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Post by MP on May 29, 2022 1:58:36 GMT -6
Sohl swerved toward the woods at their urgings, but his hearts thrummed in his chest, hard and fast as a bird's wings, or so it felt. Raine and Viktoria were both fearsome fighters, but the cultists had Marchelute at their backs, and Sohl knew full well now dangerous he could be. More so, in the twisted shape Atol had made of him.
He surged forward, weaving down through the canopy and in amongst the trees, picking up speed. Human vehicles moved quickly, even by the measure of his kind, and he wanted to give Viktoria all the lead he could.
When the sour note of the exhaust had faded from his prongs, he came to the tree line, a small slope overlooking the road, so low to the ground that his belly almost scraped the soil. He slowed just long enough for his feline passenger to dismount, then swerved back toward the woods with Raine.
This drop off was easier by far. He flew back through the woods until he heard the drone and fade of the engine. Then he swerved after it, flying at the same low cruise. At the last, as he saw the hillside and Viktoria’s ambush approaching, he put on an extra turn of speed and came to ground by the road’s edge. No sooner had Raine dismounted then he took to the air again, higher now without the burden of his riders. Out of sight, unless they should look directly up. This position afforded him the best vantage point, both to manage the warp and to strike, if necessary.
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Post by tsukikoko on Jun 2, 2022 12:42:03 GMT -6
Viktoria's ears remained pivoted towards the oncoming vehicles even as she moved between the trees. Her eyes assessed their size, distance from the road, the surrounding area for off-road avenues of escape. The slope on her side was steep enough to stop an easy escape, while the other was an even sharper drop off, with a myriad of trees as obstacles and gulleys from water run-off providing channels for a tire to get wedged in.
Sohl had chosen a good choke point.
As the rumble of engines and the spin of tires drew closer, Viktoria drew her monoknife, the wickedly sharp blade glowing a faint red amongst the brush. She chose a tree not only tall but broad, crouching in front of it and cutting an angled wedge near to the base. Her knife slid through bark and the wood beneath with no apparent effort, searing a slight burn mark into the main trunk. The convoy was close enough that they'd soon be in sight, as the feline travelled round to the back of the same tree.
Her blade slid into the wood yet again, passing through with an almost casual flick of her arm, as though to spread her butter on morning toast. The tree creaked, held itself upright for a second longer, before toppling forward onto the road with an almighty crash, right in front of the oncoming vehicles.
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Post by Salandis on Jun 13, 2022 1:35:56 GMT -6
Raine watched Viktoria set down and clung to Sohl as he went wildly back and around to behind the ambush point. Sohl slowed for a landing and Raine leaped off to the ground, ignoring an impact that would probably have broken another human’s ankles. The lights of vehicles were ahead of him, stalled and unmoving. His ears had caught the crash of what could only be a mighty tree falling over the road, and in the still evening he heard voices of consternation so far – no fear, and no firing. Yet.
He picked up his pace, silently blessing the running exercises he had embarked on a year ago and not given up yet. His armor rustled as he ran, but this sound was easily lost against the backdrop of a running engine and yelled instructions and reports. The cars of the convoy were still all oriented forward, the glare from headlights dimming the night vision of the drivers, although as he approached he could see the rearmost car, alerted to the possibility of ambush, start to reverse. It halted, the wheels grinding on the tarmac as the car turned laboriously to the left into the opposing lane to make a three-point turn.
Raine didn’t hesitate, or even slow down. The car was horizontal, crossing both lanes as the driver prepared to reverse again, when Raine, still picking up speed, struck. Sword at a lunge, he crashed bodily through the driver’s side car door window, the blade stretching past the driver to land firmly in the neck of the passenger. The driver had been looking back in preparation to reverse and managed to turn around and curse before Raine pulled the sword free of the passenger and into the side of the driver’s neck. It didn’t carry enough force to be immediately fatal, the chairs being a hindrance, but Raine freed a hand to slap over the man’s mouth before he could do more than curse, after which point he could only be silent. He felt an odd fizzling against his palm as if more than just a person were dying to the cold he brought them, but then all was still.
Sliding free of the car he paused a moment to listen. His own assault could not have been missed unless Viktoria’s had started, but he knew he couldn’t stay where he was. The turned car was a good defensive position, but here they were on the assault - and there was at least one more car between him and the truck that held Marchelute. Instead of running around the car he took advantage of his small size and opened the rear door of the sedan – finding it had annoyingly been unlocked – and passaged through, hoping the other car’s guards had opted to leave their car instead of simply backing it up.
