RPV-And Hell Follows Her [Everyone]

[Adele D'Alteau]

Storms of summer rain
Flooding lifelines in our hands
Our skin of blood and bone
Gently closed to dust and blows
Our home of blood and bone

†††
۵ ۵ ۵

The battle stopped with the crisp suddenness of a breaking neck. From behind their protective cocoon of platelets and plasma, both Adele and her soon to be husband listened intently to the woman now speaking down the street from them, though they could hear her clear as day. Not even a half-minute into Lilith's incessant, self-indulgent monologuing, Adele found herself resisting the urge to send a barrage of bloody spikes in the other woman's direction just to shut her up. “Si jamais je commence à parler comme elle, s'il vous plaît me tuer et de me mettre hors de ma misère.” If there was one thing that she and Ryan had an extremely low tolerance for aside from stupid people and the government dictating when and where they could make love, it was Kiros Monroe-like motivational speeches.

Her control over the blood construct in front of them began to falter as her level of annoyance steadily reached a fever pitch. Cracks appeared in the shield and it began to melt, forming an ankle-deep lake of blood at their feet.

Adele knew how to pick her battles. As much as she wanted to lash out and prove to this sycophant that there was only one true Death—and it didn't walk around clad in black with a small cadre of powerful specials in its shadow—this was not her war.

“I could just sap the life out of you right now, but that would be boring. I didn’t come all this way for boring. No, I expect you’ll all fight me, and fail, because I hold your lives - and your deaths - in my hands.”

She repressed a laugh and pressed a bloody hand over her mouth to keep the noise muffled. Was she serious? She could have filled a squadron of zeppelins with all the hot air she'd just spewed. She turned to Ryan and muttered, “Such a waste. Words have so much power until you use them so much that they lose their meaning.” Lilith's seemingly endless pontificating rant had taken the wind out of her sails and although she was still riding on the waves of bloodlust, that particular storm was calming. Who did this woman think she was? She and Ryan didn't fight for anyone except themselves, and even their motives for fighting for each other were questionable at times. She never would have condoned the complete genetic annihilation of a family, but Ryan saw that particular massacre as necessary.

Washington D.C. was now a veritable ghost town. Most of its residents had been evacuated prior to the onslaught, and many of the hotels were serving as makeshift bases for both sides of the conflict. Leaving the city by any means other than on foot was going to be next to impossible. She spent several moments working out what would be the path of least resistance—obviously it would more than likely be returning the way they came, seeing as how a new battle was preparing to erupt at the juncture of the street and the historical park.

The blood had soaked through their pants up to their knees. Making a flicking motion with her fingers, the blood became airborne and dispersed into a thick, disorienting, red-tinged cloud of fog. As long as she was able to hold the miniscule droplets under her control, she and Ryan could make a safe retreat. Grabbing one of his arms, she used her free hand to clear a path ahead of them, creating a clear archway through the opaque wall of blood. Reaching the end of the block, she split the fog into two sections, directing one part of it to the right while she and Ryan took the road to the left.

“We need to find a way out of the city, or a way onto one of the Dominion ships, at the very least.” She had a general idea of where the harbour was located, but logically it made the most sense to leave the nation's capital altogether rather than risk losing life or limb. “Can you hotwire a car?” Given how many episodes of the British show Top Gear that Ryan had consumed in his lifetime, she assumed he knew how to locate the proper wires and strike them together. There were dozens of abandoned cars littering the streets, and even though any car would do in a pinch, she made her way towards a black Lotus Evora S parked between a vacant Mercedes SLS AMG and a Maserati. She reckoned the cars belonged to a handful of Washington's finest, who'd now either been assassinated or were hiding in a bunker somewhere in middle America.

Gesturing toward two storm drains ahead of them, she sent a majority of the bloody fog flowing into Washington D.C.'s sanitary sewer system, and used what blood was left to fill an empty Camelbak water skin slung around her waist. While she would have enjoyed to stick around and bear witness to the battle that would no doubt ensue, she couldn't in good conscience follow a woman who'd literally walked out of nowhere and declared herself to be one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

Their cover now dropped, she tried the door handle and sighed in relief as the door pulled open, granting her access to the vehicle's sumptuous leather interior. With any luck, they wouldn't have to destroy the car to get it to run. Scanning the Lotus's interior, a glint of something silver caught her eye—a keychain caught in the space between the seats. Shutting the driver's side door, she hit the electronic keylock button and unlocked the passenger's side door for Ryan. Apparently the vehicle's driver had left in quite a hurry as the keys were still attached. Grabbing the set of keys in her fist, she inserted the ignition key into the ignition and twisted it until she heard the V6 engine roar to life. A quick check of the fuel gauge told her that they had more than enough gas to leave the city limits.

She took another moment to adjust the seat, the steering wheel, and the mirrors to be more accommodating to her petite size and revved the engine. “I'd say we should go find a Ritz Carlton right now, but I'd much rather get the hell out of Dodge, as it were.”

†††
۵ ۵ ۵

† Word count: 1141
۵ Mood: the BG is going to bed.
† Outfit: Same as previous posts.
۵ Lyrics / Quote: Goodbye, Mudvayne
† Illustrations: None.
۵ Comment / Informational links: Le tired BG is le tired.

[Jack Murdock]

Where others saw chaos, Jack saw opportunity. So he merely charged toward the Dominion side breaking bones whenever he can while the others can either gawk or did nothing at the presence of the new enemy.

[Ryan D'Alteau]

Castlevania! Check me out, I'll whip all these candles!
Trevor Belmont! You motherfuckers know you can't handle this!
I'm not fucking around! Spin your head around, I'm putting you in the ground!
Send you back into hell! Nobody's gonna live long enough to tell.
Dracula's Curse will be lifted completely! Send me your worst, they will never defeat me.
'Cause I'm the man! Yes, I am!
______________________________The Amazing BrandO - "Déjà Vu"

"Si jamais je commence à parler comme elle, s'il vous plaît me tuer et de me mettre hors de ma misère..."

