{ MISSION ORP } Countdown to the End Part 1 - PAGE 6

[poke mattix]

It was hard to stand there, seeing his friend's face again after so long....

Damien jerked when he was tapped, looking around as if he had awoken from some dream. "...R-right..Yes, you're right..." He looked at Jack once more, then quickly followed after Jamission and Gabby. He did not miss the tears in gabby's eyes, either.

Of course, he thought to himself. I'm not the only one who has lost comrades.

He wanted to say something to her...but what could he say. Everything would be alright, don't worry? That would be more of a insult then anything else.

Then, Aaron Decided he wanted to go somewhere else. Jamission may have not tired to stop him, but Damien wasn't about to let him go. He quickly moved past, trying to grab onto Aarons coat.

"Don't be so foolish!" He hissed to the boy. "Jamission is right, if you move off they'll go after you first. Stay back here were you have half a chance of living!"

Miliardo Kason

Kaiyumi

Huni Pi

Grey Dragon

 

[x_Nata_x]

The dripping wasn't all that noticeable at first. The shuffling of feet, the soft chatter of voices, these familiar, comforting sounds covered it up, so that it was barely an afterthought in his mind. Maybe it was a defense mechanism -- although the lights of the torches cast a warm glow along the walls and down onto the track, the shadows still seemed to crawl eerily around them, watching and laughing as they headed down the abandoned tunnel. The closer they got, however, the louder the sound of water became, echoing in the round pipes. When it finally reached the front of his mind, Cliff let his eyes drift from their group of three to the walls, falling automatically to where dark water trickled from the walls. "Wonder if a sewer line broke," he murmured, mostly to himself -- the smell of something dank and putrid had started to become noticeable as well, slowly becoming nauseating the farther they went.

When Liam stopped, Cliff almost ran into the hunter in front of him, his body swaying a bit as he caught himself coming out of a short stumble. Around him, everyone else had paused as well, a sudden deep silence sweeping over the whole group. The southern boy furrowed his eyebrows a little, looking between the others before letting his eyes fall to what they were staring at. A statue? His expression only got more confused as he puzzled over it, starting to follow the group again as they meandered around it. A few moments later, a second one had joined the first, a third not too far away -- this time, when he stopped, the blonde took the moment to wander away from Zoey and Isaac, resting a hand on the younger man's shoulder before he did so. There was more commotion, now, the gentle thrum of voices starting to pick up, a little more anxious than before. Stopping in front of one of the statues, Cliff stared at it for a short while, shaking his head as he tried in vain to unravel the puzzle. What was it? Some sort of abandoned art? The abandoned sanctuary of some starving or insane artist?

Huffing out a sigh, he moved on after a few minutes to catch up with the rest of the crowd, his boots sloshing a bit in the puddles. He was just about to rejoin the group when a familiar face suddenly lunged out at him, catching his attention as he was walking by, and the southern boy went completely still, his eyes going wide.

"Savannah."

The face that stared back at him was warm and soft, despite being made of stone, the smallest hint of a sad smile curling the corners of her lips as she stared off into the distance. The statue was shorter than he was, standing only to his chin, reflecting the height of the girl it was suppose to mimic. She'd been a bigger sort of girl -- never fat, but curved in all the right places, a dramatic hour glass with a nice roundness to her cheeks that made her look younger than she really was. Even her hair was right -- loose little coils of naturally curly hair that fell just beneath her shoulders. His eyes took her in slowly, shock slowly starting to ebb into wonder, a confused curiosity. Who had carved such a thing? Who had known the girl, known her well enough to mimic even the way she held herself so perfectly, when she had been a hunter for three years even when Cliff had known her.

Up ahead, he heard the words 'Forest of the Dead,' and Cliff felt his eyes start to fill with tears.

So. She hadn't made it out.

'Mississipi? S'alright, I guess. If ya can stand the drawl,' he teased, thumbing his nose at her with a wink. The little redhead had grinned back, the hands on her hips full of attitude. 'Well excuse me, Mr. Alabama.'

She'd gone on a mission that day -- relocated somewhere up north. He remembered getting a post card a few days later, complaining about the cold. That'd been the last time he'd heard from her -- a few months later, he'd heard from a guy who had been stationed with her that she and a group of five had gone through the portal to somewhere in Africa, but never showed back up after the allotted time. They'd eventually had to close it. He'd always hoped maybe she'd just gotten lost, and they hadn't been able to make their way back in time. Made a new life somewhere else.

