knightsoflegend | new orleans ♔ some people they call me monster

Entry tags:

new orleans ♔ some people they call me monster | some people they call me saint

WHO || Rafael, Buffy, Spike, Des, Jack, Thomas, Myri, Finnick, Elena, Gar, Kat, Burt [closed]
WHAT || The Knights infiltrate NOVA to try to locate the experiments and relics mentioned by Chad & company. Shenanigans ensue.
WHERE || NOVA HQ, New Orleans
WHEN || Sunday, Nov 18th, 2012
HOW || Actionspam, don't sweat tag order! Keep it a rollin'.

Months ago, Finnick learned from Burt Becksworth about a number of construction projects Chad had contracted on the building. At the time of discovering the occult room, it was assumed the construction was to create the secret areas behind the auditorium, however, Kat's finally managed to hack into NOVA financial records and trace the contracts down.

It seems there was another, much more expensive, project, adding restructuring to the locked off basement level, to which there is no access through the public elevators. Schematics show that there is one accessible elevator shaft that goes to the lobby, which requires a key to activate the lower floor. Thomas considers it a better bet, however, to use the nearby quarry underground entrance through which construction trucks used to reach the site. Thomas will be leading a team through the underground tunnel in hopes of finding a space large enough to host the 'experiments' that Chad and company were afraid of the Knights discovering while nosing around the building.

Meanwhile, Jack wishes to discover if there are any remaining 'relics' in the building, and if so, to confiscate or document them. The heightened security within the building has made access much more problematic, and its taken awhile for him to acquire the security protocols necessary to be able to create a looped camera feed. Now that's everything's in place, he'll be infiltrating the building to override the cams, allowing Buffy, Elena, and Rafael to join him on the fourteenth floor for one last sweep of the occult room.

The situation has also grown more complicated in other ways since eavesdropping on Chad's cabal. In a gutsy move, Burt Becksworth has created an inescapable situation for Rafael and Finnick, forcing them to comply in preparing for an album and tour, lest they destroy their own reputations and become infamous in the business for backing out of their 'contracts' and letting down legion of NOVA fans. Finnick is an ideal situation to try and discover more about Burt's plans, however, and perhaps to find out incidental information concerning Chad's "Back the Fans" tour.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

There's a priest, with two swords. He's in the auditorium with him. Unless he already hurt Buffy, she should be right behind him, but...

[She glances over her shoulder, towards the door she came in.]

[ anderson doesn't even spare a look backwards, slowly advancing down the aisle towards where rafael stands, guns poised at his sides, wating. ]

But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of GOD, an avenger who carries out GOD's wrath on the wrongdoer. [ his ghastly smile widens, as he adds, with relish: ] AMEN.

[ rafael pales slightly as she comes into view. ] Buffy... [ he seems to decide calling too much attention to her is the worse idea here and switches his focus back to the priest, voice hardening ] I have done nothing but what was right and just. What needed to be done.

The Vatican decides what is just and unjust. We are GOD's instruments, here to enact his divine will on earth. An' to wipe heathen sinners like yerself out o' this world, once an' for all.

... Iscariot. [ jack's entire expression screams serious business, and he glances around, seeming to wish desperately that there was another exit here. ] Elena, you must get out of here. He's an agent of the Vatican, a very powerful agent...

[ buffy takes this opportunity to jump up on the back of the rows of seating and vaults over a few to the aisle where rafael and the priest are with natural ease (jump 20, dex 20). no, she doesn't have a plan, and she doesn't have any idea what she's doing, but she knows that what this priest wants is rafael - and from the looks of it, to hurt him. so the best option is to delay and distract.

she vaults over the last row of seats and straightens, standing between them. her eyebrows arch at rafael, imploring him to book it, before she turns to fully face the priest. vatican. the more she hears outta this guy, the more convinced she is it's the organization jack was telling her about. but she can't for the life of her imagine what they'd want with rafael, and now's not exactly the time to find out.

one thing's for sure, though. him not even raising his guns? bad sign. bad, bad sign. and it's for that reason alone that she's trying the delay & distract with her mouth instead of her fists. ]

Okay, so, Vatican. Not big on religious tolerance. But, what I'm wondering is what the policy is about their freaky terminator agents hurting innocent bystanders. I mean, have we just skipped right over all ten commandments and started martial law, or is there even a teeeeeensy bit of order holding that bag of cats in your head together?

