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

[Link_to_Future]

"They looked like zombies, barely aware, when they walked through the door."

"Yeah, something like that. They should be better in the morning."

Adrian didn't feel like bothering trying to explain what had happened to Brendan. Everyone was back and safe right now. There was no need to muddle the evening with discussions of life forces and manipulation. He would probably get enough of that when trying to explain to the other two why they were suddenly back in the apartment.

Brendan programmed the phones and handed them to those still in the room. Adrian couldn't help but frown at the young man's strange initiative. It was like he needed to be in control of everything around him. Usually Adrian would have counted this as a good thing but there was something truly disturbing about that drive combined with his darker schemes.

"That goes especially for you Adrian, I know you love your wife and all, but you can't call her, it risks your new life, as well as the lives of the rest of the group."

Adrian sprung to his feet, his eyes ablaze.

"Are you kidding me?" he said softly, his tone quivering. "Please, tell me that was supposed to be some sort of funny joke Brendan, master of subtle comedy. Because if it wasn't, then boy oh boy do we need to come to an understanding."

The volume of his voice increased and the speed of his flow accelerated as he continued.

"For one, I am not a fucking idiot. The things that I witnessed in the past couple days have made me abundantly aware of the forces that we are dealing with. My entire family was already threatened this morning by a madman who murdered innocents last night to pay off a debt. I watched a woman crash a car into the mall with her mind just to light a fire under our asses. I had the same woman probe the creases of my mind and do..."

Adrian shuddered.

"...horrible things to me. I am more than fully aware of just what is going on here. Why would I ever want to bring my family into this world? What good would it possibly do for me to endanger them like for a stupid reason like that? So before you pull the 'I'm obviously ready to murder people because I keep chemicals in my trunk and am ok at lying' card on me, I cordially request that you make one consideration."

Adrian's voice lowered back to a whisper as he moved closer to Brendan.

"I am not some sort of sheltered buffoon. I see all too well the severity of the situation we are in. If you want to give orders like some sort of god damn mastermind, then be my guest. But don't assume that I don't see what you for what you are. And don't think that I'm going to just lie down and take it when you try to put on the kiddie gloves."

He moved towards the door to the apartment. He needed air. As he opened it, he turned back towards Brendan.

"Oh, and one more thing. Don't ever speak of my family again."

With that, the door slammed behind him.

 

[Berenzen]

"Hmmm, must have touched a nerve. Anyways, I'm off to bed, wake me if Frank or Alice arrive." With that, Ben grabbed Marcus' and Mira's phones and headed to the bedroom. He placed the phones with their belongings and lay down on the cot. It was surprisingly comfortable for a cot.

Oh Adrian, if you see me for what I am, you know that I'm all the more dangerous because of it.

Ben closed his eyes and promptly fell asleep into a dreamless sleep.

 

[Generic_Username]

Spencer opened the window and took his old phone out of his pocket. Hesitating for a moment, he threw it out as far as he could and watch it smash into a million pieces upon hitting the cold concrete.

There goes the rest of my life.

He laid back down on the couch and fell asleep in a matter of minutes.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

The first thing Marcus became aware of was pain. It seemed to pulse out from his cranium across his whole body, making him ache from head to foot. The effort it had taken to reverse Mira's life threatening transformation must have taken more out of him than even he realized.

Marcus opened his eyes to the sight of the bedroom of their flat. He was even more glad to be 'home' (for he might as well start calling it what it was now) than he had been the night before. Privately, Marcus wondered just how many life-threatening situations he would be asked to deal with per week. There was a faint stirring from the bed opposite his. He turned and saw Mira lying there. Relief flooded him upon the realization that she was alright. It seemed that all the last forty eight hours had done was remind him of the people he had lost, and he did not know if he could handle losing anyone else just yet.

Careful Marcus, The voice of reason inside his head spoke clearly, this really isn't the time.

He tried to hold on to the fine details of the dream he had of Naomi, but much like the woman herself, it slipped away from him all too quickly, like water through his cupped hands. He wished she were here. The real her, not Marcus' self-interpretation from memory. As much as he would never admit it, not even to himself, he needed her strength now more than ever. She would know what to say; she had always known what to say.

