The Good, The Bad, And The Spandex III: Electric Boogaloo

"Excellent!" Sparrow beamed and bounced a little in place. This is going much better than I anticipated! I've already killed two birds with one stone, so to speak.

She chortled out loud at her unspoken little joke before responding to the lady's bike comments with, "Me neither. Oddity seems to be the norm here after all!"

Her gaze grew pensive for a while when the lady mentioned her name, "Beatrix..." before she perked up and announced, "Sparrow thinks Trix would be a fun nickname to work with instead!"

Then she drew her attention to the large hole in Trix's abdomen. She nodded in agreement and appended, "One can imagine a gaping blast like that to the stomach wouldn't be conducive to your line of work in the long run..."

Guffaws racked her body before suddenly ceasing to slap her cheeks in realization after Trix asked for a business card. "Good idea! There's a few left in the case downstairs, if memory serves correctly...Just because they comb the place for questionable activities doesn't mean this old bird was stopped from advertising it! Gotta do what you can to rake in the cash, you know?"

With a wicked smile, she spun around and ran over to where she had previously scaled the wall. It didn't take long after climbing down when her head popped up again with a card [1]◊ stuck in her mouth. She took out the card and flicked it so it landed perfectly at Trix's feet.

"Here you go! Gotta run as well so just use the phrase in the quotes in any online conversation and you'll be contacted soon!"

Her head disappeared followed by a solid smash of concrete; she had jumped down to land in the alleyway below. She paused to dust herself off then she jogged off silently into the plaza until she was by Ryan's side. Then she simply quipped this friendly line with a crooked grin.

"Is there anything this little Sparrow can do to assist you folks?"

Edited by ayamketimun on Mar 19th 2019 at 6:47:47 AM

Ethan Cox – Brew House Coffee

“Actually it's Ethan, not Grant,” he very quickly corrected, before turning to face the bunny girl with a blank expression as her words went through his ears and right out to the other side again. “Riiight. A Digimon who warps reality because you like skating. Cool. Cool cool cool.”

He discreetly leaned back in his seat to mouth ‘what the #$&% is she talking about’ to Estelle before clearing his throat and leaning back forward again.

“Well, I'm Ethan Cox, I have no codename, I'm a grant writer, and I think I'm actually the most boring human being on the planet. So that all said and done, hi for real and avoid those #$&%ing pastries like the plague because I swear to god they're lightly marinated in a natural laxative.”

He paused with a sudden frown, before looking down at his beverage in confusion.

“The #$&% was in that coffee?”

Blüdlass – Easton City Rooftops

“Alright then... see ya, I guess...”

The mercenary now apparently dubbed ‘Trix’ blinked after the weird... whatever she was, glanced down at her card, then sighed and pocketed it as she let out a shrill whistle. The characteristic roar of her motorcycle sputtered to life, and promptly burst out of the pile of rubble from its entrance—its scattered remains having mysteriously vanished in the meantime.

Beatrix allowed herself a half-smile as she settled onto the seat, and revved it gently off the building. And down the building. And then back on the ground. She wanted to take it slow. Not just because her guts were barely holding themselves into place, but also because she felt the need to relax. A nice bath sounded appealing right about now. Granted she'd need to wrap up her wound first.

As goddamn 90s as she was, she didn't bathe in blood. That was just weird.

Tyulla – Town Hall

“Are you hurt?”

The Primordial immediately made a beeline for Mason as he walked in, concern laced in her tone. Barring the odd potshot at the stray Nazi who got too close, she'd largely kept out of it. Mainly because it was crowded at the time and she didn't want to render the ceremony completely unsalvageable by vaporizing the entire city block by accident. Though that effort seemed to be in vain anyway.

“Need healer? Is there a healer? I can't. Can blow up planets, can't heal an arm,” she murmured, carefully inspecting the appendage before glancing up at him and tilting her head to one side. “Want me to take you to the hospital? I'll be quick.”

Edited by Enirboreh on Mar 19th 2019 at 1:49:53 PM

Brew House Coffee - Estelle

While taking a sip, she snorted at the rather droll description Ethan provided, causing a splash of hot coffee onto her dark jeans. "Ah—! Ah— hot." She quickly began patting the spot on her thigh with cheap brown paper napkins, a mixture of chuckling and pained hissing. She sucked off a bit of foam that got on her wrist once finished patting down, mouthing 'No idea' in response.

"But hey, least I get to feature something new on my blog— this Koda." She wadded up the used napkins and place them to the side. "Ooh, I get a LAST name too. What's the occasion?" Settling back in her seat once again, offering out her name in response. "Estelle Charleston. I'm a very tired, underpaid student with a recently afflicted burn." She gave Ethan another glance up and down, scrunching her face and squinting.

"Hm. I mean, I wouldn't say boring. I'd say, vanilla. Which, is the best. No, that's a lie." She corrected herself "French Vanilla. Yep. But, yeah. Hi for real, I guess. I don't know how long it's been I've seen you in and out and never actually just threw an introduction your way. I'm glad our general complaining brought this together."

