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

[Mr.Ivebeenframed]

Mira hesitated at first. Part of it was her shock of her employer appearing out of nowhere and chopping Mr.Mark's hand off. Then seeing the bleeding man on the floor she ran up to him. With near no morphine, proper bandages, or anything else in her paramedic arsenal Mira improvised.

She knelt besides the man and ripped a piece of fabric from her shirt. The blood came out, nearly gushing on her or the floor. She had to close the wound somehow but with mere clothes she covered where the man's hand used to be. She pushed it tight in an attempt to close the wound. Mira applied as much pressure as she could and tied the cloth so it would impend the bleeding.

"Unless I have some bandages or morphine, Mr. Mark here isn't going to stay conscious very longer..." Mira said to Frank. She didn't take time to glance at what Marcus was doing but she did catch some of what he said.

 

[Link_to_Future]

The chilled evening air stung Adrian's face as he shuffled alone through the streets of the city. A single streetlight flickered from years of neglect and cast elegant shadows dancing around his feet. Adrian's mind drifted back to a couple of months ago when he was walking his daughter home from her piano lessons.

[hr]

"Hold me Daddy...it's scary out here."

He had hoisted the girl up in his arms and smiled at her.

"Now now Sarah...there's nothing to be scared of out here."

Her watery blue eyes had met his own. Everyone had always said that she was her father's daughter and those beautiful eyes of hers were the most striking similarity.

"But Daddy, there are monsters out here."

[hr]

"It looks like I lied to you sweetheart. There really are monsters out here."

The very thought of what had happened in the Larkin residence that evening filled Adrian with disgust and sadness. The smoking man had murdered at least three innocent people right before killing their target in front of their eyes. At first Adrian had been horrified by the audacity of the event. Stunned speechless by the unspeakable crime against decency that had occurred right in front of him.

But as his feet hit the pavement and the chilled air stung his nostrils, a new emotion began to bubble up inside of him.

Fear.

"If you decide to run, don't go back to your friends or family, as you will risk their lives alongside yours."

Brendan's jaded words had done little to help ease Adrian's troubled mind. In fact, they had only caused him to dwell more on the state of his family back home. There were people involved in this "organization" who were willing to slaughter innocents simply because a family member hadn't paid a debt. What would stop them from casually killing Tiffany and Sarah if Adrian even considered stepping out of line? Would they ever be safe now that he had taken this deal?

I can never leave. I must do whatever it is that they say. There is no other choice now.

Adrian had known that this was a shady arrangement from the start. That much had always been apparent. He had even prepared himself for the possibility that the jobs that they would be asked to do would put them on the wrong side of the law.

But after seeing all this...the full gravity of the situation was actually real to him.

The professor came to the apartment building and stopped. His eyes stared at the sketchy looking complex for a long moment as he decided if he really wanted to go inside yet. He had been thankful when Brendan stopped the car and had Adrian walk the rest of the way back. The geologist had almost felt ill because of the horrible silence mixing with his increasing discomfort of being in an enclosed space with Brendan. The outside aid had helped clear his mind...but he wasn't sure if he was ready to let the go quite yet.

He planted himself on one of the front steps and look out into the smoggy sky.

"What have I gotten myself into?"

 

[TheIronRuler]

"Medic", Frank shouted at Mira, "Look at me". Frank raised his left hand in the air and held his pinkie with his right hand. He twisted it in a way not humanely possible, and then his right hand glowed again, leading to Frank cutting his pinkie off. Frank crouched and showed Mira the severed finger. "You can do much better", he tried to say softly but couldn't change his tone of voice, "Look. Release your energy on the wound. Mend it. I want you to restore his hand", Frank held his finger close to his open wound. His hand began glowing in a violet color, and after only eight seconds his finger reattached itself to his hand.

"Go on, Mira. You can do it".

 

[Berenzen]

"Welcome back." Ben said as Spencer walked into the apartment. He watched as the younger man walked over to one of the beds and laid down on top of it.

He turned his eyes back to Evey, who was still standing in the doorway. She had grown less pale, that was good, it boded well for his own skin tone, which had turned pasty white after the dog had torn out his throat. He felt it, the bite marks were still there as scars.

He smiled at Evey, "Looks like we're both bloodless right now. Anyways, I think there's another bed in the other room, there's also the couch. If everyone survives, we're going to have to share. You can take the other bed for now. I'm going to wait up for everyone else, we'll split up who gets what bed later. Get some rest, I'll wake you when everyone gets back."

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

Marcus watched closely as Boss severed and reattached his own finger as if it was nothing. This had to be more than just advanced technology, this was too weird.

"How do you do things like that? he asked "What exactly are you?"

