Aberrant: Dead Rising - Chapter 12c: Fallout Baby

[Courier]

Originally Posted By: Venus

Despite her pregnancy Venus still moved with grace and confidence. It seemed that her current state made her radiate even more beauty than she usually did. Who would dare harm her?

James watched V move, observed the confidence, the question, and kept the answer to himself. Everyone. Jealous/scorned lovers/rivals. And that bomb wouldn't have stopped for her.

But... the confidence was a good thing for her. A step forward.

Originally Posted By: Dawn, OOC

“Not yet,” Void answered. “We’re rounding up everyone now to see if someone is.” She was quiet for a long moment before adding, “This actually isn’t the first time one of the gods has objected to Han’s way of handling things. But she actually fought him directly instead of pulling some back door shit. Personally,” she added with a touch of bitterness and vehemence to her voice, “I think Vulcan was behind this one. The bitter little bastard likes to cause trouble.”

“Vulcan?” Venus asked, her curiosity piqued.

“You can meet him, if you want. He’ll not come seek you,” Void added with a snort. “He’s a recluse, working on his gadgets as much as he can.”

James digested this information and weighted what to ask next. After a bit he commented, "Any organization is going to have disputes. Fox's big way to handle things that couldn't be settled was sending people on their way. Does Han do the same thing? What is Vulcan so bitter about?"

[Dawn OOC]

“Oh, I doubt Vulcan is directly responsible,” Void said haughtily. “But it wouldn’t surprise me to find that he’d stirring up trouble behind the scenes. He’s jealous of Han and his power, and finds his own lacking. And honestly, he should be Hephaestus, rather than Vulcan.” Hephaestus, the lame god.

“Han allows gods who dispute him to leave,” Void replied. “When they challenge his authority, he destroys them.” There was something hard and satisfied in her voice that told James and Venus it had happened before – and that Void approved.

“You know, Vulcan’s Forge isn’t far from your women,” the native Olympian said suddenly. “Would you like to meet Vulcan before you rejoin them?”

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Dillon reacted, trying to stop the bus; Dallas was in motion within moments, pushing past Phobos to help. The super barely had time to notice; he was pulling another arrow, looking for the assassin. Dallas was trying to grab the wheel and press a hand to Dillon’s wound, with predictable results for a divided effort. The bus started to tip.

A small form dashed past the cluster of drivers and under their legs; Phobos had noted the extremely short woman before – he’d thought her a child at first. But she was merely tiny and it allowed her to scramble in front of Dillon and do something, reaching over her head to jerk the wheel. Whatever it was, the bus righted itself, though it was heading for a field.

Phobos saw the attacker pop back into sight through the window; he was ready with an attack but his attacker already had one ready. Reality itself twisted and Phobos saw that daggers were hewing off of all the objects around them and thrusting themselves at the young godling.

Then someone slammed into him, shoving him to the side. Martin bounced off the inside of the bus with bruising force. The man who saved him died, torn apart in a moment from the little daggers.

Click to reveal..

Dillon’s drive:

Carver *rolls* 7d10: 8+2+2+4+6+3+1: 26

[Carver] 11:07 am: Not good...

Dallas’s Drive

Carver *rolls* 5d10: 1+6+6+7+1: 21

[Carver] 11:08 am: Uh...

Pammy’s Drive:

Carver *rolls* 3d10: 10+10+8: 28

[Carver] 11:08 am: Jebus! Pammy saves the day.

Others are readying shots.

