[center][img] https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/290977655627448341/292171024986800128/coollogo_com-163531103.png[/img][/center] [Center][Img]https://images.cooltext.com/5441624.png[/img][/center] [center][h2]Mal’ahk #7: Apocalypse Now, Part 3[/h2][/center] [center][h3]Dr. Jacob Regan & Dr. David A. Jones[/h3][/center] [center][b][u]Lost Haven The Chinatown Bridge[/u][/b][/center] As the adrenaline of the chase began to wear off, Anhur started to go into a limp. The cut on his leg, oozing down his leg from the large gash, started to throb with each beat of his heart. It didn’t take long before the blood was left behind on the ground with a partial print of the boots he was wearing. With his DNA profile obscured from the database, thanks to the connections The Eye have within the DNA database in the country, it would take a long time for any police to connect him to the shooting. That is, if they ever find him again after this. With the detonator on his belt so the bombs on the bridge could be dismantled safely, he pulled the radio off of the belt next to the detonator and raised it to his lips. “Dirk, breng de gevangene terug naar de pakhuis. Ik heb hem een paar vragen zodra ik melden met Dullahan over de bruggen.” “Ok, baas,” crackled the Dutchman’s voice over the radio. “Wij zal uw bij de pakhuis te zien.” With the order given out, the skull-faced man slowed his pace to allow him to look at the injury on his leg. “Ah, fuck,” he groaned as he pulled away from the fabric of his trousers. “That’s going to need to be treated. I wonder if that fine piece of ass Alison will book in another session to see if she knows how to work her magic on that.” [center]-----[/center] ‘All but the middle one..’ So with the one bridge saved, that meant two other targets. The bridge with their lead was likely the one connecting towards Chinatown, on the other side of Lost Haven. Seeing as how it was one of the only remaining bridges. There didn’t need to be words, Uriel knew this too, and so they both took off. To supplement his speed, David had taken to using his board trick. Using a small section of cement, he formed a flattened construct not unlike a surfboard, but with footholds for himself, and used his power over the Earth to ‘push’ himself towards supersonic speeds. As opposed to his normal flight, which would have been insufficient for the occasion. His control over it seemed shakier than usual, maybe because this was only his second time using it? Whatever it was, he could only deal with it now. Upon approaching the new bridge he was appalled by what he saw. People were trying to get by, as they should, but there were many shouting and drawing attention to a hanging body. Uriel would be coming to back him up so he can begin the search first, but David flew towards the body. Nobody deserves to be strung up like some hood ornament. Flames plumed out from his palm as he vaporized the strap he hung by, then carried it down, and lay the body flat. Dr. Reagan followed along in the wake of his surfboarding partner in crime as they headed straight for the Chinatown bridge. As they approached he witnessed a macabre display that his newly acquired ally immediately veered off to deal with. [i]He cares an awful lot about the mortal shell it would seem. How strange.[/i] [color=66CDAA]”The fact that you don’t concerns me.”[/color] Coming to an abrupt halt in mid air he drove his wings downwards downard and fell into an upright hover as he scanned the bridge. Someone else must have stopped the attack here but who and how? Inhaling he slowly scanned the surface of the bridge. The chaos wasn’t much better here but it hadn’t drawn war’s presence. The destruction of the other bridge combined with the landing of the alien craft must have been the correct convergence of destructive things to bring him into existence there. [i]There[/i] On the bridge was a single limping individual and when he turned to look at his leg the pattern of a skull face appeared. [color=66CDAA]”I would hate to assume he is responsible just because of how he looks”[/color] [i]Discarding an anomaly in some false attempt to avoid the appearance of prejudice is foolish.[/i] [color=66CDAA]”Fair enough”[/color] With that he leaned forward and fell into a swoop that brought him alongside the edge of the bridge before arcing out and over the man and then dropping onto top of the bridge's upper arch. Taking him in he looked from the injury to his face to the similar object hanging from his belt. Dr. Reagan had to admit that Uriel had a point. [color=66CDAA]”Just a moment. Are you the one responsible for stopping the bombers?”