Evil's Return Chapter 6: Road Rage

[musicmage4114]

Zack lay in the Manor's makeshift clinic, unconsciousness. He was floating... floating in nothingness. But as he floated... he dreamed.

Ghastly images of Laurella... Jimmy... flames... shadows... and demons... so many demons... the Gates of Hell being flung wide open... Jacob...

And so he lay, and dreamed, not even thinking that he might not ever wake up again after the incredible mental trauma he'd suffered.

[Astral Harmony]

Laurella took Alicia's hand in hers with a warm smile. "It's great to meet you, and it's also good to hear there weren't any casualties."

She then turned towards the skillet and started piling food onto another plate, moving it over to the table. "Please, have a seat and help yourself if you'd like. I won't stop cooking until everyone is full or the refrigerator, the cabinets, and the local animal shelter is empty. Whichever comes first."

Laurella needed to pack, too, but that would take about thirty minutes at the most. Truth be told, she already had luggage packed for an event like this a month ago, just waiting in the bomb shelter. More or less, all she really wanted to do was talk about where they might be going from here. Stacey had been left at her house. Laurella didn't want to wake her (they had quite a wild and lengthy night because Laurella believed they would be separated for a long time), so she simply wrote a letter stating possibilities and that she'd try to keep in touch. She hoped it wasn't a mistake to not take Stacey with her, but she had some feelings to sort and Stacey might be safer if she wasn't with the one whom the servants of the Dark Ones were after.

[Sir Pinkleton]

((I'm kinda toying with the time between some events, so please don't hurt me.))

"Evening, ladies." Jacob said. He strolled into the room with Alicia and Laurella, holding his medium sized suitcase and wearing a new pair of clothes. He didn't pack so much; all he really needed was 2 or 3 pairs of clothes and his weapons, which were usually supplied and transported by S.E.C.A. anyway.

"Smells delicious! Hope I can grab some." Jacob stated, eyeing the food on the table.

[Astral Harmony]

"Of course you can!" Laurella said, releasing Alicia to go and get cooking the next mountain of food. "I can almost guarentee that my cooking is the best yet and should heal all your wounds, reinflate your ego, and maybe even cure erectile dysfunction."

Laurella smirked as she started cooking again. Even men definitely NOT suffering from erectile dysfunction would probably jump on her served food like a monster upon hearing that. She started singing at she worked.

"Racing all around the seven seas
Chasing all the girls and making robberies
Causing panic everywhere they go
Pardy hardy on Titanic!"

"Sailing, sailing, jumpin' on the railing
Drinking, drinking, 'till the ship is sinking
Gambling, stealing, lotsa sex appealing
Come, let us sing the sailor song!"

[PyrosNine]

Task arrived at the McCragge manor, wearing what could be described as "rich kids clothes." that looked like a mix of business and casual.

His first words upon looking at the manor were. "This TINY place is the manor? I'd imagined that another place called a manor would at least be a little smaller than home, but this is tiny! Do they even have a garden?"

The driver looked annoyed. "You can't really talk, kid. You're just as lucky to be invited to this manor as you are to live in the Eldale manor (I named it! If I've named it before, then ignore that previous name!). No need to get all big about yourself."

"Hey, I have to you see. Part of the plan today. See you round." Task replied, checking his shirt.

He walked off as the driver parked the car and turned on the TV. Drivers never got to go in, but they were allowed to watch Die Hard 2 while they waited.

Task knocked on the front door, but after a few moments of no one opening the door, he opened it up and let himself in.

"My goodness. They don't lock the doors? What crazyness! I mean, one never knows when a Thief might wander in... HELLO, anybody home? I got an invitation to this tiny place!" Task said out loud, hoping someone might hear him.

[Toastburner B]

((OOC: A lot of this is just flavor/fluff/whatever you want to call it. If you just want to read the briefing, go down until you see (BRIEFING).))


Please enter your pass-*beepbeepbeepbeep*

You have one new message. To listen to your message, pre-*beep*

First message.

