Brief Title:
Characters:
Cloak, Dagger, Night Thrasher, and (emitted) Bloodscream and his zombie army
Scene Runner/Watcher:
IC Date:
02/09/13 21:28
Location:
Slums -- Lowtown – Madripoor
Summary:
The New Warriors track down Bloodscream.
Social or Plot:
TS:
No
Log:
Doing double duty as a vigilante in New York City and as a New Warrior in Madripoor, Tyrone Johnson has been more than preoccupied with a recent fight where he and his teammate Nova took down Roughouse but failed to take down Bloodscream who ended up taking control of Nova, who Cloak had to absorb into the Dark Force Dimension, which is never pleasant. Feeling incredibly guilty over this, Cloak has gone his own to specifically track down Bloodscream during his time in Madripoor to the point of ignoring the true reason that the New Warriors are in Madripoor in the first place.
Having finally tracked down Bloodscream to a burned-out and abandoned factory, Cloak has learned from his mistake and has not gone after the criminal solo. He has observed and notes the small army that Bloodscream builds up with his mind control, various men and women enter and exit the factory with the mark of Bloodscream. Red handprints on their faces or other areas on their body that the vampire has fed. Those victims are no more than zombies.
Remaining hidden in the dark, Cloak teleports to the temporary HQ of the New Warriors informed his teammates and brings Dagger and Night Thrasher back. A block away and shaded by shadows, “I have done well, have I not? Team player and whatnot. Not taking him down on my own?”
With a fight that ended with her knocked out and saved, Tandy had gotten...well not exactly a date out of it but some action. She still needed to talk to Ty cuz something was bugging him. Now she'd tracked him down her own way and snuck up behind him, clearing her throat quietly as she stayed low.
It just so happens that since Nova's report about being mind-controlled, Dwayne had been spending his spare time in the suite at the Sovereign considering that attack. Sure, it's a distraction from his main mission here... however, stopping crime is Dwayne's overarching mission. Bloodscream is, afterall, a fixture in organized crime in this tiny nation state.
When Dwayne arrived outside of the burned-out factory he raised a hand to his helmet, tapped a couple of unseen buttons and then begin fiddling with an interface on his gauntlet's forearm. Dwayne nods distractedly in response to Cloak's question, "Great teamwork, Cloak. No sense taking this on yourself. Not when you've got other resources to help you." This is a lesson Dwayne still struggles with himself.
Having brought the two others here via his teleportation, Cloak stares at the factory, “So, I will leave this in your hands than Night Thrasher. We will proceed as you lead.” He looks to Dagger for reassurance to see if he is acting as a teamplayer, of which he is not used to.%r%rTwo of Bloodscream’s zombies appear at the entrance. Two large looking Asians who have clearly been used for feeding with them are a small group of children. A baby and two toddlers. One mutters to the other as the infant cries. They look down at the children and grin wickedly, “Time for our master to feed!” One grabs the infant and enters into the factory, while the other tries to wrangle the two toddlers who are trying to make a run for it.
Nodding with a smile Dagger puts a reassuring hand on Cloak's shoulder, tending at the sight of the children "well this complicated things we can't hurt the kids. Any ideas Night Thrasher?"
Thrasher, after clicking a few more things on his gauntlet, reaches for an escrima on his backpack assembly. He releases one from a clasp and turns to look towards Cloak and Dagger. The escrima is twirled in his gauntlet casually a couple of times before its gripped firmly. He points it towards the factory, "Subdue his puppets, do not hurt them too bad. Any non-puppets, try to make safe. For Bloodscream; As far as I can tell he can not die, so beat him senseless." He looks back from the factory towards the dynamic duo, "I will slip inside, deal with puppets as I go, and confront Bloodscream. Take care of the rest of his puppets, save who you can and join me where ever I find Bloodscream." He pauses and adds with a shrug, "I am not sure how to take him down... but I'm sure if I strap enough plastique to him...." He allows that suggestion to trail off.
Nodding with his orders, Cloak looks to see the zombie with the two children. He grabs Dagger with his cloak and the two are soon gone from sight leaving Night Thrasher on his own. One of the toddler manages to elude the zombie as he grabs the younger and slams her onto the ground. The little girl’s head begins to bleed as the zombie places a foot over her head and yells out for her older brother, “Come back, little one. I will crush her.” The little girl weeps out in pain.