[/color] Anhur turned towards the angelic figure as soon as he was called to. Cursing under his breath, he turned to the figure. In the corner of his eye, he saw the hero he presumed to be Terra Firma lay down the corpse of the man he blew a hole into. While he didn’t know the full capabilities of the angelic hero that was talking to him, Terra Firma was a problem for him that he would be easily overwhelmed if they decided to try and take him in. And with the knife wound on his leg, it made trying to fight both of them all the more difficult. Instead, he went for a different method. While still holding onto the empty assault rifle in one hand and the sniper rifle sling over the shoulder, he reached down to the detonator that was on his belt. His eye caught a glimpse of the boat making its way to a small gathering of people to try and cover their tracks of being in the location and help a few of the people across. Slowly, he unclipped the detonator and raised it for the flying figure to see. “You mean the assholes that tried to blow up this bridge alongside some of the others?” In a swift motion, he threw the detonator towards the figure hard enough that it was easy to catch at that distance. “Yeah, you could say I stopped them from blowing the bridge up. The explosives are down by the water on one of the columns if you wanted to see what they were using.” Seeing Uriel stop an injured man caught David's attention and he quickly joined them, just in time to overhear the latter part of their exchange. Eyeing the man, he could tell that his rifles and bloodstains weren’t for show, but the would-be bombers took precedence. Whoever this was, at least he wasn’t trying to do the aliens’ jobs for them. [color=ed1c24] "We'll have to leave the bombs to the authorities. What we want now are the ones who planted those bombs...." [/color] Anhur looked in both directions at the roughly where he had dropped the bodies and sighed. “Well… if you know how to talk to dead bodies then there’s one in that direction and two in the other. It was only those three at this bridge. Though in all honesty, three dead bodies might be an inconvenience but it’s worth saving the hundreds of people who would have died if the bombs had destroyed the bridge. What would you say?” [color=ed1c24] “You didn’t leave a single one alive? They could have more bombs somewhere, not to mention that we need to find their boss.” [/color] Anhur’s eyes narrowed at Terra Firma. “Judging from what I have seen, only the bridges have been taken out barring the bridge that, I presume, you stopped the bombers at. If there were any other targets, especially with the coordination shown, then those places would have been gone by now. The less people these bombers have returning to wherever they are, the less manpower they will have to pull something like this again. Plus, it was either me or them and I would very much like to be alive.” David scrutinized the man, it was true, he could not fault him for killing them if it was self defense. But there were still several problems here. [color=ed1c24]“With the coordination shown there could be future bombs, and they had it on a timer. We can’t rule out another wave of bombs as impossible. But if they’re all dead, I have no choice but to handle what’s in front of me. You left that man hanging, didn’t you?”[/color] He started taking a few steps forward, towards Anhur. In an unusual move, Anhur unshouldered the sniper rifle and set it down on the railings of the bridge. He remained unmoved by the hero’s approach, though inside he relished it. “Maybe, but they’ll struggle with getting it down with three less mooks running around. While he was dead before he ended up in that position on the rope, it’ll send a message to whoever they work for to think twice about doing something like this again.” “What really would have sent a message, is following their tails all the way back to their boss. I’ve seen my fair share of gunshot wounds, those Hounds of Humanity were everywhere, you see. It would have taken something a little more high powered than a glock to get through those vests. If your story was true, that he was dead already, I know you’re no innocent bystander here. Why don’t you come with me?” “See, the problem with organizations like whoever these fucks were working for, there will be pockets where they might be and anything that’s off, they’ll scatter into the wind and disappear. Even before their ‘Finger of God’ had signalled the location of the Hounds of Humanity main base, you heroes had difficulty in finding them. Otherwise, places such as Philadelphia and Nautica Island would still be around.” “As for your comment of that man getting a hole through him, it’s a reason why that sniper rifle was there. I took it off of one of his buddies and shot him before he could get away with the detonator, which your companion now has. As I still have the rifle in question, it is fucking obvious I’m no innocent bystander but someone who saved those people below from an explosive end. So thank you, but I will not be coming with you. In case you haven’t noticed, there are still aliens attacking this city that needs more attention than whatever [i]this[/i] is.” The earlier words stung David, worse than any of the punches he’d taken so far, but even so, all that meant, was that he’d have to be better for the future. [color=ed1c24] “I would have liked to have ‘followed their tails’ but I can’t now, can I?