SepticGentleman

Verthaven: A Bloody Paradise [Completed]

Carl Semken and Sam Clarke

_{(Collab between Maxx and SepticGentleman)}

@Mr Allen J@He Who Walks Behind

---

"Shock Top summer." Carl issued as his drink, "Oh and uh... kids are coming home from soccer practice tonight. Yeah." The bartender nodded with a bit of a smirk, and he continued down the line.

"That sounded suspiciously like a secret code," Sam said as the bartender placed the beer in front of him.

"Heh." Carl responded, nodding a bit. "Long-running thing, uh..." He took a glance in the other direction, then turned back and whispered to Sam, _{"You play poker?"}

"Every once in a while," Sam replied. "Why?" He took a drink of his beer and looked up at the TV. CNN was on, and it was showing Rafael's interview. Sam wasn't a fan of the pompous asshole, but he sure was good at his job.

_{"Well some of the "parents" like to "buy dinner" for the "kids" when they "come home". Sometimes it's cheap shit, other times... you get the picture."} Sam picked up on the code and smirked.

"I see."

"Heh, yeah." Carl's drink arrived, and he took a sip through his lips. Wherever they were, behind the static. "Bring your kids. It'll be fun." He took a look up at the interview going on and shook his head a bit. "Fuckin' Fiends. This is one big joke."

"Joke's got one hell of a punchline if you ask me," Sam said, looking up at a scene from the attack. "I'll tell you, man, I've fought a lot of pretty powerful metas back in Mendel, but they're nothing like these guys. We need to stomp them out ASAP before more people get hurt."

"I know. Biggest thing for me besides this was a technopath up in Seattle. Dealing with that chickenshit was the worst fucking thing because the NEST branch there is so... thin. At least, the amount of metas available to go on ops." He took another sip and watched the television some more. "At least here there's a suitable force. What is it, one percent meta? Nine-thousand-something? That's fuckin' high."

"Yeah, this city's crawling with them," Sam said. "Thousands. More than Mendel or Black Fall." At that moment, the front door opened and CONDOR walked in from a phone call. He put the phone away in a pocket in his jacket and looked up at Sam.

"Just got off of the phone with EAGLE," CONDOR said. "KINGFISHER is sending reinforcements to help us take down the Fiends."

"Awesome!" Sam replied. "Who are they sending?"

"RAVEN and SUNBIRD," CONDOR replied. "They were going to send more, but there's been a flareup in Vanguard activity." CONDOR sat down to the right of Carl.

"We should be fine. Five KINGFISHER agents is plenty." He looked back up at the TV. More coverage of Verthaven. Sam groaned. "Hey, bartender," he said "can you put the Rangers game on." The bartender nodded and changed the channel on the remote. The Texas Rangers were playing the Baltimore Orioles. It was the start of the second inning, and the Rangers were up by one.

"Fuckin' KINGFISHER." Carl piped up, "Little I heard, sounds like the best branch in NEST."

"Well we have a lot more liberty than most government agencies do," CONDOR said. "We also have the highest rate of death on the job, though. We get sent into all of the nasty places. Mendel, Stadium City, now Verthaven." The bartender walked over to CONDOR. He ordered the special.

"Still, wouldn't mind a shot myself one day. So far it's been too spare around the west coast, but this Fiend thing just came rushin' in." Another sip. "What, uh, would be the status on name availability? Just birds, right?"

"The bird thing was an idea that the boss came up with," Sam said. "Prevents our enemies from finding out our identities if they find any important papers or something. But yeah, it's birds. I'm FALCON, he's CONDOR, the boss is EAGLE, she's NIGHTINGALE," he gestured to Anastasia. "The comm guy is ALBATROSS."

"Ah." Carl replied, "So, uh... if I joined, whaddya think I'd be?" Sam and Condor exchanged glances. Both smirked.

"Definitely KINGFISHER BOOBY." Sam said, trying hard not to laugh.

"Ha-ha, yeah, fuck you too."

---

Veronica Marlowe (Red)

@Maxx

---

The cistern wasn't the largest under the city, but that was for the best. Smaller meant it was easier to patrol and defend. The stagnant little pool in the center wasn't too deep, but it was enough for Red to hold someone down and drown them. The cistern was constructed in a cross formation, with two lower tunnels, one upper tunnel, and the little enclave on the fourth end that housed Veronica. It was never pleasant, and most likely never would be. But the surface, to her, wasn't the better option. She couldn't face people anymore. Too much time spent traveling. Too many close encounters. Too many-

A thud. Came from one of the lower tunnels.

