October 21st 2006 - Steel Canyon
Originally posted by Skilla
Lissa curled up on Bryce's big bed, legs tucked under her, papers and magazines scattered across the sheets. Bryce poked his head out of the bathroom, his long, wet hair falling around his bare shoulders.
"The doctor told you to keep that leg elevated," he reminded with a stern glance.
She sighed and uncoiled, propping her right leg up on the bolster provided for the purpose, leaning back against the pile of pillows behind her. "It doesn't even hurt anymore," she complained.
"Yes, but the doctor said to keep it elevated. He wants you to stay off of it until at least tonight," he reminded, straightening the bed clothes a bit. He hadn't allowed her out of bed the whole day, not even to change out of her pajamas, which he had insisted she put on after he had carried her in for her bath. "You don't need to get out of your pajamas if you are staying in bed," he had said.
"This is silly! I can regenerate!" she protested now, crossing her arms across her deep blue velvet camisole.
"He said your regeneration might be slightly slower right now due to your surgery, 'Lissa. The less you move your leg, the faster it'll heal." He leaned over, kissing her forehead. "When a certain someone falls off the Talos tram platform and breaks her leg in four places, she needs to stay in bed," he teased.
Melissa blushed at the memory. "It couldn't be me getting stepped on my some giant monster...no! It had to be me getting my foot tangled in the tram railing and falling [censored] over teakettle onto the plaza, ending up in the hospital, and probably missing the most exciting fight of this whole damn invasion!"
"Shh, sweetheart," he soothed, kissing the top of her head gently. "It's only one fight. I'm sure there'll be plenty more. Now, you hungry, baby?"
"I can get it..."
"No," he said firmly. "You are goin' to stay in bed and let me get it. Now, what do you want?"
"Just some strawberry yogurt, please," she asked, meekly.
"As my goddess commands," he smiled, strolling off into the kitchen. "Whatcha working on, sweetheart?" he called as Lissa heard the door to the fridge open.
"I'm trying to Feng Shui the house," she replied, frowning over the floorplans in her lap as she consulted a brightly colored book to her right. "It's harder than it looks."
"I'm sure Ozzy could help," he offered, handing her the pink lidded carton and a spoon.
"I want to try doing it myself first," she smiled, opening her yogurt. "I figured I'd get him to check it after I'm through."
Bryce smiled affectionately. "My independent goddess," he grinned, kissing her gently. "So what have you figured out so far?"
Lissa pulled her stack of papers towards her and slowly started explaining the ancient art of Feng Shui. Bryce put an arm around her shoulders as together they poured over paint chips and countertop samples. Outside, darkness reigned and the city was filled with the howls of werewolves and the eerie shrieks of ghosts and ghouls.
Lissa paused, looking up at Bryce. "Do you think Jerry is all right, wherever he is?" she asked, a sudden concern in her eyes.
"I'm sure of it, babe," he replied, smiling down reassuringly.
She snuggled a bit deeper into the warm oasis of her lover's arms, relishing the sweet tang of strawberries on her tongue as the wind screamed around the curtained windows. Tonight, the war would continue, and Lissa and Bryce would be a part of it. But for now, the fight could go on without her.
Find us here at Templars of the Abbey Webpage
Arc # 57740 - 'A Star is Rising Part One'
Arc # 90575 - 'A Lesson Taught'
Arc # 139943 - 'And The Game Goes Tilt'
October 21st, 2006 - Independance Port
Originally posted by Mazin
It is just another night in the latest invasion of Paragon City, the streets filled with the heroes of the city as they fight off the supernatural entities that burst out of doors here and there. Still... some places are quiet. Those places where people do not gather are not teeming with the denizens of the night... well, just one.
The hero without a superhero name, Mazin Wystan, stands outside a warehouse door, black wisps rising off his skin and armor. They thicken, warping and bending the light around the young demon to allow him to fade from sight. He takes a moment to look around, making sure the area is clear, before he advances on the door, knowing well that this warehouse has been abandoned for years and no one should be answer that isn't a monster.
He raps his knuckles on the door sharply then... jumps out of the way, crouching low to decrease the profile of the few black wisps that mark his presence, something that an alert villain can spot if given the chance. The door opens, and from it steps a werewolf, looking completely ready to rip something apart. It lets out a ferocious roar, only to be cut short as it blinks, peering left and right. Normally it would venture out into the city and find some more prey, but it would appear this is the middle of nowhere with no people in sight. With a dejected look, it returns through the door, which closes behind it with an unseen hand.
After waiting several more seconds, Maz rights himself and steps forward to bang on the door again, quickly returning to his position. This time the werewolf and a ghost buddy step outside, glaring around at the night. Did they imagine it? Were they simply that eager to rend something apart, which resulted in wishful thinking, or hearing? It had to be that as there is nothing there, and heroes would not hesitate to rush forward to vanquish evil. They then disappear through the door again, both looking dejected, and swearing to pay more attention and not make the same mistake again.
But the next time they begin to catch on.
They try to feint him by going back inside, only to open the door again before it fully closes. Each time they give up, the knocking returns, and soon enough, a small army of very pissed monsters are standing outside the door.
Grinning like a cheshire cat, Maz scrambles through the open window of the warehouse quietly, then tiptoes over to the closed door. This time his knuckles descend on the other side of the door, causing every monster outside the warehouse to spin on the door, confusion rampant..
Hours later, when the sun should be coming up if not for the everlasting night, Maz knocks continuously on the door, trying to get them to come out but to no avail. In the end, it looked like he broke something. They simply lost all will to do anything, and just stopped answering the door. With a satisfied look and a show of dusting off his hands, he announces to the empty group of warehouses.
"Well, it seems I've stopped the invasion on this front. Time to go home."
Find us here at Templars of the Abbey Webpage
Arc # 57740 - 'A Star is Rising Part One'
Arc # 90575 - 'A Lesson Taught'
Arc # 139943 - 'And The Game Goes Tilt'
October 24th, 2006 - King's Row
Officer Charlie Harrison patrolled through King's Row feeling distinctly out of place, missing the presence of other people. He could hear the reports filter through his radio as he maneuvered his cruiser down a back alleyway in the forgotten and dark garment district.
He sipped cool coffee from a chipped and worn Styrofoam cup as his eyes scanned the area for what had already been dubbed 'rogues' as high above him and through out the area Longbow and the city's Heroes responded to the invaders.
Halloween had arrived early once more it seemed for the city. The perpetual evening had the city in an uproar as ghouls and monsters could emerge from any closed doorway. Chaos and mayhem had become a nightly norm for a city already besieged by oddness in his opinion. The atmosphere this night was one of creepiness blended perfectly with insanity.
Officer Harrison was an old school cop, part of him deeply resented playing constant back up to the overabundance of Metas the city seemed to always draw. However every now and then an important crime or investigation deemed beneath the vaunted heroes arose and well Charlie Harrison was always there to volunteer.
Tonight his captain had ordered extra patrols to guard against thieves taking advantage of the chaos and to ensure the safety of the citizens walking the streets unchaperoned or who failed to find cover. There had been numerous missing people due to the invasion and his precinct captain was determined to cut that number down as best as he could.
Though throughout this crisis, like the first one Heroes tended to now work in packs, occasionally a hero would go solo and be overrun by the doorway ghouls and they would get by him and flee into the city to seek prey. It was the job of he and his fellow officers to prevent that from happening. To protect the citizens and call down hero support to deal with theses so called 'rogues'.
Harrison smirked and thought, Heh Don't need a hero to shoot a monster.
Turning the corner of an old worn down warehouse Harrison caught a flash of movement out of the corner of his cruiser's spotlight. He deftly stopped his cruiser and stepped out; he could have sworn her saw the flapping end of a small flashy cape disappearing through the broken door of the warehouse. He sighed as he reached for his mike.
"Unit 1 L 19 to dispatch, found some kids out messing around the old Dooley place...gonna flush em and get em off the streets"
"Rodger 1 L 19"
Hefting his belt back up his large frame, he unhooked his mag-lite and headed into the darkened doorway. His eyes scanned the interior as he walked into the musty darkened hallway. A nearby scuffled from down the hall echoed back to him. He quickened his pace towards the corner.
That passage led deeper into the decaying warehouse; and worryingly, it also ran into an area where a number of gang bangers had recently gone missing. Whether from rivals hiding out from the invaders or just some rogue Lost, Harrison knew this was no place for children.
He rounded the turn and flashed the light as he scanned the dank intersection.
The corridor was completely empty.
"I must be imagining things." Harrison thought, there was no sign anyone had come this way. He sighed at the silence and turned back to the entrance. From far away laughter echoed back towards him.
"Hello?!" he called as he turned back his beam slicing a small lit glimpse into the murky interior.
Another distant high pitched giggle was his only reply.
He followed the sound. If there were children in here, they could get hopelessly lost and end up in some serious trouble.
Very quickly as he moved in deeper and deeper, the neat corridor gave way to a maze of boxes, girders and other debris. He began to scan the area around him with his flashlight. His eyes tried to pierce the shadows. He blinked as he caught a glimpse of a small figure in front of him briefly in the dark.
A scuttling came from behind him.
"Hello?" He spun around. "This is the police. You shouldn't be here children; it isn't safe. Let me take you back."
Something brushed past him.
A small body swiftly disappeared further into the gloom.
He turned again and followed the child. He had only taken a few steps when he felt his legs press against a cable stretched across the passage. The next second his feet were swept behind him and he fell forwards, his body slamming heavily into the floor. Ages of dust and ancient debris flew up around him and he coughed as a high pitched happy little cry filled his ears.
"Trick and Treat!"
Harrison rolled onto his back annoyed but not wanting to frighten them off. His eyes adjusted to the dim light of the mag-lite on the floor next to him. He looked up to find two children leaning over him. They were both brightly clad in Halloween costumes, one as some Meta with a shiny cape the other a happy clown.
"That was a good one," he conceded as he dusted himself off a bit. "Now you really shouldn't be in here."
"Trick and Treat!" The children repeated with bright grins and glee in their eyes.
"I'm afraid I don't have any treats." Harrison then frowned as he noticed the change of wording. He chuckled. "Wait, shouldn't that be Trick or Treat?"
The children looked at each other and grinned wider.
"You got tricked-" The cape said nodding to the little clown.
"-And we get the treat." The clown finished; her tongue ran over a row of needle sharp teeth as she grinned inhumanly wide.
A sharp sudden chill ran through the officer's body at the sinister tone the child who was no child had used and their mutual unholy growing grins. He struggled quickly to sit up only to be pushed back to the cold wooden floor by four small arms possessed of inhuman strength as the pair pinned him. Smiling to each other only once more they moved in to devour their shared treat.
The short-lived scream echoed along the deserted corridors of the warehouse as Officer Charlie Harrison joined the list of the 'Missing'.
< Mortal world turned to ice... Here be goblin paradise! 
>
Find us here at Templars of the Abbey Webpage
Arc # 57740 - 'A Star is Rising Part One'
Arc # 90575 - 'A Lesson Taught'
Arc # 139943 - 'And The Game Goes Tilt'
October 29th 2006 - Paragon City, RI
"....As I was saying Michele, a city now already well within its second week of darkness and yet with no end in sight the attacks its citizens have been facing are still continuously met by ..."
SHADOW
Boys and girls of every age
Wouldnt you like to see something strange?
"Once more this is Peter Holloway, Channel Nine News...most roadways remain clear of nonessential traffic as emergency vehicles move throughout the streets below me and the skies filled with..."
SIAMESE SHADOW
Come with us and you will see
This, our town of Halloween
"This is an update to the Emergency Broadcast system...remain in your homes....prop open any and all doors and leave them ajar..."
PUMPKIN PATCH CHORUS
This is Halloween, this is Halloween
Pumpkins scream in the dead of night
"....and get to safety at once...do not attempt to encounter the creatures invading your home..."
GHOSTS
This is Halloween, everybody make a scene
Trick or treat till the neighbors gonna die of fright
Its our town, everybody scream
In this town of Halloween
"....I can clearly see literally hundreds of heroes across the city engaging these creatures of the night as they go from secured door to secured door ...like some bizzare...macabre version of the age old trick or tricking..."
CREATURE UNDER BED
I am the one hiding under your bed
Teeth ground sharp and eyes glowing red
" ....I heard the screaming from my daughter's room and my husband and I just ran upstairs...."
MAN UNDER THE STAIRS
I am the one hiding under your stairs
Fingers like snakes and spiders in my hair
" ....It was simply horrible! One minute I'm trying to run into Blockbuster...the next....just these freakin' eyes!"
CORPSE CHORUS
This is Halloween, this is Halloween
"....repeat do not attempt to apprehend or encounter these creatures.."
VAMPIRES
Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!
In this town we call home
Everyone hail to the pumpkin song
"They came out of no where! I mean all claws and fangs...if it wasn't for the heroes nearby they would've ate Frankie..."
MAYOR
In this town, dont we love it now?
Everybodys waiting for the next surprise
"...I have mentioned earlier at previous Press Conferences, all civil authorities are in complete cooperation...we will get to you as quickly as possible, As mayor I guarantee my fellow citizens Paragon will..."
CORPSE CHORUS
Round that corner, man hiding in the trash can
Somethings waiting now to pounce, and how youll scream
"....Diane, The Heroes tell me the worst part is the wait...though brief it can seem agonizingly slow in between what MAGI calls the portal recycle..."
HARLEQUIN DEMON, WEREWOLF, AND MELTING MAN
Scream! This is Halloween
Red n black, slimy green
"...As mentioned earlier the Mayor has urged all citizens to remain home....schools have been closed...some businesses have also been advised to close ...for the duration...."
WEREWOLF
Arent you scared?
"(screaming in the background) ...Oh My God! Andrew!...as you can see behind me ....careful careful now! ....Its total chaos, someone in the studio has opened a door!....(wolf howls)
WITCHES
Well, thats just fine
Say it once, say it twice
Take the chance and roll the dice
Ride with the moon in the dead of night
"....I can't believe I'm seeing this Michele, it's like something out of a children's book...from the doorway of the Burger King have come a trio of....GET DOWN!..."
HANGING TREE
Everybody scream, everybody scream
(A jostling camera , people running and screaming, sounds of sirens and explosion)....Oh my god! Oh my god! Don't LOOK BACK!!...."
HANGED MEN
In our town of Halloween
"...repeat this is an emergency broadcast...this is not a test...."
CLOWN
I am the clown with the tear-away face
Here in a flash and gone without a trace
"UNIT 1 L 19 RESPOND....DISPATCH TO UNIT 1 L 19..PLEASE RESPOND.."
SECOND GHOUL
I am the who when you call, \"Whos there?\
I am the wind blowing through your hair
"A ghost just leaped out at us...Carrie just took off and I went to go after her but this zombie...A zombie grabbed me...thank god that robot lady showed up..."
OOGIE BOOGIE SHADOW
I am the shadow on the moon at night
Filling your dreams to the brim with fright
"..This is simply incredible Diane, ...it has to be thirty no! forty feet tall! striding across the streets....its head a massive flaming pumpkin!"
CORPSE CHORUS
This is Halloween, this is Halloween
Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!
Halloween! Halloween!
"...this has turned into a massive battle! Dozens of heroes have arrived to drive the thing back across the bridge....Oh My Gawd there is another one! Another one has appeared right as the first one dropped...."
CHILD CORPSE TRIO
Tender lumplings everywhere
Lifes no fun without a good scare
"(Screaming and people running) .....please please remain calm....let them through to -them-...please...oh my god!....Nooo!..(static hiss) *PLEASE STAND BY* (Tone)"
PARENT CORPSES
Thats our job, but were not mean
In our town of Halloween
"...at this point it is the best we can offer anyone left in the city...we sorta have this down to a science of how we patrol....we will see the city through this...we will"
CORPSE CHORUS
In this town
"...rescue shelters have been set up throughout the city....volunteers have been donating blood and cooking food all day Diane...Citizens are urged to stay in their homes yet ..."
