Steel Sky (Adelle/Mind Flayer)

[Guan Yu]

Re: Steel Sky (Adelle/Mind Flayer)

The sun was starting to be low at this point, so it was unlikely that Adelle would catch any sight of scope glints, but it did allow for better visibility for any muzzle flashes. The random peeks did earn a bullet coming her way, and the impact showed that she might be better off not trying to do that as the bits of brick and mortar flew off. Aside from that, the situation appeared to be a stalemate still, Jace getting off occasional shots which did not appear to do much, the distance between them probably having something to do with it.

Then there was a somewhat alarming development as they could hear screams coming from inside the buildings before a church man burst through a window onto the street, his entire body covered by a blaze of fire. He did not get too far though, another shot from the rooftop splattering him all over the surrounding street as the sniper shot him square to the back of the head.

 

[Mind Flayer]

Re: Steel Sky (Adelle/Mind Flayer)

Peeking around, Adelle got a bullet whizzing her way and forced her back with a yelp. That pretty much told her that she was stuck there with her two companions until at least nightfall, unless Eda and her group managed to root the shooter out. "Dammit to hell. Do you two see any good paths with tons of cover?" Adelle asked her two companions as Jace shot a couple of more times from his rifle.

When she saw the man burst out a nearby window, Adelle gasped and cursed inwardly at his demise. "Fuck me, that's gruesome," Adelle muttered softly before looking over at Jace. "Hey Jace. Where's the shooter? I couldn't get a good look before that bullet whizzed by my head. And... I don't think that's Margaret or Rosieta that's the shooter. They'd have left him to burn to see if one of us would try to help him. They're cruel bitches," Adelle called over to Jace, seeing as he was the only other one of the gang that Adelle was kind of stuck with for the moment.

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Steel Sky (Adelle/Mind Flayer)

Looking around showed no real way to close towards the building, circling it out completely or going through the same route as Eda's crew remaining the only solid options. Both options involved an open part of the field, so it would be risky either way. "She keeps changing her exact spot after each shot, so giving an exact location is not going to do much. She could fire from any section of the rooftop really, but I reckon she is favoring the outside edge to keep a wider field of view down here and the chapel. Jace shared the info as he took another quick peek with his binos. "I can lay down some autofire if you people want to go in there as well. Be careful if you do, that fire was not a good sign. he carried on, switching onto full auto as he kicked the window clear of any remaining shards that the previous entry team had left behind. If Adelle waz up to it, he would take position and start a bullet burst towards the rooftop to cover their move to his side upon her signal.

 

[Mind Flayer]

Re: Steel Sky (Adelle/Mind Flayer)

"Yeah, fire is never a good sign unless your out camping in the wild and need warmth. Or for cooking," Adelle commented about the fire as Jace said he could lay down covering fire for them to move in towards the building. "I'd wager she's got backup in there, or traps everywhere. Probably the former. If so, then Eda's gonna need some backup too probably, and... fuck it, they want me dead more than anyone, and Rosieta's the reason I'm even here, so give me that covering fire," Adelle went on to say to Jace, preparing to make her run for it.

"When you start shooting though, tell me which part she's at so I can pick my path accordingly okay. I don't want a bullet to go through me before I even get there," Adelle said as she looked to her two companions. "I don't think we got much choice here but to do it. If we don't we'll be pinned down here all damn night, or until their backup arrives or something, and then we're fucked completely. Besides, if it is Rosieta... I'm gonna put a bullet in her. You two don't have to make that run too if you don't want to though, but if we don't break out somehow then like I said, we're fucked," Adelle told Mei and her friend as she prepared to run, doing so along the safest route that Jace could give her when he started shooting, and not stopping until she reached the far side of the street where the shots were coming from, and then she'd carefully make her way inside to avoid any traps or backup of the sniper's.

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Steel Sky (Adelle/Mind Flayer)

With the cover provided by Jace's heavy firepower, Adelle could make a dash towards the building on the other side without too much fear of getting shot in the head by the sniper's devastating rifle. Mei and the other girl followed her in close pursuit, apparently intent on seeing her returned back to the other hunters even if it took taking on an obviously prepared and resourceful enemy.

