The Secret Wars.

by **EphPhoenix** 5th December 2012, 11:54 am

First topic message reminder :

He sighed as he stood before his outfit and arsenal. The time had come. He had prepped for this for months, now, so there was no reason to be nervous. (Right?)

He began checking his gear: grapples, holy bombs, sleep grenades, sticky pellets, jacks, marbles, fog bombs, rope, etc. He fastened on his gloves and pulled his goggles down over his eyes, then put his hat on. Finally, he grabbed his staff and headed for the elevator. Tonight was the night.

Once on the roof, he began going over a mental list. The Cockerspaniel, Hoots for Holler, Beer Belly Bongos, Grendel's Dive, and Horust's House of Happy. These places had a certain clientele and would be the most likely to have the information he was looking for.

He ran and leapt off the roof, managing to land on a nearby one and continued running. His heart pounded in his chest and the blood rushed to his ears. He'd never felt so alive.

After ten minutes of rooftop hopping, he found the place he was looking for: The Cockerspaniel. Looking around, he slipped down into an alleyway and walked toward the place. As he neared, he kicked the door open, instantly bringing all eyes onto him.

"Look alive, assholes!" he growled. "I'm lookin' for answers and if ya don't give'em to me, you'll be eatin' pavement for dessert!"

He was met with silence, then suddenly everyone burst into laughter. Alfredo made a face as he involuntarily blushed.

"Whose idea for the entertainment?"

"You behind this, Vinny?"

"What a mook!"

"Hey, kid! Beat it before your mommy comes lookin' fer ya!"

Alfredo's face got redder with each word until finally, he walked over to the nearest table and kicked it over, toppling the men sitting there with it. Laughter stopped immediately followed by the sounds of raucous men.

Alfredo leapt back as one of the men at the table swung at him, retaliating by kicking him hard in the stomach. The man doubled over and Alfreado finished him with a roundhouse kick to the face. Another man swung at him and Alfredo side-stepped and grabbed the arm and flipped him over, stumbling and almost tumbling after. Was easier when I practiced it on the dummy...

He turned and caught a graze to the jaw that sent him stumbling into two men who grabbed him. The guy who hit him came running and Alfredo leapt and kicked out, his feet planting in the man's face and sending him flying backward. Immediately, he turned his palms toward the men and a bolt of lightning emanated from both gloves, sending the men flying with smoke rising from their chests.

"Shit! He's a mage!"

"Fuck that! He's a rookie!"

"Get'im!"

He leapt out of the way of a charge and kicked the guy in the back to help him on his way, dodged another punch and cuffed the man in the chin, causing him to crumple (Yes!), then fell to the ground as a chair struck him in the back.

Stars swam in front of his eyes and he shook them away, rolling free as the man with the chair tried to slam it on him. He leapt to his feet and struck out, getting the man in the throat. He then pulled out his staff and swung hard, cuffing the man in the chin and causing him to spin backward through the air before belly-flopping on the floor.

Staff in hand, he struck another man, down, thrust the butt into another man's gut, then went flying back as a man tackled him. He grunted as he hit the ground and brought his knee up instinctively, kneeing the man in the groin and shoving him off.

It went like this for another few minutes until, finally--blessedly--he was the last man standing. He bent over, breathing hard. This was a lot harder than the books and his practicing had led him to believe. He pushed to his feet and walked over to a man and kicked him over, pulling out a knife and pointing it at his groin.

"You're just the cocksucker I was looking for," he growled breathlessly. "Barnabas Hexam. You work, huff, for the Stoneham Gang. You and I need to have words..."

"Go fuck yourself, kid," the man spat. "I ain't tellin' you sh--okay, okay! Let's be civil about this..." Alfredo had jammed the knife a little into the man's crotch.

"That's better," he said. "Tell me about the work you do for the Dooley Foundation..."

by **EphPhoenix** 1st January 2013, 1:14 pm

"I've already said what must be done," Etrigan replied. "Now all that remains is for you two to recover to begin the fun."