Turning her attention to Koda, gesturing "And you— I don't know about you, as I've literally never seen you here before. I would, HOPE I would notice but don't blame me if I haven't. I don't know where I am half the time, and hate being wherever it is the other half." She yawned again, before pausing and looking down suspiciously looking at the banana bread she had purchased earlier, slowly pushing it further away as she was suddenly no longer hungry for it. "I don't go out much, as I would probably suggest some place else to eat."

Mason

"I'm fine, I'm fine, it's not the first time I cracked a limb." He grinned a little painful grin down at hisnew friend and held up his good hand. He reached down and pulled the switch on his driver to the off position, where his armor vanished into fragments of light and showed off his lab coat, cut and torn in places where the armor had been torn into. He looked down at her with another smile on his face and stood up a little bit straighter.

"How about you?" He asked as he looked around. "Everything okay here? How's the Alien Girl, the other, alien girl I mean, and you?"

Edited by MichaelDj54 on Mar 20th 2019 at 5:21:42 AM

Koda Carter-Ridgecrest—Brew Coffee House

"Sorry, it's a James Bond reference," Koda apologized, looking like a deer in the headlights. "Did I do it right? Pretty sure I did it right..."

"I was looking for a place to drink coffee, because I wanted coffee. This place was close by, so I stepped in," she explained.

Ethan Cox – Cough Brew Housery

“Dude, complaining is the best. And I'm not French. So I'm just boring vanilla.”

He looked at Koda weirdly. “I mean, that's what you do when you want coffee. You don't walk into a pizza place, I mean. Wait, do you? Have I been doing that wrong?”

He snapped his attention over to Estelle in an instant (what a weird name) and practically shoved past Koda to lean over and shout in her ear.

“Wait, what's pizza coffee like?!”

He paused.

“If it exists.”

Tyulla – Town Hall

“I'm fine. I think everyone else is too. Don't know where alien girl has gone. I was watching the fight,” she shrugged—glancing over his battered form for a moment before refocusing on his eyes. Apparently it was weird to do that. She didn't get that.

“I've never ‘fractured’ an arm. Is that when you bend it like this and it makes that cracking noise?” she asked, proceeding to grab at her own arm and twisting it at a 90° angle. It sagged slightly, before slowly beginning to remold itself back into its original position. “Because your arm doesn't look bent. It looks... swollen?” she queried—gesturing with her hands to make a point before moving in closer and looking up at him curiously.

“Can I poke it?”

Tamamo-no-Mae – The Suburbs

One might've thought it was a bit early for a rave, but there was still a house trembling and sending out flashes of light from its windows. Perhaps the telling sign that something wasn't right was that there was a distinct lack of variety in the colouration of these flashes. It was exclusively a sickly, vibrant green.

It was also rather early for all the curtains to be drawn.

But hey, at least the owner of the house looked alright. A middle aged woman with mousey brown hair and smile lines, Mrs. Lawrence was well known in the neighbourhood for being a kind and considerate individual. Which was why the distinct lack of expression on her face was a far cry from what would be expected from her.

She closed the door behind her, and stiffly walked down the path to the street. Mrs. Lawrence almost never took the sidewalk to her left, and neither did most of her neighbours. There was a little byway off to the right of her abode that was tucked between a couple of houses. A much quicker route to where she would usually be headed on her routine. But Mrs. Lawrence didn't seem to be acting on her routine.

She went left, and took the long way.

Whenever Mrs. Lawrence left, it was known that her dog would go wild, and her daughter would let it out into the garden and proceed to forget about it until lunchtime. The dog was silent, and no daughter opened the door.

The first concerned neighbour to sense something was up went over there in an instant, screamed, and ran back out again.

The emergency services arrived soon after.

Burn scars. Lacerations to the chest, neck, and head. Gouges in the abdomen of the older man. The daughter was nowhere to be found. The older son was strung up on the ceiling; hanging by his shoulders. The dog simply had a clean sever to its upper spinal column. A violent, yet swift and clean snap to the neck. Painless.

But that was of no concern. Questioning soon came afterward. Asking if the neighbours had truly seen Mrs. Lawrence go out, and not her daughter. The latter was the one that was missing, after all. And—according to the cough medicine by the bed—Mrs. Lawrence seemed to have been sick at the time. It was unlikely that she would have been able to go to work.

That and her body was half hanging out of the bed. Still smoking. Signs of a brief struggle, and bruises about the neck. Most likely having been strangled, then burned.

It didn't add up.

Shortly afterwards, the call for a suspected criminal shapeshifter went out.

Edited by Enirboreh on Mar 20th 2019 at 12:23:37 PM

Brew House Coffee - Estelle

Oh, he was over here now. She gave an amused grin for half a moment, before it too died without any purpose in life. ”Well there’s pizza bowls that are MADE in coffee mugs, so like that’s a type. Then there’s pizza with coffee as an ingredient. And then like, there’s coffee with pictures of pizza done on the foam or something. So there’s a couple of weird options.”