As soon as they entered the building, Adelle and the crew could find some of the surroundings in flames, along with the corpse of a familiar figure that was riddled with bullets. She had been chased by this guy before, when she had attempted to tail Margaret through the backstreets, and had fled from the sight of the man's homebrew flamethrower. Even as he had claimed one life, the huge man had clearly underestimated his prey and had paid the price for opposing Eda and her crew. Despite his weapon being mostly intact, the hose was shot to hell, which would likely not make firing the thing safe to say the least. And the huge guy was laid out on top of the tank part, which would require moving him around in the flame-ridden surroundings.

The shots had stopped outside, now replaced with the sounds of fighting coming from the top of the building. It appeared that Eda and the remaining two church mobsters had reached the top and were now engaging the sniper close up.

 

[Mind Flayer]

Re: Steel Sky (Adelle/Mind Flayer)

Sprinting as fast as she could across the street while Jace riddled the top of the building with a rain of bullets to give her cover, Adelle aimed for a doorway and ran through at full sprint, slowing only once she crossed the threshold. She slammed into the wall a bit, but didn't really hurt herself and noticed that Mei and the other girl were right behind her. Nodding to them, Adelle began heading through the building to make her way up to the top, pulling out her Isabelle special along the way and making sure it was fully loaded and cocking the hammer to shoot all four shells at once.

"Hey... I know him. He's the one that chased after me when I was trying to tail Margaret the other day," Adelle said as they passed by the dead guy surrounded by flames. "Damn, they fucked him up," she commented as she went by, heading upstairs as quickly yet as carefully as possible with her pistol and Isabelle special ready to fire, leaving the pistol she got from Miguel in its holster for now.

When she reached the roof though, she wouldn't burst out onto it and start shooting. Adelle would take her time and carefully watch, waiting for an opening where she could slide out and shoot Margaret in the back of one of her knees to knock her down, if the woman was in melee with Eda and company that is. If she was shooting a gun however, then Adelle would stay in the cover of the doorway and peek out to see where she was, taking careful aim in an attempt to hit her.

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Steel Sky (Adelle/Mind Flayer)

The hunter trio moved up past the burning man and made way towards the stairwell that would take them to the top. A few floors up, they could see a church guy fall down the middle clearing and towards the bottom, a shower of blood going down along with him while some hit the railing and the stairs along the way. Had he survived the hit that sent him flying, there was little chance that he was going to make it after falling nearly ten floors of height. Following after him a few floors higher, a severely wounded Eda fled past the hunters. "It's a goddamn monster... no human is that strong..." they could hear her raving as she ran down the stairs and towards any possible safety that she could find.

On the roof floor, they could take a look outside to the roof, which was a fairly big expanse. The last church guy was laid out near the door in three pieces, his torso split in two and separated from his legs. And the expectations about the sniper being Margaret were true as the trio could see her standing there in the middle, fully expecting some further attackers to be coming. It was not entirely sure if she had noticed the hunters in the stairwell, but she was away from the edge of the roof to avoid any gunfire from street level and staring towards the door. More concerning than that was the fact that she was exerting some form of magic, a crimson aura of power radiating from her body, one that was not really that different from Mariela's. The weapons she held were like scythes, but they had unnecessarily large shafts that actually looked like they could be used as rifle stocks. And there was some extension of iron after the blades which looked like they were actual barrels of guns. If she had been using one of these weapons to take the shots at the group earlier, it told volumes about her marksmanship since she had no visible scopes or even iron sights in the things.

 

[Mind Flayer]

Re: Steel Sky (Adelle/Mind Flayer)

As they headed up the stairs, Adelle and the others saw the one church guy fall past them down the middle of the stairwell. Showered with blood from the guy falling down, Adelle had second thoughts about continuing up, but couldn't stop now she thought to herself. As they made it to the top, she saw Eda speed past her with some pretty bad wounds on her, and she looked scared.