Marcus sighed deeply and looked up to the ceiling.

"No Naomi, you did teach me one thing." he whispered to himself, "You taught me how to live, but now the rules have changed."

It was with great solemnity, yet also great release, that Marcus allowed it to dawn on him how all this would end. He was going to die, his second chance meant nothing. He could not live forever. In fact, he did not want to. He would beat every challenge set in front of him until he had had enough. Then, he would choose to stop taking Frank's little gifts. Marcus would end their contract, and his life, on his terms. At the end he would be an equal to them, not a slave. One thing was for certain, by then he would probably no longer recognize himself. The years he will have spent on borrowed time would leave no room for the Marcus that had existed before, and the memories he had stored away on that beach would no longer mean anything to him. There would be no-one to put in danger by his decision. He would have nothing left to lose. This, he realized, was the true gift of his power. Not the ability to heal, to save, but the opportunity to remember those he had mistakenly tried to forget. Marcus had no photographs, no letters, nothing physical to remember them by; and so his frequent visits to them through his power would be his way of saying goodbye to them.

It seemed that everyone else in the apartment was asleep. Marcus did not try and join them, as right now he preferred to be alone with his thoughts. Instead he sat up in bed, waiting for what was to come next, and steeling himself for it.

I never break my promises Naomi. You should know that.

 

[Berenzen]

"What are you doing! no, No, NO!" David screamed as the flames licked at him.
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Ben woke up with sunlight softly streaming through the bedroom window. He lay there for a few minutes, thinking about the previous two days, and sighed softly.

"What a life."

Ben got up, trying not to make too much noise, and headed out of the bedroom. It looked like Adrian had come back sometime in the night, he was sleeping on one of the cots in the living room. Ben grabbed new clothes from his backpack and headed for the shower. He turned it on and got in, allowing the events of the previous two days fully soak in and wash away under the cold water. When he got out, fully changed, nobody had yet woken up.

Ben headed to the kitchen, starting up the Coleman camping stove that they had bought at Walmart, and grabbing the frying pan bought at the same location. He grabbed a couple pieces of bread and buttered each side up. When the pan was hot, Ben placed the two pieces of bread it and turned around and leaned on the counter top.

"Should've bought a toaster."

 

[TheIronRuler]

With Klaus content, Frank took the corpse he had left behind to dispose of. As he and Alice looked at the sun rise, they stared at the dead mangled man. "I was thinking of two days", Frank said without looking away from the corpse of a short Caucasian boy in his late teens, his body showing signs of extreme torture.

Alice clicked her tongue and tilted her head to the left. "No... Maybe I can have a go with him?", Alice said cheerfully. Frank stopped her and broke away from the corpse, turning to Alice, "Enough. I know it's hard but... You can't keep this up, Alice". Alice turned away from Frank and began walking away from the patch of dirt a few meters away from the highway where the corpse lied at. "That boy is mine", she said without turning back.

.

Frank entered the apartment without knocking on the door. "Lock the door", he told Ben as he prepared his breakfast. He took off his fedora hat and put it on the table, revealing his hair. "Nice furniture. You have work to do-" Frank said as he walked to the kitchen, "-But first, where is the coffee?".

 

[Berenzen]

Ben walked to the door and closed the deadbolt. He turned to look at Frank

"Morning Frank. We didn't really get a coffee maker, but I suppose we could boil up some water on the stove."

Ben looked at the Coleman, smoke was leaking out of the bottom of the pan.

"SHIT!" Ben ran over to his toast and flipped it, underneath was a dark coating of black char.

"Well, this isn't going to be a fun breakfast. Anyways, as I was saying, I'll boil up some water. Actually I think we have a Bodum, so you can have some in that, but it's still going to take a while for the water to boil up."

Ben looked at the bottom side of his toast- nice and brown. He picked it up and placed it on a plate. Grabbing a pot, Ben put a bunch of water into it and put it down on the still hot stove plate.

He grabbed his plate and sat down, taking a bite of his toast. He grimaced at the char taste. He swallowed, it was painfully bad.

