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Pariah Online III

_{:: Streets of Thorinn // Thorinn ::}

---

Graves let out a heavy sigh at Rael's being herself.

It wasn't a useless question. Bringing a bunch of bitch-willed chaff into the party would only end in their body count going up; least they could do to quality control recruitment was ask them if they'd be any help to have around. Sorta like a job interview, in a way, if the job had the hazard of ending their miserable little lives in a single misstep. But Andrew had done enough interviews IRLs to tell that Rael was a real shitty interviewer.

'Pff. If they were interested before they sure as hell aren't now.'

The answers the three of them gave didn't exactly inspire confidence in Graves. Zero was...eccentric, but claimed to be experienced. Whether or not that was true didn't matter much, as his magic would do well to round out the party after the loss of their last sorceress.

Alex was somehow less impressive, claiming his brother, not he, was good at the game. It was hard to pass up on a ranger given the damage they could do from afar, something the party was sorely lacking in right now. And there was some merit to the idea that he'd be able to just run away if things got too sticky.

Lastly came Eo-

Eau-

Eaudenil? Pelerine. Pelerine just seemed nervous. Crowd control was something Tessa already did well, and ordinarily he'd want a dedicated healer in her place, but these weren't exactly ordinary times. The dungeon's fights had been chaotic, with enemies coming at them in waves from every side more often than not. CC was a hell of a lot more useful now than ever before, so she wasn't an entirely unwelcome addition.

'None of 'em were scared off by Rael...not sure if that's a good or a bad thing.' Graves thought to himself, a contemplative hand resting on his chin.

"Yeah...Test run ain't a bad idea." He mumbled in agreement. Wasn't the best team he'd ever built. Whether or not it was the worst was debatable. There were at least a couple of them he knew he could rely on to watch his back if push came to shove. Maybe the rest of 'em would prove themselves trustworthy, too, when all was said and done. "We'll be startin' off small anyhow. If it turns out any of ya aren't up to this, least ya won't end up dead."

Probably, anyway.

Graves let his hands fall down to rest on his belt, shooting Rael a scornful glare as he transitioned into explaining his- Tessa's, really, but he was taking credit- proposition. He briefly looked in her direction before beginning his spiel, copying some of the things she'd told him earlier. "Well as all of you've probably noticed, Thorinn's packed to shit with people and more of 'em keep streaming in every day. People are scared'a even low-level monsters now and won't risk so much as leaving. Demand for defensive items n' enchantments are at an all time high, n' since nobody's leaving to hunt monsters and crawl through dungeons, supply is dwindling, too."

"We're gonna take advantage of that. Head out into the wilds, find ourselves some low level mobs and encounters, n' get Tessa the supplies she needs to make her own enchantments. She'll sell 'em high, we'll split the cash among all'a us, and we'll make a killing. We'll make more than enough to live comfortably while we wait this bug out. Its safe enough, n' its better than sitting around here until we're all too poor to afford a piece of bread n' start to starve."

#StillNotBitten [Invite Only]

---

_{Location: Rushford, Ohio -- Jenkins' Diner}

Date: May 15th, 2019

---

Cass's expression contorted into an anxious grimace at the ranger's answer. They had next to no time left before they had to get outta dodge and they still weren't ready to go- there was still talk of what all they should be grabbing and what could be safely ignored. Thinking about the clock ticking down while she watched them go back and forth made Montoya's palms itch. Maybe she'd noticed it, or maybe Cass had just gotten lucky, but Karen decided to not-so-subtly ask Cassidy to check for ways out of the diner that didn't involve plunging through the front door's barricade and into the swarm of shambling dead just outside.

"Yeah, I'll go check it out." She agreed with a curt nod, bouncing on passed the others as she moved deeper into the restaurant.

