[thread] hello, woodpecker.

[coooooookies]

Who: "Wretched Egg" Shiro; OPEN to any and all in Terra
Where: Streets of Terra
When: After Matt causes intermittent black-outs.
Summary: "The lullaby" is gone. Shiro's alter-ego surfaces. This is a very, very bad thing for everything in her way.
Rating: R.
Other: Shiro has donned the "Red Man" suit and is going on a rampage in Terra. Any

Comments

[waitingfora]

Yosuke could still hear his parents calling to him, but he couldn't just let things go. There were people that he had to find. He had to know that they were okay. Like Shiro? Oh god! What if she was out in this? Shikamaru, Aerith and the others would be okay. They would know what to do -- run away from the giant death of flames and guns. He didn't know what the white-haired girl would do. That was why, he couldn't just let things go. He couldn't just call someone to help. There was no one to call! Everyone was frantic and trying their best. Was it really up to him?

He hated it, but deep inside him, he felt an odd sense of pride. Like he would be the one to save Shiro. That he'd be some kind of hero. Yosuke shook his head as he couldn't stand thinking that he was just doing this to get himself to be recognized by people, to be seen as someone special or mature. What would Nagi think of him? Either way, he was running down the streets with his hands cupped around his mouth, calling, trying to be heard over all the chaos.

"Shiro! Shika! Aerith! A-Are you guys okay?! Anyone!"

[coooooookies]

The Wretched Egg tilted it's head in the direction of the ant scurrying into the fray as opposed to out of it in the fringes of the horizon. Through clouds of smoke and dust kicked up by falling rubble, it could see him clearly - a recognizable face. A familiar figure. Shiro knew him.

The bloodthirsty smirk tugging at it's lips broadened.

It pushed forward, cutting through the air in its path towards its destination, swirling wires of blood swaying with the motion, hexagonal discs whirling around its armored body.

[waitingfora]

"This is nuts!" He finally stopped running when it felt that his legs were going to explode if he took one more step. Resting his hands down on his knees, he took a few deep breathes. This was not particularly smart as he just filled his lungs with not desired air but smoke. Covering his mouth, he coughed loudly to try to get it out. "Geez, what--this is--"

Yosuke couldn't even finish a thought as he shook his head each time he did so. Taking his cellphone out, he saw that he had another text message from Shikamaru. At least, at least, Quatre and Shika are okay. Typing in a quick response, he had difficulties putting his thoughts into words and just shook. He didn't know where to look and now he was out here. Could he return home? Jeez, his parents had to be scared to death. His hand started to run through his hair, feeling some tears coming. What was he thinking? What was he thinking?! What could he do that the police couldn't? He was just--he was just ... His shoulders shook slightly before he looked up and...

"What? What is that?!" He took a few hesitant steps back. Was it a mutant? When he had first heard about them, he had to admit that he thought that it was cool. But the more that he thought about it, the more scared he got. What would people with those abilities do? What? Would we really all be safe? These thoughts were mostly his parents' concerns but they were enough to worry Yosuke as well. Is that a mutant?!

[coooooookies]

The Wretched Egg didn't waste any time with pleasantries. The mass of scurrying mice fleeing from the oncoming threat around him were not as lucky as Yosuke himself; its hexagonal discs - the Branch of Sin - whirled through the air, crimson splattering across the ground as dismembered bodies fell left and right --

It was like a bloody tornado, leaving hunks of flesh and chunks of meat once belonging to Yosuke's fellow man at his feet, splattered against the pavement, across the cracked side-walks. The stench of blood was overwhelming.

The Wretched Egg grinned at him, it's task of doing away with meddling annoyances over with, and slowly closed in on it's prey, languid footsteps taking it toward him.

