We Sons Of Daley [Manhattan Blues]

Take ol' Harry with you, Alice. He could be handy, and it'd be good for him to get some footwork done in the city.

Take ol' Harry with you, Alice. He could be handy, and it'd be good for him to get some footwork done in the city.

"Say, could I come with? I'd just be going insane sitting here."

Alice does some MENTAL CALCULATIONS. And she's not sure when she started calling Arlington 'Harry' mentally. That's worrying, but not IMPORTANT. Hmmm... "Well, we'd have to carry less each, and it'd be cutting it really really fine, but... Yeah, I think I can manage it without dipping into my reserves... Maybe."

"Why's that important?"

"They're damn near EMPTY. Especially if I want to do more than one trip- which I still might have to do."

"I really don't know this place as well as you do, Alice. It's probably a better idea to stick together..."

"Yeah, I just figured that out myself. Hold on, lemme do a TEST CASE-" She grabs your hand and pulls you into a dark corner of the half-collapsed lobby, and once more you fall into the shadows...

And walk out the other side, on the opposite corner of the room, perfectly fine.

She seems to consider. "Yeah, if this level of AMBIENT MAGIC is everywhere, I should be able to get us there. It'll only be short hops, mind, so it might be a little... Motion-sickness inducing."

"I'll be fine."

"Okay..."

BASEMENT CACHE

You hold your head at all the discontinuity. Ugh, that was pretty terrible. You wait a moment while you adjust to your new surroundings for the twelfth time. At least this time you have enough time to do so.

"Hey. Hey. Get it together." Alice tosses you some kind of PISTOL, and you put it on via its SLING. You also pick up a pair of AMMO CANS and a pair of the... "What are these pistols, anyway?"

"GLOCKS. G21 Gen5, to be more precise."

"... And why are you giving them to me?"

"They're good stuff, and they're already in .45. Besides, PLASTICS are EASIER TO ENCHANT."

"... Right, let's take all of them."

"One thing at a time." Alice collects the other three pistols and a pair of AMMO CANS, which she puts in her new BAG. "Okay. Now we're ready to go. Um. This might be a little uncomfortable, but..."

She gets behind you, and puts one arm AROUND YOUR WAIST. She then uses it to start PULLING YOU THROUGH THE SHADOWS.

On the plus side, you're getting used to the discontinuity.

On the minus side, you're not quite sure what to make of this.

>_

What sort of enchantments?
>Tsundere bullshit
or just, y'know. Wait out the rest of the ride awkwardly.

What sort of enchantments?

Just about anything, really. No one gets just why, but WOOD and PLASTIC tend to hold MAGIC for longer periods without MAINTENANCE than METAL or STONE do. Best of all is LIVING MATTER, but most of the time those aren't STATIC enough to hold magic in ONE POSITION.

Which is why, when Alice discovered the wonders of BONSAI and discovered some INDUSTRIAL DIAMOND...

>Tsundere bullshit

"Do you have to hold me by the waist. Really."

"You have a problem with that?" Oh god you can feel her smirk in the darkness.

"No. It's just awkward, that's all." Uuuugh why did you bring this up.

"Awkward? Why would it be awkward?" Hm, that's funny, that's not fading in and out with the shadow-walks like the rest of the sounds do.

"I can't put my finger on it it just feels awkward."

"Ah. I get it. You're not that kind of girl."

"... What."

or just, y'know. Wait out the rest of the ride awkwardly.

You arrive back in light, where the HIBACHI glows. You should probably get more wood for that. Also, vegetables might be nice.

Anything to keep from thinking about how you just had the most awkward thirty seconds of your life since that time you were thirteen.

"You're not that kind of girl," Alice says, as she starts setting the equipment against the wall.

"What the hell kind of girl are you talking about, and I am decidedly not female." You follow suit, setting ammo cans well away from the fire. "There should probably be a MAINTENANCE KIT and, if it's really good, some HAND-LOAD back there."

"Uh-huh. There should be, I haven't checked most of the DRAWERS yet. Don't want to push my luck." Wait, Alice's mouth isn't moving.

That just makes this more awkward.

>_

Alice: Mercilessly tease the "poor" tsundere.