Through whatever means she had at her disposal, Lilith - the ringleader of the group of newcomers who had entered the localised warzone - was projecting her voice to all and sundry. With the way it reverberated around the field of Ryan's hearing, he was certain that he and his fiancée weren't the only people on that street who could hear her Kirosesque ranting. With the parallels drawn between this woman as she made it plain that she had been the orchestrator of the previous few months' big news stories and the Rogue Society's leader, Adele's bemoaning response was nothing if not expected. She had been part of Monroe's criminal fan club for longer than he had and, while Ryan was simply loathe to care what the woman had to say, the doctor was the one wishing the tirade would end sooner rather than later.

"Si je vous trouve caressant un chat blanc, je saurai être concerné." Rather than agree to kill her, something which he'd never do even if he was joking, Ryan instead responded with a snappy comment. In the back of his mind, he found himself regretting his response ever so slightly. Adele, he surmised, might very well have gone to the nearest pet shelter in search of just such a domesticated animal, just to gauge the degree to which he'd apparently be concerned. Though, right now, the couple were mired in a situation which was far more deserving of their attention. The woman he assumed had been responsible for freezing the movements of the people further up the road had herself a small entourage and seemed intent on picking a fight.

Ryan was more than content to stand where he was - safely shrouded behind his fiancée's blood barrier - and mull over the situation at hand. He wasn't anything like Sun Tzu when it came to tactics and strategy, but he could still think his way out of problems; problems which he was aware would have spelled the death of lesser men. What he wasn't expecting was an unfamiliar voice to start whispering into his ear. "Listen. Lilith might have power over death, but she isn't the only one who needs to be dealt with." Instinctively, Ryan stuck the tip of an index finger into his ear and wiggled it for a moment, thinking it to be a hallucination. He would never have considered himself to be a hundred percent psychologically sound - he was with Adele in the middle of a warzone, after all - but he knew damn well he wasn't at the stage characterised by hearing voices in his head.

Nevertheless, the voice carried on, like the helpful tutorial companion in a videogame. "The whole group is dangerous - and they'll k..." "Adele, you hearin' this..?" ...f we don't take them out first." Ryan felt compelled to ask the woman beside him as to whether she was undergoing the same phenomenon. He wanted to know that he wasn't being driven insane by the battle. "The blond man is a negator. He'll drop all our shields and leave us exposed. He can negate as many of us as he wants at a time. The next one's a cryokinetic, and the weather's just right for a bit of ice sculpting."

Having lived in Texas for a few years now, Ryan had thought the near-coastal climate of Washington DC to be a little strange to him. Up here, they still got snow and, due to the period of acclimation he'd been through while living at the condo with Adele, it was this - the weather closer to the climate in which he'd been born - that was now the unusual one. He'd never really thought about it until the voice in his head had uttered the remark. "The third, the one with the glasses, is a mental manipulator. He's reading the Johessmans' minds right now. Soon enough, he'll move on to the rest of us. The next one's a shapeshifter. She could very well morph into one of us and we would never know it. The other man's a spacebender. I don't even want to know what he'll do."

"Teleportin', probably." Oh, come on. That was easy. He'd watched enough science fiction to know at least some of the possibilities available to someone who could manipulate the fabric of space. Unfortunately, teleportation was the only one he could bear thinking about. One of the things which wasn't was the distinct possibility that this guy could conjure up a small black hole and tear the whole city asunder. There was such a thing as fighting for what one believed in but, when that very thing was at risk of being cast into a pit from which even light couldn't escape, Ryan knew it was time to think about departure plans. "The last one... is the deceptive one. Leave her to me."

Thankfully, it seemed as though Adele had the same idea. "We need to find a way out of the city, or a way onto one of the Dominion ships, at the very least." By obliterating the barrier into its component blood cells and effectively atomising them until they became a near inpenetrable crimson fog, she took her fiancé by the hand and carved a way through the obfuscating mess she'd created. "Can you hotwire a car?" Her inquiry was interspersed with the odd glance at the abandoned cars parked at the side of the road.

"No?" The question had thrown him a little off-guard, but he soon responded. He was no mechanic. All he really cared about was that his car worked as opposed to how. It was fortunate for them, therefore, that they managed to find an abandoned car which still contained the keys within easy reach. It was a rather likely occurence, given that Washington DC was now a warzone from which many had fled. The car in question, rather fittingly, was a Lotus Evora; the successor to the Elise Adele had been driving when he'd first met her. "I'd say we should go find a Ritz Carlton right now..." Ryan smirked at the reminiscent comment. "...but I'd much rather get the hell out of Dodge, as it were."

"Why're we still here, then?", Ryan asked, glancing over his shoulder towards the end of the street which led to the soon-to-be-ensuing battle.

[Gabriel McBride]

Sure enough Gabriel had made it to constitution avenue in just under an hour and a half. The fact that 395 and US 1 N were uncharacteristically empty, even for this late hour, did not register to him until he had made it to the turn off for constitution avenue. He could see the Lincoln Memorial and for that matter, the entirety of Washington DC were under attack. He wasn't sure how this could have happened without it being plastered all over the radio...but what he was immediately sure of, was that this had something to do with why he came here. How he made this connection so assuredly was, again, a mystery, as much of the last few days had been for him.