The place wasn't exactly in tip-top condition, probably hadn't been even before the apocalypse. The wallpaper was torn in places in the back and nobody had bothered to replace it, the wood flooring was scratched and stained with grease, and shelves of cardboard boxes filled with stale food lined the hallways. The kitchen wasn't big, only barely leaving enough room for two people to pass by one another in the pathways between the stoves and counters.

Just in the back corner, next to the broom closet, was the appropriately marked emergency exit. She felt her heart sank when she got close enough to read the small, red sign beside it:

EMERGENCY EXIT ONLY
ALARM WILL SOUND

"Shit." She snarled under her breath. "So much for sneaking away."

After swallowing down a moment's panic and collecting herself, she began to look around the room for anything else of note. There didn't appear to be any other doors aside from this one and the one in the front, but there were a few windows. All of 'em were small, ancient looking things- at least the ones that opened- and there was no way they'd be fitting the big guy through any of them. But there was one that gave her a partial view of the back of the diner. Not enough to scope the whole area out, but maybe it'd be enough.

She climbed atop a metal countertop to get at it. The thing was so old that no amount of tugging with her hands was going to get it to open normally, so she slid her crowbar out from her backpack and held it tight in her fists. It took a bit of fiddling, but she managed to get the tip of it underneath the window and knocked it loose, doing her utmost not to make a racket as she did.

'Here's hopin' one of those things isn't just waitin' right outside. Ha. Wouldn't that be a stupid way to go out?'

Once Cassidy had it open, she popped her head out to get a good look at their only escape route.

Superboy's Shitty Characters

---

_{Location: Rushford, Ohio -- Jenkins' Diner}

Date: May 15th, 2019

---

Cass's expression contorted into an anxious grimace at the ranger's answer. They had next to no time left before they had to get outta dodge and they still weren't ready to go- there was still talk of what all they should be grabbing and what could be safely ignored. Thinking about the clock ticking down while she watched them go back and forth made Montoya's palms itch. Maybe she'd noticed it, or maybe Cass had just gotten lucky, but Karen decided to not-so-subtly ask Cassidy to check for ways out of the diner that didn't involve plunging through the front door's barricade and into the swarm of shambling dead just outside.

"Yeah, I'll go check it out." She agreed with a curt nod, bouncing on passed the others as she moved deeper into the restaurant.

The place wasn't exactly in tip-top condition, probably hadn't been even before the apocalypse. The wallpaper was torn in places in the back and nobody had bothered to replace it, the wood flooring was scratched and stained with grease, and shelves of cardboard boxes filled with stale food lined the hallways. The kitchen wasn't big, only barely leaving enough room for two people to pass by one another in the pathways between the stoves and counters.

Just in the back corner, next to the broom closet, was the appropriately marked emergency exit. She felt her heart sank when she got close enough to read the small, red sign beside it:

EMERGENCY EXIT ONLY
ALARM WILL SOUND

"Shit." She snarled under her breath. "So much for sneaking away."

After swallowing down a moment's panic and collecting herself, she began to look around the room for anything else of note. There didn't appear to be any other doors aside from this one and the one in the front, but there were a few windows. All of 'em were small, ancient looking things- at least the ones that opened- and there was no way they'd be fitting the big guy through any of them. But there was one that gave her a partial view of the back of the diner. Not enough to scope the whole area out, but maybe it'd be enough.

She climbed atop a metal countertop to get at it. The thing was so old that no amount of tugging with her hands was going to get it to open normally, so she slid her crowbar out from her backpack and held it tight in her fists. It took a bit of fiddling, but she managed to get the tip of it underneath the window and knocked it loose, doing her utmost not to make a racket as she did.

'Here's hopin' one of those things isn't just waitin' right outside. Ha. Wouldn't that be a stupid way to go out?'

Once Cassidy had it open, she popped her head out to get a good look at their only escape route.

Titans: A DC Comics Roleplay

---

_{Location: New York City, New York -- City Streets}

---

Superboy had never been in a fight before.

