Prison Riot

June 22, 2014:

The conclusion? of Arsenal's plot. (Run by Arsenal.)

The Tombs

Characters

NPCs: None.

Mentions:

Mood Music: None.


Fade In…

Level 4. All Precinct Personnel, City-Wide. That was the code addition that would bring in all police officers on an emergency basis… and it -was- an emergency.

The Department of Corrections jail was being stormed from within. And anyone monitoring the police band would have gotten reports of prisoners apparently hypnotized and mindlessly brawling after a cafeteria incident, one that expanded out of control because they apparently didn't -feel- pain and were fighting back.

Outside the jail, swat teams were forming, aiming more at containment while they were organizing people to go in and deal with the disturbance.

"We're taking him alive," Sara says as she and Paul pull up hard at the detention center. "If there's a chance of getting those kids back to normal, we're taking it." It's everything she can handle right now to keep the Witchblade from going into full armor mode, the darkness of what's going on inside calling to it. She eyes the trucks, the chaos of the force outside, and then the building. "And we're not going in with everyone else."

"You're assuming he's actually controlling this." Paul points out. "Instead of something possessing him controlling this. In which case, alive or dead, unless you can compel the thing inside him, it's irrelevant." He had the same though about not running with the herd so has no objection to that. "From above. They'll have all the ground floor exits covered."

A billionaire sits in his office and presses a button to talk to someone else. "Yes I know this is a bad investment. But we're just doing it for the policeman's pension fund, it'll serve them right for taking a public service job dang it!"

Luckily that billionaire is not Daniel Rand, who is also sitting in his office but well the Heroes for Hire office is well not that lavish or anything. He is talking to a potential applicant now that he has decided to expand a little more. His own intercom buzzes, "Sir? The Department of Corrections holding facility is suffering from a riot. Remember that case you worked on a few weeks ago. That guy that was caught was being held there." With that he looks at the applicant, "Feel like an interview by fire?" Hey what better way to get to know a person than on the job experience, right?

They say that the best way to get to know someone is to fight them. And since Iron Fist would probably drop kick Lunair well over the horizon effortlessly, fighting ALONGSIDE will have to do. "Um." Lunair rubs the back of her head. "Sure! As long as I'm not set ON fire," Lunair stipulates. "I'm weak to fire, bullets, crushing, stabbing… wait. Um. Let's not get out that list." She holds up her hands, head shaking. She at least was wise enough to bring, and change into (although not in front of Iron - nor does she have a henshin sequence an spin around nude for about 3 minutes - nope, just changin' regular like) her actually quite high tech armor. Even has a Metal Gear style visor that closes and is really sleek. Where did she get it?

Hard to say. But she will go with it!

The frontal assault -could probably be done, but it would -definitely- cause chaos, and in the middle of it, who knows what could happen?

The cause of the chaos remains unknown, but given the nature of the children who had their souls drained and emptied to become 'hollows', and of the tendency to gather magical forces around the soulless, Sara and Paul could probably venture a very good guess about just what had happened inside the prison, with the man who seemingly was responsible for the condition imprisoned within.

The rooftop exits were being monitored by helicopters, but getting in from the top exits would probably need specific methods - time for a little pull or a sneaky approach, wouldn't it?

"You got a plan for getting to the roof?" Sara arches a brow at Paul, the Witchblade already starting to creep over her hand, tendrils of silver wrapping around her fingers. "Otherwise I'm stepping into that alley and I'm pulling a Superman. I am not letting this guy win, Paul. Not after- It's not happening."

"You can break through the wall with that thing?" Paul asks, eyeing Sara's wrist. "It'll be quickest. But will also leave a huge whole in the wall they can get out of that our side won't know about unless we tell them. And if we tell them, they'll tell us not to." So long as no one orders them not to go in, they're not technically disobeying orders. "Why don't you use those tentacles to climb up to a second story window then rip the bars off. You can pull me up."

