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Post by Adam on May 6, 2017 15:41:56 GMT
THE SONS OF CRIMSON TIE-IN CARMINE | Christian Reid Secure Location, Scarlet City - Night "I--" This was all too much. The temptation was certainly there, for Reid to strike out and work behind the Sons' backs to help topple the Mercers in his own way, but the risk was too high. He didn't know who's death he'd be responsible for, or even who's side they were on. All he knew was that Foley would take a contract from just about anyone. "No. I'm sorry, Foley," he replied, his voice tremoring as he spoke, "I left that life behind years ago. Find someone else." Click. In a mad rush, Christian hung up on the assassin. Christian wasn't that information broker who was so easily bought anyone.
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Post by LHudson on May 6, 2017 19:22:40 GMT
THE SONS OF CRIMSON TIE-IN BRENDAN FOLEYFoley sighed with slight disappointment. "Well--" the dial tone beeped in, and Christian was gone. It made Foley a little puzzled; Christian wasn't one to impolitely rush things, but nonetheless he had a job to do, now made significantly more difficult.
He opened the case delivered to him, and got his requested gear. A suit, a briefcase containing his distraction, and two pistols. He had the look, but not the entrance.
That was before a lazy employee had the bright idea to have a cigarette in the office. Not ideal for Foley or those who were hired to work for Maze World Bank, but it was a literal open window of opportunity.
Foley kept his eye on the employee, waiting for them to leave so he could act. They finished their cigarette, left the window open, and with a quick shot of the hook, Foley carefully climbed through the fifth floor window without any notice. He only hoped those who worked below hadn't noticed his movements.
Next stop, the elevator.
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Post by iCaramelBird on May 7, 2017 0:14:33 GMT
- THE SHERIFF -
Smoke streamed through the air as James found himself now sitting in the a bloodied car seat, trying his best to control his breathing through every exhale of pain that rushed through him as he started to search the glove box. The boy next to him messed and managed through the tangle of coloured wires that were barely seen in the darkness, the only light emanating from the inferno that coiled the warm air around it.
“Okay you’re gonna want to- to connect the blue wire with…” James started to speak, his voice weaker than he thought, as he started to try and focus on the wires that were in front of him, clutched in the boy’s trembling hands.
“God, how do you even know how to do this?” questioned Gale as he tried to meticulously mess with the wires, following James’ instructions the best he could.
“I was a cop,” exclaimed James. Gale only glanced at him wide-eyed.
“That sounds worse!” declared Gale.
“Yeah, it does,” wondered James. “Anyway you want to now put the blue wire with the…” Instructions seemed to swim from his mouth as he focused on the wires that seemed to stream across each other before finally, a spark filled the air and the engine roared to life. “Right, now get us out of…” The door flew open, a gust of wind and hot air clambering into the car.
“Hey!” Gale cried as he found himself resisting the urge to step on the bumper and drive, knowing what would happen as ambulances and fire engines started to skid towards the bar, people rushing out and checking the scene.
“I don’t know anything about anyone called Nick Mercer!” explained James, glancing at the woman that had opened his side of the car, as he looked at the crumbling bar cascaded in fire behind him. Something told him that this day was going to only get worse as his shaking hand continued to bleed in his lap.
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Post by LHudson on May 8, 2017 0:58:35 GMT
THE SONS OF CRIMSON TIE-IN BRENDAN FOLEY {Click to Expand} Foley stopped the elevator door closing with the case, rushing inside and apologising to the woman on the other side as he pressed the floor number he desired, three floors below his destination. "Sorry, in a hurry," he said, composing himself as he looked at the elevator doors. His grip was firm, his breathing was relaxed, and the impromptu suit he wore was nice enough not to stand out like a sore thumb. He did miss his music, although given the circumstances, it was for the best.
"Administration?" said the woman behind him.
He turned his head to her and said "yep," smile still shining. "Been a bit exhausting so far, but chugging along nicely."
"That's a...strange way to put it."
"Nothing wrong in using informal words every now and then." He turned his head towards her. "Especially since it's just you and I in an elevator. Could start singing if we wanted."