Get out how? Where?

[From what she could tell, there was only one entrance/exit.]

Besides, I'm not going to just leave you guys here.

[ he puts a hand on either shoulder, gaze boring into hers, as if very insistent about driving this point home: ] If you stay, we may not be able to protect you. None of us may be a match for him. We need to get away, and quickly.

I intend to ... stall him. You'll need to get the others to follow you out of the auditorium.

Y'ceased to be innocent, child, the moment you allied yerself with this wretched specimen o' creature.

Tha' makes you an accomplice, not a bystander.

[ rafael pushes forward abruptly, stepping up beside her and planting a foot in front of her, raising one gun and aiming it directly at the priest ] You came here for me. Leave her out of this. She has nothing to do with what I have done to your people. [ he flashes a sideways look at her, eyes imploring her to stand down. ]

[ to his people??? what the fuck? buffy's confusion is coloring her gaze as she looks wildly at rafael, and then sheepishly back at the priest. ]

Kinda figured you'd say something like that. [ she takes a wary step back, but tightens a hand around rafael's wrist, urging him to step back with her. ]

You want me to leave you behind instead?

[This is the worst. She doesn't like any of these options, at all. But the longer they stall, the more likely they'll hurt Rafael and Buffy, and make things worse.]

Fine, but you better be right behind us, do you understand?

[She's in no position to give him orders, but it's more of a plea than anything else.]

[ Infra-Red - Placebo ]

Well, yer right about one thing. [ there's a schink noise as he slams his two blades together in a cross formation, and sparks fly out. DRAMATICALLY. ]

I came here for you. [ and with that, he lets out a roar as he charges straight towards rafael, launching himself down the aisle towards him with uncanny speed and bringing one of his blades to bear on rafael and slicing into him (atk 36, dmg 27). rafael staggers, blood spewing from the wound because anderson's an anime character which means wounds he inflicts stop defying biology. clearly.

BLOOD FOUNTAIN. ]

[ rafael didn't drop his guns through that horrendous onslaught... but when he raises one towards anderson's head and moves his finger to pull the trigger, he suddenly falls into a horrible fit of coughing out blood. onto anderson's face at least. so there's that. he staggers backwards further, trying to shove buffy away, back towards the stage, with surprising strength (21)

weakly, he says: ] Go.

[ and then grits his teeth and raises his gun again with renewed effort, and the first bullet he launches finds purchase, scraping anderson across the cheek and taking a chunk with it (16 PENETRATION DAMAGE YEAH, that'll leave a mark). but his hand is too unsteady, and the next three bullets sail across the auditorium into the wild purple yonder. ]

[ holy FUCKING shit. this is exactly how buffy needed her day to go. being sprayed by a fountain of rafael's blood. but even as he tries to shove her away, she stays close. ]

Not without you. [ she grabs onto the seating and hops up, delivering a powerful kick to try and knock anderson back by landing both feet in the center of his chest (atk 29, dmg 17). ]

[ MEANWHILE

jack heard those gunshots since he didn't crit fail his listen check, so his head snaps up towards the auditorium, and he starts moving in that direction instantly, glancing back once at elena, his expression softening. ]

I'm the best equipped of any of us to combat an Iscariot agent. You need not worry. [ he gestures for her to move out the door ahead of him to skirt along behind the curtain of the stage ] Now, go!

[ the unexpected power of the kick sends anderson staggering back a few steps, doubling over momentarily. ] Why ye little -- [ when he raises his head again, a spot check of 14+ would be enough to notice the wound on his cheek smoking... and then healing over, the bullet popping out and falling onto the floor of the aisle. rafael's a little too preoccupied with bleeding all over to notice, apparently.

there's a sudden sound of blades scraping blades, and suddenly anderson extends an arm sharply in buffy's direction, sending four bayonets flying out from some previously unseen location, two of which embed themselves in the Slayer. (atks 27, 1, 29, and 12: 21 dmg total). that second bayonet? the crit fail one?

oh, that went soaring across the stage, tore through the curtain... and sank itself straight into the emergency lighting panel. sparks fly... and the entire auditorium goes pitch black. ]

[Elena can hear the sounds of fighting outside, and her already quickly beating heart just shot up its pace another few notches. And yet her body doesn't instantly fall into a fight or flight response; well, more accurately, it does, but she manages to keep in control.

