[center][img]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/VVsbGbdk3bdgxT8dJiNUqGY7C-PyfJKUyD549CNy-Aj2MetqoCMdhX302odpAGPPw2Bm-a3Lj1WCreBhjEkyQ7KhriGQv5L12lOfwz6_GOfbhQENknczLIVywsXxaIqC-K1nXykcU-gSzOBhqiB_liU4Qn7qv4TTBo35RzyEtgVuJh0tV6096HKk9h5Lic8C2ZRRAV2TzOnzbjBQbX9CCsTn4p1sNNYw8iUGFWWX7A4Q_ZgSsCGIk0174lS_xGTEpvp1WCtK3XsU3c0vVCuTW5zcGUL4aEAR-JhXTsuHGNnejF-vYRzTvvD3eDsq9KXYGTRUonhLihfNnjDZTwo7axqPGiHt4gVmzeCYtsTo44GztnpSdTG_arcCXerDHF6POaf0G5jsjaAeH7vk20CKEojdvEfh01gLwH4bqIW9macGCpam3Xj7XHj2vlMrMQRGFeY0URjIfYAB8KtQbP6gfoEORLjNp9_m9L6fRuIj8ENvGRQpYQAl9rBZj1zPiFEKMOTNml_yX_dhnmwTlGAyTGjOjuqEdgJtJZvFoiHcAy-AkuCHrcEDBSXDI6VwDHHOvSLL6k2ym2PPCdZiWKCXhdlUhXOKiPH8H_Vr0LZS46jAkQRF5yGF2vRToeo_VcG6f4ZLKvFuqBUS3JeWaSVrwOkVpPwYpGs9qTIezrK3lFvO7BDm_HozRy4=w372-h76-no[/img][/center]
[center]Word count: 2,224,+3EXP gained![/center]
[center]Level: 2 - EXP: 6/20 [/center]
[center]Police Station - Dead Zone[/center]
[center]Collab with [@Lugubrious][/center]
[hr]

	The Black Mage's exploratory path quickly took him away from the safe, fortified central area of the police station. With others going about their business and not suspecting any bad intent from their sorcerous comrade, nobody batted an eye at him using the wall console to open the shutter closing off reception. From there he could proceed through and into the western hall. That corridor wound around the outermost part of the entire west side interior, bringing him back around to the operations room, and with the records room locked tight, he could go nowhere else. Through the windows, worrisome glimmers of movement could be seen amidst the dark. While at the moment the residents of the station enjoyed a lull in the onslaught, standing at the windows never failed to chill one's spine, as if something out there were watching.

	It didn't take long for Vivi to reach the operations room. Inside, scattered chairs spoke of a sudden exodus, but there appeared to be no foes nor objects of interest. A few moments after he stepped inside, however, a tremendous crash shook the entire building. Things flew around and dust fell as the structure rumbled, with much of the force seeming to come from the area the Black Mage traversed just moments ago. The newly frightened Mage scampered quickly to pick up many of the fallen items, as to prevent any damage from harming them. After he tilted his hat back on to the top of his head, front and center, he returned the object back into their assumed original locations from which they flew away. [color=yellow][i]Uh-oh. That certainly did not sound good.[/i][/color] As he looked down the hallway to figure out the cause of the quaking that was being produced, he scratched his chin in curiosity. Upon seeing the helicopter, he would slightly jump in shock, not expecting an aerial vehicle to have crashed into the hallway. He climbed across the rubble to get a better view of the pilot's seat and the helicopter itself, keeping his wooden staff at the ready. But before he reached the vehicle, there came a sound like two heavy feet hitting the ground. The silence that followed was thick and heavy, full of tension. Straining his ears over the dying flames and the whipping wind outside turned up nothing, for a few seconds. Had it been the Black Mage's imagination? Then the entire bulk of the mangled helicopter lifted upward, revealing a [url=https://cdn.gamer-network.net/2019/usgamer/resident-evil-2-mr-x-entrance.jpg]goliath[/url] of a man with stone-gray skin, a black coat, and hat. Without a word, the man started to walk Vivi's way.