He made it to the end of Constitution avenue, at the turn off onto Henry Bacon DR, and he came to a stop, allowing his Camaro to idle there for several moments as he took in the scene unfolding around him. People were, for a moment at least, frozen in place, unnaturally unmoving. Do to this effect, Gabriel was able to pick out the group apparently unaffected by this phenomenon, and determined they were the obvious perpetrators. He revved his engine, weighing his options, knowing that he had to do something...how he knew this was beyond him, but he knew something needed to be done. He thought to drive his vehicle into the group and mow down those who had laid siege to the capital...however he was uncertain who was friend or foe, and had no immediate capability of knowing either way.

He reached under his seat, producing his registered desert eagle automatic. He then produced the clip from his glove compartment. After loading the clip into the hand gun and making sure that it was properly locked and loaded.

Committing to going into this outlandish scenario fully prepared, Gabriel took off his custom Celtic rosary chain, wrapped the beaded chain around his right hand and touched his thumbs to the left hand of the cross followed by the right then the head and the feat. He closed his hands together. "Sancte Michael Archangele, defende nos in proelio, contra nequitiam et insidias diaboli esto praesidium.
In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen."

He then made the sign of the cross over himself, placed his Celtic-cross rosary back over his neck and stepped out of the car. Leaving the door open, Gabriel makes his way back to the trunk and opens it. He moves a few things aside, throwing out some things that were too large to push out of his way and opens the spare tire compartment. Inside was a gym bag filled with not-so-gym-related items. He opened the bag and retrieved a belt strap containing six clips for his desert eagle and a large 26 inch bowie knife which he strapped to his upper thigh. He then produced a pair of customized tactical gloves with brass knuckles worked into the fists. Finally he pulled out a tactical shot gun and vest with two pockets filled with shells. He had these items stashed in the tire compartment for reasons he himself could never explain. Perhaps the scared little boy that played a tag along to his father's degenerate and otherwise dangerous dealings in northern Ireland, still had some hold over how he viewed the world. The world was filled with a variety of opportunities to get one's self molested, maimed, or even killed...it was always best to be at least somewhat prepared...at least that's what he always told himself.

Now armed and protected both physically and spiritually, Gabriel got back into his Camaro with intent weighing heavily on his mind.

[Trevor Taylor]

You're angered, so am I. A thousand fires burn
A land of darkness from which I cannot return
You're aching, so will I When I awake and discover
That I have been damaged by your world
Dishonored by your world
I'm haunted by your world

Trevor Taylor was nearly going to end the life of a man he had no reason to hate. It was not a personal vendetta that had brought him to this point. It was a sense of duty, a love of justice and a desire to save the world. He had been told this man was the enemy of all who were good and righteous in the world. He had witnessed a horror that had him convinced of that premise. Until Lilith had spoken in her moment of revelation.

She was behind it all. She could have kept her silence, she could have allowed the world to blame the Kilvaynes, to blame the Johessmans, to blame the US government for the drama playing out on this battlefield. But she had come to take credit for her atrocities. She came to bring things to the conclusion she had desired from the beginning. The theme was to come full circle.


“Lucius,”

Her voice was all that Lucius Kilvayne could hear, even when the world was standing so still and silent. It was all he could care about in this moment. That she was at his side made him forget the battle he had been losing a split second before. He soon became cognizant that Trevor Taylor had turned his attention elsewhere. The man was looking at a strange woman clad in black and flanked by still more strangers.

“Are you all right?”

"Yes. Now that you are here, my love."

“And I am the end of everything. Of you, of your family, of your world as you know it. My name is Lilith, but you will know me as Death.”

Lucius heard that part of Lilith's speech and felt a burning rage grow at the threat she offered. His family was not going to be ended by this nobody. She didn't know who she was threatening. She was a fool, he decided. Only a fool would threaten to end his family so boldly. So overtly. So callously. So...casually. By the time this was over, not even fools would dare it. He looked to Kari, and smiled.

"Are you as ready to end this woman's existence as I am, beloved?"

Trevor could feel the woman's power. It was not unlike his own. The ability to manipulate the energy of life or death may have been unnoticed by the others, but to him it was as obvious as the light of day or the darkness of night. He raised his hand in a gesture to halt the charging forces.

"NO!" He shouted to all of his allies and former enemies. He looked at Lilith in the eyes, defiance of her wishes hanging on his every movement as he moved toward her.

"You will only battle me. These others will sit this one out. They can lend me their strength if they choose to. Some of them already have, against their will. I must be the one to defeat you. I am perhaps the only one who can."

Trevor paused to take a breath before finishing his declaration of war with Lilith.


"I will show the world today something it has forgotten. In spite of all the terror, in spite of all the chaos and war, in spite of all the horrors we inflict upon each other...there is still a reason to believe in Heroes. The universe moves toward what is just and good. Light drives out the Darkness. Hope eternally arises from the depths of Despair. Good will triumph over evil. And Life is stronger than Death."

[Marcus Rodgers]

West Potomac Park

Waking
Watching
The pattern forming
The pattern forming
-Codec, “Horizontime”

The Rodgers heard the descriptions being whispered into their minds. They had the advantage of being able to look at each other as though to say, “Are you hearing that too?” They both were, thankfully, and it seemed that some of the others were as well. The Johessmans seemed particularly interested in what the speaker had to say.

“Good,” Marcus said when the speech in their minds ended. “That gives us a plan of attack. I’ll take out the mental manipulator, and you take out the spacebender. Trevor-“ Marcus started, but looked up; it seemed the man had other plans.

Marcus knew Trevor could probably take on Lilith herself, but was still concerned for the man. “Keep an eye on Trevor. He may need it,” Marcus commanded the remaining Allied troops. “Meanwhile, help us handle the rest of her team.”

He nodded, and the team moved forward. Marcus latched on to his target’s heartbeat and attempted to tear its rhythm apart. Meanwhile, Mira trained her guns on the spacebender, sending several rounds into his head and chest.

