing a bowling ball around again. As Shinespark shifted, (Checked with Atomic on skype.) she charged forward, chasing after the escaping darwin bugs while still screaming out. Two of them got blown away by Gunslinger, but the other two got cut down by Goldilocks and Harry before he got to them.

Behind Goldilocks, Red's plan of action couldn't really be helped much by Gunslinger's magic, but it did the darwin bug on his side off of him, letting Chiquita shoot it freely without hitting him after she shot the two on herself. The one on his arm was more firmly attached, digging into his arm with its mandibles. As he stopped and was about to punch it though, Pyro showed up and stabbed it.

That left four Darwin bugs still attacking them, but between Jeff and the freshly-reloaded Counter, they were quickly put down, each of them tagging two of the bugs. With that, the cthulians were dead. But the situation was not really over.

Goldilocks snapped back to her senses with a slight "huh?" before realizing that right in front of her (since they'd charged the same pack of bugs from opposite sides) was an NCC paladin, fully armed, and facing her directly; and back behind him was a forming gun line of three NCC zealots and a priest. Her eyes widened as she thought fast, and tossed Shinespark forward; underhanded, not intending to actually hit Harry with the sword as an attack, but just as a distraction. She then turned and started to run, taking the direction that for the moment kept Harry between her and the other NCC. "Do not let that demon live!" Father Don bellowed. Two of the zealots began to give chase, while the third ran to one side to get to a clear line of fire.

Whatever happened in the next few seconds was critical.

"All I see from here is scared people" Garnet said. The truck was not within line of sight of the fight, as the fight was happening down the street and around a corner. It was also maybe a jab at Earl, evidenced by the way Garnet narrowed her eyes towards him slightly. "At least get us back to the edge of town; if we're all leaving we'll need to pick up the others first!" she told him, annoyed.

"Mindy- Garnet, calm down a bit, right" Flyer said, since he had been in the truck the whole time.

"Calm down?! CALM DOWN!? There could be people dying right now for all we know; and you're telling me to calm down?!" Garnet hollered at him. Flyer raised up his hands a bit defensively but said nothing; instead he just gestured slightly towards Sophia. Garnet looked over to the eight year old to see how she was doing.

Israfel visiblely facepalmed. I think someone needs to keep her battle urges in check. She added as she witnessed the succubus running exactly into the worst people to meet. The NCC troopers. Her struggle with the impulse of fighting and trying to keep cover was endangered by the fact her key witness was about to be shot. Without hesitation she transmitted to the rest of the team

Everyone, cover your eyes! Shinespark... BLIND THEM!.. She added as her dagger was lit with blue flames once more. "Damn and I had just used the components for this spell already. Seems I can't run into normalcy from now on.". She muttered in exasperation as she initiated the circle to change back into her true form. Meanwhile, the cherub disguised as sword reacted quickly, readjusting itself to its true shape, before letting an intense burst of white light, with the intention of blinding and stunning the NCC.

"I'm afraid I can't let you that, mortals. She is important to my task." She addressed the NCC after the light burst, revealing her true shape.

Chiquita meanwhile was nursing her damaged limbs and pondering wether the bugs were truly edible or not. There was also the matter of the demon bitch, and the fact the mexican girl wanted to punch the truth out of that stupidly sexy face of demon doll of hers. Fortunately for the succubus, the angered girl didn't react to the dominion's warning in time, and was hit with the light, causing her to trip in Darwing Bug's corpses and fall down in a stream of obscenities.

edited 21st Oct '14 3:04:43 AM by AtomicNut

Battle

Red thanked Pyro for the assist and started slipping on his brass knuckles. Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be any more bugs to fight. There was, however, a new problem - these NCC goons. The ex-boxer was about to react but then he got a weird telepathic message telling him to cover his eyes. He complied with the message and, when the bright light was gone, he'd open his eyes and attack any of the NCC that needed pacifying.

Truck

"Alright fine! We'll go over to them. Jesus..." Earl muttered when Garnett started freaking out and Roderick tried handing him the binoculars. He started driving the truck to the battle. As this was his first time driving such a bulky vehicle, it could take Earl awhile to get there. Sophia just looked back at Garnett and gave her a thumb's up. She had every confidence that her father could deal with whatever was out there. After all, that weird demon screaming had stopped now.

edited 22nd Oct '14 7:14:10 AM by FantasyLiver

Gunslinger ran with the zealots, his back turned to the angel, while tossing a few seconds of his magic back at the zealot trying to take aim. The world seemed like it was on fast forward for the poor guy, on top of being blinded.