 

[Link_to_Future]

Adrian began to feel numb. He couldn't tell anymore if it was because of the frigid night breeze or if he had allowed his emotions to simmer into a state of emptiness. The events of the last day had left him completely drained emotionally and physically.

His hand covered his mouth as he yawned widely. He had been sitting on this cold concrete stair for the better part of twenty minutes and his body was yearning for sleep. He pushed his body upward with his hands and began making his way wearily up the stair towards the shared apartment.

When he opened the door, Adrian felt his heart sink. Brendan was the first person who caught his eye. The professor needed to talk to somebody about all this but he knew Brendan was not sympathetic to his plight.

Still, he had to make some small talk.

"Well tonight was something....Is anyone else back yet?"

 

[Berenzen]

Ben looked at Adrian, he looked worn.

"Yeah, Spencer and Evey came back a few minutes ago. But you're toeing around the question, who the hell has that kind of power? What he did... well it comes out of you would hear from stories of angels and demons."

Ben shook his head

"More importantly, are we able to access this power? If we can, this changes everything. Anyways, go get some sleep, you're worn out, if you want you can use the couch, I'll wake you when Marcus and Mira arrive so we can discuss what happened on each of our missions and figure out sleeping plans."

 

[SeanTheBlueSheep]

"I don't think I could sleep if I wanted to" Evey said, opening the window above the kitchen counter and staring out. "You've got red on you, by the way" she added, gesturing to Brendan's trousers. "Lot of blood in a human body. More in a fat old guy than in a spindly young girl though." she mused, as if reflecting on a fact she had read in a book. "Probably better that I keep- kept sharp knives though. At least it wasn't painful."

 

[Berenzen]

Ben turned back to Evey after addressing Adrian,

"It's all mine Sugar, the fat old man had a dog with a pretty nasty bite. Seriously, who teaches their dog kill commands? HOW do you you teach a kill command?"

Ben rubbed his throat again,

"If it wasn't for Charon, or maybe it was Alice- it was a new voice this time- I'd be sitting on a darkling plane right now. But, the power that was displayed there after Charon showed up. It was incredible, he managed to wipe out the target's family and the target in less than a minute, and managed to create a flame from his finger to kill the dog. Absolutely incredible power."

He mused at the last words Evey said,

"What exactly happened to you anyway? None of us really got any story from you when we were all here."

 

[SeanTheBlueSheep]

"Well I was clearing up after I made lunch for myself ?my parents were out? and I tripped over something. I think it was the cat, because the alternative is I tripped over my own foot, and no-one wants to have died at their own hand, trust me. As I fell, I tried to catch myself, but my knife landed point-up, and I fell onto it before it tipped over. It slipped between my ribs and went right into my heart." Evey explained in one breath, gesturing with her hands to illustrate her point. "I suppose I'm lucky it was my good knife, because I keep the point on that sharp too, rather than just the blade, so it hurt less, and I guess I died quicker."

Evey took a glass from the cupboard over the sink, and hopped up the counter next to it, filling the glass as she sat. "Oh, and don't call me 'Sugar' ever again unless you want me to cook meatballs for everyone." Evey said, taking a quiet sip to hide her smirk. All she had needed to stop thinking about the violent death she had just witnessed was someone to sass-talk.

 

[Berenzen]

"Whatever you say Babydoll. Better than my death, I was hit by a right hook and died almost instantaneously. Anyways, how did your assignment go?"

Ben watched Evey get her drink and sass back to him. He sort of liked the girl. Sure she might be a little clumsy, at least, that's what her story said about her. But her quick response showed him that she would probably be fun to banter around with.

"Oh, just to warn you, the stuff in the labeled jars in the cupboards there isn't for drinking, unless you really want to face the emptiness again. And the clear liquids in there aren't water. Oh, I'd get away from the window, you wouldn't want a stiff breeze to carry you away."

 

[SeanTheBlueSheep]

"You know, this might be a chance here." Evey wondered aloud. "To find out what our limits are. For example, would your eyes grow back if I pulled them out." She didn't mean eyes.

"As for how it went, the guy stabbed himself in the neck hoping our angel would show up. Turns out the 'guardian' part is a one time deal, and after that you're forging things or committing fraud or whatever. I can only assume Miss Milton did something for your bloke too, maybe gave him a puppy in exchange for a jump-start on a getaway vehicle?" Evey reported. "What's an angel even doing, consorting with a wrinkly bastard like our maleficent manager?"

 

[Berenzen]

"I'd be careful, those twiggy arms look like the might snap if they lifted anything heavier than a piece of paper, we wouldn't want to see you hurt now would we?" Ben continued to tease the girl, she wanted banter, she would get banter.