>Turn around, see who else is evidently here, and if you don't see anyone, then do a scan.

Alice: Mercilessly tease the "poor" tsundere.

"Speaking of pushing your luck, what's with this weird hard-to-get, anyway?"

"What? No. Don't be a moron." You cross your arms. "I am not."

"Uh-huh." She looks you in the eye. "Let me tell you something, mister- who the hell-"

>Turn around, see who else is evidently here, and if you don't see anyone, then do a scan.

You turn around to see someone come in on a RAY OF LIGHT.

It's RICHARD HU, your FIFTH MAN. He is, as always, wearing some sort of ODD, DARK BROWN BASEBALL CAP. "Heh. Hello, Arlington..."

That is the CREEPIEST SMILE YOU HAVE EVER SEEN. Seriously, people should have to TAKE OUT A PERMIT for the kind of RAPE FACE this guy is giving you.

>_

Somebody, scream like a little girl and punch him.

Well, you figure you're boned anyway, so you go ahead and try and hit him enough times that he'll be dead before he hits the ground. Your fists SPARK UP to an ELECTRIC BLUE HUE, and you can smell OZONE.

As your open palm impacts for the first time, uselessly, against a shield marked by a circle and three ENDLESS VORTICES, you realize that this might not have been the best plan. Still, you continue with it regardless, especially because you just saw it develop CRACKS.

He maneuvers the shield around with a smug smirk on his face for your second hit, what would have been a solid strike along his fourth chakra. The entire PARTIALLY COLLAPSED BUILDING seems to SHUDDER AND SHAKE with the force of the blow, though you're certain you don't have that kind of STRENGTH.

The third attack, to his surprise and yours, BREAKS RIGHT THROUGH HIS SHIELD, and NEARLY KNOCKS HIS BLOCK OFF. He DROPS TO THE FLOOR. You move to throw your FOURTH ATTACK IN THREE SECONDS, before his shock causes you to stop.

It doesn't hurt that Alice pretty much SCREAMS "You IDIOTS! You want to bring the ENTIRE ISLAND DOWN ON US!?"

This gives both you and RICHARD pause.

"You... Hit me..." And yet, despite his shock, and the fact that it looks like some of his RIBS ARE BROKEN and that he'll have a LOVELY SCAR from where your FIST impacted him, he's GRINNING. "... Heh. Hehe... I DID choose CORRECTLY! Oh, you're going to be such FUN!"

"... What?"

"Please, allow me to introduce myself PROPERLY. I didn't have the chance to you see..."

"I'll take care of those once you give me back my DUSTER and my EQUALIZER, you asshole."

"Ah. Yes. The kibitzer. But..." That brown cap of his is taken off his head, revealing oddly RED HAIR... And goes right to his WOUND, to soak up the SEEPING BLOOD. "Really, I can introduce myself."

The cap slowly turns RED as it is covered in FRESH BLOOD. "I'm a political officer in CHICAGO. I have so many names, it's hard to keep track sometimes... But most people call me the REDCAP."

>_

Oh.

Crap.

See if Alice has a brilliant idea.

>Freeze him?

Time for teh run. You two need to stop fighting on the isle otherwise Alice is gonna be awful upset with you for destroying your makeshift hq

Oh.

Crap.

You think everyone's past that stage at this point.

See if Alice has a brilliant idea.

Apparently she does because she's busy BLUFFING. "You probably lost a lot of SOUL for that... And besides, if you were here to kill us, we'd probably already be dead."

"Incorrect in the first part, perfectly correct on the second," Redcap says, still smiling. In fact, for someone who probably has lung puncturing, he's breathing real easy, too. "See, I knew you were SMART!"

Hell, YOU want to punch him for that remark; you're not sure how Alice stands it. "Spit it out."

"Oh, if you must." He lets out a childish huff of irritation, even as you briefly spot that shield flaring BACK INTO LIFE. "See, I just wanted Arlington to understand something, and make a comment, and then I'd leave. Which is: Arlington, as far as Chicago's concerned you're DEAD. And that makes YOU my new PLAYMATE!" He sounds EXCITED about that. "MUCH more fun already than that mean old GINNIE, don't you agree, miss LADY OF NIGHTMARES?"

Alice doesn't even say a word.

