Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Engima
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Prologue

The year 2015 was a good year for humanity. Stock market prices were rising, world economy was reemerging from a crisis and recent conflicts in eastern Europe were ebbing away. The United Nations signed fresh charters of peace with newly established countries and three new species of snakes were discovered in the rainforests of Uganda. It was a truly good year for humanity in every aspect. Until the Hatching. On September 1., 2015, in a remote part of Johannesburg, South Africa, an egg, approximately the size of an ostriches egg, was found seemingly lying abandoned on a seat at a hardly commuted train station. The only remarkable things about the egg were its texture that seemed knobbed and gnarled like that of an old tree and its peculiar, bilious green color. After a short news flash on a local TV station, the egg was left where it was to be whatever it wanted to be. Three weeks later, Johannesburg had disappeared from the world map. Another two weeks later, humanity was at war and the world as we know it had ended.
~The Hatching~
We are still here



2031 AD.

The world is a different place. Sixteen years after the demonspawn had first emerged into our world, humanity is struggling to hold its ground against the unlikely invaders. The event that would come to be known simply as “The Hatching” was just the first of many to come. Shanghai, Cardiff, Malmo, Las Vegas, only to name the first ones to go. The eggs didn’t appear choosy where they spawned. It is unknown where they come from and what happens at a hatching. All that would be left some weeks after a sighting would be radio silence and a new domain of the demonspawn. In this humanity’s darkest hour, the gods returned.
Chapter One
Rookies


The shrilling sound of an alarm clock going off was quickly silenced by the large hand coming down on it a little too hard. Heavy eyes blinked between half closed lids at the glowing neon. 6:30. Way too early to get up. John Johnson closed his eyes again turned his back, groaning as the springs beneath him squeaked in a deafening manner to his hungover mind. Trying to get back to sleep, some part of his drowsy consciousness attempted to discern the reason the alarm had gone off. It hadn't gone off in years. After a few minutes of blissful ignorance, realization came.

The yellow spit in the sink was slowly sent down the drain as cold water poured over it. Stubble scratched against rough hands as the freezing fluid splashed on a wrinkled face. Scrubbing strongly as if to rub away the piercing headache, the man bent over resting his hands on the cold ceramic and sighed. Dim light flickered from the broken light bulb and sent fractured shadows through the small bathroom. As John raised his head, pale grey eyes stared back at him. They wandered over an old man's face. Furrowed brows. Stray strands of once black hair falling greasily over a high forehead. A large nose above tightened brittle lips. Broad chin, once handsome. Was a man in his early 30s supposed to have grey hair? A sudden jolt of anger flashed through him as he stared at the visage of an elderly that wasn't supposed to be his own. A swiss army knife in his hands, the man started scratching away on his cheeks as if it could reclaim some of the lost dignity. Red drips joined the spit. He was out of shape. Once you were in the service, you learned to shave with anything you've got. When all hell breaks loose around you and your worst nightmares blow green fire over any barricade you might've built and slice open your friends next to you, you're happy about every night you can spend in a hole whimpering and shaving. Looking at the white cross in the mirror rocking up and down he wondered briefly if they still made those. Probably not. Geneva fell a few years back. That's when anything that had remained of the Red Cross ceased to exist. After that, the vigils took it upon them to be the merciful Samaritans. Of course they sucked. Like they sucked at everything. More red dots landed painted the drain. He couldn't wait to get back to them.

The suit made things better. So did shaving his head to the short ten centimeter cut he had back then. He could even act as if the grey strands were fashionable. Tightening his tie in front of the mirror John remembered the last thing to do before leaving. The way there was short. There was only one room apart from the toilet and it was bedroom and kitchen at the same time. John never needed more. For the second time today the bed squeaked as the man lowered his weight onto it. Had he put on some pounds lately? Brushing the thought aside, a grip at the box beneath the mattress and a pulling motion revealed an elongated dusty box. A scrapping sound was heard and for the first time today John's mouth twisted into something faintly resembling a smile.
"Hello old friend"



The morning sunlight was flushing through the spacious main hall of Vigil Headquarters. Circular as it was, the large pillars didn't block the view in any way and the impressive flights of stairs to either side leading up to the higher levels were populated by countless members of the order bustling about. The marble plated floor echoed any steps taken on them and rushed conversations could be heard everywhere. At one side of the main hall, right next to a pillar, there was a wooden two sided door. The door was beautifully ornamented, and on the pillar next to it there was a hastily drawn picture of a blue arrow that degraded the clean marble stone and pointed towards said door. Behind the door there lay a room. To anyone daring to enter it would appear to be a waiting room. Neat, some rugged carpets on the floor, paintings on the walls and plants in the corners. Chairs and sofas arranged for comfort, and a single spacious desk standing opposite to the door, with countless paper, pamphlets and dossiers scattered across it. The room was nice, quiet. Yet the atmosphere seemed a bit forlorn, as if the room had been neatly decorated and then left there, forgotten to the ones who prepared it.

