chicago ♔ everybody's looking for something

[romanticidal]

♬ Let There Be Drums - Carl LaFong Trio

WHO || Buffy, Rafael, Spike, Jade. [closed]
WHAT || Buffy, Raf, and Spike return to Chicago to attempt to convince Jade to come perform with Finnick & Raf
WHERE || Airplane & Nightscape
WHEN || Tues, Nov 27th
HOW || Actionspam

[ Talk about your desperate gamble. Burt Becksworth is in great danger of losing his control over NOVA Records, which would leave all of its assets squarely in the hands of his evil cultist brother, Chad and whatever diabolical plans he has involving the Talisman and his hideous experiments. Obviously, the Knights aren't ready to stand for that, but the only way of helping Burt maintain control is to help Rafael and Finnick skyrocket their careers to incredibly heights of fame. Burt believes the much sought after Jade to be the key to that, but she's seemed very adamant about staying put in the past.

Time to find out if anything's changed...]

Comments

1/2

[romanticidal]

[ yeah rafael doesn't need a second invitation, as up he goes, eyes never leaving her. at one point, he nearly trips on the stairs, because you should really look where you're going, bro. ]

[borrowedheaven]

Seems almost too simple, huh? But everybody who comes here comes for the show.

I don't get a lot of visitors. Who aren't trying to kill me.

[slay]

Hey! We've visited lots of times, and we have most definitely, ... probably not ever tried to kill you. [ she stops halfway through the sentence, looking to jade. because, well, memory loss. it's all just remembering what she did remember for the most part. ] We didn't, did we?

[bigbad]

No, it was me that you tried to kill.

[Whoops I guess Spike's a bit bitter because he sure hasn't held that against her for a while. But now he's pissy and he feels like pointing it out again.]

[slay]

[ she looks like that stings extra today, mostly because she knows it's coming from a spiteful place, and she just sets her jaw and keeps her expression neutral but told-off and averts her gaze, remaining silent. ]

[borrowedheaven]

Maybe not, but you're usually not bearing good news, either.

So what is it this time?

[bigbad]

[Spike glances over at the other two, then says brightly:]

How do you feel about touring?

[borrowedheaven]

You're joking. Right?

[slay]

Wish we were.

[romanticidal]

These men who were looking to control you, they are about to come into a great deal of power. And though it sounds strange, your touring with us may be one of the only ways to slow that dow-- [ abruptly, the entire ground seems to shake under their feet, as the floor is rocked with the sound of a heavy explosion below. (balance checks 14+ to keep one's feet) jade, entirely unprepared, almost goes sprawling, but rafael's arm darts out and grabs her, so she falls against his chest instead, looking shocked. ]

[bigbad]

[Spike catches himself easily enough (balance 19) and automatically looks to Buffy to see if she's okay... then glances away, annoyed at himself for even caring.]

What the bloody hell was that?

[slay]

[ balance 20. she looks mostly unmoved, just startled.

startled, and a little wounded. she watches the way rafael snatches jade up with a mingled expression of jealousy and misery, but she quickly squashes it down to deal with the task at hand. ]

If I had to take a wacky guess? I'd say somebody's looking for Jade.

1/2

[borrowedheaven]

[ ♬ Swallow (Punto Omega Remix) - Emilie Autumn

Jade stares at Raf for a moment, blinking, before her eyes scan to the balcony, and she pulls herself away, moving in that direction. ] Awfully convenient timing, don't you think?

[ As she approaches the railing to look down, shots ring out, one of which grazes her in the shoulder. She jumps back suddenly, swearing and grabbing her arm: ] Shit. You've got to be fucking with me.

i lied 2/3

[romanticidal]

[ Rafael's got his 'ready to murder things' face on as he draws his guns out and steps in front of her. ] Is there another way out? [ The look on her face dashes that hope immediately then, and he blanches a bit, before nodding sharply. ] Then we go through.

[borrowedheaven]

[ She grumbles something about 'deja vu' but nods. and then holds out a palm decisively to Raf. ] You've got two. And there's not really room for a holster in this thing. [ He hesitates a moment, but then hands her one of the guns, which she immediately and instinctively seems to check for ammo and safety off. ] Let's roll.

