nyc ♔ the devil has my ear today

[dragonsclaw]

♬ Broken Glass - The Blank Theory

WHO || Failboat and more... [closed]
WHAT || The Knights move on a warehouse in NYC to try and save Jeanne Gar & Rafael Giovanni
WHERE || New York City, New York
WHEN || Summer 2016
HOW || Actionspam or prose

The plan has been set, and the Knights are on their way to New York City once again - this time with the desperate hope fueling them that they can save two of their own, instead of simply endangering them further.  Jack and Buffy have greater stakes in this than anyone - as it is Jack's fiancee, Gar and the love of Buffy's life, Rafael, who are currently in the grip of the vile villains that have plagued them for the last four years.  Knowing fully well the risks that are inherent in potentially facing down the dangerous Mind Master, who shattered Myri's life in an instant by breaking Finnick Odair's psyche, their plan is to divide and search the warehouse as quickly as possible - knowing that every second counts, when an alerted team of bad guys could take the lives of their captured friends.  

It's an unparalleled gamble, but may be their only opportunity before Rafael and/or Gar are moved from the facility.  To that end, they converge at a nearby hotel...

Comments

[allmydreams]

We attack him, we lose our invisibility. How about we not try to take him unless we absolutely have to?

[She doesn't mean to be the stick in the mud but stealth is kind of her thing.]

[recruited]

[ He wants to be smart and he wants to keep going, but he's already pissed Kat off enough. He wants to believe she can handle this. So he nods. ]

She says we can.

[shootfirst]

[ services to gods - yasushi ishii

kat doesn't wait for more than that, making her way back towards the steps, too overeager to really watch her footsteps (move silently 11). there's a door at the bottom anyway, and she puts both hands on the bar, which clicks noisily as its pushed in, leading into some kind of surveillance type room, with a computer terminal in front of a glass window that overlooks the next room. a single door leads into said room, sporting a complex electronic lock and the words AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY. kat surges forward, forcing them to follow if they intend to stay in her bubble, and looks through the glass into the space beyond - metal stairs lead down about fifteen feet into a recessed area, where a stone altar has been placed. strapped to it by her wrists and ankles, dark hair spread out around her face, eyes closed and sporting no apparent injuries, is gar. kat grips the windowsill so hard that her knuckles go white as she stares down at the woman.

there's a door on the opposite side of the lower room too, but it's closed, and there's no one else in sight. ] What the fuck are they doing to her? [ the words come out in an angry hushed whisper between clenched teeth. ]

[allmydreams]

[Gar.

As much as she wants to rush in there and get her out, the question Kat asks is a valid one (wisdom 22). They can't just rush in there to go and get her without knowing what they're rushing into, and while the imagery is clear - strapping a woman to a stone altar as a sacrifice is not something she hasn't seen before - she doesn't know to who or why.

So she takes a breath and turns to Kat.]

Did you bring Dispel or Detect Magic?

[Felicity's not a magic user but she has a feeling either of those could come in handy. Especially if no one else seems to be around, but Gar is there.]

[recruited]

[ He really doesn't expect to find this. He doesn't have an answer to Kat's question. Instead he stares down at Gar briefly before his gaze switches to that door. The one he knows leads in there. Getting passed that won't be a picnic. He glances over at Felicity when she asks her question. ]

If we can get to her then I can probably carry her out if she can't walk. But we're gonna need a smart and cautious way in.

[shootfirst]

[ kat is already mumbling a spell and lifting a hand towards the window as steve talks, but she shakes her head vigorously ] I'm not detecting anything. [ instead, she moves almost unconsciously to the computer, her fingers beginning to fly across the keyboard (computer use 31). ] There's gotta be an access here. [ her eyes flash from the window back down to the screen repeatedly. ] Oh for fuck's sake.

If I get it open, it's gonna close again unless I stay here and keep battling it back. [ she lifts her head to look at them pleadingly ] You're gonna have to go get her out.

