Author Topic: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm  (Read 33283 times)

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Chaosvolt

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Re: CDDA: Adventures in Cataclysm
« Reply #5070 on: October 02, 2018, 03:13:47 pm »
(( Written with Wilson. ))

   Heather hummed a bit to herself as she walked along an old hiking trail with Taji, hard ground hindering the overgrowth that had started to take over the place in the absence of management. Nonetheless it was relaxing, far from any known anomalies, infested towns, or places known to be patrolled by God’s Army, making it in her mind a romantic place to visit with him.

   Another was following along too, though out of sight. Aurelia had been occasionally trying to get to know Taji as well, but her current stalking hadn’t been related to that. In truth, she’d puzzled out Heather’s little quiet place, and thought it’d be perfect to enjoy time to herself away from the old mage hunter’s constant scrutiny. That she found the two strolling along today was an amusing bonus in her mind.

Less desirable however, was the conversation she overheard, signs of voices just off the beaten path. A chattering of Russian, before one of them spoke up in English, a taller man in a red dress shirt. “English, please…” he grumbled. There was a hearty chuckle shared among the others, before one spoke up, noticeably less fluent-sounding.

“He said the fuck who busted Pyotr’s leg has a girl with him. Probably won’t like us roughing up his boyfriend, but that’s her fucking problem. She wants to do something about it, she’s welcome to try...” one of the men grumbled. Aurelia was glowering at the group through the foliage, pupils narrowed. The first thing she did was retrieve a small vial from her messenger bag, containing a view motes of blood essence. The first thing she thought of would’ve been horribly messy, and the last thing she wanted was for Tajima to stumble into what’d be left of her handiwork.

Instead, a few motes of blood essence drifted up, floating by her will, before focused into a spell. As the group turned and headed towards the treeline, the trees obscured her work, revealing to them what seemed to be the path they were going to ambush Taji from, when in truth she was leading them deeper into the forest, splitting the group up with a moment’s misdirection.

Tajima stopped suddenly, stopped, putting a hand in front of Heather. “Wait…” He said quietly, glaring at the group walking towards him. They carried long, blunt weapons. Ones that stood out was a baseball bat with a steel pipe-cap, and and another was a steel sledgehammer, wielded by a man who reminded Taji of Sergei. Without any of Sergei's integrity, however.

“So this is where you’ve fucked off to.” the man with the hammer remarked, glancing over at Heather. “Cute girlfriend you’ve got there.” he added, prompting Taji to glare at him. “She’s not my girlfriend...” he said, Heather giving Taji a concerned look before he spoke again. “Seems a bit pointless chasing me into Maine over a drunken brawl, you know. What would Sergei say?”

“Probably something pithy about revenge. Boy never did have the stomach for business.” he remarked. “Good thing he’s not here though. He wouldn’t understand. You put the hurt on my brother, and I’m not going to let that slide just because you walked off into God’s Army territory.” he said, taking a step forward. “Not as bad as those augs must be treating you. You know Pyotr would likely disapprove of you risking your life out here just for revenge, Savely.”

The man spat at the ground between them, looking up with a glare. “Don’t think you can try talking your way out of this. Or are you going to pussy out just because we’ve got you 12 to 1?” he said, only for Heather to step forward. “Funny. Looks more like 6 to 2 to me.” she said. At that, the bunch of them started laughing, though soon Savely was the only one laughing, the others looking back warily. “Really, you can’t be serious, this little girl is going to...wait...” He then looked back behind him. “...blyat.

