CHAPTER FOUR ♔ does it run in your blood to betray the ones you love

[coldheritage]

♬ The Truth - Nonpoint

WHO || Failboat, Rafael, Isabella, Nadia  [Closed]
WHAT || After an exciting Grammy night, the Knights meet up with Nadia to hear what she has to say
WHERE || Staples Center, LA -->  Warehouse
WHEN || Feb 8th, 2015  [back dated]
HOW || Actionspam

[  The Knights' mission to stop the signal and prevent Draken's cult from spreading whatever subliminal message  was lurking beneath Keijen Blade's performance was a success.  It didn't come without its bumps in the road, however:  Alexander Anderson showed up, and the Knights ran afoul of the Mind Master.    Buffy nearly died fighting Anderson, but in the end, he was defeated, beheaded, and hopefully put to death forever.   Finnick, though, found himself thrust into a mental illusion that convinced him he might still be in the Hunger Games, and left him uncertain about whether any of his life here was real.  

Another surprise came in the form of an announcement by Nadia Reichenov, an artist working with Crombe and company, that she was changing her band name and taking things in a 'new direction'.   This direction was perhaps revealed when after her performance, she approached the Knights in Rafael's dressing room - and handed them the necklace that connects her to the Nightmare God Malaak'a, saying she was willing to tell them everything.  ]

Comments

[romanticidal]

[ OK HE IS WORKING ON IT NOW THIS IS HAPPENING. IMPROVEMENT???? (atks 12, 18, 18; dmg 6+9+11) with one hand and (atks 23 and 10; dmg 3+6) with the other, so they all hit dammit. LOOK A NEGATIVE SIX MAKES LIFE HARD. ]

[isisagent]

[Roll down windows?]

Who the fuck invited these fucks!?

[Heroic surge for a bonus shot, firing right out the back window with his pistol.]

[ATTACK: 30 / 25 / Action points can't save the last one, so 17? | DAMAGE: 5 / 7 / 6]

[bigbad]

I'll see if I can lose 'em!

[Spike waits until the very last moment, casually gaining speed as he approaches the next exit before crossing two lanes to swing onto the exit ramp (bluff 26, drive 28).]

[slay]

[ As the gunfire hails down, Buffy doubles over to wrap one arm around Elena, hunching her shoulders to spread into human shield status as Archer shatters the window. She reaches past her to grab her bag off the floor, rifling through for her gun. ]

Stay down! [ She warns. Whipping her head around, she trains her gun out the window and … is equally embarrassing honestly (atk 16, dmg 7). ]

[attollores]

[Alainn isn't even going to try and stick herself out the window with everyone else, mainly because she's not that great of a shot, especially compared to those already firing.

Instead, she reaches out to Rafael and mutters something softly in Latin, casting Enhance Ability on him, which will last for 13 minutes, giving him a +5 to his Dex bonus which will hopefully negatives.]

1/-

[savemyself]

[ isabella leans up between the seats, pointing through traffic to help spike weave into traffic on the highway ] Now! [ 34 drive check to aid another his check lmaooooo ]

2/-

[dragonsclaw]

[ meanwhile jack mumbles a prayer that will grant all y'all a +1 to your attacks, because you need it. and jesus. ]

3/3

[shootfirst]

Check this shit out. [ kat waves a hand out the back window and mutters some latin nonsense, and then intense magical hailstones start pounding down on the helicopter (16 dmg), which has already suffered so much damage that this is the last straw, and as spike careens off onto the ramp, the helicopter starts spinning in place in the air as it heads for the ground. the pilot seems to be doing a good job of keeping them from flying into a building, but it sure has no idea where they went, and isn't gonna be staying up in the air at that rate.

/init already?????????????????????????????? sure why not good job team at least we all know the rules now for next time ]

[nothingsodivine]

[As Des is the idiot in the sunroof, he can see ALL OF THAT SHIT with perfect clarity, so he stares in shock for a moment and then gives a whoop of victory.] Goddamn, we're good.

[and he drops back down into his seat, grinning like he definitely hasn't been grinning since they left for LA.] I've missed you, Fluffy.

[romanticidal]

[ rafael watches the helicopter skid out of sight between two buildings and then slumps back down into his seat, guns in his lap, closing his eyes for a moment and leaning his head against the back of the seat before he seems to register that des is talking to him. he flicks his eyes open and glances at alainn first with an apologetic but grateful little smile like SORRY I DIDN'T NEED YOUR SPELL BUT TH...ANKS???? and then looks back at the guns he's holding with a slight grimace. ] ... It seems I may have some rust from these last months.

[doubletake]

...Does that mean it's gone?