She chuckled lightly. "Would certainly break the mould a little." She coughed. "Could you do me a favour?"
"Depends," he replied. "Can't kill anyone for you."
Another chuckle. "Oh, nothing like that I promise you. It's just that a few of us are having some issues downstairs with the system. I know you guys have been under strain from the new framework but we've had too many phone calls from people complaining about our response times. Could you try to push it along for us?"
Foley smiled. "Can't promise you anything, but I'll send the word."
The elevator doors opened. "Thank you, I owe you one." She left, and Foley got a brief glimpse of the department name before the doors closed. 'Transfers and Processes', odd, but he didn't know how a bank worked structurally. He just had his destination. The elevator kept on chugging before.
Ding.
Destination, administration. He stepped out and looked around. He saw the stairs and started his walk towards them.
The view of Scarlet City below was fairly grim, covered in a thin steam layer that barely hid the inhabitants. He could just about see Travis Royce's compound, and the sight was enough for him to consider conducting the shot, but it would leave him in a bad position. He looked ahead before looking within the building. The glass walls of the floor served only as a window to the giant data-hives that encompassed the floor. Between the gaps he could maybe see an engineer or two working on something beyond Foley's skill, but one door did stand out. 'Head Administrator, Gary Shores', the small plaque said, and although he could do without the hassle, he did say he'd send the word.
He knocked three times, and the man on the desktop vaguely waved him in. "Come in," he shouted half-heartedly, paying most attention to the screen in front of him.
Foley stepped through. "Mr Shores?"
Shores took a look at Foley. White hair, nice suit, "haven't seen you here before," he commented. "Then again, we've got too many people here." He took his hands of the desk as the forty-something year old leaned towards the fraud. "What do you want? Account recovery? Expanded email access? Look I got orders from above that all accounts could only hold a maximum of three emails until we finished upgrading!"
"Well, Mr Shores, it's about the upgrade." Shores tilted his head. "Specifically down at 'Transfers and Processes', floor 19?"
Shores leaned back. "Always someone complaining or sending someone up to ask." He stood up and turned his back on the man to inspect the circuit board behind him, bleeping and blooping and showing numbers that Foley can't understand. "I told everyone already that the upgrade could lead to some problems with the system and that it would be until the end of the month before we have the thing fool proof."
Foley took a look around, approaching the desk and looking at every corner. "Is it possible that the email limit might have prevented the message arriving?"
"We did get a couple of bounces, one of them must've been directed to you guys." He opened a drawer and started tweaking some wires. "Ahh, looks like you guys need some dead-caches dumped, been clogging up your network from the looks of it."
Foley looked at the desk, and saw that the man had an employee card. Face, name, position, might be handy. "Would it be possible for you guys to do it?"
Shores looked back at Foley, confused.
"Just that we've been getting an unusual high volume of traffic, and a lot of them are complaining at the response times. We just don't want to cause an image blunder."
Shores sighed. "Tell you what, we'll take care of it, but only if you buy the next round of drinks for us on the next staff meet."
"I'll take care of that, gladly." If you ever find me again. He kept his smile up and Shores turned back around, giving Foley the opportunity to swipe the card from the desk.
"Done deal, just tell the guys downstairs and you'll have your system refreshed in no time."
"Thank you, Mr Shores," Foley started taking his steps back.
"All in the name of drinks, see you," he said, as Foley closed the glass door to the distracted administrator's office. His smile beamed brighter as he continued his walk towards the stairs. Problem solved, possible key gained, back to the job at hand.