“Duncan, its Tessa. Listen, I that Nat talked to Farsight and that you talked to the bartender at the Observatory, so I’m pretty sure you guys know what is going on. Unfortunately, the Council knows as well. According to Farsight’s vision, the Fallen doesn’t need Laurella’s child to open the Gates…just her body. This, of course, makes it a whole new ball game.

“The Council has decided that, for the sake of humanity, the Mother of Hell is to be killed and cremated…they figure that the Fallen wouldn’t be able to use ashes to open the Gate.

“Officially, I’m calling you to tell you to bring Laurella to the Citadel. Unofficially; you guys need to get out of Dodge. The Council figures that you guys won’t give up without a fight, so they’re putting together some strike teams to the Manor. Strike Teams with mage support, every merc Warden they can get hired…they’ve even called in the rest of the Order of the Book of Death. Only about have of the Death Books us three months ago.

“There’s nothing I can do to slow them down. They’re waiting for the rest of the Death Books to arrive before they hit. I don’t know the exact time tables, but it will be sometime early tomorrow morning, before school. I hate to say it, but they’re hoping to catch everyone at once so that they don’t have to worry about rescue attempts and the like. Orders are to capture Laurella alive…for some reason, they think a proper execution is more ‘humane’…Protectors are secondary objectives. They’ll capture if they can, but they won’t shed any tears if you get killed.

“You need to get out of town…fall off the map if you can.

“I’m sorry…this is all I can do to help you.

“…Good-bye.”

To delete this me-*beep*

End of messages.
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“Forgive my lack of speed, Master Task,” Jenkins said from behind Task. It seemed he was about to open the door when Task barged in. “Master McCragge has asked for the Protectors to gather in the dining hall. If you will follow me…”

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“Yeah, yeah,” Martin said into his cell phone. He was parked on a couch in one of the sitting rooms in the Manor, typing into his laptop, plugged into the wireless network Duncan was gracious enough to give him the password for. “Yeah, it shows that you guys made the payment. Glad doing business with you.”

Martin was about to hang up, but then stopped. “You have another job for me? …That’s the job? Look, I’m sure they’re a fine upstanding bunch, but they attract trouble, and I don’t like playing defense…I hunt demons, I don’t wait for them to come to me.

“How much? Do you even have access to that kind of money? No no…I just don’t remember S.E.C.A. paying that good. However, for a job this dangerous, I’ll need half the payment up front…your transfer to my account now? Just a second…wow. That’s a…look at the zeros…I mean, you just hired yourself another Protector, Miss Scott. Pleasure doing business with you.”

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“So he is dead,” Duncan said.

“Yeah,” Nathaniel said, “I just IDed the body. It looks like the shadows got him. Caleb’s assistant was there when it happened.”

Duncan cursed softly. “I hate to sound cruel, but we don’t have time to attend a funeral or anything. If Jared is dead, then It knows what he knew…and that means we have less time than I thought. Check the garage, would you? Jenkins said that he had everything fueled up, but I’d like to make sure.”

Nathaniel took a few steps, then turned back. “You don’t trust Jenkins?”

Duncan laughed grimly. “I trust him…I’m practicing being paranoid. We’re going to be on our own from here on.”
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A few minutes later, Duncan walked through the kitchen. “Sorry to break it up,” he said, “but we don’t have time to eat. Everyone get into the dining room…you too, Laurella.”

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(BRIEFING)

After everyone had gathered in the dining room, Duncan stood up. The usually calm and collected looking man looked somewhat frayed.

“I have bad news, really bad news, and worst news.” Duncan started. “I’ll start with the bad news. I found out what those things we fought today were. They weren’t demons…they were undead.”

Martin started to laugh. “Undead? Look, man, I know its Halloween, but can we get serious here? There ain’t no such thing as undead.”

Duncan stared down the Warden until he stopped laughing. “Oh, you’re freakin’ serious, aren’t you?” Martin muttered.

“Yeah,” Duncan said, “I am. What we fought today are simply called Shadows. Basically, the body of the person acts simply as a transport for the soul. The animated shadow happens when the soul leaves the body and takes control of the shadow. The shadow turning solid wasn’t really explained in the texts I have…it seems to be linked to the magic of the necromancer that summoned the shadow in the first place.

