Re: The Vivacious Deadlock: S3G6: Round One: Genreshift
10-09-2011, 04:45 AM
Originally posted on MSPA by Pick Yer Poison.
All over the city, Klendel's plans were coming together. Gangs were murdering each other in the streets as their leaders comitted suicide or died beside their followers. Four of the major gangs were already completely exterminated, and several others were close to that point as well. In sections of the city where guns were present, constant gunfire was heard; in those where it was not, the sound was replaced by either the clash of swords or the much more varied sounds of magical fights.
Khan stumbled in the middle of his charge as a bullet from one of the members of the Greatest Degeneration's soldiers' revolvers embedded itself in his lung. He coughed up some blood and held it up to his face with trembling hands. A second bullet in his head silenced him completely, and the rest of the Screaming Eagles howled with outrage.
A member of the Hacker Slashers sliced off the head of the Librarian Collective's leader, roaring with triumph. The rest of the gang quickly dropped their improvised weapons and surrendered. Unfortunately for them, the Hacker Slashers rarely took prisoners.
A door guard walked into Archwizard Matic's zoo of alchemical abominations to relieve the previous guard from his shift. He was shocked to find the guard dead on the floor, sharp gashes like claws across his chest, and the gate stretched wide open. Matic's creations were already long gone.
The Engineers laughed maniacally as their steampunk warmechs forced the disorganized remainder of Dr. Matic's troops into a terrified retreat, firing gatling guns and flamethrowers into the panicking mob. The passed over the border to Archwizard Matic's castle, and the warmechs became manticores and dragons, firing poison spines and belching enormous flames at the fleeing mages.
Kirsch limped his way to the chapel, where he told a cowering wizard-in-training to fetch him the commanders. With Archwizard Matic dead and summoners attacking them, he had no idea how to salvage the situation. Fortunately, he considered himself good at thinking under pressure. He positioned himself at the podium of the chapel, resting his weight on it while trying to make it look like he wasn't doing so. It wouldn't do to have his lieutenants realizing he was weakened, especially considering he suspected some of them were like him and were just waiting for an opportunity to kill him and steal his position.
Half a mile away, a privately-hired sniper peered through his scope at the man behind the stained glass window. It was difficult to be certain, but was pretty nearly sure that he was looking at the man was supposed to kill. He adjusted his scope in accordance with the wind that had been brought up by the strange storm that had appeared, then pulled the trigger.
A bolt of magical energy impacted on the back of Kirsch's head, cracking his skull and causing shards of it to splinter into his brain. His eyes rolled up in his head and he slumped down on the podium, then fell to the floor in an awkward, bloody pile.
Meanwhile, Matic's abominations clashed with The Engineers and their ridden beasts, forcing them to fall back. The few remaining members of Matic's gang, caught between the two opposing gangs, were killed in the skirmish, most of them in particularly painful and embarassing ways. It's only to be expected, of course; there aren't a lot of noble methods of death when you're getting mauled by a giant cactus with legs.
The Greatest Degeneration finally managed to finish off the Screaming Eagles. They had taken heavy losses when the horde had gone berserk due to their leader's death, and many of them were beginning to feel the ill effects of the radiation-based weaponry used by some of the higher-ranking Screaming Eagles. They were preparing to fall back when they were set upon by the Good Bad Uglies, an ally of the former Screaming Eagles. Although they had arrived too late to save their former allies, their moral code dictated they take vengeance anyway. And so they wreaked havoc on the weakened and diminished troops of the Greatest Degeneration, until none of them were left.
He winced as he tried to get up, pinpricks of pain breaking out all over him. He looked curiously at himself, and found tiny rivers of red running all over it. It several moments to register in his mind that he was bleeding. He'd never bled before. Blood was the weakness of others, not of him. He stumbled into an alley as NORTHWIND screamed out of the window on his jetpack, zeroing in on his position.
Klendel ran as fast as he could on his injured feet, picking twisting and turning alleyways in an attempt to get NORTHWIND off his tail. NORTHWIND found he was unable to keep track of him from the rooftops, and landed in order to continue the chase on foot. Klendel panicked momentarily when he found his way blocked by a large steel mesh fence before he remembered he could just climb over it.
