Character Capital

[Visitor’s Terminal]

There was a bright flash - and a large, demonic-looking motorcycle darted through the archway. It had skulls, horns and flame decals all over its body and it was too big for an average man to handle. Now, you’d expect such monstrosity to belong to a tall, muscular, bearded man in a black leather jacket, but the driver was, in fact, a woman – although you couldn’t tell that from her appearance. She was in her late twenties. Her unruly shoulder-length hair was red. And she did, actually, wear a black leather jacket. Her name was Sascha Wexler. She had a passenger – also a woman – who wore a khaki knee-length skirt, white blouse, khaki jacket and glasses. She was in her forties. Her name was Cecile Bergmann.

Sascha stopped on the roadside. Women got off the motorcycle.

“Here we are, C.B.” said the redhead, “passed the portal.”

“Yeah”, C.B. removed the helmet, revealing black hair in bob haircut, and put the helmet on the seat, “I expected it to be a bit more… Unpleasant.”

“First times are not always painful”, Sascha smiled playfully. “So, what was the plan again, Doc?”

“Have you already forgotten it?” Cecile got a cigarette case and a lighter from the inner pocket of her jacket.

“No, I just wanna hear your description of it, just for kicks.”

Cecile sighed, took a cigarette from the case and lighted it. “Well,” she dragged on a cigarette, “we establish contact with The Afalina, find our idiots, rescue them, and then, together, return through the hole we came from.”

“You mean to the hole we came from”, said Sascha.

“I stand corrected”, said Cecile, “and we do it, preferably, by not getting yourself an STD in the process.” Or getting ourselves a PTSD, for that matter. One drunken, shell-shocked airman on our crew is more than enough.

“Naturally”, Sascha rolled her eyes. “So, let’s go and try to contact Chef and Sunshine, then?” she started to mount the motorcycle.

“I think we should find a reliable shelter, first. We could be stuck in this city for God only knows how long”, said Cecile, “Wait here. I’ll go get a map of this place.”

“Bah, Easy Rider doesn’t need a map”, said Sascha, “his heart is his guide.”

“That’s an astonishingly appropriate name for your love life, Sascha”, said Cecile. Sascha glared at her.

Cecile walked to the nearest pamphlet stand, and took one of the pamphlets with a map on it. She returned to the motorcycle and unfolded the pamphlet. She passed the side of the pamphlet to Sascha.

“Hold this”, said Cecile. Together, they straightened the map. “Now, let’s see…”

They spent a minute in silence, examining the map.

“Okay, we’re here…” Cecile pointed at the label that said “Visitor’s District”.

“Hotel… Hotel…” said Sascha, “there’s one near the Terminal, another one here, at the West Side…”

“That one’s a motel, actually”, said Cecile, “I’m not going to live in those.”

“Motels are not good enough for Princess Cecile. I see…”

“We’ll see what you’re going to say when you come to me for the itch ointment”, said Cecile.

“But it must be cheap”, said Sascha, “and we’re short on cash.”

“I’m not rich enough to live that cheaply”, said Cecile.

“Fine, fine. ‘Fantastique’ it is”, said Sascha, “Hop on.”

Cecile folded the map and put it in her jacket’s inner pocket. She then put on the helmet, climbed on the motorcycle’s passenger seat, and two women rode away from the Terminal into the storm.

edited 28th Mar '15 4:49:06 AM by Millership

Spiral out, keep going.

Arena Lobby

Kyana blinked at Lara's grin about being a mutant then smiled. "I guess." She then turned to Moreena and felt sheepish for not introducing herself. "I'm Kyana, Kyana Aeira. Pleased to um, meet you." she introduced herself, still feeling weird about talking to the goddess of death. But after meeting a monster like Genocide Kyana started to think anything could happen in Capital.

"Can you imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie?"

Arena Lobby

"Moreena. Pleased to meet you as well," Moreena answered. "So, how much of the city have you explored yet? I've heard plenty of rumors about this place."

Still a great "screw depression" song even after seven years.

