The Vivacious Deadlock: S3G6: Round Three: The Sable Masque

Originally posted on MSPA by Pick Yer Poison.

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This was not part of the plan. Klendel dropped to all fours and darted to the edge of the roof, slightly faster than should have been possible. He lept over the edge just as Cascala finished her spell, and the heavens glowed gleefully as a bolt of electricity touched down on the edge of the rooftop, leaving a blackened scorch mark where Klendel had been only moments before. Klendel himself slammed heavily into corner of the next rooftop, clawed hands scrabbling for purchase at the top, feet doing much the same on the side. He dug his claws into the surface of the roof and pulled himself up, grunting as he lifted the weight of the gear on his back. He wasted no time in sprinting for the other side, almost slipping in the rapidly-accumulating water, which seemed to be a good deal too much for a natural rainstorm. A bright flash of light alerted Klendel to the fact that Cascala had just hit him with a lightning bolt. The radiant burst sapped his strength, and his sprint turned into something more akin to a stagger. He was nearly at the edge of the roof, and he tried to leap to the next one the same way he had leaped to the one he was on, but he misjudged the distance, and this time his claws and feet scrabbled for purchase in the wall. He dropped to the alley two stories below, landing nonchalantly on his feet despite the length of the fall, and severely frightening a nearby hobo who had been taking shelter from the rain inside a cardbord box, with a metal trash can lid placed on top to help stop it from getting too wet. He was situated near a dumpster, as well as near the overturned trash can he had scavenged the lid off of; from the looks of things, he had been about to start what passed for dinner among his kind. Klendel took a moment to give him a toothy, impossibly wide grin, then backed up against the wall opposite from him and began sliding rapidly along it, melting into the shadows as he went until he was nothing more than a moving gear half-embedded in a lump of shadow flitting across the side of the building, then onto the ground when that side ended, and just as rapidly up onto the side of the next building in the line.

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Cascala descended quickly towards the alley, determined not to let her prey escape. She had not been happy when it had survived a direct lightning strike, but had not been altogether surprised by it. The trick to killing a magical being, she knew, lay in discovering what it was vulnerable to. Beings held together by magical forces were always associated with one element or another, although it usually differed on an individual basis. This made each naturally resistant to related types of magic, as they were granted a degree of control over them, but gave them little natural protection from other ones, which they were unable to magically counter. The fact that the lightning strike had done as much as it had was, in a way, reassuring, because it implied that weather magic had not been used as a base for the demon.

She reached the alley in time to see the creature melt into a wall and go speeding off, a mound of darkness identifiable only by the metallic shape embedded in its back. She quickly gave chase, rising higher again and casting a spell to allow her to see through the rain and track her target. After it had traveled several city blocks in the same direction, it made an abrupt right-angle turn and began making its way towards a group of warehouses. She turned as well, wondering what was so important about the warehouses that the demon had to return there instead of trying to take her out.

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Klendel decided to postpone his mission to dupe the Los Picaros Duros into raiding the Fabulis Fabulosa Milesiaca, since he doubted he could finish it with Cascala on his tail. He had spotted her just as he had sped off amongst the shadows, and he occasionally caught a glimpse of her high above, chasing him from atop an oddly solid cloud. He wracked his mind, trying to decide on the best way to get rid of her. He knew he was no match for her without the advantage of either surprise or close quarters, and he also wanted to avoid giving away any information about himself he didn't have to. The unknown is the most fearsome thing of all, after all. After a few silent moments of mental concentration, he realized that there was only one gang he hadn't yet begun to set up for a fall; the one led by the other manipulator. Cascala seemed bent on destroying him, but perhaps if he made himself appear to be working for them...

He took a sharp right turn and sped off towards the warehouses in the industrial district. A few of the people he had pressed for information had mentioned one of them as being important, and he suspected it was either a forward base or a key building belonging to whoever his competitor was. Either way, if he brought an enemy to its doorstep, there would likely be some form of defense waiting for them. And besides, he thought, with a mental shrug, what've I got to lose by trying?

---

Syn raised an eyebrow at Empress Phere from behind the small table she referred to as her desk. "Are you sure you want to go through with this operation? There's no going back if you change your mind later."

Phere stared back seriously with her real eye. The Hollow stared along with it without any real change in expression, but Syn felt it was piercing her regardless. "I don't make choices like this on a whim, Syn. Of course I'm sure."

Syn nodded and opened her mouth to say something when Levi rushed in. "Boss--Empress Phere, we have a security breach. Something got in past our perimeter without us noticing somehow."

Phere turned around. "What? How? I thought you said you had sensors everywhere."

Levi shrugged. "We do, and as far as I know they're still working. The perimeter ones are heat sensors, though, and the intruder seems to be wearing a strange black outfit. I think it might be a coldsuit." He scratched his chin contemplatively in a way that suggested that he had once had a beard. "Although why someone would be prepared for heat sensors and not motion detectors is beyond me. They don't seem to know we're here, though, since they're sweeping through every warehouse instead of zeroing in on ours."

Phere began looking around the warehouses with her Hollow, searching for the intruder. "Where are they now?"

"Warehouse C. Two down from us."

Phere brought her Hollow to bear on Warehouse C, and found, to her surprise, a shadowy, humanoid shape, with a gear protruding from its back. She recognized him as one of the contestants, but she had no name to attach to him. For some reason, he was simply ignoring every camera and sensor, rushing through as if he didn't even know they were there. She withdrew from the viewing and addressed Levi, who was bouncing on the balls of his feet anxiously. "Go meet our guest, but be careful; I have reason to believe he may be dangerous." Levi nodded and stormed off to the entrance, planning to catch the intruder when he made his way to the warehouse the Punks' base was located in. Phere turned back to Syn. "The surgery is going to have to wait, I'm afraid; I can't afford to be indisposed until this is settled." She headed back to the command center she had established and then shifted her Hollow's focus to Levi, waiting for the dark figure to make his appearance.