He'd seen them before, of course, when Kara and Kal-El would spare in the Fortress of Solitude, or when Kelex would let Kon watch old news footage of Superman throwing down with his many enemies. He knew what a punch looked like, and he'd figured out how to make his hand into a fist. But he'd never thrown one before. Never been hit by one before, either. The concept of pain was itself alien to him until this lizard-breathed giant decided to introduce it to him.

'Gotta say, I don't much like it.' Kon grumbled to himself as he peeled his body out of the concrete wall he'd just been thrown into, the Kryptonian-shaped hole crumbling behind him as his boots hit the ground. Slicks of dried blood ran down his lip, and a thin layer of rock dust had infested his mess of black hair.

Conner Kent, as he'd been come to be known on the Kent farm, cut an impressive figure for his age. He stood just a hair short of six feet tall and was built like an ox, arms thick as tree trunks and shoulders that could carry a full-sized tractor on a bad day. Big as the boy was, he looked like an ant standing face-to-face with the invader. It was absolutely enormous, and the hail of punches it'd just thrown at Kon evidenced the fact that all that muscle wasn't just for show.

"That all ya got, pal?!" Kon shouted, a cocky grin dominating his face even as he launched himself at the creature for the second time. The ground shook with the force of his leap, and he flew with such speed that he was right on top of the monster before it had a chance to use that laser again. Kon narrowed his eyes and clenched his fist, picturing in his head every newsreel fight he'd ever watched just as he fired off a punch into the alien's jaw. Armored scales gave a sickening crunch, bending and snapping under the force of the blow. Sickly-colored blood stuck to Kon's knuckles like glue. There was a moment's elation as he thought he saw the alien fall.

It caught itself on its back foot, however, and turned toward the little humanoid with hate-engorged eyes. Clutching its warspear in hands the size of basketballs, it gave a mighty swing toward Kon's skull. The weapon sang as it cut through the air, moving with inhuman speed. Quick, anxious flew in front of his face to adsorb the blow, the blade just narrowly failing to pierce Kon's flesh.

Pulling back, the alien launched another two strikes at Kon, one aimed to pour his guts all over the concrete and the second to knock him to the floor. Kon managed to jump back and avoid the former, but the former caught the back of his leg and he found himself on his back before he realized what had happened.

The creature roared triumphantly in its mother tongue, lifting the spear high into the air, preparing to finish off its opponent so it could return to capturing the girl.

Superboy didn't give it the chance. With clumsy, violent speed he flung himself from his back at the alien, his head colliding with its armored chest with the force of a rolling freight train. The two of them entered the air, briefly, flying across the street until they'd landed in the parking lot on the opposite side. Kon skidded for a couple of yards on the asphalt while his much heavier enemy just sort of sunk into it, like a boulder falling into a pond. People in the nearby shopping center screamed bloody murder at the sight of them, apparently having hoped that the conflict wouldn't come toward them and that they'd be able to hide it out there. They scattered in every direction as the two super-powered beings dragged themselves to their feet.

"Damn...Now I know why nobody else does that." Conner groaned, a hand clutching his thumping skull. Hurt as he was, though, Superboy could tell he'd hurt the other guy more than himself. It was struggling to get back to its feet, even going so far as to use the end of its spear to help push its great mass off of the broken ground.

Seeing an opportunity to end this, Conner charged. "How 'bout you just stay down this time?!" He roared, punching the alien's cheek hard enough to send its head crashing through the roof of a car parked just beside it. Conner grabbed it by the arm and tore it from the vehicle's interior, tossing the lizard brain into the body of another, larger vehicle. Metal bent, tires popped and glass shattered under the impact. It didn't have the strength left to get back up.

There wasn't any time to waste celebrating his first won fight, much as he'd like to do so. That girl was still in trouble, n' all those innocent people could be caught in the crossfire- he shouldn't have let himself be carried away from the main fight by just one of these things. Conner dug his heels in and bent at the knees, jumping into the air with the force of a small explosion. Dust, debris and rock were scattered in all directions as he took to the sky. He wasn't up there for long, maybe a couple'a seconds in total, but it was long enough for him to spot out the rest of the lizardmen. The biggest one was in the process of getting itself blasted across the road by the alien girl, who looked much worse for wear than when Conner last saw her- he felt a pang of guilt for leavin' her alone out there, outnumbered n' surrounded.

