♦ ♦ 10th Contract [Action/Video]

[mortemscintilla]

[ Rustles and shaky breaths. Li, tense and grimy, appears onscreen. He seems to be huddled under the planks of a boardwalk. The darkness around him is slatted with threads of pale-yellow light from the lamps glowing above. ]

Wh-What's going on? Does anyone know?

[ A tiny voice. Edging into panic. ]

Everywhere I look, there's m-m-monsters and -- H-e-e-ey! Hey! Let go!

[ Wild scrabbling. A strangled scream. The device spins, topsy turvy. And a terrifying face is glimpsed. ]

[ Abruptly, the feed ends. ]

Options:

[ (Damsels & Derps: Li) He's racing at full-pelt down the street. Chased by a horde of decaying zombies. And a sharp-toothed clown. Wielding an axe. It's rather like he's leading a parade. The single most horrific parade in history. ]

[ Someone save him, pls? ]

[ (Thrill Kills: Reaper) He's known he'll encounter trouble during recon. He's counting on it. In a dark narrow lane, he finds himself cornered by an eerie group of creatures. And that clown again. They give him a fight. ]

[ Finally. ]

[ A real fight. ]

[ Thrilling to snap bones. To spill blood and break into sweat. Thrilling to feed on adrenaline and put his abilities to use. ]

[ He battles the creatures for a solid hour. By degrees they edge him into an empty underground lot. Fluorescent lights flicker above, creating a surreal strobe effect. The air is thick with the smell of blood and rotting garbage. Blade at ready, Hei dodges between swiping claws and glistening fangs. With his black coat and eerie white mask, he almost resembles one of the monsters. ]

[ But even battling them, he's fearless, like it's nothing. He leaps upon a fanged demon, who roars when Hei grabs his head. He twists the jaw, hard and fast, and lands on his feet as the opponent crumples under him. Lunges, in the next blink, at the cackling clown. His dagger strikes the axe, steel clanging on steel. ]

[ He's going in for the kill tonight. Why hold back? ]

[OOC: Just a warning, guys. If you have horror-movie phobias, don't click the links. Particularly the clown one. I understand a lot of people don't like scary psycho clowns ;; ]

Comments

[Damsels and Derps -]

[confined_to_briah]

( Someone familiar is landing in front of Li, sword drawn. She gives him the barest glance before plunging forward into the "parade". Who said fear should stop anyone? Clearly zombies and clowns alike need to be cut into itty bitty pieces. )

Stay back.

[Damsels and Derps -]

[mortemscintilla]

[ He's not above feigning cowardice to maintain his cover. He trips, scrambling away from the melee. ]

W-w-watch out, Miss Alexiel!

That one's got an axe!

[ This will be a useful chance to gauge her abilities. All while playing The Helpless Little Boy. ]

[confined_to_briah]

( She dodges the axe with practiced ease, nailing the clown in the abdomen with the edge of her blade. )

No matter. ( Her voice remains calm and controlled. ) You have nothing to fear from the dead and fools.

[mortemscintilla]

[ Well. That takes care of the clown. She seems to go straight for the kill. The Syndicate would've found her useful. ]

S-Sure I do!

Haven't you seen horror-movies? There's nothing worse than clowns and zombies.

[ Speaking of which. The zombies are closing in. ]

[confined_to_briah]

( Alexiel doesn't hold back when she spots the enemy. She flips her blade, shaking off some of the blood. )

They are weak. ( And rotting based on the smell. ) I recall some of those. ( From Setsuna. ) I found them amusing.

( But she is a fallen angel who was sentenced to die over and over again horribly.

Not much is scary after that. )

Your brains are rotten. ( She begins slicing the zombies apart - heads first. )

[mortemscintilla]

Amusing?

[ Oh Alexiel. If Li were a person, not a fabricated persona, he'd be terrified of you. As it is, he's intrigued. He lets her handle the zombies. She's more than capable. Standing off to the side, pretend-cowering, as he studies her technique. Blades are his weapon of choice during wetwork. There's always a spark of respect for any who use it well, even if it's fleeting. ]

[ Not in this case. ]

[confined_to_briah]

A bit. ( Blood is something that awakens her fury. Once she smells it, once she tastes it or sees it, she can't stop herself. Li might notice that she pays no heed to blood on her hands or face...or anywhere else for that matter. When the last zombie falls, she flexes her fingers and grits her teeth. )

There must be more. You should go home.

