ic Let the Bodies Hit the Ground

[Nerdzul]

"Woah. Woah. Woah!" Suddenly he had found himself alone, his friends disappearing into a portal. Great. "Hey... Stop... Those are not for eating." He winced as the creature fangs cut into his flesh, sharp enough even to penetrate his bullet-proof hide. He roared angrily and gritted his teeth. If he wasn't disgusted at the mere idea, he would have been tempted to repay her with the same coin with his own fangs. 

 

He didn't need to. As quickly as they have vanished both Aquaria and Diamondlight were back. Which, while he would have not admitted it in public, was a relief. 

 

"Great job..." He smiled as the creature seemed to have lost the will to fight under the deep one assault.  "I though... Where did you go?" 

 

Whatever. 

 

"What the hell is this thing?" Definitely not human, not entirely at least. 

[Supercape]

Diamondlight

 

August examined the monster. Was it a monster? It looked like one...

 

...which got him thinking. 

 

"I remember you..." he said, slowly, quietly, as he strolled through his memory banks. "Artificial creation. Lost in transport. Something like that. Caused quite the panic, if I remember correctly."

 

The whole incident gave plenty of sleepless nights to kids. And their parents. Who knew what bogeyman could be lurking under the bed, or in the closet? When was it? A year, two years ago?

 

"What are you doing here? Thought you were still on the run?"

 

He doubted parley was going to be accepted, but still - he wasn't a man to judge by appearances, unless it was appearance he was judging. 

[Avenger Assembled]

Sea Devil stood over the fallen woman, staring down at the creature with gigantic eyes with yellow irises and black pupils, looking like nothing so much as a large, angry frog studying a particularly troublesome horsefly. She hadn't heard anything about strange creatures of any sort - at least, no stranger than what one usually encountered on the surface. She raised her trident and poked the being in the chest, most ungently. "Are you the one that killed the dog?" she demanded in a voice like rumbling thunder. I am not even sure if it can hear me, she thought. 

[Spacefurry]

GM

 

“Ramsey?”

Detective Pascal’s voice preceded the man’s appearance as he came stumbling back into the clearing. His pistol swept the space quickly before settling on the unconscious woman.

 

“Here!”

Detective Ramsey called back, her own weapon aimed at the woman as well. She looked at her partner with something akin to concern as Diamondlight spoke.

 

Detective Pascal’s brow furrowed.

“Keep her covered.”

Henrico ordered and Ramsey nodded hesitantly.

Pascal approached the heroes standing over the unconscious attacker. He looked down at the woman with scrutiny.

“It is her.”

He said almost under his breath and the shaking of his hands was small visible, but his grip tightened and his aim didn’t waver. Anger began to creep into his expression.

[Nerdzul]

Luke obeserved the woman with a puzzled expression, he scratched the hair on the back of his neck wondering what exactly had piqued his attention. Nothing. His mind was a pure blank. Must be the after-effect of whatever the creature had tried on them before. Yeah. Definitely. Just that. 

 

Quote

"I remember you..." he said, slowly, quietly, as he strolled through his memory banks. "Artificial creation. Lost in transport. Something like that. Caused quite the panic, if I remember correctly."

 

"Ah great..." He lowered his eyes. "Escaped bio-weapon then... or mad scientist. Awesome." He remarked drily, those kind of things tended to be pretty icky and evil. Especially given that this one had already ended many innocent lives. 

 

Somehow still, Aquaria reaction to the situation did manage to bring a grin to his lips, one that, however, quickly died down when the cops barged on the scene as well. 

 

"Hey..." 

 

"Yeah it's her... kinda..." He confirmed. "Don't do anything stupid though? Ok?"

 

 

 

 

Edited November 29, 2023 by Nerdzul

[Supercape]

Diamondlight

 

August turned down his shining forcefield to a more respectable dim light. He put a hand to his chin and slowly rubbed it. There are more pieces to this puzzle...

 

He turned to Ramsay. 

 

"Her?"

 

Ramsay was angry. But about what? the bodies? or something else?

 

"Do you know this woman?"

 

Woman? Creature? Specimin? It was hard to choose the right term. A gamble. But he liked a gamble. Lets see Ramsay sees this woman as a woman... or a beast. 