Tajima sighed, cracking his knuckles. “Hoped it wouldn’t come to this… Heather, go. I caused this, I’m going to deal with it” He said, raising his fists. Heather grumbled a bit. “Oh for fucks sake, you’re stubborn...” she grumbled, before finally backing off and heading back the way they came. Taji looked back as she ran off, “Good. There’s nothing holding me back, If you all plan on taking me down. I’m dragging you straight to hell with me.” He stared Savely in the eye, “What did Sergei call you… Ah, that’s right. Little Baby Savely. That was before you got those augs though…”

Savely glared at Taji as a sudden tension filled his frame, grimacing noticeably as his augmentations kicked in. It always made his joints ache to use them, but it’d be worth it, he thought. He simply raised his hammer, stepping forward with two of his compatriots flanking him, muttering something in Russian as they advanced on him…

Elsewhere, the other six gopniks gave a blank stare at the sight before them. The hiking trail just abruptly ended, vanishing into dense underbrush, so thick as to be impenetrable. There was no sign of the other half of the group, nor the two they were following. One of them muttered something only for the one less fluent in Russian to speak up. “What’d he say this time?”

The man at the front whirled around, furious. “He said we’re LOST, you fucking id-” He stopped, going pale. The others whirled around as well and saw the cause of his reaction. The path they’d just been walking down was gone, and now they were completely encircled by sprawling, dense woodland.

“What kinda bullshit is this...” the man in the back muttered, only for a woman’s voice to resound around them. “You shouldn’t be trespassing here, you know...” One of the men grumbled a bit at that, raising the pipe he had on hand. “Who the fuck is out there?” he shouted, only for a mischievous giggle to echo through the forest. “You don’t get to ask the questions, child. What are you doing in my forest?”

“Fuck you and fuck your forest...and fuck Taji for thinking this shithole is a fine place to take his girlfriend out.” the man grumbled, swinging the pipe at a tree trunk to emphasize his point. To his surprise he stumbled right through, put off balance as he swung, as though there was nothing to connect with. Indeed, there wasn’t. One of the men turned in a panic to run the way they came, only to bounce off what seemed to be thin air, the whole forest seeming to shift again in the blink of an eye..

“That one is under my protection, children...and trust me, leaving the forest won’t change that.” The group of them were now increasingly on edge, realizing that the trees seemed to give way to a heavy fog, and even the midday sun no longer seemed to offer much light. “So I suggest you rethink your decisions, give up whatever folly has led you here, and...”

In response to the darkness, one of the men fumbled with a matchbook, the only thing he had on hand, only for a sudden gust of wind to snuff it out, seeming to blow away the fog for a moment. Strange shifting shapes could be seen all around, except a single path through the forest. The next word they heard sounded much closer, a whisper in their ears. “Run.”

Aurelia watched as the six men screamed, running in blind panic at mere illusions, along  a path that’d take them well away from where Taji would be, moreover most likely they’d be running around until eventually stumbling out the way they came. She had a shit-eating grin on her face, trying her hardest not to double over with laughter, and the downright childish giggling only added to the effect of the “haunted forest” they fled from. It took her a moment, thankfully after they were well out of earshot, before she said something in between the ensuing laughter. “Always wanted to do that...”

Back at the path, The hammer was brought down and Tajima dodged to the side. Making sure to stand on the hammerhead, as he kicked Savely across the jaw. Two of the six took the opportunity to rush past Taji, heading down the path, as Savely just gave a bloodied grin. “Can’t let your girlfriend come running home to mama...now the rest of you, find where those idiots ran off to, while I give the runt what he deserves...”

Heather grumbled a bit as she ran down the path, thinking that the first thing to do is get the others to assist, uncertain if Taji would be able to handle all of them at once. It was as she stopped a moment, panting and resting against a tree trunk, that she heard someone. “And where you think you’re going?” The two men that bolted past Taji had caught up alarmingly quick, one clutching a bat as the other idly twirled a knife, drawn from a neck sheath. “You’ve got to be kidding me...” she grumbled, sizing the two up and raising her arms, hands in front. “Look, whatever you’re here for, th-” One of them interrupted her. “Save it, shorty. You’re coming back with us, so you can watch. If you ask nicely, Savely just might let him go with just every arm and leg broken...”