Well now comes the fun part, trying to figure out how to get to the place, he can't take the limo, that's just bad. Maybe he can invest in a teleporter, that would totally be useful! "Uhm you wouldn't happen to have a way to get there? Or else we call up a taxi." Hey some people don't have useful transportation you know!

Lunair has to think. "I have a portal gun. But that's only fast if it's just me." Unfortunately, Lunair's power travels are limited. She's armored up, an thinking. "I have a car, if you want. It's nice, but not standy outy nice," She offers. "Or else it's the cab."

Just taking the Witchblade wall-crawl approach, the portal-gun approach, and such, possibly causing some -surprise- when people show up on the roof, there's a slight hubbub when the containment force spies certain groups showing up on the rooftop, but it's quickly dismissed with a 'Heroes for Hire, I recognize one of them' from the leader of the containment. "Let -them- try and defuse it, we're going to focus on containment." was his judgment call.

And on the rooftop, well… there's several exits and vents. The exits were secured, that was for certain. The vents on the other hand, are huge, wide, and could probably make for good entry points, so long as anyone had a good idea of how to get around in there. But it should be relatively easy to find the source of the commotion, as they'd managed so far to keep it confined to one floor.

That floor, of course, was all-too-familiar as to -where- that -man- was being held.

Sara Pezzini does much as she threatened, stepping out of sight long enough to let the Witchblade form a full suit of armor - helm included - before stepping back out into the space. "Whatever's going on in there," she says to Fist and Lunair as they arrive, "It's dark. It's not natural. Deal with the prisoners as you need to, but try not to kill anyone. They're not in control of what's going on. Leave the man running the show to me. I've got a feeling he's not going to feel much pain when it comes to mundane weapons." She leans down then, to rip the grate off of a vent. "All aboard."

Paul peers down into the vent then checks to make sure his gun is secure. He sits on the edge then grabs the ledge and lets lowers himself down till he's hanging by his arms before dropping the last several feet and into a crouch. Seeing no one in either direction, he waves the others in and moves to the side.

Well Iron first showed up on the roof thanks to a handy portal gun, he needs to get one of those. Or maybe just buy a helicopter or something. "Well I don't kill, so no problem there." Unless he really really needs to of course, and dragons, he totally kills Dragons! But he can't help but mutter after Sara says her piece, "My chi isn't mundane." But he does start to follow and goes into the vent!

Lunair is all armored up! It's good for her NOT to be shot full of holes. She pauses. No killing if she can. "… okay." Quiet note not to pull the rail gun, then. And the portal gun IS handy. Iron might notice that Lunair creates her weapons out of nothing on the fly. It's very strange. She doesn't protest. She follows along, nodding politely to Paul. Whether or not her weapons are mundane, it's hard to say. Still, she doesn't seem familiar with magic. Except for maybe people with hats and bunnies and stuff. Or magic missiles.

"Yeah, I'm sure you're great at arranging furniture or whatever." No, Sara, that's not what chi is. Sara follows the others down the shaft, then starts purposefully down the hall. Yes, she knows the layout of the prison. But there's more to it than that. The Witchblade drives her as well, drawn toward the source of the conflict, hungry to put it in its place. Before long, Sara has broken into a jog, then a run as she moves toward the source of the conflict.

Paul's more than happy to let the armored Sara take the lead. He draws his gun and runs after her, hoping she knows what the hell she's doing. He does spare a dubious glance for their guests, especially the younger girl but like the ones in the helicopter, he does recognize Iron Fist and isn't about turn down help.

Simple rule really, follow the person wearing the armor. Never know when you're gonna run into someone carrying a gun or something like that. See he's totally smart in that regard. He says nothing to Sara as she shows she has no idea what Chi is. Best to let her think that, and then shock them at a later time. "So uhm, are we there yet?"

Lunair has armor! It's good armor, too. But she doesn't particularly like being in front. She peers at Paul in turn, though her visor has folded down. "I think we're there when we see bad dudes." She offers, though, she glances around, running after Sara as she does. She pulls a rather odd looking weapon out of nowhere. What could THAT be?