"Why do I not like the sound of that...?" Alfredo said with a sigh.

by Red 1st January 2013, 1:19 pm

He shook his head. "Fine, yes," he said, turning to the module and yanking the door open. "You should come in too, Alfredo," he said, nearly tripping over Helena and Kropp on the floor. He stumbled over to one of the seats along the wall and sat down, leaning his head back and breathing in slowly.

by Guest 1st January 2013, 1:24 pm

Kropp pulled his legs out of the way, Helena looked up at the two of them, resting her chin on the top of her knees. Yet she remained silent, not saying anything and instead focused her gaze on the floor. Kropp, when both of the new occupants were seated in the room, stretched his legs back out, leaned back and closed his eyes.

by **EphPhoenix** 1st January 2013, 1:45 pm

Alfredo made a face. "Pass. Two's company, three's a crowd and all that," he said. "Besides, I have work to do. Did you encounter any places of inactivity in the red dots like I did, perchance?"

by Red 1st January 2013, 1:47 pm

Henry opened one eye to look up at him. "Yes," he said. "They were no different than the normal city."

The pain in his head had subsided, replaced by that odd peaceful feeling, and he frowned. "Don't be an idiot, your arm is broken," he said shortly.

by **EphPhoenix** 1st January 2013, 1:51 pm

"Work. To do," Alfredo said flatly. "Enjoy your stay in there, but I don't have time for the Spanish Inquisition and need to think."

He walked away and went to his desk to work. "Thought as much," he said, using his good arm to start writing calculations and analyze this new data.

by Guest 1st January 2013, 2:03 pm

Kropp opened one eye a crack, closing it as Alfredo left.
"Not too happy to share a room with you, either, little shit." He muttered under his breath.
Helena bit her lip, it wasn't the time for questions; but she was so curious. It had been the first time she had ever met anyone who could sense demons other than Jaxx. But no one really seemed to be in the mood for any of that. So, despite the questions raging inside her she remained silent, occasionally shooting a glance at the two males in the room.

by Red 1st January 2013, 2:45 pm

Henry leaned his head back and kept his eyes shut, exhausted. At least it didn't quite feel like someone was bashing his skull in with a rock anymore...

He blinked again, finally, feeling strangely out of it. He opened his eyes to see the two of them had shifted on the floor. Did I fall asleep? He straightened on the bench. "What happened to my shirt?" he finally asked her.

by Guest 1st January 2013, 2:49 pm

Helena looked up at him, her and Kropp had been playing cards to pass time.
"Hm? Oh, that woman took it and put it by where I was laying after she patched me up. I could go and get it for you, but I doubt it'll be wearable, anymore."
She looked as Kropp played his hand and slapped her cards on the floor, giving a noise of irritation.
"Damn, you're bad at this." Kropp chuckled.

by Red 1st January 2013, 2:54 pm

He rubbed at his temples. That had been his only shirt. Could always sneak into my apartment again...

But by now they would have confiscated everything there. He leaned forward, resting his forearms across his knees as he watched their game. "You really are bad at that," he said, after watching a few more hands.

by Guest 1st January 2013, 3:02 pm

Kropp laughed at Henry's comment while Helena let out another growl.
"You want to play, mate? I could deal you in." He shuffled the cards in his hands, smiling. "And, Helena, it appears you own me three beers, twenty quid and doing my laundry for a week."
"You only won because you gamble too much!" Helena snapped at him. Kropp winked at her.
"Ah yes, but I gamble with little girls who don't know how to hide their hand so I usually come out the better man."
"Not the better man if you're scamming people." She growled at him.
"Ah, Helena; you are many things, a gambler is not one of them."

by **EphPhoenix** 1st January 2013, 3:07 pm

Alfredo had been poring over the map for a while now, trying to find a pattern in the occurrences of the inactive hot spots. He went over his calculations of the scanners ten different times and from different angles and arrived at the same conclusion--though admittedly, one of the ways was a lot more efficient and he'd have to see about implementing it later.