	Upon seeing the man, Black Mage would stumble back in fright and distress. After he picked himself up, he began to walk backward, as he picked up the staff he dropped from the fright this man gave him. Unexpectedly, the Mage would begin to talk to the man, saying [color=yellow] "Are you okay sir? That crash looked pretty nasty, do you have a name?"[/color] He continued to back himself up, as the man continued to approach him, not responding to Vivi's questions. As the guy got closer and closer, throwing punches when he got close, Black Mage would charge his Thunder attack, now being engaged by this foe.

	When he created a large interval between him and the man, he would unleash his lightning spell, aiming directly for his head. The man stumbled for a split second before trying to attack the Mage again. It had no effect, in fact, the electricity barely even seemed to slow the giant down. He walked straight through the arcing lightning, closing the distance with deceptive speed thanks to his long strides. When the stranger got close enough, he pulled his right arm back and unleashed a rock-hard right hook at the Black Mage's head.

	Black Mage took the blow with a sense of thought, unsurprised. After he rubbed the slight blood that protruded from his nose with a part of his sleeve, he would run for his life, expecting that this mysterious figure was out for fatalities. He would grab his staff, and run into the operations room he had seen recently. While the man continued to catch up to Black Mage, he decided to crawl under the table with ease, due to his relatively short height. He would clutch his wooden staff in fear and worry, and close his eyes, looking for the feet of the gray man.

	The wizard's mad run, hastened by fear and pain, carried him swiftly away from his attacker. From the moment he rounded the hallway corner, however, he could hear it: the steady [i]tramp tramp tramp[/i] of heavy boots on the police station floor. Once Black Mage pushed through the doors, those footsteps counted the seconds he had to hide. Only a moment after he took cover beneath a table, the doors he left ajar pushed open once again. So big was the giant that he needed to bend down to get through, and once inside he took a look around. No other doors had been opened; his target was here. If the realization gave him any satisfaction he made no sound indicating it -or anything else- whatsoever. Only his hefty footfalls broke the terrifying silence. 

	One by one, the stranger started to remove obstacles. He brushed aside tables and chairs, the hollow podium, supply carts, and the janitor cart with nary an ounce of effort. It would be only a matter of moments until Black Mage's hiding place fell victim, and the sorcerer flushed out.

	He didn't know where to run, didn't know where to go, but he feared to bring this monster to the group who were already unprotected as is. He cast a quick, well-planned thunder attack, which would traverse to the man as he would come skulking out of the building, the chain of shock hitting him in rapid succession. He would pass the record room, for he banged on it for unbecoming help. He would run from the door, he would circle the hall again, looking behind himself to watch for the person who was chasing him and yes, he was indeed being followed still. He would try something daring, after releasing a barrelling chain of lightning attack directly at his face, he would slide underneath his legs with ease and run the general direction of the way Mr. X's back was faced. He would sprint at full value, as he put barely any distance between the man and him, but it partially saved him none-the-less.

	Desperation drove the Black Mage to expend yet more of his dwindling mana supply in a bid to escape his tormentor. His efforts resulted in a ray of hope as the lightning barrage proved enough to momentarily stun the giant, slowing him just long enough to let the wizard slip by. Seizing his golden opportunity, Black Mage rushed back the way he'd come. Light and nimble, he could scoot over or around the debris in his way, while X could only trudge through while he moved again. In a stroke of profound luck, the sorcerer exited the operations room into the hallway, leaving his pursuer's sight and making his escape.

	He rushed, frantic, back down the hall toward the helicopter's crash site, and almost reached it when the wall burst open. Through the dust and decimated mortar the giant lunged, the impact rattling the window to Black Mage's left, into the Black Mage's way. After pausing for only a split second to confirm his target's location, X moved to strike him again. As the punch came throttling towards Black Mage, he took a deep dive backward, figuring out the main movements of Mr. X. He would run the opposite direction in where he came, as he ran from the helicopter and the stone giant. He would bang on the Record Room for a split second before making a run from X yet again.

