main plot Rivers of Blood

[+Ark1002]

The man walked forward quickly, ripping it out the dark pineapple from its position, throwing it through the window.

He summoned gold from the air, ripping pieces apart, a flurry of motion reshaping the machine before their eyes. One scientist tried to stop him, but one glance from his mismatched eyes froze the woman in her tracks. Then he slammed his starry fist into a red button, and the rift closed. Three seconds later, a new rift opened, but this one was spiraling in a multitude of colors, all through a black that was a color, not an absence. Purple, red, an eerie green. But not the color of the Void. And this new rift, this new Vortex, grew, it was obvious it was a different thing entirely.

As this happened, the blue haze spread out, leaving through the window. It spread out into the nighttime city, blotting out the stars throughout the entire city, and continued spreading. The reddish blob had pulled back into the corner, faces moving quickly.

The man turned to Dark Phoenix, and she unfroze. "What did you do? Who do you think you are?" She stormed up to him, small sparks flying around her. The man's face was cold as he looked towards her. Or she thought it was. Dammit, this strange face is gonna be hard to interpret. She stepped right up to him, looking up. He must have been eight feet or more, his height towering over her by such a large amount.

When he spoke, moments later, it was in a commanding voice, with no room for argument. She felt a strange tug on her emotions, telling her to listen to the man. "Voidus and Sudiov will come to this city, looking for war. Looking to see what happened here." He shook his head, and she found herself captivated by his every act. "We must replicate this experiment somewhere else, a block or two away, so that they find it there." She nodded, and gestured to an awestruck scientist standing there to write this down. He's so smart. So wise. This must be true, if he says so. Then she shook her head, grimacing. He was manipulating her, somehow. She glared at him, but he didn't seem to care. And that voice in her head, saying, if he is, it must be for a good reason. "Then we can continue this. And don't try to stop this machine." He gestured backwards, then walked out in long strides. The blob followed him, for some reason.

 

---

 

The man resisted, but was quickly silenced. They took his corpse a few blocks away and dropped it in the gutter. No one would know. It was not uncommon to find such corpses. E.Z.R.A. 1 grinned. He led the E.Z.R.A. clones. He was the only one who had a full mind, and he had one power of his own. He supervised as soulcasters carved out a giant basement, and put in steel plating, replicating the experiment, dark pineapple at all. They reactivated it, and the rift opened. While they looked, E.Z.R.A. 1 slit their throats, one by one.

No witnesses. He picked up the soulcasters, turning each corpse into air. It was done. He walked away.

 

---

 

A cold voice came from the speaker of his room. "Damon. You have your mission."

A holograph appeared in front of him.

It showed a map of the Alleycity, three-dimensional. It highlighted a Black Crusade building within the city. Then another, lighting all of those within the city up. "Attack these bases, and leave no witnesses. Take their corpses and strew them out in the streets, armor still on them. Make it bloody, if you can." Five ones were turned red. "Ignore these for now. We have them covered." The hologram disappeared, leaving a small paper with the map, now two-dimensional, on it.

@ElendVenture @Grey Knight

 

---

 

The drones alighted on the ship, at last. The blobs began to eat into it, like a super acid. The drones flew away, blowing up in the air. The blobs glowed brighter, eating through the plating at a ridiculous rate.

***

The blue haze had darkened the sky of the Alleycity, and made even the other side of the street near invisible. It was a terrible sight.

***

The man stood there, receiving the information from the TUBA meeting, from the spies in lower alleys they had. The DA was at a giant meeting. This hadn't happened since long, long before the Seven Day War, or even the formation of TUBA and the Ghostbloods. This was dangerous. He would report it to someone higher up.

[Sherlock Holmes he/him]

Tena was reading on the couch, when the sky changed. She grimaced and covered her eyes. Something was wrong... with the air... it was too dark. She stood and walked to the door of her house, peeking outside and seeing the sky. Her eyes hardened and she cocked her head, then she closed the door, panicked. She jogged to her laptop and wrote a quick email to Deteca, taking a picture of the sky with her phone and sending it as well. She sat back on the couch and buried her face in her hands. What it going on? She wished Anthony was here, but he was still at Oasis City, probably. Her baby, Solstice. She stood again and walked upstairs, going to her baby's crib and picking her up, cuddling her close. 

@AonEne @Ark1002

Edited May 9, 2019 by Sherlock Holmes

[AonEne he/him in an enby way]

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I'll catch up with this tomorrow.

 

[Sherlock Holmes he/him]

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Cool. Ark writes long intro posts.

 

[Grey Knight]

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Continuing from where I left off last time...

The door to Azrael’s lift was just closing when an arm blocked the doors. A space marine, wearing azure plate and sporting an augmetic eye, stepped through.