MAYOR
Dont we love it now?
"Once more as Mayor of Paragon...I promise every step and precaution has been met...next question please..."
MAYOR WITH CORPSE CHORUS
Everyones waiting for the next surprise
"Mister Mayor...Mister Mayor!...When can we expect and end to..."
CORPSE CHORUS
Skeleton Jack might catch you in the back
And scream like a banshee
Make you jump out of your skin
This is Halloween, everyone scream
Wont ya please make way for a very special guy
"As mention before...this creature is not what has been identified as Eochai....it is similar to the creature known as Jack of Irons..."
Our man Jack is king of the pumpkin patch
Everyone hail to the Pumpkin King now
"....unbelievable Michele as i am watching the mighty giant has fallen into Talos bay...the heroes are pressing their attack now....watch those people Frank!..."
EVERYONE
This is Halloween, this is Halloween
Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!
"...they are everywhere..." (static hiss) "i don't know what happened to my wife...." (static hiss) "They just came out and came right at us....only they were dead" (static hiss) "Please....get back...get back.." (sirens)
CORPSE CHILD TRIO
In this town we call home
Everyone hail to the pumpkin song
"Repeat this is a broadcast of the Emergency Broadcast System..this is Not a Test..."
EVERYONE
La la-la la, Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!
Find us here at Templars of the Abbey Webpage
Arc # 57740 - 'A Star is Rising Part One'
Arc # 90575 - 'A Lesson Taught'
Arc # 139943 - 'And The Game Goes Tilt'
October 30th, 2006
Originally Posted by Lucianna
(A commerical often run during the Halloween season!)
FADE IN:
A chiming mysterious sounding music plays, as the scenes play out with no sound
The camera pans across a moonlit suburban neighborhood.
Children are out in Halloween costumes going door to door.
The camera zooms in on one house.
Three children, a ghost, a boy dressed as Statesman, and a girl in a cowboy outfit walk up to the door and shout "Trick or Treat."
Two soft pink balls of light float pass a window on the far side of the house, pass a closer window, then stop at the door, casting pink light on the children outside. The door opens and a delicate, female hand takes the candy bag from the ghost, then hands it back; something heavy was added to the bag.
The three children walk away from the house smiling.
Statesman lifts his mask and pulls a bottle of Sprite out of the bag and takes a drink.
A child in a spaceman outfit walks up to him and askes where he got the Sprite.
Statesman points to the house behind him.
The next scene shows a long line of costumed children at the door and other children leaving Sprite in hand. Diamond stands in the doorway, hands glowing softly. She gives a Sprite to a girl dressed as a princess and waves as the little girl leaves with a smile on her face.
The scene changes to a pumpkin carved in the shape of a Sprite bottle then
FADE OUT
Find us here at Templars of the Abbey Webpage
Arc # 57740 - 'A Star is Rising Part One'
Arc # 90575 - 'A Lesson Taught'
Arc # 139943 - 'And The Game Goes Tilt'
October 23rd, 2007 - Paragon City. Rhode Island
<Thought it would be neat to tell ghost stories or funny halloween stories from This year's events 
So feel free to pen one up and tack it on to the thread! Happy Halloween!>
Kara was exhausted...again.
She had been fighting all night since the invasions alerts had sounded once more out over the beleaguered city soon after the first attacks had begun. She had a feeling this was coming, Yet her heart froze as she and her students watched the light bleed out of the sky that morning to sound of those far off sirens.
The Children had been terrified. Most of them still shaken from the bombing this summer. Her first thought was for the children and had stayed by them until eventually the school was closed early as the attacks in the city grew in number. Their parents no doubt heading for the safety of one the any rescue stations being set up in the city or evacuating.
It was Halloween time in Paragon City again...and once more the city found itself locked in a struggle to survive.
She came to a rest at the tiled patio of the backyard of the house she shared with Luci in New Overbrook. Over she shoulder she looked out across the mayhem of the city trapped in perpetual night once more. The flashing lights of the floating helicopters and airships could be seen across the whole of the city as they moved from one crisis to another.
The shrill wail of the police and emergency sirens danced up to her from the streets below to mix with the horrible trills and screeches of the city newest invaders. The cries of the undead and howls of the wolves blended with police gunfire and the far away booms and blasts from responding heroes helped to compose a terrifying opera of the night for the besieged city.
A performance that continued uninterrupted across all the zones of the city she now called home.
She entered the sliding patio door hesitating only a moment before she noticed it was left slightly ajar, stepping over one the various 'booby traps' that had to have been set up by Phil and Katrina. Good girls, she thought to herself as she moved into the living room. She had called her ward and 'Spooky' every hour on the hour tonight, to be sure that they were all right.
Of course the hero in them had them prepared by still she worried.
She smirked as she thought how casually Phil was taking the events. She was even becoming exasperated sometimes with her guardian's persistent calls. Why Kara was even given an update on the goings on with the TV show 'Heroes" they occasionally watched together.
Kara frowned a little at her sitter's absence, wondering what illusion of terror little Phil may have conjured up for her, until she saw Rachel's bag next to Smokey and Luci's cat curled up asleep across the couch they had claimed as their own. She knew her roommates were home.
She smiled a little relieved as Skald her little shadowy chinchilla pounced at her boots then bounded after her shadow as she walked into the kitchen. Her heels clicked across the tile floor as she began to make herself a quick hot chocolate. She picked up her odd pet and cuddled it as her chocolate was warmed in the microwave. It trilled as he cuddled back his fur warmly tingling her skin as he fed briefly from her touch. Kara shook her head as she scritched his ears and waited for her drink to heat.
Atop the counter she found the note left by Katherine for her. She set Skald down on the counter and picked up, barely acknowledging as Skald scampered off back to his shadows.
Katherine. the note said, had decided like most others to leave the city most likely until this crisis had passed. Her husband's family lived in the suburbs just beyond what Magi had learned was barrier of the darkness. She half thought about sending Phil with them, yet something in the child's voice had left that as only an option for now. Should things escalate further, Kara thought she would not hesitate to ship her young ward out to Katherine and her family.
She shook her head at the thought for now as she retrieved her mug of hot chocolate from the microwave. Setting down the note she walked back out into the living room.
The wide screen TV, though muted, bathed the living room in a flickering blueish light as it showed various images and locales through out the city. Emergency information and instruction continued to run across the bottom of the screen telling any who remained awake what to do to secure themselves during Paragon's most recent invasion. Reporters and experts added their impressions and advice as the first night of the most recent invasion was coming to a close.
Kara paused as the TV showed yet another battle in Peregrine with the giant Eochai. She sighed he was everywhere tonight and from what she had gleaned from her MAGI briefing...
..It was going to be a long invasion.
Kara slipped carefully down the carpeted hallway to peek in on the girls. Apparently they had decided to 'bunker' up and sleep within the one room. She smiled as the moved into the 'heavily defended' room carefully avoiding all of the 'booby traps' the children had set through out the room to capture any 'Halloween critters', as the Phil called them, that may come for them as they slept.
Kara bend over to re-tuck Kat in her sleeping back, pausing only to scritch Columbus between his ears as he closely watched over his guardian. She then knelt next to Phil's bed and re-wrapped her up in her thick comforter. Kara watched over the pair for a moment and smiled.
Her heart stopped at the suddenness of her comm.s buzzing. "Omigawd!" She leaned forward and kissed the top of Phil's head causing the child to stir only slightly. Careful to avoid the traps Kara navigated back out into the hall to answer her comm.
"What!?" Her voice weary but slightly annoyed at the interruption. She listened to the situation and briefing and shook her head.
"No...I can't not right at the moment, I'm down for a few hours..." She smirked at the passive attempt by the Hero Corps Rep and then listened to her updates.
"No...No...Yes...fine I will as soon as I can"
She walked into her darkened bedroom not even bothering with the light nor even to change out of her costume as she collapsed on her side of her bed. She paused only to set her mug on her night stand as Doomey Bear came to life and sighed helplessly. Kara smirked at him as she lay back on her bed and closed her eyes as her gothy care bear droned on... and on slowly....
Night is my home and prison
sanguine
trembling
I wish only for death
singing in the dark church
my heart is as black as my nail polish
my energy is sapped by the outside world
Eyes closed for the final time, the soul released
helpless
i am fallen and will never rise
i will show the world one day
endless tears
Kara giggled once at the absurdity of the night and her gloomy bear's words. Soon she found herself in a fitful sleep.
Across the city darkness continued its strange danse macabre...
Find us here at Templars of the Abbey Webpage
Arc # 57740 - 'A Star is Rising Part One'
Arc # 90575 - 'A Lesson Taught'
Arc # 139943 - 'And The Game Goes Tilt'
October 24th 2007 - Talos Island
Originally posted by Doc Cyber
Tim stood side-by-side--literally--with an old friend while the two of them tried desperately to stay one step ahead of the insanity being unleashed in Talos Island.
"You've gotta be kidding me," his compatriot, a mutant named Mind Wave, exclaimed. "First we got Arachnos in Overbrook. Excuse me, New Overbrook. Whatever. Okay, fine. Then we get the Rikti 'again'. Everybody says that, 'again', like they ever [censored] went away. Are they still nursing that giant whatever-the-hell-it-is down in the sewers?"
"I don't--" It was all Tim could do to get a word in edgewise. But then again, that had always been half the fun of working with Mind Wave. He smiled, and let the rant wash over him.
"And now here we are, in a pleasant-yet-profitable business district in Talos Island, fighting John Kerry lookalikes and Warwolf wannabes? To say nothing of really hot babes in really ugly hats." Mind Wave ducked, narrowly dodging the thick cudgel that swung where his head had been moments before.
"Hey!" Tim exclaimed, mock-insulted. He channeled an antimatter charge through to his fists, then smashed those energy-laden fists down on the offending zombie. It crumpled like a papier-mache construction. "I voted for him!"
"Well." Mind Wave grinned at him, pausing for a brief respite. "He does look like a zombie."
The two friends shared a good laugh, having just enough time to catch their collective breath before the next wave of madness washed over them. It seemed an endless affair, one wave after another--zombies, followed by witches, followed by vampires, followed by (gulp!) a werewolf. For Tim, it began to slowly settle into a semi-predictable pattern. Blast, weave, blast again, duck, blast, punch, channel-and-SMASH! Rinse and repeat. For his part, Mind Wave was doing his best to batter their foes with his psychokinetic powers, as well as reinforcing their own energies with waves of healing force.
It wasn't until the end of the second hour of fighting that something caught Tim's notice.
They'd been involved in a fight with one of the werewolves--one of the bigger ones, as it turned out. Both heroes had been knocked about like tenpins, and it had been all they could do to stop the brute before it ran off and menaced passersby. It was as Tim was helping Mind Wave regain his feet that he saw it. Small and white with flecks of color, glinting dully in the perpetual twilight that now blanketed Paragon City. It didn't show on IR or UV scans--almost as if it weren't actually there. He had to walk over and physically pick it up before he was convinced of its existence. Wow. It's beautiful. He wasn't sure if it had been dropped by the werewolf...or actually where it had come from. It was a small porcelain mask. It was clearly intended for a feminine face, and it had been painstakingly painted with a particular colorful design. It looked delicate, but the heft of the thing implied otherwise.
"Yo, Doc!" Mind Wave shouted, on the verge of being surrounded by zombies. "You wanna give me a hand over--OW!--here? Hey! Get yer damn undead hand off my wallet!"
It took a real effort of will to tear his gaze away from the porcelain mask; when he looked up and saw his friend in the fray, he realized he had no idea how much time had gone by. Oops. Must really be getting tired. One too many Red Bulls, does it every time. "Coming, mother!" he yelled back, unconsciously tucking the mask into his belt. As he ran back into the fight, a LOW CHARGE warning flashed on his eyepiece's HUD. Crap. Hope we can finish this fast.
Find us here at Templars of the Abbey Webpage
Arc # 57740 - 'A Star is Rising Part One'
Arc # 90575 - 'A Lesson Taught'
Arc # 139943 - 'And The Game Goes Tilt'
October 25th 2008 - Galaxy City
Originally Posted by Ebon Dark
In the low ambient light of his lab, Drake could be seen hunched over a repair station. In one hand, was a small flashlight, and in the other, a laser torch. As he brought it down to whatever was on the table, bright sparks leapt up from what looked to be the remains of the Shadow Harness, playing tag with the shadows of the room and sending them running into each other along the walls of his Talos home.
Outside, the madness of the evening (Was it evening? No one had seen the sun in days, so it was hard to tell without a watch.) was only just beginning. All across the City, and even in the Rogue Isles, creatures we thought only resided in our nightmares and childhood stories, rampaged and caused disruption wherever they went. Ever since the the sky had turned black, the entire City had been caught in a stuggle to survive. If this had happened anywhere else, we probably would've been taken over long ago. Thankfully, there were people in the this City who would take up the cause to protect it's citizens.
People like Drake and the Templars of the Abbey.
Small beads of sweat dotted Drake's forehead as he worked. He had been doing his nightly patrols when he was ambushed by a pack of Werewolves. He had managed to fend the small group off, but not before damaging his new armor in the process. To make matters worse, he had gotten home to discover that one of the large Jack-in-Irons creatures had crashed into the local power station, sending his entire neighborhood into a blackout. Now, in the very dim emergency lighting of his lab, he struggled to make hasty repairs to his armor before bringing the fight back to the streets as distant sounds of struggle echoed from outside.
"Almost done..." he whispered. Sparks kicked up from the table once more, illuminating the room for a brief instant. In the momentary light, we get a glimpse at the armor on the table. It was very similar to the previous Shadow Harness, minus a few aesthetics. It was considerably less bulky, designed more for movement than protection, and had a myriad of components attached. The helmet was completly differant, more streamlined and advanced than the previous model, and served to give Drake a slightly more menacing appearance. He had decided to stay with the same colors and the circuitry design theme he was known for, but most everything else about the armor was at least a little differant.
One more shower of sparks kicked off from the table before Drake set the torch down and removed the goggles he had been wearing. He held up his work and made a quick scan of it with his flashlight, checking for any damage he might have missed. Satisfied that he hadn't missed anything, he set the flashlight down and grabbed both the helmet and main body portion, carrying it to another table in the far corner of the room. He hooked several cables into the armor and set the helmet in what looked to be a cradle specifically designed for it. Nearby, a monitor kicked on and computer banks began to whir. Drake sat himself down in front of the monitor, which cast an eerie glow over the dimly lit lab, and began typing commands into it. On the screen in green text, a simple message came up.
All systems operational. Begin diagnostic? Y/N
Drake pushed the 'Y' button on his keyboard and the screen changed to a 3D layout of his armor, spinning in suspended rotation. As the status bar at the bottom of the screen slowly filled, Drake leaned back in his chair, clasping his hands behind his head. His thoughts began to drift to the events over the past few weeks; the reinstatement of his Hero License, his expansion to the Rogue Isles, his new employment with Rogue Entertainment, and the insanity that still raged outside. Many things had happened since he had come back to Paragon...and he still had not even seen anyone from the Abbey. I really need to meet up with Kara and catch up...she'd know what's been going on with everyone lately, he thought to himself. He'd also heard some new voices over the comms the past couple days and had had wanted to get together to meet some of the newer members.
Just then, a sudden explosion nearby woke Drake from his reverie. He bolted upright in his chair with a start, noticing that the diagnostic was complete. Hmmm...must've dozed off, he thought with a pause. Shaking the sleep out of his head, he returned his thoughts to the explosion, and swiftly walked to a nearby window. Outside, and less than 3 blocks down the road no less, one of the creatures known as Eochai picked up a parked car and hurled it down the street. Instinctively, Drake's cybernetic eyes zoomed in on the car. No one appeared to be inside. Thank god for that, he thought. The car soared through the air for a good 5 seconds before impacting with the street in a fiery explosion, sending PPD response teams that had arrived seconds before, scrambling for cover. The beast reared back and roared, almost as if it was celebrating the destruction it caused.