Eight shots fired:

Carver *rolls* 5d10: 7+2+3+4+5: 21 = 1 sux, soaked

Carver *rolls* 5d10: 10+1+4+2+4: 21 = 1 sux, soaked

Carver *rolls* 5d10: 1+9+9+4+7: 30 = 3 sux

Carver *rolls* 5d10: 3+6+8+1+3: 21 = 2 sux

Carver *rolls* 5d10: 10+1+10+9+6: 36 = 3 sux

Carver *rolls* 4d10: 9+5+4+10: 28 = 2 sux

Carver *rolls* 4d10: 2+6+3+10: 21 = 1 sux, soaked

Carver *rolls* 4d10: 10+9+6+7: 32 = 1 sux, soaked

Damage:

4 ping damage:

Carver *rolls* 1d10: 1: 1

Carver *rolls* 1d10: 5: 5

Carver *rolls* 1d10: 6: 6

Carver *rolls* 1d10: 1: 1

No damage to Primordial

Primordial is shooting Phobos with Spatial Shock Wave. I didn’t see any note that Phobos was holding a dodge for a return attack, so I assume not. Correct me if I’m wrong.

Primoridial’s attack:

[Carver] 11:25 am: Last two are megas.

Carver *rolls* 10d10: 1+1+10+10+5+6+9+4+6+8: 60

[Carver] 11:25 am: 5 sux

4 overage

Damage:

Carver *rolls* 10d10: 9+9+2+10+3+10+7+4+6+10: 70 = 16 Lethal, Riley’s dead.

Riley’s push on Phobos:

Carver *rolls* 6d10: 5+3+9+3+10+4: 34

Damage from the push

Carver *rolls* 3d10: 2+8+5: 15 = 1 bashing to Martin.

Phobos is up.

[Courier]

Originally Posted By: Dawn, OOC

“You know, Vulcan’s Forge isn’t far from your women,” the native Olympian said suddenly. “Would you like to meet Vulcan before you rejoin them?”

James shook his head and said, "The girls were scared, I'm sure they heard combat. Let's let them know we're alive. Void is an interesting name... if I may ask, what do you do? And do you have a healer around here?"

Lame god of the forge. I was blind, I wonder how long it will take him to heal. But let's not lead two pregnant women to someone who might be the main villain. And... scared armed people... let's not sneak up on them.

James said loudly "Yo! We're back. I lost my clothes again."

[Einherjar]

Phobos gritted his teeth, biting back his rage and grief at yet another of his people dying as he focused with stone-cold precision on the ebon features of the attacker. Riley's blood was all over him and the inside of the bus, but Martin adjusted for the slick footing and loosed, the barbed arrow flaring brightly as it leapt from the string and buried itself deep into the Olympian's (he assumed) eye socket. The black figure was hurled from the side of the bus, and he caught a glimpse of it rolling over and over on the asphalt as Dillon and the short woman worked to bring the bus to a stop.

"See to Dillon!" he barked, running to the back of the schoolbus, kicking the emergency door open and leaping onto the road, drawing another arrow as he did so. The attacker was unmoving, but he caught another diving towards the slumped figure. He couldn't make out details beyond that it was easily man sized and had wings - it was moving too fast and the single-minded young man was going to make damn sure that the black-skinned nightmare didn't kill another human being. With a whistle and a thunk, another barbed arrow feathered the prone attacker, then Phobos nocked again and waited to see what else was going to try and hurt those under his protection.

Click to reveal..

spending 2qp for Artemis' Bow and Godslayer.

Taking a shot, aiming for the eyeball: +3 difficulty, negated by Artemis' Bow (3 auto succs)

Einherjar *rolls* 16d10: 2+2+9+3+8+6+9+9+4+2+5+1+10+10+10+5: 95

[Dozer] 4:28 am:     

[Einherjar] 4:28 am: Steady Hand quality

Einherjar *rolls* 3d10: 4+1+5: 10

[Einherjar] 4:29 am: poo

[Einherjar] 4:29 am: 7 net succs

-14 soak (Godslayer)

Damage roll: 8d10L + 1 Claws + 5 extra hit succs + 4 called shot

Einherjar *rolls* 18d10: 2+8+8+5+10+1+5+9+2+5+1+10+7+8+7+10+5+5: 108

[Einherjar] 4:34 am: Now that's a damage roll

9 Lethal to the eye

Second shot on subsequent round: Always double-tap

2 QP for Godslayer and Artemis' Bow

[Einherjar] 4:48 am: last die is a mega

Einherjar *rolls* 16d10: 6+7+7+2+4+7+4+8+5+2+1+6+2+1+5+2: 69

4 succs +3 auto

7 net succs

-14 soak

Damage roll: 8d10L + 1 Claws + 5 extra hit succs

Einherjar *rolls* 14d10: 4+5+3+1+6+8+8+2+5+5+1+7+10+1: 66

4 more lethal to Primordial

[Venus]