 

"I'm not sure this is as simple as it seems. Monster eats babies. Seems to be a little more nuanced than that headline."

 

 

 

[Avenger Assembled]

Sea Devil found herself in a tough moral quandary as she poked the fallen monster again. She knew perfectly well that Surfacemen with guns, especially those with power, feared and tried to destroy the things that they didn't understand. She could easily have found herself in a place not unlike this woman, hiding in the water, eating what she could, hunted and feared by all and killing those who oppressed her. 

 

But on the other hand, Aquaria Innsmouth also knew that monsters ate babies. She had seen it happen. And one predator owed nothing to another except an obligation to make sure the herbivores didn't put it in a zoo. 

 

"What?" she croaked.  

[Nerdzul]

"Ehem... Do you people have something that can restrain her... just in case?" Luke ruffled the hair on the back of his neck. "I mean, if she is a freakin' bio-weapon, she might not stay down for all the time we take deciding what to do with her..." He shrugged, himself, well, he could send that thing to his lair, but he definitely wasn't sure that it would be a good plan. 

 

"Besides, there were two strange scents before and my bet is, that those two weren't both here by chance, so yeah... her friend might come here too so we should keep our eyes open." He added, although, if these truly were monsters, there was always the chance that they won't have much solidarity and simply abandon each other to their fate. 

[Spacefurry]

GM

 

 

Detective Pascal remained tense, the deadly end of his weapon pointed at the woman. If he had heard Nightscale’s warning not to do anything, one couldn’t tell. The barest of trembling and look in his eyes betrayed his anger.

 

Detective Ramesy lowered her gun, holstering it. She carefully approached Pascal and placed a hand on the older man’s arm. 

“That won’t do anything except make you feel worse.”

She said cautiously. He seemed to resist at first, but after a moment he slowly lowered his own weapon. Ramsey nodded and turned her attention to the heroes.

“It isn’t my place to-”

Ramsey began to reply to Diamondlight, but Pascal interrupted her.

 

“It’s okay.”

He said, finally holstering his weapon. The anger was still clear on his face, but his tone was a practiced neutral.

“She killed several paramedics when she was being transferred. One of them… one of them was my brother-in-law. He left behind my sister and niece.”

Pascal exhaled and seemed to be trying to calm himself.

 

When Nightscale mentioned restraining the woman the detectives nod to each other. Ramsey steps forward, pulling a pair of cuffs from her belt while Rascal rests his hand on the pistol, but doesn’t draw it.

Ramsey carefully cuffs one wrist and turns the woman over to do the same to the other one. As she does Pascal turns to Nightscale.

“That’s right, you did mention something about a second scent. If she has an accomplice, we need to find them quickly.”

[Supercape]

Diamondlight

 

August knew Pascal was restraining himself, and knew it was costing. Even August, master of a poker face, was impressed with Pascal's ability to keep it together. It was personal. 

 

Too personal?

 

Maybe. In any case, he resolved to keep an eye out on Pascal. And the arrested subject - whoever she was. 

 

The matter of the second scent was more perplexing. This didn't feel like a simple story; something more spicy was going. He gave a smile-good!

 

He liked it when things were interesting. 

 

"What was that second scent like? Seems we have the other half of the puzzle right there. Care to lead on?" he asked. 

[Avenger Assembled]

"I can make her go away," offered Sea Devil, raising her trident over her head. She hesitated, then said, "To prison! I can take her to prison and be right back here." Hah, they thought I meant their afterlife! But they do not have one! She didn't envy this thing if it was going to prison, but she wasn't going to kill an unconscious thing without knowing more about what it was. She considered what to do with the police officer with the gun and decided to handle it the way she would if it were Singularity having an episode. "You can help me. You can keep  people safe if there is trouble." 

[Nerdzul]

Luke listened at the exchange between the two cops, ready to step in, should any of them tried anything too reckless.

 

Although, to be honest, he could sympathize, now, revenge wasn't very heroic, but he himself, wasn't sure he would have been able to restrain himself so well when dealing with the killer of a friend. It was easy to stick up to a code when it had no personal cost.

 

It seemed though that things quickly went back under control, well, as much as they could, given the situation.

 

"I am sorry man... Sir..." He lowered his eyes. 