Now that he was closer, the air of being sleep deprived and depression was immense. ”If you’re just regular then you’re still second place, which isn’t half bad.” She gave a small shrug before glancing to Koda once again. ”It’s nothing against you. Just kinda a random, pop up ad of a person. This city is full of colorfully dressed and odd looking people. This is the last place I would’ve thought they’d be— yet here we are.”

She took another deep sip from her cup and stood up, picking up the guitar case and messenger bag style back pack slinging one on each shoulder.

”I’d possibly be happy to stay, but— I’ve got a store to go harass.”Nodding once to Koda, and then to Ethan ”Honored to know your name, finally.” Her tone seemed more sarcastic than it was due to lack of inflection, but regardless she placed another crinkled up five dollar bill on the table. ”Thanks for the warning about the pastries. I’ll have to go starve for a few more hours, though. Hope you get better, Ethan. Though, if you want to complain about something else, can always come with me.”

Around the same time, her phone vibrates twice. She glanced down and checked it, as only one thing had been set to notification. Hm, a shapeshifter? That was, unsettling kind of.

Edited by SmokySmile on Mar 20th 2019 at 9:23:39 AM

Easton

Tonight the streets of Easton wouldn't be safe until Alex finished his job. An underplane beast had come up to Easton, clawing its way out of the depths of the lower planes. No two beast, underplane or overplane, looked exactly the same, but you could definitely tell if something was a planar beast or not.

For instance, the one he was looking at almost resembled a centipede, if a centipede was also a canine-like creature the size of a small car and was pale white and vaguely transparent. The beasts that came from planes close to the material plane generally resembled each other vaguely, even if the limbs never matched up. It was only on the really high or really low planes that they started getting huge and really unique looking. The close planes were sparsely populated - you could spend a month in there without seeing something move - and the beasts that did live there weren't as dangerous, but sometimes planar beasts, even the far ones, surfaced in the material realm, seeking to feed on magic users or suck the energy out of innocent people.

The beast right now was feasting on some poor soul behind some buildings. The now dead victim seemed to have turned an almost inhuman pale white. Alex was quietly observing from around the corner, almost admiring its features. He believed the planar beasts were fascinating things, it just happened to be that some of them went 'feral', and then he had to put them down. Alex wiggled his fingers, a small flame alighting. This one looked a bit tougher; he'd want to surprise it, preferably with an explosive fireball.

Suddenly the beast raised its eyeless head and abruptly flickered out of existence. Alex cursed quietly. The planar beasts, unlike humans, were naturally proficient in planar magic, able to pass between planes with barely any effort. In contrast, humans found it easy on the closer planes, but it gradually got more difficult and dangerous the farther from the material plane. Alex knew that the beast had probably caught scent of his magic. Weaker planar beasts tended to use the planes to hunt humans, phasing in and out to ambush.

Without warning the beast reappeared only a few feet from Alex in the middle of a charge. Its head impacted with Alex's chest, sending him flying back. Of course, he didn't exactly feel pain, so he got up in an instant, readying a fireball. The beast had turned around, getting ready to charge again. As it came closer, Alex jumped over it, dropping the fireball straight down onto its back. It hissed angrily, the outer skin melting to reveal an almost liquid, white interior.

This time, the beast flickered in and out of existence. Suddenly it was to Alex's right, then his left, then his right again, his left -

Alex rolled to the left, the beast's open jaws barely clipping Alex's foot. Apparently this angered the beast, as it stopped, jaws open and releasing a deep growling noise, and -

Alex could feel the planar magic energy radiating off of it. He could guess what is was about to do. Most likely it was going to temporarily merge the area, causing the nearest plane to violently collide with it. This was both incredibly disorienting and, in some cases, could lead to strange things, like bruising of internal organs, deafening of the ears, temporary blindness, or, in the larger beasts, they could even use it to rip people apart by shoving parts of their body into the other plane while they were separating.

Alex had to act fast. He heated his right hand, placing it on the ground. He willed it to heat faster, and then picked up a nearby rock. The rock flashed, letting out fire energy. Alex aimed, threw it, and -

It landed right in the beast's mouth. It suddenly stopped, the aura of planar energy dissipating, and hissed angrily, a hiss that quickly dissolved into a sort of bubbling rage. Then the rock exploded, blowing off the beast's jaw. It sunk to the ground, defeated.

As its body began fading, turning into planar energy, Alex wiped his hands together. For the first time in the past hour or so he'd been tracking the beast, he spoke. "I need a fuckin' drink." So he found himself in the nearest bar, drinking some crappy beer, wishing Percy paid him more for this crap.

Ethan Cox – Brew House Coffee

“Yeeeaaahhh. I think I'll have to–”

He was interrupted by his phone dinging. How convenient, they both got distracted by technology about the same time. A snide comment regarding this died on his lips as he saw the message, however, and he clicked his tongue—falling into line with Estelle and shoving his hands into his pockets.