The answer to that question is obvious as they round the next corner into the cafeteria. Oh, they're there. And so is half the population of the prison, rioting almost completely out of control. The men are in bad shape. Many of them are bruised or bloody. And yet, mindlessly, they fight on. "We're there," Sara says needlessly, coming up short to get a good look at the riot. "Stick together where you can. Way too many of them."

Paul slows to a halt outside the cafeteria and studies the scene within. "So where's demon possessed zero?" he asks Sara. "We can't go through them." Not safely.

"Sure we can. Just need to be skilled at it." Hey part of the training is the art of stealth and all that stuff. "Or we just can fire a bunch of knock out gas into the room or something like that. Don't they have stuff like that for riots around here?" He looks to Lunair, "Do what you can, take them out without hurting them, I'm gonna go do my own thing. I'm trusting you, it's part of working together. Even though we'll be apart." He sneaks into the room and just does his ninjitsu thing and starts blending with the shadows. But before he does that he says to Sara, "Sometimes, one person is better than a group."

Pause. Well, then. The gun she has? Is a dubstep gun. Now, she takes a hand into the air and there's a staff with an orb that has cat ears and tail. And a blamethrower is slung over her shoulders. Lunair is getting Liefieldian in here. "Oh. No hurting. I guess that rules out shockwaves." Pause. "Okay." Staff slung over shoulder. Then loud dubstep music! Wubwubwubwub. It's kind of horrifying and hilarious in a way as prisoners start dancing. Some do the robot, others break dance. A couple even twerk.

The room is filling with noise, dancing and confusion.

Slowly, surely, the inmates are being weeded out. Sara and Paul may well recognize the telltale blankness, the eyes that looked as though the pupils had engulfed their entire essence.

Soulless essences, but without the darkness present yet… the magic not having worked as long as with the children. There -was- still time…

And given the tendencies to work from the shadows, it's no surprise that Iron Fist is the first to find a certain bearded trio. The fallen preacher-mage and his henchmen.

And naturally, of course, it's fairly obvious that he's found them when the two henchmen immediately tackle him into the wide-open cafeteria…

Sara scans the area at Paul's question, holding out a hand to try to get a sense. The Witchblade and Iron Fist's run-in happen at the same time, her hand clenching into a fist at the same moment that Danny gets thrown into the cafeteria. "There," she says to Paul, a sword forming in her hand. She has nothing more to say then, diving into the crowd and the riot to rush toward the source of the problem.

Well Danny wasn't expecting people so soon, nor was he expected the rather large bearded men right away either. So of course when the tackle happens he was unprepared. So he gets tackled into the cafeteria. But hey what type of fighter would he be if he couldn't handle stuff like this. One the red bearded henchmen, he does a simple move, box the guy right on the ears. As for the other, he swings his own foot around, aiming right at the guys knee (Destroyer Shiver of Knees).

Lunair is more on crowd control for the moment. It will take her awhile to turn the cafeteria into a giant dance party. Some inmates hop up on tables and shake it. Others are fighting … one a… DANCE FIGHTING! But then, suddenly Danny comes back into the cafeteria. She looks startled, and does her best to keep goons busy.

Knees buckle under the assault from the Immortal Iron Fist, as the black-bearded one goes down, the red-bearded one stumbling back from the quick beating about the ears. It is, however, a bit of a fake-out, as the black-bearded one grabs at, trying to cling to Fist's legs in order to keep him from moving his feet while Henchman Redbeard moves for body blows…

As the goons do kung-fu fighting to the music, there's some -wiser- goons who take advantage of the movement to use chairs to twerk their way over to try and stomp on the crowd controller.

And as for the bearded preacher-mage himself…

"Ahhhh, the wielder of the Balance!" Throwing his arms out, greeting her with a smile, the dark preacher-mage in his orange prison garb smiles. "Look on my work! Is it not beautiful? The dregs of society, they shall be purified, and the world shall become the home of the righteous. This bleak and dark world shall be cleansed. Is this not Balance?"