 

On 12/9/2023 at 4:06 AM, Avenger Assembled said:

"I can make her go away

 

"What?" Luke winced, was she gonna? Eat her or something? Well while he had never seen Aquaria eat anyone, well...  Was he being specie-ist right now? Besides, Dragons in stories tended to eat people too, so... yeah...

 

He let a sigh of relief escape his lips when the heroic Deep One, clarified that she meant sending the woman to prison. "Right... Yeah... Like teleport her right?" Made sense right? He had seen Aquaria disappear before. "Do we... I mean, do we have a place for super-prisoners?" Until now the school staff had handled this kind of things after all, but he was no longer a student after all. 

 

"Yeah... It was... Well, that other scent... Desire for flesh. This one... Wanted blood instead..." Which was already creepy enough. "Anyway..." He inhaled visibly and his eyes started faintly glowing as he began searching for traces of the second killer.

 

Edited December 10, 2023 by Nerdzul

[Spacefurry]

GM

 

Ramsey backed away from the woman after cuffing her. She pulled her weapon again but kept it pointed at the ground. Pascal just kept his own hand on his holstered pistol,  not fully trusting himself just yet.

 

On 12/8/2023 at 10:06 PM, Avenger Assembled said:

"I can make her go away," offered Sea Devil, raising her trident over her head.

 

At Sea Devil’s initial suggestion, something flickered across Pascal’s face. When she amended it, his expression changed somberly like he regretted what he had been thinking. The detective did his best to shake it off as Nightscale continued.
 

On 12/8/2023 at 10:06 PM, Avenger Assembled said:

 "You can help me. You can keep  people safe if there is trouble." 

 

Pascal regarded the heroes, then looked at his partner. Ramsey gave him a small shrug and he nodded. He gave Sea Devil a grateful nod.

“I know when we’re just in the way.”

He sighed and looked back at Diamondlight and Nightscale.

 

Quote

"Do we... I mean, do we have a place for super-prisoners?"

 

“We‘ll radio for back up and make sure this one is on her way to Blackstone, while you guys look for the other… whatever’s out there.”

Edited December 15, 2023 by Spacefurry

[Supercape]

Diamondlight

 

"The other... whatever's out there. Indeed..."

 

"May I suggest you keep a perimeter?" he asked. "The Park needs to be clear, and the roads around it. Maybe even the a block around it. We have almost no idea what we are dealing with."

 

He turned to Luke. 

 

"You, young man, are about our best shot at finding what it is, and where it is."

 

August paused, raising an eyebrow in thought. "The real question is why it is... why here? why now? why the murders?"

 

He shrugged. "But I guess we find that out when we find the... what did you say? the whatever's out there. About the best way to put it, I think."

[Avenger Assembled]

"Yes, there is a prison. I almost died there," croaked Sea Devil with unaccustomed softness. She knew from long experience that Surfacers regarded close confinement in the air as a mercy, not the torture of all her senses that almost driven her to madness when she'd first come to the Surface. Perhaps this woman would find peace and stillness there. Or perhaps she would die. The truth was that Aquaria did not care very much one way or another. When the police pronounced themselves ready to guard the prisoner, she nodded, a gesture that seemed to take her entire upper body. 

 

While the Surfacemen went about their hunt, she hopped away from them and decided to try and get the creature's attention again. She hopped again, keeping her distance, and bellowed. 

 

"YOU! YOU WHO CRAVE FLESH! I EAT FLESH!" She snapped her jaws as she spoke, exposing impressive shark-like teeth inside her gigantic frog mouth. "ARE YOU STRONG?! OR ARE YOU WEAK!? COME AND SEE!" She snapped again, banging her trident against her armor. "COME AND SEE!" 

[Nerdzul]

13 hours ago, Supercape said:

"You, young man, are about our best shot at finding what it is, and where it is."

 

August paused, raising an eyebrow in thought. "The real question is why it is... why here? why now? why the murders?"

 

"On it sir." Luke bowed his head lightly and smirked produly. In truth he hoped that he could still find the scent as whatever that thing was it certainly had some advantage on them by now. Still it was no reason not to try. 

 

"Yeah... besides, one escaped Bio-weapons is already strange, but two working together... it feels like somethin' in missing right?" He mused, perhaps the person behind their creation was the real mastermind or something. 