“Eh, why not. Got nothin' better to do. Crap, I shouldn't have been talking about that coffee pizza junk if you're hungry. Which speaking of you know a scary amount about,” he commented idly—noting a flash in the headlines as they passed by a shop window and briefly checking his phone again. Huh. Mass murder in a family home.

Lovely. Get that appetite worked up.

“So uh... where you thinkin'? 'Cause uh... I dunno. Don't think you'd deserve any of that junk crap. 'S why I spared you from those s*** pastries. Maybe it's the hair. I do like the hair,” he remarked—glancing at her for a moment before raking his fingers through his own unkempt mop. “That what people do now? I might dye mine. Green an' pink,  whaddya say?”

Blüdlass – Cheap-Ass Pub

It seemed to be timed perfectly with Alex's next swig when the nearby wall busted in, immediately followed by a squealing abomination of a creature being ridden into the building by an unnaturally pale looking woman who seemed to be covered in burning red sigils from head to toe. And screaming inarticulate profanities at the thing as she peppered its flailing form mercilessly with explosive bullets.

“I WAS TAKING A #$&%ING BATH YOU BIIIIIITCH!” she roared—only to abruptly fall silent once the fleshy beast's head finally exploded under her guns. Clearing her throat, she picked it up by the arm and tossed it back through the hole she had made—dusting herself off as her Blüdraige faded away and plonking herself down in the seat next to her fellow hunter.

“'Sup. #$&%ing breezy in here, I dunno why...” she commented in a droll tone, before tapping on the bar impatiently and waving to the bartender once she'd gotten their attention. “Yo, I'll have the same as this twat. It looks crap an' I want something crappy to swear at. #$&%ing interrupted my bath...” she murmured as if she hadn't just screamed it out for the whole establishment to hear, glancing back from the lack of wall from whence she came and shaking her head. “Goddamn #$&%ing perverted demon #$&%wads. Jesus.”

At least her earlier wound had been cleaned. That and it'd clotted already. It was still annoying, though. She probably shouldn't have bothered with setting up all the scented candles. Or plastic candles, technically. Close enough. Same effect, just had the bonus of not making her choke. But nope, a mid-tier demon just had to tackle her out of it. Which wasn't something she took lightly, considering she was well into the city by now.

Actually, she had no bloody clue where she even was.

“Yo, guy. Did ya see that weird-ass centipede thing out there or were I just trippin'? I dunno, I blacked out there for a sec. Sue me.”

Edited by Enirboreh on Mar 20th 2019 at 2:42:05 PM

Brawl at the Ceremony

Jumping Bean's flaming attack stopped the "tar" from approaching, but then it started circling around the position of her and her friends in an increasingly odd array, prongs rising up from the Earth. As the fighting started to reach a fever pitch there and in the sky, it seemed the prongs in the earth grew sharper still....

...And then each of them suddenly shot forth dark red lightning at Jumping Bean.

The "tar" formed together into the red and black ink form of Myrkaan the Darklord, the demon slowly emerging from the Earth after launching his attack.

Ryan Brady

Ryan was just about ready to go running off to fight the titanic demon when he saw Sparrow form right up next to him - and he promptly accidentally fired off an explosion in shock off to the side - away from this person. "W-Woah woah woah...don't just go up outta nowhere."

He breathed and looked around. There was still the issue of whoever took that shot earlier, and he doubted it was the demon.

"Can you uhh...help out with whoever the fuck was sniping at my friends and I?"

Jumping Bean—Chaos Commences

Jumping Bean slapped the red lightning aside with stiffening and soring hands, breathed deeply once, twice, and looked down at her shaky hands. She harrumphed and drew her sword, which immediately began shining with holy light given Myrkaan's presence.

She surged forward to try and plunge it into Myrkaan's chest.

Koda Carter-Ridgecrest—Brew Coffee House

"Shoot, trouble," Koda noted, finished the last of her coffee, and stood up. "Sorry, duty calls. I gotta go check those murders out. Take care!"

She walked out the door and streaked off on her skates.

Edited by JumpingFruit on Mar 20th 2019 at 9:59:18 AM

Bar

Alex didn't exactly flinch, but he did stand up quickly (not letting go of his drink) when the woman and the.... creature burst through the wall. Despite his speed getting up, he didn't move to help, and he took his seat again once the woman killed the thing.

He didn't so much as look over to her when she say down next to him, at least not until she mentioned how crappy his drink was. Then he muttered under his breath, "It really is crap." Then he went silent again until she spoke directly to him, inquiring as to what seemed to be the planar beast Alex had killed earlier.