When they got to the doorway leading out to the roof, Adelle peeked out to see it was indeed Margaret. Seeing the damage she'd already done, Adelle decided that discretion was the better part of valor, and turned tail to run back down the stairs with her companions in tow. "That is indeed Margaret... let's get the fuck out of here, because we can't take her. I have to tell Mariela about this. And Samson, so that he can warn those that need to be warned," Adelle said, speeding down the steps as fast as she could with her two rescuers and as soon as they were at the bottom, she headed out the door and stayed as close to the buildings on that side of the street as she could for cover from Margaret's weapons, and sprinted as fast as she could back to the bar to inform Samson of what all had happened.

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Steel Sky (Adelle/Mind Flayer)

"She does look mighty powerful. As much as that makes my competitive spirit burn, I'm not sure how I'd be able to get to her for some good old-fashioned fist fighting without getting shot to pieces. Let's hope she doesn't decide to come after us, even if the inside of the building would be beneficial for us to use as a battleground. And the boss would be mad at my departed spirit if I went and got myself killed over there. I dun want that." Mei agreed, taking frontal position as they retreated back towards the stairs. As they went, they could hear Margaret moving away taking a leap over the opposite edge if the roof, where she would probably take off before any of them could catch up to her.

At the front of the chapel, they were met by the remaining church folks, who included Timotheus despite him probably being the one that Margaret had been looking to murder. He had not completely escaped without harm as one of the two church guys remaining were patching him up, namely the large wound on the side of his head where an ear used to be just ten minutes ago. It looked as if he had just barely survived, thanks to another's sacrifice, since there was a decapitated fellow behind them on the chapel floor. "So, it was the same assassin who took out Isolda, I take it?"

 

[Mind Flayer]

Re: Steel Sky (Adelle/Mind Flayer)

"Yeah, I don't wanna die either. So... let's go," Adelle agreed, running back and down the building before hopping out.

As they came out, Adelle saw Timotheus was still alive and was actually glad he seemed to be. She moved over to him and nodded when he noticed her. "Aye that was her. Margaret is her name. Well, her first name anyway, I don't know her last name. I know she's working with Miguel though, because when I was at his house the other day, she was there. And I'd never forget a face like that," Adelle told Timotheus, keeping a close eye on the rooftops in case she tried to get another shot. "You're very lucky," she added, looking his wounds over.

"So... what does this mean now?" Adelle asked curiously, still keeping an eye out on the rooftops for signs of Margaret.

After she got her answer, and when Timotheus was through talking, Adelle would head on back to the bar with Mei and her other companion, where she would inform Samson of everything that happened, leaving the parts out about what the doctor had done to her of course. If Samson pressed her however about more details on her capture, she would blush and hesitantly tell him what happened with the doctor.

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Steel Sky (Adelle/Mind Flayer)

"For you, nothing really. Unless you decide to get involved into this war that seems very much a real thing looming in the distance. It does appear that Miguel was looking for some sort of opportunity to take advantage of the chaos that followed the attack on that fateful meeting. There's simply no other explanation for the events of today, with both this attack on me and the raid you unwittingly took part in with his servant. I will have to confide with the other leaders before it is too late. He just might send out other assassins once he finds out I am still alive." Timotheus explained what he thought would be happening next. The church folk had little interest towards them after that, the remaining two guys being rather busy with patching both Eda and their boss up to a level where they would not die from blood loss. This allowed the trio to leave and make it back to their impromptu HQ.

Back at the bar, they could find a relieved-looking Samson waiting for the returning party as the third, unnamed member of the party split up from them and went to a table where she clearly had a reserved spot among the trio of men that occupied the rest of the spots. He was readily accepting their explanations of the what had happened, being all ears for Adelle's part of it. The concern returned to him as he listened through all of the events, the implications of the criminal war being a thing that he too was not for in all likelihood. "Surely there was something else going on there in the church... But maybe I'd prefer not to hear about it, and I think the case is the same for you personally." he stated pretty much guessing that something had gone down there, but was considerate enough to not make the busty girl talk about it. Mei could have mentioned it, having witnessed the gist of the events, but the bouncer lady was just as considerate and made no mention of what she had seen. Just to show that he cared, Samson ordered a drink on his own tab to Adelle, letting her take a pick though he was anticipating the usual.