Drake scowled and turned back to the diagnostic table and quickly began assembling and slipping into his armor. Finally, he pulled the helmet down over his head with a 'hiss' and a 'click.' His HUD sprang to life in front of him, with various status bars dotting his vision. A small window in the botton left corner of his screen began scrolling through a list of commands. Drake scanned through the list, verifying that all systems were operational at at least 92% efficiency, and canceled the internal diagnostic. Drake didn't have time to wait. Making some final adjustments, Drake strolled towards the door, stopping only to grab his cape off a nearby hanger and clasp it to his armor. He clicked off the emergency generator and closed the door to his lab.
As he walked over to the window, he grabbed a small medkit off his desk. Reaching inside, he pulled out a very tiny capsule with a needle at the end, also known as a StimPack. Placing it inside a small slot on his armor, he initiated the injectors and the complex mixture of mental and physical stimulants began coursing through his bloodstream. Drake felt a momentary dizziness before his vision snapped back into sharp focus, instantly feeling alert and ready for anything...and he had a distinct feeling he was going to need it. Taking one last look around his darkened apartment, he walked to the window and stepped out onto the ledge. Off in the distance, the Eochai continued it's rampage through the City, kicking over trucks and PPD vehicles, uprooting trees, and causing general destruction as other Heroes began to make their way towards the creature. Drake sighed and crouched down on his window ledge.
"It's going to be a long night..." he muttered and leapt off into the darkness towards the beast.
Find us here at Templars of the Abbey Webpage
Arc # 57740 - 'A Star is Rising Part One'
Arc # 90575 - 'A Lesson Taught'
Arc # 139943 - 'And The Game Goes Tilt'
October 25th, 2007 - Paragon City, RI
Originally Posted by Crosscut
And from the cold dark side-streets and narrow byways seeped another darkness. The chill autumn air swirled in her lungs, sparking her blood with a familiar sharpness. Purity and clarity.
She leaned forward, pivoting off the ledge and into the alley below. Thin, sharp light scattered off of brilliant darkness briefly illuminating the gaily bedecked figure as it tumbled through the air with nary but the faintest jingle of bells. Landing, she stepped and turned, dancing sideways through the darkness and into the city.
Silver dust floats through the starbeam lighting.
~~~~~
Even zombies dream, in the strange, ruined pathways of their minds.
Some might dream of juicy brains, and others dream of stranger things, and somewhere in that darkness peering: Some recall when they were living. Once I was a man...
He stands at the threshold, uninvited and forgotten guest. Not a moment prior, he'd stood with the others, but they had gone away. He remembered a suit, and a leather briefcase, hanging in his withered hands. What had he been? What had he done?
He remembers a smiling face, and a woman's voice.
And then, in the creeping dark, with a whisper of chill, he tumbles into the shadows and forgets forever.
The streetlight plays across his second killer, the ribbons in her strange green hair glittering faintly before she steps back into the alley.
~~~~~
What then, the dreams of men and wolves, brought on strange sweet breath given up to the passing breeze? Strange, sad fancies howling in the nighttime woods. Twisted memories and fevered thoughts.
No more the man, no more the beast, the nightmare careened down the streets beneath the electric lanterns and cried it's displeasure with it's violence. Snarling, advancing, rushing on clawed feet and warped hands towards blood and destruction and then
a silver scalpel, slashing.
A blue latex glove in a pale white sleeve drawing back into the darkness.
~~~~~
Pumpkins do not dream, but they have a role to play in it all.
The gentle hack-hack-hacking of the harvest sickle in the least likely places.
~~~~~
A lord of blood on a makeshift throne. Imagine the horror of the cliche, decked as he is in black coat and crimson sash. A tragic young student of the Lugosi school of vampirism, who has forgotten to respect the fathers of his story by getting his own damned act.
See him lift the glass to ghastly pale lips. He never drinks...wine.
See the stake, and the old dried blood as the silver-screen veneer drains away like blood from a sudden wound. He has enough time to marvel blankly, before crumbling to dust like a proper sucker.
~~~~~
And the Headlines Roll On.
There's no such thing as ghosts.
~~~~~
Silver dust, floating on the breeze.
~~~~~
She could fly.
Some people couldn't, but there's just no helping them.
Black lip gloss, eyes shaded to a healthy sleepless, cadaverous gleam. Designer darkness, with a pointy hat. She had the magick. And nearly a thousand dollars of Prada accessories that said she had it, and who was going to dispute that?
Picking up her purse, she stepped out of the window and onto the fire-escape, straight over a carefully extended platform boot, off the edge and into the alley.
She flew about as well as a corpse, all the way to the fatal cracking sound at the bottom.
Silver dust swirled softly through the air as her killer carefully placed a little orange ball on the window-sil and applied a match to the candle inside. The carved, smiling face cast a pale golden glow into the night.
The assailant smiled, and stepped back, pivoting off the edge after the witch and disappearing.
~~~~~
All up and down the alleyways and at the crossing streets, little pumpkins holding little lamps in neat little rows. A still, autumnal silence, broken only by the rap-tap-tapping of knuckles on doors...
~~~~~
Underneath a neolithic sky...
...where the beasts are so proud to die.
Across the sea of a million dreams...
...nothing is as it once seemed...
~Inkubus Sukkubus, Beltaine
Find us here at Templars of the Abbey Webpage
Arc # 57740 - 'A Star is Rising Part One'
Arc # 90575 - 'A Lesson Taught'
Arc # 139943 - 'And The Game Goes Tilt'
October 26th, 2007 - Steel Canyon
Cutter ran as fast as he could down the dark alleyway, trying not to trip over plastic bottles and loose pieces of cardboard. Breathing heavily he ran without stopping, his sides burning with pain from struggling and keeping from screaming.
Something was chasing him... and that something was gaining....Fast.
Turning the corner he saw that again, the sidewalk was empty. The entire road and surrounding area was blanketed with fog, the streetlights ominously looming above him.
It was as if Steel Canyon had turned into Dark Astoria, all around him in the fog he could hear the sharp discharge of police weapons and the sounds of the horrors the heroes of the city had faced this week. His eyes struggled to pierce the gray veil, No one was in sight near him.
Perhaps because he was scared... he wasn't noticing anything else. The Outcast gang member's senses were running wild. He could hear the menacing growls and snarls right on his heels. "Don't turn around, don't look back! AUGH!!!" he screamed within his own mind as his legs pumped furiously beneath him. Finally he fell face first into a pothole unseen in his panicked flight, scraping his knees badly, perhaps spraining an ankle. He moaned in pain as he gripped his ankle.
The beast, having seen that its prey had been practically handed to it since it left its doorway, jumped down from where it had been following atop the buildings, keeping a close eye from above. Cutter gasped and screamed as he saw the beast looming down from above, petrified, eyes wide with intense fear. All his attention focused on getting away, his pursuer getting ever closer... ebony claws glistening in the light of the red moon. The blood-red orbs of demise... filled with the desire to spill the life force of its prey.
The sharp pants of chilling white breath launched forth from the snout of the great wolf, the moonlight cascading down its soft black fur as it grew closer to the terrified black vested Outcast, inches away from each other... claws rose into the air as the boy tried to scream but could not find his voice, his heart thudding in his chest.
A swift motion, brings the rending claws slicing down.
A piercing cry split the silence that had settled so thickly in the pale fog of the night. Fabric, blood-soaked pieces, tore under the force of the powerful claws, flesh ripping apart, blood splattering and forming into a puddle freshly spilled, now settling under the deceased.
Eyes staring into nothing, rolling back into the skull as the beast growled satisfied, taking its deeply embedded paw out of the impaled chest.
A shotgun blast and a blueish green energy blast rocket through the air to end the beast's feast. Its large frame falling to the cracked pavement with a thud. The mists part as a hero in blue and white settles over the body of the fallen prey. A white gloved hand reaches for the ruined neck to confirm what the hero already knows as he hears charging footsteps behind him.
"Is it?" The uniformed officer inquires eyeing the body of the fallen werewolf.
Guardian Star looks up from the ruined body of the fallen Outcast and nods "Its down"
"What about him?" her partner asks as he re-chambers another round into his shot gun.
Sighing the tired defender stands "He has had it too..."
The first cop smirks and shakes her head "Well it was just an Outcast gang banger...we better get a move on before more of these [censored] things find actual good people"
Her partner nods and begins to back out of the alley. Bill remains a moment, his gaze fixated on those dead eyes.
"Come on GS.." the woman police officer said eyeing the remainder of the enshrouded alleyway "We will send a bus for the body, we should get going"
Snapping his gaze away from the body he nodded, he knew he was still needed. "Of course" he turned and followed out. He could not shake the feeling as he had starred into those eyes, that they were no longer those of a gang member of a villainous street gang, but of a young boy terrified.
"Fear makes innocents of us all" He muttered to himself as he shuddered.
All around him he could hear the cries and sirens fill the night.
And it was not yet even half over....
Find us here at Templars of the Abbey Webpage
Arc # 57740 - 'A Star is Rising Part One'
Arc # 90575 - 'A Lesson Taught'
Arc # 139943 - 'And The Game Goes Tilt'
October 30th, 2007 - Steel Canyon
Sleep does not come easily for the young woman curled up in the corner of the semi dark room. The woman's face begins to twitch, as thoughts and horrors slip into even that realm of imagined safety. She moans slightly and her expression grows more desperate as a mix of subtle sounds begin to fade in around her..
As the sounds begin yo to get louder, we can discern what sounds like a busy office area. It is actually a frantic television studio with the hum of panic in a national emergency. The woman's moans get louder and more desperate as the background sounds reach full volume and the credits stop. The woman sits up, snapping awake.
Her eyes wide in terror as she tries to flee from the horrors that had found her in her refuge of sleep. She lurches forwards into the arms of a strong young man, dark circles under his eyes. "Easy Patti" the man holding says to the frightened woman. Her hair is hanging, dishevelled and sweaty, her jeans and blouse have been worn for several days. She blinks as she looks around the room where she has slept the last several hours, covered by an old overcoat.
The young man, Tony she thinks speaks to her once more "You okay?"
Patti stares at him, she is shaking. She doesn't speak so her continues "The [censored]'s really hitting the fan"
She tries to clear her head as the young man moves on to where others around her are sleeping on the floor. He wakes them up one at a time as she can hear voices now, voices over the busy hum of the studio where she works. Patti looks about, still shaken from her dreams. As she can see into the television studio, reporters buzz about madly. Everyone like herself appears dishevelled and exhausted. Technicians man monitors as people on the little screens, arguing emotionally.
"WHAT'S MAKING IT HAPPEN? WHAT THE HELL DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE, WHAT'S MAKING IT HAPPEN."
"YES, BUT THAT'S..."
"THAT'S A WHOLE OTHER STUDY. THEY'RE TRYING..."
"BUT IF WE KNEW THAT, WE COULD..."
"WE DON'T KNOW THAT! WE DON'T KNOW THAT! WE'VE GOTTA OPERATE ON WHAT WE DO KNOW! "
She blinks a few more times trying to shake away the fuzziness of her deep sleep. The room around her is pandemonium. People run in with wire copy; others organise the stacks of bulletins as they arrive as still others trip over cables and generally get in each other's way. Patti stares at the madness, still trying to clear her head as a voice beside her brings her back to reality.
"I'm still dreaming"
Patti turns her head to him "No You're not"
Another voice calls to her "My turn with the coat" Patti looks up to see a young woman offering her coffee in a paper cup. Patti smiles apparently she is next in line for the overcoat and a few hours sleep it seems. She sighs and gratefully takes the coffee and struggles to her feet. "Thanks Janet"
Janet shakes her head "The guys on the crew are getting crazy. A bunch of 'em flew the coop already. Headed out to be evacuated. I don't know how much longer we'll be able to stay on the air"
Patti nodded as she staggers over to the control consoles, the technicians are at the end of their ropes, their nerves seemingly frayed as they barked at each other.
"Watch camera two...Who the hell's on camera s god damn idiot?... Watch the frame...Watch the frame... Roll the rescue stations again.
"We got a report that half those rescue stations have been knocked out"
"So get me a new list"
"Sure, I''ll pull it outta my [censored]"
Patti turned her focus to the monitors and stares incredulous at the screens, stunned by the madness which surrounds her. She realises the hopelessness of the situation as she zeroes in on the televised conversation. 8 We begin to listen over the din of the news room.
"I DON'T BELIEVE THAT, DOCTOR, AND I DON'T BELIEVE... "
"DO YOU BELIEVE THE CITY IS BEING INVADED ONCE AGAIN?"
"I'M NOT SO..."
"DO YOU BELIEVE THE CITY IS BEING INVADED ONCE AGAIN BY THE SAME CREATURES THAT HAVE DONE THIS TWICE BEFORE?"
"I'M NOT SO SURE WHAT TO BELIEVE DOCTOR! ALL WE GET IS WHAT YOU PEOPLE AT MAGI TELL US. AND IT'S HARD ENOUGH TO BELIEVE..."
"IT'S FACT... IT'S FACT..."
"IT'S HARD ENOUGH TO BELIEVE WITHOUT YOU COMING IN HERE AND TELLING US WE HAVE TO FORGET ALL HUMAN DIGNITY AND..."
"HUMAN DIG... YOU CAN'T..."
" ...FORGET ALL HUMAN DIGNITY... "
"YOU'RE NOT RUNNING A TALK SHOW HERE, MR. STINTON...YOU CAN FORGET PITCHING AN AUDIENCE THE MORAL BULL [censored] THEY WANT TO HEAR!"
"YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT ABANDONING OUR HOME AND CITY AGAIN DOCTOR, AND THERE'S A LOT OF US WHO AREN'T READY FOR THAT DOCTOR!"
Patti looked around at the great cry of assent goes up from the studio floor the. Doctor Foster the representative from MAGI is flustered and frustrated. The stage hands and cameramen are all screaming at him, swearing and ridiculing, blaming MAGI for not being able to stop this from happening again. Patti rubbed the bridge of her nose, as she thought maybe just maybe a second invasion soon after the Rikti mess this summer may have been too much for people to take. She looked around to see Police guards, armed, at the studio doors. They it seemed control the traffic in and out of the big room.
Her eyes returned to the screen where confusion still reigned.
Her director called out to her "Pattie, get on the new list of rescue stations. Charlie's receiving the on the emergencies. She pulled herself away from the monitors as the argument rages on screen pushing her way through the busy newsroom she fights through the heavy traffic to reach Charlie, a harassed typist who is holding the receiver of an emergency radio unit under his chin...
"Say Again ..can't hear you" He was speaking loudly into the radio.
"Rescue Station?" Patti said as she looked down at him. She began to leaf through sheets of paper on Charlie's desk. He is busy writing notes as he listens on the receiver. He half glances up to her "Half of those are inoperative any more. I'm trying to find out at least about the immediate area. We've had old information on the air for the last twelve hours
Patti looked stunned "Charlie these are rescue stations we can't send people to inoperative rescue stations"
"Say Again Fool's Gold " Charlie quickly scribbled some notes to hand to Patti. Still listening on the receiver, he shakes his head "I'm doing what I can! These are definite as of now, Skip and Dusty are on the radio too, Good Luck."
Patti snatched up the sheets and moved across the room stopping at the consoles calling out "I'm gonna knock off the old rescue stations, I'll have the new ones ready as soon as I can."
With that Patti moved toward another control room and paused as she was stopped by an armed officer. A young man rushing through with copy intercedes tried to vouch for her "Hey she is all right"
The officer refused to budge "Where is your badge?"
Patti reached instinctively for the lapel of her blouse and froze, Her badge was missing. She snarled in frustration "JESUS!"
