Re: DEATHGAME 9000 [S!3] Round One: Gamexus X99
03-08-2012, 09:44 PM
Originally posted on MSPA by Drakenforge.
Dying. Death. The end of all things which are or ever will be. Keagan had never brooded much on the subject, being partially indestructible had its perks. But Jolene had a point, there needed to be discussion on what exactly was going on. While there was little to be gained, an attempt was at least a move in the right direction.
“Well, while I heard there are eight of us, I could only guess what most of us look like. I barely recognised you as is,” he said, raising his thumb to point at his left eye and getting dangerously close to poking it out, “That incident you heard about messed up my eye, so everyone to me left was just fog. You were the first I met, so far as I know. What did they look like?”
Jolene pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to contend with two patterns on thought, only one of which was focused on her current conversation while the other contended with her maniacal sprites.
“This is going to be vague but I'll mention the obvious ones first. Giant chubby robot, blue-ish human like thing, whatever he mentioned was some sort of ghost, I dunno, all I saw where some blurry scale buildings. There was a girl in dress-up with some sort of rabbit, and another girl, smaller and looking to be even younger than you do-” she caught herself and actually looked at Keagan's face closely, “-which is how old exactly?” From the tone of her voice, she was not actually looking forward to being dealt the information.
“I'm Sixteen”
Keagan watched as her face became distorted while a barrage of conflicting emotions racked her brain. She silently moved the words “too young”, which went mostly unnoticed by Keagan, who was more interested in the fact the coffee shop was now at least 60% more Italian than he remembered it being. For one thing, he didn't remember steak dinners being on the menu, or the cloudy haze that was now the default texture for the carpeting and upholstery. It took Jolene a few more seconds before she too recognised it.
“This is familiar,” Keagan announced, “Right before I met you I saw a bank robbery, stopped the robber, only for the bank to not be anywhere in the vicinity. So would you say this is the work of that ghost or can we assume it is natural for coffee shops to turn into ethereal restaurants around here.”
She thought for a moment, distracted by something. This had become a running habit with her, so Keagan attempted to address it.
“So what exactly has you so distracted?”
She looked at him once more, a new emotion spread on her face. Keagan found it hard to read. Was she embarrassed? Ashamed? He felt there was something she was hiding. Thinking back, perhaps The Amazing had hit a nerve when he called her insane.
“The truth is, I-”
Suddenly Jolene sprang to her feet, reacting to some unknown source. She tried to grab Keagan as she dove to the floor, but her hand just brushed off of his sleeve as his eyes turned to the left towards the sound of people parking a par on the pavement. The next few moments seemed completely alien to him.
The sound of machine gun fire reverberated through the air as the bullets tore through glass and walls alike as the men casually destroyed the ghost diner with a vengeance. Keagan had enough time to yank his hat down over his eyes before the bullets began to pelt into his body. The uncomfortable heat from the recently fired bullets, along with the shrapnel left from flattening against his inhumanly resistant body made it feel like flaming ants were crawling over his body, occasionally biting him. He was not worried for himself, as he drew himself between the guns and Jolene in a way to prevent her getting caught in the crossfire. It was just instinct to put himself in harms way like that, he barely recognised he was doing it until the shooting stopped. Luckily, his power hadn't caused any bullets to bounce off of him and into her, so she was still mostly intact. Ethereal fragments of glass were stuck in her hair, though Keagan was still unable to see this.
He thumbed his hat up an inch, only revealing his faulty eye. With it's perception a bare minimal he could focus on one object at a time, which he was hoping would not be any of the guns that still had ammo. He stepped over the wrecked chairs and through the now non-existent window as the gangsters tried to make a getaway. One of them, celebrating too early and not yet processing the fact their bullets had failed to kill someone that stood in their destructive path, had an arm loop around his collarbone and yank him to the ground. Keagan dropped his knee onto his neck, trying to see just who had tried to kill him.
The boundaries of his foggy vision didn't allow for much. So he just kept him restrained while Jolene picked herself up. She jumped out after Keagan, gun in hand, but didn't point it in any particular direction. Instead, she looked past the gangsters and the young lad and instead watched a huge ball of...city roll dangerously over small obstacles, picking them up as it went.
“Keagan,” She called out, trying to get him to open his good eye, “We have to go. Now.”
