PawPaw #9, Vanilla Custard #30, Red Hot Cinnamon #3 + gummy bunnies + fresh strawberries
Story: The Age of Heroes
Title: The Monsters in Downtown Chicago
Prompts: PawPaw #9: I knew you'd see it my way, Vanilla Custard #30: I say, were you trying to attract my attention?, Red Hot Cinnamon #3: flare/smoke signal + fresh strawberries + gummy bunnies (500themes #135: there will always be a monster)
Rating: R for language, violence, mentions of evisceration
Words: 1224
Characters: Lorikeet, Eyas, Special Agent
Summary: Oh, Lorikeet. I'm kind of in love with you. XD This takes place a week after the Leviathan is killed. Crow is also called the Traveler because of her magic. As a side note, "shed their skin" and "shed their feathers" is not literal. That's just what these magicians call shifting between human and bird form.
Everything was going according to plan until the cops turned on the television.
Lorikeet had been tapped by the Flock to carry out a rather delicate retrieval mission. For two months she'd been playing one of her juicier cover ID's, Lori Dubois, a deliciously scandalous virago with a propensity towards the rich and elderly. The con was coming together fast, as could be witnessed by the fact she was currently handcuffed to a chair being interrogated by one sharp-eyed Detective Lowry.
Yes, her delicate game was all coming together perfectly. And then, right as she was giving Detective Lowry an explicitly indecent explanation of where she'd been last night, one of the cops cursed and turned on the television in the corner of the station room, maxing the volume.
She and Lowry both turned in their seats to see what had caught everyone's attention. The television was turned to a breaking news story. It was live video being shot from a helicopter. "Monsters in Downtown Chicago" was splashed across the bottom banner and a harried sounding man voiced over the footage.
"-appeared out of thin air right in the middle of South Michigan Street, says eye witnesses. The death count is unknown but these monsters are very aggressive and highly dangerous. They've taken out everything and everyone in their path. SWAT is on the scene but there seems to be no stopping these two...I can only think to describe these two half lion, half eagle creatures as griffins from mythology."
The video footage certainly confirmed the astounded news anchor's description. Enormous creates with golden bodies and big black and white wings like an eagle's were ravaging everything they came across in the wide street, from newspaper stands to cars. Lorikeet could see at least five bodies lying motionless in the path of their destruction.
"Oh my god! It's attacking!" the announcer yelled. The camera zoomed in right as the griffin on the left lunged forward and grabbed one of the SWAT team by his riot shield. It tore the shield out of the officer's hand then slashed him across the chest with one of its enormous paws. The griffin leaped onto the poor man and tore into his torn stomach like a ravenous beast.
"Holy shit," Lowry said under his breath.
Lorikeet turned away from the television to do some fast thinking. Eyas, faithful apprentice that he was, should be exactly where she'd told him to be at this stage of the mission. That location happened to be smack in the middle of that nightmare. She saw the camera catch the sign for the Hilton Hotel and her mind was made up for her.
Lorikeet leaned forward, dragging Lowry's attention back to her for a moment. "I don't suppose you'd let me make a phone call, would you love?"
"'Fraid not, Miz Dubois," Detective Lowry said, not looking all that upset about it.
"I didn't think so," Lorikeet said with a delicate sigh. "But I'm afraid I really must insist."
Detective Lowry looked up at his suspect just in time to see Lori Dubois, the vapid beauty with possible Black Widow tendencies, shift into someone else entirely. Someone much more dangerous. He acted on instinct, going for his gun.
Lorikeet let the metal handcuffs fall through her now incorporeal wrists then caught Lowry's gun hand. He didn't even have time to comprehend what she'd done before she had him disarmed and his own weapon jammed into his forehead.
"Sit back down, there's a love," she said, her sex kitten purr still intact. "I have no desire to shoot you, darling man, but I will if you make it necessary."
Her actions hadn't gone unnoticed. There were ten cops in the station room and every one of them had their guns pointed at her, yelling for her to put her weapon down. Even the shady looking gentleman handcuffed to a bench was hooting and catcalling.
Lorikeet didn't pay them any mind. She positioned herself so that she reach Lowry's desk phone and still keep an eye on him. "Do I have to dial 9 to get a call out?" she asked the officer under her gun. She shrugged. "Nevermind, I'll figure it out."
She got the phone working and waited serenely while it rang, oblivious to all the shouting and threats being thrown her way by the other cops. "Good morning," a smooth young male voice said in greeting. Eyas was ever the gentleman, even while they were neck deep in a mission about to be blown to hell. In other words, her perfect little accomplice.