Another reporter screamed to the police officer "She is all right!"
Patti shook her head and pointed back to the first control room "I had it ...I was asleep over there"
Another clerk rushing by with a handful of readouts called out to her "Somebody stole it," the women turned to the police officer "there is a lot of them missing. She is all right let her through"
The officer reluctantly stepped aside.The young woman and Fan move down a crowded hall and into a small camera room. The foot traffic is solid. Patti shakes her head "I cant believe someone stole my badge"
The clerk responds wearily "one of those little badge can open a lot of doors, you can avoid a lot of hassles if you have a badge...any kind of badge out there."
Patti shook her head "It's really going crazy"
The pair eventually reaches a small computer station, the computer is rolling out a list of rescue stations. The list is superimposed over the live broadcast as it goes out. The Cameraman turned to Patti "You got the new ones?"
Patti shook her head "I gotta type 'em up. Kill the old ones"
"But but Givens wants em!" He complained.
"Kill em Dick! Tell Givens to see me!" Patti snapped. She was worried about Bill and the others out there in this mess but more worried about the families heading out in it that were heading to closed rescue stations.
The man shuts off the old list with the clicking of a few keys as Patti fights her way back through the the studio.
On the monitors, the the rescue stations blink off over shots of the two men who still argue on the air.
"WELL I DON'T BELIEVE IN GHOSTS, DOCTOR."
"THESE ARE NOT USUAL GHOSTS. NOR ARE THESE HUMANS! THESE ARE MAGICAL SPIRITS TRYING TO INVADE OUR CITY THROUGH ANY PORTAL OPENED FOR THEM!. ANY DOOR OPENED RELEASES THESE HORRORS. AND IT'S PRECISELY BECAUSE OF INCITEMENT BY IRRESPONSIBLE PUBLIC FIGURES LIKE YOURSELF THAT THIS SITUATION IS BEING DEALT WITH IRRESPONSIBLY BY THE PUBLIC AT LARGE THIS TIME AROUND! "
Another outraged cry roars up from the stagehands and observers. Doctor Foster tries to out-scream the cries...
"YOU HAVE NOT LISTENED...YOU HAVE NOT LISTENED... FOR THE LAST WEEK...WHAT DOES IT TAKE... WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO MAKE PEOPLE SEE? THIS IS HAPPENING AND IT MUST BE RIDDEN OUT!"
Patti moves into the large studio area where the broadcasters argue. She winces commotion is maddening.
Doctor Foster continues virtually pleading now "THIS SITUATION IS CONTROLLABLE. PEOPLE MUST COME TO GRIPS WITH THIS CONCEPT. IT'S EXTREMELY DIFFICULT...WITH FRIENDS... WITH FAMILY...BUT A DOOR MUST BE LEFT ALONE IF IT WAS CLOSED WHEN THIS BEGAN...THEY MUST BE SECURED WITH DOOR JAMS ....OR MARKED TO LET OTHERS KNOW TO AVOID! PEOPLE BEING CARELESS ARE BRINGING MORE AND MORE OF THEM OVER AND MANY PEOPLE ARE BEING HURT BY THIS CARELESSNESS...THE POLICE AND HEROES CAN ONLY HANDLE SO MUCH!"
Another outburst in the studio, People weary of invasions, seeking MAGI to just snap their fingers and end it.
Doctor Fostor continued trying to yell over them "THE SITUATION MUST BE CONTROLLED...BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE...THEY ARE MULTIPLYING TOO RAPIDLY... "
Patti moves through the crowded room of emotional people and finally reaches another emergency radio installation. Skip and Dusty are trying to listen to their receivers. They furiously jot down notes.
Patti pats Dusty on the shoulder "Operative rescue stations?"
Dusty growled frustrated "They are dropping like flies tonight. Here is a few"
Patti nods gratefully as she gives the rest of her coffee to the two haggard men. "Not too much left guys, have a ball"
She rushes off towards a nearby computer as the two men slurp eagerly from the half filled cup. In from of her the broadcasters still argue emotionally.
"PEOPLE AREN'T WILLING TO ACCEPT YOUR SOLUTIONS, DOCTOR, AND I, FOR ONE, DON'T BLAME THEM. THEY HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF THEIR CITY BEING INVADED AND IT NEEDS TO STOP NOW!"
"EVERY DOOR OPENED THAT IS NOT SECURED BRINGS MORE OF THEM OVER! THE MORE HEROES AND POLICE DIVERTED TO DEAL WITH THOSE PREVENT THEM FROM DEALING WITH THE OTHERS! "
Handing the list of active rescue stations to the teleprompter typist, Patti rushes back toward the control room all around the monitor consoles, the commotion has been made even more frantic by an angered Dan Givens one of the station managers. "Nobody has the authority to do that! I want..." He whirls on Patti as she moves into the room. "Patti who told you to kill that list?"
"Nobody" She said in return "I killed them, they are out of date!"
Givens waved his hands in the air "I want that list up and on the air all the of the time!"
Patti stared at him stunned "Are you willing to murder people by sending them out to stations that have closed down?"
Givens huffed "Without those rescue stations on screen every minute, people wont watch us, they will tune out!"
Patti and a few of the techs stare at the red faced man in disbelief as he continued yelling "I WANT THAT LIST UP ON THE SCREEN EVERY MINUTE THAT WE'RE ON THE AIR."
Patti was about to say something in anger, but before she could, one of the technicians, having overheard Givens, gets up from the control panel and starts to walk away. Givens stunned waved his arms at the man "Lucas....Lucas?, What the hell are you doing? .. GET ON THAT CONSOLE...LUCAS...WE'RE ON THE AIR!
Lucas waved his hand disgusted "I'm outta here Anybody need a ride?"
Two other men from various positions in the room snatch up personal effects and follow the technician toward the door guarded by a nervous Police Officer.
Givens quickly yelled "Officer ...Officer you stop them! ..LUCAS...GET BACK ON THIS CONSOLE... "
A frantic hubbub begins over the lack of console control. People rush in and out, the floor director's voice can be heard over a talk back system...
"What the hell's going on in there?"
Switch....switch...there is no switcher....we are losing the picture"
Givens screams "OFFICER...STOP THOSE MEN..."
The young officer faces the men as they reach his post. He takes a grip on his rifle then... opens the door and lets the group through. As Givens stares in shock, the young cop runs out himself, deserting the losing cause at the station.
Givens jumped toward the console. He frantically tried to work the complex dials and pots...yelling all the while "GET SOMEBODY IN HERE THAT KNOWS HOW TO RUN THIS THING...COME ON...I'LL TRIPLE THE MONEY FOR THE MAN THAT CAN RUN THIS THING...TRIPLE THE MONEY...WE'RE STAYING ON THE AIR..."
Patti moves slowly off toward the studio. In the big room, the tension is thicker than ever. A few of the newsmen still earnestly try to perform their various functions, but most of the crew are reduced to emotional polarisation over the broadcast which still rages, exhausted by the repeated invasion...wanting someone, anyone to have stopped it.
"THEY KILL FOR ONE REASON. THEY KILL FOR FOOD. THEY FEED ON THEIR VICTIMS FEAR, DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT, MR. STINSON. THAT'S WHAT KEEPS THEM GOING."
Patti stops to listen to the argument and shudders, she knows her boyfriend, Guardian Star His friend Diamond and the others are all out in this. She falls back into the shadows of the studio as people rush past her, some leaving the studio in disgust.
"IF WE'D LISTENED...IF WE'D DEALT WITH THE PHENOMENON PROPERLY...WITHOUT EMOTION... WITHOUT...EMOTION... IT WOULDN'T HAVE COME TO THIS!"
Foster wipes his sweat away with a dirty handkerchief. He pulls his tie away from his tight collar, and pops the shirt button open. He is desperate now, shivering with anger and frustration.
"THERE IS A MARTIAL LAW STATE IN EFFECT IN PARAGON CITY... CITIZENS MUST UNDERSTAND THE...DIRE...DIRE CONSEQUENCES OF THIS PHENOMENON...SHOULD WE BE UNABLE TO CHECK THE SPREAD... BECAUSE OF THE EMOTIONAL ATTITUDES..OF THE CITIZENRY...TOWARD...THESE ISSUES OF... MORALITY... IT IS THE ORDER OF THE OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR... CITIZENS MUST REPORT TO THE EVACUATION POINTS OR REPORT TO A SECURE RESCUE STATION....THEY /ARE/ ALLOWED TO OCCUPY PRIVATE RESIDENCES, DEPENDING ON HOW SAFELY PROTECTED OR WELL STOCKED...HOWEVER IT IS RECCOMENDED THAT THEY MOVE TO A SECURED FACLILITY TO ENSURE THIER OWN SAFTY......THIS MUST BE DONE...."
A murmur in the studio begins to build to an emotional crescendo as Foster tries to talk over the noise...
"CITIZENS WHO REPORT WILL BE MOVED INTO CENTRAL AREAS OF THE CITY... "
Technicians abandon their posts while a few others jump in to take their places, but pandemonium reigns. A cameraman whips off his headset and breaks for the door. His camera spins on its liquid head, and on the monitors, we see a whirling blur as Foster continues to speak. Patti moves quickly for the spinning camera. She aims it back at the sweating Foster, and she stares through the viewfinder not believing what she is seeing. Praying she gets this right, having only seen it done occasionally. She was just the Network's Meteorologist and weather girl.
"THE CREATURES THAT COME THROUGH THE DOORS MUST BE DEALT WITH BY HEROES, POLICE AND SPECIALLY EQUIPPED SQUADS OF THE NATIONAL GUARD FOR ORGANISED DISPOSITION... "
Suddenly a Hero clad in a tight Blue and White costume darts out of the bustling crowd and comes up quickly behind Patti.
"Patti...at nine o'clock meet me on the roof. We're getting you out. "
Patti ,letting the camera slip slightly sighs in relief at seeing him "William...are you alright...I Don't believe this...what..."
Bill insistently repeated "We are getting you out in a National Guard evac chopper."
Another technician stepped over to take the camera from Patti. Bill talks more quietly as she turns the camera over to the other man.
"Nine P.M. Alright?"
Patti shakes her head slowly trying to protest "William...Bill I can't ...I've got to .."
Bill shook his head, she now got see how mussed up and exhausted he looked "You've got to to nothing Patti. You've got to survive. Somebody's got to survive. Now you be up there at nine and don't make me come looking for you."
William is gone in a flash. Patti nervously looks back at the cameraman as the argument still rages between Foster and Stinson. The cameraman, without taking his eye from the viewfinder, speaks to her quietly and slowly......"Go ahead...we will be off the air by midnight anyway. The Emergency Networks are taking over."
Patti swallowed as she looked around at the chaos of the newsroom she once called home as the cameraman continued....
"...Our responsibility .....is finished I'm afraid."
<a shameless tribute to a horror classic, but I couldnt resist! >
Find us here at Templars of the Abbey Webpage
Arc # 57740 - 'A Star is Rising Part One'
Arc # 90575 - 'A Lesson Taught'
Arc # 139943 - 'And The Game Goes Tilt'
<Thought it would be neat to tell ghost stories or funny halloween stories from This year's events as we have for the last three years! So feel free to pen one up and tack it on to the thread! Happy Halloween!>
===============================
October 22nd, 2008 - King's Row
Kara was exhausted...once again.
She had been fighting all night, every night since the invasion alerts had sounded once more out over Paragon City. The blaring fire and civil defense horns began blaring soon after the first attacks had begun. She like most were caught completely off guard by the early arrival this time. She had known it was coming, yet her heart froze as she and her students watched the light bleed out of the sky that morning to sound of those far off sirens.
Her first thought was for her children, once they had been secured at the Abbey she then moved on to see that her students had been cared for. Even though it was a weekend she used the snow cancellation list to confirm that most of her student's parents were heading for the safety of one the any rescue stations being set up in the city or evacuating.
It was Halloween time in Paragon City again...and once more the city found itself locked in a struggle to survive.
However this time the creatures had somehow awakened the dead.
She came to a rest at the Abbey's entrance. Over her shoulder she looked out across the mayhem of the city trapped in perpetual night once again. The flashing lights of the floating helicopters and airships could be seen across the whole of the city as they moved from one crisis to another. Their spotlights acting as beacons pointing directly down at each trouble spot for the multitudes of heroes now on call.
The shrill wail of the police and emergency sirens danced around her from the streets surrounding the Abbey to mix with the horrible trills and screeches of the city newest invaders. The cries of the undead and howls of the wolves blended with police gunfire and the far away booms and blasts from responding heroes helped to compose a terrifying opera of the night for the besieged city.
A performance that continued uninterrupted across all the zones of the city she now called home.
She entered the darkened club, most of her fam already out in the middle of this mess hesitating only a moment before she noticed it was left slightly ajar, stepping over one the various 'booby traps' that had to have been set up by Phil and Katrina once more this time allowed by the staff.
Good girls, she thought to herself as she moved into the living area of the base behind the bar. She had called her daughter and 'Spooky' every hour on the hour tonight,and each night since Saturday to be sure that they were all right.
Of course the hero in them had them prepared by still she worried.
She smirked as she thought how casually Phil was taking the events. She was even becoming exasperated sometimes with her guardian's persistent calls. Why Kara was even given an update on the goings on with the TV show 'Degrassi" they occasionally watched together.
Her heels clicked across the floor as she began to make herself a quick hot chocolate. Atop the counter, next to the box of 'supplies' of snacks and other such preferred food for the girls, Kara found the note left by Katherine for her. She picked it up and read as she barely acknowledged a TV somewhere beyond the rooms blared on to an empty room updates and evacuation information still.
Katherine. the note said, had decided like most others to leave the city most likely until this crisis had passed. Her husband's family lived in the suburbs just beyond what Magi had learned was barrier of the darkness.
So far there were no real reports of the dead appearing beyond Paragon City and the Rogue Islands. The world may have been lucky...this time.
She half thought about sending Phil and Katrina with them, yet something in the children's voices had left that as only an option for now. Should things escalate further, Kara thought she would not hesitate to ship her young ward out to Katherine and her family. She noted the number Katherine had left should she decide to exercise just this option.
She shook her head at the thought for now as she retrieved her mug of hot chocolate from the microwave. Setting down the note she walked back out into the living area.
The wide-screen TV, though almost muted, bathed the rec room in a flickering blueish light as it showed various images and locales through out the city. Emergency information and instructions continued to run across the bottom of the screen telling any who remained awake what to do to secure themselves during Paragon's most recent invasion and how to reach an emergency rescue station. Reporters and experts added their impressions and advice as yet another night of the most recent invasion was coming to a close.
Kara paused as the TV showed yet another pitched battle in Peregrine with a rather large horde of the rising dead. She shuddered, deep down in her core the idea of true zombies terrified her. Adding to this what she had just learned from the MAGI briefing...
..It was going to be another long invasion.
Kara slipped carefully down the carpeted hallway to peek in on the girls. Apparently they had decided to 'bunker' up and sleep within the one room. She smiled as the moved into the 'heavily defended' room carefully avoiding all of the 'booby traps' the children had set through out the room to capture any 'Halloween critters', as the Phil called them, that may come for them as they slept.
She frowned at one or two of them this year, she would have to ask where they got a sledgehammer to drop on a zombie's head. She sighed, somethings in real life were NOT as easy as they appear in the movies.
Kara bend over to re-tuck Kat in her sleeping bag, pausing only to scritch Columbus between his ears as he closely watched over his little owner as she stirred a little.
"She will so be okies little one" she assured the guard kitty.
She then knelt next to Phil's bed and re-wrapped her up in her thick comforter. Phil stirred as well a little her eyes opening a little as she murred gently "Oh..good you are home"
"Ssssh" Kara reassured "Go back to sleep squirtle..I'm here" She settled in between the little girls as she could feel the weariness seep into her joints. She smirked a little, knowing it wouldn't last, her form would reset soon enough but for now she was tired and sore. She sighed as she watched over the pair for a moment and smiled.
