Prey: A Character Driven RP [FINISHED]

[TheDoctor455]

Dr. Strauss turned white when Alec grabbed the file from him.

"Alec... you're going to want to lie down, now. You touched me. You touched my exposed skin... you're going to be deathly ill in a few minutes; and probably dead in a day or two unless I can stop it. Mr. Kimura, get your medical staff ready, we need to begin diagnosing and treating him NOW."

 

[Sporky111]

Spoiler

Bah, lost internet for a couple days. I swear I was in the middle of writing this post when I love connection XD

Takeda frowned as Rin shook his hand. That wasn't what he wanted when he put out his hand. As soon as she let go of him, he reached out to her other hand and grabbed his ball. She let it go and he tucked it tightly against his chest, glaring at her.

As she whispered in his ear, one ear perked up curiously. "You said I can't fail, why are you making threats like this?" he asked, a mix of suspicion and fear in his voice. But before he could get an answer, Maya rushed back over.

Takeda didn't like Rin anymore, understandably. She'd extorted him and threatened Maya and was now expecting him to kill people for her.

With a look at his ball, it disappeared into a puff of luminescent smoke. He didn't have his backpack anymore so he might need a new one of them. Until he got one, the ball was safe in the inside pocket of his hoodie. But nobody else would know that.

Despite himself, he was curious about teleporting. He wanted to know what it was like and how Rin would do it, and why it would be bumpy. He reached out and took the woman's hand, quickly hiding his ears and tail with his clothes. "Where are we going, exactly?"

 

[SeanTheSheep]

"If you've done your research correctly, you should know I can't go in without being formally invited by someone standing within the threshold" Lily said, walking to the door, but stopping a few meters short. Rules were different for demons, and they were different for individual demons too, so Lily figured she could get away with it. "I know it's a vampire thing, but every misconception comes from somewhere" putting up the face made when saying Sorry, I should've told you my friend was allergic to shellfish as you sit down at a fish restaurant billed as serving the best lobster in the city. She had known a demi-demon who was required to be invited in to a building, so she wasn't just making things up. Sadly, the invitation limitation had been the source of his demise.

She was enjoying messing with her new plaything, and was using every opportunity to take advantage of Rin's lapse in judgement without letting anything slip. Because after all, what were the odds that someone your trusted contacts had told you was a demon, was actually a telekinetic with no religious ties? It had to be ten thousand to one.
Lily held her expression for a moment, then let herself return to her default businesslike but approachable demeanour. She let herself smile inwardly, but managed to keep her mind clear of any clues of deception, lest one of the crowd be a telepath. She hadn't bothered with any of her usual flushing techniques, because anyone here keeping an eye on her would be far too well trained to smirk or titter.

 

[JoJo]

Mr. Kimura gave Dr. Strauss an annoyed look.

"Hardly surprising, you two are fighting like children! Utterly pointless too; in this modern age do you really think we don't have digital back-ups of our data?"

He lent back in his leather chair with the ghost of a smile slowly starting to appear.

"Remember we're a private company here, we have no obligation to treat Alec... if we do not wish to. I will get my medical staff to help him however, if you both agree to a number of terms. Firstly you must stop trying to destroy my property. Secondly, Alec must attempt to contact Hui as soon as he's well enough to, and thirdly related to that there's a certain possession of mine which I need you to recover, the location of which my unfortunate ex-partner took to the grave."

He stood up and offered a hand to each of the men.

"Of course; complete these successfully and a large sum of cash might just find its way to you. Do we have a deal?"

~​

Meanwhile on the other side of the city Rin replied to Takeda's question.

"Paris, in France. We'll also be travelling about five minutes backwards in time as our conversation took a little longer than expected, but considering the distance we're going it should barely make a difference. Let's be off!"

As she said this the world around them slowly started to spin and suddenly disappeared to be replaced by grey nothingness; only punctuated by thin wisps of glowing white clouds. For a couple of seconds they floated tranquilly in the void before a tiny point of light broke off from one of the gaseous objects and drifted slowly towards them. Rin reached out with the hand she was using to hold Maya to touch the miniscule orb with one finger and without warning the greyness vanished, leaving the three in darkness. A light flickered on to reveal they were in a small warehouse, empty except for a few boxes and a dark figure standing in the shadows holding a large case.