Clearly, even if she doesn't remember it, she's been in this kind of situation before. Or at least close to it.

She nods, and slips out the door before him, trying like hell to stay quiet and hidden behind the curtain.

It's easier to stay hidden, considering the lights are out, but it's also almost impossible to see, and she's moving incredibly slowly, using her feet and ambient sound to try and stay on track.]

[ the odds of shooting buffy in the darkness are too high now that she's engaged alexander in melee. rafael shouts out her name as she's impaled, his panic only increased by the sudden vanishing lights. there's the faint sound of movement, but he doesn't fire ]

[ before the lights go out, buffy manages to spot the wound healing (spot 26) and panic rises in her stomach. uh-oh. looks like this guy's not entirely unlike des, and she wouldn't want to take him in a fight, either. they need to get away.

she pulls one of the bayonets out, lets it clatter to the floor. the other, as she pulls it out and grimaces and cringes through the pain, she keeps hold of it. ] Whore. I know. [ then she lashes out at anderson with it. she barely makes the hit, but she manages to do a lot of damage with the stab, getting it into his neck (atk 22, dmg 14).

then, she pulls it back out and scrambles away, using her other arm to wrap around rafael's, and pulls him in a general away from anderson direction. ]

Come on. We gotta go. [ there's a limp in her step from the stab wounds, but with the cover of darkness, there's hope they can at least make an escape. ]

Edited 2013-02-08 20:16 (UTC)

[ it's at that moment that a sudden burst of excessively bright light bursts out from the stage. (fort save 13+ to not remain blinded for one round, same rules as in darkness) jack stands silhouetted against the light, one palm pressed to the left frame of the proscenium, which glows from beneath his hand as if the stage itself were suddenly a light source. it casts a radius of full light for 20 feet, and dim light for another 20 feet beyond that, allowing sight of the doors out of the auditorium. ]

[ anderson is also visible, angrily yanking a blade from his neck, with another gush of blood, that cuts off nigh instantly as it starts healing itself over. the bullet wound on his cheek finishes sealing itself shut as well. he looks to the source of the light, scowling as he raises another weapon... and stops, eyes widening for a moment, and then his brow furrowing twice as hard. to the point of angry veins ready to pop on his forehead. ] ... Well, well. If'n it isn't one of Wynnefalshond's lapdogs. Should've guessed I'd find ye at the heels of a no good Shadow heathen like this one. Don't tell me you're actually protectin' this miserable excuse for one o' God's creations.

[ the light's illuminated far to the backstage... where the open door can be just barely seen... but he rolled an uber high spot check so his gaze goes to it immediately ] ... Or maybe you've got some other reason to show yer face here.

[Elena continues to move behind the curtain, quicker now that there is light and she can see (fort save 14). She tries to keep her steps light, but at some point, she's going to be in view, probably as she makes her way off the stage into the seating, if not before.

Her goal is to head towards Rafael and Buffy, and she'll start to sprint the moment she's in a position where she's going to be easily seen. It's clear that they're both wounded, and the only way to help them will be to help them get out of here.]

[ raf's too distracted by the surging light, conversation with jack, and taking a better look at buffy's injuries now that they can see, to notice elena over there. (spot check fail) as buffy tries to lead him away, he hesitates, obviously unhappy at the prospect of abandoning jack here, especially with the venom in anderson's tone while addressing him. but he seems to recognize that buffy's not going to leave unless he does, and lets her draw him nearer to the door, blood still dripping from his wound. he says in a low, pained voice: ] You should not have stayed. [ but after another moment, he adds: ] Thank you.

[ fort 17, so she can still see. ]

Thank me when we make it out of this alive.

[ they converge with elena as they head for the door, and buffy's doing her best to run at full speed despite her injuries, keeping one arm at rafael's back to make sure he doesn't get left behind. she has to have faith in jack. he's a dragon's claw for a reason. he can get out of this.

but she casts a scared look over her shoulder towards him, lips pursed. she can hardly see him through the stage lights. she continues on out the door. ]

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