Her heart stopped at the suddenness of her comm.s buzzing. "Omigawd!" She leaned forward and kissed the top of Phil's head causing the child to stir only slightly this time and not awake again. Carefully as she maneuvered to avoid the traps, Kara navigated back out into the hall to answer her comm.
"What!?" Her voice weary but slightly annoyed at the interruption. She listened to the situation and briefing and shook her head. "Oh God Bill..like where are you?"
"No...I can't not right at the moment, I'm down for a few hours..." She smirked at the passive attempt by her old friend as he fed her the current situation in Skyway ant Talos.
"No...No...Yes...fine I will as soon as I can" She listened to him finally understand who she was with and where she was at the moment.
"...all right Kar...get some rest, you are needed there..." in the background she could hear the cries for backup and Bill yell to someone to 'GET DOWN'...there was a pause followed by his radioactive blasts. "We can hold here...its been days ...or is it called nights now...."
"Its been days..." she droned really tired as she looked back to the pair of sleeping children.
"All right Kar" Guardian Star cut her to the chase "I'll call around 8....all right?"
"So sounds good Bill...use the alliance comm if it really gets bad"
"Nah we got it...as Kevin says " he added with the chuckle "It cant get any more bad then how these things smell....nighters kiddo!"
She smiled, leave it to Bill to find humor in such a terrifying situation. She turned and walk back into the 'bunkered' room not even bothering with the light nor even to change out of her costume as she settled back in between the girls. She paused only to set her mug on the small table to her right as the TV continued to drone on just beyond the wall of their room.
"...THIS SITUATION IS CONTROLLABLE. PEOPLE MUST COME TO GRIPS WITH THIS CONCEPT...IT'S EXTREMELY DIFFICULT..."
THE SITUATION MUST BE CONTROLLED...BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE...THEY ARE MULTIPLYING TOO RAPIDLY..."
"...CITIZENS SHOULD BE MOVING INTO CENTRAL AREAS OF EACH ZONE OF THE CITY...OR TO ONE OF THE NATIONAL GUARD EVACUATION AREAS...INTERSTATE ACCESS AND HIGHWAYS REMAINED BOTTLE NECKED..."
Kara sighed as her eyes fluttered shut, the mutual peaceful rhythm of the children's breathing winning out over her desire to remain awake. Soon she found herself in a fitful sleep as across the city, darkness and the walking dead continued their strange danse macabre...
Find us here at Templars of the Abbey Webpage
Arc # 57740 - 'A Star is Rising Part One'
Arc # 90575 - 'A Lesson Taught'
Arc # 139943 - 'And The Game Goes Tilt'
October 24th, 2008 - Talos Island
He opened his eyes to darkness.
The air was stifling, the heat intolerable. His head ached and his body was sore. The hero known as the Scarlett Ranger realized the odd stench that wouldnt go away was the smell of his own sweat, humidifying the air with fear. His mind painfully raced for answers, how had he come here, where was he? His head throbbed with a soft agony with each beat of his heart as he remembered. He was trapped. He wasnt getting out. He had pressed against that wall with everything he had, scraped against the stone until his fingers were bloodied, and screamed until his lungs burned and his throat scraped.
After several hours, his mind had retreated to some dark corner of his consciousness. He had then collapsed in terror.
And now he was awake again, and the lovely dreams he had dreamed werent real, they were painful reminders of a life he would never again see, a life that was going to continue outside that room, on the other side of that wall, without him.
He was alone, he would die alone.
He cried out once again and pressed at his tomb. It had been too long. He knew that; the last time he had lit a match he watched as it slowly burned, then flickered out quickly, too quickly.
He was running out of air. The dark had become suffocating.
He walked in a circle as he had done before, and long before that. For the days he had been trapped down there. His matches had run out, he burned them all in a desperate attempt for light. No one was coming for him. He had heard what sounded like sirens in the distance.
Was it Saturday night, the sirens and strange thumps that couldve been explosions.
His stone room would served as his burial chamber, he wasnt even supposed to be there in the first place, he hadnt told the police or his contacts of his discovery, his rash desire as a young hero had gotten the better of him. The strange composition of the stone and the amount over him had blocked his comm's signal. He had thought to make an impression, he had decided to take the initiative, he had to take on these mages and prove himself worthy of great assignments from the Corps. If only he had listened when Guardian Star was trying to brief them at the station. No, he charged off in a temper, imagine that, and found the ruins inside the cavern, and here he was. Caught in some kind of ancient trap.
He wasn't sure, his mind might've been playing tricks on him. As hours and hours had passed in the darkness, he had heard sounds, explosions, screams and what sounded like moaning and wailing....It had been so long since he had heard anything else in the dark that was no his world, just a distant shuffling...a shambling...or was it a dream?
No, it was a nightmare.
Surely they knew he was there, even though he told no one where he was going. Surely they would come for him. They were his fellow heroes. Damn it, They Were His Fellow Heroes!
What was keeping them?
His hoarse screams echoed back at him, taunting him, laughing at him, and all he could do was scream back, but that was taking up his precious air. Why did he come here, why, whywhywhywhywhy . . .oh god why . . .he could no longer wring his hands, it hurt too much, and it wasnt long after that, that he couldnt move.
He wanted water. Just a drop, a drop was the entire ocean, swimming in his memory.
===================================
He was long past crying.
The hours dragged on. The air grew heavy, his limbs sagged, his mind detached from his situation and started thinking on more lovely things, like sunshine, clean air, the rolling waves crashing against a city he would never see again. And yet he was there, standing on the beach of Talos, and Carl his little brother was with him.
That Carl had died at the hands of the Skulls didn't matter, it just felt right.
He could feel the wind tousle his hair, he could see Carl smiling. He suddenly wanted to say the name he had never uttered, the name that suddenly meant more to him than anything, the name that would have finally closed the distance between them.
Carl he whispered, his eyes closed, and in his mind his brothers smile lit the waves beyond the shore before them.
He took out the back up knife he kept for emergencies one final time, shaking with the effort and the pain in his hands.
His fear was eternally tinged with regret as he ended his own torment.
===================================
Guardian Star stood back as the Paramedics and SWAT officers pulled the body from the chamber. He was in shock, he could only look for a moment, at the greyed skin, the slitted eyes, the matted, dried hair, then turned away, unable to believe they had looked for a friend, and found a corpse. Psiwarp seemed at a professional loss. Some of his hair is missing, Kevin said in a low, shocked voice. I think . . . he shook his head and walked away. Back out into the cavern where the National Guard soldiers were still collecting the bodies of the zombie horde that they had to go through once they had arrived.
Bill closed his eyes and shook his head, the undead had taken care of the Circle of Thorn Mages Scarlet Ranger had come to arrest.../last/ Saturday. Scar must've been trapped in here just as the crisis hit the city. Bill thought bitterly, damn it all why hadn't he told anyone?
Nancy just stared blankly. The young defender also known as Sapphire's Roses back was rigid as the body was carried past them as the paramedics laid out the rookie hero on the stretcher. She swallowed as the corners of her eyes were stung by her tears.
Bill felt himself overcome with the need to see where the scrapper had spent his last days as the blanket finally covered the young man's face.
He walked inside with a flashlight, and choked. Blood covered the wall that had closed him in, explaining the condition of poor guy's bone-exposed fingertips. The place smelled like hot iron disguising something rotten, and underneath that, the tang of human excrement, vomit, any and all bodily fluids that had fled the scene since the corpse couldnt. It wasnt how he wanted to remember the rookie. Not this panic, this fear.
No hero should have to die like this, he thought. Alone in the dark, lost in the paperwork nightmare this current crisis had created.
"God Damn It!" He snarled.
Bill fought to breathe, his light found patches of hair on the ancient stone near the wall that had closed him in, sealing his fate. He had pulled it out in his fright He started to back out, when his light fell across something that send chills through him.
A word, one word desperately scratched out onto the rocks, no longer in blood but chipped white bone...HELP.
Psiwarp caught him as he fell back, and helped him outside to the cordon of emergency vehicles. All around them the city was in chaos, sirens and far off sounds of terror and fighting. Bill fought for breath as the SWAT commander re-entered the chamber. It was some time before the hardened trooper exited, and he walked right over to the shaken defender, who was carefully sipping water as he tried to steady his nerves. Sir, The Swat Commander began, I . . .
I'm okay...Report, Bill said, exhaustion beginning to slip into his voice. The horror of what he had seen still had him shaken. Though he was sure didnt want to know about Scarlet's struggle he would have to check in and make the report late.
He listened to what the officer had discovered and the news paled him, and there was nothing that he could do but return to the fight.
===================================
The Valiant Dazzling Diamond swallowed as she stood next to Lead Agent Benson in Peregrine, the surrounding noise of the news helicopters above and the national Guard tanks rumbling down the main street were hardly enough to drown out the horror of Bill's report to the Longbow operative who oversaw the operations of the young heroes.
....Scar was pronounced dead upon arrival. It is evident by the markings around the chamber in which he was imprisoned that he made every effort to escape. There are clear indications of blood and even bone on the wall that closed him in, left by his desperate attempts to claw his way out. The degree of fear at this point can only be imagined."
She prepared herself for more, she had known Bill most of her life. Her friend's voice held a horror she hadn't heard from him before. As bad as this was she knew there was more to come from how he was acting. Even over the comm. Kara made a mental note to seek him out later. Her eyes wide and teary in frustration and sadness. Her hands trembled and clenched as Benson closed his eyes as Bill continued.
He was so intent on moving the wall that trapped him, that there was one area he missed, hidden away in a corner... and if he had simply reached out..."
Bill's report paused, Kara thought she could hear Nancy's voice in the background encouraging him. After a deep breath with a shake in his voice that could only have been dread, he continued.
"If he had only just reached out in that other direction... Scar would have found a hole that led to the mouth of the cavern, and outside . . . .
Find us here at Templars of the Abbey Webpage
Arc # 57740 - 'A Star is Rising Part One'
Arc # 90575 - 'A Lesson Taught'
Arc # 139943 - 'And The Game Goes Tilt'
October 28, 2008 - King's Row
The police sirens were a distant sound around him as the city continued to come apart, overwhelmed by the man's labored breathing and the sound of splashing water. Although his legs screamed in agony, he forced himself to keep running. All around him the heroes of the city had been fighting zombies and those damn things that crawled out of the shadows and doorways each year.
"Damn it!" he snarled as the shoulder of his costume snagged on a dumpster as he left the warehouse.
He had come to King's Row to sow the seeds of Mayhem and rob a bank for his contact. His reputation was on the line. All this week the undead had attacked the isles, but until he came to paragon he had no idea it had been this severe! Each door he had forced open he had met the creature of Halloween, that he could deal with. They were slower and dumber than most heroes and police he fought. However what he was not prepared for was the number of zombie hordes running around Paragon City.
His leather boots pounded on the pavement in an almost hypnotic rhythm. Then, they slipped as the man turned a sharp corner and slipped at a puddle. He barely stopped himself in mid-fall and bit back a scream as red brick friction-burned his hand.
Somehow he kept moving, stopping wasn't an option. Not with an Hero on his trail.
Maybe that was why he kept running even as his brain numbly registered the wall that he just crashed into. He'd been cornered, crashed into the wall, his head rocked back at the force and crimson stained his vision.
He turned around and shakily reached for his rifle, resting his entire weight on the unyielding wall. He flicked off the safety and raised it at the Hero who calmly approached him. Her red hair flowed down her shoulders and disappeared behind her green costume. Her green gloved hands glowed a pulsing soft purple as she began to charge her powers up for a blast.
"We don't have time for this" She panted wearily "Drop your rifle and the money"
A hysterical laugh escaped his lips as the other easily dodge each consecutive shot as he jerked up his rifle to fire. Those rounds that did strike home were easily deflected by her force field. Even when his magazine was empty, he still keep on squeezing at the trigger. He watched as she took her time as she raised her own arms up to aim at him.
That was when it happened.
There was the flutter of disturbed air as a dark figure leaped from the roof of a neighboring building. It landed with a soft thud on the pavement. With no hesitation whatsoever, it lunged for the Agent's throat. The cornered man watched with morbid fascination as his adversary helplessly struggled in the newcomer's firm grip. Dark red gushed out as row upon row of sharp teeth tore at the jugular vein.
"Damn...that's nasty." The man heard himself say as he cringed at the sight. The dark figure shook and trembled as an evil slurping sound filled the hallway to join the sounds of terror that wafted through the eternal night of the city.
"Wow....thanks for the timely rescue my friend" The villain rose, readjusting his satchel full of cash.
At that, the dark stranger looked up. Its movement brought part of is face into the moonlight, its pale white skin virtually glowing. The startled villain found himself frozen under the steady gaze of glittering black orbs, the twisted snarl like smile and the glint off of the crimson set of sharpened fangs. He watched as a delicate white clawed hand wiped the pale face clean and a long crimson tongue snaked out and licked its lips.
The man knew what this was, he had fought them before. This was one of the new vampires, a child of the shadows that came only once a year. Someone must've opened a door and failed to stop this one. It was loose in the city, he thought as he dropped the satchel and fought with fumbling fingers to reload his rifle.
The speed of its attack tore the breath from his body, the other was on him, it's hot hungry mouth tearing at his throat. The hapless heroine hadn't screamed. She didn't have the time.
But, the villain did.
Find us here at Templars of the Abbey Webpage
Arc # 57740 - 'A Star is Rising Part One'
Arc # 90575 - 'A Lesson Taught'
Arc # 139943 - 'And The Game Goes Tilt'
October 29th, 2008 - King's Row
Originally posted by Black Fathom
The Abbey, about two hours later...
Thoroughly ill, or rather the spectral equivilant of such anyway.
As the Blackfathom shuffled miserably into the front doors of the Abbey, He sneezed, coughed several times and before long broke into a horrid-sounding fit of hacks and coughs that seemed to lack any voice to them.
At the very begnning of the All Hallows season, the sudden misalignment of the the spectral and physical realms often had a strange effect on the magically inclined. For bound spectres like him, it meant a form of rather annoying curse that often was mistaken for a cold or flu.
'Fathom, blatently hated it.
He had an important task to perform, the gathering of materials, scripts, tomes and resources in order to open a gateway to Shadalogoth, the home of the Sevathi Battlemages. This curse it seemed had other ideas and so, taking into account the constant onslaught of zombies shambling to and fro at un-discernable hours of the day, he had decided to retreat back to the Abbey for a quiet sit down and a snifter of Benedictine should the concept tickle him...
What he was not informed on however was the gauntlet of improvised traps laying in wait in the darkened entry-way to the bar area, set by two over-active young minds and a lot of improvised equipment...
The old mage's first ailed step led his foot right into a small patch of what would appear to be cooking oil smeared just thin enough to be slippery but just enough to send him skidding forward and into a neck-high piece of string which in turn sent him sprawling onto his back with a loud *THWUMP!* and a sharp, hollow-sounding grunt.
His vision swam a moment as he struggled back to his feet, rather stiffly adjusting his coat and taking a triumphant step forward which led him straight into the path of a swinging water baloon delivery system. This too sent him sprawling onto his side again, drenched to about the waist.
His hood clung comically around his face as he reeled from the last delivery rising to his feet once more in an act of sheer defiance and willpower which was swiftly met with a low swinging base-ball bat to the ankles on a spring mechanism.
Remarkably, he managed to hold his footing, staggering a bit but trumphantly holding his arms aloft to raise a challenge to whatever clearly malicious and distasteful mind had set such a devious assortment of traps
"Tis there nothing else? Tis such as I *Sniffle* have survived all there is to offer? What foolishness to think that such a paltry array could halt one such as *cough* I, the Black...fa...thom..."