"No, asshole," Sara snarls as she fights her way toward the preacher. "This is evil. Where are their souls, shepherd? Where are you keeping them?" She backhands one of the prisoners who comes too close, sending the man sprawling. And despite the effort she expends to keep the Witchblade under control, her right hand is starting to glow with a deep, ruddy light. It wants to burn.

Well Iron Fist doesn't have full use of his feet right now thanks to Ugly #1. But at least he has arms, and well is using them to protect himself from Ugly #2's body blows right now. However as one of the blows lands, Iron Fist shifts a little and tries to grab the guy into a submission hold, (Murderer's Submission of the Shadow). Hey maybe he can get the guy to let guy if he threatens to break his partners arm or something.

Lunair doesn't really pay much attention to the wielder of the balance talk. As goons start working their way towards her, she realizes she has to keep the area clear for the others. Enter the cat staff. Lunair unslings it and takes a big swing in an arc in front of her (horizontally mind). It's a shock wave generator! She's making a shock wave in front of her that knocks anyone hit by it backwards. "I think I played a dance game like this once." Nevertheless, she's going to keep the area clear for those fighting bigger baddies. And if all else fails, there's the Blamethrower.

The submission hold takes place, and while Henchman Redbead flails, trying to break it, Henchman Blackbeard, still hobbled, does what dirty low-down varmints do: he goes for the low blow between the legs.

Lunair, on the other hand, is having much easier going, having switched up. Chairs go flying, and the twerkers all fly backward much akin to Marty McFly before the supersonic assault of giant speakers.

"Souls are never lost," intones the preacher-mage, continuing to smile. "They can only be purified in flames, picked clean by the buzzards, and then sent on to their rightful places. Follow the buzzards, let the souls be saved!"

His arms flung open, the preacher-mage kneels, as though waiting for Sara to purify -his- soul. Oddly enough, the darkness that seems to be lurking about freezes, as though waiting for Sara's decision…

"No more riddles!" Sara strides forward, her hand wrapping around the preacher's throat as she slams him against the nearest upright surface. "Whoever you are. Whatever you are. No more hiding behind men and children. COME OUT!" she roars, her hand and the gauntlet tightening around his throat. "Come out and face me!" The gauntlet glows, growing hotter and hotter against the skin, and that color is echoed behind Sara's eyes as she struggles against the simple answer of just ripping his head off.

He is indeed punched in the nads, where the heck is the ref to call for a DQ when you need one dang it! Well the low blow is enough to force Danny to release the old he had on Red Beard. Well after that he doesn't have enough energy at the moment to do a move against either of the two guys.

"Incoming!" Friendly fire is still fire, but if Lunair can give Iron Fist some breathing room, then hey. She also pauses. Oh right, she has a code name. Go Armory! She needs to remember that. Carefully turning the blamethrower at the nearest ones to her, she has to sort of charge-swing her staff to knock one of the two goons off of Iron. Kinda. Here's hoping she doesn't just go flying off into the wild blue yonder. And by wild blue yonder, we mean wall.

HA! The Henchmen are only too happy to commence the beat down, at least until Lunair blams them into the wall (oh, so -that's- why it was called the Blamethrower…), leaving Iron Fist free and clear to clutch his jewels all he wants.

The darkness around the preacher-mage seems to hold its breath as the man is slammed up against the wall. Human eyes laugh at Sara as he places his arms against the wall in a crucifix. And almost, _almost_, the madness in the man's eyes flicker into a bird-esque shape, before it shatters before the laughter erupting from his lips.

o/~ He's got the rivers and the mountains in his hands, he's got the oceans and the seas in his hands, he's got you and he's got you in his hands… he's got the whole world in his hands…

And then he closes his eyes, lifting his chin and his beard. "DO IT. DO IT. Do it AND DESTROY THE BALANCE…"

"No!" Sara's grip tightens, but only long enough for her to slam the man's head against the wall. "Get out! Be gone! Whatever the hell the words have to be, this is not. Your. Place!" If the slam against the wall isn't enough to knock the preacher out, then maybe the pain that comes next, from the barb of Witchblade at her left hand that slices against his shoulder, will break whatever spell is underway.