[Dakari Johessman]

Fortunately, Lucius seemed only stunned; though Dakari still would never forgive Trevor for doing that to him. The woman laid a hand on Lucius’ cheek, and as he assured her that he was fine, she brushed her hand through his hair. She had never been the best at expressing emotions, so she had no words for the relief she felt for him. Hopefully, the meaning would be understood.

She was barely listening to the talking woman, her mind drifting away to thoughts of a future with Lucius and the ring on her finger, until she heard Andrea growl. Then she caught the woman’s threats. She returned Luicus’ smile with a dark one of her own. “Of course, darling.”

The moment they were told that the mind reader was focused on their family, the Johessmans instantly shut themselves down as much as possible. They were the ringleaders here, after all - they had almost all of the information needed in their minds. They were only lucky that Shawn Johessman was out of even the mental manipulator’s considerable range.

Standing to face Lilith, Dakari located all of the metallic particles around them - bullet casings, primarily, but also old things, litter, paper clips, pieces of pens and fenders - and raised them, hovering them as far out as she could reach, fanning them out in front of Lilith and her group. “Give me a charge, darling,” she said with a smirk, with a plan in her mind. Metal and electricity - if he was electricity, she was his conductor.

[Gabriel Constant]

You don’t have long
I am onto you
The time, it has come
to destroy

your supremacy
-Muse, "Supremacy”

The first stage of the vision was in motion. Gabriel’s ultramarine eyes took in the action unfolding in the park. This would sting, he knew. This would not be an easy event to watch. Yet it had to be done. It all had to be done, just so, for the future he was about to build.

He, the Architect. It had been meant this way from the beginning. So much had changed since that first meeting in Rio de Janeiro… but it all boiled down to this, the fulfillment of a duty, not quite the same duty, not the same path, but a perhaps similar end. His Destroyer would play his part as well, and his Demoness…. and the newer players, who had also had their own parts in his vision. The future changed so often… he had never seen Maurelle appear in it so prominently before, and Christian, hardly at all. For a precognitive to say that the future was fluid was perhaps strange, but it was true.

But it was less true the closer that future was coming to hold.

Leaning away from Alex for a moment, Gabriel whispered a few brief words to Alain. The teleporter blinked out, made two quick stops, and returned. Gabriel nodded.

The first move was so often the decisive one.

[Fallon Daugherty]

My mouth your lips
Your hands my hips
Our time right now
Will set us free
And relieve us
of our misery
-MS MR, “Head Is Not My Home”

A whimper escaped Nadine’s lips. Whether from fear or anger, she could not tell, and neither could he. Good. She needed to retain as much self-respect as she could with her husband (or ex-husband?) aiming a gun at her head.

“Stand up slowly,” John said softly. “No sudden moves.” When she stood, he nodded, the gun now level with her chest, and said, “Hands behind your back.” He secured her wrists with a tight, immovable knot.

“Now what, John?” Nadine asked, trying to affect some haughtiness in her voice. “Do you think you’re going to just walk away with me - without her noticing what you’re doing? Without her tearing you to shreds to protect me?”

“Actually,” John said, “yes.”

They were already moving away from the scene, and Lilith had not even stolen a glance their way. “She’ll notice,” Nadine threatened, insisting. “You’ll regret this.”

“You were never anything to her.” John nudged Nadine along. “Nothing but a space to fill. But she knew she had to make you feel special in order to stick with her, so she gave you a place at her right hand.”

They walked in silence until they reached a parking lot, where John’s car was parked. “Do I really have no one in this world, then?” she murmured as they reached that car.

“You have me,” John said. “You have our daughter.”

Nadine’s head drooped, and her chest expanded in a sharp intake of air. “Should I put this gun down now, and untie you?” John asked her.

She gave no response.

John placed the gun in the glove box and untied Nadine’s wrists. She slid into the passenger side seat without a word. The couple drove away in perfect silence.

[Lilith]

Release your dead!
(For me they’ve bled)
Release your dead!
(Those wild men)
Believe your dead!
(To give me dreams)
Believe your dead
(To bring me dreams)
-Chelsea Wolfe, "Ancestors, the Ancients"

With a smile, Lilith regarded the little people. How brave. How cute they were, that couple that was comforting each other as they prepared to face her. How cunning they were, the pair who were clearly mapping out a strategy against her team. How quaint, those Johessmans, believing their political and underground power could save them now.

Those Johessmans - most of them - came gunning for her, quite literally, as soon as she released them all from their thrall. All she had for that was create a simple shield. The first little girl to come racing toward her suddenly stopped, screamed, and began to rise into the air, her limbs hanging limp. Lilith let her rotate in the air until she faced the others, so that the defenders might see what they were up against.

The girl’s eyes had rolled back, and her jaw dropped. Little bits of her were fading away, dissolving into the shield. Her screams rang among the trees of the park, reverberating, creating a morbid sort of music to Lilith’s ears. The woman smiled. She loved to see her power in use so vividly.

Finally, the girl’s screams faded as she became nothing but the shield, holding back bullets, psionic attacks, and just about everything else away from her team. Lilith saw her mental manipulator drop to his knees, however, clutching his chest in pain; she felt him die. A shame. She fed his death energy into herself.

The bullets meant for the spacebender fell short, of course. Lilith tilted her head, eager to see what these children would come up with next. They could be so creative at times. They needed something to break her shield. Oh, but what could that be?

Ah! A life-force manipulator stepped forward. A perfect match! He issued a challenge to her, and she smiled in acceptance. “We will see,” she said with a smirk. “But, for now… don’t you sense that? Don’t you feel that? Deaths by the hundreds, all coming in from the shore.” Indeed, Helena’s work with the tides had not gone without reward; the Allied forces were now nearly destroyed, and were scattering for safety, while the Dominion forces remained safe in victory. One of the smallboats had been deployed to bring Helena aboard the flagship.