He took off running as soon as he hit the other side, ignoring the cuts in his feet as best he could, although they still worried him immensely. He kept a tight hold on the combat knife in his hand, an irrational scenario of it slipping out of his hand and cutting him springing up in his mind. The backpack containing the enemy intelligence documents bounced up and down against his back.
Private Northwind dropped down after him, determined to retrieve the documents at any cost. Letting an enemy soldier into their encampment was bad enough; letting him escape with mission-critical plans was unacceptable. "Stop right there!" he demanded, but was not surprised that it did no good. He pulled out his pistol and fired several shots at Klendel, missing but making him glance back with a frightened expression on his face. Northwind bared his teeth and raised his pistol to fire again, but Klendel made a sharp turn and dived through a nearby window. Northwind idly wondered what was with him and diving through windows, then kicked the door down and fired a few more shots into the room, half-hoping they would hit something.
Klendel lay panting and bleeding in the corner of the room, completely untouched by the bullets, but rather worse for the wear from his bad choice to land on another patch of broken glass. He looked up darkly at Northwind. "What now? You kill me and take these papers back to your foolish leaders?"
Northwind pointed the pistol at him. "Yes. Now give them to me."
Klendel laughed. "And what if I'm the good guy here? Did you think of that? Have you never stopped to consider the lies your leaders are telling you?"
Northwind didn't respond, but didn't fire either. He'd only just realized that his gun was out of ammo; he'd wasted the last of his shots firing into the room as he entered it. He mentally berated himself for doing that, but since Klendel's knife was the only actual weapon either of them had at the moment, he did his best to keep up the bluff.
Klendel could tell something was up with Northwind. Even if he didn't have his mental sniffing powers in this genre, he knew he had the advantage at the moment, and decided to press it. "You don't even know what's in these documents, do you? They didn't tell you anything at that fancy camp you went to." A nasty grin spread across Klendel's face. "I've seen your men do things that would make you piss your pants. Dogs beaten so badly they starve to death because they're too afraid to come out for openly-offered food. Men with their eyes cut out being forced to play 'I Spy,' and getting knife cuts for every wrong answer. Ditches full of children afraid to cry for their parents."
Northwind found his hand was shaking. He was a bit angry with himself for still letting the spy live, but he found himself strangely unwilling to make a move. "You're lying. My superiors would never order such a thing."
Klendel chuckled nastily. "Are you ever told what the war you're fighting is for? And do you know the lengths your army is prepared to go to to win it?" He had no idea what war they were fighting, and was mostly banking on the fact that most armies had a lot of less-than-honorable jobs to prove his point.
Northwind lowered his pistol slightly. "I...I...how do you know?"
Klendel forced himself up the wall slowly. He was still bleeding, but he was more used to the pain by now, and it no longer hindered him as much. "You think I'm playing for the enemy team? They thought that too, when I stole their intelligence." He regretted not having a cigarette to light at this point. It would've really improved the performance. "I play both sides and come out on top. My friend, I don't steal documents to win wars. I do it to save lives." He stretched out his hand to Northwind. "Throw those butchers behind you and help me win the hidden war. Together we can be heroes."
"I...I..." Everything Klendel was talking about was what Northwind had joined the army to stop from happening, and everything he was promising was what he had joined the army to do. He lowered his pistol and gripped Klendel's hand. "Let's do it...partner."
Klendel's grin widened disturbingly. "Let's start right away," he said, and stabbed Northwind in the gut. He sank to the ground in shock as Klendel pried their hands apart disinterestedly. A pool of blood was beginning to collect below it, and he added to it by coughing up a fair amount into it. His gun clattered to the floor. He looked up at Klendel with dull eyes, and Klendel was suddenly overcome with hatred for him, for the man who had shown him that everyone is capable of bleeding when cut. He kicked him as hard as he could in the face, and Northwind toppled over backwards, the last light dimming from his eyes.
