[ PRP ] Always use Protection (Rep, Mark)

[Baneful]

Rep finally allowed himself to breathe again as Cael got back to work and was about to hastily leave with Mark when both of them found themselves roped into a sudden and unannounced mission. "Right." he said to Mark.

Used to hardly any notice he used the brief period of time to notify Harrison what was happening and pick up his stuff, as well as a set of runic daggers and bandages.

He got to the lighthouse at a jog four minutes later, looking a bit frazzled and muttering under his breath about not having time to prepare. He had no idea where they were going so he dressed in his usual rather multipurpose attire.

Zoobey

 

[Zoobey]

"-then you should have considered every single <******** possibility available before asking." Said the Death lead at the tail-end of what was possibly a very long lecture. It seemed out of the half dozen around, all full Hunters, everyone except Rep (and his boss) had decided to carry a minimum of two Runic weapons. "Any other mission questions."

As nobody else had any questions within the immediate five seconds, and Caelius took it as a cue to leave. Why he didn't just make his own portal to exit was a mystery, but then he wouldn't have been able to patiently stay for a very enlightening mission Q and A.

Mark exhaled as his lead left and signaled to Rep. "We got some new headsets ordered in, these ones have way, way better reception. Oh yeah!" Belatedly, he handed Rep a series of what looked like beeping, glowing tiny Frisbees. "We're going to blow the base up on signal, so just put these I dunno, every one-hundred meters or so and set the 'charge' button right in the bottom here."

The Death Assistant suddenly fidgeted a bit in place. "Um, do me a favour, if you see any I dunno, open files or anything, you probably shouldn't read them."

Baneful

 

[Baneful]

If Rep was really honest with himself, the reason why he didn't bring a whole plethora of runic weapons it was out of a strange sort of pride in Tracey. Even knowing that he was very likely going into an area where weapons were on lock down and he could die there was a tight loyalty and trust that extended to his partner. Tracey was important and always a little jealous of runics at the best of times, he could feel the dark presence in his thoughts curling possessively about him.

<need them.>> he said. <>

Rep listened to Cael's lecture the way he always did, with a genuine interest, even though he'd heard it a hundred times, nothing got him motivated like a good relaxing reminder that he was completely ******** worthless and needed to find everything out himself. It was right in line with his world view where the strong survived and the weak perished and no one relied on handouts from others. He was only frankly sad he missed the start.

Raising a brow sceptically he took one of the headsets, donning it. "How much better? Did we ever sort the thing where they'd sometimes pick up radio s**t? I got a ******** fright on one of the clearance missions I was on last time." It was a given that they probably still didn't work across worlds. He was enthusiastic regardless, an enthusiasm which faltered a little at the tiny explosives, they looked like trouble and demolitions was only his speciality at the end of a very large axe. "They won't go off without triggering them ri- wait what?"

He narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the other man for his comment, as if trying to get a read on him. "Do you mean that in a genuinely don't, you don't want to know this is an order or don't in a don't look up this gross image eyebrow waggle sort of ******** way?"

Zoobey

 

[Zoobey]

"Yes." Mark answered while assembling the last of the hockey puck explosives. He gave five more to Rep just in case so that the other had about ten total. "Just don't like accidentally bump into them or put them in a tight place where they would bump into each other, and tell me when they're all set, kay, peace."

He didn't wait for anything else before jazz handing his entire way through the portal. The next Hunter, the one with the extension cord, who was also incidentally the one Rep had met last time with the tattoo, rolled his eyes, and also handed Rep his hockey pucks. The last in line, Oz, did the same, until Rep had something like 20 of them to set off.

"Rogue leader coming in," Mark said through the headset, "the coast is clear!"

The coast was indeed clear on the other side, mostly because any potential security around was dead. Or sleeping. In a pile of their own blood. The first thing Rep would notice was the blast of excessively cold air conditioning humming through the vents in a enormous room filled with what could only be explained as server towers.

Baneful

 

[Baneful]

Rep just trusted Mark as best he could and made careful note what he had to do with the explosives. Tattoo guy most of all got a curious look as he handed off the explosives to him, Rep still didn't know who the guy was or why he was running around with a tattoo of the enemy but he didn't much like him. Overall it was a good thing Rep had about 20 pockets so that he could efficiently carry the explosives - and hope to god they wouldn't do anything till their charge was set.

"Red leader coming through." Rep said with a smirk, heading into the portal himself.

The mess looked like Cael had already cleared the way.

It had been a while since Rep had been in a server room and he efficiently got to making his way through the room in question in a direction he hoped the others had gone, placing the first charge he had on one of the towers - a real shame given how much he wanted to just bring them back to Deus, they'd have been great for his office.

Zoobey

 

[Zoobey]

If Mark had been in the same room, he was either long gone, or entirely not visible through the massively tall server towers that looked more some strange mini-metropolis more than anything else.

"Set explosives to ready, let's do this." Rep could also hear Mark rub his hands, as the Death Assistant's third favourite thing was probably explosions. "Give the signal when you've put them all in position, Red leader. Over."

"Get a room," said Oz on the line right afterwards.