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Post by MP on Jul 9, 2022 3:04:22 GMT -6
The moment Raine jumped from the saddle, Sohl continued across the road and into the opposite trees. His form blurred down to a human shape - less to see, less to hit if a stray bullet should come his way. The ground on this side was a slope trailing down toward lowland forest. If he had to shift back to his natural shape and take flight, this would provide the quickest altitude.
But for now, he stayed close to the road, testing the air. This place was near the edge of father's network, and he could feel the place running like sand. He focused on the center of the city, on what was consistent and calm, and began to make anchors and tethers as Father had taught him. This patch of undergrowth had the same sheltered feel as another he'd seen in the city park. A tether. This cluster of trees had the profile of a skyline he'd known from the business district. Another tether. Every connection he made back to the city's anchor points cast another line of stability that would hold the region together - at least for now.
There was a crunch behind him, and Sohl glanced up from his work just long enough to check the situation on the road.
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Post by tsukikoko on Aug 2, 2022 7:02:30 GMT -6
At about the moment Raine's presence might have been noticed, a shout of alarm sounded from the front of the convoy, nearest the fallen tree. It was cut short, shifted abrupt gear into a muffled, animal cry of terror and a short report of bullet-fire, before a dull, sickening thud cut over even the thrum of vehicle engines and the scream died. The thud came again. A third time, accompanying the crack of tree bark.
Viktoria stood, illuminated now by torch lights mounted upon the barrels of various guns pointed her way, as a black, armour-clad demon. A lifeless body hung from one clawed hand, the previously human face completely caved in, a smear of red and viscera marking the tree nearby.
A moment of eerie silence descended. She dropped the body, leant forward with a whirr of gyros, and roared.
Utter chaos erupted.
Bullets whizzed through the air, some embedding in trees or ricocheting off the feline's armour as she charged for the gathered people, ducking between and behind stopped vehicles to keep at least some level of cover between herself and her enemies as she advanced. One or two tore through her cheeks, only for the wounds to begin sealing near immediately afterwards. She grabbed the nearest man as she vaulted a car bonnet, his reactions not quick enough to evade her vice-like grip, and turned his body into the next volley of bullets, utilising the quickly deceased sack of flesh and bone as a useful, albeit short-lived, shield. The corpse was thrown into a gathered group of three in the next moment, sending two crashing into the ground while the third caught himself, only to find his throat on the receiving end of a pair of claws soon after.
All the while, Viktoria snarled, roared and generally drew as much attention to herself as she was able. Even though she used cover, it was notably not to the extent she could have done.
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Post by Marshmallow on Nov 28, 2022 21:33:18 GMT -6
The rumble of the diesel engine, the hum of the road and the sense of weight and momentum faded to an unexpected halt. The beast's ears perked, his eyes opening to the darkness of the trailer's interior. He hadn't been asleep so much as simply idle, patiently awaiting the arrival of his destination and his next task. He stared at the bolted trailer doors, but no one came to release him. They could not have reached the docks so soon. Why had they stopped?
The bed of the trailer creaked as the ifrit rose. His ears swiveled to and fro, tracking the muffled sounds of voices and footsteps through the steel walls of his transport. He heard first confusion and irritation, the grumble of idling engines. Then there came alarmed shouts, running footsteps and the bark of weapons fire. Screams. Roars.
Marchelute reached for the seams, the cracks in reality through which he could burrow. Tried to pry them open, slip between the layers and out. But something arrested his efforts. Had hidden the cracks from him. No, something had erased them.
His lips peeled back in a snarl. Someone was meddling.
The Enemy had come.
A heavy metal clang echoed down the hillside, louder than even the soldiers' rifles. The truck rocked on its tires as the sound came again. A bulge deformed the heavy steel doors of the trailer. With the next bang, one of the massive hinges flew apart, bolts raining like shrapnel onto the road. A limb appeared through the gap, the serrated curve of a massive mantid claw. Metal screamed as the trailer was peeled open like a tin can.