edited 22nd Oct '14 9:40:08 PM by gameknight102xx

Pyro sprinted into whatever cover he could find. There was a priest bellowing about murdering a demon, he was the speaker. Hopefully, the armored figure would focus on the succubus as he took aim for the Priest's chest, until the light exploded, blindingly. As the woman's voice sounded, the former bandit realized that they were going to be peaceful. So, he relaxed his trigger finger. "Tell 'em not to make any sudden movements." He growled to his companion without looking at her. peaceful or no, Pyro knew that many a 'peaceful meeting' ended, and he was ready to fire the first shot if this one went the same way.

edited 21st Oct '14 11:34:25 PM by TroyandHawk

Harry ducked behind his shield as Shinespark's blast of light filled the area. In a situation where he wasn't being kept from something as major as a Demon, Harry would likely do his best to figure out just what on earth had caused the burst of light. But for now Harry's only thoughts were focused on finishing the task at hand. Though partially blinded by the sudden and violent burst of light, Harry charged after Goldilocks in a righteous fury, ignoring whatever was ordering him to stand down. If he managed to close the distance with Goldilocks, Harry would attempt to run her heart through with his trusty sword.

The Demon could not be allowed to escape.

edited 22nd Oct '14 11:49:51 PM by Eachiunn

The two zealots who had also been running after Goldilocks managed to turn their heads away from the flash as they saw the glowing cherub first, but were still a little dazed; the zealot who'd been trying to get an aim had his attempt to do the same ruined by Gunslinger's magic, and the flash essentially hit him faster than he anticipated, leaving him temporarily blinded. Due to the angle of the flash, Father Don was actually also shielded by Harry, and as such was even less dazed then the first two zealots. "Do not falter! It's just a demon trick!" Father don hollered, not phased in the slightest by Pyro aiming towards him from an alley; which was the only cover Pyro could find nearby. Goldilocks slipped past Pyro to hide in the alley, then someone else came running out the opposite direction with heavy footsteps.

Father Don motioned one of the zealots towards Israfel, and the zealot turned her way, intent to see if she was another demon or just an illusion. The zealot had a moment of hesitation though, and instead of just shooting at Israfel decided to start moving forward, weapon at the ready, while the other zealot tried to follow after Harry. Since Red was waiting to pacify any of the NCC still active, Harry found himself suddenly tackled by the retired boxer, taking him down to the ground but not really hurting him much. Red was denied by following up this attack by the other zealot, who smacked Red in the face with the butt of his rifle, throwing him off of Harry. The zealot then intended to follow that up by shooting Red, but was lifted off his feet and thrown to the ground by a certain armored French woman slamming into him like a Human semi-truck. Coline then swung her LMG around to aim right into Harry's face.

The zealot moving towards Israfel stopped and glanced that way, eyes widened slightly, then turned his head back to see Jeff and Counter both next to Israfel and both aiming their guns at him.

There was then an especially awkward moment as, behind them, they heard the sounds of several large guns being cocked and readied. Counter spared a quick glance, to see the rest of the NCC zealots in town, along with a good helping of the town guard, making a firing line at the intersection behind the group. Clark had stopped at the exit of the alley, aiming his rifle towards the firing line. The party was now in a standoff with a lot of guns pointed towards them.

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!" Father Don yelled, in that tone of self righteous indignation that only religious extremists could pull off.

Fortunately for Earl, he pretty much only had to drive the firetruck in a straight line. Soon enough he'd see up ahead on his right the firing line of NCC and town guard set up on the right side of the intersection, facing towards where the sounds of combat had come from. "Sounds like... It's already over?" Garnet said since the sounds of combat had stopped, but hesitantly as she eyed the firing line.

"How about we not do anything hasty, yanks?" Flyer suggested as he saw them too.

edited 23rd Oct '14 12:38:32 AM by FirockFinion

Ah, the joys of dealing with zealots. I'm gonna be shipped off world for this one surely. Israfel bit her lip upon seeing the whole scene not devolving into a crossed gunfire. Instead it had devolved in quite the tense standoff. Sighing visiblely, she sheathed her own dagger and raised her hands, to where the NCC could see them. Slowly and carefully, her wounded arm drew closer to the Zealot's garb, touching the cross and leaving a couple of blood drops on his cloth. Without making any sudden movements, she drew closer and closer to the Zealot, until both of them were touching. Her mouth then whispered to the zealot.

"Gospel of John, Chapter 20, Versicle 27. If they do not believe me, they will believe you."

She finished, before withdrawing again to her earlier position, surveying the whole standoff. Her hands were raised, as she addressed the other people.

"If you would be so kind of curbing your wrath and lower your weapons, I will gladly explain to you, men of faith." Israfel said, in her most neutral stance. "You must be starving for clues."