[waitingfora]

He was too transfixed on staring at this person in red. Oh, he could hear the people running beside him, pushing him to get away. One pushed him hard enough that he fell face first onto the street. That was fine, he didn't think that he would be able to stand for long anyway. And that may have been what saved his life. His breath was caught in his chest, too afraid to even breath as he watched the people around him be slaughtered. Blood was everywhere, he couldn't look without seeing it, seeing the bodies of those that had passed him.

Tears were starting to well up in his eyes. More in being so frightened than being particularly sorrowful about who had just been killed. What's happening? What's happening? WHAT'S HAPPENING? There was a part of his mind that didn't believe that this was real. That was willing to say that this was all fake. That he was just dreaming. He even closed his eyes for a moment, begging that he was just dreaming. But even as his eyes were shut, he couldn't escape the smell of blood, of the bodies, of the fire.

Turning his head, he emptied his stomach contents just a little left of his body. It was really all he could do before he started to try to crawl away from the approaching footsteps. "Stay away from me! JUST STAY AWAY!" Yosuke didn't even know what he was yelling, just that he was yelling. He didn't even know if anyone was around who could help him, save him. He was gasping for breath and he still couldn't gather enough air in his lungs.

[coooooookies]

The Wretched Egg watched, some sense of familiarity creeping into fringes of its consciousness at the sight before it.

It didn't hesitate, however, in seeing its will through to fruition; it lifted an armored hand, pointing palm outward towards the boy's retreating form. Pathetic... So very pathetic.

"Woodpecker..."

A red crystal sat in the midst of the 'Red Man's' palm, glowing with a vibrant light that shone bright for several seconds that ticked by as slow as hours, before--

Searing crimson light shot out from the crystal, impaling Yosuke in the chest, through and through.

[sagittariinae]

It was almost impressive, how quickly the city had descended into chaos. Almost. Either way, Kazama walked the streets with nerves on end -- no longer sure of what he was even trying to achieve, only that he couldn't sit still and watch this happen. It was perhaps fortunate that he'd managed to escape to his home for a quick change of weapons -- rifle abandoned in favor of a more power pistol and a good belt of ammunition. And a bandanna tied about his head, to keep his identity hidden, and to keep the blood from getting into his eyes.

It wasn't a deep wound, but injuries to the head tended to bleed heavily -- as was the case. Streaks of red continued to drip sluggishly down his temple, past his eyes -- a fact that he tried his best to ignore, especially when the sound of screams down the street caught his attention. A medley of shouts, shrieks, groans that quickly died down, leaving just one voice -- a kid.

Speeding up to a sprint, Kazama rounded the corner just in time to watch the monster step before the kid -- and just as the crystal flashed bright, he aimed and fired. Three shots from a .50 caliber handgun to the back of the head. It drew just barely enough time for him to dash in, grab the kid by the back of the jacket and fire a round at point-blank range, straight into the helmeted head. (Trying to draw time to get the kid to safety.)

[waitingfora]

"NO!" His arms had gone over his face, trying to protect himself. He didn't even know what he was doing, he didn't want to die here, he didn't. Was he screaming? He could hear someone's voice -- his chest was burning and he could feel that he had been hit with something. Was he dying? Oh god, oh god, oh god. I don't want to die! It was so pathetic. He knew that he was being pathetic. He didn't know what else to do. But he had wanted to save those people, he had wanted to do something --

It was just panic. He was still alive. He didn't know how, but he was. The only way that he knew this was because he could hear gunshots. It was enough to bring him back to reality, pull him out of the darkness and crippling fear that was keeping him from moving forward. So odd, he could feel stronger now, but he didn't have time to understand how.

Looking towards where the gunfire was coming from -- it was all relative, right, normally someone would run away from this -- but did not have time to react before his jacket was grabbed and he was being pulled away. It was he saw a familiar face. SENPAI! SENPAI! If it wasn't completely uncalled for and not the time, he would have hugged Kazama then. His whole body was shaking in relief. Sure, he didn't think that his senpai had much of a chance against someone like this, but ... he just felt so relieved to see someone alive, someone he always looked up to.