[Despite appearing like she was relatively calm earlier, she was fucking freaked when they started driving like badasses. No thanks. Spike you're amazing but fuck cars, basically.

She also has a white-knuckle grip on the closest object. Hopefully its part of a seat and not someone's leg or arm. Ouch.]

[slay]

[ Watching the helicopter drop off, Buffy waits until it's out of view to lower her gun. She moves away from where she'd been covering Elena, dropping to just one reassuring hand on her shoulder. Yeah. The nearest object happens to be her. But she's tough; she can take it.

Slumping back into the seat, she exhales heavily. Adrenaline dump has a little ghost of a smile hitting her face with the sigh, but it drops when her eyes open again. Her gaze lands on Rafael and she remarks in a voice that's clearly meant to be reassuring, ] There are worse things to pick up than rust.

[ Like a fiancée. :) ]

[isisagent]

Yeah, like a child. [Taking his pre-surrogate father role too seriously.]

[littledhampir]

[ /doubletakes at Archer while picking glass out of her hair.

Nope. She doesn't want to know.]

So if that was the Mind Master?! [Glancing at Raf.] Fair chance they know who we're going to meet?

[And she'll make a spot check to see if she can see anyone following them for good measure; Spot 29.]

[nothingsodivine]

If that was the Mind Master, then we've got more problems than we're probably prepared to deal with.

[His fist clenches around the hilt of the bayonet he's got tucked in his belt. I'm sure he's thinking happy thoughts and not gee I'd sure love to stab her in the face with that.] Anyone who wants to get off the ride, better say so now.

[doubletake]

Pretty sure we knew what we could be getting into when we agreed to meet her in the first place.

[Besides, the car's already moving.]

Hopefully they're pissed about their potential defect and this isn't going to be some massive continuing trap. If it's the former, we probably lost them for now, at least.

[attollores]

[As the helicopter goes down Alainn hikes her skirt up her thigh, reaching for the band she has strapped there, pulling out a small wooden carving. Bringing it to her lips she whispers something to it, eyes turning gold as it grows into Fede, her hawk familiar.]

Go, my love, show me what you see. [Taking advantage of the missing window, she hoists the bird towards it and she spreads her massive wings, catching the wind and lifting her up and out of the vehicle.]

We'll watch to see if anything else tries to follow us.

[bigbad]

...nifty trick. [Spike glances up at the rear view mirror.] Don't suppose it can go see who was piloting that copter while she's at it, can she?

[attollores]

[She turns in his direction, not really focusing on his face as she speaks, eyes still a bright burnished gold color as a smirk crawls up her lips.] We'll see what we can do.

[nepotism]

[ fede goes soaring off with a caw, and alainn would see where the helicopter has crashed into an intersection, holding up traffic. cop cars speed towards it from up the block, but it doesn't look like it was damaged too badly from the fall, just from the barrage of bullets and hail storm. a couple men in full black tactical gear are getting out, but there's no sign of draken, the mind master, or anyone else familiar. apparently, they were just goons sent after them.

meanwhile, fred looks over at kat and muses: ] Remind me to never really piss you off. I don't need a cloud of murder hail following me around all day.

[attollores]

[Alainn takes a second to process the scene, and the fact that it seems to be nothing more than goons and not the big baddies. She directs Fede to follow them and keep an eye out for more followers, then pulls her gaze back to the rest of the party in the vehicle.]

Oh Fred, I think that's going ter be unavoidable at some point.[chuckle] It was just some goons in the helicopter, not Draken or the Mind Master.

[savemyself]

Draken? The leader of the anti-Shadowkind church?

[doubletake]

[Watch her casually try to brush hair out of her face as she finally releases her death grip on Buffy. Thanks, gurl.]

Turns out Chad Becksworth wasn't Chad Becksworth at all. They had the real Chad locked up on Andres, while Draken was walking around pretending to be him. It's the reason he and the Mind Master were attached at the hip.

[/casually assumes someone caught her up on this shit okay, feel free to tell me otherwise.]

[slay]

[ Turning to Rafael as if to offer context, Buffy explains, ] That's why I told you to come prepared.

[ And you didn't and had to borrow someone else's guns. Loser. Accidentally outs that Rafael invited them ?? ? sorry Izzy. ]

Given what happened in New York, we were sure Keijen and the Mind Master would use this opportunity for some large-scale brainwashing.

1/2

[romanticidal]

[ lmao RAFAEL LOOKS SO HORRIFIED AND THROWN OFF BY THIS REVELATION with his crit fail i can't even ] You mean to say that Burt's brother has not been his brother all this time?