"Extraplanar beast," he said matter-of-factly. His voice was a bit raspy, like sandpaper. "Nasty thing. Tried to eat me. My job is hunting them. You look like a hunter." He dipped his head slightly. "I don't get to see many other hunters often. Drink on me?" He gestured towards the bartender, mouthing 'it's on me' to him. "It's more of the 'crap' beer. So, what was that?" He leaned backward lightly, eyeing her up and down in a neutral fashion. "I've seen a lot of shit, but not many things like that." He eyed her again. She didn't seem to be undead, nor had she actively used magic as her weapon. "You may be a hunter, but I can tell you're not in my industry," he said, giving her a lopsided grin. He supposed it was possible that Percy and the Thanatologists used some living agents. He knew that not all Thane agents hunted extraplanar beasts; some hunted other kinds of monster. Still, she didn't seem the type the Thanes would go for.

Sparrow raised her hands and chuckled apologetically when Ryan blasted away from her in surprise. "Looks like this kindly bird might need a louder approach with you in the future, eh?"

She waited patiently for him to speak and her eyes brightened at his request. "Actually, I did! Well, sorta...that big light in the sky sure spooked him!"

With a short fake pout at that inconvenience, she continued, "Plus there was an...unexpected development that really made him run for it but," she really grinned in triumph at her next statement, "it made it just distracting enough to make a way to keep an eye on him without notice for a good long while~"

Her expression shifted into a look of devilishly proud satisfaction...Then she snapped back into her playful attitude. "No time to worry about that now. What matters is that the bugs got the message to you in time and the citizens are safe—"

Oh...shoot. That does not feel good...Is that intense rage coming from...?

Sure enough, she turned her gaze to the plaza where a rather demonic figure had just emerged from the ground.

"Heh. Should've figured there was more coming...hey, handsome!"

She raised her eyebrow at Ryan and nodded towards the menacing shadowy figure with a slight smirk.

"How about we fight that first and ask questions later?"

Blüdlass – Cheap-Ass Pub

“Eh. Merc, hunter—same difference. I'm a gun for hire, but I'm vague about it. Like that guy I just shot. He hired my gun to his face when he decided to tackle me out the #$&%ing bath.”

She stretched a little on the seat, before crossing her ankle over her knee and jutting a thumb over her shoulder. “An' big pink 'n' ugly-as-balls was a demon. Or a lesser demon. I dunno, I ain't been in the Abyss all too much. They're kinda like cannon fodder for the bigger guys. Like munchkins. I mean dwarves. I mean—#$&%—I mean like gremlins. I think. The #$&% am I saying? I dunno.”

She practically slammed the bar into the floor with the force she clapped her hands onto it once her drink arrived, and managed to gulp the entire thing down in one go—shuddering a little as the poorly mixed alcohol hit her system.

“Okay—#$&% that's crap—I think I'm good. Ugh. Anyway, yeah. I'm a merc. Kill demons on the side. Kinda like killing unwanted relatives, really, but whatever. So them extraplanar whatsits, they been around long? 'Cause that demon thing just came outta #$&%ing nowhere, an' I wanna know if there's a connection. Like... the screen door of the multiverse got a cat stuck on it or somethin'? Help me out here. I ain't good with talking.”

The Suburbs

The investigation team were well underway, it looked like. All but one of the ambulances had left by now, and some of the officers had ended their shifts, but there was still a substantial amount. A little too much even for a mass murder. Though it was Easton. The police department knew to send cars in excess now—especially for an unknown super.

The bodies were laid out on stretchers now, waiting to be transported. A detective was taking notes on them off to the side, peering down at their grievous and clearly unnatural injuries and sighing to himself with each new discovery. Supers made his job that much harder, since they rarely ran on any sort of conventional logic. Or their powers, rather. Even the most predictable of villains could be a pain in the ass to figure out simply because his powers were too weird to form any conclusions. Thankfully, it was relatively straightforward here—animalistic claw marks, the odd burn scar, and signs of corrosion. It was how they correlated with each other that was the problem.

And that was assuming the culprit was a super. Heck, it could've just been your average joe with a #$&%ton of spare time. Just another plausibility to add onto the endless list.

Edited by Enirboreh on Mar 21st 2019 at 10:47:45 AM

Cheap Ass Pub

Alex chuckled slightly at the woman's energy. She certainly seemed... rambunctious. Besides that, Alex had heard of demons before, just never dealt with one personally. The Thanatologists worked to hunt all sorts of things, it just happened that Alex's division was extraplanar beasts.

"I'm pretty sure plane beasts have been around forever," Alex said, taking a swig of his beer. "Do you, uhh, have the time for a bit of an explanation slash info dump?" He continued without waiting for an answer.

"I've heard of demons, and angels or whatever (not as educated on what's opposite of demons), and from what I know they tend to be a more common threat. How I like to think of it is, the demons are 'south' of this world and 'angels' are 'north'. The planes, though, are more like east and west. I like to call the eastern beasts the high beasts and the western ones the low beasts. The closer planes are sparsely populated and only home to the weaker beasts, while the farther from the material plane you go, the more alien it becomes, not to mention more populated with stronger, more bizarre beasts. Plane beasts are 'born' or whatever with a natural proficiency in planar magic, which is pretty dangerous for us humans to use. They generally stick to themselves, but some of them surface on the material plane to hunt humans, especially magic users. Even rarer, sometimes the deep or high ones come to the material plane. I met one which was -" his thoughts briefly went to Thomas, and his face flickered noticeably "- pretty fuckin' huge. And powerful. Don't really like dealing with 'em."