Veronica perked up, looking at Red. The hulking brute turned and headed for the tunnel, not passing the corner. He peeked his head a little out of the way to see that someone had dropped down from one of the above manholes. A sickly man, with a mask. Almost immediately, another man jumped down and joined him. Then four more figures, and two... glassy things.

A sense of fear arose in Veronica, but it was quickly replaced by an intense rage within Red. The brute turned the corner, looking down and over at the group of trespassers, opened its mouth, and roared.

Verthaven: A Bloody Paradise [Completed]

Carl Semken

@Maxx

---

“Yes.” Carl replied to Sam, making his way over to the KINGFISHER’s company. “Corner Reserve right? I’m feelin’ it.”

Carl and Sam weren’t old friends. They’d actually only met a day or so prior, at the headquarters’ firing range. Once they did meet though and got to a long while of chatting, they buddied up pretty quick. They were both meta, they were both Texas born, and they both held an appreciation of conventional firearms, hence their place of meeting. They talked about each other’s powers for a bit, comments passing over between “hey you ever go invisible and check out ladies in high school” and “you ever look at yourself in the mirror and use one of your meme things to get your flow going”.The notion that Sam was the stealthier one was pretty set in stone, Carl taking no interest in attempting to prove his sense of subterfuge. He didn’t even have one.

The two seemed like they got along well. Enough to go out drinking in the same party, at lease. And the Corner Reserve was a long time mainstay of Carl’s life in Verthaven.

---

Veronica Marlowe

---

She’d slept for a while. Veronica slowly awoke, eyes a little watery, neck a little sore. She rotated her shoulder, looking down at her lap to see the undone cloth, sitting there with no little crimson child inside. She shut her eyes a bit, and felt her mind walk away. To a little further down the cistern. To Red.

Red.

Red was the largest child. Red was the strongest and the most durable. Red could fend off passersby in the sewers by roaring at them, and he could kill them with his bare hands. Red was the defender. Red was the protector. Red was near and dear to his mother’s heart. They shared minds. Not that Red had much of one on his own, but still.

As Veronica’s vision left her own eyes and transferred to Red’s, she felt herself standing in the goliath’s body. Her feet in his, walking back through the cistern, peering past the corner and beholding his birthplace. Red knelt down and simply stared at her. Though he possessed the least developed brain amidst Veronica’s children, he still possessed his own little shred of instinct. This was the mother. This was the life giver, time and time again. He knew protecting her was his purpose for which he was birthed. He let her take the reigns over his actions as she desired, and while she was awake, he stood close by on his own. He was the guardian. He was the sentinel. He was the first and last line of defense.

He stood, and turned. He watched the cistern closely, waiting for potential assailants. They both watched, eyes melded, thoughts shared, being contorted. And they waited.

Wizard's Tower (a magic medieval-fantasy RP)

Umbrix

---

The Allmother's Chamber of Confluence was the birthplace of the procedure, where the outcasts and savants of the furthest coils came to...

Umbrix raised his head from the book. Something was in the air. A formless beckoning, it seemed. He closed the book and set it on the table, now covered in a cloth hewn from thin leathers. Ernsk rested in the corner, quivering. Umbrix arose from his chair - one carved from the gnarled trees of Selenwood, which Ernsk had brought along - and stepped towards the door.

He was being guided. By what he deducted was the clairvoyant prince who'd initiated this gathering of mages. Clairvoyance... such a nosy thing. Anyone who didn't possess it never appreciated it. Umbrix was no exception.

Still. Whatever Seadus wanted, Umbrix and whoever else was being called forth would provide. Ignoring the master of the house is just poor manners.

Umbrix walked, half-remembering the route he took.

Wizard's Tower (a magic medieval-fantasy RP)

@SepticGentleman

I see it's coming along nicely. What are you making that picture with? It looks to my filthy and inartistic eye to be colored pencil.

And all day I've been wondering why Umbrix had his abomination crap and throw up all over his room. Does he just enjoy the smell?

@Cyclone

1) PhotoShop.

2) Stench of death. Pleasant for the Fenneca of House Manskr. Helps the work environment.

Wizard's Tower (a magic medieval-fantasy RP)

Getting pretty close to done with Umbrix.