He'd never really believed it though.

"Oh sugar... I'm so sorry."

He had to work hard not to cry, closing his eyes and inhaling slowly before holding it, slowly willing the tears down. When he reopened them, he was smiling, wistful and sad. Unbidden, he reached up with one palm, moving to cup the statue's cheek when he heard retching behind him, his hand going still.

Cliff was there in a second as Zoey doubled over, reaching out with strong arms to wrap around her shoulders, rubbing her back. When she straightened, he pulled her to his chest, tucking her head beneath his chin. "Shhhh," he murmured against her ear, kissing the top of her head, "S'ok darlin' s'ok -- close your eyes 'n think 'a home." Looking over to Isaac, he unfurled an arm from around Zoey just as all the lights went out, tucking his hand into the dip of the brunette's elbow to pull him gently closer as well. "C'mon chicklet," he murmured under his breath, not wanting to disrupt the silence, "Don't want you getting lost."

More like 'I need you right here, right now.'

Ol-j-man

Trundlebug

 

[Eight]

Try it? Heidi looked fairly wary of the idea as the sword was offered to her. Was it a good idea? She could have sworn they weren't supposed to touch a fear weapon that wasn't theirs lest their be averse effects...but if she had never held one to begin with would it be so bad? He took one of her daggers and her grip on the handle tightened until it was gone, looking as if something terribly important had been taken away; it was exactly how she felt, as Heidi felt almost naked without her daggers each in her grasp. But... "Um..alright." She sheathed the dagger she still had to hold the claymore in both hands, gasping and nearly falling over at the sudden weight. "Holy..!" It was heavy! Her eyes were wide as she lugged it up, trying to hold it with both hands around the handle. "Is it always this heavy?!" Heidi grunted, listening to his story. A voice in his head, huh? She didn't hear anything...she felt no bond to this weapon. She could only feel the fear it was made of.

"Yeah...I won't keep him from you. If we're attacked it'd be best if we had our own weapons...but..thank you, Jared." Heidi said quietly, holding the sword out for Jared to take back.

And then things happened. And Liam led them with his scythe of glory.

And then there were...bodies...everywhere. She gasped quietly and reached for the sleeve of Jared's shirt, eyes wide and jaw clenched tightly. Oh god. The smell..! She was so glad there was no light. She didn't want to see it...

Carhop Calvalier

((This magical post brought to you by an exhausted Eight yay))  

[Toshihiko Two]

Phantoms. Flesh statues. The hall of the dead. The radio feed turned to screams, and then static. Those that had flashlights on flicked them off. He left his cards tight in his holster.

Slow, fearful singing started in their ranks.

The recent corpses, he understood. Some were not recent. Mr. McCullen, his first nervous friend from the trials, peered unseeingly into the black. Liam had it right. Their fear of Death fed their enemy. And he was correct in shutting off the lights that gave away their positions. Singing. Almost worse than the lights. That would be the Sun Hunters. But at the wall of corpses, their division was intent only on pressing forward. They did not feel like an army. They felt like a grotesque and hidden parade, the scythe glowing before them like an anglerfish's lure.

Wickett, for his part, was deathly silent.

And also wet.

He tried not to think of how foul the water was. Sanitary standards were not being met, and this was never going to come out of his coat.
 

[Zoobey]

This time, a light hiss betrayed the location of the assault, Liam had just enough time to shout a quick warning before a barrage of screeches, shrieks, and shouts assaulted their senses.

They were winged and clawed, scaled and fanged at once, shadows that shifted from the ground, devouring a Hunter whole, or for those unlucky enough, impaling only half their body, their limbs, leaving them there to die in agony. They had been waiting here just for this moment, stationed here, sentinels, their sole purpose to shred, tear, and kill.

Everything else dissolved into screams.