"Anyway," Alex said, smiling sleazily, "That's what's up with that. Don't think anything too weird is going on with 'em. What about demons, huh? What they like?"

Blüdlass – Cheap-Ass Pub

“Okay, I'll be honest and say I only caught half of that,” Beatrix bluntly remarked, shaking herself back into awareness and wiping away the slight drool that had formed on the corner of her mouth in the middle of his explanation. “So, dimensional s*** that leaks the closer it is to this ‘plane.’ Got it. Well, like I said I ain't been in the Abyss all too often—but I've taken down a couple big guys before. An' they talk a lot. So all the crap I know about this weird hierarchy s*** is from them yammerin' on about their positions or whatever. So this is reliant on my own s*** memory. Just so we're clear.”

She took a moment to swig down the last dregs from her empty beer jug, then shifted in her seat to face him properly as she leaned one elbow on the counter.

“Now from what I got, there's like these Lords of Hell. Seven Princes are the big big boys, and the Lesser Six are the weaker guys of the bunch. I haven't fought any of 'em, but they're pretty #$&%ing cool. The ones I've been up against are the self-proclaimed Lords. They're powerful too, but they're kinda doing their own thing. Claiming uninhabited regions for themselves an' that kinda s***. That's where the little guys come in, usually. They're like drones. Little mindless minions. I thought they were kinda cute but now they're just really #$&%ing annoying. An' yeah, that was what the guy I rode in on was. Just a scamp. But it probably means there's a Lord who's pissy. Trying to take over the world or some s***? I don't #$&%ing know.”

She shrugged her shoulders lightly as she tapped the bar again, nodding meaningfully to her empty glass and pushing it over to the bartender in silent request. As he went to the back, she winked at Alex.

“That one's on me. I ain't having you pay for all my s***. But yeah. Doin' my part. Hey, maybe we should cover each other's asses or somethin'. Not every day you get a dual invasion. I mean, it's #$&%ing Easton—but even then it's like one bad guy at a time. This could get pretty wild, so whaddya say?”

She abruptly stuck out her hand, quirking an eyebrow as she looked at him.

“Two badasses, back to back? I mean, s***—got nothin' much else to do.”

Edited by Enirboreh on Mar 21st 2019 at 6:29:26 PM

Koda Carter-Ridgecrest—Rabbit Hunts Fox

As Koda arrived on the scene, she pretended to be a random super passerby who just came over to gawk at the corpses. Yeesh—they were definitely roughed up badly!

Her visor scanned the crime scene—and green paw marks materialized out of pixels. As soon as she got near them, they disappeared and reappeared some ways ahead. Koda received a ping from her Quest Log. It read:

Koda snorted and punched the Y. As if, as a hero, she had any right to protest what she had to do. Everything was scripted in the Game, always. She continued following the green pawprint tracks on her skates.

The Burbs - Fox Hunt

Truth be told, Charlie wasn't one to risk his skin hunting people down, especially other villains. Some villains got their kicks murdering people, and that was terrible, but it also wasn't any of his business. So when he'd read about some psycho murdering a suburban family, his natural response was, like most people, to ignore it because it wasn't about him.

Then the call went out to be on guard for shapeshifters, and it suddenly became his business. If the cops and heroes were extra jumpy around 'shifters, it would make his job that much harder. Whoever this was had done sloppy work, and now Apex was going to have to fix the situation.

This was why he found himself near the crime scene, bumming around as though he lived in the area and pretending to be surprised as he walked past a cordoned-off house of murder. However, he'd enhanced his nose, strengthening his olfactory cells far beyond the capabilities of any animal on Earth, and now focused in on the scent of the person who had done this.

Fox. And it smells familiar. Weird. Mentally shrugging to himself, he continued walking, following the scent trail. Doesn't matter. No amount of shapeshifting's gonna save you now.

Cheap Ass Pub

"Two badasses, back to back," Alex mused. "Well, I don't know if the plane beasts are really invading, per se, but they are getting pretty rowdy recently." He extended his hand, shaking the woman's. "Deal. Hunter to hunter, I got you." He paused for a second. "I didn't catch your name. I'm Alex. Nice to meet."

He turned back to his drink, frowning slightly at a memory surfacing. Thomas. Alex had been working solo ever since Thomas died. He wasn't sure how he felt about working with someone again, no matter on what scale the work was, and especially in this type of work. On the other hand, it was much easier to kill things when there was two of you. Besides, he didn't really have much to lose.

"Tell you what, I know how dangerous it can be in our line of work. Call this number -" he offered a business card that said Persephone Crane and next to it Alex Becker "- and you should be able to get to me. The other number is my boss, she's a necromancer," he stated matter-of-factly. "She knows which hunters are where, so she could probably help you out in a pinch, in exchange for stuff."