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Post by Adam on May 24, 2017 23:55:19 GMT
THE SONS OF CRIMSON #20 Featuring iCaramelBird RED QUEEN | Alice Drake Outside O’Leary’s, Scarlet City - Night Alice stood her ground, the chill of the night breeze coursing through her, her long black hair swept to the side along with the wind. Her face was fierce, her look determined. “I know Scarlet City,” she spat, drilling a hole between the man’s eyes, “And I know that it can’t be some co-incidence there being so many of you wielding fire. So what is your link to him.” “There’s two people in this car, and only one of them can wield fire,” corrected the man, side-eyeing the boy who stared back at him, his eyes narrowing as he was looked perplexingly at James. “Yeah, one.” The boy shifted uncomfortably. Like the sirens that drilled into his head, so too did the pressure of some odd sense of guilt that started to drag him further down into the depths of whatever depraved situation led him to where he was. “I know him!” he admitted, causing his companion to glance to him, amidst the pained grunts and attention as he kept his own kind of pressure on his bleeding hand. Alice’s feral eyes settled upon the boy who soon squirmed in his own skin. “Where is he?” “I don’t know, I swear! I just know some people called ‘The Ashes’, they’re a mercenary group and they’ve got a deal with his sister,” explained Gale, his voice oddly low and broken as his eyes lingered on the ferocious flames that filled the nightly air. “They’re going to do some exchange at a warehouse tonight.” He added, trying hard to remember everything, spilling the information to the angered young woman. “This is great and all, but what the hell is going on?” questioned the man, his eyes casting glances from his friend to Alice, and Will who stood closeby. He raised an eyebrow as he tried to distract himself from the pain. Alice ignored the bleeding man, still focusing on the younger one who seemed to spill more and more information by the second. Dorothy Mercer had a deal with this ‘Ashes’ gang? Alice’s glare began to waver as horrible thoughts began to race through her head. If Dorothy Mercer was responsible for turning Trent into that wolf creature - somehow altering his DNA - who was to say that she wasn’t doling out superpowers to anyone who could pay. That would certainly explain the numerous pyromancers that seemed to be climbing out the woodwork. “His sister? Dorothy? She’s the one who gave you your powers, cowboy?” “I don’t know who Dorothy is, and I’m definitely sure I didn’t get my powers from anyone,” explained the older man, still shuffling in his seat as he clutched at his hand, grunting slightly, noticing that small flames slowly started to lick the wound. “What is seriously going on?” Alice looked back to the boy, still ignoring the Stetson-toting pyromancer, “Where are they meeting?” she spat, “You’re taking us there, now.” “They said a warehouse on East Avenue! Look, I-” The boy paused, taking a glance at the man who was too busy seemingly focused on pushing down at his bloodied wound. “We don’t want any trouble! I can take you there, but please, we just want to leave after.” He raised his arms, as the man sighed in relief, watching the dark wound in his hand as the bleeding stilled with much pain, blood, sweat, and almost tears as he kicked at the dark padded floor of the car, his back clashing with the seat. James’ stifled grunts filled the air in a raucous chorus of pain as sweat slowly sank down the sides of his face. Alice nodded, opening the rear doors to allow Will first entry, following closely behind. But as Will entered the car he quickly saw the the blood gushing from the man’s eviscerated hand. “You… okay there, uh…?” he trailed off, not knowing the man’s name. “Yep, yeah, cauterisation is just another day in the life,” grunted the man in response as he kept pressing down at the hand, giving a pained smile towards the man. “It’s ‘James’, I’d offer to shake your hand but I don’t think we need to deal with any more blood or ashes tonight.” The other boy sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Oh come on! That-- that was a good one.” James quickly added, his breathing heavy and laboured as he slowly began to ease the pressure on his now closed wound. Cutting the tension, Alice slammed the door shut and took and last hard look at the flaming pub; this would be the ultimate fate of all of Scarlet City if the Mercers weren’t stopped. “Let’s go.” she commanded, before James step off into the night. With James’ eyes on the road and Alice absorbed in her own determination, Will awkwardly reached over the boy’s seat from behind and tapped him on the shoulder, “I’m W-- uh,” he cut himself off, “What do we call you?” “Oh,” said the young man, taking a glance over his shoulder towards the man in the back. He simply shuffled in his seat, staring outside the window as sirens and fire faded into the obscurity of nightfall, disappearing behind street corners and shadows. “I’m Gale.”
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Post by LHudson on May 25, 2017 0:38:25 GMT
THE SONS OF CRIMSON TIE-IN Swipe.