 

[Mind Flayer]

Re: Steel Sky (Adelle/Mind Flayer)

"Yeah, he'll likely send Margaret again to do the deed. Unless this wasn't meant to kill you exactly. And I'm pretty sure I'll get dragged into this sooner or later anyway. I'd say all of the hunters guild will most likely," Adelle said as Timotheus got up with Eda and started to head off. "If you guys catch Rosieta though by some chance. Let me know so I can put a bullet in her ass please before you kill her. Sorry bitch, gotta get at least a little revenge for that," Adelle called to them before heading on out with her companions.

...

After returning to the bar and beginning to explain everything to Samson, with the unnamed girl heading off to another table with some guys, Adelle sat there when the hunter leader spoke up. "Y-Yeah, there were some other things. But I uh, don't really want to talk about it," Adelle said, blushing a deep crimson and accepting Samson's offer of a drink. "A double scotch this time, please," Adelle then told him, taking her drink when it came and getting one big drink before sipping on the rest.

"So boss, what do we do now? I mean, if that guy hadn't come in when he did, I'd wager Rosieta would have put a bullet in the back of my head," Adelle asked after taking her first drink.

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Steel Sky (Adelle/Mind Flayer)

"I don't really have anything special in mind. We'll just hold our ground like usual if there is an attack on us. If the war comes to us, we'll need to think who to support in that conflict. It will likely not be a democratic thing since there are fair number of people who work for those groups and do this for a side job. Thing is, that maid did come here and paid for you. Said that you would come for it later. I was a bit suspicious, and the scout who had been looking after you two confirmed that you were in trouble when they came back with their report." Samson told Adelle about his stance and mentioned Rosieta's somewhat odd behavior on the side as he produced the pay for her. He paid a small sum to Mei as well, who was apparently getting compensated for the rescue operation. Both of the girls got their drinks, Mei's being just a bottle of mineral water as she was probably still on duty or was simply not one to drink alcohol. Seeing how fit she was, the latter was a very real probability.

 

[Mind Flayer]

Re: Steel Sky (Adelle/Mind Flayer)

"I see, well I'm glad your scout, whoever that was, came back and told you what was up. And it sounds like she was sure that this would be happening. I wish you'd have told me that beforehand," Adelle said with a sigh, accepting her pay graciously and checking to see how much Rosieta had paid for her to go with her today.

"I can only assume that Rosieta might come to try and kill me sometime, out of fear that I may have told the church folks who she was and stuff. Also, when Margaret attacked and stuff, she had this weird aura around her, and Eda and her people I know had to have shot the shit out of her, but still didn't hit her. Samson, what can you tell me about Margaret?" Adelle said after taking a couple of more sips of her drink and counting her pay.

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Steel Sky (Adelle/Mind Flayer)

"She is still here. Go say hello if you can catch her before you leave." Samson mentioned the scout, gesturing towards the front window of the bar, near the spot where the bouncers usually were looking over the place. A

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in some plain street clothing was standing there, looking around the bar and briefly glimpsing at the group having their discussion. "She is an odd customer, uses some rather advanced cloaking tech occasionally, I hear people say. But she's never let us down and has no record of suspicious activity, so we keep her on the books as an active scout and messenger." he gave a little tidbit of info about this particular scout as he pointed her out.