OOC: ASSAULT IN THE DARK

- The team has finally been assaulted by a TRAP. Roll a 100-sided dice, and match your dice roll to the results below. ROLEPLAY OUT THE RESULTS, feel free to react to those who are dying/ dead.
1- 20: You feel shadows and forms fly past you, you try you best to defend against them and take mild scrapes and cuts.
21 - 50: Something rips your flesh, you are bleeding freely but still able to attack and defend yourself. You look around for the help of others but everything is pure chaos.
51 - 70: A creature has assaulted you directly, you can feel its claws continuously barraging and gouging at you. Whether through the help or another or yourself, you barely manage to fend it off, but you take severe damage. You feel tired... (Your character is DYING. They will need as much IC attention as possible ASAP, though they are not dead yet!)
71 - 100: You try your best to defend, but the assault is too much. It only took one small mistake, a slip of your hand perhaps, perhaps you were defending someone else, perhaps you tried to attack back, only a second. Everything goes black. YOUR CHARACTER IS DEAD Make this their last hurrah before moving on to their death solo.

 

[Saliru]

Jess's serene little sing-song moment with Dave abruptly ended by the sounds. First the hissing set her on edge. Next... well. Next was going to stay with her for the rest of her life for however short-term that may be.

She released Dave's stump, pressing her back more firmly against his. Repeatedly cocking her gun and attempting to blast away as many creatures as she possibly could in the chaotic frenzy. What she didn't realize though in the heat of the moment... Dave was taking the brunt of the attack by being in front of her.

She still got badly wounded though. Taking a severe bite and various scratches in the chaos. Things that got at her through Dave's body. If only she'd realized before it was too late...
 

[poke mattix]

A warning. A quick shout. That was all Damien had.

BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG.

Claws came at him, teeth ripping at his flesh.

BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG.

He continued to shoot as he felt his right leg separate from the rest of his body. A set of claws pierced through his stomach. A pair of teeth took a chunk out of his left houlder.

BANG.......BANG.......BANG....... BANG.

His vision was fading. He heard screams all a round him. Cries of pain, last declarations of love.

BANG......BANG.....................BANG.............



Celestine was right. His luck had long since ran out. There would be no magical escapes today. No one was going to save his a**.

..........BANG.............

And yet...he didn't mind. Well, apart form the soul shattering pain he was in. Yeah, thats sucked a lot. And he felt bad that he had not done his job to protect those around him. But even so, he was growing tired. He had been at this job for too long.

He wanted to get his dam drink.

BANG....

Silence.  

[Eight]

Something ripped open her arm and she let out a cry of pain, wincing and trying very hard not to whimper pathetically. Whatever it was she stabbed at it, clutching her arm after and looking around frantically. Medic. Medic. She needed ********! All the medics were somewhere else!  

[danse-hexe]

Before she could take another step Liam shouted again, a warning. Instinctively she ducked, crouching into the dark, oily water, pulling out her weapon. Shrieks and the sound of wings flapping echoed within the tunnel, as the monsters swooped down on them, and Andy felt a brief moment of regret that she had wished they would appear. Screams rang out as they began their attack; forcing the hesitation back, Andy ran towards one of the clawed creatures and stabbed it. It turned around and hissed in her face, its eyes glowing red.

She was a hunter, and this was her job. Pulling the knife out she slashed at it again, and a splashing sound told her it had dropped the hunter it was attacking before, moving closer to her instead. Was it grinning? She couldn't tell; all she knew was that her hits were connecting, because she could feel the knife cutting through it, and yet it was still advancing towards her. Andy backed off a few steps, holding her weapon in front of her, but just as she was about to move to stab it again the creature blinked, and then claws were raking through her back. She could feel them tearing through her flesh, and the attack drew a scream from her, just as the realisation hit: There was another one behind her.

Whirling around she slashed out at it blindly, almost crumpling from the pain. The other went for her neck, its claws closing around it, and she grabbed at them, dropping her weapon in the process. Its hold tightened, just enough for her to choke out a sob, as she tried to struggle out of its grip, her fingers frantically scratching at the monster. Andy found herself falling to her knees in the water with a shaky whimper, and then, as if miraculously, the creature let go. She gasped for breath, taking in as much air as she could, and looked upwards for the person who'd saved her, for a hand that would pull her up so they could fight these monsters together.

All she saw were pairs of red eyes, watching her like a cat watches a goldfish, and she could only raise her arms to protect her head before their claws raked into her, shredding her to ribbons and tearing at her hair.