[Vencaran Shuttle]

"Okay," Harrison said. Although how is 144 years not faster than half a millennium? I probably shouldn't say anything, though - this conversation seems to be making him nervous, he thought.

"Sorry to hear," Harrison said, "but hey, we all have our problems, right? We might have homicidal aliens, and you have crazy A.I.s, but it's a big galaxy out there - there's always plenty of amazing things to do and experience."

"For example, those peace operations you mentioned a few times back," Harrison said, "what kinds of missions are those?"

Danger: Intense gravimetric distortions nearby. Please reverse the polarity on your deflectors now.

Arena Lobby

Kyana scratched the back of her messy ginger haired head. "Not much really. I live in Old Town but only have ventured out near Visitor's Terminal, the Diner, and well...here." she explained. Her brow raised when the goddess mentioned rumors. "What rumors have you heard about the Capital?" she asked in a curious tone.

"Can you imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie?"

Arena Lobby

"Oh, just the usual," Moreena said. "Catacombs full of dangerous artefacts, nasty beasts and an apocalyptic cult or two, people getting murdered and having their souls stolen, and various horrors from beyond time and space running about. And there's also an allegedly haunted house somewhere to the west of here."

Her lips curved into an amused smirk. "Quite a few things to do, in other words, provided at least some of it is true."

Still a great "screw depression" song even after seven years.

[ARENA LOBBY]

Lara half listened to the two talking. She had been thinking about something that Moreena had mentioned a while ago. When she started mentioning these macabre rumors, she took the opportunity to voice her assumption.

Lifting her head to look at the Goddess, she asked, "I wanna know something. You just said, what was it, that you needed a body to interact with the people here?" After hesitating, she continued. "Does that mean you're...possessing someone right now?"

edited 28th Mar '15 10:42:01 AM by TroPartner

[Eye's Cream Parlor]

Good move. Although Kevin's head throbbed a bit, it was worth it. The detective regained his bearings and he saw the blood drawn from the creature.

Did the boy decide to help? No, it was probably personal. "So he's your monster?" Kevin concluded. "Quite the piece of work." He then took aim again. "Want me to help?"

Life is hard, that's why no one survives.

Arena Lobby

Moreena looked over at Lara. "What, this thing?" she said, briefly glancing down at her body. "No, this is one of my own creations. It takes a bit more work than possessing someone, but now I can stay for as long as I want."

She paused for a moment. "And no one is at risk of getting permanent brain damage. Mortal minds can be rather small and fragile. No offense."

Still a great "screw depression" song even after seven years.

[Mall-Hallway]

Adam sighed with relief. "That's good." He walked slowly, just so James could keep up with him. That, and he was not as fast as Nick and Jackson. This was the perfect chance to get to know James more, though.

"You ever been to Scotland? That's where my dad's from, but I never got the chance to visit. From your accent, you're not too far from there, are you?"

---

[Mall-Bike Shop]

Marie giggled. "There's lots of things to like about you! You're nice, pretty, humble-I can list them all right here! But that'll take hours for me to finish." She smiled, "Don't worry; I won't let this go too far. But I'm glad I didn't freak you out. Thank you."

When Teri asked if she wanted to go clothing shopping, her smile grew wider. "You've asked the right person! Marie the fashion expert, at your service." She bowed, then giggled again, "Ready when you are."

[City Center - The Spire (82nd Floor Conference Room)]

Qrlil swayed slightly in alarm. "Well, I certainly hope you don't rush into that," she said. "I mean, as I said I think it's important that you let your crew know you're all right, but I wouldn't be too quick to leave this city without knowing that I could come back, were I in your situation."

She tilted her head, considering. "As for technology - we are not necessarily looking for anything in particular, just something different to make the Alliance seem like a more attractive option. I suppose we would have to compare the technologies available to our respective meta-civilizations to know exactly what each has that the other lacks, though..."

She tipped her head back in the other direction. Perhaps I shouldn't be doing this all by myself? Maybe I should try to communicate through the rift, and see if anyone else can arrive to handle some of the more technical details. She still wasn't quite used to not having a staff.