A lead-pipe was thrown from the treeline, clocking the one lacking the knife in the head. “The f-!” One of them shouted, before being interrupted by a hand on his shoulder and another scooping the knife out of his hand. “Oy. Knives are dangerous, y'know.” The eye-patched man mocked. The Russian groaned a bit, stumbling a bit. “Who the fuck are you, you fuckin’ ...” Heather meanwhile backed up a bit, glancing back at him. “There’s four more attacking a friend of mine, six more evidently lost out there...”

Nashio hmmphed, before scooping up the pipe and cracking one of the two russians in the head with the pipe, stabbing the other with his own knife in the back, leaving the knife in the wound, and cracking the first russian again across the jaw. He knocked the former knife-owner out with a dress-shoe to the face, “Go wherever you were goin’, [Sweetheart]. Uhh…” Nashio commanded, before yanking the knife out of the last russian and giving it to her. “Here.” He said as he ran down the path.

Heather grumbled a bit at that, taking the knife and continuing on. “Alright, I think Maya and Bigby should be back by the park entrance, they’ll be able to handle them...” she said, breaking into a run.

Elsewhere, Aurelia grumbled a bit as she made her way back towards the hiking trail, hearing a shout in Russian. She spotted one of them, the three sent after the rest of the group having split up to cover more ground. The man was running, shouting, and it only took a moment’s focus for the sanguinist to misdirect him such that he slammed full-tilt into a tree, concealed from his view. Next thing he knew, he was being held with his hands behind his bag, a short length of rope tying them together, before he was slammed face-first against a tree trunk he could’ve sworn wasn’t there a moment ago. Not realizing that two others had ran off as well, she made her way back towards the hiking trail, thinking she’d taken care of their attempt to find the stragglers.

As Nashio made his way back down the path, he recognized who he was supposed to save. His face lit up as a wicked grin formed on his lips, “[Tajima-chan! I've finally found you!]” He cackled as he drew his tanto, “[Do you need an assist, my brother?]” Nashio continued on, prompting a nod from Tajima.

Savely grumbled a bit as he backed up, only to be startled by someone calling out. “Taji! Are you alright? I’m here, I...oh. Bad boy, you only left one of them for me.” Aurelia teased, glowering at the gopnik. “Two ran after Heather, three after their friends.” Taji answered.

Naisho glanced over at Aurelia, only to give a low whistle. “Oppai...” he mumbled under his breath, before speaking up. “I handled the two.” Aurelia then smiled a bit. “I scared off six, and...took care of...one.” She looked behind her warily, hearing a rustling before sidestepping a lead pipe thrown at her.

Nine men stepped out onto the path, one of them with a noticeably bloodied-up face and broken nose, and one of the others spoke up. “That voice, that’s her. Some kinda fucking witch.” The man with the broken nose simply smirked a bit, before spitting up a cracked piece of tooth at the ground between them. “See? Just trickery. Funny, I wasn’t expecting your so-called forest spirit to be some girl with bat wings.” he remarked, prompting a glare from Aurelia. “Remind me to actually knock you out next time I have you tied up...”

Nashio rose a brow at Aurelia, “Not the best at this, are ya’?” He shouted, before shaking his head. “Forget it! Just keep these cowards off Tajima’s back!” Nashio continued, grabbing one of the gopniks running towards Tajima and Savely. He threw the man at the group, knocking many of them over as Nashio got back into the fray.

Aurelia simply chuckled a bit. “And here I was hoping Taji could handle a mere six of them.” she said, only to smirk as she lunged forward at one of them. He took a swing at her with a bat, the woman sidestepping and pulling him forward with his own momentum. That tail lashed out as well, striking his knee with enough force to twist it a bit. It wouldn’t been merely painful rather than enough to break something, but she readily used that to further send him toppling facefirst to the ground, followed up with her drawing a peculiar silvery knife from its sheath.