Venus was just as ‘new’ at Olympus as James was and her curiousity was more than piqued to meet all the other Olympians. Unfortunately the sabotage was poorly timed but she knew that panicking or complaining about it wouldn’t improve their situation and would only damage Han’s reputation as leader.

”I’m sure there’ll be plenty of time to meet Vulcan and all the other Olympians once we’ve settled in. Right now I’d prefer having this little annoying sabotage to be dealt with as swiftly as possible. I hope it is not me who’s the cause for all this?”, Venus wouldn’t be surprised if someone was jealous at Han because of her... although Venus had proven that she freely chose with whom she’d be intimate and Han either approved or had little choice but to accept her nature...

[Dawn OOC]

“Funny how every time you wander off you come back naked,” Jo said, but she was grinning as she spoke.

“It’s a gift,” James assured her with a wink. He took quick stock of his family; Jo and Pat were at the table, playing cards. Jan and Helen were standing by the wall, their arms crossed as they talked softly. Nash was sitting down; the young girl he’d left with them was rubbing her feet. He gave her a look and his ‘wife’ shrugged. “She offered,” Nash said.

“Why are you covered in dirt, though?” Helen asked, her voice quiet. She and Jan seemed tense and uneasy.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The massive griffon settled over the black form. Martin watched warily as the creature stepped on the still body. Golden leonine eyes the size of saucers considered him; then the wings snapped and the creature was gone, taking the body with it.

“Was that-?” Fiona asked.

“Martin’s given them their fill of blood,” a man said, his voice almost a crow of victory. But with the inside of the bus plastered with blood, a man dead and another badly injured, there didn’t seem that much to celebrate.

[Courier]

James replied humorously, "I go off with a gay man, come back naked and dirty... are you sure you want to know what happened?"

Helen's eyes narrowed. Jo rolled her eyes and, willing to play the part of the straight man, asked the obvious question, "How do you know he was gay?"

James replied, "Um... I think I'll pass on answering that."

Helen made a 'get on with it' motion and James sighed and said seriously, "Right... something ugly happened at the armory. Murder. Suicide. Massive Screwup. Probably some combo of those. I don't know the details, Han and the rest of the crew are running around looking into it. On a side note that man continues to impress me."

James continued, "It wasn't zombies and it wasn't an invasion. We saw this sort of thing at Fox's every now and then, smart money says some combination of insanity and stupidity. Anyway, I walked into the closing act. Ten, twenty seconds earlier and I could have shut it down." James voice was a hair uncertain about that last part. If it'd been someone with a deadman switch then maybe not.

Somewhat exasperated with himself he detailed his failure, "Instead I got blown up, again. And I lost my clothes, again. And a wall fell on me, again." From James tone it wasn't being blown up, naked, or having to dig his way out that he found annoying so much as the 'losing' part. He'd failed to stop the whatever and he'd failed to keep Bryon alive. Bryon had been very annoying but the world seriously didn't need one more corpse.

James tone softened in a 'time for the bad news' way and he added, "Other than me, we don't know who else was involved, it's look at the bodies time. But..." James' eyes settled on the girl washing Nashwa's feet. What he had to say would be hard on her but she needed to know, "...Bryon's dead. I saw the explosion take him, I'm sorry, he didn't deserve it."

Let's skip repeating his dying words.

[Einherjar]

"And he gave us ours." Martin said, untensing and replacing his arrow back in its quiver. The adrenaline of the fight ebbed swiftly, leaving behind a sick sense of mental exhaustion as he turned and looked back into the blood-drenched bus. "How's Dillon?"

