Los Paraisos: The Grande Diamond: Lobby:- Ninth FloorKenneth’s brow raised in extraordinary incredulity at Aria’s next set of words. He silently listened to her say her piece, declaring what he had just said as a lie and defiantly making a stand not to leave until she had checked on the safety of her friends. He rested his chin on one palm, supported by the banister’s railing, as he took another long drag of his cigarette, leaving Aria to wait in anxious trepidation at what Kenneth’s response might be. And still, he just stared. Blowing another plume of smoke out, he said nothing before taking another drag, and another exhale of smoke. He could see how tense and tetchy Aria was feeling, but also knew she wouldn’t, couldn’t, risk to try and move away. To turn her back on him was a risk she couldn’t afford. Only to wait… and the wait was agonising. Was he going to do something or keep them standing like this all day?
“Not being quite truthful, huh?” Kenneth repeated, looking away from Aria and towards the chaos erupting down below, that only seemed to ever get worse and worse. Most of the noble patrons had fled by now, their screams replaced by the sound of music and fighting below, but he could still hear the sound of some fighting creeping its way further and further up the lobby. He shrugged, taking another deep inhalation of the cigarette, before casting a wary eye back towards Aria. He smiled. “Now, that’s not very nice, is it? You make ol’brer Kenneth feel hurt.”
He laughed, standing back up from his bent position and lazily stretching his arms out with a yawn, straining his back to its fullest length, before settling back down again.
“Anyway, unfortunately, I’m afraid I can’t let you do whatever you like, miss.” Kenneth continued. “Honestly, Id love to, but as security, I have to, well, maintain the security and safety of the people inside of here. I can’t let you run around freely. I wouldn’t want you to have your life in needless danger, do I?”
And that’s when Aria’s eyes widened in disbelief. Before her, Kenneths body vanished, melting into the air and disappearing from sight completely. Before she could have a chance to react, a hand snatched her mouth, and a body from behind shoved her to the ground, with them on top, their knee pressed against the small of her back. Her right arm was pulled, harshly, behind her back by her assailant’s own right, whilst reliquishing her mouth he then pulled her left straight in the air above her, making escape all but near impossible. Straining her head, she turned to spot the person who had attacked her…
…and saw Kenneth’s grin beaming back at her.
“Now then, miss. There’s an easy way and a hard way. The easy way is you telling me how many of your little Guilder friends there are inside the building, and I escort you out with a slap on your rear and we’re done with it, or we can do this the hard way, which… well, truth be told I don’t like harming women, Mordie being the exception but then she kind of likes it, however in your case… well, a guy’s got to do his job, yknow? And I’d hate to hurt a pretty face like yours.”
“So, how do you say we be good?”
Los Paraisos: The Grande Diamond: First Floor: Party Hall/Casino“What now?” Heather asked as she stared at the beaten group. Bart had managed to beat them up pretty roughly, but he had yet to take a single one of them out. “Stop screwing around and finish it!”
“Yeesh, yeesh, don’t worry Heath, I’ve got this. Just watch my back, alright? I’ll beat the shit out of that fat bitch.” Bart snidely grinned, dashing forth from his perch on the roulette wheel and spinning his body around, launching the wheel towards the charging trio of Moira, Syed and Xandra, before then pushing his body off the ground towards them. Using his magic to innately transform his mass, and lessen his weight, he was able to use his strength to push him off far further and faster then what should have otherwise been manageable. And then, closing it on his adversaries, he used his magic to shift himself again. Growing heavier, and heavier, and heavier…!
As he did, a streak of lightning shot through the room, a quick gestured spell invocated by Syed, aimed towards Heather in an effort to distract her and her shielding spells. At the same time, Trixie was scampering around the room again, dashing in-between tables and roulette machines, reaching for a vantage point to flank and distract Heather as well, leaving Moira and Xan to focus on the muscle-bound monster Bart.
“FUCK OFF!” Moira bellowed, swinging the statue down to smash the roulette wheel away. However, as it and the statue crumbled apart, she saw
him there, jumping in the air again towards her, a fist fuelled with over 300kg of power barrelling towards her. Moira threw her hands in front of her, as Syed quickly cast a defensive shield over them. Bart’s fist connected, and the agony and power needed to resist was simply… unbearable. Moira’s teeth grit tightly, pain shooting through her forearms, and a sheering backlash of pain into Syed’s mind, but they held their ground. Just barely.
Not that Bart cared. His left fist had failed, but his right was already swinging, and there was no way the pair could defend in time. However-
His cheek felt as if it caught fire, as sharp, agonising pain streaked across his face. He was thrown off his attack, stumbling to the floor and landing on his back, clutching his bleeding face. Towering over him was Xandra, her prosthetic arm transformed into a blade, dripping with blood along its tip. She had managed to catch him off guard, shadowed behind Moira’s back, and attack whilst he wasn’t prepared. For his partner…
“Bart!” Heather yelled, her head snapping towards him. She had been busy defending herself from an onslaught of gunfire across the room from a certain trickster, and wasn’t able to defend him in time. Now though…
Los Paraisos: The Grande Diamond: Sixth Floor: ???The centre of the extravagantly furnished restaurant’s white ceiling shimmered a peculiar lavender colour, a mass of energy wafting out in a spiral and growing bigger and bigger from its initial tiny spot to one much larger, before finally stopping, throbbing and pulsing, before something then suddenly emerged from it, dropping from the ceiling and landing on the wooden floor below in a crouch.
