[img]https://i.imgur.com/q0GpKA5.png?1[/img] [hr] [i]Written with [@JunkMail][/i] [hr] [url=https://youtu.be/_m2zGncgLjw][i]Hit that jive, Jack Put it in your pocket, till I get back Goin’ downtown to see your man And I ain’t got time to shake your hand[/i][/url] He was skating again. [i]Hit that jive, Jack Put it in your pocket, till I get back Time and time waits for no man And I ain’t got time to shake your hand[/i] Within the span of a few minutes, D had managed to land himself a rifle and a handgun off of a couple dead fellows. The one with the rifle wasn’t even a guard, just seemed to have the same idea and appropriated a weapon for herself. D had picked up both the weapons and whatever ammunition he could hold for each. He rolled by a convenience store to see if anyone had happened to hole up there, but no such thing was discovered. Instead, he pilfered a couple glass mason jars with the flippale clipping lids, using one of them to hold a bundle of all the handgun magazines he’d collected so far. He kept the other for a spare. He continued skating through all the scenes of mayhem, destruction, rampant murder, and the aftermaths of all three. He passed by folks running in whichever direction seemed like it led to safety. He passed by escaped prisoners (and even some regular citizens) doing nothing but robbing shops and food joints for a bite to eat. He passed by two folks hugging, too scared to do anything else. And all the while, no one seemed to pay him any mind. Given that he was on something of a mission, he decided not to go making any unnecessary scenes. Right now, he was just focused on finding another rifle. He wanted one to give to his new best buddy Radvi, and one to give to the woman with the mechanical arms, Noelle. She seemed nice. He wasn’t too far away. But he began to figure he needed to venture out a bit further, since he was having a hard time finding that second rifle. The first one came so easily! But, it made sense that luck would falter after such an immediate boon. Oh, well. He rounded another corner, skating in front of a few storefronts. He peered into them as he went and- [i]STOP.[/i] He skidded to a halt. Inside a Panera Bread, there was a woman. She was the only one there, in the back, making full use of the available resources to fashion herself something to eat - the pick two version of the bacon turkey bravo sandwich and tomato soup (located at your local Panera’s™). And she looked [i]just like the woman he saw torturing that guy last week[/i]. D just stood there, still, staring at her as she remained unaware of his presence. [url=https://youtu.be/VKMw2it8dQY][i]YooOOoooooOOOOOO-[/i][/url] He, quietly as he could, continued skating forward, past the Panera Bread, attempting to raise no attention to himself (a rare practice for his like). He needed to be… [i]Subtle.[/i] ... Arianna had taken the time out of her day of espionage and villainy to get lunch. Planning was time and energy consuming, and she would need to be in tip top shape if she was to proceed further. The ploy had worked almost perfectly, and all things considered she figured that she deserved a celebratory meal. Panera’s was close by, easy, and most importantly it was entirely vacant at the moment. Even the lunatics and inmates seemed to have mostly dispersed out of the area. Distracted by her food, the destruction outside in the distance, and her own musings, she didn’t hear the chaotic stowaway approach from behind. [url=https://youtu.be/JntDcqOxMsM][sub][i]“Rock me to Russia!”[/i][/sub][/url] She barely had time to turn halfway around. [i]“WHIP THE LLAMA’S AAAAA-”[/i] D’s feet collided with the left side of her face. She could feel an unyielding, unbending force behind the plastic and rubber of the soles of his feet. She stumbled to the side, more shocked than anything else. She looked over at him, half of her face written with surprise, the other half missing entirely. It quickly reformed, the splattered content of her person making its way back to her entity and reconstituting her damaged face almost as soon as she had lost it. “What the fu-“ D was situated a few feet away from her after picking himself up from the dropkick, flipping back into an upright position. He was whipping his arms and legs around like some child who’d watched far too many kung fu movies. With the accompanying sound effects. He held out his hand towards Arianna, making that ‘come and get some’ gesture. Arianna pinched the bridge of her nose, sighed, and