Zombehs

—(••[ 𝕎𝕀𝕊ℍ𝔼𝔸𝕋𝔼ℝ ]••)—

Gregory Irving

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He supposed he was fortunate in a manner. Unlike Brent who had to head off in his own for some time from the rest of the support group, his position was pretty much along the way the offensive supporters had to take. Ducking out of the group when he was close enough without a word, he stepped into the movie theater as quietly as he could and looked around at the lobby.

It wasn’t exactly a pretty sight. While not torn apart and warzone-like, he could see it hadn’t gone missed by the clockworks and paled a bit at the sight of red streaks marring the marble tiles. Yeah, he didn’t want to spend a lot of time here. Investigating for survivors wasn’t his task anyways, and he didn’t want to go wandering about in the building by himself anyways. Get to the rooftop as quickly and quietly as he could, and maybe there would be something he might be able to do. Probably not though.

Tiptoeing his way up the stairs, Gregory couldn’t help but look around constantly. Some lights had all been destroyed, while others flickered and lent the building an ominous atmosphere. If only he had Brent’s power and a hearing aid. Maybe he’d be able to hear more than the hammering of his heart. Fingers drummed against the side of the pepper spray can while he flicked out and then collapsed the baton in his other.

Thankfully nothing jumped him as he ascended to the theater’s rooftop, and Gregory peeked out to make sure that was also clear. The flyers off in the distance made him a bit wary to step outside immediately though and he stepped away from the doorway to glance back down the stairs. There were windows down below that’d give him just as good a view of the area, but did he really want to poke around and just hope he didn’t run into a construct that decided to hang around? On the other hand, he also didn’t really want to be out in the open rooftop where the flyers would be able to spot him pretty handily and chase him down.

Hm… it took a few moments before Gregory decided to tie up an escape rope at the rooftop before exploring the floor beneath. At least that way he had something to bolt towards other than the ground entrance if he did run into something hostile. Leaving the bundle coiled up so nothing on the ground came to investigate the dangling rope, he made his way back down the stairs.

—(••[ 𝕎𝕀𝕊ℍ𝔼𝔸𝕋𝔼ℝ ]••)—

Gregory Irving

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“Ah shit.” Sniffing a bit as he returned to the dormitories, Gregory picked his pace up to a run as armed guards entered the building some hundred meters away. Course he didn’t know if they were here for him, but he wanted a chance to get out of the partially soaked clothes if they were. By the time he reached the doors, the light on his cuff had already started to blink and two stony expressions greeted him when he stepped inside. Ignoring the water that flowed and dripped off his jacket, they didn’t spare more than a glance and then a, “Wait here,” before silence resettled.

Their escorts didn’t seem to care if he looked around as long as he kept pace, and there was still much of the school he hadn’t seen yet. His looking around didn’t stop until they had all wound up in what looked like a control room or something, and he was nudged into a seat. The Commander’s voice proved to be equally distracting though.

As the hour finally came to an end, Gregory blinked a few times as he processed and went over all the information that the briefing included. Well they didn’t seem to want him dead at the least. Still… the idea of suppression was laughable, and he was pretty sure the Commander hadn’t missed his snort when his name came up. Well, hopefully the others would be fine while he kept out of the way.

Five mile retreat though? Well hopefully the base was next to a paved road then, or the order never came. Prodded out of the room by the guards once more, he glanced around the dining hall and then towards the umbrella in hand. Tapping the end of it against the floor, Gregory looked towards a nearby clock and then shrugged. Who cared if you’d get fat eating before you slept? He might be dead by the time dinner hours rolled around…

Get some food in him, grab another few hours of sleep, and then head on over to GZ to make sure his aim was still only describable as atrocious? Sounded like a plan. Not a great or even good one, but it was a course of action at the least.

He moved through the meal line quickly, forgoing hot foods for stuff that didn’t have lines. Cereal, the dairy fridge, fruit bar, and so on. Eating was done in a similar fashion, and he was out of the hall with umbrella in hand before everything had a chance to fully settle in his stomach. Uncomfortable damp clothes and a cozy bed were a fine motivator to do so after all.

—(••[ 𝕎𝕀𝕊ℍ𝔼𝔸𝕋𝔼ℝ ]••)—

Gregory Irving

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Sitting atop the tranquil surface, Gregory’s surprise faded quickly as he stared down towards the endless depths below him. The still waters inspired a certain sense of calm, but the darkness brewed apprehension. Yet for all that, he seemed to be a prisoner of this scene; observing but otherwise unable to move. And staring into the abyss, he couldn’t help but feel that something stared back.