Inside the factory is has two floors. The lower level is filled with zombies who mope around simply exist to either be feed upon or follow Bloodscream’s orders. The top floor is a prison with some Madripoorians who have been captured. They are in a cash watched over by some more zombies. Bloodscream is inside the factory as well. Cloak teleports himself and Dagger right into the middle in front of the cage and suddenly surrounded by ten zombies. All sporting the red hand mark of Bloodscream. They are of various size, shape, and gender. . .but all angered by the sudden intrusion.
The active camoflage systems of Thrasher's armor activate as he starts to move. The Founder of the New Warriors lacks a means of teleportation, currently, so he heads for the building. He sees the light daggers take down the couple of puppets that are outside. He skids to a stop and points away from the factory with the escrima, "Run; Get out of here!" Demands the New Warrior. He turns to leave them to their retreat before heading for the door. It is easily opened and entry is achieved. Low-Light equipment is used by Thrasher's helmet to allow the Warrior to see inside.
Nodding down toward nt "I might be able to knock bloodscream out with my knives, I haven't tried it yet...works on others though" growing daggers of light from het fingers she throws them at the goon trying to wrangle the kids, before making her way down to ground level.
As Dagger runs down the stairs, Cloak appears confused, “Oh ok. . .so much for teamwork then.” He mutters to himself as his cloak animates and begins to snatch various zombie and toss them about to clear a path for Dagger to get downstairs. He manages to hold his own as he goes intangible and moves towards the cage holding the prisoners and like that he and they are gone.
The zombie with the kid falls over from the light dagger allowing the kids to heed Night Thrasher’s warning. They run a block down, but wait to see what has become of their infant brother. As Dagger gets to the bottom of the stairs and Night Thrasher enters, thankfully near the same spot. All the zombie on the bottom floor rush towards the two New Warriors. In total it is about 50 of the zombie/goons/puppets that are stampeding towards the two heroes.
"I'll always be on your team, cloak, no matter what" forming a shield on her arm of light she grew a handful of light daggers from the fingers of her other hand and threw them into the leading ranks of the stampede.
"Fantastic." Is the sarcastic statement that escapes Dwayne's lips upon entering. The Founder of the New Warriors reaches for a satchel on his belt and pulls out a series of pellets. He raises the hand full of pellets up into the air and calls out to his team mates, "Dropping smoke bombs! Prepare yourself!" He throws his hand down and drops the pellets around him. Smoke billows around him in an effort by the armored vigilante to negate the advantage of numbers against him.
The zombie who had been outside with the children begins to change. The red mark disappears and color returns to his pale skin. He begins to come too. A similar effect happens to the first group of zombies who are struck by Dagger’s light knives. Having some sort of positive effect to undo what Bloodscream had done. Unfortunately they fall down and the mass of zombies behind them stampede over them, crushing the humans who are starting to be freed from the vampire’s thrall only to be crushed by the zombies behind them who still continue to push forward.
The smoke from the pellets quickly begins to fill first floor. The zombies stop for a moment unable to see through. Bloodscream’s voice rings out over a loudspeaker system. “My children, . . .It is time to make your ultimate sacrifice for your father. If you cannot stop the heroes, then you must punish yourself. Attack, destroy, and feed on each other.” Obscured from the smoke, the zombies attack each other, scratching, biting, fighting, and feeding on each other. From within the smoked filled section, screams are heard as Bloodscream turns the puppets on each other.
A suddenly appearing and very tired and solid Tyrone appears and falls to the ground, having teleported all the prisoners from the second floor and returned, he had pushed himself quite a bit. He drops to the floor in front of a door at the other end of the factory where Bloodscream appears holding a baby as hostage/food. He looks down to Cloak’s weakened body, “You started all this!” He moves to mark Cloak.
Tandy gasps with concern for her partner "No! You did! Now leave him alone!" with a heavy heat for her horrible mistake Dagger the a handful of light daggers across the way at bloodscream. Maybe taking it the source would release the zombies from their influence enmasse
Thrasher has no trouble navigating through the cloud of smoke he created in the first floor of the factory. Hydraulic-enhanced legs propel him quickly through the first floor. As he runs past Bloodscream's puppets, he swings a fist or his escrima in a manner to catch the poor unfortunates upside the head. His goal is to knock out as many as he can on his way through this level of the factory.
A door is kicked by Thrasher when he reaches it. Inside is a staircase leading up. Thrasher bends at the knees and the hydraulics help to propel him up the stairs to the next level.
Bloodscream kneels down and touches Tyrone. Cloak shivers a bit as some of his life force is taken from him. His skin goes pale and a red mark appears his cheek. It is a quick feed.