Blüdlass – Cheap-Ass Pub

“Cool. Another business card. Neato,” she replied in a somewhat sarcastic tone, taking the thing between her fingers and nonchalantly stuffing it in her pocket with her other one. “Yeah, I'll keep that in mind. An' just call me Beatrix. Apparently 'Trix is another favourite. No idea about that one,” she shrugged. “Ignore the bozos and the media who call me Blüdlass. That's... no idea either. I totally hate it. Don't endorse it whatsoever. No siree.”

Amongst other things, it seemed she was awful at lying.

“As long as that ‘stuff’ ain't select internal organs I'm on board. I know how this kinda underground s*** can go. Especially if this chick's a necromancer like you say. Which honestly sounds pretty #$&%ing awesome so I wouldn't be that mad anyway.”

Her second drink slid back over to her, and she again guzzled it down all at once—wiping her mouth with the back of her hand and nodding firmly at her fellow hunter.

“Well, I've gone from being pissed off to getting a new drinking buddy. And gunfighting buddy. Jeez, I should get tackled outta baths more often. An' I only had two beers. I'm like a changed #$&%ing woman,” she grinned humorously, giving him a mock salute as she slid her half of the pay across the counter. “Well, if there ain't nothin' else? Unless you wanna hang some more? I got time. It's only...” she paused, checking her watch and gaining a blank expression. “...god-knows o' clock.”

Easton's timezone was weird.

Tamamo-no-Mae – Out Of The 'Burbs And Into The City

Sniff. Sniff. The followed soon picked up on its pursuers, gaining weird looks in the process. Already they'd switched forms; now in the guise of a young woman with a large brimmed hat and a pair of rosy sunglasses. Stopping at a nearby crossing, they brought out a cellphone from their bag and lifted it to their ear—seeming to be reacting to rather distressing news as she took a meaningful glance to her right from whence she had come.

Yes. She was definitely being followed. She could smell them.

Perhaps she could negotiate. She didn't like stalkers, and there were too many unknown variables for her to just kill them. At least she had an excuse with the house. Small space and a need for no witnesses. She could blame the disoriented haze of rebirth most definitely. Her motor functions were a little askew. Downsides of an only mostly compatible body.

She crossed the walk in a hurry, shifting her expression into one more distressed as she kept up the act of someone under a sudden time pressure. As she settled into the opposing sidewalk, she noticed some of the pedestrians waving over moving machines—and upon seeing them get in a drive off, quickly mimicked them. She cooed in interest as one pulled up at her gesture, and ran her fingers across its interior. Multiple synthetic materials, fused together by methods she didn't recognize. How interesting.

“Where to, ma'am?”

Erk. Those were noises. She could somewhat understand it, but only due to her nature and her rampant exposure to it before she'd claimed this new body. The screaming was universal, she definitely knew that now. Perhaps she could compromise. By the driver's expectant look, he probably wanted a destination. But just in case...

“Nihongo hanasemasu ka?”

“What?”

Nope. Apparently not. Weird language it was.

“Forest... Hospital,” she tested, not even sure if it was a real place. He blinked, and clicked his tongue as he sat back forward in his seat.

“You mean Forest Hill?”

“Hai– er, yes,” she amended after a slight falter, biting back her instinctual reply and inwardly berating herself for such a basic oversight and subsequent slip-up. At least they were moving now. Albeit slowly. There were a lot of machines in this particular road. And she could almost hear the distant footsteps approaching.

Wait, were there two after her?

She gritted her teeth as her form tensed. She couldn't get out now, she'd be in plain sight. And she'd rather be in a place more private if they were going to talk to her. Or attack her. Either was possible.

She'd play the victim. Yes. Lure them to a more secluded place. Being out in the open was never a good thing. Especially in a new environment.

Now, hopefully they wouldn't immediately kill her.

Edited by Enirboreh on Mar 21st 2019 at 11:57:43 AM

Koda Carter-Ridgecrest—Rabbit Hunts Fox

There was a muffled thump as the green pawprints stamped themselves on the taxi's trunk. If one peeked behind them, one could see a faint trace of them, alongside a bunny-hoodie'd, green-haired girl skidding to a halt on her skates before executing some moves straight out of the Matrix to lightly vault onto the rooftops.

If one looked up, the girl's skates trailed a pink tail of pixels behind them, and she had an uncommonly fierce and determined expression on her face—out of place for a girl wearing a bunny outfit, of all things.

Koda would attempt to (ahem) tail the taxi to its destination.

Brawl At Commencement

Myrkaan - as quickly as he moved upward and presented himself, promptly turned back into a large amount of viscous ink on the ground, flowing quickly across it to dodge the attack.

The ink then formed behind her and fully formed into the stone and ink golem form last used by the Demon during his attack on Mikael. He then slammed his arm into the ground, which seemed to directly enter the ground rather than break on contact.

The ground began coursing with red and black ink and gigantic earthen pillars began erupting from the ground erratically.

