Mallrats (1 of 2)
WHO: Sol Badguy, Soma Cruz, Rogue
WHAT: Soma decides to bust up a mall, Rogue and Sol ain't havin' that.
WHERE: Paranormal Gate - Sunnydale
WHEN: 1/14/07
WATCH FOR: This all being started with a cherry Slurpee.
Ah. Good olde Sunnydale. Where strange things happen and people just turn their heads to look the other way... that is when they aren't running for their lives. Maybe keeping up it's name sake, the weather is nice and sunny. A little chilly, but most people didn't even have to wear sweaters even though it's winter. Because the weather is so nice, people are going about having fun with the last couple hours of sunlight- And one of the most active places; The mall. Of course.
Okay, this is probably some kind of record of how many times Rogue has been to a mall in one day. Now why is she all the way out in Sunnydale when there's a perfectly good mall in the city where she currently resides? Because the last time she did that, she was latched onto by a way too friendly housemate and had to end up leaving before she found what she had when there to get. -.-
The stores are named differently, so she's a little lost and has resorted to just wandering around checking out every store until she finds one that looks like it carries the type of clothing she wears. Coming to the end of one line of stores, she begins walking across the food court, weaving in and out of passing people ... Oh wait, does that place have a Slurpee machine? Just a quick pit stop couldn't hurt.
Sol Badguy, meanwhile, is here because....well, despite the fact that nearly everyone who lives in Sunnydale is ignorant of what's really going on, supernatural things seem to treat it like Mecca anyway.
And Sol's about as supernatural as any vampire, so there you go.
Currently, the bounty hunter/first Gear/ex-knight is just watching people go about their business, perhaps waiting to see if anything bizarre shows up. And so he sits on a bench near the food court, with a bag from the cigar store (there's always a cigar store at a mall) next to him and a guitar case at his feet. He does play the guitar, but at the moment it's his chosen means of smuggling his weapon about. Just in case.
Sunnydale is about to be the victim, yet again, of ravening monsters from beyond the grave.
But first, the disgust of their master has to grow. With the poise of a voivode reigning over his serfs, Soma Cruz, successor to Dracula and master of Castlevania, strides throuth the Mall, seeming to sneer at every single person individually. Most people give him a wide, wide berth. He exudes an aura of malice that's almost tangible. So far, he can find nothing redeeming at all about this place. It must be purged.
Crossing through the walkways, Soma makes his way towards the center court of the mall. This is where it will all begin.
Rogue now with a cherry Slurpee in her hand, she takes a sip as she returns to her first plan of finding a clothing store that dislikes pastel colors as much as she does. Crowd shuffling, she looks toward the next bunch of stores and her eyes pass over a bench. Nothing special about the bench, nothing of interest to her... that is until she spots the guitar case. Now she knows how this goes. Some guy brings his guitar in here, busts it out and plays a few over done songs to get a couple bucks. Normally she'd groan at the idea, but going by what the guy's wearing he might actually play something she won't think sucks.
Now this train of thought takes her focus away from one very important thing; Where she's walking. So while she's trying to figure out what sort of music Sol would play... she accidentally runs into someone ... Cherry Slurpee first. "Augh." And Rogue introduces herself to Soma with an eruption of cherry flavored delicious icy drink. Hey how ya doing?
Sol Badguy continues to...not play, which Rogue might find very peculiar, considering he /did/ go to all the trouble of lugging it in. Soma...maybe not so much. He probably doesn't even care. The prototype Gear takes notice as he sees Soma stride past...now there's a guy with something in mind. And it doesn't look good. He leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees.
...and then Rogue runs right into him. Sol shakes his head. He doesn't say a word, his amusement is obvious from the lopsided grin on his face.
Soma looks rather frail and delicate. Rogue will find, when she crashes into him, that this is clearly not the case. He doesn't even move when she slams into him, his back almost feeling like solid marble.
When the slurpee splatters all over the back of his white coat, the Dark Lord vaguely remembers something from the past, a similar situation. That one ended with apologies on both sides and some dry cleaning. Humanity could only be so lucky.
He turns, eyes narrowing as he looks down on the offender. "Perhaps you should pay attention to where you are going." His tone oozes malevolence. "Then again, I don't think you'll get another chance. You are, after all, just a human." Where's Buffy when you need her?
Some flings a hand out to the side, and just past his fingertips, reality seems to ripple and swirl, growing black as a portal opens. With the stench of rotting flesh, the groans of the agonized dead, and the rattling of bones, zombies and skeletons start to shuffle out and into the mall. Uh oh.
!!! What a waste of two bucks! She only got -one- sip, and to top it all off, her shirt and gloves are all sticky now. Once the Slurpee cup beings to crush, Rogue lets go of it so it falls to the ground. "I'm sorry." She replies quickly, even before she notices the stain on the back of Soma's coat, which just causes her eyes to widen. Oh.. that sucks. "Whatever it costs to fix that, you ... know ... I'll ..." Her words trailing off like that because she had lifted her head to see the look on the man's face. "..." She could get defensive, but it was her fault and she would like to make it up to him ... But his tone just doesn't set well with her.
Feeling that familiar 'Something not right' vibe, Rogue begins stepping away from Soma just before he reaches his hand out. "Hey..." She holds up her hands as if it could help her calm him down. "I'll get you a new coat." Then the groaning starts, and she turns her head to see the portal.