He slammed his good hand on the table. "Gah! What am I missing?!"

Etrigan chuckled from overhead. "You think the demons such easy meat," he chanted, "and this is why you're in your current defeat."

"More riddles?" Alfredo snapped. "That's all you ever do. I don't have the patience for it, right now."

"And it is that very thing you young humans lack that will continually make for your constant setback. Think of it, my young lad, how much time would either species have had? And when you can answer that, closer you will be. But for now, you will be stuck banging your head against a tree."

by Red 1st January 2013, 3:15 pm

Henry frowned. Did he even have money? He fished down in his pocket, finding the money pouch he'd first taken from his apartment. Not much.

He glanced down at the two for a moment, taking in their auras. Both relaxed by the room, but Helena's fidgeted like a child in school, wild and jerky, while Kropp's was still and controlled. Guarded.

"Why not," he said, sliding off the bench onto the floor and accepting the cards that Kropp gave him. It had been a while since he'd had a good card game - manning the bar he'd only gotten to watch most games, more recently watching the interplay of their auras as men gambled their lives away. He held his cards up, guarding them closely, glancing over at the other two. He had a bit of an unfair advantage...

He hid a smirk behind his cards. He needed money anyway. Maybe he could buy a few new shirts.

by Guest 1st January 2013, 3:20 pm

Helena regarded Henry with suspicion, he didn't really seem like the gambling type.
"I'll start-" Kropp said happily, shuffling his cards about in his hand, with Helena quickly becoming another twenty coin poorer and making a few more noise of aggravation with each hand.

by Red 1st January 2013, 3:23 pm

The game passed the time better than just sitting would have, thankfully. Henry won the next several hands, but his guilt at his... unique methods meant he made sure to allow Kropp to win as well. It wasn't like he could just ignore their auras when they were right in his face.

Helena didn't get so much as a break though, and he finally set down his hand. "Sure you don't wanna back out of the game?" he asked her. They were gonna drive the poor woman into debt.

by Guest 1st January 2013, 3:29 pm

Kropp looked horrified at each hand he lost, and as Helena poked fun at him; he was sure this was probably the weirdest, most hellish day of his young life.
"How- do I, keep, losing!?" Kropp looked at the money currently by Henry's side and ran his fingers through his hair, sighing. He began shuffling the cards once more.
Helena bit her lip, looking down at her losing hand.
"I- I am never admitting defeat to either of you; deal me in again!" She was hesitant, but it's not like she could back out- she had far too much pride.
"Yeah, and she's rich so keep in mind we could keep getting money out of her for hours. Hell, this is how I make half my income." Kropp laughed, dealing Helena another hand.

by Red 1st January 2013, 3:32 pm

He rolled his eyes, playing a few more hands with the two of them and winning both of them.

"Alright, I'm pulling out," he said, throwing his cards down and moving to collect his winnings. "I can't keep stealing from her," he said, jerking his head towards Helena.

by **EphPhoenix** 1st January 2013, 3:32 pm

"That's it!"

Alfredo suddenly began writing a list of equations and formulas rapidly and circling marks along the map of hotspots. A minute later, he hopped up and barged into the HM.

"By jove, I think I've got it!" he exclaimed, as happy and excited as a kid that had gotten an overly large lollipop.

