Setting
Those few creatures that escape the knighthood flee down here, along with the deranged acolytes who serve them, some of which twisted by exposure to these creatures. It should not be too hard to believe there exists those who worship these creatures as gods, a few of which are those who are still actually loyal to Lehechalesh.
Alexei drew his pistol and fired at the rebels, his lip twitching. It wasn't the first time he'd seen people die, but he certainly didn't like being the definite cause. He swallowed hard, pushing the discomfort down. A bullet grazed his arm and ripped his uniform. Alexei glanced back and ducked behind the shield. He didn't stop trying to help, though, but he just took potshots when he had a chance. Hopefully, the push would be successful.
Setting
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Switching locations since we are technically in the subway ruins now. Also, sorry for my lack in communication, been dealing with nerve damage in right leg.
by MartinVole
0.00 INK
"Hey, you ain't allowed to play sacrificial hero, stay with us... damn it to hell, he's not healing," he says before turning to Alexei. "Hey, Alexei, wasn't it? He's hurt really bad this time. I'll take whatever fit he gives in response."
Viktoriya, who was busy charging through now that the ranks were broken suddenly stops, a chill in her spine, her senses on high alert for some reason, not just towards the enemy ahead, but behind as well. Her hair bristles up, snapping her neck back to give a side glance look towards Victor, taking in a sharp breath.
"He's quiet," she mutters, her gruff voice cracking into something akin to a growl. It was the closest she could define the state of Victor at the moment, a state of quiet. She had grown to understand the closest thing to normal for him was now disrupted, and he was now... quiet, yet other than that she could not understand the exact details of it, other than it set the beast on edge.
WIth the battle won for now, Valoel gave a sigh of relief that they managed to get through. No doubt with some...unusual assistance from above. With the enemy gone, there was time for a bit of rest. "Alexei, tend to Victor to the best of your abilities. I have no doubt we have seen the last of the enemy forces. Let us use this time to recover our strength." She ordered as she leaned against a bullet filled pillar, grabbed a small handkerchief from inside her armor to wipe the blood off her hand.
She honestly never expected a cannon to be used down here, even then it was multiple shots as well. She underestimated their insanity and zeal. "No wonder they had Devil's in their name...they are not afraid of being sent to hell..." She muttered to herself as she allowed the squad to rest for the time being to heal up and gather their wits.
"You can press on if you want, Sir," Alexei said to Zeke, selecting a few things from his first aid kit. "It's most likely a bad concussion. Worst comes to worst, something's broken. You called him Victor, right?" He adjusted his kneeling position and turned his attention back to Victor. "Can you hear me?" He said, speaking calmly and clearly. "I understand that this is probably uncomfortable, but I'm going to need to get this helmet off get a good look at your head and neck." As he spoke, Alexei fiddled with the helmet, eventually unclasping it. "In the meantime, if you can, please tell me your name and where you are?"
She also had one other worry as the enemies began to draw away, shouting victoriously at each other as their faces disappeared in the dark. "What's an Ol' Iron?" she asked aloud as she turned back to the others.
She'd managed to get hold of one of the retreating soldiers, but felt it was too risky to follow them furtherâ who knew what surprises awaited them further down. Someone willing to fire a cannon in a Subway system was liable to do pretty much anything. Like Valoel had said, whatever these men believed in, they believed in it fiercely enough that they weren't afraid to die to achieve it.
"You said Rook used to be one of us, right?" She turned to Valoel, who was leaning on one of the pillars. "Any idea what he's got in store for us?"
And it only felt more wrong as the more he came to it, the stronger this wierd sensation felt until it overflowed. "No time to rest huh!? If you won't stop him, we will!" For just a fraction of time the tiny little bugs, scratching their way through the inside of his head broke through. His eyes shone brilliantly. "Victor Garthside, a bloody graveyard" Victor's body suddenly janked up in a sitting position. Those who had heard his voice could definitely notice the difference, there was no crudeness to it. Only a thick monotone and honestly, "beastlike" tone to it.