The zombies continue to attack each other. Much blood is spilled and various body parts are ripped asunder. Night Thrasher manages to knock out a few to keep them from fighting each other. But currently around 20 people are biting, fighting, killing each other in the confusion of the smoke. A good number of people have died or are dying.
Dagger’s light knives can move and accurately pinpoint where the vampire is and he falls back as he is struck. Unfortunately there was a baby in his hands that he drops and stumbles back onto just as Night Thrasher makes his way up the staircase and appears where this is all occurring.
Dagger gasps in horror as the baby leaves bloodscream's arms "any ideas Night Thrasher? nothing I seem to do is without casualty" her sorrow and guilt heavy in her voice
Suddenly there's a stumbling and fumbling pseudo-vampire falling towards Thrasher. Dwayne jukes to one side to let Bloodscream fall past him. The HUD in Thrasher's helmet alerts him to the child that 'scream fumbled. Thrasher kneels down to collect the baby from the floor and tries to give a cursory look over for injuries. Thrasher calls out, "Rediculous. Cloak; I need you to 'port this kid outta here." Clearly he's unaware of what Bloodscream did to one half of the dynamic duo.
A human foot comes hurtling out of the smoke and towards Dagger’s head as the zombie/puppets/victims suddenly stop their fighting. The smoke clears and many people are hurt and bleeding. There are at least 5 dead people. Others are bleeding and quickly in need of medical care. Just one big mess of flesh and blood, but all are free from Bloodscream’s thrall after he was struck by Dagger’s light knives.
Tyrone takes the baby that Night Thrasher gives him to port out, but he simply gives it back to Bloodscream who gets up and once touching the baby, quickly begins to feed off of it. “Cloak, kill your indecently costumes whore. This one is mine.” He looks to Night Thrasher. Cloak disappears and reappears directly behind Tandy and clearly not in his right mind as his cloak unfurls out to whip her.
Bloodscream holds the crying baby absorbing some energy from it as his appearance becomes more monstrous. His jaw elongates and his tongue becomes more serpentine. His fingers grow longer, his body become thinner, but slightly taller. He appears to have fangs and his fingernails are almost claw-like, “You are the leader of this band, are you not?” Having fed enough off the baby, he dangles it, “Let me leave or this baby’s death is on you.”
Well Dagger had her orders take out the zombies. "Cloak...." wait cloak! Causing her shield to disappear, dagger the some light daggers at cloak to refuel him and and a handful of light daggers into the fighting zombies.
Dwayne's eyes widen at what Cloak does, "Wha-?" He shakes his head and just watches the other vigilante disappear. Thrasher then focuses on the pseudo-vampire, "No, actually. If you kill that child, it is on you." Thrasher raises his other hand and there's the distinct sound of metal on metal. A foot-long blade springs out of Thrasher's gauntlet. Thrasher declares, "And you're not going anywhere." He springs towards Bloodscream. He swings his escrima down towards the arm 'scream is holding the baby and the blade is thrust at the chest of the vampire.
Tyrone falls back as the light daggers strike him. His eyes flares out and there is a light white glow from his body as he is refueled and freed from Bloodscream’s thrall. Once he comes too, he hears the cries of the many victims who are hurt, bleeding, and the pall silence of the dead and peers out in horror, “G-g-god. . .we have to get these people to a hospital, Tandy.”
Bloodscream laughs when he suddenly finds his arm struck and once again the baby is dropping simultaneously a sword is thrust through his chest and he falls to the side, laughing. “Thank you.” He offers to Night Thrasher. He attempts to pull out the blade to use it himself as a weapon.
Breathing a sigh of relief Dagger nods toward cloak. thank goodness that trick of theirs worked! "Cloak! the baby!" the people needed immediate medical attention but bringing in civilians would only give the zombies more to feed on. Throwing light daggers at the zombies she focused on stopping the fighting.
Thankfully, Thrasher's blade is connected to his gauntlet, so when the blade is removed Thrasher simply yanks his arm back. The baby drops and unfortunately, Thrasher lacks the agility and reaction time to simultaneously attack the vampire and catch the baby. That doesn't mean the New Warrior doesn't try! The blade retracts back into his gauntlet and Dwayne attempts to catch the baby.
"The zombies are done. Help night Thrasher and be careful. You saw what Bloodscream did to me." Between having teleported nearly twenty people who had been in the cage upstairs and then being under Bloodscream's thrall, he is nearly wiped out, but he grabs Dagger planting a kiss on her. He then lets her go .Still incredibly weak, Cloak unfurls his cloak, "I am still tired from teleporting all the people in the cage, but I will try to teleport them all to the hospital. If I don't make it back, or die, I love you." He hovers up above the mass of injured and dead bodies and with a flash of blackness he and the others are gone.