"Honestly, I have a feeling that our guy, and probably your guy too, used to do what we did. They probably ran, or tried to back out, and as a result we were sent after them. As for what Alice is doing with Charon, well, I'm pretty sure they're connected in some way. Though considering that Alice seems to be the mastermind behind all this... well, I'm not going to be calling her an angel anytime soon."

 

[SeanTheBlueSheep]

"Oh don't worry, I'm sure there wouldn't be a lot to lift." Evey riposted. If verbal fencing was what Brendan wanted, verbal fencing was what he would get. Clearly he hadn't anticipated someone who had been a teenage girl for several years. Combat was how social circles worked. You traded blows until one faltered, or hit a tender spot. Such a practice favoured a tongue as sharp as one's mind, and the scrutinising eye to detail that came only with experience in telling the brand of someone's shoes from fifty paces.

"From what our guy said, she's the real deal. Everything but the chorus, going on what he was implying. Maybe she's a corrupt cop of the angelic host or something, but either way, I'd rather work for an angel than the demon we have now."

 

[Berenzen]

"Oh, you'd be surprised at how much you would have to lift. Some eyes can get really big you know. But if you're so dead set on removing eyes, there's no better path than self-experimentation. I can help you if you want." Oh this was FUN. It was not often that he got to verbally spar with someone, most people didn't appreciate sarcasm like this girl did.

"Anyways, I'm not going to be calling them angels or demons anytime soon. They're just a pair of extremely powerful beings, and they seem to be foils of one another. There's no such thing as black and white, just varying shades of grey, and Charon seems to be a much darker shade. I'm not making any calls on Alice so far, as we just have the testimony of a man who was about to stab himself in the neck who was looking for someone that was probably resurrecting me at the time."

 

[SeanTheBlueSheep]

Evey let out an involuntary snort of laughter "The first time you try to lay a finger on me will be the last time you have fingers in this lifetime." she warned "Maybe I'll make a nice trifle. It is so hard to find ladyfingers around here."

"Shades of grey or not, if this Alice is an angel then she's probably a whiter shade of grey than we could ever be, no matter her actions. I wouldn't imagine that stuff fades off your permanent record. And since when was the Big Bad Boss called Charon? He's no ferryman, just a traffic cop telling us to keep off the bridge."

 

[Berenzen]

"Never said I'd lay a hand on you Dollface, I'd probably hand you the knife, and stand back. Though honestly, I'd be worried that you'd trip and botch it, considering your history. As for why I call him Charon, he sent us back from death, and I'm pretty sure he could send us across if he wanted. We don't have a name for him, so I came up with one that was somewhat appropriate, Charon was the first name that came to mind."

Ben smiled, got up, grabbed a glass and filled it up. He leaned back against the counter at a 45 degree angle from Evey.

"How do you know our employer's surname anyway? Did your target tell you that?"

 

[Link_to_Future]

Adrian laid down on the couch and gently massaged his temples with the tips of his fingers. Brendan had engaged in a fairly disturbing conversation with Evey. The professor didn't mind. It kept him from having to engage in a prolonged dialog with anyone right now. Still, one thing that Brendan had brought up a moment ago had caught his mind.

"More importantly, are we able to access this power?

That monstrous display of ability that had been presented to them...did they have access to it? Or was that just another measure to ensure that they didn't step out of line?

"Who would have developed something this dangerous?" he mumbled quietly to himself.

Nothing made sense to him anymore. Too much information had been presented too quickly for him to efficiently process. Resurrection. Regeneration. Beams of energy being shot from hands. Disregard of morality. Adrian suddenly felt like he was working for some shady organization that would be found on some sort of science-fiction drama. He half expected Mulder and Scully to burst into the room and deal with them in some extravagant fashion.

But this wasn't fiction. This was reality.

 

[TheIronRuler]

Frank reached his right hand out to Marcus, "Give it", he asked for the revolver. Marcus unwillingly handed Frank the revolver. "Heal him.", Frank instructed the woman. He pulled the pin back and aimed at Mira, looking for the perfect spot. He shot her in her upper abdomen,"Maybe you can't", Frank added.

Mira started to bleed. Frank was surprised that her wound showed no signs of healing at all. "Weren't you a medic?", Frank asked her, "I tend to forget".

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

Marcus couldn't quite believe what he had just seen.

"Mira!" He called out, running towards her. She was still breathing, but her breaths were harsh and shallow. She was in shock. Not wasting any time, Marcus took off his scarf and used it to try and stop the bleeding. Applying as much pressure as he could, just as Mira had done with Mr. Mark, he tied the scarf round her shoulder to secure it.

"You're going to be all right." He said to Mira, "Listen to me. Everything going to be fine."

Then he rounded on Boss, with more anger than he had ever felt in his life pulsing through his veins and with every nerve in his body itching to kill. Marcus still had the knife.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU!" He yelled, ready to pounce.