"You said something about work?" Ben said, taking another bite. He would finish it, they didn't have that much in supplies.

 

[TheIronRuler]

Frank's eye twitched as Ben said 'shit' out loud. He walked to the cupboard, opened it and bent down, taking two brown envelopes from the bottom and putting both of them on the table. "Two different tasks. You need to find a thief and you need to conduct an inventory count", Frank slid one of the envelopes to Ben. "Inventory count for you. Take the boy and girl with you, you won't have much of a challenge", Frank looked back at the boiling water. He took a disposable cup and poured some of the water in it. He searched for something in his pocket and took out a small disposable bag, tearing it and tossing the contents in the cup.

"Are the others asleep?", Frank asked Ben.

 

[Berenzen]

Ben finished his food. It was foul tasting, but he'd survive.

"Not yet. They should be soon though." Ben turned around towards the wall connecting to the bedroom and bellowed, "OI. GUYS" Ben continued in a more normal tone, hearing stirring on the couch and the cots, "That should wake them up."

Ben took the envelope and looked at the cupboard.

"Where are you getting these from? We've been using the cupboard for storage and we've never seen them before you just picked them up."

 

[TheIronRuler]

Frank dragged the chair away from the table and sat on it. He took a sip from his cup and sighed. "That's Caroline... She's a magician". Frank looked at the window and stared out to the street, watching the filth in the air float. It didn't mind him. Health issues mean nothing to a dead man. He gulped the entire drink in one movement and put the cup back on the table.

"I don't think you want to know her voodoo".

 

[Berenzen]

"And another name joins the fray. How many of you are there?" Ben asked Frank, "No matter, we'll find out eventually."

Ben poured himself a cup of the hot water. It was cooling down now, enough to drink. He took a drink and felt the warm liquid flow down his mouth.

"And Voodoo eh? Frank, I do believe this is the closest to intrigued I've ever been. Well done."

 

[Generic_Username]

"OI. GUYS"

Spencer twitched in response to the unpleasant awakening. He attempted to sit up as best as he could, but only managed to awkwardly prop himself up with his elbow. Once again he found himself waking to the sight of Frank in the apartment. Aside from Frank, Ben was in the room, holding one of the infamous brown envelopes.

"Did we get an actual job this time?"

 

[Berenzen]

Ben opened the envelope and pulled out the papers. On them there was a location of the warehouse where they would do inventory, as well as the mission parameters. The picture of the contact was paperclipped behind the parameters. He laid the papers out on the table. He heard Spencer speak, he looked up and saw him propped up on his elbow on the couch.

"Yeah, we have to check inventory. Frank told us it would be an easy job, but considering what yesterday was like, and that was an off day, I'm not as sure.

"Papers are here, there's some cooling water on the stovetop right now, it's still fairly warm, you can boil it up again if you want some coffee or something. Bread and butter are in the cupboards, we don't have a toaster, so you'll have to use the frying pan."

Ben continued to study the mission. It was hard to plan for Murphy when so little information is given. They would have to make do.

 

[TheIronRuler]

"The other task is to track down a thief. A hacker that stole information. Give it to the rest when they get up", Frank explained the situation to Ben. He looked at the frying pan and back at Ben, "You need to get a proper kitchen".

 

[Berenzen]

"Well, I maxed out my daily withdrawal yesterday, and we weren't given enough money to get everything. We're working on it, Ok?" Ben explained, "If we have time after today, we'll pick up a toaster and a coffee maker."

 

[Generic_Username]

Spencer buttered up a piece of bread, poured himself some water and sat at the table.

"If we have time after today, we'll pick up a toaster and a coffee maker."

Shit.

He had planned on having some time left after the mission. He knew he would simply have time to leave later, but the more time the better.

"Honestly, I'm up for anything, as long as we don't run into that psycho from yesterday."

He took a sip of his water and leaned in over the table to take a better look at the mission details.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

Marcus, who had not since fallen asleep after his night of soul-searching, listened intently to the others. However, he was in no hurry to go and join them. Every second that he delayed meeting with Frank, was a second that he could use to prepare himself, and make himself at peace with whatever acts of cruelty he may be asked to perform today. He gathered that they had a new mission, and Marcus had no doubt that these things were only going to get tougher. He felt like a soldier on the eve of battle, only hoping that he would return as whole as possible at the end of the day.