All over the city, Klendel's plans were coming together. Gangs were murdering each other in the streets as their leaders comitted suicide or died beside their followers. Four of the major gangs were already completely exterminated, and several others were close to that point as well. In sections of the city where guns were present, constant gunfire was heard; in those where it was not, the sound was replaced by either the clash of swords or the much more varied sounds of magical fights.
Khan stumbled in the middle of his charge as a bullet from one of the members of the Greatest Degeneration's soldiers' revolvers embedded itself in his lung. He coughed up some blood and held it up to his face with trembling hands. A second bullet in his head silenced him completely, and the rest of the Screaming Eagles howled with outrage.
A member of the Hacker Slashers sliced off the head of the Librarian Collective's leader, roaring with triumph. The rest of the gang quickly dropped their improvised weapons and surrendered. Unfortunately for them, the Hacker Slashers rarely took prisoners.
A door guard walked into Archwizard Matic's zoo of alchemical abominations to relieve the previous guard from his shift. He was shocked to find the guard dead on the floor, sharp gashes like claws across his chest, and the gate stretched wide open. Matic's creations were already long gone.
The Engineers laughed maniacally as their steampunk warmechs forced the disorganized remainder of Dr. Matic's troops into a terrified retreat, firing gatling guns and flamethrowers into the panicking mob. The passed over the border to Archwizard Matic's castle, and the warmechs became manticores and dragons, firing poison spines and belching enormous flames at the fleeing mages.
Kirsch limped his way to the chapel, where he told a cowering wizard-in-training to fetch him the commanders. With Archwizard Matic dead and summoners attacking them, he had no idea how to salvage the situation. Fortunately, he considered himself good at thinking under pressure. He positioned himself at the podium of the chapel, resting his weight on it while trying to make it look like he wasn't doing so. It wouldn't do to have his lieutenants realizing he was weakened, especially considering he suspected some of them were like him and were just waiting for an opportunity to kill him and steal his position.
Half a mile away, a privately-hired sniper peered through his scope at the man behind the stained glass window. It was difficult to be certain, but was pretty nearly sure that he was looking at the man was supposed to kill. He adjusted his scope in accordance with the wind that had been brought up by the strange storm that had appeared, then pulled the trigger.
A bolt of magical energy impacted on the back of Kirsch's head, cracking his skull and causing shards of it to splinter into his brain. His eyes rolled up in his head and he slumped down on the podium, then fell to the floor in an awkward, bloody pile.
Meanwhile, Matic's abominations clashed with The Engineers and their ridden beasts, forcing them to fall back. The few remaining members of Matic's gang, caught between the two opposing gangs, were killed in the skirmish, most of them in particularly painful and embarassing ways. It's only to be expected, of course; there aren't a lot of noble methods of death when you're getting mauled by a giant cactus with legs.
The Greatest Degeneration finally managed to finish off the Screaming Eagles. They had taken heavy losses when the horde had gone berserk due to their leader's death, and many of them were beginning to feel the ill effects of the radiation-based weaponry used by some of the higher-ranking Screaming Eagles. They were preparing to fall back when they were set upon by the Good Bad Uglies, an ally of the former Screaming Eagles. Although they had arrived too late to save their former allies, their moral code dictated they take vengeance anyway. And so they wreaked havoc on the weakened and diminished troops of the Greatest Degeneration, until none of them were left.
---
"Stop right there, criminal scum!" NORTHWIND ordered Klendel. "Nobody breaks the law in my town!" Klendel wasted no time responding, and flipped off of the catwalk. Latching onto the railing with his stretchy arms, he swung under it, releasing himself in time to be thrown past NORTHWIND, bursting out through a window and landing with a roll on the ground, his rubbery body absorbing most of the shock.He winced as he tried to get up, pinpricks of pain breaking out all over him. He looked curiously at himself, and found tiny rivers of red running all over it. It several moments to register in his mind that he was bleeding. He'd never bled before. Blood was the weakness of others, not of him. He stumbled into an alley as NORTHWIND screamed out of the window on his jetpack, zeroing in on his position.