The door opened, and through the discreetness of his suit jacket, Foley fired a brief round while storing arguably the most valuable resource he has. The small camera sparked lightly, just enough for him to start ascending the stairs to his target. The walls were no different to those downstairs, mostly thick glass designed to give everyone a view of the rats nest below. Foley couldn't help but feel sorry for those who have to work during sunlight hours, getting roasted alive for the sole purpose of having their workplace look modern.
The ascension wasn't too long, requiring only a few floors to climb before reaching the one with his desired destination. Another door, another camera to deal with, another quick shot as the case carrying gentleman kept his posture and pace up.
The corridor was white, and on the other side stood double doors leading to his destination. There was a camera, but it's temporary preservation was important. Arguably Miss Crowshaw used it to see who was at her door, and he was hoping it would at least lead him inside such a forbidden zone. He crossed the floor, footsteps echoing through the dead landscape, and pushed the grinding buzzer.
"Who are you?" came Miss Crowshaw's voice almost instantly, slight irritated judging from the tone.
Foley cleared his voice. "I'm Samuel Cage? We have an appointment arranged?"
"Never heard of you," she replied through the speaker.
"Well, we tried calling you earlier about the audit, but we couldn't get through to you in timely fashion. I do apologize but I had to use my credentials to get up here."
Silence. "Dammit, I'll let you in."
Seemed to have worked, and when the door closed behind him, he looked at the blonde, middle-aged woman in the eye as he pulled the trigger. Quick, near silent, and a thud on her neck as she sat still in her seat. The room was nicely decorated and spacious for someone with as much ego as money, but the details were insignificant to the view he had. He crossed over to the window, as the limp Crowshaw tried meekly to move herself. The chemical had acted quickly, and soon she'll be fast asleep with handcuffs around her arms. Foley knew the type of people, and didn't fail to notice the alarm switch under her desk. It'll take some time for the police to get to the building, yet alone the office, and thus moved quickly.
The case was placed on the table, clean, and contained the tools for the job. Three distinct parts, gloves, and a piece of chewing gum for good luck. First the gum, slightly minted, but enough to calm the small slither of nerves he had when entering the office. Second, the gloves. If all went to plan, he'll stay under the radar while everyone will be distracted with the onsite evidence. Three, assemble the weapon. Barrel, firing mechanism, grip, and steady-assist, all needed as the assassin opened the windows wide.
Bullet loaded, and Foley thanked his prayers as Crowshaw was completely out in her wheeled chair. No need for awkward lifting, just some contortions of his body to get in a good position. Crowshaw carried the weapon and had her finger on the trigger, but Foley was the puppetmaster, ensuring his presence was unknown to the weapon. His eye looked down the scope, and he saw the target.
No family, just Travis Royce working on his desk.
Deep breath.
Bang...bang.
Only a few seconds, but the results became clear. One through the chest, and before he could comprehend what was happening, the second crashed between his eyes and tilting him over his chair. The noise was loud, but the job was done. A dead police chief, a weapon covered in a bank head's DNA, now he just needed to leave.
Through the double doors he went with his case, and crossed back over to the stairs he came from.
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Post by Adam on Oct 9, 2017 21:40:56 GMT
THE SONS OF CRIMSON #21 Featuring iCaramelBird CARMINE | Christian Reid Secure Location, Scarlet City - Night Christian sat in horror as the news rolled in. The sounds of sirens roared both through the walls of his undisclosed base and on the television screen in front of him. As hurried casters interrupted each other on the news, the big sprawling headline “Breaking News: Police Chief Assassinated By Bank Head” plastered on the overlay. The news had just broken and armed police were scrubbing the bank building from top to bottom, but otherwise little information had been revealed. The headlines claimed the bank head to be responsible, but the timing for his phone call and the nature of the crime screamed to Christian who the real culprit was. Foley. So it was the Chief of Police that Brendan had wanted Christian to help him kill. Panicking slightly, Christian took a deep breath. This was awful. Most of the suits in Scarlet were horribly corrupt but Christian could say with confidence that Travis Royce had been one of the few good people left in this hellhole of a city. Could he have saved the man? Would telling the rest of the Sons have allowed them to help somehow? He’d never know. All he knew was that the Sons needed to know what had happened. And so Christian picked up his phone once more. He had no doubt who had hired Brendan to take out the chief; the Mercers had been working to acquire every authority in Scarlet with their obscene wealth, and Royce was one of the few that dared to oppose the crime family. No doubt in a few days, the Mercers would install their own man in the SCPD. … “Cardinal, put me on speaker.” Click. “Sons… I have some bad news.”
