"Get the hell out of my way!" - Ayn Rand

[rapturescreed]

Who: Raul Creed, Daedauls Yumeno, and Re-l Mayer (Romdeau Trio unite!)
When: 9/7/10 Tuesday night, right after siren's go off.
Where: Outside and around Lions Gate.
Summary: Raul Creed has some Proxy bullets to test out and Daedalus faces the most ironic of monsters before being saved by his own guardian Proxy angel. Action tag style.
Warnings:

Comments

[gaveherwings]

[It was his night off, and usually that meant having some time to relax. Not so for this evening.

Daedalus was anxious. He didn't particularly like being out after the sirens, and he didn't particularly like being out at the mercy of Raul Creed, either.

However, his prototype shells needed testing on the dark creatures, and he wasn't about to hand them off to SERO's test groups until he knew they'd have some effect, and he'd promised the Security Chief first batch- to make up for tossing his last set, perhaps. In some effort of peace offering. To keep them on working terms, now that they were in positions were that would be mutually beneficial again.

But the doctor also knew couldn't test them out in the field on his own. He'd never used a firearm before. But he knew they'd work in a theoretical sense, and he'd made the first set to fit the caliber rounds Raul's pistol carried.

He stayed close to Raul's shoulder, eyes darting around the deserted valet lot. The decay of the city after sundown was always, ever bewildering to take in.]

Let's not go out too far, at least.

[He cautioned warily, voice low. He'd left his white coat upstairs- too recognizable in the dark.]

[rapturescreed]

We'll go as far as need be.

[He glanced over at Daedalus, slightly amused. He couldn't be very comfortable with being around the Darkness monsters, and even more so when Raul was the only one with something they could use to protect them.

Not that he made it a habit to go out into the dark much himself. It wasn't the monsters; he knew he could take them out easily. But the decay of the land gave him a sense of unease.]

We'll try one and see how it works, then try another.

[gaveherwings]

The main issue I'm concerned with, like I've said, is that using the full spectrum necessary to inflict tissue damage from exposure, the gun chamber may overheat and jam if they're loaded too long.

[He glanced down at the timepiece on his NV, digital brights illuminating his face with a soft blue tint. Shifting the stylus comfortably into his hand, he pulled up a capture program, turning on the lapbook's camera to try and adjust for lack of a good light source.]

I'd say we have about half an hour, to finish off the clip.

[rapturescreed]

[He looks at his gun with a frown.] If something happens to this, you'll pay to have it fixed.

[He was serious on this. He didn't want to buy a new gun; he had grown rather fond of this one.]

Only half an hour? Then we may need to go further and find the monsters before they find us. [Only takes one step further before one shows up. Well thank someone for that. He leveled his gun.]

[gaveherwings]

[Daedalus shrugged, sighing with a small roll of his eyes.]

You insisted on the first prototype, sir. I wasn't able to come up with a heat-resistant casing yet.

And so you have my warning- so please don't hold me liable for any accidents. As far as SERO knows, these don't leave the labs outside of their own test groups until they hit the marke-

[He fell silent at a slide of shadow, a flicker of movement from the corner of his eye, across the parking lot. Centering the camera, he takes a step back and looks expectantly to Raul.]

[rapturescreed]

You could have waited until you made them. But this will have to do for now.

[He paused to ask one question before he took his shot.]

It doesn't matter where the bullet hits, correct? [Oh well. He pulled the trigger, hearing the shot ring out as he saw the bullet hit the creature in the head.]

[gaveherwings]

Ideally, you'd want to hit a critical-

[But then the shot explodes in a dazzling burst, a trail of hot light that embeds in the creature and flares briefly to illuminate it's innards before the entire creature...doesn't even die so much as utter a screeching howl before vanishing, the empty shell dropping to the pavement with a light 'plink'.

A moment to take that in, and then Daedalus hurries forward, pulling out an infrared sensor to trace the imprint of the monster...it had been a smaller thing, no bigger than a dog.]

Better than I'd anticipated.

[Meanwhile, above and attracted by the noise, another creature perches, hidden along the eves of a nearby building like a roosting gargoyle.]

[rapturescreed]

[Well, that wasn't something that he had fully expected. Apparently the bullets had worked. He stood guard while Daedalus checked out the spot where the monster had once been.]

It disappeared instead of staying around. I'm guessing these kill instead of injure, then.

[He opened the gun to check on the remaining bullets, making sure they didn't damage the gun.]

[gaveherwings]

Full sunlight exposure, in all lab-tests, not only kills their cell structure
but obliterates their presence completely...but it isn't quite like Amrita cells.

[Daedalus speaks over his shoulder, still taking data on the infrared signature...something living and warm which had been there only a moment ago was rapidly cooling.]

The creatures who are destroyed supposedly can return with the next night's siren, I don't know if that means they'll come back into existence the following evening or not- It has the same effect of sunrise-come-early.

[rapturescreed]

So, in essence, you could conceivably kill every single monster on this island, and they would just come back the following night.