Eventually they moved on, leaving her to die in the water, and it felt like an eternity as she listened to the splashes and screams around her, as the dark, oily liquid burned her wounds, until the pain finally faded away.  

[Baneful]

And then with a hiss that heralded a wall of shadowy death, all hell broke loose. Everywhere there was chaos, yells of surprise, weapons readied, claws and bedlam. It was all Dave could do to ready his weapon, gritting his teeth as he slipped into the all too familiar stance of battle. He had lost too many comrades, he would never let them have Jess, not while he still stood.

The first few blows he deflected, but then there were more and more and the space was too cramped to fight, too cramped to move. He could only stagger backwards, as it was, right into Jess as more and more of the creatures overwhelmed him, raking at skin already ravaged by the years, opening old scars wide. There was pain, but he barely felt it, adrenaline parelleling his battle here in his veins. What pain there was he overcame, he fought. The wounds were deep, biting, to the bone, and they didn't cease, hacking lumps of flesh from his body, practically impaling him through the gut on more than one occaision.

There's too many David. Too many!

He stood as long as he could, fought as long as his willpower permitted him. But willpower could only do so much, and he quickly fell to the side of the tunnel, bleeding openly, riddled with wounds, too many wounds, his lifeblood mingling with the water all around them. He was dying and rapidly, he knew it. Nothing at this point could save him, not even, he figured, a miracle.

"J..JESS." he practically roared his body wracked, the words fighting the blood that ebbed into his lungs. He coughed, as the cold started to overtake him, his vision fading, he called out for her, one last desperate time.

TELL HER NOW. Argyll broke through the ebbing haze, the last of her fear propping him up enough to speak, giving him time to cough the blood from his throat, tears rising up in his eyes, unseen in the darkness. "..Know I loved you."

He smiled weakly, a lingering expression that stayed on his features as he sighed his last breath, a sigh which almost sounded like relief.

And then, having given all he could in this life, the broken and decimated body of David McInley fell still and moved no more.

 

[Miliardo Kason]

He pulled his arm free of Gabby as chaos burst into life around them, in the distance Liam's weapon glowed showing only the faintest shape to the creatures attacking them. His revolvers spun to life. Blasts of light revealing the scarred hunters face grim, determined. He was bleeding though, his face had a series of new scars already growing, bullets flew through the air muzzle flashing violently as Caine and Abel tried to cut a path towards the glowing blue light.

Then it happened.

Click, click, click!

Abel Jammed and he was down to one gun spinning turning, trying to hit targets as others moved in from behind, his left leg gave out dropping him into the muck gasping.

Caine snapped up, a shadow loomed before him...

Click!

The chamber was empty and the world was suddenly very dark as Jamisson felt something pass through his chest. Slowly he fell side ways slumping in the muck gasping for air through a ruined lung. His eyes wide, slowly he turned to Gabby. "Ga... Gaa." He wheezed. "Gabri..ela..." What happened next was unexpected, "Y-you weren't.... w-what. I w-wanted." He coughed, the black water turning brown with his blood. "J-just what... I ne-needed... I never... knew till...t-then." He slipped lower into the black waters eyes closing as blood oozed from his chest and between his lips.

"A-lways... watch..you..."

He never finished the thought his last words growing quiet and bubbled as the last of his blood leaked away drowning whatever it was he had wanted to say.

Jamisson was dead.

Kaiyumi

Poke Mattix

Huni Pi

Grey Dragon

 

[x_Nata_x]

His reaction time had never been all that great. You could have asked anyone -- they would have told you that Cliff had never been a stellar hunter. He'd never tried very hard when he'd sparred, he'd always treated the training like a joke. When they summoned his team, he was always the last to show up, bedraggled and sleepy-eyed, and when they released them from their duties he was always the first one gone.

So when the sound of Liam's shout ricocheted off the walls of the tunnel, Cliff hadn't been jumping for cover -- he'd been turning around to look towards the source.

Off at his side, he barely had enough time to register that Isaac's arm had slipped out from where he'd been holding it before two large, strong palms connected with his body, shoving him hard to the ground.  