Yet he could see she wasn't all that alone after all.

He landed, caught his breath for a second and then sent himself up again. This time he focused on the newest fighter, trying to get a read on him. He was more slender and agile than Kon, by the looks of him, but obviously still built, and he was a shade less pale than Conner and covered in strange, glowing tattoos. Whoever he was, he was clearly on the right side of things, seein' as how he much lizard ass he was managing to kick on his own. He wa skilled, obviously, n' he had some kinda power to control water. But he was also horribly outnumbered by a bunch'a the giants, and even just one of them had given Kon trouble. They had him pinned behind some concrete for a second, but he used his powers to knock a light pole down on top of 'em to send the pack scattering long enough to get into their midst.

Kon lost sight of them again, but he was just a single street over now. This last leap would take him soaring over a line of apartment buildings and into the midst of the fight. Taking to the air, Superboy could see now that their mysterious ally had managed to take down two of squad on his own, but the other half had caught him out with a laser blast. He'd been brought to his knees and they were just about to put an end to him.

'Not on my watch.'

He flew in like a missile, crashing directly into the back of one alien and sending his buddy reeling in surprise. Kon clumsily stumbled off the first, plucking a chunk of rebar and broken concrete off the street as he got to his feet. He reeled it back behind his head and chucked it like it a baseball, sending the object rocketing toward the second alien with the speed of a bullet. It exploded across the creature's face, knocking it onto its rear out of sheer dizziness.

Conner turned around and offered a hand to the other, intervening hero, conscious of the fact that some'a the guys they just knocked down were starting to get back up. "Thought you could use a hand." There were a lot of aliens, and they packed a hellofa punch, but maybe together the good guys stood a chance at winning this thing.

Superboy's Shitty Characters

---

_{Location: New York City, New York -- City Streets}

---

Superboy had never been in a fight before.

He'd seen them before, of course, when Kara and Kal-El would spare in the Fortress of Solitude, or when Kelex would let Kon watch old news footage of Superman throwing down with his many enemies. He knew what a punch looked like, and he'd figured out how to make his hand into a fist. But he'd never thrown one before. Never been hit by one before, either. The concept of pain was itself alien to him until this lizard-breathed giant decided to introduce it to him.

'Gotta say, I don't much like it.' Kon grumbled to himself as he peeled his body out of the concrete wall he'd just been thrown into, the Kryptonian-shaped hole crumbling behind him as his boots hit the ground. Slicks of dried blood ran down his lip, and a thin layer of rock dust had infested his mess of black hair.

Conner Kent, as he'd been come to be known on the Kent farm, cut an impressive figure for his age. He stood just a hair short of six feet tall and was built like an ox, arms thick as tree trunks and shoulders that could carry a full-sized tractor on a bad day. Big as the boy was, he looked like an ant standing face-to-face with the invader. It was absolutely enormous, and the hail of punches it'd just thrown at Kon evidenced the fact that all that muscle wasn't just for show.

"That all ya got, pal?!" Kon shouted, a cocky grin dominating his face even as he launched himself at the creature for the second time. The ground shook with the force of his leap, and he flew with such speed that he was right on top of the monster before it had a chance to use that laser again. Kon narrowed his eyes and clenched his fist, picturing in his head every newsreel fight he'd ever watched just as he fired off a punch into the alien's jaw. Armored scales gave a sickening crunch, bending and snapping under the force of the blow. Sickly-colored blood stuck to Kon's knuckles like glue. There was a moment's elation as he thought he saw the alien fall.