“My power is growing. Is yours?” Suddenly, she swept her palm upward, and a wisp of black energy swept up to lift Trevor by his chin, several feet off the ground. “Is Death evil, then? I hope you’re properly prepared for this fight, insect.”

Suddenly, behind her shield, a small blonde-headed girl appeared. Lilith recognized her instantly - and smiled. “Well, hello. Look who we have here.”

[Reggie Sawyer]

At first, she had been sitting in her room. It was not truly her room, but it was the one she had stayed in for the past few weeks. She had no idea how she had gotten into the room, but it had a window that looked out onto Los Angeles, about five stories up, and it had everything she needed in it. The only thing was that the door didn’t open, and neither had the window. She supposed she could have gathered enough sunpower to free herself, but aside from being confused, she had never felt threatened at all.

Her only visitor was a kind older lady who brought her different meals. They always were good meals, even better than at the White House. When she asked the woman where they were, the woman simply said that her father had left her here “until this blows over.” She assumed that was the war.

But suddenly, Reagan Sawyer found herself standing within a small cluster of people. One of them, with short black hair and really dark eyes, looked at her and said hello. Reggie blinked and looked around. She knew instinctively that she was in Washington, but why or how, she was unsure.

“Um,” Reggie said, clearing her throat. “Hi.”

[Sparrow Akiyama]

Mado kara mieru
hieta yuki no ie ni
nete iru to omu
nete bakari nite

Just as she had been trained, Sparrow charged forward to neutralize the threat. She met with no resistance, however, which made her job even easier. She heard others charging behind her, heard bullets flying at their targets, but saw nothing happening. Lilith must have created some kind of shield, she realized.

That was when she felt herself being pulled forward - not her whole body, just herself - before her body came flinging along after her. She felt as though she were being pulled apart, and at first it was just a funny stretchy feeling, but then it began to be uncomfortable, then began to hurt. She was spun around, and could see all her friends and allies and former enemies - right before the pain became sharp enough to make her scream and lose sight completely.

It was as though particles of herself were falling away. Then it was as though they were being torn from her. Bits of skin, fingers, hair, then muscle, bone, and suddenly, when she realized she had not gone into shock, she knew that Lilith was doing this on purpose - keeping her conscious as she was ripped apart - so she could feel the pain for as long as possible. Her mind, therefore, was the last to go, and that, soon enough, was lost to the wind as well, leaving nothing of Sparrow Akiyama on Earth.

*Through the window I see
cold snow all around the house
in bed I think
only of this
-Christopher Tin, "Mado Kara Mieru"

[Reggie Sawyer]

When she saw Sparrow disappearing in bits and pieces, Reggie sprang forward, crying out, but a grey wisp of force pushed her back. “SPARROW!” she screamed, reaching forward as though she would be able to catch Sparrow in her arms, but there was nothing to catch and she fell to her knees instead, her face in her hands.

Her body began to shake, first softly, then more violently as she began to cry, her sobs echoing as though they were the only noise in the park. Overhead, she heard the strange woman tsk, and then, the next thing she knew, she was looking up, her neck held taught as if by some unseen noose.

[Jack Murdock]

Jack stopped fighting the moment he saw the woman whose name had escaped him (though he saw her a couple of times before the battle) seemingly disassembling before his very eyes and he quickly turned his head unable to watch anymore.

"Jesus Christ." he swore, while holding down his vomit. This day was becoming too big and bizarre for him to fully understand and while at first he enjoyed this Lillyhammer or whatever the hell her name was and the Dominion tear each other apart, this was now becoming rather personal. Whoever the dead woman was, she was on Jack's side and he figured that he owed her in giving her killer some payback.

Now there was a young girl in danger though Jack didn't see where she had came from but in the chaos of the battle it was hard to keep track of people.

Jack reached inside the black cloth dice bag and took out a small piece of a bright grey-white metal the size and shape of a man's thumb. As he did so, his skin became a gleaming metallic, almost silvery, color. The metal was not easy to get a hold of or cheap but the Navy gave Jack permission to roam about the naval scrap yard outside DC prior to the invasion and as usual more by dumb luck than anything else, he happened to find this material, titanium laying around among some rusting battleship plate.

"LET HER GO, LILLY!" he shouted in rage, his silver metallic eyes though lacking pupils or irises, allowed him to see fully and clearly.

[Gabriel McBride]

Gabriel revved his engine several times, sitting at the beginning of the road that would lead him into the fray. The gun shots had quelled, and the battle surrounding this specific place was somehow dampened...perhaps it was his own mind focusing on the situation he had found himself in. Perhaps it was his mind's way of informing him that he needed to think his next move over carefully, to ask himself why he was here and why he even thought he should be involved in all of this chaos. Did he even know which side was which?

He revved the engine again and held the wheel so tightly that his fists turned pale as the blood was forced to disperse from them. Sweat covered his face in small, inconsequential droplets...his nerves beginning to get the better of him. What was he doing here? What was happening around him? Was the country being invaded, were the super powered beings attempting some sort of coupe?

He knew there were evolved humans on either side of the conflict, but there was no immediate way of knowing what side, if any, he would choose to aid...assuming he could do anything aside from getting himself killed. Gabriel released his grip and tightened it again, repeating this motion, allowing the blood to flow properly, intensifying the sensitivity of his finger and allowing him to focus his attention on his physical surroundings as his mind threatened to remove him from it entirely, for his own safety.