 

21 hours ago, Spacefurry said:

“I know when we’re just in the way.”

 

 

"Maybe..." Luke grinned. "But seriously though, it's much safer for you, we can tank and hit from those things and still get up after that..." Hopefully at least. Now he didn't have a particular liking for cops, but certainly he didn't want any to get in harm way if he could avoid that. 

 

 

Quote

"Yes, there is a prison. I almost died there," 

 

"You did?" Luke raised an eyebrow. "Woah sorry... must have sucked... I..." Well hismself he had experienced his own stint in juvie so yeah, not exactly the same though as he imagined that a prison that could contain a super-hero would be even nastier. 

 

"Anyway... Let's get her to a safe place yeah..." He nodded. 

 

The young man shook his head at Aquaria's challenging the killer, that said, who knew right? After all the monster craved for flesh, so perhaps it would not shy away from direct confrontation and actually come to them for a change.

 

 

[Spacefurry]

GM

 

Detective Pascal gives Diamondlight a nod.

“We have one around the park to keep out civilians, but I’m going to order all officers to round up anyone they see and fall back to it as well. Try to minimize contact with whatever’s out there still.”

 

“If it’s still in the park.”

Detective Ramsey adds somberly.

 

“Let’s hope that it is still here, where we have active heroes on the scene.”

Pascal counters and his partner nods in agreement.

 

Despite her efforts to challenge their quarry, nothing answers Sea Devil’s calls. 

With the women unconscious, Nightscale can feel the ‘desire for blood’ starting to thin out ever so slightly. Even still, he has to backtrack down the path a bit so sort out the second ‘scent’.

The ‘desire for flesh’ leads off away from the clearing.

 

Strangely, Nightscale can notice the scent criss-crossing itself along older lingering trails on the same, like it was searching for something. Along the newer trail the dragon and the deep one can detect two normal scents. A man’s and a woman’s scents.

Searching along the path the young dragon finds the freshest trail suddenly stops and turns sharply. It only takes a moment for any of the trio to notice they’re heading back into the tree line in the direction they had left the detectives.

Edited January 15 by Spacefurry

[Supercape]

Diamondlight

 

August raised an eyebrow. They seemed to be doing a U-turn. 

 

He pressed one of his temples. This didn't seem quite right - he felt the same urge - a feeling that there was something he was missing. Some piece of the puzzle that would change the whole jigsaw. 

 

But he couldn't place it. On the tip of his tongue, on the tips of his fingers, but something he could neither digest nor grasp. 

 

At least the park was containing the threat. Probably. 

 

Were the detactives part of this?

 

He kept the peculiar thought to himself, for now. 

 

"I don't like this," he mumbled as they walked. "Somethings amiss... I cant quite place it. But you two have the scent, so we must track it down. But... I feel like a mouse in a trap."

 

 

[Avenger Assembled]

"Hello!" called Sea Devil suspiciously from near the treeline. "Are you still in there?" She wasn't entirely sure how to handle this, though her short-lived respect for the creatures who lived in the park was going through a steep decline. "Are there any bad murderers there?" Shifting nervously from foot to foot for a moment, executing a hopping dance, she decided to throw caution to the winds. Crouching low and deep, she leaped in the direction the trail seemed to point, branches cracking around her armored body as she leaped towards the danger, bellowing a challenge. 

[Nerdzul]

"Me neither..." Luke nodded at August, there was certainly something that eluded them right now.

 

"Yeah this sucks..." Luke had a worried look in his eyes when he realized that the trail had made an u-turn, they had left the detectives alone after all didn't they? What if the monster had gone for them? 

 

He increased his pace significantly as he followed the scent toward the clearing where they had confronted the first escaped bioweapon. Perhaps one of the creature had gone to help the other, or maybe it had concealed itself as one of the officers or something, neither scenario was exactly a good one...

 

As Aquaria jumped, the young man followed, dashing as fast as he could along the trail.

 

[Spacefurry]

GM

 

Tensions rose in the trio of heroes as they realized just where they were pointed.

 

Sea Devil took the lead as she leaped. Barreling through the trees and brush, the vegetation standing no chance against the armored battering ram. Her cry of challenge reversing off the trees, this time though  scream and a man’s returned.

Nightcscale and Diamondlight were no slouches either as they ran to keep up.