"Where are you, doll face?" She had to pitch her voice a bit louder than her usual pleasing murmur to be heard over the policemen threatening to shoot her down.
"Oh you know," her apprentice said. His usual magnetic charm was strained and she could hear people screaming in the background. "In the Hilton, watching a couple griffins tear apart South Michigan."
The cops had had enough of the waiting game. She saw movement in the corner of her eye and turned her head just in time to see a beefcake detective leap through the air to sideswipe her. He continued sailing right through her body and landed in an inelegant heap on the other side of the desk.
"Excuse you. I'm on the phone." Lorikeet rolled her eyes at the shocked cop sprawled on the floor. "Eyas, doll, don't you dare fight them. Go out the back and circle high, I'll find you."
"Got it."
Lorikeet hung up the phone then turned her attention back to the police. They all still had their guns pointed at her, and every last one of them was trying very hard to hide their fear. She smiled beautifully at them, her best asset in a con. "I do apologize for this. Terribly rude, I know, but my apprentice is in the middle of," she waved her free hand at the television, "That all by his lonesome."
She looked back at Detective Lowry. "I'm afraid we're going to have to put this on hold. If you like, you can meet me on South Michigan Street. Kiss kiss, darling."
Lorikeet dropped the gun and jumped. More than one cop let out a foul curse as she shed her skin midair and shifted into a powerful falcon. Lorikeet flew through the brick wall of the police station then gained altitude swiftly, turning towards downtown.
It still rankled that she hadn't been there to help fight alongside her brethren in South Korea but Phoenix xirself had forbade Lorikeet from dropping her cover to defeat the Leviathan. Even as removed from the action as she was, Lorikeet had still heard the birds whispering that the Traveler had said the Leviathan was only the beginning. Judging from the footage Lorikeet had just seen, Crow was on target. And, while Lorikeet couldn't break cover to go halfway around the world, she damn well would if her apprentice was in trouble.
A flash of green caught Lorikeet's eye. Eyas had shifted into a dramatic Bird of Paradise to catch her eye. Good boy.
She adjusted her direction and flew faster, her adrenaline zipping through her blood like the best kind of drug. Cons were fun and missions were a delight but there was nothing to compare with a knockdown drag out fight.
Title: The Monsters in Downtown Chicago
Prompts: PawPaw #9: I knew you'd see it my way, Vanilla Custard #30: I say, were you trying to attract my attention?, Red Hot Cinnamon #3: flare/smoke signal + fresh strawberries + gummy bunnies (500themes #135: there will always be a monster)
Rating: R for language, violence, mentions of evisceration
Words: 1224
Characters: Lorikeet, Eyas, Special Agent
Summary: Oh, Lorikeet. I'm kind of in love with you. XD This takes place a week after the Leviathan is killed. Crow is also called the Traveler because of her magic. As a side note, "shed their skin" and "shed their feathers" is not literal. That's just what these magicians call shifting between human and bird form.
Everything was going according to plan until the cops turned on the television.
Lorikeet had been tapped by the Flock to carry out a rather delicate retrieval mission. For two months she'd been playing one of her juicier cover ID's, Lori Dubois, a deliciously scandalous virago with a propensity towards the rich and elderly. The con was coming together fast, as could be witnessed by the fact she was currently handcuffed to a chair being interrogated by one sharp-eyed Detective Lowry.
Yes, her delicate game was all coming together perfectly. And then, right as she was giving Detective Lowry an explicitly indecent explanation of where she'd been last night, one of the cops cursed and turned on the television in the corner of the station room, maxing the volume.
She and Lowry both turned in their seats to see what had caught everyone's attention. The television was turned to a breaking news story. It was live video being shot from a helicopter. "Monsters in Downtown Chicago" was splashed across the bottom banner and a harried sounding man voiced over the footage.
"-appeared out of thin air right in the middle of South Michigan Street, says eye witnesses. The death count is unknown but these monsters are very aggressive and highly dangerous. They've taken out everything and everyone in their path. SWAT is on the scene but there seems to be no stopping these two...I can only think to describe these two half lion, half eagle creatures as griffins from mythology."
The video footage certainly confirmed the astounded news anchor's description. Enormous creates with golden bodies and big black and white wings like an eagle's were ravaging everything they came across in the wide street, from newspaper stands to cars. Lorikeet could see at least five bodies lying motionless in the path of their destruction.