He didn't know if Mira or Evey had been woken, and decided he would prefer not to check. While they were asleep, they could still be free to be human, and Marcus couldn't be the one to rouse them from that state of blissful ignorance, not today. He paused at the doorway for one last, lingering moment, before he walked through to the kitchen.

As soon as he had done so Marcus felt the change in him. Gone was the doubt, and the premature remorse; even the physical pain seemed to lessen. In its place was a hardness that made him walk taller than he had before. He was ready.

He had no interest in questions and polite conversation, he had heard everything he needed to hear from the other room. He walked over to Frank and gestured towards the envelope.

"We'll get it done." he told Frank.

 

[Berenzen]

"Mornin' Marcus. I assume you were eavesdropping, so you don't need to get caught up." Ben didn't look up from the papers. There was no such thing as too much preparation.

"Make yourself some breakfast, chances are it'll be a long day, you'll need the energy.

"I can't get any more information out of here. You take a look at them Spencer."

Ben shifted the dossier over to Spencer, then looked at Marcus.

"By the way Marcus, considering that Spencer and Evey already found out about it I suppose I should tell you guys. My legal name is actually Benjamin Debue, and I figure it's best that you find out from me, rather than one of them."

 

[Mr.Ivebeenframed]

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Mira's back was on fire. She could feel the searing heat press hard against her exposed skin. Another piece of metal jabbed against her arm as she tried to move it. It was all silence at first, so silent that Mira thought that she was deaf. The light from the Semi that had hit their SUV shined into her eyes and snowflakes slowly fazed through the beams of light.

She turned her head to see the car behind them had made its way upwards towards the seats. The entire front of the car behind them was wedged into their SUV. Mira could feel the heated hood of the car slowly burn her back but at the moment she couldn't feel a thing. She could even smell her flesh roasting but that didn't concern her. She was concerned for David.

Both of them had taken the backseat with Mira behind the driver's seat and David the opposite. Now everything was twisted. She gazed upon David. Some of the glass fragments from the blinker had carved David's shoulders and the hood was pushing David's stomach further outward.

Mira wanted to cry, she wanted to scream but she saw David's eyes were wild with movement so why couldn't he speak? Then his eyes looked her own. Even in his paralyzed state, the impact of his look remained the same. His emerald-green eyes simply told her, without words, to not worry because everything was going to be okay....

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Mira twisted in her bed until she fell out. The floor greeted her back into the world that she now occupies on borrowed time. In a heartbeat she left the room and went to the bathroom without even giving the others a peep of thanks, for now.

When Mira was inside she locked the door and immediately undressed. She looked on her naked body to see that she was normal again. No bulging muscles, no tearing skin, no bleeding, and no pain. She was once again normal for the time being. She sighed, thinking who could have done such an act and why it had happened to begin with. It happened so quickly but the pain was horrible. She couldn't even believe that it had happened to her but it started to become a reoccurring theme nowadays.

After taking a long needed shower she stepped out in new clothes and went to the living room. She looked to see that Frank was just about done talking to the group for the time being. While she was changing she swore that he said for them to get a proper kitchen. When Mira got out he already left so she went to the couch to talk to the rest of the group.

"Thank you...all of you." Her eyes looked for Marcus but she made it a courtesy to look to all of them. "What did Frank say?"

 

[Berenzen]

"We have jobs. You, Adrian and Marcus will be tracking down a hacker, and Spencer, Evey and I will be checking up on inventory at a warehouse. Other than that, he told us to get a better kitchen. We don't really have much of one yet, we still need a toaster and a coffee maker apparently. We do have a fridge, freezer, microwave and stove however.

"How are you feeling? You looked beat when you walked into the apartment yesterday, like you and Marcus were more or less zombies."

Ben looked at the pair. They still looked tired, Marcus particularly, the man looked like he had a pair of black eyes, from the set of bags under his eyes.

"Hell, you both still look like your eyes are about to go on a trip."