"Rigor Mortis"-The life after death RP(Started/PM for participation)-Arc 4: Closing Loose Ends

[NinjaDeathSlap]

Marcus didn't need telling twice, the sirens were getting closer. He sprinted out of the shop and onto the street. A few people had gathered and were gesticulating wildly at him. If Marcus couldn't make them scatter then they would show the Police which way they went, even if they did get out of here in time. Without pausing, Marcus pointed the gun skyward and fired two shots. The safety catch was already off from when Marcus' victim had used it, so it was a simple matter of pulling the trigger. Instantaneously, the startled crowd scattered in panic.

He got into the car and revved up the engine, before calling out of the window to the others.

"C'mon, let's go!"

 

[TheIronRuler]

Alexei said ordered another man to continue beating Ben. He had to find out who was his employer. He made his way through the workshop, telling off any that stopped working to watch the spectacle. He entered his office and saw two of his men beating Spencer. "News?", Alexei asked the two, "Niet", one of them replied.
"I have no time for you", Alexei said as he opened his jacket and took out a pistol hanging on a shoulder strap. He loaded the pistol and pressed the safety, moving the gun diagnally at Spencer's head.
"Last words, Boy?".
.

 

[Berenzen]

Spoiler: OoC

Edit out. Misunderstood instructions.

 

[Link_to_Future]

Adrian didn't need to be told twice. Nothing would be gained by stalling the inevitable any longer. His legs began to ache as he sprinted out of the building behind Marcus. All he could hear was the beat of his heart pumping in his head and his stuttering breath. The shots that Marcus fired seemed distant and dreamlike.

He slid into the back seat of the car and panted heavily. The adrenaline pumping through his veins made everything around him seem so surreal, like there was a notable disconnect between his body and his mind. Every second that passed lingered for an eternity. Even as he spoke, his voice seemed distant and cloudy in his ears.

"Step on it."

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

As soon as Mira and Adrian were both in the car, Marcus sped off. If he had to guess, he would say that they had maybe had less than ten seconds before the first responders had arrived right on top of them. However, so far they had avoided visual contact with the Police, and Marcus wanted to keep it that way. If they could just put enough distance between themselves and the scene that they had left behind, then they could blend in with the traffic closer to the city center, before making their way back to the apartment. For once, Marcus was happy that this wasn't his first experience of having to lose the Police.

His thoughts passed for the first time in hours to Spencer, Ben, and Evey. He hoped against hope that they were having an easier time of their mission than Marcus was. A thousand possibilities danced though his consciousness of what they would do if they were cornered. He couldn't help being away of the gun, now concealed in the glove box. Would he have the guts to use it? He was already a murderer after all, but while killing an armed assailant in a fit of adrenaline-fueled rage was one thing, gunning down an cop was quite another. Besides, he only knew how to use it in theory, and didn't fancy his chances in a firefight with professionals, healing powers or not. However, at the same time, Marcus didn't know if they could afford to get caught. He couldn't trust Frank to help them, and if he told the Police about what was really going on, he was in all likelihood a dead man.

He couldn't allow it to come to that. For now, he was still incognito, he just had to hold out a bit longer.

 

[TheIronRuler]

Bang.
The man that was once called Spencer was smeared all over the opposite wall from Alexei. His memories, his loves, his dislikes, his little quirks and inspiring words. Gone. The other two hauled him off outside the warehouse to be disposed of.

Evey was luckier than Spencer, as she was only saved by coincidence. Only moments before she would be robbed of her most precious thing did the door to the warehouse open, revealing a well equiped team of assailants all paid for by the Average Joe's salary. The two men at the entrance, crying out in curse words that had not been heard throughout Africa for half a milenia, began shooting at the unwanted guests but were quickly shot down themselves. The chemicles in the vials did not take kindly to bullets and gunpowder, and the situation quickly deteriorated into a showdown with dancing flames. Evey was rescued, or more accurately detained by the force. Ben, forgotten in the corner of their eyes was left there to die as the fire began to eat away at his clothes.