RED QUEEN | Alice Drake East Avenue, Scarlet City - Night The night grew dark and thick in the absence of any hope that peace could be pursued in the abyss of Scarlet City. James kept a firm grip on the wheel, exercising his lacerated hand and allowing the fingers to twitch as they barely grabbed at the steering wheel. He glanced towards the others, the car carrying them to their destination and hopefully not their doom. The car screeched to a halt as they found themselves in an alley. East Avenue was a large, sprawling district of Scarlet City, but nonetheless, to park so conspicuously, especially at this time of night, would only spell bad news. Quickly, Alice and Will unloaded from the vehicle, the former pushing swiftly from her seat to the cold concrete as her boots thumped against it with a grounded confidence. Directly afterwards - the engine disabled - James and Gale joined them in the open, albeit with significantly less haste as they were still in the dark. “Will,” Alice approached her ally directly, “Are you sure you’re up to this? There’s no shame in heading back.” “Alice, our home is destroyed; my brother is dead,” he took a deep breath, stilling his nerves and quelling his anger, “If there’s any chance that Dorothy Mercer is in that warehouse I need to see her tonight.” “So that’s it? You’re going to ki--” “I just need to see her.” blurted Will a bit louder than he was expecting. Alice nodded, dismissing his rudeness as she had come to expect it from those who were grieving. As James slammed his door shut, she then addressed him, “So what now for you boys?” “Well I can’t just leave after hearin’ about all of this,”
“There is a ladder around the back, I remember hearing some of the others talking about it. Apparently you can’t get in the front doors, they’re bolted,” explained Gale as he nodded towards the side of the building where there was indeed a dark ladder seemingly rising high into the night and leading to the rooftop. Gale was the one finding himself leading the way as they all climbed atop the ladder and found their footing on a railing close towards the tall windows of the warehouse.
“Wait a minute- I see somethin’,” muttered James as he looked through the window, crouching down and glanced through the glazed glass to see a woman, tall and pale talking with a few others. A man stood beside her that seemed different from all the others, though almost every other man stood adorned in the same type of black and orange outfit that the other ‘Ashes’ were wearing. But as the four champions laid above in waiting, they were swiftly discovered by the psychic efforts of one of Dorothy’s entourage, a tall gentleman with snake-like features. As he reached for his head, he then gestured loudly towards the rafter, immediately pointing out the intruders to the entire warehouse. Yet before Alice could even recoil or think about attacking, the Ashes and their initiates had already readied and aimed their firearms (and their fire arms) at the prospective heroes. But that was the least of Alice’s worries as the deadly assassin Blight dashed into view, swinging her blade to meet Alice’s own, joining her on the very rafters Alice had positioned herself on. “Oh shit!” cried Gale as James quickly grabbed him and jumped through the window, glass shattering around them as they watched the few men shooting at them recoil from the glass raining down on top of them. The both of them were lucky to land on one of the shipment crates still stuck in the warehouse as James looked around.
“Follow my lead,” ordered James, holding onto his hat and continuing to pull Gale, as they both rushed to the other end of the shipment crates before jumping off and stumbling to ignore the pain of landing from such a great height. Will soon joined them below as the both of them staggered up with James barely peeking over the side. James looked at Gale who raised his gun, the both of them nodding to each other before jumping from their cover. Fire erupted from James’ fists as great balls of fire shot at the assailants whilst bullets whizzed by, all three men rushing forward to attack. So while her allies, both new and slightly older, fought below, Alice continued her duel with Blight above. She had to admit, it was difficult keeping steady footing while traversing across a series of narrow wooden beams, especially against a foe so quick and powerful, leaving Alice heavily reliant on her enhanced agility. Swinging her twin blades at a rapid pace, Alice was forced to contort herself in several painful manoeuvres as she lurched, jumped, turned, dodged and recoiled, determined to best her newfound rival. But quickly, Alice found Blight to be her absolute match. They were effectively playing with each other. It was hopeless. Gale flinched as his own gun was shot at, causing him to drop it. He looked around haphazardly, seeing that he was suddenly surrounded. A sea of angry visages staring at him, he knew there and then that they all recognised him, knowing he was one of the Cobras that escaped earlier as all their guns were turned on him.