Baneful

 

[Baneful]

Rep felt a little better with the headset to at least help him if he got ******** over as he went, even if they had tended to be problematic in the past it was a voice he recognised who could help him out.

"Suck a d**k Oz." Rep said snarkily and broke into a jog, shoes squeaking on the floor as he ran through the towers of servers slapping and setting explosives as he went along.

"Do you want them all on the servers or on the structure aswell?" he asked.

Zoobey

 

[WE ARE HALLOWEEN]

"Optimal damage points," Mark relayed, "go for the shield deflectors." There was no stopping him once he was in full Star Wars mode. "Err, all leaders has everyone else set up their positions?"

Silence for about five seconds.

"Sure," replied Oz finally. "Ebony midnight black leader out."

Baneful

 

[Baneful]

Rep decided to hedge his bets and put a bit of explosive on everything he could manage, spreading them out as carefully as he could. Then, a bit out of breath from running around a server room, he stood in the entrance to the place and said. "Red leader in position."

Before re-thinking this and stammering. "W..wait shouldn't I be outside of here? FAR outside of here."

 

[WE ARE HALLOWEEN]

"Wait, where are you right no-" Was as far Mark got with that as one of the discs started beeping loudly, and then a second, and third-

And as everything errupted into blue conflagaration and bright lights, through the ringing and disorientation, Rep could vaguely fell himself falling.

The drop was extremely steep, though Rep fell on something oddly softer than concrete. A soft green light surrounded him, and as he looked through some of the wreckage, he could see what looked like the thick tree roots attached to most of the destroyed servers. Some tree roots were writhing, some scorched, others entirely shriveled, withdrawing into themselves.

In this tall space that almost seemed impossibly structured, the entire expanse was covered in these tree roots, heavily clustered together where the green glow was brightest.

Baneful

 

[Baneful]

Rep was about to say that he was right ******** next to literally everything when the whole place exploded. He figured there and then that it was probably the way he was going to die, falling in some burning building surrounded by tech.

He wasn't sure if where he ended up was any better.

"Ah ********." he said, not even sure if the headset still worked after the catastrophic explosion but really, really not happy surrounded by the trappings of the grail. He didn't like trees, they reminded him of Life division, of Famine vines in his flesh, of Eden and places humans weren't meant to ******** be. He wanted to move away from the glow but he knew there was no way out of here other than to take a look at what the hell the roots were around.

"There's something in here." he said, possibly to no one. "Maybe one of those fragments."

 

[WE ARE HALLOWEEN]

It seemed like the endless tree roots responded to noise as they slowly and steadily began to circle at Rep's legs, wrapping around his ankles.

"Wait- Red leader- where are you now?" Surprisingly, the headset had lasted. "Find an exit, meet at the rendezvous point."

The green light was emitting strange pulses now, similar to that of a heartbeat. More roots began to climb in the high ceiling overhead, coiling downwards in a slow spiral. One of them brushed against his hair-

- And suddenly he heard a voice that overwhemed everything else.

"Return it."

Baneful

 

[Baneful]

Rep really didn't like the roots at all and tried backing off from them to little avail. "I'm in.. I don't know I fell. I'll try."

The voice was enough almost to send him to his knees. He didn't know what he'd supposedly taken but suddenly wanted nothing to do with it.

"Return WHAT?" he said, finding the strangest kindlings of anger in the midst of everything else. He was always being used and abused by these ******** legacies and his threshold of tolerance was being worn thin. He didn't like the grail, he didn't like knowledge and if that was what he was dealing with they could ******** right off as far as he was concerned.

 

[WE ARE HALLOWEEN]

Something sounded like static - someone trying to talk to Rep but he couldn't quite make it out. Instead there was just a sharp ringing and pain. It trying to force its way through Rep's mind. He could feel his body collapsing, slowly being wrapped around and around and the ringing was getting louder and louder-

And then he was in an all too familiar place. A room, and behind him the legacy he had been a part of, his own kingdom. But it was different from last time. He wasn't just alone in this room, it wasn't just his memories and nothing else - Tracey was there too, and so was the reassuring barrier resisting the intrusion, reassuring Rep that he was safe.

"Return my eye," howled the voice and outside the door stood a small child wearing a split wooden mask.

Baneful

 

[Baneful]

Rep fell and couldn't stop himself, all the while hating the feeling of the thing violating his thoughts when they were none of its goddamn business.


When he came to his senses again he recognised it, recognised the room and the kingdom and definitely recognised the slender, hovering form of Tracey, all black wings, long and blade like, wrapped in perfectly ornate armour and with eyes and blazed a vivid impossible red. He was safe here he felt, between blue kingdom and the world outside, blue kingdom which he'd promised his other self to protect, the last bastion of a place he'd treasured and a place he carried with him. So long as it endured there would always be some part of him that succeeded and experienced the happy ending and satisfaction that he lived for in this world.

He wouldn't surrender it to a child and didn't owe the figure outside anything at all.

"Explain what you ******** mean and I'll consider." he said and Tracey moved close behind him, wrapping two sets of wings gently around his waist.

Zoobey