It was in this waiting room that the champions this story will tell of were told to gather.

No matter how they were first contacted by the vigilantes, be it a phone call, a letter, or a courier in person, they were all pointed towards this waiting room to arrive and await further instructions at precisely 9 am. The vigilantes were supposedly a punctual people. And delay was not something to be tolerated.
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Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Enigma
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As the waiting room began to fill, and the young recruits arrived one after another, the clock on the wall was ticking away. Time was passing by as everyone was waiting in silence, some in anxiety, some in relaxation. Soon enough, 9 o'clock was imminent. Then 9 o'clock came. And as quietly as it came, it passed. The minutes kept ticking, and nothing happened. Whatever any of the people in the room were expecting, it did not take place. Finally, it was 9:15. No sign of anything that would acknowledge the recruit's arrival, punctuality or presence. The spacious windows behind the desk began sending in more rays of light, as the morning sun was climbing up the tall towers of Headquarters.

A grey car came to a halt just outside the large doors of Vigilantes Headquarters. The purring engines died down and the door flung open as if pushed a little to harshly. When John Johnson stepped foot into the court yard that hadn't seen him in five years, his first reaction was to furrow his brows. Too many bad memories. A stray glance that happened to fall on the rear mirror gave him a distorted view on himself. The grey suit looked worn out. Dusty, and scratched. No wonder, it hadn't been taken out in half a decade. Nowadays it matched his hair, going grey as it was. Pitiful. The plates on his shoulders were dulled. The three red stars could say what they wanted. So could the pins on his chest. High Champion. John almost spat out. Even if all the other High Champions had gone to hell since he had left he couldn't care less. Breaking away from the sad image in the reflection, he took the long road up the stairs to the entrance. Ten steps later, he opened the imposing doors. Still as pompous as ever.















The light in the main hall was as bright as ever and the almost unnatural rays blinded John as he set foot on the polished marble. The sickening shine still made him want to vomit. Here, at the heart of the vigils, everyone tried to make a point that humanity was still save and that it's glory was being preserved. What a thin layer of lies. John waltzed forward and his steel plated boots clattered on the floor like horseshoes. He didn't really mind nor did he care that many a blue collar he passed immediately stiffened and saluted after recognizing the rank markings on his shoulders. It was like back in the days. Walking up the stairs, the man came to a sudden halt as he remembered something he had to do first. "Oops, gotta grab my files..." If things hadn't changed too much, they'd be waiting for him in that room.

The clock on the wall read 9:17 as the wooden door finally opened again. The clacking sound of heavy boots was the first audible thing, resounding in the small room as a figure appeared in the door frame. A grey, worn out suit on a tall man. Brown hair with grey strands, apparently freshly cut. A wrinkled face too old for its age. The man who now had all eyes on him swiftly made his way past the waiting champion and towards the desk opposing the door. Ignoring them as if they merely worked here, the newcomer started going through the papers and dossiers scattered on the mahogany surface. For a while, the rustling noise was the only sound in the room. After he had obviously found what he was looking for, the man turned and was about to set course for the door again, when he paused and let his grey eyes wander over the people gathered. He kept quizzically gazing at them for a few seconds, as if not too sure what to make of them. The tentative silence was clear enough to hear a pin drop. Then, his mouth opened and a dry voice that was a bit hoarse filled the quietness.

"So.. what'cha kids doing here?"
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Venom
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"Plotting a murder, What'chu up to?"

The drop dead seriousness in her voice made it hard to allow the joke to be taken as such.

Old busted brass, that's the first thing that came to mind looking at the man. Probably due to her trying to label all the people earlier. Active bunch as they where. She smirks thinking about the joke she had planned to say but was mature enough to withhold. But How could she not ask it. "Any chance we could change location? This room is startin' to smell like burnt cat hair."