“Apologies,” said Chief Librarian Ezekiel. “It’s good to see you alive, Grand Master.”

Azrael snorted. “You wound me. Crow was pitifully easy to catch. I didn’t even have to call in the Deathwing.”

“A shame foresight is less accurate in this realm,” Ezekiel said, settling in as the doors closed. The elevator shifted, beginning its journey downwards. “And what about Errant?” he continued. “Do we still have him on a leash?”

Azrael sighed. “I’m not sure. He went off on his own during the confrontation, somehow managed to find Crow, and teleported her outside. His madness is getting worse, along with his psychic strength. He thought Crow was Horus, Ezekiel. The Traitor himself.” He shook his head. “He still obeys orders, fortunately. That hasn’t changed.”

“The Librarius will renew our studies of his mind,” Ezekiel said. He coughed, covering up his mouth. “I’m beginning to think his curse is similar to what the Blood Angels’ warriors in black suffer. Silphio-“

“Doesn’t know about the Rage. And our cousin Nassir would like to keep it that way.”

“Bah,” Ezekiel said, another coughing fit interrupting him. “What about these children we’ve adopted? Why they still here, now that we have Crow?”

Because they show promise, Azrael thought. They are potential, my brother. A new future for the First Legion.

But he doesn’t say that aloud. Instead, he says, “Because the girl is still recovering, brother. Honor demands we protect them. As soon as it is safe for her to leave, we’ll be rid of them.”

“Good riddance,” Ezekiel rasped. “I-”

He cut off, coughing again. It didn’t stop this time.

“Brother?” Ezekiel doubled over, stumbling towards the wall. Azrael grabbed him, slipping under his shoulder and keeping his brother from falling. “Ezekiel!”

His brother’s head snapped around and screamed. He pushed Azrael away and screamed, clutching his head with both hands, and fell to his knees, screaming up until the moment when his eye burned with blue light and exploded outward in a shower of blood and ectoplasm.

Ezekiel went limp, falling backwards. He crashed against the floor, ceramite cracking against steel.

The elevator pinged cheerfully as the doors opened.

[+Ark1002]

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That ending is great.

Crow waited, still wearing her armor. But she still had a weapon, one they hadn't thought about.

Two, actually.

[Fatebreaker he/him]

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Quick question, how did he know about the DA meeting?

 

[+Ark1002]

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The fact that all the DA people left the alleys? And it was announced?

 

[Grey Knight]

1 hour ago, Ark1002 said:

Crow waited, still wearing her armor. But she still had a weapon, one they hadn't thought about.

Two, actually.

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Crow is in a lightless cell with no exit, no gravity, and walls made of meters-thick adamantium, by the way. Forgot to mention that in the last thread.

 

Edited May 9, 2019 by Grey Knight

[MacThorstenson he/him]

44 minutes ago, Ark1002 said:

 

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The DA are still in the alleys, and it was only announced in the alleys.

 

[xinoehp512 he/him]

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He could have had a spy there before Voidus did the spy-remover thing.

Deep in the temple of xinoehp512, in the most sacred chamber, a man knelt in prayer. It was a prayer of forgiveness- although not for anything he himself had done. While Rekaerb Seven may be just the same as any other Rekaerb, he had rebelled against the wishes of the group in joining the DA.

Of course, his god did not see it that way. Or so he gathered from the fact that communication between here and the Mountain had gone silent. He'd been here for nearly twenty-four hours straight, now, and so far he hadn't received so much as an impression.

 "Great Xinoehp above," he whispered, "Narrator of Worlds, Avatar of Dreams and of Silence, Firstborn of the Author. On this day, as high priest, I beg you hear my plea..." 

But even as he said the words, he knew it was pointless. If he hadn't gotten an answer by now, he would never get one. If his heartfelt pleas for mercy earlier had produced nothing, the words of supplication he had learned certainly wouldn't be enough. 

And yet, he still prayed, repeating over and over the words he had been taught. He still knelt here in this sacred place, calling out to a god that would not respond. And, even against all reason, he still hoped.

He finished the words of his most recent prayer, the ending rolling off his tongue just the same as the hundreds that had come before. "...in the name of all that is, and all that is not, this is my prayer."

But instead of starting the next prayer, he paused. Something felt... off. His Narrator senses had disappeared when Xinoehp had stopped speaking to him, but now...

Suddenly, one of his clones saw something. Then another did. Then two more. His eyes widened as he saw through a multitude of eyes the blue fog descending on the city.

Xinoehp, he thought desperately. If there was a time I needed you more, it's now...

------

Daa watched through the window of the tavern in dread as the blue haze settled onto the city. 

Whatever that is, it's not good.