Night Thrasher happens to catch the baby, As Bloodscream’s body is already healing, “I have been beheaded and survived.” His claws are out he watches Night Thrasher catch the baby who has been fed on and has a palish hue to it. Bloodscream commands, “Cry, little one!” the baby starts to uncontrollably cry in Night Thrasher’s arms as Bloodscream tries to escape down the staircase to the lower level.
Dagger blushes wrapping het arms around cloak as he kisses her. Ok it might take her a moment to recover, but his passing words register and put a knot in her stomach. Focusing on the baby and bloodscream Dagger threw a light dagger at the baby to heal it and a handful at the vampire as she made for the stairs to go for the baby.
Dwayne's brow furrows slightly at the crying baby. It crying doesn't really bother him... as he expected it to by crying. Hell; Grown men have cried in his arms after being saved. Thrasher places the baby on the ground and simultaneously reaches into a satchel on his belt. He pulls out a fist full of small capsules. Thrasher runs down the stairs after the pseudo-vampire. He calls out after Bloodscream, "Big man's on the run! I told you that you aren't going anywhere!"
Pushing himself past his limits, Cloak teleports himself and all the victims that had been under Bloodscream’s thrall away. The only people left in the abandoned factory are the baby, Bloodscream, Dagger, and Night Thrasher.
Dagger’s light knife strikes the baby that Night Thrasher safely put on the floor. It screams out and cries, but its color begins to return as it is healing. As Bloodscream reaches the bottom of the steps, he finds Dagger waiting for him below and once again he is struck by her daggers which push him back up the steps. His monstrous form begins to return to his more original form as he finds himself trapped Dagger at the bottom of the steps and Night Thrasher upstairs coming down to face him. “I have fed plenty. I have more then enough energy to take you both on. You will become my zombies to do as I want with you.” His finger nails are still claw like. He takes a defensive martial arts pose and looks to Night Thrasher, “Come at me, fool.” He then leaps up claws out at the New Warriors leader.
Was tiring herself, she'd already thrown a lot of daggers but she HAD to help! Throwing two handfuls of daggers at bloodscream. Sagging on her feet in exhaustion but refusing to fall, her sheer determination keeping her up.
Night Thrasher skids to a halt when the pseudo-vampire turns around to face him. He holds his hand out at his side, clenching his hand around the pellets he had pulled from his satchel. Thrasher shakes his head, "You're not too bright are you? More of us than there is of y-" Thrasher stops mid-sentence as Bloodscream leaps at him. Thrasher flings the pellets out in front of him towards the vampire and dives to the side in a single fluid motion. The pellets, which happen to be incendiary caps, will explode on impact. A flurry of tiny, firey explosions where ever they hit.
And so the combined efforts of the New Warriors take their toll on Bloodscream, Dagger’s light knives strike him and then the pellets causing mini explosions all over his body. Blood and flesh here. Bone there. Hair here. Bloodscream explodes and bits of him are rendered through the staircase. He would appear dead as a burned husk drops , but already is starting to heal, slowly but still.
Over their communicators, Speedball announces, "Night Thrasher, what's going on Cloak just teleported like thirty injured people some dead bodies and then just fell unconscious in the hospital."
The two children from earlier rush in and find their baby brother and quicklyu take him out as sirens are heard. Finally the Madripoor authorities have arrived.
Thrasher dusts himself off and flicks off any Bloodscream debris that splattered on him. Dwayne reaches into one of the compartments on his belt and pulls out a small brick of plastic explosive. As he preps the explosive Dwayne answers Robbie, "Speedball; We tracked down Bloodscream. He's the guy who messed with Nova. He had a bunch of innocents he was hiding behind. Taking care of him now."
Thrasher steps towards the healing husk of a Bloodscream. He slaps the plastic explosive down on what's left of the vampire's back. He syncs the remote trigger to his gauntlet. A thin stand of adamantium cord is pulled from a compartment on his forearm. He begins hogtieing the body.
While dagger usually had a flow about her, now she looks dim and dull as she sinks to her knees with teary eyes "He survived.....I need to get to him, I need to help him" smiling as the kids get their sibling, such a sweet sight in all the horribleness. She was exhausted and about to pass out on her feet but still wanted to go see cloak.
With his body dealt with, Bloodscream is defeated and while some have died, the New Warriors saved most of the victims who are at the hospital. Cloak in unconscious at he hospital and the authorities have arrived.