[/color] David stared straight ahead at the man now. [color=ed1c24]I trust my allies will come up with a plan for the aliens soon. Right now, I’ll thank you for saving everyone here, and I’m not lying when I say I’m glad you were here. Except, your story doesn’t excuse you leaving that man strung up and executing him. It’s within your right to kill in defense, however, it’s not your right to make such a gruesome display. The police have a lot to deal with now, so I’ll personally take you to a station.”[/color] David then closed the distance, moving to take the mans’ other rifle, to disarm him. “I do not think so,” was all Anhur said. While the sniper rifle was still loaded and resting away from him, the assault rifle that was strapped around him was completely empty. But Terra Firma didn’t know that. It only served one purpose at this point and the hero fell into Anhur’s trap. He allowed for the hero to take hold of the rifle. In one motion, he drove the heel of his palm towards the hero’s flaming body. A shadow washed over David’s mind as a dark energy transferred itself from Anhur, and into his body. It felt like a snake was trying to worm itself in, coiling around his heart, his head, and every nerve in his body. Because of the situation, there was already plenty of screaming and shouting in the background, but Anhur had done something to him. The wailing he heard just a few seconds ago was now loud and booming, fear stricken shrieking pierced his ears, and he moved his hands to his head. Trying to get ahold of himself as his senses slipped further from his grasp, into that darkness, the gloom that began to cover his soul. A normal human like David might have suffered far worse, and much longer under this ‘fear’ effect. But a warm, radiant, feeling began to spread through his body, pushing back the encroaching shadows, offering him a safe haven. The heaviness and terror that had attempted to cloud his mind had been flushed out by a pure source of energy, night turned to day, and David found himself being guided through the dark. But this was a new experience for both himself, and the Earth. While he may be cleansed of that attack, his own senses were still foggy, the rest was on him. [center]-----[/center] Catching the detonator as it sailed through the air, Dr. Reagan hefted it in the palm of his hand and then looked back at the man. Interesting. There were more than a few of these wood-be gun toting do-gooders-by-any-means-necessary in the city. That was on one level extremely concerning and on another it was nice to know that Lost Haven was not going to roll over without a fight and it wasn’t just the capes who were taking it to people around here. Terra Firma joined them and Dr. Reagan continued to study the man pensively. His callousness about the situation bothered him but Uriel didn’t seem to care either way from his notable silence. Must have been his assumption that they got what they deserved. Either way it was really starting to grind his gears that an Angel had so little care about killing people. Then again… Uriel was an Old Testament sort of ass kicking waiting to happen. It was strange associating a being that was supposed to be about love and mercy with a messenger like Uriel. Returning his attention to the conversation he caught that all of the bombers were dead. That wasn’t terribly helpful. [i]We could pluck one of their souls from the Pit. If you had mastered my wings[/i] [color=66CDAA]”I’m aware”[/color] Terra Firma continued to go on about how he shouldn’t have strung the man up in such a display which was fair. Following that he moved into a comment about bringing the man in, which was probably not going to go very well. Sure enough he didn’t seem to think that was what was going to happen and naturally Terra Firma slowly reached for the gun. Dr. Reagan sighed and then the man slammed Terra Firma with the heel of his hand. Was that going to work? He didn’t wait around to find out. Lunging on the right side of Terra Firma he didn’t bother with the sword. He just drove the tip of his right wing towards the man’s shoulder with the intention of driving the supernaturally hard feathers into the space between the chest and shoulder about six inches. [color=66CDAA]”Why is it always a fight…”[/color] Anhur didn’t get much of a chance to react to the angelic figure flying close to them and attacking with their wing. Fortunately for him, the motion of driving his palm into Terra Firma caused enough momentum for the tip of the wing to nick his left shoulder with a deep cut. It was one thing to try and fight off a hero of Terra Firma’s calibre, but to fight another hero on top of that? The skull-faced man wasn’t going to lie, he was in a rough spot and it seemed that there was little to no chance of getting out of this uncaptured. --------------- Down in the boat, close to the shores where people gathered to get onto one of the