Redcap walks up to you. You can feel his breath on your lips. "And..." He is looking you in the eyes. Those eyes. Those are not the eyes of a sane man. "I had so much fun yesterday... I hope we can do it again..."

>Freeze him?

You would, but before you can manage to act, he finishes casting... SOMETHING, and vanishes. It was so bright you can see the after images of him WAVING.

There is a bunch of CONFUSION coming from the two PATROLS.

Speaking of, you haven't heard any GUNFIRE. That's unusual, if what Alice says is TRUE...

>_

==>

Bet ole Red's playing a game with them. And you.

You two should probably get out of there.

Ask Alice just what kind of magic that was.

Ask Alice just what kind of magic that was.

"... That was a teleport, wasn't it," you ask.

"Yeah. I think you left an impression on him. At that point he wasn't in much condition to do anything but run."

==>

Bet ole Red's playing a game with them. And you.

You two should probably get out of there.

"Hey, do you think he's going to go mess with those patrols?"

Alice shakes her head. "Long distance transport spells like that aren't viable for short distances. I make up for it with other spells instead of that kind, because there's a certain advantage in being able to leap a short way."

"So he's buzzed off?"

"For now. He knows where we are now, though... That can't be a good thing."

You consider the area scanning. "... Both the patrols are headed this way."

"... That's fine. We've got some aces up our sleeves, and if all else fails I can use the long distance spell to get us out of here."

Time for teh run.

"Then let's get those aces ready, whatever they are."

"They're this stuff." She pats the tactical armor, and some of it FLAKES OFF. "... I can fix that."

This does not fill you with CONFIDENCE.

So. To recap. You're hundreds of miles from home, with a girl you barely know. The Redcap, who you didn't even know existed until yesterday, introduced himself and apparently wants to kiss and stab you at the same time, a thought which fills you with more than a little existential dread.

Apparently the local authorities bickering over your location have decided to temporarily BAND TOGETHER to investigate your position.

You've obtained a lot of PRE-BLOOM EQUIPMENT but you're not sure how much of it is actually useful, though Alice claims she can FIX IT ALL in time for it to be of use. Of course, if you leave any of it behind, the patrols will probably take it.

Fight, run, third option, fourth option?

>_

Alice is almost out of juice, if I remember correctly. If we can jump far enough to throw the locals off our trail, do that. Otherwise get out on foot.

Alice is almost out of juice, if I remember correctly. If we can jump far enough to throw the locals off our trail, do that. Otherwise get out on foot.

"Aren't you out of juice?"

"Heh. Since all of these have all their parts, I can use ambient for this." She places a single hand on the tactical armor, and seems to focus for a few seconds.

In the space of about a minute, both TACTICAL ARMORS are RESTORED. "Strap in, we'll be carrying the rest of this on foot... I'll be repairing the rest as we go. Damn mass-produced HIGH QUALITY... How are you with that TYPEWRITER? Or, perhaps better- how are you with PROJECTING YOUR SENSES?"

"I can stitch a hem in a wall and make a pattern as pretty as you want. Dunno how much I can put down-range now, but used to be I could reliably hit with about SIX SHOT BURSTS before I had to stop and calm it down." You shrug. "As for projecting my senses, NEVER TRIED."

You and Alice start strapping each other into the TACTICAL ARMOR. "Give it a shot when you have a minute- Darkness is great for a lot of things, but seeing ISN'T ONE OF THEM."

"NAW... Really?"

"... No, less like that, let out the waist a little and pull the shoulder straps into position. That's better. Okay. " She pulls the GLOCKS. "I'll be trusting you to lay down HEAVY FIRE, then."

... Where did all the ammo cans go, anyway? She must have stowed them somehow, you guess, so it's not really any of your business how she managed it.

Looks like you're WALKING, then. At least out here the cover is RICIDULOUSLY THICK, and the PARTIALLY COLLAPSED BUILDINGS only make things worse on your pursuers.

It takes you about twenty minutes to reach a place to hide, but you know they're still following you.

>_

==>

[You knew that was coming.]

Alice finds a good place to BUNKER DOWN as the patrols enter your ERUDITION RANGE.