"Senpai, you have to--" There wasn't time, he was already trying to grab onto Kazama's arm to drag him away. "We gotta get out of here!"

[coooooookies]

So indulgent in divulging its gift, it hadn't been paying attention to its rear, hadn't even heard the approach of a most troublesome man--

BANG BANG BANG--

The last missed; a small victory. The buckles on the left side had been completely destroyed, spilling white hair. It didn't have time to dwell on this, however; the prey was fleeing.

Fleeing.

Its body blurred, moving too fast for the human eye to follow to deflect the next shots which would've been deadly otherwise. The Branch of Sin flared up high again, thrumming with its master's disapproval. Running? After it had bestowed such a gift? Unthinkable.

It made to chase. Kazama was resourceful, but he was toting along the weakling. How far did he think he could go?

[sagittariinae]

The white hair did not go unnoticed, and Kazama almost froze for a moment -- because it looked oddly familiar, and painfully so. (Is she -- no, no, it can't be, that's impossible.) But he wasn't a highly-rated combatant for nothing, because he shook off that hesitation the next instant, and immediately turned to run -- grabbing Yosuke by the sleeve and pulling him along, half dragging him and half forcing him to run as fast as he could.

-- Yosuke. He hadn't recognized the kid at first, but now that he'd gotten a brief glance at his expression, it was obvious -- one of the younger kids back before college. It was both an advantage and a disadvantage -- on one hand, there was utter relief, in knowing that maybe he could save at least this one kid -- but on the other hand, no one was supposed to know that he was anything more than a regular student, let alone one that carried around firearms.

Forget that. This wasn't the time for those problems. All too aware of the danger they were in, he cast about wildly for a narrow alley -- the freak would catch up any moment, unless they ducked into someplace it couldn't reach. And the blood -- an annoyed hiss, as he flicked a trickle of red out of his vision with the back of his gun-hand. Trying to find an escape route.

[waitingfora]

"H-Huh?" He didn't quite get it. Why did that monster have -- it was familiar? Was it just some old man? He couldn't put two and two together at this point. Not with so many emotions running on high. He would have probably stayed as he was had not Kazama grabbed his arm and started pulling him. What had that thing done to me? What happened? Wasn't I hit? What, what? He shook his head as he had no idea what was going on. Why was this even happening? All month, he had been looking forward to this. Why were things turning out like this?

Yet, despite all of this madness, Yosuke had so many questions for Kazama. One that started with the fact that his senpai was now some sort of gun-totting superhero and ended with what he had been doing with his life. He couldn't stop himself from sobbing somewhat. This was so embarrassing. He had just been so relieved about everything, he actually felt really safe now that someone older was around. Rubbing his nose with the back of his sleeve, he tried to keep Kazama from seeing this display of lack of manliness.

Knowing that it was some bad idea, like being in a horror movie and telling the hero not to open the closet, he look behind to see that they were being chased. His eyes widened as he started to pick up the pace in a frantic, panicked manner -- one that would probably end with him losing all of his stamina and running abilities just because he was so scared. "WHY IS IT CHASING US? WHY? JUST GET AWAY!" Still, still, still ... "B-But we can't ... we can't let it hurt more people right?" This was just crazy what he was thinking, he didn't know what he was saying. It was the adrenaline! He just, just didn't want to be the only one saved!

[coooooookies]

This time, the Wretched Egg wasn't about to let Kazama escape through some little tunnels and hide-aways like a rat. It propelled upward, thrusting itself through the air with a short burst of speed, hurling itself in their path and skidding backwards to a halt. Its Branch of Sin struck out like a whirlwind, vicious currents biting and threatening to tear them apart in a broad cone-like sweep.