Rising up amidst two lavishly decorated tables, their tablecloths pristine white with candles, flowers and cutlery neatly arranged with perfect precision atop, the messy gray haired man adorned in his dirty, scruffy suit rose from his knees to his feet, his eyes darting around the room and making sure, with a satisfied smile, that the room was indeed empty. There was only he, and
her, and as the pulsating violet portal above throbbed and ebbed, shrinking back into nothing, he cricked his neck from side to side, satisfied with how well he managed to perform his escape, and how well he managed to move from the tenth to the sixth floor in little to no time.
Carrying another person with him made the task more arduous then it usually was, but it was still no great matter for Neil Hunter. No wall, door, ceiling or floor meant anything to him. Where against other people they might have proved formidable obstacles, for Neil it was like as if they didn’t exist, nothing could stop him or cage him. He went where he wanted to go. And right now where he wanted to go, was back to his men, back to their truck, and as far, far away from here as possible.
The job was scuttled, now. The intention had been for him to sell his wares, the five young women he had managed to get a hold of the night before. Lord Dumont had been the latest in his prospective clients to buy high priced, valuable goods, but after the travesty that had just occurred, that was off the tables now. But it was okay. For now he had Selan Leclair - gripped tightly in his right hand around her mouth, his grip smooth to the touch so as not to mark or harm, but incredibly strong enough that resistance was impossible – and she was worth a hundred times more then the price he would have gotten for those five girls. Five girls he could later sell to someone else. No, Selan Leclair… she was definitely a prize alright. Especially one with such magics as Iliana Vasco claimed she had. The boss… the boss would certainly want to meet with her.
“Quit squirming,” Neil ordered as he walked forwards, dragging the pawing Selan behind him. “Seriously, we’ll be done in just a moment. Quit fidgeting and mumbling and things will just be easier for you. Got it?”
Neil’s left hand reached over to one of the tables and their plates, pulling off a piece of chicken, left by the noble diner in their madcap dash to flee the building, to then begin happily munching it himself. Well, he had to admit these rich bastards definitely had nice food.
“Hmm? What’s the matter?” Neil suddenly looked down to Selan, noticing she was no longer resisting so fitfully and just looking up at him, staring indignantly. Those eyes made Neil frown, and for anger to rise. “Don’t you look at me like that, you little sh–”
Suddenly, a rattle and a bang from the wooden doors that served as the entrance to the building's restaurant. Neil's face perked up, frowning as the distant doors, and he cautiously began to weave and stalk through the tables, closer and closer. Whatever was happening on the other side of the door, however, with all the rattling of the gold handles and banging on the door, it seemed as though they could not get it. The doors were locked, impossible from the inside, so perhaps by a member of the staff as they were evacuating? To prevent anyone from coming in and... what? Stealing their high class customers food? Ha. A locked door was meaningless to him, of course, but-
The room then reverberated with a tremendous shock, as the ceiling unexpectantly above suddenly exploded. Pieces of concrete and plaster showered onto the ground in a smoke filled haze, and Neil had to drop the chicken and raise his arm in front of his face to shield his eyes from all the dust. What the hell was that?!
But he didn’t have time to speak. Before he could move or summon a portal to flee through, he caught the fleeting glimpse of a blur moving through the smoke. And then, from there, agony.
A white boot struck his face, colliding with his cheek, his skin rippling outwards from the tremendous force and shockwave. In the brief second before he was sent flying, his grip released from Selan, and then… then his body went sailing through the room, crashing into and destroying dozens of tables and chairs, sending the plates, drinks and food atop to be sent flying all about the room.
From her fallen position on the floor, Selan groggily lifted her head, her hands stroking and soothing her aching mouth, cheeks and chin. And then, she saw him. The figure clad in crimson, black and white knelt down on one knee before her, his head held low, one fist pressed against the ground. Amidst the smoke, the roiling embers of orange and red sparks that surrounded him, she realised the smoke came from him, and his foot which even now seemed to glow red hot.
“…Don?”
A Hero Appears“
NOBODY TOUCHES SELAN!!” Crimson Justice bellowed as he stood up. His finger then dramatically swung out, pointing towards the floored Neil at the far end of the room, who using his glove was wiping the trickle of blood dripping from his nose, his eyes rising with their frosty glare to face the costumed lunatic.
“What the
fuck are you supposed to be?”
Crimson Justice didn’t answer, instead his body shaking with building rage and fury.
“TELL ME WHERE MY SISTERS ARE!!”