The appearance of zombies and skeletons triggers the crowd in the court... and the response ripples out as people begin to run and shove others to flee. Screams and the sound of people trampling away in a panic fill the court, drowning any other sounds, even the moans of the undead that will try to latching onto people soon.
Soma is given one quick look, a firm glare from the teenage mutant before she spirits off toward the portal. A skeleton reaches out to grapple a young man, and Rogue hurries over to leap off the ground and knock the creature down with a kick.
Sol Badguy, meanwhile, decides to cut things off at the head. He watches the back-and-forth (such as it is) between Soma and Rogue with bemusement...but his expression turns deadly serious as the portal appears. Without a word, Sol grabs the guitar case and begins to head /towards/ the Dark Lord, where everyone else is heading away from him.
He doesn't particularly care if he's noticed, as he reaches across to open the guitar case as he moves. He grabs something inside, then releases the case; it drops to the ground with a loud 'whack!' and bounces away, revealing...a very rectangular-looking white-bladed sword. Sol rests the blade over one shoulder, looking surprisingly casual for the situation, as he addresses Soma. "Oy, you. Nobody likes a whiner...so why don't you take yourself, your buddies, and your messed-up coat and get the **** out?" Is he /trying/ to pick a fight?
Hell yeah he is.
The skeleton, not a potent monster by any means, disintigrates to dust at the mighty kick from the mutant. Bones crumble and leave nothing but powder. More come to replace the fallen one, grotesque and rotting limbs stretching out for the mutant girl. Their groans and the rattle of dry, dusty bones fill the court. Somebody get a shotgun.
Soma himself seems to have forgotten the stain and the chill of the frozen beverage as he's adressed by Sol. He peers at the man, arms at his sides. "And who are you to tell me what I should do? My will be done, mortal. This is my will, that these /humans/," he says the word with clear distaste, "Suffer and die by my hands."
Rogue doesn't have a shotgun but despite her looks, Rogue is pretty tough. She honestly couldn't even guess the number of hours she'd spent fighting... sure this is the first time she's been against a horde of undead, so she is picking her fight wisely. She's only going to attack the ones that are about to hurt any of the mallgoers. And after striking the skeleton down with her kick, she steps back, glancing around to her next target. There aren't that many people snagged, and so she gets to work.
Moving to the next undead holding onto someone, she aims a high kick to knock them off their hostage. She didn't have time to see if she succeed, because after her leg lowered back to the ground, a zombie came out from -nowhere- and lunged forward at her. Flailing as she stumbled backward, Rogue ended up on a table, nasty zombie hands low at her throat. THANK GOD the hand pressed against her shirt just under the leather choker she wore.She really does not want to find out if she came skin to skin with one of these. o_o Held down on the table, one arm reaches out to try and pry the zombie hands away, then hold back it's head back when it looks like it's going to have a taste test. >_< Her other arm flails out on the table until it comes across a plastic tray.
BOUNG! That is the sound of a thick plastic food tray hitting the side of a zombie's head. When it releases her, Rogue kicks the zombie off her and stands up to start using her new weapon. Sure the tray is a crude weapon, but it's durable and until she spots something better it will do. Clenching her improvised weapon with both hands she begins swinging it at any undead that comes within reach.
And you know, she'll join Sol when she realizes that the horde isn't depleting and the other people have gotten away. c_c
"Che," Sol exclaims, practically rolling his eyes as he tilts his neck back enough to look down on Soma. "Typical. You have the power, so that gives you the right, huh? You're boring!" Without any further warning, Sol draws back....and then lunges forward with a quick, one-handed straight punch aimed at Soma's chest, his hand cloaked in fire. With the hand not holding Fireseal, mind. Should the blow connect, there's a blast of magical force that (hopefully) sends the quasi-vampire flying.
Soma sneers at Sol. Of /course/ the power gives him the right. It's how the world works. He should have expected the strike, but it catches him off guard. The flaming fist impacts, and Soma skids backwards on the tile, boots scraping the whole way. He steadies himself and shakes his head. "Might has always made right! It is the way of nature. Man preys upon the animals, and I prey upon Man!" The portals close as Soma's attention is drawn elsewhere. Magic power surges as the Dark Lord brings his hands together before him. Between them, a glowing orb of energy burns to life before he draws his hands back and slings them forward, releasing the ball at the ProtoGear.
The Zombies and skeletons mill around, some lunging at Rogue, others wandering off into the mall, where they're promptly shot and disposed of by the strangely heavily armed security. Whoever heard of a rent a cop with a freaking .50? Only in Sunnydale.
A couple more undead are taken down by Rogue, before she pauses when the gun shots are heard. She takes a few moments to look for a new target, but it looks like most of the people filtered out to another part of the mall, where it just so happens the security is taking care of things with better weapons.
When she spots the face off between Sol and Soma, she remembers what happened just before the sudden wave of undead. She had realized that the portal was Soma's doing, and now it's time for a change in strategy. Making her way to the boys, she knocks aside any of Soma's minions that get in her way, grabbing and ripping at her. Hey hey! Don't tear the shir-- riiiiip. DAMN IT. Now she has to replace this mesh shirt AGAIN. That skeleton gets an extra mighty hit with the tray before she continues toward the Vampire/Gear showdown.