"I promise, you do not want to see the little secrets we keep!" It was like he was whispering, yet his words could clearly be heard by everyone present. In the same motion he swung both his arms up, attempting to strangle Alexei. Victor himself had yet to properly regain consciousness, yet he desperately tried to, he knew how catastrophic it could be if he didn't.
Still, through the panic, there was a quiet part of his mind that found this to be an almost an interesting situation. He'd thought about his own death often enough, but he'd never thought that it would be murder. And by another member of KAP! It'd make for quite the obituary, at least.
"Who... are you," Zeke says through strained breath as he puts all his strength into trying to keep the medic's throat from being crushed. "Certainly not Victor right now!"
Viktoriya stands, watching intently at Victor's movements, the pupils in her eyes fluctuating, thoughts racing. She had felt unease since she first saw him, heard him, that disharmonious tone that rattled away inside him, far removed from the more steady beat of all other beings, and now it was louder than ever, overtaking everything with its noise, steadily driving the beast mad.
"Skitter and scratch, a skull of roachessss," she shrieks hysterically, her hair on ends like a cornered wildcat as she begins to clasp her hands tightly, baring her teeth. "Konets yego! It wounds the melody, make it stop!"
"Stand down," Zeke yells out, trying to prevent the beast from compounding the issue.
Valoel looks up at Aurel when she asks about Rook. She gave a small sigh. "I hoped to avoid this, command issued orders to keep his true identity a secret. Former captain Rook, veteran of the old war...Yes, he used to fight with us...But after...I-I said too much...Command has ordered complete silence about him. Now, please rest up and---what the!?" Valoel soon notices that Victor was trying to strangle Alexei
"Great...I got some problems inside the team..." She grit her teeth and ran up to Victor and helped Zeke to pry the madman from killing their medic. "Cease this action immediately Victor! Get ahold of yourself!" She called out as she ran behind him and pulled back on him.
It did not help that Viktoryia was going crazy now. Could she make this team work? There were so many problems that could arise...and this was one of those problems!
She nodded as Valoel spoke, understanding of her dedication to orders. If her superiors had ordered her to keep quiet, Aurel was not one to push the matter further. Before she could reassure her of this, however, Victors hands had locked themselves their medic's throat and Valoel was called away to deal with it.
She wished she could say she was surprised, but this was exactly what she'd been worried about earlier. Seeing as there were two people now trying to wrench Victor away from the medic, Aurel instead approached Viktoriya, hands raised to show her friendly intentionsâ far away from her swords. "It's okay, dear," she said, her voice light and soft, positioning herself between Viktoriya and the assailant. An action she might find herself regretting later, she realised, but she was willing to take that chance. "They're dealing with it, it's going to be okay. Calm down now. It's okay."
She remained friendly in nature, but her stance was clear: if Viktoryia advanced, Aurel would be ready to try and stop her.
"Humans, ever so frail. Look at your walls thundering down around you!" His voice was directed towards Alexei, yet he was clearly talking to everyone present. His eyes gained a sudden surge of light, intently watching Alexei. They both knew that if it weren't for Zeke and Valoel then he had undoubtedly crushed the mans neck by now. Instead his grip was suprisingly growing softer. His head instead snapping to the side. Uncomfortably close to Zeke's face "You're no more human than us! You've abandoned what made you the weakest, your humanity! Agahahaah!"
With that maniacal laugh he suddenly jerked both his hands forward, throwing Alexei backwards. For a moment he was seemingly wrestling with the two others, attempting to stand up but instead just barely reaching a kneeling position, from there his eyes recieved another sudden surge of light. Staring past Auriel and up towards Viktoriya. "And for the most wicked abominations of you all! Something which used to be human? It's simply... Disgusting"
For Victor it was the same distressing feeling as always. He was submerged, deep under water where no sun reaches. Yet he could see the surface, just a little distance above him could he see light. And he was desperately tugging his way towards it. Millions of tiny hands, claws and tentacles trying to get a hold of his legs and drag him back down. He had no more air, he was drowning.