A small piece broke away from the depths. Miniscule, but nonetheless seen within the otherwise clear waters. It rose at a slow leisurely pace towards him, and he could do nothing but watch as what felt like minutes dragged on through its rise. Ice crept through his veins when the fragment finally touched Gregory as it granted him motion rather than freezing him in place.

Such a violent recoil only served to make him woozy though, and the world seemed to spin even as the water’s surface remained serene.

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The room he woke up in was familiar enough that Gregory recognized it as one in the security outpost after a few blinks. His hand slapped lazily at a reformed cheek, and he couldn’t help but roll his jaws a few times. He rolled over in the cot to confirm that, yes, he wasn’t alone in a room and it seemed like the other participants had been crammed in here.

‘Fantastic…’ Dry, unvoiced thoughts aside, Gregory pushed himself to sit up and frowned a bit as he reached out to rub at his legs to deal with the numbness. A few stunted wiggles of his toes brought a scowl to his face as he continued to massage his legs, hoping to return sensation to them. It was something to distract from his thoughts at the least as the pins and needles did a great job at cutting through them.

Q - FLUX

Fuck. The slums? Of all the times his helmet had to be ruined… His shades glinted with every light he raced past and hair blew wildly without a helmet to keep it in place. A few mutters had his phone send out another mass text as he tried to figure out what route the the van might have taken. “Where’s the van? Need to stash my bike.” Thankfully one of them got back to him before he spent too long driving in circles, even if he had to kick the bike into a u-turn to head the right way.

Even a few layers above the slums, it was easy to notice the shift as he drove lower and lower. The faint stench in the air, the worsening road conditions, and just a general lack of maintenance. He rolled up to the parked van without much fanfare, at least compared to the medical heli that took off just moments before he arrived. A quick glance at the members that remained helped him narrow down who could have possibly needed an evac. “Shit. Guess that was Zer0?”

He ran a gloved hand through his hair as he turned off the bike, and unclipped his phone from it with a sigh. “Any of you know if Blitz and End are off doing their own thing?”

Edged Horizon

Roused by the Beast’s footfalls, Jacque shook his head to clear the haze that lingered after the monster’s great roar. From the current commotion, it seemed that the Rift Beast was moving further from them and at no slow pace. “Ambroise! Start chanting. Hector, Notia. Run th-” Before he could finish, the sky grew bright from the magical array that formed above the forest. His eyes widened briefly in surprise, but Gods of War were not an uncommon sight in the capital. Still… the presence of one should make their task much easier.

“Right. Support that God of War!” With that said, Jacque crouched and then leapt up to clear the treeline. He might have gawked a bit as Rift Beast and God of War struggled against one another, but the astonishment took backseat to fulfilling his duty. One made easier now that the Rift Beast had been forced to stop, even if it was just for a moment.

Snapping the two segments together, he grasped the Talentium staff and twisted his entire body into the throw as he reached the apex of his jump. His body threatened to rip itself apart as he pushed it past its limits, but his magic held everything together best it could and repaired what it couldn’t. Any sound he might have made was drowned out by the boom as his projectile, a blur of gray at its speed, tore through the air towards the Beast’s torso. He dropped back beneath the treeline before he could see the results, but it wouldn’t be long until he’d see for himself.

Spitting out a globule of blood as he drew Krisil from its sheath, Jacque looked towards the others with a nod before he darted forward. Even if the God of War could handle the monster, he could not stomach the thought of simply watching someone else fight. Much less when Evloga was, hopefully at the least, buried in the creature’s back.

—(••[ 𝕎𝕀𝕊ℍ𝔼𝔸𝕋𝔼ℝ ]••)—

Oh right. Double weight limit and path length. Bigger glow to notice.

Edged Horizon

There shouldn’t have been any reason to, so Jacque’s eyes widened when his entire body shivered. “Do-” Interrupted by the Rift Beast’s arrival, he blinked a few times as he tried to process this new development. “Well then,” he remarked, voice slightly strained, but nonetheless attempting to keep his demeanor calm. “I suppose we can’t just ignore that as Astopolian Knights.” Snapping the other two segments to complete the staff, he test it with a few swings before he looked towards Ambroise.

“Ignoring the Rift Beast would undoubtedly cause more harm than letting this serial killer remain active for the time being,” he agreed with a nod. The roar caused Jacque to flinch a bit as his hair blew about wildly, and he frowned as he looked at the Rift Beast just poking over the treeline. Was it simply announcing its presence to the world, or were there others that had already encountered the monster.

“We may not have the luxury…” he murmured as he twirled the staff about and then planted it into the ground. Gold motes quickly crept up his arms, covered his body, and he exhaled slowly as he felt his body adjust in response. “Can you begin preparing your magic Ambroise? If we have the advantage of first strike, it should try to be decisive.”