[bigbad]

Sure hope they're not human. [He doesn't need the headache. He lets his fangs come out, the better to terrify the shit out of people he can't eat, and nods.] Stay behind us. Takes more than bullets to kill me.

[romanticidal]

[ there's another burst of gunfire from below, followed by yet another huge explosion... this time centered below. the entire staircase seems to buckle below them. ] They're blowing the entire building. Trying to collapse the club, perhaps. [ he feels so naked with only one gun. it's so obvious. but still, he heads towards the right hand staircase, motioning for the others to stay close behind, and pops out to fire off some rounds as he moves sideways down the steps. most of his bullets fly wildly through the smoke and dust, but there's at least one direct sound of impact below.

it's impossible to see the assailants, but they must be positioned down inside the area that's blown up around the door. ]

[slay]

I really miss the days when my life didn't involve running towards the gunfire and explosions. [ she follows quickly after rafael - she's not remotely cleared for bringing a gun into the field, though, so she feels useless and unarmed and unprepared for what's down there, because it's going to be tough to really get to the guys shooting. ]

[borrowedheaven]

You're really not the only one. [ she keeps tightly behind them, seeming unfazed by spike's game face, but leans out to fire off a shot. it pwings off the walls below, but buys them a few seconds while the assailants are taking cover down there, for them to keep heading down those steps. ]

[bigbad]

[It's too bad Spike doesn't have any sorts of ranged weapons. He'll just use this round to move, getting as close to where the shots are coming from as he can because he's really brain damaged like that.]

[romanticidal]

[ there's another volley of shots as they reach the bottom of the steps, closer now to the door. a 13+ spot check can make out that they've been chucking grenades... the front of the building is blown open, and numerous men crouch behind chunks of debris taking aim at them. it's hard to say how many there are, but some of them have also moved into position at the mouth of the hallway into the club, so the shots will be coming from both directions as our intrepid heroes make for the exit.

rafael, as the man in front, is the one to take a bullet in the arm (dmg 7) as they hit the landing, but his grip barely slackens and he grits his teeth and fires more shots: two at the soldiers at the front entrance, and two at the flanking soldiers inside. only one of the latter actually hits, however. ] We have to break through, we are too outnumbered!

[slay]

[ spot 25, so buffy easily recognizes the grenade damage for what it is. ]

They've got grenades, I don't know if breaking through is gonna happen. [ she does some quick math. ] There's, what, four of them, two of us? We can do it.

[ she'll jump over the banister to skip the rest of the stairs and make her way to one of the close, flanking soldiers, aiming a kick for his throat (atk 27, dmg 17). ]

[borrowedheaven]

[ jade gives raf a sidelong look as she raises her gun in the direction of the guys in the hallway ] So your friend's actually crazy. Good to know. [ she fires off a near-perfect shot, and it strikes one of the men, who ducks back into cover beyond the door ]

[bigbad]

Friends plural. [Spike charges forward at the men with a growl (intimidate 27) and punches the first one (atk 26, dmg 10), then jerks backwards a bit with a whimper as his headaches kick in (dmg 6) ASSUMING HE IS HUMAN IF NOT IGNORE THAT LAST PART.]

[romanticidal]

[ spike's posturing freaks a few of them out, that's for sure, but only a couple actually break and scatter back. his fist connects with the helmet of the nearest soldier, but he slams the butt of his gun into spike's temple with a sharp cracking sound. (crit; dmg 12) it's pretty brutal. a couple more train their guns on him: a bullet strikes him in the back (dmg 7). others lean out to focus fire on rafael, and two bullets strike him in the chest: one hard enough to send him staggering back into jade, a look of extreme pain crossing his features. ( critted 8( ).

of the three baddies by buffy, the one she attacked frantically backs up to try and shoot at her, but it's hard to get a read on such a close target. one of his buddies behind her, however, clocks her twice (16 dmg total).

rafael shouts out through a grunt of pain: ] We must go! [ and makes a break for the small path cleared by the couple spike cleared, landing four shots into the one guard who he held his ground there, and blowing him to pieces. ]