Victor spoke again, although it was becoming apparent through his language that it wasn't quite Victor. Insulting humans like Alexei would curse rats wouldn't make sense otherwise. Every moment, he expected Victor to crush him and his superiors, but he never did. He even loosened his grip, enough so for Alexei to begin to breathe. The dizziness and the pressure abated somewhat and he could see Victor's helmet more clearly. His stomach dropped. He hadn't hallucinated the light.
Through the continuation of Victor's monologue, Alexei stayed silent, afraid to make things worse. Next thing he knew, he was flying backwards. His head bounced off of a rough piece of rubble, cutting his scalp. The medic lay there for a little while, catching his breath and regaining his composure. His whole body was shaking. Not wanting to be caught with his pants down, so to speak, he gingerly sat up, watching the proceedings like an injured rabbit staring down a fox.
He draws his head back, face scrunching with disgust as Victor invades his personal space, mocking him. Well, maybe not quite Victor himself, more like someone or something scratching to the surface of his brain. This is far from some simple head wound, that is for certain. He... or it... proceeds to mock his state of humanity, how he's cast it aside. He was growing too haggard to be frightened at this point, it was becoming instead agitation.
Before he could gather a response, Alexei was sent flying outwards, against the rubble.
"Hey, you alright," Zeke yells through gritted teeth, trying to not break eye contact from Victor for too long. Thank God, he thinks as he sees the medic sitting up, clearly shaken but fully alive none the less. "Check your head there, rest for a bit, we got this."
Viktoriya hisses as Victor looks towards her, understanding enough that this... thing dares mock her, which may as well be mocking Kaymbden, calling her disgusting.
"Mor, scratch and scuurry, full of rancid noiiiiisssse, daring to insult the song," she shrieks before cracking out a sound akin to a cackle, whatever she was hearing was driving her to frenzy, letting emotions bleed through in an unstable state. Her jagged maw cracking into a crooked grin. "What is it? What is it!? I hear it screaming! Kaybden will conduct the dirge of your existennnnce! Kehahaaa!"
"Okay, what you said... yeah, don't do that... going crazy thing anymore," Zeke responds, strain in his voice as he continues to wrestle against Victor's possesed body. It was at this point he has had enough, Rook was likely getting reinforcements and the entire unit was now shaken up. This is a very bad day. He lets out an agitated sigh, before taking in a sharp breath, his body painfully ignites with more light crackling through his veins, putting pressure against Victor in an effort to push him back and place more distance between him and Alexei. It was time to try to take charge of this situation before it goes even deeper into the circles of Hell. "Alright, ghost, demon, parasitic brain worm, whatever, first off I am pretty damn content with myself, I mean, I'm me, and even if I start mutating into... eh, something or other, as long as I'm at the wheel, I'm as human as I can give a damn about."
With this Zeke edges closer, in part revenge for getting in his face earlier, in another to get whatever it was driving Victor to focus attention on him. A smirk goes across the blue haired man's face, his eyes narrowing, brow furrowing.
"And then you go off, mocking blue eyes over there, eh? I mean, rather ridiculous coming from a thing that cowers around in the back of poor Victor's skull all day like roaches fleeing into a dark corner," He continues, tilting his head slightly to the side as he glares into Victor's burning eyes. It was unpleasant to stare at, to say the least, but he had to try talking this thing down, there was no room for error this deep into enemy territory, and at their backs Rook was already planning something else. "And let me tell you something about us humans, you guys invaded us, on our turf, and we're gonna be taking it back! All the while the science boys put guys like you in tubes, testing them, finding what makes 'em tick. Plus, we've got Larry... eh, whatever his name was... the one that invaded us first, locked up in a basement somewhere, which is a damn big undertaking given the size. I'm sure he's lonely down there, I hear he just looooves scavengers like you! Now, are you sure you want to do this song and dance?"
With that he draws back, taking in another deep breath, sweat trickling down his brow, less from nerves and more from the effort it has taken to keep Victor restrained. Viktoriya watches silently now, her grin fading, not willing to push past Aurel who has blocked her advance.
"I think it would behoove you to cooperate with us just a little here," Zeke finishes quietly, almost a whisper.