larger boats to get away from the city, the rest of the Penose blended into the crowd of ships, keeping away from prying eyes. Dirk, the person in charge of the Dutch organized outfit, looked around to see if there were any authorities about. He felt uneasy leaving Anhur behind, but if the head of Lost Haven operations needed to report to Dullahan about the unexpected destruction of bridges, then he understood the reasoning. On the off-chance of looking in the direction of the bridge, he noticed a meta with a flaming body and a figure with wings in the area around the bridge. Mere moments later, both of them about the area where Anhur was last spotted. The Dutchman didn’t like the looks of that at all. Looking to the waters, he noticed a few of the other Penose boats were coming back after the destruction of the bridge just to the north. Not waiting for another chance, he pulled the radio up and started to speak. It was then he saw the angelic figure landing on the bridge. --------------- Still recoiling from the cut from the angel, Anhur thought about having no choice but to try and fight both of them off. His hand started to hover around his back to where a knife was. But, he paused as his eyes narrowed to focus on something. As if he was concentrating on listening. His eyes widened at the recognition of a distant sound. The hand that was hovering around his back snapped to the barrel of the rifle and undid the clip to the strap. Once freed, he allowed gravity to take his body to the floor just as a torrent of bullets whizzed into the area, punching through the steel girders like they were nothing. Peering in the gaps, he saw 4 of the Penose boats had turned around, the men on the boat firing up at the bridge. Concealing his face to the two heroes, he smirked as the white blur of the turrets’ cannons were raining death and destruction towards their location. The wing clipped the man’s shoulder and sliced through clothing and flesh like it was nothing. Dr. Reagan grimaced as he moved to pass Terra Firma and continued after the man but he suddenly discontent his firearm from the strap and fell flat on the floor of the bridge top. A hail of bullets slammed into the top of the bridge stitching across concrete and steel in an angry whine. Shrugging his wings up and forwards he closed them over the front of his body. It meant he couldn’t see anything but the bullets simply rattled off the feathers of his wings. It was hardly ideal but it was better than getting shot since he was fairly certain that the wings were the only bulletproof part of his body. With the wings providing a sort of cowl he jerked his right hand down and the sword sprouted in a gout of fire. There was no way to tell where the other man was now but he needed to be ready in case of some sort of ruse. Hopefully Terra Firma was resistant to the fullisade of fire. As the bullets rained on the trio, Anhur saw his opportunity when the winged hero curled his wings forward to defend himself. While the bullets seemed to be bouncing off of them, it completely covered the view of him on the ground. And with Terra Firma still shrugging off the fear effect, the skull-faced man saw the window and took it. Shuffling on the ground, he pressed himself up and began to run back to the location where he climbed onto the catwalk. David shook his head as he stumbled through the after effects of the man's attack. The crackle and thundering of specialized bullets blasting through the bridge around him quickly put him onto alert. Tossing his gaze around, he saw the murderer making a run for it, while Uriel had taken some sort of defensive stance. He sprinted off towards the angel, placing himself between a stream of gunfire and the angel, then tasted the power of these special bullets for himself. Hundreds of red and orange sparks shot off his body as the energy in the bullets and his body clashed. David's grunts of pain and strain echoed out as his body faltered, he crossed his arms in front of his chest to better withstand the onslaught of these new weapons. [color=ed1c24]"Are you hurt... can you fight?"[/color] David asked in a strained tone. Once he reached the railing he climbed over, he turned to look. He smirked at the sight of Terra Firma now also defending himself from the hail of turret fire, even taking some of the fire off of the angel. He wasted no time and jumped over the railing and slid down the entire length of the column, guiding himself down with a steady hand and both feet. Once he reached the base of the bridge where the explosives and dead bodies were, he looked in the direction of the destroyed bridge further inland. Another boat was coming up. Perfect for a getaway. As the boat passed, Anhur jumped onto it. His body rolled across the small deck until it crashed onto the opposite wall, his blood painting the deck from his shoulder and leg. As the men on the boat went to aid him, he got onto one knee. “Get us out of here!” he barked at them. “I don’t want those fucks taking