hadriel_logs | Event Log: End of Arc 2

Entry tags:

Event Log: End of Arc 2

Who: All characters
What: The event log for the End of Arc 2
Where: All over the city
When: November 25th-December 12th
Warnings: A full-scale battle, including character death, NPC death, and various other ways to suffer

It was bound to happen. The Null warned you, after all, and this has been building for awhile - and now it's here. First comes the initial attack, the agents of the Null attacking Hope's temple. Then, an SOS, warning the city of what's happened: a betrayal, and Hope being injured. Luckily for everyone, thanks to the actions of his guards Hope survives the attack. Unluckily, his attacker, the goddess Delight, escapes and lets the Null in.

Flooding into the cave, the Null will attack anyone who they believe is resisting them. They'll destroy buildings and deploy dangerous crowd control weapons, in addition to their sheer strength and speed. Confusion empties the monsters in the tunnels into the city, to help distract the Null. Some gods fight, others provide safe havens, but everyone is in danger.

After about a week and a half of the attack, Fear summons enough power to teleport the city. This stops any new Null from arriving through the tunnels, but the remaining Null must be hunted down and destroyed, or else they'll signal their location to the rest of their species. The danger will lessen as Null are taken out, but things won't really be safe until Fear moves the city again, so don't get too comfortable.

What will you do? Run and hide? Fight? Help the fighters? Turn on the gods yourself? Whatever you do, it's time to make a decision.

► This log covers November 25th-December 12th.
► Feel free to make your own logs, as well
► Please tag headers of threads with content warnings where they apply
► Please put your character's name and open/closed in the subject line of your starters!
► If you get taken out by the Null, please let us know here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The end to what has been a seemingly endless fight is in reach. With the city jumped forward, the remaining machines that infest the cave are left struggling to survive now. It's almost pitiable, if Rey had any pity for them.

She wasn't hiding behind 'the Salamander' anymore. They killed Sorrow, and they very nearly killed her, and it's clear to her that she can't pretend to play both sides after that.

All she can do is fight, even if it would be against the behest of those close to her. Just a few days ago, she was dying. Organs scrambled and everything.

Recently, however, she's been feeling like there's some scrambling going on in her head. That isn't something she can ignore. No, she knows that the Null have to go -- all of the bastards. She easily recalls the previous week, how the synthetics had tried to take over her limbs. Get into her head. Trying to bypass the security in her neural network.

Winter, 2142. She was Safronov then, an operative sent to Kristiv, Russia to retrieve data from the abandoned Grigoryevich Underground Command Center. But there was a fail-safe left there by the dead programmer who once inhabited the place, before he died. She remembers what it was like when it first got inside her, what it was like to be controlled, and she remembers what it feels like now. Only now she isn't putting a gun to her head, sending a message to the man who ordered her there in the first place, because no such person commands her now. And no one else will have command over her.

It will not happen again. Her father might've been a lot of terrible things, but the one good thing he did for her was to make sure that would never happen. Maybe the Null had trouble navigating through that program in her head; maybe they just gave up. It would be a damned godsend if they did.

If what she senses is happening to her, then there's no doubt that others like her might be susceptible to the same infiltration. In that horrid way, she can't just lay down and rest, but find the source and stop those who might be likewise affected.

Before an already terrible situation gets much, much worse.

Edited 2017-11-29 01:06 (UTC)

Kyrii knows that something isn't right. Between the way his HUD picks things up and the sense of urgency locate the residents of Hadriel.

He only knows that needs to see them. To make sure they are alive. So he can 'protect' them from the Null still left wandering around...

But he hasn't been in good shape since the Null hit the clinic. A few more lacerations than normal across his face. Nearly broke his leg when he tried to break free of them. His own dark blood drenching the entire left side of his abdomen down to his legs. There wasn't any time to shut down. No time to recuperate. In a weary haze of movement, Kyrii was back on his feet to start his search before he had a chance to tell himself not to.

A few signals suddenly alert him. He turns in their direction.