"Knight Valoel come in...Hey, sweet cheeks. Command here, just uh coming in to check on your progress so...status report would be nice." Her communicator buzzed in her ear and with reluctance she replied as she continued to pry Victor while Zeke seemed to be threatning the demon inside him. If they could lock away...Larry? Then they could lock away whatever was in Victor's body. She also ignored his insults to humans.
"Command, this is Knight Valoel speaking...The situation has taken a turn. I have madness in the ranks that I'm curretnly trying to deal with here!" She replied.
"Oh...thats not good, I mean the others are going to get on your case about your command but uh...let me guess, Victor and Viktoryia right?...Wait! I just relized how simmilar their names sound. Thats kind of funny."
"Yes thats correct, and now is not the time for jokes sir...if you pardon my irritation."
"No big deal, stay safe out their hot stuffs. Command out!"
Veloel gave a sigh as her buzzer cut out. What a flirt that man was...now she could focus on still trying to pull Victor now.
Rook was busy laughing as he watched this scene unfold. Its like they forgot they were in enemy territory. [b]"Yarharharhar! This is going to be like shooting fish in a barrel! They wont even see 'Ol Iron coming! So this 'KAP Knights' are supposed to the the defenders of humanity? What a joke...at this rate idots like them will run humanity into extinction." He shook sphis head as he watched.
"Sir, 'Ol Iron is getting into position in less than a minute now. The troops have re-orginized and re-armed sir. If they continued their assukt we woukd have dis-orginized men but...who knew their freind would be willing to kill them? Hahahaha! This is going to be the end of those KAP dogs and we will be the ones to take over and save humanity."
[b]"Don't get ahead of yourself corperal. We still have to kill them first. Besides, we woukd have to get through their mindless and idiodic grunts. But indeed...Once theybare gone we have nothing left to worry about..."[b]
Down the darkness, something was on its way to the struggling KAP knights. For anyone with heightened senses, they could smell smoke...and hear something very faint.
"..Wrong, you think you're scary, you think I'm just some shadow of a mind which can be repaired, you... Think Lehechalesh is some little prisoner of yours. You're wrong! Wrong! Wrong!" He strained further and further with every word. Visibly shaking against Zeke. "Victor died, we're Victor, just like he is all of you. Death approaches, don't let it claim us."
As Victor's desperate struggle continued, one thought suddenly hit him straight in the head. One notion that he had gained long ago, he was a host. A host to a myriad of beings which used him. They can't afford to let him die, that's why his bones twist back in place and his flesh reknits. All those terrifying appendages which held onto him quietly let go of their grip. Without effort, his body carried by the streams he broke into the surface, blinding light all that his eyes could take in.
With that, abruptly like a light losing power Victor's eyes simply closed. The blinding headlamps they had worked as suddenly disappearing. There was no light in Victor's eyes, nor was there any spring to his muscles, he had simply gone limp. But Victor was there, yet again. He didn't dare to move, to make a sound, he had failed, miserably. Held aloft by something unknown he submitteded.
Yet one couldn't help but to get the feeling that Zeke's words had succeeded somehow.
After a moment of silence, he sighs and looks over at Alexei.
"I didn't know," he mutters, rubbing the side of his neck. "Sorry. But, it isn't really his fault either, I just didn't think he'd... or more like whatever is in him would, y'know, just explode like that. Still, I uh, made a bad call there."
With things calming down, Viktoriya herself started to calm, the noise had quieted, at least a little. But something else soon took precedence, something was approaching, her head snapping around and ears flaring out, a smell entered the air.
"Danger," she growls, turning towards its origin, getting down on all six, readying herself for whatever may be coming. "Incoming."
Zeke too turns to look where she was pointing, soon he too started to hear something faint.
"Damn, they took the advantage," he says under his breath. While they were trying to restrain Victor they started moving in against them. "Strike at any sign of weakness, like a good soldier. Get in position, we don't know what they are packing this time!"
Turning to face the tunnel. It was strange how lots of the rubble was cleared. Wait...why would they clear the tracks unless! "Everyone! The tracks! They couldn't have!" She called out as her fear came to light. There in its glory was an armoured train. Patched up, fixed with stolen parts from many raids. And there was plenty of men inside aiming weapons out the windows. And the worst part that there were portholes on the side with no doubt more cannons loaded inside.