[allmydreams]

[okay. Felicity's not thrilled with this idea, but it seems like the only option they have, and if there's no magic down there, than they should be safe without the mage. She nods, because they can do this.]

You going to be okay up here on your own if someone comes down?

[recruited]

[ Steve's happy he's not the one handling the computer. He's gotten better with them since the ice and everything. You don't spend time around Tony Stark without understanding them, but he will admit there's some stuff he's not equipped for. Going down there and getting Gar out is something Steve's fully capable of doing. He steps to the door and pauses to look at them when Felicity poses a question. ]

[shootfirst]

I'm gonna give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that question was rhetorical. [ with that, she gets the door open, as signified by a clicking sound beside steve ]

[allmydreams]

[Felicity won't bother to give that a response and will just turn to follow Steve down to where Gar is. She lets him go ahead of her, but keeps her eyes peeled for signs of traps or trouble (spot 34, listen 18).]

[recruited]

[ Steve happily goes first with his shield raised, his eyes searching and ears open (spot 31, listen 20) for anything that could come upon them. He's really hoping that getting Gar out of here goes easily. Not really for his sake, but for Gar. There's no telling how much she has left in her. ]

[rationalizes]

[ she seems to stir just a bit, a slight groan echoing from her throat, although her eyes remain cold, while they make their way down the steps. the room is almost too bare, as they look around, although both of them hear the sound of the door closing after them - and a glance back at kat through the glass brings a strange sight. her hands are still poised over the keyboard, but there's a glazed look in her eyes as she stares down at the screen, lips slightly parted.

make will saves yo. ]

[allmydreams]

[Poor measly human Felicity is probably not going to do well, but she's gonna sure try (will save 25). When her eyes land on Kat, her gun immediately comes up, spinning around to try and see where the Mind Master is hiding. IF SHE SEES HER AND SHE ISN'T MIND CONTROLLED SHE'S PROBABLY GOING TO TRY AND SHOOT HER.

But we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.]

[recruited]

[ Apparently Steve won't be doing any better (will save 20, don't die Steven). This is definitely going sideways in a hurry. He's just hoping if worse comes to worse that maybe some good can come out of this. ]

[narcosynthesis]

[ weak and powerless - a perfect circle

felicity's steps still first, her body freezing in place, down to her very vocal cords. steve takes a couple steps further beyond her towards gar, oblivious to where she's frozen silently behind him, where the same fate befalls him.

the door across the room swings open, and the figure silhouetted there takes a beat, before he enters with swaggering steps, a dagger in one hand, whose point he toys with between an index and thumb of the opposite hand. keijen blade emits a low, smugly sinister chuckle, a spark of joy in his eyes as he surveys the scene, stopping on the other side of the altar over gar. ]

Well, well. Who have we here. [ he tilts the dagger outwards to point at steve and felicity ] Wynn has set some new pieces on the board, it seems.

Perhaps something about losing a few old ones? [ his lips curve up, revealing too pointed teeth behind that cruel smile, and he drops the blade back down to hover over gar's neck ] I assume you are here for your scientist. Didn't we tell you that should Wynn cooperate, she would be unharmed? [ he spreads his other hand wide, as if to indicate her ] As you see. But now, he gets greedy. This is not honoring the spirit of our arrangement.

[ he clucks his tongue once, shaking his head ] Whatever shall we do.

[allmydreams]

[NO. NO NO NO FUCK NO SHIT FUCK FUCK.

Felicity would love to scream all of this in his face, how this isn't Wynn's fault, his is hers, because she can't leave well enough alone. She had been prepared for the Mind Master, Crombe, not this.

But there's nothing she can do. She's stuck in his face, can't move, can't shoot, just forced to stand there and watch as he murders Gar.]

[recruited]

[ Steve doesn't notice that Felicity has fallen behind. Not until he finds himself unable to move. He can't do anything like this. Unable to move. Unable to throw his shield. Unable to do anything to really help Gar. He wants to say something. Anything. But nothing happens.