“Mine’s prettier.” Nashio quipped as he readied his tanto, prompting a little fanged smile from Aurelia. “And mine’s bigger.” she responded, leading Nashio to chuckle and mumble something indistinct in Japanese. As they stood between the others that were still conscious and Tajima, Savely squared off with Taji. “Your augs aren’t going to hold out forever you know. This is only going to end in more senseless bloodshed.” he said calmly, prompting Savely to grumble a bit. “Fuck you. I told Pyotr not to come after me if something goes wrong. Not like he’s going to limp all the way to Maine anyway. One way or another, I’m ending this...” he practically growled out, before lunging at Taji, sledgehammer overhead.

Meanwhile, Nashio practically cackled a bit as the two circled and picked at the group, keeping them on their toes and preventing them from joining the fray. A quick flick of his tanto and he hamstrung one, pushing the man into the person charging at him, while Aurelia drove her athame into the arm of another who took a swing at her, using it as leverage to floor him, opening muscles and tendons in the process. “Just try not to get in between them.” she remarked, before another of the men cried out as the abnormally-sharp silver blade was jabbed into his back.

Nashio grinned at Aurelia, before driving a knife in another russian’s elbow. “You need more grace! He teased, dodging to the side as another swung the trench-bat at him. Accidentally, The russian brained his own comrade as Nashio cackled at him. The yakuza’s footwork could be akin to dancing. He ducked with a twirl, as the one wielding the trench-bat swung at him again. As a counter, Nashio stabbed the knife into his side, and kicked the butt of the knife to drive it in deep.

Aurelia, in contrast, made short, sharp movements that left her attackers scrambling to catch up, and catching them right as they lashed out, demonstrating again by shifting a bit, sending the next person to lunge at her tumbling into another person charging at her. “A little viciousness has a beauty all its own.” she teased, and as one man charged at Nashio while he was withdrawing the knife, she sent the person she previously staggered toppling over in front of his attacker, tripping him.

   Meanwhile, Tajima weaved out of the way of that hammer-swing. “You’re better than this, Savely. You don’t need that hammer.” He barked, punching the large brute in the abdomen,then in the ribs, then a kick to the underside of his jaw. Savely spat out a tooth and hit Tajima square in the ribs, knocking the air out of his lungs. He let out a loud wheeze as he fell to one knee, The russian rose the hammer as Tajima caught his breath. He glared hard as the hammer fell, before it collided Taji gripped the fore-end of the handle and struck the russian hard in the chest with his palm. The sledge slipped out of his grasp and into the Yakuza’s, who simply tossed it aside. “Come on. You always bragged about how much of a boxer you were, prove it..” Tajima scorned at, still wheezing. He make a ‘come on’ gesture, getting into a more relaxed stance as he did so. “[C’mon, prove me wrong.]” He taunted.

   Savely grumbled a bit as he raised his guard, practically lunging at Taji with a right hook, demonstrating he was indeed quite a bit quicker on his feet with his bare hands. “Fine, I’ll break you with my bare fucking hands if I have to!” Tajima took the hook, and returned it in kind. The two stumbled backwards, they came back swinging. Taji ducked under Savely’s punch, jabbing him in the face, following up with a hook to the back of the head, and ending with an undercut to his jaw.

   Savely likely would’ve kept going, even as his own augs made the pain worse, but as he reeled and scrambled to grab at Taji, he felt the tension in his frame fading, the shifting and faint hissing of hydraulic muscles faltering as the last reserves of his bionic power faded, only managing to sway forward and give Taji a hard jab before he toppled over, coughing a bit. Tajima caught the swing by Savely’s wrist, he twisted around and brought the arm down over his shoulder. A loud scream was heard as the russian felt a sickening crack as Taji broke his arm.

   Taji then calmly motioned over to Nashio, who walked up and handed over the tanto, knowing exactly what he was about to do. Taji had the man pinned down, grabbing onto his good arm and forcing him to hold his hand out, pinned against the stony ground of the hiking trail. Tajima dug out a clean, white handkerchief from his pocket. He brought the knife to the side of the first pinky knuckle, but lowered to the second. Taji brought the knife down, severing the finger and wraps it in the handkerchief. “Give this to Pyotr. Be glad this is the worst you’ve got.” He spat, glaring hard at the broken russian.