It caught itself on its back foot, however, and turned toward the little humanoid with hate-engorged eyes. Clutching its warspear in hands the size of basketballs, it gave a mighty swing toward Kon's skull. The weapon sang as it cut through the air, moving with inhuman speed. Quick, anxious flew in front of his face to adsorb the blow, the blade just narrowly failing to pierce Kon's flesh.

Pulling back, the alien launched another two strikes at Kon, one aimed to pour his guts all over the concrete and the second to knock him to the floor. Kon managed to jump back and avoid the former, but the former caught the back of his leg and he found himself on his back before he realized what had happened.

The creature roared triumphantly in its mother tongue, lifting the spear high into the air, preparing to finish off its opponent so it could return to capturing the girl.

Superboy didn't give it the chance. With clumsy, violent speed he flung himself from his back at the alien, his head colliding with its armored chest with the force of a rolling freight train. The two of them entered the air, briefly, flying across the street until they'd landed in the parking lot on the opposite side. Kon skidded for a couple of yards on the asphalt while his much heavier enemy just sort of sunk into it, like a boulder falling into a pond. People in the nearby shopping center screamed bloody murder at the sight of them, apparently having hoped that the conflict wouldn't come toward them and that they'd be able to hide it out there. They scattered in every direction as the two super-powered beings dragged themselves to their feet.

"Damn...Now I know why nobody else does that." Conner groaned, a hand clutching his thumping skull. Hurt as he was, though, Superboy could tell he'd hurt the other guy more than himself. It was struggling to get back to its feet, even going so far as to use the end of its spear to help push its great mass off of the broken ground.

Seeing an opportunity to end this, Conner charged. "How 'bout you just stay down this time?!" He roared, punching the alien's cheek hard enough to send its head crashing through the roof of a car parked just beside it. Conner grabbed it by the arm and tore it from the vehicle's interior, tossing the lizard brain into the body of another, larger vehicle. Metal bent, tires popped and glass shattered under the impact. It didn't have the strength left to get back up.

There wasn't any time to waste celebrating his first won fight, much as he'd like to do so. That girl was still in trouble, n' all those innocent people could be caught in the crossfire- he shouldn't have let himself be carried away from the main fight by just one of these things. Conner dug his heels in and bent at the knees, jumping into the air with the force of a small explosion. Dust, debris and rock were scattered in all directions as he took to the sky. He wasn't up there for long, maybe a couple'a seconds in total, but it was long enough for him to spot out the rest of the lizardmen. The biggest one was in the process of getting itself blasted across the road by the alien girl, who looked much worse for wear than when Conner last saw her- he felt a pang of guilt for leavin' her alone out there, outnumbered n' surrounded.

Yet he could see she wasn't all that alone after all.

He landed, caught his breath for a second and then sent himself up again. This time he focused on the newest fighter, trying to get a read on him. He was more slender and agile than Kon, by the looks of him, but obviously still built, and he was a shade less pale than Conner and covered in strange, glowing tattoos. Whoever he was, he was clearly on the right side of things, seein' as how he much lizard ass he was managing to kick on his own. He wa skilled, obviously, n' he had some kinda power to control water. But he was also horribly outnumbered by a bunch'a the giants, and even just one of them had given Kon trouble. They had him pinned behind some concrete for a second, but he used his powers to knock a light pole down on top of 'em to send the pack scattering long enough to get into their midst.

Kon lost sight of them again, but he was just a single street over now. This last leap would take him soaring over a line of apartment buildings and into the midst of the fight. Taking to the air, Superboy could see now that their mysterious ally had managed to take down two of squad on his own, but the other half had caught him out with a laser blast. He'd been brought to his knees and they were just about to put an end to him.

'Not on my watch.'

He flew in like a missile, crashing directly into the back of one alien and sending his buddy reeling in surprise. Kon clumsily stumbled off the first, plucking a chunk of rebar and broken concrete off the street as he got to his feet. He reeled it back behind his head and chucked it like it a baseball, sending the object rocketing toward the second alien with the speed of a bullet. It exploded across the creature's face, knocking it onto its rear out of sheer dizziness.

