Re: DEATHGAME 9000 [S!3] Round One: Gamexus X99
08-22-2012, 06:59 PM
Originally posted on MSPA by Drakenforge.
Jolene was picking her way through the crowds with ease, as one could expect from a woman with at least two pairs of eyes overlooking the gaps she could fit through. Keagan kept pace just behind by blinking every time someone came close to shoving into him, which went badly for a few larger characters that went barrelling as a result. Not only was Jolene's navigational prowess the reason for Keagan bringing the rear, but since Ezio now had ownership of her handgun he was the preferable bullet sponge if the assassin were to shoot.
“So what exactly went down over there?”
“She's stuck at the top of a shut down Ferris Wheel. Even if that Italian guy isn't in on this that slob can't be working alone.”
While Keagan wanted to keep an eye out for Ezio, the idea of catching a glimpse of the assassin was laughable. Even Jolene hadn't seem him arrive until he was already sat down, what hope did he have with his impaired vision? His hand hovered over the the case inside his trouser pocket. The glasses helped, but with so many people around he couldn't risk breaking them. They were safe where they were, and he had a promise to keep with returning them. The memory raised his spirits a little. Still, he was dismayed with the number of characters that had given up with what ideals they had held once before. To see the heroes just resolved to their fate, all will power gone forever, really annoyed him. He didn't know what could cause something like that, the designers that had created them or perhaps something deeper, unknown to anyone in the world, well, Keagan's world anyway.
With the stadium now behind them Jolene started a winding path through indistinct alleys and roads. The visual theme of the district was new, colourful and vibrant. Keagan couldn't put a name to the game. When the roads became wider and the number of joining streets dwindled Jolene slowed down, signs of thought showing on her face.
“It's a maze. Damn.”
Before Keagan could ask what she meant the maze made itself known, almost as if Jolene's observation had been taken as a challenge. As if someone had shoved reality through a kaleidoscope the walls and floor became to twist and ebb violently while neither of them felt any shift beneath their feet. Strange portals, for lack of a better word, became to rip apart at the edges of buildings and windows, images of things dark and cruel briefly showing through the veils. Keagan knew they were outmatched if these things were monsters or demons, and he had no intention of testing his powers out on new, surreal dangers. Jolene raised a hand to her head as a flash of pain overtook her, mumbling that one of her doppelgängers had been destroyed before Keagan was forced to support her from falling. As the first of the monsters stumbled to the floor behind him he forced his eyes firmly shut as he tried to cover the female officer with as much of his own body as possible, dreading what was inevitable. He wasn't ready to die, and yet here he was anyway.
As the walls became soaked with blood with every gut churning sound of flesh and sinew ripping as a blade tore through body after body, it took Keagan an embarrassingly long time to realise it was not him being mutilated. Behind them stood a rather familiar looking hunk of a man, only his hair was deep black, he actually wore a shirt under his overly large coat and was several years younger in appearance than his counterpart, yet Keagan could tell the resemblance to Christian. The weapons were the same, fighting style, hand tattoos and even that cheesy grin was there. The memory of a certain game franchise getting a reboot caused the boy to chuckle involuntarily. But with that chuckle came inspiration. Jolene tore herself out from underneath Keagan's overly attached embrace and inspected their saviour. She came to about the same realisation as he had, though clearly not understanding the meta behind his existence.
“That's a different guy,” She pointed out earnestly, “I can still see the original holding Trisha. Still, that doesn't mean this one is any less untrustworthy.”
Keagan smiled at her and asked her to let him handle it. As the flashy character cleaned his sword of demonic guts Keagan raised his hand in greetings. Christian 2 turned, his smile and gaze limited to the existence of Jolene as he ignored the scruffy child entirely.
“Yo, down here”
“Yeah yeah beat it, scamp. Grown ups are working.”
Annoyed, Keagan decided to just drop the bombshell on it quickly, “I'm a player. You remember what those are here, right? Yeah, no game, no creators, just me in front of a screen with a controller. Until recently.”
Christian 2 stood impassive, deciding whether to laugh or scoff at the idea.
“Prove it”, he ultimately chose.
“You have father issues, your name is Christian, your pants are stolen and those tats were a drunk idea you got in your first bar crawl in the human world.”, without having played the game Keagan's info was a little rusty, seeing as this Christian hadn't seen as much development as his future double.
“Basic knowledge”
“Fine, call me out, but you don't know anything about me. Nobody does. I've got no game, nothing ties me to this place. I know more about you than you could ever know about me.”