Then he saw it...the first potential target separating itself from the crowd. It was a field of some kind of energy providing cover for the small group that had been at the center of the conflict nearest to him. Almost immediately the field was under attack, to seemingly no avail. He was sure this was his time to act, if there ever was a time. Without hesitation he applied pressure to the gas peddle, the wheels of his camaro momentarily issuing a trail of smoke from burned rubber...then he released the park gauge and immediately descended upon the field, at 60 mile per hour and climbing rapidly. He was up to 80 mph when he opened the door and pushed with all the strength he could summon at that moment, intent on escaping before a potential collision...a single thought was all that ocured to him in protest...this was his baby...and he was abandoning it...for what exactly? If he survived this apparent end of days...he would have to find someone to elaborate on what it is he just got himself into.

He hit the grass with such impact that his shoulder nearly dislocated...tumbling through the grassy field, the momentum of his now driver-less vehicle, dragging his body along another hundred feet or so...when he finally stopped rolling, Gabriel laid there for a moment, waiting for something to happen...what it was...he had no way of knowing, but he was close enough to the field of energy at which he had aimed his Camaro that he knew he would not have to wait long for the results of his heroic (or rather idiotic) actions, to bear fruit.

[Lilith]

Oh, dear. It seemed not everyone was happy with the little Japanese girl’s death. Lilith shrugged. She supposed she would not want to see a friend torn apart atom by atom either, if she had any friends. Ah, well. There was a reason she was disinclined to grow close to anyone. They were ephemeral, and, while she would die one day too, it would not be soon. Not as soon as these ants would like to see it done.

The electromagnetic bits fell short of her when they bumped into her shield. Then she heard someone yell “LILLY!” and turned her head to see the speaker, and noticed a man seemingly made of some sort of metal. She squinted. No, this was no one she had ever met before. “I see we’re making up nicknames now, Metal Man,” she remarked, folding her arms. “Don’t waste my time.”

Unfortunately, the distraction kept her attention away from the car, and she turned just in time to see the Camaro leaping at her. She did not have time to react, and neither did her clique; the car took down Lilith, the shapeshifter, and the spacebender. That left left the cryokinetic; she ran to the car and tried to nudge the car away, but she was not strong enough.

Time to change tactics. The cryokinetic raised her hands, and ice could be seen forming on them; a blast of cold wind blew from her, pushing everyone in the area back. But before she could issue any kind of attack, she felt a sudden blast of heat hit her in the back.

She turned around and saw the blonde girl throwing balls of sunlight at her. Each one burned her skin a bit more, until she dropped to her knees and forward into the snow. “It’s working! It’s working!” she could hear someone shouting, and she closed her eyes, knowing that the next blast would do her in. A beam of sunlight slammed into her, shriveling up her form beyond recognition.

Meanwhile, the others were looking at the man who had thrown the car, which Lilith and the other two were under. “Hey, are you all right, man?” Marcus asked, offering a hand to help him up. “That was one hell of an attack. I think you got her.”

The car was burned and smoking, but it was dented, enough to show that it really had hit the trio of enemies. Mira and Andrea inched closer to the car, now that the field of safety that had protected Lilith was gone. “Poor car,” Drea lamented. “But it does look like it did the job.”

[Gabriel Constant]

National Mall

This was the time, Gabriel thought. This was exactly as he had seen it in his visions. A pause in the battle; although they were not near the fighting, they were in view of it. Timing was everything; he counted the seconds. This was delicate, perhaps the most delicate operation he had ever pulled off. There were too many people involved, too many lives at stake. The repercussions of what he was about to do would push the entire world into a new era.

Leaning toward Alain again, Gabriel whispered a few more words. In the next second, Gabriel and Alain were gone. Before anyone else in the group could question where they had gone - literally a second later - they were transported to the same place in the same manner. Maurelle, Christian, and Alexandria all vanished. On the beach, Helena was scooped up too.

And on the battlefield, in the following second, Lucius Kilvayne and Dakari Johessman also disappeared.

The place they disappeared to is here!

[Lilith]

I will find a center in you
I will chew it up and leave
I will work to elevate you
just enough to bring you down
-Tool, “Sober”

Peasants. Lilith grunted as she pushed the car away from her. She had broken many bones, especially in her ribcage, but she was beginning to heal thanks to the death energy around her. She was draining the deaths of the three others who had died, leaving her the sole member of the group. She was scowling now, irritated. “That was a good one, I’ll give you that,” she said, dusting some snow off her black clothes. “You’ll pay for it, though.”

Her gaze fell on Reggie. “Come here, darling,” She tugged, and Reggie moved toward her. She started to raise her hands to attack her, but Lilith, of course, had other plans.

Lilith took hold of Reggie’s head, then spun it loose at the jaw, so that everything including and above her top row of teeth swiveled around a hundred eighty degrees, and her lower jaw stayed in place. The loud crack could be heard throughout the park.

She put up a hand to stop the people who were trying to rush her, never truly taking her attention off Reggie. The girl was not dead yet, though; her death was in Lilith’s hands, and she would grant it when she was ready. Reggie was screaming; Lilith flipped her head up and pressed the top of the girl’s head down her throat. Now Reggie’s screams were muffled; her tongue and throat could not make the noise. “Oh, bother,” Lilith said. “Her head won’t fit.” And so Lilith squeezed Reggie’s skull, and it cracked into pieces, sending blood and brain matter everywhere, including on Lilith’s outfit. “Ugh,” the woman said, but shrugged. “At least it will all fit now.”

She pushed the bone and skin and hair and brain of Reggie Sawyer down the poor girl’s throat.

Lilith looked for a moment at her handiwork, then let the girl’s body drop to the ground, finally letting her die. “Well, then,” she said, a black mist rising around her, shrouding her in a kind of transparent darkness. “That’s two down. Who’s next?”