It's a face he recognizes, but even without the help of the heads up display he's sure that it's a trap. He expected something like this might happen— That they would take on familiar shapes like the Safeguard do. The urgency in him grows. He needs to eliminate this target so he can keep looking for everyone else.

He's tired. It shows. But if he can find the perfect moment then he would barely have to move at all.

His hand reaches for his back calmly while he watches Rey.

Edited (jk jk here's the real tag now) 2017-11-29 02:40 (UTC)

The repeated failed attacks on Rey's mind seems to have tipped the Null off to something. Mostly in that she's a threat. One that they would do better to be rid of.

It's been almost nonstop fighting since this whole thing started. And whole Rey can feel that it's almost over, there's always something around the corner.

This time, it's Kyrii. Despite there being no Null about, his posture is nearing aggressive. Knowing what he is, she's alert now as though the Null were very present, though. If their attempts to get into her head have been any indicator, it's that they're doing the same to others as well.

They're too far apart for conversation talk, and Rey isn't just going to approach Kyrii like this, either.

Instead, she gestures to her own head, pointing at her temple.

Are they in here, too?

Bet they are.

Edited 2017-11-29 04:09 (UTC)

He stays still for a long moment after that.

It isn't a direct thought or voice telling him to find the survivors. More like a persistent urge that he's now realizing that he can't just ignore. And she is standing in his way. Though, he can't pin down the exact reason he needs to find them so badly even when he knows they are safe...

Then again, this may not be Rey at all anymore. And he won't let his guard down to the Null again.

A gun is gripped in his palm when his hand returns to his side.

Edited (okay last edit i swear ) 2017-11-29 15:00 (UTC)

Seeing Kyrii go for his weapon raises enough immediate alarms that Rey is quick to go on the defensive. If he starts shooting, she'll be prepared.

She doesn't dare to look away to search for any Null, in case that's what he's readying for. Her eyes remain locked on Kyrii.

"What are you doing?" Rey finally says, nodding to his weapon. She isn't going to fight unless she has to and he has no choice.

He doesn't break the eye contact. He hardly even breathes. He'll have to make his only shot without the use of his HUD, which has been less than helpful with the condition his body is in.

Blood trails over his boot and onto the ground.

Her words are clear as day even with the distance between them. He assumes she can hear him as well.

"You're... one of them."

Null. Safeguard. Human. Friend.

It didn't matter now.

The weapon begins a soft whistle as he lifts it up. It settles into a gentle whine. A red glow pulsating from within with the charge of energy, waiting for release.

Even when it occurs to her what is happening, her face screws in revulsion at the idea of being lumped into the same category as the mindless synthetics. But there's a time and place for that.

"What? No--"

Fuck. She's not ready for this. Her arm is still healing after busting it up a few days ago. Leg buckles before she limps to the side in order to dodge the shot aiming right at her.

Rey bolts for cover as fast as she can, limping behind a broken up wall that's somehow survived the attack.

"They're trying to get into your head!" Rey calls out from her side, hoping that maybe Kyrii would have the same stroke of luck she did.

When she ducks from sight behind the wall, his arm stays trained on the spot he last saw her.

He noticed her falter. Saw her limp. He assumes that she wouldn't have moved further if she didn't immediately need to. Maybe she was relying on his hesitation over her words to move a little more. But it isn't Rey. So those words mean nothing to him.

His aim adjusts.

The whirring noise of energy halts with a click.

A straight beam with a diameter of about two inches erupts from the gun and the recoil reels his arm straight up. The beam pierces straight through the wall and everything after that. It only lasts a few seconds but as it fades, the matter it came into contact with is just gone and has left the surrounding material intact. There's also an incredible residual heat. Any relatively flammable material within the radius of the hole catches flame. Embers hover through the air.

He knows it didn't hit her. He can't smell the burning flesh. Though she would be impervious to that aspect of the emitter, wouldn't she? If he actually did hit her, that would be all the better for him. Though he definitely wasn't counting on it. Instead he had aimed it to the far side of the wall to draw her out the other. Since once the shot subsided, he began to close the distance in a weak sprint.