And through this all, Paul's just been watching. Some things can't be solved with violence. A shame but it's true. And since they picked up Iron Fist and Lunair, he didn't really need to step in. Instead, he's been watching Sara and, more importantly, the preacher. As the others either clear the floor of inmates or distract them, he's been making his way around the room toward where the real fight has been going on. And as Sara slams the preacher against the wall, he reaches over her shoulder and presses a crucifix against the man's forehead. He doesn't believe. He stopped believing in God when he was seven. But his mother did and does adn she gave it to him. For her, he keeps wearing it. Maybe her belief will work. It seems like a better idea than just beating on him when he wants it. "Maybe this will work. In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, get the fuck out."

She came to his aid, totally has the job if she wants it. He gets up now and goes towards where Sara and Paul are. "If that doesn't work perhaps I can help. My furniture arranging skills may be of help." Hey couldn't resist making that dig at Sara there. "I also have tremendous belief in what in can do if that can help as well." It's a theory really, but his chi can heal others, maybe it can heal demonic possession or whatever this is!

To be fair, most people sympathy wince when a guy gets punted or punched in the jimmies. Lunair does seem to care about many people in her odd way. She just seems to have no problem with violence or mayhem, even lethality. But happily she's not past saving, and seems just fine herding people with dancing, blamethrowing and shock waves. Those hit with the blamethrower will squabble and turn against one another. Twerking and break dancing abounds. A tattooed man is doing the robot between two guys doing the worm. And some poor saps are just stunned against a wall, contemplating anti-Ramsey properties, life, love and the universe. Or something.

It's not -demonic- possession. At least not the -Christian- one, because the man only -laughs- the harder. "Oh, Christians… as though yours were there only -faith- in the world. Follow the buzzards, follow the buzzards…"

And indeed, the bird-like figure does loom all the more brighter in the man's eyes, and he exhales…

And darkness pours out the man's nostrils, and mouth, and eyes, and ears, forming a dark shadow that looms over the figure so still in the crucifix position in the Witchblade's grasp.

The Buzzard.

~The world is in my hands, a world that needs -cleansing-~ the darkness seems to reverb.

That's what Sara was waiting for. A chance. A chance to hit whatever the true enemy is, without injuring anyone who might potentially be innocent. Or at least not pure evil. That shape pours out of the man, and Sara releases the preacher to grasp at it with armored hands, yanking. Something so incorporeal would certainly usually be untouchable. But the Witchblade is made to combat these things, to deal with shades of darkness and minions of light. And it has no intention of releasing the dark entity in any state resembling life.

Yeah, Paul didn't really expect it to work what with not being a Christian. Not by belief, anyway. As the darkness pours forth fromt he Preacher, he steps back, taking the crucifix with him. This is Sara's show now.

Well uhm, this was completely unexpected. And Danny can't really do anything against well something like that. He needs something with a physical form dang it to fight. So well he just watches Sara for the moment, and hopefully can help if she needs it.

Fire hurts most things. But people might be upset if Lunair went all Apocalypse Now on it and busted out the napalm. So for now, she sticks to just dealing with the odd minion. Guys still dance, and the quiet is punctuated with the boom of her staff as some sap goes flying. But it is slower, quieter.

The Buzzard shifted, twisting and turning in the Witchblade's grasp. It looms, twisting, as the preacher-mage drops, slumping to the ground in a heap.