	Instead of making a break for the window, or attempting to maneuver around Mr. X, Black Mage turned tail yet again. He rushed back through the hall and into the operations room once again, his breathing growing ragged from all the exertion. He did not realize that the hole his pursuer made joined the hallway and the operations room together, so by the time the wizard got in there again, X had simply returned through the gap made moments ago. Spurred on by panic as X closed in, Black Mage beat on the door to the Record Room, and this time it came open.

	He made a run for it from X, but the giant was hot on his heels. With his target dead to rights, the giant raised both hands to shatter Black Mage's back with an overhead slam. In front of him, however, stood a new and unfamiliar figure: a [url=https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/the-evil-within/images/1/11/2017-10-13_%28147%29.png/revision/latest?cb=20171014130607]man[/url] in an indigo suit. Not moving even as X thundered his way, the stranger held up, of all things, an ordinary-looking camera. One word reached the Black Mage between his pursuer's stomps. [color=red]"Move."[/color] Black Mage would jump to the side of the wall, listening to the man with complete understanding. He held his staff, short in-breath while simultaneously avoiding X's attacks. He ducked his head as the man held up the camera, Black Mage assuming it was more than meets the eye.

	Sure enough, the newcomer took aim at X as he drew dangerously close, holding the lens up to the eye covered by his hairdo. There was a flash, filling the hallway with light for a split second. When it faded a moment later X had brought his fist within inches of the photographer's face, but it came no closer. A shimmering field had enveloped the giant, like an enormous cube of glowing, ever-so-slightly distorting gelatin, and it encased the motionless tyrant inside. Lowering his camera, the newcomer heaved a heavy sigh. "Alas, just about the farthest I could get from art," he remarked, his accent a smooth Italian. "Yet, it seems bent on remaining hideous." With no further acknowledgment of the wizard he just saved, the man proceeded into the field. Unlike X, who seemed completely frozen, he moved through the shimmer without issue and exited the other side before proceeding in the direction Black Mage came from.

	In the Records Room, he left behind a number of supplies hastily scrounged together in preparation for transport. The few piles of ash on the ground could only suggest at what happened here however long ago, but the medicine, food, and ammunition gathered on the projector cart looked prime for the taking. One item stuck out among the rest: a [url=https://pm1.narvii.com/6589/03c249fdd3d59a28abcf6bb032c030a3cb8316de_128.jpg]vial[/url] of liquid energy.

	Black Mage would look in the room and give the vial a light shake, as to see what it may do. He would cock his head at the strange object and put it inside of his interior pocket. He would go back into the hall and gaze at the man who had just saved his life. He would stay away from the cubic room, unsure of its dreadful origins and try to converse with the man. [color=yellow]"Thank you... I had no way to stop that Mongoloid and I assume you did this for your own reasons rather than me, but I still wanted to express my thanks."[/color] He would give a mild bow before fixing his cap and looking back up. [color=yellow]"Did you use any dark arts to conjure that petrification? Or does it just occur... Naturally?"[/color]

	The stranger gave the Black Mage an annoyed look. It contained not just irritation, but disdain as well. His one eye held a whole city's worth of ego and sophistication. Without even introducing himself, this little wizard started prying into his abilities. A moment passed before he said anything, clearly at his detriment. [color=red]"...In this place, I can do all sorts of things. There is no real explanation, nor need there be."[/color] Something about his gaze changed, for just a moment. That eye sized the sorcerer up, not as a person, but as an object, like food to buy. Then the look passed. [color=red]"If you want to thank me, you may appreciate my art later. For now, I have photos to take."[/color] A glance back toward X, locked in a snapshot of time. [color=red]"Conventional photos, of course."[/color] With that, he proceeded to ignore his new acquaintance and continued on his way.

	Black Mage walked away from the man, obviously more involved in self-interests. It was obvious this person wanted isolation and had great amounts of belief in his ability. He would keep the vial of energy in his pocket before he would return to X, examining the still image, maybe even looking for anything of possible use. He pats the frozen image down, along with pokes as to assure that the goliath moves not. He would take a step back, kick X in the shin, and clench his foot in pain from the harshness of the once alive beings knee. [color=yellow][i]Bad idea, Bad idea! Ow ow ow!...[/i][/color]

	He would walk his weary body back towards the base of operations and report to Leon, relaying the experience he had just experienced.