me in!” The men on the boat scrambled to aim for the boat to charge away from the scene. It didn’t take long for the boat to pass the ones firing on the two heroes as it sped away. Now on his feet, Anhur reached for the radio on the boat. “Listen up, I want to put some distance between me and them. Hold them off for as long as you can before pulling away.” He wasn’t going to lie, some of the men on the other boats were probably going to be captured by Terra Firma and the angel for questioning. But as long as he was not one of those people captured, the others were expendable and they knew what they had signed up for. Putting the radio back down, he turned to the driver of the boat. “Take us to Rendezvous B. I don’t want them to catch up to us or our prisoner.” The driver nodded as the skull-faced man slumped onto one of the benches. At Terra Firma’s question Dr. Reagan grunted. [color=66CDAA]”I’m fine but I’m not bulletproof the whole way through. Just my wings.”[/color] At a lull in the fire of the boats he risked a peek through the center of his wings. They were changing out the box on the front machine gun of one of the two boats. Now was his chance before they got it reloaded and opened up again. Crouching low he held his wings up at an angle sort of like the cow catcher on a train until he was at the edge of the bridge and then he leapt. Closing his wings around him in a cocoon he plummeted towards the water. Knifing through the surface he vanished from the view of the boats. As he plunged beneath the surface he arched his body and his wings. Opening them to carry him through the water as he brought the sword up with an effort and drove it along the bottom of the now reloaded boat. It split the boat and began to sink it. Twisting his wings as he slid by underneath it he angled them so that he came shooting out of the water. With a powerful stroke of the wings he hovered briefly making eye contact with the driver of the second boat he had turned around to see what was happening. The man reached for his sidearm. With a grunt Dr. Reagan swung his legs forward and kicked the man over the steering of the second boat. [color=66CDAA]”I’ve had about enough of that for today. Thanks.”[/color] The gunfire had fallen off for a moment, either because they had to reload, or because Uriel had taken their attention back, so David took his chance too. He blasted off into the air as quick as he could, then swiftly bore back down at them, making a '^'-shaped contrail in the sky. They in turn, trained their guns as far up as they could, unleashing a storm of weapons fire as soon as they could. The sun's glare kept them from being accurate, but they clipped David's body enough to cause him to lose control. Cascading energies exploded off the outside of his body, and the resulting turbulence proved too much. David immediately dropped like a brick, he grunted as he tried to regain control, but there was simply not enough time. He finally splashed down into the water, shooting up water dozens of feet into the air. But this was fine, in fact, this was the best place to be. The guns apparently didn’t have the ability to shoot low enough to nail targets directly below the boat, nor could they reasonably shoot through it. A bright light closed up underneath them, then the sound of metal crunching, was all the warning the first boat had, and it wouldn’t be enough. The boat suddenly went under, then emerged upside down, with both the cabin and turret completely submerged, rendering both useless. If one was close enough they could make out muffled screaming and shouting, before the waters turned quiet once again. Not a minute later, the gunmen were tossed up onto the upturned boat; where they lay, able to breathe, but unconscious. The other boat could clearly tell what happened, and fired on David, or as close as they could based on the glow. Blurring his image was the only protection water offered him, but it wouldn’t matter. David emerged out of the water as quickly as he had fallen, with both arms at the side, fists out, he then quickly brought one arm over the other. Lightning followed his hand as it swiped over the other, and towards the boat’s turret. As the bolt raced over the water, it met the incoming bullets and melted them mid-air, carving its own path of destruction straight back to the turret. David’s superheated bolt turned the gun into a sizzling, misshapen hunk of metal. Upon seeing this, the mercs shouted at their driver to accelerate their craft. But they would be far too late, a certain someone had landed on their bow. [color=ed1c24]“You’re all coming, with me.”[/color] Working his way through the rest of the individuals on the boat he’d landed on Dr. Reagan, cut, kicked, grabbed, and flung until the remaining men on the boat were incapacitated. [i]It would have been swifter to dispatch them. They made themselves enemies of the Lord of Hosts.