 

Gun shots echo ahead and Sea Devil is the first to burst from the trees in another mighty leap, weapon ready.

 

The clearing they had left not long ago was a much different scene.

 

Detective Ramsey was standing in front of Detective Pascal, pistol out and pointed. His arm was bleeding from a shard of bone sticking out of it. His service pistol next to him.

The girl they had just apprehended was on her feet again, though clearly still a little dazed judging by how she swayed a little. She was holding a man up by his collar, pinning him against a tree. Sharp looking teeth filled her open mouth as she hissed at the man.

Nearby a woman was pulling herself out of the brush and trying to get to her feet.

 

As Nightscale and Diamondlight finally catch up they see the scene as well. Detective Ramsey yells at the ‘vampire’ to let the man go.

And Nightscale recognizes them as a the couple he had seen when he first arrived at the park.

 

The ‘vampire’s hiss becomes a snarl as she speaks.

“You think I did not smell you? I knew you were hunting me.”

She presses him into the tree and an audible crack is heard.

“I will break you into many pieces so even the ‘Master’ can not put you back together.”

The woman sneers the word ‘master’ like it hurts to say it.

 

Nightscale gets a flash of memory. He’s seen this vampire, this woman somewhere before.

An underground lab.

A patchwork mountain of a man as much a victim as the young woman he attempted to grab off the street.

More victims of a madman behind a mask.

A faceless woman.

A burning man.

And a vampire biting another hero…

Edited January 30 by Spacefurry

[Supercape]

Diamondlight

 

Vampires? No... really? Vampires?

 

Well... this was Freedom City. Strange things were everyday. But August Zoss had never met any vampires. If that was what they were?

 

His forcefield kept on shining. As far as he knew, it wasnt ultravoilet, but it did at least illuminate the park. And vampires preferred the dark. 

 

And that couple - innocent looking. But not innocent. 

 

"Dont bluff a bluffer" he answered. "You kill that man, and you have no cards left to deal. I'm not a killer, but you are already dead, so I wont be holding back. None of us will."

 

How soon was sunrise, he wondered?

 

He didnt risk a look at his watch. His eyes were firmly on the scene in front of him. How fast would they be? Faster than his teleportation? Maybe... but was maybe good enough?

[Avenger Assembled]

Sea Devil stared at the vampires with her gigantic black and gold eyes. With powerful snorts of her big nostrils, she smelled their dead flesh and the blood of Surface-Men in the air. She knew what these things were; she had heard stories of the things that wore the faces of Surfacers while eating their flesh and drinking their blood from the moment Singularity had opened up to her about the world that had once been her home. She expanded her throat and bellowed, a deafening noise that rang out through the park, and bared her own teeth at the beasts, huge serrated triangles designed by the gods below to rip the flesh from living, struggling whales, and declared "You thought you could hide from me? You are weak!" And then her helmet snapped shut again as she hefted her trident high.  

[Nerdzul]

On 1/26/2024 at 7:50 PM, Spacefurry said:

“I will break you into many pieces so even the ‘Master’ can not put you back together.”

 

"Not if we have anything to say about that." Nightscale objected with a confident smirk. Although given the horrors that he had seen deep down in that basement he was more than a little worried, sure he was with two veteran heroes, but there were also innocent lives on the line.

 

"The master she is talkin' about I met him, a compete monster, we have to stop him, whatever he is planning.." It was unfortunate that the man had managed to escape them once already. 

 

"Not sure these are actually vampires though, he didn't strike me as the supernatural type, more like, messed up science..." He explained as he rushed toward the monster.

[Spacefurry]

GM

 

The homeless woman’s head snapped around at the voices of the heroes. She hisses, razor sharp fangs glinting in the light from Diamondlight.

“Bluff? I will scatter him across the city.”

She sneers.

Her attention shifts to Sea Devil, hunter recognizing hunter after the powerful blow the Deep One had given her not too long ago. She hisses again at the armored hero.

She’s still holding him as she lets his feet touch the ground.

“Weak? I am the survivor!”

 

Detective Pascal was struggling to his feet, careful of his broken arm, while Detective Ramsey was calling to the man’s date to come over to them where it would be safe.

The woman, for her part, pulled herself free of the bushes and gave the ‘vampire’ a look of contempt.