Alice uses ambient magic to mark down a MAP OF THE AREA. You're currently in a different PARTIALLY COLLAPSED BUILDING, this one with its former MAIN ENTRANCE pointed in a SOUTHEASTERN direction. She marks a scale, as well as the ambient RUBBLE and ROUGH TERRAIN. That's a lot of ROUGH TERRAIN. Given the features she's presenting and your HARD ERUDITION RANGE you figure out that said range is about 800 FEET.

Tension ratchets through the squad as the two squad leaders motion to the others to surround the building. It's like watching silhouettes with faint sparks, all around, through the walls. It's kind of strange to watch, actually.

There are several entrances left by crawling vines and breaking roots; they're less entrances and more HOLES IN THE WALL, with treacherous footing. However, there are enough that you probably can't cover all of them at once with SUPPRESSION FIRE. It's not like you're MADE OF ROUNDS either. While one partially expended magazine and two full ones may sound like a LOT you know damn well how fast you can BURN THROUGH THAT, especially if you lay down a one man RAIN OF PROJECTILES.

You're not sure about the condition of the GLOCKS and have had no time to test fire them; though Alice seems confident enough that she's repairing them properly with ambient magic, you seriously wonder what that's going to DO TO THEM.

You'd also honestly prefer this not come to a fight... But looking over the lot of them, only the SQUAD LEADERS seem to have a hope of meeting you in PITCHED BATTLE, never mind an AMBUSH on your end.

As far as you can tell you have advantages:

-- You know where they are, PRECISELY. In fact, they're spreading out pretty even. You're almost certain now that even if they're on opposite sides, these two squad leaders know each other.

-- You have the advantage of STEALTH. As usual, you're hard to detect, and Alice is just as difficult to spot, despite the POWDER BLUE CLOTHING.

-- You have PRE-BLOOM EQUIPMENT. This might not actually be an advantage- from the way things are right now, it seems a lot like anyone with some decent equipment like that and a GROUP OF DUDES can KICK COPIOUS BUTT.

-- You and Alice are some of the most powerful SUPERNATURAL PRESENCES you know of, GINNIE, REDCAP, and YOUR DREAM MENTOR aside. Alice is a little hard up for ZEON right now, but even you can feel how much the air tingles with magic. As far as you can tell, the only ones with even awakened Ki in the outside are the two SQUAD LEADERS. Maybe that's why they know each other?

-- You have a FORTIFIED POSITION relative to theirs. This would give up the advantage of STEALTH, but almost everyone knows the history of infantry charges against a hardened automatic weapon emplacement. Hint: It generally does not go well for the poor, bloody infantry.

-- If all else fails, Alice can probably use ambient magic to DROP YOU OUT OF HERE. Hopefully. Maybe.

-- You have the following abilities from your awakened ki that you have not revealed yet:
--- You may fake your death to all but the most skilled medical observer.
--- Your unnatural reinforcement of your munitions do more damage and come out faster.
--- Some things can just bounce off you, if they're weak enough. Most rounds larger than .22 or bird-shot aren't in this category, which is why you expect it not to come up.
--- You are slightly more resistant to massive damage than normal people.
--- You can heal up to half your damage by spending Ki like a madman. It's not an option you like using, for obvious reasons.
--- You are slightly better armored against things that attack that which keeps you together directly, such as LIGHT or DARK spells, LASER attacks, your own MARTIAL ART apparently, and NUCLEAR WEAPONRY (though good luck surviving that.)

-- Alice reveals that she has the following spells that are 'ready to go', though only one at a time. She says that she does not have time to explain why.
--- She can, in fact, hop short distances.
--- She can probably sneak around a lot better than you can.
--- She can then muffle the sound of a firearm going off.
--- In a pinch, she can throw around one of those darkness beams, but she considers this a last resort now that she has a decent FIREARM.

After a minute of this you stop her and tell her to give you the basics.

"Anything darkness based, creation based, fire based, maybe some life things. Don't expect big and flashy."

So that's the size of it. You have advantages, but you're outnumbered five to one and aren't sure how many of those advantages are moot. They don't look eager to talk, either.

>_

Know what?

I'd take my chances with the long-distance teleport.

Not only does it get you out of a potential combat situation, it might just throw off Redcap.