His speech slowed to a crawl as he heard a gentle creak emenate from behind him, as he spun around to watch in absolute horror as what appeared to be a the handle section of a sledgehammer swing forward in a gracefully elegant arc into his face.
The world went black until suddenly he found himself sliding across the floor of the Abbey's main sitting area on his face, clearly laying in another puddle of cooking oil.
Things finally drew to a close as his movement slowed, finally coming to a stop somewhere in the middle of the floor. For a moment all was still as the murky figure slowly drew his hands upward and propped himself up on his elbows, muttering all manner of things in languages too foul and too ancient to be mentioned.
It was a with a final hang of his head and a struggle to his feet he shambled over to the bar, slumping down on a seat soggy, greasy, sore, cursed and miserable.
"To Hell with a simple snifter" He muttered to himself, fishing out the bottle of DOM Benedictine from behind the counter as he cleared his throat several times "A bottle seems rather more fitting considering prior events"
He opened the bottle, taking a more than healthy swig from it before raising the bottle aloft and proclaiming
"To All Hallows, and it ending promptly or at the very least promptly ending me..."
=====================
=====================
October 29th, 2008 - Skyway City
Originally posted by Mazin
Across town, in Skyway:
With a long suffering sigh, the black-clad demon plops into an office chair in the darkened shop. The M.W. Magical Emporium has been closed since nearly the second day of the zombie invasion, various wards having been erected by the magi on staff. It had started simply enough. Friends and family of the employees had been invited to stay there since it was likely more secure than most other places around Paragon, and then the occasional person with no idea where to go had been directed here by the demon hero. Before he knew it, people were piled in the subterranean shop, with most of the goods relocated to the storage rooms in the back in order to prevent accidents. Fortunately, only Ren had been blown to pieces before this decision was made. Sure, he regenerated almost immediately but the next victim would likely not be as lucky.
In order to make things more comfortable, Mazin had opened up the area below the shop that was used for summonings, product experiments, and similar things. Fortunately, Ren's workers keep the place in reasonable condition, so there were no unsightly bloodstains to worry the civilians. Though in the end, he supposes the most fortunate ones in that case are him and his workers. He has never before hated serving the people so much as he does now that they actually make it seem like he is a servant. Food, water, diapers, medicine... anything they could possibly require, he is expected to procure. Despite the many requests, not a single one of them seem to feel obligated to offer recompense to him for the many expenses. It is not that he has any trouble with money though. It is merely the idea that they expect him to manage it out of the kindness of his heart. Clearly they don't know him so well.
Still, he supposes that he should be building up the good karma, since he is supposedly going to end the world or something at some point. Then there is the worry of what Kara would say if he threw a tantrum and started tossing people to the zombies. So, he spends his time fixing up mass quantities of food and sending his minions out to collect the various things that his human masters require of him, when he would much rather be out there ripping apart zombies.
A sudden clearing of a throat snaps him out of his thoughts and he lifts a hand from his eyes to regard the... person in front of him. A huge woman stands before him with her hands on her very wide hips, her pudgy face a mask of irritation. Ever since she had waddled into the shop in order to take advantage of the safety of the shop and the servitude of its employers, she has had this expression on her face. No matter what he has done to please her, she has continued to berate him for the time it took and has not yet ceased to have a request or complaint.
He takes a moment to regard her, contemplating how humans manage to move about on their own two feet after putting on that much fat. If he were to push her into Talos bay, with that much blubber, people would clearly mistake her for a... another throat clearing interrupts that thought. With a sigh, he blinks his eyes at her and asks, in as moderate a tone as he can manage, Yes, whale?
Her face purples and a tirade is just on the verge of being released, but Mazin puts his hands up to forestall her. Ma'am, sorry. I was thinking about this, uh, giant mutant whale I fought off the coast of...
She cuts him off, but this time it is fortunate, as he had no idea how he was going to continue to expand on that little lie. I don't know why you are sitting here when there are people like me who are suffering in that little hole you stuck us in.
He can't help but blink when he tries to imagine the basement as being small. The room is large enough to summon the much abused Envoy of Shadows and three of his friends with room to spare. Suffering, ma'am? Everyone has plenty of water, everyone had dinner just a couple of hours ago. There's diapers, deodorant, and who knows what else down there after we went on a shopping spree to get everything you guys have asked for. I can't imagine what else you could want.
She starts to open her mouth to tell him her latest demand, but he decides enough is enough, and holds up a hand to forestall her. For a moment it seems that it is not enough to stop her from speaking when she wishes to speak, but he simply talks right over her. Come to think of it, for every complaint that someone else has had, you've had nearly ten. Then, no matter what I do to try to fix it, you have complaints about how I went about it. It's enough to make me feel sorry for any guy that's ever tried to stick a dick in you. I'm sure you'd berate him enough to make him regret ever having the desire to do so.
Her face goes purple once more and she looks on the verge of an explosion, but she can only sputter for a moment. Her demon servant does not even give her the chance to explode, stepping forward to take hold of her flowery dress. Now, you listen to me, Shamu. You've managed to annoy me enough that I'm almost willing to toss you out to the zombies, but I'm pretty sure they would just toss you back. Even zombies won't like a dinner that's all fat and little meat. But, if you don't get back down there and keep your mouth shut, we're going to find out. Do you understand me?
The woman's pudgy cheeks seem oddly splotchy at the end of that speech, as if her purple face had tried to go red and then pale at the same time, ending up in an odd mixture of all three. She manages a small nod and when he releases her dress, she makes a squeak and hurries toward the stairs leading into the basement chamber.
Mazin watches her go for a moment, before sighing and rubbing the back of his neck. Karma, that one doesn't count, he says to the empty shop. She had that one coming.
Find us here at Templars of the Abbey Webpage
Arc # 57740 - 'A Star is Rising Part One'
Arc # 90575 - 'A Lesson Taught'
Arc # 139943 - 'And The Game Goes Tilt'
October 30th, 2008 - Brickstown, 'The Zig'
Originally posted by Lucianna
My dear, sweet Brianna. What have you become?
Dark Doll sat up in bed quickly, startled to see more Mister Bocor looking at her. How the hell did you get in here?
I can get into any number of places. In this case I arranged an official visit with the penitentiary.
You can officially see your [censored] out. This is all your fault, she growled.
My fault. Interesting. I feel I did my part in our arrangement. I said Kill Lucianna Addo. I even gave you a partner. And you failed. Which mystifies me. Its not as if she had given you trouble in the past.
I tried
Brianna said weakly.
What I dont understand is that you beat her to death, save for an unexpected miracle in your first encounter
the second time you had her
defeated her once again. But the police were arriving. Instead of killing her quickly, you chose to attack the partner I had assigned you and tossed your prey in a garbage dumpster. Unconventional, but not very effective.
I wouldnt have time to get away.
Mr. Bocor smirked. We wouldve arranged an extraction. A lot of people went to a lot of trouble to get you in place to do one simple job. Plots in the Isles are like matryoshka dolls. One inside another, inside another, inside another. You, Dark Doll, were the big doll, holding all the others inside. And the dolls on the inside, they became very unhappy when they were exposed.
[censored] you.
Youre too pale and too young.
[censored].
Let me continue my trip down memory land. Confrontation the third: Lucianna Addo unexpectedly held her own and the two of you maltreated one another horribly. I recall that she actually burst your head open. What was that like? he asked, raising a carefully shaped eyebrow.
Brianna shuddered as the sensation of it came to her. A kick from Lucianna, followed by the worst pain of her life. She had felt her skull break apart, the disorienting sensation of her eyes being into two different places. Watching from one eye as her brain slithered back to the remains of her skull. The smell of blood and Luciannas vomit when her nose reformed. Her ears unnaturally separated, causing everything to sound wrong. And the pain, so much pain. Dear god why had she been conscious for all of that?
She looked up at Mr. Bocor. He was the reason. It was the worst thing that ever happened to me. Thinking about it makes me wish I had just died.
He sat on the edge of the infirmary bed. Brianna moved closer to the edge. Dont say that. The Gothic culture is equally about death and life. Obsessed with one, but craving the other. In endless supply. My gift gives that too you.
[censored] you! You cursed me! You made me that way! You turned me into a monster!
Mr. Bocor laughed and it echoed around the prison infirmary in a way that chilled Brianna. You were already a monster. Filled with rage and hate. His voice became more excited as he spoke. An angry little girl! Mad at her parents! Mad at the world! Mad without reason! I. Gave. You. A physical manifestation of your anger. You cant hide it anymore! The whole world gets to see!
Laughs on you skull-face. My powers are gone. Luciannas friends cast some kind of spell on me. My shadow is just a shadow now.
Thats where youre wrong. They did bind your magic. Its an admirable job for not knowing what they were dealing with. But I am the original architect and I can see its all still just below the surface. He reached out to her.
Brianna jumped up and started to back away. Dont touch me. I dont want it back!
You dont want revenge? Against Lucianna whos been a thorn in your side. Against her girlfriend who put you here in the infirmary? Against your boyfriend abandoned you when you were incarcerated? Or are you going to let everyone walk on you? Youre just going to accept it? And most of all, do you really want to be weak for the rest of your life? I dont think you do.
Brianna backed into another bed. I
I want to have a real life again. I want all the things I lost.
You can have them.
You give me my powers back? What then? Im still in prison. Im still in psychical therapy from that Japanese [censored] breaking my arms and legs. Im not seeing much appeal here.
One thing at a time, Mr. Bocor responded. First
He made no move or sound, but Brianna felt it. The same sensation when he had cursed her when she was ten years old. The world was so very cold; a coldness that crept over he limbs and filled her chest. A coldness that felt as if it was squeezing her heart.
Brianna stood stock still as it happened. It was over after a minute. Brianna stared at him with tears in her eyes. You [censored]! Not again! I dont want it again!
I didnt ask. Its not like youve got a choice. It was always there. Ive just shaped it into something useful. Now I think its time we left.
Left? Brianna chirped.
Left. Without moving Mr. Bocor was suddenly beside her, his hand on her wrist. No more prison. No more weakness. And with those words they were suddenly outside. They stood on the street in Brickstown, looking at the Zig.
How..?
Mr. Bocor flashed a devilish grin. I made special arrangements. That was one time only.
Brianna snatched her wrist away from him, looking around at the buildings, up at the red sky. So
what do you want?
We wont worry about that today. Its Halloween. Yuletide for a Gothic lady like yourself. And this is a very special Halloween. Go enjoy yourself. And Ill be back to talk with you when the time is right.
Mr. Bocor was gone. Brianna stood on the sidewalk alone. Not too far away a woman opened a door and a pumpkin-headed monster leapt out and attacked her. Zombies clawed their way up out of the ground, lurching toward a group of people brandishing rakes and shovels. Somewhere someone screamed a bloodcurdling scream. Brianna smiled. She felt better. Her injuries were gone. A full blood red moon shined down her. She had dreamed of nights like this. Halloween. Freedom. Revenge.
Find us here at Templars of the Abbey Webpage
Arc # 57740 - 'A Star is Rising Part One'
Arc # 90575 - 'A Lesson Taught'
Arc # 139943 - 'And The Game Goes Tilt'
October 31st, 2008 - Paragon City, Rhode Island
MAGI Representative - (weary voice) ".....I'll take your questions..."
FOX NEWS Reporter - "...Why did this start so early?"
MAGI Representative - "We don't know..."
HEADLINE NEWS Reporter - "How do you hope to contain the spread of this....new threat through out the city?"
MAGI Representative - "We...don't know"
MSNBC Reporter - "Is this a city wide health hazard or a Military and Corps one?...We have had reports of horde of these...things in the war zone and Croa.."
MAGI Representative - (Interrupting gently) "We don't know...."
CNN Reporter - "Are these things alive or not?"
MAGI Representative - "We don't know....no..yes...we aren't sure at this time"
There's a man goin' 'round takin' names.
An' he decides who to free and who to blame.
Everybody won't be treated all the same.
"Once more this is Harrison Carter, Channel Five News...most city streets remain clear of nonessential traffic as emergency vehicles move throughout the streets below and the skies now seems to be turning red with as we lose the sun once more..."
There'll be a golden ladder reaching down.
When the man comes around.
"This is an update to the Emergency Broadcast system...remain in your homes...as with any such event citizens are encouraged to prop open any and all doors that are already open and leave them ajar..."
The hairs on your arm will stand up.
At the terror in each sip and in each sup.
"....and get to safety at once...once more we are reporting at this hour an early arrival of a city wide event...do not attempt to encounter the creatures invading your home...there are also reports of a new threat..."
For you partake of that last offered cup,
Or disappear into the potter's ground.
"....I can clearly see literally hundreds of heroes across the city engaging these creatures of the night as they go from secured door to secured door ...police and emergency units are responding as fast as they can to desperate attempts to evacuate those who wish to leave the city..."
When the man comes around.
" ....It's clear at this point Janice that all attempts at the preplanned evacuation have fallen into complete chaos now with the early arrival of this years horrors...City and State resources are being pushed to their limits..."
Hear the trumpets, hear the pipers.
One hundred million angels singin'.
" ....It was simply horrible! They just keep coming!..The smell!!!"
Multitudes are marching to the big kettle drum.
"....repeat do not attempt to reach loved ones, report to your designated evacuation station or follow your assigned route out of the city...police and national guard units are preparing...."
Voices callin', voices cryin'.
Some are born an' some are dyin'.
It's Alpha's and Omega's Kingdom come.
"They came out of the ground! I mean all teeth and rot...if it wasn't for the heroes nearby they would've torn us apart!!..."
And the whirlwind is in the thorn tree.
"...I have mentioned earlier at previous Press Conferences, all civil and state authorities are in complete cooperation...we will get to you as quickly as possible, As Mayor I can guarantee my fellow citizens Paragon City will..."
The virgins are all trimming their wicks.
The whirlwind is in the thorn tree.
"....Bob, The Heroes below have formed a defensive circle and are completely surrounded with a ...well what only can be described as a /horde/ of undead, shambling corpses ....it is pure chaos down there..."
It's hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
"...As mentioned earlier the Mayor has urged all citizens to either remain home or make their way to their designated evacuation centers....schools have been closed...some businesses have also been advised to close ..."
Till Armageddon, no Shalam, no Shalom.
Then the father hen will call his chickens home.
"(screaming in the background) ...Oh My God! Andrew!...as you can see behind me ....careful careful now! ....Its total chaos, reports are now coming in that evacuation centers have simply just given up and become rescue stations at this point...(automatic weapons fire in the background)
The wise men will bow down before the throne.
And at his feet they'll cast their golden crown.
"....I can't believe I'm seeing this Tom, it's like something out of a Romero film...The Heroes, Police and National Guard have drawn up a defensive line here at Portal Corps...GET DOWN!...HERE THEY COME!!"
When the man comes around.
(A jostling camera,images of people running and screaming, sounds of sirens and explosion, a giant pumpkin stalk of a foot slams down)....oh my god my god...ROB! ...ROB?!"
Whoever is unjust, let him be unjust still.
Whoever is righteous, let him be righteous still.
"...Repeat this is an Emergency Broadcast...this is not a Test...."
Whoever is filthy, let him be filthy still.
Listen to the words long down,
"..This is simply incredible Sharon, ...it has to be thirty no! forty feet tall! striding across the streets....its head a massive flaming pumpkin!....the sound of the battle is deafening as it tries to ward off the heroes!"
When the man comes around.
"...this has turned into a massive battle! Dozens of heroes have arrived to drive the massive horde of undead back from the helpless refugees as they try to defend the shelter....Oh My God there are more! MORE OF THEM ARE COMING OUT OF THE GROUND (sounds of a horrific battle and people screaming)..."
Hear the trumpets, hear the pipers.
One hundred million angels singin'.
"(Screaming and people running) .....please please remain calm....let them through to -them-...please...oh my god!....Nooo!..(static hiss and horrible chewing and tearing sounds) *PLEASE STAND BY* (Tone)"
Multitudes are marchin' to the big kettle drum.