   Aurelia watched with an amused smirk, standing over the last of the others, only to hear a shout from up the hiking path. Maya and Bigby had come running, Heather following close behind, all of them surprised to find Tajima hadn’t in fact been beaten into a pulp. There was something muttered in Russian from the woman, toting a weathered old SMG as she examined the various men sprawled out on the ground. “And I thought you’d need help.”

   Tajima looked over at Heather, “Glad to see you’re alright.” He said, giving a tired little smile. Taji spat out blood out of his mouth, before sighing, “Thought this could of been a nice time…” He continued, frowning a bit. Heather nodded at that, immediately starting to check him for injuries. “Look, it’s fine. But what about you? You’re the one telling me to run off and leave you to fight a dozen people alone.” she grumbled.

   Aurelia simply smiled a bit, watching as Bigby and Maya started securing the various unconscious and bleeding men, tying them up. “I was keeping an eye on things, would’ve gone a lot easier if a little trick I had up my sleeve had kept the other six running though...” she grumbled. “Oh well. Plus we had a surprise visitor here, decent hand with a knife too it seems. Name’s Aurelia, and you are…?”

   Nashio looked over at Aurelia, “Oh-” He dug out an old paper ID card from his suit jacket, he gave it to the bloodmage. “Nashio Yuko, ‘Lord of The Red Light’, and ‘The Mad Oni of Yushi’.” Nashi rambled, before giving a little bow. “You’re friends with Tajima-chan, right?” He asked, raising a brow.

   Aurelia smiled a bit at that. “Oh how adorable. Sadly I don’t have any titles myself. Never been called anything more than Ms. Santoro. And yes, I am. Both of of us met after ending up at the place we’ve been staying at.” Bigby meanwhile glanced over at Taji. “Don’t look like God’s Army boys, not any local bandit gangs either. You know these punks?”

   Taji grimaced, “Russian punks. Gopniks.” He said, glaring hard at Savely once again. “They won’t come back.” Tajima said simply, holding a hand against his ribs. Maya muttered something quietly in Russian at that, kicking one of the downed men in the side, prompting a groan and something mumbled in turn, while Heather sighed a bit. “Let’s get you home and looked at. I’m guessing John Luke might want to talk to you about this, plus meet your friend here.”

   Aurelia then glanced over at the men, getting ideas right up until she saw the annoyed glance Taji was giving her, wiping that smile off her face, approaching Savely. “So we’re just counting on them to not cause further trouble...” She watched Savely fumble a bit, almost getting on all fours before faltering, kneeling beside him. “Just abandon this attempt at revenge. It won’t do anyone any good.” As the man managed to rise a bit, she leaned in to whisper to him. “Talk to your compatriots when they come to, and ask them about the ‘witchcraft‘ they witnessed. I can do more than mere illusions. And you will lose more than just a finger if you attempt this again.

   Nashio rose another brow, “Oh, uh. Speaking of that, I have a few more... people who need a place to stay.” He said, glancing over at the trench-club on the floor. Oooh, Nice bat. It’s mine now, friend.” Nashio mocked, scooping up the bat off the floor.

   Bigby hmmed a bit, nodding some. “Alright. Going to want to talk to the pastor then, runs the community we’re from. Visitors show up all the time on their way farther north, not much safe refuge from God’s Army in the area. Sometimes people decide to stay.” he said, Maya nodding a bit. “Besides, gives these punks time to crawl back home to babushka, the ones that aren't full of holes at least.”

   The group made their way back to the entrance, and Nashio briefly departing to find his vehicle. As he made his way back, with a white van with a crudely painted over hood. In pink paint. The group made their way back to the Oasis of Eden...

 

NOCTIFER IS A FAGGOT