But something was off. The fire wasn't burning Ben. The feeling was the same as the darkness that had surrounded him before. The fire spread all around his body but he could feel more alive than ever. They came for him. His memories. What he was trying so hard to escape.
The grasp of the fire weakened and Ben fell to his knees. He must survive, he has to. The building is burning down and none will dare enter it.

 

[Berenzen]

Ben felt the fire roar through him, making him feel more alive than he had ever been. A memory flashed through him, one that he hadn't really thought about in a long time.

==============================================================================================================

Ben watched David wake, staked spreadeagled and gagged.

"Hello David, I've been waiting for you to wake." Ben whispered ominously, watching david thrash around in a panic. He inhaled, smelling the freshness of the night air.

"We're miles from civilization, David, no one can hear you scream here." Ben reached into his knapsack and pulled out a pair of bottles and a knife. He sliced off the boy's clothes, leaving him fully exposed to the elements.

David smirked, disbelieving that the boy that he had bullied would be so bold as to kidnap him. He spat at Ben as he removed the gag.

"They never listen. Now I'm going to have to make you believe me."

Ben picked up one of the squirt bottles, it had a spray head attached to it. He sprayed the liquid contained in the bottle over David's body and pulled out a lighter. Opening it with a click, Ben marveled at how dangerous a lighter could seem in the right situation. He flicked on the lighter and brought it over David's body, watching the blue flames spread up and down.

David recoiled from the flames screaming in fear, though they didn't touch his body. It was proof that it was the fumes that burned, not the liquid itself.

As the flames died down, Ben bent down over the terrified boy's head.

"Believe me now?" David nodded vigourously.

"Good. Now, you are going to hurt David, just like you made me hurt all those times. I'm going to hold this knife over your eye, and I'm going to make you hurt. If you move your head up, you will die, so I don't recommend moving."

Ben put the knife in his left hand and held it two inches over the boy's eye. Picking up a nearby branch, he swung it down on David's stomach area. As the first blow came down, David screamed, but he did not move his head. The flurry of blows went on for a couple minutes, until they finally stopped. But not once did David move his head

"I'm impressed David, I thought for sure that you would move. For that you will live."

Ben picked up a second squirtbottle and dumped it over David's body, going from his chest down to his groin. Opening the lighter once again, Ben lit the liquid and watched dispassionately.

"What are you doing? no, No, NO!!!" David screamed as the flames licked at him. The pungent smell of burnt hair, urine and feces filled the air. As the flames died down once again, Ben leaned down and whispered, "That was a reminder."

"You're insane, and I'm going to tell everyone what you've done." David spoke for the first time since his imprisonment

"I might be, but who's going to believe you, the druggie that was found with a whore." Ben spoke back, a needle filled with a fluid in his hand, gotten from the knapsack. David screamed once again as Ben took his arm and inserted the needle, depressing the plunger.


==============================================================================================================

Ben stood up, flames alighting in his hand. Throwing flames around in a rage, he set the warehouse further alight. He walked around, incinerating his captors corpses, some of them still alive. Ben threw up his hands and set the shelving alight. Finished with that, he breathed heavily and headed to the back door, leaving a trail of flames behind him.

 

[TheIronRuler]

Gulliver's corpse was gone. The police didn't even realize where it was taken to. Tied to a chair, Gulliver sat in front of Klaus as he kept tapping his cane at the floor. "You're alive, boy. Be grateful. Thank Jesus", Klaus said and stepped to the left. The door behind him opened and revealed a thin, short man, brandishing dark long hair and a beard with dark eyes. He walked forward as if he were floating on the floor and introduced himself, "Bienvenido, I am José ".

.

As the building was burning to the ground, the police began scouring the area. Frank couldn't afford losing another employee. A visible pole of fire came in the direction of Ben, and only a moment later did Frank stand near him, holding his flaming hand over his head and pressing Ben back on the floor causing Ben to lose his flame and consciousnesses. Without hesitation, Frank grabbed Ben and ran back to the apartment. The others are dead now. No need to worry about them now.