[Reggie Sawyer]

Can you stand still?
Can you dance with light?
Can you hold this moment in your hand?
If you run back
When this time has passed
And we live this memory in your head
Together we control the sunlight
-Aly & Fila feat. Jwaydan, “We Control the Sunlight”

If Reggie had foreseen the horrors that awaited her at Lilith’s hands, she would have left well alone. But the President’s daughter had a knack for getting into trouble. She thought she finally had it; she successfully took out the cryokinetic with her balls of sunlight. She felt balls would be better; the last time she had tried a sunbeam, she had set a city on fire and her side’s own ships too. And that was only the most recent of her mistakes. So, balls of energy. Much easier to control.

She was going to give Lilith the same treatment, but, as it turned out, the woman was too strong even for her. She felt her head spin around, then, oddly enough - she should have died, shouldn’t she? Her jugular was ripped - but she remained alive and conscious as Lilith tried to cram her head down her esophagus. It didn’t fit, so Lilith solved the problem by cracking her head into pieces.

Then, finally, darkness enveloped her, and she wished she could say a final word, to call out for her daddy, to apologize to everyone, to speak at all - but she just let herself fall into that comfortable blackness.

[Marcus Rodgers]

Mira’s eyes widened when she saw Lilith grab Reggie. “No!” she shouted, but as she began to run forward, Marcus pulled her back.

“No way,” Marcus murmured to her. “We’re getting the hell out of here right now.”

A woman came up next to them. “I could have the Dominion send a boat for us.”

“Sounds like a plan, as long as the Johessmans don’t take us as prisoners-of-war,” Marcus said.

“They won’t now that everything’s cleared up,” the woman told them. “I’ll make sure. I’m Sereia.”

“Nice to meet you,” Marcus said, his hand firmly around Mira’s wrist. “Let’s go.”

They melted into the forest in time to see the remnants of the Allied and Dominion troops, minus the Johessmans themselves, rushing Lilith. The woman simply lifted them into the air and twisted their limbs among each other, as though making a large, complicated pretzel. “This is fun!”

“Yeah,” Marcus said. “Time to beat feet.”

And the three of them made all haste to the coast.

[Jack Murdock]

Jack saw Marcus Rodgers and the rest of his team fleeing with their tails between their legs though the Japanese woman with them died in front of them.

None of them cared. So that's what loyalty meant to them: nothing.

"Cowards." he snarled. "No wonder we lost at Kingston. Its because you are pathetic as well as gutless. Professional soldiers, my ass."

Still in his metal form, Jack ran toward Lilith. His hate toward her growing more and more as he saw the young girl die at her hands.

Rodgers might not give a damn about his own squad members but Jack did.

Although he might die, unlike Rodgers, Jack at least has the balls to try and do something rather than run away like a little bitch.

[Gabriel McBride]

Gabriel Climbed to his feet with the help of Marcus and winced as his shoulder sent a line of pain to the center of his back. It did not dislocate, however there was the likelihood of a pinched nerve somewhere near his spine...nothing he never experienced, but nothing he could really shake off either. As he felt the Marcus' hands on him he could feel the pain shift and move toward his hand. Instinctively he knew what was happening...he had felt it recently in his last fight...

Gabriel pulled away and did his best to hold the pain in check. His body trembled for a few moments, then the pain returned to the location of the possibly pinched nerve causing him to wince once again and reach for the back of his neck with his good hand.

"Yeah...I think I'm good..." He was not too convincing as he rubbed the back of his neck."What the hell was that thin...?" He saw a woman calling up frozen winds, then struck by balls of brilliant flames, then fall burnt to a crisp. He appeared as if he were about to ask a pointed questioned aimed at this new event...When his eyes fell on his baby...his pride and joy...moving back...or more importantly, being moved back. There was a woman rising from the location that his beloved camaro has stopped and she was infuriated...and more notably...she was not dead. He continued being at a loss for words even as she proclaimed that someone would pay for it, only to have her select a new victim from the crowd and crush her skull and bones as if her head was a bop it...He cringed at his own inappropriate analogy, though he could not refute the comparison with something more empathic at this time.

When he turned to regard the man that had helped him back to his feet they were already fleeing the scene. Gabriel knew he should follow and put distance between himself and the powerful super human he had unceremoniously struck with his vehicle...his poor, poor baby...Then he snapped back to the reality of the situation...that poor woman...that poor girl...this monster was reining hell down upon these people, and if he wasn't here to do something about this...then why the hell was he here. He reached behind him and pulled his desert eagle from his the waist of his jeans and leveled it on Lilith. Placing the hand of his injured arm under it for support, wincing again as he did so, he let off a string of shots, seeking to empty his 8 round clip, hoping the time he spent at the gun range paid off...or that at least a few out of the volley made it to their mark. He was a good 30 yards or more, away from his target...he knew the effective firing range of the desert eagle was 200 meters, or roughly 650ft...but he was no where near good enough to shoot that distance accurately. He shot 25 yards at the range fairly easy, however, he was no where near under the amount of duress he was now experiencing. This was likely him signing away his life...but he couldn't stand by and let this monster get away with this...besides...his car was still in one piece after all...

[Trevor Taylor]

You're just another nightmare walking to me
You were driven to me
Now you're given to me
How can I let a nightmare live?

“But, for now… don’t you sense that? Don’t you feel that? Deaths by the hundreds, all coming in from the shore.”

Trevor did feel the lives being extinguished. Once time had started up again, the Specials fighting for the Dominion in the sea battle had kept pressing their assualt, unaware of the situation on the ground. Alexander Kilvayne, his nephew Adrian, and the Company agent gone rogue, Helena Solar...Rehal? He wasn't sure which was correct off the top of his head. Possibly neither...it made no difference. They were killing too many people, giving Lilith energy to feed upon. This was not good.

"My power is growing. Is yours?”


"My rage is growing. I will take what I need from you, in the end."

