As Tara laid on the ground and the situation decayed into chaos, Damien looked up and saw a bright orange light up in the sky, almost like a sun in the midnight sky. He immediately went for the second discus and, tossing it in his left hand a few times, studied the hovering flare closely. It moved as if it were alive, and in the new light he could make out a silhouette. Skeleton ran over to the scene and followed Damien's eyes. "Is that what I think it is?" Damien asked. "Let's not take any chances." Skeleton said "Shoot to kill." Damien nodded, rocked back fluidly, and let the discus rip. It tore through the air at impossible speed, glowing red hot as it flew, and collided with the flaming silhouette in the sky. Samson cried out as the discus embedded itself in his stomach. He fell from the sky like a shot bird and crashed into the Mississippi River. "We'll have to fish his ass out later." Damien said. Tara was speaking now, and Damien rushed over as Skeleton trailed behind. "Murder in West Mendel." she said "Jack is dead. The Vanguard did it." [b]END OF ACT ONE[/b] [youtube]6Mt0ee9FraQ[/youtube] 'The time for war has not yet come, but it will come, and that soon; and when it does come, my advice is to draw the sword and throw away the scabbard. -General Stonewall Jackson " November 14, 2014 5:30 AM Whisper awoke to the smell of something burning. Immediately she darted from her bed, dressed in grey flannel pajamas, and, grabbing a gun from out of her nightstand, vanished into a cloud of smoke. She went tearing down the hallway and entered the living room of her penthouse apartment. It was a massive, rectangular room, with a set of three steps separating the room in half. One half contained the entrances to the apartment's two primary hallways as well as the kitchen, while the other was a black-carpeted living room with black leather furniture and a window for walls, allowing Whisper to overlook the city. Mamba was already up, he had slept over in the guest bedroom, and was standing by the window, watching as a massive fire blazed down on the street. He was dressed in the same clothing as the previous night, but everything was wrinkled, as he'd slept in it. The apartment building across the street was a blazing inferno. All of the floor-to-ceiling windows were shattered and the building was surrounded by over a dozen fire trucks. Accompanying them were police officers holding assault weapons; this was a terror attack. "Did you see the park yet?" Mamba asked, handing Whisper a pair of binoculars as she materialized next to him. She looked over towards the park with the binoculars and her jaw dropped. Another half-dozen police cars were standing around a square of caution tape. In the center of the square, Samson Jeross' head rested impaled on a segment of wrought-iron fence. Burned into the concrete sidewalk was a black skull. Whisper sat there transfixed as her eyes rested upon the burned-out sockets of Samson's skull. Mamba and Whisper exchanged glances as they realized that this gang rivalry had just gotten real. "Call the others." Whisper said dramatically. --- 6:00 AM Nick woke up in his bed, per the usual. Next to his nightstand, where a beer normally would be, there was a bra hanging on his lamp. His eyes narrowed for a moment. Why the fuck was tha- Oh. OH. The memories of the night before came flooding back. He turned his head to see the still sleeping Taylor, who was laying on his arm and against his side essentially putting it to sleep. He remembered saying something about living a comfortable, fairly simple life after putting himself through engineering school and how he met Keith. Somehow, one thing led to another, and it had just...happened. He didn't know if that was a way to shut him up or not, but whatever it was, it worked and... he still could not feel his arm. He attempted to pull it out as slowly as he could. He didn't have the heart to wake her. When he was successfully out, he dawned his magneto underwear and then walked off into the kitchen section of his home. He worked from home. Literally. He built himself a huge ass garage where he worked most of the day. His house was right behind the store itself. He didn't drink coffee, but he was fairly certain that Taylor did. Being himself, green tea was more of his thing. As he walked around scrounging up the materials to make coffee (since he had them around despite not using them often, for guests) he wondered what would happen from here. Not many one night stands were interested in staying long after and he briefly wondered if she would run off and forget that she left her purse in his car. A better question would be how HE remembered that. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He drank some of his tea and sat down on one the bar stools in his kitchen, silently waiting for Taylor to awaken and get up to see what kind of coffee she wanted and if he even had the stuff to make it. Probably not since he lived pretty simply overall. Taylor awoke a few moments later laying in a bed she didn't know in a room that wasn't her's. She yawned as her eyes scanned the room and stretched her arms out wide, taking in the scene. After the disorientation of sleep wore off, she remembered. She wasn't sure whether to smile or frown; sure, he was attractive, but she wasn't quite sure why (he has the IQ of a potato salad). After a few moments of thinking, she got out of bed and put on a pair of seafoam green undewear and Nick's white shirt, which was laying by the bed. Judging by the strewn-about nature of the slothing on the floor, they either had a lot of fun or Nick was very untidy. When Taylor entered the kitchen, Nick was hovering a coin around his hand to keep his attention on something since games and TV didn't really appeal and there was bound to be the daily shitstorm on the news full of negativity he didn't really need in his day. The air smelled of coffee and awkwardness from the night before. Nick turned as he saw movement through the doorway