Placing Ben on the sofa back in the apartment, Frank boiled some water over the stove. "Wake up", he said as he slapped Ben, "We need to talk".

 

[Berenzen]

Ben woke up with a splitting headache and a sore cheek.

"Wha..What happened?" Ben's eyes focused to his surroundings. He sat up, the room spinning. When he finally feeling the vertigo, he looked at Frank

"Why am I back in the apartment? Where are Spencer and Evey?"

Ben flashed back to the warehouse, what he did.

"What the hell did I do?!"

 

[Link_to_Future]

Adrian slumped down into the seat and closed his eyes. The shock and energy of the past minutes had begun to drain away from his body; a creaking ache replaced the buzz that had filled his joints moments ago. The sirens grew more and more distant as the vehicle pulled further and further away from the scene of the crime.

And what a crime it had been.

Double homicide, one in the second degree and the other likely in the first. Neither of them really needed to die. Sure, Rafik's passing wasn't directly caused by the choices of the team even if it was carried out by their hand. But that other man...were the wounds inflicted to his chest necessary? Did he need to die like that?

Adrian's head shook fiercely. There was no room in his mind for thoughts like that. He had said to Marcus earlier this morning that he would understand the extremes that might need to be taken. They had been warned about the persona that Marcus might adopt. Adrian certainly did not approve of what had happened, but he was not going to go back on what he had said before. He would refuse to let the actions that he had seen forever color the way he looked at Marcus.

He gazed idly at the young actor tensely steering the car away from the mayhem. It was obvious that there was a lot bouncing around in his mind. Adrian briefly pondered about what exactly was bothering Marcus the most? Was it the immediate threat or something reaching a little deeper.

Adrian sat up in the seat a little more. The pain in his joints was beginning to subside. He did his best to look optimistic as he leaned toward Marcus.

"I think we've lost them."

 

[TheIronRuler]

Frank reached for his cigarette pack as Ben woke up. He took out a cigarette and placed it back in his blazer's inner pocket, and put the cigarette in his mouth. He walked over to Ben and pushed him down to the sofa, "Sit", Frank said. He rolled the cigarette to the side and looked at Ben, "Listen Carefully", he said as he snapped his fingers and a flame came out of his fingers, lighting his cigarette on fire.

"I never thought you would have this" Frank began explaining the situation to Ben, "But here it is. You can manipulate fire. So can I. But I must warn you before you set out to the world and turn it to ashes". Frank poured hot water into a disposable cup and sprinkled coffee in it. He put it on the table and sat down on a chair, looking at Ben. "You will burn. Your life will burn quickly and so will your memories. If you can't handle your past-", Frank stopped and looked away, taking the cup of coffee and handing it to Ben. "Then you will burn you a crisp. What you did earlier, a full body burn, is dangerous. You only got a haircut-", Frank points out the burnt hair on Ben's head, "-but it could have been much worse".

"Your past will haunt you. You contempt. Your anger. Your skeletons in your closet. If you can't deal with them, you can't be fully set ablaze.", Frank said, finishing his speech.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

You didn't have a choice. He tried to kill you, and he would have killed the others too. It was you or him, that's not your fault.

Marcus forced himself to keep turning these words over in his mind. If he was going to stay focused, then he needed to be able to justify his actions to himself. Not only had his attack on the armed man been vicious, it had been sloppy. As soon as he had kicked in the door to Rafik's room, Marcus had lost control of the situation. He realized that now. Subconsciously he had become overconfident, believing that his healing powers would be enough to pull him through any situation, or expecting Frank to show up and pull their asses out of the fire all the time. Today had been a rude awakening. In trying too hard to appear in control, Marcus had shown just how out of his depth he really was.

"I think we lost them"

Adrian's words brought Marcus out of his meditation, and he breathed a heavy sigh of relief as he turned to head back towards the apartment.

The rest of the drive could have only been minutes, but to Marcus it felt like half a day. Time had slowed down after the frantic last few hours. Parking round the back, out of sight, Marcus turned to the other two.

"You guys go on up. I'll catch up with you in a minute."