"Oh my god! It's attacking!" the announcer yelled. The camera zoomed in right as the griffin on the left lunged forward and grabbed one of the SWAT team by his riot shield. It tore the shield out of the officer's hand then slashed him across the chest with one of its enormous paws. The griffin leaped onto the poor man and tore into his torn stomach like a ravenous beast.
"Holy shit," Lowry said under his breath.
Lorikeet turned away from the television to do some fast thinking. Eyas, faithful apprentice that he was, should be exactly where she'd told him to be at this stage of the mission. That location happened to be smack in the middle of that nightmare. She saw the camera catch the sign for the Hilton Hotel and her mind was made up for her.
Lorikeet leaned forward, dragging Lowry's attention back to her for a moment. "I don't suppose you'd let me make a phone call, would you love?"
"'Fraid not, Miz Dubois," Detective Lowry said, not looking all that upset about it.
"I didn't think so," Lorikeet said with a delicate sigh. "But I'm afraid I really must insist."
Detective Lowry looked up at his suspect just in time to see Lori Dubois, the vapid beauty with possible Black Widow tendencies, shift into someone else entirely. Someone much more dangerous. He acted on instinct, going for his gun.
Lorikeet let the metal handcuffs fall through her now incorporeal wrists then caught Lowry's gun hand. He didn't even have time to comprehend what she'd done before she had him disarmed and his own weapon jammed into his forehead.
"Sit back down, there's a love," she said, her sex kitten purr still intact. "I have no desire to shoot you, darling man, but I will if you make it necessary."
Her actions hadn't gone unnoticed. There were ten cops in the station room and every one of them had their guns pointed at her, yelling for her to put her weapon down. Even the shady looking gentleman handcuffed to a bench was hooting and catcalling.
Lorikeet didn't pay them any mind. She positioned herself so that she reach Lowry's desk phone and still keep an eye on him. "Do I have to dial 9 to get a call out?" she asked the officer under her gun. She shrugged. "Nevermind, I'll figure it out."
She got the phone working and waited serenely while it rang, oblivious to all the shouting and threats being thrown her way by the other cops. "Good morning," a smooth young male voice said in greeting. Eyas was ever the gentleman, even while they were neck deep in a mission about to be blown to hell. In other words, her perfect little accomplice.
"Where are you, doll face?" She had to pitch her voice a bit louder than her usual pleasing murmur to be heard over the policemen threatening to shoot her down.
"Oh you know," her apprentice said. His usual magnetic charm was strained and she could hear people screaming in the background. "In the Hilton, watching a couple griffins tear apart South Michigan."
The cops had had enough of the waiting game. She saw movement in the corner of her eye and turned her head just in time to see a beefcake detective leap through the air to sideswipe her. He continued sailing right through her body and landed in an inelegant heap on the other side of the desk.
"Excuse you. I'm on the phone." Lorikeet rolled her eyes at the shocked cop sprawled on the floor. "Eyas, doll, don't you dare fight them. Go out the back and circle high, I'll find you."
"Got it."
Lorikeet hung up the phone then turned her attention back to the police. They all still had their guns pointed at her, and every last one of them was trying very hard to hide their fear. She smiled beautifully at them, her best asset in a con. "I do apologize for this. Terribly rude, I know, but my apprentice is in the middle of," she waved her free hand at the television, "That all by his lonesome."
She looked back at Detective Lowry. "I'm afraid we're going to have to put this on hold. If you like, you can meet me on South Michigan Street. Kiss kiss, darling."
Lorikeet dropped the gun and jumped. More than one cop let out a foul curse as she shed her skin midair and shifted into a powerful falcon. Lorikeet flew through the brick wall of the police station then gained altitude swiftly, turning towards downtown.
It still rankled that she hadn't been there to help fight alongside her brethren in South Korea but Phoenix xirself had forbade Lorikeet from dropping her cover to defeat the Leviathan. Even as removed from the action as she was, Lorikeet had still heard the birds whispering that the Traveler had said the Leviathan was only the beginning. Judging from the footage Lorikeet had just seen, Crow was on target. And, while Lorikeet couldn't break cover to go halfway around the world, she damn well would if her apprentice was in trouble.
A flash of green caught Lorikeet's eye. Eyas had shifted into a dramatic Bird of Paradise to catch her eye. Good boy.
She adjusted her direction and flew faster, her adrenaline zipping through her blood like the best kind of drug. Cons were fun and missions were a delight but there was nothing to compare with a knockdown drag out fight.