[/i] It was becoming increasingly disconcerting to him that the Angel was perfectly accepting of the loss of life incurred from stuff like this. Sure he was an unknowable ancient messenger of a potential omnipotent being but still it seemed so out of character. Then again. They were talking about the God of the old testament. At least. In theory. Either way. He shrugged and didn’t bother to give him a further response. Turning the boat and gunning it towards the shore he watched as Terra Firma handled the other vessel. It didn’t take long to flag down national guard troops and hand over the wood-be terrorists. Truthfully they probably needed the man from the bridge. These individuals were working with him but he had other problems right now. Somewhere out there, there was a Horseman of the apocalypse and probably another one who had been present for even longer. Looking back to Terra Firma he nodded at him. [color=66CDAA]”I wish we could do more but I think our only lead took off.”[/color] Pulling the detonator out of his pocket he handed it to Terra Firma. [color=66CDAA]”Hopefully you can make better use of this or know someone who can. I’m rather new to this hero game but either way. You can find me at St. John’s Parish. War isn’t the only problem running around and I think given the actual aliens falling from the sky we are all hands on deck. I’m afraid Conquest is out there somewhere and I need to find them both.[/color] Snapping the sword from existence he held out his hand. [color=66CDAA]”You may call me Mal’ahk it would seem the Lord of Hosts has a vested interest in this fight. Find me and I will help if I can. Otherwise I’m going to try and cancel the end of the world before it gets rolling.”[/color] [color=ed1c24]”Stopping the end of the world? A very noble goal, let’s hope we succeed. Call me, Terra Firma.[/color] David took Mal’ahk’s hand, embracing it with his own, and gave it a firm shake. [color=ed1c24]”Indeed, I’ll give this detonator to someone knowledgeable, and I’ll do my best to keep you informed. Speaking of, will I find Mal’ahk, or someone else at St. John’s?[/color] At the question he took the man’s hand. [color=66CDAA]”I don’t think there is much in the way of a difference anymore. At least for now, though I suspect the Monsignor who runs the Parish will probably know me more simply as Uriel. I haven’t the faintest if he cares beyond that fact.[/color]. Dr. Reagan chuckled but in the moment he realized that it was probably a true enough statement. He was a weapon now. [color=ed1c24]”I can’t speak for this Monsignor, but I care.”[/color] David put a reaffirming hand on the man’s shoulder. [color=ed1c24]”I doubt it’s the same, but I get the feeling you share the same bewilderment about outside powers as I do. I can tell you aren’t some ruthless executioner, and I don’t know what you consider yourself. But you helped saved lives today, you’re a fellow hero in my eyes. So, whether it’s an ear, or a fist you need, you can call on me. Likewise, if you need me, you might find me at the Lost Haven University."[/color] Dr. Reagan tilted his head in curiosity at the comment. Was it possible that LHU was so blessed or cursed to have two resident super powered beings. [color=66CDAA]”It is rather surreal I will admit. Though assuming the campus is still standing I’ll be resuming classes at some point. You can call me Dr. Jacob Reagan[/color] The day just became curiouser and curiouser. David resisted the urge to tilt his head as well, instead, his head jerked back. As if someone had just slapped his face. What he just heard had startled him, and had him just a little unnerved. Thinking about the incredible amount of ‘encounters’ he’d been through recently, he couldn’t help but feel a little crowded. [i]Dr. Reagan huh…just how long had this been going on?[/i] Though he felt apprehensive David quickly got over it. The fact that he had not used that sword to cut down the terrorists, even after their appalling acts of violence, spoke miles about his character. Self-defense was one thing, but so was restraint. They needed the terrorists alive to punish and hold accountable, and discipline so that ‘heroes’ didn’t become scarier than villains. He firmly believed that he and the other heroes needed to leave a proud legacy behind, to show that a better future was possible, that the superpowered were not a change to be feared. Actions speak loud, and today Reagan had made a friend if not an ally. David nodded, then ‘cleared his throat’. [color=ed1c24]”Ahem. Surreal is one way to describe it. I’ll return your trust, you might know me as Dr. David A. Jones. I occasionally travel out, but I’m part of the history and archeology wings. Let’s work together sometime![/color] David then looked towards the sky. [color=ed1c24]Right now though, it seems we both have something we need to do. Good luck with Conquest and War, I’m going to work with Icon to see what we can do about the aliens.”[/color] From here, they separated. David took off towards the skies. Without a lead to chase down, it was finally time to unite with Iron Knight and Icon.