[Trundlebug]

Over the mire he had walked-- thick and slimy like oil, that clung to the top of his boots and slicked down the sides. He'd walked through a forest of unseeing eyes, that smelled cloyingly sweet and sour. He'd clapped a hand over his mouth to keep himself from gagging; he dared not speak to his teammates as they walked along through black, rotting slush. But he listened to them as they went. He heard Zoey's gasps of grief, and Cliff's somber whispers-- his eyes bowed as he watched the young woman bend and curl with sobs into Cliff.

He was hoping Cliff could do the job for both of them there. Isaac didn't dare remove one hand from his mouth to comfort Zoey-- there was no telling what would come up if he did. And in his other hand Kyanos lay, glowing teal and buzzing in his numb fingers with ire.

Even when the headset had fizzled out and Liam's voice had become nothing more than a double whisper, he still kept the headphones on, just in case. Just in case they came back and Adam could be heard. Just in case the three of them got separated in the black abyssal underground.

~~~

Kyanos heard the yell before he had.

Isaac had been fiddling with his headset. /What's up with the stupid thing?/ he thought to himself irritably, smacking on one ear to see if it would magically make the hiss of static disappear. But the hiss only seemed to be getting louder. Frustrated, Isaac shifted from Cliff's arm; numb, chewed fingers moved to peel off an earpiece--

A sudden, human shout ripped through the tunnel, swallowed and interrupted by inhuman screams of savage hunger.

Isaac turned, the cat o' nine tails wheeling through the air on reflex, as time seemed to slow around him. Dark beings melted from the ground, dripped from the ceiling and walls-- slowly reaching out with thousands of mouths to devour. Right in his line of vision, a giant, shadowy maw sailed in the air straight for him, yet slightly off center.

It only took a second for him to realize that Kyanos was too far away in the air to drag back-- and that the mouth of hundreds of black teeth wwere off enough in the air to hit Cliff, who was standing right beside him. Isaac's vision tunneled, and his body reacted before his mind.

His hands whipped forward desperately, the top half of his body colliding with Cliff, drops of black, oily ooze splashing up from the floor. The sailing shadow whined as it flew through the air, the vacuous mouth like a meat grinder-- and with a high pitched, grating mewl, it sawed straight through the right lower half of Isaac's body, before vanishing into nothingness.

The only sound that came from Isaac was the slick squelch as he landed on the floor-- accompanied by a much smaller splat as the lower part of his arm, still fiercely holding Kyanos, landed somewhere beside.

Kyanos was silent in his mind as his body convulsed and shook on the ground. Isaac's eyes fluttered, trying to focus, the pupils of his brown eyes mere sightless pinpricks of shock. God, did he feel cold, and he hurt so badly, he could not quite tell why he was staring up at (what he assumed) was the ceiling--

The only rational thought going through Isaac's thoughts, was that it was awful cold, and he wondered what had happened to Cliff's hat, which had kept his head-- and him-- so very warm while he had it on. He wished he could borrow it again... his lips moved, but only the shivery, gargling sound of blood came out.

x_Nata_x

Ol-j-man

 

[Kaiyumi]

Jamisson's advice had been met with a light shrug, but when Damien spoke, he actually stopped to consider the other Hunter's words for a moment. As much as he preferred going solo, perhaps it was best to stick with a group. It definitely seemed like the safest way to go...

Or so he thought, at least.

Whether someone was alone or in a group didn't matter much when the attack came. Aaron's head whipped up at Liam's warning, but before he could even fully process the words, he suddenly found himself being knocked downwards. He didn't even have a chance to roll over and face his attacker when he felt the creature's claws tear into his side. Aaron's scream joining the many panicked and pained yells that sounded around him.

s**t...s**t! Am I really going to...?! Please, not here, not now. As he struggled to roll over, the creature dived down to gouge its claws into Aaron's left shoulder.

Aaron! Aaron, don't just lie there!

Grimacing at the high-pitched voice that shrieked through his mind, the young man managed to find the strength to roll over and kick his leg out, catching the creature unawares. With one of his hands clutched over his wound, he used the other to swing out at the winged monster, stabbing the katar blade straight into one of the wings.

Immediately after, he was worried what the shadow would do...but fortunately, it seemed that it chose to back off for now. There was a moment of victory swelling up in his chest before he suddenly collapsed, panting heavily. He was just...going to lie here and bleed for a while.