Sol Badguy's lips curl back in a sneer as well, as Soma makes his proclamation. "Ah, Nightwalkers." As the energy projectile heads his way, Sol basically brings his sword up to swat at it...and somehow it manages to pass through the sphere, creating a flash of light that singes...but isn't the killing blow Soma was probably aiming for. The sword doesn't appear to have a mark on it. It must be quite sturdy.
"Go back to hell!" Sol roars, as he brings the sword up in an arc that ends with its tip scraping the ground....chips of tile and plastic go flying as the blade carves a gash out of the floor, which suddenly sends up a gout of flame that zips across the ground towards the vampire.
"How quaint. I am more than your simple vampire. I am the heir to Dracula himself! My power is greater than you could ever imagine! My loathing for your kind is the only thing greater!" As the gout of fire rips across the floor, Soma leaps into the air. The funny part happens when he does it /again/ in midair. He flips forward before he fights fire with fire. The Dark Lord draws his coat open wide on one side, and a blast of fire the size of a medicine ball races downwards at the Gear. Soma finishes falling to the ground and lands in a crouch before rising to his full height.
The zombies that encounter the security fall very easily. Those that get in Rogue's way doo too. Especially the poor bastard who tears her shirt. Somebody somewhere is happy for the view.
Rogue is wearing a tank-top under! It's not -that good- of a view! Kick. Swat. "Outta my way!" As if the undead would actually move aside for her. Eventually she does get thru the (thinning) horde, and she takes a small break to catch her breath. Moving a bit of hair from her face, she freezes for a moment as she watches Sol and Soma throw attacks back and forth. Now she's not very educated with magic and other types of people gaining powers by other means. So she assumes that throwing fire and calling forth undead is somekind of mutant power. Well at least the fire is ... the undead thing, well ... it's not like she's going to ask. Perhaps if she had gotten there a minute earlier she could have heard the conversation between the men, but she wasn't and she didn't.
Now it's not that she doesn't want to help, but it seems that Sol pretty much is handling things, so until he looks like he needs help, Rogue just hangs back a few yards from them ... picking off any undead that wanders close to help Soma.
Sol Badguy's expression changes to a lopsided grin. This guy has no idea. "...my kind. Heh." He then, apparently, decides to quit the banter...he hates that crap anyway. He doesn't seem the least bit concerned by the double jump, since it's a fairly common technique in his plane...but as he sees the fireball coming he abruptly drops low to the ground and sprints forward, almost impossibly fast for someone of his size. "Grand...." As Soma comes down he suddenly leaps up and attempts to plant his knee in the white-coated man's chest, hopefully knocking him into the air before launching an uppercut with a flame-covered fist. This time the fireball is significantly bigger, almost the size of Sol's head. "....Viper!"
Soma is light on his feet, but fire is not something he enjoys. It /hurts/. Flesh scorches and cloth burns as Sol strikes him again, sending him flying. The Dark Lord manages to recover, flipping in midair and..turning into a small white bat. How cute. Flying in a high arc, he goes for the standard way of holding someone back.
Taking a hostage.
The bat dives, the form shifting back into Soma just before he lands in a blur of white and a rustle of cloth. In his hand is...a ridiculously large sword with a dingy white blade. This is held down at an angle in front of the X-Man. His other hand, well, makes the mistake of resting on Rogue's shoulder.
Well, at least it won't kill him.
Rogue doesn't impress easily, not when it comes to fighting and throwing about powers. She's seen quite a lot considering her youth, so the fact that she's watching the fight even with the smallest amount of awe says something about these men.
So it's not too difficult for Soma to leap behind her. That speed, she's only seen one person move that fast, so one moment she sees Soma, a blur and then she feels someone grab her from behind.
That sword is big, but she doesn't have time to realize her situation, because when Soma reached around Rogue, a hand grasped her bare shoulder to hold her. She couldn't even warn him, she hadn't even thought to until it was too late. The instant his hand touches against her skin, Rogue tenses throwing her head back as if an electric current was coursing through her. Which granted, may look to Sol as if Soma were doing something to her.
Sol Badguy was half-expecting Soma to run off as soon as he saw the vampire turn into a bat and fly off. Then he starts angling towards someone. "Don't go there, don't go there...." Sol says under his breath, irritable as ever. He hates hostage situations. Why?
Because he usually just beats the hostage-taker up around the hostage, their fate be damned.
Of course, that usually leads to all manner of trouble. So he needs to knock the vampire away, quickly. With this in mind, Sol suddenly leaps backward, moving so fast that to most human eyes it appears as if he's leaving blurry after-images in his wake. He tucks his legs in as he moves so that, when he hits the nearest obstruction (which happens to be a palm tree), he's able to push off and fly towards Soma and Rogue with more after-images trailing after. In mid-air he twists about so that his foot is on a collision course with Soma's face.
Why yes, he is going to use Boot to the Head on the king of the vampires.
Yeah It would probably look that way except that Soma himself, resilient as he is, tences and clenches his grip, his inhumanly strong fingers digging into the mutant girl's flesh. He can feel it. His power being drawn off, being /copied/. Worse than that, she's seeing his /memories/. The Dark Lord's eyes go vacant as his experiences and feelings flow out and copy themselves into the girl's mind.
The biggest and most important ones stick. He watched the woman he loved get murdered by a crazed zealot. The agony feels like his heart's being torn to pieces, ad the rage that replaces it is all consuming. Then the rush of raw, unadulterated /power/ as he annihilates the cause of it.