Chiquita meanwhile, managed to get up, but she didn't move. Being caught in a standoff would make her extremely difficult to raise her gun and make a move on the demon. For now she had to appear innocent, and so she swallowed her anger and did nothing.

edited 23rd Oct '14 3:18:13 AM by AtomicNut

The zealot eyed Israfel warily, a bit angrily in fact as she approached, keeping his gun aimed right at her face; he tensed up more so when he realized that she was actually, physically there, which led into the fear that she could be a disguised demon. As it became clear though, that she was actually touching his blessed clothes and not getting hurt, his eyes widened slightly. There was only one other possibility left, one last thing to check before he could believe with certainty. The zealot reached out, and touched her wing.

First, there was shock and disbelief in his expression; then, dawning realization and fear as he glanced down at his own weapon. The rifle soon hit the ground, followed by the zealot's knees as he knelt, face to the ground. "Forgive me messenger for doubting! I did not know this was the truth! I could not!" the zealot begged, nearly sobbing.

The blinded zealot looked around in confusion, the winded one on the ground looked over with similar disbelief, the ones behind the group lowered their weapons and murmured to each other, and finally Father Don lowered his weapons, greatly confused. "What? What is going on here?!" Father Don asked.

"This is no false image! It is a true servant of the Lord!" the first zealot yelled, without moving from his position or stance and still on the verge of sobbing. With some gasps, the zealots behind the group started barking at the town guards to lower their weapons; that was an angel they were now pointing their guns at! The blinded guard, in a panic, similarly dropped to his knees with his face to the ground, his head pointed towards where he thought Israfel was; he was off by about forty degrees. The winded zealot, while trying to get to his knees, motioned a cross in front of his chest as he whispered a quick prayer.

Father Don's eyes widened as he looked to Israfel more seriously for the first time. "My- my humblest apologies holy dominion!" Father Don exclaimed, dropping to one knee and also motioning a cross in front of his chest as he placed the tip of his sword down on the street and held it upright. "We would not presume to take judgement over your tasks! Say what you would have of us in penance for our transgression, and it will be done!" he continued, keeping his free hand on his chest now in a sign of submission.

With the standoff cooling down, Jeff, Counter, and Clark lowered their weapons, some sighs of relief all around. Coline swung her LMG back to a rested position on its sling, and reached her other hand down to offer Red help up from the ground.

edited 23rd Oct '14 4:06:30 AM by FirockFinion

Israfel rolled her eyes as she watched the spectacle unfold. "There is nothing to be forgiven for. None has come to lasting harm. However, there is something you must know. No true dominion can command or tell humans what they need to do. We must abide human free will and thus, the penalty for such trangression is severe." She paused and began to walk away. Motioning for Shinespark to flee to where Goldilocks was.

"There is nothing wrong with clearing misunderstandings and sharing a couple of leads, though. But what I have to say would be best done in private. My comrade can watch the foul hellspawn harlot in the meantime."She added, putting some theatrical disgust when talking about Goldilocks.

Firetrucks

"Agreed." Earl nodded at Flyer, deciding to stop the truck where it was and not do anything rash.

Standofff

Red took Coline's and got up. He rubbed his forehead where the zealot had struck him. He was used to blows in the head and his forehead was tough but getting butt-stroked was still not a pleasant experience.

He tottered over to Israfel and tapped her on the shoulder before leaving.

"Hey, Israfel. These people really want penance for what they've done. So give them some! Ask for guns or ammo. Ask for an escort (God knows we could use extra guns). But let's make sure to take advantage of this." Red said to the angel.

Gunslinger watched, breathing an internal sigh of relief.

"So the dominion will finish this for me, brilliant," he thought to himself as he turned to look at the "harlot", then the zealots. He smiled under his mask, Recon had not told him how funny the religious zealots were here.

edited 23rd Oct '14 2:35:46 PM by gameknight102xx

Pyro stood, lowering his aim from the priest, seemed like this was actually going to aim peacefully. "One little question." He growled, turning and aiming at the Demoness. "What are we going to do with you?" Partly theatrics, but he wasn't sure how they were going to get a succubus out of a town for a bible thumping crazies.

edited 23rd Oct '14 5:53:05 PM by TroyandHawk

"I... Do not understand" Father Don said slowly, standing up and sheathing his sword with an equal slowness. "But whatever it is you have to say, we will listen. There is a church in this town; a forgotten place of worship. We can speak there in private" he suggested, motioning to the zealots to regroup on him. The zealots were likewise standing and putting their weapons away; all except the one immediately in front of Israfel. He was still kneeling with his face to the ground, and had started quietly sobbing.

I guess I'll just stay here then Goldilocks transmitted to Israfel from the alley.

Gunslinger couldn't really see Goldilocks that well as she was hiding far down the alley, but Pyro could since he was at the entrance of the alley. After Pyro made his statement, Counter walked over to him and slapped him on the back of the head. "The angel wants her alive, doofus" Counter said, then putting his hands on his hips and shaking his head, "can't fathom why, but heck if I'm gonna question her." As per usual, Counter was thankfully very quick at both catching on and getting into character.