Conner turned around and offered a hand to the other, intervening hero, conscious of the fact that some'a the guys they just knocked down were starting to get back up. "Thought you could use a hand. The name's Superboy, n' I'm here'ta help." There were a lot of these things, and they packed a hellofa punch, but maybe together they'd stand a chance.

Pariah Online III

_{:: Streets of Thorinn // Thorinn ::}

---

"Look who finally decided to show back up." Graves spun around on his heel, his annoyance plain to see. The last thing he'd been looking to do when he dragged his hungover ass out of bed was to stumble around the city streets, asking random strangers where one of his party members had run off to- it taking so long was just the shit icing on top of an already shitty cake.

He looked back at the motley crew they'd acquired by sheer coincidence, shrugging his shoulders at her 'some extras' comment. "Might be we can get some use outta them." He lowered his voice somewhat, glancing at the passersby as if they could be planning to steal his brilliant plan. "Tess n' I might'a come up with a way to feed ourselves 'till the game's fixed. Was mostly my idea, but she helped too. And before you so rudely decided to run off, we were 'bout to tell ya."

He'd been mulling it over since leaving the tavern, but the more he thought on it the more he realized Tessa was right. They'd been stuck in Pariah Online for over a week now without any word from the dev team. Whatever was going on in the real world, he couldn't guess, but he knew they couldn't keep to a holding pattern forever. Eventually their reward money from the first dungeon would run out, and they wouldn't have any means to sustain themselves. The whole...'risking going brain-dead thing' wasn't great, but starving to death in a video game sounded equally shit to him.

Graves spun around and began to speak louder, addressing the whole band of brigands. "How'd you all feel 'bout joinin' in on a business venture?"

Titans: A DC Comics Roleplay

---

_{Location: New York City, New York -- City Streets}

---

A tiny black dot appeared in the smoke-choked sky, beginning its rapid approach toward the embattled street. A high pitched whistling followed behind the missile as it began to grow and morph the closer it drew. What was once a dot became a basketball, then a beach ball, and continued to balloon until limbs were furling off of it and the whistle had become a deafening roar.

Not a moment later it slammed into the asphalt with an ear-splitting crack, sending debris spraying in all directions. Bits of concrete and dirt fell from the air like drops of rain. A figure rose out of the newly formed crater, steam obscuring much of his form. All that was really visible was the object fluttering behind him in the wind and the bright red S on his chest.

Kon-El tripped as he tried to climb out of his self-made hole, the tattered remains of his jacket clinging to his shoulders and back. 'Wind resistant, huh? Yeah right.' He let out an annoyed huff, tearing the material off of him and letting it fall into the dust as he clambered back to his feet. He took a moment to shake off the failed landing and surveyed the chaos before him, doing his best to ignore the overwhelming stimuli assaulting his senses.

A building was on fire, lit up by a dozen chemical accelerants, all of 'em with their own unique, terrible scent that he couldn't place. Cars, trucks and a passenger bus were scattered across the roadway, likely tossed by whatever explosion had destroyed that building and set its ruins ablaze. There were people, too. Some hurt, some dead, the rest in various stages of panic.

Then there were the aliens.

Reptilians of some kind. Giant, lipless lizards with bodies like gorillas and eyes burning with otherworldly hate. They towered over Kon and were covered in armored scales that could stop bullets like a brick wall stops a breeze. Those spears they carried- or staves, maybe- were firing beams of energy of some kind. Nasty things, whatever they were, and they looked like they were doing a number on the girl. The...orange-skinned girl.

"I'm gonna guess ya'll aren't from around here!" The Kryptonian boy boomed as he started toward the fight at a walk. "So consider this your one and only chance to get outta here before I-"

Something hit his chest. Hard.

He felt his feet leave the ground, then his back hit it once, twice, and again before he finally came to a skidding halt against an overturned semi-truck.