Farther back when he was a normal, kind young man, finding out his birthright and sealing it for what he thought was forever.
Farther back, it's another man. Dressed in evening finery, with sharp featured and milk-white hair. The name that floats through is Dracula. Many things float through. Names, places, feelings. A picture of a young seeming man with long white hair, carrying a sword springs up as both 'Alucard' and 'Son'. The feelings with it are both paternal love and frustration. Earlier, another woman. Blonde and kind looking and beautiful, the name 'Lisa' and absolute adoration.
A bit later, Lisa tied to a stake and being set alight. The towering rage goes beyond inhuman. The aftermath is best not described.
Earlier and earlier, men with whips and holy power, the name 'Belmont' accompanied with livid fury at the insolence of humans.
Soma could almost thank Sol for kicking him in the head. He recoils, and it wrenches his hand free of the girl. The vampire staggers backwards, dropping his heavy blade along the way before he falls to his knees. He's actually breathing for once, and bloody streaks are running down his face from his eyes and nose.
Too much pain. Too much power. Just -too much- everything. As Sol comes in for the rescue, Rogue's mouth opens to let out a scream of heartbreak. Those memories, that pain feels just like her own. And so does the hatred that seemed to come so naturally after it.
After Soma falls back, Rouge nearly crumples to her knees, her hands just barely catching her from crashing completely to the floor. Her head hangs, her hair hiding her face and the tears that are uncontrollably streaming down her cheeks. Her breathing is ragged, and her mind a mess of memories. It's as if she were fast forwarding through a hundred years of history to make it pass by in a single minute. She doesn't get every detail, but there are vivid flashes and raw emotions that are too strong for her to just push aside.
"Insolent humans." Her accent changing, her voice takes on a venomous tone while she reaches for the sword Soma had dropped before she begins to stand. "You and your kind are nothing but pests to be exterminated." Rogue turns in the direction where Sol had landed, and holds the sword to the side with one hand. "I loathe you all." Raising her head to look at the Gear, her free hand lifts so her palm is open to him. The air is disturbed around her hand, and by now Sol has probably realized something is wrong and will be able to move, or stop her before a beam of energy is blasted from her hand and toward him.
Sol Badguy lands neatly on his feet somewhere between Rogue and Soma. "You don't look so hot, kiddo. Want to give up?" He draws one leg back as if preparing to kick the vampire in the face while he's down...then Rogue makes her announcement, and he abruptly spins about and snaps that particular leg upward in a kick aimed to plant the tip of his shoe in her face.
"You, shut the **** up and stay out of this. God, it's /spreading/." Briefly, he considers whether he's going to have to break out the Big Guns(Tm) now...
Soma doesn't move for a long moment, his head droops, blood drips from his face, and he's just generally zoned out. A few more beats pass, and he blinks, sight and sense returning in time to see Rogue spout off /his/ lines and sling /his/ power. For some reason, this strikes him as funny. He laughs, it's a bit maniacal and fairly unhinged. Slowly, still chuckling to himself, Soma rises to his feet and intones weakly to Rogue. With as much as she got, it may sound like she's hearing herself talk. "I do not know what you did, but you took something from me. Perhaps you merely copied something. I do not know." He looks horrific, blood streaming down his face, eyes glowing red in the harsh flourescents. "I believe I am through here..." To Rogue again, "We will speak another time. I will find you." He stoops to grab his blade, which promptly vanished into his coat. (We don't ask how). With a jump and a flip that spirals inwards, Soma is, once again, a bat, and winging his way the hell out of here. Sol could probably set him on fire from behind. He may have other things to worry about, though.
Kick in face! Muff! As Sol's boot meets Rogue's face, it causes her to go backward, her hand lifting, which redirects that beam of death toward the ceiling... taking out one of the banners hanging down. TAKE THAT PENNY'S SALE! Have some Gergoth's soul! XO
It takes a little while for her to recover, but she hadn't actually fallen down, just stumble a few feet. Her hand lifts to her face, and the other tightens it's grip on the sword she's holding. That hurt, and being so pale, redness shows up very well at the place he hit her and soon enough it will begin turning into a darker bruise.
Still holding her hand to her face, it looks as if she's in some sort of shock. None responsive to Soma's words and her hand just opens to allow him to take his weapon. It seems that the kick knocked some sense into her, or just knocked the -crazy- out, and just left her in a stunned trance.
After Soma begins to leave, a beat passes, and Rogue falls to her knees before collapsing to the floor. Nightmares AHOY!
Sol Badguy has to divide his attention between the two of them now, and...well, Soma's retreating this time, so that leaves the person who's still behind.
It turns out that he made the wrong decision, as Rogue spaces out and then collapses. The Gear walks over to her with a surprising lack of caution, looking for all the world as if he's just casually strolling over to her. For about half a second, he runs through his options. She could have been a plant, in which case he'd be perfectly justified in smashing her face into the ground with his foot. She could have been manipulated, in which case he should probably just leave her be. On the other hand, she could be contagious or something like that.
"Che," Sol exclaims irritably, before making his decision. He reaches up to his chest to unbuckle his jacket, shrugs it off, then thrusts both hands into the fabric and grabs Rogue /through/ the material. He has fingerless gloves after all, and he doesn't want to catch 'Evil-Overlord' from her.
