CLOSED ♔ don't know what the country's coming to

[behindcloseddoors]

♬ on an evening in roma - dean martin

WHO || Rafael, Des, Buffy, their best pal in the world
WHAT || An unexpected incident
WHERE || Rome
WHEN || June 7th, 2014
HOW || Actionspam. Single thread.

Who knows how long unconsciousness has them all swallowed in its grip. But when it finally allows them to resurface, they'd notice the smooth motion of a car indicating they're... still riding in a vehicle. A wis check of 14+ might recognize it's a different limo, however, and it doesn't take a wisdom check to recognize that they are all crammed together on the same side of the seat now. With... hands cuffed to the seat between their legs.

Across from them, a large figure sits grinning manically... wearing a familiar gray cassock. Oh hi. :)

A single glance out the window at the bustling city outside is enough to recognize that is sure as shit ain't London. And Anderson will be quick to clear that up for y'all, waving one hand at the view.

"Well, now. I hope you all enjoyed your rest. Let me be the first t'bid ye welcome... to Rome."

Comments

[contingency]

[ ♬ malaguena - brian setzer

heinkel turns her head at yumie's screams and des' bullets... and the stranger takes advantage of this to ram one of those blades through her throat. she starts making gurgling sounds of horror, blood bubbling out of her mouth, as the stranger shouts: ] Run!

[zealotry]

[ yeah fuck that bitches, maxwell is out. FULL RETREAT towards one of the side doors to go hide in anderson's skirts, where e'er he may be. ] You will pay for this!

[slay]

[ buffy doesn’t follow instructions well. on the other hand, this guy just saved their lives, so he probably has a decent idea of how to get them out of here. she still has to make sure yumie doesn’t follow them, though, so she sort of drags her along after maxwell and smashes her head against the nearby pillar (atk 29, dmg 8). and again. (atk 22, dmg 4 if that works.) ]

Run where?! You may have noticed, this whole place is swarming with guards. I hope your dashing rescue plan involved a way out.

[romanticidal]

[ "Not the front," says the stranger, shaking his head, and rafael glances back the way des emerged from, hesitating a moment. ]

The garage. Des, were they coming after you that way? [ he glances to the side where heinkel is spitting out blood, and with grim aspect, levels one of his barrels at the side of her head, and delivers a coup de grace bullseye shot (40 dmg). which makes the fort save dc... 50.

i don't think she made it, jim.

in other words, rafael casually blows her brains out the opposite side of her skull. and then looks back to des like it ain't no thing. WELL?? ]

[sisteract]

[ yumie watches heinkel's death with a horrified gasp... and then her expression darkens, going eerily calm as she says in a dangerous voice: ] You little bastards. You shouldn't have done that. [ and with a sudden burst of strength she tries to rip out of buffy's grasp again (opposed grapple 28) ]

[nothingsodivine]

[des looks pressed as hell about letting maxwell get away but rafael's gunshot draws his attention back to the fight at hand.]

They weren't coming after me at all. [he reaches up to run his hand through his hair and... yeah. mistake.

and oh yeah. the nun is pissed. he takes a step forward, holding his gun level on yumie but doesn't fire since... yeah. bad plan. but if she breaks free, he gonna pop her.] Stand down, sister, or you and your ladyfriend are gonna be a matched set.

[contingency]

[ the stranger heads to the door des came from to check down it, then turns and nods an all-clear. ]

[slay]

[Yeah that ain't happening homie. Buffy's opposed grapple is 32 so she keeps a firm hold on Yumie, and proceeds to drag her with them toward the exit Des entered through in hopes that she can't hurt them if she is captive and may make a great human shield. Plus not all of us are fucking murderers or capable of 40 damage rn ok. Hostages yo. She's trying not to think too hard about Rafael just executing someone--it sits wrong with her, even knowing Iscariot's agents were ready to do the very same to them. That's a battle for another time. Her stomach is definitely lurching, so she focuses her attention on choking Yumie out on her way over. (Atk Nat 20 (35 total) and atk 25 for 12+4 dmg.) ]

We need to call the others.