"They're a bit smaller I imagined... and I thought there was only going to be one?"

The tall thin man sporting a moustache and a beard came closer to peer at the two children, eyeing them suspiciously. He spoke whiningly in clear English, although with an accent that was very difficult to place.

 

[TheDoctor455]

Dr. Strauss acted on impulse and shook Mr. Kimura's hand with his broken-glove hand. He was still enraged at the idea that Mr. Kimura would want to spread this disease, and he channeled that rage in an attempt to control which disease Kimura would get.

"Mr. Kimura," Dr Strauss snarled, "I'm afraid you only have a few minutes left to live."

 

[i don't know]

"Oh no! What's going to happen to me!?" Alec stayed worried for a few minutes, and then seeing that nothing happened, calmed down.

"Wait, so I have to touch you to feel the effects of your power?" Turning to Mr.Kimura, Alec was shocked. He was touched!

"Mr.Kim, of-coarse I take the deal, but I think you're in one great DEAL of trouble now! Somebody, help! Tell me what you're looking for, and I'll be on my way!"

Now knowing that the company isn't as sinister as he thought, Alec was now more eager to dig up Hui.

 

[JoJo]

Maya stared up at the strange man as he spoke, realising that he was the first real white person she'd ever seen. He looked very comical with his large beard and moustache, as well as his pale skin and huge nose. He wasn't speaking Chinese, but somehow the words seemed to make sense.

He's speaking English! I can still remember what Mummy taught me!

Despite this she felt too shy to say anything to the man in case she said something wrong. He seemed a little edgy, with his oddly blue eyes constantly darting backwards and forth. She wondered why he was here and if he was going to help fight the demons too. The darkness of the warehouse wasn't what she had been expecting and she stayed close to Takeda, afraid that a monster might jump out of the shadows at any moment.

 

[DktrAgonizer]

Rezetta stood right next to the warehouse's door, peering inside doubtfully. She still didn't trust this Rin person one bit, and every moment in the presence of her and her little groupies just increased her feeling of uneasiness. Her demonic blood gave her better night-vision than humans, though wearing her contacts didn't help. As Lily was busy talking to Rin about needing to be invited to go inside--she herself had no such limitations--she reached up to remove the contacts from her eyes. As she did, she let the illusions covering her pointed teeth and nails fall away and felt an immediate, if small, relief in her mind.

She heard a couple of the group give some sort of reaction, having noticed her striking white eyes. Zetta turned and gave a grin that showed off her teeth and was rewarded with more startled expressions and gasps. As far as demonic appearances went it wasn't much, but she couldn't help enjoying the reactions. Besides, they all knew what she was--partly, anyway--so there was no point in hiding it and taxing her mind even further.

Having put her contacts away, she peered through the doorway again and picked out several boxes and a man standing by a far wall. Myrddin, probably, but his face wasn't facing her direction and so she couldn't be sure. By this time, Lily had finished speaking. Zetta turned again to face Rin this time and said, "As long as there aren't any holy items directly in or beyond the doorway, I'm good." This was actually true, in a sense; any place with such protections in their doorway was not a place she'd feel the inclination to enter. Almost immediately after she finished speaking, she heard a voice come from inside the warehouse, but she kept her eyes on Rin instead of turning to look.

 

[JoJo]

"Oh, I'm sorry; I'm not really up to scratch with demonic rules."

Rin stepped backwards into the darkened warehouse, and beckoned the two women to come closer.

"You both have permission to come in, and I really think you'll want to. Myrrdin, bring it here now!"

The man approached, this time carrying a large black case similar to those musical instruments are kept in. Rin continued speaking from within the confines of the building.

"I don't blame you for not realising who my assistant is, for though he's very well-known most people call him by a slightly different name to which he was given at birth... don't they Merlin?"

Myrrdin nodded, for the first time a grin actually appearing on his face. He did a polite bow and as he did so opened the case he was holding. Inside was a gleaming sword that seemed to sparkle even in the dim shadow of the room. Rin laughed almost manically.

"Any guesses what this is then? One clue; coming inside will help!"

~​

Even as this happened back in China Mr. Kimura clutched at his chest. He spat at Dr. Strauss with rage.

"What have you done... you idiot! You're not safe... to be anywhere... least of all in public".