"Pain in the ass...." he mutters, before he thus (hopefully) starts to drag her off.
WHAT: Soma decides to bust up a mall, Rogue and Sol ain't havin' that.
WHERE: Paranormal Gate - Sunnydale
WHEN: 1/14/07
WATCH FOR: This all being started with a cherry Slurpee.
Ah. Good olde Sunnydale. Where strange things happen and people just turn their heads to look the other way... that is when they aren't running for their lives. Maybe keeping up it's name sake, the weather is nice and sunny. A little chilly, but most people didn't even have to wear sweaters even though it's winter. Because the weather is so nice, people are going about having fun with the last couple hours of sunlight- And one of the most active places; The mall. Of course.
Okay, this is probably some kind of record of how many times Rogue has been to a mall in one day. Now why is she all the way out in Sunnydale when there's a perfectly good mall in the city where she currently resides? Because the last time she did that, she was latched onto by a way too friendly housemate and had to end up leaving before she found what she had when there to get. -.-
The stores are named differently, so she's a little lost and has resorted to just wandering around checking out every store until she finds one that looks like it carries the type of clothing she wears. Coming to the end of one line of stores, she begins walking across the food court, weaving in and out of passing people ... Oh wait, does that place have a Slurpee machine? Just a quick pit stop couldn't hurt.
Sol Badguy, meanwhile, is here because....well, despite the fact that nearly everyone who lives in Sunnydale is ignorant of what's really going on, supernatural things seem to treat it like Mecca anyway.
And Sol's about as supernatural as any vampire, so there you go.
Currently, the bounty hunter/first Gear/ex-knight is just watching people go about their business, perhaps waiting to see if anything bizarre shows up. And so he sits on a bench near the food court, with a bag from the cigar store (there's always a cigar store at a mall) next to him and a guitar case at his feet. He does play the guitar, but at the moment it's his chosen means of smuggling his weapon about. Just in case.
Sunnydale is about to be the victim, yet again, of ravening monsters from beyond the grave.
But first, the disgust of their master has to grow. With the poise of a voivode reigning over his serfs, Soma Cruz, successor to Dracula and master of Castlevania, strides throuth the Mall, seeming to sneer at every single person individually. Most people give him a wide, wide berth. He exudes an aura of malice that's almost tangible. So far, he can find nothing redeeming at all about this place. It must be purged.
Crossing through the walkways, Soma makes his way towards the center court of the mall. This is where it will all begin.
Rogue now with a cherry Slurpee in her hand, she takes a sip as she returns to her first plan of finding a clothing store that dislikes pastel colors as much as she does. Crowd shuffling, she looks toward the next bunch of stores and her eyes pass over a bench. Nothing special about the bench, nothing of interest to her... that is until she spots the guitar case. Now she knows how this goes. Some guy brings his guitar in here, busts it out and plays a few over done songs to get a couple bucks. Normally she'd groan at the idea, but going by what the guy's wearing he might actually play something she won't think sucks.
Now this train of thought takes her focus away from one very important thing; Where she's walking. So while she's trying to figure out what sort of music Sol would play... she accidentally runs into someone ... Cherry Slurpee first. "Augh." And Rogue introduces herself to Soma with an eruption of cherry flavored delicious icy drink. Hey how ya doing?
Sol Badguy continues to...not play, which Rogue might find very peculiar, considering he /did/ go to all the trouble of lugging it in. Soma...maybe not so much. He probably doesn't even care. The prototype Gear takes notice as he sees Soma stride past...now there's a guy with something in mind. And it doesn't look good. He leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees.
...and then Rogue runs right into him. Sol shakes his head. He doesn't say a word, his amusement is obvious from the lopsided grin on his face.
Soma looks rather frail and delicate. Rogue will find, when she crashes into him, that this is clearly not the case. He doesn't even move when she slams into him, his back almost feeling like solid marble.
When the slurpee splatters all over the back of his white coat, the Dark Lord vaguely remembers something from the past, a similar situation. That one ended with apologies on both sides and some dry cleaning. Humanity could only be so lucky.
He turns, eyes narrowing as he looks down on the offender. "Perhaps you should pay attention to where you are going." His tone oozes malevolence. "Then again, I don't think you'll get another chance. You are, after all, just a human." Where's Buffy when you need her?
Some flings a hand out to the side, and just past his fingertips, reality seems to ripple and swirl, growing black as a portal opens. With the stench of rotting flesh, the groans of the agonized dead, and the rattling of bones, zombies and skeletons start to shuffle out and into the mall. Uh oh.
!!! What a waste of two bucks! She only got -one- sip, and to top it all off, her shirt and gloves are all sticky now. Once the Slurpee cup beings to crush, Rogue lets go of it so it falls to the ground. "I'm sorry." She replies quickly, even before she notices the stain on the back of Soma's coat, which just causes her eyes to widen. Oh.. that sucks. "Whatever it costs to fix that, you ... know ... I'll ..." Her words trailing off like that because she had lifted her head to see the look on the man's face. "..." She could get defensive, but it was her fault and she would like to make it up to him ... But his tone just doesn't set well with her.
Feeling that familiar 'Something not right' vibe, Rogue begins stepping away from Soma just before he reaches his hand out. "Hey..." She holds up her hands as if it could help her calm him down. "I'll get you a new coat." Then the groaning starts, and she turns her head to see the portal.