[anatural]

[Korra is fighting in the same lot. She's cut & bleeding all over, struggling to adapt the bending techniques she knows to airbending and really, REALLY wishing airbending lent itself better to violence.

She doesn't notice Hei -- she can't spare attention for anything but the monsters trying to kill her.]

[mortemscintilla]

[ He can't see who else is here, either. But now isn't the time to worry about that. The monsters converge on him all at once. The floor under him is slippery with spilled blood, but he keeps his footing. ]

[ Blinding a zombie with an electric shock, he pivots, kicking, incapacitating the nearest monster by crushing its ribs. He continues spinning in a dervish-blur, slashing at the second monster's throat, whirling to snap the third's windpipe. It happens so fast they fall still-snarling. ]

[ Only then does he spot Korra. ]

[anatural]

[She unwittingly fights her away closer to Hei. She still doesn't register him as him -- when he shows up in her peripheral vision, he's just another monster, and she goes on the attack.]

[mortemscintilla]

[ He's trained to adapt to the moment. In the furor, he sees her coming. Instinctively, he blocks her attack. Blade whistling a half-inch above her skull -- slashing at the zombie behind her. But there's too many opponents. Too close-range. His focus isn't 100%. In the crowd, it'd be very easy for him to injure her -- or vice versa. ]

[anatural]

[The knife whizzing above her head sets Korra's nerves on fire. Instinctively she kicks her apparent attacker.]

[mortemscintilla]

[ He dodges. But not fast enough. Her foot connects with his face. And his mask. He drops, kicking scythelike at her feet to knock her down. He doesn't need an extra opponent while there's others to deal with. A fanged beast swipes at his skull. Hei pivots out of the way. But the lightweight mask has already chipped. ]

[ Between one blink and the next, it cracks entirely. Exposing his face. ]

[ Dammit. ]

[mightbeconcussed]

Li! Omygosh are you okay?

[mortemscintilla]

[ Nothing but white-noise. ]

[ After a few minutes, Li reappears. Grungier, bruised and more skittish. ]

M-Miss Lucy?

Is that you?

[mightbeconcussed]

Yeah, are you okay?

[mortemscintilla]

[ He seems wrestling between adrenalined energy and all-out panic. Except it's an act. He can keep his cool in the ugliest situations. ] I-I'm fine. [ He just slit a zombie's throat, that's all. ] You aren't outdoors, are you?

[mightbeconcussed]

No, I'm in my flat with the windows and doors locked. You should be inside too.

[mortemscintilla]

Oh. That's good. [ He winces. ] I was trying to get home. But a bunch of ... zombie-things started chasing me. It's amazing I didn't smell them before I realized they were coming.

action;

[blackshadow]

[ Tyr has no idea how people even get into these positions, but he's smart enough to not get too close or just yell "Hey, Li, hey!" and give himself away.

Nope, he saves that for when he shoots a couple jets of fire at the clown at Li's heels from his spot at a first floor window across the street. ]

action;

[mortemscintilla]

[ He sees the fire-jets. Behind him, the clown flails and snarls as he bursts into flame. Wide-eyed, Li scrambles out of the way. Eyes darting here and there, trying to determine where the help came from. ]

[ But even with the clown distracted, the zombies are lurching in... ]

action;

[blackshadow]

[ Tyr blinks in surprise as he watches the clown's form twists in the flames. For a distraction, that went well. The zombies should be easier to outrun, at least. As disgusting as they are, at least they don't look as...substantial as the clown does. ]

[ But as long as Li can keep some distance between himself and his procession, Tyr starts the next spell and just watches them closely from the windowsill. ]

action;

[mortemscintilla]

[ The flaming clown falls back, lurching and howling, unbalancing several zombies. Good. Li seizes the chance to run faster, hoping to lose his pursuers. But there are others -- decaying, hissing -- lurching from the dark lanes around him. ]

[ He's surrounded. ]

action;

[blackshadow]

[ And that's when Tyr decides just shooting down monsters won't work. He leans further out the window and yells out: ]

Li! Get over here!

[ Maybe he should open more windows. He's sure the landlord won't mind. ]

action;

[mortemscintilla]

[ He knows where Tyr called out from. But keeping 'in-character' he affects a confused look. Glances here and there. ]

Who -- who said that? [ Realization pretend-dawning. ] Tyr?

[ The zombies are closing in. He drops the act for a moment to scoop up a long wooden shank (use available weapons). Thwacks the closest zombie on the head, not skillfully but hard. ]

[ And takes off running in Tyr's direction. ]