He wobbled, then whilst holding himself up by his desk spoke in laboured breathes to Alec.

"It's a magic sword... taken by Hui years ago. Very powerful... can be used to give abilities... with the right equipment. Maybe also... take away powers... possibly... but don't tell her it was me who sent you... understand?"

The thin Japanese man fell onto the floor with his hands around his neck; appearing to choke.

"This isn't over... I'll survive...get help. I forgot to say... ask Hui... about... her..."

He fell still, lying spread across the carpet with one hand outstretched towards to the two men, his face pointed upwards towards the ceiling but his eyes firmly closed.

 

[TheDoctor455]

"Just to be sure."
Dr. Strauss kicked Mr. Kimura in the gut, it was much squishier than normal.

"Yeah... his internal organs have liquefied. I didn't want to do this, but I can't allow this epidemic to spread. Too many people with these powers would lead to a global war."

Dr. Strauss walked into a corner of the room and dropped to his knees. It was just like before.

"Damn it." he said, tears rolling down his face, "Just like before. Janet, I'm so sorry... damn it."

Dr. Strauss started beating his hands into the floor.

 

[i don't know]

Alec saw the nice man who was going to pay him, appear to die a horribly painful death. Alec felt a surge of anger toward the doctor, ignoring his crying, Alec felt like kicking his face in, but thought better of it.

"You murderer! I'll get you for this! You didn't even let him finish explaining the purpose of the experiment and you KILL him!"

Alec picked up the near dead Jap, and carried him out of the office, and towards the staircase where dozens of people were standing.
He will still talk...
When Mr.Kim coughed on the way to the graveyard, Alec was relieved.

 

[Sporky111]

Takeda stumbled a bit as they emerged from the ether and into darkness. He was disoriented for a moment and held tighter onto Rin's hand, but quickly found small comfort in the light coming on.

The boy tilted his head and looked at the new guy curiously. Takeda understood his words just fine, but he didn't understand what he meant. It sounded like this man had some kind of deal with Rin already, and he'd been waiting for them.

He felt like he should be insulted at being called small, but he also knew it was true. And this man was fairly tall, but not big. "You're not a demon, are you?" Takeda said, making it sound more like a statement than a question. The man definitely wasn't just human, he could feel it.

Spoiler

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, I'm assuming this man is Myrrdin.

 

[SeanTheSheep]

"Excalibur..." Lily whispered, taking a step through the doorway. "How exactly does that help in your plan?" She asked cautiously approaching, and checking behind herself for any kind of trap. Not seeing anything or feeling anything other than her usual wariness, she walked closer to the sword. 'This woman either doesn't have a clue, or she's very dangerous. Merlin isn't the happy-go-lucky wizard like in the stories. He's a cunning, devious, Celtic warlock. If Rin has... "tamed" him, then we're dealing with a serious player. Though her contacts are amusingly unreliable, and that might be our only advantage if things go south unless Zetta has a machine gun up her sleeve.'

 

[JoJo]

The man looked down at the kitsune in distain while nervously stroking his moustache.

"Do I look like a demon? No you stupid boy, I'm the mighty Myrrdin, caster of spells and curses, keeper of..."

He never finished his sentence however, as Rin hurriedly interrupted him.

"Oh be quiet, if you were really so powerful I wouldn't need Takeda and Maya here. The demons will arrive any minute now, so go and check on the followers outside."

Myrrdin sniffed in annoyance and then marched out the room with his head held high, deliberately avoiding looking at either of the two children. After he slammed the door shut Rin quickly turned to them.

"Sorry for my assistant's rudeness. We haven't got much time, so here's what you have to do. Make yourselves invisible, and then hide behind those crates just to be sure. When I bring to two demons in here, the signal for attack will be when I say the words 'divine justice'. Takeda, I know your powers will be weapons enough so do whatever you need to. "

She then bent down on one knee and addressed Maya in a softer voice.

"Now dear, I know your abilities are a bit more limited than your friend's is, so I brought you this."

Rin reached into the pocket of her long coat and brought out a small metal pistol, before giving it to the little girl.

"I've already loaded it with six shots, so just pull the trigger and it'll fire. Make sure you're nice and close to the demons first so you can't miss. It'll make a bit of a mess but I'm sure you don't mind that do you?"