“Which brings us,” Duncan said, “to the ‘worst news’ section. Undead do not occur naturally. They have to be brought about by magic, much like a demon summoning. However, necromancy is much more complex than summoning, or any other school of magic. In fact, it is basically impossible for a human to use necromancy at all. In fact, even summoned demons cannot use necromancy. Only two kinds of beings have been known to be able to cast it: Outcast Demons,” he said, giving a little gesture to John, “and Fallen Angels. Given that John here, while technically an Outcast, doesn’t really have access to his full powers, it is clear it’s not him.”

Duncan took a deep breath and looked around the room. “It has been confirmed that there is a Fallen Angel on the Earth. This has been confirmed by a number of sources, both inside the Council and by more independent factions.

“As you know,” Duncan continued, “beings of this power are extremely rare. The last one like it to appear was an Outcast Demon that appeared in Europe about 700 years ago. History remembers it as the Black Plague…but, well, let’s just say that undead killed more people than plague. Now, we have one on Earth…and its hunting Laurella.”

Duncan looked at Laurella as he continued. “Most of you have probably heard of Farsight…she’s a Warden that has the power to see the paths that the future might take. About three months ago, she began to have visions about the Fallen and Laurella. It seems that for one reason or another, the Fallen seems intent on opening the Gates of Hell. However, there seems to be a new twist in the scheme: in the vision, the Fallen opened the Gate without a child of Laurella’s. He just had her body. We don’t know if how he did it. I should also note that, in this vision, the rest of us end up very dead.”

Duncan looked away from Laurella, and scanned the rest of the group once more. “The Shadows weren’t an attack…they were a reconnaissance mission. With necromancy, the Fallen can claim the soul of anyone he or his minions kill, and enslave them. He was killing Protectors to get information about us, our defenses, our capabilities…our location, anything he could. I’m afraid that he has very up to date information, as well. Jared Greyhall was killed this afternoon by the Shadows, so the Fallen knows everything he does. It is also a safe bet that it was the Fallen that hurt Zack…given the fact there was an active Mind Link sigil near him, it’s probably a safe bet the Fallen knows whatever Zack does. This includes our names, our faces, our powers, our weakness…anything we told Zack or Jared over the last three months.

“And now for the ‘really bad’ news. The Council has found out about this as well. After deliberation, it has been decided that, to keep the Gates of Hell closed, that the Mother of Hell is to be killed and her body burnt to ashes. Tessa tells me that they are mustering a force made out of S.E.C.A. Strike Teams, Warden mercenaries, mages from the Society…they’re even bringing in the entire Death Book order…when they attacked us a year ago, we only fought about half of them. They seem to be posed to hit the Manor something this morning…before school. They have orders to capture Laurella and to neutralize the Protectors by whatever means necessary.”

“What all this means,” Duncan said, “is that we have to leave. We have to leave the Manor, we have get out of Taylorsville…we have to go dark. I know that a lot of you have handlers you deal directly with, but you’re going to have to find some way to lose them.”

“No one is going to make you go,” Duncan stated, “The Protectors have always been a volunteer organization, and that isn’t going to change now. If you want out, now is your chance…I can’t say I’d blame you if you did leave. From here on out, we will be on our own: no medics on standby to patch us up, no Strike Teams to give us more firepower, no information coming down the pipes…nothing. If anything, they’re going to hunting us.”

“If you want leave, now is the time…you all know where the door is.” Duncan said. “Leave now if you’re going to…the less you know, the better off you’re going to be.”

Duncan stops talking, waiting for reactions.

((OOC: Holy crap…wall ‘o text.))

[PyrosNine]

Task sat there, mouth agape. He had heard too much for his own good, too much for his sanity, and too much to continue eating. And it was some damned good food.

Did the old guys back at home know about this? Did they too desire her dead? Task did not know. What was Task to do? He was playing the part of someone not involved with Laurella, and now he knew that his girl was to be killed by those who sought to keep her and her future pregnancy safe.