"Ouch." Kon-El muttered, rubbing the back of his head where it had dented the truck's undercarriage behind him. He noticed the reptile standing over him just long enough to flinch before it wrapped its gargantuan claws around his neck and lifted him into the air.

His feet were dangling underneath him. In the distance, just behind the monster's head, he could see the alien girl continuing her desperate fight against the mass of reptiles. There had to be eight of 'em, at least. A tiny sliver of blood traced its way down from Conner's nose, and, despite himself, he grinned. "Have it your way."

Rogue Continuum [CLOSED PENDING REBOOT]

Time didn't exist in places like this- that was the first thing Norman Osborn had learned in SHIELD's rehabilitation facility. Without clocks or a window to watch the sun cross the sky, it became increasingly difficult to track the days. Counting out the hours as he sat in his cell had worked, for a time, but after about the sixteenth day it all started to blend together. After that it was all a guessing game, really. By his estimation it'd been anywhere from a month to three, though for all he knew things like space and time operated differently here.

Wherever the hell here actually was, Osborn assumed he'd never know.

Somewhere in deep space was his first guess. The aliens in the crowd and the presence of impossibly advanced technology pointed to that fact. Yet, for some reason, nearly all of his captors appeared to be human. The Skrulls were more than capable of stealing a man's face, but this...this wasn't them. He couldn't be sure why, but he knew in his gut that this was different. This was something worse.

Thoughts of escape came and went on occasion. Those moments after a particularly successful day in the arena offered him hope enough to try and formulate some sort of plan. He'd spend days on each one, crafting them with the meticulous eye for detail he'd developed over the decades. Trying to track guards. Looking for even the smallest imperfections in his cell, or that damned, chaffing collar. He never found one. This place was flawless, designed with the utmost care by someone who very clearly knew what they were doing.

Mojo.

There was some tiny, twisted part of him that could appreciate the death games for what they were- enjoy them, even. It was that shard of violent delights that Norman could never seem to truly shake. It visited him, sometimes, when the despair set in. Did it know when Norman was most vulnerable? Or was it always there, and he only ever noticed it when he was at his lowest? It didn't matter. Even if he was damned to spend eternity in these halls, Osborn wouldn't indulge it. He couldn't, not so long as there remained even the tiniest sliver of a chance that he'd be free one day.

And there was always going to be that chance: because he was Norman Osborn. And Norman Osborn doesn't lose. He'd find his way out of here, eventually. Somehow. He was the greatest mind mankind had to offer, and he'd be damned if some alien freak was the one that conquered him. He had too much to accomplish to fail here. Failure was simply not an option.

The guard finally came for him, as it always did. Sometimes he wondered if it was always the same guard that came for him, or if they all shared that same, expressionless face. He'd tried asking it, once, but it hadn't much appreciated the question, so he hadn't bothered asking it anything else. He went through the painstaking process of dragging himself from his cot for the...sixth time, if he's been counting correctly, and allowed himself to be led down the twisting, dark halls of this strange prison.

Something changed along the way. They went down a new path, one Osborn didn't recognize. He became far more alert as they went, taking in all of the new information as he tried to understand why they'd taken a new direction. Part of him was curious, another part glad to have the monotony broken up, and still yet another that was afraid of what might await him.

It never showed. Norman always walked in long, confident strides, his head held high and his eyes as sharp as iron. Even without his armor to protect his aging body, the man had an aura of confidence about him so powerful and intoxicating that made him look nearly invincible. He couldn't rightly remember a time in his life when he didn't walk like this, only that he'd learned to perfect it when he rose to become one of America's premier arms dealers and businessmen.

A light appeared at the end of another hallway, temporarily blinding him as he was led straight into it. It took several moments for his eyes to adjust to it before he was able to see this new room he'd been brought to. It was far larger than anything he'd seen outside of the arena thus far, and filled with something else he hadn't expected to ever see again.