When they had gone Marcus spent a long time looking at himself in the rear-view mirror. He looked positively deranged, spattered from head to toe in the blood of three different people. Popping the glove box, he withdrew the gun and held it for a second. It too had blood on it. A brief desire to press the gun to his own head and pull the trigger gripped him. Scared by his impulse, he disarmed the weapon and placed both parts back in the glove box. Next, he drew out the knife, the blade shining red. Before he'd quite thought through what he was doing, motivated by some primal desire to punish himself, to make himself feel the pain he felt he deserved, he brought the blade down hard into his own leg.

The pain was incredible, worse than being shot, more intense than anything he had felt in his whole life. As the tip of the knife hit bone it burned through his entire body, cleansing his mind. It was terrible, yet also a wonderful act of penance. Not until every fiber of his being screamed in protest did he withdraw.

..............................................................................................

Tim screamed in protest as his face was pushed into the dirt. The adults, observant as ever, liked to keep the more troublesome kids out of sight and out of mind, and so no-one thought to disturb this act of play. The injustice of all of it filled Marcus with a righteous anger that overcame his natural instinct to remain ignored. He marched over to Tim's tormentor with a cold fire in his eyes.

"You leave him alone!"

The boy, whom Marcus did not know well, leered as he relinquished his hold on Tim, who lay panting and whimpering, and turned to face Marcus.

"Or what?" came his slack jawed reply.

He was distinctly stockier than Marcus, perhaps a year or two older, Marcus could not be sure. Marcus did not answer verbally, but instead set his face, jaw locked, eyes full of hatred. His stance was perfectly balanced, ready to fight.

Something in the bully's expression faltered. He might have been bigger, but there was an unyielding determination the emanated from Marcus that spoke very clearly that he was not going to be intimidated, and that he would pull no punches were he forced to throw them. The boy's confidence waned, and he backed down.

"Fuck off, now!" Marcus said darkly, and the bully didn't need telling twice. When he was gone Marcus helped Tim to his feet.

"Th-thanks." stammered Tim, trying his best to stop sniveling and look presentable.

"Don't mention it," Marcus replied, still not quite able to look Tim in the eye. "That's what friends are supposed to do right?"

..............................................................................................

With the memory of happier times; times when he had stood up for what was right, and had been able to avoid indulging in violence with a single look, Marcus repaired his wound. Cleaning the knife on his already stained clothes, he flung it into the glove box along with the gun and slammed it shut. He didn't want to have to be around those instruments unless he had no other choice. The sight of them sickened him, and he would not take them back into the apartment. With his head in his hands, slumped over the steering wheel, Marcus wept.

 

[Berenzen]

Ben listened to what Frank had to say, and nodded. Emotions, is that what he felt earlier? He never really had ever felt them before. Ben wasn't sure that he liked them.

Ben took the coffee from Frank, "Thanks, the three of us were going to go shopping for a few more things but..."

Ben trailed off, feeling the inklings of something. Was this slightly gut-wrenching feeling guilt? Ben pressed on, past the emotion, quashing it. He took a gulp of the coffee, feeling the scorching liquid pass down his throat. Composing himself, he looked at Frank.

"So I suppose we now wait for the others?"

 

[TheIronRuler]

Frank looked back at Ben. A trail of smoke from his cigarette left out of the window. "You are a very troubled boy, Ben. They told me you were a bad candidate. They said you lacked emotions. They said you couldn't handle the burden of it all. You would be a turncoat-", Frank moved his hand and placed it over Ben's. "You will want to burn it all to the ground. Everyone does. You have to resist. You have to remember the things you want to keep alive-". I couldn't say no. I had to burn it all. I had to make it all disappear. Make it all turn to ash . Frank moved his hand away and stood up. He turned back from Ben and walked to the door.

"This never happened. I will be here tomorrow morning".

 

[Berenzen]

When Frank left, Ben sat down on the couch in quiet contemplation. Unanswered questions raced through his brain.

Remember the things I want to keep alive? What things?

He thought about what Frank had said, slowly sipping his coffee, letting the time pass.

