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Post by Shark a' Pult on Nov 9, 2014 21:15:55 GMT -5
"I should have known..."
In verbally stating her intentions, Beth cleared away any reason to hold fire and the nurse shot at her. The older fellow and the young mother also moved to attack, but the machine was already overturned with Beth doing a good job of breaking it up. The occupant within rolled out when the device was overturned, and it seemed once his head was out of the apparatus he regained consciousness.
"ARG! MY HEAD!"
Huddling over and clutching at his head appropriately enough, he shrieked in pain as his whole body started convulsing. The effect plagued more than just him however, as those immediately under his control lost their senses. The nurse just started walking towards the machine as well but ran up against it and kept trying to walk through with no success. The older fellow put one of the empty buckets on his head and just started turning in circles, while the young mother dropped to her knees and started trying to punch her way through the ground to no avail.
Beth even, would begin to feel something. Some unseen, unknown forces beginning to encircle and rip at her mind, her senses, like a pack of wolves. Colors started to invert, shapes deform, sounds lose mixed up with others and the disjointed feeling of everything like she was trying to control her own body through the eyes of another. Even past memories might begin to trickle into reality, in an attempt to fill in the tears that were beginning to form in her sentience.
"NO MORE IT HURTS-S-S-SSSSSSSSSSKRRRGLLLLLLLHHHHHHHH-"
Devastis himself was soon overtaken by the pain, reduced to a convulsing fit on the ground. Any coherence was lost as his eyes lost focus and he started to froth at the mouth. Whatever was wrong with him, he was now little more than a shaking mess on the ground, without any perception of the world around him.
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Post by CJ on Nov 10, 2014 16:03:20 GMT -5
Beth reached out to grab onto Devastis but found her hand repeatedly slapping against the road. How did she end up here, she wondered as she fell onto her back.
Blue became pink and pink became chartreuse. She didn't know what up or down was, or why she was back in the same alleyway that she found Connor in as a child so many years ago. Her eyes felt like they were being flicked by someone's fingers.
Spinning around, she saw herself confronting a strange being in third person. Covered entirely what appeared to be mirrored glass, it was an exact duplicate of her. It stepped forward and grabbed onto her. It violently gripped her head with an expression as cold as stone.
"Joe, stop it!" she screamed with a cracking voice. "Get away from me!"
In reality, Beth had been just as confused as the others, twitching and squirming on the ground. In that moment of intense fear, she reached her arm out and aimed to rip the energy out of those around her, from Devastis to even the small child.
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Post by Shark a' Pult on Nov 10, 2014 22:55:33 GMT -5
Drawing energy from those in the area, and the mental assault ended. It was about as simple as that, Devastis lost consciousness and stopped moving, and the other people under his control followed suit. No longer was Beth, or anyone else for that matter, plagued by the would-be puppeteer and his strings. Or at least, for now.
"Beth? Beth! Are you alright? He's down, you did it!"
As if on cue, Kaede hobbled into the clearing from a side street, managing to get by at least somewhat with the help of some thrown together bits of wood serving as a makeshift crutch. She went as fast as she could to try and reach Beth, but the going was slow and Bader was faster in it's little hovering path. It seemed though the robot was more interested in the unconscious baby in the stroller, moving towards it and examining the child.
"Hey, we could-"
"Not right now, lets sort this mess out first. Are you alright, Beth? Let's get you some help."
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Post by CJ on Nov 11, 2014 1:36:41 GMT -5
The sun looked so bright in the sky. It didn't help that Beth kept looking at it.
The spell had vanished, but Beth couldn't recover as easily as she thought. It might have been seconds, minutes or hours. Time felt broken to her. It wasn't until she felt someone grab onto her and embrace her that she started to sense things properly again.
"Beth," she heard Connor say in desperation. "What happened to you?"
Was she in his arms? She supposed so, since she was propped up and not on the ground. She looked to see Kaede hobbling toward her, saying that she won. It was odd to see her look so tall. Right, she figured. She was sitting.
Just the simplest movements seemed so complex. Her eyes rolled and looked to see Bader inspect the baby in the stroller. Her breathing quickened when she realized she hadn't finished the job.
"It's not over," she muttered. "I have to kill him... kill..."
She didn't notice the world going black around her.
---
"Beth!" Connor shouted as she collapsed.
The chef was terrified of seeing Beth bloodied up and bruised, but even more now that she fell unconscious. He dabbed a bandage cloth on his wife's head wound, though his delicate pressure barely did anything to help it. His lip quivered as he held her in place on the ground.
"Kaede, what are we supposed to do? How do you that Devastis is defeated? Is he that man or woman? And why was there a baby and sick individual involved? If he's still out there, Kaede, I have to know. He can't get away with this!"
Connor was rarely ever angry, but any danger toward Beth was enough to set him off. He gritted his teeth to try to calm down and not immediately light up in flames with his wife in his arms.
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Post by Shark a' Pult on Nov 11, 2014 15:25:32 GMT -5
"Bader, I want a med-drop please."
"Done. I wonder how long it would take to train a baby to be able to throw knives..."
Seeing Beth's condition deteriorate, Kaede did the obvious thing and had Bader call for some basic medical assistance. Meanwhile, she moved over to Devastis, balancing on her leg so she could nudge at him with her crutch.
"Kaede, what are we supposed to do? How do you that Devastis is defeated? Is he that man or woman? And why was there a baby and sick individual involved? If he's still out there, Kaede, I have to know. He can't get away with this!"
"What? This is him, right here. I've never met him before but I know what he looks like." she nudged him again to demonstrate. "He's defeated because he's out cold, you can't tell? If he were still active, I can bet we'd have more than a few people under his influence showing up now to attack you two. I don't know why he picked these people in particular..." she gestured to the nurse and the downed others, "...they probably just happened to be closest at the time."
At about that time, a large capsule touched down, smashing a hole in the pavement and embedding itself in the ground. Making her way over, Kaede unlocked the case to reveal (with some cold mist seeping out) a basic medkit. Returning to Connor and setting the bag down, she did her best to try to sit down herself, though it was difficult. She figured it would be better to let him try to help Beth for obvious reasons, but she was there to help in any way she could.
"We can figure out the details later. I'd count this as a win, so let's get Beth taken care of first before anything else. We can probably find a doctor in town who wasn't affected by the fight, and will be able to help."
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Post by CJ on Nov 15, 2014 0:32:02 GMT -5
For a day that started with a incredible, food festival, it was sure odd to see things finally come to an end here. He felt numb when Kaede pointed out the ill man as the mysterious Devastis.
There he was. He was right there. And this time there was nothing to hold him back. Connor could end his life and guarantee his family's safety.
But he didn't leave right then and there, Beth could succumb to her injuries. What was more important at this point? Revenge or his wife's life? He grimaced, wanting so desperately to do the unthinkable to what he perceived to be an awful and terrible human being.
"OK," he said. Standing up wearily, he held Beth as delicately as he could, almost as though she was a sleeping child.
Connor's face was cold and twisted. His emotions kept biting at him, tempting him to put Beth down and finish the job like she wanted. He had to keep reminding himself to ignore Bader's antics and listen to Kaede. She knew what was best for Beth now.
"Let's go," he said with gritted teeth. "Hopefully the local law enforcement doesn't recognize Beth from before..."
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