He sent an alarm through to Kii, although her owner would probably notice soon enough. Along with it he sent what he had found studying the city. Hopefully she'd be able to use what he'd found to figure out who was responsible.

@Sherlock Holmes

[Sherlock Holmes he/him]

Tena had already CCed the email to Tial and Tial had a window in her office that let her see the sky, so she'd seen it. She composed another emaill, addressed to all active TUBA operatives, telling them to meet up at Tena's house and giving them coordinates. She stood and calmed Kii as he started ranting about the Void being breached or something. She walked to the elevator and got to the bottom floor, her backpack with her laptop and backup harddrives in it. She Lashed herself in the direction of the Canyon Ward, afraid, but knowing her duty was more important. She landed on the patio of Tena's house a minute later, knocking. Tena opened the door, holding that new baby of hers in one arm. 

"I'm contacing the Ghostbloods about this," Tena said. 

"Good," Tial said, walking in and sitting down on the couch, getting her laptop out and searching the Internet for posts about the strange sky.

@AonEne

[Darth Woodrack he/him]

Walker ran in and immediately asked, "What's going on?"

@Sherlock Holmes

 

The Jackal ran through Alleycity, to a Bureau safe house, and called his handler, "Hey, do you need me anywhere, before the insanity starts? I'm free for some work,"

@Ark1002

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Jackals handler is whoever you want him to be Ark.

 

[Sherlock Holmes he/him]

3 minutes ago, Darth Woodrack said:

Walker ran in and immediately asked, "What's going on?"

"The Void has been breached by something that isn't Voidus or Sudiov," Tial said. She was an Investiture specialist, and apparently people were calling out the two gods for causing this on the Internet already. 

"And whatever it is is probably near here," Tena said. 

"Yeah, and Tena's house is closest to it," Tial added.

@Darth Woodrack

Edited May 9, 2019 by Sherlock Holmes

[+Ark1002]

The Alleyverse news nets were abuzz with reports on the strange sky, and the almost identical parallel to Scadrian mists. The difference was that this was a deep blue, and it seemed harsher, somehow.

Five sites had gotten up articles about the strangeness of it, one reporting that it was sending Elsecallers.

[Grey Knight]

12 minutes ago, Sherlock Holmes said:

"Good," Tial said, walking in and sitting down on the couch, getting her laptop out and searching the Internet for posts about the strange sky.

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...Does the Alleyverse have the Internet? 

 

[Sherlock Holmes he/him]

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Yup.

 

[xinoehp512 he/him]

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There aren't very many people living in big cities in the range of our storytelling, if you think about it. Unless there's unmapped cities, it must be even smaller than I'd originally thought. All of that means the Internet is going to much, much smaller than it would be on our world.

Also, how does she know about the Void? Has she talked with Voidus or Sudiov?

 

[Sherlock Holmes he/him]

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She acts sort of like Deteca's unofficial secretary. She knows most of what goes down, and has the freaking Internet to tell her rumors. I'll write up a character bio after a few things get done.

 

[Jaywalk he/him]

Aleva Haydawn hovered her fist in front of the door to Tena's house. "Are you sure about this?"

KalRoon, her kandra companion, nodded. The kandra was in female form now, but Aleva had caught a glance of it in male form the other day. It was supremely unsettling.

"Knock," KalRoon said, looking straight ahead. "Do not question me further."

"If you say so," Aleva sighed. She extended her arm the final inch and rapped on the door.

@Sherlock Holmes

[Sherlock Holmes he/him]

Tena walked over and opened the door. "Please come in, you can sit on the couch." She looked supremely nervous, and was holding Solstice protectively. 

Rial kept typing on her laptop, mumbling to herself and writing in a notebook. 

@Jaywalk

[Jaywalk he/him]

KalRoon walked in without a word. Aleva smiled to the woman and held out her hand. "Pleasure to meet you," she said. "I'm Aleva."

@Sherlock Holmes

[Sherlock Holmes he/him]

"I'm Tena," Tena said, shaking Aleva's hand with the arm that wasn't holding Solstice. "When did you become a member? And do you want anything to eat?" 

@Jaywalk

[Jaywalk he/him]

Just now, Sherlock Holmes said:

"I'm Tena," Tena said, shaking Aleva's hand with the arm that wasn't holding Solstice. "When did you become a member? And do you want anything to eat?" 

@Jaywalk

"I'm, ah, new. To the Alleyverse." She nodded past Tena to KalRoon. "She's the one who got me recruited."

[Sherlock Holmes he/him]

1 minute ago, Jaywalk said:

"I'm, ah, new. To the Alleyverse." She nodded past Tena to KalRoon. "She's the one who got me recruited."

"Hmm," Tena said, tugging Aleva inside and closing the door behind her. "How did that happen?"