But he's compensating too. The blood now trailing along behind him.

Edited (last edit, sorry) 2017-11-30 02:13 (UTC)

Great. As if the fucking Null weren't causing enough destruction to the city, this guy has a gun that can tear solid matter to bits.

A chunk of debris flies, hits the back of Rey's shoulder. She grunts. Starts to grab her throbbing arm, then stops. No time.

If her intention was to kill, she could draw her own firearm and be done with it. But her desire isn't a shootout so much as a brawl. Just has to take care of that gun.

What's left of the wall in front of her crashes under the thrust of her boot, kicking it down and charging through. She sees Kyrii on the other side doing the same. Her hands ball into fists as she throws herself against his midsection. Using herself as a battering ram to stop his speed.

Her bones are still searing, but she ignores it. He's hurt too. She can use that.

The weapon isn't in either hand when she comes at him. It's holstered on his back.

Their bodies meet and he immediately finds a hold on her to prevent himself from being thrown backward. He's still shifted back from her own weight pressing against his, the ground crunching beneath his feet.

What's worse is the impact to his abdomen. He winces as the wound on his side tears open. Some Null got in a good hit. Now he's regretting ever letting that happen. He has to get her away from it before she figures that out.

He tries to pull her downward to the ground to get his weight over hers.

Edited 2017-11-30 03:22 (UTC)

There's blood on him. She can see some of it. Smell it.

Null don't bleed. Which means that he does.

We're just human enough... to give a shit.

Why Rey is thinking that now, she doesn't know. She just tightens her grip around Kyrii, before throwing him in the air. He might as well be a ragdoll, when she bridges her spine and hurls the synthetic man onto his back.

She's just as strong as him. He's just as heavy as her.

But he didn't expect her to be able to lift him like this with whatever injury she had.

The drop brings him onto his shoulder first. The ground cracks under his weight as the rest of his body collapses. His vision blurs from the impact. His hand finds his bleeding side. Through clenched teeth, he forces himself back around onto his knees. This can't go on for much longer already. He's too worn down. He has to end it faster.

Bringing a knee up, he reaches inside his jacket to retrieve the gun again. He swings around in her direction to fire at point-blank range—

The click is met with silence.

It doesn't take a charge. It doesn't fire.

He hesitates.

The click of the gun and lack of action forces Rey to act first.

While he's distracted, she kicks her foot up, cracking the toe of her boot under Kyrii's hand in order to knock the gun right put of it.

No more of that, now.

Her kick connects with the carpals of his wrist. He feels breaking in his hand and the emitter is flung from his fingers.

It clatters to the ground several yards away.

This isn't the first time he's been separated from his weapon. He makes a quick note of the direction it went. Not that it appears to be working properly anyway. But it still makes him uncomfortable to be without it.

He lunges toward her while her foot is coming down from the kick and her balance is still adjusting. His uninjured hand balls up. He plants his downward step and shifts his weight into the punch to her chest.

She expects the hit and braces for it when the pain comes. Staggering backwards, Rey let's out a sharp cough. Can't risk breaking her ribs again. The last thing she needs to be doing is kick the bucket now, so soon after promising not to...

That alone is a stinging motivator. Her eyes widen as she grabs his wrist and twists it. Shifting to draw his arm behind his back.

Words aren't going to reach him. Violence else will have to do.

The successful grab forcefully pulls his body around and closer to her.

He struggles to reach with his hurt hand for the combat knife at the small of his back. He can't use his thumb properly or keep a strong grip because of the damage from the kick, but he pinches it into his palm the best he can with his fingertips. Though pulling to unsheathe it proves less than successful on his end.

His fingers slip off the handle as he's pulled further into the hold.

He's suddenly more careful now. He can't afford to break his good arm or he'll have little else to fight with.

Looks like they've both got injuries to mind during this.

That's fine. Rey can work with this.