as Taylor walked in wearing nothing but panties. Nice. He paid no mind to it, and began scrounging the materials to make coffee a bit faster. "How do you like your coffee?" he said, an attempt at a friendly smile on his face. He was either nonchalant about the night's past events or didn't realized that it was supposed to be awkward. "Cream, black, extra sugar? Or do you have something special?" he questioned. He knew with Taylor it would probably be the latter because rich girls had special drinks. "Um, do you have any tea?" she asked, her voice shaky. Nick raised a brow. "That's what I'm drinkin' right now." he said, making a move to put away some of the stuff as it was. "What kind, m'lady?" Their attention turned to the buzzing television off to the side. Displayed was a frantic young female reporter, with the words "breaking news" scrolling over her forehead. At least a dozen fire trucks were behind her, and armed police officers stood behind them. "...mayhem runs amok through the city as the citizens of Mendel attempt to escape the burning building--" the reporter said. "Oh dear." Taylor said "That's near my home. It's a good thing I was here." She met Nick's eyes, and they smiled. "Yeah," Nick said, his smile fading as a phone wrang. His eyes hardened for a moment, and he quickly moved over, grabbing the phone and answering the call. He knew it was Whisper before Emilio began to speak. "You happen to be watching the news?" Emilio asked. "Yeah," he said simply. "Fire, about a dozen dead." he said simply. "What's the deal?" "I am currently staring at Samson Jeross' head stuck onto a spike in the park by Whisper's house." he replied bluntly "Oh Jesus." Nick said, pulling the phone away from his ear for a moment, he made an almost gagging sound and the color left his face. He hesitantly returned the phone to his ear. "What the fuck man..." He said for a moment. He locked eyes with Taylor for a split second before he sat down on the couch. "Anything else in the area? Markings, tags? Anything?" "It's the fucking Skulls!" Mamba hissed "They left their insignia on the concrete. Somehow we pissed them off. Just get your ass over here quick." "Al... Alright. I'll be there soon." he said, hitting the end call button and tossing the phone on the couch to his left. He looked over at Taylor for a moment. "You probably are gonna wanna stay here." He said. "There's been a lot of shit going on. Whisper's a friend of mine, and her first mate lost to me in a drinking contest once. He just called and said there's a head on a pike outside her door." He said. "They need me there. You can come if you want, but I dont want you gettin' hurt." "Well that sounds...excessive." Taylor replied, cringing as he said the words "head on a pike". "Yeah... yeah it is." He replied back, standing and walking into his room, coming out about a minute later with some worn blue jeans and his standard white shirt, with a black leather jacket. A red symbol, the symbol of the Vanguard, shown proudly across the back of his shoulders. Contrasting nicely with his black jacket and white shirt. He had his work boots on, in case Whisper needed him to repair anything. He muttered as he walked out, something about him just being an Enginneer and a mechanic who joined thinking he was doing something good with his power. "I guess I'll just stay here then." Taylor said, sitting down on a bar stool. "By the way." she said as he walked towards the door. Nick stopped and turned halfway to face her. "Yeah, whatsup?" He said. "I had fun last night." she flashed a white smile that seemed to curve at the ends with naughtiness. Despite the terrible situation, a small smile tugged at the corners of Nick's mouth as well. "Yeah, I did too. Stay safe. Call me if you need anything." He finished. "Okay." she said, still smiling --- It didn't take long after the call was sent for Nick to show up. He pulled up on his white Camaro, parking just outside of Whisper's house. He could smell the smoke in the air from earlier events. It was a terrible smell. He locked his car, and walked up the steps of the hideout. He grabbed the door handle and twisted it, but didn't open yet. He knew they were inside, and with his mind help everything made of metal exactly where is was, so that when he entered he wouldn't be shot at. He opened the door slightly and peeked his head in. "It's Nick." he stated. "I'm going to un-jam your guns now. Dont shoot." he said, as he pushed the door open a little wider and stepped inside. "You called. Here I am." --- It is currently 6:30 AM in Mendel, Louisiana. It is fifty degrees with cloudy skies, but the rain has subsided since last night. There is a strong wind blowing through the city, carrying on it the smell of smoke and ashes. In West Mendel, the fire in the apartment building still burns. Part of it has collapsed and now lies in the road by some cars crushed with debris. The police have blocked off the entire street, and the head on a pike has been begrudginly taken down by police wearing riot gear. Caution tape surrounds the Skull symbol on the street. Afraid of being blamed for the attacks, Whisper and Emilio have fled out of the back door of the condo and are now ten away in one of the Vanguard's meeting-places, the penthouse of an abandoned hotel in a shabbier part of town. They sent the location to every Vanguard member, all of whom are on their way to the hotel now. The Skulls, meanwhile, are outside of the Haber Street base. Motorcycles and cars fill the streets and Skeleton stands at the head of them, standing at a crossroads with a circle of bikes surrounding him. With him in the circle are Damien and Caden, and they appear to be huddling as if having a meeting. Grease and Matt are making their way through the crowd to the circle now (slight metagame. Sorry). There is an air of hysteria in the air, like what preceeds a stampede on the african savana. Whatever is about to happen, it's not going to be pretty. [b]CITY OF GOLD ACT II: THE INVASION[/b]