Trevor's speech came too late. Two of those who had charged in blindly as he recovered from Lilith's time stop were dispatched before he could save them. They would not die without being avenged, however. Trevor would see to that. Sparrow Akiyama and Reggie Sawyer were the first to fall. The others fled, and only the hard headed man from the battle in Jamaica and a stranger remained at Trevor's side. He was not needed for this fight, when all was said and done. He was just dead weight really.

"Mr. Murdock, you should leave while you still live and breathe. You too, stranger. As I said before...this is my fight."

“Is Death evil, then? I hope you’re properly prepared for this fight, insect.”

"I am no insect, I am the will of God made manifest," Trevor said as he turned and drew closer to the woman at the epicenter of all this madness. This was going to be the end of all things. Trevor was resolved to end his own life tonight if need be. He would be reunited with his love in the afterlife. He would meet her on the other side of life and death. And he would send Lilith to Hell.

"You have no regard for human life," Trevor said as his hands reached out toward her, his power beckoning forth her energy into spheres of light calling the souls lost in all the death she had engineered. Her life force was powered by death. He was in a rage like he had never known, white flames dancing on his flesh as he ripped everything out of Lilith.
He would not stop until there was nothing left to take from her...

"I will devour you."

{lyrics- Forgiven by Disturbed}

[Jack Murdock]

Jack seethed inwardly at what the only other man standing beside him after everyone else ran off had said to him.

But then he started to glow white from what...?

Jack didn't know from where, but he knew now that this was way beyond him.

"Good luck, then pal... i mean Trevor. I do remember you now. Wish we got to know each other better over a pint of beer or more." he said sadly as he reluctantly fled the scene.

To the other guy who tried to stop Lilith by slamming his car into her, he said: "This fight is over for guys like us, but i will promise you that i will build for you a new car with whatever features you want or just restore it if the government would send the wreckage to me. Doubtful of course. But we both have to be alive to do so. Name's Jack Murdock by the way, look me up in Brooklyn, New York and i'll get it done.

Also if you see Marcus Rodgers again, kick him in the nuts hard if i don't get the chance to do so. There will be a reckoning if i ever see that coward again, i can promise you that."

With that, Jack fled the battlefield.

[Lilith]

I was high up on you,
’til the shadows began to crawl
Some say we can never know
from just how far down
this beast has come
-Chevelle, “An Evening With El Diablo”

Smart. Those were the smart ones, those three that hightailed it out of there. Lilith was sad to see them go, sad that she would not be able to add them to the human pretzel she had made out of the remaining Allied and Dominion soldiers. Oh, well. She had more than enough death to fuel her now.

The life manipulator was growing angry. How cute. He encouraged the other two men to leave, and at least one of them did so, which was also a smart move. Lilith blew Metal Man a little kiss, however. It was a black lips-shaped stain at the base of his neck, one that would stick with him whenever he was in human form.

Then she turned her attention back to the life-force manipulator. No matter what he said, he was still an insect to her. She would squash him just like any other. “What kind of death would you prefer?” she asked as he approached. “I’ve got all flavors. ‘Some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice,’ to quote Robert Frost. I’m getting a ‘fire’ vibe from you. What do you think?”

When he reached out his hands toward her, Lilith snapped her fingers, and wisps of black smoke grew around her. With a flick of her hands, she sent them forward, intending to send them down the man’s throat. But his attack reached her first - she saw that he was nearly engulfed in white light, and then felt a pull from her, something drawing out of her, and she realized it was the deaths she had accumulated, being turned against her.

Then it was her that he was drawing out. Alarmed, she started to pull back on his own death, her jaw falling slack as she did so. Then she tripped forward, then fell back, and then dropped to her knees. In the nest moment, she was rising, her arms stretched out at acute angles, her head tilted back, and she exploded in a rush of black smoke, a smoke tinted blue and green. The last of her went with her screams, and when the smoke faded, she was gone.

Everything fell quiet then. There was no sound of birds, nor of squirrels, nor of wind floating by. The park had fallen into an eerie state of calm, now that the woman who had controlled it for so long had been taken out of play.

And that was all there was.

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.
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When she opened her eyes, Lilith was in a white room. The doors and the windows that flanked it were clear, presumably made of glass, but the other three walls were white, the one behind her being made of white-painted stone. She was sitting on a bed. The room was also furnished with a standing shower, toilet, and sink, complete with toilet tissue and a towel. There was a mirror on the opposite wall, and a dresser; when she opened it, she was disappointed to find that it was filled only with more towels and white dressing gowns.

At that point, she realized that she was unbound, and walked quickly up to the doors to see what was outside. All she saw was a long hallway that extended in both directions and cells just like hers. She stepped back and tried to kick the glass down, but nearly fractured her leg in the process. Stumbling back, she fell onto the bed, and rubbed her leg. “Ow.”

“I tried that too,” a voice said, seemingly from nowhere.

Lilith frowned in frustration. Then, remembering, she tried to call forth her death magicks, but was unsuccessful. Nothing happened. “Tried that too,” the voice said, but this time, it was clearer, and Lilith was able to pinpoint its source: a cell at a slight diagonal from hers. How she managed to hear the woman in there was a strange sort of miracle.

The woman was clearly Asian, and young. She leaned on the door handles. “Nothing will work,” she said, her tone passive. “He controls our abilities.”

“Who does?” Lilith asked, but the woman was going on.

“He’s keeping you here because he’s got some sort of use for you. He uses me to power his experiments and, in dire times, the entire building. What’s your ability? Maybe we can figure out what he wants you for.”

“Death manipulation,” Lilith said. “Who is this ‘he’ you keep talking about?”

“Shh! You’re too loud,” the young woman hissed. “He can probably hear us.”

And the young woman slinked away from the doors and back into her room.

Lilith returned to her bed, frustrated. She had no idea where she was or why she was here, and apparently someone powerful was in control. That unsettled her. She did not like being the puppet of some unknown stranger.

But at least she was not dead.