Marchelute stepped out of the ruined mess of twisted steel, a hulking, misshapen figure made more monstrous by the uneven spill of light from fallen torches. His mane bristled, his powerful forearms flexed, talons gleaming in the highbeams of the idling convoy. Limbs that had once been wings rotated in their sockets, bringing to bear the terrible grasping claws they had become. The fragmented runes upon the monster's chest smoldered with their sickening inner light, and the scent of fire and brimstone grew heavy on the air. He bellowed out a roar, and the Soundless who remained rallied to their asset's side.
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Post by Salandis on Dec 3, 2022 0:29:58 GMT -6
Raine was having a little more trouble than anticipated getting out of the car. He had opened the rear door of the passenger side, hoping to get out and approach the other car. He found himself outside the car on the driver’s side instead, looking at the empty road he had charged down moments before. He spun around to get back in the car, finding the door he had just gotten out of was now closed. He opened the door, his brain still charged with adrenalin, and then found it was still closed. He opened it again but was still blockaded by a closed door. He closed the door, which unfortunately left it that way, and remembered he could still run around the car. Probably. Sohl was supposed to be keeping the space around them stable, and maybe he was, but the car interior appeared to still be operating on rules of its own, probably powered by entirely different spells.
Gunfire was crackling around him at this point, but that sound was eclipsed by a bear-shark's roar. Raine easily recognized the sounds of panic and confusion as the shots around him became more sporadic, Viktoria’s attack from the front was drawing far more attention than a madman with a sword. He took advantage immediately, jumping onto the trunk of the car and charging again, taking a running leap towards the second trailing vehicle.
The car he was in had contained two people, and it was reasonable that four would have been the most that could fit in the other trailing car. Reasonable. Two agents were at each of the front doors, guns drawn and in varied states of distraction, which should have been a full complement. But two more were behind the rear passenger side, one in the same henchman suit-and-gun combination as the others while the other had on something more elaborate with edgings and silks. Behind them another three had hustled to the truck they had been escorting and were doing something intricate and panicky with the rear door.
Raine was treated to a brief if good view of this since mid-leap the fancier of the car-folk had pointed at him and screamed something, suspending him in some kind of netting made of light. It lasted about a heartbeat before Raine crashed through it entirely, staggering a moment and then barreling into a car door. He heard what was probably the fancy guy yell something unintelligible as one of the agents braced the door he had just collided with, the other rushing out around the door, managing to shoot Raine in the thigh. Raine ignored the sting from the bullet, since it had hit his armor anyway, and flicked his sword out to slice open the other man’s wrist. When he dropped the gun with a hiss Raine took a step to the side and smoothly ran him through under his armpit.
He stepped around the frozen corpse still glued to the inside of what turned out to be a very solid armored car door to find the remaining guards had regrouped around the fancy dresser, guns up but not firing, backing away from him towards the truck. Something shimmered in the air between Raine and that group, and Raine looked past them to the group clustered at the back door with a sinking feeling in his stomach.
The truck erupted into a mass of ruined steel, hopefully killing the three men who had been trying to open it a moment before. In its place was something monstrous, a hulking maned wingless figure with six limbs that all promised death. Marchelute roared, a full throated bellow that dwarfed the sound Viktoria had made only moments before. The remaining three goons had gathered around him, the silk-dressed one still conjuring worthlessly in Raine’s direction.
Raine could have wept, seeing what his friend had become. He reached instead for anger, and started walking towards the worthless Spurcissime still alive with murder in his heart.
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Post by tsukikoko on Jan 11, 2023 14:00:40 GMT -6
A report of gunfire answered Marchelute's roar and the Soundless' rally. From atop a nearby vehicle, eyes reflecting light as two vibrant, silvery discs and a twitching man dangling by his neck from her jaws, stood Viktoria, gun in hand. She threw the spent weapon to the side, uninterested in gathering further magazines for it when the gun's purpose had hopefully been fulfilled; she could distract from Raine's movements, give him chance to deal with the robed individual, who's strange abilities were beyond the feline's comprehension.
There was Marchelute, too.
The twisted sight of him, once again, fuelled a burning rage within the humanoid's chest. What they had done to him, her packmate, was unforgivable.
As the body fell from her maw and a wound in her face sealed over with a flicker of shadow, Viktoria roared once again. An undeniable note of challenge thrummed within the sound. While she didn't know how much of her packmate was left, she knew Marchelute had never been one to back down from a challenge when it was presented. If she could separate him from the Soundless, their defences would be split.
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