Voices callin', voices cryin'.
"...rescue shelters have been set up throughout the city....volunteers have been donating blood and cooking food all day Steven...Citizens are urged to stay in their homes all attempts at organized evacuation have now ceased ..."
Some are born an' some are dyin'.
It's Alpha's and Omega's Kingdom come.
"Mister Mayor...Mister Mayor!...When can we expect an end to..."
And the whirlwind is in the thorn tree.
The virgins are all trimming their wicks.
"....unbelievable Michael as I am watching the heroes have managed to defeat the horde before they could break through to us...the heroes are swarming back out into the city. Presumably to deal with the creatures from the doors as I am watching, Emergency Personnel and Volunteers are moving to deal with the wounded now..."
The whirlwind is in the thorn tree.
It's hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
"Repeat this is a broadcast of the Emergency Broadcast System..this is Not a Test..."
In measured hundredweight and penny pound.
When the man comes around.
And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts,
And I looked and behold: a pale horse.
And his name, that sat on him, was Death.
And Hell followed with him.
<another shameless tribute. This time to a horror classic's remake, but I couldnt resist again! HAPPY HALLOWEEN! >
Find us here at Templars of the Abbey Webpage
Arc # 57740 - 'A Star is Rising Part One'
Arc # 90575 - 'A Lesson Taught'
Arc # 139943 - 'And The Game Goes Tilt'
Novemeber 2nd, 2008 - Steel Canyon
Originally Posted by Epine Rouge
A lone figure perched on the shoulder of the great statue of Blyde in Steel Canyon, silent and brooding for the moment. He was in an ill mood. Two weeks of this darkness in Paragon City, two weeks without the sunrises. Rose wasn't kidding, it did wear on him. He, however, had the fortune to find someone to take much of the sting out of the situation, but it faded quickly whenever he was away from her.
And now he had other worries. Jimmy was peering at his right arm, the sleeve of his armor having flickered away for the moment. The bite he sustained fighting one of the zombie hordes kept returning. True, it was slowly lessened every time it returned, but the fact that it was returning at all worried him. He would have much loved to be able to find Rose and ask her about this, but he still had no word of her travels.
He remembered accidentally catching a glimpse of her changing only a week before she left. He was mortified, she was amused. It was one of the few times he'd ever seen her laugh. But what bothered him more afterward was the black mark on her chest that he'd seen. A shadow crossed her face when he asked about it, and she would only say that there are things even creatures like them had to fear death from. But she also insisted that she had dealt with that particular problem. He had let it go, but he still felt even now that she had been hiding something from him. This incident came to mind after the first time the wound returned.
But, the wound was fading. He thought that maybe he was lucky that the zombie that bit him was one of the weaker ones. Maybe he did have something to fear for his own sake from this event after all. His mind had always been on the safety of the civilians...and Beth when she had patrolled with him.
Jimmy stood suddenly, just noticing the commotion starting below. Screams. Gunshots. He looked up at the reddening sky. It was starting again. In a flicker of flame his sleeve reappeared, then he was sheathed an an aura of fire that formed great wings sprouting from his back. Without a second thought, he leapt from his perch and dove toward the growing mass of zombies even before other heroes began responding to the call that went out on the alert channels.
------------------------------
November 4th, 2008 - King's Row
Originally Posted by Epine Rouge
Jimmy sat on the corner of the rooftop of his apartment building, eyes closed and facing eastward. He had heard it this morning, if "heard" was ever the right word for it. Something that had been missing for far too long now. It was a song, faint, but its long absence made him more keenly aware of it. The song reached to his very core, the part of him that harbored the phoenix flame. As the song grew more intense, he stood up. Then he felt it, the first ray of light as the sun broke over the horizon. The aura of life's fire sprung into live around him, streaming back behind him into the great flaming wings. His feet left contact with the rooftop and he rose slowly into the air as the sun climbed higher. Just as it broke fully over the horizon, he settled lightly onto his feet again and opened his eyes.
"Bonjour, mon ami. It's been too long." A smile lit his face as the aura continued to flicker around him, exhilarated by the return of the long hidden sun. The spell had been broken and day had finally returned to Paragon City. He had endured the night, much better than he should have, but only because of Beth. He opened his eyes, looking into the sun without squinting or blinking. It would not damage the eyes of one of its children. Several minutes passed and the sun climbed higher above the horizon. It was time to move.
Jimmy took flight, clicking on the com in his ear as he did so. No voices yet. It was too early, of course. He missed sleeping late, but he also found that he didn't require as much sleep as before the phoenix had awakened in him. Plus, the song of sunrise was something not to be missed.
Something on the street below distracted him from his thoughts. He wheeled around to hover over an alley. Two lingering groups of zombies had pinned a dog in, coming in from either end of the alley. He made a dive just as they converged on it, burning them to ash within a minute. They were weakened by the breaking of the spell that had held the city, but also by the daylight. He looked around quickly once they had been dealt with and saw the furry form laying on the ground. He knelt beside the German shepherd and looked her over. She was old, gray fur around her muzzle. And she was quite still. Jimmy looked at her sadly, watching the light slowly dim from her.
"You're tired, girl..." Even as he said this, he noticed another dim light within her and gasped in astonishment. He placed a hand over her belly in wonder. She was too old for this, and after being attacked as she had been, it was a wonder the one remaining was still alive. The others had been lost previously, he guessed. This one would be too if she died. He gently stroked the dog's head and a flicker of flame stretched from his hand to slowly cover her whole body without even singing the fur. Jimmy smiled as the dog's eyes opened slowly. Ragged and old, but alive now. "I knew you'd come back. You have one last thing to do before you can rest, don't you? Come on now. I'll take care of you as long as you need to stay for him, then I'll make sure he's taken care of."
Jimmy picked up the old dog and took flight again, carrying her to the Abbey. Maybe someone there would know more about what she'd need so he could keep the promise.
Find us here at Templars of the Abbey Webpage
Arc # 57740 - 'A Star is Rising Part One'
Arc # 90575 - 'A Lesson Taught'
Arc # 139943 - 'And The Game Goes Tilt'
<From our boards, as always we thought it would be neat to tell ghost stories or funny halloween stories from This Year's events as we have for the last four years! I hope you enjoy them! Happy Halloween!>
October 20th, 2009 - King's Row
Kara was exhausted...completely.
She had been fighting all night, from the Rogue Islands to Paragon. She had used all of her pull to divert the Longbow Raid team she had been deploying with during her search for Katrina when the invasion alerts had sounded once more out over Paragon City.
The blaring fire and civil defense horns began sounding all through the city soon after the first attacks had begun. She like most this time were caught completely off guard by the early arrival of this renewed assault. Much like last year those that detect such things were off in their predictions. She, like most vetrans of such an invasion had known it was coming, yet her heart froze as she as she heard the reports and watched as the light bled out of the sky that morning.
Her first thought was for her daughter, she knew Phil was more than capable of fending off basic attacks but her heart was relieve when she got the call from RJ that Phil had made it to the Abbey. She would head there just as soon as she was able for it was Halloween time in Paragon City again...and once more the city found itself locked in a struggle to survive.
However this time the creatures and the walking dead had brought more allies, the cold dark night had a feel of greater evil, like a cool draft from a slaughter house.
She came to a rest at the Abbey's entrance. Over her shoulder she looked out across the mayhem of the city trapped in perpetual night once again. The flashing lights of the floating helicopters and airships could be seen across the whole of the city as they moved from one crisis to another. Their spotlights acting as beacons pointing directly down at each trouble spot for the multitudes of heroes now on call.
The shrill wail of the police and emergency sirens danced around her from the streets surrounding the Abbey to mix with the horrible trills and screeches of the city newest invaders. The cries of the undead and howls of the wolves blended with police gunfire and the far away booms and blasts from responding heroes helped to compose a terrifying opera of the night for the besieged city. A performance that continued uninterrupted across all the zones of the city she now called home.
She entered the darkened club, most of her family, those she knew to still be around were already out in the middle of this mess. Kara hesitated only a moment before she noticed the club's door was left slightly ajar, stepping over one the various 'booby traps' that had to have been set up by Phil, her little time honored halloween tradition, once more this time allowed by the staff. Good girl, she thought to herself as she moved into the living area of the base behind the bar. Of course her little hero was as prepared as always but still she worried.
She smirked as she thought how casually Phil was taking the events. She was even becoming exasperated sometimes with her guardian's persistent calls. Why Kara was even given an update on the goings on with the TV show 'Degrassi" they occasionally watched together.
Her heels clicked across the floor as she began to make herself a quick hot chocolate. Atop the counter, next to the box of 'supplies' of snacks and other such preferred food for the girl, Kara found the note left by RJ. She picked it up and read as she barely acknowledged a TV somewhere beyond the rooms blared on to an empty room updates and evacuation information still and the location of hastily set up 'rescue stations'.
RJ. the note said, had decided like most others to go out on patrol and help as much as she could until this crisis had passed. Phil was in their usual room in the back and was said to be awaiting her. She smiled at that shivering a little at the quiet of the darkened bar. The staff had left all of the doors within slightly ajar. For safety reasons ofcourse but the extra shadows just played on her mind and adding the crypt like feel of the empty club.
As she half listened to the news reports it seemed that thus far there were no real reports of the dead appearing beyond Paragon City and the Rogue Islands. The world may have been lucky...this time. There also seemed to be confusion surrounding the new adversary and something called 'banners'.
She half thought about sending Phil out of the city this year, given the mess with Katrina, kara's maternal instict was to spirit her daughter away as far as she could until the threat passed, yet something in Phil's determined voice had left that as only an option for now. Should things escalate further, Kara thought she would not hesitate to ship her out to her friend Katherine and her family, now hiding in the suburbs. Kara noted the number RJ left for Katherine should she decide to exercise just this option.
She shook her head at the thought for now as she retrieved her mug of hot chocolate from the microwave. Setting down the note she walked back out into the living area.
The wide-screen TV, though almost muted, bathed the rec room in a flickering blueish light as it showed various images and locales through out the city. Emergency information and instructions continued to run across the bottom of the screen telling any who remained awake what to do to secure themselves during Paragon's most recent invasion and how to reach an emergency rescue station. Reporters and experts added their impressions and advice as yet another night of the most recent invasion was coming to a close.
Kara paused as the TV showed yet another pitched battle in Peregrine with a rather large horde of the rising dead and some blurred shots of a massive beast she hadnt seen before. She shuddered, deep down in her core the idea of true zombies scared her, much like last year but the thought of a new foe terrified her. Adding to this what she had just learned from the MAGI briefing...
..It was going to be another long invasion.
Kara slipped carefully down the carpeted hallway to peek in on her daughter. Apparently she had decided to 'bunker' up once more. She smiled as the moved into the 'heavily defended' room carefully avoiding all of the 'critter traps' Phil was prone to set through out the room to capture any 'Halloween critters', as the Phil called them, that may come for them as she slept.
She knelt next to Phil's bed and re-wrapped her up in her thick comforter. Phil stirred as well a little her eyes opening a little as she murred gently "Oh..good you are home"
"Ssssh" Kara reassured "Go back to sleep squirtle..I'm here" She settled in next to her "As Always" She could feel the weariness seep into her joints. She smirked a little, knowing it wouldn't last, her form would reset soon enough but for now she was tired and sore. She sighed as she watched over her daughter for a moment and smiled.
Her heart stopped at the suddenness of her comm.s buzzing. "Omigawd!" She leaned forward and kissed the top of Phil's head causing the child to stir only slightly this time and not awake again. Carefully as she maneuvered to avoid the traps, Kara navigated back out into the hall to answer her comm.
"What!?" Her voice weary but slightly annoyed at the interruption. She listened to the situation and briefing and shook her head. "Oh God Bill..like where are you?"
"No...I can't not right at the moment, I'm down for a few hours..." She smirked at the passive attempt by her old friend as he fed her the current situation in Steel and Founder's Falls.
"No...No...Yes...fine I will as soon as I can" She listened to him finally understand who she was with and where she was at the moment.
"...all right Kar...get some rest, you are needed there..." in the background she could hear the cries for backup and Bill yell to someone to 'GET DOWN'...there was a pause followed by his radioactive blasts. "We can hold here...its been a helluva a day...well night now...."
"Its been days..." she droned really tired as she looked back to her spot on the bed next to Phil's sleeping form.
"All right Kar" Guardian Star cut her to the chase "I'll call around 8....all right?" his tone very much like a big brother. "Get some rest"
"So sounds good Bill...use the alliance comm if it really gets bad"
"Nah we got it...as Nancy and Kevin say " he added with the chuckle "It cant get any more bad then how these things smell....nighters kiddo!"
"Bill there are reports of a new...." She began to add wearily.
"Yeah ....trust me it will be here for you, get some rest. There are enough of us out here right now...the National Guard is on its way to help the PCPD with the evacs and set up more rescue stations...go to bed!"
She smiled, leave it to Bill to find humor in such a terrifying situation. She clicked off her comm and turned to walk back into the 'bunkered' room not even bothering with the light nor even to change out of her costume as she settled back under the comforter. She paused only to set her mug on the small table to her right as the TV continued to drone on just beyond the wall of their room.
"...THIS SITUATION IS CONTROLLABLE. PEOPLE MUST COME TO GRIPS WITH THIS CONCEPT...IT'S EXTREMELY DIFFICULT..."
THE SITUATION MUST BE CONTROLLED...BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE...THEY ARE MULTIPLYING TOO RAPIDLY..."
"...CITIZENS SHOULD BE MOVING INTO CENTRAL AREAS OF EACH ZONE OF THE CITY...OR TO ONE OF THE NATIONAL GUARD EVACUATION AREAS...INTERSTATE ACCESS AND HIGHWAYS REMAINED BOTTLE NECKED..."
Kara sighed as her eyes fluttered shut, the mutual peaceful rhythm of her daughter's breathing winning out over her desire to remain awake. Soon she found herself in a fitful sleep as across the city, darkness and the walking dead continued their strange danse macabre with the citizens and heroes of Paragon City...
Find us here at Templars of the Abbey Webpage
Arc # 57740 - 'A Star is Rising Part One'
Arc # 90575 - 'A Lesson Taught'
Arc # 139943 - 'And The Game Goes Tilt'
October 21st, 2009
Posted by Templar Lucianna
((The original one. New one coming soon!))
FADE IN:
A chiming mysterious sounding music plays, as the scenes play out with no sound
The camera pans across a moonlit suburban neighborhood. Children are out in Halloween costumes going door to door. The camera zooms in on one house.
Three children, a ghost, a boy dressed as Statesman, and a girl in a cowboy outfit walk up to the door and shout "Trick or Treat." Two soft pink balls of light float pass a window on the far side of the house, pass a closer window, then stop at the door, casting pink light on the children outside. The door opens and a delicate, female hand takes the candy bag from the ghost, then hands it back; something heavy was added to the bag.
The three children walk away from the house smiling. Statesman lifts his mask and pulls a bottle of Sprite out of the bag and takes a drink. A child in a spaceman outfit walks up to him and asks where he got the Sprite. Statesman points to the house behind him.
The next scene shows a long line of costumed children at the door and other children leaving, Sprite in hand. Diamond stands in the doorway, hands glowing softly. She gives a Sprite on a girl dressed as a princess and waves to the little girl with a smile on her face.
The scene changes to a pumpkin carved in the shape of a Sprite bottle then
:FADE OUT
================================================== ==========
October 25th, 2009 - King's Row, 'The Abbey'
Posted by Templar Fire Cat (RJ)
Rj's voice was soft and mysterious in the darkened room. A single flashlight lit up her face as she sat Indian style across the sleeping bag she had laid out across the floor. Across from her sat Phil, hanging on every word as she spoke. Around their sleeping bags was the pizza box and bottles of soda Kara had delivered just an hour or two before....