In the skies above, Jeff was just finishing off the last of the flying Neo-Nazis and he was just about crushed by one of the pillars, only just pulled out of the way in time by Arkhiel. The angel scowled upon seeing the demonic entity and surmised, "...he possesses power over any domain upon which his foul essence doth rest."

Jeff looked at him briefly and burned one of the oncoming earthen spires to dust, "Ohhh..."

Arkhiel smashed right through a sudden lashing ink tentacle that emerged from one of the spires using his holy mace, "Need that simplified?"

Jeff blasted through another, and said, "Nah, I'm good. He possesses stuff and then uses it. Smarter than I seem!"

Ryan meanwhile nodded at Sparrow and clenched his fists, getting ready for the fight again. By now he was charged up and ready to go - he didn't get worn down very long. "Yeah, we gotta...woah...seems the shadowy fucker's restructuring the landscape."

Ryan promptly stepped forward, getting ready to either scale the numerous spires or blast them down.

Coffee Shop

When the man entered, a number of people turned to look. The robes were definitely eyecatching, black and red instead of the brown preferred by the occasional monk that showed up. And the man seemed to be narrowly fixated upon one thing as of now - thankfully, that was acquiring his coffee.

Foucalt Alterius had plans for today, and he was not about to stop and indulge in the minutiae of coffee shop interaction. The villain turned and looked at a gawping couple, and asked in a rather dry tone, "Have you never been taught the common wisdom that it is impolite to stare?"

Due to his tone, his look - a tall, wiry man, receded black hair, high cheekbones, pale, and intense eyes - and his demeanor, it wouldn't be difficult to read that as a threat.

The couple promptly left the shop in a hurry. Foucalt promptly huffed and waited in line.

When he got his time with the barrista, he proceeded to somehow manage to make ordering his drink sound sinister, "...my dear, I would like to acquire the grande half caffeine mint, almond, caramel, and mocha frappuchino, posthaste, a most VITAL experiment hinges upon my COMPLETE state of consciousness. I would like to additionally ask for a teaspoon of the "Americano" to be applied to the drink. Have you...all that down?"

The barrista quickly nodded, and jotted down the supervillain's drink.

"Very good, you do a service to the establishment's repute." He then went to take a seat nearby Estelle and Ethan.

Edited by NickTheSwing on Mar 21st 2019 at 9:46:19 AM

Wuxia Warriors—Chaos Commences

Jumping Bean quickly leapt upon one of the pillars, riding it up, up, up—only managing not to be crushed because of her Light Body Technique. She gracefully flipped over the others still rising and started walking on them, looking for an opening below.

"This isn't so different from training on wooden pillars..." Jumping Bean noted, and in time hurled herself off of her lofty post for a round of fly-by slashes with her glimmering blade.

Alarm bells from Stargazer ripped through her mind once Sparrow saw the shadowy villain morph down into an ink puddle. She clutched her head in pain to help her send a calming presence to Star, seemingly mumbling to herself. "What's going on now...?"

Dozens of images from the rooftop excursion flashed before they slowed down and focused sharply on the pictures on the roof right before Star had pounced on the hit man. It took a minute to make it out the since it was so murky due to the spotlight blinding Star earlier...

Now, if it isn't the shadow man in ink form fleeing the scene! Perhaps he's the one behind all this and if so...it's so risky to use it against him now but...

Her laughter was deep and guttural as she snapped her head up with a most devious grin. She leaned over to Ryan to whisper, "Got a brilliant idea for a distraction," while she walked in a purposeful yet casual manner to one of the nearest pillars.

Part one...execute.

"Oh Shadow Man..." Sparrow called out in the most annoyingly coy tone. "Having a little temper tantrum after your pathetic attempt at arranging a potshot at these marvelous folks got unraveled?"

She clicked her tongue in mocking disapproval and firmly took hold of the pillar with both arms, panting as she struggled to break it off and lift it above her head.

"Maybe...you should...take your...anger out...on THIS!"

With a groan, she launched the pillar like a missile straight in the direction of the demonic spirit.

Cheap Ass Pub

"Well," Alex mused, "Tell you what. I do have another job soon, something about some beastie in the closest forest that's been knocking down trees and killing the animals. A bit bigger than the centipede dog thing from earlier. From what I've heard it is significantly larger. Which inevitably means it's going to be dangerous, plus it might kill someone if we don't kill it ourselves. You look like someone who enjoys a good hunt," he teased. "How about it?"

In fact he had been told to arrive at a specific location by a specific time, but he felt like he could get away with being a little early. He could probably find it himself without any guidance; the big beasts practically radiated a magic aura, so it wasn't too hard to locate one. Even though by fighting one you took the risk of being crippled, eaten, or simply scattered across multiple planes. All relatively minor.

"One more drink, though," Alex added. "So, what's your thing? I mean, you got guns and shit, but like, is there anything that makes you exceptionally well at fighting demons? I personally just shoot fire, heal stuff, and, uhh, travel."