"I have nothing to care for, but nothing to hate either." Ben whispered to the empty room. He closed his eyes and started to meditate, focusing inwards, until the room disappeared from his concious thought. Until his head was in complete silence. Ben sorted through the questions, filing them away, compartmentalizing them to deal with later.

 

[Link_to_Future]

The sound of their footsteps seemed to echo through the stairway as Adrian and Mira trudged back towards the apartment. Not a word of protest had been uttered by either when Marcus had stated that he would stay behind with the vehicle for a moment. Adrian wasn't going to question another man's request for a brief amount of time alone, especially after everything that had happened in the past few hours.

Adrian glanced over at Mira as they moved. She seemed off in her own world, not having spoken a word or showed any sort of sign of emotion since they had run from the building. Adrian wondered what could be running through her mind right now. A small part of him wanted to ask her a question, just to easy the tedium of making this same walk that he felt he had made so many times before.

He felt like it would just be a lost cause though.

The pair entered the apartment. Ben was sitting there, drinking his coffee alone. Adrian glanced around and noticed a solemn chill over the apartment. Something was out of place, although he couldn't immediately put his finger on it. It was almost as though the residence was...hollow. He looked to Ben with a hint of concern showing on his face.

"Where are the other two?"

 

[Berenzen]

"Spencer is dead. Evey... I don't know what happened to Evey, she was taken somewhere, by someone."

Ben felt hollow saying the words, as if someone else was saying them. The echoed through the room. He had emptied himself during his concentrative efforts, removing the emotions that he felt. Frank had said it was dangerous, but Ben couldn't deal with them right now.

"It was sheer dumb luck that I wasn't taken as well. They must have missed me or something, I was left forgotten at the side of the warehouse."

Ben concentrated, a small flame lighting up at the tip of his finger. He focused on it, the flickering light consuming his attention. He looked up at Adrian and turned off the power.

"And I learned how to do that, though on a much larger scale, in the ensuing chaos. I would expect to see something in the evening news."

 

[Link_to_Future]

Dead?

The words resonated in Adrian's ears but at first he was unable to grasp the full implication of them. He had watched Ben get his throat torn out by a giant dog. He had seen the blood from his jugular pouring violently over the floor and staining the carpet. He had seen Ben miraculously shrugged this off and come back to life before his very eyes.

So why was Spencer unable to do that?

And Evey was gone? How...why...?

Seeing Ben's manifested power barely even registered with Adrian. The news was weighing far too heavily on his shoulders for him to get too excited about something as seemingly trivial as a Ben causing a disaster with his new ability.

Finally, Adrian found his tongue.

"I don't understand...how were you able to revive and Spencer wasn't? It doesn't make any sense. And Evey...we need to figure out how to find her! Do you have any idea where they took her? We have to do something!"

 

[Berenzen]

"They brought me back by choice. They may not have for Spencer. I was told that I would recieve no rest, maybe it is different for Spencer. Maybe they just have him hanging out in limbo right now, I don't know. Evey, though, we can't do anything about. I'm pretty sure it was SWAT or the FBI or some other acronym run by the government that nabbed her. I have no idea where they would have taken her, and I'm pretty sure it would be suicide to go after her."

Ben sighed, standing. It felt like the weight of the world was on his shoulders. He needed to change this topic, it was more or less over anyway

"How did your guys' day go? Without a hitch?"

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

"How did your guys' day go? Without a hitch?"

"Have a guess." said Marcus as he entered the apartment, still spattered with blood.

He didn't say anything else. He had nothing to say to anyone right now. All he could think about was escaping from his exhaustion. Without waiting for an answer, he crossed into the bedroom where he got undressed, into the shower, and turned the water up high enough that he couldn't hear any of the conversation from the other room. Confident Marcus would have to wait until morning to return. Right now, he wasn't sure if he could look any of them in the face without revealing the very darkest parts of his soul. Right now, he was even more morally objectionable than the person who collected lethal cocktails of chemicals in the refrigerator like it was a hobby. The last thing he needed was for someone like Ben to see how he felt about himself right now. Marcus had no defense.