A call came from outside and the woman jumped up with an excited look on her face.

"That'll be them, quick hide now!"

She dashed out of the room without even waiting for a response from either of the two assassins-to-be.

 

[TheDoctor455]

Not knowing what else he could do, Dr. Strauss helped Alec carry Mr. Kimura's body. There seemed little hope in keeping the body in one piece all the way to the graveyard as liquefied organs sloshed around inside the corpse, occasionally leaking out of the dead man's orifices and threatening to burst out of its gut.

"I had no choice," he said, "He had to be stopped... these powers... are a plague... and he was determined to spread it to others. As a Doctor I could not allow it."

 

[i don't know]

With the help of Dr. Strauss, Alec dragged the surprisingly light man into the graveyard, seeing that there was only one person in the graveyard, other than them, Alec made his way towards him.

"Hey, I'm sorry if I'm interrupting something, but there is a matter of serious importance going on right now. I need you to leave this place ASAP so I can start my work. There is no time to explain, MOVE!"

The man was shocked that there was an emergency going on, and ran back to the facility. After that, many ghostly manifestations became visible, and Alec began looking for the one that looked like Hui. When he found her, he began his investigation.

"Hi Hui, it appears that there is a serious problem going on. I need your help to fix it..."

The sad mournful apparition glanced briefly at Alec, and then looked away again in apparent distain.

"Who are you?" she asked in a distant voice "How can you see me, foreigner?"

Alec felt pity for the ghost. It was such a shame that she had died.

"I have no idea, but that is one reason that I've come to you. People with special abilities and powers are now being hunted down! I have come to ask for the sword, and the info about your last experiment."

Alec thought that how he worded what he wanted to say sounded rude, but he couldn't think of a better way of saying: "Hello ms. dead person, I've come to rob your grave."

The wisp of a spirit turned her face quickly to the man.

"That's bad. You're lucky I can speak English, a rare trait among my fellow country people. The sword is a very powerful object, capable of great creation, or destruction. In my opinion Tao Zheng was not worthy to possess it, how do I know you are?"

Alec thought for a long time about why he was worthy of the sword. After five minutes, Alec decided to be honest with his reason, and said: "Well, so far, the safest person to give this sword to is me. Dr. Strauss kills people by accident, Mr. Kim is dying, and there's no one else that knows about the sword. I have done a lot of archeological research in the past years, and I think that I have more experience with swords than anyone that roams this graveyard, not to mention that I'm the only person that will ever ask you if they want to take your sword..."

"Chojun is dying?"

Hui's voice remained as disembodied as ever, but a single ghostly tear dripped down her cheek.

"After all that he did to me... to her... I still love him. I think he was a good man at heart and may his soul find peace. I will tell you where to find the sword, but first you must make a promise to me."

Chojun, OH NO! I left Mr. Kim outside where doctors can't treat him! I need to figure out how to save him fast!

"HUI, we can save him together! Tell me what to do, and I'll do it. While I do that, tell me what you want me to promise. How do you stop someone's insides from liquefying!?"

"Giving him water and making sure he's still breathing will help. Get him to a doctor soon though, that's his best hope. Before I tell you what I did with the sword, you must promise me this: if you meet any lost children on your travels, please look after them for me."

Alec took out a flask of water, and forced it into Mr. Kimura's mouth. After that he gave him CPR. Seeing that the man was now slowly waking up, Alec knew that he was doing something right.

"Wait, I got an idea! I'll take your promise, but can the sword give someone the ability to live, or give life?"

The apparition shook it's head sadly.

"Unlikely, according to legend it wasn't able to save the life of the warrior king was first given it by a water-spirit. We only used it as part of an experiment to test whether powers can be given artificially. Even if it could, you wouldn't be able to reach it in time. I was forced years ago, just days after I left Tao Zheng, to sell it to a woman named Rin. I don't know where she lives but she had a local accent so she's probably still around here somewhere."

The ghost paused for a moment and stared into space before continuing in the same empty voice.

"Be warned though, she has some sort of dangerous ability, you will need to be prepared. I didn't want to give it up to her but as a mortal women I had no choice but to accept her deal. I wish you good luck; may heaven's blessings be with you."

With that the vaporous spirit faded, silence returning to the empty graveyard.