Suddenly, the train roared to life as the pilot of this metal behemoth laughed. "We got you now! When you get 'ya hell tell 'em Old Iron sent you there!" The man laughed as weapons were getting cocked and loaded.
This was their trump card. A heavily armed and armoured train. "Cover now!" Valoel called out as she ran for the nearest pillar for cover.
With a twitch, the power flowed back into his arms, his head swinging back up towards the sudden roar of Old Iron's trump card. For a brief moment the two, now simply tiny specs of light that made up Victor's eyes diverted towards Alexei, displaying nothing other than intense grief, before flashing with equal amounts of pure, unadulterated fury, it felt strange for Victor, all the power suddenly pouring back into his veins, the sudden need to grit his teeth and have his hand curl into a fist, yet no red mist descended, no whispers slowly luring his consciousness away. Yet in it's place was determination, he had nothing stealing his focus. The maw of steel and fire was thundering towards them, it was something he could utilize, this short moment, of complete tranquility was his.
With a roar, one notably more human he charged, truly, he felt no need to do anything else. If anything his cleared mind realized the fact that his reinforced self would be way more effective while soaking fire. With steps which propelled him forward, almost cracking the shattered stone underneath him as he dove towards the front of the train, only to sidestep it's ram by a second and rush against it's right side in order to slam his fists through that side, it was difficult, the plate of the train was ridiculously tough yet that proud fire inside him pushed him further, tearing into the train until he found grip, probably one of the soldiers inside, with another roar he tugged at what he might have grabbed. The hole he had created was still only the same size as his arm, leading to after a short terrifying crack Victor's arm flew out, holding another arm, one which he promptly threw as the tore off more plates, actively digging his way into the train
He met Victor's eyes and thought he understood what the glance meant. Alexei flashed him a thumbs-up. He glanced around at the tunnel. The train would pass close to the walls where he was standing, but there wasn't much for him to do but get out of the way. He pressed himself into a alcove next to another soldier.
They both prepared to defend themselves. Victor, however seemed to be taking a more direct approach, punching through the side. Alexei winced watching Victor pull his hand out of the train, dragging with it what looked like half a human arm. He reminded himself to address it later as he pulled his gun.
"Don't be surprised if this thing has some weird enchantments, I seriously doubt this is just a train with a lot of additional steel welded onto it," he cautions, looking to the others. "Even if that is crude, it is still dangerous... well, actually that'd be even worse, more volatile." With that he prepares his own magic, chilling the air around his arms awaiting an opening.
Viktoriya on the other hand was far too big to break for cover, and the loud shrieking of the breaks caused her to wince. Having two sensitive ears was one thing, having four, well, the sound was its own kind of torture. Drawing her ears back, she starts to hop about, keeping her eyes on the portholes, not staying in one position long in order to avoid staying a sitting duck. It was too armored to attack physically, even if she could ram it, it'd be a generally bad idea... a bad idea Victor had taken the liberty to take for her. Her blue eyes widening for a moment.
"What?" she manages to mutter as the armored mutant tears away at the heavy train. Her face cracks into a grin, or was it a grimace? Hard to tell. With a rumbling sound in the depths of her throat, she gets down lets out a sound, a roar of a lowering frequency and high amplitude, continuing until it is purely violent vibrations in the air. Luckily for her comrades, and their eardrums and... insides... it was also quite focused upon the heavy train. Even if it didn't pierce the thick shell of the mechanical monster, it'd still rattle the occupants as well as possibly the framework.
Of course Zeke's worries came to light as the sides of the train began to glow. Runes began to appear on the train at the pilot laughed. "'Ol Iron has much more tricks dogs! 'Ere! Time to teach you to play dead!" The man laughed as the train unleashed a close range shockwave at Victor.
As the same time the train opened up portholes, at least eight in total preparing to fire a volley of cannons at the enemy. Along with weapons reloaded. It was going to retaliate in full and as the bullets and cannons flew once again, the train continued its ominous glow. A creation of both technology and runic magic.
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