[Vencaran Shuttle]

Trekesser's expression - such as it was, given the somewhat inflexible nature of his facial features - shifted to a more at-ease state. This was territory he was more comfortable with, though he was a bit surprised that Harrison didn't seem familiar with the idea.

"The Alliance operates under the belief that a military that's focused entirely on preparing for war creates a mindset that is too comfortable with war," he said. Though not everyone agrees with that. "So the GAN has always had peaceful missions as one of its primary operational mandates. Exploration, scientific research, infrastructural development, disaster relief, diplomatic transportation - that kind of thing. My ship, the Williams, is a light cruiser, which means it can serve for several of those mission profiles."

He paused. "You seriously haven't heard of this?"

Still kind of stuck for Seon right now, I'm afraid.

[ARENA LOBBY]

Lara blinked, caught off guard by Moreena's comment, saying that she wasn't at risk of brain damage. A comment like that made her suspicious once again, but in a different way. The first thing that came to mind was some type of radiation.

"Okay..." She said slowly, her eyes wandering off to a different corner of the room. "Thanks for telling us...about the...brain damage thing..."

[EYES CREAM PARLOR]

"If your aim is good." Joshua answered to the man's question, "Nothing fatal." The tone of his voice would almost sound like a demand to some.

Genocide noticed his enemy's distraction with the long-coated man's offer. He dashed up, though more like slithered, and sucker-punched his armored opponent. Then the creature lifted him by the cuff and threw him almost to the other side of the room.

This was the moment he was waiting for. Relishing this moment, Genocide aproached the fallen Blindman, with his back now turned to the gunman he had forgotten all about. The horned creature flexed his claws sinisterly.

[Clarke Hospital -> Zan's Fast Food Diner]

The cab's doors shut and set off towards the Visitor's Terminal. It arrived a few minutes later and offloaded it's passengers, Rikael sliding a card through a reader on the vehicle's dash as payment.

She got out onto the curb and turned to point at the nearby diner. "That's the place. Come on, let's get out of this rain. I'm sure eating something will have you feeling better."

Rikael set off at a quick walk to the diner's entrance and pushed her way inside.

[M's Casino]

The lizard woman followed behind Kommissar, sticking close as the two of them approached the German's target. Her eyes widened in momentary surprise before she readjusted her expression back to neutral-and-slightly-bored.

It's go-time. Game face on.

Much as she had misgivings about this masked idiot, she'd follow his lead for the time being.

yey

City Center - The Spire (82nd Floor Conference Room)

"Oh, my Lander won't be ready for flight in at least a day or two," Garkin said. "And I wouldn't mind staying around for a while anyway, if it wasn't for my crew." At least now, I wouldn't.

"You're right, we should probably figure out a way to communicate through the rift, but I wouldn't know where to start."

Visitor's District - Visitor's Terminal

Meanwhile at the Terminal, something emerged from the rift. Flying out from beneath the huge arch was a small machine, about the size of a human head. It looked a bit like a video camera, but with two tiny jet thrusters mounted on it's sides.

The drone left the terminal and continued out into the city.

edited 28th Mar '15 12:58:26 PM by Corvidae

Still a great "screw depression" song even after seven years.

[M's Casino]

It was mostly quiet in the side room, and dark. Only a single florescent light hung above them.

"Hm- you look uh," York looked Kommissar up and down. "Ready for a costume party."

The German ignored that. He looked around, gathered his sense of space. Calculating where he was.

York spoke, "So- who's the guy after me? I think a detective or a cop might be after me." He looked in the glass he had. He took a last drink of it. "So who you work for?"

Kommissar was busy imagining several scenarios. His head perked up at the question. He shook his head. "I can't answer that."

The fat Italian shrugged. "Eh, I get it. My boss works for some big knowledge broker in some other world or somethin'. This whole Capital is weird." He eyed the lizard woman. "Well, anyways. It could be this one guy I may have pissed off earlier."

Soon enough, waiting became unbearable. He had to act. He had his target where he wanted him. What was holding him back?

Kommissar was waiting for the right moment, and now was the time. He stepped closer to the man.