The appearance of zombies and skeletons triggers the crowd in the court... and the response ripples out as people begin to run and shove others to flee. Screams and the sound of people trampling away in a panic fill the court, drowning any other sounds, even the moans of the undead that will try to latching onto people soon.
Soma is given one quick look, a firm glare from the teenage mutant before she spirits off toward the portal. A skeleton reaches out to grapple a young man, and Rogue hurries over to leap off the ground and knock the creature down with a kick.
Sol Badguy, meanwhile, decides to cut things off at the head. He watches the back-and-forth (such as it is) between Soma and Rogue with bemusement...but his expression turns deadly serious as the portal appears. Without a word, Sol grabs the guitar case and begins to head /towards/ the Dark Lord, where everyone else is heading away from him.
He doesn't particularly care if he's noticed, as he reaches across to open the guitar case as he moves. He grabs something inside, then releases the case; it drops to the ground with a loud 'whack!' and bounces away, revealing...a very rectangular-looking white-bladed sword. Sol rests the blade over one shoulder, looking surprisingly casual for the situation, as he addresses Soma. "Oy, you. Nobody likes a whiner...so why don't you take yourself, your buddies, and your messed-up coat and get the **** out?" Is he /trying/ to pick a fight?
Hell yeah he is.
The skeleton, not a potent monster by any means, disintigrates to dust at the mighty kick from the mutant. Bones crumble and leave nothing but powder. More come to replace the fallen one, grotesque and rotting limbs stretching out for the mutant girl. Their groans and the rattle of dry, dusty bones fill the court. Somebody get a shotgun.
Soma himself seems to have forgotten the stain and the chill of the frozen beverage as he's adressed by Sol. He peers at the man, arms at his sides. "And who are you to tell me what I should do? My will be done, mortal. This is my will, that these /humans/," he says the word with clear distaste, "Suffer and die by my hands."
Rogue doesn't have a shotgun but despite her looks, Rogue is pretty tough. She honestly couldn't even guess the number of hours she'd spent fighting... sure this is the first time she's been against a horde of undead, so she is picking her fight wisely. She's only going to attack the ones that are about to hurt any of the mallgoers. And after striking the skeleton down with her kick, she steps back, glancing around to her next target. There aren't that many people snagged, and so she gets to work.
Moving to the next undead holding onto someone, she aims a high kick to knock them off their hostage. She didn't have time to see if she succeed, because after her leg lowered back to the ground, a zombie came out from -nowhere- and lunged forward at her. Flailing as she stumbled backward, Rogue ended up on a table, nasty zombie hands low at her throat. THANK GOD the hand pressed against her shirt just under the leather choker she wore.She really does not want to find out if she came skin to skin with one of these. o_o Held down on the table, one arm reaches out to try and pry the zombie hands away, then hold back it's head back when it looks like it's going to have a taste test. >_< Her other arm flails out on the table until it comes across a plastic tray.
BOUNG! That is the sound of a thick plastic food tray hitting the side of a zombie's head. When it releases her, Rogue kicks the zombie off her and stands up to start using her new weapon. Sure the tray is a crude weapon, but it's durable and until she spots something better it will do. Clenching her improvised weapon with both hands she begins swinging it at any undead that comes within reach.
And you know, she'll join Sol when she realizes that the horde isn't depleting and the other people have gotten away. c_c
"Che," Sol exclaims, practically rolling his eyes as he tilts his neck back enough to look down on Soma. "Typical. You have the power, so that gives you the right, huh? You're boring!" Without any further warning, Sol draws back....and then lunges forward with a quick, one-handed straight punch aimed at Soma's chest, his hand cloaked in fire. With the hand not holding Fireseal, mind. Should the blow connect, there's a blast of magical force that (hopefully) sends the quasi-vampire flying.
Soma sneers at Sol. Of /course/ the power gives him the right. It's how the world works. He should have expected the strike, but it catches him off guard. The flaming fist impacts, and Soma skids backwards on the tile, boots scraping the whole way. He steadies himself and shakes his head. "Might has always made right! It is the way of nature. Man preys upon the animals, and I prey upon Man!" The portals close as Soma's attention is drawn elsewhere. Magic power surges as the Dark Lord brings his hands together before him. Between them, a glowing orb of energy burns to life before he draws his hands back and slings them forward, releasing the ball at the ProtoGear.
The Zombies and skeletons mill around, some lunging at Rogue, others wandering off into the mall, where they're promptly shot and disposed of by the strangely heavily armed security. Whoever heard of a rent a cop with a freaking .50? Only in Sunnydale.
A couple more undead are taken down by Rogue, before she pauses when the gun shots are heard. She takes a few moments to look for a new target, but it looks like most of the people filtered out to another part of the mall, where it just so happens the security is taking care of things with better weapons.
When she spots the face off between Sol and Soma, she remembers what happened just before the sudden wave of undead. She had realized that the portal was Soma's doing, and now it's time for a change in strategy. Making her way to the boys, she knocks aside any of Soma's minions that get in her way, grabbing and ripping at her. Hey hey! Don't tear the shir-- riiiiip. DAMN IT. Now she has to replace this mesh shirt AGAIN. That skeleton gets an extra mighty hit with the tray before she continues toward the Vampire/Gear showdown.
