Terry blinked a little, and then caught their meaning. "Y-Yeah, really not wise of me."
He had to wonder what this was leading up to. Were they here in Britain for a reason? Where was Seren? The Icons had guided them here, but they had heard nothing.
What was really going on?
Those beings have always hoarded secrets. Do not trust them. Kill them all.
Terry winced, another painful message.
edited 21st Aug '13 4:25:33 PM by NickTheSwing
Vesper gave a slight nod to David, but only took small steps to follow him. She was too busy facing the direction of the rest of their group, her eyes hesitantly going back and forth between them and the real David.
"I do not approve of the fact that my favorite quotes are too long for this character limit." - Me"Yes getting out of here, wonderful idea. Wish I had thought of it earlier." Julia replied with a lingering note of sarcasm in her voice. "But all joking aside do we know if this warehouse is near any of the subway stops? I really don't want to walk across the whole city if I don't have to."
-dramatic music ensues-"I couldn't really say. I've been away for quite a while. You want my advice, though? Stay off the Tube, unless you enjoy being assimilated into a vast, stinking amorphous blob of humanity and insulted by people whose job consists of sitting in a chair saying 'mind the gap' all day. Alright. you know how some cities have those really big sewer pipes, because they were built by the Romans, or something? London has those, and it has the Tube tunnels. Guess which is cleaner and better maintained. Yeah."
Now if you don't mind, I am somewhat preoccupied telling the laws of physics to shut up and sit down.Terry looked like he was starting to doze off. It was glaringly obvious now that he had not got very good sleep last night.
As he started to slip between waking and sleep, he began to hear something. A reverberating sound coming from all directions inside the cab at once. It sounded somewhat like static, but there were hints of a voice in it.
Am I dreaming? Or am I just seeing things?
Emily glanced around the street, not quite knowing what she was looking for, but fairly confident that she'd know it when she saw it.
Towards the end of the street, she spotted a warehouse, covered in a wallpaper of moss. It grew over everything except the door, which had a giant pentagram spray painted on it, along with a few paintings of gesturing hands with varying degrees of rudeness.
She pointed towards it, "It's probably that one. Should we wait around for the other group to show? They might not pick the right warehouse."
It was a few minutes later that David, Jast, Vesper, Julia, and Witt arrived at where the others were. once they had gotten near enough, David had merely followed to thoughts of the Heralds, which for some reason still stood out from the thoughts of other, normal people. He waved to Terry, Emily, Marina, and the Doctor before another sound hit his metaphorical ears.
"Do you guys hear that?" he asked, unaware that the others did not, in fact, hear that.
i think i mostly want to see what happens when this whole place breaks apartAs he was listening in on Terry's thoughts, David started to hear something more.
It sounded rather like someone's voice speaking amidst a chorus of quieter voices chanting something in latin.
A sound like a gust of wind mixed with sighs, and the chanting gets louder, And now I am his wrath, I am his scorn. I kill those he hates, when he cannot hate. My duty is death, my calling woe.
As Terry walked, the image of David that he wore as a disguise thanks to Mansart started to waver and vanish, black and red energy pulsing over him and presumably causing this. This looked like it really hurt Terry as well, as he collapsed to his knees.
Terry grasped his chest, trying to silence the things he had, "No...I won't...these people are my friends. Why...who...?"
edited 29th Aug '13 3:18:51 PM by NickTheSwing
"Get back," Marina ordered the others calmly, stepping away from Terry and motioning for the others to do the same. "Give him some space."
"Take it easy, Terry... your friends are with you," she reassured him gently. "You're going to be fine."
It's kind of funny. Sufficiently advanced stupidity is like sufficiently advanced science; eventually, you find something you can't solve."Gaah!" exclaimed David, lifting a gloved hand to his head as a hot, searing pain hit his mind at the sound of the Destroyer's words. "How does... What..."
He stepped back as Marina commanded, but slowly and with extreme difficulty. He winced with each step, as well as each chant of the Destroyer's choir. He tried desperately to close up his mind, to keep these thoughts from entering his brain. "Terry," he gasped. "How do you... Live with this? This thing... Inside you?"
i think i mostly want to see what happens when this whole place breaks apartTerry looked around, slowly sliding back to full awareness, the black and red energy beginning to subside, though now with several audible cracks and an audible sigh - almost like the dying breath of a man.
"M-My friends are with me...the d-dark can't close in on me."
He grit his teeth, fighting tooth and nail against a breakdown. He knew - knew - what would happen if he broke. The Destroyer would come out. It would do what it almost did before.
He stumbled around for a bit before standing, back to his normal form, David's form almost seeming to shatter off of him as if a layer of ice. He looked over at the cringing, pained David and shut off the mental channel personally. He knew the Destroyer could probably use such an open channel to torment David as much as it tormented him.
He managed to get his footing back to normal, "I-I am so, so sorry...that...I don't know how it crept up on me like that. I-I swear, I will be more vigilant, I will not tire, I will not let it get such a foothold!" It looked like Terry was almost ready to cry. This was the most painful experience he had ever had with The Destroyer, and it almost got out near his friends, too.
How do I live with such a thing in my head? What is it? Its...Its definitely not just a split personality.