[Then these bullets were essentially a failure. Good enough for the moment, but not enough to cure the overlying problem.]

Then, once again, the problem is how to spread this continuously so the Darkness doesn't even happen?

[gaveherwings]

Short of erecting an artificial sun in the sky, and avoiding the patches where shadows fall?

[Daedalus' tone is a little dry, but mild.]

If an overall solution to the darkness problem hasn't been conceived by the talented people at SERO by now, even in theory, then it's safe to assume that the solution is not a simple one, and that any proposals of widespread application have already been shut down.

[He stands, tucking his NV back into his pocket and casting his eyes up toward the moon, an open handed gesture.]

Of course, the company line is that when the Core is repaired, the effects of the darkness will cease forever.

[Something white, viscous, and waxy, in that moment, drops into his palm...and to his other shoulder too. Daedalus startles, closing his hand around the substance in surprise, and turns to look over his shoulder-

White wings...Monad? Real! He thinks for a brief spasm of an instinctive shudder, raising his arms halfway, but the cry that passes his mouth is a horror-struck 'Oh God!'.

[Behind Raul, turning for another overhead pass on the current, the creature is aloft with spread waxen wings, ragged in patches, human-shaped but missing its lower half. Its hands are like talons.

He barely has time to react beyond moving his hands up to shield his face, or to scream at Raul to reload his gun, when it dives again, dropping dripping, rope-like entrails.]

[rapturescreed]

Of course it is. However, keeping the Darkness around may have better benefits then--

[He was cut off by Daedalus' scream; did he scream? It was just a-- wait, what was it!? He pushed the clip back in, but whether it was just too late, or the bullets had already begun to affect the gun, he wasn't sure.

Instead he did the only logical thing one could do when faced with a monster with wings.

He ducked.]

[gaveherwings]

[Not so much reaction time for Daedalus, who stands wide-eyed in half awe, half terror, a mad laugh-sob of irony threatening to burst from his throat amid another yell, because he can't quite fix his mouth around the words 'Raul, shoot it!', although its what he'd intended to scream.

It descends, opening it's innards.

When he finally recovers from the momentary numb of shock-paralysis preventing his knees from being of much use, he's trying to fling the waxy bits off his hand and run for- ...there isn't very much cover to even dive for in the middle of the lot at all.

Instead he's covered in a waxy mess of thick tangling cords, foul-smelling and decayed, which are more of a rubbery tripping net than anything. It happens quickly.

He struggles through the masş to loose himself, tensed in visceral disgust and panicked with realization that the creature is dragging him along, heaving wet human gasps of it's own, flapping its great wings which drip gobbing splatters onto the pavement in efforts to gain lift.]

[rapturescreed]

[Seeing that the monster was not in fact heading to him helped out a lot. Getting back up from where he had ducked, he barely had a moment to register what was going on before the monster started to move.

With Daedalus Yumeno within it. Was it within it? Shit, what the hell was it?

He raised his gun on reflex, about to pull the trigger when he stopped. If he shot it, it could harm the doctor. If he didn't shoot it, it would get away with him in whatever way it could get away. To shoot or not to shoot. For someone so smart, Daedalus was an incredibly stupid person.

Not having anything else to fight it with, he went towards it. It wouldn't be right for it to go on and not follow it.]

[proxysearch]

[Less than an hour prior to the two of them going out on their monster hunt, Raul had very pleasantly called her to tell her to meet him, and Daedalus, at Lion's Gate in no more than an hour. And before she could even ask why, he had responded with, "We're going to be busy out in the Darkness."

Daedalus and Raul together was suspicious. Out, alone, in the Darkness was just plain idiotic. She grabbed her coat, shotgun, and NV and went out into the Darkness, making her way to Lion's Gate at a brisk pace.

She hadn't gotten too close to the club when she heard a scream, one she had only heard once before, when the dome began to collapse-

Daedalus.

Re-l ran down one of the alleyways and came out on the other side, spotting some...winged creature entangled with Daedalus with something waxy and dripping. She barely hesitated; she rushed forward and struck out with her hand, grabbing Daedalus and practically ripping him out of the creature's grip. The monster shrieked in rage at her and she let go of Daedalus, eyes traveling to Raul.]

Keep him safe.

[And then she was already moving, lightning fast and as sleek as a cat, up in the air and striking at it. It faltered in the air and beat its wings at her, beginning to rise up on the air without the weight of its previous passenger.]

[gaveherwings]

[Someone took hold of his shoulders, pulled him aside, wrenching him backwards...out of guts and wax and death. Daedalus staggers to recover footing, heart racing, and looks-

There in the dark, from nowhere, Re-

...No? Another split-second of doubt at how quickly she moved, the claws that extended. He'd seen that kind of movement only once before. The Proxy? No, no, Re-l!]

Re-l!!!

[He strains forward a step, reaching for her, then looking helplessly back to Raul...a waxy mess, a boy caught like a deer in headlights, just a brief bewildered look...

And then he's watching the monster struggle with her with a desperate hope she won't be hurt. It happens too fast to think.]