[romanticidal]

When we have made it out, si. [ not... right now, buffy??? iscariot having your phones aside. he hesitates, looking after the stranger for a brief second, but the nods. ] This is our only chance. [ and he'll let buffy go ahead of him with the choking nun. ]

[nothingsodivine]

[Since Des is closest to the door besides Frair Mystery over here, he turns and heads out ahead of Buffy and Raf, holding his gun out. He glances at the guy as he leaves.]

So who does that make you?

[contingency]

[ the man glances away as if to scope out the rest of the vatican for more agents, keeping his face disguised. ] A friend.

[nothingsodivine]

[Des narrows his eyes, but shrugs it off and picks up his pace so he's significantly ahead of everyone, because he's not injured and can also take damage like a pro. Also he rolled a bitching navigate check (22)]

[slay]

[ THEY MIGHT THINK THEY'RE DEAD OK CALLING THE OTHERS NEEDED TO MAKE IT ONTO THE TO-DO LIST AS A PRIORITY. as she walks past rafael, still dragging the yumie, she gives him a sort of uncomfortable side-eye, but she carries on down the hall. stranger dude is vague as fuck but he also armed rafael and saved their asses so if he wants to keep his secret identity, more power to him. for some reason, buffy isn't up for pushing it with everything else going on.

rafael is a stone-cold serial killer who whips people to death and, okay, not the first time she's fought with him, but heinkel was already dealt with when he blew her head off. she hadn't seen an ounce of remorse in his eyes, either. mercy is all she has that separates them from the bad guys, and that? that's not mercy. des is a liar and one hundred kind of suspicious right now. he didn't flinch at what happened—he seems suddenly unfazed by all of this, in fact. stark difference from the man they'd left with anderson.

she turns to rafael as des moves ahead. her voice drops some. wouldn't it be great if she had someone other than the serial killer to bounce her suspicions off of. ] I can't be the only one wondering how he got away from Anderson without any help. He was terrified ten minutes ago. [ but they all know about des and secrets. by the time they get out of here, she's certain he'll have some tale spun, and they'll never know the truth. ]

[romanticidal]

[ political assassin, tyvm. ]

I have noticed, si. [ rafael sounds pretty somber about it too, as he glances over at des. but his eyes trace back to the hooded stranger, and it's clear that he's more concerned with that at the moment.

either way, he rips his thoughts off from them both to shoot her a concerned look ] Your leg. Will you be alright, carina?

[slay]

[ OH GOOD, she was hoping that was just an oversight and rafael knew this rescuer since he knew to bring two guns for rafael. so much for that. this is literally the most uncomfortable situation ever, though, so we wouldn’t actually want one person to know what’s going on.

buffy’s teeth grind when she sees that wary look, jerked out of her thoughts only by the sudden question. she had put the limping out of her mind courtesy of the adrenaline from the gunfight, but she has definitely still been favoring her good leg. it will heal, of course—she’ll be fine. she always is. but she’s just going to skip right over the ‘your leg’ specification and shake her head. ]

Nothing about this is alright. [ she meets his gaze, pressed as fuck, and then just focuses her attention on shoving the choking nun around yep. she’s tired as fuck of people trying to kill her, and she’s trying to process what she just saw without fucking losing it. no jk her voice is definitely wavering there might be an emphasis on ‘trying’ for that not losing it bit. ]

[romanticidal]

[ he presses his lips together, not responding to that as his brow furrows. hey look, the parking garage. yumie claws at her throat, looking ready to pass the fuck out at this point really. rafael nods to the limo that brought them there. ]

I will drive.

[ as in, he will hotwire. with a disable device of 19, the engine roars to life. get in losers. we're going... escaping. ]

[slay]

Get in.