Sol Badguy's lips curl back in a sneer as well, as Soma makes his proclamation. "Ah, Nightwalkers." As the energy projectile heads his way, Sol basically brings his sword up to swat at it...and somehow it manages to pass through the sphere, creating a flash of light that singes...but isn't the killing blow Soma was probably aiming for. The sword doesn't appear to have a mark on it. It must be quite sturdy.
"Go back to hell!" Sol roars, as he brings the sword up in an arc that ends with its tip scraping the ground....chips of tile and plastic go flying as the blade carves a gash out of the floor, which suddenly sends up a gout of flame that zips across the ground towards the vampire.
"How quaint. I am more than your simple vampire. I am the heir to Dracula himself! My power is greater than you could ever imagine! My loathing for your kind is the only thing greater!" As the gout of fire rips across the floor, Soma leaps into the air. The funny part happens when he does it /again/ in midair. He flips forward before he fights fire with fire. The Dark Lord draws his coat open wide on one side, and a blast of fire the size of a medicine ball races downwards at the Gear. Soma finishes falling to the ground and lands in a crouch before rising to his full height.
The zombies that encounter the security fall very easily. Those that get in Rogue's way doo too. Especially the poor bastard who tears her shirt. Somebody somewhere is happy for the view.
Rogue is wearing a tank-top under! It's not -that good- of a view! Kick. Swat. "Outta my way!" As if the undead would actually move aside for her. Eventually she does get thru the (thinning) horde, and she takes a small break to catch her breath. Moving a bit of hair from her face, she freezes for a moment as she watches Sol and Soma throw attacks back and forth. Now she's not very educated with magic and other types of people gaining powers by other means. So she assumes that throwing fire and calling forth undead is somekind of mutant power. Well at least the fire is ... the undead thing, well ... it's not like she's going to ask. Perhaps if she had gotten there a minute earlier she could have heard the conversation between the men, but she wasn't and she didn't.
Now it's not that she doesn't want to help, but it seems that Sol pretty much is handling things, so until he looks like he needs help, Rogue just hangs back a few yards from them ... picking off any undead that wanders close to help Soma.
Sol Badguy's expression changes to a lopsided grin. This guy has no idea. "...my kind. Heh." He then, apparently, decides to quit the banter...he hates that crap anyway. He doesn't seem the least bit concerned by the double jump, since it's a fairly common technique in his plane...but as he sees the fireball coming he abruptly drops low to the ground and sprints forward, almost impossibly fast for someone of his size. "Grand...." As Soma comes down he suddenly leaps up and attempts to plant his knee in the white-coated man's chest, hopefully knocking him into the air before launching an uppercut with a flame-covered fist. This time the fireball is significantly bigger, almost the size of Sol's head. "....Viper!"
Soma is light on his feet, but fire is not something he enjoys. It /hurts/. Flesh scorches and cloth burns as Sol strikes him again, sending him flying. The Dark Lord manages to recover, flipping in midair and..turning into a small white bat. How cute. Flying in a high arc, he goes for the standard way of holding someone back.
Taking a hostage.
The bat dives, the form shifting back into Soma just before he lands in a blur of white and a rustle of cloth. In his hand is...a ridiculously large sword with a dingy white blade. This is held down at an angle in front of the X-Man. His other hand, well, makes the mistake of resting on Rogue's shoulder.
Well, at least it won't kill him.
Rogue doesn't impress easily, not when it comes to fighting and throwing about powers. She's seen quite a lot considering her youth, so the fact that she's watching the fight even with the smallest amount of awe says something about these men.
So it's not too difficult for Soma to leap behind her. That speed, she's only seen one person move that fast, so one moment she sees Soma, a blur and then she feels someone grab her from behind.
That sword is big, but she doesn't have time to realize her situation, because when Soma reached around Rogue, a hand grasped her bare shoulder to hold her. She couldn't even warn him, she hadn't even thought to until it was too late. The instant his hand touches against her skin, Rogue tenses throwing her head back as if an electric current was coursing through her. Which granted, may look to Sol as if Soma were doing something to her.
Sol Badguy was half-expecting Soma to run off as soon as he saw the vampire turn into a bat and fly off. Then he starts angling towards someone. "Don't go there, don't go there...." Sol says under his breath, irritable as ever. He hates hostage situations. Why?
Because he usually just beats the hostage-taker up around the hostage, their fate be damned.
Of course, that usually leads to all manner of trouble. So he needs to knock the vampire away, quickly. With this in mind, Sol suddenly leaps backward, moving so fast that to most human eyes it appears as if he's leaving blurry after-images in his wake. He tucks his legs in as he moves so that, when he hits the nearest obstruction (which happens to be a palm tree), he's able to push off and fly towards Soma and Rogue with more after-images trailing after. In mid-air he twists about so that his foot is on a collision course with Soma's face.
Why yes, he is going to use Boot to the Head on the king of the vampires.
Yeah It would probably look that way except that Soma himself, resilient as he is, tences and clenches his grip, his inhumanly strong fingers digging into the mutant girl's flesh. He can feel it. His power being drawn off, being /copied/. Worse than that, she's seeing his /memories/. The Dark Lord's eyes go vacant as his experiences and feelings flow out and copy themselves into the girl's mind.
The biggest and most important ones stick. He watched the woman he loved get murdered by a crazed zealot. The agony feels like his heart's being torn to pieces, ad the rage that replaces it is all consuming. Then the rush of raw, unadulterated /power/ as he annihilates the cause of it.