The darkness about the room seems to intensify, however, as those prisoners that were still able stiffens, turning around, starting to move towards the party, like black-eyed mindless minions. Less a horde, and more of a singing choir, some of them even dancing to Lunair's beat, although their song still echoes…

o/~ He's got everybody here in his hands, he's got everybody there in his hands, he's got everybody everywhere in his hands, he's got the whole world in his hands…

And the Buzzard cackles. "The world is -out- of balance… you, wielder of the Balance… what have -you- done? Mine is to cleanse the earth of its decay so that -new life- can rise in its place. Yours is to protect, while decay goes -on-… you serve -human law- instead of the -Balance-… come then, tear me apart, do what is -right-. Let the world burn anew in fire…

"You want fire?" Sara struggles with the buzzard, whips and barbs of Witchblade springing out all over her form to tangle with the shadow. "I can give you fire!" And here, now, with none but the shadowy entity between her hands, Sara lets the Witchblade have its way. Light as bright as the sun bursts from her hands, searing into the shadows between them.

Paul steps back and raises his arm to block the light from his eyes. He did not know she could do that. Turning his back to her, he gets ready to fight the walking zombies if they're still coming.

Well having abilities that are connected to the life force and soul of oneself, well gives a person some insight on things. Thanks to that Danny knows no good will come out of what The Witchblade is currently doing to whatever was holding the person. Danny isn't sure what will happen, but knows it will involve the followers, so well he decides to take them out just to be on the safe side. As he does that he calls out to Luna, "Uhm we need to take out these guys, fast."

Dismissing her dubstep gun, Lunair gets - a super soaker full of holy water. She remembers because she helped a British guy ages ago, something, something ending up in Hell and … "I'm not sure it would work on them," She offers. But hey, time for shock waves and a blessed super soaker!

BOOM! Spritz! … er, hm.

Christian holy water. Probably not the most helpful of situations right now, but Iron Fist's knocking out of a good number of people and a bit of spiritual water -helps-.

Because as the Buzzard tears asunder into faint smoke, the darkness presence looms a bit, and those who had been soulless erupt into flames, at least those who hadn't been knocked out and soaked with the spiritual waters. _Those_ people only smoulder, thankfully, before being doused.

Still, the flaming people running around are quickly and easily contained, and the Buzzard dissipates, but only after one last outburst…

"… remember the Balance… remember…~" And it fades, with a last burst of laughter.

"No!" Sara cries out as the people start to burst into flame, struggling with the last shreds of shadow. "No, you bastard!" But all too soon, there's nothing left to fight, and the detective falls back to the floor, still trying to understand what just happened.

Paul's not about to grapple with zombies on fire so just grabs a chair to use in case any get close enough. None do. When the last one stops moving, he sets it back down and tries ot put out any of the ones still smouldering. Remember the Balance. Maybe that'll make sense in the future.

Well uhm case closed or something like that. Yeah uhm not much left for Danny to do, so he just kinda goes over to Lunair. "I think it's time for us to get going. By the way, you have the job if you want it. We can discuss benefits later on." Hey good to have a lady who can handle large groups when it's needed.

Teddy Altman comes into Lower Manhattan from Midtown Manhattan.

Teddy Altman heads out to Staten Island.

Yup. Lunair's just - gonna let the cops do their thing. "I feel a bit bad I didn't think of that sooner," She admits to Danny. She looks over to him and nods. "Um. Sure thing." She dismisses her weapons, rubbing the back of her head. She's got some talking to do, it seems. "Are you okay, by the way?" He did get kinda pummeled a bit

The aftermath was a matter of cleaning up.

The preacher-man was in a coma, unable to be interviewed, and the two bearded henchmen grunted and refused to answer questions.

Reports came in of people bursting into flames, but mostly the homeless. Some children, those who had been longest-kidnapped, had vanished once again, leaving nothing but ashes.

Of the halfway house where Jason Blood was, there was nothing but ashes. The few survivors who had escaped the burning building had talked of rhymes and gouges of flame, but such a thing was impossible - there was little left of the halfway home but twisted metal and ceramics…

And of the church that had once been home to the preacher-man…?

Passerbys reported odd flashes of lights, as though cell phone lights had flashed, and then faded…

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License