Task wished he had his blade now, but also part of him wanted to get as far from here as possible. This was as in too deep as you could get, and Task was still sinking.

Task wondered if he bolted or explained his lack of involvement, would they kill him? Those he had not seen before certainly looked very...threatening.

He would have to wait....wait until he could either get away or have some better idea.

***

In Task's Van, The driver got a phone call....

[Sir Pinkleton]

Jacob twindled his fingers on the small table beside him, brooding. He was usually stoic, but this new information... It all seemed daunting. S.E.C.A., the organization he worked for, was planning on killing Laurella, and seeing him as loose baggage on the side. The Death books, who nearly killed them all, were coming in full force. Even the society was taking part in trying to end them. It all seemed very unfair...

Jacob stopped moving his fingers. "...No Medics, eh?" Jacob grinned grimly, looking up, "Guess this means I'll have to work overtime." Jacob sat up. "You can count on my help, from fighting Fallen Angels to handing out band-aids."

[Loki, The Fallen]

Rick was seated in the back of the room. The pill had worked faster then he thought it would, he surely felt he was at 100%. At least, until he heard Duncan’s speech.

“And now for the ‘really bad’ news. The Council has found out about this as well. After deliberation, it has been decided that, to keep the Gates of Hell closed, that the Mother of Hell is to be killed and her body burnt to ashes. Tessa tells me that they are mustering a force made out of S.E.C.A. Strike Teams, Warden mercenaries, mages from the Society…they’re even bringing in the entire Death Book order…when they attacked us a year ago, we only fought about half of them. They seem to be posed to hit the Manor something this morning…before school. They have orders to capture Laurella and to neutralize the Protectors by whatever means necessary.What all this means is that we have to leave. We have to leave the Manor, we have get out of Taylorsville…we have to go dark. I know that a lot of you have handlers you deal directly with, but you’re going to have to find some way to lose them.”

He felt as though he was falling. Rick couldn’t believe it. He dialed in his PDA. He found another briefing from Shori.

Rick, Those on High have rescinded your current mission. You have your choice of missions currently. You can either return after learning as much from Duncan about the protector’s escape plan, or you can make the first strike against the MOH now, while their guard is down. I advise if you’re going to do THAT, you should remove that new chip they added to the PDA. Realize upon doing THAT you will be considered rogue.

It has been entertaining working with you.

Rick placed his head in his hands. Shori, you know by typing that you went rogue too…

Rick dropped his PDA to the ground, hesitated for a moment. He recalled his days back at the 'farm', the days training with Shori, days learning from the library, his time when he was blind, only guided by his handlers. Then he looked at the ‘normal’ High School student, one with a penchant for odd clothing and odder viewing material, the one they wanted him to assassinate. He knew Shori was most likely dead after sending that message. He knew they would soon be here for him too. It was procedure. He smiled, fighting back tears. Of course, Shori. He stomped on the computer with his foot, crushing the screen and the other electronics within. He sat there silently, holding the blade of his knife, biting his lip. He looked toward Duncan and nodded.

[mauve]

"Holy..." Trish muttered dazedly. Were the Protectors really setting up for a battle of that magnitude? Were they really going to kill Laurella and slaughter everyone around her to boot? Without even giving the kid a chance?!

As for staying or leaving, there really wasn't a choice at this point, Trish realized. Even if someone said they were "getting out" now, it wouldn't help. The Shadows knew what they all looked like. They'd track down anyone associated with Laurella, active or "retired," torture them for information, and then kill them.

Trish sighed and ran a hand through her hair. Damn. She had kinda hoped she would live long enough to see her 18th birthday, but the chances of that happening were looking slimmer by the moment.

On the other hand, leaving town would mean a lot of sneaking, hiding, and possibly stealth fighting. Ninjas just happen to be good at that kind of thing. Maybe she could be of some help to them. If she was going to risk her life, then she was going to risk her life for some worthy purpose. This seemed to fit the bill.

"I can't speak for Troy," she said, "but I'm in."