Verthaven: A Bloody Paradise [Completed]

@Savato A limit is a threshold that a power can't reach. A weakness is an exploit used on the character, not their power. Like Carl, his weakness is magnetism.

Wizard's Tower (a magic medieval-fantasy RP)

<Snipped quote by Blackmist16>

<Snipped quote by ArenaSnow>

<Snipped quote by SepticGentleman>

It's coming soon, in about 5 and a half hours, as I said yesterday.

I'm getting into the habit of putting this kinda info in the post directly beneath the OP. It should say the exact time of the meeting.

@Hael

Awesome, 'cause I'm gonna be out for while. Gonna see seafood and eat a movie.

Wizard's Tower (a magic medieval-fantasy RP)

Same.

Verthaven: A Bloody Paradise [Completed]

Carl Semken

---

“This whole city is going to shit.”

There were a few looks from around the room directed at Carl. He had his sleeves rolled up as he leaned on the table, head lowered some. It wasn’t clear if he meant to voice that remark – it really never is with him – or if he was simply not in the mood for professionalism. In truth, it was fifty-fifty. Carl raised his head about, giving an eyeless look around the room. “Well it’s true.” He retorted, turning a hand.

The rest of them turned back to each other and the projection screen while Carl rested his head again. Last night, Verthaven was launched into a goddamn war against the Fiends. Bunch of shirtless psychos with gas masks and tattoos. Yeah they had metas but, for Christs’s Sake, why the gas masks and tattoos? The leader have a Fallout fetish? Hell, that’s what Carl figured. Either that or they’re into some kinky shit. He mulled it over in his head while the rest of the room kept on talking about the situation.

Long Dragon. Sulfur. Big Dong Travis. Burnmark. I swear to God, this is some big joke. Someone’s pulling strings and they think it’s fucking hilarious. It ain’t.

---

Veronica Marlowe

---

All is still.

There are stains of white on the floor.

The cistern is silent, save the slow dripping of filthy waters, and the occasional splash. Veronica sits with her back to a brick wall, clutching two small jars in her hands. One is filled with pale custard, and the other a crimson gelatin. She looks at them both, wondering which to consume. The hour is almost up, and she was not fit for a randomized outcome. She sits there and she wonders.

Her little enclave was doing fairly well on food, but she had reason to believe that would change soon. Through her child, Pale, she’d caught the morning word of the rising action. The Fiends, those disgusting savages, were engaging in what she believed to be a war for control of the city. The thought was horribly unsettling, but not for the usual reasons. She didn’t care what happened topside. She only cared what happened down here, in the sewers. If the violence stirs too much, she won’t be able to get food. She’d starve down here. And what if the Fiends started using the sewers to move around? They’d drive her out, even with Red defending her. It was so worrying, and all she could do was make this decision, right here, right now.

Pale, or Red.

Get food before the turmoil turns Verthaven into ruin, or stay the ground down here and hold out for a while. The thoughts coursed through her head. But Veronica’s time was up. She made the decision. She opened the jar of red and raised it to her lips, tilting her head back and patting the bottom of the jar. She shut her eyes as the viscous fluid and little chunks made their way down her throat. She didn’t stop until all of the jar’s contents were gone. Until she had consumed everything. She slowly lowered the jar, setting both the empty one and the unopened one down on the floor. She ignored the awful taste in her mouth, she’d grown used to it by now. And she felt the rising in her gullet.

She winced, and gagged a little. A pause, and then she leans to her side, head facing downward. Thin streams of red drip from her lips as she begins heaving, a chunk or two falling onto the brick floor. After a moment, a bulge rises from the base of her throat and travels upward. She doesn’t close her eyes as the deliverance exits her mouth, dropping onto the floor.

A little, red, flimsy thing. Half the size of a tennis ball. Could fit in anyone’s palm. It lies there on the floor, tossing a bit, uttering the smallest cries. But it’s brave, and active, just like all the Reds before.

Veronica keeps her head lowered for a moment more before reaching her hand for a cloth, sitting on a little plastic crate. She picks up the infantile being and wraps it gently, holding it in her arms, returning to her seated position. She breathes audibly, but the hardship is over.

Now, all she had to do was wait for it to grow.

Wizard's Tower (a magic medieval-fantasy RP)

JESUS CHRIST 6 PAGES IN 24 HOURS.

@thegreenleafe

WELCOME TO THE TERROR DOME.