"That might happen, yes. Risks of the job for anyone. Hopefully Miguel won't give that order to her, since from what I hear, it looks like the maid is completely bound by that guy's orders." Samson offered his condolences about the possible blood hunt that might be coming for Adelle in the future. The talk soon turned to Margaret, the mysterious former member of the sisterhood who she knew so well at this point. But it was he who spoke up first, Mei taking that honor as the talk turned to something she knew about. "That was a battle aura. It's something that advanced martial artists and mystics can achieve through persistent practice and meditation. It can help you in many ways, increasing speed, power, that kind of thing. I can do it myself, but not for longer than a few minutes as it strains my body pretty hard." she mentioned what she knew, deciding to make a point with a demonstration as she stood up and assumed a fighting stance, focusing with her eyes closed for a moment. Eventually, she produced a similar aura to the one that Margaret had, though hers was less intense and green in color. "Like so." The demonstration was somewhat disruptive though as the manifestation of the aura sent some papers flying from the table and almost knocked over the drinks that were on there as well. The barkeep did not appear to particularly like the display either as it was certainly an attention-getter and might give some people the wrong impression of what was happening, just maybe being enough to make someone start a brawl. Thankfully, she shut it of after a minute, the bad look from Shiulin cutting the demonstration short before the bouncer got to showing any actual physical effects of the aura. "Weeeell, you get the idea."

Samson took it over from there as Mei took her seat next to Adelle again. "Margaret, hmm. I don't know much, really. You should probably ask the sisters about her, they were close once upon a time. But I can tell you that she was once with them and worked for us, a hard worker as they all are. But she was exceptionally skilled, and could do pretty much anything that the rest of them do and be good at it. I might say that she was the number one among our numbers back then, even as she was somewhat uncaring about anyone else besides the group she as in. But she did pull off a number of rescue operations on some other members, so she was not cold like that. She was especially close to Mariela, the two had apparently grown up together on the streets. But on some mission, the two of them went their separate ways, and not peacefully either. That is what I heard at least. The rest of them were the one to relay the news at that time since Mariela herself was away for the next few days. The reason of the breakup or her absence was never told to me, so I could not tell you much either of those."

 

[Mind Flayer]

Re: Steel Sky (Adelle/Mind Flayer)

"I think I will at that Samson. Thanks to her, I'm not dead, or worse," Adelle replied softly, looking over at the girl in question when Samson pointed her out, giving her a nod when she looked over at Adelle and the others.

She sipped her scotch some more, the calmness coming from it quite nice as she listened to Samson talking again about Rosieta possibly coming after her. Before she could respond to that though, Mei spoke up about the aura that Margaret had when they saw her on that roof. Seeing the effects that Mei's apparently weaker battle aura, Adelle simply looked on in stunned amazement. "Wow, I wish I could do that. That'd be one helluva deterrent for someone wanting to fuck with you if they had even half a brain. And, well just being able to do it would make me more able to fight against overwhelming odds," Adelle said as Mei shut her aura off before she got into trouble. "And I certainly hope that Miguel wouldn't send her out after me, but I can't help but worry that he will if he remembers that I was at that meeting that night," she went on to say to Samson about Rosieta coming after her.

"And... I guess I'll risk asking Mariela about it. I need to tell her about Margaret's involvement today in any case," Adelle said about the Margaret situation, hoping that Mariela would tell her.

As she thought about this, Adelle finished off her drink and looked over at Samson again. "By chance does your offer extend to a refill boss? Just a single this time though. I'm gonna head home as soon as I leave here and get some food to take with me. If you see Mariela, tell her I'd like to speak to her, and tell her it's important and about Margaret," Adelle asked Samson with a hopeful look.

Afterwards, regardless of whether or not she got the refill from Samson, Adelle ordered herself some food to go, grabbed her keys from the bartender, and waited for said food to get finished cooking before heading back home. Her order consisted of a couple of large hamburgers with fries, and the standard fixings on said burgers. "Hey, thank you for following me earlier. You really saved my ass a lot of pain and torture. I'm Adelle by the way," Adelle said to the scout girl who'd tailed her earlier while she waited for her food, offering her hand to shake.

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Steel Sky (Adelle/Mind Flayer)

"If you insist. It's just a bubble in a pond." Samson agreed to give Adelle her second shot for the evening as she ordered the foodstuffs from the kitchen, either that one huge lady or Elise being there to fulfill her and Luna's needs for food. "If you come here tomorrow, you will most likely run into her. But I'll keep it in mind." he agreed on the passing of info towards Mariela, though there was nothing really keeping Adelle from going to visit her the next day or similar.