Getting away from Redcap takes PRIORITY

You decide that you don't like your current odds. "Alice, can you get us out of here?"

"I've never tried this much weight before on a short hop..."

"I mean to another city or something."

"That I won't be able to manage until I GET SOME REST. At least a few hours..." She starts heading down into the basement like the CRAZY WOMAN SHE IS but at least there it's DARK. "Can I have a light? I'm making another map..."

You look around for something and eventually manage an improvised TORCH. The place is crumbly, and threatens collapse at any moment. Dust filters the light, scattering it all over. From outside, you hear a shout:

"ATTENTION, POACHERS! WE HAVE YOU SURROUNDED! COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS EMPTY AND YOU MIGHT BE TREATED WITH MORE FAVOR BY OUR BOSSES! YOU HAVE ONE MINUTE, AND THEN WE'RE COMING IN AFTER YOU."

"Alice, we might want to step this up, they're getting annoyed," You mention, nervously, while she studies the map.

She's looking for something, and then finds it. "There's the pipeline... Okay, we're about to move, cut the light."

"I hope you're thinking more than one jump ahead, Alice..."

"Don't worry." She grabs you by the waist again and-

SOME TUBE

This is a tube structure of some kind; maybe at one point it held some kind of essential system. Now, it lies empty. There's a lot of dust and dirt here. The faint scent of mildew filters into your mind.

She pauses. "Did that do it?"

You consider the emotions coming from your pursuers. Looks like they're all still tense, expecting a battle. Some RATS are hanging around there, and their position seems a little more... Anticipatory. "They're okay for now, but you might want to keep going..."

"Way ahead of you..." She seems to be considering for a long moment, before nodding. "Right, the central park line is..." She grabs your hand again and you melt into the shadows. They're sort of cold.

Now you're sure you're in some sort of SUBWAY. You BLINK. "That's funny."

"What. I'm trying to calculate where to go."

"... There's an awful lot of RATS down here..." Like. A lot of rats. A whole mess of them, with a funny little clump somewhere. You have this horrible feeling about those ones...

"Of course there are rats. There are probably feral dogs and cats, and a snow leopard or two; what's your point?"

You follow a HUNCH. [10 of 11 points remaining. Using power: SENSE MATRIX.] "No, seriously, there are a lot of them..." That's even funnier- "... And they're... Psychic? And linked?"

"Shit!" She grabs your shoulder and YANKS you into the shadows again. Her voice is muffled and eldritch as you hear her for the first time in the SHADOWS. "Please tell me you've got some kind of shield against telepathy..."

"I think so-"

"Put it up, NOW," she says, when you resolve again.

[PSYCHIC SHIELDS UP! +PSYCHIC RESIST!] Oh, wow, you feel a lot less uneasy now! "That's much better." And now you notice the walls are nearly PULSING with power. Oh god. "... Alice, what about the plants...?"

"It's fine," Alice says. "As long as we don't do anything other than adjust background magic, there won't be any consequences."

"... And now I hope the Redcap was right when he called you the Lady of Nightmares, isn't it?"

"... A girl could get used to that name." She nods. "Anyway, now that we're mostly out of the brain rats' range, you should be much better off."

"They noticed me?" You look dubious about that.

"There are ways around your CONCEALMENT MATRIX, remember. If they can scan for MINDS like you can..." She lets you draw the obvious conclusion as she leads you by the hand, with a lot less urgency than you'd expect.

"Then if I don't have shields up, they can tell where I am," You nod, squeezing her hand in the dark as you remember she can't even see your face right now.

She squeezes back, and sounds amused when she says "Exactly."

"So, where are we?"

"We're about a mile away from where we were. The PATROLS shouldn't notice us, as long as you keep from hitting things. It sounded like a CANNON GOING OFF. " She breathes a sigh. "Were you able to spot... Ah... A knot of them? All linked up?"

"Yeah, I think so. Looks like they were all boosting one in particular," you nod. That was... Creepy. It was less like they had a bunch of different minds, and more like they all had ONE, spread out among them.

"That would be the RAT QUEEN. We'll want to steer clear of her." She brings herself to a halt in the darkness, as if LISTENING for something. You wait while she CONSIDERS IT.