"Strauss, if you want to help me, assist me in digging up Hui's remains. She holds too much info to be left alone, but first, treat Dr.Kim so he wont die, you ARE a doctor."

 

[TheDoctor455]

Dr. Strauss helped Alec take the corpse to the graveyard and then left in a hurry when Alec more or less told him to fuck off. He went back to Dr. Yang's lab. There he found a lengthy journal detailing his experiments on people with special abilities. Telekenisis, flight, shooting electricity from their hands... it all seemed so fantastical... so impossible. While the experiments often varied in their approach... they all seemed to have a single goal: finding a way to control "specials". Most of Dr. Yang's research seemed to have reached a dead end, until he got a chance to look at Alec.

From what he could tell, Dr. Yang had hit upon the idea of using a combination of mild radiation exposure and defribulation to bring back dead "specials" in order to channel their abilities towards some strange purpose... after that point, Yang's handwriting became too erratic and incoherent to read.

"Hmm..." Dr. Strauss said.

Then Dr. Strauss heard Alec running towards the facility with Mr. Kimura's body shouting for help. Despite his earlier anger at the man, Dr. Strauss didn't want Mr. Kimuera's death on his hands... or anyone else's. So he put on a new set of latex gloves and rushed out to help Alec bring Mr. Kimura back into the building for treatment.

"We need to get him into the medical wing... wherever that is..." he told Alec.

 

[Sporky111]

Takeda ran behind the crates as he was told and turned himself invisible. He hugged his arms tight around himself and tried not to shake. Demons . . . how strong will they be? Will they be big and scary?

But he was actually more worried about Maya. The fact that Rin had given her a gun was worrying, especially with the fuss she'd put up over him touching weapons back at the house. Maybe Maya wouldn't even need to use it. Maybe I'll just take care of the fight and she can hide back here.

 

[DktrAgonizer]

Something was wrong here, very wrong. As Rezetta stepped cautiously into the dark warehouse, a tingle of dread went up her spine. She stared around in the gloom, very alert despite the pounding headache she currently had. If she hadn't been so anxious, she probably would have been more awed to the fact a wizard of the Arthurian age was standing right in front of her. As it was, she barely even glanced at the gleaming sword nestled in the case the man held. "I don't get it," she said, still nervously scanning the area around them. "Why'd you bring us in here simply to see a sword? And how do we know that what you're claiming--that this man is really the Merlin and that this sword is really Excalibur--is true?" she demanded, twining her fingers together as she spoke. Despite everything she'd seen today and during the rest of her life, she was finding it all a little hard to swallow at the moment.

Another tingle went up her spine and Zetta recognized what it was that she was feeling; her old life on the streets had taught her well. She and Lily were being watched. And it wasn't just from the rest of the group hanging outside of the warehouse, either. Somebody, or something, was here in the darkness and watching them. The problem was, she couldn't actually see anybody. Either they were hiding themselves amongst the crates, or they were somehow invisible. She frowned, trying to catch Lily's eye and tip her off without alerting the others that she knew something was up. Zetta had grown to appreciate and acknowledge the way Lily kept certain things quiet in order to keep the cards in her favor.

 

[SeanTheSheep]

Lily had dulled her senses a little to keep herself from realising anything and alerting the telepath that Rin had, in case it forced them to act first, and she was now convinced there was a telepath in the crowd outside. Nobody needed an entourage that large just to keep a sword, especially one as elusive as Excalibur. They were here to monitor Lily and Zetta, and if the need arose, kill them, that was something else she was sure of. Lily noticed Rezetta making eyes at her, either concerned or worried, and lifted the small layer of force she had put over her ears, she listened intently for anything belying Rin's façade. After a while of listening, all the while approaching the sword, she heard something behind a pair of crates move slightly. In cased it was just a rat, Lily sent a small push around the obstacle a couple of centimetres above the ground, about eye level for a rat. Eventually, just about where the two crates came together with a small gap between them, she felt resistance in two small, vaguely rat shaped places. They were more heavily set than rats though, and were making a point of staying very still. Moving the push up a little, she felt a pair of ankles. Very small, but they were definitely the shape of a pair of ankles. She let the force go, and kept walking. It was definitely a trap. She slowly edged up shields around herself and Rezetta, but kept her mask of fascination with Excalibur on at all times.