Klendel ran as fast as he could on his injured feet, picking twisting and turning alleyways in an attempt to get NORTHWIND off his tail. NORTHWIND found he was unable to keep track of him from the rooftops, and landed in order to continue the chase on foot. Klendel panicked momentarily when he found his way blocked by a large steel mesh fence before he remembered he could just climb over it.
He took off running as soon as he hit the other side, ignoring the cuts in his feet as best he could, although they still worried him immensely. He kept a tight hold on the combat knife in his hand, an irrational scenario of it slipping out of his hand and cutting him springing up in his mind. The backpack containing the enemy intelligence documents bounced up and down against his back.
Private Northwind dropped down after him, determined to retrieve the documents at any cost. Letting an enemy soldier into their encampment was bad enough; letting him escape with mission-critical plans was unacceptable. "Stop right there!" he demanded, but was not surprised that it did no good. He pulled out his pistol and fired several shots at Klendel, missing but making him glance back with a frightened expression on his face. Northwind bared his teeth and raised his pistol to fire again, but Klendel made a sharp turn and dived through a nearby window. Northwind idly wondered what was with him and diving through windows, then kicked the door down and fired a few more shots into the room, half-hoping they would hit something.
Klendel lay panting and bleeding in the corner of the room, completely untouched by the bullets, but rather worse for the wear from his bad choice to land on another patch of broken glass. He looked up darkly at Northwind. "What now? You kill me and take these papers back to your foolish leaders?"
Northwind pointed the pistol at him. "Yes. Now give them to me."
Klendel laughed. "And what if I'm the good guy here? Did you think of that? Have you never stopped to consider the lies your leaders are telling you?"
Northwind didn't respond, but didn't fire either. He'd only just realized that his gun was out of ammo; he'd wasted the last of his shots firing into the room as he entered it. He mentally berated himself for doing that, but since Klendel's knife was the only actual weapon either of them had at the moment, he did his best to keep up the bluff.
Klendel could tell something was up with Northwind. Even if he didn't have his mental sniffing powers in this genre, he knew he had the advantage at the moment, and decided to press it. "You don't even know what's in these documents, do you? They didn't tell you anything at that fancy camp you went to." A nasty grin spread across Klendel's face. "I've seen your men do things that would make you piss your pants. Dogs beaten so badly they starve to death because they're too afraid to come out for openly-offered food. Men with their eyes cut out being forced to play 'I Spy,' and getting knife cuts for every wrong answer. Ditches full of children afraid to cry for their parents."
Northwind found his hand was shaking. He was a bit angry with himself for still letting the spy live, but he found himself strangely unwilling to make a move. "You're lying. My superiors would never order such a thing."
Klendel chuckled nastily. "Are you ever told what the war you're fighting is for? And do you know the lengths your army is prepared to go to to win it?" He had no idea what war they were fighting, and was mostly banking on the fact that most armies had a lot of less-than-honorable jobs to prove his point.
Northwind lowered his pistol slightly. "I...I...how do you know?"
Klendel forced himself up the wall slowly. He was still bleeding, but he was more used to the pain by now, and it no longer hindered him as much. "You think I'm playing for the enemy team? They thought that too, when I stole their intelligence." He regretted not having a cigarette to light at this point. It would've really improved the performance. "I play both sides and come out on top. My friend, I don't steal documents to win wars. I do it to save lives." He stretched out his hand to Northwind. "Throw those butchers behind you and help me win the hidden war. Together we can be heroes."
"I...I..." Everything Klendel was talking about was what Northwind had joined the army to stop from happening, and everything he was promising was what he had joined the army to do. He lowered his pistol and gripped Klendel's hand. "Let's do it...partner."
Klendel's grin widened disturbingly. "Let's start right away," he said, and stabbed Northwind in the gut. He sank to the ground in shock as Klendel pried their hands apart disinterestedly. A pool of blood was beginning to collect below it, and he added to it by coughing up a fair amount into it. His gun clattered to the floor. He looked up at Klendel with dull eyes, and Klendel was suddenly overcome with hatred for him, for the man who had shown him that everyone is capable of bleeding when cut. He kicked him as hard as he could in the face, and Northwind toppled over backwards, the last light dimming from his eyes.
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