"... I bet back in the day New York was a safer place to live."

"Oh, Arlington," Alice chuckles, like a knowing parent.

"Catch me up later on what New York was like. Where should we go?"

"... We could probably hide out on Ellis, there's nothing left there anyone wants. It's mostly an aerie for gulls and hawks."

"Ellis Island, huh... Is the hundred-ton harbor chick still around?"

"You'd have SEEN HER. She fell into the harbor a long time ago."

"Aw..." You pause, and let your thoughts DRIFT... [8 of 9 points remaining, power used: -------------------]

********

You're not sure where you are, except that it's back with the two PATROLS. You're not even sure how you have this vantage point- this would be from the ceiling. Each of them were standing around, now. They wait, calmly, for one of them, bearing a small CROSS OF SILVER to say something as he touches the collected DUST ON THE FLOOR. Eventually, he stands up. "DARK MAGIC, sir. Looks like some kind of short range teleport."

"Can you tell where it leads? And cut it with that 'sir' bullshit, I WORK FOR A LIVING." This man has 'grizzled veteran' written all over him; you know the type well. Chicago loved using them as DRILL INSTRUCTORS. But even then, they were generally more ERUDITE and tended not to use the word 'bullshit' casually in a sentence. He's one of two people here with TACTICAL ARMOR on, and he even has a RIOT SHIELD.

"... No sir. It's like it's been CONCEALED, or... COVERED IN SHADOWS." The squirty younger man shakes his head. "But definitely something MAGIC and very DARK, at that." He pauses, and starts looking around.

"Damn. Well, looks like you get to call your buddies with THE BOSTON INQUISITION, and fuck the consequences-"

You could swear the younger man is STARING AT YOU-

*******

A ringing SLAP brings you around. "Oi! We've got places to go, right? No time for napping."

"Ow..." You rub your cheek. "What was that for?"

"You FELL ASLEEP," Alice says. "I know it's WARM in here, but we need to keep our heads together."

>_

"I wasn't sleepin'! I think..."

"I wasn't sleepin'! I think..."

"What WERE you doing?" She starts muttering again, and a faint dark light fills the space.

"... What's the Boston Inquisition?"

"Bad news, that's what," Alice replies, quickly.

"We'll need a place to hole up, then." You start to explain what you saw in your dream, but Alice interrupts you.

"They've started loaning out INQUISITORS?" Alice looks WORRIED. "That means they'll probably run into the DUNAHAN soon..."

"I take it this is a problem we can't just SHOOT INTO OBLIVION?"

Alice nods. "Not unless you want to somehow BLOW UP CAMBRIDGE."

"What, are you saying you can't manage that with some sort of DARK BARRAGE HOLOCAUST?"

"As if I'd want to!" Alice shakes her head. "Meantime. Their main strength is numbers and they seem to have the BOSSES on their side for now, so let's see if we can't hole up in the MUSEUM for a day..."

"Mm. I can go without food for a while. You?"

"I'll need to pick up something, but it shouldn't be too difficult- that's why I make HOMUNCULI." She grabs your hand again and you move through the shadows...

MUSEUM BASEMENT.

It is dark. You cannot see, smell, or touch anything.

You hear Alice chanting something a little more... FLAMMABLE than normal, and an eerie blue FOX-FIRE hangs in the air next to her, lighting the basement. The faint scent of mildew and ivy hang here, just like they hang everywhere else. A seep of water comes up through cracks in teh foundation, and countless works of art, formerly kept in carefully climate-controlled conditions, moulder and rot here.

Alice mutters something else, and pulls out of her backpack a bunch of the stuff you left behind. In fact... The balance of it that wasn't in your backpack.

... That's more stuff than could fit in there, really.

"I thought ahead, and brought the fish with us. Hope you don't mind."

"Not particularly." You pause. "We're staying here?"

"For the duration, this time, yeah. I've holed up here before. It's nice. It's creepy. I like it." She smiles a creepy little smile that matches her surroundings, before setting up the IMPROVISED HIBACHI and setting the FOX-FIRE within it. "If you've got questions, now's the time to ask them."

The blue light gives everything an otherworldly look as you consider all the questions you want to go ask Alice.

>_