Eventually the food was prepared, the barkeep handing out a pair of paper bags from the kitchen. "Stay cool now, and don't delay on the way home. The night is on it's way, might be best if you were fast." he wished Adelle well as she headed to the door. The scout lady was still there as she prepared to leave, so the two could exchange some words before they went their separate ways. "Yunio." she introduced herself by a simple mention of her first name. "It's... nothing special. Just what I do. Mr Samson asked me to and I had no real plans for the day, so I trailed you two into that church basement. Once the church fellow came, I hightailed it. Too risky."

 

[Mind Flayer]

Re: Steel Sky (Adelle/Mind Flayer)

"Well I meant if you meet her before I do. There's a good chance I'll head over to her place in the morning. Anyway though, thanks boss, and I hope nothing ill comes of all this," Adelle replied to Samson as she nursed her second drink.

"Oh I will be fast, don't want to be caught out at night like that one time a week or two back," Adelle assured the barkeep as she took her bike keys, remembering the encounter where she and Lacri were taken by the street gang and they were rescued by Priscilla.

"Well, while I wish you'd have been able to do something about that so that what happened after you left could have been prevented, I'm thankful that you ran back to get help from Samson to ensure I was rescued. Again though, thank you. Anyway, I need to be getting home so I can get cleaned up, just feel... unclean after all that," Adelle told the scout girl, Yunio, shaking her hand and nodding before taking the food and heading out to her bike, downing the last of her second scotch before doing so and setting the glass back on the bar and nodding her thanks to the barkeep again.

She packed the food into the box on the back, locked it down, then cranked it up, revving the engine a couple of times before heading off. She drove quickly, but safely, all the way back home where Luna awaited her return... most likely. She would stay on the main roads all the way back, basically to stay in the safest places possible that would prevent any attacks or ambushes, as there would be too many witnesses, or so she hoped anyway.

When she got back home, she opened the garage door, pulled her bike in and turned it around once inside as the door shut behind her. "Hey Luna... I'm home. After some crazy shit of course. I brought some food too so we didn't have to cook anything," Adelle called into the house as she came upstairs, looking around and taking the food to the kitchen to set it down on the table.

 

[Guan Yu]

Re: Steel Sky (Adelle/Mind Flayer)

"Well... I'm not one to fight. I don't have any experience and only this little thing to hold my own. That guy had a huge rifle, did not want to mess with him." Yunio revealed that she was not all that experienced or confident when it came to combat, simultaneously showing that she only had a small .38 special revolver under her coat to defend herself with if it really went to that. After that, the two went about their ways, Adelle making it to home without any trouble along the way.

As she got up to the living area and opened up the door, Adelle found Luna focused on a match of arm wrestling with Sebastian, one of the familiars she had introduced a few days back. It was a bit silly-looking since the ghost did not have an arm, only a hand being there for the hexer was trying to overcome. "That's good. Was getting a bit hungry anyway, in addition to being bored. I'll be right with you, I HAVE A BATTLE HERE TO WIN." she replied, letting the busty girl start eating as struggled with Sebastian and his otherwordly strength.

 

[Mind Flayer]

Re: Steel Sky (Adelle/Mind Flayer)

"Hey, it's alright. You managed to save me regardless. And if you ever need any help, let me know and I'll see what I can do. Like if you need a ride somewhere or something like that," Adelle told Yunio, smiling and giving her a nod before heading on out.

...

Coming upstairs, Adelle saw Luna arm wrestling with Sebastian. Adelle couldn't help but laugh at the sight of the odd match, and thought Luna might be a bit over matched, but she didn't stop them and let them keep going. "Alright, I'll set yours over here. And don't worry Buddy, I brought you some too," Adelle said, getting down some plates and putting Luna's on one, then putting the bit of extra she got for her cat friend on one to set on the coffee table in the living room area.

After getting all of the others food set for them, Adelle got her own and sat down at the far side of the table to watch the arm wrestling match. "So, how long you two been going at it?" Adelle asked before taking a bite of her burger, opening one of her sodas she bought.