"Funny how you say that. Mr. York," The German said, while dropping his voice facade. York looked up, bewildered. Kommissar took off his white mask, and looked straight into the eyes of his target. "You shouldn't have fucked with me. Ever."

Mr. York's eyes widened and his face showcased all of his wrinkles conveyed abject horror of realization. "You-" He chuckled. "You're that bounty hunter..." The second he jerked away from the area, Kommissar sprung into action.

He grabbed the man's arm, and pulled. He had his combat knife in his left hand. He wrapped his left arm around his neck, and put York's arm behind his back. The fat Italian yelped.

"Scream and your blood vill be on the floor." The bounty hunter whispered. He looked up at his reptilian partner. He decided to get certain business off the table first. "Answer me: vhy did you take my mask? My money?

"Let go of me, you Nazi." Kommissar grunted and tightened the grip around his target's neck. The knife pressed harder on it as well. "Alright, alright, uh- I, uh, thought it was funny you wore a mask. Like you tried too hard to be a badass or something."

"The vallet?" The bounty hunter growled.

"I didn't want to pay you since you looked stupid. My boss also didn't want me to uh- order the hit you did. I guess I fucked up, huh?" He chuckled in spite of his situation. Typical.

Good enough answer. "Lizard. Find my wallet. On him."

[Eye's Cream Parlor]

In a flash, things went for the worst. Luckily, the creature had his back to Kevin. It was a common, and often deadly mistake. Not lethal? He thought. Why wouldn't you kill a dangerous thing like this?

The detective aimed the gun, and shot. The bullet penetrated the skin of the creature, right in the calf of its right leg.

He lowered the weapon. "I can guess security or police will be on their way."

Life is hard, that's why no one survives.

Old City - Arena Lobby

"You don't need to worry about any brain damage," Moreena said. "I just meant that being possessed by a deity can be rather unpleasant for a mortal, which is why I avoid doing it."

Still a great "screw depression" song even after seven years.

[Old City] (Abandoned Mall)

As the fight went on, the urgency Miyuki felt dwindled more and more with each passing minute. These petty criminals were no match for her. Had she wanted to kill them, she easily could have done so in, by her estimations, less than half the time she'd already spent bashing their faces in. In fact, as time passed she grew more concerned about the people that were supposedly her allies. They were a great deal more powerful than she'd thought, and most them seemed pretty reckless, too. Any misgivings she was having were only reinforced by what happened next.

The sudden increase in heat and light coming from Flamist took her by surprise. In the chaos, she didn't hear what the girl said, but she did hear Energy's exclamation. Flai! No! Wait! he'd said. Miyuki put two-and-two together, but jumped to the wrong conclusion. The girl was powering up for something big; she'd lost control and now they were all at risk. This changed everything. What happened to the thugs - and any of the others, really - didn't matter to her very much, but of course, there was one person she cared about...

"AKIRA!!!" She screamed, and bolted for his hiding spot. She went from stationary to highway speeds in about as much time as it took Akira to raise his head and go "huh?"

She reached him just as Energy's shields surrounded them.

Not entirely dead.

[City Center - The Spire (82nd Floor Conference Room)]

Qrlil smiled. "I'm glad to hear it." Then she blinked at the next question. "Well. Um. Have you tried just calling your crew?"

I hope he doesn't think I'm stupid for asking. But the idea needed to be mentioned.

Wait, does he not have personal communications? That would be strange.

Sorry it's short.

City Center - The Spire (82nd Floor Conference Room)

I bet you are...

"No signal," Garkin answered. "I spent my first few hours in this place taking turns trying to call the Sword and scanning the enviroment for toxins. How about you then? Can you contact anyone in your universe?"

Above the Visitor's District

High above the city, the small drone was speeding through the air, heading towards the Spire.

Still a great "screw depression" song even after seven years.

[Old City-Mall]

She felt it.

She looked around. The others wanted her to stop, wanted to to try and reverse the spell. But why? She was going to end the fight. Energy was looking at her, scared.

Scared?

Why?

The orb wavered, then spiked. She hadn't concentrated it properly yet. But if she did, it would go off. They didn't want that.

She couldn't stop it.