“And?”
“And I'm tougher than you”, he lied.
This seemed to be the first thing to affect the black haired demon killer. “Oh yeah? You wanna test that, punk?” His youth showed. Just as Keagan had anticipated, his reboot would be immature and brass without the years of growth and experience of a story.
“Only if I win something by proving it. You do one thing for me if I win.”
“And when you lose,” he raised his hand over Keagan's head and pointed, “I get to take her out.”
Keagan knew Jolene would reject the idea. And she clearly could have heard what was said, so Keagan quickly agreed before she had a say.
“If you can beat me to the floor, I'll admit you win. How much time you want?” With his abilities a secret, Keagan wanted him to be overconfident. Setting a large time would give him the disadvantage and give Christian the chance of winning, but if he chose a short chance he would raise suspicions. Better to make him regret it after, too.
“For real? Man this is gonna be one easy date. Ten seconds, I'll do it in two but hey, maybe I trip somehow.”
Just as Keagan muttered “Go”, the demon hunter was on him. He clearly wanted it over with a single blow, so Keagan lowered his centre of gravity, twisted his shoulder towards the punch and braced himself, eyes focused elsewhere. Just as the fist connected Keagan threw his body at an angle, forcing the punch to not only bounce but throw the stronger man off balance. He closed the distance, not giving him room to manoeuvre a good punch or push at all.
In the end, Keagan was lodged into the wall with Christan readying a punch to his face, but he had not fallen. He was pleased, though Jolene scolded him for being reckless, stupid and inconsiderate.
“We need him, though” she finally admitted when Keagan broke the news to their new underling.
“You're gonna fight someone for us, while we rescue our friend.”
“Is it a chick?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Incentive.”
With the cocky reboot in toe they finally closed in on the amusement park. The Ferris wheel was easy to locate, however they had been anticipated. Cliché goons blocked their path, and Christian was playing his cards smart.
“I only agreed to one guy, afterall.”
“Jolene, take him and go on, I can handle these guys.”
“No, you can't. But we can't let Trish die either...”
Keagan ushered her on with a clap on her shoulder before charging headfirst into the largest goon. He didn't get to see them run past, but as boots, fists and a pipe bounced off his back he counted that each goon had fallen for his diversion. Now he just had to find a way to not get his skull bashed in, or else he'd be forcing the others to move location faster than they'd anticipated.
Jolene was picking her way through the crowds with ease, as one could expect from a woman with at least two pairs of eyes overlooking the gaps she could fit through. Keagan kept pace just behind by blinking every time someone came close to shoving into him, which went badly for a few larger characters that went barrelling as a result. Not only was Jolene's navigational prowess the reason for Keagan bringing the rear, but since Ezio now had ownership of her handgun he was the preferable bullet sponge if the assassin were to shoot.
“So what exactly went down over there?”
“She's stuck at the top of a shut down Ferris Wheel. Even if that Italian guy isn't in on this that slob can't be working alone.”
While Keagan wanted to keep an eye out for Ezio, the idea of catching a glimpse of the assassin was laughable. Even Jolene hadn't seem him arrive until he was already sat down, what hope did he have with his impaired vision? His hand hovered over the the case inside his trouser pocket. The glasses helped, but with so many people around he couldn't risk breaking them. They were safe where they were, and he had a promise to keep with returning them. The memory raised his spirits a little. Still, he was dismayed with the number of characters that had given up with what ideals they had held once before. To see the heroes just resolved to their fate, all will power gone forever, really annoyed him. He didn't know what could cause something like that, the designers that had created them or perhaps something deeper, unknown to anyone in the world, well, Keagan's world anyway.
With the stadium now behind them Jolene started a winding path through indistinct alleys and roads. The visual theme of the district was new, colourful and vibrant. Keagan couldn't put a name to the game. When the roads became wider and the number of joining streets dwindled Jolene slowed down, signs of thought showing on her face.
“It's a maze. Damn.”
Before Keagan could ask what she meant the maze made itself known, almost as if Jolene's observation had been taken as a challenge. As if someone had shoved reality through a kaleidoscope the walls and floor became to twist and ebb violently while neither of them felt any shift beneath their feet. Strange portals, for lack of a better word, became to rip apart at the edges of buildings and windows, images of things dark and cruel briefly showing through the veils. Keagan knew they were outmatched if these things were monsters or demons, and he had no intention of testing his powers out on new, surreal dangers. Jolene raised a hand to her head as a flash of pain overtook her, mumbling that one of her doppelgängers had been destroyed before Keagan was forced to support her from falling. As the first of the monsters stumbled to the floor behind him he forced his eyes firmly shut as he tried to cover the female officer with as much of his own body as possible, dreading what was inevitable. He wasn't ready to die, and yet here he was anyway.