[sagittariinae]

The little sniffle from Yosuke went entirely unnoticed, if it was any comfort to him -- as good as Kazama was at taking in his surroundings, now wasn't the time for idle observations. Because as quickly as they were running, it just wasn't fast enough. Risking a glance over his shoulder, he saw the freak bolting upwards -- and immediately skidded to a halt, just as it landed before them, ready to attack.

Adrenaline pumping through his system, heartbeat wild, thoughts racing (-- I can't die here--), he moved just fast enough to give Yosuke a hard shove away, and throw himself to the side. Barely in time. The attack went screeching past his side, tearing up the concrete where they'd been standing, and desecrating the dead bodies laying there.

No time to breathe. Grabbing Yosuke's wrist, he was up on his feet in a second, firing off three rounds at the monster's head before making a run for it. There, an open building up ahead -- maybe they could escape through the narrow hallways. Picking up the pace, he continued to drag Yosuke behind him. (Ignoring the deep wound at his side, starting to bleed sluggishly.)

[waitingfora]

Yosuke thought that he'd be able to say something. He had been building himself up for some great moment where he would save his senpai. This was really just some illusion of grandeur. When he saw that monster in front of them, he had become frozen. Just like before in the crowd. He didn't know what to do, and if it had not been for Kazama, he would have been -- he would have been torn apart. The air rushed out of him when he was shoved to the side, hitting the ground as he had not prepared himself to be forcibly pushed out of the way. He ended up cutting his hand slightly on some discarded glass, but he couldn't feel it.

It wasn't like he was completely unaware of his injury just that everything else mattered so much more. Kazama was grabbing his wrist and dragging him to somewhere else, somewhere safe. In all this time, he had not noticed the wound that his senpai had. But now he did, he caught sight of it and couldn't look away. He's hurt, he's hurt, he's-- "S-Senpai. Are you all right?!" Such a dumb thing to say, he didn't know what else to say! It was becoming more real. Sure, he had been running for his life all this time, but he hadn't thought -- he just didn't think that -- he wasn't even sure what he didn't think, just that he wasn't until now!

[coooooookies]

The Wretched Egg's manic pleasure derived from battle was only increasing with every passing second. It was being fed with each moment of their desperation to flee and preserve themselves. Seeing the splatter of blood wash anew against the pavement--

Ksssaaahhhh--

The Branch of Sin swung again, deflecting one bullet only for the Wretched Egg to catch the other in the side of the head, grazing the mask and tearing steel asunder. Blood dripped; the creature didn't seem to pay it any mind. It was sweeping forward for another attack, focusing its energy on Kazama; Yosuke was a weakling. What could it expect from him other than to die?

[ooc: after this round the mother goose system will go online :3?]

[sagittariinae]

[ ooc ; LMF sure, just tell me if this tag was alright then ]

Pain had the tendency to fade, in moments of absolute danger, as did everything else. Kazama was barely aware of Yosuke's panicked stuttering, really, and answered only with a shake of the head -- no breath to spare for words. Yes, he was aware of his injuries, and taking it into consideration -- he wouldn't be able to keep running for much longer -- but for the moment, there really wasn't a choice. Keep running.

Except, the monster seemed far too intent on this chase to give up, and was catching up quickly, ignoring the tangle of white hair in the wind, and the crumpled mask. (A thought: how many more shots would it take to tear it aside and shoot it through the head? -- no, too many. A risky plan.) Breath starting to come in hissing pants, Kazama gave Yosuke's arm a hard jerk, throwing him into the building before them and into safety, then reached into his jacket, turning to face the incoming beast.

And just as it entered the doorway, a wild whip of blood streaking before him and tearing a deep scar across his shoulder, he threw out a revolver cartridge in its direction. It hovered in the air for half a second -- then Kazama fired a single shot at it. Instantly, it exploded, blasting the monster with a considerable force, pummeling it with debris from the blown doorway.

Without waiting to see if this desperate gamble had worked, he once more grabbed Yosuke's arm, shoving him towards the back door visible at the far end of the building. "Get out."