"Energy..." her voice came in a whisper. "Energy!"

Her companion responded, hearing real panic in her voice. He knew immediately. Their bond was strong enough for that.

The orb surrounding himself in a shield retracted it and flew between his hands, he held his arms out like he was looking through a glass toward the ceiling, his voice ringing loud and clear.

"One Point: Dismantling!" he shouted desperately.

The orb responded to his call. An ear-piercing whirr echoed through the mall before a long, sharp holographic cone extended at a rapid speed, slamming into the ceiling of the mall. The section of the ceiling didn't even crumble. Anyone looking could see it literally disintegrate into nothing. The rain from outside poured in from the new opening made.

"Flai! There!" he pointed desperately.

"It's not stabilized!" she screamed back.

"Just throw it! I'll take care of it!"

Flamist, given no other recourse, pointed her arms and the orb skyward and launched it. The miniature sun streaked up and through the hole. Not even a second later, all eight of Energy's orbs ceased shielding the others and flew into the hole along with the attack, chasing it into the sky.

[Capital City]

Anyone who could sense magic could probably sense the immense, unstable power flying up in the sky. What happened next, however, was visible to all.

The nine orbs punched through the cloud layer, concealing them from sight.

Seconds later, at thirty kilometres above the city, what could only be described as a nuclear explosion seemed to detonate above the city.

Yet, strangely, there was no heat, no flame. Not even any wind from the blast. One could definitely hear the roar of the explosion. One could see the novel effect of the rainy gloomy day temporarily turning into a bright summer morning, albeit not the actual explosion as it was concealed behind the clouds. But no destruction, no devastation. Not even any wind chimes were disturbed.

After ten seconds of the terrifying spectacle, the explosion faded, and the rainy day continued.

[Old City - Abandoned Mall]

Energy slumped down, exhausted. Even Flamist looked tired.

But they had did it. They averted the disaster.

Energy looked at his companion, and gave her a tired smile.

Crack!

The small girl fell on her back, not comprehending what had just happened. She had been hit? But by what? She looked down, at her chest, staring at the red stain that was blooming across her hoodie. She could hear Energy scream. But the sound was far away and echoing. But she didn't feel pain. Only dizzyness.

A huge, burly man lowered his smoking rifle. Ulf would recognize the model: a Mosin-Nagat bolt-action.

"All we wanted," the thug said, his voice trembling. "Was to 'ave a little fun. Make a little coin, 'ave a little fun with 'er" she jerked the rifle towards Rani

"An' her" then he pointed the gun at Miyuki.

"Was...was that really so much to ask?" It was obvious he had gone insane. His eyes had a faraway look, like he wasn't even here in his mind. He cocked the bolt back and raised his gun again at the wounded Flamist

"NO!" Energy's orbs were still thousands of metres in the air. They were streaking back. But it would be too late. In one last ditch effort, he ran and covered his injured friend's body with his own. He closed his eyes.

So this was it.

edited 28th Mar '15 4:54:49 PM by gameknight102xx

Arena Lobby

Kyana listened to the conversation between Lara and Moreena with interest, her eyes widening about the Capital having catacombs with dangerous artifacts and horrors from time and space. She gulped at the murders and souls being taken. When the goddess mentioned she had made the body she was in Kyana got even more weirded out. But before she could ask any questions, a bright flash of light seen from the windows made her wince. "Ugh, what was that?" she pondered out loud, rubbing her eyes.

M's Casino

As the three girls waited at the bus stop, their attention was diverted from chatting with each other to a sudden bright thing shooting throw the sky. Staring at it with a confused expression, Kiyumi muttered "What in the world?"

"Can you imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie?"

[Old City-Abandoned Mall]

   Wulf   

The roof exploded, he found his hands with his gaze, he was not dead, it was a start. A crack broke through the air, a familiar sound that drew him in with the fingers of the past. Russian rifle. Bolt action. He charged the threat which resolved itself into a man, a rather large one, greed whispered through his body, this prize was his.