As the walls became soaked with blood with every gut churning sound of flesh and sinew ripping as a blade tore through body after body, it took Keagan an embarrassingly long time to realise it was not him being mutilated. Behind them stood a rather familiar looking hunk of a man, only his hair was deep black, he actually wore a shirt under his overly large coat and was several years younger in appearance than his counterpart, yet Keagan could tell the resemblance to Christian. The weapons were the same, fighting style, hand tattoos and even that cheesy grin was there. The memory of a certain game franchise getting a reboot caused the boy to chuckle involuntarily. But with that chuckle came inspiration. Jolene tore herself out from underneath Keagan's overly attached embrace and inspected their saviour. She came to about the same realisation as he had, though clearly not understanding the meta behind his existence.
“That's a different guy,” She pointed out earnestly, “I can still see the original holding Trisha. Still, that doesn't mean this one is any less untrustworthy.”
Keagan smiled at her and asked her to let him handle it. As the flashy character cleaned his sword of demonic guts Keagan raised his hand in greetings. Christian 2 turned, his smile and gaze limited to the existence of Jolene as he ignored the scruffy child entirely.
“Yo, down here”
“Yeah yeah beat it, scamp. Grown ups are working.”
Annoyed, Keagan decided to just drop the bombshell on it quickly, “I'm a player. You remember what those are here, right? Yeah, no game, no creators, just me in front of a screen with a controller. Until recently.”
Christian 2 stood impassive, deciding whether to laugh or scoff at the idea.
“Prove it”, he ultimately chose.
“You have father issues, your name is Christian, your pants are stolen and those tats were a drunk idea you got in your first bar crawl in the human world.”, without having played the game Keagan's info was a little rusty, seeing as this Christian hadn't seen as much development as his future double.
“Basic knowledge”
“Fine, call me out, but you don't know anything about me. Nobody does. I've got no game, nothing ties me to this place. I know more about you than you could ever know about me.”
“And?”
“And I'm tougher than you”, he lied.
This seemed to be the first thing to affect the black haired demon killer. “Oh yeah? You wanna test that, punk?” His youth showed. Just as Keagan had anticipated, his reboot would be immature and brass without the years of growth and experience of a story.
“Only if I win something by proving it. You do one thing for me if I win.”
“And when you lose,” he raised his hand over Keagan's head and pointed, “I get to take her out.”
Keagan knew Jolene would reject the idea. And she clearly could have heard what was said, so Keagan quickly agreed before she had a say.
“If you can beat me to the floor, I'll admit you win. How much time you want?” With his abilities a secret, Keagan wanted him to be overconfident. Setting a large time would give him the disadvantage and give Christian the chance of winning, but if he chose a short chance he would raise suspicions. Better to make him regret it after, too.
“For real? Man this is gonna be one easy date. Ten seconds, I'll do it in two but hey, maybe I trip somehow.”
Just as Keagan muttered “Go”, the demon hunter was on him. He clearly wanted it over with a single blow, so Keagan lowered his centre of gravity, twisted his shoulder towards the punch and braced himself, eyes focused elsewhere. Just as the fist connected Keagan threw his body at an angle, forcing the punch to not only bounce but throw the stronger man off balance. He closed the distance, not giving him room to manoeuvre a good punch or push at all.
In the end, Keagan was lodged into the wall with Christan readying a punch to his face, but he had not fallen. He was pleased, though Jolene scolded him for being reckless, stupid and inconsiderate.
“We need him, though” she finally admitted when Keagan broke the news to their new underling.
“You're gonna fight someone for us, while we rescue our friend.”
“Is it a chick?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Incentive.”
With the cocky reboot in toe they finally closed in on the amusement park. The Ferris wheel was easy to locate, however they had been anticipated. Cliché goons blocked their path, and Christian was playing his cards smart.
“I only agreed to one guy, afterall.”
“Jolene, take him and go on, I can handle these guys.”
“No, you can't. But we can't let Trish die either...”
Keagan ushered her on with a clap on her shoulder before charging headfirst into the largest goon. He didn't get to see them run past, but as boots, fists and a pipe bounced off his back he counted that each goon had fallen for his diversion. Now he just had to find a way to not get his skull bashed in, or else he'd be forcing the others to move location faster than they'd anticipated.