People.

Other prisoners, like him, if the collars were anything to go by- the first real proof he wasn't alone here. There were two of them, each led by a guard much like the one beside him and each utterly silent. The first was...a boy. A young one, perhaps twelve or thirteen, if he had to guess. He looked rather frightened to be there, and quite out of place. Osborn had only survived through the games by the skin of his teeth, burning through ammo and power far faster than he would like. For a child to make it through all that...?

Norman wasn't oft a man of sympathy, and his respect was hard-earned, but something told him an exception could be made for this odd little thing.

The other didn't get much more than a disdainful glare from him, however. An alien of unknown origin, towering above him and the guards. With skin like alabaster, eyes of pupil-less crimson, and a monstrously shaped skull, its appearance was bizarre and off-putting. Norman had stood against many of their kind before, but this one in particular felt wrong. He couldn't place it, but there was something about the way it looked at him that made his stomach churn in nervous discomfort.

He turned away from it and allowed himself to be escorted toward one of the chairs scattered about the room, remaining silent, as he knew well what the consequences for speaking up would be. Still, even as he fell into the seat, his mind raced to find potential answers to the countless questions all of this had raised. This was something new, unprecedented. A change in routine that could mean salvation; or, perhaps, a permanent sealing of his fate.

Osborn looked a madman as he leaned forward, his elbows resting on his knees as he stared at the boy and the alien. Absorbing information through calculating yet none-too-stable eyes. Unkempt and grease-slicked auburn hair touched the bottoms of his ears, a sharp widow's peak and a few flecks of grey defining his age. Patches of hair had been stuck to his face, loosely connected by far thinner bits- it was rather obvious it didn't belong on his face. He'd be rid of it, sooner or later. Once he found his way out of here.

'...And perhaps these two will play some part in that.'

#StillNotBitten [Invite Only]

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_{Location: Rushford, Ohio -- Jenkins' Diner}

Date: May 15th, 2019

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Cassidy Montoya was growing restless. Ever since the start of the apocalypse she'd developed a routine to ensure her own survival: daytime was spent either scavenging for supplies or staying on the move, trying to make her way out of town. Nighttime, when the Dead were obscured by the dark, was when she'd hunker down and get a few hours' rest. It was draining, of course, but Cass figured it was her best chance at staying alive.

Ever since she'd wrapped herself with these other survivors, though, things had changed.

They didn't travel for as long as she would've liked. Took a little too long whenever they stopped to scavenge. Spent too much time resting or strategizing. It made her anxious. Every second they spent sitting around in this diner felt like a risk. What happened when that broadcast ended and the dead descended on them? There were too many to fight off, and the building didn't have enough exits for Cass's liking- if those things managed to surround the group before they could scamper away, they'd be royally fucked.

There were strength in numbers, but...why'd she get stuck with these guys?

"How much longer do we got before that broadcast ends?" She spoke up suddenly, turning to look up at Karen as she started to make her way toward the kitchen. Cass had collapsed up against the diner's far wall when they first arrived, setting her overstuffed bag down beside her so she could use it as a makeshift pillow. Now that they were talking about actually picking through the supplies and moving out, though, Montoya was quick to get back to her feet.

"I don't like the idea of waitin' another hour fer the next one 'fore we get outta here. There's way too many'a those things right outside to risk it."

She glanced briefly at the other members of their little troupe, trying to calculate how the four of them would do if they ended up cornered. All of 'em were armed to some level, and at least appeared to be healthy and active; neither of those would matter much if they didn't have the stomach for a fight with, y'know, the living dead. Not that Montoya could really blame 'em or anything. She was still having trouble accepting that this wasn't a fucked up fever dream or a trip gone horribly wrong.

Sooner we get to that camp the better. We'll be able to wait this shitstorm out there, n' maybe...maybe Riley'll have made it out there too.

#StillNotBitten [Invite Only]

Gonna get a post up today, sorry for the wait duderinos.