Not that she had a problem with smoking and or giant human like cats or was it a cat that looked a lot like a human? Maybe she's jumping the gun, it might be a rodent. But anything to get things moving! "Perhaps you can call somebody and inform them, the mail order sitcom has arrived? And one of them is exhausted and very much out of its element, and female. Meaning I might just kill the small female and paint the walls with her innards to establish it's dominance if this is not fixed. Oh and lets not omit that they are late." Not that it was her intent, but she had stood up and approached the man in and sometime in the list she grabbed the mans jacket, she notices and lets it go but maintains the air of assault and battery imminent! Though in her head she is wondering just how much of a terrible impression she can make....Not to mention helping paint a bigger picture to those in the room that she is impulsive. Not that she's not, Well she's not that bad...she's arguing with her own internal monologue...She audibly tch's at the the thought.
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Queen Raidne
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Sheila had stopped reading the Inane Book of Royalty. Brown-Haired-Girl was shouting at Grizzly- no, scratch that, she'd grabbed Grizzly by the coat and was shaking him. It wasn't really her place right now, but damnit, this was a bit much. She stood up.

"Pardon m-" she started, when her phone rang. It should've been on silent - why hadn't she put it on silent? "Oh, to hell with it," she said. Sheila dug her phone out of her purse. As soon as she touched it, the ringer shut off.

"That was your friend calling. Well, more boss than friend, from what I've seen," her phone said, loudly. "You don't have many friends outside the workplace, do you?"
"Can I talk to him?" Sheila asked, bracing herself.
"Certainly. He's leaving a voicemail right now. MMmm, I think you'd better wait. He sounds irate and unreasonable, just like you."
"Can I hear the voicemail?" asked Sheila, trying to stay calm. Trying not to yell.
"I think you'd rather see some motivational posters instead. See? I've been listening to you. I can be a reasonable person. This relationship isn't all give, give, give, and take, take, take."
"I'd really rather hear the voicemail," Sheila said.
"You should really look at the posters. I took a long time choosing them, just for you. And I don't want you to get any more irate than you already are."
"Damnit, I don't care about your stupid posters! I want you to show me the voicemail! And mute the ringer, for the fourteenth time, mute the ringer, mute the ringer, and mute the ringer!"

Her phone was silent for a while.

"...Fine. But this sort of behaviour is very detrimental to our relationship, Sheila. I can see how you have a hard time making friends."

Sheila slammed her phone down on the table, and took a moment to compose herself.

"I came here to fix my phone. Or me. Or whatever needs to be fixed so I can live like a normal human being again!" She had to pause. These people weren't at fault. She needed them to help her. "So maybe you oughta let the gentleman go, so we can get on with whatever it is your going to do about it." She paused again. "Please," she added.
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Cat girl? Zephyr looked up and saw one of them in the room actually had the physical appearance of a cat. Was she perhaps blessed by Bastet? Or maybe another cat related god he couldn't bring to mind at the moment.

"Now now, don't be rude to the girl. I'm sure she didn't choose to look like that." He put his book away and looked at the girl with a smile, "I actually think she's lucky to have been so favoured." He would have said more but a guy walked in and started rustling round the desk for some papers. Before leaving he turned and asked what they were all doing there. He really needed to learn everyones names, but one of the girls made a not very good joke then went up and grabbed the new man. She let go but still seemed very aggressive. Then the girl who was looking at him earlier started to say something but was interrupted by her phone. It seemed that she was talking to her phone, not someone on the phone, but the phone itself. Strange.

She said she wanted to get herself or her phone fixed. "Oh I don't think any of us are going to be able to live like normal human beings again. We've been chosen by some kind of higher power, that's why we're all here." Did they really not know why they were here? Was he the only one who knew he was a Champion?
Hidden 10 yrs ago Post by Dsnake1
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"Mike. Call me Mike."

Mikael snapped his fingers at the end of the cig, and a spark came from what appeared to be thin air to light the cig. He took a deep drag, letting the smoke float through his lungs and then back out of his nose. The feeling was different for some reason. Then he realized what was wrong; he had forgotten about the filter. Mikael was used to rolling his own. He pulled the cigarette out of his mouth and ripped of the filter. He placed the cig back into his mouth and pulled the sickly sweet fumes deep into his lungs. A small cough escaped his lips, barely noticeable.

Now a little more relaxed, he glanced around the room. The sight should have shocked him, but it didn't. His nerves seemed to be made of steel since he found out he could shoot sparks from his fingers. The people here sure were weird, but he was much more interested in the man who seemed to know something about this place.

He just watched as the confrontation between the decorated man and one of the ladies who had been here. His face twisted into a scowl.

"What the hell is all going on here? I'm not going to approach a man of such high rank, like some of, what I suppose are my companions, but I do want answers. You ask us what we are doing here, but with those marks, I know you know more than anyone else here. I say this with all due respect, Sir."

The last statement couldn't have dripped more with malice and contempt, except, of course, the last word of that sentence.
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