shot her arm forward. It stretched and impossibly long distance, flattening as it flew through the air, and shoved Freaky-D back towards the entrance of the Panera’s. When she retracted her arm, it occurred to her that this Pac-Man looking village idiot seemed oddly familiar. He had jumped out of the window of the school. She had read about him being captured. “And here I thought you were gone.” She mused. “Well, can't have you running around anymore and ruining my fun.” She looked behind her at the ruined meal. “Or food.” D picked himself up from the blow, with seemingly no sign of injury, and certainly no sign of stopping the sound clips. [i]“Pay the court a fine or serve your-”[/i] “Y’know a lot of people die quieter than you.” [i]“Dead or alive, you’re comin’ with me!”[/i] She huffed, and her arms shot towards him again, intent on doing far more than pushing him away. He had already assumed a defensive stance, holding his fists up, for whatever good it would do him. [i]S u b t l e .[/i] [hr] [img]https://i.imgur.com/kqCeKN6.png?2[/img] [hr] For the moment, all was calm. Radvi and Noelle were maintaining close proximity to the public shelter’s entrance. Inside, the hundreds of students and residents that had come together were watching a series of screens connected to cameras above the gate. They could see their two protectors standing their ground, watching for aggressors. Many of them thought to themselves how foolish it seemed for just two human guards to fancy themselves a bulwark against a potential horde of insane and dangerous parahumans. Not to mention the vast majority of them were parahumans themselves, and some few quite handy in a fight. But they’d come here to stay safe, to protect each other, for any multitude of reasons. Keen on letting the rest of the security force - wherever they may be - handle this mess. Radvi was still the only one with a gun. It had been a fair few minutes since Freaky-D had left to go procure more arms for the both of them, but such a short amount of time could potentially spell doom in a situation like this. They stood vigilant. But as they did, they heard it. A [i]clicking[/i] noise. “You hear that?” Noelle spoke up. “Yeah.” Radvi replied calmly, “Stay close.” They inched closer together, both scanning their heads around the immediate area. The flat open space, the second floor balconies and walkways above them, they looked everywhere. The clicking sound came again, from further away than where it seemed to originate. Whatever was making it was attempting to toy with them. Radvi, maintaining his composure, raised his handgun - and promptly lost it. A [i]spike[/i] flew through the air. Something sharp, something... [i]organic[/i]. It hit the handgun dead on, carrying it away from Radvi’s hands and pinning it to a nearby column. It had pierced right through the metal, rendering the weapon virtually useless. Radvi and Noelle both glanced at it in shock, before turning their heads back in the other direction. Clinging to the edge of the second floor railing was yet another prisoner - lithe, nigh-skeletal, pale complexion. Curved, blood-stained claws clinging to the vertical surface. His eyes were practically gone, the lids closed shut by stretched flaps of skin. His teeth were bared, long and sharp, making that awful clicking sound still. Emerging from his backside was a long, narrow tail, ending in a faded, blood-red stump, dripping with some pale-yellow, translucent fluid. From the quivering stump quickly grew a new, fresh spike, just like the one that had deprived Radvi of his firearm. “Jacob?” Noelle asked. No response came from Radvi. Another noise. They turned their heads once again - two more prisoners emerged from around a corner. One, a tall and greatly muscled figure with jagged, metal protrusions erupting from all over his form, obscuring his features. The other, a shorter woman - no hair to speak of, eyes wide open and bloodshot, limbs distending into thin, meaty whips with long, bladed protrusions on their ends. She hurried along a short distance away from her large, sharp compatriot, covering the empty space between him and their third friend, the wall-crawling one. [sub]“Stay… calm…”[/sub] Radvi said under his breath. They both assumed defensive stances, waiting for the enemy trio to make their move. The shelter stayed closed - it wouldn’t be quick to open from either side, with that heavy, sealed bunker door. They could [i]really use those guns[/i] right about now.