He wants beg that bastard to punish them and not Gar. It wasn't her idea. It's not her fault. ]

1/2

[rationalizes]

[ it's at that moment that gar's eyes finally drag open, although there's heavy confusion in her eyes as she looks at felicity and steve, before she slowly turns her head to take in the sight above her - blade's knife, dangerously close. her eyes widen, her wrists straining against the restraints. ] Why you--

[ there's fear beneath the anger that she tries to use to mask it, but she apparently decides keijen isn't worth her breath, turning once more to look at the others, to say with some desperation in her voice: ] He's not here. Rafael. They took him--

2/2

[narcosynthesis]

[ keijen's lip curls up in a snarl, and without looking down, he jabs the dagger into gar's collarbone, unleashing a scream of pain from the woman, and a gasp when he draws it roughly back out again and then presses the tip into the skin of her throat. ] Such a big mouth on such a small woman. [ the sound of gar's torment is enough to grant them both a second will save at least. keijen finally looks down at her, leaning close as he says: ] We have what we need from her. Her uses have come to an end.

whoops

[allmydreams]

[Felicity tries. Lord does she try. Every ounce of her strains against whatever Blade is using to hold her to bring her gun up to shoot, but there's only so much she can do (will save 26).

She's just human. And as much as she wants to fight it, as much grim determination she has not to see Gar die, she's still only human.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.]

[recruited]

[ When Gar tells them about Rafael he can't do anything. Can't move. Can't alert the others. The blade goes through her collar bone and Steve can feel the rage bubbling in his veins. He's never felt hatred this intense. Then he feels it (nat 20 YOU GARBAGE MONSTER with 25 total). He can't reason with this kinda crazy so he throws his shield at Keijen (atk 37, dmg 14). He's not gonna just stand there and watch him finish Gar. ]

1/2

[rationalizes]

[ the shield whizzes through the air so rapidly that blade doesn't even see it coming, and it knocks him right in the chest. his grip on the knife, however, doesn't slacken, and gar screams out: ] GO! GET OUT OF HERE! [ and with a 21 escape artist check, she manages to tighten the fingers of one hand together and snake them out of the restraint on her wrist, clenching her teeth through the pain and casting glances up at the dagger that threatens to slice her throat at any moment ]

[narcosynthesis]

[ keijen's head slowly lifts back up as he glares balefully at steve ] You'll pay handsomely for that. [ a glance down makes it obvious to him that gar is no longer rendered helpless enough for him to just slit her throat in one motion, not with one hand already worked free, and his scowl widens ] Just not today.

Today, just a taste. [ he raises his other hand, and points at steve, a sickly green light striking him in the chest (touch attk 27). it all but burns a hole through the front of his uniform, and he'd feel himself being pulled apart, chunks of flesh and muscle and even bone dissolving away beneath the beam (83 dmg on his failed fort save of 25). luckily, he avoids passing out from the mere shock and pain (fort save 20 vs massive dmg), but it's a horrific sensation, as though his very body is disintegrating.

and because psions are extra broken, for an extra 6 power points, blade can manifest dimension door as a move action, so with that, he steps backwards, a rift opening up behind him that he vanishes into, sealing around him. ]

[recruited]

[ He was expecting payback, but at least it's not directed at Gar. That's basically the last thing other than pain that runs through Steve's mind when the beam hits him. He really can't do much. Nothing to avoid the immense pain coursing through his whole body. He doesn't pass out, but Steve doesn't stay on his feet. Not after that.

At least Gar's throat isn't slit. ]

[shootfirst]

[ even through the glass, they can hear kat's angry: ] NO!! [ as she too shakes free of the spell, raising both hands and swiping them furiously, summoning up a huge wall of flame that cuts between gar's table and where keijen just vanished, pouring heat and flames in the direction of his disappearing act, only half a second too late ]