He sped over to Henry and spread the map out, pointing. "It was these that were vacant that you discovered wasn't it?"

by Guest 1st January 2013, 3:48 pm

Kropp gave an irritated sigh, Henry had just whipped almost everything he had won out of his hands.
"You lost, you lost-" Helena taunted him, poking him in the chest.
"Shut up-" Her grabbed her and put her into a headlock, ruffling her hair and messing it as much as he could." You still owe me three bears and a load of laundry, kidd-o!"
"You're four years older than me and I'm not washing your underpants!" Came Helena's muffled protest as she beat her hand against his chest and finally pushed herself free. She blew a few clumps of stray hair from her face and rummaged around her bag, slapping what she owed Henry into his hand.
When the door creaked open all of them looked up to see a rather excited Alfredo.
"Oh my god, no way!" Kropp teased, mimicking an excited teenage girl. He looked over at Helena. "Wait- what exactly are we so excited about?"
She shrugged. " No fuckin' clue, but it seems pretty important."

by Guest 1st January 2013, 5:31 pm

Hailey finally decided to leave her room. After quite the while of simply lying down in her bed and staring at the ceiling. She walks slowly all the way down to the basement.

once there she notices the absence of every one, except Etrigan, for once the one she wanted to speak to. They were probably recovering in the healing chamber.

She walks up silently to the demon and looks at him with a totally straight face, no emotions. ''i Need to speak to you...'' she says looking at him straight in the eyes.

by **EphPhoenix** 1st January 2013, 6:01 pm

Etrigan's eyes glowed fiercely as he looked upon the woman. "I see your attire is still absurd," he commented. "Is it any wonder they assume you a fledgeling ladybird?

"And what exactly do you require from one such as I? I thought I was far beneath you in your eye. Or could it be your new subtlety? The precipice upon which madness you will soon to be?"

by Red 1st January 2013, 6:12 pm

Henry jumped as Alfredo suddenly burst in, his hand going instinctively down to check his sword and gun were still at his side. He blinked as Alfredo stormed in, ignoring Kropp's catty remarks and following after as he spread out the map. "Ah, yes, I believe so," he said. He'd never really made mark of which spots were dead ends. "Why?"

by **EphPhoenix** 1st January 2013, 6:28 pm

Alfredo nodded as if it all made sense, now. "It all makes sense, now!" he said excitedly, and immediately began scrawling complex equations on the map, immediately lining dots all the way into where Hailey had been.

"It clicked when you and Etrigan were talking about underestimating demons," he began hurriedly, still writing more equations. "Obviously, it had to click when we encountered that damnably powerful on that someone was onto them, thus they'd have deduced--rather keenly, I must grudgingly give over--that their enemies might deduce ways of tracking them. The problem was I was thinking of dealing solely with human minds and not demon ones. They're patient and tricky cause they have eons of time. Thus I didn't think to look for more subtler patterns than I was using."

He pointed. "It's preliminary, but so far it's matching, those there are some outliers here," he pointed to the area he had been patrolling. "Which means there are more factors that I have to put in to get it perfectly. But if I'm right--and considering my math is seldom wrong--then this means that not only is there another reactor in the city, it's even larger than the one we blew up the other week. These empty dispersal patterns are the exhaust for it."

He looked at Henry worriedly. "I...we'll have to try blowing it up as a last resort only...one that big...it might level the city if they haven't taken the proper precautions like last time..."

by Guest 1st January 2013, 6:39 pm

Kropp and Helena followed the conversation to the best of their ability, occasionally looking to each other in confusion. Helena managed to follow for the most part, whilst Kropp quickly became lost in their talk of demons. He came back to full attention when they mentioned blowing up a reactor, previously.
"Wait- wait-wait, would this previous reactor of yours; it would be the factory a week ago, correct? The one that was blown to smithereens." He piped in.
"Oh, yeah; so that was your work, I assume?" Helena raised an eyebrow. "Care to explain why you did that?"

by Red 1st January 2013, 6:45 pm

Henry frowned down at the map as Alfredo spoke rapidly, trying to follow him. He thought he understood... vaguely. It would help if he didn't talk so damn fast.

He cringed as Kropp spoke up, mentioning the disastrous explosion at that factory. "The factory had a reactor in it. Demonic of some kind." He looked over at Alfredo, hoping for some help explaining this. It wasn't exactly his forte. "A hotbed of demonic activity. It blew up and... took the building with it."

He sighed. "So then how would we neutralize it?"

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