ic Playdate

[RocketLord]

Nevermore II

 

Leaping from the window, Charlie spread out his cape to soften his fall, landing next to the Raven. 

 

"Sure, got him, boss," he muttered while accepting the Bowman from Alek, gently putting him down on the floor before reaching into his belt and pulling out a first aid kit. It wasn't much, but he could at least keep him stable. 

 

"You got the cleanup, Arrow?" He didn't bother to look up while he asked, focusing on Arrow's mentor instead.

 

With the Unkindness ready, he helped Bowman up again, towards it and into the seat. With the barely conscious Bowman in the seat, he turned to Raven again.

 

"This is bad, right? Not just Bowman, but the whole thing with them saying they're Ushers?"

[KnightDisciple]

Raven helped Nevermore get Bowman secured in the crash-seat. While less "fun" to ride in due to no windows (the current Unkindness could seat 3 up front, and he was working on more), the extra padding and the transition to a prone position should help him. Only when the archery-based hero was secure did Raven turn and look at his apprentice.

 

"Yes. We weren't ready tonight."

 

His voice promised more training, but it would be something they faced together.

 

"I've gotten complacent. My mistake, not yours. We'll need to dig up everything we can on the Ushers. This was just the opening move. They seem ready for war. So we'll have to be ready, too." 

[Cubismo]

A small part of Arrow felt like was she being condescended to despite the fact that the older hero openly admitted his role in this whole debacle, though, it was probably just the anger more than anything else. Seeing her mentor, one of the few people in the world that she actually respected, be put into the Unkindness as if he was a child in need of care was an image that Arrow had no desire to see repeated in her mind like the world’s worst sideshow. She had to focus on something, anything else right now. If only to redirect to her anger into something constructive.

 

"The House of Usher usually doesn’t operate in North Freedom,” she said coldly, her frustration barely suppressed. “West Freedom and Lantern Hill is their usual haunting grounds. The incestuous ghouls must be expanding their operations here. Probably saw Kingston as free estate after the invasion nearly turned it into a wasteland. I suppose its appropriate instinct for vermin like them.”

[RocketLord]

Nevermore II

 

"Yeah. That makes sense," Nevermore agreed with Arrow. "Kingston's pretty much been a hole in the ground since the invasion, right, boss? Gotta be all kinds of weird things happening here."

 

He frowned, looking at Arrow. It was weird seeing Bowman like this, at least to him. How would it be to her? He was her mentor, like Alek was to Charlie. 

 

"Are you alright?" Nevermore was worried about her, that much was obvious in his voice.

[Cubismo]

Arrow reacted to Charlie’s concern with less than stellar results. "I'm fine!" She hissed, rebuking him a voice bit louder than she intended. She regretted it almost instantly, and internally admonished herself for losing control. Such things were beneath her, she told herself.

 

Olivia took another breath. She needed to compose herself lest the dynamic duo think she was completely incomplete. “I’m fine Nevermore. Let’s just wrap this up ok?”

[KnightDisciple]

Raven III
 

"Hn. More abandoned than before, certainly. Still. Something's off. We need more intel..." He trailed off as they finished securing Bowman, before he moved toward the primary passenger compartment. 

 

Raven was in the driver's seat of the Unkindness while Arrow and Nevermore finished the cleanup. The senior (conscious) hero of the team was rapidly inputting data into the holo-screen his vehicle was projecting. He had an array of disjointed thoughts and data points he needed to enter before they faded into the background hum of his thoughts. Later he could sift through the entries and sort them, make more sense of them. 

 

His scars were itching, and that was never a good sign.

 

"Nevermore. Arrow. Status report on evidence cleanup."

 

His voice was just firm enough to make clear it was not a request, and that his patience was thin.

[RocketLord]

Nevermore II

 

"Alright, alright, let's get it done." Harsh, but, alright, Charlie couldn't really blame her. He wasn't sure how he would have reacted if it was Alek on the stretcher. 

 

The moment Alek spoke, Charlie froze completely, just for a second. He made a motion to Arrow, a thumb drawn over his throat with an apologetic smile, then quickly got back to work.

 

He knew that tone. Not the time to test Alek's patience.

 

This was bad.

[RocketLord]

GM

 

With cleanup completed, it was time to leave. They could hear the sirens in the distance as the Unkindness raced through the night.

 

Later, Bowman would be able to relay that had he been attacked by multiple assailants, all dressed in Victorian clothing, much like the Ushers that had attacked Raven, Nevermore and Arrow inside the building. A woman and two men, they had overwhelmed him. Much like the man inside the building, they all seemed to posses powers of some kind.

 

The House of Usher had returned, now possessing powers.

 

So far, that was all they knew.

 

What had changed? Why were they back?

 

And, perhaps most important, what were their plans?

Edited March 6, 2021 by RocketLord