[ she nods to des and the stranger, because she's gonna need to dump yumie at the last minute and climb in after them and no one else had better take shotgun js. ]

[contingency]

[ the stranger opens the door and nods to des to get in the back first, and then slides in after him, shutting the door behind them.

right then, of course, a couple vatican agents appear back from the way they came into the garage. ]

[nothingsodivine]

[Well, there goes Des's moment of relieved zen. He had that for like half a second after he got into the car. He was totally going to start talking and trying to recover from all that, but nope. He clams up again.]

Rafael...

[slay]

[ with des in, buffy finally pulls her cuffs off of yumie’s neck and shoves her to the ground where yumie’s head cracks hard against the concrete (atk 28, dmg 18 b/c penetration oops), turning to climb into the passenger seat of the car. ]

Sorry, guys, guess you’ll have to catch the next one. [ she yanks the door shut and turns to rafael like ok baby we can go now. ]

[romanticidal]

[ yeah he peels away dramatically, looking in the rearview mirror (drive 29), and heading towards the exit, even as one of the agents slams a button that starts a gate coming down. raf's check is good enough that he manages to slide RIGHT UNDER IT barely, in the nick of time, and then they're flying across vatican city WHOOP WHOOP MOTHA FUCKAS ]

[nothingsodivine]

[OKAY. NOW DES CAN BREATHE.

And also promptly ignore all safety laws in Italy and human decency at the speeds Rafael's driving, so he can start rifling through everything he can reach in this limo to see if they stashed their weapons and phones in here. (search 27 #actualdetective). Don't mind him all up in your kool-aid. And don't hit the brakes too hard, Raf.]

[slay]

[ buffy settles into her seat, sighing her relief as they break out of the fucking vatican and put it behind them. while she’s certain a car chase will ensue, she’s basically not worried about that right now. they’ll get to that in a minute. she just needs a moment.

the adrenaline begins to wear off and the panic sets in. they took her strength. however they’d done it, it doesn’t matter—she has no way of knowing if it’ll come back with time or if it’s gone for good and she can’t protect her family anymore. she looks down at her hand, realizing it’s shaking. her ears feel clogged with the sound of gunfire, and the sickening, lurching noise that came from heinkel’s brain scattering across the church floor. on the heels of spike and myri’s disappearance, with no idea how he got free from anderson, des in the backseat feels like a knife pressed to her back, and the stranger is worse still.

so, maybe she’s taking time out of their day for her own little nervous breakdown. she reaches across rafael, steering clear of interrupting his driving, and pulls his left side gun from the holster to train it on the stranger in the backseat. her hand shakes just slightly while holding it at arm’s length, more for her own comfort than an actual threat. she doesn’t have much in the way of defenses right now, and she’s still hand cuffed. ]

Des, sit down. [ she makes a gesture with the barrel. you're not out of the woods, either bro. ] Now tell us who you are and how you found us. [ it’s impossible to find her terribly intimidating when she’s so clearly just reacting to being at her wit’s end and fucking horrified of everyone in this vehicle (intimidate 14). ]

[contingency]

[ yeah he is

not even fussed. (will 24)

he just watches her calmly from beneath the hood, and then nods ahead to the left. ] There's a sign of St. Cuthbert's ahead. They can heal you.

We'll talk inside.

[ rafael goes from staring in mild, grim surprise at buffy, to looking back in the rearview mirror again, a strange look in his eyes as he stares at the figure. after a moment, however, he pulls left.

des, much to his rejoicing, finds a box with their weapons inside, though no phones in sight. ]

[nothingsodivine]

[Yeah, hold please while Des places the box on the floorboards of the limo and sinks into the seat with a pained sigh of relief.]

This has been- [he pauses to take a shuddering breath, like he's finally lost all the cool he's been projecting since his dramatic arrival back into the fray and is showing his true feelings.] -the worst day of my obscenely long life. [Given the desperation with which he's clinging to his gun, a spot of 15+ will probably notice that his hands are shaking.]