"Bad." Dallas told him. "Luckily a couple of the others have some medic skills. Wound's clean from what I can see, but he's lost a lot of blood." A muffled cry came from the bus. "They're stitching him now."

"I can help." said Fiona, shouldering Martin's dad's rifle and hurrying back to the bus. Martin watched her go, his features expressionless as he watched a couple of the men pull the sheet-wrapped remains of Riley from the bus whilst some more swabbed out the bus.

"Make a cairn." he told Dallas and the others as he climbed into the bus himself. "I'm going to help with Dillon. Five of you keep lookout, and watch the skies too."

For the next half hour the refugees worked. Some built a cairn of rocks around the body of Riley, whilst Fiona stitched Dillon's wound and Martin made sure the man felt no fear, if not no pain. Finally they stretched the wound-weary man out on a bench seat and, leaving two people with him, the rest gathered around Riley's grave. Martin stepped forward.

"Riley saved me." he said in a quiet voice. "I wouldn't have asked him to, and he shouldn't have had to. Dillon is hurt badly. I blame myself-" he held up a hand as Fiona started to speak. "Wait. I blame myself for not being alert enough, or fast enough. I blame myself for not finding some way to keep an eye on the sky. But more than that, I blame the Olympians. We were in Tartarus because they had to be gods and subjugate us. Some of us died to escape that cave. And even after we fled their damned mountain, they came after us because they would rather kill us than let us alone." He raised his left hand, Riley and Dillon's blood still drying on it, and gazed levelly round at the watching Tartarans. In a lightning fast motion, he drew his hunting knife and ran it across his palm, clenching his teeth against the pain.

"Riley shed his life's blood for me. I plan to repay that debt." Phobos said hoarsely. "My father, your friends and relatives left behind... All of those debts will be repaid." He balled his hand up into a fist as he spoke, feeling the warmth of his blood filling the lines of his palm before he opened it again and slapped it down on a large rock at the top of the cairn. "I will see you all to safety, but then I'll be coming back here and making sure than no more human beings die for their amusement and greed. I will kill every single Olympian." He raised his hand, leaving behind a red print. His blood. Dillon's blood. Riley's blood. "I will show them as much mercy as they showed us."

The silence was deafening as he stepped away from the cairn and bowed his head. "Goodbye, Riley. Wherever you go, I hope it's peaceful." he said simply. Then he pulled a handkerchief around his hand and tied it off before heading back to the bus, leaving the others to say their own farewells before resuming the journey.

[Dawn OOC]

The girl’s eyes teared up. “My boyfriend… he’s dead?”

“Boyfriend?” James asked before he could stop himself. For the first time, he remembered: men could be interested in both sexes. “I mean… I didn’t get that vibe between you two.”

Jan gave him a look that communicated how stupid she thought he was being right now; Helen just moved to the girl’s side and put her arms around her. “I’m sorry,” she murmured as the girl began to cry.

It wasn’t much longer before Hercules came into the room. The big man looked shaken to the core; he was pale and his eyes were lost. “We know what happened,” he said, then paused and added, “mostly. A god went rogue and took some weapons and fled with his followers. He killed some of us on the way out.”

“Which god?” Void asked nervously.

“Phobos, according to some of the prisoners we caught,” Hercules replied. “We’re interrogating them now. The worst part is he blew a hole outside, so we need to patch that up.”

[Courier]

James said, "Considering Han's policy of letting people like that leave, this seems amazingly senseless. I haven't met Phobos, what do we know about him?"

He'd half expected Venus' blank look, but Void didn't seem to know anything either. What on Earth is going on? Oh, and duh. When Herc said 'killed some of us' means 'killed some of us gods'. Well...

Get organized James. War footing. First I want to look at this hole to the outside. How naked are we? Could I find my way here if I missed Han's gate? Second this sounds like a good time to mention to Han my tracking abilities. Third...

James said, "Interrogating? Hmm... now who do I know who is really good at that sort of thing?" From the non-sexual way Ares stared at Venus, he already knew the answer.