When Keagan did raise his hat to see where she was looking to, the ball had already changed direction. It was picking up speed as it hurtled in their direction. The gangsters that had made it to their car had stopped bickering about why they couldn't remember why they hadn't started driving yet like they knew they should have been and began watching the sphere in awe. Bits of wood, benches, bikes and even small cars had been assimilated into its enormous girth.
Keagan quickly jumped to his feet while Jolene picked a path for them to run, somehow having more of a knowledge of the new cities layout than she should. The gangsters didn't stand a chance though, as he heard their terrorized voices call out while the car was absorbed into the mass. They ducked into a gap between shops before it could chase them down too.
“I guess it's only fair I tell you while I have the chance,” She yelled behind her as she made her way down dark alleyways and side-streets with him in tow, “I have a power of my own, something that orange bugger never got to mention.”
“I'm not actually crazy, though I used to think so when it all started, and I wasn't the only one thinking I was either. I have... Others. Sort of like a doppleganger only they don't have eyes and only I can see them. I use them for recon since I seem to be able to communicate with them with my mind, and I have to say this place is crazy. Not just the cities either, its almost like someone is cutting and sewing different places together.”
He check back, unable to find any sign of the rampant ball of rubble and debris. Keagan wondered briefly just what these places were to begin with. A city full of zombies, another city were car jackings and idiotic driving were rampant and-
Wait. Hold on a quick second here.
“Did they see what this city was called?” He called after her.
She was quiet for a few seconds, but quickly called back.
“Liberty City. Why?”
Keagan knew he should know the connection. Why did that name sound familiar? He didn't know of any city called that. Perhaps he had heard about it in some sort of fiction, but he just couldn't connect how that was relevant. So he marked it down as a coincidence and ignored it for now.
Jolene stopped to take a look around the corner of the last alleyway they could find. She motioned that it was safe and they both stepped out onto the pavement.
A trashcan soon smashed into Keagan's bare face. It crumpled harmlessly, but was difficult to remove after imprinting his head into its form. Keagan glared into the eyes of the scruffy assailant that had dried to smash his skull. He was confused, pondering why Keagan hadn't taken the hit, fallen down, then got back up and started punching and kicking. He also wondered why a dreary looking woman was pointing a gun at him.
“Police,” She half-lied, “Beat it, punk.”
He seemed to take the hint, and kept travelling down the only path the street allowed. There were no alleys, side-streets or roads that were not the single one going on for what looked to be forever. Even the alleyway they had just left was vacant.
“So, do we go left or right now?” Keagan briefly wondered why there was a cold cooked turkey lying by his feet, presumably where the trashcan had just been.
“This is too much. I don't think I can deal with this anymore.” Jolene slumped against a wall, taking a mental and physical breather. “There aren't any Others on this street, I'm not sure how we even ended up here.”
Keagan watched as an entire street full of thugs continued in one same direction, to their right, beating each other around with pipes, chains and random objects. It almost looked comical, like something straight out of a videogame.
“You're a reckless fool, you know that Keagan?” He simply nodded an agreement.
“They told me about those armed bastards. I tried to get you to the floor, but I guess your power kinda stopped me. You're amazing though, I saw you get shot and you barely flinched. It was... almost cool, in a sense.”
Keagan wasn't proud of what he had done. It just happened that way, but Jolene seemed upset by the change of events. He couldn't tell that she felt outdone by a youngster like him, but he wouldn't have been able to do much even if he did.
“I'm not cool, and I'm not invincible. There aren't any “magic words”. I have no idea why I have my power or even how it works,” He stated, taking a seat next to her, “My eye was blinded by the intense light from the bomb, back home. Before that, my body stopped everything I couldn't see coming. If I closed my eyes when I fell over, I didn't get hurt. If I was holding an apple and peeling its skin, I could cut my finger. But bullets are a bit fast for me. But I've been shot, properly. It's not something I want to repeat.”
“In a way, my lack of depth perception and blurry left eye is a blessing. I can't see much that can hurt me now. I wasn't very good at being a superhero, but I think I, no we, can get by fine doing some regular hero stuff. Hah, we should form a team or something.”
Jolene was simply silent for a while. Keagan gave up trying to cheer her up and left her to her own devices. He almost didn't hear her mumble a reply when it finally came.
“Okay.”
He recoiled after she had taken his joke seriously, but as he thought about it himself, the prospect of being a heroic duo (with powers) and not being intentional super-heroes was actually an interesting one.
“All right then, to whatever we eventually name ourselves,” He laughed as he struck his hand out for her to shake. She quickly shook it in turn, and for a moment (save for the wanton violence ravaging the lone street) everything was fine for the two Regular Heroes.