James skidded to a stop as he unknowingly met eyes with the illusive Nick Mercer, fire flickering from his hands as he looked back at James. It was then that he knew it was a challenge and quickly rushed forward, sending a great volley of fire to meet his opponent. The two of them battled, with fire crashing into one another, the sparks so hot that they almost set their clothes alight as the fire continued to roar between them.With the Ashes, her brother and her silent assassin keeping the intruders more than occupied, Dorothy Mercer, caught among the incessant volley of bullets, then finally moved to make her escape. With her psionic companion seemingly glued to her side, Dorothy ducked and weaved through various points of cover before making a dash for the nearest fire exit. But seeing this, Will rejected the idea that the crime lord was so make her escape and took immediate action. First, the young man fired several rounds in the woman’s direction, unable to land a hit due to the length of the warehouse separating them. But he couldn’t let her escape. Will dropped his guard and broke out into a sprint, covering the length of the building in incredible time, easily intersecting the bloated Mercer’s path towards her escape route. With his gun raised and trained upon her, Will blocked Dorothy and her bodyguard’s only exit. As he breathed heavily, he wrongly assumed that she was at his mercy. He had underestimated her. Will had assumed that the power hungry witch would naturally fall short on the mundane, but she was indeed a crack shot. Gritting her teeth with the Son’s weapon trained on her head, Dorothy did not even waste a beat before drawing her own handgun, with unrivaled speed, emptying three rounds into the chest of the reckless youth. Beat. Will fell to the ground, bloodied and bruised. James took deep breaths, some hair falling in front of his face as he focused. He concentrated and felt a searing hot flame from between his hands before it exploded into a great, cataclysmic inferno that spun forward and rocketed towards the other man. Though James was surprised to see Nick prepare an inferno of his own, clashing back as the two fires met in the middle of the room, so strong and hot that they reached the tip of the warehouse ceiling. Both fires continued to face against one another as James felt his feet tipping forward and back again, then forward even more as the battle raged on before suddenly--
Both fires exploded from the centre sending a shockwave of heat that sent both pyromancers flying back. James felt the stinging pain of his head crashing into the back of a shipment crate and fell into dark unconsciousness, his rival soon joining him.
Gale then tried his best to reach for his gun, but he was punched suddenly, feeling the cold feeling of a gun at the side of his head, before being grabbed him from behind.
Finally, all that remained was Scarlet City’s Red Queen. But Alice’s subjects had fallen, leaving her exposed. While her brother may have joined his fiery assailant in unconsciousness, Dorothy remained unscathed, and simply smiled as she glanced above to the rapidly-paced duel that continued over her head. If she willed it she could have an entire firing squad trained on the Red Queen, but Dorothy delightfully knew that she wouldn’t even need that much. But someone needed to learn who the real Queen of Scarlet City was. “Oh, Aliiiice!” Dorothy sung with a mocking cry, her voice easily booming to the recesses of the building above. While metal scraped against metal, the two warriors’ blades colliding constantly, the sound seemed to penetrate Alice’s very spine, sending a deadly shiver down it. She knew her name. “Oh, Alice! Why don’t you come down!” she spat, this time with so such melody, “I’d hate to have to kill your friends, especially when they’re so helpless!” Taking a second’s reprieve from the fight, Alice glanced down to confirmed that - indeed - each of her allies had fallen. Her own battle had reached a standstill moments after it had began, but in the moments that had followed her allies were slowly worn down and taken out. Slowly down the collisions of sword against sword, Alice knew there was no decision. No more executions. Reluctantly, she surrendered.
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