However, before he did shut off the channel, the Destroyer got one last bit of a message in to David, garbled english mixed with Latin;
I send a pestilence and plague,
Into your house, into your bed,
Into your streams, into your streets ...
edited 29th Aug '13 8:22:28 PM by NickTheSwing
David looked at Terry, eyes wide and terrified. After taking a few deep breaths, he calmed down and was able to think again.
"You shouldn't have to deal with that by yourself," he said. "That sort of thing can... Well, destroy you, if you're on your own. I haven't felt such intense pain since..." And that's when he realized. The only time he'd ever felt such intense pain was when he had touched...
"Listen, Terry," he said, absentmindedly tugging at one of the fingers on his right glove. "If you ever feel like this is too much for you, like you can't take it anymore... I have something that might help. Maybe. I haven't purposely tried it yet, but you know..."
He looked up at his friend, secretly already knowing the answer.
i think i mostly want to see what happens when this whole place breaks apartDavid nodded, and continued pulling on the fingers of his glove as he explained, "When the Icon of Mind gave me my powers, it taught me about something... Well, something rather odd." He began to slowly pull the glove off his hand. "It taught me how to make a Psychic Link. I'll be able to hear your thoughts, and feel your emotions, and vice versa, no matter where we are. We can share our pain."
The glove slipped off his hand cleanly as he held it out. "It'll be easier to deal with if you have someone to share it with," he continued. "But it's still okay if you don't want to. It's a pretty big decision..."
edited 30th Aug '13 2:05:31 PM by Brahian1
i think i mostly want to see what happens when this whole place breaks apartDr. Mansart watched the whole scene silently and analytically, like a scientist looking through a microscope. Terry was much worse than anyone had thought, and that could lead to some serious problems. The thought occurred to the jaded doctor that such a Herald was a liability; he was a rabid dog, ready to bite anyone who came too close. Friends, foes, civilians, everyone was at risk with this abominable Hyde. How could someone like that be responsible for the world's safety? Perhaps it might be best for everyone if Terry just...
No! What was he thinking? Now was not the time to consider something so Machiavellian. Things were still in their larval stage. Maybe this dilemna would resolve itself. Maybe the doctor would have to act at some time. The pit in his stomach told Mansart the latter was more likely, but for the sake of this fledgeling alliance, he would not act today.
"Come." Dr. Mansart calmly spoke. "Bring him inside. We can't risk an outbreak with civilians in sight. At least in the warehouse, we can contain him if need be."
"I-I cannot accept that, David." It was better that he suffer alone than subject anyone else to the horrors afflicted by The Destroyer. He looked over at Mansart before staring down at the ground. He knew he was dangerous. He read enough comics to know where a guy like him went.
As he walked off for the warehouse, not knowing the secret intentions of his ally, he looked back at David, tears in his eyes, "...I cannot inflict The Destroyer on my friend. You don't know what he shows me. What he says. I must deal with this. I must be vigilant and guard against the Destroyer."
That altruism will be the death of you, boy.
He did not wince that time, as painful as the messages were, nothing compared to that horrible attempt at seizing control. It looked like Terry was back at full working capacity, no longer seeming tired. Perhaps the entire tiredness was the work of the fiendish Hyde dwelling inside him?
David sighed as he slipped his glove back on. "Okay," he said. "I... I understand." He looked away from his friend, fighting back his own tears.
Nobody should have to go through that alone, he thought to himself, recalling how painful it had been. But deep down, he'd secretly hoped that Terry would refuse. Terry could barely keep himself together with that thing inside him, and David was unsure he could do the same.
"Okay," he said, "Let's get into that warehouse, then."
i think i mostly want to see what happens when this whole place breaks apartTerry had to wonder, did the Destroyer bug out over him wearing David's form? Or was there more to it? Usually, the thing offered to kill people who displeased him, or seemed corrupt, but acting within the realm of the law.
Let The Destroyer kill that which Terry Bramford cannot be seen killing. That was its offer. Well, when it wasn't tormenting him in his waking hours and his dreams.
Maybe it could somehow tell someone Terry didn't like or could not act against in good conscience was in town. Such was probably within its power to know. Whatever it wanted, he could not let it out for any reason. Anything it offered was whispered on a forked tongue. It was surely a devil or demon of some kind.
He wiped away his tears, and asked David in a serious tone, "Do you think it might be a demon inside me...a literal demon?"
edited 29th Aug '13 10:50:50 PM by NickTheSwing
Emily pondered over the worrying display. What was the Destroyer? She doubted it was a demon. (Even if it was, Clyde probably had the warehouse covered in Devil's Traps and salt circles, so they'd find out as soon as they walked in.) Whatever it was, it was trying to escape from inside Terry's body- what if it really was a part of Terry's personality? What were implications?
She stayed silent. Only time would tell the best course of action.
edited 29th Aug '13 11:00:15 PM by Xenonz

Emily twiddled her thumbs, pretending there was nothing odd about Terry's or Mansart's comments. In truth, Terry's behavior was growing more erratic, and though it wasn't the first split personality she'd seen, (Her intern's, Jerry's, demonic tendencies often led to such) It was still concerning.
She was a little worried about how Clyde would react to him. Hopefully he wouldn't douse the poor boy in holy water.
"Should have taken some Tums." She shook her head, "It should keep away that internal enemy of yours."
edited 20th Aug '13 9:32:51 PM by xenonz