Dying. Death. The end of all things which are or ever will be. Keagan had never brooded much on the subject, being partially indestructible had its perks. But Jolene had a point, there needed to be discussion on what exactly was going on. While there was little to be gained, an attempt was at least a move in the right direction.
“Well, while I heard there are eight of us, I could only guess what most of us look like. I barely recognised you as is,” he said, raising his thumb to point at his left eye and getting dangerously close to poking it out, “That incident you heard about messed up my eye, so everyone to me left was just fog. You were the first I met, so far as I know. What did they look like?”
Jolene pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to contend with two patterns on thought, only one of which was focused on her current conversation while the other contended with her maniacal sprites.
“This is going to be vague but I'll mention the obvious ones first. Giant chubby robot, blue-ish human like thing, whatever he mentioned was some sort of ghost, I dunno, all I saw where some blurry scale buildings. There was a girl in dress-up with some sort of rabbit, and another girl, smaller and looking to be even younger than you do-” she caught herself and actually looked at Keagan's face closely, “-which is how old exactly?” From the tone of her voice, she was not actually looking forward to being dealt the information.
“I'm Sixteen”
Keagan watched as her face became distorted while a barrage of conflicting emotions racked her brain. She silently moved the words “too young”, which went mostly unnoticed by Keagan, who was more interested in the fact the coffee shop was now at least 60% more Italian than he remembered it being. For one thing, he didn't remember steak dinners being on the menu, or the cloudy haze that was now the default texture for the carpeting and upholstery. It took Jolene a few more seconds before she too recognised it.
“This is familiar,” Keagan announced, “Right before I met you I saw a bank robbery, stopped the robber, only for the bank to not be anywhere in the vicinity. So would you say this is the work of that ghost or can we assume it is natural for coffee shops to turn into ethereal restaurants around here.”
She thought for a moment, distracted by something. This had become a running habit with her, so Keagan attempted to address it.
“So what exactly has you so distracted?”
She looked at him once more, a new emotion spread on her face. Keagan found it hard to read. Was she embarrassed? Ashamed? He felt there was something she was hiding. Thinking back, perhaps The Amazing had hit a nerve when he called her insane.
“The truth is, I-”
Suddenly Jolene sprang to her feet, reacting to some unknown source. She tried to grab Keagan as she dove to the floor, but her hand just brushed off of his sleeve as his eyes turned to the left towards the sound of people parking a par on the pavement. The next few moments seemed completely alien to him.
The sound of machine gun fire reverberated through the air as the bullets tore through glass and walls alike as the men casually destroyed the ghost diner with a vengeance. Keagan had enough time to yank his hat down over his eyes before the bullets began to pelt into his body. The uncomfortable heat from the recently fired bullets, along with the shrapnel left from flattening against his inhumanly resistant body made it feel like flaming ants were crawling over his body, occasionally biting him. He was not worried for himself, as he drew himself between the guns and Jolene in a way to prevent her getting caught in the crossfire. It was just instinct to put himself in harms way like that, he barely recognised he was doing it until the shooting stopped. Luckily, his power hadn't caused any bullets to bounce off of him and into her, so she was still mostly intact. Ethereal fragments of glass were stuck in her hair, though Keagan was still unable to see this.
He thumbed his hat up an inch, only revealing his faulty eye. With it's perception a bare minimal he could focus on one object at a time, which he was hoping would not be any of the guns that still had ammo. He stepped over the wrecked chairs and through the now non-existent window as the gangsters tried to make a getaway. One of them, celebrating too early and not yet processing the fact their bullets had failed to kill someone that stood in their destructive path, had an arm loop around his collarbone and yank him to the ground. Keagan dropped his knee onto his neck, trying to see just who had tried to kill him.
The boundaries of his foggy vision didn't allow for much. So he just kept him restrained while Jolene picked herself up. She jumped out after Keagan, gun in hand, but didn't point it in any particular direction. Instead, she looked past the gangsters and the young lad and instead watched a huge ball of...city roll dangerously over small obstacles, picking them up as it went.
“Keagan,” She called out, trying to get him to open his good eye, “We have to go. Now.”
When Keagan did raise his hat to see where she was looking to, the ball had already changed direction. It was picking up speed as it hurtled in their direction. The gangsters that had made it to their car had stopped bickering about why they couldn't remember why they hadn't started driving yet like they knew they should have been and began watching the sphere in awe. Bits of wood, benches, bikes and even small cars had been assimilated into its enormous girth.