"The house was a fairly large semi detached house. It was late; around nine pm for a young girl of seven to return home. Being winter it was dark and raining. Lucy ran from the street up to the wooden door and rang the doorbell crying Mommy, Mommy let me in. After a while the door creaked open and Lucy wondered into the long wooden hall lined with stairs.
Lucy. Where have you been! Mother yelled at Lucy. Far from being afraid of the old women with curly black hair and a long nose that balanced spectacles, Lucy simply replied,
I was at school mommy. I was drawing. Look. Lucy rummaged in her bag and pulled out her sketchpad. Her mother sighed put decided to humor the little girl. She took the sketchbook from her daughters arms and opened it. The first drawing was of a china doll. Her mother recognized it immediately. It was a very expensive doll that had been passed down through the family for years. It had been her Mothers most beloved possession. The Mother thumbed through the book and froze.
The next page had the same doll on it, but with a tiny chip on its arm with a caption reading 1890. The one after that the doll had a long scratch on its face. The caption read 1943. As her mother looked through the book she notices as time went on the doll slowly got more abused and well, broken. Finally she got to the present. The doll was missing an eyeball and most of the hair had been torn out. She turned the page. The caption for this page was Thursday. The doll was no longer smiling. It was grimacing. It had a large kitchen knife in one hand and blood on its dress. It was walking up a staircase.
Her mother was shocked. What made you draw these things? Why did you draw them, sweety?
She told me to. Lucy spoke distantly, almost painfully.
Darling these are good drawings but theyre horrible. I dont want you to draw them anymore. Draw nice things for mommy.
Oh, Okay. said Lucy. She climbed the staircase into her bedroom. It was a small room with a bed and a closet. It was painted pink. On her bed lay the doll. It smiled up at her. She picked it up and admired it. It was her favorite. Lucy. Sweet Lucy. I love you.
I love you too. said Lucy.
Her mother was very upset. The macabre image of the doll had been burned into her head. Why had she drawn such things? Were there more? There only seemed to be one solution: Get rid of the doll.
The following morning after Lucy went to school Her mother went into her bedroom. The doll lay motionless on the bed. Something was wrong. Instead of the smile that was usually on the dolls face there was a grimace of rage. The one eye was staring angrily at her. Her mother felt her insides freeze. Then calmed herself. She would not let herself be beaten by a doll! She grabbed it and ran downstairs she went outside and threw it in the dustbin. She slammed the lid down and caught her breath.
Lucy came home late again. Mother was angry again Lucy, where have you been.
At school mommy. I drew some more pictures!
May I see them?
Yup! Her mother took the sketchbook from Lucy and opened it. There was a picture of the doll in a jail cell. The next picture showed the jail cell open.
Why did you draw these pictures! Her mother shouted and grabbed Lucy. Why?!
Because she told me to. She showed me all about what happened to her. But shes coming. She says shell take her revenge.
When? When!
Tonight. Her mothers world stopped. The clock on the wall seemed to slow down. Then she smiled and said Dont worry. Ill protect you! No get to bed.
Lucy went into her room and turned off the light. She found her way to her bed and crawled inside. Then the voice came to her. The voice of a little girl. Lucy. Im coming tonight.
Mommy will protect me.
Really
A scream echoed through the house. Lucy jumped out of bed and ran down the stair. The door to the living room stood ajar. Lucy walked in. Mother was sitting on a sofa facing away from Lucy.
Mommy? Lucy walked towards Mother. Mother didnt move. Lucy walked around the sofa and screamed. Mother had a chip in her arm. One of her eyes had been torn out, as had her hair. Blood poured from a gash on her face. All the injuries the little doll had. Lucy ran to her bedroom and hid under the covers.
Lucy, Im back! The little girl cackled with glee and Lucy whimpered.
Lucy, Im on the first step! Lucy heard a creak from outside her room.
Leave me alone. Cried Lucy. Tears gushed from her eyes.
Lucy Im on the second step! creak. Lucy looked around. Where could she hide? The closet! Lucy got out of bed and climbed into the closet and locked it from the inside.
Lucy Im on the last step! Lucy was breathing very quickly. Her eyes darted around. She couldnt see anything.
Lucy Im on the landing!. Lucy her footsteps and burst into fresh tears. She heard the door creak open.
Lucy Im in your bedroom! The closet door started opening. The lock had broken! Lucy jumped out of the closet and ran to her bed.
Lucy. Im in your bed! Lucy closed her eyes.
Lucy, youre dead! Rj yelled it real loud and reached out quickly to tickle either side of the girl's sides.
Phil yelped and then squealed with delight as the momentary scare allowed her to escape the reality of what lay beyond the walls of the Abbey. She enjoyed spending moments like this with her Aunt Rj but it also sometimes reminded her of where her mother was right now and what she was doing tonight.
"Rj?" Phil giggled and asked as Rj sat back to take a long sip of her drink.
"Yes Phil?" Rj said sitting back.
"My Mom would've blasted that doll to pieces looong before it ever got to me" Phil smirked wickedly with sage nod of her little head.
Rj grinned and nodded as well "Yes she would've and you can take that to the bank sweetheart"
Phil reached over and snatched up Fly, Rj's ever present cat and offered a piece of sausage. She smiled as after inspecting it Fly happily began to munch. She sighed a little as she thought of her mom still outside dealing with things she wanted to help fight. She looked up at her Mom's friend.
"Rj?' Phil asked
"Yes?"
Phil smirked "Know any other scary stories?"
Rj just smiled and reached for the flashlight...
Outside of the Abbey a true cacophony of horror played throughout the streets of Paragon. The voices of the terrors of the night mixing in with the sirens and sounds of battle turning the night into an unholy symphony as the invasion continues...
Find us here at Templars of the Abbey Webpage
Arc # 57740 - 'A Star is Rising Part One'
Arc # 90575 - 'A Lesson Taught'
Arc # 139943 - 'And The Game Goes Tilt'
Originally posted by Templar Thornchilde/Thryth
((On the short side, especially Delia's, and for that I apologize, but here's a quick, two-part shot of Delia and Thryth on Halloween.))
October 31st, 2009 - Dark Astoria
The darkness howled, screeched, wailed in pain as it recoiled, skittering back to the mass of shadow that swirled and writhed in an ever widening circle around the graves of John and Sarah Stevens*. Around the hovering, murk-dipped form of a woman who summons crackling rings of runes writ in the ancient energies of the Mu with but a wave of her inky hand. A hundred demonic eyes flicker across the wall of night, meet the glowing green pools smoldering in her sockets as she slowly turns, taking them all in.
Tonight in Astoria, the abyss has found something it does not much want to stare back into.
I'm, uh, I'm sorry. Was I somehow unclear about this? inquires Delia, sardonic and rhetorical. You. Can't. Have them. Ooze-covered fingers unfurl, punctuating the point with a flick of the wrist that summons more lightning. It plucks an unfortunate thing from the hellish mass, coils of arcane energy slamming the squealing demon to the cold graveyard earth where it writhes in agony until a dismissive flick of her fingers sets it free to scurry back to its fellows fell and damned. Shutting her eyes, Thornchilde balls her fingers into fists, determination pushing the glowing runic circles further and further out, and at the touch of those energies do the demons cry, from them do they flee. Any of them...
* The parents of Tammy Stevens, AKA Ultimogirl, one of Delia's closest friends from her C.A.P.E.S. days.
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October 31st, 2009 - King's Row
Trick or treat!!
A chorus of young voices gleefully intones the mantra of Halloween, but alas, this is Paragon City here the words might as well be a mystic incantation, summoning up things far worse than the sugary specter of cavities or an upset tummy.
Well well WELL! exclaims the pale, talon-fingered gentleman leering from a nebulous darkness where really there ought to be a living room behind the opened door. What have we here? Why it's DELIVERY!
They recoil, the children in their masks that ape the likes of this monster real and true now looming over them. Little feet shuffle back a hesitant step, maybe two, three for good measure, but this is their town, and their holiday, and they are determined not to run.
Oh, dear me, gloats the befanged fellow in his long, wool coat, one finger a-waggle as he lectures. You see, children, that's the beauty of the phrase. Trick OR treat. Sometimes you get a treat, oh yes, it's true, but SOMETIMES you get... he trails off, beady, monstrous eyes squinting, peering, slowly pulling themselves up from the assembled treats he thought he'd seen to a figure standing just behind them, taller than most of their parents. ...a trick?
Green knuckles crack. Yup, confirms Thryth. It trick.
One punch sends the wide-eyed monster flying back, the darkness in which he sheltered seemingly torn from the door frame by the very impact, wrapping around his vanishing form, closing in on itself until there is revealed, indeed, a living room, and a startled, elderly woman with a basket of candy in her lap.
Oh...! she exclaims. That was the strangest thing, I thought I heard someone say trick or treat, but then the lights went out...
Pensive now, the troll makes to retreat down the steps but a tug on her finger stops Thryth, turns her around.
See Miss Thryth? See? says a tiny Statesman. Toldja there was monsters at Mrs. Murphy's!
She nods, kneeling, a gentle pat on tousled hair. Yup, you right. Thank you for tellin' so me can take care of.
Young arms throw themselves around the startled troll's neck. Thank YOU for helping us trick 'r treat tonight, Miss Thryth!
Yeah, really, er... ma'am. Thanks, adds one of the assembled parents, a burly, balding man in a heavy brown jacket. It ain't easy takin' care of your kids in the Row and, well, this kinda stuff's beyond us, ya know? So yeah, thanks for givin' 'em a kinda normal Halloween for once. He nods, the smile that splits his stubble awkward but genuine.
Yup, she says. You welcome.
The miniature Freedom Phalanx comes down the steps, their bags a bit fuller now than before, with Mrs. Murphy right behind. Smiling, she holds a candy bar up to Thryth. I know you're a little old for trick or treating, dearie, explains the woman who's seen her share of trouble come and go through Kings Row, but that is just the most amazing Troll costume I've ever seen! You surely deserve some chocolate for that, wherever did you find it?
Petrified, Thryth stares, one foot already taking a step back before she can muster the courage to pluck the candy bar from the oblivious woman's hand and mumble, Er... me made it. Thank you. Turning quickly away, the heroine hangs her horned head and shuffles after the families.
C'mon Miss Thryth...! calls out the littlest Statesman, as he turns back to her, waving and holding up three fingers. We got four more blocks!
Find us here at Templars of the Abbey Webpage
Arc # 57740 - 'A Star is Rising Part One'
Arc # 90575 - 'A Lesson Taught'
Arc # 139943 - 'And The Game Goes Tilt'
Hello all! We have a smnall tradition over at the Templar forums each year they did the Halloween event starting the year after the release of CoV (The year without a Halloween :P). We had a Thread with Spooky CoX related stories!
>
I decided to share them (mostly mine and it will be indicated if it was another Templar) with you guys and eventually update them with this years stories as the event progresses!
I hope you enjoy them in the spirit of the season!
D!
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October 19th 2006 - Steel Canyon
<Thought it would be neat to tell ghost stories or funny halloween stories from This year's events
Kara was exhausted...
She had been fighting all night since the alerts had gone out soon after the first attacks had begun. She had a feeling, her heart froze as she and her students watched the light bleed out of the sky that morning. Every fiber of who she had become returned her to that weekend of darkness two years ago. Her first thought was for the children and had stayed by them until eventually the school was closed early as the attacks in the city grew in number.
It was Halloween time in Paragon City again...and once more the city found itself locked in a struggle to survive.
She came to a rest atop the tall building in Steel where she lived and looked out across the mayhem of the night. The flashing lights of the floating helicopters and airships could be seen across the whole of the city as they moved from one crisis to another. The shrill wail of the police and emergency sirens danced up to her from the streets below to mix with the horrible trills and screeches of the city newest invaders. The cries of the undead and howls of the wolves blended with police gunfire and the far away booms and blasts from responding heroes helped to compose a terrifying opera of the night for the besieged city.
A performance that continued uninterrupted across all the zones of the city she now called home.
She entered the sliding patio door hesitating only a moment before she noticed it was left slightly ajar. Good girl Phil, she thought as she moved into the living room. She had called her ward every hour on the hour tonight.
She smirked as she thought how casually Phil was taking the events. She was even becoming exasperated sometimes with her guardian's persistent calls. Why Kara was even given an update on the goings on with the TV show Jericho that Phil had watched with Katherine.
Kara frowned a little at her sitter's absence until she saw Luci's bag and Fly curled up asleep with Smokey and Luci's cat across the couch they had claimed as their own. She knew her roommates were home.
She smiled a little as Skald her little shadowy 'chinchilla of darkness' bounded after her shadow as she walked into the kitchen. Her heels clicked across the tile floor as she began to make herself a quick hot chocolate. She picked up her odd pet and cuddled it as her chocolate was warmed in the microwave. It trilled as he cuddled back his fur warmly tingling her skin as he fed briefly from her touch. Kara shook her head as she scritched his ears and waited for her drink to heat.
Atop the counter she found the note left by Katherine for her. She set Skald down on the counter and picked up, barely acknowledging as Skald scampered off back to his shadows.
Katherine. the note said, had decided like most others to leave the city most likely until this crisis had passed. Her husband's family lived in the suburbs just beyond what Magi had learned was barrier of the darkness.
She half thought about sending Phil with them, yet something in the child's voice had left that as only an option for now. Should things escalate further, Kara thought she would not hesitate to ship her young ward out to Katherine and her family.
Yet, she thought. The little jester was registered and could...She shook her head at the thought for now as she retrieved her mug of hot chocolate from the microwave. Setting down the note she walked back out into the living room.
The wide screen TV, though muted, bathed the living room in a flickering blueish light as it showed various images and locales through out the city. Emergency information and instruction continued to run across the bottom of the screen telling any who remained awake what to do to secure themselves during Paragon's most recent invasion. Reporters and experts added their impressions and advice as the first night of the invasion was coming to a close.
Kara paused as the TV showed yet another battle in Peregrine with the giant Eochai. She sighed he was everywhere tonight and from what she had gleaned from her MAGI briefing...
..It was going to be a long invasion.
Kara slipped carefully down the carpeted hallway to peek in on her sleeping ward. She smiled as the moved into the room carefully avoiding all of the 'booby traps' the child has set through out the room to capture any 'Halloween critters', as the girl had called them, that may come for her as she slept. She knelt next to the child's bed and rewrapped her up in her thick comforter. Kara watched over Phil for a moment and smiled a bit.
Her heart stopped at the suddenness of her comm.s buzzing. She leaned forward and kissed the top of Phil's head causing the child to stir only slightly. Careful to avoid the traps Kara navigated back out into the hall to answer her comm.
"Yes?" Her voice weary but slightly annoyed at the interruption.
She listened to the situation and briefing and shook her head.
"No...I can't not right at the moment, I'm down for a few hours..." She smirked at the passive attempt by the Hero Corps Rep and then listened to her updates. "No...No...Yes...fine I will as soon as I can"
She walked into her darkened bedroom not even bothering with the light nor even to change out of her costume as she collapsed on her side of her bed. She paused only to set her mug on her night stand as Doomey Bear, her automated stuffed gothic teddy bear made in the image of a 'care bear' came to life and sighed helplessly. Kara smirked at him as she lay back on her bed and closed her eyes as her gothy bear droned...
the night falls in a heavy,
suffocating cloak,
entwined are we.
the flames for which we yearn
flare once, then die,
smothered by the abyss.
all hope must surely perish.
your heart beats no more.
how could you fail to believe?
shadows surround us, crying,
we are fallen.
Kara giggled once at the absurdity of the night and her gloomy bear's words. Soon she found herself in a fitful sleep.
Across the city darkness continued its reign...
Find us here at Templars of the Abbey Webpage
Arc # 57740 - 'A Star is Rising Part One'
Arc # 90575 - 'A Lesson Taught'
Arc # 139943 - 'And The Game Goes Tilt'