[Dawn OOC]

“Circe is questioning them,” Hercules provided. He smiled carefully at Venus, his poise still shaken. “I’m sure she’d welcome your help.”

Venus smiled and sauntered over to the big man. “I think you need a little help right now,” she whispered. He started to protest, but she caught him by the cheeks and kissed him lightly. James watched as he slowly relaxed, his hands sliding up around her midsection to pull her closer. When Venus pulled back, he seemed calmer, more stable. “How about Void takes me to Circe, and you take James to the hole?”

Hercules nodded. A few moments later, the two big men were walking together though the halls. Some of them weren’t large enough to allow them to walk comfortably side by side. “So… hell of a first day, right?” Herc asked, laughing a little.

[Courier]

Quote:

Venus smiled and sauntered over to the big man. “I think you need a little help right now,” she whispered. He started to protest, but she caught him by the cheeks and kissed him lightly. James watched as he slowly relaxed, his hands sliding up around her midsection to pull her closer.

Interesting... Herc isn't a Dan-like cold uber-warrior. Kid who lucked out? Lots of survivors lived this long by not needing to murder their way out of a city. He hasn't had 'hero' burned out of him yet. Hasn't seen enough of his friends die and have to kill their corpses.

Are they lovers? Maybe. Let's not think about V doing orgies just now.

Quote:

When Venus pulled back, he seemed calmer, more stable. “How about Void takes me to Circe, and you take James to the hole?”

Now that's an opening line. Open mouth, insert foot, the girl weeping over her dead boyfriend will no doubt enjoy any number of comments you can make about V sending you after holes. Your wives are right here too appreciated that too.

Shockingly there's no good way to tell someone their loved one is dead. And I still have problems thinking of them as boyfriend and girlfriend. I mean... imagine Jo offering her rack to some guy. Herc here perhaps. Is it reasonable that you're not going to get pissed? Do you offer yourself to him as well?

...turn that reasoning on it's head. How about if Jo were offering herself to V. What did you do when you walked in on Jill and V going at it?

...

Right, moving on.

Quote:

Hercules nodded. A few moments later, the two big men were walking together though the halls. Some of them weren’t large enough to allow them to walk comfortably side by side. “So… hell of a first day, right?” Herc asked, laughing a little.

James rolled his eyes ruefully and replied, "I've had worse days, but those were all pretty memorably too. Thanks again for the big dig."

James asked quietly, "Who'd we lose?"

Herc swallowed and replied, "Bast. Artemis."

James said, "Darn. We can't afford to lose female supers like that. Goddesses."

Bast had fur and Artemis is supposedly a man-hater.

It's not like you wanted either for yourself, and you're confusing the myth with reality. After all, myth has it that... that Ares is a brutal thug. You pick the name which calls to you.

Ares was a rage fighter, I'm not.

And future generations will care? You don't indulge in rage but you feel it and inspire it in others.

Whatever Artemis was, she is dead and worrying about 'might-haves' isn't productive.

James said, "Between that and being buried I'm starting to dislike this Phobus. What can you tell me about him?"

Herc replied, "I never met him."

James said, "...huh?"

[Venus]

Venus tried to remain as calm as possible given the unexpected and sudden impact of the latest news. Someone going rogue? One of the Gods? But why? Even if there was a disagreement with Han's politics there should at least be some kind of meeting to settle any potential conflicts... and if Han had know anything about this, he surely would've told her.

They were already out of earshot for James when her thoughts led her to one conclusion - Han wasn't aware of this 'Rogue' God which posed a potential threat since he was obviously hostile.

"This Phobos - he isn't one of 'us', is he? Han would've told us if there was trouble with one of Olympus' Gods. I'm absolutely sure he would've asked me to look into this if he knew there was some trouble to expect from him... or he wanted to protect me and keep me away from him... hmm...", Venus finished delving back into deep thoughts. This whole thing wasn't how she imagined her arrival at Olympus. Maybe someone knew about this and was trying to prevent her to settle here? Han would've to answer some questions once they had some privacy.

[Dawn OOC]

5 xp