Keagan quickly jumped to his feet while Jolene picked a path for them to run, somehow having more of a knowledge of the new cities layout than she should. The gangsters didn't stand a chance though, as he heard their terrorized voices call out while the car was absorbed into the mass. They ducked into a gap between shops before it could chase them down too.
“I guess it's only fair I tell you while I have the chance,” She yelled behind her as she made her way down dark alleyways and side-streets with him in tow, “I have a power of my own, something that orange bugger never got to mention.”
“I'm not actually crazy, though I used to think so when it all started, and I wasn't the only one thinking I was either. I have... Others. Sort of like a doppleganger only they don't have eyes and only I can see them. I use them for recon since I seem to be able to communicate with them with my mind, and I have to say this place is crazy. Not just the cities either, its almost like someone is cutting and sewing different places together.”
He check back, unable to find any sign of the rampant ball of rubble and debris. Keagan wondered briefly just what these places were to begin with. A city full of zombies, another city were car jackings and idiotic driving were rampant and-
Wait. Hold on a quick second here.
“Did they see what this city was called?” He called after her.
She was quiet for a few seconds, but quickly called back.
“Liberty City. Why?”
Keagan knew he should know the connection. Why did that name sound familiar? He didn't know of any city called that. Perhaps he had heard about it in some sort of fiction, but he just couldn't connect how that was relevant. So he marked it down as a coincidence and ignored it for now.
Jolene stopped to take a look around the corner of the last alleyway they could find. She motioned that it was safe and they both stepped out onto the pavement.
A trashcan soon smashed into Keagan's bare face. It crumpled harmlessly, but was difficult to remove after imprinting his head into its form. Keagan glared into the eyes of the scruffy assailant that had dried to smash his skull. He was confused, pondering why Keagan hadn't taken the hit, fallen down, then got back up and started punching and kicking. He also wondered why a dreary looking woman was pointing a gun at him.
“Police,” She half-lied, “Beat it, punk.”
He seemed to take the hint, and kept travelling down the only path the street allowed. There were no alleys, side-streets or roads that were not the single one going on for what looked to be forever. Even the alleyway they had just left was vacant.
“So, do we go left or right now?” Keagan briefly wondered why there was a cold cooked turkey lying by his feet, presumably where the trashcan had just been.
“This is too much. I don't think I can deal with this anymore.” Jolene slumped against a wall, taking a mental and physical breather. “There aren't any Others on this street, I'm not sure how we even ended up here.”
Keagan watched as an entire street full of thugs continued in one same direction, to their right, beating each other around with pipes, chains and random objects. It almost looked comical, like something straight out of a videogame.
“You're a reckless fool, you know that Keagan?” He simply nodded an agreement.
“They told me about those armed bastards. I tried to get you to the floor, but I guess your power kinda stopped me. You're amazing though, I saw you get shot and you barely flinched. It was... almost cool, in a sense.”
Keagan wasn't proud of what he had done. It just happened that way, but Jolene seemed upset by the change of events. He couldn't tell that she felt outdone by a youngster like him, but he wouldn't have been able to do much even if he did.
“I'm not cool, and I'm not invincible. There aren't any “magic words”. I have no idea why I have my power or even how it works,” He stated, taking a seat next to her, “My eye was blinded by the intense light from the bomb, back home. Before that, my body stopped everything I couldn't see coming. If I closed my eyes when I fell over, I didn't get hurt. If I was holding an apple and peeling its skin, I could cut my finger. But bullets are a bit fast for me. But I've been shot, properly. It's not something I want to repeat.”
“In a way, my lack of depth perception and blurry left eye is a blessing. I can't see much that can hurt me now. I wasn't very good at being a superhero, but I think I, no we, can get by fine doing some regular hero stuff. Hah, we should form a team or something.”
Jolene was simply silent for a while. Keagan gave up trying to cheer her up and left her to her own devices. He almost didn't hear her mumble a reply when it finally came.
“Okay.”
He recoiled after she had taken his joke seriously, but as he thought about it himself, the prospect of being a heroic duo (with powers) and not being intentional super-heroes was actually an interesting one.
“All right then, to whatever we eventually name ourselves,” He laughed as he struck his hand out for her to shake. She quickly shook it in turn, and for a moment (save for the wanton violence ravaging the lone street) everything was fine for the two Regular Heroes.