His prey's eyes widened as he spun the rifle away from the fallen child. The bolt clacked and the casing hung in the air before it bounced off the floor. There was crack and a bullet bit into his shoulder, the arm went numb. He redoubled his pace, a tremble of fear went through his target, but he braced himself this one was a fighter, he would drink deep of this kill.

He met him in a sliding mass of growls and flailing limbs, Wulf ended up on top and slammed the man's head into the ground with his good hand. Dazed, the target swung a knife, the point dug into his right arm and bounced off taking a small bit of flesh with it. The knife spun into the darkness.

He attempted to block covering his vitals with his arms before succumbing to a flurry of shredding claws, mostly the left but he also used the right when it didn't burn badly enough to stop him.

Stoned hippie without the stoned. Or the hippie. My AO3 Page, grab a chair and relax.

Market Street – Mall

"You ever been to Scotland? That's where my dad's from, but I never got the chance to visit. From your accent, you're not too far from there, are you?"

James felt his neck prickle with embarrassment. How to say this? Delicately?

"I'm English," he said, "from London, which is a goodly distance from Scotland. Sadly, for most of my life, Scotland was at war with England - I understand that things have changed since then and the nations have been allies for some time now, but I grew up hearing of the "Jacobites" and the threat they posed.

"I was born too late for the 'fifteen and by the time of the 'forty-five I was already in Thomas Farrington's Regiment, fighting against the French and the Micmacs, so I never saw action against the Scots – not that I particularly wanted to.

"Apparently, the French are also now allies. Times change, I harbour no ill will against anyone except those who directly seek to harm me."

Market Street – Bike shop

Teri led the way to the clothing racks, relieved that Marie had not been devastated by having her advances rebuffed. As to the flirting, Teri could handle it – after all, Kris made occasional joking flirty comments with no harmful effects.

"I don't need a jacket," she said to Marie, "this one's done me well so far. What I need is suitable leggings, boots, gloves and a helmet."

[City Center - The Spire (82nd Floor Conference Room)]

"I suppose I could try that," Qrlil said. She turned her head towards the window, distracted momentarily by a bright flash of lightning outside, then ordered her backup to try to open up a connection to Ambassador Kimura on Skrahsis. Her eyes glazed over slightly as she focused them on the virtual data.

Ambassador Kimura? This is Qrlil, testing something. Can you respond?

A moment of silence, then the simulated voice of the human ambassador sounded in her head. The software's having to clean it up a little, but yeah, I can hear you.

That should be all, then. Thank you. She focused back on the physical world and nodded at Zerrimus. "Apparently I can."

In the interests of not having it distract all of my characters, I'm assuming the conference room is on a side of the Spire facing away from the old city, so that all the flash of light looked like from it was bright lightning.

[Outside M's Casino - Bus Stop]

Seon had been trying to keep his head down, but the bright flash of light in the sky - and the distant sound of an explosion - was hard to miss. For a moment he was simply paralyzed, sure that it had been some kind of massive energy bomb, but as he recollected his senses he realized that if that had been the case they'd all probably be dead already.

"I have no idea," he said in response to Kiyumi. "But that," he gulped slightly, "I think that looked like it was sort of in the direction we were going to go."

Because of course it was.

Feel free to have a bus arrive any time. I still have no real plans for Seon, though.

[Vencaran Shuttle]

From the viewscreen of the shuttle, Trekesser caught sight of the atmospheric burst of light. It looked like it had been... above the city?

"What the fuck was that?" he exclaimed under his breath, then, in a louder voice, called out "Nami, can you tell from up if that was a nuclear detonation?" He had a hard time believing that the supposedly-vaunted security of the city could let something like that slip through their net, but it had looked similar to the one time he'd seen a fission bomb go off from orbit.

[ARENA LOBBY]

Lara, hearing the explosion and seeing the flash of light, rolled her eyes. To her, this was just the sound of another ship crashing. At least this time it wasn't nearly enough to make her ears ringing. That's the last thing she needed; on top of one crappy backache, hitting her back against the lamppost had given her a splitting headache for a short time.

"How many crashed space-rockets does this place get?!" She asked tiredly.

edited 28th Mar '15 9:19:48 PM by TroPartner