He looked towards the Rift Beast again before turning his attention towards the other two. “Anything to add?”

Q - FLUX

“Fuck,” Echo hissed as he snapped his head back around the corner. God fucking damn it that was going to cost a pretty penny to fix up. Of course the killbots took aim and started firing, the warning had already been given after all. What the fuck had he expected them to do? Dance the fucking macarena for them?

Noticeably annoyed if the partially revealed scowl was anything to go by, Echo hurried over and hopped onto his bike. He kicked it into reverse and spun the bike around before pausing for a moment to concentrate. The bots were probably fairly well shielded, but it didn’t hurt to try and disable them, however momentarily. Gritting his teeth, he twisted reality above the killbots’ position and slammed a powerful pulse of EM radiation into them from above. A bead of sweat fell through his broken helmet as another pulse manifested and crashed against the killbots, hopefully slipping through the minutest of cracks and frying something important.

With a few strained breaths, he gunned the engine and raced down the street. He didn’t know if his efforts had actually paid off, but if they hadn’t then he wasn’t sticking around to find out. Now then… how the hell did he get to the Rash’s from here?

Edged Horizon

Jacque nodded towards Hector for the support of his suggestions, but he felt a bit disheartened when his other companions remained silent. Only for a moment though as it let him quickly pick up on the unnatural stillness and silence brought by the heavy fog. He spun around to face forward as he walked forward with a deliberate heaviness to the step. Yet for all the noise he made, there was an eerie lack of response. His skin crawled as he moved to grab his weapon, but a sensation gave him pause.

The sound told Jacque what he wanted to know, but he glanced back at Ambroise nonetheless, sharing a look with the other magic user, before he nodded. So it hadn’t just been a trick of his mind. His sense for magic was fairly limited and he had never found a talent for analysis of lingering traces. Confirmation by the superior mage helped settle his unease somewhat and he nodded for Ambroise to keep up.

“She’s right. I guess that means no break for us...” He smiled sadly as if that prospect was more harrowing than whatever situation the four of them were now a part of. Drawing forth two sections of Evloga, he locked them together and tapped it against a tree he passed by. The remaining two sections and the folded flag remained in its holder for the moment. “The town’s to the north west right?” He asked the others as he looked down at the compass clipped to his belt.

Q - FLUX

Chris swerved onto the ramp that led him into an even lower layer of the metropolis with a smile. Traffic had been light enough for him to make good time, and he hadn’t done anything more than piss off a few other drivers. Probably. Racing down the incline at breakneck speeds, he silenced the bike’s engine with the flick of a switch. There was a brief sputter before the obnoxious roar completely disappeared and left him with ears open to the sounds all around him.

Grunting as his bike came off the ramp with a slight bump, he turned onto the rather empty street at speed, tires screeching as they fought for traction. The lack of heavy traffic wasn’t too surprising given it was practically gang territory at this point. What was surprising was the sudden gunfire that came from the direction of the Wirefort manor, and the amount. Squeezing the brakes as he came to a halt on the roadside, he clicked his tongue in annoyance as he kicked out the kickstand. “Told them not to get into a firefight,” he muttered as he walked on back to the locker and tapped in the access code.

“Right, let’s see what’s going on.”

As the mechanical arms fitted on the additional layers of his armor, Chris turned his focus inward before throwing it out. Everything seemed to fade out for the moments it took for his pulses to race out and return, but the echoes he received quickly mapped out the situation at the Wirefort’s in his mind for him. The two in th- well, one now anyways, were probably Blitz and End. The big car sitting at the gate was probably her truck, though it seemed to have gotten an attachment at the top; probably courtesy of Arsenal. It didn’t seem like there were any bodies on the ground around the truck just yet…

As for the five trucks and fuzzy groupings, well those were probably the ones making a racket. It certainly seemed like they were the only ones with the numbers capable of doing so. There wasn’t much he could do about them at this distance, and he didn’t really want to get involved in a gang scuffle if that’s what it boiled down to. For the moment he decided to get a better picture just to make sure the other Cleaners weren’t caught off guard.

A few moments later and Chris tched as he picked up something possible worrisome. The nearby roofs, save for End, seemed to be pretty clear, but there was another vehicle approaching. A fair bit larger than the cars already on scene, probably the size of an 18-wheeler. Bulkier than a civi one though. “Well shit,” he muttered as he attuned the waves to dial in on a few specific frequencies.

“End. That you? Big rig incoming, can you get a look at it?”

Meanwhile the truck’s radio would crackle to life shortly afterwards, and let Echo’s voice through. “Yoh. Better haul ass, there’s an armored big rig making its way over. I’m still like two, three minutes out, so it’ll be there before me. If Arsenal’s around, you guys might need some of her bigger ones.”