"J'essaie de vous laisser seul gars pour acheter des vêtements et cela se produit. Clark, quand seront-ils cesser d'être si stupide?"¹ Coline said, looking over at Clark.

"Jamais, sans doute"² Clark responded, slinging his rifle.

Meanwhile at the truck, there was a knocking sound on the side of the vehicle. Those who looked over would see Arthur standing there. "I heard shit going down and then shit not going down. Did anyone die?" Arthur asked with all the casual boredom of a coworker asking about last night's game at the water cooler.

"Don't know yet, but it looks like nobody else is gonna be dying, right" Flyer responded, noting how the firing line of town guards was standing down as the NCC members moved off down the street. Garnet frowned at both of them.

"Let me know if the slut kicked the bucket; wouldn't mind after all the screaming she did in my head a minute ago" Arthur muttered angrily, then climbed up on top of the firetruck to his usual seat.

(Footnote 1: Roughly translated as, "I try to leave you guys alone to buy clothes and this happens. Clark, when will they stop being so stupid?")

(Footnote 2: Roughly translated as, "Never, no doubt.")

"Think the Angel has a magic cage we can throw her in?"^Translation  How the fuck are we going to get a succubus out of here without killing everyone in town? Pyro asked Counter, before walking closer, until he had his gun pressed against her chest. "How good can you shapeshift?" He growled quietly.

Gunslinger approached the other end of the alley. Now that that was over with, it was time to make introductions.

"Dunno, but I bet her and the church guys can work something out" Counter responded to Pyro, trying to hint to him about how the NCC would probably escort Goldilocks out safely themselves if Israfel so much as hinted that she wanted them to. "So I wouldn't- woah woah hey!" the former caravan guard exclaimed lightly, pulling Pyro away from Goldilocks a moment after he had pressed his gun up against her.

"What're you thinking?! Get away from the dangerous demon before she kills you" Counter said with a motion of his head back to the entrance of the alley; a couple of the town guard had wandered over to see the situation, since they had heard Pyro and Couters' earlier out loud discussion. With his free hand, Counter kept one of his guns aimed at Goldilocks. "Alright bitch! No funny business or we'll show you what it means to get lead poisoning the American way. You just stay nice and quiet until the angel's ready to take you away" he added towards Goldilocks to keep up the facade, his acting quite good under the circumstances.

Meanwhile, Goldilocks had shifted her eyes to red and her teeth to long, sharp points, and bared them wide open towards Pyro as Counter pulled him back, giving a low, breathy hiss. Have you forgotten what I am?! I could be any of you in a minute. Don't act like you trust me enough to get near me Goldilocks transmitted telepathically to Pyro as she acted the part of a cornered demon. When Gunslinger approached, she looked to him with an unconcealed scowl, her teeth still shaped to monstrous points. And you! What kind of retarded moron are you?! At least now I know where Recon gets his stupidity from! she yelled into Gunslinger's head very angrily.

Wait...Think they'd believe us getting our asses kicked and you flying off? Pyro offered telepathically, before aiming his gun at Gunslinger. "Go away. You're only going to get killed."

Gunslinger shrugged.

"I completed what I set out to do," Gunslinger said, not the least bit afraid. "As long as your angel friend doesn't mess up, the NCC now know the full extent of the Deceiver's threat from the mouth of an angel. I was going to explain it myself, but we heard a very curious screaming just before I had the chance to."

Gunslinger tapped his chin. "Although I hope that dominion keeps in mind this could be a feint on the warlord's part. He is known as the "Deceiver" after all."

edited 26th Oct '14 8:16:35 PM by gameknight102xx

Pryo looked at him. "Are you really coming with us?" He asked, the last thing he needed was some old, stupid fart.

"That's what I've been told," he said, reaching into his coat and pulling out a cigarette.

edited 26th Oct '14 8:23:56 PM by gameknight102xx

Truck

"Alright, let's go see what's up." Earl said as he got out of the truck. The situation seemed to have resolved itself so there was no prevalent risk. He grinned at Sophia and Garnett - trying to show them that he wasn't so cowardly. After all, he was going to go check on this (now defused) situation, damn it!

"Why is he scared all the time?" Sophia asked Garnett, in reference to Earl.

Lisa And Company

Red rubbed his forehead and nursed his bite wounds a bit more before taking off his backpack. He riled through the numerous stuff that was in his pack before pulling out his duct tape and putting some on his Darwin bug-inflicted bite marks as a makeshift bandage. He headed over towards Lisa and raised his axe.

"Hoping this bitch isn't giving you too much trouble Counter?" Red asked the caravan guard and trying to stay in character.

edited 27th Oct '14 10:44:05 PM by FantasyLiver