Farther back when he was a normal, kind young man, finding out his birthright and sealing it for what he thought was forever.
Farther back, it's another man. Dressed in evening finery, with sharp featured and milk-white hair. The name that floats through is Dracula. Many things float through. Names, places, feelings. A picture of a young seeming man with long white hair, carrying a sword springs up as both 'Alucard' and 'Son'. The feelings with it are both paternal love and frustration. Earlier, another woman. Blonde and kind looking and beautiful, the name 'Lisa' and absolute adoration.
A bit later, Lisa tied to a stake and being set alight. The towering rage goes beyond inhuman. The aftermath is best not described.
Earlier and earlier, men with whips and holy power, the name 'Belmont' accompanied with livid fury at the insolence of humans.
Soma could almost thank Sol for kicking him in the head. He recoils, and it wrenches his hand free of the girl. The vampire staggers backwards, dropping his heavy blade along the way before he falls to his knees. He's actually breathing for once, and bloody streaks are running down his face from his eyes and nose.
Too much pain. Too much power. Just -too much- everything. As Sol comes in for the rescue, Rogue's mouth opens to let out a scream of heartbreak. Those memories, that pain feels just like her own. And so does the hatred that seemed to come so naturally after it.
After Soma falls back, Rouge nearly crumples to her knees, her hands just barely catching her from crashing completely to the floor. Her head hangs, her hair hiding her face and the tears that are uncontrollably streaming down her cheeks. Her breathing is ragged, and her mind a mess of memories. It's as if she were fast forwarding through a hundred years of history to make it pass by in a single minute. She doesn't get every detail, but there are vivid flashes and raw emotions that are too strong for her to just push aside.
"Insolent humans." Her accent changing, her voice takes on a venomous tone while she reaches for the sword Soma had dropped before she begins to stand. "You and your kind are nothing but pests to be exterminated." Rogue turns in the direction where Sol had landed, and holds the sword to the side with one hand. "I loathe you all." Raising her head to look at the Gear, her free hand lifts so her palm is open to him. The air is disturbed around her hand, and by now Sol has probably realized something is wrong and will be able to move, or stop her before a beam of energy is blasted from her hand and toward him.
Sol Badguy lands neatly on his feet somewhere between Rogue and Soma. "You don't look so hot, kiddo. Want to give up?" He draws one leg back as if preparing to kick the vampire in the face while he's down...then Rogue makes her announcement, and he abruptly spins about and snaps that particular leg upward in a kick aimed to plant the tip of his shoe in her face.
"You, shut the **** up and stay out of this. God, it's /spreading/." Briefly, he considers whether he's going to have to break out the Big Guns(Tm) now...
Soma doesn't move for a long moment, his head droops, blood drips from his face, and he's just generally zoned out. A few more beats pass, and he blinks, sight and sense returning in time to see Rogue spout off /his/ lines and sling /his/ power. For some reason, this strikes him as funny. He laughs, it's a bit maniacal and fairly unhinged. Slowly, still chuckling to himself, Soma rises to his feet and intones weakly to Rogue. With as much as she got, it may sound like she's hearing herself talk. "I do not know what you did, but you took something from me. Perhaps you merely copied something. I do not know." He looks horrific, blood streaming down his face, eyes glowing red in the harsh flourescents. "I believe I am through here..." To Rogue again, "We will speak another time. I will find you." He stoops to grab his blade, which promptly vanished into his coat. (We don't ask how). With a jump and a flip that spirals inwards, Soma is, once again, a bat, and winging his way the hell out of here. Sol could probably set him on fire from behind. He may have other things to worry about, though.
Kick in face! Muff! As Sol's boot meets Rogue's face, it causes her to go backward, her hand lifting, which redirects that beam of death toward the ceiling... taking out one of the banners hanging down. TAKE THAT PENNY'S SALE! Have some Gergoth's soul! XO
It takes a little while for her to recover, but she hadn't actually fallen down, just stumble a few feet. Her hand lifts to her face, and the other tightens it's grip on the sword she's holding. That hurt, and being so pale, redness shows up very well at the place he hit her and soon enough it will begin turning into a darker bruise.
Still holding her hand to her face, it looks as if she's in some sort of shock. None responsive to Soma's words and her hand just opens to allow him to take his weapon. It seems that the kick knocked some sense into her, or just knocked the -crazy- out, and just left her in a stunned trance.
After Soma begins to leave, a beat passes, and Rogue falls to her knees before collapsing to the floor. Nightmares AHOY!
Sol Badguy has to divide his attention between the two of them now, and...well, Soma's retreating this time, so that leaves the person who's still behind.
It turns out that he made the wrong decision, as Rogue spaces out and then collapses. The Gear walks over to her with a surprising lack of caution, looking for all the world as if he's just casually strolling over to her. For about half a second, he runs through his options. She could have been a plant, in which case he'd be perfectly justified in smashing her face into the ground with his foot. She could have been manipulated, in which case he should probably just leave her be. On the other hand, she could be contagious or something like that.
"Che," Sol exclaims irritably, before making his decision. He reaches up to his chest to unbuckle his jacket, shrugs it off, then thrusts both hands into the fabric and grabs Rogue /through/ the material. He has fingerless gloves after all, and he doesn't want to catch 'Evil-Overlord' from her.
"Pain in the ass...." he mutters, before he thus (hopefully) starts to drag her off.