With all the strength she has in her own good arm, she chucks Kyrii into the wall of the building he had obliterated earlier. The force alone might send the debris crashing around him, maybe slowing him a little more, given the condition that he's in.

She'd rather avoid having to snuff him, in the event that Hope doesn't make it. But she also can't die, either.

So she runs the other way. Find a weapon. Something non-lethal and can give this guy a good jolt.

The wall crashes over Kyrii as he goes tumbling into it. His good arm preemptively tucks to protect it from being crushed.

When it seems to have all fallen over him, he begins pushing the chunks of rubble off of his body. But it takes too much time for his liking. He isn't able to move himself any faster with the one hand he's working with.

After several more long seconds, he's finally standing over the debris.

She's running. He carefully vaults over the broken wall and breaks into a hindered sprint after her.

Ignoring the screaming ache in her knee as she bounds and weaves around fallen rubble that litter the streets throughout the city, Rey flees. Faster than she should be with her injuries. The taste of iron from the blood in her mouth is still fresh and unforgettable.

Quick to stumble to a stop, she skids to the right, towards the remains of an unused shop that looks as though an explosion had taken out the entrance of it.

What would seem to be leading to herself to a corner is something else entirely. She digs through the shelves, finding a pile of wrapped up cloth in the back room.

Air is forced in and out of his lungs with consecutive pinches against his left lung. It slows him down considerably, allowing her to gain a decent lead ahead of him. But he's able to keep his eyes on her and see her duck into a building further up.

He comes to a halt in front of the shop. Heaving to catch his breath, he draws the knife properly with his usable hand. The GBE far behind him now, he thinks.

By now Rey would have had plenty of time to gather herself in there. He has to proceed with caution.

The blade flips in hand with ease. He moves carefully through the entrance of the store.

While Kyrii goes for a knife, Rey pulls out an orb-shaped device from under a pile on the shelf. It's pale, and so simply fits into her hand.

Using the shelves of the shop for cover, she navigates the maze-like place for signs of Kyrii.

He's no novice, though. She knows this. Chances are he won't make himself so easily known.

The HUD flicks on over his retinas. It glitches intermittently while attempting to scan for signs of movement across the spaces. His steps are careful and quiet. He even keeps his breathing to a minimum despite desperately needing to recover from the run.

It's possible she could have already run out some other exit, so he moves more naturally to sweep the area.

The knife staying firmly to his side, he quietly follows the most unobstructed path. It guides deeper into the labyrinth of the destroyed building until he reaches a smaller space clear of the rubble. It appears to be the origin of an explosion or previous fight.

But with no immediate sign of Rey.

Shoulder pressed to the surface of the shelves, Rey slides around the corner to evade Kyrii's line of sight. Her boots shuffle across the ground, quiet and muffled. The distant sounds of battle provide enough background noise to deafen her movements.

Eventually, when Kyrii is close enough, Rey positions herself behind her cover. Gripping the weapon in her good hand, she slams her weight against the shelf. Sending it toppling over Kyrii on the other side.

The weight of it should be enough to pin him down. If only momentarily, so she can get a clean shot.

He can't turn and catch the shelving in time. His elbow reaches to try and break the fall of the weight against him. Instead it gets pinned more awkwardly beneath the shelving. Legs instantly shifting to get some sort of foothold on the object in attempt to push it off from him.

He glares up from the ground to her.

The weapon charges in her hand, proving to be not at all difficult to operate as she approaches Kyrii on the ground. She has no doubt that he could remove himself and fight back if given the chance.

Rey gives him no such chance. Instead, she takes aim with the weapon, and fires a blast that's intended only to shake apart and kill intangible enemies.

For Kyrii, the goal isn't to kill but to simply stun him. Remembering what was said about the godkillers, she decides to put the idea that they are only intended to be lethal to the gods to the test.

Better than letting herself get killed for no reason.

She pulls the trigger. A blast of microwave energy bursts from the gun.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Event Log: End of Arc 2

Dec 11th; (CLOSED to Kyrii)

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